So I've just created my first World of Warcraft related blog. Assuming I eventually get some respectable level of readership, the first thing I want to do is introduce myself and explain who I am, and offer a little (or perhaps it's a lot) background on my experiences in the game before I start ranting and raving about being a Shaman.Far too many bloggers out there don't give the reader the opportunity to get to know them or to understand where they are coming from in my opinion. Here is my story...
I began playing WoW toward the end of the closed beta in Aug/Sept 2004.
The game's greatest strength then, as it mostly remains so now, was it's ability to draw the avid MMORPG player into the world represented within so deeply, that they would forgo many many hours of constructive time just to savour the sweet sweet fantasy world for as long as they could withstand the sleep deprivation that went with it.
Since the day I first logged in and created my Shaman, I have taken only 2 significant breaks from the game.
The first, after moving house, lasted about 3 months, and almost destroyed my desire to continue playing after returning to the game full-time (I was logging in a few hours a week to keep up to date with my MC/BWL guild, being the guild master) to find two of my trusted officers had claimed they had not seen or heard from me at all for several months, and had convinced a GM to hand the guild leadership over to one of them.
It was unfortunate timing, as the other two Australian players I had appointed as my co-leaders were not online at the time to refute the claims.
So, at the end of the day, I decided to re-roll on Frostmourne, as it had just opened as one of the first Oceanic oriented realms. And so my WoW career began anew, this time as an Orc Warrior.
This was to last for several months, this time as a guild 2IC, and the MT throughout the majority of BWL/AQ20/AQ40.
Upon starting a new job at my current place of employment back in early 2006, I discovered that 2 of the 3 company directors were big WoW players. It was for this reason that I bid my Frostmourne guild farewell, and re-rolled once again, this time on Aman'thul, a newly opened Oceanic realm, and as a Priest. MY aforementioned bosses and several of my co-workers did the same and our new, albeit small, guild was formed, with me finding myself once again in the precarious position of Guild Master.
Needless to say, it did not take us long to decide we wanted to get back to raiding, and so I approached a number of smaller guilds on the server with little more than an offer of loyalty and friendship, and discussed the idea of guild mergers. It did not take us long to find the right fit for our small tight-knit group, and our assimilation into our new guild was completed very quickly.
We were back raiding within several weeks, and for the most part, we were very happy.
It was around this time that Blizzard began to offer the paid character transfer service and it was not long before the urge to go back to my shamanistic roots took hold of me, and I took the bait, moving the old dog 'Skytalon' to Aman'thul. I needed a new name to go by, I guess I felt my old name carried too much dramatic baggage, having had my guild, and many of my friends, effectively stolen from under me way back then.
And so, Pasteurised was born that fateful day, back in late vanilla, when Two-Handed Enhancement was the *only* way to play.
I have moved realms a few times since then and my Shaman has never let me down. Even through the lure of other toons, my four month stint alt'ing as a Prot / Holy Paladin throughout SSC and ZA, my outings as a Balance Druid in Black Temple and Sunwell... no matter what I was doing, Pasteurised (now Stormcrazed, a Troll; haha) was always there, the one I always came home to.
And I guess it just proves one thing; I am a Shaman, and I will always be a Shaman. It is the class I play, and it is the one that best represents my personality.
I'm currently Enhancement/Resto, as I have been for probably 80% of my playtime since mid-TBC. Currently raiding Icecrown Citadel with my 10-man progression guild and as long as I get to do my thing with my favourite class, I'm a happy WoW player and Blizzard will continue to get my money every month, probably until the day the game dies.
And with that introductory post out of the way, on with the show. I'll post a little on my impressions of Icecrown's second wing once it opens next week (assuming all the rumors hold true) along with a little bit of opinion on the not so Enhancement-friendly loot itemisation I've seen so far in Icecrown. Please devs, give us more variants on some of the Mail gear that's dropping in ICC. Upon initial impression, it appears to be heavily biased toward Hunters and armor penetration, something we get very little benefit from.
But that's a post for another time!
Thanks for reading my new blog.
