The Raider Challenge

Here is my submission for Effy’s Raider Challenge!

“Dalaran,” Amowrath thought as the teleport to the City of Mages completed.  ”I like this city. It’s quiet.” Amowrath climbed the stairs of the Violet Citadel and sat, his dented and singed plate armor clanking its cacaphony as he did so. “So much for quiet,” he mused. Amowrath had been staying in Dalaran since he first cut his teeth with the forces of the Argent Crusade in the campaigns to bring down The Lich King. Amowrath felt comfortable in Dalaran, his comfort having mostly to do with the company of the many blood elves who roamed its streets. Amowrath enjoyed being among the blood elves, as if he had been one in a previous life.

Removing the helm fashioned, like the rest of his armor, after the armor of Highlord Tirion Fordring, Amowrath sighed. Deathwing, the Destroyer was dead. The armor made in admiration of the Highlord could be repaired. Amowrath hoped the whole of Azeroth could be as well. He was glad that Dalaran was spared Deathwing’s destruction, yet a tear formed in the corner of his eye as he thought that not the same could be said for Wyrmrest Temple. Wiping the tear from his eye, and leaving a trail of soot from his gloves in its place, Amowrath rose and began walking to the inn, A Hero’s Welcome. As he entered the inn, Amowrath was greeted by the innkeeper, Isirami Fairwind. “Welcome home, hero.”

 

 

Day 7 – The reason behind my blog’s name

I covered this a bit in the first blog post I wrote but since I enjoy talking too much, I’LL DO IT AGAIN!

The name of my blog came from the name of my main character.

My main character’s name is Amowrath. I noted a bit the other day that I’m a sensitive guy. I’m a straight guy, just a bit more “in touch with my feminine side” than most men I know. I also consider myself to be fairly smart. So, when it came to naming Amowrath I went to my knowledge of the Romantic Languages. “Amo” meaning love. (fun fact: I love that song Te Amo). “Wrath” came from this game being one where you kill shit. Amowrath leveled for a time as a Ret paladin, then I tried Protection, but the main spec was always Holy. The “Wrath” part of my name tied into my sensitivity, or, as my BFF Aesadonna called me once when I was feeling a little emotional, “Emowrath.” I can tend to react emotionally more than I react rationally. No good you say? Well tough shit..I’m a work in progress

So….The Light’s Wrath…My main character’s name is Amowrath and I am a Holy Paladin, wielder of The Light.

Nuff said?

Day 6 – My Desk

This is another interesting post to do, as what constitutes “my desk” has changed in the last 3 months, twice, and will likely change again. The photo below shows my current setup, but I staged it a bit to show what it looks like on raid nights.

From left to right: my POS mini-tower, napkins to wipe away the tears of wipe rage, a Hershey bar that is representative of some snack food product that usually occupies a place on my desk during raid, a glass of soda, a bottle of water (it IS 90 minutes without a break after all), my comfy headphones, my screen and keyboard (and to the left bottom of the computer screen is an old headset that I use as my mic), a bottle of beer that represents a variety of alcoholic products I might have during raid, my notebook that is currently open to my T13 Holy Pally loot list, and my awesomeballz Razer Naga mouse. Notice there is nothing on the walls…its a room that has recently undergone remodeling…THAT, dear friends, is why I sound like I’m playing in the bathroom…

Day 5 – Favorite in-game items

I am not a WoW packrat or hoarder. I figure that most things can be acquired, sold or destroyed, and re-acquired. Much hilarity ensued when I watched WoWCrendor’s video about WoW Hoarders. Valid points were covered: “What if I go alchemy?” My answer: Then I’ll farm that crap IF I do! More about this topic when I get to Day 19. For now: My favorite in-game items.

My motorcycle: This sucker took a lot of farming time and money to get together. It wasn’t just doing a few bear runs and hope for a lucky roll. My bike took the at-times boring efforts to gather gather gather. I admit that despite being a bit of a nerd and quite the sensitive guy, I’ve always wanted a motorcycle (and to take girls on rides on it). Perhaps I’ll still get one when I have the money. Until then, a virtual one will do. I also like my in-game bike because it has a sidecar that has become the property of one of my guildies who is my online BFF. When running a 5 man with a new guildie one night recently, the new girl asked if she could ride in the sidecar. My reply was “sorry…only Aesadonna gets to ride in the sidecar.”

Leyara’s Locket: I love this little vanity item. (I have it activated in the screenshot..Amowrath is really human, I promise.) I love it because Amowrath is human. Amowrath used to be a blood elf before he underwent his DNA change so he could raid on the schedule I needed. Human racials are good for Holy Paladins but everything else about Humans suck. (Which is why I don’t have any other human characters.) So I click on this little baby and I get to be a Night Elf for 4 minutes. And not just a Night Elf, but a Night Elf WHO IS ON FRIKIN’ FIRE! I promptly /roar, since I think the night elf roar is the best in the game at the moment. It was also really cool to see a Night Elf paladin’ing around in the raid. Now, of course, I can do that simply by doing the Well of Eternity instance. BUT: that Night Elf isn’t on frikin’ fire!

My favorite pet is, gulp, the Pandaren Monk. I know, I know….MoP and all that….but I like this guy because he is interactive. I love the little bows and the drinking animations. I love his little karate patterns he performs randomly and the noises that accompany them. I don’t always have the little guy running around with me (I almost typed in “I don’t always have the little guy out” but I changed it to avoid dick jokes J ). Little Monk-y is out in this screen shot though. (This week I’m running around with the Sea Pony because it took OVER 150 FUCKING FISHING CASTS to get.)

Day 4 – Your best WoW memory

Hello all! I’m back! (I hope)

Perhaps I can get through the 20 day blogging challenge by setting it to “quarterly”?? I really do want to keep this blog rolling..so here’s a rolling restart!

My best WoW memory seems to change depending on prevailing conditions in my game life. As memories go, I make new ones all the time

When I joined my current guild, I admit I was as noob a raider as they come. My previous guild tried time and again to get things going in Tier 11 but to no avail. My first forays into raiding with my current guild kind of got me a little bit of a “derp” label smaked across my head. For months, I endured the (mostly) good-natured ribbing of my fellow raiders. I flipped once or twice ENOUGH ALREADY. I rejoiced when a new raider joined our team and broke the record for fastest death in the raid instance (the previous record was held by me, of course). I endured. I got better. My survivability steadily rose.

A few weeks ago, we were trying to do a Firelands alt run. Lack of attendance changed it into a Blackwing Descent alt run. Of course, we zoomed right through it. Then came Nef. I had done this fight as a healer on Amowrath, but this would be my first time as a DPS character. (My little elemental shaman Slylexia.) The fight went well….until….Nef was only at maybe 2 or 3%. Raiders dropped like flies from adds and the purply-fire. I was alone. True story! 9 people dead..no tanks, no healers, nothing. I froze for just an instant as this sank in. I then unleashed all my shammy power. I admit I forgot about my tank-in-a-box but my fire elemental popped into being. I mashed every button I could mash and zig zagged around Nef, blasting him with LB as I danced. The next thing I knew the achievement banner “Blackwing Descent” flashed on my screen. I had done it! Cheers erupted in vent. “Shammy power” was spammed in raid chat. I finally exhaled and sat back, revelling in my glory. Here was the raider that once couldn’t get out of the poo if his life depended on it, who hit the wrong buttons with some frequency, and only knew how to heal in a raid environment. Now, on a DPS character, I killed Nef…ALONE.

That memory, I think, will carry on for awhile. It was a vindication. I know what I’m doing. I just have to continue to believe it, in spite of the occasional mistake. I may not often have theorycrafting numbers swirling around in my head ready to be pulled out at a moment’s notice, but I know my character, my class, and how to do my job.

Day 3 – Your first day playing WoW

Hi gang! Yes its been a month…life went a little cuckoo for a minute…so to start fresh I’m going to do Spellbound’s 20 day blog challenge. In my first post I covered the info from Day 1 and Day 2 so I’ll start at Day 3!

My first day playing WoW:

Two words: Rampant Confusion

When I started playing WoW 3 1/2-ish years ago, it was when Blizzard was selling the Battle Chest containing Vanilla and BC. I installed the game and in the spirit of my old D&D days, rolled a Human Mage. I started doing the starting area quests and became quickly confused as to how to go about looking at maps. I got it, but it took a minute. Mind you, this was back before Blizz put in those handy “here’s what this can do” help menus that one sees nowadays. I levelled my Mage, slowly (so slowly), figured out how to train, and carried on. I played this toon for a while..even raising enough money to get my first mount at (gasp!) level 40! During this journey I had no idea how to gather anything or play the AH. After epic fails in dps at level 44 (I think?) I gave up..the build was so bad, I had no help, and grew frustrated. I decided to try a Blood Elf Paladin and did much better, mostly due to finding folks who were nice and told me what to do. My noob ignorance of the larger community held me back for a long time…but thats a story for another day…

Ignorance

Here’s a little bit of wrath for ya’ll…..earlier today, I caught a re-tweet from some 30-ish going on 12-ish idiot who made a joke about a mental health condition. Fine, fine…free speech and all that crap…I sent back it was in bad taste…but I also had to note that the diagnosis that was being joked about was the wrong one for the context of the joke (fyi..schizophrenia and dissociative identity disorder ARE NOT THE SAME THING)…no avail..oh well…Hey, its your God- and Country-given right to sound like a total ignorant juvenile asshat..but don’t put it out there, be wrong about it, and remain self-righteous in your alleged “I am beyond Joe Cool” self-perception…

Here’s the thing: IRL, I am a social service and mental health professional. I know about mental illness. I have seen the range of diagnoses – from mild to severe.  If said tweeter has the ability to take her head out of her ass, take a long pull out of a 12 ounce can of empathy, then I would pose this question:  What if your MOTHER had schizophrenia?  And that question goes out to all the would-be bozoes on this subject….Consider this scenario:  You love your father beyond explanation. Your father has schizophrenia. Do you sit around with your buddies, say “Hey, my dad is never alone…he has 40 voices in his head” while laughing and clinking your No-Frills bozo beer cans together?

Please do not contribute to the ignorance.

May the Light Bless You (even if you’re an ignorant asshole..)

Definition

I’m taking my first crack at a Blog Azeroth topic. Fortunately, I think it’s a neato topic:

 THE BIG QUESTION(s): How does your character define themselves? What part of your character’s identity is the most vital piece of who they are? I know that players of World of Warcraft are a diverse lot. The person behind the screen can come from just about any aspect of IRL. We all have experienced the play-style disparity of the serious player, the intelligent player, the role-player, and the asshat player. Each of these example styles defines their character differently.

There are players who seek to zoom up in level, get the most shinies they can, and top charts. Their character is defined by raw power. There are players who take things slow, completing every quest in every zone for full immersion in the game. That character can be defined perhaps as a lore enthusiast (and get an achievement for such a thing..heh heh). There are many other examples of character definition that I won’t go into (’cause we’d be here a while)…so here’s mine:

I define Amowrath as a healer. That is what I do. And I believe I do it fairly well. I do it at least 2-4 times a week with 9 or 24 of my new best pals. I have the little green and white “plus” sign clicked in the dungeon finder. This aspect of my character’s identity is the most vital. It is the aspect of the character that I have the most experience and enjoyment from. I have confidence as a healer. At times when I switch over to the Prot off-spec to do a dungeon, I get a little nervouse. That aspect of the character I am not all that confident in (mostly because of the person driving it…gear is pretty frakin good). There is also the element of my character that has translated from real life. It’s been a minute since I took a Myers-Briggs inventory, so forgive my incorrect terminology. IRL, I am a helper, a nurturer, a problem-solver, and a mediator. Translate all that into game terms and you’ve got yourself a Healer! This connection between the game and real life can also account for the ease I experienced in levelling another healing class. It seems to be a niche I fit into well, both in terms of style and comfort.

 I believe that, as IRL, we as people tend to define ourselves along the lines of aspects of our lives that provide us with the most enjoyment and fulfillment.

 Twas short, but there it is….(still new at this)

 May the Light bless you….

We’re here to chew bubble gum..and kill bosses…

Just a little shout out to my guild, Undying Resolution (Elune-US)…10-man raid tonight..we downed Lord Rhyolith and the Bal-Rog..oops…wrong setting…Baleroc! Congrats all!  Here are the screenshots (I’m the ugly one on the right next to the pretty priest):

Lordy Lord Rhyolith

I am the Keymaster!

May the Light help us all, I’m going to try blogging….

Hello one and all! Welcome to my blog. Yes, this is the first time I’m doing such a thing so please continue reading while I have you at the edge of your seat rapidly scanning these words to see if this is any good. So, without further ado, here’s what you can (in all likelihood) expect from this blog….

 Amowrath is a Holy Paladin on the Elune-US server (Alliance). As this is my main character, this blog will (at least in its embryonic state) regale you with my trials and tribulations as a Holy Paladin Raider. (I will also try to do some things with the Protection and Retribution specs.)

 I may rant from time to time. I am a generally level-headed fellow but have been known to be emotionally reactionary from time to time.

 I may blog about something I believe in whole-heartedly then change my mind 10 days later when I realized I was wrong and now have the correct information.

 I may post controversial ideas. At times, these posts may be purposeful to engender discussion.

 I shall make frequent pop culture references…some of those will be archaic…extra points for those who point them out (and with honor – no cheating with Google).

 I know there shall be trolls but I implore them to come at me in smaller numbers…you will have to pay the troll toll if you want this boy’s soul….

 (Did you find a pop culture reference yet?)

 I will do my best to be clever when warranted (with perhaps at 20% success rate).

 I welcome discussion, tips, references, and…pay attention now…C-O-N-S-T-R-U-C-T-I-V-E criticism. Read the capital letters one more time…I’ll wait…ok then…

 I won’t go into helping make sense of the title of this blog gentle reader. You are all too smart to not have figured it out already.

 

Thanks and stay tuned!