The Lament of the Hotfixed Raider

In all the realms of music, literature, and art, many have waxed on about the great human tragedies: lost love, mortality, our sense of purpose and how it drives us to success or a life ending in invalidating failure. Yet, there is one thing in this world that trumps every teenage heartbreak, every promised promotion that was snatched away. Nothing can compare to the soul-crushing fall from the top that is...

a massive and unjustified nerf to your spec.

Oh how the nerfbat beating down on my grief-stricken heart feels more like the sharp twist of a knife into the side of Demonology! Surely, such an OP trinket was bound to be readjusted, but why the unfair treatment of my poor imps? I cannot imagine it is deserved, for a two-fold punishment of my damage now makes me hit like a wet noodle indeed. Oh WOE is the fate of my spec, my broken spec! How will I ever continue? How will I find the will to raid on?

Nevermind. It's all good.

-Avia.

Spoiler Alert: Watch the cutscene after Garrosh's defeat before reading.

Yesterday, my guild cleared Normal Siege of Orgrimmar, and after watching that final cutscene (for Alliance), I feel this needs to be said...

Jaina is such a bitch lately.

I understand that she got friend-zoned by her "BFF" Thrall. Then Garrosh destroyed the entire city of Theramore, which was both her home and her charge as a ruler. Plus, I'm sure she's pretty tired of always being the level-headed one who reaches out to the Horde with peaceable ways of settling their problems only to see all of her work get manabombed into the ground. But seriously, manage your anger, Lady.

It's disappointing to see her descend into such pettiness after all of those years of admiring her diplomacy. This entire expansion has been about controlling one's emotions and not letting anger and hatred consume one's soul, something that King Wrynn has finally learned and now exemplifies. It is the truly redeeming aspect of this entire ordeal in Pandaria, and as much as I'm dreading further development of Jaina's new hardened personality, I'm looking forward to serving under a king who may have vanquished the wolf within at last.

By the way, it was sooo satisfying watching Wrathion's hissy fit. Finally, I am DONE doing that little twit's bidding, and I definitely stayed behind to help Tong fix up his shop. He's awesome.

-Avia.

Patch 5.4: Every friend you've made, you must now kill.

Siege of Orgrimmar is turning out to be a huge bummer, not because I have a problem with its structure or any of its mechanics, but because it seems that Blizz worked extra hard this expansion to have us develop close relationships with NPCs only to have us assassinate them. And I don't mean just the Paragons. Let's walk the trail of tears together.

Please note that this is not angry bitching about how Blizz does everything wrong, which you can find in your local Timeless Isle general chat. Rather, it is a saddened RPer's lament at the fate of her friends.

The Fallen Protectors

This was the perfect opportunity for a Tsulong-type encounter where we "cleanse" them of corruption and they surprise us at the end by being alive, but no. They've already died during the destruction of the Vale and we get to kill them so they can die a second time. What the hell, Blizz? Wasn't once enough? It was only last week when my alt traveled to the Golden Pagoda and He Softfoot escorted me through the Crumbling Vaults to recover lost artifacts. The priest Sun Tenderheart always sent me on missions to heal injured Pandaren at the Golden Stair. And Rook Stonetoe, the quiet Brewmaster monk swinging a mace, cried like a BABY in the Bleeding Sun story when his friend's infant child was crushed to death.

All of that, and what the devs have to say about it is "...you may earn some epic items from the Golden Lotus one final time."[ref]

That is just morbid.

General Nazgrim

In order to be familiar with this NPC, you need to have leveled as Horde through multiple expansions. He's one of those characters who, like Chromie, tends to pop up often in storylines and always greets you as a friend. We've seen him fight against vrykul as a Sergeant in Grizzly Hills, survive near-death in the waters of Vash'jir as a Legionnaire, and reminisce with the player about their adventures together as a new General exploring the Jade Forest. Now we have to kill him because he is a loyal soldier of the Horde who follows the orders of his commander to whom he is honor-bound and dutiful.

One can say that it is his fault for blindly obeying a corrupt leader, but how many times has that happened already? This is the saddest story in all of Mists, and if it were up to me, I would have made him the hardest boss in Siege and placed him right in front of Garrosh instead of...

The Paragons of the Klaxxi

I've read Blizzard's explanation for why the Paragons have sided with Garrosh, and I understand that religious fanaticism is a popular go-to excuse for unwise alliances and murderous behavior. However, as loyal as the Klaxxi were to Y'shaarj... Garrosh only has one of its body parts. If anything, I'd expect the Klaxxi to be on our side and want to kill Garrosh for basically desecrating their god's resting place and holding a piece of it hostage. Their new allegiance makes me think that the Klaxxi are not as tactical and intelligent as I previously believed them to be when we fought together to bring down their corrupt Empress.

I guess all of that nursing back to health, feeding, and singing "Soft Kitty" didn't mean anything either.

-Avia.

Patch 5.4 Prep and Apprehensive Speculation Time

Look at this cute Sunsong Ranch GIF I made.

It won't be long now until Patch 5.4. Everyone has been stocking up on Valor, the married men in my guild have been cashing in their "good husband" chips to their wives so they can raid seven days, and I just spent two weeks making enough pots to fill the Great Sea.

As excited as I am for the new raid, the patch is also introducing the Connected Realm business, which might prove to be a success or end up just as buggy and zone-crowding as CRZ. Call me selfish, but I'm most curious about the exact way that it affects server first achievements. Can one person make a guild on a dead server and invite a bunch of people from a linked Proudmoore-US-esque server to get realm first H Garrosh? I want to say that I'm sure Blizz has thought this through and planned ahead for such manipulative practices, but I'm not entirely certain that they have since inquiries into server first logistics have been met with a dismissive remark about how achievements of that sort will probably be removed anyway. That doesn't seem like a very responsible response to a legitimate concern about an aspect of raiding that provides a huge sense of accomplishment.

I guess we'll have to wait and see how Blizz handles it. In the meantime, watch my animated GIF, and tune in next week for reports on the Siege of Orgrimmar!

-Avia.