Burnout and Rediscovery

It’s official, I’m burned out on WOW big time.  The release date for Cataclysm has been announced and I’m not at all interested or excited.  LOL  How very odd, since it feels like I spent the last year on pins and needles waiting for the expansion to be released.  Now, I’m quietly contemplating canceling my account yet again and moving on with my life.  If I continue to feel this way, I am going to cancel my account.

Lately Hubby has been playing a lot more 360 than WOW and I picked up my controller again yesterday morning at 5AM.  After waking up well before dawn and adding games to the Gamefly account, I was itching to play XBox.  So, I dug up my Fable II disc and popped it in the drive.  I hated it when I played it upon release, I literally didn’t make it through the first quest as a new character before setting it aside.  Hubby claims I had the WOW virus, LOL!  I’ve had the exact opposite reaction since the game loaded yesterday morning.  So much so in fact, that I have been the proverbial bump on the log ever since.  Moving from the sofa has been the exception rather than the rule.

It is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO nice to just be playing for enjoyment and not grinding or watching “trade chat” insanity pass by.  I’ve had a blast.  I can quest to my heart’s content and it doesn’t affect anyone else.  I can’t continue to be a bump on the log, but it has been a glorious two days of gaming to the exclusion of all else.

UGH

I can confirm I’ve reached burn-out once again on WOW.  I’m more than ready for Cataclysm to be released and am tired of leveling toons I know I am going to delete shortly.  Now that doesn’t mean I’m not leveling my baby lock but it does mean that I am not going to spend the next several weeks glued to my chair trying to grind to 80.  I’ve gotten two toons their Frost emblem cloaks this week, Brewfest is the easiest two emblems I’ve ever received.   I just want to do things away from WOW and not on the pc. 

Horde vs. Alliance

Ok, I’m stating it right up front I hate the Horde.  I cannot, and this does not count death knights, level a Horde toon above level 44.  It’s not the character and it’s not the class … it is 100% the people that play Horde.

I got my Horde warlock to level 44 since my last posting.  She is going to sit at level 44 until I transfer her gold to another character after Cataclysm hits.  I have serious issues with the people that play Horde, beware sweeping generalizations to follow.  They are rude, immature, selfish, gossipy, petty, and whiny.  I cannot stand playing with characters that cannot stand up straight (i.e. Male orcs and trolls), that are so large that they fill up my entire screen, Taurens!  I am tired of healers that don’t heal, tanks that are too damn lazy to finish off tanking before they move on to the next mob, and the inability to buff a group.

Alliance is by no means perfect in any of the above but in general, they are MUCH better than any of the Horde groups I’ve experienced.  It is rare to have discussions in trade chat about how stupid the Horde is or how anyone plays Horde is beyond dumb.  Yet, I’d hear that conversation multiple times a day in Horde trade chat.  To be honest, Alliance players just don’t care that much about the daily life of players who play Horde.

So, out of frustration I started yet another Alliance character since I cannot get my Beta client to be stable long enough to log in.  In one week I’ve leveled her to 26 and it’s been a pleasure.  I’m sure she’ll get deleted or become my main on Skywall.  It is unlikely however without a serious push, i.e. gaming more than 16 hours a day, that I’ll get her to 80 prior to vacation.  That’s ok, I won’t be upset if she gets remade as a Dwarven warlock.

WOW as of this posting

I started a Horde toon this week for one express purpose, the Wrathgate storyline in Dragonblight.  I think the Alliance storyline is one of the best ones in WOW and I want to see it from the Horde perspective before the quest line is removed from the game.  I created a BE Warlock, I particularly enjoy being an overpowered clothie. LOL    I got her to level 20 and if all goes according to plan, she will be 30+ by the weekend.

My gnome warrior is currently level 74, I’m trying to get her to 75 so she can finish the Gnomer quest line.  However, warrior rage is a mechanic that drives me insane.   I changed her spec from Fury to Arms this week as well.  Arms seems to have better rage generation but it is too soon to tell if that is going to hold true.

I ignored all of my other characters this week.  I spent the last couple of weeks focusing on gearing up my shadow priest, my holy pally, and finishing getting my last couple of pieces for my lock.  It gets cumbersome after a couple of weeks, the end game grind is definitely not something I enjoy.

Gaming in August

It’s the end of the month and it’s been a productive month for WOW.  I had deleted my level 41 Shaman several months ago, I got her restored and leveled to 59 last week.  This week I will work on her leveling up in between badge runs for all of my eligible toons.  I now have 5 toons at 80, 3 toons at 72+, and my lowly rogue at level 51.  So basically, the rogue and the shaman need the most attention. 

This weekend, I devoted to my priest gearing up and working on quests so that she can earn those epic cloak recipes.  Her gearscore improved greatly for both specs, which is nice but not what I was focused on.  I had a blast playing her all weekend.  She was in Shadow spec, when not off healing, and it was a very nice change from always healing.  I enjoy the snot out of healing but get tired of the most thankless role in the game.

I am also thinking of starting a new tank on a different server.  I hate tanking, well not hate but despise.  If I do I will most likely make a paladin tank, it is easier to quest and much easier to hold and keep aggro.  However, this is just an idea floating around in my head.  I have great reservations about tanking again in WOW. 

It was also refreshing to learn the EQII is going free to play.  I understand it won’t be the complete game and I can’t get my old characters back, but I fully intend to download and spend some play time in EQII.  I’m most interested in to see if it is any more solo friendly than the “full” game.  EQII has a great story and I love the classes and races, but it is absolutely solo unfriendly and if you haven’t played from the beginning you cannot play catch-up in any meaningful way.

Hubby downloaded Halo3 this weekend and was busy playing it all weekend.  The game looks beautiful.  I did play the first two installments of the game, but right now the game holds no interest for me.  Hmm, wonder when that will change? LOL

Fallen Earth

What a gem of a MMO I missed out on when it released last Fall!  LOL  On a lark, I had hubby download the 20-day free trial and he was hooked from the beginning.  One day into the trial, we both purchased the game and one month subscriptions.

The graphics are phenomenal, they are realistic and extremely well done.  The character creation is beautiful.  There are multiple starting zones depending on what your main aim is when you start, I started in South Burb the crafting starting zone.  There is an extensive crafting system, and you aren’t limited to one or two crafting choices.  You can raise your skill in any and all crafting choices from cooking to ballistics.  There are quest rewards in South Burb that are designed for the crafter.  Other starting zone have zones designed for melee or ranged characters or support characters. 

There are no set character classes in the game, you can design your path and pick your faction choices to further enhance your skills and abilities.  Luckily, faction choices aren’t determined in the early part of the game.  You don’t level at lightening speed and not all quests can be completed alone. 

My toon is only level six but it has been a truly enjoyable experience.  Hubby and I are leveling together and thus are working around his schedule, so leveling may be slower than previous games but I’m enjoying playing with him so much.

Gnomes

The second character I ever made on my non-trial account was a Gnome mage.  She was cute and so I went down that path with bind glee.  But soon I was faced with camera angles that drove me absolutely batty, a run that was hunched over like a bad case of scoliosis, and a whining voice that while cute grated after a while.

I convinced hubby to make a Gnome warlock to play with me, a plea I later regretted somewhat.  He has no trouble playing a Gnome, much to my disgust sometimes.   He managed to play a Gnome with no issues, I just couldn’t get over my issues with my mage and I eventually deleted her.  She was mid-50’s at the times, with maxed professions to 350 at the time. 

Then this was released last week, http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/underdev/3p9/gnomeregan2.xml.  I instantly didn’t regret re-subscribing  and was again excited to play WOW.   (Damn, I’m easy to please sometimes!)  I immediately logged in my main and traveled to IronForge.  I ran Gnomeregan for the first time, didn’t run a single instance while leveling until turning 80.    My main was now ready for the fun and games, but I wanted a Gnome to help regain Gnomeregan.

Hubby suggested making a Gnome.  It meant killing off an existing toon but I was game.  i had three choices in their 40’s, and picked my level 44 warrior to kill off.  He was my only male toon and he was frustrating and just too big sometimes.  Not to mention he’s dps output was pathetic most of the time.  So I killed him off and made  Gnome.  Shockingly, I picked warrior as the class for my new toon.  LOL

So with bright pink hair and what I knew would be a constant struggle with rage deficit, I set out to level my new Gnome.  Imagine my shock when I wasn’t struggling with rage management, things were dying right and left with ease, and her personality wasn’t nearly as annoying to me. I’m quite sure my heirlooms have made playing a warrior MUCH MUCH MUCH easier, although my killed off warrior had them too.  I created her last Friday in an effort to get to level 75 in time to get to participate in retaking the Gnome homeland.  Well, as off this morning’s maintenance she’s level 32 and leveling is so much easier than I thought it would be. 

She is a Fury warrior who only tanks when tanks rage quit an instance.  I have PVP’d with her and it’s a blast.  I top the charts and laugh constantly when stomping my way through Arathi Basin.  I will be 40 tomorrow, Thursday at the latest, and then I will attempt to get to 50 by next Tuesday.  Leveling slows down after 40, with the roughest patch being between 50 and 58 for me, needless to say I will level through Alterac Valley. 

More later on my adventures as a Gnome warrior…

WOW Sucked me Back In

Dammit, I canceled my subscription less than a week ago, and I’ve already re-upped it.  DAMMIT! LOL

Why you might ask?  Basically, because hubby doesn’t want to invest in another MMO extensively, just to end up going back to WOW.  So, I’m stuck running toons around collectin Eggs and hoping for a spring rabbit to drop. 

With all the recent class previews released and being released, I’m now prioritizing which toons to play and what gear I need to assemble before the expansion releases later this year.  I guess that also means I need to decide on what class is going to be my main.  I have already decided what toons I can kill off to make room if I need to come expansion release and no new character slots available.

Games Currently Played

With the recent delivery of my new pc, which is the awesome-sauce I must admit, the games I have installed has increased greatly.So without further delay, here's the list:

- Neverwinter Nights 2
- The Witcher
- Oblivion
- Dungeons and Dragons Online
- Runes of Magic
- World of Warcraft

DDO and RoM were installed to test them out and to see if they were a viable replacement to WOW.  DDO has great promise but mouse movement isn't allowed and for this gamer, keyboard movement in an MMO is incredibly frustrating.  My DDO toon, is level 3, so I need to give DDO more of a fair shot before deleting the client.  I will say this, DDO and LOTRO share the same problem.  Flat character models that have no life to them and an INCREDIBLY frustrating user client interface provided by Turbine.  Turbine might be headed in the righr direction for F2P game-model, but my god, their user interface and webspace are horrible and not user-friendly. 

RoM is clearly a WOW clone, but it isn't at the same time.  The character models are fantastic, especially the hair choices.  I particularly love that player housing is available at level 1.  Admittedly, the starter "house" is a one-room hovel but it IS player housing.  This was the one thing from Everquest 2 I wasn't initially excited about but missed as soon as I stopped playing EQ2.  My highest level toon in RoM is a level 11 Warden, so I have plenty of exploration left to do. 

WOW - it's like crack for the MMO player.  Most other MMO's can't compare to the polish of WOW, which drives me nuts to be honest.  WOW is a great introduction to a more complex MMO then let's say Guild Wars.  I have 5 80's and 5 other toons on my primary server between level 40 and level 72.  I am bored to flippng tears in WOW.  The quests are the same and the game is just a grind fast once you reach 80.  There is no social aspect to the game, I play with hubby but otherwise it is basically a single player game for me at this point.  I just recently canceled my recurring subscription (third time in a year).  I refuse to dedicate my life to raiding, it's a game not a job, and thus there is nothing left for me to do.  I will undoubtedly be back, but I need a WOW break.

Well, my coffee cup is drained and thus I'll cover single player games in my next post.