This is Day 16 of our WoW Blogging Experience, per our esteemed Warlock colleague ~ Spellbound.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Day 16 is about: Things you miss (post Cataclysm).
To be honest, there isn’t much I miss “post Cataclysm.”
Oh, don’t get me wrong. I’ve been all nostalgic at times. Remember, I started at the end of Vanilla WoW. I remember the days of not getting a mount until much later in game (40 I think. Gah, it’s been so long!), and having to actually grind the gold for the (at that time) obscene purchase price of training. Seriously, gold practically grows on trees in Outland and Northrend!
I remember having to wait all freakin’ day long in the LFG channel, just hoping to get into an instance during Burning Crusade. People gripe at a 30 minute wait (as dps) using the LFD tool?
What a bunch of freakin’ babies!
Please, I was there when the term Huntard came to epitomize everything wrong with a player. Heck, I helped cement the stereotype in WoW lore. I did the hellacious Wintersaber Mount Grind; when it was the hardest grind in the game. I remember when you 1) had to use CC, strafing/kiting, and other huntery tricks; and if you screwed up you could wipe your group.
That the Wintersaber Grind has been turned into a 20(ish) day daily quest, that CC doesn’t cause aggro, and Kiting seems to be a non-existent need; I can’t really complain. Sure, there is the old man part of me that wants everyone else to suffer the same way I did; but that is just me being stupid.
This is a game, and it’s supposed to be fun. If I wanted more of a challenge, then I would attempt to be a hard core, progression focused raider. But, I don’t want that; and I’m enjoying what I’m doing. I’m exploring new aspects of the game, checking out the new zones, and reveling in the Azeroth Flying License.
I guess, if there is one thing that I miss, it is the perceived accountability before the LFD tool was introduced. I’m not sure there was that much actual accountability back in those days. Jerks were still jerks, and the good guys were still the good guys. If I run with a jerk in LFD, I’ll probably never have to see him or her again. Which, I tend to be happy about now.
But(!), one thing about running a PuG with people from your own server is that you have an opportunity to develop a relationship with people you didn’t know previously. This is how I started raiding in Wrath. I got into a PuG with a couple of people from Phoenix Rising. I wasn’t trying to impress anyone, I was just trying to do my job as a dps. But, it was enough to impress the two members, one who was their raid leader. This lead to an invite as an alt-raider, which lead to other members of my guild getting a chance to raid, and eventually everyone joining Phoenix Rising and raiding together.
That wouldn’t have happened if LFD was active at that time.
I understand that Blizzard is trying to make it that you group with people from your own server first in LFD, but I’ve not really experienced that yet. The only place I’ve seen actually server wide community is on the active RP servers like Moon Guard, The Venture Co., and a few others.
So, what do you miss?
Z
