Wednesday, October 10, 2007

DINGS!

Last night NoHuntardI dinged 34. And I have a new toon. I am trying a warrior again. Her name is Rubigale on Llane. She ding'd 11 last night too.

I had a 30 hunter (orc) on Dethwing but I just can't get into playing him. Big challenge is that Dethwing is a PVP server and I kept getting jumped by Allis in the contested areas. Sucks because I just wanted to level.

Why was I on a PVP server? The people that I started playing on were playing on that server. Being a relative newb to MMOs, I didn't understand what PvP or PvE were. I had an idea about what RP was going to be. That turned out to be different too.

My brother mocks my choosing a warrior. "Why would anyone want to be a meat shield?" he asks. I dunno. Probably goes back to playing D&D back in the day. I loved warriors, barbarians, and monks. Yes, I said monks. I would love it if WoW added a monk class. There was just something about running around basically defenceless and unarmed. Or so those poor fools thought, when in reality you have a bichin AC and great attacks. And don't get me started on "Quivering Palm." One-shotting just by hitting someone with your bare hands - d@mn.

Oh, NoHun and Elfbane joined guilds. NoHun joined MOD on Llane. He's about the only toon there at that level who isn't the alt of several 70s. Should be fun. Elfbane on Earthen Ring joined Alea Iacta Est. I may write more about that later because this was my first guild with another toon. I loved playing with AIE. The atmosphere there now is different. Even the people I used to play with aren't the same. I'll ponder this and then write more.

Saturday, October 6, 2007

Wife Aggro and How to Handle It

Recently BRK posted about how to resolve wife aggro. This has become a serious issue in my family. My issue may even be a bit more extreme than BRK's questioner.

My wife cannot make the leap that my playing WoW is on the par with her playing POGO and reading romance novels. She has never liked the fact that I am a gamer but was more tolerant of my playing non-MMO games. I have always enjoyed RTS games and have occasionally dabbled in the FPS realm. I think the big difference is that, with other genres, I was always able to quit on a dime and help with whatever she needed or focus on whatever she wanted. With MMO's I can only do that 90% of the time. I have a hard time explaining that when I am in a party, and especially in an instance, I feel have an unwritten contract with those with whom I am playing. I have committed that I will help them and feel compelled to stick it through to the end - or until we wipe, at the earliest.

Keep in mind that my highest level toon was a level toon is at lvl 40.

Part of the issue arises from the fact that I play on game cards. As I approach the end of game card play time I tend to play more, trying to get the most out of my potential play time. I moved to game cards because it freaked my wife out that I was spending $15 a month to play a game that I already spent money on. Remember, this is my first MMO. The fact that I gave up one lunch a week to cover the cost did not seem to mollify her.
So now I buy game cards every two months. That way she doesn't see the outflow.

Maybe I should use the Disneyland season pass analogy. Up until about a month ago we lived in Southern California. We have five children. This means that we go to Disneyland. When we did the math, it made sense for us to get season passes. After we got them they became even more valuable. If you have ever been to Disneyland at a peak time, you will realize how miserable it is. One of the funniest phrases we heard at peak times came from parents threatening their kids. The threats were along the lines of "be good or we'll leave." Laughable because most people spend hundreds of dollars just to get to and then into the park. Very few people are willing to spend that kind of money just to leave. They never do and the kids pick up on it quickly.

Enter the season pass holder family. If the kids start acting up, you leave. You can do this because you can come back the next day, or the next, or the next, and on and on. This gives the threat validity.

The other thing it does is when you show up and the park is just wall-to-wall, you just leave. You don't feel bad - except for the poor souls that will feel obligated to stay just because they have invested so much just to be there.

The monthly subscription does the same thing. If I don't get to play today or if I only have 15 minutes to play and then I have to log - no big deal. I can come back the next day, or the next day or . . . well, you get the idea. When I am on game cards, I don't feel the pressure until it gets down to the last couple of days. Then I spend way more time than I should because I don't know when I'll get a new card.

That is where I was this week. Game card was running out and I hadn't purchased a new one. I prefer to shop around because I can often get them right at the subscription price after taxes. I really hate paying more than the subscription price. I found one place that would put me on an auto-ship and it would end up being the same price as the subscription, but that kinda defeats the whole purpose, doesn't it.

This is what real estate between Rock and Hard Place is like.