Patch 3.3 & Xmas

Well its certainly improved the game. I have tried the random Dungeon and Heroic Dungeon feature and damn its no time at all. Simple, easy….fun.
Of course, you will get the occasional tool in your pug, but that’s just a fact of life in wow..there will be more tool’s.
Guildwise, I am pleased that our newest members have caught up with our current raiding level of gear with the triumph emblems. This patch has made the gap almost disappear, although the only limiting factor is time really, on whether you have the time to do these heroics for triumphs or not.

After this week, the guild breaks from raiding. It’s not until the second week of January we pick up again after the holidays. Raid leaders need a break too you know, and I think with all the work we have all done as a guild so far, social time will help to bond the guild more as a raiding/guild team even more for 2010.
We re-entered TOTC 10 last night after staying away from it for a month to play catch up on Ulduar, and whipped through the northrend beasts and x2 shotted Jaxx. The Champions are a pain in the ass, and I will have to read up some more on the mechanics of that fight, we made some headway on killing one paladin but needed work after the first 15 seconds.

So ticking away with the random heroics, getting my T9, and may even pug some raids for the next few weeks.
Im leaving ICC until the new year. But i despirately want to clear Ulduar for the guild achievement, and bring everyone up to spec gearwise and experience wise with tying up a raid instance. Having everyone together, just helps much more with bringing everyone together...

Defining your guild?

Social Guild! Raiding Guild! Casual Guild!
You can see the guild recruitment channel in towns, many folk advertising raiding guilds. Some maybe hard core, some just raiding when they can raid, even if thats every day. Then theres the Hard-Core raiding guilds which,...really dont seem to advertise much anyway, the progressive raiding guilds, Casual raiding guilds, and then theres the social friendly guild. Pretty clear cut isnt it? or is it?
Taking my own experience of running TDD, i think (and quietly hope) that i have seen all manner of player types come, go and stay. We naturally keep those people who wish to stay, and those that leave, leave peacefully or, somewhat with a little drama to make their point. And i cant remember kicking someone of of TDD for a good year +! And while we maintain a reputation of a good friendly well run guild, i wonder sometimes how...

By the nature of word of mouth, TDD is a social guild, however, we do raid with the pupose of progressive raiding, and theres nothing casual about the focus of our raiding, only our attitude towards wipes, and mistakes. We pick up our feet, advise, and try again. The guild is structured and organised enough to use the gold anvil, financed by the Raid Bank and Guild Bank plus dontations from guild members to have debt free repair bills. We are also labelled a casual raiding guild also, along with "end-game raiding".
Week by week, we work with and along side new members (new to raiding sometimes) and develope these players into confident raiders. It takes time, some find that difficult to cope with, when they see the potential of the talent of the over-all guild, and wonder why Ulduar isnt cleared yet. And that largely comes down to every individual members goals, where do they want to be?


My thoughts, as a GM is where do i want my guild to be together, and how happy are they as a collective raiding team working with each other. Socially, there could be problems, and that is the blight of every GM's guild. How do you sort out the social, from the raiding? You cant really, the two come hand in hand, you either like someone or you dont. And then communication of your raid breaks down into them and us!
The trouble i have found with TDD, is not screening enough, or willing to step on action of players you instinctively know, will move on to a more harder core of raiding. This is probably something i need to get back into personally and take over, however the trouble is defining the guild outline of Social, progressive raiding stance, how do you advetise a guild like that ...or do you need to if it already has a reputation?
TDD does have the potential, however, individual members, dont have the same time as dedicated raiders. We have famillies that work, students that study, parents with young babies, and teenagers in their finishing years at school. ....Maybe i should hold a competition for the best Social Progressive Raiding Guild slogan?
I personally have got into an arguement over ventillo as to whether TDD was a hard-core raiding guild. Again, mention of the ability of players within our guild. But take into account that individuals background and previous guilds, shows they where pushing to thier own expectation of what TDD *could be* for their own aims, which isnt a bad thing, if the rest of the guild was able to meet those expectations, but they cant..for RL reasons and commitments. It's at that point you have to consider is this relationship the right one? between the established Guild and the Experienced Individual? There are some months where the guild will *click* in raids and steam through everything without any hiccups, and at those points folk see *potential* to do something more, and push for it. I guess at the heart of things, we do things in..moderation, to balance real-life and gaming hand in hand.

And thats what TDD is good at. And i guess, the biggest advertisement TDD has, its achievements, in relation to other guilds out there on our server

Greatly Improved - The respec

Well that was certainly an improvement, although it was only a 5 man Daily Dungeon and Heroic Daily run, there was allot more AE control. And my health bar hardly moved at all.
So the confidence is back, and my mana starvation has now gone, thanks to the respec. I have an Ulduar raid tonight, so hopefully these changes and glyph changes will see a real difference.
I cant wait for Onyxia on Monday either, as im sure the changes will make a great improvement on whelp control.

I had to wipe out my remix ui, i began to hate it, but took what i did like about it with me. And customised my own personal one. Which is much much less cluttered, and im able to see alot more multiple trash easier. I'll upload a screen shot later. For now, its time to test out the respc in raids this weekend.

Refining the Tree

Respec Talent Update
While having a read through EJ, i felt i needed to catch up on some talent abilities and read up their explinations. Seems i had over looked a few things from my original spec, which was put together very quickly when i turned 80. Old Spec

Gearwise, i am happy, bang in the middle of what i was aiming for, not too high, and just right for 10 man raiding. Although i may jump into the occasional 25 pug on the weekend too, and chance my luck. Looks like i could use some more hit rating, and a re-think on my rotations aswell.

[Hammer of the Righteous] (HotR): Excellent threat against up to 3 mobs at a low mana cost, or 4 with the [Glyph of Hammer of the Righteous]. Damage per target is not as high as ShR, but total damage against 3 targets is greater than ShR damage. Do you know what?...2 weeks back playing, and i dont think this ability is even on my action bar!!

Glyphs.
Hammer of the Righteous
Divine Plea
Righteous Defence

Some work to do tonight i feel...

Macro Collection

http://www.wowwiki.com/Useful_macros_for_paladins
#showtooltip
/castsequence reset=2 Holy Shield, Sacred Shield

Hand of Protection (HoP) Macro
I use this a lot on my squishies – they love it because most paladins don’t use it, unfortunately.
BoP Aggroing Party Member This BoPs your current targets target (i.e. use it if a party member pulls aggro from the tank on your current target). If you are not partied it will BoP yourself. Pressing it again will cancel the BoP if cast on you (get rid of the BoP on yourself to resume DPS or if the BoP was accidental).

#showtooltip Hand of Protection
/cancelaura Hand of Protection
/cast [nogroup,target=player][target=targettarget,party] Hand of Protection
/raid %T is protected!

Tanking
Divine Shield This Macro will allow a tank to cast Divine Shield and remove it in two clicks. This will allow a tank to remove all debuffs, DoTs, fears, and other harmful spells and then remove the shield so you can pick up aggro. This can also be used with blessing of protection and Divine Protection.

/cancelaura Divine Shield
/cast Divine Shield

Increased Max Camera Distance
You can see more so it’ll help you increase your situational awareness!

/console cameradistancemaxfactor 50

Holy
Holy Macros Holy Shock + Divine Favor
#showtooltip Holy Shock
/console Sound_EnableSFX 0
/use Divine Favor
/console Sound_EnableSFX 1
/script UIErrorsFrame:Clear()
/cast Holy Shock

Improved Cleanse, Holy Light, Flash of Light Simple macro to
Cleanse/Holy Light/Flash Light the mouseover or your target or your target's target, press alt/shift/ctrl to do the action yourself directly:

#showtooltip
/cast [mod,target=player][target=mouseover,help,nodead]
[help,nodead][nogroup,target=player][target=targettarget,help,nodead]Cleanse
#showtooltip
/cast [mod,target=player][target=mouseover,help,nodead]
[help,nodead][nogroup,target=player][target=targettarget,help,nodead]Holy Light
#showtooltip
/cast [mod,target=player][target=mouseover,help,nodead]
[help,nodead][nogroup,target=player][target=targettarget,help,nodead]Flash of Light

Redemption
Resurrect your target and warn the group. The macro will not warn if the target is hostile/not dead.

#showtooltip Redemption
/cast Redemption
/stopmacro [nohelp][nodead]
/p Resurrecting %t.

Normal mount else Flying mount with Crusader's Aura Macro
#showtooltip
/castsequence [nomounted, noflyable] !Crusader Aura, Summon Charger
/castsequence [nomounted, flyable] !Crusader Aura, Flying Mount
/cast [mounted] !Devotion Aura
/dismount
/dismount

Re-inspired

I returned to wow after a month or so offline, it was a break i needed for sure.
I was aware of the issues going on in the guild durin my time off, and just before. Things had to run their course, people, players, interests and motivation etc. Somethings work, some dont, and the quicker people accept those idolologies the better, and we can all move on and continue as before.
My return to wow see's me bring back the paladin tank, only this time to see warcraft trhough to its end. I managed to grapple the gear system eventually after all my own confusion of wtf do i do now to get any kind of gear upgrade, to oh...badges and triumph badges.
Ofc i knew this before, but having my partner Leni on the same page helps my own game time and enjoyment more, in having an actual lifestyle again in playing warcraft as a couple rather than an estranged silent living room with us both doing different things. Brings that sense of family, and team back into my own game time, and hopefully for Leni too.
My main drive is to clear Ulduar once and for all. And drag everyone into heroics to get their badge gear. The raiding is for pure achievement, not gear, as i doubt their is anything of real importance in there worth getting for myself, although some might think they still need this and that badges are probably the most reliable source of any gear upgrade.

So whats left, Ulduar, Onxyia and then Totc 10? and the expected patch of ICC? best we get our butts motivated for a new challenge then.

I think i managed to fix my wow freezing up on me now and then, i removed a GB of ram, lets see how we go

AION - Continued..

Continuing with the assessment of AION, i am delighted to say NCSoft have addressed the Q'ing issues from the weeks before, launching new servers, and compensating those willing to move with a XP bonus item which has a couple of hourly charges.

My own waiting time has been reduced from 2 hours, down to 1 hour, and they have implimented a disconnect relog feature that skips you out of the Q and striaght back into the game..awsome!!

So what have been up to? Outside of tweaking my PC to get the best graphics out of my midrange PC, i have been looking at the professions. Tailoring mostly, although i picked up Alchemy for making mana potions too.

As you can see, there are similar thngs to warcraft. However there is a addition work order quest, which the NPC provides you with a item to make unvaluable things like underwear..helps to increase your profession level also, although i have started it yet! but i will give details of it later. However you can fail to craft something, apparently also at top level too, to make rare items, but i will confirm that later. Crafted items also are more prominant relative to your level, and more practical to you in the here and now, rather than the warcraft system of tailoring crap until you get to the level cap epic items. You can only use your profession (IE create something) by going to the capital and using the loom, or Anvil (Like warcraft)

When i started AION, i had a bonus XP item, like i mentioned above, which i have been using to level, its down to its last charge now, but i have made level 15 without much fuss. I havent really being paying attention to the time it takes to level, as im only logged in for maybe 1 or 2 hours a night, so you can get an idea of how long its taken me so far.

The Sorcerer's spells continue to get better, and more animated. But theres something im not used to, or something that doesnt quite qork with it? maybe im used to warcraft global cooldown or something but clicking on the next spell seems to have a delay, or lag, its not clear what. But if you ignore it, its not much of a problem and you have to pace yourself with the abilities. everything else movemt wise, is fine. However i do think NCSoft will improve this.

Flight is a mis-conception, if you believe you can fly all the time in the world of AION, you cant. Only designated areas where magic resides are flight areas. However you can glide, if you jump and then jump again while in the air. Flight time, whether gliding or not, is limited to 60 seconds. However you can wear items that extend that time by a few seconds more.

Flight paths, and Teleports. You can move between one land and another by these two methods. It costs money, but not all that much. Teleport is the quickest, but costs a bit more, and the spirit bird is slightly less.

The games graphics continue to make me smile though, heres me standing next to one of the city guards.

Gaming PC

I had to upgrade my computer after a week of AION. However it was something i needed to do with Warcraft also. I stuck with 1GB (x2 512MB sticks) of RAM for a long time, running at DDR333.

I went and bought x2 1GB sticks at DDR400, and the difference in AION is very significant. However i have not yet tried Warcraft, which will be interesting to see, especially places like Dalaran.

There is another graphics card much better than the Sapphire HD 2600 XT, the ATI Radeon HD 4670 which is nearly double the FPS in performance. However i have to watch my wattage. This PC is a midrange PC and not an ultimate gaming machine. Built on a budget, so any upgrades done to this machine will be done over a long period of time. Tested..trialed..overclocked...tested, and trialed again. My main problem at the moment is the noise the current graphics card has when warmed up, and i started considering a passive card like SAPPHIRE HD 4670 ULTIMATE Edition, its also had some good write ups, and is silent, yet maintains its operating temperature comfortably. While im at it, i would need to upgrade the CPU aswell...but thats something for next year..prehaps

Temperatures running AION;

Case 34 Degrees C

CPU 45 Degrees C

GPU 58 Degrees C (peak)

RAM 1678 in use. (peak)

Semi Retirement & the AION assessment so far..

Well my blog has been pretty stagnant for the last month, the reason being I have gone into semi retirement in warcraft.
RL is pretty busy outside of the game with our new baby Charlotte, so at best, I’m able to get online somewhere after 8:45pm UK. This reason, along with my need to unwind from a day, including work has left me wound-up more than anything else. However, taking a complete break from wow has made a huge difference these last few weeks to my personal life and frame of mind.
That’s not to say im ready to come back, I’m far from that. The first thing I know when I log in will be “right, what needs to be done” and that’s what’s got me into this situation in the first place. I also have the issue in my head which is..Warcraft itself. Blizzard’s got lazy, for me..It feels for me anyway..The common saying, “same **** just different smell”
It was perhaps the 4 years of constantly playing warcraft that’s made it turn a shade of magnolia for me, a game shouldn’t be a heavy sigh before you double click the wow shortcut. And the announcement of the re-facing of Azeroth and the re-introduction of Onyxia. Heroic version of Deadmines…..tell me there’s going to be a heroic Molten Core too?......please no. I have spent 4 years playing this game seeing and hearing about the same things..Repeating them in an expansion or patch would be like listening to George Michael on CD rather than a cassette tape.. Interesting & quirky, but quickly worn off. Some have said, that Blizzard made the game too easy, in some cases they have, but as the post before…what do we do now? I’m at a complete loss with no direction.
I was asked if I would roll an alt and level that up, but the thought of that almost made me sick. Another questing alt, in the same content, that’s looked the same for the last 3-4 years? I wouldn’t even be reading the quest txt, but marching through them as quick as I could to ding as much as I can to get any kind of fulfilment out of the game, which wouldn’t be much.
I had to think back to what I originally loved about the game, in my original guild I loved the PVP aspect of the game, and the world raiding,..back at level 34+ and there’s basically next to no hope of getting anywhere in that side of the game with those that are. Dedicated players geared and pre-focused on PVP of me standing any chance of competing. I guess along with the break from warcraft I needed something to bounce my *in the habit* brain out of wow and try something new.
Now, you’ll notice, way back I posted a link and some you tube links to a developing game called AION. And since im not committed to anything online, and apart from designing a depron foam F14 tomcat (RC) and my online time is about 9pm onwards, I decided to give it a shot while it was still in its infancy stages of launch.
Ok, let’s get this out of the way first, this is not a Warcraft Vs Aion blog, first and foremost. I have a solid understanding of WoW, and something that’s just launched will NEVER compete with warcraft which has developed itself over 5 years..Seriously. AION, while it was in open beta in Korea is nothing compared to the North American and European markets.
There are two areas’ I will discuss separately, the game, and the service.
The Game.
Its solid, no bugs (as yet) and the game play is alike wow in its player movement controls. Spells and abilities have a UI much like WOW’s standard, and abilities like fireball, with progression in levels links to activate a chain spell with half the casting time of the main spell. The Auction house doesn’t have you running back and forth to the post-box either, but its still needing refinement. All gear has sockets, which you can insert manastones into, which have HP, MP, and Accuracy etc into, your class determines what you put into them, and you can also ask a vendor to extract them so they are not destroyed. The game IS pvp based, with some PVE content, the main endgame content is the Abyss, where both factions, call it horde and alliance converge in a big landscape along with a AI 3rd faction which charges in on the faction loosing (some kind of trigger goes off, I don’t know what though as im not level 25+ yet)
I could go on, and on, and as I said the game is still in its first month of launch, and there are loose ends which they need to tie up, which im sure will come in time…much like Blizzard.
Service.
Ok, this is where the horse has had the proverbial bullet shot up its ass. Since going live there have been 2 hour ques to get into the game, and some technical issues along with it. Getting into the game at present, is the issue. However NCSoft stand by their comments that each server needs a balance of both factions to work for each server so that the game works for both sides. Which in the long run is perfect (think Alliance vs. Horde ratio per server) however in the short term, it’s killing the game softly and flamed the players wanting to get in and play it. “You are 2348/2350 in the Queue, approximate time 2 hours 30 mins”, they have recently launched some servers to ease the problem, however they do not have a character transfer in place, which is also aggravating the situation, there quote “will take a few months to put this in place” …cough..you need it NOW people! And make it free while you populate your servers as required. At the moment they seem to be depending on the players shuffling over to newer servers, however guilded players and those as groups of friends playing on the server of choice…aint moving.
This week will show the worst of AION…what they decide to do this week, will determine its long term future success. However, do not under-estimate, HOW popular this game is..

Conclusion.
It’s not a warcraft killer, nor is it competing with Blizzard at any level. However in time, development and some steep learning curves, it will be a great alternative to warcraft, but let’s say..for this week…NCSoft need to pull it out of the bag to save themselves.
Great game, bad..terrible preparation for the mass player base that expected to play the game in its first launch week. I will write more, and further posts this month while I trial this game for 4 weeks free subscription.

Oh, and dont come anywhere near this game unless you have 2 GB RAM, and a half decent midrange graphics card, and a processor over 2.2 Ghz, if you can converge Stormwind, Ironforge and Dalaran into one city, its called Pandaemonium for a reason the Captial of the Asmo's

Which Raid..what level, which is best.

After posting on our forum a raid poll, it seems other guilds on Khadgar (and prehaps other realms) are (almost) doing the same, finding what is their focus?, and what is the point almost…especially with the announcement of the next expansion.
Lets think back to TBC and the WOTLK announcement. …..ahh ok…apathy. However the poll put Ulduar 10 in focus, along with ToC 10 and Malygos. Suprising when i thought the outcome would be biased towards 25 man raiding however i think they all have a lasting impression of waiting 20 minutes to try and fill the last 5 places and then going something, with just 20...

I have what seems like a more focused role this month also, this new emblem system needs some focus. Some members of the guild haven’t quite understood it aswell as they should, or maybe they have and haven’t spoken out and got involved in the guild with getting a group together and doing it. Ontop of that some players haven’t quite got used to WOTLK and its new group AE and kill everything, and maybe too used to the old pause CC and pull routine. BLITZ is propably what I should call dungeons these days.

The new content of ToC has raised the promotion of putting other people (geared) in charge of their own Wednesday 10 man raid, im happy with that, and it should build some new relationships in leading the way through that event. Went well for them last night on an organising level and discussion level, however they had an unlucky spell at the last boss. But that’s not important, the team developed into a more structured 10 man, without an official RL in it.

The gold anvil has been a carrot on the stick, for new content or guild firsts, I think not having this causes …”Mmm im saving for an epic flight skill” type of sign up. If the raid is free of repair bills then the only think spent is time, and for those without emblems to farm or items to spend money on crafting (Capped geared players) you need to keep the fire fuelled, until the rest of the guild catch up. An endless game of catch up. And yup, im the main player in getting those folk caught up.
If in doubt where to go, ask your people..

Something I noticed when typing NadiaStorm into google, I do appear a lot, so maybe I should spend a bit more time writing something rather than adding notes to myself now and then to reflect on.

Interesting post here by Gevlon and it really really should be read without any "doubts" or "but that.." and "oh he...".

3.2 Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes...

Since my return to tanking (from being a DPS Death Knight) and taking advantage of the new 3.2 Emblem system. I have had to list the gear here so i dont loose track. It's pretty bad to say that i need something to refer back to constantly. But thats now become the nature of the game, and a few people in my guild have fallen into that abyss also..more on that later.
So here goes..i will grey out what i have managed to achieve.

[Conqueror's Aegis Faceguard] 58 [Emblem of Conquest]
[Conqueror's Aegis Breastplate] - 58 [Emblem of Conquest]
[Shieldwarder Girdle] - 28 [Emblem of Conquest]

[Conqueror's Aegis Handguards] VoA25
Conqueror's Aegis Legguards VoA25
Or [Gauntlets of the Royal Watch] - 28 [Emblem of Conquest]
Or [Wyrmguard Legplates] - 39 [Emblem of Conquest]

[Regal Aurous Shoulderplates] TOC
[Dreadscale Bracers] Northrend Beasts
[Platinum Mesh Cloak] - 25 [Emblem of Valor]
[Spiked Deathdealers] - Crafted

I have spent more time on my paladin than my death knight since patch 3.2 came out, nobody needed dps for ToC5, only tanks in the LFG channel. On top of that, there has been an inconsistant attendance of tanks for our current raiding schedule, ..and quite frankly im getting a bit tired of asking folk to use their offspec to see us through a raid night. Although they dont mind it, its hardly the point, can i still roll on dps stuff, or tanking stuff Q. A vaild question, but not something i don't want to answer going through a raid in whisper. Quicker loot is done with, the quicker we move on, or rejoin the raid party progressing.
The guild vote on the forum pretty much spoke louder than words.
I also find it easier to talk on vent with the paladin, the DK is pretty much key mashing to keep your dps up. Paladin, i have about 5 seconds of nothing to do but look about and check where everyone is. I think for the sake of understanding and clarity, i will remove my death knight from the guild and park her somewhere..Yes, this is a permanent change.
So, its about time i got on the Heroic bandwagon, and farmt he hell out of Northrend, and pray to god that we win Wintergrasp this week.

We have had to reshuffle our outlook in 3.2, because we found ourselves locked in confusion about which raid..is higher than the other..25man Naxx Vs 10Man Ulduar. Ontop of that, some of our "2nd language is english" havent quite grasped the emblems for T8 head gear yet either. Ontop of no confident of getting in there with a pug and farming away. So i have had to take stock of all this and re-do the raiding back to 10 man, and re-focus everyone into the emblem system (both Conquest and Triumph) ..sounds odd right? a little, but these things do confuse you when you dont have as much dedicated time as someone who doesnt have a partner and 2 kids and a job to keep paying the bills!

So thats where the GM and Raid leaders have to consult each other and get the momentum and direction back, and im glad to say after a guild wide poll (which will be ongoing) we have that now. Ulduar 10 and ToC 10, lots of Heroic ToC 5 man and Heroic Dailies..C'MON! get in there :D

Raiding will still be 3 nights a week, but wednesday's will be more of a non-official ToC 10 while i manage the Mon Tues Uldar 10, backed up by Tarnya on Thursday's Ulduar. HaG continues on Friday,....which i hope to get folk not doing ToC 5 and daily heroics..on the right path of confidence. Position as tank and GM is easier, being able to lead this way round seems to be more practical, being one of the key roles in a group..the tank.

Ahh almost forgot

/script dr=function(x)return 1/(1/16+0.9560/x)end;DEFAULT_CHAT_FRAME:AddMessage("Need 102.4 with HS for block cap. Currently at: "..string.format("%.2f", GetDodgeChance()+GetBlockChance()+GetParryChance()+5+dr(GetCombatRating(CR_DEFENSE_SKILL)/122.962)))

The game has changed...almost completely

I once heard, or read, that the bosses in Uldar were too difficult, or complicated. It took all of 10 seconds for me to have a think about the XT fight, and then realise....actually, Heroic SteamVaults was harder..
Trash for every raid is, almost...nearly none...in comparison to TBC i remember endless pulls to get to Void Reaver. And that also involve something called....pulling tactics.. "sheep this" "Banish that"
Theres no doubt that the game is more accessable to the casual player, or casual raider. But please dont confuse accessable with ..the need to make a raid instance AE boring.
There is no danger, not that i have felt, going through trash, only the achievement of downing a new boss for the first time. Part of the challenge was getting there..."you know that old saying"

I think the game has now developed a very much pug a raid attitude. And again, not that im complaining about that accessability, as i have benefited myself from it, but if Uldar is the endgame content..i hope to find some sort of challenge in there, as so far, other than AE'ing everything to death and having gear checks on patchwerk and Co. Theres nothing really that stands out as a challenge or challenging ...so far in WOTLK. Maybe im too used to playing wow? i never did Molten Core or Black Temple....prehaps i just prefer to strive, to maybe one day achieve,.......... rather than here now AE tomorrow.
Undecided...

Khadgar and Autumn Season starts - Watch Out

It’s come to the end of the summer holidays, and already the swing in online attendance has increased, and those offline returning back online. Our latest numbers on tanks jumped up to 7 (myself included) so I have set my Death Knight as an Alt as a backup tank, as obviously at some point we will have another tank shortage again.

This is the time of year we also see an increase in applicants to the guild, some good applicants which are long term members, and others who are the froggers of guilds to get to eXperience or Iron Brew etc for the top end raiding, and see TDD as a stepping stone to get there. Which don’t get me wrong, it’s a compliment to know we can facilitate that need on Khadgar…but no thank you? Sometimes we shut down the guild recruitment all together during Autumn and Spring, because you can get some right “spare wooden tool’s to the workshop” that you spend more time looking after and educating your guild policy to, just to have them apply to another guild when they reach the minimum gear requirement. TDD has always recruited on a referral system. You know someone from TDD, and TDD has pugged or quested along side with for an amount of time with, then that individual has more chance of being accepted than Joe Blogg…
It’s soft ground for us at the moment as we tread on 25 man territory, it’s not an overly large swing from Uldar 25 itself, and that’s almost the game content played, so TDD people walking, running around in any major city is an advertisement of the progress level. The important thing to do, (as we always have) is make use of what we have and consolidate it firmly to establish ourselves as a new habit (25man) and get a system of habit consistent weekly. Make sure that all members of your guild/raid are hugged, find out what’s ticking, and make sure there is contentment. We have what we need, and if there is any short fall, turn around on the off nights of raiding and support them. Recruiting to fill a lack of something is ignoring a simple problem and potentially recruiting another.
August can break a guild if managed flipantly, remember a mass increase in numbers means more work looking after 5-10 new faces that may or may not move on in 6 weeks time.

The next 4 weeks are going to fascinate me, greatly. I will keep you posted in August <3 Khadgar

This Week

The weekend went quite well, however i didnt get any trinkets from either Halls of Lightning, or Azjol Nerub. However i did score with the legs from heroic Violet Hold, and accumlated enough badges to buy the Heroic emblem belt.
Now im still stuck for trinkets, and i also need to fill the ring slots too. So i need to research what is available, ....and has the highest defense on it to give me some flexability

Main Trinket
Seal of the Pantheon - Halls of Lightning (N)
Repelling Charge - Thaddius / Gluth
One of these trinkets is very essential as a base for a tanking set with epics...in blues the def cap is fine, but upgrading your gear to epic level your defense plumets!
It's without this trinket im suffering with my current gear, and need's to solve this first.
The other trinket is normally stamina based. Essence of Gossamer from Azjol Nerub in Heroic mode.

Optional Rings
Dragonflight Great Ring - Oculus 38 (N)
Gal'darah's Signet - Gundrak 36 (N)
Epic Rings
Rings are not really that much of a worry at the moment, the ones i am wearing will do. The priority this week would be, trinkets still.

Shoulders are not really important this week, however if any Teir shoulders drop, then that would be a bonus. Or even those listed in the link.

The Weekend Gear Run

After the week of leveling to 80, and then the following week gearing from Heroic level entry gear to,..now Naxx 25 entry, there are 5 items outstanding. Before the Naxx 25 next Monday + Tuesday

1 crafted ring
Legs from either Violet Hold, or OS 25
and 2 trinkets, one from (H) Azjol-Nerub and the other from Halls of Lighting Normal
And the Belt from (H) Azjol-Nerub

That pretty much will cover all of the low level gear items im still wearing, so i will either be deep in 5 mans this weekend or trying to get an OS25 going (pug)

PuG Naxx 10 - Leading from the front

We have all been there havent we? Ok, yes i have been also with my DK into a PuG 5 man, or 10 man raid, and looked at the tanks gear and thought, "Ahh cool if he/she is wearing that, we'll be ok" .......Then 5 minutes later reading a tank bleeting in raid chat after a wipe about no heals...and thinking, "...im sure you where trying to tank with your backside, aimlessly running around?!"
This wasnt the case with a PuG Naxx 10 i joined last night. Alongside a "Euphoric" Alt Tank Gélion who was on the ball, and i was always in constant whisper with, we worked well as a team. The raid leader was good also, kept everything clear, and soon enough we had 3 wings done and heading upto 4 Horsemen in no time.
Unfortunately we didnt get to finish it, but the hope is to reschedule for tonight. But i dont know if i will make it or not. However, i did managed to get 3 bits of tanking gear to help me along the way. What did i get..necklace, bracer and sword. Tier token that dropped was always for warriors etc, and classes we didnt have with us!.
"Nad" -It might also boil down to a reputation, not many people call my character by its nickname, and although it might seem an obvious nick, "Nadia" is the common saying, "Nad" is the familliar. And there was an awfull lot of "Nad" in the raid. So i will go with the assumption they knew the GM of TDD by mention, or they got a lucky guess. However i am always pleased to know that if there is any familliarity with TDD, and a good reputation, then im a happy GM for it.
Gear progress has now jumped from Naxx entry to Heroic Naxx entry in one evening, i need to pull out my crafted cloak again, to see if i managed to hit defense cap with it on, the blue seemed to fill the gap. And im 20 badges short of the Emblem tanking belt. or 14 if i want to convert the Valor tokens from the Naxx 25 from last week.
Garland has been getting hit pretty hard for expenses, after the crafted armour and gems and enchants, 3k has been spent. And last night 4oog on sorting out the 3 bits of gear i gained last night...where will it end ....

ULDAR - TDD also managed to kill Ignis on their 3rd attempt and 1 shot on Kologarn. Looking at it, we might look at extending the 10 Man Uldars for progression when 3.2 comes until the Naxx 25 geared the guild enough for Uldar 25 entry. However i need more people to have a look in the door of Uldar 25 to get an idea of what to do, on a smaller scale, however if i know 10 folk are familliar, thats half the battle in itself.

Guild Management

I take a screenshot for every compliment the guild gets. Not to show off, or brag, but when eventually when warcraft has its last day, i can look back on my guild slideshow and reflect back on some good times, and some brilliant achievements "they" made.
It's also a morale boost for myself, as sometimes, you get that doom feeling. And you need a good kick up the arse to put you back on track sometimes. Last night after the raid (25man) there was almost a debrief not just of the raid, but of the guild.
To keep you up with current affairs, Realm (Our co-operative raiding guild) split into 2 halves, their guild leader came over to TDD, and with him brought who he considered his friends. We are delighted with this, as it has been something we have been waiting for, for almost a year. We know them, and they know us, and..we have raided together, and know we all work together well.
Our 25 man looting rule was going to be daunting. We had full members, Switched main members (Considered on 4 week trial), New members (on 4 trial) , and Ex-Realm members (on 3 week trial). And on top of that...offspec.
How do you make a simple rule for that?, so after consulting with the officers int he raid, i decided to announce to the guild, 1 Main roll (main spec and full member), followed by an open roll if no full member rolled. That was now simplified, and easy to maintain and importantly - efficently quick, and also vocally prompting fairness. My officers did really well to poke any obstructions, questions and debates out of raid chat, to keep the raid running smoothly.

For 25 man, for me, you really need a team behind you supporting your raid leading to take care of the "fussy" details you could do without being distracted from. And more voices backing your decisions, help everyone toe the line. This blog by Pwnwear is at the heart of what needs to be done, and i kept reminding myself of it last night. This *mindset as a team* got us, for the first time, through 2 wings of Naxx25, with laughter, (with tears sometimes), and a great sense of guild teamwork, regardless of membership level. We've done it before in TBC, however i think during that, time we forgot how to work in a larger scale raid.

Expectations - It is very easy to get swept away with the momentum of progress. I find it myself..thinking "gogo go while the rythmn is good, book another day's raid" The fall-out from that is, your loosing your guilds focus as a "casual guild that raids" We're a grounded guild, that raids 3 nights a week, and fills the rest with supporting each other, and making those 3 days *count* Consistancy being the paramount. If your away from home for a while, you will know that TDD will be raiding Mon/Tues and Wed and Thurs no matter what..
What we also felt was, raiding (offically) more that 3 nights per week turned us from a "casual guild", to a "raiding guild" even if that meant 4 nights a week....that leaves 3 days to have a social life...or even just a life! Remember remember, theres 7 days to a week!
And with children, babies, and homework etc etc, thats just not a reality, ....we learned it before, and we'll learn from it again and we'll aviod the inevitable burn-out.

Guild Leadership - One thing i will always remember from an old friend Tem, was his encouragement in /w regarding guild leadership. He had a heir of roll play in his conversations, and would always re-assure me on my choices. Now Tem, was a much older man than myself, he was a healing paladin and a mighty one at that, with such a great personality. He had no ambitions to be an officer or GM. And was probably "one of" the most loyal members of my guild/s, over 4 guilds in 4 years.

It was that people expected a strong leader, but a subtle one. A confident leader, but a humble one. And a generous leader to thought of his guild first, before himself.

And if all those things where accomplished in a leader, he would follow, no matter where it lead to. As long as the guild leader believed in him, he would return the loyalty for it . I think the same can be said of officers too, as a team doesnt just depend on its leader.

Its knowning what is good for the guild, and what will break it (by your learning experiences) and apologise for any bad choices you do decide to make. Your human, not immortal, and your allowed to make mistakes to learn from, we all wernt born GM's or raid leaders. But its in those moments you realise who should be in your guild, and who needs to move on.

First Dungeon & First 10 man raid

My defense was only 528, a mixutre of tempered and Titansteel and Defense gems to boost myself tot he cap. We did a normal UP and got the chest quest reward which helped, then heroic VH, and got a blue cloak, which then took me over the def cap..after a chest defense enchant.
Sabriel, returned to healing, which for me, is a confidence boost in having my pre-TBC healer back onboard. Micke (aka Punkgirl), Leni, Scota (Trivia) and are new chap Baconburger all came to help out in me getting backinto the tanking brain train, which to be fair in reflection, didnt take all that long.
VH kept bugging on us in heroic mode, and we had a go at normal instead, which seemed ok and we did get through it without fuss. I re-arranged some spell abilities, and decided to goto the LFG channel and pick up a pug. I was asked if i would tank Naxx 10.
Offtanking for a Warrior Tank Uldar geared, i was in good company. I would catch the strays, and at this point i should mention my threat is a problem at this time, as Punkgirl mentioning in H VH, he had to mis-direct alot to ensure i kept aggro in the company of T7 and Heroic geared dps.
Naxx wasnt generous however, Spiderwing and Military done, (except the 4 horsemen) as nothing tank worthy dropped :( but it was a great practice for me, and a good team we where in. Which has me confident to off-tank tonight with the guild, and raid lead it without tanking gear concerns. I think for the most part, OS 10 and VoA to try and get hold of some T7 gloves and legs.

Level 80 - Ding!!

Started out at 8PM UK time, and finished at 23:45, from 3 bars into level 79 and hit level 80 after the Undercity Quest chain fighting alongside Mr Stormwind King himself.
So roughly, thats 1 level per night, each night 4 1/2 hours of leveling. DONE!!
Im relieved that i ts now out of the way, which leaves the rest of the week now before the reset to concentrate on gear from heroics and the missing bits or crafted armour like rings and a necky. The titansteel was all done within 1 hour, with the help of Micke. Theres not much point in buying anything from the Ah thats expensive at the moment, with 3.2 on the way, its time to prepare a 5 man team (loosely) for the day it goes live. Meantime its worth getting whatever gear is available from the 5 mans to cap the defense. Last night with only the titansteel and some tempered Saronite armour i think i managed 520 or something, but im ungemmed and unenchanted also (except the shield) .
Need to get into the Son's of Hodir rep, and Head enchant folk as a priority now. Bt things are looking good so far.

Level 79

Well this one was a little slow. With a little help from guild i was able to complete some elite group quests. Cissen also pointed me in the direction of some new quests in Zul Drak and off i merrily went. There were some guild events going on later in the evening which slowed things down, but it was worth it. After a ding on level 79, i was happy to call it a night at 3 bars in again.
Nad now has 1000g in the bag, and Garland is now over 1k. I will have to update Garlands post!

It might be possible to achieve 80 tonight/today. It would be nice to get level 80 done and out the way before Sunday.

Level 78 and a Half

Again, i started with 4 bars to go until the next level (78) and ended up halfway through the level. K3 lead onto the Son's of Hodir quest, however i think i will need some help with the Thorim guy down in the corner of the map to continue the quest chain.

At that point, i moved back into Zul Drak and started cleaning up my loose ends with quests. Seemed easier now just to put carbonite on Auto trak itself and then follow the arrow arround. Its now friday, and i have noticed that the background downloader trigger last night..3.2 is looming, so the timing was just right. I havent taken much notice of the gear for dps on the way through all these quests, and will have to stick pawn back on to i can quickly check upgrades and downgrades. Most of the time i fling the blue stuff on without thinking.

Reputation Enchants - Argent Dawn i believe was the head enchant for tanks, and then of course the Son's of Hodir for the shoulder enchant. Then theres the exalted tanking gear from each faction, ...BUT i have the enchant rep for the TBC tanking enchants, which will do as a fill in, so its NOT that immediately important at the moment. And then theres the crafted tanking gear which i will have to request to be made (again).

I will have to sort out a routine for Son's of Hodir rep, and wear the tabbard of the Dawn as a habit.
Gold is now back at the level it was (not bad for 2 days work) and a little more (Garland =860g) and (Nad= 580g) before i bought cold weather flying. I will consolidate both funds together and start Garland off with 100g again. Total would be about 1300g, with the weekend coming up its ideal timing, ....again. Another 600g in the next few days would be helpfull with the crafting side of gear for the guild bank if i could deposit 2k into it. I'd say 2k, for covering the armour, rings, cloak and anything else i can think of (enchants & gems). The gear is crafted by matts created by the guild and sold to any member half the price of the AH. So when would the right timing be for that? probably today actually...with it being the weekend, and no raids scheduled, so i'll have to set that in motion later today.

Dis-enchanting my T4 and T5 badge rewards..Its going to hurt, but if fok in TBC who did Black Temple have replaced their gear around Naxx level, its time to re-think what im doing hanging onto them. It might also be my 600g im looking for too.

Respeccing Not entirely sure when to respec as tank, i did think on the 5 minute of dinging 80, and probably still will. I did have a fleeting thought of respeccing at 79, but then that would kill the leveling to 80, so maybe not such a good idea after all.

Patch 3.2 Naxx? Well, lets have a think. Emblems now turn into a global currency, which can buy Conquest items..Heroic Dailies also drop these Emblems...And i want to catchup as quick as possible? I am below the current gear level of the guild at the moment. Will folk be inspired to goto Naxx with the emblem change? I dont know...some are sick of Naxx already, which is why we moved to Uldar. I may have to pug, but a 10 man will do. But i have a joker up my sleeve, and in a typical Tenacious Nad style i already have a backup plan should the guild decline the invitation ;)

How Much Mister? - Netherdrake Vs Red Drake

Aproximately 4 days worth of quests including dailies (making sure you do the eggs quest shortens the time taken to reach exhalted.) and 160g to buy the Drake by being exhalted anyway with the faction, however you get to choose a Drake as a quest reward anyway.
4000g for Artisan riding if i bought the skill from HonorHold (exhalted rep discount in patch 3.2...i thought you bought it in Shadowmoon Valley...will have to look that up!)
or 2000g just to by the red drake after getting exhalted, and 4000g for the riding skill too (Artisan) ...with comments on wowhead about the animation etc not being very good, the classic *and my first love) Netherdrake, wins on budget and on looks..Thats of course, after i tank up in gear first! Which, i will have to work out a schedule for, see now theres a new idea for the casual raider to read prehaps?

Edited - Egg Quest was written wrong

Level 77 - Cold Weather Flying

For a while i didnt hink i would make 77 last night, 75 and 76 seemed very progressive, i had no distractions. And again i had to go to past mid-night to ding and then..sort out Garland afterwards.

Cold Weather flying was bought up, as i had to do the Feryn quest line to get the Ding! And i kept thinking to myself, have i run out of rested bonus or forgot to put my Shoulders on, but until this very second....i just realised what was missing...the realm exp buff from WinterGrasp! Ahwell, that will be why lol. But i was scratching my head thinking, "damn! im sure something is missing"

Already the trash selling and quest rewards on Nad has the Bag funds upto 580g (not including Garland's) after the cold flying buyout. My leveling guide peaked out at S'Basin, and i have made a leap over to K3 to start the quest line for Son's of Hodir ASAP, once thats done i'll assess Rep with enchant factions and work from there. And then stop, and pile into Evil Nads mining with a vengence, and Artemís "Herbalisim" and Daily farming. Thats the plan anyway..just have to get to that level 80 as soon as i can.

But for now, 1 level per evening is nearly slipping out of my grasp.
3 levels to go - StormPeaks and Icecrown left (With some Zul Drak Quests remaining)

That means Sunday 19th July? as a goal.

Garland - Week 1 ~ Auctioneer

arland, is my Alt banking character. Using Auctioneer pre-LK i accumlated 1k gold just by reselling under priced AH items, starting her off with 5g, she reached 500g in 5 days. And after 1 weekend upped it to over 1k. I WILL update a Garland post weekly as i OBJECT to pay for gold guides on how to use something we can all learn for free. If infact their methods are the same.

Today, with both Evil Nad (miner & JC) and Good Nad (Enchanter & Engineer), plus a herbalism Hunter (level 67?) doing dailies and random drop grinding. I will be constantly feeding Garland this week and scanning the AH for this weekend. Nad, doesnt need green item gear, and uses the Soulbound quest equipment, if not DE'ing it and sending that to Garland also.

There are 3 main priorities here which is aiming for around 4k gold.

1- Cold weather Flying

2- Craftable Tanking Gear

3- Duel Spec

.................and a Dragon flying mount.....why? because i damn well deserve one lol, for months i ached, literally ached for a blue Netherdrake..in TBC. Never got one...can you hear that violin?

Anyway, after wiping my addons and using the standard UI with the leveling addon, i now need the following. Auctioneer, Enchantrix, Postal & BeanCounter.

Im kind of excited, and all i can think about is getting home tonight as quick as i can, installing everything and powering on with the leveling. And i just...cant wait to get back into pala tanking again. .....Home....home sweet home.

Update**Here is the first screenie with the opening balance. And the second after 4 hours of leveling. So what did i do?

To begin with I transferred 100g, I didn’t need to but I did anyway for deposits etc. I could have just transferred 10g, it makes no difference.
Then with the white and above items I had collected with Nad, including dis-enchanted items, I scanned (as you see on the first shot, what everyone else was selling for, and under cut them by 2%....why 2%, the default is 5% and for what its worth, so long as your items appear before anyone elses, why lose 1g, or 50s if you can undercut your competition by 90 copper? Or similar..you want yours the cheapest…but not that cheap!! Items like enchanting, I mark up right smack bang in the middle of the average and ..again, undercut by 2% when I have enough data from auctioneer, I will buy up the blue PCT (which means under market priced value) and resell them.

That’s the basic’s of it.

Next Garland post will be about the weekend AH

100g Start to 580g 4 hours later half of the first stock sold, Auction set for 48 hours., Plus the additional items you see in screen shot 2 where listed on the AH the same night also..

Level 76 - Still but close

very opportunity i had was plagued with problems. It was my own fault for bring Nad back into the guild so soon, i have no-one else to blame but myself. for 1 hour approximately i stood still answering questions between 19:15 and 20:15, then after that, lag, and some guild issues ensued (recruitment) and by 21:45 i finally managed to get the 3rd bar of my experience bar on the move.
I thought by starting earlier last night i would get a good ramp on through, but the Addon Alliance QuestUp kept crashing me too, because it was using so much memory. And i had to tackle a recruitment issue to resolution, as it effects our guild in a positive way and needs to be checked during this delicate process. So almost 3 hours later, and a new addon.
I made my way to S Basin and made a start there, my last addon and the new one did'nt quiet gel for Zul, and i couldnt match up quests, so i though i would just leave it and move into the level 77 area, and take it from there. So from 22:00 UK time until 00:00 i got from the begining of level 76 with 3 bars, to needing 4 bars to level which i thought was quite good, PunkGirl and Nyessa helped a bit with some outsanding group quests they needed done in Dragon Blight. So everything came good in the end.
Gold is now 1330g, and i have started throwing none soulbound greens to Garland (My Alt Auctioneer). If i manage level 80 with both cold weather flying and duel spec payed for before then, it will be leveling enchanting and selling the enchants in the AH.

Casual Guilds #1 - from a GM's PoV

Our guild did'nt have the best of beginings, and like most guild formations, they are either created by a break up of a guild or a reformation of one from previously. Ours was born from the ashes of a feud around the officers, GM and guild member pockets, otherwise known as cliques'

I had experience of leading a guild previously, but we only played the game to socialise and enjoy some world pvp in Astranaar previous to TBC, we didnt aim for Molten Core, or Dire Maul. We were around level 30-50. Our social group joined another guild, prior to the creation of TDD, which is where we pick up this record of events from.

Officers
Our first officers evening was guildless, we stood about Stormwind cheese shop discussing between 10 members what we where going to do. I was asked if I would be the GM of the guild, but I made it quite clear I would have officers of my choice. Loyal folk who I had grown to know well throughout my gaming and those that I thought each having a quality (whether you would consider them good or bad personally) where a quality that assured a balanced argument no matter what the subject was, and have that argument on a mature level without a stigmatic level of Ego. This took some months to balance out however, we started with 4 officers, but with some real life issues and disputes both in and out of the game 1 retired and moved onto another guild, and today has returned. But was replaced in consideration of the circumstances of the previous leaving (IE too close to RL in issues), so we picked someone outside of the RL circle so to speak.
Knowing your officers as well as you can do, in RL and ingame is a careful balance of too much and too little can cause long term aggro within your officer chat and guild decisions, AND cause aggro outside of the game too.
You also need to know that your officers are reluctant to lead your guild too. The right frame of mind is "I will support you, if you support me as an officer" not, "I said this last week to XXX and you have gone completely over my head" If you can work with your officers and forgive any mis-understandings, you're guild is more the better for it. You should be able to consider your officers your best mates either in game or out of the game with a trust on the same level as faith! If you can't work with your officers, or they cant work along side with you, who the hell do you expect to follow you as a team, as a guild being lead by a group of disputing non-communicating fools? Start your guild... as you mean to go, and always maintain that team of officers.

Raiding
If you're running a casual guild, what we learned, was having the balance of raider and casuals always in question "Are we raiding too much?" and "are we progressing?" and finding that middle ground of acceptable commitment to raiding. We found that at the very limit, 3 Nights per week was the most we could consistently have a regular sign up without burning the guild out, or our raid leaders.
3 was, and still, is the magic number. (Limit it to 2 nights per week if you want a 25 man raids instead of 10, then you're making a narrower window of raiding opportunity, and always start your raids from Wednesday reset day followed by Thursday night). This seems to work for us on a regular basis. Sometimes the guild will get carried away with progress and commit themselves *by request* to an additional raid night to achieve something. Let it happen, and then bring it back down to the regular nights again straight after, you want folk to request extra raids like this by majority.
But this is the most important thing of all about raiding, DO NOT advertise yourself as a raiding guild, no matter what YOU think it means, will mean one thing only, ....YOU raid...never mind anything else....you "RAID" that’s it, and you know when you've gone wrong is when they login without checking the in game calendar and ask.......are we raiding tonight?
I cannot tell you how many times we have had to fight off mis-informed players who have got through the recruiting net, because someone told them we where a raiding guild, or they mis-understood we where a casual guild first..Raiding second. And to date, this one issue has been our one gripe in guild issues.

What...is casual?
I work 5 days a week, 1 week I finish work at 5:30pm and home for 6pm UK time, and the other week I finish at 4:30pm and home at 5pm UK time.
I eat, I help put our baby girl to bed after a bath, clean up and get ready to settle down by 7:30pm in the evening relaxed and ready to login to warcraft. Raids start from 7:45pm/8pm UK time and I log off by 11pm or, set to finish the raid by 10:30pm earliest (UK time), because like the rest of the world, I have a job to go to the next day, others have children and school/college, and in Europe its 11:30pm.
I login on a Wednesday, Thursday for a raid, Mondays to help anyone needing help with quests or dungeons, heroics or world events etc. So 2 nights of the week I will commit to a guild raid. (We'll have a raid on Tuesday also).
Our raids are buffed, organised, and each member of the raid picks his or her food buffs and flasks from the Gbank tab call...raid buffs.
We have a guild turn over of about 2 members per month recruited, and maybe 1 leaving within that month or two. And we recruit players we feel have a personality that wont clash with the rest of the guild.
I would rather recruit a player who didn’t know everything, and learned by asking his/her guild for advice, rather than boasting it in guild chat, or linking achievements. If someone is really that good, they would not need to speak up for themselves...others would do it for them. And you will see it in /g chat how you notice good people, or good players...
Players and People, It is easier to learn to be a good player, "good people"..Now, there's the gem in the crown, and you should build your guild from that small insight of information, if you're building a casual guild.

People are more human than players.

Members & Ex-Guild Members

If those stats show the majority people leave TDD to join End Game raiding guilds, or stop playing. In the "guild circle" of relations, TDD is considered to be one of the "best" casual guilds on Khadgar with feedback from Ex TDD members applying to End Gaming guilds.

Level 76

reat, im now in Zul Drak, and that made the difference as Grizzly Hills was starting to fade out and i only had 3 bars left to go. As yet nothing comes close to the tanking gear T4 and badge gear of TBC ..yet (tank wise) but i know thats about to change sometime soon.
Im guessing by 78 ...
I now have every green and blue DE'ed in my bags that i had to pit stop in Stormwind to offload both my tanking gear and enchanting mats into the bank. While i was there i rechecked the def cap and total health wearing my old gear. 16k unbuffed, and still with the old enchant stuff on them. and 490 def. Compared to one of our offspec tanks Kalloss 29k health at the defence cap. So some way to go, and some gear to upgrade! However im sure the trinkets will go a long way, including the rings.
Im not signed up to a raid tonight, and i re-inserted Nad, (Or Good Nad as the guild call her) back into the GM spot in TDD, replacing the Death Knight. So thats me now on a 4 week character swap cool down. This stops raiding loot being dispersed to flighty character swappers within the guild.
Gold is now 1100g, i plan to level up my enchanting and sell the enchants on the AH to get a bit more cash for both cold weather flying and duel spec, plus matts for craftable gear. At a rough estimate i would need about 3k...i think.

Oh, the wireless keyboard and mouse came yesterday.
I was surprised at how thin the keyboard was, and how light the mouse was, but they didn’t *feel* cheap. In-fact felt very solid, and quiet. And the mouse...normally you have that lag delay with wireless mouse's, but no, instant movement and accurate, so im very pleased with it. £23.99 from www.play.com
The old wired keyboard and mouse have now been retired, and after a whole evening of levelling, im 110% satisfied in the Cherry Sirus XT kit. And would recommend it to any friend or stranger looking to go wireless, on a budget! It was a simple plug in and thats the job done, no install disk etc.

Level 75 & 5th day of no smoking

his one i had to say up a little later for on Saturday night to hit 75. It was a combination of little quests and jumping from Dragon Blight to Grizzly Hills alot that hempered the progress. Post 75 Ding, Grizzly Hills seems to have been consistant, however im looking forward to moving into a new area with unspoilt quests to really benefit from a good leveling session.

The old mightiness of Nad is returning, (not me personally), but the abilities she has to survive and move across ground quickly, shield and drop 900ft with bubble to commando drop in on a town and round up 6 mobs and clear a small village quickly.
Such is the versatility and flexibility of the class (which i missed on the DK), i think the only class that comes close to it (in my eyes) is the druid. Which was an equal contender as a class for me to play. (But time and leveling from 48 was its downfall in choice).

It's be 5 days now since my last cigerette, and i can honestly say this last week and weekend have not been the best weekend i have had in a long while. And twice (including this morning), i have just wanted to light up and say "F**** U!!" but i didnt give up smoking for anyone else, i gave up for me, and that would have been childish and meaningless.
I have remained quite sure throughout the weekend i will not light one up.
The hardest part of stopping smoking is between 3 and 5 days (today) and although i didnt feel i got off to a good start, im pretty sure today i should be alright. I have a 15 year habit, to keep breaking, every day, and remain in the *right* frame of mind about it. I know im going to be spikey, and impatient sometimes due to the "pangs" but even i have the self control not to act like a complete twat, when i dont get my own way. And think about what i say before i say it.
But regardless of where reality actually is, i pretty much feel alone in this struggle against addiction (which i guess it should be), as i constantly seem to be adjusting my lifestyle to suit not going out the front door for a smoke every hour. ......wtf..!! did i just have a Monday morning rant?...this is new.


Ret Specced & Armed and dangerous - While im on the subject, i'll return this topic back to wow. And while i am in this transition of the old "/afk Nad out side smoking to non smoker", its better that i am not in my own guild, making decisions or responding to any guild member until i have defeated my own demons meantime. Last thing i guess anyone wants is Nad' in the purest form of literature, bearing down on individuals, and i know i can get very direct and unwavering when the red flag goes up. However it doesnt mean you have free license to use that as an excuse lol

870 Gold in the savings account!!

My Gaming PC

I guess i should do a post on my infamous PC.

Appart from the obvious hardware internals, the PC is inside a briefcase. Yes, and small briefcase, with 4 vent holes in the top! I will upload some pictures of it later...

Meantime, since its nice and compact, i have been thinking of making it mostly wireless. Its already wireless network connected. But i was looking at keyboards and mouse.

Now im not overclocker expert etc, but i wanted something nice, affordable and not blowing stupid amounts of money away.

So with some vouchers from Raen for my birthday i have bought a Cherry eVolution Sirius XT

Most of the reviews i have read seem to say its good, and isnt cheap enough to miss key or mouse lag. So we'll have to see,...as Leni has a hateous for cables trailing over the floor, and it wasnt until i started getting tangled myself i decided wireless could be the best option!
The PC was put together after a friend used donated hardware to make us a newer computer with unwanted stuff he had in his house. I bought the graphics card off ebay, it was a reasonable price for reasonable performance. With the case area being quite small, i didnt want to install something that would pump out quite alot of heat.