Walking The Path

Currently I'm happier in the game than I've ever been since I first started it in the beginning of 2007. I've been wondering why, but the other day it dawned upon me, after reading a wonderful blog post by Blessing of Kings.

It made me realize I'm actually On The Path.


Originally the post was intended a comment to the Season 4 PvP gear and the rating system (which I honestly couldn't care about less - I don't even know how the rating system works or what Season 4 means - and I'm even not ashamed about being so clueless).


But there is passage where Blessing of Kings compares PvP progression to PvE progression, which goes straight into my heart. This is what he wrote:


The key is the concept of "Being On The Path" for endgame content. In nutshell, the number of people who reach the highest point of endgame is less important than the number of people who are working towards--and feel that they one day could achieve--that point.For example, in PvE, the number of guilds in Sunwell does not matter. What really matters is the number of guilds who make it to Gruul and Magtheridon. Once a guild reaches Gruul and Magtheridon, they are "on the path" to Sunwell. Most of these guilds probably won't reach Sunwell before WotLK, but that doesn't matter. What matters is that they are steadily working on content, and feel that they could reach Sunwell eventually.

It's just so true! Without realizing I entered The Path two months ago. And since then we've passed Gruul and Magtheridon, and now we're step by step conquering SSC and TK. Killing Lurker as we did the other week isn't much to brag about in the circles of hardcore raiders, neither is taking down Void Reaver- Loot Reaver, who in the eyes of experienced players isn't much harder than Chess Event.

But progression is progression, no matter on what level you do it. Almost every week we've taken one step further in the direction of Sunwell. The first time we entered TK we hardly knew how to deal with the trash. Last time we one-shotted VR and made our first try on Solarian.
We're on the same Path as any other raider in the game, just quite a bit behind the Top Guilds. But that doesn't diminish the feeling.


To be honest we'll hardly reach Sunwell before the expansion (unless something really weird happens like Blizzard employees going for a strike, causing a one year delayer, which would probably make them bankrupt anyway). Actually I doubt we'll even clear Black Temple. Probably we should be able to clear the most of SSC and TK and do the first boss in MH, but it all depends on what will happen when summer hits. There always is a risk that vacations and other RL issues will make raiding decrease to a minimum.


Still I'm not the slightest worried about it. Because all that counts to me is that I'm On The Path. I'm not a spectator of the end game, I'm a participator, if you see the difference. I COULD very well reach Sunwell. I'm walking The Path. And honestly - I don't think I would be happier if I knew I would reach the end of it. The journey itself is what makes the trip worthwhile. Not the destination.