Monday, November 30, 2009

Pilgrim on a Chopper

Just for you, Teu.  =P


Thursday, November 26, 2009

Happy Turkey Day!

See title.  Can't blog anymore...turkey coma...zzz...

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Beep Beep!


It's most definitely not a Jeep.  =P

Cathedral Cruisin'


Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Holy is Where the (Gryphon)Heart Is

Yes, I know that's a terrible title, but too bad!  It's my blog and I'm going with it.  =P

Recently, Bell of 4 Haelz and Big Bear Butt of, well, Big Bear Butt posted their experiences of playing Retribution Paladins who have effectively been forced to go Holy or Protection in order to get groups (see: Bell's Locked Into Healing post & BBB's Tales from the LFG Tavern post).  While this post is only tangentially related to theirs', their posts in addition to a PuG experience a few nights ago did inspire me to write this one.

Now, Gryph has been a Holy Paladin for as long as I can remember.  Even before the 3 Paladin talent trees were first announced, I knew I wanted Gryph to be a more spiritually-, and less physically-, centric Paladin.  In my mind he's always been an individual defined more by his strength of will rather than his physical prowess, and when the Paladin talent trees were announced, Holy fit the bill quite perfectly.  For the first 4 or so years after WoW's launch, Gryph has been Holy, through and through (minus brief periods of time after the talent resets when he was unspecced).  In fact, I've never even spent so much as a copper to respec Gryph.

When dual specs came out, I finally took the plunge and grabbed him a tanking spec for pretty much the same reason that Bell and BBB probably picked up their second specs: easier group finding.  On Feathermoon Alliance, it turned out, it's significantly easier to find a group as a tank than a healer.  (Plus, I just like helping people, and being able to fill the two most desired roles in a group felt like it would be immensely helpful.)  Big mistake.  I don't think I've healed a PuG 5-man since.  =\  I'm pretty sure I've tanked more WotLK 5-mans than I've healed by now, both with PuGs and with all-friend groups.  Perhaps in Cataclysm I'll try Retribution as my second spec instead.

Anyway, as it turns out, I don't really think I enjoy tanking that much.  I say this because every time I'm tanking and someone does something silly (like not watch their own aggro), I go into a frothy-mouthed rage.  On the other hand, I'm much more calm when healing, and usually enjoy the same shenanigans that piss me off when I'm tanking.  Maybe Holy is just more fun because I have a lot more experience with it, or perhaps I'm just feeling inadequate as a tank because I'm not used to fitting emergency buttons into my tanking rotation (whereas emergency buttons feel much easier to integrate into my healing playstyle because they keep people alive—which is the primary purpose of healing).  One thing I do know, though: I'm never going to tank a 25-man raid in WotLK.  This is partly because I'm just not good enough of a tank, and partly because half the people in TRI have Protection Paladins (and the other half have some other tank).  =P

Monday, November 23, 2009

Happy 15th Birthday WarCraft!

Happy 15th Birthday WarCraft!

"15th?!" you might be asking, "But World of Warcraft only came out 5 years ago!"

It's true.  The World (of WarCraft) that we all know and love only premiered 5 years ago.  However, gentle readers, there was indeed a world before the World of Warcraft, and 10 years prior to the MMO's launch Blizzard Entertainment was celebrating another birth: the launch of their first real-time strategy game—WarCraft: Orcs & Humans.  Back then, I'm sure none of the people working on the humble little competitor to the Dune games imagined what would become of Azeroth, but I'm sure we can all appreciate how the franchise has grown in the 15 years since it's premiere.

So, happy 5th birthday World of Warcraft, and happy 15th birthday WarCraft.  Here's to many, many more!  =)

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

1 Year Anniversary!

Happy birthday, The Lion Guard!  This blog is now 1 year old!

Let's look back on the goals I set for myself and see what I've actually managed to accomplish.
My Goals for The Lion Guard:

  • 5 posts per week, on average, with at least 1 "meaty" post per week.
  • Provide myself an inspiring means to exercise and develop my writing skills.
  • Practice public expression. I tend to be one of those quiet, shy people in public. Perhaps this blog will help me become a more confident individual.
  • Express myself. Most of the people I interact with regularly in real life are uninterested in WarCraft. I hope that here I can create a place to freely converse with folks who are genuinely interested in at least some of what I have to say.
Wow...I didn't get anywhere close.  =\  Oh well, if at first you don't succeed...

Let's see what I can manage to accomplish for year 2.  ;D