I was one of those people who purchased the expansion pack on the 13th and spent every free minute of time levelling up my main. I was not one of the dedicated / driven / questionably sane people who tried to power level to hit 80 within days rather than weeks.
Leveling in northrend has been the most fun I've had levelling. It's prettier than anything to date and it hits the vast majority of wow buttons for me. I like that crafting recipes are no longer BoP from instances and raids. I love that tedious rep grinding seems to be pretty much a thing of the past. I'm glad that they've made things easier and more accessible to the casual game. I covet the flying carpet that my other half will be crafting and enjoying shortly. I instantly purchased a war bear and have enjoyed finally owning a bear mount which has a slight 4x4 feel to it.
There were areas that I gravitated towards more so than others. I hated Zul-Drak and the icecrown, love the storm peaks and grizzly hills. The vehicle quests I find either exhilarating or an absolute nightmare if any fighting is involved. I tend to fair very poorly in combat. I'm a great rescuer though - ask me to go and pick up NPC's in distress any time.
It does feel as if the pressure is off and I can breathe a little again. Until I start thinking about leveling my level 70 druid for the arena.
Tuesday, 2 December 2008
Monday, 1 December 2008
Monday, 10 November 2008
WotLK Factions
Plenty of new factions (16 that I know of) to satisfy even keenest of keen rep grinders. The eight 'neutral' factions open to both horde and alliance follow in the warcraft tradition. The Argent Crusade has already been introduced. The frenzyheart tribe is a bunch of wolverines or wolvar (how cool is that) at war the oracles, a bunch of murlocesques and obviously gaining rep with one will cause your rep with the other to go down. The Kirin Tor is a bunch of wizards based in Dalaran. The Knights of the Ebon Blade are a group of death knights based in the eastern plaguelands. The Kalu'ak are nomads in the Borean Tundra. The Sons of Hodir are frost giants. The Wyrmrest Accord are a dragonflights alliance.
The Alliance Vanguard is made up of:
The Alliance Vanguard is made up of:
- The Explorer's League (Dwarves)
- The Frostborn (Frost Dwarves)
- The Silver Covenant (high elves)
- Valiance Expedition (the main armies of the Alliance)
- The hand of vengeance (the forsaken forces)
- The taunka (ancestral cousins of the tauren)
- The sunreavers (blood elves)
- Warsong Offensive (leading Horde expeditionary forces)
Friday, 24 October 2008
Ordinary
Almost nine months into the game and the shiny bits are starting to rubb off a little. Starting my very first MMORPG was most definitely exciting. Reaching the 'firsts' were at times even more exciting. I still recall with great nostalgia getting my first 14-slot bag from the Darkmoon Faire, powerleveling from 37 - 40 non-stop to buy my dinky mechanostrider (and how fast that slow mount seemed!), hitting exalted with darnassus with my gnome and purchasing a super fast nightsaber and then making my first round of flight expenses to purchase my green griffon. I remember getting my first purple item and surprisingly, my first blue item on each of my characters. I guess I could keep writing as there are just so many firsts to had. However, it's not just the milestones that I recall fondly. It's also the fun in general. I have favourite farming spots for all the gathering professions, favourite grinding spots for each class at different levels, favourite travelling routes to pick up flight paths and favourite vendors - how daft is that?
It took a while to realize that it's not for the objectives that I play. I don't play for the uber rare raid loot or the elitish titles. I don't play to be exceptional or sport a rare item. I don't park my characters at the bank and I'm not a guildie. I simply enjoy the mundane. I enjoy running my auction toon from the auction house straight to the bank. I enjoy spending ten minutes here and thirty minutes there gathering a few mats to craft a leg enchant or blue gem. I enjoy playing the battlegrounds for no other reward than that I enjoy playing in the battlegrounds.
As soon as I take my eyes off the moment and begin to search for the big prize at the end, I no longer feel an inclination to play. It's just not fun anymore. The idea of rep grinding for weeks horrify me. So does the idea of battleground farming. Trying to string along bg after bg so I can wrack up hundreds of thousands of honor points to buy a set of gear which will be old and tattered in comparison by the time I finish is disheartening. It isn't fun. I'm just not an achiever. Not much of an explorer either it seems as I've never tried to find the airport in the mountains outside of Ironforge. Maybe my characters are just a little ordinary. The bread and butter type. Maybe.
It took a while to realize that it's not for the objectives that I play. I don't play for the uber rare raid loot or the elitish titles. I don't play to be exceptional or sport a rare item. I don't park my characters at the bank and I'm not a guildie. I simply enjoy the mundane. I enjoy running my auction toon from the auction house straight to the bank. I enjoy spending ten minutes here and thirty minutes there gathering a few mats to craft a leg enchant or blue gem. I enjoy playing the battlegrounds for no other reward than that I enjoy playing in the battlegrounds.
As soon as I take my eyes off the moment and begin to search for the big prize at the end, I no longer feel an inclination to play. It's just not fun anymore. The idea of rep grinding for weeks horrify me. So does the idea of battleground farming. Trying to string along bg after bg so I can wrack up hundreds of thousands of honor points to buy a set of gear which will be old and tattered in comparison by the time I finish is disheartening. It isn't fun. I'm just not an achiever. Not much of an explorer either it seems as I've never tried to find the airport in the mountains outside of Ironforge. Maybe my characters are just a little ordinary. The bread and butter type. Maybe.
Thursday, 9 October 2008
Level 19 gnome warrior twink
My indecision has sparked off yet another thread of gameplay - twinking. I'm level a gnome warrior at the moment to twink and are thinking about the following gear:
Head: Lucky Fishing Hat
Neck: Sentinel's Medallion
Shoulders: Talbar Mantle / Defender Spaulders
Back: Sentry Cloak
Chest: Blackened Defias Armor
Wrist: Cavedweller Bracers / Fortified Bracers of the Bear / Beetle Clasps
Hands: Thorbia's Gauntlets
Waist: Cobrahn’s Grasp
Legs: Chauses of Westfall
Feet: Silver-linked Footguards / Nat Pagle's Extreme Anglin' Boots
Ring 1: Seal of Wrynn
Ring 2: Protector's Band / Meadow Ring of Eluding / Blood Ring
Trinket 1: Insignia of the Alliance
Trinket 2: Minor Recombobulator / Arena Grand Master
Main Hand: Shadowfang
Off Hand: Redbeard Crest /Arctic Buckler
TwoHand: Night Reaver (2H Axe) / Runic Darkblade (2H Sword) / Glacial Stone (2H Mace) / Smites Mighty Hammer (2H Mace)/
Ranged: Lil Timmy's Peashooter / Venomstrike /Hand of Argus Crossfire
Head: Lucky Fishing Hat
Neck: Sentinel's Medallion
Shoulders: Talbar Mantle / Defender Spaulders
Back: Sentry Cloak
Chest: Blackened Defias Armor
Wrist: Cavedweller Bracers / Fortified Bracers of the Bear / Beetle Clasps
Hands: Thorbia's Gauntlets
Waist: Cobrahn’s Grasp
Legs: Chauses of Westfall
Feet: Silver-linked Footguards / Nat Pagle's Extreme Anglin' Boots
Ring 1: Seal of Wrynn
Ring 2: Protector's Band / Meadow Ring of Eluding / Blood Ring
Trinket 1: Insignia of the Alliance
Trinket 2: Minor Recombobulator / Arena Grand Master
Main Hand: Shadowfang
Off Hand: Redbeard Crest /Arctic Buckler
TwoHand: Night Reaver (2H Axe) / Runic Darkblade (2H Sword) / Glacial Stone (2H Mace) / Smites Mighty Hammer (2H Mace)/
Ranged: Lil Timmy's Peashooter / Venomstrike /Hand of Argus Crossfire
Update
Exploration came a little late for me. I was happy with all I was doing until I started loosing badly in the battlegrounds. At first, pvp was so much fun that I didn't care who won or who lost or how much honor I received. Playing was reward enough. Wish that didn't wear off.
It's demoralizing and much less fun when you are prepetually outgeared and outskilled. Alliance players seem to have this complete aversion to play in groups or to play strategically. I suspect Alliance players who are the exception play in premades and/or known groups. I certainly don't see them often enough.
It's not the loosing that is demoralizing, it's the lack of organisation. I'm tired of watching it all fall apart as singletons or small groups veer off into different directions. I'm tired of players who show no restraint and simply attack any horde at any place at any time just because they can see them. Most of all, I'm tired of not being able to hold my own. Although my resilience are up to 300 through painstaking commitment, I'm still mostly dying. Now I just die when I have the other person's health down to 2% rather than 92%, but I'm still the first to bite the dust. Arg! Doing a little better against squishies, but then the group problem hits. I take out one and get pounced on by a gazzilion, or so it feels. And since the biggest group I'm usually in is small, there isn't anybody else to heal or help since we're all outnumbered 3-1.
The result of this has been complete indecision on my part. I abandoned my level 70 gnome rogue to start up a troll rogue on a pvp server, only to realise that I don't want to be on a pvp server. At least, I don't want to level on a pvp server. I like farming as much as pvp and putting on my ipod, finding a nice grinding spot and spending a while mindlessly slaughtering mobs to skin, or running a little circular mining route, or flying over netherstorm with my druid in search of herbs is fun. I don't want to be ganked. I want to farm in peace and quiet. Not happening on a pvp server. Even when it feels as if I'm the only person in all Stonetalon mountains, I'm not happy leaving the base by myself. And farming in a group is just not the same. I want my solitude. I want to solo. The result of that experiment is a mid-level twenty rogue and a well-off auction toon lying dormant on burning steppes.
And so I went back to my gnome rogue, only to loose again. The result - I started a Belf Warlock on a pve server. She's now mid-twenties and I am still undecided. As much as I enjoy playing her, there's more to WoW than levelling and I seem to be stuck leveling multiple toons because I can't make up my mind. With WotLK coming out shortly, it's an even bigger dilemma. Shall I level my level 52 hunter in order to dump skinning for inscription? Or shall I level my level 22 mage to have inscription and engineering? Shall I put my alliance characters on the back burner and roll horde side instead? Or shall I get my level 68 night elf druid up to 70 so that I can level her to 80 for the arena? So many options and come to think of it, I'm not sure any of it is me.
I like the bread-and-butter profession recipes - the ones that are not BoP or require rep grinding rather than raiding. I like the battlegrounds, but only as a small percentage of my play time, otherwise WoW becomes too competitive for my taste. I think I will like the arena when I finally get my teeth into that, and so it's leveling remains. Ironically enough, the content everybody is rushing through to get where they want to play, is what I enjoy most. I like vanilla WoW, don't mind outland and there's few things as relaxing as leveling a toon just about anywhere.
As for pvp, the more toons I level, the better I am at pvp. I play better against opponents when I know how they play. Leveling one of each gives me that edge that I need. I'm best at defeating druids and rogues because I have a high level druid and rogue. I know how to counter, I know what they have and what the cooldowns on all the spells are. I realise that I don't need to level a class in order to have access to this information, but I don't level for this reason. I simply find that leveling different classes is what I enjoy doing and the added bonus is that it improves my pvp game too. And of course, my auction toon is gathering dust as nothing sells and nothing is bought prior WotLK. Is it wrong to say that the things I look forward the most to in the coming expansion pack is to have a vibrant auction house again...
It's demoralizing and much less fun when you are prepetually outgeared and outskilled. Alliance players seem to have this complete aversion to play in groups or to play strategically. I suspect Alliance players who are the exception play in premades and/or known groups. I certainly don't see them often enough.
It's not the loosing that is demoralizing, it's the lack of organisation. I'm tired of watching it all fall apart as singletons or small groups veer off into different directions. I'm tired of players who show no restraint and simply attack any horde at any place at any time just because they can see them. Most of all, I'm tired of not being able to hold my own. Although my resilience are up to 300 through painstaking commitment, I'm still mostly dying. Now I just die when I have the other person's health down to 2% rather than 92%, but I'm still the first to bite the dust. Arg! Doing a little better against squishies, but then the group problem hits. I take out one and get pounced on by a gazzilion, or so it feels. And since the biggest group I'm usually in is small, there isn't anybody else to heal or help since we're all outnumbered 3-1.
The result of this has been complete indecision on my part. I abandoned my level 70 gnome rogue to start up a troll rogue on a pvp server, only to realise that I don't want to be on a pvp server. At least, I don't want to level on a pvp server. I like farming as much as pvp and putting on my ipod, finding a nice grinding spot and spending a while mindlessly slaughtering mobs to skin, or running a little circular mining route, or flying over netherstorm with my druid in search of herbs is fun. I don't want to be ganked. I want to farm in peace and quiet. Not happening on a pvp server. Even when it feels as if I'm the only person in all Stonetalon mountains, I'm not happy leaving the base by myself. And farming in a group is just not the same. I want my solitude. I want to solo. The result of that experiment is a mid-level twenty rogue and a well-off auction toon lying dormant on burning steppes.
And so I went back to my gnome rogue, only to loose again. The result - I started a Belf Warlock on a pve server. She's now mid-twenties and I am still undecided. As much as I enjoy playing her, there's more to WoW than levelling and I seem to be stuck leveling multiple toons because I can't make up my mind. With WotLK coming out shortly, it's an even bigger dilemma. Shall I level my level 52 hunter in order to dump skinning for inscription? Or shall I level my level 22 mage to have inscription and engineering? Shall I put my alliance characters on the back burner and roll horde side instead? Or shall I get my level 68 night elf druid up to 70 so that I can level her to 80 for the arena? So many options and come to think of it, I'm not sure any of it is me.
I like the bread-and-butter profession recipes - the ones that are not BoP or require rep grinding rather than raiding. I like the battlegrounds, but only as a small percentage of my play time, otherwise WoW becomes too competitive for my taste. I think I will like the arena when I finally get my teeth into that, and so it's leveling remains. Ironically enough, the content everybody is rushing through to get where they want to play, is what I enjoy most. I like vanilla WoW, don't mind outland and there's few things as relaxing as leveling a toon just about anywhere.
As for pvp, the more toons I level, the better I am at pvp. I play better against opponents when I know how they play. Leveling one of each gives me that edge that I need. I'm best at defeating druids and rogues because I have a high level druid and rogue. I know how to counter, I know what they have and what the cooldowns on all the spells are. I realise that I don't need to level a class in order to have access to this information, but I don't level for this reason. I simply find that leveling different classes is what I enjoy doing and the added bonus is that it improves my pvp game too. And of course, my auction toon is gathering dust as nothing sells and nothing is bought prior WotLK. Is it wrong to say that the things I look forward the most to in the coming expansion pack is to have a vibrant auction house again...
Thursday, 21 August 2008
Gearing a lvl 18/19 troll rogue through the BGs
Time to think about gear. There is not that much pvp gear available at this level. So far I have found the following level 10-19 pieces:
- Dagger: Scout's Blade (214 HP, 30 WGMoH)
- Neck: Scout's Medallion (65 HP, 20 WGMoH)
- Ring: Legionnaire's Band (65 HP, 20 WGMoH)
- Trinket: Insignia of the Horde (2 805 HP)
- Rune of Duty (118 HP, 30 WGMoH)
Rolling Horde
The constant battleground nagging got to me sooner than I thought it would. In particular, "Why does the Alliance always loose?" and "The Horde always wins". It could me thinking. Does The Horde always win? And if so, why is that? And if not, why does most Alliance players seem to think so?
After nearly a hundred BG's on The Alliance side, I had a 30/70% win loss ration. It gets tedious when you only win only once out of every three to four battlegrounds. And for Warsong Gulch, it was more like one win out of every twenty played. Frustatring enough that I began to concider rolling on the Horde side.
I've spent the last three days levelling a troll rogue to level 18 and entered Warsong Gulch green eyed and bushy tailed. Twice played, twice won. That's a pretty good start, particularly when my little lvl 18 has very little skill (I keep hitting buttons for spells I don't have yet) and crappy gear.
I love my gnome rogue and I will gear her up via the Battlegrounds. However, I'm also enjoying my new troll rogue and would hope to level her to 70 on a pvp server. Eventually. For now, it's just nice to win Warsong Gulch twice, in a row! I'm on a roll! And will hopefully keep rolling...
After nearly a hundred BG's on The Alliance side, I had a 30/70% win loss ration. It gets tedious when you only win only once out of every three to four battlegrounds. And for Warsong Gulch, it was more like one win out of every twenty played. Frustatring enough that I began to concider rolling on the Horde side.
I've spent the last three days levelling a troll rogue to level 18 and entered Warsong Gulch green eyed and bushy tailed. Twice played, twice won. That's a pretty good start, particularly when my little lvl 18 has very little skill (I keep hitting buttons for spells I don't have yet) and crappy gear.
I love my gnome rogue and I will gear her up via the Battlegrounds. However, I'm also enjoying my new troll rogue and would hope to level her to 70 on a pvp server. Eventually. For now, it's just nice to win Warsong Gulch twice, in a row! I'm on a roll! And will hopefully keep rolling...
Thursday, 14 August 2008
Reputation For Enchanters
Good enchanting patterns are vital for any enchanter at level 70 and some can only be purchased when a certain level of reputation is reached with Outland factions. The following rep requirements are relevant to Alliance enchanters:
Honor Hold
Personally, I would aim for Honor Hold (Revered), Cenarion Expedition (Exalted), Lower City (Honored / Exalted), The Consortium (Revered), The Sha'tar (Revered) and Shattered Sun Offensive (irrelevant, since exalted is hit within two weeks thanks to the well-paying dailies).
Honor Hold
- Friendly: Formula: Enchant Bracer - Superior Healing
- Revered: Formula: Enchant Chest - Exceptional Stats
- Exalted: Formula: Enchant Cloak - Subtlety
- Revered: Formula: Enchant Gloves - Spell Strike
- Exalted: Formula: Enchant Cloak - Stealth
- Honored: Formula: Enchant Ring - Stats
- Exalted: Formula: Enchant Cloak - Dodge
- Friendly: Formula: Enchant Cloak - Spell Penetration
- Honored: Formula: Enchant Weapon - Major Striking
- Revered: Formula: Enchant Ring - Striking
- Honored: Formula: Enchant Gloves - Major Healing
- Revered: Formula: Enchant Weapon - Major Healing
- Exalted: Formula: Enchant Gloves - Threat
Personally, I would aim for Honor Hold (Revered), Cenarion Expedition (Exalted), Lower City (Honored / Exalted), The Consortium (Revered), The Sha'tar (Revered) and Shattered Sun Offensive (irrelevant, since exalted is hit within two weeks thanks to the well-paying dailies).
Sunday, 10 August 2008
Nostromo N52
I adore my Nostromo N52 which I have had right from the start. My darling husband bought it as a present as soon as I created my first WoW character and it worked like a charm. I don't think I would have enjoyed gaming nearly enough to get to 70 without it.
Needless to say, being new at all of this, I found the different key bindings very confusing. I haven't touched the in game key bindings, haven't made any macros and haven't used anything other than the basic profile until now.
I spent the morning providing some creative input as to how he could maximize his N52 and as we figured out his, I realised it was about time I also configured mine. It's still a work in progress, but I have made some gigantic changes to my set-up with an eye on a PvP slant.
Having spent hundreds of hours in game moving with my left hand, having to suddenly use my right is not on. If the Nostromo came in a left-hand version, I would have concidered swapping my mouse to the left and it to the right, it's that big a deal for me. Alas, it doesn't, so I'll just have to spend a few hundred more hours to adjust. I have also effectively opened up about 50 shortcuts whereas I usually stick to less than 15. Tripling my available pool of spells to have at my fingertips is taking some memorization. I have had to change around my UI keys in game to allow for this and am now totally and utterly clueless as to where the simplest things are.
In the long run, the change means that I should be able to view and use all my moves with equal ease. In the short run, it means complete chaos and starting again from scracth, particularly in the pvp setting.
Needless to say, being new at all of this, I found the different key bindings very confusing. I haven't touched the in game key bindings, haven't made any macros and haven't used anything other than the basic profile until now.
I spent the morning providing some creative input as to how he could maximize his N52 and as we figured out his, I realised it was about time I also configured mine. It's still a work in progress, but I have made some gigantic changes to my set-up with an eye on a PvP slant.
- I have removed all movement buttons from the N52 and now need to learn how to use the mouse to move. Yikes.
- I have activated the red, blue and green shifts and tied it to the three letter rows on my keyboard.
Having spent hundreds of hours in game moving with my left hand, having to suddenly use my right is not on. If the Nostromo came in a left-hand version, I would have concidered swapping my mouse to the left and it to the right, it's that big a deal for me. Alas, it doesn't, so I'll just have to spend a few hundred more hours to adjust. I have also effectively opened up about 50 shortcuts whereas I usually stick to less than 15. Tripling my available pool of spells to have at my fingertips is taking some memorization. I have had to change around my UI keys in game to allow for this and am now totally and utterly clueless as to where the simplest things are.
In the long run, the change means that I should be able to view and use all my moves with equal ease. In the short run, it means complete chaos and starting again from scracth, particularly in the pvp setting.
First PvP Purple
My main leaving with some impressive shoulders. I had a good day yesterday. Three battlegrounds in 45 minutes, all won, with a tabard and a gold medallion waiting for me on the way out.
Saturday, 9 August 2008
Battleground Drama
The conversation in Battlegrounds tend to get a little nasty when the plot unravels, particularly since it is usually the point where we start loosing big time. Frustration hits and it all goes downhill from here. The talkers tend to have very little sympathy. On the one hand, there's the frustrated experienced player who knows exactly how to win, but need the help of all the other players to do, but since they are unable to provide the help needed, the battle goes pear shaped. The comments here tend to be derogatory remarks to unskilled, unexperienced and weekend Noobs. The comeback tend to be somewhat less vicious, but only serve the fuel the flames. The person taking offence react defensively, generally taking the line that the game is a team effort and if the team is loosing, all members of the team are equally at fault for not making it work. Both are extreme points of few that only fuel a circular argument which then start to take priority over the actual game play.
New to the battlegrounds myself, I tend to feel as if the Noob comments hit home just a little. I am new. However, I have done my homework and know the strategy for each battleground. I have also done my homework on my class and what my various roles within a battleground may be. Each battleground also adds to that experience; playing with other, more experienced players teaches me how to play better and playing with less experienced players teaches me how it all comes apart. That said, I've won a few battlegrounds with a group of badly geared new players and I've lost spectacularly where more experienced players have not pulled their weight. Generalizations aren't always a good thing.
My frustration is rarely connected to the actual game play. It's a repetitive process and every play has an experience to offer. There is certain advantages to occasionally selecting a lesser role to play. At the end of a long day, I may feel like playing a little, but not up for a major intellectual assault. Picking a smaller BG and choosing to defend a base that doesn't see much action rather than playing offense suits me then. I'm not there for the honor kills or the win, I'm just there to have fun and get my badge at the end. If I do feel like putting everything into it, there's always to options - go for the win or go for the kill. It always starts off as going for the win, but once things fall apart entirely, I tend to give up any hope of actually winning and just try to join the battle and fight non-stop through to the end. It serves two purposes: (i) I get the highest level of honor kills I can get and (ii) pulling out all the stops may actually swing the battle back towards a win.
My frustration in the battlegrounds is triggered by the chatters. The ones who prefer throwing derogatory comments to clumsy players rather than giving them a few pointers. The ones who spend so much time shifting the blame that there can't possibly be time to actually be playing at the same time. The ones who give up once the odds swing against them and stop fighting the second they start to loose and begin spamming the chat channel with 'gz horde' and a string of sarcastic comments.
There seem to be a small minority (I hope), of experience players who feel that they are entitled to a well organised, well geared and well played battleground whenever they log on. There also seems to be a huddle of pessimists who are defensive and defeatest and doesn't seem to enjoy being there at all.
The biggest issue I am coming across in the BGs are one of thinking styles. My alliance buddies have a tendency to focus on the philosophy of the battleground and whilst listening to the chat, I can almost forget that I'm actually in a battleground. The conversation is more like a debate had over conjured manna biscuits whilst reclining on plush chair.
What comes around goes around. Slagging off the newbs tend to create timid and passive ranks, where nobody does anything and brave carebears go back to crafting. Conversely, if a few negative comments get your back up, the intensity of battlegrounds are probably not for you.
There is fun to be had in battlegrounds. If you can win, great. If you can play in a well-structured group, fantastic. If you can find a frontier where a handful of mates are throwing in everything and your play consists out of killed and be killed repetitively, I'm satisfied. And if nobody else plays, there's always the kamikaze moves that's great fun. As someone demonstrated fabulously yesterday in The Eye of the Storm, by diving from the starting point whilst screaming "Charge!" and "For Gnomeregan", as the Horde advanced en masse whilst all the Alliance players sat like a group of wet chickens on the hill. Pretty hilarious that. He also managed to take out two players in the process, the Horde just stood there and didn't know quite what to make of it, stood there long enough for two to be slaugtered by a gnome mage. Fantastic. Now that's the spirit of the battleground.
New to the battlegrounds myself, I tend to feel as if the Noob comments hit home just a little. I am new. However, I have done my homework and know the strategy for each battleground. I have also done my homework on my class and what my various roles within a battleground may be. Each battleground also adds to that experience; playing with other, more experienced players teaches me how to play better and playing with less experienced players teaches me how it all comes apart. That said, I've won a few battlegrounds with a group of badly geared new players and I've lost spectacularly where more experienced players have not pulled their weight. Generalizations aren't always a good thing.
My frustration is rarely connected to the actual game play. It's a repetitive process and every play has an experience to offer. There is certain advantages to occasionally selecting a lesser role to play. At the end of a long day, I may feel like playing a little, but not up for a major intellectual assault. Picking a smaller BG and choosing to defend a base that doesn't see much action rather than playing offense suits me then. I'm not there for the honor kills or the win, I'm just there to have fun and get my badge at the end. If I do feel like putting everything into it, there's always to options - go for the win or go for the kill. It always starts off as going for the win, but once things fall apart entirely, I tend to give up any hope of actually winning and just try to join the battle and fight non-stop through to the end. It serves two purposes: (i) I get the highest level of honor kills I can get and (ii) pulling out all the stops may actually swing the battle back towards a win.
My frustration in the battlegrounds is triggered by the chatters. The ones who prefer throwing derogatory comments to clumsy players rather than giving them a few pointers. The ones who spend so much time shifting the blame that there can't possibly be time to actually be playing at the same time. The ones who give up once the odds swing against them and stop fighting the second they start to loose and begin spamming the chat channel with 'gz horde' and a string of sarcastic comments.
There seem to be a small minority (I hope), of experience players who feel that they are entitled to a well organised, well geared and well played battleground whenever they log on. There also seems to be a huddle of pessimists who are defensive and defeatest and doesn't seem to enjoy being there at all.
The biggest issue I am coming across in the BGs are one of thinking styles. My alliance buddies have a tendency to focus on the philosophy of the battleground and whilst listening to the chat, I can almost forget that I'm actually in a battleground. The conversation is more like a debate had over conjured manna biscuits whilst reclining on plush chair.
What comes around goes around. Slagging off the newbs tend to create timid and passive ranks, where nobody does anything and brave carebears go back to crafting. Conversely, if a few negative comments get your back up, the intensity of battlegrounds are probably not for you.
There is fun to be had in battlegrounds. If you can win, great. If you can play in a well-structured group, fantastic. If you can find a frontier where a handful of mates are throwing in everything and your play consists out of killed and be killed repetitively, I'm satisfied. And if nobody else plays, there's always the kamikaze moves that's great fun. As someone demonstrated fabulously yesterday in The Eye of the Storm, by diving from the starting point whilst screaming "Charge!" and "For Gnomeregan", as the Horde advanced en masse whilst all the Alliance players sat like a group of wet chickens on the hill. Pretty hilarious that. He also managed to take out two players in the process, the Horde just stood there and didn't know quite what to make of it, stood there long enough for two to be slaugtered by a gnome mage. Fantastic. Now that's the spirit of the battleground.
Thursday, 7 August 2008
Gearing Lvl 70 Rogue for PvP
From carebear to battleground junkie in 24 hours. Needless to say, I'm loving the battlegrounds. After about a dozen goes, I'm finally starting to understand the objective a little too. The new and revised plan to gear for battlegrounds and from what I can tell, these are the best battleground gear for my rogue:
- Main Weapon: Merciless Gladiator's Shanker
- Off-hand dagger: Merciless Gladiator's Shiv
- Thrown: Merciless Gladiator's War Edge
- Head: Merciless Gladiator's Leather Helm
- Neck: Veteran's Pendant of Triumph
- Shoulder: Merciless Gladiator's Leather Spaulders
- Back: Sergeant's Heavy Cloak
- Chest: Merciless Gladiator's Leather Tunic
- Wrists: Veteran's Leather Bracers
- Hands: Merciless Gladiator's Leather Gloves
- Waist: Veteran's Leather Belt
- Legs: Merciless Gladiator's Leather Legguards
- Feet: Veteran's Leather Boots
- Ring 1: Veteran's Band of Triumph
- Ring 2: Vindicator's Band of Triumph
- Trinket 1: Battlemaster's Determination
- Trinket 2: Medallion of the Alliance
Wednesday, 6 August 2008
What to do with honor points?
Starting PvP and noticing that the main reward from Battlegrounds are honor points and Marks of Honor, I'm sure the most important tidbit of information is where to spend it to get new gear. It seems to be the NPC's in the Champion's Hall (in Stormwind) who do all the selling.
Level 70 Items:
Level 70 Items:
- Captain O'Neil - Weapons Quartermaster
- Captain Dirgehammer - Armor Quartermaster
- Lieutenant Tristia - Armor Quartermaster
- Master Sergeant Biggins - Officer Accessories Quartermaster
- Lieutenant Karter - War Mount Vendor (Except for the War Talbuk, purchased from Trader Narasu with Exalted Kurenai Rep in Telaar, Nagrand)
- Lieutenant Jackspring - Weapons Quartermaster
- Sergeant Major Clate - Armor Quartermaster
Quasi-Carebear PvP
I have a fondness for non-combat mmorpg activities, particularly crafting and in the Wow Auction House. Hitting level 70 through soloing, duoing and forming the occasional PUG was a rewarding experience, but doing the same dailies at the Isle of Quel'Danas is slowly driving me mad. Or maybe it slowly drove me to explore other avenues of gearing up. Since I my other half is keen on pvp, I've finally racked up the nerve to enter a battle ground.
What complete chaos. I joined the Eye of the Storm with the logic that is generally seen as the least active and therefore I assume all sides would be in disarray, following a kamikaze each-for-himself-approach. Turns out it was a pretty accurate assumption. Apart from the few honor farmers who camped at the start zone throughout, everybody else seem to follow a sort of loose plan. One group peeled off to protect the first alliance side tower, another to protect the second and a third to try and get the flag. The third group didn't always exist, sometimes the game strategy was simply to protect the towers. I surmise.
I tried to pick the underdog, but soon excluded getting the flag altogether. My rogue does very badly in moving combat. At the towers, combat are stationary, confined and much more chaotic. And in the chaos nobody knows what anybody else is doing, so I have the opportunity to experiment with my brand new shadowstep pvp spec.
Twenty minutes and three battleground matches later, I have 17 honor kills and had struck a single killing blow. Definite room for improvement. On the positive side, every other player on my side had a minimum of 30 000 lifetime kills at the start and I had a wopping 0. At least now I have 17. Carebear turns to PvP for a little mental stimulation. I'm sure I'm not the first and I won't be the last. So far so good.
The first battleground pretty much felt the same as the first time I logged in my level 1 Druid. My hands were trembling and I was terrified of all these real people that I might have to interact with. Stage fright at its most frightening. Switching to PvP has a similar feel. I am fully aware that my gear is still made of plenty of blues and greens and all of it is PvE spec. and that my PvP stats are filled with lots and lots of zeros. But I am also aware that nobody really cares and if they did, I don't think I'd care that they cared. Everybody has to start somewhere. And starting on battlegrounds at level 70 is maybe not the conventional approach, but it's a damn well legitimate approach. I wonder how many matches it's going to take to make my hands stop trembling and how many tension headaches I'll be staving off over the coming weeks.
Regardless, PvP it is for now. I'm sure I'll tire of that too eventually, but it's a whole new world and a whole new play style that has me feeling both excited and utterly content. I haven't run out of game as I'd fear I had when my xp bar vanished.
What complete chaos. I joined the Eye of the Storm with the logic that is generally seen as the least active and therefore I assume all sides would be in disarray, following a kamikaze each-for-himself-approach. Turns out it was a pretty accurate assumption. Apart from the few honor farmers who camped at the start zone throughout, everybody else seem to follow a sort of loose plan. One group peeled off to protect the first alliance side tower, another to protect the second and a third to try and get the flag. The third group didn't always exist, sometimes the game strategy was simply to protect the towers. I surmise.
I tried to pick the underdog, but soon excluded getting the flag altogether. My rogue does very badly in moving combat. At the towers, combat are stationary, confined and much more chaotic. And in the chaos nobody knows what anybody else is doing, so I have the opportunity to experiment with my brand new shadowstep pvp spec.
Twenty minutes and three battleground matches later, I have 17 honor kills and had struck a single killing blow. Definite room for improvement. On the positive side, every other player on my side had a minimum of 30 000 lifetime kills at the start and I had a wopping 0. At least now I have 17. Carebear turns to PvP for a little mental stimulation. I'm sure I'm not the first and I won't be the last. So far so good.
The first battleground pretty much felt the same as the first time I logged in my level 1 Druid. My hands were trembling and I was terrified of all these real people that I might have to interact with. Stage fright at its most frightening. Switching to PvP has a similar feel. I am fully aware that my gear is still made of plenty of blues and greens and all of it is PvE spec. and that my PvP stats are filled with lots and lots of zeros. But I am also aware that nobody really cares and if they did, I don't think I'd care that they cared. Everybody has to start somewhere. And starting on battlegrounds at level 70 is maybe not the conventional approach, but it's a damn well legitimate approach. I wonder how many matches it's going to take to make my hands stop trembling and how many tension headaches I'll be staving off over the coming weeks.
Regardless, PvP it is for now. I'm sure I'll tire of that too eventually, but it's a whole new world and a whole new play style that has me feeling both excited and utterly content. I haven't run out of game as I'd fear I had when my xp bar vanished.
Sunday, 3 August 2008
The Bartle Test of gaming personality
The Bartle Test of gaming personality is one of the largest ongoing surveys within the gaming population. The test consists of 30 questions and unfortunately each has only two possible answers and you must choose one. The test rates your play style in relation to four categories:
I dislike the running and riding required throughout the game. To the effect that battlegrounds and arenas look appealing simply for ability to portal. I tend to stick as close to base as I can and play in areas where the killing grounds are in close proximity to the inn. Surely that makes me an anti-explorer?
I mostly solo'd to level 70 and after six months of playing, grouped up with an unknown player the first time - yesterday. I used the general chat for the first time today, to type 'gas cloud @... (fill in coords)' and have never used the trade channel. I've never bought enchants or a jewel cut, haven't been really involved in any guild and so I'd say it's fair to exclude this category too.
As for the Killers byline, I have a wopping 0 honor kills on all my characters. I detest ganking and can't see myself ever raiding. And where does that leave me?
According to the test: 67% Explorer, 60% Achiever, 47% Killer and 25% Socializer.
I guess I do know my way around Azeroth without making use of coords or maps (and that kind of knowledge comes with experience).
I do pride myself on progression and enjoy reaching sensible goals. I have exalted rep with Darnassus, The Scryers and Shattered Sun Offensive and have maxed out 4 professions to date.
I have killed my fair share of NPCs and are itching to get into PvP.
I am also starting to feel the lack of social contact. It may be nice to play a little more with others. I can definitely see the appeal of grouping up in a Battleground or for a pvp quest. I guess the questionnaire isn't completely far out... Besides, doesnt everybody enjoy a little bit of everything?
To take the questionnaire yourself, go to http://www.gamerdna.com/bartle.php
- Achievers: those with exalted rep with every faction immediately comes to mind
- Explorers: Obsessive 'map fillers' who must have their map fully filled in for each area comes to mind...
- Socializers: the guildies that live in the cities and are always in the general chat, trade channel and/or guild chat whilst also having a few whispered private chats going simultaneously...
- The Killers: 'For the Horde/Alliance!' comes to mind, as well as hardcore raiding and high personal arena ratings.
I dislike the running and riding required throughout the game. To the effect that battlegrounds and arenas look appealing simply for ability to portal. I tend to stick as close to base as I can and play in areas where the killing grounds are in close proximity to the inn. Surely that makes me an anti-explorer?
I mostly solo'd to level 70 and after six months of playing, grouped up with an unknown player the first time - yesterday. I used the general chat for the first time today, to type 'gas cloud @... (fill in coords)' and have never used the trade channel. I've never bought enchants or a jewel cut, haven't been really involved in any guild and so I'd say it's fair to exclude this category too.
As for the Killers byline, I have a wopping 0 honor kills on all my characters. I detest ganking and can't see myself ever raiding. And where does that leave me?
According to the test: 67% Explorer, 60% Achiever, 47% Killer and 25% Socializer.
I guess I do know my way around Azeroth without making use of coords or maps (and that kind of knowledge comes with experience).
I do pride myself on progression and enjoy reaching sensible goals. I have exalted rep with Darnassus, The Scryers and Shattered Sun Offensive and have maxed out 4 professions to date.
I have killed my fair share of NPCs and are itching to get into PvP.
I am also starting to feel the lack of social contact. It may be nice to play a little more with others. I can definitely see the appeal of grouping up in a Battleground or for a pvp quest. I guess the questionnaire isn't completely far out... Besides, doesnt everybody enjoy a little bit of everything?
To take the questionnaire yourself, go to http://www.gamerdna.com/bartle.php
Altoholic or Singleton?
Some people start with one character and stick with that character, whilst others preferred a variety of plain different classes and levelling up different professions. It could difficult choice to make. On the one hand, playing one character has the advantage of quick progression, plenty of gold and spending more time at end game, usually either in the arena or raiding. On the other hand, levelling up more than one character can provide a larger variety of play. Personally, I have more and Altoholic than a singleton. Here is why:
I am a sampler at heart. However, I do like to get my teeth stuck into it rather than just taking a small bite. To that effect, I will keep playing my level 70 at a level 70 until it's time to level her up to 80, and just as I will continue to regularly or occasionally play my eight or nine alts. As far as professions go, I will most definitely max out leatherworking, alchemy and jewelcrafting. Just because it's fun. T
- I enjoy levelling. Each zone has a different flavour and although the quests tend to centre around the same theme, it's nice to have the individual touches of each zone. You do have my favourite zones of that I frequent again and again and it's more enjoyable to have a character of an appropriate level rather than breezing through on my epic mount.
- I love crafting. It is my favourite part of the game. To that effect, I have five characters for the five crafting professions I practice. ( My husband does the tailoring and enchanting). I could have combined to crafting professions per character, but then mats soon become a problem. Besides, being a professional junkie, I must have an alt for each gathering profession.
- I want to play all the classes. I know that most people tend to find one class that they can identify with and stick with it, becoming specialists in effect. Unfortunately for me, I can't seem to find my niche. I love the simplicity of playing my rogue, the diversity of playing my hybrid druid, the companionship of my hunters' pet, or survivability of my paladin, the quirkiness of my gnome mage, the alienness of my draenei shaman, the speed of my warriors charge! and the healing power of my priest. I can't wait to play up a warlock to try shadowbolt for myself. Let's not even mention the anticipation of waiting to start up a Death Knight
- Surprisingly, it's not all about the gold. I have always seen myself as quite the material girl, but it turns out I am more of a hedonist. Besides, the best things in warcraft (from patterns to gear to the coolest mounts), gold cannot buy.
I am a sampler at heart. However, I do like to get my teeth stuck into it rather than just taking a small bite. To that effect, I will keep playing my level 70 at a level 70 until it's time to level her up to 80, and just as I will continue to regularly or occasionally play my eight or nine alts. As far as professions go, I will most definitely max out leatherworking, alchemy and jewelcrafting. Just because it's fun. T
Saturday, 2 August 2008
The Feathermoon Stonghold Trek
There's not that much in game that annoy me. I do find, like other players, plenty to complain about, but it's mostly complaints of personal preference. I complain about the cartoony graphics, when there's more realistic options available. I complain about BoP items which would've been nice to have as BoE instead. I complain about the prices of things I can't afford on the AH and then I complain about silly peeps who keep lowering the prices of items I try to sell for as much gold as possible. I complain about the commute, all that bloody running in the first few levels particularly, but all the things I complain about are there for a reason.
Having the quest base and inn on an island off Feralas is however, one of the complaints I feel is valid. I don't understand why I have to spend so much time on a ferry going back in forth when I only have 30 minutes to play. That tedious boatride makes Feralas, one of my favourite areas in appearance, somewhere I rarely visit. I do the questline for the blue gloves and that's about it. But I like Feralas and I would like to play there, but I'm not logging off outside an inn and I'm not traveling back and forth to Feathermoon stronghold. It's one of those ingame mechanisms which seems to be there for the purpose of annoying me. And maybe just to have variety. But it's stupid.
I'm level 44 now with my hunter and again, I will be skipping over Feralas. I'll be going back to Tanaris, probably grinding scorpids and turtles 'til I can go elsewhere. Not that I fancy going to the Swamp of Sorrows, with no flightpath at all, or back to STV with a long Booty Bay run too. At least there are alternatives. I can skip over all of these and level up in Searing Gorge and The Hinterlands until I hit 48-9 and I'm off to Felwood for some rep grinding.
But I wanted to quest in Feralas. And it's disappointing that it's just not practical because the commute from inn to hunting ground is just too long and tedious.
Having the quest base and inn on an island off Feralas is however, one of the complaints I feel is valid. I don't understand why I have to spend so much time on a ferry going back in forth when I only have 30 minutes to play. That tedious boatride makes Feralas, one of my favourite areas in appearance, somewhere I rarely visit. I do the questline for the blue gloves and that's about it. But I like Feralas and I would like to play there, but I'm not logging off outside an inn and I'm not traveling back and forth to Feathermoon stronghold. It's one of those ingame mechanisms which seems to be there for the purpose of annoying me. And maybe just to have variety. But it's stupid.
I'm level 44 now with my hunter and again, I will be skipping over Feralas. I'll be going back to Tanaris, probably grinding scorpids and turtles 'til I can go elsewhere. Not that I fancy going to the Swamp of Sorrows, with no flightpath at all, or back to STV with a long Booty Bay run too. At least there are alternatives. I can skip over all of these and level up in Searing Gorge and The Hinterlands until I hit 48-9 and I'm off to Felwood for some rep grinding.
But I wanted to quest in Feralas. And it's disappointing that it's just not practical because the commute from inn to hunting ground is just too long and tedious.
Wednesday, 30 July 2008
Time and Money
As I spend a little more time building my characters each day, I grow a little more weary of the process. It seems like such a large investment of my time to a process that will not have any materialistic return or noticeable gains. I guess I am having a little trouble having a hobby that's neither morally superior nor a complete waste of time. Before Warcraft my idea of a computer game was a few rounds of Sudoku or Mahjong Solitaire. My idea of a hobby was mastering a Beethoven Sonata or a Bach fugue, reading a poem or a Stoppard play or delving into architecture, anthropology, linguistics or some other intellectual discipline. However, there is only so much intellectualism a person can engage in on any given day and my idea of relaxation was reading thrillers or watching action flicks or medical dramas ad nauseam.
I still play the piano. I still read, both thrillers, scientific texts and english literature. I still watch plenty of TV and engage in the occasional game of solitaire or soduko. Yet now I also log in to my Wow server to check the AH stats, do the dailies or level up a toon. It remains a daunting thought: how much time and effort has gone into a computer game. Very little of what I do is a natural progression of seemingly meaningless repetitive tasks that eventually amount to some larger achievement. There is no visible progression in reading or watching TV. There is somewhat in playing the piano, but these days playing the piano equates to using a fully T6 geared main to run Gnomeregan or maybe it's using a level 15 for Karazhan. Either way, progressing as a piano player requires better finger joints than I have. As for work, how many jobs are more than taking care of daily tasks that needs to be done every day? Working life is mostly like visiting the Isle of Quel'Danas for the ten or eleven repeatables that pay well at the end of the day.
Maybe the answer to the uncomfortable realization of just how much time and money goes into the game is as simply as not to worry about it. In the great scheme of things, it's not really that much time or money and there's always plenty of other things to worry about. And there's plenty of other things that could be added up just as easily - how much time is spent sleeping, cooking, cleaning, commuting, watching TV, learning how to breathe again during an asthma attack and whiling away the hours that seem like an eternity during a migraine and the confines of a dark room and quiet bed?
Most of life is routine and a vital part of that routine is relaxation. And since I don't play for the end result but play because I enjoy all of it - the leveling, the grinding, the Auction House buy-and-sell frenzy, to name a few - it doesn't truly matter what it adds up to in the end. If the means are where the meaning and fun is more so than the end, then I guess I can look forward to another stint of playing this week without the guilt or concern that I'm wasting time.
I still play the piano. I still read, both thrillers, scientific texts and english literature. I still watch plenty of TV and engage in the occasional game of solitaire or soduko. Yet now I also log in to my Wow server to check the AH stats, do the dailies or level up a toon. It remains a daunting thought: how much time and effort has gone into a computer game. Very little of what I do is a natural progression of seemingly meaningless repetitive tasks that eventually amount to some larger achievement. There is no visible progression in reading or watching TV. There is somewhat in playing the piano, but these days playing the piano equates to using a fully T6 geared main to run Gnomeregan or maybe it's using a level 15 for Karazhan. Either way, progressing as a piano player requires better finger joints than I have. As for work, how many jobs are more than taking care of daily tasks that needs to be done every day? Working life is mostly like visiting the Isle of Quel'Danas for the ten or eleven repeatables that pay well at the end of the day.
Maybe the answer to the uncomfortable realization of just how much time and money goes into the game is as simply as not to worry about it. In the great scheme of things, it's not really that much time or money and there's always plenty of other things to worry about. And there's plenty of other things that could be added up just as easily - how much time is spent sleeping, cooking, cleaning, commuting, watching TV, learning how to breathe again during an asthma attack and whiling away the hours that seem like an eternity during a migraine and the confines of a dark room and quiet bed?
Most of life is routine and a vital part of that routine is relaxation. And since I don't play for the end result but play because I enjoy all of it - the leveling, the grinding, the Auction House buy-and-sell frenzy, to name a few - it doesn't truly matter what it adds up to in the end. If the means are where the meaning and fun is more so than the end, then I guess I can look forward to another stint of playing this week without the guilt or concern that I'm wasting time.
Sunday, 27 July 2008
Jewelcrafting 300
My level 41 hunter has just reached JC 300. Yay! Now there's a steep levelling curve to catch up so that I can take her to Shatt at level 50 in order to expander her knowledge some more. It was the professions that originally drew me into Warcraft. Levelling alchemy and herbalism with my first character was easy. Levelling skinning and leatherworking with my second was not much harder, except for the dozens of 'drums of battle' I had to craft at the end.
Advising my husband on how to level two crafting professions (tailoring and enchanting) has been hard. Although enchanting sort of has its own 'gathering' profession via disenchanting and tailoring too - since humanoids drop cloth - it is still a difficult level. Tailoring is now at 360 and enchanting somewhere in the vicinity of 335 and it's still an arduous and expensive endeavour. But the rewards have been worth it - enchants available at a button for my numerous alts and 16-slot bags from level 1.
Next I took on Blacksmithing and specialised as a weaponsmith. Although I paired it with mining, my level 41 pally weaponsmith is currently stuck at 250 making copious sets of mithril spurs and will probably continue to do so until they grey out at level 275.
Jewelcrafting has been remarkably easy to level. I initially coupled it with mining as well and was able to craft up to level 125 or so without requiring mats from the AH. From 125 to 250 I actually made a profit crafting mostly blue items and then thorium settings. From 250 to 300 wasn't difficult or extremely expensive, but each point cost around 3 gold to level. I'm hoping that from 300 upwards as cutting becomes a possibility, crafting will return to be either a neutral or profitable venture.
My level 15 mage has picked up engineering and up to level 165, where she is now, it's been an inexpensive breeze. I feel as if my initial enthusiasm is returning. Crafting was suppose to be profitable, then it turned into a money sink and now that I feel more confident in my knowledge of both the game and the AH, leveling a profession is just about revenue neutral to the top and then it makes money. Can't wait for Wrath and Inscription.
Advising my husband on how to level two crafting professions (tailoring and enchanting) has been hard. Although enchanting sort of has its own 'gathering' profession via disenchanting and tailoring too - since humanoids drop cloth - it is still a difficult level. Tailoring is now at 360 and enchanting somewhere in the vicinity of 335 and it's still an arduous and expensive endeavour. But the rewards have been worth it - enchants available at a button for my numerous alts and 16-slot bags from level 1.
Next I took on Blacksmithing and specialised as a weaponsmith. Although I paired it with mining, my level 41 pally weaponsmith is currently stuck at 250 making copious sets of mithril spurs and will probably continue to do so until they grey out at level 275.
Jewelcrafting has been remarkably easy to level. I initially coupled it with mining as well and was able to craft up to level 125 or so without requiring mats from the AH. From 125 to 250 I actually made a profit crafting mostly blue items and then thorium settings. From 250 to 300 wasn't difficult or extremely expensive, but each point cost around 3 gold to level. I'm hoping that from 300 upwards as cutting becomes a possibility, crafting will return to be either a neutral or profitable venture.
My level 15 mage has picked up engineering and up to level 165, where she is now, it's been an inexpensive breeze. I feel as if my initial enthusiasm is returning. Crafting was suppose to be profitable, then it turned into a money sink and now that I feel more confident in my knowledge of both the game and the AH, leveling a profession is just about revenue neutral to the top and then it makes money. Can't wait for Wrath and Inscription.
Friday, 25 July 2008
Changing professions
After much to-ing and fro-ing, I have decided to dump mining and pick up leatherworking for my hunter. I have been thinking about doing it since level 6, but it seemed appropriate to match jewelcrafing with mining. Turns out I have levelled JC to 296 without making use of her mining skill once. I do mine when I come across ore, which is rarely - since I mostly solo and ore tend to be where group mobs are - but my JC has always pulled ahead resulting in AH procurement instead of good old farming.
At level 40, to my great surprise, my hunter learned how to wear mail. Hmmm... Feeling like a bit of an idiot for not have caught on to the obvious earlier, but call me stupid, I just didn't tweak until I hit the trainer. With my main having topped out leatherworking and purchased quite a few mail patterns along the way (good thing I'm as obsessive as I am, otherwise I would never now have all those turtle scale and tough scorpid patterns). If my hunter can farm her own leatherworking mats, she'll be clothed. Yay! I realise that my weaponsmith can also make some mail armor, but the farming for ore is just beyond my level of patience. Spending the amount of money to purchase bar after bar goes beyond my sensibilities. And so I am 'respeccing'. Something I have wanted to do but didn't feel allowed to.
Life lesson learned. Do what you love, not what seems sensible. There's no point trying to make myself do anything that is good for me but I dislike. Instead, I am trying to find things that are both good for me and enjoyable. Maybe it's time to dump the exercise bike too. One can hope...
At level 40, to my great surprise, my hunter learned how to wear mail. Hmmm... Feeling like a bit of an idiot for not have caught on to the obvious earlier, but call me stupid, I just didn't tweak until I hit the trainer. With my main having topped out leatherworking and purchased quite a few mail patterns along the way (good thing I'm as obsessive as I am, otherwise I would never now have all those turtle scale and tough scorpid patterns). If my hunter can farm her own leatherworking mats, she'll be clothed. Yay! I realise that my weaponsmith can also make some mail armor, but the farming for ore is just beyond my level of patience. Spending the amount of money to purchase bar after bar goes beyond my sensibilities. And so I am 'respeccing'. Something I have wanted to do but didn't feel allowed to.
Life lesson learned. Do what you love, not what seems sensible. There's no point trying to make myself do anything that is good for me but I dislike. Instead, I am trying to find things that are both good for me and enjoyable. Maybe it's time to dump the exercise bike too. One can hope...
Strolling in STV
Stranglethorn Vale has always been one of my favourite play areas. Not quite Winterspring or Nagrand level of favourite, but that's just because I dislike plenty of the Booty Bay originating quests. I prefer monster mobs over humanoid mobs. I definitely feel that in-game violence has nothing to do with real life violent tendencies. I'm a pretty peaceful person except for a little ranting and raving on topics I'm passionate about. (Don't get me started on the National Health Service, people who ask to 'borrow' books they have no intention of returning and pseudoscience in general...)In game, I rarely think twice about killing, well, just about anything that's there to be killed. I tend to play without much of the audio, my eyes are mostly on my cooldowns rather than the proverbial sacrificial lamb and my brain is calculating the profit from drops and a little skinning on the side, making it easy to forget what I'm actually doing. Occasionally though, I just don't have the heart. The elite level 43 cat with its shadowcat entourage are one of those occasions. It's just resonates too much of the majestic. I know it'll respawn and I know it's just a computer generated image, but I 'd rather just leave it be.
It's the little things...
It's the small details that keep me playing WoW. Logging in my level 39 hunter was a difficult decision this morning. I am very much aware that I cannot play to my heart's content, there is a limit on the amount of time I can afford to play. I currently play my level 1 AH and level 70 rogue the most, simply because the benefits are greatest. Although to be honest, there's a reason why my rogue is my first level 70. I simultaneously started a rogue, paladin and hunter when my druid was at level 20-something, and six months later my rogue is level 70, my druid 64, paladin 41 and hunter 39.
I dislike playing most classes for the first half of the levelling game. It's only as more options become available that I begin to implement most of my spells. Take frost trap for instance. I learned it at level 28 and didn't touch it until level 38. And now, now it's one of my favourite spells. Not because of it's value, but its looks. There's something very appealing about being able to create a blanket of frost on vistas of green. I think levelling from 35 - 70 will actually be easier and quicker than 1 - 35. Maybe not in game time, but I doubt it will take me another six months to hit 70. Then again, if I wait for Wrath, as I plan to do, at 60, it may just be more than six months before my hunter hits 70.
I dislike playing most classes for the first half of the levelling game. It's only as more options become available that I begin to implement most of my spells. Take frost trap for instance. I learned it at level 28 and didn't touch it until level 38. And now, now it's one of my favourite spells. Not because of it's value, but its looks. There's something very appealing about being able to create a blanket of frost on vistas of green. I think levelling from 35 - 70 will actually be easier and quicker than 1 - 35. Maybe not in game time, but I doubt it will take me another six months to hit 70. Then again, if I wait for Wrath, as I plan to do, at 60, it may just be more than six months before my hunter hits 70.
Thursday, 24 July 2008
To gear up or not?
I recently hit seventy with my main and am now facing the dilemma that arises with a looming expansion pack (which of course I will buy) - should I save my gold since my epic level 70 things will soon be outdated or should I push ahead and acquire some nicer gear?
I don't think it's a matter of A or B, but a little of both. She does leatherworking, so I may as well craft the three primalstrike items. I am also itching to spend a little money on a few BoE epic patterns, but I think I will resist unless they become ridiculously cheap.
I'm pretty set on the arena, but being a big care bear, I realise that it will probably take a few months to be arena ready (if ever). In a few months, I would hope the expansion pack has arrived and I'm yet again grinding xp. And there is just no point gearing up in PvE gear if I want to start doing more PvP. And there is no point to start raiding since I don't think it's a viable play style for me. Gold grinding it is in. Not that I am complaining. Sadly enough, I enjoy killing Clefthoof Bulls in Nagrand and the dailies are boring, but now pretty quick and lucrative. I guess I will be sticking with my blues for a few months yet....
I don't think it's a matter of A or B, but a little of both. She does leatherworking, so I may as well craft the three primalstrike items. I am also itching to spend a little money on a few BoE epic patterns, but I think I will resist unless they become ridiculously cheap.
I'm pretty set on the arena, but being a big care bear, I realise that it will probably take a few months to be arena ready (if ever). In a few months, I would hope the expansion pack has arrived and I'm yet again grinding xp. And there is just no point gearing up in PvE gear if I want to start doing more PvP. And there is no point to start raiding since I don't think it's a viable play style for me. Gold grinding it is in. Not that I am complaining. Sadly enough, I enjoy killing Clefthoof Bulls in Nagrand and the dailies are boring, but now pretty quick and lucrative. I guess I will be sticking with my blues for a few months yet....
Wednesday, 23 July 2008
I want to be an arbitrageur!
Well, not quite. For those unfamiliar with the term, arbitrage is the practice of taking advantage of a price differential between two or more markets. Simply put, it's a risk free profit made by buying at a low price and selling at a higher price simultaneously. In WoW, the profit isn't exactly risk-free since time does elapse between buying and reselling.
Buying low and selling high does require intimate knowledge of the goods that are bought and sold. Some items do not sell, despite what your Auctioneer software might say, whilst others will sell persistently above market price. I have been dabbling in buying low and selling high, but unless I camp the AH, there is only a limited amount of bargains to be had at one quick daily glance.
Pushing the boat out a little further, there is buying low, conversion and then selling high. Simply put, professions. Some materials sell for more than the items crafted from them, but others do make a profit. However, the profit tends to be small, if present. The most I am getting if I buy the mats from the AH, is around 30 gold per item. And of course, there is a cap on the number of items that will sell on any given day. And so I have diverse pool of patterns that sell daily for which I buy mats of the AH, craft the item, and reap in the profit. On days where I have a little grinding time, I grind the mats rather than buying and make an additional profit. This is the most profitable way of trading, but also the most time consuming. The best scenario is buying discount mats, crafting and then selling at a premium. Even so, there is only so much time I can spend trawling the AH for bargains and logging in different alts to craft can be a tedious endeavour.
I don't know what the secret of the AH is. Some days I make reasonable profits and other days nothing sells, but I seem to be at a stalemate. That should come as no surprise. If I spend the same amount of time and roughly the same amount of money a day, it's reasonable to then make a similar profit daily. I guess it may be time to make my peace with the fact that with the time and skills that I currently have no more gold is to be had without more time, money and/or effort thrown into the endeavour.
Buying low and selling high does require intimate knowledge of the goods that are bought and sold. Some items do not sell, despite what your Auctioneer software might say, whilst others will sell persistently above market price. I have been dabbling in buying low and selling high, but unless I camp the AH, there is only a limited amount of bargains to be had at one quick daily glance.
Pushing the boat out a little further, there is buying low, conversion and then selling high. Simply put, professions. Some materials sell for more than the items crafted from them, but others do make a profit. However, the profit tends to be small, if present. The most I am getting if I buy the mats from the AH, is around 30 gold per item. And of course, there is a cap on the number of items that will sell on any given day. And so I have diverse pool of patterns that sell daily for which I buy mats of the AH, craft the item, and reap in the profit. On days where I have a little grinding time, I grind the mats rather than buying and make an additional profit. This is the most profitable way of trading, but also the most time consuming. The best scenario is buying discount mats, crafting and then selling at a premium. Even so, there is only so much time I can spend trawling the AH for bargains and logging in different alts to craft can be a tedious endeavour.
I don't know what the secret of the AH is. Some days I make reasonable profits and other days nothing sells, but I seem to be at a stalemate. That should come as no surprise. If I spend the same amount of time and roughly the same amount of money a day, it's reasonable to then make a similar profit daily. I guess it may be time to make my peace with the fact that with the time and skills that I currently have no more gold is to be had without more time, money and/or effort thrown into the endeavour.
Saturday, 19 July 2008
Drop Rate isn't Everything
It's easy to rely on an item's drop rate for guidance as to where to farm it. I have slowly come to realize that this may be the easiest strategy, but not the most reliable. A 35% drop rate from a level 70-71 mob in a very popular farming spot is a much slower farm than a 19% drop rate from a level 65-ish mob in an unpopular farming spot. If you haven't caught on already, my example is experienced gained from farming motes.
Still grinding rep with The Consortium, I face a similar question. Level 65-67 ogres in Nagrand for beads with a 33% drop or level 68-69 raiders in netherstorm for insignia with a 49% drop? I don't think it makes a large difference, personally. I prefer the raiders near Area 52 just because I happen to dislike ogres. I think it may be a size thing, mostly playing a gnome and all. It started way back in Loch Modan and I haven't been able to shake the feeling since.
All is not as simple as it appears, apparently, and then there's the added uncertainty created by other players. If the popular farming spot happens to be deserted, like this morning, five minutes net enough motes to make two primals and if the usual unpopular farming spot overflows with level 64-65's questing, thirty minutes may yield a couple of motes. Decisions, decisions.
I tend to frequent either the areas I prefer or the situation I prefer. I prefer to farm in unpopular spots where game play is continuous rather than sitting on top of a mountain, waiting for respawn with three other guys (who are infinitely better geared than I am) to jump on the nearest respawn.
Still grinding rep with The Consortium, I face a similar question. Level 65-67 ogres in Nagrand for beads with a 33% drop or level 68-69 raiders in netherstorm for insignia with a 49% drop? I don't think it makes a large difference, personally. I prefer the raiders near Area 52 just because I happen to dislike ogres. I think it may be a size thing, mostly playing a gnome and all. It started way back in Loch Modan and I haven't been able to shake the feeling since.
All is not as simple as it appears, apparently, and then there's the added uncertainty created by other players. If the popular farming spot happens to be deserted, like this morning, five minutes net enough motes to make two primals and if the usual unpopular farming spot overflows with level 64-65's questing, thirty minutes may yield a couple of motes. Decisions, decisions.
I tend to frequent either the areas I prefer or the situation I prefer. I prefer to farm in unpopular spots where game play is continuous rather than sitting on top of a mountain, waiting for respawn with three other guys (who are infinitely better geared than I am) to jump on the nearest respawn.
Wednesday, 16 July 2008
It's gray!
I chose the grey Elekk. Not for the grey, but the saddle is blue and green. I like blue and green...
Confused by the dailies?
I've been struggling to get my head around the dailies, particularly the two dozen on the Isle of Quel'Danas and reading up on it seems to be almost more confusing than figuring it on my own. The best guide to dailies I have come across has been the curse.com quest guide.
I did the recommended 11 quests today and struggled a little through the uncertainty of where to go, what to kill and how many to combine, but all in all, a fun play. It took me just under two hours to complete within a round trip from/to Shatt, but the majority of the time was spent on the puzzling and familiarizing myself with the air. Also, a fair amount of time was wasted by habitual clicking on my flying mount only to be told that it doesn't work. What a disappointment. All that saving to get my epic green griffon and now I can't use it in the major level 70 quest hub.
Ever wonder where all the 70's disappear to? I originally thought into raids and the arena, but nope, the Isle is crawling with variously geared 70's earning their gold the stress free way. *sigh* A good chunk of my time was also spent waiting for respawn or fighting someone else's pull. (It seems unsociable to just sit there and if there's not enough for all, then jumping it must be the admirable thing to do). Top cope with the large number of players, respawn is quick. I completed one quest by killing the same NPC five times in succession - it respawn within seconds right on top of me every time. Good thing I wasn't playing a mage...
Needless to say, I don't like the Isle. But I earned enough gold that I'll probably be back tomorrow. And at least it's pretty and I get a little more use out of my epic land mount for which I had to rep grind Darnassus exalted.
I did the recommended 11 quests today and struggled a little through the uncertainty of where to go, what to kill and how many to combine, but all in all, a fun play. It took me just under two hours to complete within a round trip from/to Shatt, but the majority of the time was spent on the puzzling and familiarizing myself with the air. Also, a fair amount of time was wasted by habitual clicking on my flying mount only to be told that it doesn't work. What a disappointment. All that saving to get my epic green griffon and now I can't use it in the major level 70 quest hub.
Ever wonder where all the 70's disappear to? I originally thought into raids and the arena, but nope, the Isle is crawling with variously geared 70's earning their gold the stress free way. *sigh* A good chunk of my time was also spent waiting for respawn or fighting someone else's pull. (It seems unsociable to just sit there and if there's not enough for all, then jumping it must be the admirable thing to do). Top cope with the large number of players, respawn is quick. I completed one quest by killing the same NPC five times in succession - it respawn within seconds right on top of me every time. Good thing I wasn't playing a mage...
Needless to say, I don't like the Isle. But I earned enough gold that I'll probably be back tomorrow. And at least it's pretty and I get a little more use out of my epic land mount for which I had to rep grind Darnassus exalted.
It's Mount Time
Patch 2.4.3 is being installed as I type and in a few hours I'll be logging on my level 37 hunter and be off to The Exodar for an Elekk. Yay! I'm missing out on seven levels of riding, but I'd rather be logging in a level 37 today than a level 30 and it's the last three levels to forty that's a real drag in Dustwallow and STV, so I'm satisfied. Good thing I've the gold in the bank just waiting to be spent.
I have purchased a mechanostrider for my gnome rogue and a kitty for my night elf druid, but although it will not be my first mount, it's my first Elekk. Will it be a brown, gray or purple? I just don't know. Leaning toward the brown, but the gray is pretty and the purple unusual and each has its own appeal. Not that it matters much. I will be trying to level her up as quick as possible to sixty, so the level 60 epic is almost just around the corner. I think I'll toss a coin or draw straws on this one.
I have purchased a mechanostrider for my gnome rogue and a kitty for my night elf druid, but although it will not be my first mount, it's my first Elekk. Will it be a brown, gray or purple? I just don't know. Leaning toward the brown, but the gray is pretty and the purple unusual and each has its own appeal. Not that it matters much. I will be trying to level her up as quick as possible to sixty, so the level 60 epic is almost just around the corner. I think I'll toss a coin or draw straws on this one.
Tuesday, 15 July 2008
Dailies from Shattrath City
I find the dailies quite daunting and overwhelming, particularly those attached to the Isle of Quel'Danas. I am not quite ready to let go Outland, it feels as if I've barely arrived, and so I enjoy doing the dailies that start and end in Shatt. I also play in short slots throughout the day as a break and find that I can do on region per slot in 5 - 15 minutes and then place her on a griffon to the next whilst I go back to work.
I start my day by picking up the following quests in Shatt:
I'm sure I can trim play time down to an hour within a week, resulting 100g per hour. Not bad at all. And on to the Isle of Quel'Danas, where everything is close by and I'm sure earning gold will be even quicker and easier...
I start my day by picking up the following quests in Shatt:
- The Multiphase Survey
- Gaining the Advantage
- Sunfury Attack Plans
- Maintaining the Sunwell Portal
- Intercepting the Mana Cells
- The Daily Cooking
- The Daily Fishing
- Daily fishing: Bait Bandits
- Daily cooking (Skettis): Revenge is Tasty
- Sha'tari Skyguard quests x2 (Skettis): Fire over Skettis; Escape from Skettis
- Daily fishing: The one that got away
- Gaining the Advantage (skinning knothide and thick clefthoof leather)
- Daily cooking: Soup for the Soul
- The Multiphase Survey
- Farm Mote of Air and/or Shadow; Fish Mote of Water
- Daily fishing: Shrimpin' Aint Easy
- Daily Cooking (Nr Sylvenaar): Super Hot Stew
- Maintaining the Sunwell Portal
- Intercepting the Mana Cells (Becomes available at SSO Phase 2)
- Farm Mote of Mana
- Sunfury Attack Plans
- Farm Zaxxis Insignia x 10
- Daily Cooking: Manalicious
- The Multiphase Survey
- Gaining the Advantage
- Sunfury Attack Plans
- Maintaining the Sunwell Portal
- Intercepting the Mana Cells
- Daily Cooking
- Daily Fishing
I'm sure I can trim play time down to an hour within a week, resulting 100g per hour. Not bad at all. And on to the Isle of Quel'Danas, where everything is close by and I'm sure earning gold will be even quicker and easier...
Fun,fun, fun
I bought a Guild Wars starter pack yesterday. Not that I'm tired of Wow or annoyed like so many players seem to be because the game isn't what they want it to be, but just because. Well, because it was cheap and I am a naturally curious person who doesn't think the grass is greener on the other side, but would always wonder if it might be if I didn't check it out.
It has sparked off a thought on how much time I spend playing and what do I do in that time. Different people want and enjoy different things and I can understand the frustration for those who play as a break from real life. There is an uncanny sense of verisimilitude when playing. Personally, it's the real life qualities that keeps me interested and entertained. I love the Auction House, even though it's hitting a mini-recession on my server at the moment. I love the level caps and other obstacles thrown it, it makes the game harder and in-game items more difficult to obtain. This means that the rewards are biggest for those who persevere longest. I wouldn't be happy if a level 1 could be a master leatherworker and make the same profit my level 70 make with crafting higher level gear. I wouldn't be happy if a level 1 could transmute primals either. I wouldn't be happy if a level 1 could craft 20-slot bags. And although I have a strong dislike for roaming elites, drinking mages and munching rogues, it adds to the gaming experience rather than subtract. It makes it harder and less fair and therefore the rewards are bigger and more enjoyable.
If I played more, I guess I would complain more. If I had been playing for longer than a few months, I guess I would complain more too. As it is, I am still enjoying the working for the rewards I get. Should it be easier? Maybe. I bought a copy of guild wars because it'll take me at least a month to transmute enough primal might to craft my remaining two primalstrike epic pieces. And then I will only have three. However, the upside is that this does not encourage me to quit, but simply to play less. I am not the incessant grinding type. I will not spend twelve hours a day farming primals and I will not spend a few thousand gold purchasing them from the AH. I will quite happily spend thirty minutes a day completing a daily that will require killing a mob which would also provide motes as loot. I will also quite happily spend 20 minutes a day scanning the AH for bargains, buying mats for crafting and selling crafted items as at a profit. To date, my strategy is earning me 100 - 200 gold an hour which adds up a plenty to buy the odd pattern, piece of gear as well as riding skill and mounts.
The gaming experience isn't wow or epic for me, it's everyday. My life is constant turmoil, I get from the game a sense of reliability and predictability. I can play almost every day. I can fly over Nagrand in my newly acquired epic mount with a sense of growing familiarity that is comforting. I can land where I always land, kill a few Clefthoof Bulls for their leather, a few raging storm things for their mote of air and lounge next to a shallow river or lake with a fishing rod, wearing my lucky fishing hat. I rarely play for the excitement and the glory, I play to relax under the domes in Netherstorm, the mushrooms of Zangermarsh or on the green fields of Nagrand and I make my money on the AH. If you play for the rewards, be prepared for a lot of tedious grinding, but if you play because you enjoy playing, it's just fun, fun, fun.
(Except for the levelling of an alliance toon that is not rested from level 30 - 40, it's the trek that never ends. I can't wait for the level 30 mount in patch 2.4.3. Unfortunately, I didn't wait and now my toon is level 37 and by the time the patch comes out, she'll not be benefiting much. Alas, that is the warcraft that we play).
It has sparked off a thought on how much time I spend playing and what do I do in that time. Different people want and enjoy different things and I can understand the frustration for those who play as a break from real life. There is an uncanny sense of verisimilitude when playing. Personally, it's the real life qualities that keeps me interested and entertained. I love the Auction House, even though it's hitting a mini-recession on my server at the moment. I love the level caps and other obstacles thrown it, it makes the game harder and in-game items more difficult to obtain. This means that the rewards are biggest for those who persevere longest. I wouldn't be happy if a level 1 could be a master leatherworker and make the same profit my level 70 make with crafting higher level gear. I wouldn't be happy if a level 1 could transmute primals either. I wouldn't be happy if a level 1 could craft 20-slot bags. And although I have a strong dislike for roaming elites, drinking mages and munching rogues, it adds to the gaming experience rather than subtract. It makes it harder and less fair and therefore the rewards are bigger and more enjoyable.
If I played more, I guess I would complain more. If I had been playing for longer than a few months, I guess I would complain more too. As it is, I am still enjoying the working for the rewards I get. Should it be easier? Maybe. I bought a copy of guild wars because it'll take me at least a month to transmute enough primal might to craft my remaining two primalstrike epic pieces. And then I will only have three. However, the upside is that this does not encourage me to quit, but simply to play less. I am not the incessant grinding type. I will not spend twelve hours a day farming primals and I will not spend a few thousand gold purchasing them from the AH. I will quite happily spend thirty minutes a day completing a daily that will require killing a mob which would also provide motes as loot. I will also quite happily spend 20 minutes a day scanning the AH for bargains, buying mats for crafting and selling crafted items as at a profit. To date, my strategy is earning me 100 - 200 gold an hour which adds up a plenty to buy the odd pattern, piece of gear as well as riding skill and mounts.
The gaming experience isn't wow or epic for me, it's everyday. My life is constant turmoil, I get from the game a sense of reliability and predictability. I can play almost every day. I can fly over Nagrand in my newly acquired epic mount with a sense of growing familiarity that is comforting. I can land where I always land, kill a few Clefthoof Bulls for their leather, a few raging storm things for their mote of air and lounge next to a shallow river or lake with a fishing rod, wearing my lucky fishing hat. I rarely play for the excitement and the glory, I play to relax under the domes in Netherstorm, the mushrooms of Zangermarsh or on the green fields of Nagrand and I make my money on the AH. If you play for the rewards, be prepared for a lot of tedious grinding, but if you play because you enjoy playing, it's just fun, fun, fun.
(Except for the levelling of an alliance toon that is not rested from level 30 - 40, it's the trek that never ends. I can't wait for the level 30 mount in patch 2.4.3. Unfortunately, I didn't wait and now my toon is level 37 and by the time the patch comes out, she'll not be benefiting much. Alas, that is the warcraft that we play).
Sunday, 13 July 2008
A good day
I finally topped out my fishing at 375 and also hit leatherworking 375. I made a pair of primalstrike bracers, my first ever purple item! I also had a few good drops. A couple of level 65 druid tank staves with + AP in cat/bear form. Fantastic, since my feral druid is about to hit 65 and now have a nice staff to show for it. I also had the Design: Veiled Noble Topaz drop from a mob in Netherstorm and after much delibiration purchased the Pattern: Cloak of the Black Void for 100g from the auction house. It's BoE and the mats are easy to farm, so I'm hoping to make my money back. I had a good play day today.
Saturday, 12 July 2008
PVP vs PVE
I have finally hit 70 with my main main and find that the question foremost in my mind has been which way to gear and spec. I have always maintained that I prefer spending my talent point whilst levelling with leveling in mind and would respec for 70 at 70. As with most things warcraft, the decision of gear and spec depends on the choice of PVP, PVE or at least how both. I am still undecided.
I find myself pondering on the nature of PVP and PVE. For me, it's not so much about facing a person as an opponent or an NPC. Rather, it's about how the game is played. PVE has it's place for soloing via some daily quest as well as grinding. It has space for small group play via instances and large group play via raids. I think I have given up all thoughts of raiding except for the occasional moment of wild fantansy. Raiding simply requires too much mutual dependence. I am dependent on others and they depend on me. I can't see myself quitting in the middle of a raid because in my excitement I hit a key too hard and dislocated a finger. For that matter, I can't see myself leaving an instance group a member short because I am too unreliable to be relied upon. I am enjoying some of the daily quests, but suspect that they will become tedious very quickly. I do enjoy farming, but farming alone does not wet the appetite for warcraft.
PVP is most definitely player versus player. I am hesistant to engage in battlegrounds for the same reasons I am hesitant to commit to raid or instance groups. However, I can see myself stretching to try my hand at it a little. The arena does hold a definite pull, probably the strongest. It's short and brutal, a nice contrast to an afternoon spent fishing and farming. It's short and in a 2v2, of which my other would be the other half, there is no real issue of leaving someone, other than him, in the lurch. And he's gotten used to my quirkiness over the years and will be teaming up knowing very well what he's signing up for.
The next step is to gear up and spec for solo PVE and arena PVP, but first I need to research resilience rating and finish levelling up my professions. I didn't quite realise how much work happens after you hit 70 and before you're ready to truly play at 70. And no, farming and daily cooking quests does not count as real play, it's more play play.
I find myself pondering on the nature of PVP and PVE. For me, it's not so much about facing a person as an opponent or an NPC. Rather, it's about how the game is played. PVE has it's place for soloing via some daily quest as well as grinding. It has space for small group play via instances and large group play via raids. I think I have given up all thoughts of raiding except for the occasional moment of wild fantansy. Raiding simply requires too much mutual dependence. I am dependent on others and they depend on me. I can't see myself quitting in the middle of a raid because in my excitement I hit a key too hard and dislocated a finger. For that matter, I can't see myself leaving an instance group a member short because I am too unreliable to be relied upon. I am enjoying some of the daily quests, but suspect that they will become tedious very quickly. I do enjoy farming, but farming alone does not wet the appetite for warcraft.
PVP is most definitely player versus player. I am hesistant to engage in battlegrounds for the same reasons I am hesitant to commit to raid or instance groups. However, I can see myself stretching to try my hand at it a little. The arena does hold a definite pull, probably the strongest. It's short and brutal, a nice contrast to an afternoon spent fishing and farming. It's short and in a 2v2, of which my other would be the other half, there is no real issue of leaving someone, other than him, in the lurch. And he's gotten used to my quirkiness over the years and will be teaming up knowing very well what he's signing up for.
The next step is to gear up and spec for solo PVE and arena PVP, but first I need to research resilience rating and finish levelling up my professions. I didn't quite realise how much work happens after you hit 70 and before you're ready to truly play at 70. And no, farming and daily cooking quests does not count as real play, it's more play play.
Saturday, 28 June 2008
Why play?
After a warcraft hiatus, courtesy of a lost internet connection whilst moving house, I am back on-line and logged in again. Not playing for a short while has raised the question of 'why play?' for me again. Preferring uber efficiency in most things, I can't help wondering if playing an on-line computer game really is the best use of my time.
I play for the same reasons that I play the piano and have a large book collection. I enjoy playing as I enjoy playing the piano and reading. I also learn useful skills that I otherwise would not have had. Playing the piano requires a certain level of dedication. If you can't play regularly, you can't play. Learning a piece takes time and effort and retaining the skill to retain the ability to play that piece also requires time and effort. Use it or loose it and I like using it. I enjoy the process and I enjoy the end result and so I play. The same applies to Warcraft. I enjoy the process and I enjoy the end result of playing. There is an inherent satisfaction to setting a goal and then achieving it. There is also an inherent satisfaction in doing something that's fun. I never thought I would be one of those people who find playing a computer game fun, but I guess that I am.
Why play? Because I enjoy doing so and find it to be a positive experience.
I play for the same reasons that I play the piano and have a large book collection. I enjoy playing as I enjoy playing the piano and reading. I also learn useful skills that I otherwise would not have had. Playing the piano requires a certain level of dedication. If you can't play regularly, you can't play. Learning a piece takes time and effort and retaining the skill to retain the ability to play that piece also requires time and effort. Use it or loose it and I like using it. I enjoy the process and I enjoy the end result and so I play. The same applies to Warcraft. I enjoy the process and I enjoy the end result of playing. There is an inherent satisfaction to setting a goal and then achieving it. There is also an inherent satisfaction in doing something that's fun. I never thought I would be one of those people who find playing a computer game fun, but I guess that I am.
Why play? Because I enjoy doing so and find it to be a positive experience.
Friday, 6 June 2008
Beginning Outland Rep Grinding
I am the process of levelling up my leatherworking rogue and have come a little late to the wake-up call that is reputation grinding. I first decided that xp trumps rep and therefore I will simply quest and level up as quick as possible and run instances at level 70 for rep, but with my bad track record on instances and instant boredom with power levelling, I have changed my mind.
To that effect, I have adapted a new strategy. First rep grind to honored and then quest in the area. It's working pretty well so far by doing the following:
To that effect, I have adapted a new strategy. First rep grind to honored and then quest in the area. It's working pretty well so far by doing the following:
- Hellfire Peninsula: Slay Shattered Hand everything's to honored. Well, that's the ideal, but I haven't managed it. It's just too boring. Will run instances for Honor Hold rep at 70, methinks.
- Zangermarsh: Killing withered giants and withered bog lords with my level 62 herbalist druid and handing in unidentified plant parts for Cenarion Expedition rep and on the way there and back killing anything that has the possibility of providing fertile spores as loot for Sporeggar rep.
- Terrokar Forest: Killing Firewing anything's for Firewing Signets to turn in for Scryers rep. Also grinding bird people just outside Shatt for Arakkoa feathers for lower city rep.
- Nagrand: Killing Wild Elekks for their tusks to hand in to The Consortium. Virtual ivory poacher I am. Also killing warmaul and boulderfist ogres for their warbeads to hand for Consortium friendly to honored rep.
Mote Farming whilst rep grinding
I have discovered a nice way to circle around with a level 62 an 64 respectively to rep grind my way to honored in Outland and have in the process stumbled across an easy way to get my hands on some elemental motes required for transmuting primal might and high-level crafting. At this lowly a level, I can get my hands on most, except for mote of fire or mote of mana.
- Hellfire Peninsula: The voidhawkers have 10 - 18% drop rate for mote of shadow and is a 2 minute run from the Honor Hold flight point.
- Zangermarsh: Grinding the withered giants and boglords with a herbalist has resulted in 10 x primal life in two days. To be fair, the bloodthirsty marshfangs do have a 2% drop rate of mote of mana, but they are in the west and I am currently grinding in the east.
- Terrokar Forest: The lagoon eels are good for 10 x primal water in a short play session and the infester root-walker and rotting forest ranger also drop primal life.
- Nagrand: The elemental vortex thingies are good for mote of air, shadow, water and earth. If it swirls or rolls, kill it.
Leatherworking Patterns and Outland Rep
I am the process of levelling up my leatherworking rogue and it requires quite the expertise to learn and remember which rep grinds are worth it. For leatherworking patterns, there is the following for me (who have gone with the Scryers) so far:
Honor Hold Rep:
Kurenai:
Honor Hold Rep:
- Friendly: Pattern: Felstalker Belt (BoE mail armor)
- Honored: Pattern: Felstalker Bracers (BoE mail armor), Pattern: Felstalker BracersPattern: Cobrahide Leg Armor (Item enhancement),
(BoE mail armor), - Revered: Pattern: Netherscale Ammo Pouch (BoE Ammo Pouch)
- Exalted: Pattern: Nethercobra Leg Armor (Item enchancement)
- Friendly: Pattern: Heavy Clefthoof Boots
- Honored: Pattern: Heavy Clefthoof Leggings, Pattern: Heavy Clefthoof Vest,
Pattern: Clefthide Leg Armor (item enhancement), - Revered: None
- Exalted: Pattern: Nethercleft Leg Armor
Kurenai:
- Friendly: Pattern: Netherfury Belt (BoE Mail armor)
- Honored: Pattern: Netherfury Leggings (BoE Mail armor), Pattern: Drums of Restoration, Pattern: Drums of Speed, Pattern: Reinforced Mining Bag
- Revered: Pattern: Netherfury Boots (BoE Mail armor)
- Exalted: None
- Friendly: Pattern: Fel Leather Gloves
- Honored: Pattern: Fel Leather Boots
- Revered: Pattern: Fel Leather Leggings
- Exalted: None
- Friendly: None
- Honored: Pattern: Drums of Battle
- Revered: None
- Exalted: None
- Friendly: None
- Honored: Pattern: Enchanted Clefthoof Boots, Pattern: Enchanted Felscale Gloves (BoE Mail Armor)
- Revered: Pattern: Enchanted Clefthoof Gloves, Pattern: Enchanted Felscale Boots (BoE Mail Armor), Pattern: Magister's Armor Kit (Item enhancement)
- Exalted: Pattern: Enchanted Clefthoof Leggings, Pattern: Enchanted Felscale Leggings (BoE Mail Armor)
- Friendly: None
- Honored: None
- Revered: Pattern: Enchanted Felscale Leggings
- Exalted: None
Outland Hand-Ins To Honored
If you don't do many or any instances, but want good reputation (i.e. rep) with many of the factions, grinding for hand-in loot is the only real alternative. I play for ten to maybe forty-five minutes at a time due to physical restrictions and find instances difficult, if not impossible, to play through, so this is my best option for gaining rep as I level up to 70. I grind solo whilst rested. And buy good priced drops for hand-ins on the AH. This is my current grinding / shopping list:
- Honor Hold Rep: None. It's a kill grind in Honor Hold on Shattered Hand Mobs.
- Cenarion Expedition Rep: Unidentified plant parts. About 25% drop off most things and 'skinning' the bog lords as a herbalist also yields somewhere between a 25 - 30% drop rate. You need to turn in 360 unidentified plant parts to go from neutral to honored.
- Sporeggar: I handed in 20 mature spore sacs and 12 bog lord tendrils for unfriendly to neutral and 40 Glowcaps for neutral to friendly. And now it's down to handing in fertile spores (10 for 750 rep), as well as a few kill rep points (bog lords and the like, 15 rep each). If I simply grind bog lords for cenarion rep, I won't need many, if any, fertile spores though.
- Kurenai: You could turn in Obsidian Warbeads, but I'm not. I'm not desperate for Kurenai rep, so I'm saving my beads for consortium rep points.
- The Consortium: 36 pairs of Ivory Tusks from neutral to friendly, and as mentioned Obsidian Warbeads from friendly to honored.
- Lower City: Arakkoa Feathers, 30 for 250 rep.
- The Scryers: 240 Firewing Signets, turned in as singletons or stacks of ten.
- The Sha'tar: No turn-ins requires since rep is gained via Scryer/Aldor turn-ins.
Monday, 2 June 2008
New use for Vanish
I discovered a neat little trick today. I'm sure most would have thought of it pre-level 63, but I am finding it hard to think outside the usual box. I blame that on the amount of repetitious activity during play. Not that I am complaining, I like the repetitious aspects most of the time, but it makes it easy to fall into a routine and forget that characters progress and learn how to do new things. But I digress.
Bugging happens frequently. I have learned to spot bugs and not attack them, i.e. mobs that are stuck in the ground or in a tree for example, or are just not moving at all. But sometimes, it's not that easy. I just started a fight only to realize that it's remaining stunned and healthy, but my health is going down steadily. Usually, I tend to run at this point until I am out of combat. Today, I used Vanish instead. Worked like a charm.
Bugging happens frequently. I have learned to spot bugs and not attack them, i.e. mobs that are stuck in the ground or in a tree for example, or are just not moving at all. But sometimes, it's not that easy. I just started a fight only to realize that it's remaining stunned and healthy, but my health is going down steadily. Usually, I tend to run at this point until I am out of combat. Today, I used Vanish instead. Worked like a charm.
Saturday, 31 May 2008
Procrastination bad
Every time I catch up on some skill points, I vow never to let it fall behind again. But then I start questing and all the skill grinding tend to be quickly put off for another time. This is how I end up in the situation where my lock picking skill is 25 points behind. The last time I feel behind by a hundred and so I am somewhat cheered by this sign of improvement on my part, but it's still a pain to catch up in one go. It's like spring cleaning or catching up on a back-log of paperwork or laundry. It's a tedious and repetitious chore that I then put off even more and the back-log grows.
I decided to get my lock picking up to scratch today. From 285 - 310 before I hit level 63 and it's 315. I made the effort of travelling from Outland to the Eastern Plaguelands to go and pick some locked boxes (it caught me up a while ago when I did the same in the Wetlands), but the boxes are surrounded by two or four elites and few and far between. I managed two before boredom took over. I regret not pickpocketing as often as I can. Soloing most of the time invariably results in me being too busy surviving to worry about pickpocketing and again, I vow to no longer take the easy road. I decided that it may be easier to pickpocket for heavy junkboxes instead. Off I went to Hellfire Peninsula in search of an easy mob and I sort of found one.
The tunnels just outside the gates have a pickpocket rate for heavy junkboxes of about ten percent and four trips through the tiny mine yielded a total of eight boxes en around 20 000 or so xp. I'm now at lock picking 298 and counting. One or two more trips and I'm at 300 and off to Zangermarsh where prettier baskets await to level me to 315. In the process of levelling up my lock picking, I've also levelled up another level.
I decided to get my lock picking up to scratch today. From 285 - 310 before I hit level 63 and it's 315. I made the effort of travelling from Outland to the Eastern Plaguelands to go and pick some locked boxes (it caught me up a while ago when I did the same in the Wetlands), but the boxes are surrounded by two or four elites and few and far between. I managed two before boredom took over. I regret not pickpocketing as often as I can. Soloing most of the time invariably results in me being too busy surviving to worry about pickpocketing and again, I vow to no longer take the easy road. I decided that it may be easier to pickpocket for heavy junkboxes instead. Off I went to Hellfire Peninsula in search of an easy mob and I sort of found one.
The tunnels just outside the gates have a pickpocket rate for heavy junkboxes of about ten percent and four trips through the tiny mine yielded a total of eight boxes en around 20 000 or so xp. I'm now at lock picking 298 and counting. One or two more trips and I'm at 300 and off to Zangermarsh where prettier baskets await to level me to 315. In the process of levelling up my lock picking, I've also levelled up another level.
Tuesday, 27 May 2008
The Mundane
It's the mundane experience of real life assimilated into the Warcraft world that gets me every time. The travelling and the amount of time it eats up; the cooking and general love for exotic foods (not for their tastes, but for the buffs) and then there's waiting for a lift. Not any lift though, it's mundane meet fantastical and it's plenty obvious when the lifts look like this:
Sunday, 25 May 2008
Special requirements
I dislike requiring, receiving and not receiving all the things that I need to try and function in the normal world as someone who technically have a disability. I dislike that concept too and particularly loathe the way that it is used to define a person, i.e. me. It's a little doomed if I do and doomed if I don't. If I don't acknowledge that I have special needs I am not entitled to any of the exceptions that I may require. If I do acknowledge that I have special needs, I am not entitled to the same things someone in good health is and the focus shifts entirely onto my condition and away from everything else. It's an annoying and frustrating flaw buried so deep in societal norms that there's no getting around it.
A virtual world provides the option of more invisibility. Those suffering from invisible chronic illnesses often complain that since their symptoms are not visible they tend to be ignored by others. I sympathize. I have plenty of symptoms that aren't visible and plenty more that are only occasionally visible and it is difficult to try and explain how something that other people can't see is preventing you from doing a great many things. It doesn't get any easier in a virtual community. In fact, in some ways, it gets harder.
I don't socialize much. People have very little patience with the restrictions my condition place on me, and when they associate with me, on them. They feel frustrated, confined and a little angry that their life has just become more difficult because I have certain limitations. I don't group up much in game for the same reasons. Am I too cynical? Do I presume too much? Maybe. But people create complications that are difficult to overcome.
I dislocated both thumbs and a shoulder yesterday and subluxed right elbow and wrist. This means that today I can use my computer for maybe 2 - 3 hours in total and no more than 20 - 30 minutes at a time. If I use my game console and mouse. Keyboard use would at least half those estimates. Thank goodness for Dragon.
As a result of migraine headaches easily triggered by certain visual stimuli, part of the warcraft world is inaccessible to me. The problem is that I don't know which parts until I see them. It's therefore a bad idea to group up for an instance I haven't run with people I haven't informed of the possibility that I may have to log out about sixty seconds after any visual trigger due to a migraine aura starting. And I don't feel comfortable providing that much personal information to other gamers and they would not feel comfortable receiving that much personal information from someone they approached on a whim.
On days where I can't walk (I also dislocated my knee yesterday), can't type and can barely move, there is no social setting where I'd be very welcome or comfortable. The NPC's don't mind though and it's a relief to have something to do and somewhere to go that is outside of my life and distracts from the joint pain. I may not be able to play much today, but I can open up an AH panel, read the general chat and go on a virtual shopping spree. My main needs some new shoes and my main alt needs better jewelry. I made 500g on the AH yesterday, might be time to spend a little today.
A virtual world provides the option of more invisibility. Those suffering from invisible chronic illnesses often complain that since their symptoms are not visible they tend to be ignored by others. I sympathize. I have plenty of symptoms that aren't visible and plenty more that are only occasionally visible and it is difficult to try and explain how something that other people can't see is preventing you from doing a great many things. It doesn't get any easier in a virtual community. In fact, in some ways, it gets harder.
I don't socialize much. People have very little patience with the restrictions my condition place on me, and when they associate with me, on them. They feel frustrated, confined and a little angry that their life has just become more difficult because I have certain limitations. I don't group up much in game for the same reasons. Am I too cynical? Do I presume too much? Maybe. But people create complications that are difficult to overcome.
I dislocated both thumbs and a shoulder yesterday and subluxed right elbow and wrist. This means that today I can use my computer for maybe 2 - 3 hours in total and no more than 20 - 30 minutes at a time. If I use my game console and mouse. Keyboard use would at least half those estimates. Thank goodness for Dragon.
As a result of migraine headaches easily triggered by certain visual stimuli, part of the warcraft world is inaccessible to me. The problem is that I don't know which parts until I see them. It's therefore a bad idea to group up for an instance I haven't run with people I haven't informed of the possibility that I may have to log out about sixty seconds after any visual trigger due to a migraine aura starting. And I don't feel comfortable providing that much personal information to other gamers and they would not feel comfortable receiving that much personal information from someone they approached on a whim.
On days where I can't walk (I also dislocated my knee yesterday), can't type and can barely move, there is no social setting where I'd be very welcome or comfortable. The NPC's don't mind though and it's a relief to have something to do and somewhere to go that is outside of my life and distracts from the joint pain. I may not be able to play much today, but I can open up an AH panel, read the general chat and go on a virtual shopping spree. My main needs some new shoes and my main alt needs better jewelry. I made 500g on the AH yesterday, might be time to spend a little today.
Friday, 23 May 2008
Auction House Tip on Pricing
Know your product and what it does on the AH. I find that I can make a consistent profit from certain things, such as Heart of Fire. I buy them when they are on sale for less than market value and resell. I always place two to three stacks at different prices at a time. The first is at market price and usually sells almost instantly. The second is above market price, but reasonably priced and sells within 24 hours at points where anything at MV or below has been sold out. The last is ridiculously overpriced and only sells when it's the only one available.
This strategy works well for me. I make a humble profit from the first, a satisfactory profit from the second and a windfall from the third. On Heart of Fire, the increase in profit from different prices is about 50%. Definitely worth the hassle.
This strategy works well for me. I make a humble profit from the first, a satisfactory profit from the second and a windfall from the third. On Heart of Fire, the increase in profit from different prices is about 50%. Definitely worth the hassle.
Saying no
It's the social component of Warcraft that I find most difficult. Assertiveness is not taught in schools and although I have picked up quite a few assertive skills over the years, saying no is not quite one of them. I have no problem saying no to people, I am simply not in the habit of doing so. Years of feeling that magnanimity should come first has left me with a compulsion to make excuses. I feel as if I should explain myself when I decline a duel or an offer to group up, and I really don't need to.
I enjoy helping out other people, particularly when I have a little time to kill, but I'm not in the business of playing fairy godmother. I will group up occasionally at random and I will except the odd duel, but neither is my thing. I prefer to solo or duo with Chris and anything else is just additional stress. I keep forgetting that that's okay. I don't have to help everybody that asks and I certainly don't have to provide them with the reasoning behind my decision. No would suffice.
We live in an era of too much information and I keep forgetting that I am allowed to simply say, "Thanks for the invite, but no, I'm not interested." I think I'm even allowed to just say no.
I enjoy helping out other people, particularly when I have a little time to kill, but I'm not in the business of playing fairy godmother. I will group up occasionally at random and I will except the odd duel, but neither is my thing. I prefer to solo or duo with Chris and anything else is just additional stress. I keep forgetting that that's okay. I don't have to help everybody that asks and I certainly don't have to provide them with the reasoning behind my decision. No would suffice.
We live in an era of too much information and I keep forgetting that I am allowed to simply say, "Thanks for the invite, but no, I'm not interested." I think I'm even allowed to just say no.
