Code Red

When It All Falls Down

2010-12-19T19:57:00.002-06:00

Some years are better than others. Sometimes things go really well for you and others they don't. I've been fortunate for the last few years. Things haven't been great but they weren't horrible either. So as the year has gone on I have to admit I am a bit weary from the string of expensive bad luck I've been dealing with.

First my monitor died earlier in the year. Now as irritating as this was it wasn't the worst thing in the world. I got a new monitor and things were moving along swimmingly for a good deal of time. Thinking my luck was looking up and really wanting something new on my baby, I bought a G11 keyboard. This was lovely for 2 weeks until my PSU died a slow death on me.

So I take the money I was saving for various things and buy a new one. Not the best in the world but it seemed to fix the problem. That seemed to be the end of the problems with my own PC for the time being. However my father's fell to a horrible virus over the summer and then my TV died in a power surge a month ago.

Thinking all was fine after I got that replaced my computer finally kicked the bucket 2 weeks ago. That wasn't so bad I guess, that is if I hadn't bought Cata already and had many many things I hadn't had a chance to back up on that computer. Still my Dad's worked and it was good enough for a while. So two days ago I get a new system as an early Christmas present and things seemed to be on the up and up for me. I get it all hooked up and everything restored and pop in the newer PSU I'd bought and my old video card cause its still working very well. All was glorious in those hours. Until last night.

Last night the card started crapping out on games. First in Fallout NV at a certain point in a dialog with a quest giver which really didn't send up many red flags. The game has its own glitches so I exit and try again only to have it lock on the exact same spot, this time locking my system completely. I start to panic but all wasn't lost right? I'd just been in WoW and everything was fine so it should still be right? Well lets just say that since then I haven't been able to log in on my brand new toy for longer than 20 minutes all day. Now I hadn't given up completely so I try my stock graphics in my mother board. I can't even run Cata with that.

So what do I do? I mean so far it could be something with windows 7 but that's not really the issue and I know it. Perhaps this string of events its just telling me to leave electronics alone. Maybe its even a sign that my time in Azeroth should end. I dunno what to do to be honest. I could be something with a win 7 update or it could be my card. Either way the deck is stacked against me.

That said this may be my last blog post ever here. If it is, it been fun. I've enjoyed ranting with the handful of you that have read my work. I apologize for my lack of post in the past months but life is greater than banter sometimes. Keep it fun guys.
-Edy

The Time They Are A Changing

2010-10-18T15:58:00.004-05:00

Or rather the times they have a changed already.
The big class changes patch dropped last week and though I haven't taken the full amount of time I probably could have checking out the changes I have to say I am liking what I have seen so far pretty well. But before I get into what I do like I think I should get the bitching out of the way about the things I don't.

To start with I absolutely hate the Blizzard raid frames. Don't get me wrong, it was terribly nice of them to squeeze that in there but the things are more in the way than anything for me. I don't use the Blizzard stock frames for anything and I haven't for a long time. I'm not knocking them for being there but they just don't fit the layout I have for my UI theses days. I think they should have put an option in to turn it completely off rather than just a hide button that still shows a hideously big tab on the side. I haven't seen a way to move it either (not that blizzard's UI options have ever been movable without 3rd party help from what I have seen) but that would also be something nice for them to add in the coming expansion. That's about the only change I haven't liked so far.

The Blizz power auras have turned out to be pretty nice even if I am still getting use to them and what they mean. They provide a good start but it would be nice if they were customizable in some form like the addon they are based on but since they aren't they still work well with the original add-on for me. Overall I like them.

Now the thing I have been spending the most time on is getting use to focus on my hunter. I was one of the hunters that was completely hyped about losing mana and so far I still feel the same way. Its taking some getting use to but focus is working out fairly nicely for me. I am enjoying the more complex BM rotation (yes I went BM did you have any doubt I would) and also the new pet abilities. I cant even begin to express how nice it is to have such a large pet stable now. One thing I am missing I wasn't expecting to is my volley. I mean it was really only useful in WOTLK but as AoE heavy as Wrath has been it kinda sucks not being able to do a nice AoE like all the not as cool as me kids. Two places I came across that it really sucked badly in were the cleansing chamber going to Prof Putput himself and the damned gates in strat when I was farming something. Since our AoE is dependent on range AND explosive trap things that don't trip traps leave us a bit screwed. So I get to stand there and feel completely useless as I watch Snuggles spaz around the screen like a real kitty does and make random comments in vent. I am sure I will get used to things again though. Volley was fairly crappy in BC and so was rarely used and I am sure I will forget all about it once I am out of AoE fest Wrath for good. On the other side of the AoE spectrum, explosive trap and multi-shot proved way more effective than I was expecting in my raid last week. I wasn't as high as I used to be but I wasn't too far behind it either.

As for my other toons, I haven't taken the time to sit down with anything other than my DK at the moment. I've specced my paladin, warrior, and shaman as well but just haven't wanted to get into them just yet so I will give more updates as I do.

What I have been doing a lot of is enjoying how much better things are running for me in game now since the patch dropped. The water and updated graphics in some areas have been a welcome change for me as I often find myself wandering the landscape just to pass the time and get my memories in before they all go away. Sure the looks don't have all that much to do with how I play but you have to admit for a game that's nearly 6 years old, warcraft is covering her gray hairs very well. Still would be nice to get some character model updates but I can't complain too much about that.

All in all this has been a fun patch for me and given me a nice boost in my lagging desire to play these days.

- Eds

Feeling the Age Gap

2010-10-10T08:50:00.002-05:00

I've been feeling my age for the past few weeks. No I am not yelling about "those darned kids" yet but I feel close to it. No this isn't exactly a WoW related post but WoW does play a part in why I feel this way. What has me feeling the gap is my views on entertainment and what it should and shouldn't do for me. Now what exactly do I mean by this? Well its simple. I see that my tastes in games, movies, music, and the likes are much more demanding than those younger than me it would seem. I prefer the quality of my entertainment products to the flashy, overly marketed package most things try to pass off as quality these days.

Now its not like I just starting thinking about this for no reason. A podcast I was listening was the trigger for me when they brought up teenage relatives and how they want more gore and in your face graphics in their horror movies. Now at first I just ingested this statement and thought about it quickly and found I agreed with it for the most part. I didn't really dwell on it though, so that podcast came and went and I didn't think about it again for a while. But its like that statement flipped a switching that was partly on to completely on and I started to actually pay attention to comments on various media I was using. For example, I was in Dalaran watching trade as I chatted with some guildies and somebody popped up and asked if anybody remembered Q-bert. I was surprised by not because of the normal trade banter on my server but rather because Q-bert wasn't the kind of game someone after a certain age would know about at all unless they were some sort of collector or game historian. Keeping this short, I whispered the guy and we had a little chat and he was indeed older than me and though neither of us really got into the old "new verses old" game debate the feeling still presented itself.

Next up is looking at my love for horror movies. I was watching a Cronenburg movie that was from like '79 and out of curiosity I started reading viewer comments as I waited for the movie to load. One of the first things my eyes landed on was a post by somebody that said they couldn't get into these sorts of old movies. First thing that clicked in my mind about this was even though I am a child of the 80's, I never really thought of a movie that isn't from the early 70's and back to be "old". Next I felt sad for the person that wrote that since that was closing yourself off to a lot of really good movies that blow anything made in the last 10 even 20 years out of the water. But that is a matter of tastes and conditioning. American horror movies are a shell of their former greatness with constant hashing of poorly made remake after remake of classic movies that in no way needed remakes and recent Asian horror that has no business being Americanized because the cultural details that made it work in the first place are lost in translation, as well as gore porn movies that have no purpose other than to shock and gross the audience out but cant even do that well anymore because there are 10 other movies on the market at the same time with the same gimmick. Now while I have a personal dislike for those shorts of movies I wouldn't hold it against the people that happen to enjoy them. It's more I just find it interesting that I would feel that way towards a comment like that when I am probably not very much older than the guy that posted that. (note: i have no idea how old the guy was exactly)

As for games, these have made me feel the gap more than any other form of entertainment. Maybe its because the technology has progressed so far in games or it could simply be the fact I was blessed enough to be born around the time that games looked like colored blobs vaguely resembling people and object so they had to be fun in other ways to keep people buying them. Story and game play were the selling points rather than how pretty something was. Now I am not just rambling about the hay-day for no reason. Last night I was looking at the sales email from Gamestop and saw the link for Cata on it so I decided to check it out since I haven't made up my mind how I wish to purchase the game yet. First comment on the page was somebody saying they couldn't understand how Blizzard could still have so many fans using outdated engines and what not. So wait. As long as a game is pretty and requires you to pay out the ass for a system that came play it, its worth spending the money on because it has to be good? I understand WoW isn't the most up to date game in looks but it must be doing something right to keep millions of people playing it for all these years when its competition can't. I'm not trying to say it couldn't look better but to be as widely playable as it is the game is damn pretty. Also why should you care it doesn't look like Age of Conan or the newer mmos that are coming out or have come out? As long as my game can pull me into its world, keep me there, and keep me entertained, I don't really care its not the best looking thing on the market. I would take Final Fantasy VI over any FF after 9 gladly because the story isn't utter crap. The original Silent Hill still makes my pulse race even thought the graphics look horrible. The first Fatal Frame still scares the crap out of me after all these years and it certainly isn't as pretty a game as things that came out just a few years after. Legend of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time is one of the best games I ever had the pleasure of picking up but its still ugly by today's standards. I would take any one of those over 80% of the games out today. Still I know that I most likely couldn't sit any of my teenage cousins down and expect them to have a good time with those same games. Its not their fault, its the fault of marketing and sellers. Still if I could sit one down and get them to play Streets of Rage and admit it was fun I would find it a moral victory.

The age gap isn't a bad thing, its just a weird feeling. Its the feeling that I am the odd one out. Its the feeling of a wall being built and its one I am not sure if I like or dislike. All I know is I hope one day I can come across someone younger and we can have a nice talk about some classics so I know that there are still people that respect quality being born.

My Logic, It's Strange Logic But Still My Own

2010-09-09T21:21:00.005-05:00

So as we linger in the last days (well months but that doesn't sound as good) I haven't had a lot of things to write about. Now its not like I haven't been keeping read up on blogging topics and beta news its just everybody else seems to have a hell of a lot more things to say on those matters and better than I could at the time. That said, tonight I was given a topic from a guildy of mine and I figured Ed needed to take a deeper look at what he brought up.

The Discussion

Now, if you are unaware I happen to call a PVP server by the name of Daggerspine my main home. Its where I was hazed into Azeroth, where my friends are, and where my lovely if not dis-functional guild family are. There are many "special" people there that make me want to strangle them as well but D-spine is my home, and I love it greatly.

So where am I going with this? Well you see, gentle reader, I logged on for Elune knows what reason tonight and as I went through my usual lag hell of porting into Dalaran, one of our more "interesting" people jumps me in guild chat with his usual begging for a duel. I said no. Now you would think that he would let it go that this point but since he is like a little puppy you have to shoo away numerous times before he is satisfied with your rejection and he proceeds to ask me why. My response is a simple one.

I don't duel.

So of course the puppy isn't ready to stop nipping my ankle. "Well why don't you like dueling?" Why don't I like dueling? I didn't know I needed a specific reason to dislike a certain aspect of the game but whatever.

Cause I don't like PVP.

Now I am not sure why but this seems to have blown his mind. "So wait...you play on a PVP server and you don't like PVP?"

Now lets look at this for a moment. Perhaps I am the odd one out but I wasn't aware that it was a rule that I had to like PVP to play on a PVP server. If that was the case then why can you instance, quest, and do the other 90% of the things you can do in the game with out having to kill members of the opposing faction if you don't want to. Now as I had to explain to this guildy, "don't like" does not equal "hate". I by no means hate PVP in any manner other than getting ganked on low level toons. Hell, I don't even hate that in all honesty. Its more a right of passage to BE on a PVP server than anything else in my eyes. I do find myself in PVP situations once in a while as I have even posted here. What I don't like about PVP is battlegrounds, arena, and dueling, and before you ask YES I have done all of them to a fair amount which is how I came to understand they weren't things for me. World PVP I find more enjoyable even though its not like when I came in the game in BC or the epicness I hear other members of the guild talk about from time to time.

Ed-Logic

So what I find myself wondering about this is am I the one that's wrong in my logic? Just because I don't enjoy most forms of PVP does that mean that I shouldn't be on a PVP server? It is not as if battlegrounds and arena are exclusive to PVP servers, though I will admit I might enjoy them a bit more if they were to return battlegroups to like PVP servers together and PVE servers together but its not gonna happens so I wont dwell on it. The fact of the matter is that Blizzard itself took out the PVE shouldnt PVP with PVP servers thing itself so why would it be so odd that a person like myself would like calling a PVP server her home but gets more enjoyment out of PVE content. Does it also make me weird that I have a second home on a RP PVE server but I don't actively RP there? Suppose I take this a step further and tell you that I randomly role play my toons on my main server when we are just messing around? So should I pack up all my good and head to that other server? I'm gonna go with a no.

For one, I rather enjoy the thrill of being on a PVP server when out and about doing my farming or questing. I rarely actively look for fights but I am more than happy to take on a challenger from time to time. It keeps things lively. When I am on the PVE server I can only play for so long while questing. Things get a little dull to me when you don't feel the need to look up once in a while to see if anybody sporting a red name plate decided you looked at them funny. I feel a little odd when somebody from the other faction rides up next to me at a neutral quest giver and doesn't eyeball me just like I am them wondering if either of us will pull the trigger. Worst of all seeing a lower zone under attack in a contested area and not having to worry if the people doing it are going to get bored and scout you out. I cut my teeth as I was camped from level 20 to level cap and fought many a battle since then. Forgive me if I find it more exciting to do my PVEing as bodies pile up around me on my PVP server.

Do what ya like

If you wish to take the purpose of a server literally by all means call me an idiot and poke me with pointy sticks till I go away. I don't believe I am now nor have I ever been wrong about believing one should play on the server they feel best suits them. As long as what you do doesn't interfere with the enjoyment of those around you too much I say do it. And to my "confused" guildy, remember the hour I went toe to toe with you in Undercity before you decided the alliance wasn't for you. You got me once then and I know you want a little revenge. So keep this in mind. I might not duel but if you really want a fight you can always go back. *Smile*

Finally It Happened To ME!

2010-08-02T10:53:00.006-05:00

Now after that musical interlude I have an announcement.

Thats right boys and girls. Edy kicked that stupid troll in the teeth so hard that his tiger finally came out last night. We were so in shock that my pocket tank Scrawny didn't even think to eat the bastard as per custom. Hell I am still in shock it finally dropped after a year and a half of trying. Many thanks to Scrawny for sticking with me till the end.

Well as you can guess my glee was extremely high so in a very rare moment that I reserve only for the highest of personal achievements I hop back in guild chat after dancing around my room like a woman possessed and said "I must shoot something to spread the love". Four other guildies thought this was a fine idea and off they set to STV so we could ride into Stormwind to show them my new toy. So I parked myself in the Grom inn and tend to something irl real quick only to come back and find a corehound chewing on my rear. The hunter did manage to get me to a forth of my life before I un-AFKed but Eds just rolled up a news paper and smote the hunter he belonged to and his DK buddy with extreme prejudice.

After the others showed we picked up shop and rode to SW to say hello for a while and though they put up a bit of a fight it wasn't enough to keep us interested. One tram ride later we decided to see how the killing was in Ironforge.

The Commons were pleasant so we decided to have a piggy until somebody showed up to fight. They never did. After locking down IF for who knows how long we go back to SW and I found this.

If ever there was a reason kill humans this is it. The damn things are POSSESSED by some sort of Azerothian demons. THEY FLOAT.

Anyway we stirred up a real fight and one last hurrah before we split and called it an evening. All in all a good night.

In other news M.A.S. has moved from 7/12 to 10/12 in ICC with a great run last week. All that remains in our path is Sindy and the king Lich himself. Gotta admit its been a good week for ya gurl.

Don't Tread On Other's Fun

2010-07-23T17:58:00.003-05:00

Instancing in WoW has always been a bit of a love hate relationship with me ever since I started running them back in BC. Sometimes its incredibly enjoyable, others you want to just log out for a month and see you feel after. For the past week or so while dealing with some personal issues IRL I have been working on my alliance guised hunter to keep my mind of things and over all its been a blast running instances I never did on Edy herself since I didn't have a need to bother with grouping until I hit Outland. Most of the groups I have gotten have been fairly efficient when we ran, not a lot of tanking over pulls or dps doing stupid things that killed us all, just calm easy runs with a few chats here and there. Even with the bad groups it wasn't anything that ruined the mood for me. If the group broke I just re-queued and hoped for better the next time. Today seemed to be the build up of all the bad groups I've missed so I could have back to back irritation as I made my rounds.

Now its not like any one thing is worth complaining about with most runs. Some were just groups that didn't have a shot to begin with but I will say that running heroic Halls of Reflection twice and not getting the first boss down on either go of it was not a good way to start out. The next run on Eddey (night elf hunter) was kinda like salt on the wound. Normally I can deal with bad groups and it was very obvious from the start this was a bad group as when I got in the healer promptly decided his was to go was better than the tank's so the tank and another party member who followed the priest died and the tank left soon after with the healer running ahead of him the whole time. That was, ok. That kind of thing is relatively normal these days though I am a firm believer in "follow the tank" as he is the one that gets beat on so that we may kill the baddies but what do I know? So the shammy and dps warrior who seemed to know each other talk it out and the warrior begins to tank as we wait for one in queue. Now I am not a tank nor do I profess to know how to tank other than the "oh shit" tanking I do as a hunter when things get bad or the aggro gets a little loose but I would assume if you are tanking multiple mobs as a warrior you would need to thunderstomp and the likes to get aggro so they don't go all over the place like marbles that have pointy things. I, as I have learned will be part of my job in the lower level dungeons, had to hunter-tank (not my favorite past time) nearly all but two of any given mob no matter what I did. Again this didn't bother me. What bothered me was in the middle of this chaos the damn shaman decided to inform me I was supposed to be survival and then went on to explain how he was right and I was wrong because he had an 80 hunter and that made him king genius.

[P] Shammy: You should be SV
[P] Eddey: I happen to like BM
[P] Shammy: but you get more dps as sv
[P] Shammy: i got a 80 hunter i would know
[P] Eddey: thats nice, I have an 80 hunter as well and have played all the trees. I find SV irritating and MM boring.
[P] Shammy: but sv is better
[P] Eddey: you play your way I play mine how about that?
[P] Shammy: geez guy no need to be mad

"No need to be mad," he said. Considering he was the lowest dps and I was at about 40+% of the damage done, was tanking, and doing what I was supposed to be doing in general I'd say I was pretty ripe to get mad. Don't get me wrong I have had plenty of people try and "tell" me how to do my hunter thing. Most I just let roll on by but this guy had to have picked the worst time to say something so stupid. I also might want to clarify that we were in Sunken Temple and in our damn 40s. There is very little difference in specs at those levels to be honest and God help me if I ran with tanking like that in a spec other than Beast Mastery.

I don't nor have I ever believed that somebody should be forced to play in a manner that they do not enjoy no matter how well or sub par something preforms. I have been blessed enough to run with people that are not obsessed with Elitest Jerks and crunching number, or just do whatever people say they should cause its the it thing. In general we play to have fun and perform where we should. When I switched to SV it was to help cause I didn't feel like feel like I was pulling my own weight at the time. I hated SV so I gave MM a shot and liked it better. When Cata hits I will most likely be raiding BM again depending on how I like it. Why? 'Cause I have a genuine love of the spec and how it works. Would I bitch at somebody in an instance because I think all hunters should be BM? Hell no. I even have guildies that raid BM right now and I am completely cool with that. Why? 'Cause its fun for them and when you play a game, damn it, that's what supposed to happen. We wouldn't have choices if we were supposed to do it one way.

As for the end of my run with that group, well things were pretty much ruined for me once that idiot started. We got a new tank but he was just as bad as the warrior and couldn't hold aggro. I snapped at him but apologized and left. It probably could have been a fun run too but I just couldn't get into it anymore. So next time you feel the need to give advice on spec and what not in a 5 man and you weren't asked to just stop, think about what you are about to say, then don't say it. Its a damn 5 man instance. Its not life or death. Its not 10 - 25 people running around in circles for hours. If its a random, these aren't people that logged on to the game to have you berate them for doing something in a manner that you wouldn't. Just shut up and play. Its more fun for us all that way.

Glad I Got Beer For This

2010-07-07T17:24:00.003-05:00

I was going to use this song with another topic but hell with all this Blizzard bombshells this week I figured why not, does kinda go with things. *cough* Anywho, unless you have been living under a rock for the last few days I am sure by now you have at least heard of Blizzard's brilliant idea to make our Real IDs the way we use the forum. So fairly soon there will no longer be the privacy of having a fake name to post under but instead your first and last names displayed for the whole internet to see. They say its for trolls, I think its more somebody hasn't really thought about just how violating this really is.

Now I don't wanna go worst case scenario, so I will just look at it from a common stand point. I simply don't want everybody to know my real name. If I did I would have made a damn toon with my damn name on it. My name isn't all that common I don't think it would be taken. I have been on the internet for years and managed to keep my name to the damn facebook account my friends talked me into getting as we were leaving college. And on the subject of Facebook (who blizzard seems to be copying) You dont even have to use your real name there if you don't want to. As little privacy as it seems Facebook does still have options to limit what about yourself people can see. Most importantly when you get a Facebook account you know you will have to give this information. That's what the site is there for. WoW is a damn game, when I signed up it was to play a game not give somebody another way to stalk me.

Next problem I have is the rumor Blizzard employees will not have to show their names. If that BS happens I smell boycotts. "They cant afford to have their privacy compromised". What the hell? So they are more important than everybody else that's being violated because they work for you?? So if some freaky dude gets cheezed off because I disagreed with him on the forums decides to look me up and track me down and does something to me its not a problem? The players have to deal with the same idiots and asstards (yeah I know I was trying to keep the profanity down but this word is needed) so why should you get any better treatment than we do? If they are going to punish the fan base like this we should ALL suffer, employees included.

*Deep breath* Whew I feel a little better now. Look its not like I am completely against every change Blizzard comes up with. I wasn't keen on battle.net but after a bumpy start thats worked out pretty good. I am even all for the Real ID system for cross game interaction. What I am not ok with is when you tell me something that goes against everything I have ever learned about internet safety. You NEVER use your personal information where others can see. A name is personal and you can find out a ton of things about people with only their name. I get they wanna stop trolls but there is a simple action they could use that would work the same way with none of the drama. How about they make us pick, oh I dunno, a user name. Lets see...ooo and that user name could be how we post. Wait a minute I have seen this in action before...oh I know, ITS HOW EVERY OTHER FORUM WORKS DAMN IT! God forbid they use something thats been around for years and works just fine and doesn't violate privacy. Until they pull their heads out their asses I won't be posting on the forums any more (not that I did often) which also means I won't be buying anything else from them as they have a less than stellar online shop that has a tendency to break down and *gasp* require you to post on the forums to have something done. If I get hacked again...well thats just that. If they tell me I have to post for help there then by God my account and Edy and the game just end there. Their isn't much they could do that could make me just walk away from WoW as I still quite enjoy the game but this very well could be the kill shot if this becomes the in game standard as well.

My name is Edyion in wow and here. My RL avatar has nothing to do with Azeroth as it is not her reality. She would like it if things remained that way.

Oh and yes I saw the new changes to the talent trees but after this kind of thing that doesn't matter. Game play changes do not effect my everyday life.

Rhumba Rhumba Rhumba

2010-07-02T14:41:00.007-05:00

What's this? Edy is making an entry?? Has Blackrock frozen over??? No gentle reader, Edy has returned for the time being and she is bring random music with her! Ok so there is no real reason for the video other than I like the song and it was incentive for me to do a blog entry for the first time in ages. Did have the word rumba in it which, of course, is pretty much the name of a new hunter talent in the coming expansion. Fabulous as that spell is I don't actually intend on talking about the news given after the NDA was lifted this week. Why you ask? Well its simple, I can't get worked up every time we get new news. Don't get me wrong I am as giddy as a school girl about hunter changes as well as terrified (a good terrified though) its just between now and the time the expansion actually does hit the shelves and our hard drives, things will have changed, people will pout, the masses will scream "it's the end!" just like the do anytime something happens. That's tiring and I decided to sit this round out and just look at things that wont spoil too much for me. That said I will give you a little fun thing that happened when I noticed the NDA was gone. First thing I did was popped over to MMO-champion and looked to see just what all was up on there and I skimmed the hunter changes really quickly. About half way through my reading I decided to look at the talent calculator and see what was what first hand. Once I past how different things look I start popping in points then it dawned on me I had no idea how to spec. Now it wasn't like that was earth shattering in itself but it was the fact it's bean almost 2 years since I was that clueless about a spec (meaning BM, though MM and SV didn't take me too long to figure out how to spec). As I looked at the tool-tips there was just so much going on, focus regen out the ass, names of effects on spells we don't even have yet, and wondering various other things about what would be good to have from the other trees now. It wasn't a bad feeling to be so lost like that but it really sent it home that I really am gonna have to learn everything all over again. That feeling also made me realize I needed to back off the info surge and just wait it out, sit back and enjoy skimming things from time to time.

In WOTLK news M.A.S. has been semi-busy raiding for the past month or so. I say semi because we still don't have a completely stable core 10 (or core 6 for that matter) so its still a lot of switching and adjusting but even saying that we have been trucking along nicely with ICC. In general the runs have been fun, even with the starting like an hour late from the posted time. There are still a few rough spots but all in all the improvement has been great and we are presently at 7/12 bosses. We have also been trying to do Ulduar hard modes but those have been lack luster sadly. Its not all that great trying to P.U.G. people to fill runs that need coordination but the trying has been fun. I can't say that the consensus that Edy must be sacrificed to Flame Lev has me all that thrilled but once we get that one out the way I will be happy.

Still trying for my tiger from ZG (starting to think they have somebody monitoring me and laughing every time I go in there to try for it) and I am hoping against hope it will drop before Cata gets here. My warrior is up to level 80 and I must admit Fury is a blast to play. *taps forehead* Hmmm...well I guess that's about it for whats been up with Edy. Not really much to talk about but I think that's gonna change soon.

Oh yeah and if you haven't checked em out you need to hear the goblin and worgen jokes at http://www.wow.com. Most of them are over the top but they are funny and worth hearing anyway. Until next time, happy hunting.

Happy Mother's Day

2010-05-09T11:06:00.003-05:00

A happy Mother's Day to all your mothers and mother type people around the globe. Enjoy your day and I hope its a pleasant one. Now if you will excuse me I am off to enjoy my child free time from children that might as well belong to me.

Info Days and Nerd Rage

2010-04-14T00:44:00.004-05:00

Title may be a bit misleading but you know what? I don't care. Both will be part of this post its just the nerd rage is not my own. As we all know and have seen (well those of us that keep up with WoW news like a broke crack-head stalks his dealer when he says he's out) probable class changes have been announced for all classes but Paladins. And while Ty is pacing outside waiting for her turn to see what knew shines she gets the Ed has a few things she wants to comment on. That's right kids, its time for Ed drools over hunter goodness.

Lets start with the new buttons that will be filling up more bar space I don't have. At 81 us hunters will be getting Cobra shot, which is a nature based shot and shares a cool down with steady shot. At 83 they will toss Trap Launcher at us (see what I did there?) that will take the place of the current frost arrow and work with all traps. Finally at the cap we will get a tasty skill called Camouflage that will make us unable to be attacked by ranged attack and give us an attack bonus when we attack from it.

Now starting with Cobra shot this shot is making your dear Edy drool on herself a bit. From what I've read this shot is the shot they are aiming to make the Beast Mastery signature shot though all specs will have it. Beast Mastery will have something in tree to make the shot more appealing to us to the point it completely replaces steady shot. Kinda like how Explosive shot and arcane shot work for Survival hunters. Whats this mean to me? Well for one it makes me a happy Edy. Not because its going to be a huge DPS increase or something of the sort but simply because its something new and fresh to add flavor to a spec I already love. Beast Mastery has always been about the pet but all specs have pets so it will be nice to have a hunter shot tailored to the hunter rather than the pet in a spec that was beginning to suffer a handicap from so many pet buffs, nerfs, and scaling problems as it was.

As for Trap Launcher I have one thing to say. Flying snakes. I have needed a reason to randomly yell "eat snakes beeotch" again and well Blizzard seems to have heard my cry. Now if they would just make the damn snakes worth something again...

Camouflage. Well I am a little up in the air about this one. The words that describe it sound good and all but I wont know how I feel about the skill until I see just how useful it is. I mean I can't get super excited by every spell they give us.

With the spells out the way lets get to the meat of things, the over all class mechanic changes:

Mana goes byebye.
I am BEYOND happy to see this is getting closer to the live servers. Mana is a pain for hunters even with our in class regeneration skills. We burn it in seconds and are stuck with juggling aspect of the viper to regain enough to burn again many times over in a fight (though I will be fair and say its more a problem in raiding situations and leveling than any other time) unless we have mana regen in the party buffs or are specced for the mana regen in Survival. We aren't really set up to benefit from mp5. Though to be honest my biggest gripe with mana is the fact that it really doesn't fit the class itself. Hunters are weird. Our attacks are physical. If I were to get silenced you know what it would do? Stop me from rezzing or healing my pet. That's it. I can still shoot you with all my shots and stings. I can still do my defensive stuff. I think I still drop traps (not something I do a lot of in silenced situations so don't string me up for not being certain on this one at 1AM). So other than things I may or may not need to do to my pet what exactly is it that makes me as a hunter a magic user? Yes I know I am a blood elf in game but their are rogues and soon to be warriors in my race. Magic is not a must so I wont advocate for keeping it just because of that. Focus might seem scary now to most hunters but I'm totally ready to try it out. True it will take some getting use to but what changes don't? Ty was worried about the ret pally's loss of intellect on dps plate but those mechanics worked out just fine. So I figure why fret over it until I see something about how its working on the test realms.

Ammo is no more.
I may need new pants the day I see my quiver filled with formerly useful arrows just waiting to be sold to the vendor and a quiver that at that point will turn into a 28 slot bag than only hunters can use. I can hear the QQ now from engineers on their lost gold income and everybody else about the bag but you know what? Edy don't give a damn. I don't see how paying 3 to 10 gold per 1000 arrows that I absolutely have to have to function in my class is fair. Does having a pet mean I have to pay more than the rest of my raiding group just to do my job? Yes other classes need things like poisons and seal of kings to do part of their job in a raid but does that cost them as much as it does a hunter? Can a rogue still not attack a target if they forget to buy poison? Why yes they can. A hunter cant. Best we can do is be a warm body to fill a spot until you find somebody that can attack and actually DO real damage. Can a paladin still buff without seal of kings? Of course they can. Just would take an hour to do one by one but it can still be done. Not like you have to have the blessing to function as a class. Now even take into account hunters use two different types of ammunition in arrows and bullets. You cant fire a gun with bullets and vice versa. That's a lot of extra cash from a class just to be able to function. Now am I saying I am completely thrilled to see ammo go? Well yes and no. While they can't take the cost out of the game fast enough I am a bit sad they are just taking it away all together instead of giving us some sort of ammo item that worked like a regular piece of gear (I was never fond of the elemental arrow items idea myself but it was an interesting one) and could have done cool things. But once I sat down and actually thought about it the removal seems the most logical way to deal with the problem of ammo. Also hunters wont be the only ones to benefit from not having to carry ammo around. Sucks the other classes that can use bows and guns wont be able to keep the a quiver or ammo pouch as a bag. That last thing sounded sincere yes?

Gotta catch em all.
More pet storage makes me beyond happy. The current five slots are nice (I remember three and cant imagine what hell it was to have less than that) but with all the cool pets they keep adding you just don't want to have to give up something you really like just to get and try something new. So as it stands hunters will be able to have 3 active pets with them in call stable at all times and several more in reserve that can be switched with the active ones at a stable keeper. I am a collector by nature so the thought of getting pets based on looks and tossing them in the reserves CAUSE I CAN is like putting me on cloud nine. Some pets are also getting their debuffs/buffs reworked so hunters can bring more utility when taking pets into party situations. This is something I also can't wait to see how it works for myself. I have snuggles and as far as I am concerned he is all I need. Still the possibilities....

Pet from level 1.
Now this is an interesting change for the class. I feel a little mixed about this. Not so much because its making the game easier but more because I wish they had this when Edy first picked up her bow. Getting to level 10 as a fresh wower is a bit overwhelming to get used to. You also play for 10 levels in a manner that really doesn't fit the way Blizzard wants the class to work. Now purest (A.K.A. old grumpy bastards that cant let anybody else have fun) say those levels teach us how to kite. Lets be honest here. I cant speak for everybody but I know I did my share of melee when I first got my account and thought nothing of it. Hunters have ranged AND melee weapons. Why would somebody in the game know that they shouldn't stand there and whack away at the thing they shot to get its attention. I did pick up on kiting fairly quickly after getting tired of getting chewed on but I am a gamer and have been for years. Problem solving is one of the things I enjoy when I game. That in no way means the person that doesn't think "I need to kite" when they are getting chewed on is stupid. It just means they play differently. A pet from level one isn't going to dramatically change the number of hunters that don't know how to kite. When you pull aggro off your pet you learn real quick to run away and shoot it to let your pet get aggro back. All level one pets are going to do is help people have more fun when they role a new toon and start seeing what the game is about. Also will stop a lot of bitching (myself included) from hunter addicts that like to roll a new one from time to time then remember how bad it sucked getting to level 10 without a pet.

Emphasis on ranged.
Yeah hunters are ranged. Blizzard says we dont want you whacking on things all willy nilly since some of us don't seem to understand we don't really hurt things like that. So mongoose bite is going bye bye for sure and who knows what they will do about our dead zone or if we will be able to still whack on things at all. Unless they say we cant use melee weapons for stats I really won waste my time thinking about this one.

Everything else you can read on your own since they are just stat things that I don't have to wait my breath on.

Now as you can see I am far from the "we are doomed" camp about changes and I tend to be pretty open to whatever Blizzard wants to try as long as its fun and keeps the feel of the class/spec. In fact crying over something that's months away kinda irritates me. If you don't like a change don't nerd rage about it and don't just assume its going to kill your class. Blizzard may get things wrong but you have to think about information like this as a chance to make yourself heard to the company in an open forum to say "have you thought about maybe not doing this or X doesn't sound like something that's a great idea". They have proven they do listen when we speak sometimes and are probably more likely to listen when peoples aren't yelling how they suck without explaining why. Things will change between now and the time I get to get my hands on the expansion or the patch with the class changes. You won't see me flip out about the changes and rage away (my rage is special and can not be used without good reason). I want to see the game I love get better and become more fun. If a change is coming I will wait and see what it does. If I don't like it...well maybe its time I find something else to do with my free time.

Edy has spoke.

This Is A New One On Me

2010-04-04T22:03:00.004-05:00

Ok so it's not often I feel the need to step in and take the place of my sister on this blog but by the light this is just something that I can not get an understanding of.

Whats that? I cant understand what? Oh sorry I suppose I should at least pose the issue that has this little Paladin so confused. Well as Edy was off doing smelly hunter things I chose to find a group of like minded random souls to descend in the fiery undead depths of Forge of Souls I noticed a fellow light bringer looking for services in the trade channel.

Ok in case I need to be clear about what light bringer confused me I will give you a hint. It wasn't the soul asking for a healer for Naxx even if he was insistent about needing the help and since I wouldn't know what 6.9 or baja have to do with anything there aren't many options.

So I know I'm merely a Retadin of the Blood Knights that occasionally dabbles with the holier side of my calling, ranged heals is a new one on me. At first I thought this Krage person was merely running their words together. It happens to the best of us when we are in dire need of assistance (lord knows Edy is bad about it) so I was about to leave it at that and go about my day, but this person just kept asking for ranged heals. The tank was later dropped from the request (I would assume that somebody understood 1 tank just fine but when one gets hit in the head for a living you cant be too sure) but the ranged heals request remained constant. Even after I returned from my romp through the Forge laying holy waste to everything in sight this poor person was still asking for ranged heals. So it as this point I begin to question myself. I don't go prancing around healing people all that much (I prefer sticking the pointy ends of my axe in things with glowy hammers of divine justice surrounding me) so perhaps somebody slipped one past old Tytanya when she wasn't looking. Wouldn't be the first time. Still as far as I know there is no such thing as a melee healer...though I suppose it could be made to work. See from what I was taught unless there are specific circumstances involves those of us flinging life energy around don't like being up close and personal all that much. Also it would be rather inconvenient to only be able to heal the person standing right next to you. Yes I am aware I do it all the time what with being a ret and all but that's different. I'm not trying to heal anybody. Its just hard to keep that much holy might to yourself.

Now I brought this to the attention of a druid friend of mine to see if he could clarify things for me. He seemed as confused/surprised as me that someone would request ranged heals. "I thought they were all ranged" was his answer to me. And honestly I agree with him. I thought of asking this person myself what they meant by "ranged" heals but their request changed to simply heals (after almost an hour mind you) and I lost all desire to know what ranged heals were when my hunger pains began. This question may nag at me for some time but I am sure some greater matter will arise and I will push past my curiosity and find something new to ponder like how to remove the smell of death knight and ghoul drool from plate. Although if any of you have any information about ranged heals please by all means share.

I Feel So Bad Now

2010-03-31T18:55:00.003-05:00

I must say the plight of the young kobold has truly touched me. Where I won't say *cough* but anywho as one of the few races of small angry npcs I run across in my long adventure in Azeroth I have seen the light and this will hopefully show you how wrong this kobold genocide is. I think I might have to kill a human to make myself feel better...or find some sort of plan to convert all kobold quests into ones where murloc and gnolls die...particularly gnolls. There isn't enough time in my day to spill all their blood I think needs to be spilled.

Knowing What I Know Now

2010-03-22T22:40:00.002-05:00

Ok though I would have loved to have only the exact song for my blog this is the closest thing I can get to what I wanted so if you would be go kind the song starts at 2:11 on the vid.

*cough*

That said the reason I've posted such a song is simple, I have a lowbie hunter and for some reason this song comes to mind whenever I play her. I look back at my leveling Edy back when I knew nothing of the ways of the hunter and think to myself how horrible and not so bright I was about what I should and shouldn't do. For example:

I know now that you shouldn't fight in melee
shooting and running is fine
I know now that a pet is over powered
at least 'til you're past the 70 line
Just think of it gee,
how great it would be
if I could go back some how
and have my hunter to level oooooover
knowing what I know now

Ok I got more but putting them in song just isn't something my brain can do right now so lets just list.

I know now that as bad as mana management sucks at level 12 it never gets any better
I know now that its a good idea to always keep your pet on passive in a dungeon, in particular ones where you don't know certain things (tank, the instance itself, other dps, etc.)
I know now that strength is not a hunter stat as we don't get ranged attack power
I know now that 80% of other hunters that have played longer than me still don't know these things
I know now that 90% of people you party with in WoW will assume you are that hunter in the 80%
I know now that feign death is the best hunter skill ever
I know now that some pets are smarter than others (I think I wrote a post about this in the past)

So what would you do different if you could do it over again?

Min/Max Makes Edy Wanna Choke A Gnome

2010-03-18T15:10:00.002-05:00

It's been a while since I've just been irritated by min/maxing to the point I wanted to post about it but today happens to have just pushed me over my limit. I just don't understand why people are so insistent on wanting EVERYBODY to do the same thing to their characters just 'cause some guy with a calculator said doing X instead of Y would make you some number you wont even notice better and more uber than all the other uber peoples that you see. Then you can just prance around those people, e-peen flappin' in the breeze, making fun of them cause they aren't a carbon copy of you and the people you copied cause it's the "it" thing to do until the next patch or item drop says you must switch to this spec and spend thousands of gold on regemming, chants, and Advil for the headache you just gave yourself.

Breath.

Now that's off my chest I need to be clear I in no way shape or form have a problem with min/max-ers or their spreadsheets (even if they DO make my eyes glaze over). What I don't like about min/max is the pressure it tends to put on the rest of the player base. So you aren't doing what elitist jerks says is the flavor of the patch for your class, does that mean you aren't doing it right? If your numbers look good then I say do what feels good. For example I know that the wolf is supposed to be the it pet for the raiding hunter. I like my cat. Snuggles and me been doing our thing since I been playing and personally I don't want another pet with me as it makes me feel off when I play. Does that mean I am doing something wrong? So I am losing around 120 dps on paper but for me my computer isn't top of the line so I am prone to lag spikes. My cat does more dps himself than a wolf on a target so maybe for me my kitty is a better choice for the way I play. I caved and got a raid spec I think I conformed enough to get by. My spec isn't perfect but I like it, I don't worry about armor pen or stuff like that (I value what little sanity I have left) , and though I might like to be on the top of the charts in my raids as long as I am showing numbers where they are supposed to be I see no reason to give up little things I do in my class that make it more fun for me just to see numbers on a chart.

Now that I've blown off my steam for the "best hunter pet" article I just read and have begun to lose my train of thought again I will call an end to my rant. Happy fun hunting!

What Edy Would Like To See

2010-03-09T15:38:00.003-06:00

As the next expansion looms in the near future all the new changes have people a titter with thoughts of what could and will be (no more hunter mana HUZZAH), I've found myself thinking that while those things are awesome I would like more. Now its not game mechanics I am really all that concerned with as I will have my hands full learning the ends and outs of my beloved hunter tree, but more "simple" wish I find myself resting on. I have spoken about my prior MMO experience with City of Heroes and I have dabbled in a few other free titles for giggles and I find WoW the more enjoyable but even so that doesn't mean there aren't things I would like to see improved upon.

I like pretty things. That said I do love the look of WoW considering that Blizzard has managed to keep the game playable on underpowered systems (much like my own though I can still see the majority of the perdy stuff) and even though the graphics are a bit dated I don't have a problem with them. Hell sometimes I even find myself just watching the surrounds as I fly around Azeroth just because of how beautiful it all is. My wish isn't so much that we have realistic trees or the likes. What I would like see changed is character customization.

In CoH my greatest fun wasn't beating the crap out of badly dressed villains crawling in back alleys, no sir, it was the sheer amount of customization that you could do to your avatar in just the basic character building that made me the happiest. Now you couldn't make them look exactly like what you wanted but you could come pretty close and all in all that make the toon feel more like it was YOURS than just a carbon copy of everybody else running around in game. That said I know all the things you could do in character design in that game couldn't really work in WoW. It's not like expect them to fire the guy that makes the super large shoulders on the tier or the people that insist on making the horrid looking hunter and paladin gear in the game. Its the naked toon options I really wanna see more done with. I want tattoos. I want scars. I want more than 5 hair styles and colors. I want to walk out into dalaran and not see 15 people that look exactly like me. I don't roll play in WoW but if I did maybe I would want a toon that was missing an eye or something of the sort. Hell at least give me the ability to change Tauren hair color and fur color separately or let me chose more than 3 faces for my troll. I might even let the fact I never got my dance studio I was promised go if I could give Edy tattoos.

Yes my desire is pure vanity but so what? I am sure many people feel like myself and would like to have their toons be a bit more personalized to their tastes. Its bad enough everybody wears the same armor but I think if you let players choose whats under the armor with more freedom. I wouldn't even ask for body type changes (though they would be nice). I know we have little chance of seeing these things but its something I would love to see happen one day.

You can P.U.G. with this or you can P.U.G. with that

2010-01-06T17:09:00.005-06:00

So after a lot of trying to write a blog I figure "what the heck lets ramble and see what happens". So here's to the rambling.

Now dear follower (all two of you still around) I have been far from inactive in game its just be more of a "what the heck do I have to write about?" kinda thing for me. There are new instances, big whoop. As fun as they are they aren't earth shattering enough to me to have my say about them. Its just something fresher to do. Then there is a new raid. That would be great to write about if I hadn't only been in there like 2 times (once pre-lord morwhatshisface nerf and one clear to Sarufang last week) and as such nothing really note worthy happened.

Edy has finally somewhat got back into her pvp action (if Wintergrasp can count as such) and upgraded some gear here and there. Ty has been somewhat placed on the shelf. Not so much out of a lack of wanting to place its just I don't do so well at focusing on more than one or two toons at a time. When I dedicate my time to something I tend to stick with it until I get what and where I wish to be. That said little Bell isn't so little anymore and as of the time I am typing this sitting at 78 and will hopefully be 80 relatively soonish.

Now this fact brings up something I actually DO wish to talk about. Random P.U.G.s. I detest them though not as much as I did when I simply had to rely on trade for my P.U.G.ing needs. People are just as quirky no matter what server you are on its just a matter of luck if you get the good ones, the interesting/entertaining ones, or the down right assholes. If I was a sociologist I would have some very interesting insight on the human nature when one is paired with folks they personally don't know as well as the I/me belief most P.U.G.gers seem to adapt as they run there groups. I have witnessed a trend in low (and I mean depressingly low) dps declaring that they know the only correct way to run something they are all but useless at in the first place. I have seen some of the worst tanking I have ever had the privilege to suffer through. I have also seen players go above and beyond the calls of gear and skill to do things as well. For example I ran with the holy grail of Death Knight tanks once and it turned into one of the most amazing speed runs I have ever been in. This also makes me realize just how little gear does to improve ones performance if one does not have the skills to use it. I have seen people come in with full tier 9 gear and put out dps lower than that of a fresh 80 still in greens and blues. Come on people there is just no way you should be lower than 2k dps on a boss if you have that crap on if you are even pressing buttons to attack. It boggles the mind how bad some of these people are. This also cemented my personal belief that gear score needs to go away period in the game since it is by no means a reflection of what a player is capable of yet it is sadly common to see somebody request some simple and easy heroic dungeon as that of heroic Utguard Keep and post a gear score of 2800+. That is just shear e-peen fluffage when you cant possibly have that kind of rating when you are doing that instance when you are able to get anything of any remote use out of it.

Now with that said I have also been guilty of looking at peoples gear and dps in randoms and comparing it to my own and I forget that people have to start out somewhere. Not too long ago a good friend of mine was voted out of a party for low dps in blues in something like Halls of Stone or regular Trial of the Champion where she could have gotten some gear and badges to improve on what she was doing (like the damn thing is set up to do). She was obviously hurt by this and understandably so. We as geared players tend to forget what it was like when we were getting our starter gear and learning the ropes all those months ago and are much more harsh than we should be on these players. That said, she was doing the correct amount of dps for her gear and spec unlike mister DK that was pulling 700 dps in 245 gear.

That said it will be interesting to see how the grouping system really effects the over all play of players in WoW. Yes it is relatively easy to get carried to awesome casual gear now but at the same time you get the full range of personalities and problems along the way that might make the moderately intelligent player better. Until that time though remember your manners and know your limits. Make your run as good as possible. Most of all have fun.

Lil' K.T. commands it.

So The Cat IS Alive

2009-11-20T16:11:00.002-06:00

That's right dear people, Edy is alive and kicking if not somewhat in a rut. There has been a distinct lack of blogging and the reason is rather simple. There isn't crap for me to write about at the moment. Sure I haven't exactly been sitting on my ass. I have been very busy in game and out with real life work (trying to get back in the habit of sketching is currently kicking my ass). That said, game-wise its been the same old same old for the most part. There has been new gear gotten over the past two weeks which I am excited about (got my tier 4 piece bonus and I am dying to see how it performs in a raid though I am sad I spent all my badges on pants and a chest only to get my first trophy from a 25 TOC just as the time ran out on returning my pants to the vendor). I got the gun and crossbow from 10 TOC the week before and am pleased with the boost that gave me in DPS in addition to the one handers I now own. I've been experimenting with BM and SV numbers in raids over the past weeks as well and am more than pleased at how well BM is doing since its long sickly recovery. Even thinking about maybe going back to that as my main raid spec but I still have a little tinkering to do and am also waiting on the hunter changes in 3.3 to see if thats even more of a boost to me.

Ty has been sort of collecting dust of late due to my hatred of PUGing raids. Its not that I don't like running with new people, I actually enjoy it when its a nice group and cool people. PUGing is hardly ever that pleasant and since I really don't play her enough to completely care about her gear I have elected to keep her open and fresh for random guild needs. Poor girl got stuck in heal mode for a while so it was nice to oil up the axe with some blood yesterday in a guild run of Utgarde. Even the ret death aggro was nice to feel after such a long break from DPS and also made for some good practice for our learning tank and druid healer.

My lower girls Bell and Annie G have been trucking along to get to cap and max professions. Bell is sitting at 56 and Annie 69 and as they grow I begin thinking about the paths I want to take them down at cap and if I wish to deal with the whole progression thing on them or just use them for my profession and money needs. Time and fun make up minds so it remains to see what will come of that.

Thats all for the time being. Hopefully I will have something more interesting to take up your precious internet time.

Happy Halloween

2009-10-31T01:21:00.002-05:00

Figure this is fitting even if the WoW version is a bastard and wont even let me see the stupid mount. Happy Hallow's End and safe tricking and treating.

Full of EPIC

2009-10-16T00:31:00.003-05:00

Ok so I try to keep my loves separate but when you put Queen and Link together its just so full of EPIC. Big ups to HadoukenDude for making this and all the other gems he has. (lets call this a celebration for our renewed thirst for raiding as a guild)

Da Voodoo Shuffle

2009-10-13T09:14:00.005-05:00

What an interesting week it has been for me dear reader. Its not so much that anything good or bad happened its just an old spark of great fun has blazed up recently and by golly if Edy-bear ain't loving it.

For starters I didn't get to raid what I normally do in a given week simply because I was unable to log on on that Tuesday and as such missed some of my normal runs. Was this a problem? Not really. I have my own share to do now that my mother is a bit down for the moment so i kinda needed a day to get some of that stuff straight anyway. That said I did raid some. So was good, some f'n fantastic and some just down right horrible.

The Good:
Friday I ran 10 TOC with some friends and as usual it went really really well, damn boots still didn't drop but it was still a hoot of a time even if I didn't get any loots. We did have a shining moment on the northrend beasts when some well placed exploding raiders took two healers and all but 3 dps with them just as we killed acidmaw. This lead to the most impressive shaman healing I have ever had the pleasure of witnessing in the game as myself, my pally tank, and a mage were left for him to heal the entirety of the last boss phase after some poor charge escape failures. Stuff like that really is a blast when you down what you are after.

The down right horrible:

So the day before the 10 run a hand full of those same friends decided to get a 25 TOC off the ground and suggested I give it a shot with him. Now first off I havent been running 25 in a very long time for the mere fact i cant deal with all the damn lag i get in them with all the spells going off. This was something I worked out in Naxx but decided against it when I progressed into Ulduar just because "I" didnt want the headache and guilt of not so great performance. Most I ran with had no idea i was even having problems. Anyway I figure what the hell and go and over all did well. Dps was low but I assume that was from the lag getting in the way of the tight rotation I have to maintain in SV. But I wasnt the bottom of the charts either. So we blow though everything up Twins and things just kinda spiraled after we get to this and start wiping (we downed them and only 3 wipes on it but between this and what i am about to talk about people probably just didn't give a damn to finish anymore).

I've talked about my dislike of PuG etiquette when it comes to using vent and this night was the shinning example of how to piss off an entire raid all at once. We had a mage with us that for some reason had the overwhelming need to enforce the size of his e-peen to a raid of 20-something other people who could have given a rats ass one way or the other what this guy did out of game. This mage never shut up from the time he joined the raid to the time he was booted from the vent channel. The whole night was his D**k this and i f****d this girl cause i am mister big shot quarterback to butt sex with various people he knew in raid. I dont think the guy took a single damn breath to rest his voice from pull one to the end.

I'm not new to raiding in PuGs by any means so i have heard it all before but somethign about the fact he just never shut up seemed to grate on me. He capped it off with some racist comments during twins and I lost my shit flat out and just went at him in vent. I dont like doing this at all as i am just long for the ride and maybe some loots but damn being in a raid does not give you the reason to be an asshole when you talk just because you like the sound of your own damn voice.

Anyway guy was booted from vent as his racist spouting got worse and I even found out later the raid leader had long decided to not give the guy loot before he even went that far (which i would have loved to see but nothing even came up he could have used anyway and the one that did he lost.).

At least i got a one hand axe out of the hell night...

The f'n fantastic:

So my guild set foot into Ulduar for the first time as a guild Saturday and you could almost feel the nerves radiating off everyone present. None of us that had been in the raid before really knew how to explain Flame Levi as most of us hadn't done all the vehicle types yet (personally only ever done the bikes) so that lead to a wipe and 'reset' and a ton of funny yelling from one particular guildie that made this the single funnest time I have ever set foot in ulduar. I mean how can you not enjoy the sound of a grown man squealing "get awaaaaaay dont chase meeeeeee" over vent every time Flame Levu targeted him?

We managed to two shot Razorscale and X-T after and I have to admit I was pleased and proud of our newer raiders and it shows hope for our future in guild progression.

Other stuff:

Other than the prior I have been loving my shammy rather hard of late. She is enhancement and ripping things limb from limb with all her shamanistic rage.

Here we see Ms. Raspee (if you're nasty) basking in the glow of victory over a particularly nasty group of alliance rare elites that roam the vast Barrens. The was a lot of mace to face action and fiery totem goodness she just had to share with them.

Anyway thats enough out of me for now. Toodies.

There Be Kodo Here

2009-10-02T11:59:00.002-05:00

*gasps for breath*
Ok internet Edyion has a major piece of advice for you. If you haven't played DDR (dance dance revolution) in nearly 2 years and smoke it is not a good idea to try and do a 3 song set where you USED to play. Don't get me wrong I did my three songs and passed em all with nothing lower than a C. Just cost me a lung in the process...

*cough* ANNNNNYWAY. The Ed has not been a terribly busy girl of late just really really lazy. There as been much drunken revelry and many many mounts...ok three Edy got her drake and kodo and Ty even got a ram. Oh she squee'd and Edy bitched (didnt haev her kodo yet) but Ty was happy she now has an epic 6 mounts now.

Ed has seen that bitch Ony a couple of times and picked up her tooth which she now wears prominantly (who knew dragon teeth were so agile) and badged herself out to get 2 pieces of tier.

Ty has been snookered into healing ulduar in the past week by some friends and the teachings of the Great chapped one Ruhtra came to her rescue while she tried to heal Iron Council (even solo at one point but by god those alive were still alive till she ran out of mana and caught a lightening ball to the head). Her DPS has also been ripping things apart. She has no drops BUT she did get her Teir 9 ret gloves and tha makes her a happy beaver for sure.

Now if you will excuse me i must hunt down my lung, The lack of oxygen makes it rather had to form complete sentences.

YARRR!!!!

2009-09-19T22:24:00.004-05:00

Arrrr happy pirate day yeh land lubbers. This isn't what this wench was looking for exactly but when me thinks about pirates I always gets this here jaunty in me ears.

No Tears Here

2009-09-14T18:46:00.002-05:00

So the news of the buff/nerf to my beloved BM has been out for a bit now and I admit I have some mixed feelings about the whole thing. You will not hear me cry about it though. My tears were shed when they leveled me with the 3.0.8. hunter nerf. Now for those that don't know Beastial Wrath and The Beast Within are undergoing some changes that have the hunter community all up in arms. For starters its getting a rather hard reduction from 18 seconds to 10 seconds of duration (that would be the part I don't like). On the flip side we are getting a 10% constant passive buff from TBW which wont put us that close to the other two specs BUT is a start and something I think they should have been doing from the start with the rebuilding of the BM spec. The problem still remains that out pets are still ever so fragile (something they are working on) and as such BM is the glass jaw spec of the hunter world. I will not be a flag waver about the pros and cons of this move for a simple reason, this Ed has no idea what it really means until she sees it for herself.

Now on the PVP side this is hard hitting simply because its a big nerf to burst that came with BW. Though BW and TBW are getting a buff to what the rage breaks (basically all cc just like a trinket) you cant just get that kind of buff without having to pay some sort of price. So the cries are mainly coming from the PVP crowd as they see it as a slap in the face just after they found a spec for PVP that wouldn't simply be run into the ground. Now I too am upset but I look at it as just another hurdle to clear for my beloved class. Nerfs and buffs come and go some you like some you dont, its the passion that keeps one going (else the great controller probably would have let Edy go not long after BM was all but killed). This is simply another puzzle to be solved over time. I will admit it sucks as I had begun committing myself to a 3s team with two good friends and part of this nerf makes me want to tell them "you gotta look elsewhere" since I have never truly loved PVP from the start. On the other hand this almost makes me what to do it more, just to say I can still hold my own even if you take my thunder.

As it stands the changes are still to come and not the present. I for one will worry about them more when they arrive. Yes I know I haven't talked about all aspects this change will effect but I don't feel the need to with not even seeing them and getting a feel for them myself. You will wait with me to see how I feel. I will not let my emotions get ahead of what is to come.

What's Been Up

2009-09-12T18:38:00.003-05:00

Well dear readers I've been planning more fun posts....just haven't gotten around to them. This is partly do to other hobbies and partly do to nothing really going on worth writing about. So here is a rundown.

The princess of rotting pain has gotten her ducktape toting butt to Outland finally and is enjoying titan grip at the moment. "Only thing better than sharp pointy things is Bigger sharp pointy things," she has once told me. Who am I to argue a warrior her pleasure.
Last I saw of the more gentle Ann, she was lost in Arathi hunting flowers or something. Slowly trying to catch Anne-g with her own brand of kitty fury.
Edy has also put her brother out to do some of his own warlockier for money. In other words she cut him off and put him to work.
Ty managed to get that axe she was drooling over for so long and is currently working on getting her conq. helm. She has also been dragged back into healing....though she admits she isn't a completely unwilling party to this.
Edy and Snuggs are doing their thing, raiding when they can find one and just farming the goods to help out the others when they cant. She too has found a nice sharp toy to play with and is contemplating the coming BM changes on the horizon.

I personally have picked up the new Dungeons & Dragons Online and am trying it out when I have nothing better to do. So far its fun. I dunno how fun it will stay as I have no real desire to put in the time to socialize BUT it has given me a bit of a D&D fix. Best of all its F R E E, so no harm no foul if I decide to just up and quit out of the blue.

Now before I completely cut out I do wanna give a shout out to friends Abbadonn and Nymeros and their respective blogs. That about covers it. Hopefully things will pick up soon so I have more to write about. Later.

Party and Bull$#!%

2009-09-01T12:22:00.006-05:00

Nothing says party like a bunch of drunken druids in the middle Silvermoon City.

....well that is till the great Ru breaks out the ass-less chaps (dont ask), a keg, costume wands and WAY too many paper zeppelins. I never knew wisps could be so flashy when they drink.

Was a good night and made for a good birthday. The Ed thanks all guildies and strays in attendance.

When Ed Meets DMX

2009-08-29T15:47:00.002-05:00

As I sit here having a rather horrid day of birth I started listening to DMX's "up in here" and this came out. Might finish it sometime.

Y’all gone make me lose my mind

Up in here up in here

Y’all gone make me run y’all out

Up in here up in here

Y’all gone make me act a fool

Up in here up in here

Y’all gone make me get my crew

Up in here up in here

If I gots to bring it to you alliance

Then its gonna be quick

Say hello to this arrow

And you can suck my crit

And all them other chumps you run with

Can come with

And die quick

How you gone run up on me when you up and started this

There go the gun click

Aw you up and done it

Ganked by some dumb kid

Aint that some shit

Y’all must never get no PuGs

Cause every time you come around its like wut

Just gots ta pwn this lowbie nub

And I don’t know who in the hell you think you crying to

But aint her

Aight sir?

So watch that QQ

Or you gon find yo’self

Spirit rezzin’ somewhere else

Seeing through your rez and stealth

But that couldn’t have been the issue

Or maybe you just saying that now cause I killed you

Whispering me on your horde toon

That’s why yo ass suck running back

Tryin to rez on the roof of the church

Edy telling the truth and it hurts

Y’all gone make me lose my mind

Up in here up in here

Y’all gone make me run y’all out

Up in here up in here

Y’all gone make me act a fool

Up in here up in here

Y’all gone make me get my crew

Up in here up in here

The Aftermath

2009-08-23T17:47:00.003-05:00

Blizzcon has come and gone and now we are left to stew over the ins and outs of all the information dropped in our waiting laps. Now since I am the most concerned with hunter changes and they are the ones that will after me the most in the time to come.

Now I for one any not running around screaming "the end is nigh" and I probably wont be. Why you ask? Well A.) I am actually excited they are changing us and B.) I dont want to freak until its closer to time to worry. We are a class with a resource system that never really fit was it is we do. Hunters are not casters. In general we cant be silenced, we dont actually use spells with few exceptions, and its never really worked for us like it does for other casters. For as long as I have been playing I know I've had problems maintaining my mana pool. Viper is awesome in thought but its never been a solid answer. Before I had it I just stopped and drank water every few seconds. Once I had it (before it was in its present state) when I was questing I always had it on just cause it was easier than stopping in the middle of the quest grind. Snice the change its just a good way to lose your dps cause sooner or later (some specs more so than others) you WILL have to take that 50% reduction and try and get your mana pool back on a long boss fight. Not to mention the tendancy to forget the damn thing is on with all the micro management of pets and yourself in a raid or instance. So why is it everyone is so sure that focus is gonna be the death of us before we even see the near finished result for it?

Yes, change is scary but this could be a godsend. Who knows this could end up making hunters a stand out class to more people. Maybe even convert a few or bring back people to its fold. Its gonna take some getting used to. It wont be the same class in some ways but thats not always a bad thing. I wait with open arms as it stands for it and for the ammo changes (which I also hear crying about but not as loudly). No matter what Snuggles and I will be there to see the end product and beyond. Cant fight your heart after all.

One Happy Edy!

2009-08-21T19:12:00.002-05:00

Hunter news just broke.

Mana GONE! We will have focus now. NO MORE MANA BURN!
No more consumable ammo. IT'S AN ITEM!!!!!

Next up....

No more AP! AGI will give 2 points for us now so bugger off all your mail stealing plate wearing chumps
More stam all around.
no more ranks of skills they level with you.
Haste = more pushy of buttons.

And for my paladin side...

No more mp5. Spirit will do the job in some form or another.
No more SP, Int gives you that.

Lots of nice tasty things to look forward to.....I wish I could stop myself from posting but as a hunter I had to share.

Heroic Deadmines and Shadowfang Keep

2009-08-21T15:31:00.004-05:00

Yeah you heard me right Blizzard is pulling out some big guns for the upcoming expansion. Now those that know me know I didn't really wanna believe anything that was leaked in the past weeks ( still think whoever did it should be fired) but I gotta admit watching the panel for the preview has just gotten me so pumped up for something so far off. Worgens I am excited about. Goblins not so much....well there racial mount is sick so I might play one just for that and maybe racials once I see them.

Honestly there is just too much to much to process to really say what I think. All the changes are just kinda overwhelming and not in a bad way. Changing the old world seems like a big step to me, but then I think about it. I wasn't here for vanilla and to be honest the grind to get to 60 to get to outland (which I loath) was just a chore to me. All the grinding kills and unrealized things that could have been done with them. Thats enough of that looking back. Now is the time to look forward.

They are promising alot with this expansion and honestly i am curious as to how much will actually be done (still waiting on my new dances) and live up to the promises. Tons of new dungeons, seeing zones that we have always wished to see (mount Hyjal and Uldum are two I am personally about to lose my stuffing with glee about finally seeing), and just the freshness this is bringing with it.

So since my brain is all over the place right now about what I am personally thinking about the news I just witnessed I will bring up new things that should make anybody go hells yeah.

The alliance have losted South Shore. HAH see M.A.S. DID make them move shop!
Heroic Deadmines and Shadowfang Keep for 85. *passes out from forgetting to breath after this news*

More later......

An Interlude.....

2009-08-20T15:28:00.004-05:00

For Eus,

Saemys is still watching him. Cant trust them dwarves....especially the ones that aren't drunk.

The "ME" Syndrome

2009-08-17T17:57:00.004-05:00

ME sydrome - the condition of thinking all of Azeroth revolves around you when ever you desire it to.

Ok that might be a bit harsh of a definition but it gets my point across I feel. Now we all have a little ME sydrome in us from time to time. Who hasn't wanted to have somebody's attention at an exact moment in time before, or wanted that phat loot to drop from your boss or a piece of something or other just for looks. Its human nature to want some attention on yourself its just how we are. The problem arises when you cant get past that need for attention and journey into the realm of super annoying. I present a few examples of what I mean.

Case 1:the hype needy mage
I prefer not to name names. At one point I was friends with this person though not as close as he likes to think he was concidered a friend. I didn't see his ME syndrome for a while thankfully though the hints where always there. He had a habit of wanting me to talk to him none stop no matter what i was doing or how I was feeling. I am not a chatty person with most people by nature and as such I tend to like my space and would expect someone to respect that if I say I am busy or dont want to talk right then its nothing personal but simply that I dont want to be social at said point in time. For a while I thought this mage understood that, then I started to get the acusing whispers when in instances saying how I was "always busy" and how he "talks when he runs all the time". Despite the fact it would be clearly listed where I was on the friends list and I knew he could see that if he so wished yet making it sound like I was lying about busy just to avoid talking to him. I dont know about you dear reader, but I personally take offence to somebdoy half assing a run to chat when they should be focused and as such I tend to not do it or bother people in those situation other than a casual greeting. This became almost a daily acusation which DID lead to me not wanting to talk to him at all in or out of busy time. Between that and his treatment of guildies and blatant disrespect for me when I made it clear I didnt want him in the guild if he was just gonna guild hope and he swears he wont just to do it a week or two later I have all but severed ties with this person and his ME snydrome.

Case 2: Tellmehow The Lazy and Carryme

This isnt so much one person as a consistant irritating trait that keeps coming up and annoys me to no end. They are the concept that the only reason other people play this game is to help them get what they want without the work.

Tellmehow The Lazy like to play 20 questions alot with people. Wants you to tell him where x of x is or whats a good place for z about 20 times a given day then the infomation into their own to miscommunicate to others and such. Tellmehow tends to group up with Carryme and they share a I want it now additude. I personally know one such person and through a blow up cause I got tired of his demanding demenor towards me not wanting to answer his questions or run his alts anymore since he was basically dead weight and sucked all the help out of me. Says a alot about a person if they can get so mad you dont wanna go out of your way that very moment to opena door or someting for them ont he other side of nowhere for something they have no need for with a key their lazy ass could get on their own in the first place or (my personal favorite) tell them they wouldnt care if they dropped dead because they were told the answer to the question they asked 50 times over the past few days but not the detailed way their lazy butts wanted because they were too lazy to take the 2 minutes needed to look it up themselves to see it was exactly like that person said.

**BREATHE**

Still a bit sore about that one but as with case one Ed has nothing more to do with this ME Syndrome sufferer and probably never will again.

ME syndrome is not always sever but is still none the less annoying to those being bothered by the afflicted. It gets old when you are busy and people insist you do what they want right that minute cause if you dont you hate them, Well then I hate you. I dont have to stop what the hell i am doing to be your servant. If you need it bad enough you will find somebody else or wait till I am done with whatever it was I was doing. Hell if you are polite about it. I might even speed up what I was doing or ask for a break so I can tend to your need. ME Syndrome will not get this nice Ed however. If I dont wanna talk your ear off or god forbid duel you or something right whe you want me to I must hate you enough to wish the plague upon you. Please if you think i give that much of a rat's fanny about you. you need to talk to the people I actually have long standing deep meaningful relationships with and see how I REALLY treat the people I dont like. Dont throw me your random invites cause you want me to do the killing for you didn't bother to ask me first. I have a tendancy to decline, tag and kill then walk away if you do. Blah blah blah I could go on for days but I will end it here. Learn to stop and say "maybe" to yourself in context the person you are pestering if you think you are suffering from ME syndrome. Make Azeroth a better place and just say "its not about me" once in a while. You might like yourself better if you do. Lord knows I will.-+

Edy Rage: If You Gank Take Your Medicine

2009-08-15T18:19:00.002-05:00

Normally I take my being ganked in stride. I was brought into Azeroth on a PVP server and I learned quickly to take my lumps in stride. Its a right of passage no need to get all up in arms about it. Don't like it, play PVE. Edy did and as such I have never been much of a PVPer though I will never back down from a fight. So it was no surprise with my lil Annie got her lil kitty butt handed to her at the inn in Tarren Mill as I logged in by some nubby alliance DK at the mail box. Sadly for this DK I was in a fairly foul mood that day ( I am a rage-er when I pms not a crier) and I promptly retreaved Edy and hunted him down just to show that would not be stood for. The DK fun was not done with this lowly DK however as two more took up his post not long after. My GM Ruhtra happened by as he too was in a mood to kill and happened upon these yahoos and dealt with them fairly well on his own before I tucked the druid somewhere safe and proceeded to help with the cleansing. Now you would think after not being able to hurt lil ol Edy very much before dropping as the DK of another disgruntaled hordey this guy would cut his losses as most people that do this sort of thing so but no he had a horde toon that he promptly jumped on to call me all sorts of names because he was rolled by 4 people of his level to get him out of town.

"Think you are soooo bad ass cause you gank somebody 4-1 real cool" is just a sample of the garbage he was cluttering my screen with.

I normally let that stuff roll off he back but I have a hair temper at the moment and that did not sit well with me. I gave him an ear full about how he of all people had the nerve to call anybody out for an unfair fight. You bring an 80 into a level 20-30 town and rape the people there yet when it happens to you its wrong. I call BS on that, but as is so often the case, he continued to try and justify himself to me. Began to "say" it wasnt him but the other guy that was killing the lowbies and how he only took out the flight path and try and make it sound like it was me who started the fight saying some horde did it to them or something. Funny how my GM saw him kill some poor 20 something lock that landed there. Never the less it didnt matter to me that he was killing lowbies or whatever he wanted to fess up to. You come into the horde town and start picking on the lowbies you should expect that somebody might kick you back before its all said and done. We do when we do it. I accept my ass whoopings with stride. Sometimes you win sometimes you lose, and I explained as much to him though not in so nice terms (I have a very foul mouth and was Ed-raging I think you can imagine what came out). Continually he keeps lauging me off and well before my eye started twitching I shut him up on my screen and proceeded to camp his balls off. He logs again and talked to my GM, who he admited he couldnt remember how to spell his name, and shoot his mouth off at him. This led to us agreeing to fight him one on one (he wanted my buddy on his dk one on one and my buddy was more than happy to school him). First time he was taken down by a rogue friend of ours fairly embarassingly might I add. Next my friend schooled him two times to which he again logs and bitches to my GM yet again about how he wasnt ready, blah blah blah fluda fluda. At this point I am still pissed and want him one on one myself though he tries to sneak attack me which lead to a big red Ed and snuggles on his undead ass and my kitty chewing his nethers off as he tried to run for his life from a fight it was VERY clear he had no chance of winning.

Now its not the fact this guy ganked I have a problem with. Thats just how it is on PV servers. My problem was the QQ. Take your ass whooping and move on. You brought it on yourself and as such if you take it right out it may be much shorter and less painful (as being killed by a raging hunter pet alone has to be embarassing to a almighty DK). If this guy had never cried to any of us about how unfair what we did was when he was killing people 40 levels lower than himself he may have been left alone some what once he had moved on. The fact he tried to make himself in the right pissed me off and those with me and as such the pain was unending untill he logged from that toon for the night. If you play with fire you get burned sooner or later. Take your beating and move on. End Ed-rage....for now.

An Edy Filled With Glee

2009-08-10T15:39:00.004-05:00

So for once this break in posting has nothing to do with having nothing to do but more so excitement and busy-ness stemming from 3.2. For the past week I have been wrapped up in running the new 5 man and Ulduar attempts with friends as well as hardcore heroic farming I just haven't had the time to break and actually write anything. I am having a blast. Much more so than when 3.1 hit. So what is it that has me so happy?

Well I love the little things in the game. As much as I love PVE, I love to hunt down things for collecting more. First thing up I log in Wednesday and BAM I get my green proto-drake after months on months of getting the stupid oracle egg and hoping against hope it would drop. On top of that I have gotten the Argent warhorse from the tournament vendor (something nice about seeing Edy on what is basically a pally mount) and begun collecting the super adorable baby raptors that have sparked that "I must have" part of my mind that clicks when I see dangerously cute things.

Been having fun with my druids and their beautiful forms when I have had the change. Not too keen on having to get use to retadin again but thems the breaks. Surprised beastmastery buff was as good as its turned out to be. Its not the tops but by God it feels good to compete again in a spec I truly love.

Now I have done all this. Downed bosses I never thought I would. Grabbed gear for both my pally and hunter. Run myself tired with heroics and see no end in sight. One thing makes me giddy like a school girl with a new glamour magazine though. I mounted my netherwing drake to fly out to all this new goodness and what should my eyes see but my drake GLIDING. I am a simple woman of simple pleasures but damn if it doesn't feel weird that thats the thing I was most exited about patch day. I wasn't lying when I said the little things make me the happiest in this game.

Edy's Theory on Pets: This Cat is Will Be The Death Of Me

2009-08-04T01:53:00.006-05:00

As the awaited 3.2 patch looms before us with days of errors and bugs I would like to take the opportunity to revisit a topic near and dear to this hunter's heart. Pets. Now as I have stated before in previous posts, I have a very strong opinion that pets in WoW vary in ui from different types of the same family, and much to my surprise my time on Cho'gall has given me the prefect test subjects for said theory.

Now let us start with my poor little hunter, Artashia. Tashia is having enough of a struggle what with being knee deep in horde in the middle of Iron Forge that she ended up with the one kitty in the whole of the Exodar crash sight determined to avenge all his fallen brothern that the space goats smashed into kitty paste with their not too soft landing. Boris SEEMED ok at the start.

Just a happy death kitty helping mama get X amount of X killed for X loot. Then Tashia began to notice a pattern when numberous mobs where invovled. Dear Boris began to bring her too many play mates and would continue to do so with glea until she was forced to run her space goat butt to safety only to have to try again. Tashia thought this strange but never the less wanted to have faith in her kitty though she did coin the phrase "this cat will be the death of me" when talking to her partner in crime. The final nail inthe coffin came when Tashia was given the task of murloc control in the wetlands. All was well....for a while....when Boris decided that one camp of murlocs simply wouldn't do and the moment was right for the assassination of his hooved opressor and set his plan into action. Now I am honestly not aware of how many murlocs came in this assalt. I was a bit too busy killing the bastards as long as I could before having Tashia make her last run for survival, out running two murloc with 5 hp to spare. I do have to commend Boris in his attempt, he did almost manage to take me with him and normally murlocs are mean enough to kill without any help from mr. pissy kitty things just weren't in his favor. Thank the Naruu for mobs having leashes. So Tashia decides to throw herself off a bridge and run to Eversong to claim a more ...resonable kitty.

Bela (as in Bela Lagosi) has been a prince, in fact his mood tells me he could very well be a cousin of Edy's own Snuggles. Now he is a bit more agressive that Snuggles has ever been but he does just about everything the same in terms of how the hunter can control him. Take him to those same murlocs and not a single issue arose. Maybe I, as a player, just have a better kinship with Lynx than the other types but this kind of situation has really peaked my interest in studying the difference in pet attitude. This has been a bit more fruitful than looking back at Edyion's pets long after they are gone. Tashia still has Boris and Bela so I very well could just level them both and see just what there is to see and if the pet theory holds true. This could prove to be very interesting.

Memoirs of a Feline Bachelor: Part I

2009-07-23T12:55:00.004-05:00

Hello valued reader it is a pleasure to get my time with you all. Edyion is a little busy (or not busy depending on how you look at it) and is a little bit of a low time in the game and after her great depression on the state of BM hunters flared again because of the hunter Q&A she decided that her precious Snuggles should step in and hold down the fort. I would like to take the time to give you all a better idea of the greatness that is Snuggs and a look into my relationship with my beloved mistress.

For starters, a formal introduction. My full name is a Lord Byron Snugland IV but for some reason (probably that cruel streak of hers) my dear Edyion quickly ignored my regal name and insists on calling me Snuggles. I suppose this could be worse. You all have met Woofles I asume. Moving on, I spent my early years in quiet dominance of Eversong Woods when this scrawy pointy eared creature began following me around trying to tempt me with treats and whispering sweet nothings into my subconscious. Well being a cat of high class I wasn't about to have this weird thing have its way with me. I've seen too many of my own kind fall to this kind before, however as I tried to chew her face off she never once put up a fight and well that left an impression on me. So I went with her.

My relationship with my dear Edyion even started out on a high. She took great care to feed me and make sure I got all the things necessary for my developement into the lean mean gnome munching, druid loving machine I am today. Never one to leave me behind she even willingly bit the dust with me to prove her loyalty. I could never serve another mistress for there will never be another Edyion in this cat's heart. As for how I feel about my stable mates...well thats a story for another time.

Come Get Some!

2009-07-20T17:48:00.006-05:00

Well yesterday was a rather eventful day for the Ed. First off I rolled an alliance druid (yup I said alliance) Saemys, on Cho'gall after some coaxing by my friends Ruhtra and Eus and got her to level 10. Now I am sure by now a good few if not all of you have heard of the ratio issues on Cho'gall with the horde supposedly out numbering the Alliance about 7-1. Now if this was a PVE server I wouldn't even bat an eye at the situation, however, Cho'gall is PVP and those kinds of numbers are just too lop-sided to ignore (I should know I tried but a certain suicidal healer wouldn't let me). So after talking with Ruhtra about this realm he raised some interesting points:

With those kinds of numbers one can't help but wonder just how "good" these Horde are with the slim pickings of Alliance trying to hold down the fort.
The auction house should prove interesting as the listings are slim to say the least.
Come see how bad it COULD be and learn to enjoy Dagerspine a bit more.

So I caved and lil Sammy came into the world. I must admit its a bit surreal just how few allies there really are on that server. I think I was level 10 before I even came across another Alliance player and trade was just ...well...dead. Part of me likes that as it means less people bothering me as I level (though I did manage to attract the ONE stalker in the entire zone, go figure...) but after reading Gchat it really sinks in how bad off these people are. I haven't seen any Horde myself yet but the higher levels have been camped several times in the past day and a half I have been there. Hearing them talk about that and not being able to get Ed and do something about it takes me back to when I first started on the D-spine. So I realize the further I go with this druid until I reach a resonable level and learn how to PVP with a druid I am going to have a lot of bottled up anger. Which brings me to the rest of my day.

There hasn't been a "Code Red" in some time and honestly I am feeling the rust and as a result lost my desire to PVP some what (can only take getting it up the bum so much in arena before I've had my fill) and after dinging 10 I get on Ed to see if my services were needed. Who should get my attention but my own personally Harley Quin saying the usual crap is going on in Tarren Hell. Hell I was feeling froggy so I flew in to my death but only because of the 2-1 odds (give or take .5 I dont remember just how many allies were on my flight path but I know it was about 5 i saw) and the death of Eus as I opened fire. From there it got REALLY fun. Once everyone regrouped from the chaos we walked right over the rampaging Allies which quickly turn tail and head for the heals (cept for one idiot 74 druid but we shall not waste space on him as he seems to be wanting MAS to put him on the hit list but he bored us rather quickly with his one trick pony ways). At this point many an 80 are pissed off and at one point we build to a 3 group raid and proceed to clear out the town formally known as South Shore MAS style. The group of allies that fled finally came back with more guildies and we continue to kill them like dogs as they continually proved they had no real knowledge of PVP mechanics or the likes but who are we to turn away game 80s. I know we spent hours killing them all and they even made a comeback rally killing us all after we got a little split up but we are very patient pvpers and know full well you don't go guns-a-blazing back into the jaws of death and after a clean swept of TM they seemed to get the picture and moved on (cept for 2 rogues and that blasted druid but again they bored us so we moved on). Now I don't normally do this but I must salute for bring their guild out to play with us. Snuggles had much fun gnawing on your bones. Please do come back again. With me gimped on another PVP server I will be needing some people to help me vent fustration after all.

P.U.G: Experiments In Socailizing

2009-07-17T22:20:00.006-05:00

I've done my fair share of raiding in pick up groups and its always a crap shoot. Sometimes they are fantastic people (rare but it happens) and others they are a nightmare. The nightmare groups come in a variety of forms ranging from people not having the slightest clue what they are doing in the raid or on the toon they are playing to simple asshole-ish actions by various members of the raid. Any soul that has PUGed knows its a risk and sometimes you just have to know your limits and cut your losses.

Today was not a day to cut my loses as I did pick up a nice ring and some shoulders to play around with (that I doubt i will ever use but again they are to play with and nobody else wanted them). The raid itself was almost completely PUG with a few members knowing each other and the run itself was pretty drama free in terms of the group itself as all players were up to snuff and very pacient as we trucked along to down KT. So why have I made a post about PUGing if everything went so well? Well its the social part of the PUG that was my issue with the run and it wasn't so much fustration with the raid itself but more of one with the guys running it and the vent they used. The leads were nice enough guys and perhaps that was a bit of the problem.

I made the mistake of raiding with a headache but I was all by myself today and planned to take full advantage of that fact so I sucked it up and ran my run. Now my problem with the socail in this group was the constant chatter of a lower leveled guildy of the raid leads butting into our raid chanel and never shutting his trap the entire run. Now let me break this down for you valued reader (i know somebdoy has to read this stuff). First as we all log into vent the gemtleman welcomes himself into the channel and procceds to not do this only once but under several different names as to cause painfully loud feedback to all those in the channel. This contnued for a while and at the time it at least seemed like this was a consern to the raid leads as they quicky began to try and figure out which people where his (hard to do because many people do not use the name of the toon they are playing in vent so its kinda hard to know who the hell is who). They failed to shut him out but he left on his own taking the loud noises with him and all was fine for a while. As we got further in he did feel the need to return and give updates on his progress to 80 though only 2 people in the vent actually would have even cared enough to want to know how he was doing. Again though this was irriating it was not a huge problem. His activity really picked up however when another fairly annoying gent joined our raid to replace someone and began to chat with the guy and brag about how far he was in ulduar as we ran into problems with trash in arachnid wing. Now as the late mention warrior was a pain to listen to at least he was IN the raid and some of the time the things out of his mouth actually pretanded to the situation at had the other "genius" began making his own quips in random areas and sometimes in areas were he seriously could have messed us up.

Now this is by no means the first time I have had to deal with this but the guy was REALLY loud and with my headache getting worse from hours of sitting in this raid it really began to grate on my nerves. By the time we reached Sath and get ready to pull he even starts yelling in vent he wasn't ready almost confusing the entire raid. I am sorry but if about 85% of the raid dont know each other's voices it becomes hard enough to tell wahts going on without some ass adding to the complexity of the situation by throwing a new unknown person into the mix in which you have no idea who he is. We then have a bit of troiuble with people dying on the frozen bastard of a dragon and though I can not say for certain if he was at fault I am sure it didn't help with people's focus during the fight.

Nerd rage began to kick in on KT and the warrior semi flashing the raid with his e-peen also pushes my last nerve as we wipe twice on KT before downing him tearing down raid members ired from the long haul for mistakse that can happen when you are tired and a little too focused to get done and yelling at our melee for being frozen when the majority of our dps was melee (not smart for KT but I was not the one in charge). I have to comend them for not freezing him along with each other with that kind of crowding. This is not the end of the problems with the vent durning the fight. Not only is the warrior basically taking over the vent bossing people around but he and the raid leads began talking about the more random things when vent should be clear so we can cut down on ussless deaths. That at the end of the day was about my breaking point and raises a intersting question for a PUGer.

When exactly is a PUG a BAD PUG? Its very obvious when the group cant even get in the door without about 10 wipes on trash in the first room or numbers look WAY to low for the people there or your raid lead is wearing greens, but is it a BAD run when you have this kind of organization issues in raid communications? Yes we had a good group of people in the PUG but we even had issues with buffing because people couldn't even hear what others needed as the vent was practically unuseable the majority of the run for useless chatter. The run itself ran probably about 2 hours longer than it would have with clear channels and communication as many wipes probably could have been avoided. For all the chatter going on I would have been about as well off not in the vent at all rather than getting irriated at the loud nonsense asaulting my ears. Even without the headache I would have seriously thought about leaving the PUG even though thing were still going fairly well. Had the group be a slight bit worse or not done as well in the early wings I dont think I would have been alone in wanting to get out at that point. Its a bit irresponsible to not control your raid's communication channels like that. Its irritating enough to deal with overly chatty raid members as is when they talk about random things in important areas but to have a guildy disrepect the raid itself because he couldnt "go" is way worse. WoW is a socail game. I might be thinking a bit much of the people that play but at some point you have to realize there are things you should and shouldnt do social situations. Perhaps i just expect too much from people. After all most act like this in there everyday life its just a bit more over the top in the virtual world I suppose.

The Low Time

2009-07-11T11:01:00.003-05:00

So its been a while since I've posted here and with good reason. Nothing of interest to me to write about is happening at present. Been running Naxx 10 with guild with mixed results thought mostly positive but at current I have seen no reason to post about that. I haven't run anything for myself in about 2 weeks now, not playing low level alts at the present since (I'd rather wait for 3.2 to get the new mount pricing) and am just starting to bring Tytanya back into action. Is this saying I am bored with WoW. By no means there is just nothing pressing for me to write about, however I need to keep the habit up so lets see what I can scrounge up.

Patch 3.2

Overall this patch is mostly a disapointment to me but rather than spend weeks bad mouthing the changes here I am more interested in waiting to see what happens when things hit the live servers. Many things make little sense to me and at the moment seem to be making an easy game even MORE easy. Lowing mount costs yet again ticked me off more than the first time they did it but thats more killed my desire to work on alts than anything and if you think about it isnt really gonna make anything that much easier as people still have to earn the gold to get the mounts even if it is cheaper and at level 20. My hopes for beast mastery changes are dying pretty fast as the only changes coming are the very things that get us nerfed in the first place, buffing the pet more. Ret changes have me a little more happy as that pain in the ass Seal of Blodd is going bye bye and Seal of Command and Coruption are getting buffs as well as some changes to our mechanics that I am eager to see in action. There are some healing changes I haven't been playing a ton of attention to that I plan to look into soon. There are more mounts for me to work on getting Edy and more small pets to drool over. Blah blah blah. I am really just not that concerned with whats in the patch currently like I was in 3.1.

Guild Raiding

Since we started Naxx 10 as a guild weeks ago I have been pretty pleased with over all performance but that performance has a few kinks in it. As a whole dps is rather low but is being offset by me running Edy in her raid spec and 3k to 3.8k dps definately pulls up dps numbers to about where they should be in there. That sadly is my problem. There hasn't been any change in the people consistantly doing low numbers and it has nothing to do with the fact until last week we were only downing spider and nobody would try for later in the week to get more down. Naxx 10 gear is pretty equal to heroic gear however I haven't seen the low numbers doing there heroic homework either to improve their numbers and hinting they need to seems to not be working. So what to do? Well Ty needs gear and is very Naxx ready for dps and ok for healing (I have done both on her before) so I am thinking its time for people to see for once where they REALLY are and take Ed out of the equation.

Well there is your update. Other than being sad I could never get my worgen pet and never will there is only the same shit on a different day. Here's hoping things pick up.

The Quest for Happy (or) "My Dog's Name is Woofles"

2009-06-23T12:41:00.003-05:00

"Hello Edy where the heck have you been?"

I been doin' dis and dat. Lil' Ulduar. Lil' guild drama. Lil' achievementing. Lil' soul searchin' and rescued a stray puppy.

Whats this? What kinda damn answer was that? Well dear reader Edy has been bustin' her ass and having her calm tested for the last few days. Lets start with raiding. This past Wednesday your girl was back in the cold gates of ulduar taking in the sights and busting an arrow in many an iron dwarf. Managed to down 3 bosses that night but I had to come to a very painful crossroads and had to make an admition to myself that BM, as much as I love it and always will, was not going to put out the numbers I need to be truly completely raid useful to the people I run with. I also had to admit it wasn't fair to the people I run with to not try and fix that. Solution. I went back to that damned SV tree and by God this time it works. I dont know what I was doing wrong first time that was killing my dps. Exact same rotation. Spec isn't that much different just a point or two moved around. Either way it works and even if i fuck up my rotation timing a bit I still maintain 3k dps pretty easy. Its about time that Dual spec paid off for Edy, and now as BM/SV I can easily have my utility when I need it in a pet tank and put out the big numbers when I have to. I used our second ulduar day as my testing ground and the change was very clear and I must say makes me feel good to not feel like the dead weight in the run.

Now in the days between some guild drama went down and we lost 2 more members (one of which I could kiss for leaving) to a guild supposedly wanting to help us progress in the end game. Over all the course of this infection in M.A.S. I have become somewhat jaded as to caring what people what to do or dont want to do. That said however I personally have had to deal with tons of drama I sure as hell want nothing to do with as well as revolations that certain members feel there is an elitest mindset in M.A.S. itself. I was not aware pulling favors with a guild I have become good friends with over time to try and get some folks some experience and gear (folks might I add have put forth effort to progress on their own anyway) was being an elitest. I have never been a recruiter as I dont like people in general so I work with what I have aquired over time to help those that have shown the desire to do something for themselves. That however limits my ability to help but in no way makes me an elitest. I am not in charge of these runs but whatever I wont rant about that any longer it gives me a headache and really does nothing to make me want to interact with the guild I truly love.

Now I have been in flux trying to find my happy place in game again. I love instancing and raiding its where I feel I shine and even though the fights dont really change alot split second flubs/choices make for fun times for me when I have to test my skills in my class. The fact BM is so far behind MM/SV the last weeks I have been having a hard time with that happy. I had even reached the point i didnt even want to raid anymore. SV has given me that little bit of piece of mind back. I dont love it but its more fun that it was the first time I tried and as such I think I think can deal with it until blizzard can (if ever) fixes my beloved BM tree. Also in my quest for happy I have sadly found my self distancing myself from the guild I love so much. I think I have just gotten too used to running with people that are where I am in terms of skill I just really haven't felt like dealing with short tempers on learning runs, trying to teach lil' role things that should be known before reaching this level, lack of commitment, and the shooting star syndron a few get telling them to reach further and faster than they really have the ability to. I do admit fault and I could probably more to show but I honestly have no desire to explain every single aspect of everything. I am not a leader by desire. I wont be the person teaching do this this and this to explode the charts cause I dont know that kind of stuff myself well enough to teach anybody. I can only find my happy and move from there. Its a work in process.

Lastly I picked up a stray in my transition to SV raiding. His name is Woofles and anybody that is a fan of the comic Squee you will know where I got the name and he is a good puppy so far. Snuggles probably isn't keen on having to share my attention but honestly I dont have the heart to have him die all the time in raids when I am SV and also that boost from Woofles' howl makes for a nice boost. I might end up being all snuggles all the time again over time but I think my Snuggle-butt has earned his little vacation. Maybe I wil test he waters with Snuggles in our Naxx 10 attempt tonight.

Beastly

2009-06-15T15:04:00.004-05:00

Well this weekend nothing much really happened. Once again no tiger from that bastard of a troll but I will not admit defeat yet. Green proto drake is still hiding from me. Got stuck in a failed Naxx 25 and didnt do much other raiding. Then to top things off I still cant get my stupid Battle Bot. All bitching aside though I am rather happy this week. For starters even though that Naxx 25 was a fail boat filled with the bottom rungs of top guilds on D-spine I got the one thing I abosolutely lusted after but had resigned myself to not seeing. The sexy Arrowsong is mine and I one very pleased Ed! *cough* Sorry about that....anyway its not so much I needed it. I wanted it because honestly every stat was better for BM and god knows I needed the hit since am seriously tied down in what I can do since if I lose hit from any single thing I have it on I will drop to just above 7% which is below the hit cap for me (I do wanna actually wear my T 8.5 pants at some point after all). This brings some issues to my mind though and with the looming rumors of an impending BM hunter buff it leaves me with some questions as a raider that uses the spec. Where exactly do us beast masters belong in the raid world?

This question has been bouncing around for months now and seems to not be something Blizzaard has found a solid way of fixing. When the great hunter nerf of '09 stuck I dont think the Blizz folks really thought out just how hard us poor loyal BMers would be hit and bleed out. They took our steady shot and volley power which was....ok. Then to add salt to the wound they took out pets umph away. Now I understood the need for the steady and volley nerfs though i might not have liked them. Those affected all hunters and honestly with damage volley was dealing we had no need for any other move. The problem for the BM hunter comes with the fact that we have no other shots in tree to make up for this loss. I personally speced to get aim shot cause i think its a waste to use multi on a single target or for those cases you dont need to hit but one target in the middle of a grouped mob. The problem with that is that multi and aimed shot share the same cd so in reality i have no extra shots to work with. I have auto, steady, my stings, volley and arcane (which is a joke shot imo with the minimal damage it does) and my pet. In a raid this is a problem. At times I cant have my pet fighting because I need him alive to keep the little boost to my ap up (for example Heigan, as my pet also can die from the waves). Now since my pet is removed I effectively lost a desent amount of damage on that target putting me at a bit of a handicap in the numbers game. Now in previous posts I have pointed out I do pull my weight in raids thats never been an issue because whatever I lack in sheer killing power I make up for in spades with my ability to do the utility jobs I am usually asked to do in raids.

"Why not just go Survival?" I'm stubborn. I also completely fail at learning to control SV. I can do my utility stuff BM allows in my sleep where as SV I cant react because its not second nature to me. I could never feel comfortable in that spec and as such I will gladly take my knocks as the underdog beast master. BM wasnt exactly the raid spec when I started raiding at 70 either Marks was and I still took up the challenge to make it work. Why change now?

That said Blizz is still aware that BM is below where it needs to be. With the last patch hunters did get a buff in general as hunter's mark's damage was buffed by about 200 I believe and all ranged items 226 and up recieved stat buffs to make up for the lack of specialty arrows we had in the BC days. Then there was a buff to a Marks talent as well and thats fine and dandy, but how does that exactly help a BM hunter? We again begin to fall behind as our pets really recieve no boost from hunter's mark and personally the weapon buff has no effect on what i do for the mear fact I have a 213 bow that is the exact same as before this patch came. Mind you I am by no means saying these changes are not good its just not dealing with the problems plaguing BM. Blizz has been commenting on this as well and it leaves me to wonder what exactly CAN be done about it at all?

We got our pets back to just about what they were before the first nerf. So I dont think pet buffing is a fix. We still fall pray to the fact our pets are fragile things and if they die we loose alot so it wouldnt make sense to make a BM hunter live or die with their pet and if your pet cant help at all in that fight then you are even more stuck. We also run into the problem of letting the pet play for the hunter with anymore buff as well. So if you cant buff the pet they maybe the hunter? Now I am all for this but then we run into HOW to do this? Do we buff the amount of ap given from the pet? That could work and could probably be easily done but still leaves us a little too dependant on the pet though its not gonna be as bad as the pet doing the damage itself. Now we could also be given a shot of some sort or a buff to a talent that increases our steady shot or something. Since blizzard said they had no intention of completely overhauling any more classes at present giving us another buff built into an existing talent seems the only possible choice to buff the class. I dont even have any ideas on how they can do this but I sure its being covered since they finally acted on Marks after they saw no changes for a while. I stand really curious of the future of my spec in the lands of Azeroth. Until we see some changes i can only do what I do best and thats take my cat, my spec and pwn some face in a no so direct manner.

Wonder If I Should Spec Into Elbow Grease?

2009-06-12T14:58:00.003-05:00

Strange title yes? Leaves you wondering "WTF is she talking about?". Well let me explain. Two days ago a mage in the guild hit 80 and immediately starts trying to raid. Prior to this he had also been bugging us about promotions and why we don't raid more but considering he was the kind of guy that really didn't do much guild wise (not that expect alot out of guildies we are more of a do what you can with or without us kinda group cause of numbers) I saw this as a sign he was getting ready to bail (boohoo) and even told my GM as much in a convo with him. At the time the mage in question was about 78 and had just made the tell tale statement to us in G chat "I was wondering why you guys dont raid more" we explain, "Oh well I been asked to join some other guilds but I have no intention of leaving you guys are the shit." Having heard this on a number of occasions as with one troll priest that leveled to 80 in our guild I now translate statements like that as:

Party in question: So you guys dont raid much....this other guild does and they will hold my hand and give me epics and I dont have to do anything but be there. Maybe I will hang around to see how much I can get out of you suckers before I haul ass.

At the end of this "talk" I call him leaving somewhere between a week to two weeks tops for "greener pastures". Surprise, surprise when I log in yesterday and get a whisper "that mage left" from an elder guildie. His reason? "I met this guild they say they can carry me through raids to get geared, I want my T8. Peace" /gquit. My rebuttal? Boohoo. I'll be honest I never liked the guy. Always bragged about what gear he had on a toon that we never seen before cause his account was "hacked" and its really hard to like a guy that has to constantly flash his e-peen at people that could give a good fart about what had. From the time he joined all he did was ask for 70 runs because he didnt have wrath yet. Not that this was an issue it was mearly annoying and kinda gave some insight into his mindset, at least to myself. His lack of knowledge, despite what his grand posturing might have implied became apparent once he got wrath and started in northrend. He constantly asked about stats that any mage should have known by that point if it was actually something they worked to get.

What am I getting at and what does it have to do with my title? It's simple. Wonder if I should spec into elbow grease = (in game terms) should I do my own work or should I make others do it for me? Why should I put out the effort when I can just bug the tar out of somebody else to do the work for me? Why should I have to know anything about what I am doing?

This pisses me off honestly. I am the kind of person that when I started I loved figuring out how to do things on my own. It wasn't because I wanted to persay, but more because even though I had friends that played when I started I'd rather do it on my own than depend on them and get under foot. I had help but it wasn't often. I did/do guild runs but if its something I want I can just suck it up and get it myself in a PUG or something even though I might be fustrated to no end by shear stupidity and nerd rage. But thats fine. That just makes everything I have done and gained to this point more special to me because "I" did it myself. I might not be the best in my class or the tops of the charts but I do what I do damn well because I learned it by trial by fire. I dont have to ask which piece of gear is better for me and my spec because as I leveled I learned by my own research what worked in theory and by actual use what worked for my play style. I honestly couldn't ask anybody about anything I do in guild because nobody does it. I am the top hunter and the one thats been doing it the longest so I dont have any of those to ask. I am really the only ret pally in guild (though we have 2 tanks that have it as an off-spec but that still doesnt make them ret in my opinion) so again I have been on my own with that, and even with my holy spec I ask for tips rarely because its better if I learn it on my own.

I can't understand this "I need others to do for me" kind of mentality and actually find it to be a bit of a slap in my face. Why should I carry you your first time? Nobody carried me ( and most of the time nobody carried the others in the group either or they woulnt have the skill to carry you (also my opinion)) and as such I shouldn't have to carry you. Why do my work then do yours too? What the hell is in it for me? So you got gear? Then what? You still dont know how to use it. What use are you to me then? Just another geared placeholder thats gonna get angry cause when we are fianlly all the same "level" you still will be being carried but nobody will be able to and you will become "that guy" they wonder why they brought.

Now as much as I would like to appologize to those this offends, I refuse. This is how I feel and if you dont like it maybe you should think about WHY this makes you angry. I dont recall anywhere in this game or its contract where it says I have to spoon feed anybody anything. If you put forth the effort its more enjoyable (at least to me but excuse me for thinking I'm rational). Does this apply to every case? No. I am viewing this in respect to main toons, extras are a whole different kettle of fish. Am I just bitter cause nobody carried me? No and I have recieved my share of help dont get me wrong but I value my work and pain. I prize the elbow grease that went into Edy. I just dont understand how somebody can expect or WANT to be carried. Whats the point of playing a game if you dont, you know, PLAY?

But Hey I'm Not a "REAL" Hacker

2009-06-08T00:35:00.006-05:00

A'ight people this article is a few days old but its something that bugs the hell out of me and I thought I would share it here (not that as many people read this as read wow.com....um if anybody is reading at all). First off before I spit my fury about this article I would like to say I got all my goods back Saturday many days sooner than I was expecting, but I digress.

A few days ago wow.com had a story about one of the editor's friends being scammed in game as a warning to those in Azeroth to be wary of "blood elves selling mounts". We all seen people selling this stuff in game and yes one should always assume this is shaddy but none the less there are people that actually do wanna trade codes and what not for game gold (clearing the water here as I do sympathize with what has happened to these people as a result of scammers). A while later we get another article about said story except its from a very strange stand point albeit an interesting if not infuriating one. The author of the previously mention "blood elves" tale happens upon the very scammer mentioned that got her friend and proceeds to interview him in game.

Now I wont get into the particulars of the interview as you have eyes and can read it yourself. Nothing was said I wasn't expecting. The usual "people are stupid" comments one comes to expect from somebody justifying their actions. No earth shattering reason surfaced like some strange Robin Hood complex or something. The guy admits he does it for the money and in a way, though I don't agree, I do somewhat respect that he is willing to say that flat out (personally would have said something more outlandish but that's me). I however lose my shit when I see "Nah, I don't screw with their gear or anything. I get gold, mats, and gone. I could turn into a real hacker: delete characters, items, transfer servers, but nah. And gold and mats can get restored within hours." This ass actually had the balls to try and make himself seem like a "good" hacker.

"What's that you say?

I stole your account took your money and sold yout off items but only the ones didn't seem like you would use?

But I left you your regular gear and I didn't delete you characters or anything just, you know, made your pockets and bags a little lighter.

Not like I am a 'real' hacker.

I do have a heart.

I just taught you a life lesson that's all."

So just cause you didn't make it as hard as possible to get the stuff back for the person you hacked you are not a "real" hacker? If I said something that damn stupid I would slap the shit out of my own self for ever thining it. Last I checked if you do not have permission nor have you been given express access to an account or system and you FORCE your way in, harm or no harm, you are a H A C K E R. If you break in just to move an item to say "i am here" you are a hacker. If you willfully remove the rightful owner from his/her account and mess with /sell/ delete their stuff its all the damn same you are a GD hacker get over yourself.

Now that made me angry but I wasn't boiling yet. No friends I hit my boiling point when I saw how many asstards (hmm I seem to be losing my ability to come up with actual valid words but do bare with me) basically spouting the same nonsense as this scum in the article. "You got what you deserved! Idiots should be hacked!" So the wow community as a whole is telling me that they are perfect? That they though maybe not in such a shady manner been talked into doing something stupid in a momentary laps of judgement? Am I to believe that the "good" people of Azeroth are such large elitist jock straps that they can't remember a time when they weren't as savy to the ways of the internet? I don't care who the hell you are or how it happens it still hurts when you get something you worked hard for taken away. That "you are stupid bend over and take it" bs will not fly. I can not and WILL NOT understand it. Sooner or later it will happen to them as their bravado, in my opinion, is nothing but show. Everybody fucks up there is no reason to be cruel about it.

(deep breath)

That said I am happy people spoke up in this article much sooner than in the previous one about statements such as the one that turned up the fire of my hatred. Its bad enough that somebody gets hacked they dont need a whole lot of "U R TARD U GOT WAT U DSERV". I must also mention how saddened I was by the hand full of people also, like our friendly neighbourhood con-artist, felt the need to justify to the wow.com community that they only bought gold from the legit gold farmers. One guy even went so far as to say he got he guy be buys his from to send him a screen shot and it was a chinese system. This same guy was also probably one of the ones pointing fingers and proclaiming "you are stupid" from the mountain tops where he seems so pure and unhindered by the wow novice. You say these things because you need to feel like you did nothing wrong. Its been eating at your thoughts "well what if it WAS that guy in that story that did that terrible thing and stole that gold? What if I get hacked cause bought gold?....but that could never happen. The little asians love me." And to that the ridiculed could say you TOO are asking for it sir or madam, then they too could scream you are stupid from the tops of the mountains. They would have every right to. Because in a way you are worse than the guy that did steal the gold and sell it to you. He knows he is doing it and admits it though maybe not like we would like him to (or him to pay a price for it but honestly what can you do longterm?). He may have said he wasn't a "real" hacker but he never said he didn't hack. He never said he didn't steal to sell it. He didn't lie and say he saw the light and is suddenly hit with the weight of guilt of the masses he has left in despair. To him this is business and he has no problems with it. At least one of half of this tag team of moral destroyers understands his role and freely admits it (though colorfully). The other half is just as bad if not worse. Denial is ugly and dangerous. Remember that next time you visit your friendly gold seller. Remember to check your pockets when you leave as well.

....not that, you know, they aren't "honest". After all the little asians love you.

Volated

2009-06-05T17:34:00.005-05:00

Well those of you that know me personally know I was hacked this past Wednesday briefly. I was attacked while I was online and checked my email so I basically watched as every attempt I made to stop the attack failed and my account was transferred into the hands of a person I will probably never even cross paths with again in life. Surprisingly as much as I value Edy in particular and the thought of ever loosing her terrifies me that wasn't my first concern. It was M.A.S. and the fact due to certain factors I had no way to tell anybody that the person touching Edy wasn't me. Since I was online when I kicked and violated however I had been chatting so my guild members were being chatty with me, in particular Ruhtra was whispering thinking that it was me as well and I think that probably saved some of my stuff as well as the guild which the guy was apparently about to help himself to before he was spooked. My damages are a bit all over the place with all my gold gone and various items missing like my one-handers on Edy and my tank shield and sword on Ty but strangely no other gear missing on her considering he could have simply disenchanted it all (meaning two sets of armor with half a tanking set) and left my pally with nothing. Edy's gear was equally disposable with the fact I mainly use raid gear that isnt tier so it can simply be sold off.

None of that really matters though. I put off typing this cause I wanted to understand how it was I truly felt about the whole situation before I tried to put it in words. Strangly while I am hurt and I feel violated I feel more sad that there is a need for people to do this type of things to other players rather than actual anger. Yes I was extremely angry after the hour it took to get my account back (though not with Blizzard as even though 30 minutes of that time was me on hold they did get me my account back in a matter of minutes and helped me set up my security things again). I would have been even more angry if anything had happened to the guild as a result of my compromize. I don't always get along with everybody in M.A.S. and I might get tired of certain treatment and even want to leave from time to time but they are my family and to think my babies could be used to do harm under no control of my own really grinds my damn gears. After that was the surreal feeling of looking to see what was different and missing. Money was obvious right off but it was the picking through my bags and banks that really made it all sink in. I dont think it was even real to me until I ended up at a flight point and realized I didn't even have the gold to fly to Dalaran. That hurt. Then to see my 2 favorite swords were gone hurt even worse. It's not like I need them to play Edy as I have a polearm that is much better its more the fact it took me so long to get them. I never see them drop and the only times I have were the times I got them and the effort that went into that made that hurt much more than losing all my gold. I have spent and earned so much gold I can't imagine how much I have had since I started. Thinking about it in the hours and day following this happening to me I was probably more angry when it happened to Eus.

Now I didn't realize I felt as upset about the whole thing as I did later that night. Running Naxx for money and praying we didn't wipe cause I couldn't afford repairs (I had just finished my dailies right before) and most profoundly not wanting to log off at all. I was scared to. I had run every scan I had at least 3 times at this point so I knew everything bad was gone and no signs of any other problems came up or have since its just I was terrified that I would log off and come back to find everything gone. I am not sure I could play this again if I lost Edy for good.

Now the best I can figure is I somehow got into a bad site that got my info as nothing came up on my scans. I check my addresses dont get me wrong but it could have been as simple as one missed letter in an address. Shit happens and nobody is perfect. This wouldn't be a problem however without the damn need for gold sellers in the first place. Let's just be honest here we all know thats the prime reason to hack somebody's account and rape them like this. I have never supported nor will I ever support gold selling. I think its stupid. This is an online game and if you are too fucking lazy to make your own gold as easy as it is to in this game then you shouldn't be playing in the first damn place. It is not harmless. There is no garantee the people you buy it from are earning it the ways you are too lazy to do your damn self. I say assume the worse before you do buy gold. Assume its your best friend you had no idea was playing the game that just got hacked so you could be lazy. Assume its a 10 year old kid or some housewife that does this as a hobby. Assume its the guy that's been playing the game from the start that just made a wrong click or something and system gets jacked right from under him. Assume the gold you are paying real world money for has just been stolen right out of your own pocket and you are about to lose everything you hold dear in this game. Don't just tell yourself some poor overworked asian is making your money for you. Then stop yourself. Proceed to stand in front of a baseball launcher and get hit square in the nuts for ever buying/thinking of buying gold. If they didn't have a fucking market they wouldn't have a need to do this to people trying to enjoy their virtual lives.

Hmm the fact that my blood is now boiling after saying that part I suppose I really am angry after all.

Hmm to Feral or ....

2009-06-02T13:15:00.004-05:00

I been kinda quiet in the lands of Azeroth for a little bit now that my anime habit is back in full force. I think Edy needed a little personal time and with as much as she has been up to I am sure she would agree. Now something I have been wanting to talk about for a while now are the new druid forms for cat and bear and I guess what I think about them. So far I am in love with what I see. Taurens are finally getting some improvement over that damned mangy thing they called our cat form and the new kitty is something I am pleased with. Seriously its like they found the sickliest lion in the zoo and taped some horns to the poor thing. The new catcow is definately a huge improvement over the ribs showing stragly furred ancestor. Of course this leaves me with a bit of a question as to what I am gonna do with lil Annie-o as I get back into lvling her. She will be a healer for sure but it might not be a bad idea to dual spec and keep a feral tree I can tweak for tanking and dps as needed. We no longer have a druid tank and honestly looking at the bear makes me wanna tank just cause its so sexy. Anyway time will tell as 3.2 is a long way away. I can only hope my hunter life also improves for my beloved Beast Mastery tree to make my happy complete.

A Moment of Reflection

2009-05-27T15:27:00.003-05:00

Yesterday was a sad day in news for one of the more troubled athletes in sports today. Mike Tyson is a monster of a fighter and a man and has left his mark of the sport I love with his highs and lows and he has left his mark on our popular culture for better or worse. My heart goes out to the man however in his time of lose. I don't have any children but I couldn't imagine the pain a parent feels at the loss of a child especially one as young as Tyson's daughter and in such a freak accident. I just wanna take a moment to honor a young light blown out too soon. Its the times like this that make you realize how unimportant those kinds of things are in the grand scheme of things.
My heart and thoughts go out to the Tyson family.

Groove Tree

2009-05-23T18:43:00.003-05:00

It's very very rare that the alliance have something that I want. Lucky for me they are mostly things I can have on my horde hunter (though that stupid Zulian Tiger eludes me to no end). Yesterday I got one of those things in the form of the Teldrassil Sprouting and by god if it isn't the coolest small pet I have. He sleeps and dances (but mostly sleeps) and is probably the cutest pet I have seen in this game. Like I said before its the little things in this game that make it worth all the work for me. This little guy definately fits that definition for Edy to a Tee.

Also mini Eus makes a great addition to the cute.

Random 25 Mans: Fun for Da Ed

2009-05-20T16:40:00.003-05:00

Usually Tuesday down time leaves me with nothing to do but my dailies when I log on. This past Tuesday I was actually under the weather as well so I was really not expecting what happens. Logged on and in the middle of my cooking daily and old guildy gets me in a speed run of 25 man Naxx. I was so not expecting that and since for once I didn't have to watch for my nephew to get home I figured what the hell and went. I don't think I have ever been in such a smooth run in this game. We roll in and clear everything and apparently at the fasted time the PuG had ever done it, 2 hours and about 30 minutes or so. I was the only hunter as well and that woulda been great if something dropped for hunters but only some boots did and ever piece of tier 7.5 that I already have and refuse to use due to spec. Also saw Fool's Trial drop for the first to times ever and lucky me I won the second drop.

Great as that was and sick as I was starting to feel I run into my favorite druid and he managed to snake me in a Maly 25 (mind you I've never downed Maly 10 but I know the fight) and we one shot his blue scales off. Nothing dropped (God knows wanted Boots of Renewed Flight and Blue Aspect Helm ) but I got my title finally and got to see the Queen of the Dragons in all her beautiful red glory.

Top all this off I got my sewer rat Monday and my Argent Hippogryph right before Naxx so all and all a fabulous Tuesday for your currently black Ed. Lets hope it keeps up.

This Feeling.....I Want More.....

2009-05-16T18:38:00.005-05:00

I've put this post off a week for numerous reasons. Lack of sleep and drive being the top reasons as I have been doing nothing else except babysitting this week. Anyway last week I had my ups and downs (not that this week has been any better for my raiding but thems the breaks sometimes) and I got my first crack at doing Ulduar 10 man with my extended family. Did we get far? No, mostly a wipe fest but it was a damn fun wipe fest. Ulduar is a feeling completely new to me so i do just see the wipes as a fail but more like a stepping stone. As I have only been playing a little over a year now Ulduar is really the first time I have ever been in a challanging raid atmosphere with people that knew little more or exactly nill about what we were walking into other than it was gonna hurt and that feeling is something I wouldn't trade for the world. Since I started playing I have always had a feeling of playing catch up with everybody else and honestly I think this is the first time I haven't felt that. I'm not speaking guildwise with this emotion. As far as it stands with them I am in general one of the few that have done what others are trying to get to but still its not quite the same. When I ran Karazhan at 70 for the first time it was in a pug with people farming the instance. I was the odd one out the one worried anything I did with my lack of knowledge would kill us by some off chance, that my dps wasn't good enough, or my mere being there was going to kill us all. It didn't, but thats the anxiety i constantly battle with things I have never done before when I go with people who have. Its not rational but its part of who the real Ed is. With Ulduar for the first time since I started in Azeroth instancing I didn't feel that not once. I was analizing our situations as they came just like everybody else was and having to flex hunter muscles I haven't had to use since Blizz decided to tone for more casual players.

Will I have that feeling again? Maybe, I mean we only downed Flame Laviathan and tried razorscale and Ignis and if we do it again chances are the majority of us wont have a clue whats going on but its not gonna be quite the same. I know 2 of the guys are doing the 25 mans when they can (one with his guild the other in pugs as heals) so they know or at least have an idea of whats going on so that kinda taints the purity of that WTF emotion and glee of seeing a boss as one for the first time. And thats cool. They aren't the kinds of folks to get panties in a bunch cause people never been before or seen something before or just cant figure out how to get of something right of the back. Its part of the fun. Just like its fun to show people this stuff for the first time in its own way. I like not feeling like a screw up waiting to happen and I look forward to more moments like that as I continue my journey in Azeroth.

On a side note today I also got my first down of Emalon on my second raid group and I have to say he was alot easier than I was expecting with all the trouble the first group I tried with had (tank was not so bright and dropped like a brick every pull) and all the chatter and demands of the achievement in trade. I mean I understand it to a point with all the social idiots that play this game and pug but its really not a hard fight to figure out at all. If you have a working brain you can do it. Yes I had the anxiety I usually have my first time in but 3rd in dps quickly helped me get over that after I saw I was doing everything right. Anyway thats all for now. Happy Raiding.

Anchors Away

2009-05-08T22:48:00.003-05:00

My tiger might be just out of reach but until that damn troll gives me what I want I know Turbo and Speedy love me. Things like this make a crap weekend of fail and disappointment all the better for sure.

Too Much Too Fast?

2009-05-07T14:52:00.002-05:00

Have we the gaming community of World of Warcraft come to expect too many grand things in too short a time? This is a question I have found myself asking a lot since even before Lich hit the shelves. For me it became a bit of a concern (well concern is probably not the right word for it but its the best I got right now) when I found out about Recruit a Friend. Now I will never be among the cane swinging elder WoWers yelling at the whippersnappers frolicking through my Azeroth but I did see a bit of a problem with the sheer speed that could be allowed for a person to level up in the game. Then came the DK and all of a sudden all the learning one would recieve just learning to group and things from lower levels don't really get learned anymore. Now I'm not saying its not cool to get to the top to see your friends and do stuff with them. Not in the least. I know I worked my butt off leveling Edy to 70 so I could actually be of help to my friends that got me playing and was very happy when I did. I was also fortunate enough to belong to a guild and have friends in that guild that got me into running instances well before I was ready for outland even if it was just to play tag-a-long. I learned by watching and as soon as I could move and not die I learned through trial by fire what was good for me to do in a party and what wasn't.

I dont really see alot of that anymore (even in guild which is partly my fault as well cause I have a hard time wanting to run lowbies through things these days) as its all about getting the big 8 0 and getting all the pretty purples you can find, even if some are crap (when you see somebody in something like the crap resistance gear you can craft you know its simply cause they see EPIC and start drooling on themselves). Now even that doesn't bother me so much as the entitlement new players that have been able to race to 80 seem to feel about the end game goodness before them. True its not a huge step to go straight into Naxx if you are only in blues (pain the ass for others yes but thats a topic for another time) simply skipping heroics all together. Personally I think heroics are just a primer to get one metally ready for the fact what you do in a reg is nothing like what you do in a heroic/raid setting. You won't have the same dps. Stuff hits harder and you may actually be required to somewhat know what you are doing. Now is it like walking into something like what Kara once was in terms of being on your game? Not really, well not till the bosses anyway. Trash in general is all about how much AoE can you serve up on X amount of baddies but "oh shit" moments still happen and thats where you can tell who has actually learned something about the game.

Dps I will use to explain what I mean since I understand our role much better than that of tanking and healing. Dps should constantly be aware of where they are in position to tank and heals and most importantly how much threat they generate. "But why should I worry about threat? Shouldn't the tank do that?" Yes and no. Yes the tank should be aware of how much threat he is putting out. But in contrast how can the tank get you start dpsing the enemy before he even gets to it, if you start dpsing a mob the tank didn't have marked for primary dps (yes if the tank doesnt mark this doesn't count), or you face roll your keyboard hitting every high powered thing you have on the bar and pull aggro off the tank? I'm sorry sir or madam that is all your fault and if you understood your role and class that would not happen in the first place. You do that in a raid you either kill yourself, the healer if you happen to be next to them and by proxy everybody in the raid, or a variable number of other dps due to the tank having to chase down what you just brought on yourself and thus losing more aggro on other mobs.

Getting back to the topic of too much too fast is the content itself. Blizzard has been spinning the gears trying to pump out new stuff as fast as their lil' slaves can program but lets get real here. How long can they keep this pace up befoer everything starts to suffer? We are use to the many bugs from patch to patch and have even come to expect it. Part of the deal with the devil I suppose. Anyway with the lastest patch it ended up being a bit rougher than usual and what sucks is if Blizz had just broken it down into smaller patches over time most of the problems wouldn't have happened at all cause they would have found and fixed them (well we hope so anyway) but even that isnt the thing that bugs me. Bugs are a pain in the ass but livable. Its the whining I get tired of. "I am so bored with the new content Blizzard WAAAAAAH!!!" I see this so much it makes me ill. "I dont have anything to do?" Um what about the dailies and instances? You blew through those/don't do them? Hmm must suck to be you. Guess you wait like the rest of us for something new or go do something else. There are other games. Nobody is making you play if you really are that bored you would find something better to do with your time. Blizz gave us plenty to do. Some you will like others you wont but thats part of a game this vast to please so many there is no way to make everything something everybody will like to do. Why dont you actually take the time to look at what you have in front of you instead of crying to Blizzard to make you something new to get bored with in a few days. Actually take your time and admire all the work that went into making what you have before you. Maybe I am strange and actually value quality over quanity. Of course I also like to read which might I add is how I pass my time when I feel bored with the game.

Cue the Music, and Where is Mr. Sterling With My Intro?

2009-05-05T17:22:00.001-05:00

Its been quite the interesting few weeks for the Ed, both in game and out. In game I have managed to pick up a few new achievements from my extended guild relations with the Wasted Rock Rangers, and got the 1 drake in Sarth (specially heroic which made me very happy from my horribly pissy week).

Managed to get another couple of steps closer to my violet proto-drake as I battled my hatred of my battle group and braved the battlegrounds getting to be Matron Edyion after spending a few days as a bunny for noble garden.

Also got my much longed after Egbert and I have to admit the lil' guy was well worth the year wait as I was a lowly 40something when it first rolled around.

That aside my weirdness levels did spike as a came across bear getting "friendly" with a human in one of the Dalaran bank which was a bit like walking into a Fear and Loathing moment but entertaining none the less.

That being said my week really peaked when I found myself without power for about 20 hours between Sunday and Monday as some genious working for the power company decided to flip the transformer off to the street WITH power after a huge storm and then conveniently forget we existed untill the next afternoon leaving me hungry (we were cooking), highly pissed (I was removing myself from my mother's way with a bg for my title when the power went bye bye), and somewhat depressed over the dinner we never got to eat cause we couldnt finish making it. The mere thought of the lost mac and cheese that wasn't done baking and I was craving STILL brings a tear to my eye. The fact we got no warning or reason why they even did it in the first place wasnt helped by the fact the storms continued and of course since this is tornado country we had no way to know if there was anything to worry about at the time and when they finally DID get bitched at enough to turn it back on it took them all of 3 minutes to park, extend the pole, flip the breaker, put up said pole and drive off to turn the damn power back on. I was and am still not a terribly happy Edy but at least they turned it back on before everything other than our dinner went bad.

So thats whats been up of late. So as I watch Night Gallery and what for my headache to decide to leave I cant help but think my weekend should have been narrated by Rod Sterling. Would be a fitting wrap up don't you think?

Memories of the Reckless One

2009-04-30T19:52:00.003-05:00

Today I decided to check out my old City of Heroes account since its a free weekend and as I pound the crap out of baddies with my scrapper, R. Reckless, trying to remember what does what I got to thinking about the things I used to do before I had WoW and what I miss about them. I've been a fan of role playing games since I first got into gaming and for a long time my experience was limited to turn based console RPGs from japan and they still hold the top spot in my heart but they are not alone in my nerd love. Before my friends ever talked me into playing an MMO in college I was first nudged into table top role playing. I think I probably miss that the most.

WoW is great for the friends I have made since I started playing but there is something I miss about the openess of the story and the way the players affect the ever changing story. There is cannon and rules of course but you dont have to stick to them and I liked that. My first table top experience was with Vampire and a good friend of mine really thought I would like trying it out. He was right of course and I fell in love with it all the minute I picked up the dice and rolled my first ever vampire with all her mind controlling glory and though I struggled with being put in a leadership position once i got used to having to think how my character would respond rather than how I would I really got into it all.

From there I got with more friends that liked to RP the superhero vision from Wihite Wolf called Abberant and part of me probably loved that more than Vampire. Abberant was very unforgiving as basically everybody you come in contact with is just like you, a super human freak of nature with some very flawed thoughts that usually lead to a whoever strikes first lives atmosphere to most of our outings. For example I happened to role a character that was very selfless the first time I played and as bad ass as she was we got in a fight and our leader was on the verge of being crushed. Now this guy could teleport to safety and all us playing knew this but he never told our ingame selves that little fact and as such I had to have my person react the way she would without knowing. One roll of the dice later he teleports and me and the big guy I chose to fight throwing super charged haymakers and him hitting me first. I dropped like a brick and they left me for dead. Its the split second fights like that that I loved about that game.

I tried D&D after that surprisingly and though I love my hunter without a doubt, I was all about the rogues in that game. I think i only played another class once the whole time I played. From there I started going to conventions and even tried my hand at LARPing (yes I did live action before don't judge me) and eventually got talked into playing City of Heroes for a year because of how much I loved playing Abberant.

I love and miss my table top games and the sound of the dice as we drank beer and laughed at critical failure rolls. You haven't truly geeked out till you have a medusa critically fail 2 rolls straight and end up cutting off a snake and having another bite her, or have an orge fail and drop the tree he is trying to crush you with and smash his buddy into ogre paste, or my personal favorite have a vampire freak himself out on a resist nightmare roll and piss himself kicking out the back door of an SUV before running 2 miles away shreeking like a little girl. That last one was know for staking a baby outside his club might I add.

I miss all this and though I am happy to a point it brough me to my warcraft bliss I truly long for the days of critical fails and "your alignment wouldn't do that" arguements as we wait for pizza. One day i want that back but until then I will settle for lore chatter in guild and wondering what Blizzard will give me next to lust after.

Heal or Kill

2009-04-28T12:01:00.003-05:00

So since 3.1 came out I have been up to a bit of fun. Edy has been doing her Edy best to let Snuggles feast on as many hides as she can be it raiding, dailies, or teaching a dk that some of us DO still play BM specced. Ty, on the other hand, has been plunged head first into healing and its been quite the ride for her.

Since my runs of the reg 80 stuff my guild has seen fit to push me along the fast track of healing. I am asked to heal my first herioc by another tank in training and step foot for the first time as heals in heroic Gun Drak. We started out rocky again with me being a little too close when poison nova went off so I hit the ground like a drunk frat boy on a sunday morning and we wipe pretty fast. That out of the way everything went nice and smooth till the last boss when he decided non-shall pass and raped up royally. We got through that night because my friend was with us on his dk and went frost after the tank dropped which was just long enough to down him though the second time we did this run we had to call it after about 5 wipes just cause I couldn't keep up with the armor reduction that he puts on the tank and he would drop before I could get any sort of big heal or LoH off. I will get use to it in time I just need more practice and I have 2 great healers to which I am padawan and I know can give me tips on these types of things.

Last big test was an OS 10 man run where it started out with just me and our fearless GM healing and due to what I think was a glitch we wiped about 3 times on the first drake (I say glitch because the dps that went in the portal was hit so hard with the portal aoe they dropped as soon as they zoned and that didnt happen when I ran OS earlier that week on Edy). We get in a PUG druid to help but it might as well have just been me and Ru still because mostly the guy just overhealed the hell out of our MT and just kinda left raid healing in the air. In fact 3 drake I was pretty much solo healing the raid in the portal because the druid apparently thought the MT was way more important that the dps killing the drake even though it was apparent that he WASN'T going to drop. All in all it was a huge confidence boost to be able to keep up with real healers in that and definately made me happy.

On Edy's end I am still observing where I stand in a raid environment as a beast mastery hunter in a survival is king world. What I see as my answer is "pretty damn well". I haven't really had anybody try and preach to me the evils of BM in raiding since that lovely fellow of a lock in that Maly run but I still see people that swear by SV for raiding and I seen the numbers that "should" happen when you play SV. Armed with the knowledge of these numbers and a better concept of sv rotation I decided to give it another shot. I try it on the dummy and all works like its suppose to and I am indeed out dpsing my BM spec so I decide to give it a shot in H Oculus. Surprise, surprise same result as when I was in Maly. Damage was way sub-par to my BM damage and again I switch, leave my meter alone and just watch my dps catch the others in the run with just a few pulls. Sunday sealed the deal for me when my boyfriend asks me to run 25 Naxx with his guild and there is an SV hunter in much better gear than my own and I am not far behind him in the damage. So your girl stayed true to her BM tree and in turn Blizzard has worked out some of the kinks for her and she is onces again in a stable place. Is the spec perfect? No and Blizz is still working on some of the issues with pets and hunter mechanics in general. It is a set up from that depression BM entered with 3.0.8. That right there is all I need.

Tell Me Of A Story

2009-04-27T15:45:00.002-05:00

Ok I haven't posted in a bit cause I have been a little busy with WoW life itself but yesterday I read an interesting article at WoW Insider about with Varian Wrynn is Right in his continued hatred of all Horde. Though I found it a bit biased it was a well written article and I do agree with why it justifies Varian's hate. That wasn't what I found interesting however. I was intrigued by the political tone of the article as well as the fire it seemed to have lit under many a Horde and Alliance supporter alike and how black and white people seem to want to make the issue of lore. Yes, yes I know old habits die hard. Horde was bad for so long people just cant see our softer side. I also know Alliance is all holy rolly righteous with their deeds whether they be good or bad that its kinda hard to not see yourself as good verse everything that is not us. Its how the sides are written but there is much more depth there to see.

Horde is not "bad". We are messed up in numerous ways but not bad by any means. Horde is a bunch of black sheeps nobody wants. Orcs are still blood thirsty but they are a warrior race and old habits die hard. Not every orc can be as willing to let go of being a displaced warrior peoples that has a lot of bagage to deal what with whole "demons controlled my peoples" thing and all that brought with it. Trolls are kicked around alot and even the trolls of the Horde don't get along with their other cousins too much and are constantly having people (yes even my blood elves) kick them out of their homes. The Forsaken are probably the most aptly named of the Horde bcause of all they have been through. I mean really how would you feel if you where enslaved by the lich king in undead servatude, break free only to have your friends and loved ones start hunting you down no different than the very creatures that made you and then have nothing left to turn to but yourselves and alot of shady dealings to just survive. Not to mention what effect being dead have on one's mental state to begin with. Then there is my beloved Blood Elves that have been kicked out for thinking they where better and getting addicted to magic by their night elven cousins. Being fortunate enough to not turn into nagas (yes we are vain) surviving the illnesses that come with not being immortal anymore, finding a new home and having to fight trolls (yeah sorta sorry about that nothing personal) to keep it, team up with the alliance for a while then they leave us on our own to fend for ourselves, have our leader build us up then take the power for himself leaving those of us that wouldn't be bought by the power to try and rebuild YET again. Oh and did I mention we still have that pesky magic addiction?

All that said I wont claim we are saints by any means. Hell the most peaceful looking of all of us are Taurens and they have splinter factions of their own looming in the darkness. That said I think thats part of what drew me into this game. I like the grey areas. I live for the little things like the "yes I know this happened but this is why it happened and what the other side did". I love flaws in my stories cause it makes it interesting to me. If I wanted this is good faction and this is the bad one I would go back to city of heroes/villians.

Now I am Horde because I like how disfunctional we are. That to me is more interesting that when I spend time on the alliance side trying to convince myself that we are the law and how we see it is how it is. Thats not saying that the Alliance isn't without its flaws I just haven't paid as much attention to it (but probably will now this has peaked my interest) just pointing out the shades of gray I have noted in the time I have played.

Anyway back to the whole Varian thing. I thought it was interest people felt he needed to be defended in the first place. I personally think the guy is a hot head but that doesn't make him all wrong either. Its the finger pointing and the use of "horde/alliance appologizers" in the article and in the responses. Appologize for what? For the way the game was written? For the things Blizzard has personally written in that SHOW said areas of gray? Are we appologizing because we really can't make a black and white issue of such a thing? I dunno I just find appologizer to be a poor choice of word. And now that I have managed to lose my train of thought on the subject I think it would be worth while to maybe take time and examine both sides in the lore with more depth for myself and kinda note it here from time to time. I wouldn't hold my breath on it but its a thought.

Tap Kills, Kills I Tap

2009-04-21T12:47:00.005-05:00

I have the strangest urge to see if the guys are feeling a little frisky tonight.

Don't Worry Lil' Boy Snuggles Doesn't Bite.....Well Not The People that Feed Him That Is

2009-04-20T15:42:00.004-05:00

Ok I am now the famed Edyion of Silvermoon as I have just completed my first city run for the ever so demanding Argent Tournament. Not that I am not used to quest givers sending me off to do their dirty work for them but at least the Argent folks and my own blood elven brethern found it in their hearts to recognize me with titles and money and a good ol' "thank you Edy for being our whipping girl you dun good". And as excited as I was to earn that title (you gotta be exalted with said city you represent and looky there already up and done that) the ever so kind Argent people decided to give me my own pet.

They failed to tell me he would be a child but lemons into lemon-aid I suppose.

But by god if he isn't a cute lil' devil.

So here is what I have figured. The Argent Tournament is nothing but a cleaver ploy to get greedy...I mean patriotic players to come and fly their banners colors and get rid of most of the badies in the area then when all is said and done they ship an orphan off with that kind soul. One less mouth to feed and the new champion is left confused but somewhat honored.

I was in party with my boyfriend when I told him I had somehow been slipped a small child, to which he promptly responded "its not mine" and I rebutted "Hell I dont even think its mine looking at it". He did however see fit to name our "son" Link and I am doing my best to teach him the ways of his new job (also called "feed mama's pets and walk them cause she doesn't want to") though the poor kid does seem a little afraid of Snuggles but I am positive they will work it out as long as he remembers not to look Snuggs in the eye when he is in the middle of a cat lick and not to follow him around when he is trolling for druid kitties. As soon as he gets the hang of walking Gir and Enma at night I think we will get along just fine. And I promise to do minimal tramatizing to the poor boy we I can avoid it.

Oh Argent Crusade you know not what you have done.

Isn't That Interesting

2009-04-18T17:17:00.002-05:00

Well the last two days I have had the opportunity to actively use dual spec and I must say its shown me something interesting. Yes, it's still buggy but it simply clears my pet points on Edy so that's something I can deal with and with Ty I have yet to have any issues arise.

Starting with Ty, I've gotten to heal two instances with some guildies and my boyfriend for some practice and I think I'm starting to get the hang of healing a bit better. We did Culling of Stratholme and Utgarde Pinnacle today and both went very well. Only one real wipe happened when Meathook decided I was his special friend and he wanted to keep me in place with his chains so I couldn't keep up at all with the healing but other than that nothing else went too wrong. Had a few "fugde!" moments but I managed to heal through them and general I think it went well and I will love healing with Ty at this rate.

Edy on the other hand had a rather interesting night of discovery in my second venture into Maly's house. I noticed something odd the other day when I set up my second spec for SV but I didn't think too much about it. I dont know a thing about SV dps so I figured I just didnt have much of a rotation to see the dps that supposed to be there. I tried once in Naxx to use SV and had the exact same low dps problem so again I chalked it up to not really knowing the spec. Last night proved there was an issue however. From the first time I went in EoE I knew dpsing as a BM hunter was gonna be a problem just because I am so dependant on my pet and that is not really a very pet friendly fight so I decided what better place to open up SV and see what its got for me than a fight I have to dps more on my own. So I did and I was almost shocked by how bad I did. Even not knowing a good rotation I should have done alot better dps than 1.6k in that fight but 1.6k is exactly what I got and my damage was laughable. So one wipe down I say bump that and switch back to BM and summon Gaz and her space lazer so my pet has some range on it. At this point there was a little down time since one of our healers was in a foul mood and decided to opt out to calm himself and one of the warlocks takes an interest in me being in bm mode:

Him: Bm is bad you should be SV fo sho.
Me: I was in SV that last fight. I only got 1.6k dps that whole time so I am switching.
Him: But BM is bad... (pause) in your gear you should do way more in SV than you can in BM.
Me: Thats nice but it wasn't working so lets see how this works. I dont know SV very well anyway.
Him: Whats to know? Black Arrow, serpent sting, explosive shot, steady shot, multi shot rinse repeat
Me: Yes thats what I was basically doing so now I am gonna try this and see how it goes I know I can do my part of the dps in BM

At this point he leaves me be for the next five minutes then decides "she is a retard i am all knowing and as such will embarasse her infront of all present" and calls me out in vent on it. I just smile and nod. This dude is from a guild I have run with before and in general dont like because they are know it alls so I just wait for us to start. So we do and we wipe before second phase because we just dont have the right heals for it. And after I bring it up again in raid chat.

Me: See I did 2.1k just in that little span and 2xs the damage.
Him: indeed you did....odd...
(silience)

We called it after that because they had been there a while I was asked to come help dps and over all it went well its just some of us didnt know the fight so 3rd phase killed us the first wipe i was in and we just didnt have the heals for the 2nd attempt. And as much as I dislike people imposing "you are stupid this is how it is done" on people its just as nice to shut them up by showing them you might not know what you think you know. There are probably many reasons sv isnt working for me. One is I dont know how to be a SV hunter but even so that wouldn't explain the crap dps numbers. Doesnt matter at much though even with my lack of knowledge of the shots I do have a basic understanding of rotation so it still should have been resonable. Two dual spec is buggy there could be something wrong with it making it not recognize everything I have set up or ranks or something cause I have every skill purchased to level. Three, it might be the nerf to explosive shot hit just as hard as I was expecting it to and thats why it is doing so poorly. Time will tell

Trust

2009-04-17T17:07:00.002-05:00

Ok now that I most mentally awake and a little less pissy (still pissy but thats my natural state) I was sitting here thinking about something as I watched Project Lore and thought about me and a few guildies start into achievements in heroics last night as well as my Naxx run this week. Something clicked with me as something that is partly missing from WoW of late and thats the trust factor.

Now is there anything in paticular I want to address which trust in WoW? Not really this is more of an observation. Trust amongst people you run with is something that just happens as you keep playing with them whether it be pvp or pve. The more you are with a player the more you learn how they react to certain things. I mentioned this before in my "why I am BM" post in reference to my tanks and healers in guild. They have been running with me almost as long as I have been playing this game and it shows cause in the never fail oh crap moment I already know how they will react and vice versa. This makes communication much easier and its also easier to deal with new guys to the guild or pug memebers cause in general no matter what happens at least we dont have to worry about what the people we trust will do as we will all adjust accordingly. Now moving outside of the guild we get into PUG land and in general there is no trust in that vast barren wasteland. You could get a seasoned pro that is well aware of how to handle themselves in a group situation, or you could get the lone gunner that is determed to one man everything (even seen a healer do this before) and ignore the rest of the party and then my favorite the guy that you would swear brought his account or stole a friend's cause he has no damn idea what anything does on his toon or in the run. Trust is still a factor in said situation whether you realize it or not.

If you are in a group you have a certain amount of expectation of how your group memebers are to behave. Mind you, its not like we go in a PUG expecting people that are the top of the top but you do expect say a hunter (can your comments on huntards I've heard and seen them all) to lets say understand his pet is not tank and can kill you all so he should be in control of said pet, or another example, a DK on dps should know better than to be death gripping a tanks pull if the tank didnt tell them too and of course he shouldnt be in frost presense if he isnt the tank. Little things about a class you should have learned by now. This might be asking too much though so a player may have to adjust accordingly to deal with this and if you are in a group with other compitant players they will "trust" you to at least have the since to do the same and not add to the problem at least. Its not on the same level as say what I have built with my M.A.S. family but it is there wheither you notice it or not and its very clear when there are issues with trust in a PUG member as well as sometimes someone that was doing well decides to save the day and start doing the exact same thing as the person causing the problem. Runs like that really make you apreciate that trust with people you know a lot more I can tell ya.

Now getting back to my Naxx run I have developed a similar trust core with another guild I have pugged with a few times in the past. Now being a hunter I automatically get the short end of the trust stick as many before me have burned bridges for the class long before I ever picked up a bow so we I am brought into a PUG I am very much on my toes and hopefully on my A-game so there isnt an issue with them ever having a reason to point a finger at the "huntard". So running with this particular was a bit stressful the first time. I was asked to by a guildie (who was dced not long after leaving me to fend alone) and I had never been in Naxx old world or new then I was asked to do all the hunt-tanking things first go cause the original hunter had to leave. I apparently did well enough to gain their trust as well because scene then they have actively asked me to run various things and openly back my skills. Its a nice feeling to make that kind of empression on people you dont know that well.

Now gaining trust is not an easy mission to do. For instance as I told you before my play style is built on flexiblity so I can help keep the healer safe from stray mobs /adds in fights until a tank can get to them or I can kill or kite the thing to the tank. That is incredibly hard to do with a running healer especially when the healer runs away from me and the tank in panic. I had a priest in my guild at one point and this was a huge problem with me and him. Priest X squishy + running away fromt he people that can save him = dead. I tried to build up that trust with him but it never quite gelled unfortunately though he was starting to get used to it before he parted ways with us but to his defense he didn't have any experience prior to 80 of instance healing really so he was still learning everything as opposed to Eus and Ruhtra which had other members with an understanding of hunter play similar to myself, in fact I learned from them in the first place.

One last thing I wanna say about trust goes back to the guild I run Naxx with. They have a druid healer and I have grown to trust him to be my partner in my hunt-tanking parts like kiting the adds on Gluth and tanking the back on the 4 horsemen. I know unless everything else has gone to hell I will not die and he knows when I am kiting there will never be a zombie on him longer than it takes me to target and pull it off. Its a nice relationship and I really saw how much I trusted him when we had to switch healers for one of the many wipes on the horsemen we had this time. We only had 2 heals, both trees, and a shammy trying to off heal in the front and it was not working and once the other tree got in the back with me I saw why. He was a good healer and all but when the pressure was on he just couldnt keep up and actually gave up healing the back killing us both and wiping the group. I dont think I would ever want to have a situation where he was solo healing myself and himself again for that and i was more than pleased when he refused to go back to the back with me again and I got my favorite tree back again. I dunno it just interesting to sit and think about how you trust people in a video game you have never met before in general. Maybe I just pay too much attention to human interaction :).

Blizzard We Have a Problem

2009-04-16T10:14:00.004-05:00

Well I was gonna post this yesterday....and I would have. I ran into a problem however. Naxxramas decided it liked me and my raid. It wouldn't let us go. FOR HOURS. I must have set a record for continuous volley at somewhere around a hour and 30 mins. Nothing like lagging out when you have full on aggro with a horseman on a trash pull. Oh by the way, this happened to us about 4 times. Gotta love patches.

All bitching aside (I have to stop now I or I will start grumbling about that damn sword that refuses to drop for me) 3.1 has brought me some happiness. Dual spec has arived and Ty has gone ret/holy and I can't wait to start learning. Edy has the Argent Tournament to keep her busy as I countinue to feed her need for mounts and pets. I feel refreshed for now. Its not all roses however. The Naxx thing wasn't really that big a deal to me honestly. Instance lock-up are just a fact of life for WoW life after a patch and I must admit with all that this patch has brought with it. Add-ons authors where on the ball and have updated everything in a very timely manner which I will admit blows my mind (specially with all the ungrateful users that seem to think the people have nothing better to do that be bitched at cause the didn't have a fix the very minute the patch hits) and i had all mine I use working in a matter of an hour. My main gripe is that dual spec really doesn't work for a hunter too well. Yes we can ds and I have it however the problem that is killing me and preventing me from actually using my ds is that my pets dont work as well. I have to go through a lot of hell to get my pet's spec to match mine. Most of the time the spec wont change like it is suppose to when I say go from BM to SV. Well what is suppose to happen is say Snuggles is out his spec would change with mine too. That doesnt happen. I switch several not suppose to do that things happen at random. ONCE it worked right. The very first time I used it. After that I have had my pet lose all his points when i switched (which i prefer of the things that have happened) and had the talent points carry from one spec to the other which in turn WIPES all my pet spells and makes me have to go all the way to a city with a pet trainer and respec my damn pet. I mean come on why has it got to be that hard to do a simple dual spec switch????

Now what is it I can do about this? Well first off I could just use that nifty new spell I just got, call stable, and just have a pet I specifically wanna use for my off spec. Oh wait, that has a frickin 30 minute cooldown. Hmm so since I set up my DS so in a fight when I cant really depend on my pet I have an out I would basically be stuck for 30 minutes in one spec while others dance from spec to spec on the fly. I call BULL. So here is what I do. I stay BM and wait a month (hopefully just weeks) for Blizzard to say "hmm we might wanna fix this" so I can affectively switch my specs or I just keep looking for another way to make it work for me. Oh well I still have the tournament.

Crazy Tasty Creepy

2009-04-14T13:52:00.002-05:00

Ok today will be a post out of the norm for what I have intended Code Red to be about, but as the server is still down and I waiting to get into the great 3.1 goodness I have found myself with some free time. Now as usual when I find myself unable to get my WoW fix I fall back into what is one of my original drugs, horror movies.

I have done a few drafts of this post. Most were long rants of why I have a problem with American horror of late but I decided against that. So instead of going with the usual bitching I figured I might as well plug a few movies that stand out amongst the steaming piles of crap and even more crappy/gimmicky remakes:

Repo! A Genetic Opera

Not purely horror if you are looking for a scare but tops my list of must see just because its so amazing. I mean come on any movie that can make Paris Hilton look like a GOOD actress has to have something going for it. Its a rock opera along the lines of those from 70s cult fame and its done by the guys that brought is the original Saw movies. Yes is a musical and what not but its got your gore its got your story its got the good period. Watch it. Then judge.

Bruiser

This is the film that George Ramero made before Land of the Dead and being a fan of his work I checked it out. Movie focuses on a man who's life is basically a lie and everyone he is close to walks on him like a doormat till one morning he wakes up and there is a white mask-like face where his used to be. From there he decides he has some "accounts" to settle. Reminded me a little of American Psycho but not really. Thats just the only movie I can think of that comes close to how this feels. Its weird and entertaining so I recommend giving it a shot.

The Burrowers

You know honestly I was kinda surprised I liked this one. I don't really like westerns and I am not thrilled when my horror gets western on it but this one was pretty good. Its not a movie to look for jumps and is more of a drama with some beasties thrown in with a good spattering of "well thats just messed up" on top. Story revolves around this settlement in the west and they are attacked by what they think is idians and a search party is sent out to find the missing women and children from the families that where attacked. As they search men start being picked off in the night without a trace. The only clues are strange holes and stories from the indians of "Burrowers".

From Within

This one was shown in last year's Hororfest and I'll be damned if it wasn't one of the more interesting horror movies I have seen in a few years. In this one we have a small bible belt type town where a rash of suicides has begun to plague these God fearing people and whispers are beginning to spead. Whispers of a dark dark sin that has been commited.

Yeah I am not that great at the whole synopses thing but I definetely wanted to give a shot for these movies. Award worthy? No....well Repo is but the others not so much. I just think they are worth spreading the word about incase there are other horror buffs like me with some time to kill. Who knows I might do this again if I find something else I feel is worth the time.

Code Red: What It Is and Why You Have Been Warned

2009-04-12T20:24:00.004-05:00

Ok so after looking over some older posts and thinking about it I have realized I have made a great omission dear reader. I never told you exactly "what" a Code Red is and why I felt the need to name my blog after it. No, it has nothing to do with Mountain Dew though I have been known to drink a code red dew from time to time, no its not medical related, and originally it actually had nothing to do with M.A.S. itself though they may believe otherwise :).

What "Code Red" refers to is an inside joke between me and my partner in crime in Daggerspine and my favorite suicidal healer, Eus. After she began dragging me around the lands of Azeroth and into M.A.S. I randomly realized something about us in my vast nerd mind. I realized the way we ran around when I was helping her hit the 70 cap was a hell of a lot like two of my favorite DC comics characters, one Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy. She being Harley for the fact she is slightly insane, scares the piss out of poor Edy more often than not, gets me in way more trouble than I could manage on my own, and likes to make things taste her mace (doesn't help her husband is very Joker-esque). That being said Edy became Ivy cause of her red hair (Harley has blonde so Eus's white hair worked there), her best laid plans going ary due to one crazy partner, and though I too am crazy (just as Ivy is) I am much more planned in my chaos. Now with this history told and if you have any knowlegde of said characters you know Harley has a habit of simply calling Poison Ivy "red", and as such when 3.0.2. hit Eus wasn't all that happy when the Ed went black since I always wished that I had made her hair black from the start.

Now Eus was a good sport about it all and Edy switched back and worth depending on my mood but after her account was hacked and Eus was taken away for a short time I felt really lost without the Lucy to my Ethel. I had just gone red again and was concidering going black Ed in memory of the lost pally till it all worked out but never got around to it and as such she got her account back and all was good again. Then one day I told her I was gonna do the black hair again and she told me "Hell no" pretty much. I asked her why and she said well it was cool if I wanted to but if there was PVP hell to raise I would have to have the red hair again. It wouldn't be Harley and Ivy without it. After alot of back and forth and finally I caved but wondered how I would know if it was the BIG oh shit pvp or just her wanting to drag me into a random ass fight and she told me she would call a Code Red. So I agreed. I had no idea she would actually hold me to it....though thinking back I was stupid to think she woudn't. I went to another color of hair and sure enough like a day later she called a Code Red (which confused the hell out of the guild might I add) but being an Ed of my word I came a-runnin' and went straight to the barber to bring out the red Ed and off I went to die, Snuggles in tow.

From there the Code Reds got a bit out of hand and I couldn't do anything for gettting called to fight, which is fine and all but damn a woman needs a break from time to time. Other guildies started wanting to call them as well to which I had to speak up. So we made rules.

*Code Red can only be called by Eus (or a Eusy alt) to be official. Even Ed herself can not call a Code Red but simply beg for some assistance (ya I've had this happen before....ny guild found it damn funny the red in the code red couldn't call it. But seriously how the hell can I call myself into action?)

*Edyion is not obligated to answer any non-Eus issued Code Reds and as such she may or may not come running depending on how pissy she is that day.

*To ask for a Code Red to be called you better have a damn good reason. Edy is sworn to answer any and all official Code Reds and as such will be highly upset if she left an alt in the middle of nowhere or stop making money to hope on Edyion and come a running.

*There is no mercy in a Code Red. If it is red it is dead. Level is no longer a concern. If M.A.S. is answering a Code Red (mostly if i have been dragged out here) then there will be blood the time for nice has been and gone.

Now i did have to put my foot down at one point in my responses to Code Reds as Eus was getting a bit trigger happy and wearing my ass out. At one point it was like every day at least once a day a Code Red was called and there is only so much PVP I can handle before the bitch in me comes out and I change Edy to the black Ed and ignore everybody. So I managed to get it scaled back a little and the guild has grown to expect and look for Code Reds and as such we tend to get good turn out for Code Red alerts. In general all guildies stay till we all get bored or something more pressing comes up and they have to leave. We might be called to one area for the Code Red (usually Tarren Mill) but a Code Red is not a stationary thing and usually branches out into roaming from one side of Azeroth to another leaving no survivors in our wake. Ended up in the Alliance start zone in Howling Fjord one time cause of that.....good times *smiles to self*.

And now that I have lost my train of thought THAT my friensd it what a "Code Red" is, how it works and why allies have been warned. We dont win every fight but we dont give up very easily either. If you camp a M.A.S.ter you have been warned and better be looking for a fight cause if ther is a Code Red we will sure as hell be looking to bring you one.

The Way of the Ed

2009-04-11T14:24:00.008-05:00

Well after a few days of trying to figure out just what the hell it is I want to talk about I finally settled down to decide I should address my play style (specially since I cant seem to get in a raid for crap these days and when I do people are so busy pointing fingers its a bad one anyway).

Edyion:

Well for starts Edy is a beast mastery hunter as I am sure you are well aware of by now. Yes I did not succumb to the temptation of the survival numbers. Close a few times (hell even as I type this I'm thinking about it) but I am stubborn and don't like to have my game dictated to me as to what I should and shouldn't spec since its blah blah blah fludda fludda. I started out BM as a tip on leveling from a friend of mine when I started playing. From there I began to really enjoy actually having to multitask to be affective and the utility of having a pet that wouldn't simply die in 3 hits whether it be solo or in a group and even possibly off tank something on the healer until the tank could get to it or I could get it to the tank.

Now without getting into the old "overpowered" BM of 3.0.2. and the great nerf of 3.0.8. I will admit we did need the nerf to a degree. The exstint to which we got hammered was way too much though and we are still working to recover verses the explosive shot in terms of dps. On average in a raid I will never be close to out dpsing a SV hunter and I have excepted this after much fustration and what I felt to be set backs since even equally geared I am easily run into the ground at the moment but I do hold my own. Which of course brings me back to why I remained BM in the face of all this.

Its simple. I like the utility.

I might not be pumping out the dps at the moment (will see how that holds up when 3.1. finally reaches us as I had to give up the PTR for various fustrating reasons) but my pet is still more sturdy than that of a the other hunter trees and I have perks that come in very handy on a PVP server and when I actually do decide I wish to battleground or arena. Most of all since I love instancing my pet is like a build in off tank and does very well at it. I have a very very tight relationship with my guildmates I have known the longest and in particular our few remaining tanks and our long suffering healers, and as such they have grown to trust my play style. I learned to pick up add slack and to be the flexible hunter in a run that I am now. Now I don't get the buffs of the MM and SV trees for party benefit, such as True Shot Aura and Hunting Party, which probably also hurts my raid utility some. My pet also has to be alive for me to benefit from the ap boosts, which can be a bit of a pain but at the same time since my pet takes more of a beating huntanking is more manageble for my spec than others, so in essence you are getting 2 of me for the price of one.

Now am I one that pays a ton of attention to the mechanics and math of dps? No. Math is not my thing and I sure as hell dont play this game to crunch numbers. My dps is not the top in most cases and unless something is really off or I am completely out of commission I will not be the bottom either. I am stable upper middle dps. Would I like to be the top? Who wouldn't? Its not the end of my world that I am not. Is my spec perfect? Not by any means, but my spec is set to a way that I am comfortable with. I am fortunate enough to be a guild that isn't overly concerned with those things as other more "hardcore" are. I have run with numerous other guilds and for the most part they like the way I play because, again, I am dependable and flexable.

With Dual spec I do intend to experiment more and fully learn the Marksman and Survival trees but will I be giving up Beast Mastery? Highly unlikely. With the knowledge of these trees I will be able to better improve how I do certain things I am sure. Would I be able to give you the exact numbers and mechanics of my spec? Hell no. Never said I was the hunter grand puhbah. There are sites for that. I'm just trying to give a little insight into the inner workings of the brain of an Ed.
---------

That said I think i will give a little insight into the things I do with Tytanya at some point as well.

Edy's Theory on Pets

2009-04-07T11:38:00.003-05:00

Something I have been thinking a lot about since I started playing WoW is...well pets. As a hunter I have been through many many pets and a lot from the same family. Before patch 3.0.2 you kinda had to go through many pets to get the desired results from a single pet as you learned new skills from training them so you could train them to a different pet. Now for you older WoW players you are thinking "WTF we already knew that so what?". I'm not pointing that out for you. There are people that picked up the game after WOTLK came out and dont know about that or people that never played a hunter before. Personally I love the new set up and wouldn't go back to the old way for anything but I am just making it clear as to part of the reason I HAVE gone through as many pets as I have. Anyway that said there really wasn't a lot of room for keeping pets long term. Pre-3.0.2. you only had 3 stable slots (yeah I dont really have alot of insight into pre-BC since I started about a year ago so I again am working off what I know personally). This pretty much ment if like myself you where attached to a pet you had to use at least one other stable as your catch and release area. It is because of this I have noticed an oddity (perhaps I am too observant or maybe my imagination is a bit too active) that pets of the same family, e.i. cats, boar, etc etc, have difference ui and as such don't preform exactly the same.

Now I can hear the "you are smoking something" remarks already but hear me out. I have been partners with Snuggles since I caught him in Eversong the minute I finished my hunter quest and I was instantly in love. At first it was because he was my very first pet and it was a sentimental gesture but as we grew and I began to actually learn how to teach my pet how to be all the Snuggs he could be I tamed numerous cats along the way and was surprised in the differences.

When I caught Snuggles he came with the talents bite and claw. I didn't know his type of cat was special for this till i started researching. So right off the back I had a kitty with a roar and claws to match it. Since I didn't know you had to train up enw skills thats all he had for a while and it was good. Then through pointers from RL friends that were hunters and research I learned I had to tame something with the desired skill and train him till i personally learned the skill to teach to Snuggs. First one I got was a black panther I named Gomez from Stranglethorn. I hated him from the moment I got him. Now I understood that he wouldnt have the same talents as Snuggle-butt till i taught him but even once I did I knew something was off. He was always slow to attack. When I had him on defence I would have to get hit a few times before he even cared enough to fight. Agressive he wouldn't do anything just stand there. He got the boot not long after. With that said before you start harping on "Edyion you tard, those come with the ability cower maybe thats why he wouldnt do anything" . I am not stupid by any means and I knew cower was there i caught him to learn it and then promptly untrained it from him at the trainer. It wasnt the cower but this is but one example.

A later kitty I tamed was Josie, a frost saber from winterspring. I got her to learn the highest prowl and kept her to keep from having to give up Snuggles dps since at the time your pet could only know 4 skills (so nice to not have to worry about that limit anymore) and I wanted to have a cat with prowl for spying/scouting purposes. Where Gomez wouldn't do a damn thing I wanted him to if it ment actually being agresive, Josie was hell on paws. I couldn't even take her leash off she was so agressive without it. By contrast Snuggles seems to have a smaller aggro radius and when i take him off most times he wont ever attack something unless its almost right up on me or him or it has some sort of taunt to use. She also got unhappy a hell of alot faster than Snuggles at the same level. Sadly i had to let her go to train a stinky spider for my next level in bite but I am sure she is chewing the face off some Gnome as we speak.

Next I caught a red lynx I naned Edward and called JR when talking to guild (my toon has red hair most of the time and started with red hair so it seemed like a fitting name). JR was...special. That cat had a habit of attacking random things then we were in instance runs. Now it wasn't like I was just letting him loose all willy nilly. One of my pet pieves as a hunter is pet control. I think we should ALL be AWARE of WHERE our pets are at ALL TIMES, so I work really hard at maintaining that control. Jr. seemed determend to make my toon pull her hair out when she got him to level and started using him in instance runs. I would target a mob like always and when the tank had aggro hit pet attack and start firing. Then I would noticed Jr. run off to attack something on the other side of the room nevermind i wasn't even having him target it. Didn't happen often but I did stop using him for a while because of it. Nothing like having your pet go "fuck you" and pull half of Steam Vaults on your head. And it was probably Jr. that made me sit down and think about the differences in all the cats I have personally had. And then i started looking at other hunters and their pets in my guild and I saw something similar.

When I had my spider she didn't act like the spider of my GM's hunter. My gorrila seemed determend to kill me where as my buddy's Gorrila was just as chill as could be. Then there was Killer, the guild's special education raptor owned by one, Bigdog, that my Jr. seemed to be getting his notes from. I don't think I have ever seen that raptor do a single thing Bigdog wanted him to when he wanted him to. And even since 3.0.2. and WOTLK I still see the differences myself. I picked up another cat from Zul'Drak to hold my spot for my spirit beast I saw a difference in how he played for me versus Snuggles. Jr. and Snuggles remand different until i parted with Jr. for another pet i wanted. I couldn't blame skills anymore for the additude differences I have picked up on. Yeah I might be reading way more into it that I should but so what? Its my theory on pets. Just sit down and actually think about your pets and how they act if you have them. See if you see what I do :).

A Pleasant Reminder

2009-04-02T20:00:00.003-05:00

For the past few weeks I have been doing my best to not address the inter turmoil of M.A.S. here with you kind people. My guildies that read this already know how I feel about it and I don't feel is necessary to drag you into a long ass rant about how upset I am with certain former M.A.S. members. So I won't. I am very proud to be a member of M.A.S. and honored to have been allowed hold a position and help my guild family through the good and the bad. Yes I take it a bit personal when people step on us. But we will survive.

I should actually thank all parties involved with the great defection as the did something for me personally I have been missing in this game. You see by nature I can't stand people. Most tend to be fake and I can't stand that. It makes me very angry so I have nothing to do with them in general. Well I hadn't really had to deal with that in game so I was a bit more open and nice than I am normally inclined to be. This has been fixed for me now. I have been lied to alot in the past few weeks and a few people have lost any respect I might have held for them and as such I will no longer have anything to do with them. Is this a personal decision? Partically, but mostly they have allowed me to bring out the part of me that lets me coupe with such situations. Edy does not give a damn anymore would be the best way to put it. So I will let my apathy towards these people maintain my happiness in game. And this empathy will help me maintain what little civil conversation comes up with these people. Yah I might be dealing with this a little hard but lets think about it. No matter how much you want to think that World of Warcraft is just a game its not. Its people. Its the people you walk around in the store with. Its the people you meet on the street and never say a word to. If you talked to them you would like some and others you wouldn't. Some are snakes. Others gems in a sea of filth. Peoples feelings get hurt and relationships die as a result. Thats what happens if you have associations with people RL or in game. I see that the clearest now, I accept it wholey now, and from here we move on.

The Ed has spoken.

The TRUE Power of the Forsaken

2009-03-31T10:55:00.004-05:00

(A day in the thoughts of one Anne Gwish)

Surrounded again....nothing new there.

*slash*

Theses silly wretches think that I will fall so easily?

*slash clang*

No matter how many come I will cut them down and feast on their corpses.

*Thwack*

1...3...5...20. Its all the same to me.

*low health!!*

Hmm.....well this could prove troublesome. I seem to have run out of bandages....don't seem to be able to eat right now either....

No matter for now is the hour of the TRUE POWER of the forsaken. The greatest gift that any servant of our Dark Lady can receive the honor of gaining the knowledge to use.

The time has come.

Bow to the power of the almighty DUCK TAPE and tremble at its glory!!!

Karma Of Some Sort I Suppose......

2009-03-28T02:56:00.003-05:00

I dunno what I did to have Ruru curse me with a tag but I have been, and as I am an insomnia I suppose I should get this out the way. While its cool as hell to get the recommendation and that somebody finds me worth enough to recommend me to others in such away IS flattering it the work I have to do in response to such an award I am not thrilled about. Ah well, suck it up Edy.

P.S.
Don't expect me to do this often if ever again. I blame my inability to sleep and all the bastards that make these in the first place :).

That being said I would like to thank Ruhtra at Holy Shock for spending his auction house time reading my babblings when he could simply harrase me in game. It is rather moving to know that something I am saying is worth your attention other than my useless banter in guild chat. That said I suppose its time for me to pass on this Award to those I feel are worthy:

1. BigRedKitty: A hunter after my own heart, BRK is one of the first blogs I ever started reading. Funny guy with great hunter advice and tips. His blog is a hot spot and rightly so. I've gotten alot of my advice from his blog, definately worth checking out if you never have.

2.Temerity Jane: She amuses me greatly do I really need any other reason than that?

3. .....um there is no 3

Yeah yeah yeah I am 5 short. I am also not very big into reading other blogs and all the others I could list are already tagged that I am aware of and I am too lazy to think of some way to fill the other spots. For all I know these 2 are as well but meh I likes em I think they kick the llama's ass and they haven't done the tag themselves so they are fair game in my book :).

With that out of the way lets move on to my 10 things you didnt know (or even care to know) about lil' ol' Edy:

1. My forth toe on my right foot is shorter than my pinky toe.

2. I have an addiction to sunflower seeds.

3. I played trumpet for 7 years and still pick it up on occasion.

4. I like the smell of tattoo ink.

5. I am able to name any Friday the 13, Halloween, or Nightmare on Elm Street move by mere scene description.

6. I enjoy table top gaming and often take my dice out in memory of not being able to do it anymore.

7. I have a tattoo of the royal emblem from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time on my back and am damn proud of it.

8. I am a scuplter by schooling and actually do have some knowledge in how to weld.

9. I speak Japanese. Not fluently but I have a basic understanding of it.

10. I can't stand the smell of mustard or hot sauce. They make me physcally ill.

There I have answered my award calling and spilled many secrets....well I'd tell anybody this but nobody ever asks. Anyway I am finally sleepy. Enjoy your day, night, what ever the hell it is to you.

A Tale of Two Anns

2009-03-27T15:18:00.005-05:00

Once upon a time the sisters Edyion and Tytanya found a cow. Her name was Annodal and though she was merely a fresh, wet behind the horns druid, she took the call to arms the sisters presented her with and began to inch forward sowing her druidic slavation in the hopes of making their faith in her well founded.

Not long after the sisters met a fledgling warrior by the name of Annegwish. Anne is as mean as they come with a desire to beat the stuffing out of anything that can be hit. Small though she be she is a fierce as a wolf. If there is pain to be brough she will be the one to bring it. Needless to say Tytanya shows a fondness for this charge.

Ok ok that was fun but I will explain. Of late M.A.S. has been through a bit of a troubled time and though we have always needed tanks and heals we need them NOW more than ever. Annodal I had for a while but never really got into playing her cause she was just something to tinker around with, I am not fond of the size of taurens (specially taurens in bear suits)and I'd never played a druid. Now I have picked up leveling her to be a healer for M.A.S. and hopefully when she gets to 80 I can help releave a little of the stress on our 2 remaining healers. Annegwish is a much more recently rolled toon. Again I wanted to try a warrior and something about undead females and the way they fight is terribly amusing to me. I dont know why I rolled her at first but I think it would be fun to have her go the course and become a prot warrior. Again there is something terribly funny about undead females when they fight and its even MORE funny when they are getting the tar beat out of them tanking.

I probably wont talk much about them as I am having a pretty tough time keeping myself motivated to use them when I usually get called into active dps duty on Edy and Ty needs to be geared as is and really never get a chance to use her : /. Might be fun to keep you guys up on how the Anns are doing though.

Add-ons, Yah I Gotz Some - Part I

2009-03-26T16:44:00.007-05:00

Its been an interesting week for me in game and as much as I would love to rant a hole in your eyes about its house drama and I wanna keep this a drama free zone for as long as possible. That said I will probably get a little lax in my posting just for not wanting to think with all the things on my table. Disclaimer fin.

That said this week hasn't been all insanity as I have been working on trying to improve my effectiveness on my hunter in particular. Now I have be come a bit of an add-on junkie of late though I am trying to reel myself in somewhat with my usage of them. But I have managed to come across a handful that make me wonder why the hell I never tried this before.

Now I'm not gonna start with my newer add-ons but rather my first add-ons I would have a hard time functioning without and work my way through:

FloTotemBar & FloAspectBar

Now these lil beauties I been using since a hunter friend pointed them out to me when I merely an infant in the lands of Azeroth. Now FloTotem is not souly a hunter add-on and is designed making for Shammies but the author was kind enough to build it with the ability to display hunter traps. FloAspects does the same thing with hunter aspects. These in combination free up alot of space for action bars and though I am sure there are ways around using them I would personally have a hard time adapting.

X-Perl UnitFrames

I always been a minimalist when it comes to how I have done my job on Edy and so far it worked for me but the last few weeks I have been thinking more about how I can be better. I'd never used unit frames of any sort and I am gonna be honest I tried this one just cause I liked the fact it made character portraits animated, but even with that silly a reason I love this add-on. Makes my life in raids so much easier being able to see the tanks when I am not in group with them for misdirects and helps me keep an eye on healers for when I have to use my Snuggs to OT for a minute if something gets on them or drop a trap till a tank can get to the healer. Pretty easy to set up how you want it as well.

MiKScrollingBattleText

Something I should have had a while go as I didn't even really use Blizzard's built in text for a while. Main reason I suggest this is for cool downs cause its nice to see an ability flash up when it ready rather than watching my action bars. I have enough to keep up with what with my pet running around gnawing his little heart out.

PowerAurasClassic

I got this yesterday after checking a few hunter blogs I follow and I'll be damned if it already isn't the best thing I have picked up since this add-on frenzy thing week. Took me a minute to work out how to use it but now that I know I don't have to worry about missing a Beastial Wrath cd or not knowing I was still in Aspect of the Viper cause the lovely flashies I have set up tell me that faster than I can look at my action bars and in the middle of a fight thats alot of time saved. I have yet to set it up for Ty but I am sure it will have the same effect for her as well and I definately recommend trying it out.

PallyPower

Speaking of Ty, I have only this one add-on to mention for her. Now I think any Paladin worth salt should have this add-on cause it just makes buffing that much easier. Its easy to set up. It registers what buffs other paladins in your group/raid have in theirs so you can adjust accordingly and the timers and alerts for unbuffed players just makes buffing for pallies that much less of a headache. Though thats all killed when you are running with a paladin that doesn't have it but yeah you cant win 'em all now can you?

OmenThreatMeter, Recount & DeadlyBossMods

These are add-ons I will mention just because they are add-ons I feel everybody that wants to PVE should have them. Every player should be fully aware of their own threat at any given time. They should also not be dependant on the raid lead or people in party to alert them when attacks are coming in a fight they need to be aware of. Also, lets just be honest Recount is a blessing and a curse. Though you should be fully aware how much damage you are doing it also leads to bone heads trying to top the charts and as such pulling unnessasary aggro from the tanks and hindering the over all dps of other players fully dps as they need to in order to allow the tanks to get aggro back. Don't be that guy.

I haven't bothered to link add-ons in this cause I have those listed on the side and you can just click em there (yeah I am lazy get over it). I also have many other add-ons I work with but those will come up another day. Untill then happy add-on hunting.

Shake that Booty!

2009-03-24T12:14:00.004-05:00

Its nice to know even after a not so great day of instancing the big strong men folk in M.A.S. can find it in their stone hearts to entertain their not so amused Edybear out of her building annoyance. If only they coulda seen how bad ass this looked with the music I was listening to :).

Booyah!

2009-03-23T15:53:00.010-05:00

I would like to thank this ally for becoming my 10,000th kill. Sure you rolled in to the wrong place at the wrong time but that doesn't make this Edyion any less grateful. So thank you very very much again. Do I care you are probably pissed you got steamrolled? Not really but thank you for dying and not releasing :).

That being said the reason M.A.S. was out spreading our love to the allies was a really good friend of mine, Abbandon, came back from extended computer nursing and as per custom called for the annihilation of South Shore for hours and hours on end. Only fair after all the attacks we have been getting of late. Anyway as always with these things our party grew a bit large than the good folks in SS were willing to hang for and we began the ever lovely M.A.S. world tour eventually ending up in Honor Hold. Was a good night indeed.

Lastly I have these to share as well. Snuggles was a bit "randy" after all this excitement...

This druid shall remain nameless for his/her own safety....as well as my hoping I don't get any calls about cub support. Also as funny as this was what happened next made it all the better.

THANK YOU PetEmote.

A Punting We Will Go

2009-03-22T10:47:00.006-05:00

Late last night we in M.A.S. did some house cleaning in Tarren Mill, as we are often known to do, and schooled a few Alliance pricks that just can't have fun unless they are stopping people that can't defend themselves from playing. Rant for another time there but anywho lots of faces pwned and blood spilled on both sides. Came across this vid when I got up this morning and its just so bad ass and fit my mood SO well just had to post it. Personally have nothing against most gnomes but damn it its worth it to see so much gnome punting even with the ended Baron threw in there. Anyway enjoy.

Was it Something She Ate?

2009-03-21T18:03:00.008-05:00

Though I love Snuggles with all my lil' blood elf heart I can't deny my Spirit Beast, Gaz, holds about as high a spot. I have had the honor of Gaz lending me her awesomeness for a while now and I am still as proud to have her as they day I caught her. However, while running around with Eus punting not so nice trolls I realized something. A purple Gaz is 20 times more awesome. A purple Eus.....well not so much. Long live the goddess of pimp kitties.

My Snuggle Love, Oh Ee Oh Ee Oh

2009-03-19T14:36:00.006-05:00

Every hunter should, at least in my opinion, have a best friend. By best friend I refer to that one pet you just can't live your WoW life without. Mine is a is a lynx by the name of Snuggles. There are many that look like him and may even steal his name but there will only ever be one TRUE Snuggles. I tamed (more like I got maimed until he got tired and decided I probably had food) at level 10 just after completing my hunter quest and it was love at first kill. As I watched him gnaw the head off a dragonhawk I knew no other could replace him in my life, and from there we have traveled a long whinding path to 80.

Many called me crazy for keeping him. "You should release him and get another cat. Ooo ooo ooo get a rare one!" I would only smile and nod at their short sightedness. I would train my cat to be the killer I saw in his eyes. I would travel to the far ends of Azeroth and eventually Outland to learn various more power attacks from others but they would never last. Only Snuggles stood true as I allowed the others to slink back of into the wilderness, for Snuggles willingly died to protect me in the untamed wilds of Azeroth for a mere hug, a gentle pat on the head, and piece of meat or fish. He outlived me in bad instance pulls though he did his best to keep it from happening. He slowed allies as I ran for my little hunter life and even ate a few as I dealt death to their running friends.

There have been others. Other cats, boars, core hounds, chimeras, wolves, a gorilla and even a feared spider but none could take his place. Even now he shares me with his brothers and a sister, the ever famous and elusive spirit beast. Still in this Edy's heart Snuggles shall always reign king.

He doesn't do flashy tricks. He isn't built like a tank. He likes to chase night elf druids for some afternoon lovin'. He likes belly rubs when we have nothing to do. He likes it when I let him off the leash to gnaw on allies that have infested our little town of Tarren Mill. Snuggles has never let me down when I needed him and done everything I have asked. Often he is blamed by tanks but even that rolls off his back. There are many cats like him and some might share his name. There is only one Snuggle-butt though and he is mine and mine alone.

Giggle Like a School Girl and various PTR thoughts.

2009-03-18T11:41:00.012-05:00

First off I would like to welcome my partner in crime, the Harley Quinn to my Ivy, Eus to this blogging thing. You can find her here at The Suicidal Healer . I would also like to thank her husband, my guild leader, for his welcome at Holy Shoc k and yes chief you do put me through my paces but I have fun doing it... most of the time.

Well now that is out of the way I can get down to business. Now I could QQ about the changes coming down the grand 3.1 tunnel. I could complain about the coming removal Spiritual Attunement from trainers and being put deep in the prot pally tree thus returning our mana woes to the lowly retadin. I could moan about this, but I don't really care. Mana has never been a strong point for a ret. We got past it then we will now. I could also bitch about the nerf to Explosive Shot.....no wait....why would I complain about that? I think its needed. A nerf bat swing of a base damage reduction of 10% and attack power scaling of 12.5% might end up being alot but in all honesty I am tired of getting blasted in the back with one shot and it taking half my life. Am I just a bitter Beast Mastery hunter waiting to see another hunter tree feel the nerf wraith? Possibly. I however am not speaking as a jaded hunter right now. I came to terms with my tree's changes and could give you many a reason why I have remained a BM hunter in the face of the SV revolution, but that is a conversation for another time. No my friends there are more than enough blogs dealing with the Ghostcrawler should be strung up arguments. I have other things that make me excited about 3.1. Its not the Dual Spec, though admittedly I am beyond excited about that coming feature. It's not the coming buffs to the pet trees that make my 51 points to get the Beast Mastery talent oh so nice now. Its not even the changes to hunter ammo still being squared away though that does too make me giddy like a kid that just found a piece of candy in his pocket in the middle of class. No, the things that I wish to look at are the little changes that bring joy.

"What little things could those be Edy? How could anything be more important that the never ending news of buffs and nerfs and super buffs and super nerfs for my *insert random class here* ?" To that question I pose another. Do those make you giggle like a school girl? Yes I aware that a buff will make anybody giggle with glee, but I wanna clarify. Which would make you giggle till your face hurts more a slight change to your class that you wont notice once you get it though it looked GREAT on paper, or a lil' mecha gnome that will smash those annoying ass train sets for you and does a little shimmy? Personally the gnome wins hand down, but there could be something wrong with me. New loots make me giddy. New mounts get me hot. New small pets give me hours of running in circles watching them scrurry along side my mount with that new mount smell. Mounts that SWIM blow my mind. A new type of spirit beast makes me all tingly inside. The new Wind-up Train Wrecker makes me giggle like a lil school girl who just pushed a boy in the girls' room. So what my retadin wont be getting mana from being healed much longer. So what my hunter is still working through the bm growing pains and dealing with the ever present presure of trying to compete with the soon to be nerfed just as hard SV tree. There are foam swords to be had, specral tigers in sandbox form (sure they are from the trading cards but its something to shoot for) and even mounts to be fished. It's the little things that keep me going in the crazy ever-changing lands of Azeroth. So when you get the patch blues remember you can always just get a lil' mecha gnome to smash the crap out of that stupid train set pissing you off in your raid and embrace that lil school girl just begging to giggle ab0ut it.

Flex that Ret!

2009-03-17T10:38:00.000-05:00

So this past weekend my guild decides to run some BC raid content to get in some practice, get some gear for some lower members, and see how well we raid together as we are trying to move into the end game with more force. So my misadventure begins with Karazhan, which surprisingly we had more people sign up for than we actually had the room for. There was a small problem however. We had no tank. Now we HAD a tank signed up but due to circumstances beyond his control his connection crapped out which left us tank-less. Now many of us are thinking "no way this is gonna happen without a tank" my fearless guild leader (that I am sure was more determined to get his hunter some kara gear than anything else really ;)) suggests myself and one of our dks tank this thing. Now I am thinking oh crud cause
A) I have tanked very little
B) am currently specced ret which I love and
C) I have absolutely NO tank gear
In the end I ended up MTing nearly the whole raid without too much problem as I had 2 lovely 80 healers on my ass, ret holds a lot of aggro when in Righteous Fury, and most of us there knew the run well enough we didn't have too many problems. Now I DID have a few things happened that urked me a bit like certain raid members not listening because they "knew the run". Now I am sorry but I dont give a fart HOW well you think you know the run. You listen to the raid leader and you sure as hell never run ahead of the tank, especially when its somebody that is by no means a true tank and is not used to tanking as is. This led to more deaths than necessary and at least one stressed out healer ready to call it. Though it did stress me out I have to admit I had fun tanking though its not something I wanna make a habit of. Though I have to admit I am starting to look at ret a little differently than I did before.

My guild wasn't done testing my abilities to do things a retadin wasn't exactly designed to do and the next day after a late start to getting the raid together I was informed I would be not only healing but solo healing Zul Aman. HELLO panic mode. I completely lose it when they tell me this. Now I did have a healing off set I had been working on but it was in no way ready for me to heal anything but thank god my pally is a chanter and black smith and I managed to squeeze 1479 sp and 12k mana pool out of my gear. The larger problem for me was the fact I had never healed anything before. What a way to have your healing cherry popped. Over all I think it went ok we made it through some clearing and the eagle boss Akil'zon with just me healing but it became very clear I wasn't gonna be able to keep that up when we got to the bear, Nalorakk. Our tank was just getting hit way to hard for me to keep him up and the rest of the raid as well which about half of the raid was 74 or lower I believe and we were a bit undermaned. Luckily our priest Zoulkhan logs on and comes to save the day....well thats what I wanna say, unfortunatly what really happened was he saved the day on the bear but his connection issues got in the way again. Nothing like the tank rushing into the lynx bastard of a boss Halazzi and me wondering why everybody's health is getting so low he logs back in just as I oom saving the day. One more bout of solo healing on the Hexx Lord after a few wipes and Zou getting knocked cold we get thru Zul'jin with like nil issues. It was hard fought and I was shaking through most of the fights while going into a low buddhist chant of profanities at my situation it was fun. I think I really like healing but I will be damned if I make it habit of doing that while ret spec. It can be done but I wouldnt suggest it personally.

I end up tanking one more time that weekend in Magister's Terrace as a for fun run and it started out with a plan but quickly degraded into a free for all slug fest with the chief and his cat really keeping me on my toes. This time I was more just a retadin just holding aggro than a real tank which is fine with me. I dont really like tanking all that much but I could probably learn to. Healing on the other hand I think I could learn to love. I am trying to hold out for dual spec but with our currernt shortage of healers I might have to speed up my decision to make Tytanya heals or not. I love ret with all my heart and I dont wanna give it up. That said and with these past runs to go by I wouldn't be surprised if I dont get called to test the limits of the retadin again in the tank or healer role. Do I want to? Not really. Would I? Hell yes.

Once There Was an Ed....

2009-03-17T09:08:00.000-05:00

Hello to those of you that have happened to have the not so great luck to stumble upon this "mockery" of a blog. Ok, ok all joking aside I am pleased if anybody happens to come across this blog (otherwise I would just be talking to myself which would make me sad) and I thank you for taking the time to see what the hell it is I am rambling about.

First off this is a blog about my WoW life and as such I will try to keep my personal life out of it. For starters I am a GIRL. No not "Guy In Real Life" I am a honest to goodness female complete with breast and non dangly naughty bits. I have been a gamer since I first played Duck Hunt and Q-Bert on my older brother's Nintendo and I have no intentions of ever stopping. I am 25, and artist and suffer from many addictions other that the lovely World of Warcraft such as anime direct from Japan, Manga/Comic Books, and sunflower seeds. I was talked into Warcrack by some friends of mine in college which only served to prove my point that I would get addicted to this game the minute I started playing. Oh well the trap was set, I fell in, and I will never look back.

I play on the PVP server Daggerspine (US) and have fallen prey to the alt bug but I have 2 toons I mainly play: Edyion- my main a level 80 blood elf beast mastery hunter, and Tytanya - my level 80 ret-pally. They have a brother and other sisters but honestly I have little interest in playing any of those alts at the moment. I love my hunter above all and my pally comes in a close second so I enjoy keeping in peak form in the way I play them. I am also on the Executive Board for my guild and in general the one everybody pesters when our fearless leader isn't "present". I also have a few allies scattered around like on Blackhand, but they are on PVE servers that other friends of mine play on and use them to speak once in a while. I find PVE boring personally however. I was brought into the game in PVP and earned my stripes there. Really hard for me to not get bored without the ever present threat of alliance gang raping me as I mind my own business. Its part of the thrill.

I like raiding and I like PVP in spurts though its not my favorite thing in the world to do unless its world PVP and somebody is picking on lowbie MAS family. In which case I usually get summoned in a "Code Red" which usually means Edy drop what the hell you are doing get out here and come die...I mean pwn some face with your suicidal healers, k thanks. Yes this is where the name for my blog comes from and many an ally on d-spine camping 30s in Hillbrad should have learned by now if you see a MAS toon out there and you kill them there is a good chance I will be coming to cash that check you just wrote.

WoW isn't my first MMO. I played City of Heroes for a year before WoW and though I miss my kick ass hero I like my friends and stuff in WoW. With that I think that covers most of what I wanted to say. Again I bid you hello and stick around you might read something interesting :).