Lethal Shots

Honestly, I never thought I would find PUGs enjoyable, but lately that seems to be all I am doing. And I’m enjoying it. Sure there have been a few asshats I’ve had to deal with, but only one person that actually warranted a Vote Kick.¹ For the most part though I’ve had really great experiences.

Prior to 3.3 I tried my best to not PuG. Anytime I had to it was an unpleasant experience at best. Healers the spent more time typing than healing, DPS that performed worse than the tank, tanks that didn’t know how to hold AoE aggro, etc. But now with the cross server dungeon finder it’s like these kind of players don’t exist. Party chat is generally quiet, with only a few things said regarding boss strategy or AFK announcements. I’ve had runs where the only thing ever entered in party chat was a quick hello before the first pull and a quick thanks before people dropped group. People show up, do their job, and leave. And in the rare event of some one not knowing their job or being under-geared they are honest about it, and perfectly willing to follow directions given to them.

So where are all the morons and asshats that we’re used to dealing with? Well, I have a theory on that. Even with the new dungeon finder there is still a considerable number of people spamming trade for heroic runs. What I’m thinking is that this is where all the asshats have gone too. The new Vote Kick feature has had the added effect of discouraging them from letting the dungeon finder form groups for them. My guess is that due to their nature they have gotten kicked from most random groups they have joined. This has forced them to either change their ways or stop using the dungeon finder. I really don’t care which they choose because in the end the rest of us end up with a better quality pool of players to group with.

Anyway, enough of the bad and back to the good.

The best PuG I’ve had was actually just a few nights ago. Me and three guildies PuGed a healer for Heroic Forge of Souls. This guy was great. Sure he was a little under geared, but he admitted it and was trying his best. And that’s what made him great: his effort. Halfway through the run he even joined us in our vent channel to make things a little easier. Everything went fine until the last boss, where we wiped several times (maybe because of my non-uber geared tank, maybe because of heals, who knows), but we stuck with it and finished. This guys attitude is what made it a great PuG. He was polite and willing to stick with instead of dropping group after the first wipe.

So how about you? Have any horror stories or dream runs with the new dungeon finder? If so, leave them in the comments.

Seriously people, enough is enough. Yes, Blizz announced the new expansion. Yes, there is loads of info available. Yes, the expansion is bringing huge amounts of change. Some of those changes so drastic that I have questioned the thought of keeping my main as a Hunter if they go through.

But give it a rest already.

Cataclysm won’t be released until next year. That means 12 months (give or take, my money is on a November 2010 release) and, at very least, one more content patch left in Wrath. Play the game as it is now. Yes Blizz announced a ton of changes, but Cataclysm isn’t even in beta yet, so who knows how many of those changes will make it through.

Remember, BlizzCon is more than just a “Look at Our Cool Shit” weekend for Blizzard. It is a test-bed for new ideas. They have everyone’s attention, making it a perfect time to throw out ideas and see what kind of reaction they get. We know how they work, if enough people whine something gets changed. So they announce huge game altering changes and see how much whining happens. Think of it as a mass informal consumer questionnaire.

Anyway, my point is enjoy the game as it is now. There are still raids to be cleared, gear to be got, and fun to be had. So have fun today and worry about tomorrow when it gets here.

The Hunter formerly knows as BigRedKitty, aka Daniel Howell, has been paid tribute by Blizzard. The lovable little dwarf has had a gun named after him, the BRK-1000. Thanks to Daniel for letting us know about it on his new blog (if you aren’t already following him there, I highly suggest you do). The weapon shows up in the WoW Armory, but notice that it shares the exact same stats as Fezzik’s Autocannon, and also is listed to drop from the same source. I would love to see some confirmation on whether or not the weapon is actually in the game or not. Either way it is great to see Blizzard recognize some one who did so much for the player community.

And the best part of it? It “Smells Faintly of raspberries.”

Yes, as strange as it is, I really think that is the case. But first, a little background to help explain my thought process.

I currently have two level 80 characters, a Survival Hunter and a Resto Shaman. My Hunter is in Ulduar ready gear (have yet to pick up any drops there) and my Shaman is in a mix of heroic and Naxx gear. I have long considered the Hunter my main, but with very little to do on my him outside of raiding (I hate dailies), he has been seeing very little play time. Consequently I have been taking a deep interest in learning to heal with my Shaman and getting him geared up.

Also, these 2 characters are in different guilds (on the same server). My Hunter is simply a raider in Soulbound, while my Shaman is a senior officer in Circle of Friends. I won’t go into any more detail about that here, I’ll save that for another post. The raid leaders in Soulbound are aware of my Shaman, but will generally only ask me to bring him if our raid has entered PuG status since the toon is in a different guild. Anyway, enough background and on with with the story.

This realization of multiple mains came upon me last Saturday night during a 25-man VoA run with Soulbound. We were short people so we started pulling in PuGs to fill slots. The raid leader wanted Heroism, but we couldn’t find any Shamans. My Hunter already has the achievement for Emalon, so I offered to switch to my Shaman. So I jump over while the raid continues the search for more people. Long story short, in the search for more people I end up inviting a friend of mine (an awesome Prot Paladin) who I have been running occasional heroics with on my Shaman. We did Archavon first, and then started to weed out the people with too low DPS for Emalon. Several Soulbound people had started to log on so we began pulling them in for Emalon. One of those pulled in was another Resto Shaman, so I was asked to switch back over to my Hunter, which I of course did.

At this point my friend (the Prot Pally mentioned above) whispered me and asked if I had switched to an alt. His question confused me for a second, and then it dawned on me. While he has grouped with me many times, I had always been on my Shaman, never on my Hunter. I was even on my Shaman when I invited him to join the current VoA run. Naturally I explained to him that my Hunter was my main and that my Shaman was an alt.

But after that I got to thinking. I have been playing my Shaman so much lately that it has become more than an alt, yet my Hunter is still my main when it comes to raiding. So that leaves me with a declared main, and an alt that is more than an alt. Well, what is more than an alt? A main.

That leaves me with two mains.

Last week Anea over at Holy Discipline wrote about the guilt she feels when she doesn’t get certain daily quests done. Larisa wrote a response to Anea about how one shouldn’t feel guilty about avoiding in-game activities that they obviously don’t enjoy, and I couldn’t agree more.

There are only three that I (reluctantly) try to do every day: the daily cooking and fishing on my Hunter (only the Northrend ones) and the daily jewelcrafting one on my Shaman. Other than those three, I haven’t done dailies in almost 2 months. And the three I attempt to do don’t get done every day. Hell, the only reason I do them is because they are the only source of certain rewards. I do the cooking daily to buy recipes and spices, the fishing daily offers a shot at some epic gems (also to level of my fishing a little bit every day), and the jewelcrafting daily is the only way to buy more gem cuts.

And to be perfectly honest, there will be a point when I will stop doing even these dailies. Once I have a sufficient stockpile of spices, there will be no reason to do the cooking daily anymore. I might continue to do the fishing daily simply for the easy gold while I fish up mats for buff food, but it will be far from an everyday occurrence. There will also come a time when I won’t need to buy anymore recipes, meaning no more reason to do the jewelcrafting daily. Sure, I will need to do it once in a while to keep myself supplied with Dragon’s Eyes, but at most this will be a once a week thing.

You may be wondering why I have an aversion to daily quests. It is really a simple reason:

They are boring. Completely, totally, utterly, mind-numbingly boring.

I used to do 15-25 a day. Hell, that is how I made enough money for my Hunter’s epic flying back in TBC. I even got him a Nether Ray and a Nether Drake. But now? I can’t stomach doing more than a few. I choose to make my money elsewhere. Sure I ground to exalted with the walrus guys, but it was only 3 dailies a day, and as with the dailies i still do, it was the only way to get the best fishing pole in the game. And once i got it, I never did those quests again. Argent Tournament? I’ve been there a total of one time, did the dailies once, and never went back. Even the announcement of more content up there in 3.2 is not enough to make me go back. I’m not even exalted with the Sons of Hodir yet. I just can’t bring myself to go up there every day.

But unlike Anea, I don’t feel the slightest bit of guilt. I am having fun, and after all isn’t that what a game is for? Go level an alt, go for achievements, run instances, or even just sit in Dalaran talking to your friends. Don’t let a game you love turn into a job you hate.

For those wondering about where I make my money now, no I do not buy gold. I use the AH to keep myself supplied with gold. Buy mats, craft, and sell. Simple, yet I enjoy it and it takes very little of my in-game time.