Less than Legendary

Ok, I had to wait over a year before I could write up this post, but here it is.  My reaction to the WoD Legendary Questline. *queues dramatic music*

Annnnnd the long awaited reaction is…… mildly disappointed.

But like all things, it wasn’t all bad.  While I think the Warlords Legendary questline had its moments, I didn’t find it as compelling as it’s MoP predecessor.

First things first, I want to point out how I am actually unusual in that I LOVE raid drop grinds.  I’m currently working on the Legendary questline on each of my toons and it’s been giving me a great incentive to keep running those LFRs.  Raiding is my favorite activity and when I can get something extra out of it like a legendary questline drop, that is just awesome! Sure, there are moments when I found the various stone, rune, and book drops frustrating (like when I spent over a month getting one stone per boss) but on the whole I found that part of the experience fulfilling. I also had the fantastic luck of finishing up with tomes after 55 HFC boss kills instead of the typical 77 so that last phase went even faster for me.

In addition, I also enjoyed Khadgar.  Reading his snarky quest text and then having him accidentally kill me was pretty humorous.  I thought his fixation on Gul’dan and then Garona a touch odd, but other than that I generally enjoyed my quest dialogue with him.

However, outside of the actually raid grind and Khadgar’s snark, I wasn’t so much a fan of the questline.  The non-raid quests were typically a pain.  I remember spending the better part of two hours working on the infiltration quest with Garona as she bugged out multiple times.  The kill 10 nondescript mobs out in a cave and loot an orb seemed kind of random.

I’ve spent so much time here

Also, doing the quests on a purely healing character meant I was spending a long time Denouncing everything down.  There was only quest where I could pick my role and heal, the rest I was forced to create a shockadin build (I mean, I can’t say I was too upset by this, I do love me some shockadin).  Compared to the Mists iteration where almost every quest was  togglable between three roles, Warlords is sadly lacking.  I mean, the ring I was slowly upgrading me wasn’t even helping me with those intermediary quests at all.  It seemed odd.

And don’t get me started on the shipyard.  I remember people complaining about the PvP section of the Mists one, but I would take a thousand PvP quests just to have avoided that shipyard section.  I from the beginning haven’t been a fan of the shipyard at all.  It was like garrison missions except worse because I was constantly under threat of losing my ships.  You could level a ship up to epic, only to have it sink the next day.  In addition to this, the shipyard just feels so impersonal.  You didn’t do anything to get those ships other than talk to a dude out on the beach.  There was no quest to go find them.

And even more infuriatingly, there was really nothing you could do to aid them on a mission if they weren’t already epic.  I remember grinding my teeth as I prayed to the RNGods to take mercy on my ships.  My skill (or lack of) had absolutely no impact on the success or failure of those ships.  For a final climactic part of the legendary, it wasn’t very exciting at all.

The lore of the legendary was pretty good, but I honestly didn’t feel all that invested in the story.  With Mists, the legendary tied into the story.  With Warlords, the legendary WAS the story.  And that story on it’s own just wasn’t very compelling.  I’m still not clear if we were attacking the ogres because we wanted to or because Khadgar asked us to.  We went from killing Garona to saving her in the space of two quests.  The Cordana betrayal served almost no story purpose.  Everything just felt… flat.

Yipee, I get a green shield for a couple of seconds

And the ring itself was also a bit of a let down.  While I’m not complaining, I don’t every actually get to click my own ring because I’m not the healer in my guild who is in charge of activating it.   I wish the ring was an actual model on our toons all the time.  I wish the visual effect was bigger and flashier.  The wing thingies in Mists were honestly really cool.  You knew right away that this player had worked their butt off to get that cape.  But you have no clue if someone has the ring by just looking at them when they idle in Stormshield.  Its a legendary, I want it to be flashy gosh darn it!

The biggest reason why I didn’t like the legendary questline however, was none of these.  Throughout the whole process, there was no challenge. The legendary questline wasn’t legendary.  The raids could be done on LFR and thus were fast.  The quests could be easily soloed by a healer class doing 3k dps (that is really telling).  I never felt tested, never had to pull out any stops, never even had to pay attention too much.  I miss that.  I missed the Trials of the Celestials and the Thunder Forge.  I miss having to look up how to best heal through a certain mechanic because it was too hard for me to figure out on my own. Everything was just too easy.  The time that the quest took was the only thing that held me back.

Just like many things in Warlords endgame, the Legendary questline did have potential but it just fell flat.  The main draw of the quest for me was the excuse to raid and I would think that Blizzard would want folks to enjoy the process of getting that ring more.  As it currently stands, I have one toon done, one toon on tomes, one toon on runes, and one toon on stones so I am pretty evenly spread. I will probably complete all my in-progress rings, but more because I like raiding than any desire I have to repeat the quest.  However, Blizzard has shown that it is willing and open for feedback (just take a look at some of the proposed changes for Legion) and I fully believe that the artifacts system will become a far better version of the legendary questline. Let’s just try to forget about the less than legendary Warlords one. 😛

An Announcement about an Announcement for an Announcement

For those who don’t already know, Blizzard has announced the day that they will announce the day that WoD drops.  Confused?  Just wait till August 14th and all will become clear.  Also, the Warlords cinematic is due to come out that day as well, so whoopie!  Mists of Pandaria is officially coming to a close.

Fussypants: MoP might be reaching it’s final hours, but I have a ton to do before the next expansion drops!  My druid and my priest both are working on the legendary cloak; my druid is at the Valor portion (ugh) and my priest is finishing up with Runestones.  I definitely think I’ll be able to get the priest’s cloak by WoD, but I’m not so sure about the druid’s.

On the tanking front, my warrior is sailing through Wrath right now, and totally enjoying the increased ease of tanking that comes with level 68-79.  I’ve been able to level her blacksmithing and mining as she goes, keeping it at or above her level.  Also, who knew how entertaining archaeology was?

I’ve created a bunch of transmog sets, so I’m thinking of going out to farm a bunch for all that soon.  Other than all this, I’ve just been doing what ever strikes my fancy.  I’m not really in much of a rush because most of this won’t matter come WoD.

Also, my release date prediction is October 28.  LET THIS BE SHOUTED FROM THE MOUNTAINS THAT FUSSYPANTS THINKS THE RELEASE DATE WILL BE OCTOBER 28! AND IF SHE IS WRONG, LET US MOCK HER INCESSANTLY… ok, maybe not that last part, but yeah, this is my guess.

Yotaan:  So, originally, I had big plans to get the legendary cloak on my worgen warlock.  But that turned out to be boring, even with the random Gaze of the Black Prince & Heart of the Valorous buffs.  Naturally, I created a new character and am leveling a forsaken rogue.  He is on the server that hosts the raid team Fussypant’s has been been blogging about.  I have to say it, low level rogues in heirlooms are OP.   They are glorious!

This whole transmog thing that Fussypants does makes no sense to me – seems like a lot work for pretty pixels….

Now to the important bit.  Fussypants is completely wrong, of course.  The release date is not important.  What is important is when patch 6.0 drops.  The pre-patch to WOD where everything changes, when the squish squishes us, when Mythic raiding arrives, when pre-patch events occur.  This will be when new stuff finally happens!

Pre-patch day is … September 9th!

Yotaan has spoken!

Drop mic.

 

So when do you all think the expansion will drop?

Rediscovering World of Warcraft

This is going to sound completely crazy.  Ready for it?

I had forgotten what ‘fun’ was in WoW.

Yup, really.  Recently, I have become so focused on making the most of my WoW time, prioritizing, and getting stuff done.  WoW became almost like a chore.  Ok, first I gotta go my Ordos and Celestial runs on all my 90.  Next I need to run the LFRs for the legendary quest on my priest and then my druid.  Ok, now I need to level my professions on my druid.  Oops, I forgot to post my auctions, better head out to the AH.  It was tedious, it was time-consuming, and honestly, it wasn’t fun.

I was slowly burning out on WoW.  It’s not that I didn’t want to play, but when I was, I’d spent more time reading or listening to music than actually playing.  WoW became a checklist, a job, and that’s not why I love this game.  Until, everything changed one fateful night.

In order to get my last couple of sigils for my druid, I was running back to back LFR.  I was barely paying attention to the raids (you can heal the older LFRs with your eyes closed it seems), and really would rather be doing something else.  So, I turned to guild chat.

For the next couple of LFRs, I chatted with my guildies.  We talked about absolutely nothing, but it was relaxing.  And at times, funny.  There was no pressure to do anything (it’s not like we were in an instance together or something), and time passed really quickly for me.

I finished with my LFRs, getting my last couple of sigils.  But instead of feeling accomplished or even remotely satisfied, I just felt resigned.  First step down, eighty million to go.  Why was I even doing this again?

Some of the guildies that I had been talking to decided to run a heroic dungeon for giggles and chuckles.  There was no gear or anything I needed from a heroic, so I almost decided to pass (like I usually do).  I needed to get working on the legendary questline, right?

That’s when I stopped.  And thought.  And realized that I was being ridiculous.  I play video games for one reason- to have fun.  Not to get the best gear, not to be the most skilled, but to entertain myself.  And was I really entertaining myself by forcing myself to slog through this legendary questline for the 4th time? Not at all.

So I asked to come along on the dungeon run.  My guildies quickly invited me (I was to be the healer) and we were off.

We zoned into Shado Pan Monastery, us guildies and an unknown tank.  Someone joked in guild chat that we should give the tank a hard time, since we were all from the same guild.  Then, rather out of the blue, the tank announced he was ‘baked’.  And what followed was the craziest, most hilarious heroic I have ever run.

We started off with a bunch of potato jokes (because baked, geddit?) which then turned into hilarious ‘don’t do drugs’ facts (Four out of every three people who do drugs die).  All the while, we were speeding through the dungeon, recklessly pulling packs of adds that we probably could have avoided.  At one point, one of my guildies switched on pack, which started a ‘flame war’ between him and another guildie.  It was crazy and hilarious.

I was really doing nothing as a healer, as everyone out geared the content.  So, I switched to my feral spec, and that’s when things got really insane.  Suddenly, one of our guild members started to die during every trash pull (I’m not sure if this was purposeful or not), and this started another ‘flame war’ about who should be taking the blame.  We were still pulling relatively fast, and our tank was starting to joke around with us guildies.

All of a sudden, we found ourselves at the end of the dungeon.  Instead of me going back to resto, we decided to burn the boss, and pop literally every cooldown we had (some of which were not spell cooldowns, but toy cooldowns too).  The boss’s health plummeted, and then we were done! The heroic was complete, and the run ended!

Everyone said their goodbyes, and we parted ways with the tank (I never did write down his name).  I had to log out, as it was getting late for me.  But even after the run was done, I found myself thinking about it.

The heroic was awesome.  It was totally insane, completely out of control, and absolutely hilarious.  That is why I transferred to this realm to play with this guild.  That is why I came with my guildies that night.  That is why I play WoW.

Recently, I reflected, I had forgotten this.  I became so worried about maxing out my characters, about utilizing my time, about only doing the things in the game that will improve my gear somehow, that WoW had stopped being fun.  I was so intent on the legendary questline, and my ilvl, and my auctions, that I didn’t do anything besides that.  I was so focused on my goals that I didn’t even hang out with my guildies anymore.  WoW had become a job.

But my guildies reminded me what WoW was all about.

I don’t play WoW to have the best gear.  I don’t play WoW as a chore or job.  I don’t play WoW to be the best player.  I play WoW because it is fun.  Because the people playing are fun.  Because the experiences I’ve had, and will continue to have, are fun.  I play WoW to have fun.

A… Second? Legendary Update

So, umm, yeah.  I seem to have gotten a second legendary cloak.  Call me crazy, but I’m glad I did it.  I finally feel like I can flex raid sufficiently on this character now! As you can see, I got a little dressed up for this occasion this time.
With this recent acquisition, I have now completed my stretch goal.  No, actually, my stretch-stretch-stretch goal.  To be honest, I did not think I would ever get this thing.  Because of this, I now need a new goal to keep me occupied (I am a very goal oriented person, ok??).  After some deliberation and decision-making, I have decided to make it my goal to completely max out my main character.  Full exalted reputations, maxed out professions, the whole shi-bang.  Like my previous stretch goal, this one (hopefully) won’t happen for a long while.
On top of that, I have been given the opportunity to raid with some twitter celebrities (ok, not personally, but still!).  Unfortunately, they are a horde guild, so I need to get up my blood elf priest’s ilvl up fast.  At this point, she is at 503, but I’m aiming to get to 530 if possible.  I also need some advice from you, the readers!

1. What is the fastest way to get a dirt-poor, isolated alt’s ilvl up to 530?
2. Currently, I am holy specced, but should I go disc? Is it significantly better?
3. How can I gem/enchant said dirt-poor isolated alt properly??

As always, big thanks for the help!
Addendum:  What are you guys doing to keep yourself interest in WoW?

Legendary!!!

Uber!

Now, please go back and re-read the title, but in your head use Covert to Raid’s podcaster Koltrane’s voice, because that is exactly how it feels.  Yotaan has reached legendary status with his new cloak, Xing-Ho, Breath of Yu’lon.  It feels awesome.  Even though the cloak has been described as the people’s legendary, it still feels great to have that orange text.

A very big Uber thanks goes to Fussypants on helping Yotaan so much in his legendary quest.  She gave great pointers for the final single person scenario when you fight the Black Prince.  While I was expecting a challenge I thought I was ready for it.  Hah!  Wiped easily a dozen times.  Had to repair my gear.  May have cursed once or twice too.  Then, along comes my daughter with excellent suggestions (gotta use the balcony trick) and the Black Prince was down.

Then, Fussypants becomes even more Uber.  We then proceeded to the Timeless Isle and begun the Celestials part.  Fussypants immediately created a raid and then we methodically mowed each celestial down.  She even was able to change over to a new alt with each new boss!  I actually thought this part would take a lot of time but it was the easiest and fastest part of the entire quest chain.

Finally, a quick quest turn in, and Yotaan is legendary!  The DPS change is very noticeable and very fun.  Thank you Fussypants!

The Numbers Update

Fussypants:  As per you, the readers, and my own decision, I decided to get a meter.  After a bit of research, I settled on Skada.  It took some trouble shooting and forum perusing, but I got my first addon installed with little problem!

Oh man, is that thing gonna be addicting.  Already, I constantly glance at the numbers I’m doing as compared to the others in my group.  I’m gonna take commenter Jack’s advice, and hide it for raids.

I’m at 11/20 Secrets on my paladin, and burning out fast.  That may be pushed back to a later date, as I am loving my mage.

Oh also, it seems we have hit 1000 views.  Yay!

Yotaan:  So, some numbers, heh?   Well, Yotaan is 3 out of 12 Titan Runestones – a bit of progress on the legendary.  I have played since BC, 7 years of WoW.  Absolutely do I refuse to tell you my /played on Yotaan – that number would be frightening!

Fussypants:  Uh, numbers, lets see.  I’ve been playing for 6 years, since BC as well.  Um, there are 10 letters in the name Fussypants, and 6 in the name Yotaan.  I’ve seen my dad’s /played (*shudders*), and mine is less than a fifth of that.  Oh! The sum of all the dragonflights divided by the number of aspects that have gone crazy is… 2.5!

A Legendary Update

Yay!!!

Yotaan has finally started playing WoW regularly again, but a bit too late. Fussypants achieved the cloak first on Monday, finishing her year long journey.

Fussypants:  Yay!! I just wanna say a quick thanks to all the people who stayed in my celestial group for all 4 bosses!  With the advices of commenters on WoW Insider and the help of Other Raids, we got it done in under an hour.  Woot woot!!!!
Now that I’m done on my mage, I’m turning my full attention to my paladin.  So far, I’m at 8/20 Secrets of the Empire, and no trillium bars.  And it begins again!

Yotaan:  Congratulations to Fussypants.  Honestly, I really had no chance, but I did notice an uptick in her enthusiasm when I challenged her!  Now, to beat the pally…

How far are you on the legendary questline?

Community Blog Topic: New Years Resolutions

Working on the legendary questline.

Over at WoW Insider, they have a column called Community Blog Topic, which is a chance for the opinions of other blogs to be gathered and published on their site.  This week, the question they asked was “What are your WoW New Years Resolutions”?  Fussypants and Yotaan blogged their answers here!
Fussypants:
1) Get the legendary cloak!! (1/12 Titan Runestones, I can do this!!)
2) Finally get around to leveling my feral/resto druid.
3) When WoD finally rolls around, I want to try to stick with one character to get to max instead of burning out and leveling alts. I have yet to do this my entire WoW career.
4) I was inspired by some of the commenters on WoW Insider, so now I’m gonna try for every mount in the game that I don’t already have. I am surprisingly far along with this.
5) My last resolution is to continue writing this blog all year. I’m gonna stick with it 🙂
Yotaan:
1) Beat Fussypants in getting the legendary cloak!  (I was way ahead of her, but now behind, I only have 2 secrets, not even close to runestones)
2) Play more WoW (see below)
3) Find all the rares in archeology on my dwarf monk
4) Get more reps up on Yotaan, he’s the toon with the most exalted reputations.
5) Write more in this blog.  Fussypants has offered her views often, and it’s time for more contributions from a father’s perspective.
Tell us, intrepid readers, what are your New Years resolutions for WoW?

A Legendary Pain

Farming for Rep

Fussypants: The quest line for the legendary cloak is a pain.  Sure, it is an eventually satisfying pain, but a pain all the same.  But it also represents one of the most successful aspects of video games.
I recently started to seriously work for my legendary cloak.  I had just collected about 7 or 8 sigils, and I think I was honored with the Black Prince.  So basically, square one.
After a week finishing up with my sigils, I killed the Sha, and got my Chimera of Fear.  I turned it in, and got the reward for the first step, the legendary gem.  I have long since upgraded my sha-touched weapon, but I socketed it in the staff all the same (I had kept it in my bank).
When this was done, I moved to the next step.  A buddy and I grinded out Krasarang mobs, and I arduously capped my valor for three weeks.
After this I won the Temple BG quickly, and struggled with Silvershard Mines for almost a week.  I lucked into a group doing A Change in Command, and I’m now collecting my secrets and grinding more rep.
The quest is long, even longer when you are playing catch-up.  But somehow, it has also kept my full attention for more than a month.
And this is why the legendary quest line is so successful.  It can keep you engaged for the long haul, even for the least time dedicated players (me).  By offering small rewards along the way that lead to an immensely powerful item, this quest has been my goal for almost religiously for two months now.
This philosophy of breadcrumb rewards leading to an awesome final prize is also what makes games like WoW so addicting too.  When you think about it, the cloak quest line is a culmination of all the addicting powers of WoW.  I find this fascinating, but also a bit disturbing.  Human nature is so obsessed with rewards, and this is the perfect trap.

As I grind farther and farther into this quest, I’ll try to keep you updated on how its going.  Or, the lack of news will tell you that I have finally failed 😛

Yotaan:  I have to pipe in and agree with Fussypants, the cloak legendary questline is a pain.  My toon started the grind several months ago and stalled out collecting secrets from the last 2 raids.  I believe I have 3 out of 20 secrets.  They just would not drop!  And, this is absolutely the way it should be.  If it’s legendary, it should take a lot of time and effort.  Nothing worthwhile is easy.  Unfortunately this process burned me out.  No progress on that front has been made in many weeks.  However, I am getting more and more tempted to start up again.  Can’t have my daughter trump me!