The Game Dame

I swiped this post word-for-word from Ess at Outland Bound*.  Please help us!

Pox Arcanum is looking for a few more good folks to join our merry band of adventurers. We’re an alt guild for bloggers (and a few non-bloggers, spouses, and such) who are looking to hang out and play together each week. To get started, all you need to do is roll a brand new toon on Anvilmar, level them to 10, wait for your group to fill out, and then begin your questing. The original idea was that from this point on, your toon never levels without the rest of your group present. (Some teams are more flexible about this than others, so in the end, it’s between you and your other four teammates.) You do all quests, instances, and leveling together — this is the anti-pug! The idea here is not to level efficiently, get to the end game quickly, or maximize … well, anything but fun. The idea is to play together and have a good time.

We decided that we’d be self-sufficient (in other words, no transferring a sugardaddy character with boatloads of money to your lil level 10 toon). At first this was tough, but some of the Poxers have managed to play the Anvilmar AH very successfully, and now not only do we have tabards for everyone, we have two (yes two!) guild bank tabs, one completely full of items that Poxers want to share with each other. Everyone has equal access to the bank tabs, so if you see something in there that will upgrade your gear or benefit your profession, it’s yours. It seems like every time I visit the bank there’s more gold, more greens, more goodies. Folks have really embraced the communal spirit. (Hey, that sounds like a druid quest!)

We currently have three full teams of five, a few “visiting” guild members, and a team that has some open spots. These really are intended to be alts, so teams typically meet once, maybe twice, a week for a play session. This could be a regular weekly time decided by the team, or they could have a more fluid arrangement and just schedule week to week based on team availability. We have a common blog, an e-mail group, and some really nifty spreadsheets. There’s also room for you to try your own experimental grouping tactics within these teams. The Purple Poxer team, for example, is talking about leveling almost exclusively in instances. Want to try working exclusively as a group of three, and form the ultimate tank/healer/dps trinity? Go for it. Want to rally for an all druid group? Rock it! I will make you all matching leather outfits. And maybe soooomeday, we’ll have a team in Kara. Can you imagine? We shall put a pox on it!

Anyway, if you are interested, please post here or in the shared blog I linked above, and we’ll get you set up. If you have more questions, post those, too, or send me an e-mail at the address in the side bar to the right.

/pox contagious!

*Please forgive me, Ess!

When I first started reading WoW blogs, I came across a word that cracked me up: “Huntard.” Despite seeing it hundreds of times since then, the word still makes me giggle when I read it. Lately I’ve been wondering why we don’t have words for the challenged members of other classes. Lacking the resources for discovering any, I’ve tried to make up a few of my own, but I could use some help with the other ones.

Shaman
An elemental spec who pulls too much DPS: Shazaman, pronounced “shazam-man.” Maybe this has too positive of a connotation?

Paladin
Dorkadin, Noobadin… the possibilities are endless with this one.

Warlock
Diplock, Spazlock… again, too easy.

Druid
Scruid? (Screwed +druid) Sorry that’s the best I could do with that one.

Annnnd there ya go. I couldn’t come up with anything at all for Priests, Rogues, Warriors, or Mages.

Sincerely,
Your Favorite Blogtard

Yesterday I moved my main toon, Slig, to a new server. I moved him from Thorium Brotherhood (RP) to Drenden (Normal PvE). I chose Drenden because I have been leveling the warlock gnome, Gnomnclature, that I’d created for BRK’s Gnaked Gnome race and it was the only non-RP, non-PvP server on which I already had a toon.

Why I Moved

For the last two months or so, I had been avoiding playing Slig because it had gotten to the point where I couldn’t log on without a certain person needing my help or wanting to play constantly. I admit it, I do like to solo a lot. So it bothered me that I couldn’t have any solo play time without being whispered by one of my friend’s 100 alts. But I missed playing Sligger and exploring the high level content that I haven’t experienced yet. Since I wasn’t all that tight with my guild (and they are really not a “guild” anyway), I decided that if I ever wanted to play Slig enjoyably again, I was going to have to move him to another server.

Guilds

Within about 30 minutes of logging onto Drenden with Slig for the first time, I got 5 guild invitations. I guess a level 60 Shaman running around without a guild kinda stands out. (Let’s face it, I don’t really “blend” anyway, what with being a huge cow and all.) But I’m not going to join any guild willy-nilly. I’ve come to realize that I’m pretty picky about the people I play with, so I want to try before I buy.

Zoom Zoom Zoom

Selling my Orb of Deception enabled me to buy a faster mount, the Great White Kodo! It’s like a Great White shark, only faster (1.7 times faster than my old mount) and with fewer teeth. Woot! I zoomed around Bloodhoof Village for about 10 minutes after I bought it. Sooooo fast! The lowbie newbs in the area must’ve thought I was bonkers.

New Gear

With the money left over from my mount, I bought two new items of gear that have made a HUGE positive impact on my Elemental Shaman. I hadn’t realized how crappy my old gear was. In fact, I had blamed my getting pwned in Eastern Plaguelands and Silithus on my spec and was considering re-doing it. (I mean, Elune knows it couldn’t be OPERATOR error!) However, now I realize I just needed better gear.

You can check out all my gear on Slig’s armory page, but here are the two new items I got. They are both Leather, not Mail, but their enchants MORE than makeup for the lost armor. I know they look kinda… well… BRIGHT. Heck, I’m nearly a day-glo cow, but before you judge my fashion sense, check out the stats, baby!

Bonechewer Skincloak of the Invoker

+19 Intellect, +22 Spell Damage and Healing, +19 Spell Critical Strike Rating

Okay, so it looks silly, like I’m some overgrown rogue, but my previous headgear looked like a Frank Sinatra hat. Also, for a long time I wore the Whitemane’s Chapeau on my silly Tauren head, so I’m no stranger to goofy headgear. (Oh please, you must see what it looked like on me!) In any event, the armor level was actually an upgrade for me, the stats were killer, and I got it for a steal on the Auction House.

Dreghood Trousers of the Invoker

+21 Intellect, +25 Spell Damage and Healing, +21 Spell Critical Strike Rating

From now on, I’m going to look for anything that has “Invoker” in the name! I get crits with seemingly every other spell which, combined with Elemental Focus and Elemental Mastery, means I put up 1100+ hits with regularity and hardly use any mana at all. Dude, between the pants and the scarf, I rarely even have to drink between 2-on-1 or 3-on-1 fights. /gasp

Before I had these items, I had more armor, but I was going belly up in front of the very same mobs I’m clobbering now because I couldn’t keep my spells going for very long. I realize now it is not the curse of the Elemental spec, but rather the curse of the poorly dressed.