Time.
A finite resource.
There are only so many hours in a day, only so many days in a year, only so many years in a lifetime.
Time is a luxury I don’t often have.
Last night I made level 8 on my Druid-that-doesn’t-kill project (hereafter known as the Dtdk). Just curious I decided to check my /played time. I know that normally with a class I am familiar with I can make level 10 in a bit over 2 hours, perhaps slightly longer for a Hunter. Something to do with not having a pet yet.
Anyhow, I looked down and noticed I was sitting at 10 hours played…. to reach level 8. At ten hours played I am usually sitting at close to level 20. It is taking me approximately 5 times longer to level this way.
It normally takes me about 4 months to level a new character from the starting zone to the cap. At the rate I am leveling this character will take well over a year, and that is if I spend all my time on leveling him. That’s more time than I am willing to spend, the price tag is simply too high.
Then I started thinking more about the types of quests I am doing. The sneaking in places to get items, using shadowmeld as a limited version of stealth. Carrying things to and fro is not really a problem, but with no mount old world is flippin huge. Despite spending most of my time running I am having fun with these quests, particularly the sneaky ones.
I would be having more fun at level 20 or better so i could have true stealth with cat form, but I digress.
Looking at the quests that are going to open up soon I noticed a trend. As soon as they open I am going to have to start doing dailies. By that I mean battleground dailies. I was looking at having to run battlegrounds every single day for over a year.
I hate battlegrounds.
If it’s not Alterac Valley or Wintergrasp I want nothing to do with it.
That’s when I realised that the Dtdk project, while doable, is not for me. I would end up doing too many things I hated and missing out on too much of what I like doing (running 5 mans with friends for instance).
Before that happens I am pulling the plug on this one.
This concludes the Dtdk project.
Filed under: World of Warcraft |
Dechion's Place 
I’m sure it was hard but I think it was a good call.
When I first read of your plans for the DTDK I thought to myself that’s not even possible ur playing the wrong game… But Kudos to you for giving it a solid crack.
Reminds me of an ex gf who wanted to start playing wow with me, but didn’t like killing things. Especially not animals!
It didn’t work out so well!
@Zupa
I did learn several things from the Dtdk project.
One, I have a lot of respect for those that have leveled that way all the way to 80.
Second, leveling that way is still a grind. In many ways a longer, harder, more difficult grind.
Since dalies are what I was looking to skip out on I do think I am going to go a head and level this character. Probably not right away, but I find myself actually liking Deck.
You were valiant regardless, but I think giving up before you hated everything, including yourself, was probably highly sensible.
I wouldn’t have the patience for that kind of thing myself, to say nothing of a WoW-nurtured desire to slaughter as many small animals as possible.
Actually, it reminds me of an experiment I was half-considering embarking upon which was to try and play as what I conceive of as a “proper” Tauren. My first character was a druid – a very gentle looking cow – and as I levelled him I avoided some of the obviously psychotic quests (torture this guy! poison this frog!) on the assumption he might not morally approve, but because he was my first character I was too interested in seeing the content to really do so in a comphrensive way. So I was wondering if it was possible to actually level effectively by only pick and choosing quests a Tauren might like (hunting animals, saving people, healing the earth etc.).
Of course the downside would be I’d have a character who was basically a ludicrous hippie.
It would be more generous than the full pacifist approach, however.
@Tamarind
Believe it or not I was actually considering that as the way I would level this guy when I pick him back up.
Allowing killing, but only if there was a reasonable reason in the quest text.
The cooking quests would involve hunting for food for instance, whereas nessingwary is a trophy hunter, I would not have anything to do with him.
Could even be the same animal, different quest, different descision.
Same with the “go kill 147 furblogs because they seem to annoy us” would be out, while “the furblogs are holding our children hostage, rescue 10 of them please” might involve limited killing, just enough to get the keys to set the kids free.
Definately more realistic for my playstyle. I could still level with a relatively clear concience, that was the original intent.