Finally ... a dungeon!

Well, I did it! I screwed up the courage to take my little lvl 16 warlock, Maraban, on a dungeon run last night. Used the dungeon finder and it took less than 15 minutes for a notice to pop up that a group was ready. Maraban is a DPS, so I didn't have lots to do besides aim and shoot. Her Felguard buddy was welcome in the fights as well. I learned about "need" and "greed" rolls. And I learned I need to move fast to keep up. But as long as all I had to concentrate on was dealing damage, it was pretty easy.

It didn't seem like my mates were familiar with each other either, so we pretty much followed the tank leader and plowed our way through.

It was a good first experience and now I won't be so shy about putting my lvl 85 Pally out there with my guild mates. I was chatting with one of the guild members last night and he asked how I made it to lvl 85 without ever doing a dungeon ... my answer ... "practice ... practice ... practice". I'm sure I would have made it sooner with dungeon runs. One of my guild really helped me through one dungeon, but I didn't consider it practice for me b/c he just went in and killed everything we saw. Good for looting and he had really good advice about the tank/healer/DPS roles. Now I feel like I've had the entire experience.

I now understand that I could have levelled lots faster via dungeons, looking at the money and experience I got last night.

Onward to better things!

Getting Back in the Saddle

I am home from the wonderful cruise. If you are interested in that, check out my other blog: http://www.thrutheporthole.blogspot.com/

I spent a little over an hour tonight with my lvl 85 Palladin, just getting used to the game again. Doing some mining and jewelcrafting then some auction house work. I feel like I'm ready to start playing again ... fingers nimbled up. So I'll pick up where I left off.

Going to try some random dungeon runs soon ... if I get up the nerve. I am so nervous about looking like an idiot that I think I'm missing some of the fun. I also am not as nimble with the keyboard as I would like. Sure, I can touch type with the best of them, but using all the correct keys for spells, etc ... I'm just not very fast. But practice, practice, practice!

Will let you know if my nervousness keeps me from trying or if I just jump into the pool!

Home again ... home again

Our ship docks tomorrow and I will spend most of the day flying home. But I think I should have time for a little WoW tomorrow night!

On vacation

Spending a wonderful 10 days in the Caribbean, but with pricey Internet access. No WoW until I return. See my travel blog "The Porthole"

Simulation Crafting

This was posted last night in error to my other blog. Boy, I bet my cruising fans are wondering what the heck is going on!

Thanks, Protonk, for the lead to Simulationcraft. I have browsed it briefly and bookmarked it so that I can peruse it very thoroughly.

My Palladin hit lvl 85 last night, so I am officially in the endgame. I have been dinking with my action bars to put more of my spells and abilities in easily available slots. That, in itself, takes a bit of strategizing. I can see how these would change depending on what you are about to take on.

My baby priestess has made it out of the sheltered area of Shadowglen and is heading into the real world.

My warlock is resting at the moment.

I am headed out on a plane tomorrow for Ft. Lauderdale and then a 10-day cruise! So none of my guys will be active until after Dec 12. I might use that time to read up on endgame strategies and other such educational topics.

Y'all have fun while I am gone!!

Theorycrafting

What a neat word ... and exactly what I am trying to do ... generate a theory for myself about how this game works. I appreciate Protonk's comments, especially about the static nature of D&D and Excel spreadsheets. It had not crossed my mind that I was trying to model a Bayesian system with a static tool.

I also now see why many of the tools I have run across are for calculating DPS. If you are not in battle, just standing around chatting or picking your nose, then these stats don't really matter much.

My Paladin reached lvl 85 last night. So now the fun begins. I chose the Retribution talent tree because I knew I was going to solo and being a damage dealer seemed the safest choice. I think I will concentrate my priestess ... my little lvl 2 baby ... on healing when she has to make the choice. Just to see how that works out.

Do you think my lvl 16 Demonology warlock could be played as a tank? That's the only role that I am a little confused about.

Thanks for the comment

Thought I'd respond to the comment from Martha's husband here, since others might be interested.

I play in order to understand what's under the hood. When I played Dungeons and Dragons (aeons ago), it was slow, because you had to do all the lookups of the results of the dice rolls, but you knew what each decision meant. You knew how increasing or decreasing one stat would affect all the others. That's what I'm looking for here.

I play to watch the system in action ... what graphics are repeated, how combat is run, ... again, what's going on under the hood.

Since he asked, here are my characters
My main is a lvl 84 (soon to be 85) Draenei Ret Palladin
I also have a lvl 16 Human Demonology Warlock and a baby (lvl 2) Night Elf Priestess

I am currently focusing on getting that Pally up to lvl 85 to see what that opens up to me ... I actually might have to start playing in groups (Oh no!)

I belong to the Old Geezers Brigade guild and play on the Scryers server. It's a role-playing server (yes, I'm a care-bear) because like I keep saying ... I'm in it to understand.

Let me know what you think

Analysis ... analysis ... analysis

Spent a good bit of last night and today working on a spreadsheet that contains all my stats and buffs from armor, trinkets, etc. Very complicated. Still have some add-on's I can't account for ... like an increase in strength that isn't accounted for by just armor and trinkets. Will spend some time tomorrow searching the web for these analysis tools ... certainly someone has done this already?!?!

My First Day as a Night Elf Princess

I am Meleane, a Night Elf Priestess

I begin life in Shadowglen, facing Ilthalaine. After a brief introduction, he offered me the quest "The Balance of Nature". This was very easy ... kill 6 Young Nightsabers ... and taught me to use my spell Smite. I discovered that, if I targeted the Nightsaber at max range (by watching when the number in the spell's icon turned from red to white), that I could cast three times before the Nightsaber reached me and kill him without being touched.  Although WoWHead lists 43 possible drops, all I got was Cat Hair. Pfft! Now I feel like I have a hairball! Guess I shouldn't be surprised, the Cat Hair shows as a drop 93% of the time.

When I returned to Ilthalaine, I chose the Stemleaf Bracers along with my 35 copper, because the Archery Training Gloves are leather and I can't wear them. At this point in my (very short) career, I am more interested in armoring myself than making money by selling the gloves. Increased my armor by 9 (27%) ... not too shabby for my first quest. And the experience I gained from the killing and the quest put me at level 2!

I've picked up a second quest from Ilthalaine, "Fell Moss Corruption". I've also picked up the quest "Demonic Thieves"  from Melithar Staghelm  

I logged out standing in front of Melithar, ready to take on my two quests when I return.

I will ask at the end of every report ... what would you have done differently??

And so we start

Hello.
I've been playing WoW for about 5 months, since July 2011. I have levelled a Draenei Paladin to (currently) lvl 84 and done it mostly solo. So my Paladin, named Miniala, is equipped in an average fashion, with an average amount of gold.

You will hear people say, correctly, that WoW is a MMORPG with the second M (for multiplayer) being the most important. I have had some discussions with other players about playing solo and what I might be missing. So, even though I am not inclined to have to coordinate (or play well) with others, I created an alt to run dungeons and play in groups. She is a Human Warlock and I will spend time levelling her and learning about dungeon running. Maraban is currently at lvl 12.

Now, for the purposes of playing "thoughtfully" ... watching and analyzing everything I do, what equipment and other choices I make ... right from the start, I will create yet another alt. S/he will be played to join groups, run dungeons, explore the lore, and squeeze as much out of the experience as possible.

I had a Priest back when I was playing Dungeons and Dragons in graduate school. I am thinking I will like to run a priest again. Now I just have to decide on a race.

So this blog will be written about my WoW experiences with all three characters. Some times written from Maureen's PoV, and sometimes from the PoV of Miniala, Maraban, or the as-yet-unnamed priest.

I play with the Old Geezers Brigade guild on The Scryers server. Come find me. Chat with me. Leave comments and suggestions here. Looking forward to continuing the story.

Stay tuned.