The Alluded To Gaming Update

So when I did my TAE blog yesterday, I said a lot had happened in my gaming life, too. So I figured I should probably update this blog section as well! The only real question is...where do I start?

I'll start with the raiding jump - and my subsequent confidence jump that came along with it. Along with a nice side helping of drama.

A few weeks ago, my best friend and my brother fell in with another guild who's name I won't post here because of the drama that later ensued, and I'd like our sever to continue to be the nice, calm place it is. They ran regular difficulty level Dragon Soul with that group and didn't get past the 3rd boss. They were figuring it was probably some mechanic issues. The next week they asked me to come with - in fact, a lot of potchkeying was done to make sure I was ABLE and available to come with them, to get around my work schedule. And this was all because they needed a tank - and I am a very, very good bear.

How did someone who used to be incredibly terrified of dungeons at ALL find themselves tanking a regular difficulty end-game raid? Well...I learned, to put it mildly. And I researched. I owe quite a bit of what I know to WoW Insider's Shifting Perspectives column, and it's wonderful advice on everything from rotation to optimal use of cooldowns, to guides and walkthroughs of specific bosses. Here's the main problem, however...

I don't particularly like tanking. Which is weird, because honest, compared to say, kitty DPS, bear tanking is an easier rotation. There are less things to monitor, and with our Guild Mumble (thanks Zach!), I can respond immediately to someone telling me to move or do something. But I really enjoy kitty dps...More than I enjoy my hunter, these days. It's making me glad for account wide mounts and pets are coming in Mists Of Pandaria, because it means I can switch mains completely without feeling the guilt of not having all the pets, mounts, and achievements I've worked so hard to GET on Des.

However, as I've learned, when it comes down to what you want versus what your guild/pack need, the needs of the many definitely outweigh the wants of the one. (Yay for a therian reference and a paraphrased Star Trek quote in the same paragraph.) So I'm a dedicated raid tank these days. And don't get me wrong - I enjoy it. As long as I'm doing it well.

I was so afraid, going in to tanking Ultraxion the first time on reg (having only tanked him one other time on LFR difficulty). I was sure I was going to miss a Fading Light, or an Hour Of Twilight, and I was going to get flattened...but I didn't. In fact, we took him down the first try. I was EXULTANT. I was high on that for hours afterwards - the one fight might not have seemed like a big deal to anyone else, but to me, it was huge. That was the last hurdle I had. I wasn't afraid of Warmaster Blackhorn, despite the chaos of that battle, or Spine of Deathwing, which is a total timing, mechanic, and DPS check, or Madness of Deathwing, which is all in figuring out the order of the platforms so you keep the Aspect's buffs you need the most until the very end. At most, you usually die 3 or 4 times before you figure out what works properly for you. I know once we get there, it won't be long before I have my Destroyer's End title. Which I will wear with pride - because I will have gotten it off of current content, and for the first time I will feel like a real raider.

But as in any situation where there are multiple people, things get in the way. During last week's run, the other guild brought in a tank that...well, he said he was ready. But none of us in the group but him suffered from that delusion. He'd never even raided before, and he wanted to tank it....Yeah. I was main tank, and I ended up calling out instructions to him in Mumble during every fight that had anything for him to do at all. And when it came down to it, and we really needed him to pull it together for Hagara's trash before the boss...he lost it. Repeatedly.

Now, keep in mind - nothing overt was said to him in voice or chat. But after we wiped a couple of times on the chat, one of their guild members remarked to my brother that that he "owed him five bucks". Because the two of them had been talking privately earlier and my brother had said, based on the off tank's reputation, that we'd make it to Hagara and then wipe on the trash. There was nothing to show what he was talking about - he could've been talking about a bet that we wouldn't get through half the raid in one day. Or really anything. It could have been ANYTHING.

The other guildmaster spoke to my brother and asked him what it was about. My brother answered honestly, in private, telling him about the comment and what it was in reference to. The guildmaster then took that and kicked our friend out of their guild for "badmouthing a guildmember" or something like that. Nothing was done in public, and it was very obvious that his GM had been looking for a reason to kick him. They were both ex-military, different branches, and butted heads constantly. So what did we do? We invited the newly un-guilded guy into our guild. :)

Now my brother's building up a hand-picked raid team for us that will meet this Friday and hopefully get at least through Hagara in 2 hours. Then on Saturday we'll meet and tear through Fall Of Deathwing, and come out with our respective "Destroyer's End" title. And I will have tanked an entire raid.

In other game news, I play Fruit Ninja and Angry Birds on my phone...and on my Nook Color. I play Castleville on Facebook when I'm not overwhelmed by the sheer number of quests...and I've recently re-upped my subscription to my favorite hunting game, TheHunter, which has added a whole new area with gorgeous scenery and new species to hunt - Roe Deer and Wild Boar. I can't wait until I have a morning to set aside for a proper hunting expedition.

I think that's it for my gaming news update. :) Expect more posts soon as I can find the time to type!