Behind the Power Curve

   The title says it all, from the very first day I set foot in Azeroth, I have felt as if I were behind the power curve.  I started playing Warcraft several months after it was released.  I played for several months before I became even remotely serious about the game.  My first serious character was a warlock named Tensor, who never even reached the level cap (he got to 53). 

   My first real characters were Veluna a shadow-priest and Amikatriel, a rogue.  Veluna is currently sitting at level 87, Amikatriel is at 90.  Veluna and Amikatriel, even when I actively played them, seemed to be more often than not behind the power curve.  Veluna’s raiding career started in Kharazan, months after it was released.  The pinnacle of raiding back on those days was the Sunwell, and Veluna saw the inside of that place a few times in the last month of the patch, but never was in a group that could down even the first boss in that place.

    Wrath of the Lich King was the kindest of expansions to Veluna.  I quickly reached the new level cap and was into the first raid (Naxx) in no time at all.  For the majority of the expansion Veluna was right on schedule in keeping current with the content.  Then real life happened.  I had completed Naxx along with Ulduar and was about halfway through ICC when I went on a military deployment to Afghanistan for a year.  This brought my raiding career to a screeching halt.  Funny thing is, I had Internet over there, but 1000ms+ latency and raiding do not play well together.  What I did do during this period of exile was roll a paladin and a warrior and try my hand at tanking.  The warrior, of course, is Kassandra, whom this chronicle is about.

  

     I returned to the real world and started actively playing Veluna again.  I was fortunate enough to get invited to a serious minded raiding guild and managed to be right on track for the Cataclysm expansion. 

    The Mists of Pandaria hit, Veluna was abandoned and I again find myself behind the power curve.  Kassandra never finished ToT in normal mode, Tortos was as far as she got.  Kassandra has yet to do SoO normal, and has only done the first wing of flex.  Being behind the power curve is a source of angst for me.  It occurs to me that some of this is my fault.  Had I continued Veluna’s career, I would probably be right on track, but no, instead I changed characters.  This might have not been a problem, but Kass was in an RP guild that never quite got its shit together.  Kass is now in a casual raid guild, the one I spoke of in my rant, so prospects of getting current don’t seem terribly great.

    You may have noticed, I am a half-empty kind of guy.  When life gives me lemons, I do not tend to make lemonade.  Perhaps all this angst about being perpetually behind is a self-induced phantasm.  Let me try a different perspective.

   Last post, I wrote about pet battles and specifically about beating the Celestial Tournament.  While not a world first, or even a server first, I am ahead of the curve here.  There are all kinds of people still beating their heads against the wall or still needing to level the right pets for this.  I was reading a blog a bit earlier (Alternative) and this blogger is still working on the beasts of fable, which is now, as far as pet battles go, dated content.  I have the beasts of fable under my belt and have for a while now.

    I might be behind the curve with normal mode raids, but I am right on track with LFR.  More than that, I am not doing too shabby in the gear department.  Every week of 5.4 has seen several substantial improvements to my gear.  As a tank my item level is 531 and as a DPS it is 529.  Overall, and this is the weird and wacky world of math, Kassandra has a 536 item level.  Not bad, this is close to the equivalent of gearing every slot with gear from flex raids.  There is more to come too.  I have an alt that is a blacksmith and has been working steadily since the patch released.  In another week I will have 553 DPS legs.  I still have two coins this week, and I will probably roll these into next week.

    I mentioned in my last post that I actually am wondering what to do.  This means that in a way, I am actually not behind the curve, I have some breathing room.  I have already done all my LFRs for SoO and have around 800 valor points for this week (its Wednesday as I am writing).  Seems I might be ahead of the curve in some ways.

   Some of the things I have fallen behind in, I have nobody to blame but me.  The Wrathion legendary quest line is an example.  I am not a huge fan of PvP and balked at doing the battleground portion of this quest and eventually decided I hated the idea of having to PvP so much, that I was just going to toss my hands in the air and say screw it.  After falling way behind, I finally decided I wanted the legendary bad enough that I would grit my teeth and do what needed to be done.  If I had just done this weeks ago, I would have my cloak right now.  Nobody to blame but myself.

   Other things, raiding for instance, I can blame on external factors.  Don’t want to go into a huge rant, but individual players are hostages to guilds when it comes to raiding.  You as a player can do everything right and everything you are supposed to do, and you may still find yourself on the sidelines for one reason or another.   I’ll leave it at that. 

    In the end, all you can do is work at the factors under your control and hope for the best.  You can also look at those around you and come to the realization that in some ways, everyone is behind the power curve.  There are just way too many things to do and accomplish in Azeroth, so you can be a jack of all trades, but a master of none.

Until next time.

Peace.