With the flurry of Cataclysm information unleashed by Blizzcon, most people are looking ahead to the future of WoW. However, as someone who doesn’t expect to be playing WoW when Cataclysm is released, I’ve been looking to the past.

Though it hasn’t be obvious, I’m sure, I’ve kind of lost interest with WoW recently. Actually, I’m amazed at how long it held my interest! Back when I played FFXI, I had a sort of 3-4 month on, same off way of playing… I kept burning myself out. But with WoW, I played regularly from August last year, when that blasted fool Kazura sucked me back into it, until the start of June this year – ten months!

Can’t deny I enjoyed myself during that time – I experienced the wonders of Northrend with friends, discovered my true love of Shamanism, and met some fantastic people in raiding guilds. But if I’m truly honest, the best time was when I was a newbie, when everything was totally fresh and new.

One of the strong points of WoW, in my opinion, is how the game begins. Compared to FFXI, my previous MMO, rolling a character for the first time really feels exciting. In FFXI, you get a brief intro scene, some random citizens of your nation give you a quick hint about something, and then you are deposited in a random section of the city, without any real idea of what you should do first.

In WoW, you get that lovely little intro, sweeping across your starter area, with a brief history of your people as a voiceover.

Once that is complete, you are immediately faced with the famed Golden Exclamation for your first quest, giving you an immediate goal in the game. Over the new few hours, you quickly grow from the small starting village, into a larger town, before finally, around level 10 for most new players, wandering into your capital with a sense of awe. That build up – village, town, city – is much more fun, to me, than being dropped slap in the middle of a city!

Before you know it, you’re leaving the familiar surroundings of Mulgore, or Teldrassil, or wherever, taking your first steps into the wider world of Azeroth. As you grow, there’s that sense of anticipation, wondering what the next area will look like, what creatures will live there, and what jobs you’ll be able to do, and as you enter zones like Thousand Needles or Nagrand, there’s a sense of awe.

(My very first character, pictured here with an earlier incarnation of my beloved Erethia, on the famed Wetlands run. While the link straight to Stormwind saves a lot of headaching, it’s almost a shame to have lost such a rite of passage.)

(While not my first time –in- Ashenvale, it wasn’t until I go a full account and my Hunter into the 20’s that I truly experienced the zone, and I loved it. If I do play at some point during Cataclysm, it’s going to be so sad seeing the zone deforested!)

Of course, being an MMO, a huge part of the appeal is that you can experience this with your friends. Kazura, an RL friend, makes for a pretty good WoW companion… I guess. –grin- We had our fair share of adventures adventures as we made a push to Outlands (and beyond!), including the classic “OH SHIT A DEVILSAUR RUN!” moment.

But when you reach the level cap, the game is never the same – at least, not for the rest of that expansion. I don’t ever get the same sense of awe on seeing new raid zones and bosses as I did on that first night in Northrend, taking the turtle boat from the Borean Tundra right over to the Howling Fjord. In a way, expansions make everyone a newbie again, returning them to the excitement they had on first starting the game.

Unfortunately, that very quickly wears off. The places may be new, but it’s still the same game. Boredom creeps back into it. Though, in a way, that could make Cataclysm a very successful expansion – quite aside from the new zones, and updated old zones, classes like Hunter and Warlock are getting huge overhauls, as is the talent system – a core and almost unchanged aspect of the game. If I am playing, Cataclysm may revive some of my love for the game…

But you know what I’m really looking forward to? FFXIV. I want a fresh world! Azeroth’s history is interesting and fun, but I really do love the idea of going into a vast new world without any preconceptions, like I did with WoW (though that is part of the appeal for others – being able to truly explore the world of Azeroth they grew to love in the RTS games.)

Hopefully FFXIV learns a little from WoW, when it comes to being a newbie. I don’t want to be dropped right into the middle of civilisation – I want to start somewhere remote, somewhere it’ll feel right to start my adventure. I’m also looking forward to a new style of play – unfamiliar combat systems, different classes – though I’m kinda worried at the moment about FFXIV’s class system – there seems to be a distinct Physical / Caster split… But I want to be a Close Combat Caster, like I am in WoW as an Enhancement Shaman!

Hmmm.. Being new will be exciting. Hey, SE, WTB FFXIV now, PST.

What about you guys? Do you miss being new? Or is endgame what you live for – do bosses give you more of a thrill than they do me?

Since I was tagged by Faulsey, I had a rummage through my pc to find my 6th screenshot in my 6th folder, and here it is:

This was when I found the book in Acherus: The Ebon Hold before I was released from the Lich Kings grasp, I found it quite amusing, sadly they didnt give us Scourge Commander titles XD

Well that was my bit for today, I might have something up later on, when I work out what I am doing XD

Kazura ~x

Are we smokin' hot, or is that just my flametongue?

(Kiaara has nothing to say on the subject! Haw, OJ! Moar silly things to quote for this entry!)

Ellaria: Hey, hot stuff… come any closer and you will be! -brandishes a flaming mace-

Kazura: I’ve got a romantic poem, just for you!

BM Hunters are red, Draenei are blue, without stealth detection a Rogue will gank you!

Oooh, isn't Kiaara norty?

P.S: 3000 page views! Zomgwtf!

Hey guys, this the actual Kazura working the keyboard, not Faulsey, I have infiltrated his blog =D

No not really, he is letting me try out having a blog to see if I like it before I go crazy and get my own, since I am not too sure if I will be good at this sort of stuff xD

Note to self: Stop rambling about nonsense

Righto, like the header says, this is what I would put in for Anna’s Friday Five, and it also lets me have a go to see how well I do talking about my character, since if I actually have a blog it would be mostly in character =]

My answers -

1. What is your character’s most recognizable trait?

Umm… If someone passed Kazura on the street the first thing they would notice would be her slender figure bouncing up and down with her short ponytail bobbing slightly, as she likes to jump about quite  a lot when she has free time, or show off her power by moonfiring poor helpless critters. You would also hear her before you see her, as she never runs out of things to talk about with strangers, she is quite outgoing with people.

2. What does your character’s voice sound like?

Kazzie’s voice is quite smooth and firm, it has reassurance in it, and changes to suit her mood. If she is irritated or annoyed the tones will change, letting the person know she is not a happy moonkin and to back off, but when she is happy her voice becomes a lot more welcoming and softer, lifting peoples spirits.

3. Do they like to sing? Can they sing?

Kazzie may have a nice voice, but she can’t sing to save her feathers. That doesn’t stop her from trying though, if you walk into a pub and see Kazura sitting there with a goblet in her hand, be sure that the next warbling pub song will be starting shortly.

4. Does your character have a noticeable accent of any kind?

Kazura’s accent has changed over the course of her seasons, as she travels to new cities and meets new people, picking up their accent gradually, so her accent is a mixture of mainly Human and Dwarvish accents when speaking in common because she decided that she wanted to discover the world, and left the tree early in her seasons, but when speaking in Darnassian her accent changes dramatically to her original speech, showing that she still has connections with her homeland.

5. If your character was spending an evening in an inn/tavern/pub, where would they sit? What would they be doing?

 When Kazura is in the pubs she is usually going between the bar and a group of friends and strangers alike, gossiping and having a banter or a sing while getting totally smashed and buying drinks for everyone. Usually things start to go pear shaped when Kazzie gets drunk, but her faithful friends tend to step in before anything cringe-worthy happens. When Kazura is about in the pubs she gets the party started, which then spill out onto the streets after they are kicked from the pub.

So! That is my answers to this weeks questions, I hope you all didnt fall asleep too quickly and will comment before you rush off and try to wipe your mind of this post But really, please let me know how it was, it depends on the survival of the bloggosphere!!!

Thanks for reading ^^ x

Happy Birthday to Kazura!

You’re absolutely ancient now. Are those white feathers I see? You’ll need to dye your Boomkin!

:3

P.S. WTB Times for Friday’s events, PSText.

It seems as time goes by, my heroic PUGs get worse and worse. To begin with, a bad run was a very rare occurrence. Now, I’d say about half my runs fail to really get off the ground – maybe take down one boss, if that.

This would be slightly less annoying were it not for the fact that it always happens in HoS, and did I not have two such parties back to back, when I am a mere two marks from Ellaria’s heirloom Shoulders.

On the bright side, with an incredibly quick Wintergrasp Win (so quick I had to get the remaining four kills after the battle had officially ended), and a quick run of VH, I scraped up enough Shards last night for Ilthiran’s Feral equivalent, which were promptly sent to Ellaria anyway!

Splat go the Hordies!

For some reason, when he had landed after his death, he looked incredibly funny

Todays HCs weren’t all doomed attempts. I had a good party for the daily, CoS – not quite fast enough to get the timed event, but more than good enough to clear the place without any real problems. We then went onto HC AN, where I managed to break 3k DPS on the first boss. Of course, that number is probably elevated ever so slightly by the two massive waves of adds I destroyed with Volley. Plus, 20+ mobs that die in one volley hit + trinket that restores 5% mana on kill = mana poring out of every orifice.

On the second boss, we ended up with a near wipe – tank got a Combat Rez, and it was down to just bear tank and tree healer for the last 25%. On the final boss, we managed to wipe once, and the second time, the Rogue evasion tanked him down for the last 15k HP. Fun times, fun times.

Look at the smug, totally alive Rogue.

Now, just waiting for an HC Nexus run, see if that manages to get at least two bosses down. Preferrably all of them, I want my boots!

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Also tried to do the questline last night for the Sprite Darter Hatchling mini pet with Kazura, Yuanjia and Kiaara, but halfway through it, I was plunged into pitch blackness. Entire street, and the estates on the other side of the road, were out, streetlights and all. Hey, at least I got to see the stars for first time in a long while, without all that light pollution. Also, sitting playing your DS in candle light is relaxing…

Except that I was playing advance wars: Dual Strike. Turned on campaign, spent 2 minutes on it, then realised why I hadn’t played it for months (stuck. So very stuck.) So, instead, I did a CPU versus match, shouting “HEAVY METAL, BITCHES!” every time I got to activate my Tag Power.*

Rounded off the quests all by myself today, and got this awesome little guy:

Cute, but unbelievably tiny compared to a Draenei!

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And some random silliness just to round the post off!

Went over to visit Eresin on Tarren Mill last night, where me and Kazura came across a level 1 Paladin, with a name that, to us, was indicative of a gold seller. Unable to report without any evidence, we proceeded to stalk him.

If you look closely, you can see Kazura hiding behind that wagon.

He ran to the second town in the newbie area, before turning back around to Sunstrider Isle, running into the academy area, and dying to a group of extremely powerful level 4 wraiths. With us following the whole time. Kazura flitting in and out of view behind wagons, trees and pillars, me stealthing until he got too far ahead, then copying Kazura’s tactics till we closed in again.

It was a fun way to pass 20 minutes, at least. -grin- Eresin thinks it might have been someones bank alt, but anyone who needs a bank alt is surely clever enough to A. Get to a capital and B. Not try to fight level 4 mobs at level 1.

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Some bloggy type news too! Harii, over at Ctrl-alt-ELITE! has started a “blog of the week” series of posts – and named me as her first! Woot! So, a big thank you to Harii, and, if for whatever reason you haven’t already been to her site, then, seriously, get your ass over there! I meant it! Now!

And whilst you’re at it, make sure and check out all the other blogs on my blogroll. Mush!

Quotes of the week: Bumper Edition! will be up on Friday, with quotes collected from this week and next. If you see it earlier than that, please leave me a comment along the lines of “Faulsey, you weren’t supposed to push the big blue button until you were done. Go back there and change it back to a draft, you fool.”

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* I am a very aggresive player in strategy games. Not so much in my tactics, more what I say whilst playing them. I’m one of those people who talks to them self as they play games. >.>; Also, the wiki I found so I could link Heavy Metal is so low quality it hurts.

It really is!

I’ve been a bit slow to do any PvP, but last night, Kazura bugged me until I did WG with her, so I gave it my first proper shot.

We were on Defence, and made a pretty good job of it given we won.

So, we tried it again tonight.

This round had a lot more people on both teams, and was so much more fun. There’s nothing like two huge forces clashing at one breach in the walls, with the defenders not noticing the attackers force slowing to a trickle, only for a wall on the opposite side to crumble and let more through. In the end, the horde had managed to breach the courtyard, and, with a mere 10 seconds to spare, captured the keep!

Engulfed by the encroaching horde (See what I did tharr? ... /wrists)

I could feel the communal disappointment poring out of the monitor. Good times though, good times.

The planets must be aligned or something, because I managed to get another HoS run today, but Sjonnir, knowing that I’ll only get to kill him once in a Blue Moon, dropped the same (useless to us) plate bracers he did that last time. He also alerted Keristrasza to the fact I was after her boots, and she made sure to hide those somewhere.

I’m shouldn’t really be bothered by my lack of Heroic Drops at this stage, since those are the last two things I’m aiming for before… well, trying to find a raiding guild that’s fairly casual, and thus doesn’t require a huge time commitment, or for me to have the “best” spec. And where the hell do I start trying to find a guild like that?

With the slowdown on Faulsey, I’m once again turning my focus to alts. I’m 20 Stone Keeper’s Shards away from Exceptional Stormshroud Shoulders for Ilthiran, which is a full Nexus run whilst I have the WG buff, and 17 Emblems of Heroism from Champion Herod’s Shoulder for Ellaria. I’ve got nothing else to spend my Emblems on, so might as well get Ellaria the benefit of some proper Enhancement Shoulders, instead of having her share Ilthiran’s Druid ones.

I dusted Ellaria off today, and got a couple of levels, starting at 33. 34 brings the game-breaking awesomeness that is Sentry Totem! Worked my way up to 35 with a combination of quests from Thousand Needles and Desolace, so I should now be able to go to Dustwallow Marsh. I also forgot I had the reincarnation ability, I haven’t picked up any Ankhs yet, which in retrospect would have saved me a corpse run earlier. Alas.

I neglect Ellaria too much sometimes. I really enjoy playing Shaman, even at the low level she’s at right now. I’m eagerly awaiting level 41 for Stormstrike, which should spice up combat somewhat, and the thought of maxing Maelstrom Weapon at 59 is even more win.

As much as I enjoy Druid, I think Ellaria will probably be my second to 80. Not sure how long it’ll take, and I’m torn between rushing her up to 80 pre-dual spec so I can group as Enhancement, or waiting till dual spec, so I can get into PUGs easier with Resto as my second spec. The idea of having to build two entirely different sets of gear intimidates me.

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I’ve been trying to switch over to keybind based playing – since I use the mouse for movement, the fact I had a click based playstyle wasn’t particularly efficient. So far, the results have been amusing. I unthinkingly bound one of Ellaria’s totems to R, and was confused when I tried to respond to whispers that I was dropping a Mana Spring Totem instead. On Faulsey, I really need to swap my Shot and “main” action bars around, as I keep activating Bestial Wrath instead of firing Serpent Sting. Testing a new set up in a Heroic is not advised.

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I found something that made me laugh in Howling Fjord last night:

Yes, that is a flying Storm Giant in the distance

And you thought the Fel Reaver was silly.

Speaking of silly… Kazura won’t let me RP as a Ditzy Priestess! (I made a Human Female Priest for the purpose of signing someones guild charter on an RP server)

“Hmm, sorry? What? Oh? You died? Oh… I’m… I’m sorry… I was buffing my nails.”

Edit: Ohyeah I forgot to mention… I has no quotes this week! I sort of negleted quote seeking… Oops! Sorry! I’ll post ‘em either this weekend, or a bumper post next week.

But he does like achievements and belts!

We got this totally by accident cause me and the warlock were AWESOMES.

You have no idea how much I hate the Skadi encounter. I really loathe it. In a PUG environment, it can be either extremely easy, or extremely difficult. Most of the time it’s difficult.

HELLZ YEAH!

I really hate Utgarde Pinnacle by now, so I’m really glad I finally got the belt. I’ve ran the instance every day for the past week, a couple times not making it past that bitch, Skadi. So I was ecstatic when I saw the belt. It now has a shiny blue gem in it, now I just need my helm from Ingvar with the meta slot, plus some boots from Keri and legs from Sjonnir. Ran the first two instances a billion times, but only run HoS once, so that might be difficult.

Slowly working my way towards a Nether Ray – Kazura and Yuanjia helped get me a 1.5k rep boost by killing Terokk – he’s a lot easier when you’ve got someone to heal your pet through his enrage.

Terokk defeated

I believe I’m around 18k rep away from exalted. This… this could take some time. Given that the mobs will now give full rep for kills, and are exceptionally weak, I’m seriously considering just going into Skettis and decimating the place.

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Silly gchat to finish off.

Not often everyone is competing for the title of "Ugliest guild member", is it?

Fun times, fun times indeed.

Firstly, I got Faulsey (Survival) the last 9 marks he needed for the necklace from WSG, got him the hell out of BGs, and got level 30.

Because everyone wants degenerate Chocobos, amirite?

To be frank, Hawkstriders kinda suck. Oh, what I would give for a Raptor.

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Now, something entirely new: Death Knights on the same realm. This is a sort of “Guild Project” (Ok, so our lowbie Blood Elf one hasn’t actually started yet, shhh!) again. So far, we’ve been kinda bad and left Ramsus behind, but we’re waiting for him now.

Sorry, Kazura, redheads. (She's the only proper ginger, apparently.)

Oh yes, me and Kazura are incredibly creative when it comes to names. Bow before our creativity!

We blasted through the questline without issue, but there was one major difference from the first time through : I got to see the entire Battle at Light’s Hope. I arrived at the very end first time, so I missed the good part.

I basically spent the entire battle running around dropping Howling Blasts

Unfortunately, Tirion doesn't adhere to this school of military tactics.

We’ve mixed up our specs a bit. I’m Frost (from Unholy), Kaz is Unholy (From Blood), and Yuanjia is Blood (from Frost). I’m aiming for a kind of tanky spec, but it’s looking pretty miserable at the moment.

After we left the phased DK areas… we promptly went over to Southshore to wreck the joint. No Ally players there, but it made me feel better about the times I was ganked in Hillsbrad.

Finally, Ramsus’ DK is an Orc, and he had this to say about himself:

When Ramsus is out of the starting area, it’ll be off to Hellfire Peninsula, give that a try on PvP… Should be, eh, fun.

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Brief main news. No lootz today, but I did run HC UP and UK with an awesome group, with almost no hitches – we had a couple of people die, but only one at a time, and we recovered quickly. Plus, I managed to keep Moko alive during the Skadi event and fight! You have no idea how bad I am at pet management at the moment.

I surprised myself with my DPS on the last boss of UK. I’d been extremely pleased with 2.5k DPS on earlier bosses, then managed to pull off 2.7k on Ingvar. Nerfed? ORLY?

Heh. I’m really enjoying this new, to me, shot weaving. I’m not perfect yet, but I’m getting better at timing it in my head so I’m not having to watch my action bars like a hawk, and miss everything else. It’s more fun than mashing Steady Shot all the time, anyway.

May try run a couple more HCs tomorrow after work – I’m 1k Rep from Exalted with Argent Crusade for my chest upgrade, and 13 Emblems from my neck upgrade. Skipping the neck piece from Xevozz in VH entirely, since VH only gives three emblems, and thats the only drop I’d like, which would be replaced quickly anyway. If I can get the belt from UP and the ring from CoS, that’ll be me set for Hit Rating, and I can finally get my respec. I might drop Aimed shot entirely, to open another point that I’ll probably put into Efficiency.

Because texting is doing my thumb in, and is far too fidgety.

Firstly:

Get 80. Don’t stay at 79. You can’t get any gear with Marks at 79, as far as I’m aware. Certainly, you wouldn’t from the original BGs – hence no point trying to stay at 79 to fit a bracket. If you are set on just doing PvP instead of instances and stuff, you’re going to want to grind up a lot of Honour for stuff from the Savage Gladitor’s Wildhide set. Of course, you could also do Arena and get points from there for even better gear, but it’s Arena. I don’t think you’d do particularly well – it’s pretty hardcore, and you are a fairly casual player.

Pieces of that set will run you a whopping 50k-60k honour each, so be prepared to grind a lot. I mean, really, a lot.

I don’t want to put you off, but even for a casual player, what do you think sounds better? Doing varied dungeons for the fun and the loot, or… running the same few BGs over and over and over again, to get the hundreds of thousands of honour you’d need for gear. And when I say the same few, really, it’s probably going to be mostly Strand of the Ancients – from what I’ve heard, that gives the best Honour for the shortest time.

I really recommend just going the PvE route. Even just casually. I’m pretty casual – perhaps a bit less so than you, but despite the OODLES of time on my hands, I’m choosing not to spend it purely working on making my character the best of the best by doing a load heroics per day, gearing up quickly, and getting into a high end raiding guild. I enjoy running one or two a day, if that.

You don’t need to start on heroics obviously – I didn’t, I posted like a billion entries about gearing up for heroics. It’s pretty easy to PUG the normal level 80 dungeons, and it’s not too hard to PUG the Heroics.

Now, with regards to raiding. You do not have to be “loot crazy” to do raids. Yes, the big, hardcore guilds, ones concerned only with progression and getting teh 1337 gear, you will certainly not fit in. However, there are bound to be smaller guilds, more social guilds, who run raids primarily for fun, and not for loot. You don’t need to find a guild as soon as you hit 80. I clearly haven’t, I’m still stuck with you guys in Akatsuki! -grin-

Admittedly, such a guild may be hard to find, but if you’re interested in trying out raids at all, it’ll be worth trying.

Finally: Talents for 80. I am far from an authority on Hunters, nevermind Druids, so I’m not going to give an entire talent tree. Looking at your current tree, however, I’d say, drop these like hot rocks (if you are staying Boomkin):

Genesis: Given you’ve been pressed into healing instances a lot, despite your spec, this has been handy for your HoTs. For a full Boomkin however? Probably not worth it. 5% boost to Insect Swarm and Moonfire’s DoTs? Hardly anything to write home about given the wealth of other talents you could take.

Owlkin Frenzy: Drop this if you do go the PvE route. For PvP, it’s defintely a keeper. But yeah, for PvE, a 15% chance to activate a 10% damage boost… if you take damage? You’re rarely going to be taking damage with a good tank, and even if you do, it’s not going to proc very often. Not worth it. Good for solo leveling though.

Gale Winds: This ones a bit iffy. Given the current “AOE IT!” trash strategies, this might be worth it. On the other hand, it’s basically useless if you aren’t going that route. I must admit I don’t, and I still do acceptable DPS. (Patch hasn’t hit EU servers yet, so can’t comment on what it’ll be like after the patch… much the same I imagine, given Volley is getting nerfed.)

Now, talents you might want to take:

Wrath of Cenarius: Boosts your SP contribution to Wrath and Starfire – pretty win, I’d say. Not sure exactly how much extra damage this actually makes, but I’d say it’s got to be more then Genesis would.

Intensity (Restoration tree): 30% extra mana regeneration whilst casting. Can’t argue with that, can you?

Omen of Clarity: Free spells occasionally. Again, can’t really argue with that.

Again, I’m going to reiterate : I am not an expert on Druid talents, so this advice might not be the best.

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Finally… Welcome to the end game. No matter whether you go the PvP or PvE path, you’re going to need to do a lot of research if you want to do anything beyond questing some more. The level cap is a whole new ball game – your goals are totally different. No longer is it a simple do these quests, get EXP, level up. You might not enjoy it. If that’s the case, may I suggest trying to contract a case of Altoholism?

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No normal update today – I’d intended on trying to run HC UP or VH, try and get a couple more in before the “nerf” tomorrow, but I wasn’t really feeling up to it. Pretty tired, didn’t get much sleep, went to bed late, and wasn’t able to compensate with a longer lie in, as I was going out with friends. Gutted the snow melted – there was a decent covering of snow last night at 4AM, but except on the hills, it had melted by the morning. We were gonna go for a wander about the park, take advantage of the fact schoolkids wouldn’t have been about to throw snowballs at us, and enjoy it. No such luck, though.