Preparing for Wrath of the Lich King

I have a confession to make. I hoard everything. And I mean EVERYTHING. I have a very hard time letting anything go and I've always been that way. This has actually worked out pretty well for me, though since I've also spent a lot of time playing with alts over the last 2 years.

But, now Wrath is coming and a lot of things are going to change and the same thing is going to happen again with the new expansion. Items, and gear that used to be very expensive will tank in price. Inscription is going to cause the cost of herbs to skyrocket. Many L60 blues will drop even further in price, with the exception of useful blue weapons and plate armor. And many crafting items that are in high demand now will either completely disappear or become worthless.

So, I've started selling off items and equipment that I don't need on any of my alts. Spell Cloth. Primal Moon Cloth. Some old blue items. Saved up greeds and enchanting reagents that I don't need. Much of this is designed to make sure I have the most gold possible going into the expansion; while at the same time trying to clear out inventory spots in preparation for a new influx of reagents and gear relating to the push to 80.

My mage is an Enchanting/Tailor. I've stored up a lot of tailoring and Enchanting mats at around the 375 level...but it looks like they aren't going to be needed quite so badly. I'm also seriously thinking about dropping Tailoring for Inscription on my Mage. That would make me an Enchanter/Inscriber...which doesn't necessarily sound like a bad combination. Of course, my mage isn't an herbalist, so I'm at least commiting myself to at least 1 gatherer alt (my druid? or my Warlock).

I'm also strongly considering liquidating my badges and converting them into epic gems and selling those. I have around 250 badges stored right now...enough for quite a few gems. In fact I would have already done that if not for the fact that I've still held up hopes for getting into a raiding guild pre-expansion and if that happens I still might need those gems. Or that 100 badge chest piece if I have to go fire.

I also really need to get a peek at WOTLK tailoring...Tailoring was quite useful to me at the start of BC...very useful in fact. But once past T4 that usefulness evaporated. Now they did add some really nice Sunwell recipes...but they are effectively out of my reach and are not THAT much better that what I could get otherwise in Sunwell.

The problem is...does inscription have any meaningful bonus in regards to taking it? Jewelcrafting really didn't at the start of BC...and one extra Inscription spot, while nice sounding...may not be enough. It will really depend on if there are any Inscriber-only effects that really effect raiding in a meaningful way. If not, I'm probably better off staying with Tailoring.

Of course, Wrath is still a few months out...at least. Word started being spread yesterday that 3.0 might hit the test realms soon...and they'll stay there for at least 6-8 weeks. That means we can maybe see the first major content patch in October. And by the time that hits, I'm betting raiding interest will dive opportunities will begin to present themselves. Hopefully I'll end up in a good place.

Playing Alts in WOW

You know it's interesting how the game experience in WOW changes outside of a raiding guild. I've learned to be somewhat orderly in regards to my play time, mostly due to the limited amount of time I have to play and the large amount of time required to raid. But with the raiding game pretty much taken out of the picture for the moment, I find myself still planning ahead.

First, I've been leveling a druid alt. Now that's not really a change for me. I've always had alts...I like variety and diversions, which helps keep my interest. This time I did something that at one time I swore not to do (and I feel bad about it), but I bought another account. I did it for several reasons. First, I didn't want to delete any of my existing characters (which I have 10). Second, I wanted to be able to dual-box 5-man instances while leveling. I figured that way I'd still be able to keep my horde characters in case I ever switched sides, and level grinding would be easier with extra gear.

Now, less than 2 weeks later I'm level 41 (almost 42). I've run many of the low-level instances at least 2-3 times; and I've ended up with tons of crap to sell. Not only has leveling been easier, but I've made a ton of money for my druid...900g, and only 50g of that was seed money. You'd be surprised how many low-level green items will sell if you don't hyper-inflate the process like so many seem to like. I'll put up some random l23 sword up for 1G, when everyone else puts them up for 5, 10, or even 50!?!?! gold, and still make a decent profit out of it. Plus I guess I've been lucky when it comes to blue drops; I've had several which have sold for over 100, one that sold for 200, and 4-5 that sold for 40-60g.

One other thing I did with my Druid was to make her a gatherer. Mining/Herbalist to be specific. Now mining doesn't necessarily give me all that much, but it does let me stock up on valuable materials that I might need for an alt jewelcrafter or smith (DK?) and herbalism lets me prep for Wrath by collecting low/mid/high level herbs for Inscription. I'm considering just leaving druid as a pure gatherer alt, doing the epic flight-form quest, and using her to collect materials later. That would give me the option of dropping tailoring on my Mage and taking Inscription instead (which I'm actually leaning towards).

Of course, tailoring might end up being as good as it was in BC, but I doubt it. Sure Tailoring turned into an invaluable skill at 70 pre T5; but it really left me without many options in T4 for quite some time (and even T5 until I got the 2-piece bonus, which took forever).

So, while I'm no longer planning for item upgrades and watching DKP, or planning to sneak in 1-2 hours of alt-time between raids, I'm still planning but it's all focused on the next expansion.

Thoughts on Wrath of the Lich King

My first MMO was Final Fantasy XI. I was originally very much against MMOs, mostly due to having a poor connection (dialup, and a rather crappy one at that), and I enjoy playing games on my own terms and my own pace. However, a ton of online people decided to play FFXI and form a guild and I got drawn into it. It was some of the most fun I've ever had with any game.

Of course, in hindsight, FFXI was a frustrating, difficult, and ultimately unfriendly game which at least 75% of your time spent playing was waiting for a party invite or farming and the end-game comprised of waiting 3-4 hours for a boss to spawn, and the challenge of that boss wasn't fighting him, but tagging him before another guild did.

But still, I played with a pretty tight knit group of people. Despite the problems it was a lot of fun. And because of that, I completely dismissed WOW as a game. There was no way I could support playing two MMOs at one time. Of course, like all things, people got bored, started leaving. As people hit max level they left our friendly linkshell and started joining serious end-game guilds. And as more people moved on from that guild, and I started logging in by myself...I started seriously wondering what the point was anymore.

Then a new guy started at work. A WOW addict. And, the moment he found out I played computer games and even an MMO he tried to get me to play on his server. It was surprisingly easy to quit FFXI. And WOW truly is a different experience.

My favorite class in FFXI was Black Mage. And so I created a Mage as my first WOW character. I think I also created a Warlock, and a Paladin too. At first I was shocked at how simple WOW was compared to FFXI. A Mage in WOW have a much more restrictive list of spells available compared to FFXI. Though the mechanics were fairly similar (sit back, play artillery).

Once I started playing WOW, I never looked back. Over a 3 month period I got my mage from 1 to 60, and the day I got to 60 my friend got me into a Raiding Guild. It wasn't a very advanced raiding guild...they were in MC where lots of raiders were already clearing Naxx...but I didn't care. Hell, I had like 3 blue items, and the rest were greens. If I hadn't been a friend of someone in the guild, I would have never got in.

Equitas was a fun guild, I met a lot of people there and had fun. My first raid ever I got the T1 Chest Piece (which I've kept for nostalgia purposes); and I went from being the worst mage in the guild (Hell at the time I was Fire/Frost) to the 2nd best in a little over 3 months. It was a good time, and I felt a serious sense of accomplishment when we finally killed Ragnaros and began looking at BWL.

Unfortunately, by the time we started BWL Burning Crusade was only a month or 2 away; rumors were flying about how BC greens were replacing vintage purples...and interest in raiding in any form plummeted to nothing. And with all of the new super-special PVP gear they released with the PVP revamp, any remaining interest tanked completely.

Man I had high hopes for Burning Crusade. I wasn't sure about the idea of 25-man raids vs. 40...though I liked AQ20 and ZG. I thought the idea of a ton of new, smaller 5-mans was a nice idea; and I liked the idea of Heroics. Plus, with all of the new gear, new spells, new visuals, etc, BC was sounding pretty damned sweet.

And then it came out.

Leveling in BC was fun. It was slower than I would have liked, but I duoed with my friend (another mage) all through BC and had a blast doing it. However, even at the beginning, some of the flaws started showing up. Everything past the quests themselves seemed over-tuned. Many instances had simply way too much trash for the number of bosses in them (I still dread Shadow Labyrinth between the first and second bosses).

Heroics were an awesome idea; but some of them were extremely difficult; with very little in the way of rewards. (Heroic MGT is the way heroics should have always been). Not to mention the fact that with Badges, most players simply refused to go back to standard 5-mans...making it more difficult for late-comers to progress.

Of course, past heroics was Karazhan. It was a fairly interesting raid zone, long, a little trashy at points but with plenty of bosses. Of course it was a 10 man raid zone, not a 25 man...and Karazhan completely destroyed guilds. (It effectively destroyed Equitas)...Gruul's Lair and Mag's lair were simply not designed as introductory raid zones...they were damned near impossible for people not in Karazhan gear when they were first introduced.

The thing is, BC was designed to reset the bar, and brought in a lot of new players...but they never bothered to ease people into the 25-man raiding game...hell after the attunements were dropped I know a lot of guilds simply skipped Mag because Lurker in SSC was easier.

So, BC had a lot of good ideas; but suffered from poor execution. Nerfs. Bad instance designs. Poor tuning. With very little attempt to ease players into the end game.

And now WOTLK is coming. And it follows much the same strategy of BC. Shorter 5 Mans. Heroics. A few introductory 1-2 shot raid bosses. And the re-use of Naxx. This is both a good and bad thing. Due to how similar it is, hopefully Blizzard has learned its lesson about the mistakes they made in BC; though I'm a little worried.

Already, interest in raiding has started to decline...while the gear shift in Wrath won't be as big Sunwell gear will begin being replaced in later 5-mans in Wrath. And I don't think it's possible that Blizzard can introduce a new class, 10 new levels (with new abilities) and not undergo a large number of class changes and nerfs after release. So in that regard, I don't think WOTLK is going to be any better (I just hope Mage is safe from the nerf bat).

Though I'm not in beta, I've been listening to what people say. 5-mans are supposed to be shorter...hopefully that means less trash, not fewer bosses. A better trash-to-boss ratio in WOTLK will go a long way to making the game a bit better all around. The new badge system, with tiered badges sounds like a good idea too. Already the badge system in BC has gotten out of whack--no badge gear should cost more than 50 badges IMO.

The idea of making 10 man versions of 25 man raids is a brilliant one, but one I'm also the most worried about. In BC, Karazhan was it for most of the game; ZA was late, and rather annoying. But by having all 25-man raids having a 10 man equivalent...means that people who like that sort of play style will have plenty of options down the road. Unfortunately it could also mean that Blizzard will just assume that 25-mans are for the hard core and make them all extremely difficult. And I don't know about you, but SSC/TK just wore me down with all of the trash and the overly long fights...MH was rather annoying; and BT was actually fairly good except for a few bosses that were just damned annoying. If we see more instances like BT, and fewer like SSC/TK, I'll be happy. And hopefully Naxx's very design will accommodate that...a large, sprawling instance broken into wings, with lots of bosses and options...just about a perfect combination for a 25-man raid zone.

Maybe at some point I'll get a chance at the beta, though really leveling doesn't give a good idea of what the expansion is going to be like. Most of my time with BC was spent with the end-game, and that's a LOT harder to test or get a feel for in a beta.

Guild Searching

Well I finally did it. I started looking for a Guild. The pickings are very slim on Malygos right now, but I'm really not wanting to switch servers. I put in one app yesterday, but I'm not that hopeful...it looks pretty full...but at least there's some question regarding whether it is or not unlike the others which are definitely packed.

Of course, I still have the option for settling for a guild lower in progression...but I don't think I'm really ready to sit with another guild through the cock-block that is ROS & Bloodboil.

Thoughts on Characters

Work and other issues have been leaving me a little burned out lately. It's sometimes hard to be creative when you are just feeling tired, strung out, and nothing seems all that interesting. But I am very interactive with my entertainment...one of the reasons why I don't watch TV and will rarely watch a movie alone. I still like reading books, but I haven't seen a book that's interested me in a while much to my dismay.

I have a confession to make, if there is one thing I would really like to accomplish in my life it would be to publish a novel. I even wrote a full length story once (it's been years now), and I have tons of different character and story concepts that run through my head every day; and I often dream about them at night.

It's not like I have any real chance of publishing anything. I don't practice or write enough, especially nowadays. I still plan on doing it, perhaps when I'm a little older and more wiser and experienced. Still, not a day passes where I don't think, or dream, about some story. A few of them are surprisingly though out.

I have another confession to make. I am a pen-and-paper roleplayer. Even to this day I play D&D, or Shadowrun, or other games with friends. And back when I got drawn into these forms of entertainment, the characters I created were just a collection of stats, items, and powers (if any). A story usually involved something simple--go into a local dungeon and loot it for treasure, or go to a bar and see what unusual hijinks ensued (that was always fun...I once had an Elven Ranger named Calin die within 3 seconds after entering a bar...damned those save-or-die spells!

As I have gotten older, though, my taste in RPGs have evolved from an interest in stats or items, and transformed into an interest in history, background, personality, strengths, flaws, and weaknesses. For example, my first character was a young elf-mage named Natasha (yeah, a Russian Elf...make fun all you want). She was young, by elven standards (around 48), and while extremely attractive she was also quite shy and dressed very frumpy. She was one of 2 characters I created (along with Calin, the Elven Ranger I mentioned above). Why 2? Well in the campaign that I joined most people played 2 characters instead of one mostly because the players preferred it that way (I personally hate that playstyle, go figure).

I don't think I had any real concept behind the character, except she was a elf-tomboy, attractive but went out of her way to hide that. There wasn't very much flavor to the character; and most of it came from the character's attributes, race, and stats (I'd rolled a natural 18 Intelligence, Charisma, and 17 Dexterity...still one of the best set of straight rolls I've ever had). It was a little bit of flavor, really, and something that as I played the character eventually developed into something more.

Even though it was just a simple D&D character, nothing more than a collection of stats, the game I played in allowed me to create an emotional attachment to the character. And with that attachment came a desire to flesh the character out. Why was the character shy? She was a freakin mage who blew people up, often quite creatively? Why did she hide herself? Why was she adventuring in the first place?

When I started asking myself those questions as I played, I naturally started answering them and as I did so I started adding history and background to the character. She gained a last name. A family. Goals, and motivations. And somewhere in the middle of that she ceased being just a collection of stats and became a character. I was fairly young at the time, and the concept was full of cliques, but I was happy with it and still think fondly of the character to this day.

It was from these rollplaying roots that I got interested in telling stories (though I guess it's more true to say that my at-the-time unknown interest in telling and creating stories is why I found RPGs so interesting in the first place). That basic framework allowed me to go beyond the stats and mechanics of an RPG character, and begin to develop a story about something beyond that. And to this day, I usually create characters through the same form of process. First I'll create a basic framework; an occupation, age, etc, and include some arbitrary list of attributes (not necessarily statistics, and then start asking questions. Most of the time I'll have a specific story, or concept in mind for the character and a lot of my questions will relate to that. It is through forumlating, and then answering these questions that most of the characters I have created have taken shape; though they don't really come alive until they are mated with a story.

Of course, a character is more than just a sum of his or her history. People are certainly shaped by their history, even defined by it to a certain extent, but even similiar individuals can react very differently to the same situation; and even their perceptions of those events can be radically different. It all comes down to perspective. The true nature of a character can often be found not in their history, but in the choices they made in life. When creating a character, it's important to realize that and to sieze upon that. It's important not to ask whether this did this or that deed, but why they did it in the first place. To me, it's the WHY that begins to make a character stand out. And it's one of the questions that I always ask and answer. The more of those sorts of questions I can identify, and answer, the more fleshed out the character becomes.

Of course, a character is nothing without a setting to put him (or her) in, but that's a topic for a different post!

Guild Woes

Just recently the WOW guild my mage was in broke up rather suddenly. I've been in a raiding guild since the week I hit 60 back in the day, and really it's been something of a shock to suddenly find myself guildless and without many prospects. Malygos just doesn't have a very active high-end raiding community, and coupled with me being a Mage and no one seems to want one I'm kinda stuck.

For now I'm kinda chilling. I've got a Shaman which is 68 that I'm going to get to 70 and I've started on druid too. Honestly it's been better to do that than to stay on my main, with an empty guild channel and no one on Vent to talk to. Leveling alts, at least, is by it's very nature a more solo experience and the lack of anything else isn't quite so obvious.

Hopefully I'll have a chance to get back into raiding soon, at least by the time WOTLK comes out.

(boy, this post turned into something completely different than what I wanted...oh well)

Wow, I created a Blog!

Well, this is my first blog post. Not much here at the moment, and I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do with it, honestly. Think of it as an experiment, an opportunity for me to talk about things that interest me and about where I am in my life for the moment. I'm thinking this will be more of a gaming blog, concentrating on my specific interests in the gaming world (online, or otherwise). But other stuff might crop in from time to time. hehe!

(and if this never goes past 5 posts, well, at least it was a chance to see what blogging is like).

Well, so with that goal in mind...

Currently Playing:

• World of Warcraft

Currently looking forward to:

• Fallout 3
• Spore
• Wrath of the Lich King
• Warhammer Online
• Final Fantasy XIII

I have a confession to make, I am a WOW addict. I play a Mage, named Malfaire, on the Malygos server. I have a lot of fun with it, and I'd like to think I'm pretty good (but certainly not awesome). It's not really that I think WOW is the best game ever, but I really liked the people I played with; and I liked raiding and being part of a team; figuring out new encounters and seeing new content.

Unfortunately, my guild, Nerfed, broke up a few weeks ago, leaving me in a bit of a limbo. Most everyone I know has scattered to the four winds, switching guilds, or servers...and me having no idea of where to go now. Even worse, Malygos is a bastion of raiding mediocrity...Nerfed never got past Archimonde or Council; but there aren't that many guilds above us in progression and none seem interested in taking on mages. Mage's were crapped on pretty badly in Burning Crusade, and just don't seem to be as desired in raids anymore. I guess I'd just never paid attention to those trends.

In the meantime, I created a Druid and I'm leveling it. It doesn't feel as lonely leveling a low-level alt; not sure why, I guess it's just that my expectations are different. I've leveled several alts before now, most of them solo, so this seemed like a good diversion. In just one week, I've gone from 1 to 27 and should hit 30 pretty soon.

Past that, I'm really looking foward to Spore and Fallout 3 (though I'm a little nervous about Fallout 3). It's also looking like Warhammer Online might be fun, if some of my RL friends and former guild-mates decide to hook up for some action there. I've been reading stuff about WAR, and I'm not entirely convinced that the game is for me (I prefer the raiding game, not PVP)...but I'm also always willing to give something a shot. Hell, I had avoided WOW like the plague until a friend finally convinced me to play.

Well, anyway, this post is been a bit rambly and I have several topics I want to discuss about different topics on my mind, but I'll save them for different posts. Hell, I haven't even looked at the template yet!