Defection

Yesterday on Twitter, I asked the community if they had a gun to their head and had to change factions, what race on the other side would they pick.

Kudos to Outlandish Guild for having my favorite answer: Pull the trigger #forthehorde

I didn't answer my own question on Twitter, so I figured I'd answer it here. If Misneach had to shed his Human form and join the Horde, he'd be an Orc. I don't really know why, but I feel, after knowing him for 80 levels, the Orc race would fit him best Horde-side.

However, if I had to make a new Warrior from the ground up, I'd probably go Tauren. In fact, I have a Tauren Warrior (very, very low level) on Undermine named Mishnock (the phonetic spelling of Misneach). Again, I can't really tell you what the reasons are...just seems to fit.

So, for those of you who didn't answer on Twitter, gun to your head...what would you pick?

I Was Thinking Bigger

I mean, it's cool and all...can't exactly ride it, though...

Maintaining the Balance

Apparently my current pants are missing armor in a key area, because RL was successful in delivering several swift kicks to the junk over the past week. As a result, I haven't been online at all since last Tuesday.

The silver lining (not referring to the pants anymore) is that I got to focus on my family. I spent some much-needed time with Cheesi, hung out with the kids, played with the puppy, and got to be a part of a milestone in my niece's life: her first homecoming.

She's gone through a lot lately, but for one night she got the opportunity to let all the crap go and have some fun. She looked beautiful and felt great about herself. I was so proud of her and blessed to be a part of it.

RL > WoW...all the time. I'm gonna hop back online tonight or tomorrow and get back in the swing of things, but I really needed the time off, even though it was caused by some personal issues.

WoW's like any other hobby. Play it, enjoy it, blog/tweet about it, talk to your friends about it, etc. Just don't forget to stay connected to the things that really matter.

Ulduar or Bust

Tomorrow night we have an Ulduar raid scheduled. This will be our guild's first time in, and the first time for many of us as individuals.

In TBC, we as a guild never made it past the first tier of raiding. I never saw anything outside of Kara, Gruul, and a pull or two into SSC. I'm glad we're in a position to be moving forward progression-wise and taking our raiding to the next level here in WotLK.

Hopefully we can get the sign-ups and manage to make the run happen. Most of us are geared for it (in some cases overgeared for it) thanks to emblem purchases, so, once we get the hang of the fights, we should be in a position to really make some rapid progress.

My goal, lofty as it may be, is to be able to walk into Icecrown-10 very soon after it opens. Even if we're still mopping up the last few bosses of Ulduar and ToC, I'd like to be able to make some progress in the defining raid of WotLK while others are also progressing through it.

From a blogging standpoint, I'd love to be able to help the community. Right now, I'm relying on recommendations from the community when it comes to tanking fights. If I'm involved in progression as it comes, though, I can be one of the bloggers making the recommendations based on my experience tanking the "current" content.

As long as we can get the personnel to come along, I think that we, as a guild, are in a position to make some solid progress over the coming weeks.

It's exciting. I just hope it plays out.

Insert Filler Post

Haven't been online in a couple of days, so I have nothing to talk about.

In lieu of a WoW post, then, here's a picture of my 4 month-old American Bulldog, Delilah:

Right now she's a non-combat pet, but eventually, when she gets to over 100 lbs, she'll be fully capable of scaring off boyfriends and ex-husbands. I think due to the nature of the breed (ability to ignore pain and fear) she'd be classified as a Tenacity pet.

What? You want some WoW content, too?

Uhh...dodge is still better than parry.

There you go.

Meeting the Needs of Googlers II

Here I will continue my effort to assist those who are out searching the interwebz for information and, for better or worse, end up landing on my blog...which is admittedly very low on information.

I Am an Arms Dealer has taken the lead, but we have a new contender at number two:



[drumroll]



Am I Needy



If you're Googling it, the answer is yes.

The Stamfest Trinket

Thank you, Vene, for posting what I was thinking and proving to my brain that I wasn't wrong.

Here's my take:

When I logged on last night just about my whole guild was in BRD doing the Brewfest quest and picking up trinkets or, in some cases, mounts. I'm not a big holiday person, so I told them I'd just run some dailies while they were doing it. After a while (when I realized I wasn't going to get to do the daily heroic with guildies until they were done anyway), I conceded and went along.

We were able to fight the guy four times, and two stamina trinkets dropped. I grabbed one and our former RL roommate Tassh grabbed the other for his Warrior.

If you armory me right now you'll see that I'm currently wearing that stamina trinket. Will I continue to wear it as part of my "normal" tanking set? No. Will I keep it in my bags? Yes.

My other stamina trinket option is the Black Heart. I will lose 440 health if I run with the Black Heart rather than the Mug. However, the Aegis proc on the Black Heart is incredible...really incredible. It happens a lot and is a significant increase in armor during the duration. Plus, you get a cool little crown over your head (Warriors don't have a lot in the way of animations aside from Shockwave and Devastate, so crap like that makes me happy).

Most tanks who are ready to jump into heroics or raiding have at least 25K or so health (ballparking...willing to be wrong...don't flame me). If you've been heroicing or raiding for a while you're likely over 30K. What am I getting at? 400 health is, to borrow a term from my day job, immaterial. The armor proc from the BH, on the other hand, is material.

Should you ditch the Mug entirely? No. Should you be less stubborn than me and take advantage of the holiday to get what really is, all things considered, a pretty good trinket? Yes. Run it until you get it if you have the time because, if you're in a fight where having a dodge or other avoidance trinket isn't going to do you any good and you need raw effective health, stacking the Mug and the BH will, together, hand you almost 3K health and a nice, reliable armor proc.

Regardless of all of that, having a lot of trinkets to play with is always a good thing. I'm very hesitant to get rid of trinkets and I'll usually roll on them if I have the chance and nobody else needs them more (i.e. the Repelling Charge, which doesn't help me now but, if I need to build a resistance set, will come in handy). They're quick and easy ways to tweak your stats to prepare for a given boss fight.

I really need to stop being so hard on the holiday events. Live a little, Mis...live a little.

Happy Brewfest, boys and girls.

Attendance and Recruiting

Tatia posted about some attendance issues we're having in EoF. Rather than assault her blog with a wall of text comment, I decided that I'd simply post my thoughts here. I'm certain we're not the only guild having this problem.

We're not a terribly large guild, but those of us who are usually online are pretty serious about doing our best when we have a goal to accomplish. When we pull enough people to raid, we bring our A-game and get the job done. We have enough people with the skill and gear to clear the bulk of the 10-man content out there.

There are two things, in my opinion, that stand in our way. One is going to be a permanent problem given our guild's makeup. The other, I believe, will pass.

The first issue we have is that the vast majority of us are adults with jobs, children, and other adult responsibilities. We're always going to have to deal with conflicting schedules and there will never be a day of the week when every raid-ready person in the guild will be available.

That's a minor problem. Multiple raids a week will give people several opportunities to jump in and see some content. If we can't have a consistent schedule, we'll deal. We're adults, right? We just need the personnel to make it feasible.

The second issue, while temporary, is what I believe to be our brick wall for the time being. I can sum it up in one word: Cataclysm.

Ever since the announcement, people have been "preparing" for Cataclysm. I've heard guildies talk about how they want this character or that leveled to 80 before Cataclysm comes out, or how they want to grind a given profession. They're shelving their mains and not bothering to run the content that they don't "need anything from" (which is exceptionally frustrating to me considering our primary issue is attendance...no need to "give up a slot" if nobody's going to fill it).

It's a natural response. When Wrath was announced, everybody got excited and started thinking ahead to Northrend. Here's the thing, though: we won't be seeing Cataclysm anytime soon. There's still a good chunk of Wrath content we haven't seen yet (Icecrown, anyone?). There's plenty of time to accomplish your pre-xpac goals and still see the content that is currently available.

I think that the post-announcement buzz will die down and people will start putting more effort into the present. It's a temporary blip.

Another point Tatia raised is recruiting. I believe I know the person she was talking about, and, while I also consider him a friend, I respectfully disagree with him now the same way I respectfully disagreed with him when he raised the issue in CoF.

Recruiting is not bad. We need bodies online, and we should recruit to fill the gaps that we have. However, "recruiting heavily" is not exactly what EoF needs to be doing. What will inevitably happen is that we'll end up with charged-up members who want to raid every night of the week, but will get frustrated when we're not moving along as fast as they'd like. I've seen it happen, I've seen the hateful forum posts, I've seen the angry /gquits, and I've seen the backlash that leaves a nasty taste in everyone's mouth.

A guild in our position needs to recruit, but needs to do so patiently and practically. We can't invite people who will clash with the overall culture of our guild, but I'll go so far as to say right here in my public forum that if you're a skilled player who wants to be a part of a casual raiding guild feel free to stop by Bloodhoof and give me a holler. We need the help and we'll be glad to have you, but please be aware that we are by no means a hardcore raiding guild.

Bottom line: both sides of the recruiting process need full disclosure when it comes to expectations. Failure to provide the necessary level of communication up front reaps very, very bad results in the end.

In closing, I believe that EoF as a guild will succeed in WotLK endgame content and beyond. We won't be at the bleeding edge, but we will do well and have fun in the process. We'll have hurdles and setbacks, but we can go as far as we want to if we continue to give our best go at it.

Thanks for the spark, Tatia.

On the Road Again

After a wonderful weekend at the National Quartet Convention, it's time to head back home. Louisville's a great town, but I miss my kids, dog, Chicago, and Azeroth. We'll be hitting the road in a couple of minutes here, and then in about 6 hours you'll all be wishing I was back on vacation.

Thanks for your patience. You'll be getting all the Mis you can handle shortly.

AFK BBIAB

I'm heading out of town tomorrow, returning late Saturday night. Looking forward to a nice relaxing trip full of good times with my lovely wife and WoW withdrawals.

I'll probably pop on Twitter here and there, check email, and maaaaybe throw up a small blog post or two while mobile if the inspiration strikes me. For the most part, though, there will be radio silence.

You kids be good while I'm gone.

Like I Have Time For This

Because I'm not busy at all with a full-time job, a part-time job, a house full of kids, a new puppy, guild-mastering, and raid-leadering, I figured I'd fill up some of my free time by creating a Twitter account for Echo of Fate.

Feel free to follow us if you happen to care at all what we're doing with ourselves. Or you can just laugh at me while I try to manage two active Twitter accounts.

Side Note: I've noticed that several people on Twitter and in their blogs have expressed guild dissatisfaction. I'd like to recommend the awesome people at Guild Launch if you want to start up your own guild like I did and don't want a headache when you set up your guild site.

They're much better than other services I've tried, and they've put a lot of game-specific widgets and such in there. Lots of cool stuff to play with and ways to keep your guild organized.

Tell them Misneach sent ya. They won't know what you're talking about, but tell them anyway.

New Bloggage

After months of trying to convince her it would be a good idea, Millea/Tatia/Koalabear has started up a blog of her very own.

Go and show her some love!

Who's Out There?

I don't get as many hits as some of the more popular WoW blogs, but I am shocked at how much traffic I do get. Sometimes, though, I wonder who out there is reading what I'm writing here.

I have some frequent commenters here and folks who respond to my posts via Twitter, so I'm aware of a handful of people who read this crap regularly. I can see where my readers are via Sitemeter (and I'm absolutely thrilled that I'm getting traffic from all over the world...such a cool feeling), but that doesn't give me any idea as to who the readers actually are.

I wonder, for example:

• How many of my guildies read my blog. I'm aware of a few, but how many others?
• Does anybody from Bloodhoof who is not in my guild read this? If so, have I pugged with you and done something completely n00bish?
• Some celebrities are admitted WoWers. I wonder if they've stopped by.
• Maybe a Blizzard employee or two?  (If so, can you guys hook us tanks up with a target dummy that hits back?)
• Anybody from the Monster Energy Drink company? (I drink like a gallon of it a day, guys...endorsement?)

Nobody in-game has ever told me out of the blue that they read my blog, but I find myself thinking about it when we pick up a new guildie or when we have a pugged DPSer or something. Is somebody coming in expecting something when they see they're in a group with me based on what they've read here? Am I meeting those expectations or is playing with me not what they thought it would be...for better or worse?

What about you other bloggers? Any good "hey, I read your blog" stories you'd like to share?

I Feel Nekkid

It's been almost two years.

Two years.

Those goggles were a symbol of both my profession and my job: Engineer...Tank.

And now they've been replaced by the most ridiculous looking helmet I've ever worn.

/sigh
/hide helm
/change blog tagline

At least Cheesi did a good job designing the EoF tabard. Got that goin' for me.

Remember

Eight years later, take a minute to remember.

Remember the innocent people who lost their lives to a cowardly attack. Remember the families that waited breathlessly for the phone or doorbell to ring. Remember those who walked boldly into the gates of hell not only because it was their job, but because it was the right thing to do.

Remember that, in a country that has since lapsed back into jaded cynicism with a media community that's more concerned about what Heidi and Spencer are doing than much of anything else, for a little while we were all proud to be Americans.

We stared silently at our televisions together, we cried together, and, afterwards, we stood together.

Regardless of how you feel about the government as a whole or the current administration, remember that governments are composed of fallible people. America and the ideals She represents transcend personal agendas, corporate lobbyists, and dirty campaign contributions. America, and being an American, is still something to be proud of.

To my international readers, remember that our government and the decisions they make do not necessarily echo our thoughts and feelings. You stood with us that day as fellow human beings. Hopefully, you will continue to stand with us now.

God bless the heroes who ran in while everyone else was running out, God bless our service men and women who are still putting their lives on the line for us each and every day, and God bless America.

-Jason "Misneach" Benefield

When DPS Goes Overboard

Let them.

At least if you know them.

DPSers should not pull aggro. That's part of their job...maximize sustained damage without generating enough threat to pull off the tank.

But that's not the point of this post.

We've gotten into something of a rhythm in EoF. Every non-raid night we run heroics, starting with the dailies and moving on to whatever we have time for. Due to scheduling, it's usually the same crew online every night. I usually log on, whisper Mill to see if she's done the dailies yet on Tatia, her healer, then pick up as many guild DPSers as we can because I. Hate. Pugs.

Last night Tatia, Vel, DPS Warrior extraordinaire Nessfactor and I ran UK, the daily heroic. We 4-manned it because nobody in the guild was available and there wasn't a promising alternative in LFG. We then picked up a Rogue who came with us to H-HoL and H-VH.

But that's not the point of this post, either.

Last night while we were running HoL and VH,  Ness and Vel were pulling aggro on pack pulls. In VH when a single mob came out of the portal, they started pewpewing before I could even lay a finger on it. I didn't have time for a Shield Slam, let alone a full rotation.

If this happened in a raid or a PuG group this would be a very different post. I'd be complaining about how people have gotten away from the basics and aren't letting tanks do their job, and that negligence led to wipe after wipe after wipe.

Last night, though, they didn't. Sure, we had a death here or there, but we never had a full-blown wipe.

Why? Familiarity. Vel and Ness know what I'm capable of as a tank. I know what they're capable of as DPSers. They know I'll do everything within my power to pull aggro back...at least I hope they trust me that much.

From my standpoint, it's a refreshing challenge. Having the opportunity to run a couple of easy heroics (UK and VH, specifically...HoL isn't all that bad, but certainly a different level than the other two) with a DPS crew who opened it up a bit forced me to stay on my game.

In a group situation, DPS has a ceiling that the tank defines. On the one hand, they need to be aware of that ceiling, but, on the other, the tank needs to make that ceiling as high as possible. Last night, they were setting the pace, not me. I still had to build the ceiling, but they decided to design the room.

I Taunted, Intervened, and burned Challenging Shout cooldowns more than a few times. I had to stay on top of my rotation and make sure that I was generating as much threat as I possibly could...even in situations where I wasn't working with a full rage bar. They didn't make it easy on me, and when we were done, I was worn out.

If you were never in a group that had trouble when it came to their threat levels, you'd never figure out how to efficiently use abilities like Taunt or Intervene. You'd never have to figure out how to pull aggro back when all of your emergency buttons are on cooldown. You'd never figure out how much threat you can really generate. You'd go along, happily tanking away, until something bad happens and you find out you're not prepared.

Being in a safe environment, like an easy heroic with guildies who know how hard they can push and get away with it, is the place to practice those skills. It's like a fire drill...learn the emergency procedure so that when it counts, you know what to do.

So what's the point of this post?

If you're running along with a group you know and they start generating more threat than they usually do, don't ask them to stop. Instead, take the challenge and push right back...pump out as much threat as you can and, if they pull aggro, be ready to save the day.

In the long run, it'll make you better at what you do, and, if you look at it the right way, it's kinda fun.

Broadening Her Horizons - Part III

I decided that, while I wanted to expose the Baby Tank to all of the tank classes, Death and Decay, Desecration, Blood Worms, and Ghouls were a bit much for a three year old.

So here's a picture of her wearing a cute hat and playing in the yard.

/target Readers
/cast Lazy Blog Entry

Specialist

I'm a career tank.

I've mentioned it in guild chat many times when chatting about tanking and tank alts and all of that.

Since my low 60s I've been a Prot Warrior. I have an Arms secondary spec that I bought with the best of intentions but have yet to really put to good use.

I quest in Defensive Stance. I PvP in Defensive Stance. I work the AH in Defensive Stance. I do the John Travolta Saturday Night Fever dance in Defensive Stance. I sleep in Defensive Stance.

I have no max-level alts. While other folks run around on their pewpew mains and grab their "Tank Alt" or "Healer Alt" to run an instance, I just bring me. What you see is what you get.

If the servers shut down tomorrow and we all moved over to the next big thing in MMOs, I'd pick me a tank class and keep running with it. It's what I do.

That's what makes me different than the majority of the WoW population. Most people level a flashy DPS main and then, as a backup plan, drag along a tank or healer alt. In some cases that tank or healer alt becomes their main by necessity, but they've always got their DPS character in their back pocket if needed.

Not me. I'm just Mis.

It's a curse and a blessing. The curse is that if somebody's tanking the instance already, I sure as heck can't go along as DPS and make much of a difference. I'll do moderately mediocre damage in my Arms spec and in Prot I'll be too rage-starved to do anything except auto-attack.

It's a blessing, however, because it makes me a specialist. I like to think that focusing so much time and energy on tanking has made me better at it. What some people with tank alts have to concentrate on remembering to do I can do without even thinking about it, which frees up my brain to handle the rest of what's going on: pull, get behind the mob(s), face them away from the party, cluster, move the camera so you can see if something's after somebody else, run the rotation, spam Heroic Strike, watch for Sword and Board, watch for Revenge, be ready to Taunt, be ready to Intervene, keep T-Clap and Demo Shout up, keep Commanding/Battle Shout up, be ready with a cooldown if the healer gets silenced, etc...

I'm not saying that someone with a tank alt can't be a good tank. On the contrary, I know plenty who are very, very good. I just know that my fellow career tanks (many of whom seem to be bloggers, incidentally) and I bring something unique and different to the table.

Tank LFW.

Embracing Off-Tanking

Back in my low 60s Cheesi and I were constantly running the early TBC five-mans. During this time, we happened upon a Druid about our level named Nitedragon. We pugged with him several times and developed a good relationship, and he was kind enough to give healing a go so that we would have an easier time putting groups together.

Soon thereafter, Nite joined our guild. He immediately became one of the most helpful, willing, committed guildies we had.

When we started the TBC raiding game, Nite, much like he did when we were running Ramps over and over, left his comfort zone to meet our needs. Our guild suddenly had healers, but the only tanks we had were me and about 25 Hunter pets.

Nite specced Feral and went off to do his homework. He figured out how to spec, how to gear, and worked very, very hard learning how to tank. When we hit Kara, we hit it hard, and Nite and I ran through that place side by side week after week after week. We jokingly referred to him as "Mis's pet bear."

With all the research and all the practice, Nite got good...very good. He bailed me out when I picked up adds, grabbed bosses if I died, executed perfect chain-pulling, and prevented many wipes with quick-thinking and flawless tanking.

Our first time in ZA, he and I nailed the tank-swap and one-shot Nalorakk without breaking a sweat. He once picked up Nightbane after I dropped and tanked him through to the kill.

Now, when we run Heroics together and he comes along in cat form, if I overpull there's instantly a very large, angry bear standing next to me picking up the adds. When we ran Naxx last weekend, he did a lot of great work snagging adds and protecting healers and let me focus on bosses...many of whom I had never seen before and most of whom we one-shot.

So why am I gushing about Nite?

Because the guy has turned off-tanking into an art form. It's not like a lot of runs I've been in, especially pugs, where the guy with the lower gear score automatically gets put on off-tank duty. Instead, Nite recognizes it as a distinct role...different from that of the main tank and equally, if not more, important.

While I'm locked in on a boss, Nite is often running around grabbing adds, protecting healers and overzealous DPS, and making sure that he's always ready to charge in and pick up the boss if I die. He constantly has a ton on his plate, but he makes it look easy and actually enjoys it.

What can you take from this?

If you're an off-tank in your guild, don't feel like you're less of a tank than the main tank. That doesn't have to be the case at all. Off-tanking is a different job than main tanking...if you approach it that way and take the opportunity to learn to do it well, you'll be helping out your raid group immensely.

If you come across a good off-tank, not just one who facerolls through the boss fight while thinking about what tank gear that boss drops, show him or her a little love. It takes a special kind of person to take on that much responsibility and not care about who's getting the glory.

Crap I Did Last Night

Now that title represents blogging at its finest.

Actually, last night was quite a busy one. I logged in later than I usually do after working late and then walking our new American Bulldog puppy, Delilah. We've had her for several weeks, and she's almost 4 months old. 30-something pounds of determination and she's going to get up to about 100-120 lbs. Gonna be a whole lot of dog.

But, anyway, here's the WoW stuff:

• Did three Heroics: CoS (reg daily), VH, and Oculus (heroic daily).
• CoS: Grabbed some nukers and made it a drake run. Cleared it with about 3 or 4 minutes to spare and, since everybody else had one, I got the drake. That made me happy.
• VH: Ran this one because it was...well...right there after we turned in the regular daily. Nothing terribly notable, except Vel, one of our 1337 Shammies, got enough emblems for the upgrade he was after, so he grabbed it before we hit Oculus.
• Oculus: A couple of pulls in, I hit exalted with the Knights of the Ebon Blade and got the achievement for that as well as the Northrend Vanguard achievement. I also learned why everybody hates Oculus. Wiped a couple of times on the last boss, but finally managed to make it happen. It'll be smoother next time.
• The emblems I managed to pick up allowed me to get my glove upgrade. Now I've gotta figure out what to aim for next as far as Conquest, Valor, and/or Triumph emblem purchases go.
• And finally, I did my fishing daily before I logged off, turned it in, and got the Battered Jungle Hat. After running around a bit in it, I had an idea. With the hat on, I equipped my defense trinket and took a look at my stats. Aside from the huge armor ding I take without my headpiece, my stats aren't that bad. I opened Outfitter and saved the outfit under the name "Pimp."

Sometime in the near future, I'm going to grab some guildies who are as crazy as me, flip over to the Pimp outfit, and do a Pimp Run in one of the easier heroics.

If it happens, you'll read about it here. I'll take screenshots.

My 100th Post

I'm actually surprised that I (a) got to 100 posts so quickly and (b) didn't get chased out of the WoW Blogosphere by post #45 or so. Here I am, though, with 100 posts under my belt.

I think that, since this is something of a milestone post, it's a good time to summarize what we've all learned here in these several months that I've been blogging.

...

......

.........

Um...so...yeah...

Thanks for reading!

Call It Like It Is

Sunday I picked up the heroic and regular daily quests, which both happened to be Utgarde Pinnacle. Didn't get to it on Sunday, but I held on to both because it would be easy to kill both birds with that one stone.

Ran it last night and, finally, got the Red Sword of Courage. At face value, it may not look like much of an upgrade compared to the Teldrassil Protector I've been using forever, but I rolled on it (even though we had a DK in the group with a tank spec...sorry, Landel) because (a) it's just a teeny bit faster, which I like in a tank weapon, (b) because it give me a little more stam and, most importantly, (c) because of the Human expertise racial.

I lose a little strength, defense, and parry, but I'm not really fretting over any of that because I'm probably going to grab the Gauntlets of the Royal Watch tonight which will upgrade my T7s. Parry still suffers, but I'm not terribly concerned.

Worked up my sword skill last night from 375 to 399 doing AT dailies and then tanked H-VH with it. I think, based on the results, that I made the right choice...even if I end up upgrading it sooner rather than later.

But that's not the point of this post.

The point of this post is the quest item that needs to be obtained for the Heroic Utgarde Pinnacle daily: the Locket of the Deceased Queen.

Cute.

They make it sound like she passed away peacefully in her sleep. Nice, gentle, PC approach to it.

If you quested through Howling Fjord, you "deceased" the queen in a violent fashion right in front of King Ymiron.

They should call it the Locket of the chick you killed in your low 70s for a couple gold and a soon-to-be-replaced quest reward.