WoW! Hoo! Good God Y'all! What is it good for?
So around the end of December, I did the unthinkable and unfroze my World of Warcraft account- an account frozen for almost two years mind you. To my surprise, my two Rogue characters still existed, so I was able to resume from where I left off oh so long ago. Kudos to you Blizzard!
My thoughts on the past "month" of gaming?
It's definitely a different experience the second time around, and not because the universe added crap from two expansions.
Instead of being the newbie, I got to play role of veteran to Mig (the catalysts for my return to WoW) and Carlo, both of whom joined out of mere curiosity. It was really cool leading them on quests and aiding them in ones too hard for them. I think the dungeon quest the three of us did was pretty cool- a good parallel to real life teamwork!
While advancing with Koiviron (my main Horde character), I decided to build up Zubrech (Alliance counterpart) at the same time. Furthermore, I made a 3rd character (Pennyamy the Warlock) to supplement Zubrech's progress and vice versa. That worked out well, as I got stuff done a little faster.
Overall, it was good to have a stress reliever to fall back on. While the weeks of job searching and client hounding continued to roll on, what I really need was this temporary escape- where I could actually relax and still have a sense of getting some productivity done. If anything, it was a good social (yes, I said social) experience.
How so?
It totally put my perspective on life back in direction, as I began to draw parallels with my own waking life. And the more I thought about, the more I realized Koiviron was a digital extension of myself. Here's a few examples:
• He has a sprint ability. I like to run.
As Koiviron leveled up, his talent points started to pour in. One of the talent pools I invested points in was with the sprint ability. The result: Longer runs and the shorter recovery times. Now most of you know my love for running, so this parallel is a no-brainer. Investment = improvement.
Which leads to the next point:
• He gained multiple achievements for uncovering map areas. I like to wander trails.
One of the perks I liked about running around Azeroth was gaining experience points for uncovering new areas. In the past month, I uncovered a good portion of the Eastern Kingdoms, gaining achievement points in Exploration and unlocking new flight paths along the way. In reality, I receive a sense of accomplishment for exploring places on my own by foot (it also helps me understand how and where roads connect). In both scenarios, I'd probably sustain an injury (sore muscles in reality, multiple deaths in WoW).
And the final parallel:
• He uses his abilities in Mining and Blacksmithing to earn gold. I make a living through Graphic and Digital Media Design.
Anyone who's played WoW knows that each character can only have two professions (save for the minor professions, which don't count for the character's two). Two years ago, Koiviron lived (and with him being undead, I use that term loosely) with a single profession- Mining. I never bothered giving him a second profession until my 2nd stint, with which I originally chose Skinning. However, after reading guides here and there, I abandoned that and went for Blacksmithing instead, since it's a profession that benefits from Mining. Before I knew it, I was earning gold crazy fast! As for Graphic and Digital Media Design? They're two concentration areas within the same field and ultimately earn me a paycheck!
And there you have it!
But of course, all good things had to come to an end, and last night, I refroze my account. While I enjoyed scratching the itch for the past four weeks, I definitely can't keep up maintaining three characters on a regular basis. Perhaps in the future, I'll unfreeze it yet again. And if I could take my Cyborgs, Gods, and Dwarves class again, I totally would have used this reflection as my final paper, because I definitely learned more within this month than I did with that semester.
Zubrech the Rogue. Kinda looks like Shredder, no?
Koiviron the Rogue, still sporting the pink cup-caked guild tabard from two years ago!
Pennyamy the Warlock, with her Voidwalker Krakmoth in the background.
Koiviron with the hot auction house girl. Aren't they so cute together?
Why didn't I listen to Mig and avoid that infernal machine...
A weird glitch while scrolling through my characters
One of Pennyamy's deaths. I thought it was beautiful in an Aerith kind of way.
My thoughts on the past "month" of gaming?
It's definitely a different experience the second time around, and not because the universe added crap from two expansions.
Instead of being the newbie, I got to play role of veteran to Mig (the catalysts for my return to WoW) and Carlo, both of whom joined out of mere curiosity. It was really cool leading them on quests and aiding them in ones too hard for them. I think the dungeon quest the three of us did was pretty cool- a good parallel to real life teamwork!
While advancing with Koiviron (my main Horde character), I decided to build up Zubrech (Alliance counterpart) at the same time. Furthermore, I made a 3rd character (Pennyamy the Warlock) to supplement Zubrech's progress and vice versa. That worked out well, as I got stuff done a little faster.
Overall, it was good to have a stress reliever to fall back on. While the weeks of job searching and client hounding continued to roll on, what I really need was this temporary escape- where I could actually relax and still have a sense of getting some productivity done. If anything, it was a good social (yes, I said social) experience.
How so?
It totally put my perspective on life back in direction, as I began to draw parallels with my own waking life. And the more I thought about, the more I realized Koiviron was a digital extension of myself. Here's a few examples:
• He has a sprint ability. I like to run.
As Koiviron leveled up, his talent points started to pour in. One of the talent pools I invested points in was with the sprint ability. The result: Longer runs and the shorter recovery times. Now most of you know my love for running, so this parallel is a no-brainer. Investment = improvement.
Which leads to the next point:
• He gained multiple achievements for uncovering map areas. I like to wander trails.
One of the perks I liked about running around Azeroth was gaining experience points for uncovering new areas. In the past month, I uncovered a good portion of the Eastern Kingdoms, gaining achievement points in Exploration and unlocking new flight paths along the way. In reality, I receive a sense of accomplishment for exploring places on my own by foot (it also helps me understand how and where roads connect). In both scenarios, I'd probably sustain an injury (sore muscles in reality, multiple deaths in WoW).
And the final parallel:
• He uses his abilities in Mining and Blacksmithing to earn gold. I make a living through Graphic and Digital Media Design.
Anyone who's played WoW knows that each character can only have two professions (save for the minor professions, which don't count for the character's two). Two years ago, Koiviron lived (and with him being undead, I use that term loosely) with a single profession- Mining. I never bothered giving him a second profession until my 2nd stint, with which I originally chose Skinning. However, after reading guides here and there, I abandoned that and went for Blacksmithing instead, since it's a profession that benefits from Mining. Before I knew it, I was earning gold crazy fast! As for Graphic and Digital Media Design? They're two concentration areas within the same field and ultimately earn me a paycheck!
And there you have it!
But of course, all good things had to come to an end, and last night, I refroze my account. While I enjoyed scratching the itch for the past four weeks, I definitely can't keep up maintaining three characters on a regular basis. Perhaps in the future, I'll unfreeze it yet again. And if I could take my Cyborgs, Gods, and Dwarves class again, I totally would have used this reflection as my final paper, because I definitely learned more within this month than I did with that semester.
Zubrech the Rogue. Kinda looks like Shredder, no?
Koiviron the Rogue, still sporting the pink cup-caked guild tabard from two years ago!
Pennyamy the Warlock, with her Voidwalker Krakmoth in the background.
Koiviron with the hot auction house girl. Aren't they so cute together?
Why didn't I listen to Mig and avoid that infernal machine...
A weird glitch while scrolling through my characters
One of Pennyamy's deaths. I thought it was beautiful in an Aerith kind of way.