Oh hai?

It happens to all of us at some points: our focus shifts away to other things, our time gets consumed with other activities, and things we used to do regularly fall by the wayside. Awkwardly, that has happened to me with all things WoW. I am still raiding and have no intention to stop, but my time outside has been eaten up by external activities. Nothing bad, nothing huge and life-altering, but simply is.

Just to reassure, I have no intention of stopping blogging. For those that don't already, I suggest using an rss-feed reader like Google Reader to keep up with updates :)


General Rambly Life Update:

My regret, though, is that it has put a halt to any amount of art I used to do. Once upon a time, I would make real paintings and colored-pencil sketches. I even did medieval scrollwork, though I used acrylics (I like Celtic knotwork, and silver paint is fun). As I got into photoshop, I started doing full digital paintings, though I never got anywhere near the level of the "super digital artists" like Meerkat or Sarah Ellerton, both of whom I admire for their skill and dedication--both of them inspired me at times.

Of course, you all know me for the stick figures I have posted on this blog: the rough and easy quick doodles that serve to illustrate important aspects of boss fights. That's most of what my art has amounted to in recent years, though I have spent time with larger art projects, like creating removable "stained glass" windows ~5' x 5' tall out of tissue paper and plastic dropcloth.

Seriously.


I idly wish I could get back into digital painting, maybe one day be able to match the skill of those who inspire me, but that's a time commitment I just don't have the time for. For now, I need to take one step at a time and at least provide some stick figs for all of you :)


WoW Stuff:

I'm enjoying raiding on my druid, still. While the daily quests have gotten dull and repetitive--irritating, really, for a mainspec healer, spending time raiding with my guild is what keeps me interested in the game. I will admit, though, to a certain hatred of heroic Chimaeron.

- Heroic Chim rant -

Chim is one of those gear-and-skill-check fights on heroic. Communication and very strict job assignments are required. For a tank, it's all about communication and cooldown timing. For a dps, it's a snooze-fest except to dps as hard as possible and group up periodically, aside a single dps-tank who has to fill an out-of-the-box taunting role and sometimes deal with popping survival cooldowns.

For a healer... it is an intense fight that requires complete focus and quick reaction times. But you can't rely on your usual reaction of "fill the bar, they're low health" or you'll go OoM: the healers have to train themselves to AVOID that reaction and rely purely on low-health debuffs. It's all in decision and assignments and making sure each healer does their job and can trust that the others will do their job, while at the same time keeping an eye out on boss timers and making that snap decision of "massacre inc, there are two with low-health, I need to help them now" and have pre-arranged with the other healer as to which person you will heal (by party and by top-to-bottom vs bottom-to-top).

Entire nights of this will leave a healer's brain the consistency of porridge. I'm not talking about that thick glop, either: I mean the kind where you accidentally poured in too much water and it's beginning to more resemble stew or even soup. It reached a point where running into the room, I would see Chimaeron snoozing there with his little green z's and my mind would fill with loathing, loathing for the pixels before me. Pyrecraw didn't help, pre-stack-nerf when we all had to rotate LoS to drop the flame buffet stacks, and that was just trash. I preferred playing with Nefarian and wiping to tailwhip+electrocute combos to dealing with H-Chim.

Now, my guild did kill H-Chim last night. I wasn't there, but my guildies got it. I haven't heard what loot dropped, but I am hoping and hoping it was a pair of uber-bracers for my fellow resto druid Herc (the guild's new healer recruit, who slipped in in spite of our hope to get a shammy or pally simply because he is so awesome). We have never seen a pair of epic leather bracers drop off of Chim so we've both still been rocking blues all this time.

- Bear, rawr? -

On a feral side, they have had me tank H-Halfus for a few kills. Me, in my mostly-blues tank kit. I had to completely remap some of my bear keys to allow for a quicker interrupt reactivity, and I had to huge-ify (yes, I claim that's a legitimate word) my quartz target cast bars to be able to make sure I didn't miss the casts that I needed to interrupt. I am currently running around specced as a healer primary, bear secondary, which as you can imagine makes dailies 'interesting.' It was a change of pace that I enjoyed, though. I have yet to tank a 5-man in the expansion, yet I have helped tank 10-man heroic raid bosses. Ha. Go me. I even managed to keep aggro off of our insane DPS. Scawwy bear-kae, rawr!



Yay, Puppy!

FLUFFY! She is about 75lbs (or more) and still likes to climb in laps. She spends lunchtime laid out across the couch, mostly in my husband's lap and sticking her paws and nose in my lap while we eat; being able to go home for an hour lunchbreak is a wonderful thing. She and I like going for walks around the local college campus, where she has been getting better about not trying to yank my arm off or digging through the landscaping to find all of the food the students like to leave laying around.

The leash-training and behavior training have been a weekly challenge as she is true to her breed: stubborn and independant, but with lots of positive reinforcement and treats, she is coming along well. I have taken to training her on a few sledding commands for left/right (haw/gee), though I am using an archery-range command of "hold" to get her to stop and freeze given that I want her responding to that command when she hears it around that range.

She enjoys campus more than our local neighborhood, as she gets to see lots of people, and many college students love seeing a friendly fluffy dog they can cuddle with.


I'm just waiting for the moment I try to give a raid direction in vent and say "gee" or "haw." It is bound to happen. -_-;

---

So, that's a quick update for those of you who have been worrying. I have been plotting for more stick-figure guides, just need to get around to doing them.

Two Weeks of Crazy

Incoming long ramble. It's been a while since I've posted, so I'm giving fair warning :)

I have greatly enjoyed my resto druid in Cataclysm. She has her strengths and weaknesses, as I have found, and they've led me to feeling rather happy with her as she provides a challenge for me. The weaknesses, of course, provide some entertaining lessons of their own.


CC, lol.
Healers have very low if any +hit. Avoid promising any CC to the party if you value your health bar. If you absolutely MUST use CC (because of running with a group of, oh, 3 warriors and a deathknight) then get your hots rolling on the tank before attempting to root/hibernate/cyclone/whatever! Or the tank will keel over dead because you were too busy running around screaming with your CC target chomping on your tail.

So, avoid being assigned CC as a healer. Of course, you can still use CC if you have the mana and time to spare... I find a quick cyclone can tie up a wildly swinging melee mob and give the tank's health bar a breather while DPS focus-fire down another mob.

Ultimately, though, my most-used CC has been Nature's Grasp. I have it bound to a mouse button in a lovely little barkskin+grasp macro that pops me 3 chances to root an offending melee mob that is trying to nom my furry hide. Yes, tanks should be rescueing their healer, or even a friendly helpful DPS with their own CC, but sometimes they're busy or distracted or dead or have things on cooldown because you know what? Heroics are hard. Or, sometimes, they're just blind idiots. Regardless, it's a CC I've found I want very quick access to.


AoE Healing?
...is no longer our forte. Wild Growth has a monstrous cooldown, and Tranquility's is even longer. Swiftmend has a cooldown for its use and subsequent green puddle of aoe healing, but the puddle itself is insufficient for healing more than a sliver of health at current gear levels.

...and ToL
Treeform has become my "OMG RAID HEALS NAO" cooldown as I then spread lifebloom across the raid like a rampant infestation of kudzu. If I need to pop treeform to begin rolling lifebloom on two tanks, I try to time it to coincide with an early point of a boss fight where I can make use of that extra lifebloom love I can share with the raid. Like with the Ascendant Council when Fluvi-whasisface starts novaing and for some reason beyond my comprehension we don't interrupt it immediately. I should probably go look up why we don't immediately interrupt the first cast, but I've been busy so I'll just type out here a note to myself to go look at it later. ;)

I do enjoy that we can roll lifebloom on multiple targets after ToL ends, by refreshing one or another with HT/Nourish. What I do not like is when my nourish cast, in an attempt to refresh it on said tank, is interrupted or fails due to the tank running out of range, or due to some giant monster leaping through the air and landing on my head, only to send me flying across the room as though I were a gnome to be punted. I think that this particular circumstance is a racial punishment brought down by the evil gnome overlords in vengeance against tauren kind.


Mana.
Mana mana. Doo doo, de doo doo. Yes, mana is an issue, and as Scythe so adequately described it to me, healer mana has become the raid's built-in enrage timer. If the tank pulls while I'm drinking back at the last trash pack, I usually let them die. If I go completely OOM, I have been known to run around bandaging players.

If anyone is taking unnecessary damage, I think it's okay to let them die or yell at them to pop cooldowns, healthstones, potions, bandages, etc. Or to, I dunno, GET OUT OF THE FIRE. Or maybe move when a debuff says you should move or you'll die horribly: is red light, green light really that difficult of a game?? Or when there's a flayer sitting there clawing wildly at the air and people think he's gonna give them a nice facial rather than attempt to julienne their bodies into dinner. Even tanks can move out of that, you know.


Pug Tank Egos.
....ugh. Okay, here's the scenario: guild group of DPS + healer, all with Bane of the Fallen King titles, gets a pug tank. My guildies know to CC when given a mark or directions, but this particular tank seems to think he can take everything. Mind, we're all in varying levels of blues as is the tank, and this is Heroic Grim Batol with massive packs of easily CCable targets, and have the CC available to use. So he runs in, nearly dies on the first few pulls, bitches about "Don't be Bad" when he looses aggro on things because he's got terrible threat (ahem, when healer gets aggro on things), and I sit down to drink after a pull. I say, "mana." He crosses the bridge and pulls one of the hardest roaming trash packs in the first hallway while I'm drinking down the hall at half mana.

You can imagine where this leads. I scurry across with my half mana and quickly try to save him with my limited healing cooldowns and getting hots rolling on him, while he's not using a single one of his tank cooldowns, and then, predictably, he dies from massive amounts of raw damage. He sighs and the group wipes and we start running back, DPSers beginning to suggest maybe we should CC something? His response: "Heal more. Stop being bad."

Me: "O_o ...you're joking, right?"
Him: "Not really."

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. I growl, literally, and initiate a vote-kick on the tank.

Unfortunately, the vote-kick tool may have somehow bugged, as it didn't give my fellow guidlies a chance to vote before it "failed" and went away. We're all in vent together at the time, and I simply said, "I am not putting up with this tank," and I left the party. I suggested they leave, too. We could find another tank. In fact, one of our guild tanks offered then to fill in for us.

Meanwhile, back in the party (I am hearing this over vent), the dpsers told the tank he shouldn't be pissing off his healers. His response, as I hear, was that "You guys can leave too, I don't care. I'm not the one with the 40-minute queue." Obviously, he missed the fact that they were queuing WITH the healer, who had a maybe 3-minute queue. Oblivious ego tank is oblivious. The DPS then vote-kick the offending tank from the party; this time it is able to actually be voted upon, and the tank is swiftly removed from the instance with a massive, ethereal boot.

Initiate re-invite of the seething Kaelynn and a helpful guild tank, we warp back into the instance, and clear the entire place without any problems. Of course, we all blacklisted the first tank to our ignore lists.

Who would've thought I had an inner paladin? RIGHTEOUS FURY!


Holidays with a Puppy
Travel/guests explosion. This was the first long-distance overnight trip with River, who at almost 6 months old, is a 60-lb puppy who can't sit still for long in the car. She tried sleeping in my lap during a 3-hour drive and that didn't work; she had to settle for just resting her head in my lap while I sang along to Glee soundtracks.

Both sides of my family have dogs of their own: dogs that don't quite know how to wrestle and play with other dogs. These dogs are people-only dogs that tolerate the presence of other canines as long as they leave each other alone.

River is not like that.

River is a puppy who thinks that every dog she meets will want to play with her, unless they're just old and grumpy. Ironically, the one dog we found she got along best with is a tiny little dachsund/chihuahua mix who is 14 years old and nearly blind: she just growled at our massive puppy and River backed off.

The others, sadly, mistook River's attempts at play as attacks. The youngest had been attacked by another dog before, so she freaked out every time River made a play-lunge at her, though to her credit she did TRY to play with River. She even play-bowed and brought toys over to my puppy. It was torture to River that every time she tried to play back, the other dog would then freak and snarl and turn it into a real fight. The other dogs just had no interest in playing chase or tug-of-war or wrestling, and would straight-out snarl and try to fight, misinterpreting River's overtures of play.

It was a learning experience for me, and for River. All of the dogs River has met prior to the family's are dogs that know how to play with other dogs. They wrestle and bite at each other in play, and chase and tumble and run into each other. Whether bigger than her or tiny, none have ever gotten hurt. It is play. But some dogs just haven't been socialized to be able to play with other dogs. I am glad I have been able to socialize River with other dogs, that she knows how to play with them: but I am going to have to teach her that not all dogs are willing to play with her.

Aside, she did get photos with Santa.


Shortly after the whole hectic holiday travel (in driving snow and ice, no less) I had to take River to get fixed. This means: cone of shame.

Contrary to most dogs, however, River seems oblivious to the cone of shame. Like, completely oblivious, to the point that she's nearly taken peoples' faces off while romping past them. It is merely a diversion that makes loud noises when she catches it on walls, doors, cabinet handles, corners, bowls, toys, sticks, bushes, the floor, the crate, people, etc. Something that makes chewing on her bone more of an interesting challenge. Something that, in itself, is a challenge to chew on. And, occasionally, an annoyance that she can't lick at her healing stitches.

Yes, I will get pictures up. I promise.

Now, the healing wound also requires that we try to keep her calm and docile, and not go up and down stairs, and be restrained by a leash while doing her business to keep her from tearing around the yard. Leash-walking a half-grown malamute who's been cooped up in "recovery" is an feat in itself, nevermind when it's done on a steep slope covered in snow and ice. It also doesn't prevent her from going absolutely bonkers when she's back inside, much to the amusement of the three guests we had over New Year's weekend (hi, Jae and Lundrac!)


New Years'
Lego Harry Potter, Rock Band, geeky movies like Dorkness Rising and Avatar, karate training (perks to having a 3rd degree blackbelt visit for a few days), and a giggly Kae after the others found she didn't mind the taste of rum + coke, provided it was properly diluted (I usually despise the taste of alcohol). All while wrangling a boisterous puppy with a massive cone around her collar who wasn't technically allowed to run and jump and romp and zip circles around the TV room, but did anyway.

I am still recovering from the past few weeks. I would like a day to just hibernate. But, alas, the "work" monster returned so I'll have to wait until Friday for that :)

Puppy + Snow = Squee

As a northern breed, she took to the snow as if it were... well, all the world was a snowcone.


She and I chased each other around the yard after dark, kicking up snow under the reflected orangy-pink glow of the clouds, slipping and sliding around the yard. I was giggling like a child, and she obviously had better traction than I did and would zip past me trying to be fast enough to not let me tag her. This game isn't fair when mommy's in heavy snow boots and trying to not slide down the hill... but so much more amusing :D

She is solidly larger now than all of her play pals... over 5 months old, she's still growing. She learned she's still not the biggest dog in the world when she met two Great Danes on Saturday. Followed by a Miniature Dachsund puppy. Then she wanted Santa to give her a belly rub.

:3

Wall Feast

The real reason why we got HLK10-strict down:



Wall feasts. This is what happens when you get superstitious with raiding. You spend 30 seconds of buffing time trying to get a fish feast stuck in a wall, and everyone waits patiently without complaint, because IT IS NECESSARY FOR SUCCESS.


Been a busy week. Scythe and I had been working on changing up the guild website and using different, integrated software for its front page, and it's finally up and running. We've had stick-figures in the margins on the forums previously, but now we get to have them on the front page, too. I like the personalization, it gives it more of the guild's character.

Anyway.

Puppy.


Has gotten big.

And likes playing in the bathtub.

XD

River the Squirrel?

"Look, Mom! I'm the Headless Horsedog! I don't need to actually WEAR a costume, right?"


"Wait, you're dressing up too? Well... I guess I can wear something, if you are..."


I tagged along trick-or-treating with my friends and their kids as Little Red Riding Hood (I carried dog treats in a basket, heh). The wolf dressed up as a squirrel. I so wish I'd been able to put together a grandmother type costume for her to wear instead, but I didn't think about it until last minute. -_-;

Couch Melt

"You weren't planning to sit here, were you?"

or maybe,

"Give me another 2 months, and I can cover the third cushion, too."

River: 4 months

...and 40 lbs. My little baby is still my "little" baby, but she's gotten quite a bit bigger!

She likes to eat out of measuring cups. I'm not sure how much longer her nose will fit.

She likes playing with my friends' dogs. She will shortly outmass them all. Her paws are at least three times bigger than this other dog's. Maybe 4 times bigger.

She doesn't quite fit under the dishwasher anymore when I'm doing dishes. But she still tries.

But... she's still as cute and fluffy and cuddly as ever!

...and her collar finally fits.

OT: Your Puppy Fix

Apparently some of you cannot get by a week without a puppy fix. :)


River discovered the hose this weekend. After playing joyously in the water stream, she promptly found a dirt pile to roll in.

Go figure. :) It took more hosing and much toweling to finally have a clean puppy again.

OT: A Cat's Training Methods

True story. Sans sound effects. I had to help her up the last steps afterwards, because she didn't want to be hissed at in the face again. I swear the cat laughed. "Myah, myah!"

Speaking of sounds, I found this very odd "Martha Stewart Collection" (lol) dog toy bat thingy. It has multiple squeakers wrapped up in one ball, so they squeak in synch, with this demented and ghostly wailing, keening, crying sound. The moment I squeaked it in the store, my husband and I locked eyes and grinned: it was too weird to NOT get. And River loves it, even though her jaws aren't strong enough yet to get it to squeak for herself.

If you see one at the store, yourself, give it a slow squeak and you'll see what I mean.

On a related note, sorry about the high-pitched puppy barks in the background of vent last night, btw, guildies >_> She was generally well-behaved through the raid, only getting into trouble once when she discovered the toilet paper roll in the bathroom, and I had to spend Sindragosa with a raccoon-squeaky trapped under my leg in the chair so she could pull and growl at it while I raided.

Rawr, squeaky. Rawr.

Raiding with a Puppy

Young puppies require a lot of attention. At 8 weeks old, they may not even be potty trained. Trying to raid while you have a puppy rolling around your computer room is... interesting, to say the least; and when you're working on something like Hardmode Lich King, you need your full concentration in the game.


So, what's a new puppy owner to do?

1. At least one hour (preferably 2) before the raid, take her outside and play. Play hard. If she'll chase a ball, use that; if not, take a long stick and run around the yard with her chasing it. Or have her chase you. Just get her running!
   
2. Make sure she potties. "Afk my puppy peed on the floor" isn't a fun call to make mid-raid!
3. Lavish her with attention before the raid. Do this even if you have a family member who will look after her during the raid, because bonding time with your pup is important.
   
4. Save 15 minutes of time before you log in as "wind-down" time. Set up her usual nap area (my puppy insists on having a fan going... northern breeds, go figure!) and pet her/brush her. Let her calm down.
   
5. If you can't keep her in the computer room with you (wires, carpet, etc) I suggest a crate. Otherwise, you'll be distracted by needing to stop her from chewing on everything (wires, carpet, papers, trash can, cats, door frames, bookcases, table legs, your feet) or be ever-paranoid about her leaving a puddle on your floor.
   
6. Attend your raid. Ignore the cries/whines for attention; a couple of hours alone in a crate is not going to hurt her. Just don't abandon her all evening, particularly if you've been gone all day, too!
   
7. During any 10/15 minute break, take her outside quickly if you know she has a weak bladder. Give her some food and let her settle back down; a chew toy or frozen carrot will also occupy her as you return to your raid.
8. Return to her after your raid for a longer walk and playtime. She will have missed you.
9. Train her to control your character.......... I wish. :)
   

If you have any additional tips or just stories to share, I'd love to hear them :)

Woof.

River finds her bark.... wait, what?
IS THAT MY BARKSKIN?!

Trying to talk WoW...

So...

...um...

Just because a leaf is defying gravity, doesn't mean it's hacking.
The wind is a perfectly ordinary class mechanic for it.

...


um...


Beta efflorescence graphics: no, this puddle isn't going to melt your feet. EMBRACE THE GREEN OOZE!


...hrmm...


...Lich King? I like bubbles. I hate defile when it eats bubbles. Defile can DIAF while I bounce around the room in my pretty shiny bubble. With fear ward. F U, DEFILE.

F U N D A!..........





...ahem...


*looks around*



*crickets*

....

Oh, who am I kidding. My attention is elsewhere, atm!





If for some bizarre reason you are offended by adorable puppies, I suggest avoiding my blog for a while. Just sayin'.

The cuteness compels me.

RE: River: An Old Bit of Art

Might not fit in the blog frame, but still worth posting.

This is an old bit of artwork I did back when I had the time and inclination to try "painting" with a mouse (translation: when I wasn't lazy and/or busy). I felt it was appropriate to repost :) This is my original druid, Kae, with her worg pup... I have wanted a puppy for yeeeeeeearrrrrrsss!

Offtopic: SQUEE

My puppy! She came home this weekend and has spent the past day charming her mommy and daddy. Little River is 7 weeks old and a complete ball of fluff.

Things she likes:

• Mommy's socks
• Fans
• Cat Toys
• Belly Rubs
• Cool floors
  
• Stepping in her water bowl
  
• Attention
• Chasing her tail
  
• Sleeping on her back...
  

The whole litter is adorable, but I'm biased: River's the best.


In spite of many looking identical.

...

/squee

They're here....

I could blog about how the WoW Forums are all going to be showing the poster's real names as an effort to put an axe in trolling.

I could blog about how the up-rating and down-rating of posts on the WoW forums could seriously be abused on the recruitment boards.

I could blog about how some people still don't seem to understand that, even if item levels are the same, having access to ICC25 normal loot makes 10 mans easier due to a broader (and better) choice in itemization and quicker gearing.

I could blog about how I think that guilds that aren't 10-strict are still viable ten-man guilds and how I respect their choice to NOT limit their players, including their non-raiding-roster friends and family, from running ICC25 and RS-25 pugs, though they may have a slightly easier time of content due to their expanded gear selection (assuming their raiders partake of the ICC25s).

I could blog about how it's a PitA to monitor strict rankings for the guild and have to remove friends/family who threaten to push a guild out of strict rankings in order to pick up raiding recruits who happen to already have those achievements, because honestly, what's the likelihood of finding recruits who don't?

I could give you a stick figure guide on how to Halion.


But I'm not going to right now.

Instead, I give you this...



...that you might share in my giddiness that my puppy was born last week.

^_^

Uhhhh