WoW, Casually: Tidbits for the playtime-challenged

This week, dear Reader with Limited WoW Playtime, I am going to let you in on my thought process. This is partially to create a kind of casual WoW.com reading list, partially to tackle topics too small to fill up a whole column and partially to show that normality is not my strong suit. But who wants to be normal? Normal is boring.
So here are a few excerpts from what goes on in my mind when thinking about this column, starring Me, Myself and I (not in order of appearance):
Me: So it sure would be nice if you actually put your weekly column out, you know, weekly.
I: What should I write about?
Me: You have a list just for this purpose.
I: Ooh. Getaway Guilds. I should write about Getaway Guilds. Then I could totally plug It came from the Blog.
Myself: Do it!One attempt later...
Me: This sucks. Turn it into a Breakfast Topic.
I: Sigh. Done. Now what?
Me: The. List.
I: Right, right. I wanted to write up the Duo's Guide to the Dungeon Finder, starring the family paladins.
Me: But you are level 18.
I: Yeah, we haven't done much. Why is that? The Spousal Unit and I are really enjoying ourselves. [Note: I don't really refer to The Spousal Unit that way in my head.]
Me: Beatles Rock Band.
I: Oh yeah, there's that.
Myself: John was hot!
Me: Focus.
I: Those are some great 101 posts that the class columnists are doing. Is there some way I can get on that bandwagon?
Me: Wouldn't that just be WoW Rookie?
I: Yes, yes it would. WoW Rookie is an excellent resource for casual players. But they already know that. They may be missing those awesome class/spec 101 posts though. Maybe I'll figure out a way to mention them, particularly if anyone wants to quickly read up on class basics before going into their next random PUG.
Me: I think you may have messed up your singular/plural possessive pronouns there. You know that's a pet peeve.
I: Everyone is doing it these days. And his/her is so awkward.
Me: So you're going to go with bad grammar to fit in?
I: Anyway, I particularly liked Rossi's Prot Warrior 101.
Me: You don't have a warrior past 19.
Myself: Bananas and Nutella break!Me: Woot!
I: Woot!
Later...
I: Perhaps I can fill a whole column about how the world would be a better place if everyone took a bananas and Nutella break in the afternoon.
Me: I think you bore your twitter followers enough with that.
I: I was kidding.
Me: Go back to The List.
I: I just added more topics to the list.
Me: The point of going to The List was to get a topic from it.
I: Right right. But I'm just not feeling any of those topics this week. Maybe I can talk about casual AHing. You know, give tips.
Me: That's really more for Time is Money and Insider Trader, no?
I: Well, there are casual tips like using an addon like Auctioneer and making sure to scan every day, not during a playsession, to keep the database up to date.
Me: That's one. Didn't you cover this already anyway?
I: Over a year ago. But it looks like the only things that need to be updated are the bag sizes and the link to that video.
Myself: Cooooooooooool rider!
Me: Yeah and that whole solo vs. group thing. With the Dungeon Finder, grouping is now so much easier for players with limited playtime. This changes the whole money/loot/gear thing entirely.
I: Events! Two events are coming up: Love is in the Air and Lunar Festival.
Me: Gee, you can read the calendar on the right just like your readers.
I: But events are fun! Players with limited playtime want to pack their short playsessions with fun!
Me: Which is why you covered that before. You also covered the Lunar Festival. Are you saying you want to post reruns?
I: Drama Mamas is so much easier to write. The drama just pours into the mailbox. We can't keep up with it all.
Me: QQ
Myself: Time to collect the sweaters!Me: /sigh
I: Facebook! We can talk about that. There's the WoW.com Facebook page. And you can spam up your feed with the new official WoW Armory hookup. And and and...
Me: And we're done. Might I recommend The List?
I: Yeah, I just added another topic there.
Me: /facepalm
Myself: Dinner!
Later...
I: Is there some way we could possibly write a column that somehow incorporates Jane Austen quotes, characters and plotlines? Surely I can put all my "research" to good use...
Me: Stop it.
Myself: And don't call me Shirley!
I: Chromie is my new fave Ask a Faction Leader.
Me: And this is on topic how?
I: I got distracted.
Myself: Puppies!
Me: This is painful.
I: I'm thinking a PvP-heavy topic might be good.
Me: Finally!
I: Zach's Art of Warcraft is a great resource for heavy PvPers and casuals alike, but I think there's room for a casual guide.
Myself: Do it!
Me: Please.
I: Ok. That will be next week's topic.
Me: /headdesk
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Humor, WoW, Casually
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Reader Comments (Page 2 of 2)
Dere Feb 4th 2010 3:26PM
So I am still trying to figure out what happened to all the comments that were on Rossi's Prot 101 post, and why you can't make any now?
Robin Torres Feb 4th 2010 3:32PM
They are all on page 2. On multipage posts, the comments are turned off except for on the last page. I think we only started doing that recently.
Dere Feb 4th 2010 3:33PM
AH ha....that's why you rock so much keen eye for details like not being so casual that you cant hit next page. I fail at the web. Noted.
Denn Feb 4th 2010 3:51PM
FWIW, I recently started having a blast with the 'everyquest' add-on that was mentioned somewhere here recently. It's allowing me to go back and casually do all the quests I managed to miss. I even found a quest on Teldrassil that I never knew about despite leveling 3 toons there over the years ("Mist").
Vladeon Feb 4th 2010 4:08PM
Just in case anyone was curious, (I know I had to do a double take when she mentioned it) when she was talking about messing up the singular/plural possessive pronouns, this is what she was talking about.
"Maybe I'll figure out a way to mention them, particularly if "anyone" wants to quickly read up on class basics before going into "their" next random PUG."
"Anyone" is singular and "their" is plural possessive. It's an incredibly common mistake that you'll find in every magazine, book and movie. It's a bad habit that I think almost everyone has picked up due to the media. Kudos to Robin for pointing this out. :)
Jordan Feb 4th 2010 4:38PM
It's because the "his or her" construction that keeping them both singular entails is excruciatingly awkward and stuffy-sounding. You can be grammatically correct, but at the expense of your writing tone sounding like you wear a monocle and drink brandy from a snifter. Thank goodness language evolves over time, the "their" version may not be "correct," at the moment, but it's a lot easier on the eyes.
Jason B. Feb 4th 2010 5:07PM
Actually, the singular use of "their" is completely and most certainly correct. You may want to check out this link, or google the word if that suits your fancy.
http://www.crossmyt.com/hc/linghebr/austheir.html
As an interesting tidbit, Jane Austen used "their" in a singular context many times, which may be why Robin chose to feature this author in the article.
Thanks!
Tbah Feb 5th 2010 4:24AM
How about "one's"? Neutral singular possessive pronoun, amirite?
surfingpikachao Feb 4th 2010 4:18PM
"remember that we outnumber you."
------------
This is a sad day for the "World" of "war"-"craft"
Quotation marks used because everyone stays in one city, not attacking each other (therefore remove world and war) and crafted gear is far worse than easy heroic gear (take away craft).
So basically the game is now "of". It's catchy! :)
steven Feb 4th 2010 4:30PM
Do not feel to bad, that is how I do my day job...
Adremelek Feb 4th 2010 9:34PM
glad to see i'm not the only one who's brain works that way :)
slythwolf Feb 5th 2010 1:28PM
"Their" for "his/her" as bad grammar is a myth. Shakespeare did it.
Larry-Steve Feb 8th 2010 5:03PM
Robin, you should cover a "What to do when you move to casual from hardcore" column some week. I can't be the only player who lost the time to raid or arena hardcore, but still wants to enjoy the game and find other folks to enjoy it w/ that're in the same boat.
I froze my account (and my raiding career consequently) shortly after ToC came out and decided to take advantage of my 7-days free last week. The dungeon finder is amazing, but the whole experience can be soo impersonal. My main's a tank, so if I knew the fights, there could be times when I'd go through a whole 5-man and no one in the group would say more than 2 words. This experience really wasn't what I was expecting from a "casual" experience. Maybe enlighten a new "casual'er"?
RG Feb 10th 2010 11:10AM
I have a good one. I thought I'd start polishing off some of the achievements for the meta-achievement "What A Long, Strange Trip Its Been" starting with "Fool for Love". I'm a casual player at level 76 gaining about a half level per week and really enjoying my playtime. I was surprised to find that I can do every single one of the achievements except for one sub-requirement for "I Pitied The Fool" which has a requirement to go into Naxxramas! So I will do as much as I can this time around to make next year easier. I moved on to "To Honor One's Elders" and to my surprise (or perhaps not at this point), one (and only one) elder (Ohanzee) is in Heroic Gundrak! What is the thinking here on the part of Blizzard? I know the meta reward is level 80 and I WILL be there this time next year (or in 2 months at this rate) so why limit it to 80 and in such a tiny little way? Its like these sub-achievements were picked to limit the meta rather than for any other reason. Thanks.