Mage love

Again with the delay in posting…

‘Cause, yeah, I write for an audience of one. (Hint: 3-letter word beginning with “e” and ending with “o.”)

But it’s fun to look back and see some kind of progression. That’s something I’ve really been missing with my mage, as it feels like I’m flying along.

She’s more than six days /played at level 52, but I did a lot of dallying at the lower levels. I know that she was level 40 about 2.5 weeks ago, and I got her to 44 over the course of a full-out Southpark-style hotpockets weekend. Then Patch 2.3 hit on November 13th, and my advancement nearly doubled. I know that in a given evening, if I was very focused and stacking quests, I could get a level and a half per night with only a few bubbles of rested XP. Now, with the 2.3 changes to XP gain, I can easily do a level in 2 hours of focused play, just on quest completions. I’ve been pushing myself, though, and have been averaging around 2.5 levels per night since the patch. And as I only have 2 or 3 nights per week for full WoW immersion, that’s not bad.

So. The Mage. Seriously the most fun I’ve had in the game. Granted, I have a special place in my heart for the warlock, but he just feels sluggish when I play him. Barely any burst damage (he’s demo / low-destro), and slow kills. And I keep having to farm shards. I hate the shard farming now.

The mage, on the other hand, is like a breath of fresh air. I started her on a whim, like 10 months ago, first as a mule and then as a possible alt. Then I started playing her more and more. Once I started getting Frost Nova, Blink, Counterspell, Cone of Cold, Presence of Mind…all that stuff, holy shit. The difference between the warlock and the mage is like the difference between an out-of-shape aging wrestler and a 120-lb acrobatic ninja.

So there’s that, and there’s the twinking. I got her the Staff of Jordan (too lazy to link-up Thottbot) and slapped +40 spell damage on it. Then I just kept building the bonus damage as she got high enough to wear the miscellaneous items. I think she’s at 197 bonus damage, unbuffed. It may not be much, but I’m pretty happy with her wardrobe at the moment.

At this rate, I fully expect to hit 60 by the end of this coming weekend or maybe early next week, depending on how many Thanksgiving festivities I attend. So the question then is, do I continue the rocket path to 70? Probably. I’m not going to hit the Dark Portal at 58. Too many people shoot right in and get their asses handed to them for the first few levels. I’ve been hearthed to Shattrath City since level 17, so I’ve already learned my Master Alchemy and Enchanter skills. I do need to get myself aligned with the Scryers and start gaining rep. If I do the rush to 70, I can also go back and do all the other quests for money.

Low on gold at the moment, though, and I’ll have to shell out for an epic mount anyway before 225 flying skill. I’m halfway through revered with Orgrimmar, so perhaps I’ll grind some rep and nab an epic wolf.

And I’ve got another alt waiting in the wings. The way I see it, it’s going to be even more of a pain in the ass to level an alt once Wrath of the Lich King gets released, so it’s better to bring up some characters now while I’m stuck.

I’ve about given up on raiding. I just don’t have the time to put in for progression. I’m fine with my high-end quest-reward blues. My warlock is easily geared to *enter* Karazhan, but I’d have to gear-up for post-Kara through raiding, and that’s not happening. I’ve never been past Moroes, and I’m pretty sure I’m never going to, unless I find a guild that fits my play style.

My current guild tries to hit Kara on Thursdays and Fridays, but they always begin raids an hour before I get home. Granted, they’re always starting late and putting out a call for members, but I haven’t been feeling like joining, what with my focus on the mage.

I dunno, I may just end up transferring servers AGAIN to hang with my little brother.

The quarterly update.

OK, yeah, so it hasn’t been 3 months since the last post, but it’s been a while.

Feels like a lot of shit went down, but that’s only because it happened over the course of a little more than a month.

I’m actually playing Mercot more often than not these days, since I found a relatively decent Horde guild. Nice, motivated people. They let folks do their own thing, but also keep the progression moving. Regular Kara runs, though I’ve either not been on or properly prepared during raid times.

Gnomcot, sadly, must remain parked at level 42 for now, as Horde is suddenly fun again.
I started a couple of alts, one of which I’ve actually been having a blast with. For the first time in over a year, I’ve been hitting RFC, WC and SFK with a character of the appropriate level and with others of the same level range. I never thought I’d experience that content in that way again.

The funniest thing about it is that we largely find the crappiest loot imaginable, yet the old arguments remain. Even at level 18, where you can find far better gear for 50s to 3g on the AH, people argue endlessly about need/greed. Better to just greed or pass at these levels, because frankly, I’d rather be gaining levels right now and worrying about gear progression when it really matters. Really I just want to get my mage up to 20 and learn blizzard. I’ve always wanted to try the frost nova / blizzard farming technique. Ever since Alachia went over it in fascinating detail on WoWcast.

Speaking of podcasts, I discovered a few more great ones: Analog Hole Gaming, SModcast and In The World podcast. Check ‘em out if you haven’t heard. They’re great. Analog Hole is made up of remnants from Gamecast Online and the Pod People, SModcast is Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier (director/writer and exec producer of Clerks, Chasing Amy, Mallrats etc etc etc) and In The World is another WoW podcast with more Pod People. Analog Hole and SModcast are both pretty damn explicit, so be wary, all you Kindergarteners.

Not too much going on, otherwise. I’m reading the Empire of Ivory the new installment in Naomi Novik’s Temeraire series. It’s like reading a Jane Austen novel set in the Napoleonic Wars in a world where dragons are used as an aerial corps. Highly recommended.

Recenty read: Watchmen – Allen Moore (Fucking amazing), The Walking Dead – Robert Kirkman (Vol. 5 was so fucked up I’m not sure I want to continue), Hellboy: Strange Places (Damn, Mignola is amazing), Buffy – Season 8 (they really need to step up production on this, cause it rocks).

What the pod?!

Here it is, 8:15 on a Saturday morning, and I want to do some grinding/mining/skinning. I need some talkey to go along with it.
UNFORTUNATELY, Libsyn appears to be down. And with it go World of Warcast, Pottercast and any other cast I might not be caught up on yet.
rumble.rumble.rumble.rumble...

RTS education

So after watching some of the Warcraft: III tournament coverage of Blizzcon (fascinating, if only for the awkward banter between the commentators, one of whom had a German accent thicker than the jungles of STV), I started thinking a bit more about my RTS (Real Time Strategy) play style. Basically, it’s build, farm, build, farm, recruit army, arrange defenses, etc. I have no strategy for defeating the other player. My only successes in RTS have been in story or campaign modes in various games, and that’s usually only because the computer isn’t on the offensive.
But watching these Blizzcon players and hearing the commentators note certain strategies and weaknesses in the matches kinda made me want to learn more about online RTS matches.
I know these games are old as hell, and I’m a total latecomer to the PvP aspect of RTS, but the idea is very cool. It’s basically a mix of chess and Risk.
I have four RTS games that I play once in a while, just because I love the genre: the original Age of Empires, LoTR: Battle for Middle Earth, SW: Empire at War, and then Warcraft III (which I purchased mainly to experience some of the lore prior to World of Warcraft). I was never very good at any of them, but I love building armies and directing them through skirmishes and battles, even if I lose most of the time. (NOTE: If they ever were to make an RTS based on Naomi Novik’s Temeraire series, I’d crap myself).
So last week I sat down and popped in BfME and set up an online account through EA. Played a few 4-way matches and got my ass handed to me many times over. Pulled out WC:III and arranged to play a few more online matches. As always, I’m choosing the “noobs only” sections or groups (which may just be snares set by Leets looking to up their rankings).
Basically, I really haven’t found my stride in RTS warfare. I’m aghast at how quickly the other players are able to gather resources and power through their upgrades and units. I suppose my instinct is to dig in, and get defenses up first. Maybe this comes from BfME, because all of the positions are pre-set, and you just have to find and activate them.
In terms of WC:III, I hang out and set up my perimeter, create workers, toss up defense towers, and then start building up the army. Then, about 15 minutes later another player will sweep in and just decimate my modest army and town. They’ll have a level 6 or 7 hero and a horde of armored units. It’s really no contest.
I know there’s a trick to this that I’m missing. I know it’s a matter of getting a hero out early and leveling it up by attacking creeps and gaining experience. But I’m really just straining to gather resources off the bat, and usually can’t afford enough units to support hero until at least 20 minutes into the game, if I want to stay on top of all my upgrades and buildings.
I suppose it’s just a matter of practice. It’s a side of RTS I never realized, and it’s fun to have a challenge outside of WoW, which really isn’t a challenge in the slightest (the way I’m playing these days), just good fun.

My Little Pinto

And things keep rolling on.

I quit the game in May, shortly after my previous post. Got fed up with my lack of decent groups, rep grinds and bags overflowing with mats for professions which seem to go nowhere. I think the tipping point came with one of the patches broke MoveAnything! and I lost all patience with re-organizing my UI.

So I quit. Even cancelled my subscription.

I spared not a thought for WoW for about a month and a half. Even put Warcraft III out of sight in my filing cabinet. No Blizzard memories for me.

Played a bunch of KoTOR: II, SW: Empire at War and LoTR: Battle for Middle Earth. Even dug out the original Age of Empires, the game that fueled my love for RTS.

Then, in July, EA released Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which is a pretty damn amazing game. Great graphics and fun wand-work. The movement controls, though, were a little irritating. It would be much more interesting visually to set Harry on autorun and move the camera at will. Kinda like another game I used to play. A game about war, and the craft therein...

So I returned. Levelled Gnomcot to 29 in a few days. Then I got heartsick for my old Undead warlock, and played on him for about 2 minutes before logging out and rolling a gnew little Gnome warlock on Scarlet Crusade. Got her to 25 over the course of a weekend. Left her alone for a while.

Gnomcot dinged 40 on Wednesday, the same evening he hit exalted with Stormwind and nabbed himself a neat little Pinto.

So, yeah...I'm back in Azeroth, and life is good. For now.

Success

Short post today, with good news.
Gnomcot finally made it past the usual age of death for my alts. He hit 25 last night while grinding dark wolves in Duskwood for leather.
There's lots to like with this character. I dropped blacksmithing, as I quickly found that I can make more money with two gathering professions. I can use my profits from Auctions to buy better armor than I could have crafted myself with precious time wasted trying to find minerals for mats.
So the combination of mining and skinning has me living quite comfortably in reasonable greens for my level. I found Killmaim for what I thought to be a bargain at 10g around level 19 or so. It's been my DPS two-hand ever since. :)
I also managed to get into a very small casual RP guild. Haven't done too much with them as of yet, but I have been thinking about developing Gnomcot's RP backstory. Have to work out a few details, including where the fall of Gnomeregan falls on the Warcraft timeline, but I'll post that when I polish it up.

/Disappointed

It's hard to say where I'm at with WoW. I was having a hard time on my main, Mercot, because my current guild is - go figure - cliquish as hell. I have no ties to these people. I've grouped with them on occasion, and they seem OK.
But what do I look for in WoW? I look for friends. I look for welcome and conversation. I look for groups.
Yet there are none to be found. I used to LFG in guild chat. I'd get maybe one person and we'd spend the next hour or so spamming Trade or sitting in the LFG queue. Eventually, one of us would get tired of it and leave. Now I suppose I wait for groups to happen. Someone will announce in guild chat say they're looking for DPS or an extra hand in X dungeon. I say I'll go, but often I get no response or am told that my class isn't necessary.
I'm one of maybe 8-10 level 70 Warlocks in the guild. Most are demonology or destruction. So I respecced to Affliction. Hey, why not? I levelled on that tree until the Pre-BC patch, when the Felguard was released. I still love affliction. It’s a great tree. But it does not change my appeal to the guild when there are still other Warlocks to be used. Somehow, the Warlock has become an overplayed class. I don't know when it happened.
I don't see myself as necessary to the guild. I don't feel needed. Should I? Probably not. It's a game. It's a game that people will continue to play as long as there are others to play with. As of now, no one will play with me, as least while I'm a level 70 Undead Warlock in a guild full of Warlocks.
Why should I stay? Karazhan? Whatever. I finally got into a guild raid last weekend. I was pumped. You know how far we got? Um…we wiped on respawns three times before hitting Attumen. Then we wiped a few more times on the stupid Warhorse. Then we died several more times clearing out partygoers. We couldn't even take down two of Moroes' lackeys. Then one of the priests starts in on the MT for not waiting for mana before pulls and the tank up and DCs, saying that he's not focused enough to continue. Bah.
Sorry, I'm just really disappointed.
I was so bored on Sunday that I levelled my first aid from 125-335, cooking from 1-177, and fishing from 190-244. The only thing that keeps me returning to Mercot, I realized, is the cooldown on Shadowcloth.
I need a WoW reset. I need to find my love for the game again. I need a hero. I need…a Gnomcot.
Who? Ah, yes, that little Gnome Warrior I created for Metatalk. The one still collecting dust at level 17.
I had to force myself to play him at first. Get back into the Warrior mindset. So I went to Redridge and just started grinding on spiders. After a while I started to enjoy myself again. I think that I'll try something new with Gnomcot. Whenever possible, I'm going to interact through RP. To enhance this mindset, I turned off player and guild names. It's quite bizarre to see blank space over people's heads. You don't notice players at first, and the only way you'd know it was a player is the way they move, or if you were to mouse over them and get the tooltip info.
I pushed Gnomcot to 18 last night. He's now officially my highest Alliance character ever. Now I need to break through the next wall: level 23, or the highest level alt I've ever had. It was a while ago; a Tauren Druid. I ended up deleting him after not playing him for 6 months. Now I've just got to make Gnomcot my game from now on. Screw level 70, or at least the level 70 experience that I was having.