Last Day Playing WoW…

This is Day 19 of our WoW Blogging Experience, per our esteemed Warlock colleague ~ Spellbound.

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Day 20 – If this was your last day playing WoW, what would you do?

This is kind of ironic.

I’ve recently canceled my WoW subscription. My last day to log in is either tomorrow (the 25th) or Monday.

It has nothing to do with the current Firelands Controversy. I don’t raid, so the nerf had no affect upon my play.  No, RL stuff has to take precedence. That means I get to put my WoW playing on hiatus.

Notice, I’m not saying I’ll be gone forever. The game is fun. I’ve gotten to know good people. $15 per month is practically nothing as a subscription cost.  Heck, I pay more than that in Dr. Peppers a month!  No, it has everything to do with my “Sitz im Leben” (situation in life).

Ok, so the point of this post… What would I do on my last day?

I’ve been thinking about it for a couple of days now.

To be honest, I’m probably not going to log in.  For my last day to play, I probably won’t at all.

However, if I did log in…

Hm….

I would probably give some gold away. I have a couple of thousand gold on individual characters. I bet I could make a guildie real happy with a gift like that.  Seriously, I could probably put about 6k in a person’s lap.  Sure, that isn’t much…but, wouldn’t you like to have it?

I might run some dailies, just out of habit. I might even run an instance, trying to get my lvl 84 hunter that last little bit to 85.

I wouldn’t do anything real sappy. I wouldn’t take screenies of my favorite places. I wouldn’t log out at that one special spot in Wintersprings. I would probably exit right on the bank steps in the Dwarven Quarter… Errr… Ok, sitting on the stone work above the bank steps!  I like to log there.

I think that the reason I take this view is because I know that it is very possible that I will be back. I can’t guarantee it. I can’t promise anything. I have no timeline. It is possible.

However, it is just as possible that I don’t ever play WoW again. Life changes, things happen…you just never know.  I could get busy, and just never have time for it. I could find another hobby, some other form of entertainment that takes it place.  I’m not discounting it. It is possible.

So, what about the blog?

I’m not planning on discontinuing it. I might change the name, take “WoW” out of it. A while back, I got an email from someone that I would classify as a “famous WoW blogger.” S/he said that my fiction was good! I think that I might start to write some Fantasy Fiction, or maybe some Scifi. If I do, then I plan on using this space. If for some reason I use another blog, I’ll be sure to mention it here.

You just never know.

Zwingli

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Not a Hoarder!

This is Day 19 of our WoW Blogging Experience, per our esteemed Warlock colleague ~ Spellbound.

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Day 19 – In your bags/bank

I promise, I’m not a hoarder.

No really, I. Promise!

I can’t be, right? I mean, those other people are…but not me.

Errr…

Ok, well maybe I am.

I felt so guilty about it that I did a cleansing, a purging of sorts. I gave all of my Fel Armaments, Glowy Gold Aldur Dust, Relic pieces of smelly Metal Dwarves, even my Feathers for the Fair to a guildie.

I don’t know why, but I tend to collect stuff long after they are no longer useful.

I mean, I’m exalted with the Timbermaw; so do I really need these three stupid necklaces?

I have my first PvP Shoulders, and my first Raiding Shoulders still in my bank. I have my first purple Gun (which I bought cross faction), and my first earned Raid Gun.

And really, are two Frostweave Bags full of food mats really necessary? I mean, really?

But come on, you never know when you might want to go back and do that random Dalaran food quest again. Don’t you remember how hard it was to find a frozen piece of meat to throw in with those sewer shrooms?

You. Just. Never. Know!

Oh, and don’t even look at my bank alt!

Why YES, that is a FULL TAB of SILK CLOTH. NO, it is NOT GOING OVERBOARD!

I might roll a tailor some day.

Zwingli

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Day 18 ~ The Clothes I Wish I Had

This is Day 18 of our WoW Blogging Experience, per our esteemed Warlock colleague ~ Spellbound.

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Day 18 is supposed to be about my favorite outfit.

Sad to say, but I don’t really have one.

When I first logged onto WoW, I intentionally picked an RP server. For the first couple of months, I was on a personal quest to find a complete outfit that my character could run around in. Sad to say, but I never was able to find that outfit. At that time I liked some of the Tier outfits that “other” classes could wear, but the hunter class Tier set was just plain ugly. I was also under no illusion that I was going to raid. I was just figuring stuff out, and I knew nothing beyond questing.

That being  said, I’ve found my new fashion Genius!

If you’ve not seen his line, then you are just missing out. His attention to detail is outstanding. His color matching is beyond description.

Ladies and Gentlemen, if you’ve not met FABULOR, then you just aren’t living!

Oh, and I want the robe he’s wearing.

Do you think he’ll be selling cross server?

Zwingli

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Day 16, Things I Miss Post Cataclysm

This is Day 16 of our WoW Blogging Experience, per our esteemed Warlock colleague ~ Spellbound.

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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

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Day 15, What’s My Computer Screen Background?

This is Day 15 of our WoW Blogging Experience, per our esteemed Warlock colleague ~ Spellbound.

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Day 15 is about my desktop background (on my computer) and why I chose it.

Ok, here it is. It is the stock background that came on the computer when I bought it. I haven’t changed it because: 1) I’m lazy, and 2) I don’t care what it is.

Yes, I know. I’m boring.

But, I still like myself!

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Day 14, What Upsets Me

This is Day 14 of our WoW Blogging Experience, per our esteemed Warlock colleague ~ Spellbound.

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Day 14 is about “this upsets you.”

I get upset about the general asshatery that goes on in WoW. It is amazing how many complete and utter jerks a person can run into.

You have the “L2P” type. I ran into this on my very first Deadmines experience. I was new to the game and playing a low level hunter. I really was clueless. I didn’t even know that we could take our pets off of growl! The group wiped on a trash pull and the tank cursed me for a huntard and dropped group.

I had no idea what happened. I was so embarrassed that I didn’t go into another instance for months. About 8 months later BC came out, and a new online friend asked me on a Ramps run. He basically lead me thru by the hand. I had been playing the game for about a year, and wouldn’t instance because of that first bad experience.

The next asshatery I ran into was the all to real forum troll. You know these guys. The go on the realm forums only to cause trouble. There was a thread devoted to helping people make their characters better. I had leveled to 60 with very little knowledge of game mechanics. I had some horrid hybrid spec, which was the epitome of newb. After asking for help, the first response was, “So, where did you buy your character at?”

I was mortified, angry, and embarrassed. I almost never went back. But, I did and I noticed a few positive posts. They not only critiqued my build, but sent me to BRK and Elitist Jerks so that I could take initiative in my play style development.

I really dislike people that pit RPers, PvPers, and Raiders against each other. I find elitists in every camp. They all make me sick to my stomach. I’m a firm believer that we all pay our $15 to play, therefor we should be able to enjoy the part of the game that we love the most.

In conclusion, I think I dislike the inherent disrespect that can be the tendency of an anonymous online environment.

Luckily, not only can it bring out the worst in people, but it can also allow for the opportunity of us showing our personal best. It gives us a chance to be honorable, respectful, and generally nice people in our play.

Zwingli

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Day 11, Bad Habits and Flaws

This is Day 11 of our WoW Blogging Experience, per our esteemed Warlock colleague ~ Spellbound.

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Day 11 is supposed to be about my bad habits and flaws.

Man, there are so many! We can count the ways, and still be counting into next year. I’ll have to give you the shortened version of my imperfections.

• The worse thing is my addiction to sugar. I always have something sweet in my mouth. This has resulted in continued thousands of dollars worth of dental work being done. We are well over the $10k mark, and it will continue to grow. You can’t abuse your teeth and get away from it. I’ve learned this the hard way.
• I’m a GREAT procrastinator. I’m lazy. I put things off until the last minute resulting in crap.
• I have a bleeding heart. My default is set to “err on the side of love,” which means I can be taken advantage of easily.
• Oh, and I have a big-old-nasty-cowlick on my forehead. It is like Baine Bloodhoof himself came down and said; “Let the Mark of the Tauren rest upon thine brow!” My hair is a perpetual mess.

I hope you’ve enjoyed today’s episode of, “Holy crap that guy is messed up!”

Zwingli

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Day 10, Blog/Website Favorites

This is Day 10 of our WoW Blogging Experience, per our esteemed Warlock colleague ~ Spellbound.

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Day 10 is supposed to be about my Blog/Website Favorites.

Well, I’m sure that you already know some of these sites. I mentioned them when Saga allowed me to offer up a guest post on her blog.  But, for your reading torture, *ahem*, I mean pleasure…Here we go!  In no particular order.

• I enjoy Big Bear Butt Blogger, & Sunnier Bear for all things Feral. Though BBB is so much more than a WoW Bear Blog.
• I enjoy Falling Leaves and Wings for all things Healing/Raid.
• I enjoy Dwarven Battle Medic (and his Dear Dwarfling) for all things Dwarven, Paladin, and just plain good writing.
• I enjoy Spellbound for all things Warlocky.
• I enjoy Cynwise’s Battlefield Manual for all things PvPish.
• And of course, one that I’ve followed the longest out of this group is, Need More Rage, by Ratshag. He is just to funny, and a dang good writer.

I guess that is enough for now. I’ve many more that I enjoy, many that aren’t WoW related.

Thanks for stopping by!

Zwingli

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Day 08, What You Don’t Know About Me

This is Day 08 of our WoW Blogging Experience, per our esteemed Warlock colleague ~ Spellbound.

Day 08 is 10 things we don’t know about you.

So, 10 things, eh?  Let me see.

1. I wear glasses.
2. I have a minor area in music from college.
3. I hold a masters degree.
4. I single handedly lowered my wife’s gpa (4.0 to 3.8) when we started dating in school.
5. I enjoy dogs and cats.
6. I once lived in a log house.
7. I once lived on a bay, right on the water.
8. I took three years of piano, and still can’t play one.
9. I didn’t have a clue as to what I was doing when we bought a house.
10. My wife and children are the center of my life.

There you go, 1o things about me!  I’m not sure what you did or didn’t know, but here it is.

Zwingli

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Day 07, 20 Days of WoW Blogging

This is Day 07 of our WoW Blogging Experience, per our esteemed Warlock colleague ~ Spellbound.

Day 07 – The reason behind your blog’s name?

I wish I had some clever answer to this but I don’t. I’m afraid my lack of imagination is particularly evident in my choice of titles. But, here is the short of it.

Ready?

Here it is:

Zwingli is the accidental name of my main character in World of Warcraft.

Ok. I’ll give you. A minute to let that sink in.
…
…
…

The initial idea was to start chronicling Z’s adventures. I was taking a play out of the Do’Urden playbook by having it in a journal form. You know, how every chapter starts out with a journal entry of some sort? Well, this was going to be the daily journal of Zwingli.

I think the first name I came up with was Ulrich Zwingli, based upon the religious reformer of the same name. But, I went with Zwingli Whisperwind, because I thought it sounded more Nelfy.

From an RP stand point, Z was named after a human that saved his father’s life. But in real life, I wanted a hunter named Calvin with a pet named Hobbes. >.>

The name was taken.

Thus, the accidental name of my character and the consequential name of my blog.

By my hand,

Zwingli

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