I'm Still Here

Excuses, Excuses, Excuses

No, I’m not gone. I’m just being… stealthy. Yes, that’s it. I’ve written tons of blog posts  these past two weeks – they’re just invisible.

Oh, I know, I’m a terrible liar.

I hate making excuses, but here I am after two weeks of not publishing anything. I did draft things…. and scrapped them. And then I just gave up altogether. I’ve been focusing on other things. I’m starting at a different team at my company soon, which means I’m busy at work wrapping up some projects. I’m also starting to get into full on wedding planning mode. The wedding is now just under 6 months away and I’m feeling ready to give up and elope. I’ve never planned a large event before. I’m not really much of a “party” person – I rarely attend them, and never host them. So this whole fancy party for 150 people (some of whom I don’t particularly like) thing is a bit of a stretch for me. I’m going to be a bit on edge for the next few months as I fight the stress and try to remain calm. My blog posting may be a bit irregular at times, and if I disappear for a few weeks, I’m probably just hiding in my cave trying to cope.

WOW News

The WOW community has faced a deluge of Cataclysm info over the past few weeks. I don’t really have much to say on any of it yet, other than I’m excited.

As far as the Real ID thing is concerned, I think Blizzard missed the mark on this one. There are a lot of people out there who are very concerned about security and their real name being out there on the interwebs. I get that Blizzard is trying to create a real social network, but we don’t need another one. I would much rather see them implement the features they’re talking about, but allowing us to continue using aliases if we so desire. Handing out your account ID to anyone is risky, even if they are a real-life friend. You can’t be sure that the friends computer isn’t comprised. If a hacker has your account ID (and you don’t have an authenticator), all they need to do is figure out your email password or Battle.net password – and you’d be surprised how easy it is to brute force a password.

Despite the security concerns, I’m still planning on using Real ID. I use an authenticator which should help keep my system secure. I could also care less about my guildmates knowing my real name – or really anyone for that matter. Some of them already call me by my real name (even though I get confused every time).

In the Game

Our guild is now 8/12 in ICC-10. We’ve been basically getting down one new boss per week. We’ve been resetting every week to make sure that everyone gets the emblems and gear they need, but its starting to get to the point where we’ll need to extend the lockouts to progress further. I’m really thrilled to have gotten even this far. As I’ve said many times before, I love running with this group. We get rather silly at times, but everyone works really hard when needed.

Random Silliness

We’ve also been doing an alt run once a week at most. I get to heal on my shaman, because unlike in the normal raid where we have too many healers, in the alt group we’re a bit short. I solo-healed Sarth last week (not that it’s hard)

I’ve fallen in love with my clothie alts. My priest just dinged 50 last night, and I can’t wait to go home and try out her new spells (Circle of Healing and Vampiric Touch). I like both Holy and Shadow, and I have a feeling I would enjoy Disc as well. It’s also neat to see Azeroth from the Horde point of view – even if I continually find myself running into Alliance encampments by accident.

My mage is 25 – I’m leveling her solo, and finding that Frost is incredibly effective. On several occasions I’ve managed to outlast the tank in instances by kiting mobs around and CCing them (as long as I have a healer). I love the utility and can’t wait to get my perma-frostie. Doing fantastic AOE dps is also a plus.