2016 New Year’s Resolutions

And we are back from hiatus!

2015 is drawing to a close and once again Fussypants and Yotaan are reflecting on their resolutions of the ending year and creating new resolutions for the incoming one.

Fussypants: My resolutions were
1) Update the blog once a week for the entire year (with the exception of predetermined hiatuses)
2) Make a serious attempt at arenas
3) Tank some current raids
4) Attempt the Ironman Challenge
5) Start up RAOU again

My biggest goal of the year was definitely number one and I am proud to announce that I successfully completed this goal! While there were some close ones, Yotaan and I managed to get a blog post out for every single week of the year that we weren’t on hiatus.  Woot woot!

Resolution number two was a flop however.  I was really into PvP for a while but it petered out before I ever stepped foot into an arena.  However, the purpose of this resolution was to expand into different areas of the game and while I didn’t expand into PvP anymore, I definitely expanded way more into the social aspect of the game.  So while I didn’t succeed at the initial goal, I succeeded at the spirit of it.  Does that count?

Another point in the success column for resolution number three! While I actually never ended up tanking on my warrior, I have become quite the pocket tank on my brewmaster monk.  I’ve tanked all of Highmaul, most of Blackrock Foundry, and all of Lower Hellfire Citadel plus Xhul and Mannoroth.  And, I’ve tanked this both in guild groups and with complete strangers.  Given that a year ago, I was terrified of even tanking a dungeon, I’m really proud of my success in this area.  I’m still not 100% comfortable with tanking (and I doubt that I ever will be) but I’m worlds more confident that I was. (I’ve also tanked the Algalon encounter and while that wasn’t ‘current’ raiding, we purposefully copied the requirements of Wrath era raiding so I’m counting that too)

The Ironman Challenge has been a bit of a mixed bag for me.  I’ve totally started it I just haven’t… gotten very far yet.  I think I’m level 5? Look, it’s still a work in progress! I’m going to count this one as a success though because I have started the Challenge and there was no completion requirement in my resolution.

The last goal on my list was another flop, but not for want of trying. Unfortunately I did not get enough submissions to write up any more posts.  That’s alright though, not everything I set out to do I could have completed.

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All and all, I think I did pretty well with this past year’s resolutions.  I had some flops but I also had some exceptional successes. And as I wrote a year ago “I really want to focus on blogging with regularity and trying new things in WoW” and I think I achieved the spirit of my resolutions if not every individual goal.

.Looking back over my year of blogging, I’d also like to acknowledge some of the writing I’ve done this past year.  Here are some of my favorite things I’ve written.

Beta-Testing Life through WoW ~ A very soul-baring piece about what impact WoW has had on my life as I’ve grown up.  A lot of what I wrote here still applies months later.  While it was a bit hard to write, I’m still very proud that I was able to post this

Tin Foil Hat: What is the Light? ~ A tin-foil hat, crazy person, brainstorming theory about how magic works in Azeroth.  This was the first time I’d written a speculative piece like this and I’m pleased with the results.

What’s to a name? ~ The story of how I got the name of my mage back.  I like this piece for two reasons: It involved a very awesome GM and I think what I wrote is still very applicable.

Less than Legendary ~ My opinion on the Warlord’s legendary chain.  While this piece doesn’t have as much staying power as some of the other ones I’ve written (since it’s about a specific piece of endgame content that will likely be removed) I still think it was a very strong piece.  I worked on the article for many months and I think I was able to offer a pretty complete viewpoint because of that.

Satire: Stop Catering to the Casuals Blizzard! ~ A satirical piece about Blizzard catering to the casuals in regards to twitter integration.  I really enjoyed writing this (and the later satires) since they allowed me to stretch a writing muscle I don’t usually get to use.  Also, its just entertaining to poke fun in this way.

Bonus article: Fussypants Writes a Horror Story ~ This post was completely un-WoW related but I still enjoyed writing it.  A short horror story that I wrote for a school project but decided to post on the blog.

Man, reading through all that I wrote is kinda crazy!  There’s a lot more there than I thought! And boy, do I put a lot of puns into my writing….

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The last thing on my list is to set my goals for this coming year! In 2016 I want to work on writing even more for the blog and completing projects.
1) Post a minimum of 5 blog posts a month.  This should work out to be a post every week with an extra post thrown in there every couple of weeks.  More writing!
2) Complete all of Heroic Hellfire Citadel, including Archimonde to get me that sweet, sweet moose.
3) Complete the Ironman Challenge.  Whether that means I ding level 100 or I die in the process, I want to finish this!
4) Work on my roleplay character and try out some open world RP. I’ve started the toon with a friend but I’d really like to explore roleplaying more.
5) Farm up some of the various transmog sets I’ve built.  I have a bad habit of designing tons of different outfits with specific characters in mind and then never getting around to actually wearing them.  Not any more!

.Yotaan:
So my 2015 resolutions were:
1) Level Yotaan to max level while enjoying the story as he goes
2) Get the legendary ring on Yotaan
3) Play with Fussypants more often
4) I like the Ironman Challenge!
5) Help Fussypants more on her blog (not specifically writing articles, but providing other support too)

1) By far the best part of Warlords was the leveling experience from 90 to 100 and I enjoyed the story.  Yotaan did fall behind Fussypants in the progression, but I was able to follow the main story completely and enjoy the side stories as well.  I also leveled a Horde toon as well to get the Horde side.

2) Soooooo, didn’t quite make that one!   Yotaan has been collecting tomes now for about 6 months now.  He hardly raids, so it has been slow.  With Legion far off in 2016, I still think it will happen.

3) I really wanted this one to happen, but life gets busier every year.  Yotaan and Fussypants have been very occupied with RL.  However, I think the biggest reason that this resolution did not happen is raiding.  As you know, Fussypants became quite the raider this year.  Yotaan rarely raids, so these very different play styles don’t mesh well for playing together.  Hopefully, we can change this for 2016!

4) Ha!  Got Fussypants on this one!  Currently I am “winning” at the Ironman Challenge.  I say “winning” because Bullsmack, a level 21 Tauren druid, is lying facedown somewhere in Ashenvale.  He was a victim of a bad pull plus a wandering mob.  It was a great experience to have a challenge in leveling in WoW.  I was surprised at how careful you have to be.  I think we will try again once Fussypants gets her act together.

5) I did write more in 2015 than 2014 so nominally I met this resolution.  However, I can do a better job.
Overall I did not do as well as I would have likely but that’s how resolutions go.  I am very proud of how well Fussypants did!  Proud Papa!

(Artwork by Fussypants)

.Since we are reflecting on the past year, Fussypants ordered me to pick my favorite blog posts that I actually wrote.  Hmmmmm…

My real favorites are the ones she wrote recounting our discussions such as Another Name Article (Demon Hunter Edition) wherein I create the best name for a demon hunter ever and Next Expansion: Make it Brony wherein the family predicts the next expansion.

If I actually had to pick my own writing, then I’m picking Get Off My Virtual Lawn because it was the most honest writing I did.  Plus, it garnered some responses, which is rare for my posts.

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And now, for 2016, my WoW resolutions:
1)   Play on a PvP realm.  I miss the danger.  I will need to find the best one to level up.
2)   Try again to play with Fussypants more.  This is a challenge, especially considering our play styles.
3)  Get the Mount Parade achievement.  Currently at 153 out of 200 mounts.
4)  Figure out Pet Battles.  It’s a thing, isn’t it?
5)  Really enjoy my time in and out of WoW.

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Happy New Year!!