Don’t worry, I’m still playing WoW. I’m still full of fiery magey goodness. The mechanics of the game just aren’t pulling at me like they once were.

The lore, however… ^_^

I’ve found myself wanting to write WoW fiction. So, expect to see more of that here, along with the occassional RSS: Friday and some other items as they arrive in my head. Apologies to anyone who was wondering what happened to me. I swear I’m alive and kicking, the cauterize just wore off so I can do something other than cower in a corner and pray for heals. ~_^

Still working  loremaster. Finally completed Kalimdor, so a write up on that soon. One zone away on Outland, but I’m saving my favourite place (Netherstorm) for last. Currently working through Northrend.

Currently unable to do much until my UI add on is updated for the patch (LunarSphere), but I have a bit to say about the new talents, spells, abilities, and everything else… but not until I’ve had a few more hours of sleep.

Catch everyone later! ^_^

Aww, isn't she cute?

Do you remember one of the first times you ran into a higher level character while you were questing? Particularly if that character kinda sorta saved your hide? On accident?

This screenshot gives us a little glimpse of a very new, very young Sprink making her way through Hillsbrad on her quest to become the best fire mage that ever set things on fire. However, even young fire mages can get into trouble when townspeople come after you with your archnemesis… swords and pitchforks. Okay, maybe that’s two archnemeses, but still, not very fun for those of us who prefer to wear stylish robes over that clucky, heavy plate.

That’s right. I finally have my second 80. ^_^ My little baby prot pally is all grown up, getting ready to tank real dungeons and everything. Almost brings a tear to my eye. Seems like it wasn’t that long ago she was running away from death knights in Stranglethorn, or walking through the Dark Portal, or holding her own with threat against two far over-geared 80s helping her with a dungeon quest.

Now, I’ve got to get her geared up well enough to survive in the later dungeons, and she has her work cut out for her. She’s going to be standing up against at least one 80 with pretty darn good gear and a penchant for the Lolstorm, and the rest (which may or may not be pugged, depending on if the old band can get back together) will be of unknown gearing and skill who may or may not be willing to deal with a fresh 80 looking for gear.

Which leads me to an interesting thing that seems to be happening for the upcoming Cataclysm:

There are changes afoot in the core 5-man group.

Derull, our Lolstorming Orc Warrior, isn’t changing at all. Which is good. Because we love him just the way he is, threat-stealing and mage-saving and all. As a side note, he also has a prot pally that can perform basic tanking duties in his current gear and normal tanking duties if he were to spend a little time away from the mirror and tanking his way to something a little more updated than the Red Sword of Courage. Tirralyis is going to pass her mentor up if he doesn’t stop slacking. ^_^

Vengilus, the Most Amazing DK Tank Evar(tm), is being swapped out for Arry, hunter extraordinaire and one of those who helped Tirralyis ding that last level. According to him, hunters are going to be far more fun to play come Cataclysm.

Amenthas, like Derull, is staying the same as far as I know for Cataclysm. So, my favourite pally healer will continue healing me through pulling aggro and standing in things I shouldn’t stand in. He would, however I’m sure, like to do some DPSing with his ret spec every now and again.

Gorbash, the DK DPS with a passion for bubblegum pop, may or may not be quitting the game. Seems the pre-expansion doldrums have hit him hard, and our 5-man group taking a break during that time due to scheduling conflicts hit pretty hard, too. Here’s hoping he sticks around just a little longer, at least.

So there’s the other players in this game. If we go by mains, we currently have a healer who might want to DPS, three other DPS, and a possible other DPS. We seem to be missing something…

Yup. A tank. And guess who has a freshly 80 tank just waiting in the wings? Which presents a little issue. Sprink is my main. I want her to have all the cheesements. Which leads me to believe we’re going to have to do things one of many ways.

Option 1:

Have Gorbash make/run a tank spec. I don’t remember exactly, but I think he may have mentioned that he had one or was looking to make one. What better time than Cataclysm? ^_^ Of course, this option hinges entirely on whether or not he continues to play.

Option 2:

God give you lemons? Find a new god. Or, more accurately, when life doesn’t give you a tank, find one. Isn’t that what the random dungeon finder thingy is for? The only downside to this option is our group is a little… unique. Sometimes, we’ll sit around after killing the first boss and just dance while chit-chatting over Vent. For like, an hour or something. I doubt a random tank is going to be cool with that, much less want to get in on it.

Option 3:

Running dungeons multiple times with multiple characters. This option is almost the one I have the most faith in working. For example, Derull, Veng and I all have viable tanks. Derull and Veng have swappable DPS, and Derull’s tank can double as a healer, only if absolutely necessary. ^_^ And now that I think of it, Veng has an alt that is my favouritest tree evar.

I think out of all of our options, the last might be the best shot we have… which isn’t that bad if you ask me. And so what if sometimes we have to pug somebody? As long as we keep our shenanigans to a middle range or lower, we should be fine. ^_^

So it looks like not just Azeroth is changing with the coming of Deathwing. Here’s hoping this cataclysm is all it’s cracked up to be.

In the meantime, who wants to run a fresh 80 through 5-man TOC a few times for some gear?

The Sprink and the Dead

Ah, Headless Horseman runs. Mind you, this was back when you had to actually run into the dungeon and find the holiday boss. Back in the days before you could just teleport yourself in there, kill it, and teleport right back out. Back when you had to walk uphill in the snow, both ways, in your grandpa’s pajamas just to get into Molten Core! Okay, maybe you never had to walk through any snow in any pajamas to get to Molten Core, and maybe I’ve only seen MC when the five-man group went in for the cheesement when we were horribly overlevelled. But still! Those were the days!

Last Hallow’s End, there was the usual mass amount of PvP rolling around right in front of the entrance portal. Since I was rather ghostly thanks to some obviously tainted candy, it was just too good of a screenshot to pass up. ^_^

Nope, no RSS Friday today. At least, not until I get home from work. ^_^ This is more of an update kind of thing to let you all know I’m okay, I didn’t give up WoW, and I didn’t give up blogging.

Was it the pre-expansion blahs?

I could blame my lack of posting on the pre-Cataclysm doldrums. I mean, once you hit 80 and get reasonably geared, there’s only so much time you can spend leveling somewhere between 20-30 alts. I can’t tell you how sick to death I am of Ashenvale and the Barrens. Even with the small handful of Alliance charas I have, I’m sick to death of the other half of Ashenvale and Darkshore. Mostly Darkshore and the Barrens, to be frank. Both of those zones just take forever to cross, with little or no side trips along the way.

I’ve also stopped random dungeon-ing while I’m doing Loremaster. Nothing breaks my stride more than being a single zevra hoof away (which only has a 44% drop rate, wtf?) and having my dungeon pop, then having to switch mindsets from mindless killing machine to… well… mindful killing machine. ^_^ That, and I’m tired of Utgarde anything, really.

Was it real life deciding to rear it’s head?

I could blame real life on why I haven’t been posting. The last month and a half has been a trip for me. My apartment had to be fumigated not once, twice, but four times, thanks to the person downstairs from us living in a state of grossness. Which, with two cats, means I had to take them somewhere for at least four hours. Now, my family lives a two-hour drive away from me, one way, and none of my local friends could take the girls for various reasons. Which meant I took one too many days off work, stressing about cats, heat and bugs. Then, our air conditioner broke right at the start of this 90 degree heatwave and had to wait 2-3 days for it to get fixed, during which time even sitting in front of a box fan set to high wasn’t doing anything. It is just now that we’re finally getting back into the normal swing of things.

Was it Loremaster eating your will to live?

I could blame my sudden lack of posting on working Loremaster of Kalimdor. I mean, 685 quests is a whole lot of work, especially when you have to run all over hell and Desolace to get anything done. With only five zones left, I’m getting a little worried. I’m currently 507/685. And I’m pretty sure I remember questing in Un’Goro. Eep. Cranking out a minimum of 10-20 completed quests a day does kind of grate on you over time. Especially when it’s in the Barrens.

So, what is it?

A little of column A with a side of columns B and C. ^_^

And, even though this isn’t classified as a true RSS Friday, here’s a screenshot for you anyway. ^_^

One giant step for Tirralyis.

It was a big deal for me to have Tirralyis finally able to go into Outland. Outland is by far my favourite area of zones, so my mentality instantly went from “grind, grind, grind” to “stop and smell the fel iron.” As I rode up to the portal, ready to take my first steps into being a real paladin in real Outland I just had to stop and take this screenshot.

In fact, I’m not sure I can explain how much this screenshot means to me. I kinda wish I would have done it with Sprink, but she was my first, and I didn’t know just how much I would come to love the other side of the Dark Portal until my second character to do so. (Luracae doesn’t count. She was pretty much designed as a farmbot from the start, and while I enjoyed my time with Outland with her, it just wasn’t the same. ^_^)

This is the one item on everyone’s Cataclysm Bucket List… and it’s on mine, too. That’s right. Loremaster. I want to finish it before Cataclysm. I want to see the world, as it were, before it’s lost and gone forever. So, where did I start? Well, where Sprink started: Eastern Kingdoms. And, having completed both the exploration and loremaster requirements for that continent, there are a few things that really stood out.

Screw You, Blackrock Spire

No really. Screw you. If I never, ever, EVAR have to go back into you for anything, it will be too soon. What was that? Cataclysm is going to involve a lot of Blackrock? AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!

In case I never mentioned it, I get horribly lost in ‘vertical’ style dungeons. If it’s a matter of navigating a horizontal only map with minimal vertical movement, I’m solid. But, for some reason, throw a y-axis in there and I’m screwed. I can’t find my way into or out of either Blackrocks without using the Direbrew remote. Yup. I’m that bad. For a fire mage, you’d think I’d be able to navigate a volcano better…

I Love You, Darrowshire

Excellent questline. Even if you’re not doing Loremaster, do that quest line. It’s one of the most touching, involved questlines in the game. I haven’t totally completed it since the quest bugged out at the end, but I’m going to do it.

Tarren Mill

I do and I don’t miss you, Tarren Mill. You were terribly busy when I was the appropriate level for the area. All those level ?? Alliance just running around like they owned the place, and my little level 20something fire mage dying to everything with a red name. This time around, I’m the level ?? to the Alliance players. That is, assuming I could find any. Which isn’t to say I planned on ganking the lowbies. I’m more the type that waits until you’ve just finished killing something, then –poof– you’re a rabbit. I’m more of the mischievous ganker than a malicious ganker. ~_^ But I was surprised nonetheless at just how dead most of these old areas are. Not a soul. Not even a levelling alt, thanks to the dungeon finder letting you sit in a major city and level that way.

And Now, To Kalimdor!

I’m currently about 200+ quests into the Kalimdor part of this mission just from when I was leveling. Most people have been telling me just how hard Kalimdor can be, but I’m pretty confident I’ll be able to get through it without losing too much hair.

I hope. ^_^

…

Back? Okay. Well, it took a while, but I think I’m ready to throw down some fundamentals I’ve learned on tanking. Remember, this back to the basics approach is just that, my take on the basics you’ll need to keep in mind when running around with complete strangers depending on you to ‘do your job.’

So, on that note, I’d like to toss out a list of things every tank should probably keep at least in the back of their minds. Remember, when the going gets tough, Thou Shalt Tank.

• Tanks Lead the Way…
  As the tank, you’re expected to stand in between the bad things and the squishies, which means you will be leading the pack through the dungeon.  It’s okay to mention to the group if you’ve never been inside the dungeon before; they’ll probably thank you and give you guidance as to where to go and what to do next. My first few runs through Nexus on Tirralyis were opened with a “/p I’m a pretty new tank, but I’ve been through this dungeon quite a few times on my mage. Take it easy on me and let me know if I’m not doing well. Apologies ahead of time for any wipes. ^_^” Even if they don’t offer up anything, at least you gave them fair warning. If other group members run ahead of you, gently remind them that you are tanking, and they’ll usually back off. If they don’t, just try to do the best you can.
• … But Good Tanks Have a Path Already Planned.
  I love our 5-man group’s tank, Vengilus. You see, Veng is an avid reader, and you can bet that we’re at least going to know the basics of the dungeon before we even zone in. Forget where to stand during a certain phase of a boss fight? Veng’ll remind you. Not sure what the plan is for this pull? Veng’ll let you know how and where things should be. Even if you’ve never been in the dungeon before, looking over the maps and boss strategies for dungeons you can enter before you queue will make for a much happier, easier, stress-free run.
• Tanks Are Hard to Come by…
  If you’ve ever queued as DPS, you know that it’s not uncommon to see a 10-20 minute wait before you can even be added to a party. However, queuing as a tank gives you an almost instant group. I think the longest I’ve had to wait on Tirralyis was three minutes, and that’s because there were several AFK DPS that weren’t accepting the group invite. Tanks are a rare breed, and good tanks are a rarer breed. If you’re a new tank, this means that many groups will be a lot more friendly to you and will let you have a few more screw ups than say, a DPS. Many groups will only initiate a group kick of the tank if said tank is beyond bad, arrogant, and just plain fail at their class.
• … But Not Irreplaceable.
  Just because you are a tank doesn’t mean you cannot be vote-kicked. You are not immune to being benched for a fresh second-stringer. Being a tank does not give you a Get Out of Jail Free Card for being an ass. Or a jerk. Or a jerk-ass. Ragging on the healer for not healing you, when you were obviously not keeping threat on the mobs is not going to go over well with your healer. Picking on the DPS for not doing enough damage is not going to win you any kind of friends any time soon. Being a neglectful tank and letting mobs run around the squishies like they’re a Sunday buffet is roughly 20 seconds away from a vote-kick.
• Tanks Know When (and How) to Pull Them…
  Since you’re the one doing the pulling, you’re going to be the initiator in most fights. However, a tank whose healer is still drinking and whose DPS are not in the room is not going to be alive for very long. It should go without saying that if you are pulling more than one mob, you will need to keep threat on more than one mob. Tell the mob they smell funny when they’re wet. Tell them they’re King Kong, and they got nothing on you. Hell, tell them their mother was a hamster and their father smelled like elderberries. Regardless of how you do it, keep threat on everything you pull. It doesn’t matter if it’s one mob or the whole dungeon, your role in the group is to keep threat. Every tank class has a different way of handling this, and seeing as I’ve only played a paladin, I don’t really feel comfortable going into detail on the finer points of various strategies. However, as a rule, I tend to keep my taunt off cooldown as much as I can, just in case an errant mob goes for my squishies… especially my healer. ^_^
• … And Know When to Throw in the Towel.
  Which isn’t to say you need to stress yourself ridiculously nauseous over keeping threat. Sometimes, things get away. Sometimes, things happen. You can’t help it that fire mages are notoriously known as threat machines. Maybe the hunter forgot to take their pet off growl. Either way, do your best to get the mob(s) back. However, once you’ve done all you can, that’s all you can do. I know it sounds silly, but it’s true. The first thing I had to learn about tanking was that, well, sometimes things get away from you. Either you misstepped, or you didn’t quite catch that last mob like you wanted to. Don’t stress over it.
• Tanks Love Their Healers…
  A tank and a healer are the backbone of any group. Your healer is what keeps you alive while you’re getting picked on by all the mobs. They should be priority number one if something gets away from you. Some healers are okay with pulling groups if they’re at half mana, others prefer to be full up for all pulls. Ask you healer either in party or in a tell what their preference is. Almost all healers like to be full up for bosses. Good communication between healer and tank is the key to a good run.
• … And Their DPS.
  Which means you can’t ignore the DPSers who are in your party. If the tank and healer are the backbone of a group, the DPSers are the rest of the guts. While the healer is priority number one, you shouldn’t let stray mobs eat the people standing in the back, waving their hands around. You’re not just dragging them along as a peanut gallery for you and your healer’s awesomeness. They’re the ones doing all the damage to kill the things that are beating up on you. Without them, at best it’s going to take forever for you and a healer to get through the dungeon. At worst, you’re not going to make it through the end of the dungeon.
• Thou Shalt Tank.
  As I mentioned in TSDPS, remember your role as the tank. Be ready to drop some cash on repair costs, as it is just the nature of the beast. Know your rotation, know your class abilities, and with a little practice, you’ll do fine. So shine up your shield (or brush down your fur) and PULL!

Anything I missed? Let me know! ^_^

This RSS Friday gives you the exact reason all my priests are under level 40. I spend more time dead as them then I did as a fire mage leveling. Which I’m sure boggles everyone’s mind as much as my own. I mean, priests can heal themselves. Why are you dying so much? Seriously! Is it that I’m not doing enough damage? Is it because I naturally suck at kiting? Why can I not play this class?

This is Lysara, my second experiment character. Once she hit level 10, she started to level through battlegrounds only. That’s right. No questing. No nothing. Just PvP until I drop. Repeatedly. And, since I’ve been lazy, she’s still only like level 11 or something. I’m sure once I hit level 20 I’ll have a post about her… someday.

Tha’s assuming I can keep a priest alive long enough to actually post about. ~_^