I seem to be drawn to the druid class. Which is interesting really, as it plays very differently in the MMORPGs that I’ve played.
My first druid experience was in EverQuest. Druids were pure casters, generally played as healers, although some were dps casters. We were not quite as good at healing as clerics, and I was always terrified any time I was in a Complete Heal rotation (remember those?!) as my CH was smaller than everyone else’s.
Then came WoW. I was immediately drawn to the druid shapeshifting abilities. It is a much more flexible class in WoW, having the ability to heal, range dps, melee dps or tank. I’ve tried all roles, and discovered that I am naturally most comfortable in a healing role, although I like to have delusions of range dps power and I maintain my boomkin offspec.
In Rift the Druids are different again. I’ve only played to level 12 so far, so I’m still learning about the class, but what attracted me to it this time around is that I get to have a pet. And this little pet will heal me! So far the druid is playing as a melee dps class with some healing utility -it doesn’t feel as “pure” a healer as it is in EQ or WoW. The soul system in Rift means there are many more options in terms of building your character class, and I think we’ll see many different variations. Mine currently has Justicar and Shaman souls, which is making a melee dps class who also acts as a support healer. I’m looking forward to seeing how this one plays!
It’s been quiet around here, hasn’t it?
There’s two reasons for that – firstly I’m finding that I have a lot less free time now that I’m looking after two children rather than one. And secondly, I’ve really lost interest in World of Warcraft recently.
I’m disappointed in Cataclsym. I really am. For me, the most enjoyable part of an MMO is the levelling part. I enjoy duoing with my husband, venturing into unchartered territory together. His reckless racing in without assessing the situation first complements my more careful nature perfectly. I knew there were only 5 new levels in Cataclysm, but I was hoping to have a month of two of enjoyable levelling out of those 5 levels. So yes, it was disappointing to see my guildies hitting level 85 within a week or so of release.
But then the double whammy – it seems to me that there’s nothing new at 85. When you get to 85 you can grind reputation, run heroics or raid. Just like you could at level 80. With the added bonus that everything has been made harder. So where you could once log in, drop into the dungeon finder, run a heroic in about 30 minutes, log off again, now you get to use the dungeon finder that puts you into a PuG that repeatedly wipes. As someone who doesn’t do PuGs at the best of times, the thought of everything getting harder is not something that appeals to me.
This all resulted in my husband losing interest in the game at level 83, and moving on to other things. I don’t want to level without him, because the fun for me is in playing the game with him. So I spent a few weeks messing around with the AH and dabbling with alts, and then gradually I started finding other things to fill my evenings with.
We did both get onto the Rift beta program, and found the game enjoyable enough to pre-order it. I’m not cancelling my WoW subscription, but I am quite looking forward to levelling a new character in a new world. I hope to blog about that a little here too.
So it’s been quiet around here because I’ve not really had anything to say. I’m still here though, just trying to find my way.
I wish I could have been at Blizzcon. I attended the World Wide Invitational in Paris a couple of years ago, and I loved it. Sure it was packed, but the atmosphere was electric, and being amongst that many like-minded people was great. I would love one day to make the trip across the pond and attend a Blizzcon.
But I have a three-year old and a four month old. And I can’t afford the trip. So I bought the DirectTV live stream, and I’ve been watching the coverage, and enjoying it.
I tuned in especially to see the Opening Ceremony live. Blizzard usually take these opportunities to announce new products or new information, and I was excited to hear what they had to tell us this time. A release date for Diablo 3 perhaps? Or even some details on their new, super-secret MMO project.
What we got was a very nervous looking Chris Metzen presenting a “Geek is…” slideshow, and then the announcement of the 5th and final Diablo 3 class – the Demon Hunter.
And it all felt a bit “meh”.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I love the sound of the Demon Hunter. It was a great cinematic, and it’s probably the class I’ll play when D3 comes out. But at Blizzcon last year they announced two Diablo 3 classes AND the Cataclysm expansion. And at the WWI before that they announced Diablo 3 AND two Diablo 3 classes.
I have read some speculation that there was due to be another announcement, but for some reason it couldn’t be made, hence Chris had to fill time with his “Geek is…” thing.
Strangely, Blizzard chose to release the Cataclysm cinematic a week before Blizzcon. They could at least have held that back to give us something special at Blizzcon.
I did enjoy the “Geek is…” presentation, although it made me think I’m not as much of a geek as I thought before – my husband had to explain what several of the pictures were!
On the bright side I’ve started watching the “Quests and Lore” panel, and I’m finding it hysterically funny. Most entertaining 
This was a triumph
I’m making a note here
Huge success
It’s hard to overstate my satisfaction
My son, David, was born on the 30th May. He is absolutely gorgeous, and I am completely besotted with him. He is also a huge distraction from WoW, and although I’m finding the culture shock of moving from one child to two a LOT easier than moving from none to one, somehow my time is getting filled up with family stuff, and it’s a bit of a struggle to get online and play much.
Hence this blog hasn’t been updated in a while.
David is now three months old, and some normality is starting to return. I’ve even managed to attend a few guild raids again, although it requires organisation with military precision for me to get all my household chores finish before raid start time. I’ve still got loads I want to achieve before Cataclysm comes out, and I want to return to updating this blog regularly. I’m hoping my recent purchase of an iPad will help me with this, as I now have the ability to “blog on the run”, so to speak.
So, I’m almost back, I think!
August 27th, 2010 in
Family,
General | tags:
Family |
2 Comments
It’s been quiet around here for the last couple of months. That’s because a few RL things have been keeping me busy and tired. I’ve not had as much time to myself, and so not been able to update here. I’ve also been playing less WoW than I would like.
However, this week is my last week at work for over a year – yay! I need to recover a bit from the last three months, but I have several updates and posts I want to make here already, and I’m hoping to get a bit more WoW time (well, at least until the baby comes!)
So, my loyal readers, I’m on the way back
March 25th, 2010 in
RL |
No Comments
I’ve been quiet for a bit, which has mostly been RL-related. I’ve returned to work full time (I was previously working three days per week), which I’m finding very tiring, and it’s definitely affected my available WoW playtime. Thankfully it’s only short term, as at the end of March I’ll be taking a lovely long break on maternity leave. Yes, my husband and I are expecting our second child at the end of May. Which will also play havoc with my WoW playtime, but only for a short time I hope!
Although I’ve not been playing as much, I have been thinking about WoW, and in particular what I want to achieve this year. With limited playtime I need to prioritise what I want to do in the game. And so, here are my WoW New Year resolutions:
- Get better at making gold on the Auction House
- Level my Mage to 80
- Finish questing in Storm Peaks and Icecrown with my Druid
- See the endgame of Wrath of the Lich King and defeat Arthas
I’d like to achieve these by the time Cataclysm is released, and I’ve already made some great progress on the first one. I will of course report here as I go along.
Happy New Year (belatedly) everyone!
January 23rd, 2010 in
General | tags:
resolutions,
wow |
No Comments
I’ve never done PUGs. I’ve never enjoyed them. It might be a healer thing, or my own personal self-confidence that’s the problem, but I’ve always found any PUG I have tried to be an unco-ordinated group of like-minded people where I inevitably get the blame when we wipe, and I’m left wondering if I really am that bad a healer. So I’ve tended to stick to Guild groups, where I know everyone, and we have a nice relaxed attitude, and I don’t feel too guilty if people die.
But I heard good things about the new Dungeon Finder that was introduced with patch 3.3. People were saying that the groups were fun, that the gear matching meant that you ended up in a reasonably balanced group, and, most interesting of all, they were fast.
I will admit that it was with a certain amount of trepidation that I pressed the “random dungeon” button the first time. I had been waiting to see if a Guild group would want me, but most were raiding or busy, so I thought it was time to jump in and see how PUGs had changed. Plus the lure of a little Pug pet had a small amount to do with it… 
I’m pleased to report that the dungeon finder is every bit as good as everyone has been saying. It took a couple of minutes for me to get assigned to a group, but then we were in and running. And because most people are trying to run as many instances as possible, there was barely a pause to buff before the tank was heading off towards the first pull. Thankfully I spotted the little icons on people’s character portraits so that I could suss out who the tank was or we might have been in a bit of a pickle! My first dungeon was the Temple of Ahn’Kahet, and apart from my letting the tank die once during a big pull where I couldn’t keep up with the healing, we charged through it. As we progressed the tank complimented me on my healing a couple of times, which really boosted my confidence. It took less than an hour, we killed all the bosses, no loot drama, and at the end said our goodbyes, left the group and were ported straight back where we started from.
I enjoyed it so much I went back and did another one! And even more amazingly I must have been raving about it because my husband logged in to join me for the second one as well
I’m pleased I ran these dungeons a lot of times with Guild groups, because I can just about remember the strats, and my experience has been that nobody stops to explain strats or make sure you know what you’re doing. In fact, my main challenge is the tanks racing ahead and getting out of healing range! I’m dreading the day my random dungeon ends up being The Occulus because I haven’t been there much (twice) and I get lost when I have to follow people in three dimensions! Plus I hate the healing mechanic on the green drake. But other than that, I’m a big fan of the new dungeon finder, and looking forward to many more groups with it
Apparently I do do PUGs! Who would have thought?!
I was already a big fan of my Blizzard authenticator. It gives my WoW account another layer of security, which is very important to me. And now Blizzard have given us a little thank you for using this additional security on our account, in the form of a special pet, the Core Hound Pup (pictured above). It’s a little baby version of the Corehounds that I still remember from my Molten Core days. He’s still young, and very playful, and in the short time I was watching him last night he was rearing up, rolling over, and digging a hole – so cute!
With the introduction of two new pets available from Breanni’s pet store in Dalaran – the Albino Snake and the Calico Cat – I’m now up to 101 pets! Still no achievement for 100 though – come on Blizzard!
It’s been a little while since I decided to take a break from raiding, and although I haven’t missed the raiding as such, I have missed spending time with my friends.
Due to some friends taking a break from the game, coupled with me being so tired over the last few weeks and unable to stay awake past 9pm, my lovely regular Heroic group has melted away, leaving me with little else to do in the evenings but level my Mage (she’s now 64).
My Guild has now moved into Trial of the Crusader, so now I’m staying awake better in the evenings again I thought it was time to go back and see if it really was me or just Ulduar that put me off raiding.
I’ve only done a couple of raids so far, with mixed success. We had a very successful clear of 10-man ToTCr last week, which netted me this lovely little achievement:
Then last night we tried a 25-man ToTCr. The first two bosses went down easily, but then we came up against the Horde Champions group. And we wiped and wiped and wiped. I never like ending a raid night on a wipe, it feels like a failure, even though we had killed two bosses already, and I’d even got a lovely new pair of boots . It wasn’t even a productive kind of wiping, where you learn the encounter gradually and make progress on each attempt, it was a completely chaotic, loss of control kind of a wipe.
Why Blizzard, why? Why put “mock PvP” events into PvE content? It’s just frustrating. Grrrrrr.
So, mixed success on the raiding front. But at the end of the day, it was fun to spend time with friends. So I think I’ll keep trying to raid when I can and see how it goes
December 3rd, 2009 in
Raiding | tags:
pvp rant,
raiding,
totcr,
wow |
2 Comments
I made it!
After spending ages in Dalaran waiting for a Troll rogue to show up, I finally got my husband to create one on his account, and I ran over to Durotar to cover him in turkey feathers.
I was really pleased to complete this world event, as it rewarded me with another pet – the Plump Turkey This was my 98th pet. I wonder when Blizzard will introduce an achievement for 100 pets. I’m nearly there!
