The Journey of One Thousand Miles Pt. 4: Don't be a Jerk

I've been on a bit of a hiatus over the last twenty days due to work and school, but with the onset of Winter's Veil and the end of my semester, I'm back with another installment of The Journey of One Thousand Miles.

We've talked about some of the finer points of being a new player, classes, and professions, so you're probably out of the starting area and grinding your way through the Shattered world of Old Azeroth. Which brings me to the topic of today's post:

DON'T BE A JERK.

World of Warcraft is an amazing game, full of vibrant, fun, and interesting people. It is also a shared-world MMO, which means that for every great player there is at least one rampaging jerkface. The offenses of this little known sub-Faction (you thought the Alliance/Horde were the bad guys, didn't you?) are as numerous and belligerent as these denizens of the interwebz are themselves.

Let's talk about some of these traits and what you can do to avoid/mitigate them after the jump.

Developing Discipline

I made a [Leap of Faith] (HA? See what I did there?!) recently and made a solemn promise to myself that I would do something that I've secretly wanted to do since I first started playing WoW. I don't know why, but I've alwaysd wanted a white-haired, thick bearded Dwarven healing Priest with enchanting and tailoring as professions. I never rolled one because (gasp!) it's sub-optimal given that there are better racial choices in the Alliance...

Let's look at this a little deeper after the jump.

Altaholism

I... am an altaholic.

Everyone in the World of Warcraft knows one, or IS one, or has touched their toe to the water of altaholism. It's a very common condition amongst the Citizens of Azeroth.

For those who may not know what this condition is, or are only familiar with it in a cursory way, it is defined as:

al·ta·hol·ism

/ˈæl tə hɔˌlɪz əm, -hɒ-/  [al-tuh-haw-liz-uh m, -ho-] 

noun, Pathology.

a chronic disorder characterized by dependence on playing alternate characters, repeated excessive use of 'alts', the development of withdrawal symptoms on reducing or ceasing play on multiple characters, morbidity that may include boredom with a class or race, and decreased ability to function socially and vocationally (due to obssessing over alts).

Let's discuss this condition, after the jump.

The Journey of One Thousand Miles Pt. 3 - Professions

I have a confession: I agonize over professions.

Maybe it's the sheer amount of time I've spent grinding away at professions for optimal endgame buffs due to inconsequential changes in a class (epic gems at the end of Cataclysm? JC becomes LAME. Thanks, Blizz), or maybe it's the fact that I love the micro-ding for each additional profession point. It's a game of frequent small rewards... I love crafting.

But let's say you're a brand new Citizen of Azeroth, just peeking out of the racial starting area, and suddenly, there are these guys trying to teach you PROFESSIONS. What are professions? What do they do? Why is one better than another?

These are all excellent questions. Let's answer them after the jump.

Citizens of Azeroth - Zenhawk

Welcome to the first installment of Citizens of Azeroth! This is going to be a regular series where I interview some of the real-world citizens of Azeroth. Players just like you and I; playing for the love of the game.

I'm pleased to start this series by interviewing my long time friend and former Guildie, Zenhawk of the guild <Achievement> on Mannoroth-US.

Join us after the jump for a conversation with one of your fellow Citizens of Azeroth!

The Journey of One Thousand Miles Pt. 2 - Classes

The last installment of "The Journey of One Thousand Miles" talked about evaluating gear based upon quality, and talked about some of the issues you may run into in the starting area (limited bag space, what to sell, what to keep, what is Soulbound/BOE, etc).

In this portion, we'll be discussing classes and gear. Most experienced players have encountered the frustration of the new player Needing every piece of gear that he can... A Retribution Paladin needing those leather +Spirit gloves that your Druid Healer would just LOVE to have, for example.

Some players say "who cares? It's random dungeon gear, and you'll replace it in an hour or two anyway."

I think the underlying issue here is that the player Needing on all that gear may not know what he SHOULD be needing on, and this kind of behavior may continue into the heroic and raiding tiers, where upgrades are random and rare, and getting that perfect drop may take a substantial amount of time to farm.

Let's talk Classes, Specs and what gear you need after the jump.

Disable [Soothing Mist] Camera Tracking

Listen, Mistweavers both young and old (and also Priests, Mages, and various other assorted casters). Tzufit over at Tree Heals Go Woosh posted a simple fix to toggle channeled spell camera tracking. It's definitely worth a few moments to head over to her blog and check it out!

http://treehealsgowoosh.wordpress.com/2012/11/13/stop-your-camera-from-turing-during-soothing-mists/