Bash My Face In

I’ve been doing a lot of raiding lately.  In fact, this week I had every raid instance saved.  Naxxramas 10/25, Ulduar 10/25, Obsidian Sanctum 10/25, Vault of Archivon 10/25, and Onyxia’s Lair 10/25.  I guess that’s not all of them, I didn’t manage to find a group for Eye of Eternity.  For some reason, nobody ever wants to do that instance.  Is it hard or boring?  Is the loot pointless?  I’ve seen videos of the fight on youtube and I thought it looks like a fun fight.

I forgot to take a lot of screenshots, but I did manage to take a couple.  Here are some shots of Onyxia and Sartharion’s dead bodies.  I did get into the raid as DPS, but that’s mainly because there were better geared tanks in the raid.

Here’s a nice screenshot I found.  When I first started playing, I couldn’t believe how big the world was.  I was completely speechless.  I couldn’t believe this game had been around for almost a year before I heard anything about it.  I guess that’s what I get for being a geek and not leaving my Linux IRC channels.

Here’s a screenshot of the group after we defeated Amnennar the Coldbringer in Razorfen Downs.

Here’s what I look like after several months of raiding.  Mish’undare, Circlet of the Mind Flayer and Doomcaller’s Mantle are the only pieces of gear that I can make out (ok, I just wanted to make sure the wowhead powered tooltips were working).  I took this screenshot for a presentation I was giving for my speech class about how World of Warcraft had taken over my life.  As you can see in the screenshot, I have 88+ days played.  This was about a year after I began playing World of Warcraft, and if you check out my gold amount on the titan bar on top, I’m still broke as a joke.

I ran across a post today that mentions that, “For a few people I know personally, the game just isn’t interesting anymore, and they say that Warcraft has started its crash-and-burn, the downward spiral into oblivion.”  Now, there’s a lot more to the post (it’s huge) and you should go read it when you have some time, but I don’t agree with this at all.

Back when I started playing World of Warcraft, there was so much to do, the world is massive and there are a ton of quests, so many instances; I couldn’t imagine this game ever having an end, ever coming to a close.  Then when the first expansion came out, it confirmed my belief that this game could never end, it would never end.

I missed the beginning of Wrath of the Lich King, I definitely joined the party late for that expansion.  However, when I did join, there was still so much to do, so much to explore, so much lore (that I actually felt a part of, unlike any other expansion), and so many achievements to get, I was pumped and still am.  I haven’t even started raiding!

From what I’ve seen in the past, when a new expansion is planned to be released, people get apathetic and they don’t want to run instances/raids anymore.  When burning crusade was going to be released, all I heard was, “What? Why would I raid, all my gear’s going to be outdated in three weeks, anyway” and I think this is going on now.  Players have caught wind of the new expansion, the next big thing, and they’re starting to see what they’re doing now as, pointless and possibly even obsolete.  Like Pixelated Executioner says, they released information about Cataclysm way to early from it’s release date.

World of Warcraft has been apart of my life since mid 2005.  That’s over four years of the time of this post.  I’ve put so much of my time into this game, that it’s very difficult for me to believe that the game will ever finish.  I just added up the time played on my characters and I have 200+ days played amongst my characters.  This might be a small number to some people, but it’s a pretty big number for me.  I’m attached to my characters.  I don’t want them to fade into history and not get any attention.

Now, I’m not arguing that World of Warcraft will be supported by Blizzard forever.  I’m not niave enough to think that people will always want to play, no matter what, or that Blizzard will even want to keep World of Warcraft alive, they’re developing a new MMO as we speak.  We’ve seen several “WoW Killers” come and go (Warhammer, Aion, Dungeons & Dragons Online, Lord of the Rings Online),  if something’s going to kill WoW, I think it will (and should) come from Blizzard.  But, I do think that as long as Blizzard keeps pumping out good content for World of Warcraft, people will keep playing and the game will live on.

Hello everyone and welcome to Bash My Face In.  I set this up to document things I experience in the game World of Warcraft.  I make no garuntee, but I will attempt to keep this site updated at least once a week.  I want to post screenshots and videos of things I encounter in game and keep a log of my activites.

Since the release of Cataclysm will destroy Azeroth as we know it, I’m going to be taking many screenshots to try and document what the world looks like so I can have something to look back on, later. 

I’m going to try to give any tips I can on raiding, making gold, having fun, and playing in general.  If I can find the time, words, and thoughts to come up with some good backstory for my characters, I may even do some role playing.  Since I play a Protection Warrior, most of the posts will likely be about tanking, hence the name, “Bash My Face In”.

I recently stumbled upon this by Linedan at Achtung Panzercow and it really rang true for me.  Everything expressed in this piece of work is exactly why I love being a warrior.

I am the Warrior.

When you see me, I will, most likely, not be attired formally. I will be encased in my steel. It will be dirty, bloody, and battered. I do not have a quick tongue or eloquent speech. I know nothing of the manners of the King’s court, or the ettiquette of the formal ball.

I am known by many names. Tank. Meatshield. Fighter. Brawler. Corpse.

I am the Warrior.

I have not the capability, nor the inclination, to hide. I cannot strike from stealth with devastating blows, then fade into the darkness. I cannot incinerate a foe from twenty paces away. I cannot deal death from a distance, safe from the return attacks of my enemy. In order to kill, I must close with the enemy. I see his eyes. I smell his breath. I taste his fear. And he tastes mine.

I cannot bend Nature to do my bidding. I cannot tap into the Nether and force it to do what I command. I cannot study the arcane and master it to my control. I command nought but my mind, my body, and my will. It is by those, and those alone, that I stand or fall.

I have no friends on my journey. No walkers of the void, summoned from the Nether as servants and bodyguards. No loyal beasts of the plains or woods, to defend me and comfort me in my pain. My sole companion is my weapon. I must care for it better than any hunter has ever cared for his beast. I must master it more than any warlock has ever mastered his demon. Without me, it is useless. Without it, I am nothing.

I cannot heal. I cannot shield. I cannot call upon the gods and see my prayers answered. I call to the spirits of my ancestors in the heat of battle, and they are silent. My only ability to protect is to offer myself, my blood and bone and sinew, as a sacrifice. To draw the attacks of our foes. To take the blows that would kill a lesser being, and continue to fight on.

I cannot kill with the speed and grace of the rogue, the suddenness and shock of the hunter, or the flamboyance and power of the mage. When I kill, it is a slow business. Slow and bloody for all concerned, myself included. I fight on, pummeled and battered so that my companions may receive the glory of the kill and the wreaths of victory. If I die and they yet live, it is an expected sacrifice.

I come in all races, all sizes. I fight under a thousand flags, on a million battlefields. I am dismissed by the highborn, scorned by the noble, lectured by the priest, and forgotten by the peasant. Until the time when the trumpets of battle sound, and those who would destroy them come forth. And then the cry goes up…”Where, oh where, is the Warrior?”

Pray to your gods that I continue to answer that call.

Few do answer the call. Fewer still survive. It is a long and hard road, this way of the Warrior. Along it lie pain, and fear, and death. Scant rewards and scanter gratitude. At the end, for most, is an anonymous grave on some windblown battlefield. If they are lucky.

And yet, I fight on. I do not even know why. Perhaps for glory, perhaps for fame, perhaps for money, perhaps for my country, perhaps for my family. Perhaps it is simply all I know how to do. But fight I will. Whether you appreciate it or not. Whether you even notice it or not. I will be out there, on the battle lines. Fighting. Killing. Dying.

I am the Warrior.

Death is my business.

Be it yours…or mine.

UPDATE (2010/02/01): I’ve added credit to the writer, the author of the blog where I found it is the original author.