This blog is going dormant for now

I’m not killing it and making it extinct.  Not yet.

But for now, you can find my game-related postings on my Tumblr Blog:

Strumpet’s Fun and Games

Where Will WoW and I Go From Here?

For a few months now, I have been wondering how to describe the feelings I have about World of Warcraft these days.

I don’t think it’s a surprise to anyone that I my feelings toward the game have changed.  After all, my last post here was called “The Aion Experiment”.

I have been playing WoW since ‘vanilla’ – since the days of 40-man Molten Core.  And I have loved it.  Seriously loved it.  What a totally immersive game (apparently, ‘immersive’ is not a word – which is a shame, let’s make it one).  Not only have I played it as hardcore, casual, casual hardcore, and altaholic, but I have met brilliant people through it. My whole family has played.  I have plushy murlocs sitting on my desk, I have Figureprints, and I have Pandarens.

But, like I said, in the past few months, since before Cataclysm’s release actually, I have started to feel … differently … about the game.  Without being able to accurately define that difference.

This morning, I woke up knowing what it was:

With each expansion, the game has begun to feel smaller.  The world of Azeroth actually feels smaller to me now than it did in Vanilla.

Counter-intuitive, huh?  But not really.  When I first started to play, there was soooooo much to learn and explore.  And it took forever to level.  And you had to work really hard to learn ‘everything’ there was to know about your class and professions.  And when you had exhausted it in one class, you could try another.

Well, now, I feel like leveling is super-fast, the professions don’t give me anything when I level, and you fly through content at lightning speed.   It does not feel like a game that could take you forever to master, but one that is merely a matter of weeks and a few very very quick levels to get to the ‘end’.

There are numerous reasons for this, and not all of them are Blizzard’s ‘fault’ or game design issues.  Some of the reasons are simply the result of me having played for years and years.  The fact that the game has kept my interest for this long alone is AMAZING.  But some of it is game design.  I really don’t think that with the release of Cataclysm they needed to speed up the leveling process to such an incredibly break-neck tempo.  Nor do I think we needed zones that you fly through.  I mean, I barely have time to pick herbs enough to level my skill as I level.

The World of Warcraft has, in effect, shrunk while expansions keep coming out.

Does this mean I now hate WoW and will cancel my account?  No.  Not yet.  A 6-year relationship is not given up that easily.  But it does mean that I am starting to learn to say ‘we might say goodbye’ and looking at other options.

I miss a game that I WANT to log into every day.  I log into WoW on weekends mostly.  Occasionally I will do a daily in the middle of the week, but not often.

So, I’m putting feelers out.  I tried Aion and I tried FFXIV, but I came back to WoW both times.

I’m going to try Rift.  It’s downloading right now.

But I have a feeling I will have to wait forever for Blizzard’s new top secret MMO to come out to really feel the immersion again.  Maybe I’m wrong.  Maybe The Secret World will be good?  Maybe Rift can do it?  Maybe they can fix Final Fantasy?

I don’t know, but I’m ready and waiting and willing.

So, for now, as you’ve probably guessed, I won’t be updating this WoW blog much.  I can still be found lots of places in the Meta.  @strumpet101, http://www.strumpetslife.com, http://www.strumpetsvoice.com, http://www.flickr.com/photos/strumpet101 and a few other select places.  You can check http://www.about.me/strumpet101 for most of them.

See you in Azeroth sometimes -because there are times when it still is a LOT of fun – and I will always love the World … of Warcraft.

Tanking and General Abuse

So, I know that tanks in general should love being pounded on.  But generally we like to be pounded on by monsters and other baddies.  Not our group members.   This weekend, I have done a fair amount of tanking on my baby Pally, Vixxyne.  She’s gone from 25 or so to 33 since Friday.  She’s Protection spec’ed.  She uses a shield.  She remembers to buff.  She has righteous fury on.  And, she goes at what I consider a fairly reasonable, steady pace.

In EVERY single PUG she has been in, someone has bitched and moaned.  ”Please don’t go so quickly, I run out of mana.”  -  ”Dude, you’re going way too slow.”  ”Pull everything.”  -  ”Skip all these.”  Invariably, the last two are in Graveyard.

Invariably, it is a mage who thinks you are going too slowly, so they decide to pull more mobs.  With Consecrate and Righteous Fury, they know I’m going to pick up the aggro whether I want to or not.  I would prefer to let them die, but I can’t UNconsecrate.  If the healer thinks you are going to quickly, they leave the group, telling you to heal yourself. Which I can.  But not if the impatient assholes decide to pull giant groups and assume that I a) have mana to deal with those mobs, or b) am not busy sneezing, dying from coughing, or poisoned by a spider that turned me into stone form.

Now, I have absolutely no trouble getting a group as a tank.  If I select random dungeon, I am shocked and stunned if I have to wait more than 30 seconds before I’m in.  So I don’t HAVE to stay with jerks.  I usually do, because there will just be more jerks in the next group.

But seriously, people, tanks are a shortage right?  If you get in a group with one that’s not wearing a robe, and can hold a shield, surely you should be happy?  Instead, tanks get abuse.  Abuse from their own group members.  Even when they are doing things correctly, someone is not pleased.

Is it any WONDER people have trouble finding a tank?  Who the Hell wants to be abused all day?  By their party members, that is.

So Epic

So Epic

Originally uploaded by Strumpet101

This weekend had two very important occasions in it: Myinx turned 80 (the BE mage), and my family gave me the Best Mother’s Day Present Ever.

The kids and the hubbie pooled some gold together and bought me the Battered Hilt!. This was exciting — not just because the chain leads to SUCH an epic weapon!

Since I don’t raid, I would never have a chance of getting a weapon as good as Quel’Delar, Lens of the Mind without this quest item.

And the chain was SO much fun! It had a bit of something to peak every interest: deception, lore, pew pew, and a good bit of humor.

What a perfect way to spend my Mother’s Day. Myinx celebrated the acquisition with a haircut