I thought about it, and decided against it.

It’s not that I support SOPA or PIPA or any of the other bits of alphabet soup that will try to chisel away at our freedom of speech. In fact I hate them with passion. Instead I am going to post this about how I addressed the issue as citizen, and a consumer.

First and foremost, I contacted the offices of both my House and Senate representatives and asked them politely not to endorse the bills. Essentially I outlined that they are bad pieces of legislation and asked them to vote no if they are ever considered.

Then I set about my business for the week, only this time armed with a list of organizations that are pouring money into getting these bills passed.

It just happens it was time again to order a years supply of contacts from 1-800-Contacts, the company I have dealt with for years. Funny, they are one of the sponsors.

I called them up and let them know it was time to reorder, pointed out that their sponsorship had cost them a regular customer, and took my money elsewhere.

I scroll down the list, making notes, remembering things.

That Harley I have been saving up for? Never going to happen, they just burned that bridge. I’ll just keep riding my old Honda.

I have always been one that is on the fence between Gerber and Leatherman multi-tools. Looks like Leatherman just lost out on that, and I order for my maintenance department as well.

Walt Disney apparently wants me to vacation elsewhere, Wal Mart wants me to shop elsewhere, Sony and Nintendo both really want me to buy an X-Box.

You get the idea.

I have three ways I can address attacks like SOPA and PIPA.

I can write about it, for now at least.

I can hold my elected officials accountable, I tell them what my concerns are, and I vote.

Lastly I can hold those companies that would pay to break the internet by taking my money elsewhere.

You think the tiny little bite I put in these companies is worthless, well maybe your right. I’m little more than a mosquito buzzing around them. Tiny, relatively harmless.

Then again, if you think a mosquito is insignificant, try sleeping in a room with just one.

My friends, there are MILLIONS of us.

Think about it.

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You folks have an awesome day. I’ll be back posting about WoW again soon enough.

~Dech

For those few that enjoyed my musings and actually kept me in their feed readers in case I ever came back, I figured I would drop a note off here.

Over the last several months since I shut down the blog I have fond myself wanting to write. On the other hand, Dechion’s place is a chapter in my life that is closed.

Instead of trying to re-open that chapter I am simply opening a new one.

You can find me writing again at Screaming into the vacuum

Hope to see you there.

It would be my online bookshelf, but I would make it a library that others could read from as well. I would start a blog.

It funny now, looking back, and rereading some of my posts. Posts about Vanilla WoW and The Burning Crusade, with its guides and lists and funny stories. I posted nearly every day and it always seemed bright and sunny. No wonder I had far more readers then.

Then came Wrath, which kind of left me cold. It showed in my writing.

In mid-WotLK came the dungeon finder. I can almost sense my opinion of the game and my writings about it taking on a bitter and cynical view at that point. Hell, my most popular post of all time was a rather vicious rant about a group of asshats mishandling the LFD system. 

With Cataclysm I had hoped to get back into the groove of writing good things about the game.

I tried, really tried, to find the joy in it that I once had.

I can’t find it.

I still play the game, though not nearly as much as before. Yet I just can’t seem to find it in me to write about it any more.

I think  I’m done. I don’t want to be that cranky cynical old blogger forever bitchin about how it used to be.

While I will still be around, and still playing on occasion, I am putting Dechion’s Place on indefinite hiatus.

I may be back, but I honestly doubt it.

It’s far more likely that this is goodbye.

On my way out I just wanted to thank all of those that have supported me over the years I have been writing here, whether it’s other writers, commenters, or simply those folks that pass through and read some of my stuff.

Thanks folks, for a blog about a fantasy game, it sure has been real.

~Dechion

I was thinking this morning, which as I have repeatedly stated is not my strong suit before I have my morning coffee.

What was I pondering you ask?

I was thinking about why I have had so little motivation recently.

It’s not that I have not been playing the game, it’s just that I have not been really excited about it.

Hitting 85 was supposed to be a milestone, not a millstone.

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I had it all figured out, you see. I Leveled my Druid first, since I was having such a time getting used to using the  Focus mechanics that Hunters had adopted.

Also, that character would have the advantage of being able to fulfil any role in a group with a quick change of gear and the swap of a spec.

It all made perfect sense, in fact it still does. 

As it turns out I find I am spending the vast majority of my playtime goofing around on other characters.

Once that Druid hit 85 I got him a bit of AH gear, specced him for running 5 mans, and waited for the group of friends I was planning to run with to be on.

I tried healing a pug… which I could probably do a better job of if I worked at it.

I tried tanking a pug… Screw that, it will be a long time before I tank a pug again.

I even pugged as a lazerchicken a bit while I waited for my friends.

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I eventually got tired of waiting.

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I want to play in group content, simple as that.

Yes, I can go solo things, work on achievements, level Archeology, (the profession that makes the old Wintersaber grind look tame), or any of a dozen other things.

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The more I think about it the more it becomes clear, the point being driven home by my failed attempt at tanking. 

My lack of motivation, particularly in playing my Hunters was based on raiding with them. Being at the top of my game, knowing my class so well that everything just kind of happens when I think about it, like driving a car or walking through the house.

Once upon a time I was there, and now I’m not. Thats what got to me.

I was not so much frustrated with the game as with having to start learning to play my character all over again.

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I have played a Hunter ever since Karazhan was progression content. A Hunter was the first of my characters to get his mount. The first to get an epic drop. The first to see a raid boss die. The first max level, and a host of other things.

I have no real desire to change.

So I won’t.

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If I am not good enough for Raiding I simply won’t go, i’ll run heroics instead.

If I am not yet up for Heriocs I won’t run them either, i’ll run normals.

If I am not the best Hunter in an LFD normal, well then, I’ll be the best Hunter I can be and leave it at that.

The game is supposed to be fun, and I am going to take my fun where I can get it. 

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I am what I am.

A Hunter is my main.

I don’t have to be the best Hunter out there, I don’t have to be perfect.

I just have to be good enough.

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Ever since that clicked for me the game has started being fun again.

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During the Wrath life cycle we saw the introduction of the LFD. This was a wonderful tool for those (like me) that take their WoW in short segments when it can fit into their day.

The downside of this tool was that the servers “PuG” community of those that would put together a friends list and build 5 man groups from it all but evaporated. It was quicker and easier (at least in Wrath) to queue up and go run something than it was even to build a guild group in many cases.

The LFD was a huge success in getting people to run instances instead of sitting in Dalaran bored. It was also an unmitigated disaster from a social standpoint. People lost that connection to the others in the game.

In my experience, it actually encouraged people to be asshats. Well, asshats, Silent Bob, and the GOGOGOGOGO kiddies.

I have always said people come to WoW to play the game, but stay for the friendships they have found. Thats the only reason I still play to be honest.

I also think that with guild leveling and the perks that go with it Blizz (unintentionally I think) encouraged people to abandon small friend based guilds in favor of larger ones. It became easier to find a dungeon/raid if you were in a larger guild. Actually, I have heard (but can’t confirm) that some guilds are requiring members to do all their heroics as guild only activities to maximize guild leveling.

Take away (or just weaken) those in-game friendships while making the game more time consuming and less accessible all at once and you have a recipe for a segment of your player base to get frustrated and leave.

The people that were mostly there for the social network.

Yes, I understand that there will always be people who are not happy with the game, there are simply too many of us to please us all. What I think they did not realise is how much the willingness of people to continue to pay $15 a month for a game is very dependant on that underlying social network.

Maybe they should call up that Zuckerberg guy and ask for some advice.

I hear he’s pretty goo with that whole social network thing.

I scrapped it.

If it’s so flippin complicated that the author has trouble following it, no one else will either.

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Here is the gist of it, without all the confusing stuff. After all, I want to try to keep this real simple on the off-chance anyone from Blizz actually reads it.

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Dech’s number one quality of life change Blizz could make in less time than it took me to write this. (yet they won’t)

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Make Bind on Account items actually bound to the account, not to the server.

Want to do this real easy?

Simply allow the transfer of level one characters for free (or at a much reduced cost, say $5), provided they carry nothing but heirloom items. No gold, no bags, no nothing. Strip them down to their skivvies, load up the backpack, and send ‘em over.

Hell, even put a cap on it. Say, one transfer per account per week, or make the transfer take a day or two. You already put restrictions on money and such based on level, and you already transfer toons, so the framework is already there.

Seriously, someone could have this coded today if they sat down and tried.

Possibly before lunch.

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It pisses me off to no end that I have enough heirlooms on one server to equip two Pallys (and then some) and I am leveling a Pally elsewhere without them.

Yes, I am aware that I could grab me a level ten alt and pay $25 to transfer the stuff over.

My point is this, The items are supposed to bind to my account, not to the specific server.

Even Blizz has said they plan to set it up so the transfers are possible. Then again, the team that’s working on the dance studio might have this one on their list as well.

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So how about it Blizz?

Can we fix this?

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Or have you just gotten so used to that extra $25 you can squeeze out of people that you decided not to?

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I partnered up with a friends guild and ran a few instances.

In fact I tanked all four times on one of my baby Palladin.

I loved it, most fun I have had in-game in forever.

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Didn’t get loot (nothing I could use dropped).

Didn’t get any achievements.

Didn’t care.

I had fun, and that’s what I play the game for.

Thats what had been missing of late.

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All in all ’twas a good night.

I look forward to more like it.

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He waited his time in the queue, zoned in, and looked at who he was grouped with.

There was Everybody the Warrior, Somebody the Druid, Nobody the Paladin, and Anybody the Death Knight, all hailing from a guild called <Irony>.

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Now Tanking is an important job, and to be fair they had all queued as Tank and Dps.

Well, most of them anyway. Somebody decided he was special and queued for Dps only.

Everybody had been sure that Somebody would do the tanking, no matter who the queue tagged for the job. After all, Somebody always took care of it.

This time Somebody got angry because it was Everybodys job, even though Somebody had cheated the system.

Everybody knew that Anybody could do it better than he could, but Nobody realized that Somebody wasn’t going to.

In the end Nobody stepped up and took care of business.

Thats how it came to pass that Everybody blamed Somebody that Nobody did what Anybody could have done.

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~Adapted (very loosely) from the poem Everybody, Anybody, Somebody, Nobody by Charles Osgood

Decado the Druid to be exact.

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As soon as I did I hit Teleport: Moonglade to go learn my new skills, just like every other time I had made it to the level cap. Then a funny thing happened.

I just sat there staring at the screen thinking “well, now what?”

I could go run a dungeon I suppose.  Then I got to thinking.

Going to run an instance would require me to wait in the queue long enough to say fuggit and log off if I were to go as a Dps.

The only way to actually go run something with the time I have available for play would be to spec for Tanking or Healing, not that that’s a bad thing.

Both are things I want to do, in fact I intend to be specced Feral (tanking) and Resto. I just don’t think I want to try learning an unfamiliar spec in an unfamiliar instance filled with unfamiliar people.

That and all my quest gear is Dps gear, as I was using it for leveling.

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Speaking of gear, I decided to grab the couple of quest blues I had out of the bank and go check the Auction House for upgrades. If this expansion is anything like the last I should be able to go pick up a set of crafted blue PvP gear at a semi-reasonable price and use that to get started.

Thats when I realised that folks had lost their damned minds when it comes to selling things. I tallied up the odds and ends it would take to flesh out both specs…

Sorry folks, I am not spending 20,000 gold for the privilege of learning to tank and/or heal in a pug.

Screw that.

Well, I reasoned, I am a skinner. I can just go farm up the mats and find a leatherworker that will craft the gear for me for a tip. Thats always worked in the past.

Tabbing out to Wowhead to make myself a shopping list I found out why Leatherworkers are charging what they are for the sets. 160 Heavy Savage Leather? and 160 assorted volatiles on top of that? Plus more for relics, jewelry, and a cape?

I thought long and hard about the grind for gear. Whether I chose to farm and have crafted, farm ore for money and buy off the AH, or grind rep till I could get faction stuff, I was looking at a grind.

Visions of the Sons of Bitches Hodir flashed through my mind and I simply logged off him in disgust.

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Logging over to my Hunter I had a good bit of fun running my first Cata instance (Stonecore) with folks from The Zug Initiave. I still found myself irritated by the change to focus however. I suppose if I played it long enough the changes would click, but for now I still find the mechanics irritating.

Thats how it comes that I am sitting here this morning thinking not about what I am going to do on my max level character, or even about how I am going to level through those last three levels on my Hunter. I’m sitting here thinking of what I might want to level next.

Right now I am thinking Paladin.

One on each side.

A Dwarf and a Tauren.

That should keep me busy for a while before I have to think about the gear up grind again.

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