Tale Eighty Seven: Why I hate logs.

(1:00:59 PM) speakerjones: dude, if effing garrosh actually ends up running
the show... just.. no. no on SO many levels.

(1:01:18 PM) littlebark: If he does, I quit WoW

.............

Ahem. For the record, he was still a pup when I said that. Besides. I'm Alliance now. So there.

...

But if you've read The Shattering, you know why I feel like I could kill Garrosh.

Tale Eighty Six: Littlebark's Corner - A New Song is Sung.

She had zoomed by Draenor as a young druid, anxious to get to Northrend.

Still, from what she could remember, the Outland had beautiful parts just as it had land drenched with evil. She found it soothing to fly over the marshes of Zangermarsh and knowing that soon enough, she’d be helping heal this land.

Maybe this time I’ll be able to actually heal something and make a difference.

The Sporeggar were friendly, if a little cautious of her. She towered over them, having to bend down to hear them. They warmed to her eventually, and soon even the children were carefree enough to play with her.

It felt good being asked for help, she thought to herself as she gathered Glowcaps. It felt good not to worry about death and plagues for once.

“Shame, that such talent is wasted here.”

She looked up, surprised at hearing a voice she did not recognize. An orc glared down at her, studying her. Littlebark stood slowly, wiping the dirt off her hands on her plain dressings. “I beg your pardon?”

“Bahh!” The orc spat irritably as he began to pace, “This task you’ve forced yourself to do is for peons and recruits. Best leave as soon as possible.”

Her jaw dropped and her eyes narrowed. In a low and dangerous voice, she hissed, “The Sporeggar need help, they don’t care whether it’s from a peon, recruit or a veteran of war.”

Out of his pouch, he pulled a small totem. Slowly twirling it between his fingers, he muttered to himself, “The fool believes she has meaning here. I say we leave her to her fate.”

The anger flashed in her, leaving her vision red. Asking the Earthmother for patience, she snapped, “I am no fool, orc. Who are you? Why are you here?”

He let out a single grunt, whether it was full of content or humor, she couldn’t tell. “Have it your way. Druid, the spirits have told me to seek you.”

“The… spirits,” she played with the word slowly then shook her head, “perhaps you’re looking for the wrong Tauren. I answer to the Earthmother, shaman.”

“I care not for your fairytales,” he said simply, ignoring Littlebark’s menacing growl, “The wind plays a new song now. One of deep slumber. Of dark past come anew. The spirits have brought me to you, so that you may assist us.”

Shivers ran down her spine. When she finally found her voice, she breathed, “I have done my share, in Northrend. Isn’t that enough?”

The orc let out a roar, causing her to stumble two steps back. “Enough talk. You will come either way! Spirits witness! You will bend to this fate. Now, come! Prove to me that that the spirits have chosen a worthy one.” He pulled out both maces from his belt, already his blood boiling with bloodlust.

Littlebark looked stunned. Her hand reached for her staff, her eyes swimming with confusion, “I cannot just leave my post, shaman. My leader – he has placed me – WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?”

She dodged the mace, but just barely. Her staff blocked the next blow but the ancient wood groaned in effort. Using all her weight and height, she pushed him far away enough to morph into her travel form and stay out of his reach. Fear, confusion and anger –all rolled into one – were pitted in her belly as she pushed her paws hard into the earth.

“Run, fool!” He yelled with laughter in his voice.

“STOP THIS MADNESS! WHO ARE YOU!?” Littlebark bellowed when she had put a safe distance between them, panting heavily as she muttered a spell to ease her wound, “I will NOT be killed by some maniac. I refuse you and your duel! What do you want? ANSWER ME!”

“Witness! I am Karsung! Battle Shaman of the Warsong Clan! The spirits have asked me to bring you to them! So that they may seek your help.”

“The Warsong Clan? What on Earth do they want with…” she heaved a great sigh, rubbing her temple, “I will go… for now. I need to inform my leader; Cryssam.”

“Do not test my patience, Druid.”

She ignored his order and said easily, “we can go to Zabra’jin. The Sporeggar do not trust easily, and you would make them uneasy with your presence in their village.”

Karsung snorted, “they would be foolish to test me. Come, spore people! Prove your worth!”

Littlebark grabbed his arm, pulling him farther away from the village before he could cause more damage. “Hush, fool. They have their reasons for trusting only a few. Let’s set off to the neighboring troll village. It’s not far, and I can tie any loose strings there.”

“So be it.”

She let out a long, drawn out sigh. Whatever her job with the Sporeggar was, it looked like it was done for now.

Tale Eighty Five: How To Fail At Hibernating.

How to Fail at Hibernating.
- a helpful list by Littlebark-

1)Keep in contact with old guildies.
2)Be guildless for 8 months.
3)Not raiding for 8 months.
4)Silently seething at the non-completed Lich King achievement.
5)Talking to guildie about maybe, sort of, kind of raiding again as a group.
6)Letting the idea brew in my mind.
7)Snatching Littlebark back from Mr. Littlebark and promptly transferring her back to Cenarius. “Just in case.”
8)Damn, Littlebark the name was taken by my alt… invoke Twitter help! @altinfam suggests: Mediumbark.
9)Start doing a BUNCH of heroics and PuG raids to get tank and healing gear. “Just in case.”
10)Have a Vent meeting with 2 of our old officers.
11)... setting up a raid event for ICC, inviting every former member of the guild and their new friends.

All this boils down to….

Not hibernating.

So yeah. I’m now raiding again and have been for the past two weeks. We still have kinks to work through and things to discuss –hell; we’re not even a guild, yet! We’re just a bunch of friends having fun in the game again.

Just the way I like it.

Tale Eighty Four: I'm a *what* now?

Littlebark: You can't make fun of my leaves anymore. They butchered my tree form.

'Bob' the Pally Tank: That won't stop me, you're just some serial lumberjack's victim now.

Littlebark: D:

'Bob': Indeed.

Tale Eighty Three: The Blue Bar of DEATH

Picture Courtesy of Mr. Littlebark, drawn on Patch Day.

Tale Eighty Two: Something Wicked This Way Comes?

(:

Tale Eighty One: Hibernation

On Friday, I did something I never ever thought I'd do.

I gave my druid to Mr. Littlebark.

I love leveling. I love the grind. I had 5 maxxed leveled characters at one point. My hunter, my druid, my warlock, my priest and my paladin.

Mr. Littlebark HATES leveling. He leveled his shaman to 80 when WOTLK came out because he had to. And he leveled his warrior with my priest. It took him 24 months to level his mage to 80. In the past two years, we've shuffled my toons to him because I don't play them and he's good at gearing them out.

I made it very clear that Littlebark was -and forever will be- out of bounds.

Maybe it's the valley of dullness I'm in at the moment with WoW. Maybe it's that I know that Catalysm is right around the corner. Maybe it's because I left the only two guilds I felt at home with and have been wandering solo for too long.

But when he asked -jokingly- for Littlebark, I said yes.

My toon that has my 4 pages of companion pets.

The toon that has TONS of exalted reputation.

The toon that I know like the back of my hand.

My only toon who has ever had a defined RP story.

Gone.

So this is my hibernation till Catalysm. I'm -of course- leveling another druid to 80, and hopefully before Catalysm hits.

But even then, who knows? I'm still irked over the "you have to dps as a healer now" bit. So we'll see how things go and hopefully you'll see me once Deathwing makes the first tremor.

Tale Eighty: Littlebark's Corner - An Empty Farewell

PART III

Littlebark stared at the parchment in front of her.

It held memories of people she had loved.

Say goodbye to who? Sighing heavily, she rested her head on her hand and played with the writing utensil. Neatly crossed out were names of friends come and gone.

Arriving in Northrend seemed so long ago; barely believable even to her that it had only been two years. So naïve she had been, she mused now, hopeful and ready to face anything.

She had been prepared for losses. After all, war wasn’t war without losing to gain something in the end. But to lose friends so close and dear! A price too high for a heart, especially when it happened over… and over… and over…

Old friend… I miss you, Littlebark shut her eyes, ignoring the tears that managed to squeeze through. Months had passed since they brought him back to the camp, wounded and in pain….

“Bark! Littlebark!”

She looked up, startled at her name being flung around so loudly and frantically. “Tel? What’s the matter?”

The undead rogue was shaking, terror on his face, “LB, you gotta come save him. The other healers –they’ve tried everything!”

She sprung up from her cot, “Let’s go. Who is it?” When the rogue remained quiet, Littlebark stopped in her tracks, “Tel, who is it?”

Tel fidgeted under her glare, “It’s Ras'han.”

Littebark’s eyes went wide and her hands flew to her mouth. “Earthmother, give me strength,” she gasped, “Is it bad?”

He nodded, “they… nothing’s working.”

Everything changed. Her heart began to race and she began to run to the Med Tent. Not fast enough to her liking, she spread her arms and took flight. Her new eyes were better at seeing than her normal Tauren ones, and she quickly spotted which Med Tent the commotion was at. She dived, pulling up seconds before she hit the ground, morphing back into her normal form. Landing with a soft thud and a grimace, she pushed past the crowd blocking the entrance and shut the drape when she got in.

He was quite a sight.

Blood was splattered on his clothes, but the pain seemed to go beyond. His face was contorted in pain and he was panting hard, forehead shining with sweat. His usually healthy and bright green skin was a pasty color and his eyes darted around the room.

“What happened?” she demanded fiercely, jogging to his side. With a few words, she began to seep healing magic into him.

“Putricide proved too much for us,” Cryssam spat, rubbing her wrists. Blood caked her faced and stuck to her hair, “he was trying to hard to make up for the lack of healing that was going on.”

The priest didn’t miss the venom in Cryssam’s voice. “it was either move or we’d get killed and then you'd be short two healers,” he explained calmly, “Littlebark, careful now. That’s a disease, you don’t specialize in that.”

“Poi-poisons… and curs..es.”

Littlebark’s eyes snapped to Ras'han's face, concentration lines decorating her forehead, “hush now. You need the energy to get better.”

“Hu-huuuurts.”

“Yes,” she whispered softly, “I know. I’m trying to make it better.” He fell into silence, still twitching and moaning softly. “Cryssam, start making arrangements to send him home.”

“How.”

She looked at him, daring to take her eyes away from Ras'han, “by mail? A messenger?”

Cryssam sighed impatiently, “by portal or in a coffin?”

“How dare you-“

“BARK!” the priest quickly stood up, putting a hand on her shoulder and struggling to hold the giant druid back.

Littlebark glared at Cryssam, hating her for staring back with amusement and such cold eyes, “he’s going to make it.”

Shrugging nonchalantly, the death knight walked out of the tent. Littlebark shuddered slightly, as she always did when Cryssam was around.

Staring into the restless face of Ras'han, she began to panic. Who would she go to when she needed help? He was her source of entertainment in this cold land, one of her only friends left. He knew and had everything and was selfless enough to help her. She had arrived to the battalion and been so clueless and he had been kind enough to show her around and keep her informed. “You have to get better, you hear me?”

His eyes fluttered slowly. Maybe she imagined it or maybe he was trying to tell her everything was going to be okay… but she could have sworn that the force on her hand got heavier, as if chasing away all her fears.

Tale Seventy Nine: Littlebark's Corner - Relocation

PART II

Cryssam stared at the druid with cold eyes. She had seen this coming, of course. Everyone had. But hearing the words come out of her mouth made all final.

Momentarily, she wondered how the team would go on. Littlebark had been the one everyone talked to, someone you could find refuge under and led the team when morale sunk. We will go on, she thought with resolve, Others will pop up to fill her spot.

They had suffered bitterly when Littlebark told them that the Cenarion Expedition had asked her to join her Night Elf brothers and sisters, fighting a more intel team at the Citadel. For months, they faced the same enemy but on different sides.

Months passed before ‘Bark made her way back, trying to fit in but feeling lost. When they weren’t pressing their forces on the Citadel, she was out by herself farming herbs for her potions or fishing or helping the tribes in Scholar Basin. She kept to herself, Cryssam noted, and in doing so lost touch with everyone she loved.

“You want me to re-assign you… to where?”

She shrugged, the fur on her body rippling slightly, “I don’t know, Cryss. All I know is that I haven’t been around.”

“And when you do go to the front lines, your feral sides shines when all we need are healers.”

Littlebark felt the jab but merely sighed, “Which is why I’m asking you- if you have any work for me elsewhere, please assign me to it.”

“We’re at war, ‘Bark. I don’t go around picking up fluff work when I have a damn Lich King looming over us,” Cryssam rubbed her temples, not really feeling pain but merely doing it unintentionally. Old habits die hard, she thought morbidly.

“How about work in Azeroth? Training young recruits or tending to the injured?”

“The injured here need you.”

Stubbornly, her nose went up, “I won’t stay in Northrend, Cryss. Not after everything that’s happened. If you don’t have anything, I’ll put in my request to be removed from my post and find something on my own terms.”

A threat veiled in sincerity and determination. Cryssam’s eyes narrowed, making the slits glow an eerie, cold blue. “I picked this up a couple weeks ago. They might still need help.”

Littlebark grabbed the paper from her hand, eyes flying over the paper, “Draenor?”

“The Sporeggar need help,” said the Death Knight simply, “and like you said, there’s no use in you being dead weight here.”

A growl escaped Littlebark. “I’ll head down there as soon as I say my goodbyes.”

“Littlebark.”

The Tauren stopped in her tracks, obviously resisting the urge to continue walking.

“You may have been dead weight… but you are one hell of a soldier.”

Littlebark’s eyebrows rose, surprise in her eyes. “You are a good leader, Cryss.”

“Just not the right one for you.”

“I’m not right to follow command right now,” she admitted, “and you’re doing a good job despite his absence.”

“I’m… trying my best,” Cryssam whispered hoarsely but Littlebark had already left. Suddenly overwhelmed, she shivered and grasped her head in her hands. One of the few veterans left had walked out of her camp.

It was happening too often for her liking.

Tale Seventy Eight: Introduction...

To a corner on this blog that I'm naming "Littlebark's Corner". Creative, yes?

I server transferred Littlebark over to Moonguard, which was my original server on my hunter before I made the switch to Cenarius. I'm quite excited about the RP aspect of this adventure, about the fact that I've left all my alts and now have to start from stratch so that LB has everything she needs -on her own.

So, to explain what has been bottled up inside me and in a way inside Littlebark as well, here is the first part of a series that I hope will continue on. It's nice therapy now that I'm on my own.

*** **** ***** ******** ******

“Maybe you should take a break.”

The words stung. The druid lifted her nose stubbornly, her eyes narrowing. The Blood Elf sensed the tension that suddenly filled the air and quickly cast her eyes down to the table, absent mindedly petting the giant wolf next to her.

“I don’t need a break, Thienna.”

The elf named Thienna shrugged her petite shoulders, choosing her words carefully, “You’ve… become hard, Littlebark. A loner –and that’s quite an achievement, seeing as that role is usually played by me. You’ve lost so many-“

“Loss is part of war, Waverunner. I don’t expect you to understand that since you don’t get to be up at the Front.”

The insult hit it’s mark, leaving Thienna red in the face, “You know that if they’d let me-“

“Excuses.”

“Bark, I’m just trying to help.”

The druid’s shoulders sunk slightly. “I haven’t been around as much. Not since…”

Since his departure, Thienna registered. They had all noticed it, of course. So many of the veterans had left the North –either wounded or dead. Littlebark was one of the veterans standing when they brought the wounded troll and she lost all hope in winning the war. “We all understand –“

Littlebark’s eyes caught hers, “what, have you all been talking about me behind my back?”

“No!-“

She stood, defeated and angry, “Tell Cryssam that I’ll be by to see her later today. To start thinking of a place to reassign me.”

“Littlebark, we need you.”

The words froze her, and she sighed, “I was a healer. But I can’t even begin to heal the pain from here.”

Momentarily stunned, Thienna stared at the spot where Littlebark was pointing –her heart. Sighing Thienna stood, “I’ll tell her.”

Littlebark nodded her thanks, starting to feel right for the first time in a long time.

Tale Seventy Seven: WoWBook

"Blizzard's partnership with Facebook, announced today, means that players of StarCraft II and World of Warcraft can create a social network with their friends who also play those games on Battle.net and frequent Facebook.

"Step one in our relationship is to have this Friends Importation," says Battle.net project director Greg Canessa. "Really what you are going to do once you buy StarCraft II and you take it home and install it and log onto Battle.net for the first time, you'll be able to essentially hit a button and bring all your Facebook friends that are also on Battle.net into Battle.net and create (Real ID) relationships."

For the full article, read here.

I only have four friends of my 192 friends on Facebook who play WoW. A good 90% of them don't even know what WoW is. And when they hear what it is? They look at me like I have a third head or something.

I don't care about what people think: in fact, I'm quite a proud nerd who loves arguing about superheroes, have most of the game consoles in my living room and play quite a bit. I've shamelessly written Dragon Age fanfiction.

But a game, which could potentially put my family and career in danger?

The risk is too much.

Blizzard goes on to say: "Culturally, I think we have become more and more accepting of social networking in the context of your real identity and Facebook, of course as the leader in the space, has led this charge. We're now at something five years ago I don't think any of us would maybe necessarily be comfortable with. We all now have our own Facebook pages and we have got a lot of our information on there. We've got our real names and pictures of ourselves on there and so forth."

And while I agree that we are moving to a more social society, I do not agree with mixing in Facebook and WoW. I have a Facebook page to stay in touch with my friends. I have a WoW to get away from them and stress.

The part of the article that made me laugh bitterly?

Do you expect any push back from diehard Blizzard fans from the Facebook features?

And their answer?

We don't anticipate any.

......... How very wrong you were, Blizzard. How very very wrong.

*However*, I heard from a friend that he read on EJ (as soon as I can find the thread, I'll link this here) that this change comes not from Blizzard but from Activision, who owns Blizzard.

Who interestingly enough? Just signed a biiiig fat deal with.... Facebook.

*punts the "geniuses" behind all this*

Photo Courtesy of: www.penny-arcade.com

Tale Seventy Six: Why Blizzard is being put DOWN.

So…. Wow.

Blogsphere has exploded with the RealID on the forums.

I’m getting more and more pissed off at the game, at Blizzard, at some stupid choices they’re making and as a result, they’re going to lose customers. Not smart, especially in the middle of a lull before of an expansion.

Like I said on Twitter, the whole RealID showing the friends of my friends my real name isn’t too big of a deal. All my friends are taking breaks or quit the game, my guild is no more to me and Littlebark is homeless. So that change hasn’t impacted me that much.

But this? I do post on the forums from time to time and it really pisses me off that my name will be popping up. Online, I am Littlebark. In fact, the few people I’ve met in game –via guild- have my number and they call me LB when they text me. It’s who I am when I switch on WoW. I’m under no illusion that it’s my alter ego and that it’s going to help me un-blur the lines. No. I know Littlebark is my online persona and the real me is different than when I go to work or school or whatever.

I find it funny that even Littlebark has a “real name” (for RP purposes) but most people don’t know it because her persona is LB or Cuddlebug or Lovebug or Bark. If you’ve read this blog for awhile, you know my first name. It’s literally a unique name in North America, and combined with my last name? I’m the only one of me in my city with that combination. Only one person in game knows my full name, and that is Grimmstone, whom I trust completely with it.

Blizzard, I am not comfortable with sharing my private and confidential details in-game, where literally every peeper and weirdo can see me.

I am tired of changes. Catalysm and druid changes aside, this is one too far. My family emigrated from my home country when I was a youngster for political reasons. When I started WoW, I was weary of it but Mr. Littlebark assured me that my name would not ever show up online. And I felt safe because of it. With this, I’m afraid that I won’t be able to post on the forums for fear of not only myself but my family.

Another thing that pops to mind is famous people that play WoW. I bet they play under an alias, happily hiding behind a character and not having to worry about the “OHMYGOD ITS THAT

FAMOUS PERSON! AHHHHH” kind of fans.

Not too long ago, after I left Lords, I joined an Alliance progression guild on a different server with my priest. And one of the first things they told me is that they used their first names instead of avatar names. *blink* Ooookaaaay, I guess that’s fine. But after a few days of seeing my first name in my guild note, I /gquit. I didn’t like blurring my RL with my toons. I feel that it’s okay to use RL names in a guild where it’s a family or close friends. But strangers like this…. It felt strange.

In short, I’m giving you the big WTF STAMP, Blizzard. You’ve received a failing grade on this one.

/end tree rage.

Tale Seventy Five: A Fond Farewell

My best friend, the one who hooked me into WoW and druids is not renewing her game time when it runs out in July. Tonight, we went around collecting screenshots.

Goodbye, Rakota... I loved having you as a partner in crime.

PS: Has anyone noticed that more and more people are taking breaks or leaving the game? ):

Tale Seventy Four: One Year Old

Tomorrow is this blog's anniversary.

It hasn't felt like a year, and I've found that this blog has been a "WoW Therapy" of sorts for me. And while it started as a blog about me, I found it soon evolved into a WoW blog.

I haven't really "defined" what this blog is, I suppose. At times, it's felt like a me-me blog. Other days, it can actually be a helpful blog to other people. I also did a stint at doing ICC guides! That died down pretty quick since everyone else was doing it and I felt that I could focus on other things. At one point, I even did a bit of RP! Of course, there was the one where Petal took over. And when I ranted about the women issue that happens in WoW. And a fun blog post about the statistic tab. I also compared Northrend to my Canada. And most recently, we went through a blog makeover.

All in all, it's been a fun ride. And while I've been silent this last month, it's because I'm not raiding or playing much. With the summer here and my guild not being the same as before, Mr. Littlebark and I have been playing a druid/shaman alt (role reversal!). Here's to another great year!

Tale Seventy Three: Understanding the Feral Side

Specs:

There are two differents a feral cat can run with. This one focuses on single target DPS, leaving one point left over for you to decide where to put it in.

This spec is a AoE oriented spec, allowing you to pump out as much DPS while AoEing.

Personally, I run with the first spec. I need my maximum damage on bosses, where I NEED to output as much dps as possible.


Glyphs:

What I find to be the best glyphs for kitty DPS are: Glyph of Savage Roar, Glyph of Rip and Glyph of Shred. Coming in behind these glyphs are the Glyph of Mangle and Berserk.

For minor Glyphs I tend to stick to Glyph of Unburdened Rebirth, Glyph of Challenging Roar and Glyph of Dash.

Enchants:

For the head enchant, I would recommend Arcanum of Torment, which can be purchased off the Ebon Blade Quartermaster.

If you're an inscriptionist, you should be using the Master's Inscription of the Axe which is better than the Son of Hodir's Greater Inscription of the Axe.

For leg enchants, I find that the Icescale Leg Armor. If you're a Leatherworker, you can stick with the Nerubian Leg Reinforcements.

Unless you're an engineer or tailor, you'll be better off with the 22+ Agility for your back.
When looking for a chest enchant, +10 stats to the chest is the best.

And for your weapon? In my opinion, I'd say Berserking, then Mongoose, then Massacre then Executioner.


Gemming

Meta - when at all possible, stick with Relentless Earthsiege Diamond.

Red - Fractured Cardinal Ruby only AFTER You have reached 400~500 ArPen. Before that, agility is the way to go, so if you're not at that point, gem with Delicate Cardinal Ruby.

Blue - I find myself sticking Nightmare Tears in blue sockets. When I don't worry about socket bonuses, I socket with the two red gems mentioned above.

Yellow - Up to your discretion. If the socket bonus isn't worth it, I'd just stick one of the two red gems. If you think it's worth it, then go ahead and decide between an Accurate Ametrine, Glinting Ametrine or a Deft Ametrine.


Caps & Facts!

Hit cap when you're fighting a level 80 is 5% or 163.95 hit rating. If the target is level 83+, our hit cap is 8% or 262.32 hit rating.

Expertise rating is something that I found a lot of melee players overlooked in my old guild. It is quite an important stat, since it lessens the chance of getting parried or dodged. You should always be behind your target. You need 26 expertise rating (213.13) to be "capped". However, you SHOULD have taken Primal Precision in your talent build, which automatically gives you 10 expertise rating.


DPS Rotation, whaaaa!

To be truly honest, I find that kitty DPS does NOT have a set rotation. This makes the class more exciting and fun to play -for me, as I do not have to spam 1,1,1,3,1,1,2.

That being said, here are some pointers on what to do whilst DPSing.

*Always keep Savage Roar, Mangle and Rake up.
*When you have 5 combo points and you have Savage Roar up, proceed to slap Rip on your target.

Most importantly, try to have fun. I've met people who have walked away frustrated with the kitty's DPS and rotation and stats and stuff. But it is quite honestly my favorite DPS class. And if worst comes knocking on your door? At least keep an ear out for the awesome feline sound your druid makes when you fire up Savage Roar.

Happy Hunting!

~LB

Tale Seventy Two: Notice

*Hangs up the "Shop is Closed" sign*

I'll be going on vacation on Saturday so if you don't hear from me, you'll know why.

A quick note before I disappear: I cannot express how happy I am over the Catalysm raid changes. As someone who loves doing, leading and being a part of stricly 10 mans, I am glad that we will no longer will be the odd ones out: doing the same amount of work as 25 mans but not getting the same loot. This way, we'll ALL on equal footing. I'm sure people who enjoy 25 mans will surely keep that raid size alive. But for quiet little old me... 10 mans is the way to go.

Cheers!

Tale Seventy One: Dealing with Raiding in a in a casual guild.

The guild LB is in right now has a rather interesting spin on it... it's doing raiding in a casual atmosphere. What's interesting about that, right? Lots of people do it!

Well, in the guild, raiding is expected by at least 50% of it. The other 50% are retired toons, casual players that have only about 1 hr a day to play, players that WANT to play but have school/work/kids. Players that LOVE to PvP but raid only once in a blue moon. Players who play with their kids.

I just started noticing the...division? I guess, that's the word... since our guild master Grimm left for personal reasons. Since then, I've been promoted to officer and hilariously enough, I've been playing the game less.

Since Grimm left, the ranks changed as well... I'm not saying it's a bad thing. But I've never been a fan of having ranks according to how much you raid. Especially NOT in a casual guild where half the guild doesn't even raid. We've had a player playing with us since the guild existed -so five years. And all the sudden he gets demoted to just "member" or whatever the hell the rank is... and I don't know. It just doesn't seem right to me that he gets to be at the bottom of the food chain just because he doesn't like to sit on his ass for 4 hours a night. I realize that ranks don't mean anything in RL life... but in game, I'd be pissed if me being in the guild with the rank Member for 2 years has to watch as the New Guy gets promoted to Ubber Awesome just because he raids ALL THE TIME.

There has to be a balance, surely. Or maybe this is the casual me in a casual guild.

*sigh*

Tale Seventy: WHAT THE CRAP, BLIZZARD!

If I wanted to see my armor when I heal, I'd go and roll a priest, shaman, or paladin. The druids mojo is the SHAPESHIFT! That's what brought many of us to the class, the simple fact that we get to shift into a bear to tank, a cat or owlkin to dps or tree to heal.

None of the other specs are being pushed to dps or tank in their "caster form". Why should us healers!

Come ON Blizzard! So what if we can't dps in tree form. WE'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO! THAT'S WHAT OWLKIN IS FOR!

Disappointing preview for catalysm. No new resto ability, a shiny "OH LOOK FLOWERS UNDER PEOPLE YOU JUST HEALED" and ToL on Cooldown.

Tale Sixty Nine: Real Life Ding!

As the tittle suggests, it's my real life birthday!

This weekend has been tons of fun with lots of food and laughter, and of course in guild banter... of my age. Bah! ;)

Tale Sixty Eight: Healing is a Trust Game

Today, it struck me "healing is very much a trust game."

And you know at what precise moment it hit me? Moments after I was hit by another vehicle today. I'm not sure why I thought that, and at that moment. But I did.

You see, when you're on the road, you expect -or rather- trust, that the other drivers will follow the rules of the road. And if they don't follow the rules of the road, you just hope to God that whatever the hell they're doing keeps you alive.

Same with healing. In a raid, you hope to the WoW Gods that your healers keep you alive. Without healers, there is no raid. Same goes for tanks and DPS, but at the moment, we're sticking with tanks.

When I was "healing coordinator" in After Hours, I would make evaluate how well the healers did together. Why? Because, as silly as it sounds, healers need to have some sort of chemistry. I've run into so many groups (especially PuGs) where one healers is over healing because they don't trust the other healer. Or where they have amazing healing potential but they keep blaming each other because one heal didn't go off or X person didn't heal enough...

I've also found that while in guild raids, us healers trust too much. For example, I feel completely safe and sure of what I'm doing when I heal with Grimm, Mr. Littlebark or Apadwa from my guild. When others from my guild heal with me, I still trust them, but I'm still on my toes with them in case it's needed. It's almost mechanical. I know what my healing team will cast, what they'll use, what their OH SHI- buttons are.

So to sum this all up: healing is very much a trust game.

Tale Sixty Seven: Block'ed

This is what I stares at when I tank.

It is very big.

Tale Sixty Six: Blog Makeover!

If you've walked in here and are wondering what on earth is going on and who is this anyways, it's okay.

This is still Littlebark. Just less bark and more claws.

I'm shifting the content of this blog to resto/feral instead of resto/whatever fluff post I want.

I have to thank Jaedia, for being taking the time to do the header for me. It's great, its much bettert han what I had drawn out in my head. So, thank you Jaedia!

If not for her... I would have done the blog makeover and it would have looked something like this:

Tale Sixty Five: Bloggers Unite!

If you haven't heard already, many bloggers on the blogsphere have joined a guild called Single Abstract Noun on the Argent Dawn (US & EU).

You see, this all began with Tamarind. Yes.

I stumbled on Jaedia's blog and saw she'd made a Horde Shammy alt. Nothing out of the ordinary, right?

Here, I'll quote her:

"Single Abstract Noun is a guild made on Argent Dawn EU Horde-side for the blogging community. I would like to add, that the blogging community isn’t purely made up of bloggers, but also readers."

Damn, I thought. EU Horde side.

But wait! There's more.

Miss Medicina has started a US sister guild to Single Abstract Noun, on the Argent Dawn US server. You have to be Alliance though, because that is the faction that was chosen.

I don't know when the guild was formed but as of 11:45 Thrusday night, there are 102 member in the guild. G Chat is very lively. It's neat seeing so many bloggers in the guild!

So if you want to have fun, chill out and just chat... come join us. Bloggers and readers alike are welcome. You can whisper anyone (I believe) and they'll be able to shoot you a ginvite!

LittleBark.0I'veLostCount

Tale Sixty Four: WoW Karma

- Somewhere in the cold North -

Mr. LB: So! We can upgrade your Deadly hand to Furious. You only need like... 9 more Triumph badges? Lets go do the weekly, then I'll tank the last bit that you need.

Me: Okay! After the weekly, I'll need... *looks at Mr. LB expectantly*

Mr. LB: Anyways, after the weekly we'll need a dungeon with 4 bosses. Like UP -

Me: Gundrak.

Mr. LB: Or the one that you hate.

Me: AN?

Mr. LB: What? No. That one is easy-

Me: It's annoying...

Mr. LB: and only has 3 bosses. The OTHER one you hate.

Me: *crossing my arms* Nu-uh. Forget it. I won't do Occulus.

Mr. LB: Oh come on. It's easy now! And you get extra badges at the end. And a chance at a mount.

Me: I have flight form, and I only need 4 badges after the weekly. I know it's easy now. But it's the principle of the thing. Occulus is my nemesis!

- One hour later -

Mr. LB: Okay, let's do your Random for your Frost Badges.

Me: Okay! *happily clicks "healer" and waits for the instant pop up*

..........

Mr. LB: *Burts out laughing as the Occulus loading screen comes on*

Tale Sixty Three: I Is Helping Out

For Averna, who switches her mounts when she takes a long trip so they don't get worn out.

Yes, I am totally carrying my mount in flight form. I got tons of whispers because I am SOOOO OP!

<3

PS: I seriously love that glitch.

Tale Sixty Two: I really dislike PuGs.

Suprise, right?

You'll hear me say this quite often in game: "I swear, if I could give a yelling to the elitist asshole who made GearScore, I WOULD!"

Which is really not fair to him. I'm sure he's not elitist or an asshole, just someone who made a mod up and people started misusing it.

Yeah, that's right. I went there, you direspectful, uncaring, idiot PuG raid leaders of Cenarius.

You see, Gearscore was supposed to measure a "score" based on your gear. For example, a freshly dinged 80 has a GS of around 3000. If you only do 10 mans, you have a GS of 5.3ish. And 25 mans? Closer to 6.0K.

However, some PuG leaders view this thing as A BIBLE. I don't have 25 man achievements for ICC, but I do for 10 mans. I have a GS of 5.3k. Mr. Littlebark has made his Shadow Priest his main for now, so I whispered a RL and told him my predicament. I have high GS + 10 Achievements. Mr. LB no achievements on Shadow Priest but a horde of them of his Pally.

"Need Achieve to get in or high GS. Not bringing people that need explanation or stand in shit and achievements rule out 80% of that."

I promptly said thank you, and declined the invite.

I understand what he's trying to do. But what irks me is this. With the new badge vendor system, you can grind heroics and get all ICC entry level gear -without going into a raid. Hence not knowing where to stand or knowing the fights.

*sigh*

This is a rant. The RL had no way of knowing that Mr. LB does know the fights and in fact led raids for almost 6 months, knows where to stand and has a couple of tricks up his sleeve.

I guess it's too much to ask for RL of Cenarius to just hold hands and sing "Kumbaya".

Tale Sixty One: Changes

So.

LB Night Elf is no more.

It broke my heart but as of last night, After Hours is no more. A turmoil of events in my life have come up and it left me and Mr. Littlebark feeling like we weren't giving 110% of ourselves to the guild. We weren't having fun with leading and it was stressful handling that and real life at the same time.

Real life was a bitch about it too, though. I got a promotion at work from a mere receptionist to the Assistant Marketing Director. I'm thrilled, I truly am. My hours are from 8:30-5:00 now instead of 3:30-9:00. I'm making more money and I get to have a say at meetings. It's a great feeling instead of being someone who "just answers phones". Sadly, this means no more late night guild.

My grandmother was sick a couple of weeks ago, and thankfully is slowly getting better. However, like only old ladies can do, she's making the recovering process slower by not drinking water because "it doesn't taste yummy with her donuts." I love the woman to death, seeing as she raised me, but now that she's fighting a urinary tract and kidney infection... it makes me head explode.

We're also moving houses. Which means weeks of no internet. Very hard to lead a raid with no internet. We'll be stealing wi-fi from a neighbour (don't worry, we know him) but its not steady for hard core raiding.

I actually cried last night over the break of my guild. These people became my friends and companions. I laughed, sweared, cheered and accomplished things with them.

Doc, Misty & Thatguy... you guys came to us as a unit and I'm glad you did. I've never met a Dad, Son, Stepmom team but you guys did it perfectly and with so much humor it was always so much fun. I'll always remember the "my dad says (insert whatever you liked in here) it gives me herpes" and Thatguy making fun of my ugly leaves. Misty, you're always so quiet and sweet but so kind. Doc, you're just great, man. You brought comedy into our laid back guild.

Steve/Aphaea/Lacrimosa/Man of a million toons, you're just amazing awesome for taking over the website. Seriously. My hero. And your motormouth? I like it.

Raagz, my awersome strategist. You could have been in a hard core guild. You have the DPS, the attitude and the drive for it. But you stuck with us because as you put it, "I'd rather stick with people I like than a couple of pixels."

Shinear, holy moley. You are a great guy and quite possibly my favorite dwarf (just don't tell Doc!) I remember you from our very start. When we almost threw in the towel, you were the one that reminded us that great things don't happen overnight. You're very right, my friend. We made a hell of a guild.

Maulic. My silent suidice bomber of fears. You never said much but did your job. My favorite memory of you? Something like this:

*In TOC*
Mr. Littlebark: So we'll have so and so lock down the shammy and have Maulic run in and scatter them all with with his fear-

*5 seconds later, you see this Night Elf warrior charge in and cast his fear. All of us stare at him, watch him die, them promptly get slaughtered ourselves*

Larkyn, you are by far the coolest Mom I've met. You play WoW! Enough said.

And... that was our core. You were After Hours. Now go out there, kill the Bitch, I mean Lich King and make me proud.

Tale Sixty One: After Arthas

The Shared Topic at Blog Azeroth this week is: Now what?

Well, not exactly that but what happens to you and your character after the Lich King has been defeated.

This is an interesting question for me. Mr. Littlebark has said more than once that once the Lich King is defeated, that’s it for him. He’s been playing WoW since the beginning and this is “the end of the story for him”.

For Littlebark… I don’t know. When I read the Shared Topic, the RP’er in me came out and this is what I wrote down:

The armor fell.

She stared at Frostmourne, then at Prince Arthas as what little life was left in him gave out. The throne was deadly quiet and in that moment, echoes of the past floated into her head. So many dead, lost and tortured. A great weight from her shoulders was lifted and she sunk to her knees, crying out in victory.

“Praise Elune!” cried Littlebark, sending a quick prayer of thanks to the Gods.

Helmets, swords and cheering erupted. They crowded around the body, some going as far as spitting on it.

Sadness washed over Littlebark, seeing the broken body of an ambitious prince. No respect for his noble deeds when his evil ones overshadowed his good soul. A young man who tried to save his Kingdom made a mistake… and this is how it ended for him.

The druids –Night Elves and Tauren alike- set up camp to the side. They came in all shape and forms, quiet forms in the group. Their silence echoed their feelings: a victory at a great cost.

The gates opened up, causing everyone to turn around quickly and ready to fight for their lives.

Instead, the forces of the Horde and Alliance alike flooded the room. Littlebark could not take her eyes off Jaina Proudmoore, who was weeping silently into her hands.

She crossed the room silently, handing the Lady a handerchief. Jaina grabbed it slowly, offering a weak smile.

Littlebark looked at the floor, frowning slightly, “sometimes I wonder what good it is to be a healer, if I can’t heal the wounds that hurt the most.”

Jaina’s warm hand clasped Littlebark’s, “Marisannah-“

“Littlebark,” she interrupted quickly, a blush crossing her face, “please.”

A stronger smile graced Jaina’s face, “Littlebark… this pain is deep. But it needs its own medicine to heal.”

“I…I lost my best friend and lover to the Scourge. I’m just sorry that you had to go through it too.”

“I didn’t loose him to the Scourge,” Jaina said quickly.

With her eyes on Arthas, Littlebark breathed, “I beg your pardon, my Lady… but that sure looks like it to me.”

*** **** **** ****

I see Littlebark going back to a little house in the forest near Darnassus. Settling down for a little bit.

But once she feels the first earthquake made by Deathwing, she’ll be back in town, reporting for duty.

~LB

Tale Sixty: Blogging Me-Me

I realize that I never made a resolution’s list or anything of the type. In fact, I think I barely acknowledged the fact that we rang in 2010 at The Tree Unleashed.

I’m not a fan of resolutions, just because when I break them, I mope for about 2 weeks. But I do like this blogger me-me that I think will help me put my thoughts into perspective. I found it over at The Tree of Life.

1. How long have you been blogging? What made you start? Who inspired you?
I started my first tale in June of ’09. I’m still a sprouting in the forest, or so it seems. Unlike many bloggers out there, I wasn’t inspired by Phaelia (Resto4Life). In fact, I had never heard of her until I stumbled on her blog after she’d stopped blogging. What got me started on blogging was a blog by the name of A Tale of Two Druids (who has stopped blogging as well). She had wonderful posts of gear and such, and it inspired me to attempt blogging.

2. About how many hours a week would you estimate you spend on your blog?
Honestly, it feels like 24/7. I don’t post much, but in my USB stick, I have a ton of posts that may or may not get posted. I spend a lot of my time researching, reading and learning about my class, and the only reason that more educational posts don’t end up here is because I am rubbish at math and feel like I’m not qualified to write posts like that.

3. What kind of experience or background do you have with writing?
Throughout my Jr. High (Middle School) years, I was part of a Spanish/French/English (now you know my culture!) Youth Newspaper; the highlight of this getting to interview Cirque du Soleil when they were in my hometown. Once I graduated from Jr. High, I was a part of a city wide Youth Newspaper and got to interview several bands and such. Now, I’m a closet writer. I write stories that I’m sure will never get published.

4. Talk about how you come up with blog topics. Where do you get your ideas? What or who inspires you? Where and/or how do your brainstorming?
My ideas and posts come mostly from experiences in the game, or other blogs. I don’t really get inspired by a single thing, just a bunch of little ideas that get written down. I do most of my pre-writing, editing and brainstorming at work, and when I get home, I do my second edit, adding in hyperlinks and publish.

5. Do you have any blogging rules or guidelines you follow? Is there anything you will not blog about?
No rules or guidelines. I think there was only one post that I was nervous posting, which was the one where I respectfully disagreed over everyone’s negativity over the Blizzard Store selling the virtual pets. I’ve written about the girl gamer issues in WoW. I’ve written about Healbot vs Grid vs Vuhdo. I think the only other thing I can blog about that can stir up controversy is ……?

6. Do you have any sort of a publishing schedule in terms of day of week or topic? Where do you do your writing?
No. I found out that if I put a schedule for myself, I tend not to keep it. I write and publish as my mood sees fit. Sometimes I feel like researching and such, other times, it doesn’t feel write. I try –not sure if I succeed- to at least publish one post a week. Again, I do most of my blogging from work.

7. How many drafts of potential blog posts do you have right now? In what medium do you draft your posts? How often do you completely scratch or delete drafts or blog post ideas?
I have 4-6 posts right now that may or may not get published, for whatever reason. I draft my posts in Word before I transfer them to the Blogger platform. I have never deleted a blog –no matter how much I hate how I’ve written it. I find that I might hate it now, but I might be able to say it better later on.

8. If you had to leave your blog in your will to another blogger, who would you choose? To ask this in a slightly less morbid way, are there other blogs that you feel are similar to yours in content, style, or voice?
I’m still new to the blogging world… but I’d have to say that Averna or Caliban would have to take over in the fun/wow adventures posts and Keeva or Lissanna for the druid serious posts (though those two are SO much serious than I could ever be).

9. Has anything surprised you since you started blogging?
Yes. That I’ve actually stuck with it and love it! That I’m part of a big blogging community that at least 80% of the WoW players (that don’t blog) don’t know about.

10. What are your goals or plans for your blog going forward? Any specific goals or plans for your blog in 2010?
I am hoping that for my birthday, Mr. Littlebark will get my hints and buy me my own hosted site. Other than that, I’m hoping to write more Druid related posts.

Tale Fifty Nine: Failing at Healing?

No, not quite failing. But I am beating myself over the fact that a pally is beating me at healing.

Now, I know that shammies chain heal spam and pallies Holy Light Spam.

So where does that leave me? At the bottom of the recount meters and with the most Overhealing done.

It's frustrating in the sense that this pally just started raiding with us (it's Mr. Littlebark's pally, sinking his toes into some raiding again) and he's already beating me. This also used to happen with his shammy (but then again, I can never beat shammies.)

So, it got me thinking. Am I doing something wrong? I'm rocking the Revitalize Spec (18/0/53) instead of the Living seed, since our pally tanks were having mana problems and my Living Seed ended up being an overheal anyways.

At the moment, my current stats are as follows:
Bonus Healing: 2148
Crit Rating: 17.12%
Haste Rating: 513
Mana Regen: 789

I feel like my spell power is much too low, my haste rating is still a work in progress, and for some reason my crit is really low.

Anyways, this post is more of a "speaking to myself" kind of post. I was hoping maybe putting it on paper might help me spot out the problem.

Or maybe I am over analyzing this, which wouldn't be something new.

Anyways, they say that two heads is better than one. Then I imagine that whoever sees this, and spots the problem head is better than just my head.

Thoughts and maybe suggestions are appreciated. I feel like I'm not giving 100% to my guild and I really hate that feeling.

Tale Fifty Eight: When LFG picks up the worst of the worst.

I've had a wonderful experience with the LFG Tool. It's been great and fun. However last night was just... oh god. I'll let the images speak for themselves.

Moral of the story: why the hell would you sign up as a tank when you're clearly RET SPEC? Also, we had a DK that d/c'ed at the start (his name is Raithor... who had SP on his wrist, no gems in his sockets, no enchant, nada.)

On a side note, I've been tanking the lower level dungeons on Artaius-my baby druid. I would like to remind everyone: please let the tank pull, especially if your tank is a druid or a warrior. We need rage to attack, and we can't get rage unless a mob is hitting on us.

Have a safe and happy weekend!

Tale Fifty Seven: How to Lady Bitchwhisper. Um. Deathwhisper. (10)

How to: Lady Deathwhisperpicture source: MMO Champion

Lady Deathwhisper is the second boss in the lower spire. She’s very much like Kel'Thuzad in Naxxaramas or Novos the Summoner in Drak’Tharon Keep in the sense that she protects herself with a shield before she becomes attackable. To get her to drop her shield, your DPS must drain her mana (by attacking her. So you can go ahead and take off that Viper Sting, hunter.)

Every 30 seconds, 3 adds come out from the left or right side of the room. From the right, it will always be 2 Adherents and 1 Fanatic. The left will be 2 Fanatics, and 1 Adherent.

Adherents can only be attacked by melee (that do not use magic) DPS.
Fanatics can be attacked by magic casters.

Every so often, she empowers an add. It will pump out AoE damage. Wild Growth and Rejuv as necessary.

Also, because –you know- there’s not enough damage going already, she randomly throws out shadowbolts at people. They hit for around 9k. I find that putting a Rejuv on them works.

She has an ability called Death and Decay. It’s the green (instead of a DK’s normal red one) and it hurts. Wild Growth the group and get out ASAP.

If you can dispel curses (which, if you’re a druid, you can), dispel.

Oh. By the way? That’s just phase one.

Phase two is much easier. After she almost runs out of mana (I believe its 3mill), she breaks out of her shield and starts to attack. Our tanks place her off the altar as we found that if they tank her up there, it’s easy to go out of the healer’s line of sight.

Your DPS has to worry about interrupting her annoying Frostbolts and getting out of the Death and Decay.

Ghosts (called Vengeful Shade) rise up every so often. If they’re chasing you, then run away from them! If they touch you, they cast Vengeful Blast. It hurts you and anyone around you. And if its just your bad luck, you could get a Death and Decay dropped on top of you. And because she’s such a bitch, she might also decide to Frostbolt at that exact moment. And it’s the only Frostbolt that night that the DPS didn’t interrupt.

SPLAT.

All this time, your tanks will be getting a debuff called Touch of Insignificance. No way to dispel it, so burn the boss down fast!

Useful Loot for a Resto Druid:

Boots of the Frozen Seed

Bracers of Dark Blessings

Tale Fifty Six: How to Lord Morrowgar (10)

How To: Lord Morrowgar (10) picture source: Mmo-Champion


Lord Morrowgar is the first boss in the Lower Spire located in the raid Icecrown Citadel.

We split our three healers into three sections (Left, Middle, Right). Whichever side you’re on, you are responsible for healing people in your range (duh, right?) Lord Morrowgar does a Saber Lash that will eat the tank unless both tanks are stacked on each other. Keep your HoTs on them rolling.

Every so often, he will grab either a healer or a DPS and plant them on a Bone Spike. This does around 9k damage and it only keeps dropping so again, HoTs and a quick Nourish if it gets to low.

He will throw a blue fire called Coldflame. Get out of it ASAP. Throw a Rejuv on whoever it goes towards incase they stand in it or there’s lag issue.

And last and not least, he does a Bone Storm. Keep Barkskin up and GET THE HELL AWAY FROM HIM! Wild Growth + scattering Rejuvs on the raid is a good idea.

Rinse and Repeat!

Loot Useful for Resto Druids:
Sliver of Pure Ice
Cord of Patronizing Practitioner