There are no police in WoW

I'm driving down the road last week and someone did something that makes me think, as we all have, there's never a police car around when you want one. Why this led me to Warcraft I don't recall but it did. I am one of those types that is very rule oriented, and black and white. If you tell me this is the rule I will continue to go by that rule until you can convince me it needs to be changed. I will make inferences and deductions based upon that rule. Therefore, I don't deal with change well and I don't deal with others who "break the rules" very well either. Or at least my view of what the rules should be.

After much inner debate over this subject I have come to the conclusion that the lack of policing in WoW is good. I have had my fair share of assholes over the years, and at times wish there was some secret GM lurking around watching all the unsavory bits that float through trade chat and slamming discipline down upon the wrong-doer, but alas there is not. At least not when we wish they were looking.

So what do we have? Well let's see....

We have the secret police. Those that we turn in via the spam-o-matic button and it's a secret if anything actually happens.

We have the spies. For those of you familiar with the Moon Guard/Goldshire brothel fiasco, Blizz does indeed put people out there to take notes and dole out bans as needed when enough people have complained about a particular area or server.

We have the FBI. Where you can officially turn in a specific person for doing something against the TOS. Usually harassment, bigotry, or hatred remarks. In my 6 years of WoW I have used this function twice to report a specific person.

Other than that, Blizzard has left a remarkably large terrain for us to police ourselves, and given us a set of tools to use.

Turn it Off - you can turn off all or some of your chats including Trade and General.

Ignore - If you have one or two hundred specific people you don't like you can ignore them. One of the additional wonder features with ignore is you will never get grouped with them. Though beware of the alt.

Spammers beware - you can report as spam. This is generally reserved for gold farmers but I have used it when I have reached my limit on anal jokes. I just begin reporting. Sorry, but I use trade and I don't really want to see your ass jokes. If that's the tool I have to get you to stop then I will damn well use it. Hopefully you will get the message and a short ban.

One of my favorite tools tho is the pa-troller. One of those people who love to troll the trolls. We have one in my guild. He does not use foul language or anything he simply changes the subject. It is quite funny to see and I've helped him on more than one occasion. If you get a couple people singing or saying Ninetails for long enough the ass jokes disappear. 

This is one of the best examples of self-policing I can give. That there are people who will take the initiative to derail the idiots in trade and make us all laugh for a few minutes. It's priceless.

So there you have it. From the no frills all rules person I say...no police! We seem to be doing ok on our own with the occasional smack down from on-high.

And...Here We Are

Its been about a week since Cata launched and I have been quite wrapped up in it. I have taken a few days off work to be immersed in my favorite subject and these are my impressions.
Initial install and day 1 play was relatively smooth. I had no problems logging in on launch morning and was up and running fairly quickly. I am always very shy about heading into new content. I tend to kinda linger. I take my time reading quests and try to let the initial onslaught of players wing by me so I can go at my own pace. It looks like the leveling is extremely quick. Not at all what I expected. When they said these 5 levels should take as long as the last 10 they lied. Even my slow pace has left me sitting on the cusp of 84 not 9 days from launch. Usually it takes me a good 1-4 months to level through, and I enjoy that pace. For me leveling is part of the fun of the game and I get bored easily once I hit cap. I enjoy raiding but it's not my only reason for playing. Someone in my guild hit Loremaster of Cataclysm last night. Now she doesn't know what to do with herself. If I hit that point this soon I'll end up quitting. That's ridiculous, and that's half the game Blizz. Do you really want people blasting through the content that fast then being bored out of their minds? That is a sure fire way to lose your customer base in 6 months.
For me it's all been rather surreal. I have made it through half of Hyjal, all of Vash'jir and I am about 2/3's of the way through Deepholm. I have been mostly impressed with the quest chains, very impressed with the artwork and left kinda wondering with the lore. There are minor quest bugs all over the place but they are few and far between. The questing has been fast and well centralized. Rarely do you have to wonder where you're going next. On this note it is very quick. If you don't enjoy questing then this is definitely for you. I haven't felt like an area is particularly overwhelmed by other players either. I see them around, but for the most part we aren't ganking each others mobs and I feel relatively left alone which has been nice. Though I look around and wonder where everyone else is every once in a while. The only time I ran into a mob of people was in Hyjal the very first day and even then after about a dozen quests the oodles of questers seemed to break up quite a bit. I attribute that to if you want to go fast you can, and you pretty much will zoom by others in the area and then you never see them again. You won't continue to run into the same people unless you're questing at the same pace.

Raiding is EVIL!!

As mentioned in a previous post I have been working long and hard to get my guild raiding. Today my guild is raiding without me and I'm pissed off! I have spent years working and pushing and trying to find the right officers while not alienating others in the guild. I worked long and hard fighting to make sure that the guild is great all around, not just a raiding superstore. Where we can do it all. Have fun, quest, pvp, be social and fit in raiding on a regular basis. Much easier done now in the days of Wrath then at any other time in WoW history. I am not raiding tonight because I can't stay up that late and continue to stay sane and awake and functional at work. It's my choice and a choice that I had to make but I am not happy with it.

Dumb and Dumber

Dumb
Feeling all full of myself I offered to help a guildmate who was running regular Azjol-Nerub and was in need of a tank. I logged over to my prot warrior and joined the group. I promptly proceeded to wipe the group several times on Hadronox. How you may ask? Well...let me tell you.
We took out the first boss ok fine. A little messy. Sometimes you forget how the aggro radius is on a 72. Ah well, moving on.
Everyone gets in position and I pull the first mob to begin the event on Hadronox. The other 2 melee dps run down to join me, aggroing the other mobs close by. I drag them all up the web to get away from anything else and we take them out. We pull another group, I don't know where that came from and are almost done when they suddenly disappear on me. I'm standing in the area where the first mobs spawn and they're gone. Weird but ok. I've seen people bug out this encounter recently so I figure it is bugged. I move down the web ramp halfway around the spiral heading to Hadronox and the rest of the group follows me. Spiders begin spawning at the top heading down to Had and they KEEP spawning. Oh shit this isn't right! I am now tanking about 15 spiders, the healer is healing her little ass off and everyone is wondering (including me) what the hell is happening. We wipe. K now I feel totally stupid. I explain I thought it was bugged, don't know what is going on etc. The Shammy restores herself right there and rezes me first. Before she can get up the rest of the group the spiders start spawning again. Again I find myself tanking a shit-ton of them while everyone desperately tries to keep alive. We wipe again. Now I'm done. I apologize and leave along with my guildmate.
I have never felt so stupid in my little WoW life as I did at that moment. Here I was going in to save the day and completely fucked the entire encounter up.

Dumber
I was listening to a podcast the other day and I was so flabbergasted by what this guy did that I feel the need to repeat it here. The podcast is Wowphiles. I've been listening to them since their 2nd show and was really excited to see others out there in the podcast world trying out new things. Now I don't ever know if I will listen to them again.
Jason, the main host, was asked to start a guild by his listeners. After long thought he decided it would be a fabulous idea to start a guild on another server on the opposite faction. His tale starts off innocently enough. He rolled a level 1 NE druid and proceeded to run to Darnassus. Where he then began a begging spree that has left me with my jaw on the floor. From begging a mage to port him to SW to begging everyone for 10s to start his guild charter and then begging people to sign it.  I am just astounded that an adult person, who had at least one level 80, has played the game for over a year, and I would expect to have some sort of sense in his head, would stoop to the level of a 10 year old noob. Really tell me you're joking. I had to turn off the podcast right then and there and I don't know if I'll ever be able to turn it on again. That was truly the stupidist thing I'd ever heard anyone do. At least anyone who has had any substantial time in the game.
Let me add. I told this story to a friend of mine who does not play WoW. Even she was amazed and had come up with another plan he could have used instead of begging.
I hope he enjoys his time on his new server where half the population has already put him on ignore.

And the QQ Follow Up......

Since I started this rant I might as well finish it up with some prot warrior QQ.  Yes I know.... Then I'm done.
Really I am.... promise.

Who the heck decided that there should be no CC in Wrath?

That's the gist of it really. Warriors have a heck of a lot more to do when it comes to tanking than pally's or DK's from what I can tell. Now, I'm not an expert on either tanking or pally's or DK's but man I have to put in a lot of work, and you people sure know how to keep me on my toes. AoE is going to drive me insane. I cannot speak to druid tanks at all. I hardly see them and I understand there is an issue with gear scaling and all that, as well as everyone seems to think that resto is the way to go. I don't know, I don't own a druid personally and can only rely on second-hand or make wild ass guesses. So, sparing myself further embarrassment, I won't.

Also, I'm tired of running around, quit pulling. You may think it's because I don't have enough threat (see previous post), I say it's because you are over eager and over zealous and are not paying attention.

OH! And now that I've been tanking, when I'm not tanking I'm watching you. All you other tanks out there. I wonder what you're doing, why you're pulling that way instead of this, and sometimes....I wonder what the heck you're doing. That seems to be another down side. In the back of my mind I'm criticizing others. I will never say anything because everyone does their own thing their own way, and I just let it go. As long as I'm alive we have conquered and that's really what it's all about.

That's it. Just had to throw in that 2 cents. Maybe when I've been tanking for longer than 3 months I'll have more to say.

Who Left My Lock Out in the Rain?

I have never really bitched about my class before. I am not one to QQ a lot. I believe that Blizzard is always trying to do the best they can with class balance and believe that eventually it will all even out. What is a nerf for you today will be a nerf for me tomorrow and that sort of thing.

However, this has gone on far too long and I've something to say about it!

Back during BC I noticed this trend. For some reason people decided that warlocks were just too OP. Fears and DoTs were just too much for everyone else to handle I guess and the complaining began. I guess those rogues in AV just couldn't stand it any longer. Hah!
Thus the steady decline of the warlock began.

Now I look around and I don't see very many of us. All hail the mighty paladin, the cunning rogue and the ever lurking shadow priests.
Alas, where did all the warlocks go I ask?

So let me share with you my little story from this past week that has led to this verbose and exasperated post...
With the ready availability of tier gear I had decided that now was the time to truly delve into my evil destructive lockiness and really attempt to pull some higher dps.
I began to really read up on stats, gems and enchants.
Hit vs Haste. Haste vs Crit. Int or Spir. How much spell power is enough?! (ad infinitum actually)
After all this research I went out and applied my knowledge. I ground my little warlock ass off and procured a tier 9 set of my own. I laid out gold by the hundreds for the right gems, the right enchants...the right food for god's sake!
And I tweaked! I read some more, and tweaked some more til I my head was full of visions of warlock goodness and my eyes were full of the grand numbers my crits would be throwing up on my screen!
Do you know what? It sucked. I stopped. I stopped for a week or so and thought. Then I went back to reading. Back to hit caps and spirit. Back to trinkets and gear and 4 piece set bonuses. Until at last I thought I had it figured out....again.
But no.  Oh FUCK! (and lots of other cuss words...oh and some stomping and desk pounding in for good measure)
I backed up to step one. Visiting videos for new warlocks. Pouring over my spec point by point. Believing that if I really understood what each talent point gave me I would be better for it. And really I was, there is always something new to learn...but...FUCK!
The only thing I have not done at this point is start theorycrafting and crunching numbers. Frankly I hate numbers and it's not going to happen. I rely on those of you that have the patience for that to help us poor misguided math losers. Oh, and I haven't done anything like plug into a SimulationCraft. (article about said program here)

Ok so...after all this munching and crunching and chewing on information I went back and looked over my toon. I realized some basic things that were a little off and again replaced gems. Some gem guy on my server has made a ton of $$ off me. Though some I have been able to make myself on my warrior. Luckily the enchants are free huh?
2 days ago I went to Exodar and found the practice dummies. It is nice and quiet there and I don't have to worry about some random warrior coming along and standing in front of me.
I'm working here, shove off!
I pulled up the stopwatch, added my normal fel armor, a firestone, and a food buff, and turned off recount so I would focus. Then I proceeded to wail away on this dummy for 2:30 sec. Enough time for my CoD to proc twice. Then I stopped. I waited for it to finish its 3rd kaboom...so we're talking 3 minutes and a bit here. Then checked the numbers.  (thinking back I should have recorded my number right then or finished up the 3 minutes completely)
I was devastated. Barely 3k! So I'm standing there pouting in guild chat, and thinking I've had it! I can't believe I can't produce decent numbers, and what the fuck are all these people talking about with 4-6k dps? WHAT IS GOING ON?! I just must be a totally crappy player! Against a target dummy!
If I have followed all the recommendations and all the proper this and thats. If all my attention to every fucking detail was not paying off then it must be me...it has to be right? I am one of those people that Blizzard doesn't think you should be playing with.... oh god nooooo! Not after all this time, and all this MONEY! Are you kidding me? All that stuff about you can lead a camel to water....and isn't there some saying about a thoroughbred or show dog or something? I don't know.  /sigh

In the mean time....

There were other wheels turning. I had listened to an episode of  The Instance, where they talked about this.

This is a chart that Blizzard created showing an average of dps during the Festergut fight in ICC. I don't know if it is 10 or 25 but I'm going to assume 25 because of the numbers.



16th!! Would that make YOU happy? Surely not.

Now, I don't think that I can reasonably expect to be doing that kind of dps in a 5 man heroic, but apparently I can't reasonably expect to be anywhere near the top in any raid situation either. I should expect that 15 other specs will beat me out. So in a 25 man I might come in before the tanks. If they're not pallys that is.

In the mean time back at the target dummy fuming....
I begin to solicit my guildmates help.
"Please" I beg. "You must help me figure out what is going on!!" I am reviewed. My armory data is scrutinized. The result is there is no reason why I should not be putting out wonderful stupendous flames of dps goodness, and thoroughly burning the shit out of anything in my path. So again it must be me right?

Actually...somewhat is the answer.

*First, I learned that I clipped my DoTs and that doing that is very very bad. And I did it a lot! Not allowing that extra tic is tre importante. (No I don't speak French or Spanish but it worked in my head so let it go)
*Second, I never set recount to merge me and my pets dps. In my head it seemed logical to keep my imps info separate. I guess that is not right. The end numbers did show a difference worth mentioning.
*Third, I wander. My fingers wander, my mind wanders, my toon wanders. I do not always keep everything flying at a steady rate. When I need to be there I am, but in the mean time I might miss cast something, clip something etc.
These things do add up to a significant portion of missed dps, but when you're flying through a heroic it doesn't much matter. When I spend the majority of my time in 5 mans I am not as regimented as perhaps I could be. Am I a lousy player? I say nay nay. Is there room for improvement? Absolutely.

So what does all this rambling add up to? In the end, I think that my class as a whole is just not able to generate the numbers that come so easily for a few others. I think Blizz has some work to do and I want, no I DEMAND! some Warlock love.

I hear wonderful snippets of promise coming from Blizz about this for Cataclysm. I am hopeful and afraid at the same time. The complete overhaul of the shard system has me shaking in my demon booties. I do not want to be a Death Knight in cloth. I really really hope this system doesn't turn into a runic type one similar to DK's. But OMG I will be so thankful to get rid of a bag of purple things. Really would love to have a bag back, gee wouldn't that be nice. /sigh

Please please Blizz, make me a blazing bad-ass again that everyone thinks is OP and everyone wants to be! I really do miss the days of "oh shit its a warlock".

PTSD 3.3 and WTF Have You Been?

So, where have I been what have I been doing? So much and its been way too long to enumerate.

I'd like to start with 3.3. A little late (ok a lot late) but there has been so much going on it's crazy.

I haven't done ICC raid but have done the 5 mans both on my lock and on my warrior. I am not to crazy about them. Mostly because everyone just zips through. It wasn't until the 3rd or 4th time in I actually had an opportunity to see/listen to Jaina and try to decipher what we were supposed to be doing. I think the dungeons are nifty in appearance but really lack some content. All 3 put together would make a great dungeon. Separate they drive me batty. 2 bosses and some crazy mobs. Lots of casters which suck for a warrior tank mind you. Not impossible but not easy to round up either. PoS is the most interesting. That was until everyone found the easy way to bypass most of the mobs and run through it. Sheesh. Folks slow down a little, would it fucking kill you?
I have heard a lot about the portion of the raids that are open from the podcasts I listen to. I'm afraid I have not experienced any of it. Sad to say.

My big gripe is the LFG system. Really thats where all my crankiness comes from. I have been in so many groups where they can't even say hello. I have been in so many groups where people were just asshats. I'm tired of hearing about gearscore and I'm tired of badges. I'm tired of looking like everyone else in Dalaran too. I ran my ass off the first couple of weeks and both my toons have pretty much tier 9 gear or equivalent. I think it wore me out. I got so excited about being able to run from dungeon to dungeon and getting badges and titles and pets that when I stopped to look around I realized I was missing the game. I wasn't playing anymore I was racing. When I stopped to take stock of what was going on it just pissed me off. Realizing that these random groups didn't even speak to each other was just making me more angry. Here we are in a social game and we can't even stop to say hello to the real people we're playing with. I don't think the LFG did anyone any favors.

So I took some time away from my mains. In fact I took some time away from my faction. I have some hidden Horde on another server. Ok so before you say I'm a traitor...I have heard said many times that if you just play one side you are missing half the game. My intent was to at least see what is going on on the other side. I do take issue with having Horde and Alliance toons on the same server, and I have no toon space left on Kael'Thas anyway, so my horde are all relegated to another server. My highest toon is now 55. I don't spend oodles of time there but since I have such an interest in the lore I thought it was a good idea to see how the other half live.

Between getting back to "playing" the game and the holidays and being sick AND the great washer fiasco of 2010 I just found it best to step back from everything and take a break from the "race" I was in.

Lately, I have found that I get on and do my thing. Daily JC, farming, cloth CD's etc. Do a daily H on Zab and Moon, or try to, and get back to playing my way and enjoying the game.

I do have to say that I'm liking the new gear though *smirk*. It wasn't all a waste.  lol