“Is This A Role-play Realm or Not?”

I see that question in General Chat and Trade Chat often. I understand why people ask. The fact that there are Role Play realms indicate that there might be people actually doing it. However, some of the answers coming across the channel indicate that the only people watching the channel are non-role players. That makes sense as people that role play probably turn off the extra channels in order to keep up with and thoroughly enjoy the role play without loads of “chat” interruption. /shrug?

On the game World of Warcraft, characters inside a city are busily running from the bank, to the auction house, to the mailbox, to the trainers for either their class or their skills -- cooking, sewing, first aid, blacksmithing, jewel crafting, leatherworking, etc. You get the picture. Busy, busy, busy! Usually the only ones walking where I play are NPCs that are selling something like bread, fruit, or guards that are busy making sure the THEM aren’t going to get me. LOL.

I have found that it is a good thing for me to change my pace in the game sometimes. It becomes more relaxing and fun to simply walk, not run. On my keyboard my forward slash key toggles from run to walk. Believe me, in a city where everyone is running on foot or riding fast through the city, someone walking stands out. If you want a bit of attention (I admit at times I do), just walk. What I desire when I do this is some nice role-play adventure.

So the other day, I went to realm Argent Dawn and walked around in Stormwind with my little female dwarf. She is only level 3 or 6 (why can’t I remember?) and she has absolutely not one cent left to her name. Here is why. She walked into the city and went to the inn and talked to the inn-keeper there . . (imagination must come into play) …The inn-keepers’ prices were too high for Cantique, so she told her she was welcome to build a fire outside near the inn, “But don’t harm the tree out there, mind!”

Cantique walked outside and found that she didn’t have a way to make fire. She realized that she needed to seek out a cook somewhere in the city and get a fire kit. She walked up to a guard in the trade center and asked for directions, which he promptly gave, smiling and nodding his head before snapping back into his watchful stance on the corner.

(Note, all this was played out verbally in the chat pane, of course the NPCs didn’t /say anything, but Cantique acted and spoke as if they did.)

She walked out of the Trade Center and stopped at each signpost and sounded out the words to make sure she was finding her way to Old Town. During the walk (I) looked around and noticed that there was a night elf following and listening. I attempted to draw him in by smiling at him. No response.

Anyway, when Cantique arrived at the Pig and Whistle and found the cook, the price he wanted for the training to learn to cook and build a fire was more than she had. She needed 95 coppers. Cantique looked at the woman standing nearby who had flour and spices to sell and she asked the woman if she would like to purchase her dress. Well, Cantique must’ve look pretty desperate, because the woman did indeed purchase the thin dress and Cantique ended up with 95 copper. She looked into her coinkeep and there was not another penny. She could now make fire.

(And THAT is odd because she had some few coppers and the sale of the dress made the EXACT amount she needed – I’ve always been fortunate IRL with having exactly what I need when I need it…that this carries over into the game is spooky. My hubby is always amazed that when I make new toons I “loot” bags pretty regularly. /grin)

She looked into her coinkeep and had not another penny, but she could now make fire.
She walked (did not run) back to the Trade Center and found her way back to the front of the inn, build a fire and sat down, her tummy grumbling.

During all this time, no-one spoke to me, neither role-play wise nor OOCly (out of character). A couple of folk stopped and “listened” and/or watched but did not comment or interact. I was amazed at the lack of even a derisive comment. Maybe I was in an alternate universe. (play eerie music here) But more likely the timing was wrong and when I go back and walk again, so many toons will talk I won’t be able to keep up with all the chatter.

But that day, I simply finished out my story and faded away. LOL…I still had fun. Am I crazy? Please tell me.

Happy Monday

Happy Monday!

Friday night was family night on WOW. We five, Surdor, Thything, Shommie, Omin, and my shadow priest, Cantique went to burning crusade 5 man instances. All 80s and overpowered for the places we simply blazed through them having loads of fun and no stress. Shommie got a lot of achievements. (For those who do not play, Achievements is Blizzards way of enhancing game play to provide for those who might be bored just playing – certain things to “achieve”. A little screen pops up which tells you just achieved something and there is a point system. In fact you can compare your achievements with other players within the game.)

An achievement might be as simple as getting your first haircut in the barbershop and might be as hard as, well, I know there are some hard ones out there. I haven’t done them. LOL. Stuff like killing a bazillion things in a certain amount of time with a stupid hat on or something…*shrug*.

I believe we did 7 instances in Burning Crusade and 1 heroic randam instance in Northrend. When I hit the bed it was 1 a.m.

Saturday, I spent all day with Cassity, my sister. She has a shadow priest – level 51 and I play with a druid named Eliment - level 50. We spent loads of time just coordinating our quests with one another, making sure our bags were fairly empty so we had room for out “loot”, and gathering potions and food to help us do our work. That preliminary preparation is, for me, part of the fun of WOW. I love to arrange the stuff I have in the bank and in my bags into categories. I know. Time consuming.

Well, coffee made, abundant snacks close by, we were finally ready. First we had to go to various places in the world to turn in completed quests. That took a lot of time. Then, we went to a place called Unguro crater, full of slime blobs, reptiles, and dangerous gorillas to finish off two quests we had both started weeks ago. We went up a little hill because I could see on my map and question mark and wanted to talk to the computer generated character there. We ran into trouble and died!! We were saying “ah ah!! …wait what just… Oh Oh!” Then we got lost for about 10 minutes trying to find our bodies in order to become alive again. (felt like 30 minutes) Finally, we looked up and it was around 3 p.m.!! For a minute I forgot that this was a game and got a little stressed out because we still weren’t in Winterspring which was a goal I had for the day. Cassity and Eliment only get to play together maybe once every couple of weeks.

We took a flight to get us to a place called Felwood. I was so wanting to be in Winterspring! We ran forever up a road and came to a tunnel. The tunnel was full of creatures called Furbolgs (I think) and we had to run through them while they hit us. We ran out the other end of the tunnel into Winterspring and down the road to a town called Everlook. Well, when we arrived there, we found that we were still too low a level to get any of the quests for the immediate area, so we hopped onto the flight out of there back to Felwood. Sigh.

We talked to the NPCs (Non Player Characters) standing around at the little flightpath stopover and took several quests from them. I had never done any of the quests in this particular area with my Main character, Cantique, so I really had no idea where stuff was. I had a new Addon though called Carbonite which gives me a map and helps me know where to go to do the quests (or jobs) that the computer game gave us. I assured my sister that I would be able to get us to the places we needed to go to complete the quests. Sigh. I had a headache. Hills and trees and rocks were in the way. It took a long time.

In the process of getting everything out of the way to get to Winterspring we both “dinged twice”! (Ding means we moved from one level to the next.) She dinged to 53 and I dinged to 52. Woot!!!

And we finally made it to Winterspring and there are quests for us. Yay!! Our major goal is to make level 58 so we can begin the “Burning Crusade” part of the game. At this rate it will be another month.

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Because I knew I was going to have WOW company all day Saturday, I did not sign up for my guilds regular Saturday night or Sunday afternoon raids. It wasn’t until raid time Sunday afternoon that I felt like I had enough brain power or energy to do anything and at the last minute signed on with The Illuminati’s Raid for ICC. (ICC scares me because I’ve not even seen most of Ulduar at this point and Ulduar is supposed to be before ICC).

I was pretty nervous as on our website someone posted a forum saying in essence, “If you sign up for a raid, be sure to check out the details online (somewhere?) before you come so you aren’t stupid about it.” Um, I have tried doing that and totally become confused, as there is no live person to answer my questions. So I have a problem. Sign up for raids and keep my questions to myself and do a half/assed job or ask questions and be seen as someone who didn’t research? Either one is no fun. Anyway. I got to go only because there was still a guild spot unfilled. Yay.

I just listened carefully and tried to figure out the rest. I think I typed maybe two questions in raid chat. Still. Hate that feeling of inadequacy and no amount of watching youtube vids about the fight help. In fact they hurt my ability to “get it”. Since I am 56 years old I really chaff when everyone is expected to learn stuff the same way. People are different that way, you know?

Besides, I already griped enough about doing ICC before finishing Ulduar to our poor guild leader Vowain – So, I am working hard to be quiet and not be a cause of stress. It’s a game! What is happening to me though, is that I continue to be afraid to ask questions. Which means I continue to be mediocre as a player.
Later I will write about a very fun fight involving two ships, rocket packs on our backs, and cannons!! This was all in Ice Crown Citadel.

PUGS

Hello again, If you already play World of Warcraft you'll know about "pugs". If you do not, PUG stands for "pick up group" or a group of people you do not know that are put together by the game mechanics or that find each other in "looking for group" channel -- for the purpose of raiding. PUGS are different from raiding with your close group of friends or your guildmates in that you have a harder time communicating, you do not automatically know each other's strengths and weaknesses, and in general in my estimation, there is less patience with one another.

Anyway this story is Cantique's experience with PUGS. In the computer generated groups if something goes wrong, 4 can vote the odd one out.

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Cantique stands shivering. She leans forward on her staff, straining to see through the gloom. As faint figures approach she questions, “Friend or Foe?” The silence is only broken by footfalls and a slight tinkle of someone’s trinket.

The four arrive from different directions and dim features coalesce into faces -- A paladins frown as he looks over the heads of the group, a Druids nonchalance as she picks at her fingernails, a Mage, tiny grim face vibrating with power and a Rogue, heavy lidded eyes showing no emotion. Cantique wrinkles her brow and purses her lips.

Without a word the group steps into the fog, and they travel quickly. Eventually, the fog clears and Cantique scans the area as she readies a meal of fish. She gestures with her hands her willingness to share as she doesn’t want to be the one to break the silence again. Two companions sit to eat, the other two continue forward.

Cantique stuffs the food into her mouth, hoping she has time for the benefits of it. She wipes her mouth with the back of her hand, stumbling a bit and almost dropping her flask. By the time the group is together again the Paladin and rogue have already killed and they are still deep in the heat of battle. Silently, the mage and druid begin casting magic and heals as Cantique’s shadowform takes her over.

- - - - - - - -

The dream begins again . . .

Cantique stands shivering. She leans forward on her staff, straining to see through the gloom. As faint figures approach she questions, “Friend or Foe?” The silence is only broken by footfalls and a slight tinkle of someone’s trinket.

Cantique crams food into her mouth, hoping she has time for the benefits of it. She wipes her mouth with the back of her hand, stumbling a bit and almost dropping her flask.

This time when Catique catches up everyone is frowning and looking at her. She is forced backward into the fog to stand alone.

- - - - - - - -

The dream begins again . . .

“Friend or Foe?”

“Cantique is that you?” Darksparrow says as she and Vais walk into view.

Cantique smiles as her companions appear. “I have fish! Ye want ta eat a bit first?”

Elenntari smiles, “Sure! Thank you for the food.”

As the group finishes the meal and readies for the battle ahead, Graystreak says . . .”I’ve been having the strangest dreams lately . . .”

The Magazine

Sweet! The new World of Warcraft magazine arrived. It was in a plastic cover so a bit protected from the elements and the machines of snailmail, but I cringed a tiny bit inside when I noticed the edge of it dented in. The magazine is so pretty I wanted it to be in perfect condition. It is full of glossy artwork and the cover is heavy duty like the cover of a paperback novel.

I took it to work with me yesterday and since most of my time at work is spent on hold I spent all day perusing it. I am thoroughly impressed with the layout, the look, and the information. There were enough bits of information of particular interest to me, so the pages are loaded with stickynotes. The editors have done a good job making the magazine visually appealing as well as informative.

There was information about PVP play - Particularly using line of sight (LOS). I don't PVP much but the article was still a very interesting read. Information about the Trading Card Game (TCG) which I will never be involved in but I did enjoy reading about it, and an Interview with Blizzard Entertainment's president, Mike Morhaime as well as interviews with WOW players of note. I am glad I purchased the subscription. As I turned the last page, I wanted more, but it only comes out 4 issues a year (sigh).
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Okay, enough about the magazine. Last night was family night on WOW. What that means is my Son, his son, and my husbands brother all gather at my and my husbands home and play together. I have 3 computers set up ready to go all the time and two guests bring their laptops. Last night was a bit different as my sister came by, so I set up my laptop and there were six of us for a bit. That meant we needed to do a 6 person raid. Five people constitute a group, more than makes makes a raid. The dynamics of the game are that there are areas that will only allow a group and there are areas that will only allow a raid. My sister's character is a level 51 (at this point in time you can only achieve level 80 but that is changing soon) and the rest of us have all levels of toons but we decided to play with our 80s in a place called Zul'Gurub. Bless her heart, she is so patient. Thything told her to stay by him whatever we do (he was heals for this), Omin the pally tanked, Shadew is a druid and I am Cantique, shadow priest.

Okay for those non players...a Tank is the person with the most ability to stand face to face with the enemy and with the necessary heavy armor to engage an enemy and take a pounding. The tank has to make sure the enemy player (computer generated character- not a real person) stays focused on him/her and leaves the rest of the group alone. While the tank is being beat up, the others in the group have roles -- they stab or cast spells etc, they do what they can with their special abilities to hurt the enemy. The healer makes sure the people in his group/raid stay healed. Spell casting Healing spells is his/her job. (There's much, much more to this - This is simply a tidbit of info.)

So we went into the instance to basically help her get loot for when she levels to 60. The characters that you kill have "loot" on them. Loot can be coins, clothing, cloth, potions, food, weapons, bones and other junk. I love to loot to see what I get for my trouble! Sometimes the loot is very, very nice and will enhance your game play, sometimes not so much! LOL. Loot is so important in the game of WOW that if you don't have good loot armor and weapons and trinkets, rings, and necklaces you simply can't continue on in higher level fights. Luckily you can go to the auction house and get better stuff if you can afford it. But to afford anything you have to loot money, loot junk and sell it, loot good stuff and sell it or use it to make good stuff that other people need for their game and sell it on the auction house. Does this all make sense? In the World of Warcraft, you can have a profession! I think that is amazing!

What that means to me is this: If I don't feel like fighting today, I can work to gather materials (ore, or leather, or plants, cloth etc) and use these items to create things -- armor, potions, elixirs, weapons -- you get the idea? Then I can spend time setting them into the auction house for sale. Later other people playing the game, go to the auction house and look for stuff they want or need and might buy your stuff. You get the gold in your mailbox in the game. You use your gold to buy what you need. See? Anyway, there is a lot to buy, and alot of stuff to find, and a whole world to explore!! It's amazing.

Another thing I do If I don't really feel like stressful war/raid/fight is I stand around in the city and just talk and look at other people and check out what they are wearing (with a couple of keystrokes, you can try their clothes on) - it is very fun for me. Before I joined The Illuminati, most of my time was spent doing this kind of thing. I called the game "High Tech Paper Dolls".

I will write later about how joining a guild, The Illuminati, helped me learn so much more about this game. And yes, my sister did get good Loot last night, but she now has to level up her character to be able to use the equipment, weapons, Armor that she found in there. It's incentive.

Is This Wise?

Hello everyone. This is my first attempt at "blogging" -- (unless you count Facebook or guild website entries as blogs. Do you?) LOL. And let me start right there. "LOL" is a sample of a new language I've been picking up since I began playing World of Warcraft. I am sure there are many, many, people out there that are my age and beyond who are enjoying the world of online gaming. LOL is how I feel when I play WOW. (I intend to make posts here about the not so LOLish times as well - It seems I have my fair share of emo moments.)

A bit of history -- as of current writing I am 56 years old, a female playing a female Dwarf Shadow Priest (main) on Earthen Ring in World of Warcraft - Cantique. There is more to me than the game though, so there will be posts about other things as well. I will begin by posting some earlier things that have made their way to the guild website I belong to. The Illuminati - great guild!

If you know me as Cantique, please forgive the redundancy of these beginning posts....*Hug*