Patch Anticipation
Yes, I am still playing Dragon Age. Yes, it is hard to think of any other games to talk about while I have Dragon Age. No, I am not an addict. I have only put 45 hours into the game over the last week. I can quit any time I want. I swear I am not an addict. Now I just need to finish up this blog post so I can get more time for Dragon Age.
I am rather excited for Patch 3.3 for World of Warcraft. To me, the most exciting thing is probably the new Looking for Group matchmaking interface. While I still maintain my subscription, I do not actively play WoW currently but patch 3.3 should bring me back for at least a couple months.
Since I quit the raiding treadmill, I am glad they added three new five mans since it is doubtful if I would ever see the Icecrown raid - not that I would desire to start raiding again. The Icecrown raid only entices me for the lore aspect but I can get that without experiencing it first hand.
From everything I have been reading, it seems like the badge gear you can get in 3.3 is on part with and often times better than the best Coliseum loot. Between that and being able to buy a lot of the tier 9 loot with badges, I should be able to have my character fully equipped in a new set of gear for 400-500 badges (just a random guess) or maybe less. When I quit playing my character's gear was nothing to scoff at, mind you. I had some of the best holy paladin gear from the non-heroic 25man Ulduar bosses.
Many people call them welfare epics, but I like being able to get badge loot to round out my gear. I have always had terrible luck on getting items for certain slots. Back in the Burning Crusade, in over six months of Hyjal I never got the holy paladin mace from the pit lord boss. It dropped a few times but many other paladins won it over me. The shield from Supremus in the Black Temple took almost eight months until I got it. I used the mace from Prince Malchezzar for the entire expansion.
I like the new route Blizzard is taking with this. It seems like with every new patch the goal is "bring everyone to the gear level from the last patch". I know people complain about having their accomplishments trivialized by this but it allows more people to see the content than ever before and makes gearing alts easier than ever. I do not see much a problem with that.
And getting badges is going to be easier than ever with the LFG interface. Even though I am a holy paladin there are still times when it would be really rough to find groups. Hopefully with this interface, groups should form quickly. I hope that in a month of casual play I will be able to get all the non-raid upgrades possible.
So I look forward to getting back in to WoW for this patch. Coming back to WoW always feels like coming home no matter how long it has been since I have been gone. Things may be a little different and a wall may have been painted or the furniture may have been moved, but home is still where the hearthstone is.