WoW

How About We Play What we Enjoy

stargrace September 19, 2016 0Comment

How about I just play what I enjoy.

Sounds like a pretty simple task, no? Except for me, due to multiple reasons reason, it just hasn’t been.

I think it started way back with EQ2. See, I didn’t always used to have a plethora of alts. Nope, I used to be a one character only type of person. I played a druid (warden in specific) in raids and I absolutely adored it. Then it came to be that the raid needed an illusionist. Back then raids were ‘easier’ mechanic wise and I was able to two box my druid AND my illusionist. This opened up a whole lot of possibilities. As time went on the raid wanted my druid less and less and a different class more and more. Since I had already compromised once I continued to and before I knew it I had an overloaded stable of characters for as many classes as I could handle, learning the ins and outs of their combat specifics. It grew from there and carried across the different games that I played until it manifested itself into the current form. I rarely have less than 10 characters in any MMORPG, and my method of thinking of what I should play has changed drastically.

In the past I would just play what I wanted to play and it was a simple answer. Maybe not at the outset of a new game because I’d have to find what I was comfortable with but I already had a good idea of what that class was. As time went on it became a question of “what can I play that will be valuable to other people, so that I can be of value to other people too”. That mindset stayed with me and it’s a really hard one to shake off. In World of Warcraft that meant playing classes that had more than one specialization so that I could be flexible and not have to create a brand new character. Classes where you can tank, dps, or heal are ideal. I very rarely ever thought about what I wanted to play, instead I constantly questioned what I thought everyone else wanted me to play.

Except everyone else really just wants me to play whatever I want, and they don’t even have any thoughts on the subject, and it’s just all in my head.

This is the reason why right now I’m playing a hunter.

Yes, lots (and lots) of people play hunters. That’s why I’ve never actually played one as a main before, but left the character as more of a background character that I would pick up here and there. I didn’t want to be one of a million other hunters, I wanted to be needed and valued. Turns out you can still be of value to yourself and others while playing something you actually want to play. Go figure!

I’ve been playing the hunter through Legion content for one day and I’m already level 104. It’s faster than I had expected because I’m having so much fun with it. She’s also my jeweler, so she’s got 700 mining and JC. Having professions makes me feel bonded to my characters and is pretty important to me. As I mentioned in my previous post I faction changed from a troll to a human, swapping from horde to alliance – a choice I don’t regret at all (aside from the fact that my server is 97% horde characters). This gives me the ability to group up with more of my bnet friends who are playing alliance (and lets not forget I already have the 110 priest on the horde side). I’m having an absolute blast – and this is after a week of me waffling about trying to decide what to play. I just couldn’t decide what I felt like because my frame of mind was all over the place. I’ve got no doubt that I’ll be reaching 110 before too long and I may even do dungeons and (gasp) work on getting into some groups with people. It’s amazing how much more freedom I seem to have when I’m playing something that is just pure fun.

Paying for Pleasure

stargrace September 18, 2016 1Comment

Over the years I’ve spent more than my share of ‘extra’ money on various MMORPG features. One of these features includes server transfers, or in the case of World of Warcraft, faction transfers. Now, I understand that I don’t NEED to pay for these extras because technically I could just swap servers, or create a new character in the faction of my choosing – but that’s not always the ‘best’ decision and it’s not always a decision that makes me happy.

I just finished grinding 10 characters to level 100 in preparation for Legion. I have a set of alliance and a set of horde – but to be honest I prefer my horde classes to alliance. I decided to play my horde characters first when Legion came out, too. Not a huge deal except that a good portion of my bnet friends are playing alliance, and I want to be able to group with them and do dungeons. The decisions I was left with included creating a brand new alliance character in a class that I actually felt drawn to playing, toughing it out with horde but not grouping as much with my bnet friends, playing a class I was lackluster about but being alliance, or paying $30 for a faction change on a current horde character, and swapping them over to alliance so that I could 1. play with friends and 2. play a class immediately that I was interested in playing.

I decided to go with the payment option.

I didn’t want to level up (yet another) alliance character. I didn’t want to boost someone (even more costly) and my horde character had no real ties to that faction aside from the fact that every other character I have on the server is horde. It was a quick process (not even 5 minutes) and my troll hunter became a human hunter. Bada bing, bada boom. Once I completed the transfer I breathed a sigh of relief. For me, such extra costs are completely worth it. It’s not a cost I would want to indulge in on a regular basis, but I had set aside some money for my hobbies and lets face it, gaming is a hobby of mine. I have no doubt it will bring about more than a few hours of enjoyment for a character that I was completely lackluster to play before I faction transferred.

Have you paid to transfer servers before? What about faction changes? If you have, what was your reasoning behind paying the extra cash – and was it worth it? Let me know in comments, and as always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

(P.S. If you happen to know of an alliance guild on Area 52, please give me a nudge, I’m Arysh, looking for a home!)

AddOns – Are there Others I need?

stargrace September 6, 2016 0Comment

I love World of Warcraft AddOns. I think the Curse Client makes them easy to install (and even those not on curse are pretty easy to install) and they offer a whole lot of function to the game. My basic UI is ElvUI, a popular all-in-one UI replacement. I know there are lots of pros and cons to using it, some people adore it and others hate it, but it does what I need it to do, so for now that’s what I use. The other AddOns I’ve picked up along the way are as follows:

• _NPCScan (This tells me when named are up by announcing them, and lets me target them so I can get to them faster and know when they’re almost dead before I get there)
• Auctionator (A semi-replacement for auctioneer which hasn’t been updated in ages)
• Can I Mog It? (Tells me whether or not I have the transmog for a specific item, across characters)
• Deadly Boss Mods (Dungeon / raid timers across all expansions)
• GTFO (A really loud obnoxious sound plays any time I step in anything bad)
• HandyNotes (Map notes on anything from Panadria treasures to field photographer, this is an amazing addon)
• Master Plan (Garrison organization, hoping they come out with a Legion version)
• PetBattle Teams (Lets me organize my pets into saved teams and name them all)
• PetTracker (Lets me see on each map which pets I have from the area and which are missing)
• Recount (DPS / Heal meter, I use this for myself, not to judge others. I like improving my character)
• World Quest Tracker (I haven’t used this, but I believe it lets me track the new world quests from Legion)

I don’t want a whole lot of addons since eventually they end up creating lag and other problems with one another in-game, but the ones I have picked up all seem to get along well with one another and don’t create any noticeable issues with my system. I was using an inventory mod for a little while, but found that it lagged pretty badly and when I was moving items around and they wouldn’t show up in the right places until I opened and closed the container again. I decided inventory organization wasn’t that much of a priority in the end.

My priest managed to hit 110 over the weekend, and now I’m deciding on an alliance member to level up. Most of my “fun” characters are horde, and alliance are ones I’ve fallen out of love with over the class changes. I’m wishing I had a mage, or a warrior, or an alliance monk or hunter. Instead I’ll have to choose between priest, druid, shaman, paladin, and warlock. Decisions decisions!

As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself.