Props .... out to ... :)

I've read more than one blog and forum post that are full of people's frustrations and dissatisfaction about players, game mechanics and our game designers and so I thought I'd start a post that I can come back to and add to over time. It is way too easy to fall into a trap of focusing on the negative aspects of WoW. I have met some amazing players in game. Some have been masters of their characters, others steeped in the lore that holds our world together and others simply good fun to spend time with.

My inspiration came from a couple of places. Firstly there was BBB's Happy Days are Here Again post and his Cub Report post then Animositas' post on the forums and finally there was Twoflower.

Thus, my first 'props' go to Twoflower of the Legacy guild. We met in a dungeon, Tsu healing, as usual, and Twoflower tanking. The run wasn't anything special ... 'just' a normal cata heroic. Same old, list, run, hit and heal. It was some of the most enjoyable healing I've done for a while and it was by and large due to Twoflower's considered tanking. He maintained control of the fights, managed his character and worked in well with a more than competent team of dps'ers. Healing 'pugs' rocks when the team is good. Healing 'pugs' is blissful when the tank is confident :).

15/5/12

My second props go out to Pete the Turtle and his owner Adaptiive from Frostmourne. We rolled a dungeon and scored norm Halls of Origination. No biggie ... Tsu's well more than over geared these days for normals and I run them for fun. The tank took one look at the dungeon and bailed and we waited and waited ... no tank ... so I asked Adaptiive if he had a tank pet. He replied that he had but that he was, well, not very good or words to that affect and popped out 'Pete' the tanking turtle. Pete tanked us through the first few trash mobs with a bit of nice cc work from Adaptiive on the frost trap and Dandella from Rexxar on the polymorph and Maddogkarl of Nagrand dropping that nice rain circle of healing. We got to the first boss ... and went what the hell lets have a go and :) a beautiful job of tanking was done. Pete and Adaptiive, are my latest people to demonstrate the cool people you meet in WoW. Really I should extend that also to Dandella and Maddogkarl as they were happy to go along with the hairbrained scheme in the first place. About half way through the boss fight, Skrynik the druid of Nagrand joined the group and was somewhat amused to discover that at the end of the fight he'd be replacing a turtle pet. :)

11/7/12

Well I'll be honest. I've been trying to avoid this props as I've never actually met the guy in game and technically I want to target people I've actually encountered. He does, however, reflect all that I like about people who play our game. I came across him first back in 2010 when looking for some advice on bear tanking (sigh, yes you all know where I'm going with this one now) and saw his post for the day ... Come join the raid from the Heart in which he invited us all to join a global activity. It's clear from his post that there were many people who were involved from crafters to mage porters but it was he who acted as the lynchpin. Now in 2012 he's 'at it again' this time getting together a group to track back over a lot of the achieves that for one reason or other were missed out. Following his blog it is easy to see the sense of community that has developed around his blog and that he is very much a part of. Thus, John 'Big Bear Butt' Patricelli, props to you. Cheers for your sense of humour, enthusiasm for just getting in and enjoying yourself and taking us all along for the experience :).

Frost Mages ... FTW ... sorta

I read a comment on Icy Veins saying that Frost Mages were currently considered the inferior spec.

Not long after that I ran my fairly poorly geared 85 Frost (non-pvp to boot) Mage through a dungeon that left me going ... 'inferior ... really?????' and just 'had' to share the following screen shots with you all.

Yup ... you are reading that right ... my 'squishy', 'inferior' Frost Mage did just shy of 40k dps ... with Panggs and Roghan coming in a close second and third. If you've followed my armory links there you will, no doubt be getting suspicious as Panggs was our very capable healer and Roghan our more than competent tank and you'd be right to be questioning my recount. We had, in fact, just finished the dragon bombing run in Grim Batol when I glanced at my recount and laughed. For a moment in time my Mage looked as if she'd out done herself to claim 27.4% of the damage. I'd not noticed before that the dragon 'bombs' registered on our dps meters and it does go to illustrate how much caution must be applied to any meter in game. Still, for that split second of time, my Mage did herself proud and topped the dps charts.

Valiant as she was, these were not values that were sustainable and by the end of the run her numbers looked like this ...

Out dps'ed by the tank ... sigh ... well ... I did say that he was competent. He said he was better at dps than tanking. I don't think my Mage took a single hit the whole run. Thank goodness he was tanking, I'd cry if I saw his figures when running in dps. Still ... if I'm honest, the residual of that dragon ride is still evident in my Mage's stats ... she normally averages about 5.5K at the end of a dungeon and probably illustrating the observation from Icy Veins nicely.

Advice on tanking from your friendly druid healer ...

1) Know that as a dk, dodge, parry, mastery, stam and strength are your friends ... coming into H GD in 75% dps gear with lots of crit and haste is not going to make you a sturdy tank. I don't even mind pvp tanking gear (since I've been known to do a dungeon in fully speced pvp lol) but it should still be tanking not dps gear.

2) Make sure you are repaired before you come in ... coming in then admitting you can't afford to repair your almost totally broken sword is not a good way to be an effective tank.

3) Don't ever, ever, ever equip a mining pick when your weapon does completely break and expect to keep tanking. I don't care how much health you carry. Mining picks were designed to dig holes in the ground not to dig holes in monsters.

4) Don't try to tank in blood spec/frost presence unless you really know what you are doing. Thank you for swapping to blood presence when asked.

5) Do listen when your healer directs your tanking, sets up cc for you and makes some suggestions on gearing (okay, well I've got to admit that along with the first 4 points, he did also do this one which made me sympathetic)

I wish transmogging was more flexible

Well ... what can I say ... blame BBB for this post or more specifically his letter to Effraeti regarding a certain little Bear's gear. The end result, you'd have to agree ... simply stunning. Combine that with Tome of the Ancient's Mog Madness post and I got thinking about my mage.

If any of my girls are a bit of a 'girlie girl' it would be my mage. She's often found getting rescued by her friend, a dashing Paladin, as she is want to stop and look at pretty things and collect pretty dresses. Her tailoring prof had little higher purpose than the desire to make pretty things. If she were a real person, she'd have a well used credit card and a collection of shoes and dresses that Imelda Marcos would be proud of. But, my mage has a problem ... what she'd love to run in, Bliz in all their wisdom, has said, no, that does not meet requirements.

Let me show you.

This was my mage way back in 2008 when she was a sweet little thing. I can't remember her level at the time, but I suspect you can tell, she's not high - I think from memory that staff you can just see is the one that dropped in STV, the one with the blue feathers around a disc.

At 85 she did some sewing and made the full set. It was the first time she'd been able to equip an entire set and was most pleased with herself (okay well I was pleased).

Since then she's earned herself a new dress and, of course, just 'had' to put it on. I tell you, she's costing me a fortune in gems and enchants. No sooner than I'd tidied up her last lot of good clothes than she goes shopping, gets new gear and expects it gemmed and enchanted. Ah well, it's worth it, I do like her dress. She tells me it's her 'work uniform'. ... pft ... mind you, if I could remember how to change her stance on Armory, I'd be happier.

But the point of this post was not to show you every dress in her wardrobe but to show you the two outfits she most likes to wear. She has a bit of a streak, if you get my drift, and likes to race around on her motorbike and asked for, well, demanded an outfit to match. I found her the following ... a mix of Haliscan and Mageweave gear amongst other things.

Her preferred outfit for being about town at the moment keeps most of this outfit with a few changes thanks to the Clothiers in Dalaran.

Em assures me that she does not mind being able to transmog these outfits as she maintains that if she had to wear them in a dungeon, they'd get dirty. She also refuses the option of shoulders, I've just not found a pair that fit. Either way, she does rather preen in her clothes.

While my mage understands the policy, I'd love to have a bit more flexibility in what she can transmog. I rather like the final image.

Oh ... and ... no ... I can't tank ... I'm a mage!