Tuesday, June 23, 2009

the AAAA player. . .

For those of you not familiar with the way baseball works, before a player is deemed "ready" for the majors, they go through a progression of minor leagues. These are graded in quality from A being the lowest level to AAA, the highest level of the minors. However, there are sometimes players who, while being successful in AAA, are not successful at the major league level. These players are often referred to as AAAA (quadruple A) players. I am starting to get the impression I am a quadruple A player in Wow.

I have no problems leveling, farming, running instances at lower levels, all the way up to heroic. Not just as a paladin, deathknight, mage, druid, I've run with them all, and in level appropriate groups, no problems. Once things go heroic, I wilt like a featherweight in the ring with 80's Tyson.

I think part of it may be my mindset. I don't want to kite. I want an instance version of AoE grinding. The boss should be beating on me, the healer healing me, with me generating aggro and DPS burning him down. That might get boring to some others, I like it just fine.

My guild is running Naxx 10 tonight. I am going to participate in the fail. . .er. . .attempt. I say fail because we tried a different 10 man (one of the "easy" ones) and were just crushed. We have some players in the guild who are really good and know their class. We just don't have 10 of them who can run at once and fill every role that needs filled.

This leads me to a curious question. What do I do? My current combination of skills and gear will not carry me. If I can barely get through the first boss of H UK (with 2 wipes on "trash") heroic tanking is not presently a job I can handle. A naxx 10 drop might help, the AC head enchant will help, but these are small improvements. Do I focus on the Druid, get through outlands as fast as I can, and start the process over again? Wow itself is still fun for me. The "progression" game is not.

4 comments:

Copernicus said...

The Naxx bosses just take some practice. And it's not just about the tank, it's about the whole team.

I read blogs where people keep saying Naxx is a faceroll and is so easy, yada yada.

Not if you're new to raiding!

There's quite a bit to learn, and my guild wiped for several weeks in the arachnid quarter before we really got the hang of it.

Now that we're running Ulduar, we do kinda look back on Naxx as being pretty simple, but it's all about perspective. Smaller minds forget that perspective, and laugh at people that are having difficulties in lower content.

So again I say, practice, practice, practice.

Syrana said...

Keep at it, as I agree with Copernicus.

Although, if you are not finding progression to be fun, then do the things you do find fun, like leveling another character.

Everyone does not have to or want to raid. ;)

MMO Player said...

I agree with the others who have already commented. Raiding takes a bit of getting used to, but it will get easier as you 1. improve your equipment, 2. learn the nuances of the fights.

My guild's first attempts at Naxx were painful. But now we get through it just fine. We're not superstars in it, but we enjoy ourselves with only the occasional wipe. Equipment + Experience = Success.

But, then again, not everyone enjoys raiding. So, ultimately, focus on that aspects of the game you do enjoy and have fun!

Anonymous said...

I was reading in the feedreader, and opened this one to comment while reading on through the other posts... got to Lesson learned...

That was what I was going to say... it's very easy when things aren't going right, especially early on in the experience to assume it's all noob-you... when there is a good chance it's the rest of teh group.

Sounds like things are picking up...

Enjoy the highs so you can dismiss the lows...

Gnome Mages are perfectly normal