This is a SYTYCB submission from Joveta.
The main problem I face being a recent horde-reroll is the fact that my years as Alliance has left me with a pretty full roster of high-ish level characters taking up slots I could be using in newer, greener, hordier pastures. I’m only rarely a quick leveler, so I’m loathe to delete any character I’ve invested the time to drag slowly above the level 40 mark. However, I mercilessly axed all my 20-and-unders to try and get myself the start of a support system hordeside, namely a banker, a goof-off character I can play with my husband, and my current project: the hunter.
My hunter was created with a very simple purpose: to get her butt to 70 as quickly as possible (before the next expansion) and become my farming character. My priest is currently an herbalist/alchemist. I love alchemy and I love the money I make from herbalism. The thought of going Inscription in Wrath, however, is like whispering sweet nothings into the ear of my inner-min/maxer. I want to keep my Redeemer’s Alchemist Stone. I want to continue to be self-sufficient when it comes to my consumables. I also want some of those snacky Holy inscriptions, damnit. This calls for a fast-leveling alt! I know, a hunter!
Azeroth conspires against me, though my needs really are very simple. I want a zone with quest hubs that are logically laid out. I dream of a zone where my time actively questing is not dwarfed by the amount of time I waste in transit. I lust after a zone where I can hunker down and get a couple levels in without needing to hop a taxi twice, or spend more than 20 minutes running in a single sitting.
Azeroth, you suck.
It’s really hard to work up the desire to level my hunter; I’m spoiled by Outlands. The difference between the “new content” and the old is extreme. Both the Blood Elf and Draenei newbie zones are awesome. Quest hubs are well-designed, enabling quest-batching. With twinked bags, I can go out, clear 4 or 5 quests, and come back for turn-ins at about the time my bags started begging for mercy.
After that, level 20 is a slap in the face. I’m really not interested in (re-)exploring the wonders of Azeroth. I don’t need the guided tour. I especially don’t need to run up and down the length of Kalimdor twice because some idiot-NPC decided he wants the special flowers that only grow over there and if he doesn’t get them, he’s not going to give me the next step in the chain which actually gets me something I might want. If one more NPC sends me to another continent for the next step in a chain I’ve already spent 30 minutes in transit for, I’ll scream.
Maybe I should just forget the hunter. I already know I’m going to have to axe something or pay for a transfer if I want to play a Death Knight. Leveling gathering skills from 0 at level 55 will also suck. However, at least I wouldn’t be stuck questing on Azeroth.
I agree with the alt-leveling thing in old content, I am trying to level 3 healy alts all at the same time (at least they are in different zones) and I’m praying for outlands to come quickly!
Good post, but it didn’t seem like your rant really got started until the 2nd to last paragraph. I loved the part where you talked about the NPC sending you on the flower-hunt, but I felt like as soon as the rant got started it was over =/
Oh come on… what about the Barrens? The scene plains of… endlessly… boring… forever… AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH.
I don’t know if the Alliance has a zone that is quite like the Barrens. It takes FOREVER to run anywhere in the barrens, or mulgore, or >_<
I liked. ^_^
Yeah, I feel your pain. That is a significant barrier to levelling alts. Addons like Questhelper, or levelling guides that cluster things for efficiency can help, but there’s too much time wasted on travel in the old world.
What, no one enjoys taking a nap on the long flight between Rutheran Village and Feathermoon Stronghold?
I was going to reserve any comments for the final/voting post. So I am not going to critique just yet.
I simply wanted to applaud all the posters so far and all of the comments to date. I have only recently gotten into blogs and don’t comment often. That said fifty percent of the comments I read are either positive or negative. Which would be fine but many are over the top in both directions.
The comments I have read so far have not only been constructive but well received. I really expected a whole lot of qq more posts.
Thank you all for really making the SYTYCB experience top notch.
@ Jen — I tried. My usual “rant” mode is a bit too bitchy, so I was trying to avoid that. >.>
@ Veleda — Preach it!
@ Sydera — zzzzzzz
@ Will — *sadface* Critique please! I’m sure I speak for most of the people posting, we’re not professional, we don’t really know what we should be working on unless we’re told.
Amen! I love getting feedback on my writing.
Brilliant post!! Well written, the tone is just right – acidy enough to be biting, but not too ‘moany’.Personal so it pulls you in and makes you sympathise, but without giving the reader the “it’s all about me”-feeling. It did feel short, but maybe it’s not such a bad thing leaving people wanting more… 😉
Hey there Joveta!
I also felt that the ranty part of your post came too short. It sort of lacked “color”.
As I read in your comment in the comments here, you were avoiding your usual “rant mode”, because you were afraid it would sound too bitchy?
Why did you that? I always feel like bloggers should be as authentic as possible.
Of course you should have your readership in mind and should try to provide something useful or worth reading.
But I also feel like you should never try to disguise what you really feel just to please someone you don’t even know in person.
Don’t be afraid to provoke your readers! Don’t cut back on what you have to say and how you want to say it. And if you are bitchy when ranting, so what! So am I… 😉
I liked your post, though. Don’t get my feedback wrong. 🙂
Jarlas last blog post..Things that Happend Or…
I know this feeling well, its why I spent the money on Recruit a Multiboxer and wasted so much time :(.
The older content is really not appropriate for levelling as an alt, its annoying and drawn out in a way you noticed even at low level, so far, 30-40 has been a nightmare in terms of running, and gathering quests annoy me to no end.
WTB redux.
2ndNins last blog post..On Raiders and raiding
Maybe you should let me play your hunter!
…see, I love Azeroth approximately 9.7 million times more than I love Outlands, and hunter is the only class I can stand playing =P
Pikes last blog post..Letting Go
@ Tufva — Thank you very much, much appreciated. Short always tends to be my fallback, to the extent I really don’t notice I do it. It is something I need to work on, however.
@ Jarla — Primarily a respect issue. I felt (perhaps wrongly) I could stay true to the stated theme of the post without going against the reputation of this blog. It is subtitled “Power through knowledge and reason” after all 😉 In my effort to respect that, it seems I went too far to the other side. It’s all about finding the proper balance. 🙂
@ 2ndNin — Oh believe me, I thought about it. If the recruit-a-friend hadn’t happened now (neither birthday nor Christmas) I’d be likely in the same boat. Ugh.
@ Pike — *laugh* Now there’s a thought! I actually have several friends who enjoy the slower pace of Azeroth, going through, reading quest text, and playing every day like it’s their first try. I… kinda envy them, actually. I’m very goal-oriented (achievements are really going to make me go crazy) and once I’ve made a character for a goal, anything between it and me is just an inconvenience. :\ I really wonder if I’d be having the same feelings for my hunter if she wasn’t made for the express purpose of being my “farming character” with the deadline of Wrath looming on the horizon.
@ everyone who’s commented so far : Thank you very much for the support and feedback. I’ve said it several times in several places, but I -do- want to learn from this and get better, and this is a great way to do it. Thank you all for being awesome and patient with us.