Month: February 2016

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Experiments Of A Sort…


February 25th

I’m sitting here giggling at some of my latest fiasco experiments in-game on my alternate Bnet account. Yes, I have tons of alts on my main accounts and play them quite regularly – my biggest thing is that I enjoy the journey a lot more than I enjoy finally reaching that destination point.

One of the things that I have done was to try to see how things were in-game for a “new” player.  Limited number of achievements that have to be earned completely over again, limited number of mounts and initially no heirlooms.   Well, the lack of heirlooms didn’t last for very long because I was slowly going bonkers because of the fact I knew how leveling process worked on characters that were equipped with them.  It is kind of fun to earn the mounts again and it’s fun to see how you have to adapt to things as you travel through Azeroth and Draenor.  Oh how I missed having some of the conveniences of some of the mounts I have earned over the years on my mains.

My first experiment character was a Blood Elf Hunter – yes, I do play other classes but my real love of hunters has kept me going for years and will continue to do so.  Ran the poor bugger through some of Eastern Kingdoms and promptly moved over to Kalimdor to pick up some leveling speed and to also get more of my leather working mats that seem to be so plentiful in that area.   Ran the poor fellow up to 60 with just questing and archeology and a few pet battles, made it all the way into Outland before throwing in the towel.

What stopped me in Outland was not the tedium of the quests, it was the constant griefing and the constant inability to turn in quests because the NPCs were being killed before I could move on with my progress on.  After a week of just kind of getting the luck of the draw and just getting frustrated beyond belief, I took a boost to 90.   I’ve since gone back in the area on other characters and the same issue still exists and is being done by the same group of people night after night – so sad that a zone is so badly taken care of by Blizzard even with the reporting features.  Ah well, I can see why people take the boost and never really get to see the majority of Outland.

Once I got to Draenor it wasn’t all bad although I admit to going back to MoP to pick up a few reputations that I knew that I would need to make my progression a lot easier, plus, more chances of picking up more mounts with the reputations.  It’s been fun and interesting.

My next experiment has been a real challenge. Did an RAF with myself and brought the account up to date with the expansions and proceeded to start out with another hunter.  I was watching one of my guildies blast through content like there was no tomorrow and seemed to be having a lot of fun with it even though she had boosted a character from 0-90.  Okay, thought that sounded like fun and thought I would give it a go – boosted my little hunter long before they were truly ready because “you can start out at zero in Draenor and earn your professions fairly easily.  Guffaw!!  Well, let’s just say that it’s a challenge and makes me laugh quite a bit.  Let’s just say that I play this character in Draenor almost exclusively and have made some progress albeit not as fast as it might have been if I had stayed with the tried and true model of running her up to 60 before boosting.

I’m also working on several different classes to see what I did wrong on my main accounts and putting these little fellows through their paces without all of the bells and whistles.  I know that I probably play the game differently than some, however, I’m still finding it fun and I like trying out new things.  Well, my next experimental pair will be a warrior and a priest – never have been able to get those two classes beyond the basics before throwing in the towel, however, time is on my side  with my alternate Bnet account and it isn’t meant to reach the highest level of everything anyway – I can just try things out and try not to get too attached to my characters which I always seem to do.  I know, silly me.

I actually started this alternate account back in November when I initially decided that smoking was going away and I needed something to get my mind wrapped around it.  Yeah, I traded one addiction for another, however, it’s been fun.  When I have one of those rough days where I am feeling out of sorts with the universe, it’s fun to get off to myself and just kind of do silly things in-game.  So, it took me longer to make the final step than I thought it would with many false starts, however, I think I’ve got this down now and can’t be happier with the progress – now, my next personal experiment will be to get the nicotine even lower on my vaping.

To be very honest, I wonder how some of the new players are actually experiencing the game with fresh eyes.  I know that there are some people that will help a newbie out (I’m one of them) and there are those that really are cruel to new fellows.  I’ve actually seen an increase of new players in the last couple of months and I hope that they are able to stick it out and see Legion at least. I’ve also seen a lot of new players that are definitely underage playing and I just pull out my patience a bit more when I team up with them because I know that they have no clue what a real MMORPG is.  We’ll all have to wait and see how things go with World of Warcraft in the future.

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Sometimes Life is Just Not Fair…


* Some salty language that you might find offensive – please do not read.*

 

 

February 23rd

Yo Book!

Well, it’s been a while since I have written, however, that’s the way that things have gone since I have been held prisoner here in Draenor.   I want to go home to be with Romy and the kids, I’m so damned homesick that there are times that I would love to just sit down and drink myself into oblivion so that some of the pain will go away.  I won’t do that, I’ve been down that road before and it always ends up  the same place – nowhere.

Yes, I’m a Dad for a second time and we have a beautiful baby boy named Romar – kind of a strange name, however, it’s something that suits him already.  Romy says that he is definitely a combination of the two of us in personality and looks – hope he takes after his Mom more than me though – I was not a good example to follow as a child.  It doesn’t sound like the birth was all that difficult this time and things are already settling back to normal.  I wonder how my baby girl is feeling with the arrival of this new baby?  Hope she doesn’t feel like she isn’t loved as much as ever.  Oh, I’m sure that Romy is making sure that she doesn’t feel left out or anything, however, I do know how a new baby seems to get all of the attention.  I think that the Winter Veil gifts were well received and truly liked.  I think that I should start sending Mirrin a few things now and then too – no, I’m not trying to buy her love, I just want her to know how special she is to me and to her Mother.

I’ve already made the decision that if Romy and I have any more children, I am going to be home for everything.  I know that being away all of this time has definitely put the crimp on things as far as being together and being around so that I’m not forgotten.  I hope that Mirrin realizes that her Daddy loves her just as much as ever and misses her so much.

Fnor is the lucky one, at least he has his wife and one of his sons here in Draenor although I am sure that it is not as easy for him to see them frequently with as much work that we have to do to keep these damned Garrisons running properly.  No, I never wanted anything to do with ships and I still don’t, however, the damned fools in Orgrimmar thought that the Commanders of the Garrisons should take on that role as well.  I’m a bloody Ranger, not some wanker seaman strutting around on a boat, ship, or whatever in the hell they are.  I don’t like them and I always get seasick when I board the damned things. I was meant to be on land.

I thought that they might have given us some time off during Winter Veil, however, the bastards in Orgrimmar don’t want to let any of us leave for fear that we won’t come back.  To be honest, if I ever get to leave Draenor, the only way that they will get me back here is in chains. This is not what we signed up for.  I realize the time thing somewhat, however, what does it matter, we did what we came to do and we’re done – let us go the fuck home.  I know that we’re in the mop up stages and that we’re running into some new things that are going to cause us trouble here in Draenor – what about some of this stuff slipping through the cracks in time and landing back on Azeroth?  Has any thought anything about that?  I know I worry about some of the things that I have seen and I’m wondering if the higher ups have been seeing the same things that I have – it looks like the war in Outland or have they forgotten the demons and the history that was written during that time period?  I think we’re in for something, things do not go quietly into the night once they have been disturbed, there is always something else that will happen whether we intended it or not.

I know that Romy writes as if everything is going just fine in Halfhill and I hope that she isn’t holding anything back from me.  I’m worried and from what I have seen lately, there may be some cause for concern.  Maybe the citizens aren’t even aware of what is going on too, that seems to be more like the case – I know how these political things are kind of shoved under a desk until they can’t hide it anymore and then it’s up to us to fix it again.  Look what happened with Garrosh – that was one crazy Orc and he got away with things for years before someone realized that the fellow wasn’t playing with a full deck.   I can tell you right now that the soldiers already had that figured out a long time ago.  I remember all too well how things were handled in Northrend before Arthas was finally taken of – so secretive are these political types.  Soldiers live the life and they aren’t stupid, they know what is going on.

I remember all too well what it was like growing up in an orphanage in Shattrath.  I remember the things that happened in Outland when I was just a boy and how long it seemed to go on. Now, I’m sitting here in Draenor and seeing some of the same things come to pass, is history meant to repeat itself over and over again and are we supposed to be totally oblivious to it?  How fucking stupid would that be?

Oh well, I’m just making myself into a cranky bastard because I miss my family and I don’t like being held prisoner here in Draenor.  I know that it can’t last forever and that I will get to see Romy and the kids soon, I hope.

 

Fnar Dawnglory

 

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OOC – Here And Now


February 17th

I had made several promises to myself that I would get back into the habit of writing more frequently and so far, it hasn’t happened.  I think that part of the reason is that I have been busy running amuck in World of Warcraft and playing a bunch of different alts at different levels – not accomplishing a whole lot other than killing time and leveling as I do it.

I had made a promise to myself that 2016 would be the year that I quit smoking tobacco and so far, it does seem to be working out.  That could explain why I get so buried in-game and rarely get distracted from it.  It hasn’t been easy, however, it has been a little bit over a month now since I had my last cigarette and I will admit that I do feel somewhat better although the craving is still there with that first cup of coffee and right after I have had a good meal.  Ah well, at least I don’t have that expense to add to my financial concerns any longer.  I do vape, so, I’m still getting some nicotine in the system so that I don’t “short out” too quickly.  One thing about doing the vaping is that there are so many flavors and smells that it is kind of entertaining at the same time.  I keep cutting down on the nicotine and eventually I hope to be completely away from that evil demon.  I have to say that I do feel better physically and mentally after this month away from the tobacco – makes you really wonder what is in cigarettes these days.

I’m still playing the game my way and still enjoying it for the most part.  I don’t know that I will ever get flying in Draenor at the rate that I am going, however, I’m still plodding along and it seems to be working out okay.  I have multiple 100s running amuck in Tanaan, so, I may accidently meet all of the requirements with the reputations there one of these days.  The only thing that seems to be holding me back are the reputations and I can only handle so much of the Jungle before I have to take a break from it and get on an alt somewhere else.

I have done all of the pre-ordering of Legion that I am planning on doing and actually ended up with an invitation to try out the Alpha.  I’ve only logged into it a couple of times and I like what I see so far, however, I have told myself that I am not going to spend as much time there like I did with WoD and get burned out on it before it is even released.  No, I don’t like some of the changes, however, it’s not finished yet, so, I’m sure that things will shift about quite a bit more.

Well, wish me luck in staying off the tobacco and starting to write a bit more frequently and I’ll see you all in-game.