It is in the air

It is definitely in the air. I finally pulled up the google reader and started going through blogs and noticed that the first two blogs I looked at where talking about WoW burnouts. In fact one was written the same day has my previous post. The second blog I check out is Tobold's, pretty much related to burnouts.

Incoming! ((((Burnout)))))))

I'm starting to hit that point in WoW were I'm really getting bored. Basically I'm logging in to do the daily transmute and running Heroic for the frost emblem and a Wintergrasp if it is close to starting. This all started suddenly when it seems I've maxed out my gear without moving forward and raiding. I can keep strolling along slowly gaining those two frost emblems a day. At that rate the next expansion will be out before I could get the next tier armor. And rightly so. I don't have a beef with that. The fault is with me not wanting to raid. At least not yet. It other games I've always had negative experiences with raids.

I could work on another alt, but I really don't want to go through any of the content again. PVP is still an option, but I really don't see much on Resto shaman pvp. Enhancement is not good for pvp and elemental is not style.

So this six months subscription may be the last one for me till the expansion. My interest in console games is starting to raise up again. I've been perusing the web for something that is fantasy RPG, but not limited to fantasy. A Sci/Fi rpg would work as well. I have Call of Duty 4, but can't get through the campaigns because of the modern theme. Modern really doesn't appeal to me, and the online aspect....well lets just say, I'm not very good with a controller.

I could pick up Fallout3 again. When I started up playing MMO's again last summer, I got away from playing Fallout 3. Also they have the game of the year edition out with all DLC wrapped into one package. I'm sure if I went to go see The Book of Eli that would get my interest peeked to suck me back into this post apocalyptic world.

Speaking of movies, I'm looking forward to Clash of the Titans. I have been hoping ever since they made Lord of the Rings they would go back and remake some of the old fantasy genres. I would still like to see a well done Dungeons and Dragons movie along with a Master of the Universe: He Man movie.

AOE Fest

With the last patch I've finally started to see some of the dungeon content, and to be quite truthful I've been disappointed. What I'm talking about is that it seems that everything is one big AOE fest. Run in, grab aggro and nuke it down. Really? Is that all we have to do? You mean there is no real crowd control? Maybe this changes with raids, I'm not sure as I haven't seen any raid content in WoW. So as it is going now, yeah I'm seeing some dungeons and different encounters that do have some strategies like don't stand in purple stuff, don't dps mob at this point, hop around so you don't take damage, and stand behind this rock. Over all it seems that there is no need for any sort of crowd control.

If raid encounters do require a form of crowd control, wouldn't it make since to have some of that in the 5 man dungeons. In Everquest crowd control was a dedicated full time job. There was even a dedicated class to crowd control and others that had some variations of crowd control. As a shaman in EQ I could grab aggro on any mob pull it out of the way and root it. "Yeah you sit there Mr. Mob nice and helpless while we take care of your buddy." Here in Wow I was really disappointed to find out that my Hex spell is fairly useless in dungeons. Even on my hunter there seemed to never be a need to frost trap any mobs. It has always been go in gather up the mobs and let us all nuke with our AoE spells.

This is the one thing I would love to see added to the game. Can they make encounters to where we are actively involve and each doing a specific task besides healing, aggro, and damage. I would like to see something a little more involved than just having a kill order. I know some of this use to be in there, as I've seen the old videos where hunters use to chain trap.

Oh well, I guess for now I will join the crowd and spam away with the AOE damage as well.

Last post....of 2009!

With my posting frequency this year I this will be my last post for the year. Not going to be too much different from the others. Unlike Pike, went had a very neat end of the year post reviewing highlights from each month. It was a very fun read and you should check it out if you haven't already.

A lot has happened since I last posted, were I touched on some of my preparations for 3.3. I'm happy to say that my investment in the Borean Leathers was a very nice one. Between the borean leathers, transmutes, and herbs I was able to pad my bank with plenty of gold. I think I made about 9k gold in the two days after the patch. That has been a nice boost to helping my gear out my shaman for running some heroics.

For some reason after the patch I started messing with my dwarf hunter again. Well this really excited me and made me realize how much I liked playing on the Alliance side. One thing lead to another and getting ganked a few times in Wintergrasp by them Horde dogs, lead me to switching my loyalties. The only issue was that I really liked playing my shaman. So it happened. I treated myself to a race change on my troll shaman to becoming a BIG BLUE BAD ARSE DRAENEI! His new name is Boozjha. I must say that the draenei aliens have never really appealed to me because the are a large race. However the big lugs have started to grow on me. I'm very much enjoying playing it, so much that I may not even race change him to a dwarf when Cataclysm comes out.

I've been having loads of fun with the LFG tool. This is by far the greatest thing that Blizzard has introduced to the game. It has opened up a whole new part of the game that for some reason I have always seemed to avoid. I'm wish now that I would have pursued grouping more intensely all these years. I use to love grouping in Everquest and this patch makes me remember the days of grinding out the LDoNs. Only thing is this is easy. No work required to searching for the group.

I was able to pick up my "the Patient" title and got my Perky Pug as well. Butt rub on the floor FTW! Then sniff it? Blizzard does have a good since of humor. Opening up to this new aspect of the game has also made more aware of some many other things. Mainly GEAR! I really have not paid that much attention to gear over the past years. Sure I realized there was a difference, but I didn't actively go after that gear like I am now. Gear score? Really? Seriously? I was a little offended. Thinking you freaking elitist jerk! I really didn't realize there was that much difference from a heroic and a regular dungeon. I didn't want to run those regulars, they didn't give the emblems each time. The I loaded the Recount addon and saw that I was doing less damage than the tank.

The first thing I did was get over to MMO champion Shaman forums stickies. I also perused the Elitist Jerks class/spec pages. I have them all saved now so I can quickly pull them up when I alt tab. Next thing I did was used some of that gold I made and bought some better gear, enchants, and gems. I even spent some of those long saved pvp honor points and bough a three pieces of the Dreadful Gladiator Gear. Which I was laughed out very quickly, but in my defense it was way better than wearing a green quest item. As of right now I'm still wearing the chest, but I haven't gotten anything to replace it yet in the dungeons. As of now I'm going in the right direction and starting to wrap my mind around this aspect of the game. I still have a ways to go, but I'm getting there. I'd like to get comfortable enough to try a pick up raid, but I'm not going to even try till I have some more pieces upgraded. Namely the blue head piece and pvp chest. I'll be getting the T9 head piece soon as it will be the biggest upgrade.

This biggest thing is learning all the dungeons and different fights. Being that I have a very bad memory (this has really become an issue this year) it is sometimes hard to keep the different encounters straight. I think I'm going to need to pick up a recorder so I can speak and take notes while I'm playing. I simply can't remember all the details once the dungeon is done. Repetition is helping though.

So yeah, the year is almost over with. Where did 2009 go? 2010 will be here soon and gone as well. 8-p

My very thoughtful wife got me a well thought out gift this Christmas. TWO....Count'em....TWO Tankards O Terror. They are freaking huge. I don't look as good as my Draenei weilding these things, but if some one every tries breaking into the house. You can betcha that I'll be grabbing these suckers if the guns are not very close. Yeah, i know there ceramic, but they will still knock you a good one.

She also got me the Horde Stein. I kept wondering why she was asking a week before Christmas "I thought you played FOR the HORDE!" She is awesome and I couldn't ask for anyone better. I hope the rest of you out there had a great holiday this year and please be very safe this weekend. Whatever you do make sure you do it safely. You have all of next year to look forward.