@ikaruga: Heh! Actually that’s what I meant. What I wanted to say was that I would usually play 2-3 hours at a time every couple of days and on the weekends. Not every day. It came out wrong.

I wish I had that much free time too man! I really do! :)

But I’m done with WoW now. Got bored with it.

Casual playing for 2-3 hours per evening

To me, casual gaming is 1/2 an hour every once in a while (like once a week) and maybe an hour on the weekend… but that’s just me. 2-3 hours per evening is a freakin black hole. I wish I had that much free time ;-)

LOL! Is that a Horde or Alliance mission? The time travel I mean?

Oh, and speaking of the little pop culture referrences – the other day I saw a white Owl NPC pet whose name was O’reily.

As for those gimmicks, at level 70 you get to do some time traveling and visit places, like Hillsbrad Foothills or the Blasted Lands, at a previous period in history.

But I thought this was great: there is a quest you get from a guy with a silly hat. He wants you to travel back in time, fight his younger self, steal his hat, and return it to your own time.

Also in Blade’s Edge Mountains there is a gnome who has cloned himself a few times, but, to avoid getting caught for it, he (poorly) pretends that they are all his twin brothers. Lots of little things like this all over WoW.

Yeah, but low drop rate means you need to do a lot more grinding, whereas every beast beyond certain level is almost guaranteed to yield some kind leather so I guess it really depends on what you want to do.

How much do the scales sell for usually?

You want to grind something lucrative, try “Slimy Murloc Scale”. There are several locations in which these drop. They are used by leatherworkers, but are notoriously hard to find. Drop rates suck. Anyone can get them, skinner or not.

Nah, not really complaining. They are lazy, but in a good way – in a smart way. I will probably do the same thing once I can afford to fund a low level alt this way. :)

Since I run around slaughtering low level mobs anyway I might as well rip their hides of and sell them to these lazy fucks at a premium.

Heh, funny because you’re complaining about the grind… and then complaining about players who don’t want to grind :)

Yeah, the Goblin towns (Booty Bay and Ratchet) are pretty neat. I loved the Shimmering Flats race track and there are quite a few other areas like that. I still try to explore fun places even if it usually ends up in my death.

One thing that sometimes bothers me is the limited interactivity of some of these areas. For example, I’d love to be able to participate in the race at the Shimmering Flats track. Or be ale to click on some of the more colorful scenery and interact with it. But hell, they still get points for including this stuff in the first place. :)

Although you may remember my prior rant on the exceedingly repetitive WoW grind, it is a great game. I enjoy reading your posts about it because it reminds me a lot from when I started playing. A few friends from work got me going several years ago and they had a lot of fun introducing me to new areas. One of my most favorite memories of WoW was when a convoy of four friends (we were alliance) were leading me through Stranglethorn Vale from the north to Booty Bay at level 14 to check out the scenery and for fun. Walking near the river in STV caused the level 30+ fish to jump out of the water and beach themselves just to see me dead. Likewise, at around the same level, they took me to the Burning Steppes where upon entering, a level 52ish drake (obviously level ?? to me) practically flew across half the zone to ensure I was annihilated. Who knows how many times I died in my first few weeks of playing the game due to things like this but it was incredibly fun.

I think the best part of WoW was coming up with things that most normal people may not do and seeing what would happen. That and stumbling across and attempting to identify the practically unlimited cultural references Blizzard places throughout the entire world of Warcraft.