Traveling with WoW
Posted by 
pixiestixy on Monday, April 20, 2009 - 26 Comments Tags: Patch, cable, content patch, desk, desktop, dsl, lapdesk, laptop, latency, mouse, setup, touchpad, travel, vacation, zboard
pixiestixy on Monday, April 20, 2009 - 26 Comments Tags: Patch, cable, content patch, desk, desktop, dsl, lapdesk, laptop, latency, mouse, setup, touchpad, travel, vacation, zboard 
My long-awaited vacation has finally arrived. And one of the top items on my priority list (although I'm sot sure yet whether it will happen) is playing more WoW and getting a feel for all the 3.1 patch changes. The only problem: I'm more than 800 miles from home and in a much different atmosphere than usual.Here, there's no permanent desk setup, which isn't a huge deal since I normally play on my laptop anyway. It's just a bit less comfortable playing from a hard, wood chair than in my much softer desk chair. But since I need my mouse accessible, I can't exactly sink into a couch. I wish I would have remembered to bring my lapdesk - that would have solved that issue beautifully.
Thankfully, latency isn't much of an issue. The DSL here versus cable back home both have me hovering at about 200 ms. But I doubt we'd have enough bandwidth here to run two (or three) windows of WoW simultaneously. Needless to say, my escapades with dual-boxing have temporarily halted. I'm just glad I'm not staying with someone who still runs dialup!
So it's not quite the same as back home, but I'm able to squeeze in a bit of WoW in between fun vacation-esque stuff. Enough to feed the addiction.
For any of you all looking to leave town for spring break or whatever reason and still hope to get in some gaming on a laptop you can travel with, I recommend: find a comfortable spot - bring a lapdesk (do as I say, not as I do). Don't forget your mouse - touchpads are incredibly difficult to use in-game. And if you have anything like a Zboard that you can fit in your luggage, bring it along, too. Even if you can't fit your entire desktop, a keyboard doesn't take up a ton of space. Of course, if you CAN bring a more powerful desktop, that also would be nice. Though it may limit your options for a spot to play. And no matter what the case, remember: You're on vacation! Don't forget to run some RL quests for fun, too!
So what's your WoW routine while on vacation - do you still find the time to squeeze in some playtime? And do you have any more tips to offer for those traveling?
Reader Comments (26)
When I visit my parents' condo for Thanksgiving, I always find plenty of time to play. The rest of my time is spent by the pool. (No, I haven't combined the two activities and don't plan to.)
I don't play wow when on vacation. It's not a big deal to me to not play for a week or so.
First!
When I'm on vacation, I don't bring WoW, I don't touch WoW, I don't even think about WoW. It's a vacation, new past times are to be experienced.
Most of the time, WoW and vacation aren't something I do simultaneously hehe. You can bet I more than make up for some of the lost time though!
>=D
I usually don't play WoW on vacation because I usually am out of the country or somewhere without free wi-fi. I find its a good and refreshing break from WoW so that I can be ready for WoW again
i kind of wish that blizz would make some porable device to play wow any were and i mean just for wow that would be sweet i'd pop it out at school during lunch and get a WG in
It's not that I can't stand a week away from gameplay as much as I enjoy having something fun to do whenever there's down time. I like to do alot of relaxing on vacations and not be super busy the whole time, and for me, WoW is a great relaxation tool :)
@patrickD if we had a pool here I would TOTALLY combine the two :)
@michaelmdw a portable device would be awesome :D. I wonder if the iPhone could handle a minimized version of the game as an app...
I play at both my parents and my in-laws. Well, I did until my in-laws did a "computer cleaning" and WOW did not survive.
You can put W.O.W on ur I-phone/I-pod touch (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRiK0UltlYU) but it's only really good for checking mail, Auctions, and chatting with friends cause it run's really really slowly. So no raiding or WG bummer I know.
Vacation for me, is also vacation from wow.
i've seen an video of an iPhone running vanilla wow, its amazing what thoughs things can do. It can't hadle BC or Lick King unfortunatly.
at 2 frames per second, i'd throw the damm thing against a wall
since my vacations are either go to the beach, or going snowboarding, with friends, i dont find much time to play WoW, so i dont bring it with me. for me a vacation is getting out of ur normal routine and that includes WoW
My family and I take lots of mini vacations. If the vacation is at home of cousre I play WOW. If we have to travel some where usually we dont play. There really isn't time to much real life questing. Well maybe really late at night hehe.
When im on Vacation i usely dont have anywhere there is a BB connection so that sucks but its allso good to have a break and then come back to WoW with open arms and needing some attention :P
Whats a vacation?
WoW has been my vacation from RL. There isnt enough time to travel elsewhere. Boo to me.
Couch solution ---
Use a Logitech Trackman Wheel. You can sit on the couch with your laptop on your lap, and have the Trackball mouse on the couch arm. Since you use your thumb for movement, you don't even have to move your right arm and you can use your left for key punching. I actually play that way at home because I it's comfortable and I can have the tv running while I fish.
I usually dont play wow on vacations...I always take my laptop with me but dont find the time to play.
As for using my laptop at home (which i normally do) I find the touchpad just fine, been playing that way for years :)
What is this vacation you speak of? I have no life, which means I have no vacation. WoW has pretty much become my life, but I'm ok with that :)
I don't normally play on vacations either, its a time to relax and hang out with friends/family. I do however keep up with the blogs and forums to stay in touch with the community.
I remember my vacation last year was when the Sunwell patch hit. Can you imagine the amount of effort/time it took to catch up with everyone a week later.
Dude have a fecking holiday you sad sad man.
If I go on vacation, I still raid. Have to progress. Might miss a day or two, but for the most part I make them.
I'll admit it here and now, I've never used a mouse to play WoW, ever. I've always used my trackpad, and i've had no real trouble with it after remapping some hotkeys and stuff. Running on a macbook helps seeing as a right click is CMD+ click, so it's pretty easy to work around finger-wise.
I don't think i'd seriously find it comfortable playing with a mouse after playing for 1.5 years with a trackpad. That's just me though, and (hopefully, lol) I'm not alone! :D
I've tried using my touchpad a couple of times and it drives me nuts! But I suppose if that's how you've always played, you'll get use to it... You guys are weirdos ;)