Items of Some Consequence

Essential Tools for Guild Officers: Heart

2009-07-16T13:36:00.005-06:00

When my older brother was in high school, he, like almost everyone from small town Texas, played football. To succeed in the sport you normally have to have the 3 S's: Strength, Size, and Speed. He had 3 S's, but not those three. He, and most of his team, were Small, Scrawny, and Slow. They won one game...ok, they had one tie, but in a season like they had, we called it a win. Needless to say, they weren't State Champs, and my brother, who was even smaller, scrawnier and slower than most of the rest of the team, didn't win MVP of the Season. But he did get an award. He got the Heart of a Lion award. He loved the game. He loved his team. He never gave up. And his attitude and encouragement of his friends was amazing in the face of such devastating defeats (and one tie). He had Heart. He wasn't a world-class football player, but he was a world-class team member.

In the 20 years or so since he graduated from High School, our hometown football team got much better. We stopped producing so many small, scrawny, and slow boys, and ended up with a few that have gone on to excel in college ball and even one that is playing pro. We won 4 State Championships and have been to the playoffs almost every year for the past two decades. And yes, that is a picture of a Yellow Jacket, although it is definitely not a picture of my brother. But one thing hasn't changed for the Jackets or for football teams across the country...you still need the guy with Heart.

Winning or losing, you need the guy who stands on the sidelines getting everyone involved. You need the guy that paces in front of the bench wearing his jersey and jeans because he hurt himself last week and can't get on the field. But you can see in his every move that he wants to be out there. You need the guy who's peprally speeches give the great leaders of history a run for their money in terms of motivation. It may be easier to be that guy during the good years, but the team needs him whether they are plowing through games 50-0 or being plowed over 0-50. You need Heart.

Guilds need it too. You need people, hopefully Officers, who have a Heart for WoW. You need people who love to play. Not just people who love to raid or pvp, but love every aspect of the game and allow their enthusiasm to overflow and infect others. If that person can also lead raids, distribute loot, write up strategies on the website or wiki, and bake everyone a cake during a raid, good for you. But even if all they do is quietly encourage others on vent or diffuse arguments on the forums, they are invaluable and shouldn't be underappreciated.

Essential Tools for Guild Officers: Part One

2009-06-25T14:41:00.002-06:00

Hi guys! Did you miss me?

I could go into what I've been doing instead of blogging, but really, that would bore us all. So instead, I'll jump into what I hope will become a semi-useful series of posts about what it takes to be a successful Officer.

I have been an Officer in xeno for 1103 days. Which is 157 weeks. Or 26,472ish hours. Or in simple terms, just over 3 years. (http://www.timeanddate.com/date/duration.html is fun).

Within a few days I had read through the threads of the Officer forums on our site. One of them was the contact information of the other Officers, who all used an instant messaging program called "gtalk". The rest is history. Hundreds of thousands (possibly an exaggeration, but not by much) of chats later, this is still our main method of communication. Sure, during a raid, we use the in-game O chat. Sure, I have the cell phone numbers of almost everyone so that I can contact them by text message if I'm going to be late or, gasp, the electricity/internet go down. But for day to day communication about what we want to see happen with the guild, we use gtalk.

Gtalk is google's free instant messaging service. It can be downloaded and installed on your computer or smart phone, or if you are in a place where that is a no-no, it can be accessed through gmail.com. Which is what makes gtalk perfect for government employees like me. Well except for that small feeling of guilt I have occasionally, but that's easily dispelled when I think about the fact that I could be on ebay or some other website wasting time instead of just discussing guild matters.

When it came time for me to upgrade my old Motorola Razr, my main criteria in choosing a new phone was making sure it was capable of running gtalk. I've had my Blackberry for almost a year now, and I have never regretted purchasing it. Being able to chat with my wow friends keeps me sane when I'm at zoo court waiting on another annoying defense attorney.

It's not uncommon for me to have 2-3 chat windows open with different officers. Of course, we're not always discussing the intricacies of the three tank strategy for Ignis. Most of the time, we're just chatting about various things. But when we are in the midst of a heated debate about policy I know I can hash out my thoughts with any of them before posting on our forums. And, in my opinion, that easy means of communication is one of the things that keeps us going.

So, whether you choose to use gtalk or some other instant messaging program, contact both in and out of the game is essential for Officers in a guild. You need to be able to speak to each other about the big things and the little things and just the every day gripes that will develop. Otherwise you grow apart and start to think you're in this all alone.

File 13

2009-05-13T22:25:00.003-06:00

wtb more Ulduar trash.

I know, you think I'm crazy. You think I hit my head in a freak accident slipping on a banana peel. You think I was kidnapped by clowns (not the sad hobo kind, but the creepy happy ones). And you might be right. (Not about the clowns; I'd remember being surrounded by big red noses and bright orange hair.)

I guess I should be more specific. Because in many places there is too much trash. Is it really necessary to have quite so many freaking flowers in Freya's room? We get it. She's a tree hugger. Can't she just hug the inanimate kind and not so flipping many of the mean flowers. You know, on the few occasions people have sent me flowers, none of them attacked me and 24 of my best friends. I'm just saying.

There's also a few too many worms. I like finding the occasional worm hiding under a rock (or snow drift) just as much as the next computer nerd. But I don't really need to have those same 24 best friends flying into said drifts and bringing back so many wriggly pals. One or two, sure. I'm only asking for a little moderation, here; I'm not discriminating against the no-peds.

The place I would like to see more trash (just a tad, mind you) is from Assembly of Iron to Auriaya. And I fully admit that I'd like to see this change purely for selfish reasons. You see, I often (not all the time because Srom rocks, and even Blue is stepping up to do his share) keep track of our raid points and loot during raids. And when I do, I generally load the loot immediately after a boss kill and then reload my UI to update the ingame whisper mod that allows people to check their point balance. My computer is a bit slow to load. So this process takes a little while. In addition to running the RP system, I also normally make the healing assignments. And despite the use of a couple of different mods, I haven't been able to make that quite as simple as I'd like.

I need more trash to have time to do everything.

That's not too much to ask, right? Just a few more mobs. They can be simple mobs. You can even name them "Slowtams" or something. I'm not that picky.

I just wtb more trash.

Fragments of Drama

2009-05-02T10:42:00.007-06:00

xeno has it's first Fragment of Val'anyr.

Our discipline priest outbid a holy priest by a tiny (and by tiny, I mean miniscule) amount on Thursday to purchase the right to one day equip a gavel of awesomeness. A long time ago--back in the MC days--we decided that when loot comes in the form of many smaller drops that need to be combined together to actually make anything useful, we bid on the first piece and subsequent drops automatically go to the winner as long as they are in the raid.

Before you ask, I wasn't in the running. Our loot is always decided by bid, and at the time I had about 800 points less than those involved in the RP bid war. I like to pick up cheap pieces instead of letting them be disenchanted, so I'm bad at saving RP.

Here's the situation:

Both priests have been in the guild for years. One is a founding member of the guild, and the other has been around since I joined in 2006. The second one has left us for other guilds (following her husband) and returned to us. She's always been a priest; the other has been a mage (vanilla), rogue (BC), death knight (early WotLK), and priest (WotLK).

I've touched on our RP/Loot system in the past, but basically you earn points for attending raids, showing up on time, and staying for the hard stuff. These two priests were neck and neck, the discipline priest edged out the holy priest when he had to miss a raid due to his girlfriend's knee surgery. So it does totally suck for him that she edged ahead by such a small margin when he was doing the right thing.

I'm friends with both of them. The discipline priest and I probably talk more now, but that is a pretty recent development. She used to always be busy with her husband who is also in the guild, but currently taking a break. He's kinda...hard to ignore. I've been closer to the holy priest in the past than I am now, but we're still friends and have met in real life a number of times.

There was a pause after he typed "all" on Thursday, then she followed suit and her "all" beat his. To his credit, he didn't cause a scene, which is something we all know he's capable of. Instead, he got really quiet in vent. I've heard through the grapevine that he may stop playing his priest and try to go back to raiding on his death knight. I hope that doesn't happen, but if he makes that choice, we will follow our guild policies, founding member or not.

I'm glad we got a fragment. I'm glad we were organized enough years ago to figure out how to handle similar situations, so we weren't scrambling to decide who to give it to. And I'm not sad that the discipline priest won the auction. I will be sad if a good healer gives up because of a piece of loot. But I will deal with the fallout if necessary. Bring on the Drama!

Sweet Bye and...Hi

2009-04-28T22:51:00.004-06:00

Quick updates:

No, I didn't quit WoW, although it was kinda touch and go there for a while before patch 3.1.

I ended up spending a week in Texas at the end of March/beginning of April for my Granny's funeral. Yeah, the one with the lace curtains. I didn't play at all while I was there, which was actually kind of nice. I got to do things like help my sister-in-law plan for Vacation Bible School and watch my niece and nephew do cool kid things. Although I miss my grandmother, the service was actually really nice--my brothers and I sang at the funeral and got two thumbs up from our critic (so the critic is also our father, and he always gives us thumbs up, but this time he really meant it) and even got my grandfather to nod his head to our version of "Sweet By and By."

Before I left, we managed to get "Undying" with our 10 man group, which finished up the meta achievement for two of our members. Grats to Whammie and Kromise for their Plagued Proto-Drakes. But Whammie needs to stop posting it in chat or he may have a mysterious accident when he goes to visit the Floridians next week.

Since 3.1, our guild has downed Flame Leviathon, Razorscale, Ignis, Deconstructor, and Kologarn with our 25 man raids, and our 10 man group has killed all those plus Iron Council, Auraiya, Thorim and Freya. So raiding is going pretty well.

In real life news, I'm starting the job hunt (with knowledge of my boss) with the intent of moving back to Texas. First choice is to return to the Lubbock area. And since it's early in the hunt, that is my focus. Later on I might settle for anything that gets me back into the Lone Star State, but for now, I'm focusing on being able to move back there.

I guess that's all for now. Happy raiding.

Undying Conspiracy

2009-03-21T08:15:00.005-06:00

Our dedicated 10 man Naxx group decided a while back that rather than become "alt friendly" (although we do have two guys with healer/tank alts that switch it up), we would focus on getting some achievements done.

I think I've stated before that I don't actually hate achievements, I'm just not as obsessed by them as a lot of people have become. The two that I would really like to have are Undying and The Immortal. As a healer, I like the challenge of trying to make it all the way through a late night Naxx without letting anyone die.

The trouble is, we seem to be cursed with really bad luck. I know that these achievements require perfection (or the ability to save the day) on boss fights, but, for the most part, our recent failures haven't been user error. They've been flukes.

I wasn't there, but three weeks ago, we had a poorly timed taunt between our main tank and off tank on Gluth. The report I received said: "Basically, our druid was off tanking Gluth and the warrior told him to taunt. Just as a decimate hit. And well, you can guess how that went. The warrior was watching his debuffs and not the decimate timer."

Two weeks ago, we made it all the way to Kel'Thuzad. A retadin 'sploded, but the healers managed to save him. Unfortunately, his life dipping was only an instant before our elemental shammy was iceblocked. In my defense, he was the one person who had stepped out of my range. But that's no excuse. Three healers should have been able to save him--if our attention hadn't been on saving the pally one second before.

Last week, our Canadian friends had some internet issues. These issues decided to present themselves after we started the Heigan dance. We kept one of them (a healer) alive until he could make it up on the platform, but his counterpart happened to be our main tank.... We weren't as successful with him. The raid broke up after that, but he reported that he had no more lag the entire evening.

This week started out promising despite the fact that the same Canadian duo were at a BSG-themed lan party (meaning slightly buzzed and sharing the internets). We wouldn't let them talk about BSG, but the run itself was going well. We breezed through Heigan. Recovered from a miscommunication on Four Horsemen. And even managed to survive a kinda rocky Grobbulus (there were WAY too many slimes at one point for comfort). Everyone seemed to be on the ball, and even if we had some minor mishaps, we were surviving them. Until Gluth. There we all are, preparing for the Decimate. The Holy Priest had a binding heal cued up to land on the adds tank and himself as soon as the cast finished. I had a chain heal going on the tanks/melee in the front. And the pally was doing his pally thing. We were set. We weren't going to let everyone down. This was the week we'd make it.

Only it wasn't. Apparently there is a known (but not known to us) bug where if you use commanding shout or a warlock imp during the Gluth fight, the encounter can miscalculate how much health you actually have when dispensing the Decimate damage. And instead of taking you to mostly dead...it takes you to overly dead. All three healers died. Instantly. Our preparatory casts were useless to save us or anyone else. I used my reincarnate and we ended up killing the boss, but over half the raid died.

So I guess this week we should research and try to find any other obscure bugs that will ruin our chances at this achievement. Damnit, I want to get Undying so I can stop staying up all night, or at least start taking the Shadow Priest. It's a conspiracy. I know it is.

Image courtesy of Toothpaste for Dinner.

You Know It's a Bad Raid Night When...

2009-03-12T22:23:00.003-06:00

1. You get the message from your raid leader that his cable car crashed on his evening commute. And you tell him his night isn't going to get better once he's home....

2. Your main tank has a note next to his sign up saying he will be an hour late. And everyone is surprised that the raid doesn't start on time.

3. The wait list has two names on it. And both of those are people you'd think twice about having dps in a nostalgia run to BRD.

4. Your healing corps includes that player who has to link all of her gear to the raid to determine whether a drop is an upgrade. And she seems surprised when you point out that healers don't need hit.

5. Your hunter has to go buy ammo. Not just once.... Twice....

Shaking Things Up...Again

2009-03-05T07:24:00.003-07:00

Quick Updates:

It looks like I totally failed as a blogger in the month of February. In my defense, not a ton was going on in game (at least for me) and I was studying, or at least feeling guilty about not studying, for the Bar Exam. The test is now over, and things are starting to get back to normal.

I was reminded today at work that every case, no matter how small it seems to me, is vitally important to someone. This may sound like a lofty statement or a moment of true enlightenment about my role in the justice system, but that's only because I just finished a successful Heroic Naxx run and picked up a few more achievements necessary for the fast mount that I say I don't want, but really wouldn't mind having. What I really mean by that pompous sentence is that a petty misdemeanor case (0ne I never should have agreed to prosecute in the first place) totally killed my buzz from prosecuting a guy charged with 11 felonies today. I spent approximately four hours of my day negotiating a plea agreement with a thug facing enough charges to send him away for over 20 years. Then I spent three hours and fifteen minutes working with a witness from a case that carries a maximum penalty of a $500 fine and three months in the county jail (with good time, that would be about 45 days, tops). I came out of the interview room wanting to hurt someone--I mentioned the THREE hours, right? Good thing I made it home just in time to raid.

More related to WoW, I've spent the last few days totally overhauling my UI, for like the 15th time. I still have a few issues to work out like fine tuning Grid and Clique a bit more and perfecting my buff/debuff displays. Although I'm not the one to cost us the Immortal achievement tonight, watching for the polarity shifts on Thaddeus was a little nervewracking with the new set up. So I'll try to perfect that over the weekend. Here are the latest screenshots, both in and out of a raid.

We now return...

2009-02-26T22:49:00.002-07:00

to our regularly scheduled programming.

Or nearly anyway. I finished up the test today at approximately 3:30 pm Texas time. After a nice dinner with friends, I headed back to my parent's house which is about 2 hours away from Dallas. I'm so glad to be here. Mase's futon was a great place to crash, but I'm looking forward to a nice night in a real bed where I'm not disrupting anyone else's routine. I'm also really looking forward to sleeping right on through that whole 5:30 am thing. Ugh, I really prefer thinking that there is only one 5:00 on the clock.

I've returned just in time to get to help calm down the drama llama in our guild. We seem to have developed another small case of the doldrums. We have a few newer 80s joining a few established 80s who fill dps roles who are unhappy with the state of our raiding recently. With me basically being on hiatus for at least the past two weeks, the unfortunate timing of some other real life issues for people--including tanks and healers, and the state of end game raiding in general (meaning boring), our raids have become more infrequent and frustrating. Although I sympathize with the people angry over confirmations--again--we're working on the problems and doing our best. Airing the grievances is a two-sided sword. It's probably good that they feel like we have to take their complaints into consideration, but they are mostly spewing problems and not trying to help with solutions.

Oh well, that is a problem for another day. And we will weather this like we have weathered drama storms before. But for now, I'm just going to curl up on my bed and sleep until I wake up. Happy gaming, all.

This is a test. This is only a test.

2009-02-23T20:39:00.004-07:00

The torture starts tomorrow. Two and a half days of fun fun testing. When I have stopped having nightmares about the Rule Against Perpetuities, I'll start posting more regularly again.

Until then, have fun in WoW. I vaguely remember how to play...

"chock full of hoot, just a little bit of nanny"

2009-02-18T18:31:00.008-07:00

Sromkie: @Silver Did you watch the Buffy series when it was on TV (or DVDs since)?
Silver: No, I never did watch the Buffy series. I assumed it was cheesy due to Sarah Michelle Gellar being in it. Was I wrong?
Sromkie: ok... you should rent the seasons on DVD.... Season 1 isn't the greatest, but it gets really good. Anyway, you need to see it before I can point you to something else to read.
Silver: Ok, I'll check it out. How many seasons are there?
Sromkie: 7!
Silver: O.o
Sromkie: it's worth it though. Get crackin'!
Verm: Just start with the first season and decide if you want more after you finish it.
Tam: Buffy go!
Silver: All the peer pressure! :) I guess I'll add Buffy to my list.
Sromkie: Well, I would say at least give it until half way through season 2. Season 1 was still finding its legs. you'll enjoy it.
Sromkie: @Tam, please explain to @Silver how watching the series is vitally important to understanding the Season 8 comics.
Silver: @Tam Yes, please do as @Sromkie instructed. I am curious.

Watching my Twitter list over the last 24 hours has been a study in how I end up doing Sromkie's dirty work. I'm pretty sure I said all of two words about Buffy and suddenly I'm explaining why watching seven seasons of a television series is vital to understanding a comic book.

I'll admit that vital may be pushing it, but it's hard to imagine being drawn into the Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8 comic books without knowing the background from the television show. So to start off Silver's lessons, I asked him to give me a run-down of what he does know about the show. And for fun, I pulled Thren in, too.

Pretty blonde girl (PBG from here forward) is born with some crazy power to fight and kill demons and vampires. PBG doesn't want this power and tries to deny it, but people around her tell her that she can't deny it and she must follow through with her destiny. PBG begins hunting demons and vampires and makes some friends along the way who have the same, or similar, powers. Throughout the series, PBG makes out with a lot of hot, spikey haired boys and creates some drama. Amidst PBG's drama, she has to deal with her friend's who create their own relationship issues at the same time as she's fighting off thousand-year-old demons and vampires. PBG has some close calls and almost dies a few times, but she miraculously comes back to life and picks up the killing right where she left off. Meanwhile, one of her spikey haired boyfriends betrays her and she has to kill him, which makes her very upset. About midway through the series, she has to think of some way to keep people interested, so her and her friends come up with some crazy new vampire/demon killing technology to make things more interesting. In the end, half of her friends die and she ends up alone, having killed every demon/vampire that the underworld has thrown at her. Roll credits.
~Silver

Ok so I think Buffy is a high school student, though she really looks more like she's in college. Ooo I think the name of her school or town or somesuch has Sunny in the name. I suppose that's designed to be "oh ho funny," because it turns out there's a portal or gate or something in the town that leads to hell. Oops! How'd that get there?

So I guess all they have in hell is vampires, because that's what Buffy has to fight. I think the librarian at the school gives her assignments or tutors her in the stabbing arts or something. There are 2 other sidekicks, both of whom probably also don't look like high school students. At some point, Buffy falls in love with a vampire named David Boreanaz. I only remember this because he is also in the show Bones, which I rather like.

There is a sordid love affair between everyone on the show at some point. Buffy can't NOT fall in love with vampires, so eventually someone probably gets hurt by one. Does she even sleep with the librarian? I think Tim Curry should have played the librarian.

I'm pretty sure that's the plot for all 7 seasons. Buffy kills vampires using her cheerleader skillset, which apparently includes stabbing motions. That's all I know about the plot of Buffy.
~Thren

Seasons 1-7 of Buffy span three years of High School and the four years after graduation. A lot happens to normal people during those years; they go from being awkward teenagers answering to parents, teachers, and any other "grownup" they encounter to being considered "grownups" themselves and expected to know the answer. For Buffy and pals, add in monsters, magic, and momentous moments. And over the course of 144 episodes, there are a lot of monsters and moments. Although the show never really lost its continuity, there is a big difference between Episode 1 of Season 1, Welcome to the Hellmouth, and the Series Finale of Season 7, Chosen. More than just seven years of life have linked these characters, they have celebrated the good times, suffered through the bad, and helped each other survive everything a gifted writing staff could throw at them.

So why can't you just take all of that on faith and jump into the Season 8 comics? I guess you could...if you're ok with missing the nuances of relationships. Good books, movies, and television shows do more than just tell you a story, they make you care about the people caught inside it. And Buffy the Vampire Slayer is no different. Sure, in Episode 1 you might think Buffy is a shallow sophomore wearing trendy clothes and butchering the English language. But by Episode 144, you've watched her sweat, bleed, and cry over all the badness in the world. You've watched her laugh in the face of overwhelming odds and get the job done even when it's not a fun or glamorous job. You've watched her make friends with two fairly awkward teenagers who grow into pretty incredible people. And you've seen her hurt them, intentionally and unintentionally.

Again, it might be possible to just accept that the characters have a history and hope you can catch up. But the books don't dumb it down for you. They fully expect that you will have some knowledge of the Buffyverse, and not just the basics. You need more than just "Blonde Girl Have Power/Blonde Girl Have Friends." You don't need to have stretches of dialogue memorized, but you need to know some of the things that have happened to these characters to fully understand the stories being told in Season 8--because reading a story about what happens after the end, always makes you wonder about what happened before. The villains from Seasons 1-7 may not make a big comeback in Season 8, but some of the more memorable minor characters play a part in the story arc. The main characters have definitely morphed from gangly, but witty, teenagers into powerful fighters in their own right. And the journey from High School Library to command center is worth sticking around for, after all, as Oz says, it's "chock full of hoot, just a little bit of nanny."

Heart Candy, Skimpy Dresses, and a Naked Goblin

2009-02-14T18:50:00.002-07:00

Happy "Valentine's Day" to those of you who like it. Happy "Ugh...Hearts" day to those of you who don't.

I spent a small amount of time doing the Love is in the Air quests on Tamzz today. Mostly because she didn't have a Lovely Red Dress. I didn't take the time to do all the holiday achievements, which I may regret at some point. But I didn't do all the Lunar Festival ones either, so meh. I don't actually mind the in-game Valentine's Day festivities that much, but the number of gaudy flower bouquets the secretaries received at work yesterday made me throw up a little in my mouth. I fully admit that my V Day attitude is directly proportional to the likelihood of me actually getting a present. So this year it sucked...unless a Valentine's Day card from my parents makes up for no roses. Pretty sure it doesn't.

If the internet died...

2009-02-12T20:02:00.009-07:00

What would you do if the internet died tomorrow? You wake up, and the internet is just...dead. Forever.

This frightening question appeared as Silver's status message yesterday. And, after my panic attack ended, I decided to answer it.

Remember how to pay bills by check.
Shop by paper catalog and phone, meaning switch the X and the V in the product code and end up with yellow pants.
Read more books...that don't come from Amazon.
Find a local bookstore.
Convert my computer desk into a puzzle assembly area. (The desk is already used to my nerdiness...it could adapt to puzzles...maybe...)
Go to the gym...ok, that's just crazy talk.
Subscribe to the local paper.
Go back to not caring what people from high school do now.
Write real letters that I forget to send.
Use the actual books at the law library to look up stuff.
Get rid of my Blackberry.
Write a book.
Tune in to the radio or TV when the weather looks bad.
Buy a set of encyclopedias from a traveling salesman.
Never stop that weird nagging feeling by finding out what else an actor has been in.
Call the movie theater's phone line for movie times.
Actually have to talk to co-workers instead of e-mailing them. Or develop a way to make paper airplanes fly down the hall a la Harry Potter.
NEVER see another chain e-mail telling me that the only way to prove how friendly/loving/Christian/patriotic I am is to forward it to 53 people within 6.7 minutes.
Not know where to purchase Viagra.
Forget how to speak lolcat.
Actually laugh out loud.
Use a travel agent. Or stop traveling.
Miss the season finale to The Guild.
Stop using the words "fail" and "horribad."
Do the Draenei female dance while I'm alone in my apartment.

Hope I didn't scare you too much with that last one.

I'm off to watch Heroes on Hulu and catch up on the xeno forums.

Edit: The xeno forums timed out. Ahhhhhhhhhhh. It's really happening! Noooooooooooooo.

Eye Exam?!! But I Didn't Study!

2009-02-08T22:30:00.001-07:00

I went to a new Optometrist last week. I've worn glasses/contacts since 5th grade, so it's not a new experience for me. But this was a more interesting trip than usual. First of all, when I started trying to find a doctor here in town, I should have been suspicious when I recognized this guy's name. I've mentioned before that if I recognize someone at Wal-Mart, it's most likely not because they've brought me cookies--they have probably been to court for breaking the law. But I didn't worry about that when I made my appointment. This guy took my insurance, had an appointment time that fit my schedule, and was close to the office.

When I walked in, the lady who handed me my initial paperwork looked familiar. It didn't take me long to realize that I recognized her from Juvie Court. The Optometrist's son was in court a few months back for basic stupidity and hanging with the wrong crowd. Once I met the Optometrist, he recognized me and I got to talk about work some. I don't really like talking about what I do for a living with people that I've had to do it to--something about knowing I helped send your kid to rehab makes the normal jokes inappropriate. I can't joke about upholding justice one fine at a time, or mention that stupidity means job security. So mostly I just have to smile and nod a lot.

Anyway, so I have new glasses coming next week and I can't wait. I wasn't really happy that they use snail mail to get the glasses instead of having one of those one hour turn around labs or even same day service. It seems like lately everywhere I look I'm reminded that this is a small town two hours away from the nearest real place to shop, go out to eat, etc. He did have all the new-fangled eye-exam gizmos though, along with the standard ones, so that's ok I guess. I just hope I passed the test; he kept asking me which was better: 1 or 2. And honestly, sometimes I really wanted to pick 3 for none of the above. Maybe I've just been studying for the Bar Exam too much lately.

And to sorta relate this back to WoW...I ordered new headphones last night hoping that they will work better and stop pushing my glasses into my head when I'm on vent. I hope they don't suck.

/ramble

Why Now?

2009-02-08T21:14:00.008-07:00

Well it's official, I've quit WOW. Now to be fair, I've quit before and I won't swear I won't play again. I started playing in February of 2005. I played for a year and a half and quit. It was the right decision at the time, but I did miss it. I wasn't a very serious player at that time. I started playing WOW as a resto druid and then started a warlock to level with my friend whom I'd talked into playing (Tam.)

So I took off a year and then decided to start playing again. The main reasons I came back: 1. My husband started playing again 2. I missed Tam 3. I missed playing the game in general 4. boredom. I came back with BC in full swing and decided to continue on with my warlock. I really enjoyed playing her and found it painful to level my druid.

So I became more serious about the game. I tried to research more and actually begin raiding. I also really enjoyed the people in our guild. I have fond memories of ARCOG with Verm. I got my first epic there and I loved that instance. I was so proud to be a part of the first Illidian kill. It seemed our guild had the right mixture of drive to get it done, but enough character to make it fun in the process. I even went to three guild outings and it was fun each time.

I'll be honest... I was dreading WoTLK coming out. I knew it meant major change and I don't do well with change. But I tried to level quickly and get back in shape to raid again.

So why did I decide to quit? Several reason: 1. game content was too easy. Not that I'm not saying it was too easy for me personally. I was usually behind the curve. However, it was too easy for our guild, so attitudes changed. 2. Guild changed - I knew where I stood pre-WoTLK. Now it was different. I felt that dps ruled all. I know it's important... but it didn't matter if you could follow orders, show up on time, come prepared or just plain and simple be decent to work with. DPS was what mattered. So it's a personal thing, but quite frankly I got tired of feeling rejection every week when confirmations were made. I got tired of worrying that I was abusing my friendship (unintentionally) to get confirmations. I was tired of worrying about competing with someone I really don't know or care to know. Most of all I didn't like feeling like I was being used to prove the power that some people have. 3. I have 2 wonderful little daughters that I felt I needed to devote more time to. So I felt guilty no matter what. If I spent more time with them then I wasn't as ready for raid as I should have been and didn't so as much research as I should have. If I spent more time on WOW then I felt my daughters missed out. If I played less I missed being with my husband and Tam and being a part of the guild. It was a no win situation.

So I quit. I'm happy with my decision. And I really don't miss it. My nights feel so long now - which is a good thing. I'm free to go do whatever any night of the week. I don't feel that panic and pressure on raid nights worrying about how I'm going to get everything done in time to raid. The down side is I really miss the friends I had in the guild. I know besides Tam I probably won't see or talk to them again :( I'll really miss their companionship over the last few years.
So there it is. Why I quit. Why I'm happier now. Why I really think I won't be coming back to WOW. (But we all know it has a way of sucking you back in muhahahaha.)

Feel the Love?

2009-02-04T22:31:00.004-07:00

Eyonix gave us a bit of a preview of upcoming Priest, Rogue and Shaman changes in Patch 3.1. Although my Rogue was my first toon, she's sitting in Borean Tundra at level 70.6, so the Rogue changes don't really matter to me too much at this point. The proposed Priest and Shaman changes, however, make me cautiously optimistic.

Shaman Changes
Most of the Shaman changes (listed in full below) are for Enhancement or Elemental Shamans. The main change for we healy types is in the continued streamlining of totems. No longer will we have to choose between a Mana Spring or Healing Stream Totem; they will be combined. This is a small but awesome change for us. There are times that the steady stream of heals would be useful, but I just can't bring myself to use Healing Stream when my party (or sometimes, just me) is begging for mana. Less exciting, but still cool is the introduction of a combined Poison and Disease Cleansing Totem. In certain areas of Naxxramus this will rock. We will just have to see if there are more fights in future instances that require simultaneous cleansing of poisons and diseases. Now if they'd only give us a Virus Obliterating Totem so I could cure Sromkie of his cold, I'd be a very happy camper.

Priest Changes
The Priest changes are more exciting and should make our holier than thou friends very happy. Mase's main complaint about the Circle of Healing nerf was that Blizzard didn't give Priests anything in trade. Priests are my favorite healers because of their versatility, but that versatility makes many of them grumpy because they aren't the best at any one thing. The proposed changes give them more toys to play with and some additional AOE healing tricks. Prayer of Healing won't be confined to the Priest's own group anymore, so they will be able to cast it on any group in the raid. (Ladyspam will finally be able to heal someone who isn't in her group!)

The coolest sounding new spell is Power Word: Barrier, a Discipline only spell that will bubble the Priest's group. We'll have to see if this raid wide as well and how exactly it works, but I like the sound of it. It may end up moving Discipline Priests back into the tank or melee group.

It also looks like Blizzard is moving forward with their plans to make healers have to think about a spell rotation--at least in a small sense. Riptide followed by a Chain Heal results in a huge heal on the target, so Resto Shamans should be somewhat familiar with this already. Now our Priestly friends may get a taste with the changes to Serendipity, however, it looks like this talent will only reduce the cast time of Greater Heal or Prayer of Healing without increasing the amount healed, but it still seems like a step towards a spell rotation for Holy Priests.

Overall, I'm happy about the changes, and even more excited to see what else they have in store for us in 3.1. I know the details of the class changes will likely change many times before the patch hits, but it's nice to know what the develpers are thinking about. I just hope that 3.1 comes out soon.

PRIEST

Divine Spirit – this spell is now a core ability available to all priests.

Discipline has access to a new talent, Power Word: Barrier. (Think of it as Power Word: Shield for your whole group).

Several area of effect (AOE) heal spells have been improved: Prayer of Healing can be cast on any groups in your raid party. Holy Nova’s mana cost has been reduced. Circle of Healing now heals for more.

Shadow priest PvP survivability has been improved: Shadow Form now reduces magic as well as physical damage. Dispersion now removes snares.

Penance – this spell can now be targeted on the priest.

Serendipity – this talent now reduces the cast time of Greater Heal and Prayer of Healing when Binding Heal or Flash Heal are cast.

We are also working to give Holy additional PvP utility.

ROGUE

Hunger for Blood – instead of a self-buff, this ability can only be used when there is a bleed effect on the target. However, it has no stacks and grants a 15% damage bonus.

Adrenaline Rush – the cooldown on this ability has been lowered.

Lightning Reflexes – reduced to 3 ranks. In addition to 2/4/6% dodge, this talent now also grants 4/7/10% passive melee haste.

Killing Spree – while this ability is active, the rogue does 20% additional damage.

Savage Combat – now causes 2/4% physical damage done.

Mace Specialization – this talent now grants haste in addition to armor penetration.

SHAMAN

Chain Lightning – now jumps to 4 targets but does less damage. We wanted to make the distinction between Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning more clear.

Storm, Earth and Fire – this talent now increases all damage done by Flame Shock, not just periodic damage.

Spirit Weapons – now reduces all threat, not just melee threat.

Unleashed Rage – reduced to 2 ranks, now also increases your critical strike chance with melee attacks by 1/2%.

Totem streamlining: The Mana Spring and Healing Stream Totems have been combined. The Disease Cleansing and Poison Cleansing Totems have been combined.

We are also working on giving Enhancement and Elemental more PvP utility.

Christmas Eve, Memorial Day Weekend, and Superbowl Sunday

2009-02-02T23:50:00.000-07:00

What are days to avoid Wal*Mart?

I needed to stop by Wally World this weekend to pick up a small appliance for my kitchen and grab some groceries. I knew going in this was a bad idea. My town has a population of about 20k...during the week. On weekends we swell to closer to 100k because so many people from the rural areas come in to shop, do laundry, and party. You can find most of them at Wal*Mart. After fighting my way through the crowds to grab some necessities, I parked myself in line to check out. A couple of women were in front of me (probably sisters or cousins) with their kids in tow. Each lady had a full cart, and 2 or 3 kids...maybe less, but it felt like more.

One of the kids was a very cute girl with a long black braid. She was probably about 5 years old. I first noticed her when she wandered over to the impulse buy area next to me. She was trying to put some Chapstick in her jeans pocket. A 5 year old shoplifter. /sigh. She saw me watching her and slowly put the Chapstick down on the bottom shelf, near the batteries. She came back to the Chapstick after my attention drifted for a second. This time, her mother told her to "Stop it!" and distracted her with a Blues Clues Gogurt. After the little girl finished her yogurt drink, she put it down on the counter and walked back to "her" Chapstick. Knowing she wouldn't get away with taking it now that both I and her mother had seen her playing with it, she just took the cap off and used some instead.

Moral of the story: Don't buy unpackaged Chapstick at Wal*Mart. Or go shopping on Sunday afternoons.

Anatomy of a Healer: the UI

2009-01-31T20:46:00.001-07:00

The User Interface of a computer game is one of it's most important hooks. No matter how pretty a game is, if you can't figure out how to perform basic functions easily, you probably won't play for long. World of Warcraft's UI can be customized to fit your play style, and tweaking your UI can make your reaction time faster and the survivability of both you and your group or raid go up.

So how can you take your screen from out of control to controlled chaos?

Then:

Although I'm embarassed to show the screenshot to the right, that really is my Priest healing in Molten Core. It's a miracle that I didn't fall into the lava and burn to death every week (I'm not saying I never did, just that it's amazing I didn't do it more often). Not only is it ugly (/shudder), it is hideous. Ok, so yeah, the ugly factor is what is most apparent. But it's also not good to have a 3 inch square of actual visibility. With all the information overload on the screen (most in bulky frames that overpower the environment) it's hard to tell where exactly I was standing, much less see what scary thing might have been heading my way. Luckily, mod makers have come a long way and I've found ways to condense the information while still having access to it. (A larger monitor helps too. At the time of this screenshot my monitor was a 15". So the picture is pretty close to actual size.)

The important information displayed on the screen includes:

Raid Frames (they're huge!)
Buff Durations
Target and Target's Target Frames
Incoming Heals/Heals Cast on the Target (the huge box in the bottom right is tracking who the healers are targeting)
Resurrection Monitor
Damage/Healing Meter (I'm winning, otherwise it wouldn't be that important)
Chat Box (where we're discussing a drama magnet in Officer chat...some things never change)
MiniMap (so I can get lost)

Now:
A little over two years later, my UI looks more like this. Most of the information is still available to me, but the overall feel of the screen is more open. I now actually get to see the fights, which is incredibly important with nearly every encounter requiring heightened awareness of what is going on around you. I now also have room to see who has used a cooldown, countdowns on boss abilities, and a truncated combat log.

In my current UI, there are five main areas that I focus on.

The Boss Mod (I use BigWigs) announces important phases of the fight at the top center of my screen. This place of prominence is out of my way, but still noticeable enough to be ready for Deep Breaths or Lava Waves (most of the time).
The center area is reserved for my cast timer and situational awareness. The scrolling combat text that floats at the edge of this area also makes it easy to notice the big heals that land and, conversely, the ones that are all overheal so I can judge whether or not my healing rhythm is in sync or not.
The player bar has a lot of crucial information. My totems and their duration are prominantly displayed above the health bar, as is the timer on Water Shield. All buffs are arranged beneath the mana bar. And debuffs appear to the left of my name.
My raid frames are also packed with information. Player health bars are colored by class, and players with aggro turn a bright red. Players in range of my totems have the buffs below their bars, so I can tell if we've moved too far out of range and I need to drop them again. I accidentally deleted the names from my raid frames a while back, and, for the most part, I like it this way. If I hover over a player, the name will appear on the screen, but, in the heat of battle, who I am healing doesn't matter. I've always joked about having a "No Heal" list, but I clearly don't. I don't usually even know which dps I'm healing at any given time. The green oval shows my group, which generally has other healers in it. I try to watch their mana to judge when to drop my Mana Tide Totem.
My Shaman mod, TotemTimers allows me to see what totems I am using as well as quickly change them in mid-fight. A pop up menu appears when I hover my mouse over the bar, so I can switch from Mana Spring to Poison Cleansing or from Strength of Earth to Tremor when needed. Over to the right, it tracks my Reincarnate, Shields, and Weapon Buffs.

How Did it Evolve?
I am constantly tweaking my UI, and I'm proud of how much better it looks now than in Molten Core. But it is also more informative without being overwhelming now. But how did I get it to this point? I started by researching compilations of mods on Curse and WoWInterface. Once I found one with a screenshot that appealed to me, I downloaded it and began tweaking. Over time, many of the individual mods have needed to be replaced, and I've learned how to configure their replacements to do what I need them to do. It has taken a lot of time, patience, and trial and error to create a UI that works well for my play style. I do not recommend downloading a new compilation or any mod that significantly changes your UI unless you have the time to customize it and try it out in a low-pressure setting. You do not want to try to heal with it right out of the box. But if you take your time and work at it, you just may find that it increases your healing effectiveness to have a UI that is aesthetically pleasing and functional.

I also recommend looking at other people's screenshots. I recruited these two from fellow healers in xeno. Mase's Priest and Moxy's Druid both have effective and appealing UIs. I'm tempted to give Moxy's target set up a try. PlusHeal also has a thread going with a collection of UI screenshots. You never know what great idea you'll be able to steal until you've looked around. There may be an awesome new mod that does exactly what you need just waiting to be discovered on someone else's screen. So keep looking and keep tweaking. Your UI is never done.

For a partial list of mods I use, check out this post.

Why WoW?

2009-01-29T21:11:00.005-07:00

In the midst of an article about the success of World of Warcraft, the Analyst over at MaximumPC posed a question today that caught my interest.

Why do you still play WoW?

With all the frustrations, personality conflicts, and technical difficulties I've experienced over the past three years, why do I still play WoW? It's a timely question because several of my friends and guildmates have made the decision to stop playing. Even Marnas and her husband are quitting the game because of real life concerns. So why, after 40 months of subscription fees, have I never made the same decision?

Here are a few of my reasons.

1. The Story.
I love to read. I own so many books that helping me move is a horrible experience--even moreso than helping most other people move. I read mostly fiction, and I don't mind re-reading a good book.

I also love movies. I can find merit in almost any movie (the only genre I dislike is horror because I can't help jumping). So it seems natural that the text (whether or not you read all of the quests) and the graphics that combine to tell the stories in the game draw me in. It's like being inside a book and a movie at the same time. Paying $15 a month is way cheaper than buying all the books and dvds I'd need to fill up the same amount of time.

2. The Challenge.
I'm quietly competitive. I don't need everyone else to know I'm good as long as I (and a few others) do. WoW has built in goals that keep me moving forward; there's always something else to strive for. I'll never "win." Even though that can occasionally be frustrating, I love that I can always find something to do. I always feel like I should be doing something to make my characters better or help someone else.

3. The People.
I'm a fairly social person, but I live alone and have absolutely no desire for a roommate who doesn't spring for a diamond ring first. I've managed to end up in a town that is scary after dark (not that I was much of a bar or club person anyway) and I mostly only know people from work. When you recognize people at the grocery store and know that that probably means they've spent some time in jail, you learn to keep to yourself.

Plus, I like geeks. And through WoW I've made some realy good friends. Friends that have helped me through panic attacks from a thousand miles away. Friends that will offer me a couch or an air mattress whenever I'm passing through. And friends that will make a vacation way more fun just by showing up.

The commentators over at MaximumPC point out that these things are not exclusive to WoW, and they're right. If Marnas had pushed for me to play another game, I probably wouldn't have a blog about Blizzard's baby. If I hadn't moved out of state and ended up living in a small town with big city crime, I might not play as much. If I liked getting papercuts or having glue stuck to my fingers, I'd be a scrapbooker. None of those if's change what is. And, for the moment, I'm ok with what is. So I'll continue to play WoW and plan vacations with my friends from far off places. Because even when we try to drown a Waverunner or get blisters on our feet, we're still having fun.

xeno Orlando 2006:
xeno Texas 2007:
xeno Toronto 2008:
The Dead Waverunner:

2009-01-28T11:09:00.006-07:00

Wow is a guilty obsession and we all know it. We all know we play too much and have to come up with an excuse about why we can't be available for something besides explaining that we have a raid and 24 other people are depending on us to be there, plus hello loot!

This is one of the reasons I find The Guild hilarious. If you haven't heard of it, check it out. The characters are exaggerations to the extreme and thus quite funny, but we can relate as well. The writer and lead of the show, Codex, actually plays WOW in real life. Check out her teaching Jimmy Fallon how to play WOW. He claimed that when he tried alone, he entered the world, swam for an hour and then was killed immediately by other players until he quit. I thought surely this was a comic exaggeration until I saw he played Draenei - yeah perhaps he did jump in the ocean and swam just to avoid Exodar. It's possible.

So what's my problem with The Guild? Well of course I have to have a complaint, this is a blog. Clara, grr, Clara. If you don't have kids, I'm sure Clara is hilarious. As a mage, Clara plays round the clock just like the rest of the guild. Here's the problem. She has three very small children and a seemingly loving and wonderful husband. She makes me feel very, very guilty about not spending enough time with my kids because I'm playing WOW. Am I Clara? Certainly not! I've never let my 3 old use the microwave alone nor do I cage them so the can't get near me while I'm playing WOW. In the latest episode, Clara sends her husband and children to her sister's wedding without her. She has a raid so makes up an excuse for not going (she's the matron of honor.) So I'm not much like Clara, but the 1% of me that is like her feels guilty.

OK there's my gripe, but the show is great so watch it.

Catching Up

2009-01-26T21:08:00.003-07:00

I've been bad about posting for a few days. I caught a cold last week and instead of spending my self-induced free time (it may be fun to share germs with hated co-workers, but it's even more fun to get to stay home) blogging, I used it to get to 80 on my Shadow Priest. That's her impressive ding to the left. I celebrated by giving her another make-over and committing to the alternative priest lifestyle by getting her some facial markings that evidently mean "shadow."

In real life news, I'm supposed to be studying for a 3 day test that I need to take the last week of February. It will probably mean fewer regular posts for a while, but I'll try to keep posting pretty often. I still have more Anatomy of a Healer posts planned and I'm sure various frustrations will turn into blog fodder. I do promise not to blog about the Rule Against Perpetuities.

Anatomy of a Healer: the Class

2009-01-22T09:30:00.003-07:00

Why is it that looking for the images to accompany my insightful blog posts (it's my blog, I can pretend I'm insightful if I want to) almost takes longer than actually writing them? Today I got distracted by a blog by a med student/resident. Evidently she wants to be a pediatrician (but not the cutesy "here's your lollipop" kind) and has fat cats. Now on to the actual post.

If you don't count rogues with bandages--and you really shouldn't--World of Warcraft has four classes that can choose to heal: Druid, Paladin, Priest, and Shaman. Each is very different both in lore and play style, but all can be excellent at healing. So why should you choose one over the other?

I'm not trying to get into the intricacies of each class, or preach about why one is better than the other. What I do want to do is explain why, to me, it doesn't really matter which you choose, as long as you take the time to be good at what you play. I'm going to oversimplify a lot here. And I'm probably going to get yelled at by my healer friends. Please don't take my statements as gospel, but research your chosen class and read the blogs of people who actually play those characters.

Hybrids:
First of all, all healers are hybrids.

There are four "pure" classes in the game: Hunter, Mage, Rogue and Warlock. These classes cause damage. That is all they can do. If a Rogue respecs from Assasination to Sublety or vice versa, she will still do damage. She does not have a tanking tree or a healing tree--she has three dps trees.

Every other class in the game is a hybrid class. Let me say that again. Every other class--except Hunter, Mage, Rogue and Warlock--is a hybrid class.

I'm sorry for harping on this. But Priests are not pure classes no matter how much a certain guy I know thinks they are. And it's important to think of all healers as hybrids in order to get over certain misconceptions many people have.

Druids:
Now that I've beaten the hybrid concept into the ground, we can focus on the class that is arguably the biggest hybrid of them all. Druids who choose to embrace their outer Barkskin are very powerful healers in Wrath of the Lich King. Restoration druids have many heal over time spells to absorb spiky damage as well as several larger heals that make it possible for them to heal bigger chunks as well. The druid play-style isn't for everyone and requires that you be able to manage a lot of different timers as well as predict who will take damage when. I see druids as proactive healers who can spread their healing over many targets. They are less whack-a-mole and more sand box; they enjoy filling the smaller dips with HoT stacks but are able to pour out more healing on demand to plug the larger holes as well.

Paladins:
Holy Paladins are still great at single target healing, but WotLK gave them more tools to use as well. Playing a paladin well requires quick reactions and is most often seen as whack-a-mole at its finest. I'll admit that I know little about raiding as a paladin. But from what I've read on other blogs, WotLK has given them more flexibility. And I know I'm always glad to have them along.

Priests:
I'm biased. I love the priest class. I chose to bench my priest for a few different reasons, but none of them was because I disliked the class.

Priests are my favorite healers because they have so many different tools to choose from. If you need a priest to be a single-target healer, they will do it. If you need a priest to spot heal the raid, they will do it. If you need a priest to help mitigate incoming damage on a player, they will do it. Priests can do everything, and they can do it all well. I'm not saying that a priest will do better than another class at a specific job, just that they can do any job. Being a good holy or discipline priest requires the same level of dedication as the others with the added burden of choosing the right spell at the right time.

Shamans:
I've talked about shaman healing a bit before, so I won't bore you with all the details here. Wrath of the Lich King gave shamans a few new tricks to make them a little more rounded than they had been before. Chain heal is still what we're known for, but it isn't the only spell in our arsenal, and shouldn't be the only one we use. However, in a raid situation, knowing who to use as the anchor for chain heal based on positioning is very important. Shamans need to have better than average situational awareness (something I'm still working on) in order to choose the right spell to the greatest effect. Using a Chain Heal on the mage who is way out of the group may not be the best choice. Likewise it may be better to cast a Chain Heal on a rogue when those around her are about to take damage than to top her up with a Lesser Healing Wave. I may not advocate true heads up healing, but knowing what is going on around you as well as who is standing where is necessary to be a great shaman healer.

Whack-a-Mole, Sand Box, Heads Up, Spacial Awareness. Whatever you want to call it, healing takes skill, patience and a certain amount of trial and error. I stand behind my assertion that all healing classes can be effective healers. No one class is better than the others, but one class may be better for you.

"Tact is just not saying true stuff. I'll pass"

2009-01-20T07:00:00.003-07:00

10 points if you recognize the quote. 20 if you know the episode.

Being in a leadership position often requires a lot of lip biting (or backspacing). WoW is no different. You need to be able to tactfully tell someone how to improve. You need to be able to explain what they did wrong without hurting their feelings. And you have to stop yourself from lashing out at them for pissing you off--at least most of the time.

And frankly, it sucks.

There are days when I just want to tell it like it is. I want to be able to tell the whiny person that if they get off their ass and get some heroic gear they'd stand a much better chance of getting to raid. I want to be able to tell someone that their efforts to "help" aren't really all that helpful. And I want to be able to throw a hissy fit when things don't go as planned.

But I normally don't.

Because, despite the momentary satisfaction, the fallout is absolutely no fun at all. Having to apologize after blowing up at a guildy (who deserved it) is a lesson in humility I'd rather not have to endure again. Alienating people who help even a little just makes me feel guilty. And publicly freaking out over a botched pull, failed raid, or massive stupidity doesn't make the next pull, raid or stupid person any easier to deal with.

But I think it.

Snarky Tam is alive and well.

Who's the Boss?

2009-01-16T12:14:00.005-07:00

In WoW there are many types of guilds. Many people join a leveling guild soon after beginning to play the game. Others have a group of friends who start a guild of their own. Some end up in twink guilds focused on lower-level PvP. Almost any aspect of the game can be the basis for the commonality needed to make a guild. Well, maybe not fishing. In my experience, raiding and end-game PvE content has led to the creation of the largest number of guilds. These guilds range from the casual to the hardcore and everything in between. And each one is run differently. Many are under the leadership of one person with a vision, but others, like mine, are run by a group of Officers who work together to handle the many responsibilities inherent in a raiding guild that also tries to be a pleasant place for all members.

I have read a few blog posts lately about guilds and how they illustrate how society works on a larger scale. What is expected of a member of a guild is what is expected in all societies--that they do their share to help the group accomplish a common goal. But who sets the goal? Who's the boss?

In some societies--and, by correllation, some guilds--the people at the top of the food chain decide what is important and everyone else falls into line. The people making these decisions are expected to focus on things that benefit the group as a whole, and as long as they do this--or have power over the group members--, they can make the decisions. If they stop making decisions that benefit everyone, they face the risk of revolution (or mass /gquit). In other cultures, the people themselves make their wishes known and do what the majority says. Still others have a combination of the two: a person or persons who lead the group, but who also listen to opinions about what should be done. But what happens when no agreement can be made? What do you do when some people really want to do one thing, others really don't, and the rest don't care enough to express much of an opinion either way?

Our guild is facing this kind of discussion at the moment. I don't want to call it a "problem," at least not yet. Right now we have a few people that really (and I mean vehemently) want to do all of the requirements for the achievement Heroic: Glory of the Raider. The 17 requirements for the Meta-Achievement include killing bosses with fewer than 21 people in the zone, changing strategies to make the fights more difficult, and keeping everyone alive on every boss fight. The reward for completing the achievement is a faster mount.

I'm not going to get into my own personal feelings about the achievement itself. Instead, I want to focus on who gets to make the decision about whether or not we adjust (and in some cases, break) our strategies to do achievements.

I can see both sides of the issue. I understand wanting to feel like you are part of the decision-making process whenever the choice affects you. (After all, that's exactly what I've been whining about in my work situation lately.) But I also know that sometimes decisions have to be made "without input from 30 different people." (Sigh, I seriously just quoted my boss. Don't you hate it when something happens to make you see the other side of the issue and then you find out you agree with the enemy?)

I guess you can figure out that I think the Officers and Raid Leaders should make the final decision about whether or not to switch things around in order to do the achievements. So I guess what I'm saying is we're the bosses. That doesn't diminish your own freedom, you are free to choose for yourselves whether or not to stay or leave, raid or not raid. But the decisions about what happens during a raid are the Officers' responsibility. And I'd appreciate you shutting up about it now.

Goldilocks?

2009-01-14T22:35:00.004-07:00

I read quite a few WoW-related blogs. I don't always agree with every one of the authors, and I don't always care about everything they write, but overall I enjoy hearing from people about all aspects of the game. One of the best things about this is being reminded that there are other people out there wanting something entirely different out of the game than I do. Whether that is every mini-pet available or an AV that lasts 12 hours doesn't matter. What is important is that checking my Reader reinforces the fact that WoW is a game with wide appeal.

But is that wide appeal diluting the things I loved about the game?

My guild is ranked in the top ten on our server (or at least we were the last time I looked at a ranking page), but we aren't cutting edge progression either. We've killed Sartharion with one drake up (did I mention how ridiculously easy that was?) and plan to tackle him with more drakes alive this week. In my almost three years raiding with xeno, we have gone from being a bit behind the raiding curve to being right in the thick of progression guilds. Every step has been a challenge, and overcoming those challenges was part of the appeal of the game. I love the feeling you get when a group of people from all over the world work together to accomplish a goal.

Many of those blogs I mentioned have commented on Blizzard's apparent watering down of the raid content. Most hardcore raiders dislike the trend to make things easier. There have been rants about the changes in WoW reflecting the overall tendency in our culture to make things fair for everyone. There have been parodies comparing WoW raiding to a rollercoaster that can now only go 10 miles per hour. I can understand these authors' viewpoints, but I'm not sure I share them.

Don't get me wrong. I do think that the early raiding content in Wrath of the Lich King has been very easy compared to raid content in both vanilla WoW and the Burning Crusade. But I'm not convinced that this is the end of the game. Blizzard has promised that harder content is coming. And although I've jumped on the "hurry up already" bandwagon, I think that the easier early content will mean that my guild can be part of the cutting edge when it gets here. We're farming Naxx, Eye of Eternity and Obsidian Sanctum. We're gearing up our regular raiders and their subs. We're teaching new members how to raid with us. And we're learning how to work together as a team. All of these things will help us conquer the next wave of content.

Are the raids too easy right now? Possibly. Mama Bear's bowl of porridge was too cold for Goldilocks, too. I'm hoping that Ulduar and the raids that come after that will be just right. And that the early content will have taught us how to use our spoons.

Anatomy of a Healer: Peripherals

2009-01-13T21:39:00.010-07:00

When I first picked up a copy of World of Warcraft (after much badgering by Marnas), I was under the mistaken belief that it would be like every other computer game I'd ever played. I'd played strategy games like Rise of Nations and role playing games like Prince of Persia. I'd even played Warcraft (the original) and Diablo. But the largest number of people I'd ever played those games with was four. I thought I'd load the game on my system and that would be it. I never dreamed that three years later I'd own a special keyboard, a gaming mouse, be constantly seeking a more comfortable (but affordable) headset for vent, and have upgraded not only the memory and graphics card in my computer, but also have purchased a new system--and even have upgraded that.

To start off my Anatomy of a Healer (because really we are a totally different animal than tanks or dps), I thought I'd start by discussing some Peripherals I use now.

Keyboard:
As I have become more and more focused on PvE endgame, I have sought ways to decrease my reaction time. Despite being a typing teacher's daughter and taking a full year of the course in high school (back when we actually used--gasp--typewriters), I fully admit that I have never really mastered the number keys. On a regular keyboard I can hit 1 to 6 fairly reliably. The rest are really beyond me. Especially when my right hand is on a mouse. So for a long time any spells or abilities bound to 7 through = could only be accessed by clicking them. This wasn't necessarily a problem back in 40 man raids when my priest mostly just needed 1 for renew and 2 for flash heal, but as I learned more spells (and went shadow) I needed to be able to hit more keys more quickly.

I currently use the Merc Stealth Gaming Keyboard from Ideazon. And I must say I love it. It combines a regular keyboard with a special keypad. The keypad is offset at a slight angle that has eliminated some minor wrist pain I was experiencing. The number keys are arranged in two rows making it possible for even me to hit all of them when needed. The software allows you to bind keys to any series of strokes you want, making it possible to press one button instead of a complicated series of keys. It takes a little getting used to, but the main drawback I have found is not being able to function on other people's keyboards. I kinda suck on the regular kind now.

Mouse:
I splurged about a year ago and purchased a Razer Diamondback Gaming Mouse. I spent some time looking over the options at a couple of computer stores before making my purchase. The main feature I wanted was a thumb button for my vent bind. I know a lot of other people get fancier with their buttons, but for the most part I'm old school with the mouse. I just wanted it to fit my hand (I have pretty small hands and a lot of the big gaming mice felt awkward to me) and have the thumb button. I appreciate the responsiveness of the Diamondback, and I haven't regretted buying it at all.

Headset:
A few members of my guild often gripe that the Officers don't read Raid Chat. Although I do try to read most of what scrolls through my chat screen, I don't always manage it. And I'm convinced a couple of the other Officers don't really even try. We're vent people, and we'd much rather explain a fight or discuss a problem on our Ventrilo server than try to type it all out. Because of this, I spend at least 11 hours a week wearing a headset. I think I have a permanent indentation on the top of my head where the band sits.

I'm not completely satisfied with the Logitech USB Headset I use, but the microphone doesn't usually make my guildies yell at me, and the sound quality is good. It isn't incredibly comfortable, but that is probably due to the fact that I don't wear it correctly. I run game sounds through my speakers and only use the headphones for vent, so I keep the left earpiece behind my left ear rather than on it. I'm on my second set of similar headphones; they seem to last pretty well even through my rough treatment. I tried using a bluetooth headset for a while, but evidently I sound much better through this headset, and I'm vain enough to not want to sound horrible.

Gaming Peripherals have become big business. Everytime I step foot into BestBuy or another computer store I am amazed at the number of new products taunting me from their shelves. Although I can't bring myself to spend $300 on a headset, I do think the makers of gaming accessories fill a niche in the marketplace. I spend enough time playing, researching, and thinking about WoW to justify making my experience in game comfortable--maybe not $300 comfortable, but even that isn't really absurd. I remember my dad having headphones for listening to his records that I wasn't allowed to touch...I think I once got a spanking just for looking at them. I guess spending big bucks to enjoy your hobby isn't anything new after all.

Minutiae

2009-01-12T21:59:00.003-07:00

I still have thoughts percolating about an Anatomy of a Healer series of posts. They will probably continue to percolate since I'm too tired to actually write much of anything tonight. Maybe tomorrow night I'll finally write something of substance.
My job sucks lately. I know that doesn't matter much, but it's of consequence to me, so there it is. WTB office leadership that can make non-idiotic decisions.
I caved to peer pressure today and signed up for Twitter. @tambarke is me. Not entirely sure why I let Srom and Silver talk me into it, but I did.
We one-shot Heroic Sartharian + 1 for the first time tonight. It was ridiculously easy. I had more challenge in the series of heroic dungeons I put together afterward than in the actual raid. That's sad. I'm jumping on the "I want Ulduar!" bandwagon.
I read Matticus's post today about becoming a successful blogger. Then I ignored it all. Just thought you should know I read it even though I then threw it out the window.
OMG. I need sleep. I almost posted this with the last line reading "I then through it out the window." Ugh.

How to Win Friends and...or not

2009-01-08T22:58:00.002-07:00

Ok, so here's another of those real life posts where I rant about my life even though I know this is supposed to be a WoW blog. I promise that I have something WoW related planned for weekend writing, but today I just have to explain the "boss man say wha?" kind of week I've had. (Yes, I've seen Hannah Montana, wanna make something of it?)

I work in a professional office. Lawyers abound, support staff everywhere, all that stuff. This week has seen the arrival of a new lawyer, we'll call him Lawyer D, and next week Attorney E will start work on Monday. Now, Lawyer D took the only office that was available, so the powers that be had to find a way to open up an office for Attorney E. Assistant 1 had an office that was just perfect. So they have moved Assistant 1 and Helper 2 to two desks previously occupied by Secretary 3 and Admin 4. This made sense because Assistant 1 and Helper 2 both work on the same cases and being in the same area will make things easier. Secretary 3 went to an empty desk in the basement which is fine since she is the newest employee. She can live over the smell.

The making sense stops now...

Admin 4 didn't get Helper 2's now empty desk, instead she is moving to where Aide 5 had been sitting and Aide 5 is taking Helper 2's desk. Clerk 6 and Typist 7 are switching places as well. So, on the support staff side, 7 people have been displaced in order to empty one office.

You'd think that would be enough, right? And Attorney E would move into Assistant 1's office and call it a day. Wrong.

Prosecutor C is taking Assistant 1's office, and Attorney E is moving into Prosecutor C's vacated office on Monday. Counselor A is switching offices with Esquire B. Of all these moves, only Prosecutor C is getting more room and a better location. Esquire B is getting a decent location (damnit I didn't want to move!) but the office isn't any larger. Counselor A (me) got screwed.

In order to get Attorney E an office, 10 people have moved.

And we're supposed to ensure that justice is efficient...

Balance.

2009-01-07T22:59:00.003-07:00

We all need it. And we all struggle to find it. In our families. With our friends. At work. In our guilds.

Marnas retracted a post about our guild and the way raid spots are filled. A friendly, if somewhat bumbling, melee dpser caught me tonight with some complaints. Other friends and guild members have expressed (sometimes vehemently) their feelings about raid invites. Not surprisingly, these conversations generally happen when they are not confirmed for a raid.

Why do they talk to me? Well, for one I am an Officer, and my name often shows up on our website as the one confirming people who have expressed interest in attending the raid. Although I am the one clicking the confirm box, not all the decisions are mine alone. In fact, I am usually in communication with at least one other Officer, sometimes two or three, as I click. Why else do they talk to me? Probably because I let them. I let them blow off steam, and I listen to their concerns. There may not be anything I can do about it, but I try to listen anyway.

So what do we look for when confirming people to raids? Balance. But not just a balance of classes, or even a balance of roles. We also have to balance the conflicting desires of the people in the guild and the entire guild as a whole.

In the Burning Crusade, we made the conscious decision to focus on progression, which changed a lot of how we did things. Those changes have carried over into Wrath. In vanilla WoW we were a casual guild that raided. Confirmations were made on a first come-first serve basis. It usually worked out that the dedicated and talented players signed up first, so they were confirmed, but if you forgot to sign up for Molten Core early, you were likely to sit out, no matter how dedicated and talented you were. In Burning Crusade, we tried to make that same system work, but with fewer people allowed in the raids and the difficulty amped up in the early encounters, we quickly found that that did not work. Since then, our confirmations have been based on more elusive things than signup order. And of course, this doesn't always make our decisions popular.

Skill. Dedication. Preparation. Reliability. Availability. Loyalty. These are easy to type, but not always as easy to measure...especially in oneself. It's easy to say, "Soandso's been to two raids this week and it's not fair!" It's harder to acknowledge that Soandso has quicker reflexes than you do and only needs a fight to be explained once. It doesn't always seem fair, and I'll admit that often it isn't, that someone who is hateful and annoying gets to raid because they do more damage than someone who is nice. But when the focus is progression, sometimes the abrasive but skilled win out over the friendly, but bumbling.

In addition to the idealistic qualities listed above, the truth is a raid confirmation may also hinge on who you know. I know that sounds bad. But it doesn't make it less true. I'm not saying that the entire raid roster will be filled with people getting special treatment because they are related to or friends with an Officer. But if a decent player has the ear of an Officer, he or she is more likely to get into raids than a decent player who doesn't. Maybe these are truths that I'm not supposed to share. Maybe I'm breaking some oath of confidentiality by telling it like it is, but honestly, that is how the world works. I've gotten my last three job interviews based almost exclusively on the recommendation of someone I already knew working there. My qualifications got me the job (or the offer of a job) but the word of someone the employer already trusted got me the interview.

I know we sometimes trip and fall, but for the most part, my fellow Officers and I try to keep a balance between people and progress, guildies and friends, the guild's casual atmosphere and getting things done. We're walking a tightrope. And we're doing the best we can.

Shave and a Haircut?

2009-01-07T16:27:00.002-07:00

I left zoo court yesterday afternoon a little after 4:00 and decided to take my lunch hour instead of heading back to the office. I had an appointment at a salon in the mall scheduled for 5:00, so I headed over early to shop for a few minutes. After buying some work related clothes and a couple of books, I went into the salon.

I didn't have to wait very long for the stylist to be ready for me, which was a good surprise since she had been slow the other time I saw her. She asked if I liked my haircut from before, and I made pleased noises in response. She planned out the session saying she'd shampoo and condition my hair, wax my eyebrows, and then put me under the dryer for the deep conditioning to work. She stopped the sentence there, but I didn't think anything of it at the time. We headed back to the sinks and started the process of making me beautiful-ish. She worked on my eyebrows for what felt like a century and seemed surprised that my skin turned red. (Lady, I'm fair-skinned and you are torturing me with tweezers and hot wax...what did you think would happen?) After making my skin brighter than the Red Raider's hair--so red that it was difficult to actually see my eyebrows--she handed me a mirror and asked what I thought. Again with the pleased noises.

She wrapped a string of cotton around my head almost like I was getting a perm and sealed my hair under a shower cap. Then she led me to the row of old-fashioned hair dryers and told me to sit. Despite the novel I held in my hands, she tried to foist some outdated fashion magazine on me that I practically had to bat away with the aforementioned novel. As she adjusted the dryer over my head, she dropped the bowl thing too quickly so it bashed my head. Oops. She quickly righted it and set me to cook for another 10 minutes.

Finally I was done. But it took a few more minutes for her to free me from the dryer and take me back to her station. On the way she asked if I wanted her to style my hair or leave with it still damp. As it was approximately 15 degrees outside and I had planned on getting dinner after she finished, I opted for the style. I didn't fancy having icicle hair. (Why does styling hair cost extra? Seriously, they are using hot air and hot metal to make my hair go in strange directions. Usually, they use so much product "styling" my hair that it appears that I am at least two inches taller than when I came in. Why do I have to pay extra for poofy?)

At this point, I fully expected her to break out the scissors and start trimming my hair. Granted, it didn't need much, but with fairly short hair, stylists generally prefer to trim it often so it keeps its shape. The bangs at least could have used a little attention. After all, my hair grows incredibly fast. But instead of grabbing scissors, she picked up her hairdryer and started attacking my hair. Within 5 minutes she had it dry and styled (no product at least). I mostly sat there speechless wondering what had happened. How did I go in for a haircut and end up with deep conditioned hair (that I never asked for by the way, but whatever) that looked exactly the same as when I walked in? What cue in the conversation slipped past me without me catching on that I was supposed to say "Aren't you going to CUT my hair?" Whatever it was, at this point I mostly wanted out. So I kept my mouth shut even as my mind kept up a litany of "WTFs."

After she finished styling it she said "It's getting a little long in the back, are you planning on growing it out?"

...

So yeah...I'd rather have a goblin give me a shave and a haircut next time.

Second Thoughts

2009-01-07T15:29:00.000-07:00

So I had second thoughts on my post the other day and deleted it. However curious minds want to know..... I was just mostly whining (some valid points too) about our guild's raiding selection process etc. etc. But I decided it was too whiny and took it off. It's tough to speak your heart when you know officers are listening muhahaha. All kidding aside, I know tough decisions have to made and I think I just need to learn to be happy with how it all works out.

Healing (Normal) Naxxramas - Part 2

2009-01-05T23:30:00.001-07:00

Military Quarter

Instructor Razuvius
Bottom Line: The first boss in the Death Knight wing is fairly easy to heal. Two of your raid members will be using the mind control crystals to control the students. These two adds will trade off tanking the boss. Once your "tanks" have the hang of using Bone Shield and Taunt at the right times, these adds will be pretty easy to keep up. I bounce chain heals off the boss's current target to take care of any random damage your melee might take. You will also want to chain heal the ranged pretty often since the entire raid takes moderate damage (about 4k) every 15 seconds or so. The boss will also toss a Jagged Knife at a player that hurts. Use Riptide or Lesser Healing Wave to top them up.

Gothik the Harvester
Phase One: Your raid will split into two groups and position yourselves on either side of the center gate. The side you enter from is the "Live Side" and the one through the gate is the "Undead Side." Once the encounter is started, mobs appear on the Live Side first. Once they die, they reappear on the Undead Side and have to be killed again.

This phase starts out slow, but gets quite hectic by the end. The damage on each side will be random, but manageable. Just stay aware of your surroundings and be ready to hit any untanked mobs with Wind Shock if they start to head your way.

Phase Two: Gothik himself enters the fight and bounces between the Live Side and Undead Side. When he hits 30 percent, the gate opens and the raid can finish him off quickly.

Bottom Line: Don't get complacent with the slow pace of Phase One--it will pick up and inattention could prove deadly.

The Four Horsemen
The Four Horsemen must all be tanked simultaneously and kept in their separate corners to avoid getting too many debuffs of any one kind on the raid. Once the pull is made, each of the horsemen/women head to a different corner.

Front Side: The front side (closest to the door you enter from) will have two traditional tanks. One healer should be sufficient for each tank. The group (including the healer) stacks fairly close together in their respective corners and moves with the tanks to the exchange point in the center. The tanks switch targets and drag the new mob back to the same corner the group was in before. The switches happen when the tanks get three stacks of the debuff. After one mob dies, a healer and tank will be freed up and can move to the back to dps the remaining mobs. They should not follow the mob back to the other corner or the debuff will stack too high.

Back Side: The back side will most likely be tanked by non-traditional tanks such as a moonkin, hunter or elemental shaman. We often use an unholy death knight, but your group may vary depending on raid composition. One healer (someone who can efficiently heal two tanks at once) should stand on the platform dancing from side to side to avoid getting too many debuffs and moving out of the black circles of death. Our resto druid fulfills this job.

Bottom Line: I am usually assigned to the front side and the corner that the meteor boss runs to (I think of it as the left side from where you enter the room). I use chain heal to top up the group after the meteor hits. It's a slightly chaotic fight, but as long as you watch your debuff count and stick with your group, it isn't that hard.

Construct Quarter

Patchwerk
Bottom Line: This is a fight where healing everyone is BAD. Your heals should be focused on the main tank or the hateful strike tank. I know it hurts to see melee be at half health, but if you don't want them to be dead, you will learn to leave them there. Your melee should be dancing in and out of the goo to drop their health below that of the hateful strike tank so that they do not get one-shot. I will occasionally throw a very small heal on one of them that is getting too low, but for the most part my job is to keep the main tank and the other guy with the most health at full health. Earth Shield + Glyphed Lesser Healing Wave is perfect for this fight.

Grobbulus
Bottom Line: Don't dispel the disease. Ever. Grobbulus will place a disease on one person in the raid who must run to the designated area (for us, this is against the wall slightly behind where he is currently being tanked, so that the tank and melee will not be going through the clouds) and then run back to the group after they drop their poison cloud. Heal them up, but do NOT dispel the disease. Ever. Other than that, your main tank will be moving around the room dragging the big guy who will also be dropping poison clouds under himself. Keep the tank and melee alive. Your off tank will be tanking slime guys that spawn occasionally. It's a pretty easy healing fight, but don't get tunnel vision and forget to run to the wall if you get the disease. The disease that you do not dispel. Ever.

Gluth
Phase One: Your entire raid will drop down into his room together and the tank will move the big guy to the back of the room. Two tanks are going to taunt back and forth because he puts a debuff on them that decreases healing received by 10% per application. It can stack up to 10 times. I'm no math whiz...but 10 times 10 is 100; and reducing healing received by 100% equals dead tank. A third tank type person (or kiter) will pick up zombies that spawn and keep them from running to the boss. These zombies also put a debuff on the person they hit increasing damage taken by 100 per application. This stacks up to infinity it feels like, although I think it only goes to 99. We have a Death Knight gather them up, which requires some intensive healing on him by the end. Other groups kite them around.

Phase Two: Gluth uses an ability called Decimate that reduces the health of everything around him to 5% maximum health. Quickly heal up the tanks before chain healing the raid. The raid will be killing the zombies to keep them from reaching Gluth. Any zombie that he eats will heal him by 5% of his maximum health. Healing your party is good. Letting Gluth heal is not.

Bottom Line: Our strat (with the Death Knight tanking the zombies) is pretty healing intensive, but doable. Our group doesn't usually include anyone that can effectively kite them. If you do have a "tank" on the zombies, be aware that by the decimate he will be taking massive damage. Also, it is unlikely that the zillions of debuffs will disappear before the next zombies appear, so you'll have to work pretty hard to keep him alive, as well as the two tanks switching aggro on the boss.

Thaddius
Phase One: Your raid will split into two groups, half going to the left platform and half going to the right. The mobs on the platforms must die at the same time. In addition, they toss the tanks during this phase, which means that you need to pay attention to which one currently is on your platform (meaning have distance fading enabled). Neither of these mobs do a ton of damage to the raid, just keep the tanks topped up and wait for the mobs to die simultaneously.

Phase Two: After the mobs die, you will jump from the platform to the ledge at the back of the room. Make the jump. If you don't, it's a long run back and everyone will notice that you missed. (If you do miss, blame it on lag.) After a few seconds of fighting Thaddius he will put a charge on everyone in the group that increases the damage you deal if you stack the same debuff. Run to your charge's designated area. Our group places positive charges near the green goo and negative charges up against the wall. After you are situated with people who have the same charge as you, heal and dps if you can fit it in without letting the raid die.

Bottom Line: This fight is a dps race and requires that you pay attention. Periodically the boss will change the charge on people and you do not want to be in the wrong area or you will blow up yourself and others. Your charge will not always change, so pay attention and don't just randomly run when a charge is called. We make sure everyone runs counter clockwise (to the right) during charge changes so that no one blows up.

2009-01-05T17:21:00.008-07:00

yeah - posted something I later felt was too snarky - so deleted it, but don't know how to really delete - hehe

Momma Said Knock You Out at The Hundred Club

2009-01-03T03:38:00.005-07:00

We cleared Naxx 10 again tonight, as did another 10 man group from our guild. I'm more proud of them than of us, though, because I think this was their first night to finish in one setting. They also seemed faster than us, although a late start contributed to that, it wasn't the only thing that went wrong. We just weren't as smooth as we usually are.

We did challenge ourselves to complete a couple of achievements, though none of them were for speed--too many oops pulls for that (including one where I stepped too close to a spider who thought I looked tasty...have I mentioned my hatred for all things arachnid?). We killed Grand Widow Faerlina without killing one of her adds near her to dispel the frenzy. It made tank healing a little more intensive, but wasn't too bad with a holy priest, resto shaman and resto druid. Then we killed Sapphiron without any frost resist. Usually, I drop a frost resist totem to give us at least 130, but tonight we went without (or at least beneath 100). We didn't one-shot it, but that was more unlucky blizzard placement than the additional damage. It made the fight more challenging from a healing standpoint, but it also made it more fun.

I guess I'm not against all dungeon or raid achievements anymore. But I also have the 4 piece set bonus and pretty awesome gear overall. Maybe my opinion hasn't changed. I've just got the gear to make them fun instead of painful.

Ding! in RL

2009-01-01T01:46:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday to Me!
Happy Birthday to Me!
Happy Birthday to ME-E!
Happy Birthday to Me!

There, isn't that enough frivolity for the day?

Auld Lang Syne

2008-12-31T05:24:00.003-07:00

Since my blog hasn't been around for a full year, I thought I'd treat the obligatory Year's End post as more of a guild round up. After all, if you've stuck around this long, you've probably already noticed I talk about them more than how to play a Shaman anyway.

January
We started off the year with a bang by clearing Serpentshrine Cavern. We killed Lady Vashj [Laeedee Vae-eh-sh] (I just can't convey the correct nasal pronunciation no matter how hard I try), on January 7th. Unfortunately, we were unable to kill her hair, which caused some concern due to the creepy factor. I also got to experience the awesomeness that is having your healer sitting next to you during a raid. Mase came to visit for my birthday and we enjoyed being nerdy together by playing WoW side by side. Before you judge, let me remind you that my town pretty much sucks, so it's not like we were missing the night life or anything.

February
By the end of January we were working our way through Tempest Keep, killing Alar and Solarian for the first time on January 24th. We spent February working on Kael'thas and avoiding those annoying goblin cupids. After all, we didn't want a stray arrow to make anyone fall in love with a Blood Elf (they hog the mirrors).

March
In like a lion, out like a...really ugly Naga? March brought the demise of Kael (and our eardrums as people whooped on vent), our entrance into the battle for Mount Hyjal and an assault on Black Temple. We killed Rage Winterchill and High Warlord Naj'entus shortly after kicking Kael's ass back to where he belonged--Magister's Terrace. We killed our first boss in Black Temple prior to patch 2.4 which did away with the attunement. Although several people missed the quest chain (something we have just now--we hope-- heard the last of), we were able to get enough attuned prior to the change to be able to say we earned it.

April
Supremus, Shade of Akama, Anetheron, Kaz'rogal, Azgalor, and Teron Gorefiend showered us with loot during the month of April. Fun times were had by all, except the few that really sucked at the Teron Gorefiend flash game.

May
Who needs flowers when you can save a tree? Archimonde hit the dirt in May saving the World Tree (and our sanity). Who knew keeping 25 people from face-planting into the ground and running through fire would be so hard? I'm pretty sure small children learn to avoid falling on their face or touching an open flame. Needless to say, we had a few issues and frustrations (we don't really excel at the GTFO fight mechanic), but eventually we did beat him. I personally like the fight, I'd just rather not bring 24 other people who missed the day of pre-school dedicated to fire safety.

June
We focused on Black Temple after learning to kill Archimonde (and not ourselves) and defeated the Reliquary of Souls and Mother Shahraz in June. I also decided to be a blogger. Pretty much the only post really worth anything is the one about the Second Kill Curse (although I'm probably reaching to say any of my posts are worth anything).

July
I got to go home for the Fourth of July and squeezed in a small get-together for some Texan guildies. We raided a decrepit bowling alley, but didn't get to keep the shoes. In actual WoW news, we downed Bloodboil (worst fight ever for me) and the Illidari Council. Pre-nerf, Bloodboil was a disaster for me on my Shadow Priest. It was incredibly annoying to be on the verge of pulling aggro the entire time even after waiting a significant amount of time to start attacking. I also stopped blogging.

August
In August we beat Black Temple. Illidan never dropped his Glaives for our rogues making them sad-pandas, but the fight was a fun one. It was nice to get to be at the top of the meters for once on my priest.

September
Over Labor Day weekend, a number of guildies traveled to Toronto for what has become our annual xeno Meet. More than 20 of us showed up from around the US and Canada for our third annual Meet. It was a great time in the Great White North, that suprisingly in September, wasn't all that white. We did see a statue of a moose wearing a Mounty uniform, so I guess that was a win.

October
I think we raided in October. And apparently we talked about Wrath of the Lich King, a lot. Not too sure what else happened. And I started blogging, for real this time. It was also All Hallow's Eve. Ooh, and zombies. How could I forget the zombies?

November
We stood in line (or in my case waited for ethical people even though there wasn't a line) to buy Wrath of the Lich King. And we missed our last Black Temple raid because of server failure caused by a mailbox revolution. Wrath of the Lich King rocked our socks, and we had our first level 80 within four days. Yay Silver!

December
We cleared Naxxramas 10 and 25, Obsidian Sanctum 10 and 25, and Eye of Eternity 10 and 25. We kinda beat WoW. Marnas agreed to help me with the blog, and between us we managed to write enough to average a post a day. Not too bad for two WoW chicks with responsibilities.

Thanks for sticking around so far. I'd promise to bring you more awe inspiring posts in 2009, but we all know what I will actually do is share my thoughts and turn my frustrations into blog-fodder.

Happy New Year!

Gold - Green

2008-12-30T10:07:00.007-07:00

Several years ago, back when I was a fairly miserable teacher, I went to an in-service training where all the faculty took a quiz to determine our personality "color." The things I learned from this training both about my own outlook on life and how to deal with people of contrasting colors stuck with me. I remember taking the booklet home to my family and making them take the quiz as well. Everyone's color combination was spot on. And it gave me an insight into their minds that I had never had before.

For some reason, I started thinking about this in connection with my guild today. I searched around the internet until I found a site that gives a basic breakdown of the colors from that system. (Of course, the quiz booklet itself is not there because the trainers want to make money, too.)

There are four main color blocks: Blue, Orange, Gold and Green. Individuals can have traits from more than one color, but the dominant color will be apparent.

Here's a quick breakdown (the terms in parentheses are mine):

Blue: Nurturer (Touchy Feely)

A people person.
Sensitive to the needs of others.
Sincere. Cooperative. Caring.
Idealistic.

Orange: Adventurous (Rebel)

An action person.
Center of attention.
Risk taker. Creative. Bold. Energetic.
Spontaneous.

Gold: Traditional (Bossy)

A rules oriented person.
Sees things as right or wrong.
Practical. Punctual. Helpful.
Organized.

Green: Visionary (Smart Alec)

An inquisitive person.
Explores all angles before making a decision.
Logical. Persistent. Systematic.
Intellectual.

When I took the quiz, I was a combination of Gold and Green, so I guess I'm a bossy smart alec. Which, actually, isn't all that surprising.

What I like about the system is it helps me to remember that some actions aren't meant to infuriate me, but are simply part of the person's personality. When the raid leader becomes nitpicky about every little spellcast, he isn't really criticizing us, he's trying to understand what happened; he's just being Green. When the new girl feels the need to share intimate details about her life and all that is happening to her, she is just being Blue (too Blue...way too Blue). When I bug the other officers about scheduling or tweaking our Code of Conduct, I'm not being bossy, I'm being Gold (ok, Gold and bossy--I admit I'm bossy).

Remembering this doesn't always make the minor annoyances less annoying, but it can help me to deal with the people. I know that to motivate someone who is orange, I need to make it a challenge or a competition. I know that if someone is Blue, a smiley face may make their day, and being there to listen to them is important, even if I sometimes feel like I'd rather take a piece of sandpaper to my eye than chat about their latest love interest. The Green guy may be a number cruncher, and if he is, he'll be a great asset to have helping you plan out the attack. And the Gold people like me are worth our weight in, well gold, because a guild that lacks organization can't always meet its goals.

So the next time someone in my guild gets on my nerves, I'm going to try hard to just think of it in terms of color. They aren't really a jerk, they're just letting their Orange show.

Yays and Nays

2008-12-29T22:51:00.009-07:00

Yay:

We downed Malygos in Heroic Eye of Eternity tonight. It took us more tries than it should have, but a few of our normal raiders were unavailable due to the holidays, so we were pulling in people even after raid time. We hit Obsidian Sanctum first, for an easy no-drake kill. We'll start working on leaving them up after the holidays I guess.

Nay:

Mr. I. R. Uberheal was joined tonight by his buddy Mr. Dinnae Lissen. It made for a fun raid with I.R. telling us that he alone was responsible for every heal and Dinnae disregarding Raid Leader instructions because his way made "logical sense." Good times.

Yay:

Marnas picked up her Valorous Plagueheart Gloves. Congratulations!

Nay:

Only item even remotely good for me that dropped was the Staff of Restraint, and I prefer one hand/shield combinations. Grats to Thren, though. :)

Yay:

Just one more day of work this week.

Nay:

Just two days until a day I'm not looking forward to this year. I really thought my life would be different by the time I hit this number. Guess not--unless something very drastic occurs within the next 54 hours...

Think About It!

2008-12-29T22:51:00.007-07:00

So I really think that some people give little to no thought about what they say in vent. Unbelievable arrogance is quite common, but so is politeness I suppose. The arrogance just smashes the politeness into little pieces so it's hard to see mmm hear? I really hope it's more a matter of just being self absorbed and some people don't truly think they are "the bomb" as the kids put it. I don't talk much in raid vent because I'm too scared of making an ass of myself and really there's seldom a time I need to say anything.

Oh and for those of you tracking - my DPS was much better! Like I stated I will never top the meters, but I'm very happy with being in a comfy spot in the middle. Yay! Thanks my locky friend!

Need vs. Greed; or Why are Enchanters Lazy?

2008-12-28T01:14:00.004-07:00

For a few weeks now, I've been participating in a late-night 10-man group of guildies that I've dubbed the Power Team (click here to read about the real Power Team--and quite possibly laugh. However, I would advise against laughing in the face of a Power Team member--these guys are BIG.). Despite the fact that I love to sleep and runs that last until at least 2:00 am make me tired, I love them. Every Friday and Saturday night, the same ten players (unless someone is out of town or otherwise unavailable) get together to speed through Naxxramas, Obsidian Sanctum, Eye of Eternity, and sometimes Archavon.

Our loot rules are simple, and we use the dice. If you are rolling for your main spec/role and it is an upgrade, you click need. If you are rolling for an off spec/role, you click greed. There is no limit to the number of need or greed rolls you may make, since it is a guild run (and we don't take loot whores). I know. What a concept, right? We use the in-game dice in the intended manner. It's strange, but it works.

The first run or two, the raid organizer (he doesn't like to be the raid leader, but he does the invites on the in-game calendar) and I made sure that everyone knew what the loot rules were. Since they follow our guild loot policies that are listed on our website, it didn't take long for everyone to get the hang of it. Well, almost everyone.

Tonight our resident Disenchanter made a fuss to the two of us because he wanted to hit greed for DE. We pointed out that that wouldn't work if someone wanted the item for an off spec. He still didn't seem to get it. He thought everyone should just hit need if they wanted it so he could just click a button instead of waiting by the corpse to see if he needed to pick up the item and disenchant it. He also argued that there really isn't much difference between the stats for items anymore, so there shouldn't be off spec issues. Although I got the feeling he was mostly being contrary because he likes to argue, it also made me shake my head in wonder. He plays a pure dps class, so the big decision when speccing for him is whether to do damage this way or that way. But the concept of hybrids isn't a new one. And I guarantee that if I rolled need on a piece with +hit on it, he would be the first to question me about it.

He is right that many stats have been homogenized, but not to the point that some discretion isn't necessary in deciding whether it is worth a need roll or a greed roll.

Here's my take on it:

Resto Shamans don't get a lot of use out of spirit, so anything that is heavy on spirit, like The Impossible Dream probably isn't worth a need roll, unless you are using something really bad.
Crit and Haste rating are good for us, so Hammer of the Astral Plane (damn you Mase) is totally need worthy.
Items with a lot of mp5 are also good. Water shield will keep your mana ticking, but a nice base of mp5 gives you more regen, and acts as a buffer if you are short on global cooldowns to refresh it.
Hit Rating is a greed, but I do not hesitate to roll on it. There are fights where I not only have time to dps, but I am also expected to (i.e. Thaddius in Heroic or Loatheb during the 17 seconds where I cannot heal). Having a few +hit pieces to toss on to minimize my misses makes my resto-dps more useful.
I am also contemplating creating a decent enhancement set (although I haven't decided for sure yet), so I may start greeding on attack power items that no one else wants.

It isn't that hard to look at a piece and decide if it will help me heal people harder, faster or more efficiently; or if it will let me quest or dps easier. But don't be a lazy disenchanter. If the rules are need for main role/greed for off, please don't think that disenchanting is an off spec.

So maybe I won't quit

2008-12-24T21:54:00.004-07:00

The last few weeks of raiding have been rather painful for me. Admittedly, I have not been able to commit the time to getting gear upgrades that I'd like to, but beyond that.... I've just felt lost since hitting 80. I'm not good at researching (and I do try.) I read several forums and such and tried several specs and spell rotations. All resulting in me be the the last or close to the last of the dpsers in raid. Now, don't get me wrong, I will never be topping the charts, but in BC I had pulled myself to a mid-ranged decent spot that I was proud of for me (mom of 2 little ones and works full time.)

Since hitting 80 blah - so I started questioning, should I quit raiding? Why do I raid? I'm not doing well and really feeling stressed. Well the simple answer is Tam and my husband. If I don't raid, I really don't play with them much at all and they are the reason I play WOW in the first place. Raiding with them is well worth rushing to feed and bathe my kids and get them ready for bed and then trying to put them to bed during a reset.

So I didn't get in the raid Monday and I was really, really ok with that. I logged on after my kids went to bed to just quest and mess around while everyone was raiding and lucky me, my old warlock friend/god logged on and asked how life was treating me. Now I could have asked him for help a long time ago, but I feel guilty like I'm using him or something. But I mention that my dps was the stink and he jumps right on helping me. He respecs me, replaces some glyphs, makes me a great cloak (I provide mats,) tells me what gems to replace, and tells me what to be working on getting from heroics and badges. Then we go hit the training dummies to work on rotations and see the improvements. I saw a huge improvement and I'm really excited to raid soon. If you raid with me, don't expect me to top the charts, that's won't happen, but maybe you won't be saying to yourself, "aww poor Marnas, she really sucks" or "why is Marnas here, she's no help." Maybe I will actually be helping.

So if you are reading this and you are one of those brilliant people that "gets" WOW, help us noobs out when you can. I honestly try and apply what I read and such, but sadly it takes a leet lock actually looking at me and telling me what to do to improve me. And for that - I could kiss him! Well a virtual kiss anyway. :) It was one of the best Christmas gifts someone could have given me.

Merry Christmas!!!!!!!

Happy Christmas Eve!

2008-12-24T07:38:00.001-07:00

Straight No Chaser - 12 Days of Christmas

The original video from 10 years ago. There are new videos of current concerts on Youtube, but I think this one is the best.

Huh? He gave up?

2008-12-23T22:21:00.007-07:00

Tonight I experienced one of those moments that make the game worthwhile. It wasn't clearing Naxx - 10 in 2.5 hours. It wasn't winning epic loot. It was a much simpler moment than that. It was picking a flower in Sholazar Basin...and living through it.

I play on a PvP server. I'm not here to cry about the ganking or anything, but to revel in one moment where I managed to get the better of the other player--because, as my friends would gladly tell you, I suck at PvP.
I was farming flowers in Sholazar tonight and I managed to pick a flower that a level 80 Tauren Druid was eyeing. To express his displeasure, he shifted out of flight form and proceeded to attack me in Moonkin form, even going so far as to release his trio of Treants (herd? gaggle? army?) on me. And all I did was heal. I threw on Earth Shield, hit myself with Riptide, cast a few Lesser Healing Waves (glyphed of course), and at one point popped a Nature's Swiftness/Tidal Force Healing Wave. To be fair, I did hit him with one Flame Shock, but not until he had finished fighting some mobs that had spawned behind him. I was getting close to running out of mana by the time he gave up. But the point is that he gave up. He bowed and clapped for me and allowed me to go on my way.

Maybe the Spirit of Christmas isn't totally dead after all. I hope Greatfather Winter brings him more spellpower this year.

Mixed Messages

2008-12-23T07:37:00.006-07:00

Warning: this is another of those posts that has absolutely nothing to do with WoW.

So I wake up this morning (groggy as can be because even though I meant to go to bed directly after the raid, I didn't) and check the School/Business delays and closing on the website. I knew that there was a possibility that we might be delayed or closed today since I couldn't watch TV last night. (What the hell does that have to do with anything, you ask? No TV signal means the Directv dish has been covered with snow, which is an easier gauge than looking outside only because I'm lazy.) Even though I knew there was a possibility the weather would alter our schedule, I didn't really think it would because our Courts generally follow the School District, and school is already out for Christmas break. The Courts don't always think about that when we have bad weather on a day that kids are already home for other reasons, and usually don't cancel on their own.

So back to the website. I checked it and saw that District Court (where I had no cases for today) is on a 2 hour delay. Ok, not bad. Per "Office Policy," I'm still supposed to be at work at the normal time, but I don't have to be at Court until 10. Then I scroll down further and see that Magistrate Court (not-fondly-at-all referred to as Zoo Court) is canceled. Hmm. This means the two cases I inherited last minute yesterday will be postponed. And "Office Policy" states that when Courts are closed, I don't have to go into the office until 10. So District Court's 2 hour delay means: show up at 8. And Magistrate's closure means: show up at 10.

This situation has not been covered in our intraoffice e-mails. Whatever shall I do? I guess I should shoot for 9?

Trust Me?

2008-12-22T22:53:00.005-07:00

“He who does not trust enough, will not be trusted.” Lao Tzu

Tonight we finished off Heroic Naxxramas, killing Kel'thuzad for the first time as a guild. Afterward, we headed to Heroic Eye of Eternity. It was my first time facing Malygos in a 25 man raid, and although we did not walk away victorious, it was a fun time and should set us up to kill him soon.

We ran with seven healers tonight, which is fairly standard for our guild. There were three Priests, two Holy and one Discipline; two Resto Druids; and two Resto Shamans. We managed phase one pretty well once we had figured out the positioning when returning to the platform after a vortex. Phase two was a little tricky for the tanks to reliably pick up all the Lords so they didn't kill DPS, but we'll get it next time. But our learning curve isn't what this post is about.

This post is about trust. (See the clever way I named it. Tricky I am.) Specifically trust among healers.

As I have stated before, I do not think that any one healing class is better than the others--at least not in all situations. I believe there is a synergy inherent in Blizzard's design of the classes and their respective skills that makes us strongest when we work together. I guess since I have leveled all four classes that have healing buttons (even though I've only raid healed as a Priest, Druid, and Shaman) I've always thought this concept was obvious.

I was wrong.

When WotLK came out we had several people change mains--including me. A few other people switched specs. A couple of these switches brought people who had never really raid healed before (and here I'm talking more than 10 mans with two-three healers) into our healing corps. One of those individuals was in the raid tonight. Before WotLK he had always played DPS classes, and he played those classes very well. In the expansion he chose to level his Holy Priest.

Tonight after one of the attempts on Malygos, he said in vent "I go OOM so fast in this fight." This comment prompted our raid leader, a Resto Druid, to ask what he was doing to run out of mana that fast--he was completely tapped before Phase 2 every attempt. His response was that he was hitting Circle of Healing constantly since the raid was taking so much damage. When we explored this further, we found that he was spamming CoH during the vortex and after a blast. I explained that Chain Heal is not an instant spell, but will help to top up the raid within a few seconds, and that with two Resto Shamans he needed to trust us to heal after a blast. His somewhat joking response was that there is only one healer he trusts...himself.

I blame his DPS background for this mentality. When you play a Warlock, your only job during most fights is to do damage, and to do the most damage you possibly can. You are not part of a "DPS Team." Most of the time you do not have to think about who else is also damaging that mob, you just have to hit the boss as often and as hard as you can with your spells (while also making sure to GTFO of any bad things).

Healing is a whole different ballgame, and I guess it takes longer to acquire the proper mentality. Healing is not about topping the meters. It isn't about healing harder, it's about healing smarter. And to be a smart healer, you have to be aware of a lot of different things: the mechanics of the fight, so you know who will be taking damage and when; the strengths and weaknesses of your raid members (like knowing which squishy mage is likely to forget to GTFO of the AoE and will need extra healing); and how your healing style meshes with the rest of the healers. The last requires trust. You have to trust that your healing corps isn't watching The Family Guy and not paying attention. You have to trust that your healers will manage their mana so that they can last to the end of the fight. You have to trust that they will follow the tank who has gone out of your range and keep him alive. You have to trust each other to know which spells to use to maximize the synergy. Without this trust, you turn into a one-man army that runs out of mana within the first 2 minutes of a 10 minute fight.

This individual was close to the top of the healing meters for the night, but, to me, this means nothing. The raid leader actually told him to stop worrying about the meters and to trust the rest of us. I don't know that it sunk in, but it's good advice for all of us. If topping the healing meters is all you care about, I can't trust you to heal smart. And if you aren't healing smart, why are you in my raid? Like the Chinese guy said, trust me or I can't trust you.

Zero-Sum with a Twist

2008-12-21T01:28:00.013-07:00

I follow one of the premier WoW Healer blogs, World of Matticus (I think all healers should take a gander at his site frequently; it's not just about priests anymore). Lately Matt and Syd have been chatting about Loot Council and how it works in their newly formed guild. This got me thinking about my guild's loot distribution system and made me want to analyze what works and what doesn't with our Zero Sum DKP system.

Guild Background

My guild has been around since before WoW launched. The founders came from a first-person shooter background and have been clan/guild members since the 1990s. I lucked into the guild just about the time they started seriously running Molten Core in vanilla WoW. At the time they needed extra bodies to fill the 40 man raids, so they made an alliance with another guild. I was a noob Priest in the other guild, and I raided both Molten Core and Zul'Gurub with xeno before I actually defected and joined them. A few months later I became an Officer, and I've never really looked back.

We've had the same basic loot distribution policy since Zul'Gurub, although we have tweaked it as we've experienced new issues. We started out as a close-knit group of friends, and even though we have grown considerably with time, the core values haven't changed that much.

We strive:

To be as fair and open with loot decisions as possible.
To avoid even the appearance of bias.
To reward the faithful without punishing the new.

Raid Points (RP): Origins

First of all, we use the term "RP" rather than "DKP" when discussing the intangible currency used to purchase all items that drop during a 25 man raid with our guild. Our RP is tracked on our website and recorded either during or after each raid, depending on who is running the auctions that night.

We have drawn from several different distribution systems to create our unique model. Zero-Sum DKP, Open Bidding, Escrow and Efficiency Rewards are all combined in our system.

Zero-Sum DKP + Bidding

WoWWiki states that "Zero-sum DKP means that DKP is distributed based on the value of items that drop. All members in a zero-sum DKP start with a score of 0. When an item is given to a raid member, they have to pay for it in DKP (going negative if necessary). These DKP spent are immediately distributed among all the raid members. Thus the amount of DKP, i.e. the sum of all members in the system, is always zero."

"Although 'zero-sum' describes only a method of earning DKP, and it would in theory be perfectly possible to combine this income method with bidding for finding the item prices, nearly no raids actually do that."

Except us. We do that. We have a modified zero-sum RP system (there are 1000 points per person in our system) but do not have fixed prices for items. Instead, we have a minimum bid amount of 100 and all subsequent bids must be increases of 50.

The points spent during the auction are distributed to the members of the raid present at the time of the kill, including the person who purchased the item. So if I spend 250 RP for an item, each person in the raid receives approximately 10 points, and my RP balance is decreased by about 240. (The lack of certainty is because of a small tax placed on all bids in an effort to reduce inflation in our system.)

Escrow, or Balancing New and Old

One of our concerns was creating a system that both protected us from guild-hopping leeches and allowed us to minimize the DKP gap between long-term guild members and quality new-comers. Our solution was to give everyone--recruits and members--1000 points to spend, but recruits points are locked in "escrow" for a period of time. Members unlock these points by attending raids where they also earn RP from purchases made by others and efficiency rewards. It takes a new raider 20 raids (usually 3-4 weeks) to fully unlock his 1000 points. But he is able to bid as soon as he has earned 100 points to cover the minimum bid. This system helps to protect us from people who only join to get geared up quickly, but also gives new people who intend to stay the opportunity to bid on more popular items after a few weeks.

Efficiency Rewards

Over time, we have searched for additional ways to encourage and motivate our raiders to be efficient. The most effective way (short of making them cookies) has been to award bonuses for being on-time and staying throughout the raid. This is where the majority of our inflation comes from, but we made the decision to depart from the true zero-sum approach in order to help our progression.

Currently we award bonus points to:

Individuals who are in the zone 10 minutes before we start.
Everyone, if all raiders are zoned in and ready to pull at raid time (this one rarely happens).
Individuals who remain until the end of the raid.
Everyone who is present the first time we kill a boss.
Everyone who remains for three or more attempts on a new boss we have never killed before.

These were added to increase efficiency by having people show up early and stay late, as well as to reward those who push through all the wipes while we learn an encounter. We wanted to show our appreciation to those who are willing to suffer with us rather than wait for us to have everything on farm status before signing up for raids.

Musings

I know I'm biased since this is the only system I've ever used, but I like our system and think that over the years we have adjusted the original idea to suit our needs. Our open auctions do not allow us to handpick the recipient of gear, but they do make all loot decisions transparent to our members. It also places the responsibility on each raid member to know which drops are upgrades. Each of us is responsible for choosing our own gear and the method that we obtain it. We can bid the minimum or continue to bid as the price skyrockets, the choice is ours.

I'm convinced that there will always be the occasional "grr" moment in any loot distribution system, but we have made the choice to allow our members control over their own gear destiny (within the limitations of our loot rules, but that's another post) and that works for me.

Best Guild Application Ever...

2008-12-18T23:42:00.005-07:00

As an officer in a raiding guild, I get to see many interesting approaches to our application form. Recently we had one with so little information that an officer asked, "Could he have put LESS information?" Here is another application that answers that question with a resounding "Yes."

Email: **********@yahoo.com [e-mail actually seemed normal enough]
Main char [name, class and level]: 80 [Seriously, I didn't delete anything.]
Current talent spec: RET [Ohhh, a Paladin. Why didn't you say so?]
Alts: *********/ROGUE LVL 70 *******/WARRIOR LVL 70
Armor level [e.g. T4/5/6, S1/2/3. Provide armory link if appropriate]: [I know we need to update our examples, but I guess he didn't think even the armory link was appropriate.]
Primary weapon(s): BLUE [I prefer pink weapons myself. It's nice to maintain a sense of femininity while slicing and dicing.]
List nights you are available to raid from 7pm-11pm server time: 10PM WEEKEND ANYTIME [So does that mean he can start at 10 pm or he has to end at 10 pm? My gut is saying his mom turns out the lights at 10:01.]
How often are you expecting or hoping to raid?:ANY TIME IF NEEDED [As long as it's before 10 pm.]
Current/previous guilds and reason(s) for leaving: THEY SUX NO RAID [Must be a server transfer because I'm not familiar with the guild "They Sux."]
Professions: ENCHANTER /SKINNER
Do you have speakers and microphone?: YES
How did you hear about xeno? [friend, recruitment channel?]: FROM MY FRIEND *****1,********2 [1 is a decent Holy Paladin in our guild. 2 is the Shaman we gkicked.]
Who do you know in xeno, and how?: *****1 ,********2 [Guess he didn't get the memo about 2's removal from our guild.]

Tell us a bit about yourself, and why you're interested in joining = WANNA BE PART OF THE TEAM ,HAVE FUN ENJOY FRIENDLY AND KILL THE HORDES AT ALL TIME LOL [I don't even know where to start...]

So to continue this awesome thread!

2008-12-18T22:22:00.006-07:00

First love this concept.......

So lets continue on using Twilight, or more precisely, Breaking Dawn.

Edward - tough one, Death Knight I suppose - dark side but tries to do good

Bella - Pally of course with the awesome bubble hearth

Jasper - undead priest (mind control options)

Alice - so here's a tough one - maybe a druid since she can do such a variety of things but looks quite innocent

Esme - innkeeper - the cheery women ones

Carlise - holy priest

Rosalie - well night elf for the bod and I guess hunter for the damage

Emmett - Tank

Jacob - Shaman for the healing abilities, and of course "ghost wolf"

Charlie - the guards walking around IF "keepin' the peace"

Mike, Angela, Jessica etc - folks in inn looking oblivious and happy

Think that's it - I'm not as good at this as Tam - but I did try to add a picture. hehehe

If they played WoW...

2008-12-17T14:54:00.013-07:00

When I first started Law School, I found that my new knowledge permeated into other areas of my life. I could no longer watch Without a Trace on TV without thinking about the Commerce Clause of the Constitution. Law and Order became more about yelling "Hearsay!" at the prosecutors than watching the bad guy get taken down a peg. And, now that I am an ADA myself, I cringe whenever CSI comes up with another almost-instant technique for getting lab results from anything and everything.

World of Warcraft has also broken through into unexpected places. The people I've met through WoW have become very good friends--I talk to several of them outside the game (through gtalk, text messages, and even the occasional phone call) almost every day. But it isn't just the people that have invaded other aspects of my life. When I watch television, read books, or go to the movies I sometimes find myself thinking about what class or race the characters would be. Who would Phoebe from Friends play? A druid of course. A tree druid with a Silver Tabby.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel

Buffy Summers is obviously a Protection Warrior. She's the main tank, the one who charges into a situation determined to kill the bad guy and protect her friends. And her taunts kick ass.
Faith on the other hand is a Mortal Strike Warrior. She's more concerned with damage than survivability, and she's really into PvP.
Xander is a Paladin. Although he may not fight as well as others, he's always around to rez Buffy when she dies. And his Blessing of Wisdom keeps her on the right path...most of the time.
Willow is a Shadow Priest. She doesn't switch to Shadow Form often, but when she does, watch out for her Mind Flay.
Anya is a Warlock. She may not command demons to do her bidding, but she does invite them to her wedding. Just don't summon your Snowshoe Rabbit around her.
Oz is a Druid. He can only shift forms once a month, but he's quite the scrapper during the full moon.
Angel is a Death Knight. He's been evil, but now he chooses to do good. He feels protective of those he cares about, so he'll tank anything trying to hurt them. Plus, he looks good with a glowing sword.

Firefly/Serenity

Malcome Reynolds is a Protection Paladin. He's got a /bubble hearth macro, but when it's necessary he can tank whatever comes his way. Just expect him to try to find another way around the problem first.
River is a Rogue. She's kinda squishy until you put a big knife in her hand. Then she's just plain scary. Plus, she's all over the Shadow Dance.
Jayne is a Dwarf Hunter. He really only cares about where he can find treasure and the size of his gun. But every once in a while, he might do the right thing--probably by accident.

Friendly Contributions

MacGyver would be a Paladin. A Paladin with 450 Engineering to be specific. He doesn't have all the right tools, but he makes a hell of an attempt with what he's got. And in a scrap, you want him and his gizmos tanking for you. (Thanks Thren.)

Mr. Burns would be an undead warlock... The green slime in under city was caused by his power plant and the mutating energy of the nuclear power gave him his magical abilities. (Thanks Srom.)

Those are just a few of the beloved characters I can see as World of Warcraft toons. But I'm sure I'll continue to think of more.

Yay for Snow!

2008-12-16T06:59:00.002-07:00

Court is closed today because of the weather. So instead of handling my Tuesday cases at zoo court, I get to catch up on paperwork in my office. It also means I get to pretend I have a job that encourages the wearing of jeans.

Cooldowns Coming Soon

2008-12-14T21:46:00.004-07:00

The patch notes for Patch 3.0.8 are out and the big news in the healer world is the Druid/Priest "nerf." Circle of Healing and Wild Growth are being changed to add a 6 second cool down.

I have heard mostly negative responses to the change from the Druids and Priests in my guild, more from the Druids than the Priests. And the changes have brought about the resurgence of the "who is the best healer" debate.

The best healer is always going to be the healer that pays attention, knows their role, understands the encounter, reacts quickly, and uses all available tools. There are four classes that can heal for a reason, and in my opinion, no one class outshines the others in all situations.

Priests have the widest range of abilities, and a good priest will be able to use all (or at least most) of them. They can single target heal, AoE heal (and will still be able to, just not by spamming CoH), reduce damage taken, preemptively heal, and group heal. Only extreme pessimists expect this change to reduce the effectiveness of Holy Priests.

Likewise, Druids shine at healing multiple targets by stacking HoTs and are invaluable for helping absorb spiky damage. The sheer number of HoTs they have at their disposal didn't change; all that happened is that one of them received a cooldown.

Paladins are still excellent single-target healers, and with Beacon of Light, they are able to heal both the tank and others in the raid at the same time.

Shamans have always been known as Chain Heal spammers, but in WotLK we received some more tools for our arsenal. We are now effective in five man dungeons, can be excellent tank healers, can instantly heal someone with Riptide, and are still able to raid heal (when the raid cooperates by standing somewhat close together). I have heard grumbling that Chain Heal was not affected by the changes, but unlike Circle of Healing and Wild Growth, it is not an instant spell. The 2.5 second cast time may not be equivalent to a 6 second cooldown, but it is not something that can be used on the move, so in most encounters Shamans are unable to continually cast it with no interruption at all.

I don't think the changes in Patch 3.0.8 will affect the raid composition in my guild. Even before Blizzard announced their plans to make it more about bringing the player instead of the class, we tried to do that. I know our healers will adjust quickly and still be as awesome as ever. Doomsday is not coming soon to a Tuesday near you.

Normal Naxx Neutralized!

2008-12-14T02:08:00.002-07:00

10 man Naxxramas cleared!

Our power team hit the Obsidian Sanctum (I won the sack with gold and an additional 5 Emblems of Heroism) and then flew over to Naxxramas. We cleared the Construct wing and then finished off the Frostwyrm Lair. It was a blast and I broke my losing streak by picking up the token for Heroes' Earthshatter Spaulders and Cloak of the Dying.

Generosity.

2008-12-13T19:54:00.005-07:00

I received a gift from a new guild member today that is awesome. Another resto shaman had a friend who made a Titansteel Guardian by mistake. He sent it to me to replace my blue dagger. I don't usually accept gifts like this, because I try hard to avoid being the stereotypical girl who is showered with gifts by guys. But it's an excellent weapon, and it's really hard to give back something so awesome. I've enchanted it with +50 spellpower. And it's really sexy now.

Other progress updates:
We cleared up to Thaddius on Thursday night in Heroic Naxxramas. I picked up a few other upgrades, some big, some minor that I bid on to avoid sharding them.

I've spent some time this weekend doing 10-man Naxx. We cleared up to Gluth last night in a late-night run. We're heading to Obsidian Sanctum tonight, then we're planning to finish up Naxx. Last night was fun, but my dice were broken. I didn't win a single roll. I hope that means I'm due for some epics tonight. (See me not spelling that epix--that's for you Silver. Now stop winning my stuff!)

Late to the Party

2008-12-12T14:09:00.002-07:00

So, you may have noticed by now that the majority of my posts are done late at night, generally after we finish our raid and I log off of WoW. The normal process is to log off of my desktop computer and get ready for bed. Then I fire up the laptop that lives on my nightstand and do a quick post before falling asleep. As someone pointed out, that didn't happen last night.

I logged out of WoW and made preparations to complete the nightly ritual, but the wireless connection was not cooperating and the laptop couldn't reach the internet. It had local access, but the wireless router was having issues. I reset it, but it still didn't really want to work. I decided that I'd wait it out (even though I should have been snoozing already) and took a gander at the games included on my laptop. I haven't really messed with the pre-loaded applications on the laptop much; it's fairly new and I mostly just use it for surfing the internet and playing WoW when I'm out of town.

If you're still caring at this point, I'll just let you know that I will be downloading the Bejeweled mod for WoW tonight. I've resisted up to this point mainly because I've never played Bejeweled before and didn't see the appeal. I spent over an hour matching up colors last night on the laptop instead of sleeping, posting, or researching--three things I should have been doing instead.

My name is Tam, and I'm a Bejeweled-aholic.

Professions

2008-12-10T20:21:00.005-07:00

So I'm currently a JC and tailor. I guess I'm sticking with tailoring because I've already started leveling it and I would like to have the magic carpet. JC is another story. I remember now that when I leveled JC in the first place I was also a miner; now I'm not. This leaves me with the question: How on earth do I level JC without gems? Hmm..... So stick with JC or pick something new? Sadly, I'd love to be a miner again... but I'd have to give up JC to do it and that just seems wrong.

Oh as a side note.... I hate PROFESSIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Heroic Achievement? I'll Pass

2008-12-09T22:31:00.005-07:00

Marnas and I ran a couple of heroics tonight with some guildies. We had a good time although things didn't always go smoothly.

I have decided that until I am completely decked out in at least 25 man Naxx gear, I am not letting someone talk me into attempting a boss on heroic in a specific way "for the achievement." I will cheer if I am pleasantly surprised by an achievement sneaking up on me, but I will not seek it out. I am not an achievement hater, and when I have time (read vacation) I will gladly go explore all the nooks and crannies of the old lands. I think it is cool that each heroic dungeon has more challenging ways it can be completed, and getting an achievement for being able to pull it off is something I support. However, every time someone convinces me to do something the hard way "for the achievement" we die--over and over. I don't get upset when we wipe, and I prefer having a good time to everything going perfectly. But I now have higher repair costs due to wearing mail armor instead of cloth, and even with the influx of gold, it hurts me to pay 50g in repairs for a heroic run. So, for now at least, please don't ask me to hold my mouth this way and jump up and down on one foot while hitting my healing buttons just because it's an achievement. You won't like my answer.

Who wins?

2008-12-09T16:27:00.003-07:00

I listened to students read aloud A Doll's House four times today. Do I win for bad day?
Maybe not -no mud involved.

Terrible Tuesday?

2008-12-09T10:47:00.005-07:00

I am having a day. I'm not sure what kind of day, yet. It may be merely a meh day complete with headshaking and sighing or it may be a horrible day with gnashing of teeth. To help me decide which it is, I am going to give live blogging a try.

5:00 AM Alarm clock begins tweeting. "Dum dum da dum dum da dum." Commence snoozing.

7:00 AM Actually wake up and check my e-mail, websites, and blog. See that court is delayed 2 hours because of snow. Yay.

8:00 AM Leave the house and walk to my car wearing my snuggly coat and new driving gloves. Clean my car windows with my plastic dust pan (best make-shift tool ever) and ice scraper. Drive to work.

9:45 AM Drive my car to Zoo Court. Look for a parking place but only find "Reserved for Court Employee" spaces on the pavement. Drive around the gravel area looking for one and find the one spot of mud thawed enough to get stuck in. Get stuck. Walk through the mud carrying my briefcase. Good thing I wore old boots today instead of nice shoes.

10:15 AM Finish cleaning the worst of the mud off my boots. Commence waiting for Defense Attorneys to arrive.

10:45 AM Defense Attorney arrives and starts talking to his clients. Doesn't start with my cases. Judge gets snippy with Defense Attorney because he interrupts him. Smile.

11:15 AM Discover that I forgot my pen. Borrow one from the court clerk that doesn't work. Sigh.

12:00 PM Continue waiting on my cases to be heard by the Judge because the Defense Attorney has disappeared into a conference area with a client.

1:30 PM Switch courtrooms for the afternoon docket after finally finishing the morning cases next door. Marvel that the Defense Attorney is still interrupting the Judge.

3:00 PM Finish court (finally--but at least it wasn't at 5:30 like last week) and smush my way to my car. My shoes are completely toast. I mean wow. They may have lasted for like 8 years before this, but one day at Zoo Court and bye bye old boots. But with the help of a handy cardboard box leftover from mailing Christmas presents I managed to get my car unstuck. It's really, really muddy, but no longer in the Zoo Court parking lot.

All in all, I'd say it was a Meh day. At least blogging about it kept me from getting into a bad mood and I mostly just laughed at the way things unfolded. Sorry to anyone who read all the way through. I promise not to subject you to another Terrible Tuesday any time soon.

Roadblock

2008-12-08T23:31:00.000-07:00

Tonight we hit our first obstacle to guild progression. Patchwerk in Heroic Naxxramas is a gear check, and one we didn't pass. I think we were close to downing him, and if we weren't dealing with warlock soulshard issues, cranky raiders, and weather-induced internet crashes, I think we would have succeeded. But since we did have those issues, we didn't quite manage to walk away victorious. However, I'm proud of us. Our casual approach to semi-hardcore raiding allowed us to take 25 fairly new 80s into Heroic Naxx over three raiding days and down 9 bosses. We blew through the Arachnid, Plague and Military Quarters wearing mostly blues, and we did so while having fun.

We haven't finished putting together our steady group of raiders that we call the Progression Group, but we will soon. We're using these early weeks of raids to give both new and old members a chance to prove themselves to us, and, for the most part, they are doing well. We have a few that may not make it to a regular raiding spot due to scheduling issues, connection problems, or attitude, but most have shown promise. I can't wait to get back into Naxx on Wednesday, but I plan to use tomorrow night to heal a few heroics and pick up some more pieces so that my gear will help us succeed the next time we face Stiches's big brother.

Noob Blogger Reporting for Duty

2008-12-08T20:49:00.000-07:00

So I'm excited to post my very first blog.

What am I not excited about? Well WOW at the moment, I feel like I'm lost. I have so many things I need to do and really don't know how to go about doing them. I'm also going to change my spec. I'm not so happy as a demo/affl lock. I think I may go more straight affliction.

So no cute pictures this time, mostly because I don't know how. But I will learn, because I like pretty pictures.

WoW Girls Unite

2008-12-08T20:00:00.000-07:00

I'm back from Texas, where I had a blast watching my niece and meeting my nephew for the first time. The prima donna did an excellent job and I'm very glad I got to see her.

I brought back a souvenir for all of you, a demon-hugger mom to give us the dps, family-centric perspective.

Welcome Marnas!

/dance

2008-12-04T23:00:00.000-07:00

I'll be out of town this weekend "getting cultured" as my father would say. I could never decide whether that meant growing mold or being bored. One of my nieces (I have 4) is a ballerina dancing in The Nutcracker this weekend. I would be failing as an aunt if I didn't mention that she is Clara this year--which is one of the reasons why I an flying to Texas to see her dance. I'll be hanging out with most of my family and experiencing a once in a lifetime (probably) moment in my niece's life. I'll also be cuddling my new nephew as much as I can and playing with the toddler in the house. (My brother and his wife are all about the adorable children.) I'm looking forward to it, even if it is just a quick weekend trip and will be over way too soon.

Oh...and the picture is not my niece. My niece is much cuter.

Now With More Valor!

2008-12-03T22:47:00.000-07:00

Tonight was our first trip into Heroic Naxxramas as a guild. It went very well, and was a lot of fun. I still LOVE my Shaman, and I didn't miss melting faces at all. (Possibly because if I were still a face melter, I'd have been in charge of Mind Control, and really, it isn't my favorite spell. It isn't even on the list of my favorite spells. Basically, I loathe having to MC mobs. MCing players is funny, MCing mobs just makes me die...a lot.)

I ended up pretty high on the healing meters, although I'm sure my overheal percentage was huge. I didn't have that many mana issues, although I went through a few potions, and used a flask for mana regen. I didn't feel gimped in my mix of heroic blues/purples (I still have non-heroic shoulders from Northrend and a trinket from ZA, but everything else is from a heroic, regular Naxx, or badges).

My stats self buffed:

14k health
17k mana
1770 + healing
25% crit
5% haste
300 mp5

I let another resto shaman in the run grab the Shield of Assimilation since my badge shield was better than what he had. And I lost the roll-off for the Valorous Earthshatter Spaulders. But I did pick up the Girdle of Recuperation, so I do have my first piece of 25 man gear.

Emblem of Valor Count: 7.

Not too shabby.

For the Alliance!

2008-12-02T21:10:00.001-07:00

We showed our loyalty to the Alliance (or at least to the Achievement system) tonight by raiding Orgrimmar, Thunderbluff, Silvermoon, and Undercity. Even our die-hard Achievement Hater joined in to help us kill the leaders of the Horde. It seems that a long-standing desire to kill Thrall trumped his wish to get as few achievements as possible. It was a fun event, and most importantly...I now have a bear mount.

Rather be...anything really

2008-12-02T16:09:00.000-07:00

It's 4:10 where I live and I'm stuck in Magistrate Court for an afternoon docket. There's a good reason Mag Court is not so affectionately known as Zoo Court. The Judge looks vaguely like a confused walrus, the Officers chatter like a pack of hyenas, and the defense attorneys are slower than sloths. If you are trying to picture this superimposed on your knowledge of Courtrooms gained from Law and Order, you are thinking of the wrong show. We're much more Night Court.

As I sit here blogging on my BlackBerry (yay for SmartPhones), I can think of many things I'd rather be doing: questing, wiping repeatedly in a raid, researching for inscription recipes, even fishing would be better than this. I love being an Assistant District Attorney a lot of the time, but Tuesday afternoon dockets make getting a rootcanal look appealing.

Back to playing Breakout.

Edit:
4:45. Score was 1590. I suck at Breakout.

Healing (Normal) Naxxramas--Some Tips for Shamans

2008-12-01T22:38:00.000-07:00

While waiting for enough guild members to hit level 80 for Heroic Naxx, a group of us ventured into the 10 man version. Here are my musings on the first two quarters.

Arachnid Quarter
First of all, why did it have to be spiders? Ask anyone that knows me--spiders freak me out. I jump a foot when even the tiniest spider gets near me. And I play a computer game that throws them at me every time it gets the chance. Don't ask me why.

Anub'Rekhan
Phase One: Heal the tank and people who get impaled. To avoid getting more than one person impaled at a time, don't stack up in a straight line.

Phase Two: Don't forget to heal the tank who is running around in a circle, especially during the transition. I would toss Riptide on him to help out the priest assigned to him. Keep everyone else alive.

Bottom Line: I don't remember too much about this fight from my first foray into it, except the awesomeness of seeing a giant beetle-like spider chasing a tiny gnome with a green mohawk. Be careful during transitions, and don't get too close to the tank running around in a circle. The de-buff silences you and with only 2-3 healers that is bad news.

Grand Widow Faerlina
Bottom Line: This is a fairly straightforward fight in normal mode. The adds are off-tanked and killed one by one to avoid the huge damage spikes caused by frenzy. Keep the tanks alive and chain heal the raid if needed. Stay out of the rain of fire. Might want to use a poison curing totem to help ease the strain during poison bolt volley, and keep a chain heal going on the melee.

Maexxna
Bottom Line: There is a lot of damage flying around during this fight, and you will be flying some yourself. Stay positioned near the wall to the left of the entrance so that when you get Web Wrapped you fly into the wall and not away from the raid. Help keep the poison off people, especially the tank since it reduces healing. Heal. Heal. Heal.

Plague Quarter

Noth the Plague Bringer
Phase One: Decurse players affected by Curse of the Plaguebringer so they don't damage themselves and others. Keep the tanks up during the berzerker enrage. Watch out for blink.

Phase Two: Heal the tanks on the skeletons.

Bottom Line: A slightly chaotic fight, but it isn't that bad. Just keep heals on the raid and the tanks and decurse.

Heigan the Unclean
Phase One: Chain heal. Chain heal. Chain heal. The melee will be running across the room in an organized fashion to avoid the lava spurts and taking damage from the boss's aura the entire time. This is a fight where chain heal spam shines. Just stand on the stage, keep a chain heal going on the melee, and don't get in the aura because it hurts and slows your cast times down by a ridiculous amount--300%. Don't worry too much about mana, you'll have a chance to regen a lot during Phase Two.

Phase Two: Your turn to run. Now, everyone runs across the room in an organized fashion to avoid lava spurts, since, during this phase, the guy who needs a bath takes up residence on the stage. Stay with the group, but you alone are responsible for making sure you stop in the correct spots. You'll need to watch a video or look at positioning maps to get a feel for it, but even then you probably won't "get it" until you've seen the fight a few times and learned the timing of the spurts.

While you're running, top up the raid using Riptide and only Riptide. You do not want to take time to cast anything else. Instant heals are the only option during the lava dance. Make sure a mana spring totem is down to help you gain back the mana you blew through in Phase One.

Bottom Line: This is a very fun fight for Shaman healers. But if it is your first time to see it, expect to wipe at least once. The dance isn't difficult to master, but you probably won't get it until you see it for yourself at least one time. Be careful to avoid getting too close to Heigan during transitions so that you don't pick up the debuff. And cleanse anyone who still has the disease going into Phase Two or they'll probably die while running.

Loatheb
Bottom Line: This fight is all about timing your heals to land at exactly the right time. It isn't too difficult, and the damage isn't too much to keep up with, but you have to pay attention to the debuff at all times. Every 20 seconds the boss casts an aura that makes healing effects useless on everyone in the raid. It lasts for 17 seconds. Meaning you have 3 seconds to heal before the aura is cast again. You need to queue up a chain heal to land just as the debuff fades. The follow it up with either a riptide on a very low player or another chain heal if you are fast. You will probably have time to dps the boss between heals, but remember that timing the heals is more important than casting a lava burst.

Shaman Shopping List

2008-11-29T23:35:00.000-07:00

I've spent the Holiday weekend healing heroics and have picked up a few Emblems of Heroism. I hope that before I can make it through my shopping list some of the pieces will already be replaced by better gear out of Naxxramas, Obsidian Sanctum, and the Vault of Archavon. But until I see how the dice treat me in our raids, I plan to pick up pieces as I can afford them. Here's my shopping list of Emblem of Heroism Upgrades.

Neck
Lattice Choker of Light. 25 Emblems. Spell Power/Critical Strike Rating/mp5.

Shoulder
Heroes' Earthshatter Spaulders. 60 Emblems. Spell Power/Critical Strike Rating/mp5.

Chest
Heroes' Earthshatter Tunic. 80 Emblems. Spell Power/Haste Rating/mp5.

Hands
Heroes' Earthshatter Handguards. 60 Emblems. Spell Power/Critical Strike Rating/mp5.

Waist
Beadwork Belt of Shamanic Vision. 40 Emblems. Spell Power/Haste Rating/mp5.

Legs
Heroes' Earthshatter Legguards. 75 Emblems. Spell Power/Haste Rating/mp5.

Trinket
The Egg of Mortal Essence. 40 Emblems. Spell Power/Chance on Heal to increase Haste Rating.

Shield*
Protective Barricade of the Light. 35 Emblems. Spell Power/Critical Strike Rating/mp5.

Totem
Totem of Forest Growth. 15 Emblems. Reduces mana cost of Chain Heal.

Heroic Gear for the Discriminating (resto) Shaman

2008-11-28T01:35:00.000-07:00

I managed to get a few heroic dungeons under my belt today with other guild members. I picked up a few new pieces of gear, due more to luck than design. Other group members were calling the shots on where we headed (after much deliberating). After the fourth or fifth exchange of "I don't cares" which made me tempted to suggest rock, paper scissors as a decision making technique, I decided that I should do more research about what gear I should be trying to acquire. So here's my wish list of items that drop in Heroic Northrend Dungeons.

Head
Helm of Lightning Halls.* BOE Trash Drop, Halls of Lightning. Spell Power/mp5.
Brood Plague Helmet. Elder Nadox, Ahn'kahet: The Old Kingdom. Spell Power/Critical Strike Rating.

Neck
Amulet of Dazzling Light.* Anomalus, Nexus. Spell Power/mp5.

Shoulder
Mantle of Discarded Way s. King Ymiron, Utgarde Pinnacle. Spell Power/Critical Strike Rating.
Spaulders of the Violet Hold. Cyanigosa, The Violet Hold. Spell Power/Haste Rating.

Back
Shroud of Moorabi.* Moorabi, Gundrak. Spell Power.
Reanimator's Cloak. BOE Trash Drop, Drak'Tharon Keep. Spell Power.
Ancient Dragon Spirit Cape. Ley-Guardian Eregos, Oculus. Spell Power/Haste Rating.

Chest
Dalronn's Jerkin.* Skarvald the Constructor, Utgarde Keep. Spell Power/mp5.
Scaled Armor of Drakos. Drakos the Interrogator, Oculus. Spell Power/Critical Strike Rating.
Moragg's Chestguard. Moragg, The Violet Hold. Spell Power/Haste Rating.

Wrist
Bands of Channeled Energy.* Grand Magus Telestra, Nexus. Spell Power/mp5.
Bands of the Sky Ring. BOE Trash Drop, Oculus. Spell Power/Critical Strike Rating.

Hand
Lightning-Charged Gloves. Maiden of Grief, Halls of Stone. Spell Power/mp5.
Cracked Epoch Grasps. Chrono-Lord Epoch, The Culling of Stratholme. Spell Power/Critical Strike Rating.

Waist
Slad'ran's Coiled Cord.* Slad'ran, Gundrak. Spell Power/mp5.
Girdle of the Ethereal. Xevozz, The Violet Hold. Spell Power/Haste Rating.

Legs
Frozen Forest Kilt. Ormorok the Tree-Shaper, Nexus. Spell Power/mp5.
Patroller's War-Kilt. General Bjarngrim, Halls of Lightning. Spell Power/Critical Srike Rating.

Feet
Sabatons of the Ages. Tribunal Chest, Halls of Stone. Spell Power/Haste Rating.

Weapon
War Mace of Unrequited Love. Keristrasza, Nexus. Spell Power/mp5.
Gavel of the Fleshcrafter. Salramm the Fleshcrafter, The Culling of Stratholme. Spell Power/mp5.
Netherbreath Spellblade.* Skadi the Ruthless, Utgarde Pinnacle. Spell Power/Critical Strike Rating.

Offhand/Shield
Facade Shield of Glyphs. Krik'thir the Gatewatcher, Azjol-Nerub. Spell Power/mp5.
Frostrbridge Orb. BOE Trash Drop, Oculus. Spell Power/mp5.
Temple Crystal Fragment. Novos the Summoner, Drak'Tharon Keep. Spell Power/Haste Rating.
Prison Manifest. BOE Trash Drop, The Violet Hold. Spell Power.

* I have already acquired this piece.

I'll focus on rings and trinkets in a later post. I also intend to make a shopping list for Emblem of Valor Gear.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-26T23:44:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone has a safe and happy Thanksgiving. I will be celebrating with my family by phone this year, but it still counts. Enjoy the holiday and check back soon.

Shadow Priest Love

2008-11-25T22:47:00.000-07:00

My Shadow Priest, the character everyone in my guild knows simply as "Tam" received some love tonight, gaining a level and making steady progress through the next. I'm not usually a serial leveler, but now that the Shaman is 80, it's time to start working on the Priest--mostly for her professions, and as another option for groups when healing is covered. She won't be my raiding main this time around, but I still plan to level her tailoring (hello, flying carpet) and enchanting. The synergy between Inscription's Armor/Weapon Vellums and Enchanting will be incredibly useful. The introduction of a way for me to enchant all of my characters without having to bother other people has made me one happy girl.

Tomorrow night is our first "official" foray into Naxx 10. A spur of the moment guild PUG went in last night, but I was still working on hitting the big eight oh. Now that I am the only level 80 Shaman in our guild, I'm looking forward to chain healing my heart out (and pretending that I have a clue what I'm doing). I'm paired up with Mase as my healing partner, which will make us both pretty happy (or at least he better act happy). We used to be a pretty good team back when we were both healy priests, and I still feel comfortable working with him. I trust him to know his job and do it well (unless something interesting is on tv) and he knows my style as well. As soon as we get a few more level 80s (including some more healy types) we will be moving on to 25 man Naxx. But with two groups scheduled for tomorrow night, hopefully we can kick some evil ass and get back into the swing of things.

I'm excited.

Ding!

2008-11-24T22:00:00.001-07:00

Told you I'd hit 80 tonight.

So Close...

2008-11-23T22:57:00.001-07:00

Weekend Endnotes:

I finished Christmas shopping. Now I just have to ship everything to Texas.
I saw Bolt and Twilight (both were worth the popcorn).
I ate too much good food.
I hate big trucks on the Interstate.
I specced back to enhancement.
I'm 79.5.
I'm camped out in Icecrown in an inn with a Runeforge...not sure how I feel about that.
I will make it to 80 tomorrow night.
That is all.

Happy Anniversary!

2008-11-22T23:47:00.000-07:00

Even a serious Death Knight needs a Baby Blizzard Bear. Happy 4th Anniversary, World of Warcraft!

There's a quest guy, right?

2008-11-22T22:45:00.001-07:00

The Amphitheater of Anguish is a horrible experience. I've done it twice now. Once for me and once for some friends and people have been total idiots about it both times. They stand on the quest giver, kite the mobs out of the arena, and basically act like complete jerks. Why is it that people can stand in line for a venti mocha latte at Starbucks, but can't take turns in the virtual world?

Laptop = Lag?

2008-11-22T22:27:00.000-07:00

I am out of town this weekend trying to finish up my Christmas shopping. Before you start thinking I'm one of those people who have to finish their Christmas shopping before Thanksgiving, you should probably know that my family is actually exchanging gifts on Thanksgiving. So, I'm not really ahead...I'm actually really, really behind.

I managed to hit level 79 tonight. I brought my laptop to the hotel (the nearest place to really Christmas shop is several hours away from my house) and specced resto for the weekend. I've now healed Nexus, Azjol-Nerub, Ahn'Kahet: The Old Kingdom, Drak'Tharon Keep, The Violet Hold and Gundrak. I think I will really like my resto spec when I can experiment with it without the massive amounts of lag the hotel wireless is giving me.

We're scheduled for our first venture into Naxx on Wednesday. I'll be 80 by then and ready to heal my way through my first raid in Wrath of the Lich King. I'm excited to return to healing with a fresh perspective after spending all of the Burning Crusade melting faces as a Shadow Priest.

My goal is to spend some time after I get home figuring out which gear I should be going after and reading up on guides to Naxx. I'll share anything I learn with my faithful readers. After all, the few friends I've conned into reading the blog need to know that I'm surfing the internets for info. :)

I wanna heal!

2008-11-20T22:42:00.000-07:00

LF1M Healer. It's a common request in my guild chat lately. As more people venture into 5 man content, the demand for healers is going up. I want to heal, but I just can't bring myself to spend gold respeccing Resto for each of these runs (especially since I know some of them won't actually happen) and then speccing back to Enhancement for questing. I seriously contemplated respeccing last night as I hit 78, but I couldn't actually click the button...at least not yet. I will at 80. It's possible I will respec this weekend to heal some runs with my friends, especially since Mars asked for a few instance runs this weekend for things she needs to get done and I don't like roping Mase into everything we want to do. But mostly, I find myself missing Riptide and Cleanse Spirit and feeling useful. Enhancement has served me well on my way through the levels (still only halfway through 78 if you're keeping track--work really has gotten in the way lately), and I enjoy never having to stop to drink, but I hold no illusions that I am an expert at the play style. It's functional for soloing, but I don't think I'll be bashing my way through raids.

Middle of the Pack

2008-11-19T23:10:00.000-07:00

The first person to hit 80 in my guild did so on Sunday night. He was not the first person to hit 80 on my server, or even the first druid, but it's still an accomplishment within our guild. Since then, a handful of others have had the big ding. For some reason many of our druids have reached 80 more quickly than the rest of us. A retribution paladin also joins their ranks.

I'm perfectly happy to be in the second wave. I don't feel like I've rushed and I'm enjoying the journey. I've started a Death Knight, gained almost a level on my Shadow Priest while helping my best friend in Borean Tundra, and even took a little time off last night. Despite all those distractions, I hit 78 tonight in The Storm Peaks (thanks for making me miss Colorado, Blizz). I do want to be the first Shaman in our guild to hit 80. And right now, I'm ahead by a couple of levels. I'm competitive, but I don't have to be first in this.

I have friends, though, who do. The first mage on our server is someone I met my first week playing WoW. Before I fully understood how to reply to whispers or use emotes, this male human /licked me and struck up a conversation. We spent hours that night questing together and getting to know each other. For the most part, we've been friends ever since. He's proud of his accomplishment, and I am glad for him. I understand why he wanted to rush through for the achievement and to be one of the first to step into the level 80 raids, but I don't want to emulate him. I'm pretty sure he doesn't understand why I am happy to be in the middle of the pack. But that's ok, too.

My guild will push into Naxx soon enough, and I will be ready to help lead the way. But for now, I'm enjoying my spot in the middle of the pack. Although if another shaman starts to edge ahead, I'll probably rethink that.

Resume Blogging!

2008-11-19T15:51:00.000-07:00

I had promised myself that I would write a blog entry every day in November. I wanted to get into the habit of posting regularly, and doing something for a month is one way to create that kind of routine. I didn't make it. I didn't really intend to take the weekend off, but the expansion (and the two days I took off work to enjoy it) interrupted my normal schedule. Staying up until 4am questing for 3 days and then setting my alarm for the next morning to do it again wasn't conducive to writing a blog entry every night.

Things returned to semi-normal yesterday with the return to work. But then work backhanded me with an unexpected marathon docket day at zoo court that seemed to last forever. (Note to self: skipping breakfast on a day that you get stuck at court from 8:45 until 5:15 with no breaks is not such a bright idea.) Last night I didn't even play the shaman except to do her Minor Inscription Research and say hi to a few friends. Then it was off to bed with a book to keep my brain from exploding.

Tonight I intend to do my best to get to level 78. She hit 77 on Monday night at about 11:00. I promptly purchased her cold-weather flying skill and went zooming off into the wild blue (well purplish black) yonder. After a night off, I'm ready to glide around Sholazar Basin and complete some more quests.

And I promise that the regularly scheduled blog posts will resume immediately.

Nothing Boring About Borean

2008-11-15T02:26:00.000-07:00

I made it to 73 tonight before I called it quits. And I finished all but maybe a few obscure quests in Borean Tundra before heading to Howling Fjord. I know I could move on, and I might fairly early tomorrow, but both starting zones are very well done and I hate to miss anything.

Memorable Moments in Borean Tundra:

The murloc quest chain rocked. From freeing the murloc tadpoles (I want one, damnit!) to wearing the extra murloc suit, it was full of memorable and fun moments. I appreciate that instead of turning you into a murloc, the suit still shows seams and a zipper down the back. I laughed during the entire quest.
The Orc disguise was also awesome. Again, the realism is what made it work for me, I'm not actually an Orc in the screenshot; I'm still a Draenei, but wearing a green mask.
The quest to capture a sorcerer (mage on a rope--or is it rope a dope?) and question him for information was also memorable. I'm not real sure how I would have handled the torture part if I were into RP, but I guess we are at war....
I laughed at most of the D.E.H.T.A. quests, and I think it's hilarous that they have a wanted poster for Hemet Nesingwary in their camp. The quest to trap the hunters was...interesting. The scripting was hilarious, but I felt bad everytime a stupid hunter jumped into the trap. At least they weren't lingering deaths, since the death sounds happened immediately. (Bonus points for making me want to save up 20k for a Mammoth mount though).

Those are the ones that stick out the most, but I didn't really find a quest that I hated. Hopefully that continues for the next 7 levels.

mmm Northrend

2008-11-13T23:58:00.000-07:00

Quick updates only tonight.

Even kinda scary Wal-marts are ethical. Mine wouldn't sell me my copy until 12:02. I stood in line with a couple who had driven over 60 miles to pick it up, a truckdriver who plays it as a way to keep in touch with his son, and a mother buying it for her son because WoW is better than being a drug addict. Fun stuff.
My desktop didn't get the right vibes from the dvd the first time I tried to install. I couldn't get the disk to read for a while, and ended up loading it on my laptop first. When I went to load it on the desktop for the second time, planning to use some of the work arounds listed on the tech support forums, it worked just fine. Weird.
I made it almost halfway to 71 last night just from the planned quest turn ins and a few quick quests that I felt compelled to do as I roamed around Borean Tundra.
I'm still not 71, but I'm close. Tomorrow I'll go at it more systematically. Tonight was all about fun and exploring.
Impressions so far: it rocks. The turtle-boats are way cool. I rode through Dragonblight and Grizzly Hills and cannot wait to actually quest there. The server was stable, and I didn't experience much lag. And Howling Fjord has a gondola...how awesome is that?

Time to sleep now. I'll write more soon...although I make no promises that it will be any more coherent than this post.

Dive In!

2008-11-12T22:11:00.000-07:00

I have a little less than 2 hours to wait for Wrath of the Lich King to go on sale at my local Wal-mart. I'm ready to dive into Northrend on the shaman as soon as I return victorious from Wally World.

I have a gameplan, and despite the downtime yesterday, I think I'm ready.

I respecced to enhancement (0/53/8) and placed all the lovely melee spells on my action bars.

I completed 21 quests that I intend to turn in for a little leftover BC xp. Tamzz is stationed in Shadowmoon Valley where I have 8 quests to turn in as soon as the game is loaded. Then I'll Astral Recall to Shattrath and turn in 3 quests. Next I will portal to the Isle of Quel'Danas where I'll turn in the 10 dailies I finished earlier this evening. I don't really care how much xp I gain from these leftover quests, I just want to feel like my preparations were good for something. After hearthing to Shatt once again, I'll find the portal to Storwind and catch a boat to the Borean Tundra.

I don't plan on questing much in Northrend tonight; I still have to work (or at least put on a good show) tomorrow. I'm taking Friday and Monday off, so I'll still get in some serious leveling time this weekend, and hopefully give the servers time to flake out without disrupting my day.

I'm ready to sprint to 80 with Tamzz and pick up all the new ranks of spells as soon as I can. It looks like our only two new abilities will appear at level 75 with Lava Burst and at level 80 we get Hex. Despite the wait for these two abilities, I don't think I'll be complaining. I'll be having too much fun using my Spirit Wolves at every cooldown and loving the new ranks of weapon buffs, totems and shocks that start appearing at 71. Rank 6 of Windfury Weapon looks quite droolworthy as it jumps from a 20% chance of two extra attacks with 445 extra attack power, to a 20% chance of two extra attacks with 835 extra attack power.

Is it midnight yet?

The Great Mailbox Mutiny of 2008

2008-11-11T20:15:00.000-07:00

The servers have been down all day, and as one of the government employees off work today, it has been slightly frustrating waiting to see when they will have the problems fixed. The word is that a glitch in the mail system caused the extended maintenance. I guess all the dancing hi-jinks finally overtaxed them to the point that they refused to give up the goods.

I didn't really have that much planned for today other than doing a few dailies for gold, so I'm not as upset as many of my guildies. I know a few people who were counting on the extra time for last minute leveling. One guildy wanted to work on his shaman that he is trying to get to 70 before Thursday, and another was planning to get his mage to 55. Our guild had also scheduled our last BT clear for 7:30 server time. We've never seen the glaives drop, so we were hoping tonight would be the night. Since it is now 9:45 server time with no end to the server lock out in sight, it looks like the legendary loot will continue to elude us.

Oh well, maybe we'll get the first orange weapons in WotLK.

Remember the Fallen and Honor the Fighting

2008-11-11T17:49:00.000-07:00

On this eleventh day of the eleventh month, Americans are reminded that our lifestyle comes with a price--a heavy price for those whose service to our country takes them far away from home and the ultimate price for others who have given their lives. A moment out of our hectic schedules to remember and honor them is not too much to ask.

Prepare for Battle!

2008-11-10T22:34:00.000-07:00

First, he planted suspicious crates around Azeroth, knowing full well that we are a curious bunch. (Why else would we agree to ANYTHING the Explorers League asks us to do, if not because of our endless inquisitiveness? We want to see what will happen next, or at least whether or not we'll survive it.) When this curiosity got the better of us and we opened the crates, we found the Lich King had not sent us kittens but instead had infected us with a plague that turned brother against brother, guild member against guild member (sorry again, D, I didn't realize that was your baby alt until I'd already taken a bite), and made us desire nothing more than to create as much mayhem as possible.

Second, he invaded us with his necropolises and made traveling through such zones as the Burning Steppes, Blasted Lands, and Azshara (who am I kidding, no one travels Azshara) hazardous to our health. His Necrotic Crystals were surrounded by shades intent on killing us and withholding the runes we needed for epic loot.

You would hope that would be enough--after all most of us were a little grossed out when we came to our senses after eating brains--and that he'd be satisfied with making our major cities zombie playgrounds and parking his ugly flying pyramids outside our capitals. But no. He had to send his minions after our leaders.

Tonight, the so called Lich King went too far. He launched an all-out attack on our home land and endangered the lives of King Varian Wrynn, Bolvar Fordragon, and the people of Stormwind. Though many came to aid the King in defending Stormwind, I fear it is not enough. It's time that we do more than fall victim to the Lich King's plans. We must take up arms against this menace. We must carry the battle to Northrend and deal with the traitor-prince once and for all!

A Picture's Worth...

2008-11-09T22:40:00.000-07:00

I realized that I've never actually posted any screenshots of my shaman (or any other character) in action. I didn't do too much with her today, instead spending some quality time on my hunter taming a new pet and farming the argent dawn shards. I did get invited to heal a Heroic Magisters' Terrace run where I picked up the sexy robe I'm sporting in the screenshot above as well as a nice chestpiece for leveling enhancement. I just couldn't bring myself to spend the respec fee twice in one day. I'll put her back to dps mode later in the week.

The interface set up I show above has taken some time to perfect, and I'm sure I'll keep tweaking, but it seems to really serve me well.

Addons I don't like to live without include:

Pitbull
Dominos
Autobar
Recount
Omen
Totem Timers
Class Timers
EEPanels2
Simple Minimap
ArcHUD
MikScrollingBattleText
ClosetGnome
ORA2
BigWigs
Bagnon

Can I keep him?

2008-11-08T22:24:00.000-07:00

I took some time to enjoy the Argent Dawn offensive today. I don't like the crowds surrounding these kinds of events, and I usually steer clear of them when they are introduced, so this was really my first all out assault on the crystals. I started out the day by testing my new elemental spec in the Burning Steppes since I needed to see if it would be more fun than the ill-conceived hybrid build I tried yesterday. I managed to kill enough undead to damage the crystal, pick up various pairs of pants (2 plate, 1 leather, 1 mail), and almost convince myself that leveling elemental wouldn't be that bad. My priestly buddy offered to come help me with the elites. We quickly discovered that a holy priest who forgets to heal--thanks for fessing up on the corpse run, Mase, your bad indeed--and a spastic elemental shaman was a painful combination for disrupting the summoning rituals. So bad in fact, that I ended up hearthing and respeccing enhancement before we finished. That went better, even with two fellow alliance players griefing us. I managed to get enough shards to buy gloves, shoulders, a tabard, and a pocket pally. Also, I am now able to throw the book at someone in WoW as well as in court!

I think it's pretty clear that I'll be leveling with the aid of Maelstrom Weapon and Feral Spirit. Mase will just have to heal any instances we do; I'm not giving up my cuddly ghost wolves.

Confused...So Confused

2008-11-08T00:08:00.000-07:00

I wish I could level my shaman to 80 by healing other people--after all I did it with my priest in TBC (/shudder)--but I don't think that it is feasible to torture myself for the sake of tradition. So I'm going to spend the weekend trying to determine which route I want to go as I level--the "I could heal if my priestly friend isn't around" route or the "just let me bash it 'till it's dead" route. I started off with a mix of the two tonight, and although I killed enough of the scourge invasion guys to get the Argent Dawn Tabard achievement, I don't think the indecisive route worked well at all. Things died, but they didn't die fast and it wasn't that much fun making them dead. And since I plan on making a lot of things dead starting next Thursday, I think it should be both fast and fun. Back to the drawing board...

Apples and Silk

2008-11-06T21:25:00.000-07:00

If I had any artistic talent I'd make a WoW Comic about the quest Items of Some Consequence. I'd draw it from the perspective of a female character who is striving to make it in a man's world. I see the feminine adventurer traveling alone through the vast City of Stormwind in search of answers, tracking down the insidious plotters behind the Defias threats. She is bruised and tattered from battling Edwin VanCleef and Bazil Thredd, weary from trudging from one spy to the next, but determined to solve the mystery and gain her reward. She's sent to a gnome who maintains surveilance on the shady nobleman Lord Lescovar and he promises to help lure the lord and his minion out so she can take care of them once and for all. In his dialogue bubbles, the gnome says, "Okay, I'll need you to get me a few things before I can put my plan into effect. I got the perfect disguise that'll get Spybot past those guards. Bring me some silk and a couple apples. The silk's up to you, but Clara's little farm right outside the city has the perfect sized apples." She quickly retrieves the items he needs and returns with the silk cloth and the apples, expecting him to use the unusual items in some clever way to sneak his robot through the guards. Maybe she imagines an elaborate ruse where the robot offers poisoned apples to the guards and, once they are incapacitated, the gnome restrains them with the silk. She's not sure how the gnome will accomplish his task, but she's eager to help.... Until he wraps the silk around the robot and stuffs the apples down the front, giving the heap of metal the illusion of breasts. Then my heroine would shake her head in disgust, pin the gnome to the tree with her daggers and stomp off muttering about men under her breath.

Unfortunately, I have no artistic talent. So the best I can do is paint the scene with words.

Although I am not into role playing, each time I do this quest on one of my female toons, I imagine her shaking her head when the spybot is transformed into a buxom brunette priest and sent in to lure Lescovar to his death. Don't get me wrong, I think the quest is quite clever and I enjoy it, but everytime I complete it I am reminded that in many ways WoW is a game for men. The idle animations for female characters almost always involve some sort of breast jiggling hop. The dances are sexy (except human females--the macarena has never been sexy). And the female models of armor often barely cover the essentials. But I am willing to admit that I wouldn't change any of it. My Night Elves are sexier than I will ever be. I'm proud of my Draenei's derriere. And I go out of the way to make all of my characters pretty. Items of Some Consequence may make me shake my head at the use of apples to make women, but it makes me laugh, and it reminds me that neither I nor my characters should take ourselves too seriously.

Small Town Fail

2008-11-05T22:21:00.000-07:00

I confess that I am a procrastinator. However, I wasn't entirely positive whether or not I'd still be living in this small town when Wrath of the Lich King was released, so I have a defense for this one. I decided against moving, so I will be here next week when WotLK is released at 12:00 am Mountain Standard Time. So today I finally got around to calling my local GameStop to see if they were having a party (ha!) and what hours they would be open that night. Um...so yeah. I live in too small a place with too few gamers to rate a midnight opening. Who knew? I might have suspected...but I still thought they'd open at midnight for a few minutes anyway. Guess I'll be getting my copies at Walmart.

Fun with Trade Chat

2008-11-04T21:15:00.000-07:00

I was doing some basic research into the 3.0.3 changes and decided to log in tonight to see how my Riptide was affected by the buff (one of our few it turns out). Unfortunately I logged in right before they declared the winner of the Presidential election. So I'm running around Shatt jumping off bridges trying to injure myself enough to see the heal over time tick, when a fairly new guild member logs on. I don't know him personally, in fact I don't think I've ever spoken with him. Note to self: You are a bad officer. Shame on you! Seconds after he logs in I see a class-colored name pop up in trade chat signifying that he is either a guildie or standing near enough to me so that my mod can pick up on his class. This person proceeds to express his views about the election in non-complimentary terms, even going so far as to use a word that is not acceptable outside a rap video and even then you're probably not getting away with it.

Before my eyebrows could return to their normal position, I was frantically whispering him: "I understand that it is 'just' trade chat and it is out of control already, but do not use that word while wearing our guild tag."

His response? "Sorry, man. I didn't know. I'm not racist. I'm just pissed about the election."

Let's analyze this.

I've already confessed to being a bad officer and not speaking directly to this man before. But I talk in guild chat a lot. Enough that most people know what they can get away with when I'm online and what they can't. And last I checked, I'm not a man. This could have just been his generic address, like the way my niece says "dude" to everyone, but I don't think so. He's rather new to the guild, and I totally get that it's safest to assume everyone you talk to in WoW is male, but how oblivious is he?

Second, he didn't know. What exactly didn't he know? He didn't know that that word is unacceptable in polite society. (Yes, I know I'm stretching the definition of the word polite to apply it to trade chat, but stay with me here.) Probably not--especially since he immediately knew which word I meant. He didn't know that we frown on people making idiots of themselves while wearing our guild tag? Possibly. I guess he never took the time to read our Code of Conduct. The first rule in the Code says "Our members show respect for the guild by participating in raids, fulfilling duties assigned by Officers and Raid Leaders, and avoiding activities that do not promote a positive guild image." Oops, guess he missed that line.

He's not racist. Why is it that most people who feel the need to say they aren't racist still use words that people consider racist? If you weren't racist, wouldn't you pick a different word?

In the end I gave him a strong warning and he logged off. Maybe I should have gkicked him, but it's really hard to get kicked from our guild. Maybe he'll take my warning to heart and start thinking before he types. But I'm not holding my breath. After all, his biggest mistake of the night was speaking in trade chat, and I don't think that's something we can fix.

Peeking Through the Curtains

2008-11-03T20:56:00.000-07:00

I must confess that I like the new Achievements introduced in patch 3.0.2. I think it's a fun addition to the game that makes it possible to feel a sense of accomplishment even with short amounts of play time. It's nice to be able to log in for a few minutes at lunch or on a busy night and still have a purpose instead of running around in circles in your faction's city of choice. (I personally like to jump in a pattern following the tile floor in Ironforge, but that slightly OCD quirk is a topic for another day.) Running through a lowbie zone to discover missed areas or actually seeking out a rare pet so that you can one day have a skunk may not be huge accomplishments, but they do bring another aspect to the game that makes it more accessible to those who have lives (unlike me) and cannot dedicate hours every night to raiding or pvp.

All of these examples are acceptable reasons to like Achievements. But the truth is, I just like to watch. I'm descended from a long line of curtain watchers. You probably thought my grandmother made lace curtains for her front windows to balance the need for privacy with the need for sunlight (no, the picture isn't of my grandmother, but whoever's grandmother it is totally understands what I mean). But really, it's just because it's so much easier to see what the neighbors are doing without making them think you are a stalker. After all, the neighbors might catch on if you're constantly moving mini blinds out of the way. No such worries with sheer lace curtains. There's a fine line between "neighborhood watch" and "creepy" and my grandmother has excellent balance.

Achievement spam in my guild satisfies my curtain watcher genes. Thanks to "cheeves" I now know when my guildies are fishing, exploring, pvping, questing, or instancing. I even know when they pick their teeth (although I have to agree with an Achievement hater who vehemently denies that that's worthy of an Achievement). I even know whether they are the kind of person who seeks out achievements, embraces them as they naturally occur, or does absolutely everything they can to avoid them. Achievement spam has given me just as much insight into my guildies as my grandmother ever got from watching her neighbors to see whose car sat in the driveway all night long. But I don't have to pretend I'm keeping an eye out for suspicious characters. Or volunteer to pick up your mail.

Rather be fishin'?

2008-11-02T20:31:00.000-07:00

I'm leveling the shaman's fishing skill. Today she got to 301. Yay! Why? Heck if I know. I don't really enjoy it, although I guess it is kinda relaxing. At least the water is pretty. I remember when fishing was even more horrible than it is now, so I shouldn't complain. At least you always catch something with each cast. I seem to be suffering from the "Suzie Sunshine" disease tonight. At least this. At least that. At least I'm doing something in the virtual world that I would never do in real life?

I like lakes. My family has a lake house and I love being there. Sitting on the dock watching the boats and jetskis go by. Why aren't there Waverunners in WoW? I guess because if there were, no one would ever level fishing.

/random

2008-11-01T18:49:00.000-06:00

I don't really have that much to say today, but here's a list of the projects I'm working on.

I started leveling my 65 human pally again today. Mostly just going around doing the Trick or Treat quests. She gets 5500 xp per inn, which isn't bad at all. She went from only a little way into level 65 up to about half. I still need to ride around Outland and finish those before I put her away again. I'm telling myself that even though I could get her to 70 by November 13, doesn't mean I should. I shouldn't, right? Right. Totally not going to level her before the expansion.

I'm working on updating our guild's Code of Conduct and policies for Wrath of the Lich King. The Officer's forum on our website has been pretty active lately as we try to figure out what new rules we're implementing and any other changes we need to make. I've finished most of the basic stuff, but I still need to work on a few policies for raiding. Unfortunately, making time to do it is harder than you'd think. When I'm at work people think I should actually, you know, work. And when I'm at home, I'm either playing WoW, reading, or doing any number of other things. Nose to the grindstone tomorrow, I promise. Well, I sorta promise. I want popcorn. So I'm planning on a trip to see Zack and Miri (provided I can find my debit card in my car--don't ask).

I'm reading a teen-fiction book by Mette Ivie Harrison called The Princess and the Hound. So far I like it and can't tell where it is going to the degree that I normally can. That's a plus as long as it doesn't go somewhere weird.

While searching for the link (and figuring out how to make it a link) at Amazon, I found out Gail Carson Levine wrote something new. Memo to self to pick it up next time I'm in the "big town." Too bad that won't be for a few weeks at least. Silly small town with no good bookstores.

I should really get a mousepad for my laptop. Is it wrong to use a Buffy the Vampire Slayer comic book for a mousepad?

Hmm. Looks like I had more to say than I thought. Back to the book now.

Happy Hallow's End!

2008-10-31T23:08:00.000-06:00

I think it's funny that I get way more into World of Warcraft's Hallow's End celebrations than I ever do into Halloween. Don't get me wrong; I think munchkins in costumes are as cute as the next gal, but since none of those munchkins are mine, I don't live near the niece and nephew versions, and my town is scary enough on a normal night, it's really not my scene. So today I celebrated by eating cookies with orange icing, munching on some off-brand chips, and drinking the next to last cold Dr. Pepper at our office party. It was good times. Only the front office lady dressed up, but that was actually one costume too many. Seriously, she works at the DA's office and she dressed up as a vampire, complete with white make-up and fake blood drips by her mouth. Scary. But not in a good way. Other than that it was business as usual.

When I got home I finished The Last Days, the sequel to Peeps by Scott Westerfeld. Vampires that are really just suffering from parasites. Weird, but appropriate for October 31, I guess. Then I went and killed trolls in ZA--ok, I was not actually responsible for the death of any troll, but I healed those who were. No good loot for me except the 18 mp5 trinket off Hex Lord. But I got some more badges and proved to myself and a few more guildies that I won't suck at this heal thing. Oh, then I got asked about my attitude and Sunwell Raids. Honest answer to that question is, "Um, if there is anyone else online, at all, no matter how bad their gear, or how much they suck, take them over me." But what I said was, "If you need me I'll go." I'm such a patsy.

Wonder if it's too late for the vampire lady to bite me before Monday's raid? Just a thought....

/sigh of relief

2008-10-30T22:41:00.000-06:00

It's not very often that someone in our guild is deserving of a /gkick. For the most part we make room for anyone and are very tolerant. I'm so not saying that we always get along. We don't. There are little squabbles going on constantly, petty animosities repeatedly bubbling to the surface. Sarcasm gets overused. Feelings get hurt. Grudges get held. Maybe these skirmishes are more for the sake of alleviating boredom than anything else. Who knows? Most of the time it just make us better raiders. We strive to beat our nemeses on the damage meter, hitting them where it hurts the most. But once in a while someone comes along that is pure poison. Outhealing them doesn't make you feel better. Outbidding them doesn't give you satisfaction. Their personality is so obnoxious that you cannot ever think of them without cringing. You do not tease them, knowing you don't really mean it. You don't lash out and then immediately wish to apologize. No, every hateful word you say to them comes from the heart, and they revel in making you sink to that level.

We haven't had many guild members fit this description. As I said, we generally manage to work with anyone. If we can't, that fact often becomes apparent during our recruit stage, when both the new members and the guild are checking to see whether or not they fit. There have been a few who slipped through. The pally who seemed nice enough, until he went psycho in gchat. The priest who complained about everything from loot to raid invites and wanted us to worship the ground she walked on. And most recently, a shaman who criticized other members performances, insisted on being lewd and crude in gchat, and reveled in being the guild asshole.

The shaman is no longer our problem. He was removed from the guild tonight after he chose to continue ranting even after our GM told him to shut his mouth. He picked the wrong day to push, as in the past two days the officers had been arguing amongst ourselves about what to do with him. In the end, on the GM's orders, another officer gave him the "it's not us, it's you" speech and /gkicked him.

The sad thing is, no one minded. This man had been in our guild for nine months, had raided with our A Team for almost as long, and not one person questioned the /gkick. There were some whispered comments of "omg!," one person who had never seen the speech before (like I said, we never use it) laughed at that, but no one stood up for him in gchat. In officer chat, yes. His champion left the raid in protest and expressed his displeasure. Another officer was unhappy that this individual was removed when another that he detests has remained in the guild for two years. But there was no outcry of "Why??!" from the general population. No one was surprised. No one was outraged enough (or at least not brave enough) to question the decision. They simply accepted this as the inevitable outcome, long awaited or long expected, and moved on to other things.

So now, as I let out a deep sigh of relief, I also find myself thinking about how and why this happened to us. How can we allow someone to hang around for months infecting us with their malignant attitude? Are we really so desperate that we have to accept the kind of people that elicit nothing but relief when they are removed? Is this a product of apathy or the side effect of democratic management? I don't know for sure. I plan to post more about it later, analyzing where we went wrong and how we can do better, but for now, I'm going to /smile and go to sleep.

Hello Again

2008-10-30T10:16:00.000-06:00

This is my second attempt at making (and sticking with) a blog. My first, Valley of Shadow, was intended to be about being a Shadow Priest in the World of Warcraft. For a few days, I posted a lot. Then I stopped. For months.

Now, at the end of October, a few WoW related things have changed for me. I no longer plan to raid on my Shadow Priest. It's not that I don't love her, of course I do. She has traveled with me from noob guild to a raiding guild that finished the Burning Crusade in the top 10 on our server. She has healed her heart out. She has melted faces. But she has served her time. So I'm making a switch.

I'm no longer a fairly experienced Shadow Priest. Now, I am a totally inexperienced Shaman. My Shaman was created a few months ago when some real life friends started playing. I'll be honest and say that this most recent character is at least the third Shaman I started, and the only one to make it past level 14. I might have leveled a shaman without my friends needing help with lowbie zones, but I doubt it. Levels 1-15 were not a lot of fun solo, but were much more entertaining when I was also trying to explain the difference between yellow mobs (you have to hit them first) and red ones (run away!). Although my friends didn't take to the game as much as I had hoped, once I leveled the shaman to 20, I was hooked. I left them behind and kept leveling on my own. Levels 20-40 were still somewhat slow, but having a mount at 30 helped. Once I hit 40 and learned Stormstrike, leveling was a breeze. Now that I'm level 70 and sporting a mix of Karazhan, Zul'Aman, and heroic gear, I've set my sights on healing.

My goal for this blog is to follow the learning curve of a newish character in Wrath of the Lich King. I don't know everything there is to know about my class, but I'm trying to learn. And no matter what, you'll get to hear about my guild, both the good and the bad.

And the AoE Shadowbolt Goes To...

2008-06-28T15:57:00.000-06:00

Warlocks.

Of course. Of COURSE it goes to Warlocks. Why should Shadow Priests get an AoE spell in Wrath of the Lich King? Give it to Warlocks in Demon Form. Because Demon Form isn't a cool enough idea already. They need AoE Shadowbolts, too.

Deep breath. I'm reminding myself that I'm on vacation, and things could change between now and the actual release of the expansion, but the news reported by WoWInsider about the World Wide Invitational Q&A doesn't necessarily make me a happy camper. Oh well. We get Dispersion, which is pretty nice. But it's no AoE Shadow Volley.

Ok, back to vacation.

Vacation!

2008-06-27T13:57:00.000-06:00

I'm going on vacation! I'm going on vacation! Ok, ok. I'll stop with the shouting.

It's almost time to pack up the gas-guzzler and head towards the airport, even though I don't actually fly out until tomorrow morning. I'm excited, as you can probably tell. I'm going to spend some time with my family at the lake and come back to work with an awesome tan. (Or, a really bad sunburn, but a girl can dream can't she?) I'm going to hang out with my best friend and see a funny show (Spamalot from Monty Python, it has to be hilarious). And I'm going to meet up with some Guildies. See, I knew you were waiting for the WoW tie-in.

I've mentioned that my guild is awesome. And one of the best things about it is that many of us have become very good friends. For the past couple of years we've had a big get-together where any member (or ex-member that we still like) is invited to hang out with us for a weekend. This year's is in Toronto and I'm sure I'll write more about it in the weeks leading up to it. But this weekend we're having a smaller gathering of people from the Dallas/Fort Worth area. I can't wait to see everyone. I've met some before, but there are about 4 (if everyone shows) that will be new faces. I'll post more about it after the fact, but for now, I'm heading out to finish packing (after picking up my laundry).

I'm going on vacation!

Now that's what I call dedication!

2008-06-26T10:07:00.000-06:00

Swimsuit? check
Sunscreen? check
Camera? check

WoW WTF and AddOns folders? check

I'm leaving for a week-long vacation tomorrow. After work I will finish packing for my trip to Dallas, load up my car with all the things I cannot possibly live without for ten days, and drive two hours to the airport. This week I have found myself doing all the normal pre-trip activities: putting off loads of laundry (must take it to the laundromat tomorrow...cannot delay any longer), charging my iPod and digital camera, finishing up last minute preparations at work, and getting a haircut. Those activities are normal, right?

But tonight after our raid (I do not suck as a rogue, damnit! It is NOT my fault we cannot kill RoS when I'm not on my priest. ::stab stab::) I had to do one more thing before I was ready to leave. I disconnected my special keypad and saved my WTF and AddOns folder onto a new thumb drive purchased specifically for this purpose. And now I find myself asking whether that makes me dedicated...or addicted.

I plan to raid on Monday night from my best friend's house (and most likely on her computer since I cannot afford a laptop that can handle more than one window open at a time--much less run WoW). And rather than suffer through reconfiguring her mods to my satisfaction, or--shudder--using the default interface, I'm taking all of my settings on my snazzy red thumb drive. I think this just makes me dedicated, not addicted. But I also think I may be slightly delusional. Sigh.

The Second Kill Curse

2008-06-23T13:11:00.000-06:00

My guild is awesome. Granted that is my opinion, but it's still true. Although my guild is awesome, we do not excel at all things. We talk about pancakes too much. We place too much emphasis on boobs. Our guild chat occasionally drifts into the land of all things BSG. These things make us who we are, even if they don't necessarily add to our awesome factor.

We also suffer from the Second Kill Curse. For as long as I have been in my guild--actually longer as I raided with them as part of a raiding alliance before I joined--the second kill of a boss has usually been more difficult for us than the first. We often manage to kill a boss soon after we set our sights on it. Somehow everything comes together quickly--the right people, the right strategy, the right execution. We walk away thinking "That's it? That was too easy." Many times, we find out on our next attempts that we were right. It was too easy. We end up spending a night wiping repeatedly for various reasons. Maybe we don't have the same group of people. Maybe we get unlucky with the randomness of the mechanics. Whatever the cause, our struggles to win the second time are magnified by the fact that it seemed so easy before. The Second Kill Curse.

Reliquary of Souls was my most recent experience with the Curse. We stepped into the gauntlet for the first time during one of our regularly scheduled Monday raids. We'd read up on the strat and intended to be there the week before, but last minute cancellations had sent us to Mount Hyjal instead. On that particular night we didn't kill the three headed monster in one try, but we did walk away victorious before the end of our allotted raiding time. And it seemed simple. Nothing to it. Evasion tank. Interrupt. Kill. It was easy...that night. The next week we spent a full night and a half on the fight--continuously wiping. We didn't have the same people, in fact I was playing my rogue so interrupts weren't perfect. We kept pulling aggro off the tank in Phase 3, subjecting everyone to Seethe. Our healers couldn't keep up with the damage. Although we tried to keep from pointing fingers, everyone was secretly blaming everyone else. Why was this so hard?

Exactly a week after our first "easy-peasy" kill, we downed him for the second time just as everyone was about to give up. Don't get me wrong, that's not always the case. There are times when we read up on a fight, give it a couple of tries and experience the "Ah Ha!" moment where everything suddenly makes sense to even our slower players. The hardship on those fights is found in the struggle to down the boss the first time. The second kill will be easy because we can explain the one thing that makes the fight beatable.

But for the fights that don't have an "Ah Ha!" moment, we are often left with a second kill that makes us scream at the computer (hopefully not while hitting the push-to-talk button). I don't know how to break the Curse. I just know it's real.