Bored, WTB Xpac NAO.

The title really says it all, I wants me some of that sweet expansion lovin'. The reason for my lust for the expansion is that I find my interest in wow flagging. I just can't be arsed to log on anymore, and when I do log on I end up running or flying around shattrath for a while before just exiting the game. Sure I guess I could run some instances or someting but to tell you the truth I don't want to do that either. I keep saying to myself that I enjoy tanking, maybe it's just that lately I've become scared of doing it for fear of making mistakes and wiping a group. It just seems that people don't run instances for fun and it's no longer poops and giggles when someone does something silly that causes a wipe. Instead it's people who are only running it for badges and they choose the instances because of their high badge-to-time ratio. If people make mistakes and wipe in those types of runs then that is screwing up their badge-to-time ratio, and they get annoyed, and they call people names, and everyone feels awkward and it's no longer fun.

I just don't know, sometimes it seems that I'm a bad tank, I do stupid things, or things that I think will help but just cause a hindrance. Maybe that's it, maybe it's just no longer fun for me. My fear is crippling me. I say that I like tanking and I love reading about it and imagining tanking the big baddies like illidan and archi and kael. I can't remember the last time I did an instance, I just have no wish to do them anymore, I'm afraid of what I might do wrong, or just not knowing what to do or what have you. I read up on them and watch some vids trying to find out everything that might be bad to do before-hand and I get all pumped and I feel like I can do it, and then I go away and when I come back I'm in the same position again, not wanting to do anything for the fear of failure.

I suppose the only way to learn something is by doing it, and this has worked for me in the past. I remember hating heroic Botanica because I thought it was uber hard. This, I found out later, was due to a none-too-optimal healer, and was not really my fault(I certainly contributed to it with my inexperience in the instance, but I most certainly was not the sole reason for it), but it was too late, the damage was done. I didn't ever want to step into that instance again. However, something far greater then simple fear egged me on and mae me run it again.

Asthetics.

Yes that's right, I was still equipped with the Warchiefs mantle, and dear sweet lord, I don't think I ever hated another shoulder grahpic that much. Right from the first I thought it looked like ass, and I was stuck with it. FOR MONTHS. And so I began my epic quest for my DS3. This led me back in to the Botanica. I'll admit that at first I was very leery of doing it again, but after numerous trys I found that it was actually a very fun, very easy, quick instance. In fact it is now my favorite instance and the one which I know the best. I occasionaly make mistakes, but that's kind of okay, because it teaches me yet another thing I didn't know about the place. It makes the runs after it go smoother and with less mistakes, I can also now do it significantly faster then I used to be able to. At first it was an hour and a half or two hour affair, but now I've trimmed it down to about 50 minutes or an hour, which isin't terribly shabby in my humble opinion.

So yeah, based on my previous experiences it would seem that it would be a good idea to simply do Heroic MgT again and again and again until I know it inside out and can anticipate the things that will make my group get reaquainted with mr floor. However I'd prefer not to do this with my guildies=P, because well, with pugs it isin't too bad if I let people down, I'm not in daily contact with them, they won't really affect my reputation too much unless I do something monstrously bad.

Well there we are, got some of my crazy unsubstantiated fears offa mah chest.

As I said in the title and the subsequent line, I'm really looking forward to the xpac. All the paladin changes are quite exciting and I can't wait to see and try out some of the new abilities. More then that, though, I really want the new content, from all I've heard about northrend and the DK starting zones, the quests are very imaginative and lore-based. For someone whos played the RTS's(admitidly only WC3 and Frozen Throne), it's going to be amazing. I really love the Arthas storyline and the fact that he's going to be playing an active part and will be a very visible evil bad guy supreme is something that I just think is amazing. I would of loved to see Illidan more during my sojourn on Outland, but I think I've only ever seen him once, when I got muh netherdrake. That was a pity, because I also enjoyed his whole saga as well.

Another thing the expansion will offer mer(apart from more unique mounts for me to horn after, I'm a mount junkie btw=P) is a chance to ride the progression wave. When BC came out I was still levelling my first character, a tauren shammy. I got him to level 43 and then just lost all interest, thus began my current main Vash's journy to 70. However I wasn't exactly speedy in my aquisition of levels, or getting gear once I'd reached 70. I was a fresh player with a lot to learn. I've now become practised in my class and chosen role, which is of course tanking. I know a helluva lot more about the game then I did as a fresh 70. This is fantastic, and I owe alot of it to maintankadin, it taught me the essentials and honed my knowledge afterwards.

I now feel that when I reach 80, I will have a good grounding of experience to get me off the ground where raiding is concerned. I wil finally be able to progress through some of the higher tier instances, and see some of the big bad guys, something I never really got a chance to do in TBC, due to exams and other pressures. I'm bubbling over with enthusiasm for the new version of the game, so bring it on!