You say Ulduar, I say...

BRING IT ON!
Im very- very excited now: Theres big things happening, maybe things i shouldn't be excited about, but why am i so excited?- Warlock trainer? be my guide- why?

I think i know why.
Big changes, bad or good- cycles will be ruined, chaos shall return- theory crafters will get their teeth into lush lambs of lavish meat and publish their theories everywhere for people to sigh!

Does this make me an Anarchist?- no.
I love the chaos- its exciting- i shouldnt- i wouldnt but i will- i do.
Were all going to be in the same position- what do i do now? and i like that.
Equal footing, an opourtunity for all to shine- every instance for the first week shall be laborities- testing shall take place. We shall race. Race to find out the best rotation.

Ulduar;
Its new- it sounds hard- it looks hard- i-cant-wait!
Bring on the wipes, new content- no more early raid night endings-
I cannot wait!

You say Ulduar, I say...
Bring it on.

Pink Pigtail Inn

(unfortunatly due to strange and misspelt circumstances,
you'll have to click the image to view properly.)

I'm sure you've all stopped a night at Larisa's Inn, read a spell-book in bed and enjoy hot healthstones and mana-biscuits by the fire, and if you haven't- its more than worth a look.
This post is about how i enjoy reading about other peoples experiences in WoW and comparing them to my own- not just an excuse to explain how well written Larisa's posts are- although you'll see me mention that more then enough.

The Name:
Pink Pigtail Inn; Honour- i chose this name because of a post recently come to mention on her Blog- which can be found here.
Its linked to a special "Blog Award" that goes around, with certain rules to go with it- its not just a chain, its an interesting way to freely mention other peoples blogs that are worthy of mention, and a change to express some of your personal facts.

The Description:
I regularly read her blog- has its very creative and like i said, isn't it nice to have somebody elses eyes for a change? perspective- as i emphasise in my posts- and as she has replied;
I see a boring spam rotation, Larisa sees a relaxing rotation which allows her to concentrate on other important outlets(mana, etc).

I enjoy somebody to oppose my views; but only constructively. She ticks this box ten times over.

The Points:
In that post I've linked above, Larisa mentioned me as a "honoury award" and for this i think 40 points is the minimum i would give for that achievement. I didn't get on the list of awards specifically, but an honoury mention from a writer of her expertise and grace is enough for me.

Just a mini-poll, you don't have to reply an answer, however;
Glass half-empty, or half -full?

I Just Cannot

I WILL NOT- CANNOT- SPAM.

Cast your eye's back to The Burning Crusade; what was argueably the most over-used an 'best' warlock spec? (-wait, there shouldnt be a best one >=[ )

-
-
Correct- ShadowDesto; and in case your not sure what that is- its speccing in Destruction for high crit and critical damage and spell power, then going down Demonology for Sacrificing Succubus for what used to be 15% shadow damage increase (stacks up a hell of a lot). Rotation? SPAM SHADOWBOLT.

I am a level 80 Warlock who is Destruction spec, which requires a decent amount of timing and it has a nice range, not having immolate on influences your damage greatly and dots can enhance your damage- via the Molten Core talent. However, blizzard are slowly creeping towards making Destruction about Spamming Incinerate, rather then shadow bolt. Same principle. I don't want a easy ride- yes Fire Destruction means Conflagorate Immolate and incinerate- but making dots so they waste global cool downs, means im stuck to one thing.

This could be me being over dramatic- but i really love the range- and cant wait to be Demonology for PvP as my Dual Spec. :D. But yes- there is my information blizzard; my two franks- Keep it interesting.

Its Me, Nature.

Nature's View:
Life is the existence of creatures and living beings in constant cycles of life and death.

Some Human's Views:
Life is the birth of existence and creatures.

My View:
Unfortunately, life isn't cruel, but it is easier to say it is. Life is perfect balance of life, death and cycles of loss and gain. In Nature's eyes, if we died tomorrow, that wouldn't be a mass loss in life, as we would spark nutrition for plants and such, we would server a greater purpose in death for nature then any Eco-worker ever can- this may seem extreme, but that's how i perceive it.

Religion:
Pretend your an Alien- can you do that for me?- good.

Your an Alien- imagine it. E--e---ar--- ea-- earrth--- earth? earth. I think its called earth.
What do you see when you look at Christianity? you know nothing of it its background, remember? your an alien.

Alien's View:
What do i see? i see a community- a place of belonging- i feeling of peers and significance and understanding of each other. I see a Guild. Why does it exist here? Is it luck?- no, its the need to belong and have rules- for what is man without rules...

Human's View:
I see the lord because i must, and will, to go to heaven. The alien is stupid, hes blind he cannot see the lord.

My View:
I see a cross section of Belonging and some for control. An outside view, an Alien's view can show you that in a sense, religion is a society, community, guild.

Now Look at your guild:
Look at its rules:-
Their not life and death rules, but there rules, established for different reasons purposes and influences. Socially, in a guild we feel more belonging- but for those who do not have guild because they do not seek belonging- "Not all who wander are lost". This isn't a game pun, this is a genuine fact.

There are different views in this world and the next: opinions too. There is a lesson to be learned- sometimes use somebody else's eyes, because if you didn't know that being blind was a handicap, you would think you was normal. Maybe were ALL handicapped, take the Alien view, contrast with your own and make a diagnostic from there. Do not fall into the trap of tunnel vision.

In case you didn't already know, i was once Guild Master of an excellent guild- but we must define Excellent. My definition of an excellent guild was somewhere i could happily be socially, professionally and without doubt of my fellow guild members.

In view, my guild that wasn't past Karazhan, in the eyes of raiders could be seen as bad. Now look from my eyes that guild, all of a sudden, can be seen as excellent. Define Excellent. Use different eyes.

This post is not a preach- its a different view.
Getting the Jist ;)?

Echoes of Absence

Absence:
6 days....I hadn't logged on WoW in 6 days...
I've been engulfed in a desert of work and extra curriclum; i have sorely missed raiding for the week- what an absence. I certainly gained a higher level of apprication for WoW- having time to play means i can relax, because WoW is like a different world to take control of- and when i play i know all my work for the day in the 'real' world is compleate.

So- my absence was short lived but neccasary, i enjoyed raiding again- even though it was only a week away from melting faces- we had a fantastic high sprited raid yesterday, thursday- including the one shot of Malygos and bosses afterwards- no wipes. I missed it.

Echoes:
Echoes of the grind; grinding dailies, grinding real life duties. Sustainbilty- soon i know i may have to grind work and ding A levels, but until then we just have to keep trying to preserve the balance- work and play.

Like the Nelf Druids often and rightly say;

'Balance must be preserved"

Comic Relief

Hey, its Comic Relief 09'- and im going to be in London, dressed as superman, with 4 other friends doing similar in costume- raising money looking silly. Going to be great- never been London, and enjoyed this charity event, aswell as it being a free day of school.

however, this great charity event taking place tommorow was all for free :) as its for charity and in costume and were sponsered to raise money, which is great to see peoples support; but it reminded me of a saying.

"Im look stupid for charity, whats your excuse?"

Kind of reminded me how people act in trade- how they think its funny being horrible assholes, looking silly- reminding us why we we were once(or still are) animals.

At the same time people try to be funny and just discuss in trade- whcih to me is fine- its more global then general so i can understand the need for a bigger community- like a blog community, only shorter and less writing more controversy. At the same time i think trade should be for trade, but what can blizzard do?

what do you think?

Global General channel? yes or no?

Into The Eyes of Madness

The Eye of Eternity:

Malygos:

I thought it would be intresting to talk about this encounter, as it is one of my favorites, just to get you to know a bit more of what i like and i dont like :).

Maylgos to me is an excellent encounter that displays both anticipation and executation in a refined form of raid boss. Malygos is commonly spilt and identified into three phases;

1: Sparks - Ground

2: Discs and Deep Breath - Ground and Air

3: Drakes - Air

Ground:

Well, by ground i mean the platform you first start on- before malygos decides to do a spring clean and takes the entire raid instance with him. I love this phase- i love big numbers, and although the fight as a whole is very beautiful- i love the Vortex spell. I would like one, but that isn't going to happen ;).

This phase is vital you stun the sparks(or dps on time)- you must deal with sparks on time, but not early or late, too early meeans melee feel no benefit and too late means a higher chance of fried tank served with wipeshake with rants to go'.

Ground and Air:

Really Awesome, whilst your fighting a bubble protecting yourself and healing your allies, above you is another battlefield- killing all the Guardians and getting the Scion-discs on the floor to allow more melee to do a more useful job.

Air:

This phase is such a breath of fresh air- Skill > Gear- I'm glad blizzard are doing more of this :).

This is very fun yet frustrating at first, but once you get the hang of it, Malygos still is a nice fight because its a three-in-one combo;

Ground, Ground and Air, Air.

I love fights like this, important tactics such as spark and Malygos kiting, organising who goes on scions first, who does this; Its great- its a challenge, but not too impossible; at first its all a blue of tactics, but the feeble feeling of conquering Malygos makes you realise-

It was worth staring Into The Eyes of Madness.

The Soul Flayer

'Drain Soul effect added: Each time the Drain Soul damages the target, it also has a chance to generate a Soul Shard.' -MMOChampion.

-The Soul Flayer-

Furious flames engulf the land,

and thrashing sand

a Warlock's hand?

What awaken such a wicked beast,

a monthly feast?

will such a blight cease?

Alas, the blast and turmoil follows,

thus deathly hollows,

rants soon follow.

Soulless, soul flayer, cold and hard.

no more to be charred,

he's out of shards.

This small poem i wrote represents what a warlock can experience during certain circumstances. The frustration a warlock feels in his bleeding heart when he cannot soul fire his enemy's face- cannot summon somebody- when he cannot take it! When i read the quote at the top of this post, i cheered a little :D-- its going to get a little bit easier. I can do Soul Drain earlier and increases the amount of shards i gain and decrease the downtime during trash (someones gotta' take out the trash).

Often raids are when we need to make most use of our skills- for the team, for the greater good. But what good is lack of shards? I mean, yeah its our responsibility, but dang'. Shard farming pre-raid gets repetitive i will admit- although we all share our burdens! Bag space isn't a problem, most classes have to carry some reagent or another, but shards are being looked at as we speak by Blizzard, and for good reason!

The Problem:

It is a love hate relationship for me; shards are unique. We can capture the dying breaths of our enemy's- its cool, i enjoy having something some people have experienced yet. I don't mind the shard farming....until. Until a wipe night. Malygos? Archimonde? and what is more annoying is when i got to a old instance, and cannot summon somebody there, the mobs are too low level! Sometimes trash die to soon to keep Soul Drain on long enough to register, and sometimes they stun- they feaaarrr- they counter spell.

The Diagnostic:

That's up to us- I believe shards are fundamental to a warlock's charm, and despite there technically annoyance, i want them to stay. So, anybody any ideas as to what we can do to keep them, but make them better? :). I think making shards able to be gained from monsters of any level would be a good start.

What do you think?

/Publish Post: "Error: Missing Reagent, Soul Shard".

Déjà vu

Déjà vu:
Déjà vu to me sometimes feels a bit of a sensory experience, sometimes expressing out loud how you've experienced this current situation already, and the whole room with- what at least presently feels as a series of choreographed replies; "Déjà vu"."Déjà vu". The feeling you've experienced something before, or something similar. I often find it surreal. I've experienced Déjà vu on many occasions, but on one specific occasion last year, in World of Warcraft, a Déjà vu hit me- because i was stung by a Microcosm;

a smaller version of the chaos i had recently read was coming into play. 'Lord of the Flies'- a novel written by William Golding, a novel which highlighted how a group of people, young boys, with no rules, society or pre-made authority, can soon spiral into barbaric struggles for survival- from themselves.
Two potentials leaders causes a division in the group, and shows how an isolated environment making there own rules can turn a boy into little more then a prowling wolf reflecting the glare of the moon in its bottomless eyes. I was struck. Déjà vu had crit'ed me for 100k, and still had mana to spare.

The Guild:
The guild was in uproar, true colours were shown, painting out a rainbow of hidden horrors i hoped wouldn't become of my fellow guild members, even friends. Now foes? I hold no grudge, just confusion. Struggles for power, what power? Pixels? No. I didn't understand at the time, there was something worth fighting for, but what? It was almost political, a group of people, two potential leaders, one guild master, countless hidden authorities. Ranks offered as privilege soon became foreseen as a given right. Alliances were unfolded in seconds, the guild declined in numbers, a disruption was made for no reason, yet i feel some resource must of driven them. Surely the crave for power would not drive somebody to exile themselves- corrupt. I still talk to many of those today, as close players, struggles and wishes sometimes planted for their own will. Sometimes.

'Lord of the Flies'. Déjà vu. Microcosms. Society, World of Warcraft. At first glance not entirely linked, yet that day bound together by an event still un-explained today. What gain? What cost? People influence the experience, WoW is no simple game of code sealed with lore, people influence the game; Déjà vu kicked in and my higher understanding of WoW and People moved my experience bar up, i was learning. Journeyman had begun.

Maybe people are WoW?

Alexander Calder [Warlock Trainer]:
"Open your spell book at the Destruction tab, Kromus. You've much more to seek and learn..."