Wrath of the Righteous - Start of Act 3
10 hours ago
Showing posts with label non-healing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label non-healing. Show all posts
I wanted to get one of my fiance's toons through the ICC5 man questline, so several of us in our guild decided to run through the three ICC dungeons on heroic. Unfortunately, I'd already run the first two on heroic, so I was saved on my priest. You know what comes next.
I had no choice but to bring out the RETPALLYOFDOOM. Our resident shammy did the healing, and we pugged the fifth slot.
To the hunter who joined us, thank you for your patience. You must have thought we were awful. Of course, the four of us were chatting in guild chat and vent, but our pugged fifth had no idea we were all talking. At some point in the beginning of the run, I noticed the hunter was inspecting me, and I figured "oh here comes the schpeel." But she never said a thing.
And five minutes later, I looked at my own gear, and noticed I was wearing my holy set, not my ret set.
As per my typical Pally rotation (Judge -> Divine Storm -> Die) i spent a lot of time facedown on the floor. No, I did not get out of whirlwinds. Whenever there was bad stuff on the floor, I was most likely standing in it. Also, I was never attacking the right guy. Again, I just flailed my axe around wildly, thankful that Gordin is a Dwarf and therefore short, and hoping I hit something that was unfriendly. (Part of the reason why I'm so awful at melee is that I just can't make any sense of stuff that's happening right on top of me, i.e. in melee range - I need to be at a distance from it. That's my excuse anyway)
But the hunter never said a critical word. Her DPS was three times as high as mine, and I also kept forgetting to give her the proper Might buff, because I hadn't loaded PallyPower.
In fact, she even joined us in the next heroic, Pit of Saron. She wasn't especially talkative (but of course, neither were we in party chat, since we were talking in vent), but whenever she spoke, she was very friendly and polite.
The whole time I failed miserably, I wanted to shriek "No really! I'm not an awful player! I have a priest, and I swear she's really good! IM NOT A TOTAL FAILURE I SWEAR", but I resisted the urge.
We parted ways after the second instance so that I could jump on my priest, and we could do some other group changes, since GordinDwarfTank had to leave.
And as the hunter left the party, I thought to myself, "What a great pug." She likely had run through these heroics multiple times at a much higher speed, with much fewer deaths. She was possibly very frustrated with my failness. But she never said a critical word, and instead just went cheerfully about her business. Maybe somewhere right now she's writing a blog post about this truly awful ret pally she met in a pug the other day... and I wouldn't blame her.
So let me just take a moment to thank our Shammy who was healing, and hopefully laughing at my utter failure, and not cursing me. And also to you, anonymous pugged hunter. Thanks for your patience, and for not pointing out how much I suck. I will never forget your kindness - and I have no doubt you will earn your "The Patient" title!
I had no choice but to bring out the RETPALLYOFDOOM. Our resident shammy did the healing, and we pugged the fifth slot.
To the hunter who joined us, thank you for your patience. You must have thought we were awful. Of course, the four of us were chatting in guild chat and vent, but our pugged fifth had no idea we were all talking. At some point in the beginning of the run, I noticed the hunter was inspecting me, and I figured "oh here comes the schpeel." But she never said a thing.
And five minutes later, I looked at my own gear, and noticed I was wearing my holy set, not my ret set.
As per my typical Pally rotation (Judge -> Divine Storm -> Die) i spent a lot of time facedown on the floor. No, I did not get out of whirlwinds. Whenever there was bad stuff on the floor, I was most likely standing in it. Also, I was never attacking the right guy. Again, I just flailed my axe around wildly, thankful that Gordin is a Dwarf and therefore short, and hoping I hit something that was unfriendly. (Part of the reason why I'm so awful at melee is that I just can't make any sense of stuff that's happening right on top of me, i.e. in melee range - I need to be at a distance from it. That's my excuse anyway)
But the hunter never said a critical word. Her DPS was three times as high as mine, and I also kept forgetting to give her the proper Might buff, because I hadn't loaded PallyPower.
In fact, she even joined us in the next heroic, Pit of Saron. She wasn't especially talkative (but of course, neither were we in party chat, since we were talking in vent), but whenever she spoke, she was very friendly and polite.
The whole time I failed miserably, I wanted to shriek "No really! I'm not an awful player! I have a priest, and I swear she's really good! IM NOT A TOTAL FAILURE I SWEAR", but I resisted the urge.
We parted ways after the second instance so that I could jump on my priest, and we could do some other group changes, since GordinDwarfTank had to leave.
And as the hunter left the party, I thought to myself, "What a great pug." She likely had run through these heroics multiple times at a much higher speed, with much fewer deaths. She was possibly very frustrated with my failness. But she never said a critical word, and instead just went cheerfully about her business. Maybe somewhere right now she's writing a blog post about this truly awful ret pally she met in a pug the other day... and I wouldn't blame her.
So let me just take a moment to thank our Shammy who was healing, and hopefully laughing at my utter failure, and not cursing me. And also to you, anonymous pugged hunter. Thanks for your patience, and for not pointing out how much I suck. I will never forget your kindness - and I have no doubt you will earn your "The Patient" title!
Labels:
finding new uses for one's forehead,
non-healing,
paladin,
pug,
Stories of Fail
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Larisa wants to know what YOU think the best moments were of 2009!
And when Larisa asks, how can you resist answering?
Best Raid Instance - Well my vote goes to Eye of Eternity. I loved that place, even if I could never get a group because everyone else seemed to hate it!
Least Successful raid instance - Definitely ToC. The vast majority of raiders simply hated it. Part of me thinks it was a bit of a joke on Blizzard's part - "oh you want less trash? Faster raids? Well here you are, how do you like 'dem apples?"
Silliest Gold Sink - The Dun Niffelem mammoths. They don't do anything interesting except keep you from getting into the bank in Stormwind, and block the flight masters so that others will report you.
Most longed for instance - Icecrown, hands down.
Most juicy guild drama - Oh bother. I obviously have not been paying enough attention to the gossip in the Inn! I can't think of any particularly juicy guild gossip.
Biggest Addition to the Game - Dual Spec! It might not have been as exciting for the full DPS classes, but for the healers and tanks, it allowed us to do a little more solo content!
Best Quest - There was a little quest offered in Dalaran near the capital portals, and its only requirement was for you to bring a journal to a new NPC hanging out in Darnassus. This new NPC, Archmage Mordent Evenshade of The Highborne, is presumably the start of the lore allowing Night Elves to be mages - and is a warning of the coming Cataclysm! Little quests like these that require so little but give so much background are great fun to me.
Ugliest Tabard - Wyrmest Accord. Honestly. Your leader is the hottest Belf evar and you can't come up with a better looking tabard? Yeesh.
Favourite Non-Combat Pet - This spot goes to Stinker who provided countless hours of amusement to Fuubaar and I in Naxx, while we tried to fill out our 25 man groups. I don't know why the sight of her pet Stinker chasing after my black cat and repeatedly getting his heart broken was so entertaining, come to think of it. Why are we so mean? Poor Stinker.
Most charming Blizzard employee - Actually, I have a bit of a crush on Bornakk, if you hadn't picked it up from my emoted swoons and such whenever I quote something he says on the forums. It is completely due to the fact that he is courteous, funny, a bit of an underdog, and a sexy, sexy orc.
Best podcast - Save or Die Radio. Not that I'm biased or anything. Okay, it's not WoW specific, but it's manna for gamers.
Biggest Blog Facelift - I'm going to give this a somewhat liberal translation, and assume it means something beyond just a new "look". In that case, Forbearance and Righteous Orbs are a tie for me. Forbearance for combining the forces of the illestretpally Jong with the random rapping of OOMegan. Righteous Orbs for throwing together Sissy Robe donning Tamarind with math geek Ideathtard Chas. Both are perfect examples of combined forces in which the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
Most memorable blog post - Perhaps this is only because it is somewhat recent, but the Gevlon v Marko post (in which I learned that *popcorn* is, in fact, a valid emote), which elicited commentary from multiple wow blogs was immensely entertaining.
Most noticed blogger breakthrough - Undoubtedly Gevlon takes this prize, if for no other reason than that he has made some of the most memorable posts, inspired some of the most rampant drama, and gone to great lengths to provide evidence for his stances.
Most solid content provider - My favorite thing about Killing 'Em Slowly is that I know there will be a post every weekday. I may not know the exact timing, but I can rely on the fact that there will be something, and it won't just be a "sorry no time to write today!" post. When I started this site, it was the best advice Fulguralis gave me - posting at regular intervals, so people know what to expect, and I've tried to adhere to that principle - one I feel Ful himself has mastered.
Most hugged blogger - Well that's easy... is there anyone more huggable than Larisa herself? Perhaps Gnomeageddon would qualify as a very close second. I'm noting a pattern here. There is something particuarly huggable about gnomes. I guess if you're Horde, you can translate that into "puntable", but just you wait until you get your goblins. Then we'll see who's getting punted.
I would like to add another question, though it is entirely up to Larisa whether she will include it in her decision. "Blogger Most Likely to Succeed in 2010" - And by this, I mean a new WoW blog that shows an extraordinary amount of promise. My vote here goes to Life in Group 5, a relatively new Healing Shaman blog that I think will quickly come to be a solid replacement for the hole left by Healing Way. Vixsin doesn't make overly frequent posts, but the posts he does make are extensive, thorough, and very informative.
And when Larisa asks, how can you resist answering?
Best Raid Instance - Well my vote goes to Eye of Eternity. I loved that place, even if I could never get a group because everyone else seemed to hate it!
Least Successful raid instance - Definitely ToC. The vast majority of raiders simply hated it. Part of me thinks it was a bit of a joke on Blizzard's part - "oh you want less trash? Faster raids? Well here you are, how do you like 'dem apples?"
Silliest Gold Sink - The Dun Niffelem mammoths. They don't do anything interesting except keep you from getting into the bank in Stormwind, and block the flight masters so that others will report you.
Most longed for instance - Icecrown, hands down.
Most juicy guild drama - Oh bother. I obviously have not been paying enough attention to the gossip in the Inn! I can't think of any particularly juicy guild gossip.
Biggest Addition to the Game - Dual Spec! It might not have been as exciting for the full DPS classes, but for the healers and tanks, it allowed us to do a little more solo content!
Best Quest - There was a little quest offered in Dalaran near the capital portals, and its only requirement was for you to bring a journal to a new NPC hanging out in Darnassus. This new NPC, Archmage Mordent Evenshade of The Highborne, is presumably the start of the lore allowing Night Elves to be mages - and is a warning of the coming Cataclysm! Little quests like these that require so little but give so much background are great fun to me.
Ugliest Tabard - Wyrmest Accord. Honestly. Your leader is the hottest Belf evar and you can't come up with a better looking tabard? Yeesh.
Favourite Non-Combat Pet - This spot goes to Stinker who provided countless hours of amusement to Fuubaar and I in Naxx, while we tried to fill out our 25 man groups. I don't know why the sight of her pet Stinker chasing after my black cat and repeatedly getting his heart broken was so entertaining, come to think of it. Why are we so mean? Poor Stinker.
Most charming Blizzard employee - Actually, I have a bit of a crush on Bornakk, if you hadn't picked it up from my emoted swoons and such whenever I quote something he says on the forums. It is completely due to the fact that he is courteous, funny, a bit of an underdog, and a sexy, sexy orc.
Best podcast - Save or Die Radio. Not that I'm biased or anything. Okay, it's not WoW specific, but it's manna for gamers.
Biggest Blog Facelift - I'm going to give this a somewhat liberal translation, and assume it means something beyond just a new "look". In that case, Forbearance and Righteous Orbs are a tie for me. Forbearance for combining the forces of the illestretpally Jong with the random rapping of OOMegan. Righteous Orbs for throwing together Sissy Robe donning Tamarind with math geek Ideathtard Chas. Both are perfect examples of combined forces in which the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
Most memorable blog post - Perhaps this is only because it is somewhat recent, but the Gevlon v Marko post (in which I learned that *popcorn* is, in fact, a valid emote), which elicited commentary from multiple wow blogs was immensely entertaining.
Most noticed blogger breakthrough - Undoubtedly Gevlon takes this prize, if for no other reason than that he has made some of the most memorable posts, inspired some of the most rampant drama, and gone to great lengths to provide evidence for his stances.
Most solid content provider - My favorite thing about Killing 'Em Slowly is that I know there will be a post every weekday. I may not know the exact timing, but I can rely on the fact that there will be something, and it won't just be a "sorry no time to write today!" post. When I started this site, it was the best advice Fulguralis gave me - posting at regular intervals, so people know what to expect, and I've tried to adhere to that principle - one I feel Ful himself has mastered.
Most hugged blogger - Well that's easy... is there anyone more huggable than Larisa herself? Perhaps Gnomeageddon would qualify as a very close second. I'm noting a pattern here. There is something particuarly huggable about gnomes. I guess if you're Horde, you can translate that into "puntable", but just you wait until you get your goblins. Then we'll see who's getting punted.
I would like to add another question, though it is entirely up to Larisa whether she will include it in her decision. "Blogger Most Likely to Succeed in 2010" - And by this, I mean a new WoW blog that shows an extraordinary amount of promise. My vote here goes to Life in Group 5, a relatively new Healing Shaman blog that I think will quickly come to be a solid replacement for the hole left by Healing Way. Vixsin doesn't make overly frequent posts, but the posts he does make are extensive, thorough, and very informative.
There is something attractive about gaming couples. It's not just that people all over are jealous of those whose significant others "get it", but there can be a significant bonus when people come in a pair. Especially if one of the pair is a healer or a tank... or a healer and a tank combo. Of course, this also comes with its fair share of problems for raiding guilds... what if one player is brilliant, while the other can't seem to stay out of the fire? To get one, must you take the other?
Gaming couples are also often drawn to other gaming couples. The pre-raid fish feast can become like something of a dinner party. I have a very extensive friends list, and sometimes I imagine that every single gaming couple on my server and faction is on my friends list. This scenario is actually one of the reasons for my guild name... after about the 8 millionth dungeon run in which I recruited some of my couples-friends to join us, a guild mate cleverly inquired whether I was starting the Lothar Swingers Club. The rest is history.
As someone who is one half of a gaming couple, I've had plenty of people tell me they are jealous of my circumstances. How nice it would be to have someone with whom you can share your gaming hobby! For the record, this attitude usually comes from males. Read into that what you will.
So let me go on the record right here by stating that gaming and raiding with your significant other is definitely not all hearts and butterflies.
Even if you aren't both competing against one another for a raid slot, there are still plenty of problems. Look, raiding is a tense environment and therefore can add a lot of stress to your relationship if you aren't careful. If you're sitting at your computer, alone IRL, screaming at the monitor and throwing your keyboard against the wall, there's no one there to see you act like a fool. However, your significant other may not be so impressed with that clever curveball you just threw with your mouse.
Remember this - when you have a criticism to make of another member of your raid, you have to make an effort to say something to them. By this, I mean you usually need to key vent to yell at them, which gives you a slight moment to reconsider whether this is what you really want to do. When you are sitting next to the person who just took a nap in the fire, there is no brief moment of pause to reconsider before screaming at them for being a complete idiot.
If you're pissed off at someone in your raid, or just generally ticked because things are not going well, there is a scapegoat sitting right next to you on whom you can vent all your anger. This is not exactly what one might call "ideal relationship conditions". Heaven forbid that person try to tell you how to play your character or class. Try sitting quietly while the other person leads a raid, and you just know they're doing it all wrong.
The worst part is when in game squabbles and real world arguments collide. Oh, I'm terribly sorry, did I forget to heal you? It must have been because I was so distracted by how fat you implied my ass looks in these jeans. Dear me, I simply didn't DPS that snobold down fast enough to prevent your death. I wonder if it was related to you calling my mother a shrew? Sometimes wife aggro is a lot worse when your wife is a fellow gamer.
It's silly, though a bit funny, to bring real world arguments into the gaming universe. But it's much worse to bring the gaming disagreements into the real world. I really am ashamed to admit how often my anger has been sparked by something my fiance did (or didn't do) in game that left me in a huff for the next day. Don't touch me, you loot-whoring nazi of a raid leader! Why didn't you stick up for me when so and so complained about my abilities? Why is your gear not properly enchanted and gemmed? Why haven't you paid me back for all that Mooncloth I sent you? I'm actually quite bad about it, embarassingly enough.
So, I write this post as something of a public apology for doing this. Also as a reminder that though the game is not "real life", the relationships and the people within are. I'm very lucky to have someone who shares my love of gaming, and I certainly have no wish to discount that. But that doesn't mean there aren't some struggles in spite of it. Balancing a real life with gaming can sometimes be a lot easier when your partner shares your hobby... and sometimes it can be a lot harder. In truth, if you have deep seated relationship issues, oftentimes gaming together can bring them out and highlight them.
However, I do have to say that the time my fiance wiped the CoS group because he was busy buying me a Bouquest of Black Roses is one of my happiest memories. Especially since I don't mind at all that I've received a lot more in game flowers than I have IRL. They're cheaper, and they don't die ;)
Gaming couples are also often drawn to other gaming couples. The pre-raid fish feast can become like something of a dinner party. I have a very extensive friends list, and sometimes I imagine that every single gaming couple on my server and faction is on my friends list. This scenario is actually one of the reasons for my guild name... after about the 8 millionth dungeon run in which I recruited some of my couples-friends to join us, a guild mate cleverly inquired whether I was starting the Lothar Swingers Club. The rest is history.
As someone who is one half of a gaming couple, I've had plenty of people tell me they are jealous of my circumstances. How nice it would be to have someone with whom you can share your gaming hobby! For the record, this attitude usually comes from males. Read into that what you will.
So let me go on the record right here by stating that gaming and raiding with your significant other is definitely not all hearts and butterflies.
Even if you aren't both competing against one another for a raid slot, there are still plenty of problems. Look, raiding is a tense environment and therefore can add a lot of stress to your relationship if you aren't careful. If you're sitting at your computer, alone IRL, screaming at the monitor and throwing your keyboard against the wall, there's no one there to see you act like a fool. However, your significant other may not be so impressed with that clever curveball you just threw with your mouse.
Remember this - when you have a criticism to make of another member of your raid, you have to make an effort to say something to them. By this, I mean you usually need to key vent to yell at them, which gives you a slight moment to reconsider whether this is what you really want to do. When you are sitting next to the person who just took a nap in the fire, there is no brief moment of pause to reconsider before screaming at them for being a complete idiot.
If you're pissed off at someone in your raid, or just generally ticked because things are not going well, there is a scapegoat sitting right next to you on whom you can vent all your anger. This is not exactly what one might call "ideal relationship conditions". Heaven forbid that person try to tell you how to play your character or class. Try sitting quietly while the other person leads a raid, and you just know they're doing it all wrong.
The worst part is when in game squabbles and real world arguments collide. Oh, I'm terribly sorry, did I forget to heal you? It must have been because I was so distracted by how fat you implied my ass looks in these jeans. Dear me, I simply didn't DPS that snobold down fast enough to prevent your death. I wonder if it was related to you calling my mother a shrew? Sometimes wife aggro is a lot worse when your wife is a fellow gamer.
It's silly, though a bit funny, to bring real world arguments into the gaming universe. But it's much worse to bring the gaming disagreements into the real world. I really am ashamed to admit how often my anger has been sparked by something my fiance did (or didn't do) in game that left me in a huff for the next day. Don't touch me, you loot-whoring nazi of a raid leader! Why didn't you stick up for me when so and so complained about my abilities? Why is your gear not properly enchanted and gemmed? Why haven't you paid me back for all that Mooncloth I sent you? I'm actually quite bad about it, embarassingly enough.
So, I write this post as something of a public apology for doing this. Also as a reminder that though the game is not "real life", the relationships and the people within are. I'm very lucky to have someone who shares my love of gaming, and I certainly have no wish to discount that. But that doesn't mean there aren't some struggles in spite of it. Balancing a real life with gaming can sometimes be a lot easier when your partner shares your hobby... and sometimes it can be a lot harder. In truth, if you have deep seated relationship issues, oftentimes gaming together can bring them out and highlight them.
However, I do have to say that the time my fiance wiped the CoS group because he was busy buying me a Bouquest of Black Roses is one of my happiest memories. Especially since I don't mind at all that I've received a lot more in game flowers than I have IRL. They're cheaper, and they don't die ;)
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I hate phones.
No really. You likely do not understand or appreciate the depth of my tele-hatred. It goes beyond all reason. In fact, in an effort to encourage me to actually use a phone and be somewhat reachable in an emergency (since my previous cell phone had sat in my purse, dead and unopened for the past 6 months though I still paid the bill), my fiance gifted me an iPhone. It has been largely successful - I answer when someone calls. Most of the time I'm just surfing the internet or playing Civilization though.
I do not do telephone conversations. They frustrate me. Tell me the information I need, and then let's be done with this, eh? The problem with this is that I'm also FEMALE. And for some reason, other females seem to think that, like them, I will enjoy nattering on endlessly on the telephone with them. I DON'T. But no amount of trying to explain this to the other women in this world makes any difference. It is beyond comprehension to them. I guess this is especially the case with my own family.
I called my parents yesterday to tell my father I was thinking of him on Veteran's Day, but unfortunately he was not home. So what followed was an incredibly awkward 45 minute "conversation" with my mother (whom I dearly love, don't misunderstand me) who was trying to get me to be talkative. Every few minutes she would ask me another variation of "What have you been doing lately?", to which I would respond with some new variation of "Absofriggilutely nothing, momma." Our entire 45 minute conversation dragged out like this.
The irony is, from the outside, nothing IS going on. There is nothing going on in which my mother would have any interest, after all. Of course, had I been honest, I could have said something like this...
"Well, I wrote up this survey on my blog for other healers to get to know some information about other healer classes, and it just TOOK OFF and this big website linked to it, and now I feel all this pressure to actually write something decent on my blog (not that I wasn't trying to do that before) and every day there are all these comments, and it's super exciting! I would have thought by now I'd run out of things to write about, but I just keep getting all these ideas! The strangest thing is that I'm not even playing WoW as much as I'd like, because our raiding alliance was going through a rough time, and I've recently decided that perhaps 25 man raiding just isn't worth the effort for me, so I've been working on putting together smaller 10 man groups, but I'm thinking more and more that what I really need to do is just focus on leveling up my other two healers so that I can be more informed when I write about things on my blog, because that's quickly becoming my new passion, although I've been spending so much time on my blog, I haven't invested ANY time on my novel!!!!!"
My mother -> .....
She would be so confused and lost. As a matter of fact, I vaguely mentioned that Friday night we would be having our regular D&D 4th edition session, and that I was considering stopping by for my friends' Saturday night Pathfinder session to learn more about healing classes in tabletop gaming, and there was a stunned silence as my mother struggled to find something to say that would make it sound as though she had any idea what I was talking about. Actually, I think she was trying to figure out if D&D was somehow related to S&M and whether or not she should be horrified.
It's kinda sad, when you think about it, that the S&M would be something more easily understood than the D&D. Or... well maybe it's not sad. Actually maybe it's just creepy, since it's my mother. NAAAAAAAAAH *thinks happy thoughts*
I really did have a point. Somewhere.
Oh yes. Outside of the gaming universe, my life is incredibly dull. I work. Or rather, I go to a place and hope that maybe this time they will give me work. My fiance works. And we come home, maybe watch some TV together, and talk about our hobby, and maybe play some of our hobby - gaming. I suppose I'm a bit spoiled on having people to whom I can relate in regards to my hobby. My fiance is a gamer. All of our friends are gamers. There is never a shortage of people with whom I can discuss gaming.
But now I'm one of those people who, when faced with a non-gamer, has nothing to really talk about. Well, we could discuss politics or religion... two subjects I love that are simply not polite conversation - especially not with my mom. Perhaps if my job were more interesting, I would have more to discuss on that front. But I'm a hobbyist, I'm engaged to a hobbyist, our friends are hobbyists, and I'm left wondering, what do hobbyists talk about with non-hobbyists?
When speaking to a non-gamer, when they ask what you do, it's just "gaming". But that one word encompasses so much. Entire worlds are encapsulated in a two syllable noun. I suddenly have so much more sympathy for folks who play WoW a lot and are in relationships with non-WoWers. I'm really very lucky. I am off in my own little world, this alternate universe. I have likely abandoned all those who do not appreciate this world, or speak the language, and I'm blessed that so many people I *do* care about are on the voyage with me. I never realize how separate this world is until I'm forced to try and conversate with foreigners.
No really. You likely do not understand or appreciate the depth of my tele-hatred. It goes beyond all reason. In fact, in an effort to encourage me to actually use a phone and be somewhat reachable in an emergency (since my previous cell phone had sat in my purse, dead and unopened for the past 6 months though I still paid the bill), my fiance gifted me an iPhone. It has been largely successful - I answer when someone calls. Most of the time I'm just surfing the internet or playing Civilization though.
I do not do telephone conversations. They frustrate me. Tell me the information I need, and then let's be done with this, eh? The problem with this is that I'm also FEMALE. And for some reason, other females seem to think that, like them, I will enjoy nattering on endlessly on the telephone with them. I DON'T. But no amount of trying to explain this to the other women in this world makes any difference. It is beyond comprehension to them. I guess this is especially the case with my own family.
I called my parents yesterday to tell my father I was thinking of him on Veteran's Day, but unfortunately he was not home. So what followed was an incredibly awkward 45 minute "conversation" with my mother (whom I dearly love, don't misunderstand me) who was trying to get me to be talkative. Every few minutes she would ask me another variation of "What have you been doing lately?", to which I would respond with some new variation of "Absofriggilutely nothing, momma." Our entire 45 minute conversation dragged out like this.
The irony is, from the outside, nothing IS going on. There is nothing going on in which my mother would have any interest, after all. Of course, had I been honest, I could have said something like this...
"Well, I wrote up this survey on my blog for other healers to get to know some information about other healer classes, and it just TOOK OFF and this big website linked to it, and now I feel all this pressure to actually write something decent on my blog (not that I wasn't trying to do that before) and every day there are all these comments, and it's super exciting! I would have thought by now I'd run out of things to write about, but I just keep getting all these ideas! The strangest thing is that I'm not even playing WoW as much as I'd like, because our raiding alliance was going through a rough time, and I've recently decided that perhaps 25 man raiding just isn't worth the effort for me, so I've been working on putting together smaller 10 man groups, but I'm thinking more and more that what I really need to do is just focus on leveling up my other two healers so that I can be more informed when I write about things on my blog, because that's quickly becoming my new passion, although I've been spending so much time on my blog, I haven't invested ANY time on my novel!!!!!"
My mother -> .....
She would be so confused and lost. As a matter of fact, I vaguely mentioned that Friday night we would be having our regular D&D 4th edition session, and that I was considering stopping by for my friends' Saturday night Pathfinder session to learn more about healing classes in tabletop gaming, and there was a stunned silence as my mother struggled to find something to say that would make it sound as though she had any idea what I was talking about. Actually, I think she was trying to figure out if D&D was somehow related to S&M and whether or not she should be horrified.
It's kinda sad, when you think about it, that the S&M would be something more easily understood than the D&D. Or... well maybe it's not sad. Actually maybe it's just creepy, since it's my mother. NAAAAAAAAAH *thinks happy thoughts*
I really did have a point. Somewhere.
Oh yes. Outside of the gaming universe, my life is incredibly dull. I work. Or rather, I go to a place and hope that maybe this time they will give me work. My fiance works. And we come home, maybe watch some TV together, and talk about our hobby, and maybe play some of our hobby - gaming. I suppose I'm a bit spoiled on having people to whom I can relate in regards to my hobby. My fiance is a gamer. All of our friends are gamers. There is never a shortage of people with whom I can discuss gaming.
But now I'm one of those people who, when faced with a non-gamer, has nothing to really talk about. Well, we could discuss politics or religion... two subjects I love that are simply not polite conversation - especially not with my mom. Perhaps if my job were more interesting, I would have more to discuss on that front. But I'm a hobbyist, I'm engaged to a hobbyist, our friends are hobbyists, and I'm left wondering, what do hobbyists talk about with non-hobbyists?
When speaking to a non-gamer, when they ask what you do, it's just "gaming". But that one word encompasses so much. Entire worlds are encapsulated in a two syllable noun. I suddenly have so much more sympathy for folks who play WoW a lot and are in relationships with non-WoWers. I'm really very lucky. I am off in my own little world, this alternate universe. I have likely abandoned all those who do not appreciate this world, or speak the language, and I'm blessed that so many people I *do* care about are on the voyage with me. I never realize how separate this world is until I'm forced to try and conversate with foreigners.
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THIS IS NO TIME FOR SINGING,
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This is what happens when Geographers who play WoW get reeeeally bored at work.
I dedicate this to you, Jasmine.
Now, to verify topology...
I dedicate this to you, Jasmine.
Now, to verify topology...
This past weekend I was complaining in guild chat about how much I really dislike my job, and miss the days when I was just a lowly cashier at the home depot. One of my longest WoW friends piped in and told me something she learned a long time ago that has helped her get through a bad day in the office, and develop a healthy attitude at work.
Before I divulge the secrets of her genius, I'd actually like to start by pointing out why I like RPGs in the first place, and some of the ways I'm different than many other players.
I have a lot of respect for hard work and long efforts that may only reward small payoff. I've always felt the joy is in the journey, and as feel-good and hippieish as that philosophy may sounds, it's how I play. It's why I don't mind long reputation grinds. It's why I like leveling my toons "the right way". It's why I think people ought to be polite to one another. It's why I enjoy healing, and helping others - but it's also why I dislike giving people gold for no reason, or running lowbies through dungeons on principle. I translate my values from the real world into my game universe. I did this long before I ever started playing WoW, but WoW has definitely been the best reflection of my personal values. Think of it like Gevlon-gone-nicey-nice. After all, even Gevlon's action in game reflect his own personal values.
So in a strange twist, my friend-who-is-like-a-sister told me that she gets into a gaming mindset for work. It sounds kinda backwards, it may even sound like one of those things that gamers get harassed for all the time, the uber geek mentality. But it makes sense to me.
She gears up to go to work. She grinds faction reputation with her coworkers, clients, and bosses. She does her daily quests every day, and pursues various different achievements. Much like WoW is something she plays in a way to enjoy her life, work is a "game" she plays that enables her to enjoy her non-work life. All that reputation and daily grinding can be exhausting and tedious, but it enables her to pursue the other things she truly enjoys. Perhaps she can buy a fancy new mount. She needs a certain steady level of gold for repairs for raiding, and consumables of course. When she meets people that are rude and thoughtless, she reminds herself that she does not have to deal with these people outside of that realm if she does not want to. Much like rude people online, who you will inevitably have to deal with online, perhaps if we're lucky, we only have to deal with the work-jerks while in the office.
I asked her if that meant if I ran over my boss I would get ten achievement points and a few epics, and she said I might, but then I might also get banned. Damn, there goes that idea.
So I started thinking about this in terms of my current hateful work situation. I am currently employed as an intern - stuffing envelopes, fetching coffee, that kind of crap. So I've decided to think of it like Naxx, or heroics. I strongly dislike both, to be honest, but in this analogy, I need them both to gear up for something better... like Icecrown. Maybe if I run enough stupid heroics and starter-raids (aka internships), I will be better prepared for the real fun, the real goal, Arthas (oh and a job at the US Census Bureau plzkthx).
The idea of going from someone who brings her real world values into a game changing into someone who brings her in-game values into the real world is something of a frightening transformation. Have I gone off the edge of gamer extremism and fantasy world inundation? Am I going to wake up tomorrow, single, unemployed, undateable, living in my mom's basement? No, I don't think so (and it's not just because my Texan parents don't have a basement). Perhaps it's just a coping mechanism. I'm not sure how healthy it is, but surely it's not healthy to go into work and leave work utterly miserable with your life because you hate your job so much, either.
So I think I'll give it a shot. What do you think? Have I gone off the edge? Is this the crowning moment of my avoidant personality disorder? Will the non-gaming faction of the world soon come with the whitecoats and toss me into a padded cell? Am I distorting my real life to accomodate a mere hobby?
Before I divulge the secrets of her genius, I'd actually like to start by pointing out why I like RPGs in the first place, and some of the ways I'm different than many other players.
I have a lot of respect for hard work and long efforts that may only reward small payoff. I've always felt the joy is in the journey, and as feel-good and hippieish as that philosophy may sounds, it's how I play. It's why I don't mind long reputation grinds. It's why I like leveling my toons "the right way". It's why I think people ought to be polite to one another. It's why I enjoy healing, and helping others - but it's also why I dislike giving people gold for no reason, or running lowbies through dungeons on principle. I translate my values from the real world into my game universe. I did this long before I ever started playing WoW, but WoW has definitely been the best reflection of my personal values. Think of it like Gevlon-gone-nicey-nice. After all, even Gevlon's action in game reflect his own personal values.
So in a strange twist, my friend-who-is-like-a-sister told me that she gets into a gaming mindset for work. It sounds kinda backwards, it may even sound like one of those things that gamers get harassed for all the time, the uber geek mentality. But it makes sense to me.
She gears up to go to work. She grinds faction reputation with her coworkers, clients, and bosses. She does her daily quests every day, and pursues various different achievements. Much like WoW is something she plays in a way to enjoy her life, work is a "game" she plays that enables her to enjoy her non-work life. All that reputation and daily grinding can be exhausting and tedious, but it enables her to pursue the other things she truly enjoys. Perhaps she can buy a fancy new mount. She needs a certain steady level of gold for repairs for raiding, and consumables of course. When she meets people that are rude and thoughtless, she reminds herself that she does not have to deal with these people outside of that realm if she does not want to. Much like rude people online, who you will inevitably have to deal with online, perhaps if we're lucky, we only have to deal with the work-jerks while in the office.
I asked her if that meant if I ran over my boss I would get ten achievement points and a few epics, and she said I might, but then I might also get banned. Damn, there goes that idea.
So I started thinking about this in terms of my current hateful work situation. I am currently employed as an intern - stuffing envelopes, fetching coffee, that kind of crap. So I've decided to think of it like Naxx, or heroics. I strongly dislike both, to be honest, but in this analogy, I need them both to gear up for something better... like Icecrown. Maybe if I run enough stupid heroics and starter-raids (aka internships), I will be better prepared for the real fun, the real goal, Arthas (oh and a job at the US Census Bureau plzkthx).
The idea of going from someone who brings her real world values into a game changing into someone who brings her in-game values into the real world is something of a frightening transformation. Have I gone off the edge of gamer extremism and fantasy world inundation? Am I going to wake up tomorrow, single, unemployed, undateable, living in my mom's basement? No, I don't think so (and it's not just because my Texan parents don't have a basement). Perhaps it's just a coping mechanism. I'm not sure how healthy it is, but surely it's not healthy to go into work and leave work utterly miserable with your life because you hate your job so much, either.
So I think I'll give it a shot. What do you think? Have I gone off the edge? Is this the crowning moment of my avoidant personality disorder? Will the non-gaming faction of the world soon come with the whitecoats and toss me into a padded cell? Am I distorting my real life to accomodate a mere hobby?
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In case you are interested (and please, pass it on!) Koriel over at What is Boom took the Healer Survey and converted it for tanks - so if you have a tank and like filling out and posting these surveys, try a Circle of Tanks!
I am in a very tiny guild. We only have 6 people at level 80, and only 8 individuals total. I have had friends ask to join our tiny little guild from time to time, but it's not going to happen. We are unlikely to ever grow, because our roster is limited to a gang of friends who hang out together on friday and saturday nights around a table full of minis. Many of them even went to high school together (a concept completely foreign to me, for the record - I moved way too much for that!)
So how is it that we are able to raid at all? Well, those among us who have larger social networks (and if you hadn't noticed I am one of those - thus the Circle of Healers project) have put forth a lot of effort into building alliances with other individuals we know, as well as guilds. These alliances have enabled us to see quite a bit of 25 man content on a fairly regular basis.
But somehow, Ulduar just burnt me out.
Maybe it was the officeering duties that dragged me down, or the state of the leadership. I'm not sure, but those are all good topics for another day.
Today, however, one of our guildies sent an email to the other 5 of us asking if any of us were planning on participating in the 25 man raid currently scheduled by the greater alliance for tonight.
And not a single person was interested.
Half of us are ex-raiders from the Vanilla WoW days, and when they came over to my server and made alliance toons, they had no real interest in raiding anymore. But Kara and a good group of friendly alliance members warmed us all up to it, and for quite some time, we were all back into raiding.
Yet now, the majority of us have no interest in running the 25 man content anymore. Now that Blizz has enabled us to see everything we'd want to see on 10 man mode, we just can't see the point.
Back when I was new to raiding, there was something truly epic about 25 folks all packed together, trying to take down a boss. I'm sure the 40 man versions were even more impressive (as long as your computer could handle it!)
But that sense of "epicness" has long since worn off for me, replaced by the dull boredom that comes with the vast amount of organization needed to get a 25 man off the ground. The strange thing is, I normally love organizing things. I love the attention to detail, and group dynamics. Perhaps if I were in a raiding guild with enough members that I had choices for people to fill in various slots, it would be different. But instead I'm always in a situation where I simply have to take what I can get to fill out a 25 man - and it's not fun.
From a non-leader's perspective, there's the issue of individual accountability. Look, let's face it - people like to be singled out for praise, and there's nothing intrinsically wrong with that (unless you ask Gevlon). It's a lot more difficult to note individual strengths in a 25 man group as opposed to a 10 man group.
Personally, all organization efforts put aside, I find 10 man content to be more challenging. You can lose a few people in 25 man and still be okay - the same cannot be said for 10 man. Unless you are overgeared for the location, quite a bit of precision in execution is needed for ten man, arguably moreso than the 25 man equivalent. 25 mans need to have a bit more leeway and tend to be a bit sloppier (at least, the non-hard modes), and I would argue this is partially due to connection and system requirements. We always had people disconnecting during the Heigan dance in 25 man naxx.
Regardless, I haven't sworn off 25 mans completely... I'm just struggling to see the point anymore. None of us are trying to compete with others progression wise, we just want to have fun.
Here are some of Gordin's thoughts as to why 10 mans are better than 25 mans:
So what do you think? How much do you think quality leadership affects your choice? If you prefer 25 man content, what are your reasons? If you prefer 10 mans, share yours! I'd love to hear some thoughts from others.
So how is it that we are able to raid at all? Well, those among us who have larger social networks (and if you hadn't noticed I am one of those - thus the Circle of Healers project) have put forth a lot of effort into building alliances with other individuals we know, as well as guilds. These alliances have enabled us to see quite a bit of 25 man content on a fairly regular basis.
But somehow, Ulduar just burnt me out.
Maybe it was the officeering duties that dragged me down, or the state of the leadership. I'm not sure, but those are all good topics for another day.
Today, however, one of our guildies sent an email to the other 5 of us asking if any of us were planning on participating in the 25 man raid currently scheduled by the greater alliance for tonight.
And not a single person was interested.
Half of us are ex-raiders from the Vanilla WoW days, and when they came over to my server and made alliance toons, they had no real interest in raiding anymore. But Kara and a good group of friendly alliance members warmed us all up to it, and for quite some time, we were all back into raiding.
Yet now, the majority of us have no interest in running the 25 man content anymore. Now that Blizz has enabled us to see everything we'd want to see on 10 man mode, we just can't see the point.
Back when I was new to raiding, there was something truly epic about 25 folks all packed together, trying to take down a boss. I'm sure the 40 man versions were even more impressive (as long as your computer could handle it!)
But that sense of "epicness" has long since worn off for me, replaced by the dull boredom that comes with the vast amount of organization needed to get a 25 man off the ground. The strange thing is, I normally love organizing things. I love the attention to detail, and group dynamics. Perhaps if I were in a raiding guild with enough members that I had choices for people to fill in various slots, it would be different. But instead I'm always in a situation where I simply have to take what I can get to fill out a 25 man - and it's not fun.
From a non-leader's perspective, there's the issue of individual accountability. Look, let's face it - people like to be singled out for praise, and there's nothing intrinsically wrong with that (unless you ask Gevlon). It's a lot more difficult to note individual strengths in a 25 man group as opposed to a 10 man group.
Personally, all organization efforts put aside, I find 10 man content to be more challenging. You can lose a few people in 25 man and still be okay - the same cannot be said for 10 man. Unless you are overgeared for the location, quite a bit of precision in execution is needed for ten man, arguably moreso than the 25 man equivalent. 25 mans need to have a bit more leeway and tend to be a bit sloppier (at least, the non-hard modes), and I would argue this is partially due to connection and system requirements. We always had people disconnecting during the Heigan dance in 25 man naxx.
Regardless, I haven't sworn off 25 mans completely... I'm just struggling to see the point anymore. None of us are trying to compete with others progression wise, we just want to have fun.
Here are some of Gordin's thoughts as to why 10 mans are better than 25 mans:
- "when you do your job well, there are more chances for people to ruin progress because they can’t do theirs
- there is a lot going on
- your character is less unique and feels like less of a contribution
- it might be too easy (??, like naxx??)
- someone is prob going to rub you the wrong way
- feels like work
- with that many, at least a few wont like the pace
- rather just hang with friends that won’t care when you swear and you can talk openly about other stuff too
- less drama
- loot is faster
- I like pie
- Feels a little more like home
- Doesn’t feel forced"
So what do you think? How much do you think quality leadership affects your choice? If you prefer 25 man content, what are your reasons? If you prefer 10 mans, share yours! I'd love to hear some thoughts from others.
There are a lot of interesting discussions going around regarding elitism in WoW, how things have supposedly become so much easier, how those that complain about it are meanie mcmean elitists, etc etc etc.
Much like politics, what always concerns me about these sort of discussions is the lack of any real middle ground.
If you think WoW is too easy these days, you must be an elitist. If you think it's great that it's getting easier and less grindy, then you are a, gasp, >CASUAL< (haha I love The Guild...).
What if it's neither of the above?
Elitism
I leveled my two 80s back when you got your first mount at level 40. Back before the xp bonus was increased significantly, so it took a lot longer to level. Back before the BoA XP bonus items. And I'm rather proud of that.
Does that make me elitist? Does it make you elitist if you are proud of the challenges you faced? Does it make you elitist if you want to preserve the challenges?
There's ease, and then there's accessibility. I believe that what we are seeing from the developers these days is less about ease, and more about accessibility. If you wanted the best gear in Vanilla, you needed a 40 man raid - very difficult for most people to manage, organize, and maintain. Then, in BC it was reduced to 25. And now, in Wrath, we have the option for 10 OR 25. With each succession, we find that more and more people, from small guilds or large ones, are able to access the instances that provide the best gear.
Because people are able to access more difficult scenarios, they are becoming better at playing their class. I know people will disagree with me on this, and I certainly do not think it is true in every case, but overall, people are becoming much more aware of how to play their toons through more and better experience. Dual speccing allows them to more easily practice with other specs. Everyone is a raider these days - and the blogging community has flourished under this change, though we've definitely lost a few of our best.
But, much like capitalism, someone has to be poor in order to make someone else feel rich. There have to be people who HAVEN'T accomplished the things I have in order for me to be proud of it. Otherwise, who cares? It's just something that everyone else has done. That is where elitism comes in. Some call folks who feel this way elitist, and imagine them sulking and pouting in the corner of the room. I, however, have some sympathy for their situation.
We are generally most proud of those things that go above and beyond the norm. It's not just the difficulties faced in raids themselves... the advent of "less grindy" rep battles inevitably means that those of us who worked so hard to finish that grind will outwardly appear exactly the same as those who breezed through it once it was nerfed. To use an Economics analogy (because I see a lot of economics analogies in this debate), the supply is suddenly bloated, and therefore the demand is lower, and each achievement has a decreased value.
Granularity
I remember doing my first heroic dungeon in Burning Crusade... and it was HARD. We spent 4 hours in there, and it was considered the easiest of all heroics. Back when crowd control meant something. Back when healers really *did* run out of mana. I have not used Shackle Undead once in a dungeon or raid in Wrath - and with all the undead running amuck, I fully expected to.
Do I think that Blizz is making WoW too easy? Not necessarily. I think they are increasing the granularity of game challenges. Perhaps the thought is that Heroics don't need to be so hard, because you can simply pop into an OS, Naxx, or VoA pug right after hitting 80, and you'll see more challenge. The development of 10 man options along 25 man options, and then even further into 10 man reg, 10 man heroic, 25 man reg, and 25 man heroic, along with hard mode options on top of all that - THAT is what I call granularity.
However, along with this granularity we have a very muddled progression path. In fact, one might say there is no progression path at all anymore. You can get everything, up to and including the top tier from running heroics, with no need to step into a raid, thus inspiring the new fad of "heroic grinding". Can you imagine "heroic grinding" in BC? I sure as hell can't. Shudder.
All that having been said, I did not enter the raiding scene until late in BC. To be honest, I didn't think I *could*. I was a n00b raider, and who wants one of those?
Maybe there is validity in the comment that raiding has just become far too easy - that you shouldn't have to hold your hands behind your back, jump up and down on one foot with a blindfold dosey doeing to Achy Brakey Heart in order to get a challenge (what? You didn't have to learn how to Dosey Doe to Billy Ray Cyrus in Elementary School? Must be a Texas thing...). Personally, I think granularity is a good thing. But I also rather agree with what MoarHPS said - that one of the big problems now is that you can buy tier items from badges, whereas you could not pre-Wrath. Tier tokens only dropped from certain bosses, so you knew you had to progress to those bosses in order to put together your set. I suspect that this is part of why the progression path is so non-existent these days, and I think it's one of the best points I've heard in some time.
Much like politics, what always concerns me about these sort of discussions is the lack of any real middle ground.
If you think WoW is too easy these days, you must be an elitist. If you think it's great that it's getting easier and less grindy, then you are a, gasp, >CASUAL< (haha I love The Guild...).
What if it's neither of the above?
Elitism
I leveled my two 80s back when you got your first mount at level 40. Back before the xp bonus was increased significantly, so it took a lot longer to level. Back before the BoA XP bonus items. And I'm rather proud of that.
Does that make me elitist? Does it make you elitist if you are proud of the challenges you faced? Does it make you elitist if you want to preserve the challenges?
There's ease, and then there's accessibility. I believe that what we are seeing from the developers these days is less about ease, and more about accessibility. If you wanted the best gear in Vanilla, you needed a 40 man raid - very difficult for most people to manage, organize, and maintain. Then, in BC it was reduced to 25. And now, in Wrath, we have the option for 10 OR 25. With each succession, we find that more and more people, from small guilds or large ones, are able to access the instances that provide the best gear.
Because people are able to access more difficult scenarios, they are becoming better at playing their class. I know people will disagree with me on this, and I certainly do not think it is true in every case, but overall, people are becoming much more aware of how to play their toons through more and better experience. Dual speccing allows them to more easily practice with other specs. Everyone is a raider these days - and the blogging community has flourished under this change, though we've definitely lost a few of our best.
But, much like capitalism, someone has to be poor in order to make someone else feel rich. There have to be people who HAVEN'T accomplished the things I have in order for me to be proud of it. Otherwise, who cares? It's just something that everyone else has done. That is where elitism comes in. Some call folks who feel this way elitist, and imagine them sulking and pouting in the corner of the room. I, however, have some sympathy for their situation.
We are generally most proud of those things that go above and beyond the norm. It's not just the difficulties faced in raids themselves... the advent of "less grindy" rep battles inevitably means that those of us who worked so hard to finish that grind will outwardly appear exactly the same as those who breezed through it once it was nerfed. To use an Economics analogy (because I see a lot of economics analogies in this debate), the supply is suddenly bloated, and therefore the demand is lower, and each achievement has a decreased value.
Granularity
I remember doing my first heroic dungeon in Burning Crusade... and it was HARD. We spent 4 hours in there, and it was considered the easiest of all heroics. Back when crowd control meant something. Back when healers really *did* run out of mana. I have not used Shackle Undead once in a dungeon or raid in Wrath - and with all the undead running amuck, I fully expected to.
Do I think that Blizz is making WoW too easy? Not necessarily. I think they are increasing the granularity of game challenges. Perhaps the thought is that Heroics don't need to be so hard, because you can simply pop into an OS, Naxx, or VoA pug right after hitting 80, and you'll see more challenge. The development of 10 man options along 25 man options, and then even further into 10 man reg, 10 man heroic, 25 man reg, and 25 man heroic, along with hard mode options on top of all that - THAT is what I call granularity.
However, along with this granularity we have a very muddled progression path. In fact, one might say there is no progression path at all anymore. You can get everything, up to and including the top tier from running heroics, with no need to step into a raid, thus inspiring the new fad of "heroic grinding". Can you imagine "heroic grinding" in BC? I sure as hell can't. Shudder.
All that having been said, I did not enter the raiding scene until late in BC. To be honest, I didn't think I *could*. I was a n00b raider, and who wants one of those?
Maybe there is validity in the comment that raiding has just become far too easy - that you shouldn't have to hold your hands behind your back, jump up and down on one foot with a blindfold dosey doeing to Achy Brakey Heart in order to get a challenge (what? You didn't have to learn how to Dosey Doe to Billy Ray Cyrus in Elementary School? Must be a Texas thing...). Personally, I think granularity is a good thing. But I also rather agree with what MoarHPS said - that one of the big problems now is that you can buy tier items from badges, whereas you could not pre-Wrath. Tier tokens only dropped from certain bosses, so you knew you had to progress to those bosses in order to put together your set. I suspect that this is part of why the progression path is so non-existent these days, and I think it's one of the best points I've heard in some time.
I'm in the sort of field where I spend a lot of time doing data entry. You know, that mind numbingly boring repetitive stuff that everyone hates doing? The reason why I'm actually quite good at it is that I *don't* find it mind numbingly boring.
Larisa over at the Pink Pigtail Inn has made it very clear multiple times that she hates grinding... whether it be reputation grinds, or daily grinds, and I can completely understand why so many people hate that. The thing is... I don't... and sometimes I'm actually somewhat embarrassed by it. After all, Larisa calls herself a moron for it... what does that say about ME? Eeek!
So why don't I get bored and hate it? Having always been the kind of person who enjoyed entertaining myself with whatever I happened to have in front of me, I turn those boring tasks into challenges.
I'm the speediest woman on a ten-key I've ever met due to all that boring data entry I've done in my life. I type faster than a speeding bullet. And I can clear 20 dailies in under an hour - 2 if I'm distracted.
I know most folks love to test out their dps numbers on a dummy, and I do realize that gives a much better indicator of boss dps... but to me, dpsing on a dummy seems like something of a waste of time (but then again, this is also because I'm always healing in raids). I would rather do it while doing my dailies. Why grind for cloth for tailoring when I can get it while doing dailies? Why buy eternals on the AH, when I can get them while working on dailies? Why buy things to DE if I get so many silly green items while running dailies? Herb farming? Dailies, again.
I challenge myself over and over. Just how quickly can I get these dailies done? How many mobs can I take and AoE grind at the same time? Can I do all my dailies without emptying my bags once until I'm done?
Why would I ever be embarrassed about this? It comes from that one adjective - mind-numbing. The fact that I enjoy doing dailies tends to suggest that I enjoy mind-numbing tasks that don't require me to think - or rather, that I do not enjoy doing things that DO require me to think.
Of course, I've already explained why that is not the case for me, but I'm sure there are others who are like me... right? It's certainly not that I'm not a creative person. Hell, I'm a writer, a sometimes-musician, a cartographer, and someone who enjoys painting and drawing more than most. I enjoy puzzles and challenges - I'm not brain dead!
I like to multi-task, and I can do that while running dailies. I can chat with others, or watch TV... or even play Civilization on another monitor. To be quite honest, most of the time I much prefer running dailies to grinding instances, unless there is something specific I want from the instance - which is rare. I don't need anymore Emblems of Conquest, I have the Culling of Stratholme mount, most people don't seem interested in doing the achievements... I'm just plain overgeared for them, and there are still plenty of things I want to buy with gold and Champion's Seals!
So stop judging me just because I like doing dailies, and I'll stop judging you simply because you don't want to make the effort to get exalted with Sons of Hodir!!! :P
Larisa over at the Pink Pigtail Inn has made it very clear multiple times that she hates grinding... whether it be reputation grinds, or daily grinds, and I can completely understand why so many people hate that. The thing is... I don't... and sometimes I'm actually somewhat embarrassed by it. After all, Larisa calls herself a moron for it... what does that say about ME? Eeek!
So why don't I get bored and hate it? Having always been the kind of person who enjoyed entertaining myself with whatever I happened to have in front of me, I turn those boring tasks into challenges.
I'm the speediest woman on a ten-key I've ever met due to all that boring data entry I've done in my life. I type faster than a speeding bullet. And I can clear 20 dailies in under an hour - 2 if I'm distracted.
I know most folks love to test out their dps numbers on a dummy, and I do realize that gives a much better indicator of boss dps... but to me, dpsing on a dummy seems like something of a waste of time (but then again, this is also because I'm always healing in raids). I would rather do it while doing my dailies. Why grind for cloth for tailoring when I can get it while doing dailies? Why buy eternals on the AH, when I can get them while working on dailies? Why buy things to DE if I get so many silly green items while running dailies? Herb farming? Dailies, again.
I challenge myself over and over. Just how quickly can I get these dailies done? How many mobs can I take and AoE grind at the same time? Can I do all my dailies without emptying my bags once until I'm done?
Why would I ever be embarrassed about this? It comes from that one adjective - mind-numbing. The fact that I enjoy doing dailies tends to suggest that I enjoy mind-numbing tasks that don't require me to think - or rather, that I do not enjoy doing things that DO require me to think.
Of course, I've already explained why that is not the case for me, but I'm sure there are others who are like me... right? It's certainly not that I'm not a creative person. Hell, I'm a writer, a sometimes-musician, a cartographer, and someone who enjoys painting and drawing more than most. I enjoy puzzles and challenges - I'm not brain dead!
I like to multi-task, and I can do that while running dailies. I can chat with others, or watch TV... or even play Civilization on another monitor. To be quite honest, most of the time I much prefer running dailies to grinding instances, unless there is something specific I want from the instance - which is rare. I don't need anymore Emblems of Conquest, I have the Culling of Stratholme mount, most people don't seem interested in doing the achievements... I'm just plain overgeared for them, and there are still plenty of things I want to buy with gold and Champion's Seals!
So stop judging me just because I like doing dailies, and I'll stop judging you simply because you don't want to make the effort to get exalted with Sons of Hodir!!! :P
I have a love/hate relationship with ElitistJerks, the kings of theorycrafting. If you are looking for numbers on something, they provide some of the best resources. If, however, you are looking for tips on how to handle various situations better, or how to become a better healer, they are useless. They will throw numbers at you and ridicule you if your numbers are not what they consider ideal.
The thing is, it is very rare to find yourself in a raid mix and situation that is ideal - that's why it's CALLED ideal. The numbers they provide always have basic assumptions attached to them - such as who else is in the raid with you, what buffs you have, that sort of thing.
But what if I *don't* have a resto shammy with me? What if there are no druids available for an innervate? What if we don't have a shadow priest? Surely all these things would be ideal, but it is not practical to always assume this will be the case.
The way you should gem and enchant your gear, the talents you choose, the stats you prioritize should all take your fellow raid members into account of course. As I've said before, raiding is about synergy, not about individual perfection. At the same time, the numbers and theorycrafting provided by folks like the ElitistJerks will very rarely actually properly apply - because it is very rare that the average raider will ever meet all the conditions assumed by the EJ calculations.
The problem is, people get so hung up on tiny little numbers that will potentially boost their stats by such infintesimal amounts, that they completely forget to balance themselves.
Theorycrafting and the math that goes with it gives people the impression that there is really only one "best" way to do something - the way that maximizes the numbers used in the calculation. But the average raid is a lot more dynamic than I think people like to admit. Changing things up is how people learn new fights, conquer new material. If I couldn't keep people alive with loads of crit rating, maybe I'll try it with tons of haste and see if that works better. And people heal differently. So if you don't gear yourself for how YOU heal, and instead try to gear according to how EJ insists you should heal, you are not doing yourself or your raid a favor.
Does that mean theorycrafting is stupid? Not at all - much like meters, it is a useful tool to help you improve. Use that theorycrafting to make decisions between choices you have in front of you, between items you might pick up. But don't let the theorycrafting of others dictate everything about your character, because especially for holy priests, there are a lot of flexible variables.
If you are new to a class or role, reading up on theorycrafting and scanning through the EJ priest forums is a fantastic idea. Had I not done this, I would still be stacking spirit and ignoring intellect. Until you find your niche, until you train your reflexes and trigger fingers properly, it is not a bad idea to default to the suggestions of the more experienced among your class, and those with the math skillz to explain it all.
But, once you get a handle on the basics of your class, and once you start to develop your own rotations and habits and strategies, stop depending on the way others choose to gear, and start figuring out what works best for you. There is an awesome discussion along this line of thinking from the Penance Priest for those Disc Priests who are at the stage of the game - you've got the basics down, now you are ready to personalize your style and priorities a bit.
There are still wrong answers, a la agility for Priests and all sorts of degrees of less obvious fail. Every healing priest (probably all priests period) need to pick up Meditation, for instance. It's really not optional. But just like how there are multiple wrong answers, I assure you friends, there are also multiple right ones.
From Poptisse, whom I absolutely adore, and for whom I have tauren-loads of respect:
"What people have to understand is the basics of raiding. When you gem and enchant your gear there is more then 1 aspect to look from. [...]Gems and enchants should always be decided upon a wide perspective of your raidsetup. My guide isn't a bible, neither is EJ guides."
The thing is, it is very rare to find yourself in a raid mix and situation that is ideal - that's why it's CALLED ideal. The numbers they provide always have basic assumptions attached to them - such as who else is in the raid with you, what buffs you have, that sort of thing.
But what if I *don't* have a resto shammy with me? What if there are no druids available for an innervate? What if we don't have a shadow priest? Surely all these things would be ideal, but it is not practical to always assume this will be the case.
The way you should gem and enchant your gear, the talents you choose, the stats you prioritize should all take your fellow raid members into account of course. As I've said before, raiding is about synergy, not about individual perfection. At the same time, the numbers and theorycrafting provided by folks like the ElitistJerks will very rarely actually properly apply - because it is very rare that the average raider will ever meet all the conditions assumed by the EJ calculations.
The problem is, people get so hung up on tiny little numbers that will potentially boost their stats by such infintesimal amounts, that they completely forget to balance themselves.
Theorycrafting and the math that goes with it gives people the impression that there is really only one "best" way to do something - the way that maximizes the numbers used in the calculation. But the average raid is a lot more dynamic than I think people like to admit. Changing things up is how people learn new fights, conquer new material. If I couldn't keep people alive with loads of crit rating, maybe I'll try it with tons of haste and see if that works better. And people heal differently. So if you don't gear yourself for how YOU heal, and instead try to gear according to how EJ insists you should heal, you are not doing yourself or your raid a favor.
Does that mean theorycrafting is stupid? Not at all - much like meters, it is a useful tool to help you improve. Use that theorycrafting to make decisions between choices you have in front of you, between items you might pick up. But don't let the theorycrafting of others dictate everything about your character, because especially for holy priests, there are a lot of flexible variables.
If you are new to a class or role, reading up on theorycrafting and scanning through the EJ priest forums is a fantastic idea. Had I not done this, I would still be stacking spirit and ignoring intellect. Until you find your niche, until you train your reflexes and trigger fingers properly, it is not a bad idea to default to the suggestions of the more experienced among your class, and those with the math skillz to explain it all.
But, once you get a handle on the basics of your class, and once you start to develop your own rotations and habits and strategies, stop depending on the way others choose to gear, and start figuring out what works best for you. There is an awesome discussion along this line of thinking from the Penance Priest for those Disc Priests who are at the stage of the game - you've got the basics down, now you are ready to personalize your style and priorities a bit.
There are still wrong answers, a la agility for Priests and all sorts of degrees of less obvious fail. Every healing priest (probably all priests period) need to pick up Meditation, for instance. It's really not optional. But just like how there are multiple wrong answers, I assure you friends, there are also multiple right ones.
From Poptisse, whom I absolutely adore, and for whom I have tauren-loads of respect:
"What people have to understand is the basics of raiding. When you gem and enchant your gear there is more then 1 aspect to look from. [...]Gems and enchants should always be decided upon a wide perspective of your raidsetup. My guide isn't a bible, neither is EJ guides."
Labels:
non-healing,
philosophy,
raid makeup,
raiding,
stats,
talents,
theorycrafting
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I know that a lot of people try to forget the long gruelling leveling process, but I am not one of those (obviously). Though I, like most folks these days, do power level most of my alts now, back when I was new to the WoW game, I had no idea what that meant. Nor did I understand the terms QQ, guild, ninja, raid, welfare epic... well you get the idea.
Poor Elimeny the Paladin. Doomed forever to noobish status. I was level 40 before I understood (and began to use) Judgement. And that was back in the days where you had to renew your seals after every judgement and blah blah blah. Oh and you only had one type of judgement, none of this "Judgement of Light" crap.
Anyway, I digress.
Elimeny leveled in Elwynn Forest, like most humans, and I didn't have someone running me around. My friend who referred me to Lothar stuck around for about the first 2 levels and then he was gone, and I was on my own. So... I spent a LOT of time in that forest. For a week and a half, the Elwynn Forest music was the soundtrack to my life.
And my life, at the time, was lost. I had just dropped out of a PhD program, moved back halfway across the country to live with my boyfriend (now fiance), and not only was I jobless, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I had wanted to play WoW for awhile, but would never allow myself to do so while I was in school. WoW was sort of my "I'm a grad school drop out!" celebration.
I cannot venture back into Elwynn Forest without remembering those days. I haven't been able to bring myself to level another human for such a long time, due in no small part to the fact that no other leveling experience can compare with the first time. And being around that music makes me feel completely nostalgic.
It's similar to being in Dun Murogh, Jessabelle's homeland. Everytime I'm there and I hear the music, I'm reminded of all the things I did while leveling her, of discovering new things about being a priest.
The soundtrack for WoW is amazing. My favorite music is over in Grizzly Hills. What about you? Where do you hang out, just for the sound effects?
Poor Elimeny the Paladin. Doomed forever to noobish status. I was level 40 before I understood (and began to use) Judgement. And that was back in the days where you had to renew your seals after every judgement and blah blah blah. Oh and you only had one type of judgement, none of this "Judgement of Light" crap.
Anyway, I digress.
Elimeny leveled in Elwynn Forest, like most humans, and I didn't have someone running me around. My friend who referred me to Lothar stuck around for about the first 2 levels and then he was gone, and I was on my own. So... I spent a LOT of time in that forest. For a week and a half, the Elwynn Forest music was the soundtrack to my life.
And my life, at the time, was lost. I had just dropped out of a PhD program, moved back halfway across the country to live with my boyfriend (now fiance), and not only was I jobless, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I had wanted to play WoW for awhile, but would never allow myself to do so while I was in school. WoW was sort of my "I'm a grad school drop out!" celebration.
I cannot venture back into Elwynn Forest without remembering those days. I haven't been able to bring myself to level another human for such a long time, due in no small part to the fact that no other leveling experience can compare with the first time. And being around that music makes me feel completely nostalgic.
It's similar to being in Dun Murogh, Jessabelle's homeland. Everytime I'm there and I hear the music, I'm reminded of all the things I did while leveling her, of discovering new things about being a priest.
The soundtrack for WoW is amazing. My favorite music is over in Grizzly Hills. What about you? Where do you hang out, just for the sound effects?
The title is completely for Ful's entertainment. I know that after reading this he is going to picture me running around burning bras and shrieking like a hippie or something.
How should officers respond to a loot drama/ninja QQ/zomg-i'm-disconnecting-the-internet situation that breaks out all over their forums?
The next time you and your wife start having a screaming argument, I want you to test out a theory for me. Take a big piece of duct tape and put it right over her mouth. There! Argument over! After all, if you can't hear what she's bitching about anymore, doesn't that mean she's NOT bitching?
I give you about a 99% chance of this backfiring horribly, and you being kicked in all your naughty places.
So why would freezing or deleting a forum thread in which people are complaining be any different?
Back in my LiveJournal days, I used to be in all these LJDrama communities that would ridicule other communities for how poorly they reacted to and festered dramas. The number one way to get your community featured on LJDrama was to delete comments, lock threads, or delete entire posts. Here are some of the reasons why:
I also understand why officers may delete drama-infested threads. Putting all the drama out there in public discourages drama-reluctant, rational people from raiding with your group if they see it going on in your forums. Deleting it reduces the chance that people will see it and be turned-off by it. But it doesn't mean it didn't happen.
Same goes for locking threads. You might lock a thread that is no longer constructive to the greater whole because it will just inspire more drama. I do get that, I understand why we do it - but if you look at it from the other side, from the viewpoint of the individuals who do not have the power to lock or delete threads, that is NOT what it looks like. It looks like someone is being shut up because they were questioning your authority. I am not at all saying this is, in reality, the case. I'm just pointing out, for better or for worse, that's what it looks like.
And in addition, who decides whether or not a thread is constructive any longer? Just because you don't think it's constructive doesn't mean that another person in that thread isn't learning something or getting something important out of it.
When it comes to deleting threads, just remember this: Maybe you have a right to delete your own words, but once you start deleting the words of others, you have now stolen their voice. It's a slap in the face. For some posters, maybe they need a good solid slap in the face. But it's happened to me, a thread in which I've been commenting has been deleted, and it pissed me off.
I'm not criticizing the officers who choose these sorts of actions, so don't get ticked at me if you've done it. I see the reason behind doing it. But I do cringe when it's done, even if I know there's no better alternative. When you are trying to get control of a situation, I guess sometimes you have to do stuff like this. It's easy for me to criticize it, but to be honest, I really don't know of a better alternative. That's the thing about drama, there's no way to get yourself completely out of the black hole.
I do, however, sympathize with the non-officers who feel insulted by threads they were reading or to which they were contributing being deleted or frozen. Unfortunately, there's no politically correct way to tell these people that all of this effort is more than likely simply an attempt to shut one annoying individual up. You know. That Guy.
How should officers respond to a loot drama/ninja QQ/zomg-i'm-disconnecting-the-internet situation that breaks out all over their forums?
The next time you and your wife start having a screaming argument, I want you to test out a theory for me. Take a big piece of duct tape and put it right over her mouth. There! Argument over! After all, if you can't hear what she's bitching about anymore, doesn't that mean she's NOT bitching?I give you about a 99% chance of this backfiring horribly, and you being kicked in all your naughty places.
So why would freezing or deleting a forum thread in which people are complaining be any different?
Back in my LiveJournal days, I used to be in all these LJDrama communities that would ridicule other communities for how poorly they reacted to and festered dramas. The number one way to get your community featured on LJDrama was to delete comments, lock threads, or delete entire posts. Here are some of the reasons why:
- Own your words. Possess them. lovingly caress them. Whatever. If you're going to take the time to type it out, take that time to calm yourself down. Read it after you type it folks, and consider carefully before you post it - because once you post it, it's out there, and deleting it does not mean that no one read it (or screenshotted it, for the record).
- If you delete a thread, you delete the source of FACT in the drama. If the thread in which people were acting like an asshat no longer exists, you can no longer quote from said thread and show it as evidence of your argument when someone is being a dbag. It merely becomes more he said-she said. In internet drama situations, the only thing just as important, or possibly moreso than what people DID is what people SAID.
- Freezing a thread says "We don't want this to be discussed anymore" while inadvertently encouraging more people to discuss it, just privately. Is that better or worse than it being discuss publicly? I guess it depends on the situation. People QQing in private usually ends in waking up one day with half your guild gone, and not knowing why. If you play the heavy handed forum nazi, you just won't KNOW what people are bitching about - but it doesn't make them stop bitching.
I also understand why officers may delete drama-infested threads. Putting all the drama out there in public discourages drama-reluctant, rational people from raiding with your group if they see it going on in your forums. Deleting it reduces the chance that people will see it and be turned-off by it. But it doesn't mean it didn't happen.
Same goes for locking threads. You might lock a thread that is no longer constructive to the greater whole because it will just inspire more drama. I do get that, I understand why we do it - but if you look at it from the other side, from the viewpoint of the individuals who do not have the power to lock or delete threads, that is NOT what it looks like. It looks like someone is being shut up because they were questioning your authority. I am not at all saying this is, in reality, the case. I'm just pointing out, for better or for worse, that's what it looks like.And in addition, who decides whether or not a thread is constructive any longer? Just because you don't think it's constructive doesn't mean that another person in that thread isn't learning something or getting something important out of it.
When it comes to deleting threads, just remember this: Maybe you have a right to delete your own words, but once you start deleting the words of others, you have now stolen their voice. It's a slap in the face. For some posters, maybe they need a good solid slap in the face. But it's happened to me, a thread in which I've been commenting has been deleted, and it pissed me off.
I'm not criticizing the officers who choose these sorts of actions, so don't get ticked at me if you've done it. I see the reason behind doing it. But I do cringe when it's done, even if I know there's no better alternative. When you are trying to get control of a situation, I guess sometimes you have to do stuff like this. It's easy for me to criticize it, but to be honest, I really don't know of a better alternative. That's the thing about drama, there's no way to get yourself completely out of the black hole.
I do, however, sympathize with the non-officers who feel insulted by threads they were reading or to which they were contributing being deleted or frozen. Unfortunately, there's no politically correct way to tell these people that all of this effort is more than likely simply an attempt to shut one annoying individual up. You know. That Guy.
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With Cataclysm will come a whole new old world. While I think the changes will be good, and pump a lot of fresh content into the world many of us abandoned years ago, it will be sad to say our goodbyes to the old world we know and love.
Will WoW players in years to come know what ye ol' folks are talking about when we wistfully complain about the trek down the length of Darkshore? The reason it was called The Barrens? The drastic change in scenery between the Horde and Alliance areas of Ashenvale? The hours spent grinding for wyrmling pets and elite dragon kills in Azshara?
The only way to remember is to never allow yourself to forget. The best way to not forget is to take pictures of it now while it still exists. There is a really fantastic group of pictures growing on Flickr as people try to store up screenshots of the world we will be leaving behind when the Cataclysm breaks. Check it out and consider adding your own touch!
Will WoW players in years to come know what ye ol' folks are talking about when we wistfully complain about the trek down the length of Darkshore? The reason it was called The Barrens? The drastic change in scenery between the Horde and Alliance areas of Ashenvale? The hours spent grinding for wyrmling pets and elite dragon kills in Azshara?
The only way to remember is to never allow yourself to forget. The best way to not forget is to take pictures of it now while it still exists. There is a really fantastic group of pictures growing on Flickr as people try to store up screenshots of the world we will be leaving behind when the Cataclysm breaks. Check it out and consider adding your own touch!
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I took a lot of art classes in high school. I remember for one particular project, we were told to paint a self portrait, and I was having a very hard time painting my mouth and eyes. I finally panicked, and painted a big black stripe across the mouth, making it look like tape, and left the eyes black and hollow.
When I presented the painting the next day in class for critique, people asked a lot of questions. I quickly concocted a load of bullshit about how I felt "stifled by society" and something about a dark soul and other such artsy emochick nonsense. Everyone believed it, because in high school I was cast under the "gothchick" label.
After class, my teacher pulled me aside and asked: "Why did you really paint tape instead and black holes for eyes?" Since he confronted me about it, I fessed up and told him that I simply ran out of time. He promptly gave me an A, and told me that I had mastered the test of demonstrating "artistic license". Also known as "cleverly manipulating words and ideas to justify how much you screwed up something".
I am a master of this art. For an example of this, you can read the column I wrote last night over at SaveOrDieRadio.com. In the last SoDR episode (seriously, why aren't you listening to it?), they talked about gods, deities, and religion in gaming, and it happened to come up that I created a Dwarf Cleric character who essentially worshipped the wrong god. So yeah, I had to make up a justification for doing something that for all intents and purposes, I just really wanted to do. Take that, you silly rules! /poke /poke
Religion in World of Warcraft
To take this topic to the WoW level, religion and philosophies are my favorite part about WoW - I wish the developers would actually beef it up a bit. The "light" and the "shadow" are vague notions, and instead of being portrayed as some kind of divine presence, it actually comes off as merely a different school of magic. I prefer the D&D way.
The average player is perfectly happy being handed a backstory for their race/class combo. Even the small amount of individuality suggested through talent point allowances quickly becomes filtered into Elitistjerks-approved specs.
Light Versus Shadow
Religion and philosophy give the ultimate opportunity for individual character development. I'm fascinated with playing my new Forsaken Priest, because of the strange dichotomy between light and shadow amongst the Forsaken. Abandoned and literally forsaken by the Light, they can still choose to channel it - but why? Why would you channel a force, or a divine power, that has spurned you in the worst possible way? Or is that the ultimate in Light-endowed devotion?
Are the Naaru demi-gods of the Light? Where are the demi-gods of the Shadow? Shadow is different from Fel, so Burning Legion demons don't satisfy me. Does Shadow get paired so often with Frost simply due to the assumption that the absence of Light's warmth will leave a tangible chill?
The ultimate in Shadow for a priest is Shadowform - casting Holy spells drops you out. So, why is it that if you are channeling the Light, you can still cast Shadow spells? Juxtaposing the two different divine forces in one class makes it particularly interesting - and they should contrast and battle one another. How would this not present some exciting and challenging inner struggles for characters?
Though I probably do come off as somewhat indifferent to the Shadow side of Priestliness, I'm really not. I enjoy philosophizing about the relationship between the Light and the Shadow - in fact, the entire novel I've been writing in my head for some time is completely inspired by the idea of a Shadow priest.
~~~~~~~
While I suggested earlier in this post that I simply made up the crap about purposely choosing Sehanine for a deity for my Dwarf Cleric, that isn't quite accurate. Religion, both IRL and in game, fascinates me and intrigues me. Juxtaposing seemingly counter-intuitive religions with classes that usually suggest a "default deity" is a helluva lot of fun for me. Since I never really get the opportunity to debate or discuss religion IRL, I suppose that gaming religion is my outlet. The ultimate fantasy - non-controversial religious discussions.
People don't get pissed off when I say Moradin is for lemmings, and Sehanine is for the clever - at least, I sure hope not. Yeah, don't mind me, I'm just over here embracing the holy shadow.
When I presented the painting the next day in class for critique, people asked a lot of questions. I quickly concocted a load of bullshit about how I felt "stifled by society" and something about a dark soul and other such artsy emochick nonsense. Everyone believed it, because in high school I was cast under the "gothchick" label.
After class, my teacher pulled me aside and asked: "Why did you really paint tape instead and black holes for eyes?" Since he confronted me about it, I fessed up and told him that I simply ran out of time. He promptly gave me an A, and told me that I had mastered the test of demonstrating "artistic license". Also known as "cleverly manipulating words and ideas to justify how much you screwed up something".
I am a master of this art. For an example of this, you can read the column I wrote last night over at SaveOrDieRadio.com. In the last SoDR episode (seriously, why aren't you listening to it?), they talked about gods, deities, and religion in gaming, and it happened to come up that I created a Dwarf Cleric character who essentially worshipped the wrong god. So yeah, I had to make up a justification for doing something that for all intents and purposes, I just really wanted to do. Take that, you silly rules! /poke /poke
Religion in World of Warcraft
To take this topic to the WoW level, religion and philosophies are my favorite part about WoW - I wish the developers would actually beef it up a bit. The "light" and the "shadow" are vague notions, and instead of being portrayed as some kind of divine presence, it actually comes off as merely a different school of magic. I prefer the D&D way.
The average player is perfectly happy being handed a backstory for their race/class combo. Even the small amount of individuality suggested through talent point allowances quickly becomes filtered into Elitistjerks-approved specs.
Light Versus Shadow
Religion and philosophy give the ultimate opportunity for individual character development. I'm fascinated with playing my new Forsaken Priest, because of the strange dichotomy between light and shadow amongst the Forsaken. Abandoned and literally forsaken by the Light, they can still choose to channel it - but why? Why would you channel a force, or a divine power, that has spurned you in the worst possible way? Or is that the ultimate in Light-endowed devotion?
Are the Naaru demi-gods of the Light? Where are the demi-gods of the Shadow? Shadow is different from Fel, so Burning Legion demons don't satisfy me. Does Shadow get paired so often with Frost simply due to the assumption that the absence of Light's warmth will leave a tangible chill?
The ultimate in Shadow for a priest is Shadowform - casting Holy spells drops you out. So, why is it that if you are channeling the Light, you can still cast Shadow spells? Juxtaposing the two different divine forces in one class makes it particularly interesting - and they should contrast and battle one another. How would this not present some exciting and challenging inner struggles for characters?
Though I probably do come off as somewhat indifferent to the Shadow side of Priestliness, I'm really not. I enjoy philosophizing about the relationship between the Light and the Shadow - in fact, the entire novel I've been writing in my head for some time is completely inspired by the idea of a Shadow priest.
~~~~~~~
While I suggested earlier in this post that I simply made up the crap about purposely choosing Sehanine for a deity for my Dwarf Cleric, that isn't quite accurate. Religion, both IRL and in game, fascinates me and intrigues me. Juxtaposing seemingly counter-intuitive religions with classes that usually suggest a "default deity" is a helluva lot of fun for me. Since I never really get the opportunity to debate or discuss religion IRL, I suppose that gaming religion is my outlet. The ultimate fantasy - non-controversial religious discussions.
People don't get pissed off when I say Moradin is for lemmings, and Sehanine is for the clever - at least, I sure hope not. Yeah, don't mind me, I'm just over here embracing the holy shadow.
Soooo comments look screwy on yesterday’s post because my pet troll trolled me under a different account name on accident and I thought it was someone else and I was all like ZOMG /COWER SMITE and then he contacted me in game and now everything’s cool.
Love you Franklin. Even though you give me panic attacks.
It’s Friday! That means I’m gaming tonight with a piece of paper and a pencil and a few beers. And so I bring you…
THE LOOT DRAMA DRINKING GAME
1. “What? Priests don’t need crit, you shouldn’t be rolling on that item!” = 1x shot
2. Hunter rolling for leather = 1x shot
3. Healing shammy piece, with no shammy healer in the raid = 1x shot
4. Ret pally rolling on both healing AND tanking plate because “But… I was thinking about respeccing!” = 2x shots
5. DPS Plate wearers all rolling on Plate tank boots because the boots have hit rating = 2x shots
6. Kitty druid rolling on druid tanking gear because “What?! I’m specced feral!” =2x shots
7. Warrior rolling on awesome gun or bow against hunter =3x shots
8. Someone who jumped in to replace another raider on very last boss winning best item boss drops =3x shots
9. Tank who wins item trades it to someone who has a tanking off spec because it's a better upgrade for him - completely ignoring the three other tanks who rolled on the item and should have won =3x shots
10. The rogue who rolls need on the Reins of the Bronze Drake after everyone else has passed and then says "ZOMG relax people, it's just loot, I don't know why you're getting so upset LOL!!1!9!" =THE WHOLE DAMN BOTTLE
I wish you all a super happy weekend as I continue to battle the same Headache That Would Not Disappear I've been battling for three days.
Love you Franklin. Even though you give me panic attacks.
It’s Friday! That means I’m gaming tonight with a piece of paper and a pencil and a few beers. And so I bring you…
THE LOOT DRAMA DRINKING GAME
1. “What? Priests don’t need crit, you shouldn’t be rolling on that item!” = 1x shot
2. Hunter rolling for leather = 1x shot
3. Healing shammy piece, with no shammy healer in the raid = 1x shot
4. Ret pally rolling on both healing AND tanking plate because “But… I was thinking about respeccing!” = 2x shots
5. DPS Plate wearers all rolling on Plate tank boots because the boots have hit rating = 2x shots
6. Kitty druid rolling on druid tanking gear because “What?! I’m specced feral!” =2x shots
7. Warrior rolling on awesome gun or bow against hunter =3x shots
8. Someone who jumped in to replace another raider on very last boss winning best item boss drops =3x shots
9. Tank who wins item trades it to someone who has a tanking off spec because it's a better upgrade for him - completely ignoring the three other tanks who rolled on the item and should have won =3x shots
10. The rogue who rolls need on the Reins of the Bronze Drake after everyone else has passed and then says "ZOMG relax people, it's just loot, I don't know why you're getting so upset LOL!!1!9!" =THE WHOLE DAMN BOTTLE
I wish you all a super happy weekend as I continue to battle the same Headache That Would Not Disappear I've been battling for three days.
Okay so in case you don't feel like searching through WoW.com front page (slacker) here is a copy and paste about what is known so far regarding the incoming stat changes for the new expansion Cataclysm.
This is one of those changes about which I'm totally on the fence. On the one hand, it makes a lot of sense. We have these basic stats, and really, everything else should be derived from the stats. Wow is based on D&D, and that's essentially how D&D works. Attack Power has always been based on Agility or Strength depending on class anyway, so there was really no need for excess AP stats. I never understood Armor Penetration (in my defense, I'm more the caster type dammit, don't call me a noob!). The Block Value eradication, and change of Block makes more sense to me too. I am cheering about Spirit becoming the main point of mana regen again (although a little irritated that they just nerfed spirit by buffing mp5, when they are making such a change in the expansion... but then again, let's all remember that despite all the excitement, Cataclysm is still a long way off). The fact that Hunters needed mana was stupid, I really like the idea of it going to focus, theres more similarity with their pets. I think it's pretty clever how haste is changing - I always thought it should be that way instead. Intellect should be the basis for more caster abilities, such as spellpower.
Now, another incoming addition for Professions is the ability to "Reforge", which will be specificly based on your profession. I.e., Tailors can reforge cloth items, Blacksmiths plate, etc. Reforging is the ability to readjust some of the stats on an item. For instance, if a cloth piece drops with 50 Spirit and 40 Stamina, I can reforge it to make it have 10 Intellect, 40 Spirit, and 40 Stamina. No word yet on the limitations regarding amount, however, you will not be able to add to a stat that is already on the item (So while I can add 10 Intellect, I cannot take 10 points from stamina to make 60 Spirit.)
Okay, now that i've covered those basics, here are the problems I foresee. In TBC, there was so much variety and specific stats on items, that it was not uncommon for an item to drop that was no good for anyone. Then they combined melee and spell haste into simply haste, and same for crit and +healing/+damage into spellpower. This simplification really changed the way gear dropped in raids - there was a lot more competition for each item. I don't think that's a bad thing... it's painful to disenchant some really nice items.
But now it's going even further. Without knowing what limitations they are going to put on reforging, I could pick up any cloth item (after all, armor class is still important) and remove stats on it to add stats that are important to me. So, in the extreme, all that really seems to matter is what armor class it is, and what slot? This is frighteningly generic to me. There have already been a lot of complaints in Wrath about how generic items seem to be (at least the artwork... how many different versions/colors of that damn Moonshroud Robe has my priest worn anyway?) It's too soon to tell for sure, or to get too worked up over it though. I'm working off of a very small amount of details at this point, but so far I am a little concerned.
All this information is derived from the first "Class, Items, and Professions" panel yesterday. There is a second one at 2:30 PST today, and I am waiting with baited breath for that one. I have a lot of ranting I want to do about Path of the Titans as well, but I'm hoping there will be more clarification at tonight's panel, so I'll hold off on my comments for that. The classes discussed yesterday were Hunter, Priest, Shaman, and Warrior. There weren't a whole lot of details, and it was pretty disappointing. I think the most exciting news so far class-wise was for hunters.
- Attack Power on gear is gone. Instead, some classes will get 2 AP from each point of Agi (Rogues, Hunters, Shamans, Druids), and other classes (presumably Warriors, Paladins, and Death Knights) will get 2 AP per point of Strength. Side effect: no more plate wearers stealing your gear
- Spell Power is gone. It comes from Int now.
- MP5 is gone. Spirit is the mana regen stat, and all classes that need it will get some form of Meditation. (Hunters, never fear - you don't use mana any more. More on this in a separate post.)
- Armor Penetration is gone. That one was just confusing.
- Defense is gone. Tanks are now defense-capped from talents, like Druid tanks.
- Haste now increases your rate of resource regeneration (
mana, energy, rage, runes, focus). - Block Value is gone, but blocks now mitigate a percentage of damage.
- Stamina is going to be more equal across different armor types - no more "plate HP envy."
This is one of those changes about which I'm totally on the fence. On the one hand, it makes a lot of sense. We have these basic stats, and really, everything else should be derived from the stats. Wow is based on D&D, and that's essentially how D&D works. Attack Power has always been based on Agility or Strength depending on class anyway, so there was really no need for excess AP stats. I never understood Armor Penetration (in my defense, I'm more the caster type dammit, don't call me a noob!). The Block Value eradication, and change of Block makes more sense to me too. I am cheering about Spirit becoming the main point of mana regen again (although a little irritated that they just nerfed spirit by buffing mp5, when they are making such a change in the expansion... but then again, let's all remember that despite all the excitement, Cataclysm is still a long way off). The fact that Hunters needed mana was stupid, I really like the idea of it going to focus, theres more similarity with their pets. I think it's pretty clever how haste is changing - I always thought it should be that way instead. Intellect should be the basis for more caster abilities, such as spellpower.
Now, another incoming addition for Professions is the ability to "Reforge", which will be specificly based on your profession. I.e., Tailors can reforge cloth items, Blacksmiths plate, etc. Reforging is the ability to readjust some of the stats on an item. For instance, if a cloth piece drops with 50 Spirit and 40 Stamina, I can reforge it to make it have 10 Intellect, 40 Spirit, and 40 Stamina. No word yet on the limitations regarding amount, however, you will not be able to add to a stat that is already on the item (So while I can add 10 Intellect, I cannot take 10 points from stamina to make 60 Spirit.)
Okay, now that i've covered those basics, here are the problems I foresee. In TBC, there was so much variety and specific stats on items, that it was not uncommon for an item to drop that was no good for anyone. Then they combined melee and spell haste into simply haste, and same for crit and +healing/+damage into spellpower. This simplification really changed the way gear dropped in raids - there was a lot more competition for each item. I don't think that's a bad thing... it's painful to disenchant some really nice items.
But now it's going even further. Without knowing what limitations they are going to put on reforging, I could pick up any cloth item (after all, armor class is still important) and remove stats on it to add stats that are important to me. So, in the extreme, all that really seems to matter is what armor class it is, and what slot? This is frighteningly generic to me. There have already been a lot of complaints in Wrath about how generic items seem to be (at least the artwork... how many different versions/colors of that damn Moonshroud Robe has my priest worn anyway?) It's too soon to tell for sure, or to get too worked up over it though. I'm working off of a very small amount of details at this point, but so far I am a little concerned.
All this information is derived from the first "Class, Items, and Professions" panel yesterday. There is a second one at 2:30 PST today, and I am waiting with baited breath for that one. I have a lot of ranting I want to do about Path of the Titans as well, but I'm hoping there will be more clarification at tonight's panel, so I'll hold off on my comments for that. The classes discussed yesterday were Hunter, Priest, Shaman, and Warrior. There weren't a whole lot of details, and it was pretty disappointing. I think the most exciting news so far class-wise was for hunters.
Do you remember when you first found yourself interested in RPGs? Very few of us actually began with World of Warcraft. After all, WoW has only been around for five years, and who knows where it will be in another five?
I was never a video game person. I still am not quite sure how to turn on the xbox. There are all these colorful buttons and I feel slightly close to a seizure wathing my fiancé play Guitar Hero. It’s all a bit confusing to me, thank you very much, and I rarely find myself impressed. I need real plot, and video games have always struck me as shallow entertainment, even though I know that’s really not true in many cases.
I, however, began my gaming career at the tender age of seven years old. Twenty years ago… that makes me feel old! It began with simulation games. You know. SimCity. SimAnts (seriously? Yes.). Civilization (the FIRST one).
And then I progressed into RPGs, and fell completely in love. Hero’s Quest (or Quest for Glory) I, II, III, IV, and finally V. King’s Quest. Space Quest. Leisure Suit Larry. I loved those old Sierra games so much that I continued to play them up until about 3 years ago when I finally started playing WoW. I was skeptical and certainly not impressed by flashy realistic graphics. AGI is just fine, thankyouverymuch.
Quest for Glory turned me on to the idea of Paladins – it was truly an epic thing in QfG because you had to beat two games and import your character, and all these things that were always too complicated for me to figure out how to do when I was a kid. Therefore, the first class I rolled in WoW was my pally, Elimeny.
What got YOU started in the world of RPGaming? Was it D&D? Video games? Computer games? Or were you a complete gaming n00b, and dragged in by your friends?
Where have I been? Why so few posts?
I've been in a bit of a WoW funk for various personal reasons. I've been catching up on a lot of reading that I always enjoy, and I've been a bit down due to some bad news about our dog, a giant purebred black lab of the sweetest and friendliest disposition. Unfortunately, after dozens of vet visits, trying to find out why he's been so tired, non-hungry, and less animated over the past 8 months, we finally went to a different vet. Last week he was officially diagnosed with advanced Lymphoma.
It definitely hit me like a ton of bricks because even though I was convinced he was sick with something serious, he's not even 5 years old - so cancer didn't even seem like an issue to me. Lymphoma is already a tender topic with me because my father was diagnosed with it a couple of years ago, which led to a lot of changes in my personal life. Luckily, my dad is in remission, but it doesn't look like that will be the case with Chopper, the big black lab of love.
So in the meantime I've been putting forth a lot of effort in researching different recipes of things I can cook him at home, and trying to spend some time with him for his last few weeks with us. It's hard for me to get the inspiration or motivation to research WoW stuff, or find my muse to write about it, or even raid or play much more than a few dailies here and there when I've got a brain full of a drooling, bouncy black lab that may no longer be around in a few weeks.
In spite of all this, I will try to get some content out about the recent crappy priest Q&A, and some reflections on how the 3.2 priest changes have affected my own personal gameplay.
What? You want real content?
...
Do you have ANY IDEA WHAT DAY IT IS?
Snape Commission by *makani on deviantART
In honor of my favorite Harry Potter book being released as a movie today (oh yes, my geekiness extends to multiple factions, dear friends – there is no end to my fangirl idiocy), I wanted to go completely and unapologetically off topic and share my love for Severus Snape. However, I can’t even express my ardor in words… so pictures will have to suffice.
...Can you tell I'm a fan of Makani?
hermione has issues by *makani on deviantART
If you are trying to find ways to keep yourself entertained with HBP content while you eagerly wait your chance to sit in a movie theatre... HERE YOU ARE
Tomorrow... back to the WoWniverse... but seriously, what did you expect for today?
...
Do you have ANY IDEA WHAT DAY IT IS?
Snape Commission by *makani on deviantART
In honor of my favorite Harry Potter book being released as a movie today (oh yes, my geekiness extends to multiple factions, dear friends – there is no end to my fangirl idiocy), I wanted to go completely and unapologetically off topic and share my love for Severus Snape. However, I can’t even express my ardor in words… so pictures will have to suffice.
...Can you tell I'm a fan of Makani?
hermione has issues by *makani on deviantART
If you are trying to find ways to keep yourself entertained with HBP content while you eagerly wait your chance to sit in a movie theatre... HERE YOU ARE
Tomorrow... back to the WoWniverse... but seriously, what did you expect for today?
