How to seriously have fun (no... seriously)

In Warcraft, I think I'm a Type A Personality. What I mean is that I need a goal for everything I do in the game, preferably everything I do should have at least two goals. Ok, so I work in the Quality Control field, I'm concerned about efficiency, I'm concerned with things being done a certain way (my way? Ugh, I hate to admit it, but yes. But it isn't that bad- I don't expect other people to do things my way, but I need to do things my way). So, this is a guide, not instructions.

How to be efficient while WoWing

1. Set your major goals- What are your goals in the game? What is fun for you? Personally, I want to be a raider and see new content as soon as possible. PvP gets to be so boring for me because I get set into a pattern (whether it's the right pattern or not); in Eye of the Storm I always go to cap the Blood Elf Tower then either ride to the Draenai Ruins if other people are going, or I go to fight for control of the center. Very rarely I'll go to try and cap the alliance side. Do that twenty times and I'm ready to either fall asleep or rip my eyes out.


2. Identify the steps needed- So, raiding is my goal. What are the steps I need to get there? Attunement to Karazhan (done), gear up, get enchants. Now, this is where you'll see how anal I am. I have two (so far) spreadsheets that help me track things. One is for the mats needed for the Ebon Netherscale armor set, the other is for the mats for the enchants I want. While farming I update the spreadsheet as I go. This helps me have a sense of accomplishment and mitigates the boredom of killing the same air elementals over and over and over. I always know where I'm at in fulfilling my goals.


3. Be efficient- If you can farm for your enchants or craftables or consumables while questing, do it. If you can level your Leatherworking while doing the Nessingwary quests in Nagrand, do it! Make sure to check if you can quest in an area where you need to farm, then, while you're going back and forth questing, stop and farm in the right area. Right now I need some cobra scales and I have a lot of quests in Shadowmoon Valley. Every time I fly near that Naga village, I'll stop and kill the snakes and then continue on.


4. Prioritize!- I want a Netherdrake Mount so bad that I can taste it. I wanted it on Amantara bad enough that I dropped everything just to try for it (and I did the same for the special Wintersaber Mount) to the point that all I was doing was farming rep, only that; just that. I wanted to raid with Amantara, too. But all my time went to farming rep for something that, really, would be nice to have but not essential to what I determined to be my priority. On the flip-side, if you need to farm and there's no quests or your not going to get any mats for anything else... well, bite the bullet and do it. If you REALLY, REALLY need the Sonic Spear and there's nothing easier to get that's almost equivalent, well, run Shadow Labyrinth over and over until you get it. You'll get sick of seeing that bastard Murmur, but you'll get your Spear. BUT, you'll also get reputation for Lower City, and if there's a reputation reward you want from them, all the better- you're being efficient with your time and effort. But, if you don't really need the Sonic Spear and there's no reputation reward, why are you going to see Murmur for the 872nd time?


5. How do your goals fit in with other's?- So, since raiding is my overarching goal and you can't raid alone, I need to see where my guild is in progression and help out as needed. We want to run Kara but not everyone is keyed. When a person needs to run Steamvaults for the frag, I'm in. I'll drop everything and go. Because, you see, this is efficient for me and my personal goals- I need Cenarion Expedition reputation for my Nethercleft leg armor pattern (which I'll be using myself and the guild for raiding). But, more importantly, the closer someone gets to their Master's Key, the closer I amd in going, too. The best way to interact with the people in your goal is when everyone's goals dovetail and everyone can work together towards them.


6. Recognize when something costs too much- This is where I'm going to come off as a bastard, sorry. Deal with it. When someone asks you to help, you must weigh the costs and if they're too high, don't help them. Apologize, help them out some other way, be cordial, but don't bother spending your valuable time where the pay-off isn't going to be high enough. Ok, if one of your goals in WoW is to help people, hang out, become friends, that is awesome, you're a better person than I am, but I'm not one of you. Too many times I've helped lowbies only to have them leave the guild, be ungrateful and generally take for granted the time and effort you put into your own toon as if you've leveled to be there for them. I will not help people when they've not leveled into Outland yet; the time it takes going from Nagrand to Winterspring, STV or Un'Goro helping with a quest that will take 25 mins and then waiting for my hearthstone's cooldown to pop just isn't worth my time. And I'll even consider who wants my help. If someone is leveling a healer, I'll drop everything and run them through Ragefire Chasm if they need me. We need healers that bad. If a rogue needs me to run them through Sunken Temple, sorry, find a group, you'll get more experience without me and why are you running it when the time spent could be done questing for more experience and any gear you'll get out of there will be replaced at level 58.
   And, this is even more honest (no names), but there are people that I won't help no matter what. They're morons, they don't know their class and are unwilling to learn, they're obnoxious in party chat, they play so badly that if you weren't there on your 70 they would wipe the group. These people are lost causes and unless their attitude changes, I have no time for them.
   I'm a bastard, I'm elitist, I'm selfish.

So, there you have it. Define, plan, research efficient methods, know others' goals, don't pay too much for a low pay-off. Then, do it.