Deme's UI

I wasn't going to blog today because of shitty RL crappy day and thinking I may be in a car driving to the South West tonight. Well I'm not so I'm here and you get treated to a couple of pictures of my UI. You can thanks the folks on Twitter for giving me the idea to list the add-ons with it. Skip right to the end for the full list of all my add ons.

We'll start with a "pretend" raid UI. As you can see, I'm not in a raid, but you get the jist of what it looks like for me.



Starting bottom left - chat box with Prat add on and above that Cellular add on for handling whispers.

Then party and raid frames which have been set up in Xperl. As I don't lead raids any more and I'm not a healer, I don't often have all the groups up for raiding. In 10-man I'll have my group in the party frame and the other in the raid group frame, but for 25-man I regularly just keep my own party up.

Top right is Deme's frame, then left to right is the pet window and pet target. Deme's target would appear to the right of that. But I think that's on later shot.

Then I've got the punks window which is from Carbonite as I'm out in the wilderness I want to know if those damn hordies are sneaking up. Then it's the Carbonite map and then Sexy map.

On the right hand side it's Carbonite quest log window, then Omen and then Recount.

On finally back at the bottom are my toolbars which I use Bartender on and
ButtonFacade.

Here's an "In Action" shot. This was taken on Monday this week, after the 3.3.3.1whatever mini patch and the WTF/Cache bug so all my add ons were screwy, hence the misplaced target box. Target's target is always more central for me, so I know who that mob is hitting!



This shows MikScrollingBattleText in action too though at this point "pet" is doing the damage because I'm too busy trying to take a shot.


This next one is an actual "in raid" shot, but out of combat. Recount doesn't normally sit there and I'd disabled Sexy Map here for some reason.



And finally, the uber clean, fly round and see the world UI. This UI was heavily influenced by this dude, Metzerott, who created the prettiest UI I've ever seen. I downloaded his UI bits and then dropped out what I couldn't handle or didn't like and tweeked the other bits. The picture is an homage to his own shown on wow.com. Basically, even when raiding, I have as much as possible set to fade out, auto-hide or just plain disappear if I don't need it.




Full listing of ALL the Add ons I use:

UI
Xperl Raid Frames
Prat chat add on
Cellular chat add on
Titan bar (set to transparent and auto-hide)
Carbonite
Sexy Map
Bartender
ButtonFacade
Butsu - looting add on
Cursor - shiny pretty cursor thingie


Raiding
DBM
Recount
Omen
BuffEnough
MikScrollingBattleText


Helpful stuff I like
Auctioneer
Gatherer
Ackis Recipe List
Beancounter
Enchantrix
Sell-O-Matic

Deme Does Crotch ... Watching

This weekend saw me take on tanking in a more concerted effort. On Friday night I realised I’d actually got a full tank set of gear. That was a bit of a shock! It means I’ve now got to enchant and gem the lot and get the stats sorted.

In an attempt to prevent other nooby tanks from making the same mistake I repeated on the weekend, here’s a little checklist to use before you start whacking anything.

Have I changed into tank gear?
Check 

Have I changed to Frost talents?
Check

Have I put on FROST presence?
No? Numpty.

I’d also add
- Chug a defence potion if you need it, which currently Deme does.

I got a great group to run me through my first HC as a tank, comprising of two droods, one a bear in off spec and one healing, another DK whose main spec is tank and A N Other. I’m sorry my dear guildie, I’ve forgotten, needless to say all these guys are well-geared and could romp through HCs in 15 minutes max. With this make up, we went for the random. Silent prayers for anything but the ICC 3 or HoS. FoS pops up. *eeek* goes my brain. Group tells me I’ll be fine. I mark up the first two mobs and off we go. Hmm, aggro isn’t great, but I hold them and they die. Then I remember. FROST presence. FFS. What a numpty.

I’ve watched one particular DK tank run HCs and unless the healer needs mana, he doesn’t stop. I wouldn’t say chain pulling per se, but certainly moving fast. I guess because I’ve seen him do this so often, it’s rubbed off on me. I’ve been spoilt too, the group I was running with know who to hit first so marking was a little pointless and I didn’t bother.

Gathering the groups up and holding aggro was fine. Crotch-watching is a suitable description of tanking and for my particular style, I like all the mobs in a group in a semi-circle in front of me. This means I DG those ranged casters in. Is that wrong? Erm, not sure, but it feels a lot more comfortable when I can see them all glaring at me and not have one off to the side.

We pass through a few mobs and get up to James Brown. I mean Bronjam. *phew* Take a deep breath. My first HC boss as a tank. Quick catch up with the group to make sure I understand what I have to do, turns out I do. Confidence rises a little. The encounter starts and all is well. Corrupted Soul goes up and I begin to move him, I honestly can’t say if he got the soul or not because I wasn’t watching his HP, I was too busy popping all my abilities to make sure he keep hitting me whilst I wandered round the outside of the room. The second phase, where we all give him a nice hug in the middle went off without a hitch. Hoorah!

I take a deep breath and pause to savour the moment.

Then we press on and get to the Devourer of Souls. Now, I'm sorry, but did Blizz get a bit camped up when they created the bosses in ICC? I mean this guy sounds like as camp as a row of tents, then there's Marrowgar's cry of "Boooone Stooooorrrrrm". I mean come on.

Anyway, Devourer of Souls. Yeah. Not gunna lie, I died. No idea how because it wasn't down to the healer. Let's not dwell on that though. We got through and I'd tanked it. Hoorah!

I finished off the weekend tanking 4 more HCs. My least favourite being Culling of Stratholme. As a nooby tank running backwards and forwards and running the undead gauntlet I found tough. I hit up ToC too, which isn't up my list of favourites, but hey we got through it. My two favourites to tank have been Azjol Nerub and Utgarde Keep. I love UK on normal to tank so I was chuffed when it popped up on the random. I also enjoy AN. Anooooob gets pwned. Me likely.

I guess now I've actually got the gear and had a bit of practice I'd better give you lot some kind of spec and stats post right? Ok, I'll do my best for the next post.

According to guildies I'll be tanking Naxx this weekend. pfft.

DK Tanking - Initial Thoughts

About a month ago (may be longer) I promised 2 friends on Twitter that I would do a post on DK tanking. It's been a while but I've started to make some progress.

You have to remember that I'm a tank noob. No, really, even though I played a warrior prior to Deme, I'm a tanking noob. Yes I feel your burning hate and I hang my head in shame.

Deme has 2 pieces of T9 tank gear now, to complement the mis-match of heroic, emblem and pieces of off-spec gear from raids where no one else wanted it, but I'm still working on the gems and enchants, as I mentioned somewhere else on the internetz. Her def rating has finally broken the 500 barrier though and is up to a whopping 512. Still some way to go, but when you have a healer to run with you who gives you 'god mode' I've got a bit of leeway. It also helps when they are sitting in the same room as you.

Last night I ran a couple of normal dungeons just to try out my tanking skills after a hiatus and I've got to say it's kinda fun so I'm hopng to have a bash at an 'easier' Heroic this weekend and see how I get on. Then I suppose it's off to farm for more emblems for more gear. Once I've got a better handle on it all, I'll post up some kind of advice/gear/stats rammel for those who want a guide. It's fair to say thought that so far I'm finding DK tanking fun, full of aggro and a fresh challenge to boot.

Deme the Dodger

It's CPS not DPS that makes a guild.

Deme has a new home! Hoorah and oh the relief. After close to three weeks in the wilderness, I finally took the plunge and placed my little DK in a new guild. I'd looked at 4 in total, including my previous home, but in the end things weren't going to be the same there as they had been so I realised it was time to move on.

One of the things that convinced me to move was the steady stream of whispers I received from those still in my old guild, stating that the guild chat was very quiet now I'd gone and that they missed my CPS. CPS means Chat Per Second.



In your guild there is bound to be someone, maybe a few people, who spam guild chat with random silliness. Those are your CPS people. I hadn't realised until I left the guild how many people actually read it or thought I was being funny, to my mind I was just typing crap and having a giggle or rant when something happened, either in game or in RL. These guildies whispered me and said how quiet it was, that they missed reading my little pieces of spam. These guildies weren't just made up of the others who'd spammed with me, but also of some quieter members who I'd just assumed weren't interested in what I was saying. Turns out it wasn't the case, they were quietly smiling or chortling along in their own space. Not everyone feels compelled to type 'lol'. That CPS I was churning out though, that was giving that green text flavour, humour and heart.

So if you have someone in your guild who spams the chatter box, it's just possible that their bringing more to the table than green text, consider what it might be like without those little punctuation points to your WoW experience. And then tell them you like reading it. Afterall, when their gone, who'll fill the silence?


Deme, Queen of CPS


*A big thank you to Moreaulf for creating the acronym CPS and to all my ex-guildies for the fun and laughs. Just because I'm not 'there' doesn't mean I'm not 'here'. x

There's No Place Like Home

My previous two posts have been on the unravelling drama surrounding my home guild's proposed merger with a guild who could be considered its sister guild. I stated that I'd been watching from the side lines if you like, as it all came tumbling down and caught a few people in the rubble.

It's been a little over 2 weeks since I left my home guild and a little over a week since the biggest chunk of drama. Things appear (at least from what I can see) to be settling down with the two guilds continuing on as they were prior to any proposal and for the most part, no hard feelings. There, of course, will always be those who chuck a spanner in your spokes, but hey, that's what helmets and pads are for right?

Now comes the question I've been dreading. I've had this time away from my home guild, during which I've stated clearly that I'm taking a break and plan to return. However, I now have to ask myself if I want to and the honest answer is, I don't know. Whilst I've been guildless, other friends have invited me to their guilds. I've told them I'm not looking to join a guild at the moment but thanked them for the invite and told them I'll consider it when I am ready to see the green text again.

As some of you know I spam twitter a lot, and you may have seen, I've placed two low-level alts with guilds, one on ally, one on horde. This has been a stress-free, peaceful and enjoyable way to part-take in a guild again. And boy is it great to have that green text, even if it's not pouring achievements at me or spamming butt jokes or virtual food fights, it's nice to know it's there.

BUT, these chars are alts. That little DK at the top of the screen is my main, for a reason. I can not say enough how much playing a death knight rocks my socks. It's just too much fun, like a really good night out when you get a little bit messy, dance a bit too hard and finish the night on smokey whisky, yes it is that good. It's time to find Deme a new home.

I've not ruled out a return to my 'home' guild, but I have other options and I'm investigating them. I'm not in a rush, I don't want to make a hasty decision and chuck all my eggs in the wrong basket. It may be the guild I want doesn't exist, in which case I may have to compromise and decide what I want most from the game and go with the guild that offers that. Of course I could set up on my own, but the name of that guild would have to be D I V O R C E.

Deme clicks her heels together and says "There's no place like home".

Guilds - Who'd have one - Part 2

In my post yesterday I talked about the guild merger I was witnessing and had been assisting with, if assisting is the right word. After a failed attempt last night to move things forward between the two guilds the merger has been called off. This would have been fine and all could have moved on and everyone gone about their business happily, as we thought we would last night, but for all out war breaking out on the forum.

There is a heavy sadness in my heart and an anger and venom on my tongue. I'd intended to write a rant in this blog but to be honest it would only make matters worse and then I'd be no better than anyone else. So I'll save my fire and brimstone for private quarters where I can let it all boil over with no fear of anyone taking offence because they know me well enough to know that once I've spewed it all out, I'm over it and I calm down.

The sadness I feel won't leave me so easily. My long time guild isn't representing itself in it's best light I'm afraid. The lovely people I know are there feel too afraid to speak up, or are far wiser and just don't see the point of getting involved. The second guild, where a lot of old friends are, have been left in a difficult position and feel let down and are thus trying to defend themselves and protect their members and guild from further damage.

My heart breaks to see it happening. I won't step in any more. I played the diplomat for a long time and I tried to get things to change but in the end, it was costing me too much. If you give everything out, there is is nothing left to draw on for yourself.

To that end, my DK (and all my random alts) will remain guildless. Raiding, which I have loved, will take a back seat once I have met my obligations this week. Arthas will have to wait. I'll still be there, just not in exactly the same spot I was in before.

I hear the battle ground calling. I hear me screaming "God I hate those fucking-horde-twatting-aholes!" as I get pwned time after time and then GY camped. I hear a lot less chatter and maybe a few less laughs, but a lot more peace. In a battle ground I hope to find peace. Irony anyone?

Deme the Demolisher


*To the hordies reading, I <3 you really, without you I'll never learn PvP will I?!

Guilds - Who'd have one?!

Guild mergers and alliances can be hot beds of trauma. The guild I‘ve belonged to for a year has been through 2 failed mergers and is currently on the brink of a 3^rd failed attempt. This makes me sad. Although I’m currently taking some time away from the guild, I’m still emotionally involved and friends with all the people there.

It’s a great guild with a lot of lovely people and good opportunities for all to experience Azeroth as they wish. There are 6/7 10-man raiding teams raiding current and older content and a recently reformed 25-man team who raid twice a week, plus plenty of alts for levelling with, lively social banter on the chat and lots of skilled friendly players to do BGs, run HCs with, give advice and so on.

The incoming guild is a raiding guild who are looking to build a stronger 25-man progression team and want to use our players to do so, working towards a 4-night 25 man programme, which would clearly offer all those not able to raid the current 25-man schedule the choice to do so. They also contain a healthy number of players who have been long-term members and/or friends of my guild, so they know the strengths and weaknesses of both guilds.

Both guilds are home to sane, reasonable people who want to make the most of their time in Azeroth and achieve their goals.

The merger/alliance (no one seems clear which it is at the moment) should be a smooth, graceful amalgamation of two of the best guilds on the realm. Unfortunately, it’s not been that way. A vocal contingent of my guild were not interested in the merger at all and when guild2guild was implemented, a certain number of them muted it, thus ensuring they didn’t even get to know the other guild prior to anything going any further. The silent majority who had qualms, but did not speak up for fear of rocking the boat, have been drifting along with the merger. Those of us who want the merger to work, have been left feeling embattled and worn out by trying to assuage fears and lay down the benefits of the merger for all.

Now, largely due to too much talking about the wrong things and not enough action on the important things, the merger is on the brink of collapse and with it, the strong possibility that at least one guild could fail, if not both. I don’t want to think about the bad blood that could emerge.

Whilst this makes me sad, I have effectively done little to stop it or assist in a smooth merger. My /gquit of just over a week ago was not a sudden decision, but I felt I had no other option. Having vented my frustration and feeling that change was too slow to come, if it ever came, I’ve taken myself off into the wilderness.

Whilst I’m still hopeful that the merger will progress as planned, I want both guilds to flourish and I’m enjoying raiding opportunities with both, the friends I've made are still there and we still have a good time (heavens, they keep me sane!), this wilderness has a strange and alluring emptiness to it.No obligations, no requirements, no expectations, no drama.

Deme the Deserter.

*Disclaimer - this is just my PoV and shouldn't be construed as a guild PoV. I speak only for myself.