Tag: WoW

I did it. I have my second level 70+ character in game after uh, well less then a week. Of course it was also a week of me using a recruit-a-friend account up to level 60, but I’m happy to be here none the less. I jumped into a few Wrath dungeons right away and immediately fell in love with deadly boss mod all over again. It was nice to know exactly what was going on in the encounters where as before I could only generalize.

I also decided to move my shaman over to the new server. I’ve always hated having characters spread out, and this time was no exception. The shaman is level 65 which was required in order for me to get my crafting to 450. She’s my jeweler / inscription worker, and it’s nice to be able to make my own glyphs as well as my own gems for sockets. Plus the shaman is just plain fun.

The leveling slows down now and comes mostly from questing rather then dungeon grinding. Not a big deal, I’ve barely touched quests since I created the character. As a change of pace I also decided I wanted to learn how to tank – so I created a paladin. I contemplated a DK but it seems like everyone and their dog has one (although the same could be said for the paladin as well). Whether I will be any good at it I’m not sure, but it was worth a shot I figured. Then I will understand the game from all three perspectives, healer, dps, and tank. Is this important? Not really, but it’s sort of fun.

When I hit 70 my little warlock got a spell called Seed of Destruction which is now my new best friend. I decided to purchase dual spec, and I have one for AoE damage (which is handy in instances, although my single target dps is quite shoddy) and then I have one for questing, which is focused on single target damage. My parse jumped from roughly 800 to 4000 in groups of three or more and I couldn’t be happier. Of course that also comes from me being level 70 now and the mobs being slightly easier to hit.

I’m already starting to save up my tokens for gear. I make sure at these lower levels when the instances are easier that I’m doing my random for the day. It helps that I have an 80 warrior who can queue up with me and thus make tanking a LOT easier (and safer) for me to dps to my little hearts content.

While I don’t personally feel that WoW is as complicated as some other games out there, I also don’t feel that it’s exactly easy-mode either. You still have to pay attention, and you still have to learn tactics for encounters. I think perhaps the ‘cartoony’ (as I have heard others call it) graphics of the game mislead others into thinking that it’s simpler then the games they’re already playing. Aspects of it are certainly easier (like crafting, for one) but dps is dps. It’s spamming the same buttons over and over to maximize your damage, and doing whatever is required per encounter. That doesn’t really change too much no matter what you’re playing.

Happy gaming no matter where you find yourself!

Pictured above, is Perky Pug – a reward for completing heroic dungeons with 100 random people. I want this little cute vanity pet bad. It’s the sweetest little thing I’ve ever seen. With my warlock now at a comfortable 68 I don’t think it’s too far out of reach.

Last night was my first time through the dungeon ‘The Escape from Durnholde‘ – and it was a LOT of fun. You’ve first got to obtain access through a short series of quests in the Caverns of Time. You’re then sent back 7 years to help young Thrall escape Durnholde, and start his journey as ruler. The zone is also where I got the awesome sombrero pictured above. I really wish World of Warcraft had appearance slots.

Afterward I did the zone ‘Opening of the Dark Portal‘ which is a giant 18 step ring event. I was INCREDIBLY thankful for deadly boss mod, which has now become a staple in my WoW mod collection. I don’t know how on earth I ever survived without this particular mod. As a new player experiencing most of these things for the first time it has proven to be invaluable. I have a feeling that had I been using this mod while playing my healer, I may feel differently about the instances I was doing, and able to understand the particulars of the fights a little more.

The warlock picked up some nice upgrades, and I’m really looking forward to hitting 70 which is when I get my first version of seeds of destruction. I plan on getting a 2nd spec then, one is purely AoE damage (ie: instances) and the other will be for soloing or questing where I’m rarely dealing with more then one encounter at a time. Since I already have a level 80 I was also able to purchase the heirloom arctic flying manual, so my little warlock can head to Northrend without having to worry about being able to fly. I’m pretty excited about that.

I’ve queued up for a few dungeons now with the LFD tool – and while it IS longer then having to look on my priest, it’s not horrible at this level. The longest I’ve had to wait is 30 minutes, and I typically spend my time questing in between. I do miss playing the priest some, and I’m looking forward to dipping my toes back into playing her on occasion. I’ve got a 35 druid as well that I’ll eventually level through the ranks.

Happy gaming no matter where you find yourself!

The warlock is 66, and working her way through Burning Crusade. I like this expansion better then the basic game, but less then wrath. I’m eager to hit 68 which is when I’ll be able to head to Wrath areas finally, and since I’ve got a level 80 already I can purchase the heirloom flying manual and fly from the start. After 5+ years I am finally over my fear of WoW PUGs (pick up groups, for those who are not gamers). Just because I’m playing a DPS role doesn’t mean that I’m exactly guilt free. It’s my job to make sure that the healer has a soul stone on them at all times, I also have to watch how much DPS I do so that I don’t gank. I need to make sure I don’t accidentally wipe the group by doing any number of random dumb accidental things. It’s not as involved as a healer or a tank, but I’ve still got things to do.

Now that I’m getting over my fear of running the LFD tool, I think with time I’ll feel more confident playing the healer in instances as well. Having two drastically different classes at level 80 is a nice feeling (even though I’m not 80 yet, it’ll come). When I’m ready for a little excitement I’ll switch back to the healer. Maybe once I learn the zones on a DPS class I’ll feel more confident about doing them on the priest.

Ah yes. Forgot about that EVE post I wanted to do! That’s next on my list..

Happy gaming no matter where you find yourself!

It never fails. When I start playing an MMO I typically always role the same types of characters. Healers, or support classes. This would be why I have a plethora of healers on EQ2, EQ, LotRo, and yes, even WoW (80 priest). As it would happen though I learned an important lesson this week. It’s ok NOT to play your ‘usual’ class in a game. When I was playing WoW as my priest I was constantly stressed. I found healing people (mostly people who had no idea what they were doing and were very literally all over the place) difficult, I found myself questioning my ability as a healer because I would take the blame for everyone else’ actions. This is the wrong way to play WoW. If you play this way you will slowly drive yourself crazy (as I found out). It made LFD one of the single most stressful things I’d ever done. This week I decided ‘it’s a game.’ If you’re not having FUN playing a game, and it’s work – why are you playing it?!

I like WoW. I like how casual it can be while I’m playing other games like EVE. I like that I can log in and almost instantly be doing something instead of having to wait around for hours. What I didn’t like, was playing my priest. I decided to start over with a ‘new’ main since I was starting over on a new server already. I have played various characters through to the 20’s before, but had never gotten a warlock past that magical number, even though it was one class that I had the most interest in.

For the past three days I spent almost all of my in game time working on this warlock. She’s now level 61, and I have to admit – I simply love the class. I mean, in that WOW look how FUN the game can be way. It wasn’t WoW’s fault that I wasn’t enjoying my stay. It was all about me playing the wrong class.

I looked up some warlock mods. Necrosis is now my new best friend. I also got deadly boss mod, which I wonder how I survived without. Suddenly the game is not this stressful horrible place that I spend my time but it’s actually FUN. Who would have thought. In order to level the warlock so fast I decided to get a recruit-a-friend account between myself. I paid $20 for the base game and gained 10 days of burning crusade which allowed me to create a blood elf and level through the content quite fast. The benefit of a recruit-a-friend account (aside from the 300% bonus in experience which is simply insane) is that the RAF can ‘grant’ your main veteran account levels. For every 2 levels they gain, they can grant one (so long as the veteran character is not higher level). This works up to level 60. Not only do I have this new warlock that I enjoy very much, but I can level another character to 30 and grant them enough levels to reach 60. I haven’t decided what character I want to do this with yet. I’m thinking shaman or perhaps paladin.

It’s nice to know the game is still fun to me, now that I’m playing the right class.

Happy gaming no matter where you find yourself!