And Now, For Something Completely Different

World of Warcraft is in the doldrums.  Or, as many folks call it, the “Pre-expansion Period.”  We’ve been told by the good folks at Blizzard not to expect any new content for Cataclysm.  The Mists of Pandaria Beta is a happening place right now with cool new toys brought in weekly.  I have seen the wonders of AoE Looting and the new “Fairy Wings” (my term) style of effect for Rezzie’s <a href://Avenging Wrath.  I know that in MoP, Rosie will become a glorious white stag who looks a lot like Harry Potter’s Patronus, and will be able to carry Hubby or any other friend around on her back.  My hunter, Kheylar, will make a fortune creating glyphs for everyone when the game debuts sometime in the next few months.  Plus, she will have the added ability to release a “Murder of Crows” at her enemies as an AoE attack.  As an additional damage boost for boss fights, Kheylar will be able to send out all five of her pet-friends at the boss in an attack called “Stampede.”  Yes, MoP will be fun and different.  It’s just not out yet.  And we’re all bored to death with killing Deathwing now. 

I have been reading the articles on WoW Insider about roleplaying written by the wonderful Anne Stickney.  I always thought that roleplaying was something that only perverts and teenagers did on the Moon Guard Server.  Well, what I have learned is that roleplaying is something that an entire community does together.  You create a character, a back-story for that character, and then you interact with the world around you in character.  If you, for example, are playing a priest, you might go around talking about the light and blessing people when you throw a heal.  If you play a warrior, you might play him or her as an idealist, or someone who is mad at the world, or basically just somebody who wants to hit stuff. 

One of the other basic requirements for roleplaying is to understand a little about the lore of WoW.  Lore is the made up history, society norms, culture, jargon, etc. of a fantasy “world.”  Think about Star Trek.  Star Trek has its own universe made up of the aliens, Starfleet regulations, planets, and history of their reality.  To understand Star Trek, you have to get at least a little bit of their terminology.  While you watch Star Trek, you understand what Captain Kirk means when he says things like, “Beam Me Up” or “Warp Factor 1.”   If Picard goes over to a little computer panel in the wall and says, “Tea—Earl Gray—Hot” you know that he’s talking to a device called a “Replicator” and the cup of tea will instantly materialize for him.  I had to actually put the water on to boil, wait 5 minutes for the tea to steep, and then mix in the Splenda and pour it myself.  Oh, to live in the 24^th Century!

I have rolled toons on roleplaying servers in the past because I have always found the communities to be more mature and helpful for the most part.  They have lower populations than regular servers, so they are peaceful out questing.  I’ve even had a few roleplaying interactions with some folks in towns and thought it was fun.  So, I wanted to go off and give it a real try.

I have created Nykka (pronounced with a long-e sound).  She is a poor goblin rogue, going off to create her own fortune and adventure through the world.  Like most goblins, she loves money.  But, the Cataclysm has left her penniless and broken.  Desperate and starving, she’ll do almost anything to rebuild her fortune.  She’s learned how to hunt animals for their skins to create her own gear, how to pickpocket unsuspecting enemies, and how to use her wits to keep her safe.

She’s completely different from the type of toon I usually play in WoW.  She’s not a caster, nor is she pious and good.  She’s bad.  She’s a thief—a petty criminal.  I have gone to another realm with her so that I can enjoy the challenge of building her up without help.  Hubby’s not going to be there to help quest or support her.  I don’t have any other toons on the realm that will send her gold or make her useful bags, potions, or glyphs.  Nykka is truly on her own, starting from nothing. 

I am so excited to get her out of the goblin starting area where she can interact with others that I can’t see straight.  I want to see how Nykka’s story plays out.  Who knows?  I might drop her the same way I’ve dropped every other rogue I’ve tried to level.  I might get to town and find no roleplaying guilds are recruiting and that people do not want to play with a total stranger.  But, I am excited about the journey—the first time I’ve been really excited and felt creative about something in a few weeks.  That means something to me.  It’s just a stupid video game, yes, but I like that stupid video game and the adventure it lets me go on.

The Altoholics Lament

There’s just not enough time.
There is so many things that I want to accomplish, both in real life and in game. I want to travel. I want to do historical research and finish my two articles I started. I want to finish all the books that I have started writing. I want to clean my house from top to bottom. I want to finish my college education. Okay, that takes money along with time, and I have neither.
I have unfinished projects like that in the game too, but they’re called “alts.” Last night I blew the dust off of my Paladin, Rezina. I had been looking at her achievements on the Armory and discovered to my dismay that my oldest character was only one zone away from the “World Explorer” achievement. So, she and I went swimming in Vashj’ir. I even did the first few quests in the zone so that I could get the seahorse mount and make the time go a little quicker. Playing her was like having a conversation with an old friend. It was comfortable and fun, but I didn’t quite understand her as well as I used to.
After I got the achievement, I took her back home to Orgrimmar and thought about taking her to a dungeon. She’s dual-specced for tanking and healing. Her best gear is her healing set, but I feel more comfortable tanking with her. As I thought more about it, I realized that playing her would mean hours of studying to learn the rotations, and running dungeons over and over for valor points to get both gear sets to where they need to be. In other words, it would take time, which is too valuable a commodity to invest.
I have this goal in the back of my mind, you see. I’d like to have ten toons, all maxed leveled, maxed professions, and geared well. So, if I wanted to, say, take out druid and heal, or take out Rezzie for tanking, or take out my hunter Kheylar and just shoot bad guys, well, I could do it.
Many people do that. Most of them are either college kids, housewives, or retired older folks. Or, they have been playing World of Warcraft since it came out in 2006. They understand the class mechanics and rotations of all ten toons. They invest the time because that’s something that they have.
I have many “baby alts” that are sitting at low levels. I started them because I wanted to try that specific class/race combination. I have enjoyed playing them and hope that someday I can get back to them. My favorite is Toshina, my goblin priest. She’s level 31, and nothing but a ball of green sass and energy. I adore their movement animations. They walk with a bounce in their steps and their ears wiggle. They hop around, looking as if casting is such hard work for their little bodies. But, they get the job done. After all, “Time is money, friend! I got mouths to feed!” (I love it when they say that!)
So little time, so many things I’d like to do with my time. Too many alts to master and play. Common sense tells me that I need to pick two or three toons and focus mainly on them. I’ve learned the hard way that I am not good playing my druid and may never be. Paladins have such complicated mechanics, I don’t know if I will ever master playing Rezina again, and I am afraid to try. So, I will continue to dabble with my babies until I find that one that I am good at and is fun for me. After all, WoW is a game to entertain me in my leisure time—not an all encompassing activity. I have one of those already, and that’s being a mommy.

Toon Experimentation

I have been suffering from indecision regarding which toon is my “main” and who I want to invest the most time and effort in.  Well, that’s not exactly true:  For the past few weeks, most of my free time and effort has been devoted to Kheylar, my Blood Elf Hunter.  I have leveled her to 70 and started working on some old “Burning Crusade” end game content.  Don’t laugh.  I had skipped all of that stuff and went straight to Northrend at level 68 with all of my other toons.  Since I didn’t start playing World of Warcraft until Wrath came out, I never really experienced Shadowmoon Valley, Netherstorm, or the numerous dailies for Shattered Sun rep.  All this has been a pleasant change of pace for me, and with Kheylar’s “Bind on Account” gear the lost XP hasn’t bothered me much.

So that leaves my three level 85s sitting idle.  My druid, Redrosie, had fair gear from the Raid Finder and valor points.  Her heals are still not up to “elite” status, so I’m only invited to the first few bosses when my guild does the Dragon Soul Raid.  Our raid leader keeps recruiting and auditioning new healers to take what used to be my place.  He hasn’t had much luck, though.  They either don’t like being rotated out, they don’t want to do their homework and know the fights, or they aren’t as great a healer as they have portrayed themselves to be.  So, my raid night routine lately has been:

• Log on at least a quarter till 7pm, because that’s when the first invites go out
• Do the first two/three bosses in Dragon Soul, have a great time with my guldies
• Leave group, log off Rosie, and log onto Kheylar
• Play Kheylar and listen to the Raid’s progress (or lack thereof) with this’ week’s new healer through Hubby’s vent on speakers.

I do not think that if I continued working on my healing skills, I’d ever be invited to be a full-time member of the raid group.  And, I am not sure that I want to be.  I know that our Raid Leader is not on a personal vendetta against me.  The group seems to like me as a whole and miss me when I’m not there.  I am invited to every dungeon, LFR, and “Transmog” run that we do.  Tonight, for example, we are running Ulduar for the achievement, and I will be healing.  No, I don’t think I am unwelcome.  I just think that my raid leader lost confidence in my ability to deliver expert heals in the top-notch dungeons.  This has frustrated me as well, and after four months of trying to get better HPS, I think I’ve given up.  As much as I love Rosie, there comes a time when your best is just not “the best” with something, and you have to look at other options.

            Which brings me to my other two 85s, Rezina the Paladin and Naughtia the Warlock?  Rezina was my first toon.  She’s been parked for the better part of a year after she reached 85s.  Tanking the Heroic Dungeons was hard for me to master, and so I gave up on her to devote my time to “growing up” Rosie.  Lately, I respecced and geared her for healing, to see if I could be more effective on her than I am on Rosie.  Paladin healing is very different from the AoE and massive heal-over-time affects that Druids use.  Reading about the art of Pally Healing on forums and blogs is helpful but by no means the best way to learn how to do it.  Random groups are not patient with a “noob” healer, and the only know two Holy Pallies to ask for help.  One is my Raid Leader.  I can just see it now, “Hey, I just took my old tank that was collecting moth balls, and respecced her to heal. . .I know you think I suck healing with my Druid, but maybe you can give me some pointers on how to not suck on the Pally?  That way, I can come to more raids, and maybe roll against you for gear?”  Yeah, I don’t think he’d really welcome that.  My other Holly Pally buddy is on another server, and is a (gasp) Alliance!  Yeah, as much as I’d love to run with her and get her to teach me the ropes, this whole Alliance/Horde War thing won’t let me. 

            That just leaves Naughtia.  Naughtia is my tailor and enchanter.  I leveled her to make money.  She is geared just enough to run heroics, but her DPS is bad.  I’m a little ashamed to take her out, actually.  So, she stands in her pretty white robes (A warlock wearing priestly-looking robes, thank you Transmogging!) and she sews bags for the auction house, and disenchants greens for the materials, and she looks pretty.  That’s about all she’s good for.  

            So, I play “BC” content on a hunter that could do much more, and I have three level 85s going to waste.  It seems strange, I know, but I’m actually enjoying playing the hunter.  I think that as long as I devote my time splitting between several different classes, I will continue to be a mediocre player.  I am becoming a “jack of all trades and master of none.”  I am learning Kheylar gradually.  I will keep practicing my rotation, running dungeons to see how to work with a group, and keep questing.  I would like to see her earn the “Shattered Sun” achievements and title.  There’s no real use for that anymore—it’s just something that I haven’t done in the game yet. 

            I’ll keep you posted on how things go with Kheylar as she grows, and how things go with Rosie and Rezina, too.  I know me.  I know that I will get bored with Kheylar soon and want to, say, take Rosie out to get the highest item level gear possible on her; or take Rezzie out on a dungeon binge with some guildies and decide I like healing with her.  That’s just not this week.  This week has been all about low-stress fun with my hunter.  I’ll try to stick to those three main ones for now.

            But then again, there is my baby-priest, Toshina. . . I sure do like playing a Shadow Priest with her. 

            To be continued. . .

An Open Letter To My Druid

Rosie getting ready for another wipe

To my druid, Miss RedRosie:  You and I have been constant companions for a little more than a year now.  I have watched you grow from a timid little heifer learning how to use your druidic powers into the strong, well-geared healer that you have become.  We have defeated Cho ’gal, Nefarian, Al’Akar, and the mighty Deathwing together.  We never were able to take down Ragnaros, but we sure did let him know that we were there!  We even went back in time to defeat Illidan and the Lich King, just for the experience of it all. 

We’ve explored Azeroth together on your magical wings.  We’ve picked countless stacks of herbs, visited far off lands, and killed thousands of enemies.  But, you and I have hit a brick wall in our relationship. 

It all started with that bitch, Alysrazor.  Strike that—it started with Nefarion, when you were too slow to climb out of the lava trap that he’d set for us and cause us all to die.  Finally, through sheer luck and a lot of coaching from your friends, you managed to get that big behind out of the lava.  The team defeated Nefarion, and we were able to move on to a more dangerous place:  Firelands.  I forgave you then, Rosie, because you seemed to have overcome your slowness.

That’s when we first met Alysrazor and her fire tornados.  Your guildies were depending on you to keep them alive, Rosie.  A dead healer cannot heal.  Even in cat form. with the two stacks of the “wings of fire” buff and using your dash ability, you just couldn’t manage it for a long time.  Soon, your Raid Leader started recruiting healers, and other guild-mates lovingly teased you about your affinity to fire.  Wowcrendor even lampooned this lack of ability in his film, “How to Tell If Your Guild is Bad.” 

The issues continued to the Ragnaros battle.  Your loving guildies would even call out when Ragnaros’s hammer of flames was headed in your direction.  “Rosie, it’s on our side, move!” 

My frustration comes from the fact that I’m smarter than this.  I am not a noob, I am not an idiot.  But, when I raid with you, there is more going on than I can process.  I am looking at health bars, HoT ticks, and trying to watch the fight so I know when to pump out bigger heals.  All these things combined,something  that so many other people do so well, is something that you and I working together just do not do enough to put out high healing numbers  That is why your Raid Leader was forced to replace you on regular Dragon Soul raids.  They no longer have confidence in you.  Neither do I.

You are a great dungeon healer.  You get compliments for the way that you keep the group up in heroics.  You are able to go into the “Raid Finder” version of Dragon Soul and put out good heals.  But, I just don’t think you’re cut out for a regular raid group.  And I want to take a break from you, until I get over my frustration.  It’s not permanent “putting out to pasture” , so don’t go off to Moonglade or Thunder Bluff and settle down with some nice Bull just yet.  It’s just a rethinking period.  Rosie, I just need to figure out why we just can’t get to the next level.  Because, really, you’re such a nice cow.

 

Do You Do The PTR?

I’m up early this morning, downloading the new Public Test Realm patch. I’m a little excited to see some of the changes that WoW 4.3 will bring. Transmoging and Void Storage, not to mention killing that dastardly dragon Deathwing, are all within my sneek-peeking. . . soon as this slow computer loads it up.

Not everyone goes onto the PTR. Some folks worry that it will mess up their game or their computer because it’s not a finished version of the patch. Others simply want to be surprised. These are the same folks who refuse to read articles about movies that say “Spoiler Alert!” Or, they are uncomfortable spending time playing a copy their toon in a test realm when they could be investing the real time in their real toon.

I am a nosey person by nature. I like knowing the inside scoop. It makes me feel included. So, I am tickled to death that I get to hop onto the PTR with my druid.

(Taps foot) Okay, so it is so slow uploading that it is now time for me to get ready for work. This means that I will have to go take my “Sneek-Peek” later this evening when I come home for work. It’s raid night, but I haven’t been included in the Firelands Raids–we have 3 druids and I am the one with the lowest DPS. So, I’m an alternate. It’s okay, It’s my own fault that I’m slow on my buttons, I always have been.

So, I’ll probably be testing out the test realm while the guild does Firelands. That will give me something to look forward to. Come on, work day, hurry up and be over! Oh, how I wish I could get paid for playing World of Warcraft. haha

Some Things That Blizzard Could Learn From RIFT

Kayanna–My Mage/Healer in RIFT

Every MMORPG is similar, but has vast differences as well.  While I decided in the long run that I preferred World of Warcraft to RIFT, there were features in RIFT that I strongly felt were superior.  These features helped lure thousands of players to at least try RIFT.  Blizzard had a documented decrease in subscribers directly after RIFT’s release on March 1, 2011.

 

Okay, this is a short list of obvious and more subtle differences that made RIFT enjoyable to play. 

 

1)  Character Customization and Artwork: Toons do not all look alike.  Not only could skin and hair styles be changed, but facial features, markings, and even height could be altered for the player’s liking.  Dyes could be purchased to color gear in different combinations as well. So if you wanted your rogue to always wear black, no matter what gear dropped, it could be dyed.

 

2)  No more “Cookie Cutter” Specs:  Tanking Rogues?  Priest-Mages?  Mail wearing Druids?  Warriors with pets?  What is this, crazy town?  Nope.  Just a normal day in RIFT. 

 

3)  AOE Looting:  Just killed a mob and have lots of sparklies.  Click on one and watch your bags fill up.  Click, Click, done. 

 

4)  Sense of community:  The RIFTS that the game is based on open up and invaders invade on a frequent basis.  Imagine  it this way–you’re questing through Northern Barrens and suddenly, general chat is filled with calls for help, LFG messages, calls for tanks and heals, etc.  That’s how it works.  The community has to work together to close the rifts–and they get pretty good rewards for doing it.  Imagine also that the Alliance and Horde had to work together. . .and could communicate.  You know how you say derogatory things about a gnome warlock in a battleground ?  What if she understood what you said, and would answer back?  All of this, believe it or not, makes folks more civil and helpful.  Trade Chat Trolls are rare, and people are less likely to yell, “Stupid Noob!” and “Ask a guard” when you ask a question in general chat.

 

Just as important, though, is that the developers actually interact with the players.  The lead developer of Trion actually plays forum games like, “Where in the World” and if you find him and submit a screenshot, you get an in-game title.  I once saw a movie of a RITF in game wedding that turned into a real-life proposal.  The developers were in on it, created a priest and officiated!

 

5)  Easter eggs:  RIFT has in-game puzzles and hidden caches of gear that are just there to be discovered.  When you do them, you can receive achievements and titles. 

 

Of course, there are negatives with RIFT that makes WoW superior–if not, I and thousands of my cohorts would have re-subscribed and be running dungeons and slaying dragons right now.  But, all of these (and many, many more) of the unique features of RIFT could go a long way to improving WoW and making it even more enjoyable. 

 

 

 

 

Coming Back to Blogging–and World of Warcraft

Rosie at 85

Hello again! I took a little break from WoW and tried RIFT for the summer. I liked RIFT and found it easy to learn because it was so much like WoW, but. . . it just wasn’t the same. After the 6 month subscription ended, Hubby and I went back to WoW.

It was funny how while playing RIFT, we did not have the desire to spend as much time on the computer. We went places. The house was cleaner. We watched television shows and movies again. We had a life outisde of the our computer “virtual world.”

Then, one day I was playing around on Youtube and found a funny World of Warcraft Video. The video had snipits of the game’s soundtrack. . . Orgimmar’s theme music, to be exact. Hubby and I looked at each other expectantly. That theme music re-ignited our love for the game, and much like Pavlov’s Dogs answering that famous bell, we resubscribed to WoW and returned to our beloved toons.

We joined a new guild where we feel like we finally fit in. We have our chosen raiders leveled up, and three week’s time we have them geared fairly well. We’re having fun with the game again. That is the important thing. It’s fun.

Oh, BTW:  the picture to the left is Rosie the day that she hit 85, three weeks ago.  We’ve finished Bastion of Twilight, Blackwing Decent, and the Gawd-Awful Throne of the Four Winds in the past three weeks, and started on Firelands Trash.  So, my favorite cow looks a little different since she posed for this picture.

Emotional Attachment Is Important

I will admit it—I am a bad blogger. I do not update my site weekly, much less daily. I apologize. Life gets in the way sometimes, and the desire to sit down and be creative doesn’t always strike me. In fact, when my mind is busy thinking about getting through a day at work, caring for my family, and paying bills, the creative juices just do not have the opportunity to thrive. I don’t mean this as an excuse by any means; just an explanation.
I am still playing World of Warcraft, just not as much. I have a scattered focus right now. I have worked on my Paladin, Rezina, until I am sick of playing her. I am frustrated with my Druid, RedRosie. Since Blizzard keeps changing the way a Druid plays, my favorite toon seems less and less attractive. I finished Outland with her in Balance Spec and quickly found out that Northrend was not a friendly place for her. She cannot take a hit. She has trouble when more than one enemy attacks her. Her casts are slow and unwieldy. For survivability, I went back to Feral Cat Spec—but am not happy with that either. I prefer playing a caster to melee classes. Yes, she can take a hit, even multiple hits, but she still struggles with multiple targets.
Hubby and I also have a caster duo that we are leveling together. I play a warlock, and he plays a mage. He hopes that someday we can raid with them. I do not think I will raid with my ‘lock unless she gets much more interesting before level 85. Right now, at level 65, my rotation is this:
• Send in my Felgaurd
• Start applying DoTs
• Start casting Shadow Bolt. . .which is usually interrupted when Hubby’s Mage casts his one Pyroblast.
• Watch Hubby’s Mage run around to find his second target because he now has a proc—second enemy falls as hubby one-shots him.
• Sigh, loot, look for next target
• Rinse, repeat
I have felt the desire to do something new and different. I rolled a Tauren Hunter, leveled her up to level 9, and abandoned her. I rolled a Gnome Shaman, leveled her to 16, and got frustrated with the chore of managing totems. I keep looking at the Troll Mage and Goblin Priest, both under level 20, that I think about playing but never have the time. I have two Worgen on other servers that I’d also love to level up but, again, no time.
I’ve looked at RIFT in different articles and promotional videos, and been impressed with the character customization aspects of it. Toons look like you want them to. They play with spells the way you want to play them. No more cookie-cutter, “right” spec. But, it’s a new world, new community, and another time sink that I do not have. So, for now, RIFT is on a shelf in the back of my mind, sitting beside several of my World of Warcraft alts.
My Horde guild broke up. I was happy with the raiding opportunities that guild offered, but not happy with the social aspect (or lack thereof). They spoke, they ran dungeons and farmed or crafted, but there wasn’t a sense of family that I had felt with my Alliance guild. We’ve since then joined a social guild—one of the top guilds on our server. I’ve even tanked a few raids for them on Rezina and healed a couple on Rosie. My frustration is that, again, it’s lacking that family, social feel. They don’t know me. When I change alts, they don’t know me. Many of the other people in the guild are much younger than I am, and I get the feeling that I am one of the rare female players in the guild.
I am not giving up World of Warcraft by any means. I am just going through a “down” period, where it just isn’t as fulfilling as it once was. Part of it is the lack of time that I am putting into it, and part of it is my own lack of focus and desire to try something new in the game. I had one character I enjoyed who is now almost unplayable because of “nerfs.” The rest of them, well, I don’t have the emotional attachment to them that I have with her because I have not played them. I also don’t feel the sense of community I once did. When I look around the blogosphere, I see that I’m not the only one feeling this way.
Blizzard, may I make a suggestion? Instead of focusing on adjusting abilities of an entire class to please the few player who complain about arena fairness, focus on making the game more engaging to the majority of the players. Give us more options with talent trees, abilities, and character customization. I think this would help many of us, not just me, enjoy playing WoW a little more.

Hey, You Elitist Jerk! Bite My Shiny, Metal Butt!

All this haterade bores me. (Yawn

A direct quote from that sweetheart, Wolfshead.  “It gets worse, it always does. The players through no fault of their own have become virtual slackers addicted to a steady drip feed of rewards. Shooting fish in a barrel would require too much skill for today’s average WoW player. People don’t want to work for anything anymore; they feel entitled. They want achievements for just showing up and Blizzard is only too happy to oblige.”

So, how does it feel to be called the worst gaming community out there? Or, better still, “Entitled, unskilled, and incompetent?” That is what a gaming blogger named Wolfshead has called us WoW players while he reviews Cataclysm as the “Worst Expansion in MMO History.” I wouldn’t even know about this guy and his “holier-than-thou” opinion until I started seeing the reaction from the people in the community who actually PLAY World of Warcraft and CARE about the community. So, I had to go and read it for myself.
I will admit, I had bolstered myself for some negativity. Larissa from the Pink Pig-tailed Inn had already stated that he was a prolific critic of WoW. I also see at the top of his page that he’s claiming to be a MMO Designer. Yeah, Okay. My 20 year old makes his own anime cartoons with Paint Shop and a animation program I paid a whopping $50 for; on an E-Machine Computer I bought him at Wal-Mart, so I guess you can call him a Cartoonist. You can catch his stuff on his MySpace Page. Since he still lives with me, and I keep him in pizza, cereal, and World of Warcraft, I guess I should just wait patiently for the checks to come in, right?
But, I let me come back to what I wanted to respond in my own blog about. I appreciate being called a “slacker” just as much as I like it when someone in a PUG calls me a noob and tries to blame me for their death when they are the idiot who ran ahead and pulled agro! I am not a SLACKER! I am a MOM! With a job, and with bills to pay, and with three children to raise! I do not have 10-12 hours every day to devote to playing a computer game to make sure that I have the “Top Skills.”
I do, however, take great pride in my characters and the achievements that they have accomplished. If I didn’t, I would not be writing about them in a blog. I have much more important things to write about. I have been inspired by the WoW Community, the bloggers, and my in-game friends and guild-mates, to attempt to share my experiences with anyone out there on the internet who would like to read about them.
I do not find getting an achievement as easy as “Shooting Fish in a Barrel” or think I am entitled to being handed Epic gear just for logging on. I think that I have to develop my skills, level my toons, learn professions, and befriend other people on my server who want to work with me. I know that I will never, ever be the greatest Tankadin known to Raiding. I will never top the DPS Chart. When I mention healing, my own husband shudders and says, “Stick to tanking, please?” I know this because I am not an elitist jerk (though I am familiar with their website by the way, ha!) and I do not have hours upon hours of time to make my toons that way. I play for the escape and the enjoyment, and yet, the challenge that the game provides me. When I earn (and yes, I said earn) an achievement, such as completing all the quests in an area or tanking a heroic dungeon successfully, it feels good. That is the payoff for me. When I play with friends to run a raid, and we are all working together as a team to complete a segment, there’s nothing finer in gaming. It means something to me.
I never got to finish ICC with my old guilds on my two Alliance Servers. Good friends ran with me, taught me how to tank and ranged DPS, tried to teach me how to play a Death Knight (LOL!). We got as far as Professor Putricide before my husband and I, burnt out on the stress and the raiding grind, took a break. When Cataclysm came out, we went Horde and switched servers. Don’t get me wrong—we’re very happy on our new server with our new guild. But, I miss the sense of accomplishment I would have gotten from standing toe to toe with the Lich King, a grown up decent raider. I can see it now, with my guildies behind me, and saying, “HeyLich King, we’re here!  You are going down, big guy!”
I still have the “Neverending Winter” Shield in my bank. I will never sell it. It is my souvenir from my raiding days with my old guild. Getting it, in itself, was an achievement for me.
Therefore, Wolfshead, now that your free trial version of Cataclysm has expired, you don’t have to darken my community’s doorstep anymore. You don’t know what you’re talking about. In my opinion, you’re an outsider making judgments on something you have casually observed, but don’t understand. You made a knee-jerk reaction based upon the ease in questing at lower levels; the crappy people you sometimes pick up in PUGS with the dungeon finder; and the funny ways that Worgen act when they idle. (Yeah, well, I’m a Hordie, I can point and laugh at Worgen puppy dogs sniffing around. . . just like I still laugh at Taurens for scratching their butts!)
Worst of all, you made a snap judgment on the entire WoW community based upon the handful of idiots who troll around Trade Chat. Hey, Blizzard gave us another nice feature. . the “Ignore” List! I have those immature jerks and haters on ignore. And, Wolfhead, in my eyes, you’re just another Trade Chat Troll. now that I’m done telling you what I think, I will have you on ignore too.

Adventures in Outland. . . Why Outland?

I have to admit something rather strange that might make you point and laugh at me.  I love Outland!  I love the quests, I love the lore, I love the weird landscape.  We’re off to kill demons–yay!  It’s even more fun when you’re a level 85 protection paladin, and everything drops with a single flick of your avenger’s shield.

When I first started playing WoW, Wrath of the Lich King had just come out.  The goal was to level to 80 as fast as possible and start running heroic dungeons and raiding Nax over and over (Until ICC came along and took raiding up a notch).  Outland was the place to level from 58-68.  When you dinged 68, it was time to make that crucial decision to hop a boat (zepplin) for Borean Tundra or Howling Fjord.  Outland was pretty much just a place to rush through.

I didn’t have the time to get tired of Outland that other people had.  I didn’t have to run Slave Pens and Tempest Keep over and over again waiting for WotLK to be released.  I never got to see Shattrath as a booming metropolis.  When people compare it to Dalaran before Cataclysm, I just shake my head.  I can’t picture it.

Now that I’m 85 I want to take advantage of our Guild’s Reputation Bonus.  In my mind, that means going back to grind rep with factions that I started when I was leveling.  I do my dailies in Uldum and Tol Braad like a good girl, even though I find launching bombs at people on a hill tedious and Tol Braad  a scary, horid nightmare of a place.  But, when I finish those “chores,” I go off to Outland. 

The past two weeks I’ve been working on reaching exalted with the Shatari Skyguard.  The payoff for me was getting a mount, a pet, and their tabard.  I collect all three of these on my toons, so to get three with one exalted reputation was very satisfying. 

There are basically 6 daily quests for Shatari Skyguard Rep.  Two of them are in the Blade’s Edge Mountains, and the other four are in Terokkar Forrest.  In Blade’s Edge, the two quests are simple to accomplish.  The first one involves weakening and then capturing 5 Nether Rays for training.  The second is a bombing run to a nearby demon base, hitting them 15 times.  If you are able to complete this quest within 2 minutes, you can earn another achievement.  However, the cool-down on the bombs, as well as the time it takes to aim and then fire a bomb, made this too difficult for me to accomplish.

In Terokkar, the quests start out simple.  There is a second bombing run–this time to destroy 15 eggs.  This too, has an accomplishment, but I had the same problems completeing it.  You’re then asked to gather Shadow Dust by killing the nearby Arrakola Bird-people.  With pleasure!  These things are nasty and remind me of the bad guys from “The Dark Crystal.”  After you have six Shadow Dusts, one of the Skyguard people makes you Shadow Elixir to help you see the ghosts of “Time Lost” bad bird people.  You’re then given daily quest 3–collect 40 Time-Lost Scrolls from the ghost bird-people, and use them to summon 4 mini-bosses.  Bring back a souvineir from each of them and you’re given a “Time Lost” Offering.  This summons the main boss and completes the 4th quest.  Oh, and something nice that drops from the final boss is bind on equip level 70  epic gear. If you have an alt that you’re leveling and will soon be level 70, this is extra helpful.  If you don’t, then you can sell the item on the auction house.  Someone will at least buy it to disenchant it if nothing else. 

While visiting Outland, I have to admit I’ve been a bully to some Alliance folks.  I don’t mean to be a bully, honest.  I hate bullies!  But, I am a fierce competitor and love to win at, well, anything.  So, I helped some level 60′s complete the “Weaken the Ramparts” quests.  I’d stand beside them and the flagpole and watch a couple of level 80 Alliance Players circle long enough to take a good look before retreating. 

In real life, I am one of the meekest, non-threatening women you’ll ever meet.  I’m short, I’m tiny-boned, and I hate conflict.  Watching those two Alliance folks bug out, mainly because of me, made me bold.  I next went to Zangermarsh and took both of the becons for the Horde, singlehandedly.  Presumably there was no one around interested in stopping me, and they probably did not care one way or the other.  Still, I was a little dissapointed.  What fun is it to be a bully when there’s no one around?  So, my next Outland PVP Adventure was back in Terokkar.

Hubby is questing through there on one of his many alts, and wanted some help taking a Spirit Tower for a quest.  He only had to take one, not all of them.  (I believe there are six total, but I could be wrong.)  The bad thing about the PVP in Terokkar is that it’s only available every 6 hours.  Once the towers have been taken by a side, they cannot be taken again until the 6-hour waiting period is up.  I imagine this is very frustrating to people who are trying to complete this quest.  I honestly did not consider it at all until I met a Draenei Paladin at the top of a tower.

Hubby had a tower, and I went ahead to claim the next one in the circle.  Remember, I’m the big, bad bully chick, no one is messing with me.  I had a chip on my shoulder as big as a brick by this point.  A level 70 gnome rogue flew by the tower.  He slowed down and looked as if he was considering me.  I waved at him to show that he had my full attention.  He then flew away.  I again felt the bully’s rush of scaring off a person smaller and weaker.  Then, the gnome’s questing partner, the Draenei, showed up on the tower beside me.  I gave him a friendly wave, too, as if to say, “I’m not backing down.”  In return, he hit me with a Crusader’s Strike.

We started fighting right there on the top of that tower.  Every time we’d get low on health, we would heal up.  When I ran out of mana I’d use “Word of Glory.”  From the look of his heath and mana bars, he was doing the same thing.  We went back and forth for almost a minute.  Hubby and the gnome were circling, both wanting to help their partner.  Another Blood Elf showed up and started fighting the Draenei too.  He died, and we took the last spirit tower.  For the Horde!

I was full of child-like excitement.  That had been an awesome battle!  I am not good at PvP, so for me to stand toe-to-toe with an equal apponent and not die was an achievement all in itself.  I was happilly chirping to Hubby how great the fight had been when I got the whisper, “You couldn’t just let me have one tower for a quest?”

Evidently, the Draenei has a Horde Alt.  He had switched over to give me greif.  “I just needed that one last daily, and I don’t have six hours to wait around!”

Maybe he thought I would be mean to him, or offended by his complaint?  Instead, I said, “Wow, that was you?  That was a great fight!  That was so much fun, thank you!”

“Yeah, fun until it was 3 on 1.” he pouted.

“Look, I’m sorry about your quest.  I didn’t think anyone would care if we took the spirit towers.  I really did not expect that anyone else was questing here.”

“Well, I have to do my dailies, since the Horde has had TB forever, I’ve been doing them here.”  He explained.

“Well, I’m sorry I ruined your questing.” I apologized, feeling sorry for him.   “But, I really did have fun fighting with you .  I think it would have come down to who ran out of mana first.”

“It would have been me.  I think you have more.  Anyway, see you around.” and he was gone.

So, I guess I’m not the only “bully” in Outland.  And now that my Tauren has hit 58 over the weekend, she’s on her way there.  I will know to steer clear of any Draenei Pallies I see flying around PvP areas. . .

Well, maybe.  I still have that chip on my shoulder.