Gamer Community

[Recidiva]

i've been working on my BE Paladin lately, and just last night leveled him to 78. Just finished the "Veteran of the Wrathgate" achievement. If you can...do NOT miss this event. i honestly don't know where the long questline begins, but do NOT skip over Dragonblight.

My pally will be my 6th 80, and i have never done this zone with any of my other toons. The moment you receive this achievement it will take you to a cut scene...just like a mini movie. It was awesome.

Once that is done, you go to Orgrimmar talk to Thrall and he sends you to Undercity to meet him there and do battle, because the Undercity has been taken over by Varimathras. The Battle for the Undercity is a 35-40 minute event that has you phased out. You see no one but other mobs in this unique battle...and although you can't see other players...they can see you. But because they are not phased in...they only see you walking around fighting invisible mobs. Which i'm sure is quiet funny. One thing about this event is that Thrall gives you a buff that pretty much makes you invincible. i had around 45000 health points and the buff constantly heals you and i never fell below 75% health. Just make sure that Thrall makes the first move. You will never feel more a part of a battle than you do when fighting this one.

Another note...when doing this battle turn off your general and trade chats so that it won't be interfering with your battle experience.

Once this battle event is completed, Varimathras will no longer be visible to you and you will be unable to interact with him for the remainder of your game experience on that particular toon.

I did that cutscene achievement last week. Part of the fun of going through each zone and doing everything. I've finished Howling Fjord, Dragonblight, Borean Tundra and I'm almost done with Grizzly Hills. I really enjoy the story lines. I had no idea though, that getting started on that line was gonna take me about two hours. "Here, watch this. Here, go there. Here, follow this guy."

The only sad part is that all the uber-buffing during some of the fights didn't apply to my pet, so of course I spent half the time trying to rez my pet during waves of incoming aggro and area nastiness.

But...but...she's my PET. I can't go anywhere without her, I'd feel nekkid. And lonely. And like a bad mommy.

 

[lilsubangel]

We just hit 66, and we're about 2/3rds of the way to flying mounts, moneywise. I honestly don't know that we'll have the money before we hit 70. If we don't, I don't see a big point in getting the mounts. Sure, I have to get the outlands level of riding before Northrend (far as I know), but it'll be another 10 levels before we get the gold for northrend stuff anyway.

i had the same problem leveling through Outlands. It would seem like i never had enough gold. Then someone suggested i stop upgrading my gear from the auction house and just use the quest rewards as well as stop leveling my professions from mats off the AH...simply level with my own materials as i go along. Let me say, that it has made a world of difference. i did not get this advice until i was level 72. At this level i started out with 211 gold. Now...at level 78 i have 2,800 gold on my pally, so essentially in 6 levels, i made 2600gold. Another thing i did was, if i was unable to use any of the quest rewards, i would choose the reward that would vendor for the most. Anything that vendored for under 5g, i would save for enchant mats, and then vendor anything over the 5g.

 

[Recidiva]

i had the same problem leveling through Outlands. It would seem like i never had enough gold. Then someone suggested i stop upgrading my gear from the auction house and just use the quest rewards as well as stop leveling my professions from mats off the AH...simply level with my own materials as i go along. Let me say, that it has made a world of difference. i did not get this advice until i was level 72. At this level i started out with 211 gold. Now...at level 78 i have 2,800 gold on my pally, so essentially in 6 levels, i made 2600gold. Another thing i did was, if i was unable to use any of the quest rewards, i would choose the reward that would vendor for the most. Anything that vendored for under 5g, i would save for enchant mats, and then vendor anything over the 5g.

I don't make much money either. Every drop I get I go to disenchant and so I only sell the grey loot and stuff I can't trade.

It really didn't get easier until I actually hit 80, started making about 13 gold for each quest completion and didn't have any skills or spells to buy any more.

Hitting 80, there went about 300 gold on skills alone. Now I just log on, make about 100 gold and log out. That's doable, and it means probably one mount rideable every two weeks or so depending on how much I'm online.

But that still means I'm not buying recipes, materials or gear. And that's a bit of a sacrifice.

I'm only really playing three or four characters per account just because I don't want to go back to "Okay, it's this character's turn. Eveyrone I have is level 70 or 71, let's all go do the same quest...again...that we just did...an hour ago...urgh."

I'm now insisting on at least a 10 level spread between chars, so that means I'm playing an 80, a 71, a 60 something and a 20. They all now have the mounts except the 80 and 71. But it is FUN to fly around Zangarmarsh

 

[lilsubangel]

....I'm only really playing three or four characters per account just because I don't want to go back to "Okay, it's this character's turn. Eveyrone I have is level 70 or 71, let's all go do the same quest...again...that we just did...an hour ago...urgh."...

Ya, being that i have several 80's already, on Alliance side, i think that myself sometimes....."ok, which one am i going to play today?" Right now i just log on my mage to do all her dailies. But with the new expansion, i am dreading the thought of leveling up 6 toons another 5 levels each. i am having so much fun with my Horde pally that i have seriously considered abandoning all my alliance toons. i have thought about doing a faction/server change with my mage, but the downside to that is she has a really cool name and i would have to change it if i switched.

 

[Recidiva]

Ya, being that i have several 80's already, on Alliance side, i think that myself sometimes....."ok, which one am i going to play today?" Right now i just log on my mage to do all her dailies. But with the new expansion, i am dreading the thought of leveling up 6 toons another 5 levels each. i am having so much fun with my Horde pally that i have seriously considered abandoning all my alliance toons. i have thought about doing a faction/server change with my mage, but the downside to that is she has a really cool name and i would have to change it if i switched.

I've got a really nice groove going. Two Warcraft servers, two EQ accounts, two EQ2 accounts. So I play a high toon on Warcraft on one server, then a char on EQ, then one on EQ2, going from high to low so it's impossible to burn out. If a char's over level 60 on Warcraft I'll probably only play for a certain amount of money or exp...like quarter of a level or 100 giold or something. The other games are a lot easier on the exp and levels and even a high level char on EQ or EQ2 can get a full level in a lot less time. The other nice thing is that EQ and EQ2 have loads of classes, so I don't double up on characters like I do in Warcraft.

I'm doing a little more on Warcraft right now 'cause of the Brewfest thing, I log in every day to get my tokens and whip my ram around the track. Only about 50 tokens to go before I can dance in Dalaran and then hand my clothes back in and buy my Brew of the Month membership.

The whole time I'm doing that, I'm playing "Legends of Norrath" scenarios and unlocking new cards and items for my EQ toons.

 

[lilsubangel]

I'm doing a little more on Warcraft right now 'cause of the Brewfest thing, I log in every day to get my tokens and whip my ram around the track. Only about 50 tokens to go before I can dance in Dalaran and then hand my clothes back in and buy my Brew of the Month membership.

i am doing this on my pally as well. Next year i will do dailies again to get the clothes back to keep. i want to do the brew of the month because i have decided to try to go for that violet proto drake mount for the achievement, "What a long, strange trip it's been" Should have started it earlier oh well. Better late than never, i guess.

 

[Recidiva]

i am doing this on my pally as well. Next year i will do dailies again to get the clothes back to keep. i want to do the brew of the month because i have decided to try to go for that violet proto drake mount for the achievement, "What a long, strange trip it's been" Should have started it earlier oh well. Better late than never, i guess.

Cool. To do all the achievements, it's about 350 tokens to buy the vestments, and then 200 tokens to buy the membership.

I wish I'd figured out at the Midsummer event that you have an hour to turn the vestments back in for a refund. So, zip to Dalaran, dance, return the vestments and buy the membership and save 200 tokens. Probably have some left over to buy the pet. And save vault space...where my midsummer vestments are takin' up room.

I know the violet proto drake isn't worth all the effort...but...it's just fun for me to sorta systematically work my way through the achievements.

I'm probably never doing it again, the boss battles are a BITCH. But it's fun to do once.

 

[BlitzKrieger]

Well, I generally dont trash WoW much, first because everyone does, second because it is a good game and I did have lot of fun in it.
It is just my own disappointment.

I had warlock and I loved her. I had lot of fun leveling and however odd it may sound I loved my Succy. I took some decent time and effort to learn to seduce properly. I loved being affliction specced as well.
But, when I came to endgame all my pride and effort came to nothing - I was expected to spec destro, dump my preferred pet and spend all my gaming time in pressing 4 (my hotkey for SB). First time we went through heroic without any CC I felt completely useless. Yes, I could dish out some decent damage but most mages could do it better in the same way. It became pointless to play if I couldnt go on playing my way.

I rolled hunter and fell in love with traps. I specced survival. Same thing happened... when I got her to the point of running ZA all I had to do generally was to dish out good dps. My fun was gone

I'm sorry if I am an elitist asshole, but in a raid there is a "right" and "wrong" way to do things. I'm sorry, but that's just how it is. What good is your succubus going to be against an elite (max level + 2) mob who is immune to Seduce and whom she hits for laughable amounts of damage?

A LOT of WoW is directed around raiding... hell, most of the game is actually, and in raids there are three primary roles: Tanking, Healing, and DPS. That's about it. So, in a raid if you are a dps class and you aren't dpsing... what the hell are you doing there? Yeah, it's harsh, yes it's unfair to those that "want to just have fun". But, how fair is it to the rest of the people in said raid who want to kick ass and take names? Because to them, you are a waste of space.

It's 'cool' to say "Raiding is serious business" on the WoW forums, that being an extremely sarcastic remark, while at the same time striking to the very core of the raider mentality. It is serious business! Look at the above comments about loot. Omg, you wanna see drama, or nerdrage, let two people start squabbling over a boss drop in a raid. You would think they were fighting over the rights to fuck a Playboy model.... a willing Playboy model!

All that being said, I do not think that everyone has to, or needs to, raid to have fun in WoW. In fact raiding, while it is one of the things that I enjoy most in WoW, has been the cause for more frustration, rage, and disappointment than almost anything else in the damn game. Which is why pet and I level toons as much as we do. We have fun doing it, we are damn good at it, and there is almost nothing that we can't handle on our own. Once we hit max level we usually do dailys, gather herbs/minerals/skins, or roll new toons. We usually end up raiding, but we have learned to keep the raiding to the casual level and never lose our sense of humor about the game.

 

[Recidiva]

I'm sorry if I am an elitist asshole, but in a raid there is a "right" and "wrong" way to do things. I'm sorry, but that's just how it is. What good is your succubus going to be against an elite (max level + 2) mob who is immune to Seduce and whom she hits for laughable amounts of damage?

A LOT of WoW is directed around raiding... hell, most of the game is actually, and in raids there are three primary roles: Tanking, Healing, and DPS. That's about it. So, in a raid if you are a dps class and you aren't dpsing... what the hell are you doing there? Yeah, it's harsh, yes it's unfair to those that "want to just have fun". But, how fair is it to the rest of the people in said raid who want to kick ass and take names? Because to them, you are a waste of space.

It's 'cool' to say "Raiding is serious business" on the WoW forums, that being an extremely sarcastic remark, while at the same time striking to the very core of the raider mentality. It is serious business! Look at the above comments about loot. Omg, you wanna see drama, or nerdrage, let two people start squabbling over a boss drop in a raid. You would think they were fighting over the rights to fuck a Playboy model.... a willing Playboy model!

All that being said, I do not think that everyone has to, or needs to, raid to have fun in WoW. In fact raiding, while it is one of the things that I enjoy most in WoW, has been the cause for more frustration, rage, and disappointment than almost anything else in the damn game. Which is why pet and I level toons as much as we do. We have fun doing it, we are damn good at it, and there is almost nothing that we can't handle on our own. Once we hit max level we usually do dailys, gather herbs/minerals/skins, or roll new toons. We usually end up raiding, but we have learned to keep the raiding to the casual level and never lose our sense of humor about the game.

Yeah, see, I couldn't group with you. Which is okay, because I don't really group with anyone unless absolutely necessary. I can't even really take this seriously enough to argue with you. So here's just an opinion and why I'm the way I am.

"Harsh and unfair" is not how I choose to play, so I'll just do without the attitude on the raids.

As a raider, please keep in mind that there are casual players - casual as in not taking the gear seriously - who do not compute "harsh and unfair" and tend to laugh in the face of this as silliness. I'm well aware of the "this is how it's done" attitude, but you know what? Everyone who thinks "this is how it's done" has a different opinion from everyone else, which is why there isn't one big guild who does everything the same way.

This really doesn't make you an elitist or an asshole. I wouldn't consider this elite, I'd just consider it...anathema to the way I play. I wouldn't consider you an asshole unless you came down like a ton of angry bricks on someone doing things differently than you do it. Good leaders make their preferences clear and then they lead. Given those options up front, I'm fine with it, I'll go or not go. It's getting into the middle of something with a pickup group and then being told what's what that's my issue. I usually either leave or argue or ignore depending on how it's going. And then it's just on me.

I would get this if I were being paid to do a job. To do something fun in a roleplay situation, this is entirely divesting people of roleplay choices and personality and preferences. My hunter doesn't enjoy dismissing a pet. Don't care why. Won't do it. Won't appreciate being asked to. Because she's a roleplayer first, really. The core character temperament matters to me, and I'm going to play her the way I choose. Pet-centric Beastmastery spec. Don't have an alternate spec, don't plan to. So there's lots of ways of playing. I'm also on a roleplay server on purpose. If someone doesn't like my aspect of the viper...I don't really care. I don't think they should care enough to comment, either.

So you do your thing and I'll do mine, but I'm entirely within my rights to think this is absolutely zero fun. Negative fun. The roleplay's the fun for me. And in that I'm really not casual, and probably qualify as elitist asshole

 

[Homburg]

So that's interesting. On a whim, I decided to check and see if my faction had dropped the price on the basic flying mount training in Thrallmar. Imagine my surprise when I saw that training was a whopping 225g. So 225g for training and 45g for the mount, and I have a flying mount now. As it was about a third of what we were saving up to pay, we all have flying mounts now.

Very pleasant surprise.

--

Even lately, I went into a group to get a Brewfest achievement done. And right off, I'm clearly "Not doing it right." I don't know what to do and group members are treating me like I'm doing it on purpose. "Everybody knows" not to roll on...whatever it was I rolled on. I still don't get it. I need something, I roll on it. What the hell? Does that somehow psychically change the odds of me getting it? And would me getting an item tip the continents into the sea? I can never work out the fussy loot rules. And here I thought it was easy. Choose need or greed. But apparently nobody's ever allowed to need anything. I'm lost. Here I'm thinking if you can use something, roll on it. Nope, apparently not. Once I work out that system and try to abide by that, I'll be in a new group with a new set of "But it's Wednesday, nobody has a pet on Wednesday. *cold glare*" rules. Urgh.

Five minutes of that and I'm done until the next achievement raid, at which time I won't roll on anything and I won't expect to have any fun.



If our three 66's can do it with your DK pair, hop onto Horde side. We'll cheerfully help.

--

i had the same problem leveling through Outlands. It would seem like i never had enough gold. Then someone suggested i stop upgrading my gear from the auction house and just use the quest rewards as well as stop leveling my professions from mats off the AH...simply level with my own materials as i go along. Let me say, that it has made a world of difference. i did not get this advice until i was level 72. At this level i started out with 211 gold. Now...at level 78 i have 2,800 gold on my pally, so essentially in 6 levels, i made 2600gold. Another thing i did was, if i was unable to use any of the quest rewards, i would choose the reward that would vendor for the most. Anything that vendored for under 5g, i would save for enchant mats, and then vendor anything over the 5g.

This was essentially a realisation that I came to recently. Not in one burst of profound insight, but in chunks of two or three smaller bursts. I saw the quest rewards in Thrallmar and realised they were hot. Generally as hot as the stuff I was getting in the AH actually. So now I hit the AH on occasion, but I only buy stuff if it is a definite upgrade and I'm getting it at a steal. I also factor in the sell price of what I'm wearing on that, and have, at times, actually profited on an upgrade.

With the tradeskills, I haven't quite gotten there, but I'm doing herbalism and inscription, and my big problem was that my inscription was just not keeping up with my herbalism or my leveling. So, on occasion, I'd find myself with stinking loads of the next level of pigments in the bank. Moments like that, I realised that I could strategically buy the minimum number of herbs,, and gain a few levels, and then use the stinkloads of pigments I had waiting. Looking more strategically at my trade skill was a HUGE boon, and saved me loads, as I often had more than enough mats left over from those runs to create glyphs that actually sold well.

Another big hit for me as an inscriptionist was to occasionally study the market. Glyphs fluctuate a lot, and the glyphs used for leveling aren't the sellers. The random oddball stuff is, and you never know what that is. So I will hit the AH, take some notes on the grossly overpriced stuff, make a few, and make some good coin for little effort.

Once they made the change where it shows the sell price of stuff when you mouse over, I definitely started taking the most expensive quest reward if there was no upgrade. That was the most valuable change Blizzard has made yet.

I also realised that my tradesmule was worthless. Yeah, my paladin might see some good use out high-end blacksmithing stuff, but how much coin was I going to blow getting there? And did I really want to level his boring butt up through the levels it will take to get to the high end BS items? His other trades was tailoring, and we had exactly zero toons what need cloth. So that wound up being a bag-maker. Whee. I can buy those.

It helps greatly that we're actually getting useful gear off quests now. The stuff in the classic content is far too often just not worth equipping.

Still, your advice is spot-on. Had you said this literally four days ago, I would've been smacking myself in the forehead.

 

[Recidiva]

If our three 66's can do it with your DK pair, hop onto Horde side. We'll cheerfully help.

Thanks!

I think they usually really aren't doable until level 80. Midsummer I was level 74 or so and almost didn't even find a group. Tried the Brewfest quest solo with my level 80 hunter and got mutilated in seconds. So you're trying to take down a level 80 elite usually with adds and some sort of dirty trick of sorts.

These world event achievements so far have taken a solid group of 80s just to survive once. You can do them five times, and Brewfest was easy with five 80s. We wiped out lots in Midsummer with only one 80.

It's definitely prone to pickup groups, because it becomes a daily quest during the festival, and it can be triggered by each member of the group. So...lots of level 80s go out once a day to trigger the quest five times and get some blue or purple trinket thingy.

I got some trinket that summons a brewmaiden or somesuch. Basically I just wanted the accomplishment 'cause I'm headed for the violet protodrake mount.

 

[Recidiva]

It helps greatly that we're actually getting useful gear off quests now. The stuff in the classic content is far too often just not worth equipping.

Amen. The stuff in Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King is far superior to classic.

It was funny the first day of Burning Crusade to be handed a blue weapon better than anything we'd seen in our lives, basically for "run down that hill and kill a few things, wouldja?"

But I think that's what expansions are supposed to do.

LIch King is even better I think because in Burning Crusade you have to make a full set of gear and then replace it with another full set of gear.

But in Lich King you can keep items (and keep the set bonus) as you level and just swap them out for new ones.

Although again...it'd be so nice if cloth had int....*sigh* Maybe later on. Just not the level 70 set.

 

[Primalex]

For what it's worth, a short review for Fallen Earth MMO:

1) Yes, it does have a Fallout setting.

2) There is only one server.

3) Lag right now is..troublesome. Combat, crafting, resource gathering is more or less okay, but it takes minutes till a quest is accepted or handed in.

4) The main crafting resource is real time. You get the components for a glove, say "Craft it"..and then it takes 10 minutes till crafting is finished. But the timer runs all the time, you don't need to sit and wait, you can continue playing. It's still somehow irritating.

I wanted to tailor some new clothes - gloves (each hand is individually equipped and therefore crafted) and trousers and then have them dyed black. Takes 36 minutes to finish. The timer also runs when you are offline though. You can craft nearly everything as it seems, at least horses and all terrain vehicles (the latter will take a real life day just assembling all the parts).

Crafting skills include weapons, medicine, cooking, armor etc.

Crafting components... zillions. 3/4 of my bank is already full with crafting components and I'm level 3!

5) Character development - there are levels and APs. You use APs to increase stats and skills, the level increases the maximum level for stats and skills. APs are gained from exp and as quest rewards. The development limit is the amount of APs you can gain in the whole game, otherwise there is no limit. You can combine crafting and combat any way you like. There are no classes. It's basically like UO, but with levels that determine your skill cap. You can also learn all crafting skills that exist and a single crafting toon is sufficient to be able to craft everything out there (in theory, but the real life time resource eliminates this. If you need to wait a day on your toon per crafting skill for an item, your output with a single toon for all skills will be kinda disappointing).

6) Bugs. Most are caused due to lag and some people fall through the world, as always. It's better than WoW was when it started (you can actually log in and play at the moment), but still less enjoyable than the Lotro start f.e.

7) Roleplaying. There is only one server. There is no specific roleplaying code of conduct. Do I need to say more? You have a wild mix of players there, from "Raeper" to "Christopher Walkenn" (oh yes, you can have a name with one space in it), to more acceptable names and people.

8) Intro - it's not really for a MMO starter, most people admit that they are kinda confused in the world - and that this is also part of the fun. There is no "How to level to 45 guide" out there, you have to figure out certain things for yourself. Community is really helpful though.

There are a lot of different starter areas though, depending on how you want to start. There are 5 (?) different starter areas for combat types, 2-3 for crafters and 2-3 for supporters..

9) There is no real death penalty - after level 5 you get a 10% exp debuff for a short time.

10) PvP is "Open PvP in designated zones".

11) Quest goals are marked on the map.

12) The world is very much like Fallout 3 - a lot of land with nothing, then the various cities, sometimes camps etc. Horses for faster travel are available immediately though (as fast as you can afford it ...at level 3 is doable). And - horses don't live in the backpack. They have a stable.


Overall, I had a lot of fun the first two days there, despite the lag. Can't tell much about the long term value yet. Considering that I dumped AoC after the first day and Warhammer after the second, going into day three with Fallen Earth is surely an improvement.

 

[BlitzKrieger]

Yeah, see, I couldn't group with you. Which is okay, because I don't really group with anyone unless absolutely necessary. I can't even really take this seriously enough to argue with you. So here's just an opinion and why I'm the way I am.

I don't want to argue either. I think everyone is completely entitled to their opinions, and therefor also their own individual playstyles within WoW, or any game for that matter.

To do something fun in a roleplay situation, this is entirely divesting people of roleplay choices and personality and preferences. My hunter doesn't enjoy dismissing a pet. Don't care why. Won't do it. Won't appreciate being asked to. Because she's a roleplayer first, really. The core character temperament matters to me, and I'm going to play her the way I choose. Pet-centric Beastmastery spec. Don't have an alternate spec, don't plan to. So there's lots of ways of playing. I'm also on a roleplay server on purpose. If someone doesn't like my aspect of the viper...I don't really care. I don't think they should care enough to comment, either.

I love the bolded part!! I cheer every time I hear of something like this. I am a closet roleplayer myself, and I love hearing stories about how players have stood up to the "cookiecutter raider" mentality and done things their own way.

A good example of my own personal experience with this was when I first this 60, back when 60 was the level cap, on my Orc Hunter. I love bears as pets! I had a Diseased Black Bear from the Western Plaugelands, a semi-rare mob that only exists in small numbers in one corner of this zone. Here's a pic of the little darlin's. Ain't he cute? ^_^ I loved my bear so much! My Orcs name is Naylz (pronounced nails) and the bears name was Coffin. Put them together and we were as tough as Coffin nails. Oh, yeah. I'm a cheesy bastard. But, yeah. This bear tanked a couple of instances, like Sunken Temple (I know some of you absolutely LOVE that place. *snicker*) and parts of BRD, and I desperately wanted to see him off tank in raids... Sadly, this was not to be. I too was told to change my spec, change my pet, change how I played the game, and how I had fun in the game. Our difference is, I conformed and you haven't. And, I hope you never do. All games, WoW more especially, need more non-raiders, more casuals, more role players, more players who play their own game, and not just the raiding game.

I remember a story, told by the guy who got me into wow, about a guy on his server. This guys toon was around... the mid-40's or mid-50's level, and on most days he would go to the inn in Goldshire and preach to all who would hear about... the evil that is the Gnomish race. Yep, that's mostly what he did, and not much else. He was playing his game, and I'm sure he had a ball while doing it. I smile when I think about that guy. All MMO's need more guys like that, showing everyone around them that raiding isn't the only way to play the game.[/QUOTE]

So you do your thing and I'll do mine, but I'm entirely within my rights to think this is absolutely zero fun. Negative fun. The roleplay's the fun for me. And in that I'm really not casual, and probably qualify as elitist asshole

Hey, go big or go home!

I also wanted to add that all I ever ask of my raiders (I have inherited the job of raid leading in my current guild... I don't even know how... *scratches head*) is that they hit certain benchmarks. I don't care what spec my dpsers are, as long as they can do 2400dps. I don't give a rats ass how they do it, I just need them to do so on a regular basis. Other than that it's bare bones basics: Don't stand in fire, Don't stand in front of the boss, and Don't sing Micheal Jackson songs in vent please... Thank you.

 

[Recidiva]

I don't want to argue either. I think everyone is completely entitled to their opinions, and therefor also their own individual playstyles within WoW, or any game for that matter.

I love the bolded part!! I cheer every time I hear of something like this. I am a closet roleplayer myself, and I love hearing stories about how players have stood up to the "cookiecutter raider" mentality and done things their own way.

A good example of my own personal experience with this was when I first this 60, back when 60 was the level cap, on my Orc Hunter. I love bears as pets! I had a Diseased Blackbear from the Western Plaugelands, a semi-rare mob that only exists in small numbers in one corner of this zone. Here's a pic of the little darlin's. Ain't he cute? ^_^ I loved my bear so much! My Orcs name is Naylz (pronounced nails) and the bears name was Coffin. Put them together and we were as tough as Coffin nails. Oh, yeah. I'm a cheesy bastard. But, yeah. This bear tanked a couple of instances, like Sunken Temple (I know some of you absolutely LOVE that place. *snicker*) and parts of BRD, and I desperately wanted to see him off tank in raids... Sadly, this was not to be. I too was told to change my spec, change my pet, change how I played the game, and how I had fun in the game. Our difference is, I conformed and you haven't. And, I hope you never do. All games, WoW more especially, need more non-raiders, more casuals, more role players, more players who play their own game, and not just the raiding game.

I remember a story, told by the guy who got me into wow, about a guy on his server. This guys toon was around... the mid-40's or mid-50's level, and on most days he would go to the inn in Goldshire and preach to all who would hear about... the evil that is the Gnomish race. Yep, that's mostly what he did, and not much else. He was playing his game, and I'm sure he had a ball while doing it. I smile when I think about that guy. All MMO's need more guys like that, showing everyone around them that raiding isn't the only way to play the game.

Hey, go big or go home!

I also wanted to add that all I ever ask of my raiders (I have inherited the job of raid leading in my current guild... I don't even know how... *scratches head*) is that they hit certain benchmarks. I don't care what spec my dpsers are, as long as they can do 2400dps. I don't give a rats ass how they do it, I just need them to do so on a regular basis. Other than that it's bare bones basics: Don't stand in fire, Don't stand in front of the boss, and Don't sing Micheal Jackson songs in vent please... Thank you.

I had a diseased bear pet too! Woo hoo! And I was a night elf. People would ask me why I had such a vile pet, but I'd say if we could not learn to heal the sick and be in their presence, we could not be known as healers. My bear's name was Scrofula

That's all the fun for me. Being a little different and picking roleplay characteristics that are true. I remember playing tabletop D&D with a badass warrior who would always run away from battle if there was a rust monster involved because he loved his weapons so much. No, not good for the survival of the group...but really, really a lot more fun on the whole. I don't try to get people killed, but it really isn't the first thing on my mind either. Dying's just...well, wipeouts usually have better stories than successful raids...

*snerk* Don't stand in fire.

I have to say I'm entirely averse to using Ventrillo, having sat in on some raids with my husband and grateful I didn't have a mike because I would have been saying "What the fuck?" and "Are you kidding?" or just guffawing the whole time.

Clearly my people skills are not all that great. Well. Certain types of people. I'm awesome with bears though.

 

[BlitzKrieger]

I had a diseased bear pet too! Woo hoo! And I was a night elf. People would ask me why I had such a vile pet, but I'd say if we could not learn to heal the sick and be in their presence, we could not be known as healers. My bear's name was Scrofula

That's all the fun for me. Being a little different and picking roleplay characteristics that are true. I remember playing tabletop D&D with a badass warrior who would always run away from battle if there was a rust monster involved because he loved his weapons so much. No, not good for the survival of the group...but really, really a lot more fun on the whole. I don't try to get people killed, but it really isn't the first thing on my mind either. Dying's just...well, wipeouts usually have better stories than successful raids...

*snerk* Don't stand in fire.

I have to say I'm entirely averse to using Ventrillo, having sat in on some raids with my husband and grateful I didn't have a mike because I would have been saying "What the fuck?" and "Are you kidding?" or just guffawing the whole time.

Clearly my people skills are not all that great. Well. Certain types of people. I'm awesome with bears though.

I had another infamous pet. Okkoto. A Plagued Swine. (Bonus points to the person who knows where I got that name.), another tank pet. I took him on an impromptu raid on Azuregos, btw any of y'all remember that guy, or ever raided him as well? Anyways, there we were killing this dummy blue dragon and my buddy Squanto, Tauren warrior, was trying to tank the dragon when my little piggy growled one too many times (I had accidentally left his taunt on autocast) and pulled agro. The conversation went as follows:

Me: OMG heal the pig! (I meant it as a joke, but then the crazy ass healers started doing it!)
Squanto: Fuck it! Heal the pig! (He switches to a big whopping 2 handed sword and started dpsing)
Multiple other people on vent: Heal the pig!

5 minutes later, the dragon was dead, and my piggy pet was a server-wide legend.

Me: Squanto, you've been out-tanked by a pig. *snicker*
Squanto: Fuck you, Naylz.

 

[Recidiva]

Woo hoo! It's a good day! Got cold weather flying - husband surprised me by sending me the money. So I'm on my way to my next flying mount, I think druid next, 'cause all I have to do is buy the cold weather bit. She's got flight form.

I'm a happy brewmaster with a pink elephant pet and a membership to the Brew of the Month Club.

Finished with Grizzly Hills and on to Sholazar Basin.

And newest goal: Get the recipe for delicious chocolate cake - gotta do Rokk's quest and Dalaran's dailies.

 

[StrayKat]

I'm sorry if I am an elitist asshole, but in a raid there is a "right" and "wrong" way to do things. I'm sorry, but that's just how it is. What good is your succubus going to be against an elite (max level + 2) mob who is immune to Seduce and whom she hits for laughable amounts of damage?

Exactly.
What good is my class overall if I cant play it to its most potential but have to play "mage gone wrong"? Thats why I dont play WoW anymore.

A LOT of WoW is directed around raiding... hell, most of the game is actually, and in raids there are three primary roles: Tanking, Healing, and DPS. That's about it. So, in a raid if you are a dps class and you aren't dpsing... what the hell are you doing there? Yeah, it's harsh, yes it's unfair to those that "want to just have fun". But, how fair is it to the rest of the people in said raid who want to kick ass and take names? Because to them, you are a waste of space.

Yes, another reason why I dont play it and sincerely doubt I will ever play it again.
My profession (class) in AO is definitely a most nerfed one.... I seem to be sucker for such classes. Still, even as such I can find my place in any endgame content and be satisfied with my role.

In TCoS I can go even further..... there is no holy trinity of tank/healer/dps in that game. Every class can heal and dps to some point and aggro is so particular that you cant tank in common ways.

Even in LotRO I could be something more than just "press 1 button dps", I used to play champ and could damn well offtank when needed.

I didnt bash WoW in particular, I actually had more complains about community there than game itself. But..... the game is simple and linear. It doesnt cater skill very much.
I can understand why millions play it but I will not anymore, its not good enough for me.

I do understand where you come from, I had to deal with that stuff when my guild wanted to try raiding (though I was personally against it) but your attitude about it is something I disagree with and one of the reasons why is WoW on my "never again" list. I saw too much of such attitude in WoW and quite frankly dont like it.

 

[Recidiva]

Exactly.
What good is my class overall if I cant play it to its most potential but have to play "mage gone wrong"? Thats why I dont play WoW anymore.

Yes, another reason why I dont play it and sincerely doubt I will ever play it again.
My profession (class) in AO is definitely a most nerfed one.... I seem to be sucker for such classes. Still, even as such I can find my place in any endgame content and be satisfied with my role.

In TCoS I can go even further..... there is no holy trinity of tank/healer/dps in that game. Every class can heal and dps to some point and aggro is so particular that you cant tank in common ways.

Even in LotRO I could be something more than just "press 1 button dps", I used to play champ and could damn well offtank when needed.

I didnt bash WoW in particular, I actually had more complains about community there than game itself. But..... the game is simple and linear. It doesnt cater skill very much.
I can understand why millions play it but I will not anymore, its not good enough for me.

I do understand where you come from, I had to deal with that stuff when my guild wanted to try raiding (though I was personally against it) but your attitude about it is something I disagree with and one of the reasons why is WoW on my "never again" list. I saw too much of such attitude in WoW and quite frankly dont like it.

I think it's a failing of game design that a group of any five characters can't accomplish any particular group task. I shy away from pure tank and pure healer, because I used to gravitate to healer almost exclusively, but being constantly begged for assistance on EQ on my druid for ports, heals, buffs and rezzing made me go anonymous. Also since those classes very rarely can solo effectively, I tend to go for the hybrid. Though now every game I play, every single class is soloable and that's a good sign. Even WoW. And it used to be a lot harder. EQ used to be a nightmare and almost impossible and now it's a breeze. A fun breeze.

Hopefully game creators will make a shift from the D&D polarized class specs and continue to create characters that can fill group and solo needs without whining and recriminations.

It's funny that Final Fantasy XI tried to make it possible for each character to play every class...but they didn't work out the inventory issues, and having 12 sets of gear is ridiculous.

But someone will come up with a mechanic, I'm sure of it. Hopefully eventually there might just be group roles where you "man" a particular set of skills, healing, buffing, tanking, whatever. Gear pieces that morph.

And I'm also hoping that gear works out to be on some sort of point or exchangeable system. Whenever there's a random anything, I will lose. It's uncanny. So I can do a gazillion raids and have nothing for it. If there's points for a completed boss and then you can accumulate them and buy what you want rather than coming to blows with someone else. Also the reason why I walk away from gear. If someone spends the entire raid saying how much they want this particular piece...even if I can use it, I'll probably pass.

WoW is doing some of that, with their currency system and being able to buy different gear with different accumulated tokens.

So it's a lot more fun than it used to be. In the last year I've gone back and revisited four games that I'd stopped playing - WoW, EQ, EQ2 and Dark Age of Camelot.

Unfortunately Camelot has no population and some crashing issues, but even that game has come lightyears further on in playability than where it started.

 

[BlitzKrieger]

Woo hoo! It's a good day! Got cold weather flying - husband surprised me by sending me the money. So I'm on my way to my next flying mount, I think druid next, 'cause all I have to do is buy the cold weather bit. She's got flight form.

I'm a happy brewmaster with a pink elephant pet and a membership to the Brew of the Month Club.

Finished with Grizzly Hills and on to Sholazar Basin.

And newest goal: Get the recipe for delicious chocolate cake - gotta do Rokk's quest and Dalaran's dailies.

Wow! You have been a busy little bee! Gratz on your achys and your cold weather flying!

 

[Recidiva]

Wow! You have been a busy little bee! Gratz on your achys and your cold weather flying!

Thank you! Yaaay!

I've actually missed most of the seasonal stuff. I mean, I killed the Greench like the first year he was out, but since then I've missed it all. This is fun.

I splurged by buying a ton of recipes off the auction house and I'm only a few recipes away from Northrend Gourmet.

 

[BlitzKrieger]

Thank you! Yaaay!

I've actually missed most of the seasonal stuff. I mean, I killed the Greench like the first year he was out, but since then I've missed it all. This is fun.

I splurged by buying a ton of recipes off the auction house and I'm only a few recipes away from Northrend Gourmet.

I burnt myself out on the achievement system altogether. It's my own damn fault, but there it is. All I had to do was the silly summer festival achys, and Brewfest, and my hunter would be cruising around on a big purple drake... Which would be mote anyways, because I've retired him. Permanently. I log on him... once every 2-3 weeks or so to chat with old friends, but that's about it. And, I simply refuse to any of the "extraneous" achys on my warrior. I'm interested in "Hard mode" raid achys in Ulduar, but I'm fairly certain that those will have to wait until my guild is a little more... ironed out.

 

[StrayKat]

I think it's a failing of game design that a group of any five characters can't accomplish any particular group task. I shy away from pure tank and pure healer, because I used to gravitate to healer almost exclusively, but being constantly begged for assistance on EQ on my druid for ports, heals, buffs and rezzing made me go anonymous. Also since those classes very rarely can solo effectively, I tend to go for the hybrid. Though now every game I play, every single class is soloable and that's a good sign. Even WoW. And it used to be a lot harder. EQ used to be a nightmare and almost impossible and now it's a breeze. A fun breeze.

Hopefully game creators will make a shift from the D&D polarized class specs and continue to create characters that can fill group and solo needs without whining and recriminations.

It's funny that Final Fantasy XI tried to make it possible for each character to play every class...but they didn't work out the inventory issues, and having 12 sets of gear is ridiculous.

But someone will come up with a mechanic, I'm sure of it. Hopefully eventually there might just be group roles where you "man" a particular set of skills, healing, buffing, tanking, whatever. Gear pieces that morph.

And I'm also hoping that gear works out to be on some sort of point or exchangeable system. Whenever there's a random anything, I will lose. It's uncanny. So I can do a gazillion raids and have nothing for it. If there's points for a completed boss and then you can accumulate them and buy what you want rather than coming to blows with someone else. Also the reason why I walk away from gear. If someone spends the entire raid saying how much they want this particular piece...even if I can use it, I'll probably pass.

WoW is doing some of that, with their currency system and being able to buy different gear with different accumulated tokens.

So it's a lot more fun than it used to be. In the last year I've gone back and revisited four games that I'd stopped playing - WoW, EQ, EQ2 and Dark Age of Camelot.

Unfortunately Camelot has no population and some crashing issues, but even that game has come lightyears further on in playability than where it started.

Exactly how I feel. Thanks for understanding

I want to be soloable. Not that I hate grouping, I just want to be able to log in, do something I find worth trouble, log out. In group mechanics that is almost impossible unless you play with tight knit group that has about the same rl schedule you do. Even then I would probably get bored with someone "holding my hand" all the time and go exploring on my own.

I dont mind raiding, however stupidly time consuming and repetitious it can be. I do like challenges though and what bugged me most in WoW was that it was not challenge. I found it sad that instead of expanding my character I had to limit it. Instead having to do something complicated and unique that only my class could, I had to press 2 keys and jump around..... less than being lvl 1 newb.
Last thing that was fun for me in WoW was heroic Mgt (I heard they toned it down later?) because I had to use every joker in my sleeve sometimes. I could tank Vexallus and it was fun. I honestly cant understand what kind of fun some people can find in some raids... unless getting shiny loot is that, for me it never was.

Now that is another thing. Game all about loot and too much of that loot cant be traded.
I dont know how many times I had hysteric kids whining and fuming about some piece of loot on my hands. Like it matters. Like some virtual hat or sword is magically going to solve all their life problems. Its that intense. Even worse is when people you expect to be reasonable adults start to act in the same manners as mentioned kids. Frankly, I get so gutted I would give not only my "piece of loot" but my rl last shirt just to stop being involved in such scenes.

That is why I absolutely love TCoS.
No defined classes. No autoattack. No gear with stats. Mobs are smart. Actual skill matters. Thinking matters.
I know it is kind of MMO/FPS and probably not the best game for someone without really good coordination. It can be frustrating as hell. It is hard to play.
It is THE game for me.
Sadly, due to really bad publisher the game is going downhill. My luck....

 

[Recidiva]

I burnt myself out on the achievement system altogether. It's my own damn fault, but there it is. All I had to do was the silly summer festival achys, and Brewfest, and my hunter would be cruising around on a big purple drake... Which would be mote anyways, because I've retired him. Permanently. I log on him... once every 2-3 weeks or so to chat with old friends, but that's about it. And, I simply refuse to any of the "extraneous" achys on my warrior. I'm interested in "Hard mode" raid achys in Ulduar, but I'm fairly certain that those will have to wait until my guild is a little more... ironed out.

I go through periods of burnout. Right now I'm just happily chugging along. But around Midsummer I got that achievement and I was doing a ton of dailies to get the Kaluak fishing pole. The second I got that fishing pole, the last thing I wanted to do in the world was fish. That's when I rediscovered EQ and EQ2...

But since Blizzard and Sony both have long maintenance cycles...I just hang out in all three. Can't get into one? Go somewhere else!

 

[Recidiva]

Exactly how I feel. Thanks for understanding

I want to be soloable. Not that I hate grouping, I just want to be able to log in, do something I find worth trouble, log out. In group mechanics that is almost impossible unless you play with tight knit group that has about the same rl schedule you do. Even then I would probably get bored with someone "holding my hand" all the time and go exploring on my own.

I dont mind raiding, however stupidly time consuming and repetitious it can be. I do like challenges though and what bugged me most in WoW was that it was not challenge. I found it sad that instead of expanding my character I had to limit it. Instead having to do something complicated and unique that only my class could, I had to press 2 keys and jump around..... less than being lvl 1 newb.
Last thing that was fun for me in WoW was heroic Mgt (I heard they toned it down later?) because I had to use every joker in my sleeve sometimes. I could tank Vexallus and it was fun. I honestly cant understand what kind of fun some people can find in some raids... unless getting shiny loot is that, for me it never was.

Now that is another thing. Game all about loot and too much of that loot cant be traded.
I dont know how many times I had hysteric kids whining and fuming about some piece of loot on my hands. Like it matters. Like some virtual hat or sword is magically going to solve all their life problems. Its that intense. Even worse is when people you expect to be reasonable adults start to act in the same manners as mentioned kids. Frankly, I get so gutted I would give not only my "piece of loot" but my rl last shirt just to stop being involved in such scenes.

That is why I absolutely love TCoS.
No defined classes. No autoattack. No gear with stats. Mobs are smart. Actual skill matters. Thinking matters.
I know it is kind of MMO/FPS and probably not the best game for someone without really good coordination. It can be frustrating as hell. It is hard to play.
It is THE game for me.
Sadly, due to really bad publisher the game is going downhill. My luck....

That's all very real to me. I get that. I guess with my unique situation, I LIKE easy. Because I'm never ever giving it my full attention. I like being able to go afk and come back and be alive.

I'm sorry your favorite game's fading. I don't really have a favorite, I have lots that I can immerse myself into, or not immerse myself and just skim. I just like having lots of options, setting goals and achieving them. But crafting is my true love, really.

I've played insanely hard games, and I often get that bullheaded "I WILL kick this game's ass..." sense, and then I burn out. Final Fantasy XI was like that. I get this perverse satisfaction through leveling up high enough to kick something's ass that kicked mine, or do that hard quest, or run some difficult trial or whatever. But once I've kicked enough difficult ass, I sigh and want a nap and I don't get that much payback out of it. End result is when things reach their point of diminishing returns, I take off. And I don't get much return from challenge, I actually get return from measurable progress. All the games I'm playing now, I can get decent advances in whatever area I choose with reasonable investment of my time.

I know I used to be much, much more involved with games and the people IN the games, I met my husband online in an RPG. Now it's just really quirky and casual and it suits me for what it is.
The games I'm playing now are mostly pretty and fun. With all the channels off so I don't have to listen to people bitch. Because I'll feel compelled to bitch about their bitching, so I should just give it a rest and go make something or kill something.