WoW Petopia Community

I have a number of level 80 toons, but never got into doing instances.
I am my own guild unto myself, so there's no one else with whom to do them.

Anyway, a couple of in-game acquaintances/friends convinced me last week to try some random dungeons.
We queued up for a regular lvl80 dungeon. It was fun, it was hard (I was geared in all-crafted mail).
I got a few good drops, my GS went up.
Then they convinced me to try a few heroics, and that's been going OK (except for that group from hell I was in the other day). So every day we do a few randoms together, the three of us group, then we queue.

Today, for the first time, we got Occulus (I think that's how it's spelled.. the one where you ride drakes).
It was a nightmare. I HATE that kind of riding game mechanic.

I was quite stressed out by the instance, and ended up dying during the last boss. We didn't wipe, which is a credit to the rest of the group, obviously, and nothing to do with me nor my sorely lacking DPS nor hand-eye coordination.

Already too long story slightly shorter:
They said "hey, come try Trial of Champions with us". (I think that's what it's called. At the Argent Tourney grounds? 10-man?)

We were there for 4 hours (a bit more, I think). We wiped 3 times on the first boss (after around 5 minutes of play, each time), and once quite quickly at the beginning of the 2nd boss(es).

So, around 15-20 minutes of actual game time, and nearly 4 hours of waiting.
I suspect this is "normal" in situations where you are getting that many people coordinated. My hat's off to those who organize these things regularly.

However, at the end of it all, it's just not for me.
I don't care if the rewards are uber awesome-sauce.
It was stressful.
It cost me 40 gold in repairs.
It took up 4 hours of time.

It didn't feel like "play" to me.
It felt like "a job". (screw that, I LOVE my job... this didn't even feel like a job!)

Anyway, I told one of my two acquaintances that raiding was just not for me.
And got an earful about how I HAD to do it if I wanted to "progress" in the game.
That if all I did was worry about the gold (I did mention the repair cost) that it wouldn't be fun and I may as well find another game.

Well, guess what?
Even if it had been totally free, or even had paid me, I STILL would not have found it fun.

Am I so really wrong?
This friend is now upset with me.


I don't understand.
I spent an entire afternoon this weekend getting a pair of toons I dual-box to exalted with Sons of Hodir.
I loved every moment of it!
It cost me repairs, but it felt rewarding.
I was doing something different every moment (ok, there was a repetitive part.. but even THAT was fun).

I got told "if you don't raid, you won't be able to do anything in Cataclysm".

So does this mean the end of WoW for me?

No. WoW is not over for you.

Cataclysm is going to take all of that hard fought raid gear and throw it out the window, all of it will be replaced in short order by quest blues.
(Some pieces lasting longer than others)
So actually, your friend is wrong, you will be doing allot of questing while you are leveling to 85.
Sure Cataclysm is more structured around groups but it will by no-means make it so you can't solo stuff.

Do whatever is fun for you, whatever it is in WoW that you get enjoyment out of, be it crafting, or questing or playing the AH.

(I personally love PvP, sure its rough as BM, but I love testing my skill against another living person)

Your friend probably gets his/her enjoyment from raiding and may not understand why you didn't have fun in the raid.
Sometimes it is difficult to see another persons point of view like this, so don't be to hard on him/her.

Sukurachi wrote: I got told "if you don't raid, you won't be able to do anything in Cataclysm".

So does this mean the end of WoW for me?

By heavens no, you play the game anyway you want since you are the one paying for it. And even if you raid the only thing you get is a pretty achievement and shiny gear that's the progress.

Besides with the oncoming so called that all mobs in dungeons (including raid bosses) will scale according to your gear it means that no matter what the gear you still get hurt the same amount but just with a higher dodge chance so the dungeons can't be a cake walk anymore like in Wrath where you faceroll.

Play the game the way you enjoy it, that is what a game is about.

It won't matter anyway, the gear in Cata will sorely outrank any gear from raids now.
Just like Vanilla to BC and BC to Wrath.

I raid cause it gives me something to do but I used to be in the exact same position as you are now, I used to HATE going in dungeons (before LFD tool) because I knew my gear was scrub-worthy and I hated being judged because of it.
I also hadn't gotten playing a hunter down at that point, but that's besides it.

If you like casual, don't let others force you into raiding. It's not fair to you.

Sonata wrote:

Sukurachi wrote: I got told "if you don't raid, you won't be able to do anything in Cataclysm".

So does this mean the end of WoW for me?

By heavens no, you play the game anyway you want since you are the one paying for it.

[snip]

Play the game the way you enjoy it, that is what a game is about.

I came in to say this. Of course it's not the end of WoW for you. There is room in WoW for all sorts of players. Some like to raid, some like to PvP, others have armies of alts and some never get past level 20 but have been very active in the RP community for years. Some people do a bit of everything. They are all viable play styles, and no one can tell you what to do with your time in the game.

For what it's worth, I'm the same as you. I solo in most MMOs. If my hubbie plays as well we team up if one of us is stuck on a hard quest but we don't level together or anything. At the moment my guild consists out of my characters, his characters and our daughter has recently joined us too.

I tried the whole guild thing in WoW and in other MMOs, complete with the whole running instances thing, and like you I found it very stressfull. When I'm on my own I can play at my own pace and am only responsible for myself. If that means that I'll never see certain content or obtain certain gear, well so be it. I play to relax, not to get stressed out.

Come Cata there will be new level 80-85 content to explore with your exsisting characters and there will be a whole new level 1-60 world to explore with any new characters you might roll. I think there will be enough to do for us soloers, Blizzard is smart enough to know a large portion off the playerbase soloes at least part, if not most, of the game.

Perhaps your friend was looking forward to sharing something he/she loved to do with you, and maybe just was dissapointed that you didnt enjoy the raiding in the end. Hopefully your friend will come to see your side of it as well, that there's no use in doing something in a game that isn't fun for you.

Raiding is rewarding, especially when you realise you're conquering new content and new challenges as well as advancing the capabilities of your character. Fortunately, in Cataclysm both 10 and 25 man raids will be dropping the same gear so really, this is a great boon for all raiders, new and experienced alike and instead of asking if this is the end of WoW for you, look at it as a new beginning.

Back when I started playing, I had no interest in doing instances and even less in raiding. Eventually I got into instances and grew into raiding. It took a while but it was quite fun to start with that new stage of the game (I have been playing since vanilla, only really started getting into instances in TBC and didn't raid until Wrath).

As for your experiences, don't look at Oculus as a benchmark, that's an awful instance (I hate it to this day, that and Eye of Eternity). Learning a new fight in a raid does take time, it can be extremely frustrating, but there's a great sense of reward when you defeat it and move on to the next. There is that sense of "my god, how will we ever get this down?" but it happens and before you know it you're plowing through the stuff and picking up good loot at a steady pace.

The comment that if you don't raid you can't play Cataclysm is a load of crap too. That sounds more like a lame threat intended to convince you to raid. If you really don't want to raid that's perfectly fine, you will certainly be able to play Cataclysm all the way to 85 and keep going like you have been now. The game isn't dramatically changing to only favour raiders.

Raiding is just a little part of wow tbh

i have played since 2004 i was a noob huntard doing silly things until i ran in to another hunter asking why i didn't do this or that he didn't judge or anything he helpd me loads and i grew better i then got friends taking me into dungeons and stuff and learned to do those in good ways back then tanks hated pets as well so i had the huntard mark for a long time until i turned out top dps every instance i went and finally got in to a guild that raided i got to be hunter class leader and enjoyed every moment of it back then cause i feelt needed

then tbc hit i lvld really fast and tried other guilds even tried semi hardcore raiding and so on its a lot of fun if you can keep the chat/ts/ventrilo friendly
but if its not and you don't know the people your with it can be stressing aswell

lately im bored with allot of things so have allot of alts enjoy lvling and lvling crafts to fishing gets maxed (did it before the new system too boy that took time)

achievments out side raids are fun to do farming rep can be a bit tedious but if you enjoy being lazy its nice enough rp i haven't gotten in to really but am guessing it could be allot of fun

grinding/farming that one mini pet you want is a nice thing to am up to well here's a link http://www.warcraftpets.com/account/pro ... ser=aweena
also allot of other things to do and there is a few nice casual guilds you could join to just have people to talk to sometimes i just log on to talk to my guild mates and stand around some place doing nothing or go fishing for one of the rare items Turtle and rat already owned

end of wow pfff people should really learn to relax and if you don't like raiding its your own business you pay to play a game to relax and you should do what you want to do with in the terms of use

also allot of those "hardcore" raiders will be to busy lvling to max to really see much content i mean really enjoy the new features try the new levelling zones and other fun stuff and archaeology a new secondary profession will take loads of time to lvl and im sure you will probably find that fun also gives nice rewards mount mini pet and other stuff

don't give up and don't give up on raiding either just make sure you do it with relaxed casual people as well it can be fun to raid but its not for everyone and sometimes the high end raiders are really big ass hats

honestly i have seen so many forget that playing mmo's aren't only about getting the fat loot and i have seen adults act like 5 year olds over pixels or act like idiots towards a group just to get them to learn faster even had a teacher of a 4th grade class yell at me cause i asked him to relax on raids no need to yell at people for getting stuff wrong a few times and i got told i was treating my raiders like little kids and my raids were like a day care.........

he teaches kids in a school ?? does he shout idiot at them when they don't understand a hard mathematics ?

tbh play the way you want and put ass hats on ignore right away tbh humans seem to forget that on the other side of that screen and cables there is another human being that might be hurt or offended by em and others don't care cause they can hide behind their own screens

sorry bout the wall off text but this is one of the few things that piss me off about wow sometimes (and other mmo's)

just don't give up because someone says you cant do something dosent mean they are right also seen people make silly builds and solo instances and hard bosses


ps. Edit wrong year

I would say just dont raid.

I never raid because for me the rewards of possibly getting a new piece of gear isnt worth the risk of wasting a few hours wiping. My attention span is too short to have to wait to reset after wipes.

Thats just me though, I have more fun grinding random reps or looking for rare pets.

Random dungeons are a bit fun too, because usually its a cakewalk through the dungeon.

~Over time though if you do raid, you can usually tell within the first few pulls or the first few boss attempts how the rest of the raid is going to go.
When a raid screams FAIL then its time to BAIL

*Aweena WOW didnt come out till fall of 2004 ~ perhaps you had the date wrong (sorry to be a stickler)

no worry's got a memory like a swizz cheese so im sure your right i got the year wrong but i did play shortly after launch

Well, over all, I think I can still be very proud of my achievements in WoW.
I have every profession to within 10 points of cap if it isn't already capped:
Leather 449
Jewelery Crafting 450
Alchemy 450
Enchanting 440 (and 430 on another toon... I want to retire the higher of the two)
Tailoring 445
Blacksmithing 440
Inscription 450

At least 5 toons with various gathering professions at 450

Almost all my toons have fishing at or near cap.
Same goes for cooking as well.

On my main, I have 90+ vanity pets.

I am Exalted with major cities (Ambassador title) on my 2 mains (I like to call it "Exhausted"), just got exalted with Hodir on four toons this week (one a tailor, for the large bag)

6 toons exalted or nearly so with Ebon Blade.

Two tailors: one shadow, one moon, for the two cloths needed for the glacial bag.

And doing all this brought me immense pleasure and satisfaction.

I just REALLY resent being told I "have to" play a certain way.
A bit of sad news: I have a chronic (and more than likely terminal within the next 5-10 years) illness, and WoW has been one of my cherished "guilty pleasures". It hurts to have someone tell me I have to change what brings a bit of pleasure to my days.

Also being told to "get over it".
If something hurts my feelings, well, being told to "get over it" isn't going to help.
The "nightmare" dungeon group I was in the other day really upset me.
These two "friends" in the game kept telling me to "Get over it".
If I'm upset, TELLING me to "get over it" isn't going to MAKE me get over it!
I need a bit of time to deal with it.
Being bullied, even by unknown people, in a video game, is still emotionally traumatizing.

Ugh.. sorry peoples.. I hate laying all this crap on you.
I guess that WoW hasn't been very good to me for the last few days.

Here I was, all excited about Cata.
Now all I can hear is "you're going to get left behind in Cata if you don't shape up and get with the program".

I am sorry to hear about your illness I hope everything works out ok

I started collecting pets, of course not nearly as many as you have, lol(sitting at 53 right now)
I do get a bit of enjoyment summoning a random pet to follow me around

People can be jerks on the computer, so much more so than in real life, I think it is the fact that if they said something about "your mom" in real life for instance they would probably be punched right in the face.

It can definitely put a damper on the instance or whatever you are doing.
I was running an instance and the tank aggro'ed a group as he was headed after a different group.
The healer shielded him as he went into the second group, so they started to head after the healer.
I misdirected the group to the tank and we recovered.
I was blamed for the adds, so I tried to explain what actually happened.
I was instantly called a huntard and was told to shut up because I didn't know anything.
Now they played ok after that, but I ended up ignoring the tank for he was the worst of the bunch.
That definitely made it not fun for me, and I ended up walking away from my computer for a while after we were done with the instance.

This game is supposed to be fun, so any time I am not having fun, I hang it up for a bit and do something else I enjoy.
(A good bike ride does it for me, 15-30 miles makes you forget about all your troubles, lol)

Seriously, do whatever makes you happy in this game and don't take grief from anyone about it. Not even your friends.

Basically, I think we are all giving you a big /Group Hug and letting you know that -we- aren't all like that.

The nice thing about WoW (and one of the things Blizzard even uses as a selling point) is that it has a niche for everyone. Soloers will have things to do. People who want a big social network to down raids will have things to do. People who like player versus player content will have things to do. The same goes for people who enjoy grinding, questing, collecting, or setting goals like achievements to reach. Because it's an open-world game, there is no end to what you can do, and no one direction you "have" to go in. Remember WoW can't be won, so there's no need to feel forced into any one roll or playstyle.

That said, I totally know how you feel! Until very recently, I too was a mostly solo player. I had 2-3 real life friends that I played with sometimes on my old server, but they were hardcore raiders and while I did spend some time in that guild as a social person, it really wasn't for me.

It's only recently, after I joined the Petopians guild, that I've really started getting into some of this other content. I never touched dungeons before these forums started up, because I got nervous really easily when I went into dungeons. I was always afraid of messing up, getting yelled at, insulted, etc. My self esteem bruises easily, especially when I'm convinced the mistake is my fault, and if somebody else is mean enough to start saying that as well it doesn't help any. But having some nice friendly guildies to encourage me was really helpful, and now I run dungeons whenever I feel like it. If you're serious about wanting to get into some of this other content, maybe that's all you need?

But don't feel forced to, either. My irl friends sometimes seemed really confused when they'd explain their hardcore raiding guild setups (which are very strict, very disciplined, and involve a lot of yelling and swearing) and find me uncomfortable at the thought of it. They enjoy that sort of setting, and that's fine for them, but it just wasn't comfortable for me. However, the much more casual and supportive guild setting (such as Petopians) is much more my cup of tea. If I mess up, I'm pretty sure nobody in the guild will start screaming at me; instead they just give friendly suggestions on improvement. It's very encouraging when people genuinely want to help you improve and not just push you to GET MOAR GEAR. I've already done a lot more than I ever thought I'd do in the few months I've been over there.

TL;DR:
It's not the end of WoW for you. Do what you want; you pay for your sub, it's your game, and it's not raid-driven. And, if you are really serious about wanting to do more instances and try a raid, a more casual, friendly guild setting might be less stressful for you than a hardcore group or a PUG.

~VelkynKarma

so many people that have problems irl play wow or other mmo's and its sad that ass hats the few of them (im being naive i know) have to ruin it for those that really need it to find joy ignore pain and forget that they feel useless irl

i my self have add and a depressive personality disorder playing wow makes me feel confident at times but the human factor can ruin it so playing solo is a lot of enjoyment to

that said i hope its closer to 10 and never than 5 for you and don't let anyone bully you to play any other way than how you like.

/hugs

I have two toons in the Petopians horde-side guild... but maybe I should have made a Priest or some other class than what I'm really used to playing (all-hunter, all the time)?

maybe if you all are patient with me and wait for me, I'll make a Worgen priest (there is an Alliance Petopians guild, yes?).

im not sure but we could poke the others to see if we can find one problem is im not sure what region they have em i know there is one on bloodhoof eu and us have some others but what sides i dunno

Sukurachi wrote:
maybe if you all are patient with me and wait for me, I'll make a Worgen priest (there is an Alliance Petopians guild, yes?).

There is an Alli-side guild, called <Ominous Latin Name>. It's very quiet however, there's not a lot of people on it all the time.

Regardless of what side you're on though, you don't have to play a hunter It's a guild of pet-lovers, but not necessarily hunters. We have tons of other class types in the guild, too! If you feel like just relaxing, hanging out, and taking it easy, you can do just that, regardless of class.

~VelkynKarma

I suspect that with the advent of Cata and Worgen, this might change, no?
I know that generally, I am not attracted to the Alliance side, neither for lore nor for the races.
However, the addition of Worgen adds a certain cachet of mystery and tragedy with which I identify heavily.

maybe we could liven up the Alliance Petopians guild with a whole slew of new Worgen toons when Cata comes out?

I'll be trying a Male Worgen, and I know many other people will be rolling them as well. I'm sure the Alliance side of Petopians will pick up a bit, but it depends on dedicated people are to those characters. I'm hesitant to say my Worgen will be permanent, I can never stick with Alli characters myself. x) But I'm going to try one at least for the starting area.

I just wanted to concur with what others here have already said (and probably better than I could have in any event). There is no definitive way to play this game, it is what you make of it, and that is part of the beauty of it all.

I soloed my way to 80 without setting foot in a dungeon. I hardly even interacted with other players in the game for the majority of my time. I got picked on from time to time, and obliterated by virtue of being undergeared and playing on a PvP server, but I did what I felt like and that was that.

Since joining the Petopians I've become more social and more willing to do things that stress me out a bit. I feel pretty comfortable jumping into unfamiliar things with the people here because I know, worst case scenario, they'll chuckle and then do their best to help me get better.

Play how you want to play.

Agree with the above. Everybody has different ways to enjoy the game. I know of a person who leveled from 1-70 entirely on boars, sometimes grinding the same little patch of them for several levels. I've spoken to someone who was determined to explore every inch of the map. I met her while she was traversing Outland, requesting summons to places that could only be reached by flying -- she was under level 10. Do what lets you enjoy the game, even if it's something that most people find tedious.

Having said that, if you are at all interested in doing any instances, I'd suggest that you 1) find a friendly, laid-back guild such as the Petopians seem to be, and 2) try out low level instances first. People tend to be a lot less judgmental at these levels, and you're not expected to have the perfect gear or spec. Furthermore, you generally can't blow through these instances in 5-10 minutes, as you can now that people outgear the WotLK dungeons. If people have queued for Shadowfang, or Razorfen, they go in expecting it's going to take time. The experience should be more pleasant, and you'll learn things about working with the group, and about dungeon type mobs, in a less stressful environment.