Random Misadventures

Three randoms attempted yesterday. Two completed.

Number One

The first was a heroic on Ama. I got H Old Kingdom. I feel like I always get Old Kingdom. But that’s ok. As we enter, the shaman asks if we can do all the bosses because she needs emblems. The tanks says it’s up to the group. As we approach the first boss, I suggest that we compromise and skip the mushroom boss. The shaman bails halfway through the first boss saying that she needs the emblems too much.

Seriously? Now she’s going to have to wait out her half hour deserter debuff before she can get any badges. Isn’t some better than none? Besides, I was just making the suggestion. If she had insisted, I would have backed down. She insisted and then instantly left. Didn’t even give us the chance to change our minds. I only made the suggestion because the mushroom boss is kind of out of the way and annoying.

I wish she had stayed because her replacement was a rather obnoxious GOGOGO mage. We completed this dungeon fairly smoothly anyway and did all but the mushroom boss.

Number Two

The second was a random regular WotLK dungeon on Viva with Totally (new and improved for your enhancement! Hehe!) We get an Utgarde Keep already in progress. The group is just past the first boss. The DK tank starts chain pulling. I’m having enough trouble keeping him alive as it is. We wipe. I’m sorry, but there is no reason to chain pull at level 70. The tank can’t handle it, the DPS can’t handle it, and I can’t handle it as a healer. Maybe that makes me a fail healer, but I can’t do it yet. We ended up bailing on that dungeon. Probably the same reason the previous healer/dps had bailed.

Number Three

The third was another Utgarde Keep with Viva and Totally. We were doing fine with a warrior tank until we got to the dragon room. He tried to bypass the dragons on the side, and managed to pull three dragons on accident. We wiped and the hunter bailed. The tank asked us to give him lead so he could bring an 80 in to run us through. Neither me nor Totally wanted that, so we declined and queued again. Apparently this upset Mr. Tank, because he ran into the dragon room aggroing everything and left the dungeon group.

We queue again, and wait about 15 minutes for a new tank. Meanwhile the Ret Pally tries his hand at tanking, in all ret gear, no BOAs, and often forgetting Righteous Fury. Totally ended up tanking most of that room as best he could. Somehow my Enhance Shaman partner is less squishy than a Ret Pally. Some of us die, and this hilarity ensues.

Level 70 Paladin without his rez spell. /facepalm

Tonnto was a remarkably apt name for him.

Shortly after this we got a real Pally tank in the group and completed the dungeon.

There was much hilarity from Tonnto throughout. He kept yelling about needing Ingvar’s head, until one of us explained that Ingvar was at the end of the dungeon.

At some point he told us we were mean for saying /facepalm when he said less than brilliant things. I dunno, I’ve seen much meaner things. Maybe we weren’t exactly super friendly and helpful, but I wouldn’t say we were mean. If we were mean we would have kicked him.

We had a little chat about our mains, to which Tonnto responded that this was his first character. No surprise there. I’ll give him this much, he did ok damage for his level, despite obviously being a little clueless. I’m guessing he’s just a kid, and I mean no offense in my mocking. It made for an interesting run and a little bit of fodder for my blog. Thank you, Tonnto.

Feminism —> Menism —> Head Assplode!

Seriously….

Can we stop talking about the role of women in WoW, which then leads to discussing the role of men in WoW, which then leads to tons of bickering about -isms and -archies and ughh…?!

There’s been so much talk about how poorly women are treated in WoW lately that I almost want to get back in he kitchen and make a damned sandwich.

Progression Ama?

Ama has secured herself as a member of the guild’s progression team (which is really the only team, despite all of our talk about having a second 10 man group).

I’m starting to feel useful and good about my Discipline spec and healing. It’s about time. I should have installed the Recount + absorbs addon a long time ago. I’ve always just felt like a crappy healer because my hps sucks. I know meters aren’t everything, but it sucks consistently being the low man on the totem pole.

I still feel like Disc priests are a dime a dozen and I still want a raid healer (gogo druid), but at least now I’m starting to feel confident in myself. The failures I’ve had in PuGs have not necessarily been my failures, even though I’ve felt like they are.

Despite my off and on complaining, I love my guild and I love our raid team (when the whole team shows up).

The guild has actually made progression this week. It was progression for me too.

We killed Blood Council for the first time the other night. Yeah, I know, easy peasy, right? For some reason progression for us went:

Festergut–>Rotface–>Prof P–>Valithria–>Sindy–>Blood Council

You’d think after Sindy that we would be able to do anything, but we had it stuck in our mind that a dps could tank Keleseth, and well that didn’t work so well. We have learned the error of our ways, and are one step closer to Arthas.

Ama has finally gotten that last bit reputation with the Ashen Verdict, and gotten the uber ring of awesomeness, as well as a fancy achievement/title.

It’s not as shiny as Kingslayer would be though.

 

Shattrath, the greatest place in Outlands?

Only in Shattrath can you find a priestly Draenei with a Vandyke consisting of a Dali moustache and a Goatee. Silliest looking holy type person in the game!

But, oh, how I miss those beautiful glowing priestly cowls! I may have to go back and run some old school dungeons to get me some shiny BC tier gear. Wonder if I can still get the old school BC PVP gear?

In which Viva goes to Northrend and turns 70!

As beautiful as Northrend is, there are no perfect “Now Entering Northrend” locations in which to take that first screenshot as you enter. Going through the Dark Portal is such a key moment in a character’s leveling progression. Going to Northrend for the first time is no less of an occasion. Yet how many of us take a screenshot upon arrival?

I opted to take a screenshot of Viva at level 70 from the character selection screen. Yes, I cheat!

I'm too sexy for my goggles.

I changed her hair color to purple a while back because I was sick of looking at the black kitty form. It wasn’t long after that I decided to switch to Boomkin. I’m sticking with the purple hair anyway. The blue hair reminded me too much of Jezz anyway.

Anyway…

Viva really did go to Northrend and turned 70 while there.

And she ran her very first Northrend dungeon.

Utgarde Keep is a lot harder at appropriate level than I remember. Maybe it’s because when Ama did it she was wearing BC epics, or maybe it’s because Discipline Priests are the perfect 5 man healer.

The tank died a few times. I was trying my hardest to keep him alive. I don’t know whether to blame it on lack of skill on my part, lack of gear on my part, or lack of those same in the tank. He was a DK in mostly dps gear though.

We managed to get through the dungeon, though, and that’s what matters. Right?

And Viva got her very first emblem.

Go go Druid power!

Third Shift and the Slump

I’m struggling to adjust to my new work schedule, and so my posts have become sporadic.

When I do post, the posts are lacking. They are either short and filled with pictures, or long and rambly and without much clarity (not that my posts were not like that before, but it seems they are even moreso now).

I’m blaming this on working third shift. The spare time I have to write is slim, and it often falls during times when I am quite sleepy.

I am still playing WoW just as much as I was before.

The horde alts have been shelved for the moment, and my partner and I are focusing on the druid and shaman. We both desperately want these toons to be 80 for Cataclysm.

I’m spending less and less time raiding with my guild. My druid is in the guild, so I still get guild chat, but I tend not to log on vent when I’m with my partner. I kind of feel bad since that is where most of the socializing happens.

I think everyone is going through a WoW slump right now. We barely push our raids to Rot and Fester and call it a night, not to extend next week. It’s rather depressing to think I might not even see the LK fight before the new expansion comes out. What can you do when you’re struggling to keep a full 10 man raid continuously?

I’ve been pugging 25 man ICC. This week I went with my partner’s guild. They are struggling to fill their raids too, and so are pugging spots.

I’ve been thinking more about switching to Holy spec on Ama. That way I could fill any healing role. I’m terrified that I’ll be really bad at Holy. Last time I played as Holy was back in Naxx, the guild I was in at the time had me switch when it was time for the Loatheb fight. I never felt very confident, and often felt mana starved.

I wonder if I’d feel the same way today? Will I be able to use my same gear? Will I have to change gems/enchants? How can I practice being Holy outside of a raid?

I’ve talked to my new healing partner about these things. She says that mana is less of an issue with high level gear. She suggested that 5 mans are not a good way to try to practice being Holy. She insists it’s hard to heal heroics as Holy. I think I’d still like to give it a try. Being a Discipline priest feels like it was made for healing heroics. It has a tool for every situation. A Holy priest is still a priest. Can it be that much different?

Rambling post is rambling. What did I tell you?

Alright, I leave you with…

Batshaman!

BC gear at it’s finest?

I am Boomchicken!

While I do really like Feral Kitty DPS for leveling and questing, I’ve found it is far more conducive to solo leveling. Since I am running with my bestfriend and his shaman it was much more difficult to get in my damage before he had nuked the mobs into oblivion.

So I’ve switched to Boomkin for my offspec, and I’m having a blast! I’m actually able to do about as much damage on mobs as he does. ROFLStarfall (as my GM calls it) is the most fun spell ever! Plus I get this:

Obligatory Boomkin Dance Screenshot

 

Girl stuff

A post by The Bossy Pally made about Women and WoW.

I tend to avoid discussing gender issues. I try not to flaunt the fact that I’m female. I try very hard to make it a non-issue. I do this, not because I’m ashamed or fearful, but because I don’t think it should be a concern.

Growing up my parents taught me to disregard race, and I think they did a very good job of this. I’m not going to sit here and pretend that I have no prejudices. I don’t think that’s humanly possible. We are judgemental creatures. But I can say that I treat every person I meet with respect and kindness unless they show me some reason not to, and I do so regardless of race, gender, age, etc.

I’m also not going to sit here and claim that I’ve never felt like I’ve been crapped on just because I’m female in WoW. It happens. People will discriminate. But just as I get crapped on for being female, that same jerkface is likely to find some fault with anyone over anything. The world of Azeroth is full of trolls. The trick is learning to ignore them.

It still bothers me when I hear the trolls talk garbage about how girls don’t play WoW, and if they do then they probably weight 1000 pounds, either that or they can’t play well. There may be some truth to the statement. I am overweight, but I certainly don’t weigh 1000 pounds. More and more, I find myself turning trade chat off when I’m in the city.

The irony for me is that I truly feel like I’ve had more social difficulty relating to other women in WoW than to other men. I can’t stand the cutesy girls who constantly flirt. I’ve seen such drama destroy guilds. I am beyond thankful that the other 4 women in my guild are very down to earth.

In fact, I’m almost worried they think I’m the cutesy flirty type. A little flirting is bound to happen, right? I’m very dedicated to the one I love, so it’s all just teasing and I’m fairly certain everyone understands that.

What was the point of this post?

Meh… I forget…

Baby Got Ears

Have you noticed that my main toons are all elves?

Wonder what that says about me…

I like big ears and I cannot lie!

You other playas can’t deny

When a girl walks in with a pretty little face

And those long ears in their place

You get sprung

Ughh… I can’t continue… Too silly!

Still not the best dressed druid…

Viva is 63 now, and I’m loving playing her.

My Resto set doesn’t look half bad, so I’m not even going to share. But oh the humanity when I put on my feral set! I’ve lost my hair under the leather head protector I’m wearing. I never thought I’d say this, but thank god my eyebrows stick out. Needless to say I am staying shapeshifted as much as possible.

At least they didn't give me hotpants and thigh high boots!

 

I don’t know that kitty dps is going to be something I’m going to want to do in raids when I hit 80, but it’s good enough for questing and whatnot. I’m kind of thinking I might want to try Boomkin spec when I get to 80, but who knows.

Truly healing is my first passion, and I’ve fallen madly in love with druid healing. I have a sneaking suspicion that Viva will be my main in Cata if I can get her to 80 before release.

Only time will tell what will befall both classes when the world is torn asunder. I am currently refusing to look at talent changes yet. It’s terribly premature in my opinion. I’ll read up on it about a month before release so I won’t be completely shocked. Anything before then is really just Beta and not for certain and likely to make me all upset for no good reason.