Begin Again

I’ve reached that stage in a WoW player’s life where alt-itis becomes chronic.  Experiencing old content anew and experimenting with different race/class/profession combos, via alts, is really my primary way of enjoying the game after almost four years.

Thus last night, I rolled another alt, and not just another alt but another Warlock alt.  I was bored.  I didn’t think another alt would really alleviate the boredom, but it turns out it was a unique enough combination of race/gender–Forsaken Female–that my interest has been piqued.  So has my interest in writing about the experience.

I am not really starting over with her, since I am not abandoning my main Warlock, or my other alts.  Nor am I attempting to level without the benefit of a sugar daddy.  I tried that, I really did.  But the first time I went to the trainer and didn’t have the 95 coppers to train Shadow Bolt Rank 2, I went to my bank alt and sent my new Warlock a cash infusion.  10 gold isn’t a lot–less than earned from one daily at 80–but it can go far on a low level alt.

I also sent her four Netherweave bags, total cost 40 gold.  If I had it to do over again, I’d probably not be so extravagant, instead buying the non-BoE 12 slot Mageweave bags since I can trade the bags around once she outgrows them.

So, after the jump, a screenshot and some further discussion about starting a new alt.

Fishing for dummies (and other junk)

I’m feeling a bit grousy today. It has poured rain all day; I had to work; and it’s a Monday. On top of that, I’m feeling kind of blah about WoW right now.

So last week we had the patch, which went pretty smoothly overall. Our scheduled raids for the week were canceled, and instead my guild made some impromptu 10 and 25 man Ulduar excursions. I didn’t go. I just didn’t feel like it.

I’ve been playing this game too long to feel much excitement about anything, anymore. Maybe that’s a sign that I need a break, I don’t know. What I did, instead of raiding, was fish. I do love the change to fishing.

You can fish anywhere in the game, now, and you won’t have any more misses, either. Instead, the mechanic has been changed so that until your fishing skill is high enough level for the zone, you catch junk that sells for a couple coppers. Occasionally, you may catch a zone appropriate fish, but mostly you catch junk–old, tattered fabric, knotted fishing line, a piece of drift wood, etc. But you still get a skill up.

What that means is I can skill up the fishing of my alt characters anywhere in the world. That’s huge for me, being someone who actually enjoys and appreciates fishing.

Catching Up

Lately it seems like I’ve written more about my Death Knight(s) than my Warlock, and that’s because I’ve been playing my DKs more than my Warlock. I try to log my Lock at least once a day to do Oracles and/or Ebon Hold dailies, just to keep the money coming in, but otherwise I play my DK for fun.

And it has been fun. My Orc DK, Eldred, finished with Outland and moved on to the Borean Tundra this weekend. My Draeneii DK is still in Outland at level 63, leveling in Zangarmarsh, but the interesting thing there is that I skipped Hellfire Peninsula.

I leveled to 60 in the Eastern and Western Plaguelands, while skilling up Herbalism and Alchemy, and by the time I was ready to go to Outland I just decided to skip Hellfire, as an experiment. I knew from leveling my orc through there that by the time I finished HFP, I’d be high enough level to skip Zangarmarsh and go to Nagrand–and I didn’t want to skip Zangarmarsh.The Cenarion rep is arguably the only rep in Outland that remains important. No tto mention, Zangarmarsh is more fun than HFP for an Herbalist anyway, what with the Bog Lords to “herbalize.”

The thing that has surprised me most about leveling my two DKs is how quickly one levels through Outland. Shadowmoon Valley and Netherstorm must be completely deserted, because a player will almost certainly be 68 long before reaching quest lines that take them to those areas. In most cases, as with my experience, earlier zones will be skipped as well.

For example, my Orc DK leveled in HFP, a little in Zangarmarsh, and finally in Blades Edge Mountains, which I did not finish. I didn’t get the Achievements for quests completed in any of those three zones.

I don’t regret taking my Orc to Northrend at 68, however. I’ve enjoyed playing him so much more now that he actually has armor that matches and makes him look bad-ass. That may sound superficial, but I actually had a human laugh at me one day in Shatt, no doubt because I looked ridiculous with my enormous red and silver shoulder pads and various other motley pieces of armor.

I also have to say that Rune of the Fallen Crusader is an incredible weapon enchant, available to DKs when they reach 70. Unless I decide to tank an instance, or switch from Unholy to Frost spec, I can’t imagine using any other enchant. And suddenly, I can see myself (possibly) tanking a Nexus PuG one day soon. I’m at least going to try to get a group, whether I tank or DPS. I never expected to find myself seriously leveling this character, but he’s becoming a bigger and more important part of my fun than I ever imagined at first.

Eating crow

I have an uncanny knack of contradicting myself, where World of Warcraft is concerned.  Last week I posted that I didn’t care for the Death Knight class, and that I was waiting for a new Hero class that I could make my new main.  So, of course this weekend I spent almost my entire time online playing my Orc Death Knight.  I leveled him from 62 to 64, and raised my mining from around 200 to around 310.

Periodically, I go on playing binges like this.  This past Christmas, I was on the verge of deleting a Draenei Paladin I created the previous Christmas and only leveled to 18.  Instead I ended up playing her to level 33 over the course of two weeks, buying her mount, changing her crafting profession from engineering to blacksmithing, and generally solidifying her in my character roster because to delete her now would mean I wasted many hours of playtime and not an insignificant amount of gold.

My Orc Death Knight was in a similar position.  I hadn’t played him since December, I told myself I didn’t really like the Death Knight class (just like I odn’t like the Paladin class), and furthermore he was taking up space in an already full roster of characters on that server.

So I logged him in preparation for deleting him, and then I looked at him closely…hmmm, mining at 200 already.  Blacksmithing at 165.  He’s already well into Outland content.  Plus, he just looks cool (male Orcs make the best-looking Death Knights, I think).

Oh, and he accidentally got that silly, but difficult, “Going Down” achievement within days of his creation.

So I kept him.  And I played him a little, and I rediscovered how much fun it is to AoE grind with an Unholy Death Knight.

I don’t know if my interest in him will last out the week, but even if I don’t play him again for months, he has already permanently escaped the executioner.

I have some more thoughts on Death Knights, now that I’ve racked up some limited  experience playing one, but I’ll save those thoughts for another post.  This is still not a class I want to play as my main, simply because I don’t want to tank, but I can see myself playing my DK off and on for fun and profit.  Did I mention Death Knights make a great farmer/crafter toon?  More in a future post.

I need a Hero

I’m ready for a new Hero class in WoW. Last night, having finished all my dailies, having fought in Wintergrasp, and having nothing else to do, I created a Blood Elf Death Knight and played him through the starter zone. It doesn’t take long–maybe two hours at most–to go from 55 to 58, and to finish all the starter Death Knight quests.

But it’s fun. Man, is it fun. I created an Orc DK back when the expansion first priemered, but I lost interest at about level 62, as he was questing in Zangarmarsh.

Once past the new DK-specific content, I can’t bring myself to level anymore. For one thing, I don’t really have any goals for a DK attractive enough to propel me onward. I don’t plan on raiding with a DK, so that eliminates a significant reason for continuing to level, right there.  That leaves PvP, and/or just playing for the sake of playing, neither of which are interesting enough to hold me for long.

That brings me to today’s topic: I’m ready for a new Hero class, one that I can see myself playing at end game. One that might even become my new main.

It’s asking a lot, I know, since it’s been only a few months since Wrath was introduced. But you have to wonder, if Blizzard really does have plans for new hero classes, how are they going to introduce them in a timely manner? This game is getting old, and while certainly there will be new players coming aboard all the time (although perhaps in fewer and fewer numbers), there are people leaving all the time as well, perhaps in greater numbers. There is going to be a need for quicker release of content in order to satisfy demand before people move on to something else.

If Blizzard sticks to the Wrath model of having a new starter zone for each Hero class, it’s possible they could introduce a new class with one of the major content patches between expansions.    That could create it’s own problems, since the game (and particularly raiding guilds) have to balance around any new additions to class type.  One of the things that made the DK successful is that there was an interlude between the release and the beginning of raiding, during which people could level their DK’s, gear them, and get them ready to raid.

If, say, the new Hero Healer was introduced with Ulduar, it would be more difficult for people who wanted to play the class to level and gear up as quickly.  So Blizzard faces a daunting task in introducing these new classes in a timely manner, and in a way that does not disrupt the game, or pose more daunting challenges to those who want to play the class.

Still, I’m ready.  Now.  A friend of mine hopes the next Hero is a healer.  Specifically he is hoping for a monk-type, who can heal and dish out melee DPS–truly a unique combination, that.  I’d play that class, possibly even beyond the starter zone (Gilneas maybe?).  Right now, I’m just feeling a little bored, and it may be that Ulduar will take away some of that boredom.

But I for one was disappointed that there were no new races, and only one new class, in Wrath.  When we’re between major content upgrades, that’s when I like to start something new.  The Death Knight doesn’t do it for me, once I’m out in the larger world beyond the Ebon hold.