So for my birthday, my loving boyfriend picked me up a book I've been meaning to read for quite some time now. I finally got around to finishing it up about a week ago, so while it's still fresh in my mind, I wanted to write this review first.
Off the bat, I have to warn you: I'm a HUGE fan of Christie Golden at this point. Every Warcraft book that I've read from her has been absolutely riveting and enthralling to the point where I lose sleep over extended reading periods. I have to add that while Arthas was no different in that regard, out of all her books, I think this may have been my least favorite.
Now, I'm not entirely sure this is a fair assessment. You see, there were only two problems that I had with the book. First, the entire recapping of Warcraft III was boring to me. I knew everything that was going to happen (though, arguably, as a WoW player in general, I suppose this should be true for every book to some extent). Just the same, I couldn't help feeling that I was trying to rush reading through it to find something new and interesting - and what do I get when I get to the end of where "The Frozen Throne" ends? Nothing but an Epilogue.
In fact, that brings me rather to my second beef - I could have read the prologue and epilogue and gotten everything I could have wanted out of the entire book. The information I was looking for, the bits and tidbits into Arthas' character, everything from his light to his dark side to how he interacts with Ner'zhul, all get summed up so nicely, almost too nicely, in those bits of the book that there's nearly no reason to read the rest of it.
Now, allow me to backtrack a bit to say that this isn't a bad book. I liked it. While I was reading the beginnings in particular, all the established relationships that you never really saw fleshed out in any game (such as the couple love triangles, family matters, and childhood friends) were pretty much what I was looking for - insight into a character who had such an abrupt change in Warcraft III that it was hard to understand the "why." The book instead outlays a series of events that leads Arthas to this path before he ever takes it - everything, admittedly, makes a lot more sense.
I just don't think that the recap of everything should have taken over half the book's volume while adding very little insight overall. I know that it's necessary - what if someone has never played Warcraft III? What if they've only played WoW and want to find out more about Arthas? It's totally understandable.
I think there could have been a better way to handle it - and don't get me wrong, there's a lot cut out or shortened for readability sake. But I don't think there's much excuse for a portion of the book that an individual can legitimately label as boring.
I don't like "grading" things, or having a rating system, so I think I'll end this with this: This book is worth reading, if only for the beginning and the very end. If you're into the Arthas/Jaina relationship OR Lady Sylvanas Windrunner's ascension as the Banshee Queen, then check this book out for sure - there's a lot for you here. However, if you're just looking for insight on the what-ifs for Icecrown or hints as to what's to come? Read the intro and epilogue and you can live your lore life quite happily without wasting too much time, 'cause that's all you're gonna get.
Not sure what I'll have in stock for you next week - we'll see. For now, fight the good fight. FOR THE HORDE!
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Monday, October 19, 2009
Always a Long Time Coming
Hey all. I could make an excuse as to why I've been gone. But you probably won't read it anyway. So the long story short is new job, new city, new home, new guild...
Wait, what?
Yeah, all sorts of things have been happening and Eseten's starting all over again. So if you know a guild that needs a pretty decently geared Ret/Prot Paladin that raids *very* late (starts past midnight PST), let me know! I may be willing to server transfer for good progression guilds.
Good luck getting me to faction transfer though. D= NEVAR!
I'd like to start writing again soon. And it's my intent to do so - but not for a few months. I'm afraid I'm unable to explain why I have to put things on the back burner, but rest assured I have my reasons.
In the mean time, to re-spark my own and others interest in the lore of Warcraft, I'm actually going to be going through and re-reading all the Warcraft books - there's a few I haven't read (primarily the War of the Ancients series), but I'll get to them all in good time. I'd like to spark a bit of interest in everything again, maybe do some compares and contrasts between lore then and lore now - especially with the advents of the Icecrown Citadel raid and Cataclysm encroaching ever closer.
So sit back - I'll have something new to say every Wednesday Morning. I look forward to reacquainting myself with everyone again.
-Eseten-
Wait, what?
Yeah, all sorts of things have been happening and Eseten's starting all over again. So if you know a guild that needs a pretty decently geared Ret/Prot Paladin that raids *very* late (starts past midnight PST), let me know! I may be willing to server transfer for good progression guilds.
Good luck getting me to faction transfer though. D= NEVAR!
I'd like to start writing again soon. And it's my intent to do so - but not for a few months. I'm afraid I'm unable to explain why I have to put things on the back burner, but rest assured I have my reasons.
In the mean time, to re-spark my own and others interest in the lore of Warcraft, I'm actually going to be going through and re-reading all the Warcraft books - there's a few I haven't read (primarily the War of the Ancients series), but I'll get to them all in good time. I'd like to spark a bit of interest in everything again, maybe do some compares and contrasts between lore then and lore now - especially with the advents of the Icecrown Citadel raid and Cataclysm encroaching ever closer.
So sit back - I'll have something new to say every Wednesday Morning. I look forward to reacquainting myself with everyone again.
-Eseten-
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Late Announcement!
Greetings all!
I'm a lot less organized as of late as far as the blog goes, but a few bits of news:
I will be at Blizzcon this week. I will be very easy to find. Look for "Floating Green Text." If you won't be there, watch the live feed for me. I'll be sure to try to wave at a few cameras. ;)
I have a twitter! This was created for the sole purpose of following the new Blizzard Twitter accounts (though honestly I could care less about Starcraft myself). I'll be trying to tweet at the con, but I guarantee nothing.
My guild has once again disbanded. I am now the leader of a new guild on Gurubashi called. If you're level 80, Horde, and LFG on Gurubashi, send me an in-game tell - we're doing 10 and 25m Ulduar and plan on doing the new Trial stuff as soon as we get a good core group. Website and such will be up in about a week or so, after the Blizzcon festivities have worn me out.
Thanks everyone who visits, and I hope to start updating and being community-oriented again as soon as I get things a bit settled down!
I'm a lot less organized as of late as far as the blog goes, but a few bits of news:
I will be at Blizzcon this week. I will be very easy to find. Look for "Floating Green Text." If you won't be there, watch the live feed for me. I'll be sure to try to wave at a few cameras. ;)
I have a twitter! This was created for the sole purpose of following the new Blizzard Twitter accounts (though honestly I could care less about Starcraft myself). I'll be trying to tweet at the con, but I guarantee nothing.
My guild has once again disbanded. I am now the leader of a new guild on Gurubashi called
Thanks everyone who visits, and I hope to start updating and being community-oriented again as soon as I get things a bit settled down!
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Where'd it go?
Greetings one and all,
I'm sure you have been wondering why I have not (once again) been updating. Among the usual suspects of life changing developments, a primary cause is also the rules of the Writing Contest that I did not read closely enough. You may have noticed I took down my short story - I had to per the rules of the contest. I don't even know whether or not I was judged on my writing; I may submit an inquiry later this week just out of curiosity.
I'm not bitter about the situation, at least not with Blizzard. I am, however, very upset with myself for failing to read the terms I agreed to closely enough. I have essentially forfeited the character Keeves and any related material to Blizzard, and the short story I wrote, beyond those of you who got to read it before I had to take it down, will likely never be seen again. There is truly nothing more painful to a writer than to create something you are so very proud of and know that it was for absolutely nothing.
The rules of the contest say that the character now belongs to Blizzard in its entirety, and should I wish to do something more with that character (for instance, continue the novelization of the original story I had begun writing as a screenplay), I would need to ask express permission. However, I do not believe this is any different from writing any other story with borrowed Blizzard characters. How is using Keeves in my story any different from using Thrall or Sylvanas? I now no longer own any of those characters, so as long as I claim no property over them (as I never have with any of the Blizzard owned content), I should, in theory, be able to continue my tale.
I'll be writing up a proper disclaimer to add to my fiction from now on, to claim no ownership over the Blizzard intellectual property and to passively ask express permission to use such characters in a story that is not for profit. If there happen to be any lawyers out there who read my blog (or perhaps Blizzard employees that poke around once in a while and find some interest in this particular topic), please contact me at esetenthepaladin@gmail.com . I wish only to continue enjoying my love of Blizzard games and lore through my creative writing, and to share the stories that unfold with others who might find my blatherings of interest.
Thank you faithful readers, as always, for sticking with me through the quiet times. I promise to have something of merit up as soon as I feel it is safe for me to submit something else to the vast expanses of the interwebs.
I'm sure you have been wondering why I have not (once again) been updating. Among the usual suspects of life changing developments, a primary cause is also the rules of the Writing Contest that I did not read closely enough. You may have noticed I took down my short story - I had to per the rules of the contest. I don't even know whether or not I was judged on my writing; I may submit an inquiry later this week just out of curiosity.
I'm not bitter about the situation, at least not with Blizzard. I am, however, very upset with myself for failing to read the terms I agreed to closely enough. I have essentially forfeited the character Keeves and any related material to Blizzard, and the short story I wrote, beyond those of you who got to read it before I had to take it down, will likely never be seen again. There is truly nothing more painful to a writer than to create something you are so very proud of and know that it was for absolutely nothing.
The rules of the contest say that the character now belongs to Blizzard in its entirety, and should I wish to do something more with that character (for instance, continue the novelization of the original story I had begun writing as a screenplay), I would need to ask express permission. However, I do not believe this is any different from writing any other story with borrowed Blizzard characters. How is using Keeves in my story any different from using Thrall or Sylvanas? I now no longer own any of those characters, so as long as I claim no property over them (as I never have with any of the Blizzard owned content), I should, in theory, be able to continue my tale.
I'll be writing up a proper disclaimer to add to my fiction from now on, to claim no ownership over the Blizzard intellectual property and to passively ask express permission to use such characters in a story that is not for profit. If there happen to be any lawyers out there who read my blog (or perhaps Blizzard employees that poke around once in a while and find some interest in this particular topic), please contact me at esetenthepaladin@gmail.com . I wish only to continue enjoying my love of Blizzard games and lore through my creative writing, and to share the stories that unfold with others who might find my blatherings of interest.
Thank you faithful readers, as always, for sticking with me through the quiet times. I promise to have something of merit up as soon as I feel it is safe for me to submit something else to the vast expanses of the interwebs.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Self vs. Whole - What WoW Means to Me
Edit: Now that the poll is complete, I'm editing in the results and posting the next one.
Question: Who are you for?
FOR THE HORDE! (4 votes, 33%)
FOR THE ALLIANCE! (3 votes, 25%)
Can't I stay on the fence like Thrall & Jaina? (5 votes, 41%)
Neither! DEATH TO ALL! FOR THE SCOURGE! (0 votes, 0%)
Good to know there's no active traitors in the midst. D= But really, what's with all you peace mongers? Don't you know this is World of WARcraft? ;)
I was originally going to post the next segment of my story here - and in novella form, as that seems to be the general consensus. However, I couldn't find the time to convert my script to story form, and another topic's been clawing at my mind lately, so I thought I'd share.
I'm always surprised with what people do and don't know about me. I generally try to keep my personal life separate from my forum life, and only the guildmates that I talk to on a regular basis know the kinds of things that really go on with me. But to put this topic in full perspective, I have to share a few things about who the person really is behind Eseten.
Eseten is played by a, at the time of this writing, 22 year old female who lives in Hollywood. I graduated college about a year ago, and decided to pursue my then-dream of being a voice actor by moving out here from the midwest. I made some progress, but ultimately decided that my passions did not lie in being an actor of any sort. The only things that thrill me these days are writing and, well, raiding. I play WoW as much as I do because there is little else I do with my life at the moment. I more or less lost my job a few weeks ago, my hours scaled down to such a miniscule amount that I cannot afford to live off of it. I have been spending nearly every day of the last two weeks searching for interviews, revising my resumes, doing everything I can to find something to put food on the table.
I live in a hell hole. My apartment is disgusting - I rent a room from a somewhat dubious middle aged man who works as a paparazzi. The rent is cheap and I really only have to share the shower, but when you feel arguably dirtier from using it than when you stepped in... well, there's something wrong. I would never dream of cooking in that kitchen, as whatever grossness is lurking in there would probably kill me. So I stay holed up in a 13x13 foot room in the dim glow of my computer, just trying to lose myself in the virtual world I know and love.
I have lived here for one year, almost to the day now, and in all that time, I have remained mostly alone. While I have some distant relatives in the area, I'm somewhat of the black sheep. I don't really get along with anyone, and I'm not terribly sociable. I've made few friends - in fact, of the ones I've made, the only ones I've really kept in touch with I actually know because of WoW. I rather fit the "socially awkward" stereotype of most WoW players. All I'm missing is the stack of Hot Pockets boxes, uncontrollable acne, and about 200 lbs worth of weight.
The summary of my sob story is that I'm essentially a single, lonely female with little to no social life, no job, and a lot of things that should really only depress me. But instead, I tend to make silly forum posts, write creatively, and, above all, play WoW in as helpful a way as possible. That is, I'm the schmuck who goes and fishes for the Fish Feasts we plop down every boss pull. I'm the sickeningly sweet weirdo who says, "Guys, that may have been a wipe, but we're progressing! Keep it up!" I'm the nerd who finishes the Noblegarden event early, then starts setting out spare eggs for others for no reason than to know I made someone's day.
Lately, I've had some issues with my guild. We have had poor attendence, and this week was particularly bad (due to one unforeseen sickness and a previously planned vacation that just happened to be ill-timed). However, due to a lack of communication, this has projected poorly on the organizers of our raids, and our morale has been low. There's a lot of upset people, and I worry that our attendence is only going to drop further. It's difficult to recruit new, good, geared people when you have no evidence to show them that being part of your guild is worth it.
It doesn't matter if certain, logical decisions were made - unless those kinds of things are explained to the rest of the guild, they won't know any better and will only be led to believe the situation is getting worse. When people make assumptions, that's when things go downhill. And there's been a whole lot of assuming going around.
It makes me sad, for more than one reason. One, because I love this game, and this guild. There's a lot of really awesome people in it that I have fun raiding with. There are people who make me smile and laugh, people I've had the honor of hanging out in person with, people that I consider not just my guildmates, but my friends. Two, it's because... well, this is kind of all I have. It may be sad in one way, but in another, it gives me hope.
WoW means a lot to me. I can't afford to go out and meet new people. I can't afford to pay the gas to go to the local game store every weekend and hang out and spend money. So I spend fifteen bucks a month to have access to 13 million other players who often share my enthusiasm and my interests. I personally think that's a pretty good investment, or at least a good bang for my buck. So when things go sour, and I watch 10-14 people sit around and be left in the dust due to unfortunate circumstances and misunderstandings... My heart actually hurts. It aches because it's not fair. Maybe I'm just still naive, but I feel like something can be done, and if no one else is going to do it, I'll do it myself.
I want everyone to have fun. I want us to be together as a guild. I want us to grow as a guild. I want us to progress as a guild. I want the best for the people who I consider friends. I often shoot myself in the foot, putting others before what I want or need. I know it's not the best quality to have because, more often than not, I suffer more than anything else. But I've always been that way, and really, at this point, even if I wanted to change, I don't think I could. Not fully, anyhow.
Just the same... if people don't share my sentiments, I can't stand by and let myself waste away. To use a cliche, there is no "I" in team - and there's really two meanings to that. While a single person can't outshine the rest to stand on their own, it also means you can't wait for a single person to pull everyone along. I can give, and give, and give some more... but if others aren't willing to use what I give to its full potential, then it's really all a waste of everyone's time.
I don't think of myself as the end-all-be-all anything. I'm good at DPS, I used to be a very good tank... And I'm more than willing to admit I'm terribly rusty (or perhaps just re-learning everything after the entire mechanics of my class have changed and I now have easily twice as many, if not more, buttons to push). The only things I am confident in saying about myself is that I care about the guild and that I work hard to improve myself whenever I can. Tonight, I unbound my A and D keys, because I know I'll be a better player in the end by doing so. I tried to PuG some 25 man heroics to get better tank gear, because I know there's a need for it. I want to make myself available to others, and I want to be good at my hobby. I want to be known as one of the best guilds on the server, and I want to show people that I rock at this - that I love it and work hard at it.
It might be silly to everyone else. But to me, well, I guess it's a way to keep me going. I might not have a job, and I might not have a boyfriend or even a group to go out drinking with. But I have a guild full of pretty cool people that I care about very much. I have fun when I'm with them... and I want to make sure they have fun too.
P.S. Rabble Rabble Rabble. This is now an official rant. /salute Dim
Question: Who are you for?
FOR THE HORDE! (4 votes, 33%)
FOR THE ALLIANCE! (3 votes, 25%)
Can't I stay on the fence like Thrall & Jaina? (5 votes, 41%)
Neither! DEATH TO ALL! FOR THE SCOURGE! (0 votes, 0%)
Good to know there's no active traitors in the midst. D= But really, what's with all you peace mongers? Don't you know this is World of WARcraft? ;)
I was originally going to post the next segment of my story here - and in novella form, as that seems to be the general consensus. However, I couldn't find the time to convert my script to story form, and another topic's been clawing at my mind lately, so I thought I'd share.
I'm always surprised with what people do and don't know about me. I generally try to keep my personal life separate from my forum life, and only the guildmates that I talk to on a regular basis know the kinds of things that really go on with me. But to put this topic in full perspective, I have to share a few things about who the person really is behind Eseten.
Eseten is played by a, at the time of this writing, 22 year old female who lives in Hollywood. I graduated college about a year ago, and decided to pursue my then-dream of being a voice actor by moving out here from the midwest. I made some progress, but ultimately decided that my passions did not lie in being an actor of any sort. The only things that thrill me these days are writing and, well, raiding. I play WoW as much as I do because there is little else I do with my life at the moment. I more or less lost my job a few weeks ago, my hours scaled down to such a miniscule amount that I cannot afford to live off of it. I have been spending nearly every day of the last two weeks searching for interviews, revising my resumes, doing everything I can to find something to put food on the table.
I live in a hell hole. My apartment is disgusting - I rent a room from a somewhat dubious middle aged man who works as a paparazzi. The rent is cheap and I really only have to share the shower, but when you feel arguably dirtier from using it than when you stepped in... well, there's something wrong. I would never dream of cooking in that kitchen, as whatever grossness is lurking in there would probably kill me. So I stay holed up in a 13x13 foot room in the dim glow of my computer, just trying to lose myself in the virtual world I know and love.
I have lived here for one year, almost to the day now, and in all that time, I have remained mostly alone. While I have some distant relatives in the area, I'm somewhat of the black sheep. I don't really get along with anyone, and I'm not terribly sociable. I've made few friends - in fact, of the ones I've made, the only ones I've really kept in touch with I actually know because of WoW. I rather fit the "socially awkward" stereotype of most WoW players. All I'm missing is the stack of Hot Pockets boxes, uncontrollable acne, and about 200 lbs worth of weight.
The summary of my sob story is that I'm essentially a single, lonely female with little to no social life, no job, and a lot of things that should really only depress me. But instead, I tend to make silly forum posts, write creatively, and, above all, play WoW in as helpful a way as possible. That is, I'm the schmuck who goes and fishes for the Fish Feasts we plop down every boss pull. I'm the sickeningly sweet weirdo who says, "Guys, that may have been a wipe, but we're progressing! Keep it up!" I'm the nerd who finishes the Noblegarden event early, then starts setting out spare eggs for others for no reason than to know I made someone's day.
Lately, I've had some issues with my guild. We have had poor attendence, and this week was particularly bad (due to one unforeseen sickness and a previously planned vacation that just happened to be ill-timed). However, due to a lack of communication, this has projected poorly on the organizers of our raids, and our morale has been low. There's a lot of upset people, and I worry that our attendence is only going to drop further. It's difficult to recruit new, good, geared people when you have no evidence to show them that being part of your guild is worth it.
It doesn't matter if certain, logical decisions were made - unless those kinds of things are explained to the rest of the guild, they won't know any better and will only be led to believe the situation is getting worse. When people make assumptions, that's when things go downhill. And there's been a whole lot of assuming going around.
It makes me sad, for more than one reason. One, because I love this game, and this guild. There's a lot of really awesome people in it that I have fun raiding with. There are people who make me smile and laugh, people I've had the honor of hanging out in person with, people that I consider not just my guildmates, but my friends. Two, it's because... well, this is kind of all I have. It may be sad in one way, but in another, it gives me hope.
WoW means a lot to me. I can't afford to go out and meet new people. I can't afford to pay the gas to go to the local game store every weekend and hang out and spend money. So I spend fifteen bucks a month to have access to 13 million other players who often share my enthusiasm and my interests. I personally think that's a pretty good investment, or at least a good bang for my buck. So when things go sour, and I watch 10-14 people sit around and be left in the dust due to unfortunate circumstances and misunderstandings... My heart actually hurts. It aches because it's not fair. Maybe I'm just still naive, but I feel like something can be done, and if no one else is going to do it, I'll do it myself.
I want everyone to have fun. I want us to be together as a guild. I want us to grow as a guild. I want us to progress as a guild. I want the best for the people who I consider friends. I often shoot myself in the foot, putting others before what I want or need. I know it's not the best quality to have because, more often than not, I suffer more than anything else. But I've always been that way, and really, at this point, even if I wanted to change, I don't think I could. Not fully, anyhow.
Just the same... if people don't share my sentiments, I can't stand by and let myself waste away. To use a cliche, there is no "I" in team - and there's really two meanings to that. While a single person can't outshine the rest to stand on their own, it also means you can't wait for a single person to pull everyone along. I can give, and give, and give some more... but if others aren't willing to use what I give to its full potential, then it's really all a waste of everyone's time.
I don't think of myself as the end-all-be-all anything. I'm good at DPS, I used to be a very good tank... And I'm more than willing to admit I'm terribly rusty (or perhaps just re-learning everything after the entire mechanics of my class have changed and I now have easily twice as many, if not more, buttons to push). The only things I am confident in saying about myself is that I care about the guild and that I work hard to improve myself whenever I can. Tonight, I unbound my A and D keys, because I know I'll be a better player in the end by doing so. I tried to PuG some 25 man heroics to get better tank gear, because I know there's a need for it. I want to make myself available to others, and I want to be good at my hobby. I want to be known as one of the best guilds on the server, and I want to show people that I rock at this - that I love it and work hard at it.
It might be silly to everyone else. But to me, well, I guess it's a way to keep me going. I might not have a job, and I might not have a boyfriend or even a group to go out drinking with. But I have a guild full of pretty cool people that I care about very much. I have fun when I'm with them... and I want to make sure they have fun too.
P.S. Rabble Rabble Rabble. This is now an official rant. /salute Dim
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Updated Ret Guide
SURPRISE POST!
This is actually for a friend of mine. He wrote this, I didn't, but I'm posting my corrected version of it as he asked me to edit it for him. I didn't get a chance to read over it faster, and for that I apologize. Raiding Ulduar comes first, sorry buddy. =P
The normal Retribution raiding spec is 0/5/54. Note that this does not spend all your talent points. The reason is because we have more than we really need to get all our mandatory DPS talents since they unbloated our tree a bit. The rest can either be spent on PvP talents or Utility talents. I highly suggest Utility talents as if you actually know how to use your utility, you'll be a much more valuable Ret paladin in your raid. I'll note which ones are useful below.
I also added in the Glyphs I use to that spec. Consecration frees up your GCDs so they don't conflict as much (and technically saves mana, not that you need it), Exorcism does craploads of damage now, and Judgement is your primary ability. Sense Undead is great for Naxx and there's no reason to not have it.
Talents
Holy
T1:
Seals of the Pure: Useless. You use none of these seals. You should be using Blood/Martyr, never anything else.
Protection
T1:
Divinity: Good utility for your healing, including instant cast Flash of Light and Divine Storm. Nice to be healed for a bit extra too, since you'll take quite a bit from SoM/SoB procs.
Divine Strength: Strength is your version of the Holy Paladin's Intellect. Obviously, stack this!
T2:
Stoicism: This is a PvP talent. You won't be stunned and your spells won't be dispelled.
Guardian's Favor: Good for utility. Hand of Freedom won't come up as much, but you'll make quick friends with an overzealous healer or ranged DPS if you know when to Hand of Protection.
Anticipation: Prot talent. Skip it.
T3:
Divine Sacrifice: Awesome utility if you plan ahead with healers or a prot paladin. Takes some planning though. Wonderful for large AE damage fights since you can pop your bubble with it and take damage away from everyone without dying. If you do it a second time, make sure you get a damage reducing buff from a healer AND pop Divine Protection with it if you want to live.
Improved Righteous Fury: Prot talent. Skip it.
Toughness: Prot talent. I'd suggest taking Divinity over this, it's more useful.
T4:
Improved Divine Sacrifice: Just the improved form of Divine Sacrifice. Also lets your Sacred Shield do more, and you should be throwing it up on the offtanks or even the tank. Sacred Shields STACK, so it's pretty darn useful.
Retribution
T1:
Deflection: Tank talent. Skip it.
Benediction: Reduces the cost of all your attacks by 10%. Part of the reason we don't have mana issues. Take it.
T2:
Improved Judgments: More Judgments meanings more damage. Mandatory.
Heart of the Crusader: 3% chance to crit on the enemy? Yum yum.
Improved Blessing of Might: Your primary buff. Take it. Incidentally, Might > Kings.
T3:
Vindication: PvP talent, primarily, but some trash isn't immune to it. Can speed up clears. Not *totally* useless, but not very helpful either.
Conviction: 5% crit for everything? Take it.
Seal of Command: Useless for everything, including PvP. /sigh Skip it.
Pursuit of Justice: You run faster, get in position faster, get back to the mob faster. Take it.
T4:
Eye for an Eye: PvP talent, but can be fun in AoE damage fights. I've KO'd stuff from being crit by random spells. Just the same, unless you're going PvP in your spare time, skip it.
Sanctity of Battle: More crit chance and more damage? Take it.
Crusade: 3% damage on all mobs and 3% more on a lot of others? Take it.
T5:
Two-Handed Weapon Specialization: Since your entire life will be wielding two handed weapons, you should take this. Trust me on this.
Sanctified Retribution: 3% extra damage. Since 3.1, it no longer matters what aura you have up for the % damage bonus, but it may as well be Ret aura.
T6:
Vengeance: You should be critting a lot, and so that refreshes Vengeance's stack. 9% more damage nearly constantly is wonderful.
Divine Purpose: PvP talent. Skip it.
T7:
The Art of War: Ah, Sun Tzu reference. More damage and a free Flash of Light? Take it!
Repentance: Finally, Paladin CC. It leads to a great talent, so take it.
Judgments of the Wise: Your best regen talent. Everyone will adore you for it, especially your healers. Take it.
T8:
Fanaticism: Lots more crits for your Judgments and less threat. Take it, and love it.
Sanctified Wrath: Decreased the cooldown of Avenging Wrath, a spell you should use every time it's up (or with trinket/bloodlust, as appropriate for the fight), as well as the critical strike chance of Hammer of Wrath, something you should use whenever you can, by a hell of a lot. Take it.
T9:
Swift Retribution: Haste. 3%. Take it. :p
Crusader Strike: One of your three main attacks, alongside Judgments and Divine Storm. Take it, it's an instant smack.
Sheath of Light: Entirely the reason Ret Paladins don't need Spell Power on their gear anymore. Take it, love it.
T10:
Righteous Vengeance: Your only DoT, really. Take it, it'll improve your DPs nicely.
T11:
Divine Storm: Ah, your third and last damaging spell that I know of right now. Love this to pieces, as it does nice AoE damage.
Gemming
The meta gem you want to use is going to be a Chaotic Skyflare Diamond. To match the colors if you haven't already, use two Sovereign Shadow Crystals. Unless you can find two Sovereign Twilight Opals, which should be floating around soon enough. Unless of course they already are. And if you're a Jewelcrafter, just use three Bold Dragon Eyes.
Even before you reach the Hit/Expertise caps (but matched the meta colors) just gem for strength using lots of Bold Scarlet Rubies. Strength is amazing for you, stack it.
Stats
I think Ret Paladins are the only DPS spec that has a stat over Hit and Expertise prior to the caps.
Strength gives a hell of a lot of AP and spell power and damage for you. Just stack that, and get Hit and Expertise from gear and random enchants. Don't ever gem for anything else.
Hit and Expertise are big, since you won't be meeting the cap at all times. Look for Expertise over Hit, since you'll be munching on Hit food.
Crit's your next big one. Get it on gear if you find it.
The rest of the stats, AP (comes from Strength), Haste, Stamina, and Agility are just on gear.
Gear
Strength > Expertise > Hit > Crit > AP > Haste
For T7 and T7.5, get the 4 piece set bonus. 1 second off your Judgement, your hardest hitting attack, is freaking huge. Unless you have a whole bunch of >213 gear to replace it, it's hard to beat.
For T8 and T8.5, aim for the 4 set bonus. More critical strikes from your big hitters is wonderful.
Rotation
From Elitist Jerks, because they explain it way better than I ever could:
3.1 clash resolution is as follows: CS > HoW > Judgement > DS > Consecration > Exorcism > Holy Wrath
During the beta it was agreed upon that because of vastly changed mechanics, our rotations should be thrown out and thus came to be known as FCFS (First Come First Serve) - and this is still true in 3.1. Not much to explain about it, just use whatever is off cooldown, whenever you can (watch your mana bar). See below for clash resolution (when 2 skills are off cooldown, which one do you use?). Be sure to use AW and Divine Plea as much as you can, as both provide a nice boost in damage/mana. In a situation with AoE, say trash for example, Consecration and DS should be prioritized. Yes, even with the exorcism changes, it still ranks behind all of our strikes and consecrate due to a longer cooldown and higher miss rate. You can often open on bosses with an exorcism or judgement while running into melee range, and then once you are in melee range FCFS takes over.
Quick two bits: Use Seal of the Martyr at all times, and Judgement of Light. Your Judgement of Light > other pally's JoL, and it does not generate extra threat (like it used to). Only use Judgement of Wisdom if there are no other paladins in the group.
This is actually for a friend of mine. He wrote this, I didn't, but I'm posting my corrected version of it as he asked me to edit it for him. I didn't get a chance to read over it faster, and for that I apologize. Raiding Ulduar comes first, sorry buddy. =P
The normal Retribution raiding spec is 0/5/54. Note that this does not spend all your talent points. The reason is because we have more than we really need to get all our mandatory DPS talents since they unbloated our tree a bit. The rest can either be spent on PvP talents or Utility talents. I highly suggest Utility talents as if you actually know how to use your utility, you'll be a much more valuable Ret paladin in your raid. I'll note which ones are useful below.
I also added in the Glyphs I use to that spec. Consecration frees up your GCDs so they don't conflict as much (and technically saves mana, not that you need it), Exorcism does craploads of damage now, and Judgement is your primary ability. Sense Undead is great for Naxx and there's no reason to not have it.
Talents
Holy
T1:
Seals of the Pure: Useless. You use none of these seals. You should be using Blood/Martyr, never anything else.
Protection
T1:
Divinity: Good utility for your healing, including instant cast Flash of Light and Divine Storm. Nice to be healed for a bit extra too, since you'll take quite a bit from SoM/SoB procs.
Divine Strength: Strength is your version of the Holy Paladin's Intellect. Obviously, stack this!
T2:
Stoicism: This is a PvP talent. You won't be stunned and your spells won't be dispelled.
Guardian's Favor: Good for utility. Hand of Freedom won't come up as much, but you'll make quick friends with an overzealous healer or ranged DPS if you know when to Hand of Protection.
Anticipation: Prot talent. Skip it.
T3:
Divine Sacrifice: Awesome utility if you plan ahead with healers or a prot paladin. Takes some planning though. Wonderful for large AE damage fights since you can pop your bubble with it and take damage away from everyone without dying. If you do it a second time, make sure you get a damage reducing buff from a healer AND pop Divine Protection with it if you want to live.
Improved Righteous Fury: Prot talent. Skip it.
Toughness: Prot talent. I'd suggest taking Divinity over this, it's more useful.
T4:
Improved Divine Sacrifice: Just the improved form of Divine Sacrifice. Also lets your Sacred Shield do more, and you should be throwing it up on the offtanks or even the tank. Sacred Shields STACK, so it's pretty darn useful.
Retribution
T1:
Deflection: Tank talent. Skip it.
Benediction: Reduces the cost of all your attacks by 10%. Part of the reason we don't have mana issues. Take it.
T2:
Improved Judgments: More Judgments meanings more damage. Mandatory.
Heart of the Crusader: 3% chance to crit on the enemy? Yum yum.
Improved Blessing of Might: Your primary buff. Take it. Incidentally, Might > Kings.
T3:
Vindication: PvP talent, primarily, but some trash isn't immune to it. Can speed up clears. Not *totally* useless, but not very helpful either.
Conviction: 5% crit for everything? Take it.
Seal of Command: Useless for everything, including PvP. /sigh Skip it.
Pursuit of Justice: You run faster, get in position faster, get back to the mob faster. Take it.
T4:
Eye for an Eye: PvP talent, but can be fun in AoE damage fights. I've KO'd stuff from being crit by random spells. Just the same, unless you're going PvP in your spare time, skip it.
Sanctity of Battle: More crit chance and more damage? Take it.
Crusade: 3% damage on all mobs and 3% more on a lot of others? Take it.
T5:
Two-Handed Weapon Specialization: Since your entire life will be wielding two handed weapons, you should take this. Trust me on this.
Sanctified Retribution: 3% extra damage. Since 3.1, it no longer matters what aura you have up for the % damage bonus, but it may as well be Ret aura.
T6:
Vengeance: You should be critting a lot, and so that refreshes Vengeance's stack. 9% more damage nearly constantly is wonderful.
Divine Purpose: PvP talent. Skip it.
T7:
The Art of War: Ah, Sun Tzu reference. More damage and a free Flash of Light? Take it!
Repentance: Finally, Paladin CC. It leads to a great talent, so take it.
Judgments of the Wise: Your best regen talent. Everyone will adore you for it, especially your healers. Take it.
T8:
Fanaticism: Lots more crits for your Judgments and less threat. Take it, and love it.
Sanctified Wrath: Decreased the cooldown of Avenging Wrath, a spell you should use every time it's up (or with trinket/bloodlust, as appropriate for the fight), as well as the critical strike chance of Hammer of Wrath, something you should use whenever you can, by a hell of a lot. Take it.
T9:
Swift Retribution: Haste. 3%. Take it. :p
Crusader Strike: One of your three main attacks, alongside Judgments and Divine Storm. Take it, it's an instant smack.
Sheath of Light: Entirely the reason Ret Paladins don't need Spell Power on their gear anymore. Take it, love it.
T10:
Righteous Vengeance: Your only DoT, really. Take it, it'll improve your DPs nicely.
T11:
Divine Storm: Ah, your third and last damaging spell that I know of right now. Love this to pieces, as it does nice AoE damage.
Gemming
The meta gem you want to use is going to be a Chaotic Skyflare Diamond. To match the colors if you haven't already, use two Sovereign Shadow Crystals. Unless you can find two Sovereign Twilight Opals, which should be floating around soon enough. Unless of course they already are. And if you're a Jewelcrafter, just use three Bold Dragon Eyes.
Even before you reach the Hit/Expertise caps (but matched the meta colors) just gem for strength using lots of Bold Scarlet Rubies. Strength is amazing for you, stack it.
Stats
I think Ret Paladins are the only DPS spec that has a stat over Hit and Expertise prior to the caps.
Strength gives a hell of a lot of AP and spell power and damage for you. Just stack that, and get Hit and Expertise from gear and random enchants. Don't ever gem for anything else.
Hit and Expertise are big, since you won't be meeting the cap at all times. Look for Expertise over Hit, since you'll be munching on Hit food.
Crit's your next big one. Get it on gear if you find it.
The rest of the stats, AP (comes from Strength), Haste, Stamina, and Agility are just on gear.
Gear
Strength > Expertise > Hit > Crit > AP > Haste
For T7 and T7.5, get the 4 piece set bonus. 1 second off your Judgement, your hardest hitting attack, is freaking huge. Unless you have a whole bunch of >213 gear to replace it, it's hard to beat.
For T8 and T8.5, aim for the 4 set bonus. More critical strikes from your big hitters is wonderful.
Rotation
From Elitist Jerks, because they explain it way better than I ever could:
3.1 clash resolution is as follows: CS > HoW > Judgement > DS > Consecration > Exorcism > Holy Wrath
During the beta it was agreed upon that because of vastly changed mechanics, our rotations should be thrown out and thus came to be known as FCFS (First Come First Serve) - and this is still true in 3.1. Not much to explain about it, just use whatever is off cooldown, whenever you can (watch your mana bar). See below for clash resolution (when 2 skills are off cooldown, which one do you use?). Be sure to use AW and Divine Plea as much as you can, as both provide a nice boost in damage/mana. In a situation with AoE, say trash for example, Consecration and DS should be prioritized. Yes, even with the exorcism changes, it still ranks behind all of our strikes and consecrate due to a longer cooldown and higher miss rate. You can often open on bosses with an exorcism or judgement while running into melee range, and then once you are in melee range FCFS takes over.
Quick two bits: Use Seal of the Martyr at all times, and Judgement of Light. Your Judgement of Light > other pally's JoL, and it does not generate extra threat (like it used to). Only use Judgement of Wisdom if there are no other paladins in the group.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
And So It Begins...
The response I received on my short story on the General Forums was OVERWHELMING. Thank you all so much for your support and your kind words. There are about five or so more days left in the time they said they would announce winners. Wish me luck. =)
Poll time! I asked you all who your favorite CM was! And the winner is...
1. Zarhym! (16 votes, 50%)
2. Nethaera! (5 votes, 15%)
3. Bornakk! (3 votes, 9%)
3. Eyonix! (3 votes, 9%)
5. Crygil! (2 votes, 6%)
6. Mine's not listed... (2 votes, 6%)
7. Drysc/Bashiok! (1 vote, 3%)
Shenanigans, I say! I am foiled once more by my arch nemesis! Curse, you Zarhym, and your inexplicable popularity! One day and one day soon you shall have your come-uppins, and I shall be the one to deliver them unto you! /Cue Mandark Laugh
Alright, that's enough of that. A lot of people were asking me on the forums whether or not I would post more of my story. Well, here's the thing: There is no more beyond what you read last week. See, Keeves' story was meant to be a prequel. To what, you ask?
Well, that's what you'll find out today. Today, I present to you a snippet from the script I've been working on for ages. Now that people seem to have quite the interest in it, though, I may actually finish it. Truth be told, I don't know if it will work so well as a script anymore. The original intention was to write this as a spec script and submit it to Legendary Pictures, as they are still (last I heard, anyway) looking for a screenwriter for the WoW feature film. Having a project like that would be a dream come true for someone like me, so this is what I began work on. However, the more I wrote, the more the story became its own entity. I fear that what I have to write will far exceed 90 pages of script, and I don't want another epic on my hands.
So today, I'm going to show you the basic outline from just the first two shots. If people like it, I'll post more of the script next week. If people don't, then I'll move on to other things, and perhaps write another short story instead. If people like the idea but dislike the screenplay format, perhaps I'll do what I should have done in the first place, and just begin writing as if it were a novel rather than a screenplay. I know screenplays aren't nearly as interesting to read as other forms of creative writing, so this may be what happens in the end.
PLEASE! It is imperitive that you let me know your preference! I want to share my stories with people! But there's no point in sharing them if no one enjoys them.
Anyway, I've been long-winded enough. I have no title for this... Its code-title is "Kael."
(NOTE: My formatting from my word document would not copy/paste over properly, as I use CRAPTONS of macros when writing. So below is a special format I had to develop for blog purposes. Trust me; I know it's not typical screenplay format.)
---------------------------------------------
Poll time! I asked you all who your favorite CM was! And the winner is...
1. Zarhym! (16 votes, 50%)
2. Nethaera! (5 votes, 15%)
3. Bornakk! (3 votes, 9%)
3. Eyonix! (3 votes, 9%)
5. Crygil! (2 votes, 6%)
6. Mine's not listed... (2 votes, 6%)
7. Drysc/Bashiok! (1 vote, 3%)
Shenanigans, I say! I am foiled once more by my arch nemesis! Curse, you Zarhym, and your inexplicable popularity! One day and one day soon you shall have your come-uppins, and I shall be the one to deliver them unto you! /Cue Mandark Laugh
Alright, that's enough of that. A lot of people were asking me on the forums whether or not I would post more of my story. Well, here's the thing: There is no more beyond what you read last week. See, Keeves' story was meant to be a prequel. To what, you ask?
Well, that's what you'll find out today. Today, I present to you a snippet from the script I've been working on for ages. Now that people seem to have quite the interest in it, though, I may actually finish it. Truth be told, I don't know if it will work so well as a script anymore. The original intention was to write this as a spec script and submit it to Legendary Pictures, as they are still (last I heard, anyway) looking for a screenwriter for the WoW feature film. Having a project like that would be a dream come true for someone like me, so this is what I began work on. However, the more I wrote, the more the story became its own entity. I fear that what I have to write will far exceed 90 pages of script, and I don't want another epic on my hands.
So today, I'm going to show you the basic outline from just the first two shots. If people like it, I'll post more of the script next week. If people don't, then I'll move on to other things, and perhaps write another short story instead. If people like the idea but dislike the screenplay format, perhaps I'll do what I should have done in the first place, and just begin writing as if it were a novel rather than a screenplay. I know screenplays aren't nearly as interesting to read as other forms of creative writing, so this may be what happens in the end.
PLEASE! It is imperitive that you let me know your preference! I want to share my stories with people! But there's no point in sharing them if no one enjoys them.
Anyway, I've been long-winded enough. I have no title for this... Its code-title is "Kael."
(NOTE: My formatting from my word document would not copy/paste over properly, as I use CRAPTONS of macros when writing. So below is a special format I had to develop for blog purposes. Trust me; I know it's not typical screenplay format.)
---------------------------------------------
FADE IN:
EXTERIOR – NETHERSTORM
NETHERSTORM is a blasted, ethereal land, teeming with arcane and shadow energy. Upon the broken fields of this magically sundered terrain, we see a BLOOD ELF in full plate scrambling for his life. He is being chased by two ARCANE PATROLLERS, and the only real identifier he is wearing is a black tabard with a red Sin’dorei symbol emblazoned on the front. The view and sounds of him panting as he flees is intermingled back and forth with the next shot.
Arcane Patroller #1
"Halt in the name of Kael’Thas!"
Arcane Patroller #2
"Surrender or be terminated!"
The ARCANE PATROLLERS spew other such nonsense as they chase the BLOOD ELF.
EXTERIOR - SPACE
ZOOM IN on an image of Azeroth from space. Over time, it focuses on the continent of Eastern Kingdoms, further to the kingdom of Quel’thalas, and even more so to the City of Silvermoon in the Eversong Woods. The camera zooms through the city until it settles on a great statue of Kael’thas Sunstrider in the
Kael'thas
"The Sin’dorei have suffered greatly since the Third War. The Scourge have ravaged our people more than any other. We were once children of the arcane, living in tune with the magnificent powers bestowed upon us by the Sunwell. With its destruction, we faced death, no, extinction itself. I returned from my studies to lead my people not simply to their futures, but to their very survival. But it was not enough. I left my people, my home in Quel’Thalas, for the sake of my kin. I seek power to restore us to the glory we so rightly deserve."
INTERIOR - TEMPEST KEEP
The visage of Kael’thas’ statue fades into the real thing – he is overseeing Tempest Keep from the helm of the great floating fortress. We see his view as the camera rotates around him – he is staring off into the Twisting Nether. He reaches up and closes his hand into a fist.
Kael’Thas
"Nothing will ever be enough."
INTERIOR - ORGRIMMAR - MEETING ROOM
A group of shadowy figures are watching Kael in a sort of table-like looking glass. A large heavily armored Orc, fearsome and intimidating, slams his hands down on the scrying, shaking the image away.
Thrall
"He’s gone mad! First he assists Illidan, and now he’s devoted himself and is misleading his people as part of the Burning Legion! We cannot stand for this!"
A smooth, though eerily echoed voice answers him. It’s half calming and half entirely alarming. A feminine figure with her hood pulled low over her eyes answers him, her long ears providing the only clue to her identity.
Sylvanas
"You cannot blame him for wanting to help his people. I remember a time when the Orcs were similarly misled…"
Thrall
"None recall as acutely as I. We cannot let history repeat itself."
Another woman’s voice answers. She stands at the table, her shining plate armour and glowing green eyes much more obvious with her identity, and a tabard not unlike the one we saw earlier adorns her chest.
Liadrin
"We already know our Prince has failed us. There is little we can do but retaliate. The Sin’Dorei do not have the resources to recover from a second ravaging of our meagre forces."
A deep, calm, rumbling voice answers. It’s akin to the sound of distant rolling thunder, though not at all threatening. His bovine frame is huge and easily towers over everyone else present.
Cairne
"You will not be working alone, Lady Liadrin. Your people will be assisted by the whole of the Horde, and if this plan works accordingly, perhaps the
A snort and bitter laughter breaks in from Cairne’s right, and the camera turns to a pair of two-toed feet propped up on the table. The feet lower to the ground and a troll leans forward into the light, his grin showing clear scepticism.
Vol’jin
"Da humans can’t be trusted, mon. All dey gonna do is stab you in da back. They dun it before, they do it again."
Liadrin
"While I share in your distaste for the
VOL’JIN snorts at LIADRIN, but THRALL interrupts before they can openly begin arguing with one another.
Thrall
"I’m not exactly thrilled about it myself. But this is greater than Horde and
INTERIOR - STORMWIND - MEETING ROOM
In a much more well-lit room than the previous, six figures are surrounding a similar table, though their imagery is projected in the air, shimmering unclearly as they watch the discussion in Orgrimmar unfold. There are five different races – two Humans, a Night Elf, a Dwarf, a Gnome, and a Draenei. It is clear that one of the Humans, a pretty young female, is channeling the scrying.
Jaina
"With permission from Thrall himself, I was allowed to break some of their wards to show you this discussion. Though, admittedly, the other Horde leaders do not yet know of this… covert communication."
Mekkatorque
"(Laughing) So we’re spying on them and they have no idea?! Brilliant!"
Jaina
"Let this be known this is not to be taken advantage of."
JAINA abruptly ends the scrying, casting a look at each and every other member of the room, as if silently levelling with them that she’s the one in charge.
Bolvar
"All due respect, my Lady Proudmoore, what reason precisely do we have to get involved with the affairs of traitors and our most vicious enemies?"
Velen
"If I may answer the question… Prince Kael’Thas Sunstrider is a major threat to us all, especially with your expansion and assistance to my people in Outland. If he is not stopped, he will only grow in power and stand as a major opposition, and regardless of his allegiances, this only works in Illidan’s favour…"
Magni
"Aye, ye be havin’ a point. But I cannae see a reason ta send me strongest troops only ta have ‘em backstabbed by them untrustworthy Horde louts."
Tyrande
"Sending our best and brightest may only prove to hurt us in the end, should treachery take place."
Mekkatorque
"Aww, that’s an easy solution then!"
The GNOME pauses and everyone looks at him expectantly. He seems to enjoy the recognition.
Mekkatorque
"That just means we don’t send our best and brightest."
Everyone in the room looks at one another unsurely, but it’s clear most of them already have someone in mind.
Jaina
"Then I ask of you, as I will ask of Thrall and his companions – each of you pick a… champion and have them leave immediately for the city of
Friday, April 10, 2009
The Writing Contest
First things first, last poll!
How Many Level 80's Do You Have?
Just one, baby (14 - 45%)
Only a couple (2-3) (13 - 41%)
I'm an alt-aholic! (4-8) (2 - 6%)
You don't want to know... (8+) (2 - 6%)
Total Votes: 31
So I guess the demographic for my blog gets focused a bit more. Not very many alt-aholics that read this I take it. I left this one up for quite some time, but I have a good reason!
I've been writing. And today, my dear readers, I am going to share with you what I have been writing.
Some of you may know about a little Writing Contest that Blizzard put up about a month ago. Some of you that know me a bit better than just an anonymous blogger know I have a big, uber WoW script hovering in limbo. This writing contest allowed me to expand on one of the characters I created for my script and delve a bit deeper into her character. Now that the submissions are closed off, I thought it would be fun for me to post what I wrote and let you all take a look at what I've been working on.
It's not too terribly long (in fact, I only barely scraped over the minimum word count), but I think it rounds off nicely. Please, post constructive criticism! As someone who would like to develop her writing skills into a livlihood, I'll take everything I can get. And if people like it, perhaps I'll write another background story for another of the characters, or maybe even begin sharing bits of the script itself. If you're interested in this, let me know via comments!
**EDIT** Unfortunately, I had to pull this off of my blog since I found out TODAY (when they announced the winners) that it's against the terms I agreed to when I submitted the story. Whoops. That's what I get for not reading closely enough. I do wish a CM would have commented/deleted my post on the WoW forums informing me of this when I first did it, since I probably got disqualified for it.
I shot myself in the foot on this one. I'll be able to continue posting my other, original story (since while it's related to this one, as long as I don't use any of the text from this particular short story, I should be fine - especially since this is all non-profit and in good fun).
How Many Level 80's Do You Have?
Just one, baby (14 - 45%)
Only a couple (2-3) (13 - 41%)
I'm an alt-aholic! (4-8) (2 - 6%)
You don't want to know... (8+) (2 - 6%)
Total Votes: 31
So I guess the demographic for my blog gets focused a bit more. Not very many alt-aholics that read this I take it. I left this one up for quite some time, but I have a good reason!
I've been writing. And today, my dear readers, I am going to share with you what I have been writing.
Some of you may know about a little Writing Contest that Blizzard put up about a month ago. Some of you that know me a bit better than just an anonymous blogger know I have a big, uber WoW script hovering in limbo. This writing contest allowed me to expand on one of the characters I created for my script and delve a bit deeper into her character. Now that the submissions are closed off, I thought it would be fun for me to post what I wrote and let you all take a look at what I've been working on.
It's not too terribly long (in fact, I only barely scraped over the minimum word count), but I think it rounds off nicely. Please, post constructive criticism! As someone who would like to develop her writing skills into a livlihood, I'll take everything I can get. And if people like it, perhaps I'll write another background story for another of the characters, or maybe even begin sharing bits of the script itself. If you're interested in this, let me know via comments!
**EDIT** Unfortunately, I had to pull this off of my blog since I found out TODAY (when they announced the winners) that it's against the terms I agreed to when I submitted the story. Whoops. That's what I get for not reading closely enough. I do wish a CM would have commented/deleted my post on the WoW forums informing me of this when I first did it, since I probably got disqualified for it.
I shot myself in the foot on this one. I'll be able to continue posting my other, original story (since while it's related to this one, as long as I don't use any of the text from this particular short story, I should be fine - especially since this is all non-profit and in good fun).
Monday, March 23, 2009
The WoW Community - Black & White
I think I set the timer on the current poll too long. >> Oops. I'll wait for it to run out before posting the results.
So, through the course of the day today, as I was doing my usual forum trolling, I noticed that things have been a little more... hostile as of late. Maybe it's just me, but does it seem like people are constantly up in arms a little more frequently than usual? Note, I did make this observation before the unofficial class changes popped up and got people all stir-crazy, but it seems like little things have been irritating people a lot more than they would normally.
Now, before you point it out to me, I know the WoW community isn't the happiest sunshine-y place in the world. A lot of people have compared it to the /b/ forum on 4Chan, with /b/ being only slightly lower. As someone who steers completely clear of 4Chan in a desperate attempt to preserve what little sanity I have left, I can't make the comparison myself. But, the longer I stay active on the forums, the more I see it changing.
It's a funny place. On any given day, it's either full of hilarious or helpful posters, or completely rude and inconsiderate posters. Sure, there's a little overlap here and there, but it seems like there's an hour in the early morning that decides what kind of day it's going to be: angry or funny or helpful or whatever.
Why are the forums so black and white when it comes to topics?
As I have said before in many threads, the reason I post is to try to be a part of the community, and the way I try to be a part is by being that weird person who tries to bring something funny to the table. Yeah, it doesn't always work - I have my off days too, ya know - but for the days it does, for the times I get people quoting me, or sigging me, or general acknowledgement that tells me I've effectively done what I'm there to do - well, it's worth it. I like the idea that I made someone smile behind their computer screen. I like the idea that they come to the forums, filter through the drek, and find something to laugh about.
Maybe I'm unique in that stance, I don't really know. You can rest assured I won't be changing anytime soon. I guess I just wish I didn't feel so alone - there's definitely a group of people I goof off with, many of which were mentioned in my Forum Trolling 101 post. And I thank those for playing along with my shenanigans - and even more so, I thank the Blues for not banning me yet. =P
I'm hoping today was just an off day and the forums will get back to their regular way soon - whatever that is. I guess I just got spoiled with the streak of good feelings that went on last week...
But is it so wrong of me to want a good thing to stay?
So, through the course of the day today, as I was doing my usual forum trolling, I noticed that things have been a little more... hostile as of late. Maybe it's just me, but does it seem like people are constantly up in arms a little more frequently than usual? Note, I did make this observation before the unofficial class changes popped up and got people all stir-crazy, but it seems like little things have been irritating people a lot more than they would normally.
Now, before you point it out to me, I know the WoW community isn't the happiest sunshine-y place in the world. A lot of people have compared it to the /b/ forum on 4Chan, with /b/ being only slightly lower. As someone who steers completely clear of 4Chan in a desperate attempt to preserve what little sanity I have left, I can't make the comparison myself. But, the longer I stay active on the forums, the more I see it changing.
It's a funny place. On any given day, it's either full of hilarious or helpful posters, or completely rude and inconsiderate posters. Sure, there's a little overlap here and there, but it seems like there's an hour in the early morning that decides what kind of day it's going to be: angry or funny or helpful or whatever.
Why are the forums so black and white when it comes to topics?
As I have said before in many threads, the reason I post is to try to be a part of the community, and the way I try to be a part is by being that weird person who tries to bring something funny to the table. Yeah, it doesn't always work - I have my off days too, ya know - but for the days it does, for the times I get people quoting me, or sigging me, or general acknowledgement that tells me I've effectively done what I'm there to do - well, it's worth it. I like the idea that I made someone smile behind their computer screen. I like the idea that they come to the forums, filter through the drek, and find something to laugh about.
Maybe I'm unique in that stance, I don't really know. You can rest assured I won't be changing anytime soon. I guess I just wish I didn't feel so alone - there's definitely a group of people I goof off with, many of which were mentioned in my Forum Trolling 101 post. And I thank those for playing along with my shenanigans - and even more so, I thank the Blues for not banning me yet. =P
I'm hoping today was just an off day and the forums will get back to their regular way soon - whatever that is. I guess I just got spoiled with the streak of good feelings that went on last week...
But is it so wrong of me to want a good thing to stay?
Monday, March 16, 2009
Casual versus Hardcore
So I'm thinking Mondays for posting. Do Mondays sound good to everyone? I would pick Tuesdays, but Tuesdays I work during the day and raid at night. I'm not sure what would be a much higher traffic than Tuesday mornings (due to maintenance), so Monday evenings should make sense. I'll change the poll to reflect this question once the current poll ends. =)
(Of course, now I'm sure you're asking why this is being posted Tuesday morning - I started writing yesterday, but was abruptly called into work. Nobody's here yet, so I'm gonna try to sneak this out before the boss gets here.)
So, the topic today is casuals versus hardcore - basically, was it a good idea for Blizzard to have "dumbed down" content a bit to make it more accessible?
My short answer is yes. While I consider myself a hardcore, with a regular raiding schedule and a 100% raid attendance (barring personal disasters), I couldn't be happier that they recycled Naxx or made the content pretty easy to jump back into after a 10 level grind.
I will say I was disappointed with the nerfing of all the level 70 raid instances in some ways. Part of me wanted to run my head repeatedly into the Illidari Council until we got it, part of me wanted to tear my hair out when we finally got into Sunwell and couldn't get past Mu'ru, the guild breaker. It would have made me a better player had I been able to succeed past those things without the nerf. It took content that was challenging and fun and made it completely trivial. Granted, I'm also the kind of person who was against the attunements for instances being taken out - I've personally never downed Vashj or Kael because my previous guild was filled with people who did not know how to follow direction, and we skipped both those fights and immediately moved onto Hyjal and Black Temple... where we started skipping Archimonde.
It felt so very wrong to move onto the next tier of content without having completed the previous tier. That's the only part of progression that's been taken out that I really disagree with. You shouldn't move on to T8 content until you've finished T7 content. I really don't understand what's wrong with that idea. In my opinion, it's kind of like saying you should finish a 101 class before you move on to the 102 class.
I don't mind the idea of having some things be a little more accessible. Naxx is a fun raid and I'm glad a lot of people get to see it. I was one of the many that never got to see the 40-man iteration (truthfully, I never saw any of the level 60 raids at 60 - Eseten remains the only character I have ever managed to get to max level). So I'm glad that they took something they had put so much effort and work into and allowed it to be seen by a much larger population.
I can still stand out above the casuals with hard modes (whoot, go go Twilight Vanquisher - now onto Of the Nightfall!) and I think that's pretty cool. I think that's a good direction to take the game in - let the casuals have their fun to a certain extent, and let the hardcores still have something to work toward.
I will admit, however, that there is still that overall disappointment. I haven't seen anything in a while that could be considered "progression." It's been many, many months since I could say that. Working towards achievements is alright... but it's still the same boss with (in every case but 2/3 drake Sarth) the same rewards. All I get is a few achievement points that sit there and don't really do anything. I suppose they give me bragging rights, which is not all that different from saying "HAH, I've downed every boss in every instance, EAT THAT."
I guess I'm still a little torn on the situation. I suppose my argument is more that it makes sense why Blizzard did what they did. Is it really taking away from my fun, though? Does it hurt me directly that others are allowed to experience the same things? It would be a bit selfish to say yes to that.
But then, we're all a little selfish sometimes.
(Of course, now I'm sure you're asking why this is being posted Tuesday morning - I started writing yesterday, but was abruptly called into work. Nobody's here yet, so I'm gonna try to sneak this out before the boss gets here.)
So, the topic today is casuals versus hardcore - basically, was it a good idea for Blizzard to have "dumbed down" content a bit to make it more accessible?
My short answer is yes. While I consider myself a hardcore, with a regular raiding schedule and a 100% raid attendance (barring personal disasters), I couldn't be happier that they recycled Naxx or made the content pretty easy to jump back into after a 10 level grind.
I will say I was disappointed with the nerfing of all the level 70 raid instances in some ways. Part of me wanted to run my head repeatedly into the Illidari Council until we got it, part of me wanted to tear my hair out when we finally got into Sunwell and couldn't get past Mu'ru, the guild breaker. It would have made me a better player had I been able to succeed past those things without the nerf. It took content that was challenging and fun and made it completely trivial. Granted, I'm also the kind of person who was against the attunements for instances being taken out - I've personally never downed Vashj or Kael because my previous guild was filled with people who did not know how to follow direction, and we skipped both those fights and immediately moved onto Hyjal and Black Temple... where we started skipping Archimonde.
It felt so very wrong to move onto the next tier of content without having completed the previous tier. That's the only part of progression that's been taken out that I really disagree with. You shouldn't move on to T8 content until you've finished T7 content. I really don't understand what's wrong with that idea. In my opinion, it's kind of like saying you should finish a 101 class before you move on to the 102 class.
I don't mind the idea of having some things be a little more accessible. Naxx is a fun raid and I'm glad a lot of people get to see it. I was one of the many that never got to see the 40-man iteration (truthfully, I never saw any of the level 60 raids at 60 - Eseten remains the only character I have ever managed to get to max level). So I'm glad that they took something they had put so much effort and work into and allowed it to be seen by a much larger population.
I can still stand out above the casuals with hard modes (whoot, go go Twilight Vanquisher - now onto Of the Nightfall!) and I think that's pretty cool. I think that's a good direction to take the game in - let the casuals have their fun to a certain extent, and let the hardcores still have something to work toward.
I will admit, however, that there is still that overall disappointment. I haven't seen anything in a while that could be considered "progression." It's been many, many months since I could say that. Working towards achievements is alright... but it's still the same boss with (in every case but 2/3 drake Sarth) the same rewards. All I get is a few achievement points that sit there and don't really do anything. I suppose they give me bragging rights, which is not all that different from saying "HAH, I've downed every boss in every instance, EAT THAT."
I guess I'm still a little torn on the situation. I suppose my argument is more that it makes sense why Blizzard did what they did. Is it really taking away from my fun, though? Does it hurt me directly that others are allowed to experience the same things? It would be a bit selfish to say yes to that.
But then, we're all a little selfish sometimes.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Forum Trolling 101
So, some things have been changed around a bit.
Anyone who frequents the Official World of Warcraft General Forum probably knows me to some extent by now. I've gained somewhat of a reputation as a regular, though more often late at night than during the day. I'm probably not as recognizeable as the better-knowns, like Zmue, Rizz, or Stabby, but I like to think I'm somewhat infamous.
There's a lot of different kinds of trolls out there. There's friendly ones, outright rude ones, and then the ones who have multiple accounts due to frequent vacations. This is all a bit of a generalization, but that's more or less the gist of it.
Friendly trolls, like myself, tend not so much to be flamers and tend more towards the humorous or sarcastic posts. My toon, Eseten, has sort of developed his own personality as an insatiable flirt with a particular taste for female night elf druids. It was just sort of a random direction I took it in, and now it's become kind of part of my posting requirement: if there's a female night elf druid in the thread, I must let her know how sexy she is. Female blood elves of any kind are also acceptable.
Most friendly trolls have some kind of quirk like this. Waffletime likes her tauren, Sunila likes her male blood elves (we get along, if you couldn't tell), and Korozen likes... uhh... high heels. We specialize in derailing badly formed threads late at night, and running rampant with non-sensical roleplay. This infuriates some posters, and we revel in it. Since we usually post later in the evenings, we often don't get policed for our trollings. Slap on the hand at worst, or the deletion of a thread we didn't really care much about in the first place.
Rude trolls are the flamers. These are the people who enter threads for the sole purpose of telling you how much of a noob you are or how horrible your gear/arena rating/achievement points are. My theory is that most of them are either 20-somethings with no life or your typical 12 year old who's obsessed with his e-peen.
Friendly trolls often enjoy disguising themselves as rude trolls, but usually in the way of parody. In particular, I tend to become more of an insulting person whenever Zarhym, one of the Community Managers, posts. Ever since he altered my signature one evening, I have declared war on him. He's winning right now, but I'm still trying to master the art of being a bastard without getting myself banned. I never mean most of the things I say, it's more akin to picking on friends of yours. Granted, anonymous friends of yours, but friends nonetheless.
Vacationers are the worst of the bunch. They're the ones that do it for no other reason than shock value, and often get banned frequently for that purpose. This behavior confuses me. If you're doing it for attention and you get yourself banned in the process, then haven't you just defeated the purpose?
Some of the worst examples I've seen are the ones that simply don't give up after the first few bannings - there was a thread about a week ago where some kid challenged Eyonix to a fight at Blizzcon. What's funny was that he was trolled harder by the Community Managers than they were by him. 26 pages of hilarity later, the dumbass had three banned accounts. I actually suspect that the person who started another thread to try to continue it wasn't actually the OP, but someone who wanted to ride on the tail end of his glory. Needless to say, it failed miserably.
Admittedly, most forum trolls have to be full of themselves or desire attention to one level or another. Otherwise, why would we do it? I'm definitely one to admit when I'm being an attention whore (read: always), but at least I'm honest about it. I have my own quirks I've developed at this point that people on the forums know me for - if I were to abandon any of them, it wouldn't really be the same. If I didn't enter an Eyonix thread to hit on him, people ask why? If I don't sling a little mud Zarhym's way, people wonder if something's wrong with me. If I don't fetch Nethaera her coffee, she gets grumpy. And we can't have that, now can we?
The long and short of it is that the term "Forum Troll" means multiple things, especially in particular on the official WoW forums. At this point, it really just means a forum regular rather than an abrasive individual looking to cause trouble.
Though, I assure you, no matter how nice we may seem, trouble often follows behind. What can I say? You know I'm a stinker. ;)
- New poll, please be sure to participate (since it seems not a lot of people have voted yet, I'll leave it up another week).
- You'll notice, if you don't have some sort of ad-blocker, that there are ads now. As a starving writer, I figured it couldn't hurt. If they're too much of a nuisance, let me know and they'll be removed. (To be honest, since I have ad-blockers, I can't even see them myself.) Since I can't actually see my own ads, let me know if there are any offensive or questionable ads popping up, and I'll get them blacklisted off. I don't really want to be advertising for gold-selling or anything like that. =X
- New name! Since I had to change my name when I moved to Gurubashi, Eseten has become my new online moniker. I will miss my old nickname of Pretty, but life in and out of the World of Warcraft goes on... I am now Eseten.
Anyone who frequents the Official World of Warcraft General Forum probably knows me to some extent by now. I've gained somewhat of a reputation as a regular, though more often late at night than during the day. I'm probably not as recognizeable as the better-knowns, like Zmue, Rizz, or Stabby, but I like to think I'm somewhat infamous.
There's a lot of different kinds of trolls out there. There's friendly ones, outright rude ones, and then the ones who have multiple accounts due to frequent vacations. This is all a bit of a generalization, but that's more or less the gist of it.
Friendly trolls, like myself, tend not so much to be flamers and tend more towards the humorous or sarcastic posts. My toon, Eseten, has sort of developed his own personality as an insatiable flirt with a particular taste for female night elf druids. It was just sort of a random direction I took it in, and now it's become kind of part of my posting requirement: if there's a female night elf druid in the thread, I must let her know how sexy she is. Female blood elves of any kind are also acceptable.
Most friendly trolls have some kind of quirk like this. Waffletime likes her tauren, Sunila likes her male blood elves (we get along, if you couldn't tell), and Korozen likes... uhh... high heels. We specialize in derailing badly formed threads late at night, and running rampant with non-sensical roleplay. This infuriates some posters, and we revel in it. Since we usually post later in the evenings, we often don't get policed for our trollings. Slap on the hand at worst, or the deletion of a thread we didn't really care much about in the first place.
Rude trolls are the flamers. These are the people who enter threads for the sole purpose of telling you how much of a noob you are or how horrible your gear/arena rating/achievement points are. My theory is that most of them are either 20-somethings with no life or your typical 12 year old who's obsessed with his e-peen.
Friendly trolls often enjoy disguising themselves as rude trolls, but usually in the way of parody. In particular, I tend to become more of an insulting person whenever Zarhym, one of the Community Managers, posts. Ever since he altered my signature one evening, I have declared war on him. He's winning right now, but I'm still trying to master the art of being a bastard without getting myself banned. I never mean most of the things I say, it's more akin to picking on friends of yours. Granted, anonymous friends of yours, but friends nonetheless.
Vacationers are the worst of the bunch. They're the ones that do it for no other reason than shock value, and often get banned frequently for that purpose. This behavior confuses me. If you're doing it for attention and you get yourself banned in the process, then haven't you just defeated the purpose?
Some of the worst examples I've seen are the ones that simply don't give up after the first few bannings - there was a thread about a week ago where some kid challenged Eyonix to a fight at Blizzcon. What's funny was that he was trolled harder by the Community Managers than they were by him. 26 pages of hilarity later, the dumbass had three banned accounts. I actually suspect that the person who started another thread to try to continue it wasn't actually the OP, but someone who wanted to ride on the tail end of his glory. Needless to say, it failed miserably.
Admittedly, most forum trolls have to be full of themselves or desire attention to one level or another. Otherwise, why would we do it? I'm definitely one to admit when I'm being an attention whore (read: always), but at least I'm honest about it. I have my own quirks I've developed at this point that people on the forums know me for - if I were to abandon any of them, it wouldn't really be the same. If I didn't enter an Eyonix thread to hit on him, people ask why? If I don't sling a little mud Zarhym's way, people wonder if something's wrong with me. If I don't fetch Nethaera her coffee, she gets grumpy. And we can't have that, now can we?
The long and short of it is that the term "Forum Troll" means multiple things, especially in particular on the official WoW forums. At this point, it really just means a forum regular rather than an abrasive individual looking to cause trouble.
Though, I assure you, no matter how nice we may seem, trouble often follows behind. What can I say? You know I'm a stinker. ;)
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Welcome Back: A Resurgence
Hi-ho ev-er-ee-bo-dy!
This little project of mine died a while ago, and I just wanted to post now that I really have no intention of letting it stay dead. I will get a regular schedule again, because if nothing else, this place is a wonderful exercise for me to practice good, non-trolling posting. =P
You will notice in the next couple of weeks that I will be revamping the layout. I want to make it a little more personal, so those of you who don't actually know me in-game will understand a bit more about the person spouting random nonsense. ;)
I haven't decided on the schedule yet. It will likely be morning posting, at least once a week if not twice a week. I have to learn to keep a regular schedule, and training myself to do it through something I don't *have* to do seems best.
I've been wanting to use the new year as a new step in the right direction. If you're wondering why I'm not doing this six weeks earlier, it's because I haven't had reliable internet in the last six weeks, and for four of that, didn't even have a home to call my own. Now that I've gotten all that in order, I have to opportunity to get back to doing the things I'd like to, and I just wanted people to know that this is one of them.
Thank you for anyone who has had the patience to stick around, and a hearty welcome to anyone new in the next few weeks!
-Eseten, formerly known as Prettyboi
This little project of mine died a while ago, and I just wanted to post now that I really have no intention of letting it stay dead. I will get a regular schedule again, because if nothing else, this place is a wonderful exercise for me to practice good, non-trolling posting. =P
You will notice in the next couple of weeks that I will be revamping the layout. I want to make it a little more personal, so those of you who don't actually know me in-game will understand a bit more about the person spouting random nonsense. ;)
I haven't decided on the schedule yet. It will likely be morning posting, at least once a week if not twice a week. I have to learn to keep a regular schedule, and training myself to do it through something I don't *have* to do seems best.
I've been wanting to use the new year as a new step in the right direction. If you're wondering why I'm not doing this six weeks earlier, it's because I haven't had reliable internet in the last six weeks, and for four of that, didn't even have a home to call my own. Now that I've gotten all that in order, I have to opportunity to get back to doing the things I'd like to, and I just wanted people to know that this is one of them.
Thank you for anyone who has had the patience to stick around, and a hearty welcome to anyone new in the next few weeks!
-Eseten, formerly known as Prettyboi
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