First of the month...

Beginning of a new month, the continuation of Voicless and his attempts at gearing up for raids. I only have a few more pieces to get a hold of before I start raids. I need a new off-hand piece of gear and a new piece of headgear. I am still wearing Frostsavage in that slot, much to my dismay. everything else I have is iLevel 200+. The thing is I don't take much stock in that, except when I know the player is pretty decent without that gear. If you can fulfil a role without the gear, then you have my vote.

I also have no gems really socketed, and NO enchants yet. I want to get my gear locked down and then do that. It will let me know what I need. It feels like I need to create a larger mana pool, I seem to burn out of mana pretty fast. Or I was thinking of going Disc... I seemed to have gotten the message that it is actually more mana-efficient, but I am definitely keeping my shadow spec.

Yesterday we did a Heroic, and basically if I had not been around, we woulda wiped. I say that with pride. Our healer, a Druid in tree form, got knocked off halfway thru a fight. I had to switch roles quickly in midfight, and pick up the heals. Needless to say, we got thru. I kept up my DOTs and continued with healing. I was so glad we were able to gains the emblems and call it a success. I enjoy those little victories!

HTOC and the like...

I find myself getting invited to a decent amount of Heroics, and I loathe finishing them. I hate it that a Heroic can only be done once a day, it makes me tear.

In good news though, I did receive that nice knife you get from HTOC, the Kris. I was wanting that for some time and was happy to watch it drop. Only thing was, I didn't get to roll on it, because someone started looting before I returned... But the guy who won it was nice enough to pass it to me, since he rolled for an off-spec. Also a guildmate passed on a neck-piece that was a small boost to what I already had. Awesome!

Gear is slowly movin up, but I have 3 pieces from the Frostsavage set still on me. I just haven't seen drops to replace them yet. If I have seen them, it is often someone else who wins them. No biggie, but there isn't much I can do about it until they drop. I just want to be appropriate for 10 and 25 mans. I wonder if the guild is interested in running an Ony sometime in the near future.

Daiz and Naz from took me along on a Heroic earlier, I can't recall which one it was. It was the place with all the spider webs and giant beetles everywhere. It went pretty well, I was not disappointed at all. I didn't get any gear, but badges and such were received and I was happy for that.

Anyway, waiting for tomorrow to run HTOC again. Hoping no clothies show up on the group, that way I can pretty much be guaranteed some good stuff!

No gears...

*sigh* did the daily today, which was Heroic HOS and got not a thing out of it. Also did some TOC, but no gear drops for me. I need to get into a 10-man TOC to try and get some gear. I may try to do that tomorrow, mostly because I want to be an asset to the guild. Only problem, not as many people on at the times I play. Most of this has to do with me working nights, but in a few days I will be on a day schedule, that means I can nail down some raid times during the week. Should be awesome!

My DPS today was pretty good. Against several mobs, I topped the charts, mostly has to do with the Mind Sear AOE spell. Love that thing. The tank was doing a good job, I think his name was Lumine. That was during HOS.

Now during TOC I was at the bottom of the charts. When I mean that I was at the bottom, I mean I was way down there. The tank was killing me, but what did I expect from Nazakiel, who is an overgeared Prot Pally. He is pretty much at his end game. Daiz did a wonderful job of healing, I applaud her for her work!

I wish that Holy Priests had such a nice HOT for the group, but I think we do a good job on a single target like off tanks or main tanks. But we do have some group heals, like Lightwell and POH. I do enjoy healing though, but for some reason I love feeling like I am contributing to the entirety of the group by doing a bit of DPS(around 1.5k-2k currently) while at the SAME TIME being able to support heal the entire group.

Anyway, looking to do some more heroics and TOC tomorrow! Will/should be fun!

Level 80...

I did it! Level 80 has been attained and I am feeling a big sigh of relief! Now the fun begins... Or so I thought...

One of the biggest reasons I came to this server was the low pop, mostly so I could enjoy some PVP but also so I wouldn't get ganked too often. I like PVP, but not while I am doing something PVE related. So why join a PVP server? Mostly because it was low pop...

Anyway, that is one of the downfalls of low pop, it has fewer people, and thus a harder chance of coming across people who want to run any raids/instances.

Now I am a newbie to the Heroics and level 80 content, so I am immediately looked upon with disdain. Ugh! I wanted to run some level 80 content, and I know I am not geared for any hardcore Heroics. Someone in my guild, Jodah, recommended running some of the simpler Heroics, perhaps something like Naxx. So I followed suit, and put out I wanted to give it a go. I made it very clear I was new to the Heroics, so it wouldn't seem I was trying to just stow away and get carried.

Well I got hit up by Kardai, another guild member and right nice guy, and got an invite to go to 10-man Naxx. Yay! First time! Patchwerk or whatever his name is, and his cronies. We cleared that side up till the friggin (+) and (-) thing. We had 10 men intitally, but two dropped off, and we were able to 8-man it initially. But then when it came to the polarity shift thing, people didn't understand the concept initially. That's fine, 2 wipes down, and on our third try. We got into a groove. Awesome! Note, I got some decent praise for almost saving the day! I took over healing(I was DPS) when the main healer died, and almost saved the day. But the fact that I took the initiative while on SHADOW SPEC to take up heals, it was awesome. Problem was, a friggin slime slapped me down out of nowhere. Not the tanks fault, he came from nowhere! But cheers of "Go Voic, GO!!!" was awesome! Unfortunately we still wiped, he was down so low too... Oh well, I think I got a little respect for that bit of work I did, mostly because it was unexpected. But I loved it! I love being reliable and jumping in to save the day/almost save the day. It just showed the possibility of a Shadow Priest being an awesome utility class, master of none, but a jack-of-all-trades.

Big problem though, our DPS was shot, we couldn't output enough to bring the big guy down. What a drag, he was down to 1/10 of his HP and slowly going down, but he outlasted us. Another 3.5k DPS woulda been helpful, but like I said, we lost 2 guys after our first 2 wipes. Oh well, live and learn right?

Anyway, afterwards, I got hit up by Kardai to try my hand at Heroic healing on Gundrak and took him up on that offer. I needed the practice. And we cleared it, not clear wipes, just close calls. Sometimes the tank missed an aggro, and being an undergeared clothie, I was slapped down. But the pally was able to rez me no issues. But my job as a healer went off pretty well!

Then I got invited to H UK, awesome! Cleared that one as well. I think I got knocked out once, mostly because I didn't know the rules for the 2 guys at the bottom of the stairs. I got slammed, but I kept throwing heals as a big-ass angel, and it worked out.

Anyway, it was nice. I then jumped into a WG and ISle of Conquest BG, and we won both. Friggin awesome! My gear is still subpar, but that is part of the whole concept of getting geared.

But I was lucky last night, mostly cause people were willing to take a chance on me initially. And once they saw what I was capable of in the gear I did have, I was reinvited. The thing is, getting that initial invite. But my guildies are awesome, and they will probably invite me again, *crosses fingers*.

Jen wanted to test my healing ability today, but I didn't have time, plus it was her b-day, so she wanted to go out and wished me a good day. Happy b-day Jen!

The wife was feeling a little sick last night as well. I hope that she is ok, if it gets any worse, off to the hospital we go. I am not taking any chances on her. Hope she is ok.

Anyway, level 80 was awesome, and the wife watched when I hit it and laughed while I threw a little fit! The guild chat was a wall of spam, and I warned them it was gonna happen when I capped! Plenty of Gratz and good jobs went around, and it was a good feeling.

79...

Level 79! My goodness, I cannot believe I got thru to 79 so quickly today... Spent 75 Gold on upgrading my skills, which was affordable, but hear level 80 is a bit of a cost. I started the Holdir stuff today, so they say I should be able to get almost all the way to 80. I should be able to grind my way there after I finish the Holdir content. I noticed the HUGE difference in gear that is level 80 as opposed to 78. I cannot wait to get there.

Another topic, ToC. I participated in 4 of them this past day. W got to the second boss the first time we tried it. But had to stop, we didn't have a high enough DPS output. I was on heals, and people were staying alive for a long time, but Jen noticed that it took FOREVER to down anyone. DPS meters showed that only 1 person was consistently above 2k. If we had 2 members hitting around 1.5k, everyone else would be tolerable at under 2k. But that was not the case.

Second attempt, had a guildmate Swalla in there. It went VERY well. We had a 3.5k DPSer, and one 2.5k+ DPSers. I was on as DPS support and heals backup. The Tank was excellent, pulling over 1.5k DPS as well being an excellent tank. He controlled aggro very well. The healer was well accomplished and consistently kept every good to go. I pulled around 1.6k on average and provided plenty of support heals along with the occassional bubble on the tank. It went so well we did it twice. I got a necklace, but that was all.. No cloth drops or replacement weapons at all!

Final attempt, remember we did it twice with the same group as above. This group though was totally different. Everyone was pretty much either new to 80 or not level 80 yet. I was 78, and one of the members, a shaman, was level 78. Needless to say, this did not go well. We wiped over 5 times and the repair bill was costly. We did beat the first two bosses, and got thru to phase 3 of the Black Knight. But the finaly incarnation of the Black Knight was AOE damaging all of us, even with Shadow Prot it was doing a pretty nasty amount of damage. I did however get 2 drops, a nice set of shoulders and a nice belt! ;-)

Seriously, I am liking this road to level 80, and can't wait to raid as level 80. The guildies were happy when I dinged 79! Plenty of gratz from the guild members and plenty of "hurry and get to 80 so we can raid!" as well. I love this guild!

Current status...

Well I took some screenshots of my stats at this time. I am pretty happy with the way I am sitting. As I said in one of my previous posts, I have no enchants on my gear, all of it is basic with no upgrades. So once I get some enchants, I should see an increase.

As you can seeon the right, well if the pic is not too small, my stats are giving me 1121 in bonus healing/damage. Which is not too shabby in what I am wearing. Now the next pic has me buffed with stamina and spirit.
On this second pic you can see that there is a slight increase in my bonus to heals and damage. I jump from 1121 to 1268. So a 147 point increase, not too bad right? My thing is, where should I head to next with enchants? What enchants should I go for next? I don't know if I want to head for more intellect or if I want to try and hit up spellpower. Or perhaps even haste. In all regards, I read that SP is top of the list. Then crit, haste, spirit, int, and finally hit. But if I am headed in a healing direction, how do I know when I have enough of a bonus to heals that I can switch into intellect for a larger mana pool? Or should I be going for haste? Or is all of this based upon preference? Do you just playtest it and adjust accordingly? I have no clue!

I am looking to playtest and work towards a happy medium! I want the following:

1. To have a strong heal base. I mean that I want to be able to heal exceptionally well and basically keep everyone in the 75% or higher range of their health.

2. I don't want to run out of mana while only 50% of the way thru the battle. So a large enough mana pool would be nice.

3. I still want to be viable as DPS. Now Shadowpriests are in a peculiar place, because they are not exceptional deeps, and have a hard time topping charts on single targets. Now on multiple targets, a slightly different story. What with DOTs and Mind Sear, we can do a decent job in DPSing. So I still want to provide a noticeable amount of DPS if asked to be Deeps.

4. I need to be decently quick at spellcasting, this calls for haste. But I need to find a happy medium where it fits into a kind of pattern on casting.

5. Mana regen is slightly important, but if my mana pool is large enough, is mana regen all that important? I mean consider the use of pots or drinks for those times I "OOM" between pulls. If I am prepared with drinks and whatnot, I don't see a need for large amounts of mana regen capability. But a large mana pool, that IS something I want!

I just want to have utility. I know, I will probably have to obtain two sets of gear, hopefully the guild will have some opinions on my play while raiding. If they can tell me what I need to work on, it will be able to tailor the use of equipment to my needs. I will also be able to work on my style of play.

I will make sure to get with the guild members on this when I log back on.

Status update on ... We have hit over 90 members, with probably over 2/5 of the guild being at the 80 cap. It could be as much as half by the end of tonight. Afterall, several members are at around 77+ and can grind their way to 80. It will be great! We are trying to get a guild that can run 25s with pretty much NO inclusion of PUGers. Although there are a few toons walking around in the server who I would be happy to have along for a raid. Namely Daiz and Naz. Both are great people, and Naz has been at it for some time. Daiz is an ambitious healer, with a level 80 Druid. Both are from the guild and were very helpful to me when I first joined the server!

Oh well... More to come later on...

Screenshot...

Halloween is coming... And Blizzard is celebrating. Voicless took the time to pose next to a Cyclops-style pumpkin!

They have a few quests coming out that are Halloween themed and I took part in a couple, but had to log off soon afterwards. I will try to do a few of them tomorrow, but I more inclined to work towards my lvl 79 goal! And yes, the 2xExp bar is full, so level 79 is definitely doable in a few hours!

Gear...

Frostsavage Cowl
Frostsavage Shoulders
Frostsavage Robe
Frostsavage Gloves
Frostsavage Leggings
Frostsavage Boots

Those are the 6 pieces I have currently, but I am not looking for the other 2 really. I figure 6/8 is pretty good. Haven't gotten to try out the gear yet, but I will probably do a run in the morning of some kind, but I do need to get those enchants for intellect or spirit. I think intellect is probably more important, the larger my mana pool, the longer I can last in the healing game...

Ding...

Ding!!! Should I be excited? Nope, I still have two levels to go, and realized that I don't want to do anything till I have hit lvl 80. I did do myself a little bit of a favor and bought Voicless some nice gear for 78s from a Tailor I know, who is also offering to enchant them as long as I can get the mats. Shoutout to Daiz!

Anyway, now that I am at 78, I feel much better and I seem to be getting a bit of attention to be pulled on as a healer a lot more often. The new gear I bought seems to have done a number on me for spirit, but has nicely supplemented it with some awesome spellpower. My bonus healing/damage is around 1500 right now, but I haven't even gotten the items enchanted yet. But out of the possible set of 8, I own 6 of them. So the resilience bonus and whatnot are ok. I also have the gear that grants plenty of stamina, which is great for Shadow, seeing as I solo a lot of things, more HP means more time to live. I am thinking half the gear towards intellect and the other half towards spellpower. Is spirit still disappearing?

Anyway, the 2xExp bar is about 2/3 of the way full, mostly because I go full days without playing, thanks to the schedule. But it should be about full by the time I get home from work tomorrow. And then the climb to 79 begins.

I want to talk about something. Something everyone in a guild will encounter or already have encountered... I call it organizing for raids...

I asked in my guild chat that everyone register to the webpage and the forum so we can figure out the raid times/groups/schedule/etc... Well someone threw up a comment in chat that "webpages, imo are unnecessary now with the guild calendar." Well I wasn't sure what to say to that, but from what I understood, this is a great tool IF you have a schedule/groups already worked out. I was thinking more along the lines of the guild having a forum discussion on raid dates/times and trying to figure out a system for making sure of the members who will be participating and should be present. I know the calendar is great, BUT, what if you have no foundation on which to base it on? What if no one has voiced their opinion on when the agreed raid times will be?

I know we use the guild info section for broadcasting the raid times that are upcoming, but what if I want to know a week or two ahead of time so I can coordinate with the wife? I have a life outside of WOW, a very active and fulfilling life, so being able to plan things is key to being happy here. I will try to get everyone to register on the forum at least, and try to approach my GM about making it a mandatory requirement. Basically headed in the direction that if you don't register you don't raid, easy as that... I don't find it unreasonable to require guild members to be required to make themselves another step more accessible on the webpage/forums. In fact it would make it so they don't have to log in, try to get some info from the GM/Officers, wait for someone to log on to ask them... It would mean there would be no dependence on requiring a presently typed msg in guild chat... I think it could also be more economical of our guild chat, keeping the clutter out and making sure only what needs to be talked about be brought up.

Maybe it is just the "old man" in me coming? Will keep ya'll posted!

78...

*Sigh* I hate when work interferes with mith my WOW life... I am less than a bar away from 78 and trying to get mor einvolved with the guild runs and whatnot, but alas, work calls and I have to report to duty at 1800...

So I guess in the morn I will be getting that last little bit of work in and trying to start the process of getting into some nice gear!

What I do dislike is the Nesingwary Quests. Kill 60 friggin beasts?! Wow, talk about a waste of time, but I did it, and it only put me that much closer to my goal. But once I am out of the Basin, I will be much happier. I just hope that I can push thru 78-80 as fast I did 76-78. I say that while taking into account what type of availability to WOW I have had. The last 3 days I have not jumped on the game, Real Life calls, and I spent the time with my wife in Tokyo. I cannot complain, fun times. All it did was build up my 2x Exp bar, which does nothing more than make the uphill battle to the next level even more tolerable.

On a note that has nothing to do with anything WOW, I just saw the Quizno's new sandwich, looks to be a tasty Philly Cheesesteak. Only thing is, there is no Quizno's here in Japan. I can't wait to get home in january for my visit to the States!

Hall of Stone...

Someone mentioned that this instance can take a bit of time, but we cleared this pretty quick. Of course I had a few guildmates on my side, namely Jen(lvl 80 'lock). So it was more of a cinch.

The group was composed of:

Tank: Lvl 76 Pally
Heals: Me! Lvl 76 Holy Spec Priest
DPS: Jen Lvl 80 'lock
DPS: Lvl 78 Shadow Priest(yay for face melting!)
DPS: Lvl 80 Shammy

Anyway, all the fights went fine mostly because of the higher than needed lvls of the 78+ members. Thanks again!!!

One of the things I noticed, was the tank was not really a good tank. I know he has a lower lvl than the other members, and so was going to have to beat them out on having aggro. But even with a few seconds of leeway to allow him to gain some aggro, he just couldn't hold on to them. Also adds... He/she couldn't handle the friggin adds. Seriously? Why volunteer to tank?! Maybe I am being too hard on the player, but seriously, if you have ever tanked, then you should know the basic concepts... If you can't handle adds, but can hold onto what you are tanking, then I can be pretty understanding. Sometimes being aware of your surroundings can be difficult, but it is essential for a Tank! Anyway, next rant...

Fire, circles, laser beams... Don't stand in them, don't run into them! Wierd... Why would you stand in something that can hurt you... 2 of the 3 members didn't follow this rule and instead bathed in the pit that is a void when the Maiden of Grief gets angry. WHY WOULD YOU STAND IN THERE!!! Don't you see your health dwindling!?!?!

I was furious, but the healer in me threw out heals like a madman and no one died. But Jen, was pretty upset about that. She told me to not heal anyone who stands in the fires just so they can understand what it can do to you. I obliged, but the rest of the group saw what she had wrote, and decided they should not stand in the fire... Why didn't they do that before? Probably because they were lazy and because I was facilitating it by keeping them alive... Never again, I will let the group wipe next time something like that happens.

Well anyway, the Maiden fell to massive DPS and was easily downed. Just had a few hectic moments of keeping everyone alive.

Krystallus... I died, but we lived. I got hit by successive attacks for some reason, probably being turned to stone then hit with a random boulder? I think my heals caused me to snag the aggro, but it wasn't like the Tank was all that successful to hold aggro in the first place. I died, but I was turned into an "Angel" and threw out some quick heals to top people off, and threw out a Renew or two to keep them capped off. He fell shortly after. Was rezzed by the Pally, and onward we went.

The Tribunal was a piece of cake, just mobs to control and basically deal with like you do any other pull. Again, bad tank = a running battle with me running around trying to keep the mobs from contacting me. I usually ran thru the middle of the battle while being followed so that my group members' AOE DPS would cause them to change their focus... I think it is a rather unnecessary thing for me to have to do, but you know, make due with what you have.

Sjonnir, the Ironshaper. More like the Claymaker. He fell apart pretty easily. Standard Tank and Spank, just keep the tank at 75% or higher, and throw a few CoH or PoHs around to keep the others topped off, and you got yourself a bit of buffer. Anyway, he fell easily enough.

HoS, not too bad, decent XP, and got a new backpiece. Oh well...

So level 76, tomorrow I plan to do my darnedest to hit 77, or even 78 so I can contribute more to the guild and participate in some Raids. Can't wait, I get excited with the prospect of healing a raid. Of course I will probably be given a minor role, and just be off-tank heals or perhaps group heals. Although I think a Resto Shaman or a Druid will be better at that, I have a much easier time focusing on a single target, but Holy seems versatile enough. Anyway, all done for the night...

See ya in the fight!!!

Typhoon time...

Well this week has been quite eventful. Lot of work to do and work that was required to be done. A Typhoon came thru Japan, and it gave me some time to just play a bit of WOW. It got decently wet, however, I believe we suffered very little. The only true benefit was that I got an extra day off, no complaining here.

Voicless enjoyed some attention and he progressed a little bit more. When I say a little, I actually mean a little more than that... He has hit the 75 wall, and passed it. He is currently sitting at a pretty little 76 and is enjoying the use of Mind Sear. Killing multiple aggros while under the protection of a PW:S is rather fun.

I am now open for HoS for Ulduar, and will be looking forward to running that sometime tomorrow. Well perhaps on Saturday. Either way, I will be glad to give it a go. My first steps to more serious instances/raids.

I did enjoy a bit of fun on AV, and I believe I had to have contributed to our wins. I topped the charts on healing, and made it difficult for anyone who I tagged along with to die. But the wierd thing is, I stayed in Shadow mode. Odd? I thought so too, initially it was a mistake on my part. But I stuck with it, and I worked what wonders I could with what I had. I chose not to jump into shadowform, and stayed out, and instead played healer as Shadow. Did it work? Yes... I threw Renews and PW:S onto those who were my focus. Then ayone who tangled with my partner, got hit up with some DOTs and times Fears to buy me healing time. With Dispersion and Shadowfiend, mana was not even an issue.

I was able to survive nearly the entire battle, which is really odd. But with the ability to Disperse and throw Shields on myself, I could survive long enough for whoever I latched onto to save me. Then I would heal them and throw my annoying DOTs. Those who tried to run away, eventually died, I know it must have been frustrating. Mindflay also threw a wrench into any opponents plan, especially those that attempt to break thru the mass wall of Horde by riding thru. I slowed them down, then they got jumped on by my fellow Hordies.

So a bunch of DPS and HPS was thrown around, and I received a decent amount of praise. I topped the healing charts... How was that possible? I know we had some Resto Druids and some other healers running around with us. But I feel that they were dying more than living. We downed Bal quickly and that was actually what gave me the Ding to level 76. Oh yay!

Anyway, it was a pretty productive few days, and I know that 80 should be attainable before the end of the month, well at least I hope so!

Until next time!

Progress...

I made some... Needless to say it was not exactly as much as I wanted to make, but that is ok. I do what I can with the amount of time I had. The moonlit pic is a pic of Voicless at 73. He had the same staff from the two previous levels, and was just soloing for the most part. He kept the Shadow Spec as his main tool and continued to mow thru mobs like a hot knife thru butter. I enjoy that solo aspect of the game and the fact that I do not have to rely on anybody else to make for an easier time questing... But sometimes you want a change...

A change I had. I recently had purchased Dual Spec and was NOT disappointed. Initially I continued to Shadow Spec in instances, but then after I was given the opportunity to heal a few instances, my name was passed around and the once unholy Voicless, was spending his time in Holy Spec, healing people. I spent the majority of my last few days of play time in Holy Spec and snagged for instance after instance. Also, due to the large number of DKs and Warriors as of late on my level, I seemed to be the only cloth wearer in the group, so I received any cloth I wanted. I got that nifty looking sword(which in all reality is an oversized knife) and a nice book to read as I was grouping. Both gave me about a total of 50 spellpower increase over the staff I had in possession earlier. I also have to say that I look a bit more intimidating, but my knife skills were sitting around 60, so I spent my time attacking rabbits, roaches, lizards, and whatever else could be one-shotted by my inferior knife-fighting skills.

Holy is such a huge change from Shadow, but not a disappointing one. It gives a huge change of pace, and gives me a different sense of accomplishment. One where I saved the day!

For instance, the other night, I ran VH with me being the heals and with a group of toons ranging from lvl 73-77. That made for a very interesting fight. At one point it was just me and the lvl 77 Shaman. The tank got knocked out, mostly because while in the middle of casting I was interrupted and the tank we being difficult and running around. This kept putting him in a position of being out of my LOS. Anyway, the Shaman and I worked it out and were the only two alive, fighting the lady-dragon at the end. How very nice. Well I kept Shields up as much as possible and PoH and Flash Heals, along with a little Renew... I also took advantage of the Shadowfiend and regained some mana when I hit about halfway. The battle lasted a while longer, and eventually we downed the beast. I was OOM and the Shaman was very much dead, but not dead... You know what I mean. But needless to say High-Fives were passed around and congratulations were passed around!!!

That made me happy. People really appreciate me keeping them alive, and I love it when it shows.

On the flip side, I had a complaint from a member. He plays a DK at level 74 and was speccing frost... Needless to say that I was a little disconcerting. But regardless, we went along with it, maybe he knows something we don't? Well, once tank hit the boss, he immediately followed after. With his frost spec he ended up gaining aggro, because he used abilities that would do so!!! So needless to say, he got one shotted by the level 77 lady-dragon, and was a goner in the first 15 seconds of battle.

Well after he died, he sends a party tell stating that I let him die... I was furious. I don't just let people die, that was rediculous. So I ignored it till the end of the battle, and then lit into him. I gave him the lowdown on how I work and how it was gonna be if he ever continues to be in the group as we instance a few more places. I told him that the Tank is who I care about, I don't care about anyone else. If the tank dies, we die... I told him he needs to respec or stay away from attacks that cause large amounts of threat. He pretty much left it at that, and didn't make another complaint for the rest of the duration of our night doing instances.

Almost to level 75, once I hit that, Mind Sear here I come!!! Can't wait to solo mob groups for quick leveling!! ;-) I can meet questing requirements quickly this way too, especially for the "slay this many to complete the quest." I can also do some farming this way. Sounds like a good time!

Anyway, 75 should be obtainable in about a day or two. Then I do a little bit of work with the guildies. But 78 is where I want to be! Anyway, till next time!

Do work son...

That's what I need to do, but unfortunately, real life is interfering...

I did however get halfway to level 74, so I am not too far behind what I projected. But I do wish I could hit 78 before this weekend ends. However, there is an issue, work... My work is conducting some projects that basically will entail long hours.

So *sigh* I will be stuck at around 75 I am thinking and missing out on some raids with the guildies. Sucks, but life is what it is. However, I will try my best to get into the mix when I can.

One PLUS I did have happen was I dropped 1000 Gold on Dual Spec!!! I am now a certified Shadow/Holy Spec Priest! So I healed my first instance as Holy, and it was epic! I have to get used to the amount of heals I toss out, because sure enough the amount of overheals committed was around 42%!!! So I need some practice, gimme a break! But no one died! So there was a plus, that is the main thing I think!

Anyway, I will try to get on to try and hit lvl 74 tonight, I am already halfway, so we will see!!! Pictures will be coming sooner or later!

I will try to get a guild pic done!

This coming weekend...

This coming weekend is going to busy, busy, busy... I have a little social event called a "Ball" coming, and it is supposed to commence somewhere around 1900. But earlier in the day, my wife will be teaching several classes, so she is the one that will be swamped. I on the other hand will take advantage of her absence to jump on the WOW wagon and do some work towards the next levels.

Currently I sit at around 8/10 of the way to level 71. I am hoping that before the end of the weekend I am sitting at a happy level 73. But that is pretty optimistic, considering how much exp is required to get there. I have no issues about taking the time to get to level 80, I just would rather be there ASAP so I can participate in some PUGs with a few guildmates to get some practice in before the flood of fellow members hit the 80 mark. This will ensure that I have some experience in some of the runs, and won't be behind the curve. I have a tendency to become anxious and research stuff like that, just so I am in the loop.

That brings me to my thought of the week. Research. Should you do Research before making your way into an instance?

I am slightly partial to a yes, mostly because wiping/dying is not too fun and you end up having to make a huge run back to the instance, or getting a battle rez(hope someone has that!).

5 Days...

It has been 5 days since my last post. Mostly because I have been busy in Real Life as opposed to busy on WOW. But, nonetheless I have found a little time to throw some WOW in my life.

No work on my DeathKnight has been accomplished, mostly in part due to me wanting to get my Priest up to 70+ I leveled my priest from the high 60s to finally 70 yesterday night. I would like to give a big thanks to Unbeknown who escorted me through Nexus to finish up some quests, and letting me acquire some gear. Unfortunately some bad news, I have another quest in the Nexus, which I did not have on my table yesterday night... Bummer. All is good though.

The guild, is going thru some great changes, they are currently in the mode to figure out officer slots and appoint some people. A positive direction. I have no aspirations to become an officer at this time, hoever, if asked I will glady perform the duties appointed. They just have to realize my online time is dependent on my real life activities, namely my wife. No complaints, just something that has to be put on the table before they start putting crazy expectations on me.

I have acquired some new gear, and I have to say, if you have gear from Hellfire or the Outlands you are trying to keep, don't bother. The green drops are just as good if not BETTER in Northrend than any loot you are going to acquire in the Outlands. On another note on Loot, Onyxia has some new loot and has now changed to much more difficult raid with more rewarding drops!

On the subject of the patch changes, 3.2.2, I think it is called. But it has some bonuses for us Shadow Priests. I didn't copy/paste it on my blog yet. But I will get to that. New pics will be up eventually, especially one of how badass my gear looks on me, I look like som gothic taker of life! Which in all regards Voicless truly is. I find myself suprising myself on how much I can take. I owned 3 mobs that were around level 72 all at the same time. I did not use any fear abilities, I just laid out my DOTs and used VE for life gain while I tried to down one that I focused on ASAP. I love it!

I will definitely be dual speccing into either holy or disc, that way IO am more useful for raiding!

Well that is all for now, but I will be back on to post some pics when my life gets less busy.

UI...

Well, here is the UI I have so far. Nothing spectacular, but so far it is working for me. As you can see I have my panic buttons scaled up a little, so they are easy to recognize and to press in a hurry. You can see my "FEAR ME!" button, Will of the Forsaken, PW:S, Dispersion, and a few others I feel are useful to have easily recongizable. Yes... You see heals on my Bartender. Reason being, a lot of times I end up having to switch quickly to healing because someone is getting ganked or is getting/or is already in deep trouble. I also find that sometimes I need a little bit of healing myself.

But Bartender is performing up to standards and is an awesome add-on. I moved my bag bar over to the side and vertical so that I can have room on the bottom right for Grid. I also have my XP bar at the very bottom. As well, I have my miscellaneous buttons on the very top. They stay out of the way of my view while battling. It took me a day to get used to this set-up, but it is more effective than the default UI by Blizzard.

I am also, as you can see, running Grid. Definitely useful for healers, but I rarely find myself using it right now since I tend to be DPS. Hey now, I am afterall Shadow Specced! It does a pretty good job of letting me know when someone is in big trouble. I still have to fine tune it to what I want it to look like and play like. But it does help in some BGs. I love it in Arathi because of the small amount of players. In the AV it can be daunting because of the size of the map, but it does a good job of keeping me up to date on the status of the group as a whole. In Warsong, it proves to be an even greater tool due to the size of the groups being restricted to I believe 10 total. Grid also allows me to click/press a button/heal and activate it on a Grid square instead of trying to find the person in the chaotic mess that is a raid/instance. Very useful!

Not shown in full view is Quest Helper. That tool has proven to be a time saver and has helped me along to getting my levels. I have to say thank you to Daizeechain from for guiding me to this tool when I first got to this server. I never used an add-on before, and she pointed me and directed me in the use of it! Thanks chica!

So basically, the UIs I have are:

-Bartender 4
-Grid
-Quest Helper

Small but overall useful. I have to say that in general this should be a good minimum to start with. Why? It covers in general, a couple basic aspects that everyone runs across. Now for Grid it is kind of specialized, and I think it heads more towards healers and Raid Leaders. But I think a DPS or Tank can see it and use it as having more "eyes." How? Situational awareness, perhaps the dwindling of health on Grid can indicate add mobs? For RLs it is just good to have for exactly that reason, situational awareness. Bartender just allows you to adjust the bars and make them fit your personal style, so it is more along the lines of something I think everyone should download and utilize. Quest Helper is pretty self explanatory I think.

I am sure once i get to 80 and Dual spec along with getting into raiding more so, I will download a few more. Probably something that can help me with my healing/prevention. When it happens I am sure a post will soon follow!

If you have any recommendations, please do not hesitate to add to what I have said!!!

Onyxia down...

Something drove me to get a few of us together to run some Onyxia before the major buff happens in the upcoming upgrade! Glad we did it like this. I was actually offered a chance to go at this from two of my guildies. I will give my shout out to Jenerator(lvl 80 Pally) and Berkel (lvl 79 DK). I was just along to benefit from the achievements and to perhaps replace one piece of equipment on my toon.

First of all, I have never been here. Did a little reading, and actually understood a little bit of what she does.

I knew there were three stages, but had no clue as to what it looked like. We had one wipe, and that was mostly due to only one of us really knowing what was going to occur. On the second try, no prob. We got it done, and did it pretty well. I got a brand new blue cloak, literally blue, and also it is a blue gear. No purple for me. I want to do it again, just to see what else chance can give us, but we shall see. But I guess we have to hurry, because if we don't, she will turn into a lvl 80 instance!


The head mounted on a stick in Ogrimmar! FOR THE HORDE! Oh the fun! Although I didn't contribute as much as the other two guildies to her death, I still gave my all. I focused on bubbling the other two, and keeping their health above 3/4 at all times. The Little Dragon Whelps that came out in stage two got dealt with quickly after I had figured out their little scheme. I just ran back to the Holy Pally and she disposed of them quickly. I had to bubble quickly. Jenerator did a wonderful job of watching out for my health as well. Sometimes I get so caught up, I forget that I have health too! She keeps me up though and in turn I keep them bubbled. Yes... I love the bubbles, I think I will definitely go that direction with my priest when I Dual Spec. Disc, here I come!!!!

Berkel did a wonderful job of DPSing. He had just dinged 79 and respecced into Blood/Unholy. He had no large amount of awesome gear, and he did an outstanding job with what he had! He will be running instances soon for gear, and I can't wait to join in on it with him and Jen. They are both wonderful guildmates who are making my new home, , a great place to be already.

Ah the fun...

Alterac Valley

Sigh... Frustration sets in. For some reason on my server, Gundrak, Horde has an especially difficult time pulling victories for Alterac Valley. I mean it doesn't help that 75% of the time we are outnumbered from the get go, but it also doesn't help when the members start to leave, and then not 5 seconds later another person joins. If they would just tough it out, we could get to 40 people on the BG.

I get frustrated rezzing and then getting ganked because I am outnumbered 4-to-1 before I can even buff! Rediculous! But I still stay at it, i have very few instances where I have quit a BG, mostly that has to do with the wife needing some help with something.

I found out that I have a very high level of survivability in the PVP aspect of the game. I dropped DOTs on 2 of the 4 people that were ganking me, and I blew some bubbles up. Then I renewed the DOTs and started it up on the other 2. I Dispersed when my mana got halfway, because it only can regen about a third of my total mana, so ya know!? But it also kept me alive long enough for the bubble cool down. Another bubble is blown, and then I Fear all 4 of my attackers, and start renewing the DOTs. All the while I have the heals coming from the victims what with Vampiric Embrace on all of them LOL! I know they are cursing me in their mics or in their heads. My health has not really dropped below half at any point. I unleash my little squid for some more mana regen and a little extra DPS at the same time. I keep renewing the DOTs. Eventually 2 of the 4 get down to their last drops. I SW:D them and they keel over! 2 out of 4 dead!

Wow! I am not a very good player, so they must be terrible! Seriously, I only do the BGs for some of the rewards from the vendors, not because I want to Arena or anything. Plus AV gives decent EXP when we do what we are supposed to do.

Well I stilll have 2 Alli trying to gank me. Dispersion is coming up on cooldown and so is the bubble. Then I get stunned. Ugh! Oh wait, Will of the Forsaken! Survive some more!!! This whole time I am moveing around, jumping, doubling back, etc. I am also making my way towards a cliff in AV, near the GY! I get my bubble, and Dispersion is shortly following. I throw the bubble up again, and I jump off the cliff, LEVITATE! LOL! Funny thing is, I survive that battle, only to get rogue ganked... Oh well, the fun I had.

Anyway, on my way to 66, I had the chance to do something I have never really gotten a chance to do, HEAL! Yes, yes I know, I am a Priest. But I am Shadow Specced so I was pretty much stuck to DPS. But on BF I got my first taste of learning to heal. I think I did well all in all, I was the only death and that was because my tank couldn't aggro. Turns out it was his first real go at Aggro! So a lot of firsts. But then also the other members couldn't divert the mob from me, so I got ganked by 3 elites, I tried to survive, but I was massacred. The bubble can only keep so much out!

But I found that I enjoy this aspect of the raid/instance roles, so I am determined to make 1000G to get myself dual spec so I can either run Disc or Holy. I like the idea of Disc though!

Oh well, level 70, I can see you! Can't wait!!!

Got some work done...

Voicless has hit lvl 66 and is on his way to try and hit 68 by next coming weekend. I am trying to get to 70 so I can run some instances with the guildies. Did a little work on the enchanting and tailoring, man those two are expensive! I only have around 500 gold, no flying mount or training for it. The flying mount is appealing, but not necessary for me to make it. I wanan pay for dual speccing so I can be more desireable in PUGs and runs with the guildies.

Ah well, more to come after I get some sleep!

Well, well, well. The name is Vaida, and I am an aspiring Ret Paladin, working my way towards bringing death to all enemies of the Horde. I hold no particular dislike for any one specific faction within the Alliance, rather I dislike them all equally.

DPS is the key for me. Oh and survivability, I can solo like you wouldn't believe! Groups? I love the groups, being a harbinger of righteous death gives me all the motivation I need to get the job done!

Now don't forget, I do have that wonderfully warm touch, something that can brush away all the pain.

I am working on my Polearm skills, after acquiring that nice piece of hardware you see there. Don't worry, with a little practice, the Horde will be scattering before me as I dish out some oh so wonderful pain!

Hey mon, how goes da life? I am a level 63 DeathKnight who is currently working to gather some gear to be able to tank and DPS! I loves me some dual wielding, and am right proud of my two little pig stickers. I know, I know, a DeathKnight, big whoop. You see dem everywhere. But let me be da first to say I am not da typical 12-year old runnin 'round Death Gripping everything I see in mah sight. When I Death Grip, I be pullin' em to da tank, not away from da tank. I give my bruddah a few seconds to catch their attention, then Mr. ICastSpellsFromHere gets a quick yank to my Tanks circle of death.

On the other hand, I love me some Tankin, and with Frost as my Spec, I have to say I do a decent job of it. I was told by several members of a few different PUGs that I did a "beautiful job" of tanking. Great to hear! I just hope people will continue to give me a chance! By da way, the names Rottusk! Peace be da Journey!

Hi, my name is Voicless and I am a Shadow Priest. Yes, that's right, a Shadow Priest. I don't expect for parties to jump up and down for me, but I do want you to recognize what type of potential I have for a group. I fill this little spot in your group that calls for someone who can provide some DPS but jump onboard the heal wagon if need arises. I can also carefully monitor my DPS to make sure I don't out aggro your tanks. I provide a nice little Stamina Buff, along with some Spirit Buffs! One problem, and one that I know all too well about, I suffer from being squishy. I cannot take an all out beating, but I can delay the inevitable. Plop out a nice bubble on myself and I can buy myself a few precious seconds for the tank to get back his aggro, as well as being able to Disperse as the need arises. I am not trying to say that you can't do it without me, no way, what I am saying is give me a chance and I think you will be pleasantly suprised at what I can do.

Sleep...

Oh sleep, you sweet and elusive thing you! Working nights is wreaking a bit of havoc on my body, and what doesn't help is the fact that I have to keep accomplishing certain tasks during the daylight hours! So my pattern is all messed up! I think I got a total of 4 hours today, and now I have to go pull an all nighter! Oh well, the price you pay to serve your country! LOL!

I got to log onto WOW for about an hour today, nothing crazy. Played like one BG, Eye of the Storm? I think that was what it was called, kind of like a version of Arathi Basin, but a slightly different twist added in, there is a flag in the middle. I wasn't sure, but it seemed like you snagged the flag then high-tailed it to the nearest tower that you possessed, not too bad, it was interesting.

I then figured I had enough time to go snag myself an add-on, so I went to http://www.curse.com/ (love this page) and downloaded Bartender. I have to say I am impressed by it. I am sure I can get it to the visual look that I want, but I need more than thirty minutes to play around with it, but I love the flexibility of it, and I will be working on it a bit later. It freed up quite a bit of play space, especially when I moved a bar or two up to the top of the screen, away from the middle. I will probably be picking up something else like Grid, so I can be aware of everyone's health in instances and such. I know, I know, I am a Shadow Priest. But on some occassions, I like to throw a few heals in the mix, especially when I see someone floundering. I will get screenshots of my UI once I have got it configured the way I am comfortable with!

Last 2 days...

There he sits upon an outcropping, after doing a bit of questing in the Outlands. Nothing too crazy, just destroying some Voidwalkers and dining on some swine. Yes that's right, I enjoy the bacon, but who doesn't?

The last two days have proven to be uneventful, but regardless a bit constructive. I leveled Voicless up to 63 and spent a bit of time leveling up his tailoring, such a pain! I also did a little less work in the Enchanting Department, but that is because that stuff is expensive, and as I said before I am working on saving for a third tab for my newly created guild, .


After a bit of time with Voic, I logged and then jumped on with Rottusk. Joined in on 2 runs of Hellfire Ramparts, mostly to finish a quest there, but also as a bonus, to gain some gear! I am trying to piece together enough equipment to have two sets of gear, one for tanking and one for DPS. I have to say, that with Rott, I did a decent job of Tanking on the first run. It was cool doing a job I always just watched and prayed they wouldn't die. I loved my healer, he did his job and hugs were given as we did a decent job on this. Our first party was made up of a pretty decent mixture. I was tanking as I said before. We also had a Hunter, a Rogue, and another DK running DPS. My support was in the form of a Holy Priest, who never let me down past 1/2 and kept things safe.

We never actually worried too much, and did a good job of making it thru in one piece, no wipes. So that was nice.

Second run was a little more rough. We had no real ranged DPS, so it was up to myself, another DK, and a Druid to run DPS. We had a Warrior tanking, and another Priest. Not sure what it was, but the DK we had was just not in the mood for listening. He didn't know what he was doing. The tank would pull and the minute he did so, the DK would Death Grip or whatever it's called one of the Mobs, and then next thing you know you have loss of control. I kept telling him to wait 5 secs for the Warrior to snag some Aggro, but he wouldn't listen. We finished the run, and then he was kicked from the group... I hate when people don't listen...

This is my alt, Rottusk. He has had a couple improvements to his arsenal. Well rather he has added some items to his arsenal. Nothing too crazy, a pair of blues with Cinderglacier Runes on both of them. I did this to test the viability of using dual wielding as opposed to 2-Handed weapons.

Odd thing is, maybe I am just seeing things, but I seem to mow thru mobs a lot faster, even though the stats state that I am doing less DMG on my character tab. But that could mean per weapon? Regardless, he looks like a hoss! And when he crouches down, with both swords low and ready, even better! So far I am loving this guy.

Even if he is my ALT, he has reached the same level as my main, kinda wierd? I know, but it is just that because he is a different playstyle, and I only started using his style for a mere 8 levels, it is still new and interesting to me. And I believe I have my rotation down finally. Going with Icy Touch, Plague Strike, Blood Strike, Blood Strike, Dump an Obliterate or Frost Strike in there. Afterwards, follow up with Icy Touch, Plague Strike, Blood Strike, Blood Strike, and then Dump all the runic into Obliterates and Frost Strikes. There are better ways I am sure, but I am trying ot get comfortable with this mode of play. Oh well, fun so far. I am on elitistjerks.com, reading up on their explanations here.

He also received some new boots, mostly set up for a Tank, which is where I seem to be headed anyway. But I dunno if DKs are truly viable tanks next to Pallies and Warriors. Yeah we wear plate, but we seem to have a lot of abilities that nod in the direction of DPS. But then the absence of a shield is also something worth looking at. But I can honestly say, I loved Tanking!

Gear and Customization...

Hmmmm... I was just thinking while looking at another blog by a Hunter. I saw his gear was black and looked great on him!

I have to say, why doesn't Blizzard give us the option of coloring our gear? I mean, they don't have to go crazy, but to allow us to have perhaps a say in what color scheme each gear we equip will show up as would be awesome. What with the new Barbershop thing going and how druids have a choice of the wya they want their cat/bear forms to look. I can see it going that way.

I mean to me the best way for games to move me, is to have a lot of customization, not so much that would deprive me of fun from gameplay, but enough to give me more control.

I had a talk with a buddy of mine and he said that is what drives him... Being able to customize your profile/alt/toon gives you a good feeling. I mean why not have the repspective armorers give you the ability to "dye" your armor pieces, at a price of course. But you could eventually color your gear to fit your personality. People would pay gold for this and probably pay a pretty penny, I know I would!

Weapons could be given a few options as well. A little more shine, a little bit of matte, or leave as is. Sometimes the stuff looks great as is!

This would also lead to less of a chance of coming across someone looking too close to you and allows you even more individuality among the masses. Just a thought!

September 11, 2001

I was at work as a Juvenile Corrections Officer, being a role model and an example to follow. I turn on the TV so that they can get a whiff of current events, and I turn the channel to the news. I was shocked and stunned.

The WTC was billowing smoke, and word a plane crashed into it. I left the news on and watched...

Eventually the truth of the attacks was released. I was angry, but who wouldn't be?

I am currently in the United States Air Force, and in all truth, that was one of the main reasons. I joined because I wanted to play a part in supporting my country and defending it. True, the events already had played out, but the fact is, I joined while our conflict against terrorism still remains.

I am saddened by the losses created by this event, and I mean all the losses.

A few hours...

Logged on for a few hours, meaning like less than two hours today, and I had a little bit of fun in the Outlands.

I had a few quests to finish up, and still plenty more to finish up near Thrallmar(sp?) before I move on to the next little area located to west, where the Cenarion Circle makes their home.

I was down near the south, cleaning up some Voidwalkers to collect some quest items from them, when lo and behold! An approaching DK stops and watches my current situation. I know what is coming...

Attack from BEHIND! But he has no clue I was aware of his arrival.

He is lvl 60 and I am lvl 62, not a very large gap between us, and boy does it show. I was already involved with 2 mobs, and now he comes and adds his gargoyle, zombie, and his own crazy DPS to the fray. Needless to say, I feared him off of me for a sec, while bubbling at the same time. I know I am not going to get away, so I drop some DOTs on him and try to let them work their magic. He is hopping mad, chasing after me post fear recovery. I continue to haul and as he gets closer I disperse, giving myself a little more time. I pop out of dispersion and use another bubble and renew my DOTs. Very suprising I am still alive at this time!

At this time I am about to lose it, I know he has me beat, but the point is, I have to take him with me!!! Why yes... Yes I do. I die, and I wait it out for a sec, and he follows suit. Dead... DOTs have granted me revenge. I do a quick run back to my corpse, in hopes of reaching it before he can. I do. I recover and shortly after he is back but at half the health. I unload on him, pop bubble and drop the DOTs. His health slowly drops, but it is too late, Mind Flay follows him around, and he is having issues getting to me fast enough. I disperse once again and make my way out of there. He dies, once again. LOL!

Now, I obviously have no issues with DKs, seeing as I have one now. But do you really think that you didn't deserve that little bit of payback. You tried to(and succeeded) in ganking me while I was occupied. Luckily I keep a wide shot of my surroundings, and I was semi-prepared for your arrival. I typically abstain from ganking others while they are involved, in a lot of situations I usually ignore people. But after that little fiasco, I was totally paranoid he was going to come back as I was in the middle of things. But in the end, no go, he never shows his face again.

I then logged off Voicless, and gave Rottusk a few minutes of love. Flew him out to Outlands and started him up on the starter quests there. He did me proud and knocked out 5 quests in about 20 minutes. His Frost tree is making me feel good about it, it has this resiliency and the ability to handle several mobs at once. I am still debating 2-handed or dual wielding, but the 2-hander is getting some big hits! I love the fact that they drop plenty of cloth in the Outlands, but I am still miffed because Mageweave is so freaking expensive and kinda elusive for me to obtain!

Anyway, done for the day, I may try to log Vaida(lvl 21 Pally) on sometime tomorrow, but I have a date with a guildie to do some more Outlands quests and get my DK to level 60! Should be fun, seeing as I just finished most of those quests that I will be doing with Voicless today LOL!

Anyway, hasta la vista! I got to eat some dinner with the beautiful wife!

Some Class info...

Well here is some info that would serve other Priests and DKs rather well. Well they would have to be of the same persuasion of as myself:

Some Priest info from ElitistJerks.com. It is a link to the community forum for Priests, specifically Shadow Priests! Great for us PVE players!

DeathKnight info Created by Illundai from ElitistJerks.com. A wealth of info it is, and I appreciate the amount of helpful info they bring to the WOW community. Sometimes for people who are simple as me, this type of little guide is extremely helpful!

Couple Hours...

A couple hours spent playing a bit of WOW reaped a couple benefits.

I ran a few instances with some newer players, and gave them a few 30-45 minute runs.

I did it with my Priest in RFC twice. I was suprised at how easily I walked thru RFC, well not really, I am several levels above the mobs. ;-) But with the addition of Dispersion and whatnot, I didn't have to worry about saying, "OOM 1sec." It was more like, hurry and loot those bodies, we got someplace to be!

Then I did a quick run of RFK with my DK. 30 minutes I was done. I spent the time just trying to get my rotation down and see what I felt like doing with my DK. I have to say I am impressed with Frost Tree. I was going to do Unholy, but something made me move towards Frost. I like the look and the way it plays on the screen. All a personal thing. Problem... Which is better? 2-handed or dual hand?! I am kind of at odds with how I want to go, I haven't tried the dual hand yet, because I need a set of swords I feel are of high enough value to wield.. We will see.

Reward for me from this? Spread my name around the server a bit as a helpful lil guy, and to snag some BOE items to out in the guild tab for my fellow guildmates and to use for disenchanting. I am working on building the funds up for a third Guild Tab. I have paid for 2 out of my own virtual pockets, so a third will be the last, and then the other guildmates will be contributing!

I come back to my Priest however. The DK is nice, a different toon for me to use while in different moods. I love the idea of just jumping into a fray and wielding that 2-hander around and just splitting heads. But the finesse with my Priest will always make me smile, because nothing is quite as satifying as having a cloth wearer take down multiple mobs and win!

I am also working on a little Pally, named Vaida, to give myself a few more options when I log on. I am thinking about another toon, a Hunter to give myself the DPS and soloing capability with his pet (tank).

I just love the varity that this game brings to the table. When Worgen and Goblins hit the scene, I will be getting one of those nifty looking Worgen. They look great, and I can't wait to see how a Worgen hunter is going to look with his little Wolf as a pet. We will see. I guess with all the different choices WOW grants, and with the addition of Cataclysm, my interest is being held. Also the fact that I play casually and I have a real life where I put my priorities makes WOW a hobby.

So let me see:

Voicless: Level 62 Forsaken Shadowpriest
Rottusk: Level 58 Troll Frost Death Knight
Vaida: Level 21 Blood Elf Retribution Paladin
Anonymous: Level 7 Tauren Shaman


...that basically covers 4 of the 5 Horde races. I will probably be rolling up an Orc Hunter. Just to have a character in all 5 Horde Races. I love variety. But I will probably keep one of the 2 unnamed toons anonymous just so I can keep something away from the guild. Everyone needs some time away from questions, right? :-)

*sigh*

choices, choices...

Death Knight

Started a Troll DK named Rottusk on my server tonight, played thru the intro up to where you report to Ogrimmar. Needless to say I am slightly intrigued by the play of this class, I will be giving itsome go and probably be making it my farmer(mining/skinning) for my newly started guild .

Will see how I feel about Rotty in about a month or so!

-Armond

UIs, Macros, Mods, other customizations...

Argh! I see so many UIs and customizable aspects of WOW it is giving me a headache! Currently I am running nothing but the good old questhelper and that's it!

I would like to advance into the level of player that has a more raid useful type of UI. Of course I am not raiding at the moment, but I know I will be eventually and want to get some practice in! I know there are lots of players who have their own flavor they like.

So there we go. What's your flavor? There is no right and wrong when it comes down to stuff like this, that's why it is all personal. I for one love me some strawberry cheesecake ice cream, does that mean I am the only one who is right? Not in a world full of chocolate, vanilla, and whatever other type of flavor ice cream is running around out there! We all have our faves! Now it is just a matter of figuring out what is mine!

I guess I will be making a visit to curse.com and seeing what they got to offer! I will probably be looking at pitbull, dominos, grid, quartz, vudho, and whatever else is out there! Choices, choices, choices...

Well when I find that wonderful flavor I will be sure to let you know! If you have any recommendations, please do tell!

Beginnings...

Humble beginnings... That is where I come from. My character comes from that cold and gloomy environment of Tirisfal Glades. Quite a far cry from where I personally(in real life) grew up, Texas, where heat and humidty run rampant.

But humble beginnings nonetheless. My character nor I was ever spoiled or handed things in life, rather we had to earn them. Voicless is no twink(nothing against them) and perhaps that is for the best. I have had to earn just about everything on my own, save for a few items that some good people helped me out with. I give credit to a few members of Serenity here, Daizee and Naz thanks for everything!

I grew up having to earn my life's possessions and I believe that it was probably for the best. I had no car that I could call my own while in High School, I borrowed my pops truck for my senior year. I own everything in my PLACE, nothing is currently being paid off or requires me to make monthly payments on. I am in the United States Air Force, so I don't exactly pay for place to stay. My wife, Sue and I stay in a nice place on base, so rent and utilities are not something we worry about. Did I mention we live in Japan?

How does this relate to MARTIAL and the guild members I hope to have? I expect that MARTIAL grows to be a much respected guild over time. We plan on earning our stripes, not just having things handed to us. Progression, that is what I expect to see. Hopefully, everyone has the same mentality.

I want MARTIAL to be somewhere that its members will be happy to share some life experiences and not think that we can only talk about WOW. Our life experiences and who we are will make this guild a better environment.

So for MARTIAL and its beginnings I expect the following:

Guild Rules/Requirements:

1. Maturity- Have it and display it at all times. Being 18 is required except in special circumstances where the would-be member proves through interaction that their level of maturity is impressive.

2. Aptitude-Learn, be willing to learn, extend what you have learned to others. Have an open mind, expect to be critiqued and criticized (albeit in a helpful manner).

3. Render aid-Should someone need help and you are just sitting at AH, take the initiative to lend a hand. A guild member asks a question, give an answer, if you can. If a lowbie needs a quick run and you have the time, show them the type of guild they have joined is the HELPFUL kind.

4. Teamwork-Work together in all aspects.

5. Integrity – Stand up for the right things. If you see an injustice in the Guild, do not be afraid to bring it to someone’s attention. You should do the right thing all the time.

6. Ardent-be ardent about the guild, passionate about it. Be enthused about getting together with other guild members, making runs, promoting a strong bond within the guild.

7. Life – We want to know about it. You are more than just your character, being able to attach things you do in real life to your character is a great way to get to know one another and to promote growth in relationships between guild members.

I guess for now that is all I want to say, just some thoughts.

If you have any interest in us, send me a msg or some check us out at http://martial.guildlaunch.com/.

Be aware the page is new and I am currently juggling work, a busy life, and trying to get this guild moving! If you are on the Gundrak Server look for us!