Life starts at 90?

A long time ago Trimble on Twitter talked about how the levelling process really kicks off once you finally reach level 90. Shortly after, the Community Blog Topic from Wowhead discussed whether we found levelling to be too easy. It was only recently, after levelling our 6th (and Mr B’s 9th) level 90 that the thought struck home – what to do now we’re 90?

This is a difficult question for us both. I’m a completionist and like to finish the job – I usually don’t start another alt until my current one has a gear level that is around (5.4 MoP patch) 500ilvl. Most are between 500-510, my main and my favourite alt are 558 and 538… I like to be able to take them into flex/normals if I feel like it. I also like to make gold, usually by fishing and farming at Sunsong, which I do on my main. This is not conducive with playing lots of alts unfortunately, as I have a day job which takes up (obviously) a lot of my time.

However, Mr B tends to flit between all of his alts, doing a few dailies here and there, LFR when he’s in the mood, grinding mats etc. This means his alts aren’t as well geared, but he allocated time to play them all, which I definitely don’t… my style of play is more conducive to focusing on a couple at any one time. I haven’t played a healer now for 2 patches as I’ve been focusing on that damn legendary quest line for my main (finally finished) and alt (just the runestones left!).

Levelling Up

For a noob like me, levelling up is still a bit of an experience. On my last alt, I pushed the boat out slightly and went to the zones in Kalimdor instead and actually found it really hard. It took me much longer than usual to level, but I actually enjoyed it a lot more. I enjoy learning how to play my characters by levelling them up and experimenting with the abilities (like not using fear in a dungeon, duh!). I also enjoy seeing the starting zones of the different races… although the Nelf one is starting to wear a little now.

Mr B on the other hand finds it incredibly frustrating… slow, boring and monotonous. Levelling up has become a necessary evil to which the end result is being 90 and everything in between is a waste of time. However, he just keeps on going back. A level here on one alt, a level there on another…

Decisions, decisions

So, we’ve hit 90, now what?

I immediately go into manic gearing up (made much easier this expansion, I have a bank alt with all necessary Timeless Isle tokens for alts), then LFR and valour capping. In between this, I swap back into my main and do a bit more of that achievement I’ve been working on, or some pet battling. I sigh over the fact I’d love to play my Warlock, but I really need to run LFR for those quest items I need on my Monk… I promise myself I’ll log to my lock NEXT week, when I have more time. That, of course, doesn’t ever happen.

Mr B never has only one alt being levelled at a time, so off he goes and does a couple of HCs, an LFR and then jumps on an alt for some low level PvP or questing. His new 90 may not be geared enough to do ‘end game’ LFR, but he definitely plays more of the content than I have time to.

The End Game

For me, the levelling process definitely doesn’t end at 90, but I’m not sure if it really begins at that level either. I enjoy gaining achievements and getting rep on my main – an ongoing process, which definitely didn’t stop at 90 but it is something that has been going on since I rolled that first character. I feel very much under pressure to make sure that my alts are decently geared *just incase* and in this instance, perhaps for those toons, their journey has only really just begun.

For Mr B – who is levelling alts as we speak – the process and experience is entirely different. He’s had that time to explore over the years of playing and he enjoys discovering end content on different classes and factions. He involves himself in the lore and swaps about so he doesn’t get burnt out on one character. Once at end-game, he only really has one character that he ‘gears up’ for the little bits of raiding we do, but many of his alts sit mostly stagnant and gathering dust until one is brushed off for some PvP or a new mog. BUT, this doesn’t necessarily mean that that character’s journey is over, does it? Yes, it may sit there for a number of weeks, but it will eventually be dusted off and its adventure will continue.

Conclusion

I don’t really think there is a conclusion here. Levelling and the end game content is dependent on what we make it to be… a long grind, or a short adventure to be picked up later. That’s the beauty of WoW, the game is exactly what we make it to be. Our own story and adventure.

What do you think?

Monday Moan #26

As a new player, one of the most confusing things ever is getting a piece of tier gear and having no  idea how to obtain it.

I have been playing WoW for a while now, but this STILL baffles me – especially LFR gear. I go to the vendor and I’m faced with lots of different options for one piece of gear. Let’s say you have a chest piece. You go to the vendor, select your spec, then you’re faced with 3 chest options (none of which have the same name as your tier piece!) from which you determine the specific thing you need. All of agility on, but different set bonuses. This is really confusing!!!

Now I’ve been playing longer, I understand – mostly – what I’m looking for: raid finder, heroic and item levels. However, I can totally understand how easy it is to buy the wrong piece of gear and not realise. I think there should be a system in place, such as selecting where it dropped to help cut down the options, like on the dungeon loot information screen.

Did anyone else have these issues, or is it just my noobishness?

Monday Moan #9

Queuing.

I know I’m British and that is what we do best… but this drives me completely CRAZY:

Really?! A 49minute AVERAGE wait time? 35minutes in the queue and only 2 people grouped? Madness. There should be real time updates for the queues so you can actually see how many people are being grouped with you, not just block queuing when you’re nearly ready to enter.

This is also quite rediculous:

How can you have an average wait time of 6minutes when you’ve been in the queue for nearly triple that time? How can, at peak times like the weekend or early evening, with the hundreds of Warcraft players online (so much so there are wait times to get on the damn server!), there be a sixteen… or worse… FOURTY-NINE MINUTE wait time for a raid?!

You know what else really annoys me?

Akso, people queuing with healers or tanks for a boost, only for them to leave when inside. This is annoying for several key reasons, the most important being that the following 10 minute wait for a replacement when inside the raid, is no more fun than outside. In fact, you have to spend 10 minutes watching the /i chat, usually full of arrogant elitist idiots who pull trash too early and then die.

What makes it even worse is that chances are, when you finally get a full group, they’re all full of idiots who continuously wipe because they can’t work together.

I feel sorry for those people who don’t have a lot of time to play Warcraft, yet probably spend 99% of their online time trying to valour cap and get their gear. It can’t be fun spending all your time queuing and not even being able to see where about in that queue you are.

I mean, it’s not like it’s reliable information so you can go get a cup of tea whilst you wait – you always have to keep one eye out incase the queue does pop and you have to rush to accept it, dropping your teabag all over the sideboard in the process.

Oh wait, then someone will just drop out and you’re back to square one.

/sigh

Mr B Rogue-ing Around

So I kinda have an addiction to Rogues. Back in Vanilla, my first 60 was my undead rogue (still have this character actually).

At the start of each expansion since, I have tried to level another character and have always gone back to my rogue by the end of the expansion. In BC, I leveled a paladin at the start, then a mage and finished with my rogue. In WOTLK, I started with a warrior, then druid and ended with my rogue. In Cata, I started with my mage, then a dk and ended with my rogue. So far in MoP, I have played my death knight, warlock, monk, priest and now my rogue as well as lots of different alts.

Anyway this post is really about my first week at 90 on my rogue. I have gone from a lowly 335 ilvl when i dinged 90, to 479 ilvl in 5 days, mainly thanks to the wonderful troves of the Thunder King solo scenario. I got lucky on the way to 90 too: I got a Sha of Anger kill at 88 ish and got a Claw of Anger and the 496 tier trousers. Add to that, I already had the 476 Engineering goggles and I had pickpocketed around 20 junkboxes from which I managed to get a Krol Scimatar – the 476 agi sword. So… after I had bought the 450 rings and neck and the 458 PvP set, I was above 460 and ready to set foot into LFR.

My first trip in to the LFR was excellent, I got 7 pieces of loot from the 6 bosses. I then used the rest of my bonus rolls running the first part of the LFR another 3 times, managing to get to 470 with enough time to run the first part of HoF before reset. I don’t know about you, but I don’t know many people who manage to get such a good run of luck in LFR.

Since the reset, I have ran all the LFR’s but with no luck… only getting 1 piece of loot even with my12 bonus rolls I used. But, with that one piece and having enough valor to get the 522 next from Shado-Pan assault,  I have got up to 479: 1 short of being able to access the new Throne of Thunder raid!!

This coming week hopefully I will get the last 3 upgrades I need to replace the last of my blues. I will then be attempting the Brawlers Guild and recording and blogging about my attempts.

Not a bad week, eh? We’d love to hear your tips about the Brawlers Guild in time for my adventures.

 

Quick edit just as I was posting this I got a drop from a heroic taking me up to 480 in a week 😀

Monday Moan #4

This week is all about dying.

I am sick and tired of being taken to a graveyard then having no idea how to get back to my body. Specifically: entrances to dungeons.

I am not totally thick, I know you follow the arrow on the map, but usually THE ARROW DOESN’T CARE IF THERE’S A WALL IN THE WAY. More often than not, a nice guild mate has ran back in, found his body, cooked a 5 course meal, and cast mas res before I have managed to figure out where the entrance to the dungeon is. Rather embarassing in LFR, if I’m being honest.

This then brings me to the small issue of totally inappropriately placed graveyards – what is all THAT about? Take, for example, the graveyard near the place you do Cloud Serpent dailies. Now, remember I’m a noob still and can’t survive if I get attacked by more than a couple of mobs. I die a LOT whilst doing these dailies and the graveyard for the CS ones is on top of a blimmin’ massive hill, on an island. In order to reach your body, one must drop off the hill, walk across the water (perfectly miraculous!), up the tiny path hidden half way round the continent which takes half an hour to get to, then locate your body and res without aggroing any of the numerous mobs. Impossible – which of course lands you back in the same position as 5 minutes ago when you first died.

I have come to the conclusion that there should be signposts. Genius, I know.

Monday Moan #2

I am SO glad it’s that time of the week again!

Mr B and I have been grinding dungeons for days now to try and gear the shammy up. What has really shocked me is the amount of foul people in LFR and dungeon finder. “Come on ffs GO”, “retarded tank” and “sh*ttest group ever” were just some of the comments in these groups this week.

Call me old fashioned, but I find this disgusting.

Now, Mr B and I can clear a normal heroic (tank/healer combo) relatively quickly with a PUG – usually around 15minutes if all goes well. I really cannot understand how – even if you’re speed running dunegons – this is not quick enough. I also cannot understand how people think it is acceptable, as adult human beings, to 1. swear or 2. be rude to people they don’t even know. Unfortunately, this seems to be the new ‘faceless’ internet culture that is emerging these days.

Remember first time you did LFR? Not knowing what was happening, where to go, or the mechanics? Imagine how stressful it is for a new player with all these swearing, impatient people who should be mentoring them. We want to encourage new players not put them off! Just because someone didn’t remember to run back on the LFR boss Elegon, or you don’t move out of the way of the Sprit Kings’ “Flanking Orders” does NOT make them ‘retards’, nor does it make them ‘f*cking idiots’.

I also dispise those ‘name and shame’ addons which tell everyone that “Louloutte (of course, it’s always me!!) has failed to avoid [insert mechanic here]”. Fine for guild raiding where you need to know, unnecessary for LFR.

Perhaps we need to remember our manners : help those who need it and – as my Mum always used to say – “if we don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all!”

See you next week.