Questing in WoW One Night a Week

Flying on a dragon is a good thing

I bought Mists of Pandaria about a month ago and finally finished the first zone, Jade Forest, this week. I did spend some of that time finishing leveling my Mage so I could disenchant, but still, I'm sure that seems like an incredible slow rate for most of the people who play WoW.

I remember when Burning Crusade came out, while some people were done in less than a week, I took about a week for each level.  I'm significantly slower than that now, but I've learned to accept it.  However, there are some difficulties.  There were a few times when I lost the train of what was going on.  I try to have one significant (2 hour) play session a week, but it doesn't always happen.  I did last weekend which got me very close to finishing the first zone and I was able to finish it in a relatively short session this weekend.

Even though sometimes I lost the train of the quest line, I was able to enjoy most of it.  In particular, the relatively short quest line within the Temple of the Jade Serpent (not including the instance) was finished in one session and it had the nice payback of a ride on the back of the Jade Serpent at the end.  I was also able to appreciate the horror of what happens at the end.

My thoughts now are how to get the most of the questing.  I'm close to level 87 and I certainly won't be able to play even half of the quests while leveling my first character.  I could just play the rest at max level, but I know I'm going to want to level at least my priest.  My plan now is to get to level 87 in Valley of the Four Winds and then switch to Krasarang Wilds.  This will allow my priest to switch to Valley of the Four Winds at level 86 and I'll see this content with her.

I went to Krasarang wilds once to turn in a special fish with Nat Pagle and it looks like I need to quest some there to get a closer flight path to him.  However, after that, I can pretty much quest in any area.  I'd love to get suggestions for people favorite zones to quest in, so I can at least finish one of the more enjoyable areas on my hunter before I reach 90.

Critical mass when playing one night a week

Working on my farm

There is a lot of excitement when starting a new game or a new expansion for an existing game.  However, when you are only playing one day a week, it doesn't keep you going, it is more a reminder of how far behind you'll be soon.

I've discovered that there is a 'critical mass' I've reached playing World of Warcraft that makes it more enjoyable to stay with the game than to start a new game.  I know people who are playing.  I'm not an expert, but I'm comfortable with the way the game works, the way the crafting works and I don't feel like I am missing too much.

I tried to play Lord of the Rings Online and you'd think it would be a better fit for a person playing one night a week.  There is no monthly charge, the cost for adding the areas for questing is minimal given that it would take me quite a while to complete them at my current rate.  However, I played a couple of characters to around level 10 and I've stopped.

If my daughter or wife were able to play at the same time I could, that would probably make a big difference, but I just didn't have the motivation to keep going.

Most MMOs are difficult to play one night a week.  Even with World of Warcraft, although it's easy enough to finish the quests, it is difficult to remember what I was doing one week to the next.  However, it's much easier if you know there are people there you can chat with or to whom you can ask questions.  It's easier knowing that there are only 5 levels (3 now) until I can advance my status with the Tillers and play around with the different cooking and farming options.

So, here I am some days not playing at all, some days only planting.  However, about once a week I do get a session where I have time to play and enjoy the game and, hopefully, see some of the people I've played with these last 8+ years.  That's longer than I've been with two of my three daughters.  Although I don't get to see them often now, that does count for something.