Wednesday, August 10, 2011

A new home, a new role, and a missed guild first

Over the last three weeks I've made some indication that I was currently trialing with another guild as a Warlock - pretty much a 180 degree shift from healing on a Paladin.  I went from being at the top of the game to being just another guy fighting for a raid spot and guild invite.  It's been a pretty crazy three weeks, especially when you consider that I started as a fresh 85 wearing greens and am now rocking 4 or 5 pieces of BiS Firelands gear.  I'm sure that at the very least this is a reflection on how the game has changed over the last seven years, and I will still say that it's for the best.

I'm still settling into my new home though, and there's that growing period where you're learning the new jokes, and the other members are trying to figure out why you keep offering them watercolors.  I even did a complete quote segment from Bull Durham, and the only person who got it was Ed.  /sadface

Learning the Warlock has been crazy fun, though I will say that if there's one thing that really irritates me it's that each spec focuses on a different secondary stat.  WTF is that about?  Now to be fair, I'd probably be bitching the other way if every Warlock spec was the same except for the spells you cast (though they aren't far off now).    No, it's just the fact that Affliction needs haste to the point where I'm trying to find a Meth dealer in the dwarven district (I miss the Belves and their crazy drugs).  Demo abuses mastery to no end, and Destro wants crit like the fire mages they are.  While your basic gear is enough to get you through most spec changes, a reforge is really in order to eek out those last few points.

Of course I've put that reforger guy's kids though braces, perp school, college, and even set up a substantial dowry for them at this point.  Of course Night Elves don't reproduce that often, but have you seen their teeth?  Good lord, no wonder he's so happy to see me every other day.  Now I really wish I had that old screenshot of Psycho's teeth - enough to make a baby cry.  Seriously.  Worst.  Teeth.  Ever.  Even worse than Jaws in Moonraker (no Mr. Bond, I expect you to die [yeah, I know that wasn't Jaws] ), Psycho's teeth were terrible.

Of course, I don't NEED to reforge every fifteen seconds, but damn if it doesn't hurt when I don't have enough crit as Destro.  Hard casting Soulfire sucks.

Missing a guild first


Since I started raiding in Vanilla, I've missed only one guild first kill - and that was the original Ragnaros in Molten Core.  Every other guild first, when I've been a "raider" in a guild, I was there for.  My pedigree is long and distinguished (just like Iceman's johnson), and while my guild first kills were rarely server firsts (and never, ever world firsts, they were still GUILD firsts.

Monday was the first time that I'd missed a guild first kill, and ironically enough, it was Ragnaros again.  What a bastard.  Monday night happened to be my night on standby, and the guild got an awesome kill after an especially heartbreaking .4% wipe.  Those are the worst.  I think it's especially bad on a fight like this where you know you only have to hit 10% (like the Lich King fight).  Obviously the fight is tuned to the point that the 10% mark is really where it needs to end, but it's still a ball breaker.

The good thing is that I know I'll get in on the next kill, it's not like he's going anywhere.  And I'm sure I'll be in on a guild first heroic kill that someone else has to miss.  It's just the nature of the game and the guild.  I certainly don't regret that I have one night off every week, and that I have the flexibility to miss a night if needed.

Where I landed


So if you're looking for me, you can still catch me from time to time on Pistonhondo, and I'll still be putting in my 2 cents on the state of the Healadin (Holy Radience is fine - seriously - we do NOT want a channeled heal), as well as my thoughts on being a Warlock.  You can find Apokalyptiko hanging out on Moonrunner with Vidalya of Manalicious.  And seriously, she hates the onion jokes.  They're old.  

3 comments:

  1. Haha. I was thinking about that onion thing just the other day, maybe it needs to be a comic or an icon... Poor Vid holding up an onion with this confused look on her face, or with the onion crossed out.

    Missing a first kill does suck, and I am sorry it worked out that way. :( If it makes you feel any better, even I have been absent for some first kills (the hardest part of which is not being there to take a screenshot, because I'm really fussy about those screenshots.) I still don't know what Bull Durham is. I will probably have to Google it. Then I'll know vaguely what it is, but still not really.

    On the plus side, I have YET to miss a machinima reference you've made! So there's that...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh yeah - they just happen. I'm not complaining - it is just ironic that it was Ragnaros....BOTH TIMES.

    ReplyDelete
  3. First time that I ever really remember saying "Damn! Wish I was there!" was for our Heroic Conclave kill. I had worked SO HARD on that fight getting practice and working on strats. But, in true BT form, the group came back the following week and picked up the kill for the rest of us that weren't there for the kill.

    Like you said, Adga... Having that schedule flexibility makes it all worth it.

    Glad to have you on board! Love the blog.

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.