The Cranky Old Gnome

The astute CoG reader has probably noticed that the image on my header is a picture of my character, Thistlefizz, standing in Dun Morogh.  I thought it appropriate to have a picture of the cranky ol’ boy.  But I also included my non-combat pet <Snowshoe Rabbit> in the shot.  You might ask, “What does a small, non-threatening looking bunny have to do with being a gnome, being old, or even being cranky?”  Well, on the surface, nothing really.  Having that bunny out doesn’t make me crankier, older, or gnome…ier.  I included the bunny in the shot because that little rabbit is as every bit an endemic element of Thistlefizz as his sword, shield, and roflcopter.

I was already partial to rabbits, as I have two of them in real life.  A black and white dutch, and a white and gray dwarf that bears a striking resemblance to the <Snowshoe Rabbit>.  So I thought it was awesome that I could have a bunny follow me around on my adventures.  And we’ve been on lots of adventures together.

That little bunny has been with me since my very first day of World of Warcraft.  My roommate, Wizzbang*, was kind enough to purchase one and run it over to me while I was still traipsing about Coldridge Valley.  Me and and that little lagamorph have been through quite a lot of adventures together.  From the highest peaks of Blackrock Spire to the lowest depths of Azjol Nerub.  Sure, I’ve strayed and pulled out other pets.  I have a lot of them, and enjoy variety now and again.  Occasionally I’ll pull out Egbert, the Worg Pup, the mechanical squirrel, or even the brown rabbit.  But my one true love is little old snowshoe.  I love watching him hop along behind me, his little frame flopping along.  He’s always their, faithfully charging into even the most challenging of battles.  He doesn’t give up when I mount, he’s not afraid of following me off cliffs, and he doesn’t hesitate when I lead the charge against the biggest baddies in Azeroth.  I can’t even say that about my most trusted guildmates.

I’m curious if anyone else feels this way about any of their non-combat pets.  Do you feel incomplete if you don’t have a specific pet following you around?

“[Insert clever sign off phrase here]”

~Fizz

*By the way, I have some important news regarding him soon

So wow.com has recently posted info about the new LFG interface. I’m at once filled with deep apprehension and cautious optimism.

Before you continue on past the cut I must leave a disclaimer.  Yes.  I KNOW this is all still on the PTR and is subject to change.  So don’t tell me that.  I’m not an idiot.  I’m still going to voice my opinions about it.

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I just wanted to share a cool healing experience I had on wednesday night. We were in Obsidian Sanctum and were pulling the patrol right before the 3rd drake (whose name I forget…it’s the one where you have to enter to portals cause he becomes immune). Somehow the drake got pulled at the same time as the patrol and wiped half the raid. That included the other healer and the off tank. And the few dps who were hybrids and could step in and help. So it was me, the druid tank, a mage, a warlock, a hunter, and a rogue. We got the patrols down and started working on the boss. The dps was overgeared so the damage was pretty high, but as they were all squishy the incoming damage was pretty intense. When the portal time happened, I had to dance in and out of the portal switching from healing the tank to healing the group of dps. And I totally managed to pull it off, without loosing any additional people. I was very proud of myself.

Anyway, just thought I’d share that.

“[Insert clever sign off phrase here]”

~Fizz

Alright, so I’m not a computer programmer so I don’t know all the ins and outs of servers and instances and such.  What I do know is that when I log in on a Saturday night and can’t log in to any instance or raid I get rather upset.   I try not to rail on Blizzard specifically too much for issues.  Most of my daily gripes are player related.  First it was “additional instances cannot be launched.”  Now, it’s “transfer aborted: Instance not found.”

I don’t know what that means in computer speak.  What I do know is it’s obnoxious.  I’m not surprised that something like this happened.  WoW is a computer program.  Computer programs have bugs.  What’s actually bothering me is that there is no information about the problem.  Not even an acknowledgment.  By the time most people read this post, it’s likely that Blizzard will have given some info and the problem might even be fixed.  But for now, nothing.  Not a single blue post on the forums.

All I wish for is an acknowledgment of an issue.  A blue post that says, “hey here’s an issue.  This is why it’s happening (we think).  Here is what we are doing.”  I don’t even need an estimation of how long they think it will take.  I just want to know that Blizzard is doing SOMETHING.

Oh well.  It’s not really that big of a deal and it will be fixed soon.  It’s just annoying.

“[Insert clever sign off phrase here]”

~Fizz

So one of rumouncements (that’s rumor/announcements for those of you playing along at home) posted on WoW.com today was about the retaking of Gnomeregan.  Seeing as how this issue is near and dear to my heart I was super excited to see a semi-official source saying that we will be retaking Gnomerergan.  I looked at the image in the article and read the text in it, “For Gnomeregan! After five years of players purging Gnomeregan of its irradiated inhabitants, Gnomes may finally be able to reclaim their home as a new capital city for the Alliance…”

Seriously. Awesome.

However my joy was short lived.  First I had to bring myself back down to reality and remember that this was all hearsay and speculation anyway.  The second thing that I realized was I had missed the last part of the text in the quote on the image. “…until they mess it up again.”

Ok look.  I love gnomish engineering in all its quirks.  Sometimes the failures are more fun and exciting than the actual intent of the device (catastrophic poultryizer failure anyone?), and it’s these little quirks that make playing Gnomes fun.  We’re eccentric, clever, ingenious, and loyal.  We are not however, children, footballs, fools, or failures.

What I’m getting at I suppose is I am bothered by the continual lack of respect for gnomes, and to a somewhat lesser extent, the players who play them.  I’m not railing against the taunts and cries of the Horde.  They are the opposing side.  They are supposed to hate us.  I’m bothered by those who would call us allies.  Goodhearted teasing isn’t the problem.  I tease my friend who plays a Night Elf about being a dang dirty lazy hippie.  So when a few jokes about my stature or the reach of my arm comes my way, it doesn’t phase me.  It’s when people step in with the attitude (and sometimes the phrase), “Step aside shorty, let the real heroes take care of this.”  It shows a fundamental lack of faith and trust.  So when I read that we might get to retake Gnomeregan “until [we] mess it up again” I can’t help but feel the heavily implied (intended or not) disrespect.

Don’t write us off.

You may regret it.

“[Insert clever sign off phrase here]”

~Fizz

PS: Anyone who doesn’t think that the gnomes are heavily denigrated, just go read the comments in that post I mentioned.  Yes, many of the comments are cheers of huzzah, and there are an equal amount of people crying “If you give the Gnomes back their home, the Trolls should get theirs too.”  But if you really read the comments, you will pick up on an immense amount of flippant disregard for the Gnomes.

PPS: Just as a side note, for anyone wondering, yes I support the Trolls getting their own city (whether it be the Echo Isles or not).