Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Tale Seven: Faction Change in the Works!

Faction-Change Service in the Works

Quote from: Nethaera (Source)
We wanted to give everyone a very early heads-up that, in response to player requests, we’re developing a new service for World of Warcraft that will allow players to change their faction from Alliance to Horde or Horde to Alliance. There’s still much work to do and many details to iron out, but the basic idea is that players will be able to use the service to transform an existing character into a roughly equivalent character of the opposing faction on the same realm. Players who ended up creating and leveling up characters on the opposite factions from their friends have been asking for this type of functionality for some time, and we’re pleased to be getting closer to being able to deliver it.

As with all of the features and services we offer, we intend to incorporate the faction-change service in a way that won’t disrupt the gameplay experience on the realms, and there will be some rules involved with when and how the service can be used. The number of variables involved increases the complexity of implementing this service, but we plan to take the time needed to ensure that it lives up to expectations before officially rolling it out. We’ll go into much more detail on all of this here at http://www.WorldofWarcraft.com as development progresses. In the meantime, we wanted to let you know that because this type of functionality requires extensive internal testing well in advance of release, you may be seeing bits and pieces of the service in the test builds we use for the public test realms moving forward.

Source: http://blue.mmo-champion.com/1/18031079410-factionchange-service-in-the-works.html


A blue post, eyed on www.mmo-champion.com

What’s my take on this? Fifty-fifty.

Good! I have a couple of 40s and 50s Ally toons (again, blasphemy!) that I now wish I had made Horde. Hell, my level 71 Priest on the Alliance side is one of them. This way, I can “correct my mistake” and join the faction I feel more comfortable with. Also, if I could convince Setsuna to a) start playing again and b) to transfer her druid to Horde and finally c) to transfer her over to my server, I think it’d be great! Sure she wouldn’t be her pretty Night Elf, but come on! Cow people are even cooler! I swear!

Bad! And here’s why: My server is over running with Alliance. I kid you not. Us horde only hang out in the Horde side in fear that the Alliance will trample us on the streets. And in Wintergrasp? It’s a royal pain in the ass. I think we’ve defended the keep a total of 40 times. It’s pathetic. Our tenancy is at 10 stacks. We cry when we get near the keep on our siege engines and demolishers and within seconds we’re back in the graveyard. So what could happen? A lot of the Horde on servers where Alliance tromps our ass (or vice versa!) could switch to the dominant side. Therefore causing an even bigger disadvantage to the faction.

That’s my two cents. Plus this faction change is still under development and a very early heads up. We’ll see how things go along and hopefully there will be some kind of balance.

Tale Six

There’s always the Jerks in WoW. No matter how nice you are, no matter how much effort you put into the game, and no matter how great of an attitude you have in game… some one will come to rain on your parade.

I’ve been playing WoW since around April 2008. Not a very long time mind you. I never did Vanilla WoW and the only TBC content I did was Kara. 10 man Kara. And to be honest, that was good enough for me! I was number 5 in the recount chart, I envied the top DPS’ers (aka Zeburah, my boyfriend’s mage… try that for annoying. He likes competing. And rubbing the numbers in my face) but I worked my butt off to be my best.

Fast forward to November 2008. WoTLK is out, Littlebark is almost 80 and I’m pumped. She’s not the number one healer in our guild for 25 man Ulduar, but she borders around 3-4th (damn those chain healing shammies!)

However, ever since LB hit 80, I worked on my other two toons: Jezabeth (my second 80) and Afkforheals à later changed to Littlelight (my third 80).

I’ve given you the down-low on my WoW history now. Back to those Jerks.

The first incident happened on Littlelight. I’d joined a Vault of Archavon run as my secondary spec: ret. Half an hour passed, and we we’re still searching for an off tank. Littlelight has 4 T7 pieces, is def capped and only one blue item on her now, she’s tanked Naxx both as off tank and main tank. So I whispered the raid leader, telling him that though I’d never tanked this guy before, I’d be willing to try. He checked out my gear, and after quizzing me to death, agreed.

I was supposed to pick up the adds on Emalon. My hands – shaking and sweaty. This was a PuG run. On my previous posts, I tell you how I hate PuGs. I’m sure if I’d done this with my guild, I would have not been this nervous. Anyways, for reasons I still can’t comprehend, we wiped. Three times. Healer aggro, DPS aggro. Fail, right? Even I felt pretty bad. But I was pushing my pally to do her best. Then this happens:

[Raid][Jerkface]: Fuck you all, this is a fucking fail raid. Fucking fail dps, fucking fail tank, fucking fail off tank.

And then he leaves. Everyone is stunned. His little rant made me feel physically ill. I realize that he was in a guild that raids hardcore (you should have seen his gear! *drool*!) but that still does not mean he can blow up on all of us. The rest of us tell each other good job and go our merry way.

And then this:

[Jerkface] whispers: Do yourself a fucking favor and never tank again. You fucking fail at it.

Oh come on! I whispered him back, apologizing for making him blow a gasket and for not being as superior as him. Then I put him on ignore. Two minutes later, while I’m riding in circles in Dalaran, another whisper. It was the same guy on a lowbie toon to harass me even more! He went as far as accusing me of buying my account on Ebay and that totally angered me. I put 100% effort into my toons. I sweat and bleed as they climb their way in levels. For this elitist idiot to come along and harass me when I warned him I wasn’t too comfortable with doing it is beyond stepping the line.

And to top it all off, I had healed a heroic on Littlebark for this guy when he had just hit 80. Wipe and wipe again in H VH. But did I blow up on him? No! Because I realize that not everyone starts out with epic gear as soon as you hit 80!

Everything I said to this guy didn’t seem to register through his head. So I ignored that toon as well and logged.

The second incident was with someone within my guild. Yes, I’m Littlebark the Healer, but I have a dps toon! Jezabeth is doing over 3500 DPS right now, and I barely work on her! She gets the least of my attention because I’m so hung up on Littlebark. Jezabeth can get a little jealous that way but that’s life, right? Anyways, I see that my guildie is starting a Heroic Naxx up and that he’s doing gear checking. I offer to go but on Jezabeth. And what does he respond with? “Oh… I guess she can slide under the radar.”

W.T.H. does that mean!? Is 3500DPS not okay for Naxx? Is her gear not good enough? She *has* Naxx 25 gear! I have the achievements! I got so upset over that that I told him “you know what? If you think she’s not good enough then fine. I won’t go.” Which he responded with “no, whatever, just bring her.” But that just made angry. If this guildie doesn’t know what my poor lock can do (mind you, this guildie has raided with my lock before) then why bother? Let’s say she had been the number one dpser. He could’ve blamed it on many things like: the other dpsers weren’t that great, you have better gear than them (which I don’t). Stuff like that. So I thanked him and logged.

So if you have any Jerkface stories, share them! I know there’s hundreds out there.

Monday, June 29, 2009

Tale Five

When people find out that I play WoW, of course the main question they ask is: what do you play?

By now you all know that my main is a druid. But that didn't used to be my main. My first level capped toon was actually a hunter named Thienna. Yep, Thienna got me through all of Kara and she got all of her pvp gear (you know... the one with the shoulders are all lighting-ish?) And much fun it was to play her, I just knew it wasn't for me. As appealing as shoot-shoot-shoot-steady shot-shoot sounded like, I didn't want it. So my boyfriend and I decided to make another toon.


Thus, Littlebark was born.


We took a break from playing Littlebark and Sternhoof (my boyfriend's warrior) at level 7 though, because he was going through a phase where Alt Leveling isn't fun. So I shook an angry fist his way and took Littlebark (or LB as my guild affectionatly calls me) on her road trip to 80. When WotLK came out, LB was only level 64 and while everyone leveled their mains to 80, I kept my focus on LB. I knew she'd become my main. I mean, she even took up fishing and cooking!! She hates both, mind you, but she has them!


What is it about the druid that I love so much? Well, I find it the most versatile class out there. You want to heal? Tree form! You want to tank? Rawr (bear) form! You want to dps? Kitty form! But, oh wait! What if I hate melee dps? Never fear, Moonkin form is here! That's right. Two different dps forms! And we also get this Water Form that looks a bit like a deranged walrus for the odd time that we're in the water.


So you see, my fellow readers (I like deluding myself that I have any), that's why the druid stole my heart.


Plus I've been told I'm a bit of a tree hugger.



Tale Four: PuGs

Normally, I shy away from raid PuGs. Heroics, I don't mind to PuG. But raids... eh... I'd rather not get loot than wipe a billion times because idiots that one tank is okay for 25man Naxx. So even though my guild isnt a hardcore raiding guild, I'd rather plow my way through content with them.

Today however, I got dragged into a ten man Ulduar. Ulduar - the place of all that's evil- wasn't too bad this run! We wiped I think a total of 6 times due to unlucky pulls, and the healers being thrown into the pot at an infortune moment (damn you, Ignis!) but the run was good. We breezed by this place, the people weren't too big of dicks and the loot was fairly distributed.

The night ended with Hodir punching my face in... over and over again. He's a jerk that way and does not like me. At all. I don't get it. All I ever did was heal others who were trying to kill me. But that's my job! It's what I'm meant to do! *sigh* if only he'd understand.

Quick List on what to bring on a PuG (as a resto druid):
1) Flask of Frost Wyrm/Mojo
2) Tender Shoveltusk Steak
3) Be prepared: you will wipe. You will run into idiots. You will cry.

Gotta run!

Littlebark

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Tale Three: Leveling the Priest + Midsummer Festival

Well... not much has happened since I last blogged. I've taken a break from my Horde toons and worked on my Alliance Dwarf Priest and leveled her to 70.

Did I hear a 'blasphemy' in the group? Yes. I know. But you level multiple Horde toons and you get bored. So far, the Priest is great. She's dual specced Shadow/Disc and its amazing the amount of healing you get done and then the mana you barely waste.

Plus! The Midsummer Festival and though I'm not really into it, you get rep for doing the quests. And gold. So /cheer for that.

But alas, there is bad news. I am idiot and while I was trying to get rid of my mining proffession, I got rid of my engineering one. I hurried to put in a Ticket and the lines are so bad that it's been 3 days and still no word on if the magical GM can help me.*bites fingernails*

Monday, June 22, 2009

Tale 2 1/2: The Person Behind the Tree con't

Now onto more personal stuff about the person behind Littlebark.

Name: Zayda

Age: Go Away

Occupation: I'm the one getting yelled at over the phone because f**king service is closed. Yep, I'm the receptionist.

Career goal: Well, Bach of Education. To be a Elementary school teacher. Because I would hang myself if I had to teach highschool students. Because I could barely stand my self in high school.

About me: My heritage is Spanish/Russian. Very messed up, I know. I'm a writer, but I can never finish my stories. I do want to publish at least one before I croak. My favorite colour is purple. I do not live with my parents anymore. I have an ADD standard poodle (Mowgli) and a demon cat (Felix). My best friend is always there for me (cue: awww). I get annoyed easily. I hate Alliance... stratch that. I despise gnomes. The rest of the Alliance are still ehhhh.

About Me in WoW.

My main is a level 80 resto/boomkin druid named Littlebark. She's healing Ulduar 10/25 right now and loving it.

My alt is a level 80 prot/pvp ret paladin named Littlelight.

My second alt is a level 80 destro lock named Jezabeth. She is by far my favorite of the three, but the least undergeared.

Why do two of my toons have the name "Little" in them? Well, because that's my "trend". I also have:

Littleshot (hunter)
Littleprick (rogue)
Littleprayer (priest)
Littlevoice (another priest, whose name is in the changing process. Her original name was Unhealthy).

My favorite heroic is Heroic Violet Hold. Easy to heal, Easy to tank, Easy to DPS.

How did I get into WoW:

My best friend (Setsuna) used to play WoW. And one day she started selling the game to me. And she sold it to me so much that as soon as my boyfriend came home, I turned to him and told him I wanted to try it out. He was a bit suprised but excited and then the epic quest began. . . A year and some months later, I'm a major nerd. And I have more 80's than him. :)

Tale Two

So, now that this is made, I think I'll let you in on a few things about me.

My favorite bevarage is Pepsi.

I get frustated easily at customers who yell at me for something I have no power over. Actually, make that anyone who yells at me and I have nothing to do with what they want.

I hate it when people get mad at me for not answering the phone. I have voicemail for a reason. If someone dies and you were trying to reach me for that reason, then oops my bad. I'll deal with it.

Although I love Mowgli (My Standard Poodle) very much, I find his nose nudging very annoying. Especially if he leaves bruises.

I have and always will hate Math.

I still love writing stories, even if most people don't get to read them.

I tend to get excited over one thing very quickly and then want to do it. If my interest wanes however, it most likely will NOT get done.

I despise people who sPell LIKE DiZ. U sound liKe an R-tard. Seriously mate... it looks like a five year old talking.

When people spell hahaha like ahahaha it irks me. I dunno know why, but it does. And it seems like a lot of people are doing it now adays.

I play WoW. And that's not the worst part! I have three level 80 characters. Yes, I'm a nerd and I love it.

I seriously miss Hotaru, Sakura, Setsuna and Nami from grade 8-9. Though we had mad teenage hormones, it was the best 2 years of my life. ****

I am still oddly proud. Its hard to say 'sorry' or 'my bad'.

Contrary to what people believe, yes, I can blush. It just takes a lot.

I know it sounds dumb, but I dont get the point of money or the value of it. Who said money would basically rule our life? Whoever it was, I demand an explantion.

My right knee cap hurts due to a hyper extension in soccer. Never went to physio for it and now I'm screwed.

I crave steak and fries about 4/5 times a day.

I hate horror movies. I have an active imagination, I dont need scary images to help those nightmares along.

People who act tough when starting a fight but hide behind 'tougher' people crack me up or disgust me. Especially if you sound retarded after.

I wish I could wear converse shoes to work.

BBQ sauce is awesome. Don't question my believe.

We're going through such a turmoil of events right now and no one cares. Between politics and the economy, this is history in the making.... and NO ONE (in my life) cares.

I still have a lot of things from jr high. I treasure them dearly.

I loved the name Isabella before Twilight came out. If I ever have kids, I will name my child that. If someone says, 'Oh, like Bella from Twilight!' I will deck them in the face. You have been warned.

I find it ironic that I hated most of my teachers, and now that's my career goal. Karma is going to haunt me, I'm sure.

I hate high heels. I'm all for femenity (NOT sluttiness) but why do high heels have to be so hard to walk in?


A/N: Hotaru, Sakura, Setsuna and Nami are actually myself and 3 other friends. Nami being yours truly :) However, to keep their identities secret, those are the names I shall be using for them.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Tale One

So to begin:

This will probably end up being a blog not only about my druid, but all my toons. WoW in general.

Oh, and I should clarify: It will probably be a World of Warcraft blog... so if you don't like WoW, don't read this blog.

And with that, I sign off.

Littlebark