Farewell and adieu

Hey folks, you're probably noticed (or not) that I haven't been posting for some time. Well, I've quit WoW. Yep, I've suddenly decided to change direction and stop playing, at least for a while. The timing for my new pursuits coincided with the expiration of my subscription so it's all good.

Losing steam

I've once again reached the point of general boredom with the game. There are those daily tasks that I feel compelled to do, thanks to my OCD, such as the jewelcrafting daily, buying and selling stuff on the AH (including glyphs), running the random heroic of the day and so forth. Unfortunately I don't have a lot of time between getting back from work and going to bed so that leaves me very little time to do anything else, either outside WoW or in it.

I've kinda lost steam with my paladin project because I think I'm starting to realize that leveling exclusively through dungeons can be very boring, even when you are a tank that can get into a dungeon instantly. In addition, I've had it up to the gills with those old world instances. My paladin remains, for now, at 30.

Priest is still very enjoyable

On the other hand, I've been enjoying my priest who hit 67 just before I quit. I was pushing for 68 but couldn't make it. Leveling on the priest has been fast thanks to all those heirlooms and the occasional dungeon. Though I love healing, many groups turn out to be at least mildly frustrating due to idiots who can't tank or tanks who want to race through the whole dungeon in 5 minutes, not even giving the rest of the group time to loot the bodies.

One memorable group from last week had the following composition: 3 death knights + 2 priests. I was the healer, the other priest was dps. One of the death knights was obviously the tank. Suffice to say that the group was a disaster. The tank would drain almost my entire mana every pull and the others also managed to take significant damage. After several such pulls and after we struggled with the first boss (I believe the dungeon was Slave Pens), I just quit the group. As a healer, I've come to dread death knight tanks and even death knights in general, in spite of the fact that I love playing my own DK. I'm starting to realize that starting a brand new class from level 55 might not be such a good idea after all.

(Apologies to all the good death knights out there. I know there are many of you but unfortunately there are even more that don't know how to play their class).

What I like about playing my priest (apart from the fact that questing in Outland is light years ahead of questing in Azeroth) is that I can level more quickly through a combination of regular questing and dungeons. I will go around the area I'm in, doing quests, while at the same time being queued for a dungeon. If I queue as healer I'd be getting inside an instance fairly quickly, within 2-3 minutes. As dps it takes longer but the advantage is that I can quest in the meantime (flying mount ftw) and when I get inside the instance I don't have to change specs.

What pisses me off when I have to change specs from shadow to holy at the start of an instance is that many people, and especially tanks, don't pay attention to their party chat so when I ask them to give me a couple of minutes to change specs and drink mana, some of them are totally oblivious to this and rush in without a word, pulling mobs and doing their stuff. This has been happening less frequently lately, perhaps due to people in Outland being more familiar with dual-specs. Still, when it happens, I will let the group wipe if they don't allow me time to get ready.

Though I very much enjoy healing, I will often choose to deprive myself of a headache and simply queue as dps. Shadow dps is awesome in a group and even more so in a solo setting. In groups I feel important as a shadow priest because my spells both trickle-heal the rest of the group and replenish their mana. I will also decurse whenever someone gets a debuff.

Cataclysm has the potential to suck

Speaking of decursing, I've been reading some of the new changes to classes in Cataclysm. What can I say, I'm not exactly happy about many of them. Something that bothers me a lot if the fact that we won't be able to decurse as dps. That's a stupid move because it puts even more pressure on the healer who has to keep a big eye on his mana in the first place. As a shadow priest, for example, I consider it's my duty to decurse players and it makes me feel much more versatile and useful in the group than merely dps-ing. But whatevs...

Regarding Cataclysm, my excitement has been waning with the recent class changes. It seems to me that this will be the most significant overhaul of class mechanics in the history of WoW. Perhaps even bigger than the transition to Burning Crusade. It's probably a good thing but it requires too much mindpower to take it all in. It's especially daunting to an altoholic and to someone who plays the majority of WoW classes and wants to start 3 new classes in Cataclysm. OK, I admit, starting a class from scratch won't be such a big adjustment because I won't have any previous experience to compare it too.

Unfinished business

About my break from WoW... it's hard to say when I'll be back again. I might stay away until Cataclysm or even a good way into it. I might return in a month. The problem is that I still have a few achievements that I want to complete (part of the 310% mount holiday meta-achievement) but I'm not sure I'll ever be able to finish School of Hard Knocks. So I might never attain that mount. Then again, I'm not even sure it's worth it. There's not much difference between 280% and 310%. Yeah, I'm sure those grapes are sour.

I would also like to sell some Darkmoon cards that I have, before Cataclysm hits, because they might lose a great deal of value in the next expansion. Even if I get stuck with them it's not such a big deal. I have more than enough gold not to give a shit. Still, my plan was to get rid of my huge inventory of WotLK mats that I've been stockpiling for ages, before Cataclysm of course. Maybe I'll subscribe for one more month so I can get my business in order.

As for Cataclysm... it really is daunting. I now have so many characters to level from 80 to 85 and so many professions, as well as new classes that I would like to level from level 1 that it drives me crazy just to think about it. At least we only have 5 additional levels instead of 10, for which I applaud Blizzard.

New pursuits

I didn't quit WoW for nothing. A few weeks ago I discovered this new (to me) workout program called P90X. I'm sure at least some of you have heard of it. I happened to hear it mentioned on the radio one day and I became curious. I looked it up and I was impressed by the results. Though I don't buy into infomercial claims, I bought into P90X because to me it makes sense. I've been working out regularly for years and I can tell if a program is bogus or not.

Even if you choose not to believe the countless before/after pictures of ordinary people who have completed this program, I am convinced it works and here's why. It is an intensive training program that needs to be done 6 days a week for at least 1-1.5 hours every session, for 90 days. Every 30 days you switch the routine such that your body is in permanent "confusion", meaning it doesn't reach a training plateau at any time.

Now, if you think about it, any reasonably intense program that is done 6 days a week for 3 months will render results. Training is only part of the equation though, because nutrition is also very important. I won't get into details but during this period your nutrition needs to match the training and the program comes with an extensive nutrition guide that explains everything.

5-6 years ago when I was younger, I trained really hard with weights for a few years and I had almost reached the results that I wanted but then other things came into my life and I couldn't sustain the pace so I had to let my training slide and slide to the point where I would still work out fairly regularly but not nearly enough.

Though I'm a thin dude I still hate my body (yeah, talk about lack of self-confidence) and P90X finally provided a way for me to change this. I needed something like this because it provides structure, a strict schedule, proven results and involving workouts. It's not the same shit week in and week out. Every day is a different workout and after 3-4 weeks there's a complete switch in direction to keep you motivated.

Essentially, the system consists of strength workouts interspersed with cardio workouts. It both builds muscle mass and burns fat. The workouts are hard. If you are a couch potato and want to jump directly into P90X chances are you'll give up after the first 15 minutes.

As I type this, I've completed my first week of training, meaning that I have gone through all the muscles and worked them to failure. It was pretty tough and I didn't start from zero. I worked out hard before this with weights for a couple of weeks to get used to the effort. Still, P90X takes those muscles, pounds them till you can't take no more and then starts over on a different set of muscles while the first set is still screaming in pain.

So now my new passion has become P90X. I can't wait to complete those 90 days. In fact results appear after the first 30 days but your body really changes after the 2nd and 3rd month. If things go well, I might even post some pictures here, though it might be a bit weird considering this is still a WoW blog.

If you're a couch potato, you might choose to change your life with such a program. The beauty of it is that it doesn't require a very large time investment (1-1.5 hours a day, though some people might have a hard time even with that), it is done in the privacy of your home and it requires a minimum of equipment. The price of the program is about how much you'd pay for 3 months of gym anyway. Oh and I'm not trying to advertise the program, I'm just excited by the idea. Time will tell if my excitement is justified.

Other hobbies

Since working out has become my main hobby these days, I really don't have time for anything else. When I get home from work I have a snack, wait about an hour to digest it, during which time I will read the news on my favorite sites. I'll then do my workout, shower and then get in bed and read for another hour before going to sleep.

I'll probably be neglecting this blog for a while but I still have some stuff that I would like to throw out there so stay tuned!

And if anyone else has heard or tried P90X or has any comments regarding it, drop me a comment!