Lovely Ceniza...

Maybe someday, when she's level 185, Ceniza will get the epic staff...

If Ceniza was getting a report card, it would say, "Charming student, very entertaining and quick of wit; however, not performing to potential." She would be the one in the all-girls school who sneaks out during detention for a pack of smokes and cherry pop. She is wasting her talents, that is for sure.

So, during an LFR run, another fire mage was once again kicking her tail. Did she dare look at his gear? Sure...he probably had all 410 etc., so that must be the reason.

Nope. Not even close. A few LFR pieces, and even a 359 trinket. Ceniza: This is your reality check.

Let's go about this the smart way, shall we? I mean, mages have a lot of intelligence, so put your nose in a book instead of a Marlboro for a change, girl!*

For this little fire girl, I looked over the other player on the armory, and studied recount thoroughly. I noticed on his pet abilities (i.e. mirror images) they were casting frostfire --mmmm...so this made me look hard at my glyphs and that spell. Bottom line, I changed some glyphs and spells around, and did much better during another LFR run, and a reforge, too. I'm still no where close to what I can and should be doing on that mage, so perhaps like a bad golf swing, I need to think about my rotation. In other words, the effort and study is not complete yet.

Many players are purists about using add-ons, or not, in game. I totally get that. From a game designer's perspective, they made the game and created a leveled playing field. Then come along the third-party developers making add-ons and bells and whistles and now the carefully configured gamers' world is customized. There have been many times add-ons have caused me much grief and play disasters. Some of that sh*t isn't street legal.

The case for use of add-ons is clear though: if you want information, data, at your own fingertips, and more control over the big plays of the game, then they are a must. Ones like DBM and Recount/Skada are some of what I consider non-negotiable. Data informs instruction. That's it. If you don't know where you stand, you will stand in fire, metaphorically and game-literally.

Recently I had a few leet players look over my shoulder and were horrified at GTFO. I took it off. It served its training purposes for me, and was starting to become a crutch. With anything, perhaps, it is that flexible thinking, the willingness to try something new, that keeps any learning experience fun. And hate to break it to you guys, but this is an educational game. I know you were ready to meet Ceniza in the girls' room for smokes and gossip, and that's cool, too.

This quote has been on my mind a lot lately:

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Voltaire:

Le mieux est l'ennemi du bien.

• The best is the enemy of the good.

• "La Bégueule" (Contes, 1772)

• Variant translations:
The perfect is the enemy of the good.
The better is the enemy of the good.

*No, I do not condone smoking in real life. Let me play out a Hollywood smoking stereotype, please.

Theme Song: Lovely Rita (Meter Maid) The Beatles

Omniscient narrator comes out...

Really -- many players rock my world. Uppsala was gracious to send me a clarifying e-mail with this information:


Hehe, thank you for the notoriety but I am a mere addon writer. The story was "My Little Dashie" by ROBCakeran53 ( http://www.fimfiction.net/story/1888/My-Little-Dashie ).

I haven't posted the Addon to Curse yet, I'm waiting for permission to distribute this story and maybe Cupcakes by Sergeant Sprinkles (http://dreckerjones.deviantart.com/)

Thank you though, and I hope you enjoyed the experience. It certainly made my LFR much more enjoyable having people to share this story with.

Still: weather ponies?! Daddy, I want a weather pony! How cool would it be to ride around on  "partly cloudy with a chance of showers" pony? The Seattle one would be all mushroom-colored misty grey and threaten precipitation constantly, but rarely have lightning or thunder. 


Anyway, thank you to Uppsala for this clarification and fun feature. 


Speaking of players who rock -- Vidyala's post on achieving her legendary weapon is like an Oscar's speech, and I am not saying that in a snarky way - it is fantastic! I think...I think that is truly why we mortals play--the experiences with friends, family, and those we love superseded the pixels--this is why folks get so upset when some say "it's only a game." It is a game--but it can be so much more. I never wrote about Monopoly wins, I'll just say that. Congratulations Vidyala--well deserved, and just goes to show, the more love we put out there, the more we get back. It's a simple formula. And the screenshot she uses is one I have for my characters, too, and I love it. We all get to share in the glory.

The Trouble with Tribbles: Adding-On Anxiety

Captain Kirk wonders which add-on he can uninstall...with a pair of gardening shears...

It's the same old lament: Blizzard does a great patch, players cheer or boo, depending on how they feel about particular nerfs and buffs (another great name for a guild, by the way), and every one scurries to Curse.com to update add-ons. 

But, being my lazy self, I knew something was broken, like the "check oil light" in a car (okay, Guarf: stop it. I am actually the responsible one when it comes to car safety and maintenance. I'm just making a point.) I went back into a PUG last night on my healer, and the wheels came off the bus. It was a disaster. Clicking, clicking, clicking, and the tank's health, well, tanked. I had warned the group that something seemed amiss since the patch on Tuesday, and if they would like a new healer, that was fine; they said they'd been having the same issues.

Part of me is not really interested in how the tribbles, rather, add-ons seem to mate and multiply. The result of cross-breeding is the big

LUAERRORLOTSOFCODELOTSOFCODEWORDWORD!&*UD‡¢∞§! 

panel that pops up, blocking play view. Blizzard has reached a detente with the add-on developers, and it is absolutely a love-hate relationship. I know purists who play with only the add-ons that Blizzard provides, and if Blizz gets a 'good idea' from an add-on, I am pretty sure no monies or boons are granted to the developer. Here's an analogy: you have a major pharmaceutical company that holds a patent on a best-selling drug, say, "Crackixion." A street drug peddler comes up with something in his trailer (although highly explosive) that lessens the negative side effects of Crackixion (side effects tend to include the desire to punch kittens in faces, trolling for attention, and achievement point break-outs.) The makers of Crack seek out the peddler, and instead of turning him into the authorities, get his secret recipe, thank him, and then proceed to re-purpose the patent. But, the mutually-beneficial relationship may seem one-sided, the peddler gets to make new ones, because as we all know--it's always something.

As long as you don't end up in the Tanarian desert without pants...

So be it. If I need to reconfigure, re-conform, re-upload, etc. so I can play better, then that's how it is. My prescription of Crackixion is filled, and only with a small co-pay.

Now to find those gardening shears.

Healing sucks.

I have tarried far too long writing and playing this fine, misty fall morning. But I need something to wash out the sour taste of 'bleh.' This is pure, uncut whining: sometimes this avocation is just not satisying.  Ran a dungeon with guildmate, and I could tell his frustration when we died on the last fight of Shadowfang Keep. I didn't dispell fast enough, or good enough, ran out of mana too soon, and couldn't have dispelled if I wanted to. Boss was pulled before I had a chance to put out lightwell, make sure we were all buffed, packed, and ready to go. Needed to top off mana, and the impatience was palatable. Normally this particular guildmate is pretty easy going, but there was an edge today. Don't really blame him: on guildchat, he has been grousing a bit about bad PUGs. I got put in the proverbial doghouse, I guess.

NowI love Shadowfang Keep, and wondered what it would be like to heal it. It is not fun. He was using his Death Knight as the tank, and there was another DK who kept fainting at the sight of blood, and an elemental shaman who graciously put out his mana totem for me, but I could tell got a bit frustrated with me at the end. I have not taken the time to figure out my healing add-ons and am still learning so much. But there is little patience in Azeroth for dorks and noobs, we all know this. What was simple enough in regular dungeons is not on Heroic mode, but since Catacylsm has been out for almost a year now, the expectations are that every level 85 character is an expert. Admittedly, my learning curve is somewhat softened by the fact that I do have a main, and know more than I did.

But sometimes I just don't feel like it: I don't feel like researching add-ons, or watching videos, or reading blogs, or blah blah blah.

On the bright side, I did manage enough to get the healing gloves, and that should help quite a bit. I need to be patience with myself first, in all things. And off I go to do some things I am exalted with: Laundry Baskets of Doom, Junk Drawers of Never Ending Absymal Depths, and slaying the Demonic Despots of Unpaid Bills.