WoW is no different. Think about the people you play with. Think about yourself. Are you doing things today that you envisaged doing when you sat down at a computer and stepped out into NorthShire or Mulgore for the first time?
But its not just that we didn't know. I admit that I knew nothing about end-game content when I first started playing. I started in April 2008. That was 16 months into Burning Crusade and 7 months before WotLK.I have no doubt that people were clearing the Sunwell by the time I threw my first bubble up and started killing baby wolves.
I ran my first Karazhan on Catreann (Sard was probably onyl level 40 when Cat hit level 70) in a guild run when we were in our first guild - in the days when KAOS was still a great guild. This was just before Arthas started his mayhem in Northrend. My first extended exposure of raiding was Naxx, a raid I still love and would run as often as anyone wanted to.
Today I have four 85s. I struggle to define a main. Sardonica was my first toon, and also the first to 80. But Puraa became important to me when I split my account from Catreann. I no longer had a hunter, and in short I love hunters. But Sardonica always seemed to be my main. I rebelled once and stated that Puraa was to be my main in late LK, but it was Sard that got leveled to 85 first.
Its a weird relationship I have with the two toons. I find Hunters non stressful and easy to play. I love the rhythm of them, and their sheer DPS power. In short they rock.
I have a very different relationship with the priest. I find him complex, and, at times, exceedingly frustrating. I beat myself up if I screw up healing generally because it generally ends up in a wipe. I hate it when I run out of mana and it dawns on me I should have popped my shadowfiend earlier in the fight so he was off cooldown when I needed him again. And lets not even start me on DoT manipulation in shadow!
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I only give this insight into my two mains because I was saddened yesterday when I had a chance to catch up with a friend in game last night. I hadn't seen much of them recently and I want to talk to them to catch up even though I was in BWD at the time.
Raiding is fun, but people are important. This is why I play an MMO. I had a short, but telling conversation with them.
In short they were trying to find a lost love. It turns out that they were no longer enjoying playing a particular toon and, if the truth be known, really wanted to be focusing on another toon.
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It's almost as though WoW players split into two types - those who cant choose a main and play two or three evenly, or those who find that a love that once was is now lost to another.
And its not just with an expansion, it could be a simple patch. Late LK I had lost interest in the priest - he bored me. He wasnt the best tank healer (Paladins had that covered) and there were better raid heals in Shammies and druids. Priest could do both rolls well but weren't a 'must have' class anymore. Generally they were around for their shields and not a great deal more.
Then the changes came in pre Cata. Pow! Priests were exciting again. I played Sard at every opportunity I could. Cata came and priest were broken again (whatever people say for a few weeks there disc priests were pitiful and were the weakest of the 5 healing specs). In fact they were worse than broken and as recently as recently as two months ago we were indefinable from the other healing classes.
But a few tweaks later and the disc priest has become enjoyable to play again. I happily bring Puraa or Sard to whatever is required.
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So I understand how you fall out of love for a toon. And playing a toon because you feel you should is not healthy. The simple message is:
Play the damn toon you want to play. >.<
I dont care what the raid needs, I dont care what you think everyone else wants you to bring, II that is not what you want to do, then dont do it. Simple as that. Don't!
So to my friend - I dont care who you bring. I just care that you are stood next to me when the tank pulls that boss.
/charge
6 comments:
I am exceedingly bad this, e.g. picking a toon I want to play.
I have Azuriel as an indisputable MT main... but I like to PvP, and hate paladin healing, so I lame it up with Ret. But then I see warriors flying all around the map, DKs auto-snaring everyone, both wars/DK annihilating my Resto shaman/Disc priest healers while I get /laugh spammed as Ret vs healer even with Rebuke or endlessly kited around. So... I have full character slots filled with 1 of every class but druid. And they will probably all get leveled to 85 at some point (they were all 80 in Wrath), at which point I will keep switching between them like an ADHD kid in a candy store.
Some fun is eventually had somewhere in there, but goddamn do I envy people who have mains they enjoy in every capacity.
As a healer - please have your friend standing beside you when the tank pulls the boss, unless youre both stood in the wrong damn place!
Playing the class and spec you want to be playing is very important. Not only do you have more fun, but the group you're with will have more fun as well.
Personally I've done my best to only bring people to a raid if there is room for their main spec. It's tempting to bring someone and have them use their offspec to heal, but it's really not worth it. Better to bring a person for the role they want to fill. They will do a better job and everyone will have more fun.
My story is one of love lost, then found again. Since probably vanilla I had played the 10 day trials here and there whenever I got really bored, but I never cared enough to get the game. Fast-forward to right around the launch of LK, when I took up another trial and started playing a rogue. (Forsaken female because why the hell not?) It was love at first sight. Playing a rogue actually had an immersive feel too it. Stealth + squishyness meant I really needed to pick my battles, which felt like what a rogue would do. None of the other classes had that sort of immersive effect on me.
So that was my first 80. Joined a raiding guild, did quite well throughout Naxx, Ulduar not as much, and I took a break shortly before ToC came out. When I came back after my 2-3 month hiatus, I had been g-kicked for inactivity. I didn't feel like joining another serious guild, so I took up a shaman that I had started months earlier. Though I initially hated it, armed with BoAs I tried him out once more. Spec'd enhancement, and loved it above all else. That was my 2nd 80, and my powerhouse for the rest of Wrath. My rogue laid neglected.
Fast-forward again to a month or so again, when I picked my rogue back up, hit 85, and started to PvP. I forgot how much fun rogue PvP is (or how annoying it is for everyone else). Now the rogue's back in the spotlight, tearing up BGs and Arenas, while my shammy works diligently in the AH crafting scrolls and cutting gems, wistfully thinking of the day when I'll care to start raiding again.
Having several toons to choose from is part of the game's allure for me. My first toon is still my "main" but I play Kammler less and less anymore. Rogues are cool but my Warlock is such a DPS beast that it almost seems unfair. Rogues are complicated. Warlocks? Easy peasy.
I'll cycle back through PvP soon enough and my Rogue will be in vogue. Pally heals rock in BGs so I'm sure I'll split time there as well.
I just find too much enjoyment in different aspects of the game to get bogged down with one favorite toon. My favorite changes from time to time but I love them all.
In all honesty, I think that's why I'm taking a break from the toon-oriented gameplay and focusing on the AH. I wound up with 4 80s by the time Cata dropped - and no one loved my mage, my first toon. I have two tanks and a healer, and my "other" main, a tank, and the healer gets all the love. I've been in the same guild for over a year, love the people, but at one point there were something like 5 mages, and they valued my tank and heals over the other. I actually switched my pally from ret to heals, then realized I would never get a shot to run with my mage, then decided frick it, and stopped doing raids.
I love my "other" main, she was my first 80, but sometimes I wanna be one of the braindead, mindless dpsers ;). And I like power shooting from my hands. It's nice to be valued, with a "log in on Carra and raid with us" but...meh.
So. Maybe the next time the guild talks abt raiding, I'll tell them its my mage or I'd rather not. Since, atm, I'm just saying "Nah, not in the mood." Worst case, they say, no thanks and I keep playing the ah.
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