Paladin Progress, Favorite Toons, and other Ramblings

Well,
I've spent the last several days leveling my Paladin Ahrias. He is Prot specced and all the way up until he hit Cata Dungeons he was wrecking the 5 mans during leveling phases. Then he hit a bench mark where DPS folks were tearing his aggro meters to shreds. I've done a bit of research for 5.3 to ensure at least the spec was right. Gear would still be a problem for a bit though as the proper tanking gear isn't really available at this point. I kind of tapered off on Dungeoning for the moment until I can rehasg what is going on aggro wise. But, I've really gotten into the storyline for MoP. I hadn't taken any of my other toons this far into the game as I was dreading the gear disparity. Still, I actually started to take my time again in reading through quest lines and picking up the lore as I could.

Throughout this process Ahrias has traveled all over Azeroth, with the exception of the "Waterworld" Cata phase. I never enjoyed that area and easily by passed it. Hyjal as always was a blast and the Highlands were also a lot of fun to roll through. I didn't do every quest, just the ones I liked or felt were relevant to his persona. His Jewel crafting has kind of hit a wall between 505 to 520, the next major breach, but that will come in time for me. At now lv 86 soon to be 87 he feels pretty formidable and carries the weight of his Holy Warrior status well. Over all, I've been very happy with his progress and enjoyed the time he has traveled about.

So why talk about it? Well, Ahrias is the first toon I've really taken a liking to. I'm not all into the holy preachy warrior thing, but Ahrias strikes a special chord with me. I've been developing a persona from the immersion perspective in fleshing him out to be something more than a pixel action figure/doll to play with. My wife can easily tell you I hire and fire alts so fast, she looses track of what I am working on at the moment. Though I keep the names I like the most on standby, very few ever make it past lv. 30 before they stop resonating with me. It's odd how I have grown fond of the old, grey eyed, silver maned paladin. He has started to take a life and personality of his own.

I don't really get into RP anymore, though perhaps I'll crack it again sometime. What I will say is, Ahrias as a project has come to life for me. In the end, he is what I enjoy about WoW. The creation, the progression and the development of something I can take away as fond memories of glory. I personally think this is a part of why even old veterans who grumble about the state of the game still play. It's not the whole reason, but I figure it is a part of it. I get lost in the story and I look back through his eyes and see what has been accomplished, and what remains to be done. He embodies some of who I am in the real world, and many things which I aspire to be in attitude, execution and overall bad assery. So, while I have plenty of other toons, many which umm...well, die by my hand more often than by the dangers of Azeroth, Ahrias has stayed on and above the rest.

So, what toons have you my fellow readers call your personal favorite? Are they main class? Alt? RP? What makes you enjoy the special ones? Do drop a line when you get the chance, I always love a good conversation over ale, whiskey, or even some well brewed tea! Till next time, may your bags be loaded with gold and may glory be showered upon you!

My return

Well, after a rather long hiatus I decided to return back to WoW. About 4 months ago I decided I had done everything I wanted to do in Age of Conan and shut down my Hyborian Rage blog. The game was as always an epic vista of beautifully rendered landscapes and epic battles. But, there just wasn't enough player base left to enjoy the game the way I used to. Furthermore, the community had become highly toxic. The final straw was that I ran a raiding guild there that due to interpersonal conflicts split and died. It was a good run, but I finally closed the gates to my Keep and retired my characters. I had become tired of waiting for game fixes and updated crafting systems so it was time to pack my saddlebags and allow my little town to live or die on its own. No regrets, just time to move on as many do in the MMO community.

Jump forward to now. My wife and I decided to revive a bank guild of ours and just make it our own little place. We don't have members, we don't have serious goals, just playing for fun. It's actually a lot more fun this way for us. We still interact with folks that we choose as friends, but we stopped dealing with the stress of guild management and social drama. Now we pick and choose what we want to do. No burn out, just having fun in a solo/couple guild.

So re rerolled most of our toons and started from scratch. Well, more or less scratch. We had some BoA gear and a small lv 1 guild with a couple of bank  tabs. Since starting over, our little project has gained us an additional 2 bank tabs and guild lv 5. Doesn't sound like much but then we don't play it as hard as we used to. The first couple of months back we didn't even work that guild. Most times I guild hopped on Emerald Dream trying to find that right magic or place. I met a lot of fun folks both Horde and Alliance. Many were very helpful and sociable. I just didn't get the same feeling per se. A couple of guilds wanted to power level me and get me up to their end game but it wasn't really in my nature to do so. So I drifted a bit and finally settled down with my wife to just run what tso people could do together.

To date, it's actually been pretty fun. On the pvp side, we both made prot warriors and rofl'ed at the nerd rage of being double shield slammed. I know a lot of folks hate this but to be honest, eventually it will get nerfed and some other class will be flavor of the month. In the meantime, we just have fun with it and she has been having a blast there when we work side by side.

So there it is. I have returned as the bedraggled stranger into Azeroth where very few remember who I am or what I have done in the past. I plan on writing more here again and hope perhaps a few will read up and comment. I suppose we shall see. But anyways, the doors to The Rusty Blade have been re opened and the bar is restocked. Hail to the old veterans, and cheers to the new folk!

Hyjal Complete 83 now, long road ahead

Well, I hit 83 last night, got some nice new pieces for Mhorgrim, and Hyjal is finished. It was the epic hero questline, I loved it. Now its over. I have to get back to Vash'Jir. I can't say I'm too excited to go back to Sea World, but I know it's got to get done. I'm a land lubber what can I say? Funny since in the RL I'm a Scorpio. Now I grant, I haven't given Vash'Jir much of a chance, I think I've completed maybe 15 quests in it. I'm just not big on the whole underwater thing. Guess we will see where that leads. I have to say, the epic battle against Ragnaros was pretty fun, I almost felt like I was in a mini raid even though I was solo. If I ever do retire Mhorgrim, I think I'll head back over to Hyjal and park him there. There is something about those awe inspiring mountain landscapes that appeal to me.

On another note, I am looking forward to the 4.2 questlines. I know, I have barely scratched the end questlines for Cata but still, the whole figuring out what happened to Thrall and seeing advancement is kinda cool. Asides, Going to the Firelands looks pretty epic as well. In the meantime, I am also enjoying the Winterspiring cub that my wife sent me the other day. Hopelessly non progression related, but I like the lil fella, kinda cool and better than a regular mewling cat.

Most of this is just rambling but hey I get to talk about what's been happening so umm ya. Have a great day out there!

I must recant a previous statement....

So yesterday I got Mhorgrim up to level 82 and then the inevitable Steel wall of slow xp to 83. It was a Blast though. I really enjoyed the hell out of Hyjal and I see subtle changes in the environment as a reward for my efforts. I pay attention to that you know. The neat thing was when the Spirit of the Ancients gave me that speech of cool guyness and how I am now charged with protecting Hyjal. I felt like I accomplished something. I know primarily it was solo work but I got pretty immersed within the storyline and its effects. I used to bitch about how I hated the phasing for quest lines. Here is the thing though, phasing allowed me to see changes in the environment that previously I didn't see. It meant I affected something with all of my questing. I know I was one of many that gave a bad rap to phased quests. I recant that statement from the past. After carefully reviewing the areas post quest line, I saw definitive effects on the environment. Why is this important? It meant I didn't live in a completely static environment. I think that's a big bonus. Now it does wreak hell on partners or groups. I got that, but really, just about every single quest is easy enough to complete. It aint that hard. In the end, despite a few flaws with phased quests, I am over all very happy with the immersive storyline.

On to other stuff,

I have learned everything I am able to learn from the Blacksmith trainers in the Major cities. I hit 82 really easy but is pretty tough getting to 83. Ran 4 dungeons last night with the guild which was very good for us as a guild. The fun thing was, my wife and I started running instances again together. I am used to her primarily being a healer so was a bit nervous when we had a member I hadn't worked with before heal for me as a newbie tank for the instances. Point is, it was a blast that we both had toons high enough to run together as a team again. She is enjoying her Boomkin blow the crap outta stuff so more power to her. We had a few hiccups though, I hadn't tanked these instances and didn't realize that compared to the easy mode crap I saw in Wrath and BC coming up through the ranks, I was in for a huge eye opener. Mobs hit a lot harder and I really wasn't geared enough for the instance. A couple of fights were a little more than spank n tank with some kiting involved. Ya I know, all you hardcore raider and heroic guys out there are laughin to tears. But hey I am still new to tankin in general. Overall, and with the patience of my guild we got through it and I started to learn what needed to be done in the future.

I am holding off for a bit on pvp while I turn serious attention to Mhorgrim's advancement. Most of my guildees are Military and therefor we are pretty tightknit. The problem of course is when one or more need to be out on the move for whatever reason. So its been tough to get enough people ready for not just heroics but also the future as 10 man crews. I doubt we will ever get to the 25man but maybe at least 10 man down the road. Anyways, when I feel Mhorgrim is progressed enough I will  hit back into pvp. Part of that of course is both Grimnhak and Damios are at level breaches where I would need to seriously concentrate on killing a couple of levels and getting the right gear since I don't own BOA gear as yet.

In the Real world, I will be moving sometime in late May, so around that time frame if I go silent for a couple of weeks its simply us moving around and getting settled.

Leveling, questing and stuff

Well last night I hit 81 on Mhorgrim, still working towards 82 by tonight. Good thing I actually did do some work on Blacksmithing, it made my initial questiong a dream. Suprising what a couple of decent pieces of gear meant for Cata can do for you. I am actually enjoying all my questing out there, I like the story lines coming through the Hyjel line. It actually brings a lot forward and helps me complete the storylines. I was really afraid of not enjoying this time but I'm having a ball. I think what got me riled a month ago was that Outland and Northrend seemed as though they were in a bubble for the most part. I enjoy Northrend mind you, but I despise Outland.

Something to bear in mind if you PvP, there are  a lot of glitches out there right now with questing as well as BG's. Get rid of your old Addons, they are reaking havoc with questiong as well as and especially BG's. I actually got frozen last night just before I ended in one BG. Had to get a GM to give me a lift out of there. I was happy with their quick response, I think I only had to wait ten minutes from the time I submitted to getting assistance. Seeing as how this is a brand new patch that all the cry babies were screaming is late, I'm pretty happy with the service. I just logged over to my othr toon for a few expecting a long wait. Lo and behold it wasnt very long and a GM conacted me and resolved the situation. The GM did say addons are really rough right now, so make sure you update your addons the second you can. Be very careful about BGs as well, not sure about instances yet as Im having too much fun just questing which for me is pretty refreshing.

Ok, folks enjoy your day!

The Adaptive Gamer....Challenges which can be over come

So I ran across this yesterday concerning an Adaptive Player. The player was really trying to get across that it is possible for someone with physical or mental handicaps to still play and enjoy WoW up to and including Raiding. The responses over all were pretty positive with only the occasional troll out there. I was actually pretty inpressed by the tenacity of the player and applaud his efforts to still enjoy the game. I think the diea here was to help other disabled players see that there are methods to still enjoy the game. There are a few posters that were less than cordial but that is their right to post, so I ignored them for the most part.

I have had first hand experience with working in a PUG with someone visually impaired. He put raid icons over our heads which we werent used to and kinda screwed with my kill order. After asking him why, he explained it helped him see the tank and healer to easier to assist in attacks due to his visual impairment. Well I gotta say that I support fully to assist those with disabilities who still are motivated enough to play the game and overcome some problematic issues when dealing with the physical aspects of repetitive motions and manual dextuerly required for doing Hotkey hits etc. His idea also incudes creating a website where people can go and share techniques in overcoming these challenges. Should this website go up, even if you are not an Adaptive player, just someone who enjoys the game and raids, it might expose you to understanding those who play WoW with disabilities. Well Walaman good luck to you and I hope your idea takes off!

Questline Fashion...Serious Makeover needed

So I dropped by Keredria's blog today to find this on alternate ways to level. Obviously not necessarily to everyone's taste and most likely a very very long grind. But a few thoughts rose up in my peaked lil mind. Is it possible to have quests designed specific for classes and or professions that reward particular styles of play? Well, to tell the truth, there are some non combative quests out there currently though they can be engaged with combat while doing this. Since I've been out in Northrend,  I noticed a few quests don't require combat at all per se. The thing is, with the exception of advancing a story theme line, they don't highlight character skill sets or a profession base skill set.

Periodically, there should be quests pertaining to both profession and specifically to class/skill tree sets. Would it be difficult? possibly but still doable. Kill 10 ratz still applies mostly to a DPS mindset. But what about a questline that emphadsizes tank skills in holding aggro? Or a Healer questline maintaining an NPC getting through from point A to point B utilizing the healer skills? Rogues specifically to go in stealth, avoid detection and steal specific items or scout specific areas. These I came up with just rambling as a wrote, the ideas are there. My question is, can they be implemented through code? I mean, the complexity can't be nearly as hard as phased questlines in WoW so why not class specific?