I once had a friend; Addendum.

Warning, this post is a gooey mass of confusion.  It’s a follow up to a post I wrote a few weeks ago.  It takes me a while to get to the point.  Settle in for a long read.  Also, after writing this post, I realized it belongs in two parts.  The first part wherein I ramble on about the difficulties I had in actually writing this post.  The second, where I finally get around to my previous conversation about social interactions in the game.  You’re welcome to skip down to the 2nd part if you like.

That's right, I tanked it.

I tanked something today for the first time since that horrifying heroic ToC run a few months back.  I was mulling about Dalaran, feeling sorry for myself, wishing I had something to do when I got a tell from someone asking me if I wanted to tank heroic Halls of Lightning.  I receive a lot of tells from people asking if I can tank something, but that naturally comes with the territory of being a tank.  In the past little while I have turned them all down.  Partly because many of the requests are for raids I’m not geared for, but most of the time it’s because I didn’t want to be knocked around like I had been in the ToC run.  So my default lately has been to just say, “I’m not geared for it” and go back to working on the Loremaster.

However, now that I’m done with that, I find myself with nothing to do.  Nothing to do, no one to talk to…sorry, didn’t mean to go down the sad road from my last post again…anyway…while most of the time I would have brushed it off, this time I replied, “sure”.

I’m really glad I did.  There wasn’t anything particularly spectacular about the run.  We got in, moved through the instance, down the bosses, had a few wipes on the boss due to a new and still learning healer, and then we were done.  But it felt so natural.  It felt right.  I thought I would struggle to get the run finished and that I would be fighting for aggro against better geared players.  But I managed it will.  Yes, the first few pulls were a little sloppy, and there were a couple pulls where the mobs got away from me.  Mostly though, I tanked it like I had any other instance.

What I’m getting at is I realized how much I missed it.  I love tanking.  I love the challenge.  I love leading the groups through an instance, picking and choosing the path we take, deciding who to take down, setting the pace of things–I really love it.  Despite all the crap I’ve experienced around it I still have this burning passion inside me.  This fire in my belly that nearly burned out.  Like the episode of Dr. Who where they get pulled into an alternate dimension and it looks like the TARDIS has died but the find a tiny little bit of it still alive.  Ok…wow…that was  super nerd moment.  Nevertheless, I stand behind the analogy.

I’m hoping it’s a sign of things to come.  That things are going to start looking up again and that I’ll be excited to “let the dragon smash me in the face while you stab it in the ass.”  The next step I suppose is to find a new core group of friends.  People like Oz, and Wally, and Trin, and even Adelpha.  And find a new guild, one where I can have the happy social experience without having to be the man in charge.

It’s nice to feel like happy things are possible again.

‘[Insert clever sign off phrase here]“

~Fizz

I once had a friend named Adelpha.

Warning, the following post is less of a blog post and more of a journal entry. I don’t really have a specific point in mind. I just started writing and out this came. I’m not really sure what to do with this entry. I hesitate to post it only because it’s fairly personal and I think at least, gives quite a bit of specific and personal insight into the guy behind the avatar that is Thistlefizz. It makes me feel rather vulnerable because it reveals quite a bit about my psyche. I guess it’s a ‘handle-with-care’ post. But you know what? I’m going to be brave and post it. I’ve been pretty closed of personally and emotionally for a while lately. It would be good for me to open up.

Also, I want to preface this with the fact that I wrote this after being up all night with a headache. I didn’t actually read it. I want it to stand as is. I was afraid that if I looked it over, even to fact check, spell check, or grammar check, that I would chicken out and not post it. So you’ll have to forgive me if this post is a little sloppier than others.

Finally, it’s kind of a heavy post. Not like the two others I posted today. So if you’re just hanging out at work looking for a simple distraction, this may be a little too heavy for that. Like trying to eat steak and potatoes for breakfast. Maybe that’s what you’re in the mood for. But don’t be surprised if you get a tummy ache.

Ok enough prefaces, here’s the post:

So with that, I’d like to tell you the story of my very first world of warcraft friend. What I mean is, the first person I met in the game not via my roommate or the guild I had joined immediately after creating my first character. Their name was Adelpha, a draenei priest.

Loremaster Thistlefizz, the Seeker

I am well aware that getting the Loremaster achievement is a huge time sink.  But I’m finally finished!

Don't make me get my main!

I had one of the few positive pvp experiences I’ve ever had the other night while mulling about Silithus.  Usually my pvp experiences are more like this.*  I get the snot ganked out of me.  It doesn’t matter if it’s world pvp, battlegrounds, Wintergrasp, duels–I am terrible at pvp.  At least on my tank.  My shaman is actually pretty decent, but that’s because all I have to do is sit in the back and heal.  And as long as I don’t get too close to the front lines, I seem to do ok.  My tank is another experience.  Seriously.  It’s awful.  It’s like watching a monkey swallow a hand grenade.

Anyway, there I was, minding my own business in Silithus, working on that stupid Loremaster achievement, when I noticed a small pile of goo on the ground.  I picked it up, not realizing that it would pvp flag me.  I command-tabbed over to firefox and searched google for some indication of what it was that I had picked up.  I won’t go into it as it’s not critical to the story, but if you are curious, here is some info on it.  So I picked up this silithyst dust and made my way to the turn in point unabated.  But as I continued on my questing I was burdened with five minutes of pvp-ness.  Since it was 3am and I was in freaking Silithus after all, I figured there wouldn’t actually be anyone in the zone and that venturing out on my own wouldn’t be a huge deal.

Clearly I was mistaken.

I was at the Twilight Post rounding up mobs, when I noticed I was taking far more damage that I should be from this pack of level 59-60 mobs.  And when I kept taking damage after they had died I knew something was up.  Sure enough, there was an undead shadow priest standing behind me, melting my face.  Usually when I get involved in pvp it goes something like this: Crap I’m stunned.  Ok, I’m moving aga…stunned again. Now I’ll get him. Trapped/Rooted/etc. Escape boots! Stunned. Dead.  *sigh*  But this time all I was getting was Shadow Word: Pained and Mindflayed.  This gave me a chance to put the stun lock on the other foot!  Or…something like that.

I whipped around, and charged him.  I popped enraged enraged regeneration and bandaged, getting back a good chunk of health while he was stunned.  Then I hit him with a shockwave, stunning him again and piled on the devastate/shield slam/revenge rotation I’m so found of.  I hit a concussion blow when he got out of the second stun and continued pummling him.  Since my stuns against him were subject to diminshing returns, he got out of that one pretty quick and went to heal himself.  But I shield bashed him right into a silence.  He died pretty quick after that.

It all happened within maybe 10 seconds.  I was really surprised to be honest.  I did not expect to be able to live, let alone actually kill him.  But I did!  And it was awesome.  I’m not filled with some delusion that I have suddenly stumbled on the secret of pvp or will be able to head into battlegrounds and win everything.  But I finally felt like I was getting my vengeance on all the crappy pvp experiences I’ve ever had.  And yeah, it was probably a little unnecessary to camp that guy and kill him 10 more times, but in that moment, he represented every Horde that has ever sneaked up behind me while I was minding my own business, pvp flagged through no fault of my own, and ganked me.  And then camped me.  I was pissed and this priest was going to suffer my wrath.  I even created a /target macro so I could find him easier after he rezzed.  And since he was the one that attacked me in the first place, I really didn’t feel bad about it at all.  Oh, and we were close to the graveyard too, so when he tried to spirit rez, I was right there to kill him again.

Eventually he must have wised up to the fact that if he waited in spirit form for his pvp flag to drop he could rez without suffering my tiny gnomish wrath.  I left the situation feeling very satisfied.  And went about picking up more silithyst, staying pvp flagged.  And no one bothered me the rest of the evening.

“[Insert clever sign off phrase here]“

*Yes, my favorite part is the gnome back-up singers.

It's time to move on.

There’s a Tom Petty song I’d like to quote from if I may;

It’s time to move on
It’s time to get goin’
What lies ahead I have no way of knowin’
But under my feet baby, grass is growin’
Yeah, it’s time to move on
It’s time to get goin’

I have decided to step down as the guild leader of Higher Education.  I don’t want to make a big thing of it or go into long winded details.  But I wanted to state on the record that I’m turning over the reigns to Wizzbang.

The rest of this post is meant for the members of Higher Education.  I won’t stop people from reading it, but from here on I’m talking directly to them.

What a Long Strang Trip it's Been!

Today I finally earned the achievement “What A Long Strange Trip It’s Been”!  I had picked up the helm and sinister squashling a couple days ago, but hadn’t finished the achievement “Check Your Head”.  I still had to put a pumpkin on the head of a Draenei, and wanted to wait until people in my guild were actually online.  But since I don’t seem to have been online at the same time as them recently I decided I was tired of waiting.  I wanted my proto-drake!  So I headed to Dalaran and walked around a bit, searching for just the right Draenei.  I found one, a paladin named Lewtybewts.  I really got a kick out of her name, and recognized her as one of the people I had run the Headless Horseman with.  So I snuck up behind her and BAM!

Thistlefizz has earned the achievement [Check Your Head]!
Thistlefizz has earned the achievement [Hallowed Be Thy Name]!
Thistlefizz has earned the achievement [What A Long Strange Trip It's Been]!

It was very exciting, and she was a good sport about humoring me and got excited about the cool new mount.  And, I promised her screen shots, so here they are:

Lewtybewts Pumpkined!

Three Achievements at once!

 

Look how pretty!

 

I’m really excited to finally be riding a proto-drake!  I’ve been trying for that dang bronze one in Culling of Stratholme…but we all know how well that’s been going.  So a very special thanks to Lewtybewts for being a good sport and humoring me, and for helping me wrap up a years worth of work and earn my sexy Violet Proto Drake!

 

As a side note, you may have noticed in my first creen shot that I’m tracking my Loremaster of Kalimdor Achievement.  As of this posting, I only need 48 more quests and then it’s on to Icecrown to finish off The Loremaster!

 

“[Insert clever sign off phrase here]“

 

So anyway….

I haven’t been tanking much lately.  Like at all.  Well, I’ve been running the Headless Horseman every day to get that damn pet and helmet (just got it! yay!) to drop, but that doesn’t really count.  No, the last run I actually remember going on was Heroic Trial of the Champion, sometime in the beginning of September (just after my trouble with Arthas).  So it’s been a bit.  Here’s what went happened (hmmm, suddenly I feel a little like Monk):

I have always been very self conscious about tanking.  Well, in PuGs anyway.  I know I’m a good tank, probably better than most simply based on my awareness of the rest of the group (hmm, you seem to be out of mana…maybe I’ll stop for a sec).  And when I run with guildies or friends I’m always confident and sure of myself.  But many times when I get into a PuG I just freeze up a little and become much more susceptible to criticism.  This is especially true when I get with groups where I know people have run Ulduar.  Whether they say anything or not, I tend to project my own assumptions that since they have run Ulduar they are running with better tanks, more experienced tanks, [insert I'm not good enough statement] tanks.  Most of the time people are pleasant about things and just want to get the run done.  But if anything goes wrong, if they don’t immediately blame the healer, they blame the tank.  Having played both, there is a distinct difference in the criticism.  When I am healing and screw up, if the blame is placed on me typically all that is said is, “Nice heals” (said snarky), or “Next time, heal me”, or “Dude, why the #%!@ did you let me die?”, etc.  And it usually ends there.  But when I get criticized as a tank the comments are much more…thorough. “Dude pay attention.” “Keep them off me.” “I don’t think your gear is good enough for this.” “Are you even def capped?” “Do you even know the proper rotations?” “You don’t know these fights do you?” “What, did you just turn level 80?”

Well anyway, I was in a PuG for heroic ToC.  I had run regular ToC over and over and over again.  Not only that, I had run it almost every day since the patch came out.  I say this as a preface to establish that I had run it before, on heroic, and had been successful many times.  But on this particular day the run was not going well.  We were having trouble with the champions.  We had a warrior, rogue, shaman combo (which in my opinion is the hardest combo).  The rest of the group greatly outgeared me, so I was having trouble holding threat against their high dps.  We wiped once.  I told them the issue, and said, “if you just slow down a little with the dps, we’ll get past this.”  They scoffed a little.  We went again.  They didn’t slow down.  We wiped.  The first thing the healer said to me was, “You aren’t geared enough for this.”  And not in whisper, in party chat.  Apparently that left it open for the rest of the group to rail into me.  It was crazy.  It was as if they had decided to let out every nasty thing they had ever held back but had wanted to tell their tank.  I won’t repeat what they said, as most of it isn’t appropriate for PG audiences.  Or even PG-13 audiences.  At first I let it go, cause I’ve had people rail against me in the past.  But after each person got in a good shot and then they started in for another round, I started to defend myself.  That seemed to just draw out their venom even worse.

And then they booted me.

It really shook me up.  Normally I can shake these off after a few days.  But with my string of unsuccessful events tanking during that time just made it impossible to get past.  And combine that with the great success that I was having on my shaman–why should I bother to put up with tanking where everything is negative, unsuccessful, and unappreciated when I can go heal where I am valued, appreciated, and dare I say, needed?

I don’t know as if I’m really going anywhere with this.  I guess I just felt like getting this off my chest.  I’m not posting this to give some dramatic announcement that I’m retiring from tanking forever, or that I’m making my triumphant return to daily tanking.  Mostly I just feel like venting.

And you know, I feel much better now.  Thanks Internet, for listening.

“[Insert clever sign off phrase here]“

~Fizz

I has a bunny. See?

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

I hate you Arthas.

So last night I was running Heroic Culling of Stratholme with my guild.  As luck would have it CoS was both the regular and heroic daily.  We had a solid group together, although one of the dps had never been in there before.  I suggested that we try for the timed achievement as I still haven’t managed to get that darn drake on my main.  Our healer was a little nervous about it, but she’s way to hard on herself.  She’s actually a freaking fantastic healer.  But, I didn’t want to add extra stress to her life, so I suggested that we just give it a shot, as a practice effort, but not as our primary goal.

For the benefit of the dps who hadn’t been in I made a very thorough run down of what would happen (maybe it was a little too thorough, I have a tendency to go into a little too much detail).  Everyone knew what was going on, and I was fairly confident we could do it.

I started the first pull and everything was great! We flew through the instance.  I don’t think I’ve ever gone through it that fast.  We also got really lucky in that all the mobs spawned right there in that first area, so we just bounced back and forth between them.  We got the 2nd boss down and still had 10 whole minutes to get to the boss.  Well we headed for the inn and waited for Arthas to show up.  And waited.  And waited.  After about 3 minutes I was about to go find him when I saw him running down the road.  Well, 7 minutes..it’s gonna be tight, but we can still do it.

We get to the 3rd set of dragonkin when, Arthas decided he was going to tank theses mobs and I could go to hell.  I don’t know if it was a bug, or if I was just getting really unlucky taunt resists, but I could not pull the mobs off him.  So of course, he gets himself killed.  And then he just refuses to respawn.  By the time he does, the time is down to 4 minutes.  And despite our best efforts, we just didn’t make it in time.

So in the end, what should have been a flawless and easily accomplished drake run ended up being a disaster because Arthas is a jackass.

Oh well.  There’s always tomorrow.

But as a side note to my complaining about Arthas, I want to compliment my guild mates on doing a fantastic job.  Especially our healer.  She rocked the hell out of that instance.

“[Insert clever sign off phrase here]“

~Fizz