Day 4 - Tanaris, 8:15pm

I hate the desert. I hate sand. I hate sun. I hate the winds that blow across the desert sands pelting my robes and chafing my undead skin. This land is barren. Scorpions roam on every hill. Vultures circle the bones of beasts long since passed. Hyenas chase me at every turn with fellow crocsiliks often blocking my path.

Fortunately, spend much time here I have not. I brought havoc and death to the Wastewater Clan just east of Gadgetzan and collected bounties on some known thugs. I even escorted a tortoise back to his wife and a chicken robot to the docks of Steamwheedle. And my older brother Reavir and I spent some time with the not-so-friendly trolls of Zul'Farrak. I sought a gland of dew from the stumbling elementals to the south, and thumped many a head of ogres who spend so much time guarding empty ruins. While visiting the ogres, a strange Human shrouded in ice tried to speak to me. Alas, I could not understand anything he said, so I attempted to help by cursing his tongue and introducing him to my imp. Soon he was at rest with the ogres and I was on my south to dispense with wasps and beetles.

Yet after all these adventures, I still hate this desert of Tanaris. Despite my need to corrupt and agonize those in my way, I find the lush forests of the Hinterlands far more appealing. Soon I will begin the long trek back to those lands. My employers have many a duty for me amongst the mountains, trees, and Hippogryphs.

But before I can leave, wrestle 5 more water pouches from the Wastewater Bandits I must. A simple barter awaits with the goblin who deals in versatile power supplies so that I may conduct field research for a sister of the Forsaken who works relentlessly in the dark labs of the Undercity. And while I test the creatures of Tanaris for corruption, I am charged with finding the remains of a not so fortunate Goblin who wandered too deep into the Gaping Chasm.

While I toil away in this barren wasteland, perhaps I will come across a suitable new belt. This one of Arugal's is torn to shreds...

Friends, Colleagues, Fellow Horde... I am a death dealer. Ever since my early days with Doom, Quake2/3, and Unreal Tourney, my sole purpose in this gaming universe has been to bring destruction to those who oppose me. This is why I can relate so well to my friend Richard over at the Looking for Group comic (http://www.lfgcomic.com). So naturally, I rolled a Rogue when I first started Warcraft almost 3 years ago; a specialist in melee damage, on the front lines, stabbing and poking to victory! Over the years, my focus remained on the damage dealers... the warrior (ok, he's prot atm, so the dmg isn't great but my Mallet of the Tides pwns!), the mage, the hunter, and now the warlock. Damage, damage, damage...

Last night, while scurrying across the sands of Tanaris on my lock, a bud of mine, who is foolishly leveling a Paladin (healer, hahahahaha) said he was bored of the leveling process and wanted to try a Priest. Of course to me, this just sounds like more of the same. I leveled a Priest once, I think to lvl 8? She never really left Brill. And since I hadn't really leveled with anyone in almost 2 years, I volunteered to level a Shaman with his Priest. Yes, a Shaman... <applause from Capt Kirk>

Now, leveling a Shaman in the company of a priest really makes this a one-sided experience. I don't think my "heal" spell <shudder> is even on my action bar. Admittedly, the mobs of Durotar pose no special threat to my Priest and I. He would cast his holy damage spell (hahaha) and I'd throw bolts of lightning. I even planted a totem now and again... Stoneskin for the win!

We are currently level 8 and resting in Razor Hill. It's a nice break from the monotony of Tanaris (ugh I hate that zone, need to hop over to the Hinterlands). I've promised not to level the Shaman without the company of his Priest. We'll see what the Barrens has in store for us...

Like many who play this game, I have a few "Boy, I wish Blizz would..." thoughts for Warcraft. In the spirit of Christmas wishlists, here's what I'd like to see in my Blizz stocking this year:

1) The option to buy faster flight paths. Instead of the scenic routes between zones, these flight paths feature faster mounts and direct routes.

2) Closets for sets of gear. No more bank slots dedicated to all the different gear. Let me build a set of gear and place it on a hanger in my bank. One slot = one set of gear (including rings, trinkets). You could even have slots especially for the tier sets (including PvP).

3) Limitless stacks of PvP Honor Tokens. This would remove their delivery (and subsequent despawn) in the mail. Especially since we can't turn them in for rep anymore.

4) Extended quest log beyond 25 quests. My lvling Warlock wants to be able to do more quests!

5) Timed events for all heroic instances. Much like the ZA timed event. Kill the bosses in a certain amount of time and reap the improved rewards.

6) Reduced cost for respecs. The game practically requires folks to use different specs. There should be a dramatic reduction in the cost. Make it one flat fee.

7) Tri-location hearthstones. Blizz... travel time in Warcraft is ridiculous. I know you like folks payin' month after month for play time, but having us spend minutes (ultimately hours) just to travel is absurd. Should be ports to other cities in all major cities (a la Shatt). And then our hearthstones should let us select 3 destinations. QED.

Well, I'll keep the list short. Anyone else have ideas for those small changes that could make a world of difference?

Now, all my other toons were leveled to 70 prior to the Blizz lvling revamp introduced in 2.3. Like most players, I avoided Dustwallow Marsh because frankly, the quests were about as interesting as the landscape. However, my charming undead 42 Lock was drawn to Dustwallow as part of the lock-only quest series infernal vs felhound.

So gallop into Dustwallow I did. First thing I noticed was the two new quest givers outside Tabetha's cabin. "Go kill 10 these" and "Bring me 7 of those" type quests. Typical. But at least I wasn't expected to ride back and forth across the zone to find the needed mobs. They were right outside the farm house. Now admittedly, lvl 42 is too high for these quests (they were all green) but I figured I might as well do them... new content right?

Mudsprocket was pretty typical. All hail Gadgetzan rep! Blizz, please answer me this... why the hell didn't you include a flight path outside Ony's door step back in the day when guild actually ran Ony? OMG! How many times did my poor NE Rogue swim from Theramore past Nat Pagle and ride on into Ony's home? Oh well, better late than never. Maybe Ony will get revisited in WotLK.

So back to Dustwallow... Nothing too fancy here. Killed some more Grimtotem mobs. I guess they migrated from their old home to the east of Sun Rock Retreat. The Shady Inn quests were ok... first time I had encountered the "purple assisting arrows" that point out the locations of quest related items. Sure beats the ol' Thottbot lookup. Thanks to the new leveling system, I think I grabbed almost an entire level doing the whole of Dustwallow (even the old favorites in Brackenwall Village).

I'm wondering if there isn't some grand plan for all the Gadgetzan rep increases. Seems like a wasted faction (aside from the discounts you receive with vendors).

I am entering a new phase of my WoW career (yes, a career... casuals have a game, addicts have an obsession, and 30-something obsessed executives call it a career). One with which, after almost 3 years of playing, I am not particularly familiar... the drive to NOT raid. Yes, that's right, NOT raid.

Now many players new to Warcraft, i.e. post TBC, are unfamiliar with the pains (let's face it, they were usually painful) of 40-man raids. Yet, die hard player I was, I found myself weekend after weekend raiding MC, BWL, AQ40, and a few paces in Naxx with 39 other brothers and sisters. 39 people I didn't really know except for casual interactions over Vent or TeamSpeak. We'd raid for up to 6-8 hours at at time! "Get the door, it's Dominos!" "Where's my cathoder?" "Stretch break, be back in 10!" Ahh yes, the epic raid. All for a couple of epics off a boss.

Remember those first few visits to Molten Core? Epics dropped off the trash! Amazing! Core Leather! Loot the CoreHound! My guild spent an inordinate amount of time in Molten Core. To the extent that my two main toons (Warrior and Rogue) were both exalted with Hydroxian Waterlords. Fortunately, the Warrior had his Thunderfury (now essentially useless, /cry). Anyway, countless (literally) hours spent in 40-man raids. And if you weren't raiding, you were prepping for the raids.. farming tubers in Felwood, gather mats for pots (back when resistance pots were actually useful), and farming up gold for repairs (before they had the gold vendor machines [aka daily quests]).

So trudge through MC, BWL, and AQ40 I did. All with one guild. Got to know most of the members (again, in the context of WoW) and then TBC was announced. Our much anticipated forays into Naxx were stalled. Folks left the game. Others took a break until the Expansion. Some of us toyed in Naxx but were left handicapped without a full raid.

TBC is released and there was renewed excitement, especially since there was promise of 25-man raids! How simple is that! Since in your typical 40-man raid, about 20 of the players actually did most of the work, it seemed that 25-man raids would allow you to progress without the dead weight usually found in 40-man events.

So into Kara I charged. Holy trash mobs, Batman. 3-day Karazhan clears FTL! But at least the rest of the game started to pick up to accomodate for the steep incline that was PvE progression. Yet the thought of the 25-man raid kept my hopes high. Gruul, Mag.. easy 25-man content. They were just scaled down Ony runs. Complete the attunement for SSC! Oh wait, the attunement is nerfed! Yes! More people we can bring into SSC! TK awaits!

And then it hits. And then the wool over my eyes is lifted. I'm tired of this grind. Waiting up to an hour for your fellow lazy guild members to log on so you can carry them through an instance. Waiting for those who disconnect to reconnect. Resetting the raid after that noob fellow runs too close to Hydross (are you serious? stick to the left of the walkway!).

I have played this game for almost 3 years. I have 6 lvl 70's (sans Druid, Shaman, Paladin). Not to mention the various faction alts spread around a few different realms. All this time, I never really played much PvP. Mostly on my rogue, and mostly when I was farming AV rep for The Lobotomizer (TBC noobs, boy did you miss out on the AV grind). And now, with 2 netherdrakes, exalted factions all around me, and no raiding guild, all I do is PvP. And frankly, it is some of the most refreshing gaming I do.

I log in, farm some honor, lose most of my AB games (come'on Horde, hold 3, build a lead, THEN cap a 4th, trading nodes doesn't win a game), and log off. With the PvP rewards comparable to "realistic" PvE items, I'm content to free myself from the bonds of raiding.

Would I like to see BT or MH? Sure. But I'm on a server with low Horde raid progression. And I play popular classes, so finding a good raiding home is tough (who really needs T5 rogues/warriors these days?). And frankly, I'm not interested in spending 4 hours to make 15 minutes worth of progress. WTB revised raiding structure where the skill of players decides progress, not the numbers. Give me a really challenging 5-man raid structure. And get away from the damn tank and spank. Trash mobs, pull 1, tank/spank. Lather, rinse, repeat... le sigh... the only interesting encounters are Boss fights and those only happen once a week.

It certainly seems to me that the creative wizards at Blizz could build actual 5-man instances that required all players to cc, tank, dps, and heal in various ways. On each and every pull! Use timed events. Offer greater rewards for groups that have fewer deaths/wipes, who don't overheal, who don't run out of mana, etc. Something that challenges players to actually play their classes instead of mindlessly running behind a prot warrior (I'm a prot warrior, so I can say these things) and spanking the mobs while they beat on a guy in plate.

$20 says the first quest in WotLK is something along the lines of "Bring me 20 Mul'thar gizzards"... le sigh!