“Sometimes, the winner is the one who is able to let go and move on. Wise people know when to do so.”

Well, those of you on Twitter have been kept up to date with the goings on in my current guild. I wasn't involved in any of the drama that went on, so I won't be talking about the details. In a nutshell, the guild almost died. The Ex-GM himself wrote that it was dead, and closed down the website.

When we discovered that it happened, it was incredibly sad. I actually feel like for a couple of days I mourned. It was sad that so many people had left, and it was sad that the guild which had worked so hard to get to the top, was taking a massive tumble.

Originally our plans were to stay with the guild. It was taken over by an Officer and I fully expected it to recover after everyone was over the initial shock. However, there were a couple of days that I logged on to see only a few people online and no chat and as is human nature we began to wonder what else was around in the big wide world of Azeroth.

We wondered if we should move to another guild on the server, that way we would still see familiar faces, we wondered if we should even give Alliance a try, we thought about moving to the realm that Sister-in-Law plays on (but she has just got a brand new job so won't be playing much, if at all) We had an offer from a friend on Twitter which seemed like a good possibility until I realised that he is on the American servers. We discussed our options for a few days, but we decided that the major issue, and one of the reasons why the guild was so affected when people left is because Blade's Edge EU - is really really quiet.

So then we decided maybe we should do something really radical, maybe we should move realms and factions! So we created a level one character on a number of possible destinations and headed to the city to check out the feel of the place and the population, and the atmosphere. We had to really ask ourselves why we wanted to move. Is it because we are falling out of interest with the game and we have 'grass is greener' mentality, and we are trying to inject life and interest back into WoW? If that was the reason, moving would certainly have made matters worse. I've seen a few players who have moved realms, but because it was for the wrong reasons, they have gone back after a short stay, or just left WoW completely.

We are moving, because it's time to move on. It is time for me to experience WoW from another aspect. It is good to change things around and the fact that I'll miss players from our guild and realm means its a good time to move. We can look fondly on the time we spent on the realm, and I'll always be appreciative of the fact that <Drama> took me in when I was a complete newbie, and I feel like because of them I've grown into a much better player. I'm fond of everyone in Drama, and want to extend a massive Thank You to everyone.

We had got the feel of a server we liked...a PvP server - Sylvanas EU and we decided to go Alliance aswell. Just as we were finalising when we should transfer, we discovered that the Guild was going to be rebuilt. Old players were coming back and they are currently in the process of putting it back together, to something similar to what it always set out to be - before it lost its way. This made us stop for a moment,what were our plans? Should we stay? Or should we go?

It didn't take us long to come to our decision. We had gotten itchy feet. I wanted to move. The guild I'm sure will get back to it's former glory, especially in the hands of some very experienced and dedicated players - but it doesn't alter the status of the realm. It is not, nor ever was <Drama> that was dead. It's the realm. With that in mind, we emptied our mailboxes, cancelled our auctions and said farewells. (I would just like to point out, we didn't announce in guild chat that we were leaving because we left the same day the guild was taken over by Viene and we didn't want to seem like we left because of that. On the contrary, he knows I think he is an awesome guy who will get the guild on  its feet in no time at all!)

Comparing Orgrimmar on Blade's Edge with Stormwind on Sylvanas:

 (Photos taken just a couple of minutes apart)

The main areas in each city.

The sky above the cities.

The Innkeepers.

Transfer complete, I created my new Draenei Death Knight, called her Nilaa which is a variation of the name 'Nila' which means blue in Indian. Apt I thought for a race that is coloured blue. Husband has also gone Draenei (what a copy cat) and called Tolian. We also took with us my real life friend, who now has a Night Elf called Janya. We have an application for a guild currently pending...fingers crossed!

Whilst it will take a while to get used to the busyness of new realm, the new faction, and the fact that its a PvP realm, I know I have made the right decision. Leaving now means I remember my time on Blade's Edge as a truly awesome experience.

For those of you in Drama who read this: Thank you for everything, you are all brilliant and friendly players and I'll remember you all. I still have Churel around, so I'll pop by now and then to say Hi, and please don't hesitate to keep in touch via here or twitter :)

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So finally, it brings me round to why I've been MIA for the last couple of days. Husband and I went up to my old home town in Scotland for the Wedding of a school friend of mine. We had a great time. The weather was absolutely stunning (don't think we ever saw weather as good as that when we lived there) and the Bride and Groom make an amazing couple...

Couple of photos from our trip across the border!

Weekly Round-Up

Well,

Its been a while since I've written a weekly round up of everything that's happened in-game, but its time for one of those again...

My First Rated Battleground

Last night I took part in my first ever rated battleground, and I loved it. Being in a battleground and on vent at the same time is a strange experience but it was great to co-ordinate attacks and offense/defence...certainly blew pug battlegrounds out of the water. 

Starting a Twin Peaks in the Alliance starting area on my very first one, did throw me. It took me a while to figure out where I was and then to remember which flag carrier was ours. That's something I need to get used to, but I'm glad I wasn't the only one slightly thrown.

It still feels strange for me speaking on vent, but it comes down to confidence which will grow with time. I listened to what I was being told to do, tried to speak as much on vent as possible and I hope I did a good job, for my first evening of runs - I'm very happy.

We had a very good win in Twin Peaks where we literally had a minute to kill the enemy flag carrier, we did it and our flag was capped and we won, and one Battle for Gineas which was very close, but sadly we lost - only by a few points. 

All in all, I took part in 8 battlegrounds and we won 4 and lost 4, and so for my first time, and a couple of others first times, I was really pleased with how we did overall and think that given time and more experience the guild could get a really strong team.

So the guild, are deciding to set up a PvP rank and I'm seriously considering applying seeing as PvP is my main focus in the game. I guess I'm worried about making a fool of myself in my application, but I've got nothing to lose so definitely going to go for it...watch this space for an update.

Archaeology

I have to say, I'm not a massive fan of this profession and since I started my Death Knight, my skill has sat at 1, and seeing as I'm still in the process of levelling my other professions (Mining and Jewelcrafting) I always thought it would be last on my list...but, the husband starting doing it and I hate to be left behind, so I begrudgingly started too. Its something we've been doing in between battlegrounds. 

My skill is now 140 and I got the rare Druid and Priest Statue Set, which gave me the title Assistant Professor and is a fairly cool item. 

That title is the first one I've earned on my Death Knight and given me a strange love for Archaeology, I still think its a boring and long winded profession but its also strangely addictive.

Googee

I have to take a moment to mention this character. Googee is a Troll Hunter who is played by my real life friend. Googee is at level 84, and I've been assured by my friend that she will be level 85 tomorrow...I am holding her to that! 

I had the chance to run a normal Cataclysm dungeon with her the other day. We got Throne of the Tides, I was happy to run through the dungeon, as Churel my Priestess got an outing, and I so rarely play her these days. It was nice to heal without any pressure, without any mana issues and just enjoy it for what it was. I thought I had forgotten how to play Churel but instinctively it all came back, even remembering which key my dispel was bound to, and I think Husband enjoyed dusting off his Warrior Tank.

Googee did really well in the dungeon, but occasionally she comes under fire from some unpleasant players. I'd just like to say that just because a character has reached the level cap does not mean they are an expert in the class or game. Levelling is so quick now, that it really takes more time at the cap or experience playing other characters before you know your role inside and out. I've now been playing WoW for 9 months, pretty much everyday, and I'm still nowhere near an expert, so please, take a moment to remember what it was like when you first started - and give the new people a break, and be a bit more understanding. We all play for fun and the pettiness, sniping and moaning make it an unpleasant experience for everyone involved. 

I'm really amazed at the progress my friend has made in the short time she has been playing WoW...

Real-Life

Finally taking a moment to explain why my last post was a couple of weeks ago...I was getting myself ready to take part in the Race for Life. I've never taken part in any runs before, and despite sponsoring other people who were raising money, it's been a long time since I got out there to raise money for something myself. 

I took part in the 5k race on Sunday just gone, and raised £139 for a charity close to my heart. I'll definitely be doing it again next year, the atmosphere was great with over 2500 ladies running on the day, I feel good for doing something worthwhile and I got a medal too...woohoo.

(This was taken after the Race. We are the ladies from Bootcamp, Paul is our Trainer, I'm 4th from Left with number 32376, the blonde next to me holding a jacket is my Mom and the dog is our Mascot)

I have made this blog longer than usual because I lack the time to make it shorter. ;) Peace. 

My First Raid Experience in Bastion of Twilight and Blackwing Descent

I was hoping to put a clever title such as: 'When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on,' because raiding is all about perseverance and determination, but sampling my first raid was epic enough without having to think of a clever title. Yes, I have done Baradin Hold a few times now, which I was really excited about at the time, and then people kindly informed me it was "not a proper raid," well, although I don't agree with that comment I can now see where they were coming from when they told me that!


When I put my name down for the alt/social run of my guild, I honestly didn't think that I would get invited along, as although it's an alt run everyone else would have already experienced the instance on their main character and no what to expect. 


However, my name was down for the run in Bastion of Twilight, and I was going to make sure I knew the tactics. I had a week from putting my name down, till the raid took place to learn what to do. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I watched videos, I read blog posts and forum posts and made endless notes and then quick glance notes which I kept close at hand.  I'm glad I read up, I wouldn't have wanted to have gone into the raid unprepared, even though the raid leader did a great job at explaining tactics as we went along. It was also good to speak to other healers, because you can read the mechanics of the fight and know the names of every spell the boss will cast but it doesn't count for experience, something is always easier the second time round, once you have seen exactly how something works.


Monday night (the night before the raid) rolled round and I was thoroughly expecting not to be on the raid, but the prospect of possibly being there meant I had a really restless night, it took me ages to fall asleep, I think I dreamt about causing a wipe, over and over again. People who raid regularly, will not realise or remember what a huge thing the first raid is. I feel like since I started playing WoW my aim has been to raid, to get to the level cap and become the best player I can be. I still have a lot to learn, but to be a member of the top guild on the realm, and to have the chance to raid with these people, even if it is with their alts...is absolutely mind blowing.


Tuesday morning rolls around, I spend a bit of time going over my notes and watching the tactic videos again and then I stop with the fear of starting to over analyse stuff, yes, I felt it important to understand the basics, but its also supposed to be fun? 


Tuesday evening approaches, we discover that the raid is definitely going ahead and we get an invitation...as I flew over the Twilight Highlands and made my way up to the BoT, I grew increasing nervous. I was literally trembling, so much so that I was accidentally pressing other keys because my fingers were slipping and doing silly things like putting a HoT on someone who didn't need it, but I was just blown away by the whole thing. From the way the encounter looked, to watching 10 people work in unison, to hearing the communication, I can understand why so many people love to raid. Just before we entered the raid I had a sudden crisis of confidence, maybe I couldn't raid, I knew that gear wise sitting at 352 my gear was appropriate, so it had to come down to my abilities to get the job done - to keep everyone alive.  I have no doubt that the other healers dragged me through it, they were both druids and I feel my nerves made me slow to react. Husband said to me, you know the tactics, you know how to heal...just go for it and enjoy, you can do it. He was right.


After we cleared the first trash pack, I started to settle in, but as we reached the first boss my stomach twisted into knots. There was Halfus Wyrmbreaker waiting to be killed. Now I was so excited at the time, that I cant remember how many attempts it took, but I think it was two. 

As he went down, I turned to my husband who was tanking throughout the raid and we gave each other a high five, and as I relaxed and laughed at getting my first ever 'proper' raid boss down, I realised that I was on a high and it was great feeling, we had worked as a team and we had defeated him. It was so much fun.

Then even more surprisingly, I received loot: an epic robe - Robes of the Burning Acolyte. I didn't expect to receive any loot, and I wanted to go and raid for the experience and the ability to say 'I'm raiding,' but receiving the loot was very welcome and also from Halfus, husband received some plate wrists. The new robe has boosted my item level to 353 and it was a very big upgrade on my heroic Halls of Origination robe. Both of us receiving loot signalled another high five, and then we both focused back on the screen to move on towards the next boss.

Getting through the trash was proving pretty straightforward and easy and before I realised it we were ready to 'get all up in' Valiona and Theralion's face. By the way, for future reference, Valiona is the girl of the two dragons, the pinkness should give it away :) I did die a few times on this encounter and I think it was because I was reacting to what was going on, and by that I mean that once something was cast I would then respond, and that made me slow, once I started to pre-empt, and watch the casting bars and turn and look at the boss, things went alot better. We did have a 1% wipe at one point and I think it was on this encounter. At no point though did I think that we wouldn't get them down, in fact the wipes made me more determined to perform more effectively and efficiently and pay more attention to what was going on around me.

After we successfully defeated the dragons, it was decided to move on to Blackwing Descent, and I nearly had a heart attack, I had started to make notes and revise BWD, but in nowhere near as much depth as BoT (I have an A4 sheet for each boss in BWD, a whole book for BoT), as we mounted up and headed in the general direction of the instance, I frantically scrabbled for my notes and husband and I were reading over them. 

We arrived, we got stuck into the trash with no problems and arrived at Magmaw.

We cleared the trash in this room without any issues either and it happens to be the only action screenshot I managed to take, and not a good one at that. I was so busy concentrating, that moving my hand to press the screenshot button was not really an option. 

I knew the basic outline of the fight and the tactics were reiterated on vent, we got in our positions and started to attack, but we did wipe. I think he was down on our second or third attempt but everyone except my husband and one other player (or two) were alive. I think at 11% we were a minute away from the berserk, but somehow they managed to beat it.

 We did then move on and have one go at Omnitron, but it was late by this point, and when we wiped, we called it a night.

What did I get from my first raid experience? Well, I loved it. I cant wait until I get to do it again, and I know that next time I'll perform better because, I wont be so nervous. It was everything I expected it to be and more. I can understand why people love raiding, and the hard work I feel I've put in to get to this point, really paid off. I loved how everyone worked as a team, and had a laugh whilst doing it. All I can say is a massive Thanks for the raid leader and members for allowing me to come along, being the massive newbie to raids that I am.

Advice for first time raiders like myself? Know the tactics till the point you are comfortable explaining them to someone else, going into a raid when the nerves and adrenalin is going and to not know the tactics would be disastrous and a massive knock to confidence. If you are unsure as to what you are supposed to do, double check and ask, there would be nothing worse than messing everything up because you didn't know where to stand. I had to double check stuff, and hearing people referred to on vent as their main character, instead of the alt in the raid, was also a little confusing at times, since I don't know them very well yet, but most importantly...have fun.

After we finished raiding for the night, husband realised that he hadn't got his valor points from his daily heroic run, so a guild group got together and we loaded Grim Batol.

As we got to the boss Dragha Shadowburner and he summoned Valiona, I couldn't help but smile to myself and think...I killed you less than an hour and half ago and it felt great...

Weekly Round-Up

Well, it feels like a while since I have been able to do a round up of the events in WoW of the past week, and that was due to a bit of stagnation within the game. That's all changed now, and once again this blog can be a hive of activity.

Obviously the massive change of the past week was the new guild, and I can say without doubt that it was the best decision for us, but I have talked about that enough times now.

Well it's been a week of heroics, I have finally got under my belt: Lost City, Halls of Origination, Stonecore, Deadmines, Shadowfang Keep, Blackrock Caverns and the final boss of Grim Batol. I've still got to run Vortex Pinnacle and Throne of the Tides and I'm picking up heroic upgrades as I go along. I especially love being a Holy Priestess in the first boss fight of Shadowfang Keep against Baron Ashbury when everyone has their health reduced during Asphyxiate. Afterwards once his heal has ticked a couple of times I can use Prayer of Mending, Circle of Healing, Prayer of Healing and Holy Word: Sanctuary, not to mention a Lightwell and then concentrate on tank healing and as long as I'm careful can manage the fight without running out of mana.

I really need to spend some time sorting out my UI because it's a bit hectic, but I like X-Perl because I can see people's health bars etc and find it easy to assess their damage. I tried Grid recently but found it difficult to assess how much damage people were taking. If anyone has any tips/advice about clearing up my UI or a better add-on to use than Xperl, I would love to hear it.

Hold on tight I feel a rant coming on...LIGHTWELL. I now have 2 macros I use where lightwell is concerned. I have one I use at the start of a PuG which explains the virtues of lightwell which are:

• It can be clicked at range.
• It doesn't change your current target.
• It can still be used even when you are: Stunned, Sapped, Casting, Running, Feared, Falling and Eating.
• The effect is only cancelled when you receive an attack which is equal to 30% of your total health.
• It lasts for 3 minutes and since I have it glyphed, 15 charges.

Its so incredibly useful when I have to focus on tank healing, and why I have to shout at people to use it is beyond my comprehension...because yes, my second lightwell macro, is reminding people to 'PLEASE CLICK THE LIGHTWELL!'

So that macro goes out and then the DPS do something stupid, instead of staying where they are and clicking the lightwell they run over to it and practically stand on top of it and then run off again...why? I always take care to place it within reach of everyone. So I have taken it upon myself that all people playing WoW need to know exactly how a lightwell works, because it makes my life easier and helps keep 'you' alive. Got it? Good.

Now that I've got that off my chest I can get back to rounding off the week.

Last night after running a couple of instances, Nuad and I decided that we would run heroic Culling of Stratholme for the Bronze Drake mount. Between us we did it easily and Nuad let me roll for the mount, and we plan on running it again very soon so he can get it too. I'm also waiting for my 6th Oracles egg to hatch hoping to get the Green Drake mount. I've had the companion pet 3 times, but still no luck with the drake. Hoping I will get lucky soon though.

Its also been a week for raising reputations, I got exalted with Earthen Ring so I could buy Flamebloom Gloves. My next reputation grind is with Therazane in order to buy Greater Inscription of Charged Lodestone.

Last but not least, thanks must be mentioned to people on Twitter and people in Drama who solved my 'haste or critical strike rating?' query. Haste it is and I've made sure that yellow gem slots contain Quick Amberjewel for +40 Haste and when I'm not reforging Spirit, I am reforging haste at the moment until I reach about 12.5% when buffed. I'd also like to get around 2500 spirit. This is how things are currently looking: Click for my Armory. 

Once again, any advice and tips would be greatly appreciated. I am still learning having only played a few months but I'm using this as my friend.

So that is my week in-game folks, as usual would love to hear your comments.

Moving on, is a simple thing, what it leaves behind is hard.

Over the past few weeks, myself and my husband have been thinking hard about our guild, and how the game was feeling in general. I've been honest that I have been falling out of love with the game, feeling that running heroic instances were unachievable, finding the grind for reputation dull, feeling I would never get to raid (which is after all the main reason I play...to get to that point. To experience people working in perfect unison) and ultimately losing confidence in my ability play, and feeling I must be a complete failure at healing.

I cant even count how many times my guild tried to run heroics, and after countless wipes we would decide to try an 'easier' instance, only to continue wiping. We weren't even getting close to completing a run.

I wasn't sure what the problem was, I felt like the wipes were my responsibility because I am the healer, it made me frustrated because I knew I was trying my absolute hardest - I know that I still have a lot to learn, but I feel that whilst I may not yet be the best healer, I'm not the worst either. Perhaps the issue was becoming a lack of confidence. Unfortunately the DPS in the runs we were doing wasn't the best. We were getting between 3k-8k, the fights were going on too long and because of that, they were becoming more difficult and I was running out of mana. The people in our guild, were really lovely people, but at the end of the day the DPS was just not high enough.

Perhaps another part of the problem was my lack of patience. My husband said to me that eventually the DPS will improve, and I did see some massive improvement, he also said to me that I should give people a chance, just like people had given me a chance. I felt I did this, I don't know much about other classes, but I tried to be helpful, we directed them to places to read up on their abilities, and my husband offered other constructive advice, but the fact of the matter is this: I started playing, in order to level up my character in the hope that eventually I would be able to raid with my husband and guild members. He's told me about what a hard, but enjoyable time raiding is, and the feeling you get after achieving what you set out to achieve. I've worked hard within the game to get to where I am. Everyday I look out for new posts on blogs and forums that will enable me to become a better player, I look up people on the armory, who I know are great players and constantly strive to make myself better, and yet I feel that if I can do that, why cant people spend a few minutes just looking up their appropriate stats or trying a new rotation and it was that frustration that made me take my next decision.

My husband has played WoW for a long time, he has created good friends within the game and has been involved with numerous guilds before. When he started chatting in-game to a friend who is a guild master of a successful guild, one that we belonged to when I first started playing...I began to ask myself if sticking with our guild was the best plan. It was me who made us leave our original guild in the first place because I felt the members of that guild would be laughing at my newness, of course they weren't (although maybe they were a bit, and who could blame them?). But after the time that has passed I feel more confident now, and felt that being in a guild like that would be the best option for us. I can get advice on what I need to do to improve, and my love for the game will come back.

So we decided to quit our guild we had built from scratch. It was bitter sweet. Some of the members of our guild are brilliant and friendly people, and I couldn't help but think, does it really matter if I can't do what I want to do in game because they are really nice and decent people? But, it doesn't work like that. Its not real life and I play WoW to have fun, not to be stressed and frustrated. Quitting the guild has done wonders for my confidence. We have been in the new guild about 24 hours and I've already gained the confidence to do 3 heroic pugs. We did the Deadmines and I got the achievements Ready for Raiding, and I'm on a Diet we wiped twice in the entire run, unfortunately the tank decided to quit after our second wipe which was at the final boss so I didn't get the chance to complete it. I did Grim Batol and got the achievement Don't Need to Break Eggs to make an Omelet, and Lost City of the Tol'vir. I had attempted Lost City with a guild run but it became impossible to kill the first boss General Husam due to the amount of bombs that littered the floor because the fight took so long. Doing it as a pug I barely noticed the difference in that fight.

Then I took the plunge and offered to heal for a guild run with the new guild on a random heroic. I think I offered without even thinking about it... I was feeling confident after my successful Grim Batol and Deadmines run. I've always been in awe of these people and felt inadequate, they are already raiding and they are very experienced having played for a long time. It was my first attempt at heroic Stonecore"were they feeling as frustrated with my healing that I felt with the DPS in my own guild?" I will take on board constructive criticism and tips on how to improve...afterall, I want to be the best player I can be.

So did we do the right thing in moving guilds? without doubt. In a space of 24 hours I've completed 4 heroics that I had tried to do for weeks with my own guild.  Am I enjoying WoW again? Absolutely. Do I have a lot to learn? Definitely, and even though I am only a social member of the new guild, so raiding isn't an option for me, I know that once I have spent the time earning reputations for new gear, equipping heroic gear and improving my skills, I will be raiding much sooner than I would be in my own guild.

the new guild tabard:

The new guild I joined can be found on Blade's Edge EU and is called Drama.