More hard-hitting direct and analytical reviews of heroic versus family-friendly raiding will have to wait until next week. 

Today: BUNNY EARS.

I would love to tell you about the fun and frollicky time I have had with Noblegarden so far. The brightly colored eggs, the silly rabbits, the jovial ears that suddenly have every level five mage in the area swoop down on me like I was covered in chocolate…

Uh.

But I cannot tell you about these things. I know nothing about them, and have only heard legends of their happenings. Because, in case you did not know, I am a blood elf. Our nobles are the magisters and mage-priests of the broken sunwell. There shall be NO fun near our walls. However, to keep from looking like oppressive zealots that seek only power and glory and the life-sustaining mana-tap, we still allow the peons and little common-folk to ‘hunt for eggs’. But because our people are accustomed to hardships, allow me to explain to you how we have changed this pretty little adventure into something more comfortable and familiar to the Sin’dorei.

First, we have commanded that whenever an egg is discovered, the finder must stop there. You cannot move. Hold your ground and protect it with the tenacity we have instilled in our soldiers to keep our city safe from the unending scourge. Spit expletives at any other seeker that comes near, or you will be shamed for the rest of the week by the fact that THEY TOOK YOUR EGG. Each person is to find their own spot, their own eggs, and when we teleport more eggs into the area, each person will quickly gather their allotted prizes into whatever receptacle is available. I hear some commoners even shove them into their mouth. Wonderful.

Those seen running around will be called out for ‘ninjaing my eggs’ from those who have properly protected their placements. Shouts should ring out across the area for any that come late to the party and are unaware of the magisters’ law. “Find a spot and camp it, everyone gets more eggs!”

As this may seem to be too easy, we have included instructions and the materials with which to turn commoners into rabbits. These small, brightly colored mammals shall be precisely the same size as eggs. This added level of difficulty proves that the Sin’dorei can best any difficulty, and will inflict challenges on ourselves simply to make it more interesting. This is not a game, this is a test of our commoners’ will and abilities, as the sword is hammered in the fire! Those little people who are in the guise of rabbits are challenged to avoid the grabbyhands of those chocolate-blinded crazies looking for chocolate, and the crazies get to be constantly confused why the eggs they shove into their baskets are soft, furry, and squeak “OMYGODLETMEOUTDON’TEATMEEEEEEE” at them.

Reports are already coming in that there have been some casualties, but that’s to be expected. Better to cull them early than to have them someday wind up in a pick up group with me where I have to do it myself.

Cries ring out across the wall dividing the halves of my great city. “Where are the #%*(@ pants?!” “Selling the dress for rabbit ears!” “OMG u just ninjas my egz!” And “This egg is furry and squeaky.”

“DON’T EAT IT!!”

I like to listen for the scream.

Let’s take a look at one of the the Discipline priest’s most beloved of all spells, Power Word: Shield. For brevity’s sake, we’re going to affectionately call it “Bubble”.

What with the newfangled patch coming out and twiddling with our talent trees just in time for Ulduar, I thought it might be a good idea to take a step back and revisit our good friend, the Bubble.

What happens when you cast bubble?

• 1) The Target of the spell is placed in a protective bubble, preventing X amount of damage.
• 2) The Target gets a debuff called “Weakened Soul” which prevents you from casting another bubble on them for a short time.
• 3) The Target is immune to pushback effects while casting (a handy trick to use when, for example, your druid friend begins to cast Tranquility – he might just get the whole of the channeled spell off even if he attracts the attention of a few mobs).

That’s all pretty tame, right? Everyone gets those goodies, Discipline priest or no.

Still, OUR bubble is a smidge shinier than most.

Let’s see what goodies we get. Talents are italicized.

• 4) If our Bubble is completely absorbed or dispelled, we get mana back AND we give mana/rage/energy/runic power. Booya. – Rapture
• 5) We get a 25% boost to spell haste on our next spell after using the Bubble, AND the amount absorbed is increased based on our spellpower (that’s 40%, folks) – Borrowed Time
• 6) Our crit chance is increased on any target with the Weakened Soul debuff – Renewed Hope
• 7) Our shields absorb more damage – Twin Disciplines and Improved Power Word: Shield and Focused Power and Improved Inner Fire and ANY other talent that boosts spellpower.
• We can use our Bubble more often, and it’s cheaper - Soul Warding
  
• 8 ) Mana cost of the shield is lowered – Mental Agility
• 9) Decreased possibility of dispell (this talent has other uses that make it viable – not just for pvp) – Pain Suppression
• 10) Threat Gain from the shield is lowered and it is less likely to be be dispelled (Bubble already has a natural low threat associated with it, and the only mobs that are going to dispell it are other players – PVP or skip this talent as a recommendation ) – Silent Resolve
• 11) Reflects some of the absorbed damage back to the attacker (only works if you cast it on yourself. Again, PVP or skip as a recommendation) – Reflective Shield

Oh, and let us not forget, we can Glyph it to make it even stronger.

What does the glyph do?

• 12) Glyph of Power Word: Shield – Target gets a crittable heal for 20% of the amount that the shield can absorb.

There you have it, folks! Ten(ish) incredible reasons to cast Bubble. I probably missed something – feel free to chime in with a comment!

Remember: Cast early. Cast often.

I think that dead horse deserves a little more attention. Since the Insiders and Vonya both attacked it from the same angle, allow me to demonstrate how to beat the undead stuffing out of a horse from this side.

I am, of course, talking about the side of the horse where 25 people get together and start flailing around with sticks.

The arguments from both sides have been tossed back and forth a bit, but they seem to sort of equal each other out. For the most part, going just from the commentary I have heard from the 10mans and the 25mans supporters, my outside opinion would be that the two situations wind up evening out. To this end, one would think that the gear should be exactly the same! You have an option for people to beat up a monster with 9 of their friends, or they can go in with 24 of their friends and get the feel of an epic battle.

Here, let me line up the arguments that I’ve heard.  It’s in color, so you have to pay attention.

Bosses are Tougher – so the epic raids deserve better loot.
You have more people – well okay, so more hit points on a boss doesn’t mean anything.

Bosses have more abilities – so the epic raids deserve better rewards.
You can stack classes and their inherent auras – you have every blessing available from paladins, plus three druids mean you have the tree, moonkin, and leader of the pack buffs, etc.

Bosses are more likely to throw out more debuffs – so the epic raids are working harder.
You have 25 people – unless everyone is a warrior, rogue, and hunter, someone has the ability to remove at least some of the debuffs; and more likely you have at least one or two people that can be constantly cleaning off the raid.

Bosses will sometimes force the raid to split – you have to divide your attentions and move people away from the main herd.
These bosses do not change their behavior between 10 and 25 man, meaning the split is still there but with fewer people.

There is an understood percentage of stupid people in every group – it’s harder to reduce that percentage to zero if you have 25 people.
Well alright, that’s true.

AND THERE YOU HAVE IT. Ultimately, the Blues have agreed with me, and they have foreseen my future plight. I can see it now, and it fills me with a sense of pride and loathing that I will inevitably be drawn to an epic raid on some fancy-pants night elf lord who has too much time on his hands and too much treasure in his hoard. I think I just made up a song.

When it comes down to it, from what I have seen specifically from the Blue Voices, they realize that almost every argument balances out towards the equalization of 10 and 25 man raiding. At the end, the one thing that they point out is making the epic raids more difficult is the people involved. They have obviously been reading my material and understand statistics and mob mentality. Path of least resistance, people! If you can get away with flailing around in fire, or daydreaming about a very pretty roommate (I hate you, Braids) while wanding away at something, then a great segment of the population WILL. In a group of ten, that person will be eviscerated by the nearest druid. In a group of twenty five? I don’t really think anyone will notice until someone pulls up the combat charts and goes “Hey waaaaaiiit… Hannelore didn’t cast a single heal!”

Then I will say “Well my shields don’t count as heals, and I was probably too far away from you for me to show up on your meters anyway.”

That’s still a legitimate excuse, right?

Let’s give an example of a common discussion heard in a 10-man group.

“where’s bob?”
“couldn’t make it”
“alright well we can do this”
“hey guys my connection’s failing”
“dang”
“that’s cool, we’ll catch you next week”
“right on, good luck”
“alright, feast here”
“ha ha the tank is a wolvar”
“and the healer is an iron dwarf”
“iron dwarf, wolvar, furbolg…”
“I’d say we’re ready”
“go go go”
“pull faster!”

And they proceed to 8-man Naxxramas and get The Undying. What the hell?

Now the 25-man epic raid.

“afk a sec”
“ok pull!”
“omg guys get it off get it off”
“don’t run at the healers!”
“what’s he doing!?”
“that thing cleaves!”
“scatter!”
“the tank’s not getting heals!”
“i can’t reach him from here!”
“c’mon guys the thing’s killing me!”
“get away from us!”
“i think im the bomb”
“what?!”
“healer down”
“healer down”
“tank down”
“off tank picking it- off tank down”
“okay i’m back what happened?”
THAT is why the epic raids deserve the better loot. Not because the event is harder, but because you’re more likely to be sabotaged from within.

Case closed, I win.

This post is subtitled : In Which WoWInsider Steals My Chocobacon*

For the record, this was the subject of my post on Tuesday.

For one more record, I am totally not going to let the fact that WoW Insider JUST posted on this topic keep me from my beloved soap box.

And oh yes. I totally just linked to WoW Insider. Take THAT. Eat my bandwidth! BWAHAHAHAHA.  …what? It doesn’t work like that? Drat.

On To The Post

As part of a hardcore 10 man raiding team that has neither the desire nor the manpower to attempt 25 man raiding, the powderkeg topic that is the dichotomy between the way 25 v 10 man raids are treated by Blizz can send me into a frothing, Hannelore-like rage. After a few hours in a burlap sack and a dark closet, I typically return to my senses. For my husband’s sake (he’s running out of burlap sacks) I am going to try and focus on one (!) aspect of the 10v25 argument.

Gear.

More specifically, how I believe the issues with gear may be solved, and how I believe they may NOT be solved.

What’s the Issue with Gear?

Okay, some background. One of the major differences between 10 and 25 man raiding is gear level. The gear you get out of 25 man raids a “jump” in gear level above the gear in 10 man raiding.

If you look purely at the Item Level assigned by Blizzard for Naxx, the 10 man gear is ilvl 200, and the 25 man gear is ilvl 213.

This means that those who complete 25 man level raiding will get better gear than those completing 10 man raiding. (This doesn’t take into account poor Blizzard itemization, where a piece of gear might be better from one than the other because the higher “ilevel” doesn’t have the appropriate stats – I’m talking generalizations).

Why Do I Think This Matters?

Because people can raid 25 man – get the better gear – and then blow through the 10 man achievements much more easily than people wearing gear ONLY gained through 10 manning.

The Immortal is impressive.

The Undying is impressive, but less so when you see it over the head of someone decked out in 25 man gear.

Getting a 6 minute Malygos kill is impressive – but what does it mean when someone does it while wearing 25 man gear as opposed to only wearing gear from 10 man raids?

Has anyone heard – has 10 Sarth 3D even been accomplished yet by a guild wearing 10 man gear?

There is absolutely NO DIFFERENCE. None. In-game, there is no way to tell whether or not someone reached an impressive achievement wearing the gear related to it.

I feel incredibly proud of what my guild has achieved. Without exception (to my knowledge) the only 25 man gear any of us are wearing, we earned by 10 (or fewer) manning the Obsidian Sanctum on heroic mode.

That’s bragging, yes, but we’ve earned it.

It is an absolute FACT that our dpsers do less dps (or should anyway) than they would if they were wearing 25 man gear.

Blizzard Agrees With Me

In an announcement that shocked me to my core, Ghostcrawler agrees.

You see, for Ulduar, they’d planned on having Server First Kills. One Server First for 25 and a separate one for 10 man.

They removed the 10 man one. Why? Because people were doing it wearing 25 man gear LONG before those wearing 10 man gear could accomplish it.

It’s not rocket science, and the fact that Blizzard RECOGNIZES the problem gives me a case of the warm and fuzzies.

You know, right up until I realize they’re not doing a WHOLE lot to fix it. Yet. I’m hoping there’s more coming.

What I Do NOT Think Should Be Done

One fix (and mind you, this wouldn’t be an easy fix to implement, just an easy fix to think of) would be to make 10 man raiding noticeably easier than 25 man. That means that the gear being lesser quality makes sense. Say, the difference between doing a heroic instance and a regular instance. *stops and thinks* Okay, the difference between doing a heroic and regular instance in Burning Crusade, not in Wrath. The fact that 25 man raids are CALLED “heroic” raids makes this fix even more logical.

I hate this idea. I want to shove it in a closet and set it on fire.

Blizz has agreed that they want the 10 and 25 man progressions to be SEPARATE. They don’t intend 10 man raids to be a stepping-stone to 25s.

The fact that they’re perilously close to implementing that when it comes to gear alone (there are lots of other ways in which they are most certainly NOT implementing that) makes me a sad panda, and thus the crafting of this post.

What I DO Think Should Be Done.

Many people clamor for the gear to be exactly the same between the two types of raiding. This would probably be the easiest to implement, but in my opinion it overlooks one very important factor. There ARE more people in 25s, and I believe there should be a reward for those willing to undergo the pain and suffering that comes with herding that many cats.

I think they should drop MORE gear. MORE tokens per boss, MORE epics. That would be my fix for that particular solution.

However, my biggest concern isn’t the i-level itself. My concern isn’t that my gear isn’t as good as Pineapples (and yes, that is the name of the #1 geared priest on my server – god help us all. Hello, Pineapples, if you’re watching. Your name scares me.)

What I care about is the fact that people wearing that better gear can turn around and get in MY 10 man instances and stomp through MY achievements and battles with an ease that has nothing (necessarily) to do with skill.

My true fix for the gear issue? Don’t let people wearing 25 man gear get 10 man achievements. BAM.

You can run a 10 man with 25 man gear, but you can’t get a Plagued proto-drake. You can kill Malygos in under 6 minutes, but you don’t get the achievement. You can kill Sarth3D, but you can’t get a black drake, and you DAMN sure can’t have The Undying over your head.

That’s MY fix.

And yes, every single solitary bit of that is ego.

*points at the blog title* I want my ego. I want my achievements to MEAN something. I want people to look at what my guild has accomplished and measure us accordingly.

If Blizzard truly wants to separate the two types of raiding, truly wants them to both be viable paths of progression – this is my fix (again, for the gear issue).

Again, Blizzard Agrees! Sort of!

It’s also Blizzard’s fix (and again, I facepalm at not posting this forever ago, when my guild first started bandying the idea about. I look like some kind of Johnny-Come-Lately).

Remember that server first I told you they removed? They put it back in, with a requirement that you can’t be wearing 25 man gear to get it.

HALLELUJAH, brothahs and sistahs! I seriously felt like ordering a cake when I read that. A fancy one, with balloons and little frosting roses. Not something from Cake Wrecks, though. That would be the wrong kind of celebration.

Why I Didn’t Order A Cake

As far as I can tell, that is the ONLY place they’ve implemented this code.

This little priesty most HUMBLY requests that they implement it for all of the 10 man achievements. Please. I beg of you.

(Along with a warning if you’re wearing any 25 man gear, so one of the people from Hanners’ pugs who forgot to change out his gear doesn’t ruin it for everyone).

Summary

While the gear gap exists, 10 man achievements should be limited to 10 man gear.

The issue of difficulty in content between the two raiding types is a topic that I am attempting to avoid like the pit viper that it is.

Also, the cake is a lie.

* No, I will not explain the chocobacon thing. Unless , of course, you manage to find me, get me drunk, and woo me with chocolate and strawberries.

/mana crystal

Alright alright, let’s settle down here.

A lot of people are getting all excited about some kind of upcoming changes, and space goat is somehow making the effluvium hit the sprinklers (what?) with her backwards glances on how well things have gone so far. And then there’s little old me, coughing and wheezing as I come straggling out of Utgarde Keep, barely alive and with nothing but the experience (and some cash) to carry out with me.

I believe it may be time to remind people of some things that they may be taking for granted, or just plain forgetting. The following are all things that I wished I had time to properly explain while in pugs over the past week. They are things you should know by now, but for some reason, either never learned or figured you knew better.

You do not. I am right. Shut up, sit down, listen.

Pulling:

The tank pulls.
Especially in a pug, where you know at least half the group is phoning it in, you let the tank pull. Even if you have a hunter, who swears he knows how to use misdirect, it’s often not worth it. “Oops, misdirected to healer” is not what I like to hear. With people thinking random AFK’s are a good idea, I’d rather have to wait a few extra seconds for the tank to come back, than to have someone ‘help out’ and pull for the tank, only to find out that HEY. HANNERS IS TANKING LOL. For the doucheknights, please be aware that your yank-and-spank spell, while amusing, does nothing for my nerves. You are going from 0 to Tanking in less than a second, but only on one mob. The others are coming at you only because you just jerked their friend across the room by the face. ANY heal I do to you is going to make them more angry at me, and then what are you going to do? In my experience, you are then going to run around like a moron, wondering why all the monsters just rushed past you.

Sheep Pulls are Stupid.
When did this start becoming common again? I realize that mages might feel they have been left out of the utility fun with the complete lack of CC lately, but come on use some sense. You have the highest intelligence ratings of the group, but you can’t figure out why I throw a hissy fit every time you decide to sheep your target before the tank pulls? It’s because everyone who is not currently chewing grass is now running at you! Again, if I heal you at all, they are instead running at ME. You have iceblock, I have a shield that can take two hits, maybe, then I’m flatlined. If you’re having a problem with your target being in the concecrate or being hit by aoe from the group, then – hey! Not your problem anymore. If you can’t control your target before it gets into range of those things, that indicates something YOU need to fix. Not the tank. And certainly not ME.

Wipe:

In a wipe, EVERYONE RUNS.
Having all three dps suddenly go afk, sometimes they tell me sometimes they don’t, as soon as we hit the floor is one of the most infuriating things. I am running back. Me, the one that was either the first one dead or the one healing my guts out until the last second. The one person in the group guaranteed to have to buff everyone when we get back up. I have to get my mana up, buff, and then get my mana up again. You can not move forward until I do that anyway, so you are not saving yourself any time. In fact, you are wasting more time by forcing me to have enough mana to resurrect you after I run all the way back, because that’s more time I have to spend chugging back that terrible seal blech. If the healer is running back, everyone should run back. And you other people that try to defend this behavior with “It’s ok, I’ll rez” are NOT helping. If everyone pops to life at the beginning of the instance, then they have the entire run back to regen mana and health, so we are nearly good to go by the time we’re back to where we were. If we’re even slightly coordinated, other wonderful things can happen. I can buff while running! Other people can buff while running! Hell, the hunter can even make us RUN FASTER. Look! Synergy or something!

When a wipe is eminent, KEEP FIGHTING.
If you’re the tank, you may have the tricks to pull it off and save it from being a wipe.
If you’re dps, you may be able to take down one or two more baddies before you drop.
If you’re the healer, you and that one random other guy might be able to stand up against the odds.

Feign Death/Vanish/ (and wtf is ‘shadowmeld’?)
Unless you’re the healer, do NOT try to drop agro and hide in order to spare yourself a repair bill or something. You may wind up pulling out of the battle just as the others in your group are pulling out the stops to survive. Now your lazy butt is trying to determine if you need to get back in the fight, or if you just shot everyone’s chances and NOW it’s a wipe. If you have a rez, this is somewhat forgivable, but still looks cowardly. If you don’t have a rez, and you wind up being the lone survivor in a wipe that you may have contributed to by ducking out early, then you are just an ass and I hate you. But to be the type of creature that does that, you probably laugh at my hate – in which case you can also laugh at the other people in my ignore list WHICH YOU JUST JOINED. Roffle, my good sir, roffle.

Summoning Stone:

Go to it.
If there are 4 people in the group, EVERYONE STARTS HEADING TO THE STONE. I cannot stress this enough. Mostly because that vein in my temple is starting to get twitchy. I COULD stress this enough, but something would burst. I have been having a hard time getting groups together, mostly because everyone is looking to get carried through these places, or they’re refusing to tank until they realize the tank they’re stuck with is not as ooberleet (troll for ‘very special’) as they feel they are. Nothing is quite as infuriating as being the last one to a group, dropping whatever quests you were working on and running to the nearest flight master in order to fly across the continent and realize that you’re the first one there. The only other person even on their way is in Zangarmarsh and their hearth to Dalaran is on cooldown so they’re heading to Shattrath to port to Undercity to fly to Howling Fjord. Everyone else is afk, in battlegrounds, or “lol I’m in dalaran and don’t have any fp from here! Lol”. That’s when I flip a coin to decide whether to just suck it up and stick it out – or drop group and do some quests for the dead guys nearby. Maybe hope that I get caught under one of those lurid green vats when their containing glass fractures, my pain may end early.

Also: don’t be the jerkoff that runs into the instance the moment you’ve been summoned. Especially if one of the people that summoned you JUST SAID: “I have to go afk for a sec, summon the others ok?” Because then I AM JUST STANDING THERE NEXT TO SOMEONE WHO HAS GONE COMATOSE WHILE YOU PICK YOUR NOSE IN THE INSTANCE A:LJKS(* @)(@)!*!JF)S.

/mana crystal

Playing in a group:

If you get agro (because you’re stupid and forgot you aren’t the tank) – do not run down the hall trying to give me the ‘hi sign’. You run towards the tank. You always run. Towards. The tank. Remember back in Rage Fire Chasm? When you realized that running from monsters in an instance only means you DIE TIRED? Still applies, bucko!

If you’re the tank (bless your heart) and you have to maneuver away from a badguy that is doing bad things – remember line of sight. Out of line of sight from the badguy = good. Ding sound! Out of line of sight from the healer = bad. Bing bong sound. If there is a circular place, with a bunch of columns, and the badguy does a big effect that you have to move away from – where is the optimal place for the healer to stand? In the center! If I were behind the badguy, I’d be in danger of having you run out of range while I’m getting too close to being up on the badguy. Plus, since it’s a circle, you might go around behind a pole as I’m casting. If I were behind YOU, then I’d be in danger of being underneath the badguy when he does something, because you backed up and lead him right at me. But if I’m in the center, and you’re moving backwards around this circle – not only are you ducking behind columns away from me, but you probably aren’t moving backwards fast enough to dodge his big effects. You are, in short, just screwing with me. I’m looking at you, big bad guy at the top of the Keep. You and your roars. Grr.

Traps are good if you’re protecting the healer. Traps are bad if you just run into a group of badguys and start an exploding trap beneath them before the tank has agro. What the hell, guy?

Declaring, at the beginning of the instance, that you ‘go kinda fast’, does not give you carte blanche (that’s elf for “wtf are you doing”) to ignore my mana pool and the tank’s health. Even if you are the tank (especially if you are the tank). Subsequently asking me “What happened there, lag spike?” when you die is NOT going to make me giggle and ask which inn you’re currently living in.

Any time you find yourself saying “lol that’ll be good for my alts”, pause and see if what you just picked up happened to have bound itself to your soul like a lamprey eel. If you do, in fact, say this out loud but realize you are an idiot, make sure you pick up a rock. Then you can say “My alts love shiny rocks. I was talking about the rock. Why are you looking at me like that?”

If you need something, push the damn need button. If you don’t, but can use the cash, hit the damn greed button. If you’re on top of a giant wall with a lake behind you and an alliance town in a valley in front of you, push the Dam Release button. Oh ho ho ho ho! (Push the damn release button if it’s a wipe, you lazy whacktard.)

Playing in a group is a lot different than roughing it out there on your own. You have to think a little bit about what you’re working with. Don’t rely on the crap you’ve been able to get away with while your guild holds your hand through previous dungeons, or your bestest buddy in the world who is already knocking on Arthas’ door while you’re trying your hand at rescuing Thrall from Durnholde for the first time. This time you’re running with me, and I. Will. Let. Your. Ass. Die.

But I’ll probably feel guilty about it afterwards. Dammit.

/mana crystal

Today’s diatribe is brought to you by the numbers “Dammit someone stole half my guild bank” and the letters “F” and “U“. I’m lucky to have made it through with half a pack of crystals left… Our paladin woke up naked except for her tabard somewhere just outside of Ratchet, and the Mistress is just a wee bit livid. Don’t mention the proto-drake whelp…

So I was going to have a stand-in person for this. I caught Thomas The Troll out there in the streets looking for alms as a war-wounded vet. After failing to convince him that ‘killed in action’ does not qualify him for any wounded-in-combat medals or awards, and that playing on people’s emotions only works if you don’t have to over-explain everything when they question your wounded status (“No, really. I was wounded. Then killed. Then brought back. Then fought free of the control and proved myself to Thrall again and – hey where are you going?”), I thought I had a sure-fire patsy to coddle you masses with an educational post about death knights.Apparently he’s much more interested in trying to run Hellfire Ramparts as part of a 5 doucheknight team at the moment. I heard one of them call out “Healers lol” as they galloped away.

So it’s just me and you again, trapped in this awkward moment right after it’s become all to clear that we almost avoided having to interact. That sort of instant where the third wheel of the date is left with the fourth wheel of the date, as the first two wheels wander off to make smoochface beside the city fountains. “Um, hi. Yeah, I came with Turrilyin and Murranidillo. Oh, how long have you known them? Yeah, that’s nice. What do you do? I’m a priestess. Yeah. Um. Want to make out?”

So uncomfortable. But hey, that’s why they make mana crystals, right?

DON’T JUDGE ME.

Since we’re stuck together for the duration, I thought it might be good to find something interesting for us to discuss. Yes, I realize things have been rather one-sided for a while, after my abrupt departure from the whole “ask me questions thing”, but you have to admit that most of the questions seemed to be a bit on the snarky side. And we can’t have that. Snarkiness is only acceptable in small doses. And from me. Not you. I refuse to share the Elune Stone spotlight. Shoo.

Rather than fall into that trap again and allow you miscreants to think you have some level of importance here besides taking my number of comments to levels that make even the space goat envious, I will open the floor in a way that is so over-the-top magnanimous as to make you grateful for the mere opportunity to speak.

Vonya has pointed out, after my last segment indicated some hint of partiality towards the cause of druids, that I have not said a word towards the flaws and failings of priests. My response is: aside from certain frosty-haired and curvy-horned trollops, priests are flawless.

Discuss amongst yourselves.

Oddly enough, I have never really had many problem with lecherous encounters. It seems like everyone else I know has – my husband (on his female characters), my coworkers (also female characters), Aensu (on every character of any race or gender he ever plays)…the list goes on and on.

It’s like an epidemic that I am oddly immune to. Believe me, I’m not complaining. This post was spurred by a friend who tried to play an alt only to have another player latch on to her and dog her heels for about an hour, spamming group invites, “helping” her kill mobs, and emoting crudely at her.

I can’t be sure that he was attempting a romantic encounter, but it’s funnier if I do.

Surely some of you have had similar encounters, or tales of woefully offbeat advances while on your characters.

Tell me, oh blogosphere, what rules would you add to the following list?

Rule 1) There is never any situation in which the /lick emote is appropriate.

And I mean that wholeheartedly. I don’t care what you do in the relatively public depths of Goldshire – at that point you should be more imaginative anyway.

Rule 2) The /flirt emote is funny, not attractive.

Rule 3) Spamming guild and group invites (or requests to duel, for that matter) are irritating, not romantic. I’m not sure if there is a subset of the gaming population who does appreciate a constantly spammed invitation in the game, but everyone I know finds it unbearably rude.

See the bear.

See the bear run pugs.

See the bear know my pain.

See the bear summarize my would-be-lesson for the day.

Stupid bears.

The amount of bile thrown out over the past week, crucifying the space goat via strawman arguments for an opinion she was asked about, has frankly left me dumbfounded.

It’s going to take me at least a week to find a way to top this stuff.  I promise to use the time wisely and take lots of notes.

/afk

Sizzling hot topic for you folks, courtesy both Kwane and Vonya!

A Brief History Of Numbers

These days, the numbers 10 and 25 are cropping up more and more often in general chat, on blogs, and on the official forums.

Wrath made 10 man guilds viable throughout end-game, giving access to all the same content that the larger 25 man guilds have access to. Everyone’s either advertising that they’re filling out their ten-man raids, or pushing to get enough people to do 25 man raids.

Content

From a content standpoint, there are minor differences between the same encounter depending on whether you’re doing it on “heroic” (25-man), or “regular” (10-man). The bosses have more health and, in a very few cases, a couple more tricks up their sleeves, but (correct me if I’m wrong) are otherwise identical.

Reward

From a reward standpoint, 10-man Naxx loot is always level 200 gear, with OS and Malygos offering level 213 gear. Level 213, incidentally, is the level of the loot obtained via 25-man raiding, while the 25 man versions of OS and Malygos offer level 226 gear.

Assumption

The implication is that the 25-man raids are more difficult, and thus deserve a better reward, than their 10-man counterparts.

That, my friends, is the assumption I wish to challenge.

Are 25-man raids harder? Are they really more difficult?

Try to Focus

One could argue (and I would not disagree) that finding 25 people capable of staying focused and not falling asleep, watching sports, or just flat out not paying attention is more difficult than finding 10.

However, my assumption is that gear rewards are given based on content difficulty, not on recruitment or managerial difficulty. I’m sure many of you may have noticed that just finding five people who aren’t window-lickers to scrape together a heroic can prove difficult enough on its own. Anyone reading Hannelore’s posts should have little question about THAT.

Difficulty

Is the ACTUAL CONTENT of the 25 man raids more difficult to complete?

What’s the most difficult encounter in the game? You will find almost unanimous agreement that 10 man Obsidian Sanctum with all three drakes up is the answer.

NOT 25-man Obsidian Sanctum with three drakes up.

10-man Sapphiron is an incredible challenge. 25-man Sapphiron? I’ve heard it’s a LOT easier. Split your team and thus healers to each side as Hildi mentioned in a recent comment on this site.

In a 10-man? We run two healers in our team and the hybrids help out. Spreading too thin means our healing shaman (exactly 1/2 of our healing team) becomes weaker in this encounter, so its simply not as viable an option. 

I am willing to concede small exceptions like the Heigan charge dance are possibly harder by nature of having more people in an area, cluttering up the screen.

Why?

So why is this? Why is 10 man more difficult?

What does it mean for a 10-man raid to loose 1 person of ANY role on Sapphiron? 10% of the raid is gone! Were you incredibly unlucky and that person was 1/3 to 50% of your healing? Or worse yet was it the MT? Was it 1/5-1/6th the dps team? Might not sound like a lot there, but when time to healer OOM is everything, every fraction of a % of the boss’s hp 1 dps brings down can mean the world – Especially in a 10 man!!

What happens when you lose one person in a 25 man encounter? Two? Five? TEN? At what point do you wipe a 25-man fight? How many people can you lose, compared to a 10-man, before the loss is inevitable?

The Kicker

So then why is the loot rewarded blatantly a tier below that of the 25 man raids?

Effort vs Reward is gone I assume. I love the concept of Obsidian Sanctum and that leaving up drakes is more rewarding – you get better and more loot for leaving up drakes than you do for simply killing them.

But the 10 man version of this is widely considered the most difficult thing the game currently currently has to offer, and what do those 10 people get for conquering this?

Gear equavalent to naxx-25 ez-mode bosses. NOT equivalent to the end bosses of NAXX-25, but on par with that any retard that can accept an invite is likely to get, all the while drooling down his shirt.

Heroic? Pfft.

We cleared naxx-10 with 8 people.

We get nothing more than an extra mini-ding for this, acheivements and gear on par with gear in heroics. Heroics, I might add, that SOOOO many already complain are way too easy…us included.

What’s the point?

Are we screaming and railing? Are we crying and rending our clothing? Are we threatening to leave the game until this travesty is addressed?

No. All we’re doing is rattling some cages, asking people to think about this.

Running a ten-man raid instead of a 25 man raid is a CHOICE for us. We know this, and moreover, we knew that the gear rewards would be smaller for it. We could choose to recruit and fill another 15 or so slots, and we’d probably rock the content, but we choose the smaller, more controlled setting of a 10-man environment.

But we’d like 10-man raiding to stop being treated with the same condescending viewpoint as pugging Karazhan became at the end of Burning Crusade.

We’re not biding our time until we can 25-man and be considered “grown-ups” in the world of raiding. We shouldn’t be considered second-class citizens because we do 10-man content instead of aiming for the “big leagues” of 25-man raiding.

25-man raiding is hard. So is 10-man raiding – and I believe there is strong argument that 10-man raiding is possibly even MORE difficult than 25-man raiding.

Reward the content, not the numbers. That’s all we’re asking.