Not dead yet!

I haven’t died, but am transitioning between two jobs, so on my normal days off, I am training with my new employer. I have one post halfway done, and should be posting challenge day 6 soon as well.

Happy Gaming!

Oz

My WoW Concerns

Pardon me if this post seems more disjointed or chaotic than my ramblings usually are.  I am only on my second cup of coffee, am functioning on about 4 hours of sleep, and I had my finger broken in an incredibly complex handshake with Reala.   Also, there is the added distraction of hoping my new camera is delivered today, so I am camping my mailbox like Jadefang’s spawn point.

Also, a disclaimer;  this is NOT a rant.  I am not rattling my saber, shaking my fist at Blizzard, and demanding my pony from Ghostcrawler.  This is just an airing of concerns, most of which have been stated by others much more eloquently than I could ever hope.  So please, put down the pitchforks and torches.

My cause for concern centers around hotfixes and the impending 4.1 patch.  Keep in mind, I am entirely casual, unabashedly an alt-oholic, and completely of the understanding that what is on the PTR may never see the light of day on live realms.

My first concern is Blizzard’s latest trend with hotfixes.  Granted, my play time as of late has been incredibly limited due to Mardi Gras and Saint Patrick’s Day, (which we call down here in the French Quarter “Amateur Night.”) I like the concept of being able to fix what needs to be fixed on the fly, but a few weeks ago there were hotfixes for hotfixes that had previously fixed something that was hotfixed.  When you have to use the “Oh Shit” button to fix something that happened the last time you used the “Oh Shit” button, I think that is indicative of a potential design philosophy problem.  Yes, I know a Blue poster ( I can’t remember who it was, and looking it up on a Blue Tracker will distract me from spawn-camping the Mailman,) said that this was addressed, but the potential is still there.  In my opinion, I think hotfixes should only be used to fix something that is broken.  Like the cogwheel bug on the Headless Horseman event, a bugged quest or raid mechanic, or a class ability just plain old not working.  Things like class balance issues or damage output passes should be patched, with a PTR testing cycle and a good look at the data to prevent giant swings in class abilities.  While I understand there are a great many raiders and PVP’ers out there, there are even more who won’t see the inside of a raid or an arena, and I have never been a big fan of improving the lot of the few at the expense of the many.  I would like to see them put “Hotfix” on a cooldown.   Or possibly have to get a signed permission slip from Ghostcrawler before they can put a hotfix in effect.  Maybe a ready check type of mechanic?  I am just throwing out ideas here.

And now, patch 4.1. Or what we know of it anyhow.  I haven’t pored over the various iterations of patch notes, as I said, a little busy here.  But one thing I did see caused quite a knee-jerk reaction in me.  ”Shield Bash is being removed from game.”  I’m sorry, what?  One of my highest level alts is a warrior, and I love me some shield bash.  I understand that it is being removed to balance around PVP, which I have opinions on that I won’t go into on this post, but really?  This is one of those things that kinda defined prot warriors for me.  Am I gnashing my teeth and pulling my hair out over this?  No.  But I am looking at it whilst arching my eyebrow and scratching my head.  I know they had a lot on their plate with the redesigning of the world and all, but I thought that the class overhaul happened with the redesigned talent trees.  I totally understand having to relearn your class a little each expansion, but these mid-expansion revamps seem a little much for me.  I want to spend more time playing, and less time relearning my class.  Maybe I am just waxing nostalgic, or getting old and grumpy and resisting change.  I accept change, believe me.  That doesn’t mean I won’t huff about it a bit.

In the end, none of this will have me running from WoW, screaming at the top of my lungs for Blizzard’s collective heads on pikes,  or Trion to not be in Azeroth anymore (see what I did there?)  I still love me some WoW, these are just things that float around in the space where my brain sometimes resides.

Opinions?  Flame wars?  Requests for posts of kitties and puppies being cute?

Happy Gaming!

Oz

Chronologically Challenged; Day 7, why I am the Wowgeek.

Ahh, day 7 of Saga’s WoW blogging challenge.  It seems as though I only just completed day 6…

As long as I can remember, I have identified myself as a geek.  I wear the title like a badge of honor.  I recall one day in middle school being verbally accosted by some would-be bully, who called me a nerd.  I corrected him, and told him I most certainly wasn’t a nerd, but was proud to be a geek.  That seemed to take all of the wind out of his sails, and I found my latent super-power.  My first encounter with geekdom was seeing Star Wars at the tender age of 6 in the theaters.  This was the real one, you know, fat lasers and Han shooting first.  I was done for from that day on.

I have many geek hats.  My first, and still one of my favorites, despite everything George Lucas did to absolutely kill the franchise, was Star Wars.  I was so over the moon with the original trilogy that to this day, many of my friends automatically associate anything Star Wars with me.  I got so many texts after the Star Wars kid Volkswagon commercial during this year’s superbowl I thought my phone was going to explode.  An old band mate of mine had the Imperial March on his phone as my ringer.  And I am waiting on the Bioware Star Wars MMO much like a fat kid would press their face up against a bakery window in anticipation of some icing-laden baked goodie.

There are  many other things I geek about, from music, food, and technology in general.  But closest to Star Wars in my heart, there is WoW.  I love this game in all its aspects.  The lore is captivating, the game-play still continues to innovate, and the friends I have met both in and out of Azeroth through this incredible world, all of these make WoW special to me.

When I “geek” about something, it means that I enjoy it so much that I consider it to be a part of me, a facet of who I am, and what I stand for.  I have gotten a great deal of pleasure out of this world, both in game and out.  And when I enjoy something this much, I tend to want to share it with anyone else who will listen.  And that, my friends, is why I give you the rantings of a WoW geek.

 

Happy Gaming!

 

Oz

Saga’s Challenge, Day 5; My favorite item in-game.

Before heading back into the fray,  I would first like to apologize for the long period between posts.  As I stated in my last update, Mardi Gras was upon me and, as Illidan told me so many years ago, I was NOT prepared.  But, the old batteries are recharged, and I have even caught up on a little WoW.  Time to get back to the challenge.

This is a tough one for me, because I honestly don’t have anything in-game I am that attached to.  My characters?  Heck yeah, I even have some toons on servers I haven’t signed into in years that I just couldn’t bring myself to delete.  But as for their inventories, I just don’t have any attachments like that.  I have lots of pets on lots of toons, but I couldn’t pick one as my favorite.  Honestly, I seldom remember to summon the little guys.  Except Li’l Rag.  I summon him all the time, but that is just for cooking.

Mounts?  If I had to pick one it would be the Green Proto-drake from the Oracle Egg, but I have that on one of my semi-retired alliance characters, so I never even really see that.  I am not attached enough to log in just to fly around on him.

The only thing I can even feel like I come close to considering a favorite in-game “item” would be the title.  Halloween has always been my favorite time of year, and I have endeavored to earn that title on every toon I have that is eligible.    I do have a few that are missing it, but most of my “Main” characters have that, and I consider it my default title.

Come to think of it, I have never gotten the Horseman’s Helm.  THAT would definitely be my favorite item ever, provided it dropped for one of my plate wearers.  Knowing my luck, I will get it on my druid or rogue this year.  I have coveted that for many, many years, and have never won the roll the few times I have seen it drop.  I know they changed the mechanics so that you get a loot bag with a chance at finding it in your inventory, but I remember seeing it pop three times in the loot screen.  Two of those times, I was on my rogue, and passed on it (nothing like winning something you can never equip,) and the third was on my warrior, and I am pretty sure my need roll came up negative.

So I cheated a little and talked about a non-item and an item I don’t have, but I guess I am still a little mentally taxed from last week’s grueling schedule.   But it is good to be back, and I look forward to catching up on my end of the challenge, and seeing where everyone else is.

Happy Gaming!

Oz

P.S.  I may post out-of-order the next day or so.  The next challenge should be a picture of my desk/computer set up, but I just ordered a new camera and would like to wait to use that for those photos.  So if you find yourself wondering where Day 6 went, don’t worry, I didn’t lose it, or have too many drinks and forget my chronological order or anything like that.

More to come…

Sorry for the lack of posts, but Mardi Gras has officially started here in New Orleans, and I am working my rear end off.  I am hoping to continue with Saga’s WoW challenge on Monday.

Don’t forget to tip your bartenders!

Happy Gaming!

 

Oz

Saga’s Challenge Day 4; My best WoW memory

Here we are at day 4 of the challenge.  Before I go into my best memory from the game, I have to say that this has been an incredible experience so far, and I am thoroughly enjoying this!

Okay, enough with the gushing, and on to my best in game memory.  Like so many people who have tackled this topic, I can’t pick any single time in game that stands out as “the one.”  Do I go with my very first raid?  Yes, it was Kara, I wasn’t together enough in Vanilla to even attempt raiding.  What about the time I first topped 10K gold?  Believe it or not, that wasn’t until Cataclysm.  I have too many alts that demand too much of my gold.  What about when I opened my Oracle egg and found the green proto-drake?  That was pretty cool.

I think my best WoW memory is from the Burning Crusade days.  I was running a little Draenei priest through the starting area, and stopped to throw a few random heals at a draenei shaman who was fighting a few of those little ravager thingies.  We wound up chatting a little bit, added each other to our respective friends lists, and went on about our ways.  As time goes on, we introduce each other to our mains, she introduces me to her husband, who played a dwarf pally, and we become inseparable.  We round out our regular 5 man team with two other guys that she has grouped with, and we have an incredible dungeon team.  Squirrel tanks on his pally, Dev shoots things on her hunter, Qaraq dances around in boomkin form , Shadow mages it up, and I toss around green glowies on my shaman.  I say incredible not because we are incredibly skilled, but because we have fun with it.  Lots of fun.  Squirrel had a way of pulling things that made it incredibly hard to heal, only because I was laughing so hard.

I remember our first time in Hellfire Ramparts, clearing to the final boss encounter, Vazruden and Nazan.  We didn’t read strats, or watch videos, so we didn’t know that the encounter started after you kill the last guard before the platform.  We have dropped the last guard, and are stopping to mana up, and Vent erupts with Squirrel yelling “I found him!” I look on my screen and see Squirrel hopping up and down on his way back to us, with the boss in tow behind him.  We die a horrible death, and it takes me a while to regain my composure before we can make another attempt.

I also remember spending HOURS in Shadow Labyrinth trying to defeat Blackheart the Inciter.  We were honestly in there for over 4 hours on one boss fight, and we called it that night.  We just could not get that fight down, and although we did get frustrated, we never stopped laughing about our lack of skill.  There was never any finger pointing or drama.  The day after, when Dev logged in, I whispered her to join me in vent, that I had a surprise for her.  I told her I got a whisper from a game master, and they felt so bad for us, they created an in-game title just for us.  She believed it at first, until I told her the title would be <Blackheart’s Bitches>.

Those four, but especially Dev and Squirrel, are my best memories of this game.  Shortly after I left my alliance side guild, my foursome left as well.  Dev and Squirrel eventually stopped playing, and Qaraq transferred servers due to personal reasons.  I need to log in alliance side to say hey to Shadow, but I never seem to catch him on.  Dev and I stay in touch sporadically out of the game, but it has been a while since we last spoke.  There was talk about her and Squirrel coming back for Cata, but I haven’t heard anything since.   Hopefully they will come back, and we can make even more memories in game.

Again, thank you for stopping by, and I hope you find many wonderful memories in your World of Warcraft.

Happy Gaming!

Oz

Saga’s Challenge Day 3; My first day in WoW

My first day in Azeroth.  I wish I could tell you specifics, but it was so long ago that all I have are impressions.  The game definitely made an impact on me, but I think it is safe to say that if you are reading this, your first day and mine probably weren’t that much different.  Or maybe they were, but the impact the game had has definitely given us common ground, no matter how different we may be.

The thing that rings truest in my memory is the sense of awe as I watched the opening cinematic.  I was a dedicated console gamer back then, only dabbling in PC games on a whim.  As I have stated before, I had a small bit of experience with MMO’s before WoW, but I would go so far to say that I was casual to the point of making the most casual seem hardcore.  I had never even played Warcraft before, or any Blizzard PC game for that matter.  The opening cinematic set the bar for me, got the juices flowing.  Images of the epic battles fought with my childhood cronies during Dungeons & Dragons sessions percolated in my cerebellum.   I was hooked before I even knew the first bit of lore or the first aspect of game mechanics.

Dungeons & Dragons was a huge part of my adolescence.  From there, I branched out into other games, such as Star Wars, the Roleplaying Game, and Shadowrun, the latter of which occupied a great deal of time in my late teens and early twenties.  When I joined the Navy at the tender age of twenty-two, I found friends who were also gamers.  A lot of my buddies on-board ship were computer guys, but I had a dedicated cadre that I role-played with.  A little bit of the World of Darkness by White Wolf Studios, but most of our time was spent playing Cyberpunk or a game that my friend Will Borral came up with.  I don’t even know what it was called, but Will was the most incredible game master I have ever gamed with.  I have lost touch with him, but heard that he continued in the Navy, and did some work for Steve Jackson Games.   Anyhow, I digress.  My time in the fantasy world of D&D was behind me.  I had graduated to Gaming in a William Gibson-esque world of Street Samurai and Deckers.  Dwarves, Dragons, and Trolls seemed like child’s play, memories of a time when I didn’t know any better.  After I got out of the Navy, it was hard to settle in to gaming without Will. I was spoiled, no, ruined, by my years of gaming under his creative direction.  I turned to another childhood friend, the video game.  Consoles became my recreation of choice, and I dove in with both feet.  Sure, I had a computer, but that was mostly used for looking up FAQ’s or reading game reviews.  Consoles were much easier, all you had to do was get the game for the right system, and you were pretty much good to go.

So there I was, watching this rifle-toting Dwarf with his bear companion navigate a snowy mountainside, listening to this incredible score that I knew. I had never heard it before, but it sounded just like the soundtrack that played in my head during those early gaming sessions with my friends.  Watching the Elf shift into cat form took me completely unaware, and left such an indelible mark that my first character was a Night Elf Druid, which I still play to this day, although he is Tauren now.  That first day was a marathon gaming session that lasted for nearly 8 hours.  I seem to remember not having any clue what I was doing, and that has not necessarily changed.  Everything was either self-taught, or learned through the patience and kindness of others.   I went in without a single friend in Azeroth, but I have certainly made more than a few in my travels.  Even with knowing nobody in the game, none of the history of Azeroth,  or if there was even a clear-cut way to win, I knew that first day that this game was going to be remarkable, if for no one else other than myself.  Did I have a clue as to how remarkable it would become, and how many millions of people would tread the same digital landscape?  Nope, I sure didn’t.  I don’t think anyone did.   Talk about lightning in a bottle.

Anyhow, that is my memory of my first day in WoW.  Sorry for the wall of text, the rambling, and the really disjointed trip down memory lane.  You know what they say about aging, this first thing to go is the memory, and the second things is…crap, I don’t remember.  Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Gaming!

Oz

WoW Blogger Challenge Day 2: Why did you start a blog?

I have given this one a lot of thought, and to be honest, I don’t really know what made me start blogging.  I have always enjoyed writing,  and have kept some form of journal or diary in one shape or form for as long as I can remember.

I remember when the 1up website first came out, and how popular that was.  That site was really my first experience writing online, and I was pretty much hooked.  From my little page there, I got chosen to write for Advanced Media Network, which was an upstart little website that did coverage of video games and gaming culture.  I was reviewing games for the Xbox and doing some editorial pieces for them as well. I enjoyed writing for them, but the submission process was painful, and the deadlines they pushed made little sense. I left them after about 8 months, and kind of dropped off the web for a while.

Then, about 3 years ago, I got the itch to write again.  Well, maybe I should say that the itch finally won.  I had been looking around online for anything that critiqued the leveling guides out there, and couldn’t find anything.  I decided that I was going to try a couple out and review them.  It is hard to believe that this blog has been around for so long, and that I still keep coming back to it.  Even if there really isn’t any more need for leveling guides in-game, I am proud of the work I did.  I don’t know if the internet needs another general WoW blog, but I am going to keep writing.  Hell, I may even begin to write consistently.  I wouldn’t go holding your breath on that one, though.

Hopefully I will have time to post before I head into work tonight.  Regardless, the next post will be Day 3 of Saga’s 20 days challenge; my first day in WoW.

Happy Gaming!

Oz

WoW Blogging Challenge

With server maintenance going on today, I did some meandering around the interwebs and came across Saga’s 20 Days of WoW Blogging Challenge . As anyone who has staggered onto my ramblings could surmise, I sometimes have trouble with my blogging focus, and this seems like a really good way to try to instill some good blogging habits.  That said, here we go…

My WoW life;

I have called many toons my main, and many, many realms home.  My first steps in Azeroth were taken shortly after the game launched on the Elune  realm in the form of a Nelf Druid, Anubrind.  World of Warcraft was my first real MMO, other than a little dabbling in Star Wars Galaxies and some time in City of Heroes with my Brother-in-Law.  I had played the other two at best casually, but as soon as I logged into WoW, I knew that something special was happening.

Many characters later,(I am a bit of an Alto-holic,) I am currently playing on the Earthen Ring realm hordeside.  My main is an 85 Tauren Druid, Oziruz, who interestingly enough, is that same Night Elf I rolled years ago, a few realm transfers and a race change later.  Amongst my army of alts are several 80 somethings, a handful of 70 somethings, and untold throngs of below 40′s.   Most of my time is spent on either Earthen Ring or Icecrown, but I have little guys all over the place, in some form of horrible abandonment or another.  Although I spend most of my time hordeside, I enjoy both factions immensely, and my two favorite races are Orcs and Dwarves.

My non WoW life;

I am a 40-year-old male living in New Orleans, Louisiana.  I just moved to NoLa from Richmond, Virginia in June of 2010, chasing a dream.  I have been a bartender for the past 12 years, and a bassist/keyboardist since I was 11.  But more importantly than any of that, I am a father to a wonderful 17-year-old son, and an uncle to a beautiful 22 month old nephew.  Both live back in Virginia, and I miss them both terribly.  My son was very supportive of my move, if only in the hopes that I will fly him down for every Saint’s home game.

My other hobbies and interests include gaming (if you hadn’t already surmised that,) writing, and art.  The truth be told, I couldn’t draw blood unless I was shaving, but I have always enjoyed doodling.  I think it is just the creative part of me that has to express itself, even if there is no musical instrument around.  I would also love to get into prop making, but just don’t have the workspace to branch off into that yet.

One interesting (or sad, depending how you look at it,) fact about me is that when my son was born, I wanted to name him Luke.  My ex shot that down pretty quickly.  She knew the only reason I wanted that name was so that later in life, I could tell him to do something because “Luke, I am your Father…”  Smart one, she was.  That could explain a lot about why we aren’t married anymore. The smart part, not the not-letting-me-name-him-Luke part.  I am not that much of a jerk.

Happy Gaming!

Oz

PvP on so many different levels.

Doing PvP on the Druid has been at most a mixed bag.  Most of the random BG’s I have gotten into have been an exercise in futility, with the occasional shining moment tossed in to keep me from faceplanting on my keyboard.  I have done a few Rated BG’s, and am on both a 2′s and a 3′s team, but I have to farm the Randoms for Honor in order to get some decent resilience gear.  I am just too squishy to be in anything rated right now, especially since I am the healer, and get focused a LOT.

I have had MUCH better success running Tol Barad, and actually quite enjoy that battle, when I am allowed to participate.  The queue’s hate me, or at least that is how it feels.  But I have enjoyed both defense and offense, and have had some luck on both sides of that fence.  I know that many people are saying it is broken, but I have enjoyed it pretty much every time I have participated, both before and after the patch.  Of course, I do not discount that my level of enjoyment is likely linked to lack of knowledge.  Sometimes ignorance truly is bliss.

 

That said, I have entered the foray into a different form of PvP.  Something much more balanced, and less gear dependent.  Some have even called it the truest form of PvP in World of Warcraft.  I am talking about the Auction House.  I have found myself in the fortunate position of having just over 30K gold on my main, mostly through selling herbs when Cataclysm first launched to people who were rushing to get World or Server firsts in their respective professions.  That was more blind luck than any sound marketing plan.  But since I am sitting on the biggest bankroll I have ever had in game, I figured I should probably try and grow my funds in the smartest way possible.

I have always been a proponent of Auctioneer, and have used it for years in game, but have never really been organized about my approach.  Mostly through just posting greens and farmed materials, I managed to eke out a decent “living” in game.  But now I am trying a more educated tact.  I have even gone so far as to start a spreadsheet to track market prices in the hopes that I can start seeing trends in various markets.  I wish I knew of a way to import my auctioneer scans to a spreadsheet, but my various searches have been empty thus far.  If anyone knows of something in that arena, please feel free to drop me a line.  Until then, it will just have to be the arduous, painstaking manual tracking that I am doing now.

 

Speaking of PVP, I almost forgot!  Saturday AIE organized a raid against the various Alliance leaders as a part of its fourth anniversary.  I finally got my Black Warbear Mount, and I couldn’t be happier.  I think I remember someone saying the one of the co-guilds got the Server First Killing of Varian Wrynn, but I can’t be certain.  If that is the case, it would have to be the first downing of him on Earthen Ring since the level increase to 85 is what I am guessing.  In any case, congratulations to all who got their mounts, and to the guild for their anniversary.  I am so glad I came back.

Hope everyone had a great Valentine’s Day, or Single’s Awareness Day, whichever you prefer!  Until next time,

 

Happy Gaming!

Oz