A whole new spark

Good evening! After a long while, I come bearing good news.

In the absense of things to do, I've found an entirely new spark for WoW. I never would have admitted this while it was the present feeling, but I almost got bored of the game during the spring. I didn't particularly feel like logging in and I only really did so for the purpose of raiding. I had no projects regarding leveling or gearing up. But now, as I am unable to raid with my guild, unable to run dungeons, unable to explore the new heroic scenarios, I've been doing LFR on most of my maximum level characters. Nicasia and Vladan are quite nicely geared and well able to do Throne of Thunder, but in addition I am working on Raleigh's (holy paladin) and Jester's (brewmaster/windwalker monk) gear to get them into ToT as well. Raleigh is currently lacking three points. Jester's situation still looks a bit grim with an item level of around 465. Oh, and by "doing LFR" I mean relying entirely on the performance of the 24 other people - but hey, three, two and even one FPS is better than no FPS at all. Positive thinking all the way!

I do miss raiding a lot and I hope to get my primary PC back soon. I have given full raid leadership to a very trusted officer with whom I've been raiding since early Firelands, so there should be no more raid burnouts for me. I'm actually really looking forward to being "just a raider" without so much responsibility. Of course I'll still be doing the usual yelling of things and whatnot, but I'll be doing it because I like to do it, not because I must do it. What I am most of all looking forward to is not having to look after others so much, and being able to look after myself more when it comes to raid performance.

Something interesting I've noticed for the first time in my WoW life is that I feel ever so slightly bored of elemental shaman - which I find completely normal, considering I've had an elemental shaman as my main since late Wrath of the Lich King. I sure have respect for our offtank, who has had the same character as his main since he started playing in vanilla. I still intend to raid with Nicasia as I am able to, but I may look into the possibility of raiding with Vlad, for example, when possible. I had a ton of fun tanking and DPSing Dragon Soul with him in late Cataclysm. My gear lacks behind severely compared to the rest of the raid group, anyway, so it won't make much difference which character I am on. Nicasia will continue to be my main character, regardless of who I end up raiding with, though. We've got such a long history.

I am absolutely loving the 5.3 fact that you can choose to get loot for a different specialization! It's enabled me to work on Raleigh's gear through LFR. I wouldn't dare attempt to heal with craptop. I also think it'll be a good help when getting Vlad some new tanking gear, as I don't enjoy tanking LFR. So, yay for 5.3, yay for gearing up, yay for WoW.

"That was close!" -Lorewalker Cho

Long story (well, not very) short, in other words a short story shorter: Galleon spawned. A pug of 40 people was assembled quickly. The Horde had taken notice of it, too. We got to pull first.

Everything looked nice and easy at the start.

... Until the Horde decided to flag themselves for PvP in order to get some of us to hit them, which would then enable them to take us out and make us wipe. Some genious individuals of course attacked the Horde without giving it much thought. We got lesser and lesser in the numbers of the living towards the end.

All in all, we must've had some greater power on our side, because the kill took place under these circumstances:

Our luck didn't only show in the kill, but three out of four participating Menagerie members got themselves loot as well. I was awarded a pair of boots, and of course the achievement. Yay!

Something old, something new

I hate explaining why I haven't updated in a while! They all sound like excuses for blog boredom, which they certainly aren't. I love the blog, but I've been horribly busy with my studies. I only have one exam to go this week, but a long work task waiting. Hrmph. Nica's valor cap for the week stood at an impressive 150/1000 - surprisingly I'm still one of the best geared people in the guild, with an item level of 471. Pure laziness does pay off, it seems.

This one goes for alts. I'm a real sucker for them and I have too many. Or maybe I've just simply had too much time. I'd like to introduce an older alt, who I was suddenly inspired to play again, and a new soul that's just joined the pack.

I don't need any knights, I don't need any engines of war
I will unleash all my spells, devastating your enemies' walls
But my help isn't free, you made a pact with darkness
Now I want what I need; your astral energy you will give
Don't be afraid; I will never take your soul
Now you are saved but your lifetime will be shorter

(Magic Kingdom - Evil Magician)

Sometimes during the later part of Cataclysm I created a warlock, whom I leveled up to 41 together with Lan's gnome mage. He is known as Sorley Harding, the Harvester, and it's fair to say that I've roleplayed his felhound Bruunam way more than him. He fascinates me, though. At some point I even considered deleting him, because I had absolutely no interest in leveling him. He was spared, because I was too fond of Bruunam. Although I don't hate leveling - and I've never hated it, in fact it's quite nice -, it was cool to "start" at 41 for a change.
Sorley's return must've got his demonic friend Kalna all dizzy, because her summoning disorientation was to last 15 days - along with her invisibility; I'm not sure what that refers to.

Bweath of the Dwago--!

Now, ladies and gentlemen, I present you with my ever so slightly monkish experiment, Jester Dragomirov. It's been noted around the guild that I've sort of made Russian-influenced names my "thing." As much as I'd like to talk about history here, I think it's better left out and just say that I like how they sound, so sexy and brutal! Oh, I might've said too much already.
Shortly put, he's a brewmaster monk that I am currently leveling mostly through quests to get comfortable with the rotation, then I'll hop into a few dungeons. Comrades, have your eyes and ears at the ready, for more in-character information about Jester is coming up in the future. I intend to really experiment with him.

Some time ago I also got Vlad to 90 and since then have geared up his blood spec before frost, although I think I'm supposed to be DPSing in raids! To tell you the truth, though, I'm not liking frost as much as I did in Cataclysm. The new 87 ability, Soul Reaper, feels extremely dull and lame. I tried using it while questing, and hardly had time to pull another mob until the effect had already fallen off. Losing a frost rune (cost varies by spec: blood for blood [rawr!], frost for frost, unholy for unholy) every now and then isn't such a big deal, I know, but still. My dislike for it isn't a surprise, though, because I'm generally not too fussed about execution abilties. Hammer of Wrath is a minor exception, though, I'm not sure why.
Blood, on the other hand... To me blood was extremely enjoyable in Cataclysm, but in Mists it's bloody (...yes) perfect! As blood, Soul Reaper is hardly essential, which adds to its niceness.

My real life alter ego, one that I created over a decade ago, likes to listen to Eros Ramazzotti and knows all the lyrics of the album Stilelibero despite never having studied Italian (yet! Rhapsody speak, I will learn you!).