If you shake more than 3 times…..

Intro

An off the beaten path blog post, but here goes as I feel this is information than can longer be contained by the few and must be shared with our fellow brothers.  It has come up many times in raid vent that men, as they enter their more mature years (30+), begin to have this phenomenon happen called “dripping” or “leaking”.  This blog post will outline the problem and a potential solution to this dilemma plaguing all these mature men.

Dripping??  WTF??

What is dripping/leaking you ask?  It is the aftermath of what happens once a man finishes with #1 and shakes 10, 15, even up to 20 times, and then stuffs his appendage back into his pants or through his zipper, then the appendage, as if it has a mind of its own, proceeds to let our more liquid out in the underwear or pants if underwear was not worn or already discarded due to a prior accident. ;).  Sometimes a few drops slip out, sometimes a stream big enough to fill 1/8 cup, sometimes you feel like you were just peed on by a raised leg dog.  It is an affliction, dare I say, a disease, but there is hope.   It has to be a horrible feeling knowing you made it to the bathroom yet SOMEHOW just pissed yourself.

Solution

I do not know where I heard about this or why it even works, but I swear it does.  It does involve a little more touching though, so those not comfortable with themselves may want to stop reading or continue to pee themselves.  Once you finish #1 and shake 10-20 times, place your respective index fingers under your testes where the testes meet the shaft and push upward.  A squirt of liquid will come out, the size and breath of the stream will vary and could be directly correlated to how hard you tug upward (more testing is necessary and clinical trials haven’t commenced yet).  Repeat this thrust 5 times until no more liquid emerges and VOILA, no more yellow stain!  This may confuse those that use the yellow stain as a marker for ‘FRONT’ on their underwear, but it’ll keep you fresh and dry.  Now YOU know and knowing is half the battle!  GI Joe!  The Real American Hero!

WOD Healing Changes Commentary

Intro

Blizzard recently made a watercoolor post about the drastic changes in healing in WOD.  Rather than painstakingly go through each line and dissecting it, which I was originally going to do, I decided to just give my opinion on the overall changes and message from Blizzard.

The Changes

In a nutshell, less spikey and more consistent low to moderate damage to heal, heals will be smaller overall, triage healing will be back, no abilities will 1 shot players anymore, heals will be less smart, many instants now have cast times, and OMG…healers won’t be able to spam anything they want incessantly anymore?!  DUM DUM DUM!!!!!!!  That is IT!  I am quitting WOW!!  How DARE they?   I want to just have every one of my heals keep everyone at 100% and never see a health bar move, and never have mana issues, and I want healing to always be easy, and I don’t want to have to stop and heal, and I want ALL instants….  Blizzard, you ruined my life……I am going back to Ultima Online (my first MMO)

Seriously Now

WAAA  WAAA WAAA to all those not embracing the changes incoming.  Healing has become boring in T16.  It has become a product of, who can bubble better or spam heal better.  No one really is in jeopardy of dying unless they get globalled.  Healing HAS to change, I have been saying it for a while now how homogenized it feels.  I am reading on forums where people are drawing a parallel to early Cata and T11 healing being too hard and this being like that.  I CAN ONLY WISH they brought back that difficulty and healing style, it separated many of the skilled healers vs. people that just wanted to heal as a change of pace.  Blizzard already said that it will NOT be like that, there were severe mana issues in early Cata (and I LOVED that by the way), but they already stated they are aware of the healer QQ back then.  Mana regen will be buffed in early WOD to compensate and then taper off in each tier (we shall see).  The problem with the last tier and a half becoming spam fests has been an ongoing Blizzard/WOW issue since I have been playing and healing. 

Wait…I have to think?

Every healer will now need to strategize and know when heavy raid damage is coming and be prepared for it.  This is a nice change.  The whole ‘set it and forget it’ healing style sucks and is boring.  E.g. Drop this totem or cast this spell and it heals ALL the most injured people automatically with no decision making by the healer.  It sounds as if Blizzard is going back to the proximity healing and I say GOOD, it is about time.  Stop dumbing down the game and especially healing.  To me, the harder and more thought provoking healing becomes, the better.  I love the challenge, crave the challenge, it is why I began healing and never looked back and abandoned being rDPS on my warlock.

Conclusion

 

BRING IT ON!  I love the changes and cannot wait to heal in WOD.  It sounds like it will reignite the healing fire in my belly.  It may turn some away from WOW or to other specs, but these changes bring me closer and back to what I love to do in game, heal raids and have to strategize my spells, use my entire arsenal, worry about my mana, know when and how to regen it smartly…..well…..and raid lead at the same time….let’s not forget about that.  I am excited and for all those QQing, I wave my private parts at you.

Team Elite

Intro

I didn't think I would be blogging about Team Elite so quickly, but after last night's Garrosh kill, here we are!  

It is now widely known (for those part of the 2 guilds involved) that a group of folks mainly from the raid group known as Team Moist that originated from the guild Masochistic Tendencies, reformed into the guild known as Broken.  This has been blogged to death already, but what wasn’t known was how many other folks from MT would want to follow, not to be in TM, but to join Broken and start a second team, a new team, a team affectionately known now as Team Elite. (an inside joke for those wondering why we would call ourselves ‘elite’)

The Forming

It started when some folks from the guild Blackout approached Bloodrooted and I about potentially joining Broken.  We spoke about a 2^nd 10 man team to get to H SOO raiding and it piqued everyone’s interest and so it began the building of this new team. 

Uphill Climb

After beating on a few trees, a group of folks initiated the group, but even that has already changed in the few short months since the inception of this group.  A few Blackout folks have rejoined Blackout while Broken brought a few new faces in to replace them.  The initial vibe was a little stagnant as the group was challenged with gear disparity and experience disparity, but time, gear, and dead bosses heals all.

Believe

Bloodrooted, myself, and Broken have a product we like to sell to those that follow us into battle…er…raid.  2 nights of raiding for 5 hours total to achieve established goals and have fun while doing it and NOT burning out or making it feel like a 2^nd or 3^rd job.  Most folks can go find a raid team and raid 20 hours a week and achieve great things; if that is what you want go for it, we will not stop you, and we cannot sell you that product.  BUT, ask anyone raiding that much how long they can sustain that schedule or ask them how much “fun” it actually is.  It isn’t a coincidence most REAL HC raiders (think Blood Legion, Method, etc) “retire” by age 25.  It is also not a coincidence folks that raid 3-5 nights a week take long breaks from WOW as burnout sets in.  I have been around since vanilla and Blood since TBC, the magic number for us is 2 nights and for those that continue to follow us.  Do people still burn out even after only 2 nights, unfortunately, yes. 

We do not promise miracles nor promise anything we cannot deliver and we do not pretend to be perfect (far from it), but we work hard and talk a lot, more out of game than in game (think about that).  We strive for what we can achieve and will try and combine like-minded, like skilled individuals in a group and have some fun doing it.  Will there be times of frustration?  Of course, but those are outweighed by the good times, the fun times, the dead bosses, the laughter, the awful jokes, the antics of a drunk raider leader on 

Friday Flex nights…wait  a minute….

All we ask is for folks to believe and to give the product time to breathe, to grow, to mature into what our final product can transform into, let it blossom into something beautiful as it has in the present and in the past with other great Broken raid teams and members. 

Team Elite started as a seed and has now quickly transformed into a flower, but it is still growing, where it ends up is impossible to predict, but we will continue to water it and feed it and pull out the weeds and keep nurturing it.  Can you smell it?  I sure can and it is starting to smell good and sweet.

Ride the Lightning

Last night, March 4, 2014 Team Elite downed Garrosh Hellscream (the hardest normal boss in MoP by a long shot) within 2 pulls after only working it maybe 30 times total and that includes some fill-in nights and a fair amount of technical issues to overcome.  The kill was a true testament that the team has meshed (I have a blog about ‘Synergy’ coming soon) and a testament to the execution and skill of the team.  The little ‘roar’ that sometimes comes after a kill like that was heard over vent last night, I won’t lie, I smiled and it felt pretty damn good.  Who I say I am proud of them?  No, these aren’t my children, but my fellow raiders, my guildies, but I am happy for all of them and happy to be part of the team and the Raid Leader of the team.  Certainly, they can and should be proud of themselves and I thank them for buying into what Broken has offered to accomplish.

The Players

Oishi – DK tank – Didn’t come over initially with the other Blackout folks, but found Broken out after a hiatus from raiding for a little bit.  Needed gear and geared fast and learned the fights fast.  He’s a keeper.  ;)

Tard – DK tank.  Tanked for me in MT on 2 of the teams I ran for MT.  A rock at the position and solider at heart.  A great guy that had easily one of the best forum posts of all time titled “herding cats” or something along those lines and I only wish I could link it.

Yakk – Lock – Yakk is a natural born leader that decided to join Broken and just be a raider.  A RL for a long time in MT (since T12) and until he took a break from the game at the end of T15.  He rcently has decided to rejoin the ranks of raiding in T16.  The wily WOW veteran that has been raiding and raid leading forever (even in vanilla with 40 mans) and a guy that I respect greatly.

Wylf – huntard #1 – Another raider from MT that has been on 2 of my teams in MT.  Works his toon to the max.  Rep grinds to the max (OCD much?).  Sometimes like to stand in the fire, but he is a hunter. So who can blame him.  ;)

Dannane – huntard #2 – Dannane came over to play and fillin as a backup raider for Broken.  When things changed, she was filling in weekly and was part of the kill last night and earned a spot on the team.  Her upward progress in skill is a nice thing to see.

Maisee/Peekabu – Resto Druid/Huntard #3 – Maisee was in one of my groups in MT and filled in a fair amount for TM back in MT.  She heals on her druid for 3 heal fights and DPSes on her huntard for 2 heal fights.  She’s the hybrid raider on the team, but on two different toons.  We appreciate her sacrifice and dedication to master both classes to help the team out.  She also likes craft beer and all know what I do on every raid night, craft beer + gold fish FTW.  Maybe one day she’ll send me some Le Cumbre!

Beeker – Rogue – Wow, I have known Beeker know since T12 or was it T13?  I raided with him in a number of guilds alliance side on weekends when I was moonlighting and just being a raider and not a raid leader.  Silent, but deadly just like his chosen class, I wonder if he sneaks up on people and stabs them IRL too.  He never knew my true “personality” (uh hum, drunk raid leader) until now, let’s hope I don’t scare him away. 

Bleep – Resto Druid – She literally joined 3 raids ago!  A welcome addition to the group and we hope she stays with us and sees in the little time she has raided with us what Broken is all about.  Not much to say her about her yet as we just met, but don’t let her Texas Southern accent fool you, she’s a player.

Tenley – Mage – At first, we were reluctant to let a guy under our age limit join the guild, but in time I realized his maturity level is higher than most double his age.  I am glad we took the risk as he is mature and a great raider that has been patient as others were gearing as he did kill Garrosh 3-4 months ago.  Thanks Tenley.

9?  I think I forgot about someone ....  ;)  

Mavros - healer - You seriously thought I was going to write something here?  ;)

I am sure I will have much more to say about each one of these folks if they stay with Broken and go into WOD with us. 

What Is Next?

HEROICS!  Normals are done and with only 5 hours a week, planning how much time to spend on heroics each week becomes a challenge.  Each week we will set an agenda and work the heroics as best we can.  They are the toughest PVE challenge Blizzard has to offer and there has not been a blanket nerf yet, so these are legit, but the puzzle they present to raid times to figure out is why I play WOW. 

Conclusion

It did not take long and maybe I thought it would have taken longer, but Team Elite has arrived and is on a roll.  Right now we run as 2 distinct groups and we are planning on doing more together going forward prior to WOD.  For now, TE will jump into some heroics and see what shakes out.  I can say good job to all, thank you for being patient, and let’s keep it going and have some more fun.

Team Moist

Intro

What is this TM thing you keep hearing about you ask?  It is affectionately known as Team Moist.  I blogged about its intent and inception in The Experiment, so I won’t rehash those details, but discuss the players that made up TM.  The guts, the meat and potatoes, the innards, the gel, the proverbial juice, I think you get the point.  I wish I had noted every raider from my early days to now.  That would be an awesome blog entry and a great piece of history and memorabilia from all the folks I have met in game, good and bad.  Maybe one day I will talk to Blood and come up with a sort of Hall of Fame of DGF/broken raiders/guild-mates that we will never forget like Waldo.

Why Moist?

This is easily my favorite word in the English language.  After many, many, many failed attempts to get a guild name to be named ‘Moist’, I decided if I was going to run my own team that I would name it Team Moist (to the dismay of many).  I have 2 stories about why this word has become both funny and a fear of mine in my real life.  Maybe I will post those up for comedic relief one day, but be warned, they are graphic in nature and will not be part of this blog entry at this time as they are long and may need editing for public viewing.

The Original 10

In T13 I had met a number of people in Masochistic Tendencies (MT) that I led through H DS.  Once the GL and I decided I would come on board in MT for MoP and build a progression raid team in her guild, I created an application and process to pick the 10 for TM in the MoP expansion.  Below are the original 10.

Mavros – Healer.  The greatest healer to ever grace the World of Warcraft and Azeroth.  Oh, wait, that is a different blog entry…  I am totally kidding and if you don’t think so, read my blog entry about my decaying skill called, naturally, The Decay.

Bloodrooted – Hunter.  My buddy, my pal, now having met him in real life we are closer than ever.  I would have his babies if I could.  We definitely played footsies when I met him in Boston.  He became the guild leader in TBC after I joined the guild Dead Gnomes Float (DGF).  We later ran the renamed DGF called Broken as GL and assistant GL all the way up to T13.

Hypno – Shadow Priest.  Ex-hardcore player that raided with a top 50 US guild named Intent on Kelthuzad (I think).  Interview went great, a great guy overall.

Teufelshunde – Warrior.  The ‘OTHER tank’.  I called her this once by accident in raid and it has stuck.  Dr. Dino to some, Truf to the rest of us, she is married to Freggos and has been a rock for TM at tank.  She has been getting too lippy lately and has criticized my blog grammar and proof-reading, but I don’t take crap from anyone nicknamed ‘OTHER’, so I ignore it.

Freggos – DK.  The only man to play the hero class as if it isn’t a hero class.  He was always at the top in H DS and now does a lot of our dirty work (nice way of saying his DPS is poo now).  Interrupts, kiting, off-tanking, etc.  Seriously though, I have grown very fond of Truf and Freggos and envy them in many ways.

Lustan/Nos – Paladin.  He was a DK tank named Nos in H DS, then chose to go back to his protection pally and chose the name Lustan.  I used to call him by the name Lustan over vent, but then someone would cast BLOODLUST in confusion.  So, he is now Nos again and should consider renaming his pally IMO.  He also has a blog titled ‘The Passionate Paladin’ which needs more posts.  ;)

Crixius – mage.  The grumpy mage that I think sleeps 3 hours, raids for 2.5 hours, then eats, has sex, then sleeps again for 3 hours, then goes to work for 14 hours.  The backup raid leader in MT for TM when I would be out or needed help, but since then, his schedule and my control freak nature has made him just a raider.  An exceptional player that turns whatever he touches to gold, but if he is last on the meters, watch out!  Married to Reluu.

Reluu – Druid.  We only hope that the sex part of Crixius’s description above is with her.  We are all fairly confident it is as they are newlyweds!  A resto druid in TM, but also has successfully played a tank and tanked for other groups I raid lead.  She is always around to fillin and always dependable.  The youngest of the group and brings down the average age in TM to 34 years old in its current membership state.

Symoon – Rogue.  The baby of the group initially and a talker and the original brony (though this brony thing scares the hell out of me as I really do not get it)!  After raid I sometimes would be up for 2 more hours chatting with Symoon.  A great kid though and exceptional ex-hardcore raider than went back to a hardcore guild when he left TM.  He loved to tell us about his rogue abilities and the jokes about that still get repeated in raids today such as “what is the CD on that?”  Raided with us at the tail end of H DS and then into T14 until he wanted to try something else in a more hardcore setting and to raid lead again.  He gave TM a 2 week period to find a replacement, a class act IMO, and for his age showed a lot of maturity.  

Kykki – Druid.  The GL of Masochistic Tendencies and a healer for TM in the original 10.  We worked together to get her to escalate her game to a progression level and it worked to an extent, I do feel she is now a better raider than in Cata (I think she would agree too).  At one point, when things were…a little rough…TM and Team Yakk (TY) swapped Kykki for Ishin (an old time friend of Mav and Blood’s from DGF/Broken) to alleviate some of the progression raiding pressure on Kykki and to get Ishin back with Blood and I and to progression raiding. 

The Replacements

I will try and remember first out and go chronologically, but it is hard to remember and it really hasn’t even been that long!  I am getting old…

Hypno OUT – Hypno decided to go to a HC guild.  I do not remember many of the reasons, but he was a good guy and was missed.  Has since disappeared off the radar.

Feelings In – Priest.  Insert one shadow priest for another!  Good deal, right?  Feelings was one of the hardest working raiders that didn’t actually raid in MT.  He grinded dailies and had the highest ilevel you could have for someone not really raiding.  He was an MT raider back in T11 and then quit for one reason or another and had come back to game sometime in Cata or MoP.  His raid team in MT struggled to get off the ground and when a spot was opened up in TM he quickly applied.  A good interview and a great guy that also shares in one of my favorite raid past-times, CRAFT BEER!  If he starts eating goldfish while we raid too, I would give him a handie.  A really good fit to the team.

Kykki Out – See above

Ishin In – Priest.  Reinsert the grumpiest WOW player of all time, Ish the DISH or Bitchin’ ishin.  Ishin is one of the most skilled raiders I have ever met, but also temperamental.  We haven’t always seen eye to eye, but we always end up reconnecting and have a mutual respect for one another.  I love raiding with him despite any differences in opinion.  The group had an instant shot in the arm as soon as he joined TM.  I trust him in raid more than I trust my own wife…oh wait…  ;)

Crix OUT – work schedule

Fuzzytoast In – Mage.  Fuzzy was in a different group in MT before joining TM that also struggled to raid consistently and saw limited success.  He wasn’t in the group long as his schedule changed, but he is remembered for something he did not while in TM, rather when he became a raid leader for Team Fuzzy in MT, which is awarding the ‘Fish of the Week’ to one of his raiders.  TM now uses this as ‘reward’ as well, but I wouldn’t call it much of a reward!

Fuzzy Out - work schedule

Crix BACK IN

Ishin Out – Ishin had some RL issues and a 5^th child on the way!  We were sad to lose him.

Hulegan In – Monk.  Hulegan filled in for TM once on the big giant bug in HOF Garalon.  We did get a TM first kill that night with him as fill-in, but all we remember is that Hulegan did also kill us on an attempt before the kill (our best attempt to that point) by Monk rolling under him and wiping the raid.  ;)  Yes, we will never forget, but he did fess up and that showed courage.  I saw skill in him that night and kept him in mind if we ever lost anyone from TM again.  Not too long after, Ishin left as he was our hybrid dps/healer and Hulegan applied and agreed to the hybrid role.  He was a slight risk as he hadn’t raided at a progressive level before, but did he ever meet the call.  A risk that paid off. 

 
Symoon Out – See above

Kep In – Rogue.  One of the best app and interviews I have ever had in WOW in my decade in WOW.  Kep fit in pretty fast and was doing ok as far as learning fights and integrating into the group.  Then one day, hours before raid, he gquits and days later sends me reasons why.  Mostly it was a message filled with silly reasons, but to each his own, he wanted to move on, so be it, but at least give me a heads up and some time to fill your spot.  For a guy in mid to late-30s, it didn’t show much class, but I have forgiven him and hope he found/finds what he is looking for. 

Kep Out – see above

Bukklao In – Bukklao didn’t have the greatest of apps and to be honest, I didn’t know what to expect from him.  He proved me wrong as he did pretty well with TM in normal mode.  The difficulty came when we started heroics and he had a knack for dying a bit too much.  He would implore the line “this boss is my nemesis” and that moniker has also become a catchphrase in TM over time.  I feel like he wanted to be accepted and was chasing the meters and sometimes would fore-go mechanics to try and be higher, competitive dps with the rest of the team.  I had to remove him from the group and go a different direction as TM progression had stalled out.  It was a mature parting, but I think he was more upset by it then he led on.  I do think he stole someone’s crafted weapon though before he left.  ;)

Bukklao Out – See above

Sins In – Ret Paladin.  I interviewed Sins for Team Yakk (TY) when TM was full and I ran raid operations for MT and vetted new applicants.  A great interview, though he doesn’t remember it (wonder why!).  An ex-hc raider and RL, Sins is a machine.  Defying all logic on the meters as a ret paladin.  An amazing asset to any group and TM is happy to have him in its ranks. 

Synergy

Team synergy is a major component to having fun in raid and working together and succeeding and meeting goals.  There are 9 others in a group and trust is paramount among its members.  Blood and I have worked long and hard to achieve this balance of fun vs. progression in a short amount of time per week.  We feel that synergy has been found in TM and TM has exceeded all its goals thus far and surpassed them in T16.  For Blood and I, this is the furthest non-nerfed progression we have ever seen in our WOW careers.  It took a lot of work though to get here and a lot by me.  Read my The Game Outside the Game blog entry to see the time that has been put in to make some of this happen.

Thick Skin

I take a verbal beating in raid and get razed every time I die.  Why such disrespect for the raid leader, right???  It is all good and I take none of it personally.  The Decay outlines why I am not as good as I once was, but am better in other ways, such as communication and raid leading.  I enjoy myself immensely in raid and am proud of Team Moist and Broken and what I/we built. 

Conclusion

So, there it is, the history of Team Moist and obviously, to be continued, as things change over time in MoP and into WOD.  I hope the Moist locomotive can continue chugging full steam ahead, but the challenges from tier to tier to keep every raider happy and on the same page and buying into the raid leader’s and guild’s model is always a an uphill road.  I thank all past and present members of TM and without all of you we would not be where we are today.  I hope we continue in our raid successes and keep Team Moist….well…..Moist.