Tuesday, October 30, 2007

The Big Leagues

I don't know what it is, but I suddenly feel like I'm in the Big Leagues. When I hit 58, I went through the Dark Portal to Outland, but only to get some profession training to up my limits from 300->375. I then went back to Azeroth to finish some quests.

Then my new guild's leader coordinated a run through Scholomance. I thought to myself "Scholomance? Is that Scholo? Don't the big boys who talk about raiding and Kara and other hugely intimidating stuff like that, also mention Scholo sometimes?"

So that sort of put me in a fun mood, realizing that I'm getting into some of the fancier stuff the game has to offer.

Then in Outlands, I log in, and I'm at the inn in Honor Hold. 2 seconds later, I get an invite from a guildie to "run ramparts". What is ramparts? I had no idea. But I said OK. We go in there with 3 guildies and 2 pick ups, and have us a pretty sweet run. First time I ever ran with a mage doing sheep cc. Well, that is, other than the time in BG that I got turned into a sheep, again and again.

We run pretty smooth and sweet and get to the first mini-boss of Hellfire Ramparts. Burn him and his little healing friends to the ground. Then looting time. A pair of total hunter sweetness leggings drop. First time I've ever seen an item with gem slots. Mouth watering!!! Of course, we're there with 2 hunters, and I lose the roll. Wouldnt you figure. And to add to the sting, he was lvl 59 and couldnt equip it yet. Devastating!!! The guild has no official looting guidelines, but stuff I've read usually mention that "need" is only for a direct upgrade you plan on equipping immediately. After winning the roll he did say soemthing like "i've got 2 bubbles left till 60". And in his defense, he did ding 60 within a half hour of completing the dungeon. But I was not a happy camper.

I did give him the totally fake "congrats" text message. Its like when the runner up for Miss America gives the winner a hug. Yeah, that's sincere. Instead of patting her on the back, you know she's thinking of burying a shank between those ribs, but good taste prevails and you say "congrats". At least over text he couldnt hear the grit in my voice.

Luckily I have my semi-mature moments, and I got over it quickly and we finished a great run of the dungeon.

The whole experience just gave me the feeling that I'm in a whole new world now. I'm looking at loot that makes a serious difference and isnt just random BoE greenies I buy in AH. I'm running dungeons that have Heroic modes, so anything I learn about the instance now, will probably be useful in the future.

In general, it just feels like I've gotten the call and its time to step up to the plate for my first Big League pitch.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Amava, you're in the real game now! Outlands is a whole metric buttload of fun!

As for looting. Well, if it's a guild run or a pug, you should discuss loot rules at the beginning. Rule of thumb is, if it's a class specific piece or a weapon/ring/armor that is definitely of use to you, you should roll need. If it's a BoE green or blue, the group usually rolls greed... unless it's an upgrade for someone, then you roll need, but ask if it's okay first.

If a BoE epic drops... whoa! Time to have a group discussion. Figure out which people need it the most, if any, and then roll in party chat. If no one needs, then it's a free roll for auctioning.

If it's a guild run, you should have loot rules set to normal and people should be allowed to need or greed. If it's a pug, the group leader will probably set it to master looter to avoid any ninja action... just hope the ML is not a ninja him/herself.

I did many UBRS runs where the master looter was a total prick and hosed the whole group. Nothing will sink a good group faster than a loot whore.