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No Business Like Monk Business
It’s almost 5 am, I’ve just finished my second Monster energy drink (with some water and coffee in between just to mix things up), and I’ve got a bit of a lull here at work. What a perfect time to write about WoW!
Actually, I can’t. I can’t because I, like many of you, haven’t been playing World of Warcraft.
Okay, that’s not entirely true. I have kinda sorta been playing some lowbie monks. I made a Monk Taurenmoose and a Monk Drow. Oh, and a Monk Void Elf once I finally got the appropriate rep to the appropriate Exalted.
Butforwhy?
Well, for simple. Two for simples actually. One, I enjoy playing a class that has the ability to beat things to death with their bare hands. Very enlightening. But more importantly, each day I can do the Monk Daily Quest and earn a fat 50% xp bonus for one hour. I’ve been logging in on each Monk, doing the quest, and logging off. The Horde Monks are currently capped at 24 hours worth of sweet xp buffed goodness. The Alliance Monk is getting up there as well. Once I get some free time to sit down and really play, I will make the most of that time with XP on steroids until the Rested xp buff fades.
Monks are great when you don’t have a lot of time to play, but you want all sorts of xp bonuses running when you do. Maximum Effort!
I’m also doing a majority of my gaming like many humanoids do – on their phones. I’m still abusing the Hell out of the Legion app. Since Blizzard is discontinuing their mobile AH app, I deleted that one and plan to keep my focus on the Legion app gold train for as long as I can. Better make hay while the sun shines, or while this mindless app lets me earn World of Warcraft gold without even having to log into the game.
I wish I had more to talk about, WoW-wise. I can’t even hype the Blizzcon hype because I’m not going this year. Stupid income tax amendment taking all my spending monies.
Something to chew on. I have the free 110 boost through my pre-purchase of Battle for Azeroth, and I’m trying to decide who to give it to. Should I boost one of my remaining 100-ish Death Knights that I haven’t leveled yet? Should I boost one of the new Allied Races to 110?
The Alt Game
The handsome bastard above would be my human monk, also known as the newest member of the “Ding 110” club. Lucky number seven!
Lately, I’ve developed a routine when it comes to fresh 110 toons. They get sent a care package of one Scroll of Insta-Rank 20 Artifact Power buff, and go through World Quests while they finish off their Order Hall questline. I try to get them geared to the point where I could use them for a Heroic dungeon, LFR, or even maybe a Mystic dungeon run should I feel so inclined. I’ve done this with one Death Knight, two Demon Hunters, and now the Monk is getting “The Treatment”.
I’m not sure exactly why I’m doing this, to be honest. Maybe it’s just the completionist in me. I do enjoy using the Monk. Even with sub-800 gear, he’s tearing up the DPS charts. And the mobility is pretty sweet too. He might not have the dash or double jump or gliding of a Demon Hunter, but back to back Cyclones and a Flying Dragon Kick really gets him hustling across a map. He’s also got a Skinning / Leatherworking profession tandem, which has been a nice way to get Obliterum powder. The boy’s earning his keep.
I struggle to call him an alt. It’s like when I was playing the Demon Hunter. There are things about the class and character, that really appeal to me. Running my last couple of LFR raids with my DH, I felt like I was clipping some of my DPS due to Fel Rush putting him just a bit out of position. The Monk has a little less mobility than the Demon Hunter, but he can sit in the pocket without gimping his DPS.
I’ve got three other characters – two Warriors and a Hunter – who dinged 110 and were put in their garrison to pick flowers and make Hexweave bags. They so far have not tugged on my heart strings, but they are filling my bank with gold. I have no problem giving those characters the “alt” tag. My gold bank appreciates their efforts.
I’m not sure what the plan is once my Monk finishes his Order Hall questline. I only plan to go as far as to get him his class title and third relic slot. So once he gets to that point, and is sitting at a respectable iLevel spot, he might move back into his garrison. Maybe I’ll work on advancing some professions. I have an Orc Hunter that I have to level at some point – he’s literally my bae, the first character I created when I started playing WoW during Burning Crusade.
Do you have many characters at 110? If you do, are you using them all or are some of them just gathering dust? Are they alts, or just “multiple mains?”
WoW Ironman 2016
F*cking Centaurs.
I’ve always been a fan of the WoW Ironman Challenge.
It’s not for the weak of heart, that’s for sure. Level to cap, using only white or grey gear, no spec selected. Oh yeah, and don’t fucking die. Ever.
This may sound easy at first. Honestly, I’d forgotten how squishy characters are when they’re not decked out in heirloom gear. And with no potion use, including healing potions, you have to fight smarter, not harder. You have to pick your battles carefully, making sure you don’t get overwhelmed. Because you may be able to take two creatures at once. But three? Gets dicey. And three can become four very quickly. Plus, you find how limited your healing can be, assuming whatever class you select has the capability to heal.
There’s so much to consider right from the start. Will you pick a class that has pets for tanking, like a Hunter? Does the class have a WTF button to avoid death, like a Hunter? Can it heal, like… okay you see where I’m going with this, and it’s no surprise that many of the Ironmen at 100 are Hunters. They are priests too. Druids as well. Even a Warrior. Not bad.
Even race makes a difference. Night Elves, the class that seems the most popular, can drop out of combat with their own racial invisibility. A handy skill when you’ve bitten off more than you can choke down.
As you see from the image above, I fell short with my Monk. It was a Centaur ambush; I pulled two (including the Named) and ended up with an add that I didn’t see. Health ticked down, and he got the last swing in. It was like a hockey fight, fists filled with jersey, throwing rights and hoping the other guy would drop first. Not this time.
Will I try it again? Maybe. The problem for me is that I have other characters that I’m focusing on, and once I set a goal for a character I tend to try and finish it before moving on. Leveling another character from scratch is tough enough. Time consuming. Without heirlooms, it takes even longer. Add in the lack of good gear, specs, or even the ability to chug a healing pot during a fight and things grind down even more. Smarter play can be slower play. And there are only so many hours in the day that I’m willing and able to commit to World of Warcraft.
Time will tell. A new Ironman may rise up from my ranks once again.
Someday.
Star Wars Transmog
Spellfire Longswords make great Lightsabers.
As you may have noticed in the past little while, I’ve been working on getting more of a Star Wars feel on some of my characters. Today, Bellular helped fuel my issues by releasing a video with some Star Wars inspired WoW Transmogs.
Check it out. Enjoy. Take notes. Start farming.
May The Force Transmog Be With You.
Bloodsport Boost Betting
This has been quite a busy week for the UFC. Three days of fight cards, back to back. Thursday night was UFC Fight Night 80. Friday was the finale of The Ultimate Fighter 22. Saturday, one of the most anticipated PPV events of the year, UFC 194. This pay per view has not one, but two title fights – Middleweight Champion Chris Weidman facing Luke Rockhold, and Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo meeting Interim Featherweight Champion Conor McGregor!
Many of you have glazed over at this point. One paragraph in and I’ve already lost you.
Sure, there may be a few people who know what I’m talking about. However, I suspect that the most real-life combat exposure a majority of readers have is wrestling open a bag of Cheetos. This is fine, acceptable, and not something to be judged over.
I, however, have a few passions and violence is one of them. Fasten your seatbelts because there’s about to be an ugly collision of worlds.
A short time ago I posted a poll on Twitter regarding my upcoming Level 100 Legion Boost. I wanted to know what class I should be using my boost for. I proposed four classes – Rogue, Mage, Monk, and Death Knight. The result of the polls came up with a tie between Monk and Death Knight.
My first thought on the results was that I should let the winners fight it out but that wasn’t about to happen. Because how, obviously. That’s when the UFC’s three days of blood gave me quite the idea.
I was going to let others fight my battles for me.
Fight Night 80 had two profile fights that I would use as my decision makers. I was leaning toward boosting an Alliance character, since the majority of my fourteen characters were Horde. So I bet the faction on the fight between odds-on favorite Sage Northcutt and glorified punching bag Cody Pfister. If Sage won, I’d go Alliance. If Cody got the nod, I’d use my boost for a Horde character. Sage was the majority favorite, and besides, the kid looks as Alliance as they get.
The result? Alliance roar!
Second fight was going to be for the sex of the character. I was actually indifferent to this so I put it to the main event – Rose Namajunas vs. Paige VanZant. Paige, the pretty girl, would be the avatar of my female avatar while Rose was for the male.
Paige is too pretty to stand in the front.
Much like the narrator in the movie Fight Club, Rose wanted to destroy something beautiful. She wrecked poor Paige, and by the end of Day One of Blood I knew that I was boosting an Alliance Male.
Day Two was going to start deciding classes. I was going to stick with the profile fight, which was the main event – Frankie Edgar vs Chad Mendes. Oddsmakers and fight fans had this as a coin flip favorite, so that’s what I did. I flipped a coin to see who would rep the Mage class, and Frankie boy won. So if Edgar won the fight, my Mage would advance into the Bloodsport Boost finals. If Mendes won, then the Rogue would go on.
The result of the fight? Frankie the Mage Arcane Blasted the holy Hell out of “Roguish” Chad Mendes.
Edgar also made Chad’s nose disappear.
Tonight’s Day Three will tell the final tale. There are two fights I’m focusing on, and both are title bouts. My two preferred classes in the initial poll, the Monk and the Death Knight, will be decided at the same time the UFC Middleweight Champion is. My preferred class is the Death Knight, and oddsmakers give champion Chris Weidman a slight advantage over Luke Rockhold. So Weidman will be my Death Knight representative, and Rockhold will be my Monk.
The winner will take that class into the UFC 194 Main Event – Conor McGregor vs Jose Aldo for the UFC Featherweight Championship.
Oddsmakers have Conor with the slightest of advantages. Unlike the other fights, I’m bucking the odds. I do not see Conor beating a guy with the talent and skillset that Aldo has. Could he win? Yes. Will he? Not unless he pulls off some magic. And that’s why Conor McGregor will rep the Mage class, while Jose Aldo will represent the winner of the Middleweight class battle.
World of Warcraft. Mixed Martial Arts. Two very separate worlds, brought together by a single Nerdlord. Boggles the mind, the shit I come up with sometimes. Coincidentally that’s also one of the fun things about being me. I have no idea what I’ll come up with next.
Rokk Talk 