Thursday, November 24, 2011

Turkey Day Reflections...

For those of you in the United States, Happy Thanksgiving!  I hope that everyone has a chance to meet up with old friends and family and take some time to give thanks for the good things and even the bad that help shape who you are.

Needless to say, I have been reflecting a bit about my WoW time recently.  I still play as much as possible, but I feel that the time has been partly empty.  I log in to do the things I like doing, but just feel like there is something missing.  I raided Firelands last night with my guild on the progression team, and I think I know what my problem is... I have lost the focus I once had.  I still love WoW and am going to play it for as long as I can.  I think what I noticed last night, was that I did not feel a part of the raid team, only a substitute, since someone could not make it.  It was not the raid team, several of them are my friends and were very open to having me be there.  I just felt like a "third wheel" for the team.  We did down Ragnaros and when it came time to roll for the tier helm, I did something that is uncharacteristic for me.  I rolled and won the tier helm!  Not that it is a bad thing, but it was the first time I ever rolled on something and did not want to pass on it for the sake of progression gearing of the group.  I think in part it was the feeling of not being in the raid team normally, so I figured I may not get another shot at the helm.  I realized that I may be feeling a bit out of place in the game and just not having the care for other players that I once had.  For a lot of players, being selfish comes easy to them, but for me it feels out of place.  I prefer to help my team, but without a team at this time I just feel empty. 

Boo Hoo!!!!  Poor me, get over it!

So to get over this awkward feeling for me, I would like to take a few moments to say five things about WoW  that I am thankful for:

1.  The opportunity to engage in a fantasy world rich with story and game play.
2.  Being the most handsome Troll in the game.
3.  Being able to shoot rogues with a Turkey Shooter.
4.  Making friends with some incredibly interesting and fun people.
5.  Being part of a community of gamers who have a passion for something that we all love to do.

What are you thankful for?  What keeps you coming back to play?

Time to go enjoy some turkey and family time...

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Finally reached a Personal Goal

First of all, I would like to take a moment to thank all of the Veterans for their selfless service and sacrifice that they and their families have made to serve their country.  I have several friends in the military and family members who have served in the military.  I understand the personal sacrifices they make in order to follow duty and honor while serving their country.  For these and many other reasons, I salute them all and thank them for all that they do.


I know that I have been quiet lately on my own blog.  It has been for a number of reasons, including guest appearances on podcasts, such as Group Quest and All Things Azeroth.  I have also been working on a project with a few WoW friends of mine to discuss our love of the Diablo franchise with the Shattered Soulstone podcast.  I have also been working on the Legendary Staff quest and trying to figure how to get it, since my raid team fell apart while I was working nights for a few months.  As you can tell with my activities, I have been divided in my interests and time.  I have not been logging in with any regularity or focus on reaching any specific milestones.  Last night, I decided to collect my mail and found this after I collected it:



Yes, I did it!!!  I reached that goal of collecting 1 million gold before patch 4.3!

I hit 900,000 gold, several weeks back, but felt that I lost some motivation to get to 1 million.  Perhaps it was because once I hit the 900,000 mark, I figured 1 million was just something that was going to happen.  When 4.2 dropped on 6/28/2011, I was sitting at about 600,000 gold.  I also had a stash of gems and enchanting materials to use for selling in 4.2 and the Firelands raid.  In August, I decided that my goal would be to reach 1 million gold by the time patch 4.3 was released.  It appears that 11/11/11 would be that day that I finally reached my goal.

I am the type of person that likes to have goals to reach.  It gives me drive and focus to help me stay on target and to enjoy the process of what I am doing.  I hate the feeling of doing something, just to do it.  It feels to me, empty and hollow.  I know people find different things to enjoy when playing a game, but for me, it is having something to accomplish, whether that means raiding, doing pvp, or making gold.

I am thinking of doing a retrospective of how I reached the million gold mark.  What format would you like to see this?  Should I do blog posts, a short podcast, or a combination?  Let me know, and I will work on what media people are most interested in hearing.

Thanks for stopping by...

Time for some more hockey games... that is what Saturday with boys is made for, right?