Like a Goblin between two Taurens

Level 52

I was in a Zul’Farrak run and tanking between a mele shammy Tauren and another warrior Tauren and boy did I feel small. If I was a Gnome I would have thought I would be dinner for sure. But alas I was using my mighty Gobby power to compensate for my lack of ability to see over the two hamburger heads. To me, they seemed like the typical (and dare I say male…ok I did) Tauren’s who use their stature to compensate for lack in /cough other areas of their anatomy. Then I thought to myself…am I being too harsh, am I being prejudiced against my fellow Horde comrade in arms. Sure they might have big shoulders and no necks that one might commonly find at use as a NFL left tackle or Bulldogs Rugby League player, but Taurens are people too. (Hey even I have a lil Tauren druid as a back alt)

It did, however, get me thinking about why we choose the particular race for our characters and whether it says something about who we are or conversely, who we would like to be in our online lives. Then what does Bree say about me? Sassy with attitude? Hmm those who know me in RL would highly doubt that. I have been playing Asphodel more and more lately back in my first stable guild Alliance side where I raced changed her to human where she had previously had been a Nelf warrior. More so the fact that I preferred the racials but somehow now that I am playing this character as a human, it feels better. (And no its not because of her assets but somehow I think Horde missed out when the Blizzard gods were handing out parts of anatomy…I mean how to Dwarf’s stand up? But alas I think that is a whole other debate all together)

Then there are male characters who prefer to play female toons for the simple fact that if you are staring at someone’s butt, then why not make is a pretty one? I suppose that is why Lara Croft was so popular. Though how many female players run around pew pewing on male toons? Not as many.

Anyway, while I am spending more time with my Alliance toons, and less time with Bree, I thought it was an interesting idea to blog about. It is not as if I am anti Tauren, it’s more the fact they seem to be played by a particular type and I wondered if it was just me. And in most of these cases it probably is. And what is on the menu for tonight’s dinner. Well its beef of course! Cut up into little pieces and tenderised in the slow cooker. mmm

So, alas I have been tanking more on Asphodel and happy with her gear, although I still need to work on her stats. (WTB more mastery) I have also been Raid Leader for a couple of raids now (have even successfully tanked old LK) and have started to move into cata content. Finally! Although I have enjoyed it so far, being a Raid Leader isn’t always fun. I mean it’s all of the organising but it also gets a lot of flak, especially from guild members who aren’t happy as they have either 1) missed out on the raid or 2) failed to win any gear. So I try to  be as fair as I can by looking at who signs up and then taking into account what roles need to be filled versus who has the right gear etc. 16 people can’t fit into a 10 man raid also bringing 4 mages just doesn’t make sense no matter how op mages are. In the end it comes down to a balance of being as fair as I can to everyone while still making an effective run. I mean we still have to be able to run the raid without wiping 10 times on the first boss because dps is too low or there aren’t enough raid heals. So of course I have been feeling it this week making the difficult decisions. But I still want to be the one making them. /sigh

Scarlet...Main...Whatever

The new patch has arrived and before I get too preoccupied with gearing the grownups and venturing into the Firelands, I should spend some time with Breë. (Before she becomes even angrier with me.) Also the Midsummer Festival is on and I also promised myself to complete all the world events to get the Strange Long Trip on my Lock and juggling has been a pain. Anyway, patch day always provides me with headaches. I do not play naked. And before you start thinking what I know you are thinking, I am referring to addons. I rely on Omen, Bartender, Recount, Quartz to name a few to get me through. Addon trouble combined with the unreliability of my cable Internet service provider made my first week of vacation frustrating to say the least. (Though I am not complaining about the tall dark and handsome technician knocking at my door mid lunch)

 I feel that I should try and get Breë to 85 so I can talk about all the endgame stuff but I am in no rush. I think it is going to be a challenge to get through all the classic dungeons before I even think about Throne of Tides. Who even runs Lower Black Rock Spire at a required level anymore? It would be easier if Breë was in a levelling guild, or a guild at all for that matter, but I think finding a group to tank the more epic classic dungeons is going to be more difficult than what I first imagined.

Stratholme

Stratholme has now been divided into two sections. The Main gate that uses the main entrance, (obviously) and the Service Entrance, which no longer requires the key. The Scarlet…Undead…Main Gate side has Balnazzar as the final boss and to get the dungeon achievement one must finish the Scourge, Undead, Service entrance  Lord Aurius Rivendare. There are also “tiggered” bosses as well.

 So the first half was running around and thunder clapping and pretty much more thunder clapping as mobs went everywhere…

The journey to 50

I am still slowly making my way through all of the classic dungeons. Trying to make the journey interesting with the goal of end game content in mind isn’t the easiest task, especially with thought of grinding rep for gear later on. Nevertheless one has to stop and smell the roses and appreciate the vanilla content while one can. On previous alts the process has more been a mad dash to level, therefore I haven’t really looked at all the nuances in the various dungeons along the way. (Drunk Dancing Ogres in Dire Maul for one) It probably explains why I need to look at the map every five minutes and rely on helpful pug members who know where they are going.

So far there has not been any drama and I understand the role better than my first attempts at tanking. Although work and RL have caught up with me I must confess that I have also been gearing my other warrior on the side. Yes there is another woman and she is human!

I am still going to level Breë and get her to the Cata content. (Hopefully during my next lot of holidays) I think Breë Has definitely made Asphodel a better tank and vice versa. And in the long run I will blog about gear and stats and all that sort of jargon. (once I reforge and work out my diminishing returns, lol)

The Scarlet Monastery

This instance has been divided into various sections; completed at different levels.

Graveyard

Familiar to those who have chased after the Headless Horseman, the Graveyard is the first section of the Scarlet Monastery. This is one of those instances where everyone is like gogogo.

The Graveyard is fairly short and straightforward. The first run though I managed to find one of the rare elite spawns

 

Library

I had my first wipe! Saying that it probably was the most fun I had in a wipe. Ironically it was straight after the healer said “Bree you are doing a great job tanking” JINX I went in to pull a few a group and I think I pulled too many. No one complained and no one dropped the group. Although I continued the instance more conservatively, it was another great run. Due to the many tunnels, there are slight los issues but they are not too bad. The only thing that was a concern was when another group member got aggro and ran away from me so that they were too far away for me to taunt. Don’t run away from the tank.

Armory

The Armory is again gogogo, racing to the last boss, Herod. Although his whirlwind ability did hurt, it was a straightforward fight, even when the 20 trainees spawn. They can be aoe-ed down quite easily.

Cathedral

No, it’s not Will and Kate and the wedding of the year but alas the final section of the dungeon. I am glad that keys are no longer required. Who has been there before, the queue pops and everyone is ready but no one has keys and you are left stranded knocking on the door but nobody wants to let you in. I think by the time I got to here, I was just glad to get the achievement over and done with. I am not sure whether this was due to the bad ZG random beforehand on an alt or the fact it seemed the felhound seemed to be making a better tank than me, some days feel as if you are just going through the motions. You know what I mean?

 

Overall, The Scarlet Monastery is a good instance to tank and to experiment with how many mobs one can pull and keep aggro on, just remember to ensure that your healer knows what you have planned and is right behind you.

Maraudon and Razorfen Kraul

Maraudon

Level 38

I must be having a run of good luck as this instance was the most fun that I have had tanking so far. I only queued for the Wicked Grotto but we continued and finished the instance, getting the achievement by killing the Princess, much to the surprise of and delight of everyone else in the group. We didn’t complete the Foulspore Cavern (so I should go back and queue for that one). The group worked well together and provided useful advice: like kiting the green slims and to tank the Princess in the middle. (On a side note the look of her aoe damage is interesting to say the least).

This instance is useful in considering positioning, where you position the mob in relation to the group. Whilst in here with my tanking swagger, I put my back against the handy placed cavern wall to reduce knockback effects. I am definitely becoming more aware of how I position myself as well, so I can see everything else that is going on, especially when mobs take off after someone else.

Razorfen Kraul

Level 39

Razorfen Kraul is the ancestral home of the quilboar. You know, those mobs that make that squealing piggy noise just before they go squish. Had another good group but I was having Internet issues. I dc-ed towards the end but I wasn’t kicked (even though I had to reset my modem.) I dc-ed again during the last escort too. I suppose that it was just one of those days. Nevertheless we managed to finish the instance and got the achievement to boot.

Gnomeregan and When is it Right to Kick?

Gnomeregan

Level 32

Ok so I must admit before I mustered the courage to tank Gnomer I ran a higher alt through the instance first. I think the trickiest thing about the instance is knowing your way around; so I did my research and worked out the path before I took the step to press “I”. While running through on Bree it felt good to have the knowledge that I knew where I was heading, which provided extra confidence in allowing to put on my 'tank face'. In fact afterwards I came to realise that it wasn’t so tricky after all.

Even though I knew where I was going the ret paladin jumped prematurely while the rest of us took the pathway down to the Engineering Labs to kill the boss down there. I am not sure what happened to the pally but that was the last time that we saw him. He remained in the group but we finished the instance without his help. The only deaths occurred during the fight where the mobs are coming out through the tunnels; the rocks came down and killed party members who were standing too close.

One thing that this particular instance brought up is the question of when it is okay to kick a member from the group. I don’t know about you, but when I go and do a random dungeon I ensure that I first repair my gear and that there is plenty of space in my bags. But it seems in the last couple of instances, including this run, that people were not ready and had to port out. In the Gnomer run one person ported out and then when they came back, another person decided that they had to do something else first and ported out too. (Maybe the question should be why aren’t we prepared when the random pops?) The latter was promptly kicked. Now I am the worst person when it comes to confrontation and I rarely begin the vote to kick a group member, however, it seemed that the first person’s absence was tolerated but when someone else decided to follow suit, that was not accepted. Yet when the previously mentioned pally jumped on his own and became lost, no one kicked him? So when is it polite to kick a group member? I have been kicked before on other toons and I know I Bree will face being kicked; I suppose I just have to try and not take is personally.

Blackfathom Deeps and Stormwind Stockade

Blackfathom Deeps

Level 28

Blackfathom Deeps was the first instance I ever completed. I thought, “wow this is cool”, running around killing things with other people. This was before I knew anything about mechanics and class abilities. Needless to say I didn’t get the achievement the first try; the group dissolved after a wipe on the last boss. In fact the first try I struggled to make it past the broken bridge where you have to jump across the sections to get to the other side.  Bree’s first attempt was more successful in that it was completed (and I actually made the jumps first attempt /woot) but I can’t say that it was as completely satisfying as the previous tanking endeavours. I had my first death. /cry  Well not my own but the healer died twice from mobs that I didn’t see coming. (either did the healer or anyone else for that matter) The healer promptly “disconnected” as was soon kicked from the group. The second healer, however, did not die once.

The second issue was trying to hold aggro. If I kept losing aggro to the feral druid 2 levels higher than me, how am I going to manage with a fire mage all dressed in purples?

Stormwind Stockade

Level 29

The Stocks, however, was another story. It was clean and enjoyable. The reason why this was most enjoyable was that not only do you get to kill Hogger at the end, but I also gained Warbringer in my talent tree, which allows you to use Charge in any stance. The Stocks is a neat instance to Charge into a mob, Battle Shout to generate rage and Thunderclap. Through in a Rend before Thunderclap and with Blood and Thunder, the Rend affects every target.

Now I need to work out how to get around Gnomer...