Might as well take some time to talk about the peeps since they deserve some mention... "Unrestricted Free Agent" is my current guild. It's the second one that I have ever been in, and it's *mine*. From an Uber-Toon standpoint, we're not much to look at. we don't even have enough 70's to run Karazhan (part of the reason that I have yet to go there)... but you know what? I like the people here. A lot.
I used to be in a guild called "A Band of Brothers". Cool name, terrible management. It was run by some kid who was about 14 years old and his parents took away WoW at some point, leaving NOBODY in the guild with permissions to do anything for about 3 months. Membership slowly dwindled, people left and I eventually took the remainder of viable players that were left and we moved on. Because of that, I sometimes wish I had named the new guild "Catharsis", not only for symbolic reasons but also because it sounds cooler... but I kind of like having my waiver-wire tag under my nameplate too.
Our problem as a guild is, we've only got 8 or 9 regular players (counting me), and not everyone is skilled, levelled and/or geared to run 10 mans, or even a consistent 5 man team. Still, the people that I see on a consistent basis in this lil' guild are some fine people to play with. By Tenure, to the best of my knowledge, the major players:
Mkristo - My college room mate's main (70 Enhance Shammy). He's got a slug of alts, too, and 3 of them are on the cusp (or very close to) Outlands. Much like myself, if he'd sunk more time into one main instead of playing the field, he'd probably be pretty well into raiding. We think alike, though, and try to build armies for ourselves.
Elgordito - A good friend that I play hockey with. 70 Prot Warrior, he has some minor alts but is still on the WoW learning curve. He's improving a lot, though and as soon as he figures out how to hold aggro on multiple mobs better and manage his abilities more effectively, he'll be fine.
Nessiness - My wife's character. She does complain a lot about the hours I put into the game (which are, by my own admission a lot) and at one point figured "If you can't beat em, join em." 70 Elemental Shaman. Between her and Mkristo always being around, this is one of the big reasons I never rolled a Shaman - because I invariably have one to group with when I need it!
Sklank - Joined up when I formed UFA. He's younger, so he's not on as much as I think he'd like to be, but he's a solid player. Since he plays a Priest, I'm hoping that he'll bang out those last few levels to 70 soon and I can have a consistent healer to run with.
Mokodo - Joined us not too far in and plays a Prot Warrior. Super nice guy, kind of quiet but obviously interested in learning and improving and not too far from 70. His wife plays too, but I don't think anyone of her characters is above 30. He's got a bunch of lower-level guys running around, too. I think that they're all Warriors.
Oatiesweed - We hooked up with her Paladin on a BRD run, and she's stayed around. I sometimes feel guilty that I can't do more for her, because she's probably the one in the guild (outside of me) that's most interested in raiding, but we just don't have the horses to pull it off. I'm glad that she's here, though. She's funny in Guild Chat and a good contributor for everyone.
Frostpwn - A friend of Sklank's he's got a Frost Mage and also plays his character well. He and Sklank should ding 70 pretty close to each other, and when they do it will expand our options a lot.
If we ever get it together, we can put together a decent 5-man on a regular basis. Some days, though, it feels like a mighty big "if". As much as I like our happy little family, I'm currently exploring options for places we can go to merge into another guild and open some doors for everyone involved. the trick is finding someplace that's laid back enough to be enjoyable, serious enough to put together 10- and 25-man raids, yet conscious enough of real life that they understand not everyone has a schedule for raiding. I feel like I owe it to them all.. but that's the burden of being a Guild Master. Time will tell, I guess. :)
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Friggincow
This character *does* actually exist... sort of. She's set to be my first female Tauren, and first Shaman (to date, the only class that I have never played). Right now, though, she doesn't even have 15 seconds of /played time because I'm saving her for a "Happy Fun Warcraft Levelling Project" someday. My wife rolled a corresponding Male Tauren Warrior, Frigginbull - also yet to be played. Someday we'll roll them out as a pair and enjoy a simpler time of lower levels. Just not yet. :)
I did, however choose to use her name for the blog because of my innate predispostion to Taurens in general. What can I say? I'm a Taurus by birth, it's just natural.
I did, however choose to use her name for the blog because of my innate predispostion to Taurens in general. What can I say? I'm a Taurus by birth, it's just natural.
Sanjaya
Troll Priest with a mohawk. Kind of fits the name. I never play him, I think he's level 12. Someday, maybe I'll get around to it, but he's the Forgotten Alt. After his namesake got booted off "Idol", I so wanted to go to Orgrimmar and just /cry over and over while people made fun of me, but I was too lazy to do it. Opportunity missed...
Derting
Tauren #3. With the need for a levellable Warrior in the fold (pending whether or not I actually decided to do so with Inyaki), I rolled one of those fabulous Tauren Warriors. The name, by the way, comes from one of my favorite Middle Linebackers at my alma mater (Washington State University), and (from my way of thinking) sounds pretty cool too. Incidentally, that Gnome Mage I made way back when had the same name. She's still around, totally unused and with unspent talent points in case anyone cares (I deleted the Paladin!)
Dert is a Fury Warrior, and was a kind of fun side project too - I levelled him without any financial aid from anyone else to see how much money I could generate if I played "smart" with regard to professions, vendoring and the Auction House. I've been able to afford some nice gear for him, bought mats to make 16 slot bags (and had them made) and even bought chanting mats and paid enchanters just to keep it all on the up-and-up. He's in mothballs for the moment, but I got his bank account around 40g or so at level 28. Could have been almost enough for a mount already if I never bought anything, but hey... I'm a gear whore, like I've said before.
Dert is a Fury Warrior, and was a kind of fun side project too - I levelled him without any financial aid from anyone else to see how much money I could generate if I played "smart" with regard to professions, vendoring and the Auction House. I've been able to afford some nice gear for him, bought mats to make 16 slot bags (and had them made) and even bought chanting mats and paid enchanters just to keep it all on the up-and-up. He's in mothballs for the moment, but I got his bank account around 40g or so at level 28. Could have been almost enough for a mount already if I never bought anything, but hey... I'm a gear whore, like I've said before.
Euskogudari
Another Basque name ("Basque Soldier"), Eusko is a Protection Paladin. After my first failed attempt with Pallies, I was a little reluctant to play him but he's becoming more of a favorite. Eusko got the "gatherer" tag put on him - Mining/Skinning - since i had all the professions covered already on my other toons. With the news on WotLK and Inscription, this should work out marvellously for me, just drop one of those low-investment skills and keep my Trade Skills Cartel going strong! Eusko is also my default banker. I did it initially because he had almost nothing in the bank, so I bought a few more slots for him and just started funnelling everything stackable into him. Now, everyone else has room in the bank and I have one convenient slot to go to for materials and cash. Easy as pie.
At the moment, I've got him geared in some pretty ridiculous stuff for his level, so he's really fun to tank with. Pally tanking is so different from the other classes that it's taken some getting used to, but I feel like I'm getting pretty good at it (I would be remiss *not* to mention http://maintankadin.failsafedesign.com/ at this point as the advice there has been nothing short of a revelation). What's fun about Pally Tanking is the ability to grab and hold a whole lot of mobs at once, and he's sufficiently durable that any halfway skilled healer can keep him up under the assault. What sucks is the lack of a true Taunt. When you lose aggro on a mob as a Paladin, it's time to put that prayin' to use. I've discovered that using Blessing of Protection on the target will return the mob to you (most of the time), but that's got a cooldown of like, forever...
The other problem with tanking on a Paladin is, people are idiots. Without Avenger's Shield in the talent tree yet, I rely on running into the center of the mobs in question, dropping Consecrate to get their attention and then backing it up with Holy Shield and as much other Holy damage as I can put out. Noob Hunters (in particular) fail to recognize this as an effective method of tanking (apparently, it appears reckless and/or they dont trust me) and always seem to feel the need to prove what great players they are by pulling mobs and taking the first shot. Fine if I ask you to do it, but I'd personally rather engage my targets a good distance from my casters and hold them there.. and that goes right out the window with one of those types in your group.
People don't trust Pally tanks much either. Try going in LFG sometime as a Pally tank. Groups that are "LF1M Need Tank" seem oblivious when you volunteer. Better off to take that Arms Warrior, I guess, because... he's a Warrior. Have fun with your repair bills, guys, and GG. Some days, I think I should just go Holy or RetNoob and get it over with, but I'm stayin' committed. I need a plate wearer at 70, and I want to prove to someone that Paladins can be good - even great - tanks if you know how to play 'em. I'm still learning. :)
At the moment, I've got him geared in some pretty ridiculous stuff for his level, so he's really fun to tank with. Pally tanking is so different from the other classes that it's taken some getting used to, but I feel like I'm getting pretty good at it (I would be remiss *not* to mention http://maintankadin.failsafedesign.com/ at this point as the advice there has been nothing short of a revelation). What's fun about Pally Tanking is the ability to grab and hold a whole lot of mobs at once, and he's sufficiently durable that any halfway skilled healer can keep him up under the assault. What sucks is the lack of a true Taunt. When you lose aggro on a mob as a Paladin, it's time to put that prayin' to use. I've discovered that using Blessing of Protection on the target will return the mob to you (most of the time), but that's got a cooldown of like, forever...
The other problem with tanking on a Paladin is, people are idiots. Without Avenger's Shield in the talent tree yet, I rely on running into the center of the mobs in question, dropping Consecrate to get their attention and then backing it up with Holy Shield and as much other Holy damage as I can put out. Noob Hunters (in particular) fail to recognize this as an effective method of tanking (apparently, it appears reckless and/or they dont trust me) and always seem to feel the need to prove what great players they are by pulling mobs and taking the first shot. Fine if I ask you to do it, but I'd personally rather engage my targets a good distance from my casters and hold them there.. and that goes right out the window with one of those types in your group.
People don't trust Pally tanks much either. Try going in LFG sometime as a Pally tank. Groups that are "LF1M Need Tank" seem oblivious when you volunteer. Better off to take that Arms Warrior, I guess, because... he's a Warrior. Have fun with your repair bills, guys, and GG. Some days, I think I should just go Holy or RetNoob and get it over with, but I'm stayin' committed. I need a plate wearer at 70, and I want to prove to someone that Paladins can be good - even great - tanks if you know how to play 'em. I'm still learning. :)
Hiltzaile
Hiltzaile is my rogue, and the first Blood Elf that I rolled. From the beginning, I kind of envisioned her like the assassin chick in "Die Hard With a Vengeance", dancing around with sharp objects while the bodies fall all around her. To that end, "Hiltzaile" is a Basque word (yet another send-up to my wife's heritage) that means "Assassin". It's just cooler than naming your toon "Killer".
Hiltz is an Engineer as well. Sometimes I wonder why I even bothered, since it seems like so much of this profession just involves making grenades and other things that go "Boom!", but the initial concept was to make her useful for wipe prevention. Vanish + Jumper Cables on Healer = Win! Of course, the darn things rarely work and have a 1/2 hour cooldown... but I get a cool mechanical dragon out of the gig.
Hiltz is another one of my characters that has always been pretty ridiculously geared for her level, and that has made her fun for solo play. At one point, she was dual-wielding epic daggers (Shadowblade and Gut Ripper) with +15 Agility chants on each one. Admittedly, I've run very few instances her. Part of this is that I feel like I don't contribute so much to the group dynamic as my lockpicking sucks, and I'm not any kind of stunlocking master. The real problem is kind of the same thing that I run into with Toro - everyone else has either a Rogue and/or Hunter, so it's class overload if I bring her. She's 61 now and I haven't even run Ramps yet.
I suppose that I have to place her in there with Noobz on my "to do" list and get her to 70 sometime soon since I think that she'll be a great grinding toon, but I'm so occupied with making Ribeye viable for raiding that I haven't gotten around to it. Upshot: Blue XP and yet more Blue XP.
Hiltz is an Engineer as well. Sometimes I wonder why I even bothered, since it seems like so much of this profession just involves making grenades and other things that go "Boom!", but the initial concept was to make her useful for wipe prevention. Vanish + Jumper Cables on Healer = Win! Of course, the darn things rarely work and have a 1/2 hour cooldown... but I get a cool mechanical dragon out of the gig.
Hiltz is another one of my characters that has always been pretty ridiculously geared for her level, and that has made her fun for solo play. At one point, she was dual-wielding epic daggers (Shadowblade and Gut Ripper) with +15 Agility chants on each one. Admittedly, I've run very few instances her. Part of this is that I feel like I don't contribute so much to the group dynamic as my lockpicking sucks, and I'm not any kind of stunlocking master. The real problem is kind of the same thing that I run into with Toro - everyone else has either a Rogue and/or Hunter, so it's class overload if I bring her. She's 61 now and I haven't even run Ramps yet.
I suppose that I have to place her in there with Noobz on my "to do" list and get her to 70 sometime soon since I think that she'll be a great grinding toon, but I'm so occupied with making Ribeye viable for raiding that I haven't gotten around to it. Upshot: Blue XP and yet more Blue XP.
Ribeye
Ahh, Ribeye. My second Tauren, and a Druid. Taking full advantage of Tauren racials, I opted to make him the Alchemist/Herbalist. Ribby had an admittedly mundane history for a long time and was really just kind of a novelty ("ooh, look! I'm a bear!") until somewhere around level 20. Right about then, I remember reading through the blurbs about BlizzCon and seeing some of the Druid stuff.. notably, that Blizzard had intended Druids to have a heavy healing slant. In retrospect, this is outright hilarious, given the fact that a Resto-spec Druid sacrifices so much of their talent and abilities to go Tree, but it sounded good at the time - especially since I had no "Healer" type characters... So, Ribby went and respecced from some odd Balance-Feral thing into full healing - and stayed there until about 3 weeks back.
For a long time, I had groused about levelling "Old Pillowclaws", since a Resto-spec *anything* is a menace to solo with. With Ribby, it meant that I had to really work hard to keep his gear up to date so that he had a solo set and a healing set.. and despite all that money and effort that I sank into gear, every fight was an endurance battle. Go bear, heal up, back to bear, repeat, innervate occasionally... ugh. Sure, you always have a spot in an instance but it's trying when you solo as much as I do. You can't grind anything, can't do appropriately-levelled quests (unless you've got a lot of time on your hands, or a group!). So, 3 weeks back I made the decision to forego my rabies shots. I'm Feral now.
Not that I intend to keep him that way; Without setting foot in Karazhan, and with only one Heroic-level drop (Shackles of Quagmirran, if you must know) to my credit, I've still managed to cobble together a healing set that eclipses +1300 in healing power. That's a sizeable investment (and a lot of bag space!) that I intend to get a return on. It's nice enough that I can gear up in that stuff and heal most non-heroic 5-mans in a pinch (after all, versatility is the big Druid draw), but I'm liking the Feralness of it all.
Being kind of a late bloomer to the Rabid Drood, I had a ways to go to build up a set, but I'm pretty happy with it now. Ribby had only scratched the beginnings of Nagrand when he dinged 70 (I always adhere to a Hellfire-Zangar-Terokkar-Nagrand-Blade's Edge-Netherstorm-Shadowmoon rotation, and rarely get into a new zone until the previous is wiped out), so there was a lot of questing left to do. The quest rewards from this (and the massive chunk of gold acquired along the way) have allowed me to put together a respectable tank set. My shoulders still suck, and I need an Arcatraz run for the Verdant Gloves quest line, but I'm just about maxxed now for a pre-raid tank. Just today, I was main tank for the first time on a World Boss, Omen from the Lunar New Year Event. Very cool.
Going forward, I envision Ribeye as the character that I play the most. Versatility plus, and I like to think that I'm decent enough at what I do to make it viable. Time will tell, but at the very least it's fun to collect all the gear! :)
For a long time, I had groused about levelling "Old Pillowclaws", since a Resto-spec *anything* is a menace to solo with. With Ribby, it meant that I had to really work hard to keep his gear up to date so that he had a solo set and a healing set.. and despite all that money and effort that I sank into gear, every fight was an endurance battle. Go bear, heal up, back to bear, repeat, innervate occasionally... ugh. Sure, you always have a spot in an instance but it's trying when you solo as much as I do. You can't grind anything, can't do appropriately-levelled quests (unless you've got a lot of time on your hands, or a group!). So, 3 weeks back I made the decision to forego my rabies shots. I'm Feral now.
Not that I intend to keep him that way; Without setting foot in Karazhan, and with only one Heroic-level drop (Shackles of Quagmirran, if you must know) to my credit, I've still managed to cobble together a healing set that eclipses +1300 in healing power. That's a sizeable investment (and a lot of bag space!) that I intend to get a return on. It's nice enough that I can gear up in that stuff and heal most non-heroic 5-mans in a pinch (after all, versatility is the big Druid draw), but I'm liking the Feralness of it all.
Being kind of a late bloomer to the Rabid Drood, I had a ways to go to build up a set, but I'm pretty happy with it now. Ribby had only scratched the beginnings of Nagrand when he dinged 70 (I always adhere to a Hellfire-Zangar-Terokkar-Nagrand-Blade's Edge-Netherstorm-Shadowmoon rotation, and rarely get into a new zone until the previous is wiped out), so there was a lot of questing left to do. The quest rewards from this (and the massive chunk of gold acquired along the way) have allowed me to put together a respectable tank set. My shoulders still suck, and I need an Arcatraz run for the Verdant Gloves quest line, but I'm just about maxxed now for a pre-raid tank. Just today, I was main tank for the first time on a World Boss, Omen from the Lunar New Year Event. Very cool.
Going forward, I envision Ribeye as the character that I play the most. Versatility plus, and I like to think that I'm decent enough at what I do to make it viable. Time will tell, but at the very least it's fun to collect all the gear! :)
Bubbahotepp
"Bubba", as more commonly known, is my Forsaken Mage (bonus points if you recognize the significance of the name!). Part of my Sweatshop Trade Skills Cartel, he was slotted to be my Jewelcrafter. Bubba was one of those characters that I lost interest in along the way. he had reached something like level 14 and questing was annoying. Mobs were getting to him and whalloping him before he could burn them down... so I kind of shelved him during the period that I was levelling Noobz.
I learned a few things about the game though, and Bubba came back. This time, I made it a mission to procure every single piece of gear for him that I could find that ended in the words "of Fiery Wrath". Every day, one of my AH search keywords was "wrath". It was ritual. Bubba had items stashed in the bank, already enchanted and ready to go, that were 7-8 levels away at times because the stuff is such a menace to find - but I found it, and he prospered.
Bubba was a classic nuker, straight damage-and-crit build, and one-on-one I could burn down almost anything with alarming speed, even a same-level elite mob from time to time. He levelled fast, and soon was a favorite of mine. I haven't used him much lately, but I soloed some daunting stuff with him and he eventually became my 2nd 70 in December, 2007. I haven't been using him much lately as I bring the rest of the alts up to snuff, but I'm fairly certain that he'll be one of my 2-3 "most used" toons in the long run.
I learned a few things about the game though, and Bubba came back. This time, I made it a mission to procure every single piece of gear for him that I could find that ended in the words "of Fiery Wrath". Every day, one of my AH search keywords was "wrath". It was ritual. Bubba had items stashed in the bank, already enchanted and ready to go, that were 7-8 levels away at times because the stuff is such a menace to find - but I found it, and he prospered.
Bubba was a classic nuker, straight damage-and-crit build, and one-on-one I could burn down almost anything with alarming speed, even a same-level elite mob from time to time. He levelled fast, and soon was a favorite of mine. I haven't used him much lately, but I soloed some daunting stuff with him and he eventually became my 2nd 70 in December, 2007. I haven't been using him much lately as I bring the rest of the alts up to snuff, but I'm fairly certain that he'll be one of my 2-3 "most used" toons in the long run.
Inyaki
Third toon I rolled. Orc Warrior, mean and green. At this point, I was starting to think globally and laid out my altaholic plan. Inyaki (named after my Brother-in-Law) would be my tank and Blacksmith. He was a fast leveller, at one point running second only to Toro, but a funny thing happened along the way.
First, a bit of background - I'm a gear whore. Sure, a lot of us are, but I'm pretty vain and I know it. I've always been able to cultivate a fair amount of money from the world and the Auction House, and I've subsequently *spent* that money on cool stuff along the way. Somewhere around level 35 or 36, my focus on Inyaki turned to PvP - and I hate PvP. Look him up on The Armory; he's not the twinkiest of twinks, but he's pretty nice for a 39. 3000+ HP and a cool purple sword with Crusader...
Of course, then I realized how much I suck at PvP, and how little I enjoy playing against an army of Gnome Rogues every time and he's just kind of sat around now. amazingly enough, he's a 300 Blacksmith, with some cool patterns even, but I'm in total limbo with him. I don't want to level him and change gear because of my investment on the off chance that I go back to PvP and actually like it at some point (because, after all, you can never go back!) - but I'm still put off enough by PvP that I won't roll him out... so for now, he comes out once in a blue moon to remind me that Warsong Gulch sucks, and then gets put away for a while again. Makes a nice storage depot for all of my ores and bars, though.
First, a bit of background - I'm a gear whore. Sure, a lot of us are, but I'm pretty vain and I know it. I've always been able to cultivate a fair amount of money from the world and the Auction House, and I've subsequently *spent* that money on cool stuff along the way. Somewhere around level 35 or 36, my focus on Inyaki turned to PvP - and I hate PvP. Look him up on The Armory; he's not the twinkiest of twinks, but he's pretty nice for a 39. 3000+ HP and a cool purple sword with Crusader...
Of course, then I realized how much I suck at PvP, and how little I enjoy playing against an army of Gnome Rogues every time and he's just kind of sat around now. amazingly enough, he's a 300 Blacksmith, with some cool patterns even, but I'm in total limbo with him. I don't want to level him and change gear because of my investment on the off chance that I go back to PvP and actually like it at some point (because, after all, you can never go back!) - but I'm still put off enough by PvP that I won't roll him out... so for now, he comes out once in a blue moon to remind me that Warsong Gulch sucks, and then gets put away for a while again. Makes a nice storage depot for all of my ores and bars, though.
Noobz
Noobz (Forsaken Warlock) was my second Horde toon. Originally meant to be my Tailor/Enchanter alt (cranking out stuff "Made by Noobz", get it? :P), I took her to level 20 so that I could get her skills up to 225, and she pretty much sat for a while after that - until my wife started playing and needed a questing buddy for her Shaman around level 20. Noobz and Nessiness was a formidable questing pair for a long time. I went Destruction spec with her and the two of us pretty well slaughtered anything along the way that didn't explicitly need a tank. Eventually, though, we got to 58 and I switched over to Toro to pair with her in Outlands, and Noobz started to gather some dust.
Admittedly, she's kind of low on my priority levelling list. I've since changed her over to Demonology for soloing, and she maintains a pretty fair set of gear for her level... but I just don't have the time to play her like I should. She's still enchanting and tailoring a ton though (349 Chanting and 375 Tailoring at level 61), and it *is* getting to the point where I need to get some faction rep if I want to learn new chants. I suppose She'll have to be one of my next projects.
Admittedly, she's kind of low on my priority levelling list. I've since changed her over to Demonology for soloing, and she maintains a pretty fair set of gear for her level... but I just don't have the time to play her like I should. She's still enchanting and tailoring a ton though (349 Chanting and 375 Tailoring at level 61), and it *is* getting to the point where I need to get some faction rep if I want to learn new chants. I suppose She'll have to be one of my next projects.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Eltorogrande
Eltorogrande, sometimes known as "Eltoro" or (if you're into the whole brevity thing) "Toro" was my first Horde character. His name was actually gonna be "Hookem" initially, not because I'm so much a fan of the University of Texas as I am interested in comic relief and, well.... he looked like him and it was all that really struck me at the time. It was taken, though, and so I resorted to the next best thing that came to mind. My wife is from Spain, so while Spanish is not spoken very much in the house (her English skills are excellent), I still think Spanish thoughts from time to time... and, knowing that non-english names were likely to be available I said to myself, "He's a big bull..." and the rest is history.
Early Toro was an excercise in noobdom. Hey, I had rolled a Hunter after all! Once again this was based on some loose quantitative assessment of the game (decent armor? fair melee skills? guns? pet? Sold!) that sounded really survivable and easy to learn in practice. I'm happy to admit, though, that I was "That Guy" for some time. One of the funnier memories I have is me, somewhere around level 14 or so (and, more appropriately, in The Barrens) running around doing my Noob thing when someone asked me, "where's your pet?" Yeah, you read that right. I couldn't be bothered to learn the mechanics of this "pet" thing, so I was truckin' around without one (sort of). I actually *did* have one at the time, but never had it summoned as the awesome and complex responsibility that is the "attack" button had eluded me to that point. Somewhere around there, I started to "Lrn2ply". Noob.
I took Toro all the way to 20 (even turned in a few quests for money since my experience was capped!) while I was on the trial, then did what any red-blooded burgeoning WoW addict would do - bought the game. Yippee!
As an aside, and since it's important to the Hunter story, I wound up taming Takk The Leaper out of The Barrens as my pet. Rechristened "ChompyChompy", he's been my runnin' buddy ever since. I'm sure that I could get a pet that is more effective, does more damage, blah blah blah... but I don't really care, I'm not specced for BM. Chompy is my boy, and I'm never getting rid of him. :)
In time, Toro would become my strongest Character, the one that I'd turn to when I was running on an alt with a friend and they *really* needed help, or when one of those pesky "Local Defense: Thunder Bluff is under attack!" messages would pop up. Toro moved up the levelling ladder at a pretty reasonable pace... right up 'til 60. I had bought the Expansion. I could go to Outlands - but I was scared of Outlands!
I'm kind of a weenie that way. I don't like to fail, so Iwasn't going to come with him until I was comfortable. I like my deck nice and stacked. Consequently, Toro sat at 60 for a long time (ZOMG 475k for lvl ?!?!?) and it wasn't until my wife got 60 that I made the push to get him to 70.
Toro was my first 70, dinged in September of 2007. These days, I admittedly don't use him much - just wheel him out for something relating to Leatherworking and that's about it. I plan to do more with him, but the "Alt Project" is overriding all of that at the moment. He's still good for a good "pew pew" every now and then, though... just that everybody and their mom has a Hunter already.
Early Toro was an excercise in noobdom. Hey, I had rolled a Hunter after all! Once again this was based on some loose quantitative assessment of the game (decent armor? fair melee skills? guns? pet? Sold!) that sounded really survivable and easy to learn in practice. I'm happy to admit, though, that I was "That Guy" for some time. One of the funnier memories I have is me, somewhere around level 14 or so (and, more appropriately, in The Barrens) running around doing my Noob thing when someone asked me, "where's your pet?" Yeah, you read that right. I couldn't be bothered to learn the mechanics of this "pet" thing, so I was truckin' around without one (sort of). I actually *did* have one at the time, but never had it summoned as the awesome and complex responsibility that is the "attack" button had eluded me to that point. Somewhere around there, I started to "Lrn2ply". Noob.
I took Toro all the way to 20 (even turned in a few quests for money since my experience was capped!) while I was on the trial, then did what any red-blooded burgeoning WoW addict would do - bought the game. Yippee!
As an aside, and since it's important to the Hunter story, I wound up taming Takk The Leaper out of The Barrens as my pet. Rechristened "ChompyChompy", he's been my runnin' buddy ever since. I'm sure that I could get a pet that is more effective, does more damage, blah blah blah... but I don't really care, I'm not specced for BM. Chompy is my boy, and I'm never getting rid of him. :)
In time, Toro would become my strongest Character, the one that I'd turn to when I was running on an alt with a friend and they *really* needed help, or when one of those pesky "Local Defense: Thunder Bluff is under attack!" messages would pop up. Toro moved up the levelling ladder at a pretty reasonable pace... right up 'til 60. I had bought the Expansion. I could go to Outlands - but I was scared of Outlands!
I'm kind of a weenie that way. I don't like to fail, so Iwasn't going to come with him until I was comfortable. I like my deck nice and stacked. Consequently, Toro sat at 60 for a long time (ZOMG 475k for lvl ?!?!?) and it wasn't until my wife got 60 that I made the push to get him to 70.
Toro was my first 70, dinged in September of 2007. These days, I admittedly don't use him much - just wheel him out for something relating to Leatherworking and that's about it. I plan to do more with him, but the "Alt Project" is overriding all of that at the moment. He's still good for a good "pew pew" every now and then, though... just that everybody and their mom has a Hunter already.
My Introduction: The 10-day Trial Account (It all starts here!)
My first experience with WoW was back in December, 2006. I had purposely put off trying the game until I was nearly finished with my Bachelor's Degree, because I knew myself well enough to know that it would consume me once I got into it. From that standpoint, I was 100% correct. What I didn't know much about was the game, but I figured that wouldn't be too much of a learning curve for me since I had a long history of RPG games to my credit. From games like "Wizardry" back in the day, through "Bard's Tale" and other luminaries like the "Fallout" series and "Dungeon Siege" (with several stops in between), I'd played a lot in my time... but never a MMORPG. WoW was to be my first. So, I downloaded the game from Blizz and got all set to roll my first toon.
This is the part where I feel shame.
I rolled a Paladin. A Human. Based somehow on the screwball rationale that (Best Armor+Healing Spells) * (Big Swords+Offensive Buffs) would equal a surefire way to Azeroth domination, I made my little toon. You can only imagine my disappointment when I found myself stuck with a goofy looking hammer. I spent a little time killing wolves and taking candles (under duress from the owners, admittedly) before realizing that, while the game was certainly intriguing for me, Pallies weren't gonna be my particular cup of tea, so I bagged out on the Pally and proceeded to compound my mistakes.
I rolled a Mage this time. A Gnome. A female Gnome, with poofy blue anime hair. I was so noobish, even, that I didn't know what server to put her on, so I chose... Gnomergon. after all, wouldn't all of the cool Gnomes be hanging out there? I spent a solid day and a half playing her, running all over the frozen tundra and getting housed by just about every mob I engaged because, well.... I had no skill at this WoW thing. Eventually, I found my way to Ironforge and realized a more relevant equation... the number of people present in Ironforge at any given time plus the amount of memory available in my computer equals hideous lag. Beyond that was a greater revelation, though. I didn't like my Alliance toon so much. I'm a Taurus myself, and so is my wife. I even have a Taurus dog, so there was a natural progression here... I had to roll a Tauren. It was, like, my destiny or something. Totally.
This is the part where I feel shame.
I rolled a Paladin. A Human. Based somehow on the screwball rationale that (Best Armor+Healing Spells) * (Big Swords+Offensive Buffs) would equal a surefire way to Azeroth domination, I made my little toon. You can only imagine my disappointment when I found myself stuck with a goofy looking hammer. I spent a little time killing wolves and taking candles (under duress from the owners, admittedly) before realizing that, while the game was certainly intriguing for me, Pallies weren't gonna be my particular cup of tea, so I bagged out on the Pally and proceeded to compound my mistakes.
I rolled a Mage this time. A Gnome. A female Gnome, with poofy blue anime hair. I was so noobish, even, that I didn't know what server to put her on, so I chose... Gnomergon. after all, wouldn't all of the cool Gnomes be hanging out there? I spent a solid day and a half playing her, running all over the frozen tundra and getting housed by just about every mob I engaged because, well.... I had no skill at this WoW thing. Eventually, I found my way to Ironforge and realized a more relevant equation... the number of people present in Ironforge at any given time plus the amount of memory available in my computer equals hideous lag. Beyond that was a greater revelation, though. I didn't like my Alliance toon so much. I'm a Taurus myself, and so is my wife. I even have a Taurus dog, so there was a natural progression here... I had to roll a Tauren. It was, like, my destiny or something. Totally.
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