Welcome to Antaris-Land!!!!!

What? Too many exclamations? :)

So how is the world turning for me now?

Mostly .... great, to be honest.

Ok, the guild was a waste of time, but then I was only in it a signature with no serious consideration of staying anyway, but it was like a competition to see how many noobs you can fit into one place. Or maybe to see if the world collapses in on itself if too many of them are put in the same place at the same time. To summarise, I've left, the fact I've put on 17 levels in the time it's taken the GM (A hunter) to put on 2. I'm not saying he's useless, but I could probably roll a hunter and level it to 70 before he gets there.

I've slightly altered my talent build, eliminating some things that are more PvP, and making allowances for the 2.3.2 changes. I'm enjoying the change for the most part, it's like a weird combination of rogue and mage in terms of control of abilities, and I think I'm still coming to grips with some of the abilities. It still makes me laugh when people group with me and start shouting at me to heal. "I've run out of bandages, guess again" :P Truth is I can heal okay, and weirdly I'd probably make a reasonable back up at 70 with an allowance for Spell Damage/Healing factored into gearing. I'm never gonna be a great healer, but I'll probably have enough to tip the scales in a fight. But, DPS is what I'm about. Am I totally comfortable with every little nuance of the Retadin. No, but I'm slowly getting there. Figuring out which Seals to Judge seems to be a very hit or miss affair, a lot of a Retadin's DPS comes from SoC and that can have a really weird proc rate. Some fights it doesn't happen, other fights it happens every hit. I'm happy with some of the scary crits I can already bang down, considering the rubbish gear I have. I've managed to push a double crit (melee and SoC) out to about 1.3k (450 & 850). That should slowly creep up as I get better and better gear.

So, the big question is, what am I trying to achieve here?

I guess I never really thought in terms of long term goals. I just wanted a break from the place I was at on Khadgar, where I was pretty much at the point of just leaving the game totally it had become that much of a chore. I needed to put "wind back into my sails" so to speak. To find a reason to play, and just enjoy the basics the game has to offer. I guess one thing that I'd forgotten and maybe Hellgate brought back was my competitive streak, the side of me that once played UT, Quake, CS and even Kingpin online in Clans. The part of me that still wants to feel the fire that PvP brings, while not necessarily going back to it. Hellgate wasn't PvP, but suddenly I had the adrenaline rush that's been gone for a while, it was just being pushed to the extremes and fighting your way back. Knowing that you could rely on everyone around you to do their job, so you could concentrate on yours. It's been a while since I felt that in Warcraft, of recent times it's been more a case of knowing what mistakes everyone will make so that you can make allowances.

So, I'm better than everyone else?

Hell, no. I make my fair share of mistakes. I'm not as good at my job as I'd like to be, and there are times, when I feel I've let myself down in instances. I try to adapt and learn though. Renvik and Morwena both changed builds to become more effective at what they do. It worked for the most part, but again it's not perfect. I just don't see that same level of drive in everyone. Maybe that's the hardcore gamer in me, playing to win, not playing purely for fun, and I guess we are all different. It all comes down to this one single immutable fact ...

You can only share a common vision, with people who see things the same way as you.

And so it begins .... again!!!

So the world turns and for the time being at least I feel a little bit of love for the game once more, so is it a cool uber epic, a new pattern or a really successful instance. No. It is in fact a complete re-roll. I looked at all the problems and heartache that Khadgar has brought me over the last few months, and decided it was probably better for everyone concerned if I just moved on, so I looked around, found a server that had a couple of people I knew from the days of DUTY and decided, sod it, why not.

It's almost cathartic, to have no-one there, for it to be completely silent all the time. I guess I never realised how much white noise I'd been creating around me. So I took a step in a very sideways direction. A class and spec combo I swore I'd never play, just to see if I can totally cast myself as the outsider. I guess if I'm gonna make it, it's gonna be the hard way.

So here ends the tale of Renvik (at least for now), and here begins the tale of ....

To watch as all things turn to ruin ...

Once again my ability to update the site does not seem to have changed. I seem to do anything to avoid it, which seems to be a recurring theme in my life really.

So what has changed?

Well, pretty much everything. The person that gave Warcraft more meaning to me has left the server on their main, so I guess that puts me another friend down. I've largely stopped enjoying the game, and to that end have left TDD. I don't know what it was, but I always felt kind of stifled, and like I couldn't really be myself there. Asides from the fact I can't agree with some of the decisions that have been made recently, the time it took to make a push to recruit tanks and healers after the problems we've had with them recently, the now weekly decision in Kara to miss out the Maiden because we don't seem to be able to do it and finally, but definitely the last nail in the coffin, bringing up the Black Roses again. Honestly, it was a guild that lasted a few months, and has not been a part of the lives of most of the guild. It's time to get over it!!!

For me, I've moved some characters on slightly, mostly because I'm waiting for 2.3 and it's speed levelling goodness. Grundir is finally in Outland at level 60, and now he's getting an opportunity to build up some rest. Silvena is now level 55, and burning her way towards Outland as well. Most of the rest are still around the level 40 bracket, and as soon as 2.3 hits, then it's full force to move everyone up to 60. The advantage of not having a guild is that you can just go and do whatever it is that matters to you, and at the moment that is more having some fun, rather than the Tier 4 fever that seems to have hit TDD. So I'll plod on and see what it is that keeps me amused in game. It was a revelation to me that I hadn't had any fun for a long time in game, and then I got an invite to a Sethekk Halls run, by two old friends, and suddenly it was a laugh. It wasn't a perfect run by any means, but it wasn't taken too seriously, and that light hearted play is what I miss.

So what of Ren and Morwena, well Ren is pretty much consigned to rep and money grinds, and Morwena, after all the work getting her gear together, has basically been boxed up and put in storage for the time being. Time to see what the world has to offer a serial-leveller. :)