Temple of Kotmogu

Temple of Kotmogu is my current favourite place to be. I have enormous amount of pent up aggression at the moment and this place is just fabulous for unleashing the raaaaaaaaaage! I love to stand right in the middle and just pew pew everything in sight. Awesome AOE win! Blizzard did a wonderful thing by introducing this bg.

It's a bg where I don't struggle. Especially with healers nearby. My favourite thing to do is to just run into the middle (orbs where available) when horde gather there, pop Alter Time, then just place a sneaky Frostbomb on the centre target, Pet Freeze to keep them all together for maximum damage, run straight at them and Frost Orb, Nova, Ice Lance to my heart's content. Then just before they smash me into the floor, I return to my start place to go all over again! So funny when a group of them are on me and *poof* I'm gone back the other side! Now, I'm not saying this happens all the time. But when it does, it really makes me very happy. More than it probably should. The best one so far was a pretty even match up healer wise. I basically just ended up stood in the middle, repeating this cycle. Killed a few orb carriers, silenced a ton of healers and unleashed a total of 13m damage for the bg. The next below me on our team, damage wise, put out 7m total. I know it's not the sole aim of the bg but it was a pretty good feeling to get that much damage out. It was a long and intense battle, but a shit ton of fun!

Sometimes it doesn't go so well. But when those times happen I tend to go a little 'This is Sparta!!' (to the point where my lock wants a picture of me doing it, with that caption. He finds it veeery amusing). I lose all focus and just run in, arms flailing, popping every CD, trying to take out more than I am actually able to do. But, if you're going to lose, you might as well go down fighting! Also tons of fun and a better end to a losing bg than, say, being ganked at WSG graveyard...

As a final note, to the shithead Orc DK who jumped me in the Golden Pagoda as I came out of the bg and took half my health before I even knew what was happening. It must have really stung to get your arse kicked good and proper by a Gnome Mage at half health. Learn to time your Death Grip better. It could save your life.

Something's Missing...

I went to see Agee today. Something has been troubling me and this wise little old guy is where I go for comfort...

We sat in front of a roaring fire, just pondering life. The silence was a comfortable one. One that can only be shared between close friends. Agee knew I was troubled but asked no questions. That's the great thing about Agee.

 Soon I found myself falling into a deep, peaceful sleep. One that I had needed for so long..

The bright sun shone down on my face. I rolled over to see a small animal running towards me. His eyes red, as though he had been crying for days. He said to me, 'My name is Socks and I need your help. Seek out the Short Bearded Paladin who shines like the sun to avenge Gizmo's death!'. Then he vanished. It was then I knew I was dreaming. I had met Socks before but he was turned into Jade by the Jade Witch, so this could not be real life! I, erm, might have abandoned the quest that released him from the Jade so I could go farm windwool and fish. So, because of my guilt at letting him become a lawn decoration (don't even go there readers...I'm sitting in no gardens), I decided to seek out the Paladin of which he spoke.

I woke up, bleary eyed but dedicated to fulfilling Socks' request. But where would I find such a Paladin? I thought of my dream. Socks had told me the Paladin was short and bearded. This can only mean one thing. Dwarf! My search would begin at Ironforge. I transported myself immediately by portal, because I'm too damn lazy to fly.

I went straight to the top. The mission was of utmost importance. To the High Seat I went. I stormed past the guards and looked Muradin Bronzebeard in the eye. I told him of my quest. He responded with, 'sod off, y'er little bastard' in his Scottish drawl before the guards manhandled me and threw me into the corridor. I get the feeling dwarfs don't like gnomes very much...

Dusting myself off, I decided to ask a kindly looking Blacksmith. By this point I did not care if dwarves hated me or not. Gizmo needed to be avenged. Fortunately, this particular dwarf looked upon my cute face and took pity on me. But he requested a price for this information. I had to do a /train for him and his friends. I took a deep breath, knowing the scorn my high pitched 'chugga chugga choo choo' would cause. I did it and the whole place erupted with belly laughs and 'wtf's'. When he eventually composed himself and changed his pants (dwarves have bladder control 'issues'), he told me a Paladin fitting my description had passed through not long ago to use his forge. He did not know where he had gone but he said his armour was the finest he had ever seen! On I went, disappointed with my venture...

I went to Karanos next but they had not seen nor heard of the Paladin I was looking for. My search seemed futile. On a hunch I decided to go to Tinker Town to ask there. I had a feeling in my gut that this dwarf had a soft spot for gnomes but couldn't express it due to his races' prejudice towards us, lest he be mocked for being a 'gnome sympathiser'.

I asked all around town until someone pointed me here. They told me they had seen a dwarf fitting my description 'chilling' in the coolest house in town. So cool, in fact, that they all wore sunglasses...inside. I walked in, in my garish red outfit, like a boss. They sat, staring at me behind their expensive branded sunglasses. I demanded they tell me of this dwarf immediately. In a slightly drunk sounding voice, one of them said, 'yeah dude, we partied with him. Dwarf can drink!'. Ok, we were getting somewhere. I calmly asked what he had said and that the killers of Gizmo must be avenged. The gnome on the bunk looked up and replied, 'chill dude...!'. I stopped him right there...'chill dude?? I will Ice Lance you to the face if you don't tell me where he went. This dwarf is the only one who can stop Socks haunting my dreams!'. The gnome shook so hard, he almost fell off his trendy modular bunk. 'Ok, Ok, he said he was going to find an epic Golden Axe to go with his perfect Golden Armor. He said he would farm that dungeon until the bloody thing dropped and transmog the axe he had with better stats into something more awesome looking because Cataclysm gear is ugly'. I knew then that this was the dwarf I was looking for. Socks said he shined like the sun...golden armor. It all fits. So, I went the only place I knew I would find him. Stormwind City.

And here I waited. I know that one day he will return. When the time is right, he will be here. And then I will give him his task. Rubedeus, Socks needs you. Put on your Golden Armor, hunt down Gizmo's murderers and slay them all. Then drinks and cake, ok? :)

Kodak Moments!

I was taking a look through my screenshots this morning and found a few that I forgot about! So, here is my blog photo album. Enjoy!

Here we have the last day of Cataclysm, Just before the reset. If anyone has been present during a normal reset, you will know what happens in SW. But this one was different. A shout appeared in Trade Chat for everyone to go to the Cathedral. I'm nosy, so I went, to find this. Looks innocent enough, so I joined in...

And then more came...

Still fairly sensible...

Party Time! Let the dancing begin!

Awkward moment when some tall dude dances right in your face *blushes*

Almost time...

The End Is Here! Bye Bye Cataclysm, it was fun.

*Apologies for the swears. But it's, well, Trade Chat*

When WoW tries to give you a hint...

Thanks for the confidence boost Blizzard!

Suffering some lag in SW when I tried to mount up. Nothing happened. Then 5 mins later when I was minding my own business, this...

Flying Gnomie!

Randoms:

Check the recount...Mage Raaaage!

Quality response to some BG rage! This made me chuckle...more than it should have!

When Illusion goes horribly, horribly wrong. 

More to follow :)

Time To Enter the Arena...Almost!

Apologies to anyone who regularly reads this blog for the lack of posts lately. It's just, well, sexy new expansion grabbing my attention. And sexy it is. By far and away my favourite area of the game, Pandaria has given me tons of new things to do, with stunning looking areas and fun quests. Though I'm enjoying quests, dungeons and pottering about, my main goal is to be arena ready now the season has opened.

Last season I only did a couple of arena matches but this season my arena partner and I are gonna go hard! I'm back to being a full on Frost Mage now (because it's awesome) and I have a wonderful Shadow Priest partner who is a) Far more skilled than I, b) Capable of putting out wicked amounts of damage AND keep me healed and c) Lots of fun to play with! The combination is loaded with win. Our Frosty/Face Melty power has been tested in BG's and has yielded great success. We've held towers and bases alone, without too much hassle from the opposition. Though we've had some defeats, the majority of our adventures have been very satisfying. With better gear and more training we shall soon be a team to reckon with! And with my partner's wife hopefully joining us for 3v3 as a skilled, pvp Hunter, we will soon be racking up the body count! As you all know, the biggest enjoyment of the game for me is splatting horde, so to find like minded guildies, willing to let me join them (even though sometimes my brain leaks and I get us all killed) is an excellent bonus!

So, soon I will be posting tales of our exploits. The wins, the losses and most of all, the fun times!

Who Are You?

So, I was thinking about how we choose our characters on WoW. And which of our characters we choose to be our main. I know the Role Players like to become their characters but even the most seasoned raider must choose according to their personality type. I spoke to a RL colleague the other day about the fact that I play WoW (we share similar nerdy passions). He said he has a lot of friends that play and asked whether I do PvP or PvE. When I said PvP, he laughed and said I must be aggressive. I think he is very wrong. PvP is aggressive but it also offers constant variety. I'm easily bored and this does not happen in PvP. It's always different. One game I might smash a boomkin into a pile of feathers. The next game a boomkin might stomp me under his giant chicken feet.

But as for my choice of Frost Mage, here is where I believe my personality shows through in my choice. Frost Mage spec is all about control. If I don't want you to move, most of the time you won't. Try and run away and I will make you stand still. Want to cast without my permission? I have counterspell to shut you up (and Frostjaw now, which makes horde sit down AND shut up. Thanks Blizzard!). I have epic control issues in RL. Which doesn't always work out. Where's my darned CS when I need it? Many of the jobs I have had require me to deal with problematic and sometimes aggressive people. Sometimes the crowd needs controlling. And you always need to go for the player who will do the most damage. As far as the ranged aspect goes, this is also true. As a child when arguments occurred, I never fought but I was always the one hurling the fast insults from a distance while someone much bigger than me did the fighting. I'm small and squishy and got picked on quite a bit so I always had to hide behind my bigger friends and try and break bullies down with words. Didn't always work out. Sometimes I took a sound beating for not being able to control my mouth. As I've got older I have learned to control my DPS, to prevent instant wipes. The annoyance factor of the penguin appeals to me very much. Make someone arrogant and cocky feel small. Sometimes those people need it. And my play style is similar to RL. I like to help people. In game, with the flag, in RL with anything that will help them attain their goals. If something doesn't work first time, then try a different approach. But never, ever give up, even if it is the RL equivalent of a horde gankswarm coming your way.

The gnome character is one that I love. I intend to play every gnome class available. They're the underdog. The little ankle biters. They're also of similar proportion to me. Except for the giant hands, which are the complete opposite to mine. My hands are sideshow freak tiny. I had to have my engagement ring sent away to be resized to a child's size. I still don't wear it now because it slips but the jewellers said to cut it any smaller would distort it beyond repair. But height wise, yes we are alike. My friends are almost all 5'6" and above (up to 6ft for the females), where I measure in at a measly 5'2". And they all like high heels. And that's just the men...

Seeing as you know my life story, you might as well see my face. Just so you can visualise me sat swearing at a big Tauren moo cow on my screen:

In my Halloween disguise as Alex from 'A Clockwork Orange'

In my WoW disguise as an annoying little gnome.

I would love to know whether other people agree with me on this or can identify with the role they play in game. I would very much like to hear why. I think my comments are fixed now, so please feel free to share your thoughts! :)

  

Gankswarms!

The inspiration for this post came from a comment made in an Alterac Valley BG. It's something that has been bothering me for the last few days but I haven't been able to verbalise it as well as this guy could. The comment was:

"ffs...I hate coming in here late and getting griefed to f**k by a gankswarm!"

My thoughts exactly. Not just about AV but  virtually every single BG I've played this week. Battle for Gilneas. Horde took Lighthouse and stood at the graveyard smashing our faces in. Arathi Basin, took the Stables and pounded my gnome into dust. Warsong Gulch, attempted but not this time, pedro. What the hell is going off with Horde lately? Is this the only way they play now? I mean, usually they travel in packs much better than Alliance (which for me is often the reason for their success) but not to this extent. Though this may look like a massive QQ, it's really not. I appreciate a horde who plays well and takes me to pieces but to have rogues, fire mages, huntards and priests gank the graveyard? This has happened sometimes but these last few days it's been the main play style. And it's dull. Still, always the chance to mega penguin and pat prior to my death. Which never stops being fun!

I did have one major win this week with a new talent though. Lets call it a 'Disney talent'. Illusion provided me with the biggest giggle I've had in a while. I was in Twin Peaks and we were trying to get the flag. I was defending but was seeing my team mates frustration at the fact that 2 rogues were guarding the horde flag so I thought I'd take a chance at grabbing it. I popped into invisible mode and made my way to the flag, grabbed it and unfortunately got kicked to death by the rogues. Ok, try again. This time I swam in blinked to the flag, managed to get out of the room but again succumbed to the rogues. Last try. Previously I had tried Illusion and turned into trolls, so I wondered if they might not notice me sneak in. By this time there was a lot of horde stood outside their flagroom. Clicked Illusion and turned into a goblin...of all horde races! So I started running towards them... and they ignored me. I had a wtf moment but carried on regardless. Ice Barrier up, I grabbed the flag. This set the rabbid rogues after me plus a bonus loladin. Counter Spelled the loladin, plus a quick spell steal and Frost Nova'd the rogues. Blinked out and started running. Had a DK put me in Shackles of Ice but the Escape Artist gnome racial sorted that. I got half way down the field before I had a gathering of horde running towards me. Waited until they got close, the BAM, Frost Nova and blink again. I had 1 (yes, just 1) ally run at the side of me from here when I saw a shadow of a little b*****d rogue sap him. He shouted sap and I got a lovely pet freeze ready for him. Popped it on plus Deep Freeze and carried on. Dropped the flag to win the game! During this run, I cursed more than ever I had done. But it was FUN!

Though my mage has lost a lot of her damage until I figure my stuff out, she has not lost the awesome CC abilities and most importantly the fun factor. Though I may not have the DPS of a fire mage or even an Arcane mage, I do have the ability to get either myself or another player carrying the flag up the field. I like nothing better than to help a fellow Ally through a big group of horde with my Frost Nova's and Pet Freezes, while they run on to victory. Or even myself. Seeing multiple horde stuck to the floor while I cycle through my freeze rotation is a joy to behold. Until, of course, I run out and they pummel me into the floor. By that time though, out FC is usually clear. I'm not nicknamed the suicide gnome, by my favourite Lock, for nothing...

PvP Battle Royale: I Got the Pan Lid

I've tried my new talents. My choices are:

• Ice Floes
• Ice Barrier
• Frostjaw
• Cold Snap
• Frost Bomb

All frost. At first they weren't. I initially went for:

• Ice Floes
• Temporal Shield

The rest the same as above. This did not work for me. I missed my Mana Shield, which I was casting constantly. I was not amused!Ice Barrier works better for me now it has a 25 sec CD. I can work with that. But I've found myself back to being the horde punchbag. I'm tiny, yes. Annoying, yes. But I got nuked down by a Shadow Priest in seconds. Also, as if Warlocks needed MOAR fear. I spent my first BG surrounded by locks spamming teh fear. But as always, it's a work in progress. And I have faith in the WoW gods. Do you hear me, faith!

Things I dislike:

• Having cast time on my Frost Armor. Slows me down when I res and want to go pewpew fast!
• Cast times in general
• No Mana Shield
• Priests breaking my Ice Block (though I hear this was there before the patch. I just never saw it)
• Fear, fear, fear

Things I do like:

• Frozen Orb is just so pretty!
• Nuking rogues (3 in 1 BG. Though they may have just been terrible)
• Tiny familiars in Arcane. Tiny Water Elemental is, well, tiny
• Frost Bomb 

Yes, all the things I like are cute. I know, but I'm a GIRL. I like cute, as long as it's coupled with frosty death. Which has yet to happen in abundance but it will. Trust me, it will. Also, mad at DK's Horn of Winter snowstorm. It's so awesomely awesome that I'm jealous. WANT! 

Any comments welcome. I'd like to see how other Frost Mages are managing. Also, happy to hear what other classes are happy/unhappy with. My other half is not happy with his destro lock. Share your thoughts!

Red Carpet Fashion: Cataclysm Edition

I'm getting a little excited about the new patch tomorrow. So in honour of Cataclysm almost being over, I've decided to do a little post showing my two transmog sets. Being a fashionable gal, Azerothian (is that the actual term?) clothes do not always suit those of us who are small in stature. I would post a screenshot of my gnome wearing the red dress someone gifted me but honestly, the therapy bills for you would be huge. I prefer my gnome not to rock a slutty look (her thighs and muffin top prevent it, or I'd have her in a bikini). Practical, yet garish is my chosen style. And yes, she is in pink...

First up: PvE kit in Arcane spec

And my PvP Frost Mage Kit:

While not being a complete transmog junkie, I am looking forward to seeing what MoP has to offer!

Gnome Masochist LFG

A lot has happened since my last post. I began to get quite bored with my Mage, plus I got a new post in my guild so I decided to get a new toon. Mainly to farm some new professions (mining/jewelcrafting), but also to try a new playstyle. I decided I wanted to go back to the good old days of being a tank. So, because I'm lazy, I went with a Death Knight. Gnome of course, just to keep that annoyance factor.

Now, I started this a few days ago and absolutely love playing it. Solo, that is...

I went Blood because for once I wanted to be a double hard b*****d, instead of the ranged clothie I've been for the last year. And because, secretly I must love abuse, I threw myself straight into a dungeon. Because dying is the best way to learn. At the start of the fight I politely told the group I was new, thinking that maybe they might be patient with me. The dungeon was Hellfire Ramparts, which I haven't done on my mage due to pvp'ing my way to level 70. So, I was a total newbie. In ran the loladin and pulled the first mob...ok, I got this. Then it just went crazy. The pally just pulled everything in sight. But clearly they could handle this, so my back up adviser told me to just go with it. Soon I was reduced to just shouting at the screen, "for God's sake, I can't see anything...what is happening!!"

Then we got to the boss and the healer asked if we need a tank. Then this happened, screen shotted after by scrolling up chat...

Now, as you can see, I told my guild I died on the first boss. Initially, I thought that it was just me playing poorly. Then the healer typed the comment about letting me die. Aside from the fact he/she obviously meant they didn't need me, he/she let me die on purpose. What a sh*thead. So I needed everything, then sat down while they killed stuff. Gained the exp from the run, had a rest from running round in heavy plate.

Now part of me thinks, hey, that was just a bad group. The rest of me disagrees. As I mentioned in my last post, some people seem to be massive d*cks on this game. Like little gods behind their keyboards, looking down at the noobs with scorn. Well, not today. This noob is going to stand and be counted. I shall play exactly as I want and take whatever abuse is sent my way. I shall continue to tank be it good or bad. To be honest, I'm that hardened now from the raggings, you could punch me in the face and I wouldn't feel it! 

And as for the people in this group, the best revenge is knowing that, unfortunately for them, they will always be douchebags, be it in game or real life. Now, I'm off to farm a ton of stuff ;)

Rage Shout!

I love my game currently but there are a few things that annoy me. And I have found company in my annoyance. A frustrating part of the game is the amount of rage shouting people do. Now for Battlegrounds it seems the norm and I accepted that, as most of the shouting is aimed at the faction generally. For example:

"Ally sux fuxin NOOBS"

Now aside from the terrible spelling and grammar in that sentence, there isn't much to be offended by. It's just someone QQing because they aren't winning. Or maybe they're like, 10. Very rarely is one player singled out for abuse.

Not so for dungeons. In my early days as a Frost Mage (which is by far the most fun mage to roll), I spent the majority of the time being raged at or kicked for low dps. This didn't really bother me until I actually wanted to gear up nad play seriously. I started to feel like no one would give me a chance. I asked for tactics for one Hour of Twilight Heroic, that I was doing for the first time, so I wouldn't do something totally stupid and get kicked for it and got this as a response:

"If you don't know the tactics, you shouldn't be here. LEAVE."

Not exactly encouraging. I didn't leave but spent the entire dungeon being ragged by this wonderful guy. After that I refused to dungeon for a while. I didn't want to be singled out whilst I was trying to learn. After a bit of a push from my partner I went back in and got my iLvl high enough for Raid Finder. He sat behind me and told me what to do. Whilst many might see doing Raid Finder a mistake if you don't like being singled out, it was actually a real turning point in my game. I very quickly learned how bad my dps was thanks to recount reports. I was singled out to be kicked for doing an underwhelming 6k dps. But then, a legend wrote this in chat:

"Haha 6k dps. Leave the mage. Ice lancing like a boss!"

This raised a few laughs in the group and I didn't get kicked. I think they thought of me as like a little gnome mascot, biting ankles on my way. It was a lot of fun and allowed me to see the fights and see what other mages were doing. After that I decided to change my spec to Arcane. Not as much fun but waaaaay better dps. After doing my weekly RF plus random HoTs for Valor Points, I have managed to get my kit and my play style ready to try Dragon Soul Normal Raid. I have tried the first part up to Hagara twice and held my own with dps and using correct tactics. And this is an awesome feeling. But still I won't join pugs for fear of the old way returning. And this is silly.

So to any people who think it is ok to rage at a fellow player who is trying to progress, you suck. You are the thing that holds this game back. If wipes happen, it's not the end of the world. Blizzard will not take your account from you. Your pixels will not be obliterated. Your PC will not explode. You will just ressurrect and try again. Or not, if you rage quit. Then you will spend forever on trade chat trying to pug another group where you will more than likely rage quit again. If you are one of these people, you were not born naturally talented at WoW. You had to learn. And while some people learn faster than others, they do not have the right to abuse anyone else. Give people a chance. It won't hurt you.

If I am in a group that is slower than usual, I do a quick inspect of gear. If the gear is low, I understand. We move on and I feel good that someone has had an opportunity to try. Unless someone is being abusive or afk I don't believe in kicking. If your healer says their gear sucks, don't stand in harm's way. Try to make their job easier.

So, for anyone who has had abuse in dungeons. Don't stop doing them. Keep at it. Because when you start climbing the dps list, it stops. Then they move on to the tank...

Fishing For Volatiles

After spending a ridiculous amount of gold this week thanks to Mr Robot, I really need to farm like a little demon to make the spend up. Not all Mr Robot's fault though. Those darned Mulgore Hatchlings made me buy them! Anyway, back to the farm.

A great way to make money for a tailor is selling those Illusionary bags (2.5k up on AH). Now, they take approximately 2 weeks to farm for the Dreamcloth required, so it gives you plenty of time to farm the Volatiles to make the cloths. Also, they sell for a pretty penny on AH, so why not farm those extra to maximise profit?

My first spot to hit is always Stonehearth in Deepholm (as mentioned in my prior post), armed with a Potion of Treasure Finding. In 1 hour today I farmed 75 bolts of Embersilk (on AH for 499g, which is far more effective than making Embersilk bags to sell, as they sell for less and slower and use a hypnotic dusts too). I also got 7 green drops (I'm also an enchanter, so this was great for disenchants), 5 Pyrium Ore, 6 Elementium Ore and lots of vendor trash. In addition, I got 17 tiny treasure chests, which each contained a good amount of mixed Volatiles. Now this wasn't a great farm today. Sometimes I get up to 25 tiny treasure chest and they have green items in and a lot more Volatiles. Or blue item drops. But hey, maybe I over farm there ;). Sometimes it's fantastic, sometimes not so much, but ALWAYS better than farming other areas. My little magelet's AoE means I can farm mobs fast to maximise loot!

Another thing I tried this week (mainly through boredom!) was fishing. I had read that Volatiles could be farmed this way and decided to give it a try. Initially I didn't catch much other than junk but I decided to go farm the lava pools in Cannon's Inferno. If you fish directly into the little fire pools, it's a 100% chance of Volatile Fire. Each pool yields about 5 before it disappears but that is still a great rate if you're the only one there! I read that the fire pools in Hyjal are a great place to fish too. I haven't been yet but I will update when I have!

The great thing about fishing in Cannon's Inferno is that you can do it as soon as you get a fishing rod. You don't have to be high level in your fishing to do this, just so long as you can handle your business with the elementals that surround the pools!

Now, onto Volatile Air...

Flowers For Morchok: How Not To Raid Sucessfully

Tonight I did my first ever real raid. A few guildies and I got together and did a DS 10man run. I have done Raid Finder weekly but was secretly hankering for the dizzying heights of a normal DS run. As I was running late from work, my lovely partner helped pug a group that I could join in with. I dashed in and jumped straight in his seat to start my grand adventure. Got my Draconic on, ate some yummy buff foods, cooked a table full of food for the party and waited to start. I realised I was wearing bunny ears from my NobleGarden exploits and quickly changed into my Hood of Hidden Flesh (mogged to be a halo for my little angel!). I was ready! Ready to show these bosses how much this little mage has changed, since she dropped 6k DPS in Raid Finder 4 weeks ago...(another story, yet to come).

My DPS has steadily been getting better since my first Raid Finder experience. I changed spec to Arcane and started gathering good PvE gear. My item lvl is 387 and my DPS in raid had grown to about 25k. So, I made the decision to try.

We cleared the first few trash mobs easily, but I had notice my DPS had dropped to about 10k. I had a moment where I was puzzled but decided to just go with it and see if it improved. We looked Morchok in the eye and started to fight. Still my DPS was low...but it always is when I have to keep running into that bloody red ball (which I always have to do). Then another mob got pulled from the side. We wiped.

And then it started. The pugs started putting up recount and raging on the little gnome's terrible DPS. One healer just left. After one wipe?? So, I started going through my kit to see what was wrong. I never did this badly with worse kit. And there it was...

I was wielding a bunch of Spring Flowers...

Not my Ti'Tahk, The Steps of Time or my Rathrak. A bunch of effing Spring Flowers!!!

"Oh hai Morchok! You wan pwetty flowers?" Facepalms ensued. Big facepalms and epic cursing. I had just lost half the group because they wouldn't stay where the DPS was so low. I apologised and said I had the wrong staff on, but that was a lie. I had no staff on...

How did I manage this?? Last time I checked, my staff was on!! Fortunately for me someone else joined the group and saw another player in our group that had left their raid and started ragging them instead. I was off the hook, temporarily. They too left after a huge arguement and it looked like the raid was over. My secret was safe.

After about 30 mins we managed to gather enough to start. We cleared 4 bosses with no more wipes, which was not bad to say some of us were undergeared. We had a fun run. Without any more noob shouting (which I hate), and the little gnome did good DPS and looted some uber pretties!

Afterwards I made the decision to tell our guild what I had equipped. I was worried people would be mad because I had effectively lost the first group. But I was greeted with laughs! And that's one of the greatest things about our guild. None of the elitist crap exists. We have fun, if we don't win we try again and no one is made to feel bad for the mistakes they make. Which is more than can be said for a lot of players...

So, feel free to take Morchok flowers. He loves them...he really does.

Favourite Screen Shots So Far

Here is a few of my favourite screen shots so far...

Rocking out on my hardcore Darkmoon Battle Cat mount next to Hagara's corpse

Nude dancing in front of Deathwing. Because we want to! Thank god the light is protecting my modesty! Fun Fact: We were almost all nude while we waited for some tanks to join. One tank joined, pulled boss, chaos ensued. Although, I have never seen as funny a sight as a raid group running round in the nude trying to fight Deathwing. Recommended!

I am a Secret World of Warcraft Player

Ok, it's time to admit it. I play World of Warcraft. I play it hard. So, you might be thinking, "what's the big deal?". For me it is a huge deal. World of Warcraft broke up my partner and I approximately 2 years ago. After 9 years together, a f*****g computer game broke up our relationship. Not through me playing (and I did, but not a lot). But through my partner's devotion to the game. He was obsessed! To the point where the raid came before everything except work. It was not the only thing, but it certainly played a big part in the breakup. We were apart for 18 months. And somehow we ended up back together. With terms and conditions. No Warcraft under any circumstance! But this was not to be...

Our daughter is now of an age where she no longer wants our company. She's old enough to play out with friends, chat on FaceTime, play her own computer games. So, after long and lengthy chats about acceptable usage, I caved. The poor guy was bored out of his wits! I read, sew, piss about with my PiePhone etc. all of which he does not do. He's a gamer, as was I when we first met. So, I gave in, but I had a sly plan. If I went on and had my own WoW account, then he would happily come off the PC to let me play. My intention was to limit times, without making a big deal about it. And thus, my own addiction began.

I created a Gnome.

A badass Gnome Frost Mage. It had been a long time since I had played and Azeroth has changed a lot. Also, my previous Toon was a Horde Blood Elf, so I was changing faction too. I didn't like Alliance initially (and secretly I do still favour horde, though my guild would disown me for saying it!). What I didn't realise was that I had gone from the most hated Horde race to the most hated Alliance race. But fuck the haters. My gnome is awesome and the Frost Mage spec suits me down to the ground. Especially in PvP. Where I know I am potentially the most annoying character on the field. And I live for that shit. I started gently and vowed to join no guild (I'll get to the reason why in another blog post), that I was only playing to keep my significant other from becoming an unsociable addict again.

Then I PvP'ed. Instantly I was hooked. Where else could I go to get raged at by someone on my own side, rocking a huntard? Also, I found that my spec did indeed allow me to be annoying. Make them stand still while I laced them with some Ice Lance spam (which I did not know was bad at first. It has taken me a long time to improve my game).

Then came the polymorph. The sheep, which has since become a penguin. Which has given me so much joy! Can't get out of the graveyard because the other side are camping shitheads? Fuck it, penguin them one by one for shiggles. They deserve it. And also, they look like they're wearing tuxedos. So it's win win. My partner is often amused by my Tourette's like rants at the PC while PvP'ing, but his favourite by far was my "hah! Big Tauren *insert custom curse* now teeny tiny little penguin", to myself. I might add that my rants are nerfed to ones without Tourette's whilst the little one is in the house! When only adults are present, my sweary rants are legendary. I can't help it. Rogues illicit a similar sweary rant, even now I'm a big Lvl85, with pretty good kit. They are just annoying little wankers aren't they?

So, I'll go into more detail about my Wow based exploits in my next posts. My main decision to make this blog is to meet other players. I have no one other than my partner or my guild to share amusing Wow tales with. So, it would be nice to share with like minded people. Beware though, if you are of a sensitive nature, I rant and curse quite a lot. Especially when referred to as a pink goblin...