Really Long Break Due to New Guild - Sorry

Well, thanks to discovering a new guild in early April '09, I have become the casual player who spends more than 40 hours a week in game. Little did I know when I pugged that Naxx raid that my whole WoW experience was going to change. I'm not entirely sure I can still even be called casual. And poor Cayleah has gone by the wayside as my continual hunt for better gear has taken over my alt time.

Here's what happened. I was still new to Sisters of Elune and got it in my head to try something really crazy and put myself in LFG for Naxx 10. I put in my comments that I was new to raiding. Never in million years did I think I would actually get in a group. But lo and behold the crazy people (that's a term of endearment) of Unbroken pugged me. I spent the entire raid following as closely as I could the other hunter, Nearra, who put up with my stalking. I had a blast and a week later joined the guild and the weekly Naxx runs.

It's been nonstop ever since. We've gone from not enough people for a full group of 10 to enough to do 25's as a guild. Last night on our Weekly 25 man ToC we downed the Twins for the first time but couldn't get Anub and Naxx is a distant memory.

I find myself always in a quandary because I am at heart a casual player and have all these casual goals, such as Loremaster but find that I have to spend a large amount of time farming gold and food buff matts to support my new raiding habit.

I don't know where this is all headed, but I finally got Eastern Kingdom Loremaster and make my second attempt at Heroic ToC 10 tomorrow. Wish me well and let me know if any of you are having these dual goal problems.

Tedrah of Sisters of Elune

So, this is my main, Tedrah and her loyal companion, Precious.

Tedrah has several current goals in game. She’s trying to get the Superior achievement; and only one ring away. Tedrah has two more JC dailies to go before she can make the Titanium Impact Band. I think that will get her the achievement. She’s also working on raising some gold to help with alts and her own mount purchases.

A never ending goal is her hope to get in some PUG heroics and raids. This is one of the harder goals for a casual player as the looking for group function is not the best in the world. Also, trying to find a group that will take an inexperienced raider is hard. But that’s a catch 22 as you can’t get the experience without someone taking you.

Cayleah Begins

Watched the Big Red Kitty Project Lore videos of Baby Hunter. Finally, a clear explanation and sample of kiting.

So thanks to Big Red Kitty, the birth of Cayleah on Sisters of Elune (A).


She's a night elf hunter and I'm going to try to learn the movement skills that apparently come easily to my son's generation but not to mine.

I'll try to keep an update of how she's doing as we go and use her as an example of a casual player's approach to the game. Keeping in mind that I tend to be a little OCD, I am going to try something new. I'm going to attempt to keep my quest log down to five at a time. See if I can keep from missing quests that way.

Cayleah did pretty well at keeping distance and avoiding melee on the boars and nightsabers. Little bit of trouble with the spiders as I don't have concussive shot yet and I don't quite have the skill down on the turning while jumping move. I'm doing pretty well with the strafing right, but strafing left is a problem.

Anyone else starting an alt to try to get the movement skills?

Teodora's Dance of Joy

After three and a half years of play I have finally gotten a second toon to level 60. It’s been a really long time coming for Teodora. She was my main on Thorium Brotherhood prior to the Burning Crusade and in a year of play she was only a level 52. Alas, she suffered from the fact I had never played this type of game before and had no idea what stats were for or how talents worked. I was just kind of stumbling around in the dark trying not to die too often.

Then, with Burning Crusade, my son and his girlfriend decided to take pity on me and try out the game. We all rolled Blood Elves on Ravenholdt and Tedra was born. Now she had an unfair advantage over Teodora because my son knew what he was doing and I began my lessons in how to be a better hunter. Oscyris talked about Agility and Stamina and Gear. He talked about specs and which pets were better for different situations. And dungeons, dungeons, dungeons. Apparently the game was full of dungeons you could do in groups. He talked about trapping and feign death. Tedra became my main and stayed that way.

I then shared my addiction, via a trail version, with a friend from work. She rolled on Sisters of Elune so I transferred Teodora there with a thought to playing with her sometimes, but she rolled Alliance. Of course with my focus on Tedra, Teodora just sat lonely and neglected on Sisters of Elune. Then last month, for various reasons, I decided to transfer Tedra (who became Tedrah on transfer) to Sisters of Elune. And now my friend, Moondance, who had been playing on her Alliance toon (Teriana) was fast closing in on Teodora’s level 52.

I quickly got Teodora out of the cupboard and put her to work. So Moondance and Teodora have been happily moving right along this past month doing low level quests and dungeons. Teodora dropped alchemy and picked up inscription to go with her herbalism.

Then night before last, Teodora stepped thru the Dark Portal at level 58 with the idea of simply getting her books for her professions that have been sitting at 300 (except for newly picked up inscription). And one thing led to another and a few hours and quests later Teodora dinged 60. She promptly went back thru the portal and did her training and picked up a fast mount.

Her goal now is to stay in Azeroth until she completes the Loremaster achievements for Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms. This means she will be in Azeroth a long time as she is no where near these achievements. I can’t quite figure out how she ever got to level 52 doing so few quests. She hasn’t even done the Nessingwary line in Stranglethorn. So now Teodora is backtracking and trying to use all the knowledge Oscyris gave me and my now three years+ experience to get her on the right track.

Stay tuned for Teodora updates. She and her faithful gorilla, Dahmoo will be seeing you around the world

My Gaming History

Who am I and why should you care? Well, the simple answer is no one in particular and no reason you should. But for the sake of argument let’s say you do. What are my credentials?

A little history of my gaming experience should shed some light. As I was growing up video games were not allowed in my house. They were new and like all things new, scary to parents and therefore banned. I had to sneak over to the neighbor’s house to get a chance to ‘watch’ Pong. As a result, I played my first computer game around 1993 when I got my very own PC at the ripe old age of 29.

It was the original SimCity and the weekend I got it I was up ‘til 3:00 AM two nights in a row completely absorbed. Waiting for the next update on my abilities as Mayor was enthralling. Could I get more money coming in or would I be in the red forever? What natural disaster would hit next? My son was lucky he got fed that weekend.

Since then I have actively played lots of simulation games. I am a huge fan of Pharaoh and all The Sims titles. I love Roller Coaster Tycoon and will try almost anything with Tycoon in the title. I really enjoyed Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri, unfortunately it no longer plays on my current system. I like Alice Greenfingers and BigFishGames. Pogo is my friend. I am the epitome of a casual gamer. Hardcore players look at me and cringe, sometimes crosses are involved.

I have tried several times to play console games, but apparently my generation is missing the gene that allows you to successfully use those hand held controllers. So, I’m a PC girl all the way.

In early 2005, after re-reading the Wheel of Time books by Robert Jordan for the fifth time, I decided I wanted to try a role playing game. I trotted on down to Best Buy (actually I drove, never been good with horses, I have a fear of heights and they are a little too tall for my taste) and bought Guild Wars because I thought the girl on the package was pretty. See how I used the scientific method there to choose my game. It’s always important to keep your priorities straight during game selection.

I liked Guild Wars. I liked the graphics and once my son explained how to fight I liked the game play. Exploring was fun and I loved finding out what cool things would drop when I killed something. I liked that there was no monthly fee. I’m easily pleased. The only problem was that my old computer tended to boot me out of the game frequently or freeze all together while playing. It became too frustrating, so my son, bless him, suggested I try World of Warcraft. He had never played it but he said it was the same type of game.

So, despite the fact that the game had an ugly orc on the cover, in October of 2005 I bought it, installed it and my adventure began. Now being the casual girl I am and from a generation not used to these games I chose to begin with…can you guess? Of course you can; a Night Elf Hunter. That toon has been gone for years as about three months in I switched to Horde, but either way, I’ve been playing ever since. I’m an alt-oholic. I’ve created, played and deleted more low level toons than you can imagine. Having played non-stop since October 2005, I have exactly one level 80. Tedrah on Sisters of Elune. She recently jumped there from Ravenholdt where she was known as Tedra. If you see me in game, feel free to say hey.

That’s who I am in relation to gaming. Next time let’s talk less about me and more about WoW. I always like to talk about WoW.

Feel free to comment and while you are at it, let me know who you are.