Saving the world …of Warcraft

This category has gone entry-less for the longest time as I’ve had difficulty deciding on what to write for a first entry. I’ve never really blogged or talked about the computer games that I play; but I suppose you never really blog about playing Bookworm or Zuma, eh? Well, that’s changed a bit since I’ve been blogging (though I still play those), so I suppose the only way to start off this category is to talk about what I’ve been doing recently on the gaming subject: World of Warcraft.

I’ve always been very interested in RPGs, but also very wary of the way it just sucks me into the game. I don’t know how many hours I’ve spent on Diablo II, Neverwinter Nights, some Final Fantasy games, The Sims, etc etc when I was in college. That said, I’ve only started playing this game late last year, as I was avoiding it. Well, it came to my house (or I went to theirs?) now that I’m renting a place with a couple of friends; one of them plays WOW.

So now I’m hooked.

I have a raiding 80 human mage, Eilonwyn, who is my first toon. I raid as arcane with Mad Prophets, a casual raiding guild on the Dath’Remar Oceanic server. Yes, her name comes from Eilonwy in the Chronicles of Prydain story; I just added an “n”. (Also, I have a lowbie human paladin named Tarann, and another lowbie human warlock named Achrenn.) I also have a 70 draenei priest named Bituin, who I plan to go discipline heals during endgame. Heals is scary for me at the moment though, so she’s not seeing a lot of action at the moment.

I’m not entirely sure which player strata I fall under; I play regularly, dedicating time to join raids and making sure my character (or toon, in WOW lingo) has enough to get by and a little extra, but I’m also relatively casual in the sense that I don’t want to raid all the time, or do PvP/achievements/leveling all the time, either. Somewhere in the middle, admittedly slightly more on the hardcore side than the casual side.

I tend to sometimes be quite caught up in the odd things, like the time when I made up my mind to get the Explorer title; everyone seems to prefer getting Champion of the Frozen Wastes but meh, Explorer is so much cooler. (And yay for alliteration!) Or, spending a lot of my time grinding the Timbermaw faction (on my first toon, and not even maximum level yet). Or, fishing for Old Ironjaw and Old Crafty (sad note: I caught Old Crafty, but hit my cast button, and didn’t get to loot Old Crafty. I haven’t had any luck again so far).

I’m also a bit of a UI geek; I like customizing my UI and making it pretty–and functional, of course. The original UI is good, but more organized information where you need it is always good, from a raiding perspective. Plus there are those which is just plain fun. I’ll get a screenshot up sometime.

Naturally, a chunk of my playtime is spent on raiding and dungeons. I like shiny loot and achievements just like anyone else–in fact I enjoy fiddling with Rawr (though far from really good at it) to mix and match what equipment I have and which is the best to use. However, that doesn’t take away from the fact that a big factor with dungeons and raiding is the enjoyment of playing with friends. Having only one 80, it’s still nice to relax and do fun runs, even if I don’t need the loot. I don’t raid lead, but I enjoy organizing fun raids (as long as someone else is doing the directing part!).

If anything, the biggest reason why WoW has stuck with me is the social aspect of the game. It’s fun to play with friends, and meet new friends too; I’ve met a number of guildies from the two guilds I’m in, and know more people in-game who I enjoy running with a lot as well. Oh, there are the jerks and the know-it-alls, but it’s usually better to just ignore them. :D

I was actually surprised to find out that a couple of online friends play WoW as well, as I’d never known them to before. Which makes things all the more fun! So if you play WoW, and you’re ever an ally on Dath’Remar, let me know! :)