Info Overload-Press Any Key...

*Dazed and Confused* wearing off, I found myself staring into the double barreled scatter gun. A rather unique weapon obviously meant for major life-changing damage. Even the item color was unlike any I've ever seen. They called it...."Cataclysm".


Attempting to tread water in that turbulant sea of information, the stark reality of those nay-sayers who claim the world is ending suddenly held some truth. Rumors of patch 4.0 going live, (perhaps as early as this week) and the expansion perhaps only about a month away from that, are being broadcast from the highest peaks. Nerf hammers, if you wish to call them that, are already falling on balance druids in the PTR and Beta. What started out looking pretty good, even awesome, has become just more questionable in nature. (*my personal thoughts) Either way, I've become tired of treading water. Call it information overload.

Being what I guess to be an average player, I went from vanilla into TBC more or less blind. Just jumped in and began playing, exploring all the new quests, etc. The same was true for WotLK. No previous research, no lingering upon the words of master theorycrafters, just jump in with both feet and learn as I go. I thought, suppossedly with the wisdom of a now experienced player, that I would dive into that sea of information available pre-release Cataclysm. That I would go into the expansion a more knowledgeable, know your class and play it well Druid. I am beginning to question my thought processes now. As Netherones' little imp would say, "Is this really necessary?"

There is a constant ebb and flow nature swarming all around the changes which Cata will bring. One specific thing, be it a talent, spell or whatever, goes from being good- to being not so good- to having no synergy- to being just being there for ?? Ebb and Flow. Everyone going back and forth in their thoughts and opinions on the same item, so much so, that one may wish for it to just go away. (and I'M the *dazed and confused* one?)

Before everyone gets on their war mammoth and starts swinging their ban-hammers at me, let me state for the record that I am not attempting to deride or dismiss all the fine theorycrafters out there. They happen to be a fine bunch, quite knowledgeable and I'm sure useful for many players....including myself !

With that said, what can go so wrong for the average player who may just pop into their local retailer, grab up the shiney new expansion, and just play the game? Let's look at this for a moment.

You won't play as good as the hard-core and pros: So what? You share a boat with a few million other players just doing the same thing, playing the game.

It will take you longer to quest and level-cap: Duh! You just might enjoy more aspects of the game, taking the time to do more things other than rush to end-game raiding or whatever.

People will, with malice, call you "NooB" I promise you, at one time or another, they were just that as well. The only difference now is that their brains got swallowed up with their egos and in essence turned into the green goop you see on the dungeon floors. Just as in the dungeons where you avoid the "fires", you can easily avoid them.....it's called..../ignore. (Note-the more mature players will offer you a tip or two instead)

You might die...a lot! Simple process here, return to body-rez-live and learn. Anyone can do it, multiple times if necessary. And everyone has done it! Soon enough, you will learn how not to die as much.

Okay, you get the idea here. Nothing can go so wrong with going into the expansion blind and just play the game. Yes, it is really great that there are such proficient and knowledgeable players out there willing to dissect and share the anatomy of your race/class throughout the game. And double yes, I do advise finding yourself a small group to learn from. The wealth of information available though can be mind-boggeling, to say the least. Just don't let yourself slide into that state of "information overload" to such a point that you lose sight of playing the game for enjoyment. All the rest will come to you in time.

The Thinking Druid...seriously!?!

Although it does not appear to be so, Sol does have his moments of serious thought about the conditions of his world. For several months now, the impending cataclysmic events have found Sol drowning in a sea of information, while cussing the reality that he forgot to pack his water breathing potions for the trip. Should have even taken along a few water walking elixiers as well.


Even with the literal e-reams of information pages available, the waters about Sol are rather murky and visibility is limited. What's this again? Int being swapped for spell power? Hit on gear going bye-bye? Mana becoming an issue again? My rotation is going to be flashed in the action bars for me? How long before I proc eclipse...how many wraths you say?

You get the general idea here. A whole bunch of changes to soak up. And the ebb and flow of that sea of information just keeps doing just that...flowing back and forth with needing to do this or that just to maintain a portion of our nuke abilities and remain a viable unique asset within a group. To sum up one general thought swirling about in that sea...Sol will get a couple new toys to play with, and just have to deal with the balance of the mess.

For certain, the theory-crafters will come up with a viable, working rotation in spite of what comes out in the wash. Thank Elune for that. Also for certain, there'll be a wave of gear-gemming-enchanting info eventually available. These will become the life preservers tossed out to the massively average pool of players trying to become better in a world of war (craft).

As near as Sol can figure out, the balanced druid seems to be getting more nerfs and probmatic areas than anything else. Hopefully, the waters will clear and calm themselves before the tide comes in. Sol is going to miss those days of Wrath when he could nuke down just about anything, whenever he chose to with whatever spell he chose to use. Eclipse? What was that? When Sol pulled a target, it would be dead long before an eclipse would proc, well before it could even reach him. About the only time he saw eclipse was when he would pull multiple mobs (5+) and toss in a couple of AoE's to take the whole mess down at the same time. Let's get real here for a moment...the average balance druid leveling and questing will probably never proc an eclipse, no matter how fancy Blizz has made it out to be. And those new toys druids get, well they pretty much don't appear that quickly. Sol remembers reading about them somewhere around levels 82 and 85. Perhaps some of this has changed, hopefully. Sol has been a little slack in his reading of late due to the dazed and confused state of his world under Deathwings' assualt.

Is there hope out there, somewhere? Will Sol's delicate balance between arcane and nature be his survivable asset after all? One can but tread water, wait and see. And hope that those invaluable theory-crafters continue to keep those life-preservers coming.

Cataclysm-and why I don't...

Eons have passed since I last crunched numbers. Although I was quite good at it back then, I discovered that I really did not enjoy doing it. (and I do mean 'way back then') This is perhaps one of the main reasons why you won't ever see me posting about the new dynamics for moonkins and the effects all the changes are having on our rotations and dps. (Oh, and that eons back thing, well I had changed my major into the arts)


Now, there are plenty of theorycrafters out there in cyber-space who are quite good and can offer you all the current information you might be seeking about Cataclysm and the changes to your class. Even I have come to rely upon several whom I think are quite knowledgeable, and reliable. I'll even provide a short listing at the end of this post for you.

Like it or not, Cataclysm is still in beta form and will most likely remain that way for at least another two months. Of everything I've read thus far, the expectations for release are about mid-November. That leaves a lot of game time for the majority of players to enjoy, perhaps doing many of the things which may cease to exist come the expansion. And that is what I've been doing for about the past month now. Sorta-kinda-like your average Druid just running around experianceing old content he missed along the way. Sure, Sol could be working on some better gear and perhaps a new staff, he could be working on improving his pvp abilities (which I'm sure are a disgrace to fellow boomkins), but with all the new changes coming why not just sit back and enjoy the game? No matter what, the inevitable will come.

Sol is not alone in this journey, so to speak. I've read a pretty fair number of blogs where players are doing very simular things with their mains and alts. More often now, I am coming across new 'bucket lists' of things to do before Cata arrives. Sol don't really have a list of things to do, he just sorta falls into anything that happens to pop up during his travels. This is a quite enjoyable method for Sol, usually filled with some unknown surprise here and there. In the back of his mind, he remembers along the way to consider his kids (alts), picking up some heirlooms/BoA gear here and there, stockpiling some mats for their professions (to a point), and trying to fill up his rather small money bag. The gear and pvp experience will come in time, but there is much of the old world which will cease to exist and Sol would really like to know some of it before then. Besides, he still has to work on a tanking set of gear as well, so there are plenty of things to do.

I do tend to ramble on sometimes, it just sort of happens. The point here though is that Sol is not experiencing any of those summertime blues or lack of interest in playing. He is not so elite or pompous to claim 'having done everything', just because of some kingslayer title. Eventually Sol will get to that point I guess, hopefully remaining as humble about things as he is now. So I guess Sol's thinking about Cataclysm falls somewhere in the 'wait and see' neighborhood. The rest of the game is here now, is live, and quite enjoyable to play.

Here's the list I mentioned earlier, just some of the regulars I rely on:

Lissanna      Relevart     Graylo     TMR
 
Enjoy the game now!