I was perusing May's posts when I realized that my May 2021 has been an eventful month. The blog posts alone show a ton of activity, where I went from just another raider who preferred his independence as much as possible to being part of a raid lead team on a guild I had no real intention of joining when May began.
And that doesn't even touch on the personal events that took place this past month, such as the oldest mini-Red's Senior Recital and university graduation, and the youngest mini-Red's high school graduation and commitment to attend the University of Louisville to study Music Therapy.*
Or my son's official decision to major in History.**
The emotional roller coaster that was May extended into June as I took stock of the reality of my leveling situation, I gritted my teeth, and plunged into the twin purposes of grinding out levels as quickly as I could but at the same time learn how to play a class I only had vague recollections of when I played Retail.
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The thing about the WoW Classic leveling experience is that you get your abilities piecemeal, so you can learn to integrate them into your playstyle. Once you get those abilities internalized, you then add more. Oh, and your older abilities get newer skill ranks, so you can customize your playing strategy as needed. I'd call it elegant, but by the time that Wrath came around the talent tree system was pretty clunky and in dire need of an overhaul. Still, in both Classic and BC the system worked well enough to prepare a player for instances as well as end-game raiding.
Unless, of course, you defeat the system by bypassing it entirely.
One of my favorite instances, and one that prepares people for end game instances and raiding without their realizing it, is the Scarlet Monastery: Cathedral instance. A player learns about tactical pulls, enemies with various abilities that need to be countered, and multi-stage boss fights. Sure, the instance can take a while to clear, but when you're done with Cath you know how to handle pulls that become useful in Blackrock Spire and Blackwing Lair, Molten Core, Dire Maul, and all sorts of other group content. Another favorite, The Deadmines, teaches low level players the basics of group content in a single path instance that somehow manages to entertain and educate at the same time.***
But what if you skip those instances? How will you learn such nuances of group content? Well, you get to learn more about group content later, in the instances you didn't skip.
And if you skipped them all? Well....
That is the dilemma of boosting.
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Boosting has its place.
It is a leveling shortcut for people who want to get a toon (relatively) quickly up to the level cap. Hey, if you've leveled a Warrior already, and you want another, then great. Boosting is for you.
But if you've never played a particular class?
Before you shrug and say "how hard can THAT be?" I'd argue that learning your class appears easy until it becomes hard.
It is easy to get the basics of a class down: for a Mage, spam Scorch and then switch to Fireball, hitting Scorch periodically to keep fire vulnerability up or keeping an Ignite going. But knowing the details? That's not so easy.
Such as knowing that Ignites no longer share a stack among mages in TBC Classic. Or when to sheep someone. Or when to recognize that you'd better bust your ass in close to a boss to handle a Decurse.
Reliance upon the DBM addon or the Raid Lead to tell you when to do things is, well, not a good strategy in the long run. DBM can break, and DBM or the Raid Lead doesn't necessarily understand all the details involved in playing a class.
It's not so much the first 70% of playing a class, it's that last 30% that distinguishes an okay player from a good one. To be blunt about it, that 30% comes from experience, whether it is done in instances, in questing, or in raids.
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And now we come to it: I have to level fast, and I have to learn to play a class I've never played before. One is the pro-boosting argument, the other, an anti.
Personal feelings about boosting aside --and boy do I have them-- this is my dilemma.
If I am to be leading a raid, I have to get up there and leveled on my Shaman quickly. But if I'm also to be leading a raid, I'd better freaking know my class and can play it at a high level.
Or as I put it to someone the other day, "I don't want to be learning how to Shaman in group content on the first pull in Karazhan."
"Well, that's not gonna happen, Red," I can hear people say. "You'll get your chance to learn in group content."
When, exactly?
Briganaa sits at L33 right now, up from L24 just two days ago. With the exception of two instance boosts in Scarlet Monastery, those nine levels since I started leveling in earnest came from grinding it out in the field. Typically with me pushing myself, attacking enemies 2-4 levels higher than my own, or trying to handle a mob of 3 or so at 1-2 levels higher than my own. I recognize that leveling speed will slow down the higher I get, so that means that boosting becomes more tempting.****
So let's say that by some miracle I get to L58 by the end of next week, which is the same two week pre-patch period that other new toons had.
By then, I expect most of the raid team that didn't switch mains to be at (or very close to) max level, because they're going to basically be running dungeons until they level cap.
So, to catch up to them, I'd then need boosting in TBC instances too.
And the idea is to have people having run Karazhan a few weeks before we start running 25-person Gruul and Magtheridon, which in turn means if I want to make it to the late July expected 25-person start date, I'd have to be Karazhan-ready by the end of June. Not just attuned, which is gonna be a chore, but actually Kara-ready, gear wise.
And remember, Karazhan has a weekly lockout, not a 3-day one, so that means I'd get only about 2-3 cracks at Karazhan itself before we start up the 25-person content. Additionally, Kara being a 10 person raid means I have less margin for error in getting my playing skill up to snuff. Carrying one person in a 25 or 40 person raid? No big deal. But in a 10 person raid? Very big deal.
So when, exactly, do I get to figure out how to play a Shaman in group content?
In that last week or so before I roll into Karazhan.
And that's if everything goes right.
Call me skeptical, but I'd be surprised if everything did go right.
*Yes, two college trained musicians in the house.
**At his university the students only commit to a major during their sophomore year. A chip off the ol' block, as I minored in History when I attended university.
***All it takes is for one person to forget about the packs that come from behind after boss fights....
****There's also the problem that the people doing the boosting, those in TBC Classic right now, will quickly get to max level, so they're actually going farther away from my own level the longer they stay in Classic. That level disparity will make boosting even less effective than it ordinarily would be.
I guess I'm not disagreeing completely on the boosting thing, but mostly.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, let me preface this that I didn't raid in classic and our dungeon group stopped with Uldaman or ZF (I think we managed to 4man the one we did at ~45, so probably Uldaman). I leveled 100% of my time either in this group in dungeons or was questing with a Frost Mage, I'd say I didn't really learn to solo, and to a degree really play that char. Which means I think someone boosting could easily reach my level. On the other hand I did this already, back then. And I also played A LOT in TBC. I forgot many things, but I think I will relearn them. I don't plan to be a raider, but I do think the classic classes should be reasonably easy to learn if you have Retail or old TBC experience. Happy to be proven wrong (we have 2 boosted chars in our current group, so actually unhappy, but you know what I mean), so maybe I'll read about you cursing boosted guildies in the future :) But I really don't think it's a big problem. I've always been more of the opinion that endgame play (and raiding) is so different from the leveling game that 80% of before doesn't matter, IF the person learns the toolbox of the class.
Brig is currently sitting at L36 after another 3 levels yesterday, so yeah, I agree a booster can easily get to L40 ish and muddle through, because a skilled player unfamiliar with a Shaman can do just enough to get by.
DeleteThere's a distinct difference between questing in the field versus instance work vs raiding. However, the nature of group content is such that playing a class in 5-person content is a lot closer to playing a class in raid content than regular questing. My concern is if I don't get that real experience working in group content via 5-person dungeons, I'm going to have a much steeper learning curve in raid content.
I was talking about this with a fellow guildie last night who is also leveling a shaman for raid content, and he's managed to get into a few at-level instances to supplement his leveling, and that's helped him quite a bit in figuring out how to Shaman. Of course, the problem now that TBC Classic has dropped, is that LFG is a wasteland for Classic instance content that isn't Sunken Temple or Strat or Scholo.
But as for the "damn boosters!" part, I know of at least 3-4 times where people got into pugs to discover a boosted healer or tank who was, shall we say, not very good at their job. I found it interesting that the complaints came from different people, so not everybody is fond of the boosters right about now.
And for the record, I don't air dirty laundry about guildies here on the blog. Funny and interesting stories, yes, but negative stuff? No. Except for those times where the guild blew up, I suppose, but it's not like there was a definable "good guys" and "bad guys" in those scenarios; the guild blew up (twice) because of internal tension and drama that came out of raids and real life impacting raiding. There was no right answer, but the problems festered without resolution until the shit hit the fan.
I'm not a fan of calling out people in public either, so I meant more like a hypothetical "boosted people, grumble, grumble" in a few weeks.
DeleteBut I mean I see your point, I played my boosted (:P) Druid today and oh boy had I forgotten how to Feral Druid in TBC. But I still think having played mine actively for quite a few years (Classic until MoP), there's not really so much to "learn the class" as it is rediscovering and getting the differences to retail to stick to memory. I could name so many things I already noticed in the first few hours... and because of that I'm positive for my level of play it will be good enough but I'm reaaally curious to see how my perception of Shattered Halls (and Heroic) and a few more dungeons will be. My server's global chat are in a constant dissing match between "hurr durr, those no-skill retail players" and "here in classic everything is so stupidly easy" so I guess everyone will need to find out for themselves if it's hard.
Hi Red;
ReplyDeleteAppreciate the post, always a good way to start the day with reading one of your new entries.
It's interesting that you're talking about boosting. I finished up Classic with 7 of my 10 toons at level 60, the only 3 not levelled are a mage at 41, a 2nd warlock at 44 and my new shaman, who ran from creation to the Inn at Azure Watch and has sat there for 2 weeks. Still serving a wonderful purpose, that of mail gatherer where my current toon has a conduit to dump their bags of salvageable materials while questing.
Of all my classes, the only one I'm very non-proficient in is the mage. I watched many many mages out in the wild doing the aoe grind. That appeals to me as much as watching paint dry. It's definitely not the 'repeat and repeat till you puke' thing that gets me. It's the sense of missed opportunities while out in the wild questing that I'd regret.
Even after levelling approximately 100 toons through Un’goro, killing tar beasts for their sticky tar, I learned something I’d never knew before. I’m using a fire wand on my shadow priest, and I hear the ignition sound, as if I’d hit it with an immolate. I think, that’s weird, did someone hit it as well? I hover over the debuffs and see (if I recall) Ignition. 8 points every 3 seconds. Holy crap, you can light these things on fire??? It’s not much, but just goes to show you that there are things that you don’t notice while soloing… how would I ever see that if I was being boosted?
Knowing your class is crucial in raids. There’s no other way to put it. A shaman timing his flame shock in order to have his interrupt ready for the boss’ cast is huge. Sure, you can have all the addons and weakauras you want, but only through practice will you ever get the feel of not only when to do something, but just as importantly, why and how.
So, there’s my lowly mage, waiting to see Outlands, and I’m thinking should I just say to hell with it and boost it (either through Bliizzard’s pay) or paying in-game gold to hit ZG with a leveller. Pretty quickly though, those thoughts went by the wayside when I remember that this is my worst class to play, perhaps working at it would make it better… as i
Billt usually does.
Bill, always great to see a comment from you! (I've, uh, been busy so I've not had a chance to respond.)
DeleteI watched many many mages out in the wild doing the aoe grind. That appeals to me as much as watching paint dry.
You and me both. I know people who swear by it, and the world first L60 in Classic did that, but I hate it. I hate dying, so I'm not willing to do the rinse and repeat necessary to do the AOE farm.
Sure, you can have all the addons and weakauras you want, but only through practice will you ever get the feel of not only when to do something, but just as importantly, why and how.
YES! I was in RFD and ZF yesterday, and I felt like things were coming at me way too fast. If I were on Card or my rogue, Az, I'd have been perfectly fine as I knew instinctively what to do. But on Brig? Oh boy, you can't think your way out of a paper bag.