Warcraft Classic

ell yes! Warcraft classic returning on retail. Finally! Word has spread far and wide, my guild included.  And there is a definite buzz surrounding this topic at home.  With news of this coming to us in August, i logged into Elysium and thought i would try out some classes in preparation.  Obviously, i used to be a paladin and this time i decided i would try out the warrior class.  So far so good at level 15, and it seems a better experience than i remember levelling the paladin class in comparison, to this point.  So there we are, i will be a warrior in Classic WoW.  For my alt, i'm undecided on Warlock or Hunter, both of these classes are good solo, for farming Gold and Mats etc, the experiment continues...

Are you coming back to Warcraft?...  

Crossroads! Level 12

So I made it to Crossroads at level 12, one of the iconic areas of warcraft in Vanilla.  I have been using Questie and Vanilla Guide addons to assist me questing ingame, as I have never reached this level as a horde before.  And having never really adventured as Horde, i need that little bit of guidance.

Leveling so far has been pretty easy, not that I haven't had my share of deaths along the way.  I have found a big 2 handed mace better than a mace and shield.  Killing something quicker, is better and more efficient than out living it in a fight.  I'm pretty sure I am over-due some warrior training too, and I still haven't allocated my talent points yet!

I might go arms spec for a dozen or so levels, I remember fury taking a few more levels to kick in, and saving money would be better spent on 1 weapon rather than two 1 handed?... we'll see

Plans for 2017, Nostalrius PVE

uatha De Danann was and is a great guild, I have lead a few guilds in my gaming experience.  And one thing I have learned is "No, don't do it".  Even if I wanted to, I do not have the time and resources to be able to setup or maintain one. (however, I would very reluctantly accept an officer role). In all my attempts to re-kindle my love of thegame, one this has been perpetually missing, and that's the community of players who made it, both within the guild and outside it. However, like me, many of the players have moved on.

My aim is to do every dungeon, and explore the Horde world side of WoW. Having spent many years on alliance this will be an interesting and different view of the game I haven't seen yet.

I may raid, I might not, depending on how much time it'll take to get involved in a 40 man raid.  I missed the entire 40 man raiding





World PVP

  Even though im on a PVE server, there's the old school mind-set that PVE is an option, unlike a PVP server where its PVP always. The old honor system & Ranking of reputation etc, im expecting to get involved in some of it.  It was a big thing for me in my early days of warcraft, and like to see it again.   When TBR's was in its early days, we would have weekly PVP events to Crossroads,  Astranaar or Tarren Mill.  Experiencing that world event would bring a little joyful tear to the eye too lol...good times.

Should be able to update later this week, so far I have reach level 11.  And im uncertain what talents to take up first.....

 

Nostalrius / Elysium Weekend review, reflection

Saturday I didn't get online until about 9pm UK time.  I was expecting trouble, server outages, etc and when I finally got on an hour later I joined the que.  2 servers were launched on 17th, both a PVP and a PVE server.   And along with the volume of players eager to get online, Elysium also suffered six DDOS attacks during its launch weekend.   There was a blanket banning of accounts, to find the problem, and later accounts where re-enabled.    Theres one thing here, throughout all of this, was that old feeling of.."i remember all this on Blizzards servers" once upon a time.

I attempted to roll an alliance character on the PVE server, and found myself in every starting area swamped with new characters in a the middle of a mass extinction event of NPC mobs.  I was entertained on chat by all the conversations being had, and could see those players who were obviously new to "Vanilla" and having to learn the hard way...

As time went by, I reflected on all of my Warcraft experience as Alliance, I decide this time, I would re-roll a Horde character; So a Tauren warrior it was.  I had flirted with the ideal of Horde on the live servers, but it was always short term and forgotten about after a week. 

The starting area was crowded, and a lot of players were working together to achieve progress.  There were quite a few guilds posting in chat, recruiting.  After a few hours I decided to reply back to one that spoke to my interests "The Rejects" Social weekly events, and eventual raiding. 

Communication

   One thing I cannot stress enough, and I really cant. Is the level of player communication in global chat, guild chat, local chat....any chat.  And while questing along I couldn't help but read, and sometimes engage in the conversation.  This aspect of the game itself breathes life into the "community" of the game.  This level of passion and enthusiasm for the game draws you in, makes you feel part of "a world" which is breathing.  And yeah... I have missed that, haven't you?

Levelling

If your familiar with Vanilla PVE, then skip this bit.  But if this is your first time, then your about to either struggle or frustrate yourself until you get used to this.  Some short points to make here.

1. You will die, probably several times questing mobs (in groups)
2. Money is tight, so spend wisely.
3. Travel time, and patience, co-operation with others
4. Be aware of your surroundings.
5. Don't die too much or your will break your gear $$

There's nothing quite like watching folk run away from 3-4 mobs trying not to die from an accidental/bad pull.  Having remembered how to pull playing as a tank in old Warcraft, it was good to throw out invitations now and again to complete a kill quest. Quest done?..leave group /thank /bye

Summary

I really enjoyed myself, at one point I found myself in a bad situation of dying 8 times and running back to my corpse many times, before I took up a small group to complete a quest.  Being careful what I choose to spend money on, and setting priorities!  I haven't a clue whether I want a profession or not, BS or Alchemy etc...  but a gathering profession surely is next on my list of to-do's.

There's an observation within the guild that a lot of people are rolling warrior tanks, but im sure after some time these people will change their minds in later levels....

 



Smells like new blood and fresh rain

So after queuing on the opening night of the launch, I was stuck with the dilemma of what character to roll.  After watching a youtube video (linked later) I figured I was either going to go Warrior or Warlock.

The Alliance side was swamped, over 40 people standing in the abbey, and every other race starting area was both amusing, encouraging, and frustrating.  But, remembering my racial traits I decided for a change to roll Tauren.  Within the hour I saw an ad for guild, recruiting, and thought "hell why not"

It was great to see an active chat, folk helping each other out and having conversations!! lol I have not seen that in guild chat for a long time.  Will it last?... we'll just have to see in this new adventure on Elysium/Nostralius 

 

Was there a need to increase character levels?

he problem I felt (in retrospect) after the burning crusade, that level 60 should have been max level and stayed max level.  It took us all an age to get to level 60, yes, and when we got there it was an all other level of achievement to gear up ready for raiding. Just my own thoughts, you might disagree?  But I felt that gear should have then been the focus of levelling up.  Think about it now, and how irrelevant past content now is? great continents abandoned, Shattrath a once booming city now empty like its hit some financial crash..

There was something "special" about end-game and seeing end-game gear on your servers top guilds.  It's not a bad thing to have something to either strive or wish for, (is the world more driven to this entitled achievement like attitude to games?) I know I would never have achieved a 40 man raid group in Molten Core, or Naxx. Those achievements where just out of my reach, so I knew and accepted I would end up with Dire Maul's, Scholomance and dungeon gear etc.  And there ..that right there is a golden gap that could and should, be fattened up!

The main problems I had in Vanilla, was gold; being able to afford to level up my professions, make some money for repairs, and that would have increased my enjoyment of the game.  And expansion's could have resolved that with the increase of more quest lines, rewards and lore while still rewarding...and here's the word I was trying to figure out earlier ..... gratification. What I was wearing, I was grateful for, what I had achieved (no matter how small in comparison), I was grateful for.

rateful, that's what missing for me from the current live version.  Maybe i'm a different kind of game player, I like to struggle.  I like helping out folk that are also struggling, forming relationships with other players, and here's another thing, WTF is that "itch" we call get wanting us to "pop back?"  we think its the game, we think its the content, gear etc etc.  But for me, its really down the community of players you surround yourself with in-game, and the other players you interact with that hooks you.  Have a think about that for a moment....

(ok.. moments gone)..

Every other game (MMO) I have started to play, doesn't have the same feel or environment I want to stay in for long, it looses it's initial appeal of wonder and im looking for some substance, meat to get into.  You know like a heavy bass beat of a drum/bass from a good song (now am I talking s**t?)

Elysium goes live on Saturday, so from here, I will try and catalogue the journey back into the old warcraft. And let you know how I get on...cheers





Nostalrius Kronos Rebirth and others - (Re-post)

 So i heard the news back in April of Nostalrius and Blizzard, and now the pending mystery on whether a Vanilla/Legacy server could or can be created on Blizzards service.  Since my last post on my old blog, back when Mists of Pan' came out, i have struggled to hold onto any interest to the current client and expansions.  Even WoD, i tried and.....lost interest very quickly at level 97.  Which is a shame, i miss the social aspect of my guild. i miss the guild events in well know towns, and "Find Leni" competitions organised by the guild. My guild created it own social events, small parties etc, not provided by Blizzard.  

So what went wrong? As much as i want to play this game again on the live servers, i just cant bring myself to play it more than a week, why?

There are many-a-folk who have vlogged and blogged with great points, all of which are correct and too the point.  And i agree with most of what has been said. Do i disagree with any, sure.  But rather than rehash points made, i will take you on a short journey of my experience logging onto a private  vanilla server...

This time (On Kronos) around i created a human female warrior, (instead of paladin as previously on live), i started in the Abbey area and started questing.  I was surprised at the amount of players in the area, all new players starting over (probably from Nost?). I found it entertaining, and challenging with the grey gear (i even bought some off the vendor), and much harder to do the Defias brotherhood in the Vineyard.  During the defias quest conversation broke out, and i formed a group with a priest. We helped each other out, and progressed out of the starting area together, and made the Inn in Goldshire our home.

At this point i was already hooked into bettering my character, first aid, mining, black smithing, cooking all taken as professions. Questing was hard, with the Murloc fins, and the Gnoll candles, having company was definitely the way to go.

This carried on into Westfall, that requirement to team up, help out and assist people in chat.  You're made to engage with other players, discussions are interesting on General Chat (wtf really?), and sometimes not lol.  Traveling from one place to another takes longer on foot, and theres no mount till level 40, even then if you can afford it?  Here, you aim to think ahead, strive for something, survive..!! and while hitting level 19 i found that i couldn't afford to buy my Dis-arm ability from the warrior trainer! (off mining i go, and off to the Auction House to make some money!).

  Everything is an achievement, a personal achievement, and if working alongside another player, double.  I find none of this aspect in the current live game, and i know the goal posts is set at level 60...it should never have been risen...and maybe later i will explain why i think that, in detail.

So im back, and so are a few of my guild officers and guild mates, playing the original game.

And being decidedly hooked, and enjoying the struggle to find 10g to create a guild tabbard!

Rose tinted

.....well of course its a little rose tinted. It has to be in someway, and im not ashamed to say it.  I love the old game, and its faults. In fact most of its faults are part of its charm.  And if you have never played the original warcraft, prepare yourself for a shock.  Some of its faults will have you throwing a fit of frustration, maybe even laughter, but at least it brought some 'emotion' and i cant say MoP or WoD brought any moments of questing struggle, hardship or achievement.  I used to love sitting down for an hour with my partner, working out a talent build for her fire mage, there was personalisation of your character, sure there where builds for end-game raiding etc but 40 man raiding was not part of my goals in Vanilla. Ever.

"Oh for godsake challenge me"

You will laugh when you read this, im sure you will...

My father plays warcraft, he plays a warrior.  He works abroad, so i have never really had the opportunity to watch him play infront of a computer.  With WoD i managed to sit one weekend as he showed me "this and that" of where he was questing, but when it came to combat, he just mashed the keys from 1 to 5 randomly (like the was drumming his fingers) until everything was dead.  With no care in the world for cooldowns or even the global cooldown.  I was kind of hurt, yea, hurt that the game had come down to a face role of keys required to progress.  I dont think i should even use the word "progress"  gone are rotations, talents, and anything uniquely tactical, or rewarding/gratifying.
Im currently waiting to see what he thinks of Vanilla (Since he missed that bit), time will tell.

5 Days

2-3 hours a night, and i have just turned level 19.  And you'll bet your ass, i have earned it!

Update: 16/12/16

If you haven't heard of Nostalrius you could have missed one of the biggest farewells to a private server, hosted by a community of volunteers who love the game.  Who sole ideal was to recreate and run the original game (without expansions) for the community of player who lost interest in the current version of Warcrafts current live version...

In short, the server was brought down, the community signed a huge petition, the Nostalrius team meet with blizzard in hopes of an official Legacy Server build for players wanting to play the original game....  All hopes looked to Blizz-Con for an announcement....... nothing was said, nothing happened and the tumble-weed ....tumbled down the road along with the legacy server hopes..

After waiting this time for any progress from Blizzard on Legacy Servers, the group seems to have pulled the plug from their seats, and have (what seems to have been) passed its codes to Elysium to re-launch Nostalrius PVP and PVE servers with its loyal community and followers. 

Im already registered, ready to go hunt for some gore-tusk liver pie. 

The are planning on launching a fresh PVE server later in December.

OMG, did i just do that?...

September 2012 was the last time I managed to sign into this account, I have no earthly idea wtf I did, but here we are..back! im glad to say.


I have been posting on a new blog about vanilla servers, here https://nadiastormwarcraft.blogspot.co.uk/  if you have been disillusioned with the Blizzard aggressive expansions, that might catch your interest.


I think I will be going through this blog, and removing old old patch information etc.  Try and tidy things up a little, as some of the blogs are just notes I used for my class, and then we'll have a look see what this blog can be about 2017 onwards.. 

Mists of Pandaria

Oh, have i been away? Indeed i have..and missed the entire Cataclysmic expansion lol.

That's not to say, i did miss playing the game...and then i didn't at all.  So when i got word from Leni, she was considering returning to WoW, i thought i'd better updated both clients on our PC's and take a look at whats changed, if anything.  

Firstly, i think nearly everything on my paladin has changed, talents look unrecognizable, abilities/spells tweaked. My character left in Ret specced, so i have no idea what protection spec is like, and i didn't spend an awful lot of time playing about. Hmmmm,...is all i can say for now (Rubs chinny-chin-chin).
And secondly, nothing really, ...else has changed in the world of warcraft.  Im underwater, from where i left off.  So until i get above water level......

Paladin Patch 4.0.1 Review #3 - Notes

Breaking down the changes.

World of Warcraft - English (NA) Forums -> #BlizzChat Developer Chat on Twitter -- 7.16
7/16/2010 - Dual Resource System Looks like combo points

Q: What is the goal when re-designing the paladin class? How do you plan to change rotations, talents, etc?
A. All of the paladin specializations will make use of a new resource called Holy Power. Holy Power accumulates from using Crusader Strike, Holy Shock, and some other talents. Holy Power can be consumed to augment a variety of abilities, including:

• An instant mana-free heal: Word of Glory
• A buff to increase holy damage done: Inquisition
• A massive physical melee attack for Retribution paladins: Templar’s Verdict
• Holy Shield’s duration is now extended by Holy Power
• Divine Storm’s damage is now increased by Holy Power

Level 81
New Paladin Spells

Blinding Shield (level 81): Causes damage and blinds all nearby targets. This effect might end up only damaging those facing the paladin’s shield, in a manner similar to Eadric the Pure's ability Radiance in Trial of the Champion. The Holy tree will have a talent to increase the damage and critical strike chance, while the Protection tree will have a talent to make this spell instant cast. 2-second base cast time. Requires a shield.

PaladinTank Patch 4.0.1 – 2nd review

I’m annoyed, ..or am i frustrated? My initial notes on the changes for the paladin tank are the same in assessment. However, after playing for a few days with it, im left with one question.. “wtf have you done blizz?”

With every patch, or expansion, i have watch each improvement work itself out. Although this is still early days, ..i find myself confused with my paladin. Why?

The shared cooldown between CS and HoR. I like being busy, however i dont like waiting for cooldowns. Being locked into a limited array of abilities that i have to choose on the moment or suffer a global cooldown, or ability cooldown, for me, ..is agonising. And the lottery ability of a free avengers shield does little to comfort my *available options* on the moment/fly for something i need to control that suprises the team.

Combat points – Holy Power. I can see how that works for Holy spec, and Ret spec, but, for me, the self heal and Shield of the Righteous buff should be on something else..Im not a rogue...and if i have to use my holy power to activate 15% Shield block, the chances of using 3 charges on a self heal are going to be ...again, a lottery.

It all just feels....CLUNKY and mis-placed. I tried a level 80 Warrior, Consecrate Vs Thunder Clap + Rend, seemed equal...however obviously different in their applications. Cleave seemed improved, vs before the patch, and shockwave in addition. Paladin....Mehhh! lottery..

Druid tanking, seemed a little nerfed with the swipe cooldown increase, although im not able to test a level 80 druid, there didnt seem to be the a whole lot of change at all. However, having lived with the paladin for 4 years (Tank spec) the difference is night a day...unfortunately...for the worst.

Paladin Tanking, Patch 4.0.1

References:

Maintankadin

ElitestJerks

WoWArmoury

Requirements for tanking Summarised.

Hit Rating 8%

Expertise 55

Glyphs:

Primary Options:

[Glyph of Hammer of the Righteous] (Recommended) - Increase both physical and holy damage components by 10%.
[Glyph of Seal of Truth] (Recommended) - Seal of Truth also grants 10 Expertise while active.

Seal of Truth - What was once known as Seal of Vengeance is now known as this. The ability is essentially the same as before and also remains the principle tanking Seal. Remember to pick up the associated glyph for 10 Expertise.

[Glyph of Judgement] - Judgement deals 10% more damage.*
[Glyph of Shield of the Righteous] (Recommended) - Increases the damage of Shield of the Righteous by 10%.*
[Glyph of Word of Glory] - Increases the healing done by Word of Glory.*

* Build and preference on whether to focus more on single/AoE tanking or WoG will effect these glyph selections.

Major

Prime glyphs have replaced the role of Major glyphs while Major glyphs have now become a middle of the road type of glyph. Being middle of the road these glyphs do not adjust abilities as drastically as prime glyphs. Below are acceptable glyphs for tanking Paladins.

[Glyph of Dazing Shield] - Avenger's Shield now also dazes targets.
[Glyph of Divine Protection] - Increases magical damage reduction of this ability by 20% and removed the physica

l protection benefit.*
[Glyph of the Ascetic Crusader] - Reduces mana cost of CS by 30%.
[Glyph of Focused Shield] (Recommended) - Avenger's Shield hits 2 fewer targets, but for 30% more damage.
[Glyph of Holy Wrath] (Recommended) - This provides an AoE stun and will likely have high utility come the expansion when more dragonkin and elementals will be present in content.

* As of this publishing word is that this glyph does not remove the physical protection benefit however I've been unable to find official confirmation.

Minor

Minor glyph selection remains underwhelming. The most interesting one for Paladin tanks would be Lay on Hands for reduced LoH cooldown. The suggestions below are just that; ultimately the choice of Minor glyphs has very little impact on tanking performance.

[Glyph

of Lay on Hands] (Recommended) - Reduces LoH cooldown by 2 minutes.
[Glyph of Blessing of Might] - Reduces the mana cost of BoM by 50%.
[Glyph of Blessing of Kings] - Reduces the mana cost of BoK by 50%.

The Rotation

The ability priority for single target tanking is as follows:

Shield of the Righteous > Crusader Strike > Judgement > Avenger's Shield* > Consecration > Holy Wrath
For area tanking the following priorities are used (this is a proposed rotation for now):

Hammer of the Righteous > Avenger's Shield* > Judgement > Consecration > Holy Wrath

* This is assumed AS has been glyphed for single target. For the AoE rotation the assumption is AS is unglyphed.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Review of 2 nights of 5 man heroics.

anking has changed for me in rotations, that's for sure, i must have spent a few moments pausing with my guild mates shuffling abilities around. They also where doing their own shuffling, macro re-writing, it was only the priest in our group that seemed unaffected by any of the patch changes.

Consecrates new cool down is 37 seconds...that just seemed forever for me, even though there's a bug displaying ground level AE, i thought the ability was nerfed, until i realised my Holy Shield wasn't doing the same thing it did before....reactive holy damage from blocking.....or was that me not paying attention, maybe it is, or isn't...something i will have to check up on. Hammer of Righteous and Crusader Strike share the same cool down, so if you miss click, you have 3 seconds until your AE ability or solo ability comes back up...this is unfortunate when you group pull, and click crusader strike by accident! lol

Avenging Shield (Or thy holy frizzbie) hasnt changed, although there is a free AS randomly ...now and again, that triggers. /shrugs even if your frizzbie is on cool-down it is refreshed.

Holy Wrath..well now, works on all mobs, but will also stun/daze undead or demons. TBH, i found myself spamming this more than Consecrate.....since i couldn't see Consecrate anyway...!!

The rotation seemed a little CLUNKY if you asked me, i ended up tying my HR and Avengers Shield to a Macro

#show

/castsequence reset=2 Hammer of the Righteous, Avenger's Shield

This worked better for me, i could click on Hammer of Righteous and hover of the key until it turned back to HoR again, until i got 5 Holy Power. Or i could just spam the 1 key, however i would need to work out figures of threat difference if i do that.

Verdict.

Different, nobody likes change striaghtaway, ..however, its challenging and i think im liking it. Yes, looks like we have been brought down a peg for AE tanking, but im sure glyphs and tweaking rotations and abilities will prove a different style of play, rather than a different character. However, these are big changes to play style.....i'll have to get back to you on this....

Cataclysm Update - Part 3 - DPS < CC, New School Vs Old School

Anyone Pre-Burning Crusade, will remember Sheep pulls, Shackle pulls, after a rogue sap on a group of 4 mobs. The intense concentration of focusing on your teams individual roles. And then finally, after all that team work, you EARNED your right to stand infront of the boss before the re-spawn kicked in......god-damn i loved Scholomance!

If ever anything got a bad name in Vanilla warcraft, it was the infamous word.....PuG! Try taking a bunch of folk who have no idea on Crowd control, into Scholomance and you'll be loosing the will to live very quickly.

But like wet blankets, Burning Crusade & Wrath presented us with the AE chain pulling trash, the brain numbing, un-challenging wit-less easy mode ...and then "ahh, here's the boss...nuke" for me, Wrath got ..............boring? un-challenging, and im not talking about boss fights, everyone is so focused on the end, the journey there is 80% the experience. "Hey we did Scholomance" for the first time, and folk appriecate the difficulty you went through to get to Gandling. Say, "oh we did, Drak' Keep!" and folk are musingly not really impressed at all. And the reason why is was WOTLK was and is...just plain simple. It's nice, for a while and to be fair, ok, yes new folk will be able to play it etc, etc.

After reading some of the reviews on heroics in Cata, it brough a huge smile to my face. Total Biscuit commenting on *brutal 5 man dungeons with heavy CC focus* was like heaven screaming at me..."Come backkkkk, we where just kidding with Wrath!"

Ultimately, this got me thinking about TDD. It's helped us alot in WOTLK with ICC. But i have an impression there might be a change of hearts and roles, come the expansion. Anyone gauging what class they are going to play in Cata' and didn't play the original wow when the level cap was 60, will be in for a huge shock. But, with a little coaching from our experienced members, im sure we'll pull together very quickly to get everyone i the habit of UN-INSTALLING your DPS meter.

Time will tell, who knows what the future might bring. And if you where a fan of the old-school, maybe... it's time to shine once again ;) and get back into that lip biting tense group pulls

My custom PC goes into storage.

My Gaming PC goes into semi-retirement. Due to real life circumstances, i'm preparing to move house and live with the In-laws for an extended period of time. We have recently sold our house looking for a bigger one.

So i have been fortunate with this custom PC build, i have had some problems with it, none to do with cooling! Just windows 7 issues. So it's done its job well, performed great and handled the many tests of wow while tanking and numerous addon's

I think the graphics card, sure could be increased for better performance, but this was a budget PC. And performed really well, it'll be going into a box and kept safe for a while. Meantime i'll be using a Toshiba Satellite P30-145 ..it'll do, it'll do. I need something compact to slide under the bed, instead of hauling out monitors and keyboards onto a kitchen table. And has more performance than my original Toshiba! 17 inch screen though...thats big!

Cataclysm Update - Part 2

Sources...

Calculator

Talent Tree.

So..quite a difference in the talent tree set-up. It looks a little vanilla doesn't it? but it looks as if they have condensed everything into half the amount of talent point abilities. I'm not going to list all the new spells and abilities, as these could change and tweak in the months ahead. But you get a fair idea of where the paladin tank is heading towards with the script Blizzard is putting out in its message.

Other than sticking Righteous Fury on, and stacking stamina and strength, (depending on the paladin tank conversion) im lost in the "where's my mana pool come from?"

Customisation

Now..come on Blizzard, get with it..every other MMORPG game out there new and recent has colour customisation. I remember 1 year ago raising a ticket for hair colour change & style, a

nd interestingly, we got it. Doubt that was purely down to me, but the conversation with the support Gm was quite a good one.

Yes, we're a bit sick of everyone looking the same, ok fine, the gear can look the same (model) but changing the primary or secondary colour should'nt be much of a head-ache...considering you have mastered the hair cut. More depth of individuality! Thats what we want. ..or maybe just me. So i'm a little disappointed there..since my other half will only wear gear that matches...go-figure ;) and what about some tribal tattoo's....ok i've stepped over the mark with make-up?

Animation

After reading through some of the new spells, it looks like the paladin is going to be pumping out some funky animations. I'm a little worried about being blinded in a tanking match with a boss that im hardly going to be able to see. That aside i'm sure it'll be fine, although FPS might take a hit..

Content Vs Out-dated GFX engine

You can play a game with high end graphics that has complete and utter crap game content, or sketchy RP and quest lines. Blizzard has very successful for over 4-5 years with the same graphic models of your avatar and item gear. Yes, its some-what basic on comparison to other more modern mmo games out now, but none of them come even close to warcraft's game content, and familiarity. Lets be honest, how often do you zoom into your characters face in Dalaran? Vs how long you have played? My bet is out of 12 hours a week of playing wow, you've only looked at your characters graphics for 5 minutes tops...while you put on your new shoulder armour and checked the size of your ass in the mirror? Looks like Blizz continue to keep the game engine simple, accessible for all area's of hardware performance. And i dont think anything will change. :) Prehap's this is where our imagination works the part that blizzard, does not..keeping us hooked in.

Evil Nadíastorm - Deathknight re-visited

I confess...

..i like my death knight, i like it alot, why?...i dont know. Maybe because its the only class i have at level 80. Maybe because it's Undead..wait alive, unholy..or something. She's got plate, and can duel-weld....and the alter-ego of Nadiastorm.

Last night, while digressing with Micke (aka Punkgirl), i revisited my DK, dressed in 200 ilevel gear (with some exceptions) slapping a Boss dummy in Ironforge.

She pumped out a good 2750 DPS on average over 6 minutes., with the rotation and spec remaining the same as it ever was.

There where some patch changes to Death Coil, and Blood Boil/Blood Strike to make a difference in DPS. But i was happy, which was the main thing.

Spec remains 00-15-53, although the exact spec is still being tweaked. However the rotation hasn't changed either, from previous trials. However the spec and rotation must be right to get

the most out of it, otherwise you look like a fool in Unholy presence.

Evil Nadíastorm is my Alt, and my alt of choice...i like it. So between now and Cata', unless im called opon to ICC, or elsewhere. I'll keep on with the tests of this controversial spec and see what she can do. I hate shoe boxes, and last time i played this spec, i raised a few eyebrows of the masses of Blood and Frost spec dw'ers. ...Remember, this was Naxx level..we're in ICC now.

Gearwise, its all Triumph whoring. So we'll see how LFG goes. ;) Itemisation is Key for this spec, and breaks convention.....just the way i like it. And just as i read this back, i realised i have the wrong runes on my weapons..D'oh!

Ethos of a GM

"The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it."
Theodore Roosevelt

"A leader is best when people barely know he exists, not so good when people obey and acclaim him, worse when they despise him. But of a good leader who talks little when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: We did it ourselves." Lao-Tzu

I have always maintained in this blog that the best boss, is a reluctantly appointed one. It's prehap's that mind set that stops any leader becoming egotistical. What would concern me is someone who jumps in-front of the line, someone like this should be a sub-officer, and not an actual officer, as they are unable to practice restraint. Although the willingness, ambition, and drive is there, it is better served at a level where it can be shared with the collective, rather than just the administration. And its with that glint of intuition, resourcefulness and creative positive thinking that the trail of acceptance within the collective guild, is either accepted of rejected.

It is better to select an individual part of a whole, than one having a divide between the many. And it's in the GM's interests to have people close to him who have support from those, who aim to support all creed's across the guild, there should be no corners within it.

Rather than taking complete ownership of responsibility, the trial (whilst unspoken) is aimed at whether an individual can collect the guild as one, in a movement, by sharing in the plan, schedule and delivery of the event or occasion. These are the attributes of officers i look for in people within my guild, and while although some may aim for the heights of titles, nothing fortifies the heart more than respect for the role, the collective appoints onto you,...through your own actions, words, and the conduct you portray carrying the hopes and ambitions of your guild, not just your own, of part of the guild..these breed divides in the long term.

Heroes and Legends

We remark on the gallantry of those players who are crafted with their class. They are looked upon with respect for their experience, knowledge of their class, or role in which they play within a raid, or the guild as a whole. I ask, whether you should label each individual according to their praises? placing each individual into a shoe-box of there own. Or even go as far as to say give them a title? What exactly is a title? a GM, an Officer, a Raid Leader. Simple co-ordinates to direct traffic to its intended destination.

I have a question/.. on your birthday, do you remember the card you got, or the presence of people coming to you to celebrate you? The material things are there for you to remember the occasion post tenths, to reflect on. The moment is stained in your memory and heart of the collective appreciation of you by the presence of people celebrating you. Your guild, if you abandon your rank and join in on the same level as those of the guild members, does your presence, confidence spread upon those now upon the same level as yourself? Does that inspire you're team, or expire your usefulness? Then ask the question, which was more important, Team, or yourself?..and what where you here for again?

Pre-Cataclysm planning

Althought it's only July (tomorrow), and some might think it a little early to start thinking about it. It's about now that we face the Pre-Expansion Blues. The "im loggin until Cata/TBC/Wrath gets released"
So between now and then, is the ample time to finish off what you have left behind, the loose-ends of achievements.
Although we have cleared Naxx, we've never really had a full clear on farm, achievement wise, i think alot of folk would like that as an achievement. Ulduar is the same, however will require more hard work for Yogg, since we haven't downed him yet.

There's an urgency for badges, weekly raids and achievements by members so they are able to either pug with the achievements or what have you. And also that sense of "I've cleared that with my guild" attitude.

Personally, i would like my full T10, and gear level up to scratch before Cata comes. Ok, i might not get 25 man level gear, but T10 is enough for me to screen shot, and say....i managed that pre-cata, not post

March 2010

I hate this time of year sometimes. It's mostly because it's about change, always is..and no-body likes change.
And it's always about raiding....
The best part of my game is teaching, whether thats class or raiding roles, i am better developing folk, rather than sometimes spear-heading. However i think some people would dis-agree with that.
I enjoy supporting Tarnya in a raid, a small /w here and there about some encounters goes to help a long long way. The best part of my gaming experience - as a GM - is supporting new folk in the guild and getting to know them, and in the recent months i have not had that opportunity due to the spear-heading.
The Pro's of the raid spear -heading (Rank 16 on the realm for strict 10 man progress) and guild morale on 40% of the guild involved in that spear-heading. Con's Meanwhile there is a void building behind, of new people with no support and flakey dis-organised raids struggling to get together and be successful. Although you can put people in charge of these things, it will never quite feel the same as having your GM suddenly turn up for these beginner raids, and actively taking an interest in your development as a player/raider in your guild.
In reflection, i have done this before, look back to go forward, and so far i have done it annually. Not because it seems to be that time of year or a schedule of annual events, but it just seemes to develope in the guild every year...and i have to act opon it.
Those able to raid at the level of Saurfang, which we are still wiping at 15% when he enrages/beserk's should be able to manage by themselves. They have been their enough times, know the routine, and it should all be second nature by now. Removing the RL from it and passing it onto someone else, should'nt have that much of a disruption. However, i could be proven wrong. With a chat on ventrillo i stated the responsibility as a raid member supporting the raid leader to keep order in a raid, not just to turn up and expect everything on a plate, but to come with the attitude of business.
I often think that being the GM and the raid leader, and the main tank is a big role to fill. Somewhere along the line, something is going to slip, while spinning all three plates. But having influence on the new raiders developing in our guild, in both attitude to raiding, and learning abilities of working as team-player, are much more long term in value.

TDD 2010

To start 2010, I and the other raid leaders talked about what gave us a headache. Usually, if you thought about simply, you organise a raid, you beat a boss, and you roll loot, and move onto the next. Let’s complicate it a little, and add 4 weeks worth of 3 raids per night. Add no shows from newer raiders. Add absent raiders back into a raid, and cringe when the loot roll goes up, knowing that the regular raider lost out because of a lucky roll, and you have no leg to stand on other than say….that’s life..(Add that winner then doesn’t come back online for 1-2 weeks).
Raiding morale takes a hit, signups go down. Faith and interest in raiding drops; certainly in the fairness of raid rewards. Raid leader/s start getting frustrated, having to answer difficult questions about raiding and rewards, where no rules are in place for returning raiders.
And the difficult thing is you’re a casual guild, so how do you find a balance between raiders, and guild members. Blizzard has focused WOTLK on raid progress and easy 5 man instances (because it is now so so accessible to everyone, not just the big 25 man guilds, but the casual 10 man raiders aswell) we all see the same place, in 10 man, 25 man, Normal, and Heroic mode….options options and more options. Everything is available…everything is now in, certain cases a nightmare for a raid leader/guild master.

All of my raid leaders have basically agreed to distinguish the raider in the guild from the member. We have folk who 5 man, pug raid, quest and do achievements. So folk have outside commitments, where they can’t raid week by week, some do and are still able to raid, and each player has a different take on raiding availability. We decided to rank raiders, and guild members, putting trial between them.
People join the guild specifically for raiding at a TDD pace, or to socially join the guild, but would like to be involved in raiding.

Raid organisation goes out on the calendar inviting all 3 ranks.
Raid is then organised by class, not rank.
Raid rewards is defined by Raider on 1st roll, Guild member/Trial on 2nd roll, aka Open roll.

I personally don’t give a monkey’s about my own gear, items and rewards. I figure if I can’t tank in the gear im wearing, then I need to upgrade something, however I do have to sort this out for others. Having a clear, crystal clear definition of raid reward system is simple, no headaches, and no frustration. Every guild has raiders, wanting to see new things, wanting to play out the story line that blizzard has set for the game. I think people lose sight of that, and think its all about gear. Yes...gear helps you along the way, as an example, TDD won’t get past Saurfang, until all 5 dps can pump out enough dps to beat his enrage timer….and that’s with the best dps in the guild at the moment. So we have hit our glass ceiling there…and the only thing that will let us past is gear from TOTC and ICC, and that’s a fact, a game mechanic, not a raid leader’s whip, or raiders perceived elitism.
And every guild has members wishing to enjoy the content outside of raids. The 2 are very different, and there’s no simple way of gathering both types of folk together under one umbrella and saying…”Y’all roll and let the best roll win” ….they call that a pug, and as a reminder, that’s a group of folk not all in the same guild crawling over themselves with no regard/respect for one another to get what “they want” and log off.
I’m tired of that attitude, and folk don’t play honourably…we’ll make them