Stuff comes in freakin' waves

Mneh.

I haven't had the heart to post, really. Life's been kicking me. Repeatedly. But I'll get my act together one day.

I don't know if I'm doing this right, but it's fun!

I officially have a healer. And I'm loving playing her.

You see, due to assorted RP concerns, T'kela has become a resto shammy. And I'm finding it incredibly fun to try and heal for the first time in my WoW career.

I've put recount up to show overhealing done, and the challenge of mixing lesser and greater healing waves in to minimize wasted healing is a fascinating one. I managed to get only 1, 678 overhealing in an Ulduman PUG, and the only person that died was...me, actually.

I've thrown my talent points in wherever they seem to fit best, and am healing with a mixture of enchancement gear and a few cloth blues. I throw in a combo Riptide+ Nature's Swiftness+ Healing Wave to restore a massive amount of health and stick to lesser healing wave to top the tank off.

It's a lot different than DPSing or tanking, but for the foreseeable future I'm going to be queuing up to heal a lot more often.

T'kela the Stormbringer, Priestess of the Loa and Once-Clanmother of the Stormrocks

'ey dere, mons? Whatcha be doin' comin' ta see old T'kela?

Some 'a ma old buddehs tell ya 'bout meh? I know more 'bout da Loa dan any otha monessa alive, dis I can promise ya. But you nat be knowin' much 'bout dem, I be tinkin'.

The troll grins at you, the firelight catching the tattoos of flames that circle her wrists.

I know dere names, ja, and dere spheres of influence, da tales and da legends dat go back ta da time o' our great empire! I 'ave seen dem with mah own eyes, seen Samedi, Raven Goddess 'a da Aftahlife, take the dying under her black wings, seen the hoofprints of Lukou, Deer God 'a Life.

Perhaps I teach ya, ja? I tell ya 'bout da Loa?

She laughs.

Nah, ya a big, strong, adventurer type! Yah ain't got time fah a monessa's teachin's. Tell ya what, I'ma just give ya dis...ya wanna know more, yah seek me out. I ain't leavin' dis place aneh time soon.

The troll woman fishes out a crumpled, water-stained scroll and tosses it in your direction.

Spirits be witcha, mon, and Dambala nat touch ya.

Curious, you open the scroll. In bright, bold letters, T'kela's clear hand reads:

THE FELINE LOA

Shirvallah, the Tiger
-Domain/Trait: Ruthlessness
-Symbol: A claw that's dripping blood

Bethekk, the Panther
-Domain/Trait: Stealth
-Symbol: A moon, with some stars inside the crescent

Kimbul, the Lion
-Domain/Trait: The Wild and The Hunt
-Symbol: A pawprint on a leaf

THE ATTRIBUTE LOA

Hir'eek, the Bat
-Domain/Trait: Speed
-Symbol: Three zig-zagging blue lines

Hethiss, the Snake
-Domain/Trait: Agility
-Symbol: A small snake

Shadra, the Spider
-Domain/Trait: Cunning
-Symbol: A spider's web

THE SPIRIT LOA

Lukou, the Deer
-Domain/Trait: Healing and Respite
-Symbol: Sunbeams

Ogoun, the Wolf
-Domain/Trait: War
-Symbol: Two crossed swords

Ezili, the Dove
-Domain/Trait: Love, Beauty, and Dreams
-Symbol: A crescent moon

THE ARCTIC LOA

Har'koa, the Leopard
-Domain/Trait: Motherhood
-Symbol: Spots

Rhunok, the Arctic Bear
-Domain/Trait: Strength
-Symbol: A huge pawprint

Mam'toth, the Mammoth
-Domain/Trait: Endurance and Stamina
-Symbol: A cluster of rocks

Akali, the Rhino
-Domain/Trait: Brute Force
-Symbol: A rhino's horn, curving upwards

THE AQUATIC LOA

Ro'naeja, the Crocolisk
-Domain/Trait: Tenacity
-Symbol: A scale

B'klarna, the Seal
-Domain/Trait: Ice
-Symbol: An icicle

Jhafna, the Crab
-Domain/Trait: Willpower
-Symbol: A crab's claw

Aqi'kan, the Shark
-Domain/Trait: Cruelty
-Symbol: A shark fin in water

T'jenta, the Frog
-Domain/Trait: Mobility
-Symbol: A small tree frog

Hinsa, the Fish
-Domain/Trait: Generosity
-Symbol: Small fish with three bubbles at the mouth

THE RULERS OF THE LOA

Quetz'lun, the Wind serpent
-Domain/Trait: Magic and Vengeance
-Symbol: A glowing rune

Mueh'zala, the Vulture
-Domain/Trait: Death
-Symbol: A skull

Samedi, the Raven
-Domain/Trait: Cemetaries (Peaceful Resting of the Dead)
-Symbol: Three black feathers

Shango, the Eagle
-Domain/Trait: Storms
-Symbol: A lightning bolt

THE ELEMENTAL LOA
Note: These are other names for the Loa held captive in Zul'Aman.

Ata'latki, the Dragonhawk
-Domain/Trait: The Element of Fire
-Symbol: Flames

Ina'aeri, the Eagle
-Domain/Trait: The Element of Air
-Symbol: Lines representing a gust of air

Tedra'no, the Brown Bear
-Domain/Trait: The Element of Earth
-Symbol: A tree

Hy'nakra, the Lynx
-Domain/Trait: The Element of Water
-Symbol: Water

THE ETERNAL LOA

Dambala, the Scorpid
-Domain/Trait: Treachery
-Symbol: A scorpid's stinger

Zanza, the Owl
-Domain/Trait: Wisdom
-Symbol: A scroll

Raen'elda, the Rabbit
-Domain/Trait: Purity
-Symbol: A snow-white flower petal

Baladaezor, the Dragon
-Domain/Trait: Bravery
-Symbol: The head of a dragon, color depends on your particular skills.

Geres'tek, the Tortoise
-Domain/Trait: Time and Aging
-Symbol: An hourglass


At the very bottom of the parchement, there is her swirling signature, and a drawing of a lightning bolt striking a pool of water.

The Titles Grind: Part 1

Titled Part 1 since I forsee that there will be several more stories of me and my obsession.

As I told you before, I loooove titles. Love them. And after staring at the helpful green bar that tells me that Laia is Revered with the Cenarion Circle, I simply couldn't stand it any longer.

That title had to be mine.

I yelled for a mage in Dalaran, got nothing, and resigned myself to the twenty minute flight from Darnassus to Cenarion Hold.

Tiglath, obligingly, hopped on his baby mage and found me, glaring at the flight master in Ru'theran Village, to offer me a portal at no charge.

Have I mentioned I love my pet pally healer dearly? Then I will now XD

After a short, comfy griffon ride to Sithilus, I settled down in my usual farming spot, just northwest of Cenarion Hold.

And there I stayed for the next 2 hours.

I'm back!

And waddling like a duck. But I did manage to make my way from the couch upstairs,so here I am! Time to go grab some Frost Emblems and try to remember how to tank, eh?

<3 Missed you, non-existent readers. That could be the pain pills talking, though.

A bit of RL and a smattering of Dragon Age

My faithful readers (yes, I see you, 1 follower. Be afraid. Very afraid.) I'm afraid that the mocking tones of Shimmer, the casteless dwarf assasin, when she proudly proclaimed "I was half--unconcious and I still beat them! How awesome am I?" (or something along those lines) have seduced me away from WoW for a little.

I beat Dragon Age before as my blood mage, Eyowyn, and plan to make a shapeshifting mage called Laia soon after Shimmer betrays and murders everyone in Fereldon.

You see, playing as an evil seductress who panders to her companions whims to get them to assist her gets old after awhile, since you really can't do anything openly evil. This is where Shimmer comes in, a lovely girl that cuts the throats of wounded soldiers and spits on their corpses.

I'd go on, but quite frankly I'm also a bit sick with nervousness over my surgery tomorrow. I'm getting my Achilles tendons lengthened, you see, and while I know it's a routine operation, etc, etc, I still can't bring myself to look forward to some stranger slicing open my ankles.

Anyways, see you tomorrow! I may be high off drugs, though....the medical kind, since my supplier is unfortunately out of town.

...

Kidding! Kidding! Sheesh.

Achievements that I'd love to get

As you may have noticed, Laia is my "Smash bosses into bloody pulp!" main and Eyowyn is my "Oooh! A fluffy bunny!" main.

Now, while Laia has her shiny Champion of the Frozen Wastes title and is working on Guardian of Cenarius (since,as I explained before, I ground all the way to exalted with the Cenarion Expediton to get my beloved Earthwarden), Eyowyn is the one with 20plus titles. Ambassador, Crusader, of (insert capital city here), and all but 3 of the holiday ones as well. She has Stinker and could get an Albino Drake if I ever decided to spend that much money on a sort of ugly-looking mount.

You see, I am a title fantatic. I like having titles that really suit my characters.
Champion of the Frozen Wastes is pretty good for Laia, but I'd love Primal Laia or Laia the Primal. Explorer Eyowyn is what I usually go with for her.

But there are more titles that I'd love to have. And, in order from GIMME to YES PLEASE, here they are!


1. Loremaster Eyowyn- Since I am a WoW lore geek...would be perfect
2. Eyowyn the Seeker- About as good as the above
3. Eyowyn the Exalted- 40 exalted reps, thank you Keri :)
4. Eyowyn the Insane- Because it's awesome
5. Astral Walker Eyowyn- Impossible, but sounds cool

And, if I could make some for her...

1. Eyowyn, Daughter of the Violet Citadel
2. Eyowyn, Hand of the North
3. Eyowyn the Obsessed
4. Cryomancer Eyowyn
5. Archmage Eyowyn

Laia would be...

1. Savage Defender Laia
2. Shifter Laia
3. Laia, Champion of the Wilds
4. Fanglady Laia
5. Primal Laia

Dearest non-existent readers, feel free to make up a title or two for yourself. Your title can say a lot about you or your character. Edward the Immortal would be a great example.

See you tomorrow!

I'm not very interesting this weekend.

There's lots of things to account for this. For one thing, I've got a U.S History and Math test on wednesday that I've been studying frantically for. For another, I'm having surgery in a couple of days.

But really, I think that my creativity tends to run out when I'm not pressed for time. So perhaps one day I will gush over...hmm...idk, my adventures, eh? For now, good night!

Forgive me

But I'm so very tired today. I'll post tomorrow, I promise.

WHY?! WHY?!

I just had to say it, didn't I? I practically asked for a fail PUG, and boy did I get one.

The scene was Utgarde Keep. The time, about 6pm. The character, Eyowyn, searching for a last few emblems to afford some epic pants.

Now, before I go on, let me just say that both of the other DPS and the healer were perfectly lovely, sensible folk.

But the tank, oh the tank...

You see, when the five of us first joined our tank immediately left. And, I mean, WTF? It's Utgarde Keep, for crying out loud! Easy! Effortless! Come on!

So we wait another freaking fifteen minutes for another tank, and when a shiny, 5300 gearscore prot pally arrives, I have no idea of the horror that awaits.

How this absolute IDIOT got any gear whatsoever is a mystery to me. Aggro was a foreign concept to her. I found myself alternating between using my wand and desperately burning down the 2-3 mobs that would peel off onto the poor healer.

Maybe there was some rational explanation for how much she (or probably he) sucked. Maybe they were trying to bring about world peace and doing calculus with their toes while they were tanking.

But I really doubt it, since after a glorious wipe to the four mobs in front of the Prince, this idiot told me that she was drinking coffee when I plaintively wailed, "You have 5300 gearscore! How can you not keep aggro off of the healer?!"

Coffee? HOW THE HELL IS THAT AN EXCUSE?

Ugh. I need Aspirin.

Would you like that frostbolt with a side of Deep Freeze?

Deep Freeze. The most wonderfully useless ability (in PVE, at least) ever conceived by Blizzard.

Other than Sentry Totem, of course. I'd hate to take that honor away from it.

But now...now Deep Freeze crits regularly for 20,000 damage even when cast by my terrily undergeared mage. And let me tell you, there's nothing more fun then seeing Fingers of Frost proc, then throwing off two frostbolts and whacking your Deep Freeze hotkey.

"IMMUNE!" screams the text floating merrily above a mobs head, shortly followed by a crazy amount of damage. It's a lovely thing to watch.

You see, the fun thing about Frost, to me at least, is all the cool, shiny procs we get. Fingers of Frost and Brain Freeze procs always make my DPS meters do a little dance of purest joy. It's cool to weave in a fireball, ice lance, or deep freeze with your never-ending stream of frostbolts.

Don't take my word as gospel, though, dear non-existent readers. I'm probably doing something terribly wrong. Go poke Euripedes at Critical QQ and I'm sure he will be far more helpful than I.

Good night! I'm going to try and run a bunch of heroics tonight, so I may have my first fail PUG story to share with you!

I don't miss the "Good Old Days"

Taking a break here from "I iz feral, hear me rawr", I've been reading a few blog posts about those "Good Old Days" of TBC.

You know what? I disagree. Those weren't "Good Old Days", they were "Miserable, Boring, Stressful Gear Grinds and Nightmarishly Hard Instances Days".

Let me explain. In these "Good Old Days", even an instance on normal could make your party grind to a halt in a horrible 3-hour wipefest. Instances on heroic were nigh-impossible for me and my team of three intrepid guildies. The Swift Flight form quest chain was the hardest thing I've ever done.

You see, the Stars of Azeroth only had 4 accounts with 80s. There was me, the bear tank, Gryff the druid healer, Whisder the boomkin, and Idoneus the hunter of pure amazingness. We clawed our way towards Heroic Sethekk Halls over about 5 months.

5 months to get me the gear to survive the pounding I would take. 5 months where Idoneus and I would 2-man the Lieutenant in CoT: Durnholme Keep until he gave up 2 Iron Bands of the Unbreakable for me. 5 months of 0 -10 arena scores every week, to try to get the PVP epics that I needed. 5 months of even more BG grinding for every precious piece, 5 months grinding to exalted with the Cenarion Expedition for Earthwarden, 5 months of scraping copper coins together to afford the best enchants and gems.

It was brutally hard work, boring work. Not fun, not anything even CLOSE to fun. It was work. And in World of Warcraft, a MMORPG labled as a game, I don't think that we should have to work for 5 months to get our epic flight forms.

It almost made me cry when they made it trainable. Cry, I tell you.

Not that there wasn't a few fun bits, like winning our first arena match, or the time that little Eyowyn took on a rogue and a warrior by herself and lived to see the sunset. But they were flecks of gold in a whole mountain range of granite.

I don't miss the "Good Old Days" where tanks would go squish! when you threw a paperclip at them. I never even got to finish a heroic. Ever. We only even made it to Anzu in Sethekk Halls. Raids were laughably out of my reach.

I like being able to take on 12 mobs at a time and come out at full health. I like seeing Icecrown Citadel, being able to actually participate in the whole game.

I once had a PUG raid where when we killed Lord Marrowgar, the other tank had been dead for the last 20%, everyone but 3 DPS and I had bit the dust, and a priest in Spirit of Redemption form keeping me alive. That was fun.

And you know what? I still can only barely field a heroic with the level 80 accounts in my guild.

Thank you WotLK, for making World of Warcraft fun to a casual like me.

I iz feral, hear me rawr (Part 2)

( 3 more days till the weekend! And I'm giving up and making this into a total RP post)

Laia Starwind's occasional companion, the cryomancer Eyowyn Tidefire, gathered the few people she had met over her travels into a guild called the Stars of Azeroth. This was a small organization, not built to facillate delving into the deepest, darkest caverns in the land, but to bring real friends together.

The druidess was the first to arrive in the mage's humble home, a fat, two-story building on the outskirts of Dalaran City (then under its protective dome). She made her way past floating looms and cloth that burned as the grinning human wove it, and settled down to watch the door.

Next to come was the night elven hunter, Idoneus Swiftarrow, and the grey wolf Shiloh that followed at his heels, grown larger and more savage than others of his kind by, as peasants would whisper, licking up the drops that fell from his master's alchemical experiments. He greeted her with a gruff nod and stood by the door as if uneasy to be inside for long.

Pilaser Stonebeard and Tiglath Lightbearer came in together, swaying slightly. Laia smirked at the pot-bellied dwarf until she noticed his outline flicker in the sunlight.

Eyowyn greeted the three of them with open arms, not even noticing the treant that craned its head in through the doorway and dropped Laia a wink with a wooden eyelid, or the blue-feathered mookin that ran in, tripped over the mage's cooking pot and erupted into a mass of flames. Laia laughed, and lazily closed her eyes.

It was safe here. She could rest.


But not for long. The next day, Eyowyn shooed the three druids outside with howled instructions to find her old friend a mace called the Earthwarden. It was an old weapon, she said, made by Neltharion long before her mother's-mother had been born, imbued with the breath of Ysera and Alexstraza before the metal cooled. It would keep the "tank", Laia, from falling under enemy blows when the druids sought Anzu, the Raven God, on their quest to learn the shape of an impowered storm crow.

Idoneus dodged the irate cryomancer and joined them, and together they walked through the mage's portal to Dalaran.

(4 manning swift flight form quests for the win! This all happened back in the good old BC days, when the four of us ground Steamvaults until it begged for mercy and the Cenarion Expedition gave me my shiny mace.

Ah, those were the good old days. Not really, though, I love being able to set foot in a dungeon without 4 months of careful preparation.)

I iz feral, hear me rawr. (Part 1)

((I can not stand boomkins. I am sure that you are all lovely people in real life, but that stupid-looking chicken-bear-moon-thing grates on my nerves like they were soft cheese.

Shush. That metaphor totally made sense.))

Laia has always been a feral druid. From the very first moment that she started bouncing on my screen, I knew that a path of finger-twirling was not for me. I wanted Laia to be a savage huntress of the wild, with muscles like steel springs under thick violet fur. I wanted her to be the eyes in the darkness, beauty and ferocity combined, not some silly antlered owl-creature.

I thwacked things on the head with my staff for ten levels, eagerly awaiting my first form. The second I finished the questline, I smashed that icon with all the strength in my hand.

There was a poof of lavender smoke, and then a massive, hulking beast, covered in tattoos and wielding claws like scythes, sat scratching itself on my monitor. I nearly succumbed to helpless weeping on the spot.

Laia was strong now, her iron hide blunting the blows of her foes, the keen nose of the bear warning her of any that would dare to stalk her down. Her weak, mortal shell was no longer neccessary, the strength of the ancient forest spirit compensating for any elven weakness. She was unstoppable.

I have never stopped loving the sheer, raw power of a druid's bear form. Even today, I feel like Laia simply tolerates the trapping of civilization around her, that she could stalk off into the woods and return, unscathed, in a few years.

Ten more levels passed, and the shape of a panther was hers. This shape she (and I) liked even more. We were swift death in the shadows, mist in the hands of our enemies, the whisper of a growl on the wind.

We never gained another form after that, aside from the skin of a cheetah, and the soft hide of a sea lion, but those do not truly count because they are not specialized for combat. The silent hunting of prey through the wilds, the pounce and the feel of their throat between your jaws, the sweet blood that splatters on your whiskers as your fangs slice through their flesh and end their life, the meat of the kill, rightfully earned by skill and wisdom, these are the things that are the triumph of the huntress. These things made us grow stronger in the way of the predator, that endless cycle of life and death that is failure to the dead and victory to the living. We embraced it, gloried in it, chose moss-strewn hollows for soft beds and lapping water from forest pools for a mug of ale at a tavern.

We were wild, free, and unstoppable, with not a care in the world or an obligation to anyone. Until, that is, we found our family.

((This post sort of turned itself into a RPed one as I wrote it. It's rather nice, actually, I hope you don't mind, my non-existent readers. ))

Hi there.

Welcome to Adventures of a Casual. Grab some conjured Mana Pies, take a seat, and enjoy the show.

This blog is about my adventures in the sprawling World of Warcraft, primarily with my two mains, Eyowyn and Laia. No comments about their spec and gear, please, especially with poor Eyowyn, who I'm still trying to gear. If you want to be helpful, sure, but if you want to be an asshole, I will take offense.

If you came here expecting a long dissertation on casual...sex, maybe, then you're going to be dissapointed. I'm not very sorry for you, after all, you're not the person I particularly want to read my writing.

Anyways, I am a very causal player in a guild made up of only 5 accounts with 80s, a guild that is composed only of my RL friends and family. I'm the leader, obviously, Star General Eyowyn.

We have arena teams called the Two Stars of Azeroth, 3 Stars of Azeroth, and so on. We suck.

My mage is my achievements and rare mounts main, currently chasing after a Violet Proto-drake on the wings of her nether drake, who I call Veranaku, or Lavender if I'm feeling sleepy and/or high off chocolate.

She piddles about, doing the odd heroic or two with her water elemental, Bubbles, while Laia goes and conquerors raids. I've clawed up the Deconstructor in Ulduar, put Anub'arak down AGAIN in the raid version of the Trial of the Champion, and shed bitter bear tears after Deathbringer Saurfang went down. Obviously, I have no real raid experience whatsoever so take any further opinions on them with a large grain of salt.

Since this is my blog (or at least, that's what blogspot tells me) I will probably include my alts at some point, too.

Need any more Mana Pies at this point? Eyowyn's specced Conjuring.

For information about me, I love all sorts of computer games, just beat Dragon Age with a mage called (guess what?) Eyowyn, write frequently and read even more often than that.

I read many, many WoW blogs, which I will happily link in some form whenever I figure out how to.

Now, a question for you, non-existent readers, is there any way I can promote this shoddy piece of the Internet? Any way to alert the esteemed Big Bear Butt Blogger that I exist?

No? Oh well, see you tomorrow.