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Breakfast Topic: Transmogrification means revenge

(Weston Arrowsmith) — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 08:00:00 EST

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We've all had this problem: that one piece of gear that never dropped when it was relevant, only to drop the first time you went back, and you were left going "Really? ... Really?!" Sure, you laugh it off, but you can't help but give the RNG gods the finger, can you?

When I started thinking about what gear I'd want to gather from transmogrification, the very first idea that came to me seemed so ... perfect. Back in The Burning Crusade, I had a huge bone to pick with the Beast Lord Armor. I had the legs, chest, and gloves, but the helm and shoulders refused to ever drop for me. I had to get the look-alike PVP shoulders just so I wasn't wearing greens anymore. I went back at level 80 to get some reputations to exalted, only for both pieces to drop on my first try. My friends on voice chat could hear the steam coming out of my ears!

Transmogrification has given me the will to go and collect that whole set all over again (with the matching belt and boots), and I am going to wear it with pride. I am going to show Blizzard that it doesn't roll the dice -- I do. I also think the armor set looks pretty badass, but that's a different matter.

Has transmogrification driven you to go and get that one piece (or more) of gear that never dropped back in the day? And why are you getting it? For looks? Closure? To beat that one boss down over and over for the hell it caused you back in the day?

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Breakfast Topic: Transmogrification means revenge originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sun, 09 Oct 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Breakfast Topic: The curious phenomenon of "reverse burnout"

(Weston Arrowsmith) — Tue, 10 May 2011 08:00:00 EST

This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the AOL guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages.

We all hear the stories about people who played World of Warcraft too much and as a result had to stop playing to make the game fun again. I've fallen victim to that myself back in the days of Trial of the Crusader. But lately, I've encountered something that at first makes little sense. The best thing I can call it is "reverse burnout," and it's not from playing too much -- it's from not playing at all.

I admit to being a raider at heart. I love making my gear a shiny shade of purple so that I can join nine or 24 other people as we down the big, bad monsters of WoW together. It was my reason for getting to level 70, and it kept me hooked all throughout Wrath of the Lich King. But since the launch of Cataclysm, my raiding days have just ... stopped. Each guild I've joined on the promise of being able to raid either hasn't raided at all, or they've gone raiding without me. And without raiding, it feels like my motivation to play is gone.

I've gotten all the gear I could get from heroic dungeons and reputation vendors (except bracers, which will never, ever drop), daily quests feel like a chore, and the friends that I have online are off in their own raiding guild that I'm on a waiting list to try out for (they're full on hunters). Pickup raids have proven to be too unreliable in terms of both time and talent as well. It's like one part of such a huge game was the glue that held everything else together for me.

So what do you do when one of your favorite parts of the game becomes off-limits? How do you deal with being bored with WoW -- when you're not even really playing at all?

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Breakfast Topic: The curious phenomenon of "reverse burnout" originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 10 May 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Breakfast Topic: Guilt by association

(Weston Arrowsmith) — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 08:00:00 EST

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I like to think that I'm a good hunter. I show up to raids on time at least 90 percent of the time, I do my best to bring my flasks and food, I keep my gear properly gemmed and enchanted, I research all encounters, and I do very respectable DPS. But despite all of this, I am not recognized by how good of a player I am. Instead, I am recognized "by association."

My best friend is a restoration druid, and he is damn good at what he does. This, of course, means that he gets invites everywhere to various guilds or raids, and I'm simply tagging along as his DPS -- the guy who gets into the guild or raid by association. It isn't all bad, of course. He and I do everything in game together, and we make a pretty good team, so if continuing to stick around with him means staying in his shadow, then that's OK with me.

Of course, the problem with being "by association" is how it is taken with others. If my best friend is promoted to an officer, he's going to share everything with me, so I am promoted. "By association." If guild leadership gets too many complaints about his behavior as an officer (which I never found out of line), it would be unfair to still have me as an officer, so I am demoted. "By association." If he leaves a guild over a dispute with guild leadership, I'm kicked out of the guild. "By association." And one time, he was kicked from a guild because he was defending me against some smack-talkers. Guess who also got kicked out? "By association."

So, fellow readers, do any of you live in the shadow of another? Or do you cast that shadow? Do you ever wish you could find a way out?

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Breakfast Topic: Guilt by association originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 13 Dec 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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