I came up with this post idea and decided on a title and since then I have not been able to stop thinking of this clip from The Lion King. You've watch it, you can't unwatch it! Anyway...moving on. Since summer started I have been working long hours, dealing with the frustration from recruitment, threatening guildees to get them to log on for raids, putting the finishing touches on my wedding plans to my Lady Love, and sacrificing gnomes to the Bioware Gods to let me into the Star Wars: The Old Republic Beta. After a while, all of these things tend to leave me drained and feeling a little burned out.
Sad I know. *Cue Sad Keanu picture*
Now normally this would be the part where I go on and on about how the game has changed and no longer fun for me and I am debating quitting for TOR. BUT thankfully for you faithful readers, that is not what is going to happen!
There have been a couple of things that have happened to me that have helped me cope with all of the above reasons to quit and I got to tell you, I actually am feeling recharged and ready for more WoW.
First off I decided that I would level a horde alt to see how different their horde quest lines were while leveling up. Since I'm sadly maxed out on character slots on my main account I decided to level on a different server (with no heirlooms/guild perks) and I looked around for a good place to call home. I ended up on Drenden, which is the home of Rades, Miri, Liala, and Narci, all of whom I enjoy talking to on twitter. After a little while I decided to transfer an 80 horde DK over to this server since he had been sitting around collecting dust for years. I'm not joking when I saw that his gear was appalling. He was leveled around the time when TOC was released and he had a lot of 5 man heroic/non-heroic gear from there. Looking at his gear was kind of like opening a time capsule and looking through it to see all the stuff that was cool at the time.
I server transferred him over and set about leveling him. Even with horrid gear, he was able to kill stuff rather quickly and I only had to spend a few gold on the AH to get him upgrades. While questing and running instances I was able to enjoy being in a guild without having to be the leader. I was just a regular member and it was a welcome change of pace. After 6 years of being the guy everyone in guild looks to for answers, comments, or anything and everything they need help with, it was nice to log in and not have to deal with that stress/pressure. Not that leading my guild is a huge source of stress, I just stress myself out and over think things. I am my own worst enemy. : /
Just wanted to make a note, I love my guild and wouldn't trade it for anything but like in real life sometimes you have to take a vacation to get away from things so you can appreciate them more when you return.
Well back to the story. It has definitely been a nice change of pace to just be one of the crowd and that has helped me relax a little. Mind you I don't just log on and head to that server right away, I play my mains first and if we aren't doing anything too exciting I switch to the horde server. It is a nice way to unwind.
Another thing that has helped rejuvenate me is all this talk of transmogrification. I know for some people out there, the game has taken a turn towards World of Dresscraft and honestly, I couldn't care what other people say. I've been playing for 6+ years now and some of the gear that I had previously worked so hard for can now be shown again without suffering dps loss. My mage will be proudly sporting his old MC raiding gear because that set was in my mind so awesome. My first raid experience was in MC and like they say: You never forget your first. I will be sporting the ever so sexy 6/8 Arcanist set, 1/8 Netherwind set (Helm), and 1/6 Field Marshal Regalia(gloves). For his weapons, I haven't quite decided what I will be wearing but since 4.3 isn't going live any time soon I have some time to figure it out.
Some of the chatter about the whole mogging experience is about how instead of giving us new content we are getting something so silly and useless. I for one welcome our new Mogging overlords. Why? Because this has been something that many vanilla veterans have been asking for since forever. We worked hard for our gear and to replace it with greens and have it sit around collecting dust or being vendored just seems wrong. I really wish I had raided Naxx because they had some of the coolest gear around and the level 80 Naxx just doesn't compare. I know some people will say that it is just a reason to show off E-peen or to brag about how great you are at the game but that isn't why I am looking forward to it. I will be the first person to say that I am not the greatest WoW player out there. But as I mentioned, I have been around for a long time and have had many memorable moments that I treasure and look back on fondly. Being the DPS who got the killing blow the first time we downed Ragnaros, being the person who could kite General Drakkisath to the Beasts room because we didn't have a hunter who could do it (and living through it), these are just two of those memories. If I can wear a mogged set that looks like the gear I wore then, it will remind me of why I play the game: to have fun and do crazy stupid stuff to enjoy the game.
Thats all Mogging is: a different way to have fun. The people shouting out against mogging seem to have forgotten that they play a game with millions of other people and not everyone has the same idea of what fun is. I can't wait.
It seems that talking about the olden days always make me ramble on a little too much and I think I strayed from my original topic. Well than, back to making me enjoy the game again!
The biggest reason why I am really enjoying myself again is a person. No it isn't my fiancee, my Lady Love who is awesome and all, but it is actually a new member of the guild. This person is a cousin of a guildee and this is his first MMO. Having him in vent and listening to him talk about the game, you can hear the enthusiasm and pleasure he gets from the game. This enthusiasm for the game is really contagious and after listening to him, you can't help but feel happy with the game. It reminds me of when I first started playing the game and how I felt like the world was so amazing and new and I could do whatever I wanted. An example of him being giddy and happy with something so simple: My Lady Love was running him through a lowbie instance on her mage and at the end she made a portal to Stormwind for him. He was in vent with us and he had no clue what the portal was and when he took it, he literally was speechless for a few seconds. He was awed by a portal. This was something so routine to most players that we don't even give it a second look. My fiancee and I laughed for a few minutes about that and we both felt a little special that we were able to make his day with something as simple as a run through of an instance and a portal afterward.
My Lady Love and I grouped with him several times along the way on our level appropriate characters and we ran instances together. Every time he ran an instance he was in vent with us and he could not believe the game was as cool as it was. We giggled and talked about when we felt the same way and for both of us, it had been a while.
When the world of Azeroth was new, everything was awe inspiring. From the sheer size of Ironforge to the fun escort quests where we felt like we saved an NPC's life and made a difference. Somewhere along the way we lose that sense of awe and we start becoming jaded about the game. We no longer look at the game as a game but as a job. Sometimes it takes a change of faction to appreciate the game, sometimes it requires playing dress up, and sometimes it requires a new person to remind you that the game we choose to play is pretty damn awesome. I have always liked WoW but there were times when I felt drained and just didn't want to deal with the trolls both in instances and in trade. But after all this, I feel like I am ready for more and I can handle anything thrown my way. It is a game after all, a truly awesome, fun, and magical game and I'm glad I was reminded of this.
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