I have done many 5-man instances, but honestly I still feel like a noob with every one I have done. So I need to not only level a new toon rather quickly, I need to practice and hopefully master my class. So I have a few questions to help me become a better player, so that when I do raid, I won’t be the weakest link.

• What are some things one should be doing while leveling to prepare for instances?
• Should I try pre-BC instances to better learn my class, or should I just get to 70 as fast as possible and maybe do run thrus of lower ones then?
• What has someone done that made you pleasantly surprised in a PUG? What have you done that surprised people?
• Now in my case, I am a Demon spec Warlock. I am going that way for leveling. When PUGing, should I automatically give everyone a Healthstone? If there isn’t a Priest who do I Soulstone? Should I offer to do crowd control or just ask which demon they want?
• What are some of the worst things you have seen a Warlock do in an instance that I should avoid? What have you done in an instance that immediately made you smack your head with your palm?

Give a guy and hand and give me an education I won’t soon forget.

For those of us who have always played RTS, FPS, and the various FPS/strategy games like Rainbow Six, I have a desire to see the entire game. Obviously there are thousands, if not a million people willing or able to put the time into the game to get attuned, geared, and learned in the end-game instances to play them through to the end of Blizzard’s content.

What I propose is a single-player mode. You get a crew of 4, 9, or 19 computer-controlled players, just as you do when you assault the subway in Rainbow Six. That would enable someone who gets off work and eats dinner and puts the kids to bed to play for an hour per night to get somewhere. We don’t all have a bunch of guild whores that can drop everything they are doing to help us out whenever we log in, do we? You do!? You suck!

There would be no need for acquiring the loot directly, as you would need to take control of another player should your main die in combat. Bosses would drop tokens that represent a particular piece for your given class, which you would then obtain when you rez and take control of your main again.

The only thing missing at that point would be a save game feature for your progress through a long instance. Granted, instances don’t take 3-6 hours any more, but they are still longer when starting off than many people have. Even playing on private servers to experience end-game content won’t alleviate everyday time crunches.

Would you like to see a Single-Player mode? What things have I missed here? Would you consider playing on a private server just to have an instant 70 to see end-game content with a new class that you’ve never tried? Are you even remotely as busy as I am?

I love WoW as much as the next guy, so let me see it all. Sound off.

/sigh

RL is really busy now, and I didn’t even play after dinner last night. I logged in really quick to find Deadr had almost 950g. I bought more cloth and made more bags, but as of this morning they hadn’t sold yet. I won’t buy my fast mount until I have several hundred extra gold so I have something to work with on the AH.

I consider myself to be an intellectual gamer. By that, I mean that even when I’m relaxing by playing a game, I’m not brain-dead. I am constantly figuring out better ways to play, new things to do, and basically trying to know everything possible about the game. Some people just play to have fun, but for me playing with intent is fun.

Here are some of the many things I have done to stay on top of my game:

1. Game mechanics
2. Instances
3. Quests
4. Professions
5. Auction Hall profiteering
6. Powerleveling
7. Guild-leading
8. Blogging about WoW
9. Giving in to my inner alt-aholic
10. Trying both PvP and PvE

Right now, Huntr is at 50 and getting bored with Tanaris, so he’s camping out Humar the Pridelord again and will move to Blasted Lands to try a shot at Grubber (I think that’s his name). I hear he has a 36-48 hour respawn, but at least he has a limited range, too.

The powerleveling is wearing me down because of the lack of content to my posts lately. So… I’m making it official:

Would any of you, my dear, fine readers, mind if I stopped my powerleveling at level 50 and we’ll just know that I can get to 50 really fast and have huge kahonas for not running instances for 50 levels? Man, I missed SM, RFD, and Maradon. That makes me somewhat sad, and I don’t want to miss out on BRD or UBRS/LBRS.

I am for sure going to buy the game. How about you?

Here are some goodies from the FAQ on the site:

When is the game coming out?

At this point, it’s too early to provide an initial estimate on the release date. As with all Blizzard games, we will take as much time as needed to ensure the game is as fun, balanced, and polished as possible.

How will StarCraft II be different from StarCraft?

StarCraft II will run on a vibrant new 3D-graphics engine that will be capable of rendering beautiful landscapes as well as massive individual units and army sizes.We’re also introducing a number of distinct new units to the Protoss, Terran, and Zerg, and even some of the familiar units that return in StarCraft II will have new tricks up their sleeves, which will give the game its own unique flavor.

In addition, Battle.net will be overhauled with some new and exciting features to enhance online play and competition, while the story-mode campaign will also offer some unique aspects for players who enjoy single-player content. We’ll have more details on all these aspects in the months to come.

Will there be both single-player and multiplayer components?

Yes, StarCraft II will include a unique story-mode campaign, as well as multiplayer capability over Battle.net. We’ll provide more detail on both of these aspects a little further along in the development process.