Turns out doing a flying dragon kick to Illidan’s squirrel snack-pack pants is a great way to scare the mog gear out of him. Haanta sought this bow for a very long time, and Illidan handed it right over to her today, no questions asked. He barely monologged. Isn’t it gorgeous? Smells like vanilla and fel fire.
What is the deal with the new mog closest coming out this next expansion, anyway? Is working for mog gear going to be a thing of the past?
So does this mean the Headless Horseman helm that my hunters have gotten a thousand times over, but Luperci Who Is Not A Failed Paladin can now wear it? Really?!
Hey, how come we don’t have kangaroos as a pet option?
Maybe this is Blizzard finally seeing why players love transmog, and understanding that our accounts are just that, our accounts with a variety of alts. Even if you’re not an altaholic, how fun to mix and match gear? This may drive the purists insane, but *shrug*.
Thanks for making the virtual world a bit more pretty, cause the real world is sure sucking at it right now.
There is a human female mage I’m leveling, as Arcane. I say this in a way to distance myself from her, kind of a cognitive dissonance. You know when you’re first going through Shadowfang Keep, and that Eerie Stable Lantern, (in my opinion the best off-hand in the game), drops? And if you are a mage or warlock how you envy the healers who want that shiny off-hand for yourself? So what if it has spirit on it – you need that thing for your spooky look, dog! Here is one sh*tty justification: the fact that I can level a character from 1-20 in about an hour or two means that by the time I will be over powered to go farm for that transmog piece, I’ll have forgotten about it or won’t care. And then again, those heirlooms.
Yes, I just did that. I asked the player if he/she had an off-hand heirloom, because they were decked out in heirloom gear. No real response.
So is there a new order to gear etiquette?
In this day of easy-to-obtain account-wide heirlooms, so many alts, so much structure and order to gear, are there new rules or etiquette for low level dungeons? Sure, heirlooms don’t cover everything, and then there’s that tasty, sexy mog piece that drops that some jerk disenchants it. I propose that maybe we look at this more closely. Remember, for the most part, we really don’t like playing with one another. Well, we really don’t like strangers, so any act of gear fairness is off the table when it comes to stranger danger. Now when I run with the Old Ladies, sure, there are some cross-tier drops we have to make allowances for: tier sets are more important to Helke than they are to me, but not always, so I weigh out how much I can do on my own versus the social/emotional fun. We had a great time trying to do Dragonsoul yesterday but that spine — that damn spine. We would get an amalgam to nine stacks and then bam, it’d die. We tried, we really did. And I learned that Kallixta is one of the kindest persons I’ve met.
So my questions are not whether or not I was an asshole when I kept the Eerie Stable Lantern. I was, and don’t care. My questions are should there be some new gear rules for lower level instances, and what other monuments do you wish you could erect, for one and all?
I have some unfortunate news: this Saturday, the 10th, and the 17th, I will be unavailable for OLRG shenanigans. This is quite disagreeable, because I am ready for some light-hearted adventures. I need to give a shout-out to Hawt: she is indeed one of the kindest, and most patient, team leaders I have ever met. If I had her for a supervisor, I can tell you the colors in my world would be much, much brighter. She let me bring my priest Zeptepi into Heroics last night. I worked and spent a ton of gold on her to get her ready, and have switched back to Holy, which I am in love with again, but she still needs gear. Turns out, a lot of her regular player friends have ALSO made the switch to Holy, and too many healers spoils the run, so I switched to Kellda the Warlock With the Big Hair but No Gear. Long story short: it occurred to me around midnight when I could not fall asleep I should have left the evening’s fun. I may have made it awkward for Hawt, and I never want to do that. Kellda is far from ready. You know when you get whispers from other players on how to play your character you’re in trouble. Um, hello!? Warlock expert here…but the numbers didn’t show it. Ah, the eternal Catch-22 of play: can’t get great DPS/HPS without gear, and can’t get gear unless you’re in the game, and can’t get in the game WHAT THE EFF ONLY THREE CRAFTED ITEMS? Talk about shenanigans. Blizzard limited the gear from LFR, so not only have they forced our collective hands to do normals+ if we want gear, we can’t even wear our handmade-clothes.
Poop.
So, yes, the frustration in my heart was fairly palatable last night. I still want to finish Dragon Soul, and some other places where there may be ponies.
But then I come across something like this, and think, FUNZ. No, no, that’s not nice. I think, “Look at that! When life gives you volcanoes, roast marshmallows!”
Remember the original Willy Wonka movie, with Gene Wilder? If you haven’t seen it, and I’m about to spoil a movie from 1971 shield your sweet Millennial eyes and look away because it’s happening: the climax of the movie where Charlie and his grandfather bear the famous “I said good day sir!” tirade, and instead of feeling entitled or justified in stealing Wonka’s trade secrets, Charlie returns the Ever-Lasting Gobstopper, a revolutionary candy. Wonka is in such awe, incredulous disbelief that a young boy would have the morals and scruples that no other human on planet Earth seemed to possess, it’s one of films greatest moments.
But something happened last night that made me see it slightly differently. I now understand the conflict Wonka must have felt, and perhaps a bit of shame in that he put a young boy through such a moral obstacle course: his relief that Charlie does the right thing is palatable and thrilling, but also a little haunting.
I’ve been trying to get Momokawa gear and better healing weapons (that sounds counter-intuitive: healing weapons – like an Azerothian oxymoron). Hawtpocket and I talked about her gear yesterday for a bit before the run, and my goals for gear. She needed better tier pieces, and definitely the mace and cricket cage (she has the off-hand from the big metal scorpion, and an LFR mace—ew!) One monk who’s been steadily there, Secondlight, is a wonderful Mistweaver monk. Jealously, I would look at his numbers, feel discouraged, and wish for more lucky drops. Every extra roll token for weeks has earned me only gold. (Sometimes I wish we didn’t have this ‘gear insurance’ because it sometimes sours or makes the loss magnified: you didn’t get gear once, and you didn’t get gear twice: you are a double loser!)
As seen in former beauty…
Momokawa is not used to feeling envy, though green is her color.
I’ve heard speak in Vent a few times, and asked him last night if he was from Australia (his server is Navimie’s former one, Dath’Remar), and he confirmed. I whispered him that was good news, because my husband says every time we hear an Aus accent we have to drink. (And then I made CD Rogue get me a small glass of red wine. I am fully prepared to take advantage of an opportunity.)
A True Healer
When we rolled on Dark Shaman gear, he won the Kardris Sceptor, I was really sad. My shoulders slumped, I felt bitchy and petty. Yuck, Matty!! YUCK! Those tiny moments I know I’d better dust my stupid self and snap the hell out of it. He was using a staff, and of course wanted a healing mace. Who wouldn’t? This is when I seriously question my judgment, or lack thereof, for having three relatively strong, or potentially strong, healers, and not focusing on any one to get gear. And I felt ashamed at myself for caring even for one minute that I would have to continue to be patient and try for the mace, and carry on with my LFR one. Hey, I told myself– the more gear others get the less they’ll need next time, right?! Somehow that helped when I reframed it that way.
We get to the General, and get through it no problem. We move on to the next wing, and he whispers me that he won the sword on the General, and would I like that? Well, sure, but Druids cannot equip swords. (Must be the iron: fairy folks and their brethren do not like iron.)
Know what he did next? He gave me the healing mace.
He gave me the Ever-Lasting Gobstopper.
(You know what gob means, right? Mouth. Yes. It SHUT ME UP.)
My heart is bursting still at his generosity: I asked him several times if he was sure, and he had one request, to essentially do something kind for someone else. I told him what I do for work and he said that counts, (I’m paraphrasing). I do try to help, and I help every day. I give a lot to others, but my return on karmic investment is worth it. But this isn’t about me – this is about that once in awhile, someone acts in such a generous and gracious manner, it must be shouted from the rooftops.
People will say they avoid these interactions because of bad experiences – but to be honest, maybe it’s because I only remember the good ones that’s why I like to keep doing them.  And you never know – you may start that domino effect, where someone you randomly helped feels more confident or inclined to help somebody else who in turn helps someone else.  That’s a lot of someone elses!  And you never know – you may make a new friend 😀
I’m still feeling like someone put a Gobstopper on my desk. Thank you Secondlight–you just made two worlds a better place.
Our raiding goals are to get through the end before WoD – I see others have multiple Garrosh kills, yet I and my comrades are still waiting for ours. Thank heavens for players like Hawt, Secondlight, Moonmagick, who are so generous with their time, insight, and support. We couldn’t play without these things.
Sugar&Blood 