Back to Basics: Becoming one with the Combat Log

One of my biggest pet peeves is when someone asks “how did I die“. Ice radiates out of me as I ask them what their combat log says. Then we have to wait 15 minutes for them to scroll until they find what they’re looking for.

It doesn’t have to be that way. There are addons available that will tell you what’s going on (I think the popular Recount can be configured to let you know how you died), but it’s so easy to use the built-in Combat Log.

Now, if you want the “illiterate arrogant bastard” setting, you’ll need a bit of that Imagination addon (which, unfortunately, cannot be downloaded from any websites). All other information is right there, on your UI, in front of you.

You can find your Combat Log hiding behind your chat box. If you mouse over the top of the box, you’ll discover your Combat Log tab. Now, you can either leave it where it is, or drag it out somewhere. I have mine pulled out to the bottom right corner to my screen because I like to keep an eye on it at all times and I would hate to lose my gossip feed any important chat information

When you have your Combat Log where you want it, right click on the tab and select “settings” and a fancy menu will appear.

The “filters” the menu speaks of are different settings you can choose based on the information you want to receive. You can edit the default ones (What happened to me, Everything, etc), but for fun, lets start one from scratch. Hit “Add Filter”, name your filter whatever you want and “Accept”.

Next, under the very first tab, “Message Sources”, check “Done to: Me” and “Done to: Pet”. If you also want your log to tell you about the damage you and your pet are doing, check “Done by: Me” and “Done by: Pet”. Of course, if want extra information, feel free to check whatever you like. Just remember that the more you check, the more crap will be in your log.

Under the next tab, “Message Types”, you can select the type of information you want your log to tell you. I have everything checked except “power gains” and “extra attacks”. Again, customize to taste, but you’ll want most of these options checked.

The next three tabs are mostly cosmetic, so it’s all up to personal taste.

- I have the “Colors” set to default.
- Under “Formatting”, I only have “verbose mode” checked but I do turn on timestamp as needed. Timestamp is ugly as heck, but it’s nice to know the timing on the damage you’re taking as well as on the heals you’re taking.
- Under “Settings”, I have everything checked. All this page does is put a shortcut to your filter on your Log’s shortcut bar.

Once you’re done, hit “Okay” and be on your way. It’s as easy as that.

And there you have it! Enjoy not having to ask how you died ever again!

Thank you, May I have another?

Ooops

(EDIT: For those who aren’t familiar with my usual vocabulary, please note that I use the term “yelling” very loosely and when I use it, its kind of tongue-in-cheek.)

I had this odd thought last night.

I had died to Legion Flame on Jaraxxus.

I don’t know how I died to Legion Flame on Jaraxxus. I ran and everything. I even used my mouse to turn! But after my face ended up on the floor, I checked my combat log and sure enough it read “pwned by legion flame u fail n00b” (I have the settings on my combat log set to “illiterate arrogant bastard.”)

Generally when I screw up, I quickly try to think of ways to blame it on someone else. I have a lot of practice at that and can be pretty creative. But no, not last night. Last night, the first thing that crossed my mind was:

“I hope I get yelled at.”

My second thought was “Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?”

Ok, time for some background. I was that kid in the first grade who always cried when she got in trouble. I was also that kid in high school who always cried when she got in trouble. I don’t know how my fellow students let me get away with it (I suppose being freakishly tall and kind of rough had it strong points) but fact remains, I tend to take everything personally. I don’t hold grudges for those things, otherwise I’d lead a very miserable life, but I do go out of my way to avoid being scolded.

So why did I suddenly want to get punished?

I think having Windsoar’s post about raid leading styles on my mind had a lot to do with it. I’ve been enjoying pondering the culture shock I experienced (and loved!) when I went from a laid back raiding guild a more performance oriented guild. While things are still pretty civil, feedback is faster, more direct and sometimes tinted with, um, manly emotions. When I joined I was a little nervous, after all, I’m a fragile crybaby and I didn’t get the chance to listen in on a raid before joining. But it’s been a few weeks now and other than my usual (and somewhat excessive) shyness, I haven’t been stressed at all by the raid environment. If anything, I giggle when the guys get carried away at each other. It’s like they prod each other until they get mad and take their aggression out on the fight. It’s very in-the-moment and never seems personal. Everyone gets a little hassle for their mistakes, regardless of their place in the guild. It even seems that the better players get pointed out more than us new recruits. (I think they do purposely go easy on me, which is nice because it does take me longer than the average player to adjust to a new team.)

But that still doesn’t explain why I suddenly have an urge to be punished.

One of the habits I’m trying to rid myself of is listing of every one of my screw ups at the end of every fight. I may be a fragile crybaby, but I’m really hard on myself. My mind is constantly racing. Did I do ok? Would could I do better? Why am I epic failing right now? Of course, now that I don’t advertise everything I do wrong in raid chat, I ended up posting my list on the internet, but, you know, baby steps. It’s like there’s this process engraved my head:

1- Do something wrong.
2- Feel crappy about it.
3- Feel better.

Like, to feel better, I have to feel crappy first. I’ve done yoga for a few years and whenever I look for a new instructor, I have a test: I give them 30 minutes to make me cry. Because if it doesn’t hurt like hell, it’s not working as well as it could. There’s a purging feeling that comes with the exertion. It makes my mind quiet.

Kind of weird how things work. I never, in a million years, expected that I would want to be yelled at (ok, yelled is a strong term, maybe scolded). Yet, I’m seeing having attention brought to my mistakes by someone other than myself as a replacement for the annoying, cruel inner voice. I don’t think it pushes me to perform better like it does for the guys: it doesn’t make me mad or bring out my aggressive side. I always give my best, no matter what. But it does get me past the “feel crappy about it” stage a lot faster. Plus, it’s less squirmy than thinking: “Geez I wonder if I’m annoying everyone with my failures“. If I screw up, I know I screw up, they all know I screwed up and I know that they know I screwed up. (Confused yet?) It’s all out in the open. Finally, there’s somewhat of a team element to it. I like being treated like everyone else, at the best of times and at the worst of times.

Funny the lessons I learn from my video game life.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, no one said a peep about my dying to Legion Flame (because clearly, it wasn’t a big deal and its just a funny example). Well, besides my combat log’s illiterate arrogant bastard settings.

Sorry guys, I gotta go, I have a raid in about 30 minutes

The race to finals debuff doesn’t just eat your brain and your soul, it lowers your sleeping skill by 60%. So instead of wasting my time by telling myself stories in the dark, I’m going to waste my time by writing a blog post in the dark. (On the bright side, I’m almost done immunology and did 2 tough chapters in therapeutics. I’m on a rooooooooll.)

So the other night, I was attending this recruitment casino fun night thingy for school. I try to get out of “social chores” as much as possible, but being a poor, starving college student, free food means I’ll show up. Free drinks are a bonus. I was even enjoying myself, winning at pretend Blackjack because our (kinda hot but happily married) dealer was cheating in our favor. It started getting late though, so I excused myself.

Me: Sorry guys, I gotta go, I have a raid in about 30 minutes.
Female classmate: Did you say you have to raid in 30 minutes?
Me: Mmhmm
Female classmate: What?
Male classmate who often plays WoW with me: She plays World of Warcraft and she has to run ToC tonight. Someone’s gotta heal it.
Kinda hot but happily married dealer: Oh, one day she’ll be one of those really attractive women who write game reviews.

I found that absolutely hilarious. The free wine probably had something to do with it, but I’m sure I would have found that insanely funny under worse circumstances. The image of Veronica Belmont (who, by the way, looks nothing like me) flashed in my head and I laughed even harder. It took me a few moments to compose myself, then I fled the scene.

I’ve mentioned before, a long time ago (which means 3 months), that playing WoW is like picking your nose and you should never publicly admit to doing it. Yet, I’m becoming more and more open about my WoW playing. I think blogging has something to do with it: I never realized how much fun it was and now I want to talk about it all the time. I spend a lot of my time in coffee shops (which I’ve always done anyway since I have nowhere else to study), surrounded by other caffeine addicts who have wordpress open. Sometimes they look over my shoulder and talk to me.

Them: Oh, are you using wordpress?
Me: As a matter of fact I am.
Them: What a coincidence! So am I!
*awkward silence as they smile at me*
Me: So, um, what do you write about?
Them: *insert very intelligent words that are beyond my meager grasp here*
Me: That must be really interesting!
Them: What are you writing about?
Me: Video games.
Them: Oh cool. I played guitar hero once at a party.
*We resume our silent tasks*

And thats the usual reaction I get when I say I play WoW. “Oh, cool” Not, “OMG you must a weird crazy freak with no life!”, no “OMG you pollute our green air with your lowly hobbies!” Just “oh, cool.” Really, no one cares.

Well, except my parents. They care but they’re getting better. I wasn’t impressed when I discovered they were telling family friends that I did nothing but play WoW all the time. I wasn’t impressed because that happened was while I was trying to get in pharmacy school and did nothing but study all the time. At least wait until I’m indulging in my bad habits before you accuse me of doing so, tyvm. I haven’t gotten any hassle for well over a year now, though, which is nice.

Even my being a girl rarely causes much commotion. Other girls usually give me “oh, cool” followed by “have you seen the new Twilight movie?” When I say no (I hate movies, sitting still for 2 hours is torture and I refuse to pay 10$ to be tortured), we run out of things to talk about and the conversation kind of dies. While I used to have tons of female gamer friends back in high school, they seem to be hard to come by now… A few female friends of mine watch The Guild, but that’s about it. It gets lonely. WTB IRL BFF who also plays Warcraft.

Guys who game also give me the “oh, cool”, but they add a “!” at the end. Yet, generally, after comparing our classes and roles, the conversation moves on to other games and music and whatnot.

It just seems so…anti-climactic. Here I am, revealing a naughty, naughty secret and I can rarely get a good story to tell from it. What a waste of a dirty secret.

I know there’s still a lot of gaming misunderstanding. You see magazine articles warning you to not reveal playing WoW during a job interview. Every now and again, you’ll hear sad stories proving that gaming will cause you to flunk out of school and/or destroy your relationships.

But in every day life, I find that it’s rarely as big a deal as I expect it to be. Oh, maybe the people around me think horrible things of me because I’m open about my WoW hobby. If that’s the case, they hide it very well.

It’s almost disappointing.

Shared topic: Of PTRs and News Websites

It’s time for another shared topic! This week, the excellent Windsoar of Jaded Alt asks about our thoughts concerning the PTR and all the news it generates. Does having all upcoming information on hand spoil the game? Check out other responses on Blog Azeroth!

Aww look, I downloaded the PTR client, just for you guys

I’m going to share my honest, honest, honest opinion here. I’m taking a page from Rajjs‘ book and say that, as hard as I try, I can’t bring myself to care. Last week, my blog feed showed me angry blogger after angry blogger, up in arms about gated progression. At least, it looked like they were angry. I wasn’t able to hold my attention past the pictures and first line of each. I wanted to share the feeling, I wanted to yell “OMG ITS THE END OF WOW” and burn my keyboard over it, after all, I’m all about fitting in. I don’t fit in, though, at least not in that respect. For me, until I’ve experienced something first hand, it’s not real.

It’s my personality. I’m the same way about anything. In the hallway before a practical exam, my classmates are reeling in fear. I watch them squirm, wishing I was nervous too. My nerves don’t kick in until my hand touches the doorknob. Once my brain registers “the beginning”, I sweat and shake and say stupid things like everyone else, but not a second before. Same goes for fun things. I love travel. I mean, I LOVE to travel. I’d live my entire life out of my backpack if I could get away with it. Yet, an hour before any grand departure, I’m still reluctantly packing, whining about the hassle and god why the hell did I decide that it would be a good idea to fly across the continent again. The magic begins when I get in the cab. Finally! It’s real and I can’t be happier.

I remember trying to write about emblem changes way back. I’m not even going to link it, it’s that embarrassing. Surely, I would have something to say about it! I must, I must! But I wrote the whole thing coldly and my conclusion can be summed up by one word: meh. It took a week or two after 3.2 for me to think, “Yeah. Yeah, that’s pretty cool. I like that.”

Ok, so what does that have to do with knowing about instances, boss fights and loot tables before they go live?

Well, for one, I’m not going to actively look them up. They’re not real to me, I don’t care about them. If I do hear spoilers or see pictures, they won’t register. When I watch boss videos or read guides to prepare for a fight, I even have to take notes otherwise I don’t recall a thing. I have to live it to believe it.

Oh! but how I do love going into fights blind, observing and trying to figure out what’s going on. I remember the first two weeks of Wrath, experiencing the new instances, poking the new bosses with sticks to see how they’d react, laughing at our silliness… That was such a happy WoW time. In the past, I have looked for a guild that did boss fights blind, but found none. I do my raid homework only because I’m part of a team and there’s no good in being the only clueless person on that team. I probably would be a good candidate for PTR fun but I’ve never tried because…because… I’ve just…never tried.

And loot tables? Uggg, don’t bore me with loot talk! To me, loot is means to an end. I want to raid and I want things to die. I need X, Y, Z in order to raid and for things to die. Ok, fine, lets get X, Y, Z. There are exceptions and I do have some sentimental pieces stowed in my bank. What makes those pieces special, though, are the circumstances of their acquisition and not their mere existence. Do you know when I look up loot tables? Do you? Do you, really? It’s when I get asked what I need from somewhere and I don’t want to look like an idiot. Not a second before. (EDIT: Because there might be some new 80s reading this and getting the wrong idea, yes, I did read loot tables when I was first gearing up for Naxx. When you need to make large, quick upgrades, there’s no way around it.)

I must admit that I do enjoy listening to people talking about upcoming changes. I like listening to the guys on vent, I like listening to podcasts, I like to see which blog addresses which topics. What really interests me, however, is what person X feels strongly about as opposed to person Y. How does that fit together with their personality and how they play the game? Absolutely fascinating!

Who doesn't recognise the MMO Champion Logo?

I’m quite sure I’m in a minority among serious players. Good WoW news sites get tons and tons of traffic. Even I get a lot of search engine hits from people looking for news (I bet they‘re disappointed!). There’s always a lot of excitement, anger and other varying emotions buzzing when changes are announced or discovered. I would say that, as a general rule, the PTR and news sites add to the gaming experience.

Does the PTR and the news it generates take away from some people’s enjoyment of the game? Maybe. Some people love surprises on patch day. Some people, like me, love learning boss fights firsthand but can’t because they need to keep up with their teams. However, my thought on this is that if you need to learn things the hard way that badly, then perhaps an MMO isn’t the right kind of game for you.

On a side note, I do want mention that I loosely keep track of paladin changes throughout the patch testing, but it’s more to avoid panic on patch day than anything else. After a change, I want to be polished up and ready to go as soon as possible. I am what I am, but I don’t think it’s an excuse to be any less of a player.

I still try to care, I really do, but I don’t think there’s any hope. Sometimes I feel a smidge of guilt about not being more in the know. Just a tiny smidge. After all, it’s a pretty big game and there are other things to talk about than upcoming changes. There’s no rule that says “you must care about changes to game X amount of time before they go live”, so yeah. To each our own.

I has a linky to share!

So after I complained about how attention makes me nervous, Matticus kindly gave me some link love, tripled my blog traffic and asked me if I’d like to write a guest post. You’ve gotta appreciate his sense of humour.

The result was posted today: http://www.worldofmatticus.com/2009/11/26/case-study-anub-10h-vs-holy-paladin/

Descriptive boss fights are a bit out of my genre and I was worried about how my weird writing style would be received, but, contrarily to what my nightmares predicted, the feedback I got was very kind. I want to point out that I made the picture at the top of the post all by myself, like a big girl. Graphic art and I are bitter enemies, so when I do produce something that doesn’t make my eyes bleed I have to shout it out to the world.

Now that I have all this extra traffic, I kind of feel bad for not having lots of witty posts lined up, ready to be published. I do have some things in the draft bin, but I’ve been so busy this week that I don’t have anything I’m satisfied with on hand. Finals are just around the corner and I’m thinking I should dust off those schoolbooks and start cramming. I do plan to join in on the shared topic again and I think there is a huge need for a talents discussion but it’ll have to wait until the weekend.

On a separate note, happy Thanksgiving to those of you who celebrate it in November! I thought of you all as I was dosing off in my early morning class today.

Your Holy Paladin Gear: Holy Light Builds vs Flash of Light Builds

Someday someone is going to wonder why I constantly take strange poses in the beer garden

I see the question of Holy Light versus Flash of Light builds asked a lot. As I’m getting used to a new healing style in a new guild, my own thoughts are pondering this topic. I’ve been sitting on this post for awhile, so I figured now would be a good time to finish it and give you all some Sunday reading material. Ferarro and Holypaladin.net both posted their own takes on FoL vs HL yesterday so it’s apparently a hot topic right now. I’ll hand out links their posts and to a recent Plus Heal thread at the end of this post. Happy exciting Sunday reading!

So, um, what are these Builds you speak of?

As the names imply, a Holy Light build revolves around using Holy Light (HL, big heal) as your primary spell and a Flash of Light revolves around using Flash of Light (FoL, little heal) as your primary spell. The Holy Light build is what you’ll see most often in PvE, with Int Gems in every socket save one to activate the meta gem. The key is to this build is to have enough mana to pump out a lot of strong, toe-curling, in yo’ face heals for the whole fight. You’ll still use the Flash of Light spell, but your gear is tuned towards using Holy Light as much as you need to. The Flash of Light build is one you’ll see occasionally, but not as often. Spell Power gems all over with some haste and mp5 gems to get every ounce of Spell Power socket bonuses. The point is to make Flash of Light a powerful, nearly instacast spell. It also gives Sacred Shield some extra oomph, although never having seen an FoL pally in action, I couldn’t tell you exactly how much oomph that is.

Are there talent builds that are connected to each type?

Not exactly. There are two common specs for PvE as a paladin, the “crit spec” (holy/ret to get Conviction and sometimes Sanctity of Battle) and the “bubble spec” (holy/prot to get Divine Sacrifice). The crit spec has advantages for both types of play, maximum mana return due to crit (always good) and extra output for a FoL spec. Bubble spec, however, gives you the glorious Divine Sacrifice and delightful reduction on the hand of protection CD. Utility is important as a paladin, if you’re not making yourself useful, you fall into the paladin cliché who does nothing but spam 1-2 spells the entire time. Whats the fun in that?

Many holy paladins actually have both specs and swap between them depending on the fight. If you don’t have an offspec you frequently use, this is a great option.

Glyphs, on the other hand, change depending on whether you want to go FoL or HL:

Holy Light Glyphs
1- Glyph of Holy Light
2- Glyph of Seal of Wisdom
3- Glyph of Divinity, Glyph of Flash of Light, Glyph of Beacon of Light or Glyph of Holy Shock (all depending on your style and raid environment)

Flash of Light Glyphs
1- Glyph of Flash of Light
2- Glyph of Seal of Light
3- Personal Choice

Help! How do I choose?

If you’re looking for a PvE build and asking the question, go Holy Light. You can’t go wrong. If a Flash of Light build is better for you, you probably already know. Generally, a Flash of Light build is used when the tanks are geared enough for the content that they’re not taking a lot of damage per hit and the dps is both high and good at avoiding fires. That said, depending on your group makeup, having a Holy Light paladin team up with a Flash of Light paladin can be a very cool combo. The Holy Light paladin keeps the tank at full health while the FoL pally ensures that the tank has a reasonable heal hit about every second.

When in doubt, Holy Light. Out of the two builds, it’s the easiest to find information on and it allows the most flexibility. Maybe it’s not the most efficient build for every situation, but you can get by with it everywhere, as far as I know.

What about you, bossy blog person? What do you do?

I’m gemmed for int. I’m glyphed for a Holy Light build. And lately in raids I’ve been spamming…Flash of Light. Which is why I have builds on the mind. Switching teams has been an interesting experience to say the least. New raid makeup and new approach to raiding. I seem to be doing acceptably (I haven’t gotten in trouble for anything that matters yet!), but the question is, how do I bring out the best from my character?

With my previous raiding experience being a laid back setting, I’m amazed at how little damage there is now. I’ve also done all my 25 mans so far with 2 other holy paladins which means that there are more than enough big heals to go around. That, along with my own personal preferences, could justify a FoL build. However, I’m worried about the lack of flexibility of a FoL build. I’ve been pugging a lot and in pugs you want a Holy Light build. I’m also suspecting the 3 holy paladin runs aren’t a regular thing, plus I don’t know what Icecrown Citadel will bring in terms of pally healing. (Oh, I could find out about IC if I wanted to, but I’m a hands on learner.)

Conclusion, for now I’m sticking with HL and may reconsider once I’ve found some stability.

What about the pros? What are the pros doing?

I spied on a few pallies as I wrote this. The two pallies from Ensidia were HL, with one of them having a couple of gems that weren’t pure intellect. I found a paladin from Premonition that was FoL. That said, I suspect that the paladins in high end guilds swap gear sets based on fights.

Can I have two sets?

Good luck convincing your guild (especially other paladins gearing up) that you deserve two sets! In a perfect world, having two sets would be wonderful, but unless you’re a farmer extraordinaire and have no competition for drops, it’s not going to happen. I know tanks can collect multiple sets, but tanking gear has the advantage that different stats are good for different things so its easier for them to recycle. The low stam, high strength gear your tank is replacing on his effective health (boss) set can be used for a threat (trash/5 mans) set. Your low int, low SP gear will not become more useful than your new high int, high SP gear, no matter how you gem it. However, keep all your trinkets and librams nearby and swap them around according to the fight.

Can I mix and match HL and FoL stuff?

The blog/forum reader in me wants to say no, but in practice I’ve seen it done effectively. I’m not a theorycrafter so I’m not going to add much more. As said before, trinkets and librams can always be swapped around and if you don’t mind switching glyphs a lot, that can be an option as well.

Where else can I read about this fascinating topic?

Plus Heal Discussion
Ferarro does a pretty good job of explaining it in her own way
Holypaladin.net did a response post to Ferarro’s on their site

Also, if any of you holy paladins passing by have some 2c or links to throw in, I can never have too much reading material.

EDIT: Note that this isn’t a response to Ferraro’s post. It was more or less coincidence that we posted about the same topic around the same time. I was also careful not to read her post until I had mine finished, purposely to avoid turning this into a response. We have different approaches to the discussion so if you’re interested in it, I definitely recommend reading her work if you haven’t done so already.

Introducing the Insecure Nervewreck

Friend: So, how are you liking your new guild.
Me: I love it! Exactly what I was looking for! I’m super shy though.
Friend: You? Shy?
Me: OMG yes, I can’t bring myself to talk in gchat or vent.
Friend: Meh, in a few weeks, they’ll be missing your quiet days.
Me: Yeah! I- ….Hey!

We all know the arrogant bastard. The big mouthed guy (or girl) who puts down others, genuinely thinks they’re better/smarter/more useful/prettier/better in the kitchen than they really are. The person that make Type B personalities politely smile and look away and that make Type A personalities blow a gasket. We come across them all the time in the offline world as well as in WoW. Bloggers of all types feed their readers with lovely tales of the arrogant bastard.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, is the insecure nervewreck. Due to the insecure nervewrecks’ quiet demeanor, he (or she) is not noticed as much. Subtle signs of mild insecure nervewreckness may include over apologizing, slow typing due to erasing and retyping multiple times and making really stupid, obvious mistakes. Still not sure what I mean? Lets have some examples!

New friend: Hi! How’re you doing?
Me: *starts typing then erases*
Me: *types than erases*
Me: *types than erases*
*5 minutes later*
Me: Doing good.

There’s a reason I don’t do twitter.

In a raid setting this slow communication can be problematic.

Raid leader: Who has an aura mastery available?
Me: *has an aura mastery available* ….
Raid leader: No one?
Me:….
Me:….
Me: *croaks* I do.

Of course by then it was far too late. Ok, note to self, call out available aura mastery earlier.

One week later

Raid leader: Who has an aura mastery avail-
Me: I DO!
Raid leader: Ok, use yours next.
Me: *hovers finger over button, oh boi oh boi oh boi*
Me: *accidentally hits aura mastery far too early*
Me: I give up.

Those classes in grade school where we sat in circles and talked about our problems came to mind. You know, the ones where the teacher would tell us how important it was to talk about our feelings. “Talking about the things that bother us makes us feel better”, she would say. So I thought about it.

Me: I wonder if I told people exactly how nervous I get, I would feel better.
Myself: No wai! They would think you’re crazy, you’re a drama whore and no one will want to be around you.
Me:
Me: …
Me: What if I blogged about it?
Myself: Blogging about it is fine.

Oh, but I still die a bit inside whenever I get a spike in traffic. I’m pleased that some people appreciate my lose screws but it’s like everyone staring at you while you’re naked. Maybe I’m half exhibitionist?

Also, this gem of a conversation I had today.

Guild Master: LF a holy pally blogger.
Me: Codi from Moarhps is really awesome.
*awkward silence*
Me: /facepalm self

It’s not a secret, I just hate advertising myself. I didn’t lie though. Codi does know her holy pallies.

EDIT: Added another scenario! Oh, and after two weeks or so, I’ve gotten way more comfortable. Now just seems like a better time to write about nervous screw ups.

Shared topic: Best Change to the Game

I’m really having fun with these shared topics. They kind of feel like a creative writing course assignment, but with an interesting topic instead of a crappy one. I get to work my imagination, then compare notes with others afterward. I find the exercise to be quite beneficial, and I’ve discovered some awesome blogs in the process. /end testimony

So this week’s topic is Best Change to the Game, proposed by Lathere from Hots&Dots. My first reaction was along the lines of “OMG you want me to pick just ONE?” I thought about a lot of convenient changes, like easing the leveling between 1-60, allowing flight in Outlands to level 60 characters. I thought about tiny changes that you wouldn’t notice unless you read patch notes (Patch 1.8 – Due to popular demand the general goods vendor in Undercity now sells Morning Glory Dew.) But there is one change that had a major, major, major impact on me.

Patch 3.1.0
Players level 40 and higher will now be able to visit their trainer to pay a one-time fee and access the dual talent specialization feature.

Yes, everyone likes Dual Specs, blablabla. You don’t understand. Let me go over this a bit. My paladin’s stats list me at 50 respecs. I’m not sure, but I think that number only covers my number of respecs since stats were implemented. I make a point of being as up to date and skilled as possible in my three talent trees, plus I also experiment with PvP specs when I’m feeling adventurous. Some people build alts to experience other sides of the game, I bend and twist my paladin any way I can. I can live with keeping several sets of gear current and polished. In fact, I affectionately say that I prefer building dps sets over actually using them. But! Several times a week, having to pay for respecs, having to redo my bars and spell bindings? Gross! It was such a huge waste of gold and time.

The day dual specs came out, the sun shone a little brighter. My gaming spirits were lifted. I was overcome with relief and satisfaction as the dual spec achievement flashed on my screen.

The first few times I made use of my dual spec in a raid setting, I would call it out on vent: “Hang on guys, I need to respec. Hang on, hang on, ooooooooh, done!” I probably annoyed the crap out of everyone, flaunting my bispectuality around (I don’t get credit for this expression, but I like it so much that I have included it into my everyday WoW vocabulary), but can you blame me? After long, painful respecs for years (slight exaggeration), I just felt so happy and liberated and needed to share that with my raidmates. I’m sure they would have done the same.

Since then, I’ve usually kept my specs as raid tanking/bubble holy, but depending on who’s around, I’ve messed with other combinations. Being in a casual guild for most of Wrath, our raid roster was different every night and, on many occasions, spec flexibility played a huge part in successfully getting a good 25 man raid on the go as well as keeping many people happy in our 10 mans. It was a relief for those who wanted to experiment with different roles but didn’t have the time or motivation to level another character. While there were some loot concerns among the officers before dual specs went live, it was actually beneficial. Offsets meant less stuff got sharded, and we didn’t have to put alt runs together to make sure we had some geared backup healers/tanks/dps. As I hinted to earlier, our mains could be their own alts.

Is Dual Spec perfect? Hell no. WTF, only two specs? I *still* have to respec fairly often. I can’t have two PVE healing specs, two tanking specs, a ret spec and two PVP specs all at the same time. (Me? Demanding? No wai!) But it’s so much better than before. My WoW life is significantly improved. Thank you Dual Talent Specialization.

The curious case of the Authenticator, or how I fail at shopping

So with switching guilds and trying to make a good impression, I was thinking of ways I could utterly humiliate myself and how I could go about avoiding such ways. One of the first things I thought of was, you know, getting hacked. I mean, that’s embarrassing (and a pain in the ass) at the best times. So how does one go about not getting hacked? Well, one way is to create an email specifically for one’s battlenet account. Check! How else could I improve my security? With an authenticator (duh!). What an amazing idea! I’ll go buy myself an authenticator!

I grab my credit card and hop onto the Blizzard store. I look around on the page for the Authenticator. I click on a few tabs. No authenticator! I ended up using the search tools, which is probably what everyone else does, I just have a thing against search tools. I think they’re weird. Anyway, I get the choice between the iPhone app and the little keychain. I’m not rich enough for an iPhone (damn 10 years of student loans), so keychain is it! 6.50$ Eh, it’s a lot but the peace of mind will be worth it. I order it and with postage and shipping the price goes up to something like 17$. WTF. Why is shipping more than item itself? I try to find a cheaper option but can’t, so, sigh, I go with the ridiculously expensive keychain. I fill in my address and credit info, press send. Feeling happy with my purchase.

The next day I get a nagging feeling like I screwed something up. “Naaah” I think. I shrug it off.

Sure enough, 3 days later, I get an email from my mom. “A package from Fresno arrived for you!” ….I had entered the WRONG address. Instead, I paid a crapton of money to ship my authenticator to my parents’ house on the other side of the country. Gah! I’ve been living on this island for 4 years, you’d think I’d know my address by now.

* * *

And in other, less fail, shopping stories, I bought myself a Christmas calendar! You know, those calendars with chocolates where you can eat one every day until Christmas! I usually don’t buy them, but the idea of choosing between the Barbie Princess Christmas Calender, the Hot Wheels Christmas Calender, the X-Men Adventure Christmas Calender and the Madagascar The Movie Christmas Calender was just too exciting. When I was kid, we only got to choose between the Snowman Calender and the Christmas Tree Calender. (I always got the Snowman and my brothers got the Tree.) Obviously, I chose the Madagascar Calender since it matches my bedsheets.

When in doubt, always choose the item that matches your bedsheets. (Unless you have the option of something that matches your Happy Feet Pyjamas, in which case, just flip a coin.)

Anyway, it turns out that the calender actually counts down to New Years because apparently Christmas isn’t politically correct anymore. While I am somewhat concerned about the lengths we go to for PCness (seriously, I’m not from a christian upbringing and I’m fine with Christmas calenders counting down to Christmas), I can’t really complain about more days of chocolate. Now I sort of need a calender to help me count down until I’m allowed to start eating my New Years calender. December can’t come soon enough!

Think Pink

I’ll admit that I’ve been staring at my blank text box for a good half an hour, not being able to find words that would do justice to the event that was held by Kael’Thas-US’ Sidhe Devils this afternoon for their guildmate, Julie, who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. The first time I read the post on BBB’s blog, I had to take a moment to dry my eyes. Then I pulled out my planner and circled the date a few times.

Like all chronic illnesses, cancer is devastating. It’s devastating for the person with cancer, for their families, for their friends. On a personal level, I held the hand of a grandparent on three separate occasions as they fought for their lives against the disease. On a professional level, I’m constantly moved by the inner strength, the positive outlook and the wisdom of those I encounter who are battling cancer, either as a patient or as a supportive family member. I have nothing but admiration for all the strong individuals I have the fortune of meeting during my clinical rotations, but I must say that those dealing with cancer always leave a special impression in my heart.

Today’s in-game walk from Darnassus to Booty Bay was incredible and I’m so excited to have been a part of it. Many fellow gamers were there, sharing their stories and walking for someone (or someones) they cared about. Others just walked in silence, quietly showing their support for Julie and for everyone else who has cancer in their life. Someone commented on how amazing it was that so many people wanted to show support for a stranger. How I see it, I wasn’t there to show support as a stranger, but rather as a fellow human being. We’re all this planet together and cancer touches us all in one way or another.

I send my love and best wishes to Julie, to her family, to anyone else battling cancer and to their families.

I also want to thank BBB and the Sidhe Devils guild for putting together this event. It was a great time and I’m so happy to have been a part of it.

Aaaaand of course I have pictures! (As does pretty much every blogger playing on US servers – it was awesome to see so many familiar names!)