Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Druid Transmog #2

See my second transmogrification set for my balance/resto druid! It's very green. Kinda like the first one, but looks more.... grown up?


She's wearing:
Shoulders: Spaulders of Devastation
Chest: Ymirjar Physician's Robe
Gloves: Vicious Wyrmhide Gloves
Belt: Ley-Whelphide Belt
Weapon: Staff of the Verdant Circle

My baby druid is growing up! /sob

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Another Drink

The night elf squeezes the draenei's hand before abruptly standing, knocking his knuckles loudly on the table. He bellows, "Barkeep, something a little stronger for me and my friend!"

Looking slightly embarrassed and slightly annoyed, the draenei sinks deep in her chair, hiding her amused smile behind the now empty mug of tea. She hisses at him to sit back down.

"What, Ice? Why are you still afraid of people noticing you?" He spreads his arms wide, gesturing around the bar, "No one cares anymore. We are just another part of the world now."

A curvaceous and red-haired dwarf delivers their mugs of mead, winking at the night elf as she gathers the pot and mugs of tea. He winks back at her slyly as he settles back into his seat, and she bustles away blushing.

The draenei shakes her head, whispering, "You haven't changed a bit."

"On the contrary," he says. "I'm far more confident now than I ever was before." He clears his throat. "Not that I was lacking in confidence then." He gives her a earnest look, "You should be confident too."

She frowns, "You don't understand, Torq."

He sighs and leans back in his chair, sipping his mead, "What don't I understand, Ice? Talk to me."

She takes a deep breath, preparing herself to to tell him. "The Aldor in Shattrath... They sent me away," she begins haltingly. "I think they were afraid of me. They sent me on to the group of draenei on Azeroth, to the Exodar." She shakes her head looking glumly into the mug she hasn't touched yet, "I learned nothing more there. I didn't really expect to. The Aldor just wanted me safely out of their hair. I was so angry, so..." She pauses, searching for the right word, "...unpredictable."

"Ice, you've always been unpredictable. It's who you are."

She chuckles darkly, "Maybe, but the anger makes it worse." She takes a deep drink of the mead.

He gives her a puzzled look, "Why are you still angry?"

"She balls her fists, her entire body shaking with energy, "Exactly! I don't know!" She pounds her fists into the sturdy, dwarven-made table. "If I knew then maybe I could control it. Afterall, He is gone. There is nothing left to focus my fury at. All I am left with is this anger that won't abate. The Aldor and the draenei of the Exodar... They didn't trust me. I hardly trust myself..."

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

A Breakdown

She slowly takes a deep drink of her tea before looking back up at the night elf sitting at the table across from her. He looks at her expectantly.

She clears her throat before quietly continuing, "You know I was sent to Outland."

He nods, "We both were."

She gives him a dark look, "It was there, bathed in demon blood under a rain of hellfire, that I found out He was gone."

He shrugs, "Me too."

She stares into her now empty mug, "I didn't know what to do. My whole purpose up to that point was to work my way back to Northrend to Him, to kill Him."

He reaches his hand across and softly wraps his hand around hers holding the mug, "I know. That was my purpose too. We had been separated. I tried to look for you, but there was no trace."

She doesn't shake his touch away this time. "I didn't know what to do," she repeats.

"Where did you go, Ice? What happened?"

"First, I went to Shattrath. I spent some time there among the Aldors, among my people, trying to get my life back, trying to rediscover the Light." She does not lift her gaze to meet his, "I didn't have much luck."

"I went to Shattrath too, in search of you, but did not find you. I thought you might have gone to them but the Aldors were hesitant to give me any information."

She glances up at him, "You looked for me? Why?"

He shakes his head, "I don't know why. I was lost too, you know. I thought maybe we could help each other."

She looks back down at her mug and mutters, "You don't seem so lost now..."

He gives her a hopeful smile, "I'm not lost anymore."

She looks back up at him, "I don't know how you managed it. I've been all over Azeroth trying to find my way. I just don't know what to do anymore. My heart wasn't in the battle against Deathwing. I don't know if I even have a heart left. I just don't care about anything anymore..."

He pats her hand, "You'll find your way. And I will help if I can. It just takes time."

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

We interrupt your regularly scheduled vignette to bring you:

What is fun? The state of my game.

This week my best WoW friend asked me what I get out of the game. He doesn't understand how I can enjoy playing the way I play. I don't blame him. He's always been an end-game raider, and I used to do that with him. At some point things changed. I'm not sure why I enjoy it either, but I do. I've spent the last few weeks mining ore and maxing out my blacksmithing on Ice. I loved every minute. And now I'm working on the next grind-o-rific project - leveling archaeology.

I have become a strangely anti-social player this expansion. I have done my share of semi-hardcore raiding in the past. I got burned a few times in guilds that ended up falling apart. I have lost what I thought were friends. I just no longer have the time nor the emotional energy to put into being in a tight raiding group anymore.

I don't much care for the LFD and LFR systems. I haven't even tried Looking for Raid just because of my disillusionment with the Looking for Dungeon system. The problem isn't really the system, its the players. I once did a project in which I leveled a character purely through LFD, documenting how many bad, rude, and obnoxious people I ran into. I never published my results, but what I found was that a majority of runs were pretty normal, no problems whatsoever. What I did find was that normal dungeon runs in which no one talks to each other and you just get through it with perfect strangers that you will never see again isn't all that much fun to me. I don't think I'm the only one who feels this way either.

Despite my stories here, I don't actually role-play, but the stories my characters have to tell are vital to the enjoyment I get from the game. Azeroth is my creative escape from reality. The other key to my enjoyment is short-term goals. I never focus on a too distant goal. The amount of time I have to play just doesn't make long-term goals logical. I flit from one alt to another, working on one short project or another for brief spurts.

I admit that I haven't seen a lot of the dungeon and raid content for this expansion. I deleted max level characters and took a 6 month break from the game during the thick of the expansion. When I came back I decided it was time to start fresh. Once I had toons leveled to 85 it was now getting closer to the end of expansion, and it just doesn't make sense for me to try to look for a new guild at this point.

I do have long term goals for Mists of Pandaria, which I am extremely excited about. I do plan to try to see more dungeons and raids this next expansion, and maybe go back and do some fun runs of Cataclysm content that I missed, but I will do it on my terms the way that I enjoy. My first plan for the new expansion is to try to find a friendly casual guild that will accept my minimal and unusual play style.

What is your play style? Do you ever feel like you're playing differently than those around you? What keeps it fun for you?