Shoe-Thrower: WoW Style

I found this link on digg.com. Thought you would all find it humorous.

Where have all the kitties gone?

While talking with my once-again Guild Leader last night I joked saying how he was so lucky to have me back because I might be the best feral DPS druid on the server. Then I got to thinking… what if I am the ONLY feral DPS druid on the server?

I had seen a few in PUGs a few weeks ago, but nothing since. And the ones I did see? They were just plain bad. I know of one large raiding guild on the server is running with one Feral Druid OT. No one else can think of one. The other feral druid in our guild is going Boomkin now. Most people I have joined 25 man PUGs with have been very confused as to my existence (until they see my DPS, that is). And I have had quiet a few people tell me they didn’t think cat form was useful in raids until they met and grouped with me.

It can’t be my gear. I’ve only got 4 epics. My staff is pretty killer, but its pre-Naxx gear. I’m not even hit capped. And I’m not 100% positive my spec (0/60/11) is as fine tuned as it could be.

When I started raiding in BC I had people on the server and plenty of resources online that I could tap for information. And most of it, honestly, I just figured out on my own through trial and error. But I was tanking back then. And I have always felt that tanking was easier, but I haven’t dabbled into it since Wrath launched. (Although I am building a set in anticipation of dual-spec).

The only conclusion is that people just don’t know how to play. Druid cat form has seen quiet a few changes and additions since patch 3.0, and it has really changed the way I play, and the way I raid.

And, yes, I mean those as two separate things. While raiding I change my strategies a bit on DPS, not to mention I have to keep my eye on Innervate and Battle Rez cooldowns. In a pinch I also have to be capable of healing, decursing, removing poison, and bandaging. Druids truly are a multitasking class.

I’m at work while I’m writing this so I can’t hop on to WoW on check to see what my rotation is… and I, uh, don’t recall because I can’t remember what everything is called… but I will tomorrow, since it is my day off. So long as we don’t lose power, that is.

I want to help all the confused kitties out there. We can be awesome DPS! We ARE awesome DPS! We rock RAWR!

Winter Veil Kissing Achievements

I am now only two achievements away from the “Merrymaker” Meta Achievement (and title!). I am just missing “With a Little Helper From my Friends” and “Crashin’ & Thrashin’“.

Most of the Achievements have been fairly easy for me to complete thus far. Below I have included some tips to help get your “Merrymaker” title and Achievement a little simpler. Today I am just covering the Achievements you can get from /kiss rewards.

Bros. Before Ho Ho Ho’s

The first thing you need before you set out to find all the Brothers spread about Azeroth is to get 9 Mistletoe. To get these, you go to an Inn and /kiss the Winter Revelers standing conviently under some mistletoe. It appears that this year you can kiss either the boy or the girl this year. (I seem to recall that in years past you could only kiss the opposite sex.) It also seems to only work with non-Northrend Revelers. I would also double check that you have one free bag space before your /kiss. After kissing them they will give you something; either Mistletoe (5), Fresh Holly (5), or a Handful of Snowflakes (5). You will also get a one hour debuff until you can kiss again (my guess is so your lips don’t get chapped). This debuff works similarly to Resurection Sickness, in that it does not continue to wear off when you are logged off. The Mistletoe is the one for this quest, but don’t toss the other two if you get them as they are for other achievements.

Finding the Brothers isn’t that hard if you know where to look. Wowhead is where I went, and found an amazing comment that gives the fastest route to get them all. Follow this link here and scroll down a few comments to the one written by Aristodamos. It gives you a very straight forward route to follow. It helped me out a ton to get this done with out several wowhead searches to find NPCs I’ve never heard of.

Fa-la-la-la-Ogri’la

I hope you saved that Fresh Holly from kissing those boys and girls! If not, you can get some Preserved Holly two different ways. You can do the Metzen quest, or you can do “The Hero of the Day“, which will reward you with some. The difference between the two Hollies is that Preserved will last indefinetly and Fresh will disappear after having it for 7 days.

This achievement does require you to have a flying mount. You must fly to Ogri’la in Blade’s Edge Mountains in Outland and do the daily “Bomb them again”. You only need to be on your Reindeered mount when turning in the quest. So for all you Epic Flight Form druids out there, birdy bomb them away. When you get back to the quest giver, hop on a mount and use the holly to change to a festive reindeer, then hand in the quest.

Let It Snow

This one will require your Handful of Snowflakes from earlier. You will actually need two stacks of these, for a total of ten. You will need to snowflake 10 specific Race/Class types to earn this achievement.

• Orc Death Knight
• Tauren Shaman
• Undead Rogue
• Gnome Mage
• Blood Elf Warlock
• Human Warrior
• Night Elf Druid
• Troll Hunter
• Dwarf Paladin
• Draenei Priest

For your own faction you can always “/who night elf druid” (for example) to find your nearest one. I have even heard of some people being whispered and given gold for meeting someone to be snowflaked. For the opposite faction, I found the easiest thing to do was stand in front of the Horde section in Dalaran, waiting for someone to come by. It took me maybe 10 minutes tops, and I think they loved it because I was what they were looking for, too. I got much snowflakes while standing there.

/kiss

For tips on how to get “Winter Veil Gourmet” achievement, check my other blog post here!

Here we go again.

Apparently whatever decision I make on what guild to stick with I am going to have some feeling of regret. Or maybe I’m just still feeling unsure?

After a very long and honest conversation with my old GM from <paradigm shift>, and the realization that <Static> was a huge guild of nice people but lacking the talent I was used to, and that a server transfer would break too many hearts, I decided to rejoin <Paradigm Shift>.

I feel really shitty for dumping <Static> after such a short stay, but it was merely a fling. The boys of <Paradigm Shift> may be crude and unruly, but I missed them. And they missed me. They didn’t 10 man raid Naxx last night. I think I might have affected them more than I knew.

We discussed the issues at hand, and they just didn’t realize that they were upsetting me so much. I guess that is what I get for sucking it all up and trying not to let it get to me. (At least I didn’t blow up and cry in vent this time…) The GM also had realized things were getting out of hand prior to this, but this made him realize he has to do something about it.

The good thing that came out of this was me figuring something out. If the guys in this guild weren’t so badass there would be no way we could have made it so far with such a lack of organization or orderly anything. We just pwn.

Yes, I am being careful not to get my little druid kitty heart squashed again, but I see good things from here on out.

Thanks all for your support.