It Sucks To Be AFK
Even when they cry, DK’s look badass.
Every few weeks I find myself having to leave home for a two week block due to work obligations. Half a month away from home, from family, and all familiar comforts therein. It sucks to be away from home, away from loved ones. And especially from my computer.
I know we’re living in the 21st century and most of the civilized world has embraced cellular technology. Towers everywhere, blessing the masses with 3G and 4G coverage. Sadly, there are pockets in this wireless blanket of coverage where you are lucky to have a single bar of service, and God forbid if you happen to move twenty feet to the right or left once you find that sweet spot of service.
This is where I spend my two weeks – in the deadzone pocket.
Since I can’t log into WoW by conventional means, I am forced to spend my two weeks on Twitter living vicariously through the posts of others. My work schedule has been a particularly cruel mistress, as I have been away during a few, well let’s call them pivotal moments in WoW.
I missed:
– Blizzcon (I had a ticket to the event that I ended up not using, and couldn’t even stream it due to the mighty One Bar of Service).
– The release of Warlords of Draenor (which might not have been a bad thing – DDOS attacks I’m looking at you).
– Patch 6.1 (my damn, so many in-game selfies WHY PEOPLE WHY).
It sucks to constantly be out of the loop like that. I miss being behind the progression of events. I miss not being able to level my characters, or not doing their daily profession cooldowns. Why, that’s throwing money away. That’s pissing gold away. Hey…
(Please don’t — Editor)
Fine. I will skip the golden shower reference.
(He doesn’t, and yet still does — Editor)
Back to the point, there are things in game that I miss. If it wasn’t for the fact that I bought a subscription to a mobile desktop service so I could do my garrison missions on my phone, I would slowly lose my mind. Don’t say it.
(Wouldn’t dream of it bubba — Editor)
And now, I pose the question to you dear reader – What do you miss about World of Warcraft when you are away from it for an extended period of time?
Playing For Both Teams
I’d been mulling over the idea of taking an Alliance character through WoD. Why?
– I paid for the entire expansion. I therefore wanted to see the entire expansion. At least, the starting zones. I think I want to see a garrison that isn’t swamped in snow. I. Hate. The. Cold.
The “ugly” races get the “ugly” weather? Thanks Blizz!
– There are some cool folks who play on the Alliance side, and at some point I may want to have a toon ready to rock and roll with them.
– I dropped a chunk of gold and upgraded a number of heirloom items to 100.
The problem was time. Specifically, that I was leaving home for two weeks and would not have access to WoW by any means other than mobile desktop on my phone. That was fine for my follower’s garrison missions, but not for anything else.
If I was going to be AFK for two weeks, I wanted this character to start amassing garrison supplies as well as potential gear from follower missions. He could also get XP, gold, and various other goodies that came from patch 6.1.
Also, being the master of time management, this decision came the night before I was about to leave. That meant between packing my tooth brush and phone charger, I had to squeeze in leveling a character to the point where he had a garrison and at least one follower.
There was only one practical solution: level up a Horde character, then faction swap him once I got back.
It made sense. I’d run the Horde starting zone five times already, so I knew how to do it quickly. I wouldn’t be distracted by anything new on the Alliance side. Plus, I had an Orc DK that I wasn’t planning on doing anything with anyhow. He had professions that could make him some gold once he went to the Blue and Gold.
Ninety minutes later, my DK was standing in his garrison sending two (soon to be three) followers off on missions. He didn’t have many resources, so I’m hoping resource reward missions will be coming soon for him. But for the next two weeks, I’ll have something extra to work on.
Rokk Talk 