Flexible Raiding and the Casual MMO Player

So many factions, so little time.

As a self proclaimed casual MMO player who blogs, I feel like I need to join the many other bloggers who are writing about the Flexible Raiding that Blizzard has announced.  Personally, I see it as a great opportunity for players like me.

As I mentioned previously, I took about a year off of playing World of Warcraft.  Once I started back in December, I was, of course, way behind the gear curve.  I could try to focus on the Isle of Thunder and Heroics to get the gear to first join in LFR and then to get the gear I needed for raiding, but I'm really not interested in either the Isle of Thunder or Heroics.  I'd rather do what I want to do, in my casual way, and gradually get the gear I need to join people on a more casual basis.  

The problem right now is the only way to do that is to hope members of the guild are interested in running LFR.  As someone who isn't really interested in playing with random people, this isn't very appealing and, I suspect, it isn't very appealing to other members of our guild.

However, once Flexible Raiding starts, players like me and others who like to play World of Warcraft but either don't have the time to keep up with the gear curve or would rather mix in a few months of WoW with months focused on other games (or other activities) have a real option to play with our guild and/or our friends.  As long as the core group is interested in having a Flexible raid, they can raid only with those they want to and not have to leave a core team member out if someone else shows up who they'd like to play with.

I am really hopeful that Flexible Raiding will make playing MMOs a few months out of the year or infrequently a much more enjoyable way to play with your friends.  I'm sure Blizzard is hoping the same thing.

Settling in at Max Level

New friends in Pandaria.

I think I've settled down to a routine (for now) at level 90 in World of Warcraft.  

I finished the start of the Isle of Thunder so that I would get to the dailies and promptly decided the dailies took too long and weren't particularly fun.  Part of it is that there are too many of them.

So then I started to look at specific gear I could use to get so I could do LFR with the guild.  One of my rings is the lowest iLvl I have and I found that the Golden Lotus faction offers one at honored so I decided to start the quests there.  The dailies there aren't quite as relaxing as the Tiller ones that I enjoy but they are close and don't have the huge flight path or the annoyance of the Isle of Thunder Ones.

I will take one more trip (at least) to the Isle of Thunder since I have a Key to the Palace of Lei Shen and 3 of the 5 parts for The Crumbled Chamberlain.  I looked at some videos of the Troves of the Thunder King and I'll probably just get a potion for it mainly so I can experience it once.  I'll probably just leave the island alone after that since I like the other dailies better.

The announcement of the Flex Raids was welcome, too.  I like my guild but I know I'm never going to be good enough to do 10 mans with them.  I'm hoping they will set up a flexible raid night since that is something I should be able to participate in without being a drag.  That should be significantly more fun than LFR with the guild since we can have only guild members and friends along.

Finally, I am still doing the Tiller dailies and now have 3 Best Friends, a Yak, and some new furniture.  I also started doing the daily fishing pools until I get a special fish and then I go to the Anglers, turn it in, and then do the dailies there.  The Anglers are so much easier now that I'm level 90 and can fly.  I also hit revered with Klaxxi, so I got my reputation booster, but I don't plan to go for Exalted until I get other things done.  A scorpion mount would be fun, though.  I will be able to get my pants once I have the valor, but the Lotus ring will help me more and cost less valor.

So far, I'm enjoying the routine and hopefully I can look forward Flex Raiding in 5.4.  Once I have iLvl 560, I'll probably go back to doing more on my priest and I would like to have a max level miner, which would require leveling my warrior.  I may do a few random Scenarios but I think I'm just going to skip the Heroic dungeons.

As others have said, there is way too much to do, which is good, since I can pick and choose what I enjoy.  It's a game and it needs to be fun for me.

Entitled

Farmer Kanter

I've been able to play more the last few weeks, though most of it has been in small increments.  That has lead to two titles in the last two weeks, Farmer (as seen above) and Hordebreaker.  I'm not sure if this is a significant accomplishment since I play so infrequently or if it is more because of the large gap in time and these titles were relatively easy to obtain.  In any case, they were both goals and it was nice to get them done.

The next question is what to do next.  I am almost at revered with the Klaxxi, so I will definitely try to finish that soon.  I've now started the work orders on the Farm and that should help.  I also expect I will be working on another faction but I have no idea which one.  I'm interested in suggestions if anyone has one.

I started all three update quest chains, too, over the last few weeks (Operation Shieldwall, Isle of Thunder, and Escalation).  Escalation was relative short, though I only did the Scenarios required for the title.  I just started both of the other quest chains (enough to get the quest hubs in both of them) and I guess I'll keep working on the Isle of Thunder ones.

I have several different directions I'd like to go, but I know I don't have time to focus on all of them.  I enjoy the lore and both quest chains would provide background for what is happening.  Isle of Thunder has the added advantage of providing better gear.  One day last week the guild was doing a guild LFR.  I don't expect to really raid and I'm not sure I'm interested in a pug LFR with borderline gear, but I guild LFR would be fun.  Right now I'm at iLvl 152, so I guess I'll try to use Valor and Isle of Thunder to get me to the 160 I need to be at in order to participate (and hope they do it again).

The farm quests are an easy way to get Valor and I enjoy them even if they are repetitive.  The high flying kite was a nice surprise and does make the watering quest easier and they are quick and a nice thing to do while farming items for cooking.  My cooking is at 595 so it will be nice to get my last crop to get it to 600.  I'm not sure of the motivation for 'Best Friends' but it will be easy enough to do while I'm farming, so I'll probably get them as well.

I may try to do some more Scenarios but I am still skittish of pugs.  It is a way to learn more of the lore in a relatively short time and I believe the expectations tend to be less that for Heroics.  Heroics would get me gear faster, but I am more skittish about pugging those.  I'll probably just try a few scenarios if I happen to have an hour of time where I believe I can play uninterrupted (that isn't often).  Maybe I will go back to try to have one night a week where I can do that, but I'm ok with my short game time sessions for now.

I also started the Pandaria quests with my Priest.  As I mentioned previously, I left certain areas undone with the idea that I would do them with her.  I like the role of healing in concept and it is good to have the option to either DPS with her in Shadow or Heal in Holy specialization.  I also am accumulating quite a bit of cloth that I could use to level her tailoring, and I do like crafting as well.

Fishing is another area that I like to fill in with as a no-stress way to spend some time that can be interrupted at any minute.  That helps with three young children including one with Autism, since I never know when I might need to stop playing.

I came in to writing this post thinking I didn't know what I wanted to do, but I now that it is on paper (on the Internet?) I actually do have a pretty comfortable direction:  keep doing farming and quests so I can get the valor for some equipment upgrades.  When I have more time, I'll fill in with Isle of Thunder quests to get to iLvl 160 and then, depending on how they are going, I'll keep working on them until I get to a good stopping point or work on my Priest for either questing up to level 90, filling in the areas I haven't seen, and/or working on her tailoring.

There is a lot to do.  I still might stall and unsubscribe, but between having a gaming laptop now and having a lot of different things I can do in short periods of time, I'm pretty hopeful that I can keep playing and having fun.

And that is what it is about.  I hope you are all having fun with your game of choice!

Thresholds

Flying on bugs is fun, too.

There were two thresholds that I happened since my last post.  I passed the 1 year point since my first post on this blog (May 5, 2012) and I now have my first max level character in Mists of Pandaria.

Ocho made a nice summary of what has happened with the New Bloggers since Syp started the Newbie Blogger Initiative on May 1, 2012 (and included a nice comment about this blog;  thanks!).  I've averaged almost 2 posts a month, which for most blogs wouldn't be much, but I'm only targeting to play and post once a week, so I feel like I kept up pretty well.  I also had a three month gap between September and November when I went from looking for a new game to play to deciding that it was too difficult to start a new MMO and that I would go back to playing World of Warcraft.

I am still finding more to write about, but it isn't nearly as easy as when I was evaluating different games.  Other blogs are a constant source of ideas, but I still have trouble finding time to play and to keep up with the blogs I'd like to read (and there are always more I am discovering).  I've pretty much resigned myself to reading the summaries only of the large sites (Massively, MMO RPG, WoW Insider, and Rock Paper Shotgun), if I can even do that.

In terms of World of Warcraft, I think I was somewhat reluctant to reach 90, because I knew I'd have a lot of decisions to make.  As of now, I am working on Klaxxi Rep as a continuation of the Dread Wastes zone along with Tillers where I now have 8 spots but am looking forward to Revered so I can grow the special items like Golden Lotuses.  I'll have another decision once either of those done (and I'm open to any suggestions) and once 5.3 hits next week with the limited time event.  I may go back and finish Operation Shieldwall for the plot points.

I did play both a Scenario and a Heroic with my guild once I hit 90, which was a lot of fun, although I didn't know what I was doing.  It reminded me of how willing the people in my guild are to help and that they are a great group of people.  I haven't played either a scenario or heroic since, but that gave me the gear so I could do random heroics and I think I'll be comfortable doing either as DPS (though I'll have to think before I join them as a healer on my priest, assuming I ever get her to 90).  I decided to wait to play her until they speed up leveling from 85 to 90, but that should happen on Tuesday and I still have a lot to do. 

There are so many quests, both daily and otherwise, that is a little overwhelming to be 90 so late in the process, but it is better than there being only one path.  I decided to let my daughter play with the Pet Battles.  I already reached 600 on both Herbalism and Alchemy and I'm well on my way there on cooking and fishing (I'm not sure how much it is worth doing the recipes to get from 575 to 600).  First Aid will have to wait until I get more Cataclysm cloth (it all went to my Tailor) and who knows when I'll get back to Archeology.

There was a recent post by Keen where he speaks about how people will only stop playing WoW when they have a Blizzard approved alternative (Titan).  I guess I fit into this group, though I hope I have more time when it hits because the thought of starting a new game is a little overwhelming after my experience last year.  Though who knows how my life will go in the next two years which is probably the minimum before Titan hits.  I make no promises on how much I post, but, at this point, I think I'll have plenty to write about for another year.  Thank you for reading!

MMOs and Gambling

More waterfalls in Pandaria.  What war?

I am still coming to grips with why, as a player who plays infrequently, I don't find a free to play game and save myself some money.  I spoke to this before, but a recent post by Ocho made me realize another reason why I am back playing WoW.

I hate gambling.  I remember recently going to a charity casino and even there, where there was no real money at stake, I didn't enjoy it.  I can understand how you can get better at a game like blackjack and put odds in you favor, but in the back of my mind is the fact that most people are throwing away money and many of them can't afford to do it.

Now, I know, to some, it is a form of entertainment.  I've had friends who go gambling, put a limit on how much they will spend and enjoy the time they have.  Sometimes they even come out ahead and, when they don't, they haven't spent any more than they would going out to a movie with popcorn and drinks.  It's fine for them, and I wouldn't want to eliminate their enjoyment, but it isn't for me.

The MMOs using the free to play model have learned that gambling is a way that they can make the money they need to build a game that many people want to play.  I am glad those games are around and I am glad there is an affordable way for people to play them.  However, just like gambling, it's not for me.

As I've mentioned before, I can afford a relatively small monthly price (less than the cost of two movie tickets these days), for a game that doesn't want to find ways to nickle and dime you.  Yes, you can go buy pets and mounts from Blizzard if you want, but Blizzard knows they have your subscription money for this month and there is a good chance they can have it next month if they can keep you entertained.  The motivations are different from the free to play games, or even the single pay games like Guild Wars 2 and The Secret World.  Again, I am glad there are different models that fit different players, but I'm glad there are still some subscription games around and I hope they continue to exist.

MMOs and Gating content

Kanter at Zouchin Village, Kun Lai Summit

After my last post, since I didn't get any suggestions on zones, I did what most people would do and searched on the web.  MMO champion had a poll about just this question.  Four zone scored close to the same, Jade Forest, Valley of the Four Winds, Kun Lai Summit and Dread Wastes.  I had already completed the Jade Forest quests, had decided to Krasarang Wilds with Kanter to make it easier for him to visit Pagle for fishing and left Valley of the Four Winds unfinished for Kantra my priest.

So I decided that I'd just get the flight path to Kun Lai Summit and head to the Dread Wastes leaving Kun Lai Summit to Kantra.  I went back to the internet to search for the path or quests that gets you to the Dread Wastes and found that you had to have a quest and you can only get the quest at level 89.

To me, this is patronizing and totally unnecessary.  I remember in vanilla WoW the excitement of going through both Wetlands and Feralas well under level, knowing that if I was attacked, there was a good chance I was going to die.  Wetlands allowed me to get to  Darnasus and Feralas was necessary at the time to get higher level alchemy recipes.  Feralas is still my favorite WoW zone, partially because of that trip.

Now, I guess because they want you to see things in order, when they think you are ready, they put zones behind barriers where you have to complete a quest at a certain level.  I believe I should be able to decide when I want to go to an area almost all the time.

I do remember a few cases where I like gates to content.  Finishing the quest to open the gate to Searing Gorge was exciting, particularly after seeing it when flying between Ironforge and Stormwind.  Raid gates for Onyxia and Karazhan were exciting to work through and I felt like I was worthy when I completed them.

However, gates just to enter a zone don't make any sense at all to me.  It reminds me a little of what I don't like about Apple.  They seem to think that they know better how you should use their products.  I'm the player, I'm the customer, I should get to decide how I want to play the game (or use their product).

At least I enjoyed the 'Thunder King' part of Kun Lai Summit.  I may going ahead and complete the zone although I'm almost level 89 now.  Kantra may just get to experience Townlong Steppes instead (one of the least favorite zones in the MMO champion poll).

Mists of Pandaria, Pets Battles, and Family Gaming

My daughter's panda in Loch Modan

Mists of Pandaria offers many different options of ways to play the game, and, in particular, more options for casual players including children.  I suspect there was more conversation about this when Mists first came out, but since I wasn't playing then, I'm late to the conversation.

I have taken the week off for spring break for school and so I was able to spend a few hours playing World of Warcraft with my eight year old daughter.  Right now, the only rule we have is that she can only play when I am around to help her.  My wife and I are concerned about people on the internet and what they'll say but as long as I'm there with her, I feel like it is fine for her about her to play online.  Other parents will have different rules and I don't pretend to know what is right for them or their children, but I'm hoping it is helpful to hear about my experience.

This is the same daughter who was playing Lord of the Rings Online with me last year.  She likes pets in games so it's not surprising that she wanted a hunter here.  She and some of her friends at school pretend to be pandas, so it's not surprising that the offer to play a panda in WoW was exciting for her.

At eight, I don't think it makes sense for her to have her own account.  Possibly at ten I might consider it, but I realize different parents have different tolerances (and different amounts of disposable income) and some children can be allowed more freedom than others.

She also has been steadily playing Pokemon White and White 2 since she received it for her birthday last March.  So it's not surprising that she is enjoying the pet battle subgame. I decided with my limited time, I would limit myself to crafting and questing at first, so this was my first to see the pet battles as well.

It's fun!  I think it was great that my daughter was able to get 5 achievements related to pet battles in less than two hours of playing time.  She also has an older computer with no video card, so it is nice that she can take her time to decide what she wants to do.  She started with 'Mojo' as her first pet (I'm not sure why) and she promptly renamed him 'Mojo Jojo'. ;)  After getting him to level 3, she decided she wanted to play with different pets and at this point she now has three pets levels 4 - 5 and has defeated two of the pet trainers.

I'm not sure if the parents at Blizzard were behind this or not, but I wouldn't be surprised if they were at all.  This is an almost ideal way for parents with children who want to play with them to be able to play without worrying about others and in a fun, relatively stress free setting.