tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14584034591758638412024-03-08T18:42:05.624-05:00Alice in AzerothOne girl. Big MMO World. Lots of alts.Jennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09704077773380005890noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1458403459175863841.post-32583498541405465822012-09-06T13:13:00.001-04:002012-09-06T13:24:20.576-04:00Shared Topic: What spell would you most want?<i>Every week, <a href="http://www.blogazeroth.com/" target="_blank">Blog Azeroth</a> proposes a Shared Topic for World of Warcraft bloggers to discuss. This week’s <a href="http://www.blogazeroth.com/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=3383" target="_blank">topic</a> was proposed by Arvash.</i><br />
<blockquote>
In the new Mist of Pandaria expansion, Druids will be
getting a new spell called Symbiosis, which will allow them to “trade” a
spell with another player, based on the player’s class and combat role
and the Druid’s specialization.<br />
So my question is, if you could have any spell you want from any
other class, current spells or new ones in MoP, what would it be? How
would you work it into your rotation, gameplay, etc.?</blockquote>
This one's easy. <br />
<br />
<b>Bladestorm</b><br />
<br />
<b> </b>It doesn't bother me that my<b> </b>favorite <a href="http://pixelatedexecutioner.thestorythusfar.com/2012/09/05/arms-warrior-5-0-4-new-improved-and-walking-doom/" target="_blank">Warrior blog</a> recommends Dragon Roar for Arms Warriors in 5.0.4; I was most excited when the new talents dropped because I could choose to <b>Bladestorm</b> in any Warrior spec. Maybe,I thought, I'd enjoy playing my Prot off-spec more if I could <b>Bladestorm</b> as well (Warrior tanking lacks the visceral satisfaction for me that Paladin tanking has. I'm easily entertained by clangy shield noises).<br />
<br />
I even feel sort of compelled to type <b>Bladestorm</b> in bold the same way I like to write silly macros to go along with it. I know that /say or /yelling kind of corny and potentially irritating, so I keep a seperate button for the macro'd ability to bring out only when it's going to be entertaining. My gnome warrior, <a href="http://us.battle.net/wow/en/character/wyrmrest-accord/Lexifrazz/simple" target="_blank">Lexifrazz</a>, has some things like<br />
<br />
"Wheeee, I'm spinning!"<br />
"Help, I think I'm going to be sick!"<br />
<br />
And, with all apologies and royalties paid to this guy:<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-R8rS7YNkLvE/UEjB1Wcxd9I/AAAAAAAAAEc/rostPblSxGk/s1600/111qbsh.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-R8rS7YNkLvE/UEjB1Wcxd9I/AAAAAAAAAEc/rostPblSxGk/s320/111qbsh.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">STICK AROUND</span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b>GNOOOMEEESTOOORM</b></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b> </b>Yeah, I know. And I'm not sorry, either.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
What if other classes could steal or borrow the magnificence that is Bladestorm? If my mage could whirl around in a fit of Arcane fury, I'd give her a MH weapon and offhand book, always. Just so she could /yell things like "I TOLD you to be quiet in the library!" If I could Warlockstorm, I'd be sad if I couldn't have Fel Reaver Approaching warning klaxons when I did.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
(Warlocks are already pretty cool; I'm not sure they need to be cooler ;) )</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Priest-storm? I think it'd be best in Holy, if the animations involved pitching Lightwells at people with pinball machine effects. Pingpingping.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br />
Death Knight Runeblade-storm? Cool and appropriate. First person to macro /yell <b>AAAAPOOCALYYPSE</b> gets a noogie.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Oh heck, who am I kidding? That person would be me.</div>
Jennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09704077773380005890noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1458403459175863841.post-28478644344551737452012-09-05T13:58:00.002-04:002012-09-05T14:13:41.035-04:00Alice's Adventures at Dracon*Con! I opened up my old Twitter last week for two reasons: to see what the WoW Twitter/blog community had to say about Patch 5.0.4, as well as to see who else in the Twitter verse might be attending Dragon*Con in Atlanta. I'd blocked out a few MMO track activities on my schedule, and was curious to see who I might run into.<br />
<br />
Then, I made the best mistake. I peeked at my old DMs. Inside, I found several of the nicest compliments about this old blog. To everyone who ever tookt he time to send me a note about it - thank you, you've inspired me again. I promise to try and not have to start every entry with an apology for being away for so long.<br />
<br />
As I mentioned above, I was at Dragon*Con this weekend. Being an hour away from Atlanta means a pile of my good RL buddies go, and occasionally I run into them during the weekend. This year was special, however. After I learned one of my RealID pals, <a href="http://us.battle.net/wow/en/character/moon-guard/Saphina/simple" target="_blank">Saphina</a>, has been doing the con for ten years, I was super excited. Super, duper excited. She wanted to go to some MMO events, including, Sunday's WoW Meet and Greet but didn't want to go alone. I had such a blast the previous year that I agreed to go with her.<br />
<br />
(I may or may have not have gone to last year's meetup dressed as the World's Tallest Gnome. Pink hair and all. If there are pictures on the internet, I'm sure they're just hiding from me)<br />
<br />
Our first stop was Friday evening's WoW costume contest. We decided that a 'WoW Costume Contest Drinking Game' was an excellent idea. The rules were simple - 1 drink for a Sylvanas, 1 drink for a Dragon Aspect (two if Kalec, because mmm, Kalec). Our friends warned us that we might die from playing this. Regretably, we found chairs behind a bulkhead, and my camera phone had no zoom, so the pictures I took didn't do anything justice. But there were amazing things - an orc shaman who built his own water totem, A kick-ass Troll Warrior, a pair of adorable Dwarf hunters. Before the end, we decided that the lady dressed as Katrana Prestor should count for one drink because we hadn't seen anything on our short list. Thankfully, at the end, we were shown a Sylvanas <i>and</i> an Alexstrasza who had missed the pre-qualifications, and didn't have to leave without anything on our checklist.<br />
<br />
I'd <i>really</i> wanted to make the <a href="http://lessonsinlore.com/" target="_blank">Lessons in Lore</a> panel on Sunday morning, but it was a little difficult to get up that early after being up til stupid hours the previous evening (I wound up staying up until 4 AM chatting with my roommates). I was only a couple of minutes late, but there was a long line of people waiting to see Gillian Anderson in front of the door, and I was a little too tired to navigate through them.<br />
<br />
Instead, I went to give blood! The convention sponsors a blood drive through LifeSouth every year, and they were very short on donations this year. The free t-shirt had the Avengers rendered as drops of blood on the front. Too adorable to pass up.<br />
<br />
The WoW Meet-and-Greet/Trivia was Sunday night. The Lessons in Lore people were back to host it, and man, did my team get <i>schooled</i>.At the end,we bet all our points in a double-or-nothing question and wound up with zero. So we didn't get to have our picture taken with the humiliating trophy, or name potential new items for MoP, but it was a great time. I even connected with a couple of people at my table and swapped contact information. BattleTags make this so much more convienent. <br />
<br />
I thought I knew a lot about WoW lore, but it turns out I can't keep
all my orcs apart. Pro tip: just answer Grom Hellscream for everything.
Especially when none of the answers involve Grom Hellscream.<br />
<br />
If that doesn't work, say something funny.<br />
<br /><br />Jennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09704077773380005890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1458403459175863841.post-83750571379286509052011-11-11T16:59:00.000-05:002011-11-11T16:59:55.375-05:00Veteran's Day on Draenor(With many thanks to the <a href="http://flavortextlore.wordpress.com/">Flavor Text</a> ladies, for the inspiration <a href="http://flavortextlore.wordpress.com/2011/05/02/the-economics-of-argus-corruption-through-luxury/">here</a>)<br />
<br />
<em>The singed letter is preserved in the Aldor archives in Shattrath City alongside several other small written effects.</em><br />
<br />
dear vindikater braam<br />
<br />
mama said i should write you a letter so ill get better at writing and to Thank you for helping me find her and papa on the ship. Thank you because they would be sad if i was lost and also because i was verry scared. im not scared anymore though so i Hope your out helping lots of other kids now<br />
<br />
Is being a <strike>vindikater</strike> vindicater hard? i bet you have to be reely strong and brave and you need a big hammer, too. my papa just has an <a href="http://www.wowwiki.com/Baroque_Sword_Scabbard">old sword</a>, but he's strong too! He builded out new house, and some of our whole new <a href="http://www.wowwiki.com/Ruins_of_Enkaat">town</a> too. i like it here, its verry pretty with lots of big fields. Mama said she even saw some other peoples here but i shouldnt worry because they didnt look like mean peoples. She said they had brown skin and big teeth. isnt that funny?<br />
<br />
Maybe you can visit me some time but i bet your still busy helping other people. Anyway thank you for everything you do for the<strike> Drani</strike> Draenei and also to the <strike>naru N</strike>aaru. when I grow up I want to be a <strike>vindikator vindicater</strike> vindicator just like you<br />
<br />
(I had a hard time with spelling so I made my mama help me)<br />
<br />
Arkanon poros!<br />
<a href="http://us.battle.net/wow/en/character/doomhammer/Vidhatri/simple">Vida</a>Jennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09704077773380005890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1458403459175863841.post-66190049890192278382011-11-05T12:10:00.001-04:002011-11-05T12:11:29.474-04:00Art: Peanuts Death Knights<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Art is a big thing on RP servers. Maybe it's a big thing on non-RP servers, too, but since i transferred to Wyrmrest Accord in April, I've seen so much amazing WoW-related fanart. So. Much. People do character drawings for friends, or comission them for in-game gold and items (and sometimes a little real dollars as well). </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">One of my buddies on the server does Livestream art sessions just about every Friday. Usually, she winds up doing lots of little doodles based on whatever funny things are getting bandied around in the livestream chat. I don't even know how this topic came about, but I am so delighted by it :D</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This is my and <a href="http://tankthulhu.blogspot.com/">Tankthulhu'</a>s Death Knight duo, Aellais and Calida, redesigned as a pair of beloved copywrited characters</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZDNKSXFfxn8/TrVctDeemQI/AAAAAAAAAEU/S6KbyFCzaKw/s1600/23mjB.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="218px" ida="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZDNKSXFfxn8/TrVctDeemQI/AAAAAAAAAEU/S6KbyFCzaKw/s320/23mjB.png" width="320px" /></a></div>Jennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09704077773380005890noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1458403459175863841.post-25432653026185311402011-10-31T14:26:00.000-04:002011-10-31T14:26:10.157-04:00Happy Hallow's End!From Gnome Deathwing!<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mfkO209_LPU/Tq7oLFy9kgI/AAAAAAAAAEM/MaE5yiE7YW4/s1600/deathgnome.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="295px" ida="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mfkO209_LPU/Tq7oLFy9kgI/AAAAAAAAAEM/MaE5yiE7YW4/s320/deathgnome.jpg" width="320px" /></a></div><br />
<br />
(Lexifrazz-Wyrmrest Accord went to a Hallow's End party dressed like this. I won the costume contest!)Jennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09704077773380005890noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1458403459175863841.post-30779071667374168042011-05-22T10:35:00.000-04:002011-05-22T10:35:55.751-04:00Baby's first GM encounterI've sent GM tickets before, but today was the first time I've actually been online with the right character to be addressed. Thanks to the internet, I knew in advance that you should always, always ask them to tell you a joke at the end. I can only imagine it's the best question some of these guys get asked all day:)<br />
<br />
Here was the ticket I sent!<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0HGXlnrswQ0/TdkdlyXsDCI/AAAAAAAAAEE/BbshBBswvjo/s1600/gm1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="277" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0HGXlnrswQ0/TdkdlyXsDCI/AAAAAAAAAEE/BbshBBswvjo/s320/gm1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YzI5WMbNDeE/TdkfPgz8tCI/AAAAAAAAAEI/jHYW7J_EU08/s1600/gm2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="276" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YzI5WMbNDeE/TdkfPgz8tCI/AAAAAAAAAEI/jHYW7J_EU08/s320/gm2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Here was the response.Jennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09704077773380005890noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1458403459175863841.post-24544219592579893342011-05-15T19:07:00.000-04:002011-05-15T19:07:38.279-04:00Old Repuclic, Schmold Republic<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7XmUtb3ZeGo/TdBclQAeUNI/AAAAAAAAAEA/rfASJh277Ec/s1600/WoWScrnShot_051411_233359.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7XmUtb3ZeGo/TdBclQAeUNI/AAAAAAAAAEA/rfASJh277Ec/s320/WoWScrnShot_051411_233359.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Gnomes with Lightsabers and cinnamon bun hair<br />
<br />
That is all.Jennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09704077773380005890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1458403459175863841.post-86341877034606298102011-03-25T09:00:00.001-04:002011-03-25T17:40:12.868-04:00Little Orphan Alt | Vidhatri and Healing The "Enemy"<div align="left">Having friends who play WoW is a good thing. The problem arises when you're like me, with many friends who play many things on many servers. When I first got my account, I was alittle beset by requests to level a toon on this realm or that realm so my buddies could help me out, give me my Standard New Character bag/gold package and other general stuff. I drifted to playing a paladin for the Horde full time, but not before I'd checked out several other options and left several alts orphaned in various locations. Occasionally, I do like to go back to them, and after leveling my main to 85, I've been finding myself checking them out more.<br /><br /></div><div align="left"></div><div align="left">Meet Vidhatri. Draenei resto shaman <em>par excellence</em><br /><br /></div><div align="center"></div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tRHvn7viFxM/TYqVQ4SubJI/AAAAAAAAAD0/sfMFKQALswU/s1600/WoWScrnShot_031111_195348.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5587442404927892626" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: pointer; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tRHvn7viFxM/TYqVQ4SubJI/AAAAAAAAAD0/sfMFKQALswU/s320/WoWScrnShot_031111_195348.jpg" border="0" /> <p align="center"></a><span style="font-size:78%;">I've made two Draenei toons, and they both have the same hairstyle. I love me some boar's tails<br /><br /></span></p><p>She lives on the Doomhammer server, where the lovely and talented <a href="http://twitter.com/tankthulhu">Tankthulhu</a> resides with her paladin main. Unlike Romilly the Blood Knight, she's been very focused from level 1. After all, her people have been trying to stay a step ahead of the Burning Legion for what's certainly been her entire life.She's had to grow up quickly in intense and harrowing situations. Evidenced by my recent feat of leveling her from 8 to past 30 in a week. For me, that's a new speed record.<br /><br />Vidhatri's not a Loremaster candidate. I barely quest with her at all, in fact. What I do is log on, sit in whatever capital city in which I happen to be (formerly Exodar for the scenery, now Ironforge for the music), queue a couple of random dungeons at a time, and drop totems and buff and heal and heal and heal.<br /><br />I've grown to love healing. It's a little bit of a challenge without being quite as stressful as playing tank, and lets me get a good look at how 5-mans run. Standing back, I have a better vantage point as to what goes right in a group, and what goes wrong, and how to correct it in my own play style.</p><p><br />I'm also getting used to not having to move around like a paranoid hamster when I want to hop the train to Ironforge from Stormwind (I do this suicide run with Romilly because there are no Horde flight points on that part of the continent, but good archaeology sites) and seeing things from an Alliance-side perspective again.<br /><br />Ashenvale's just so pretty when the ninja night elves aren't trying to kill you every few steps. </p>Jennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09704077773380005890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1458403459175863841.post-27947089031313613912011-03-23T11:50:00.006-04:002011-03-23T14:14:19.287-04:00The Fine Gentlemen of Romilly's Guild<span style="color:#66cccc;">[Dungeon Guide] This tank is terrible</span><br /><span style="color:#66cccc;">[Dungeon Guide] Have you ever tanked before?</span><br /><span style="color:#66cccc;">[Dungeon Guide] Well, your (sic) god awful</span><br /><br /><p><span style="color:#ffffff;">That's right, I'm not quite great yet. Yes, I'm still cutting my tank teeth, and I made a bad pull. If I've forgotten to turn on my Righteous Fury(whoops), of course the first trash pack is going to just run past me to eat the healer and the mage before I can right myself. After that, they're going to decide my crunchy plate exterior is hiding something delicious for afters. And that'll be all she wrote. If we wipe and it's because I did something wrong/stupid/clueless, I usually just apologize and correct whatever it was.<br /></span></p><br />The dead healer jumped all over me before I'd even released. I waited on my spirit gryphon by the entrance to the instance, letting him rail on my technique and everything I'd done. I even let him micromanage the first pull before I cut my losses. Had I made a mistake? Sure. Do I pay a subscription fee every month to be verbally abused? Certainly not.<br /><br />You don't want to group with me if you think I'm awful enough to waste five minutes typing to me about it in party chat. Conversely, I don't want to group with you if I think you're an asshole. It's not a productive relationship. So I departed the Halls of Origination, packed up my pride and went back to Orgrimmar to cool down.<br /><br />The worst part was that the dead mage was a guy in my guild. He'd asked if I wanted to tank for him and I'd exuberantly said yes. Damn it. Not the best way to show my value as a team player. I apologized in guild chat, explained why I'd left and prepated to spend my afternoon doing dailies. Instead, I got this:<br /><br /><span style="color:#33ff33;">[Guild] lol yeah</span><br /><span style="color:#33ff33;">[Guild] I still want to group if you want to try another one</span><br /><span style="color:#666666;"><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">Ok, wow. no pressure. Someone else in the guild asked to join up once they were out of a battleground, even. We queued up and were dropped into the Lost City of the Tol'vir. One more opportunity to get my face punched in by Neferset.<br /><br />This time, I tanked the pants off the whole place. Not to be too cocky, though, I wasn't alone. The DPS burned it to the ground around me, the goblin rogue we pulled in I dubbed 'Sapmaster G' for his wicked Crowd Control, and the druid healer was on fire with HoTness. What a difference a positive attitude can make.<br /><br />What a difference remembering Righteous Fury can make, is what I also mean. D'oh.<br /><br />They wanted to do another one after we'd turned Siamat into vapor, but I needed a little eyebreak, so we cheerfully bid adieu. I watched a little TV, did some healing for the (gasp) Alliance on another server, and logged back on just before I went to bed to check on some auctions. Immediately, one of the guild officers whispers me:<br /><br /></span><span style="color:#cc33cc;">Hey, Rom. Want to come and tank for me after I'm done in this heroic? I need to level my healer.</span><br /><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">In the Great Cataclysm Tank Shortage, I seem to have found myself in a little bit of demand. I don't even know how it happened; I got into this guild on a fluke. Someone invited my roommate's alt, and I had her invite me so I could stop shopping for one. Mostly, I just hang out and say funny things in guild chat and occaisionally help lower level toons beat on things. Then, one day I asked if anyone wanted to come with me while I farmed tanking gear out of normal Grim Batol. And wound up with the guild master and the aforementioned officer at my back.<br /><br />The guild's name is the</span> <span style="color:#ff6600;"><span style="font-size:130%;color:#ff6600;">DRAGONOLOGISTS OF FIRE</span>.</span><span style="color:#999999;"> </span><span style="color:#ffffff;">I need to put it in big font, all caps and bright orange text, because that's always how I feel like pronouncing it. Like an epic 80s hair band soundtrack accompanies every guild achievement. The gentlemen (and perhaps ladies) asking me for tank love are all more experienced than I am, know the fights, and...mostly have tanking alts with which they do not feel like playing. For a group I wound up in due to casual /ginvite practices, it's turned out to be a pretty good match. I get practice and helpful whispers. They get dungeon leveling for their alts. And they're sure to get a player who can handle heroics and raids with the right application of time and trial.It's nice to have people to group with who at least peripherally have my back and can be invested in my improvement..<br /><br />Now we need to get to work on that hair metal soundtrack.<br /><br /><br /><br /></span><br /></span>Jennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09704077773380005890noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1458403459175863841.post-64653454002654589882011-03-21T00:00:00.000-04:002011-03-21T01:24:28.406-04:00Watch out for Shrinkshrooms (Deepholm)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UTft3SJYCnY/TYZYSJOBS1I/AAAAAAAAADs/urI_CVJ8AQc/s1600/WoWScrnShot_032011_115300.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UTft3SJYCnY/TYZYSJOBS1I/AAAAAAAAADs/urI_CVJ8AQc/s320/WoWScrnShot_032011_115300.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5586249456535292754" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">One side will make you grow taller and the other side will make you grow shorter</span>Jennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09704077773380005890noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1458403459175863841.post-63970851799254069162011-03-20T13:50:00.000-04:002011-03-20T15:19:21.554-04:00Tank School<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IR2PyrkNeG4/TYPf_2eUvdI/AAAAAAAAADU/AYnBbbdiWiM/s1600/WoWScrnShot_031711_202556.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IR2PyrkNeG4/TYPf_2eUvdI/AAAAAAAAADU/AYnBbbdiWiM/s320/WoWScrnShot_031711_202556.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5585554250917002706" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:78%;">Woooooooo! We're gonna get wasted!</span><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><div align="center"></div>Romilly spent much of her squirehood in the Blood Knights goofing off. Drinking at Saltheril's Party Haven, smoking mana cigarettes behind the Farstrider enclave in Silvermoon and treating the Eversong Woods like Spring Break in Cancun. It's no wonder she's having a little trouble carrying herself at level 85.<br /><br /><div align="center"></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-w38_j19S4Xs/TYPgJFT2O9I/AAAAAAAAADc/VcSyjS_v9uY/s1600/WoWScrnShot_031711_202815.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-w38_j19S4Xs/TYPgJFT2O9I/AAAAAAAAADc/VcSyjS_v9uY/s320/WoWScrnShot_031711_202815.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5585554409518414802" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:78%;">Hey, Akeldama, why don't any of these boys seem to be interested in us?</span><br /></div><br /><br /><p align="left">In order to not be such a slouch, and to learn how to play that neglected other half the game, Romilly has enrolled in the Grammaton Academy for Tanks (Thalassian Correspondence Course Edition), courtesy of <a href="http://wowthisgameishard.wordpress.com/"><u>The Wow Guys</u></a>. With the help of some self-professed 'elitist jerks', I'm going to be taking a critical look at everything I'm doing with Virgoan precision, and noting my progression as a paladin tanking in the endgame from the ground up.</p><p align="left"></p>When I say 'the ground up,' I really mean 'so far underground even Therazane is claustrophobic'. Hearthstoned in Scrub City. Already, by tweaking my DPS/Healer bad combo gear into something with better tanking stats, I'm noticing my experience is getting better.<br /><br />I like math and crunchy numbers, even if they don't always come intuitive to me. Having it spelled out in simple terms like <span style="font-weight: bold;">dodge + parry =26%</span> or <span style="font-weight: bold;">dodge+parry+ block = 102.4%</span>, or <span style="font-weight: bold;">Mastery = Winning</span> made figuring out how to reforge/gem/simply pick gear a little less like ordering off a menu in a foreign language.<br /><br />After studying a few fight mechanics, I can now tank a normal 5-man to success without getting everyone killed (just people who pull ahead of me). Heroics are next, once I'm done shopping to replace some hopelessly bad equipment and get generally more familiar with my rotation and dealing with problems that arise (like people pulling ahead of me!)<br /><br />So far, I've been able to upgrade<a href="http://us.battle.net/wow/en/item/55459"> <u>Irontree Sword of the Faultline</u></a>which I don't even remember getting, to <a href="http://us.battle.net/wow/en/item/56130"><u>Mace of Transformed Bone</u></a><u></u>. Originally, I'd gotten <a href="http://us.battle.net/wow/en/item/63800"><u>Clear-Eyed Waistguard</u></a> based on the stamina bonus without knowing about anything else. I ran Lost City of Tol'vir this morning and the <a href="http://us.battle.net/wow/en/item/55867"><u>Sand Dune Belt</u></a><u></u> I was gunning for happened to drop the first time. Hooray!<br /><br /><p align="left">These are baby steps, but they feel pretty amazing coming up from the nervous, clueless wipe magnet I was just last week. Time to celebrate a little!<br /></p><p align="left"></p><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LnkCyWk0KOo/TYZIZluSCGI/AAAAAAAAADk/m_8myqWilog/s1600/suntouhched.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 15px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LnkCyWk0KOo/TYZIZluSCGI/AAAAAAAAADk/m_8myqWilog/s320/suntouhched.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5586231992259840098" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:78%;">That's what I'm talking about</span><br /></div>Jennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09704077773380005890noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1458403459175863841.post-62564686904179195272011-03-17T00:47:00.000-04:002011-03-17T20:09:31.953-04:00The things you do while in queue<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8PhR2G6tqQI/TYKibNAe6-I/AAAAAAAAAC8/-qo1KNnV0rM/s1600/WoWScrnShot_031711_003429.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8PhR2G6tqQI/TYKibNAe6-I/AAAAAAAAAC8/-qo1KNnV0rM/s320/WoWScrnShot_031711_003429.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5585205076124691426" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UC2T0jBKghw/TYH4I91ORhI/AAAAAAAAAC0/A6wdzJLPh2A/s1600/WoWScrnShot_031711_003429.jpg"><br /></a>Well, the Warlock got it!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-80rrtpCE-mk/TYGSl_cpNJI/AAAAAAAAACs/5kw2FyV_Aw4/s1600/WoWScrnShot_031711_003429.jpg"><br /></a>This image is relevant to an actual, legit post I'm working on. I promiseJennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09704077773380005890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1458403459175863841.post-82696302320098187962011-03-15T23:02:00.000-04:002011-03-15T23:04:55.729-04:00Why I can't seem to get 'Stood in the Fire'<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MTCZRLwOG_8/TYAoUYK5G0I/AAAAAAAAACk/eyiTmJzejLw/s1600/WoWScrnShot_031511_150223.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MTCZRLwOG_8/TYAoUYK5G0I/AAAAAAAAACk/eyiTmJzejLw/s320/WoWScrnShot_031511_150223.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5584507868490046274" border="0" /></a>My homegirl, Alexstrasza is standing in it for me.Jennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09704077773380005890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1458403459175863841.post-72877870821837108042011-03-14T22:30:00.000-04:002011-03-15T23:05:07.471-04:00Don't Touch King Sunstrider's Hair<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-A7JF-XtxtrA/TX7VTnkEXqI/AAAAAAAAACc/4I3ayOHW5CY/s1600/WoWScrnShot_031411_215427.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-A7JF-XtxtrA/TX7VTnkEXqI/AAAAAAAAACc/4I3ayOHW5CY/s320/WoWScrnShot_031411_215427.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5584135121000488610" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GyAJxXBq1-U/TX7PYcMIZKI/AAAAAAAAACU/_9gEqRgUeQI/s1600/WoWScrnShot_031411_215429.jpg"><br /></a><br />Hello, Kael'thas. It's a good thing you're so pretty, because you're a tremendous dickhead otherwiseJennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09704077773380005890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1458403459175863841.post-49115177122370665662011-03-11T22:21:00.001-05:002011-03-24T11:51:37.366-04:00Romilly - Or how I learned to stop worrying and love the PUG<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VTJ7k_cVCQw/TX7BwY2e3iI/AAAAAAAAACM/Xusu-M24OM0/s1600/WoWScrnShot_031111_200657.jpg"><br /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kUgRTmMWhfE/TXrrndmSvMI/AAAAAAAAACE/G_uOkkTg_Ro/s1600/WoWScrnShot_031111_200657.jpg"><span style="font-size:0;"><span style="font-size:0;"></span></span></a>I started playing WoW in early 2010, after finally getting a computer that could support it. Someone sent me a trial after I casually mentioned interest and it was all over from there.<br /><br />I made a character on a friend's realm (Gnomeregan) and started noodling around with great newbie exuberance. It was a night elf, so I had no shortage of spectacular scenery things to look at. The Teldrassil incidental music remains among my favorites, and I still get giddy if I'm passing through places like the exterior of Dire Maul and it filters back in.<br /><br />One thing quickly led to another, and one night in a fit of liquor-fueled impulsiveness, I shelled out for the Burning Crusade expansion. I was already turning into a lore nerd, wanted to see what the expansion races looked like, and, sue me, I like the pointy-eared things. I made a Draenei that got quickly forgotten, and a Blood Elf Paladin that quickly became my new main, and I became a Horde player despite the majority of my gaming friends' Alliance leanings.<br /><br />Meet Romilly.<br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VTJ7k_cVCQw/TX7BwY2e3iI/AAAAAAAAACM/Xusu-M24OM0/s1600/WoWScrnShot_031111_200657.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5584113625034841634" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: pointer; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VTJ7k_cVCQw/TX7BwY2e3iI/AAAAAAAAACM/Xusu-M24OM0/s320/WoWScrnShot_031111_200657.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br />I straight quested this character to 85 with few exceptions. I knew about dungeons and groups and pugging and all of that, and even started out specced as Protection with the idea that I might want to be a tank. It sounded fun, even if the idea of dungeons were still way intimidating and unappealing in general. I joined a guild of people who quickly outstripped me in level - the one instance I ran with them they wanted me to heal and I was terrible at it. Being perfectly content to explore a world I'd never seen before and level at my own slow, but enjoyable pace, I did so.<br /><br />I had a more experienced friend suggest I change my specialty to Retribution around level 40 or so, so I did. Partially because it made soloing that much easier, and partially because he said it would give me good dungeon experience without the tanking pressure. It would have worked if I'd queued more, but I didn't.<br /><br />In strict character terms, this makes Romilly the most slothful and mercenary Blood Knight around. She spend most of the Northrend Campaign doing the scutwork of the Wyrmrest Accord and gaining the trust of some odd-looking walrus people in the Dragonblight. (Oh, and crushing like a schoolgirl on Koltira Deathweaver, but that's for another post). Outland and the classic zones were the same way. Kill this, collect that. Make piles of gold mining and spend them on a stable full of mounts and pets, but no work that requires her to get her hands dirty. What a spoiled little rich girl.<br /><br />Then, the Cataclysm came.<br /><br /><br />It was Blizzard's genius, especially in the later expansions, that spurred my interest in 5-mans. At least the breadcrumb quests didn't feel so much like I was just being lead. I jumped into the Nexus in Lich King because after facing Malygos alongside her, Keristraza felt like my best friend and I couldn't just leave her behind. Same when I finally started dipping my toes into Cataclysm dungeons. I wanted to do Throne of the Tides so badly, because I became endeared to Erunak Stonespeaker as an NPC while in Vashj'ir and wanted to save him.<br /><br />Then one day, I figured, what the hey, and started queuing on occasion as melee DPS. Used the 30-45 min queue times to do things like quest and grind Archaeology and did pretty well cutting people. I got some nice gear and while I was never the top damage dealer when Recount got posted, I knew my spec well enough to not be a hindrance either.<br /><br />My original spec kept niggling at me, though, and once dual specialization became super-cheap, I picked Protection back up again. And decided, at level 85 ,with no prior experience, that I wanted to be a tank.<br /><br />And that's where I am now. Figuring out interesting, but complicated stuff from the top down.Jennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09704077773380005890noreply@blogger.com0