And That’s a Wrap

After three years of playing World of Warcraft, and two and a half years at Frost is the New Black, it is my deepest regret to inform you that I will be leaving the game that I oh so love.  As well, I will no longer be writing for Frost is the New Black.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve written about overcoming obstacles, depending on your own strength, and dancing to the sound of your own music.  In a game that, at one point, was hardly kind to my favourite spec, it was almost like mental suicide to stick out for it for so long.  But I persisted, and enjoyed it to the fullest potential.  Now with Cataclysm, Frost is an acceptable spec, and I see more Water Elementals in my pugs and in capital cities than ever.  I feel like my patience has paid off dividends.

I’ve never intended to claim any particular position of authority or representation of my spec, but more rather a philosophy that you do what you want to do, but to do it well.  And while redhead stepchild specs and flavours of the month come and go, those who remain steadfast in playing what they love continue to do so, even if their preferences change as quickly as the shifts of the balances of power.  That said, I feel I’ve said what I needed to say on the subject, and there is not much left for me to say.  It’s so easy to pick up this game and do whatever you want.  There are endless possibilities.

As for me, I finally feel as if I’ve enjoyed as much as I could in the game.  There’s so much still to do and love, but to keep doing so will come at a cost of missing out on new opportunities.  New chances to feel the same spark I got when wandering through the dirt path of Elwyn Forest, and seeing for a fleeting moment, a level 70 riding an epic mount.  Discovering new zones, stepping into a raid for the first time, and all in between, has culminated in what I feel to be the best video gaming experience I’ve had in my later years.

Life goes on, and with it, our needs and responsibilities change as well.  I’ve stubbornly held on to what I’ve loved for a few too many moments, whether that be writing for this blog, or playing Warcraft.  And to ignore the new things that call out to me to enjoy, including my rekindled love for anime, and my hunger to write about the medium and culture, I feel that worrying about this blog, as well as the game, is holding me back from other things that I love as well.

I’ve also discovered a new spark in gaming.  It has opened a rift (figuratively, and to an extent, literally) in my curiosity towards other MMOs, and with the upcoming release of Rift, its incredible class combination potential, and a subscription fee that is too lucrative to pass up, I feel that I’ve found a nice place to move on to that I can satiate my curiosity without breaking the bank, or my time.

I don’t consider this a loss for WoW.  In fact, I honestly believe that WoW will never die, and it will always be the great game that it is.  More people will log into Azeroth for the first time, and more people will leave the game on their own accord.  For a game to sustain a living, breathing, and evolving playerbase, all the while retaining a plethora of things to do for newcomers and veterans alike, it will always by the best game in the market.  The very act of me closing my account is like closing the book on a wonderful story, because the best ones never last forever.

The game will always be great, and I will always value my experiences in it, as well as my experiences in blogging.  The amount that I have learned through writing, as well as blogging, will do wonders for me as I continue to blog about my lifelong passion of anime.  If only I had known back when I started Frost what I know now, perhaps I’d have been much more ‘successful’ as a blogger.  In the end, however, it doesn’t even matter.  I’ve learned now that regardless of whether I have one follower or a thousand, three comments on a post I’ve written, or thirty.  It is the love that I put into my writing, and the drive to never stop writing, that will determine your own feelings of satisfaction with your blog.  And to spread that passion over two different blogs simply does neither of the two any justice.

With all of this said, I must say goodbye to the blog and the game.  I thank everyone who has stopped by to leave comments on my posts, everyone who has enjoyed my blog in silence, everyone whose blogs I’ve commented on and enjoyed in return, and even those who may not agree with my values of gaming and writing.  You have all contributed to a wonderful experience here on Frost is the New Black.  I also thank everyone who I have played with in-game.  To my guilds, past and present, <Knights Templar>, <Ironwill Mercenaries>, <Exiled Legion>, <Stormwind University>, and every single person who I have interacted with in chat and RealID, you have made my joyful experience last for as long as it has.  It will never go away, and I will never forget.

It was a wonderful trip, and I will always look back at this without any regrets, and will always be grateful for everything.  Thank you for reading, and have a wonderful day.

– Krizzlybear

The Opposite of Burnout

I haven’t been blogging much lately, because, well…I’m having a little too much fun with Cataclysm right now.  I have a bunch of alts that need to get to 85 quickly.  I have a deliciously awesome Frost Mage that needs to get his ass geared for raids (still needs to be hit-capped, pretty much).  I have a bunch of professions that need to be maxed.  I have a bunch of money that needs to be spent/saved for whenever.  There’s a shitton of things for me to do in WoW, and I find myself rather overwhelmed with it all.

Not overwhelmed enough to quit, however.

I find it quite strange that there are so many people who (in my twitter feed specifically) are shrugging at what’s been given to them.  The game has changed.  The game has lost its magic.  I’m already bored.  My class is ruined forever.  I’ve run out of things to do.  I’m having way too much fun with this other game right now.  That’s completely fine.  Everyone is entitled to their own opinion.  I could just as easily reply to everyone with a resounding clash of ladels against pots, going “LA LA LA LA I CAN’T HEAR YOU I’M HAVING TOO MUCH FUN,” but I’d rather just keep it to this blog, which, much to my dismay, has suffered as a result of having said fun.

That said, I’d like to let you know what’s going on over here in LALALALAFUNLAND.

The Mage

Bashertin has been gradually grinding himself out a raid set.  His ilvl has reached 346, meaning that he’s pretty much ready to get upgrades from raid content.  Outside of daily queuing for heroic Throne of the Tides for the Cerith Spire Staff that NEVER drops, he’s pretty much done with heroics.  In 5-mans, he’s cranking out a decent amount of damage that seems to be on par with everyone else in similar gear (and in the odd case, beating people with superior gear).  He doesn’t feel underpowered, or ridiculously broken.  He’s done everything from sheeping, kiting adds, spellstealing hilariously powerfull buffs (try stealing the swell buff from the elemental mobs leading up to Neptulon’s room in TotT, you’ll thank me later), popping invisibility at numerous (not unfairly so) wipes, and even soloing the last few percentage points of some bosses (Mirror Image is a very useful tool!)

There’s not much left for this guy that can be done in 5-man dungeons.  He needs to craft his epic tailoring stuff though, as well as maxing out said tailoring (and enchanting) profession; nothing a few hours at the Broken Front in Tol Barad can’t fix.  Justice Points have outlived their usefulness, paving the way for some useful JP dumps when they become available.

The Alts

Kirlia, formerly known as Leyola, the feral/resto druid, hit 85 this past week, but still needs to replace a lot of her gear before being eligible to do heroics.  It’s completely fine, since she’s a gatherbot for my other alts anyway.  It’s quite telling that she dinged 85 from mining a pyrite node.  She’s also the moneymaker as well, selling high-end herbs for exorbitant amounts on the auction house.  I don’t mind price gouging; as long as I farmed the stuff myself, I feel entitled to charge whatever the hell I want for my raw mats.  I kinda wish I could sell them for more, though.

Wimzig, unfortunately, is still level 82.  Much like Wrath, a large amount of his experience is coming from daily Jewelcrafting quests, and farming the earth elementals in Hyjal for volatiles.  As the “other” frost-specced toon, I feel obliged to do something more with him, but alas, time is limited.

Uxie, formerly known as Umbreon, is my new Gnomish Shadow Priest.  She’s just so adorable.  I want to hug her for being so awesome.  She’s the only character in my roster that actually has a maxed out crafting profession (Alchemy).  I’m a bit mad that despite being transmute-specced, I haven’t gotten a single proc from anything, not even from rare gem transmutes.  It sucks.  She’s a few volatile earths away from 525 Engineering as well.  Alchemy/Engineering is an interesting combination this expansion, and I can’t wait to see it in action when she hits 85 (currently 83).

Marill, formerly known as Leafeon, is my Human Hunter (formerly Orc), and is the next closest one to 85.  Recently dinging 84 after grinding furiously on skinnable mobs, she’s got a nice stable of exotic pets to show off her beast mastery, including a shale spider, spirit beast, devilsaur, silithid, and core hound.  I’ve gotten a bit of flack for my hunter, since she doesn’t actually name her pets.  Something about not really caring about the pet/owner relationship, or lore-based reasons, or some other jazz.  The thing is, she is very much attached to her pets.  Her Spirit Bear has been around since she hit the appropriate level to tame him.  In fact, she tamed two.  the first one had a name, but then she regretted naming him at all, and thus tamed another one right after.  He’s been with her ever since.

There’s nothing wrong with keeping the default names.  Default names are kinda charming in their own way, much like how Farmer Hoggett names his pig Pig, in the move Babe.  Are you going to argue against the logic of a man who won the hearts of sheep-hearding enthusiasts all over the world county?  I wouldn’t.  Spirit Beast will remain Spirit Beast, and I don’t care what people think.

The Lowbies

My altitis continues with even more alts than I can count.  Having abandoned my non-80 alts back on Winterhoof, I’ve come around to leveling a new batch of them again…possibly later on as part of a recruit-a-friend gig with a second account.  With the advent of Pokemon Black and White, I’ve named my gnome alts after their starters.  Tepig the Rogue, Snivy the Warlock, and Oshawott the Warrior.  To round out my “one of each class” theme on Feathermoon, the Paladin and Shaman are both hordeside, Tauren and Goblin, respectively.  I’ve tried their starting zones, and enjoyed them to a great extent; Blizzard has done a wonderful job with re-envisioning the way people level up, and I can’t wait to find time to sink my teeth into some Horde lowbie questing as well.

Freeze-in?

Whatever burnout is, it definitely isn’t what I’m experiencing in-game at the moment. There’s way too much to do for me to blog about it, and when it comes to Frost Magery, there’s a whole new ballgame for me to talk about.  The game has changed for the better, in my opinion, and I haven’t enjoyed the game as much as I do now as I ever have.  Bravo, Blizzard, for ruining my life, alongside tvtropes.  Kudos to you, you magnificent bastards.

Obligatory Blah Blah Blah

Yeah, yeah, I’m still alive, whatever.  If you follow me on twitter, you already know that I’m still around, though I’m a bit more focused on anime at the moment, trying to focus on the blog that I recently started for it.  I don’t believe that it’s getting in the way of my blogging schedule for this site, but I am finding myself with a few things to talk about with regards to Frost Magery, but I have no idea where to start.  Consider it laziness on my end, or simply being busy with other things that I feel are important.

This blog has been around for a while, and I truly wish to maintain it, but I feel confident enough that due to its age, I’ve come to acknowledge its humble following.  Baka Laureate is a new monster altogether, and is like a rebirth of some sorts in my mind when it comes to the lifestyle of being a blogger.  I’m starting from scratch again, discovering a new community of people, establishing my niche in the social network, and doing things for the sake of promoting the blog that I no longer do for this blog, such as reading and commenting on other blogs.  It feels very hypocritical of me to do so, considering that I normally don’t read other blogs.  If I had my way, I wouldn’t, but it seems like I’m doing this more out of necessity than for enjoyment.

That said, I feel justified in my actions, since I’m doing something that I feel is right for growing  the blog to the level that I feel is acceptable.  I feel that this blog is also in an acceptable position, so I don’t feel the necessity to further promote it.  I simply keep writing the way I do, and be content with both writing it in the first place, and having a number of people read it and enjoy it.

However, I am not going to just devolve this post into some sort of stream of consciousness.  I am asking for your help.  Cataclysm is a new world, and I’m doing a bunch of things in it, on other characters as well as the mage.  I am interested to hear what you think of the expansion so far, and would like to see what people want me to write about.  There is a wealth of content for the burgeoning Frost Mage or WoW player in general, so if there’s anything that you’d like to see me talk about to some sort of degree, then by all means feel free to mention it.  Leave a comment here, or simply toss me an email at the address mentioned in my about page.

There’s Something About the Dungeon Finder

I can’t seem to put my finger on it, but let me explain a few situations.

Situation 1

I queued up for about 40 minutes.  I finally enter a group.  It’s 4 other people from some leet-ass raiding guild.  The way they chat, it’s almost like they’re stoned out of their minds.  They’ve been wiping on the third boss of Heroic Throne of the Tides, it would seem.  I try with them, we wipe once.  I insist that they’re stoned because they keep saying random things in caps, and all of a sudden a vote kick comes up with my mage’s name on it, citing reason: “alsdkjfasf.”  I get kicked out, and left to queue up again for 40 minutes.

Huh.

Situation 2

I queued up for a Heroic Blackrock Caverns, and joined a group that’s been wiping on Corla, the laser-beam boss.  We wiped a few more times, and the paladin tank left.  We queued up and got another tank, and downed her.  We started wiping on the Karsh, the boss in the forge, and the tank left.  We queued up, and the next tank we got is the tank that just left.  Everyone lol’s, and the tank leaves again.  We queued up again, waiting for about 20 minutes, and the tank that came in was the first tank we had when we were wiping on Corla.  We manage to one-shot the rest of the dungeon, and the Hourglass caster trinket dropped from the last boss.  Tank rolled need on it, won, and left.

Umm.

Situation 3

I queued up for 45 minutes, and got into a Stonecore group.  They’re a group of 4 from the same realm.  They haven’t even downed the first boss, but as soon as I come in, they already give up and dissolve the entire group so they can re-queue on their own.  I have to queue again for myself, 45 minutes worth.

Umm.

Situation 4

Today, I queued for 50 minutes and got into a Vortex Pinnacle group.  They’ve been wiping on Altairus, the dragon boss with the cyclones.  We wiped once, and one of the DPS tells me to stop failing on cyclones.  I took less damage than him that fight, and used slow fall every time.  I don’t even bother trying to defend myself, because the next wipe, I’m the only one alive for most of the fight.  That shut him up.  He dropped group with the other DPS, and instantly got replacements.  We one-shot the rest of the bosses without incident.

HA!

Hard Heroics are Hard

The moral of today’s lesson is to be persistent and tenacious in your random dungeon exploits.  It’s a lot more difficult this time around, especially with the gear reset, so you just have to be patient, and find ways to maximize your situation.  Long queue times? Go gather while waiting, or grind out mats for that craftable upgrade.  Hell, minimize the game and go play something else while you wait.

Better yet, go find a good guild or instancing group on your server who are willing to learn with you.  Cuts off the hassle mentioned in the previous paragraphs above.

And for Light’s sake, don’t drop group if you’re making progress on learning the boss fights.  Once you learn it the first time, the next ones get easier.  If you’re always dropping, you’re never learning.