Just a quick and very last-minute note to say that BBB will again be on the WoW Insider Show on WoW Radio today at 2:30 CST/3:30 EST.  To listen to it live, you can go here (then click on the listen button on the right side under the big On Air logo).  Otherwise, we’ll post the link Tuesday or Wednesday when it’s available for download.

Also, don’t forget tonight’s Running of Da Bulls.  Hope to see you there!

Cassieann

Hi All,

Since BBB is working today and wanted me to write a post, here it is and as the title says, it’s pretty much just a rambling post of what I’ve been experiencing and thiking about the game lately (you’ve been warned). 

As he said, the guild has been making great strides in raiding.  I participated in Gruul’s last week and then Mag where I finally had a good roll for once (instead of like a seven) and got my first piece of Tier 4 Gear - Netherblade Chestpiece.   We’re going back into Kara this week (probably starting tonight) and hopefully I will get my gloves or helm (really want the helm!).  Both dropped last week and paladins took them.  Romulo’s Poison Vial also finally dropped and a stupid hunter took it on the roll, even though it’s clearly a rogue item (even Kaliban’s has it as a secondary class item for hunters).   Yes, I’m bitter and I’ll admit it.  To be honest though, I’d be much less bitter if the hunter who took it had actually equipped it.  But no, a week later, still not using it AND already had trinkets much better than what I have.  GRRR…..

I also joined the guild for their first attempt at Lurker on Saturday after doing trash pulls as they had done previously.  After wiping a few times, it was called due to the late hour and people needing to leave (since it took almost an hour past raid start time to actually get in and started).   I didn’t really enjoy that event so much and probably will take a bit of time off from trying SSC again.  Gruul’s is enough of a pain for me :-)  I’m much more a fan of 10-man or even 5-man runs where you can have fun together and maybe get some loot, not 25-mans which just feel too chaotic and yet, at the same time, much more “business-like” to me (i.e. let’s get in, get this done, divide up loot and go home, nobody be goofing around in game or on TS, focus people, focus).

Overall the guild is really focusing much more on raiding progression (that’s the current guild buzzword - everything done must be in the name of the magic and holy “progression”) and less on having fun together in smaller groups (or some, including me many days, would say ANY fun at all).   On one hand, I understand it to a certain degree.  The people who have been doing things like Kara and heroics for a year or so are getting bored and want to see bigger things (and get bigger loot). 

On the other hand, for those of us that are less geared and newer at the game, it’s uncomfortable and overall yucky.  We’re asked to join 25-mans and in some places play a key role (spell-kicking/interrupt in my case) and yet we’re not really geared for that level of instance, so we fairly quickly die in some cases, and then the people coordinating the raid are yelling at the healers for not healing in time and the healers are complaining because there’s too many people needing massive healing and they can’t keep up and it goes downhill from there.  Basically, there’s a lot of us that still need to do the earlier stuff, but the more experienced leaders don’t want to do the “boring, same old stuff again” and are forgetting that progression isn’t going to happen overall if everyone isn’t appropriately geared and not just a select few.

I’m also still experiencing a bit of transition in the before-70 WoW game and the after 70 game.  BBB and I just talked about this again last weekend and I expressed my dislike at Blizzard for making the first 70-levels mostly about doing things on your own, succeeding and questing and occasionally getting 5 of your friends together for a party instance, like ZF or Sunken Temple. But mostly, you setting your personal goals, working through leveling guides and having fun.  For those of us who are even goal oriented in a video game, there were plenty of goals to set and achieve.

Then you hit 70 and all that routine that you’ve come to know and love (and that has made the game fun for almost 6 months in my case) abruptly comes to a screeching halt.  Suddenly, you’re told that in order to go any further you have to find 4 or 9 or 24 other people and are going to be forced to play with people that in many cases you personally can’t stand (not just sorta are different from, but in many cases, that it actually pains you to play with), but you’ll have to do it for “progression.”

Sure, you can stick on your own, do dailies, do quests for endless money, and sort of wander around the world unfocused and I’m sure, over time, find a purpose that you enjoy (but not really get any new gear).  But the transition of hitting 70 seems to come out of nowhere and I kind of ended up feeling like Blizzard tricked me. I was having fun and now “where’s my fun? I want it back.”  As I’ve mentioned before, I started WoW for a very specific reason (needed to get away from real life pain), so the last thing I really want is to suddenly have to interact with other people that, in many cases, just like to create drama for their own personal enjoyment.  Suddenly the game feels like more work than my real life and that’s no good.  One of the WoW Insider columnists talks about this transition and drama today here (and probably says it better than I did - see his response to “What’s the number one thing Blizzard could do better?”)

I’m NOT against all raiding or even the dreaded progression (even though it probably sounds like it from all my complaining here), but there are certain aspects that I have issues with, in addition to the chaos and drama potential.  The biggest one is time management.  To be a raiding guild (which I didn’t think is what I was joining - but that’s another issue), you have to be committed and you have to participate.  The focus becomes scheduling runs and coercing everyone possible into participating in every run and doing it “for the guild.”   Suddenly people don’t have time to play their alts, be a spec that they have fun with (because that’s not a spec the guild has a need for right now), run heroics for badges, or even GASP, have fun with their friends unless it’s done in the realm of raiding.

That’s ok for a lot of people.  That’s how hard-core raiding guilds get to where they are and get the bragging rights of saying how many bosses they’ve done in BT or how they have SSC on farm status.  But that’s not who I am or want to be and it’s not really where BBB wants to go either (ok, largely because I’d never let him, but anyways..lol).   Last week I was exploring the forums on our guild website (translation - avoiding the work on my desk) and stumbled across a “who are you” thread in which people posted information about themselves IRL.  Like in some cases, their actual name (not just their toon’s name), what they do for a job (for those who have one outside of WoW), and other personal info.   I knew that BBB and I were older WoW players (which is a whole other rant about how over 30 is NOT old), but I had no idea until after that post just how YOUNG most of the guild truly is.  The majority of the people that are officers or that are the active players in guild chat and instances are in the 18-23 year old range.  As I put it to BBB, my favorite sweatshirt that I bought for myself is OLDER than most of those people, lol.  And since BBB is 6 years older than me, some of the people could actually be his children (and I suppose the younger ones on that range could be mine too but only if I was a very advanced 13 to 16 year old, lol).

Those players, in general, have much less responsibility in the world.  Many of them still live at home (and joke about drawing “mom aggro” when they are playing too long or missing dinner), have maybe a part-time job, might be going to school, and in general, it’s mostly about playing as much as possible around the clock.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I remember those days. I remember being single and being able to set my own schedule, having fun and fitting work and school into that fun time, and having other people (parents) to pay the bills in many cases.  But for me, that feels like a really, really long time ago (living with a BBB ages you prematurely, lol).  However, it’s also about having a different focus.  BBB and I have “real” jobs, we own a house, we have responsibilities with our families), and most importantly, we have a child.  We have a 5-year-old who doesn’t deserve to be parked in front of his toys or even worse, a movie, for hours three or four or more times a week, so that we can meet the guild’s new ideals of progression and everybody joining in. 

BBB has been running a Kara group (again, since most of the others in charge have no interest in doing it anymore).  I’ve been trying to go since most of the next stage of gear is in there for me.   That means 2 nights of playing for 2-3 hours.  Then there’s now the weekly Gruul’s run and an SSC run on the calendar that I often end up going on (either because they need a rogue skill or another DPS or just a warm body to fill out the 25 slots).  Now with the success of Mag’s last week, another run added to the calendar.   Suddenly that means there are expectations (more for BBB as a MT than me) of being available for 5 nights a week!  Up to 5 nights that we rush dinner, so that there’s time to do a few dailies before arriving for the raid, up to 5 nights that our son has to hear “I can’t get you juice right now.  You need to wait until after this “boss bad guy” is down, and up to 5 nights a week that we try to squeeze in tucking him in around a pausing point in the run before running back to our computers and having to feel that we need to apologize for having made 8 or 23 other people wait for 5 minutes, so that he could get a hug and kiss from mommy and daddy before bed. That is SO wrong on SO many levels and it’s not the kind of parent that I want to be or that he deserves to have us be.

But where do you draw the line?  If BBB sits out on too many guild runs, he’s going to be looked down on and likely quickly replaced with another MT who can be “committed to progression and understand where we’re trying to take this guild.”  Which isn’t fair because he spent a lot of time and energy getting his toon to where it is and knowing how to jump into a raid and do his job well.  He could stop running the Kara group, but then most of the undergeared players who need gear and to, more importantly, learn how to play their toon in a group setting aren’t going to get that chance.

I could stop raiding, but then I feel like I can’t be online for even a bit during the raid because then I’ll be seen as not being committed either and wanting to just do my own thing, especially if a raid doesn’t happen because there weren’t enough people online and I could have filled a spot.  And again, I’ve got the best gear I can get on my own and there’s only so much quest money you can make before it’s not fun anymore and you want to do something with others for a little bit, so not raiding at all doesn’t really work.   I could quit the game completely and spend more time with our son while BBB raids (like I used to).  But BBB and I do enjoy playing together and having something that we can talk to each other about and set goals that we can assist each other with.  We could find another guild that is much more casual and not as progressed (for example, only doing Kara and maybe ZA or attempting Gruul’s).  But BBB is an officer and likes being an officer, so starting again at the bottom of the pile, could be a real bummer too.

Is there anyone that is in a similar situation who has some advice for us? Or even if you’re not, any suggestions on how we can still be committed to a guild, but not have that be more of a focus than our real lives?  Help saved a tired bear and his family (assuming you’re still awake from my wall of text post)!

Ok, BBB is having a horrible day at work today, so he asked (ok, made) me write the post for today.   Last night, we went back into Kara for part 2 with our group from last Wednesday (minus 1 player and the addition of a new mage).  It was a very successful and smooth run (at least that’s what they all said and since it’s only my 2nd time in there, I’m going to believe them).

We started out doing Maiden.  We had skipped her last week while doing Attumen, Moroes, Opera and Curator.  We downed Maiden the first time with no issues at all.  Very smooth and fast fight.

Then killed all the trash on the way to Illhoof.  Again, downed him the first time with BBB tanking BOTH Illhoof and Kil’rek on his own.  Our mages kept getting sacrified and were excellent at using ice block to quickly stop that and get back to the fighting.  And yay, Illhoof dropped the Xavian Stilleto that only I could use (which was an upgrade from my Felsteel Whisper Knives.

Then it was on to Shade of Aran.  I personally hate this fight because there’s so much to remember (and the pressure of not moving during flame wreath which would lead to never-ending ribbing from the rest of the party is terrible) and instead, I died within the first arcane explosion.  Almost made it to the wall when I exploded. :-(  However, a few moments later, BBB took a quick pause from fighting to rez me. Yay, I was back in the fight and ready to take him down.  Got him to about 50% when suddenly BBB said “oh shit” and was dead himself.  The rest of us kept up the fight and we were down to 1% when Gerolan and I saw another arcane explosion coming and both made the unannounced decision to just keep whaling away on him instead of running for the walls.  And he went down!  He did not drop any rogue loot, but I did get Medivh’s Journal which I needed for my quest.

On we went to more trash and then the Chess event.  Now I have to say, I played Chess a long time ago (but don’t remember much), but as Teysa said when explaining it to our new mage - “do you know how to play chess?  Well, this is nothing like that.”  lol  I just can’t seem to get the hang of it.  This time I was a horsie and had finally gotten within range of the Warchief when I got killed and moved a few times with a new pawn when the rest of the team got the win.  And yay, more rogue loot.  I got the Girdle of Treachery to replace a horrible old green belt that I was still wearing (my last green piece).  BBB generously let me have it when it would have been a really big upgrade for his kitty set.  Thanks dear!

Since we had no offtank, we decided to bypass Netherspite completely (and the guild always bypasses Nightbane - however, I’ll have that quest soon so they’ll have to give in for one night and do it) :-)  So it was off to Prince.  Remember, how I said above that I hate the Shade of Aran fight?  Well, I really hate the Prince fight.  As with last time, I quickly died when I got enfeebled.  I ran and ran and my poor corpse showed my sword hand literally almost touching Gerolan’s foot.  I was this close to safety when I died with my back to Prince.  Turned my view and watched as the team took him down on the first try (and I have to admit, I did feel slightly better when Teysa, the other melee DPS, died a short time after I did).  However, after being rezzed by BBB at the end of the fight, I watched with glee as the Ring of a Thousand Marks dropped and I was the only one who could use it (that didn’t already have it).  Yay, again the rogue got lovin!  3 epics in one night!   Woohoo!

BBB then escorted me to the library to turn Medivh’s journal in since the instance would be resetting tomorrow.  We got down there and ran in only to find out that there was one anomaly with the 3 mana worms (can’t remember the technical term for those guys) that we had bypassed before and they were standing right next to the NPC that I had to turn my quest in to.  First, BBB said it just wasn’t going to happen for me to turn my quest in and then a devious plan sprung to his mind.   So I stealthed over to the NPC and BBB taunted the anomaly the group over to him (preparing to take the fall so I could turn my quest in).  However, the mana worms decided to stay right where they were.  I did manage to turn my quest in just as all three of them ganged up and killed me.

Ran back from the graveyard and then it was off to read the journal at the master’s terrace.  Teysa still had that quest in his log, so we all watched the dialogue between Medivh and the dragon (forget his name too) and got our quests complete together.  BBB and I headed outside to turn my quest in, ran and got the bone from behind the summoning stone and then realized the next part of the chain, after a quick stop in Netherstorm, would be to do a heroic Shattered Halls and heroic Setthek Halls run.  Decided that will probably sit in my quest log for a bit, especially with the patch coming out soon and lots of new stuff to do.

But overall, a wonderfully successful evening.  I got lots of loot (which is always nice for an undergeared person), and a few other teammates got pieces they had either been wanting for awhile or could really use (as newer Kara players like myself).  And even better, I’m starting to get a much better sense of all the different bosses and what abilities work better with some than others.  I’ll definitely be back to Kara again (esp as I still have a helm, gloves, a chestpiece, boots, and a trinket on my wish list of rogue goodies).

Anyone else have a successful raid in the last week that they want to share or make others jealous with the cool loot that dropped for them?

Cassieann

Last night, with the help of several guildies, I finished the process of my Karazhan attunement quests! And yes, I know that when Patch 2.4 goes live in the next week or two, I’ll no longer need the key, but as BBB told me “damn it, you’re going to finish the attunement anyway” lol 

We had done Arcatraz and Steamvaults the other night (refer to BBB’s post about drowning), which just left Old Hillsbrad and Black Morass.  I logged on last night to do dailies (by the way, hit revered with Ogrila and Sha’tar last night after doing them) and pick up mail.  Saw a fair amount of guild members on, so for the heck of it, I posted in guild chat asking if anyone was up for an Old Hillsbrad attunement run with BBB and I.  Immediately had two people volunteer and a third who said he would if we’d do BM afterwards since he was on the hunt for a trinket from there (and since that would finish my attunement, that worked great for me).  So as easy as that, we had our group (meanwhile BBB was frantic because he had just put our son in the bath and now was trying to multi-task between that and running down, logging on and taking his engineering shortcut to Gadgetzan and riding out to the entrance while instructing me to go take my tour to get the instance unlocked).

Both runs went very smoothly.  We were ridiculously overpowered (well, ok the other 4 people were) for Old Hillsbrad with 4 level 70s who currently are doing Zul’Aman and prepping for Gruul’s.  Black Morass also went very well with not a single death in either instance.  I got a nice new sword drop - the Millennium Blade - and the rest ended up in the d/e or vendor sell pile since plate armor consistently dropped which no one in our group could use.

So now I’m faced with whether to truly join the “big kids” and participate in Kara tonight or not.  I’d like to finally be a part of it, instead of just watching BBB when he’s doing it.  But it’s also a bit nerve-racking to think of 9 other people relying on my skills.  It’s one thing when it’s a casual instance run with 4 other people (one of whom is always BBB) and the reality is, I can die on those runs and it doesn’t really slow the gang down much (except in taking time to rez me afterwards).  But 9 other people feels a lot scarier - what happens if my sap doesn’t work and I get seen, what happens if I get in the wrong place at the wrong time and die leaving my team without me (ok, again, they realistically probably won’t even notice), but still the pressure, the horrible pressure.  lol

Any suggestions as I contemplate my first journey into Kara (especially from those who are fairly new to it as well)?

Cassieann

BBB is having a horribly insane, crazy day at work today, so I wanted to take a minute to let all of you know that his latest article is now up on Wow Insider. He talks about the proposed Lifebloom nerf for Resto Druids in the upcoming 2.4 patch.

You can check it out here.