Wednesday, October 9, 2013

A Week in an MMO Life: Old school raiding of Ulduar

So many achievements, Raptor is confused
I have started working on this post several times and have never gotten very far.  I believe it is because I have conflicting feelings over my limited gaming experience the last few weeks and I'm not sure how to express it.

I have been a member of one guild since the World of Warcraft started almost 9 years ago.  The guild has changed a lot over those years, but they have always allowed for my casual game style.  One great experience they offer is periodically (annually?) a tour of the old raids with anyone who wants to come along.  Since the guild has been around that whole time they share their original experiences with the content.


Recently they offered a tour of Ulduar and some of other WotLK raids.  I always heard good things about Ulduar but had never been able to visit and was able to arrange to have some time on a Saturday to go with them.

I had a great time.  People were informative and friendly and even though it went long past the scheduled time, they persisted until we finished Ulduar and they avalanche of achievements I and some other first time visitors acquired.

Now that it is done, however, I am feeling at a loss as to what I want to do.  I had planned to get my gear up to a level where I could eventually do Flex Raiding with them, but I know I just don't have the time to really commit to it and I am not sure I want to.  I participated in one LFR at this point, there were several wipes and some rudeness but nothing awful.  However I am very reluctant to do it again.

On the Bartle Test I am a pretty strong Explorer (by the way, I strongly recommend his blog, QBlog) and I like the idea of seeing what the game has to offer.  However, I know my limitations, I don't have the time to keep up with end game content.  Timeless Isle could provide a way of catching up, I just don't know if that is what I want to do.  The two most satisfying times I have had in the game recently were this visit to Ulduar and finally winning the Fishing Trinket (I'm a fish!) at the tournament.  Part of me wants to just go see some of the old content I missed, part of me wants to level my warrior for crafting, part of me wants to level my druid, part of me wants to try out a monk, and there are still several parts of me left.

At this point, I'm almost paralyzed by indecision and am just farming, getting my daily cloths, and working on different reputations.

On another note, The Newbie Blogger Initiative 2 has started.  As a survivor of the first initiative, if an infrequent one, I look forward to meeting some new compatriots and learning from them.  Please visit some of the new bloggers!