Sorry for the lack of a post last week. Nothing was happening. I logged into the game, and flew around on my Netherdrake trying to figure out what to do. I even tried pugging for hours on end on my Paladin unable to get a group even formed let alone in the instance. But that gets pretty frustrating pretty quick, so my Paladin sits with no new gear sadly.

With Vonya and the others burned out on the game I’ve been left with myself pretty much, even tried to apply to a couple other guilds for a raiding spot on the Rogue. But I was unable to even get a trial run which frustrated me pretty bad. As, that’s never happened to me before, but I guess it was bound to happen at some point.

I miss doing things other then PvPing and Farming gold. So, I think I’m going to roll a Priest up to mess around either shadow or healing, wherever I can find a home. Expect randomness in my posts from now on, I’ll do my best to update, but how exciting can I make leveling?

Anyways, that’s the story with me till next week hopefully.

Burnout.

Such a harsh word. A period in a gamer’s life when they don’t want to log in, dont want anything to do with the game.

Often, this is associated with a feeling of responsibility, of being trapped. They HAVE to log on. As though they have no choice.

Most times, this feeling subsides with time, especially if they take a break from the game. Sometimes, playing other games can remind them of why they liked the original game so much, and speed the process.

Well, folks, I’ve been in a period of burnout for quite a while now.

Every time I’ve tried to rekindle my interest, it’s been for shorter and shorter periods of time. Usually, the period of heightened interest was related to me learning something new. Inevitably, once I learned enough and stopped being interested in the research process, my attention flagged again.

I believe that Wrath of the Lich King is going to renew my interest for a long time. I’ll want to play through the new content on both Vonyari and Khuuna, my priest and hunter. I’m interested in the 10 man content, and how Blizz has made all content accessible to 10-man raids, instead of requiring 25-man or larger groups in order to see all there is to see.

But I also think that until the expansion comes out, I’m probably going to remain burned out on WoW. You can only do the same content so many times before your eyeballs explode.

So, what I am going to do until that time is dial down my posts to one a week, and try to focus on writing stories until then.

I could post on the new WotLK information for priests, but it changes so often at this point that I think I’d feel like I was on a twisted merry go round.

I’d rather wait and post on it when things are more solidified.

This doesn’t mean I will refuse to post “real” posts if I think of them. It just means that, at the moment, I can’t think of any posts that aren’t focused on Wrath of the Lich King or on priesting tactics that are almost certainly going to be outdated and useless once the expac comes out.

I think I have heard quite enough.

Time to hear how the other side lives, isn’t it?  Miss space goat has gone on and on, at great lengths, about the proper way of priesting, and how it should be done in her perfect world.  Sure, sometimes the monsters don’t play fair and you have to be prepared for contingencies, but those are odd moments of excitement.  I’m sure she secretly gets a thrill when there’s an extra pull, or when a taunt is resisted.  But expecting the worst from a monster is fine when you have a pocket group of ‘friends’ willing to take the brunt of those attacks and work as a cohesive unit day in and day out.

Some of us have more to fear from our compatriots than the beasties we face off against.

Let me tell you how it is on the front lines, far from endgame, and without an established group of minions.

I’m going to be sneaking in here, while the Ego crew is tired and somnolent from their weekend excursions, and slip you some truths from the Horde.  We’ve had to scrape and claw for every bit of dirt we’ve gained, so I think I can say a different viewpoint may be in order.  You deserve a good hard look at what Vonya fears most … pugging.

“Pugging is more trouble than it’s worth!” she’d say.  Aww, sadface.  Some of us don’t get the choice, sister, so we’ll deal with the arms warrior tanking with a two hander, or the overzealous rogue who frequently attempts dodge-tanking.  Some of us get a little kick out of ‘chase the mage’ who just ran off with three Zul’asomething trolls chasing him.  There’s a whole different set of tactics that goes with not being able to trust the maniac beside you.

Me, I’m Hannelore.  Working my way towards Outland inch by grubby inch.  All my compatriots are already out there, waiting for me.  To get there, I’m going to need to use every dirty trick and Machiavellian tactic I can scrounge up.  Don’t ask me how I know about Machiavelli.  We blood elves have VERY effective mages.  We have portals.  We know things.

Hello again, and welcome to another rousing edition of “The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly”. Here with us today is the Gavel of Naaru Blessings. Go ahead and say hello to the folks!

*silence*

…bah. Stupid inanimate guests. They always make me do all the work.

What’s this? A priesting article? Be still, my heart!

I know, I know. It’s been a while. It’s been a while since I’ve played Vonya, too, so at least it’s consistently inconsistent.

So! For my glorious and triumphant return to the fertile healing fields of priesting, let’s talk about weapons.

(That’s irony, folks, fresh for the picking)

As a priest, you have a lot of options when it comes to weaponry. And by “a lot of options”, I mean that you’ve really only got two. Hammers/offhand, and staves.

Staves generally have higher stats - int, spirit, stam - whereas hammer/offhand combos tend to have higher specials - mana regen, +heal.

(more…)

State of the blog address.

Some of you may have noticed that Aensu and Kwane haven’t exactly been “regularly” posting as we’d planned.

Jokes about how they need to add more fiber to their diet aside, we’ve all agreed that I will happily post guest appearances from them, but that the stresses and obligations of regular blogging just ain’t for them.

I certainly can’t blame them - it’s a lot harder to come up with regular blog posts than it really seems like it ought to be. Even if it’s only one a week.

So, they’ll join us from time to time as I’m able to badger them into it. Zasp still seems to be going strong, so he’s keeping his Wednesday spot.

But I have a new blogger who’s going to try her hand at the Monday slot. Who is it? I guess you’ll just have to wait and see!

Other news, that’s pretty old at this point, but I’ve been putting off actually blogging about - the Ego group left Aetherial Circle quite some time ago. I didn’t blog about it then because I don’t like anything that even smells slightly like stirring up drama. I’m only mentioning it now because I felt that if we told you guys we were trying out the guild, you deserved to know we weren’t in it anymore, too. I’m going to repeat, it’s NOT a drama issue. AC doesn’t hate us, we don’t hate them, it just wasn’t a good fit. End of story.

In other news, it seems as though yesterday, Thursday, was brutally kidnapped in an attempted donut heist. Vonya, of EgoCorp, has been quoted as saying that she was “shocked and appalled” by the action, but that she would post her intended Thursday post on Friday instead.

She hopes Thursday is being treated well, and that the vandals and miscreants return it safely.

(Note : this is an “episode” in a continuing story. All of my stories can be found under my Storytime tag, and the most-related stories are The Job Part 1 and Part 2. I say “most-related” because they’re all somewhat related, and you never know when I’ll weave an old character back in. This note has been brought to you by commenters who are smarter than me.)

—–

Tayt,

I am sending someone to train you. Do what they say.

I mean it.

When they are done with you, go to the bank in Orgrimmar and retrieve a package left there for “Hannelore”. Take it to Camp Taurajo and drop it off at the butcher. Purchase a blackened Thunderhawk from him. It will contain your payment.

~2

Tayt balled up the parchment and frowned.

Train her? What did she need someone to train her for? Obviously she was pretty damn good at what she did, otherwise why would Tyrsdae have hired her in the first place?

She snorted, then idly tossed the crumpled paper into a nearby brazier, watching to make certain it was ash before she turned away.

It had been two months since she’d had the meeting with Tyrsdae. Two months with no word, no sign at all of the bargain they’d struck.

It felt good to be out from under Garvis’ bootheel with regards to the gambling debt, but she’d been on pins and needles for weeks waiting to hear from her new employer. After that, she’d assumed the woman had simply forgotten her. Or maybe she’d even managed to get herself killed. As heartless and cold as the blood elf had been, it would certainly not be a stretch to imagine she had enemies.

And now this.

(more…)

Today, my gentle snowflakes, we’re going to delve into one of the most intriguing, unique, and wonderful shaman healing abilities.

Meatballs.

Oh, they don’t call it Meatballs. No, they call it Earthshield.

But let’s be realistic. When cast, it surrounds the target with tiny, orbiting meatballs.

Meatballs = Earthshield. I can’t even imagine why they call it Earthshield - it looks neither like dirt nor like a shield. It DOES have a really incredible sound effect - a bit like overtaxed branches cracking and popping under pressure. But again, that’s not earth.

Meatballs it is.

So let’s take a look at the tooltip :

Protects the target with an earthen shield, giving a 30% chance of ignoring spell interruption when damaged and causing attacks to heal the shielded target for 270. This effect can only occur once every few seconds. 6 charges. Lasts 10 min. Earth Shield can only be placed on one target at a time and only one Elemental Shield can be active on a target at a time.

The tooltip is, specifically, for Rank 3. As always, I’m pretty much going to ignore the numbers - anything that changes with rank I’ll be sure to mention.

(more…)

Zasp is a baddie. I didn’t pug at all on Nyisa, I’m afraid and thought it be more fun to farm gold anyways. So that’s all I’ve been doing. Hopefully next week, I’ll have something entertianing for you guys to poke at with your sticks.

Till then!

P.S.

Go see Batman at some point. I demand it

So…

Nearly 70 levels in, I think I’ve decided I don’t really like healing as a shaman.

/blush

Don’t get me wrong. I love some of it. I love Chain Heal and Meatballs (more on that Thursday) and having such a lovely array of totems to bring to a fight.

But.

(more…)

I’m back!

In some ways, I’m sorry to leave. A Rival Village’s chefs are quite skilled - they make a MEAN quiche.

But after a massive influx of begging, money, requests, and (mind-bogglingly) pirates, they have graciously released me.

(In truth, I needed a break - I’ve been overwhelmed by everything the past few weeks, and I’ve not even been logging into WoW very much. I needed a change of pace, and a place to ground and center - A Rival Village, being a longtime friend, offered to help out.

LOVED reading your comments while I was on hiatus, you guys are hilarious and awesomely well-informed.)

Normal posts resume on Tuesday.

I should have held out for another day, I think they were bringing in a Masseuse….