character squee

[crimsonquills]

Hey folks! It's great to see an active WoW community here on Dreamwidth, even if we're small at the moment. I'm sure we shall grow. :-)

I'm particularly happy because it means I have somewhere to squee about my character. LOL. I can't help it, I'm so in love. Let me introduce you, and I hope to hear about your favourites as well!

This is Rayner:

I took a screencap in Undercity, but it was so dark his armor was a blur of black. So here's one of him on my loadings screen.



If any of you are comic book fans, then the answer is yes, yes he is named after Kyle Rayner (Green Lantern #5). :-D I made a vanity guild for him, too, Lanterns Etcetera.

How Rayner came to be is a bit of a story that I'm going to skip for now. Suffice to say that he's the…*counts*…eleventh character I made. I think. Despite the fact that he came to be after so many others, including my one character who has reached level 85 (a frost mage), Rayner is the first one I've really fallen in love with. I liked playing the others, but this is different.

Maybe he's got an unfair advantage, being named after and based on Kyle. Maybe it's because he's the one I discovered Battlegrounds with (I <3 BGs). Maybe it's his class (he's my second Prot Pally, but I was trying to tank with the other and that was super stressful and never went anywhere). Probably a bit of all of those.

All I know is, he's my favourite to play. I love pulling three mobs on a quest and then decimating them. I love picking up a multi-person quest and knowing I can handle it alone. I love doing the most damage in a BG because he just won't die. I love throwing my Avenger's Shield at folks and watching it smoke them. I love the way he moves, and his dance makes me LOL every time.

He's on a different server from my other characters (only way I could get the name), he can't join a guild because I refuse to give up the vanity guild name, and I'm probably going to have to make him a Ret off spec so he can do dungeons for achievements (so not a dungeon fan), but I wouldn't change him. <3

Comments

[zillah975]

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee so awesome! It makes me want to roll a protection paladin. :D What level is he? Ahhhaha, I finally saw the cut-tag! Came here from the alert in my inbox that an entry had been posted, and was too excited to do anything but come right here. :)

And do male Blood Elf characters do that sulky slouch-sigh thing in their idle animation that female Blood Elf characters do? I tried a Blood Elf rogue but she just irritated me so much, because she always seemed to be rolling her eyes at me. I finally just deleted her. :/

[crimsonquills]

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee so awesome! It makes me want to roll a protection paladin.

You should! At least to try. I know everyone has their own class preferences--my roomie is a rogue devotee and I've tried twice and just can't stand them--but I can't help feeling sometimes that Prot Pallies are the Best Class Ever. LOL.

In the interests of fairness and balance, I will say that the range of abilities is pretty small, if you're used to having a lot of options. When I finally got Shield of the Righteous at level 50-something I was like, "Finally! I have more than three attacks! \o/" But that's because I have four abilities that are only good for tanking, so I never use them, and I also have a bunch of heals. It can make the rotation feel clunky, but I like the utility of the class, I don't really care about the pace of my button pushing. *g*

Ahhhaha, I finally saw the cut-tag! Came here from the alert in my inbox that an entry had been posted, and was too excited to do anything but come right here. :)

Hee! I know the feeling. I run a couple of comms on LJ. :-)

And do male Blood Elf characters do that sulky slouch-sigh thing in their idle animation that female Blood Elf characters do?

Not that I've noticed, though it could have slipped by me. He isn't idle often. *g*

[zillah975]

I will say that the range of abilities is pretty small, if you're used to having a lot of options. When I finally got Shield of the Righteous at level 50-something I was like, "Finally! I have more than three attacks! \o/"

Heeee! I have soooo many attacks for my hunter and I almost never use most of them. Some are debuffs or interruptions, and typically I'm soloing with her and making sure to only pull one mob at a time if I can, and between us my pet and I can almost always take them out with Serpent Strike, Arcane Shot, and Kill Command. Though I admit I'm enamored of Trap Launcher just now.... So only having a few options would actually help me feel like I wasn't wasting my training. :D

He isn't idle often. *g*

Ohgod, mine spend a LOT of time just standing around while I Google stuff or check the map or rearrange my pack and whatnot. I'd love to get a report on that, active time versus time spent waiting for the player to get off her ass and DO something. Heh. I'm still learning this game, dammit. I need my Google time.

I was reading some of the battle.net forums yesterday (something I may not do again for a loooong time) and thinking I should create a character with the idea of Learning To Tank, because apparently good tanks are in high demand. But it really would require me to join a guild early and start working with other characters while still new, so that by the time I'm level-appropriate for dungeons or battlegrounds, I actually have some idea how to operate as part of a group. Or even as the leader of a group.

It's something to think about at least. :)

[crimsonquills]

Heeee! I have soooo many attacks for my hunter and I almost never use most of them.

Honestly, I think it's that way for most characters! They have a lot of abilities that are designed primarily for dungeon and raid situations in which you have complicated mechanics and a team who need specific types of support. When you're questing, you really only need a couple of buttons.

Ohgod, mine spend a LOT of time just standing around while I Google stuff

Google? Don't you mean WoWhead? *grins* I constantly have WoWhead open in one tab. I don't I could play the game without it, because I get frustrated super fast when I can't find something.

I'd love to get a report on that, active time versus time spent waiting for the player to get off her ass and DO something.

That would be really interesting! I wonder if there's something in the stats that counts it...probably not, but might be worth checking.

I was reading some of the battle.net forums yesterday (something I may not do again for a loooong time)

Gah, the forums are so negative! I try to stay away, but I am weak, and go back regularly. These days I try to restrict myself to reading blue (moderator) posts, though, just to keep up on happenings in the world of The Management. *g*

and thinking I should create a character with the idea of Learning To Tank, because apparently good tanks are in high demand.

They are in super high demand, but that's because they have a huge amount of responsibility and are treated like crap most of the time. :-/ I'd love to tank, but I'm just too thin skinned. But if you don't take things as personally as I do, there are also a lot of game perks (extra loot, etc.) that go with tanking!

[zillah975]

Google? Don't you mean WoWhead? *grins*

*G* Yes, definitely WoWhead as well, especially when researching auction prices -- it's incredibly useful!

[gramina]

Yay character love, and new posts, and all!

What is it you love about battlegrounds? I adore questing, and I enjoy dungeons if I'm playing with at least one friend in the party, but I've only tried the battleground zone in Northrend -- Wintergrasp? I think. I enter and either I find a cannon and look for things to shoot (and only die if someone comes looking for me) or I get within range of an enemy player and I die. Like, without time to hit back. Which I'm sure is charming for them :) --Of course, I'm not geared for resistance or resilience or whatever it's called. But I'd like to understand the appeal of battlegrounds, and maybe even get to where I could be useful on one, if only to be a more general-utility player for my guild :)

((I've played Wintergrasp only on my Ret Pally; I'm still leveling a number of other characters, including hunter, druid, warrior, rogue -- no mages or warlocks yet. Advice for any is welcome.))

[crimsonquills]

What is it you love about battlegrounds?

For me, battlegrounds are the perfect balance of fast paced and dynamic play with interacting-with-people stress. YMMV, of course, but my reactions to the different types of play go generally like this:

Questing: Go here. Kill/collect 6 things. Hand them in. Repeat until boredom breaks my will.

Dungeons: Zone into a group. Struggle to keep up with strangers who never talk and are usually mean when they do, struggle to do damage in a fight I don't understand, stress out over letting down the group by dying, feel incompetent/pathetic/like a failure if I die. Repeat until stress breaks my will.

Battleground: Zone in. Head for objective. Watch BG chat for info about objectives ("enemies incomning to X location", "only 2 on defense at Y location", "I'm going for the flag, want to come?", "they're turtling", etc.). Try to fill the gaps. Fight hard against unpredictable opponents, die frequently (like everyone does), resurrect and jump back into the fray. Win or lose, come out of it with honor points to buy better gear with. \o/

I have been insulted in BGs, but it's only been personal three times, and I've run dozens of BGs. Folks do say stupid and bigoted shit in BG chat, but I would say I only see that about 30% of the time and it gets less frequent the higher level you are.

If you like a calm pace of play, BGs definitely are NOT for you. But if people stress you out and questing is getting repetitive, give them a try.

I've only tried the battleground zone in Northrend -- Wintergrasp? I think.

I'm not high enough level to play the Battleground zones yet, although I'm looking forward to it. I play the instanced BGs using the BG finder (default keybind to bring it up is "H").

Of course, I'm not geared for resistance or resilience or whatever it's called.

BGs have level brackets, so if you take a character with no resilience into a BG you're going to get one-shotted a lot unless you have awesome PVE gear. :-/ But if you put up with that for a while, you'll build up honor points and get some genuine PVP gear. And if you have gold, at higher levels you can get some crafted resilience gear on the AH.

((I've played Wintergrasp only on my Ret Pally; I'm still leveling a number of other characters, including hunter, druid, warrior, rogue -- no mages or warlocks yet. Advice for any is welcome.))

I have an 85 mage, but alaso, I got there exclusively by questing, so I am without tips for anyone but a mid-level Pally. :-/