Wow! I got a fantastic response on my last post. All sorts of people came out of the woodwork to comment on the post or talk to me on Twitter about their own gaming anxieties. Some people even went through it all at the same time or with the same expacs I did.
Frankly, I had no idea that something like this was so widespread. Oh, I figured a couple of people here and there would know what I was talking about, but the lot of you? It really took me by surprise.
Since this seems to be a fairly common problem I think I’m going to do more writing about it. I also think I’ll blog about my efforts to get over my own gaming anxieties. I know some people are happy with playing solo, and if that’s the case then that’s awesome and keep on doing that. As for myself, though… I want to tackle the big bad boss at the end of the anxiety raid. So I think that’s what I’m going to try to do, and anyone else who is trying to do likewise can come commiserate and maybe learn with me!
That Pike who threw herself into any dungeon or raid PUG that came her way during TBC?
That Pike who leveled a druid to max almost entirely through dungeons, mostly before Dungeon Finder even existed?
That Pike who would happily spend three hours in ToC on her hunter and then another three hours healing Ulduar with her druid immediately afterward?
Yes. That Pike.
I think it started with Cataclysm. Blizzard did two major things that affected the game for me: They made substantial changes to the way hunters work, and they also decided to make dungeons “hard”. I think that I probably could have dealt with either of these on their own, but when they were together, it planted a little worm of doubt into my brain.
What if I’m not good at hunters or dungeons anymore? What if I let everyone down?
I did ultimately do some dungeons, but that little thought didn’t go away, so because endgame was now scary (and also because I wasn’t keen on Cataclysm), I unsubbed.
I gave it all another try for Mists of Pandaria. After greatly enjoying the leveling process, I told myself that this time I’m going to do it. I’m going to get back into endgame. And I’m going to love it, just like before.
Unfortunately a couple of bad groups and douchecanoes had me convinced I was terrible at hunters and at dungeons, and because the only other real thing that MoP had to offer at the time was an endless stream of dailies I quietly left the game. Again.
And so here we are. In WoD. The itch, of course, is back, like it always is. Oh, how I secretly long to spend the day in LFG doing endless heroics, or spend hours butting heads against a tough boss in a (real live!) raid. But instead, I’m tip-toeing into normals maybe once a week when I summon up the courage, despite being overgeared and having a Gold in Proving Grounds and all that stuff.
“Why don’t you find nice people to play with, Pike? A really nice guild or something?” I’m sure you’re asking. And, you know, I’ve thought about it. But because of my work schedule I’m tucking myself into bed right about when the rest of the United States is getting home from work and logging in. I don’t think it would be impossible to find a nice guild that raids at 1:00pm. But it might be a bit of a serious hunt.
So now what?
Well, right now I’m determined not to let this beat me three expacs in a row. How? Well, uh, I’m not sure yet. You see, there will be people involved. And the possibility of failure. And instances that I haven’t done before. This is all very scary to me. But you’ve gotta confront your fears head on, right?
Sorry for the break in pony pics.
So yeah. That’s my confession for the day. Embarrassing? Maybe a little. I’ve struggled with anxiety most of my life, and seeing it creep into video games – my favorite hobby – is never fun for me. But maybe this post can help others who feel similarly – at least to know that they’re not alone!
When I was a wee child, I cut my gaming teeth on this sucker:
There were a variety of fantastic games available on this thing, but today I’m going to talk about one that has been ported to Steam so you can play it even today. I’m talking about ARCHON.
I tell a lot of people about this game because it’s great, and the biggest and most common mistake people make when dismissing it is assuming that it’s chess. I can assure you that beyond the superficial similarities they’re really nothing alike. Pieces move differently, the goals are different, there’s magic spells involved, oh, and your pieces have to fight each other to the death in remarkably tense and fast-paced action battles.
The rules are simple: Either kill or capture all the other pieces or capture five power points on the board. It’s a fantasy based game so if you want phoenixes fighting dragons and unicorns fighting golems then don’t worry, you’ll get a lot of it. Oh also you can summon air elementals and stuff.
Remember when I said you can get it on Steam? Yeah. Get it here, play either a more modernized version or the classic mode, and enjoy one of the more overlooked games of the 80s.
I hope you’ll all excuse me and pardon our dust as I start this blog anew. You see, I’m still trying to figure out exactly what I want to blog about. Any of you long-time readers who were here in the early days (all four or five of you still reading) know that I used to pride myself on teaching what I called “Hunter Kindergarten” (for lower levels) and “Hunter 101” (for freshly dinged max level hunters). This is because I loved sharing what I knew about the class with others, so they could enjoy playing it as much as I did. Plus, then I’d feel set to recommend the graduating students head on to other hunter blogs that focused more on raiding. (A moment of silence to The Hunter’s Mark, BRK, Stabilized Effort Scope, and all the others.)
Now it’s hard for me to feel that much of this is necessary anymore. Many of the nuances of the class have been streamlined or changed to the point that I actually find it difficult to play a hunter wrong. Oh sure, in the early days when your first ten levels were spent sans pet and you had a dagger or axe thrust in your hand, then you bet there were all sorts of bad habits I wanted to help new hunters grow out of. But now there’s no minimum range, you only have a ranged weapon, and you’ve got a pet right from the start. Similarly, there’s really no need to learn how to chain trap, due to how long traps last. And modern shot rotations are, for the most part, simple and intuitive, especially compared to a few of the ones from back in the day.
So what is a Pike to do?
A few people have expressed interest that I try writing about hunters anyway, because why not. Perhaps I do bring a unique spin to things. Maybe people would rather hear me talk than read a more “sanitized” Icy-Veins or WoWHead guide. I have no idea why, but hey, who am I to argue with that idea?
TLDR: I’m still not 100% sure what I’m doing with the blog yet, so please bear with me. And if there’s something you’d like me to write about, do let me know! I’m desperate for ideas.
So I mentioned this in my last post, but in case you missed it, I basically didn’t play Cataclysm. That also means I didn’t do any of the Cataclysm raids until like… last week. Most of the Cata raids I’ve duo’d so far weren’t particularly exciting aesthetic wise (although we certainly did have some… fun… with Deathwing’s Spine), but there was one that knocked my socks off and made me wish I had done it back when it was current.
And that’s fecking Blackwing Descent.
You know what’s great? Dorfs. (Note: “Dorfs” is the preferred way to say “Dwarves”.)
You know what’s really great? AWESOME UNDERGROUND DORF CITIES FILLED WITH LAVA AND STUFF.
I have always been one of maybe three people I know of who like BRD, and watching Desolation of Smaug was a real treat because it was basically Awesome Underground Dorf Lava City: The Motion Picture.
Are you guys looking at this? P.S. the world may never know whether running BRD or watching a Peter Jackson movie is longer.
Blackrock Descent is MAD SCIENTISTS IN AN UNDERGROUND DORF CITY, and it is marvelous. Oh it’s so good. Best aesthetic in a raid since forever. Look at this and tell me this isn’t great:
Is this not, like, the best thing you’ve ever seen in a raid? …no? It’s just me?
Okay, fine. It’s just me. But the rest of you guys need to learn to appreciate the finer points of dorf culture. For starters, do YOU need alcohol to get through the working day? Because that’s just Dorfs 101.
So long story short I didn’t play Cataclysm. I mean, I played it for about a month when it first came out, sure. I leveled my then-main to 85, felt terribly underwhelmed by everything, and then logged out in quest reward greens, not to return for a long time. This means I basically didn’t see any of the revamped vanilla stuff that Blizz made a big deal out of.
So, having been informed that some of it was actually good stuff, I’ve decided to do the Loremaster achievements. On a max level character because that way I can fly. Besides, I’m relatively certain a new character would outlevel all the zones before he or she could fully explore them, anyway. Even without heirlooms.
And so, I sent Althalor out into the world to start doing all these fancy new quests in the fancy new revamped zones.
All well and good, yes?
Well, yes, until you get to quests that require you to “weaken,” not kill, the enemy. Especially if these quests can’t be skipped if you want the stupid achievement.
How does a level 100 hunter such as myself deal with these quests? Like so:
STEP ONE: Take off every last bit of your gear.
STEP TWO: Fly up into the sky.
STEP THREE: Dismount.
STEP FOUR: Die.
STEP FIVE: Revive at the Spirit Healer, thus eating the rez sickness.
STEP SIX: Use freaking explosive trap of all things because punching people with your bare fists still one-shots level 46s.
Why must your torment us so, Blizzard? And why do I feel so compelled to do this in the name of a dumb achievement?
Specifically my problem is thus: I play on RP servers and come up with elaborate backstories for all my characters but I don’t actually RP them. That’s… that’s not too weird, is it?
“Yep, definitely weird.”
I’m not sure why I don’t roleplay. I think because it’s just not my thing, and because it means socializing with people and socializing is hard work, dangit.
But I can go on and on about how Tawyn is a foul-mouthed, hard drinking kaldorei who prefers the company of dwarves and humans (and her pets) to the exclusion of just about anything else.
And I can go on and on about how Lunapike is actually a huge dork who gets excited about mundane things like herbalism and archaeology because IT’S JUST SO NEAT, LOOK STUFF IS COMING OUT OF THE GROUND, WHOA, HOW DOES THAT EVEN WORK.
And I can go on and on about how Althalor really just wants to stay in Quel’Thalas taking care of the hawkstriders and lynx cubs, but then when the Scourge stormed through and killed his Farstrider parents he had to reluctantly follow in their footsteps.
And I can tell you about how Ratchets is… okay, she’s a goblin, so basically she’s just a Ferengi. How about that invisible hand, eh?
But the thought of actually trying to go roleplay my character with people freaks me out.
So yeah. Mental roleplaying, I do it. Actually I do it in basically every game, not just WoW. (The Elder Scrolls, anyone?)
It’s… it’s not just me, right? Other people do this too, right?
I haven’t done one of these in forever, but I was tagged by the lovely Jaedia to answer ten questions. Here we go!
1. What are you looking forward to this year? Flying to Washington to visit family in a few months, and hopefully (no guarantees) working out the relevant visa stuff and getting my British fiance to hop the pond for good! 😀
2. What is your favourite book/book series/author?
This question is a big toughie. I think I’ll have to go with Watership Down as my favorite book (duh), although a big honorable mention goes to The Golden Compass, which was far and away the best part of the His Dark Materials series. Author is tough. Asimov maybe? Also William Gibson is utterly brilliant.
3. Are you on Twitter? If no, why not? If yes, what has been your experience? I am indeed on Twitter, in fact I probably tweet too much. I do find online socializing (like all forms of socializing) to be a bit exhausting at times so sometimes I take short breaks or tweet much less than usual for a few days or weeks. However I always seem to come crawling back. I have a lot of friends on Twitter!
4. Do you enjoy podcasting as a medium? Why/why not?
I think it’s a neat idea although I admit I don’t really listen to any podcasts right now. Sidenote: who would listen if myself and Mister Adequate (aka Mr. Pike) were to make a podcast about vidya gaems? It’s an idea we’ve been tossing around a little bit.
5. What do you feel games are lacking in 2015?
Does “a positive community” count? I love games but oftentimes I find the community surrounding them to be intimidating.
6. Where do you get your game news?
Honestly, Twitter, mostly. With a dash of RockPaperShotgun and various internet forums.
7. Could you show us a picture of your desk? If you say no, I’ll be sad.
Oh lord. Okay, but keep in mind that I’m recovering from surgery so it’s a mess and also riddled with pills.
The view is better up top!
Maps from the Elder Scrolls games, but of course.
8. Beards. For or against and why?
No preference regarding how they look but they can get scratchy when up close…
9. What is the best gif you’ve come across? You mean I can only pick one?
10. Share something with us that made you laugh recently.
Alrighty, that does it for the meme! I’m bad at coming up with more questions or tagging people so if you want to participate, then be my guest and feel free to use the questions I answered! ヽ(*・ω・)ﾉ
Blizzard successfully managed to put just about anything your character could ever need into Garrisons. There are even outhouses so you can answer nature’s call in private.
H… hey… I was here first! Excuse you!
But you know what Garrisons are missing?
A bed. Seriously. Where is your character supposed to sleep? The floor?
Your followers get all those little cots in the Barracks, at least, but can your character fit in one? Of course not. Sorry Althalor, it’s the floor for you. At least he’s used to getting the short end of every stick. Poor guy.
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is one of the greatest platform games of all time. Yup.
It is also a game that (fortunately) a lot of people have played. If you haven’t played it, you probably either didn’t game a whole lot growing up or were on the Nintendo side of the playground console wars. If the former applies to you, then you have my sympathies, and if the latter applies to you, well, I can’t blame you, but you need to do yourself a favor and play this game.
Sonic 2 is, for my money, the best of the original Genesis Sonic games. That’s not to say that 1, 3&K and CD weren’t good, because those were all fantastic games. Yes, even CD. But what Sonic 2 did was take the formula from Sonic 1 and refine it without tilting dangerously close to Mario/DKC territory. Nothing inherently wrong with that last bit, of course, but I prefer my Sonic experience to be pure and completely unlike anything else on the market. And that’s what Sonic 2 does so very well. It’s the perfect blend of speed and platforming, with levels designed to let you do what Sonic does best: go fast.
If you have yet to play Sonic 2 then you are in for an absolute treat, because this game has not aged a day. You can sit down with it and play it all through with a big smile on your face no matter how old you are. Fortunately for us, SEGA likes money, and as such they have ported Sonic 2 to basically every modern system in existence, including mobile phones and Steam. This means you should have no problems tracking this one down. If you like mobile games, you will enjoy playing clash of clans especially when using a clash of clans hack.
