Friday, August 13, 2010

Friday Frivolity!

It's been a very difficult week. I've had to be everything to my kids as my wife's been in the hospital. But she'll be getting out today...hooray! With limited visiting hours allowed, I've been home a lot. Watching tv, playing on the XBox with my kids, and yes, even playing WoW.

I think I played it to numb my brain, which probably isn't the best motive for such an activity. But I did it for that reason anyway. I was able to do some things while I was numbing my brain, however, like finish up my Classic Dungeonmaster achievement. For me this was important, first of all it meant that I had braved Orgrimmar (alone, btw) and fight my way to Ragefire Chasim. It also meant picking up some keys to places like Dire Maul West/North and Blackrock Depths' Shadowforge Key.

Late last night I killed the Emperor and proclaimed myself Ruler of Blackrock Mountain.

The nice thing about doing this achievement solo is that it gives me the time to scope out dungeons, to learn the patterns of patrols in places I've never seen, to understand the mechanics of certain fights and rooms and protectors, etc. I rarely ran dungeons while leveling my 80 toons, it was before the LDF tool and I was, well, extremely shy. I'm about to level my first tank, so it's been nice to get to know the places so that when I make my runs I can be a leader, not a stupid tank who doesn't know where to go.

Probably the biggest mistake I made was in Dire Maul West, I ran through the first square, killed a couple trees and protectors for fun, then I glimpsed this huge tree guy with a real name and thought 'Oh, a boss!'. I went and killed the guy, went to open the door behind him when I was swarmed by a dozen of those protector dudes who, I can only assume, were a bit upset that I caused them to fail at their jobs by killing their boss. Ooops! I didn't die, but I was nervous for a second or two there.

Going into DM North I did the tribute run, mainly because it was the fastest way to get my achievement. Still, it was fun to be the King of Dire Maul and have everyone bow to me.

The moment I earned my Classic Dungeonmaster achievement my kids were with me, which was nice, because we had been together for much of my classic dungeon runs. Even better because we have been supportive of each other this week while their mom has been away, unable to tuck them into bed and give them kisses and hugs. For a brief moment, we were able to share in the Frivolity that is WoW, the innocent smiles of a game that lets us spend a few happy moments with each other.

We'll all be together again tonight, things will start to get back to normal. I'm glad, that in a difficult week, I was able to smile even once with two kids I love. It's the kind of respite that makes playing frivolous games worth it.

Have a great weekend, I should be back in full swing next week. And I may have to revise my prediction for WoW's release based on new support that I failed to consider. Until then, have a great weekend.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey dude, I hope you and your Mrs. are doing well.

The classic dungeon master achievement has eluded me thus far. Not for a lack of opportunity or time, but simply because I hate the idea of having to trudge through all those instances on my new account (lost the old one), all for a measly 15 achievement points (or is it 20?)

Gronthe said...

@ arewenewatthis: That's why I close my eyes to the # of achievement points I get. It should be something like 300 for that achievement. I just put my head down, tried to ignore those measly 10-15 points or whatever it was and just did it anyway. Some of it was tedious, but soloing through Orgrimmar without dying was totally worth it...or so I tell myself.