Why a tank?

I hereby confess that the option for a tank did not originate from some divine influence or inspiration to bravely step in front of danger – taking on the pains in the place of my fellow adventurers for the greater good and success of the foray. Though this reason sounds really good, the truth is I chose this path waaaaaaaaaay back in the day for the simple reason that it would net me an instance group whenever I wanted to – THERE!!! It’s OUT!!

There is a simple reason behind all this, and it is related to a recent change – the Group Finder – for this boon I thank thee, oh Greater Overlords of Game Design, ye of Higher Status. Thank you Blizzard.

So that this point of view is clear to everyone, let me put the following to your consideration:

–         Casual Gamer thinks: “COOL!! I have the next 3 hours to play WoW”

–         Casual Gamer logs in

–         Casual Gamer would rather PvE

so

–         Casual Gamer joins LFG Channel

–         Casual Gamer is a DPS

so

–         After an hour, Casual Gamer gets a group

–         After 15 mins of internal bickering, 2 of the party members decide going to the Summoner Stone

–         10 – 15 mins later, party enters the instance

–         15 mins into the instance, internal bickering involving the preferred “NOOB!!” methodology causes the group to disintegrate

–         Casual Gamer would rather PvE

–         Casual Gamer RE-joins LFG

–         After 45 minutes more, Casual Gamer finds another group

–         Now, Casual Gamer has only 30mins of game time and realizes that these are not enough finish an instance (mainly back in the day)

–         Casual Player ends up not doing what he wanted to

–         Casual Player gradually loses interest in WoW

–         Casual Player cancels Account

So ye, I did chose a tank to avoid all this crap and be able to log into the game for short periods and still be able to enjoy an instance or two – it worked out to perfection but for one glitch: it got me ADDICTED to tanking and all it involves. I do know this is true for all classes, but for a tank, the strategy learning, the gear planning, the enhancement choices (gems, enchants, etc), where to level, which quest chains and rewards to chase, which instances to run and which reputations to farm all are imbued of a special significance and I LOVE IT ALL!!

Keep in mind that being a tank and being a casual player is not an easy task – since you may not have had the opportunity to run instances until oblivion, either you did check out the online strategy guides and videos for them or you are bound to enter the instance and immediately lay it out in the open. A DPS can somehow mask the fact that he was never there and maybe even a healer, but for a tank there is no chance – so you clearly state:

“Guys, this is my first time in here – any hints and tactics are not only welcome, but necessary”

“Thanks”

Which more often than not brings the usual side glances along with perhaps someone actually leaving, or the comments:

“That’s not good”

“Just go”

or a simple

“FFS”

But it doesn’t matter, I don’t care. If I had time to go through the tactics before great, If not I’ll say it out flat – if ppl cannot accept it, they can move along their own merry way. Hey, I can get a group again in no time, after all I AM A TANK  😀

A long shot?

I’ve done it – I started a BLOG!!

As the Blog name clearly states, I am a casual gamer. Not that I wouldn’t like to have a few afternoons / nights available all for myself, being thus able to join a raiding guild and heroically march into top-tier content – simply my life is not like that – other options and activities will always rise higher in priority.

But now for the major breakthrough – I am a casual player but I DO LIKE the game, and I DO ENJOY high-end content whenever I am able to get there – be it by a random invite or from a friend who is in a “true guild” and knows that I can hold my own when the tactics are laid out.

That being said, I have always wanted to start a blog from my casual perspective of the game – the name decision is in itself prone to some polemics, since I drag around me and my account a series of characters, both high and low-level, and spread over a myriad of different realms – this or that one has been my “main” for a specific period in time for whatever reason. Actually I guess it all boils down to my inability, when confronted with a game posing so many different options, to single mindedly go down an avenue discarding all the rest.

So among that amalgam of trolls, goblins, humans, dwarves, hunters, warriors, warlocks, paladins, etc, etc we find the one that I could call my actual main over the course of last years – Telurion, protection paladin – sitting at level 85 now for a few days, perfecting spec and rotations, instance strategies, both normal and heroic, and running the first to be able to reach the latter.

Here I will detail the route taken and most of all put out there my experiences as a casual gamer. Heck, I may even throw in some advice here and there!

 

Bottom line, I welcome you all to this “longshot” of a blog, which will attempt to shed some insight on the needs and wants, points of view and in essence what goes on in the heads of the strangest creatures to ever walk these realms – the Casual Gamers  😉