http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/rev13/ en Mon, 23 Nov 2009 12:32:30 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.tankspot.com/forums/images/misc/rss.jpg http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/rev13/ http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/rev13/2002-sloppy-buzzkill.html Fri, 20 Feb 2009 12:51:38 GMT Picture this:

You're on the phone with your real estate agent and he's telling you that the bank has accepted your contracted offer and that you become the proud owner of a mortgage, property taxes and an HOA on April 6.....as a less than helpful man is handing you a 1K$ repair bill for your broken down overheated car. = buzzkill.
After sitting in a tow truck (because 1K is the last straw with this car and the reason I will never buy domestic ever ever ever ever and the reason why these domestic car companies need bajillions of dollars to stay afloat because they produce a product no one wants to buy anymore...) with a smelly man spittin chew into a cup right next to you, you get home mentally drained but knowing that your naxx full clear is coming up in a few hours. Try to relax, sort through mail, organize consumables, get your toons to the stone now so you can log out now and take a nap before the run. Well, that doesnt happen. Why?

Well, because somebody flapped their gums and told everyone "Revs got a tank he can MT sarth" and now these people who see you on your Hunter know that Hunter-online can soon equal Druid-online...

"Hey can you come tank H UK?"

Now, if it was any other heroic I would be able to fight them off, but a momentary lapse of mind and lust for a belt I really need overrode and had me in there mindlessly spamming abilities, letting shit die left and right (by my definition) and dying on not one but two of the three bosses.

See, after I got dragged into MTing Sarth the night before (by the Paladin tank I regard the most on the server) I felt pretty damn good about myself and pretty much full of Are-Ay-Dubayoo-Are and the folks who wanted me to tank H UK were there for that the night before, its just a shame they caught me at the most mentally drained I've been in a good long while. They saw me at my absolute best in OS, and my buzzkill enduced sloppiest within 12 hours of each other. And inconsistent play bothers me like no other.

Who knows, maybe all this time at Home Depot (and all the rest) looking at paint colors (and all the rest) will be good for me.

Actually, theres no doubt. It will be. ]]> Rev13 http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/rev13/2002-sloppy-buzzkill.html http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/rev13/1647-thats-one-way-do.html Fri, 12 Dec 2008 14:49:01 GMT Have you ever gazed out at a field of beasts and said to yourself "Everything in this field is going to die?"

I have said this on my Hunter many times. I say it at the outset of going on a farming run. The professions my Hunter has, as well as the pet mechanic, make him a very self-sufficient character. I prefer self-sufficient characters and profession choices over the money-maker professions choices. In a given field of beasts I get 4 things-

Meat for buff food
Meat for pet food
Leathers for Leatherworking
Leathers for the AH

But this is neither here nor there, nor the point

In addition, have you ever gazed out a field of beasts and said "Everything in this field is going to die......at the same time?"

I have.

I was burned out on quests and wandering the ugly Borean Tundra, when I stumbled into the rhino fields south of Amber Ledge. I got....ambitious with my pulls. One group of rhinos (5-6) was too small. I was halfway to 70 when I started, and a bar into it when I stopped. I died once on an overzealous pull in which I forgot to blow IBF. Its actually a good thing because this helped in teaching me to gauge my damage intake, and learn when and where I need to blow cooldowns, I sometimes forget I have IBF, you see.

It was fun dropping a DnD into the middle of a group, Death Gripping another in, pulling the kodo riding level 72 elite, all the while coming out alive. The elite wandered into my Unholy Blight when I was around 50% with Bone Shield on CD and a solid 3-4 rhinos left, and I still did fine.

It had a domino/snowball effect. Each pull gave me more confidence, more bravado. Im certain my AoE rotation in a raid/dungeon will be sharp. If I saw a group of rhinos wandering by another, I salivated.

Its a fun feeling, and a totally cool way to grind out a level, if you're burnt on quests. ]]> Rev13 http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/rev13/1647-thats-one-way-do.html http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/rev13/1514-i-made-tanking-funny.html Fri, 07 Nov 2008 22:04:58 GMT I've been running H Bot alot recently. I want the tank staff. Dont ask me why, I just do. I dont want to farm the rep for Earthwarden, and we're not going into SSC to kill trash for me, so ya, I want it. It gives me something to do before wrath, and 5 badges, even now, is useful in its acquisition.

I PuGed it yesterday with some folks who, needless to say, outgear me. My druid still has 4 blues in her tank set. We had an elemental shammy in the group. I would be hard pressed to remember grouping or even seeing an elemental shammy in the past.....er, 6 months. I didnt think too much of it, I just went to work.

Problem was, dude liked to cast a chain lightning before I get a Swipe off, or even while the pack of angry BE's are running around a corner to get to me. Our T6 illidan downing Priest warned him off, he didnt listen. We cleared though, no deaths. The aggro wasnt an issue because I guess I tried harder or something.

He whispers me later asking if I want to tank H SP for him. I said sure.

Group comp was 3 shammys, dps warrior, myself. 0 cc. none. This made the MC's a problem later on.

So Mr.Lightning needs to get off his chains before I get any kind of AoE aggro, and we start going at it. Im sure we've all had the convo before

"Back off of the AoE's before I get some AoE aggro please"

"Well maybe hold aggro on more than one mob please *snicker snicker*"

We've all been there.

So, I reach my breaking point before Quag. He peels one off me, I let it annihilate him. (with a little *snicker snicker* of my own tossed in)

After the pull we get in the whisper war, maybe you'e had that before, where the guy says you owe him his repair bill plus interest and your first born, blah blah. I asked him a simple question:

"Is this your first 70?"

"This is my 3rd 70, I know half the server"

"Well then half the server knows you suck"

And put him on ignore immediately afterward.

BAM! I made a tanking funny. ]]> Rev13 http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/rev13/1514-i-made-tanking-funny.html http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/rev13/1377-long-blog-ahead-youve-been-warned.html Mon, 06 Oct 2008 15:07:20 GMT I do this to myself, and I do it all the time. I care too much, I suppose. For the last 6 weeks at least, I have been in unguilded limbo. I have... I do this to myself, and I do it all the time. I care too much, I suppose.

For the last 6 weeks at least, I have been in unguilded limbo. I have had a few opportunities to run kara as a sub for my friends guild, but my time has mostly been spent running dailies for my epic flyer (not even close and very burnt out on that subject) running heroics and leveling my feral druid. However, I havent run a heroic in 2 weeks at least, and have been doing partial daily runs at the max. I'm burnt out on it.

One thing that has been contributing to my recent disgust is the fact that my guild app was denied, and not just a "we arent recruiting you at this time, but thank you" but a "(insert massive condescension and jackassness from GM here)"

I have a solid group of friends whose guild I applied to. The GM shredded my post on their forums. Not just armory shred, but massive personal shred. I brought this to all of my friends attention, and the response I got was "Well, He is like that sometimes"

I sent him some tells in-game to try and ascertain what was going on, but all I got was more condescension. My friends in the guild knew of this, and told me that 98% of the folks in the guild think he's an asshole, and 99% of the people arent there for him.

All the while I'm thinking to myself "What does this mean for me? Am I just SOL? Am I gonna be relegated to hoping a spot for kara opens up for them and I get to go? Screw that."

I will say this, my best friend in the guild and on the server stuck up for me like a champ, and I appreciate it. But even that was not enough for me to get any headway on getting into this guild and getting a stable flow of badges and various items before the expansion. With nowhere to go on the server, I looked to transfer servers. My main is still my Hunter and I post on a well-respected Hunter forum. The sites master/leader/whatever started his own guild for wrath content named after the site, and when I spoke of my plight to the folks on the board, it was suggested I move there.

This idea made a lot of sense because I would go to a server where I would have an instant amount of credibility, as well as a guaranteed spot in raids, and friends! albeit internet forum friends. They may not be server friends who you've known for 9-10 months, but at least they're friends and they want to progress. I had sent the GM a PM on the forums saying that the transfer should be happening sometime late last week, and that I should be on Shadowsong soon.

So it was with a heavy heart that I prepared to transfer servers over the weekend. I hadnt said any goodbyes because its not like I dont have their private vent info, and I wasnt transferring my druid at the time, just my main.

But oh no! I had mail in the bank and couldnt put the transfer through! lol, noob.

I figured I would get home, run my dailies, clean the mailbox, and do the transfer, no big deal. Whilest running around I informed another good friend (damn good pally tank) of my decision, and then he said something that has made my had spin for the last few days, something to the affect of:

"Well, (GM asshole guy) pissed most everyone off last night, now there is talk of a bunch of us leaving and forming a new guild."

Dammit.

That news halted my plans, and I asked him to keep me informed when he knew new details. I should note that I planned my escape during a week when my best friend on the server (the one that stuck up for me) was on vacation (I know, mean) and I decided that I should wait until she got back and was brought up to speed on the situation before doing anything. Bottom line for me that is if I can be in a guild with friends who progress, thats where I want to be. If being on Azuremyst is what makes that happen, thats where I am. If Shadowsong is where that happens then thats where I'll be. I want to kill Arthas, but I want to do it with my friends. Some people dont have it that way, and I dont want to sound selfish, but that is what I want to pay for, so I'm gonna go for it.

So this friend gets back and is informed of the guild members angst and solution, but also that I'm thinking about transferring. I get a tell from her, and we discuss things, and she says that they definitely want me in this guild, yada yada yada, you get the idea.

So I'm still in limbo. It sucks. I refuse to wait forever on this server for things to happen, but now I have folks on Shadowsong thinking I'm coming over. I dont want to be tooled around anymore on this server, but I also dont want to tool around the folks on Shadowsong. ugh.

My initial solution, if the new guild emerges, is to transfer my Feral to shadowsong. Other hunters on the forum have done that, transferring resto shammys and the like. I would leave my main on azuremyst. I'm not thrilled with the idea, but at least I give the Hunting Lodge guild a character, and I get to stay on azuremyst. It seems like....meh, I dunno what it seems like to be honest

Complicated, eh? We're only halfway there.

One of my groomsmen, who I call my little brother, has been recruited to get into the terrible world of warcraft, and he and I are leveling twin paladins.....on shadowsong!

I told him to roll on shadowsong because I thought I would be transferring there. This happened in that terrible gap where I had tried to transfer but was held up, and the time I talked to a friend about the guild separation/re-form.

I dislike the idea of juggling 3 toons on 2 servers, but Im not asking my little bro to pay 25 bucks when he's already paid 100 or so for comp upgrades + the game. So I have a little more motivation to have a toon on shadowsong than just the guild, after all, we need a bankroll :)

So at this point its messy, but I'm hoping for a good resolution. Im hoping everyone ends up happy and that I end up in a place with friends where I can progress and have a good time, all at the same time.

Sorry for the wall. Thanks if you read this far :D ]]> Rev13 http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/rev13/1377-long-blog-ahead-youve-been-warned.html http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/rev13/1189-here-out-what-i-do.html Tue, 26 Aug 2008 16:20:37 GMT Sure, we all like Deadmines and Stockades. There are incredibly cool quest chains, with those 2 instances being the cherrys on the top of them. ... Sure, we all like Deadmines and Stockades. There are incredibly cool quest chains, with those 2 instances being the cherrys on the top of them.

But lets face it, tanking them means little to nothing.

I went with my Feral Tank knowing this. I had another target, an official "Now I actually am a tank" instance, that I set my sights for, and have been focused on tanking it since level 1. It is my favorite instance, so naturally, tanking the whole place is an accomplishment that I would care about. (So much so, that I am actually writing about it :p)

Maraudon.

Mara is the first instance where things could go bad if someone crews up. You can stumble your way into the 40's being a total nincumpoop to your class, and make a ton of mistakes in there, and people will actually die. That said, it doesnt take much competence to avoid wipes either.

So ya, I tanked it. Felt good to go from instance portal to clear with 2 total deaths and everything laying dead at our feet.

While not much of an accomplishment, I nevertheless learned a great deal. Anything I learn now, I dont have to learn later. I dont know about other classes, but getting 30 rage pre-pull is a big plus for me.

At my level I have so few threat tools that keeping my rage up is a task, I think its because I feel like I need to spam Maul. Holding aggro on multiple mobs was tricky, but its definitely something I need to get used to, it just comes with the territory. Swipe is meh, but I found that tab-attacking or tab-anything worked well, until I get my bleed stacking skill and Mangle. Even Tab- F Cubed worked :)

I dont plan on running Sunken Temple or Zul Farrak much, I dont like them and would much prefer to quest in W/EPL and work my way into my 2nd favorite instance- Stratholme :) ]]> Rev13 http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/rev13/1189-here-out-what-i-do.html http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/rev13/1171-fuse-does-not-exist-today.html Fri, 22 Aug 2008 13:22:21 GMT Have you ever gone to work, only to find out that not only is your fuse already short, but its still at home? I just did. An hour and fifteen... Have you ever gone to work, only to find out that not only is your fuse already short, but its still at home?

I just did. An hour and fifteen minutes gone by and I already want to call it a day. As fortune holds, Friday is the one day of the week where I cant skip out any earlier.

Great. Strap in.

But I can say that when I get home I am gonna RAWRtank the hell out of.....anything I can.

RAWR! ]]> Rev13 http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/rev13/1171-fuse-does-not-exist-today.html http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/rev13/1130-g-booted.html Tue, 12 Aug 2008 15:23:41 GMT Yep. Its true. I got a gkicked yesterday. It all happened so fast, I didnt have time to explain myself. Let me be honest, I was not causing... Yep. Its true. I got a gkicked yesterday.

It all happened so fast, I didnt have time to explain myself.

Let me be honest, I was not causing drama. There was no drama present in gchat nor was there in vent. We were drama free.

I was theorycrafting in gchat over the new weapon I had just been taken on a run for (H SV) and how I might still be using the old weapon for more hectic fights with lots of movement. The new weapon is sweet-sick-nasty, higher dps, better stats (by a pinch), epic, but slower. My old weapon is faster, in fact, it has the perfect speed for what I need and where I'm at right now. As things progress, I will eventually want a slightly slower speed weapon, but at the moment my blue weapon is perfect for me

My guild master wasnt liking my theorycrafting, and was disagreeing with me on the non-static fight issue. She seemingly was ignoring where I said twice "This is all conjecture, I havent even used the weapon yet" and the very important "I wont use the old weapon for progression fights, obviously" and she gkicked me for being a know-it-all, according to her.

This is the same GM who lets her Hunters lose agility and crit rating for raw AP. What are we, a PvP guild?

Was my attitude bad at times? I guess so. But the reason I would tell you it was is because my GM is letting other players bring less than their best, when all Im trying to do, whether in gchat or in vent or in a raid, is bring my best to the table. If I think my best would be to use a faster weapon for a non-static fight, can you blame that line of thought? And if you disagree, does the burden of proof to disprove me fall onto proving the fight to be a static one (Shade of Aran was my example, and it most certainly is not) or does it lie in proving my dps strategy wrong?

I feel it lies in proving the fight to be a static one.

Thoughts? ]]> Rev13 http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/rev13/1130-g-booted.html http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/rev13/1098-my-intrawebz-down-what-will-i-do.html Mon, 04 Aug 2008 14:38:22 GMT My wife and I moved on wednesday.

By wife and I, I mean me, myself, and I for the first 9 hours, and her at work for those first 9 hours. It's not a bad thing, it just sucks getting to do all the heavy lifting with naught but a puppy dog for help.

I own a Ford Probe. Think about it.

With the back seats down I can fit in a toaster. Theres no room to put a matress in, which reminds me of the Jerry Seinfeld stand-up routine about the guy you see driving down the road with his matress on his roof, and his left arm sticking out the window, clutching the one side he can reach as if its helping....lol

"Don't worry, I've got my arm on it"

But anyways, move accomplished in about 13 hours. 13 hours in the arizona late-july heat, spending a good deal of it in an inferno-like car has a way of screwing with one's mind, but I'll recover. I am a native, after all

When we moved in we were told, long story short, that our current ISP was not available and that we'd have to get a new one. At the point I heard that I did not give one diddley squat, one week without internet paled in comparison to what I had been through, so as it stands I've been away from my WoWcrack for almost a week now. (Cox comes in to install on thursday. Nice cuz I get an upgrade in speed for almost 30$ less a month)

But what have I been doing the last 5 days or so?

Playing Super Nintendo. 2-player Super mario World with my wife, Mega Man X's, an FF wanna-be called Breath of Fire. Its a blast.

What's your favorite SNES game?

/discuss ]]> Rev13 http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/rev13/1098-my-intrawebz-down-what-will-i-do.html http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/rev13/1065-i-make-things-harder-myself-but-bad.html Mon, 28 Jul 2008 13:18:33 GMT I originally drafted a blog on my free agent status, feeling jealous that my old guildies and friends had all found guilds, were as high up as TK and... I originally drafted a blog on my free agent status, feeling jealous that my old guildies and friends had all found guilds, were as high up as TK and BT, linking me epics screaming "loOoK aT wUt I gOt" and, not to mention, not tooling around on alts all the time. That hasnt all changed, but it very well could.

I was tooling around on alt (duh) when a recruiting message piqued my interest. The poster said she was looking for a Hunter for Kara. Thats right up my alley. We talked, it seemed like a good fit, so I went to my main and joined up. Yippee. Turns out the guild master has a 70 Hunter as well. I love the idea of being the sole class in a 10-man raid, more lewts, but having some company is comforting as well. One of the staples of me joining up was that I could CC and Misdirect. Any Hunter worth his salt can CC and MD.

So the guild master gets on her Hunter, groups with me and says "Would you mind following me out to terrokar please?"

I havent felt like that since I pulled a prank in high school and was summoned to the principals office, it was embarrassing, and nerve racking at the same time.

In hindsight, I can't believe I didn't see it coming. It was a test, and that instantly made me nervous. Instantly, I forgot where my skills were in my UI, and my fingers forgot the keybinds they usually are assigned to mash. She says "I want you to MD two mobs to me, and I want you to trap as well"

What did I do? I instantly made things harder on myself by trying to trap and MD mobs to her at the same time, which she didnt want. She just wanted me to prove I know how to use the skills. I could do them separately if I wanted. Sigh.

If you want to gauge my CC/MD abilities, take me through Steamvaults, Ramparts.

She also wanted me to kite a bit, which I would say is my weaker area. She asked my hit rating, and suggested I up it a bit. Both valid points, but not gamebreakers.

All in all, she said I did just fine, but I smack myself when I realize I could have done better, I am better, and I will do better later on. I want to be the best all the time.

On an off-note, my guild leader mentioned a few spec suggestions that had me crossing my eyes at the screen, wondering if I was reading what I was reading. I inspected her, and while her gear is superior, T4 with some badge gear, her spec is off. I'm wondering if I can make a massive statement and top her on the dps charts in KZ saturday. Rest assured, I will try.

Next blog on Tank toon, and alternating from there on.

Rev ]]> Rev13 http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/rev13/1065-i-make-things-harder-myself-but-bad.html