Thresholds

Flying on bugs is fun, too.

There were two thresholds that I happened since my last post.  I passed the 1 year point since my first post on this blog (May 5, 2012) and I now have my first max level character in Mists of Pandaria.

Ocho made a nice summary of what has happened with the New Bloggers since Syp started the Newbie Blogger Initiative on May 1, 2012 (and included a nice comment about this blog;  thanks!).  I've averaged almost 2 posts a month, which for most blogs wouldn't be much, but I'm only targeting to play and post once a week, so I feel like I kept up pretty well.  I also had a three month gap between September and November when I went from looking for a new game to play to deciding that it was too difficult to start a new MMO and that I would go back to playing World of Warcraft.

I am still finding more to write about, but it isn't nearly as easy as when I was evaluating different games.  Other blogs are a constant source of ideas, but I still have trouble finding time to play and to keep up with the blogs I'd like to read (and there are always more I am discovering).  I've pretty much resigned myself to reading the summaries only of the large sites (Massively, MMO RPG, WoW Insider, and Rock Paper Shotgun), if I can even do that.

In terms of World of Warcraft, I think I was somewhat reluctant to reach 90, because I knew I'd have a lot of decisions to make.  As of now, I am working on Klaxxi Rep as a continuation of the Dread Wastes zone along with Tillers where I now have 8 spots but am looking forward to Revered so I can grow the special items like Golden Lotuses.  I'll have another decision once either of those done (and I'm open to any suggestions) and once 5.3 hits next week with the limited time event.  I may go back and finish Operation Shieldwall for the plot points.

I did play both a Scenario and a Heroic with my guild once I hit 90, which was a lot of fun, although I didn't know what I was doing.  It reminded me of how willing the people in my guild are to help and that they are a great group of people.  I haven't played either a scenario or heroic since, but that gave me the gear so I could do random heroics and I think I'll be comfortable doing either as DPS (though I'll have to think before I join them as a healer on my priest, assuming I ever get her to 90).  I decided to wait to play her until they speed up leveling from 85 to 90, but that should happen on Tuesday and I still have a lot to do. 

There are so many quests, both daily and otherwise, that is a little overwhelming to be 90 so late in the process, but it is better than there being only one path.  I decided to let my daughter play with the Pet Battles.  I already reached 600 on both Herbalism and Alchemy and I'm well on my way there on cooking and fishing (I'm not sure how much it is worth doing the recipes to get from 575 to 600).  First Aid will have to wait until I get more Cataclysm cloth (it all went to my Tailor) and who knows when I'll get back to Archeology.

There was a recent post by Keen where he speaks about how people will only stop playing WoW when they have a Blizzard approved alternative (Titan).  I guess I fit into this group, though I hope I have more time when it hits because the thought of starting a new game is a little overwhelming after my experience last year.  Though who knows how my life will go in the next two years which is probably the minimum before Titan hits.  I make no promises on how much I post, but, at this point, I think I'll have plenty to write about for another year.  Thank you for reading!

MMOs and Gambling

More waterfalls in Pandaria.  What war?

I am still coming to grips with why, as a player who plays infrequently, I don't find a free to play game and save myself some money.  I spoke to this before, but a recent post by Ocho made me realize another reason why I am back playing WoW.

I hate gambling.  I remember recently going to a charity casino and even there, where there was no real money at stake, I didn't enjoy it.  I can understand how you can get better at a game like blackjack and put odds in you favor, but in the back of my mind is the fact that most people are throwing away money and many of them can't afford to do it.

Now, I know, to some, it is a form of entertainment.  I've had friends who go gambling, put a limit on how much they will spend and enjoy the time they have.  Sometimes they even come out ahead and, when they don't, they haven't spent any more than they would going out to a movie with popcorn and drinks.  It's fine for them, and I wouldn't want to eliminate their enjoyment, but it isn't for me.

The MMOs using the free to play model have learned that gambling is a way that they can make the money they need to build a game that many people want to play.  I am glad those games are around and I am glad there is an affordable way for people to play them.  However, just like gambling, it's not for me.

As I've mentioned before, I can afford a relatively small monthly price (less than the cost of two movie tickets these days), for a game that doesn't want to find ways to nickle and dime you.  Yes, you can go buy pets and mounts from Blizzard if you want, but Blizzard knows they have your subscription money for this month and there is a good chance they can have it next month if they can keep you entertained.  The motivations are different from the free to play games, or even the single pay games like Guild Wars 2 and The Secret World.  Again, I am glad there are different models that fit different players, but I'm glad there are still some subscription games around and I hope they continue to exist.

MMOs and Gating content

Kanter at Zouchin Village, Kun Lai Summit

After my last post, since I didn't get any suggestions on zones, I did what most people would do and searched on the web.  MMO champion had a poll about just this question.  Four zone scored close to the same, Jade Forest, Valley of the Four Winds, Kun Lai Summit and Dread Wastes.  I had already completed the Jade Forest quests, had decided to Krasarang Wilds with Kanter to make it easier for him to visit Pagle for fishing and left Valley of the Four Winds unfinished for Kantra my priest.

So I decided that I'd just get the flight path to Kun Lai Summit and head to the Dread Wastes leaving Kun Lai Summit to Kantra.  I went back to the internet to search for the path or quests that gets you to the Dread Wastes and found that you had to have a quest and you can only get the quest at level 89.

To me, this is patronizing and totally unnecessary.  I remember in vanilla WoW the excitement of going through both Wetlands and Feralas well under level, knowing that if I was attacked, there was a good chance I was going to die.  Wetlands allowed me to get to  Darnasus and Feralas was necessary at the time to get higher level alchemy recipes.  Feralas is still my favorite WoW zone, partially because of that trip.

Now, I guess because they want you to see things in order, when they think you are ready, they put zones behind barriers where you have to complete a quest at a certain level.  I believe I should be able to decide when I want to go to an area almost all the time.

I do remember a few cases where I like gates to content.  Finishing the quest to open the gate to Searing Gorge was exciting, particularly after seeing it when flying between Ironforge and Stormwind.  Raid gates for Onyxia and Karazhan were exciting to work through and I felt like I was worthy when I completed them.

However, gates just to enter a zone don't make any sense at all to me.  It reminds me a little of what I don't like about Apple.  They seem to think that they know better how you should use their products.  I'm the player, I'm the customer, I should get to decide how I want to play the game (or use their product).

At least I enjoyed the 'Thunder King' part of Kun Lai Summit.  I may going ahead and complete the zone although I'm almost level 89 now.  Kantra may just get to experience Townlong Steppes instead (one of the least favorite zones in the MMO champion poll).

Mists of Pandaria, Pets Battles, and Family Gaming

My daughter's panda in Loch Modan

Mists of Pandaria offers many different options of ways to play the game, and, in particular, more options for casual players including children.  I suspect there was more conversation about this when Mists first came out, but since I wasn't playing then, I'm late to the conversation.

I have taken the week off for spring break for school and so I was able to spend a few hours playing World of Warcraft with my eight year old daughter.  Right now, the only rule we have is that she can only play when I am around to help her.  My wife and I are concerned about people on the internet and what they'll say but as long as I'm there with her, I feel like it is fine for her about her to play online.  Other parents will have different rules and I don't pretend to know what is right for them or their children, but I'm hoping it is helpful to hear about my experience.

This is the same daughter who was playing Lord of the Rings Online with me last year.  She likes pets in games so it's not surprising that she wanted a hunter here.  She and some of her friends at school pretend to be pandas, so it's not surprising that the offer to play a panda in WoW was exciting for her.

At eight, I don't think it makes sense for her to have her own account.  Possibly at ten I might consider it, but I realize different parents have different tolerances (and different amounts of disposable income) and some children can be allowed more freedom than others.

She also has been steadily playing Pokemon White and White 2 since she received it for her birthday last March.  So it's not surprising that she is enjoying the pet battle subgame. I decided with my limited time, I would limit myself to crafting and questing at first, so this was my first to see the pet battles as well.

It's fun!  I think it was great that my daughter was able to get 5 achievements related to pet battles in less than two hours of playing time.  She also has an older computer with no video card, so it is nice that she can take her time to decide what she wants to do.  She started with 'Mojo' as her first pet (I'm not sure why) and she promptly renamed him 'Mojo Jojo'. ;)  After getting him to level 3, she decided she wanted to play with different pets and at this point she now has three pets levels 4 - 5 and has defeated two of the pet trainers.

I'm not sure if the parents at Blizzard were behind this or not, but I wouldn't be surprised if they were at all.  This is an almost ideal way for parents with children who want to play with them to be able to play without worrying about others and in a fun, relatively stress free setting.

Questing in WoW One Night a Week

Flying on a dragon is a good thing

I bought Mists of Pandaria about a month ago and finally finished the first zone, Jade Forest, this week. I did spend some of that time finishing leveling my Mage so I could disenchant, but still, I'm sure that seems like an incredible slow rate for most of the people who play WoW.

I remember when Burning Crusade came out, while some people were done in less than a week, I took about a week for each level.  I'm significantly slower than that now, but I've learned to accept it.  However, there are some difficulties.  There were a few times when I lost the train of what was going on.  I try to have one significant (2 hour) play session a week, but it doesn't always happen.  I did last weekend which got me very close to finishing the first zone and I was able to finish it in a relatively short session this weekend.

Even though sometimes I lost the train of the quest line, I was able to enjoy most of it.  In particular, the relatively short quest line within the Temple of the Jade Serpent (not including the instance) was finished in one session and it had the nice payback of a ride on the back of the Jade Serpent at the end.  I was also able to appreciate the horror of what happens at the end.

My thoughts now are how to get the most of the questing.  I'm close to level 87 and I certainly won't be able to play even half of the quests while leveling my first character.  I could just play the rest at max level, but I know I'm going to want to level at least my priest.  My plan now is to get to level 87 in Valley of the Four Winds and then switch to Krasarang Wilds.  This will allow my priest to switch to Valley of the Four Winds at level 86 and I'll see this content with her.

I went to Krasarang wilds once to turn in a special fish with Nat Pagle and it looks like I need to quest some there to get a closer flight path to him.  However, after that, I can pretty much quest in any area.  I'd love to get suggestions for people favorite zones to quest in, so I can at least finish one of the more enjoyable areas on my hunter before I reach 90.

Critical mass when playing one night a week

Working on my farm

There is a lot of excitement when starting a new game or a new expansion for an existing game.  However, when you are only playing one day a week, it doesn't keep you going, it is more a reminder of how far behind you'll be soon.

I've discovered that there is a 'critical mass' I've reached playing World of Warcraft that makes it more enjoyable to stay with the game than to start a new game.  I know people who are playing.  I'm not an expert, but I'm comfortable with the way the game works, the way the crafting works and I don't feel like I am missing too much.

I tried to play Lord of the Rings Online and you'd think it would be a better fit for a person playing one night a week.  There is no monthly charge, the cost for adding the areas for questing is minimal given that it would take me quite a while to complete them at my current rate.  However, I played a couple of characters to around level 10 and I've stopped.

If my daughter or wife were able to play at the same time I could, that would probably make a big difference, but I just didn't have the motivation to keep going.

Most MMOs are difficult to play one night a week.  Even with World of Warcraft, although it's easy enough to finish the quests, it is difficult to remember what I was doing one week to the next.  However, it's much easier if you know there are people there you can chat with or to whom you can ask questions.  It's easier knowing that there are only 5 levels (3 now) until I can advance my status with the Tillers and play around with the different cooking and farming options.

So, here I am some days not playing at all, some days only planting.  However, about once a week I do get a session where I have time to play and enjoy the game and, hopefully, see some of the people I've played with these last 8+ years.  That's longer than I've been with two of my three daughters.  Although I don't get to see them often now, that does count for something.

Crafting One Night a Week

Back in Pandaria fishing

As I started in Northrend, I was notified by Wow-pro that I would eventually need an Overcharged Capacitor for a quest.  I looked briefly at the auction house and saw they were available at a high price.  I then looked to see how soon I could build one myself and  saw it wouldn't be difficult.  I had great pleasure discovering that I (barely) had the cobalt I needed on a Warrior who is a miner/blacksmith and it was just a matter of building the items to get my Engineering skill to 375.

Even though I don't play that often, I have Grand Masters in every profession except Leatherworking and Skinning.  The crafts for my main character, Herbalism, Alchemy, Cooking, and Fishing, will probably be max level again once I focus on him.  

For some people, this would be total waste of time.  Even though there is little challenge in crafting in World of Warcraft, I find it to a lot of fun to plan out the leveling and be able to produce what I need myself.  To me, and, I believe to many, there is great value in offering a variety of activities in a MMO.  Spinks discussed this at length is his recent post.

Even when playing infrequently it is nice to be able to do different things.  For me, I alternate quests and crafting.  Sometimes I want to level, sometimes I want to complete things, sometimes I just want a distraction.  When I played more, I played through dungeons and even did raids one night a week with my guild.  Playing different classes provides variety as well.

Most MMOs today are generalists.  Keen suggested that more MMO games need to focus on what they can do that other games can't, I suspect he is correct.  World of Tanks is a great example although others wouldn't consider it an MMO.  However, for me, I love fantasy games and I love being able to switch between different tasks I enjoy as I like, so I'll probably be playing generalist games, and, as long as I'm playing one night a week, only one at a time.

Oh, as a side note, Mists finally went on sale so now I'm able to fish and farm again and improve my skills while doing it.