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.

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:

• 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.

Rep grinding is easy and almost fun for short play sessions (10 - 30 minutes each). My druid has moved into the Cenarion Expedition Inn for a short run to the dead mire and my rogue hearth stone back to Shatt after every play and easily catches a quick griffon to terrokar forest or nagrand, from where it's a short run either way to killing grounds, or simply runs out to the bird people in TF for a few minutes. Since real life is taking over and I play much less than I used to, this is a good way to gain rep whilst gaining about 1000xp for each kill. At a conservative 1 kill per minute, 30 minutes equate to 60 000xp per hour, roughly the same as I get when questing. No bad at all.

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.

1. 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.
2. 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.
   
3. 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.
4. Nagrand: The elemental vortex thingies are good for mote of air, shadow, water and earth. If it swirls or rolls, kill it.

Mote of Mana is really in Netherstorm, will have to wait until at least level 67 to farm comfortably. Similar for farming mote of fire from searing elementals in Blade's Edge mountains. Just three more levels until I am no longer auction house dependent (primal fire / 10x mote of fire is 32-35g each, unaffordable at the moment), but at the current rate I am leveling up, it'll be Christmas before I get there...

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:

• 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)

Cenarion Expedition:

• 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

Sporeggar: None

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

The Consortium

• Friendly: Pattern: Fel Leather Gloves
• Honored: Pattern: Fel Leather Boots
• Revered: Pattern: Fel Leather Leggings
• Exalted: None

The Sha'tar

• Friendly: None
• Honored: Pattern: Drums of Battle
• Revered: None
  
• Exalted: None

The Scryers:

• 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)

Lower City:

• Friendly: None
  
• Honored: None
  
• Revered: Pattern: Enchanted Felscale Leggings
• Exalted: None

In an ideal world, if leatherworking was my only priority and I wanted all the patterns I could possibly get, I would want the following rep standing: Honor Hold (Exalted), Cenarion Expedition (Exalted), The Scryers (Exalted), Kurenai (Revered), The Consortium (Revered), Lower City (Revered), The Sha'tar (Honored).

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.
  

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.

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.