As will be evident at the bottom, I've devised a specific tag just for this kind of blog post.
I write this here not just as a pre-post "I'm sorry, I think", but to remind myself that these kind of overthinking tendencies where my take on the game ceases to actually be a game, but becomes a conduit for philosophy etc, are what has made previous attempts at a regular blog crash.
Fewer words: Overthinking bad.
I'll have a similar readers digest version of the entire post at the very end, too.
If you TLDR'd the previous post, I noted that I wasn't too happy about that warlock getting kicked. Despite praying fervently for him getting kicked all the damn way from the first spam.
The first thing that makes me uncomfortable with it is because I'd rather give people the benefit of the doubt than be a forum-level asshat about things. Hence, when I see someone caps-spamming in broken English, I don't want to think that they're stupid, nor that I'm being trolled; In this case, I'd assume the warlock was young, new to the game, and/or bad at English.
Heck, perhaps weeks, months or years of playing a game where everyone around him speaks a language that he barely understands, he's gotten very fed up with it.
And has a broken leg.
Point is, when you face someone who's annoying, in most other situations in life, you can of course walk away or obviously ignore the person, but it's hardly socially acceptable. If you're at a party, and a person who speaks far too loudly and acts a bit inappropriately, you can act politely and try to be inclusive, you can try to downplay his part in your evening, or you can outright ignore the person, turning your back to him or walking away.
You'll rarely see the last of those, except in extreme cases, am I right?
Hell if I know, I don't party a lot.
The warlock was one such. We were three people who enjoyed eachothers' company, with one onlooker, and he came around and started being annoying. He did not disrupt the party very much - only for himself, really - and in the end, people threw him out.
All these analogies have their limits, and there are quite a few counterarguments, by all means; Why should you put up with elements like these in a paid recreational service? Is this truly a social event? This person is a total stranger, and being kicked from a party has far less impact on that person*.
I'm not gonna handle all these arguments back and forth. I'm not trying to preach here. My goal is not to try to convince. I think.
Come to think of it, I rarely know what my goal is as I write.
Anyway; The problem may be that it's too easy. I understand why the ignore function exists, and the same goes for the dungeon votekick - it's there to prevent people from pissing on your fun. What worries me is what this means with the rising standards on all fronts across the World of Warcraft.
First you formed groups by inviting people who asked for an invite. Back in the days of Strat and Scholo 10 and UBRS 15, the expectation that a run would be a full clear was not an absolute.
Soon, people would ask if you knew tacs. Then "link achi or no reply." Now it's 5k GS or less.
I don't blame people overmuch, especially not right now in the last content patch of an expansion. We've been given tools to facilitate the process of finding a skilled member with ridiculous ease.
The advent of LFD continues the trend that expectations and standards rise, and I'm not talking about the built-in minimum gear requirements for certain heroics. Those are just good sense.
Noone will feel unfamiliar, if they have a L80 char, when I say that the expected time to clear on a random heroic is ridiculous. When I'm on my bear druid, I make a point of trying to kill the end boss before the dungeon lockout timer expires**. Not only is it fun, but people are gonna start bitching the second I stop to pick my nose.
I don't pick my nose, by the way. I'm a gentleman.
Back on topic, I have to wonder; Would this partymember have been kicked a year ago? Two? Four? I'm not a doomsayer looking for signs of the wowpocalypse, I just think the current incarnation of the kicking tool is dangerous.
During that SM run, I was mildly annoyed by that warlock for perhaps twenty minutes, but I kept talking to him, mostly requesting that he stop hellfiring, but I kept thinking "this'd be fantastic if we didn't have that damn lock". Having another clever and chatty player in his stead would make it fabulous. But I didn't try to votekick, nor did I press "yes" to the votekick. The speed with which the vote was over, the others having pressed yes, was a little frightening.
And I think I know why, now. I may have the right to decide how I want to enjoy my favorite passtime. I've ignored a handful of people who've aspired to outperform all other asshats in the field of asshattery by a generous amount.
But I don't have the right to deprive others of their fun.
If that warlock didn't leave despite being harassed for his caps***, he was clearly getting some fun out of this. Be that xp, the promise of loot, or if he simply genuinely enjoyed playing, he was clearly in this run because he was getting something out of it.
The predictable counter is that I'm not responsible for his fun. And I'm not; I doubt he'll break apart crying that noone likes him if he's kicked from a party, but-
Okay, great. I guess there's always a chance, it's bound to happen from time to time with so many people playing. Great job, me, now I can't stop thinking about that.
But by virtue of some famous sayings about evil men, victory, and good men sitting on their asses doing nothing, I think the picture's a little more blurred. It's the same reason I attend raids if I'm needed even if I'd rather play Dragon Age. How's this different? I am more beholden to friends than strangers? Familiarity is the divisory line between duty and neglect?
I don't think I can accept that.
I realize this all makes me sound like a far better person than I am, but I'm far better at hammering keys on my keyboard than I am at acting up to my high ideals, so here we are.
Edit: Look, I even forgot the short summary. And I'm not going to add it. Ha!
*They even get their dungeon timer cleared, though I wonder if this will remain for very long as I've seen people try to get the group to kick them from Ocu.
**I usually run with a certain guildie healer, so that's not an issue.
***To this day, I don't understand why people make that big a deal out of caps. Yes, it's annoying, but some people completely rage out when they see caps.
Wednesday, 20 January 2010
Monday, 18 January 2010
Found it.
Found what? Since I don't have car keys to lose, nor any dignity to speak of, I am naturally speaking of that insubstantial "challenge" I've chased since I realized Gnomeregan is ridiculously easy, falling damage aside.
No, tabbing back and forth between browser and WoW every sixth second does not constitute challenge.
I found a proper challenge in SM Library.
Naturally, this means I dinged 30, which was fantastic; Earthliving weapon is nice, a second glyph slot is very nice, and nature's swiftness is twice as wonderful as I thought it would be. That two minute cooldown really makes it a different spell than the druid version.
Oh, and grounding totem. God damn it is hot, and having access to something that can eat a spell without the potential of missing is great.
All in all, though, dinging didn't change too much. Despite these new toys and ranks, my healing toolkit is still rather limited, and the lack of chain heal and riptide* is quite well pronounced now. As ever, I lean on my healing stream totem to cover the splash - lil' thing's ticking for 25 now!
But yes. New Toes, the L30 edition, proper healing imbue on weapon, thus set out to fill her second glyph slot. Let's browse the potential candidates, discarding LHW, ES, CH, Mana Tide and Riptide, as I don't have the relevant spells for those yet.
That's a long list.
Earthliving, Healing Wave and Water Mastery.
That, however, is a short list. Color me unimpressed. I've no idea what color unimpressed most resembles, but I think it's something vaguely fuschia.
Being a manly man, I have no idea what a fuschia is, or how it tastes, by the way.
Lacking any proper active AoE healing, feeling that 4.5 mp5 wasn't terribly exciting, I opted for the healing wave glyph, and set out to conquer the Scarlet Monastery, now with new and improved Library taste.
If you're one of those people who read every line, you may already have received some hints as to whether or not I was challenged, but of course, the fun doesn't end there! We must analyze and overthink!
First, the dramatis personæ of these two Lib runs in rapid succession;
The Paladin Tank; An important character of the first part of the story, this handsome chaps buffs with a smile, does a smashing job of tanking, and occupies the dark, handsome silent type personality. He is a blood elf.
The Mage In The Background; Delivering fantastic dps, buffing, and never standing in the fire, this heroine is as competent as she is a feature of the scenery. In the hardcover book version of this story, she has a scene wherein she utters a word. This word did not make the cut to the blog adaption. She is also a blood elf.
The Druid DPS And Tank And Healer; Towards the second chapter of our story, this lovely female bovine becomes the main driving force of our likely** band of heroes as stellar dps, tank of the second half, and healing when our main character suffers under the curse of Oom. Being a tauren female means mad love, too.
The Warlock; At once occupying the realms of comedy and tragedy, this third blood elf takes the reins of comic relief, as well as sparking a devastating intra-party conflict between the two acts. He is naturally a blood elf as well.
The Second Warlock; After the Warlock's departure, this replacement, apparently the identical twin in all but color on Recount of The Mage In The Background, does actually know how to play.
Our Hero; On a quest to discover who she really is, and test out a really slick new glyph, this restoration-specialized shaman is terribly skilled and good looking to boot.
Act One
Party, except for Warlock: Hi, excellent looking and no doubt fantastic people***!
Warlock: go go go go go go go go go go go go
Warlock: go go go go go go go go go go go go
Our heroes bravely vanquish the first dozen of soldiers in a monumentally big battle wherein grounding totem proves its worth numerous times. Toes discovers to her pleasure that the glyph of healing wave proves perfect for situations where there is heavy tank damage and some casters have aggro on her.
Toes: Mana break, please
Warlock: k
Warlock: k
Warlock: k
Warlock: k
Warlock: k
Party, except for increasingly disliked Warlock: please stop spam?
Warlock: k
Warlock: k
The party continues to smash apart the Library wing of the Monastery, destroying many thousands of gold coins worth' of books, something that would have saddened Toes if she could read. The eminent healer notices that the warlock, possessed of slightly more than half her hit points, has a penchant for hellfiring regardless of the number of enemies faced. This causes her much consternation.
Toes: Warlock, could you please cut down on the hellfiring when there's lots of damage going around?
Warlock: okay i dont do hellfire
This would turn out to be a lie. Faced with such skullduggery, Toes remained resolutely silent, noticing that the Druid was shifting out to assist healing far more often as a result, which, while appreciated, was making her wonder if they thought her a bad healer.
The warlock proved his mettle, or lack thereof, by judicious amounts of standing around afk as his companions yelled for help, and by helpfully running into new rooms and around corners to die. He was much appreciated by the party for this.
So much, in fact, that they decided that the warlock, after such an intense effort, could have a break, and let them do the rest.
Not, however, before the last remaining human in the Library was slain, where Toes learned to appreciate the newer expansions where 8-10 second silences are considered a little rude.
Party, except Warlock who just got a one way ticket out of party: We like eachother, and we will do this again.
Party, still not including warlock: Yes we do!
Act 2
As Act 1, minus warlock, with druid tanking instead.
End.
On a more sincere and straightforward note, it is fantastic to heal, pulling every trick (and grenades) out of your bag, and realize at the end of a fight that if I had not been a troll, with my fantastic 20% haste panic button, the tank would have splatted.
The glyph did nearly 60% overheal, but I still consider it highly useful.
Nature's swiftness saved our arses more often than I thought, and was always off CD when I needed it.
If anything let me down, it was earthliving - I didn't really know what to expect, and 2-3% healing done isn't bad, but I suppose it's more a chain heal + blessing of the eternals thing than it is tank healing condusive.
Last, I've finally met a "bad" player of the kind you always talk about. I'm not pleased about it, nor displeased: He didn't hurt our run too much. If anything, I'm a little sad that he got kicked, all things said. I think that's for another post though. This is already ridiculously long, so I'm gonna end this riiiiight-
Here.
*Not that I have healed a lot on my 80 shaman, but I have tried it and I know the holes when I see them.
**We queued through the LFD. It doesn't get likelier than that.
***This may be a slightly liberal transcription.
Goddamn footnotes.
No, tabbing back and forth between browser and WoW every sixth second does not constitute challenge.
I found a proper challenge in SM Library.
Naturally, this means I dinged 30, which was fantastic; Earthliving weapon is nice, a second glyph slot is very nice, and nature's swiftness is twice as wonderful as I thought it would be. That two minute cooldown really makes it a different spell than the druid version.
Oh, and grounding totem. God damn it is hot, and having access to something that can eat a spell without the potential of missing is great.
All in all, though, dinging didn't change too much. Despite these new toys and ranks, my healing toolkit is still rather limited, and the lack of chain heal and riptide* is quite well pronounced now. As ever, I lean on my healing stream totem to cover the splash - lil' thing's ticking for 25 now!
But yes. New Toes, the L30 edition, proper healing imbue on weapon, thus set out to fill her second glyph slot. Let's browse the potential candidates, discarding LHW, ES, CH, Mana Tide and Riptide, as I don't have the relevant spells for those yet.
That's a long list.
Earthliving, Healing Wave and Water Mastery.
That, however, is a short list. Color me unimpressed. I've no idea what color unimpressed most resembles, but I think it's something vaguely fuschia.
Being a manly man, I have no idea what a fuschia is, or how it tastes, by the way.
Lacking any proper active AoE healing, feeling that 4.5 mp5 wasn't terribly exciting, I opted for the healing wave glyph, and set out to conquer the Scarlet Monastery, now with new and improved Library taste.
If you're one of those people who read every line, you may already have received some hints as to whether or not I was challenged, but of course, the fun doesn't end there! We must analyze and overthink!
First, the dramatis personæ of these two Lib runs in rapid succession;
The Paladin Tank; An important character of the first part of the story, this handsome chaps buffs with a smile, does a smashing job of tanking, and occupies the dark, handsome silent type personality. He is a blood elf.
The Mage In The Background; Delivering fantastic dps, buffing, and never standing in the fire, this heroine is as competent as she is a feature of the scenery. In the hardcover book version of this story, she has a scene wherein she utters a word. This word did not make the cut to the blog adaption. She is also a blood elf.
The Druid DPS And Tank And Healer; Towards the second chapter of our story, this lovely female bovine becomes the main driving force of our likely** band of heroes as stellar dps, tank of the second half, and healing when our main character suffers under the curse of Oom. Being a tauren female means mad love, too.
The Warlock; At once occupying the realms of comedy and tragedy, this third blood elf takes the reins of comic relief, as well as sparking a devastating intra-party conflict between the two acts. He is naturally a blood elf as well.
The Second Warlock; After the Warlock's departure, this replacement, apparently the identical twin in all but color on Recount of The Mage In The Background, does actually know how to play.
Our Hero; On a quest to discover who she really is, and test out a really slick new glyph, this restoration-specialized shaman is terribly skilled and good looking to boot.
Act One
Party, except for Warlock: Hi, excellent looking and no doubt fantastic people***!
Warlock: go go go go go go go go go go go go
Warlock: go go go go go go go go go go go go
Our heroes bravely vanquish the first dozen of soldiers in a monumentally big battle wherein grounding totem proves its worth numerous times. Toes discovers to her pleasure that the glyph of healing wave proves perfect for situations where there is heavy tank damage and some casters have aggro on her.
Toes: Mana break, please
Warlock: k
Warlock: k
Warlock: k
Warlock: k
Warlock: k
Party, except for increasingly disliked Warlock: please stop spam?
Warlock: k
Warlock: k
The party continues to smash apart the Library wing of the Monastery, destroying many thousands of gold coins worth' of books, something that would have saddened Toes if she could read. The eminent healer notices that the warlock, possessed of slightly more than half her hit points, has a penchant for hellfiring regardless of the number of enemies faced. This causes her much consternation.
Toes: Warlock, could you please cut down on the hellfiring when there's lots of damage going around?
Warlock: okay i dont do hellfire
This would turn out to be a lie. Faced with such skullduggery, Toes remained resolutely silent, noticing that the Druid was shifting out to assist healing far more often as a result, which, while appreciated, was making her wonder if they thought her a bad healer.
The warlock proved his mettle, or lack thereof, by judicious amounts of standing around afk as his companions yelled for help, and by helpfully running into new rooms and around corners to die. He was much appreciated by the party for this.
So much, in fact, that they decided that the warlock, after such an intense effort, could have a break, and let them do the rest.
Not, however, before the last remaining human in the Library was slain, where Toes learned to appreciate the newer expansions where 8-10 second silences are considered a little rude.
Party, except Warlock who just got a one way ticket out of party: We like eachother, and we will do this again.
Party, still not including warlock: Yes we do!
Act 2
As Act 1, minus warlock, with druid tanking instead.
End.
On a more sincere and straightforward note, it is fantastic to heal, pulling every trick (and grenades) out of your bag, and realize at the end of a fight that if I had not been a troll, with my fantastic 20% haste panic button, the tank would have splatted.
The glyph did nearly 60% overheal, but I still consider it highly useful.
Nature's swiftness saved our arses more often than I thought, and was always off CD when I needed it.
If anything let me down, it was earthliving - I didn't really know what to expect, and 2-3% healing done isn't bad, but I suppose it's more a chain heal + blessing of the eternals thing than it is tank healing condusive.
Last, I've finally met a "bad" player of the kind you always talk about. I'm not pleased about it, nor displeased: He didn't hurt our run too much. If anything, I'm a little sad that he got kicked, all things said. I think that's for another post though. This is already ridiculously long, so I'm gonna end this riiiiight-
Here.
*Not that I have healed a lot on my 80 shaman, but I have tried it and I know the holes when I see them.
**We queued through the LFD. It doesn't get likelier than that.
***This may be a slightly liberal transcription.
Goddamn footnotes.
Sunday, 17 January 2010
Silence?
Not intentionally.
See, I haven't really explained to anyone, least of all myself, the rules of this little project. All the same, I ended up in a rhytm-like thing where I do one instance every day, possibly two. Even if I want to do more - something that pulling the Gnomeregan card out of the deck nowwadays completely ruins - I stop.
The goal isn't to ding 80 fast. The goal isn't even to ding 80 moderately fast by doing instances.
Come to think of it, there isn't any real goal.
Journey, destination, all that jazz. When Toesies dings 80, she has no purpose. I have a shaman on my main server, and since us poor alliance saps are stuck with one race for shamans only, well.*
So I'm taking it slow. The past two days have seen two SM Graveyard runs, one as normal as lowbie pugs can get sans for drama when a pally needed on BoE leather boots - quickly resolved by Toesies the Diplomat**, go me - and the second one containing 80% melee orcs who said absolutely nothing.
That latter run was actually kind of fun, watching a third of a dozen orcs cut their way through the instance.
Except for the part where I couldn't see anything, because when they stood shoulder to shoulder they formed a wall approximately two and a half kilometers wide.
*Plus, I'm using all my ten char slots.
**No. Slowly and painfully.
See, I haven't really explained to anyone, least of all myself, the rules of this little project. All the same, I ended up in a rhytm-like thing where I do one instance every day, possibly two. Even if I want to do more - something that pulling the Gnomeregan card out of the deck nowwadays completely ruins - I stop.
The goal isn't to ding 80 fast. The goal isn't even to ding 80 moderately fast by doing instances.
Come to think of it, there isn't any real goal.
Journey, destination, all that jazz. When Toesies dings 80, she has no purpose. I have a shaman on my main server, and since us poor alliance saps are stuck with one race for shamans only, well.*
So I'm taking it slow. The past two days have seen two SM Graveyard runs, one as normal as lowbie pugs can get sans for drama when a pally needed on BoE leather boots - quickly resolved by Toesies the Diplomat**, go me - and the second one containing 80% melee orcs who said absolutely nothing.
That latter run was actually kind of fun, watching a third of a dozen orcs cut their way through the instance.
Except for the part where I couldn't see anything, because when they stood shoulder to shoulder they formed a wall approximately two and a half kilometers wide.
*Plus, I'm using all my ten char slots.
**No. Slowly and painfully.
Friday, 15 January 2010
They say a picture says more than a thousand words
Frankly, I think that either means you have a cluttered UI, a very talented junkyard photographer with a wide angle lens, or a very, very bad writer prone to repetition.
Nevertheless, I took my buddy, Healing Stream Totem(tm), as you may recall from earlier hit classics such as "I glyphed my totem and then she left me lonely" and "Three talent points and half my life".
Now the hussy went and backstabbed me.
By outhealing me.
In all sincerity - a commodity with which I've little experience, truth be told - I did try to see how hard I can lean on that totem nowwalevels, though never so bad that any partymember ever said something along the lines of "omg heal?!?"
That was yesterday's Gnomer, though. One marked change in my healing now is that I got a new rank of LHW, which suddenly makes it my most efficient heal until I get a new rank of HW. Or a few levels on when I spec healing way.
I'm technically one day behind, writing wise, or a day ahead, dungeon wise, but I'm confident nothing noteworthy will happen tonight, and that the run will be efficient and dull.
This isn't me baiting fate.
No sir.
Late night edit: Success. Gnomeregan, balance druid in bearform, wipe due to another L24 druid peering over the edge in one of the tunnels and pulling a Gnome Train of Doom. Three people talking in their own language severely enraging fourth partymember. Disband after wipe. Good things come to those who pray, and those who tempt fate, well. We get this.
Nevertheless, I took my buddy, Healing Stream Totem(tm), as you may recall from earlier hit classics such as "I glyphed my totem and then she left me lonely" and "Three talent points and half my life".
Now the hussy went and backstabbed me.
By outhealing me.
In all sincerity - a commodity with which I've little experience, truth be told - I did try to see how hard I can lean on that totem nowwalevels, though never so bad that any partymember ever said something along the lines of "omg heal?!?"
That was yesterday's Gnomer, though. One marked change in my healing now is that I got a new rank of LHW, which suddenly makes it my most efficient heal until I get a new rank of HW. Or a few levels on when I spec healing way.
I'm technically one day behind, writing wise, or a day ahead, dungeon wise, but I'm confident nothing noteworthy will happen tonight, and that the run will be efficient and dull.
This isn't me baiting fate.
No sir.
Late night edit: Success. Gnomeregan, balance druid in bearform, wipe due to another L24 druid peering over the edge in one of the tunnels and pulling a Gnome Train of Doom. Three people talking in their own language severely enraging fourth partymember. Disband after wipe. Good things come to those who pray, and those who tempt fate, well. We get this.
Wednesday, 13 January 2010
Jeopardytune.mp3
In lieu of waiting/pause music. Still need to work on them titles.
Having decided to limit myself to one (or two) instances daily, and no (or some) quests, it was a monumentally infinitesimal step to sneak into a battleground (or two). It would reduce the likelyhood of getting the instances I've already run quite a few times, and be the best way to get used to my new UI.
See, I wish I could write a post where I was either surprised or at the very least honestly dismayed by getting trod on by twinks. Sorry; I fully expected it, and almost relished that one time my healing made a slightly suboptimal twink beat out a seemingly perfect twink.
No, even that sounded whiny. I do not mind, damn it. And it's not like FROST SHOOOOCK ever gets old.
It was great for analyzing my performance in a, shall we say, quicker paced arena, though. Beyond interrupting 0.5-1.5 sec casts in dungeons, very little requires snap reactions.
Things I learned;
-Frost shock is fantastic.
-I love purge and press it whenever I have nothing better to do.
-I don't purge enough.
-Certain classes are in abundance and are, at this level, Okay at killing me.
-Frost shock has a nice icon.
-Using large copper bombs in pvp is even more fun than it is in pve.
-Heals are always one tenth of a second too slow.
Now where's that L27 haste gear.
Having decided to limit myself to one (or two) instances daily, and no (or some) quests, it was a monumentally infinitesimal step to sneak into a battleground (or two). It would reduce the likelyhood of getting the instances I've already run quite a few times, and be the best way to get used to my new UI.
See, I wish I could write a post where I was either surprised or at the very least honestly dismayed by getting trod on by twinks. Sorry; I fully expected it, and almost relished that one time my healing made a slightly suboptimal twink beat out a seemingly perfect twink.
No, even that sounded whiny. I do not mind, damn it. And it's not like FROST SHOOOOCK ever gets old.
It was great for analyzing my performance in a, shall we say, quicker paced arena, though. Beyond interrupting 0.5-1.5 sec casts in dungeons, very little requires snap reactions.
Things I learned;
-Frost shock is fantastic.
-I love purge and press it whenever I have nothing better to do.
-I don't purge enough.
-Certain classes are in abundance and are, at this level, Okay at killing me.
-Frost shock has a nice icon.
-Using large copper bombs in pvp is even more fun than it is in pve.
-Heals are always one tenth of a second too slow.
Now where's that L27 haste gear.
Tuesday, 12 January 2010
Two Instances, One Troll
Realizing that most, if not all (count on me being able to lose track after five or six runs) instance runs so far have been done past midnight, I decided to mix it up with a morning run!
Morning, for me, can be anything before six pm.
Sadly, this changed very little. Gnomeregan, competent warrior tank, omnipresent paladin, warlock who existed only to summon the almost-equally-omnipresent hunter after the token mage had a mainstream disconnect.
See how much more dreary that sounded with a few sneaky words before each class?
Disappointed, but not surprised - it is a very small statistical sample - I figured that I felt like chasing that elusive Challenge. I missed doing SFK at an appropriate level, something I am really sad about, so perhaps we can cheat a little? Queue for a specific instance?
You won't rat me out, I am sure.
I don't even know who you are.
Grab a beer after work?
I don't even drink, you insensitive bastard!
So I decided to queue for SM Graveyard, apparently having just gotten high enough to lick the minimum level of its queue bracket with my freakishly long tongue. Atleast I have a theory I have one such, but until Blizzard finally realizes the full potential of the /rasp emote, we will never know.
My first SM GY experience was great for my professions. Rather; the lack of my first SM GY experience, which occupied an impressive timespan, was. While I do make an effort to minimize out-of-instance xp, some kills are unavoidable, such as when mining in Thousand Needles/1KN/Wonky Need-Less.
On topic of 1KN: I am considering making an alert when I gain the "daze" debuff triggering the sound of waterfalls and wind through long grass. It's a last ditch effort to keep me from rerolling warrior and setting all my keybinds to bloodrage.
Graveyard truly was like an embarassing tumble in the bushes. Quick. Silent. Noone asked if we should go again.
But I did find a challenge.
If I have to enter groups where everyone is orange and red to me, where mobs smell my fear and come charging towards me as if we were connected by inch-thick rubber bands, all to get a challenge, I will.
I just don't want it to have to be SM GY, I realize now.
Place's as linear and boring as trash novels of the worst kind.
Morning, for me, can be anything before six pm.
Sadly, this changed very little. Gnomeregan, competent warrior tank, omnipresent paladin, warlock who existed only to summon the almost-equally-omnipresent hunter after the token mage had a mainstream disconnect.
See how much more dreary that sounded with a few sneaky words before each class?
Disappointed, but not surprised - it is a very small statistical sample - I figured that I felt like chasing that elusive Challenge. I missed doing SFK at an appropriate level, something I am really sad about, so perhaps we can cheat a little? Queue for a specific instance?
You won't rat me out, I am sure.
I don't even know who you are.
Grab a beer after work?
I don't even drink, you insensitive bastard!
So I decided to queue for SM Graveyard, apparently having just gotten high enough to lick the minimum level of its queue bracket with my freakishly long tongue. Atleast I have a theory I have one such, but until Blizzard finally realizes the full potential of the /rasp emote, we will never know.
My first SM GY experience was great for my professions. Rather; the lack of my first SM GY experience, which occupied an impressive timespan, was. While I do make an effort to minimize out-of-instance xp, some kills are unavoidable, such as when mining in Thousand Needles/1KN/Wonky Need-Less.
On topic of 1KN: I am considering making an alert when I gain the "daze" debuff triggering the sound of waterfalls and wind through long grass. It's a last ditch effort to keep me from rerolling warrior and setting all my keybinds to bloodrage.
Graveyard truly was like an embarassing tumble in the bushes. Quick. Silent. Noone asked if we should go again.
But I did find a challenge.
If I have to enter groups where everyone is orange and red to me, where mobs smell my fear and come charging towards me as if we were connected by inch-thick rubber bands, all to get a challenge, I will.
I just don't want it to have to be SM GY, I realize now.
Place's as linear and boring as trash novels of the worst kind.
Would you rock the boat?
My first idea for the title was "Don't rock the boat", the second impulse/idea was "We don't go to Razorfen Kraul". Shortly following these was a brief realization that they were both bad titles, one was a simple saying, the other a done-to-death rehash of a quote.
Now I'm counterproductively munching sugar-based consumables to try to calm down before this goes two steps further and I end up in a nihilistic mindset and ragedelete this all.
I hate titles.
Today's late night dungeon was Razorfen Kraul - the clever reader may already have guessed this - and thoroughly pleasant. Now to destroy that pleasure by overanalyzing it!
This is where I expect myself to say "Just kidding", but I'm not quite sure.
I even took notes.
In truth, I've been anticipating RFK for a bit - I saw it as a potential challenge what with the totem forests, mana burns and potential for "whoops" in all the z-level fun, Gnomeregan edge-peek style.
Sadly, and I think I may be sincere in that regret on some level, we got a tank. Descendeth onto Azeroth from high heaven, this titan of a warrior showed uncanny dedication to his role. Heck, just staying in defensive stance would have sufficed, but he went all the way. The champ even used an elixir.
And he was an obvious keyboard-turner and clicker.
Now, I don't mean this condescendingly, but god bless his little massive enraged heart for it. At this point, it doesn't really matter, and good enough is good enough. I'm hardly an example of perfection myself. My faults mainly come in form of mental inhibitors that won't let me heal if it's gonna be an overheal, even if my mana is full. Among other things. Sounds like a post of its own, actually.
To end the major detour here; As a result of this, it was decidedly not a challenge. Aggro was mostly on the tank, the dps knew what they were doing, sans hard-cast pyroblasts so nothing to comment on there, but chat was unusually active.
In Greek*.
See, I didn't mind at all. Me, the silent warrior and the even silent-er ret paladin were just running around doing our thing, and this mage and hunter combo would suddenly stop and fire off a stream of unintelligible letters, then carry on. They were perfectly capable of either whispering eachother if it was private, or using English if it wasn't.
Obviously I was missing something. Noone said "English plz", though, and judicious ding'ing was rewarded with grats'es from them, and when I commented that the tank was doing a great job, they pitched in with praise in as understandable Engrish as any.
Some annoying bats and pigs later, the final boss went down, and there was this air of expectation as we stood before the jump down to the escort quest. The second I asked, three yes'es and a stoic, agreeing silence confirmed that we liked eachother enough to attempt an escort quest together.
Truthfully, it's not even remotely hard. It's just a thing most people have for escort quests.
Or rather, a thing they have for not doing escort quests.
Suddenly, party chat became a lot livelier. The air of "We are signed up together do do a dungeon" dispersed and was replaced by a pleasant fume saying "We're an instance group doing a quest together", which was far more condusive to chat!
That, or people were fat and happy with their loot bags. Go third pair of enhancement gloves!
Jokes about pork roast, me being forced to make a song while I mined an iron vein, the next five minutes were an unusually jolly time. And then;
Mage: how do you say when you need pause for mana?
Me: Just saying "mb" or mana break usually does the trick
Warrior: Yeah :)
Wait. One. Minute.
These weren't just "new to the game" or a little eccentric. Or bad.
They were actual, real new players.
I've teamed with so many heirloom-bedecked people by now that when I see a person, I immediatly assume it's an alt. When I see badly geared lowbie, I think poor/underprioritized alt. Here, there was a decent chance that they didn't even know how to whisper.
I wish that bit of the story had a more interesting end than my surprise.
That's pretty much it. "Wow!". Also, it was nice to know people still join the game from scratch and seemingly enjoy it. End of.
Of course you didn't stop reading when I said go away.
Actually, if you're not reading this, you're either very gullible, very polite, or extremely easily distracted.
If you just needed a break, that's fine too.
My to-write-list had one final note. And the title still doesn't make sense, does it? Of course it doesn't, it's a question.
Among friends, I am probably known for two rather contradictory traits; Lootwhoring and shying away from taking loot. Well, more than that, hopefully, probably and sadly, but among traits, two that are relevant, except for my sexy droning dulcet voice.
I am probably the first person to browse datamined raidloot, to find what I want, and to obsess about it. "I hope that item drops.", "Damn, no item today either."
I'm also extremely quick to roll for offspec. Commonly I roll before it goes to offspec and have to apologize for my finger slipping. That /roll is ready before I see what the item even is.
Lastly, I am the first to pass if anyone else needs something. If it's a bigger upgrade for someone else. If someone else has not had loot for a while. If I've already had loot. I'll pass.
Not trying to blow my own horn here, I'm making a point.
Besides, I'm not that stretchy.
Loot in low level instances is a sketchy affair. There are daggers with spirit and no spellpower, there are robes with so much pure crit that a hunter is tempted.
When you then have an obviously new player, know that very few people take too kindly to too much advice in one helping, and are pressed for time, my stance becomes that of "Don't rock the boat."
Sorry. This linking thing is a disease.
I did not lie when I said I started writing for myself, but asking questions into thin air seems part of it, then; Would you rock the boat?
Those robes did in fact drop. The hunter and the mage both needed (triggering the longest stream of gibberish moonspeak yet), and while I'm an avid follower of the "stick to your damn armorclass you ninja!" stance, my current chestpiece is the second-to-last remaining piece of enhancement loot*. And it's ugly as sin***.
Would you need and try to explain that they are in fact Good For You(tm), or would you rather not have that discussion? Requeue time as a healer is hardly an issue, but it's all theoretical.
*This may be an application of "Greek" in the sense of "I've no freaking idea", but I think it may actually have been Greek.
**Not an excuse, I know.
***This, however, is.
Now I'm counterproductively munching sugar-based consumables to try to calm down before this goes two steps further and I end up in a nihilistic mindset and ragedelete this all.
I hate titles.
Today's late night dungeon was Razorfen Kraul - the clever reader may already have guessed this - and thoroughly pleasant. Now to destroy that pleasure by overanalyzing it!
This is where I expect myself to say "Just kidding", but I'm not quite sure.
I even took notes.
In truth, I've been anticipating RFK for a bit - I saw it as a potential challenge what with the totem forests, mana burns and potential for "whoops" in all the z-level fun, Gnomeregan edge-peek style.
Sadly, and I think I may be sincere in that regret on some level, we got a tank. Descendeth onto Azeroth from high heaven, this titan of a warrior showed uncanny dedication to his role. Heck, just staying in defensive stance would have sufficed, but he went all the way. The champ even used an elixir.
And he was an obvious keyboard-turner and clicker.
Now, I don't mean this condescendingly, but god bless his little massive enraged heart for it. At this point, it doesn't really matter, and good enough is good enough. I'm hardly an example of perfection myself. My faults mainly come in form of mental inhibitors that won't let me heal if it's gonna be an overheal, even if my mana is full. Among other things. Sounds like a post of its own, actually.
To end the major detour here; As a result of this, it was decidedly not a challenge. Aggro was mostly on the tank, the dps knew what they were doing, sans hard-cast pyroblasts so nothing to comment on there, but chat was unusually active.
In Greek*.
See, I didn't mind at all. Me, the silent warrior and the even silent-er ret paladin were just running around doing our thing, and this mage and hunter combo would suddenly stop and fire off a stream of unintelligible letters, then carry on. They were perfectly capable of either whispering eachother if it was private, or using English if it wasn't.
Obviously I was missing something. Noone said "English plz", though, and judicious ding'ing was rewarded with grats'es from them, and when I commented that the tank was doing a great job, they pitched in with praise in as understandable Engrish as any.
Some annoying bats and pigs later, the final boss went down, and there was this air of expectation as we stood before the jump down to the escort quest. The second I asked, three yes'es and a stoic, agreeing silence confirmed that we liked eachother enough to attempt an escort quest together.
Truthfully, it's not even remotely hard. It's just a thing most people have for escort quests.
Or rather, a thing they have for not doing escort quests.
Suddenly, party chat became a lot livelier. The air of "We are signed up together do do a dungeon" dispersed and was replaced by a pleasant fume saying "We're an instance group doing a quest together", which was far more condusive to chat!
That, or people were fat and happy with their loot bags. Go third pair of enhancement gloves!
Jokes about pork roast, me being forced to make a song while I mined an iron vein, the next five minutes were an unusually jolly time. And then;
Mage: how do you say when you need pause for mana?
Me: Just saying "mb" or mana break usually does the trick
Warrior: Yeah :)
Wait. One. Minute.
These weren't just "new to the game" or a little eccentric. Or bad.
They were actual, real new players.
I've teamed with so many heirloom-bedecked people by now that when I see a person, I immediatly assume it's an alt. When I see badly geared lowbie, I think poor/underprioritized alt. Here, there was a decent chance that they didn't even know how to whisper.
I wish that bit of the story had a more interesting end than my surprise.
That's pretty much it. "Wow!". Also, it was nice to know people still join the game from scratch and seemingly enjoy it. End of.
Of course you didn't stop reading when I said go away.
Actually, if you're not reading this, you're either very gullible, very polite, or extremely easily distracted.
If you just needed a break, that's fine too.
My to-write-list had one final note. And the title still doesn't make sense, does it? Of course it doesn't, it's a question.
Among friends, I am probably known for two rather contradictory traits; Lootwhoring and shying away from taking loot. Well, more than that, hopefully, probably and sadly, but among traits, two that are relevant, except for my sexy droning dulcet voice.
I am probably the first person to browse datamined raidloot, to find what I want, and to obsess about it. "I hope that item drops.", "Damn, no item today either."
I'm also extremely quick to roll for offspec. Commonly I roll before it goes to offspec and have to apologize for my finger slipping. That /roll is ready before I see what the item even is.
Lastly, I am the first to pass if anyone else needs something. If it's a bigger upgrade for someone else. If someone else has not had loot for a while. If I've already had loot. I'll pass.
Not trying to blow my own horn here, I'm making a point.
Besides, I'm not that stretchy.
Loot in low level instances is a sketchy affair. There are daggers with spirit and no spellpower, there are robes with so much pure crit that a hunter is tempted.
When you then have an obviously new player, know that very few people take too kindly to too much advice in one helping, and are pressed for time, my stance becomes that of "Don't rock the boat."
Sorry. This linking thing is a disease.
I did not lie when I said I started writing for myself, but asking questions into thin air seems part of it, then; Would you rock the boat?
Those robes did in fact drop. The hunter and the mage both needed (triggering the longest stream of gibberish moonspeak yet), and while I'm an avid follower of the "stick to your damn armorclass you ninja!" stance, my current chestpiece is the second-to-last remaining piece of enhancement loot*. And it's ugly as sin***.
Would you need and try to explain that they are in fact Good For You(tm), or would you rather not have that discussion? Requeue time as a healer is hardly an issue, but it's all theoretical.
*This may be an application of "Greek" in the sense of "I've no freaking idea", but I think it may actually have been Greek.
**Not an excuse, I know.
***This, however, is.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
