Epics for the Casual Gamer
Forgive my pre-occupation with World of Warcraft in this Blog. It just happens to be the MOG I play at the moment.
Something else which crossed my mind today while idling away a little time in WoW, check my auctions, was that I have been level 60 for some months now and I still don't have a single Epic peice of equipment. In fact most of my gear is green.
The problem is simple - I'm a casual gamer. Not through choice, but through the demands on my time through work and home life. I simply don't have the time to spend eight hours crawling through Molten Core to kill a single boss, or spend several hours each evening to explore the wonders of Blackwing Lair. For that matter I don't really have the time to play for more than an hour or so at a time.
One thing I do often do when I do play is farm Plague Bats in the Eastern Plaguelands. Why? Because I know that if I get enough of their juciy eyes (400 in total I think), that I can trade them in at the Darkmoon Faire. My reward? A nice shiny Epic Necklace: Amulet of the Darkmoon
Now to get all these eyes is going to take me a long time, but at least I can get a few each time I login for an hour, and I know that I am slowly making my way to my goal.
What I thought was that World of Warcraft could do with more of these kinds of opportunity to get epics. As I said above I'm never personally going to get one from one of the high-level instances as I don't have big enough blocks of free time. But I can farm creatures for months on end.
How many epics to you guys have? How long have you been 60? And how did you get your epics?
Update:
This post got picked up at WoW Break and I felt compelled to post a comment in my defense. I'm still left with the same question as above: How do you get Epics in WoW? Especially if you don't have the time to do Molten Core and the like?
Well I do know one way. Using a service like that provided by MOGMine, who will run your character through a high level instance for you. That $30 is beginning to sound a pretty reasonable deal.
Something else which crossed my mind today while idling away a little time in WoW, check my auctions, was that I have been level 60 for some months now and I still don't have a single Epic peice of equipment. In fact most of my gear is green.
The problem is simple - I'm a casual gamer. Not through choice, but through the demands on my time through work and home life. I simply don't have the time to spend eight hours crawling through Molten Core to kill a single boss, or spend several hours each evening to explore the wonders of Blackwing Lair. For that matter I don't really have the time to play for more than an hour or so at a time.
One thing I do often do when I do play is farm Plague Bats in the Eastern Plaguelands. Why? Because I know that if I get enough of their juciy eyes (400 in total I think), that I can trade them in at the Darkmoon Faire. My reward? A nice shiny Epic Necklace: Amulet of the Darkmoon
Now to get all these eyes is going to take me a long time, but at least I can get a few each time I login for an hour, and I know that I am slowly making my way to my goal.
What I thought was that World of Warcraft could do with more of these kinds of opportunity to get epics. As I said above I'm never personally going to get one from one of the high-level instances as I don't have big enough blocks of free time. But I can farm creatures for months on end.
How many epics to you guys have? How long have you been 60? And how did you get your epics?
Update:
This post got picked up at WoW Break and I felt compelled to post a comment in my defense. I'm still left with the same question as above: How do you get Epics in WoW? Especially if you don't have the time to do Molten Core and the like?
Well I do know one way. Using a service like that provided by MOGMine, who will run your character through a high level instance for you. That $30 is beginning to sound a pretty reasonable deal.
22 Comments:
Hey, I'm casual as well Mike. No epics yet, but it's nice to see there is hope. I only get to play a couple of hours a week. Good luck on your quest.
An hour a day isnt much if you want to play world of warcraft. Heck, you can't do strat/scholo/ubrs in that time... What you should aim for is grinding money so you can buy Bind on Equip epics. And what class do you play ? If you're warlock, mage or priest you can make an epic chest piece at level 57 if you have 300 tailoring. I got that to my warlock in lvl 57. There is also 2 pieces in the Tier 1 epic sets (the item-sets that drops in Molten Core), bracers and waist that can sometimes be found in the Auction House for 200-350g. Also, there is these new dugeon sets that came with the 1.10 patch that you can get if you have enough money...
Also, most Battlegrounds have epic rewards when you reach exhalted which is often very nice, and also getting an high pvp rank will also be rewarded with epics.
Currently, I have an full epic-druid which I have forgotten (was tired of the class) which I was doing MC/BWL with and now I have had an Warlock in level 60 for about 2 weeks and he has 2 epics and the rest all blue and havent been in MC/BWL yet.
Good luck further on :)
Zinet, that's a good point. I had forgotten about Battlegrounds. Sadly with good reason :)
My computer simply doesn't like them. Whenever I come across a new person (a single person) whilst running around WoW I typically get a second or so's interruption while the system loads all the textures etc.
Imagine then my computer trying to deal with the number of people in battlegrounds (or more commonly Ironforge). In a word it doesn't.
But Battlegrounds is a fair comment on another way for casual gamers to get Epic gear.
I'm also trying to build up my leatherworking and blacksmithing skills as there are a few epic items that can be built with these and high faction levels with some groups (I forget which). Only possible hickup here is that some of the materials you need come from - high level dungeon drops.
Lol.
To answer your question I play the ever loveable Rogue class.
I do also concentrate on getting cash together to buy epics, but I have to say on my server (Dragonmaw EU) at least BoE epics are slim pickings.
Sounds like you need to invest in a computer-upgrade then if it's really as bad as you make it sound :P
Oh and by the way, I came across this nice site : http://wow-loot.com There is every single item that your class can use, everything from craftable epics to BoE epics and MC epics.
Also, I'd recommend to check the reputation-link at www.worldofwarcraft.com. There you can check up all rewards at all factions in the game and you can see which faction is worth grinding rep with.
And also, with the 1.10 patch, there is an slightly higher drop chance of epics in the 5 and 10-man instances such as stratholme, scholomance, ubrs and so on. And at least there is good blue-gear equip there. I would recommend you to sometime priority 3-4 hours a day to do 1-2 runs in these instances so you at least get blue gear. Running around at lvl 60 in greens is kinda.... not good :D
I'm only 39 with my first toon right now and with the same time restrictions you have, I'm hoping to be 60 by maybe Christmas. And yeah, battlegrounds looks like my best hope of getting purples since I like PvP and I can usually get 2 or 3 WG's done in an hour... The comment about shooting for rank rewards is ridiculous because it's impossible with casual gaming...so that means faction grinding.
...which makes me feel like retiring and becoming a fulltime fisherman outside the wine shop in Stormwind so I can trade fish for wine and drink away my sorrows with maybe some panhandling thrown in when the fish aren't biting.
Thanks for making the point I have always wanted to make. I am a similar-style gamer -- I can only play when it seems not a lot of other people play. My computer does need an upgrade too. Doing instances, battlegrounds, etc are just not feasible, nor are they guaranteed award me something I can actually use on the rare occasion I might be able to do one. The Darkmoon quest you refer to is perfect for players like me. Give me a quest where I can get an awesome item, make it 40 hours of grinding and I am very satisfied. I am certain there are thousands and thousands of players like you and me. This is exactly why I love this game -- you can solo and be very successful. Now Blizzard should take it to the next level for us soloers and let our gameplay style requirements and/or preferences allow for epic quests items too without needing to group up.
Hey all, Just something to think about here... You're all complaining that playing an hour or so here and there isn't getting you an epic. Wouldn't you think that with a name like "epic" it would a) require an "epic" amount of time to get and b) be reserved for the most hardest of the hardcore players? I think the system is set up so that you actually need to do something substantial to get something substantial. Why do you think this game is so addictive and replayable? Just some ideas to think about, while I'm all for the idea of working hard and slowly earning your epic necklace I don't think they should make easier to get epics... It kind of takes the excitement and enjoyment of earning an epic.
My main has been 60 for months and still only has 4 epics. I just don't spend a lot of time running instances. Although I spend some time doing it :) Most of my epics are from MC but is a reward from the Zandalar (turning in stuff from ZG). You can generally buy almost half of your Tier 0 set in AH, but the rest is BOP so you'll have to get that yourself... I think getting epics from faire rewards is a good idea for you. I don't think you should ever use a leveling or running service - it violates your license with Blizzard and they are actively defending against stuff like that.
Just to quickly address this point: "You're all complaining that playing an hour or so here and there isn't getting you an epic. Wouldn't you think that with a name like "epic" it would a) require an "epic" amount of time to get and b) be reserved for the most hardest of the hardcore players?"
I agree that epic items should be hard to get, but lets not forget the following:
a) I'm not suggesting an 'easier' way to get epics. Just one that can be spread over many, many 1 hour session rather than many 3-8 hour sessions.
b) I pay my monthly subscription like everyone else. I pay for the content Blizzard supplies and I feel that I am cheated from some of this simply because I haven't the time to group for high level instances.
Personally I think grinding bat-eys is less entertaining than, and takes just as long as, instances, but involves smaller blocks of time.
Come on Blizzard. With the upcomingg Burning Crusade update surely you can let us all at least have a chance at some epics (PvE and PvP). :)
Regarding secondary market services I'd say that although EULAs and ToS for some games can throw up question marks I think this is a market which we will see continue to intergrate with MOGs in the future.
Perhaps I'm biased on the issue, but it does seem to me that this trade of real cash for virtual goods and services can act as a balancing factor for MOGs in as much as it gives the money rich, time poor the opportunity to keep pace with the time rich, money poor.
PS Thanks for the replies all!
I'm only 49, but I found a low-level epic at around 44. Bow of Searing Arrows. Dropped off a normal Grimtotem Shaman in Feralas.
In response to: "Wouldn't you think that with a name like "epic" it would a) require an "epic" amount of time to get and b) be reserved for the most hardest of the hardcore players?" The answer is NO! I am NOT saying I expect an epic soloer quest to be easy, I would expect it to be very very difficult requiring many many hours of play, but still soloable. It would in fact be a whole lot harder than going to an instance with your guild and killing the big boss and get lucky enough to get the item. I would expect it to take weeks of grinding. That would fulfill your requirement that it take a lot of time. I am just saying it should be available to ALL not just instancers, I am not saying it should be easy.
Don't worry, man. I have a plan for us all (I'm in the same boat as you) and it will work. We just have to be patient. I call it the "Wait until more than one expansion comes out and I can solo MC with my Level 70-80" plan. Personally, I don't care WHEN I get my epics, just as long as I get some. Being able to solo these places in the future gives me hope.
Well.........maybe not while Level 70-80 but, who can deny that Blizz will increase the level cap with each new expansion? Some hefty solo'ing will be done INDEED!!! One day you're toons will be so strong that they can cut through MC like butter. Work on building an army of 60 alts for now. They'll all get their chance to be "decked out" one day.
I hope that Blizz doesn't see this fact. They may try and cock block us on this one by jacking up mob levels in old instances. Probably not, though. They are used to having epics so they would probably never think of it.
Live in Silithus. Do all the quests. Turn in a zillion or so texts. Get these...
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/basics/factions/cenarion/
Dude, dont farm the bat eyes for the darkmoon neck, it takes so long and is far too slow. Buy dense stone and get a blacksmith to make it into gridning stones for you. Dense stone is like 1-2g on most servers, and that nets you like 10 tickets or something (did the math before, forgot it now). You can get the whole neck for under 200g easy.
I am not a casual raider, but not hardcore either, but I know how you feel about not having epics. My sister is a casual players but does have access to MC through me, she is in the guild through a Friends and Family program and my guild is currently working on the Twin Emps. Before i was in the guild though i was a casual player, turned less casual a little before joining the guild. I do go to school so before I also had no epics until after joining the guild. I have been 60 for a little over a year now on my main and previous to creating this char I had a 60 priest.
Blizzard hoped to fix the casual players not being able to get epics problem for a while now. Tier .5 sort of fix this problem but it cost alot of money to make so not alot of people went after that right away. As stated previously one of the best things you can do is rep grind. There are many item that can be obtained through BGs, CC, Darkmoon Faire, and many other factions. Sometimes you can probally get them faster then people in epic guilds >.>;; (we have only had 1 warlock robe drop and 0 hunter shoulders so people are getting annoyed x.x;;).
What i hope does work out though is being able to run through strath, etc. to get rid of the greens. True a place like UBRS might take alot longer then some others but the Tier .5 quest requires a Baron run in less then 45 min so there is that espicially with the new loot tables that many bosses have obtained. If you cannot do this during the weekday then probally the weekend? I know most casual players don't get a chance to play much at all but there is always some times were you can play a while longer.
Again I do hope casual players can get more out of the game because it really is a great game just has some flaws as everything does.
I actually am not a casual gamer, I play about 6 hours a day, have 3 level 60 characters between two servers, yet I find it extremely difficult to obtain epic gear. I have plenty of time to run MC, or Zul'Gurub each day -- the problem lies in the fact that I live on the West Coast of the United States and my free time to play is late in the evening 10pm-2am. I have been in 5 end game guilds but I eventually leave because end game guilds nearly ALWAYS schedule their raid times to begin at 7pm. I work at this time and simply can't make it. I have tried to find others who play "late" at night as I do but it is extremely difficult. Blizzard could improve matters by making a few realms that are dedicated to late night gaming -- they could set the server time to Guam time =) (something in between Oceania and the West Coast).
Here's a plan...Go to Ironforge. There are always pickup groups forming there. Ask to join one, but tell them that you only have an hour and will need to leave at that point. Chances are you'll still be able to whack a boss or two and at least get some more blue/possibly purple stuff that way.
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