Dr. FailTank

Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Say You Suck.

This past weekend I was having a conversation with another tank from our guild. His Mage alt was in two separate groups that completely fell apart mid-run, both times due to the ineptitude of the respective tank. That conversation inspired this post.

Tanks have a lot on their plate during a run - situational awareness, status of cooldowns, proper pulling, etc - but you can boil the general job description of a tank down into three interrelated goals:

1. Stay Alive
2. Protect Your Healers
3. Generate Threat

Accomplishing these goals leads to success. It's that simple. You can break each bullet down further and get to the minutiae, but, in general, this is what a tank absolutely needs to do.

So, what are the "FailTanks" missing?

Goal #1: Stay Alive

Don't sing the BeeGees song. Seriously. Don't.

Gearing yourself is the first step in accomplishing this goal. Most people know what tank gear looks like and how they should gear their tank. Whether you follow the Mitigation philosophy, the Avoidance philosophy, or some combination of the two is up to you, but tank gear is generally obviously tank gear. If the tank in your run isn't wearing "proper" tank gear, they are beyond anyone's help and I apologize.

The other step is learning what your cooldowns do. Tanks have emergency cooldowns to blow and they should learn what they are and when to use them. This is a little bit trickier and subject to interpretation, but I can't imagine even the n00biest n00b Warrior not understanding what Last Stand and Shield Wall are. Again, if they don't, they are beyond help. Tell them it's time to reroll.

Goal #2: Protect Your Healers

I believe most tanks understand this one as well. It directly impacts #1 (Dead Healer = Dead Tank).

If your tank is working with one target breathing in that target's general direction is usually enough to keep that target off of the healers. Really. It doesn't take much.

If more than one target is involved and/or there are adds in the fight, a tank needs to understand that healers draw "global" aggro: meaning that every heal puts them on every mobs' radar. Adds will generally go straight for the healer for this very reason, but, again, it doesn't take a lot for the tank to get their attention.

Goal #3: Generate Threat

Ahh, the mystical concept of "Threat." What causes threat? Damage, heals, buffs, and debuffs all to various degrees. There are also modifiers (i.e. higher threat generated when in Defensive Stance) and certain abilities have innate, or built-in, threat.

Here, in my opinion, is what puts the "Fail" into FailTank.

I've encountered more people than I care to think about who have not understood how to generate threat as a tank. Their gear is usually fine...they know the benchmarks and thresholds and gear themselves to achieve them. They know that the healer must be protected and are more than willing to pull anything off of a healer at any point in the fight. Their deficiency, then, is the inability to generate threat because they don't understand either the concept itself or how to maximize their threat with the abilities that are at their disposal.

Tanks have abilities that, as it often says in the tooltip, "generate a high amount of threat." That means they have innate threat, or, threat that is generated simply because you used that ability. Take the amount of the innate threat, add the amount of damage done, and factor in any multipliers to figure out how much threat that particular ability generates in total. Threat is more than simply the damage done, and a good rotation will recognize that.

Good threat generation allows DPS to do their job while holding back as little as possible. If DPSers can't do their thing, the fight takes longer. If the fight takes longer, the healers mana pool may start to run short. See #1.

How do you maximize threat? Go find someone who's posted a rotation/priority list of abilities that can get you started. Do a little homework, that's all. Use the blogs in my blogroll as a starting point if you need to, but figure out how to generate as much threat per second as possible so your DPSers have room to work.

The bottom line is, people who think that wearing some plate and having a large amount of health makes them a good tank are exceptionally mistaken, and the tank is too important of a role in a group to allow for that level of ignorance.

Career tanks are generally not the problem (note I said generally). Usually it's the person who rolled a tank as an alt (I'm looking at you, Death Knights) and hasn't taken the time to understand their new class as well as they understood their main. When the lack of understanding starts hurting others, though, if becomes unacceptable.

Don't be a FailTank! Do your homework. Learn what you should/shouldn't be doing. Study tanking in general and tanking as a (insert your class here) specifically.

Trust me, your group will thank you.

Twitter Junkie Redux

For those of you not on Twitter...

Go get on Twitter. Seriously. You're missing out on WoW Blogosphere shenanigans the likes of which you have never seen.

Follow me!

Go ahead. I'll wait.

Vanity Items

Little slow on posting this week. Lot going on at the Mis/Cheesi/Baby Tank household and I've been a little under the weather.

I have, however, been playing quite a bit. Nothing terribly exciting, just cranking out dailies and working the AH a bit.

One thing I've recently noticed, however, is a change in my opinion of vanity items.

My wife is a pet collector and my good buddy Eckhart the Hunter (who now has a shiny new 80 Pally as well) is a pet/mount collector. I have never been a collector of either...until I got my epic flyer, that is.

So what changed? Essentially, my opinion of how my money should be spent shifted. The epic flight skill was the last purchase that really affected the efficiency of my character. I bought gear to get me going on heroics, I bought my dual-spec, I spent money on or farmed mats for heroic and raid consumables, I enchanted all of my items, and now I have an epic flyer to do dailies, farm, etc.

If I log on and someone wants to do a heroic or raid, I have everything I need in my bags to go: food, flasks, pots, offspec gear, tabards, repair bots, etc. I wouldn't have to hit the bank or the AH. I'm a Minuteman.

So, as long as I keep enough money on me to handle a night's worth of repairs, I feel like it's time to get some of the things that make the game fun. I hit the auction house the other night and bought a ton of pets that were listed for low prices. Last night, I bought an Armored Brown Bear and am 9 mounts away from getting the Albino Drake. I've also starting to work on the mats for the Chopper.

It's the first time that I've felt I didn't have something hanging over my head, prodding me every time I made a purchase that pushed my goal back another day or two.

This game is supposed to be fun, and, as silly as it sounds, when I mounted up on my Bear last night and rode around Dalaran I was actually having fun.

'Bout time.

The Sissier the Robe...

The better the heals.

If you like your WoW-bloggage loaded with wit, sarcasm, and overall hilarity go here.

Seriously...go. You won't regret it.

Posting for the Sake of Posting

I have nothing of importance to talk about. Absolutely nothing.

This past weekend, I tanked some stuff, did some dailies, bought a couple of mounts, etc.

This week I'll probably tank some stuff, do some dailies, maybe pick up a couple more mounts, etc.

Everybody and their mother is talking about patch 3.2. I have nothing to contribute to the conversation. The patch will come, people will complain, we'll all adapt, and life we return to normal.

Everybody's talking about Ulduar progression and what the 3.2 instances will bring. Again, I have nothing to contribute. I haven't seen Ulduar, probably won't, and the same goes for the new stuff.

I apologize for wasting three minutes of your life. Perhaps sometime in the near future my muse will smack me over the head and convince me to write something of value.

For now, I'm in a holding pattern.

Number Three

Accomplished.

Dear Sartharion,

Thanks for the ring.

Yours Truly,

Mis

Stratholme - Present Day

Since I've acquired my epic flight skill I've decided to start collecting mounts. I started with all of the Alliance ground mounts, slow and fast, and I'm going to try and get all of the available gryphons. Eventually, I'd like to get the Albino Drake.

To reach 50 mounts, though, I'm going to have to get lucky and/or creative. So last night I ran into old school Stratholme...well, I guess old school Stratholme would technically be the Culling...but I....ah, screw it, you get the point.

Anyway, my target was Baron Rivendare. I was going to ask him (with my axe) if I could have his horse. Well, I asked, and he refused, so I asked repeatedly until he collapsed into a bloody pile on the floor.

But all of that isn't the point of this post. The point is, Stratholme is huge. WotLK dungeons are small and linear, and were designed to be so. Vanilla WoW dungeons, on the other hand, were sprawling, non-linear, and would take a whole afternoon if you ran it at an appropriate level. I knew this was the case, don't get me wrong, but it's still kind of shocking when you zone in and get reminded of it.

During the week, I have limited play time. I have a couple of hours between work and sleep to do what I need to do. The smaller dungeons, therefore, appeal to me. It's nice to be able to get in, get out, and get to bed at a reasonable time. I'm getting older, after all.

Still, I admire the effort they put into those old dungeons. They really were pretty epic and well-designed.

The other, less important point to this post is...how is that city still burning? Seriously. It's been years since Arthas ran rampant through the place, yet the buildings are still standing and they're still on fire.

Sometimes it's best not to think too hard about stuff like that.

LF9M Naxx 10

I've been kicking around this post for a while. Mainly, I don't want it to sound like I'm whining or digging around for sympathy because I'm absolutely not. I'm merely making an observation and stating my feelings on the topic.

Last night I left Mis in the Trade District Inn in Stormwind.When I log in tonight, my General chat box will be filled with people looking to fill out a raid group. When "LF1M Tank" catches my eye, that sentence will also likely contain the words "experienced" and "geared." Because of that, I'll go about my business...do my dailies, farm some ore...then log off.

As I've mentioned in earlier posts, I took a hiatus after dinging 80. When I came back I walked into a guild that was entirely different than the one I left. I was no longer a viable endgame tank for CoF, we had new, well-geared tanks and there were names I didn't recognize who were running heroics and raids and linking their epics in /gchat.

It kinda floored me, because I hadn't really been gone that long. While I don't regret taking the time off, the hiatus put me at a distinct disadvantage. We're at the point now where people generally don't want to bring someone, especially a tank, who isn't wearing all purples into Naxx, the entry-level raid, and let them see the fights for the first time. People want to run into Naxx 10, get their Emblems, and get out as quickly as possible. Everyone's thinking Ulduar and they don't want to put up with someone who will slow them down.

Maybe I'm wrong - I certainly hope I'm wrong - but it seems as though if you're not raiding now, don't hold your breath.

I'm not the best tank in the world, but I'm also not some n00b who doesn't understand how to play his class. All that seems to be keeping me out of the endgame are the blues I'm wearing and the fact that I haven't seen any of the endgame fights.

I've had one or two opportunities to run one-boss raids with our guild, but had to decline due to kid issues (Dad first, Tank second). We've also had some Left-Coasters setting up runs really late in the evening on weekends. I just can't start a three-hour raid night at 11:00 pm.

I am, however, signed up for OS 10 on Friday and I'm really hoping I get the chance to go. It just seems like there's always something getting in the way of the rare opportunities I manage to get.

A strange thing happened a couple of nights ago. A Shaman who's been on my Friend List since I was in my 30's whispered me while I was doing Scholazar ore loops. At first I thought that I got my first whisper because of my D-List Celebrity WoW Blogger status, but it turns out that this person was actually offering me an invite into their guild...an established raiding guild on our server.

We both tried to figure out where we initially met, but couldn't come up with it. I believe we hooked up in STV to do a group quest together, but I may be wrong. I told them that I wasn't raiding at the moment and they told me that anytime I wanted to run something to send them a tell.

I don't know. Maybe it's time to move on and find a guild that has a B or C Team that I can hook up with and see some content. That would certainly be a remedy for the constant subliminal message that comes across when you read in-game chat or many WoW blogs: your gear sucks, therefore you must suck, therefore we don't want you around, n00b.

I always felt like number 4 was the least likely to ever happen. Now I'm begging to think number 3 may take the top spot.

Here's hoping I get in on the fun this Friday.

Keeping my fingers crossed.

Time Flies

They grow up so fast...

/sniff

Commentary on Mount Changes

I don't care.

...

Alright, fine. Blogs are supposed to have content, right? (Like that's ever made a difference to me)

Here's why I don't care. The mount changes have no impact on anything other than a leveling character.

Seriously. Will the mount changes get your guild through Ulduar 25, or make it any harder on you to progress? No. Will the mount changes have any impact on you getting enough emblems for your next gear upgrade? No.

But, as always, people complain. It's not fair because I had to wait until 40 to get my first mount and my first flyer only had a 60% speed increase and I had to pay full price for epic mount training and Blizzard's making it easier for casuals and I don't have anything better to do than be a forum troll...Mom, can you bring me another Mountain Dew?

My advice: shut up and deal with it. Hey, here's a thought...try taking advantage of it. I've got a couple of lowbie alts who can be riding much earlier. The increased questing efficiency may be enough incentive for me to dust them off and maybe even get one or two to 80. I did the grind in hard mode once and I'll be glad not to have to do it again.

All I'm saying is that maybe people should take a break from their complaining about the game being made easier or "dumbed-down" and take a look at the bright side. When the next patch hits, go get your lowbie alts a mount. Plus, if you've got a friend who's new to the game it's an opportunity for them to get to 80 quicker and do "big kid" stuff with you.

Remember kids, games are supposed to be fun.

Now quit whining.

Overachieving

Knocked out some viral video-related achievements this afternoon with Willy, Eckhart, Velessi the Boomkin, and Cheesi.

First (sans Cheesi), we hit the Spire to get the Jenkins title.

Then, with Cheesi, we spanked little miss Onyxia like the bad girl she is.

At the end of our little escapade the guild bank received some nice level 60-ish blues and greens.

A good time was had by all...except the hundred or so whelps that felt our wrath.

Burn the Land and Boil the Sea

You can't take the sky from me.

Number 1: Accomplished

I am a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar.

I Heart DPSers Too

Aeltyr posted a comment asking me about my DPS experience in a recent post. It occurred to me that I haven't given much love to DPSers here on my blog. Please allow me to remedy that now.

While leveling, I was basically run through instances up until my low-60's. At that point, I respecced tank and the rest is history. Since then, I haven't really DPSed much of anything except for taking Nab through Stockades with other level-appropriate guild members' alts.

I kinda sucked at it, but there's some room for error in lowbie instances. No big deal.

In TBC, I ran Cheesi's character through Karazhan because they didn't need me to tank and I didn't need anything from Kara. Cheesi was unavailable to go herself, so I took control of her tiny rogue and ventured in.

Again, I sucked at it. Pulled aggro repeatedly. Died often. Couldn't drop aggro fast enough. It was ugly.

DPS is a skill, just like tanking and healing. It takes practice and knowledge of what you're capable of. It's not easy.

The thing about DPS that makes it different than tanking is the need for balance. As a tank, I'm pumping out as much threat as I possibly can. That's one of my major goals in an instance. There's no upper limit. I don't have to hold back for any reason. In fact, I shouldn't be holding back.

DPS, though, has a ceiling. They need to do as much damage as possible without pulling aggro. That's where the skill and balance comes in.

Bad DPS

We've all run with bad DPSers. "Bad" doesn't always mean that they don't do enough damage, in fact it usually means that they're trying so desperately hard to top the meters that they pull aggro.

I ran a heroic maybe a month ago where I was stuck with such an individual. I'd pull, and as the mobs were running at me this person started unloading on them. The pack quickly changed direction and headed straight towards him. As a clothie, he was crushed rather quickly. This was worse than a DPSer jumping in before a tank gets a head start on threat. This guy started pewpewing when the only threat I had acquired was from a Heroic Throw on one mob in the pack. He then had the nerve to insinuate that our ultimate failure in the run was due to my tanking. Genius.

Good DPSers know that you can't top the damage meters if you spend half the instance dead. Good DPSers know that the threat meter is just as important, if not more so, than the damage meter. Good DPSers understand balance.

Bad DPSers get their jollies out of ZOMGCritz!!!1! Bad DPSers don't understand mana/rage/energy/RP management.

CC

Ah, the lost art of crowd control. I've always admired those DPSers who could do ridiculous amounts of damage while keeping a mob trapped/sheeped/banished/enslaved/shackled, etc. I've always admired Rogues who could keep something out of my hair by Evasion-tanking it or sneaking up and Sapping (which just takes balls, let's face it.

As a tank, I'm basically trying to piss off everything. I run up to them and get in their face, insult their mothers, and throw crap at them all the while trying my best to beat them down.

With crowd control, DPS has to kill one thing while watching another. Multitasking at its finest. As a Warrior with double-digit intellect, I don't know how they do it and I absolutely respect those who do it well.

Get to the Freaking Point

Geeze, fine. Having epic gear and a high crit rating doesn't make you a good DPSer anymore than slapping a shield on a Warrior or Paladin makes him a good tank. There's an art to it.

If I'm tanking an instance, I want a team behind me who is going to be useful 100% of the time. Dead DPS does no damage. People who only look for the big crits are useful to me [insert crit percentage here]% of the time. People who run out of mana a minute and a half into a 10 minute boss fight are only useful to me if their wand is uber.

Bottom line: it takes work, research, and practice to learn how to maintain a high level of damage throughout the course of a fight without pulling aggro. I've had the pleasure of running with DPSers who could do that exceptionally well. I truly, truly admire them.

Could I ever be a good DPSer? Sure. I've got Nab and Big Mac climbing up in the ranks. Maybe with some practice I can make them endgame ready and contribute to a group on the damage side.

Just gotta be willing to put in the work.

Ugg. Tank Happy.

See that? Over on the left?

That's my face right now. Has been since yesterday.

Why?

The lovely Cheesi bought me a new computer as a combined Father's Day, Birthday, and Anniversary gift.

This is a big deal. I've been growing increasingly infuriated at the amount of lag I've been getting, especially in Dalaran (less than 1 fps is bad) because of the machine I've been playing on.

The new one makes the old one look like a glorified abacus.

Now, I can reinstall Cartographer and Questhelper (scrapped due to memory usage) and maybe even knock out the Fishing and Cooking dailies in a reasonable amount of time. Plus, I might even be able to do something crazy like, I don't know, run Tweetdeck in the background while I play.

I was downloading the WoW client most of the day yesterday from the website (oh, dear Lord it takes forever) while playing the Sims 3 and running Tweetdeck all simultaneously. I think I even had iTunes running part of the time. No performance issues noted.

Excited Mis? You betcha.

Guess who's gonna be reconfiguring his UI tonight with all sorts of new toys.

Thank you, Baby. Love you.

Who's Healing Me?

This topic was suggested by Nigiri in the Blog Azeroth forums.

I spend a good deal of time talking about healers on my blog. After all, what's a tank without a healer?

A lot of this I may have said before, so I apologize for repeating myself, but I do believe it's important...at least from a tank's perspective.

Frankly, I don't care what class the healer is. Like the various tanking classes, each healing class brings something different to the table. As far as I'm concerned, there's a bigger issue than the types of heals and buffs they provide.

• Priests: Many of the tank healers I've worked with in the past are priests. Briele and Willy, who I've mentioned, are fantastic healers and they take good care of me.
• Paladins: I've also had the pleasure of working with some amazing Pally healers, like my buddy Vycodin (great name for a healer, right?).
• Shamans: Seriously, who doesn't like the totems? Chain heals are awesome, too.
• Druids: There's something very comforting about seeing a HoT tick away as I'm fighting. A stream of incoming damage getting offset by a ticking HoT is great.

So what's the point? I like them all. I'd take any class into a 5-man or a raid with me, as long as the person at the keyboard is competent. Sure, there are some fights where one type of healer may be better at healing the raid rather than the tank or vice-versa, but, ultimately, if they get the job done, I'm a happy tank.

For me, the chemistry with the healer is far more important than whatever class that healer happens to be. Again, I've touched on this before, but when the healer-tank relationship clicks it transcends class differences.

The healer and the tank are the battery of the group...the pitcher and the catcher. If you watch baseball on a regular basis you'll notice that, once in a while, a pitching change will trigger a change in the catcher position. Also, while the starting catcher may catch for most of the rotation, he may get a day off when a specific pitcher(s) is starting that day.

Why? Because pitchers and catchers get used to one another. They, for the most part, communicate without words. The catcher knows what the pitcher is capable of, and will call the game based on that. The pitcher knows if he can get away with throwing a forkball into the dirt based on whether or not the catcher is capable of getting his body in front of it. It's all about chemistry.

That's why I continue to contend that chemistry is the most important thing when it comes to tanks and healers. It's more important than classes and even more important than gear. It can be spur of the moment, too. I've had healers who I've never met before do a brilliant job because we click almost instantly.

Bottom line, if you're willing to throw some green combat text my way and can anticipate when my tail needs saving I'd be more than happy to tank for you...regardless of class.

Twitter Junkie

Yup, I did it.

Set up a WoW Twitter account. If you're a tweet as well then follow me!

I'm going to try and do my darndest to update this one more often than my personal one, but we'll see how that goes.

Looking forward to your tweets and follows!

Follow Friday

Those of you who've been sucked into the social phenomenon known as Twitter may be familiar with #followfriday. It's essentially a tag you use to designate a tweet where you list a group of people who you think your followers should follow as well.

So, in the spirit of #followfriday I'd like to apply it to the blogosphere, and at the same time send a shout-out to the four WoW bloggers that inspired me to start putting my random, pointless, often incoherent thoughts on the interwebz.

• Ratshag - The Orc, the Myth, the Legend. Believe it or not, his was the first WoW blog I ever found. I started reading it in late 2007 and have been laughing ever since. The guy's an absolute creative genius. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll find a new appreciation for Troll wimmens.
• Khol Drake - Khol's been putting together a brilliant story in the time that he's been blogging. I've been locked into it and am always anticipating the next volume. If you aren't familiar with his work, go there and start from the beginning. Each chapter keeps getting better.
• Jessika - Started reading her blog when Vene linked her. I felt a certain kinship to her, really. We dinged 70 about the same time, started raiding Kara about the same time, and my guild had some of the same struggles and triumphs as hers. Plus, female tanks are hot.
• Keredria - Jessika's healer. I've been following her for a lot of the same reasons that I listed for Jess. In addition, getting insights into the mind of a healer is certainly a benefit to any tank. I've never been a tree-hugger, but K could change my mind.

Thank you all for the inspiration. I'd also like to thank all of the other bloggers on my blogroll who I religiously read. I love being a part of this community.

Now, back to Twitter. I have a personal Twitter account that I'm horrible about keeping up with. However, after reading through a number of blogs and listening to the Twisted Nether Blogcast, I think it's time Mis gets his own. How I'm going to manage to keep up with two Twitter accounts is beyond me, but I think this one could be a lot more fun than my boring personal account.

When I finally get it set up, you'll read about it here.

On Jousting - Part 2

So last night I managed to find an opening in the revolving door that has been my computer ever since The Sims 3 got released and knocked out my AT dailies before bed.

I'm exalted with Gnomer, title and all, and am working on Exodar. I'm a day off of getting enough seals to be an Exodar Champ, but I'm going to wait until I'm exalted to turn them in. I'm already exalted with Ironforge, but have yet to joust in the name of the Dwarves. All in all, it won't be long until I'm an Ambassador and an Exalted Champion of the Alliance.

My previous jousting difficulties are no longer an issue. I can take a Commander solo without much trouble and I knock out the Tournament Ground jousting quests quickly. My former Medieval Times compatriots would be proud.

One thing I've noticed, though, is that the damage modifiers for Warrior stances apply to jousting. If you're a Prot Warrior who runs about in Defensive Stance 99% of the time like I do, make sure to switch over to Battle Stance when you're doing the jousting quests.

For example, on a Campaign Warhorse your Shield Breaker (according to the tooltip) will hit for 10K. If you're in Defensive Stance, though, it'll only hit for 9.5K. Doesn't sound like a lot, but if you're going after a Commander by yourself it'll make a difference in the long run.

I'm sure many astute Warriors have noticed this, so I apologize for telling you something you already know. Hopefully, though, this little tidbit will help somebody out.

Gotta Green

My virtual world has been invaded.

As I walked into my house last night after a long day at work, I discovered that both of our computers were full of characters wearing cloth armor that appeared to be designed by H&M or some other store in the mall out of which, if I entered, I would promptly be escorted and sent to the nearest Target.

None of the NPCs can be properly tanked, although you can apparently draw aggro if you're getting frisky with the maid and your girlfriend/wife finds out.

It's all so confusing.

~*~

So yeah, we've got The Sims 3 installed on both computers which allows Cheesi (who is a major Sims addict) and the kids to play.

Cheesi and I played the original Sims, The Sims Online, and The Sims 2 (her more than me on that one). I enjoy them, but Cheesi absolutely loves them. She'll spend days designing a house down to the smallest detail.

I remember one night soon after The Sims 2 came out. Our house at the time had a dedicated gaming room with a couch in it. She was sitting at the computer and I dozed off on the couch after playing some PS2. I woke up at 5:00 am to find that she was still building the same house she was working on when I fell asleep. She had not taken the game out of build mode that whole time.

So, at least for the next couple of days, I'm afraid that I'll be hanging out on the couch while all the ladies in the house take turns playing with their new toy. Not a big deal, really. A little break from WoW can't hurt and it gives me a chance to watch a movie or two that they wouldn't want to see anyway...specifically movies with boobs and explosions.

I still plan on posting and flooding other WoW blogs with pointless comments as I usually do. Gotta keep myself busy somehow.

Banner

I've decided that my site needs a cool banner.

I'm thinking maybe a screenshot of Misneach reclining in nothing but the crusty brown underwear Blizz makes male humans wear...

<=============these

Eh...still brainstorming.

Scandal

I picked an interesting time to start my WoW blog. First we had several high-profile retirements and now we've got a scandal.

I've been kicking this around, trying to decide whether or not to comment on the whole Ferarro thing. I've decided that, since all the info is out there and many others have offered their opinions, I would keep this post focused on Aggro Junkie.

So, in the interest of full-disclosure:

1. Aggro Junkie is not written by an attractive woman. Furthermore, it's not written by a man pretending to be an attractive woman. It is written by a not-so-attractive man who elected to post a screenshot of his character in his profile to encourage readers to use their imagination regarding his appearance. That's just better for everybody.
2. Aggro Junkie is written by one person. Why anybody would think that a collection of pointless, random posts full of useless information and personal crap would require collaboration is beyond me, but I just wanted to throw that out there just in case.
3. I am not the only person who has a character named Misneach. If you do an armory search, you'll get a handful of other Misneaches (?). I can't even claim to be the first person with that name. I will state, however, that I was not aware of the other Misneaches (that just doesn't sound right) until well after my character had been created. To all the others who share my name, I salute you.

And there you have it. No scandal here.

Not yet anyway.

Nabaisti

Nabaisti (slightly modified Irish Gaelic for Of the Rain) was my second character, created while I waited for Mis to change realms to Bloodhoof. He's a Night Elf Hunter (doesn't everybody have one?) with a Young Nightsaber named Riabhan (Irish Gaelic for Striped One).

I leveled him off and on and got him to 45. When they changed the pet talent mechanics and gave us some extra stable slots, I picked up a bear as well for a Tenacity pet. His name is Mathuin (modified Irish Gaelic for, you guessed it, Bear). I actually borrowed his name from a Druid who I created and played for a while but deleted because, at the time, that class just wasn't cutting it for me. Bear form felt like Warrior-lite and I couldn't get into it. I'll probably try the Druid path again at some point, though.

I played Nab for a while last night when I couldn't tolerate the lag I was getting in Dalaran with Mis. I was also in desperate need of a change of pace.

I could've played one of my other alts, maybe my Paladin or Shaman to try and help out with our guild's healer shortage, but I felt like I needed to play Nab.

Why, you ask?

Because I missed the pets. Riabhan has been a loyal companion since very early on in my WoW experience. I couldn't bear the thought of him and Mathuin sitting in the Stormwind stables...neglected, lonely, and deprived of the opportunity to sink their teeth and claws into anything other than an occasional rat.

Nab's a strapping young Night Elf, so I wasn't concerned about him. I'm sure he spent some time in the Pig and Whistle with a couple of Draenei ladies offering to show them around Darnassus if they ever make it out there. He's fully capable of entertaining himself, that one.

I Am An Arms Dealer

Fitting you with weapons in the form of Mammoth Cutters.

I threw my hat into the ammunition market this weekend and made a nice chunk of extra income. Selling the aforementioned Mammoth Cutters and Saronite Razorheads is significantly more profitable than simply throwing saronite bars up on the auction house, and if you spend enough time doing dailies in Storm Peaks and Icecrown you'll end up swimming in the stuff.

The Razorheads require 15 saronite bars for a box, which creates two stacks with a thousand arrows each. The Cutters only take 6 saronite bars per box, but you'll have to also throw in some cobalt and crystallized water for the Volatile Blasting Triggers. Either way, you're making money.

On Bloodhoof, saronite bars have been going for about 20-30g per stack. One stack of a thousand arrows or bullets will go for 20-25g. Since you're getting multiple stacks of arrows or bullets per stack of saronite, the extra couple of minutes spent at the anvil adds enough value to give you a nice profit margin.

Beyond the monetary gain, I also had the satisfaction of knowing that somewhere, some hunter was pumping a raid boss full of Misneach brand ammo.

Now I know how Nicolas Cage felt.

Long as the boss gets looted that's just the bidness I'm in.