Name where I got that (slightly changed) quote from that I used as a title, and get a Big Bear shout out… because if you recognise where it came from after I tweaked it a little, you’re definitely my kind of movie fan.

Yes, that’s a hint. The original line is from a movie. Here’s a second hint; it’s one of my favorite films of all time.

Now, on to the show!

A few nights ago I finally achieved my mini-goal of hitting 375 Enchanting on my Shaman, and so I no longer had any excuse not to play her.

I queued up once again as a Healer Shaman, and away I went into LFD.

All I wanted was a quick romp in the Heroic sack with some random PUG I picked up in a bar, but, as Ford Fairlane might have said, “I got the bonus plan.”

I got Drak’theron Keep, and in looking at the group composition (as I always do for Totem adjustment) I saw that three of the others in the group were all from the same guild. A Paladin, a Shaman, and a Shadow Priest.

Now, the first thing I did was laugh, and I mean really laugh at the name of this guild.

Get this; Prophet of Cthulhu.

Why did that get me chuckling? For the answer to that, may I refer you to this ancient post of mine, from May of 2008, wherin I plug John Ringo books, throw down the hate on Transformers, laugh about things that lots of people probably take very seriously, get insanely cranky… and way down at the bottom relate a true story concerning myself, some very serious true believers, and the great old ones of Lovecraftian lore.

Okay, so I’m laughing with the guild name of these three, and off we go.

First thing I do, as I said, is see that one of the three, Lardzilla, is a Enhancement Shaman, and I’m examining what Totems he’s dropping in the first coupe fights so I can set mine not to overlap. I also check to see what the Paladin did for buffs, all the things a Shaman has to do to make sure you drop the right Totems. And of course, I get my Tremor Totem set for later, when the fear, she be a flowing.

This causes me to lag a little behind, but I do my best to keep the heals flowing.

Then we get to some lizards, and I’ve got max skinning and seem to be the only skinner, so again, I’m lagging behind a little trying to get some skinning in.

All in all, I’m doing my best, but I’m certainly not feeling like I’m giving off the impression to the others of being bright-eyed, bushy tailed, and poised to let the heals flow.

We blow through the instance, everything is pretty nice, a few times the Paladin scoops up groups that are a bit larger than I’d certainly like, but some frantic healing and Nature’s Swiftness keep everything just fine.

We hit the end boss, finish him off, and I win the epic Mail healing bracers. Score!

I also ding the 25 Emblem achievement. :)

I thank the group for the run, and make the comment in passing that it does get hard gearing up a new alt all over again.

The Paladin, of all people, comments that he knows the feeling from his Druid.

I mention that at least I’ve got an idea about healing and some good toolslike Vuh’do thanks to my other healer, a Tree Druid, and the Paladin says he hates Vuh’do on his Tree Druid, he prefers Lifebloomer instead, an addon I’m not even sure I’ve heard of before.

Next thing I know, the Paladin says, “Hey, when did you ding?”

I tell him I just turned 80 on Saturday, and it’s been a lot of fun.

Next thing I see, he’s queued the four of us up for heroic Forge of Souls, and says, “Here, let’s get you some gear.”

Well… okay, this is an unprecedented level of niceness from three folks that I haven’t seen before. My healing sure as heck didn’t warrant this behavior.

What does that leave?

It couldn’t possibly be… nice people?

Hmmm.

The Paladin queues us up, and it won’t let him. Why? Because despite my efforts, I still don’t have the gear necessary to let me in.

So the Paladin laughs and queues us up for regular Forge of Souls, and away we go!

We did Forge of Souls, and Pit of Saron, back to back, and they were willing and ready to go do Halls of Reflection, if I hadn’t had to go get Alex ready for bed.

And a nicer bunch of people I haven’t seen in a PUG in a long, long time.

Knowing the fights, the enemy tactics, and the boss encounters from both a Paladin tank and Healer point of view helped immensely in making sure I was proactive in my healing rather than reacting in a panic.

And being familiar with Vuh’do and having studied my spells also helped a ton.

But mostly, I had a very well geared tank and a very powerful group of DPS that killed things before they had a chance to hurt anyone too much. :)

Earlier I mentioned an exploit. Mostly, I brought it up just to be able to use that movie quote in the title. :)

We did use an exploit I had never heard of before, in Pit of Saron, but it didn’t actually make my ass drag. OR make my butt slump.

What happened was, as soon as Ick and Krick were dead, the Paladin said, “Everyone mount up, we’re going to do the exploit.”

I had no idea what he meant, but I know what a mount is. I’m kinda crafty that way. I can haz hoofs!

Loot was taken, but even before the dialogue was over and Krick was dead, we were mounted up… and heading up the ramp.

We reached the top of the ramp just as the two shadowcasters appeared to head down, and they ignored us as we kept on going to the other side and stopped on that first landing halfway towards the tunnel, where it takes a dogleg 90° to the right. The two groups on the ramp spawned after those two reached their positions… and ignored us, safe at the top landing.

We only had the two groups of icicle guys and their minions to deal with before the tunnel.

I don’t mind the ramp, but I’ll admit, I wasn’t crying a river of alligator tears about avoiding that particular fight when I don’t know everyone I was with, and my healing power is a might on the low side just yet.

Anyway, we blasted through the whole thing, I was very careful of my healing during Overlord Brands, and I got the nice Mail healing chest piece, and of course emblems and stuff.

More than that, we chatted a bit during the run, and I really was amazed at how you can sometimes just bump into the nicest people.

Things like this really serve to highlight one lack which I wish Blizzard could remedy.

We already have an ignore list that works cross-server, and if you put somebody from another server on it, it prevents you from being queued with that person in a random again in the future.

That’s all well and good.

What I wish is that there was a cross-server friends list, where if you find yourself grouped with some really nice folks, you could exchange friends lists.

You put them on your list, they put you on theirs, and if the random generator sees two people who BOTH are on each other’s friends list, it matches them up together by preference, if possible.

Just a thought. It’s nice that we can prevent future occurances of playing with the same asshats, but I’d love it if we could increase the chance that we would play with great folks we’ve had fun with again.

So, to Khaotix, Karalov, and Lardzilla of Prophet of Cthulhu, thank you very much for being really nice people, and great players, and for being kind to a complete stranger in a pug.

Bravo. You all rock.

Cassie was looking for some leveling information, and came across a very nice compilation of Cataclysm information, arranged by zone, at Wowhead.com.

She was very impressed with the information, how it was arranged and how they attributed what source their information came from, and thought it would be a good place to bookmark while we wait for the final expansion release.

I know there are other places out there to find this as well, Cassie was just struck by how nice this was presented and how complete.

I’ve always been a personal fan of Wowhead, from the very first time they popped into the field. I think the professional layout, speed, attractive arrangement, the tools they’ve developed like the talent calculators and their willingness to provide silly tools like Tooltip addons for Bloggers (which I use gratefully), everything they do is of the utmost quality and usefulness.

Even if they never DID add my link to their “Bloggers who use Wowhead” page.

I’m sure everyone here is very familiar with Wowhead, but I think it’s hard to remember the old days when Thottbot or Allakhazam were our only sources for where an item could be found, or even what might be available to be crafted.

They were great tools, of course, wonderful databases carefully researched and documented… but they never seemed… professional. They were, much like my blog, projects that could be seen as coming from a fan rather than a skilled website design professional.

If you did play back then, in the time before Ten Ton Hammer, MMO Champion, Wowhead, okay I’ll say it, WoW.com… take a moment to contrast how it felt to play back then, with how these professional websites enhance the experience now.

I really do feel that these websites, and the skilled, artistic and mature touch they bring, helps to encourage the feeling that we are taking part in a hobby that can be respected as being the pastime of skilled, thoughtful, mature people.

A video game, no matter how popular or awesome, is usually only really known by the people who play it. Outsiders have no idea what we’re talking about.

With these websites, we have something we can point to and say, “This is representative of the game community, and it’s certainly not something knocked together by 6 year old script kiddies. Mock us for playing a game if that’s what tickles your fancy, but don’t pretend any idiot can master this or that it’s beneath you. Chances are good you’re not intelligent enough, flexible enough or dedicated enough in your life to handle ICC hard mode raiding, and you’d get owned in battlegrounds PvP, so shut it.”

And of course, it helps people who might be interested have a palce to go where they can find out more… and, okay, get scared by how damn complicated it all is.

Thus ends my little love letter to Wowhead. :)

When I talk about something on the blog, I do try and pick out those things that are entertaining moments, weird moments, or teachable moments.

There has to be a point to it, even if it was just “Well, it made ME laugh.”

Something that happened that was a fun story, something that happened that was out of the ordinary, something that happened that called to mind a topic of discussion many of us might learn from… if only to know what not to do.

And in thinking of blog posts as a teachable moment, thinking about what not to do and how to present it… my mind, inevitably, turned to evil.

A new reality TV show… “How Not to Tank”, with your host, BBB.

Yes, thats right, I felt struck with inspiration for a horrifying series of Youtube videos.

I could join a random pug, and then intentionally do something that tanks should never do, narrate it, and film the entire sequence… including the reactions of the unsuspecting party.

“Today, the Big Bear Butt will demonstrate what happens when a Bear tank tries to free himself from movement impairing effects during the 10 waves of trash in Heroic Halls of Reflection, by shifting out of and back into Bear form. Repeatedly. What will happen, and how will our unsuspecting party react? Let’s find out!”

Seriously, can you imagine how terrible that would be? To be on a run with unsuspecting, innocent folks and intentionally do stuff wrong or stupid, just to film their candid-camera type reactions and then post it?

I have achieved a new, galactic level style of asshattedness.

Even worse… the temptation to actually DO this, if only once, is strong. Now I know what is really meant by “Tempted by the power of the dark side.”

How has this concept not shown up as a regular reality show or on the internet yet?

Stay tuned next week, when our undercover main tank healer goes on strike with loud drama over Legendary item loot priorities right as the main tank pulls the last boss of a heroic Ulduar 25 run, and how the guild leadership reacts after the epic wipe, here, on “Wipe That Raid!”

I’m a sick, sick bear.

I’m serious with this question, this isn’t some goofy post just to have a conversation.

During the recent Paladin vs Druid tanking comparisons, I obviously spent a lot of time on both. And during the time I was playing, I spent quite a bit of time wondering about how different player personalities might be drawn towards different playstyles, playstyles that approach the same task from two different directions, but nevertheless still get the job done.

Backing away from tanking comparisons for a bit, it ought to be obvious that, with so many different character classes that each have their own unique style, folks might not like every one of ‘em, but chances are good everyone will find something they like.

So, the question I pose; Have you tried to play different alts, make new characters, try things out with other specs or other styles, only to find yourself coming back to the same class or classes over and over again?

Do you have multiple characters that are all the same class?

If so, do they share a type of playstyle that appeals to you? What similarities are there amongst them? What might the class styles you love say about you?

Or, and this is the same question with a twist… Do you have a particular appearance of character that you love, a look that you keep coming back to with alts, and characters that look differently don’t see much play?

Do you love druids or hunters or paladins or priests or warlocks, and no matter how many other classes you try to roll, you keep coming back to that one special one that clicks with you?

Do you love Night Elves, or Gnomes, or Dwarves, or Tauren, or Undead, and no matter what kind of other race you try to get into, you find yourself leaving them be to go back to your favorite?

General rambling time… or, “Back in the old days”

I’m thinking about this a lot, because I’ve been thinking about MMOs in general, and how game designers could attract a person into really getting into one.

WoW clearly hit me just right, I’m still here years later. I’ve tried other MMOs sometimes, and others I’ve read about and looked at and went “Meh”, so the question in my mind is… what about them attracts me, and what is the “Meh” factor.

The start, for me, of wanting to play WoW was contrasting the announced races and classes of WoW with Everquest II. Most folks might not remember, but at the time before WoW came out, Everquest I was the big bad on the block, the undisputed groundbreaking champion, and whether you loved it or called it “Evercrack”, “Everrat”, or “Ratquest”, it defined the game genre.

Everquest II and WoW were both due to come out almost on top of each other, and many game magazines talked about them both, and did big pictorial spreads comparing and contrasting them. There was a clear favorite in the tried and tested EQ formula… but Blizzard was the gaming big dog with Starcraft, Warcraft and Diablo franchises under their belts, and the revolutionary approach of shipping “When it’s done”.

As an aside, you’ve got one hell of a marketing department when you can spin ship delays and missed deadlines into a quality feature. If I had a business, I’d hire their PR firm, they’re geniuses. Of course, making damn fine product assuredly helps.

So, why did I pick WoW as the one I wanted to try? I actually knew people that were Everquest I addicts, so why did I go with the unknown?

What initially drew me in was the innovative classes and the art style.

There were traditional classes. Warrior. Rogue. Priest. Paladin. Mage. Clearly, the AD&D basics were well represented. And the races. Elf. Dwarf. Human. Gnome. So, there was the sense of the familiar.

But WoW went outside that box as well. They innovated. They gave us the Druid, a class that let you, no shit, play a shapechanger in the game. A class where you had a normal humanoid form, but they were coding in the ability to flow into different animal forms as you played, each one actually being more than just a cosmetic change. A Cat form would actually be different stats than a Bear! Holy cow!

And then the Hunter. Yes, Everquest had pet classes as well, but in WoW, part of the Hunter that we talked about in beta that was just amazing to us was that you weren’t just a class that had a pet, but that you were able to go explore the world, and any beast that you encountered, ANY beast, had the potential to be tamed and become your pet that would fight by your side.

Are you insane? Are you kidding me? I have to be a part of that.

So the innovative class approach, going beyond the normal Warrior/Priest/Mage style intrigued and excited me.

The second thing as I said was the art. The intentional art choice of going bold and beautiful and stylised rather than super-realistic.

Why? What about the art drew me in?

It seemed warmer, if you know what I mean.

I already live in the real world, thanks. I’m not looking for a reality simulator, I’m looking for a visually pleasing game to have fun in. Making it look super-real and paying all that attention to precise chainmail link graphics is kinda wasted on me. It’s was the warmth and originality of the art that I loved.

Yes, the goofy shoulders have long been a bone of contention, but overall, the glows, the cartoon over-emphasis element to the art makes it somehow more fantastical to me.

So I chose to buy WoW based on character design and art style. That was what drew me in.

What has made me stay?

Reasons two and three are pretty obvious.

The 2nd is that there are so many different variations in playstyle amongst the classes, and multiple specs and roles within the classes, so replayability has been huge.

The 3rd was the sheer size of the world in WoW. It’s just linear enough that you know what choices you have about where to go adventure next, but not so linear that you can’t swap zones around when leveling. Yes, Cassie frequently says, “Northrend was fine the first time, but the 5th time going through Sholozar Basin, it’s not fun anymore.” But the point is, the world has been large enough, immense enough in content to keep us going for years, as long as we’ve been open to trying different aspects and zones of the game.

But what was the 1st thing that made me stay?

I think the most important part of the WoW design that I’ve enjoyed, that pulled me in and has kept me going, was how the character creation process combines personal customization with a sense that the character existed BEFORE I started.

It’s a feeling that I didn’t MAKE the character… I CHOSE the character.

In WoW, there are some options for customizing, and there could certainly be more, but when you start, you pick a race and sex, and there is a person displayed there already dressed and ready to go, as if a young man or woman has just come of age, and is leaving their farm for the first time, off to seek adventure. Or you know, whatever their background may be.

My point is, you didn’t start with a wire-frame that you fleshed out bit by bit, you start with a person.

You will want to change their appearance, but the changes available aren’t too crazy. Interestingly enough, limited options and being presented with a complete character appearance at the onset does help maintain immersion.

Everytime that “creat an alt” process begins, it feels like an exciting moment, filled with potential. Who will you journey with this time? What adventures will you share together? What class will they be?

Inevitably, you play the game long enough, and the rush of excitement fades when you realize that this brand new character full of potential is heading out into the same old, same old. But what are you gonna do? The game still rocks.

I’m still waiting to see a new MMO come out that has that big of a world of adventure, coupled with so many interesting choices for imaginative classes and playstyles, that feels warm and inviting.

In the meantime… year after year, WoW still has it. Amazing, isn’t it?

BBB is having a horrendous week at work and hasn’t had time to write anything in between super long hours there and snow-blowing out the driveway every night for the last 3 nights due to the blizzard stuff that we’ve been having (and not the good WoW kind of blizzard stuff) :)  So he called and interrupted my lunch today to beg and plead with me to put some kind of post up.

I don’t have anything really exciting to share right now, so if you’re looking for cutting edge WoW news, you can pretty much stop here.

But in general here’s what I’ve been up to -

For several weeks I was doing the first random heroic on both my mains (rogue and ret/holy pally) every day, but that got old as I encountered all of the horrible behavior that people have been talking about with pugs. After I dropped 3 groups in the same day about 3 weeks ago (after never having left a group early), I decided to take a break from that. I still occasionally do a random here or there, but much less often. I’ve already become “the Patient” on both toons and have found that the experience of pugging with 200 random people has really used up most of my real world patience. :) I’ve been messing around with some low level alts on occasion to just have some questing fun and not think about gear upgrades or serious stuff.

Upgrades and loot and the game are such a tough thing to balance.   I’m a list maker/planner in general, so all my 80s have detailed lists of what gear is the best that they have a hope of getting and where to get it and how many emblems of what kind I need. It’s so easy for me to get sucked into that mentality where it’s super important to always be working toward a goal and convincing myself that it’s ok to spend so much time in the game because I’m having fun and playing with friends or whatever my reason is that day.

However, after the guild went through some tough stuff during the last couple of months, I realized that I didn’t want the game to have such a huge place in my life anymore and that a lot of the reasons I’d been using for playing (friends, etc) weren’t really good ones. Because many of those people that I considered friends, I found out really weren’t and it soured me a bit on the game (and the random pugs with horrible behavior hasn’t helped).  There are many days I haven’t even logged in lately other than maybe a quick mail check or gem transmute for BBB. It’s still an important hobby in our lives, but I’m not letting it be more important anymore than other hobbies or interests that I had been neglecting in the past to put so much of my energy into the game, the guild and all the admin duties that I handle for the guild.

Back when Alex was born, my sister who is a total scrapbooking nut, started a book for Alex. I had done a family website back then where I’d post pictures and short notes about his adventures. I’d order prints of those pictures and give them to her and she’d do a book. Well, sort of….my sister is about the nicest person you’ll ever meet and just doesn’t know how to say “no” to anyone, so she’s always super busy and overcommitted. She did the first 6 months of Alex’s life and then I started getting into scrapbooking (ok, because she was hosting those parties and I’d feel guilty not buying something), so she turned the book over to me since she had so many projects going. I finished up that one and kept going with additional books. I’m now up to when he was 3 and a half (um, yeah, he’s going to be 7 next month, so I’m a bit behind). But I’ve been making that a priority to do at least once a week for an extended period of time because I want to get those important memories down and saved for him. I’ve definitely learned over the past few years that you never know what the future will bring and shouldn’t put off important stuff, so I’m making this project a key focus right now.

We’ve also been trying to get out of the house more with Alex to do fun stuff. There’s a climbing place nearby with all kinds of tubes and slides that he loves to go to.  Last weekend we took him sledding at a public golf course close to our house. That was a ton of fun, but next time, I want a sled too! Having to walk up and down the monstrous hill was a lot of work for an old person. :)

I’ve also been watching tv more again.  In addition to current shows,  I’m watching How I Met Your Mother through Netflix. I’m up to the end of Season 2 now. It’s a show I’ve always heard good things about, but didn’t start watching in the beginning, so I just ignored it.  I’m really enjoying that one now.   I also got the first half of Glee and am trying to catch up on that before it returns in the spring.

On nights I do log in and play, I sign off at 8:15 pretty much no matter what is happening because that’s my storytime with Alex before he goes to bed. He’s been learning to read in school this year (and is doing so great at it), but still enjoys having stories read to him. We’ve just graduated to chapter books in the last couple of weeks. We’re currently reading Magic Tree House books and also Magic School Bus chapter books. It’s a lot of fun for both of us (BBB even sat and listened to the story last night) :)

So that’s basically what I’ve been up to.   One other thing that those with kids in their lives might be interested in -  I’ve been following some of the news about the new Lego MMO that is being created and it sounds pretty cool. They’ve just started beta signups this week. It’s not a guarantee of a key if you sign up, but if you want to try, you can register here.  And it’s a game that is definitely marketed toward and protective of kids as when it asked for username, I tried to use various versions of Cassie and was not allowed to because that contains the word “ass” in it and that’s not permitted.  :-)

And now, I shall stop babbling and get back to work now.