Precious and Fragile Things

First of all, sorry for the quiet. Lots of things have been happening, which I'll get into later. I just haven't been in a mood to share some stuff as of late, mostly because I fear people getting sick of my whining. I'm still here, still reading everyday, just never sure what to say or do. Everyone here is all right for the most part; the only big thing is that I need to see a doctor soon about some physical matters, but so far there's been other matters standing in the way such as the kiddo needing glasses now (we knew it was likely to happen--he made it to fourth grade whereas I had to get them in the third grade) and other assorted real life stuff. The good news on that front is that he got some awesome and stylish frames that only enhance his cuteness. I keep telling him how lucky he is to have the option of wire frames instead of the ugly plastic monstrosities I had to choose from.

Anyway, let's move onto WoW stuff. I have some thoughts regarding Lor'themar and Sylvanas and 5.4 (it'll all be put under a cut, don't worry). I'm still raiding and Tuesday we hit the new Siege of Orgrimmar raid and we've managed to get down the first four bosses (the first wing) on normal mode. It's pretty great, except for the part where I'm still side-eyeing how the hell [spoiler] is still fucking alive at this point, but that's a different rant and has nothing to do with this.

( Lor'themar you canny bastard you. [Here there be spoilers.] )

If nothing else I can at least say I got to see Lor'themar Theron flip a freaking bench into the fountain at Silvermoon. Of course the Dominance Offensive climax was incredible, and the two last parts of it started in Dalaran and then ended back in Pandaria with Garrosh doing something even I couldn't have predicted. I literally nearly started crying at the computer and had to log off to process what happened because it was the literary equivalent of a gut punch.

And all I can say is that the Horde is so fucked, and we kind of deserve it.

( Here there be spoilers. LOTS of spoilers. And kind of image-heavy. )

All things considered, I don't see how in the hell they're going to draw out waiting until the end of the expansion to take out Garrosh and name a new warchief. Too much has happened, and he's gone way too far now to turn back. The Alliance is going to retaliate, and it's going to be ugly (as it should be).

So, this happened tonight:



My draenei Paladin, Aridhana is level 90 and I have a friend trying to convince me to take her through heroic dungeons. As much as I love PvE, I'm not so hot with melee DPS, but at the same time I really like the changes made to Retribution, so...I might force myself to get over my fear of looking like a noob and give it a whirl after a little research and some reforging.

I have to credit the WoW Pro Leveling Guide for taking me through three level 90s now. If you want something that'll get you quest achievements, tell you where to go so you can get the quests done faster, and even show you a few extras, get this add-on. Without it, I wouldn't be able to do this crap so fast.

Oh, and for the record, she's already Honored with the Shado-Pan and hasn't done a single Golden Lotus daily. Those commendations you can now purchase for the Pandaren factions at revered work cross-faction and are applied to normal questing too. Once I finish Dread Wastes I imagine I will be very far along with the Klaxxi too.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go take a couple of Ibprofen for my stiff neck and back, and go fall over in bed with my Kindle.

Subtitle for this post: And the Horde is Not Full of Homophobic Asswipes

"I've walked the realms of the dead. I have seen the infinite dark. Nothing you say. Or do. Could possibly frighten me." - Sylvanas Windrunner

Earlier today I visited YouTube, like you do, and I checked out OMFGCata's announcement for their contest "Convince the Pandaren to join your faction." The premise was that since we Americans are in the midst of a Presidential election, fans should make a political ad for either the Horde or Alliance in order to recruit the Pandaren to their side. Pretty awesome idea, I think, and Blizzard thought so too, so they offered up some pretty awesome swag, including several World of Warcraft books, the monopoly game, among other neat stuff that may or may not be on my Christmas/Birthday wishlist.

Anyway, today was the big announcement and, perhaps unsuprisingly, Slightly Impressive won for the Alliance with their very humorous ad highlighting the (mostly) better parts of Stormwind, which I think was also featured on WoW Insider a couple of weeks back. I was pleased to see the ad that won for the Alliance didn't amount to, "The Horde is evil!" and that it managed to poke fun at itself in a light-hearted way.

And then they showed the Horde winner, which not only has some casual homophobia, it ends with an image of Sylvanas Windrunner in a blatant sexual pose with someone screaming "For the Horde!" (Content warning: Homophobia and gross sexism.)

Out of 160+ videos with something as professional and cute as Slightly Impressive winning for the Alliance, the best video chosen by OMGCata (and Blizzard?) is this fucking poorly animated bullshit? Are you fucking kidding me? And Jesse Cox, I am so disappoint, son. Dude, this sums up your feelings on the Horde? (Yeah, yeah, I know you were being flippant and making a joke, but I know underneath was that old chestnut of "Hurr, hurr, Sylvanas is hot, and the Alliance races are all a lot of girly men." Seriously, GTFO my Horde with that bullshit.)

Here's the thing: Sylvanas fucking Windrunner was, in life, Ranger General of Silvermoon, leader of all (then) high elven military forces. She and her sister commanded the troops that drove back the orcish Horde and kept them from invading Quel'Thalas. After being killed and turned into a banshee by Arthas, she eventually seized upon the opportunity to break free from Arthas's control over her to retrieve her body and (with a little help from Arthas's/Ner'zhul's enemies) reclaim Lordaeron for the Forsaken and is now one of the Horde's racial leaders. In a forthcoming patch to Mists of Pandaria, Sylvanas will play a major role in removing Garrosh Hellscream as Warchief of the Horde.

She is, of course, an imperfect character and has recently gone from a tragic hero to skirting the lines of a villain (partly due to bad/inconsistent characterization on Blizzard's part), but none of this changes the fact that, at her core, Sylvanas Windrunner is one bad-ass motherfucker who would most probably fuck your shit up eight ways to Sunday if you tried to tango with her.

But let's just forget all of that and pose her in an X-rated "Come hither" way and say the Horde is awesome because we have one sexy woman who happens to be a racial leader. Let's also ignore the fact that she is, quite literally, dead and while she is remarkably well preserved, her skin is a corpse-gray color and she's likely rotted at least a little bit. (Fap away, boys! Enjoy your necrophilia!)

Look, I'm not even all that mad about the video. I'm just tired of every time there's a strong female character, one who actually has power and influence and could, in theory, really fuck things up for pretty much everybody in their world, she's reduced to being a goddamned sex object for the gratification of (heterosexual) males. I guess it's because so long as you can fuck her, you're not so intimidated? And it's not as if we women players have an over-abundance of female NPCs to admire, especially in comparison to the male NPCs. Hell, even in Krasarang Wilds I was treated to a questline where, despite all my efforts, a woman died in childbirth, but her husband's okay because she lived long enough to bring twin sons into this world. And don't get me started on Jaina Proudmoore in Tides of War.

Rage. Seethe. Boil.

What doesn't help is that Sylvanas's little artwork isn't even the only problem I had with the video. As I said, there's some casual homophobia and further sexism in there before we get Sylvanas. ("Don't join the Alliance! They have effemininate men who might like you in the gay way and we all know real men aren't gay!") I mean, I'm sure some people will say, "Oh, you're being ridiculous about this!" I really don't care. I'm going to call this shit out on the carpet when I see it, especially when it's a contest approved by Blizzard and by someone whose videos I usually watch specifically because he doesn't say horrible shit except on the rare occasion.

Bottom line: There had to be better videos for the Horde than this. Had to be. Even if it were the least bit funny, it's really fucking crappy production, especially when pitted against the Alliance winner.

To which my response was, "I have to wait until April?!" And yes, it is indeed Michael Stackpole. I can't wait!

Now back to my water-less existence (going to turn it back on this afternoon) and my sore throat and slightly runny nose.

...but then there was an "Around Azeroth" post on WoWInsider that just made me facepalm.

"Reading Tides of War just really drives home how awful of a role the Horde player has in this scenario: we are actually mentioned in passing in the book. We're part of canon now, but in a very terrible way -- at least if you're Horde. So, Jaina, while it's too little too late: I am sorry."

Except for the part where Baine and Vol'jin are both going, "Heeey, this isn't a good idea," even before they know about the bomb (which they only know about after the fact). And then Baine pulls his people back to Thunder Bluff and Vol'jin is obviously quietly waiting for an opportunity to safely rise up as the Echo Isles are rather vulnerable to an assault from Orgrimmar. As for Sylvanas and Lor'Themar, they apparently think so highly of the operation that they don't even show up and instead send their best two people (who are then murdered by Garrosh's Kor'Kron)*.

So yeah, the Theramore event had the backing of the entire Horde, except for where it didn't, and there was more than just the leaders and NPCs who were horrified by this. All my toons, even Folami who was looking forward to war, are horrified by this.

WAY TO FUCKING GO, BLIZZARD! Your scenario was so terrible as to make it look like the Horde is full of nothing but unthinking monsters and neglected to include even the tiniest bit of canon that would have established what happened in that very book you want us to read to understand WTF is happening here. And now I have to deal with all this "Bawwww, I want to change sides," and, "I'm faction changing!" because no one wants to be the bad guys, which while understandable is also annoying because, hey guys, remember when the Alliance used Theramore to send troops into Kalimdor to slaughter Camp Taurajo? Yeah, remember that? We don't hold the monopoly on pointless slaughter.

* = And I sincerely hope that while the mana bomb is of blood elf design, that Lor'Themar didn't know about it. The goblins "improved" upon the bomb's design, so I fear that if Lor'Themar pulls a Kael'Thas later on, as we will apparently be hearing from the blood elves in a future patch, I might legit have to drive to Irvine and deliver Gibbs-style headslaps to everyone on the writing team.

No. Just, no.

Y'all, can we not? Look, I know where this particular path of "humor" leads, and really, I'd rather we not try to compare the mana bomb dropped on Theramore in a fantasy video game to Enola Gay and Little Boy, mmkay?

Unless, of course, The Daily Blink (I've no idea which of its two creators runs their Twitter) was intending to start a serious discussion on cultural appropriation and how horrific it would be if Blizzard was intending to draw a comparison between Theramore and Hiroshima/Nagasaki. (Hey, hey, leave me to my delusions, all right.)

For the record, I don't believe this is Blizzard's intent, and if it was, holy hell there is not enough booze for me to unpack all the shit wrong with that. Pandaria has enough problematic elements without that thrown into the mix.

Here's what Blizz said initially about the Theramore event:

Your ticket to ride is your level. If you don't have anyone to go into the Scenario with, we can provide people to group with via the queue.

See that? Level. Not ilevel, just level. If you're max level, you ought to be able to go.

Then there's now this:

I just went back to verify this further to make sure I wasn't giving incorrect information. (Sorry for the confusion folks.) There is also an item level that goes with it. At level 85 Theramore's Fall is set to item level 353. At level 90 the item level is currently set for 425.

Whoops! Sorry we got your hopes up all you non-PvErs and PvPers. Unless you're willing to spend gold at the AH and/or come up with the mats to make your own gear, you're SoL.

Look, fellows, in WoW there's plenty of stuff some of my friends have accepted they'll never see. Current end-game content like the dungeons and raids are among them. Other events will be beyond their ability to see. Blizzard put out a book about Theramore and have been pimping this event left and right. They've made it out to be this awesome thing you don't want to miss when it goes live.

And then they limit who can participate.

Anyone who has run an end-level dungeon or an LFR can tell you that ilevel isn't necessarily an indication of ability to play the game or that you won't need to be carried by more capable players. Hell, I've seen players who have half a clue as to how to gear and glyph who somehow manage to perform way, way below expectations. What does it take away from you, the player, if this event that alters the course of lore and has an impact on Alliance and Horde alike is available to all 85 players? We get our raids, our dungeons, and gods know what else we'll get in MoP.

I'm not complaining for me. I've got three raid-geared toons who can go on it, and a fourth if I get off my lazy butt and gear her (but learning ret pally scares me). I'm complaining for some RP pals who really wanted to see this and now they can't. There's not enough time for them to grind for the rep gear, or to farm the mats/troll the AH for the gear and that's if they're on a server with a decent AH. Also, I'm complaining for the players in the forum thread who admit they have disabilities that make it difficult or impossible for them to do the end-game content and gear up as easily as those without disabilities.

I wouldn't mind so much if they'd initially clarified what they meant by "your level is your ticket to ride." My friend and I have been planning for this for a while and now she can't go and I feel like shit because I can. (Technically, she can go on one of her two max level toons, but with it being like a random dungeon finder, she doesn't want to be carried or deal with the potential headache of jerks who'll talk trash.)

Fucking hell, I'm sick of this attitude of, "Baaaaw, the casuals might get to play," and "I got mine." I worked my ass off to get to raids and I take pride in my ability to play the game on multiple classes. But I can sympathize with those who can't or who have no desire to do these things and who still love the game as much as I do. And when MoP hits, I'll be quickly gearing up for the newest dungeons and raids, and I'll get to run them while my friend won't.

Not everyone can play the game like I do, or like others do. They're still players and they still deserve a chance to participate in something that's supposed to be really fucking awesome.

I feel compelled to read Tides of War, the newest WoW book which focuses on Jaina Proudmoore and details what happens to Theramore. From the perspective a mostly-Horde RP'er, the snippets I've been catching here and there are of major interest to me, especially some of Garrosh's actions in the book. Lore-wise, it'd be nice to have a reference at hand so I know some of what's happened and is about to happen, especially as it'll impact my RP.

But I remember how much I hated Twilight of the Aspects, which wasn't that horrible compared to other books I've read, but that's like saying having my wisdom teeth taken out was a little less bad than when I had my tonsilectomy. And then I read the sample chapter on Amazon.

Ugh, the writing is terrible, even to the point where I swear we had two different perspectives in the same paragraph. But some (likely masochistic) part of me is thinking I should read it because, omg, the RP and the lore and all the wonderful things I can use for Folami (who has never been overly fond of Garrosh to start with).

...but it looks so bad.

To say yesterday did not go as planned is a little like saying there's a little water in the Pacific Ocean. In short, my grand plan to spend my evening learning everything about everything in WoW wound up with me logging into Folami, spending an hour to reconfigure her UI and the working add-ons (which sadly did not include Reforgenator), and running a single instance. This is what happens after I spend a day doing laundry and getting home at 8:30 instead of the 6:00 or 6:30 I was expecting.

For Demonology Warlocks, a lot has changed. Our rotation is now incredibly simplified, if a little awkward. Fumbling as I was (seriously fumbling) and not using my cooldowns properly, I still was pumping out some impressive numbers, even on trash where my DPS was usually lacking a little. Also, while my Demonic Fury is building, I get purple horns. I was not expecting this, and Mumble conversation got interesting when I said between pulls, "Are those horns on my head?!"

My nerf bat senses are tingling for Warlocks in future MoP patches. Because, wow, once I learn how to play it, I think I'm going to be really making everything burn.

I both like and hate it. My rotation was, as someone on WoW Insider noted, a bit clunky. Now it's easier (once I get the old muscle memory to working), and there's only one DoT to keep track of rather than three/four (two in Metamorphosis), but I fear it's going to be too easy and I might get bored soon. We'll see after Sunday (I'm hopefully raiding with Folami).

Shamans seem very much the same, just no totems. Well, there are totems, just no more putting four down at once. I've only been playing a shaman for not quite two months, but my healing rotation and DPS rotation seems very much the same. I suppose I'll see the difference when I actually take her through a spin in the dungeon finder later.

One thing I definitely hate: Mana. Intellect no longer affects mana pool, and at level 85, I have a flat 100k mana on all my casters/mana users. Folami will be making use of Life Tap regularly rather than the emergency situations that usually warranted it (this has been the hardest to adjust to), and on my Resto spec in shaman, I'l have to try to use Lightning Bolt more for the Telluluric Current benefits that rebuilds mana.

Oh, and I still haven't made it on to Wynfor yet, but reading Noxxic Gaming last night and making notes about hunters, I may or may not have started to cackle manaically when I got to Readiness. It all looks very, very sexy. Also, Beast Mastery is going to be the spec of choice for raiders in MoP, I think, or at least just as good as Survival.