Getting Back Into WoW After a Long Break

The good old days

It's been a long time since I've played WoW (and it's by no means the first time this has happened). So long, in fact, that when my account lapsed I considered not renewing it. Mists has been a hard expansion for me, though I don't know how much of that has to do with Mists itself and how much of it is a lingering effect of Cataclysm. That being said, I still only have one level 90 and my second highest character is level 86.

Coming back to WoW is hard. Logging into old mains means coming back to bags full of items which you don't remember what they're for, abilities which might not (or definitely will not, depending on how long you've been away) work the same way they used to, you're behind on content, and you're definitely rusty, potentially having lost some of the muscle memory of how to play your class. My level 90 Priest has all these things in her bags and all these abilities I don't remember how to use and there are all these dungeons and scenarios I have no idea how to run. I'm worried that if I tried to run anything I'd be terrible and everybody would hate me. My level 86 Druid is primarily Guardian but the class/spec changed so much in Mists that I don't even know how to play him anymore.

WoW isn't alone in this issue. Any game-as-a-service that updates its content and systems is going to have this problem with returning players having trouble catching up. They've certainly worked on making coming back into the game easier for players over the years. Simplifying the talent and abilities systems have done wonders for that. But the baggage of items, quests, and being behind on content is a harder problem to solve. I could just vendor the items but that's sub-optimal in terms of profitability and my brain tells me, "No! Don't do it!"

The game is complicated now. It may be (debatably) easier now than it was in Vanilla but it's far more complicated. With daily quests, normal and heroic scenarios, normal and heroic dungeons, normal and heroic raids, justice and valor points, LFR, and reputations (some of which are gated) PVE is incredibly more complicated than it has ever been. PVP has evolved significantly from what it was in Vanilla as well.

So I've been eschewing my high-level characters since coming back to WoW and have been leveling some classes I haven't leveled to the level-cap before. I've got a Draenei Prot Warrior (yet ANOTHER attempt at doing so), a Human Affliction Warlock, and a Night Elf Assassination Rogue. None of them are level 30 or above yet but I've really been enjoying the experience. Starting a new character lets me forget about all the things that have changed that keep me from playing the characters that are at higher levels. It lets me forget that things used to be different and that I don't know how the game works anymore.

I haven't really leveled a pure DPS class before, and leveling these has so far been really fun. I hope that this will help me get back into the game and really get back into endgame activities, which I haven't done since early Cataclysm. If you're having trouble getting into WoW lately, or haven't played in a long time, I highly recommend rolling a new character, it's very freeing and I haven't lapsed as quickly as I have in the past. I'm really looking forward to what these new characters will bring me.

Mists of Pandaria Talent Calculator Changes: Druid, Shaman, and Priest

The Mists of Pandaria talent calculators were updated yesterday and there are some really exciting changes. There are also some really not-so-exciting changes.


Druid
The first thing that I'm really excited about is that Bear Hug is now baseline, at least for guardian druids. The talent calculator seems to imply it's both baseline for all druids and is also a guardian only ability. We'll see how that error corrects itself. I'm super glad that Thrash is now going to apply Demoralizing Roar on my targets. Symbiosis still looks like and amazing spell that I can't wait to use. I'm still not sure how the new active defense style based around the new Savage Defense is going to work, but we'll see. I'm worried it will devolve to "Herod says, '5'." and then having to store up rage to avoid the insta-death attack.

Talent opinions by tier, from a guardian druid perspective.

1. I'm really excited that Wild Charge is now on this tier, although I'd also love to have Feline Swiftness.
2. All of these look great, but there's nothing new here. I'll likely go with Renewal. 
3. Typhoon is still great, because I'm a massive troll. I'm sure I'll use the other stuff if there is some hard content that need it, but otherwise Typhoon.
4. Soul of the Forest looks like a solid addition for boring fights. Incarnation also looks for fights with hard phases. Force of Nature will be my favorite from a flavor perspective. If Incarnation has a really awesome transformation effect for each spec, then I just might use that one though. We'll have to see what Force of Nature actually does, before we can really pass judgement on it. 
5. I'll probably use Ursol's Vortex most of the time, with Mighty Bash and Disorienting Roar being situational. I like Ursol's Vortex and Typhoon because I'm a massive troll.
6. Disentanglement is the only real option here, because I have no idea when I'd use the other two as a bear. Even then, using it will be very hard. Tier 6 is a big 'screw you' to bears.

Shaman

Grace of Air may have been there before, but I still think it's really neat. It grants nearby players 5 Mastery. Ascendance is the new level 87 ability for shamans. With it they'll take on some elemental aspect that empowers them. Elemental shaman will become a flame ascendant which removes the cooldown from Lava Burst and makes Chain Lightning into Lava Beam. Enhancement shaman will become a wind ascendant, which makes autoattack and Stormstrike deal nature damage and have a 30 yard range. Restoration shaman will become a water ascendant, which duplicates all healing done and spreads it out among nearby allies. I'm incredibly excited for that ability.

I don't really have much to say about the shaman talents, probably because they don't seem to have figured out what they're doing with them, especially since the last tier is absent!

Priest

Nothing here really seemed new to me. Maybe I'm wrong. There was probably new stuff but I didn't notice it/it was underhwhelming to me. I'm hoping I'll get more excited about it as time goes on. If I'm wrong, let me know.

20 Days of WoW Blogging: Day 20 - My last day of WoW

If it were my last day to play World of Warcraft, and not just a temporary unsubscription, I would really want to spend it connecting with people again. I'd run dungeons with my guildmates and say goodbye to all of them. I'd log on to old servers and send mail messages to old friends/seeing if they were online to say goodbye.

After that, I'd give away what wealth I had to those who needed it. If I had friends who were always in need of gold it would go to them. Otherwise I'd just hand it to some low level character who didn't have heirlooms, since they'd be the ones that most likely don't have a high-level character to bankroll them.

My final act would be to move all my main characters to somewhere meaningful to them. I would take my priest to Ashenvale. I have really strong memories of leveling her there and that's where I think she'd want to be, defending it from the orcs. I would log out my shaman at the Throne of the Elements in Nagrand. Being a Draenei and a shaman I think he would want to be there. My very last act would be to log out my druid. I would take him to the Night Elf starting area and log him out next to that initial quest giver, standing by him, greeting each new Night Elf and help new druids as they come.

20 Days of WoW Blogging: Day 18 - My favorite outfit

Druid Tier 6

Since I only recently resubscribed and haven't been working to put any outfits together, I don't have any favorite outfits. I don't have old tier sets collected and I don't have any transmog outfits. But I do have favorite tier sets for each of the classes that I play.

For my druid, I particularly love tier 6. It has a very Tauren feeling, and the Tauren are one of my favorite races. Tier 6's simple look is very appealing to me. I'll take the Tauren themes over the Night Elf themes anyday. Night Elves are overdone. Less elves and orcs, give me the other races please.

Shaman Tier 8

My second favorite is for my shaman, who is the first character I ever had to reach the level cap. As I've said before, I raided Naxxramas with him and I eagerly anticipated the release of Ulduar. One of the things I was looking forward to about Ulduar was the tier set. Shaman Tier 8 has some of the most badass shoulders I've seen.

Shaman shoulders tend to be some of the best shoulders in the game, in my opinion. Big bright things with awesome stuff happening on them? Sign me up. The shaman tier 10 shoulders are also pretty nice, if just for the cool effect.







For my priest, I also enjoy tier 6, but for a different reason. Priest tier 6 fits a shadow priest magnificently. The shadow priest themes appeal to me, their psychic/psionic abilities are so mystical and cool. Since I don't have this, I'm making do with what things I end up picking up. The only piece of gear that I've gone out of my way to get for transmogrification was Whitemane's Chapeau, which I had when I was level appropriate for it and I loved the look when I was in shadow form.

I don't want to tank or Getting back into WoW

I want to tank. Tanking is my most preferred role in a group. If you'll pardon my bragging, I think I'm a fantastic tank. And yet, as I stated above, I don't want to tank. When I tank, I get fully wrapped up in what's going on. I keep an eye of everything that's going on. It's my element. I put the weight of the group on my shoulders and carry them as best as I can, so everything goes as smoothly as possible for them.

Yet I'm not playing my tank right now. I transferred my priest over to Cenarion Circle to play there. I've done 2 dungeon finder groups since I got there: one just myself and one with my fiancée. It's been horrible not tanking. I've seen all the mistakes that tanks can make in a group. I've seen running into a boss before the healer has mana, running in when the healer is far out of range, running in before the dungeon finder has given us a replacement DPS, ignoring boss mechanics with fatal consequences, failure to mark targets, skipping pats/groups only to be bitten by it later, failure to drag a pull away from a pat's path, failure to call for CC, and I suspect a lack of defensive cooldown usage. This was in Zul'Aman and Grim Batol, not even the new dungeons.

"I can't go back man. Go on without me."

It's been hell for me. I feel powerless from the healer position, like I don't have enough control over the group. I can't shore up their weaknesses. As the tank, I can direct the DPS, assist healers by taking less damage, and control the position of the pull. As a healer it's much more difficult for me to do those things.

But I don't want to go back to tanking. There have been several times in my life where I've played WoW too much. I don't want to go back to those times. I'm afraid that if I go back into tanking I'll fall back into my old pattern: playing too much, working too hard to help others, and neglecting my personal life and the things I have to do in it.

The last time I really played WoW I was running dungeons (the Troll ones had just come out), trying to help guildies get through the new dungeons, researching raid tactics, trying to dissect what could be impairing others' performance in raids, coming up with things I could do to make things smoother, worrying about raid scheduling, and being frustrated when literally zero bosses would go down. I can't go back to doing that, and I'm afraid that if I go back to tanking I'll be tempted to do that kind of stuff again, worrying about things that aren't my own.

I would love to go back to my tank. But I need to know that I can do that from a place of control. The frustration from not tanking will help keep me from playing too much. Although it may be a source of new frustration.

Shadowform makes for really great screenshots, doesn't it? SimCity 3000's music was great too. I absolutely love it. It's on my list with Starcraft's Terran themes for "Most Nostalgia Inducing PC Game Music." Enjoy Some!

Preliminary Talent Builds for Mists of Pandaria

There are some preview versions of the revised talents system for Mists of Pandaria at Wowhead. I've taken the liberty of putting together some preliminary builds for my current max level characters.

Guardian Druid (aka, the new 4th Druid spec for Bears)


Bears are getting their own specialization now, making the druid the only class with four. I'm really looking forward to what new abilities this will afford us since we won't be sharing with cats anymore. There are, of course, some holes in the descriptions for these abilities, so I'm excitedly waiting to see how those turn out.

1. Displacer Beast - because as a tank if I'm turning into a cat, I need to do it after I'm put distance between me and what's attacking me. Good for getting out of effects that are happening right on top of you.
2. Renewal - You can't argue with 30% of your health being restored.
3. Typhoon - something about the idea of opening my mouth and knocking away all the enemies with a wave of water is very appealing to me. 
4. Incarnation - You become a better bear. I'm mostly waiting to see how this one pans out. I'm also very interested in the new Force of Nature. Typhoons and Treants and Bears oh my!
5. Ursol's Vortex - This is for more NPC control. We bears have trouble with that. :-(
6. Disentanglement - There are spare moments in boss battles where you can shape shift (especially combined with Displacer Beast) that should make this a very interesting choice.

The theme here is mobility and mob control. I'm really looking forward to playing a new bear. RAWR!

Discipline Priest

Atonement is probably going to become baseline for discipline, which is something that I'm particularly looking forward to. Many of my choices here are about increasing discipline's AOE healing potential.

1. Psyfiend - This was a tough call, as none of them particularly appealed to me. This seemed better than Psychic Scream, because it seems less chaotic.
2. Body and Soul - I use shields often, so this seems like a no-brainer. Although it can often be disorienting for the affected person to be suddenly running very fast, if you have a dedicated group, they'll get used to it. This will also call for more situational awareness on my part, which will be an enjoyable challenge.
3. Divine Star - An AOE heal? Sure, let's see how it goes. I'm also a big fan of From Darkness, Comes Light.
4. Angelic Bulwark - I'll take stronger shields on my self to prevent me from needing a 30% heal or an auto-shield.
5. Serendipity - Combine this with From Darkness, Comes Light to make your spells have this great positive feedback loop.
6. This is a tough tier. I'd pick Vampiric Dominance but there's no way that's going to come through exactly the way it is. If it doesn't get nerfed, then it's definitely the one I'm picking. I'm also interested in Vow of Unity, but I'll have to see how it works out in a practical setting.

Enhancement Shaman

I love playing an enhancement shaman. I also love playing a restoration shaman. One of my favorite things about being an enhancement shaman is being able to contribute heals when they're really needed, so I'm putting some effort into that.

1. Earthgrab Totem - I'm honestly not a fan of any of these. When I tank I hate it when the DPS manipulate the mobs like this, because it makes it hard to build threat/rage. If called for as part of the strategy, these things can be very helpful. Any choice here is good. Frozen Power would be my second choice.
2. Stone Bulwark Totem - I like to defend myself from incoming damage,don't you? Astral Shift also seems like a good choice. It will come down to how each one of them plays.
3. Improved Ghost Wolf - I had to go with the selfish choice on this one.
4. Ancestral Guidance - I also really like Healing Tide Totem. However, I'm kinda expecting this one to scale better for enhancement shaman. I also think it will be a good way to save one particular person who is taking too much damage, whereas Healing Tide Totem is more of a helper, not meant to save anyone in an immediate fashion.
5. Nature's Swiftness - I'm hoping the haste will make up for the damage loss from not taking Echo of the Elements. Throwing down an instant Chain Heal or Healing Rain is a favorite pastime of mine. Will Enhancement Shaman even have Healing Rain in Mists of Pandaria, though? Who knows? Echo of the Elements may very well end up being the better choice.
6. Totemic Restoration - I don't often end up moving my totems. If I PVP'd more, I probably would. I don't know how valuable being able to have multiple totems of the same type will be, but being able to cut down the cooldown of my totems seems very valuable.

One thing I noticed is that the various shield spell aren't mentioned here. Will they go on the chopping block in Mists? It seems like they will since they aren't very interesting, just fire-and-forget.

Overall I'm very excited for these talent changes. They've also stated that they want talent changing to be relatively easy, like glyphs. We might be able to alter our talent builds between boss battles easily, which would be wonderful for me, since I love to min-max for each circumstance that way.