Arcane improvisation at it’s best

The war of the mages has taken an unexpected turn. Gnomeaggedon, who just the other day declared that his soul was burning with fiery desire, suddenly revealed that he had joined the frozen forces, probably in the belief that he’ll be more well suited to withstand the biting cold in Northrend which is expecting us soon.

Gnome, gnome, what a sad misunderstanding! Wouldn’t you think that the monsters in a continent made up of ice and snow probably should be pretty well adjusted to the cold elements? If you think logically about it (maybe hard to do for a non-arcane mage, with your lack of intellect), you’d realize that fire should be a much more effective weapon where we’re heading.

I can only see two possible explanations. One is that you got a little dizzy after enjoying one of Zupas delicious frost cocktails. The world just became a blur to you and the respeccing was totally out of accident. If that is the case I’m sure you’ll get the gold you need to switch back out of some of your AH affairs, as soon as you’ve sobered up.

The other explanation is that you’ve been experimenting with the next talent you hinted that you were about to write about: the dreaded Pyroblast. It’s very understandable that you became so disappointed that you left the fire tree altogeather – the outstanding waiting time of six seconds could make the most patient mage loose his sanity.

Poor Gnome. I see it in front of me, you’ve been standing there for seemingly an eternity, waiting for it to go off, and when if finally does, your party has taken down the target anyway, without your assistance.

But going frost is a bit desperate and not necessary. You see, there is a solution. The not-to-be-missed companion to Pyroblast. A talent which is one of several reasons why I’ve become a follower of arcane school.

Yes, I’m thinking about Presence of mind, one of the most beautiful gems in the arcane talent tree.

Presence of mind will shine, no matter of what part of game you choose to specialize, be it normal questing and farming, raiding, BG or Arena. Well, if you spend most of your online time playing the AH I guess you won’t use it, but for any mage who from time to time are confronted with enemies to kill it comes in handy.

If you’re arcane/fire, you can make the most dreaded killer combos using a macro which include your best trinket, Arcane Power (increasing your damage with 30 percent), Presence of mind and a Pyroblast. It can blow off any kind of opponent, trust me. Just be sure you won’t grab aggro if you’re in an instance party. Or if you’re into frost these days, you could combine it with a frostbolt, even though they’re not quite as impressive as the fire equivalence.

For me the major usage of this spell, however is in combination with Polymorph. Sheeping in instances is such a pleasure. It allows you to be very precise and place the sheep in exactly the position you want it to be. And if you’re up for a fight in the damage list (I know you are Gnome, we’ve all read your confession) you wont waste a lot of time messing around with your poly spell, you can get it done quickly and go for the fight.

Best of all: Presence of mind gives you the freedom to improvise and save your reputation when you’ve frankly screwed up for some reason. You can turn thing back to where they should be.

Let’s say you accidentally pulled two mobs where there should have been one and they start hitting you instantly, making it impossible to sheep one. PoM and sheep and you’ll soon be much better off.

Or imagine your lovely child is calling for your attention just as you were into one of the major pulls in Shattered Halls, and when you look back to the screen you see the mark and realize you were supposed to sheep one ages ago. PoM and you’ll be back on track again, helping your mates.

Once you try it out you’ll become totally addicted to it. It remains to see how stuck you have become in the frost trap Zupa set up for you. Will he allow his new follower to spend a few supporting talent points in the arcane tree? Or are you actually mindcontrolled from now on?

When it comes to me, I remain faithful to my choice of school. Even if I’m now facing two frozen opponents, or rather three, including Krizzlybear, who also seems to be under influence of the cold cocktails, my sprits are still high, as Critical QQ pointed out the other day.

The war is far from lost.

How I overcame my phobia about battlegrounds

Until recently I’ve been just like a kitten whenever entering a battleground: cute and sweet but utterly defenceless. The claws and teeth just weren’t sharp enough to deal with the merciless combatants in those places. Or maybe a better description would be a chicken? A headless one, just running around like everybody else seems to be doing, pretending I know what I’m doing.

It’s really nothing I’m ashamed of – it’s just that I’ve chosen to explore and advance in another part of the game. I’ve always taken a pride in that I’m not one of those who have geared up in PvP and then want to go raiding. I’m PvE geared right through – mostly by badges, a few drops and some crafted stuff.

Forced to PvP
But lately I’ve more or less been forced to do some PvP. I realized I needed the Medal of the Alliance trinket badly for some raid encounters. And I also had to increase my stamina in certain raid situations – the best way seemed to get Guardians Silk Belt to replace my Belt of Blasting whenever needed.

This was nothing to question or think about – I simply had to do a bit of PvP to support my PvE progression.

So the last few weeks I’ve been around in quite a few Alterac Valleys and a decent amount of Arathi Basins (the 40 badges that belt requires is quite a lot when you lose most of the time) and just a few of the others as well, when it was the daily quest and I hoped for some additional honor.

And I haven’t only got the gear I wanted – at the same time I’ve gone from being completely hostile or even in war with those places to be at least friendly, if not yet honoured or revered.

The post of today is about what I do, as a PvE fan and PvP noob to make battlegrounds a bit more enjoyable. Maybe it can give some inspiration to others who’ll find themselves in the same situation.

I volunteer to watch the flags.

Running around as a headless chicken you don’t do much to help the raid group you’re in. Finally I found something that I actually could do: I volunteer as a flag and tower guardian.

It clearly needs to be done by someone, but many players seem to find it pretty boring – if you’re unlucky or lucky, depending on how you see it, it won’t give you many honorable kills or a nice position on the chart. I don’t mind the job at all.

I sort of get into the role as the lonely outpost, watching the battle at a distance. Especially in AB you can see the fight by the next flag. The nukes from the mages, the cries and the victories and losses in the horizon - the war frontier. You look out if someone is coming your way and pull the alarm if needed. You can even entertain yourself with some closet roleplaying, thinking about the ongoing war and why you’re into it, to protect the glorious city of Stormwind and the peaceful Elwynn Forest. Or whatever it is that you’re fighting for.

Sometimes it’s a lonely business. It’s just me and my vanity pet. I go around puffing some low rank AE from time to time to see if any rogue is trying to sneak up on me. But at other times I find myself in party with other fans of flag watching. And that brings us into the second thing I do to have a more enjoyable time:

I socialize.

If you’re on a watching assignment or if you’re perhaps waiting for the start signal to take down Drek in AV, you’ve got plenty of opportunities to get to know some other players from your realm.

The beginning is often just like when dogs greet each other, sniffing in… well… you know.
Our way of doing this is that we inspect each others gear and spec. This is often a nice opener for a little conversation, which runs along until some enemies turn up and we get our hands full.

If things work out well we manage to defend our flag until they’re gone – and then we chat a little bit again. It’s really very enjoyable for a talkative innkeeper like me.

Some players seem to draw this even further than I do. Like the rogue I met the other day, while I was watching one of the towers in AV. I had a look at his gear and was just about to complement him when I noticed he didn't have any head for some odd reason. And then suddenly it was all gone and replaced by a tuxedo, and he burst out in one of those peculiar nightelf dances. Luckily enough no enemies turned up for the minutes we stayed there, having a miniature party on our own. We kept in touch for the rest of that BG, talking about guild progression and stuff like that. And so, a little bit too quick in my opinon, Drek was down and we had won and that was the end of our friendship.

"See you" he said, but we both knew it was a lie. He was on another server of course, it's quite unlikely that we'll ever meet again. Still it was one of those random meetings which can make PvP a pleasure.

I stick to the things I’m fit to do.

Considering my talent build and gear is intended for raiding – not PvP – and that I lack experience and skill in duelling, arena and such stuff, there are things in the BGs that I’m more or less suited for. A perfect assignment for me in AV is to take down the NPC bosses, since my nuke power is pretty OK. I can take them down quicker and easier than many others. So I try to be around the bosses as much as I can.

Taking a mine, if it’s needed for reinforcements, is another perfect job for Larísa, provided I don’t get lost in the corridors, which happens from time to time.

A not-so-perfect job is to be right in the middle of those spots where there are 10 hordes and 10 allies in the middle of the road. I’ll be pretty likely to die if I run in there, without any frost shield or other skills and utilities to survive.

Sometimes I can sheep someone however, if I stick to one of the sides. But generally I try to avoid the huge crowds if I can and find better things for me to do.

I fight wholeheartedly even if the odds are against me. But I don’t expect victories.

PvP is much more fun if you actually try to win. Since I started to put in a bit more of feelings into it, to fight with passion, I enjoy it so much more. Even if we loose a lot most of the BGs if it isn’t an AV, it’s more fun to so when I know I’ve done the best I could.

I’m present not only with my char, but in my mind, and I’ve stopped looking upon the BG as something that just needs to be ended, something I wait for to be finished. The “I-really-hate-this-attitude” didn’t help me at all, it just made me miserable.

At the same time I try to keep my expectations low when it comes to how quickly I’ll gather the marks requested for a gear item. I don’t expect to get anything more than 1 mark out of every BG. Anything more than that is just a happy surprise, nothing else. This attitude saves me from feelings of disappointment and frustration.

Even if we loose I’ll get my reward and gear eventually, so there isn’t much to complain about. And I’m rewarded in other ways too. PvP is actually great training for my ability to react and improvise and I know it’s really what I need to perform better in raids.

I call for help from my tiny helper gnomes.

I know this sounds really silly, but it’s a fact. The BGs really became more fun since I got my Tiny Voodoo Mask trinket from Hex Lord in Zul Aman. It’s got a long cooldown so I can’t use it more than a couple of times in a BG, but oh how I enjoy it whenever I do it! OK, those three miniature gnomes that spawn aren’t any great damage dealers, but they sort of interrupt the enemies and do cause some confusion. And above all they make me smile.

I guess I can’t recommend everyone to get that trinket – it takes that you’re in a guild that regularly downs Hex Lord and that you’re a bit lucky with rolls. But perhaps you’ve got an old one collecting dust in the bank? The Ancient Cornerstone Grimoire from Onyxia could work the same way; it’s something fun to treat yourself with if you from time to time find the BG a bit dull.

The End of my PvP Career?
So, I’ve got my belt and my trinket and even a Stormpike Battle Charger as a nice bonus from all those AVs. Does this mean that my short PvP Career has come to an end? Nope.

I’m seriously thinking about getting the neck as well – Guardian’s Pendant of Subjuction with spellhaste or possibly Guardian’s Pendant of Conquest with crits.

I can’t say I’m totally thrilled at the expectations of running more BGs, but at least I’m not annoyed anymore. It’s pretty much an OK thing to do a raidless night when the LFG channel is empty and you just can’t bear the thought of picking another herb.

It’s a bit social from time to time. You see some fun stuff, and 1 out of 20 BG:s you can even enjoy some real cooperation going on, reminding a little of what's going on in a real party.

My days as a PvP hater are definitely over.

Ask Larísa: Where do I find info about gear progress?

This is a historical day.

A while ago I gave a game friend of mine some advice about how to organize a guild he was about to start. I then got the idea to do publish it on the blog, and gave it the label “Ask Larísa", not really expecting anyone to actually do it. I'm really not an authority. But now I’ve received my first letter from an unknown reader, asking me for advice!

Entropy wrote this letter to me:

I have a toon that just hit 69. To be honest I kind of have that feeling of "what is next". I have been working on an Alt that is a healer and to be honest that should have been my main. I love to heal instances and groups. I like my Hunter and all but I just get tired of playing it from time to time. My gear on my main is mainly in Greens.

The question I have for you is...Do you know of a good site that shows how to progress on gear? I do not see myself raiding because of family time restraints. So that pretty much leaves Instances, Battle Grounds and some questing that I have not done yet. Am I missing anything? Do you know of a site that would be able to outline this?

I know that I can go to the Armory and click on my gear to see what is better...It would just be nice if there was a site that has already shown the gear progression for a non raider. Yes, I know this kind of sounds lazy but I would rather play than research in my free time.

And here's Larísa's answer:

First of all: thank you for writing. I’m so honoured that you’re turning to me, especially since I’m not a healer, so I don’t know what to say. Luckily enough I know there are some healers who read this blog, so hopefully they can assist and give some more information in comments if I’ve missing something essential.

In your letter you don’t say what kind of healer you’re playing, and you don’t say anything about your professions. Maybe you should consider switching to a crafting profession in order to improve your gear. For instance if your healer is a priest, there’s currently some great healing gear, the Primal Mooncloth set and the Whitemend set. Possibly it’s a bit late to grind for those sets with the upcoming expansion, where gear will be outdated as you continue levelling, but I’m sure there will be craftable healing gear in Northrend as well which you can head for.

If you’ve got family constraints which make it impossible for you to play for long hours, gearing up by crafting really isn’t a bad alternative; you can do the grinding in small portions. But of course it also depends on what you enjoy in the game. If you find grinding mats a pain, but can find time to at least do instance runs – first normal and later heroics, well then that’s the way to go.

You ask about where to find progression plans for healers and I wish I had complete gearing plans ready for you right away, like the one that I have for the rogue class. Unfortunately I haven’t. But there’s a great source of information nowadays, where you can ask this kind of questions and get good answers without people raising their eyebrows, looking down on you. This new forum is called PlusHeal, and it’s live and kicking and if you won’t find what you’re looking for I’m sure you’ll get help if you just ask for it! (To be honest, the mage community is a bit envious about this awesome place.)

I had a look at this forum to see if I quickly could find the kind of thing you were looking for, and as a matter of fact I did! At least if you’re playing a paladin or shaman. There were links provided by a guy who has created great progression charts with gear comparison, for people just like you. Here’s the paladin chart, and here’s the shaman chart. Just enjoy if you’re playing one of those classes!

If you're playing a druid there's a great information spot for you, The Druid Wiki. Follow the link to Gear and you'll find several gearguides for you.

You should also have a look at some of the major healing blogs (I link to several of them in my blogroll). They may provide guides for your class. For instance Parttime Druid has a post, Fresh 70 Resto Druid: Gear Cheat Sheet, which should be useful, provided your healer is a druid.

Finally there’s a program called Rawr, which I think you should have a look at. You can download it for free from here. Shortly it helps you to compare gear that you already have or are thinking about to get. You can also get a good idea for instance about what gems would be most beneficial for you. This said, it may take a little time for you to do all the settings, even though you import your char from armory to begin with. So if you really don’t want to spend time on doing research and doing theorycrafting on your own I think asking PlusHeal is probably an easier way to go if you feel “lazy”.

Now I just want to wish you good luck with your progression! On behalf of all mages I thank you for healing us through instances with a smile on your face. We really depend on people like you.

What is a skilled player?

I overheard a conversation in the guild chat a while ago. It was about skill. The general opinion was that skill > gear. I didn’t say anything, since I don’t regard myself as a God Sent Gift to the raiding community, just an ordinary player trying to do her best, step by step getting the hang of this game.

I just don’t think I’m entitled to do straightforward statements about the lack of skill I see in other players. Such comments will blow up in your face faster than you think. And after all it all depends on what you put into the word “skill”.

The traditional skill
One way to look at it, very simplified, is that for instance a skilled mage will know how to make maximal damage out the gear and consumables that are available to him. He’ll know how to survive the whole fight and use other utilities like counterspell and spellsteal whenever needed.

I’ve seen an example with my own eyes, a warlock who the same day as he dinged 70 went straight into Gruul and owned the damage chart. He was a veteran player. He had a few tailored epic items, but mostly he was in greens, and that didn’t stop him a second. He knew the fights by heart. He had a high level of situational awareness and could react quickly. He knew how to balance just below the threat limit, all skills that comes as a result of long experience and probably a bit of talent as well (not that I would tell him, his ego is big enough as it is). His skill definitely outweighed his so-and-so gear.

This kind of skill is what I think comes to most peoples mind when you use the word. But I think there are other kinds of skill which will never show up on a WWS report, but still matters a lot to how far a guild will be able to progress. I just want to point out a few of them:

Social skill
Exactly what this is isn’t easy to define. But I think it’s about more than just not swearing in guild chat – if you’re a guild that doesn’t swear – or swearing in guild chat, if that is what your guild does. A socially skilled player thinks and acts as a team member. He or she has a high empathic intelligence and can see issues from other players’ point of view. He can see potential conflicts, prevent them from blowing up, and if they still happen, help to calm the waters.

By intuition he knows when to talk and when it’s time to shut up, whether it’s in the guild chat or in a raid.

The socially skilled player helps to create the solid core of the guild, which is essential for a survival longer than a few months. He or she makes the raid or the guild into an attractive place where players like to spend their time.

Since those players tend to have huge friend lists and networks on the server, they can be of great help in recruitment and marketing for the guild or in forming alliances with other guilds if that becomes necessary.

Mental fitness
I’m not sure if it’s the right thing to call it mental fitness – perhaps it’s just the opposite, some kind of mental illness. Anyway, it takes a special set of mind to endure the hard work it takes for a guild to progress in 25 man raiding.

As I said the other day, you can very well facing 26 wipes during a night, repair bills that will make your pink pigtails turn grey and not a single boss kill. That’s the life of a raider.

You do corpse run after corpse run after corpse run. You buff up quickly after each run and then you go for it again, and on trial number 18 you should be just as much on your toes as on the first try – or hopefully even a bit sharper, since you’ve obviously got to shape up. You’ve got to cope with raid leaders yelling at you, you’ve got to cope with the discouraging comments from other players aren’t mentally prepared.

A mentally fit player can put up a shield and ignore those disturbances – or even better – use the energy that comes from frustration and anger in a better way, as fuel for the next fight.

A player who is every so skilled technically, but lacks the mental preparedness and starts sulking when things aren’t running smoothly is in my opinion a burden to the raid.

Organizational skills
It’s been said before and I say it again: to run a raiding guild is like to run a smaller company. To once or twice in a lifetime let a guild have a shot at Gruul is one thing. But to organize a 25 man raid several times a week, over and over again, month after month, to make it happen and to and actually make some progression– that takes not only commitment but also knowledge and talent for organizing things.

You need to make structures for everything from leadership to loot distribution to guild bank. You need to lay schemes and recruit in order that people will be able to raid as much as they want to, but not so much that it’s impossible to have a night off when real life claims you.

You need to plan things far ahead, so that people acquire the resistance gear and attunements they need in order to proceed. Some people can’t stand this side of the game since they find it utterly boring. Others just haven’t got any talent at all for it – their bags in the game look just as messy as their desk does in real life.

People who are skilled and committed to organisation deserve a bit more of our love than they normally get.

Other kinds of skills
In this post I’ve so far covered some of the skills that I think are valuable to a raiding guild. But of course there are many other kinds of skills that we tend to forget since we focus on a different part of the game.

Just an example: not being a role player myself, I can imagine that there are more or less skilled players when it comes to acting in character. If I were to role play I’d rather look for players who made interesting stories about their character and could improvise a chat in a fun way, than for players who just know how to play their class.

There are other players who specialize in a very small sector of the game, enjoy that immensely and develop a huge level of knowledge. Like the Businessmen, devoting more or less all of their game time in playing the Auction House, building up a huge fortune. Or the Collectors, who’re devoted to collect every single rare pet in the game and know everything about how to get them.

Those people may suck in battleground or in a raid instance, but it’s wrong to say that they aren’t skilled players. They’re just skilled in a different area.

The multi-skilled player vs the specialist
Finally I’d like to say a few words about depth as opposition to broadness in your skills. There are those people who are extremely skilled in one of the aspects I’ve mentioned and lack the others completely. And then there are others who aren’t the best in any of them, but show a high and even level in every category. You could compare it to the hepathlon athletes in the Olympic Games. They wouldn’t win any of the disciplines they’re competing in; still I hold them for being among the most admirable sportsmen you can think of.

I think there’s room for both in a raiding guild. You need the all-round players who won’t top the damage chart, but on the other hand will help the guild to develop thanks to their social skills, their talents for organization and who will stick to the raid to the bitter end every single time, without complaining.

You need a few of those specialists, especially of the first sort, the “traditional skilled player” who are just insanely talented when it comes to situational awareness, quick reacting and decision taking. Those who just do everything right every time and save your ass when you thought you were doomed.

Sometimes this people are so useful that you can oversee that they may act a bit too much as individual, that they may whine a bit and demand special treatment from time to time and that they’re really not good team members in all situations. It’s OK as long as you don’t get too many of them and you still have a solid core of multi-skilled players who balance and keep the guild together.

Summary
All in all of course it’s true that skill > gear. If you buy a well geared char at e-bay without having a clue how to play it I can guarantee you’ll fail. But skill is a lot more than what normally first comes into your mind. And I think that can be worth thinking about before we throw out allegations that other players lack skill.

Stormwind vs Ironforge – which one do you prefer?

Where do you feel most at home in the game? And I’m not talking about where you put your hearthstone – most level 70s have it in Shattrath to get access to the free portals.

I think about the place where you normally go when you need to do errands – like visiting AH in combination of sorting your bank and getting repairs and reagents. The place where you’ve been so many times that you could keep your eyes closed navigating in the streets, since you know all the turns and ways by instinct.

To me the player base seems to be split in those two categories: Ironforge lovers and Stormwind lovers. It’s just the same way it is about dogs and cats in real life. There are the dog-preferring kind of people and the cat-fans. They don’t necessarily have reasons for those preferences, it’s just something you’re born into.

Until now I’ve been a Stormwinder, probably mostly out of habit. I simply know this place after spending so much time here. Zakesh, my co-innkeeper, on the other hand is a sworn friend of Ironforge. When we discussed this a while ago it came to my mind that I didn’t have any logical arguments for my habit to go to SW.

Because of this I did some research to once for all determine which place is best. And here’s the result:

1. Distance to facilities
I’ve measured a few walks I usually do whenever I’m in town. When possible I used my epic mount. I haven’t tried to make any kind of speed record – you can probably do those distances faster if you try. My intention was to make it as realistic as possible – to do it the way I always do it.

Portal place (where I appear) – bank
Ironforge: 37 sec
Stormwind: 44 sec

Comment: It may not seem a big difference, those 7 seconds, but trust me, they feel very long and annoying, especially if you count in the quite impractical placing of the portal in Stormwind, way up in the mage tower. You have to watch out so that you don’t run in the wrong direction, ending up in a wall instead of going outdoors. And there’s this annoying ramp you have to run down – or jump, and then accept some loss of hp. This is a strong argument for Ironforge in my opinion.

Bank – battleground masters
Ironforge: 40 sec
Stormwind: 1 minute
Comment: It’s very annoying to have to run the whole way inside the building in Stormwind without my mount.

Auctionhouse – mailbox
Ironforge: 12 sec
Stormwind: 13 sec
Comment: Not a big deal.

Bank – reagent vendor:
Ironforge: 22 sec
Stormwind: 13 sec
Comment: To be fair there is a reagent vendor guy closer to the bank in Ironforge, just by the inn. I guess about at the same distans as in Stormwind. But he's only got arcane powder, he hasn't got the vials I need as an alchemist. To get them I have to go to a shop near the fp, at least I haven't found anyone closer. This is very annoying. I tend to buy to few of them and often run a few times between the bank, AH, postbox and reagent vendor when I'm up for making some drugs.

Bank – repair guy
Comment: I forgot to use my timer on this one. But I reckon it's about the same. At first I was frustrated in Ironforge since I only found the smith standing in the cellar. I thought it was ridiculous to have to take the stairs down. But then I found another one on the other side of the bank. He is a few steps up, but it's managable.

2. Looks and atmosphere
Both Stormwind and Ironforge offer majestic settings, not the least the entrances. But Stormwind also offers something more: it’s relaxed, peaceful and pretty, with the channels, green parks, small shops selling things like wine and flowers and a lot of civilians and even children hanging around. You can see the sun and breathe fresh outdoor air. Without being a master of lore I get the feeling that this is what the ongoing war in the game is about; this is what we’re striving to protect.

Ironforge on the other hand feels pretty hostile. It’s definitely not pleasurable for civilians; it feels like an outpost combined with some mine industries. According to Wowwiki you should feel very safe and at home in Ironforge, but honestly, to me it’s quite a dark place. Not beautiful and welcoming the way Stormwind is. The whole town is bathing in different shades of darkness. You never see the sun and the air definitely is polluted with all this industrial work going on everywhere.

On the other hand – some of us prefer to dwell in the darkness. We want that “close-to-the-front”-atmosphere. We maybe find Stormwind even a bit too idyllic, too much of beautiful surface, a bit too polished to be comfortable and cozy. And way too crowded. Mind you, Stormwind has about 200 000 inhabitants, compared to the 20 000 of Ironforge.

The difference is huge, just watch the screenshots I included for a comparsion. But all in all, it’s more a matter of taste and what mood you’re in.

3. Miscellaneous observations

• Both Ironforge and Stormwind offer fishing opportunities. Not for the captures, it's just low level crap, but for levelling up. I must say though that standing by the channels a sunny day, watching the city life, seems much more enjoyable to me than to dwell all alone in the darkness of the Forlorn Cavern. What really speaks for Stormwind though is that you can complete the daily fishing q when it's the one where you catch a croc. It's ever so easy to do it while you’re still in town doing other errands.
• The flight path in Stormwind is slightly closer to the AH/Bank area. On the other hand you can’t mount all the way to it, and you have to run up an annoying ramp to access it. The flight master in IF on the other hand is standing conveniently on the ground and also has a repair guy nearby. The availability to the gryphon master isn’t any real argument though for either of the city, since you probably visit him for a reason; you don’t want just to go anywhere, but to a specific place. And while IF offer the closest transport to Ghostlands/ZulAman and Sunwell, Stormwind is the right place to start for a Karazhan run. So I guess that makes it even.
• There is a small advantage for Ironforge that it’s closer to the harbour if you need to take the boat to Theramore. Being a mage I don’t have to, and I also have rep to portal to Caverns of Time. But for other classes it could be something to consider.
• The deeprun tram is easier available in Ironforge than in Stormwind, where it’s well hidden. But since I hardly ever use it I can’t say it’s an argument for either side.
• I can’t help it but all the shops in Ironforge seem to look the same to me. It makes it harder to learn how to find your way.
• If your HS is on cooldown and you need to transport yourself there's a special thing you can do in Stormwind: start a party for Stockades. Enter. Then leave the party. You'll be transported to where your HS is set. It's not a big deal, just a small detail in advantage of SW.

My conclusions
After looking at those figures I think I’ll give Ironforge an honest chance to compete for the title “hometown of Larísa”. It is a bit annoying that I have to walk a bit to get my vials. But especially if I intend to combine waiting for AV queues with browsing AH, it’s very attractive.

And the most important reason of all is the one I haven’t mentioned yet: I have a strong feeling that there are much fewer beggars and other annoying people in Ironforge than in Stormwind. You’re more likely to be left in peace, even as a mage.

And what about Darnassus?
You who have read this far may wonder what happened to Darnassus, the capital of the elves?
Is Larísa so noobish that she hasn’t even heard about it’s wonders? Or is she a sworn elf hater?

Neither. But seriously, I’ve never ever met a player who considers Darnassus to be their home town, the place where you do your everyday stuff. And that isn’t strange. It’s ridiculously spread out and totally impossible to get the grasp of, to learn where things are situated. Some of the platforms are even annoyingly hard to jump up on as a gnome.

I know I’ll probably be flamed now by some dedicated nightelf players, but I can live with it. Tell me that I’m wrong and I may do some serious studies and measure the distances in Darnassus as well. But for the time being I just can’t see how it could qualify as a hometown.

The heartbreaking farewell of a GM

I stumbled on a movie at You Tube the other day and it touched my heart and almost made me cry, this last message from a GM about to leave a guild falling apart.

Even though I don’t know the maker of this movie or anyone in the concerned guild, it says something about how at least I feel about the game and the people I meet there. So I thought I could as well share the link.

This is a love song to one of the top raiding guilds of my server, which recently broke down. There may be a few people around still wearing the guild tag, but what I know of in reality the guild is gone after quite a lot of guild drama which probably would qualify for the Guildwatch column.

It doesn't matter how or why it ended like it did. It's really not my buisness. The farewell is still brilliant. It’s a tribute to the friendship, the hardships, the adventures and experiences that this guild has been through during a long existence.

This guy really shows his bleading heart to the world. I can imagine that it seems a bit strange to players who’ve never been involved in a closely knit guild or raided at any extent. How can anyone get so emotional about a game?

But for me it’s very understandable. And I come to think about the epithet “hardcore”, which I guess people would use for this passed-away guild. I think it sort of gives you the wrong association. The very core of such a guild isn’t necessary as hard and cold as the word tells you. On the contrary. In the middle of it you may as well find a warm, pounding heart.

And here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7H92RcWkqJ8

New campaign banner

I guess you can't miss it, the banner in the right column. Pugnaciouspriest made it for me and of course I couldn't resist it! Thank you!

It probably won't become permanent, since I'm kind of restrictive when it comes to bringing graphical elements into the blog. But it will be there for a while, as a stubborn exclamation on behalf of all other pink wow bloggers out there.

We're proud to be pink! No matter what sex we are.