Farewell BRK

Wow, I just read BRK's post about him no longer blogging. It was a moving blog entry and it makes you think about your own life. What is the most important things in our lives, and are we making the most important things the most important. That makes me think about Steven Covey's book First Things First. We often neglect that which is the most important.

Of course, we'll miss BRK's blog, I think there are many of us that got into blogging because of him. I remember first reading his blog a long time ago when I saw his links from WoW-Insider. He'll be missed from the WoW community at large, but its like hearing about one of my favorite bands breaking up because they want to spend more time with their families (Toad the Wet Sprocket), you can't get upset at them, but rather you look up to them all the more. Hopefully more people will look at their own lives and follow Dan's example and make sure we do not neglect our families, our spouses, and our children. I don't think this means that you have to quit the game, but cutting back and becoming a part-time player for some. For others the only answer is quitting. Some people can be social drinkers others can't.

Many of us will miss BRK's wit, humor, darn helpful information, etc.

Here's to you BRK, farewell and good luck IRL.


Edit: Just wanted to add this link, a request in the forums that BRK be honored in the game somehow.

Define Casual

I've been thinking about the definition of a casual gamer lately. I mean come on, I claim to be a casual gamer, I even named my blog after it.

So, what is a casual gamer then? Is this anyone who isn't in a super hardcore raiding guild? Well, that would be just about all of the people I know (or who are probably reading this blog - I imagine the word "casual" might shy some away from here to begin with). Maybe a casual gamer is someone that can only raid 2 or 3 times a week, or ... maybe not. There isn't a hard fast rule, or a magical number of hours played in a week that draws a fine line, one that separates the causals from the hardcores.

No really, what makes the difference between hardcores and casuals? I don't think its just the time spent (however that does make an impact). Hardcore doesn't equal full time player just as casual doesn't equate to part-time player. Instead, I think, its a state of mind or a player's gaming style. Using this definition I would probably consider myself a "part-time" player instead of a casual player. Why would I say this? Well, for one, I write a freakin' WoW blog. The very fact that I'm writing this probably kicks me out of the casual camp altogether and makes me a bit of a paradox, or a least a misnomer. I might not have ran Naxx yet, but I have quite a few WoW podcasts on my iPod, my Google reader is full of other WoW blogs, and I even have a WoW shirt that says "I'm not addicted to WoW, I just want to finish it."

Perhaps I should rename my blog, "The Part-Time Huntering Blog". I'll have to think about that. So, here's the question. What do you consider yourself? Hardcore? Casual? Part-time? Something else?

Level 80!!!!

Last night Kydra and I finally hit level 80!!!! Here are the screen shots to prove it.


I think we may be some of the last people who actual reached level 80 (even though we were 70 before the WotLK came out).

By the way, thanks to all who suggested mods to take the screen shot, I ended up going with Multishot (suggested by Anea). This is a great little mod that takes a screen shot when ever you hit a new level, down a boss, or get a new achievement. I would suggest that if you know you are about to down a boss that you try to position your screen so you can actually see the boss downed or at least angle it to show your better side. Here's a shot it took when we finished Culling the Strat:


So, now what to do, what to do? I thought I would get back with my obsession with mounts and get my hippogryph by getting my Cenarian Expedition Rep up. I need to also get my Chopper which means I need to get off my arss and get my engineering finally leveled. Oh yes, and the many heroics that need to be done. Oh and I could work on my DK who is currently level 71. So much to do now, so little time.

Any other suggests as to what I should do now? Go to disneyland or something? Any suggestions for a new dps pet?

Almost 80

So, this whole time I've been writing this blog I've had to admit that I'm not at level 80 just yet (and I'm still not, but I'm closer now than ever before. Now I'm only 1 1/2 bubbles away after running last night with my wife Kydra, my brother Kygongyn, Stromboli, and my cousin Delu. Wow, I have a lot of family play this game with me.

You see how close I got to hitting 80 last night???!!!

I did get this drop in the Halls of Lightning, Avool's Sword of Jin BoE, market value of 2162 gold. I've still been using this Legacy that drops from the crone back in Kara. Its probably about time I start getting some new gear. Heck I'm still wearing 5 level 70 epics. And they weren't amazing epics, mostly again just stuff from Kara. My brother has been primping over me and my wife's toons like a BFF Jill over a teen age girl at the mall in need of a serious make over. Ha! Could you see Aoirselvar in Gap clothes, probably not.

So, after this my brother has a regiment of heroics that we get to do to get geared up for Naxx. I still think my wife and I will probably quest when we play together, we've enjoyed doing that the most. However, even though Kydra hates PvP, she really enjoyed AV (where she wreaked havoc with her mage of death), so maybe we'll do some BGs as well.

So, does anybody know of a mod that will take a screen shot for you when you level?

Oh I thought this was funny. She makes my helicopter look like a slightly oversized remote controled toy.

WoW at work

So, here I am typing at work a post that I don't really have time to write. So, I write a little bit here and there when I have a free moment between students. (I blame my tangents on this very fact). I sometimes also read blogs a little bit during lunch, and I play on twitter, talking to tweet friends about random stuff.

I think a lot of us do something like this at work to help get along and to keep our mind off of the mundane drudge of work. Of course there are some of you who play while at work. I don't know how you can get away with that. I'm a little jealous. I mean come one, why not use WoW in speech language therapy, lol. I don't think the school district would been too keen on the idea.

There are several people in our guild who play during the day, my brother use to. It seems like most of them were IT guys. There is no way I could ever keep up. I had to decide a long time ago that its not a race. Some people can put more time into it than others. Some people can play at work, and the rest of us just have to shake our fists (not in anger, but in envy). Of course, how are you getting anything done if you are playing at work? I can see it with my brother, he would either read or play wow between tech support calls. Oh to have a job where you could actually read. /sigh.

I suppose you could play in class as well on your laptop. The other students might be able to see it, but the teacher wouldn't (I'm talking about college of course, not high school). Of course, your grades might suffer that way. Didn't some study blame WoW for the increasing college drop out rates? I did get started playing WoW when I was in graduate school, but we only had about 16 people in each class. It would have been far to obvious, and alas, I don't have a laptop. So, I guess that was out of the picture altogether.

So, do you do something wow related at work or school? Are you a work wow player?? And if so how are you getting away with this?
At any rate,

WoW Burnout

I've been hearing about a lot of people getting burned out in the game lately. I believe I'm immune to burn out because of the fact that I am so unbelievably behind y'all, but I thought it would be interesting to find out more about at any rate.

I always have something I could do with the amount of time I put into the game. At that I still stop playing for periods of time here and there. Sometimes you just want something different. Does that mean you go to another MMO or play console games, or just pull out a book.

Well, I wanted to find out what people do when they get burned out so I threw the question out in twitter.

Stompalina: I tend to read a lot more than usual, play console games, bake obsessively... the usual stuff. lol


Areant: My solution was to explore a new side of WoW by rolling a new character on an RP server. Tried a new class too. Worked for me! Switching from Hardcore raider/GM to Casual RPer and regular member makes a different game. Nice break w/out actually quitting.

Chaoticwhizz: I stop for a month or two then come back. I tend to play more faster-pace games during that time


ghostangel: I play other things mostly. Or if it is nice out, I'm outside. But I'm one of those people that can disappear. I just will randomly leave WoW and not play for sometimes months at a time without warning is all ^^; Because I effectively have a permanent account with WoW, not unless it's free :)

Arrens: Take a break from the game. Even if it's only a few days, a week or a few months. Or give a completely different class a try.


ladygypsy: When I get burned out on WoW, I walk away from the game for 2 weekends. That's usually enough for me to get recharged. #wow


Spoonwolf: when wow burns me out I play L4D or Starcraft



Would you or have you considered trying out another MMO? Which ones?


etherjammer: I've been thinking about trying EVE Online or reactivating my City of Heroes sub.


Arrens: WoW is my first and only MMO thus far. Other games I play when I'm tired of WoW are Guitar Hero/Rock Band & Grand Theft Auto. Never tried any and I'm really not a fan of paying a subscription fee unless I like it, obviously ;)

Stompalina: Right now I am probably not interested in trying out another MMO. We are broke nowadays... Lot of console games gathering dust.


SlowWolf: Actually, if I burned out with wow, I'd play DotA. =P Or lots of smash bros.



Rilgon: Only MMO I can tolerate other than WoW is Ragnarok Online.



Areant: It would have to be one my friends played.The social aspect is what keeps me playing, which is why I can't ever see quitting WoW


stoppableforce: I'd probably go back to FFXI, or CoH, or Eve.



Nightravyn: now that I'm awake and responding... yeah, I tend to go console. Not as much of a time sink. ;)


Spoonwolf: yes I would try other MMOs (eve, WAR, etc) but honestly after researching, their Ui is horrible and the gameplay is garbage


Faulsey: Last time I played an MMO when I was bored of another MMO, I quit the first for the second... Do not want to do that again...


Narayu: I used to play FFXI, I've considered going back at times, I like that you can level all classes on one character


Jezriyah: I didn't answer, but: most of my love for WoW is based in my guildies and friends. Without them, other MMOs don't interest me.


isheepthings: Only MMO that's caught my eye would be "The old republic"...other then that various PC games...not much on console for me atm.


Fimlys: not burned out, but downloading runes of magic right now.. taking 3 days to download.. just to try.. :P


Kikipewpew: As a break from WoW I have played other MMO's, like recently Runes of Magic :3 but not for very long, previously when I had the 360 set up I would play that as a break from the computer in general!

I would have thought other MMOs would have been more popular, but a lot of you seem to rather take time off of WoW by playing console games. That makes sense because its a completely different feel. You probably need a break from the MMOs in general (which WoW is included) or at least get away from the fantasy MMOs and try something different. Maybe Blizz is hoping that when you take a break from WoW, you'll play one of their other games (if they ever get around to finishing them), like Starcraft 2 or Diablo 3. Bliz better come out with some kind of Warcraft Rock Band, that would help, hmm, maybe some kind of minigame with in the game.

What do you do when you are getting burned out of playing WoW? I'll have to come up with a list of things to do when you're sick of wow. Maybe we can get @stompalina to bake us something. Hmm....

WoW free weekend - almost

Wow, no WoW all weekend. Weird. We just didn't have time to get to it all weekend.

Oh wait. I did play wow with my 7 year old nephew in West Fall. Good times. I helped him ding 16, woot. He was super excited. That's his highest level toon and he has about 30 toons. Can I tell you how much quest helper helps when you are trying to help a 7 year old quest. They don't have a clue as to where they need to go, but you can also see other people's quests stuff on the map with that addon.

My nephew was particularly impressed with our mad murloc slaying skills. Good times.

Random Ramblings

So, I've finally dinged 79 recently. Now I'm in the last stretch to 80 (fans gather in eager anticipation). My brother all ready pretty much has a schedule laid out for us once we hit 80 of heroics gearing up for Nax. I have been pretty much clueless as y'all talk about this raid and that. I honestly haven't done that much research in the matter, partly because I want it to be new (to me at least) and also because... well, because of boredom. Not that raiding is boring, but to read about raiding that you aren't able to do as of yet, yeah that's a little much.

Oh, we did AQ40 last night in a pug. I got 2 new mounts out of it (even if I can only use them for AQ, at least they count towards the achievement). I'm up to 62 mounts now, still need 38 for the Mountain of Mounts achievement. I still have a lot of huntering to do for that.

I've noticed that the google searches that make their way here are mostly about hunters. I haven't written too much on huntering as of late. I should get back to that a little more. I probably will when I'm level 80. I did get one google search that found me by searching for "casual bobs". Well, you found one, although I'm not sure sure what that entails. Maybe it could be a title for some future achievement. Casual Bob Aoirselvar the Brave. Hmm, I'll have to think on that, its kind of catchy.

My Hx with RPGs (part 2)

Okay, here is part 2 of my history of RPGs, enjoy the history lesson.

One game that we really liked was Eye of the Beholder. We thought the graphics were to die for (pretty silly of us now that I think back on that). You got to have gear, you gained experience, you have got to go in dungeons to fight mobs, find secret levers, etc, etc. Of course you could only move one block at a time. And as with other games that I played, I never beat it. I wasn't the kid who had to beat the video game, I just somehow lost interest, or got stuck/frustrated or something. But I remember this game being pretty exciting at the time.

We had an old Commodore 64 computer which had Ultima 4 (or 5, I don't remember). Wow, I loved that game. Why was I playing that at about the same time as Eye of the Beholder? Because we happen to have a that cool commodore. (later taken by bill collecters, another post right there). You could go anywhere, you had to level up, you could talk to NPCs, go through moon portals, get attacked by these scary wraith like things, etc. Good times there. That was a great game. I loved the Ultima series. I never did try Ultima online or anything, but that was before I was willing to pay a fee every month to play a game. I'm apparently way past that now.

Thus we entered the time of blizzard. No one heard of Warcraft: Orcs and Humans, but Warcraft 2 was a huge hit. It wasn't technically an RPG, but instead it was a real-time strategy game. I think most of you know how that game was played. You build up your base either being human or orc (the horde) and you build up an army to destroy the other base. One of the coolest things about this game was that you could play it against your friends. Oh the days prior to the internet when you had to connect your modem direct with your friends (with all the technical problems included). We also would have LAN parties where we connected all of our computers on a network so we could play together (or was that later on), I'm not sure. I was in high school at the time all of this was going on.

Yes, I have to admit, we were also big into the Heroes of Might and Magic games (/facepalm from the embarrassment). Looking back on it now, it seemed pretty corny. And the turn taking style to your fights was pretty silly as well. But I think the element of growing your army, improving the type of troops that you had to the point where you could own someone, that was fun. You could play this with other people but we played it hotseat style, where you take turns (yes the whole thing was turn based). There were many a times when several of us were playing this game while doing other stuff, just taking turns on the computer.

I took a two year vacation from video games altogether. When I came back there were some pretty cool games out. I remember briefly playing Diablo, but I’m not sure when. I really liked Dungeon Siege a lot (but the camera angle could never look up towards the sky, that really bothered me). One thing about Dungeon Siege was that you could specialize in a certain talent (magic, range, or melee), but you didn't have a class, it just depended on what you did. If you attacked things with your sword a lot you got better at that, the same with the magic. Sometimes I wish in WoW that we had more specializations like that. Anyway, these games were a lot of fun.

Oh, and one more game that I played before World of Warcraft, Fable. What a fun game, I don't know how long I was being called "chicken chaser" as my title. I liked the fact that as you did good or evil things it reflected how you looked and how people treated you in the world. I haven't tried Fable 2, but I've been told that it’s very addictive.

So, now I play WoW and I'm still not on a RP server (well, I have toons on there, but I'm not there in spirit). The RP aspect of the game has intrigued me. I didn't even consider it until I got into twitter, where some of my friends got the idea in my head. At any rate, now I get my fix through World of Warcraft which totally kicks the other games out of the water. I'm here to stay. Well, until something better comes along (/looks towards blizzard with raised eyebrow).

What games influenced you?

My Hx with RPGs (part 1)

My Hx of RPGs (part 1)

So I have a history with RPGs that goes all the way back to the 80s. Now I've missed a lot of the games that were crucial to the overall development of RPGs in general, so this defiantly isn't a history of RPGs, but rather "my history" with RPGs, which is of course much more interesting. Well, maybe not, but you're here.

I've been obsessed with the concept of a role-playing for a very long time that naturally lead me eventually to World of Warcraft.

Of course the first RPG that many of us played was the original Zelda on the old school Nintendo system. I think my dad had this game, I'm not sure. I remember my friends in my neighborhood were so good at it, they knew how to get through every castle and where all of the hearts were. I liked this game, but wasn't addicted. Now the 2nd Zelda game I was more into, Zelda 2 - Adventures of Link. Consequently about 3-4 years ago I almost beat this game at my in-laws house during our Christmas vacation from college. It was fun to play on the old school Nintendo system again.


I don't think this next game counts as an RPG, but I loved Karatica. This was one of the first martial arts games that I can remember, and you had a health bar, you got to kick/hit high, medium, or low – lots of options. I use to play this game on our old school apple computer. We never figured out how to get pass the dropping gate, always killed us, we were so close to saving the princess.

Okay, I got introduced the King's Quest games. Do you remember these games?? You basically had a screen shot that you could move around picking up certain items, talking to certain people in order to solve riddles and save the girl and such. These games weren't so action packed, and the fighting sucked, but you weren't stuck on one level Super Mario Brothers and you could go any where you want (at least the parts that you've opened up). I think they even eventually made a version that was in a 3D world like Azeroth, but apparently it wasn't as popular because you probably never heard about it either.

Now in jr high I played some games that were definitely headed more towards WoW. And this was where I started to get into the table top games a little bit. We were really into Dungeons and Dragons, Robotech, and Dragonlance role playing games. I loved the fantasy world and all the potential these games possessed. However, I usually ended up spending more time creating a character and coming up with the story behind him (I always like the hybrid classes like a rogue mages or your half-elves). Anyway, I loved creating characters, but when it came to actual game play it didn't go too far. I think we didn't have any really good DMs or something. I still get the urge from time to time as I drive by a gaming store to buy the latest AD&D (advanced Dungeon & Dragons) book and start to make a new character. I also get the urge whenever I listen to The Smiths or Nine Inch Nails (the music I listen to at the time). But who has the time for that anyway. Not me, I barely keep up with WoW. But at the time, table top games continued to increase my love for RPGs.

More to come tomorrow... hopefully.

St Patty's day - DK RP

Happy St Patty’s day to y’all. I work at an elementary school so wearing green today was essential to my survival. (aghhhh, death by pinches….).

My Death Knight finally hit level 70 and after getting her mining all the way up she is now in Northrend. I decided to do something a little different. I’m actually attempting to play her slightly RP style. I don’t think I could ever completely play a crosstoon RP, because I’m not going to even pretend to know what’s going on in the female brain, let alone pretend to be one. However, I’m actually reading quests and interacting with NPCs. Northrend is perfect for this especially since the NPCs specifically talk to you a lot more now (remember who people in Dallaran say hello to you when you enter their shops?) Okay, the interacting with computer people seems a little silly to me, but the whole thing adds a new dimension to game play that I’m enjoying, trying to see through the eyes of my character.

Really why do we play the game? What do we get out of it? I for one love the social aspect of the game, even though I play solo quite a bit, but I usually keep twitter on and I chat with some of the other early birds in my guild. We play to try to get our next piece of cool gear? I know a lot of people who are all about getting uber gear (my little brother for one). Spending all of your time getting the best gear possible can be fun, but eventually it can get boring. I know so many people who were burned out on raiding before WotLK (and some who are as of now).

We play for the overall experience of the game, right? I say this, but that doesn’t explain why we farm. Farming can’t be that much fun. But we are trying to improve our toons, or collect cool stuff. It’s nice to be able to make a lot of gold in the economy (even if making gold IRL isn’t as easy… or fun). I say this but I’m pretty poor in Azeroth and IRL.

But I regress to random tangents as always. So, I’m trying out the RP thing (even though my main characters aren’t on an RP server). And so far it has increased the game play experience quite a bit. It adds a new element to the game that has made it exciting for me again. I’ll have to come up with some story about people doing crazy stuff, I best avoid capital cities I suppose.

So, maybe I’ll have to actually visit those level 1 characters that I rolled on RP servers and give them a shot. I just have a hard time spending time on other servers and redoing the whole leveling process. At least it’s a lot quicker than when I leveled my hunter /sigh. Yes, I know I could roll a Death Knight, but I really would like to try RPing a hunter. I guess that’s just something to look forward to.

How to get your signficant other to play.

How does one get their significant other to play WoW?

I have been asked many times how I got my wife to play WoW with me. I could tell how she got playing, but I've never had a really good answer as to how to help others get their wives, girlfriends, boyfriends, etc to play the game with them. I do understand why people want to have their significant others playing with them. For one, you can spend time doing something you like to do with them. It brings down contention in the relationship (as related to WoW at least). You now have someone to talk IRL about that new piece of gear you just won in your raid last night (that could be a negative point too, as you will see below). You have a questing partner. etc, etc. Its really fun to be able to play with my spouse. I've enjoyed the game so much more being about to explore azeroth with @kydragirl.

But how do you get your significant other to play? Well, it depends. You can't manipulate anybody into playing, it won't work. Beggin has proved to be ineffective as well. I wouldn't suggest just buying a second account for them (sorry Arrens). If they absolutely hate video games in general then they probably won't want to play, but if they already like video games to some extent and they aren't so completely against the idea then you might be able to tap/nudge them over the edge (into playing the newest sensation, that is world of warcraft - but I guess its not that new anymore).

My sister-in-law plays with her husband and ourselves sometimes (although we haven't played with her in a long while). She use to play Heroes of Might and Magic with us when she was dating my older brother. She got into playing WoW by watching my brother play for awhile. She would watch him raid and listen to the conversations. One day my brother got her to role a warlock because she wanted the beautiful flaming horse that those warlocks get to have.

So, in my wife's case, she wasn't against video games, played them on and off with her brother growing up. We both really got into Sims at one point in time and we were addicted to Donkey Konga. You'd have to ask her more about her pre-WoW video game experience yourself (@kydragirl), I don't know all the details.

I was wanting to get her into it, but she was kind of like "meh" about the subject. She wasn't against the idea, but she wasn't exactly for it either. By this time my sister-in-law was already playing and one day while were were at a family party I told my sister to show @kydragirl what some of the alliance girls looked like. (I could be wrong about the details, but that's essential it - I'll add an edit if @kydragirl lets me know anything different). They sat down and played around with it, working out a character, coming up with a name, figuring out the beginning area, etc. As my sister-in-law put it, "there's crack in that game, what can I say".

I think if you can get someone to play the game long enough with an open mind they'll get hooked, most of the time. It also helps to have someone there to explain things when they first start in a way that won't make them feel stupid or overwhelmed. If they try it and don't understand how to play it they might get frustrated and quit early. My other sister-in-law rolled a toon just out of curiosity, got frustrated with a quest in Silvermoon and gave up before she really got started. She didn't have anybody right there with her to help out or show her how it works. Now she won't pick it back up because she thinks it's stupid.

I have had several people from twitter and from my guild wish that they could get their spouse into the game. It has become a source of contention in their relationship. I can understand why, you see your significant other might think that you like playing the game more than spending time with them. Of course its not that you don't like spending time with them, but you enjoy this game as well. Of course if you are using the game as an escape because you are having problems then thats another topic altogether. In my opinion, if the game is causing too many problems for you in real life, then its time to put the game aside, or at least try to limit your game play. A silly video game is not worth ruining a relationship. Of course if you are lucky enough to get your sweetheart into the game then more power to you.

Here are some comments from friends in twitter when I asked how you could get your significant other to play with you in Azeroth.

stoppableforce: I tried that once; it didn't really work. Good luck!



kirikitten: Bribery. Probably using sex.



SlowWolf: Only way would be to at least get her to like dressing up the characters... but she's never going to actually play. =D


Ithato: my gf has finished Rock Band 2 on her own and loves The Sims and a few other titles, but didn't have the patience for early WoW


pugofwar: I love research like that. Hmm. One tactic is to play up the lore so that s/he feels like part of a greater narrative.


Arcania: My husband and I played together from the beginning, but for anyone I would suggest appealing to the aspects the SO would enjoy.


Arrens: If you can figure that out, lemme know. I've been trying for the past year with zero success.


Spoonwolf: I actually met my wife playing WSG WAY back in the day in vanilla wow



pikestaff: the main thing to remember if that if he/she doesn't want to play, he/she probably won't, in my experience >.>


Jezriyah: I plan to meet my significant other through WoW and save myself the trouble.




It looks like a lot of people have had no success with this up to this point. But to look on the bright side for those who haven't been able to get their snookums into the game, Pike mentions that there can be some negatives about having them play as well:

Pikestaff: Be aware that there are downsides too, heck, sometimes I think a lot of things would be easier if my boyfriend didn't play =P For example we raid on different nights because of scheduling. So that's two nights of not seeing each other Oh and the realization that 90% of things you discuss as a couple are WoW-related is always a lil'... shocking Oh and sometimes you get tired of WoW and don't want to talk about it . But guess who wants to tell you all about their raid =P

So, there you have it, I don't think I really helped anybody, but what is your take on the matter?