Key warrior tank abilties: the short version
December 28, 2009 § Leave a comment
I was inspired by a post Big Bear Butt made where he described the key bear tanking abilities with a simple one line explanation, and decided I’d make my own version of this for warrior tanks. There are plenty of great in depths guides out there, and most of them can be found over at Tankspot, but this little guide is meant to be a quick reference. A way to orient yourselves to the vary basics of warrior tanking. This quick-reference doesn’t involve any theory crafting, number crunching, or long winded discussions of the combat table. It’s just a quick and dirty explanation of the ability and where/how to use them.
Three months! Hooray!
December 2, 2009 § 11 Comments
My blog is three months old today. Yes, that’s right, today we’re getting all meta. I can’t help it. But since it seems like plenty of other bloggers self analyze their blogs, I feel justified in doing it myself. Ok fine, the truth is I couldn’t think of anything else to write about today. But I promise the post will be funny as well as informative. After all, learning is fun!
I haven’t been around long enough to go into some long treatise on the intentions of the blog juxtaposed against the actual posts and the degree to which they have succeeded in implementing those intentions. Besides, that’s totally boring. So instead, I’m going to list a few stats and talk about the interesting things people are searching that lead them to my blog.
Fake it ’till you make it!
December 1, 2009 § 11 Comments
I watched a movie last night that got me thinking. My eventual point will probably spark a few disagreements. That’s fine, not everyone has to agree with me. I won’t judge you for being wrong. Find out what the movie, and the point are, after the break.
This has nothing to do with WoW
October 14, 2009 § 3 Comments
Alright, so I wanted to share a little bit of real life frustration this morning.
I live in New York City. Part of living here means I have to take the subway. When I first moved here lo those many years ago, the subway was a magical place. A new and exciting experience full of action and adventure. I grew up in a small(ish) city and had never seen a transit system before in my life. And when I moved I was very excited about this train that would take me anywhere I wanted to go. I also lived very close to the school I was attending so I didn’t actually have to take the subway, which meant I only took it when I wanted to. Eventually though I moved to an area of the city that required me to take the subway every day. And the magic of the transit system quickly faded.
Anyway, what’s my point here…oh yeah. There are two things I hate. People (re: crowds) and the subway. It’s phenomenal how rude people are. There are 4 things that people do on the train that absolutely make me want to hit them in the face:
First: People on the platform who will stand right in front of the train door and don’t get out of the way for people who try to get off. Typically these people will also get offended if you are trying to get off the train and try to get off before they get on.
Second: People who get on the train and then don’t move past the doorway. Move to the center of the car you idiots! Then the rest of us will fit on the train!
Third: People who will stand up on a very crowded car before the train has had a chance to pull into the station and try and shove their way to the door. Where exactly do you expect me to go? The freaking car is full. When we get to the station, then you can try and shove your way off the car. Although, if you shove me again, I may turn around and punch you in the face. I don’t care if you are 10. And wearing glasses. And a girl. Don’t. Shove. Me. Again.
Fourth: (I know this one will be most controversial) People who expect that because they are older, or a woman, or have a child with them, simply expect me to get up and give up my seat. Now don’t get me wrong, if I see someone who is clearly disabled, or looks like they are in pain, or tremendously tired, or pregnant, and sometimes even if they are carrying something, I will get up (if there is room to do so) and offer them my seat. I have nothing against offering up my seat to someone else who might need it more. What bothers me is people who expect me to get up simply because they are a woman or older (note, not old as in 60+ because I try to get up for them because they look like they can’t stand–I mean older like 40 or 50+ who are perfectly capable of standing on their own two feet).
First of all, I have my own physical disability. Granted, you can’t see it, so it’s not readily apparent, but there are days where standing up feels like thousands of tiny pygmies stabbing me with red-hot daggers. Needless to say, some days I just need to sit. Secondly, the mere fact that you are older than I am and/or happen to not have a Y chromosome does not earn you some fundamental right to sit down.
Now I know what you may be thinking. “Fizz, if you yourself have a disability that people can’t actually see, shouldn’t that make you more sensitive to other people who may need to sit down because they have disabilities that you can’t see?” Well, yes actually. In fact, it makes me that much more aware of what’s going on. Which makes me more aware of when people cop the attitude that they deserve a chair simply because that’s what might be socially expected. Oh, you’re tired? Suck it up. So am I.
Maybe, just MAYBE if you said things like, ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ instead of, ‘what’s wrong with you’ and ‘I can’t believe you are so rude’ I would be more inclined to put aside my own pain and let you sit down.
It is entirely possible that I am way off base here and am just a cranky old gnome, and that maybe I should relax a little.
Or maybe the people on the subway should stop being such assholes.
The Plaguelands
September 25, 2009 § 3 Comments
When I was leveling Thistlefizz I tried to avoid all the zones with the undead. I’m not a big fan the horror genre, so by extension zombies and undead. So when I reached the 50-60 ranged I headed for Ungo’ro Crater and then Winterspring. But while I was there I got a quest from one, Jessica Redpath. She informed me that she had been living in Lordearon just before the Scourge Invasion. For some reason that isn’t really given, she wasn’t actually in her homeland when the Scourge swept through the land. Ms. Redpath told me that she was concerned that the other members of her family hadn’t survived and asked if I would help her find out their fate.
Well, even though I didn’t really enjoy the thought of fighting zombies, I was touched by Jessica’s plight. Here she was, stuck in Winterspring, trying her best to help fight back the Burning Legion, and she had no idea what had come of her family. And so since she wasn’t able to do it herself, I agreed to take up her cause. I seem to recall one of the soldiers in the area asked me to go to Chillwind Camp in the Western Plaguelands–and since I was headed there anyway….
I’m really glad I accepted those quests.
The Western and Eastern Plaguelands became two of my favorite areas in the game. It’s not because the quests are particularly fun or the land is pretty. It’s because of the lore. The story lines that interweave in the Plaguelands are some of the most heart wrenching in the game (like the one about little Pamela Redpath). And it kind of makes me sad that so many people just blaze right through the two zones, if they bother going through them at all.
Warning–beyond the cut are what might be considered ‘spoilers.’ I say that in quotes because what follows is a mixture of actual in game lore and personal extrapolations, and interpretations of stories and events.
The Cranky Old Gnome 