2009 & The Year That Was.

Yeah better later than never. Seems kinda late to be writing about reflection of things looking back at 2009 and how I played WoW. My holidays were just busy, I happened to have worked through all the holidays while most people enjoyed the time off from school and work. Writing a review of 2009 in WoW wasn't exactly close to top of my list of things to do. Sleeping during my short days off was just a bit better choice.

On Hiatus.

Looking back 2009 started with me being on hiatus from WoW for various reasons. Actually I was already on hiatus from WoW since the launch of WotLK back in Oct/Nov 2008. Some the reasons being a bit of burnout on WoW and from playing WotLK Beta and for other reasons the roller coaster ride of the constant buffs and nerfs that Paladins was receiving at the time which seemed to occur weekly leading up to WotLK. At that time the only class and character I played in WoW was exclusively a Protect Paladin. I pretty much had enough of it and was just a good time to walk away from the game and do other things. So I did. And so the year of 2009 began not playing WoW at all and actually I enjoyed that time away from the game as well.

Playing Again.

I really didn't start playing WoW again and started leveling my Paladin till February 2009 and eventually got to 80 somewhere in March. My old guild was already raiding Naxx 10 & 25 at the time and had gotten much bigger than I remembered it as well. I ran Heroics on my own and geared up on my own and later joined my Guild in Naxx 25 for a brief time in April time frame. It wasn't long after that my old guild fell apart after our GM decided to call it quits for many various reasons some due to raiding and to finish his senior year in college. But just like that my guild and home that I had known all through tBC fell apart and was up to each member to decide to go their separate ways. Guild fell apart before we got KT on Naxx 25.

Choices, Decisions & Moving On.

Seeing the guild fall apart was a bit hard. And after deciding what to do after a week or two which was now around May I decided to move on and transfer to a new server and start all over vs joining another guild on my server. I just felt like starting over and leaving the old server behind. And I guess that choice basically set the course for what was to be the rest of my 2009 in WoW.

I eventually joined a fairly large and progressed raiding guild on my new server but this wasn't really a good place there for me not knowing anyone there. I pretty much did what I've always been use to so I Pug tanked Naxx 25 and got to down KT which my last guild never got to do. It just felt hollow getting the achievement. I Puged tanked Ulduar 10 and for only 2 times raiding Ulduar I was able to reach as far as Freya but not beyond. I didn't spend any time after raiding Ulduar again.

I wasn't in my new guild on my new server barely over 2 weeks when it fell apart too after the GM sold out all his characters. So out of a guild and on a new server I decided to start over in some ways.

Starting Over: Altism.

One of the things I wanted to avoid was burnout from WoW. Many the readers on this blog commented over time that I should embrace playing a alt or two other than just playing my Paladin. So in some way on a new server and without a guild I decided to start over playing and leveling a Shaman. I've always wanted to play a Shaman, i just now had a good excuse. And in some way it was one of my goals for the year as well leveling a new alt character. So I did.

I started a leveling a new Enhancement Shaman and I started a new guild as well. So I spend a good deal of time just having fun, avoiding burnout, playing a new class and enjoying leveling my Shaman while most people raided Ulduar and eventually ToGC. I got my Shaman to 80. Eventually I moved on to lvl up my Death Knight, my tBC 70 Hunter, my forever lvl 20 Shadow Priest all to lvl 80 as part of my own project to level a set of alts to lvl 80.

And for rest of the year that's pretty much what I spent and enjoyed doing with my time leveling a few alt characters. It was a unwritten goal I had and wanted to accomplish for the year leveling up all the way a few alts and since I was already leveling alts its was a good time to do so. And for the most part I just enjoyed the time learning to play a few new classes other than what I always knew on my Paladin. So I accomplished that goal of having 5 lvl 80 characters before the year was out.

For the most part that's been my 2009 just kicking back leveling a few alts, learning to play new classes, enjoying the game and avoiding WoW burnout. WoW burnout is a bitch and I just did my best to avoid it again.

On Blogging.

This is now my 4th year blogging about my character playing WoW, and mostly its always been about life as a Paladin. That's a long time to be blogging about this game and one character. I've seen many bloggers come and go and I've seem many call it quits. Its something to survive this long as well. I don't write as often as I used to, I'm ok with that. Its tough to balance a work life working a wired shift schedule that I work, have time to do other things, playing the game and trying to keep up writing a blog. Its tough.

2007 - 252 posts.

2008 - 250 posts.

2009 - 123 posts.

Blogging about WoW for me is just a extension of playing WoW. I'm a much better and aware player because I blog my thoughts and my happenings in WoW and the feedback you get from readers. I am not all knowing, but I do try my best to do a fair amount of research as well. I guess as long as I continue to play WoW I'll continue blogging as I can.

Raiding.

I could say I wish I had got to raid more. But I also wished I got to sleep more as well. Time to raid full time has always been my enemy in WoW with my work schedule as its not a good work schedule for a weekly raid schedule with good attendance. I work a full time shift schedule that includes working days, night and weekends. And with a new year in WoW much won't change. So I'm ok with that and always been.

What I spend Most My Time Doing in 2009.

For much of my time playing and leveling new alts in 2009 I spend almost as much time researching the new classes I was playing, reading new blogs of new classes I played, reading more blogs of interests. As well I spent allot of my time reading over at Elitist Jerks reading numerous threads on every forum of ever new class I was leveling and playing. Thats allot of time! I read more forum threads at Elitist Jerks from page 1 to whatever than I can remember. I learned allot best I can say. Needless to say I spend less time blogging due to leveling alts and rest of that time reading and researching.

What I learned in WoW last year.

Too many players in WoW are plain lazy bastards and cry babies!

Gold War Chest.

When I went on WoW hiatus I had given away all my gold, was left with 0 gold. When I came back to playing I had to level Paladin to 80, start a guild, buy 4 guild bank tabs, level 4 new alts to 80, give them all Mounts, Epic Wings and all. I still manage to finish the year with 60K+ gold savings. And I really don't go out my way that much to really attempt to make money.

What I regret in 2009 in WoW.

Sucked that my old guild on my old server fell apart. It would have been a completely different year it that didn't happen. But life is making choices and because that happened I moved on and made other choices to do other things that I found fun to do. I also never got to really play my Elemental spec on my Shaman, he has a full Elemental gear set yet never got the time to really play the spec.

What I look forward to in 2010.

Just enjoy playing WoW and maybe the new expansion. As well maybe playing less WoW?

For me 2009 in WoW was much a detour, sometime life is as well.