Back in the ancient days of this blog, I described my first time playing D&D with a friend named Rob who lived in the neighborhood behind our own. We went to school together, played on the same baseball team together, and played Atari video games together. Typical 70s/early 80s stuff.
I mean, if you've seen Stranger Things, that was kind of my life. Well, except for the monsters from the Upside Down and characters such as Eleven with "powers".
I swear I had a shirt just like the one on the left. From cafemom.com.
That fateful day I'd never heard of Dungeons and Dragons before, but even though I got stomped like nobody's business when our first encounter was five Red Dragons, I was fascinated by the possibilities the game provided.
Compared to how they're presented in D&D 5e, dragons back then are far from being a force of nature. They're still frighteningly powerful compared to a first level player, however. From the Blue cover Holmes Edition of D&D (circa 1979).
So, when Christmas rolled around, I asked for a D&D set. And this was what I got:
The original copy is long since gone. Because, well... Satanic Panic and all that.
This version didn't look like Rob's, but the guts of the thing were still there. The same six stats --Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom, Dexterity, Constitution, and Charisma-- the same funky dice, the same classes*, and the same monsters. Compared to some wargames such as Risk, the game seemed very complicated, but compared to modern RPGs, well...
I honestly wasn't planning on posting today, because 31 days in a row is a record for me. As I looked at the number of posts for the year, the Blaugust body count shot me past the 2020 pandemic year for second most posts in a year. Right now, I'm trailing only 2010, where we had three (!) people blogging on the site, providing basically stream of consciousness thoughts on what we were doing in WoW at that time.
::looks at last dozen posts::
Oh. Right. Well, that hasn't changed.
But I can only shake my head at the people who --less than a day after the Wrath Classic pre-patch dropped-- already had a Death Knight up to L70. Yes, I ran into them while I was running a few Alterac Valley battlegrounds over lunch on Wednesday.
And if they thought that they'd wipe the battlefield clean with Neve, they were in for a rude awakening. As one of my fellow defenders in Stonehearth Bunker put it, "This ain't 2008, asshole."
The fact that DKs were already at L70 still kind of irked me, even though we won that BG. I mean, I know there's that Joyous Journeys buff out there, and it's only L55 to L70, but come on. Just why on earth would you spend the entire time from 6 PM EST until Noon the next day leveling a DK, when you've got close to a month before Northrend opens? Your gear will get replaced pretty damn quickly in Wrath Classic anyway, and there's a bit of a delay until the first raids open as well.
What's the point?
I guess I'm getting old, because I play MMOs for the journey rather than the destination. And that seems to be very much the exception these days. The destination will still be there, whether I get there tomorrow, the next day, or even the next month. I can't control how other people play the game, but if by their behavior my enjoyment of Wrath Classic is cut short*, I will not be a happy camper.
In this case, I'm actually hoping that the increased difficulty of Discount Naxx puts a bit of a damper on the overdeveloped sense of enthusiasm on some of these "high energy" players.
*By pushing the Classic team to burn through Wrath Classic in about 14-15 months instead of the 25 months originally. Original Wrath dropped in 11/2008, and Cataclysm dropped in 12/2010.
I was on early yesterday, before work, and people were eagerly counting down the time before the extended Wrath Classic pre-patch.
Rather than living in the moment, I couldn't help but think that in a year from now people will be similarly eager, talking about the upcoming Cataclysm Classic, because of course they will. After all, we're way ahead of schedule for following the original TBC timeline, so why not the same for Wrath Classic? And I'm sure the apologists will be out for Cataclysm Classic too, because "Cataclysm: It Wasn't as Bad as People Thought" is likely to be a headline from a site such as Massively OP or Blizzard Watch.
But that's not what I mean when I said I was an accidental hipster; that's just being a cynic.
Chris Knight, don't ever change. From getyarn.com.
Last afternoon, after I got off a late call with a coworker, I noticed that the servers were now up. An actual extended downtime from Blizz for a prepatch that ended right on time? Amazing! So I looked at Discord and found an absolute ton of people on, even those I'd not seen online in months, all with "Playing World of Warcraft Classic" as their status.
I switched to Battle.net, and found a metric ton of people with "Wrath of the Lich King Classic" as their status as well.
And... I just went and zapped Battle.net for the day and played a little Stardew Valley instead before hitting the hay early.
***
If that were all I did that'd be one thing, and I'd write it off to merely an aversion to being around whatever the popular crowd is doing. After all, this is kind of my jam; back in the 80s, I used to like bands such as Toto, and then when Toto IV came out and they simply exploded in popularity I dropped them like a hot potato. Another band that followed a similar trajectory was Bon Jovi. I'd been a fan of their first two albums and liked their third --Slippery When Wet-- but when they suddenly became the most popular band in school* I stopped listening to them.
If Simon and Garfunkel suddenly rocket
up the charts, I'll drop them too, I suppose.
If I'd have been exposed to punk back then, I'd have likely been heavily into punk until Nirvana came along and made punk inspired Grunge a thing. Instead, part of my 90s was spent exploring Jazz and Celtic music --until Riverdance came along, that is-- so I missed out on the worst excesses of the Boy Bands as well as some of the best of the Grunge bands.
And so it goes.
But for some reason, instead of simply not logging in and zigging when everybody else zagged, I just had to turn myself visible on Discord for a little while so that if anybody was actually looking they'd see that I was most definitely not in WoW Classic that evening.
It was the sort of behavior that was absolutely not necessary, and something I very rarely do, but I did it anyway.
After all, people likely didn't give two shits about what I was doing, since they were all focused on things in Wrath Classic anyway.
***
I guess you could say that this tendency not to do what everybody else is doing is part of the reason why I did Blaugust the way I have.
Here I am, on August 31st, the last day, and I've written a post for 31 days straight.** I swore I would stop posting if the stress got to me, but... I haven't felt any stress at all. If anything it's been relaxing, knowing that I'm under absolutely no pressure to post and keep up appearances. I didn't sign up for Blaugust because I didn't want to toot my horn and wave a flag shouting "LOOK AT ME!", which is quite ironic since this is what I'm doing in this post right now. The thing is, I'm writing this post with the knowledge that only a handful of people will ever see it, so I don't really care.
Even if I did sign up for Blaugust, I'd be only one of 68 blogs, which is miniscule compared to the entirety of the internet, but it would be also more than twice the core readership of this particular blog. We'd be back to territory PC hasn't seen since Righteous Orbs and the Pink Pigtail Inn were active. But it would also mean that I'd have to make a decision about what I want to do with PC, given that back then there were two of us writing and Soul was actively trying to grow the blog's readership.***
If I truly wanted to market PC, I suppose I could have done so by getting on Twitter and engaging with the community more. Or commenting on more sites and blogs. Or something more than what I've been doing (which is nothing). There's no guarantee that any marketing will bring eyeballs here to the blog --or any blog-- but it is certainly better than simply not doing anything at all. What might have happened, knowing me, is that I probably wouldn't have kept at blogging for this long if I felt like I had to keep posting. Without any pressure, I can post what I want when I want to, and the schedule is my own to keep.
In a world where it feels like everything is dictated by someone else, having complete control over something is a rare luxury.****
***
If there's one thing that I don't like, it is the concept of the hipster as tastemaker and critic. Even though I only rarely engaged with the hipster crowd, I always felt that the things I liked --and by extension myself-- were considered "less than" by them as a way to make themselves feel superior.
And now, here I am behaving in a similar fashion to them, and if I looked deep into my own soul I have those same feelings of superiority that they do. I'm not too proud to realize that likely they, like me, are probably nursing a severe case of insecurity that is actively masked by this behavior. This does not excuse such behavior, but I do understand some of the reasons why.
There's more to it than that, of course. There's a certain level of resentment for all of those people who have no qualms about dropping subscriptions and restarting them on a whim, because Blizz has tailored Retail around spikes in subscriptions every time there's a content patch to the point where the grindy daily systems designed to keep you logging in --and subscribed-- became the raison d'etre for how Battle for Azeroth and Shadowlands were designed, even more so than the tailoring of the expac toward the highest end raiders/Mythic+ participation.
This spiking, the ebb and flow of an expac, isn't exactly unusual. I knew people back in the 90s who would change long distance carriers at the drop of a hat if another carrier came along with a slightly better deal. Hell, people even in our neighborhood changed trash removal companies if they saved about $5 a month. (Yes, that happened.) So this is not new, but knowing that companies such as wireless carriers today still tend to prioritize --and give better deals to-- new customers over existing ones leads to a certain level of behavior among the general populace.*****
I realize that I'm old, and that I value loyalty to my detriment, but this behavior creates additional resentment in me because these spikes in subscriptions and activity also drive the desire by the Classic Team to push content harder and faster, to keep the subs up and to get to what? Potentially Cataclysm Classic and oblivion, I suppose. If anything, I'd prefer that the Classic team slow it down, because I know the end is coming next year, and I'd like to enjoy the ride as long as I can.
***
But I need to do better. I need to stop being small minded and resentful when I should celebrate that so many people came back. Their fun doesn't directly impact me at all --well, considering the way I play it doesn't-- so I need to stop being an accidental hipster and instead enjoy the ride.
This isn't how I expected to end a series of Blaugust posts, because nobody likes to be a downer, but I guess the prepatch brought up some thoughts that I needed to address sooner or later, such as the impending demise of WoW Classic next year (or very early 2024).
#Blaugust2022
*That was when Bon Jovi became known as "the 'metal band' your girlfriend likes".
**Well, I have, assuming my sudden aversion to actually posting this last post and completing things doesn't override my desire to just simply get it over with.
***I took the more cautious approach of trying to write well and actively comment on posts that interested me. By engaging people that way, I developed friendships that have lasted until this day. "Hi, Gang!!"
****If anybody wants to take a lesson from this post --aside from "don't be a hipster"-- create a blog because you have complete control over it. People can try to tell you what to do, but in the end you have control. Absolute control.
*****AT&T was heavily promoting their change in policy last year that they would give the same deals to existing customers that they gave to new customers because it was such a departure from the norm. And before you think I approve of AT&T over other carriers, I don't. I only use AT&T because my employer pays for my service; if it were up to me, I'd use another carrier because AT&T has several dead zones less than 2 miles from my home that they are quite well aware of but have done nothing to alleviate over the past 15 years. And for the record, I most definitely do NOT live in the boonies.
I've been helping my questing buddy out with her Mage alt, and one of the fun things I've done is to do the Marshal Windsor questline with her. Part of what made it fun was that this is only the third time I've gone through the questline, as I have so few Alliance toons at L60 or above.
This was Linna's time to shine, and she didn't disappoint.
"Just sayin'..."
This is one of those quests that the RP walk was made for.
"Like hell you will."
He may have known it was coming, but it still doesn't make it easy to watch.
But the Marshal Windsor questline is merely the beginning. I know where this leads, having done it twice, but I'm still amazed at how Blizz doesn't give you any clues as to where to go next. This was truly a "get out in the world and explore" questline. When I first went through this questline, I didn't fall back on Wowhead or any guides. I had already been exploring on Az, and I happened to stumble upon a lone Queldorei out in Winterspring. So when I first was given this quest, she happened to be on the list of potential suspects to complete this quest. The leads in Swamp of Sorrows and Burning Steppes didn't pan out, so I went to Winterspring. And there, Azshandra and then Cardwyn found someone who would become an old friend...
"Card is doing well, thanks. She sends her regards."
If there's one thing that I am pleased about in Retail, it's that the Cataclysm revamp kept Haleh alive. It could have been so easy for Blizz back then to have simply eliminated her as her quests became obsolete, but she's still alive and kicking.
And she changed her outfit, too.
So on the day of the Prepatch for Wrath Classic, it's good to visit some old friends that have survived until today.
(The genesis of this story was provided by my questing buddy, who was inspired by the Wrath Classic Beta Test. She provided part of the story as well as the overall plot, and I filled in the rest and edited the overall story. As the two of us collaborated on the entire thing, she and I share the authors' credit for the tale.
I wanted to release this before the Wrath Classic pre-patch, but trying to fit in the last bit of editing while being knee deep in Blaugust 2022 wasn't exactly the smartest thing I've ever done. Still, it's finished, and here it is.
Some final notes: This is a work of fiction; any resemblance to any people, living or dead, is purely coincidental. Honest! Any characters created by Blizzard for WoW Classic, TBC Classic, and Wrath Classic remain their property. This work of fiction uses WoW Classic, TBC Classic, and Wrath Classic as the reference points, no other version of WoW. This was written by Redbeard of Parallel Context and Zargala-Myzrael, 2022.)
Fate and
Circumstance By
Redbeard and Zargala
“Okay Lewys,
once your mom uses the paddle to move the bread to the edge of the oven,” I instructed,
nodding at Karyn who nudged a golden-brown loaf over, “then it’s your turn.”
My nephew Lewys
stood atop a chair in the kitchen, knitted his brow in concentration, and whispered the short
poem I gave him. We’d been practicing for this moment for a couple of weeks,
and now all I could do was wait. I bit my lip as I stood behind him, watching
helplessly as wisps of the arcane came to life and swirled around us. He
finished, reached for the bread, and dropped it into the cloth covered basket beside him.
“I did it!”
he shouted, jumping up and down on the chair. “It was just like you said, Aunt
Cardwyn! Once I got done with the poem the bread was cool enough to move!”
“You sure
did, kiddo,” I exhaled, grabbing him from behind and ruffling his hair. “It’s
all in the patience and the poem. Do you think you can now help your mom and
Grandmama out on baking day?”
“Yeah!”
Lewys turned toward my brother’s wife and gave her a hug. “Mom, I did it! Woo!”
“Good job,
Lewys!” Karyn smiled with relief as she set the paddle down and returned the
hug. She then looked over at me with a question in her eyes.
“He
certainly did it,” I echoed and nodded.
“Good,”
Mom replied, tapping her foot. “Then the two of you can help us finish up
faster.”
“Well,” I
said, scraping my foot on the floor, “I don’t want to take away the job I just
gave him.”
“Okay
then, maybe you should go check to see if something needs doing, like turning
the manure.”
“Mom!”
“Caaard!”
she replied, a grin spreading across her face.
I sighed.
No matter how old I got, I was always going to be her kid. “Okay, okay, I’ll go
check it out. But Lewys,” I added, turning back to my nephew, “remember to whisper
the poem after your mom moves the loaves over, okay? It’s all in the
timing.”
“Got it,
Aunt Cardwyn! You go turn that manure!”
“Uh…
Right.” That kid was picking up all sorts of bad habits from Mom.
It kind of goes without saying that I found this Josh Strife Hayes video interesting.
The entire point of his video, that you shouldn't make players go through a slog just to be able to play and do group content together, is a pretty sound one. And that entire slog, as found in Retail and Classic, is the reason why boosting exists.
Of course, boosting by various methods also becomes a problem --as Josh points out-- because you don't learn how to play your class, never mind your role, in group content.
When people asked me why I wasn't boosting my Shaman Briganaa via instances, I said that I needed to learn how to play a Shaman, and leveling one the old fashioned way allowed me to learn by doing. Now, with Wrath Classic imminent, I've decided to re-learn how to be a Paladin that way as well. The Paladin changes from TBC to Wrath are significant enough that trying to figure them out like I kinda sorta did with a boosted Linna isn't ideal for me. I kept fumbling around for a while until I finally figured it out, and even then I was reluctant to take Linna into instances because I didn't know how well I'd be handling things.*
Learning how to play your class is important, and MMOs do that in spades by peppering low level content with quests designed to teach. For example, the undead troll quests in The Ghostlands are a Blood Elf player's first opportunity to encounter the "don't stand in the bad" mechanic**. The Deadmines expose a player to mobs, adds, and even adds that come from behind after a boss kill, so you never really get a chance to just hang back for a moment or three. Ragefire Chasm exposes a player to a "good luck trying to find your way" dungeon that becomes more important in places such as Maraudon.***
The problem is... well... players in MMOs such as WoW have learned their lessons too well. The horse has left the barn, and players who are interested in the journey rather than the end aren't the focus of MMOs. I may agree with Josh that MMOs should focus on putting raids and dungeons in the hands of lower level players, but the player base doesn't seem to care. Or at least enough of them don't for developers to make it worth their while.
#Blaugust2022
*Even then, when I finally started going into instances I still got called out by someone saying "You should use Seal twisting as Ret!" My response to that little editorial comment was "If you get it exactly right, you get a boost to DPS. If you don't it's a waste of mana." Which is the truth. Unlike totem twisting for an Enhance Shaman, seal twisting in a Retribution Paladin is very much a thing for the highly skilled player only, and even Icy Veins' guides mention that it is an advanced tactic and difficult to pull off. After my retort the player shut up about seal twisting, but I could tell that he didn't like that I wasn't doing 'all the things' necessary to be the best. If you play MMOs long enough you can just tell; even though body language isn't a thing in MMOs, there are subtle cues.
**I did not pass that first test. Just sayin'.
***Alas that Blizz went away from dungeons that just sprawled out and were their own thing. There was a huge adventure behind places such as Maraudon, Blackrock Depths, and Blackrock Spire. A true city, such as Blackrock Depths, that could take well over an hour (sometimes close to 3 hours) to clear. It was players first and then canonized by Blizz that those dungeons were broken up into what they've become today.
