The end of the decade. The end of the year. And my birthday tomorrow. Whoopee. This is a look back at the past year. Nothing too insighful, but probably more rants.
The year started out with some major drama. I had a 'friend'(actually friend of my husband) pretty much just stop talking to us because he left for a "raiding guild" and evidently we just weren't good enough for him anymore. It hit the fan in February during the Lunar Festival when they(friend and son) flat out refused to help my daughter with an achievement when all times previous we would jump at the chance to help them with whatever they need. They went on to our ignore list and things have been very quiet in the game ever since. No big loss I guess.
Around March I started a 'Rogue Demon Hunter' named Wyndampryce who would only level by grinding on Demons. If you've seen the tv show Angel you'd get the joke. If not, well there have been plenty of people who have leveled with various restrictions and I thought I'd try one just to do something different. And here at the end of the year he is still only level 34. Grinding is not an easy way to level.
April brought Patch 3.1 which brought the Argent Tournament, a real boon for solo players. And a great source of minipets and mounts. As of the end of the year, I have gotten 4 characters to the 'Crusader' title(exalted with all 5 home factions and Argent Crusade), and have done some work with others on it. Frankly at this point though I am quite sick of jousting.
July was a tough month. I almost flat out quit thanks to some real jerks who thought that only their happiness was important in a game full of millions. I don't know if I can ever really quit though. I'm not sure what it will really take. And I lost a hero in a tragic way. And that's all I really wanna say about that.
August brought Patch 3.2. The biggest thing about that was lowering the level at which everyone gets mounts-20 for regular, 40 for epic, 60 for flying. I can't tell you how awesome this has been for someone like me who spends most of my time on alts. Incredible. Also was the news of Cataclysm, the next expansion. And the coming of Worgen and Goblin races, and other new race/class combinations. Again, for someone who loves alts, this looks to be a great expansion.
In September I took my new little Dwarf Paladin and joined a real guild. And then got to run some old raid dungeons with them(Molten Core, Zul'Gurub, Onyxia). There was tons of adrenaline rush going on, and then I realized later that I had given myself an ulcer from worrying so much about how I was going to do. It made me realize that raiding, even low level, is not for me and my old self.
November brought my 7th level 80. And I recently brought up my 16th character to at least level 70. That means I have 9 more to get to max(which are currently at 76, 76, 76, 75, 71, 71, 70, 70 and 70). And maybe I'm getting burned out.
December brought Patch 3.3 and probably the biggest change in WoW since the beginning: the new Looking For Group mechanic. It's simple, choose your job(tank, healer, dps) and hit the "Find Group" button and voila, you are in the dungeon and getting your new awesome loots. But I can't/won't do it. I won't be a solo player anymore if I'm getting "phat lewt" from dungeons. I like being a solo player. I don't like grouping-no, I flat out refuse to group unless it's with my husband or daughter. And then there's the family member who decided to roll on our server and I'm now hiding from by not logging in to any of my characters on my main server anymore. This may finally be the straw that breaks the camels back.
It's been a very roller coaster year for me. And I'm in a real slump right now. I even loaded up my old Lord of the Rings Online character yesterday. Maybe I'll feel better Monday when I post some New Year's Resolutions.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
And that makes level 70 or higher #16
Yep, that's right. My Gnome Rogue hit 70 and that makes Number 16 for me. And all without the aid of heirlooms or 'refer-a-friend'. Uh yep, I have a lot of time on my hands.
Who will be next? Well, I am working on a Warrior who is level 33, and a Priest, who is level 34. I just can't really get into playing them though. Knowing that at max level(and even now) they are EXPECTED to be THE tank and THE healer is annoying I suppose. Probably what holds me back most as a soloer. Since I have no interest in grouping at any time, these two classes hold the least amount of interest to me. And they are still really difficult to level at this point. But then I suppose neither were meant to be leveled solo which is why it is so tough.
My next highest characters, as mentioned before, are hunters and rogues-which are also the last two classes I got to level 70. Maybe it's time to go back to my leveling my Nelf Moonkin who is 71.
One other note: my rogue dropped skinning and took up Jewelcrafting. I farmed every single bit of my mats, and by selling the items plus the extra mats, I've made over 1500g this week. I've been limiting how much I actually put on the AH at a time so as to not flood and still have loads extra to sell. And after finding some that don't sell, I send those to an alt to disenchant. So his jewelcrafting is currently at level 342 with only a few points to go before starting Northrend materials.
Who will be next? Well, I am working on a Warrior who is level 33, and a Priest, who is level 34. I just can't really get into playing them though. Knowing that at max level(and even now) they are EXPECTED to be THE tank and THE healer is annoying I suppose. Probably what holds me back most as a soloer. Since I have no interest in grouping at any time, these two classes hold the least amount of interest to me. And they are still really difficult to level at this point. But then I suppose neither were meant to be leveled solo which is why it is so tough.
My next highest characters, as mentioned before, are hunters and rogues-which are also the last two classes I got to level 70. Maybe it's time to go back to my leveling my Nelf Moonkin who is 71.
One other note: my rogue dropped skinning and took up Jewelcrafting. I farmed every single bit of my mats, and by selling the items plus the extra mats, I've made over 1500g this week. I've been limiting how much I actually put on the AH at a time so as to not flood and still have loads extra to sell. And after finding some that don't sell, I send those to an alt to disenchant. So his jewelcrafting is currently at level 342 with only a few points to go before starting Northrend materials.
Monday, December 21, 2009
Leveling a Rogue now
I am leveling my second rogue, but my first truly solo rogue. My rogue that is 80 now actually trio'd with hubby and daughter's characters. So my first real "rogue".I admit to getting help on a few group quests, as rogues aren't really built to take massive damage. My other true solo characters that are level 80 have been Druid, Mage, Hunter and Paladin. All of them have a fairly easy time with multiple mobs or harder than average quests(though not always with the Mage). The Rogue, however, is more about being sneaky and picking your fights. Making liberal use of Stealth and Vanish. Avoiding most mobs and only fighting who you need to fight and moving on.
And I love pickpocket!
Right now my Rogue is level 66, nearly to 67 and hopefully just a couple of hours away from heading to Northrend. I think the look of the gear in Northrend fits the style of Rogue more than almost anything in Outland. Get me away from the bright colors!
Also, as of now, my rogue has mining and skinning. I'm considering dropping skinning to pick up Jewelcrafting. I like JC, and leveling it just to get the trinkets Emerald Boar, Monarch Crab, and Ruby Hare make it absolutely worth it. I'll probably do that once I hit level 68. And Dense Stone Statues will help for at least a little while(I really wish they would make a newer version of this one).
After my rogue, I have a Moonkin at 71, hunter at 70, and Death Knight at 76. Any of them could be my next 80, I just haven't decided yet. And the next highest characters are another rogue and hunter, each at level 46. Maybe I will just wait for Cataclysm after this.
Friday, December 18, 2009
What I *will* do for mini-pets
Level up another character to at least level 20. The Paladin that I started back in June wants more mini-pets. She has 60 right now. And she wasn't around last Winter's Veil so she has none of those pets.There are four mini-pets available when you open the Winter's Veil presents on December 25th, the Green Helper Box, Red Helper Box, Jingling Bell and Snowman Kit. You can obviously only open it once per character. And, most importantly, you have to be level 20 to open it. So I have my Pally and a Death Knight, that gets me 2 pets. And my hubby and kid have Death Knights(if I can talk them into giving me the pet they get-I'm sure they will!). And now I am leveling a Druid so that I have one more shot at getting all four of them.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Ain't it purty?
I logged in on my main realm only long enough to do a few Crusader dailies so that I would have enough Champion's Seals to get my human mage a Silver Covenant Hippogryph. I love the new Hippogryph animations! This (in its various colors) is probably my favorite flying mount.And doesn't my guy look pretty sitting on it? :D Heh.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Not a happy camper
So I bought my very first dual spec today. And I'm not really thrilled about it. Let me explain...A few weeks ago, a relative and his wife decided to reroll(a paladin and a death knight) on our server and join up with our happy little trio. They had previously raided on a pvp server. They had tried to tempt us to the pvp server, but that did NOT work. So in a few weeks, they level to 80 and jump right into dungeons to gear up. They tried to get us into a few dungeons. The low level ones were a breeze, as they rightly should have been. The one level 80 we did, the Trial one, went horribly.
So in the past week, Relative and his protection paladin are gearing up-telling us that once he has gear, all will be better. Better for whom? I don't WANT to do dungeons now! It's a matter of principal almost, I LIKE not having those achievements.
And I don't give a flip about gear! They keep linking items that I could get. Please-you could take me into a jewelry store and all I would see are expensive rocks. They don't excite me. Same with the high level gear. I don't freaking care about it! "Well, you could go back and do dailies faster with it". I do dailies just fine now, thank you, big whoop if I can do it 5 minutes faster.
But they keep at it. So do I suck it up and do it "for them" or what? I won't be happy. But when you have relatives standing around saying "oh come on!" what do you do?
I try to relay that I have zero confidence and zero skill. Wearing mostly epics and can't do over 1300dps. Oh, but that's because it's mostly PvP gear-you need "+hit" gear. Sure. I'll just snap my fingers and make that appear. Especially since my druid is only a few quests from Loremaster and nearly every quest reward has been disenchanted. So there's nothing to go back to, and the only way to get more gear aside from PvP gear would be dungeons-which I will not do on my own(and don't even want to do at all).
So I got mad today(was having a bad day anyway). I took off all of my PvP gear, flew around picking up items from the different factions, bought a bunch of crap from the auction house, and bought the dual spec. And then specced into Moonkin.
At least I can say I have really REALLY bad gear, that isn't gemmed or enchanted, nowhere near the hit cap, but at least it isn't PvP gear. And I will sit there as my big fat ugly chicken and mope.
And I don't even feel like playing anymore now. Not inspired to do any of the Winter's Veil achievements or quests. Not in the mood to farm or level up an alt. I just feel bored now. I hate this.
Monday, December 14, 2009
Feeling Safer
With the last patch, Blizzard introduced the Corehound Pup. This pet is available to anyone who has a Blizzard Authenticator attached to the account. I had been meaning to order one for the longest time, but had procrastinated. The addition of this cute little minipet as an incentive got me off my duff! I also feel much safer knowing that I have this extra level of security on my account. I am a pretty careful person, and have never been too concerned about being hacked, but anything to add to that is all the better. Better safe than sorry I say.The Corehound is a mini version of the ones from Molten Core(not like I'd really know that, but I read Wowhead, etc!). This little guy sits up and begs, rolls over, and will dig up a bone and fight the other head for it. I have to say that Blizzard is really outdoing themselves lately when it comes to the quality of the non-combat pets!
About the Authenticator-it was fairly easy to set up, I only need one to cover all 3 accounts I have under one Battle.net account, all characters under each account get the pet, and it is super easy to use once you get it set up. This is one minipet that everyone should have!
*** I forgot to mention, and wanted to just as a reminder to myself, that this pet makes #101 for my Druid! I suppose now I'd like to see that 100 pet achievement!
Sunday, December 13, 2009
My Army of Alts...some notes
I made a post a few days ago listing all of the characters I have over level 60. There are 16 of them, 15 are over 70(Gnome Rogue is almost 65 and moving up quickly). But I read another blog post and wanted to make a point of noting something about my army of alts...
I have NOT used Recruit-A-Friend system. It takes more accounts(or a friend-which I don't have), and I can't really afford to have more accounts than I already have.
And I have NOT used any heirloom items. Not a single one. First I didn't really have access to them, but that changed with the ability to buy them with Champion's Seals. The only characters with access to them, don't really have anyone to send them to! All of my alts on that realm are over level 70 and most of them duo with my hubby, so I wouldn't want to get ahead of him. The alts that I might not mind having them, don't have Big Brothers to go out and get them. But that's okay, because I obviously love leveling characters!
And yes, I already have about a dozen names saved across several realms for future Worgen, Goblins, and other new class/race combinations. And none of them will have any heirlooms either.
I have NOT used Recruit-A-Friend system. It takes more accounts(or a friend-which I don't have), and I can't really afford to have more accounts than I already have.
And I have NOT used any heirloom items. Not a single one. First I didn't really have access to them, but that changed with the ability to buy them with Champion's Seals. The only characters with access to them, don't really have anyone to send them to! All of my alts on that realm are over level 70 and most of them duo with my hubby, so I wouldn't want to get ahead of him. The alts that I might not mind having them, don't have Big Brothers to go out and get them. But that's okay, because I obviously love leveling characters!
And yes, I already have about a dozen names saved across several realms for future Worgen, Goblins, and other new class/race combinations. And none of them will have any heirlooms either.
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Oldest Screenshot!
I thought I'd do something a little fun today. I wanted to see what was the oldest screenshot I had on my computer. I started playing WoW in October of 2005, and this screenshot is from April 18, 2006-I guess that's when I got my new computer(the one I'm still playing on!).
I'll explain the shot a bit. This is my Druid, at level 57, and my hubby's hunter(and his kitty, Shasta), in Winterspring. We had been hunting for Ursius when this moonkin and bear attacked us. And the bear dropped Destiny! I realize it isn't a hunter's weapon-and we sat on it for a day-until we finally decided to let hubby's hunter equip it. At that time, having an *epic*-especially for us- was realllllly something!
I love going back through old screenshots, the same way I love going back through old photos I've taken on vacations. It's so interesting to see how far things have come since then.
I'll explain the shot a bit. This is my Druid, at level 57, and my hubby's hunter(and his kitty, Shasta), in Winterspring. We had been hunting for Ursius when this moonkin and bear attacked us. And the bear dropped Destiny! I realize it isn't a hunter's weapon-and we sat on it for a day-until we finally decided to let hubby's hunter equip it. At that time, having an *epic*-especially for us- was realllllly something!
I love going back through old screenshots, the same way I love going back through old photos I've taken on vacations. It's so interesting to see how far things have come since then.
Friday, December 11, 2009
Solo gear on my druid
This isn't a comprehensive guide to getting gear for a soloing Feral Druid, but this is a list of what I've managed to put together for my Druid, almost completely solo. It does include some PvP gear, but it was gotten mainly from Wintergrasp where it is quite easy to just join, do your thing, and never have to deal with talking to anyone else, and reap the rewards.
HEAD: Titan-Forged Leather Helm of Triumph is sold in Wintergrasp for 40 Wintergrasp Marks of Honor. Besides looking like Hannibal Lector, this is about the only helm available that I could find that has a meta-socket in it(aside from engineering goggles). Mine is socketed with the Relentless Earthsiege Diamond and a +16 agility gem. Also a must is the Arcanum of Torment, sold by the Knights of Ebon Blade quartermaster at revered.
NECK: Hateful Gladiator's Pendant of Triumph, which was easily obtained while doing Wintergrasp, as the quests and just participating give you tons of honor. There are other versions(as well as newer versions I think by now) that give different stats-I honestly can't say why I chose this one. I could have had my jewelcrafter make me a Titanium Impact Choker, but I had the extra honor, so why not.
SHOULDERS: Trollwoven Spaulders, made by my friendly neighborhood leatherworker(my husband!). I have the lesser enchant from Sons of Hodir right now, I forgot to buy the higher one when I got exalted and haven't bothered to go back up there since then.
CHEST: Polar Vest, also made by a leatherworker. This one is more of a tanking chest, but right now it's either this or the Eviscerator's. I am working towards the Darkheart Chestguard, available at exalted with Knights of Ebon Blade, but I need at least another week of dailies to get it. Enchantment is Super Stats, which could be better, but I don't want to do anything until I get the Ebon Blade chest.
CLOAK: Ice Striker's Cloak, made by leatherworker. Enchanted with Major Agility.
WRIST: Hateful Gladiator's Wristguard of Triumph, another item I snagged while doing Wintergrasp for a minimal amount of honor. I have them enchanted with Striking.
HANDS: Eviscerator's Gauntlets, made by leatherworker. Enchanted with Assault. I've thought about doing more Wintergrasp to get better gloves and legs, but I get burnt out on it rather quickly, and I just haven't found better gloves right now.
WAIST: Trollwoven Girdle, made by leatherworker. And shame on me, I haven't gotten around to socketing it yet. Soon.
LEGS: Chain Gang Legguards, which I got by fishing up the Rusty Prison Key and opening the lockbox under the water in front of Violet Hold. Right now I only have a Jormungar Leg Armor on them. I'm sure if I ever manage some epic legs, I'll get an epic armor kit for them.
FEET: Boots of the Neverending Path, which are obtained from Argent Crusade at exalted. These are really nice, I have them on my rogue also. I have them enchanted with Superior Agility.
RINGS: Etched Band of the Kirin Tor, which I just upgraded to this morning. Not bad for the cost(once you get over the cost of the first one!).
Titanium Impact Band, with a +16 agility gem. And since I'm an enchanter, I have enchanted both of my rings with Assault.
TRINKETS: Oracle Talisman of Ablution, from exalted with the Oracles in Scholazar Basin. The only hard part in getting exalted is getting past the group quest in which you choose who you want to do quests for-and I did that with my husband and daughter, so it wasn't too bad. You do have to stay exalted with them to use it, so I haven't bothered to switch sides and work on Frenzyheart rep, even though I already got my Green Proto Drake.
Coren's Chromium Coaster, which came from the Brewfest boss-which admittedly took a 5man group to do, but it was truly painful as we(husband, daughter and I) ended up with a couple of jerks in our group.
I suppose I could buy some of those Darkmoon Decks from the Auction House, or PvP for some more trinkets, but I'll deal with these for now.
IDOL: Deadly Gladiator's Idol of Resolve. I only got this recently when the items in that slot for Druids, Paladins, Shaman and Death Knights finally became available for only honor points. Previously you had to upgrade your old quested Idols with Arena points or through dungeon emblems. I was quite happy with this little upgrade.
WEAPON: Titansteel Destroyer, made by a blacksmith(for me it was another of hubby's alts). Very nice item if you can get your hands on it. There is a staff available with Champion's Seals at the Argent Tournament, but if you already have this, that one isn't an upgrade. I have it enchanted with Greater Savagery.
Even with all of that purple, my gear score on Wow-heroes is only 2013(which wouldn't even get me into an Onyxia run with my guild on a different server) and my dps(per recount) sits at around 1400. I'm sure there is something I'm not doing right, but as long as it works while I solo my way through Azeroth, I'm happy with it.
HEAD: Titan-Forged Leather Helm of Triumph is sold in Wintergrasp for 40 Wintergrasp Marks of Honor. Besides looking like Hannibal Lector, this is about the only helm available that I could find that has a meta-socket in it(aside from engineering goggles). Mine is socketed with the Relentless Earthsiege Diamond and a +16 agility gem. Also a must is the Arcanum of Torment, sold by the Knights of Ebon Blade quartermaster at revered.
NECK: Hateful Gladiator's Pendant of Triumph, which was easily obtained while doing Wintergrasp, as the quests and just participating give you tons of honor. There are other versions(as well as newer versions I think by now) that give different stats-I honestly can't say why I chose this one. I could have had my jewelcrafter make me a Titanium Impact Choker, but I had the extra honor, so why not.
SHOULDERS: Trollwoven Spaulders, made by my friendly neighborhood leatherworker(my husband!). I have the lesser enchant from Sons of Hodir right now, I forgot to buy the higher one when I got exalted and haven't bothered to go back up there since then.
CHEST: Polar Vest, also made by a leatherworker. This one is more of a tanking chest, but right now it's either this or the Eviscerator's. I am working towards the Darkheart Chestguard, available at exalted with Knights of Ebon Blade, but I need at least another week of dailies to get it. Enchantment is Super Stats, which could be better, but I don't want to do anything until I get the Ebon Blade chest.
CLOAK: Ice Striker's Cloak, made by leatherworker. Enchanted with Major Agility.
WRIST: Hateful Gladiator's Wristguard of Triumph, another item I snagged while doing Wintergrasp for a minimal amount of honor. I have them enchanted with Striking.
HANDS: Eviscerator's Gauntlets, made by leatherworker. Enchanted with Assault. I've thought about doing more Wintergrasp to get better gloves and legs, but I get burnt out on it rather quickly, and I just haven't found better gloves right now.
WAIST: Trollwoven Girdle, made by leatherworker. And shame on me, I haven't gotten around to socketing it yet. Soon.
LEGS: Chain Gang Legguards, which I got by fishing up the Rusty Prison Key and opening the lockbox under the water in front of Violet Hold. Right now I only have a Jormungar Leg Armor on them. I'm sure if I ever manage some epic legs, I'll get an epic armor kit for them.
FEET: Boots of the Neverending Path, which are obtained from Argent Crusade at exalted. These are really nice, I have them on my rogue also. I have them enchanted with Superior Agility.
RINGS: Etched Band of the Kirin Tor, which I just upgraded to this morning. Not bad for the cost(once you get over the cost of the first one!).
Titanium Impact Band, with a +16 agility gem. And since I'm an enchanter, I have enchanted both of my rings with Assault.
TRINKETS: Oracle Talisman of Ablution, from exalted with the Oracles in Scholazar Basin. The only hard part in getting exalted is getting past the group quest in which you choose who you want to do quests for-and I did that with my husband and daughter, so it wasn't too bad. You do have to stay exalted with them to use it, so I haven't bothered to switch sides and work on Frenzyheart rep, even though I already got my Green Proto Drake.
Coren's Chromium Coaster, which came from the Brewfest boss-which admittedly took a 5man group to do, but it was truly painful as we(husband, daughter and I) ended up with a couple of jerks in our group.
I suppose I could buy some of those Darkmoon Decks from the Auction House, or PvP for some more trinkets, but I'll deal with these for now.
IDOL: Deadly Gladiator's Idol of Resolve. I only got this recently when the items in that slot for Druids, Paladins, Shaman and Death Knights finally became available for only honor points. Previously you had to upgrade your old quested Idols with Arena points or through dungeon emblems. I was quite happy with this little upgrade.
WEAPON: Titansteel Destroyer, made by a blacksmith(for me it was another of hubby's alts). Very nice item if you can get your hands on it. There is a staff available with Champion's Seals at the Argent Tournament, but if you already have this, that one isn't an upgrade. I have it enchanted with Greater Savagery.
Even with all of that purple, my gear score on Wow-heroes is only 2013(which wouldn't even get me into an Onyxia run with my guild on a different server) and my dps(per recount) sits at around 1400. I'm sure there is something I'm not doing right, but as long as it works while I solo my way through Azeroth, I'm happy with it.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Looking For Guts
is what I call the LFG system now. Even faced with most certain anonymity, I still cannot bring myself to go into dungeons.
To preface, the new LFG (Looking For Group) system will match you up with 4 others(from yours or other realms in your battlegroup) who want to run a random(or specific) dungeon, teleport you to that dungeon, teleport you back when done, and give you gold and stuff for doing this while using this system.
And I still cannot do it.
Why? Because I am absolutely certain in my head that one of three things will happen:
A. I will suck, and everyone there will tell me that I suck, and they will use the "tribe has spoken" feature to vote me off of the island.
B. They will all hate me, even if I don't suck, just because everyone hates me. And they will all go back and post on every message board about this horrible player that they grouped with, and it will be me.
C. I will hate them. Probably because they talk like this "dood ur so bad n im so l33t!" or their names will be XximthebestxX or Ursodedhaha or some crap like that.
Or D. All of the above.
Whatever. I'm making lots of money selling gems and other things. Not boatloads mind you, I'm not ready to buy a Chopper or anything, but I'm doing okay.
So will I ever make the leap? I can't say really. I've opened the feature and perused it a dozen times or so on different characters. I just cannot bring myself to click the "Find Group" button at the bottom.
But hey, I soloed the last few parts of my Dwarf Pally's Charger questline today to get the Feat of Strength! Yeah, it really doesn't mean much to most, but at least I was able to do it alone.
To preface, the new LFG (Looking For Group) system will match you up with 4 others(from yours or other realms in your battlegroup) who want to run a random(or specific) dungeon, teleport you to that dungeon, teleport you back when done, and give you gold and stuff for doing this while using this system.
And I still cannot do it.
Why? Because I am absolutely certain in my head that one of three things will happen:
A. I will suck, and everyone there will tell me that I suck, and they will use the "tribe has spoken" feature to vote me off of the island.
B. They will all hate me, even if I don't suck, just because everyone hates me. And they will all go back and post on every message board about this horrible player that they grouped with, and it will be me.
C. I will hate them. Probably because they talk like this "dood ur so bad n im so l33t!" or their names will be XximthebestxX or Ursodedhaha or some crap like that.
Or D. All of the above.
Whatever. I'm making lots of money selling gems and other things. Not boatloads mind you, I'm not ready to buy a Chopper or anything, but I'm doing okay.
So will I ever make the leap? I can't say really. I've opened the feature and perused it a dozen times or so on different characters. I just cannot bring myself to click the "Find Group" button at the bottom.
But hey, I soloed the last few parts of my Dwarf Pally's Charger questline today to get the Feat of Strength! Yeah, it really doesn't mean much to most, but at least I was able to do it alone.
Friday, December 04, 2009
More Patch 3.3
I actually forgot about the things I am really looking forward to in the next patch in my last post. To my defense, they aren't listed in the patch notes, which is what I was going by, but I will add them here now.
- New pets from Breanni!
- Titanium transmutation cooldown removed
Wednesday, December 02, 2009
Patch 3.3 coming
Ok, so I was a little ranty earlier. I've eaten lunch now. Let's talk about what the new patch will mean to a soloer like me...
Squat!
Ok, not really, I might be able to find a few good things in it for me. Let's see if we can find them.
So what am I doing leading up to the Patch? And what will I be doing after it hits? Same as usual-farm up and cook food for raiders; transmute and cut gems to sell to raiders; gather tons of herbs and make lots of flasks to sell to the raiders. Hey, if I can't beat them or join them, I might as well make money off of them!
Squat!
Ok, not really, I might be able to find a few good things in it for me. Let's see if we can find them.
- Tuskarr Fishing Tournament!
- Advanced quest tracking
- Meeting stones no longer have upper level requirement
- PvP Daily quests now reward 25 arena points
- Looking For Group new feature with Cross Realm Dungeons
- Ignore List increased to 50 names
So what am I doing leading up to the Patch? And what will I be doing after it hits? Same as usual-farm up and cook food for raiders; transmute and cut gems to sell to raiders; gather tons of herbs and make lots of flasks to sell to the raiders. Hey, if I can't beat them or join them, I might as well make money off of them!
It's just a game!
And wheeeee, just as I finish my rant, I check WoW.com and see their newest post is titled It's Just A Game. And now I just want to rant more rather than logging back in to the game(or doing some laundry or something).
It IS JUST A GAME! I got a bit peeved over a post somewhere else about this a few weeks ago. And NO, I do not play every game that I play to "be the best you can be at that game and ALWAYS win!!1". When you play checkers with your kid, are you a cutthroat ass who absolutely HAS to win or else you'll take your checkers and go home? Certainly my sister was a sore loser when we were kids. Any time that she lost a game, she threw the board in the air and stormed off to her room to cry. And that happened a LOT...just saying.
I know all about wanting to win, about competition. I'm a football and hockey fan. It SUCKS to lose-but then I'm just watching those games, not really playing. Back when I played sports myself, from roller hockey most recently to softball back in high school, it honestly didn't matter if we won or lost, as long as we had FUN. Remember that old saying, "it isn't whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game" It's a metaphor for life, certainly. As long as you play your best and have fun, you are the winner in the end.
If I am having more fun with only my family, driving the back roads in our 10 year old car and stopping to eat at McDonald's, that doesn't make me a lesser human being than the snob in the Lexus doing 80 down the interstate headed to Ruth's Chris. I'm sure that snob thinks they are better than me, and if I don't have the time or effort to put in to have a job that makes 100k a year then I don't deserve the nice car or nice restaurant food. (sound familiar?) But I sit down here not caring if you have an expensive car or spend more on food in one meal than I spend in one month at the grocery store. I just don't care!
Back to the sports analogy. I've never played sports for money. I can understand that when you play for a big prize, like lots more money, that people want to win at all costs. Whether you are golfing or playing soccer, professionals, I suppose, should want to be their best. I know of a certain cornerback that I think sucks rocks and I really wish my team would replace him. But playing WoW is NOT a professional sport! There is no way I'm going to spend time outside the game to make sure I have every little teeny tiny stat detailed down so that I know to the umpeenth % how much I should gem or enchant for to get this or that. Good gravy, as long as I know NOT to wear spellpower on my hunter and crap like that, that should be good enough!
So chill people. HAVE FUN. But don't look down your nose at those who are having fun in their own way! Remember that kid in the movie "Parenthood" who was butting things with his head with the bucket on? And how snooty Rick Moranis has to say "How proud you must be". Hey at least that kid is having FUN and it isn't interfering with your ability to have fun-so bugger off!
It's raining today. I guess I'm just in a ranting mood.
Nah.
It IS JUST A GAME! I got a bit peeved over a post somewhere else about this a few weeks ago. And NO, I do not play every game that I play to "be the best you can be at that game and ALWAYS win!!1". When you play checkers with your kid, are you a cutthroat ass who absolutely HAS to win or else you'll take your checkers and go home? Certainly my sister was a sore loser when we were kids. Any time that she lost a game, she threw the board in the air and stormed off to her room to cry. And that happened a LOT...just saying.
I know all about wanting to win, about competition. I'm a football and hockey fan. It SUCKS to lose-but then I'm just watching those games, not really playing. Back when I played sports myself, from roller hockey most recently to softball back in high school, it honestly didn't matter if we won or lost, as long as we had FUN. Remember that old saying, "it isn't whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game" It's a metaphor for life, certainly. As long as you play your best and have fun, you are the winner in the end.
If I am having more fun with only my family, driving the back roads in our 10 year old car and stopping to eat at McDonald's, that doesn't make me a lesser human being than the snob in the Lexus doing 80 down the interstate headed to Ruth's Chris. I'm sure that snob thinks they are better than me, and if I don't have the time or effort to put in to have a job that makes 100k a year then I don't deserve the nice car or nice restaurant food. (sound familiar?) But I sit down here not caring if you have an expensive car or spend more on food in one meal than I spend in one month at the grocery store. I just don't care!
Back to the sports analogy. I've never played sports for money. I can understand that when you play for a big prize, like lots more money, that people want to win at all costs. Whether you are golfing or playing soccer, professionals, I suppose, should want to be their best. I know of a certain cornerback that I think sucks rocks and I really wish my team would replace him. But playing WoW is NOT a professional sport! There is no way I'm going to spend time outside the game to make sure I have every little teeny tiny stat detailed down so that I know to the umpeenth % how much I should gem or enchant for to get this or that. Good gravy, as long as I know NOT to wear spellpower on my hunter and crap like that, that should be good enough!
So chill people. HAVE FUN. But don't look down your nose at those who are having fun in their own way! Remember that kid in the movie "Parenthood" who was butting things with his head with the bucket on? And how snooty Rick Moranis has to say "How proud you must be". Hey at least that kid is having FUN and it isn't interfering with your ability to have fun-so bugger off!
It's raining today. I guess I'm just in a ranting mood.
Nah.
Am I casual?
What is your definition of a casual?
For me, a casual is someone like my husband. He is lucky if he gets to log in at all during the week. Waking up at 4am for work, getting home at around 6pm, eating dinner and chilling with the tv before hitting the hay at 8pm will do that for ya. Sure, we spend some weekends playing nearly all day. But due to his job, he is 'on call' all weekend and at any time he can be called to head out the door. There really is no time for him to do dungeons or raid. He is happy to spend the few hours he gets playing alongside my characters.
But they say people who don't raid or arena are casuals-like it is some sort of bad thing. With most people you are either "hardcore" or "casual". With that choice, I am definitely "casual" because I don't raid or dungeon or mass pvp. But look at that list of my characters in the post below...sometimes I play from the time my kid gets on the bus in the morning until about 5pm when it's time to cook dinner. Some say that would make me "hardcore" due to the time I've put into the game. So which is it?
I've already made myself quite clear how much I prefer soloing, and actually loathe grouping with other people(other than hubby of course). I could spend all day, all of those hours, doing dungeon after dungeon-but I don't want to do that. I've already listed my reasons why I don't raid, and they somewhat apply to doing dungeons as well. Mainly, I just don't want to waste 4 other people's time if I (a) suck or (b) have to leave during the run to get something done. And I will (a) suck, because most assuredly there will be someone in the group who will tell me that I do. Yeah, thanks, I know that and I don't really want to deal with someone else that I don't know telling me that I do.
I guess I'm just confused because I get so angry at all the "hardcore" "elitists" who think the game is being "dumbed down for the stupid horrible casuals". If that were the case then my hubby would be in full epics, right? But that wouldn't make him a better healer, by getting better gear-because it's about the player having skill, NOT the gear. I mean, my druid is in all epics(except for 2 blues) and that obviously doesn't make me a better player. It doesn't even mean that a relative who JUST leveled up to 80 last week and was already going to Naxx in quest greens(on a new server with people he doesn't know) won't even consider asking if I want to hit up some dungeons. It's obviously because I SUCK.
But you see, I'm ok with that. I don't CARE ABOUT THE STUPID PURPLE GEAR! I don't care that 99% of the other players have an average item level of 265 or whatever and I haven't even cracked 200. But does that make me "casual" or just "indifferent"? Well, I suppose it really is both because if you check "indifferent" in the thesaraus, you find "casual" in the list of synonyms. You also find "loner" and "unsociable" as well. That's me.
And please don't tell me to find a different game...obviously I LIKE playing this one-or I wouldn't have so many characters with so much /played time.
For me, a casual is someone like my husband. He is lucky if he gets to log in at all during the week. Waking up at 4am for work, getting home at around 6pm, eating dinner and chilling with the tv before hitting the hay at 8pm will do that for ya. Sure, we spend some weekends playing nearly all day. But due to his job, he is 'on call' all weekend and at any time he can be called to head out the door. There really is no time for him to do dungeons or raid. He is happy to spend the few hours he gets playing alongside my characters.
But they say people who don't raid or arena are casuals-like it is some sort of bad thing. With most people you are either "hardcore" or "casual". With that choice, I am definitely "casual" because I don't raid or dungeon or mass pvp. But look at that list of my characters in the post below...sometimes I play from the time my kid gets on the bus in the morning until about 5pm when it's time to cook dinner. Some say that would make me "hardcore" due to the time I've put into the game. So which is it?
I've already made myself quite clear how much I prefer soloing, and actually loathe grouping with other people(other than hubby of course). I could spend all day, all of those hours, doing dungeon after dungeon-but I don't want to do that. I've already listed my reasons why I don't raid, and they somewhat apply to doing dungeons as well. Mainly, I just don't want to waste 4 other people's time if I (a) suck or (b) have to leave during the run to get something done. And I will (a) suck, because most assuredly there will be someone in the group who will tell me that I do. Yeah, thanks, I know that and I don't really want to deal with someone else that I don't know telling me that I do.
I guess I'm just confused because I get so angry at all the "hardcore" "elitists" who think the game is being "dumbed down for the stupid horrible casuals". If that were the case then my hubby would be in full epics, right? But that wouldn't make him a better healer, by getting better gear-because it's about the player having skill, NOT the gear. I mean, my druid is in all epics(except for 2 blues) and that obviously doesn't make me a better player. It doesn't even mean that a relative who JUST leveled up to 80 last week and was already going to Naxx in quest greens(on a new server with people he doesn't know) won't even consider asking if I want to hit up some dungeons. It's obviously because I SUCK.
But you see, I'm ok with that. I don't CARE ABOUT THE STUPID PURPLE GEAR! I don't care that 99% of the other players have an average item level of 265 or whatever and I haven't even cracked 200. But does that make me "casual" or just "indifferent"? Well, I suppose it really is both because if you check "indifferent" in the thesaraus, you find "casual" in the list of synonyms. You also find "loner" and "unsociable" as well. That's me.
And please don't tell me to find a different game...obviously I LIKE playing this one-or I wouldn't have so many characters with so much /played time.
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