My Present Wasn't Under A Tree

Now that the holiday season has begun it's death spiral, all the presents have been unwrapped, and I curse the sweets and spirits that have punished my body over the past seventy-two hours, I can catch my breath (wheeze) and reflect on some of the in-game events I have been privy to.

Winter's Veil

Haven't done a thing. Not one present, not one snowball. Nada. Don't care.

Dungeon Finder

Hello new best friend.

I'll be honest, I have never been a big fan of groups. Guildie groups, the rare time it happened, were bearable because they're a good crew (amazing for a guild our size) and forgiving to those who were more solo oriented. Don't misunderstand, I know what to do in a group. I assist the tank, kill what needs killing, keep control of my pet when I'm using my Hunter. It's just the people that annoy me sometimes.

Especially in PuGs.

Not so much with the Dungeon Finder. In fact, it plays to one of the more powerful drives in the WoW player base - Greed.

In the days pre-DF, you'd get a PuG and be picky about it. After all, it took time to put these things together and you essentially got one shot at clearing the instance for Emblems of Triumph. It could be slow, painful, and not very much fun.

Fast forward to the PuGs of the Dungeon Finder Era. Emphasis on FAST. First, it takes no effort on the player's part to find a group. They simply queue up as the role they want to play, then carry on with their business until they get a tap on the shoulder saying "Excuse me, but your group is ready."

Next, a teleport to the instance. No more summoning, no more waiting around for people to arrive. Everyone's there at the same time, ready to go.

The pace of these things are quick. People like to rush through them so they can queue up for another one as fast as possible, getting the most emblems they can. It's like they ducked into the bathroom to drop a deuce with their laptop resting on their thighs, and need to get their Triumph emblems before they flush.

This quick pace means people aren't too picky. The Dungeon Finder ranks characters by gear, so people aren't carrying lesser-geared toons through the instance, but they don't sweat that dude with the less than amazing DPS. They just want to get through the instance and start a new one. I have yet to see anyone be kicked from a group for sub-par DPS.

Needless to say, I've been having fun with the Dungeon Finder when I've had the time to use it. I've been testing the water with my Hunter, just to get the hang of dealing with people. Some, like the druid who humped Rukgut's wolf to kill some time, were more interesting than others.



Bloodybull, I will find you and you WILL be paying pup support.

Today, after stacking run after run through instances like a fleet of drunk sailors on a hooker during shore leave, I ended up with a few pieces of quality T9 Gear -




Those are the types of presents I can handle over the holidays. I've seen new content that I'm sure I'll be sick of seeing. I've met horny druids and and silent drones who storm through encounters without saying a word. I've gathered gear that'll be more than sufficient until the next expansion, and I'm gaining experience that can't be shown on a bar.

These are a few of my favorite things.

Happy Holidays.

The Rokk Gets His Pumpkin On

Generally speaking, I don't go in for the World Events. I guess that always had something to do with the fact I was never level capped when the event came along, so I never got to play with the big boys. Maybe it's the cold, maybe it's the pain meds, but I thought Rokk would go and give this thing a try. Maybe not the title, but at least pick up a few achievements.

Boy did he.

First, he helped save Brill from burning down. Take that, Headless Horseman!



Then he took the fight to the Scarlet Monastary, kicked down the doors, and punted Mister Pumpkinhead through the uprights!



As a reward for his pumpkin-bashing, he picked up the Sinister Squashling & Hallowed Helm:



To celebrate, Rokk binged on candy:



That's right, not all events are wholesome and classy...

Holding Your Brew... Fest

Nice night for a thumping.

No, not THAT kind of thumping. I'm talking about fighting. A nice, barroom brawl.

It was an evening of first for The Rokk. First time tanking (eat that, Coren Direbrew), and basically Rokk went with his DPS rotation while wearing some tanking gear he made, and doing the whole fight in Frost Presence. Nobody died. Hooray. Not bad for the first time out, but it helped to run it with understanding guildies. You guys rock.

As for a reward, a nice trinket!



Nice bit of Stamina on that. Also, a little extra perk -



Hawt, am I right?

Zombie Nation

Well I survived.

Last weekend marked the arrival of the Zombie Invasion, a little bit of the Warcraft 3 backstory which leads to the arrival of the Lich King. Now I haven't played Warcaft 3, so I'm going by what I've been told. No one knew this Invasion was coming, and people didn't know how to deal with it. Some embraced being turned into Zombies and spreading the infection. Some wanted to cancel their subscription out of frustration in not being able to play the way they wanted to.

I say, suck it up Princess.

Sure this affected me. The Ruk landed at a few out of the way outposts, only to have his fall broken by zombies. What did I do? I died, rezzed, and finished my quests. One of the perks of not being in the 70 crowd is that I still have plenty to do, and most of it happens in the middle of nowhere.

I can't believe so many people on my server got bent out of shape over this. I mean, it's a ROLEPLAY server! You want to boo hoo because the mean old Zombies won't let you hang out in Orgrimmar? Go play on a PVE Non-RP server kthx. I did like the way that many bands of players started grouping together to wipe out the Zombies. It was like Social Darwinism - some accepted the situation and dealt with it, and others sucked their thumbs, stomped their feet, and pouted until things were fixed!

In the end, the plague was "cured" and things went back to the way they were. Since the expansion isn't here yet, it isn't out of the question that we might have to ride out another one of these World Events.

Some will complain.

Some will deal with it.

The Ruk will simply continue onward. Nothing out there a high-powered slug to the face won't fix.