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An Update

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Firstly, I want to thank everyone for all the billions of comments I got on my “Brutal Honesty” post yesterday. It was one of those posts where I basically reached into my inner psyche, pulled something out, threw it at the computer screen and then ran to work as fast as I could since it made me late. I write those sometimes, and I’m never sure how they’re going to turn out, but I’m glad it seemed to strike a chord with so many people.

I do want to make a couple things clear, since I worry I may have caused some confusion.

** I did not “reroll”; I made a new alt. The point of having the alt be a central feature of that article was that said alt was what reminded me why WoW was fun. I have no idea how much this alt will be played. Maybe I’ll player her a lot, and maybe not. Who knows! I had some people concerned that this alt would eventually reach endgame and I’d have the same issue, to which I respond, she’s level 15 and when you take my leveling speed (or uh, major lack thereof) track record into account, I give two years as a rough estimate of when she’ll reach endgame (if it ever happens), so I’ll worry about it then =P

** I don’t really feel too pressured by the blog itself or by my readership or by the shadow of BRK, etc. Oh sure, my closer friends have no doubt heard me gripe about the pressures of sometimes feeling shoehorned into being the new BRK. And there have been times when I’ve wished for the blissful anonymity of my past WoW life. So, I’m not going to deny those pressures are there. They tend to just show up if you are a “bigger blogger”, as was eloquently stated by Rip. But these are only very minor gripes, in the long run. They aren’t what caused me to “snap”. What I was trying to express in that post was that the pressures I was feeling were internal more than external. I am a perfectionist when it comes to certain things (those things do not include the state of my apartment /glances around and coughs) and it happened to come to a head one day. So I wrote about it.

A wiser person than I might say that the internal pressures are the result of external ones, and hey, who knows, they’re probably right. I don’t see a reason to think about it too deeply though. /shrug

** I do think some of the internal pressure is possibly a byproduct of blog growing pains. There are times when I’m not sure what I should write in this blog. See, I know people are going to tell me “Forget about the readers and write what you want to write about”, but I’m really strongly into themes and subject matter and whatnot and even if I didn’t have a single person reading this blog I’d still want it to have a strong theme. That’s just how my mind operates with my creations. I can never tell if this is a hunter blog or a having-fun-with-WoW blog or a personal-anecdotes blog or what. There are even sub-categories within those. I have been called a Beast Mastery specific hunter blog, (although I tend not to like that title), or a hunter blog that focuses on guides, or on the flip side, a hunter blog that focuses on stories. What am I, really?

In the past, I’ve called myself a blog for anyone who has ever rolled a hunter, tamed a pet, shot something with a ranged weapon… and got a little smile on their face for doing so. it’s a broad category, but in the end, I think that’s what I am.

Thus, the question of “what happens if I stop liking hunters?” lurks in the back of my mind because it means I’d have to redo my blog, and my blog is something I take a lot of pride in. Hence the “panic attack” when that question actually seemed to surface the other day. It’s not really the potential to lose readership that I’m worried about (though I do love all your comments), as much as the simple fact that I don’t like breaking my own rules. That’s why I also have a real-life blog and a recently-started Linux blog (which I should really update again) in addition to this one. Everything in its place.

** I still 100% love raiding with my guild and am planning on doing so a lot this weekend. =P I have just never been a raider before so the work involved caught me off-guard. I am determined not to let it burn me out.

** I do dailies because I suck at the Auction House. Not so much because it’s hard, but because I lack the dedication to do all the research and et al. The closest I ever got to “playing the AH” was a brief period where I cornered the minipet market on the neutral AH with Lunapike as a way to make epic flyer money. This provided a small but steady source of income and I’m pretty sure the other people that were also trying to do this hated me because I was always undercutting them. I stopped doing it primarily because it didn’t really interest me. Dailies at least have you flying around and you can level pets and stuff.

As it is now I toss Alchemy stuff onto the AH every so often and call it good.

I still think the depth of the WoW economy pales in comparison to the Neopets economy. Giggle at me all you want; I’m just sayin’ it like it is. =P I spent one whole year restocking and reselling and keeping an eye on market prices, just to reach a single goal. That’s hardcore.

SO! There you go. I just wanted to dissipate some of the concern I was hearing, and approach the story from a more logical standpoint as opposed to the pure emotional one that I poured out on you all the other day.

IN OTHER NEWS:

I am getting close to 400,000 page views. As long-time readers know, I usually hold a contest where people who screenshot the big numbers can get free personalized avatars. I’m hesitant to do it this time, because I’ve run into an issue with getting these avatar prizes done in a timely manner due to how busy I am all the time now, and it makes me feel bad (this applies to all the e-mails I get as well, I swear I do read them all!) So if you have any ideas for a different sort of prize, I’m all ears and open to suggestions!

As always, thank you all for being a reader. Why anyone reads my rambles, I have no idea, but it has enriched my life and I hope I’ve enriched yours a little <3 /ramble-off

23 thoughts on “An Update”

  1. Idea: An RP post with a cameo of the winner! (Obviously the winner would have to provide a seed of the character to you for you to use and whatnot, but yeah)

  3. Oh dear, I’m afraid if that was the case, I’d have to sell my soul to the devil to aford enough caffine to keep me awake, watching that counter like a hawk =D

  4. Nice, Rilgon. Good thinking! I would of course kill for a personalised avatar or cameo appearance. Regrettably, assassination’s not really my thing so I suspect we shall have some kind of coffee drinking / F5 mashing competition.

    I for one am pleased to be able to continue to read your rambles, be they more or less hunter related!

  5. Honestly, Pike, I think I speak for many of your readers when I say that what keeps us coming back is the person behind the posts, not the posts themselves. If you fall in love with your lock and start writing about that, we’ll be here and read that. If you stop playing WOW and use this space (or one like it) to talk about art and Linux, or art on Linux, or knitting, we’ll read that too.

    We’re grateful that you share your thoughts, but mindful that they’re yours to share.

  7. I read your blog because YOU are an interesting writer. Hell, I don’t even play my hunter much anymore. But YOU are what makes this stuff interesting to me. *solemn nod*

  8. Please do not turn into BRK if you continue to focus blogging on your hunter. Although his anecdotes were very funny, his blog took a direction for the worse the last few months he was posting when the focus shifted away from fun and tricks of tthe trade to rants, epeen boasting, and loot. Obsession is not a good thing, in my opinion.

    I read your blog because, for lack of a better word, the humanity of your posts and I believe the shifting the focus of your blog to a different character class will not lessen its humanity and may in fact enhance it.

  9. I don’t even play a hunter, I just read your blog because it makes me giggle. I’m pretty sure your stories / anecdotes about a warlock / any random class will still make me giggle. You have fun playing the game, and I value fun very highly, and therefore also value your posts highly!

  10. I read your blog regularly because I find it entertaining and like others have said, you get a feel for the person behind the blog. You’re a really good blog writer and your articles are a joy to read and as a new blog writer, it helps to read excellent blogs like yours.

    I hope you don’t get yourself too worked up or anything and remember, whatever you write about, I imagine people will come here to read it because of the person behind the blog articles.

  12. Ooooh, RP post would be pretty awesome 😀

    And I agree with the others as well–you as a writer seems to be the main draw, although you as a hunter is also pretty awesome ^_^

  14. We love you Pike, whether you’re flying high in a blaze of glory or smoldering in the bottom or an oil drum.

  16. Yours is the first blog I have ever followed. Really the only one I follow. Even if you didnt play WOW, I do believe I would follow the blog….

  17. I have always seen your blog as all of those (“a hunter blog or a having-fun-with-WoW blog or a personal-anecdotes blog”) and a short story blog. And that is what I like about it, its always a lucky dip treat to come over and read a post. Oh what is it today:
    yay, a humurous anecdote – lol
    horay – a story, a story
    weee, some hunter info – for my poor neglected second main 😉
    yipee a personal ramble – ooh, i never thought about it like that!

    So even if this was to become a “warlock blog”, or a “I only like low level toons blog”, or an “addicted to alts blog”, or “I never get time to play so I’ll ramble blog” – or what ever, I would still come on over to enjoy the read. I hope you enjoy the writing even half as much as we enjoy the reading 😉

    Cheers

  19. I agree with Euripides’ sentiments.
    As far as a prize for 400k, how about a teeshirt with one of your own avatars? *eyes the “huntery guides” wasp*
    Save teh uber-special Personal Avatar for 500k 😉

  20. I think you should just bear in mind what this blog was way back when you started it: A blog for writing about your experiences in WoW, your thoughts on the game, and so forth. You spent a good long time enjoying hunters and they were the main focus. If that changes, so be it! You’ll still be the witty, friendly Pike who is a hugely enjoyable read.

  21. That the writting and the person behind it that we love reading here, like everybody said above.

    I love you hunter’s stories, I love your druid stories, I love your rambles and your fun stories. And above all else, I love the community which built itself around you and your blog. You are someone who attract great people, every person commenting here are great, nice, fun people like you. I’m just happy to be a little part of it and I hope I’m half as cool as you and many people are here.

    Nef

  22. Gogo Neopets!
    Tbh you don’t have to play the AH to make money from it, stick some auctions up of items that can sell when you cba and you tend to get a nice slow and steady income 🙂
    Perhaps a prize to do a guest post? Or hmm I’m not sure.

  23. I for one am glad that you’re not the new BRK. So don’t put that kind of pressure on yourself. You are different, and what makes your site really nice is that it isn’t a BRK site.

    See? During the time BRK was up, you would browse through the site, check out this and that about hunter mechanics and what-not. When you got your fill of “that” stuff, you moved on to something refreshing: AotH!

    What would be the point of going into BRK, then another site that is pretty much another BRK? It would be boring.

    So no, as a fan, I’m no shoehorning you into the BRK mold, shoe, crevice, boot, whatever.

    You’re different, I like it, others like it too…please keep it up. Most certainly I enjoy reading your blogs.

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