Where are the bears at?

Posted on December 15th, 2009 by Cila

Did something happen to bear tanking in 3.3 that I missed?  Did they nerf something that made them so unusable that everyone changed their druids to something else?  I find this very unsettling.

I decided this week that I’m going to make Flouria’s second spec a bear tanking spec.  Originally, I had planned on leveling another toon to 80 (my DK is 73 currently, my paladin is 72), but I honestly am sick of it.  I’ve ran Northrend 4 times already, and I think I’m done with it.  It’s just not fun anymore.

So, I’ve decided to consolidate.  Flouria will be my Tank AND Healer (w/ Healer being the “main” spec) and Cila will be my DPS.

What’s great is that I decided to do this about 3 days ago, and I already have a full heroic tanking set.  The Dungeon Finder is a great way to get a new spec geared up quickly.  Since everyone is basically just greeding on the blue and purple ilevel 200 drops in there, you an need yourself a set pretty quickly.  I only spent emblems on an idol, everything else was AH or drops (mostly drops).

But, now I’m starting to realize that I might’ve made a mistake.  I’ve PUGged a whole lot in the past week.  What’s concerning is that I haven’t grouped with a single bear tank.  Not one.  These days, it’s mostly paladins with a smattering of warriors and DKs.

I hope I’m not making a mistake by tanking on a druid.  Of course, I’m not wasting too much time doing this, so if I find that I can’t survive as a tank anymore, then I’ll go back to leveling another toon.

I just hope I don’t have to.

Tags: druid, dungeonfinder, feral, flouria, groups, levelling, pug, tanking

How I learned to lose the hate and love the PUG

Posted on October 31st, 2009 by Cila

LFG? Yes, please

Several weeks ago, if you ever wanted to hear me curse like a truck driving sailor, get me into a PUG. I would be amazed at how much people not knowing how to play with frustrate me.

Am I an elitist? Probably.

I assume that people research as much as I do. And I know fully well that it’s not the case, but I forget. The fact is that most people treat WoW like any other game and don’t give 2 thoguhts about it when they not in game.

It’s going to take time, but I’ll adjust.

The fact of the matter is that my guild is made up of friends. All long term players who have been around for years… And close friends if mine for well over a year now. I love my guild and the people in it.

But, like a lot of long term players, we go through periods where we dint play. Avid gamers have a tendency to see the newest console games and drool… Me included. And it’s THAT time if year. Ever comapny and there mother are releasing games in time for the holidays…

Thing is… I don’t have a PS3 or XBox 360. And, I don’t have the budget this year to buy games anyway.

So, I have WoW. And an empty guild.

I sense that there was some burnout as well, but it’s come to head this year, and it’s bad. People that would log on nightly are logging on every 4 or 5 days.

Guild runs are rare now and I’m kind of stuck.

So what do I do? I do the thing that I swore I’d never do again. The thing that frustrates more than anything else.

I’m PUGging. I’m finding the folks that aren’t burned out on the game or playing Brutal Legend.

It started with the daily and it just went from there. Today, I got into a group of achievement junkies and had a blast trying to get some if the harder achievements. I actually had a hard time leaving.

And they all knew how to play. And they all had friends lists of people that knew how to play. And it was fun.

Of course, there’s a downside. I may never see these folks again. They probably won’t remember me. I didn’t get to bitch about life on vent with them, which I enjoy, but I did get through a few podcasts.

I know that not ever PUG will be great. I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop. But in the meantime, I can out my alt levelling down and just concentrate on having some fun.

At least until my guild gets back.

Tags: groups, instances, pug