Why Stereotypes Exist: The Huntard

I just had a horrific Slave Pens pug attempt. I say "attempt" because we only got to the first boss. The newest addition to my ignore list is a Hunter I'll call, um, "Reilys."

• Moaned, "NOOOO" as soon as my hunter, Hawli, joined the party. The other party members asked him what was up, and he said, (sic) "there not the only 1s want there epix." I said, "it's regular SP, where's the epics?"


• Then he agreed to remain in the group so long as he "gets the c-bow its all i want from here." I smiled, and gently reminded him that I would be rolling on hunter loot, as well.


• Walked into the instance with pet on Aggressive from recent PvP play. Said pet aggroed the first group while we were discussing marks.


• As soon as he heard "marks" being mentioned, he announced, "im not trapping."


• We finally killed the first boss after our good friend Reilys backed in to another group, and the Vest of Living Lightning dropped.


• Everyone passed, since we had 2 hunters, warrior, rogue, and a druid (healing). Everyone, that is, except Reilys.


• We insisted that he pass for disenchanting - and he greeded it, claiming that his current epic chest gear was not "socketed or restoers (sic) mana."

I completely flipped out on him, the rogue and I both called for his immediate /kick, but the warrior logged instead. Giving group-leader status to moi. I polished up the ol' boot and SHA-BAM! Out he went. Then we disbanded and all hearthed out, greatly aggrieved and disheartened. Or maybe that was just me.

It just makes me insane the way some players create a class reputation that the rest of us are forced to combat. So, here's to you, Mr. Moron Hunter in Shaman gear. You've earned it.

Free WotLK Respec and Other Goodies

DAY ONE: It appears that talents have undergone an overhaul in the Beta - so - each of my demo toons logged in completely untalented again. What an awesome chance to play with different specs, right?

Hawli Hunter played with tamed and releasing several different pets this morning just to see what kind of new skills and abilities were available to them. Our crocolisk, Giggles, has an ability called "Bad Attitude," it appears to be an AoE-tanking ability. Too cool for school, huh? The duskbat, Detroit, had a "Sonic Boom" kinda stun. Chaos, the dragonhawk, breathed fire. Finally, she dropped by the barber shop in UC for a new 'do.

Next I jumped on Tehrawreyes, our shiny new Death Knight. Tehr had been leveling as Unholy and having an absolute BALL blowing up corpses and summoning Ghouls to do her dark bidding. Today she respecced to full Blood, and hopefully we'll get to see how that works pretty soon. It appears to be more of party-dps spec, although it does have some self-healing abilities. And without even having to go to group therapy!

After respeccing I zep'd her to Northrend in order to pick up the Herbalism and Inscription professions. She's now on a quest for mass quantities of Peacebloom and Silverleaf. I predict that upon the expansion release you won't be able to swing a cat in Tirisfal Glades without smacking 18 Death Knights farming Peacebloom. I have now officially grown weary of my Deathcharger's pained, screeching whinny from all the herb-farming. Don't worry, though - I took it out on a random level 7 undead mob, and I'm feeling much better now.

Next I'll be going to Malarea. First on her list: turning herself into a demon! Yes, D has long suspected it, and now it's true - I am at heart, evil. She's also going to be making the long trek to find Dalaran, lovely purple-domed city that was, for some uber-fun exploration.

DAY TWO: Well - the server was crashing every 30 seconds, but I did manage to set her hearthstone, find the Inscription supplier, and discover the city portals before logging.

Wrath of the Lich King Patch?

So, it's Tuesday... servers are down... I chuckled to myself a bit, gloating, knowing that I have this Beta key and I'll be able to putz around in Northrend while everyone else is waiting for 11am PST.

Lo and behold - yes, lo - upon double-clicking that icon, a patch begins to download. A 235mb patch. GAH!!

Well, it's moving rather quickly, actually, and while I'm not completely sure I'll be able to get right in once it's done, it doesn't appear to be the tragedy I originally suspected. I wonder if I can find patch notes somewhere for it...

*Wanders off mumbling incoherently*

OH! Before I forget - make sure you're listening to the Twisted Nether blogcasts!! I sent them several MP3s for use in future shows, I'm hoping at least one of them gets some air-time. ; )

Get out there and starting Twisting your Nethers!

What's in a Main?

"Who's your main?" I get that question a lot. And truth be told - I'm finding it harder and harder to answer. My very first toon was my mage - and I had no clue what I was doing. I tried to level as Fire, since it was supposed to be the highest damage, and I gimped her with too much Stam and not nearly enough Int. The result was that I quickly grew frustrated with her fragility and horrific drinking problem and I abandoned her with a quickness.


Then I started playing with D, whose first and main was a Shaman. Of course I had to try it out, right? Sigh - she got to 18, 2 levels shy of her Ghost Wolf, and became my bank alt.


Finally I decided to go ahead and try the class I wanted from the very beginning. Everyone told me that Warlocks were complicated, difficult to master. I didn't care - after all, it's not as if I could have been a WORSE player. Malarea was born into the world, and lo, the ground did tremble with that thunder. We had an absolute BLAST learning all the nuances of her class, understanding what we were capable of, testing ourselves extensively, and pushing our limits. /wipe tear, we had us a time, Malarea and me.


I never thought I'd love anyone as much as I loved my Warlock. And then - my good friend B has an amazing Rogue on the Alliance side, on a different server. When she came over to play with D & I in the Horde, she created another Rogue and I watched it grow into a force with which to be reckoned. It looked like fun, sneaking around, pickpocketing, sapping mobs. I decided to give it a go.


Rigatoni leveled to 70 like skating on butter. I totally dug the life less squishy, to be sure, and Rigs had a bunch of cool and fun tricks: lockpicking, stealth, pickpocketing, sapping, and I leveled her Leatherworking skill to 375 for the BoP epics. Ran several BGs with her for Gladiator's Quickblade, and my guildies & RL-friends gave her an epic off-hand sword enchanted with Mongoose for a wedding present when D & I got hitched.

Around this time, I notice Principessa languishing in the low 50's. I created her as a soloing Shadow Priest so that we'd have a potential healer in the group back when D created his Hunter. His first non-healing toon dictated that I needed a healing toon. Well, D's Druid was coming up in the ranks, and wanting to learn the Feral side of life, so we teamed up: the Druid and Prin. Working as a team, we just FLEW to 70.

I can't remember the timing on this, but at one point just about everyone in the guild started pallies. Everyone except me, that is. I think I'd enjoy tanking, but I sure didn't want to level as Prot. And I already had one toon likely to be roped into healing, I didn't need a second. So - I started a Hunter instead. Hawli and and D's pally leveled together quite a bit. Once he hit 40, however, D grew bored with it and we unleashed Hawli to level ahead on her own. Which was incredibly easy, by the way. She's now in the low 60's and on her way to end-game, as well.

So - what's my point? I guess it's just that I don't think I HAVE a main. If I were to join one of those raiding guilds that insist you designated a main for raiding, I don't think I could do it. Each of them is a blast to play, and they all have their strengths for specific instances or zones. Who in the world would want to limit themselves to just one class, let alone just one toon? Not me. Looking back, I probably should have named them all some misspelled variation of "Sybil." I love me some MPD, y'all.

Alt-ernative Lifestyles... I Has Them

Lots of them, actually. Mostly Horde, as previously confessed, but I'm growing a stable of Alliance toons on a different server.

Draece is my Hunter. She was the first to see all of the Draenei starting area. Colbi, the Nelf Druid, was actually created years ago when D and I were first hanging out. She was there to stalk him -I mean, chat with him - while he played with his other friends.

Tytchen is a Human Rogue, and oddly under-whelming compared to her Belf sister Rigatoni. Of course that may just be because it's been so long since I didn't have poisons on my swords.

And finally, starting yesterday, I have a little baby Shaman: Emnyte. Everything I'm reading is telling me to go Enhancement, and I'm cool with that, but I'd LOVE to have any and all play-style tips, sneaky Shammy secrets, advice for dealing with multi-pulls, etc. Bring 'em on!

In Which Prin Convinces D to Go Heroic

more cat pictures

We've run the Imba reports (thanks, Misery, for the link!) We've spent hours pouring over Druid blogs and picked up some valuable advice. We've upgraded gems and re-distributed the over-capped Defense / Resilience. We've practiced on dozens of quests, lower-leveled 5-mans, and even the Nagrand Circle of Blood event. We're ready.

By "we," of course, I mean D's feral Druid. I know that he can tank a beginning heroic. I KNOW it. All we need is 3 other people, one of them a healer, who understand that it's a learning process.

But see - there's the problem. Prin's a decent 5-man healer, if pressed to be, but everything I've read says, "don't try to heal a heroic while Shadow-specced." And if I'm not the healer, then some stranger will be putting his repair bill into D's hands - and that's a lot of pressure for my bear. So - any words of advice out there from experienced bear tanks?

Maroon Is the Color of Your Energy

I suppose there are worse things... but it's never fun looking like a tool, like an idiot, like - as Bugs would say - a maroon. There are some simple ways to avoid it, you know.

• Chat channels. Know what channels are available to you, learn to use them correctly. Trade requests and ads go in - you guessed it - Trade Chat. General Zone-specific comments go in General. (See how this works?) Anything that's only of interest to you and one other person should be in "tells."
• If you are from Babylon (one of those people who likes to babble on, and on, and on) please head over to the Barrens. It's expected there.
• Learn how to tip. As an enchanter and jewelcrafter, sometimes I feel like an Olive Garden server on prom night. Kids simply do not know the meaning of "gratuity." Here's the reasoning: even if you're supplying the mats for your crafted piece, your crafter put a lot - no, a LOT, of time, effort, and money into leveling the skill to get that point. They've also put effort, time, and money into acquiring those patterns. A good rule of thumb is 10% of what the mats would have cost. If you don't think this is fair - then AH your mats and purchase the completed item from the AH. Or level the skill yourself.
• If you're being invited to a dungeon, whether PuG or a trial run with a recruiting guild, do yourself a favor and check your gear, provisions, consumables, etc - BEFORE you accept that summon. Nothing twists my knickers like having to wait for the hunter to go out for more arrows, having the shaman try to bum water off of me, or realizing that I, myself, have an Argent Dawn commision and my fishing pole equipped... in Shadow Labryinth. >.<
• Loot Roolz - make sure you know them BEFORE the run starts. Your guild probably also has specific rules, whether you're in a guild run or just representing your guild in a PuG. Be courteous. Better to be "that awesome mage who passed on the epic gloves" than to be that d-bag mage who ninja'd my epic staff (may he burn - slowly).
• Basic class-specific skills: learn to ASK POLITELY for lockpicking, ports, summons, food & water, buffs, etc. No one owes you anything. Being willing to hand out your own class-specific goodies (buffs, healthstones, etc.,) makes it far more likely that karma will treat you well when you're in need.
• No begging. I can't stress this one enough. Absolutely ZERO begging. Now that having been said, there IS a difference between, "Crap - I'm one piece of silk short for my item - anyone have a spare?" and *random player opens trade with you and yells, 'GOLD PLX'*.
• If you don't know - say, "You know, I really don't know." Don't try to bluff your way through a strategy or pull that you're unfamiliar with. Don't try to convince your party that you know everything there is to know about each of the classes. Better to be quiet, and thought a fool - than to open your mouth and remove all doubt, no?

Use your best judgment, keep in mind that this IS a game, and follow the Golden Rule. It's not that hard, people.

For My Druid Friends

This made me laugh soooo hard.




Thanks for sharing on Blog Azeroth, Tigerfeet!

Horde to the Core

I'm for the Horde. You all know that. I love the lore, the races, the stories that are woven throughout the Forsaken, Troll / Orc, and Blood Elf starting areas. I know that both factions must have their share of annoying trade-channel-spammers, 12-year-old VChat mouth breathers, and general tools, but the people I play with are all intelligent and fun adults.

That having been said - I've been just frothing at the mouth to experience the Draenei starting area. Perhaps it's because I agree with D on this one - Horde should've gotten the Draenei, Alliance should've gotten the Belfs. Oh - and both classes should have been able to be Druids. I'd love to try a Druid but the cow thing just isn't working for me.

One of our best friends / guildies is an Alliance alum from another server, and back last summer I made a little Draenei priest over there - I named her Nahtanelf. Of course, if I ever get back to leveling her, it'll be as Shadow... but I'm really thinking about pugging through some instances with her healing. I'm sure it'll be a trip, and kind of nice to see how the "other half" lives, right?

So the other day, D and I made a couple of Alliance toons.

/shame

He wanted to see the human starting area again, so that's what we made. Since he went Priest, I could take either tank or dps... hmm... for humans, that's Warlock or Rogue for me, since I'm really no one's idea of a tank. That's far too much power and control to put into my chubby little hands. That's got a lot to do with why I don't heal much, either... it's not that I CAN'T - it's just that I'm an asshole. I know healers who get all emotional if a minion or pet goes down - I use that as a warning to the owner. See? See how your little kitty just bit it? Back off on your dps, jack, or you're next. Kthxbai.

Where were we? Oh, yeah, humans in Elwynn. So - that made me think about how I'd already broken the seal, and there was a whole new starting area out there, and a do have that similarity / affinity for the Draenei female... So, I figured, wth? I made one. A Hunter, since I'm having so much fun on my Belf Hunter, Hawli. I've got her to level 24, leveling BM, mining, and jewelcrafting. I'm looking forward to having my first elek and I've just been tramping all over the world. For the undecided or easily seduced out there: the Draenei starting area was GORGEOUS. Wow did I love the red tones of Bloodmyst. Maybe I'll see you there.

/Sigh No Excuse!!

So, today's Crocolisk Day in Azeroth. The daily fishing quest that has a chance to reward you with your own Chuck, Snarly, Muckbreath, or Toothy. That means that each of my 70's is going to have to log in and do the fishing daily. Malarea reeled in the quest item on the 2nd cast, but received only Fishhooks and gold as a reward. Principessa spent a few more minutes trying, but that's okay since she really needs to level fishing. Unfortunately, she was logged out in Orgrimmar last night, so it'll be an hour before she can hearth back and turn it in.

Then Rigatoni came on, and began to fly out to Old Man Barlo to pick up the quest. The following chat message caught her eye, since she's always up for making a quick coin with her rogueishness. Just to get an idea of what she was dealing with, she shift-clicked the player to discover...

Wait a minute - that's a rogue. Why the hell does a rogue need another rogue to pick the locks on her boxes? I'm stunned.

I go ahead and whisper her that I'm in Shatt, and happy to help her out. She responds that she's in the UC putting up some auctions, but she'll pst me when she gets back to Shatt. I have time to port to Org, catch my crocolisk, hearth back and turn it in (only gold and fishhooks again) and I'm just settling down to wait when she whispers me, "nvm, i got a guildie to do it for me - thx for the offer, tho! : )"

I'm almost livid enough to NOT white-out her name in the above screenshot.

Here's what I can't decide - which is more d-bagish? A) A non-lockpicking level 70 Rogue, or B) People who ask for help in /Trade, offer tips for the service, ask you to wait for them, and then ultimately go another route after they've taken you up on your offer? It's breach of verbal contract, in my book, and if this were RL, lady, I'd totally sue.

And I'd ask to be compensated for my pain and suffering.

Ask Prin 7/11/08

"Dear Prin - When should I be using my Shadowfiend? Is he really worth the trouble?" ~Confused and Petless

Covered in today's blog post, but for the record:
- As soon as you're down ~3k mana, and as often as the CD allows - except when threat management is a problem. Healers and dps'ers alike benefit from this ability - Use it!!

"Dear Prin - What makes you think you know enough to answer other people's questions and solve their problems?" ~Unexplainably Combative Person

Well - I'm a mom, for one thing. That's basically one of the definitions. Besides, it's not like I'm offering to read minds or cure cancer - I'm not even trying to give Shadow Priest-specific raiding advice.

"Dear Prin - I think my husband is having an affair in RL - what should I do?" ~Worried in RL

Ask yourself, is he acting suspiciously? Repeatedly coming home late, unwilling to explain where he was, hiding the credit card bills, wearing his boxers inside-out? If not, why don't you trust him? Maybe it's your own insecurity, eh?

If you're convinced but have no proof, try letting him catch you staring at him with a pondering look on your face, as if you're right on the verge of calling him out - but holding back. If you're right, this will totally kill him and he'll decide you're on to him, then will either admit it or start picking unrelated fights to justify his behavior. If you're wrong, however, beware - he may think it means YOU have a dirty little secret.

If all else fails, it's time to ask yourself the most important question. No, not "is this giving me more time to raid?" It's, "am I willing to call him out, and live with the answer either way - or leave?" Until you can say yes to that, best to just keep your eyes open.

So - thanks for the questions, all. Keep 'em coming. Related note - if you wish to be identified, please say so - simply neglecting to opt out isn't enough for me to give your screenname. : )

Shadowfiend - Your Best Friend (For 15 Seconds)

A question was posed to me for the "Ask Prin" column concerning the Shadowfiend. I thought it was interesting enough that it needed its own post, but worry not - Prin will be posting soon with the answers to all your life's problems.

So the question was, "how do I know when to use the Shadowfiend? Is it really worth it?" Not only will we be talking about that, we'll also explore some tricks for getting the most bang for your 15-second buck.

Let's look at the Shadowfiend's specifics:

• Uses 6% of your base mana, 5-minute cooldown, instant cast.


• Fiend automatically begins to attack your current target when summoned, although you can switch targets mid-fight by selecting a new target and using the Ctrl-T command.


• Has a 1.5 second attack speed - he'll hit ~10x during his lifespan.


• Attacks are shadow-melee.


• Caster gains mana for each of the Shadowfiend's attacks.

So let's see just exactly how much damage the little guy does, and how much mana he returns. For the record, Prin has the following attributes: 7751 hp, 8805 mana, 480 Bonus Shadow Damage (unbuffed).

Test Mob #1 - Lvl 70 Shadow Serpent. SF did 878 damage over the course of his summon, returning 2192 mana to Prin via "Mana Leech." I also made sure to dump ~4k mana before the fight, so that all of the mana returned by SF would be captured on Recount.

Test Mob #2 - This time I'm buffed with Superior Wizard Oil and Poached Bluefish, Bonus Shadow Damage is now 545. Lvl 69 Scorchshell Pincer. SF did 1516 damage over the course of his summon, returning 3790 mana back to Prin.

Quick Math Alert - put on your safety goggles.
Additional 13.54% +damage to the caster resulted in ~73% more damage done and mana returned by the SF. Whoa.

Test Mob #3 - I forgot to reset Recount, data is skewed. Dammit. Resetting Recount.

Test Mob #4 - Okay, now I've added Adept's Elixir to the mix, for up to an additional 24 +damage (569 total). Lvl 69 Shadow Serpent. Disappointing results - on this fight the SF did only 1237 damage to the mob, returning 3092 mana. That's less than with the lower +damage... (Still got your goggles on? Okay, there is still an apparent correlation between damage done by SF and mana returned - it looks like 1.5 mana per 1 damage, that figure holds for all three working attempts thus far.)

Test Mob #5 - Still have the 3 +damage buffs on, total Bonus Shadow Damage is 569. We're going after another Scorchshell Pincer. 1247 damage done by our SF, with 3115 mana returned. Just like Test Mob #4, the 18.5% more +damage over TM#1 is only giving us ~41% more damage and mana returned by the SF. Mana returned continues to be 1.5 per damage.

Test Mob #6 - Lvl 68 Scorchshell Pincer, same Bonus Shadow Damage of 569. SF did 1275 damage and returned 3188 mana. ~45% more damage and mana over TM#1, mana returned still at 1.5 per damage.

Time to mix things up a bit. I did a little browsing over at ShadowPriest.com and came up with an awesome idea! (Thanks to Nenormalen of the Silvermoon EU server.) If you've been doing the Cooking Quest dailies, you likely have the recipe for a little treat known as Kibler's Bits. Well, apparently the SF's AP is based on the caster's Shadow damage and the fiend's own Strength attribute. Let's see what feeding our cute lil' guy a Kibler's does for us:

Test Mob #7 - Lvl 68 Scorchshell Pincer again, same Bonus Shadow Damage of 569. The pet treat increases our SF's strength by 20. SF did 1609 damage and returned 3583 mana. So this time he did quite a bit more damage (83% over TM#1) but returned less than the 1.5 mana per damage we've been used to (1.23 on this attempt).

In summary, I'd have to say that all this requires far more testing by someone more knowledgeable about the mechanics. We can safely say that upping caster damage and the Shadowfiend's strength stat definitely pads both the additional damage done and the mana returned by a significant amount.

Of course, our original question concerned when to use our faithful, shadowy minion. To keep it short and sweet - as soon as you're down ~3k mana, and as often as the cooldown allows. Keeping this guy waiting in the wings for an emergency is a huge hit to your dps and costs you more downtime as well. In long boss fights you may very well have the opportunity to call him forth twice; with a mana pot between, that's an awesome strategy for keeping you in the fight and supplying dps.

Concerns - first and foremost is threat. Think of your 'Fiend as your teenage son... whatever trouble he causes is going to ultimately be your problem. He's up there wailing on the bad guy and returning mana - that's additional threat that's going to be laid at your doorstep. Please don't summon him before your tank has sufficient aggro! That makes tanks cranky, and Crankytank is less likely to want to go out of his way to save your precious, purple-y hide. And while you can justify VE- & VT-generated threat as benefiting the entire group, SF-returned-mana is only going to you, Princess.

Have you learned to love your own personal Shadowfiend minion yet? If not, why not take him out for some play-time today? Go farm for the Firefly or something. Learn to love him, or at least, use him to do your dark bidding. If nothing else, maybe you can get him to take out the trash, or something.

**Edit - I removed the macro I had here in order to work on it a bit more. If anyone out there has one that will summon the SF, use Kibler's Bits, and announce in /y, /s, or /e - let me know! The best I came up with required a double-click, and that made for duplicate "announcing."

What luck! It's CHUCK!!

I finally scored one of these on the daily fishing quest. You may remember a while back D got Muckbreath? Well, yesterday morning he snagged Snarly, as well, only this time on the druid. I was soooo jealous. So jealous that I took all three of my 70's on the fishing quest, and the 3rd toon to turn it in scored CHUCK!! Go me.

Armageddon Craft

In a world... fraught with danger, war, and humans who don't always have skulls...

Time is ticking down.

Only five hours remain of the life we know.

One shadow priest has a chance - to end it all - on HER TERMS.

*cue explosion montage*

So Matticus of the awesome Priest blog posed this question to Phaelia once in an interview: You have five hours until WoW is no more - how do you spend it? I restrained myself mightily from poring over the other bloggers' responses on Blog Azeroth - I know me well enough to know that I'd spend an hour going, "oh, that!" "no - wait - that!" and this post would never get written. So - that having been said - apologies to anyone whose thoughts I may have inadvertently swiped.

What would I do... hmmm... As much as it may pain me to admit, a great many of my in-game actions are tempered by a thorough pre-act run through the gauntlet of "how pissed would D be if he knew I did THAT?" No matter how much I may try to justify a small or petty act, a smart-assy comment - this exercise really brings it into perspective. Now, that's not to say that I make D responsible for being my conscience - oh, no. His personality is simply the archtype I use to view my intentions from another standpoint.

So - first things first - we throw that right the hell out the window. Raid on Goldshire!! Hells-ya. Primary targets? Quest-givers and trainers. I'd make the following macros and spam them on every player: /point, /laugh, /pat - and then I'd kill them. I would respond to every post in Trade and General chat with the eloquent, yet concise, "ur mom."

I'd farm mats to craft epics - and then put them up in the AH for several thousand gold. I figure there must be people out there whose last wishes must include dropping their entire savings on an epic piece for an alt, right?

I'd send out ransom notes via in-game mail to my guildies for each of my non-combats pets... "Mail me all of your gold NOW or the [Mechanical Squirrel] gets it." And I know these people... no WAY could they stand idly by and watch me sacrifice innocent non-combat pets.

I'd empty all of my Ignore lists, on all toons. Yes, all of them. Even that fellow warlock I got into the Banishing war with back in Blade's Edge.* I'd whisper each of them like a long-lost cousin, "hey there! Remember me? Sure you do." /hug

And then when they responded? /ignore

That reminds me... I'd take my warlock up to the Elemental Plateau and just banish the mobs. I'd also take her to Goldshire and summon Infernals. I'd take Prin to the zeps and promise to teach newbies an important lesson concerning dueling - and I'd promise not to cast any harmful spells on them. No, Mind Control is not technically a harmful spell.

I'd take my hunter and tame a pet to represent my ex... and then I'd let it die, over and over again. Wait - that was out loud, wasn't it? *blush*

You know, you hear a lot about how WoW has negative effects on the lives of its players. Reading back over this post - I'm inclined to believe that Blizzard keeps it up and running to save us from ourselves. They're philanthropists, really.


*See, I was fighting one fire elemental, and another one aggro'd to me. I dotted it - but then another warlock in the area banished it before the dot ticked, and effectively stole my target. So I waited until he had a mob tagged - and I banished it. He reciprocated in turn, I repaid in kind, words were exchanged, including heated opinions concerning heritage and lifestyle practices - and then D intervened and essentially sent us to our rooms. Sigh - good times.

Ask Prin - New Feature

So - things are slowing down a bit, with Prin and 2 of her sisters at end-game. I thought to myself, what do I really have to share? Insight, wisdom, tact, and and expertise in personal relations?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAchokecough

No, not really, but when has that ever stopped me?

Got an annoying guildy? Lowbie hanger-on driving you nuts with questions? Constant begging for help from the RL friend you got hooked on WoW (and omfg WHY did you give him your main's server)? Prin can help. Leave questions here in the form of comments, or email to tjsonntag AT gmail DOT com, and Prin will pick some (if not all, depending on volume) to respond to on Friday.

/annlanders

Twisted Nether Blogcast - Episode 6

This episode featured special guest Auzara from the blog Chick GM. Some awesome thoughts on guild leadership, especially for the testosteroneless among us. I know I learned a lot - check them out at Twisted Nether. I downloaded the mp3 and listened to the show while painting the downstairs foyer ceiling this afternoon. In case you haven't noticed, the side bar over there to your right now has a link to the TN Wiki.

Of note is the revelation that this year's Brewfest mounts will be faction-specific. Yup, you got it - no more rams for the Horde. We get kodos. Yay. >.> Yeah, I'm pumped. *eyeroll*

You know what? I don't necessarily want a ram, either. Prin got exalted with Orgrimmar just for the epic wolf mount, and other than that, there's really only one mount I'd be excited for: the Darnassas cat mounts. Yeah, I know, that's borderline blasphemous. But I can't help it. Hawli's got the Frostsaber pet from Winterspring, and oh wouldn't Prin be gorgeous riding on that delicately-purple-striped cat? Yeah, baby, you know it.

June Poll Results

The ballots have been cast, and overwhelmingly, Inner Focus is the off-spec talent we go for. I'm totally with you, I have it myself. Wand Specialization and Mental Agility tied for second place with 5 votes each. Now I'm confused...

You're using your wand? Are you still leveling?

Awesome Hunter Blog!

Y'all know I play a hunter... well, I've been searching and reading lots (and lots and lots) of WoW-related blogs, I stumbled across Death from a Distance this morning.

Yeah, I lol'd IRL.

http://www.raidhunter.com/2008/06/reporting-from-worlds-end-tavern.html