So I changed guilds again...I think this is the 5th time overall, and the 3rd time I've switched guilds for a genuine purpose: to progress further in ICC.
I was looking around for a PuG when I saw "LFM dps ICC25 mostly guild run" - always a good sign, a guild sponsored run is much smoother and better managed than a 100% pug. Of course there's the danger that the guild will ninja your loot but that gives them a bad rep and hey, there's always the chance they'll ninja someone else's loot and not yours! Read my previous post "Are they really ninjas?" on my thoughts concerning ninjas...
Anyways, it was indeed a smooth run. I was the only rogue in the group so there was no danger of losing a roll on a really important drop (ie, dagger). The raid leader seemed really chill, wasn't yelling at anyone or freaking out about people DCing or dying...just seemed like a polite, fun dude. During the second boss I get a whisper from one of the guild guys: "we're short on rogues in our guild - msg me if you want to join us".
It was definitely tempting. I didn't see any Kingslayer titles but I knew this was a pretty big guild and judging from the general gearscores I could tell they had gotten further than my current guild. I told him I'd think about it. I walked away from that run with two pieces of new gear which they graciously insisted I take! After the raid broke up I messaged him back asking for a guild invite. He checked with the officers and presto - I was in a new guild!
Whenever I switch guilds I feel like an asshole. Yes, I pay $15 a month to play and I should do what I like and what makes me happy but still...it's hard to shake off that feeling that you're betraying your old guild. Sure, I didn't know them for that long, a couple months or so, and I was certainly never buddies with them, but still. I changed to their guild so I could progress into ICC and now I'm ditching them for another guild for the same reason. I feel even more guilty now because that was the ONLY reason I left the guild this time. My ex-ex-guild was falling apart whereas my ex-guild is doing fine and actually making some progress in ICC, just not fast enough for me.
I'm sure they understand, but part of you does wonder if they now hate you just a little bit.
And of course, there's a bit of anxiety coming into a new guild. Will you get a spot at the next raid? Especially in 10 mans, if they've already got "regulars", will you get invited to run with them? Will they have alt 10 man runs that you can go on? Or are you doomed to wait around for 25mans week after week?
I know you need to earn your stripes. When you first join a guild there's no guarantees no matter how geared or skilled you are. There will always be older members who seem to get priority just for being the veterans. Somehow in my previous guilds I managed to get to that "veteran" status and there was always a spot reserved for me. But I've seen new people join the guild and complain about not being taken to raids - will that be me? I'm guessing at least for the first month or so, yes. I'll have to resort to more pugs, I suppose.
Then there is a feeling of awkwardness with the old guild members. I swear it's just like running into an ex. Will it be like that with the old guild? But then again I'm still friends with the GM from my first raiding guild. Did I mention that he's back to WoW? We chat for a bit and even did a pug together. It was pretty fun actually, but then again he had also left the old guild too.
I hope it all works out. But hey, if not that's ok too. There's lots and lots of guilds out there and cataclysm is coming out soon so I'll just kill the lich king once I'm level 85! I'll probably be able to solo that bastard by then.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Putricide
I'm happy to announce that my guild has finally downed Rotface. Well, we've actually downed him before, but always after about 2 hours of struggling. But this time, I think the fight "clicked" with everyone and we were able to get him on the second try. And since Festergut is a piece of cake to us, we're now at a point where Putricide is our biggest hurdle in our ICC raid progression.
When a fight clicks, it's a beautiful thing. It truly is. There is a difference between downing a boss out of sheer luck and a well-executed, smooth endeavor. During the former people run around like chickens with their heads cut off, they're screaming on vent, running into fire, into poison goo, into adds...and somehow at the end of the fight the boss is dead and so is half of your raid. You know that is all luck, perhaps even a glitch of some sort.
But when people finally get it and they know what to do, there's a strange sort of serenity. People flow from one spot to another almost as if it's perfectly natural, like water flowing through a riverbed (zen moment). Occasional mistakes are made here and there, but no one is freaking out. The adds come out and are gracefully kited away to be killed out of sight. And vent is dead silent. No raid leaders screaming at you, no tank screaming for heals, no heals screaming about adds...it's absolutely quiet as everyone just functions as one unit. And it's a beautiful, beautiful thing when you're at that point.
Unfortunately we're not quite there with Putricide yet. But I think it's beginning to click. We got him down as far as 55% health...just 20% more and we would've had that fight. Next time, there's always next time...
When a fight clicks, it's a beautiful thing. It truly is. There is a difference between downing a boss out of sheer luck and a well-executed, smooth endeavor. During the former people run around like chickens with their heads cut off, they're screaming on vent, running into fire, into poison goo, into adds...and somehow at the end of the fight the boss is dead and so is half of your raid. You know that is all luck, perhaps even a glitch of some sort.
But when people finally get it and they know what to do, there's a strange sort of serenity. People flow from one spot to another almost as if it's perfectly natural, like water flowing through a riverbed (zen moment). Occasional mistakes are made here and there, but no one is freaking out. The adds come out and are gracefully kited away to be killed out of sight. And vent is dead silent. No raid leaders screaming at you, no tank screaming for heals, no heals screaming about adds...it's absolutely quiet as everyone just functions as one unit. And it's a beautiful, beautiful thing when you're at that point.
Unfortunately we're not quite there with Putricide yet. But I think it's beginning to click. We got him down as far as 55% health...just 20% more and we would've had that fight. Next time, there's always next time...
Thursday, April 15, 2010
For Honor!!!
You know, PvP isn't all that bad...I have to admit that my previous opinion on PvP came from: 1. the numerous times I've been ganked by a higher level player, and 2. the four times I was beaten mercilessly in warsong gulch.
I have to admit that the higher level BGs are a lot more fun. I did Strands of the Ancients for the first time and that was highly enjoyable. It felt like an actual battle as opposed to capture the flag - remind me again how capturing the flag will do anything for either Horde/Alliance? Anyways, I liked sitting in the guns and shooting at all those flimsy ally catapults. Mwahaha! Tremble at the might of my projectile fury!!!
And of course, Wintergrasp feels like a giant clusterfuck which is always fun too. I even did Arathi Basin, which was surprisingly fun. I do get a little more anxious because there are less people and all, but it turns out that I *may* not be as horrible at pvp as I previously thought. I was quite surprised at how many people were completely powerless against my clumsy stunlock. I was able to take down plate-wearers, and even brought down a paladain 1-on-1 all by myself! AND she used lay on hands too, so it's like I actually killed two paladins.
It may be that I'm good at pvp, but the much more likely explanations are probably one or more of the following:
1. I got lucky against a few noobish ally players with crappy gear
2. My gear is really really awesome - which I cannot lie, it is pretty badass
3. My fiance was playing with me and was right behind me the whole time healing me
I think it may have a lot to do with #3...I did keep wondering why my health was barely dropping...
I have to admit that the higher level BGs are a lot more fun. I did Strands of the Ancients for the first time and that was highly enjoyable. It felt like an actual battle as opposed to capture the flag - remind me again how capturing the flag will do anything for either Horde/Alliance? Anyways, I liked sitting in the guns and shooting at all those flimsy ally catapults. Mwahaha! Tremble at the might of my projectile fury!!!
And of course, Wintergrasp feels like a giant clusterfuck which is always fun too. I even did Arathi Basin, which was surprisingly fun. I do get a little more anxious because there are less people and all, but it turns out that I *may* not be as horrible at pvp as I previously thought. I was quite surprised at how many people were completely powerless against my clumsy stunlock. I was able to take down plate-wearers, and even brought down a paladain 1-on-1 all by myself! AND she used lay on hands too, so it's like I actually killed two paladins.
It may be that I'm good at pvp, but the much more likely explanations are probably one or more of the following:
1. I got lucky against a few noobish ally players with crappy gear
2. My gear is really really awesome - which I cannot lie, it is pretty badass
3. My fiance was playing with me and was right behind me the whole time healing me
I think it may have a lot to do with #3...I did keep wondering why my health was barely dropping...
Monday, April 12, 2010
Do these pants make me look fat?
Damn, last week was an excellent week for me, as far as loot goes. The guild ran ICC10, and on Lady Deathwhisper a sweet little trinket dropped - whispering fanged skull, +131 crit and chance to increase AP by 1100 on attack!!! No one else wanted it for some reason, not even the DK (although he had needle-encrusted scorpion, +114 crit, so that may have been overkill). I finally had something to replace my +hit rating trinket! Did I mention I was way overcapped on hit? It was somewhere near 700 at one point until I replaced some enchants and gems...
Then on Saurfang the cold-forged ring dropped so I got to swap out the ilvl 245 one. Not so much a big upgrade as far as gear score goes but still nice. I was hoping we'd finally clear the plague wing too since the night was still young (we cleared the lower spire in under an hour) but things sort of took a turn for the worst...let's just say there's drama in every guild. Sigh.
The really nice drop, though, was during an ICC25 pug. The leather boots dropped off Marrowgar and I rolled a 3...and ended up losing it to the druid who rolled 17. So I was pretty pissed. But then Deathwhisper dropped Heartpierce! And I rolled...100!!! I kind of felt bad for the other rogue who was still using his ilvl 232 daggers from ICC heroics but hey, that's how it goes.
I did all my random heroics, my weekly, both VoA raids and even got some ICC25 action, so now I'm up to 75 frost emblems. Just a few more and I can upgrade my stupid helm and bring down my hit rating some more.
What I really need, though, are new pants. Right now I look like my upper half is wearing one set, and my lower half is wearing a different set. It looks really stupid, though not quite a clown suit. Yuck.
Then on Saurfang the cold-forged ring dropped so I got to swap out the ilvl 245 one. Not so much a big upgrade as far as gear score goes but still nice. I was hoping we'd finally clear the plague wing too since the night was still young (we cleared the lower spire in under an hour) but things sort of took a turn for the worst...let's just say there's drama in every guild. Sigh.
The really nice drop, though, was during an ICC25 pug. The leather boots dropped off Marrowgar and I rolled a 3...and ended up losing it to the druid who rolled 17. So I was pretty pissed. But then Deathwhisper dropped Heartpierce! And I rolled...100!!! I kind of felt bad for the other rogue who was still using his ilvl 232 daggers from ICC heroics but hey, that's how it goes.
I did all my random heroics, my weekly, both VoA raids and even got some ICC25 action, so now I'm up to 75 frost emblems. Just a few more and I can upgrade my stupid helm and bring down my hit rating some more.
What I really need, though, are new pants. Right now I look like my upper half is wearing one set, and my lower half is wearing a different set. It looks really stupid, though not quite a clown suit. Yuck.
Friday, April 2, 2010
Ahoy! To Outland!
My main is a rogue and I love her dearly, but I started a paladin alt a couple months ago. I figured either I could spend time trying to get as many achievement points as I could, or start an alt now that I didn't have much more to do with my main except a few dailies and raiding.
The playstyle is completely different from when I leveled my rogue. As a rogue with puny hit points and armor, I had to constantly stealth and sneak around, trying to catch mobs one-on-one. I could never solo any group quests or bring down elites anywhere near my level.
With my paladin, though, I constantly do my best to aggro as many mobs as I can possibly handle - usually 4 or 5 at a time. Being protection-specced and having heirloom gear helps, yes. But still, it's pretty insane how much more damage I can take as a prot pally, even at low levels. I revisited all the quests that I could never solo with my rogue (king bangalash quest, the silithus deathclasp quest, etc) and easily completed them on the first try. Oh and did I mention I can heal myself, or in emergencies press a button to heal myself to 100% AND like regain 1/4 of my mana? I certainly don't go through potions like I did with my rogue, I can tell you that.
I hit level 58 last night (finally!!!), so I can quest in outland now! I've been dying to run some instances to practice tanking - I actually enjoy it, even though it's a little stressful at times. The only problem is that I've never been very familiar with the old-world dungeons so I only did a few of them...trying to do sunken temple when no one in your party knew where to go...not fun. But I've been run through a few outland dungeons and I'm definitely familiar with most of the Hellfire citadel and Coilfang Reservoir ones. So I'm eager to practice my tanking there. And the gear upgrade from azeroth to outland is a big jump so I'm looking forward to replacing my crappy greens!
Soon, maybe in like a couple weeks if I have the time, I'll be able to get her to northrend where I know ALL the dungeons like the back of my hand. And with being a tank and all, I'll get into dungeons instantly, so I'll just be leveling through dungeons (which in my opinion is quicker than questing due to less downtime...not to mention more fun). Then I'll hit 80 and not be a noob anymore for having just one 80!
The playstyle is completely different from when I leveled my rogue. As a rogue with puny hit points and armor, I had to constantly stealth and sneak around, trying to catch mobs one-on-one. I could never solo any group quests or bring down elites anywhere near my level.
With my paladin, though, I constantly do my best to aggro as many mobs as I can possibly handle - usually 4 or 5 at a time. Being protection-specced and having heirloom gear helps, yes. But still, it's pretty insane how much more damage I can take as a prot pally, even at low levels. I revisited all the quests that I could never solo with my rogue (king bangalash quest, the silithus deathclasp quest, etc) and easily completed them on the first try. Oh and did I mention I can heal myself, or in emergencies press a button to heal myself to 100% AND like regain 1/4 of my mana? I certainly don't go through potions like I did with my rogue, I can tell you that.
I hit level 58 last night (finally!!!), so I can quest in outland now! I've been dying to run some instances to practice tanking - I actually enjoy it, even though it's a little stressful at times. The only problem is that I've never been very familiar with the old-world dungeons so I only did a few of them...trying to do sunken temple when no one in your party knew where to go...not fun. But I've been run through a few outland dungeons and I'm definitely familiar with most of the Hellfire citadel and Coilfang Reservoir ones. So I'm eager to practice my tanking there. And the gear upgrade from azeroth to outland is a big jump so I'm looking forward to replacing my crappy greens!
Soon, maybe in like a couple weeks if I have the time, I'll be able to get her to northrend where I know ALL the dungeons like the back of my hand. And with being a tank and all, I'll get into dungeons instantly, so I'll just be leveling through dungeons (which in my opinion is quicker than questing due to less downtime...not to mention more fun). Then I'll hit 80 and not be a noob anymore for having just one 80!
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