For the record: upon further reflection...

The coffee is hot, the morning cold, and I am in that ten-minute gorgeous mode where hair, clothes, and make-up are all pulled together. This will fall apart around 11:49 am. Always does. And just like my experiences last night, things did kind of unravel. We all know getting together with new people in any social situation requires reading body language, small talk, and finding some common ground. Going into a raid for the first time with unfamiliar players, who don't know me, my sense of humor, or play style, is a risky proposition. My impression of starched raid leader may be accurate, but it is irrelevant. For the record: I did ask questions, and important ones for the Rag/healing fight. An important question, in my opinion: should healers try to focus on a certain players, or how did they organize this? Was informed to just run around and heal everybody. Kind of like feeding a small army with Dixie cups of Kool-Aid, I ran out of mana so fast at the end...

Now, thinking about this, I am not sure that's the best approach. The healer trinity was my Holy-Moly Batman That's a Priest Healer, a Disc priest, and Druid. I worked so hard to keep everyone alive that I ran out of mana, the druid healer died first, and the sight of greyed-out healing spells when mana is eee-OUT is so disheartening. And, like I said--did ask the question. I am fairly certain this group traditionally has not had to look for healers, and that I and the druid were new to the mix. They have a holy paladin who is amazing, and the disc priest is superb. But they were stuck with me and my dumb questions.

Which leads me to this: I have often thought of what would comprise my perfect '10' man. I would not be raid leader. I do that enough in real life. But it would be someone who is funny. In fact, a sense of humor would be first and foremost for any ten-man group. Oh, and good listening skills, such as when the floor is opened to questions, leaders actually acknowledge them and answer them. A blanket "heal everyone" didn't work, did it? "The chairman acknowledges the Draenei priest from Exodar..." (Gavel bang, clear throat, and speak.)

I was also thinking this: no wonder guilds are having a hard time recruiting. There are two possible reasons for this: one, people may not have the time it takes, and two, guilds are run by people (this is a generalization....caution! Stereotypes ahead!) who may not be all that friendly or social in the first place. What?! An epiphany that thousands of others have already had!? Gasp!

So, again, will jump into LFR, keep working on those Valor Points, and stay my enchanting, shiny, funny self. 

And Xak -- I did NOT step in fire. You would have been proud.

Theme song: The Desperate Man/The Black Keys
Optional theme song: Lake of Fire/Nirvana