Recently, I've been pondering whether or not my time spent in the World of Warcraft has positively impacted my life in anyway or not. At the beginning I thought having to play WoW for twenty hours was going to be burdensome and a hindrance to all the other work I would have to accomplish this semester. Obviously not. Last week when I checked my time played for the first tie I had logged nearly eighty hours. At this point I thought back to McDonigal's Reality is Broken when she mentions gaming can lose its effectiveness once the player exceeds the window of opportunity. And with her four defining characteristics games embody: a goal, rules, a feedback system, and voluntary participation, I felt I may have been exhausting the feedback system. I arrived at the point where I no longer felt the benefits of the reward system. Before each player level, talents unlocked, dungeon achievement, and so forth completed I felt a sense of accomplishment and pride. But when it started becoming prioritized over other work I needed to get completed, and I couldn't readily pry myself away from the game, but continued playing despite the guilt trip my conscience was giving me.
However, one day, like the spur of the moment feeling when an individual decides to randomly quit smoking, I stepped outside of the addictive personality I'd hitherto been assuming. Fortunately, I knew from past experience that extensive euphoric binges must end eventually. The longer a one-track idea is pursued without accounting for the lack in other areas of one's life, the harder that person will crash. I'm reminded here of the few clips of Second Skin we've gotten to see in class. The man who held his piss in, or used his 2-liter soda bottle as a urinal, that could've been me if I didn't have decency to uphold in a household with others!
Also, when I aimlessly searched on google for WoW related material, I came across www.wowdetox.com, which really helped you see others who have been in the game and spent enormous amounts of time in the game world that no longer was conducive to their lives. On this site I read about others who had top-notch gear, did raids all day long, were in some of the top 10 guilds, etc., and then I wondered to myself, I've been playing this whole time excitedly with the notion that I would somehow reach this ultimate goal at the end with a lvl 85 character and then suddenly become happy and feel I have accomplished something. But when I read the players' blogs that posted on wowdetox, I understood then that this game never really ends, it could be pursued as long as one wishes. Apparently for a lot of people, the game doesn't even get really good until you reach lvl 85! Idiomatically speaking, I was chasing the dragon to no definitive end. And therefore, I hope to return to WoW only when the time is appropriate and I don't have any obligatory projects to accomplish beforehand.
Lastly, I just want to reflect back to last week's class where we talked as a class when technology becomes problematic in the social sphere. And I believe we used the example of having a cell phone out at the dinner table, whether it's at a restaurant or at the home. My thoughts are, there is a general shift in our society where technology is becoming more accepted in settings where they once before would've been deemed unacceptable. For instance, in High School classrooms nowadays, it wouldn't be unlikely to find a class that utilizes online assignments and test taking, and hence, students are permitted/required to submit answers from their cellphones to the online database Blackboard to be recorded. Certainly something like that with our generation would have been unfathomable for us and our teachers (hopefully no one had a preexisting heart condition that was going to be told kids could freely use their cellphones in the classroom!) But I digress (I hope some of my audience is still here with me). And to wrap this all up and relating it back to WoW, I think technology is of legitimate use when it's not abused, which I think is a really hard idea to consider in today's times, but used accordingly there is obvious perks that better facilitate learning in the classroom and as a way of progressing our advancements for civilizations, too. However, taken to extremes like the direction I was heading with WoW can be detrimental when it's no longer providing a positive feedback system. My little WoW escapade eerily reminded me of Victor Frankenstein's obsessive pursuit of science beyond a point of it no longer being a worthy cause, which consequently led to his demise..
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
For the Horde!
I've been asked by a few classmates on how I got to the level I am at so quickly (currently lvl. 50), so I figured I'd lay out all the methods I used in a blog post. Let my clarify first by saying that I'm far from anything significant in this game and for the most part a newbie like many others in the class are. Therefore, by having a newbie such as myself explain faster modes of leveling in layman's terms - the only way I know how when regarding WoW - my descriptions should come across more clearly than some of the guides you may stumble across when looking for information on the web - some I find being esoteric despite being labeled as a "beginner guide."
Anyhow, these tips are reductive, as they should be, but nevertheless should help you out if find that you're still <15 lvl aftering feeling like you've invested many hours into the game.
1. If you're in place of settlement and see any yellow exclamation marks on your radar/map, you'll want to approach that person because it's likely to be an offer to do a quest. Once you receive the information for the quest and accept, don't go off working on the quest just yet. You'll want to see if there are any characters in the same vicinity offering quests and accept theirs as well. The reason for accepting many at a time in a specific locale is the quests these characters as of you typically involve going to an area where the other quests would have you go as well. You can confirm this by maximizing your map and seeing the proximity that your quests are located to one another. Now you can go to that area and possibly complete three or so quests at a time rather than running back and forth to complete one. Quests offer decent experience, decent gear to equip, and currency. In addition, a lot of quests ask you to kill a certain enemy on the ourskirts of their post - so if you like slaughtering monsters for the hell of it, you can make it worth your time more.
2. By following the first step's advice, this will often allow you to explore more regions that your character can explore and find more cities/posts that offer more quests and special incentives for your character. You'll get a miniscule amount of xp for exploring a new region, but the real perks come with getting opportunities to do quests that offer more experience, better items, and more currency than the previous ones. And because you'll be leveling as you keep questing, the level of difficulty for these quests doesn't differ too much as long as you are level appropriate - and you'll know you are because the game is structured in a way that won't allow you to enter an unexplored terrority unless you meet the level requirements (clicking on your map and hovering your cursor around regions outside the one you are in usually show in parentheses what level range of characters are allowed in that territory - thus, if you see one that you eligble for and qualify for level needed, by all means, go "explore").
3. Early on it's also a good idea to pick a profession that suits your taste. Each profession offers opportunities that benefit you in one way or another in the game - blacksmithing to make your own armor/weaponry, fishing to give yourself health recovering delicacies, etcetera. The benefits include xp each time you complete a task in your trade and can set yourself up to be more self-relient in the game. But also, everytime you're trekking across regions in the game, you'll often see mounds of ore, herbs, streams - all of which can supply you with more character xp while you are out exploring or to questing while building up your profession's skill. Jumping on this early is good because like the territories your character advances to, each trade's requirements are also dependent on the level range of the region you're in. So if you're in a region that requries a level 50 character level, and you decide then to pick up a mining profession, you'll have to begin mining in beginner areas much like the ones you spawned in when the game started and work up from there.
4. Following the three previous methods for leveling up your character quickly, you will be able to get to level 15 in a short amount of time. At this point you can que yourself in a dungeon to do an instance. To do this, go to the green eye situated on the right-hand side of your icon bar at the bottom. This is your dungeon finder. You will see you can ask to be in a que that will find four other players to do a dungeon with you. And as you'll notice, this random dungeon finder will give you a reward of gold, often a lot of experience, and a bag that contains a rare item when you open it. Furthermore, the enemies you face in an instance are "elite" and although they are close to your level, you will find their attacks are a lot more powerful and take a lot longer to die than the enemies you come across when doing a regular quest. For this you will understand why 5 players is usually necessary. Furthermore, the monsters in the dungeons often give you a lot more xp (especially the bosses) than you would come across when doing quests on your own. In addition, the items you find in dungeons normally exceed those that you'll find from doing any monster, quest, or vendor. That's not all. Within the dungeons you have quests you can do as well, so again you'll want to make sure you visit every character in the dungeon at the beginning that's sporting a large obnoxious exclamation mark above their head. Now, you will see how you can level very quickly - often a whole level in one dungeon early on. And when you're done, que up again. But you will notice when you display your dungeon finder window that it will tell you how many more times you can do a random dungeon and receive the prize goal and bag for doing so. Once those alloted times are used up (until they regenerate in however many days it designates) you can choose a tab within the same window that says "pick a specific dungeon." Here you will be able to choose a dungeon that you may not have done yet, and will also display to you which dungeons are available to you. You simply place a check next to the dungeon you would like and wait in a que - and of course if you check a dungeon that displays a range of levels that are closest to your character's level, you will reap the most benefit from those in terms of "loot" (prizes for killing monsters), gold, and experience earned.
Also, you will notice sometimes when waiting in a dungeon que that it can take anywhere from thirty seconds to fifteen minutes, which creates a perfect opportunity to read McDonigal or McGee while waiting (I read a good bit of Frankenstein while being qued up). This way when your addictive tendencies get the upper-hand on your ability to pry yourself away from WoW, you can justify it by reading school material for 5-10 minutes before doing a half hour dungeon sweep. Then repeat.
Anyhow, these tips are reductive, as they should be, but nevertheless should help you out if find that you're still <15 lvl aftering feeling like you've invested many hours into the game.
1. If you're in place of settlement and see any yellow exclamation marks on your radar/map, you'll want to approach that person because it's likely to be an offer to do a quest. Once you receive the information for the quest and accept, don't go off working on the quest just yet. You'll want to see if there are any characters in the same vicinity offering quests and accept theirs as well. The reason for accepting many at a time in a specific locale is the quests these characters as of you typically involve going to an area where the other quests would have you go as well. You can confirm this by maximizing your map and seeing the proximity that your quests are located to one another. Now you can go to that area and possibly complete three or so quests at a time rather than running back and forth to complete one. Quests offer decent experience, decent gear to equip, and currency. In addition, a lot of quests ask you to kill a certain enemy on the ourskirts of their post - so if you like slaughtering monsters for the hell of it, you can make it worth your time more.
2. By following the first step's advice, this will often allow you to explore more regions that your character can explore and find more cities/posts that offer more quests and special incentives for your character. You'll get a miniscule amount of xp for exploring a new region, but the real perks come with getting opportunities to do quests that offer more experience, better items, and more currency than the previous ones. And because you'll be leveling as you keep questing, the level of difficulty for these quests doesn't differ too much as long as you are level appropriate - and you'll know you are because the game is structured in a way that won't allow you to enter an unexplored terrority unless you meet the level requirements (clicking on your map and hovering your cursor around regions outside the one you are in usually show in parentheses what level range of characters are allowed in that territory - thus, if you see one that you eligble for and qualify for level needed, by all means, go "explore").
3. Early on it's also a good idea to pick a profession that suits your taste. Each profession offers opportunities that benefit you in one way or another in the game - blacksmithing to make your own armor/weaponry, fishing to give yourself health recovering delicacies, etcetera. The benefits include xp each time you complete a task in your trade and can set yourself up to be more self-relient in the game. But also, everytime you're trekking across regions in the game, you'll often see mounds of ore, herbs, streams - all of which can supply you with more character xp while you are out exploring or to questing while building up your profession's skill. Jumping on this early is good because like the territories your character advances to, each trade's requirements are also dependent on the level range of the region you're in. So if you're in a region that requries a level 50 character level, and you decide then to pick up a mining profession, you'll have to begin mining in beginner areas much like the ones you spawned in when the game started and work up from there.
4. Following the three previous methods for leveling up your character quickly, you will be able to get to level 15 in a short amount of time. At this point you can que yourself in a dungeon to do an instance. To do this, go to the green eye situated on the right-hand side of your icon bar at the bottom. This is your dungeon finder. You will see you can ask to be in a que that will find four other players to do a dungeon with you. And as you'll notice, this random dungeon finder will give you a reward of gold, often a lot of experience, and a bag that contains a rare item when you open it. Furthermore, the enemies you face in an instance are "elite" and although they are close to your level, you will find their attacks are a lot more powerful and take a lot longer to die than the enemies you come across when doing a regular quest. For this you will understand why 5 players is usually necessary. Furthermore, the monsters in the dungeons often give you a lot more xp (especially the bosses) than you would come across when doing quests on your own. In addition, the items you find in dungeons normally exceed those that you'll find from doing any monster, quest, or vendor. That's not all. Within the dungeons you have quests you can do as well, so again you'll want to make sure you visit every character in the dungeon at the beginning that's sporting a large obnoxious exclamation mark above their head. Now, you will see how you can level very quickly - often a whole level in one dungeon early on. And when you're done, que up again. But you will notice when you display your dungeon finder window that it will tell you how many more times you can do a random dungeon and receive the prize goal and bag for doing so. Once those alloted times are used up (until they regenerate in however many days it designates) you can choose a tab within the same window that says "pick a specific dungeon." Here you will be able to choose a dungeon that you may not have done yet, and will also display to you which dungeons are available to you. You simply place a check next to the dungeon you would like and wait in a que - and of course if you check a dungeon that displays a range of levels that are closest to your character's level, you will reap the most benefit from those in terms of "loot" (prizes for killing monsters), gold, and experience earned.
Also, you will notice sometimes when waiting in a dungeon que that it can take anywhere from thirty seconds to fifteen minutes, which creates a perfect opportunity to read McDonigal or McGee while waiting (I read a good bit of Frankenstein while being qued up). This way when your addictive tendencies get the upper-hand on your ability to pry yourself away from WoW, you can justify it by reading school material for 5-10 minutes before doing a half hour dungeon sweep. Then repeat.
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