You’re Quitting WoW?!?!

I’ve had this asked or stated to me at least three times in as many weeks, and yet I never actually said that’s what I’m doing.  For those who haven’t chatted with me regarding the subject (in Real ID mostly), allow me to elaborate.   There are two very true statements I have made.

The first, is that I am not planning to buy Mists of Pandaria.  I enjoy the game enough as it is and for what Cataclysm is required to be installed in order to play, I sometimes regret that purchase.  But it is what it is and I’m not going to cry about it so much as observe.  Pandas don’t appeal to me as a playable class and from what I gather, the Monk class will be available regardless of whether you have the expansion (and if not, I won’t be deeply upset either).  New lands are ok, but we’ll wait and see.

The second statement I made, is that I am ridiculously excited about Guild Wars 2.  Before you roll your eyes, please understand I am not one of these foolish “this is the WoW killer” types that seem to be starting to plume on the internet as GW 2 swings into its beta stage as it prepares for what the developers said will be a 2012 release.  Keep in mind, this is a game that’s been in the works since 2007.  So if they’re finally saying it will be out this year, I believe them.

So taking those two statements, people have felt that I am leaving Azeroth for Tyria when the time comes.  For me to answer one way or the other isn’t fair, but at this point that isn’t the plan.  Even the developers for Guild Wars 2 aren’t openly trying to steal WoW players (but let’s face it, bonus for them if it happens).  The game is different in a lot of ways (and I might discuss them at another time) and since it has no monthly fee, ArenaNet suggests players could end up doing both.

At this moment that is my eventual plan.

Could I leave WoW for GW2?  Absolutely.  If it’s as good as I think it will be and it draws me enough, then sure.  For me, part of the key will be the community (which to my understanding the in-game play encourages on ridiculously awesome levels), since I’ll be honest the WoW community (namely my guild friends and fellow bloggers) has sparked my gameplay in so many ways.  If Guild Wars 2 can replicate that, and I can pull some current friends with me, yeah I can see it happening.

Then again, there’s a chance I might be disappointed by the final Guild Wars 2 product on any number of levels, the least of which is an incredibly different style of gameplay.  I will most certainly try it (I’ve entered the draw for a beta invite), though I might wait for Santa to toss it under the tree.  If it isn’t good, then I still have World of Warcraft to find all kinds of ways to entertain myself.  15 dollars a month to play a game at my leisure and generate a hobby that relaxes me as much as writing does is not a bad thing.

So, no, I’m not quitting WoW.

Friday Top 5: Pop Culture References

There are literally hundreds of references in World of Warcraft.  It’s almost impossible to play the game (save perhaps pure battlegrounds/arena play) without coming across at least one.  Some are more subtle than others and honestly some are more obscure.  From characters to quests Blizzard tosses the references out in a myriad of ways.  These five are my personal favourites.

5. Adam Eternum/Keldor
This one is was actually pretty obvious in Shattrath City. Adam Eternum used to be (edit: no idea when he was removed) the Arathi Basin battlemaster, complete with “Battle-Tiger.” This is a direct reference to He-Man (costumes and all), including his Horde counterpart Keldor (aka Skeletor)

4. Segacedi
This one is just a chuckle for those of us around (and old enough to remember) during the Sega Genesis era. Segacedi is the name of a Shark in the Dalaran sewer. Sega introduced the addon component “Sega CD” to the system in 1992 and the first game for it was Sewer Shark.

3. Zod’s Repeating Longbow
Probably not anything fancy in the name, but the description confirms the Superman enemy reference. Looted from Lady Deathwhisper in Icecrown Citadel, the caption sums it up. “Kneel before him.” is clearly a reference to the phrase “Kneel Before Zod” in Superman II.

2. Slim <Shady Dealer>
Another one that’s pretty obvious just looking at it.  What’s even better is that he’ll tell you “I’m not Slim” in reference to Eminem and the song “The Real Slim Shady” which was of course about his nickname Slim Shady.

1. Curse Your Sudden But Inevitable Betrayal!
There are several references to Firefly in World of Warcraft but this one is my personal favourite. It happens during a quest in the newly dried up Loch Modan and is uttered by a Gnoll while he’s attacked by Murlocs. It played out slightly different in the television show’s opening episode.

There are many, many, more references in the game, and plenty of others that were removed during many of the various changes made to the game.  These happen to be mine.  What about you?  Any personal favourites?  Perhaps a different one that’s no longer in-game?

World of WarBloks

I’ve often wondered why Lego and Blizzard never teamed up.  Let’s be honest, Lego has gathered up several top notch licenses and produced high quality products (Potter, Star Wars, Indy, etc)…and offered them to the masses at quite often ridiculous prices, in my opinion.  Blizzard?  Draw your own comparisons. 

The bottom line is that it’s a match made in heaven and I always imagined being able to make my toons out of mix and match Lego blocks.  Well that never happened obviously, and BlizzCon 2011 showed a valid reason why it won’t happen either as the company handed out Thrall, the Mega Bloks version. 

I will admit that at first glance I sort of raised an eyebrow, but didn’t give it much more thought.  It wasn’t entirely awe inspiring as far as I was concerned.  Actually, let me correct that.  This picture is.  The in hand pictures I didn’t like quite as much. But then I came upon a video this week from the Nuremberg Toy Fair…

Now, granted it is at a bit of a distance but there’s still enough there to interest me, especially the Zeppelin.  Looking at it closer I’ve managed to pick out:

• The Frozen Throne and The Lich King
• Two dragons, possibly Sindragosa and Deathwing
• Goblin Racer
• Horde Windrider
• Stormwind/Valley of Heroes (?)
• Gates of Orgrimmar (?)
• Recruit A Friend Rocket
• Alliance & Horde Battle Standards
• Roflcopter!
• A Frostsaber (or possibly Snowsong)

Now I would need to see them close up before I pass any type of official judgement (I still think WoWminis are awesome, but Jaina Proudmoore is one of the ugliest toys I’ve ever seen)…but there’s some potential there.  As I said, even if it’s just the Zeppelin hanging in my office…I mean, my son’s room.  Yeah, that’s it…

Cataclysm Report Card: Classes

I bounced around a few blogs before I came across the subject of Tree Heals Go Woosh asking a few questions about the changes to their character(s) from pre-4.0 to now.  In the spirit of Saz, I’m going to look at it from the two characters I’ve maxed and considered my main toons for quite some time (and also pick and choose the questions I’m answering).

Do you feel that your class is better (in that it is more fun to play, more effective, etc.) now than it was at the end of Wrath?  Do you feel that your class is better now than it was at the beginning of Cataclysm?

Rogue: As a whole, I think it’s definitely better than it was.  The one beef I still have regarding the class is that when we were doing great dps in Burning Crusade people cried foul and instead of pulling the class back a bit, they jacked everyone else.  Still, I am not confident taking my Rogue into anything other than regular 5-mans.  I can harass a bit in PvP, but otherwise I just feel out of my element in a team environment.  I’m confident in my CC abilities, but hitting the high dps marks, I don’t know.

Priests: I think it’s on par in terms of fun compared to pre-4.0 (I’m talking Holy by the way).  Is it easier than when Cataclysm launched?  Absolutely!  No one could understand how Chakras worked and many people (self included) didn’t realize how nerfed Flash Heal became.  Once we as players got it sorted out and Blizzard made the appropriate adjustments, Holy Priesting life was good again.  I do still miss mp5 to some degree though.

Did you switch mains during Cataclysm?  If so, why did you make that choice?

No, I’ve treated my toons the same.  My Rogue was always for hammering away the new quest content, and then I rock & roll healing instances with my Priest.  I love healing…I hate questing as a healer and refuse to dual spec.  If anything, though, I’ve learned to tank in Cataclysm (no end game yet) and find I do enjoy it.  That Tauren Paladin is climbing the ranks of character love insanely fast.

What were your class’/spec’s strengths throughout Cataclysm?  What were its weaknesses?

Combat: The spec continues to be aces for leveling.  I think in terms of PvP and endgame, the other specs offer better alternatives for success.  To me that’s quite alright as that means each spec offers something for someone and that’s a huge success.  What I consider a “weakness” of the spec is the amount of CC I can perform with the role.  In an era where people still measure ability by the dps charts, the role has a number of interrupts and stuns that can make fights easier but at the loss of some damage.

Holy: Weakness?  It’s hard for me to say because I don’t have any other type of healer at an endgame to compare to.  But I find I’m not as deep mana wise as I used to be, though I’ve worked on better management of that.  Strengths?  The two healing Chakras are great, Leap of Faith occasionally teaches lazy dps to move, and Blizzard made us Lightwell healers popular again.

How, if at all, did Cataclysm’s revamp of the talent trees affect your class?  Did you feel that these were changes for the better or for worse?

Rogue: When Cataclysm launched, I immediately dual-specced for the first time on Siori.  I kept Combat because I was familiar with it, but I quickly realized Assassination looked much more appealing for damage output.  The removal of weapon specialization hurt the overall combat talent tree in my opinion as each offered a unique way to play the class.

Priest: Once again, Holy just took getting used to.  As I said, Chakra’s made a huge difference, and creating a Lightwell friendly environment was a boon.  I used it pre-Cata but many players weren’t used to it unless they ran with me with something resembling regularity.

Did your class experience any significant changes or additions to its lore during this expansion?  If so, how did you feel about those changes?

Rogue: The big thing people are going to talk about post-Cataclysm for Rogues was our Fangs of the Father.  The class specific legendary is still a “want” for me.  The only other major thing was Mathias Shaw’s heavy leadership in a portion of Twilight Highlands.  I liked it, to be honest.  It beat him just sitting in Stormwind not really doing anything.

Priest: Lore wise?  Well, two of the original races became Priests: Tauren and Gnomes.  One makes sense to me, the other not so much.  In that order.  I’m sure there’s something involving Priests that I’m brainfarting on in terms of lore, but there was nothing really stand-outish for me this expansion.  Let’s face it, the expansion was incredibly Shaman and Druid heavy and I’m quite fine with that.  Burning Crusade felt like a darkness vs. light battle to me and Lich King was all about Death Knights and Paladins (for proper reasons).  Every class gets/will get their turn in the main spotlight and there’s enough lesser light sprinkled throughout that I’m ok with it.

Is your class easier or harder for a fresh 85 to learn now than it was at the end of Wrath?  Is this a good or a bad thing?

Rogue: Honestly, I think Rogues are one of the harder classes to get good at.  You can get by easy enough, but to be really good at it takes practice.  I’ve seen some hit 85 that look natural.  I’ve seen some at 85 that make me think another class might’ve suited that player better.  If a character tries to learn Subtlety at 85, I feel for them.  That’s a curve, but a rewarding curve.

Priest: If you level as a healer, you’ll have no problem as a healer.  I find it’s the people who level dps and then switch at 85 who have the most difficult with the class at that level.  There’s so many options Priests have in terms of healing and debuffs and the Chakras and bubbles that you need to learn what works and you also have to mana manage well to be successful.

Overall, do you enjoy the playstyle of your class more now, at the end of Cataclysm, than you did prior to patch 4.0 at the end of Wrath?  Why or why not?

Rogue: Again, I still enjoy playing the class as much as I did at the end of Wrath, I just don’t have the confidence to be a raid dps with it.  I’d have to do a lot of research and put in a tonne of practice before I felt “good” about that role again.

Priest: Healing in general is just plain fun.  When the success or fail of a raid can depend on the one role that doesn’t really have a rotation (at least certainly not compared to dps and “build aggro” of a tank), I love it.  The Priest remains my favourite class and I don’t think Cataclysm swayed me in a less or more direction.

Money From Mogging

In last week’s musings I mentioned Raiding was 2011 and Transmogrification is 2012.  Today I’m going to elaborate on that.  You see, it’s not that people don’t raid any longer.  However, there’s a few things to pause and consider.  For starters, most heavy duty raiders have most of their gear upgrades, and will also have a fair bit of gold because the fact is there isn’t a tonne to spend it on.  So, if you’re not going to be replacing your gear, it’s time to make it look good.  That means it’s time for you and I to start profiting off of it.

Now, if you’re coming to the ball you’re a little bit late at this stage, but not to the point people will notice.  Others have jumped on this (including myself), but it still isn’t as common knowledge as you might think.  Also, I’m not talking about BoE blues or epics, or even crafted gear today.  No, we’re talking green sets.

There’s just a couple examples for you to look at, and keep in mind I probably spent between 3-20g on each.  Pretty much any day you can find some of the popular Transmog sets and at least half a dozen that are way under listed.  So snatch them up, and flip them.  Or if you’re like me, you’ll find you need a couple of the pieces for your own set.

I personally find in Plate that Darkcrest, Bloodscale, and Conqueror’s sets do very well.  However, the list is much larger than that.  I thank Twitchie for putting together a great list you can toss into Auctionator and start generating money.  His page shows Plate, Mail, and Cloth lists.  I haven’t managed to track down a Leather list yet, though.  If you know of one, feel free to let me know.

Taking the plate list one step further is a list you can see here that Keelhaul put together.  Yeah, those prices aren’t that far fetched.  You’ll see that once you start searching regularly for gear.  Personally, my servers don’t reach quite those prices, but for me they don’t necessarily need to.  If I can buy something for 20-30g and flip it for 200g, that’s still good enough for me (even more so when you count how often it happens).  Heck, last time I checked even 10g into 50g is still a profit.

If you have a hard time making your professions work for you, want to generate some luxury money, or you just want even more income, this is an area you should be working.  As I mentioned before, you’ll be a little bit behind some of the others on your server, but the fact is more and more people are going to be working on Transmogrification and those same people are going to start discovering/building sets they didn’t know existed.  Those people also have money, and as always we want to make their money our money.

Annoyances

See that?  It clearly shows you why Transmogrification is needed in the game.  My poor Saintvache looks like he hit the dumpster behind the local theatre.  The frustrating part is that I either can’t build an outfit for his level or I can’t find the parts for what I want.  This is actually a glaring occurrence for many of my toons (all but half a dozen or so) and it seems my efforts to fix it always come up just shy.

In other news, a friend convinced me to take Tumunzahar and LFR for the first time today.  We bought a couple of PvP cloth items off the auction house and then I used my justice points for a ring upgrade and I was good to go.  Not surprisingly, I was the lowest geared healer there, but I wasn’t the worst (wewt).  I wasn’t at the top either, but I didn’t expect to be.  As Grumpy Elf suggested, the lower the gear the more likely your odds to get upgrades.  I won Robes of Glowing Stone and Seal of the Seven Signs.  Those boost me to a natural 371 ilevel and (I’m almost ashamed to say) this.

All in all, I enjoyed the first part of Dragon Soul and the group was relatively decent.  People surprised me with instant cries of “KICK THEM” as soon as someone DC’d…yet it took us a whole boss fight to notice someone was in the Trade District during the entire encounter.  Prior to the last fight, I get a whisper from my friend asking if I’m the noob using Leap of Faith on people.  Honestly, unless it’s that one in a million situation where I might need to, LoF has no place for me in a raid.  I don’t even think of using it in 25 man.  Turns out, someone was using it alright.

I found out first hand during the final boss when the ice walls were popping up.  Someone Leap of Faithed me into the wall.  I died.  Admittedly, I also swore.  This person then whispered I was a moron and logged.  So, in pure immature vindictive fashion I went to said server and degenerated into swearing at him again.  He came back to my server and thanked me for the screenshot then left again before I could reply.  So far, I handled this situation poorly.  So, I went back to the other server and tried to find out what the problem was.  He admitted to LoF’ing me into the ice.  But then said I did it to him first.  And then put me on ignore.

Again, I didn’t use Leap of Faith once during the entire raid, so I don’t know if he confused me with someone else (perhaps he wasn’t the Priest doing it to people and it was the other one…whom he thought was me?).  There were three Priests in the raid, so anything is possible.  Still, it irked me that it happened, that I handled it incredibly poorly, and that I couldn’t actually discuss it in a civil manner.  Oh, and in case you’re wondering what realm this person was from…Khaz’Modan.

**edit**

In an effort to get this up in a timely manner I forgot something, and that’s the fact that for whatever reason some of the non-Wordpress blogs aren’t letting me post.  Doesn’t matter if I try anonymous or with Open ID, it just will not process.  Sometimes, like moments ago on ALT:ernative, I can get it to work so long as I have MY blog open.  I can’t even begin to understand how that works, but just know that it isn’t just me so if you’re comments section isn’t as boisterous as usual, that’s probably why.

Friday Top 5: Little Secrets

This week, I thought I’d look at some of the little things you might not catch or find when playing the game.  Some have been documented by others, in great detail, but as there are so many I thought I’d pick the five that I like the best.

5. The Westfall Kids
Westfall has always been a zone I enjoyed. I’ll admit the David Caruso knock off amuses me a little these days but does tend to get as annoying as his real life counterpart in no expanse of time. That said, kill one of the hobo’s in the corn field just once and watch what happens. That’s right, some kids appear and roll him! Then when you try to loot the corpse, there’s no loot! I howled the first time I saw that.

4. The Goldshire Kids
These kids, not so much with the funny. They’re more of the CLB and twins from The Shining. They’re positioned in a pentagram in the house and are just all around eerie. They’ve got nothing nice to say to you either.

3.Bashal’Aran Collapse
This sounds like one of those old pranks you’d play on a new player (usually in a dungeon). “Jump in the hole.” This one you actually can and you end up in a cool underground location with a Night Elf NPC. He’ll even drop a quest (that results in an achievement) if you’re Alliance.

2.The Underground
This one isn’t as much of a “secret” as the others, especially if you’re an Engineer. The Wormhole Generator: Northrend usually transports you to one of five locations, but there’s a sixth one as well. You end up in Dalaran, but under the city where you can buy the Arcanite Dragonling from Kaye Toogie. Unfortunately the only way out is porting. Still, because it’s so hard to get to, there aren’t a tonne of people who know about it.

1. The Whispering Forest
Honestly, this is probably the best documented “secret,” thanks large in part to Syrco’s post last summer (which is how I found out about it). If you didn’t click the link, it’s a location in Tirisfal Glades where at the right time you can catch an amazing show that you’d otherwise have no idea it’s even there. I’ve managed to catch it three times now, though I haven’t gone back lately. Honestly, hit Syrco’s post for the details and then check it out for yourself. You will not be disappointed.

Siori in the Whispering Forest

There you have it.  Just five little things that you might not have known about.  Blizzard has done a great job of slipping little things into the game and it’s always nice when you stumble across them and can appreciate them.  The same can be said for the ridiculous number of pop culture references in the game…which will be the subject of next week’s list.

Meme: The Sixth

Farfenoogin.  The trouble with people getting to know you, is they’ll slap a tag on your back.  If you’re someone like me, you play tag.  Thus, I present my involvement in the latest meme.  The Godmother was the one to tag me in this Game of Sixes.

The Rules.

• Go into your image folder
• Open the sixth sub-folder and choose the sixth image.
• Publish the image! (and a few words wouldn’t hurt, though I dare say I couldn’t stop a blogger from adding a few words of their own).
• Challenge six new bloggers.
• Link to them.

Now, like a few other folks, I don’t have six folders.  Though, in fairness I am looking to add subfolders to my Screenshot collection on the external Hard Drive.  For this, though, I stuck with the shots that are currently on the laptop.  And what did I find?

Durotar DDR? I got nothing...

So here’s what I can surmise from the picture:

• It’s Schadde.
• I’m in Durotar.
• I’m talking with someone regarding the sequel to The Broken Doll.
• She might have Cow Bell Fever at that point.
• I’m focused on someone in a completely different direction.

Easiest way to explain this screen shot is my Autorun is next to my screenshot button.  I get a lot of these and apparently haven’t deleted all of them.  On that note, let’s see what these six folks have going:

• Heal-Alt-Delete
• Perks N Peeves
• Cannot Be Tamed
• Lord of Assets
• Nevernude’s Adventures
• Chronicles of Mia

Yup, if you take part, you have to bring six people down with you.  Heh.  Hopefully some of these make more sense than mine does.

Another Musings Post

I find myself with a great many thoughts on a great many things, but at the moment none of them amounts to a full post.  As such, you get another set of random ramblings this morning.

• Got my soundtrack in to ALT:ernative.  60 minutes was just cruel.  Back in my cassette making day, 90 was the way to go.  As it was my original compilation was closer to 120 minutes.
• Having mentioned “playlists” in my post the other day, I really see that coming to fruition either later this month or early in March.  Too many ideas already.
• Stonetalon Mountains is my favourite Horde quest area thus far.  The quests are moderately fun, there’s a few really funny comments, and I knocked off levels ridiculously fast for not having BoA’s.
• SWEET ILLIDAN I WANT GOT THE HEART OF THE ASPECTS MOUNT!!!!! (see below)
• If you don’t understand why the Lovebird sells for more than a Chopper, you don’t understand economics at all.
• Your situation is worse if you don’t understand it a month from now.
• Claws of Nature hit Level 9 this week.
• After we came up just shy Sunday night, I logged on and did two dailies Monday night.  Done and done.  Yay!
• I want level 10 for cloaks.  Not good when I want character levels elsewhere.  I see a time issue, but it will happen.
• Getting to level 10 will take a while.  I gave up trying to form a raid.
• Even the night people said they were free, few ever actually are.
• Twice in the last month I’ve set a record for site visits.  That’s an awesome feeling.
• Checking the “what linked people here” and finding random forums talking about me is also an awesome feeling.
• Raiding is 2011.  Transmogging is 2012.  Start profiting NOW.
• Expect a detailed post on that in the coming days.
• Hrm, I have been challenged.
• I should really take Tumunzahar into the final HoT 5-man.  It’s the only one I’ve not done yet.
• Why do I keep grouping with dps Shamans who refuse to drop totems?
• Seriously, just because you’re not Resto does not mean it wouldn’t help even in a 5-man.
• I have no idea how the Love Is In The Air dungeon fight works.  I just heal through it.  No one (short of the guide by Tome of the Ancients) has ever bothered explaining it.  All I know is I aggro huge when healing it.
• Formula: Enchant Chest – Greater Stats.  To learn or not to learn?  Money is the question.  Perfect recipe book is probably the answer.
• No Mists of Pandaria this year?  I’m actually ok with that.  Folks who signed up for a year might not be as content and that’s understandable.
• I wonder if we’ll get anything new between now and Mists…
• I’ve never levelled a Paladin to 20.  Now I have one past 30 and he’s starting to pull me, with a sign that looks like a faint “8″ and “5.”
• Liouxpold is camped in Zangarmarsh.
• He’s not coming out until he’s Exalted and has that damn Hippogryph.
• He’s about halfway to Exalted.
• I can only take so much Naga.
• I miss when Hunter pets took off after what you shot at.  It’s a little thing I don’t understand why they changed (especially when they removed Aggressive pet behaviour setting from the game).
• I have seen Loque’nahar 5 times roaming the wild but have yet to see another spirit beast.
• I don’t think I want to go anywhere near his spawn point until I have an actual Beast Master hunter.
• Speaking of which, Oddfodder now has a color changing crocodile named “Fido.”
• This is why playing a character is more fun than just killing time on a toon.
• I want those ampm cups, all of them.
• I live in Canada.  This leads to a rather flawed hope.

Behold the generosity of The Godmother!

Pitching A Tent

A couple of weeks ago I talked about ways to fix the Professions in WoW.  Since then, a few other ideas have popped in and out of my head elaborating on that.  One in particular I would really love to see implemented, and it would make Leatherworkers quite popular.

Yep, it’s a tent.  First reaction is probably that tents seem kind of pointless, but hear me out.  Leatherworkers would have tents made from Medium Leather, Rugged Leather, Borean Leather, Savage Leather, and the base leather of Mists of Pandaria.  Looking at it closer, you’ll see there’s one for each stage/expansion in WoW except for Rugged Leather.

Breaking it down, it would work like this:

• Medium Leather Tent: Works for levels 20-49.
• Rugged Leather Tent: Works for levels 50-70.
• Borean Leather Tent: Works for levels 70-80.
• Savage Leather Tent: Works for levels 80-85.
• ??? Leather Tent: Works for levels 85-90.

The idea, is the tent works like an inn.  Logging out while in a tent would give you rest xp, negating the need to visit a town or return to a city if you’re out questing and they would bind to a character after it was used the first time.  A Leatherworker using a tent would generate an extra 20% rest when using a tent, a nice bonus for making them for self use.

This would have been an even better idea when questing actually took time and we couldn’t fly everywhere in Azeroth, but I still think it’s practical in the current game without being game breaking.  When it comes to WoW, it’s sometimes the little things that people like best.