Consider this an experiment in karma.

 

Mythic Blackhand is upon my guild, and as we're talking strategy and how to down him in a reasonable amount of time, the discussion reaches the issue of class comp and how certain people have to make sacrifices to ensure we don't make the fight any harder than it has to be. Be it certain melee making room for rogues or melee making room for any ranged class at all, the core roster is working itself to conform to proven effective compositions, and we're pulling all the undergeared alts from the bench. In this final push for a decent rank, a select few players who care about the good of the raid over personal attachment to their classes or characters they've played for years are putting on a stoic face and honorably stepping up to a new challenge...

BUT NOT ME HAHAHA!

I GET TO CHAOS WAVE BALCONY ADDS!

WARLOCK FOREVER!

HALAAAA!!!

-Avia.

Am I a question talker? Not usually.

Because my raid leader is on vacation, our raid team is on break this week. Does this mean that I get to spend a week out in nature, collecting fresh blueberries and braiding garlands with wildflowers? Maybe heading to a museum or poetry reading to get some culture? Perhaps learning a new skill to better myself or enrich my life?

Of course not; I'm raiding with someone else for a week.

Warlock for hire!

In true mercenary fashion, OG Priest and I helped out a friend's 14/14N guild, which we are proud to say is now 1/14H. Is it cheating a little to bring in fully heroic-geared raiders to slum it in a normal run? Maybe. Do they care at all? Hell no! Heroic loots!

And how does it make me feel to be back where I once was, progressing on that very first boss of the tier? Is it the same heart-pounding push for DPS and fight for survival, all culminating in the sweet relief of victory? Um... no, not really. Let's face it. Progressing on a fight this late into a tier is much different than progressing SoO just fresh out of ToT. Everyone has been clearing Normal and Flex for months, which means that the average ilvl of a raid team is so inflated that the bosses should be complaining that the fights are rigged or that no one is enforcing weight classes. Then I get to hear my guildies talk about how 10 man is so much easier than 25 because their alts are killing N Garrosh with 20 more ilvls than when it was relevant.

Do I sound a little bitter? I bet I do. Without getting into the whole 10 vs. 25 argument, I wouldn't call anything that we're doing right now difficult for people who have already seen it. There's a difference between killing bosses on alts to prove one's ability to be proficient at multiple classes and progression raiding for guilds not involved in the push for rankings. Does that mean the latter is more valid/worth more/more honorable in comparison? No, it's just different, but I wouldn't use alt-raiding as a stepping stool onto my high horse.

Am I done ranting? Yes, I am.

-Avia.

The end of a year... and an expansion.

My guild hasn't been doing anywhere near as well in Dragon Soul as we did in Firelands. After we reached the
DPShealidiot check that is Ultraxion and learned that a third of our team can't click a button that saves their lives, we lost a bunch of core members to a mass server transfer and had to fill spots with our
benchnew recruitsincompetent casuals for a week. We only just downed Deathwing on Thursday and it was... anticlimactic. I'd already seen the grand finale cut scene thanks to easy-mode LFR in which I "won the game" with thirty minutes of minimal effort. Even the comforting and encouraging words from Thrall didn't uplift my warrior spirit since I knew I didn't deserve them. Usually, it takes at least a couple weeks of dedicated teamwork to get some cool RP that makes the player feel like her efforts contributed to the safety of Azeroth. Yet, I got to celebrate the end of the Cataclysm with... random fucks from Whisperwind server. I couldn't even jump up and down and hug anyone without feeling like a creeper.

In real life news, I'm on winter break, so I have four weeks to
apply to internshipslearn a foreign languagecamp rare spawns in Outlands. I've also been trying to gear up my druid alt, but I've had little success due to the following well-known rules of RNG:

1. Your main will never roll higher than a 35 on important loot.
2. Your alt will roll better than your main...
3. But your second alt will get all rare pets and mounts and win gear upgrades that boost ilvl by 10 points at a time.

My fourth 85, a god-awful ret pally that forgets to use its cooldowns, is now better geared than my precious druid healer that I actually leveled to play rather than be my disenchanting slave. Every time my druid loses a roll, I sigh in knowing resignation, and every time I win a roll on my pally, I want to quit WoW and start buying winning lottery tickets for people I don't care about.

Anyway, in a few days, it's going to be my favorite holiday! I'll be doing my usual New Year's Eve thang of going out to
danceget fucked up and danceget REALLY fucked up and dance. Then the next day, I'm going to to bow to my elders and get cash.

Being Korean is awesome.

-Avia.

P.S. Aggra is pregnant. Thrall better watch his back.