Shared Topic: Do Your Alts Know Each Other?

I’ve been running a writing about WoW drought lately. I think that may have something remotely to do with the fact that when I’m not logging in to raid, I’m only logging in for an hour or so in hopes of finally digging up that trinket. Want to know what’s ruining WoW for me? Tyrande’s Favorite Doll, that’s what.

Besides, if you look at my scale of Important Things in Life, you’ll see faded, used ol’WoW on one side. On the other, you’ll see getting a podcast up and running, planning a backpacking trip in Cuba, finishing up clerkship, studying for pharmacy legal/licence exams and preparing to move to Alberta. WHICH SIDE OF THE SCALE DO YOU THINK IS HEAVIER?

Very good.

For Confused People who've never seen an old fashioned Scale

But anyway, this week’s Shared Topic is perfect for the person who can’t really remember a whole lot about WoW. Because if there’s one thing I remember, it’s how I feel about my characters. Kamalia from Kamalia et alia came up with a Topic I fell in love with: Do your alts know about each other?

Me and RP: A Background

We’ll get this out of the way: I’m not an RPer. In fact, if I tried to do any sort of RP on my blog, RPers all over the world would be horribly insulted and hate me forever.

RP and I just don’t click. Not in real life (the big cardboard box in my closet at my parents’ house that’s says “Roleplay Costumes” on its side is dusty for a reason) and not in games. The few times I tried, I felt silly, followed by embarrassed, followed by bored.

I don’t even like reading other people’s RP. I haven’t gotten though a piece of fanfiction since the last Digimon lemon I read when I was about 16 (hey Mat and Tai were HAWT ok! In my imagination they were older than 11). I’d blame my distaste for fanfiction and RP on bad writing and the overuse of clichés like the word “trembled”, like female characters with hippy names and physical traits like “sky blue eyes”. I’d blame it on that, but I don’t even like the good fanfiction.

But…the Small RPer Within

I think we’ve established that there’s no converting me to RPing. But…sometimes….it feels like my brain tricks me. It tricks me into thinking that Rykga, my paladin, grew up in Stormwind. It tricks me into thinking she was a merchant’s daughter. It tricks me into thinking that she was sort of innocent, but adventurous and resilient.

It even tricks me into thinking she’s got a sense a humour, that she secretly loves to blow up faces but can’t take herself seriously long enough to put a +Strength weapon to good use.

I think somewhere, hidden, I might have an RPer-within. One that will never be completely revealed to the world- if I start writing bad fanfiction and the word “trembled” with any type of seriousness here, I swear I will burn my blog to the ground. But one that graces me with a glimpse of her (decidedly my RPer-within is female) presence once in awhile.

As for the Alts

The alts…my mage, the squeaky Eloise, the cynical death knight Snowfia, the stuck-up but lonely paladin Ophelie… they all trembled- Just kidding! They all seem to have their own little personalities. And my low low lowbies, I feel like they have personalities too, but I haven’t discovered them yet.

Elo's Encounter with the World

But there’s one thing that never crossed my mind – have my characters ever met each other?

No, they haven’t met

There. It’s official. None of my characters has ever met, or will ever meet one another. They’re far too different, or far too obscure, to cross paths.

As for whether they know about each other, Elo and Snow have heard of Rykga. After, she DID kill Arthas, badass that she is. They come across some old stuff she’s left lying around. Snow’s even done some business with her, operating the Auction House and the Bank for her.

Ophelie’s Horde, though, and, even though she’s ready for Northrend, she’s still too unlearned about the world to have a firm grasp of who Rykga is. Other than having heard the name once or twice in Taverns or Inns, she’s got her head up her arse and doesn’t pay much attention to the world.

Doesn’t that just weird you out?

I’m no RPer. Not now, not ever. Yet I know all this stuff about these characters (and their sky blue eyes…). That just weirds me out.

And you know what? I kind of miss hanging out with my toons. Once the real world gets boring again, I’ll probably be back watching my girls grow up.

Want to join in on a Shared Topic? Head over to the forum at Blog Azeroth for all the upcoming Topics. Blog about that week’s Topic and leave a link back to it in the appropriating thread.

This Is Me, Making Fun of People Who Gank Me

I know it’s somewhat unconventional, but I don’t really mind being ganked. I don’t kill others (partly because my ego would never recover from the embarrassment of loosing), but, yeah, if someone kills me, I’m sort of annoyed, but, you know, it’s part of playing on a PvP server.

When I die, I run back. If I’m getting corpse camped, I entertain my opponent with my awe-inspiring alt-tabbing out madskillz. (I guarantee you they get fed up before I do.) I don’t sweat the small stuff.

But know what I learned pretty fast?

Most gankers are stupid. Like really stupid. Like really, really stupid. I suppose that picking on weaker than thou typically is compensation for a lack of strength upstairs, but I never cease to be amazed at exactly how lacking upstairs some these people are.

So for your educational pleasure, I will teach three lessons I learned from being ganked, as well as some pointers for gankers looking to become less mock-worthy.

A note for you picky semantics folks (picky semantics folks like me), I realize that the word “gank” has a broad spectrum of meanings. It can mean grouping up to kill someone, it can mean killing someone who doesn’t stand a chance (like a lowbie), it can even mean corpse camping. (Sources include Urban Dictionary, Wowwiki and Wiktionary) We’ll say it means attacking someone when you have the unfair advantage. And since I’m a poor pathetic, pvp naive little holy pally, we’ll say than any attempts to kill me will be called “ganking”.

1- The Stranglethorn Rogue

When I do Archeology in the low level zones, I like the Holy Radiance run bonus of the Holy Spec. I rarely get attacked, so self-defense isn’t a concern.

One day in Stranglethorn, I was a bit startled to see flashes around me. Going by the debuffs on my frames, it looked like one of those rogues who move like wasps.

Sigh. I Holy Shocked myself and thought about what to do. He didn’t seem to be damaging me much, but my holy spec is very much for healing. It takes me a year to kill a level 82 mob, there’s nothing I can do to decked out level 85 rogue.

I healed myself again and figured I might as well fight back a little bit. As I went to judge him, he vanished.

I looked around for him. I mean, by then my heart was pounding. I was ready to go down with a fight. But no, nowhere.

It occurred to me afterward that while I’d never kill him, I’d obliterate his nerves with my healing loooong before I run out of mana. Stupid rogue.

What I learned: Even if I can’t do damage in world PvP, I’m still far more annoying than any rogue.

Ganking 101: Check the mana bar before you leap.

2- The Feralas Druid

I don’t get attacked often during Archeology, but it does happen. This apparition out of nowhere was a Druid. He took me by surprise. I was in Prot spec this time. A spec for digging in Uldum that I hadn’t really played yet. I couldn’t heal my way to giving him a nervous breakdown so I would have to either let him kill me or fight back the old fashioned way.

His critty kitty was doing quite a bit of damage to me. My tanking spec was a nice copy of something I’d borrowed from Rhidach, but unfortunately blogs don’t offer a gear borrowing service.

I forced myself to remember how to PvP. The #1 Rule of PvP? Be as annoying as you can. Seal of Justice is pretty annoying. I put that up. Kitties do physical damage. Devotion Aura is annoying to physical damage dealers. Stuns are annoying. Especially stuns while standing in crap. I smacked him with Hammer of Justice and dropped a Consecration under his feet.

It occurred to me that I might be able to go down with a fight. I reset the match with a Lay on Hands and flexed my brain about how to play Prot. My heart was pounding and the blood was starting to get in the way of my thinking. Pounding… If there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s keybindings. I was shaking too bad to hit the buttons, but if I formed a fist with my hand…

It was facerolling (well, fistrolling) at it’s finest. Even switching to bear form couldn’t save this guy from my fancy keyboard work.

I looked at his corpse in shock. I’d never killed a max level character on my own before. Keybindings or not, PvP dps isn’t my forte. This guy clearly had no idea what he was doing. Why, then, did he try to kill me? What an idiot.

What I learned: When you have good keybindings, you don’t need to know which button to push. Just make a fist and pound, pound, pound.

Ganking 101: Even if your gankee is a total n00b, you still need to have some basic knowledge of how to play to kill them.

3- The Felwood Paladin

Archeology again. I swear I don’t get attacked often! It’s just that the few times I run into pests, I happen to digging up crap.

This time, I was level 67. The flying Shield from the Skull-level paladin knocked me down to under 20%, his flying Hammer finished me off. Sigh.

I don’t mind being ganked, but, man, he made me loose some Night Elf fragments. DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW PRECIOUS NIGHT ElF FRAGMENTS ARE? DO YOU??????

As I was running back, I peaked at my combat log. His name was “Jizzin.”

I did a double check. Jizzin? As in ejaculate? Oh. Emm. Gee. Most blatant TOS violation EVAIRE.

Two can play at this being a pest game, oh yes. Two hours later, a Blizzard GM answered my ticket saying that “they take name complaints very seriously” and that “measures have been taken”.

What I learned: Payback doesn’t always require power.

Ganking 101: Don’t make revenge so damn easy!

I’m Just a PvE Girl Livin’ in a PvP World

In my time on PvP servers, I’ve learned that:

1) Ganking doesn’t happen as often as you’d think. Most people just ignore each other, especially during Archaeology.
2) Those who practice Ganking usually aren’t part of Azeroth’s intellectual elite.

But hopefully this little bit of snarky wisdom has contributed to educate gankers everywhere, allowing their ganking experience to be more fulfilling. Remember, though, that while I don’t make fun of people often, anyone with ganker status is fair game to eternal mockery.

The Chronicles of Ophelie the Wussy Pally

I want to thank everyone for your words of encouragement, it really helped keep morale up over the past few days. In the grand scheme of things, two weeks of being a bit sore with less mobility really isn’t a big deal, but I’m a huge wuss and my arse was thoroughly kicked. It took me a few tries, but this post was written lightheartedly and is meant to be read in the same tone. As my friends always tell me: “If you’re not worth a few laughs, you’re not worth much.” (I know, I have really nice friends.)

They say that when really bad things happen, you sort of change your view on stuff. I guess that’s kind of true. For example, I now view 5pm as a perfectly acceptable bedtime. And I view 16 hours as a reasonable, good night of sleep.

Mostly, though, its everyone else who changes. People talk louder, have more off key voices, smack their gum more, have more loud colds, make more noise when they turn book pages, have this annoying habit of existing… At the hospital, they ask about suicidal ideation but, really, its homicidal ideation they should worry about.

There’s always an ambiguous feeling when you’re sick. Part of you is all “NO! I WANT TO DO THIS MYSELF! I CANT ACCEPT RIDES TO CLASS OR ANYTHING I HAVE TO DO IT MYSELF ME ME ME!“. The rest of you is overwhelmed with despair at the thought of having to wipe your own arse at the toilet (not that I have that problem right now, bowels were among the first functions to shut down) or to chew your own food. Chewing is srz bzn, I assure you.

I’ve always criticized other MS patients I meet in the hospital about their whining, but now I kind of relate. I’ve been providing anyone within shouting distance of my progress: “Well, today I can flex my legs a bit more and my left foot is slightly less tingly, but my hands are still very tingly and my back feels sprained from about the fourth vertebrae down, and it hurts when I lean slightly to the left and- Hey!
why are you walking so fast! I can’t keep up! Stop running away from meeeeeeee!”

WoW on the First Date? A geeky chick’s take

My guildie Redhawks wrote a post about dating as a WoW player a few days ago. I’ve always found the stereotype of the WoW player who can’t find a girlfriend (or boyfriend! let us not be sexist or homophobic) to be silly in itself, because, as a singleton WoW player, I’ve encountered way, like WAAAY more players who are romantically committed than players who are single. The rare fellow singletons I’ve met tend to be either very young or, like me, too overwhelmed with life to have energy left over to give another person.

It’s been so long since I’ve had the urge to be completely silly. And what better way to be silly than to exaggerate one’s misadventures while exploring Western (and other) society’s 2vs2 team ideal. Smug marrieds (the term, as well as the term “singleton”, belongs to Helen Fielding but is so appropriate) can feel even more smug about having married their high school sweetheart at the age of 18 (because, you know, EVERYONE was attracted to other people and had a sweetheart in high school! …there were a total of 2 remotely attractive guys at my high school and I was too shy to talk to either of them) and other singletons can feel satisfaction in the fact that, no matter how hard they fail, there’s always someone failing harder.

The UI Theory

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m pretty open about gaming. I’m just as open about my other hobbies. My rational is that we’re either compatible or we’re not. 98% of the time, I’m very satisfied with my IRL default UI. If I’m going to download an addon for it, it better meet my system requirements. No point in risking a wipe by teaming up with someone who’ll send my real life FPS through the roof.

And from what gamer guys say, you’d think that, as a girl, uttering the words World of Warcraft on a first date would equal instascore. To illustrate this, I’ve unscientifically guestimated the following statistics:

Yeah, you’d think that, as a girl, uttering the words World of Warcraft on a first date would equal instascore.

I won’t lie and say WoW’s never gotten me anywhere. There was that one time I crashed at a WoW friends’ house while on trip a few years ago…he offered to show me his WoW, I showed him my WoW, one thing led to another. What can I say? Neither of us could resist a well designed UI. I’ve also had a number on longstanding non-romantic friendships in real life! come from gaming discussions.

Buuuut, in general, WoW hasn’t gotten me very far.

This summer, it dawned on me that I was about to turn 26. I had a couple of collegues who were 26. They often talked about their husband, their children (yes, with a ren on the end), their permanent residence and their year-round job. Forgetting for a moment that I don’t even want any of that (ok, I do I want children, but pregnancy is NOT my thing, I’ll adopt, tyvm…and a year-round job would be pretty nice eventually, I am sometimes curious as to what it’s like to live above the poverty line), I panicked: “Oh noes! I haven’t even dated in years! I should give it a try again!”

The WoWophobe

You’d be amazed what you can find on Craigslist.

Next thing I knew, I was face to face with someone who was slightly too young for me, but not enough for it to be creepy. He was cute, we had mountain biking and hiking in common and we were both casual about other outdoorsy sports. Then I cleverly brought up WoW.

Me: I saw the Prince of Persia movie last week. It actually reminded me a lot of the game.
Him: Yeah, movies based off of video games are pretty cool.
Me: I wonder how the World of Warcraft movie will turn out.
Him: My buddy had a girlfriend once who used to play World of Warcraft for like 9 hours a day. All she did all day was was play the game.

We awkwardly stared at each other for moment as we watched our rep with other person go down.

He did send me an email that night, but I never heard from him after that. I suspect he found my Twitter account and subsequently, my blog. (If you’re reading, hi!)

The WoWoholic

Of course, not everyone associates WoW with “crippling time wasting addiction”. Sometimes, the opposite happens.

Me: I play video games.
Him: Me too. I mostly play WoW.
Me: Awesome! I play a pal-
Him: I don’t really have a main though. I raid with one of my hunters, with my shaman and with two of my druids.
Me: Oh, I just raid with my pal-
Him: I’m not finished. I also have a level 80 rogue I used for pvp, and an 80 shadow priest, dual specced warrior, DK-
Me: Oh, I-
Him: and a 78 mage, and two warlocks that I’m levelling through LFD.

Jerk didn’t let me talk AND HE DIDNT HAVE A PALADIN. Like WTF.

The Geekier-Than-Thou Attitude

Sometimes it’s also hard to have both WoW AND other hobbies in common.

Me: That’s so cool that we both play WoW! What else are you into?
Him: I deeply appreciate extreme left wing eastern european cinematography.
Me: That’s interesting! I love learning about new cultures and languages.
Him: Negative, I possess no desire to aquire such knowledge, my primary concern is despair determined from the failings of our unscrupulous and inadequate politicians. I firmly believe in the revolutionary power of anarchy…
Me: Zzzzz.

Ok, he used way more words than that, but I kinda fail at bullshit speech. Besides, I lied in that description. My game crashed (read: I fell asleep) way earlier on. (I can’t be too critical though, I talk boys to sleep fairly often too.)

There’s also the geek who took his geekness a tad bit too seriously. He didn’t like that I played WoW, oh no. Apparently, WoW is to gaming what Lady Gaga is to music and what Twilight is to literature. Since I rather enjoy dancing to Lady Gaga and haven’t read Twilight, I’m not sure where he was coming from.

Sometimes it’s not you they want anyway

By the end of the summer, I was pretty discouraged. As lovely as a real life default UI can be, IRL guildies tend to pressure you in to getting relationship addons and nastily hint that maybe the reason you haven’t even had a fling in a year and a half might be because there’s something wrong with you. Which doesn’t make a whole lot of sense since there are a whole lot of ugly and not very nice people who are blissfully married.

Fortunately, I randomly met Gropey McGroperson one day. He wasn’t a gamer, but really didn’t care whether I was or not. He didn’t care about much, now that I think of it.

Him: Here, come stand closer, I can’t reach you.
Me: I like to play video games.
Him: You wanna come over to my place? My family’s gone for awhile, we’d have the place to ourselves.
Me: Oh, you probably shouldn’t put your hands there, it’s a little awkward with all these little kids running around. Anyway, yeah, I’m really into raiding, but I haven’t had a lot of time to play lately.
Him: You have such a nice ass, I can’t believe you don’t have a line of guys hitting on you already.
Me: I have 3 paladins. Um, no, don’t undo that button, we’re in public and it holds my pants up.

He got a little offended when I didn’t let him stay the whole night and wasn’t interested in seeing him again.

Him: But we have such a good connection!
Me: Sir, you and I have at least 4k latency. At least. That is NOT a good connection.

On the bright side, that probably extinguished my sex drive for the next year and a half. I’m no longer worried about there being anything wrong with me and I’ll certainly save on batteries.

As usual, Candace Bushnell has the answer

In the introduction to the edition of Sex and the City I read this summer, Candace Bushnell talks a bit about being single, dating, fantasies and eventually concludes that deep down inside, those of us who are single are single because we want to be.

I don’t think mentioning WoW makes a difference in dating either way, regardless of gender. All of my experiences have just reinforced my notion that we’re either compatible or we’re not. Human beings are way too complex to just be classified as WoW player and non-WoW player. To me, though, having a lot of common hobbies is really important so I still have no issues with bringing up WoW on the first date, whether it gets me anywhere or not. And not getting anywhere makes for better stories anyway.

Shared Topic: When should a healer let someone die?

I’m cheating a little bit with this Shared Topic, it was actually last week’s Shared, but it’s such a perfect Bossy Pally topic that I’m stretching the week a little bit so I can participate… To my greatest joy, Ecclesiasticaldisc from Ecclesiastical Discipline brought up the Ultimate healer question for our Shared Topic: When should a healer let someone die?

It’s a great topic and a lot of people joined in, so click on the links to the other posts in the thread at Blog Azeroth (I will get around to doing the Twisted Nether writeup after this) to check out what others have to say.

What I’m Supposed to Answer is This:

It’s never appropriate to let someone die if it can be avoided. Of course, prioritizing what’s best for the group (such as keeping the tank alive!) sometimes results in a few casulties, but a healer should always do their best to keep everyone alive. The healer version to one of the Great Tanking Rules ™ is this : If someone dies and your cooldowns are still up and you weren’t saving them (your cooldowns, not the dead player) for later on in the fight, then that death was your fault.

What is Closer to the Truth:

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

A Nicer way of Putting it:

Ok, I don’t see it as letting people die. I see it as…um…readjusting my priorities. Yes, that’s it. Readjusting my priorities.

As Ecclesiasticaldisc seemed to nervously touch on in her post on the topic, in a 5 man, healers are the backbone of the group. Very few tanks can carry a bad group without a good healer. A good healer, however, can carry 4 blundering idiots through just about anything.

I don’t let stupid people die. I don’t understand when healers say: “I let this idiot die because he was dumb!” I never let a dumb player die. They take care of that all by themselves. Hey, if I was busy healing the tank (either the apparent tank or the actual tank – the two are not necessarily the same person) and someone who’s not the actual tank just happens to jump off a cliff/run into the next pack of mobs/whatever else they might do to die despite my cooldowns, well, I didn’t let them die. Sorry.

If someone’s annoying me (which is rare, I have amazing obliviousness skills), then maybe they’ll drop down the priority list. Maybe, oooooh, maybe I’ll suddenly be preoccupied with redoing buffs until the foul mouth pally tank’s Ardent Defender procs. Maybe I’ll have a need to focus on the tank while the jackass of shadow priest stands in crap. Or maybe Hand of Protection will be on cooldown when the whiney mage pulls aggro. Maybe. ‘Cos, you know, it can happen.

Is it right?

Nope.

Do I care?

This is me caring: -_-

Raids are a different story

In a 5-man, my goal is to get my badges using the least effort possible. Which means no wiping and no major dps losses. That leaves a lot of room to my whims.

On a raid boss, we need everyone. The fights are longer and even a foul mouthed underperforming dps can shave decent seconds off a boss kill. Also, I typically run raids with my guild. On an average day, there’s no one pissing me off to where I can’t find it in me to heal them. There’s been the odd occasion, on a below-average day, where I’ve showered certain non-tanks with less heals, but according to the Strict Healing Assignment Rule ™ (HAHAHAHA!) I’m not supposed to stray from my assignment (typically the tanks) anyway….

So, When Should a Healer Let Someone die?

What you should do, is you should never let someone die if you can avoid it. That’s what you should do.

I’ll Call These Yhpurm Days

It all started when I queued up for the daily battground and got Alterac Valley.

See, I rarely win in BGs. I mean, I go weeks without getting the daily done. But the other day, I queued up for the daily BG and got Alterac Valley. Alterac Valley that I haven’t won in months.

Then we won in Alterac Valley. First random BG of the day, Alterac Valley and I won. I couldn’t believe my luck. You don’t understand. This never happens.

Then, I needed some more honour so I queue up again.

Warsong Gulch.

Uggg.

I hate Warsong Gulch. It goes like this: Me in the enemy flag room, 4 people dead in the graveyard and 5 fighting in the middle.

It started out the usual way, but then it got better. Then we won.

2. Out. Of. 2. Battlegrounds. Won. I marked it on the calenders. Clearly, this is a day where the gods smiled upon us and it should be celebrated again, year after year for the rest of time.

I was still short some points so I queue again. Alterac Valley. Again.

The gods just kept smiling. We won. Hell froze over and all was well in the afterworld.

It should have ended there. It should have, but it didn’t. It was time for the raid and our first attempt (that I’m aware of) on Heroic Dreamwalker.

Can you guess how that ended?

Yes. One shot. We one shot our first attempt on Heroic Dreamwalker. (Which, from a portal healer point of view, wasn’t much different from regular except for the orbs are red and I have to keep an eye on my health. One of the outside healers commented that heroic actually seemed easier than regular, possibly because everyone was being extra disciplined.)

The good night kept up as we killed Lich King on 25 man, the second or third (I forget!) time for the guild and the first time for me.

Shortly after, I decided to go do some dailies. My heart skipped a beat as that hunter over there, who, until now, was minding his own business started attacking me.

I heal in pvp. I can’t kill stuff for the life of me! That running in circles around people thing? I try and try and succeed only in looking like a dumbass.

But, since I was questing, I was in my tanking spec. And because I’m a fortunate idiot, I had forgotten to switch out of the tanking gear I used to kill Chillmaw. So I killed that huntard. I killed him dead and I did it fast. Poor guy didn’t even put a dent in me.

I figured I’d keep karma on my side so I decided against teebagging his corpse. Was tempting though.

I suppose all that good luck was payback for all the times I didn’t gank poor, unsuspecting, lowbie horde. But, um, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to buy a lottery ticket.

EDIT Oh and I forgot to mention, I pugged a few instances on my lowbie pally and in every one, I had a great tank, a decent healer and pugmates that weren’t assholes. Bet you didn’t see that coming!

EDIT 2: Oh and also, just about every mine I came across was titanium that day. I would say I got about 7 titanium mines without even farming.

Shared Topic: Conquering the Pre-Expansion Slump

No you’re not a dreaming! It is indeed a Shared Topic! Feels like forever since I’ve done one of these! This week’s topic may seem a little redundant after after my last post, but appearances can be deceiving. I totally have stuff to bring to the table. The topic was suggested by Jaedia, our Lazy Sniper and is very timely. To read other people’s takes, be sure to check the thread at Blog Azeroth.

What am I doing to conquer the pre-expansion slump? What a good question! A guildie of mine who was losing interest asked me that a few weeks ago. I answered almost instantly. My 10 man team. She quit the game a few days later. Wrong answer I guess.

Then my guild redid the raiding schedule and I got a job (in real life) with irregular hours. Now, not only do I no longer have a 10 man team, but I mainly kissed raiding goodbye altogether. (Just on my working nights and just for the summer though!)

But, I’m a project-type person. As long as there’s something to plan, some data to sort, some lists to make, I’m absolutely fascinated. So here’s a list of ideas for the fellow project-type person:

– Gear wish lists! Gear wish lists for you, for your offspecs, for your alts….and 15 of your favorite guildies.

– Quest drop rate reports. Because someone should really prove that the quest in Swamp of Sorrows where you have to kill the whole zone 10 times to get a piece of paper is just inhuman/inelf/intauren/inorc/indwarf/ingnome/introll.

– Prank a guildie. Put those secret alts to good use to farm/follow/tbag/disrupt the AH postings of the guildie of your choice. The more elaborate the better. (And no, Isumi is not me.)

– Cross-server Auction House reports. Which server has the cheapest flasks? The cheapest glyphs? The cheapest gems?

– Collect useless but cool items. Have a Super Simian Sphere yet? How about a Deputy Pa’trolla Badge?

– Spread some happiness. Roll a male draenei, strip him naked, pop him on top of a male mailbox and have him /yell the lyrics to All the Single Ladies. If Glee club isn’t your thing, go around and /hug as many random strangers as you can. Take note of how long it takes for you to get warned about sexually harassing other players.

– Give in-game public transportation an IRL feel. Hang out by the ships, the tram, the zeppelins. Chat up those waiting by asking them about their shoes, which movies they saw last and what they think of Jaina Proodmore. Throw in some begging for change to add to the effect. May possibly be less entertaining on an RP server.

Get to work with all of this, and you won’t even notice the time between now and Cataclysm. Unless you get banned, of course.

Everyone should have friends like this.

My buddy Skip stumbled across the Raid Warning Holy Paladin Round Table podcast. Since he’s always been the helpful type, he mapped out my keyboard in case I should ever go with a Flash of Light build. As you can see, he completely understood the message that you shouldn’t play with just one button, so he made me two:

He also put together something more elaborate for the progression-oriented Flash of Light paladin who needs to keep gearing up:

I found them adorable so I thought I’d share ;D

Also, in case anyone was concerned that I’d fallen off the planet (I’m sure no one was, but just in case), I do have a full length blog post about the Lich King fight written and polished, but I got in my head that I want A SPECIFIC screenshot for it. I’ve been asking around, but it looks like I’ll have to wait until the next time I see the fight. Which I’m hoping will be tomorrow.

15 Things I Learned from my Vacation *with pictures!*

I’m back home now (as a manner of speaking) so I should get back to my regular blog posting shortly. But just before all is back to normal, I thought I should share all the things I learned from my 2 weeks of backpacking around British Columbia. Of course, I learned some interesting things. Such as what to do when you fall out of the boat while white water rafting, why you shouldn’t swim under trees in rivers and the stages of mountain pine beetle infestations. Nothing, however, is more valuable than the life lessons cast upon you while hiking around in the wilderness (and urban wilderness), carrying your own weight on your back. These life lessons, I share with you. Some pictures included.

1 – I am skilled at charming the following: 2 year olds, cats, dogs and llamas (this actually isn’t a very good picture, the photographer wouldn’t wait long enough to take them)

2 – When meeting up with guildies who live on the other side of the country, all of the following will occur:
– I will get a rash on my face from the climate change (yay makeup)
– My new eye makeup remover will make my eyes red and puffy
– I will knock over a table
– I will spill coffee all over myself
So much for trying to not be a stereotypical geeky chick.

3 – Wetsuits never fit. Most of the time they’ll be too small, but every now and again they’ll be a dozen sizes too big. Big wetsuits are easier to put on, but you’ll freeze to death in them.

4 – Nothing forges a bond with a group of Japanese teenagers quite like jumping off a cliff into a Canadian river in the first week of May. Regardless of language, cultural and age boundaries, those who freeze together, stick together.

5 – I have no idea what animal this is, but apparently they cross the road a lot in the Shuswap area.

6 – Quick Dry clothes are the greatest invention in history. Anyone who argues has never been caught by a rain storm followed by a hail storm while mountain biking around the Okanagan.

7 – If you injure yourself during your trip, it will invariably be a part of your body you’re not allowed to complain about.

8 – The Auberdine docks were inspired by the docks in Chase.

Which one of these goes to Stormwind again?

9 – Ashenvale also exists IRL

10 – When traveling alone, avoid reading novels that contain a love story, especially ones with good sex scenes. Especially if you’re staying in the same hostel as 3492384723 super hot german guys. If the frustration doesn’t kill you, it will cause you to go insane.

11- When visiting your Asians friends in Richmond, expect them to bring you to bubble tea…and have you read Japanese fashion magazines…and convince you to eat Spicy Pig’s Ear (which is apparently literally ears from a pig). (Also nevermind the really unflattering picture, this was taken pretty late at night)

12- Stores in Vancouver sell cream that whitens your skin. Why the heck anyone would want do that is beyond me, but apparently it sells very well. I’ll pass tyvm, gimme some bronzer.

13 – Bridges make great picture taking locations. Please admire this view of Vancouver as seen from the Burrard bridge.

14 – Sea Monster Sushi destroys hunger and is delicious for you.

15 – No matter how hard I try to avoid being a typical tourist, sometimes I break down and take pictures next to touristy objects such as the Gastown steamclock. Especially if it means showing off my new sandals. OMG LOOK AT MY NEW SANDALS.

Thus ends my adventures of wearing the same 3 outfits, arguing with bus drivers and complaining about the weather (sidenote: despite all the QQ from locals about how Vancouver gets nothing but rain, Vancouver was the place that gave me the best weather. I EVEN MANAGED TO WEAR A DRESS ONE DAY!)

And now, back to our regular programming.

I Don’t Want to Write Something Useful, so I’m Going to Talk About 10 Man Raid Leading

GM: How’s your 10 man looking this week?
Me: It’s looking good. But it’s not really my 10 man.
GM: It’s your 10 man.
Me: It’s not mine!
GM: You took it over, therefore it’s your 10 man, no ifs, ands or buts.

So I ended up with a 10 man raid. Apparently it’s “mine”. I’m too new age-ish for that. It’s mine and 9 other people’s. It’s ours.

Actually, raid leading is one of those things where I can’t decide if I really like it or really hate it. I enjoy the planning, the list making, all the logistics that go into getting a 10 man together. And when it all works out, it’s extremely rewarding. However, as shocking as it may sound (yeah, I know it’s hard to believe, ha!), I have a terribly anxious personality. I need everything planned and sorted ahead of time and any last minute changes are the end of the world. Not to mention that I’m one of those slow, deep thinkers that take forever to make up their minds. Which is great in certain circumstances. For example, I never make impulsive purchases. In a raid context, however, my lack of spontaneity can be problematic.

*DPS dies*
Druid: Should I battle rez?
Me: Um…
…
Me: Um…
…
Me: Um…Yes. Err, no, wait, the boss is already dead.

I had two 10 man teams going in my old guild, although I usually only actually led one of the two (I can’t two box). The experience was bittersweet. We did get some cool guild firsts under my lead. But I also have memories of getting in fights with the backseat raid leader who kept arguing with me (I’ve actually said “Who’s leading this raid, you or me?” before). And the very last raid I led with them ended with wipe after wipe after wipe on Faction Champs, normal mode. In my discouragement, I was crying so hard I couldn’t even speak enough to call the raid. (Apparently, no one noticed which is good!)

So about a few months ago, this happened:

Guild leadership: We don’t have enough time for progression so we’re taking 10 mans out of our regular raid nights, you’ll have to do them on offnights.
Regular raid leader: I’m starting something on Wednesdays.
Someone else: I’m starting something on Sundays.
Me: I’m free whenever.
Guild: You’re going Sunday.

Then, after a week, the guy who ran Sunday’s group left the guild. In a rare moment of impulsiveness (I guess there’s hope for me yet), I started a new thread, got everyone from the original group to check in and built a new team. Before I knew it, it somehow became known as “my” raid, even though I swear I didn’t do it on purpose.

I was pretty nervous. I’m not an aggressive leader at all. Even in my old guild where everyone was older and laid back, I had no authority whatsoever. I’m the kind of person who says please before telling you to move out of the fire. With a shaky voice.

Luckily, things have been working out so far, the group is fairly disciplined so I don’t really need to be authoritative. I raised my voice once. Immediately, I got 4 whispers:

Four people: Lol, you got mad!

The harshness in my voice was really just me trying to control my giggles. I’m not very good at getting mad.

Oh and I’m obsessed with having my group confirmed as early as possible in the week, as well as with starting the raid on time. The raid is scheduled for 6, we must pull at 6, regardless if only the mage and I are inside the instance. Attendance and punctuality are pretty much the only things I’m inflexible on. And by inflexible on, I mean overly anxious about:

Me: You’re coming on Sunday right.
Raider: Yep.
Me: You’re sure?
Raider: Of course.
Me: Really sure?
Raider: Yeah.
Me: Are yo-
Raider: OMG YES.
*night of the raid*
Raider: Um, I had something come up.
Me: *nervous breakdown*.

And of course there’s always some smartass overhearing me sob on vent.

Smartass: You don’t handle stress very well, do you?
Me:…

We’ve had our hurdles. To name them: Superbowl, Valentine’s Day, Spring Break, Gold Medal Olympic Hockey Game, Sindragosa. I don’t think we’ve ever had two consecutive weeks with the same 10 people. There’s always one person who has to work unexpectedly, who has computer issues or needs a night off. Then there’s the stress every week of “3 people want badges, 3 people won’t go if we have to clear downstairs, 2 people don’t know what they want, 1 person doesn’t understand the in-game calender system and 1 person hasn’t discovered we have guild forums yet.”

But amazingly enough, week after week things work out. Except Sindragosa, 1% wipes omfg. Unless there’s been a planned delay, we’ve started our raids on times. In about two months, we’ve only had two signed-up-but-didn’t-shows, and one of those was actually a /gquit I hadn’t been aware of.

We’ve become used to playing together. And by that, I mean that our druid doesn’t even have to pay attention to vent or look at her raidframes to know who needs a battlerez and when. We got to know each other and our teammates’ IRL eating/flasking/buffing habits pretty well. During downtime and trash, we joke around on vent and share TMI (unlike the other 10 man team…I sat in their channel once and it put me to SLEEP). They even sorta forgive me for stuff like bopping the tank. My teammates are also great about communicating what they want so the rare times where we can’t resort to a vote, decisions are easy to make.

I get tons of help from the guild leadership, which is a first for me. In the past, I had always been met with “your raids, your problem, we want no part in this”. But now I get a regular supply of answers to my questions and pats on the back when requested. When the other 10 man moved their raid on top of ours, the little conflicts and frustrations that inevitably came up were short lived, despite that we still give each other crap over them.

In the end, even my fears of being a crappy “leader” were resolved when I discovered that one our priests (I’M GOING TO LET YOU ALL GUESS WHO) was probably a sport commenter in a past life. Not only does he seem to know when I’m wishy-washy about a certain fight and need someone else to jump in, but also narrates entire fights in a very entertaining and engaging manner. I can just sit back and hit buttons. (Unless I’m tanking…I haven’t learned my new keybindings yet, so when I tank, I sit back and pound my fist on the keyboard in hopes that my character does something.)

So now I don’t have to say that I lead a 10 man raid, I can say I coordinate a 10 man raid, which sounds much nicer to my ears.

Oh and I’ve become quite attached to the task of getting the group together every week.

Me: OMG we’re going to fail, no ones going to show up, we’re not even going to get Saurfang down. Why the hell did I volunteer for this?
Fellow Raider: I can take over if you want.
Me: NO. MY RAID PAWS OFF. MINE MINE MINE.