My bad.

Okay, if any potential readers (there’s still, like, no evidence that anyone has even seen this blog) took my advice from last week’s entry, I’m sorry. Actually, I still don’t think that it was terrible advice, but there’s something you should know about this blogger; I’m incredibly fickle. My  opinions can drastically change from week to week and it brings me lots of trouble and puts me in situations like these where I have to apologize. Case in point: last week I ranted a bit about how making too many alts can sometimes be a bad idea. This week I made a priest.

And I haven’t really regretted it! Sure, it happens to be, so far, the most annoying class to solo with. Sure, I have plenty of characters that can pretty much do most of what a priest could do. Sure, there was very, very little reason for me to make the character, yet I’ve been spending practically all of my time on it. I think that even though there’s a lot of grief to go through, there’s still nothing like the learning experience for a character, and while I’ve tried making priests in the past, I’m nearly 20 on this Sparkovana (don’t ask), the farthest I’ve made it with the class, and I’m learning more and more about it, making it more and more tolerable. There’s also the fact that it is significantly harder, for me at least, to level a priest than any other class, and the challenge has always bothered me enough for me to want to beat it. I might actually take this character seriously.

It started out as research, though. As you might know from my previous entries, the various realms I play on have been dissatisfying. After searching and searching, there’s only a small fraction of people I’m able to get along with on these servers, and it’s not because I’m especially picky or really unapproachable or anything like that; it’s just really difficult to find intelligent, mature, funny people on pvp realms. I’ve always played on ’em for some reason. I hate pvp, so I don’t know. My sister and some friends played on one and I’ve just stuck with them since, despite the personality clash between me and all of the eleven-year-old griefers. So I wondered if there were places where I’d fit in more comfortably, did a little forum research, and made a few alts on some RP servers.

Now, I’m the sort of person that’s able to respect a roleplayer. As a writer, anyone that’s willing to jump into another character and tell their own stories is okay in my book. I’m a bit too timid to jump into that scene just yet, but I’ve always had the feeling that I’d be the type to get along with roleplayers more than the general WoW crowd. I mean, aside from the eRP or borderline eRP that exists in Goldshire on every RP server, a lot of roleplayers seem to type quite well. I’m a pretty big lore fanatic, and to properly roleplay a class one usually does their research. I mean, in general, it seemed like a good idea.

So I’ve had some fun, truly. I think Hallow’s End is one of the best times to create a character; especially a human. There’s that event in Goldshire that’s happening constantly so there’s lot of free candy, buffs, and you get to run around in disguises which makes the experience a little more memorable. There’s been a lot of very kind people, a lot of very creepy people, and everything inbetween; from what I can tell, these RP realms are slightly more colorful and cultured than the pvp sort. I mean, I walked into stormwind last night and rather than LFG spams, everyone was discussing the relationship between Malfurion and Tyrande, and this story-based conversation went on for at least an hour. You don’t see that elsewhere, and it was extremely refreshing.

And then I exited and leveled a bit longer, and general chat started to go crazy in a bad way. 4chan memes were abundant. Insults to every sort of WoW player were heard loud and clear, despite it being in a text format. Made-up words that the creators thought sounded funny were spammed with caps lock. In general, I felt a bit disheartened. Here was a realm that I’d been having the time of my life on; the sort where I could see my mains settling down on without worrying about transferring around ever again, and then these thoughts had to be interrupted by…more of the same of what I was unfortunately used to.

Yet I kept playing through the week, and so far, the great experience has outweighed tiny interruptions like that. The point I’m trying to make here is that every single realm is going to have a few bad apples and while I was looking for the perfect fit, for a while, I’d have to make some effort myself. I can’t just give up due to a couple annoying peers.

So here’s to alts, and here’s to you, Feathermoon-US. I’m not exactly raising a glass, but if I had one right here I would. You may very well be the place to house all of my characters in the future. Stay golden.

Oh, and here’s some music that I’ve been listening to and liking.

-Charles-

Alts are bad.

Let me explain.

I think if we were given limitations to how many characters we’re allowed, this wouldn’t be the game for me. I mean, there’s only nine per server, but that’s not necessarily bad; it just gives people obsessed with making alternative characters in different communities to meet different people and have a different experience. In general, I am obsessed with making new characters and leveling them. I’ve leveled nearly every class to at least forty and many to 80 (or near it, anyway); it’s just part of the hobby for me. Some people like to think their characters are intricate enough to keep their full attention, which is true, and then there are people like me that believe this game has so much to offer and every option should be explored.

And then they are, and a specific problem comes up; characters you once loved or characters you want to give a try wind up never getting used. I leveled a rogue not too long ago that I completely adore. I’d love to get some progression and gear on him, but the people I play with are constantly demanding my help on my admittedly more useful healer character. In a similar respect, the paladin I started the game with is getting increasingly dusty as time goes on; too much of my time is spent on the shaman. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t regret making a shaman and it’s really fun to play, but with so many people relying on the character these days (the character I had originally established as an ‘alt’ that I would only play every now and then to keep in contact with my sister), there are a lot of missed opportunities. I likely won’t get much of a chance to play that new character, and my old ‘main’ that I loved so dearly has been staring at me from afar with longing eyes.

Alts cause problems, that’s for sure. Sometimes I wish I was the type of person to be a one-character-guy; it’d make things a lot simpler. I’m just such a fan of the leveling and learning process, though, and it puts me in these situations. So, as of late, I’ve tried my best to get back to my roots. I’ve ignored demands and made excuses not to go play on the shaman (who I get increasingly depressed by; horde just really isn’t my style after all) and my silver-handed human has been seeing quite a lot of action. The one sad thing is that things are not as they used to be. For some reason he found himself on a strange server where I know absolutely nobody and I’m in some guild with a bunch of Australians who probably wince at my voice every time I get into their vent just because I don’t sound like they do. Still, with all that, it’s been loads of fun healing on the character again. I truly think paladin healing is some of the most challenging healing in the game and I know I’m better at it than I am at any of my other characters, so it’s been nice to be able to show that and impress some strangers with my mighty divine hand. Plus he’s a human so that automatically makes him the best; there’s no race that can top ’em.

So here’s my advice: Don’t make too many alts. You’ll get backed into a corner and it’ll feel extremely awkward and people will go as far as to make you feel bad for wanting to play the game the way you want to play it. If you enjoy your main character and don’t really get too burned out, don’t be too curious–it could be your undoing. If you’re like me and you don’t have control over the amount of characters you make, well, best of luck to you. It’s gonna suck.

-Charles-

Whoo, lots to go over this week! I guess I’ll start by saying the little fellow above is named Sparkel, after my paladin that was forced to undergo a namechange because someone else had the name on the server he transferred to and now has a dumb name that I’d rather not repeat. I missed the name. He’s a level 80 protection warrior that had all of his top-of-the-line gear handed to him because he exists only on the public test realm where I’ve been spending an obscene amount of time. And that’s the major theme of this entry.

I know in a previous entry I described how frightening patches could be, but 3.3, from the looks of it, is pure excitement and, aside from the horrific gothic designs of Icecrown Citadel, there’s little to be afraid of. Class changes are minor; it’s pretty evident Blizzard has people where they want them for the remainder of the expansion. There’s not too many nerfs or buffs to anything. I mean, people will find a way to complain, but they have their work cut out for them. Honestly, from what I can tell, there’s a LOT to look forward to.

T10 info’s been released. Even some of the armor sets have been shown, and while there are arguments on to how they look, I maintain the opinion that, so far, the sets blow t7, t8, and (especially) t9 out of the water. In a similar theme, the set bonuses that have been released are by far the most powerful yet. I highly doubt people will be mixing sets anymore for bonuses and the like; it’s all very awesome from what I can tell. Based on what I know from the classes I actively play, anyway, and the others that I’ve discussed this with seem quite pleased as well.

And the new five-man’s (well, some of ’em), have been playable and they’re amazing. Gear-wise there’s not a lot of incentive to run them since no gear drops at all in the PTR, but people are FRANTICALLY running these instances repeatedly, and for good reason. They’re the best-looking five-mans in the game. They’re the most challenging. They’re the most story-driven. You’re literally fighting beside Jaina (Arthas’ ex-sweetie who’s ready for some goddamn closure already) and Sylvanas (she just really, really wants to kill him), charging through various outskirts of the Citadel trying to find your way in. The encounters themselves are well thought-out, from the different ways to survive to pull to the quirky character designs. I mean, unless you just like to complain, there’s nothing bad about these places, from what I can tell. 3.3 won’t be out for quite some time, so I urge anyone to make their way onto the test realms and get a sneak preview if you’re into that sorta thing.

Anyway, I logged on after a really terrible download that took basically all day long and spent hours just sitting there messing with talents, gems, the whole thing, ’cause I copied about five characters; classes that I’d never played at 80 before, and for me that was pretty fun. Testing out the different rotations, healing in different styles than what I was used to (paladins and shamans are still the most fun), and tanking for the first time ever, and in the end, the little warrior won my heart and the decision that my future Worgen would be a warrior wasn’t changed. I tried Fury out and didn’t LOVE it, but I’m pretty sure it was because I was doing it wrong. Tanking was loads of fun though.

On the regular realms, I’ve been very slowly getting used to horde life. There’s been tension here and there; a lot of people we transferred with felt very out of the loop and not as included as they used to be, but that was to be expected. It was a completely new environment and people freak out with change. We went from a small, casual tight-knit group to betraying the faction we’ve allied ourselves with for years, joining one of the most PvE-progressed guilds on the server, and it’s all been a little hardcore. They expect a lot out of me and I don’t always deliver; probably because I’m off messing around on the PTR rather than trying to better my one character every single day like they all do. Still, it’s only been a week and I’ve seen more content than I ever had before, so that’s kind of fun. And it’s a lot more entertaining to heal this harder stuff; I get kinda bored with regular modes and what-not. So there’s two sides of the whole situation and I’m still adjusting. Also, everyone makes fun of me ’cause I’m a female tauren and I don’t appreciate it. Evidently it’s the lest popular race-gender combination around.

I’m a little bitter that I don’t get new totems next patch and everyone else does. Maybe tauren was a mistake. But it’s still the only horde race I can actually tolerate.

I’ll wrap things up here by saying there’s a lot to look forward to, folks. Whether you’re a big fan of the game’s story or you miss the depth raids used to have, 3.3 seems pretty sure to have something for everyone. Except those that really love pvp. Too bad. (lol)

-Charles-

The picture above illustrates the plain confusion of a young Tauren as she stands around in the Sunreaver’s Sanctuary, the one section of Dalaran she’d never been able to see before. She’d lived the life of a proud draenei, but seemingly, it wasn’t proud enough. Yes, I’ve betrayed the alliance for this shaman and I must say, I feel the way miss Hothooves(that’s her name.) looks. Very confused. This is probably one of the most surreal experiences I’ve been involved in regarding WoW, and I must say, much of it is exciting.

I constantly catch myself trying to do alliance things. When people ask advice, I’ll catch myself starting to tell them to go to cities they can’t even access. I keep running into areas that instantly teleport me out of. I don’t know my way around any of the cities and most of my flight paths have changed; I’m pretty much a newb again. Which is a little scary, and a little charming at the same time. Probably my fondest memories were when I was just starting this game and there was so much to learn, and there’s always the possibility of such a feeling returning. For now, though, it’s still very weird.

Taurens are probably the only horde race I could ever see myself playing, and it comes down to one major reason; it’s the most villain-free race I can think of in the game, regardless of faction. I can recall a few hostile Tauren encampments in various low-level zones, but that’s as far as it ever got. The forsaken have folks like Putress that ruin the entire race; the majority of trolls in the game are pretty much baaaaad, and Garrosh is just kind of a jerk. I like to be blissfully naive and play a race where the major characters are, for the most part, very pure. Despite their brutish stature, these cow-men are so wonderfully peaceful. I don’t think there’s a city in-game that’s more serene than Thunder Bluff. There’s just a lot to like about this race unless you’re the type of person that thrives within conflict. I’m certainly not.

For now, I’ve spent most of my time doing some raids with a bunch of people I don’t know (though there is a sense of maturity within this faction; people don’t bail after two or three wipes like most alliance do, there’s a lot of patience), doing many northrend quests all over again since some reputations reset and many phased areas changed on me, and flying around all of the continents, trying to become accustomed to all the new, different towns. I haven’t quite had time to settle in and I’m not comfortable enough to reeeeally consider myself Horde; rather an Alliance sympathizer that plays Horde from time to time because mostly everyone I knew faction transferred and I didn’t want to be completely alone. But we’ll see how my different experiences manipulate me.

For now, I’ll just stare at my pretty cow’s back and sing Melissa’s small segment from The Wizard’s Baker over and over. Click on the video below to understand the reference. Also a shameless plug at my favorite canceled cartoon show ever.

-Charles-