Bow to your sensei.

Think anyone wants a round-house kick to the head while I'm wearing these bad boys?

A few rumors about MoP I find worrisome (yes, guess I have been playing long enough now to start to want things "my way") are the changes to the talent trees and the loss of class trainers.

I know, I've heard it'll make things so much simpler. but like when they put the pictures of the menu items on the cash registers at McDonald's, the "dumbing down" factor irks the hell out of me.

The NPC Masters Tournament:

The act of seeking out a trainer for new skills was a rite of passage for a character. I miss my trainer in Stormwind. This is where she used to be:

And now she's gone indoors, in semi-retirement:

Time is moving plenty fast. (Oh, I cannot believe how much of a curmudgeon I have become of late.) Even yesterday, Momokawa was moving so fast through levels she forgot to stop and get some training. But that is all right. She went to see Kal, he hooked her up, and away she went. The few minutes it took to make me stop and look were so important, and truly, even that is not enough to begin to understand a new class(es). But those RP relationships we have with our trainers, those places we go when we seek out those who mentored us. It's like seeing an old teacher in a grocery store - she/he seems out of place, in the world, and should be hermetically sealed in their classroom, forever lecturing and teaching. I want my trainer back, but the lake, if even just to sit for a bit and watch the fishermen and passersby.

This poor portal trainer is out of a job now too. Planned obsolescence is a bitch. Just ask my washer and dryer.

Desperately Seeking Mentors:
I have done LFR on my newly minted Fire Mage Ceniza twice now, well, 1.5 times. The first time she did all right, around 20-25K with her crappy gear. I looked over at other mages' damage in Skada, and then redid her talent tree. The next time I went in I was near the bottom. Okay, obviously the only thing I changed was my talent tree, and I did it based on what I thought would be good to try, and I was wrong, wrong, wrong. (But, that 'wrongness' is okay, in my opinion, in fact, should be encouraged to be wrong, and then research! The one thing, the ONE thing that bugs me most while playing is other players' demands of perfection. How flipping boring! Really! Had a long talk with my former and amazingly intelligent guildmaster Xak last night, and we were debating the "X" factor, and for him, that analysis is what keeps him engaged. There was more to the conversation, so perhaps later today I will post a "Dinner with Xak" exchange.)

Back to the drawing board: I went to the expert. Vidyala from Manalicious, and with preternatural timeliness, she has had two posts on mages:

http://manalicious.wordpress.com/2012/04/10/tuesday-art-day-millya/
http://manalicious.wordpress.com/2012/04/02/the-arcanes-guest-post/

So I blinked over to Battle.net and did some snooping:

Never you mind that her gear score is astronomically higher than mine. I do have the same wand: does that help?

Here is her fire tree:

Here is her arcane:

 The rationale I've heard for doing away with these old talent trees is it will abate everyone from being cookie-cutter and copying others talents. I am not sure how simplifying is going to eliminate cookie-cuttery, in fact, I can't help but think it will increase it. (It's the pictograms on the register.) So if one can't play with one's tree, pruning it too much, or cutting off blossoms, then what's left besides more gear and experience? See, that "X" factor will be missing. The trainers in game checked out a long time ago. They really don't offer much in terms of training. I thought it would be cool if you could have an NPC take your tail to the training dummies and watch your technique and truly explain the mechanics of your spells.

Even today, was in LFR and hit hero at the beginning of the Hagara fight, just for fun. Of course got criticized. "Good time for hero" or something like that. But I really don't give a sh*t. And that's sad. The criticism from other players weighs us down, to the point we become apathetic and snarky. There were comments (referring to me as "he" and my genitalia) that followed, and of course I had to comment when we got  record kill, "Gee, whaddya know." That was met with recount epeens. Sigh. Really. Sigh.

So, the good, the bad, and the ugly, as usual. I look to the kind players, the smart players, to guide my way. Maybe someday I'll be able to help too.

Ceniza's tree is pruned, and I'll take her back to LFR and dungeons today to see if I can get her helmet, shoulders, leggings, off-hand, trinkets, necklace, rings, and some other back-to-school supplies. It's always nice to have a fresh start.

And it's never a bad time for hero.