Fractals!

For the last week or so, I've been trying something new in Guild Wars 2: fractals.  They've rolled out a new automatic LFG matchmaking feature, making it very easy to access, and I must say I've really been enjoying it.  As an incentive to try them, they're offering a pair of legendary gloves that you will essentially get by completing a bunch of them over about 3 weeks.  I've also never had any legendary items because I've never really seen the point (I basically only play two classes and specs, and I have full ascended for both). Still, I'm kind of looking forward to having these.

I didn't realize that these were just short, fun little things.  So I'm happy I've been giving it a try.  I'm about two-thirds of the way to accumulating the necessary items for the gloves, so it's coming along pretty well.  I also get a legendary starter weapon kit at the end, but I'm not sure I'll bother with that.  

Beyond that, in World of Warcraft, I finished up the Warrior and the Monk that I had lined up after that, and have moved on to working on the Mage.  There are only two level 50s left after the Mage - a Demon Hunter and a Rogue.  And then it's on to the four low-level alliance race toons.  I had been playing with a friend who was leveling a new character from scratch, so one of the low-level toons is actually around 51 now after doing that, so I guess he'll follow the usual route, but the other ones should be fun to do from level 10.  Those three level 10s appear to be a Mecha-gnome, an Earthen, and just a regular, plain old Gnome Hunter (not sure where that one came from).

I'll be doing the Legion Remix when it launches, and then I will be playing the new Guild Wars 2 expansion when it launches as well.  I'm going to start working on gearing up a third character in ascended gear, and I'm trying to decide between Untamed Ranger, Chronomancer Mesmer, and Herald Revenant.  

That's the update for now. 

Cheers,

Joar

In the Home Stretch

I've finished leveling the Alliance Mage and started a Horde Warrior on my third realm.  The leveling time on the Alliance Mage was disappointing, as I had to spend a lot of time AFK due to real-life commitments.  So it wasn't the end of the world. 

I'm leveling the Warrior as Arms, which doesn't feel as good to me as Fury these days, but still does the trick better than a lot of classes.  The path from 50 to 70 continues to run about 2 1/2 hours.  He's about halfway done with the 70 to 80 bit, and I think I'll be moving on to a Monk from there.  

There are only four more level 50s to go after this warrior - Monk, Mage, Demon Hunter, and Rogue.  After that, there are four allied race characters sitting anywhere from level 10 to level 31, and then that will be it.  I'll need to decide whether to create more alts or focus on gearing some of my top 5 characters a bit more.  Or maybe split time and do a bit of both.

There will also be new content for Guild Wars 2 later in the fall that will definitely distract me for a bit.  I also think new quest content for Elder Scrolls Online is on the way, but I might be wrong.

It's not much of an update this week, because things have generally been pretty quiet, just plowing along with the leveling.

Cheers,

Joar

A Look Back on August

Despite not being around much for the first 10 days of the month, it still ended up being a pretty successful Blaugust for me, with 12 total posts for the month - my largest ever.  I was hoping to finish strong last week and maybe get to 15, but we had a ton going on at work, and so I just wasn't able to get to it.  That happens sometimes, and I don't let myself worry about it too much.  

From a gaming perspective, my play time was down slightly from normal for the same reasons I wasn't able to post as much.  I had a total of 28 hours of play time, with all but one hour of that being in World of Warcraft.  The other hour was in Guild Wars 2.  

I reached max level with four characters during the month, but one of those was from my pre-order boost, so it doesn't really count.  I also spent a decent chunk of time on the new zone and content on my main, which distracted me from leveling for a bit.  I started a fifth character as well, but he's currently sitting at level 62.  I still have a decent amount of travel in September for water polo tournaments with the youngest Joarling and such, but I don't have any major trips planned during the week, so my play time should recover a bit.  

That is the update for now.

Cheers,

Joar 

Blaugust 2025: Remixing Legion - Again, But Different

 Legion Remix is one of those ideas that feels like it was tailor-made for me. It takes one of the expansions I spent a lot of time in — seriously, I think I may have leveled more alts through Legion than any other — and gives me a new way to experience it. Faster leveling, streamlined story progression, shiny new rewards, and that Infinite Dragonflight twist that makes it feel just different enough.

What I loved about Legion the first time around was the sheer variety it offered. Every class had its own artifact weapon, its own unique campaign, and a central place in the story. It was one of the few times in WoW where leveling alts didn’t feel repetitive — because each class gave me a fresh perspective. That was basically heaven for someone like me, who has a compulsive need to see all the things. I could run through the same zones ten times, but if I knew there was a different class story waiting for me at the end, I was hooked.

The Remix format looks like it’s going to lean into that same energy. The idea of zooming through the Broken Isles with accelerated leveling and time-limited goals scratches both the nostalgia itch and my love of efficient progress. It’s like Blizzard decided to give me the “express lane” version of my favorite expansion, while also layering in new rewards to chase. And let’s be honest — if there’s one thing I can’t resist, it’s shiny rewards tied to content I already like.

That brings me to the hard part: figuring out what class to play for it. My Warlock, Joar, will always be my main in the long run, but for Remix, it feels right to do something different. I’ve narrowed it down to four: Warrior, Monk, Death Knight, or Demon Hunter. Each one has its appeal, but Legion was the Demon Hunter expansion, and I never really gave them a fair shake back then. With all the fel-green aesthetic, double-jumps, and glaive-throwing drama, they’re probably the most fitting choice for a second trip through Legion’s story.

Still, what excites me most isn’t which class I land on, but the chance to relive the high points of Legion in a new way. Charging through those iconic zones, revisiting Suramar (this time hopefully with a little less grumbling about mana wine), and diving back into the class-centric stories — it’s like a greatest-hits album for one of WoW’s best expansions.

So yes, I’ll agonize over my class decision, and I’ll probably second-guess myself three times before I log in. But the real draw here is the Remix itself — a chance to take one of my favorite stretches of WoW history and play it again with fresh eyes. And honestly, if it means I end up with another max-level character and a few new blog posts about my adventures along the way, that’s a win no matter which class I end up choosing.

Blaugust 2025: How I Come Up With Things to Write About

How to figure out what to write about is often a suggested topic for Blaugust, and it's one that I've talked about over the course of a few Blaugusts past.  As I reflect on it now, I think part of the answer for me is that I only tend to post if I have something that I want to talk about.  

The blog, at its heart, is about my journey through a variety of different video games and my comments on those as an extremely casual, but altoholic player.  So if there has been a lot going on with games that I play, or if I've been trying different things, then I'll probably be posting quite a bit.  If it is pretty much business as usual, this blog may only see two posts a month, with general updates on my leveling progress and any other updates.

Sometimes things will be going on in my personal life that I choose to mention or discuss here.  That was very rare in the early years of this blog, but I find myself doing it more frequently now.  Part of that is an increasing wave of significant life events, as the Joarlings grow up and begin to leave the house, and as I start to contemplate retirement and a likely relocation as part of that.  There is just more on my mind outside of gaming, and sometimes it's helpful to write it down here.

I tend to avoid much in the way of political or social commentary here.  MMO Casual is about gaming, and in some ways about my personal life, and so I try to limit it to that.  Not everything has to be about tribal conflict these days, especially since I'm PvP'ing a lot less than I used to!

The bad news about this being the way I come up with things to write is that I'm running out of ideas for Blaugust this year.  I was hoping to finish strong with good posts for the last three days of this week, but we'll have to see.  It's also a hectic time at work for me right now, which isn't helping matters.

Cheers,

Joar

Blaugust 2025: Update on Leveling

I finally managed to ding 80 on the Alliance Shaman today, making it my 39th max-level character.  It had been 24 days since I last hit 80 on an alt, making the longest stretch in a while without a new ding.  That's partially because of my travel schedule, and partially due to the latest content, but we're back to full-on leveling mode now.  

Up next is a Horde Warlock.  I'm done with my first two realms, other than some low-level allied race characters, and I'm now focused on finishing up the third realm.  The leveling time on the shaman wasn't great, as near as I can tell, but there's no rush now with the timing on Midnight being fairly clear.

I'm debating just trying straight delve leveling on this next character, other than doing the first few quest hubs in the first War Within zone, just to see how that feels.  It's a demonology warlock, and those are pretty good in delves right now, so we'll see how that works.

As mentioned previously, after that will be my original mage, then warrior, monk, another mage, demon hunter, and then rogue.  And that's it for the 50s.  

A relatively short update for today, but I will be back tomorrow.  I'm trying to finish strong with Blaugust!

Cheers,

Joar

 

Blaugust 2025: My Initial Thoughts on Midnight

I'd like to lay out my initial thoughts on Midnight, as well as talk about my plans for the expansion, once it finally gets here.  

The storyline is a solid continuation of what we've seen so far in War Within.  I will say, during the scene in the trailer where Lady Liadrin was begging for help at the Sunwell and someone put their hands on her shoulder, I was kind of hoping it would be Anduin and Faerin coming to help.  I think they missed an opportunity there to bring us a reenergized Anduin.

So far, everything I've seen about the game looks fine.  I'm super glad that our new delve companion for this expansion is going to be Not Brann.  It looks like there will be lots of dungeons and delves available at release, which is always good with me.  

The new Prey gameplay looks interesting, but I'm not sure how well it will fit my casual play style yet.  Finally, housing looks interesting, so I'll be eager to explore it a bit.

Pre-ordering the game will give me a level 80 boost, which raises the question of what to do with what will then be my 51st alt.  Right now, I'm pretty well balanced between Alliance and Horde, with 24 Alliance and 26 Horde, which suggests I lean more towards the Alliance.

When I count my various classes, I'm also well-balanced.  I have 7 warlocks, 6 hunters, 5 druids, 4 each of paladin, shaman, mage, and rogue, 3 each of death knight, demon hunter, warrior, priest, and monk, and finally only a single Evoker.  So, just to bring Evoker up a bit, I'm leaning towards having the boost be an Alliance Dracthyr Evoker, and then that will let me do the Haranir Allied Race character as a Priest, which will bring that up in line with some of my other favorite classes.

The Alliance Shaman that I'm leveling now is coming along well and just hit level 76.  I'm heading out of town for a water polo tournament with the youngest Joarling this weekend, so I won't have much play time, but hopefully I can get this guy finished up by the end of next week and move on to the Warlock.  Given that we probably won't get the new expansion until June, I have plenty of time to level this last group of alts.

That's the update for now!

Cheers,

Joar

Blaugust 2025: The Evolution of World of Warcraft for a Casual

When I first set foot in Azeroth, it was a different world — literally. World of Warcraft was new, sprawling, and intimidating in that way only early MMOs could be. Quests weren’t always clear, mounts weren’t handed out like candy at level 10, and the idea of flying over entire zones was the stuff of imagination. But for me, it wasn’t just about the mechanics or the graphics. WoW was about connection — especially with my teenage son, who lived a good 450 miles away. Logging in together gave us a world we could share, no matter the physical distance. That foundation is part of why I’ve kept playing all these years.

Over time, though, WoW itself has gone through almost as many phases as my roster of alts. Each expansion reshapes the experience, and I’ve found myself adapting right along with it. In the early years, leveling felt like a marathon — long, sometimes grueling, but incredibly satisfying when you finally crossed the finish line. I still remember grinding mobs for that last sliver of XP, watching my Warlock Joar ding with a sense of triumph that today’s streamlined questing can’t quite replicate.

Then came the expansions that changed everything: flying mounts that opened up the skies, dungeon finders that made group content easier, and entire continents of new lore to dig into. Every time, Blizzard reimagined how the game worked, and every time, I had to decide how I wanted to interact with it. Some changes I embraced wholeheartedly. Others I grumbled about before eventually coming around — usually after realizing my fifth alt could level faster than ever before.

That’s part of what has kept WoW fresh for me. The game doesn’t stay the same, and neither does my relationship with it. In one expansion, I might be all about raiding schedules and chasing gear. In another, I’m perfectly content to poke along with alts, enjoying the storylines and leveling experiences. My main — Joar the Warlock — is always there, steady and reliable. But the cast of supporting characters shifts with every expansion, depending on which class catches my fancy at the time.

And then there’s the blogging. If WoW is the canvas, the blog has been my sketchbook. Every new mechanic, every new class obsession, every expansion that threw me for a loop — it’s all recorded. Looking back, I can see not just how WoW evolved, but how I did too. There are posts about raid nights that went brilliantly, others about leveling frustrations, and still others about family life woven in between dungeon runs. It’s a chronicle of more than just a game.

WoW today is sleeker, faster, and in some ways friendlier to casual players than it ever was in the early days. And I’ve shifted too — I’m not grinding endless raid nights like I once did, but I still find joy in exploring new content, tinkering with alts, and seeing how my old Warlock fits into each new era. That’s the beauty of a game that keeps reinventing itself: I get to reinvent how I interact with it, without ever really leaving Azeroth behind.

Blaugust 2025: Back to Leveling

I completed the second wing of LFR in the new raid yesterday.  Everything went very smoothly.  Everyone seemed to have a basic understanding of the mechanics of the fights, except for soaking the puddles on the optional boss/council fight.  I did end up getting an off-hand out of there as well, so there were at least some rewards for my efforts.  The raid is vast and seems pretty easy to get lost in, but I've enjoyed the fights so far.  

I also did what I could to continue to snag some rep with K'aresh, but without the big weekly quest, that one is going to be a slower grind.  

So with all of that wrapped up, I've moved back to working on leveling my alts.  The enhancement shaman that I left off before my extended travels is now sitting at level 73 and is slowly working his way through War Within content.  

Next up is a warlock, followed by my original mage character.  I think I told this story in a post a long time ago, but the first character that I ever created in World of Warcraft was a gnome mage called Abbert.  I started with him, leveled him to about 15 (this would have been during Burning Crusade), decided I didn't like mage, and then switched to the character that has been my main ever since - an undead warlock named Joar.  All of my alts have some version of Joar in the name, except for Abbert.  I picked him back up and leveled him all the way to max during Battle for Azeroth, so Abbert finally got some love at that point.  After that, I will be finishing off the last 5-6 classes on my 2nd Horde realm, third overall realm, and then I have a handful of characters at low levels to finish things off with.

I also popped into Guild Wars 2 yesterday and started running my Reaper through the Janthir content that I hadn't already finished on them.  

I need to pre-order the expansions for both World of Warcraft and Guild Wars 2, and I'll get on that on Friday.  

That is the update for now.

Cheers,

Joar

Blaugust 2025: Back to School

I didn't manage to get a blog post out yesterday, because we had to drive to Pittsburgh and back to get the middle Joarling moved in for his senior year of University.  For the first time since he started, he's actually living off-campus rather than in a dorm.  The move-in process wasn't great, as he apparently chose the top-floor bedroom.  

It's one of those "not-great" Pittsburgh area houses, but we were pretty surprised that it was reasonably clean.  His other roommates had just left a bunch of crap all over the place on the ground floor, so they've got some work to do to get it fully ready, but it seems like he'll be fine.  In any case, he just needs to get through this year, and then he'll be starting a full-time job back in Boston on June 15th of next year.

The youngest Joarling starts his senior year of high school this week, but he'll also miss half of the first full day of school on Friday because we're attending a water polo tournament in Michigan.  I'm not a big fan of water polo as a high school sport, but he's starting for varsity and enjoys being with his friends.  

Meanwhile, it's quarter-end at work and we've got several fairly significant transactions closing over the next couple of months, so there is plenty to keep me busy there.

On the gaming front, I got through all of the side quests in K'aresh, so now I'm back to grinding out renown for the next faction and can do a little alt leveling in between.  

Cheers,

Joar

Blaugust 2025: Initial Thoughts on K'aresh

Warning:  While I am not intending to do so, this post may contain some mild spoilers for the new content released for World of Warcraft: War Within

OK.  With that out of the way, I spent a good chunk of today working through stuff for the new content.  So I've done no alt leveling.  We'll probably need to resume that in another week or two once I'm good with doing the normal cycle of farming Renown on the K'aresh stuff.

So here is what I got done today.  I got basically current on the Story Campaign stuff, other than some weird stuff that I'm still working through back at the Oasis with Ve'nari.  I can't quite figure out how Ve'nari here relates to Ve'nari in Shadowlands, but if I think about it too much, it'll make my head hurt, and no one wants that.

I've also been doing a bunch of the side quests for the additional renown rewards.  They're the normal side quest level of cute, but nothing that tugs at the heartstrings too badly so far.  Finally, I also did the new delve, which I thought was really fun.  I was hoping we'd get someone other than Brann this time around, so I was a little disappointed.  

The warlock is feeling really good, so if they changed anything, I'm not noticing it.  The story was decent.  I'm sure some folks found some of the twists and turns entertaining.  I'm not sure what I think about the whole major tension / potential betrayal vibe going on with this stuff, but I've never been a big fan of the characters involved, so I don't care a ton.  That's probably not what Blizzard was going for, but oh well.

Finally, I did the first LFR wing of the new raid.  Didn't get anything from it, but the new bosses were pretty cool.  You definitely need to watch some videos to learn the mechanics for at least the 2nd fight. Don't watch the transition to phase 2 on the second boss too closely if you're feeling at all queasy.  Pretty gross.  But I'm looking forward to the next couple of wings as well.  

That is the update for today!

Cheers,

Joar