"Doing it All" - The Old World

In moving all of my characters back to Azeroth proper and deciding to 'finish' each expansion with the entire group before moving on, I've created a rather large project for myself.

Some may wonder what I mean by finishing, and how precise I am going to be.  I've decided on quest completion, dungeon and raid completion, reputation capping and complete recipe collection.  They all feed into one another since there are quests in instances, rep gains in instances, and recipes are everywhere. 

To assist others who may wish to follow this path, I've set down some information to help you get started and see where your road is going to take you.  For now, since this represents the next month or two of playing, we'll just look at the Old World.

Micro-Post: The Glyph Industry

I just read this reply to a thread on a forum I belong to.  I nearly spat out my tea when I read it.  Thanks for the laugh, Z-Man.

Enjoy :)

"The glyph industry truly brings out the martyrs. They're like monks copying manuscripts by candlelight, their work the only thing standing between civilization and the darkness of the Apocalypse. If prices are allowed to rise, then demons will sweep from the sky and eat all the innocents. If you undercut one of their auctions, then demons will sweep from the sky and eat all the innocents because the monk can't afford to buy candles (made from orphans...excuse me, made by orphans).

They can't be reasoned with - they're righteous and you're evil. The only option is to brimstone the entire server - orphans and all - to convince them that maybe civilization saving would be more successful somewhere else."

Through the Darkness: A Theory

It's been my experience in life that there is a reason for virtually everything.  Sometimes the reason is obvious and sometimes it's buried deep and you have to play detective to find the answer to the question "why".  The harder reasons to find are the most interesting to me because they present an intellectual challenge.  You have to find the points on the line in the darkness and without knowledge of which tangents they might lie.

So let's muck our way through the darkness...

Planning My Life Behind the Curve

I've begun my new life as a has-been in earnest and turned my back on the dung-hill that is Draenor.  The first act was to move everyone back to Stormwind and delete their Garrison Hearthstones.  Then I hit the bank and socked away everything Warlords related - all the follower upgrade tokens, the crafting mats etc - and wham, instant bag space.  Then I hotkeyed a flying mount back into it's accustomed slot and whoo hoo, to the skies baby!

It ... felt ... wonderful.

New Game Same As The Old Game

Well, I am officially bored to tears with current 'content'.  I cannot bring myself to do one more round of Garrison chores.  Individually they take little time, but multiple that by 9 and it eats up most of a session and all of my enthusiasm.  So I'm done.  Combine that with the arrogance that is Blizzard, the lack of story progression, the machete job that was done to professions, the glacial pace of development, and it makes things rather grim.

There is the allure of Tanaan Jungle of course, but then there is also Timewalker Dungeons and Mythic Dungeons.  So, we have a little bit of new and a whole lot of old.  Since the entire theme of this expansion seems to have shifted to "either sit in this Skinner Box for 2 years or go do old content which we will wrap in a red ribbon so you idiots think it's new", I'm going one better and I'm going to sit in old content.

Bonus Post: Garrison Buildings - An Analysis

Since I am tired of replacing buildings willy nilly and pissing through gold and resources, I thought it high time to have another look at the buildings, the benefits proferrerd, and to decide how to allocate them properly so I can be finished and done with the business.  I want my garrisons complete and streamlined with a solid plan so I can get on with it and spend my time doing other things.

Each level 3 Garrison can sport 2 Large, 2 Medium and 3 Small Buildings.  I don't plan on examining the Herb Garden, the Mine, the Menagerie or the Fishing Shack since everyone gets them.

Week 20/12

This has been sort of a strange week, sort of a two steps forward, two steps back sort of deal.  As I've been gaining traction with the garrison, I've also been yearning to do something other than chores, chores and more chores.  Really though, I suppose I ought to be generally pleased as I really only  have 12 weeks in Draenor seeing as how I buggered off for 8 weeks from the end of December through to the end of February.  Post titles will reflect that from now on.

Week 19

This past week went by at a good tick, with progress in all areas.  I am finding that journaling this on a weekly basis is helping immensely with motivation.  I can see the improvement week by week and it really is helping me focus my efforts for greater gain.  Sometimes it feels slow and pokey, but I have to remind myself that Garrison chores, while time consuming are integral to the whole.

One thing that really does alleviate the stress of the Garrison is having a Storehouse.  A lot of people dismiss this building out of hand.  On the face of it, it presents mere convenience, sporting your personal banker at level 1 and adding a guild banker at level 2 and a transmog NPC at level 3.  The real beauty of this building lies in the benefits to all your buildings.

Weeks 17 and 18

Last week's update didn't happen because of only having a one day weekend and being ill.  So this week is a 2-fer, and it was a productive 2 weeks.

Week 16

Well, rather a lot got accomplished this week.  I've made advancements in all areas.  I want to discuss Garrison buildings but I spent time this week tracking and analyzing work orders and daily cooldowns to determine it's true cost and therefore profitability, so my time today is running short so that post will have to wait for another time.

Instead I present my standing at the end of the my first week of tracking progress.

Inventory Time

If I am going to monitor progress and keep an even hand on the wheel, I need to ascertain where things stand today.  Then progress, no matter how minute, can truly be determined, and the knowledge of progress will help bolster my efforts.

To be honest, I find the prospect rather daunting, but sooner started, sooner finished.

Taking Stock

So, here we are, 15 and a half weeks since Warlords of Draenor launched.

I played feverishly for 6 weeks and made decent progress, then Christmas and all of its inherent busyness and visitors threw me of kilter.  After things settled down again, I got back into playing poker and that absorbed all my attention for a while.  I ended up being away from WoW for 8 weeks. Needless to say, I am behind the curve.  I have some catching up to do, and I'm a little hazy on which character was doing what and why.  This seems as good a time as any to do a stock taking of the situation and lay out my plans and set some sort of a routine for myself.