Draenic Zodiac

Each week, the folks at Blog Azeroth set up a topic for bloggers to write replies to. This week’s topic is given by Ninevi of Flask Half Empty– go on, give them a visit!

This week’s Shared Topic is this:  Is there anything that you consider a faux pas in WoW; in ‘srs’ gameplay like Raids and Dungeons or just silly things like transmog disasters? Going by the definition below:

A faux pas, noun, \ˈfō-ˌpä, fō-ˈ\ is a violation of accepted social norms (for example, standard customs or etiquette rules).
The term comes originally from French, and literally means “misstep” or “false step”. (via Wikipedia)

Now, there are a few things I would put in this category.

The first: Being a loot ninja. Now this is a faux pas we’ve all seen (or even committed once or twice, accidentally). Someone ‘needs’ an item (regardless of whether they actually need it as an upgrade) for the purposes of vendoring or another cause. Now the rules and definitions of this are tangled somewhat when you think about it; multi-spec characters might use it for their off-spec. Heck, people just might want it because it’s a neat transmog. Therefore, one might say the real faux pas is in the tendency of some players to not communicate with people in a random dungeon group; the ‘ninja’ doesn’t ask if anyone else needs it first.

Second: swearing in the chat box in a PUG dungeon/LFR/battleground. Personally, I can’t think of any reason one might do this (oh, what a goody-goody I am! :P) except to unnecessarily show their frustration. I mean, think about it; Warcraft doesn’t have any built in VOIP (or it didn’t when last I checked) so there’s no ‘accidental’ swearing when you’re on voice activation. You can swear to yourself, sure, but there’s no need to communicate that to all and sundry. I can think of plenty of ways to show frustration in words without expletives.

Third: People who pull everything in sight. I’m talking about that one player who will, contrary to all tactics (and usually, common sense) run into a huge group of mobs whilst poorly suited for a tanking role and/or whilst the rest of the group are fighting the first group. As with the first example, this is pretty crooked in it’s definition; there are plenty of times where one will press a key accidentally and attract another group of baddies, or where the first group forces the players into a second group- the first can be fixed with some crowd control and a quick ‘sorry’ in the chat box, the second is nobody’s fault anyway. But when someone runs into every enemy they find like they’re Saxton Hale then it gets a little ridiculous.

Fourth: Wearing ridiculously ill suited gear for your level and class. Once again, this is a bendable definition (boy do I LOVE those!) in that every so often, you’ll see a somewhat new player who simply doesn’t yet have the knowledge of what is best for their character (heck, we were all there once) and will run around equipping whatever’s new and shiny. This I can excuse, at least between the levels 1-30. However, after these levels, we venture into the area where people should have either found a guild, some friendly advice from players, or a guide from the ‘net that tells them what they should equip. Seeing a hunter equip Intellect gear after level 30 at least (and I’ve seen it!) is nearly inexcusable.

That’s enough from me for now. See you next Thursday for another Shared Topic 😀

“Samuelson! Bring me my boxing gloves!”

Báiyáng walked up the hall towards the throne of Stormwind Keep. She could feel the eyes of the guards assessing her as a possible threat. She wondered why for a brief second; then corrected herself as to where and who she was.

She was a pandaren, and a stranger to this land. For all these guards knew she could be a secret assassin for this ‘Horde’ they kept warbling on about. Obviously she wasn’t- she would have not walked through the room in plain sight if she was- but they still had many reasons to be suspicious.

She stopped at the end of the hall. In front of her was a very large man, wielding a very sharp sword and expression.

In frustration over Ophi’s new Beast Mastery rotation, I decided to take a break tonight and start putting my panda through the grind of 1-90.

Blustering through the Wandering Isle is actually a very nice experience. It’s pretty much a mini-Pandaria, sharing all the architecture and whatnot, and it’s very nice in places. It’s also quite strange to think that you’re on the back of a turtle. The plot is also quite engaging and it fits in well with the mechanics and ‘style’ of the pandaren; at least for me, it raised quite a few questions concerning the Alliance/Horde war, and the pandaren factor within it.

Oh well, back to the story stuff.

After a prod or two from Aysa, Báiyáng came to realise that this large, rather frightening man was in fact Emperor- uh, King Varian Wrynn of the Alliance. She had been surprised about his attitude towards the Horde whilst they walked; they were his enemy, and had done terrible things to him and his kingdom, true. But the way he talked- he almost spat out every word concerning them, as if the words themselves were foul- suggested that he would not, would never consider any true diplomatic reasoning with them.

While she definitely didn’t like the tone of the Horde’s representative back on the Wandering Isle, Báiyáng did not find this particularly appealing either.

And as they came to the garden to the side of the throne room, she was given the chance to show it; he had asked to spar with her. She figured she may have put a tad too much force into the last swing, as the mighty King of Stormwind was knocked on his backside. Oops.

Aysa and Jojo had a look of pure horror on their faces. If this was seen as an affront, their lives were probably forefeit. A great relief then, that the accosted King got up as quickly as he had fell with a look of great happiness.

It’s a shame that, like Kezan and the Lost Isles, The Wandering Isle is an isolated zone unto itself; once you’ve left, you’re not going back. I think this is kind of a waste, really. I mean, it’s a nice zone that’s plenty big; there’s potential there for it to become a nice questing zone if only Blizzard think about it a little. Heck, even if other races aren’t able to, at least let pandas go back every now and then. Nice bit of nostalgia, without having to roll a whole new character just to experience it.

As I said in a post a while back, the Pandaria expansion as a whole raises many questions about the Alliance and Horde’s views of each other. It seems that the war is starting to change people for the worse, especially in the Alliance; Jaina Proudmoore wants revenge for the massacre at Theramore, and let’s not forget the Captain of the Skyfire during the opening moments of the skirmish in the Jade Forest, opening fire on defenseless orcs. It’s all rather unsettling.

The King had taken the sparring match in good humour and had welcomed them to Stormwind. As Báiyáng explored one of the large districts of the city, she pondered the conflict that had brought her here. The King had said that any pandaren who had joined the Horde were now their enemies; and as such should receive no quarter. What a wasteful way to deal with things, she thought. As she found herself in a barber’s salon having a much needed hairdo, she silently resolved that should she find any of these ‘Horde’, she’d try talking to them first.

With a laced dagger behind her back. Just in case.

Oh so monochromatically evil!

So, I’ve been wanting to go bring down the Sha of Anger with Ophi for the past couple of days, as it’s part of the first phase of my gear up plan; in this case, I was after the Claw of Anger which is a quest-starting item.

After hearthing back to Stormwind (via Dalaran, as is my routine) I was happy to see someone in General forming a raid group to kill the angry lil’ critter. Dutifully, I asked for an invite, got one, and beat a path to the Kun-Lai Summit. I found the rest of the raid members, who were standing in a group and surprisingly organised. We then opened fire.

To say the least, it was chaos. Adds were flying in every which way, along with black clouds and mind controlled players. Being a world boss didn’t help much either; mushan mobs were everywhere (and seemingly thought it was a good idea to run right into the pack of heavily armed, screaming people) and it lasted a good while too thanks to the Sha’s giant health bar. I may be wrong, but I’ve never seen a boss with 300 million health before; it took us a good while to chew through that even with about 25-30 people.

Still, eventually the dust settled, and Ophi was able to claim her Claw as well as a Cache of Sha-Touched Gold (containing a measly 25g) afterwards. She will be wearing her new boots with pride.

Well, at least until she gets her shiny green transmog gear together…

And subsequently gets Wing Clip’d by a passing hunter.

Welcome, one, all, to this little blog of mine. As it says, in that banner up there (next to the suspiciously blurred draenei) I shall soon flood this place with all manner of nonsense, opinions and QQ’ing regarding my travels around the giant playground sandpit that is fair Azeroth.

Onward!