Of Lists, Alts and Upcoming Expansions

 

There are no spoilers here-in, even in Mattyland.

I’m certain everyone who has altitis does this in different ways. We know that the Godmother makes lists, while others try to keep a few key toons well geared, and play others when the mood strikes.

Personally, I find that toons languish unless they have specific goals. Goals also keep me engaged with the game. After I complete a big ones (like creating my set of 5 jeweled panthers), especially if they take the resources of several toons to accomplish, I often find my interest in the game languishes until I find a new goal to capture my attention.

Maintaining the stable is often the trickiest part, especially once they reach max level.   Lately, I have been trying to organize resources in preparation for Warlords, and focusing on Breige and Gurdrid, my two raid-possible toons.   For the first time in months, Breige Valor capped, but not until last night, so I didn’t bother to get on Gurdrid and struggle with getting valor for her, even though I know I really should have. Instead, I worked on getting my Skyshards.

I also keep a massive spreadsheet, with several tabs, titled “All Things WoW”. It has gear lists, mog lists, lists for leveling various professions (so I don’t have to refer to websites), charts of which parts of which tier sets which toons have. Lists of battle pets I don’t own and where to get them. Mount Lists. (Okay, one mount list, but you get the idea). There’s even a tab especially for the OLRG, even though it’s not filled in, for trying to organize where we go for achievements or pretty gear.

As the bucket lists start coming out, and rumors point to a late September release of Warlords, I’m beginning to feel the pressure. I’m considering my options for raiding in WoD. I can, of course, stick with Breige, but I feel like my current raiding environment would allow me to stretch my abilities a bit, and I’m seriously entertaining the idea of tanking in the next expansion. The drawback is perhaps a surprising one, though. We have two very good tanks, and they appear to love their role. Certainly I can backup tank, but then do I take Gurdrid Retribution – something I’m relatively comfortable with in the current atmosphere, or do I return to the paladin roots and go Holy. I was a pretty decent healer in Vanilla and BC, and if I remember that the toolkit is completely different, I can probably pick it back up with relative ease.

But then, there are other toons I could bring in. Sveala is already level 90, and I’ve puttered around with healing on her, so shaman healing has some interest. I’ve also been enjoying Sruith, when I take the opportunities to play her, and I’ve never even gotten a clothie to max level, much less healed as a priest.   Those are probably the most realistic healing options should I choose to go that route.

The biggest reason why these decisions are so important is that if I want to switch to Sruith, in particular, she needs to get leveled, and I need to prioritize the move of the right characters, since I can only really comfortable apply one move per month.

But then there’s the “back burner” plan to get all of my toons to max level, level their professions, and build the self-sustaining machine of several garrisons.   I’m certainly going to be plenty busy, and I think the order of things needs to be determined. I’m sure my list will seem tiringly detailed for some, but I like check marks, and so the list will happen. In spreadsheet form, because that’s the way I roll. You may see parts of my spreadsheet here from time to time. Or not. They are not generally all that pretty unless you’re inside my brain…