WoW Weekly: 5.3 & Me & You

WoW Weekly is a biweekly-ish, self-absorbed look into the things I've been doing -- or not doing -- in the game. From auctioneering and pet battling to mount farming and raiding.  

Truth be told, last week I didn't really care if patch 5.3 was just over the horizon. I've had enough trouble getting through 5.2; just didn't have the stomach for more dailies, and stabilizing a raid has turned out to be rather difficult. And, of course, been feeling a little burnout in the midst of it all. So I'm kind of surprised that 5.3, with its "smaller" amount of content, has me excited.

Done

Enhancement seems stronger. Perhaps I was imagining things, but I seem to be cutting through mobs with a bit more ease. And that makes sense, given the various buffs enhancement received with the arrival of the patch. Our burst is absolutely brutal -- though that statement comes strictly from a PvE perspective. Enhancement has always been fun, and this patch only gives us more reason to stick with it. Check out an insightful comment made by Dahlese on an earlier enhancement-focused 5.3 post if you'd like a refresh on talent choices. Sometimes my speculation doesn't align with the facts and it's nice to have people point it out in a clear, friendly manner!

Battlefield: Barrens. Having avoided most of the detailed spoilers for this patch, I genuinely enjoyed the story from both sides. There are differing opinions on the volume and quality of the content in this patch, but for me, the fact there are no new daily grinds is wonderful. I'd rather not do dailies for as long as I play this game. I'd prefer it were dailies never a major part of a content patch again. Not that weekly quests are new, but this is something that should be further explored.

What if we were given sets of weekly quests instead of daily quests? It's not like the game has to require player participation in order to advance the story. Instead, they can tie it to the calendar. Every week or two we're given a new set of quests that serve to advance the story. That'd be cool. If there must be dailies, focus less on their development and more on the story-advancing quest lines.

I think that's exactly what we're going to see with this patch.

LFR insta-queues for DPS. Not quite true. But I'm now queuing as restoration and rolling on enhancement gear. It's a beautiful thing, isn't it?

Looking Forward To

Heroic scenarios. By all accounts, they are a lot of fun. I haven't really delved too deeply into scenarios at all in MoP. Sure, I have my Scenaturdist achievement, but that's pretty much as far as it goes. The two scenarios I ran to get to the Barrens were a lot of fun, and friends report that heroic scenarios are a welcome challenge.

Raiding with Leashes II. I'm a bit of a fan of this new pet battle fad, and having had fun with the first iteration of this achievement, I welcome this with open arms while anticipating this isn't the last time we'll see pets added to old raids. Now if only I could remember how to get through Kara (thanks Lio!).

Finishing the Throne of Thunder. It's great we're seeing fresh content more quickly than we have in the past, I won't argue against that that. But I feel there's a sweet spot they've overshot. Perhaps it's just me, but I wouldn't mind a little more time---two, three weeks or more---before MoP's patches have released. I take that back: 5.1 seemed just about right with the last two coming a bit too quickly to where it seems I'm always playing catch up.

Our guild has never had a more difficult time stabilizing and fielding a consistent raid. And the reasons aren't dramatic: real life is happening. We're aging, gaining more responsibilities. It's a good, natural thing. But at some point, Blizzard will have to address this, too.

How about you? What are you liked, and not liked in this patch? Is there anything you know you'll absolutely not touch?