TankSpot - Blogs - Keza

I rerolled a DK tank

Keza — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 15:50:59 GMT

It's very different from being a full-time dps warrior, part-time warrior tank.

And I really, really like it.

Amory is currently down, if you are curious you can peek at LoranaKath in the guild 'All Most Righteous.' I am expertise capped, def capped, pretty close to hit cap, 24-ish% dodge and 21-ish% parry. I have 4% parry runeforged on Titansteel destroyer. I went with mining and engineering as profs, made the goggles and the 81 stam trinket. The 3 regular tanks in our guild (paladin, warrior and my frost DK) are racing to see who can reach 40k hit points buffed first.

Pretty close current spec, but I have 1 less point in blood of the north and 1 more point in acclimation:

-http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=j0eM0hZGxxzhed0hRcRsx0g

I debated on what would be most helpful in raid tanking, whether to take more dps talents or whether to up the # of death runes available. I went with death runes talenting into death rune mastery and blood of the north. Later as gear improves I may switch back to more ap talents, but I like having as many as all 6 death runes up at a time.

I named my toon LoranaKath. Little did I know it would turn out to be so popular among the community. My other choices were Chocokitty, which my GM said I would not receive a ginvite if I went with that, SassyMolassy, which I guess is just as bad. I think I had Moonshaker for a choice too, another nix.

This expansion has been bittersweet, and seems a common theme for others as well. I'm an officer in my guild, a psuedo dk/tank lead, raid strategist, raid leader, problem solver.

I do enjoy the DK. I enjoy raid tanking, which I've proven adept at tanking every boss in Naxx with the exception of Kel'Thuzad successfully (and Ob sanc). We had our first-time kill on Sapphy on Sunday with a 1-shot. I had the privilege of tanking him for that event. Unfortunately I don't have WWS on that event to see how DK magic mitigation works and how well my avoidance was. I can say I never got hit for more than 12k. For those interested in our WWS, here's a place to look around:

http://wowwebstats.com/xdjld4nf15gwa

The expan has been bittersweet for many reasons. As with any expansion there is any number of frustrations to deal with, dkp, raid slots, leveling, gearing, raiding. Our guild starting raiding a week earlier than was originally planned because we had folks who were quick to level. Regrettably I was behind the power curve for some real life things going on. Before stepping into raids I had my 540 defense cap, and parry and dodge up to a reasonable level. I came under criticism for not being 'raid' geared. In short time the tank plate drops enabled me to rectify my shortcomings in gear and I soon fulfilled the role I had promised to my guild.

Currently I have the issue of a tank weapon upgrade. We are heavy on melee dps, and from what I've been reading this is a common occurrence in other guilds. We attempted Kel'Thuzad with 11, yes 11 melee, when the strat calls for 7 max, including the 3 tanks. One of our DK-dpser's came up with the idea to pair up our melee so that we had 4 pairs of them on the backside of Kel'Thuzad standing on top of one another. Over time this worked, there were more melee alive and the tank did not get ice blocked. It was a very difficult encounter healing-wise though. WTB ranged dps. At the end of the night we got him to 3% on the last pull.

So, our dkp system is epgp. You bid on something and then drop to the bottom of the loot list. Since Blizz has announced they will not implement 2-handed tank weapons I have the issue of bidding against our dps melee classes. I thought this would be okay, but I'm having second thoughts. Arguably the stats on any of those weapons would be better served in the hands of our melee. On the other hand I will need an upgrade if I hope to maintain threat against these guys beating on a boss. So my fellow officers and guildmates have to make the decision whether I will be able to bid primary on 2-handers or wait until 2nd round. Many of us are carrying Titan steel destroyer, so there is much competition for the upgrades in Naxx. I'm not sure what the outcome of this decision will be. I'll post a little note after the debate is decided.

LK/Keza

Kapow!

Keza — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 02:32:37 GMT

New execute record: 17436

That is all.

Changing topic

Keza — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 13:49:38 GMT

I had this on the tail-end of a response to one of Veneretio's posts.

Changing topic:

There was a post or guide or something that had a warrior talent spec designed to help tank aoe trash mobs, if anyone remembers where it is could you pop a link in a pm for me please or repost it.

Someone found this for me...of all classes a pableep.

http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=LV0eZxxuZsEtohMzcco

7095 Execute

Keza — Thu, 15 May 2008 18:24:46 GMT

My first over 7k execute in TK last night. Was a big to do in the dps party, no one else seemed to notice, and no ss /cries.

I've been away from raiding about 3 weeks and stressing over the lack of upgrades now that we're moving into MH and soon into BT. I need a new chestpiece and no matter how much I farm ZA or H MrT, or kill Vashj, it evades me. I may be doomed to wear Durotar's Battle Harness to the end of Sunwell. Yikes!

Anyway, my dps was not too bad. I ranked in at #9 at the end of the night. This is interesting because not too long ago we had a Boomkin go caster Shammy. Our caster officer had said that if ever there was a group composition made to pwn the meter it was ele shammy and bunch of locks and throw in a boomkin. I was like no way...give the meleers a wf totem and we kill the dps meter. Ugh, we got showed up last night. Top ranks on the meters were the locks. So in party chat I'm like (to my meleers), get your asses up in top 5, jokingly of course. I was going to make a bet with our caster lead, now I'm glad I didn't. Well, our lame excuse for our lame dps was, 'TK isn't really a melee instance.' Hehe, way to cover our asses, there was much consensus on this and we vowed to pwn the meter in MH coming up.

It's good to be back raiding. It was interesting, not everyone seemed to be in the spirit, but I got some 'oh Keza is here, yeah for imp BS.' Yeah...I felt missed, and I love my physical dpsers, they're all pro.

How do you do it?

Keza — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 19:58:13 GMT

The last time I posted about my job I said I would write something more positive.

I've been giving this much thought since there's not a lot that's positive about being nurse. I take care of people who are sick, have serious illnesses or injuries and who sometimes die. How can that make you feel good about the work you do?

I get asked the question 'how do you do it?' by patients and family members alike. It's quite a common question really, not a week goes by without me being asked how I cope with being a nurse.

I usually tell them a story about a particular patient. This is along the lines of being spiritual, which I believe in pretty strongly, that a spiritual base a) promotes the healing process and b) as a caregiver you have to have faith in something. I used to care for a patient who would get admitted to our floor about once every 2-3 months. I got to know her family, her daughter and her granddaughter. They are very loving family and helped care for my patient. One day after another admission she was sitting by the window looking outside at the water. I was making my morning rounds and came in to see if she needed anything. It was a calm day, the water was breathlessly still. She looked at something hanging on the wall to my left, I glanced in the same direction and there was a simple msg one of her family members had hung up for her among the pictures of grandkids and great grandkids, it said 'Be Still, and Let God,' and then we looked at one another, and then she turned her face to the still water once again and pointed her hand saying, 'that's god.'

There's quite a few things that help me do what I do and actually enjoy my job. One is I went to a very good nursing school imo. The instructors, the content, the teaching , it prepared me for the methodology required for a novice to start out in a really challenging profession. The one thing they can't give you in school is experience, it just takes time. Gaining experience and learning from mistake is another key factor in nursing. I get those gut instincts about patients now...something is not right, I have to find out what's wrong, get it fixed, call the doctor, whatever it is I have to make sure I keep this patient safe. (goes along the lines of tanking does it not? keep the party/raid safe).

There is little room for error in my profession. If you make a mistake it could hurt/kill a patient. That's quite a lot of pressure and responsibility. As students, during our critical care curriculum we asked the instructor...but what if we make a mistake? Her response did not really answer this question. Her response was...if you continue to think 'what if I make a mistake?' then you are not doing what's right for your patient, your focus is internal and it should always be about what's right for your patient. It's not about you, it's not about the doctor or whoever else is screwing up your day, it's about what your patient needs.' This has forever stuck in my head, this one piece of advice sums it all up, 'what does my patient need to get better?' Sometimes it is something as simple as taking the time to listen to their complaints, getting them something else to eat, a drink of water, and sometimes it is something more serious, like getting them into the critical care unit because they need more intensive care or getting them a hospice consult so they can die more comfortably and with diginity.

I have to say my coworkers are one in a million. They are some awesome backup when shit hits the fan. When a patient heads south they are at your side getting whatever you need to save a life. The other side of nursing is the 'dark humor.' I don't talk about my job that much when I play WoW because the stories I relate don't go over that well. In fact I think I make a few people sick to their stomach in officer chat last night. That and I had a conversation with my gm, he said he hadn't had a good day, to which I replied...yeah I had a patient going through alcohol withdrawal and was trying to go into atrial-fibrillation. He's like...oh, guess my day wasn't as bad as yours. I'm like...well that's why I'm here to remind you how mundane and monotonous your work is (joking of course). This morning I sent him mail telling him to have a better day today.

Sometimes when a patient asks how I do my job I just reply 'I get payed well.' Humor is the best medicine.

banner

Keza — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 03:27:20 GMT

I just noticed the banner says "Tankspot, warriors, paladins, druids...and death knights"

Who's gonna roll a death knight?

me!

Too Easy

Keza — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 13:52:05 GMT

I had my 2nd parent/teacher conference yesterday with my daughter's kindergarten teacher. I was told my kid is doing really well in all areas, math, reading, writing, science. Her teacher showed me some test results and said that she could not really place her skill since my daughter maxed the tool used to test her with. She may be late 2nd grade, 3rd grade level in some of her skills. She can read on her own, make up and write stories whereas some of her class mates are still learning to write some letters.

Now that was all great news. Her teacher told me she's worried about keeping her challenged, so far it's not a problem. However I know that when my husband was in school he was gifted and bored. One of the greatest qualities I love and respect about him is his intelligence. So, my daughter's teacher tells me, 'if Emily gets bored with her homework she can skip it.' To which I replied, 'you know, we all have menial tasks we have to do in real life, it's okay for her to do work she's not really interested in or she's bored with.'

The bad news...

Emily is a bit of a bully. I was very shocked to hear this news. She's an only child, discipline is a big thing in our house. To be more specific, my husband and I pick our battles, but Emily knows we mean business when we give her the choice to: pick up her toys or go to bed early (this choice is issued after she's given us a hard time about it). There is no question in her mind that if she does not do what's expected she will get punished.

So what her teacher tells me is that Emily needs to work on her friendship skills and patience. My husband and I have been really happy with this school. They teach 'life skills' once a week. So my daughter is aware of what many concepts, such as patience and friendship, mean. I asked what was going on in the classroom and her teacher told me that sometimes Emily is intentionally mean to students, like someone will stop in line ahead of her to tie their shoe and she will bump into them on purpose. She's elbowed kids, squirted water right in their face. Her teacher said that Emily knows she's done something wrong, that when she takes her aside to talk about it my daughter comes up with alternative ways of dealing with problems, like saying excuse me, or being patient and waiting for her turn. So it's not that she does not understand, she is impulsive and does not stop to think before reacting. Her teacher said that some of the other kids are afraid of her. :(

Emily and I talked on the way home. We talk about how others feel when you do something not nice to them. That it's not okay to hurt someone physically or their feelings. That if she wants friends, she has to be nice and use her manners, treat others the way she wishes to be treated herself.

My husband was just as surprised when he got home and I had to break the news.

So I'm sitting here trying to come up with specific scenarios for her to 'think through.' She has to practice thinking, before acting impulsively. I think 1-2 exercises in 'thinking' a day.

Kez

War's can tank Heroic Shat Halls

Keza — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 18:57:01 GMT

Oh yes they can!

When/how did you learn to tank more than 1 mob (ack, stupid piles of bugs in AQ20)? How do you do it post-BC?

2 mobs-tc if no cc, if cc then
target 1-ss, dev x1-2
tab-target 2, ss, devs 1-2, keep tabbing and mix in some tc and demo for good measure.

3 mobs-tc, demo, might need to intervene a mob, tab targets, ss, devs, more tc, more demo

more than 3 mobs-see abv, try to throw as much threat around as possible.

Hrm, I could not leave this one alone and started looking at vids to see what was out there, that and I've been on-call for 2 days (/sigh) :

Found a Heroic Shat halls 16 minutes long (bite me all you nay sayers)-some good tunes and a bouncing dwarf-

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...arch&plindex=0

Hrm, not finding much else I like, I might make a vid.

I remember a particular rogue in my last guild who I had to pay close attn to, he liked to play with my threat wall (ceiling doesn't work in this illustration) and jump over it (a silly game we played, sometimes I just let him die). When I asked our MT about regaining aggro, he suggested SS, HS, Sunder (this before improvements to devastate), SS, I have this rotation written down next to my monitor, it's what I use to reclaim a mob. I try very hard not to use Taunt unless I have to save a priest/clothie from getting 1-2 shotted, even then I use my Intervene macro and do a threat move rather than taunt. Also consider if you lose threat on a boss it's likely not tauntable. I suppose it's one of those prideful things on my part not wanting to use taunt, I doubt that it would work these days as Keza has not seen much in tanking upgrades for months. QQ more, time for more heroics and tanking gear upgrades.

I'm sitting

Keza — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 04:38:17 GMT

I'm sitting from SSC for the shaman who showed up late. Our current dps raid party now has: ms war, rogue, ret pally, shaman, hunter or druid. It stinks when the shaman isn't there. The rogue, pally and myself get an extra 200 dps from wf. Our physical dps'ers can place in the top 3 on dps meters with that totem. So we do whine when we lack our shaman. Our raid leader has been known to throw whatever shammy is available including himself to keep us happy, however this night I volunteered to sit for my melee shammy. I actually volunteer quite a bit but I get told no most of the time.

It's funny, I'm sitting out picking flowers and I see in our dps chat channel, "hey! where's my warrior buff?" "I want my ap buff." The rogue sends me a tell saying his dmg is falling short on the meter. Heh, there is warrior love for an MS spec.

I'm thinking about the upcoming Lady Vashj fight. I've seen rogue videos and 1 fury war video. I was told I could still hack the elementals with a 2-hander. I don't know, I'm feeling some apprehension about the rage gen not being enough because of the slow swing, but I've been assured they drop easy, we'll see, and I invested time into farming rage pots.

I'm ready to move on, I soooo want out of SSC. It's getting older than Kara at this point. Looking forward to Sunwell content. It was really nice to read Narshe's notes on it...and wow what a gear check. I know of only a couple tanks in the guild who can take that kind of dmg, count me and my kara tanking gear out on the sidelines. I'm still looking forward to bashing mobs with my 2-hander though. :)

something just doesn't seem right...

Keza — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 18:47:13 GMT

I floated to the medical floor yesterday from my usual post-surgical workplace.

My team of 5 patients seemed to be doing okay. I clock in before 0645, get report from the night nurse and start checking on everyone. I have one guy who wants to sit on the side of the bed (I was told in report he is very weak and can't support himself in sitting position), a patient scheduled for a CT-scan who I have to prep, a patient with a severe migraine (have to call the doc for meds), and 2 other ladies who need their discharge planning worked up.

The morning starts off fine until I begin to realize my gentleman who just wants to sit up on the side of the bed isn't looking to good. He's been complaining of nausea a lot, but he eats and isn't vomiting. He is having a very difficult time breathing so I call RT (Respiratory Therapy). RT pays him a visit, gives him a breathing treatment. Nine thirty rolls around and I start giving my 10 o'clock meds. I check this guy's blood pressure, and it's in the 80's....whoa...something isn't right here. He's diaphoretic, but still talking to me and making sense. I talk to the RT guy and we're both thinking this guy is becoming unstable, I'm getting a very bad feeling and decide to get in touch with the MD to get him moved to a floor that can put him on Telemetry (heart monitor). This guy is also a DNR (do not resuscitate). I can't code him if he goes into respiratory or cardiac arrest. I find the MD is already on our floor and has written the order to get him moved to telemetry. I get this guy's blood sugar and a another blood pressure...systolic in the 70's now. I'm having a difficult time passing report to the next nurse who will care for this gentleman, growing more concerned, she tells me to bring him up asap. We attempt to get 1 more blood pressure before moving him and are unable to. We move him, all the while he's still sitting up in bed and talking, acting normal. We get him settled in his room and attempt a blood pressure, systolic 68, he's still dropping.

So what's going on with this guy? His clinical picture is not making sense with his medical diagnosis. The best I can figure he's going septic for whatever reason and now his organs are starting to shut down and he's going down very quickly. I talk to some of the other nurses on the floor and they say 'oh yeah I remember him, he wasn't doing to good a few days ago.' I'm thinking to myself, this guy should have been moved sooner, something was wrong even before I took over his care.

I find out later in the day that a few hours after I took him to the telemetry floor he was moved once again to the ICU (Intensive Care Unit), and sadly was looking much worse. I expect he will not make it past 2-3 days.

I never have a dull day. Some days I can shake off events beyond my control, some days I look back and question 'what did I miss?' and some days things are just fubar. I know I'll be thinking about this guy for the next few days. I've taken care of over 1,000 patients and some still continue to stick out in my mind. He'll be one of those who I remember. This is the reason why I don't talk about my work much, the sadness and playing a game for fun don't mix. On days when I'm sked to raid after work I really look forward to it, hoping for a good run, if it's not then a bad raid is easier to shake off compared to a bad day at work.

and now I feel like apologizing for posting a depressing blog. Next time I'll do something a bit more inspiring.

The Right Stuff (a 2nd woman's perspective)

Keza — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 18:13:49 GMT

I've long wanted to respond to this post:
http://www.theoryspot.com/forums/cid...n-raiding.html
but have not taken the time to do so.

I'll start with some background first: I was raised Baptist, I went to many different schools due to my parent's multiple marriages and divorces (only once to each other). At the age of 18 my father kicked me out of the house. I'd saved a few thousand dollars for college but I was told I would not be supported or helped with education beyond high school. I had few options so I went to live with my mom (she was on probation for robbing a bank, another story). I started to visit the Air Force recruiter. I qualified for a job in the Air Force that was critically manned, that of linguist. This was in 1991, at the time women were not allowed to serve in combat, they could not fly on combat aircraft or be in combat units. The truth is women have served in combat ever since people have been fighting wars. Some of that has changed but there are still limits and barriers that exist. One of my biggest impressions on how women in military are viewed, while I attended a multi-service language school Air Force women were referred to as 'Marine mattresses.' I was told, while in language school, that I should give up my aspirations, get married and have children. /sigh Despite the very negative treatment women received I loved being in the military, I served 11.5 years, but again perceptions and good ole boy attitudes limit the exceptional women who dare to challenge a belief system. The negative attitude I portrayed was probably the worst of what I saw, for the most part I was treated very well and respected.

I met my husband in technical school, he was army and we had little hope of being stationed together. He went to an armored calvary unit in Germany, while I finished up my training and started my first tour in England. We married in England and will celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary in a few days.

During the post-Desert Storm period our bases closed and we got slotted to be stationed in Arizona. We were based 70 miles apart but not in different countries this time :). I was based in a combat unit. I was to fly on C-130's. I spent 3.5 weeks in survival school, basic training is a joke compared to survival school. I learned so much about myself and how to deal with impossible situations during that time than any other in my life. Graduating survival school was a huge deal for me, it was the most mentally and physically demanding experience I'd ever been through, and this wasn't even the real thing.

Me on the left:

I had my chance to serve in combat during the Serbo-Croatian crisis. I flew over 350 hours and 29 combat missions. This was the peak of my air force career. I remember being the 2nd plane from our unit to fly our zone. There is no feeling like it. There just isn't.

Me on the left (on the way home from deployment):

I left the Air Force shortly after 9/11/2001. My daughter was born on 9/15/2001, 4 days after the event. I was still active duty Air Force and my entire world view had changed the moment she was born. I had 6 weeks maternity leave and then I had to return to work. I was also due to leave the military in 6 months, it didn't look like it was going to happen. On the one hand I felt that being a new mom should grant me special privileges, on the other hand I questioned why my life was any more valuable than the next man/woman out there serving their country. I was allowed to be discharged.

Yay for Veteran's benefits, I finally went to college. I applied and was accepted to an acclerated nursing degree program, finishing a BSN, RN in 18 months. Let me tell you going from a male dominated field to a female dominated field was some big ass culture shock. It's amusing to me now when I'm on the job I get these old guys who served the military and immediately we form a bond when they find out I too served. I can get them to do things other nurses can't for their own benefit just because of that common background.

Now back to gaming. WoW is the first video game I've played since Pac Man. I never really aspired to join a guild, I never even dreamed of walking into an instance with 40 other strangers. Being a female in-game has its privileges. I usually get what I want, is it because I'm a respected player, because of my gender, or because the people I hang with are generous, or because I work my ass off to get what I want? Who knows?

I have to address the premises.

Quote:

Here are my premises:
*Women are often not taken as seriously as men;
*Women are often not considered as good as men;
*Women are often seen as sex objects, even in a cohesive guild;
*Women have to work harder than men to be accepted and viewed as equals.

I've come into my own as far as WoW goes. I don't aspire to be the best, but I'd say I'm above average and I'm okay with that.

Hrm...the sex object thing, yeah I get flirted with and I receive unsolicited comments. Here's my thing, I allow this to happen because sometimes I'm just as bad. I see no reason why women cannot be strong and embrace their femininity. Here is a little known tactic I use on my male patients when they are giving my a hard time and yes it is totally manipulative on my part: I lean over and let the front of my scrub shirt hang down. It distracts them, it weakens their resistance, I get them to do whatever it is I want them to do for their own health benefit. To me it's a win/win situation, but I know some women would label this as 'demeaning' and that I'm perpetuating the sex object mentality women are subjected to. Well guess what ladies, we're all sexual beings, might as well embrace it. Granted there are appropriate and inappropriate ways to use it, you have to judge for yourself. I think part of this is related to being an ugly duck as I was growing up, now I tend to enjoy some attention as long as it doesn't cross the line.

Do I work harder to prove myself? I think in the past I have. In previous guilds there was a good ole boy attitude that I had to work around. In my current guild I'm accepted for who I am and my ability to tank or dps. Whichever role I fill I instill confidence in my group so that we can get down to business.

I have a varied background. I've mostly positive experiences in real life and in WoW. I think most of the people I play with don't view me first as female and secondly as a decent player, but I could be wrong. I know the issues stated are many times true, they don't always hold true for me and for that I am thankful.

Keza

Holy Crap

Keza — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 21:07:44 GMT

So today started out pretty fresh and clean, get the kid off to school, make a note to buy her more lunch box snacks, add more to mental grocery list of things to do today.

Doctor's appointment at 9:30, get in within 5 minutes. Wow! That is the shortest wait of all time, it has to be a record. Step on the scale (no way, not tellin) but I've gained 15 pounds in the last 4 months (no I'm not pregnant). SHOCK! How the hell do you gain 15 pounds in 4 months? Well there is a reason I went to see my Doc, my thyroid is acting up, so get orders for blood tests and I'm on my way.

So although I'm upset I resolve to work on some things. One of those is to be more attentive to my dog. She's great, 1/2 Lab 1/2 German short hair, 70 pounds of sweetness. She's chocolate colored with white spots on her toes, tail, chest and mouth. So I look on the internet for unleashed dog parks (I can't get my husband to mow). I find one, they require proof of license and rabies vaccination. I make a trip to the vet and pick those up. I look further through the rules, no choke chains allowed and no retractable leashes. I go to Target and get her a regular collar and leash, some chewing gum for myself for raid nights (no more mindless snacking during raids) and head back home. I gather all the necessary supplies to make our visit to the dog park after I pick up my girl from school, including her dog harness-seatbelt thingie.

Three O'clock rolls around, I get the dog harness on, we pile into the car, I roll the window down so she can loll her tongue at other cars going by. We make the turn to my daughter's school to wait in line behind all the cars and I hear this rather loud squeal from her for 15 seconds then she shuts up and lolls her tongue out the window again. I'm pulling up to the school and get a whiff some very foul shit. I'm like, 'wow you have some gas huh girl?' She ignores me, continues to loll her tongue out the window. We pull up to the curb where my daughter is, the school official opens the door just as I'm turning in my seat to greet my daughter...and there it is...chunks of dog shit smeared on the seat and a couple of turds here and there. I gotta give school officials credit, she was very professional and helped my daughter get into her car seat and we were off for home. As we journey my daughter gives me a play by play.

"Ewwww, Carob get your butt of me."
"Mom it's a mess back here."
"Mom why did you bring Carob to school?"
"Carob get off me."
"EWWWWW, Mom Carob stepped in her poop."
"Mom, aren't you glad I'm house broken?"

And we laughed and laughed at the situation, because really what can you do but go home and clean it up? /sigh

Keza

Yay Solarian dead

Keza — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 13:53:29 GMT

Yay Solarian down for a 1st time kill and hopefully an Al'ar kill next week. I'm so anxious to get out of SSC and TK, grrrrrrrrrrrrr.

I don't care so much about premature deaths (I'm lying), yeah, I died a lot on bosses, but so did other folks. On a happy note I opened up my character sheet and noticed that with procs I could get up to about 4800 ap. Hrm, might explain why I keep pulling aggro off certain tanks. There is something about being a dps war, and not having any deaggro abilities that really pisses off mobs, yes I get salv buffed and I watch my pally buffs closely because there's been a time or two when I ran in to pwn something with sanc on (/sigh). I can think of a particular Hydross kill when I ww'd (crit for +2k) on the adds and they took a look at me like 'who's this wise-ass?', slapped me but good and I spent the rest of the time taking a dirt nap. I had words with a few people after that. I'd frap'sed that event and it was there for all to see, a big fat Sanc buff. I do realized this is my responsibility as much as their's, don't hit that readiness button if you don't have the right buffs.

My dps is lacking, yeah I talk smack about being up in the top 5 but lately I'm too chicken to go all out and it's because of certain tanks who can't do as much threat, some pulls get botched too, that happened a few times last night. Generally I'm the last one in on trash, I wait for 2 sunders (devs). I know my tanks, and I know that if I don't give them that leeway that mob will turn to me and shove my face to the ground. If I go all out I die, if I hold back I drop on the dps meter. And trust me in the melee dps group it's all about that meter. I have a sweet physical dps group meaning we all get along and we all do some awesome dps. We get a shammy (<3 <3 <3 wf), rogue(s), druid, and hunter. So what's my deal? I'm tired of dying. I can't ankh, I can't cloak of shadow, I can't feign death. I just die and it's not always related to an aggro issue, in fact lately its not an aggro pull at all. There was once I got SS on VR as a joke, but I ended up using it. I think we had 4 locks that night.

I'm to the point where I want to push the line again. I want back in the top 5 dps slots. I want it really, really bad. I know I don't suck, I just have to quit being a chicken. Last night I mentioned in warchat that I could top out at 4800 ap, the MT said, 'hey switch to def stance see how you do,' my reaction 'noooooooo, they won't heal me, ima die anyway.'

Okay, I have to say a note here to my buddy Tree because this is not directed at him, it's me gripping about how things have been going for me raid-wise. <3 Tree, this post is not about you or any other healer in particular. I have issues and I'm venting.

Keza

Whistle while you work

Keza — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 14:11:50 GMT

I'm a nurse at a local hospital. I work on a post-surgical/orthopedic floor. The month of January has been very slow. I'm a per diem nurse so I'm either first off, first on-call or first to float to a another unit if there are not enough patients on my floor for the nursing staff that day. The last two days my unit has been packed with patients and I worked on my floor for the first time in weeks.

There's always one patient on my team of 5 who I worry about throughout the day, someone sicker than the others. On my first day I had 2 patients who could not wake up. They were elderly (in their 80's) and the night nurse had given them sleeping pills to help them rest, however she gave them at 1 am. Older folks have a hard time metabolizing medications, one in particular is a dialysis patient so the metabolites stay in his system until he gets dialyzed. I notify their doc, he examines them and orders some tests. Skipping to day 2, yesterday, I find both these patients awake, alert, able to eat, communicate. The sleep meds were taken off their medication list, along with all the other meds with sedating effects. They were pretty sweet patients too. Such a change tho from not being able to keep their eyes open for more than 2 seconds, to chatting , joking, watching TV, asking for food. It was a pleasure to take care of them.

Day 2, yesterday, I had a different 'worry' patient. Mostly it was his family member who became such a distraction that I could not care for him as I would have liked. After talking to her I find out she's lost 2 prominent people in her life in the last year. She was very controlling and demanding, this is not an uncommon reaction from family members. In my work environment I assume that there is other stuff going on aside from the condition of the patient. Knowing how to prioritize is key in situations like this, I almost have to take care of her needs so that I can care for the patient, otherwise I accomplish nothing, the family member becomes a barrier. I was not surprised to find out the doc's felt the same way, one in particular called her an 'asshole' (he was unaware of her recent losses). At the end of the day I felt I'd done the best I could given the situation. I'm still worried about the patient, he's to have surgery today. I'll be anxious to hear how he did when I return to work and saying a few prayers on his behalf.

A snapshot of the last 2 days.

Last night I barely made it in time to attend a Mags kill and SSC. Being a nurse gives me a unique perspective of the WoW community and the issues we all deal with. I detest whining. Yes, I do joke about annoying players. There are nights when I find my blood pressure rising and I feel like I should just log off. That's another pet peeve, I don't like to play if I'm in a bad mood. Mostly I feel we get worked up about insignificant annoyances. It's really not worth it to me to log onto a game that stresses me more than my work environment. At times I do try to diffuse the frustrations of others, heh that's the nurse in me. I have many good friends here, I enjoy their company and I want them to realize some things are just not worth wasting energy on. It is mostly for the love of company and the chance to decompress that I play WoW. It also helps that I'm good at my game. ;)

Keza

Mango Tango

Keza — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 21:18:12 GMT

The fruits of being a good player, especially a good tank, people trust that you will take care of business.

I'm a dps warrior. I still take care of business. I used to try to keep it a little known secret that I can tank heroics, mitigation is not an issue with 22, 18, 23 d/p/b. It's the threat. Threat takes precedence, and hell if you have too much mitigation = no rage = no threat. It's craziness, a heroic mob is beating on you and your rage bar is stuck at 20. If I'm dps spec all my threat moves cost full rage. It's okay though, so far as a pick up tank no one has died to my perceived inadequacies, well, at least not in raids. A few have died in heroics, shit happens.

So the other day I did heroic SV (as dps), pick up Steam-Hinge chain of valor and I get the 4 badges I need to purchase Gnomeregan Auto-Blocker 600. I'm at 297 sbv, our MT's set of SBV gear is something ridiculous at 600 or 800, who knows? I don't know why I'm doing this, maybe it's because one day I want to see a 6k shield slam to go along with my 6k execute.

When I tank I am very proprietary, all mobs belong to me. Last night I ended up chasing 2 mobs from bog lords in SSC and blowing shield wall to save my own ass until a real tank could pick it up (/cries no recklessness). Needless to say my stats were not looking so hot. The double whammy being the MT got the totems. I was disappointed and frustrated with my stats hanging out at the bottom of the dps meter...oh and being dead. Sometimes you just have a stinky raid night.

Right now I can upgrade 2 more pieces of dps gear with badge purchases, or I can dedicate my time to farming the mats for gyro-balanced khorium destroyer, or farm badges for tank gear upgrades. It concerns me that as our guild progresses I will not have the choice to bid on tank gear. We will move away from that content before it is available for an off-spec warrior, which is okay, moving along in content is great. However I still have to be able to pick up the leftover mobs at times and I just enjoy being able to fill that role as needed. Thank god shield wall is not a talent.