Branching Out and Moving On

Things have been quiet here because I have felt directionless where my gaming is concerned. After being a dedicated WoW player for a considerable amount of time, I let my subscription expire a couple months ago. I had stopped playing about two or three weeks before that. I went through the same thing when I level capped to 85. So, what, exactly is my problem?

This is going to sound judge-y and like I'm pointing fingers but I don't have anyone specific in mind, just so ya know. But the problem is the other players that have taken the fun out of the game and have turned it into a chore. I read all these different WoW blogs and I listen to in-game chat and core players (and I think the term "player" doesn't fit but I don't know what else to call them) have elevated (or maybe lessened is a better word) what is supposed to be a game to this whole other...thing. When you break down the timing of a shot or spell to tenths of a second and then verbally attack the player who didn't get that shot or spell off "on time" you're not playing a game anymore. You have analyzed and nit picked at the tiniest detail to the point where you've sucked all the fun right out of playing. At least for me. I can see how some people get their rocks off by displaying their massive grasp of statistical math by dissecting the game of World of Warcraft.
Something that I don't get, never have and probably never will, is...if you've successfully run an instance or raid, you've downed the last boss and you've gotten that coveted piece of gear or mount, why do the numbers matter? Shouldn't the final question be, "Did you have fun??"

I'm neurotic, right? So when I log in to play a game, and I really mean play a game, and all I feel is pressure to perform perfectly, to study, analyze, and memorize game mechanics, all I feel is anxious and nervous and my hands sweat and by the end of the encounter I have to take deep breaths and Aleve for my massive headaches, it just isn't fun anymore. 

I realize that a lot of this dissatisfaction stems from my own hangups but it's really 50/50 in that a lot of WoW players (again, that term just doesn't feel right here), have lost sight that it's a game. It's supposed to be fun. Gaming, especially role playing-type games, is supposed to be a way in which you can immerse yourself in another world and just relax away from real life pressures. Most importantly, IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE FUN!!! Worrying about tenths of a second has no place in a game. No place.


As a result of my neuroses, I've branched out into playing Guild Wars 2 and I'm back into Diablo 3 and the Sims 3 as well. I feel no pressure in any of the three of these games and in fact, will be back to blog a little about them all in other posts. One thing though, the players in Guild Wars 2 are so friendly that the contrast between the in game chat there and trade chat in WoW is like black and white. Anyway, more on that at another time.

In the end, even knowing how I currently feel and having said all that I've said, I know I'll re-up my subscription to WoW at some point in the future. Probably even within the next six months. I just need a step back and gain a little perspective. Honestly, I miss the familiarity of WoW. I do. So, I'll be back to it sometime.

More From Northrend

Continuing on what seems to be a never ending odyssey of mining ore, I was once again flying around Northrend yesterday. This time, I was in Sholozar Basin enjoying the sites and mining the hell out of some saronite.

The Sundered Shard

Hardknuckle Clearing

River's Heart

Seabreach Flow

As Seen in Remote Parts of Northrend

Ok. I'm not really sure how remote these places are, but they are pretty awesome-looking nonetheless.

I took some screenshots yesterday while I was trying to mine some ore around Northrend. My goal was 120 but I ended up with 64 because I got distracted with flying around and clearing the map. I got two exploration cheeves yesterday. I might get some more today seeing as how I still need more ore. ::sigh::  Anyway...

The Horror Gate

Cathedral of Darkness

Narvir's Cradle

Terrace of the Makers

A Quiet Day of Reflection

A Calm Day of Fishing in the Jade Forest

Not really. That's just what a lot of people say when they've spent the day fishing. I, however, dwell on how boring it is...In real life and within a game.

Have you ever fished on the game Animal Crossing? If you run past the shadow of a fish in the water, you scare it away, lol. It's kind of tedious. Animal Crossing is a favorite game in our house. Both of my kids like to play it and I've been known to play from time to time. My kids like for me to do the fishing in the game so that we can put the fish in the museum. They say that I'm the best at it but in reality, I just have more patience than they do.

Today, I spent the day with Maruka fishing in Pandaria. I leveled her from 380-something to 425. I'm just trying to level her cooking up without spending a ton of gold in the auction house on mats. I'm trying to be smart about it. ;) I really hate fishing though. The one thing that has made it more bearable is that Maruka has a water strider with the Surface Trot buff and I LOVE it. I mount up (I'm still an 88 and can't fly yet) and ride up and down the rivers looking for pools of fish. Being able to walk on water makes the process go by much faster.

FYI, if you're looking for Jade Lungfish, you should start out at the top of the river at Grookin Hill and then ride the river all the way down to Pearlfin Village. Just be aware that Grookin Hill is a Horde town and Pearlfin Village is an Alliance town. I got tagged by an Alliance guard at Pearlfin Village and had to run for my life, lol. Anyway, this route netted (har har) me quite a bit of fish in a short amount of time.

Mists of Pandaria: Hunter Pets

**I apologize for the darkness of my screenshots. I took them at night and it was raining. Also, for pete's sake, don't look at my armor. It's hideous. I'm not to the point where I want to transmog it yet so I'm doing my best to ignore it.**

As a hunter (Hunters RULE!!), one of the things I look forward to most about a new expansion is taming new pets. Finding and taming a new pet is always fun, finding new pet families is fantabulous fun. MoP has six new pet families including the two that came out with the pre-release patch.

• Basilisks
• Water Striders
• Cranes
• Goats
• Porcupines
• Quilen

So far, I've tamed a water strider, crane, and porcupine. I think, at this point, my blue porcupine, named Petunia, is my favorite. I really like the skins on the porcupine family. I actually traveled to Zangarmarsh when the patch came out to tame a blue Fen Strider because I'm the impatient sort and had to have a new pet right away. I have to say, I really love the Surface Trot ability, which gives the hunter the ability to walk/ride on water. That can be such a convenience. I also like the Still Water buff which increases spell power by 10% and critical strike by 5%. 

Lots of new pet looks were also released with MoP. Unfortunately, I am pretty disappointed with all but one of the new cat looks. I really don't like how the cats are so lumpy. It's like they're the Hunchback of Notre Dame of WoW. The one cat that I like, and have tamed, is the Hunched Jade Cat (See??? Hunched is even in the name.). I'm also unimpressed with the look of Pandaren turtles. I tamed one (a brown dragon turtle if I remember correctly) just so that I could have one, but I stabled it and doubt very seriously if it'll see the light of day. Frankly, they're just dull-looking in my opinion.

One of my favorite new looks, however, is the water strider. I had to have one of those as soon as I saw one and they also belong to the Water Strider family (obviously). Very nice-looking water bug. I also like the silkworms. I would kind of like to have one of each, blue, green, red, and yellow. I think they're all pretty cute.

As for the pet families I have yet to tame, goats, basilisks, and quilen, I'm excited to add them to my stable, more so for the goats and quilen. The quilen have a very handy skill, Eternal Guardian, which will allow for the resurrection of a party member. I think this will be extremely welcome in an instance or raid, to have an extra party member with this ability. It's just too bad that it can't resurrect the hunter. ;) I just think the goats are cute.

If you'd like more specific and detailed information on the newest pets, check out Petopia. The new pet families are just one more thing about the expansion that I am vastly enjoying. Any other hunters out there with MoP pet likes or dislikes??

A Reason to Rejoice

You already know about my altoholic-ism, right? I think that also extends to the want I have to play many games. I have to stop right here and wonder if I'll ever truly grow up, lmao!!

I have a PC that's about five years old and a MacBook Pro that's about 2 1/2 years old. Hardly any of the guts of my PC are the original parts. I've replaced things like memory and video cards as they've become outdated. Even so, or maybe because of this, it sucks. I can't do ANYthing on it anymore. When I play games, any game at all, I get about 10-20 minutes of play time before I get the blue screen of death. The other day, after letting it sit dormant for a couple months, I decided to give it another try. While wandering about Pandaria, my cat escaped out the window and onto the roof. During the ten minutes it took me to get him off the roof and back into the house, my computer crashed. I sit back down, winded, irritated, and dirty only to see a blue screen. Talk about frustration. I've tried troubleshooting the issue and can't find anything useful on the net. I bought a new vid card, upgraded Windows, blah blah. I'm thinking it's a motherboard issue.

During all the PC downtime, I've been playing WoW on my Mac. It's an ok solution if you don't have an alternative. But the sound sucks (my PC has speakers that'll knock your socks off), the screen is small, the mouse is inadequate, and I have to turn the graphics almost all the way down just so my frame rate will go about 10 fps. Plus, playing on a Mac means absolutely no GW2 since they don't have a Mac client and the frame rate on D3 is so bad I can't function.

Yesterday, I finally broke down and bought a new computer. I put it off for a good two years. Going back to the growing up thing, I feel pretty silly buying a new computer just so that I can play games on it. When it comes to school and business, I do everything on my Mac. So seriously, a new PC's use will be about 99% game play. I rationalized finally making this purchase because my kids like to play the Sims and we don't have a computer capable of handling that game anymore.

I would put my new build on here but I'd probably get made fun of, lol. Despite the fact that I bought a gaming PC, I still went mid-range on components because I can't justify spending much over $1000 on it. It meets and exceeds the minimum requirements for both WoW and The Sims 3 and that was my bottom line. All in all, I can't wait for next week to get here when it gets delivered.

Mists of Pandaria: First Impressions

I have very few negative things to say about the latest WoW expansion. I'm not one of those "race to 90" type of player, but I have been playing since the day of the release and I've been having a fantastic time.

I know that I'm in the minority when I say that questing is my favorite part of the game. I enjoy exploring the world, picking up quests, getting new gear, and just generally immersing myself in the game's world. I seriously cannot relate to the player who complains that it's taking too long to get to 90. I was, however, immensely pleased when I dinged 86 just last night. ;) That should give you some idea where I'm at in Pandaria. Okay, okay. I will admit that I'm chomping at the bit to get the new cloud serpent mount. All good things...

Pet Battles

Prior to the release, I was really looking forward to this new aspect of the game. It gives the player an alternate course of action instead of the constant raiding, PuGs, and leveling. The reality of this feature totally lived up to my expectations. The cheesy Final Fantasy-esque music. The silly turn-based attacks. The cutesy pets whose sole purpose in life is to kick ass. I love it. It's fun. It's distracting. It's addicting. I feel bad choosing to level certain companions over others. This has led to me trying to level several at one time which means that my highest level pet is only 11, lol. Questing in Pandaria and seeing the potential, capture-able pets makes me drool. I can't wait until I get a pet high enough so that I can start acquiring the new pets.

The Scenery

Come on. How can you not appreciate this??

If you don't like the scenery in Pandaria, I can only assume that you're color blind. It's visually striking and totally pleasing to the eye. If I hear one more person gripe about the graphics in WoW, I may have to turn stalker and pound on that person a bit. Maybe the graphics are not top shelf, but I still don't see what the complaining is all about.

Pandas. Squishy, Loveable, Ninja, Pandas!

This is another popular topic about which people like to complain. Do people know much about real, in the wild, pandas? Sure, they look cute, but I would like to see you come between a cub and it's mother. Polar bears, black bears, and grizzlies are cute too. Did you hear about that hiker that was taking video of a grizzly? All they found of him was the video. Anyway, my panda monk is only a level 14 so I can't speak on an "expert" level, but I'm having great fun playing her. She's pretty and she's pretty vicious.

My One Complaint

I think having cross-realm areas is a fantastic idea. I really like seeing other players when I'm out and about questing. However...It would have been nice if that had been turned off for the first few weeks after the expansion release. Over population is now the issue instead of dead areas. I was questing with my lowbie panda in the Northern Barrens and there weren't enough quilboars and sacks of rice to be found for all the dozens of pandas trying to do the same quests. It was just a bit frustrating. After a while, I gave up and went for some pet battles instead.

To Conclude

I've run into a few glitches here and there. I've run across totally asshole-y players stealing all the quest kills and gathers. What's new? After playing beta, I can see a big difference in the number of things that needed to be fixed versus the more polished final release. I am a realist. I expected hangups. So what? I think MoP is a complete breath of fresh air when compared to the somewhat more intense expansions of WotLK and Cataclysm. I still have no regrets signing up for the annual pass. I'll more than likely renew or, at the very least, keep my subscription current. I'm still having fun with the game, reading other's blog posts and tweets, and being part of the community that is WoW. I'm definitely not ready to throw in the towel.