Moon Coins and meditation.

Today I spent an unproductive day traveling across Azeroth meeting ancestors and getting coins from them on my highest level avatar, a level 69 paladin. Yes I know if I were really an avid WoW player I would have an 80 buy now but I don't, I don't even have a Death Knight and I got the new expansion about a week or two ago. I had planned on spending the day doing academic things like reading for class and that other stuff but over this week end I only did readings for one of my classes so far. That is not to say I won't do the readings or the work but that but that I've been having motivation problems. As embarrassing as this is to admit I have been having trouble getting into the swing of things this semester and I'm not entirely sure why. My current theory is that I am putting too much pressure on myself to perform well and that I am kind of stalling myself in the process. Take this blog for instance I want it to be original and insightful but I also want everybody to be able to understand me so I take on a very formalistic tone and I probably lose my readers in the first few sentences. I know I did not enjoy writing it. So I've come to a decision I will simply relate my experiences and provide clarifications as I deem them necessary or as my readers ask for them.

In any event today I spent the day riding around on a Horde paladin visiting elders and collecting coins during the Lunar Festival. The festival like most WoW world events last about a week or two and during that time I have to accomplish as many event related goals as possible or wait a year to get to do them again. Fro the most part I tend to do a few of the easier event related goals and then go on questing but today I decided to really work on getting those ancestor coins. I was going for three achievements: to get all the coins on the continent of Kalimdor, to get all the coins in the Eastern Kingdoms and to get 50 coins. I got 30 coins so far (I spent 5 on a reward but they still count for the achievement) and I did not manage to get all the coins in either Continent but it was fun. Some of the coins were in Alliance controlled territory and that meant having to get flagged for PvP and coming into conflict with NPCs in the places I was. Whenever I could, however I skirted the town guards and NPCs so that I would avoid conflict, this was not always possible. One of the coins that I got was in Stormwind City, that is one of the Alliance capital cities, it's swarming with powerful guards, NPCs and players. Just entering the city flags me for PvP combat and so I am fair game for anybody who wants to attack me. My first few steps into the city I was cut down brutally by the level 75 city guards. I died a total of four or five times getting to the ancestor and I was not finished. I also wanted to get the coin in the Dwarven capital of Ironforge, yet another Aliiance capital city and the easiest way to do that was to use the tram connecting Stormwind and Ironforge. I can't remember if I died more than once getting to the tram but I had managed to find an effective way to travel through Stormwind while avoiding the guards, NPCs and other players. In Ironforge I died only once to the city guards while trying to get the coin (after I got the coin they killed me) but I chose to resurrect at the graveyard and spare myself the pain of being killed trying to escape Ironforge.

I got one more coin from an alliance town after that but was not flagged by it. Having played the game long enough I know what Ally players probably saw when I penetrated deep into the heart of their territory and wandered through their capital city. Their local defense channel was probably warning then that I was in their city (potentially attacking them). Even if this was not the case these messages can be something of an annoyance as they are repetitive and obnoxious. More annoying is that when high level players attack the towns and cities of the opposing faction they kill vendors and other useful NPCs that players of the faction need for various reasons e.g. completing quests, repairing their gear, buying items or new gear. In fact what I did is seen as a nuisance by players, even though I did not kill any NPCs causing the local defense channel to start spamming warnings is annoying but whether or not they approved of my actions I had fun. There is something amusing about riding through a dinky little Alliance town like Astranaar or Goldshire wearing no gear (all avatars wear default underwear) ignoring the guards wailing on me while I complete whatever quest I am on. There is even something exciting about trying to run through a capital like Stormwind attempting to avoid the city guards and higher level players while looking for the ancestor spirit with the coin I need.

Today I did not raid any settlements, that is attack and kill NPCs but I did set off a few Local Defense channels and I was attacked by several guards, NPCs and players. I also got the coins I wanted, the only big city I have not entered for a coin is Darnassus, I will have to try that one later. There is something exciting about the possibility of PvP, even if I am not specced for it and even if I am not a particularly good player something about the illicit nature of my activities made them seem more fun. I would not run around through Stormwind, Ironforge or Darnassus everyday because the repair bill would kill me but still it makes one think. I used to feel like people invaded the space of the opposite faction simply to be annoying but now I don;t think that way any more. When, on my one of my Alliance toons I heard somebody remark that the Horde did this stuff during events, I pointed out that they probably had their own agendas and that annoying us was rather low on their to do list. I know that I did not want to annoy peopel when I entered Stormwind as a member of the Horde.