I used to play WoW with my husband. Since the earliest days of beta testing for classic World of Warcraft, we terrorized the mobs and player enemies of Azeroth with various incarnations of our priest/warrior combo. But Cataclysm leveling tore our duo asunder, as every conceivable phasing bug in the book conspired to slow our progress, keep us apart, and wreak havoc on what should have been a natural partnership. Even worse, I seemed to draw the short straw for technical chaos every single time -- doubly depressing after a while, when it began to feel like I had a giant "Problem Child" sign around my neck. Even after we'd finished leveling, the frustration had put a sour taste in our mouths, and my loyal tank fell to the siren call of another MMO.

Despite those problems, our partnership in any game has developed an easy rhythm based on years of playing side by side. Duo issues like choosing compatible classes and playstyles, staying in level range of one another, and choosing what to do on any given evening have become a given. Even before the days of theorycrafted precision, our familiarity with the level of insanity we can tackle as a twosome was legendary among our little group of friends. Short of that big kill your guild has been working on for months and finally downs amidst deafening cheers and howls on Vent, I really haven't found a more satisfying feeling than the times I set out with my partner in crime.

So it's been a while -- a whole expansion now, /sob -- since we played together, and I'm missing that feeling of someone always having my back. If I pour you a virtual cup of coffee this morning, would you let me peek in on your own dynamic duos? Tell me about your favorite class/spec combo -- and the combinations that didn't work for you at all. What have you found to be the most frustrating parts of playing WoW with someone close to you? And its greatest rewards?

I'm curious how you think Mists has affected the picture. What's the most enjoyable new content or feature Mists offers for diving into with a partner? Is there anything new that isn't so great for a duo that sticks together?

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Tags: duo, featured, game-discussion, gamer-discussion, partner, world-of-warcraft-discussion, world-of-warcraft-topics, wow-discussion, wow-hot-topics, wow-issues, wow-topics

Filed under: Breakfast Topics