Gamers on the Street: This year, I resolve ...
by Lisa Poisso 
Jan 3rd 2008 at 6:00PM
With Wrath of the Lich King already blipping away on many guilds' radars, a lot of players are plotting their way through existing content (or figuring out how to get into it in the first place and then pick their way through what they feasibly can) before the new content hits. Back in town on a peaceful early morning, you'll find players with a broad view of the things they want to accomplish in the weeks and months ahead – New Year's resolutions for a very Warcraft year.
Gamers on the Street popped into Ironforge on the Warsong server early one frosty, cold morning this week to see what the early birds were planning for 2008. Their ideas, after the break.
Petitejassy, a level 70 gnome mage from <Tenacious>, is certainly up front about what's on her mind: gear. If you ask her what in particular she's working toward, she's quick to link Vindicator's Silk Cuffs, Vindicator's Silk Belt and Vindicator's Silk Footguards. Still, Petite isn't your typical arena-or-bust PvPer – she's simply limited by time. "I do it all – depends on my mood," she notes pragmatically. "I just don't have the time to commit to two to three hours of raiding, is all. If I had more time, I would love to raid more." More hours in the Warcraft day? Hear, hear!
Next, we visited with Aeesha, a level 70 Draenei shaman and GM of <Keepers of Honor>. Aeesha's New Year resolutions were clear-eyed and cogent: "My resolution for the year is to build up my guild and start raiding," she reports. Her small guild of real-life friends is aiming to grow just enough to get into Karazhan. "Our problem is that most of our guild has lives (wives, children, full-time+ jobs), so getting enough people on to do instances can be rough at times," she says. We thought that sounded like a lot to balance, so we asked Aeesha if there was anything she does not want to get into this year. "Loot whores!" she replied unhesitatingly, with a hearty /laugh. "It would just be really nice to become the guild I know we have the potential for," she added. We certainly wish Aeesha and the rest of <Keepers of Honor> all the best luck!
Finally, we chatted with Meisie, a 69 night elf priest from <Pissed Off> (we figured the guild tag had something to do with her almost-but-not-quite-there level – but it turned out she was sweet as a Gingerbread Cookie). A fan of all things Warcraft, Meisie knew exactly what parts of the game she wants to see in 2008: "Well as soon as I hit 70, I'll be off PvPing and doing my attunements. I want to kill Illidan and do Caverns of Time. I will also be working on my rep before the launch of (the expansion)." <Pissed Off> is already prepping for the road ahead by running instances and covering the basics. "Most of us are casual players and older, working already," she explains. In true priestly style, Meisie was ready to face the world with panache: "Bring it on – I'll melt their faces off!"
Filed under: Gamers on the Street, Interviews
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Cari Jan 25th 2008 8:38AM
/cheer for Aeesha, my RL friend and coworker! :-)
English Jan 3rd 2008 9:21PM
Leaving the Horde dry...
Jumpeplowski Jan 3rd 2008 10:35PM
...as well as lower or mid-level players. And males! (Well, at least people with male toons). Next time, maybe you should talk to more different people.
Kjelin Jan 4th 2008 7:23AM
Eh, Leave off, the horde blow in the first place!
Seriously though, I wonder how long it took to get just those three viewpoints, think about how flighty we all are ingame.
Also, maybe the next column is planned to be interviews of all horde ? Don't just flame these people.
Krystalle Voecks Jan 4th 2008 8:03AM
As the person who originally did this column and had to let it go due to time constraints (thanks for picking it up, Mike!) I can tell you honestly that it took hours to find people who were willing to talk to me long enough to ask 4 questions. Trying to catch the people who volunteered was also problematic, despite best intent. (Most of the time they were either not online, or raiding -- and I'm enough of a raider to know that /whispering during raids is just plain annoying.)
I think Mike's doing a fabulous job, and I look forward to seeing the new GotS columns coming out!
Charles Jan 4th 2008 9:01AM
Yeah, an ally 69 priest that wants to down Illidan and get into SSC? Thats as realistic as most females resolution to lose weight every year, which would be easy if thier boyfriends/husbands just hid the forks. In any case, of course you couldnt talk to alliance who were raiding because most of them can't walk and chew gum at the same time. Pop over to your friendly horde side and they'll talk to you while raiding, fixing dinner, and writing the great American novel. Multitask FTW.
Lisa Poisso Jan 4th 2008 9:30AM
Like any column, it takes some time before you see everything represented. Yes, we'll be covering Horde and Alliance equally -- sometimes in the same column, sometimes over several.
Keep in mind that Gamers isn't intended to be a scientific survey of a statistically significant sample. If you'll notice, though, one of this week's players is most active in PvP, one is an early raider, and one is still levelling -- fairly representative in and of itself, as far as fairly casual players who play in the morning hours go. For different viewpoints, you'll have to read future columns that talk to players at different times and situations.
As Krystalle noted, very few players actually slow down and reply to inquiries in game. I'd say the ratio is somewhere around 1:10. I ran one prime time interview session recently -- Hordeside, actually -- where I only got two perfunctory comments over a full hour ... As noted above, if you have thoughts to share or a player to suggest we contact, e-mail us at gamersonthestreet@gmail.com. We're listening.
Thander Jan 4th 2008 1:33PM
It seems like you could just say "I'm doing a column for WoWInsider.com..." and people would flock to you.
Perhaps another strategy is to get commentors here to ask all their friends the same questions. They all submit it and you have a huge sample of responses to pick and choose from.
Persnickety Jan 4th 2008 10:19AM
My goal for 2008 Pre WOTLK is to go back and do all the Pre BC end game Content I missed out on... or try to. May sound Lame. But I got rushed into outland at 60 and missed a bunch of stuff. I'd like to try to at least do kara too... but meh.