Hardcore Doesn't Mean...

...you give up your real life.

http://nihilum.wazap.com/news/84/

Read through that.

Now I don't know their specific raiding schedule, but by the sounds of that alone it's easy to see that they don't stress over farmed content and they expect you to give a little more of yourself for progressive content. With that description it makes me think that it's possible to even set aside a week here or there as a 'farmed' content week without expectations of real progression. If that's the case, you could basically have easymode weeks here and there for whatever else you may want to do, so that you could come back the next week ready to work harder at whatever boss you may be after in the chain of progression.

No matter how hardcore you may think you are, you're only human. There's only so much any person can offer the game for so long. Without any sort of vacation you can easily become burned out playing, especially if any of the people you attempt to be a team with add extra stress to your normal gaming experience in one way or another.

Being in a progressive raiding guild doesn't mean you have to give up your real life. Sometimes an encounter may require you to give up a little more of your time than normal, but the game should never revolve around sitting at some cockblock boss, frustrated, because not every person is on the same page or is willing to give what's needed of them and then some in order to surpass it.

That's the tough part about raiding in WoW... evolving beyond the casual aspect and attempting to tackle difficult content in a timely manner. If you want to be a part of that, you have to be lucky enough to come across at least 25 or so other people who are willing to sit down and do the same. If you're in a raid with 20 other people who want to give 100%, and 3 others who aren't, then you have weak links and a weak spot that any truely difficult encounter will quickly expose. That's the frustration of it all.. and that's where raiding becomes a job.

But like I was saying, even progressive raiding doesn't have to be such a chore as many make it out to be. It is enjoyable.. even giving so much to make it happen can be enjoyable... if you're allowed a break here and there to refuel. A lot of the end-game progressive guilds I've seen work on a revolving door for a lot of classes simply because they never set aside a predefined time to 'take a break.' Not everyone wants those breaks, but trust me, more often than not people who play the game NEED it, even if they don't think they do. Just remember, your raiders ARE human... and Warcraft is often an addiction. Who out there honestly admits when they need a little less of their addicition? lol. If you don't freely give people a break once in awhile, then they burn out. Simple as that.. if you want your good players to stick around and happily give progression 100% - then provide them with that comfort of knowing they will have a break here and there so that they can keep going so strong.

Funfun

I've been running heroics on a daily basis with my friends as of lately and I must say the difference between Horde and Alliance, in heroic instances alone, is huge. Not that we were terrible at heroics hordeside... I can remember running them with Krarr, Blawle, Jago, and Lycanno... and having tons of fun. But when that group started to fall apart, we really didn't run heroics anymore... so I just never bothered to see that aspect of the game, honestly. It wasn't worth it to try and PuG anything because well... the incompentancy of the horde running shit on regular mode was bad enough. I wasn't taking any chances.

So... I must say heroics aren't anything special, but with the right gear they go just as quickly as anything on regular mode. It's kind of like mini-raiding farmed content. I'm having fun... blahblahblah. I'm 7 tokens from the Icon trinket. After I pick that up, I dunno what I'll spend my tokens on. Possibly nethers so that I can craft the epic spell damage patches for golds. :D

Blawle has been playing his mage a lot with me and it's a lot of fun farming together. Warlock/Mage combos are pretty fucking leet. We farmed a ton of Scryer Rep last week together and it took practically no time at all. He even got the enchant formula for Intellect to Weapon. Pewpew.

Friends make the game. If it weren't for the people in WoW that I consider friends, I'd be playing something else. It's not the raiding for me... it's not progression or even gear. It's just being around people I like playing the game with. I miss the fuck out of my horde friends... but it wasn't a comfortable place for me to continue playing on... and thankfully I had a few good Alliance friends as it was. It hasn't been easy rerolling... but I have enjoyed it overall. I think the worst part is merely that I was so far behind in gear, but I've made it fun for myself to work on my gear outside of raiding... because fuck knows I'm not getting anything from raiding anytime soon. Haha. My most recent upgrades are Curators staff, Belt of Blasting, and the Exalted Scryer shoulder enchant. It's simple stuff but the gnome is finally sitting in some decent gear that gives her enough health for BT encounters without subbing in too many crap stam pieces.

I've been listening to a lot of Rise Against and Say Anything as of lately. Ooh.. and H.I.M. Anyone have any new suggestions?

Raiding and Otherwise

Between RL stuff and raiding I've been pretty busy here lately. This isn't a bad thing because I like having something to do all of the time... I'm just hoping I hear back from the last job I app'd to soon because that would be the better way to fill all of my time and I know it.

Anyways - the gnome has seen SSC, TK, Hyjal, and BT now. Obviously not all of Hyjal or Black Temple, but she's getting there. SSC is overall a boring instance. Tempest Keep is short and sweet and I like it. The Kael fight is pretty sweet. Hyjal, so far, is pretty boring. Waves of trash leading right into a boss... ugh. We're currently working on Archimonde... it's a simple fight realistically, but execution is the key annnnd... we won't go there. We'll get it, just takes a little bit clearer thinking on more peoples parts. Black Temple is different. Each section is pretty unique to itself so far, and I like that. A few bad Line of Sight issues emerge all over in that place though... which is annoying. Overall, it's a pretty entertaining instance.

There's a lot more that could be said about any of the above instances, but I'll leave it at that. I think the guild has 6 bosses left in the game, currently. The guild has been fairly annoying most nights as of lately. It isn't any one person that makes it that way, it's just a collective part of the guild that bitches and fights with one another constantly... just makes for a few amusing arguments here and there, but mostly just annoying name-calling and blaming. I guess the mental age of most people shows itself under stress, right? Well... learning a new/difficult encounter is a bit stressful for most people... so I suppose there's an excuse for the actions of a lot of people. Maybe. Hopefully people just grow up, get over it, and play the fucking game soon... because the 4th grade bullshit gets old fast :)

Hmm... not a whole lot to say. I mean I spend my time raiding the above or... farming for the above. I've been running some heroics with my friends and of course that's fun - but that's about it for my gaming. Lots of stuff to do outside of WoW currently. I've heard bits and pieces about the expansion... I've heard that their re-releasing Naxx as the first instance in it... but it's supposed to be a clone of the current Naxx? Not a bad idea, really... BUT... pretty lame at the same time. So... whatever. Imo, Blizzard is losing it's creative niche. That totally blows... and at the same time, maybe by then it'll be time to get over the WoW addiction. Who knows.

WoWless.

So in case anyone was wondering why I haven't been online for the past few days: My video card took a shite the other day just when the raid started. Woot >.> Anyways, bought a new card.. installed, but the computer is running like shit. Still working on that part. The power dimmed and went out during a storm which led to my computers demise... so any number of things could have gone wrong when this happened. Oh wells... such is life.

Without WoW to occupy my time I haven't been up to a whole lot. Okay, so I lied. I found plenty of shit to fill my time with. Shopping, for one, even though I never buy anything. Spending more time with Oliver and the Kittons... umm... just being outside more than usual. It's been super hot out, so I can't say I enjoy being in th sun, persay, but fresh air... or city air even... is nice once in awhile. Things haven't been all peachy tho... one of my kittons died a few nights ago. I'm assuming from heat exhaustion and dehydration. I did all I could to attempt to get him fluids and I've been giving the bunch a vitamin supplement daily... but the little runt just couldn't make it, I guess. :( He was a sweetie so this saddens me, but that's part of life, right? Pathetic to think that I can enjoy playing a game in which I slay anything from bunnies to dragons as well as other players... and yet I cry when a kitton dies. Guess I'm a softy afterall. Shh, don't tell.

My birthday is on Saturday. 21. Good... Bad? I dunno. Nothing really that special about it except that hopefully I stand a better chance at getting a job. White Russians? Oh yes, there will be. But since when is that so new? Hahaha.

So... here's to my computer working again, warm summer days, healthy kittons, and a happy birthday to myself and the few who share theirs this week with me.

About time I updated I guess...

So the gnome has been 70 for a couple of weeks now and has had two Kara runs. She's gotten fairly lucky on drops... first week I believe she got opera wand, prince neck, moroes cloak, chess ring, and possibly something else.

This past weekend she got the shadow necklace, attumen gloves, wicked witches hat, and of course rep ring. I could be forgetting something but yeah. Lucky so far :)

Would prefer the T4 helm to go with the pants since the 2 piece bonus is nummy, but I can't complain at all atm. All I'm really lacking right now is a belt and weapon setup.

As far as the belt goes, there's an awesome crafted one I'm considering farming for... except that I haven't had tons of free time to do so. Other options is the one from High King, which is actually very similar to the crafted one. I mean it's not too much worse, so I'd take it. With weapons, I passed on the Curator staff because I want to go with a 1h OH combo. Netherspite and Nightbane both drop good OH's... and Prince and Gruul both have 1Handers. Hopefully the guild decides to run Gruul's this week... and hopefully I can get into a decent Kara group on Saturday. We'll see :)

I officially got promoted to a Pledge last night therefore I'm actually allowed to raid now. Due to an influx of lock recruits I got put on hold, basically, regarding my status. Which was fine considering I was a reroll and it was friends that weren't warlocks that convinced me to do so. Everything will work out though... if anything, I'll just let the other locks do their thing and let the Class Lead sort it out, then worry about raiding. I'm happy just getting the chance to raid once in awhile... because I miss it. Some people are satisfied pvping or otherwise in WoW... but I play it to raid. I hate pvp ultimately and I just really want to be with friends and working on new content every week. I'm glad I have that here.

Anyways... it's terribly hot irl right now. Like 100+ every day... which is unusual for Ohio. It's too hot to really enjoy long spans of time outside and that makes me a sad panda. I have a litter of 5 kittens that I have to watch carefully at the moment because they aren't taking to the heat well. I have to give them all a dose of vitamin supplement each day and tend to other things that come up. I love doing it... because I love animals and it's my job... but this heat is even getting me every time I'm out with them. Lol. I had to babysit this past weekend some and just wow... I really suck with kids,lol. Like diaper changing... so fail. I'll stick with raising cats and finding them homes :D