And that’s not completely true because I dyed my hair and it’s  . . .  not quite describable but if I think of something close I’ll let you know.

It’s been a long time since I’ve posted, I know – and it’s been an equally long time since I’ve been able to catch up on some blog reading. I’ve tried to read a few posts here and there, but until this past week I’ve been less than settled and busy with work.  Now I’m finally settled again, albeit temporarily for the near future anyways.  Be careful when you tell your boss you’re available to go anywhere.  Sometimes “anywhere” ends up being “limbo” while they try to decide between several options.

First, there are many a blogger that have moved on from the blogosphere or from their now former blogs. Gnomeaggedon wrote a great post about it – one of the few I’ve been able to catch up on reading.  Hopefully he does NOT follow in the footsteps of those recently retired!

Since mid January I’ve not been able to play WoW much at all, which is another reason I didn’t squeeze in time to blog.  Only in the past two weeks have I really been able to hop back into the game, and actually it was more like tiptoe-ing not hopping.  There were some new faces in guild, new raiding schedule, and not too long ago some familiar faces joined the guild from my former server.  It was a nice reunion and a pleasant surprise to say the least.

One thing that struck me in addition to lost bloggers, was word of people retiring from WoW altogether.  It seems things have gotten too stale for them and from what news we have of Cataclysm, those people were not re-energized but rather turned off completely from any more WoW.

I know a few that have quit in the past and returned a few months (or more) later. There’s definitely some benefit to that.  While I haven’t quit the game myself, I did have to take a year off shortly after I started playing because I accepted a new job that was quite demanding time-wise.  Last summer I was away from game for about 2 months due to some traveling and busy work schedule.  And here I am back in game after about another 2 month break due to work again.

I’m not tired of WoW yet and I definitely credit that to my involuntary breaks from the game. I personally am very much looking forward to Cataclysm and while the game today is not how it was back in “the good ol’ days”, I still find myself entertained and having fun.  To me that’s always been the most important thing – having fun.  If you aren’t having fun, then why play anymore?  So while it’s sad to see people moving on from WoW, I’m glad that we can still share the occasional notes of gossip or hellos and maybe find ourselves grouping in another game in the future.

It does make me wonder though of my own WoW-mortality – when, if ever, will I reach the point that I decide to hang it up for good?  Eh, that’s depressing to think about!  Maybe that’s why both my 80’s had recent hair cuts/colors.  Typical girl response, no?  Regardless, it’s nice to be back for a while at least!

I’m taking a quick break in the midst of my packing to slide in my post for the day. I’ve realized a few things in the last 6 hours.

The first is that while I have some draft posts sitting in the wings waiting for their 15 seconds of fame, they are far from being what I would call a draft. In fact, they would be a draft of a draft. That of course meaning they need a lot of work before I could slap that sucker up as my daily post. This also makes me think I should have some witty macros for asshats and elitist pricks during random dungeons so that I don’t actually have to waste energy typing while in groups with them.

The second is that no matter how ready one can be for a deployment, you’re never really ready. Though I have my “go bag” ready for quick deployments, every deployment is different and the only thing you can really be sure about is that you need 14 days of underwear to get you through without doing laundry (and by my math that equates to at least 20 pairs of britches because a few extra are always  needed). *over 20 pairs of britches? CHECK* In addition, this reminds me that no matter how mentally ready you may be for a heroic, just one bad apple can make the ordinary into extraordinary -> bad experiences. If only one could mute chat.

The third thing is that this nablopomo effort is quite a challenge, especially when the unexpected pops up. I know better next time (assuming there is a next time) to front load the month with some extra posts and schedule them to post at later dates. While it’s certainly the spirit of the challenge to write every day, it doesn’t take much for real life to rear its head and throw you off course. I gotta have more cowbell!

And with that, it saddens me to say that I will be mostly WoWless over the next two weeks – just as the guild is getting their arms wrapped around ICC. Work calls and I answer – hopefully I can squeeze some writing time in!

In light of the rather lengthy response I posted to a comment, I am going to keep this post short and sweet.

1.
Each guild is managed and run differently.  Even within guilds, there are different styles of management that exist between raid leaders.  While general rules stay the same, the attitude and atmosphere may certainly be very different.

–>  You pay to play this game therefore ALWAYS remember to enjoy it.  If you do not like the way a guild is run, then by all means find a new home that is better suited to your expectations.  If you do not like the way raids are run or the style of a particular raid lead, discuss it with the raid lead, the GM, or better yet offer to step up and lead raids as well! Learning is something ongoing, even for the most experienced of people.

2.
This is really just a game. It’s a virtual environment. It’s important to remember that it’s not necessarily indicative of who people are irl.  Even I realize that the elitist asshats that I tend to bash through parodies and poems are not always like that outside of game (this is where I am supposed to be a smart ass and say “well like 99% of the time they are” but I am going for a semi-serious moment).  The people that are boisterous and outspoken may actually be very shy and quiet and vice versa.  Some people that are great coaches irl may not fair so well in a virtual environment.

–>  No matter what anyone says about you or someone else, take it with a grain of salt and move on. There’s only so much we can glean from one another through this virtual environment and even opinions we do form may be completely worthless in person. Grudges are a waste because it just adds bitterness to a game that should be fun.  Does that mean you have to like everyone in game?  Hell no –  But don’t let it spoil your fun!

3.
Let bygones be bygones and just agree to disagree.  It does, after all, make the lemonade taste much sweeter.

Ahh the joys of dungeon finder. Today marks the first of a weekly series to highlight the joys and fun (read: epic failures) of random groups. I’m sharing with you a quick story about a group I was in last month while leveling my druid to 80. It was Old Kingdom – not that hardest instance out there but requires a little effort. I leveled my druid at a moderate rate and did a ton of battlegrounds. I tried to keep my gear up through a few cheap purchases at the AH and doing quests with decent rewards. So at this point OK was not a huge challenge but if I had a group that was on par with the mid-70 range level expectations, healing was generally not a problem.

In this particular group, I found myself spam healing the tank and was barely keeping him up much less anyone else in the group. As a druid your exercise routine could be summed up with HoT Hot Heal (rest for 4) Hot Hot Heal (rest for 4). Okay this is not really the rotation I used by any means, but start chanting HoT Hot Heal . . . . HoT HoT Heal . . . . HoT HoT Heal . . . . and tell me it doesn’t sound catchy and get stuck in your head? Anyways, I was really having a fit keeping this tank up. So we get past the first 2 bosses (with a few deaths and profuse apologies from me) and are on the trash mobs before Jedoga Shadowseeker. The group wipes. Twice. As healer, I feel infinitely responsible but incredibly frustrated. Why was the tank getting smacked so hard?

A trinket with +sp? Really? I mean, the Lich King should revoke his status.  Maybe he wasn’t questing and had little luck on instance drops so let’s give him the benefit of the doubt.

Two trinkets with +sp. TWO!  Before I get yelled at by death knights out there yes I know that you have spells.  But can you argue that +sp takes precedence over Str, AP, Crit, or Hit?  If you can, I’d be happy to feature you as a guest blogger to discuss that very topic.  I know crit is an important stat for a dps dk probably second to Strength, but having 2 pieces of gear with +sp and +crit?  Fine, I give him bonus points for not stacking int and spr.  Now let’s take a look at the rest of his gear:

Head: Stonepath Helm

Neck: Bladed Ebon Amulet

Shoulders: Tundra Pauldrons

Back: Sky Darkener’s Shroud of Blood

Chest: Jormungar Breastplate of the Soldier
(+45 Str, +68 Stam, +45 Crit)

Wrist: Thick Bracers of Battle

Hands: Plate Claws of the Dragon

Waist: Waywalker’s Girdle

Legs: Amberplate Legguards

Feet: Enticing Sabatons

Ring 1: Floral Loop of the Beast
(+20 Str, +20 Agi, +30 Stam)

Ring 2: Kurzel’s Warband

Main Hand:  Combatant Greatsword

Relic:  Sigil of the Dark Rider

Look, I’m not asking for miracles, I don’t expect to run with people who have BiS no matter what level they are. And there is some gear, like relics, that are difficult to upgrade.  Hell I had the same wand on my mage for almost a year until I could get a badge upgrade.  And there are some pieces that really ARE that good.  Until Triumph gear came around and I could pick up the +hit trinket, I had Mark of the War Prisoner equipped forever and I still have it “just in case”. I really do like challenges, but this? This was not a challenge, this is what I call hell. You know that pin I’m trying to hold in so the roller coaster car doesn’t go flailing off the tracks? Yeah, THAT pin. The one that just whizzed by your head. As a level 73 healer at the time, I felt nothing but incompetent until I looked at this person’s gear. While gear isn’t everything, it certainly helps.

Being a level 75 DK in mostly DPS gear and a member of the OMGWTFAMIDOING group means that you should probably take a step back and do a couple things. 1. Ask and learn what stats you need to stack and no, that list does NOT include sp; 2. Pick up a few more than 2 pieces of tank gear. Granted, Old Kingdom is a level 73-75 instance. This means that it should be slightly under par challenge wise for a level 75 tank. Not cakewalk, but certainly not of epic difficulty. So what does this mean if you are a level 75 dps’er? You will probably have one heckuva time tanking it with 2 pieces of tank gear – unless you have an uber 1337 healer. Unfortunately enough I was, alas, only level 73 and not uber 1337.

But everything you’ve seen so far is not why I am highlighting this particular group run as the epic Dungeon Finder Weekly story.  Nay my dear readers, those that have their panties in a bunch can /unbunch now.  Maybe some of you read the conversation in the previous pictures.  Let’s take a gander at the screen shots below and note that the Party Leader was our fearless tank.

So after our second wipe on the trash, I finally say something in guild chat before I gave myself a concussion from all the /facedesk.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is why I was /facedesk /repeat. I don’t ask for much, many of you out there don’t either. A little effort – a little effort goes a long way. And here, the little bit of effort would have included understanding that just because you level, the instance isn’t going to become cake.

Does this make me an elitest – oh the blogs abound with this topic here of late. (Here and Here and Here and Here and well, you get the picture) I don’t think it makes me a jerk to ask for people to make a small effort.  SMALL effort.  I know that it can take a while to get gear especially if you are switching specs.  However, is it too much to ask for someone to take some time and build up at least half a set before taking the reigns?  If asking someone to gear themselves for the role they want to fill is elitest – well I’d like to know where the hell are my tiara, gem-encrusted staff, and maids-in-waiting?  NOW.  Oh, while I’m waiting get me a venti vanilla soy extra dry cappuccino.

That wraps up this weeks story.  Feel free to share your pain.  Send me any stories, images, quick quips or quotes from your experiences and I’ll include them in next week’s Dungeon Finder post.