Month: February 2005

WoW Server Follies

While rare (in my experience), I have occasionally encountered some odd problems while playing World of Warcraft. Last night was one of those times.

A friend of mine asked if I wanted to run through Shadowfang Keep to try to get my Rogue one of the Meteor Shard daggers that drop at the end on occasion. I had nothing going on so I decided it would be fun. I was in the Crossroads and had a bit of travel time ahead of me. I needed to take a flight to Orgrimmar then run to the Zeppelin. The Zep would take me to the Undercity where I could catch a flight to the Sepulcher. From there I had to run on foot to the Shadowfang Keep (SFK) entrance.

While I was doing that, my friend decided to enter SFK and start clearing out the place. As I got closer, we made a group. This was a mistake. We may have avoided these problems if we had formed a group before he went in, but we have never had a problem adding someone into a group for an instance before so we thought nothing of it. Until… I ran through the entrance to SFK.

After zoning (it is an instance so you zone into your own unique version of the area) I was attacked full force and had to run back out. He asked me where I was and I told him I was outside because a bunch of mobs attacked me at the entrance. He said he would come back and clean up, assuming there had been a respawn. He got back and ran outside to meet me. We went back in and I got the wonderful “this is not your instance please leave or die kthxbye” message. Went back out.

Then we went through various stages of grouping, ungrouping, making a raid, abandoned the raid, etc. Nothing helped. He decided he would recall to Undercity and then run back and see if zoning helped. When he got back, he could not enter the instance at all. He would just stand there in the zone area and nothing would happen. I could still run into it (and get attacked).

We decided to relog. Nothing changed. We filed a request for help and then waited. While we waited we did a little roleplay. “Don’t enter the swirling portal, it’s evil!” “EEEEVvvviilll!” “Do not taunt happy fun portal!”Of course many people did enter the portal with no problems.

After a while (of no help from our request), my friend decided to charge into the portal one last time and he got in! So I followed and what do you know “leave or DIE!” pops on my screen again. This time we both leave, drop the group, reform the group and go back in. No warning. Huh. So we proceed to do the whole instance.

At the end, the dude that drops the dagger on occasion dropped a robe.

We have to go back now…

Cinco No Playo

It has been about 5 days since I last played any serious amount of World of Warcraft. Sick kids, sick wife and the stench of vomit buckets has pretty much kept me offline.

I don’t miss the game all that much. That is good. I used to go nuts when I had time away from the game. I am pretty comfortable without the game these days. Sure I miss it and I look forward to playing some more, but no more shakes when I can’t get my fix.

Another relevation for me is that I am actually coming to grips with my altoholism. I have started to enjoy the variety of playing multiple characters. Sometimes I feel like a Rogue, sometimes I don’t. With the rest bonus it only makes it even better.

And tradeskills? What is with those? I pretty much avoid them lately. It just seems mostly counter productive to my game play. I don’t find them fun so I don’t do them. When I need a break away from combat, I just log out. Fishing is the only one I halfway enjoy and even that is not part of my game sessions any more. It seems that a lot of people use them to make money, but since my brother gives me piles of gold, I guess I have no need for making my own.

In other news, I have started reading the series “A Song of Ice and Fire” by George R. R. Martin. The first book is called “A Game of Thrones”. Very good stuff. This is possibly another reason why I am not going through WoW shakes. A good book does wonders for your soul. And your brain.

More Beta – Ballerium

I was picked to participate in the Ballerium beta test. This game, according to the devs, is considered an MMORTS. They say that stands for: Massively-Multiplayer-Online-Realtime-Strategy-Game. Why didn’t they call it an MMORSG then?

Anyway, I’ll check it out as soon as possible. Since there is an NDA, I won’t be sharing much here until the time that it is lifted. I’m not a big RTS fan so I can’t say I’m overly excited about the release of this one, but I’m currently only being asked to test, not to have fun.

To Gank

The other day (playing World of Warcraft) I was doing some quests around Tarren Mill when a Night Elf Rogue, level listed as ?? so they had to be quite a bit higher than me, wandered in and started killing some of the local level 50 Deathguards. They had no problem with them at all so I am guessing they were level 60. This is on a PvE server so I was not worried for my safety.

I watched this Rogue for a few minutes and eventually a small crowd gathered. Soon one of the higher level Horde players attacked the Night Elf. The beatdown commenced as the whole crowd joined in. I tossed out four Frost Shocks to keep them from running away and eventually they lost the battle with us. Was quite suprised I was able to land them at all.

I reflected back on my PvP experiences in WoW and I realized I am a sort of ganker. I only participate in PvP when I am rather sure I’ll win.

For example, I was hunting with my brother and we came across an Alliance player equal to our level. They appeared to be solo while hunting some creatures and we noted they had been PvP enabled. We decided it would be prudent to remove them from the area and we did so. I felt bad some as it did not feel honorable but my brother pointed out that they *were* flagged, so it is their fault not ours.

Most every other PvP situation I have been in is when the numbers are on my side. A level 60 might be killing NPCs in the Crossroads and eventually a crowd hunts them down. I usually will cast something like Earth Shock (interrupt casting) if they are a caster or Frost Shock to keep them from running away.

In fact, I don’t normally accept duals either. Certainly not when every single time I have been challenged to a dual I was in the middle of something else. Doesn’t anyone bother to ask any more? What’s wrong with a little /tell? I have been asked to sign guild charters with no conversation. I have been asked to join a group with no conversation. Hardly anyone bothers to ask if I would be interested in helping them do something. What’s up with that?

Sorry, went off on a tangent there.

To sum up, I feel like a ganker.

On another note, my Shaman reached level 27 last night. Now we are cooking with gas.