random average

You know, the first time I went to Karazhan with Grezzk, I was geared up appropriately, ready to go, and yet... I didn't outperform anyone.

I mean, I did my job, and I didn't screw up (too much: I saved that for my second run), and I filled a role that needed filled and did the damage that needed to be done. But that was it. I wasn't posting chart-topping numbers, I wasn't three-times higher than the next higher damage-class, and I wasn't doing as much damage as all the other teammates put together.

Eventually, I manage all those things in Karazhan and Heroic-level dungeon teams, but not that time. I was the new guy. I was decently geared for entry-level, but that was it.

And that stage... being the new guy with "good-enough" but not actually "good" gear, and not knowing what I was doing and actually gimping my performance simply because I was focusing so hard on just not screwing up? That stage was a LONG, LONG TIME AGO.

Note that I say "was" a long time ago. As of last night, I'm back in that same place again. I'm the guy with "good enough, but not *good*" gear -- the one who needs to learn the fights before he relaxes enough to really open the throttle up -- the one who died about 2/3rds of the way through every boss fight. I did the job I was brought in to do, but it wasn't A+... it was ... maybe a B-, maybe a C. "Shows promise, needs to focus" writes the teacher in my new class -- not nearly as 'easy' as my old class.

A friend from my old guild who convinced me to join him in this new guild told me that he really wanted me to come in and just blow the doors off some of the cockier members of the guild. That didn't happen last night.

But it will.

I like this new pond. It's a lot bigger.

Posted by Doyce at 10:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hmm. I wrote a really really long post that didn't go anywhere. Let's start over.

Playing Grezzk, I've been working on the new event in World of Warcraft -- the introduction of the Shattered Sun Offensive and all the heroic behind the scenes effort (read: repeatable quests) that go into it -- as you complete quests, you and all the other folks doing those quests on the server help the 'progress' of the war effort move along -- over time, you gain a foothold on the island, then expand it, get logistical support, et cetera, et cetera.

I've really enjoyed being part of the Offensive. This can be shown numerically, because the quests themselves pay pretty well and advance your reputation with the Shattered Sun faction -- in the short time since this faction was introduced, I've gone from 500 gold to the almsot 5200 I need to get an epic-speed flying mount and because Exalted with the faction weeks ago... all without trying... just ENJOYING my small part in the war effort. Good stuff.

But I'm kind of done with that. I enjoy my alt characters a lot, but at the same time I like playing GREZZ: I've got more play-time on him AT level 70 than the play time I have on all his other 69 levels combined (a tribute both to the character and to the piles of stuff there is to do in the end game), and there is a lot more stuff to see in the game that I haven't yet -- 'end game' stuff that no one will run come Halloween/Thanksgiving when the new expansion comes out. There are seven 25-man dungeons in the end-game, and I've seen one of them. I'd really like to fix that.

I was in a guild that was gearing up to hit that content really hard, and it melted down. Scholomance Debate Team went from a really quirky family to a truly poisonous environment in a matter of weeks. In Lee's words, "it was like dating a really pretty, smart, sexy girl for six months... and then finding out that she was in a mental institution for the three years just before she met you... and then escaped."

When all the happened, I just didn't have time to deal with it; I wasn't an officer or a class lead, and frankly between Kate moving out here and looking for a new job, I just had more important stuff to think about.

So I moved into a casual guild of people I knew who were thinking about doing a little more raiding then they had been. What they were moving up and in to was stuff I'd already done a bunch, but it was still fun to see it again through new eyes. I wasn't sure it was the right fit for what I wanted, but the GL talked to me about what he wanted to do in the future, and convinced me to stay. That was just before the wedding.

While I was off getting married, the guild leader quit the game during a firestorm of a guild meltdown that I'm pretty glad I missed.

Right. Guildless again. Farstriders is a small server (note: still 5 times higher population than the average CoH server), and there are really only about three guilds who are doing the content I'd like to see, and they're all kind of 'hardcore' raiding guilds; to use an amateur-sports analogy, I was playing with my friends, out in the park, on weekends. These guys are trying to win their division the sponsored league play.

But seriously? It's that or doing a paid transfer to another, much bigger server and looking for a 'responsible, but casual' guild that would take in a stranger.

So I'm basically trying out for one of the local Big Names this week. It's a series of job interviews all over again.

Honestly? I'm pretty excited.

And in the meantime, i get to play Lord of the Rings with Kate, one which we've really picked out our 'mains' and started some serious exploration of the higher-end areas. People want us to get to Rivendell in time to give Aragorn a message! We've seen Angmar! (Well, we snuck into the southernmost passes leading into angmar and saw a really terrifyingly big dragon go by overhead.)

Pretty heady stuff for a steadfast dwarven guardian and his adorable elven hunting companion. (It's my blog, so she's his companion. :)

Posted by Doyce at 3:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

... that's largely because there hasn't been a lot of gaming going on.

Sometime last month, Dave ran a session of Ill Met by Gaslight, and that was good.

A little while before that, I ran a session of In a Wicked Age down at Lee and De's, and that was good too.

I haven't run Spirit of the Century this year... maybe since last November.

I haven't run a session of Galactic since mid-December.

Which would leave me posting mostly about World of Warcraft and Lord of the Rings online (which, unlike my local playerbase/social calendar, is always available). I don't really want to do that (though I may have a "WTB: PvE Hordeside Raiding Guild that won't Melt Down" post coming up at some point), so that has left me with not a lot to write at the moment.

In lieu of slew of WoW/LotRO-centric posts, I've installed two twitter feeds into the sidebar to let me natter on, in a constrained fashion, regarding whatever bit of digital-adventure minutia I'm currently obsessing over.

And seriously?

"Skilled Orc Hunter WTB: Hordeside raiding guild that won't melt down. Will transfer servers for new content and good group of players."

Posted by Doyce at 1:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)