Friday, March 18, 2011

Day 08 – 10 things we don’t know about you

Hmm 10 things...thats alot!!!

1. I love pralines and cream ice cream
2. I love greek food
3. I study alot of history and foriegn affairs
4. My hair is starting to grey, but not fall out....too badly
5. When I retire I want to build a Dome Home because they look so different and have sustainability
6. I am sort of a conservative...but with some liberal attitudes as well
7. I drive a beat up old Ford Explorer
8. I prefer the company of animals over most people I meet
9. Scotch is my favorite drink
10. I like to poke around old trinket shops and consignment shops on occasion

Ok there are other things you don't know about me...but I refuse to tell all my secrets! That would require you my dear readers to partake in an Epic level quest. Happy Hunting out there!!!

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Day #7 - 20 Days of Blogging - Why did you choose to name you Blog this name?

Interesting question. The Rusty Blade sort of reminded me of a small town tavern where old soldiers would hang out. The name doesn't really exist, but It's places I've been where veterans would gather. It also alludes to the fact that I had just picked up WoW Cata after a long break, so I was getting back into the swing of things as a WoW Player. Aside from all of that, nobody else had the name and I thought it fitting for this old man. So there you have it, a brief synopsis of the reason I chose the Rusty Blade for my Blog. Happy Hunting out there.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

OH! I found a cool guide fer da Drood Resto!!!!!!

So, sifting through some different Blogs, I found this nifty little article on Druid Resto's. Thought I'd give a quick shout out to the site and hope to see more! Druid Healing can be a bit challenging these days, this guide might be another fine link for Post Cata folks. Healing Basics ~ Glow's Branches . While in depth, the information presented is user friendly. Allot is discussed here and it's like a one stop shop for the Resto Druid.
Anyways, kudos to Glow and the work presented, hope it helps all you Druid Healers out there! Happy hunting!

Rant Moment

Originally I was going to talk about my pvp druid today, however I saw an article that got me all fired up. So, MMO Melting Pot as well as BBB brought up the topic of dealing with sloppy techniques and  crap attitudes in  low level instances .
 . Here is my thoughts on this:

I am seeing both sides give issues. People from ALL classes often wish to RUSH RUSH RUSH instead of practicing thier craft within the Trinity. I've watched my wife who is a competent healer get ignored by tanks who don't listen to her /oom broadcast. I've seen healers who panic over heal and burn aggro away from tanks, I've seen hunters pull mob's before the tank can even grab 1 GCD. Even with heavy handed use of macro sets this happens. The idea of teamwork has gone out the window because often players who Don't know each other, DONT care. Simple concepts such as watching your aggro threats, having that cute little Omen addon to practice for the heavier hitting instances are thrown out the window. I have two macros for party chat to let people know to wait for tank and healer and also for LOS pulls because somehow people have forgotten what those are as well. I hate it when my target markings get ignored. The excuse I get? "We ain't in ICC Heroics man..chill!"

I would chill, if I could trust the teams I'm with to act with just a slight modicum of professionalism. Instead it's like instance 101 training and babysitting for every pug we've been in. My wife hates it as a healer when I don't run tank because I always wait to make sure the party is ready for the next hit. I hate it when other people burn all their mana over healing and burning my aggro CDs because they aren't timing the damage spikes and coordinating their healing. As to DPS, some are smart, most are ass hats. I've run into both. Yes this is my Bitch session, I don't care. My real point is, how do you learn your class or learn to work with other classes when in fact you bullshit your way through instances? There is a saying "you fight as you train'. So ya, you may be awesome on one class in raids, but bringing up a new class it's important to understand their relationship with other classes and how their skills work both at low level and high level. For raiders trying to speed bag their alts up, get your guildees to do quick runs.

But then there are the "others" who simply don't want to listen. I expect mistakes in an instance. I expect sudden lag spikes between team members or the periodic DC. I expect people at low levels to forget food and water. I expect someone to occasionally over aggro. But because you'll almost never have to work with the same people in PUG again, attitudes go to shit. It's funny as my wife and I leveled together in instances, we would always offer to the good runners a spot to stay on till the next queue. 90% of the time we would have between 2-3 hangers on when they understood that the pace would be steady, not rushed. Attacks would be planned and rarely would we wipe with that pace line.

I'm no expert, and many times I would ask for assistance in attack planning for different bosses or a room with a shit load of casters. But basic tactics keep getting ignored. Things like, dps stand behind the mob to burn down quicker and avoid any parry or block. Healers knowing their average and crit heals, coordinating their time based upon what damage the tank receives. Tanks watching thier caster's mana and knowing when to pop their GCD's to best effect even at low levels or knowing when to best LoS pull vs. a charge. People have forgotten or don't care and it makes it harder for everyone.

Anyways, I'm hoping that as old hat as the lowbie instances are for many, that they remember to be courteous and work as a team. It makes instance easier to get through and more enjoyable. Anyways, for the time being, happy hunting out there.

Day #6 What's your workplace look like? 20 Days of Bloggin

Well,
Couldn't really post a pic of my workplace, but I'll do what I can to describe it. In a nutshell....Controlled Chaos. Papers and forms are everywhere, but if I organize them too much I cant find a damned thing. I have a standard office desk in L shape form with false cherry wood paneling as well as  a few over head cabinets filled with books, Tracking papers and manuals. My in box seems to be stuffed far more often than my outbox. My workstation has duel monitors which is nice when I am referencing things back and forth for planning etc. I have one of those black revolving pen holders that never seems to have any pens as too many people seem to randomly pick them up and make them disappear....gnomish conspiracy perhaps? Generally I have two to three travel coffee mugs as well, mostly empty by 8 or 9 AM to get me through the day. Hmm yup, that's work for ya.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Day #5 Favorite Items

I can't say I have a favorite Item. Point in fact, to me as the game progresses even pretty items or showy items end up being replaced very very fast....I am waiting on the lil Core Hound Puppy though.

Monday, March 14, 2011

20 Days - Day#4 - Most memorable WoW event

Greetings Fair Readers,
Today I am going to speak of one of those special all time favorite moments in WoW. My first happened back in 08' when my wife and I were in twink 19s for the Battlegrounds. There is nothing more satisfying than watching her on her shadowpriest capturing and running the flag for 3 perfect game wins while I jaunted alongside and butchered everything in our way. It never happened in such a fine streak after that but it was pretty intense and hilarious watching Hordespeak being repeatedly yelled across the Battlegrounds. I can't verify what they said but it had to be something really angry. Anyways aside from the winning of those three games, the teamwork that my wife and I displayed were just right on par. It was just that perfect synchronicity and yes the cliche about a dance with eacthother comes to mind, though this dance was filled with bloody corpses in its wake. I don't pvp nearly as much as I used to, but it was such a fine memory.

Another fine memory was hunting in the Hinterlands and getting the Horde so riled up after killing 5 equal leveled toons in Open world that they had to send a kill squad out to hunt me down. Being chased by another 4 Horde (all skulls to me) tells me I made quite an impression on them. Being wanted dead and being camped by them for almost 30 minutes afterward tells me they musta been pretty mad. It's all good though lol.

So those were my pvp days. Very memorable for what they were. I still pvp on a somewhat irregular schedule, based mostly on mood, but I do miss some of the old days as I meander through the PvE world. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy PvE quite a bit. But there is something about facerolling someone of equal level that hearkens back to my AoC days of blood and gore lol. And with that, I leave you Gentle Readers untill next time. Hoist a couple for me, as it's back to work I go. Happy hunting out there!