So this isn’t so much warden focused but just some things that I try to do such that I can enjoy my time as much as possible. I pretty much break up my play-time into 2 different sections – routine stuff, and fun stuff. The fun stuff for me is grouping/raiding, so I think that’s pretty self-explanatory. Some of this certainly won’t apply for folks that don’t craft, don’t have alts, don’t raid, aren’t into Moria, etc but these are just the things that I do during my gametime.
Now I may use terms like routine, grind, etc that may seem like derogatory terms (sometimes they are) but for me routine is just a schedule I try to keep or things I frequently do. Grinding is just a term I personally define as doing something repetitively. There are times for me where grinding mobs is a lot of fun, and others when I’m not really paying much attention. So for the most part, if I don’t enjoy doing something – I don’t do it, I’ll either skip it completely or put it off for another time. Or another path is to get a group together – grinding mobs is SO much faster when you have a group, plus if you use voice chat you can joke around while you do it.
The routine stuff I try to get done when things are quiet or when no one else is around. For me, this time is in the mornings as most of my friends/kin aren’t around until later in the evening. Getting the routine stuff out of the way allows me to feel like I accomplished something as well as better preparing myself for whatever we end up doing that evening. The routine stuff also allows me to get things done when I’m more focused on RL things without a fear of dying or messing up a group.
I’m also a huge spreadsheet person (or geek) so I tend to keep ToDo lists and status of various things such that I can keep track of them. I also keep track of how far I am from some goal, next tier on crafting, next reputation rank, etc. I actually have a different tab for each toon and then a couple generic ones. This also allows me to better get a feel for what I can about and what I don’t as I’m not one of those “I need to do everything deed/trait/reputation” in the game.
Routine stuff:
- Crafting
- One of the big ones here is farming/cooking (and other consumables). As you level food becomes more and more helpful and almost a requirement. This is also a really good thing to do when I’m not paying as much attention to the game 😉
- Checking and stocking up on regen food, stat food (+vit mainly), and resist food
- Another consumable I keep stocks of are Hope Tokens
- I don’t have a scholar, but pots and scrolls would also be in this list
- Checking on my cooldowns for guild recipes and crafting them as needed
- Processing ore/wood/hides – I save it all in my house vault and do it in bulk amounts
- progressing to the next tier
- One of the big ones here is farming/cooking (and other consumables). As you level food becomes more and more helpful and almost a requirement. This is also a really good thing to do when I’m not paying as much attention to the game 😉
- Daily Quests (more for Moria)
- Mirror Quests
- Esteldin Bounties
- Lorien Branch quests
- Relic Grinding
- During mirror quest runs, have a trash 3rd (or 2nd) slotted such that on quest turn-in I can decon it and replace for another
- Same idea, but kill a couple of mobs to get said trash LI to level 2 then decon
- For the most part, for trash LIs I just go to level 2 (or whatever a quest turn-in gets me) and then decon.
- Some prefer to go to level 11 for the Item XP return
- Best levels to decon are 2, 11, 21, 31, 41. These get you the next step in the reward/bonus level and guarantee you get some of the item xp back (except for level 2).
- Reputation farming
- Repeatable quests (Annuminas, Lorien, and Moria for example)
- sadly, mob grinding
- try to combine with needed traits/deeds
- While grinding mobs, I usually challenge myself to see how big a pull I can survive
- This is REALLY fun on my warden, interesting and scary on my minnie, and more that 3 is just painful on my captain 😉
- For wardens, mob grinding is an awesome time to practice gambits and rotations
- Also, pulling lots of mobs helps amp up the stress some and put you in a mode that more mimics group/raiding circumstances
- Trait grinding
- I’m not good at doing traits on-level so I still have some left
- I try to break up the slayer ones (or even longer quests ones like the shire) in groups/batches
- I put them in my tracker with a goal of killing some number such that the big huge number isn’t as daunting
- kill until I fill up my packs
- Auction House
- Checking to see what’s for sale and what the prices are (bargain shopping)
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- checking to see if there’s some material that I can gather that’s selling well
- item posting
- LI hunting
- buying up cheap 3rd Age items for relic grinding
- checking for cool looking items for outfits 😉
Certainly, I don’t do all these things every morning but I try to do these items during downtimes such that I can just go out and enjoy grouping or raiding when the options present themselves. It allows me to continually grow/progress my toons and not feel un-prepared for things. Having a good handle on the routine stuff allows me to just jump right into the game and hop in a group if I want to and know I’ll be prepared for whatever – I don’t have to tell people “can you wait 10 minutes while I craft some food” for example. This isn’t as big of a deal at lower levels, but for end-game I’d argue most of the consumables, traits, LIs, and general toon setup are required.