I remember this period during Burning Crusade. It was the final month leading up to Wrath. The wait gets harder as the days go by because you just want Deathwing to blow up the world already. Everyone is anxious. I’ve set a date on the cessation of raiding operations (November 22nd). We’re going to use the final weeks to wrap up any outstanding drakes and then take it easy for a bit. It’ll take every ounce (joule?) of energy I have to stay focused. Cataclysm debuts on the 7th. My exams are on the 8th and the 11th. I was the first player in my guild to reach 80 and it pains me to know that I cannot defend my title as guild first max level player.
It seems silly, but it’s one of the few things I take pride in. Some players prefer to take their time and enjoy the scenery. Why not explore the world and visit the areas that have changed, right? But I already did that in beta. I just find the 80-85 grind exhilarating and even more so when under a clock. Some of the members in my guild are ambitious. They’re anticipating reaching 85 on the Friday morning. I wonder how many work hours will be lost due to people exercising their sick day options.
Not only that, it’s NaNoWriMo. Every year I tell myself I want to participate and try it. Every year, I discover that the amount of time I have continues to dwindle. One of these years, I will place my blog in stasis and actually do it. I love writing guides, opinion and advice. The two styles of writing I never really got into: Poetry and fiction. I don’t expect to write a sonnet any time soon. But a dwarven special operations team? Possibilities.
The guild atmosphere is restless yet restrained. The search continues for the ever elusive holy pally. I want another one. I also want an elemental shaman, a rogue, and a warlock.
Things I’m working on:
Videos on how to get to the new instances – With commentary. Completely improv. Maybe I’ll RP it. If these bode well, I’m tempted to create additional videos of other aspects of WoW.
Craftable loot list – More for the guild. Identifying which items we can craft at max level. The more items we can create, the less reliance we’ll have on the RNGness of dungeons for the appropriate drops.
A getting started guide on what zones to hit – I won’t tell you how to do which quests, but I can point you in the right direction
Facebook fan page – Why not? No link yet, but I’m sure if you’re determined you’ll be able to find it easily. I need some time to add extra screenshots and videos to it. It needs some kind of substance.
Healing in a Z-Axis environment – An underwater zone. A raid boss who is the wind itself. Healing in all 3 dimensions isn’t the easiest thing to do but there are some things to keep in mind.
Happy tuesday! Good luck hunting down those stray elementals. I have yet to see one.
Is it here yet?
Good read Matticus, as always. I’ve thought about transferring and applying to your guild but I would hate to leave behind all the gold I have. Good luck to you and your guild in Cataclysm.
I haven’t really played WoW in the last 2-3 months, even though I got into beta and played through till level 81.5. So any and all starter information would be greatly appreciated, looking forward to this!
I am thrilled that the world event has finally arrived, and I hope it proves to be as much fun as the Scourge invasion was. We got a few more guildies their Kingslayer titles Sunday night, but I don’t see a whole lot of raiding in our immediate future.
It’s funny, I always try to concentrate on the game in the ‘right now’ as opposed to down the road, but I’ve been looking forward to Cataclysm’s arrival for a while now. Bring it on!
NaNoWriMo is really awesome. I’ve done it a few times, though I don’t really have the time to dedicate myself to it. I think the farthest I got was about 15,000 words. I just work too much D:
For me, my favourite time of TBC was that last month before Wrath, doing the Scourge Invasion. The Elemental Invasion’s taking a bit of a slow start so far, but I think probably in another week or two it’ll be going full steam and be just as enjoyable.
My guild’s still trying to aim for Kingslayer before the end too, and a few other achievements. So I think it’ll be a fun time ahead still.