Despite my jubilant 200th post so close and the hopeful feelings I had, apparently it was the last gasping breath and despite loving my blog, and loving my guildies, I ain’t loving WoW any more.  It’s been coming a long time now, but with some bad health problems lately as well as the fact we’re going to be moving and a whole host of other small things, I’ve decided to cancel my subscription.

Since I can’t really write about WoW without playing it, that means the blog is going to go into hibernation – so for those who like to keep a well-updated list you can go ahead and remove /hug.

At the moment, I’m considering it an ‘extended hiatus’ from WoW until things have gotten sorted out and to see if I don’t go stir-crazy without it there to fill up the dull moments, so there may be light at the end of the tunnel but it’s a long and dark one.

Thanks to all who’ve read and commented, given support and helped me gain confidence and enjoyment in my writing. For those who don’t know me personally, I’ll likely drop off the radar as I’ve very much kept my online personal and wow things relatively separate, and I want to remove myself from sources of temptation (too much wow on twitter, for example…) but if you do want to keep up, I’ll still be answering emails coming to aurik at slashhug dot net.

I’m terrible at goodbyes so I’ll leave it with  a:

/hug

Time for a re-link of an old post.  This was one I was going to link with the 200th post link-fest but decided that it wasn’t really relevant any more, because badges in Wrath were tiered and the situation was completely different to back when you could farm heroics for BT / MH level gear…

The recent patch notes, however, seems to have set the community all aflutter.  My viewpoint, as expressed via the linked post, hasn’t really changed since they big hoo-haa of 2.4 and all the high level raiders crying about people getting ‘their’ epics.

2.4 is Stealin’ Mah Epics!

Whilst I did like the idea of a tiered badge system the current one was, to my mind, too complex and the rewards not really ‘worth’ the badge cost given how slow it can be to accrue the marks if you’re not clearing Ulduar every week (we do not bad, but summer blues and a spate of bad luck have shaved our raiding days down at the moment).

But we did it the hard way!

The problem with saying that people should suck it up and go do it the ‘proper’ way is that they are limited – people who can’t be online a full 2-4 hours to do a raid, people who can only grab the odd heroic here and there, people who don’t want to leave family guilds just to get into a raiding guild and people who just can’t find a Naxx raiding guild who need or want them consistently.  Just because your situation allows for it, doesn’t mean everyone’s does.

What do they need the gear for? Well, they want their character to progress and grow just like anyone else.  They want to be able to do things easier and pump out bigger numbers – whether it be tps, hps, or dps.  Everyone wants their character to grow – consider how frustrating the last boss in Oculus and the biggest complaint which is levelled against it – ‘no matter what gear we’re in, that fight is always the same’.  Imagine not upgrading your gear for the whole ‘end-game’ period of the expansion just because you can’t play with the big boys.   You might not ‘need’ the upgrade, but it still sure feels good to get a shiny once in a while and progress your character.

And we don’t even need to go into why it would be good for rerolls or late starters…  If 2.4 hadn’t introduced the badge epics I wouldn’t be playing my shaman now as it was the only way I could get upgraded enough to go straight from Kara to MH / BT with my guild when I was tired of playing my rogue.

Old Content is Old

At the end of the day, when content becomes ‘old’ there is no reason it shouldn’t become ‘easy’ to get.  It’s not like they’re saying ‘here, take a full suit of epix for absolutely no time invested’ – you still need to go out, do Naxx, do Heroics, do Ulduar and work towards a goal.

Although clearing Naxx is not too hard for some – neither was clearing Kara by the time the 2.4 badges arrived – granted Naxx is still easier but it’s also still a limited number per week.  Heroics, whilst also easier, have become hard to get groups for and I can only hope that this change will mean an upsurge in groups for late-comers or people with alt-itis like me.

If you want to work through a tier at that tier’s level, that’s cool – but not everyone does and it’s not just because they’re loot-whores.  Sometimes when you’re working with a sub-skilled group you need the gear to make the difference.  ‘But the bads shouldn’t get to see content then’.  It’s a bloody game.  Grow up -  I learned to share my toys when I was a kid, didn’t you?  People play to have fun, not to have twitch-fingered little jerks who know how to play a damn video game better than they can laugh at them.

But but…

You want your epeen?  That what your achievements panel is for.  Gear is gear, people are people and this is a game in which most of what you have now will be obsolete within half a year.

…and jeez, it might not even happen.

Seems mah wee sister is gettin’ oot in the world noo.  Mither an’ Faither say it wis mah fault she’s decided to go wanderin’ – but Ma says it wi’ a glare an’ Faither wi’ a grin…

The baby warrior gained a Project last week. Yes, all bolded and a capital letter to boot.

Project Alt

I, like many, often have high hopes and aspirations for my alts.  They will grow up to be ‘x’ or they shall blast through profession ‘y’ or suchlike.  My Dorfette, though, is slightly different – not a whole lot, but a subtle little thing.  I want her to be strong, independent and able to do many of the things she needs for herself – not having to log one of my mains to get her something she could easily do herself .  This, to me, means she will level all of her own secondaries – fishing, cooking, first aid.

This will also, thusly, mean taking my time – that’s good, it’s what I want from this alt – no mad dash to Outands and Northrend beyond – just a leisurely stroll through content I enjoy a some I might not have tried yet!

That’s not all, though, as I often decide upon many mini-projects along the way – my first one, on this character, was a little more ambitious!

Startup

Starting fishing and cooking, together, is wonderfully easy.  Buy a fishing-pole, sit in your capital city of choice and fish your little heart out.  I managed to get to about 180 cooking and just over 200 fishing and began to wonder.

Turtles!

Silly though it might be:  I decided, then and there, that I wanted to get my little alt a [Sea Turtle].  I know there’s not much benefit to having a turtle at low levels except that it’s sorta cool and it might make some water-based travel easier.  I liked the idea, though, of getting myself one before level 30 – so I could use  as soon as I’m able.  Impatient as I am, I decided that I’d go as soon as possible!

I would need, I figured, around 350+ fishing skill and preferably a [Weather-Beaten Fishing Journal].  The ability to track fish became rather invaluable so if you do plan on going to get one of these at low levels then I’d suggest grabbing one of these too. The lowest level area I could find to grab one was in Hinterlands – in the various pools by Southshore and all of the way up the river which runs through the zone as well as in the pond by Tarren Mill.  At level 18 I could manage to avoid most mobs by staying near or in the river and crossing where there were mobs near the river.

I even managed to run through the graveyard in Western Plaguelands – only dying once – and got myself the Chillwind flightpath when I ended up a little too far north in the river.  I think it took me several hours on-and-off and at least 30 watertight trunks before I got my journal.  Many people seem to get them a lot sooner, going by wowhead comments, but I wasn’t so lucky.

The plus side of all of the extra fishing here was getting to 351 skill!   I stayed and fished until I hit 375 skill and then decided it was time to go to Northrend.

Consumables

None of these were really necessary but, by lessening the number of grey items, they reduced the overall time spent turtle-catching.

• [Enchant Gloves: Fishing]
• [Captain Rumsey's Lager]
• [Sharpened Fish Hooks]
• [Swim Speed Potion]

Since Avarix is an alchemist and I had some Blackmouth Oil (made from fish I’d gotten whilst levelling fishing) I made a pile of Swim Speed Potions. I didn’t really need them but they were a nice extra for getting to the icebergs in the first place, then back again later.  You could easily go there with a lower fishing skill but even when I was over 400 skill, using Sharpened Fish Hooks and Captain Rumsey’s Lager I was still getting a fair number of grey items.

Travel

To get to the Icebergs quickly, with less chance of being ganked by the near-shore sharks, just jump off the boat as it goes in towards Valiance Keep – it takes a slightly different path on the way out and doesn’t go so close.  For the Hordies:  I’m afraid it’s a long run for you through Borean Tundra from Warsong Hold.

I went to Frozen Sea Icebergs off Borean Tundra (around 31, 67 on the Northrend map).  Although it’s not terribly easy to get up onto all of the icebergs, most can be scaled at one side / edge and then you are able to walk all the way around them to reach harder-to-get fishing nodes.

I just logged on and did 30 mins or so fishing every time I wanted to chill out or when I was watching tv – much better than the marathon sessions I did to get it on Avarix.  Now I just need to hit 30 so I can ride it!  Once patch 3.2 comes out, though, these will be available to ride at level 20!

For more information on various fishy things, go see El’s Anglin’ – A site which can give you a good number of tips for any fishing venture.

Bloody hell, that’s some getup she’s got oan there.  Ah can see how thon kinda gear wid make it a bit less warm tae do some priestin’ in Hellfire Penincula, but it doesnae exactly seem decent.  No’ that ah’m compainin’, mind…

Another of my young characters has finally made their way through the Dark Portal!  Last week, my priestess Ahnara became the latest of my pile of alts to make her way through the dark portal.  The ritual screenshot, the walk through, the entry into another realm entirely: none of it has diminished in grandeur for me since the release of Burning Crusade – no matter how many times I do it.

As several of team-Ratshag have mentioned in the past: Outlands, aside from being a land of opportunity, killing gribbly things and being generally heroic,  is a place where female characters get the short end of the stick clothing wise.

Ahnara: Priestess, saver of souls and healer of the sick went from a rather respectable frock, to a somewhat more… interesting set of ‘garments’.

I had gotten used to wearing robes on my little priestess, so it feels odd to go back to a vest and erm… knickers.

Early Entry

Unlike many of my other alts, I actually headed to Outlands at level 58 – usually I wait until 60.  I am getting more and more tired of the old-world quests these days – especially those in the late 40’s through to the late 50’s – perhaps because many of the ones in that range are shared between factions and I’ve done them across alts on both sides.

Priestly Pontification

Playing a priest still feels odd – especially so when I’ve been asked to actually dps in pugs.  I feel, at this level, somewhat redundant as I can’t really do much before the other dpsers have already destroyed the mob.  Whereas I can see how shadow would be interesting over a slightly longer time frame, the big array of DoT’s and very little direct damage I have is so unusual to me as to be limiting.

However, I can’t say I’m having much more success with my offspec, either!  I had wanted to be disc, I love the idea of it and the concepts behind it, but I’m finding that at lower levels the efficiency isn’t there and neither does it seem ‘beefy’ enough to make up for said lack of efficacy.  I think I might, sorrowfully, spec to holy as my ‘levelling healer offspec’.

Ahnara is now 62 – well on her way towards Northrend… without even stepping outside of Hellfire!

3 comments

Wid ye belive it?  200! An’ a thought ah wis gonnae be retired years ago.

When grinding some faction rep you usually end up watching the numbers slowly creep forward, inching towards your goal, hoping that it will come soon and you will never have to gather / kill / quest for another hoojermahflip again .  Writing this blog has, I can happily say, not been at all like that – whilst getting posts out is sometimes hard for me when I’m feeling uninspired; I know  I can always turn to my blog when I feel like a little writing therapy.  Thus:  it wasn’t until last week that I noticed I was so close to my second ‘ding’ blogwise – post 200.

I know there are those out there who fire out a post every day but for me, writing my blog is theraputic, either in a cathartic way or because it allows me to formulate and describe ideas or opinions which just won’t entirely come together in my had alone.  I don’t write because I feel I have to, I write here because I love it – I also love getting comments, I love the community that wow-blogging has given me and I enjoy making pretty pictures.

The all-pervasive twitterites, though, had to give me ideas for the content of this post – they came up with a retrospective on some of the posts which I’ve enjoyed, have seemed popular, have had a lot of feedback or simply are still relevant.  Of course, as the author, I find it hard to judge, so I enlisted Khi to sit and read through all 199 posts and help me choose some – for which I am truly grateful!

Of course, how do you pick just a few posts from 199? Well, it’s hard, and we ended up with quite a pile of posts which, whilst not all super-awesome, were ones which also might have meant something to me or that I really enjoyed writing.

The First Post

My first post, ‘What this isnae‘ is often one I refer back to – it describes my simply aim for this blog and, whilst I may have strayed a little into territories where I’d never thought I’d set foot, I still think I hold to the simple ideals therin.  So, a plethora of posts for you to peruse if you wish – chosen from a larger pile and whittled down into those which I feel are still relevant or fun to read.

Pile o’ Posts

Dual Specs – An Anti Rant – A recent post, and one I enjoyed writing even though it felt like it took an age.

Boostin’ Versus Old Skool – Written a long time ago, this post is still pretty relevant.

Rage-Management.  No, Not that Kind O’ Rage – Anger management, wow style.

What You Need to Know About… Dwarves – My silly take on a Blog Azeroth topic of the week.

Versatility or ‘Big Green Blob Syndrome’ – A post which I still feel is relevant – on how giving us similar buffs and abilities does not homogenise us.

Flyin’ Arrows an’ Chained Heals – The first blog post where my ‘baby’ shaman Avarix is mentioned on the blog.

The Burning Crusade – A retrospective on TBC.

Druid  – Epic Flight Form Questline: A Guide – This guide has continued to be my top-viewed post, week by week, since it was written, so I guess I did something right!

Flowery Writin’ – There have been multiple wow-ku memes, but this was the only one I participated in and I really liked how they turned out.

We’ve Come a Long, Long Way Together… - post 100

Thanks once again to those who still read and comment here – hopefully it won’t be that long before I’m hitting 300!