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Breakfast Topic: What won't you do for your group?

(Chris Clow) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 08:00:00 EST

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As the immortal Meat Loaf once said: "And I would do anything for love, but I won't do that!" Many of us have aspects of the game that just aren't that appealing to us. For me, that is healing. I love raiding. I really love it. I'll worm my way into a group in a variety of roles. Need a tank to get the run going? I've got all four. Need someone to kite the adds on Magmaw? I'm pro with Chilblains. You want a ranged DPS to go up against Alysrazor? I'll prove to you that despite all appearances, the boomkin is not a flightless bird.

Oh, you need a healer. Good luck with that.

For some reason, healing has never clicked with me. I've given it a few tries here and there, but it just hasn't appealed to me. My hate affair began on my very first toon. I'd been leveling my paladin as protection for a while, late in The Burning Crusade. I had just reached level 20 and was invited to come tank a Blackfathom Deeps group. The group leader was a level 31 shaman who was trying to finish up a quest that had been apparently been moldering in his quest log for a while. We made it past the first couple of bosses, when the shaman declared that he was going to tank the rest of the instance and I should heal him. Still being new to the game, I had no idea what was going on and struggled to cast healing spells with no mana, with my spellbook taking up half my UI. Since then, I've tried a few different healers, but none of them made it halfway to the level cap before becoming a DPS toon.

I love my healers. I just couldn't imagine being them. What about you?

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Breakfast Topic: What won't you do for your group? originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 12 Dec 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Breakfast Topic: What was your most memorable noob moment?

(Chris Clow) — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 08:00:00 EST

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Everyone began this game with very little idea of what they wanted to do. We all had even less of an idea of how we were going to do things. One byproduct of this fact is that it engenders a cheerful nostalgia, an aura of innocence that plays across our memories in the finest rose tints. Things seemed simpler back then; the community seemed nicer and the game more original. While I don't actually believe that WoW was significantly better back in its earlier encounters, I do look back fondly on killing murlocs in Elwynn Forest, while I find current chores (despite their similarity) to be somewhat odious in their tediousness.

The other byproduct of our naïveté in our early days in Azeroth is the noob moment. These are the events we look back on and say, "I can't believe I was that bad!" Those of us with more fragile egos repress those moments entirely.

For me, the noob moment that remains burned in my memory was a Gnomeregan run. I've been tanking since level 10 on my first character, and it was on that first character that I found myself tanking for a group that was chock-full of clothies. The run went fairly well, and despite a couple wipes here and there, we managed to down Thermaplugg. He dropped the Electromagnetic Gigaflux Reactivator, which had significantly more armor than the Hallowed Helm I had equipped at the moment. So I rolled need and won the item over the priest, mage, and warlock. My attempts to explain about the armor were shouted down, and I slinked away wondering what I did wrong.

It wasn't until I was around level 50 that I realized why that group was so angry at me. Looking back, it's one of my secret shames.

Have you ever suffered a noob moment?

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Breakfast Topic: What was your most memorable noob moment? originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 02 Dec 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Breakfast Topic: What keeps you playing?

(Chris Clow) — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 08:00:00 EST

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I've known people who played this game for many reasons. Some were in it just to kill time, some wanted to get the best gear, and many wanted to beat the game in the manner of their choice. Ultimately, for those of us who have stuck around for more than a content cycle, there's something that keeps us here rather than moving on to the next flavor of the month game.

The reason I play this game isn't really for the raiding or the prestige, and it sure isn't for the gear. In the end, I'm playing this game because I've got a good group of friends who play with me. There are about 22 of us, and while there are only 15 or so playing at any given time, it's made raiding a ton of fun and recruiting this expansion a breeze. When someone needs some time away from the game, another friend is coming back and looking to raid. While it took me about a year to cultivate all these friendships, it's paid off well in Cataclysm. I don't think I'd still be playing if it weren't for them. Thank you, guys and gals.

So what keeps you logging on? What drives you in this game?

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Breakfast Topic: What keeps you playing? originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 30 Nov 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Breakfast Topic: What was your turning point in WoW?

(Chris Clow) — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 08:00:00 EST

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Everyone took a path to get where they are in the today, both in life and in Azeroth. Whether you're a heroic raider, an Auction House kingpin, a rabid collector, or even an ex-WoW player, at some point you stood at the crossroads and chose the path that got you where you are. Likewise, there is often a moment that crystallizes your desires and sends you decisively down the road. That moment is the turning point.

I spent a good amount of my time in WoW raiding. I eventually wound up as the GM of a raiding guild during patch 3.1. We were previously a fairly casual guild, but a few of us wanted to try our hands at hard modes. I found the prospect intriguing, so we went into Ulduar and began knocking down four-tower Flame Leviathan, Heartbreaker, and I Choose You Steelbreaker and pushed into the Keepers of Ulduar. This was fairly late in the Ulduar cycle, so we had the best gear we could get from normal mode content. We tore through the content at a rapid pace, with none of the encounters taking more than a raid night to knock down.

Then came Firefighter; for those who never had the privilege of attempting this encounter at level, Mimiron hard mode takes what was already the most difficult of the keepers and cranks it up beyond 11. It had massive tank damage, obscene raid damage, hunter tanking, and DPS coordination. Oh, and the floor is covered in fire that chases you the whole time. It was our first real challenge in progression raiding. We wiped to it for a month, and over 220 attempts later, we got our last sigil to unlock Algalon. We rose to the occasion, and from that point on, we were heroic progression raiders.

What was your turning point?

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Breakfast Topic: What was your turning point in WoW? originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sun, 27 Nov 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Breakfast Topic: Design your own vanity gear

(Chris Clow) — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 08:00:00 EST

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Blizzard has introduced a ton of items designed for no other purpose than to look cool. Almost every holiday introduces a new set of themed clothes that make you look formal, Oriental, or on fire. There are top hats, pimp hats, and chain mail bikinis. (Alarmingly, some of those bikinis give more protection than full suits of mail). Tailors can make a variety of dresses equippable by characters of all races, factions, and genders.

Most of the white or gray gear that looks good winds up on people's bank alts so they can look good while conducting business in Stormwind. But sometimes I don't want to look like I'm on my way to a wedding. Sometimes I want to look like the fearsome businessman my bank alt is named after. I want a Mad Men-style business suit, navy blue with infantry blue pinstripes and a red tie. I want my bank alt to dominate the Auction House and look like he's doing it in style. Maybe a crisp fedora to go with it, because nothing cuts a better silhouette than a man in a suit and fedora.

What sort of vanity equipment would you make for your characters if you had the opportunity?

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Breakfast Topic: Design your own vanity gear originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 15 Nov 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Breakfast Topic: What do you want from 5-man content?

(Chris Clow) — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 08:00:00 EST

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A good amount of the WoW population spends the majority of its endgame time in 5-man dungeons. Blizzard is acutely aware of this, and it's striven to make new and engaging 5-mans. The 5-mans were more or less left alone in The Burning Crusade, with only one new dungeon during the entire tier, and the only major innovation was the wave system used in Opening the Dark Portal, which was later mimicked in Violet Hold and The Culling of Stratholme. In Wrath, Blizzard released four new dungeons over the course of the expansion and added in vehicle-based encounters in Trial of the Champion and the Oculus (which thankfully haven't been reproduced anywhere else yet). During Cataclysm, Blizzard has already released two new instances and announced plans for three more in the upcoming 4.3 patch. It's added interactive environments, randomized bosses, and some of the most complex 5-man encounters to date.

So what is Blizzard going to add next? Since Wrath, new raid tiers are accompanied by new raid meta-achievement mounts. While raid encounters are unquestionably more difficult, it'd be a nice nod to the players who can't raid for some reason or another to have a new mount to aspire to in 5-man content. A new Glory of the Hero mount for each tier of 5-mans that come out would be a good touch and a way to make 5-man content feel a little bit more connected to the storyline. Blizzard already implemented nine achievements tied to Zul'Aman and Zul'Gurub, so tying them into a meta wouldn't be much of an issue.

What would you like to see in the future of 5 man content?

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Breakfast Topic: What do you want from 5-man content? originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 14 Nov 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Breakfast Topic: What's your calling?

(Chris Clow) — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 08:00:00 EST

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Some people who play this game find themselves attracted to a specific calling. I find it interesting to see who's devoted to a specific spec, class, or role.

Me, I tank. I've been tanking since level 10 on my first character. I've got all four tanking classes at level 85. I love the idea of being the tip of the spear in any given group. While I wish I could say that these tanks were born from the desire to trade blows with the enemy rather than simply nip at their ankles, this isn't specifically true. While my paladin is always a tank, my DK was started as a character I could explore DPS potential on. Eventually, alt runs in my guild needed a tank, so my DK became a full-time tank. To compensate for that, I rolled a fury warrior. It was good for a while, but to paraphrase Sartre, "hell is other tanks." It was quite painful to stand in the back in raids only to watch the tank make mistakes with encounters that I'd done in my sleep on two different tanks.

This came to a head in an ICC PUG when a tank bailed on us, and rather than wait for the raid leader to dig up another tank from trade chat, I started rummaging through my bags and manifested a tanking set from the assorted detritus I had acquired in previous runs. Boots from Mimiron hard mode, trinket from Yogg, shield from Gunship, and so on and so forth until I had a complete tanking set on. With it, we cleared seven bosses in ICC.

Cataclysm comes, and I finally get around to rolling a druid. I embrace the inevitable, and he's been a bear since the beginning.

What do you find yourself attracted to with your toons?

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Breakfast Topic: What's your calling? originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 28 Oct 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Breakfast Topic: How many rolls did it take to get your character right?

(Chris Clow) — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 08:00:00 EST

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A lot of players took a few swings to get their characters right. You might find that that first mage you rolled doesn't really synch with your desire to stab an Ogre with that sword. That Human might have been a bit bland for a game where you could be a goat with face tentacles from space, or a walking slab of USDA-approved beef. I know several people who started playing at the bequest of their friends, made a character, leveled it for a while, only to get the message: "I'm sorry, but your friends are on another server!" It can be a bit jarring, especially if you've leveled into the 40s or 50s when a sizable time investment has been made, but perhaps not enough to justify paying for a server or faction transfer. Mistaken class choices can only be rerolled.

I lucked out. My friend who got me into WoW told me exactly which server and faction to start on before I downloaded the trial account. I picked a Human paladin because I loved paladins in Diablo 2 and started on my voyage. The ability to tank fed into my natural tendency to melee things, and sword and shield has always been my favorite aesthetic weapon choice. Others in my guild were less fortunate. Our mage, who played a paladin in beta, rolled a paladin on live servers, only to find that it was completely different than the class he fell in love with in the beta test. He traipsed through a rogue, priest, and hunter before he got around to maining his mage. Our Draenei enhance shaman started out as a Blood Elf paladin who didn't make it past level 40.

How about you? Is your main your first toon?

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Breakfast Topic: How many rolls did it take to get your character right? originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 07 Oct 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Breakfast Topic: What's the closest you've cut a boss kill?

(Chris Clow) — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 08:00:00 EST

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We've all heard the horror stories of 1% wipes on tough raid encounters. It's one of the most painful occurrences in the game, to have come so close yet to fall by the slimmest of margins. I find that the most exhilarating moments in this game for me lie in the moments where the wheels are beginning to fall off, and everyone in the raid pulls out all the stops to try to bring the beast down before it can finish us off. Just as the 1% wipe is such a painful experience, the opposite -- snatching victory from the gaping maw of defeat -- is the most rewarding.

In my guild, we've made a habit of living on that razor's edge for many of our progression kills this tier, but none were as close as our first Nefarian kill. We handled the fight cleanly until 20%. The second-to-last Electrocute killed the healer assigned to me, the add tank. As I blew my last cooldowns to survive, the 10% Electrocute came up. I put my raid wall up to protect the raid, and the Electrocute took me down.

As the adds began to run rampant, the raid performed brilliantly and sold themselves dearly. Our mage landed a perfect Ring of Frost to buy time; our healers burned every tool at their disposal to keep the adds at bay: and our Nefarian tank timed his cooldowns flawlessly. With only two DPSers left alive, our hunter launched himself across the room on his rocket boots in a desperate attempt to give our enhance shaman another precious second to finish off the dragon. Nefarian died with two DPSers alive, both of whom were at less than 25% health. Nerdscreams ensued.

What's closest you've cut things on a boss to get that first kill? Which boss pushed you to your limit?

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Breakfast Topic: What's the closest you've cut a boss kill? originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 04 Aug 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Breakfast Topic: What do you collect in game?

(Chris Clow) — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 08:00:00 EST

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There are a lot of people who collect things in game. Pets and mounts are often favorites, although there are often other items that people covet. People still charge into Black Temple hoping that they'll get the elusive Warglaive that will complete their set. Some have been farming Molten Core since release looking for a binding to drop. Recipes are also sought-after. Dirge's Kickin' Chimaerok Chops remains the only epic cooking recipe in the game, and now limited edition copies have been seen selling on the AH for upwards of 20k; something tells me it's not for the 25 stamina well fed buff.

I collect shields. My main is a protection paladin, and I have a bag in my bank devoted to the shields that got me through my raiding career in style and safety. While my collection is not as extensive as Blockade's, who got a shield named after him during this tier, I do have 15 shields ranging from the Aegis of the Scarlet Commander, to Akmin-Kurai, Dominion's Shield. I only add a shield to my collection if I actually used it for an extended duration, so each shield has memories of dragons and liches held at bay in instances, from taking the Royal Crest of Lordaeron into Naxxramas, facing down Algalon with The Boreal Guard, striking down the Lich King with Neverending Winter, to stepping to Cataclysm raiding with the Elementium Earthguard. When a shield has done well for me, I don't cast it aside to some vendor when a superior shield is coughed up by a boss; I set it in a place of honor. I collect shields -- and more so than that, I collect memories.

What do you collect? Or do you hold only onto those things you need at this moment?

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Breakfast Topic: What do you collect in game? originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 01 Aug 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Breakfast Topic: How do you pass time in cities?

(Chris Clow) — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 08:00:00 EST

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It seems that with each new feature that Blizzard adds to the game, our characters spend more and more time in the capital city hub. Profession dailies, portals, trade chat, and LFD all beckon our characters to spend our time within the friendly confines of Stormwind or Orgrimmar.

Have you ever taken a look at what other people do while waiting for the opportunity to conclude their business in town? Or at what you yourself do?

I've watched people put on light shows with vanity items; run laps around Dalaran as if they were in the Race for the Cure; inspect everybody who walks by with an interesting item; or hop from rooftop to rooftop in Stormwind. Others devote their time to more annoying pursuits; finding the biggest mount possible to stick on top of the mailbox outside the AH seems to be a common theme.

I often idle in Stormwind while waiting out the last minutes before raid time. I typically camp my character in a special point in the city. On my main, I leave my mount in between the spires of Stormwind Cathedral, while my DK stands watch by the tomb in the graveyard and my shaman idles away under a tree in the Valley of Heroes. It gives me a familiar setting while I talk with my guildies and helps me focus on whatever the next important task I have.

When you're in town, do you try to put on a show? Do you wait anywhere significant? Or are you the type who doesn't linger in civilization for any longer than necessary?

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Breakfast Topic: How do you pass time in cities? originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 28 Jul 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Breakfast Topic: Do you have any specialty alts?

(Chris Clow) — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 08:00:00 EST

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People always have a goal in mind when they make a character. For many, it's a very broad goal, such as leveling a DK to be their tanking character or trying out a mage. Many people, on the other hand, create characters for a much more specific purpose. A common example is the ubiquitous bank alt, a low-level character stowed in a major city whose entire life consists of nothing but looking good while carrying huge loads from the AH to the nearest mailbox. There have been several pacifist characters, at least one person who leveled to the cap completely naked, and one who leveled to cap without dying once.

I recently made a concept character. I have a paladin, death knight, and warrior all at level 85, all specced and geared to tank. I decided late in Wrath that I would roll a worgen druid in order to complete the set. As Cataclysm came closer, I decided that I would work to experience the full spectrum of bear tanking. So I resolved to level my druid without any heirlooms, using only gear that I gain through questing and running dungeons. I also resolved to run every 5-man dungeon at least once while at the appropriate level. He's now frolicking through the snows of Northrend at level 72, has tanked every 5-man instance from Deadmines to UBRS, from Ramparts to Magister's Terrace, and is working his way through the 5-mans of Wrath. It's been a blast, especially since the buff to Swipe.

Have you ever made a character just to play the game with your own twist?

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Breakfast Topic: Do you have any specialty alts? originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 25 Jul 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Breakfast Topic: What's the saddest quest in WoW?

(Chris Clow) — Thu, 12 May 2011 08:00:00 EST

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Quests serve a number of purposes in the game. Beyond the obvious experience and gold rewards, they advance the story and provide soloing content that wasn't available in earlier MMORPGs.

Each quest has a theme that it sets. There are epic quests, funny quests, story-based quests, disturbing quests -- and then there are the sad quests. From Pamela in Eastern Plaguelands, to Rheastrasza in the Badlands, to Crusader Bridenbrad in the shadow of Icecrown, Blizzard has implemented quests designed to tug the heartstrings of the players.

For me, the saddest quest I've seen so far is The Mosswalker Savior in Sholazar Basin. As part of the Oracles quest line, the player gets tasked with saving Gorlocs from the Scourge attacking Mosswalker Village. The player arrives to find the village in flames and the Scourge running rampant. You can already tell that you arrived too late to save most of the villagers, and the remainder are being mercilessly tortured, dragged through the street on a chain.

What really makes it heartrending is the way that most of the Oracles don't really understand what is happening or why it's happening. They just ... apologize, as if that were all it would take to appease the Scourge. The quest sits smack dab in the middle of Sholazar Basin, which is the most lighthearted zone in Northrend. You spend most of your time in that zone hunting animals, digging up shinies, and making booze. All of a sudden, Blizzard drops the Scourge back into your lap with all the subtlety of your average anvil.

What's the most emotional quest you've done?

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Breakfast Topic: What's the saddest quest in WoW? originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 12 May 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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