After 18 weeks of 9.1 it was time for 9.1.5. It didn't have any new content to do, but it shook up a bunch of systems as often happens in these patches. Mostly to make them more edible after being horribly bad at release. So it's nice to see again that they can do reasonable content when they want to, they just choose not to during content releases.
The last couple of months I'd say I've been very on and off the game. I've had two breaks that lasted almost two weeks, which is something I had a lot of in BFA but just felt a bit weird this time. I think I am actually done with the game, but I keep playing mostly because playing with nice people in relevant content is the hardest part of any online game, so all the replacement game stuff doesn't really measure up even if the game doesn't try to gouge your eyes out. Currently I am enjoying it "properly again" since I have started doing premades again and what feels for me being uncharacteristically egocentric trying to then "bully" people into doing stuff I want. Which sometimes is what everyone wants, so that's fine. Which in turn leads to me joining what other people wants without getting overly frustrated with yet another week of not doing relevant content for me. Will see if it lasts.
The alt spec project
So one of the things I started doing whenever I haven't set up a group in advance and just hang about, is try to cross off specs as having been played in mythic plus. Patch did not really help much here, but it's the wow anniversary that comes with an xp buff which helps with the last two classes I needed to get to 60. I made a tierlist before the season that had RIO scores which are now defunct, so I am changing the tiers to be in line with current scoring.
S = 2000+
A = 1700+
B = 1400+
C = 1000+
D = 600+
E = 1+
F = 0
It's at this time of writing week 21 after this staying as draft for a while. So this is my personal current tier list, or progress list I suppose.
In other words, I only have 11 specs left to get tagged. Next reset is dungeon weekly, the plan is pretty much to get it done then. My priest is as of now level 55, but the rest is level 60. The warrior and rogue needs some weapons for offspec use, but the warlock and mage will just have some severe user error when played. Luckily this is doing +2s to +6s where user error is to be expected.
After that I assume I will mostly just try to play more guilty pleasure specs, and possible main/alt specs for 9.2 once the F-tier is cleared out. Can already say that Warrior, Rogue and Priest is not getting anything more than a spec tag done before they are dumped again.
The main patch goals
While most of these have been done, some have not actually been done so a reminder to self...
Wutteät
m+ goals:
2000+ ingame dungeon score (KSM, in other words) [Current score: 2185]
1330+ RIO as Vengeance [Rio score out of order, but site lists this as best season]
913+ RIO as Havoc [RIO score out of order, but site lists last season as 1466 to beat]
(And try to organize things myself to get this)
Raid goals:
10/10 Normal Bosses Tanked (unless a tank has been found) [A tank was found]
Help with heroic until new tank has been found [A tank was found]
Soft goals:
1 rank 6 Vengeance Legendary [Scorched Soul Shackles rank 6]
1 rank 5 Havoc Legendary [Not crafted any havoc legendary]
Kyrian Renown 80 [Done, now working on Night Fae - currently Renown 60]
Able to craft Rank 6 Wrist Legendary Base Item [Done]
246+ Vengeance iLevel [Done, currently iLevel 250 equipped]
Esmënet
m+ goals:
2000+ ingame dungeon score (KSM, in other words) [Current score: 2133]
1229+ rio as BM [RIO score out of order, but site lists this as best season]
Raid goals:
10/10 Heroic bosses killed [Current progress: 9/10 Heroic]
Soft goals:
1 rank 6 Beast Mastery Legendary [Current: Cloak of the Master Rylakstalker Rank 6]
Night Fae Renown 80 [Done, now working on Kyrian - currently Renown 72]
246+ Beast Mastery iLevel [Current: 248 Domination, 249 with pure iLevel]
As much as I have griped about content this patch, I have still not actually done my goals 21 weeks in. So I have that to work on in the short term too.
Patch considerations
The patch didn't really change how I play all that much; I am still an altoholic, and the return to premades doing progress keys has nothing to do with patch. The only things that I notice a lot are two changes:
Covenant swapping
The game made covenant swapping happen with less friction, and conduit swapping for that matter. No need to do campaign if you have already done it earlier, so can get all the soulbinds once you join. This has had major implications for a lot of my characters.
Wutteät could finally join Night Fae, and between the covenant ability/soulbind stuff in addition to the 9.1 buffs it's a bit more fun to play. I would not tank as Night Fae, which makes it even easier. Have set up one Night Fae soulbind for raid Havoc, one for m+ Havoc - and 2 Kyrian ones for Vengeance for different content too. I have to say I mean no disrespect to the kyrians a lot, but that's about it.
Esmënet was happy with Night Fae, but joined Kyrian since it's good for some content too. Don't think I prefer it over Fae, but having the ability to go Kyrian if missing one for Wake or Spires is good in itself.
Some other alts also benefits; both monk and shaman wants 3-4 different covenants for pve alone if you play all 3 specs. Mage could do with 2-3. And it goes on. Will not be bothered with the least played alts, but it's nice that it's not a straightjacket anymore.
Korthia changes
The patch made getting research a lot faster, and easier. Can just keep farming if one wants, but also a weekly quest that has a big chunk of rep and currency. There's also a scaling buff to drop gains, so the rank 5 to rank 6 grind has visible progress every day and you dont feel chained to the place if you want the sockets and conduit upgrades.
Cinder drops was also changed, I believe it was doubled from all sources and you can do repeat runs of Torghast. So getting new rank 6 legendaries if you can do layer 12 quick is no longer a hassle except for the gold strain. If exalted with the Death's Advance, one can buy sockets for 1k cinders which I did on Wutteät before noticing the major research gains.
All in all, the patch made it easier to round out characters - there's more juice available if the premade groups ends up trying to time 20s for example.
I have also started thinking about next patch. While I am not sick to death of playing anything right now thanks to playing 2 characters at about the same content level, question is if I should replace those 2 with other characters. Like guardian druid for m+ tanking instead of vengeance demon hunter. Or windwalker monk for occasional raid showing instead of bm hunter. It's made harder with the extra legendary added, and the set bonus from the new tier set, but most of that is subject to change up to mythic week in the actual patch so I need to get a crystal ball to make up my mind.
My biggest mistake from 9.1 up until now is just the thing I said I would burn myself out on. "Do 1 key on each character a week". I burned myself out on that. Perhaps 9.2 will be the first time in 17 years I do it right? Yeah sure...
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