Llani the Kingslayer

I managed to convince a friend of mine to find 8 more people to finish up his 10 man ICC run.  We tried getting Been Waiting a Long Time for This a few times but kept messing up during phase 2 and 3.  After about 8 attempts we went ahead and just flat out killed him.  When we reached 10%, it was right when a bunch of vile spirits were about to land.  After we died en mass, I was open-mouthed thinking we had wiped due to exploding spirits.  Upon recognizing that we had WON, I shrieked and cheered and giggled like, well, a girl.  He didn't drop my mace, but, he did drop a nice [Tel'thas, Dagger of the Blood King] for me. OH yeah.

Fishing with one of my best friends, Timo.

I am sad that I missed last week's kill with <Vythis> but studying comes first. One of the healers that was present in last week's run was a healer I am very proud of; he went from knowing next to nothing about druid healing to rocking the socks off good ole' Arthas. On our server, GDKP (gold DKP) runs are very common, and earlier in the year I took him to a few to get him some starting gear.  From that he progressed into researching his class, learning his stats and gems, to rocking the healing meters with me.  I am happy he was there to help the guild get it's first batch of Kingslayers.  In the end, he stepped into a main healing role and was there to rock the healing on his own, like a pro!  

Hanging out with my peeps.

I am proud (and relieved) to have another quality healer to play with on a weekly basis (along with our other druid healer). One of our priest healers recently returned from a long absence, so I think our healing for Cataclysm is set.  We will probably roll druid/priest/shaman, as long as our priest sticks around.  Eventually I will have three healing toons I can swap in, but I know shaman the best.  My shaman is also DPS (I think it should be required for healers). I spent a majority of attempts on the LK tonight as elemental.  I even hit 10K DPS a few times!  Most of the time I hovered around 8 or 9, which I think is pretty good for not having played elemental in a LONG time.

With roughly a week and a half to go until Cataclysm is live, I am still thinking about which class I want to play.  When I consider my druid and priest, it comes down to one fact: I think I would miss my shaman way too much to shelve her as my main.  I started out as a shaman in this game, and when I finally was able to play her again, I was ecstatic.  

http://evion.deviantart.com/

Shaman is the class I can relate to the most.  Shaman is outdoorsy, elemental, in tune with the earth, cool, classy, yet still fun.  Shaman is lighthearted, not as tree-huggy as the druid, yet not as religious and prim as the priest.  She's not as backwoods as the nature lover but not as worldly as the holy healer.  She's a spiritual leader that communes with the earth, wind, water, and flames--the elements that make up the world.  She has half her faith in the Earthmother and the other half in Elune; she believes the light exists in spiritual fragments that are ever present in every being on Azeroth.  She believes you have to understand the foundation to understand the world.

Funny, that's how I feel.  

I don't relate entirely with the green swirly druid. I don't relate entirely with the golden sparkling priest.  

I definitely relate to the shaman.

Looks like I found my answer.

We got this.

Returning to the "Casual Player" Mentality

First, a story.  Yesterday, I got off work around 4 PM and drove to the house where I stay with a friend, packed up my belongings and jumped back in the truck to drive home to the farm.  As I was heading out of town, a truck passed me.  Normally I wouldn't have given the person a second glance BUT, this truck had a horde sticker on the back.  One of those red, upside-down-horseshoe-esque stickers.  I was so surprised at this person's real life identification with a video game that I waved and laughed.  I really need a pretty blue alliance sticker for my truck.  Nobody would believe I play anyway.

Since I have a job now (money is amazing, let me tell you that) I don't play WoW even close to as much as I used to.  They say money can't buy happiness but, it definitely can make things easier, more comfortable, and fun while you pursue it!  I usually only get to play Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights, and that's only if I don't come home and fall straight asleep.  I try to go to bed early Monday and Wednesday since I spend Tue/Thurs at school all day.  That narrows down the playtime to maybe 2-3 hours on Tuesday and Thursday nights when I come home.  Again, that is, if I don't just go straight to the shower and then bed.  I love sleep.

This new limited playtime has actually caused some different reactions to the game for me that I haven't seen in a while:

"We've Not Enough People...We're Going to ToC" "Wait...What? I Didn't Sign up for That..."

I mixed a few topics around in my head this week, but none really struck me as "this is what I want to write about."  I still intend to do a post detailing my new healing UI setup (although it's pretty straightforward), but for now, I decided to elaborate a little bit on what Zelmaru said over at our favorite home of ruling amphibians, Murloc Parliament:

"When you sign up for a raid, do you sign up for the activity itself, and if the activity changes, your sign up is void? Or do you sign up for a time slot, and the guild has you for that time slot, regardless of what you end up doing during that time?

If you sign up for an activity, how much of a change in plans is so much of a change that you are no longer expected to attend under the original sign up?

Does it matter whether some people still need something from the new activity? Does it matter what they need (i.e. a mount versus an achievement?)

If changes of plans were common, would you think twice before signing up for activities?"

Wednesday Link Love

Since my next post is still in the works (it's on my UI, which I *think* I have finished to a point where I am content with it) I decided to give a little link love today on some helpful, and interesting topics.

Curious about where to go when December 7th hits?  Beruthiel has a detailed little post explaining where the new zones are, what level ranges the new dungeons have, and even included a snazzy map!

How about Rated Battlegrounds?  I'm pretty terrible at pvp, but Jason is not!

Brush up on your paper interview skills so your guild applications shine! (Learn more at Rank4HealingTouch.)

Food for Thought: What happens when your raid changes plans?  Zelmaru asks some very thoughtful questions on that issue we have all dealt with yet don't always talk about.

Psynister tears "hand me down" or Heirloom gear apart into all the different categories (what you should dress your toon in, what you should enchant it with, and even how to color coordinate it! He definitely covers it all.

Read and enjoy!