Monday 22 March 2010

Who?

I am Andy, currently living in Liverpool, in England.

I play these characters:

Caera

My first level 80, although not my first ever character. I forget why I abandoned the rogue, but I think I just wanted to try playing as a healer, so naturally I levelled Caera as Shadow and pretty much stayed that way until dual-spec came about, whereupon I gave her a Holy spec and didn't like it at all. Not long after that I discovered Elitist Jerks and began to read up on Discipline healing, and for whatever reason found it a much better fit than Holy. Now my guild has 3 other Discipline priests so I've had to respec her back to Holy, and will probably have to abandon the Shadow spec for a Disc one (despite having just bought and gemmed the T9 Shadow chest. WTB moar emblems).

Around the time Trial Of The Crusader came out I decided we didn't have enough (any) shamans in the guild, and that this was not good enough. So, I left Caera gathering dust and began levelling…

Zobu

The one I'd consider my main, mostly because I've put the most effort into him. As such he's my best geared, sporting the lovely-looking Tier 10 shoulders (and legs but they're rather dull). I'm so glad the T10 shaman shoulders look cool, as opposed to the T9 ones which look like boats or bits of Japanese roof (and look the same as the hunter shoulders; great imagination there Blizzard). You may notice he also sports the Hammer Of Purified Flame as a result of a lucky Battered Hilt drop from Halls of Reflection not long after the ICC 5-mans were released. I've never seen it drop since, on any of my characters. T.G. Zobu's main spec is Elemental, but he also has 4-piece T9 Resto gear for his secondary spec (and shares most of the rest of the gear with Elemental).

A few months ago a combination of altitis and a lack of tanks caused me to start on…

Gorain

My dual-wielding frost-spec DK tank, who badly needs some new bracers. I chose a DK for my tank as I'd tried levelling a Draenei warrior tank (to the giddy heights of level 21) and found it terribly dull and slow; I've yet to give druids and paladins a serious go. Moreover, I wanted to try and redeem the image of lolknights in my own small way, spreading the word that yes, some DK tanks are actually not drooling idiots. I like to believe the pugs do a collective /facepalm when they see me as their tank, then by the end of the instance they've changed their minds and told all their guild friends about this awesome DK tank they had this one time, and his name shall become reknowned throughout the Glutsturm/Emberstorm battlegroups. I can see it now.

Anyway, levelled as a tank from day one, but it was only once I had a fair few heroics under my belt (and got my unbuffed health over 30k) that I really felt genuinely comfortable being up front getting hit in the face – up til then I was still very cautious and hesitant, which of course annoyed the "gogogogogogo" DPS no end. These days I take heroic Halls of Reflection in my stride (failpugs notwithstanding), and have even tanked the first couple of bosses in ICC (being MT in a raid is so exciting…).

Recently I got him a nice Unholy DPS spec and have been collecting the appropriate gear. Unholy DPS is quite fun, I've found, with much less of the waiting around for runes to come off cooldown that you get with Frost. And of course, having a perma-ghoul is funtabulous. I like to click him just to hear him go YEEAAAAGH.

Speaking of DPS, lately I've been levelling another character more or less in secret:

Raig

Yessir, a hunter! As with the DK, part of the reason for levelling this chap is to redeem the good name of hunters by showing that not all of us are morons who wear spellpower gear, gem for strength and/or don't know what Misdirection or Feign Death are (mind you, not giving us Misdirect until level SEVENTY FIVE doesn't exactly help encourage its use).

The more astute nosy amongst you may have noticed that wee Raig has no heirloom gear. That was deliberate: he is also an experiment in self-sufficiency, and quite a successful one at that, having 890 gold to his name when he dinged 40 last night (wahey, a ranged AoE spell AT PISSING LAST), just from mining, skinning and AH trading, with no help from rich relatives (a kindly mage portalling him to Dalaran doesn't count). Furthermore the lack of heirlooms ties in to the previous point, in that I believe it makes a stronger case for the existence of good hunters if people believe it's my only/first character. The reasoning on that one is a bit wooly, so don't question me about it.

I must also tell here the tale of Epic Journey I took Raig on to get him a tiger pet at level 10. I don't know if you're aware, but the only tigers at that level are quite far away from the dorf starting area. On the Echo Isles, in Durotar, to be precise. And so began the perilous trek, first up to Ironforge then along the tram and down through Elwynn Forest. No worries so far, it's all been fairly harmless. However, darkness lies yonder, across the river in Duskwood. Therein lie beasts of level ?? that can sniff out a lowly level 10 dorf from three miles away! I decided to play it (relatively) safe and follow the road leading to Darkshire, yet in spite of my precautions I managed to get myself eaten a couple of times. I think I may have sacrificed my temporary boar pet once or twice in an effort to escape. But indeed, in due course I made it all the way to Darkshire, and then on to the small outpost at the junction on the road leading to a yet more terrifying place: Stranglethorn Vale.

Yes, the wild, vicious jungle. There be tigers! And yet, not the tigers I want, as even the baby ones there could swallow me whole. Here now is actually the one concession I made to the self-sufficiency effort: I got a friendly level 80 warlock from the guild to escort me through the perilous jungles to Booty Bay, from whence I got on the boat to Ratchet. It turns out things might have gone quite disastrously wrong, as not long after setting foot upon the sandy shores of the Barrens, my warlock bodyguard disappeared into the æther of the net, leaving me to fend for myself in a hostile, dry and above all big place. On foot.

Despite this stroke of ill luck, I had few further hindrances and soon was in sight of Sen'jin Village, and the Echo Isles beyond. Giving the village a wide berth, for troll NPCs do not look kindly on lowbie dorfs, I ventured out across the water and finally claimed my prize: a wonderful orange-and-black-with-a-white-belly tiger, who I named Shillelagh. And yes, I well realise there are level-appropriate cats to tame in Dun Morogh, but damn it I want a proper tiger as a pet, not some wussy pussy snow leopard (and certainly not some mangy wolf). Tigers are awesome.

One of Shillelagh's brothers come to give us a "welcome back" hug.

There are others

But they're not worth mentioning until such a time as I point my mind at them again for longer than five seconds on the character select screen. The rogue I really should get up to speed - I've bought him a full set of heirloom gear, after all.

2 comments:

  1. Hello Andy :)

    All hail The Great Zobu, master of illusion and all things magical and wonderous!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I got a mention! Internet fame here I come.

    ReplyDelete