The View From Down Here

Namthe’s rules for a stress-free life

It occurred to me that I have a few unwritten rules that I use to govern my time playing WoW; they keep the burnout away and in a discussion with a friend the other day they were set down, more or less. I’ll discuss my reasoning for them below, after the rules themselves, which are:

Namthe doesn’t do:

• 5-mans of any sort
• Karazhan
• Zul’Aman Pugs
• Gruul or Magtheridon
• Any other sort of pug
• Daily Quests
• PvP

Namthe does do:

• Zul’Aman groups with people he knows and trusts
• 25-man raids (SSC or above) with people he knows and trusts.

Exceptions:

• I’ll contradict the above whenever the hell I feel like it

They’re quite simple, really. I’ve seen most 5-mans and Kara so many times I can tank them one-handed in my sleep, and I don’t need badges, so I skip those. Similarly Gruul and Mag are just plain dull for the same reasons – and they don’t even really have the badge argument to swing for them. Of course come the expansion you’ll be struggling to pull me out of 5-man instances again.

I’ve seen too many bad pick-up groups in my time to trust that they’ll get things right, and while I’ve met many excellent players in pugs, I’ve met just as many bad ones. I want to enjoy my raids without getting frustrated by the one or two people that just don’t listen to instructions. If I’ve grouped with you before and found you know what you’re doing, you’ll rapidly find your way onto the “known and trusted” list. Best way to get on that list? Be recommended by a friend. Whispering me at random begging for a tank generally doesn’t do it, especially if I’ve never heard of your guild (and sometimes if I have, too).

I find my raiding consumables and repairs are more than paid for just by cash drops in raids from bosses, and dailies are just another way of dressing up “go grind”. I’ll do the odd daily occasionally, but I won’t sweat if a couple of weeks go by and I don’t get to do them. Even when we’re spending three nights a week wiping on a new boss, my cash reserves (about 1500G, usually) are fine to take that kind of hit. If I really get desperate, then the 350 [item]Badge of Justice[/item] I have in the bank can easily be converted into ready funds though gems or [item]Primal Nether[/item].

PvP should be obvious – I’m a protection warrior, what on earth do I want a battleground for? Some people are really into PvP. I’m not one of those people, and my raid role attests to that.

Basically I guess the condensed version of this list is “Don’t do anything you don’t really enjoy”. It’s good advice, I think. If I think I’ll enjoy something on the “Don’t” list, I’ll do it – like the trip to Karazhan I did yesterday with a bunch of undergeared alts of various friends.