Burnout or Bore-out

A couple of weeks ago, I'd been feeling reluctant to log into WoW.

Initially, I'd thought that I must have needed a break from raiding. A little surprising, sure - I'd been able to stay keen for the past 6yrs without needing a break from raids at all - but I figured everyone needs a break now and then and maybe it was my time.

I therefore voiced my opinion to one of our raid leaders, who sympathized but explained that because our raiding team was short on ranged DPS, it was difficult to bench any of us.

Of course, I didn't want to leave the raid leaders struggling, so I signed up for all raids the next week as usual... only to find out that they managed to give me a break after all: I was benched for one of our three raid nights (they're good like that :)).

I definitely appreciated the night off, but it didn't help - I actually still felt like I wanted to raid, but not, at the same time.

This week, I finally figured out what it was that was bugging me: I don't need a break from raids, I just need more time to do some fun stuff.

Having to do Molten Front dailies (for the minipet that just won't drop...) and capping VP was consuming almost all of my time outside of raids, and both are what I'd consider "farming" - no fun at all, in other words.

I needed to do retro raids, try some elite soloing, do some PvP, finish collecting rare Archaeology pieces, or hell - even do some fishing (while reading a book IRL, of course!).

This week, I didn't even get halfway to the VP cap... and you know what? I didn't care one bit. I was too busy trying to get the bindings, Anzu's, Kael's or the Baron's mount to drop!

Oops...

Accidentally killed Solix the other day because I hadn't read up on the taming strat and didn't realize he would die if he ran out of energy.... I felt a little sorry for the other hunter that was there (although to be fair, the other hunter was going about it completely the wrong way anyway and died at least 3x before I had a go).

On the upside, I did manage to tame Karkin, which wasn't difficult at all. I didn't name it because I had no intention of keeping a crab (I retamed the pet I let go fairly shortly afterward), but it was fun anyway. :)

Jumping into the Twisted Nether

Surprisingly, someone out there must think that the stuff I write on here is not complete drivel, because the people at the Twisted Nether Blogcast have kindly invited me to join their show tomorrow.

I can't say I'm an expert at anything at all, really, so I have no idea whether what I say will entertain anyone... but I'm looking forward to it anyway :)

If you would like to listen in, I believe the 8pm PST start time equates to a starting time of 1pm Sunday, AEST.

The New Rhok Demons

These days, it is pretty common to come across hunters that have no idea what my blog title references.

For the old school hunters, we know what exactly what it means to have "done your demons". A rite of passage, proof of skill... you weren't a hunter until you had that bow.

With the Cataclysm breaking that quest chain entirely, I was a little sad that no new hunter would ever get the chance to experience a challenging test like that again, even though all the "new" tricks (trapping in combat, Disengage, Deterrence...) made killing those demons a joke.

Well, I've since discovered I was wrong.

There *is* a mini-hunter test, and completing 1/8 of it took me 9 deaths:

Initially I hadn't been that excited about the 8 new pet taming challenges - the skins aren't generally unique and the rarity of the spawns put me off (there's next to no-one in Outlands now and I still can't manage to find all the rares for Bloody Rare) - but doing this was extremely fun.

Personally, I wish Blizzard would make them spawn more often - if they're easy to find, they wouldn't be such a status symbol, and more hunters would do it for the challenge rather than just to say they have a rare pet.

I still wouldn't keep all of the skins - one spider in my stables is quite enough, and I think the green skin is probably the most appropriate one for me - but I'm definitely going to seek out these rare tames now. Rhok on! :D

When too much is too much

One of the reasons I've continued to subscribe to WoW is I've always managed to keep it balanced.

Sticking to one main character - my hunter - helps with that, because if I don't invest time in playing other characters I don't end up playing as much overall.

The past couple of weeks, two different friends have been playing WoW; one a fairly new player who I felt obliged to help out (because I'd been trying to get him to play for years), and one a raiding veteran in a small horde guild that needed another member for raids.

Feeling pressured to play not one, but two alts as well as my hunter was getting to me. It seems stupid that a game would stress you out, but it does happen.... and I think the stress filtered through into real life, where I made decisions (totally unrelated to WoW, incidentally) that I might not have made otherwise.

I don't think I'd change anything - although the newbie will almost certainly never play again and I haven't decided whether to try and raid on my druid or not - but it's a lesson I will keep in mind for next time.

Thank you!

Much appreciated :)

...Clearly I should make more posts asking for gear!

Gun? What gun?

So far, I've steadily ignored the fact that there happens to be a perfectly good upgrade for my crossbow.
I could use the excuse that it's expensive, but 1) I have plenty of gold and 2) if it had been a bow, I would have made one as soon as a guildie had the pattern.

It isn't the first time I've purposely not upgraded a ranged weapon because of looks, aesthetics or just because, and I'm sure it won't be the last.

In the meantime, I'm determined to will the Lava Bolt Crossbow into dropping. And it will. At some point. Soon. Please? :P