Rokk Talk – Casual Heroes
My Demon Hunter has been getting a lot of airtime lately.
I’ve been playing (and loving) Death Knights since Wrath of the Lich King. In fact, of the nineteen characters I had at level cap in WoD, eight of them were DK’s. When I switched my focus from a Horde guild to an Alliance guild, my main switched from Orc DK to Human DK. I dig the class, is what I’m saying.
So why am I playing my Demon Hunters all the time now?
That’s right. Demon Hunters. As in plural. I’ve got my Horde DH gearing up at 110, and I’m leveling my Alliance DH. My DK main, Rokkthor, still gets some attention now and then. I’ve run a couple of Mythic + dungeons with him, and he put up respectable DPS numbers despite only having an 850’ish iLevel.
But lately, when I log into WoW, I’m looking at my DH at the Character Select screen. When I research Transmog gear, I’m looking at Leather armor. It’s not even a balancing act between characters, or factions. I’ve forsaken one Hero Class for another. What I’m trying to figure out is why?
- They move to thrill. They dash. Double jump. Oh and don’t get me started on the joy of gliding. I glide so damn much now that I’ve killed my DK by jumping off a cliff out of habit and spamming my space bar to pop my non-existent wings. If he could shit in my RL shoes, I’m sure he would by now. Demon Hunters are dynamic, which is a nice change of pace from the usual style of melee DPS I’m used to – stare at the ass of the dungeon/raid boss and try to stab it to death.
- I’m finished with the DK. When I say finished, I don’t mean that I’m done with playing the class. Not at all. But at this stage of the expansion, I just don’t feel motivated to play my DK. At least, not in a meaningful way. He’s pretty much as geared as he can get without running Mythic dungeons, or getting into a serious (or at least non-LFR) raid team. Now that I’ve done a couple of Mythics, I’m confident I could run them successfully if my goal was to fatten up my iLevel. I’ve gotten the sweet class title, so the Order Hall questline is done as far as I’m concerned. World Quests don’t offer much except gold and AP. I’ve maxed out the Artifact Research I can do, but other than capping all the artifact talents I’d just be playing for the sake of playing. I’ve even completed all the prerequisites for unlocking flight that I can do. There’s no reason to better Rokkthor any more than he is currently. If I was raiding or pushing cutting edge content, then maybe. I’m just not there. There are other characters who need gear and artifact power. Characters who can benefit from my attention.
- Class motivation. I think most people who play World of Warcraft are familiar with Twitch streamer, Youtube creator, and PVPer / Bodybuilder / eSports Announcer, Bajheera. Watch his Twitch stream and feel the enthusiasm he has for his Warrior. It’s infectious. He got me interested in PVP back in the day and has more than once motivated me to blow the dust off my Warrior and wreck faces. Death Knights don’t really have that name associated with the class like Baj is with Warriors. Hazzed is a Frost DK that I follow and he has a fairly strong presence on Youtube (32,000 subs and counting). But as far as a breakout Twitch personality that brings eyes to the class, there really doesn’t seem to be one. Demon Hunters, however, have Fragnance. He’s the Twitch streamer from the EU who actually blazed to 110 in just over five hours with a Havoc DH when Legion launched. He mains a DH in Serenity, a group of raiders who felt that the raiding powerhouse Method was just too warm and fuzzy for their liking and split off to do their own thing. That probably isn’t entirely accurate, because I don’t follow the bleeding edge raiding scene and can’t be bothered to research it more thoroughly, but the point is that Fragnance has an entertaining stream, is a damn fine player who plays the snot out of his DH. His 64000 followers on Twitch is a testament to his success, and I have yet to find a DK with numbers like that
Will my Death Knight regain my love and attention? Yeah, probably. But for now, I’m looking to tear things up with my flapping bat-elf thing of death. From one Hero Class to another, and back again.
Soon… ™…
The 2017 Pushup Challenge
Get Stronger in 2017
This is not a resolution thing for me. This is more of a “get off your ass again” kind of thing. It’s also a “your birthday is coming up and you want to get better as you get older” kind of thing.
It’s also a Goku thing. Specifically Gokuflex.
Ironically, the man is built like an Anime powerhouse.
I started watching Gokuflex (aka Matt Kido) videos about a month ago, and he has definitely motivated me. It was a mix of his DBZ angle connecting with my inner (and not so inner) nerd, and his practical approach to nutrition and fitness, that appealed to me. In any case, I saw his New Year’s video and it gave me an idea. A goal.
That goal: 2017 pushups in 2017.
Now there’s no way I’m doing two thousand pushups in five hours. I’m just not at that point physically. I don’t think I’ll even do them in five days. But I plan on working out a little more regularly than I currently am. With that, I’ll incorporate pushups into the workout. I’ll also do them when I’m not working out. If I’m at home playing World of Warcraft and I’m taking a flight path, I’ll knock out five or ten pushups while my toon is in the air. If I’m in a BG and I’m waiting for the start timer to tick down, I’ll bang out another quick few.
What’s the point, you might ask? It’s about two things really: getting stronger, and getting active. It’s something anyone can do. If you started today and did six pushups a day – we’re talking two when you wake up, two at lunch, and two before bed – you’ll Achievement Ding your 2017 pushup goal by December. And you’ll be 2017 pushups stronger than you were in 2016.
As gamers, that’s what we do – we build up our avatars by gaining experience points and improve their weapons and gear. We make them stronger. I plan on doing the same thing with myself.
That’s the bottom line, whether it’s in WoW or RL – Get Stronger.
I’m planning on doing the challenge this year. I will succeed. I will get this achievement. How about you?
Rokk Talk 