And how sweet it is.  I dinged 60 with my shadow priest over the weekend, and I had forgotten just how much better the itemization gets when you hit the outlands.  Not just in terms of the various green drops I could find on the AH to wear, but also in the quest rewards.

After a few of the starting quests in Honor Hold, I made some huge upgrades by way of quest rewards.  I got the [Shadowbrim Travel Hat], which is both dapper and has some great stats.  Then I picked up a new pair of pants, the [Wanderer's Stitched Trousers] along with a very nice and fancy-looking, animated weapon in [The Staff of the Twin Worlds].  The capper though, was the [Goldweave Tunic], which will probably last me into the mid 60’s.  Wow, just wow.  It’s amazing how quickly you can acquire great upgrades in the Outlands.

To celebrate my newfound power, I decided it was time to give my first Outlands instance a try.  So I went about putting together a group for Hellfire Ramparts.  Awlbiste of Awlbiste’s Thicket offered to come out with her freshly 60 Druid to heal, and bring along her freshly 60 Hunter better half.  We picked up a guild tank, and put out the clarion call for a fifth, which was answered by the guild leader in the form of his 66 holy pally.  So, healer heavy isn’t the first thing you want to hear, but that’s what we were.  Also, the warrior we brought along was very new to the game, the warrior being his first character, and didn’t have much experience tanking.

So we had a group, and it was an interesting one.  Gahrie, the tank, had to use a two hander as his one handed weapon skills were quite low, since he had mostly soloed his way to 63.  He was also unable to fill the role the tank often takes, of marking targets and generally leading.  So, I asked if anyone felt up to taking that task, and noone spoke up.  So I found myself marking and leading the run.

Weird.  I never, and I mean NEVER have to mark targets or lead a run.  My main is a healer, and they hang back and do the same thing no matter what:  keep the party alive.  There was a time, long long ago, when I was feral spec’d.  Even then, though, I think I tanked a grand total of 2 Outlands instances.  So though I HAD marked before, it was only a couple times.  This should be interesting.

As I mentioned before, our tank Gahrie is a very green player, and doesn’t have much tanking experience.  As the leader I had to kind of give him advice and walk him through some basics, though my tanking knowledge is limited.  Gahrie was VERY open to my suggestions, and was eager to learn.  That’s a huge plus in my book, and it made the run easier than it could have been.

Anyhow, it becomes obvious to me fairly early on that Gahrie isn’t great at generating threats on multiple targets.  Of course it doesn’t help that he has to tank with a slow 2 hander, either.  My remedy was to use as much CC as we could, whenever we could.  So I often set up trap targets for the hunter where I often might skip them, and also spent a lot of the instance doing some CC myself — Mind Control.

Ok, though I’ve messed with MC a bit through my leveling process, I rarely used it.  But in Ramparts I had a HELL of a lot of fun MCing targets at any opportunity.  It was great for us because it both took one mob out of play and used said mob to bash on the others.  Of course this killed my DPS numbers on the meters, but frankly I didn’t care.  It was just too damn much fun to MC guys left and right.

Sometimes I threw MC on a caster, and blasted away at his buddies, or I MC’d an archer and launch some arrows.  By far my favorite target, though, was the Bonechewer Destroyer.

They hit quite hard for this mostly level appropriate group, so that was a good mob to choose.  They also had a couple nice abilities for me to use, and, to top it all off, they look badass.  Nothing like using the enemy’s best weapon against them, eh?

Now, the only real problem with using MC is the aggro when it breaks.  I very nearly died quite a few times, as it was very difficult to get a mob off me that I had MC’d.  Still, it was a ton of fun.

So in general the run went alright.  It was a little slow, it was a little messy, but we managed fine with that makeup all the way to the last boss, the Dragon and Rider.  After a couple of wipes, the GL hopped on his 70 hunter just so we could get it done and get out of there.  Without the GL on that run, we would not have fared as well.  He was multi-tasking like crazy as his Pally for most of the instance, and then saved our butts with his hunter in the end.

All in all it was a lot of fun for me, we made it all the way through, and I grabbed the [Witching Band] at the end. Nice, very nice. Our tank learned a lot of the basics of tanking, like pulling with a ranged weapon, and trying to LOS pull casters. The hunter got to practice trapping, a LOT. I got to play around with MC, and the GL, surely, got to laugh a little. It was great to group with a fellow blogger for the first time, and I was glad that we were successful. Then, to end my night on another nice loot note, I also picked up the [Mantle of Magical Might] from the Ramparts main quest.

Needless to say, I’m quite happy to be back in the Outlands, and I’m also VERY happy with the shadow priest at this point. It really is a VERY different playstyle from both my Druid and my Hunter, and a lot of fun. Now to tackle the Blood Furnace! Thanks for reading!

I had never run heroic Magisters’ Terrace before last night.  I had heard how tough it was, and based on how tough MagT is in regular mode, I believed the hype.  Well, last night I got to see the truth.

The group was a Druid tank, a Lock, Mage, Hunter and myself, the Tree.  Perhaps a warrior or pally tank would have been preferable, but I’d say that’s pretty close to an idea makeup for that instance.

We started out just peachy keen, one shotting the first two bosses without any wipes.  Things got a little dicey when we got to Delrissa, but we took her down after a couple of attempts.  She was also gracious enough to drop the [Vial of the Sunwell], one of the only drops I was looking for in there.  I’m still not entirely sure how I feel about that trinket, if it had +heal it would be a slam dunk, but I’ll test it out and see how it flies.

That pull between Delrissa and Kael, though, is just plain nasty.  Groups I am in RARELY wipe on five man trash, but that is one case where we did.  Even with the great blend of CC we had going, it’s just a brutal pull.  Still, we took them down in a couple of tries.

Then, the big guy.  Those fireballs he flings around hit HARD!  I made a big mistake in our first few attempts, I was trying to stay out of tree form since I had to worry about the phoenix.  Never again.  It was all I could do to keep the tank up, and if any of the squishies got aggro, forget about it.  2 fireballs and they were down.  We probably wiped on him 5 times before I finally found the error of my ways.  I finally wisened up enough to just stay in tree form and deal with the Phoenix slow feet and all.  That made all the difference, and we took his butt down.  It was a great learning experience for me, as I found that sometimes you just have to stay in Tree no matter what.  The bonus from the aura and the mana efficiency made all the difference in the world.

Oh, and I also ended up picking up the [Phoenix Hatchling].  Woot!

All in all, it was a fun night.  In  the future I don’t anticipate Heroic MagT being a real problem as long as we have a good CC mix.  I also got 2 drops I was looking for, along with 4 badges, and all it cost me was 24g in repairs!  :)  All in all, I’d call it a nice, challenging instance where you can easily get your head kicked in.  I have the bruises to prove it.

As is often the case with a post of this nature, I had a lot of further thoughts and things I’d wished I had included once I hit the “publish” button.  It’s the nature of the beast, I guess.  So here are some further ruminations on Why We WoW.

One of the key points that came up with people when I discussed my post yesterday, both in the comments section and in the BA Chat Room, was the idea that WoW doesn’t mean all that much.  There were people who were vehemently in opposition to this thought, and they felt that there was real meaning for them in the game in one way or another.

There are some ways in which I agree.  I agree that the “good feelings” you get from accomplishments do in fact mean something.  I generally have what I’d call an “expansive” or “spiritual” way of thinking, and IMO having positive thoughts and experiences is VERY important.  I know that I generally “feel good” about things if I have a successful night in WoW, and I know a lot of other people feel the same.

So yes, “silly” accomplishments in the game can affect your life.  Heck, maybe you have a great night in SSC, and the next day at work feel uber IRL, and get yourself a raise. 

Entertainment or Hobby?

I think something that comes up again and again in reaction to my post yesterday is that WoW is much more than your standard movie or television show.  After all, those are passive entertainment activities, and passive WoW would be no fun at all.  I mean, you don’t make any decisions in the movie theater beyond “butter or no butter,” and you aren’t affecting the outcome of CSI by making decisions for the main characters.

In WoW, however,  you are playing an active role.  Isn’t WoW more a hobby than entertainment?

One of things that people who don’t play WoW don’t get is that it’s more than entertainment.  Many people look at WoW the same way they do television.  To them, we are spending hours and hours a week doing nothing more interactive or enriching than watching the Food Network 24/7.  (In defense of the Food Network, there are times that it’s all I watch!)

Would they think differently if they thought of WoW as a hobby?  I think so, but that might prove difficult.  Say I like to make model cars as a hobby.  If I spent 3 hours every other night painting wheels, nobody would look down on me, ask if I was addicted, and insist I was ruining my life.  The same could be said for most hobbies, too.

If I spent 20 hours a week reading, I’d be enriching my vocabulary, not hopelessly addicted.

If I spent 20 hours a week crocheting, I’d have beautiful blankets and wouldn’t have ben “wasting” my life.

If I spent 20 hours a week painting, people would admire me no matter how crappy said paintings were.

If I spent 20 hours a week raiding in WoW, I’m ruining my life, I need help, and I’m a loser.

Sound about right?  That’s the rub.  How do we convince people that WoW is a hobby, and NOT just entertainment?  I honestly don’t know.

For me, I was only successful convincing my wife that it had some merit once I started this blog, and soon had over 100 regular readers.  Needless to say, I make sure to let her know how my readership grows all the time.  This has largely let me off the hook.

In general, though, it’s hard to convince people that this is a hobby and not entertainment.  We don’t have any visceral “product” at the end to show people, really.  They don’t share our triumphs when we take down a new raid boss, or win the roll on a shiny new epic.  They don’t understand that we develop REAL relationships in game.  That we often talk of things other than WoW, that we share experiences with others.  They just don’t get it.

I guess, in the end, the answer is simple.  Get them to start playing WoW, as the more people that play, the more people understand and value this wonderful game.  (And yes, I have tried this tactic with my wife, but she absolutely refuses to even give it a look.  She can be stubborn sometimes, but it’s one of the reasons I love her!)  I know I value WoW.  Hopefully yesterday’s post didn’t make you think otherwise.  Thanks for reading!

I’ve been leveling away on my Shadow Priest, making the push to 58 so I could hit the Outlands.  I was just a bit into 57 last night, and spent the next 2 hours doing various quests in Winterspring.  A large amount of dead Yetis later, I reached my goal and hit 58.  I promptly turned in my remaining completed quests, dumped a bunch of stuff I’d never finish out of my log, and headed for Darkshire with the intention of hitting the Outlands the next time I logged on.

It got me to thinking.  What exactly had I just accomplished?

I had set a goal for myself, and upon reaching that goal I was happy, and excited to push into the BC content, where I knew far better gear awaited me, along with much better zones to level through.  But I had a bit of an empty feeling.

Had I really accomplished anything?  I thought some more.  Do we ever really accomplish anything in WoW?  Let’s say I was in a guild and we just downed Illidan.  Did I really accomplish anything even then?

Sadly, I kept arriving at the same conclusion.  No.  Even if I had just picked up the most uber of uber drops, I wouldn’t have accomplished anything.  How is the staff or whatever that Illidan might drop any different from the staff I had at level 1?  When you get down to it, aren’t they both just a collection of 1s and 0s, in developer parlance?  The only thing that really differentiates them, in the real world, is some ID number on a  server deep within the bowels of Blizzard.

Am I foolish to search for some kind of meaning in my enjoyment of WoW?  I don’t think so.  The time I spend playing WoW is significantly less than many people out there, but at the same time I spend a LOT of time in WoW.  Why do I spend so much time in this game, doing the same things I’ve done hundreds of times before?  I’m not sure.

Is it because I feel some lack in my real life, and I need to “achieve” in some way in a game?  Thankfully, that’s a big no.  I have a wonderful family that’s growing, and a solid career at a great company.  Oh, and I like to think I write a pretty decent blog, too.

Is it because I’m highly competitive, and want to “do better” than other people in the game?  Nope, that’s not it.  If it is I’m failing miserably at this point.  My biggest claim to fame is 5/6 in SSC.  Not all that much in the grand WoW of things.  I’m happy that I’ve at least seen some degree of “end game” raiding, but I’m well behind the curve.  You know, “part time” and all.

Looking at all the classic categories of why we play these games, I only mildly think I like to achieve and socialize.  I like getting new loot and better gear, I like hitting new levels, and I like progressing somewhat into new content, at least content that’s new to me.  I like being in groups and taking down bosses.  I do also like talking about WoW (as evidenced from this very blog) and I spend some time chatting in /g.

Honestly, though, everything I just detailed that I like about WoW is really nothing at all.  Just more 1s and 0s, excepting possibly the social aspects.  So why do I keep doing something that doesn’t give me any benefit in the real world?

Because I like it.  I can’t detail exactly how or why, but I really like it.

Besides, get down to brass tacks.  What other things do you like to do in your spare time?  Watch movies?  Aside from the occasional indie flick with philosophical undertones, that’s largely empty as well, right?  Watch sports?  Yeah, as a Cubs fan I can tell you that there’s not much there, either.  Our uniforms don’t even change.  I have yet to see the Cubs get any loot.  Yet I still watch them, too.

In the end I guess I just have to see WoW just for what it is:  entertainment.  Gripping entertainment, that leaves most others in its wake.  Maybe searching for deep meaning in something like this is folly.  It’s just like a movie that doesn’t end, or a book that just keeps going and going.  Maybe I just need to accept that as a good thing, and not try to find a true “benefit” I get from it in the real world.  Though I can at least say that’s it’s a great way to get away.

Ok, pointless rambling off.  If you’ve gotten this far, bravo!  Maybe you can share with me why YOU WoW.  Now excuse me, I have to go hit the Outlands.

If you liked this, you can read more of my thoughts here, where I get into WoW as entertainment vs. WoW as a hobby!

So, I’ve got nothing today.  I’m not going to try to cover the Midsummer whatchamacallit.  There are plenty of other bloggers who have that well covered.  Nor am I going to talk about Season 4, becuse, well, I don’t PvP.  Except in real life.

So, on a totally unrelated to WoW perspective, what’s your favorite bad movie?  You know, the movie that you KNOW in your brain is terrible, but you can’t help but enjoy it. Maybe it’s just plain funny.  Maybe it affects you emotionally in some way.  Maybe it reminds you of a different time in your life.  Whatever it is, you will always like that one BAAAAD movie.

For me, it’s a slam dunk - that movie is Strange Brew. If you were born after 1980 or so, you probably never heard of it.  It tells the tale of Bob and Doug McKenzie (Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas, respectively…and no, not the Dave Thomas from Wendy’s) and their quest for, well, free beer.  It’s actually loosely based on the story of Hamlet, but none of that is important.  Even though the humor is of the bad, low brow type, I can’t help but crack up when I watch it.  Here are a couple of my favorite quotes:

BOB: Did you see the way she was lookin’ at me?
DOUG: Yeah, because she thought you were some kind of freak!

BOB: Jeez, you’re real nice. If I didn’t have puke-breath, I’d kiss you.

DOUG: I am your father, Luke. Give in to the dark side of the force, you knob.
BOB: He saw Jedi 17 times, eh!

So there is my dirty little movie secret. What BAD movie do you just love?