I'm trying to get two achievements by leveling both my Alliance Druid and my Horde Shaman to 90. I'm taking each through each zone in Pandaria to try to piece together both sides of the story. It started off with two different sides of the same story in Jade Forest, but quickly became the same narrative in Valley of the Four Winds. Krasarang Wilds has the two factions splitting again and their war splitting the continent of Pandaria and releasing the Sha.
For me, the Horde quests started at Thundercleft with an urgent request from an expecting father. This storyline is interesting and there is a bitter sweet ending that I have to admit I didn't expect. This quest hub also brings the mogu more into the story and introduces a new quest to help search for the Pools of Youth. After Thundercleft, I went on to Zhu's Watch.
That's where I started my adventure in Krasarang on my Alliance druid. This town is afflicted by general malaise and an overall bad attitude. I think we know enough about the land of Pandaria to know that an ancient evil has awakened and condemned them to a life of misery if not for a certain scrappy hero or two. That's right, the new Twilight film has finally been released in theaters all across Pandaria and the movie going public are all practicing their Kristen Stewart impression for when radio call in shows start holding contests to give away tickets. Wow, was that a long way to go or what for a ho-hum payoff. Ah well, I was feeling cheeky. Of course, you all know that the Sha have infested the village and it is up to you to help them get rid of it. I must say that Ken-Ken, the resident hozen, has an interesting way of dealing with the manifestation of bad emotion. Again, I was surprised when his mask worked so well. I thought for sure that the ancient hozen secret might have just been bunk.
The paths of the Horde and Alliance cross once again, though not in violence, as they try to prevent the Mogu from advancing their plans. The Mogu are using both Horde and Alliance members as slaves as they try to open a portal to Kun Lai Summit. Not to be outdone, the Mantid are pushing into the zone and they have broken through the Valley of the Four Winds wall with a massive bug overlord and a huge army!
My final words on Krasarang Wilds
Pros: Great story telling, quick moving quest hubs.
Cons: First multiple quest deaths during Red Crane quests. Those sha are tough SoBs!
Saturday, December 29, 2012
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Mists of Pandaria: Shado-pan Monastery
A few nights ago, I decided to queue up for another random in Pandaria. I expected the brewery and encounters for which I was at least marginally prepared. Instead, I got the monastery and had no idea even of the layout of the place. That turned out to be a mistake.
First, the place has a strange layout. It is several pagodas and dojos connected by rope bridges and guarded by archers. Second, I wasn't aware of boss mechanics (neither was our tank, apparently), so I suffered my first Pandaren instance death. It was during the Master Snowdrift fight and I didn't know that you could get away from his fists of fury move. After the tank went down, I ended up eating that move and dying. The remaining group beat him, though, and we went on our merry way.
The first boss fight, against Gu Cloutstrike and the azure serpent was visually appealing, but not much more than watch out for the lightning. As mentioned, it helps to know something about the Master Snowdrift fight before going in (avoid the tornado kick and fists of fury) to be able to defeat him. The fight is also interesting because before you go against the boss, you have to survive a couple of waves against Shado-pan novices. It's a nice change from trash/boss/trash/boss trap that the game seems to have fallen into as far as dungeon design. Sure, it is just trash, but the encounter makes it feel more than just the usual band of trash.
You also face off against Sha, this one of violence. Unlike the Sha of Doubt, this fight is just another ho hum watch out for the spike on the floor type. However, it does have an interesting mechanic that allows you to see a weak spot on the Sha. If you hit that spot with a few seconds of it being revealed, you will do an auto critical strike. Other than that, there is nothing cool like the figment of doubt routine. The last boss, though, Taran Zhu is pretty neat. You have a rising hate meter that when it gets to full, you have to meditate to release the hatred or else you won't be able to damage the boss. There are also orbs that fly around that need to be killed or else they will bounce you all around the area and not allow you to meditate off the hate. All in all, similar to the Sha of Doubt, this was a cool encounter with a lot happening to keep your interest.
Pros: The last boss (this appears to be a pattern in Mists) is a neat encounter that requires some thought and attention, the encounter before Master Snowdrift gives you more to do than just "pew pew" while the tank holds aggro.
Cons: Make sure you know the fights before you go in. Both Master Snowdrift and Taran Zhu have the ability to wipe a group that isn't ready. The layout of the area is a bit disorienting with all of the bridges.
First, the place has a strange layout. It is several pagodas and dojos connected by rope bridges and guarded by archers. Second, I wasn't aware of boss mechanics (neither was our tank, apparently), so I suffered my first Pandaren instance death. It was during the Master Snowdrift fight and I didn't know that you could get away from his fists of fury move. After the tank went down, I ended up eating that move and dying. The remaining group beat him, though, and we went on our merry way.
The first boss fight, against Gu Cloutstrike and the azure serpent was visually appealing, but not much more than watch out for the lightning. As mentioned, it helps to know something about the Master Snowdrift fight before going in (avoid the tornado kick and fists of fury) to be able to defeat him. The fight is also interesting because before you go against the boss, you have to survive a couple of waves against Shado-pan novices. It's a nice change from trash/boss/trash/boss trap that the game seems to have fallen into as far as dungeon design. Sure, it is just trash, but the encounter makes it feel more than just the usual band of trash.
You also face off against Sha, this one of violence. Unlike the Sha of Doubt, this fight is just another ho hum watch out for the spike on the floor type. However, it does have an interesting mechanic that allows you to see a weak spot on the Sha. If you hit that spot with a few seconds of it being revealed, you will do an auto critical strike. Other than that, there is nothing cool like the figment of doubt routine. The last boss, though, Taran Zhu is pretty neat. You have a rising hate meter that when it gets to full, you have to meditate to release the hatred or else you won't be able to damage the boss. There are also orbs that fly around that need to be killed or else they will bounce you all around the area and not allow you to meditate off the hate. All in all, similar to the Sha of Doubt, this was a cool encounter with a lot happening to keep your interest.
Pros: The last boss (this appears to be a pattern in Mists) is a neat encounter that requires some thought and attention, the encounter before Master Snowdrift gives you more to do than just "pew pew" while the tank holds aggro.
Cons: Make sure you know the fights before you go in. Both Master Snowdrift and Taran Zhu have the ability to wipe a group that isn't ready. The layout of the area is a bit disorienting with all of the bridges.
Sunday, December 23, 2012
Mists of Pandaria: Temple of the Jade Serpent
Something foul is afoot in the Temple of the Jade Serpent. You and your allies are needed to defeat this evil and restore the balance.
You are greeted at the entrance by two quests, one to help the masters of the temple regain the purity of the place and one to destroy the Sha of Doubt. The first quest leads you to help Wise Mari, Lorewalker Stonestep, and Liu Flameheart.
Wise Mari is a Jinyu waterspeaker. The waters of the temple have been corrupted by the Sha of Doubt and have caused Wise Mari to become corrupted, too. This encounter starts with you fighting water elementals that the speaker summons from the pools below. After defeating his guardians, Mari faces the party himself. This is a decent encounter that has you avoiding pools on the floor as you run away from a jet that emanates from Mari and rotates around the room.
Having potentially already helped Stonestep in the library by killing moths and squishing bookworms, you now have to deal with the Sha having brought to life corrupted versions of Pandaren lore. Originally, the battle is supposed to choose from two different versions similar to the Opera event in Karazhan, but only one of them is currently live due to a bug. This battle isn't nearly as interesting as the first. It involves switching between two bosses and essentially just "pew pew" until they are dead. The story is somewhat interesting, but this is my least favorite fight in the dungeon.
Before facing the big bad, players need to assist a priestess of the Jade Serpent, Liu Flameheart. This is again a straight forward battle, but at low health, Liu calls the Jade Serpent to protect her. That is an interesting switch in strategy during a fight, but still mostly a straight forward DPS burn. Just be sure to avoid the green fire!
The Sha of Doubt is probably my favorite fight in the dungeon because of the mechanic that calls forth a Figment of Doubt from each player that you have to fight every so often. That is an interesting part of the fight and a very cool visual. I am also a sucker for the enemies that whisper things to you, trying to turn your character or drive them insane.
My last words on the Temple of the Jade Serpent
Pros: Different mechanics in two of the fights, a little bit more on Pandaren lore, Sha!, short instance in case you have limited time, decent quest rewards
Cons: Two fights are little more than DPS burns, long queues right now (I spent more time in queue than in the dungeon)
Overall: A good introduction to instances in Pandaria with two fights that are interesting and two that are tank and spank. I would probably do this one again just for the Sha fight. I really enjoyed the atmosphere of that fight.
You are greeted at the entrance by two quests, one to help the masters of the temple regain the purity of the place and one to destroy the Sha of Doubt. The first quest leads you to help Wise Mari, Lorewalker Stonestep, and Liu Flameheart.
Wise Mari is a Jinyu waterspeaker. The waters of the temple have been corrupted by the Sha of Doubt and have caused Wise Mari to become corrupted, too. This encounter starts with you fighting water elementals that the speaker summons from the pools below. After defeating his guardians, Mari faces the party himself. This is a decent encounter that has you avoiding pools on the floor as you run away from a jet that emanates from Mari and rotates around the room.
Having potentially already helped Stonestep in the library by killing moths and squishing bookworms, you now have to deal with the Sha having brought to life corrupted versions of Pandaren lore. Originally, the battle is supposed to choose from two different versions similar to the Opera event in Karazhan, but only one of them is currently live due to a bug. This battle isn't nearly as interesting as the first. It involves switching between two bosses and essentially just "pew pew" until they are dead. The story is somewhat interesting, but this is my least favorite fight in the dungeon.
Before facing the big bad, players need to assist a priestess of the Jade Serpent, Liu Flameheart. This is again a straight forward battle, but at low health, Liu calls the Jade Serpent to protect her. That is an interesting switch in strategy during a fight, but still mostly a straight forward DPS burn. Just be sure to avoid the green fire!
The Sha of Doubt is probably my favorite fight in the dungeon because of the mechanic that calls forth a Figment of Doubt from each player that you have to fight every so often. That is an interesting part of the fight and a very cool visual. I am also a sucker for the enemies that whisper things to you, trying to turn your character or drive them insane.
My last words on the Temple of the Jade Serpent
Pros: Different mechanics in two of the fights, a little bit more on Pandaren lore, Sha!, short instance in case you have limited time, decent quest rewards
Cons: Two fights are little more than DPS burns, long queues right now (I spent more time in queue than in the dungeon)
Overall: A good introduction to instances in Pandaria with two fights that are interesting and two that are tank and spank. I would probably do this one again just for the Sha fight. I really enjoyed the atmosphere of that fight.
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Mists of Pandaria: Valley of the Four Winds
I have a confession to make about this expansion. I've been playing my Alliance toons more than my Horde. Even though I don't like either side's justification for the escalation of war, I really hate Garrosh and can at least somewhat see the Alliance reasons for being on Pandaria. I like the guild on my Horde shaman better, though, they're a chattier bunch, so it's an interesting conundrum. Since it looks like both factions are being shepherded along the same storyline, I'm back on my Horde toon for this part of the review, though.
Eventually, after the shocking conclusion to your story in the Jade Forest, you are led to the Valley of the Four Winds. Here, you meet an enterprising brewer in Chen Stormstout and his young niece. One of your tasks in this part of Pandaria is to help him find the ingredients to make a great beer and get into the good graces of the Pandaren Stormstouts. This is what I mean by Blizzard using story very well in this expansion. You don't even care that all you're doing is kill/escort/pull weeds/basically the same thing you always have to do for these quests because the story is interesting.
Another aspect of Pandaren life is introduced in the valley. You've farmed materials. You've farmed rep, justice/honor/conquest/valor points, and gold. Now, be prepared (as in "You are not!") to farm vegetables. That's right, after ridding Azeroth of the Lich King, Deathwing, and the Burning Crusade, your next task is to rid your garden of pesky weeds and bitey insects. This aspect of the game was derided by many as a direct rip off of Farmville. Having somehow completely missed the Farmville boat, I can't speak for that. However, there are many similarities between these quests and Harvest Moon. While you might argue that Blizzard is catering to the casual crowd and ripping off other games for this expansion, at least they are games that I enjoy.
Along the way, you are introduced to one of the beginning instances in the game, Stormstout Brewery, and you play through some simulated boss battles. It is a nice way for solo players to get that experience and see inside of the brewery. Later tonight, I will do both Stormstout and the Temple of the Jade Serpent to get a better idea of boss mechanics in Pandaria. So far, the mechanics are interesting and I'm not sure what people are complaining about as far as instances being the same old, same old. Sure, encounters get old after a few tries and there's only so much that you can do with an encounter, but I think that Blizzard has done some great things recently with boss battles.
After playing through the brewery story, you move on to a village that is being harassed by an ancient enemy of the Pandaren, the mantid. Why does it always have to be bugs? They have brought with them Sha. The Shado-pan are also brought into the story in the village of Stoneplow and Hemet is near there with a hunting party. The most exciting part about my time in the valley was that I ran into one of the rare mobs of Pandaria. Jonn-Dar, a terracotta warrior that doesn't hit too hard. He summons a Quilien and has a crescent shaped something or another that comes out of the ground to spike you to death (nearly ate it when I missed it happening). It was an intense fight, but I got him. Also saw the mantid champion (as I suppose they're called), but a blade fury has me rethinking my strategy against him.
All in all, this zone was fun. After the emotional roller coaster of the Jade Forest, it was nice to be able to relax, farm some, brew a little beer, and hunt with Hemet Nesingwary. There are still threats like the mantid and Sha, but I feel like we're finally working with the land of Pandaria to help heal instead of tearing everything apart. Hopefully that part of the story continues because it makes me feel good about myself and my toons again.
My last word on Valley of the Four Winds
Pros: Great incorporation of Harvest Moon elements into the game, storyline is getting more positive and cooperative, interesting quests in the brewery, fun characters to keep you company
Cons: A little peeved that cooking has now been split into 6 tracks. Granted, you don't have to follow every track, but my OCD won't allow anything else, still mostly the same old kill/collect quests
Eventually, after the shocking conclusion to your story in the Jade Forest, you are led to the Valley of the Four Winds. Here, you meet an enterprising brewer in Chen Stormstout and his young niece. One of your tasks in this part of Pandaria is to help him find the ingredients to make a great beer and get into the good graces of the Pandaren Stormstouts. This is what I mean by Blizzard using story very well in this expansion. You don't even care that all you're doing is kill/escort/pull weeds/basically the same thing you always have to do for these quests because the story is interesting.
Another aspect of Pandaren life is introduced in the valley. You've farmed materials. You've farmed rep, justice/honor/conquest/valor points, and gold. Now, be prepared (as in "You are not!") to farm vegetables. That's right, after ridding Azeroth of the Lich King, Deathwing, and the Burning Crusade, your next task is to rid your garden of pesky weeds and bitey insects. This aspect of the game was derided by many as a direct rip off of Farmville. Having somehow completely missed the Farmville boat, I can't speak for that. However, there are many similarities between these quests and Harvest Moon. While you might argue that Blizzard is catering to the casual crowd and ripping off other games for this expansion, at least they are games that I enjoy.
Along the way, you are introduced to one of the beginning instances in the game, Stormstout Brewery, and you play through some simulated boss battles. It is a nice way for solo players to get that experience and see inside of the brewery. Later tonight, I will do both Stormstout and the Temple of the Jade Serpent to get a better idea of boss mechanics in Pandaria. So far, the mechanics are interesting and I'm not sure what people are complaining about as far as instances being the same old, same old. Sure, encounters get old after a few tries and there's only so much that you can do with an encounter, but I think that Blizzard has done some great things recently with boss battles.
After playing through the brewery story, you move on to a village that is being harassed by an ancient enemy of the Pandaren, the mantid. Why does it always have to be bugs? They have brought with them Sha. The Shado-pan are also brought into the story in the village of Stoneplow and Hemet is near there with a hunting party. The most exciting part about my time in the valley was that I ran into one of the rare mobs of Pandaria. Jonn-Dar, a terracotta warrior that doesn't hit too hard. He summons a Quilien and has a crescent shaped something or another that comes out of the ground to spike you to death (nearly ate it when I missed it happening). It was an intense fight, but I got him. Also saw the mantid champion (as I suppose they're called), but a blade fury has me rethinking my strategy against him.
All in all, this zone was fun. After the emotional roller coaster of the Jade Forest, it was nice to be able to relax, farm some, brew a little beer, and hunt with Hemet Nesingwary. There are still threats like the mantid and Sha, but I feel like we're finally working with the land of Pandaria to help heal instead of tearing everything apart. Hopefully that part of the story continues because it makes me feel good about myself and my toons again.
My last word on Valley of the Four Winds
Pros: Great incorporation of Harvest Moon elements into the game, storyline is getting more positive and cooperative, interesting quests in the brewery, fun characters to keep you company
Cons: A little peeved that cooking has now been split into 6 tracks. Granted, you don't have to follow every track, but my OCD won't allow anything else, still mostly the same old kill/collect quests
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Mists of Pandaria: Jade Forest
I mentioned in an earlier post that I've leveled an Alliance and a Horde toon through the Jade Forest in Pandaria. I was hoping that by leveling both factions that I could get a different narrative through the zone. Initially, I was not disappointed. Both the Horde and the Alliance arrive on Pandaria after a quest from their capital city on opposite sides of the Jade Forest, yet they quickly find evidence of their blood rivals and are forced to fight against them to gain a foothold in the new land.
For this part of the post, I'm going to talk mostly about the Alliance section of questing. I am playing through as my Alliance Enhancement shaman again so that I can have a better idea of progression as I move through the zone. I will go back later to fill in the Horde storyline. The Alliance find themselves on Pandaria after a search party to find the missing Prince Anduin Wrynn gets attacked by the Horde near the continent. Washed up on to the shores of the Jade Forest, much of the first part of the quests is fighting for survival against the filthy mongrels of the Horde. After a quick introduction to a new enemy (the Sha), you find yourself in the Pandaren village of Paw'don. Your tasks here include crippling a nearby Horde establishment with the help of your friendly neighborhood Alliance airship captain where the power of the Sha is showcased in a neat story encounter, and rifling through the ruins of what appears to be the prince's ship that has crashed to shore.
Both factions find other allies on the continent besides the somewhat reluctant Pandaren. The Horde meet with the 'ookin' Hozen and Alliance pass through the lands of the merfolk Jinyu. Initially, the Jinyu only sign on to allow the Alliance safe passage through their lands in their search for the prince. They, too, seem like reluctant participants in the war that has washed up on their shores. So far, we have two people who were mostly peaceful and have been corrupted by our influence. One of them, the Pandaren, now fights among themselves and the other, the Jinyu, are trading in their religious beliefs to pick up weapons. This makes me feel really bad about what I am doing on Pandaria.
Please indulge me a theory. I have wondered, for some time, why the Tauren abide by the new Horde. Not only was their beloved leader slain by the new warchief (in a shocking turn of events, he was mind controlled), but the Goblins have been allowed into the Horde. The goblins show such a disdain for nature and many of the things that the Tauren hold sacred, that even if they could overlook the assassination of Cairne, the inclusion of these filthy land rapers should have caused an uproar among the Tauren. There are some strange things afoot in the Horde and it makes me wonder if Blizzard is setting us up for a time when all races may be able to choose their allegiance similar to how the Pandaren are allowed. Add in the fact that we are pillaging what was once a peaceful continent filled with races who might rather not be fighting among themselves. History is repeating in the World of Warcraft. There have also been hints that a new and greater evil is waiting in the wings, the Horde and Alliance have fought side by side to eliminate common enemies, and Vol'jin has said in no uncertain terms to Garrosh that his time as warchief is limited. It really gives me hope that these territorial pissing contents might be coming to an end and an uneasy truce might be in the coming. Imagine the story possibilities!
Back to this story. The Alliance subtly manipulates the Jinyu and draws them into our war. Some of you might make the argument that the Horde is the driving force behind all of the violence, and this time I can't argue with that. Still, there was no reason for either the Hozen or the Jinyu to fight for either side. A few interesting narrative quests along the line of "punching Deathwing in the face" though not nearly as entertaining are followed by more fighting between the Jinyu and Hozen. After that, we are finally off on the next part of our story.
I don't want to give away too much of the story, because it is good and there is quite a bit happening, but you do find out what happened to the prince, learn more about Pandaren lore, and there is a conclusion so heartbreaking that even though I've seen it 3 times, it still makes me angry. I really don't feel good about what either of the factions is doing in this expansion. That's not to say that I don't like the game anymore. It is great when any form of entertainment can elicit a response, that's a good thing. So far, a great start to Mists of Pandaria and I can't wait to see where it goes from here.
My last word on Jade Forest
Pros: Great and engaging stories, the Pandaren story line and the struggle of the other Pandaria natives, beautiful landscapes, nice little Easter eggs like treasures and lore objects, achievement updates to let you know when you've finished parts of an achievement
Cons: Same old fetch 6 of these, kill 8 of those quests, not sure about the motivations of either the Alliance or the Horde other than to rape and pillage another land much as they have Azeroth in their endless war, hoped for more diversity in the Horde vs. Alliance storyline
As always, thanks for reading. Stay tuned for my run through of the Valley of the Four Winds.
For this part of the post, I'm going to talk mostly about the Alliance section of questing. I am playing through as my Alliance Enhancement shaman again so that I can have a better idea of progression as I move through the zone. I will go back later to fill in the Horde storyline. The Alliance find themselves on Pandaria after a search party to find the missing Prince Anduin Wrynn gets attacked by the Horde near the continent. Washed up on to the shores of the Jade Forest, much of the first part of the quests is fighting for survival against the filthy mongrels of the Horde. After a quick introduction to a new enemy (the Sha), you find yourself in the Pandaren village of Paw'don. Your tasks here include crippling a nearby Horde establishment with the help of your friendly neighborhood Alliance airship captain where the power of the Sha is showcased in a neat story encounter, and rifling through the ruins of what appears to be the prince's ship that has crashed to shore.
Both factions find other allies on the continent besides the somewhat reluctant Pandaren. The Horde meet with the 'ookin' Hozen and Alliance pass through the lands of the merfolk Jinyu. Initially, the Jinyu only sign on to allow the Alliance safe passage through their lands in their search for the prince. They, too, seem like reluctant participants in the war that has washed up on their shores. So far, we have two people who were mostly peaceful and have been corrupted by our influence. One of them, the Pandaren, now fights among themselves and the other, the Jinyu, are trading in their religious beliefs to pick up weapons. This makes me feel really bad about what I am doing on Pandaria.
Please indulge me a theory. I have wondered, for some time, why the Tauren abide by the new Horde. Not only was their beloved leader slain by the new warchief (in a shocking turn of events, he was mind controlled), but the Goblins have been allowed into the Horde. The goblins show such a disdain for nature and many of the things that the Tauren hold sacred, that even if they could overlook the assassination of Cairne, the inclusion of these filthy land rapers should have caused an uproar among the Tauren. There are some strange things afoot in the Horde and it makes me wonder if Blizzard is setting us up for a time when all races may be able to choose their allegiance similar to how the Pandaren are allowed. Add in the fact that we are pillaging what was once a peaceful continent filled with races who might rather not be fighting among themselves. History is repeating in the World of Warcraft. There have also been hints that a new and greater evil is waiting in the wings, the Horde and Alliance have fought side by side to eliminate common enemies, and Vol'jin has said in no uncertain terms to Garrosh that his time as warchief is limited. It really gives me hope that these territorial pissing contents might be coming to an end and an uneasy truce might be in the coming. Imagine the story possibilities!
Back to this story. The Alliance subtly manipulates the Jinyu and draws them into our war. Some of you might make the argument that the Horde is the driving force behind all of the violence, and this time I can't argue with that. Still, there was no reason for either the Hozen or the Jinyu to fight for either side. A few interesting narrative quests along the line of "punching Deathwing in the face" though not nearly as entertaining are followed by more fighting between the Jinyu and Hozen. After that, we are finally off on the next part of our story.
I don't want to give away too much of the story, because it is good and there is quite a bit happening, but you do find out what happened to the prince, learn more about Pandaren lore, and there is a conclusion so heartbreaking that even though I've seen it 3 times, it still makes me angry. I really don't feel good about what either of the factions is doing in this expansion. That's not to say that I don't like the game anymore. It is great when any form of entertainment can elicit a response, that's a good thing. So far, a great start to Mists of Pandaria and I can't wait to see where it goes from here.
My last word on Jade Forest
Pros: Great and engaging stories, the Pandaren story line and the struggle of the other Pandaria natives, beautiful landscapes, nice little Easter eggs like treasures and lore objects, achievement updates to let you know when you've finished parts of an achievement
Cons: Same old fetch 6 of these, kill 8 of those quests, not sure about the motivations of either the Alliance or the Horde other than to rape and pillage another land much as they have Azeroth in their endless war, hoped for more diversity in the Horde vs. Alliance storyline
As always, thanks for reading. Stay tuned for my run through of the Valley of the Four Winds.
Monday, December 17, 2012
Mists of Pandaria: Pet Battles
I've played through some of the quest hubs in the Jade Forest in Pandaria on both my Alliance druid and my Horde shaman. I also have an Alliance shaman. For the purposes of this page, perhaps I should have chosen her as my Alliance toon on the Jade isle, but the druid is my first ever toon created in the game so I have a bit of a soft spot for him. Maybe I'll jump on the Alliance shaman to try out the new dungeons in the expansion. For now, I have only quested and gotten way too in to the pet battles.
Pet Battles
Upon logging into my character, I was invited to join a guild named <Pokewow>. Most of my friends have moved on to other things besides the game, but I'm still looking for people to meet in the game. More often than not, I'm initially want an interesting or clever guild name. I have been in a guild named <You Can't Say No to a Panda> and currently my Horde guild is <Fabulous PINK>. So, as soon as I saw the name <Pokewow>, I clicked join. Even though the guild has been hit or miss as far as interaction between members, it is a match made in whatever the Azerothian equivalent of heaven is. I'm enjoying this pet battling thing much more than I ever expected. It might have something to do with my oldest son getting into the video and card games due to my introducing him to the Diamond version after he showed an interest in the cartoon while we were on vacation in Florida.
Whatever the reason, I'm having so much fun with the game. I've put aside part of my game time specifically to comb the wilds of Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor, find all of the hard to find pets, catch all of them (Is that too close for copyright? I've heard that Nintendo is terribly litigious.), leveling the proper pet type to challenge all of the trainers in the introduction quest line, and move on to that second tier of quests. One of the things that I really like about this is that they've made the pets and mounts truly account wide. No longer do you have to do the same thing over and over on each one of your characters. Somehow people play this game enough to have done some of these things on multiple characters, but I don't see how there are enough hours in a day and enough span in your attention for such an endeavor.
But, I digress. Now, we don't have to live in Azeroth to be on equal footing with the hardcore league in at least this aspect of the game. Some of you are probably screaming at your computer screen, "The whole game is welfare now! There's nothing left for us to feel good about because everybody gets everything handed to them!" First of all, woah. Slow down there, Tiger. Just because Blizzard has tried to make the game more enjoyable for people who don't have the time or energy to take on a full time job in the guise of a game simply to be successful at that game doesn't mean that they are taking anything from you. Also, this game is 8 years old. Give me another game that has had such staying power and continued to entertain over those 8 years.
Dang, I digressed again. Having all of these characters on your account is a definite plus. Being able to park my characters in various parts of the world and pick up where I left off has shortened the amount of time I've had to devote to the task. As I say, I've been able to level up a variety of pets in a short period of time and finish the introduction quests. While those are fun and it is nice to see what some of the special pets are that these trainers possess, the real fun comes when you are out in the wild and a new pet pops up on the minimap as a green paw print or even more exciting when the second pet in a fight ends up being the rare version of something that you've been searching for. I have actually found myself mimicking my son's victory fist pump when I catch one that I need and checking my notebook to be sure that it was recorded and to check out the stats of the new pet. Derided by some players as a direct Pokemon rip off, the pet battles actually add something very fun to the game.
My last word on Pet battles:
Pros: Pets are account wide(!), mostly fast paced combat, finally gives you something interesting to do with all of those pets you've been collecting over the years, good implementation of strategic advantages, sense of accomplishment when you find that pet you been hunting.
Cons: On level battles are a bit too much of a challenge sometimes. That's not completely a con, but sometimes when you're battling, you have to take an 8 minute break to allow your pet heal cool down to expire. So far, that's the only complaint that I have so far. I haven't tried PvP yet, so I will update with my thoughts on that soon.
Overall: If you ever liked Pokemon, you should check this aspect of World of Warcraft. It is a good way to bring other play styles into the game. They have even added new pets to old raids, allowing you to go back to experience content that you haven't for a while/never got a chance to see. So far, Molten Core has been an easy run and has inspired me to chase after the Sulfuron Hammer. BWL is still challenging, at least for me while I learn the mechanics of that first fight. AQ isn't too bad on my Boomkin, and I haven't checked out Naxx since I was 80. Looks like I'll have to have another installment in the near future.
As always, thanks for reading and stay tuned for my review of Jade Forest next!
Pet Battles
Upon logging into my character, I was invited to join a guild named <Pokewow>. Most of my friends have moved on to other things besides the game, but I'm still looking for people to meet in the game. More often than not, I'm initially want an interesting or clever guild name. I have been in a guild named <You Can't Say No to a Panda> and currently my Horde guild is <Fabulous PINK>. So, as soon as I saw the name <Pokewow>, I clicked join. Even though the guild has been hit or miss as far as interaction between members, it is a match made in whatever the Azerothian equivalent of heaven is. I'm enjoying this pet battling thing much more than I ever expected. It might have something to do with my oldest son getting into the video and card games due to my introducing him to the Diamond version after he showed an interest in the cartoon while we were on vacation in Florida.
Whatever the reason, I'm having so much fun with the game. I've put aside part of my game time specifically to comb the wilds of Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor, find all of the hard to find pets, catch all of them (Is that too close for copyright? I've heard that Nintendo is terribly litigious.), leveling the proper pet type to challenge all of the trainers in the introduction quest line, and move on to that second tier of quests. One of the things that I really like about this is that they've made the pets and mounts truly account wide. No longer do you have to do the same thing over and over on each one of your characters. Somehow people play this game enough to have done some of these things on multiple characters, but I don't see how there are enough hours in a day and enough span in your attention for such an endeavor.
But, I digress. Now, we don't have to live in Azeroth to be on equal footing with the hardcore league in at least this aspect of the game. Some of you are probably screaming at your computer screen, "The whole game is welfare now! There's nothing left for us to feel good about because everybody gets everything handed to them!" First of all, woah. Slow down there, Tiger. Just because Blizzard has tried to make the game more enjoyable for people who don't have the time or energy to take on a full time job in the guise of a game simply to be successful at that game doesn't mean that they are taking anything from you. Also, this game is 8 years old. Give me another game that has had such staying power and continued to entertain over those 8 years.
Dang, I digressed again. Having all of these characters on your account is a definite plus. Being able to park my characters in various parts of the world and pick up where I left off has shortened the amount of time I've had to devote to the task. As I say, I've been able to level up a variety of pets in a short period of time and finish the introduction quests. While those are fun and it is nice to see what some of the special pets are that these trainers possess, the real fun comes when you are out in the wild and a new pet pops up on the minimap as a green paw print or even more exciting when the second pet in a fight ends up being the rare version of something that you've been searching for. I have actually found myself mimicking my son's victory fist pump when I catch one that I need and checking my notebook to be sure that it was recorded and to check out the stats of the new pet. Derided by some players as a direct Pokemon rip off, the pet battles actually add something very fun to the game.
My last word on Pet battles:
Pros: Pets are account wide(!), mostly fast paced combat, finally gives you something interesting to do with all of those pets you've been collecting over the years, good implementation of strategic advantages, sense of accomplishment when you find that pet you been hunting.
Cons: On level battles are a bit too much of a challenge sometimes. That's not completely a con, but sometimes when you're battling, you have to take an 8 minute break to allow your pet heal cool down to expire. So far, that's the only complaint that I have so far. I haven't tried PvP yet, so I will update with my thoughts on that soon.
Overall: If you ever liked Pokemon, you should check this aspect of World of Warcraft. It is a good way to bring other play styles into the game. They have even added new pets to old raids, allowing you to go back to experience content that you haven't for a while/never got a chance to see. So far, Molten Core has been an easy run and has inspired me to chase after the Sulfuron Hammer. BWL is still challenging, at least for me while I learn the mechanics of that first fight. AQ isn't too bad on my Boomkin, and I haven't checked out Naxx since I was 80. Looks like I'll have to have another installment in the near future.
As always, thanks for reading and stay tuned for my review of Jade Forest next!
Friday, December 14, 2012
Sorry
Sorry, folks, I've gotten side tracked with my high level shaman. Running some of the new Pandaria content (very cool, I might include my review of it to keep the posts coming) and trying to get stuff for my Sulfuron hammer/pets from Molten Core over the past few days. I am in the process of writing Chapter 2 of Bludtusk where he goes to meet Vol'jin for the first time. So far, it is coming out well. Hope to have it up and a some impressions of playing a low level Shaman soon.
Cheers. Stay tuned!
Cheers. Stay tuned!
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Bludtusk of the Darkspear, Chapter 1
Chapter 1 - Reporting for Duty
All I ever know, Mon, is the life of a nomad. Constantly moving, constantly searching for home. We Darkspear, all we know is the life of nomads. We finally tinking dat we got a home in Orgrimmar and da Horde, well, what I hear is dat dey foul it all up for us. Dat's why we move again, dat's why we callin' yet another place home again.
Da town crier, he come into da valley cryin' on about Vol'jin's rage, cryin' on about taking up arms, cryin' on about "We be movin' again, Brothers and Sisters. We be movin' on back to da Echo Isles. Too long have we been from dose homes dat were Thrall's gift to us. Bear arms, Brothers and Sisters, we be goin' home and ain't nobody gonna stop us."
"Bludtusk of the Darkspear, report." A troll's thick accent brought the young troll back from the memory and into the present. War drums and the sounds of simulated battle echoed off in the distance.
"Bludtusk."
Evident irritation in the voice caused the troll's accent to thicken even more. Bludtusk remembered being introduced to the bald, grey bearded, blue skinned troll only days before when he signed up to fight for the honor and glory of the Darkspear and the Horde. Standing before the assembled trainees was Jin'thala, the troll who it was rumored could peer for a moment into your soul and determine your destiny in the Horde's army. He was not a man to be kept waiting. Any troll unfortunate enough to miss his call was sent back to a life of fishing, cooking, or farming. Bludtusk stood before Jin'thala had a chance to send him slinking back to the family farm.
"Reporting." The single word sent a shiver of anticipation down Bludtusk's spine.
"Come forward, Mon. We ain't got all day." Bludtusk stepped forward. He stood tusk to tusk with the troll who would reveal his future with only a few words.
"Ah, yes, I see it, Mon. The elements, dey speak to you. You go see Nekali. She take care of you." Without another word, Jin'thala turned to the next trainee. "Sonaya of the Darkspear, report."
The elements. Nekali. A shaman. A smile broke out on his face.
The smile was quickly removed by the harsh tones of a female troll hardened by years of watching trainees fail miserably only to find the occasional diamond in the rough promising enough to consider for front line battle. "You, Mon, get ya butt over here. Target practice. Now."
Unable to resist neither the demanding tone of her order nor her pierced and red-maned visage, he ran to the nearest target. Grabbing a mace from a nearby rack, he smacked the tiki mask repeatedly until it splintered into two pieces. "No, no, no, enough." He paused mid-swing before taking his mace to the next target. "You can swing dat mace wit de best of dem. We ain't be warriors, Mon. Dis ain't our only lot in life to be cracking skulls. Sho' 'nuff, dat be part of bein' a shaman, but dat ain't the only t'ing we be good for. Lemme show you somet'ing, Mon. What dat Jin'thala say to you? He tell ya dat the elements talkin' to ya or some such? Yeah, he be a bit dramatic sometimes." Bludtusk smiled at her blunt assessment. "Get dat smile off'n ya face, Mon. I ain't be ya Momma. Now, listen up. Plant ya'self firmly into the ground. The elements, they ain't be talkin' to ya, but they definitely be part of who ya are. Feel the energy flow up from da earth and become part of ya. Let dat energy build up until it bursts from ya fingers in a bolt of lightnin' at ya enemy."
Placing the mace in the holster at his side, Bludtusk dug his feet into the earth. He felt grains of dirt and stones as they shifted underneath. It took only moments for the energy to tickle his toes. The electricity danced up his legs, gathering in a ball around his heart. Not wanting to incur her wrath again, he suppressed a smile as the warmth spread down his arms and a stream of electricity exited his fingertips. The lightning exploded one of the tiki targets into tiny pieces. "Woo!" The exclamation escaped before he could stop it. Instead of admonishing him, she ignored the breach and turned away from him. He thought he saw the stirrings of a smile tugging at the corners of her own mouth, but couldn't be sure.
"Come see me when you t'ink ya ready, Mon. I have a job for ya."
Bludtusk finished his training by destroying a few more targets, both using powerful melee strikes from his mace and his newly found power of lightning. Both types of attacks caused joyous release, each in its own way, of pent up energy. He approached his teacher, wondering what job she might have for new students. Moments later, chasing away wildmane cats and killing those too stupid or stubborn to leave, he wondered just what crazy notions of heroism led him to be disappointed at his current employment as a glorified exterminator. The cats needed to be killed. They were picking off the boars and better them to go than have his brothers and sisters die of starvation. He collected pelts from the cats. After driving the last of the pesky creatures from the boar fields, he returned to Nekali with his collection of pelts.
"T'ank ya, Mon. Dese make wonderful cloaks for our trainees to use in da Provin' Pit. Speakin' of da slimy devils, how about ya grab one a dose cloaks and head on over to da Pit. I figured from ya reaction to chasin' after da cats that ya have bigger dreams den just dat. Still, I had ta send ya out dere to see how ya react. Ya shown me dat ya willing to do whatever da tribe ask of ya and dat makes ya a special breed, Mon." She winked. "Get on ova' to da Pit and show me what ya got. I might be havin' a surprise for ya if ya live."
Bludtusk swallowed hard, cinched the cloak into place, made sure that he wore his mace in its holster, and walked to the Proving Pit. He had heard stories of troll trainees who had met their deaths in the pit, promising young warriors and magic users who were defeated, killed, and had their corpses fed to the naga slaves. The naga were a dangerous foe with natural body armor of scales and spikes, sharp dagger like claws, command of frost magic, and their natural hatred for the trolls. If he wasn't careful, he would quickly join the ranks of the defeated and nobody but his family would mourn the loss. Nervously stepping down the slope into the pit, he heard the command, "Release the prisoner!"
Unable to grab his mace due to the ferocity and rage of his opponent, Bludtusk found himself on the defensive to start the fight. The slimy creature opened its mouth wide, it's long tendrils waving in the sea breeze, and spat at him. The naga slithered quickly forward on the attack and he could only raise his arms in front of his face to fend off the scratching and biting of the fish man. The claw marks multiplied on his arm. They burned as bacteria crawled infected his blood. Bludtusk fell to one knee. He screamed as the naga bit off part of one of his fingers. His life flashed before his eyes, a life of farming and fishing. Why did I leave the farm, he thought bitterly, just to die in the trials? What a wasted life.
He could no longer even hold his hand up in defense. He used it to keep himself propped in a kneeling position. If he lost all leverage and ended up face down on the ground, it surely would be a wasted life for him. The naga laughed, a horrible guttural sound. Then, the creature began to chant. Bludtusk didn't understand the language, but he knew magic when he heard it. It's over. He thought. I'm sorry to leave this burden to my family.
"Ya have not been a burden. Ya have offered ya life in defense of the Darkspear tribe. We be proud of ya. Da Darkspear, dey be proud of ya."
"Grandfather?"
It couldn't be. His grandfather died during the Zalazane uprising. The hallucination was broken by an intense cold that enveloped Bludtusk's body. The naga had finished the spell and a blast of ice hit him with full force and pushed him on to his back. The naga moved in for the kill. "End this!" Someone in the gathered crowd shouted. "Kill the weakling!" Someone else added.
"You can do dis, Mon."
His grandfather spoke to him again. The familiar soothing voice focused Bludtusk on the task at hand. He felt power growing inside of him, fed by the elements and enhanced by the spirit of his grandfather. This was no longer a fair fight. The naga was outnumbered two to one. His grandfather would not allow him to die. Bludtusk waited until the stench of the creature was right over him before expelling all of the energy in as concentrated a burst as he could manage. "DIE!" He screamed. The lightning fried the naga, evaporating the slime from its body and producing an even fouler stench than normally associated with the fish men. The naga's body slumped forward on top of him. He closed his eyes against the pain of his injuries. The surrounding trolls let up a triumphant cheer.
"Get that troll out of dere. Fix him up." Nekali said. "He gonna go meet Vol'jin. Vol'jin gonna have big plans for him."
Vol'jin? Bludtusk thought. Me? I'm either dead or dreaming.
All I ever know, Mon, is the life of a nomad. Constantly moving, constantly searching for home. We Darkspear, all we know is the life of nomads. We finally tinking dat we got a home in Orgrimmar and da Horde, well, what I hear is dat dey foul it all up for us. Dat's why we move again, dat's why we callin' yet another place home again.
Da town crier, he come into da valley cryin' on about Vol'jin's rage, cryin' on about taking up arms, cryin' on about "We be movin' again, Brothers and Sisters. We be movin' on back to da Echo Isles. Too long have we been from dose homes dat were Thrall's gift to us. Bear arms, Brothers and Sisters, we be goin' home and ain't nobody gonna stop us."
"Bludtusk of the Darkspear, report." A troll's thick accent brought the young troll back from the memory and into the present. War drums and the sounds of simulated battle echoed off in the distance.
"Bludtusk."
Evident irritation in the voice caused the troll's accent to thicken even more. Bludtusk remembered being introduced to the bald, grey bearded, blue skinned troll only days before when he signed up to fight for the honor and glory of the Darkspear and the Horde. Standing before the assembled trainees was Jin'thala, the troll who it was rumored could peer for a moment into your soul and determine your destiny in the Horde's army. He was not a man to be kept waiting. Any troll unfortunate enough to miss his call was sent back to a life of fishing, cooking, or farming. Bludtusk stood before Jin'thala had a chance to send him slinking back to the family farm.
"Reporting." The single word sent a shiver of anticipation down Bludtusk's spine.
"Come forward, Mon. We ain't got all day." Bludtusk stepped forward. He stood tusk to tusk with the troll who would reveal his future with only a few words.
"Ah, yes, I see it, Mon. The elements, dey speak to you. You go see Nekali. She take care of you." Without another word, Jin'thala turned to the next trainee. "Sonaya of the Darkspear, report."
The elements. Nekali. A shaman. A smile broke out on his face.
The smile was quickly removed by the harsh tones of a female troll hardened by years of watching trainees fail miserably only to find the occasional diamond in the rough promising enough to consider for front line battle. "You, Mon, get ya butt over here. Target practice. Now."
Unable to resist neither the demanding tone of her order nor her pierced and red-maned visage, he ran to the nearest target. Grabbing a mace from a nearby rack, he smacked the tiki mask repeatedly until it splintered into two pieces. "No, no, no, enough." He paused mid-swing before taking his mace to the next target. "You can swing dat mace wit de best of dem. We ain't be warriors, Mon. Dis ain't our only lot in life to be cracking skulls. Sho' 'nuff, dat be part of bein' a shaman, but dat ain't the only t'ing we be good for. Lemme show you somet'ing, Mon. What dat Jin'thala say to you? He tell ya dat the elements talkin' to ya or some such? Yeah, he be a bit dramatic sometimes." Bludtusk smiled at her blunt assessment. "Get dat smile off'n ya face, Mon. I ain't be ya Momma. Now, listen up. Plant ya'self firmly into the ground. The elements, they ain't be talkin' to ya, but they definitely be part of who ya are. Feel the energy flow up from da earth and become part of ya. Let dat energy build up until it bursts from ya fingers in a bolt of lightnin' at ya enemy."
Placing the mace in the holster at his side, Bludtusk dug his feet into the earth. He felt grains of dirt and stones as they shifted underneath. It took only moments for the energy to tickle his toes. The electricity danced up his legs, gathering in a ball around his heart. Not wanting to incur her wrath again, he suppressed a smile as the warmth spread down his arms and a stream of electricity exited his fingertips. The lightning exploded one of the tiki targets into tiny pieces. "Woo!" The exclamation escaped before he could stop it. Instead of admonishing him, she ignored the breach and turned away from him. He thought he saw the stirrings of a smile tugging at the corners of her own mouth, but couldn't be sure.
"Come see me when you t'ink ya ready, Mon. I have a job for ya."
Bludtusk finished his training by destroying a few more targets, both using powerful melee strikes from his mace and his newly found power of lightning. Both types of attacks caused joyous release, each in its own way, of pent up energy. He approached his teacher, wondering what job she might have for new students. Moments later, chasing away wildmane cats and killing those too stupid or stubborn to leave, he wondered just what crazy notions of heroism led him to be disappointed at his current employment as a glorified exterminator. The cats needed to be killed. They were picking off the boars and better them to go than have his brothers and sisters die of starvation. He collected pelts from the cats. After driving the last of the pesky creatures from the boar fields, he returned to Nekali with his collection of pelts.
"T'ank ya, Mon. Dese make wonderful cloaks for our trainees to use in da Provin' Pit. Speakin' of da slimy devils, how about ya grab one a dose cloaks and head on over to da Pit. I figured from ya reaction to chasin' after da cats that ya have bigger dreams den just dat. Still, I had ta send ya out dere to see how ya react. Ya shown me dat ya willing to do whatever da tribe ask of ya and dat makes ya a special breed, Mon." She winked. "Get on ova' to da Pit and show me what ya got. I might be havin' a surprise for ya if ya live."
Bludtusk swallowed hard, cinched the cloak into place, made sure that he wore his mace in its holster, and walked to the Proving Pit. He had heard stories of troll trainees who had met their deaths in the pit, promising young warriors and magic users who were defeated, killed, and had their corpses fed to the naga slaves. The naga were a dangerous foe with natural body armor of scales and spikes, sharp dagger like claws, command of frost magic, and their natural hatred for the trolls. If he wasn't careful, he would quickly join the ranks of the defeated and nobody but his family would mourn the loss. Nervously stepping down the slope into the pit, he heard the command, "Release the prisoner!"
Unable to grab his mace due to the ferocity and rage of his opponent, Bludtusk found himself on the defensive to start the fight. The slimy creature opened its mouth wide, it's long tendrils waving in the sea breeze, and spat at him. The naga slithered quickly forward on the attack and he could only raise his arms in front of his face to fend off the scratching and biting of the fish man. The claw marks multiplied on his arm. They burned as bacteria crawled infected his blood. Bludtusk fell to one knee. He screamed as the naga bit off part of one of his fingers. His life flashed before his eyes, a life of farming and fishing. Why did I leave the farm, he thought bitterly, just to die in the trials? What a wasted life.
He could no longer even hold his hand up in defense. He used it to keep himself propped in a kneeling position. If he lost all leverage and ended up face down on the ground, it surely would be a wasted life for him. The naga laughed, a horrible guttural sound. Then, the creature began to chant. Bludtusk didn't understand the language, but he knew magic when he heard it. It's over. He thought. I'm sorry to leave this burden to my family.
"Ya have not been a burden. Ya have offered ya life in defense of the Darkspear tribe. We be proud of ya. Da Darkspear, dey be proud of ya."
"Grandfather?"
It couldn't be. His grandfather died during the Zalazane uprising. The hallucination was broken by an intense cold that enveloped Bludtusk's body. The naga had finished the spell and a blast of ice hit him with full force and pushed him on to his back. The naga moved in for the kill. "End this!" Someone in the gathered crowd shouted. "Kill the weakling!" Someone else added.
"You can do dis, Mon."
His grandfather spoke to him again. The familiar soothing voice focused Bludtusk on the task at hand. He felt power growing inside of him, fed by the elements and enhanced by the spirit of his grandfather. This was no longer a fair fight. The naga was outnumbered two to one. His grandfather would not allow him to die. Bludtusk waited until the stench of the creature was right over him before expelling all of the energy in as concentrated a burst as he could manage. "DIE!" He screamed. The lightning fried the naga, evaporating the slime from its body and producing an even fouler stench than normally associated with the fish men. The naga's body slumped forward on top of him. He closed his eyes against the pain of his injuries. The surrounding trolls let up a triumphant cheer.
"Get that troll out of dere. Fix him up." Nekali said. "He gonna go meet Vol'jin. Vol'jin gonna have big plans for him."
Vol'jin? Bludtusk thought. Me? I'm either dead or dreaming.
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
So, you want to be a shaman....
I've created an advice blog for World of Warcraft. I've given it a semi-witty and semi-controversial title to help drive traffic. So far, it has been lacking that one precious commodity of advice. Maybe you're a new player who has chosen the greatest class in the game as your character. Others will argue for the merits of their favorite class, but they are clearly wrong. Shaman can be both melee or ranged DPS or healer. Sure, they can't be tanks, but the glory of the game is lost on those guys who just stand there and allow themselves to be hit. Also, don't sell yourself short. Once upon a time there was a fight that allowed mages to tank, so if you're the kind of guy who likes taking too many blows to the head, there is still hope for that. As a PS, there might be opportunity for shaman to tank at lower levels with BtA gear. I will explore that possibility as a part of my study of the class. So, there. If you're not a new player, but an old player looking to correct your mistake of not having chosen shaman as your main, I welcome you, too.
New, old, or returning, you've slogged through my long winded semi-biographical posts about beginnings, addiction, and why I still play the game. "Who the hell cares?!" The Peter Griffin inside of you is no doubt shouting, "I came here to learn about playing to harness the power of the four elements and earn the glory and esteem of the heroic Horde (or the filthy Alliance scum), let's get to it already!" First, while I admire your tenacity, I don't think I like your tone. Second, the semi-autobiographic wasn't merely literary self gratification. It served to set the scene of me as a WoW player and paint a portrait of my history in the game. Now that you've "suffered" (your words, I'm sure) through the chaff of the site, let's get to the wheat.
First, a disclaimer (*collected groan of exasperation*): I am not a min/max player. Even during my most intense playing days, I didn't push for top of the DPS/healing meters. I have always and will always play for fun. There are plenty of web sites out there that will give you advice on how to squeeze the very last bit of output from your character. Some of them are listed in the "links" section if you find yourself searching for that sort of thing. This will just be a general overview of skills, talents, potential play styles, high lights of shaman existence, deep philosophical questions about the class and our place in the World (of Warcraft), etc. If that seem like your bag, then please let's proceed.
Second, a disclaimer (*sound of thousands of remote controls clicking to another web page*): I will created four new characters (each one in a race that I haven't played as a shaman extensively) for this exploration of the Shamanistic way, a dwarf and a troll (on the server for "New Players" to be announced) and an orc and a panda (on the "RP PvP" server to be announced). I thought it might be fun to try new races and the role playing possibilities of orcs and pandas are too enticing to not try. As a point of reference, I also have Shainna, a female Draenei on Zul'jin and Karrne, a male Tauren on Thrall in my stall of nature manipulators. Edit: Why no goblin, you ask? I have a hard time reconciling (and you can absolutely accuse me of racial bias and profiling here) how the technologically savvy yet ecologically abusive goblins ever came to study the way of the shaman. It has gotten to the point that I wonder how the nature loving Tauren can even tolerate the existence of the goblin stain on an otherwise green Horde party.
Now, finally (*huge sigh of relief of anyone still here*) on to the good stuff. It appears that extended weekly maintenance means that my new characters will have to wait until later tonight to begin their journey. As always, thanks for reading and stay tuned...
New, old, or returning, you've slogged through my long winded semi-biographical posts about beginnings, addiction, and why I still play the game. "Who the hell cares?!" The Peter Griffin inside of you is no doubt shouting, "I came here to learn about playing to harness the power of the four elements and earn the glory and esteem of the heroic Horde (or the filthy Alliance scum), let's get to it already!" First, while I admire your tenacity, I don't think I like your tone. Second, the semi-autobiographic wasn't merely literary self gratification. It served to set the scene of me as a WoW player and paint a portrait of my history in the game. Now that you've "suffered" (your words, I'm sure) through the chaff of the site, let's get to the wheat.
First, a disclaimer (*collected groan of exasperation*): I am not a min/max player. Even during my most intense playing days, I didn't push for top of the DPS/healing meters. I have always and will always play for fun. There are plenty of web sites out there that will give you advice on how to squeeze the very last bit of output from your character. Some of them are listed in the "links" section if you find yourself searching for that sort of thing. This will just be a general overview of skills, talents, potential play styles, high lights of shaman existence, deep philosophical questions about the class and our place in the World (of Warcraft), etc. If that seem like your bag, then please let's proceed.
Second, a disclaimer (*sound of thousands of remote controls clicking to another web page*): I will created four new characters (each one in a race that I haven't played as a shaman extensively) for this exploration of the Shamanistic way, a dwarf and a troll (on the server for "New Players" to be announced) and an orc and a panda (on the "RP PvP" server to be announced). I thought it might be fun to try new races and the role playing possibilities of orcs and pandas are too enticing to not try. As a point of reference, I also have Shainna, a female Draenei on Zul'jin and Karrne, a male Tauren on Thrall in my stall of nature manipulators. Edit: Why no goblin, you ask? I have a hard time reconciling (and you can absolutely accuse me of racial bias and profiling here) how the technologically savvy yet ecologically abusive goblins ever came to study the way of the shaman. It has gotten to the point that I wonder how the nature loving Tauren can even tolerate the existence of the goblin stain on an otherwise green Horde party.
Now, finally (*huge sigh of relief of anyone still here*) on to the good stuff. It appears that extended weekly maintenance means that my new characters will have to wait until later tonight to begin their journey. As always, thanks for reading and stay tuned...
Monday, December 10, 2012
Why WoW?
A few years ago, I ran into a real life friend who played WoW a the same time that I was starting to get into the game. It was surprising to find someone that I knew who played the game. Even with 8 or 9 million people subscribed to the game, there was still a stigma attached to the game, so it didn't come up in conversation much. I'm not sure exactly how it came up in our conversation, but I think it was during swim class with our infant sons. I kept making a noise in the water that sounded like a murloc and he finally said something about the game. We got to talking on that day and in subsequent days the conversation occasionally came around to the subject again. During one of the conversations, he brought up the following question, "I don't understand why the game is so popular. The graphics aren't that great. The story is decent, but not anything special. Why do we keep playing this game?" After reading my last post, you are no doubt asking yourself the same question. Especially after my moribund description of descent into addiction and the negative effects of that, "Why the hell are you still playing this game?"
So, why WoW?
Well, as mentioned in that last post, the addiction possibility is low, represented a small portion of my time in the game, and was easily diagnosed and remedied. So, that's not even a worry anymore. The graphics of the game might be considered on the low end, especially with some of the photo-realistic games that are being released these days. I've never been one to say that graphics make a game, though. Sure, they're nice and there are some beautiful games being done, but it is more about game play and story for me. "Game play?" You respond (even if you play the game), "Isn't the game play just a endless repetition of quests like kill x of y or collect b of c?" I could never understand this argument of the virtues of one game (or system) over the other. Granted, you're not supposed to read comments on blogs (I do other things like run with scissors, too. I'm a dangerous man) but those are invariably the first comments that I see from people when a new Mario or Zelda game is introduced. The 360/PS3 CoD fan boys (they might just be trolls, too) come out of the woodwork and start bashing the game with their, "Oh, lazy Nintendo, just keep releasing the same game year after year and your stupid fans just eat it up." Meanwhile, they're working on their latest kill with the latest gun to get the latest nuke in "Call of Duty: insert some vague military term here". Don't get me wrong. I'm not bashing Call of Duty. I've played Call of Duty and I enjoy the game. I just don't understand how anyone can be so blind to the soul crushing tedium that exists in any video game. All video games are doing the same thing over and over expecting that next shiny. So, the game play argument is invalid.
Back to graphics. The graphics aren't the best and there have been updates to some of the models, but it is more or less running on the same engine from 8 years ago. The human models look downright freaky and has ensured that I have never played a human character in my entire time playing the game. Like I said, though, it is more about story and game play for me. The game play, as mentioned, might not be revolutionary but even that's secondary in the game to the story. My friend said that the story was decent, but nothing special. In game, at the time, that was true. The story was secondary in the game to the process of advancing the character from level to level via quest. There was an underlying story in the game and that kept me coming back. I learned about external, fan built web pages like WoW wiki. Since I had never played the Warcraft games before WoW, I came to each one of these pages to learn as much as I could about the latest character, town, dungeon that I encountered in the game. Blizzard has devoted so much time to create this living, breathing, changing world that serves as a back drop for our epic adventures and there is much behind the scenes to learn if you only know where to look. Recently, Blizzard has extended the in game narrative to include more cut scenes and recurring characters through your journey that lend depth to the game. Add to all of that the little hidden gems of the game that you can find and you have a well rounded game that some have mentioned could be included as part of an online museum for future generations to discover.
The community is another reason that I keep coming back. While not as vibrant or friendly as it once was, there are still a number of players who are friendly and fun to talk to and play with. Always on the lookout for new and interesting ways to meet new and interesting people, this game always delivers on that promise. There you have it. Those are the reasons that I keep coming back to WoW time after time. How about you? What are the reasons you still play? What are the reasons you left? Is there anything that could make you come back?
Well, as mentioned in that last post, the addiction possibility is low, represented a small portion of my time in the game, and was easily diagnosed and remedied. So, that's not even a worry anymore. The graphics of the game might be considered on the low end, especially with some of the photo-realistic games that are being released these days. I've never been one to say that graphics make a game, though. Sure, they're nice and there are some beautiful games being done, but it is more about game play and story for me. "Game play?" You respond (even if you play the game), "Isn't the game play just a endless repetition of quests like kill x of y or collect b of c?" I could never understand this argument of the virtues of one game (or system) over the other. Granted, you're not supposed to read comments on blogs (I do other things like run with scissors, too. I'm a dangerous man) but those are invariably the first comments that I see from people when a new Mario or Zelda game is introduced. The 360/PS3 CoD fan boys (they might just be trolls, too) come out of the woodwork and start bashing the game with their, "Oh, lazy Nintendo, just keep releasing the same game year after year and your stupid fans just eat it up." Meanwhile, they're working on their latest kill with the latest gun to get the latest nuke in "Call of Duty: insert some vague military term here". Don't get me wrong. I'm not bashing Call of Duty. I've played Call of Duty and I enjoy the game. I just don't understand how anyone can be so blind to the soul crushing tedium that exists in any video game. All video games are doing the same thing over and over expecting that next shiny. So, the game play argument is invalid.
Back to graphics. The graphics aren't the best and there have been updates to some of the models, but it is more or less running on the same engine from 8 years ago. The human models look downright freaky and has ensured that I have never played a human character in my entire time playing the game. Like I said, though, it is more about story and game play for me. The game play, as mentioned, might not be revolutionary but even that's secondary in the game to the story. My friend said that the story was decent, but nothing special. In game, at the time, that was true. The story was secondary in the game to the process of advancing the character from level to level via quest. There was an underlying story in the game and that kept me coming back. I learned about external, fan built web pages like WoW wiki. Since I had never played the Warcraft games before WoW, I came to each one of these pages to learn as much as I could about the latest character, town, dungeon that I encountered in the game. Blizzard has devoted so much time to create this living, breathing, changing world that serves as a back drop for our epic adventures and there is much behind the scenes to learn if you only know where to look. Recently, Blizzard has extended the in game narrative to include more cut scenes and recurring characters through your journey that lend depth to the game. Add to all of that the little hidden gems of the game that you can find and you have a well rounded game that some have mentioned could be included as part of an online museum for future generations to discover.
The community is another reason that I keep coming back. While not as vibrant or friendly as it once was, there are still a number of players who are friendly and fun to talk to and play with. Always on the lookout for new and interesting ways to meet new and interesting people, this game always delivers on that promise. There you have it. Those are the reasons that I keep coming back to WoW time after time. How about you? What are the reasons you still play? What are the reasons you left? Is there anything that could make you come back?
Sunday, December 9, 2012
Addicted...
This game can be addictive. Anyone who suggests otherwise is lying to themselves or being foolish. I know this first hand. Initially, I became addicted to the social aspects of the game, logging in to see which of my newly found friends were logged in. Once I learned about end game and raiding, I became addicted to the challenge of trying to down that next boss and the feeling of accomplishment once teamwork and coordination triumphed over evil. Along with others at the time, I grinded through reputation levels, collected keys, geared during times that I wasn't scheduled to be online for raiding. The scheduled aspect of the game caused the fun factor to decrease and it became more like a job.
Two things happened as a result. On a personal level, I took my first break from the game. It came in fits and starts at first. I wouldn't log in for a day, and then days, and finally it was almost two years before I came back to the world of Azeroth. I did come back, though in the meantime, the second thing had happened. Two things that Blizzard is very good at as a company is self awareness and listening to their customer base and adapting to their needs. The company removed much of the grind from the game and ratcheted down the difficulty for the casual player to be able to play and still experience the content and story of the game. I was able to have fun with the game without feeling like I was taking on a second job.
Why tell this story? Why risk ridicule and admit to becoming addicted to (of all things) a video game?
There are several reasons. First, and I can't personally speak for drug or alcohol addiction even though I have known many people who were addicted to both drugs and alcohol, I tell the story to show that addiction can be contained and overcome. I have seen the destructive effects that addiction can have on a person's life and I won't ever succumb to that temptation again. Thankfully my addiction was less dangerous than drugs or alcohol and it was also due to a very unhappy time in my life, so changing the course of addiction was relatively easy. Two people very close to my family died within a span of 6 months and I buried myself and my misery in the fantasy world of Azeroth and the fictional trials of Alliance vs. Horde. After I began opening up and talking to people again, my joie de vivre returned and World of Warcraft became a silly little game again instead of an all consuming hobby. Still, and this is one point I want to make, the possibility of addiction to this game is very real and people need to be mindful of friends and family who play the game and watch for the signs.
Secondly, I meandered at length through the good memories of my introduction to the game earlier this morning. While I could have spent just as much time, if not more, on my descent into the darker side of World of Warcraft, I didn't. There is so much more good to this game than bad. As long as you are able to curb your play time and make time for the other things in your life, you can enjoy all that the game has to offer and still be able to live with yourself in the morning.
Third, I am undeniably impressed with Blizzard as a company and their reputation as a customer friendly game corporation in a time when most gaming companies are faceless entities pumping out the next great FPS shooter is well deserved. They truly listen to their customer base and change their product to meet the needs of their customers. Some more cynical people might make the point (and I've seen the point made) that they do so to keep the $15 a month rolling in from close to 10 million people. I'd be naive to suggest that isn't part of it, but there is more to the story. Having listened to interviews with people who work at the company, you can hear that they are passionate about what they do and they want that reputation for being the large gaming company that strives for excellence in customer service.
Thank you again for reading. I hope that my trials through the World of Warcraft continue to entertain and maybe inform you. Also, please keep reading. I have one more general post before I will get into the strategy aspects of the Shaman class as I see them as a casual player without much time to dedicate to the game.
Two things happened as a result. On a personal level, I took my first break from the game. It came in fits and starts at first. I wouldn't log in for a day, and then days, and finally it was almost two years before I came back to the world of Azeroth. I did come back, though in the meantime, the second thing had happened. Two things that Blizzard is very good at as a company is self awareness and listening to their customer base and adapting to their needs. The company removed much of the grind from the game and ratcheted down the difficulty for the casual player to be able to play and still experience the content and story of the game. I was able to have fun with the game without feeling like I was taking on a second job.
Why tell this story? Why risk ridicule and admit to becoming addicted to (of all things) a video game?
There are several reasons. First, and I can't personally speak for drug or alcohol addiction even though I have known many people who were addicted to both drugs and alcohol, I tell the story to show that addiction can be contained and overcome. I have seen the destructive effects that addiction can have on a person's life and I won't ever succumb to that temptation again. Thankfully my addiction was less dangerous than drugs or alcohol and it was also due to a very unhappy time in my life, so changing the course of addiction was relatively easy. Two people very close to my family died within a span of 6 months and I buried myself and my misery in the fantasy world of Azeroth and the fictional trials of Alliance vs. Horde. After I began opening up and talking to people again, my joie de vivre returned and World of Warcraft became a silly little game again instead of an all consuming hobby. Still, and this is one point I want to make, the possibility of addiction to this game is very real and people need to be mindful of friends and family who play the game and watch for the signs.
Secondly, I meandered at length through the good memories of my introduction to the game earlier this morning. While I could have spent just as much time, if not more, on my descent into the darker side of World of Warcraft, I didn't. There is so much more good to this game than bad. As long as you are able to curb your play time and make time for the other things in your life, you can enjoy all that the game has to offer and still be able to live with yourself in the morning.
Third, I am undeniably impressed with Blizzard as a company and their reputation as a customer friendly game corporation in a time when most gaming companies are faceless entities pumping out the next great FPS shooter is well deserved. They truly listen to their customer base and change their product to meet the needs of their customers. Some more cynical people might make the point (and I've seen the point made) that they do so to keep the $15 a month rolling in from close to 10 million people. I'd be naive to suggest that isn't part of it, but there is more to the story. Having listened to interviews with people who work at the company, you can hear that they are passionate about what they do and they want that reputation for being the large gaming company that strives for excellence in customer service.
Thank you again for reading. I hope that my trials through the World of Warcraft continue to entertain and maybe inform you. Also, please keep reading. I have one more general post before I will get into the strategy aspects of the Shaman class as I see them as a casual player without much time to dedicate to the game.
Saturday, December 8, 2012
From Humble Beginnings...
Since this is the first post to this blog, I think it only reasonable to start from the beginning of my story.
To be honest, I don't remember how I became interested in the game World of Warcraft. I know that it wasn't from a friend as I didn't know anyone else who played the game when I first downloaded it to try it out. It wasn't one of the catchy television commercials staring Mr. T. or William Shatner. I didn't start noticing those until after I was already entrenched in the game. It might have been a tailored advertisement on the side of one of the web pages that I visited at the time, but I'm not positive that (a) they were that advanced at the time or (b) I was as open with my love of fantasy gaming online as I am today. Whatever the reason, about 5 or 6 or maybe even 7 years ago, I downloaded and installed the game client on my desktop computer.
Upon starting the game, I was enthralled by the opening cinematic. The dwarf hunter, the night elf druid, the undead warlock, and the tauren warrior all spoke to me and my love of all things fantasy. It brought me back to basement games of Dungeons and Dragons when I was a kid and rekindled a flame long reduced only to embers and long thought extinguished. I should also mention that I was not a fan of Blizzard games and I knew nothing about the world of Azeroth (or MMORPGs) before delving into the World of Warcraft. After that opening cinematic, I met with the character creation screen. I fell into the trap of thinking the Alliance to be the "good guys" and the Horde as the "bad guys", so I concentrated on Alliance for my first character. I read the descriptions of the classes, decided that a nature loving druid was in line with my nature loving personality and set about creating my night elf druid, named by the computer randomizer, Ularlia. Looking back on the name, not only was it nearly impossible for my human compatriots to pronounce the name, it might have been a tad feminine for my bear/cat feral druid.
As time went on, I found myself playing different roles in the game. At a very early age, my PvP flag naively set to "on", I became a decoy for a higher level player who was trying to flush out a Horde rogue that had made it his duty on that particular day to make life in Astranaar hell on all citizens and visitors. I died swiftly by invisible blade and experienced a corpse run for the first time. I also tasted the blood of war on that day and it led to weeks of alternately defending Astranaar from Horde invasion and returning the favor by burning Crossroads to the ground. My travels took me to the human capital of Stormwind and the dwarven mountain city of Ironforge, the main place of rest for my adventurer after long days of questing and dungeon crawling.
My first guild was named the Praetorian Legion on the Hydraxis server (this was the server suggested for new players) and I stayed in that guild until many of the players left for greener pastures the likes of which I could not fathom at the time and the guild dissolved into nothing. One of the best things about Hydraxis was the active forum community. Players like Rakanishu (later known as Kellei) and Bustycops kept me laughing with their witty comments and encouraged me to try my hand at forum life. I suppose that for a long time nothing happened until I moved the character to Zul'jin...wait, according to my character search, that isn't true. While on Hydraxis, I found a great guild of like minded people named "Phoenix" and learned more about the intricacies of the game, i.e. my place was most likely that of a healer. What I do remember of Phoenix was that it was a great guild filled with awesome people that became swallowed by a larger guild filled with less awesome people and that sent me on my way to Zul'jin. Like much of those early years, only snippets of time are genuine memories. Most of this part of the history is ephemeral at best and most likely complete fiction.
Zul'jin led to a name change, "Liaiden", which was a combination of my two sons names at the time. Zul'jin also came with a great guild, "Ohana", filled with some utterly amazing people. "Ohana" means family and that's exactly how the guild felt. I met people in Ohana that I still consider to be some of my best friends. We still keep in touch via Facebook and here's the wild part. I have never met a single one of them in real life, though the offer stands if I am ever in their neck of the woods. Even though I met my wife online, I still underestimated the power of the internet to bring people together. That is a mistake that I'm not going to make again. Whether it is a silly online game that gets badmouthed by people who have never played it as "addicting", "time wasting", or both or Facebook (also derided by many), I know that you can meet a lot of fantastic people online.
I recently came back to Azeroth after another of my lengthy hiatuses from the game. Liaden is still on Zul'jin, though the server has undergone some changes. It has a large population of French Canadian players and Ohana is a small guild that rarely has more than one or two characters on at a time whenever I search. I have yet to find more connections in the same way that I did those years ago. Who knows, maybe the magic is gone. Maybe it is just in a lull and will pick up over the next few months as I get back into the groove of the game and community. Only time will tell. I am enjoying the game and the story in a way that I didn't during my years playing through the Cataclysm expansion pack, so maybe my staying power this time around will be longer that it was with that particular part of the game. I also learned about a podcast, The Instance, that has kept me laughing and given me the sense of community that I want from the game. They have provided the inspiration to take this one time forum signature of "Jesus Was A Shaman" and attempt to turn it into something entertaining and maybe even informative. Thank you for reading and I look forward to meeting and chatting with other players.
To be honest, I don't remember how I became interested in the game World of Warcraft. I know that it wasn't from a friend as I didn't know anyone else who played the game when I first downloaded it to try it out. It wasn't one of the catchy television commercials staring Mr. T. or William Shatner. I didn't start noticing those until after I was already entrenched in the game. It might have been a tailored advertisement on the side of one of the web pages that I visited at the time, but I'm not positive that (a) they were that advanced at the time or (b) I was as open with my love of fantasy gaming online as I am today. Whatever the reason, about 5 or 6 or maybe even 7 years ago, I downloaded and installed the game client on my desktop computer.
Upon starting the game, I was enthralled by the opening cinematic. The dwarf hunter, the night elf druid, the undead warlock, and the tauren warrior all spoke to me and my love of all things fantasy. It brought me back to basement games of Dungeons and Dragons when I was a kid and rekindled a flame long reduced only to embers and long thought extinguished. I should also mention that I was not a fan of Blizzard games and I knew nothing about the world of Azeroth (or MMORPGs) before delving into the World of Warcraft. After that opening cinematic, I met with the character creation screen. I fell into the trap of thinking the Alliance to be the "good guys" and the Horde as the "bad guys", so I concentrated on Alliance for my first character. I read the descriptions of the classes, decided that a nature loving druid was in line with my nature loving personality and set about creating my night elf druid, named by the computer randomizer, Ularlia. Looking back on the name, not only was it nearly impossible for my human compatriots to pronounce the name, it might have been a tad feminine for my bear/cat feral druid.
As time went on, I found myself playing different roles in the game. At a very early age, my PvP flag naively set to "on", I became a decoy for a higher level player who was trying to flush out a Horde rogue that had made it his duty on that particular day to make life in Astranaar hell on all citizens and visitors. I died swiftly by invisible blade and experienced a corpse run for the first time. I also tasted the blood of war on that day and it led to weeks of alternately defending Astranaar from Horde invasion and returning the favor by burning Crossroads to the ground. My travels took me to the human capital of Stormwind and the dwarven mountain city of Ironforge, the main place of rest for my adventurer after long days of questing and dungeon crawling.
My first guild was named the Praetorian Legion on the Hydraxis server (this was the server suggested for new players) and I stayed in that guild until many of the players left for greener pastures the likes of which I could not fathom at the time and the guild dissolved into nothing. One of the best things about Hydraxis was the active forum community. Players like Rakanishu (later known as Kellei) and Bustycops kept me laughing with their witty comments and encouraged me to try my hand at forum life. I suppose that for a long time nothing happened until I moved the character to Zul'jin...wait, according to my character search, that isn't true. While on Hydraxis, I found a great guild of like minded people named "Phoenix" and learned more about the intricacies of the game, i.e. my place was most likely that of a healer. What I do remember of Phoenix was that it was a great guild filled with awesome people that became swallowed by a larger guild filled with less awesome people and that sent me on my way to Zul'jin. Like much of those early years, only snippets of time are genuine memories. Most of this part of the history is ephemeral at best and most likely complete fiction.
Zul'jin led to a name change, "Liaiden", which was a combination of my two sons names at the time. Zul'jin also came with a great guild, "Ohana", filled with some utterly amazing people. "Ohana" means family and that's exactly how the guild felt. I met people in Ohana that I still consider to be some of my best friends. We still keep in touch via Facebook and here's the wild part. I have never met a single one of them in real life, though the offer stands if I am ever in their neck of the woods. Even though I met my wife online, I still underestimated the power of the internet to bring people together. That is a mistake that I'm not going to make again. Whether it is a silly online game that gets badmouthed by people who have never played it as "addicting", "time wasting", or both or Facebook (also derided by many), I know that you can meet a lot of fantastic people online.
I recently came back to Azeroth after another of my lengthy hiatuses from the game. Liaden is still on Zul'jin, though the server has undergone some changes. It has a large population of French Canadian players and Ohana is a small guild that rarely has more than one or two characters on at a time whenever I search. I have yet to find more connections in the same way that I did those years ago. Who knows, maybe the magic is gone. Maybe it is just in a lull and will pick up over the next few months as I get back into the groove of the game and community. Only time will tell. I am enjoying the game and the story in a way that I didn't during my years playing through the Cataclysm expansion pack, so maybe my staying power this time around will be longer that it was with that particular part of the game. I also learned about a podcast, The Instance, that has kept me laughing and given me the sense of community that I want from the game. They have provided the inspiration to take this one time forum signature of "Jesus Was A Shaman" and attempt to turn it into something entertaining and maybe even informative. Thank you for reading and I look forward to meeting and chatting with other players.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)