Posts with tag reader-mail

Robin Torres writes WoW, Casually for the player with limited playtime. Of course, you people with lots of playtime can read this too, but you may get annoyed by the fact that we are unashamed, even proud, of the fact that beating WoW isn't our highest priority. Take solace in the fact that your gear is better than ours, but if that doesn't work, remember that we outnumber you. Not that that's a threat, after all, we don't have time to do anything about it. But if WoW were a democracy, we'd win.

Jason writes in about leveling gear for the playtime-challenged:

Hello,

As a casual WoW player, I find myself completely overwhelmed when it comes to getting gear for my Paladin. I keep hearing about greens, blues, purples...how certain equipment can get you laughed out of guilds. I'm level 55 and have never gone on a raid, and honestly never intend to. How can the average casual gamer know what equipment to pursue, though? Logically, the best stuff would come from the end-game content, but since most casual gamers don't head in that direction, it can be very intimidating to figure out what "good" gear really is.

Any insight you could provide would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

- Jason

There really is a huge difference between gear required for leveling and gear required for raiding, heroic instances or hardcore PvP. You absolutely do not have to be a gear expert until you want to participate in endgame instances, so don't get too stressed out about it. Following is a guide for collecting the best gear while casually leveling your character -- or as in my case, characters.

WoW is a very social game, and you might think that there is no getting around it. Fortunately for those who relish their alone time, there are several ways to minimize contact with other players and have some quiet time.

While some people will argue that you should stop playing social games like MMORPGs, there are plenty of solo activities, and if that is what you want to do, more power to you.

Today, I will be answering some reader mail from Heidi who desperately wants some peace and quiet.

Robin Torres writes WoW, Casually for the player with limited playtime. Of course, you people with lots of playtime can read this too, but you may get annoyed by the fact that we are unashamed, even proud, of the fact that beating WoW isn't our highest priority. Take solace in the fact that your gear is better than ours, but if that doesn't work, remember that we outnumber you. Not that that's a threat, after all, we don't have time to do anything about it. But if WoW were a democracy, we'd win.

Marty wrote in earlier this month about a common occurrence among casual players: finding yourself guildless.

This morning I woke up and jumped on WoW to work the Auction house and found a letter from my Guild Master saying he has closed the Guild and moved on because the guild wasn't progressing the way he wanted. This was very surprising for me for many reasons. Primarily because I was a "Co-Leader" of the guild and had no idea this was coming, but also because for the 1.5 years the guild had been around we were really just Casual.... no expectations just basically a "Helping/Social" guild members out doing various activities and running instances together if we had enough people on... or if we didn't have enough we simply filled the holes with LFM on the channels. We never really ran any Sunwell Content in the BC days, and just recently started giving the WoTLK instances a shot on Heroic and I think we were doing alright with them! We wiped from time to time but tackled pretty much all of them..

Robin Torres writes WoW, Casually for the player with limited playtime. Of course, you people with lots of playtime can read this too, but you may get annoyed by the fact that we are unashamed, even proud, of the fact that beating WoW isn't our highest priority. Take solace in the fact that your gear is better than ours, but if that doesn't work, remember that we outnumber you. Not that that's a threat, after all, we don't have time to do anything about it. But if WoW were a democracy, we'd win.

John writes in on a topic that I think a lot of people can relate to. Wrath of the Lich King brought you back to the game, but now what?

I received a question over the tip line from an armorsmith this morning who is considering switching to weaponsmith because he is dissatisfied with his profession.

Player regrets surrounding a chosen specialization, or even profession, are common and happen to almost everyone at one time or another.

JDT writes that he is "extremely disappointed" with armorsmithing and what he is able to make, and that one of his reasons for possibly switching to weaponsmithing is that he theorizes it would be helpful to be able to pass down weapons to his alts that cannot wear plate.

Unfortunately JDT, anything that you craft as either a weaponsmith or an armorsmith is not only bind on pick-up, but it also requires you to have that specialization in order to wield/wear it.

That being said, there are blacksmithing plans for weapons and armor floating around that are bind on equip and can be passed along, but those can be made by any blacksmith regardless of specialization.

This week I will begin comparing the various armorsmith and weaponsmith pieces to the first non-crafted upgrades in order to illustrate the value of each item and help each class and spec come to an informed decision when it comes time to choose blacksmithing specialties.

Next week I'll finish out the comparison, as there is more than I can fit into this week's edition!

Each week or so, Robin Torres writes WoW, Casually for the player who has 2 hours or less to play at a time.

This time I'm answering an email from Jesse.

Hi Robin,

So I used to play WoW all the time. Actually, too much. So I did the whole "delete your characters and quit cold turkey" thing. Like 3 different times. Anyway, right now my account is on hold, but it's got a 38 rogue and a 56 mage (albeit both of them are naked, since I tried to sabotage myself and give hundreds of gold away when I quit last...).

The two reasons I quit are very closely related: one is that I just played too much; and the other is that I started to think that, if you don't play all the time, there's no getting anywhere. I like PvE more than PvP, so I guess the end result of that would have to be raiding, right? But I can't sit down at my computer for 7 hours to do a raid, or spend whatever god-awful amount of time it would take in a week to run kara (I don't know how long it would take to do that instance... and I don't think I want to know). I mean, don't get me wrong, I do like all the little things like professions and questing (even solo) and a good instance is always fun as long as you don't have idiots screwing it up... Anyways, my question is, can a person with a real life (and a real 50-hour a week job) actually play WoW, and have fun, and still have a life? (and dare I say, maybe even still have a girlfriend?). I am skeptical, but I don't know, and I'd like to get back in if you think it's actually feasible.

Jesse

P.S. Also (if I do decide to get back into the game), since [my server] is (and always has been) underpopulated, do you think it would be worthwhile transferring to a more populated server? Or is that just overrated?

Each week or so, Robin Torres writes WoW, Casually for the player who has 2 hours or less to play at a time.

This week, I answer some Reader Mail from Arjun.

Hi Robin,

The writing style of [WoW Insider] is always upbeat/positive, which is great. I thought I'd ask you your opinion of the official WoW forums, especially the realm forums. What do you think of them? Should casual or newer players try to avoid them at all costs? I've been playing casually for about a year, and have two 70s (Ally Mage and BE Tankadin). I posted to the forums that I'm looking for a new guild, casual in focus. It's amazing what happens, but not in a good way. [Here is the forum link.] What would you recommend to your readers about the official WoW forums?

Thanks,

Arjun

My answer is after the jump.

Each week, Robin Torres contributes Azeroth Interrupted, a column about balancing real life with WoW.

This week I'm answering an email from Guilty Gamer:

Dear Robin,

My problem's not too much school or work, but a girlfriend who'd rather have me in bed (we live together) than leveling in the wee hours. As it is, I sneak WoW into my life. If she's got a one-hour class, I've got time for five quests. But my play is ruined by the fact that I have to hide. I'm not looking at porn for crying out loud. I just want to enjoy my game.

I want to sit down for a whole evening and sink in to an instance, but it seems impossible considering we always plan so much. Her hobbies/interests can be accomplished in an hour or less while mine eat a whole evening. She's not geeky like me. I tried to get her to into WoW and it made no sense to her (fair enough). I usually get an evening a week but even then she's mad or distant if I'm not talking and paying attention to her while I play.

At points, I wish I could play so much more or just give up the game entirely. I really enjoy WoW and love my girlfriend. I don't know how to find harmony between them. I'm always either deprived of my time-consuming hobbies or guilty for enjoying them.

Sincerely,

Guilty Gamer