Last week I ran several visions solo, most of them with one mask on, and finally got enough corrupted mementos to complete the Titanic Research and thus earn the Black Serpent of N’zoth mount.
When I first acquired my cloak on all the characters I got it on, I’d try soloing a vision just to see how things went. I was able to defeat the boss and maybe clear one area, but that was about it. As my item level and corruption resistance/sanity level increased, I never really went back solo to see how things felt. My blood elf warlock Srixi ended up having the highest item level, sanity, and corruption resistance of all my toons and I think I’d gotten pretty good at playing lock, but I was still leery of soloing visions.
Up until last week, I’d only run a handful of visions solo. Most of the visions I’d done were with other people who were nice enough to carry me. In hindsight, I wish I’d done more visions solo intermixed with those carries because I feel like I would’ve been a lot more help to the people carrying me.
What I discovered last week by soloing visions is that I had underestimated myself. Certainly not something new for me and something I struggle with quite often. Thanks to the many times people ran me through visions and showed me a good technique, doing visions without a mask was basically easy mode and I never felt the need to rush. Doing visions with one mask, the one that leaves void puddles behind you, was a bit harder, but not as horrible as I expected.
Even doing a one mask, I was able to take the time to figure out a strategy that worked best for me, collect the crystals that earn more mementos, find all the chests, drink the right potions, and so on. I wish I’d run more visions on easy or semi-easy mode so I learned the layout better, what I was supposed to be doing, how best to beat enemies, and how to survive the longest.
Then maybe I would’ve felt slightly less nervous about screwing up when someone was carrying me and I could’ve been more helpful. I was so worried about letting the person down who was carrying me that I’d often make stupid mistakes, which was the opposite of what I wanted to do.
This might all seem like a moot point now that pre-patch is out and I’m never doing visions again, but it’s experience that will help me in the future. I don’t know what awaits in Shadowlands but if there’s a situation similar to visions, something that needs to be done several times and that can be challenging solo, I’ll know to put more effort into figuring things out on my own so I can be better with a group. Hopefully I’ll also be brave enough to ask more questions about things instead of fumbling around half-blind. Sure, I can Google things and such, but talking to someone with personal experience tends to help me more.
In my case, hindsight is purple and void-y and I’m glad the horrific vision nightmare is behind me now. Despite the challenges the Visions of N’zoth presented (and will still present in the Nya raid), I’ll always remember it fondly because it’s what connected me to the Strawberries. I never would’ve thought that out of such darkness and chaos would come one of the brightest and most inspiring parts of my life. My Warcraft fam is something that N’zoth and other future baddies can never take away.
Srinity 