What’s your secret?
Posted on July 9, 2008 - Filed Under Other stuff
Ok - so maybe secret isn’t the right word, but I think everyone has little tips and tricks that help them get through the slogs in Warcraft. I’ve only very recently started actively farming anything other than levels and XP (which is a different kind of grind) - and I’m working on an arsenal of things that keep me interested while I’m going after that next adamantite node, terocone patch, or windy cloud.
- Friends. Having someone to talk to, in guild chat, chat channels, or party chat, helps me out a LOT. Farming up (whatever) takes a fair amount of time, and having someone to talk to about whatever happens to come up is a nice distraction.
- Podcasts. I’ve found that I have real trouble playing when I can’t hear in-game sound, so playing music isn’t always the best way to keep me interested. But listening to someone talk is a lot like having an interesting conversation, and I can easily do so while having the in-game sound (and music) turned on. My usual choices are warcraft, history, and knitting podcasts… I know, I’m a nerd, but there are TONS of podcasts to choose from.
- Goals. Today I’m going to go out and farm 2 stacks of adamantite and 5 primal shadow (or whatever). Having a minimum goal helps - even if it just means I’m counting down until I get to go do something more fun.
Leveling alts is one of the things I really enjoy about warcraft - partially because it helps keep me interested, partially because it’s a way to create interesting and different personalities, and partially because I really enjoy re-exploring Azeroth and zones that I have memories from earlier characters. As much as I enjoy it, however, there are times when leveling can be another “grind” kind of experience. When I’m working on leveling an alt, there are two more things that have helped:
- Make it a game - what’s the most efficient way to do these quests. How many of these can I get done all in one shot without running out of bag space or having to backtrack. Having a leveling guide (there are a few free ones that are pretty good) can help, though since I’ve done most of the zones 4 or 5 times now, I don’t really need to use them.
- Do all your running around in one fell swoop - I save up go here, go there, run this to so and so in the middle of nowhere quests for one long stretch of hoofing it all over Azeroth. Rather than break the focus that I have on doing individual quests in sequence, this lets me do something else (like cleaning, cooking, or knitting) while I’m on the gryphon flying to deliver zuzu’s petals to gizmo the goblin off the coast of Azshara (or whatever). Then, when I’m done, I can go back to one quest area and really dig in.
- Keep Personality in mind. It’s fun to figure out how Annylais would respond to something - and how that’s different from Aelflaed’s response. Each of my characters has her own history and preferences (Angoleth *really* doesn’t like demons, and Annorah avoids killing elementals whenever possible - unless they’re sick/tainted) and that helps to keep the quest areas fresh.
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4 Responses to “What’s your secret?”
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“Keep Personality in mind.”
Big nod of agreement here, what characters I end up playing and enjoying is largely dependent on which ones have personalities and stories that I can think about and have fun with…
“Movies/TV” If I am grinding out dailies I would rather not think about it. So I turn on the TV or a movie and get lost in that while I look for more damn blood berries.
“Vent” If there is one other person on vent I find it a blessing. Leveling is always easier when you have someone to complain about it too.
“Goals” Gotta agree on that. Without goals for what I want to do in a night I would wander around and probaly end up being on until 3 am. Once my nightly goals have been met…it is bed time.
Goals - I work them out during the week, and get to it on a Friday night. I always feel kind of disappointed if I don’t get to a required goal… but then just mark it for completion the following week.
Friends - silent communication via vent. Often in vent with friends - and not saying anything. But I still like it. It’s like they are sitting on the couch next to me during a movie.. I can say something, but I don’t have to.
@jager - I’m impressed - I could never actually watch two things at once, perhaps I’m too easily distracted!
@gnome - I get the same feeling in vent even when people aren’t talking. It’s not as good as real company, but it’s miles beyond being by yourself!