Playing with Blues?

I haven't grouped with any of my coworkers in a while. The last thing we did was roll alts and quest together on our lunch breaks once a week, but that ended around Westfall. :p

We all have very different play schedules and such with our personal lives, so we usually don't get a chance to play together unless we set aside time while at work. And even then we don't tend to put our work down for the time we set aside often enough.

I've been spending some time here and there the last few weeks gearing up my goblin death knight via Dungeon Finder so he can experience Dragon Soul before Mists arrives. I've run a few Heroics with a friend (not a Blizzard employee) via Real ID when we can plan to logon within the same timeframe. That's great 'cause he tanks!

But other than that I've been queuing solo. For some odd reason a part of me still gets a bit nervous when hitting that button to group with strangers. To that end I try to be extremely polite, patient, and accomodating. I let myself sort of lose track of time, focusing on enjoying the experience of the dungeon and playing to the best of my ability. Five-player dungeons have had a very special place in my heart ever since I first set foot in one during vanilla WoW -- it's just an entertaining, unique experience compared to questing out in the world. And fortunately I've had very few negative experiences with other players!

And of course these people don't have a clue I'm a Blizzard employee. :)

I have some alts I've started taking a bit more seriously, but I still do my dailies on my main and have been working on getting Achievements here and there with it. I never really got into alts too much before, but I think with the changes in Cataclysm, it made it a faster climb through the levels and it's been nice getting to spend some time on other characters.

I have to stay away from PvP if I plan on focusing on PvE or else I'll never get around to doing anything else. (Not that it's a bad thing.) I have an old friend of mine that I've gamed with for over 10 years that is really good about getting me to PvP with him. He's pretty relentless, but we make a good team too, so it's fun. ;)

My time has been somewhat limited as of late, but I try to get in when there are events like the Darkmoon Faire etc going on. I also like to just like to just travel around the "slow" way and take in the sights and listen to the music. It's always a good reminder as to why I still love the game.

I tend to hop from one activity to another though otherwise I get bored easily. I admire people who can just work on one thing until it's done, but I just can't play that way. Thankfully, there's enough in World of Warcraft to do that I don't feel too constrained to play just one way. I know that sounds like a line, but it's true.

And of course these people don't have a clue I'm a Blizzard employee. :)

Is it weird to know the inner workings of the game, then log into a regular account and play like everyone else?

Do you ever see stuff like in trade chat and think, "geez, I wish people wouldn't be like this".

Are you ever tempted to give yourself that one last quest item that won't drop? Hehe, I think I would be. Or mail myself a few cinders for the epic staff.

As an employee, are you expected to play WoW during your leisure time to help get an "every mans" point of view of the game?

It's not weird to log into a regular account and play like anyone else. It's the only way I've ever played.

We don't have the power to "give" ourselves anything. We get what we earn the same as anyone else.

We're expected to understand the games we support and we choose to play too because we enjoy it like anyone else. But it does help to play side by side to see what players are experiencing here and there. Playing anonymously with the community is great for that and there's no additional pressure beyond enjoying the game for what it is.

I have but one question.

Rogue hater? Or Rogue lover?

Any CM may answer.
Be careful, I am always watching.
*Cackles*

/love

I've played many a rogue myself from my days of paper gaming and beyond.

/loathe

When I get bested by one because I'm not paying attention or they get the drop on me. ;)

Most of the time when I've seen a blue talk about their experience playing, it's almost always in a casual manner...gearing up through LFR, doing dailies on a main, leveling alts with friends, farming for achievements etc.
But are there any blues that are a part of raiding guilds? Not the hardcore 8/8H guilds, but the ones struggling for progression on Heroic DS. How do you handle a long night of wipes the next morning at the office?
Maybe in some parallel Azeroth there's a guild made up entirely of blues...

There are plenty of "blues" that raid. I am taking a bit of a break since I used to raid on a pretty strict schedule from the time Onyxia opened up and beyond. I wouldn't say that my guild was "hardcore" but I also remember many many nights of scheduled raids.

Usually when I hear conversations of raids from the night before, it's the same as you hear from anyone. You hear about what went well, what didn't go well and it usually ends with, "We're going to give it another shot tonight with some new ideas we had." It's rare that you hear someone "angry" so much as enthusiastic about getting back in the fight and overcoming an encounter. You also get to hear about the excitement some have for getting new weapons or gear etc. It makes the atmosphere fun.

02/22/2012 04:26 PMPosted by Ansém

I got to wonder....if a blue is playing a regular account and comes across something like a botter, a spammer, a gold seller, do they put in a ticket or login the big bad blizz dude and take care of it themselves.

Whenever I see suspicious activities, I tend to report them through the regular reporting methods in-game so that the proper individuals can look into the reports. Those aren’t the sorts of thing I handle, myself, and I’d rather leave the thorough investigations to the great support folks that are better equipped to address those sorts of issues. For more uncommon or major issues, however, we’re definitely equipped to get in touch with the right people should the need arise.

In terms of playing as a Blue in-game: aside from a few longtime friends, very few people actually know where I work! There are a couple that figured it out when they saw me at one BlizzCon or another and recognized me from out-of-game meet-ups, but even then, I’ve pretty much avoided ever going into detail about what I do or what department I’m in. I also appreciate that those few that managed to “connect the dots,” as it were, have been kind enough to be discrete with what little they know. It makes things easier and more pleasant all-around, I think.

Like some of the other Blues, I’ve played our games rather extensively over the years, including everything from being a core member of realm first raiding guilds to leading competitive PvP teams, and I even, for a time, lead the total pets and achievement points earned for a particular realm! When I’m playing, I tend to be rather social, but I do try to avoid getting too involved in debates about the games themselves since some of the time I find myself thinking, “Oh man, if I could only tell them _______, they would be so relieved to know we really are listening and that great things are coming! Arugh!”

That said: even though I have a number of characters and classes I play regularly, I still enjoy starting up new characters and seeing the world from a fresh set of eyes. Just this week, some folks from a guild I’d never heard of took kindness on my fresh level ten hunter and offered me an invite to their guild, as well as a variety of gear to help me out, and some really fun conversations about some in-game and out-of-game stuff. We went on for well over an hour about a variety of topics, including discussing some upcoming movie releases, which was especially enjoyable for me since I’m a huge film aficionado. I sincerely enjoy developing friendships with people in-game, so it was awesome to connect with totally new people like that.

As my main is on a PvP server, I also enjoy making sure the opposing faction isn’t causing trouble for my brethren, especially those brethren that are in the process of leveling up. If I receive word that any of my allies need help, I’m more than happy to hop on over and try to even the odds. ;) Other times, I’ll simply wander around areas in game and try to help other players out with quests, macros, or what-not.

I’d like to think that kindness has the possibility of breeding more kindness, so I genuinely try to treat people in game as I’d like to be treated. It’s worked out really well for me over the years, and I’ve grown incredibly close to quite a number of people, many of whom I’ve had the honor of getting to know out-of-game as well.