The Story Within

World of Warcraft has a story. But I am not sure what the story is.

One of Tobold's recent posts suddenly has me thinking about the effectiveness of the story in a game, and why I even bother playing.

So, why do I play a game whose story I do not even know?

First, lets take a look at what I think I know of World of Warcraft's story:

The Titans made Azeroth, they are the world builders of the gods. Maybe. Dragons are probably at least as old as the Titans, and so are the demons.

(Remember, I am only telling the story as I know it, for the real story, I would suggest WoWWiki, I've read through some of the World of Warcraft story there in the past and some of it is pretty good.)

The oldest and most predominant race on Azeroth are/were the trolls. Most of the ruins you see in the game are of troll nature. Their god went mad and some sort of insanity spread throughout the race so that we now see them amidst a dark age that they may never recover from.

I do not know how the Dwarves, Elves, Ogres, Goblins,Tauren, or Gnomes came to be upon Azeroth...the Dwarves might be natives alongside the Trolls, but I am not sure. Humans lost their home world to the Burning Crusade's demonic onslaught and somehow came to be ported (or something) to Azeroth, for safety (so much for that).

At some point the undead came to Azeroth as the Scourge and another god went mad but was absorbed by a human hero. He too went mad and made his own undead army to thwart the scourge but really, he wants it all.

Someone made a very powerful, god-like dragon really, really mad. He's coming to Azeroth too because, well everyone else seems to be there, so why not?

The Dreani had their world torn asunder by the Burning Legion and crash-landed on Azeroth because, again, that's where the party is at.

And, that's about all I know of the story behind the World of Warcraft. Sure, there are thousands of smaller stories, but that is the Big One. As far as I can relate it at this time, anyway.

So why do I play the game if I am obviously not playing for the story? Because I like pretty pixels. I love good-looking characters and eye-catching armor and absurdly-designed weapons. I love spell effects. I love an open world that allows me to go just about anywhere, do anything, even if those options are somewhat limited.

I play for the gear, but not for the treadmill of gear acquisition.

Right now, my main character has a set of level-appropriate gear that, while not spectacular and all disco-flashy, looks good as a set of matching parts. And her swords are nothing to laugh at either.

That is all it takes to please me and keep me playing World of Warcraft.

I can be a simple person at times.

Gearing Up Again

Well, I managed to craft the entire Savage Saronite set for my DPS warrior. I also crafted a couple of gem slots and used another item that created a slot. So I bought three +16 strength gems. I almost got the epics for +20 each, but in Gevlon's words, sometimes the cost to improvement ratio just does not add up.

I also attached titanium chains to my two two-handers for some really nice crit bonuses and a leg enchant as well.

Replaced my rings with two crimson rings of something or other, and my necklace and also my cape.

It all adds up to a general increase in damage and crit. A dps player can not complain about that!

I think that at this point, my toon is ready for entry level raiding in Lich King. I will have to speak to someone in my guild to see if they will have me. Also have to make sure I actually can make the time for it.

It is nice to see the lich king mobs die a little faster too!

Making Money Day Fourteen

Another ho-hum day.

I might be that I just do not have the instinct for playing the market. Or, I am just at the right place at the wrong time. There is not a whole lot of activity in the auction house right now, with everyone taking a break for holidays and waiting for Cataclysm to drop.

I did sell some of my blacksmith's crafted gear that came about from leveling up that profession last night. Almost made a hundred gold, and the night is still young.

But my ore is not selling. The undercutting is harsh. I would buy it all but I do not have the resources to support that kind of investment.

Maybe I also need to read some of Gevlon's posts a little better...

My First Epic

My warrior got her first Lich King Epic this evening via the argent tournament vendor. A nice two-hander that out-shines anything else I could get at this time. Might be a long while before I can get the second one, but that is the plan regardless.

Got her blacksmithing up to over 430. Need about another 420 saronite ores to cap it get it 445, then I have to try and craft some epic stuff from auction house plans. I thought I might make a set of spiked saronite gear, but I need another 200 ores or so for that as well.

I should be able to get the ore by the end of the week though. I used to get about a hundred ores a day in BC, seems to be about the same in Lich King when I put my mind to it.

Man, that is a nice sword though. Can hardly wait for the second one.

Making Money Day Thirteen

Ho, hum.

Sold a few arrows, put some more up. At 1s each, they are not paying me back very quickly, but at least it is something, I suppose.

Some more ore came back. Put it back up.

Finally decided to use my banked ore to level up Blacksmithing on my warrior and put up the crafted items via my money maker.

Some morons are undercutting me really bad on that ore though. They caught on to the price-per-single idea but instead of actually trying to make a profit, they are setting the stuff up at just over one gold each. If I go too much below five gold each I will not make my money back, it will be a loss instead.

I am hoping that these guys will just sell out and go away. They did not put much up. I think they were just raiders or something who tripped over some nodes and decided on a whim to make a few gold pcs.

Otherwise, that is about it for the day.

Making Money Day Twelve

Nothing to report, really.

All of my ore came back so I relisted it. Made no money at all.

My green gear is not selling yet either.

I am trying a new trick with the arrows, we'll see how that works out.

Not Long Now

My main is two days away from getting her first Lich King epic. I decided to only do two of the three Champion Seal quests. Two of them nearby the quest-givers while the third one is on the other side of the zone. It takes a long time to get there and it also takes longer to kill the Commanders with all the other mobs and thier quick respawn timers. And if another one or two seal farmers are out there it takes even longer still.

It means a longer wait, but I have other stuff I would rather do (in-game and also out) than force myself to grind the additional Champion Seal. I just have to remind myself that I have until Cataclysm drops. Not really a lot of time, but also no need to rush and make the task into work.