Tuesday 27 April 2010

All work and no play makes Jakk a dull boy

Deadlines fuck with WoW, which fucks with WoW-related matters, which fuck with blogging. Jakkru is a sad panda, look here's a sad face - :'(

However, things are looking up, after around 7 Uni deadlines in the past two weeks, I finally only have 1 more to do! Which'll mean I get to play WoW more often! Yay!

I've not had much drive to blog mainly because I've been stuck behind my laptop almost everyday, trying to make things that really didn't make any sense at the time, y'know, make sense. It kinda sucks really, I'd have liked to get more of my RP posts up but I really haven't found the motivation to proof read them... I have been reading blogs though, anything that keeps me a little bit in the Warcraft loop or as many of the blogs do, give me a much needed laugh when I'm so very lost in a book talking about Economics I'd consider papercutting myself to death...

However, as well as reading blogs when I've had the chance, I've been thinking about things WoW orientated - mainly about how much I want to level my little Night Elf rogue over on Darkmoon Faire. I mean, yeah, I have a rogue already but he's Undead, I could roll a blood elf or troll (not an Orc, no no no. Orc rogue? Fuck that!) and wouldn't have as much fun - Why? Easy. It's NEW.

I've never, ever, ever levelled from 1 onwards as Alliance. Sure, I've levelled from 72-80 but it's not very different. Yeah, Wrathgate is fucking terrible as the Alliance but you're in Northrend and from 76-80 you're pretty much questing in Neutral zones.

Tenan (that's the name of my nelf, y'see), the lanky bugger that he is, is currently running around Westfall. It's very yellow and many people want to use me as an oportunity to try out their freshly sharpened blades...Not the thrilling stuff you see in The Bourne films, no, but still, it's rather fun and has a nice sense of scale, stuff is big. Not Barrens bit but...it's big to my little rogue. Took me an Hour to find poor Old Blanchy some feckin' oats! Bitch was starvin' by the time I got back, almost kicked me in the face!

This isn't going to stop me pwning faces Horde side though. I've been missing my shaman a lot. Healing is fun and with his Offspecc freshly changed to Enhancement, I have entirely new set of gear to collect, specc to get used to and rotation to get annoyed with, then ultimatley be able to do in my sleep.

Sunday 18 April 2010

The Camp

They left Orgrimmar at first light with around 20 others. Some of them fresh recruits to the Orgrimmar Guard, others seasoned warriors and hunters. There was a small group of Shadowstalkers, which as Jakkru had found out during their march, had been sent from Undercity as a sign of faith by Sylvanus Windrunner. It didn’t take too long to get there, arriving sometime after noon. The sight that greeted them took Nalria by surprise, huge numbers of Horde soliders were camped around 100 meters from a small hill, behind it was an area rich in forest and mineral deposits, huge mines could be opened, lumbermills built and, even though the four of them had no idea what or where this mysterious “Outlands” was, victory here was the first step in the Horde making a footing there. The place was dubbed Warsong Gulch.

The camp was protected by huge pikes dug into the ground and although they’d been hastily put up were sturdy, rows of tents had been put up and even then, people still slept outside. Fires burnt and the soldiers there seemed in good enough spirits. A small yet broad Orc met them, “Is this all they could send?!” he said, looking at the Captain that had brought them. “Yes sir.” Came the reply. The Orc in charge sighed, “We’re still outnumbered.” He said. “Warriors, you report to me. Hunters, tent at the far West end of the camp, anyone else, to the Tauren in the central tent.” People moved, Juljin nodded at Nalria before setting off across the camp, Dehyo faithfully following him. The Captain turned to his superior, “Sir, the Undercity has sent some of it’s Shadowstalkers.” He said, “Ah good!” the captain replied, “They can report to me also.” Jakkru, who was about to follow Kranan stopped. “Go on, I’m gonna stay here.” He told the shaman, who nodded before setting off towards the centre of the camp.

Juljin arrived at the far tent, it was pretty obvious it was the right place, due to the number of Big cats, wolves, Raptors and Birds that were in the makeshift stable area to the left. An Orc burst from the flap in the tent as Juljin approached. “For the gods sake!” he bellowed, a troll and Tauren followed him out “We’re spread too damned thin already and he wants us to re-inforce the left flank MORE?!” the Orc, noticing Juljin stood there, looked at him, before snapping “What do you want?” “I wa’ told to repor’ ‘e-ah” the Orc saw the bow strapped to his back. “Ah, well. Find somewhere to set up a rack. Get some food. Nothing is happening now, we don’t expect the Alliance to show up until tomorrow.” The troll nodded, “A’reet,” he hesitated for a second, finally asking, “ ‘ow many huntahs we got?” “No were near enough,” came the reply, “Around 100.” Juljin nodded before walking away. The Orc turned to his companions and continued to complain while Juljin attempted to find somewhere among the hundreds of fellow hunters to sit. The camp was far bigger than first he’d first thought but from everyone’s reaction so far, the Alliance army was going to be huge.

Kranan found the tent with relative ease. Priests were outside, tending to the sick. A Troll, who’d come from many miles away was having his feet looked at by another troll, who was muttering strange words under his breath while moving his hands over the trolls feet, the pained expression on the trolls face disappeared and the cuts on his feet slowly began to shrink. Kranan was amazed, he could stop bleeding, reduce swelling and momentarily increase the protection from armour but he’d never really been all too interested in that, he much preferred swinging his mace and getting in the thick of it. He was greeted by a female Tauren, who told him that he should get some rest and help out anywhere he could. He nodded before setting off through the camp, he too thought the camp was larger than it looked. People were packed in and the small number of tents had made it look much smaller. He walked around for a bit, a group of warlocks and mages were arguing while sat round a table, a small number of trolls were drunk, singing something in their strange language, many were sleeping or talking and a few were writing letters.

“You can forget them poncy magic users, or them lot that use bows and hide behind their bloody pets.” He small, broad Orc said. Nalria felt a small pang of anger, was he calling Juljin a coward? It quickly passed as he continued to pace infront of them. “We’ll be the ones winning this battle. Scouts have reported that those Alliance dogs will be here tomorrow. Yes, they outnumber us but we will beat them. For they have no pride and no honour!” The warriors grunted in approval. “Get some rest! Sharpen you blades and eat well brothers and sisters.” The orc said. Before turning on his heel and marching back to his tent. “Well, that was inspiring...” Jakkru said sarcastically to Nalria. He’d seen she hadn’t grunted with the rest of them and wasn’t surprised, she didn’t seem as stupid as most warriors he’d met before. Nalria didn’t respond but instead asked “How are you going to be any use in the line?” “I’m not,” the rogue replied, grinning. “But when the line breaks, I’m very useful.” Nalria couldn’t deny it, she knew that most lines broke and it just became a mess of melee and the rogue had a point, it would be were he would be most useful. “I’m going to find Juljin,” she said to him. He nodded and she wandered off through the camp. The only thing she’d be doing tonight was sharpening her sword, she had no idea how anyone could rest or eat before a battle...

Friday 16 April 2010

Sods law, innit!

After my last post, I jumped at the chance of two healing ToC10. I still need the bloody shield from BigDeadBug so I crossed my fingers, said "Hi" to my paladin healer for the run and Earth Shielded a tank.

Now, I dont see myself as a bad healer. People dont usually die when I heal, if they're doing the right thing and only taking damage that is unavoidable, I can usually see them through. However, myself and the randompaladin I was grouped with could have been Jesus Christ, Dougie Houzer or Greg House for this run and we still couldn't have kept the dps alive.

2 healing things works because the raid only takes unavoidable damage but not this one. This little HMS Failboat took the Raiding 101 handbook and wiped their arses with it. We had it all, Standing in the Fire™ DPSing infront of the boss, which shoots fire, slime and some very harsh fucking language at everyone infront of it and finally, not moving out of the way of the HUGE YETI charging at you with the same look a Woodsman gives the first female he sees after being in the wild for 15 years, with a chastity belt on which he's just been given the key too. Fucking sods law.

I gave up after bashing my head against the Faction Champ shaped Wall for about an hour - a lot longer than I usually would but I really want that shield. I said my goodbyes, was very polite about it and left. Just before I did, one of the DPS (a paladin - would you believe it!) said "lol, noob." Usually, I'd have told him/her that they were infact, no better at playing this game than my Grandmother is at remember how to record something on Sky+ but my phone started to ring and instead, I logged out and answered.

Y'see, there's a risk of 2 healing PuG raids, infact the risk is apparent in anything that you do as a healer - if it goes wrong, it's very easy to blame the healers. When two healing, no one mentions the lack of the 3rd healer which makes everything more comfortable but instead, just see 2 healers which are working their arses off and seem to not be able to pull it off.

Many people before me have talked about how Tanks/Healers/DPS all need to be pulling their weight or it makes someone elses job harder. Tanks keep mobs on them, making healing easier for the healers and leave the DPS to do their jobs without the fear of a mob turning round and making them into their prison bitch. Healers keep people alive, which is simple. If they dont do their job, the raid doesn't work (which is the reason why healers can be so easily blamed) and dps need to be pulling decent numbers, so that the tanks dont take so much damage that the healers run out of mana (which isn't the case in Lich King really but back in the day, it definintly was) and the tank dies. The dps and tanks also need to avoid taking un-necessary damage, so that the healers mana isn't wasted.

A guy in on my guild forums has his forum Signature as "I heal damage, not laziness." and this is so very true. In this pug I was in, the dps were making mine and the paladin's job HARD. Try keeping ranged alive who've been hit with Burning Bile while attempting to keep a melee alive who cannot run about a yard forward to get the hell out of the fire™ on the floor. I decided the heal those taking the NECESSARY damage and let the melee die. Plus, he/she was a prick and it made my decision a lot easier.

Monday 12 April 2010

Three's a crowd

When on my shaman, I normally pug raids. I might tempt a few unsaved guild members into some of them but usually, I go down the Pugging Path. Now, the usual raid set up for PuGs is this - 2 tanks, 3 healers, rest dps. But not yesterday! Yesterday, I two healed ICC10 man in a pug and had the most fun I've had healing since doing ToC10 with undergeared tanks and with only two healers. Both tanks I knew and I knew the healer, making me trust their abilities.

So why, if it's possible, do pugs usually run with three healers? It's pretty simple, it makes it so much easier. Usually, the healers dont know each other, the raid leader doesn't know the healers and therefore, you bring 3 to be on the safe side. On easier fights one might go into their dps offspecc but for the majority of it, the tank healer (usually a paladin or a priest) will be doing most of the work and the other two will be fighting for raid heals.

However, yesterday was different. I'd been recommended to the raid leader by one of the members who I'd pugged with in the past. I got invited, asked who my fellow healers were and the answer I got from our Boomkin Raid Leader was; "Our paladin and I'll go into Resto for Dreamwalker." "Fun!" I replied, but on the other side of the screen, I secretly went "Uh-oh." I'd never two man healed ICC, so I really didn't know what to expect.

Trash wasn't too hard, our paladin was very good and knew what he/she was doing. I was firing Chain Heals into the melee when them mobs that go "BOOM!" went, y'know, "BOOM!" We got to Marrowgar and it was all nice and smily until the paladin gets bone spiked. This is were it got fun, they'd been spiked running back into position and weren't hugging the melee, it took about 7 seconds for them to be freed. In those 7 seconds, I had fun, like, proper fun, seat of yer pants fun, omfg I dont have anyone else to rely on kinda fun. That kinda fun. I had to switch between healing the paladin and the tanks, Grid was going mental, health dropping up and down, I'd blown Cooldowns and stuff and after what seemed like an age but was in fact about three casts and a Riptide, I was back to Chain Healing stuff in the face. 3 healers might be SAFE but 2 healers is more FUN.

The rest of the first wing went nicely, I found myself prioritising more and more, an unfortunate rogue died because it was either I cast Riptide on myself, or him. If there was another healer, he probably wouldn't have died but I didn't mind and neither did he - "It happens," he said after we'd killed Deathwhisper after the second set of adds. That was the other thing, with one less healer, we had one more dps and with the 10% buff and people knowing what to do, we were ripping through at a terrifying pace.

Now, after doing fuck all on Saurfang other than Riptiding about 4 times and doing some restomental dps we moved into Plague and bloody hell, Festergut with two healers is pant shittingly scary stuff but still, it was harder, it was more fun and it was faster. We got him down with almost 2 minutes left until Enrage and then went and one shot Rotface, who, as everything else was harder with 2 healers, especially when the Mutated thing really did like our Paladin healer who I had to keep alive, while healing anyone who took raid damage, the main tank and the tank that was kiting, it was fast and frantic, but I found myself liking it more and more.

Our Leader went into tree form for Dreamwalker, which was a fun fight, even if I was only healing the raid and never got to use those portals which I still have no fucking idea what they do but the times when I was on my own, healing two tanks and the raid while they were doing something or other in a green portal, were fun. It was down to me to keep everything alive, if a tank died it was either because he got naked or because I'd failed and the pressure was definintly a rush. It took a few goes, mainly because I messed up monumentally the first time and our paladin disconnected mid fight the second but we got her do- I mean, healed her up.

I can definintly see myself 2 healing more stuff in the future, especially ICC, with this buff, you really dont need three healers anymore, take a DPS with offspecc gear and kill stuff faster. It'll make it more fun for everyone, especially those people standing at the the back, sometimes in sissy robes, keeping your sorry arses alive.

Thursday 8 April 2010

Apparently, we've been drafted...

The Orc was short yet broad; he was stood in a captain’s jerkin, the Horde emblem shining in the middle. He looked at the four before saying, “You’ve been drafted.” Jakkru looked at him with a look of distinct confusion. Juljin looked at Nalria and she looked back. “What?” Kranan finally spoke out. “You’ve been drafted,” the Orc repeated. “We’ve been recruiting anyone who came to gather rewards for anything that was considered Dangerous.” Jakkru snorted and it was the shamans turn to look confused. “Listen, we’ve not had the usual numbers recently. People are running off to Outlands, others are making a push in the Northern Lands and others are just avoiding it, if we want to get further into the Outlands and other places, we need the resources this area controls.” The Orc said, moving towards the table in the centre of the room, Nalria and Juljin followed him, Kranan looked at the map on the table, the Orc was pointing at Warsong Gulch. Jakkru stood still, it wasn’t his fight he told himself but he knew Kranan had already made his mind up about going. “Bloody Tauren”, he thought to himself,” honourable buggers the lot of ‘em...”

Nalria and Juljin had accepted their draft papers quickly, Nalria was always keen to do military service, to follow in her fathers footsteps and Juljin was keen to relive the old days and to keep Nalria safe. Kranan had taken his too as Jakkru had snatched his reluctantly when told it was either the dungeons or 1000 gold to get out of it. The upside, they all thought was the new armour and weapons they would get, free of charge. With that thought, they headed across the city towards the Blacksmith.

As they entered the small shop, it looked empty, Jakkru considered checking for money behind the counter for a second when a shout came from the back, “Make sure you don’t let it go out this time, you usless oafs!” it sounded female and almost regal, the rogue cocked his head and looked at the door as a petite blood elf walked into the room backwards, still yelling outside, she was wiping her small hands on a cloth as she turned to greet them, “Greetings!” she said, beaming at them. She was pretty, even under the soot that covered her face, “You lot been sent by that gloomy Orc?” she said, looking at the four of them, grinning at Kranan, who had to hunch over in the small room, he looked very awkward. “Aye,” Juljin answered, he too had been surprised by how pretty the little elf was that stood before him, blacksmiths and armourers weren’t the easiest on his eye, or so he’d found in his experience and this one really looked out of place. “Come through,” she said, her green eyes glowing brightly as she motioned them through to the back.

The back of the shop contained the forge, anvil and all the tools needed to craft armour. It even had a section where hides were currently being cured. Two Forsaken were tending to the forge while a very large Orc was wielding a skinning knife which looked like a toothpick in comparison to his hands. He carefully cut into hides before disappearing into a shed like building. “You first,” the young blood elf said, pointing to Nalria, “I’m guessing from the look of you, you pretty much need everything?” “Well, it might not look like much but it gets the job done...” she replied, her voice steeped in defence for her armour, it was mixed with a tiny amount of jealously.

Nalria was quickly sorted, her rusted battleworn armour replaced with new, well made platemail. It was as if any part of it could be used as a weapon, she had thought as the Elf, who she’d learnt was called Thrina had picked it from the rack of completed sets. The helm had two semi-circular blades on the top, and two very small but sharp spikes on the ridge which would cover her forehead. The shoulderguards had sharped spikes in them and her gauntlets had the same spikes, which as Thrina had demonstrated were perfect for catching a blade in. Her new shield was good and heavy, a good heavy was vital, in Nalria’s opinion. It could stop arrows with ease and would be used as an excellent heavy weapon. The ‘smith must have shared her sentiments as more deadly spikes were attached to the shield, as well as a curved sharp peice of iron which was at the bottom. Her weapon was a sword, which was short and sharp, perfect to stab and hack with while not having to leave the safety of her shield.

Juljin had been thrown two axes, after refusing to use a sword. He preferred axes, axes could be thrown and if he got into a melee fight, he much preferred using his speed to get behind people and chop at them, instead of having to waste valuable time to get a distance enough to stab someone. Thrina had also insisted on him having a mail jerkin that fitted his shoulders and broad chest, as his other was, as she put it “really restricting your movement,” with an added “and it doesn’t look that good either.” The last part was said with a grin. His bow had past her test and even got a compliment on how strong it was, despite the obvious wear and tear. The troll had definitely underestimated the little elf, she knew her stuff, as was evident with her picking of Nalria’s armour and weapons, with the Orc admiring her platemail and weapon while Thrina was tending to everyone else.

Kranan had been given a new mace, he’d muttered a few words when first picking it up and it seemed to become as light as the air itself. He swung and twirled it around and seemed happy, the elf grinned at him and passed him some armour to replace his, she’d noted that the stuff he was wearing was well made and he seemed to keep quiet about where he’d acquired it.

Jakkru’s armour needed as much attention as Nalria had, both their armour had been old and almost useless. He’d been kitted out in leather, which the Orc had been making, his huge hands holding up different boots, gauntlets and jerkins. Belts were added and modifications made by the rogue himself who’s skill with a blade didn’t just end with death, he made sheaths and attatched them to the waistguards, leggings and shoulder pads he was given, adding daggers to them once Thrina had made them. It was getting dark and the others had drifted off into a sleep but Thrina and Jakkru continued to work. She’d given him two swords, short and light, as well as a collection of daggers. He was getting his worth, if was to be roped into a battle, he was going to get as much out of it as possible. They finally finished and Thrina yawned, stretched and went back into her little shop.

Jakkru looked around, the others sleeping, the blacksmiths yard only illuminated by the now smouldering embers of the forge which was being let die after it’s hard days work. For now, it was peaceful and Jakkru sat with his back to the wall but tomorrow, tomorrow would most definitely not. With that thought, he reached into his pack and pulled out the carving from that morning, stroking it before finally drifting into an uneasy sleep.

Monday 5 April 2010

Server Transfers: How NOT to do it.

Juljin recently became a dorf (whos beard is FAR superior to yours, no matter how many plaits you have, how good your moustache looks or how "fabulous" your hair is). He also switched servers, something I've never done before so as you may be able to tell, my server transfer was full of schoolboy errors.

1. Before you transfer, check the technical support forums - if there's complaints about characters taking days to become playable again leave it for a few days longer. You can spend some time getting your character prepared for their move.
2. Money, dont transfer with 19s 38c like I did. It just gets annoying, get on yer bank alt and take a few thousand over with you.
3. Repair before you go! Especially if you're transfering with only 19s 38c...
4. If you've made stuff for the character you're going to be moving (in my case, this was 20,000 arrows) make sure you actually send them to the character before you move them. My rogue is not gonna run outta ammo for his stupid stat-bow anytime soon but little beardy is running low!
5. Be a little patient, although if you're like me, this wont happen and you'll want it to happen like NOW!

Also, for those of you considering a faction transfer, remember you're hearthstone sets to the capital city of the faction you choose - it explains why I was like "what the fuck" everytime I hearthed and was stood in Ironforge with a very confused look on poor beardy's face...

Friday 2 April 2010

The Flight to Orgrimmar

The four wyverns stood there, their saddles large, with two huge handles on the front. They didn’t require reins; they knew exactly where they were going. Straps for a passengers legs hung from their side as well as a thin, extremely strong piece of rope designed to keep the passenger from plummeting to their death if they slipped off during a “bumpier” ride. Or so Grok had told them, to Kranan, a peice of rope wasn’t going to the job. His wyvern was bigger, Grok had shouted to his young apprentice to get the “Big bastard out,” while winking at Kranan. Jakkru had jumped on his wyvern already and was getting his legs strapped in correctly by the apprentice. Kranan shot a glance at Nalria and Juljin, who were making their way to their Wyverns. The shaman walked slowly to his and petted it on the head. He climbed slowly into the saddle before Grok tied his legs in. “Spirits Protect me.” He said out loud.

Nalria noticed the shamans discomfort and turned to Juljin as he climbed on, they exchanged a grin and waited as the apprentice and Grok strapped them in. “All set?” the flabby Orc asked, with a huge grin on his face. He was enjoying the Taurens discomfort. It must have been a rhetorical question because he bellowed “Fly!” and the Wyvern took off.

Kranan let out a cry as the large, muscular legs of his mount launched him into the air. Its huge wings beating at the air, powering it up further and further. His stomach lurged with every beat and he found himself closing his eyes. He could hear, over the beating of the wings and the rushing of the wind Jakkru howling in enjoyment as well as Nalria laughing. He screwed his eyes up again and gripped the handles on the saddle until his knuckles hurt.

Juljin hated the take off, his stomach had lurched and he heard the shaman cry out, if he could have, he would have laughed. He could hear the playful laughter of Nalria and the shouts of the rogue. He stared upwards, checking their height. It seemed like an age before the wyverns hovered in the air, he glanced a look down, not afraid of heights. They were hovering hundreds of meters above the town they had been in not even a minute ago.

Jakkru looked to his left and right as the Wyvern hovered above the town. He saw a huge smile on Nalria’s face and he almost grinned back. Turning in Kranan’s direction, he grinned, the shaman hated flying. The hunter was looking down at the town and Jakkru did the same. His Wyvern let out a large cry and surged forward with a beat of its wings. He turned his head to see the others falling into a V formation behind him. The one beat of the wings had carried his Wyvern forward and it was gliding through the air. He loved flying, maybe because it was the closest he got to being “alive” if that could be true in an Undeads case. It reminded him of when he was alive, one of the few memories he kept and liked.

The scenery was beautiful, Kranan had opened his eyes as the Wyverns hovered and was now looking around him, the huge mountains in the distance and the forests that lay before them. He was still gripping onto the handles for dear life, and kept telling himself not to look down. He could see Jakkru’s Wyvern at the front, Nalria in front of him and Juljin was parallel to Nalria. The Wyvern were gliding effortlessly through the air and Kranan relaxed a little.

Juljin was watching the ground, everything seemed so small. He could see animals running along the plains as they approached the river of Durotar. Azeroth was truely beautiful, he though to himself. He turned to see Nalria smiling, she too was looking around, taking in the scenery. This was the part he liked about flights, they reminded him of different times, some of them good and others bad, he looked at Nalria and imagined what her father would have said to him, he loved to fly and liked to poke fun at the fact the troll hated what he called "the best part".

Nalria’s wyvern took the front of the V as Jakkru’s fell back, they had been flying for about 20 minutes but to her, it seemed like seconds. She could see for miles in any direction and found herself twisting in her seat to try and see everything. She felt like a child again, when her father would show her maps of what lay beyond their town. She wanted to explore it all. She could see the large City of Orgrimmar in the distance, they weren’t far now.

Kranan screwed his eyes shut again as the Wyvern made their descent into Orgrimmar. He gripped at the handles of his saddle again and sent a message to the spirits. The rush of the air filled his ears, he didn’t dare open his eyes as he felt the Wyvern slow. He felt himself slipping slightly as the mount changed it’s position to land.

Nalria landed first, closely followed by Kranan, Juljin and then Jakkru. The Wyvern landed softly and roared, she patted it’s neck in thanks as the numerous wind riders took to un strapping her and the others. She grinned at Juljin, who smiled back.

“What’s the matter, Kran?” Jakkru jibed at the shaman as he dropped from his mount, not making a sound as he hit the wooden floor of the Riders tower. “Taurens were not built for air travel.” He answered, slowly lowering himself onto the floor. Juljin patted the shaman on the shoulder as he walked past him. “C’mon mon, we best find dis Orc.” He said as they walked down the staircase of the Wind riders tower. Kranans legs felt like jelly but he wouldn’t let it show, he was back on land and extremely thankful.

Thursday 1 April 2010

I'm a firestarter, twisted firestarter

I did it, I gave my perfectionist side the middle finger. Krinkal is now a firemage!

Since the little buff that fire got in 3.3.3, I've been looking at it more and more. I rolled a mage because they had fireball and pyroblast. I rolled a mage because that's what they do - set things on fire, however, with all my characters there's this little voice in the back of my head going - "but fire doesn't do the most dps in a raiding environment..." So for the past few months, I've been in Arcane Town, wearing down numbers 1, 2 and 3 on my poor keyboard but not anymore!

I ran ICC10 last night in my alliance side guild, tonnes of fun as usual. I was using it as a test run, if I dropped sharply to, say, 3k dps, I'd have respecced before getting to the other wings. If I was running at 5-6k, I'd keep going.

First thing I noticed, my tab button is gonna break - on trash, Living Bomb is the order of the day and oh my god is it fun. I may actually be in love with it. Blizzard and Flamestrike still get a decent look in when I've finished tab dancing but still, Living Bomb...HOW AWESOME IS THAT?!

Second thing - mana consumption. It's a tonne less than Arcane, I only had to pop a gem and my stupid trinket once on the entire trash pulls. Granted, I had to evocate on Marrowgar, but that's because I died.

The last thing I noticed, was that my dps hadn't taken that much of a hit. I noticed my burst was a little bit...lacking, especially on Saurfang (in the first 30 seconds) and his Bloodbeasts. I was still rocking 5-6k, which wasn't that bad, considering it was 10man, we didn't have a paladin, boomkin or anything else that could boost my dps.

We called it after a few attempts on Dreamwalker. we had a brand new tank and were testing him - he did alright, actually. We were also carrying (which was an understatement, to say the least) another mage dps - Arcane Barrage doing more damage than Blast? It was a shame they won the trinket on Gunship. That crit would have been tasty for fire...

Overall, I'm glad I bit the bullet and respecced, I had a lot of fun, mainly due to the nice new rotation oh, and instant Pyroblasts, I mean, c'mon. INSTANT. PYROBLAST.