30 Days In The Hole

To be fair, it’s more to the effect of “30 Days Back In Azeroth.” Miss me? Heck, remember me?

Indeed my friend, I have been back in World of Warcraft for just over a month now (though I was gone away for one week in that span). There is a great deal to discuss in terms of the game, the future, even yours truly as it pertains to the two.  I suppose I will take the easy route and tackle the last one first.

When I stopped playing WoW earlier this year it wasn’t because of the game itself (unlike a clear number of other people based on subscription numbers). I simply didn’t have time for the game. If I didn’t have time…why was I paying for it then? So off I went. I can’t say that I missed the game, but at the same time there were things I missed doing. More importantly there were people I missed talking to. But don’t get me wrong, that wouldn’t be reason enough to bring me back (as awesome as those individuals may be).

So why did I come back? That’s easy. I can play the game for free. Yes, the well-known WoW token. Some individual buys the token in the real world and all I have to do is hand over some gold for a month of play time. That means zero cash comes out of my pocket. I just spend a few hours generating some coin and I’m in the game as long as I want to be. Of course, there was a catch to getting back that myself and Flagsworth (remember that lad as well?) found as we both considered this option: how do we start playing for free without first paying to do so? Oh Blizzard, you have impeccable timing.

Shortly before I was set to go on holidays I got a Facebook notice inviting me back to the game for a free 7-days. Well, problem solved. So back I came and just before I went away at the beginning of August I purchased my first 30-day token. I just picked up my second one Sunday, and since I came back I still have enough for two more months. I do plan to share my means of doing so but that will be at another time.

In game, as of today, flying in Draenor is officially a possibility. Honestly, I’ve never had issue with us not being able to fly at any point during the game. I don’t see why folks have been so adamant over the issue, but when the realms come back online later it won’t matter. It is what it is and those who are excited may rejoice over the issue.

The aggravation I do understand, however, is over the Garrison. Well specifically that every character you send through the portal must do the chain and go down the same tedious path every time roughly until you’ve gotten your Garrison to level 2. There are ways around it, yes, but they aren’t necessarily viable or free of agony. I do wish we could be at the very least come through the portal and choose to take an “x” amount of experience (less than what you would get doing the quest chain) and appear at that moment after the Garrison is complete.

While Blizzard seems to have learned from some of the mistakes of the Garrison, it looks like they aren’t ending any time soon as the new Class Headquarters sound to be very similar if not identical. Time will tell. To be honest, the Legion expansion seems to be a mixed bag. I like the idea of the Demon Hunter, though I have no certainty whether I’ll play the class much (who am I kidding, I have to have one of every class). The artifacts mechanic is also interesting. Particularly for us Feral Druids! Some say the expansion is a bit of everything people want, but does that mean Blizzard shoots the moon in one shot? I hope not because it’s likely that being a bit of everything means not being enough of any one thing in particular (kind of like my play style…which works for me, but not millions of others). I plan to get it either way, but I’m uncertain if it will be at launch. That will depend on the release date as I have a bigger hobby now and it involves some pricey kickstarters coming down the pipe.

I haven’t written in so long because I had nothing to write about. I’ve said before no matter how excited you might be about something, if you aren’t active in it then it’s very hard to completely relate when sharing your thoughts on the matter.  Now I find myself and the Amateur Army deep in the world again, and the interest to write and share my thoughts is definitely there. But I shall provide no timetable. Whenever the mood suits me or there’s a topic worth mentioning then I certainly will. Who knows, others will spur topics for me. I do have a post I plan to start writing today, as the first of the month allows me a launch point to get a clear picture. It’s one I will share at the end of the month, though, and will hopefully provide insight into how to start acquiring your own WoW tokens.

With any luck you’ll be playing for free as well, or perhaps just find a new way to supplement a shopping spree now and again. Either way, so long as I can keep bringing in the tokens I have returned and will be staying. At the very least, I suspect that’s for the rest of 2015. How often I share my ramblings, I cannot say. But when in doubt, rest assured I am always up for a chat in game.

Cheers,
JD