Just….HOW?!

Tonight I ran through the Headless Horseman instance as healer with a random group. I was sat there, healing, and healing, and healing….and wondering why the Horseman wasn’t down yet. And healing. Colt, sat behind me, turned to watch, as it was obvious from the sounds that this was Taking A Long Time. An unnaturally long time, in fact.

Eventually the Horseman went down, and out of curiosity, I examined Recount. My suspicions were correct. The tank had done 28% of the damage, one of the DPS had done 48%, the rogue had done just under 3k DPS and the DK had done just over 3k DPS. I boggled. HOW?! I ended up scrutinising Recount closely, and had a snoop at their armory profiles, and realised that not only had the DK made some appalling choices of equipment, statswise (a lot of intellect and spirit, and a little bit of agility, and they were packing the Mithril Stopwatch), but they weren’t gemmed, enchanted, glyphed in points or taken full advantage of their spec. They had opted for Frost, put all their points bar one in the frost spec, and the other in unholy, and didn’t use disease more than about once in the whole instance. Now I’m not a top notch DK player by any means, but heck, even so….It made me want to weep. The rogue meanwhile was half clothed, did most of their damage using straight auto attack, was missing glyphs and enchants.

It’s the Headless Horseman. It’s not rocket science, it’s not a hard encounter.  And I’m still struggling to work out how people can reach level 85 and NOT KNOW or care about their basics. Suggestions on a postcard, please…

 

In which a crazy cat lady wonders just what makes a hero.

I’m currently “boring” our guild with regular updates about an itty bitty kitty that Colt rescued on Friday morning. Poor little thing had been dumped (along with her sibling who sadly didn’t make it) in the middle of a very busy road in rush hour traffic. Thanks to some other helpful folk, who provided him with a bag, a jumper and some antiseptic wipes when she bit him, he was able to stop – no mean feat on the road he was travelling – and scoop her up, and bring her home to us. We took her to the vet’s, got her checked out, and stitched up (she had a wound on her itty bitty bottom) and have been looking after her since. She’s beautiful and right now she’s almost constantly terrified. Although I did coax her into purring this afternoon, a major breakthrough considering she’d do nothing but hiss when we first approached her.

I can’t begin to say how proud I was of Colt. And all of my friends who have heard about what he did were proud of him too. Okay, it wasn’t saving the life of a human, or facing fire or anything notably medal-worthy by most standards, but he saw a creature in distress, and he stopped and did something.

He claimed that it was nothing, that he just did what he had to do. And over a cuppa we discussed the nature of being a “hero”. I pointed out to him that many, many others wouldn’t have stopped, would have worried about traffic, or being late from work, or, and this is most likely, thought “oh, someone else will sort it out”. And he didn’t. He acted on his values, basically didn’t think twice about it, but just did it.

That made me think. We play heroes each day, brave bold beings who save Azeroth. But am I a person who can do what needs to be done, and not let someone else sort it out? I don’t know. I’d like to think I could. I’m scared of pugging with strangers, and a whole lot of other things, including rejection. But if it came down to saving a life? I’d like to think so. I’d like to think I could step up and not drive on by.

I’d like to think that the majority of us are. And that Colt is indeed right. And I am wrong.

 

 

If Alq were to have an RP background, this would be it.

Times have changed somewhat since I first wrote this background. The druid once more walks on her own, but this time she’s confident in her abilities.  And she’s relearning how to pick up her killing feathers, having had little chance to wear them over time. But this is my tree’s background in all its simplicity.

Why am I posting it? Nostalgia, perhaps. Maybe a reminder to myself that I can still role-play. Maybe that I’m thinking of downloading an RP addon. I don’t know. Anyway, here it is. Make of it what you will.

 

She gazed at the spider busy with spinning its web. Her head was filled with all sorts of thoughts, and none of them were to do with the moment at hand. She didn’t need to listen to the words, she knew too well that no matter how hard she’d tried, swords were not for her. The last time she’d attempted to use one, she’d nearly killed her tutor, then dropped it by mistake. It was a wonder she still had all her fingers. They’d despaired of her skill, but couldn’t help admire her determination at the time, while thinking of different means to keep her as far away from any form of blade as was elvishly possible.

The spider had finished spinning its web and was now sat in the middle, patiently waiting…

“I’m very much afraid this path isn’t for you, dear child.. ” The words pulled her back to the here and now with a jolt of shock. Despite the kindness in the voice, she felt cold, frightened. Wasn’t this what the women did? What was left to her now?

A fly landed in the middle of the web, realised its mistake too late, struggled but for no purpose. The spider skittered towards it, dancing its way through the trap.

Her face must have betrayed her. The sentinel paused before continuing. “I know it’s traditionally our role…however…..” There was an uncomfortable pause. She didn’t need to tell the girl she could never be a sentinel.

The spider was busy wrapping its victim tightly in silk now. All struggling had ceased.

She felt for the fly. Trapped, tied up. A dead end.

“Is there anything else that calls to you?” The night elf shook her head, trying not to cry.
“No…nothing…..I…not…..able…to defend these lands……I thought…please excuse me….” She fled before any further questions could be asked.

She hid away for a time. Sat by the lake, gazing into the waters each evening, wishing for an answer, struggling to find a way, a path. Sometimes she’d forget about herself, lost in the moment, lost in the beauty of the surroundings. She’d always known how much these lands meant to her. And now she hated her inability to defend them, she hated herself. She understood the need for harsh measures better than most. To live, the wolf must kill the rabbit, the spider the fly…..The balance of nature was delicate and at times unkind. And she was not, by any means, a gentle creature.

Finally she came to a conclusion that, as is generally the way with important matters, should have been all too obvious for her. She returned to the sentinel who had been harsh but kind, and told her of her decision. Surprisingly, the woman didn’t laugh. Instead she penned a few words on a sheet of parchment, and handed it to the girl with directions. “This should help you on your way, it’s a letter of introduction.” She met the girl’s eyes and for once there was a hint of a hopeful smile. “ It is never easy fighting against tradition. I wish you luck.”

That last fight had been tough, and somehow she’d managed to keep everyone in one piece. She wasn’t quite sure how she’d managed it, but they’d gotten through together, and were now stood on the deck of an airship, having escaped the grasp of the Lich King. She slumped against a mast and smiled to herself, catching her breath, exhausted but exhilarated. She wished that her mentor could see her now…

It had felt like such a long time ago that she’d made that decision. It felt like a long time since she’d handed that letter to the druid in Moonglade, and waited for him to laugh. Instead, he’d taken a long and hard look at her, before nodding acceptance. Some of the lessons had been easier than others. She’d devoured the details of the land, of the ways of nature eagerly. She had learned to wield the power of balance swiftly. Even wielding a staff had been relatively easy. But she had struggled desperately when it came to nurturing, to healing, to caring. And like a sweet berry in the midst of the brambles, it taunted her….. “Go,” he had said to her. “Go, find your way in the world out there. Make a difference. And if you don’t look so hard, it may find you ….”

It had felt like a long time too since she’d wandered into a glade full of spiders, lured by the sounds of combat. A young Night Elf was struggling amidst them, and it was evident he needed help – despite his valiant attempts to fend them off. She paused for the briefest of moments. Should she heal him? Should she interfere with nature weeding out the weak? But he looked far from weak, and he’d moved so naturally with the fight…. and she was here. Walking away was tantamount to killing him, and she didn’t think she could do that. Besides, he was fighting against tradition too, and she understood all too well the difficulties that brought. She took a deep breath and let loose her power. Afterwards, he’d looked both grateful and relieved when she’d offered him company on the road to adventure. It made sense,they were both travelling the same way, there was more safety in numbers, and much as she hated to admit to it, she was beginning to find a solitary road lonely.

The Gnome mage looked at her. “You did well there.” he said. “Thought I was a goner.” She smiled at him. “It’s what I do.” she replied. The Night Elf warrior smiled.
“And you’re good at what you do.” He waited awhile until the others had gone. “So….I hear there are foulnesses still out there…..Care to put on your killing feathers and come and help this warrior do some damage to them?” She laughed.
“With pleasure!”

She’d found her place at last.

Another in the “They could have been twins” series.

So, there I was minding my own business in the Firelands, having just handed over my 150 marks to the Shadow Wardens. And now I’m helping the Guardians of Hyjal beat up the big bads…

Except,  wait…You can’t fool me. I was one of Babylon 5′s biggest fans. That’s not a guardian of Hyjal. It’s a bloomin’ VORLON! They’ve sent Vorlons in to beat things up! Azeroth’s screwed!

You don’t believe me? Check this out then.

http://babylon5.wikia.com/wiki/Encounter_suit

See? Vorlon. And Shadows.  We’re all doomed. Yeah, I hear you say. No boom today. Hmm. There’s no boom today. Boom tomorrow. There’s always a boom tomorrow.

Commander Alq over and out.

 

Cuppa, anyone?

Facebook is currently host to a page called Anti-Riot – Operation Cup of Tea. The idea is that instead of people going out looting and rioting and pillaging etc, they stay at home with a nice cup of tea. Great idea in theory, it’s just a shame that those who are likely to do this are unlikely to be out there looting and rioting and pillaging in the first place.

However, solidarity and all that, I signed up. Trouble was I’d also signed up to raiding. So my contributing photograph was a little…uh…geeky?!

Ah well, guess it’s the thought that counts?

 

Something is rotten in the state of…

Uh yeah. In less than a month, we’ve had two incidents of checking up on  our guildies, worried about their real life safety.

Previous panic was the horrors of Norway. We have a couple of lovely Norweigians in our guild. And we were all worried about them. Thankfully they were both okay, as were their loved ones.

Last night was strange. Sat in Mumble, chatting to a guildie while we were both watching the BBC live coverage of the riots. I was pretty safe, we’re out of the way in Wales, though I have guildies and non-WoW friends (!) in London. I also have friends in Manchester and Birmingham and Bristol. And I was somewhat worried about the growth of the troubles. My fellow guildie could hear the sirens and the helicopters, it was somewhat closer to home for him.

Trade chat was filled with  a running commentary, a strange mishmash of fact, fiction and lolcomments. I recall one about the riots hitting a Greggs bakery shop, and someone wittily following up with an “at least their steak bakes will finally be hot”. It’s odd how you remember the little, stupid comments. I suspect it was light relief from the scenes I was watching, scenes that I’d have expected to see in a movie, not our capital city.

I got to bed at about 3am, the rioting was still going on, the fires were still burning. I felt like I was watching the end of the world – tiredness does that to you, I guess – and that zombies were going to be around the next corner.

Mostly I’ve been avoiding the political analyses, I don’t want to see it all boiled down to words, I don’t want to read about how it was coming, how the poor/rich divide has become so great, how pathetic politicians in power are, how cuts meant this. Bottom line is people were out there looting, burning, indiscriminately, burning down peoples’ houses,  peoples’ businesses. Damaging the people who are working hard in the communities that have been savaged by the riots.  My feelings are for those people, the ones who have tried to make a difference and putting in to the communities.

I don’t know what’s going to happen tonight. I don’t know if it’s going to kick off again, and if so where it’ll spark up, I don’t know if my friends and guildies out there are going to be okay. They’re all sensible folk,  and I’m pretty sure they will be, but it feels like senseless times at the moment and I can’t help worrying.

And it makes me wish I had a huge great real life Tranquility button that I could hit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Me? Melee?! Ding!

I didn’t think I’d ever see this happening. I stopped playing my Draenei death knight a while back, when I sort of dropped WoW for a bit. And then one Saturday evening, Colt casually mentioned that all the others in guild were on as their DKs I decided it would be fun to log in as Eir. Aside from the “Whoah, I’m scared!” reaction of a couple of guildies when they logged into a pure DK guild roster, I did a little research that night, and concentrated on my Frost dual wield spec, and got back into the swing of things, pleasantly surprised by the pretty little yellow numbers that were floating above the enemy. So I logged in as Eir a few more times and edged ever closer to that magic level 85.

We had a lot of signups for the raid tonight- which was fantastic news!  Colt made it, he’d signed up just before me. I didn’t. It didn’t worry me in the slightest, I figured I’d casually do some achievements, or level Eir up a bit more. Then I had a whisper from a lovely guildie with Alt-itis, asking me if I fancied going on a dungeon run or two. I was a little nervous. I’ve not felt good about melee, and I didn’t want to let her – or the guild name – down with derpy dps. I was also having a bit of a low confidence day. But I bit the bullet and said yes. She’d tank, she wanted the practice, and I could dps my little heart out.

So in we went, on a random normal, the Vortex Pinnacle,  that was okay for my 84th level, along with another lovely guildie, a pug dpser and a pug healer. And part way through, the pug dpser asked for recount. (Mine’s borked at the moment, and I’ve purposefully left it that way for a bit so I don’t get hung-up over it.) To my surprise, I was top.

We ran another, the Stonecore, and I enjoyed that too, desperately trying not to be too much of an aggro muppet, and feeling my way. I also had Splashdown playing in the background, and a relaxed couple of guildies with me. It felt really good.

Then we ran another. Our guildie tank opted to choose one manually for the better items and the better XP. We ended up in a normal Halls of Origination. And it was there that I dinged to 85th.Which led to the comment by one of the puggers “Grats – now I don’t have to ask why a level 84 is topping the dps!” I thought they were joking at the time. But it turns out no, I found out later that I was actually top of the dps. Which for me, who normally hates melee classes, is a HUGE thing.

Tonight surprised me in other ways. Not only did I remember what I should do for each boss – playing as heals is a completely different animal – but I also started to get used to watching out for adds, and had a proud moment when I spotted an add heading towards our healer, deathgripped it and thwapped it one.  These should be things I know at 85th, but I rarely group as melee dps, because I’ve simply not had the confidence. For the first time in my WoW life, I felt totally comfortable playing a melee dpser, and I relaxed into it all the way.

I came out with some upgrades, but mostly an upgrade in my confidence, and the realisation that I CAN play a melee class, and not do badly. This pleases me. I’ve yearned to do that for a while now, but it’s always eluded me. So I want to say a huge thanks to those two wonderful guildies who were with me – tonight meant a lot more than I can say. But if I could bake you two both cakes, believe me I would! And I’d deliver them with bottles/boxes of wine too!

Yes, I am a geek. And?

Pilfkin started me thinking following my reading one of her latest blog posts.  You see I’ve been a gamer since I was 16. I started out with Dungeons and Dragons, and a protracted campaign in Middle Earth. The highlight was the Fight With The Balrog. And yes, it deserved those capital letters. It was hard.

When I was 19 I progressed to fantasy Live Action Role-Playing (otherwise known as LARPing), tabletop AD&D, Traveller, GURPS, Tunnels and Trolls, Toon, Cyberpunk, Shadowrun, Runequest, Prince Valiant and a whole other heap of games. I have also written and run various Cthulhu campaigns, including a one off involving pre-rolled Buffy characters for a group of drunken revellers at a gaming weekend. It involved time-travel, Nyalarthotep and Prohibition. And it was very silly. (Do I get extra geek points for being able to spell Nyalarthotep without looking it up?)

As well as playing, I regularly wrote adventures for the LARP group (my favourite was the Christmas fairy tale adventure, complete with rescuing a big jolly chap who was stuck in a “tower”, aka industrial chimney), designed encounters (black thread and someone willing to scrabble up a tree makes for a great flying book) and once got piled on by a heap of “zombies” who covered me almost completely in the blue dye that we used before we opted for an honesty system. It took me three thorough shampoos to remove it all from my hair and the memory’s never faded.

I have made costumes galore for my characters (which was more gratifying once we’d changed to the honesty system and they weren’t ruined so easily) and generic monster costumes. I’ve sat up at nights guarding camps, and drinking til the wee hours in the drinking tent at various weekend events. And I have even flirted with horror and vampire LARP, including a 1920 Cthulhu weekend.

Interspersed with this is a ridiculous amount of board and card game playing. And I don’t mean Monopoly or Poker. I’m talking Talisman (the original version, complete with City, Dungeon and Timescape), Kingmaker, Acquire, Settlers, Railway Rivals, Ave Caesar,  Magic, Munchkin and Fluxx, to name a few. I never did like Diplomacy or Risk, before you ask.

I remember White Dwarf in the days of Thrud the Barbarian, when it was more than just page after page of painted minatures, or instructions on how to paint minatures.

I have a lot of incredible memories from these times.  And I still do role-play and game when I can. Add to that my more recent MMORP experience, and all in all I would have to classify myself as a bit of a gaming geek.

Now, to Pilfkin’s question.   Do we want gaming etc to be viewed as cool or are we happy with our geek image?

For me it’s a mix of the two. I want to be cool, I want to be a cool geek who is recognised for doing something that little bit different. As it is, the last workplace I was in viewed me as a bit of an oddity because I went to bellydance classes. (I’d made the mistake of thinking that was unusual, but mainstream enough to be okay. It wasn’t.) Unless I KNOW there are other geeks with whom I can banter, I don’t talk about it to any but the most open minded of colleagues. I totally understand why Pilfkin’s other half hides his gaming with such care. I’ve done it myself all too often. I’m doubly stuffed in this area, as my other main interests aren’t what you’d class as mainstream or generally acceptable either.

I also dearly wish that it could be viewed as cool when filling out application forms for jobs. Because when it comes to the “leisure time” section, I currently write “reading, writing and crafting”. When in fact what I have is years of experience in creative thinking, imaginative approaches to challenges (I believe that’s what they call it in business speak these days?), teamwork and a healthy respect for sensible health and safety – something you need when you’re whacking the crap out of each other with foam or latex swords.

Here’s a classic example of problem solving and inventiveness. At the request of a friend of mine, I wrote her a murder mystery scenario for a group of 14-18 women for her hen night, not knowing exactly how many people would turn up and knowing that as a hen night, it would have to be for both gaming people and non-gaming people and giving us all a chance to dress up in fun outfits. It mostly took making sure I knew who the murderer was well in advance, so that I’d be certain she would be there, and some highly silly and creative writing to do it, but I managed it, and we all had a lot of fun with it.  I can’t see myself writing about this on an application form though.

Proof of teamwork on that same application form? Wish I could use raiding regularly, downing the Lich King. Oh, how I wish I could, but, like Orville (and I heartily apologise to anyone who remembers THAT), I can’t….

Don’t get me wrong, I do like my geek status, and I like that I do something a little different. In the circles I mixed in at the time, with the rest of the RPers and LARPers, I felt I was pretty damned cool. In my daily life I wasn’t, as I couldn’t talk about the same things that everyone else did, I didn’t have time to go to the pub every night, nor did I want to, and therefore was a bit strange. It didn’t make it easy for socialising with my work mates, and I was always on the edge of things.

But (minor consolation here)  it also meant that I had the best costume when we had to dress up one year as pantomime characters in the supermarket in which I worked. Everyone else hired theirs, and some thought I was being cheap, and looked strangely at me when I said no way was I doing that.  I was sorting my own. And I did. A full on Puss In Boots job, complete with high boots, make-up, cat nose, and ears and tail which I’d made myself. Compared to some of the pretty dresses (“Oh, right, so you’re Cinderella? Okay…”) that had been hired, mine was far more amusing and memorable. And recogniseable.

So, in answer to the question do we want gaming etc to be viewed as cool or are we happy with our geek image? Part of me would love it to be viewed as cool,  to not have to hide away a huge chunk of my life and for it to be acceptable for job application purposes, but at the end of the day, I am what I am.  I’m just as happy being a cool geek with all my fellow cool geeks out there. And if people choose not to accept me for being a gaming geek, then it’s their loss, not mine.

Except for those application forms. I want gaming to be ubercool full stop for those damned things!

And this is why punctuation is so very important….

Yes. I suffer apostrophe pain. I’m one of those people who enjoys good punctuation, grammar and spelling. For me, it  means good communication. And good communication is vital when you don’t have vocal emphasis.

What makes me bring this up?

This.

“can do attitude”

It was in a person specification for a job application. What the HELL does THAT mean, I wondered. Someone who’s prepared to wipe out Miss Jones on the Fourth Floor if she gets in the way? Someone who swaggers with all the bravado of John Travolta in Grease?

It finally clicked when a friend pointed out to me  that the phrase should have included a hyphen. I should add that at the time of reading it, I’d only had one coffee…..

“can-do attitude” is so very different to “can do attitude”.

Me? I do the former. I don’t do the latter. And just as candidates’ forms are tossed in the bin, so too are potential jobs. I threw that one away following my misinterpretation of the phrase.

What has this to do with WoW?  I’d say it’s a transferrable lesson. Communication is important. Clear communication especially so. In guild applications, in forums in guild channels, trade channels. A simple misspelling, a left-out comma or full stop. All these can cause potential havoc or hilarity. Imagine someone applying to your guild with a “can do attitude” – would you really want them?!

Besides, think about those punctuation marks. Please, don’t let those poor little hyphens, apostrophes, commas and full stops stay out in the cold…..

Further adventures in learning to play for myself – the Night Off.

I was sat outside enjoying the sporadic sunshine this afternoon, trying to work out why I was feeling the way I was feeling when it hit me like a ton of mammoth from the top of one of ghost town Dalaran’s pinnacles.

I didn’t want to play anything at all tonight.

I’ve been playing an online game in one form or another regularly. If I’m not out doing something in the evening, chances are I’m playing. And that’s what I was going to do again. Except that I just couldn’t face it tonight. I realised that tonight, more than anything, I needed me time at home, out of game. To be able to just pootle around the house with no pressure to be online at a particular time.

So I emailed my usual partner in crime, explaining I wanted a night off, which he understood all too well. And I had a lazy but pleasant evening. I had a long bath, complete with bath bomb and old Storm Constantine book, I took my time cooking dinner and I made  jelly – which is great fun if you pour it into a clear glass, and then, when it’s set, you pour cream or evaporated milk on top and use your spoon to make pretty patterns in it as the cream/milk sinks into the spoon holes.  And I curled up under a duvet with Colt to watch the latest Star Trek film. Which I found highly enjoyable.

I can’t begin to say how enjoyable I found it. Or how silly I’ve been in not doing this every so often when I’ve needed it. Having said that, I hadn’t realised how much I DID need time out full stop until today.

I consider it another lesson learned in returning to play games for myself.