The mercury hit 42 degrees Celsius (108 Fahrenheit) on the weekend here in (awfully) hot and sunny Perth... which resulted in a hot house (even with air conditioning) and therefore questionable sleeping habits for my kids. And that meant me getting up and resettling and trying to keep them cool etc... which in turn means interruptions to my WoW playing time.
When I'm at home, I'm always Dad - which means that I do my share of looking after the kids - particularly as their sleep time is the chance for my wife to catch up on her rest too (sleep is particularly precious for her... I'm quite happy with relatively little sleep). This means I expect to play WoW with interruptions - and hope for the best.
How do I handle it? Basically I assume that people are pretty forgiving - and I also try and choose what I do depending on how much uninterrupted time I expect to have on my hands. However that isn't an exact science...
Handling interruptions while playing highlights one of the downsides of the random heroic part of the Looking for Dungeon tool - the current heroic dungeons allow for (brief) breaks with the exception of The Violet Hold. Since the instigation of the new LFD tool I've popped the Violet Hold three times (The last time was an amazing run with all the DPS running in the 4k region and one cracking 5k... I think we saw one add on the first Portal Guardian portals and that was because we started with 4 people as the hunter disconnected immediately).
One time we had just got the 'Incoming Boss' warning from DBM when I hear the crying starting from my daughter... my wife was asleep and would not have been happy with the prospect of being woken up because her husband was too busy playing a game... Thankfully the DPS were good and we quickly had the funny ugly eye beast down and I bolted down to the other end of the house - tried a quick resettle and came back to the computer... to find the Death Knight in the group on low health and Grid all lit up with little red blips that indicate that others have aggro which was quickly fixed by a Righteous Defense and we went on. Thankfully my daughter (to her credit) settled down and I was able to finish the run without any further interruptions. I really should have mentioned I was going AFK quickly but I was rushing too much.
Being the tank or healer I am really conscious of going AFK - generally DPS can AFK for a bit and it doesn't matter too much (but I rarely play DPS). One other Violet Hold run I did with guildies did let me go AFK - but that was thanks to Dual Specs - a quick 'umm gotta go AFK - druid you need to switch to your resto spec' fixed that and I came back to my corpse to watch Cyanigosa die. My guild have always been good about it, many of them being parents themselves (or generally just reasonable adults)... but I do have lingering guilt about afking or having to quit in the middle of a run - none more than the times I had to leave the others in the lurch back in BC trying to complete normal The Black Morass on Gameldar. I think I only tried 3 times and 2 times I had to quit because my son woke up (the first time was with a group that was over zealous after we completed Durnholde before I hit level 70 and I was getting hit with crushing blows left right and centre and we abandoned it). The other puggers and my guild mate were not impressed.
So, in general, I try and work out the best time for me to do my random heroic so that I'm least likely to be interrupted... and hope that I don't get Violet Hold. Thankfully, up to this point, my daughter has been a better sleeper than my son - so usually the evenings are a safe time to play. But, if I think I am going to be interrupted (like on the weekend) I'll tend to stick to doing my dailies (to finally get my Crusader title) or work on one of my alts (my DK got some love this last weekend - about a third of the way to level 62 and on to about my 5th respec trying out unholy again). Admittedly playing on an alt is generally a better idea - because it is less tempting to queue up for a random dungeon, or try and join a raid!
How do you deal with playing with potential interruptions?
I, too, am a holy/prot paladin who heals 75% of the time and tanks the other 25%. How do I handle afk? Lately, I've tried a new method that's working well.
ReplyDeleteNamely: don't.
In other words, I don't start a heroic or raid if I know during the next hour or so, I might be interrupted. Yes, most groups (random or otherwise) are somewhat forgiving, especially for unavoidable family issues. But I don't like people wasting my time, so I try not to waste theirs.
I do everyone the courtesy of not pledging my time to a dungeon or other event if I know that time might be interrupted. As they say, "real life comes first."
It's easier on the group, easier on me, and easier on the real life people around me. Sit this one out. There's always next time. And even if not, so what?
Have you ever noticed just as you commence a heroic that the dear missus insists on her cup of tea and keeps asking for it to the point where you're forced to stop what you're doing just to get her to shut up. And yet when you want to get a word in edgeways while she's watching Bones she tells you to wait for the commercials before you talk to her you inconsiderate pig!
ReplyDeleteIt's like our six year old girls - they have this innate sense where they just know when mummy and daddy are having cuddles and we are 'bad people'. It's like they are scared of the possible competition that might result from mummy and daddy having cuddles and their mission is to ensure that we don't 'cuddle'. Suffice to say they have put a dampener on coital activity on more than one occasion. Try locking yourselves in the bathroom with the kids outside and see how you go. We are just 'bad people'!
Not sure how I got here but I like the website - keep up the good work. And yes, Perth is having a rather warm summer - stay cool.
Thanks for the comments - actually it is refreshing to hear your comments about not even attempting it if you think you are going to be interrupted. I need to go back and read my second post here - about expectations (http://wowinanhour.gameldar.fdns.net/2009/11/wow-in-hour-managing-expectations.html)... Looking at the list of things that I was thinking about doing - I've really not done any of them (apart from a little alt leveling - and what I didn't list by implied mentally - working on my Crusader title for the mount!).
ReplyDeleteI fear that I've been sucked in by the speed at which dungeons can be done now - and so if I have about 20 minutes in which I don't think I'll be interrupted I'll be tempted to try it out - and also because badges and gear are easy to get I've been focusing on that. It's not a bad thing, but it certainly isn't what I envisioned when I came back to playing.
About the wife and tea - that I understand to a degree - although I've go into the habit of always bringing the cup of tea (and clean up etc) before I start playing WoW. That doesn't mean I don't get asked for a second one... but normally that can wait till I've finished my random heroic...
Kids-wise - my two are still too young for that - if they are awake we are (almost always) supervising!