Threading the Needle

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. 

***

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.

***

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.

***

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.

A New Beginning

(I felt it appropriate to close this phase of Card's story with a short piece. Nothing spectacular, just giving Cardwyn a chance to breathe a bit. And maybe get a chance to start turning the manure once more; compared to Naxxramas, the smell of manure isn't so bad.)

 

A New Beginning

 

The sun shone bright overhead, chasing away the darkness in my mind.

I stopped on the Old Elwynn Road, stood before the path that led to the farm, and smiled. I'd been back home numerous times over the past several years, but walking here? I'd not done that since I was a green apprentice in Stormwind. And it felt good to just walk for a change, rather than rush from one point to the next like a cat chasing her tail.

The Old Elwynn Road was clear once more, with memories of Defias lurking just out of view fading into the past. As I traveled from Goldshire, I'd seen merchants heading to and fro from Lakeshire and Darkshire, heading toward Goldshire and onwards to Westfall, like how things used to be. Spring Planting was over, and now the long lazy Summer lay ahead.

Just what I needed.

I stepped onto the path and let it carry me forward, quickening my steps as I strode on. Only a few short moments later, the trees parted and the house stood before me, same as always. 

Well, not exactly the same. There were a few subtle changes over the years that if you knew what to look for, they'd practically shout that a Mage lived here. "Once use of the Arcane becomes ingrained inside you," Mistress Elsharin once told me, "you can't help but reach for it when something needs doing." My work in hostile territory taught me how to suppress those urges, but here? Well...

I walked up to the empty porch, and as I placed my first foot on the steps the door opened a crack and a small someone popped his head out. 

"Cardwyn!" Lewys shouted. "It's Aunt Cardwyn!!!" 

My nephew shoved the door wide and bounced down the steps into my arms. A small throng of children flew out the open door and swarmed around me, nearly knocking me over.

"I think I see where today's lesson is going," Mistress Evelyn said as she slowly made her way out the door and over to an open chair. "Welcome back, Card."

"Thank you, Mistress Evelyn," I replied with a smile at my old teacher. She was just as determined as ever to show her independence, but I could tell that navigating even this short distance was becoming a chore for her. Still, I doubted she'd ever do things differently. "Mistress Elsharin says hello," I added, "and she intends to visit soon."

"Good, good," Evelyn said as she sat down. "How are things up north?"

"They look the same as ever, with one notable exception."

Her breath caught. "Did... Did you... Is he..."

"Yes," I nodded and closed my eyes. Dark, nightmarish images from inside a twisted citadel, lit by a sickly green glow, filled my head. Shaking myself, I reopened my eyes and the pictures fled. "Kel'thuzad is dead now."

"He was already dead," said a new voice from the door. "But is he destroyed?"

Even after all these years, Mom still had that intense look in her eyes whenever she needed to know something. Gray streaks now crisscrossed her dark hair, the lines on her face etching deeper than I remembered. 

"Yes, Mom. I wasn't in charge of the phylactery, but I trust that it was destroyed too."

"You'd better hope so, Card," Mom replied. "He has as many lives as a cat."

"I noticed."

By now the children began chanting my name in an effort to get my attention. "Cardwyn! Cardwyn! Cardwyn!"

"Woah woah woah!" I put up my hands, but that only encouraged them. 

"CARDWYN! CARDWYN! CARDWYN!"

I sighed and shrugged at Mom, who let a grin steal across her face. She leaned over the children and gave me a hug. "Welcome back, Card," she whispered in my ear.

"It's good to be back," I replied. "But who is everybody? There's no way these are all Jas and Karyn's."

"CARDWYN! CARDWYN!"

Mom whistled sharply and the shouts subsided.

"Okay," she continued, "these days, the children come to Evelyn rather than she to them. You know Lewys and Starlys--"

"Wait," I interrupted, pointing at a youngster with dark hair, "you're Starlys? You were only this high when I saw you last."

"Car-wyn! Car-wyn!" my youngest niece replied, jumping up and down.

"She looks a lot like you at that age," Mom added with a twinkle in her eye.

Oh boy. If she is anything like me... Well, my brother and his wife were likely in for an exciting time.

"And you know Rachelle and Victor are Robyn and James' kids," Mom said, "This one is Steve's, these two are Anya's, and these two are Krista's."

"Um, wow." I had no idea my oldest friends were all having children. Somehow this news hadn't reached me in letters from home. "I'm glad to meet you all!" I added, remembering my manners. "I used to play with your Moms and Dads when I was your age."

"Are you really a Mage?" one of Krista's kids, a blonde boy, asked.

"Really really."

"You don't look it!"

"She is, Ashe!" Lewys replied, crossing his arms. "She's the bestest Mage in the whole world!"

"I am not, Lewys," I interrupted. "Don't exaggerate."

"Yes you are!" Rachelle piled on. "You're the Hero of Westfall!"

I rolled my eyes. "Not that again..."

"And you rescued Marshal Windsor so he could expose that evil dragon!"

"I suppose I did," I sighed.

"And you saved Awbee!" Lewys added.

"I wasn't alone, Lewys."

"I liked Awbee! Is Awbee going to visit sometime?" 

"Awbee is back with their mother, Lewys," I replied, "but if I see Awbee I'll make sure to ask." Of all the adventures I was involved with, the one thing my nieces and nephew remembered the most was when I arrived from Blackrock Mountain with the gravely injured whelp, keeping the young blue dragon here, away from prying eyes in the Mage Quarter so they could heal properly and rejoin the Blue Flight in Kalimdor. That Awbee was likely older than them never crossed their minds at all.

"Are you on a mission?" Mom asked.

"No, I'm not. I'm just..." I took a deep breath. "I wanted to come home for a while. I walked here from Stormwind rather than use quicker methods because... Well, it felt good to be under the sunlight again."

Mom nodded slowly, her eyes probing mine. "Rachelle," she replied, not taking her eyes off me, "go find your mother and your friends' moms. Lewys, can you go get your sister and the rest? I think they'd all like to see your Aunt."

"Yes, Granmama," Lewys said. "Come on, Rachelle, I'll race you!"

As their footfalls retreated into the distance, Mom turned to the rest. "We might as well take a break. Go ahead and play Find the Ghost!" 

The kids scattered and Mistress Evelyn sat forward in her chair. "Cardwyn, did you tell Elsharin about Kel'Thuzad?" Mistress Evelyn asked in a quiet voice.

"Yes." 

"How did she take it?"

I swallowed. "She let out a long, triumphant scream, and then she began sobbing."

Mom reached out and held me while I continued. 

"I'd never seen her cry before, Mistress Evelyn, even when I was her apprentice. And it wasn't anything gentle. It started rough, with a gut wrenching sob that bubbled up from deep inside, and just built from there. I.... The only thing I could do was hold her while she grieved."

"It had to come out, Card. She'd been holding all of these emotions back ever since Quel'Thalas fell."

"I know, Mistress Evelyn, but..." I took another deep breath. "I eventually got her to bed and stayed by her bedside through the night, holding her hand to make sure she knew I was still there. I wanted her to come with me, to walk outside under the sun, but she said she had a few things to do first and then she'd join me here. I think we both need this, Mom. Dealing with the traitor Kel'Thuzad... There was just so much death there inside Naxxramas. So much death...." My voice trailed off as I surrendered to Mom's embrace.

"I understand, Card," Mom replied. "We'll make sure Elsharin's bed is ready for her when she arrives."

"Would you mind if I slept in her room too? I was just so worried for her and I didn't know what to do, so I just want to keep an eye on her."

"You did everything perfectly, Card. Why don't you ask Elsharin what she wants first?"

"I suppose so."

Someone attached herself to my leg. "Are you sad, Car-wyn?" Starlys asked.

I reached down and picked her up. "A little bit," I replied.

"Why?"

"Because part of what I do is go into very scary places and make them not scary, so that people like you, Grandpapa and Grandmama, and Auntie Evelyn can all be safe."

"Even Carys?"

"Even Carys. Why do you ask?"

"Cuz Carys is a bossy poopiehead."

I stifled a guffaw at my niece's indignation. "Well, I can't help that, kiddo, but I do know that your big sister does love you."

"Hmmph." Starlys folded her arms and pouted.

"Anyway," I continued, "after a while, seeing all those scary places makes me sad, because I wonder why they got so scary in the first place."

"Why?"

"Because I don't think they started out scary, but people made them that way."

"Why?"

"I don't know, Sweetie, and that's what makes me sad."

"Otay. Let me give you hug, and you feel better!" She leaned over, wrapped her arms around my neck, and planted a big kiss on my cheek.

As my niece ran off to join the rest, I turned back to Mom. "Was I like that when I was little?"

Mom's mouth creased in a small, mysterious smile. "Do you need to ask?"

I took in the view from the porch, with children running to and fro, and the wheat growing in the fields. In the distance, I could pick out Dad and my brother Jas coming in from the western field. At the other end of the farm buildings, a group of my old friends emerged from Robyn and James' home, with Rachelle tugging on her mom's hand to move faster. A long time ago, I felt that I intruded on the farm whenever I would visit, but now I needed the farm more than they ever needed me. I needed to feel again, to appreciate life after my senses had worn down from that land of Undeath.

I gave mom another hug. "It's good to be back home," I replied.

Share and Share Alike

We're closing in on a week's worth of pre-patch --this is Day 6, given that the actual pre-patch took up the entire day-- but this is the first day I've had to really get around to leveling Briganaa to any extent.

Tuesday was a wash, obviously, but Wednesday I was swamped at work which ran late. Oh, and Wednesday was also the date for what became known as the Flight Point Raid.

The Flight Point Raid?

Why yes, I'm glad you asked.

Some of us, milling about at the starting
point in Winterspring. And that chimaera
that just loves to wander over by the FP.

 

It was a raid put together by the guild to get all of the new Draenei (and the occasional other new toon) the various Flight Points across Azeroth. From Silithus to Blasted Lands, from Darnassus to Azshara, we were summoned from place to place by a core group of warlocks and their associated clickers. Card and Az had a part to play too, as I would fly/port ahead on a toon and then help click the summoners across the continents to bring the rest of the warlocks over, then I'd switch back to Briganaa and get her a summons as well.

The presence of the L60s came in handy in case any of the high level enemies aggroed on our raid. We didn't need to kill anything, but there was a curious chimaera in Winterspring that gave me pause.

All in all, there were about 15-20 new toons that benefited from this raid, Briganaa included. But the lone drawback was that being summoned all over Azeroth meant that I didn't get much of a chance to do any leveling on Wednesday. The event was originally slated for Tuesday, but we all know how Tuesday turned out.

Thursday and Friday were spent getting my son from college and then raiding Naxx (Friday night). Saturday was spent with the youngest mini-Red's high school graduation and then a Blackwing Lair + Ony run.*

So I made it to Sunday, finally getting the chance to get on Brig and level her for a couple of hours. 

But I've discovered that there's a bit of a monkey wrench in the leveling plans: this computer is shared.

My wife and I share the desktop PC. Normally, this isn't a big deal, because I play WoW late enough in the evening that her social media habit doesn't interfere with my gaming.** But if I'm going to be boosting and aggressively leveling a new toon, that means my gaming will begin to intersect with her PC usage.

And on Sunday, it did.

In lieu of ongoing negotiations about PC sharing for this pre-patch and early TBC Classic rollout, I've been exploring what options I have. At one time we did have a 2012 laptop that was to be used by both the kids (for school) and my wife for when she wanted to look something up while she was watching TV, listening to the radio, or reading, but that fell apart years ago. Literally, as in the hinges ripping out of their spots and the case frame cracking and needing duct tape to hold together. As of now, the only other PC in the house --that isn't one of the kids' or is used for my work-- is an old 2007 Core Duo machine that runs 32-bit Vista. And let's be honest: it's not much of a solution. It struggled to run WoW back in the day, and once I replaced the graphics card it did run better, but Classic's minimum requirement is Win 7. So unless I'd be interested in replacing one obsolete OS with another obsolete OS that's a no go.

I'd been thinking of building a PC of my own for a while, but now, when I finally have the motivation to do so (and have the funding as well), there's a certain semiconductor shortage to deal with. 

So... I'm going to soldier on as best I can, negotiate for the time that I can, and just go from there.

*I also had a plumbing emergency during the day, where the water intake for the refrigerator began leaking and I very nearly missed graduation until I finally fixed it with less than a 1/2 hour to go before we had to leave.

**The kids and I have gotten her a) a tablet and b) a decent smartphone for her to use for social media over the years, and she simply will not use them. She likes sitting in front of a keyboard and computer screen, and that's that. For a brief period of time we even had a "family" laptop, and she absolutely HATED it. She likes what she likes, and there's nothing I can do about that.

Upon Reaching the Flip Side

I'm not going to talk about the extended downtime that it took for The Burning Crusade Classic and WoW Classic to become two separate entities, because I'm sure there will be plenty of posts on the matter. I will say, however, that I really feel for the IT personnel who had to work so freaking long to get the data integrity issues in the mail system sorted out.

I've been there, and I can sympathize.

***

But the servers are now live, and the BC pre-patch is up and running.

I logged in before work this morning, and my first order of business was to migrate most of my toons to BC Classic. I'm keeping one totally behind to clear up toon space, and I cloned Card back to the WoW Classic Forever server.

And then it was time for toon creation.

Raid be damned, these two came first:

Feels weird seeing Q without Quel'Delar.

Always good to see Neve again.

Then I turned my attention to the Draenei Shaman I was to create.

I spent quite a bit of time tossing names around, wanting to have something that sounded like a Draenei but one that would fit her class as well. As you can guess, I already knew I wanted to create a female Draenei because my Draenei toons from my Retail days --largely represented by Tomakan-- were all male toons. And for some reason I tended to suck at having those toons succeed at jumping skills. So I figured why not go with a female Draenei?

"The Caboose" is how a couple of friends described female Draenei to me, and the name kind of stuck. 

Anyway, I spent some time kicking around names with a friend last night while we waited for the servers to (not) come back online, and something she suggested was to model the name off of Brigid, the Irish Celtic goddess (and also the name of St. Brigid of Kildare, who was likely based on the earlier goddess.) We initially had some trouble getting that name to morph into something Draenei like, until I discovered that the (roughly) British Celtic equivalent of Brigid was Brigantia.

"Hey, I can work with that," I thought.

Some tweaks later....

Emphasis is on the second syllable.
So, brig-AH-naa.

I actually spent most of a meeting listening while tweaking Brig's appearance. Given BC Classic's limitations in toon customization, I spent waaaay too much time obsessing over this. Neve and Q were easy: just look at Retail, and emulate. But Brig had to be just right. I did seriously consider silver or gold hair, but I kept her hair dark. It just seemed to fit better.

***

And that was that.

For all of the excitement of other people getting a chance to start the pre-patch, I've been very, well, low key about it. Part of that is work; it has amped up considerably the past week or two and I've had that very much on my mind. Another part is that my youngest graduates from high school this Saturday, and I'm SO looking forward to that. Then there's my oldest, who is graduating from college next Saturday; and I'm so happy to see her achieve her dream. And finally there's another part that I have to get my son from college; he has to be out of his dorm by noon on Friday, so I'm driving up Thursday afternoon and get a hotel room for the night.

But there's also the reality that I have to blitz through leveling to get Brig up in time for raiding, and that's a pretty daunting task ahead. I'm pretty sure I'll be sick of boosting by the time Brig finally reaches L70 and is properly attuned.

One Last Update

This morning I woke to receive a "re-evaluation" notice from Blogger, which said they didn't find any malware, so they restored the posts.

Hell, I could have told them that.

What I don't get is if they get a report about malware they don't have a quick scan of the offending pages. That'd shake out any malware present and not force them into a manual re-evalutation.

But hey, I only work in IT Security.

Oh, How Nice

Apparently PC has been reported as a "Deceptive Site", so I filled out a form to Google to dispute this.

This blog is so freaking old that I'll have to go back and see which link is the "bad one", which is likely an old blog that no longer exists.

Oh. Yay.

Ups and Downs

The emotional roller coaster continues unabated, which is kind of weird since the past couple of days' worth of events had nothing to do with any of my toons directly. (Yet.)

The other day I got a whisper from Shintar of Priest With a Cause:

"We killed KT!"

Woooo!

"But also, our usual raid leader ragequit the raid on Sapph
what a night"

Wait, what?

She assured me she'd get a long blog post out of this, and she wasn't kidding. It's well worth a read. But I'm still incredibly proud and happy for Shintar and the rest of the Order of the Holy Fork for beating Classic just before pre-patch. Way to go!

***

As for our BC preparation, the raid lead team was busy reviewing and slotting where each person was willing to go, and we finally got down to the nitty gritty. 

We needed Shamans and we had too many Mages.*

So I put my money where my mouth is and volunteered to switch my main to an Enhancement Shaman.

I'm still going to play with Card, but she's not going to be my primary toon. And neither will Linna, although I'm likely to utilize the boosting service for her. 

So this upcoming week's raid is going to be bittersweet: the last time before pre-patch that I'll have Cardwyn as my main.

***

What will Card do afterwards?

Most likely, she is going to take some well deserved time off. She'll leave the Plaguelands to others for a while, port down to Stormwind, and walk back home to the family farm in Eastern Elwynn. There, she'll spend as much time out in the sun as possible, trying to chase away dark memories from the inside of Naxxramas and Ahn'Qiraq, along with landscapes where the very air takes on a sickly hue. She'd never take the wheat and barley growing in the fields for granted again. 

Things have changed since Card started out. She has several nieces and nephews now; two of the farmhands, James and Robyn, married and moved into a small place Card's Mom and Dad built for them on the northern edge of the fields. They now have a couple of children of their own. Linna is still out there with the Knights out in the Plaguelands, keeping Light's Hope Chapel open and the Scourge at bay.

Mistress Evelyn is semi-retired; Card's family built a small place for her adjacent to the farm buildings so she could continue her pursuits without constant travel to Stormwind. Instead of visiting the children of Eastern Elwynn, they now come to her for lessons. 

The ebb and flow of children suits Card to no end. She gets to play with her nieces and nephews, go fishing at the nearby pond, and even do things she used to hate, such as turning manure. Being out in the sun, in nature, and surrounded by friends and family keeps the darkness at bay. It also serves as a reminder of why she fought in the first place, which can get lost in the heat of the moment.

Perhaps that call will come, a summons to cross the Dark Portal and face Illidan and the Burning Legion, but for now time is Cardwyn's most precious resource, and she intends to use as much of it as possible making herself whole again.

 

 

*Not one or two, but four, including Card.