Going Solo in Warcraft

Blizzard has officially embraced the idea of Solo'ing in World of Warcraft. I'd like to throw out there that Follower Dungeons are much more fun than Delves. I really wish they would realize this and make Heroics available and allow for better gear improved experience gain. It's nice to have Dragonflight dungeons available from 10-70 but that's a long time to devote to just a few dungeons. Seeing more of the old world and lower-level dungeons would be great.

Right now, Delves appear to be where it's at. Although I am still hopeful that Follower Dungeons will get some love in the future. I have a dream to be able to roll through some dungeons with all of my alts. The current AI being used is really nice and well thought out. They will remove curses, apply buffs, and lay out Mage Food. They even give suggestions for short cuts. If you haven't joined any Follower Dungeons recently, I highly recommend it. It's a great way to learn your role (Tank/Healer/DPS) - and Captain Garrick is a pretty awesome tank.

Right now, with my Warband Mentored Leveling at 20% I am getting almost a whole level per dungeon at level 13 while running Dragonflight dungeons. That's not too bad. And you can pretty much do them blindfolded if you want. You just have to keep up.

EA rants and marketing

I'm really tired of the ranting and complaining about Early Access and 'making' people pay for it and all that bullshit. Blizzard is a company that makes money selling a resource that is created by people working for them. That resource is more or less all digital in form. You pay them to access that digital material. Everyone thinks that the way that THEY access that material is better than the way that other people access it. We all have our opinions, but we are all still just accessing the same material. 

If I pay extra to access it sooner than others, great. In a month, nobody will know or care aside from you. 

If I pay extra to access a specific look or object, great. In a month, nobody will know or care aside from you. 

If I pay extra to access a sweet set of Bookends designed to look like that main character of the expansion, great. Nobody will ever know or care aside from you.

Blizzard has created different aspects of this material for a reason. Each one appeals to a different subset of people. And each one contains things that appeal to a different subset of people. Some people want early access, some want beta access, some want special pets, and some want transmogs.

You are all complaining about paying for EA when you don't want it or feel like you shouldn't have to. Or paying for Pets when "nobody uses them". Or paying for Tender when they promised you would never have to. I swear, some people would complain about free gold being too heavy. If you don't like what you're paying for, then don't pay? Stop making it bad for others. Stop bringing your negativity into something that others enjoy.

I look at each expansion like "Okay, am I willing to pay this much for this item?" or "Will I be able to get this item later in the game for free?" All of the rest is just a bonus. If I don't want it, or think I can get it later, I won't spend the money. But paying money to access something sooner than other people is just foolish to me. You gain nothing. If that's what you're paying for, I think you need to rethink how you spend your money. That's just my opinion. 

We all have a different opinion and that's why this is such a great marketing tool. They are able to appeal to a wide variety of opinions with the same product and we are all willing to pay for the part of it that's important to us and share our opinions on why ours is better than yours. I'm just happy to have been a part of it for 20 years. It's been quite a ride.

 

Connection issues...

I started lagging really bad when questing around Hallowfall, then got kicked and I can't get back in.

Could be a denial-of-service attack, who knows.

Even the Blizzard support page is offline it seems.

Currency Transfer Disabled - FIXED!

As soon as I swapped to my Rogue to upgrade his gear, they temporarily disabled currency transfers.

I have over 100k of memories on my Pally, but it looks like I'll need to grind out some on my Rogue for now. It's crazy how quickly you get used to new features. I never realized how nice that can be. 

Now, if they can go ahead and give all my chars a 0 count. As it is, you have to get at least 1 Residual Memory to give you the window to click the 'transfer' button. Kinda lame but it would help.

Extended Maintenance Downtime Thoughts

The completionist in me wants to create and level a Demon Hunter, Death Knight, and Evoker on the Horde side so I will have one of each class for Horde and Alliance. But knowing what's in store for all of my alts, it just seems fruitless. I know in the past I haven't kept them up to speed after a new expansion hits. And the idea of getting them all to max level in TWW just makes me cringe. I guess I'll have to see how painful the leveling process is first. As long as we aren't forced to do the same drawn-out death runs (without flying) to complete quests-lines through some kind of time-gating grind for each alt, I could be talked into it. I suppose I should be questing on the beta realm to get the hang of it. But I really want the expansion to have that new feel when I first see it.