It's Tuesday...

It's Tuesday...'nuff said. Time for random thoughts.


I spent the early part of this maintenance day researching some stuff I needed to know. Not the raid stuff sorts of things, (Sol still isn't there yet), but the sort of things I needed to know for the profession leveling Khrox and Kaimara are pushing. Prime example; Infinite Dust. Kai needs like 600 of these, where do they all come from? With Khroxs' leatherworking/skinning skills and Kai's enchanting/tailoring, the two can work together, at least to some extent, providing each other with mats, enchants or whatever. And we won't even get into the vast amounts of Borean Leather Khrox needs atm.

Both have recently started some dungeons with the encouragement of the guild leader. Sol had joined DUT a few months back, now both Khrox and Kai have become members. This is a good thing. Even though they are now 75 and 70 respectively, this is still a much earlier start than Sol had. Guild membership has been great for all three, and being able to experience this part of the game now is exciting. It's great being in a guild that is friendly and helpful to it's members. Without this atmosphere, I doubt if I would even have a chance at raiding. I have to admit though, both hunter and mage seem to be doing better than Sol.

UI- last I spoke of my UI, I had just installed Grid. This did not go well for me. Just couldn't get to show what I wanted to show and configuring it just didn't click as well. Gave up on it and installed Pitbull4 instead. "Happy Camper" time! Out of the box, I only needed a few placement changes to be up and running. Configuration is much easier for me, and I like the looks of everything soooo much more than Grid. Now, I'm not really putting Grid down. It's a great add-on which I know a lot of tanks and healers use. For me and all my dps alts though, Pitbull4 just turned out to work better.

And about that "raid" thing? Well, I guess we all have some sort of dream for this or that. With Sol, the dream recently grew to this: Dragonwrath, Tarecgosa's Rest-Legendary Staff. LOL, it's okay to dream. Right?

Daxxarri-blue poster-"It's actually easier to get started on the path to acquire this legendary; the journey itself is more difficult though. Regardless, players who have cleared the prior tier of raid content are the only ones eligible to begin the quest line -- any player who's part of a group which is capable of accomplishing that probably has a good shot at getting a staff for themselves."  (Source, post# 191)

Okay, so maybe there's limits to such lofty dreams.

In the meantime, Khrox has a little play time while waiting for a rare spawn. What better to do than help run up the feast count for a guild achievement?


Dinner Time!

Have fun everyone! ~Sol



Sol's Issues...or..."Coming Out?"

Issues with Sol

I haven't logged Sol into the game for something like two weeks now. It's highly unusual for Sol to miss a day in Azeroth, much less two weeks, and he's obviously been lurking around jabbing at me for answers. It's just as obvious to me, that I don't have any solid answers. Just a few nagging thoughts, and some noted simularities within the posts of some other bloggers lately.

As you would rightfully guess, within my rather large wow blog reading lists, there are some which I "always" read. This does not take away from the quality of the rest of the blogs since they are also in the reader for what they are, and feed those interests for me. /cast Diplomacy[Rank :)]

Background stuff: Sol has been around for some time now, probably getting close to five years now. My first to cap out at levels and professions, many achievements. My go anywhere (almost), do or try to do anything with reasonable expectations of success. I don't feel tired or burned out with Sol. I think the issue rests more with some realizations of feeling limited in what he can and seemingly cannot do, compared to what I would love for him to do. You see, Sol wants to be a PvE raider, at least 10-man level. Not for the glory, bragging rights or epic loots etc. This is all about personal accomplishment within the game, and rl self.

Recently, I silently shared some sad and tearful moments with Larisa at the PPI. Without getting into details, Larisa's posts concerned some game and guild situations of late which have affected her in real life as well. Although I would not foolishly claim to understand her personal feelings, I do and can see within her posts some things which seem simular and applicable to myself. Larisa speaks freely about a learning curve she's experiencing in raids with her guild.

Sol has yet to reach raid level, but I have to wonder if this isn't possibly one of the reasons why he's not there yet. I've come to the realization that in-game, I simply just have to "do it", to learn it. All the reading of strats, theorycrafts and video watching just don't stick with me. Dump or drag me into the dungeon finder or instance. I may not do well, but I'll live through it doing considerable damage, and hopefully be better at it a second time. And let's face facts, the majority of groups require that you "Know The Fight", or else. Me, well, I don't know it until I do it.

I have to consider some of the other thoughts and issues floating around the blogosphere as well. Those which concern real life age and game preformance hit home a bit. I recently read about a blogger/player in his 40's something who spoke about age diminishing reflexes compared to the lightning quickness of much younger players. Once again, the simularities show their face to me. Real life age and game play are not new subjects. They've been floating around for some time in the blogosphere, popping to the forefront every now and then. And this is obviously an issue I personally deal with, or attempt to deal with.

These are real life fears/thoughts I have when considering to click on the dungeon finder tool. Firstly, will I be able to preform well enough for the group's expectations? Will I avoid getting the group wiped? Will I live through it? Well, chances of me, a ranged caster, living through it are fairly good. I am generally well out of the way and can always shadowmeld if necessary. All the rest though is up for grabs. But it's that 'all the rest' which concerns me more than living through it. Bottom line: Is my real life age, diminishing reflexes, muscle memory, holding me back from accomplishing goals in game?

In some sort of summation, I would have to agree with Larisa's learning curve description and the age issues other bloggers have spoke of as contributing factors concerning my own game play. I would also have to factor in the *personalities and attitudes of other players towards "somewhat older" players. Will Sol see the accomplishment of becoming a viable raider? I really don't know at this point.

How do you view older players in the game? Is it with some sort of respect/understanding, pompous indignation or somewhere in the middle?

BTW: I am Solitudeone. I am 60 something, and still playing World of Warcraft with passion.