Gotta catch them all
Even if they don’t have the gear it’s easy to get fooled - I was tooling around Mulgore in my Heirloom Shoulders and someone asked where I got them, how you get them, etc. I was dutifully explaining that when you get to 80 you can earn tokens, which you can use to buy Heirlooms, etc. He then challenged me to a duel, at the same time as insta-swapping into his full Heirloom/Twink gear set…ouch.
It is nice when you do encounter someone who really is new to the game, and you can help out in some way. I still remember the total awe I felt when first approaching Bloodhoof village, seeing a high level toon offering free bags to the first 5 people to visit him in the Inn. Or encountering a level 70 running wild in Gol’Bolar Quarry in Dun Morogh on that same 2nd level Dwarf Hunter. I asked him why he was doing it, and he said he just wanted to come back to where it all started end exact some revenge on those tricky early mobs.
The other question Pike asks in her article is whether Blizzard have effectively closed off older end-game content (e.g. Naxx) by making the rewards from newer areas (e.g. ToC) so much better. I think there’s some truth in that - but only for those where Progression/Gear is the goal. If you’re playing to have the best gear, and see the latest content, then sure, you will bypass Ulduar by simply buying Tier 9 epics so you can dominate Icecrown. But if you’re playing to enjoy the content, to “see it all”, to experience the thrill of downing your first Ulduar boss, these days there’s not much stopping you.
With the new LFD system, you should at least be able to easily see every five man, and if you can find a Guild that isn’t in it for the Progression, and you should be fine with the 10’s too. With the massive success of 3.3 LFD, it can’t be long before Blizzard extends that to 10 man raids too.
My old guild didn’t reach Kara until just before WotLK was released, but that didn’t stop us having a ball in there, spending hours slowly working through the bosses and honing our tactics. Maiden stalled us for weeks, but the hoots when we beat her, and the way each week we got better until she was just traffic, was brilliant.
Salty #1
For inexplicable reasons I love WoW fishing. It’s medatative, can be profitable, and every cast is a surprise. Levelling fishing through the skill zones where you need 7+ catches for each skill point was mind numbingly slow, but then numbing your mind is almost the point of fishing.
Right now I have every fishing Achievement needed for Salty but two. One is to win one of the two weekly fishing comps. Despite many attempts, including the latest this morning, I’m still waiting. If you think about the odds, only 104 players per server can win the comp each year and hence get the title. Before they added the Kalu’ak Derby in patch 3.3, it was only 52 players. Ouch. Unfortunately I’m on a US server, so the Stranglethorn Extravaganza is pretty much inaccessible, being a 9AM on a Monday morning.
The other missing Achievement is the One That Didn’t Get Away, the goal of which is to catch one of ten possible rare fish. As of this morning, I’ve hooked 4302 fish, out of a total 6534 casts, and have yet to get one of those ten. But then that’s the great thing about fishing. Your very next cast could be the one you’ve been waiting for.
This sporting life
Watching this year has made me realise just how much the military is a day-to-day part of American life. Every game seems to have an airforce fly-by, or military marching band, or tribute to the fallen, or gigantic American flag being unveiled & folded with military precision. The zenith was during Veterans Day, when they went as far as flying some of the commentators and coaches to Afghanistan to bond with the troops, who then rhapsodised on air about how much they missed those times with ‘the boys’. As if they too were ‘in the fight’. Truly strange stuff.
A group of friends used to run a virtual Madden NFL season, getting together each week to try out our tactics and seek PC domination. It was great fun until one of our more obsessive players, and the one with the most time on his hands, worked out how to ‘break’ the game via an undefendable play that would have been impossible in the real game. Or so we thought.
One of the most interesting things watching the actual NFL this year has been the emergence of the “Wildcat” formation. This is where the regular quarterback is replaced instead by someone who can run, pass, fake, kick, do magic tricks, and cartwheel. The unpredictable nature of this player means the defence is often completely confused, which is the general idea. Do they set-up for a pass? For a run? A punt? It’s fun to watch as the D scrambles to make sense of what is about to happen. Miami seems to have been the first to popularise it in the NFL, though apparently it’s long been a staple of College football. But it’s now spread to many teams, and in many variations.
In the last game of the regular season, the New York Jets created the most bizarre formation I’d seen where the regular quarterback lined up several times as a Wide Receiver. I had no idea what he was doing out there, nor did the commentators. It was so strange, and you could see the defence just didn’t know how to deal with it. A Miami game earlier in the season had a fake punt, that turned into a run, and then a pass, for a touchdown. All in the same play.
I’ve been amazed that at times this season it seems like the NFL has been influenced by the Madden computer game. Madden encourages you to try different formations, do some insane stuff that the other player won’t be prepared for. Just like my friend, the NFL coaching staff have come up with something unpredictable that changes the game. They haven’t broken the NFL like you could the computer version, but they’ve sure made it more entertaining. Who knows, thanks to Madden, we may see the old under-the-jumper statue-of-liberty 70 yard hoick in the NFL after all.
Toruk Makto
It also again struck me the influence WoW (amongst other video games) must have had on some of the designers. There are many moments that recall Warcraft, from the critters that roam Pandora’s forests, to the no agro radius wildlife, to the epic ground mounts.
The scene when the Na’vi warriors scale the Hallelujah Mountains to the Banshee nests is my favourite sequence, the moment when the wonder of Pandora really sinks in. And the Banshee are the strongest WoW reminder of all. Those things are Proto-Drakes through and through. Jake & Neytiri’s flying cliff dive is almost enough to make you want to go B.A.S.E jumping to experience what they do, or failing that to hop on a WoW dragon and wish for some VR goggles.
It’s a great film. When I finally finish What A Long, Strange Trip It’s Been, I want a Toruk instead of the Violet Drake :-)