Calling it a day

The Old Republic beta testing is finally over, leaving me with a couple of weeks to find something else to do. This evening I took care of some business that turned out to be a lot sadder than I’d expected.

Tindalos has found his spot to settle down.

With access to the new replica gear vendors and the transmog reskinning of armor pieces, I picked up his DK starter blues from back when he was just taking off for Outland and transmogrified his mix of Cataclysm gear to resemble the best gear set death knights ever had. Better even than the junior-Lich King model from Icecrown Citadel. Would have liked to leave him with Shadowmourne, but I figured out a long while ago that it just wasn’t in the cards.

I have parked him in Grizzly Hills, down the hill from Conquest Hold, where he can relax with the Horde left behind in Northrend and fish for Glacial Salmon. I liked death knights enough, I guess, that the game felt…done after the end of WotLK, slaying Arthas and finishing what the death knights set out to do.

While I took my last cruise around the zone looking for a spot, it figures that my favorite piece of music would cue up (the first song from the Night Music set). Good sendoff from the game. I have some pre-paid subscription time left until January, but little reason to play again. Maybe in the future I’ll be back at it, playing pandaren monks or the next big thing after that, but for now, all done…and that will probably close the book on WoW posts here as well. Seven years playing WoW, a good run.

I played a lot of toons in WoW before settling on my DK (and his/her many races, genders and faction switches) as the character and story I liked most. I wonder who my next avatar will be in a galaxy far, far away?

Here, have some pandas

So anyone who’s been paying any attention at all to this year’s Blizzcon knows. The ‘Mists of Pandaria’ trademark that Blizzard registered some time ago was not a joke, not a ruse designed to lead investigation astray. It’s actually the legit name of the next expansion.

It’s kind of amusing in retrospect to consider the articles I read before Blizzcon, the writers talking about how Blizzard needed to set the stage to take on the Old Republic MMO and whatever else, to prep some compelling content that would keep players interested for years to come.

So, we got pandas.

Well, Pandaren, and companion pet battles…

I understand there’s no going back now, and besides, they’re expanding into southeast Asia. Could not be a better time for an oriental themed xpac. For my part, though, this is the first time I’ve felt pleased about my decision to cancel my subscription a couple months ago. Now it’s like…oh, this is what I’m going to miss? Hey, great.

So in the next couple months I will maybe check out the armor transmogrification feature, if it arrives soon enough, and maybe I can suit up my DK in his original blue set from their starter zone. If not, no big deal. Never did get his legendary axe, but again, no big deal. He would be just as much at home in lumberjack attire, fishing on a salmon pool in Grizzly Hills. I’ll have to pick out a spot before long.

The Zen of Not Caring strikes again

After last night, I was expecting a bad day, and for awhile it definitely was. Things got better, though. There were at least a few people to talk to, and after that I had a surprise waiting for me in-game.

Although the Wreckies on the Garrosh server have a fairly set raid group, I continue to get the odd invite to tag along, and I knew I was in for it when I got summoned to the end boss of the Firelands…

Second time I’ve been to see this fellow, but this time it was post-nerf. Oh, now it’s on.

(…hours later…)

Last try of the evening, and down goes Frazier! Pity I didn’t think to get a screenshot! Not that there is much to see; Ragnaros just takes a dive and leaves a big chest. That and our skeletons from all the previous wipes. I understand that on heroic mode, it’s a bit more impressive. So, now I guess I’ve seen most all of the Firelands content, and I haven’t been trying. I didn’t even transfer over to the Wreck List with this in mind. I knew the best I’d do was an occasional substitute raid slot, but they’ve been good opportunities. Except for the loot; damn little of it has been useful, and I haven’t won any tier 12, like the helm drop this evening. Not that it matters. The DK does fine.

Next week, they’re looking to solidify their B team’s raid with my DPS. Strange. It’s like I belong, or something. It still doesn’t seem like enough to stick around for in the long run, but at least it’ll make the last few months of WoW a bit more fun. Deathwing’s raid I can take or leave.

Some unusual WoW business

So today, I was responding to a player abuse report I had submitted to Blizzard about a particularly nasty episode of Trade Chat. It directed me to log on through Battle net to view a typical form letter. I don’t know why they didn’t just email that form letter to me, but logging on got me thinking. So I cancelled my subscription while I was there.

Oh, nothing so grandiose; I switched banks this month, so my old info is obsolete. But I have not re-upped yet with the new bank. It’s just…odd, not knowing for sure if I will. I don’t have a compelling reason to do so right now. Maybe I will, between now and next January. If not, that’ll be it.

At least with the pre-paid time, I can go on playing till then. Although I wonder if they will throw some enticements my way or otherwise beg or harass me about it. Time will tell.

WoW flameout update

Kidding, of course.

It’s been about a month since my server transfer, and while my horde o’ Horde remains marooned on Kilrogg with nothing to do, I am occasionally taking Tindalos out for a spin on the Garrosh server. This past week I’ve been on a couple of raids, nothing major. The two raid teams seem to continue on with their preferred line-ups and I have found no openings there. I knew this going in, so it’s no more than I expected. Nevertheless, when the stars align and I am online when they need a fill-in, it tends to go well.

So with the Wreck List I’ve gotten to see Nefarian die a couple of times, and yesterday I filled in on one of the raid teams as they got someone started on the new legendary quest line. It’s nice to see some more of the Firelands content, I suppose, as the raid downed three of them in short order. Considering that I hadn’t even seen two of them before, I guess I didn’t hold them back too much. Enough of their raiders know that I can step in, follow instructions, and lay the DPS smack down with the best of them, and what more do they need from a damage-dealer, really?

I haven’t seen any particularly interesting new gear, but Tindalos is decked out in his full tier 11 and a few items I’ve unlocked on the Molten Front, so he’s doing just fine. I’ve never had to have the very latest and greatest gear in order to put out the damage. Funny how that works. This game isn’t that hard, but it helps to have a competent crew. Even if I haven’t been raiding much, I know they have been. They’d have to, in order to get started on the legendary.

None of this has inspired me to stick with the game, though it has been nifty to occasionally hang out with nicer people, and on rarer occasions raid with them. Bit of a happier ending for my WoW experience than I was looking forward to on Kilrogg.

And hilarity ensued

Didn’t take long for things to change after the hound of Tindalos went to the Garrosh server. I miss my army of alts, but at least the people there are more fun. It’s nice to have some folks who can retain some sense of humor in the face of apparent despair. Case in point: Thursday night. After going on a raid on Wednesday just to fool around and see some of Molten Core 2.0, er, Firelands. Apparently my DPS was impressive enough to get an invite to a progression raid. Well, that or they were desperate. Anyway.

This is Balrog. Sorry, Baleroc. The bridge, that is, gate keeper, to the interior of the zone and the end bosses. That he screams ‘none shall pass’ is pure coincidence. Although it took the raid a couple hours to sort things out, eventually I did get to watch him die. The DPS requirements for this fellow are pretty extreme; once the healers could reliably keep people alive, ah. Yes, that was part of the problem, wasn’t it. I see some things haven’t changed since the initial raid content was put out! But he is a tough boss on an enrage timer, so it’s not as if you can just pound away and maybe eventually hope to take him out. You’ve got this much time, and no longer.

I was surprised to see my DK in no Firelands gear doing so well. He stood up nicely compared to the other DPS, and the job to do (besides attack) wasn’t too complicated. And besides being generally fun sorts, it was nice to see these raiders try different things. None of this ‘our half of the raid is fine, it’s all up to you’. The healers were willing to speak up when they had problems and swapped jobs; the tanks went from having the typical two-tank strategy to just one, a dangerous prospect but one that worked in the end. They wanted more dps and got a bit more doing that. I guess it was just enough.

I’m still more interested in finishing my Shadowmourne quest than this new raid, but with some new folks that are more entertaining to be around, maybe I will do more than dabble in the Firelands. Time will tell.

Moving on, again

Maybe for the last time, since I’m still in no mood to actually renew my WoW subscription…but I’m about done with Kilrogg, thanks to my now-former horde guild. The camel’s back broke after I picked up the United Nations achievement for the guild, by grinding out the Steamwheedle goblin reps. So they become interested in what I’ve been doing, for a brief moment. And I mentioned how I may take one last shot at Shadowmourne.

A few days later, I see the guild has set up an ICC 25 run, amazing! I didn’t even ask, they want to do this now? And I’m about to join in when they announce that it’s specifically for Captain Indispensable to get his Shadowmourne. Hey, that’s a good idea, going back for the axe. I think I’ll steal it. And, I’ll make the guild do it for me. Why don’t you come along and help? Not that we would ever help you. Well, that is the last dick move that guild will perpetrate on me. I found time this morning to /gquit my alts when no one was on to see it. I could have been dramatic about it, but it’s not my thing. Probably won’t be noticed, and certainly won’t be missed.

As for Tindalos, he has transferred to Garrosh and the Wreck List, so I officially have a geared 85 there. I can consider raiding with them, even, although they may start too early. I don’t really care. Garrosh is most likely my last server transfer. I’ll spend my last few months in the game with people resembling actual friends instead of…whatever social construct/substitute typical WoW ‘friends’ represent. If it turns out that I start to really enjoy the game again, so much the better. As far as I can tell, the whole ‘social’ thing is not even genuine, just a means to manipulate people as resources. It is odd that I never did that in a ‘social’ guild. Only in the one hardcore experience did I get to see how a more a-social system worked. Even that was too dependent on its leaders. I guess I bought into the social conventions. Silly me! Not nearly as goblinish as I’d like. Or maybe I prefer not to be.

Pricing Playstations and the Old Republic

After playing WoW for this long, these phenomena seem like bad omens for Azeroth and me. I had to look back at my last WoW-related post to see that it had already been about a month at the beginning of July, since I bailed on raiding and actively playing the game. Since then, Sue has done a little raiding, we’ve played our troll alts with the Wreck List and raided a few old dungeons for fun, and I’ve wasted some time trying out different rep grinds.

So now we have SWTOR on pre-order, and I’m looking to get a new gaming console. Kinda sad! But what else is there, when the game just isn’t doing it anymore. I can’t find the motivation to raid with our present set of misanthropes, nor do I feel like leaving them and finding some new crew, getting back on a schedule. I don’t miss having to be online at all. I have a few more things I’d like to do, and maybe some of them I still won’t get to do, like finishing the Shadowmourne quest line. I may look into how difficult ICC 25 pugs are to organize and run these days, and perhaps run a few to get the rest of my shards.

Unless something changes, though, one day soon I will park my death knight somewhere in Grizzly Hills, maybe with the legendary axe or maybe just with a fishing pole by a salmon pool, and that’ll be it. Not going to give away my stuff or delete my toons; one never knows, could go back to it one day. And I’m not going to feel bad about playing the game for years. I’ve played it until it wasn’t fun anymore.

Azeroth blues

Three weeks into the no-raid, no-schedule switch, and so far I’m not missing it much. Granted, I don’t even play WoW nearly as much now, but aside from the subscription cost what do I care? It would be nice to get back to raiding, but after burning out on the Kilrogg guild’s social raiding pressure it has been interesting to see the result. For all that it’s supposed to be social, there isn’t a lot of casual conversation going on. I’m a non-entity in fact, just as it’s turned out before when I burned out on raiding. Not that this surprises or even bothers me.

The only person who contacted me once, did so to exert a little social pressure when the evening’s raid was short on people. I can’t say if they miss my DK, or if that’s just the social thing to say to get a social raider to join the group. A bit skeptical, I kept my responses short and non-committal, and did not raid. I stopped raiding because the raid leaders had issues. AFAIK those issues still exist. I haven’t brought them up with the guild; I don’t think it would do the slightest bit of good. If it did I’d probably end up as a raid leader or officer, and…no. It’s not for me, not again.

Meanwhile, the Garrosh server experience has been much nicer. Although there is an excess of achievement GRATZ’ing, I join in jokingly on occasion and otherwise tune it out. And the Wreck Listers also occasionally just talk; it’s not all requests for help or group invitations. Those groups and raids, of course, Sue and I aren’t a part of yet. Our little trollies are only level 32, although it has been a quick climb so far considering that we only play them once a week. It should be pretty fast until at least level 60 if not more.

Yesterday we explored part of the new Desolace. This zone has gone from a bleak, vast desert with little to do but a series of centaur kill quests, to a zone with a lush jungle in the middle and lots more going on. A fair number of zones got Cataclysmed into, well, much nicer places. (You’re the best, Deathwing!) I especially enjoyed the quest series that ends with your hordie conjuring a flaming hurricane and nuking everyone in Nijel’s Point. I never liked you guys when I had to fly out to the boonies just to go to Maraudon. Face the flaming wrath of the blood elves!

That’s right, I mean real fire! Not the other kind of flaming belfitude.

Since we recently leveled a pair of worgen through Azeroth, we’re making a point to hit some different zones. Maybe we’ll go visit the eastern kingdoms. It’d probably take 4 or 5 sets of alts to try out everything. But I don’t think we’ll go that far.

Ah well. It’s not as if I have completely abandoned the Kilrogg server, yet. The new 4.2 content is much more than just the Firelands raid. It includes new daily quests in Hyjal, and the quest line involving Thrall’s curse and rescue was fun, aside from a few flagged griefers interfering with the quests. It personally involves you in saving Thrall from certain and painful death, and along the way we get to know more about his relationship with Aggra, a female orc shaman, that ends with a sort of marriage proposal. I had previously chalked up the taciturn Aggra as the orc they sent to Thrall so he’d stop fawning over Jaina Proudmoore. (kidding. a little)

It was the sort of questing that would be nice to have more of…but there’s only so much ground-breaking, life on the line plot material one can do, especially in an MMO that for the most part remains static. Games where solo players change the world drastically, I think, will remain single-player on PC and consoles. And even those run out of steam.

Proof of concept

As another exercise in fun with alts, one of my side projects has been to identify and build a ranged DPS alt for the social hordie guild we’re in on Kilrogg. I have to differentiate it from the Wreck List on Garrosh, now that we have some newbies hanging out there too.    I don’t make much noise about the identity of the Kilrogg guild because I am a bit critical of them at times, but I am happy to mention being a very new and low-level part of the Wreck List.

So on Kilrogg, ranged DPS has been a bit scarce for us. The guild has a couple of mages that rarely if ever show; a few hunters of somewhat variable availability; no warlock mains to speak of, but a few alts under construction; no elemental shamans that I can think of at all; priests that mostly heal, and most of them prefer healing; and a couple of druids that either don’t show up or are busy healing. Our intrepid guild mistress is the fairly reliable healer. The healers covet their raid slots, so they don’t do offspec much.

Likewise for me – my DK is in demand, but he’s melee. And if there is one rule for Cataclysm, it sucks to be melee. I cannot think of a single fight that makes it interesting or even useful to have melee. Mobility and range seem to be always preferable.

After the past few days, my latest experiment is finished. And I like balance druids, as silly as the boom-chicken form may be. Since I noticed a bunch of warlock alts in training, I went with the druid just to see if balance DPS is fun to play and adequate on damage. He’s also a decent resto pinch-hitter; I ran him as a healer in an alt raid and seemed to do just fine. Good practice, after training on resto in heroic dungeon pugs. And on Tuesday, I took the boomer to supplement our lone hunter. The rest of the DPS was all melee – a rogue and two warriors.

Balance druids may be overpowered, but he hung in there with his less than stellar gear. Although in just a couple of weeks, it has improved markedly. And although I will never get to see it while he is doing the ranged DPS thing, he picked up the epic shoulders that drop on nearly every Blackwing Descent run we do. They also look enormous on a male tauren, as this Wowhead pic shows.

I believe I can fly – but I won’t test the BWD elevator boss!

Sue just tells me that I’m good at whatever I choose to play, but part of these choices is liking the class/spec – enjoying the game. I have worked on a warlock but the balance DPS seems more fun for me. And since I tend not to dig ranged DPS classes, for whatever reason, might as well play this one for all it’s worth.

The side project will continue in my spare time, as I try to match my DK’s damage with the boomer. The other druid player, who offspec booms and offered to do it, didn’t have much to say after questioning whether or not I could match her output. I think I did. With my alt. Who was gathering dust and just crafting my leg armors until a few weeks ago.