Project Lore

Here at Project Lore, the last week has had us evaluating the balancing act that is playing WoW and still maintaining a social life. ITZKooPA pointed out the difficulties of doing just that, and how indeed, RL should always come first. So for those of us who readily take on this challenge of balancing the two, I thought it'd be fun to talk a bit about what challenges casual gamers face when playing WoW, and what steps we can take in-game to maximize our limited playing time. I've never been able to commit to playing WoW, or any game for that matter, on much more than a casual basis. On my relatively obligation-free days, like on the weekends, I can maybe play for a few hours. Most days during the week, I'm lucky if I can play at all. Since I'm working on leveling my main, one of the most important aspects to keep up with is getting that needed experience through quests. When I log off for a few days at a time, I oftentimes forget what I'm working on by the time I log on again. This past weekend, I went back to the Borean Tundra to catch up on some easy XP quests I had skipped over when I first made it to Northrend. But it takes a little while to get on the ball again. I read back through my quests, and refreshed my memory on several that I had awaiting in the dreaded mist. Then there's the matter of remembering where everything is located. Maybe I just have a poor memory, but when I log back on after a few days and am in an area where I haven't been for very long, I have a difficult time finding my way around. Especially in areas where I still haven't discovered a significant portion of the map. Thankfully, both the problem of not remembering quests and a poor sense of direction can be assisted with AddOns. My favorite quest and direction helper is TomTom (which you can see in use in Dorkins' soloing escapades). Not only can you read comments that give specific instructions for each quest, but the addon also puts an arrow on your screen pointing you to different quest objectives. Also, don't forget to read up on comments that let you know if you can complete any other quests in the same area. That helped me complete four quests in the mist in only one trip and, in the end, I got a fun parachute ride back to Warsong Hold after beseiging the Scourge army. Now, there are other plenty of other difficulties with playing WoW on a limited basis, and I find a lot of that comes in the area of housekeeping - keeping track of your professions and reagents, listing your auctions, remembering to use your new abilities or items that you may have gotten just before logging off a few days before etc. I have a few tricks beyond addons to keep it all straight - mainly in the way I sort my bags. I group all my leatherworking together, all my quest items together, all my gear for guildies in one spot, all my unwanted BOP to vendor in another, and any BOE items to auction someplace else. My main backpack is strictly for the items that I must keep with me always. And whatever isn't sorted tends to be grays that I can sell to the nearest vendor. And anytime I get a level, I take a few minutes right away to spend my talent point, get any new skills and put them on my action bar so I don't forget about them. With a little organization, I find that my time playing is more fun and less confusing. What could be better? So does anyone else have trouble keeping up with the wide World of Warcraft? What addons or tricks do you use to keep track of everything?

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