A new year! Part one

     Ah, a new year is upon us. For many people this means many different things, new years resolutions, last party before the next semester, or just an opportunity to sit back and look at what we've accomplished.

     In this first post I'll cover what I've accomplished in WoW, I'll cover what I've done in real life tomorrow, or maybe Tuesday.

     Where was I at the start of last year? I was fiddling around on my rogue on Silvermoon, kinda hanging out with some old friends, making a few new ones, just generally wasting time, not even trying to accomplish anything. 

      Well, that changed shortly afterwards when my brother invited me over to play on Kael'thas with some of his blogger friends. Wanted me to transfer characters and all. I thought he was kinda nuts myself, I mean, really? You read these peoples blogs and you want me to change servers to play with ya'll? Neeeeeeeeeeeeeeeerd alert!

     But reservations aside I hoped over to 3B's site and read the guild charter, and was actually pretty intrigued. I mean, it sounded like a pretty good set up of intelligent people acting like adults. However I was not to be swayed that easily! It's fairly easy to put down a beautifully sounding charter on paper, but acting one out can be much more difficult.

     So I decided to roll an alt, you know, just a quick something so I could say I tried and then go back to my rogue and friends-who-were-slowly-not-playing-anymore on Silvermoon. Rolled a human pally, why? Well, I'd heard paladins could solo insane amounts of murlocs with very little trouble and that appealed to me...but also the RP behind them.

     Now, I don't RP, pretty much ever. I do however associate with my characters. While I may not be them myself, I have to be able to see something in them that I would want to be around. This is why I've never gotten a warlock past level 20-something. I honestly don't think I'd hang out with someone who had a succubus at their beck and call, even if they never did call it. But a paladin? I'd so hang out with a paladin, he heals, he smites undead and demons (I really don't see much of a difference), and he protects what is important to him, the people.

     Anyways, so I roll a toon, apply on the guildportal and start playing. Well whaddya know? The people acted pretty much the way the people I hang out with act. Nice, friendly, and a few people I can jab in the ribs with sharp sticks in return for jabs (that goes for you Aloix/Ash if ya'll still read it). Oh, and they're helpful, need help with an instance? They'd almost fight over it sometimes! To many people sign up for something? They would fight over who sat out, and I mean they wanted to sit out so other could get their giggles.

     This inspired me, I mean, playing was fun again, for more than just the game. So in a fairly short, not record setting by any means, but fast for me, I made it up to level 70, my first toon to hit max level. That's where the fun stuff started happening.

     First, I had researched how to tank and what was needed, after all I didn't want to come off as a complete idiot (though I know I did at times). But, well, do you know who writes guides to how to tank as a paladin? Main tanks. I don't know of a single guide out there on how to offtank something. So when I finally got into raids I had no idea how to not be the main guy, but no actual experience (or much of the needed gear).

    Second, well, my personality in normal 5-mans started coming out. I like doing stuff, I like doing it in waves and quickly, being spontaneous and off the wall. This might have gotten us wiped a few times. Just a few. So I ended up getting compared to the famous Leroy Jenkins. A lot.

     But eventually I did manage to get to doing a good job tanking though. No where near the level of a certain tank we all know and love, but I could get the job done, usually anyways.

     However time passes and with the new expansion coming out last Nov I had a chance to do something I had never done before: actually do new content as it came out. Is it important to do stuff right off the bat before other people do it? Nope. Should you put important stuff to the side so you can be the first one to do that mob? Heck no! Is it really fun to do it when you can though? Oh heck yeah!

     So I started looking for a raiding guild, but I was hampered by something. You see, not only are the Sidhe Devils an awesome group of people (and the new guild would have to live up to them) but I heartily believe that RL comes first, and that's part of what made live with the SD easy. If RL stuff hits the fan theres not a person in there that will try to guilt you into playing the game instead of taking care of whatever needs to be done. Family always comes first.

     But I waited long enough and good things came! While in NM for my mom's graduation and subsequent birthday (go you mom!) I ran across some people who thought I'd fit in with them and we gave it a shot. It went beautifully, the raid times matched pretty well for me and off we went.

     Since then I've cleared 10-man Naxx, almost all of 25-man Naxx, and 25-man Sarth. Were we server first? Nope. Did I have a lot of fun doing it? Heck yeah! Did I possibly spend to much time to do it? Eeeeh, maybe.

     Anyways, that catches me up to where we are these days, and it's far past time for me to hit the sack. But I have one last question before I go. Just out of general curiosity, why do you play the class you play? Is it the class mechanics? The RP? The fact that it's the one you got leveled and you don't want to bother leveling another? Just out of curiosity.

~ishvi/joe

p.s. Sorry about the long unorganized post, I started writing it while tired, and just kept going

What fun!

     Shocker! I actually have something worth posting about! So I was idling around last night, kinda putting off schoolwork and working on the latest pre-WotLK event when the cry went up for Kara people, and it looked like they might be a tad short. Plus one of the two people who really wanted to get their dps toons into kara pre-xpack would have to switch out to the their tanking mains to do anything. So I offered to tank it, after all it's quite enjoyable and I'd have a shot at the axe from the event boss.

     So this is where stuff starts to get crazy, Fal starts throughing out invites and getting people organized. Shortly we had nine people standing outside Kara ready to go in, and Fal did something monumentally nuts, he passed me raid leader. Apparently neither him or Blu wanted to play raid leader so they let/made me take a shot at it. Craziness! So with nine absolutely craz...err, wonderful people and a promise of a 10th we headed on in.

     We dropped Attumen without a hint of a problem, bam dead.  The 10th chick joined us and off we went to Moroes. Moroes fell with only one death, but it was only Blu so no one worried and we moved to Maiden. 

     Here I took a back seat for a bit, you see last time I had been here with Elysse she had tried to tank it and things had sadly not gone so well. So I threw on healing gear to let her have some revenge. I honestly with I hadn't switched to my healing gear, it was a complete waste of time, Maiden died in 1min and 2sec, without a single death and only one repentence. So we marched on to Opera and smashed the Big Bad Wolf in 1min 6sec and still deathless. Our healers were awesome.

     So on we moved to upper Kara, deciding to save the event boss for later. So we slapped around Curator, and guess what? Still no deaths! So we moved on to Illhoof, we didn't have a warlock but we decided it wouldn't be a big deal...and it wasn't! Down Illhoof went, and on we moved to Shade. Here we switched out Minn (who had to go) with Windstar (who had just logged on). We did Shade the good old fashion way, standing in the room with him, and off'd him without any real trouble, though I did do a horrid job of picking up elementals.

     This left Chess (which we downed on the first go) and Prince, who also died without a hitch. And last we dropped Blu and our Lovely mage Zaanah as they both had work the next morning, which let Janelle and Papersmith come in for the event boss and Netherspite. The silly event boss died easily enough, though it was pretty wierd kiting it, the bugger didn't like to follow straight lines.

     To finish off the evening we popped over to Netherspite...which I didn't explain very well. And as a result of the bad explanation on my part we had a little bit of difficulty (the boss healed back up to full after the first banish faze), but ultimately it died, yielding some nice loots for people.

     Now for the really good part? My first time leading a raid (though people were helpful and constantly giving advice and telling how stuff should be done) and we didn't wipe once. In fact we had four people who never died at all. One of whom was the main healer and there the entire fight! Cudos to the healers and dps!

     Oh, and of course the wacky story of the evening...Blu accidently threw a steady shot into a group of elites between Moroes and Maiden...which we downed easily.

     Welp, that's about it, so I'm gonna go do homework. Hopefully everyone else had as much fun as I did.

~joe(ishvi)

Tankadin funness!

        So as those of you who play WoW know patch 3.0.2 recently hit, and with it much goodness. We don't have to worry about uncrushability with raid bosses anymore, stuff has less hitpoints, there is yet another craft skill to painfully consider leveling, and of course huge class changes.

        I could spend time and effort researching all the class changes and detailing them...but most everyone who reads my blog knows FAR more about the various classes than I do. So I'm going to settle myself with just pointing out some of the awesome goodness that has recently cropped up in paladin land.

        First point I wish to make is that all of our offensive spells are now instant casts. No not being able to throw my shield like unto Captain America while being beat on by a mob. No more not being able to use Holy Wrath because of the horde of undead beating on me...even though it's only useful when there IS a horde of undead beating on me. There is so much happiness here it's hard to explain.

        Secondly our stamina increases our spell damage, which increases our threat, which makes it that much easier to keep people from dying after certain druidic hunter priests pull an extra room. And in case you were wondering 3B, I don't ever plan on letting that one go. It also makes it easier for when my brain wanders off and I try to tank without putting Righteous Fury up first...

        The third point I have is that they changed Blessing of Sanctuary. Now first I was peeved about this, they changed the flat dmg reduction into a percentage and removed the damage you did when you blocked... Half the reason I used that blessing was because it provided easy extra threat for blocking things. But then I actually tried the new one out... Instead of doing damage for threat every time I blocked I got back mana, 2% of my maximum mana to be exact. And I don't just get it back when I blocked, I get it back when I block, dodge, or parry. What does this mean? It means if I have 5-6 mobs on my I. Cannot. Tap. This makes me very, very happy.

        Fourth big thing they did is give us Hammer of the Righteous(HotR). This is a wonderful skill that puts out a massive amount of threat on three targets, AND doesn't break CC like consecration does. Do you know what this means? I can have a mob sheeped/shackled/trapped right next to me and still control up to three mobs! No more having to QQ about people wanting to use CC (previously it made tanking rather annoying).

        The last thing I'm gonna talk about is actually kind of a gripe. When they removed uncrushability they had to find a new way to make us suffer...so they removed 20 defense skill from our talent tree. While this isn't the end of the world it did leave me scrambling about to find 48 defense rating so I'd be back to uncrittable and able to tank again. I'm not really complaining though, it's still much easier to remembering to keep holy shield up so Moroes doesn't crush my bum.

        Welp, that's it for now. Back to homework and waiting for my 16GB flash drive to get here.

~joe(ishvi)

In my defense, rambling is in the name

*warning: very long one, it's good though*

Okay, so I've stated before that I don't pug. I find it far to stressful as a rule and just refrain from doing it, even when I really want an instance done. Now you might say that's silly, I mean, if you want something, why not go ahead and do it? It might not be the way you wanted to do it, but the end result is the same, right?

Wrong! The best way I can relate this is with a parable, Jesus used them so they're obviously good stuff.
~
Imagine three young men from a poor family. All three desperately want to go to college, but none of them have the money. After all they're from a poor family, and colleges are expensive!

After discussing their options between them they decide that they have no idea how to do it, but they know their father has a degree and came from an even poorer family! Together they go and ask him what they should do. Their father offers to find them positions at his job, because although he's poor he's very well thought of, and within a few years they would be able to afford to go.
~
The first son scoffs this advice. Why should he wait for what he desires now? So he goes and seeks advice from his friends. They also mock his father's advice, there's a much easier way they tell him! Join the army they say, after a short time they will pay for all your education! So he goes and joins the army, where he quickly finds out he does not fit well.

After a few miserable years they tell him he can leave and they'll pay for his college. But having spent so much time being miserable his entire outlook as changed, he hates the thought of anything organized and goes on to lead a miserable life regretting his choices.
~
The second son hears the advice, but also decides it's not right for him. So he goes to his friends and asks for their advice. They quickly tell him that waiting is not the way to go! Get loans they say, enjoy school and pay them off after you graduate, after all, you'll be doing what you love? What does it matter if you have a little less money a month. He decides to take his friends advice and off to the loan office he goes.

He thoroughly enjoys his college years, not having to pay for a thing. But after he graduates he discovers he's unable to do any of the things he had planned on doing. After all, college isn't free and those loans have piled up. He's so busy working and paying off loans that he fails to enjoy life and quickly becomes embittered.
~
The third son listens to his father and goes to work with him, after a few years of diligent work he manages to pay for his education. Because he wasn't tied down by the legal requirements of the military he's free to change jobs when a better offer came up. As a result when he has the money he joyfully heads off to college.

While his college experience isn't as carefree as the second son, he still enjoys the fruits of his labor as he studies. But the best is yet to come! When he graduated he did it without the burdensome debt of the second son. His boss happily rehires him into a new position, know from experience that he'll do a good job. In his time off he does very nearly as he pleases with his free time and money, not being forced to work overtime.
~
At long last we get to the moral of the story! 1st son: Pugged all his gear but hated the experience so much he quit WoW. 2nd son: Joined a heavy raid guild to get all his gear but in the end felt to guilty to leave and plays wow but hates it. 3rd son: Played mainly with friends, took his time, made sure to enjoy the time along the way, and as a result has gear and still enjoys WoW.
~
There was one, count it 1, PuG I went into that I really enjoyed. Shallah (a resto druid LW I had used once) invited me to do a heroic with his wife (warlock) and one of his employees (shadow priest), because Shallah had always come across as a very pleasant person I decided to give it a shot, we merely needed to find one more dps. Lacking any Sidhe Devils that could go at the time we turned to PuG, managed to pick up a fury war that claimed to be geared.

So everyone showed up at Setthek Halls and I get a look at peoples gear, and decide that I want an option to make it so that others can't look at mine. I was the only one that wasn't in mainly epic gear. Spriz (the fury war) was in PURE purple, the first char I've ever seen that on.

We romped our way through the dungeon. Not only did we finish the dungeon and enjoy ourselves, we made such good friends that I regularly do heroics with three of them and the second invited me to main tank Kara last night. Which brings us to our feature story!

After getting back I really noticed that Onyxia was scheduled for this Sat, and seemingly had replaced Kara for our Guild Raid Romp for the week. While being VERY excited about getting to see Onyxia I was somewhat sad not to get to try fun stuff in Kara.

This is where the keen stuff comes into play. Remember the pug? Spriz, who I've been chatting with for the last few weeks, very nice guy, asks me if I'd like to main tank Kara for him and some friends. Double checking to make sure there wasn't a Kara schedule to Sidhe Devils I accept, I figured I'd prolly end up feeling bad and hiding my gear before it was over, but what the heck?

So we all show up at Kara and yeah, while my gear has improved, I was in with nine other people in Black Temple gear just doing a kara run for kicks, giggles, and some badges. The raid leader gives me a heads up that I don't really have an off tank, just a kitty druid capable of taking some hits on Moroes and changing gear to help tank Netherspite. At this point I start shaking with a mixture of fear, excitement, and nervousness. After all, I don't wanna be the tank that got talked up and then kept wiping because the healers just couldn't keep him alive and never gets invited to anything again, and I hadn't really thought about actually TANKING Prince, I mean, that's for the big boys right?

We burn through Attunmen with ease as I hold agro on both of them, well mostly. Mages in full Black Temple gear deal an unholy amount of threat, didn't have to much trouble right of the bat, but on later bosses it was hard.

As we head towards Moroes I shake off the last of my nervousness as we all joke around and pull each others legs. We clean up the room for Moroes and they start announcing the kill order for the adds. I ask where they want me to stand so CC and me don't end up doing the Scary Sheep Dance where I keep breaking their spells. Their response? Oh just stand at the bottom and tank them all. I'm pumped, we down them without losing a peep, AND I remembered to bubble the priest out of their garrote.

We go on to take on EVERYTHING with me as MT and no wipes. Except for that one time where I accidentally pulled curator and three of his buddy groups, not much to do there but die and joke about whose fault it is. One shotted everything else without a problem. And according to the healer afterwards, the only really scary moment was when I took a crushing blow on Prince. But now I can happily rest in the knowledge that I've seen (and know I can tank) almost all of Kara, and I don't care about the beast bosses.

~joe/ishvi

Sometimes free coffee just isn't worth it

So yeah, there I was at work, just sitting on the counter minding my own business. Me waiting for work to do, my coworker also waiting for work, but with a starbucks to sooth the boredom. After a very short bit, she gets called away to talk to someone, I forget exactly who, BUT she leaves her coffee there.

Now here we're left with a serious of choices. For one I could hide her coffee from her, but she'll know it was me, and thus I'll just have to fess up (by and large I'm a horrible liar). I could add something to her coffee, but I have a very hard rule that I don't mess with peoples food. Somethings are just plain wrong. So I decided to go with the third option, help myself to free coffee!

Me and most of my coworkers are really good friends, we all share our food, and if we have tasty drink, we'll share that too. So it's not like I was just drinking out of some random chick's coffee. But still, sometimes God reminds us that it's best to ask before we take that drink.

Usually, when you have a cup of coffee, if, for some reason, you take the lid off, you immediately put it back on. Or at least I do. As a result of this habit, I very rarely check to see if a lid is firmly attached, I just pick it up and drink it. I'm now rethinking this habit:



Yeah, it looks pretty bad. But I also have other, and possibly less silly, news! Onward!

So I was working yesterday, 7A-7P, and looking foward to the second half of Kara afterwards (much of which I haven't seen yet). About 17:30 my aunt calls for my cousin, so I pass her off and go on about my day, I figure one of my nieces was acting up or something. Shortly after that, my cousin comes back and asks me if I want various pieces of furniture that had prior to this been in the front room (they call it a porch, but it is very much not one). I was quite happy to say yes to some of it, and obtain rights to offer the AWESOME couch to my bro. I get informed that that's awesome, and asked if I could pick up the futon (I think that's how that's spelled) tonight.

At this point I think to myself, well, Kara starts pretty much as I get off, but I'm sure they'll understand if I show up 20min late because I had to pick up free furniture. So I agree, and go on about my work.

Seven rolls around and I get off, by this time I had worked myself into feeling guilty about showing up lateish to Kara, so I call my aunt and ask if it would be possible to pick up the futon the next night. She happily agrees, but inquires if I'm still coming to help move the rest of the furniture?

This confuses me, I don't exactly know where I thought the other furniture was coming from, but I was guessing they'd deliver it mid week sometime? Further inquiries showed that they had visited an auction and obtained a wonderful leather three piece living room set for only $1300. But Texas weather being what it is lately, felt the need to get it inside tonight. Normally this stuff only requires two people, but my aunt hurt her back recently, and my cousin is at work 'till midnight, so it's me and my uncle.

Now normally I try really hard not to flake on WoW, especially when nine other people are expecting me to be there in all my n00bishness and would get mad at me for not making it. But luckily I'm with the SD! Who understand that family comes first before WoW. Period. So I dial Wulfa, accidently waking Orclette up along the way, and ask her to pass on that I'll be late (around 8pm I think) and to feel free to replace me if they need two. Little did I know, that I would NOT be back at my house at 8pm.

Gotta run to work! I'll finish it up later, like tonight or something, maybe at work if it's slow, but prolly not!

~joe/ishvi