Six Things I Love About WoW

Time for another community project, this time presented to us by Mr and Mrs WoW where they ask us to share some of the things we love about warcraft.  They say there is too much negativity going around and we should all talk a little about some of the things we like about the game.

I believe they are right because I am one of those people that loves to complain and as I have said many times before complaining is a sign that you still love the game.  You can read that post here if you would like.  Lets face it, when I stop complaining it will mean I have stopped playing.

With that said, I want to participate in the "things I love" because I do love the game even if people can not notice it some times.  No one would ever write for this many years and this many posts and topics if they didn't.

6-A) The Random In Game Community:

No matter how we try to dress it up the majority of the community would be better having cinder blocks tied to their feet and being thrown in the ocean to die but that is for another post all together this is about the smaller percent and quite honestly the percent that is a great thing to enjoy in the game when you can find them.

I sometimes have a habit of flying around killing rares when I am bored and often I will see one being fought already.  It has become a habit of mine to hit F and see who is fighting it.  If I see an 87 fighting something near their level I don't just fly to the next kill I hover for a second to see if they might need some help.  If they seem like they can use a hand I land, kill, remount and take off.  I do not ask for thanks but sometimes I get an emote (if they are of the opposite faction) or thank you (if they are from the same one).

Now this might not seem like a lot to you but to me it means the world.  It puts a smile on my face.  I like the idea of passing along a good feeling hoping that others might pass it along to someone else.  You will find that there are maybe 1 in 20 people who are decent enough to help their fellow player.  To kill a rare with them expecting nothing in return instead of trying to get them killed so they can steal the tag or get invited to a group so they can need on anything that drops.  Or to not take a node you are fighting on.  Or to help you out with something and not expect something in return.  Or to just pass along a buff as they are passing by.

It might be rare to be on the receiving end of someone doing something nice for me but sometimes after a bad day in the LFR with group after group of self obsessed people that all think they are gods gift to gaming just standing there and having a druid put mark on me is enough to make me smile.  The little things matter and not all the community is bad.  There are most definitely gems in there and those are the people worth playing with and the people that lighten up your day when you are feeling down.

So if you ever happen to have a random gnome mage or gnome lock or gnome priest run up to you and hug you, buff you, and run away.  Maybe that is me, just trying to make someone else smile.  Something about being on a gnome just makes me want to hug everyone.

6-B) My Friends In Game:

My friends, or at least the ones I try to have around me as friends, would all fit the idea of what I said I like about those random people.  People who do things nice just for the sake of doing them.  Work as a team because being a team matters to them.  Go out of their way to assist when someone asks for help.

When timeless island came out we all went to the island and as a group we snagged pets for everyone.  If we got two ruby droplets we traded it to someone that did not get one.  We did not ask for gold or anything in return.  We wanted to make sure that all the pet battlers had the new pets. This, and many things like it, are what make my group of friends great.

It also works as a nice little test to see who fits with us but that is another story.  We all know that guy that takes takes takes and never gives.  Yeah, he is not one of us, not one of the good guys.  But hey, maybe he can still be a friend.  Don't need to be like that to be a decent person and those decent people I play with are one of the things that keep me coming back.

6-C) The Online Community:

The hunter community has taken a lot of really heavy hits over the past year, year and a half.  Many great writers, many great theory crafters , many great hunters have taken their leave from the game but no matter what I still believe the hunter community to be one of the best in the game.  Not to slight any others of course because they are great as well, but as a hunter main of course my focus would be on my community.

Even from writing the blog, which is something I created just for myself because I like to write and it was a way to give me a venue to do so, I have developed many friendships because of it.  From the people that agree with me to the people that think I am the worlds biggest moron, I really so love them all and they all matter to me.

There was a time about a year ago maybe where I was thinking of quitting the game.  It was not like I was playing something else because I wasn't.  I had just lost my desire to play warcraft for a while.  I kept writing however.  The reason being is that even if I was not interested in the game any longer, I really still loved the community we have here in the blog world and I did not want to leave that behind.  Needless to say I started playing again and I doubt most people would be able to pick out the time I am talking about from my posts.  I never mentioned I was not playing the game any longer.  Mostly because I did not feel it was worth mentioning.  Just needed a break was all, but even with a break, who would ever want to take a break from this community?  You are all great.

5)  The Grind:

As probably the only person that would add this to their list of things they love about warcraft I must explain myself.  I love the idea of moving forward, making progress, seeing my progress and in the game there is nothing that can satisfy that more than reputations at max level.  Even if it is doing quests for the orges in BC and seeing that reputation bar move really slowly or jumping across the bridge on the timeless island and grinding the timeless island reputation that first day, I love being able to see progress.

I am probably alone here but I do believe that is probably one of the things I like the most in game.  Grinds.  It makes me feel like I am doing something, getting somewhere, moving forward, and to some people, myself as it is, that is really fun.

4) Pet Battles:

I would have never thought I would get into pet battles as much as I did.  I was top 100 in the world when I was still pretty active with it if you want to count wow progress for their data but that was only because I loved everything about pet battles, not so much the battling only.

I liked leveling them, I liked developing the right match ups before there were any places where you could find them, I liked hunting down the rare spawns, killing tons of critters in an effort to find that one rare one I needed.  It was everything that I like all rolled into one.  I got to have a killer bunny as a pet, I got to level it, and I got to use it to kill other critters in search of the best ones I could find.  Hey, I was a pet collected before they even had pet battles.

People might joke about it, call it a kids part of the game, but make no mistake, pet battling is really something that anyone of any age can sink their teeth into and have a little fun with.

3) The Kill:

I am not exactly a great player or a hard core player and I might get my raid kills some 3, 4 or 6 months after others do but I do not mind.  I play a casual play style and get it when I can.  Either way, whether it is a week one kill on normal mode or a week 40 kill on heroic when most guilds that it mattered too already killed it, each and every kill is exciting.

What is even better is when you have one of those exciting and dramatic kills.  You know the type I am talking about?  Boss is at 1%, everything is going well and then suddenly boom, WTF happened, the entire raid is dead and there is one person left and a sliver of life on the boss as they are in the middle of doing a mechanic and you think, all you need to do is finish that boss before he finishes that mechanic and you will have the kill.

It is adrenaline pumping fun and excitement.  That is how my guild got its first heroic kill this tier, with one person alive, and it was awesome, it was fun, and it was the type of thing we live for in the game.  That type of excitement is something you can never plan or experience otherwise, it just happens, and those kills are the ones you never forget.  Who cares if we were world 1500 to get the kill, but we did it, and we did it in style.  Admittedly it was really scarey and had a we wiped again feeling of anti excitement to it for a moment but it was awesome when we won and it was over.  That is the type of fun I live for in the game.

2) Soloing:

I am a to myself type of person.  If I were given the option to play warcraft alone and be able to do everything without the need of other people I would jump on that in a heartbeat not even thinking about it.  Sure it is funny how I say others are some of the most exciting parts of the game and things I love about the game in my previous points, but really even if I do like that aspect I would not mind playing alone.

I only have one world first hunter kill, and sadly someone else got credit for it because they posted a video and I did not, but it does not matter to me, I know I did it months before the world first video was posted.  But as far as soloing goes, there are still a ton of bosses out there that have vidoes for them that I can not do.  So I am not a great soloer and do not claim to be but I sure have a crap load of fun doing it.

I do really like to figure out how to do things on my own.  Sure watching a video can help but the fun of soloing is finding out how to do it and doing it on your own makes it all the more exciting.  Be it soloing for mounts, pets, or just for fun.  Be it easy content like running wrath heroics for something to do, or harder soloing like current expansion dungeons before ToT came out.  It was all a matter of seeing what I could do, pushing my limits.

On one hunter I am stuck on getting all the dungeon achievements alone because there is one that needs others to do it.  Was it hard, not exactly when you are in half heroic gear, but I did it because I wanted to do it because I like to solo stuff.  Isn't that why we play, to do something we have fun doing?

1) Leveling:

This is probably one of those things that would be like grinding.  People hate to level but not me.  I love to level because I see myself progressing.  I see myself moving forward from 18 to 19, or from 42 to 43, or what have you.  It might not feel like much to many people but to me it is a nice change of pace, to see myself getting there instead of killing the shaman for the 20th time and not getting the trinket.  Leveling is a reward of its own, no RNG involved, all your personal progression is in your hands and your hands alone and I really enjoy it.

I have played every race and every class and every spec that doesn't have feathers, yes I never played balance, and I like to experience all zones to their fullest.  I go against the grain and do not quest on the road that game seems to try and push us now.  There are always alternate zones to level in and those are the zones you will most likely see me in.  Experiencing the leveling adventure to its fullest.

I would suggest instead of leveling to rush to the end maybe people could have a little fun playing a race, or faction, they never have before and take their time with it.  Read the quests, see the areas, explore, talk to NPCs that are not quest givers, just have a little fun with it.  Leveling doesn't need to be a mad rush to max level, leveling can be a game of its own and it can be really fun if you let it.  I really do love leveling.