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

Random BG’s.

So, I log in last night, do some much needed mailbox maintenance, and then queue for a random BG.  It pops immediately for me, I zone in (WSG) and see that the battle is in progress.  As I am zoning, there is a mad flurry of activity as someone is dispatching an attacker in our flag room.  I throw a few Lifeblooms his way, and BOOM, we have won the battleground.   Huh?!?  Don’t get me wrong.  I completely understand that I could have zoned in for the last few seconds to lose the BG, but when I spend the next 40 minutes in the queue for a new battleground, it is a little frustrating.  Especially when the little button keeps mocking me, telling me the average wait has been around 7 minutes.  It just sits there, on the lower left of my minimap, and taunts me.  Is there some way that Blizz could let us know how much time was left in the BG when it gives us the notification?  Maybe not give you a rundown of resources or flag caps, but definitely it should let you know that there is less than one minute left in the battle, and give you the option to wait for the next one.  For me, it just isn’t enjoyable to spend forever waiting, just to have my BG over with in less than a minute, and then face another interminable queue.  Completely unrelated, but I have a much better understanding now of how the last girl I dated felt.  And my Mom always said playing video games would never teach me anything…

 

But I digress.  Has anyone else had this issue?  I have had two relatively quick queues, followed by long, dismal waits, where my wait time has  been more that quadruple of the ”Average Time in Queue.”  Is it something like the Random Dungeon Finder, where the first group is “relatively” quick, and then you get shuffled back a few places in the priority list?

 

Enough of my whining.  Really, I enjoyed my time on the Druid last night, long queue times aside.  Ran Tol Barad my first time as an attacker, and we won by the skin of our teeth.  It was loads of fun.  I like the new mechanics they have in place, it definitely feels more hectic.  And I am loving Druid healing.  I understand that many resto druids are not happy with where we fall in healing throughput right now, but if this is broken, I can’t imagine what it was like back “in the day.”  Compared to my resto Shaman, the Druid is much more mobile, and feels more responsive.  But I am just learning the class, so there is the possibility that I am enjoying it because I have no clue what I am doing.   I am actually banking on that being the reason.

 

That being said, time to head back to Azeroth to see what kind of trouble I can get into tonight.

 

Happy Gaming!

Oz