Ailis in Hunterland

Gah, finally.  Why are shamans the last ones to see their new tier set?

Well, the wait is over, somewhat.  Here’s the T10 version as worn by a male human.  I hope the race sets will be out shortly.

http://static.mmo-champion.com/mmoc/images/news/2009/november/huge-sh.jpg

I can get behind this design.  I’m amused by the spectral goats floating out of the shoulders – would make more sense to be wolves, don’t you think?  But nothing looks ostentatious or sticks out weird.  The colors are muted, which I’m actually in favor of.  The whole set just speaks to the Icecrown zone itself.  With the Fall/Winter months setting in here in my city, the set just seems to go with everything else going on as well.

I don’t know about you guys, but it’s nice to be somewhat excited about a tier set again.  T9 fell flat on its face in my opinion.  I have two pieces and that’s probably all I’ll get.  I only really have two purchased badge items, too.  The rest of my gear is a mash of ToC, crafted and U25 gear and I’m fine with that.

Given this look and the set bonuses, however, I think I may just try for all the pieces and see what I can get my little hands on.  Here’s to hoping the rest of the loot from Icecrown and the Emblem of Frost vendor is fun and appealing as well.

Ah, gear.  The subject of much controversy and debate and hording and ninjas and raid drama and bragging rights.  Don’t get me wrong, I love new gear as much as the next person.  I also fully stand behind the desire to have great gear with optimal stats for your character.  Stack that AP/Agility/SP/Stamina.

However.

When gear becomes the focal point to the exclusion of everything else, I have an issue.

Gear Without Skill

We’ve all seen it.  People hollering in LFG or Trade looking for raiders with a particular gear score, a specific AP/SP/HP, or whatever.  How many times do those same people stop to think about skill?  I’m sure most of them just figure that if someone meets a certain mark then they know how to play their character, right?  Eh, maybe.

We can all agree that gear is stupid easy to get at the end-game. If you have a bit of cash, time to grind some heroics and get lucky in a Vault run or two, you can be in full purples within a couple of weeks of hitting 80 with your hit/expertise/ap/agi/crit/hp/sp/etc/etc at their optimum levels for your spec.  Two weeks.  Does that mean you know how to raid with your toon properly?  Does that mean you possess the skill and knowledge needed to be a part of a team and you know your proper role in each fight?  Not necessarily and we all have run across “that guy” who doesn’t know the first thing about his toon despite having 3/5 T9.

Skill Without Gear

The flip side of this issue is one that I actually see more of lately and it somewhat saddens me.  Good players thinking they aren’t good enough or they can’t be better because they don’t have “good gear.”  How many times have you run across this?  ”We don’t have the gear for this.” or, even worse, “I don’t have the gear for this.”

We’ve become so conditioned as players to equate great gear with great healing/dps numbers, that anything below that arbitrary bar is seen as not good enough and therefore not worth trying to improve.

Before you protest and say that you DO need great gear to do great things, think about the number 1 or 2 guild on your realm.  The guilds that get the server firsts.  Maybe even the guilds that get the world firsts.  When that guild got your realm’s first downing of Algalon-25, that was, what, 5 weeks or so after Ulduar was released?  Maybe not even that long?  So 25 people (assuming it was the same 25 from start to finish) went through Ulduar-25 5 or so times.  3-4 drops a boss, assuming everyone got really lucky and pieces for main specs actually dropped all the time, you’re looking at the group having 1-3 pieces of Ulduar 25 gear apiece.  Mix that with some crafted pieces, a couple of badge items (this was before heroics dropped Conquest emblems, mind you) and the rest is, remember this, Naxx25 gear.

And they downed Algalon.

Go watch the video for Ensidia’s world first downing.  You will see Warglaives and a Thunderfury.

It’s not all about gear.

I have seen players in a mix of purples and blues pump out more dps than someone in the same spec fully epic’ed out in the latest and greatest.

Skill Trumps Gear

None of this is to say that gear has no place in the measurement of your character’s ability in any given fight.  It is definitely on the list.  But it’s at the bottom of the list.  Skill, attitude, attention, build, glyphs, gems, enchants, THEN gear.

This is something that, as a guild leader, I try to communicate to my raiders when we’re up against something particularly challenging.  It’s easy to get frustrated and say that we can’t do it because of gear level.  ”We can come back after we get some more gear.”

Well, yes, we could.  But will we do better because we upgraded someones chest piece from 232 to 245?

I realize there is a mental component that goes with it.  We equate great gear with great performance, therefore, when we have the gear, we do better inherently.  I want us as players to move past that and move away from it.

Always try to better your raider through research, build tweaking, rotation tweaking, and, yes, even gear.  But, remember, while you will inevitably do better with better gear, don’t forget that you are capable of doing great things with the clothes you have on your back.

This is definitely a topic that has been brewing in my mind for some time now and I’m curious to hear your thoughts on it.  How much importance do you HONESTLY place on gear?

Warcraft is a global phenomenon.  Some may roll their eyes when they hear anything having to do with the game and yet others may immediately start regaling anyone who will listen with tales of raids, rewards and wipes.  WoW has permeated a vast majority of the facets of our culture and has become (intentionally or not) a standard by which other MMOs are measured, an ever-raising bar, and a game that millions of people complain about yet still play relentlessly.

If you ask any WoW player what the game is to them, you will get a wide variety of responses.  It’s a social medium, it’s a place to relax, it’s a place where I don’t have to be so shy, it’s an escape, it’s a challenge, it’s a place to keep in touch with long-distance friends, it’s a place to stretch my creative legs, etc.

The one phrase that will, however, incite some sort of reaction is: “It’s just a game.”

You would be hard-pressed to find anyone who can, with a straight face and total believability, say that and truly, honestly, sincerely mean it.

Monopoly is just a game.  Scrabble is just a game.

Now, I’m not saying that WoW is a new form of life itself (although some may see it as so) but it has transcended the phrase “just a game” into something more – even for the most casual of player.  There is an attachment that grows.  Even people who have left the game for one reason or another will have a story or two they will never forget.

I was thinking about this aspect of the game as I, my husband, and our friends build this guild and attempt to lead it in a fun and fair fashion.  Sometimes you have to, as a leader, take a few steps back and try to see how your guild members see the game.  It’s not just a game to them but what level are they on?  Having this knowledge or, at the very least, attempting to understand this knowledge helps tremendously when it comes time to ask your members to do or not do something.  How will they react if you ask them to save a certain Raid ID for a guild run and then the guild, due to unforeseen circumstances, doesn’t get to go?  Does any potentially negative reaction keep you from asking in the first place?

In our guild, no.  We ask, and then if something happens, we deal with it as best we can.  But some guild leaders may hesitate.  There is a fine line between playing WoW to have fun and playing WoW because your guild is a job.  Some leaders may not want to turn the guild into a job for any of their members – do this, this and that; but don’t do that, that or this – because they fear that they will be seen as dictatorial.

Honestly, you’re going to be seen that way by at least one person any time you make any rule that someone doesn’t agree with.  My advice?  Make your rules but keep them simple, succinct and easy to follow.  And keep the list to a minimum.

WoW is more than a game to most everyone who plays it, even on the smallest level.  As a guild leader, figuring out what level(s) your members are on is key in effectively and fairly running a guild; and making sure that you have the right members in your guild.

For those of you who haven’t heard the wonderful news, my husband and I recently found out that we’re going to be having our first child in May.  After the initial shock wore off, excitement, trepidation and morning sickness set in.  That is the real reason I’ve been absent as of late.  Due to my susceptibility to motion sickness, now heightened by the morning sickness, playing on the computer all day has been shortened to a mere few hours at best, which I reserve for raiding with my new guild.

However, as of the ultrasound yesterday, I found out I’m nine weeks along and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel as far as the first trimester goes.  After this, I hope to return to a somewhat more normal schedule that doesn’t involve being curled up on the couch sipping apple juice and praying it stays down.

We made the official announcement yesterday to family and friends, so here is my official WoW announcement.

In other news, I will get to all the 3.3 goodness in the next couple of days.  Some interesting emblem and Shaman changes coming down the pipe and Icecrown looks to be closer than anyone anticipated.  Does this mean Cataclysm could be earlier in 2010 than first forecast?  Many people hope yes (myself included) but I’ll wait for a superb product than have my impatience rewarded with a subpar, buggy one.

Living Daylights is doing fantastically.  We’ve finally filled our last few raid slots and began raiding about 3 weeks ago.  Since then, we’ve cleared Onyxia, Vault, up to the Faction Champions in ToC, up through Vezax in Ulduar, including a couple of hard modes.  For a guild playing catch up and learning how to raid as a team, I find this to be amazing progress and we are all so thrilled at the success.  We only hope we’ll be caught up to current content by the time Icecrown is released, which I have a strong feeling we will based on how quickly we’re moving now.  I’m so proud of the guild and really proud to be a part of it.

So that’s the short update for now.  I’m going to go back to the couch and sip my tea and wait for my stomach to settle.  I’ll be around more often again as this phase passes.

More news to come!