If you’re a shadow priest and haven’t been here yet then you should stop reading right now and check it out. I can’t even BEGIN to tell you how many questions are answered there. All kinds of questions and I do mean ALL – from the mundane to the extremely convoluted, it’s a one stop shop of information.

So it should come as now surprise that I use that immense compendium of knowledge (also known as WoW players with WAY to much spare time on their hands….or people with great job security and lax IT departments) to vet my gear choices and upgrades.  Now those of you who have seen me in game know that I went the route of craftables. Before I was in a guild the idea of running PuG karas over and over and over and over and over just didn’t appeal to me…call me elitist – not to mention that the REAL drool worthy stuff was housed in places like Tempest Keep and SSC. When I discovered that instead of spending hours in game with people whose skill levels I didn’t know and crossing two of my three troll fingers for loot, I could spend hours in game with someone whose playstyle I know very well (me for those not following this tortured sentence) and farm mats I was , needless to say, satisfied.

With information in hand I set off, and after spending more time in Nagrand than should even be permitted I crafted the entire Frozen Shadoweave Set, Spellstrike Set, AND Belt of Blasting. Yeah, I got them all within about 2 weeks of each other….as I said earlier, if I never see Nagrand again it will be too soon…

Now, today as I am perusing the forums over at SP.com I find something that unsettles me. I couldn’t BELIEVE IT! I was under the impression that my gear was the best until Hyjal and BT! I had given up countless hours of precious sleep and been ganked but hundreds of alliance (gotta love PvP servers) in order to get all of those fuckin mats (did I mention that language is mature on this site, no? well language is at times not intended for little ears….er eyes).

After I had thrown somethings around and calmed myself with a cup of java I tried to look at the situation again a little more rationally.

—–

At this point in my post I am going to venture into a rat hole for a moment.

For future reference when I notice that I am sliding into one of these ratholes I will separate it out as seen here so those who wish to read it may and those who don’t can skip on down.

I was thinking recently about how peoples real life personalities match up with their toons in WoW and not just any toons but their main toons. Ya know, when you’re sitting around with friends and you realize that the guy (or girl) next to you plays WoW.

“OMG! You play WoW?!”

“Yeah! I’m on <insert server info>! You?”

“Me too!”

^—-I know that rarely happens but for sake of argument..—^

“Yeah I play a rouge”

“FUCK YOU” *breaks bottle and comes across table

*End Scene*

So you see the second person in the situation may have many alts, but they didn’t list them right off the bat, that comes later when you’re strutting your epeen.

But alts arent what we’re interested in, it’s that character that is truly yours. Sometimes its the first toon you made. Sometimes its not. But either way the connection that particular class has to a personal actual psyche I find amazing.

For instance here are some traits that I have noticed at least on my server and in my in game experience:

Warlocks: Ok so disclaimer, my boyfriend plays a lock. So I get a LOT of time in game with that particular class. Hands down the one thing I notice about warlock players time and time again: Short Fuses. I have seen warlocks go postal over things as simple as ready checks, ‘lol’ being typed twice instead of once, being summoned before they have expressly asked for it, the list can just go on.

Rogues: Patience. As much as I love to hate rogues in PvP I have never come across players as patient as they are. I have seen rogues stalk people for longer than 2 hour stretches waiting for the exact right moment to provide th maximum amount of piss-offness to the player they are ganking. While some view this as extremely douchey (and in many regards it is) I have to give them props, that kind of determination is SAINTLY if only mages could be the same….

Which brings us to Mages: Who seem to often be the other end of the spectrum. If I had a mana potion for every time that a mage goes “Well nice try guys <magename> has left the party/raid” I would never have to worry about chuggin pots again. I’m not saying they’re quitters perse but I just am boggled by how many times I’ve seen it happen. And don’t even get me started with the not providing mage tables in BGs – that’s just cheap. (though I don’t often hear them screaming about buffs the way that….)

Warriors: Always the first to let you know they don’t have a buff. You could be dead and running back to your body after a wipe and you will STILL get whispers “fort plx” 2 seconds later “buff?” UGH! wait a minute will you I’m not even in a BODY right now! On top of that the amount of unguilded ( and I do specify because warriors are slightly different in guilds) who seemingly have no comprehension of mana: “me: drinking – warrior: pulling – me:DRINKING – warrior: inc – me: *sigh*” Though I will say nothing makes a PuG run smoother than a good warrior stepping in and telling everyone to shut up and leading the group, even when they occasionally lead incorrectly. ^_^

Priest: OmgWTFreallyWhatsgoingon/lickdanceparty! I have never com across any class in game that seems to always be saying or communicating or emoting at someone as priest. Whether they’re randomly chatting not stop in trade or emoting in front of the bank or squatting in vent for the next person to get on I have found an ungodly number of priest have an addiction and it’s called talking. And shadow priest have another strange tick … they all come across as slightly off their rocker. Whether its randomly saying things that have NOTHING TO DO WHATSOEVER with anything that’s going on… or when they respond—-on vent——- -with—–long—-drawn—–out answers——that could—-have maybe —–been answered—-with a yes or—-AGGRO. While there are many benefits to the fact that lots of priest like to talk (ie sp.com and people like Noxn) the one thing that saves most priest from eventually ending up on ignore list is the fact that they are just crazy enough to make it entertaining – usually.

Well I’ve been on a rathole long enough now. I think I’ll continue this discussion later on and get some input from others and see what their experiences with the varying classes in the game.

Back to armor!

—————

As I looked at the chart I realized the difference in DPS wasn’t all that much – in fact it was only 2 pseudo damage. Yes, I have forfeited some boosted stats -but that aside I have yet to be out damaged on my raids by other shadow priest who have decided to go the other route. Why is that? One word – roll. I didn’t have to compete against other priest, warriors, AND druids for my armor. In fact I didn’t have to set foot into a raid in order to gear myself out for raiding content and now that I am actually raiding I am holding my own and getting higher level upgrades.

So kudos to those valiant priest who either a) get in a guild early who helps them farm gear or b) deal with the constant frustration of PuGs or fail guilds  to get their armor. More power to you.

But for whats it’s worth all you shadowies just recently turned 70 start leveling that tailoring and learn the times that your opposing faction farms elemental plateau – I’d recommend during those times hitting up the void walkers in the south of nagrand. ^_^

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