WoW, It’s Been A Month Already

It’s hard to believe, but it’s been a little over a month since I started playing World of Warcraft again. In that time I’ve raised my main character from level 80 to 86 (four more levels to go until the current maximum of 90). In the past my focus and goal was to simply level up as fast as possible so I could reach the end-game content. This time around, though, I’m actually enjoying the quests and the storylines that go with them. This is especially true of the Mists of Pandaria content.

It’s fairly apparent that the experience points gain for the Pandaria zones for getting from 85-90 aren’t doled out as heavily - or it could just be that needing to earn 15 million experience points per level makes it seem that way. I can’t help but wonder if the level gains this high up are slowed down on purpose to be in keeping with the Pandaren philosophy that MoP introduces of slowing down and enjoying life. The upshot to the slower leveling, though, is how much better the quest rewards have become, not only in terms of gold but gear as well. I think I’ve changed gear sets a couple of dozen times from 80-86 and I’ve gone from around 2500 in gold to just a smidge over 8000 (without having to resort to buying from illegal gold farmers).*

One of the more intriguing changes that was made during my two year absence from the game was Guild leveling. Naturally, it’s expected that characters level, but there are new achievements and perks related to being a part of a guild and the guild itself gaining levels. Up until last night, I was guild-less as my old group disbanded and most of them also, apparently, quit playing the game altogether. But now I get to experience this new aspect of the game from the ground up, as it were. I was actually offered 20 gold to help someone pull one of their other characters into their guild. So, I joined, then invited this guy’s other character in. I declined the payment in lieu of remaining a member. Over the last month, I’ve quested alone. With the exception of a friend of mine from the old guild who still plays, but is in a different guild and often is logged into a different server anyway, I mostly don’t have anyone to talk to in game. So, yeah, I don’t know these people, but then again, I didn’t know anyone in my old guild either, until I joined up with them. So, the prospect of new friends as well as helping to get a fledgling guild off the ground is quite intriguing and sounds like fun.

The one thing I do need to note, for those that may be concerned, is that I’ve been much more conservative in my playing time than I was in the past. One of the reasons I quit the game back in 2010 was because it was just eating up way too much of my time. Back then, I would get home from work, eat dinner as quickly as possible and then play until bedtime - everyday; and if it was my day off I’d play away most of the day. These days though, I have specific days that I don’t play at all and the other days I limit myself to an hour or two (mainly because I have to be at work at 7:30 in the morning so going to bed any later than 10:00 or 10:30 just doesn’t work well). Days off I’ll spend more time playing, but I also make sure things like laundry and errands are taken care of first. So, yeah, I’m back in the game, but managing the time involved much better than before.

~ JC

Previous Blogs in this Series

“The Last (?) Temptation of Uhnk” - October 14, 2012
“Return to Azeroth” - October 28, 2012


* Note: That’s not all from quest rewards. I’ve also gotten back into my routine of selling things in the Auction House with fairly decent results.