A Little Bark, A Little Bite

Tale Eighty Seven: Why I hate logs.

noreply@blogger.com (Littlebark) — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 04:59:00 +0000

(1:00:59 PM) speakerjones: dude, if effing garrosh actually ends up running
the show... just.. no. no on SO many levels.

(1:01:18 PM) littlebark: If he does, I quit WoW

.............

Ahem. For the record, he was still a pup when I said that. Besides. I'm Alliance now. So there.

...

But if you've read The Shattering, you know why I feel like I could kill Garrosh.

Tale Eighty Six: Littlebark's Corner - A New Song is Sung.

noreply@blogger.com (Littlebark) — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 20:50:00 +0000

She had zoomed by Draenor as a young druid, anxious to get to Northrend.

Still, from what she could remember, the Outland had beautiful parts just as it had land drenched with evil. She found it soothing to fly over the marshes of Zangermarsh and knowing that soon enough, she’d be helping heal this land.

Maybe this time I’ll be able to actually heal something and make a difference.

The Sporeggar were friendly, if a little cautious of her. She towered over them, having to bend down to hear them. They warmed to her eventually, and soon even the children were carefree enough to play with her.

It felt good being asked for help, she thought to herself as she gathered Glowcaps. It felt good not to worry about death and plagues for once.

“Shame, that such talent is wasted here.”

She looked up, surprised at hearing a voice she did not recognize. An orc glared down at her, studying her. Littlebark stood slowly, wiping the dirt off her hands on her plain dressings. “I beg your pardon?”

“Bahh!” The orc spat irritably as he began to pace, “This task you’ve forced yourself to do is for peons and recruits. Best leave as soon as possible.”

Her jaw dropped and her eyes narrowed. In a low and dangerous voice, she hissed, “The Sporeggar need help, they don’t care whether it’s from a peon, recruit or a veteran of war.”

Out of his pouch, he pulled a small totem. Slowly twirling it between his fingers, he muttered to himself, “The fool believes she has meaning here. I say we leave her to her fate.”

The anger flashed in her, leaving her vision red. Asking the Earthmother for patience, she snapped, “I am no fool, orc. Who are you? Why are you here?”

He let out a single grunt, whether it was full of content or humor, she couldn’t tell. “Have it your way. Druid, the spirits have told me to seek you.”

“The… spirits,” she played with the word slowly then shook her head, “perhaps you’re looking for the wrong Tauren. I answer to the Earthmother, shaman.”

“I care not for your fairytales,” he said simply, ignoring Littlebark’s menacing growl, “The wind plays a new song now. One of deep slumber. Of dark past come anew. The spirits have brought me to you, so that you may assist us.”

Shivers ran down her spine. When she finally found her voice, she breathed, “I have done my share, in Northrend. Isn’t that enough?”

The orc let out a roar, causing her to stumble two steps back. “Enough talk. You will come either way! Spirits witness! You will bend to this fate. Now, come! Prove to me that that the spirits have chosen a worthy one.” He pulled out both maces from his belt, already his blood boiling with bloodlust.

Littlebark looked stunned. Her hand reached for her staff, her eyes swimming with confusion, “I cannot just leave my post, shaman. My leader – he has placed me – WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?”

She dodged the mace, but just barely. Her staff blocked the next blow but the ancient wood groaned in effort. Using all her weight and height, she pushed him far away enough to morph into her travel form and stay out of his reach. Fear, confusion and anger –all rolled into one – were pitted in her belly as she pushed her paws hard into the earth.

“Run, fool!” He yelled with laughter in his voice.

“STOP THIS MADNESS! WHO ARE YOU!?” Littlebark bellowed when she had put a safe distance between them, panting heavily as she muttered a spell to ease her wound, “I will NOT be killed by some maniac. I refuse you and your duel! What do you want? ANSWER ME!”

“Witness! I am Karsung! Battle Shaman of the Warsong Clan! The spirits have asked me to bring you to them! So that they may seek your help.”

“The Warsong Clan? What on Earth do they want with…” she heaved a great sigh, rubbing her temple, “I will go… for now. I need to inform my leader; Cryssam.”

“Do not test my patience, Druid.”

She ignored his order and said easily, “we can go to Zabra’jin. The Sporeggar do not trust easily, and you would make them uneasy with your presence in their village.”

Karsung snorted, “they would be foolish to test me. Come, spore people! Prove your worth!”

Littlebark grabbed his arm, pulling him farther away from the village before he could cause more damage. “Hush, fool. They have their reasons for trusting only a few. Let’s set off to the neighboring troll village. It’s not far, and I can tie any loose strings there.”

“So be it.”

She let out a long, drawn out sigh. Whatever her job with the Sporeggar was, it looked like it was done for now.

Tale Eighty Five: How To Fail At Hibernating.

noreply@blogger.com (Littlebark) — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 05:58:00 +0000

How to Fail at Hibernating.
- a helpful list by Littlebark-

1)Keep in contact with old guildies.
2)Be guildless for 8 months.
3)Not raiding for 8 months.
4)Silently seething at the non-completed Lich King achievement.
5)Talking to guildie about maybe, sort of, kind of raiding again as a group.
6)Letting the idea brew in my mind.
7)Snatching Littlebark back from Mr. Littlebark and promptly transferring her back to Cenarius. “Just in case.”
8)Damn, Littlebark the name was taken by my alt… invoke Twitter help! @altinfam suggests: Mediumbark.
9)Start doing a BUNCH of heroics and PuG raids to get tank and healing gear. “Just in case.”
10)Have a Vent meeting with 2 of our old officers.
11)... setting up a raid event for ICC, inviting every former member of the guild and their new friends.

All this boils down to….

Not hibernating.

So yeah. I’m now raiding again and have been for the past two weeks. We still have kinks to work through and things to discuss –hell; we’re not even a guild, yet! We’re just a bunch of friends having fun in the game again.

Just the way I like it.

Tale Eighty Four: I'm a what now?

noreply@blogger.com (Littlebark) — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 01:32:00 +0000

Littlebark: You can't make fun of my leaves anymore. They butchered my tree form.

'Bob' the Pally Tank: That won't stop me, you're just some serial lumberjack's victim now.

Littlebark: D:

'Bob': Indeed.

Tale Eighty Three: The Blue Bar of DEATH

noreply@blogger.com (Littlebark) — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 07:36:00 +0000

Picture Courtesy of Mr. Littlebark, drawn on Patch Day.

Tale Eighty Two: Something Wicked This Way Comes?

noreply@blogger.com (Littlebark) — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 21:21:00 +0000

Tale Eighty One: Hibernation

noreply@blogger.com (Littlebark) — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 19:12:00 +0000

On Friday, I did something I never ever thought I'd do.

I gave my druid to Mr. Littlebark.

I love leveling. I love the grind. I had 5 maxxed leveled characters at one point. My hunter, my druid, my warlock, my priest and my paladin.

Mr. Littlebark HATES leveling. He leveled his shaman to 80 when WOTLK came out because he had to. And he leveled his warrior with my priest. It took him 24 months to level his mage to 80. In the past two years, we've shuffled my toons to him because I don't play them and he's good at gearing them out.

I made it very clear that Littlebark was -and forever will be- out of bounds.

Maybe it's the valley of dullness I'm in at the moment with WoW. Maybe it's that I know that Catalysm is right around the corner. Maybe it's because I left the only two guilds I felt at home with and have been wandering solo for too long.

But when he asked -jokingly- for Littlebark, I said yes.

My toon that has my 4 pages of companion pets.

The toon that has TONS of exalted reputation.

The toon that I know like the back of my hand.

My only toon who has ever had a defined RP story.

Gone.

So this is my hibernation till Catalysm. I'm -of course- leveling another druid to 80, and hopefully before Catalysm hits.

But even then, who knows? I'm still irked over the "you have to dps as a healer now" bit. So we'll see how things go and hopefully you'll see me once Deathwing makes the first tremor.

Tale Eighty: Littlebark's Corner - An Empty Farewell

noreply@blogger.com (Littlebark) — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 03:36:00 +0000

PART III

Littlebark stared at the parchment in front of her.

It held memories of people she had loved.

Say goodbye to who? Sighing heavily, she rested her head on her hand and played with the writing utensil. Neatly crossed out were names of friends come and gone.

Arriving in Northrend seemed so long ago; barely believable even to her that it had only been two years. So naïve she had been, she mused now, hopeful and ready to face anything.

She had been prepared for losses. After all, war wasn’t war without losing to gain something in the end. But to lose friends so close and dear! A price too high for a heart, especially when it happened over… and over… and over…

Old friend… I miss you, Littlebark shut her eyes, ignoring the tears that managed to squeeze through. Months had passed since they brought him back to the camp, wounded and in pain….

“Bark! Littlebark!”

She looked up, startled at her name being flung around so loudly and frantically. “Tel? What’s the matter?”

The undead rogue was shaking, terror on his face, “LB, you gotta come save him. The other healers –they’ve tried everything!”

She sprung up from her cot, “Let’s go. Who is it?” When the rogue remained quiet, Littlebark stopped in her tracks, “Tel, who is it?”

Tel fidgeted under her glare, “It’s Ras'han.”

Littebark’s eyes went wide and her hands flew to her mouth. “Earthmother, give me strength,” she gasped, “Is it bad?”

He nodded, “they… nothing’s working.”

Everything changed. Her heart began to race and she began to run to the Med Tent. Not fast enough to her liking, she spread her arms and took flight. Her new eyes were better at seeing than her normal Tauren ones, and she quickly spotted which Med Tent the commotion was at. She dived, pulling up seconds before she hit the ground, morphing back into her normal form. Landing with a soft thud and a grimace, she pushed past the crowd blocking the entrance and shut the drape when she got in.

He was quite a sight.

Blood was splattered on his clothes, but the pain seemed to go beyond. His face was contorted in pain and he was panting hard, forehead shining with sweat. His usually healthy and bright green skin was a pasty color and his eyes darted around the room.

“What happened?” she demanded fiercely, jogging to his side. With a few words, she began to seep healing magic into him.

“Putricide proved too much for us,” Cryssam spat, rubbing her wrists. Blood caked her faced and stuck to her hair, “he was trying to hard to make up for the lack of healing that was going on.”

The priest didn’t miss the venom in Cryssam’s voice. “it was either move or we’d get killed and then you'd be short two healers,” he explained calmly, “Littlebark, careful now. That’s a disease, you don’t specialize in that.”

“Poi-poisons… and curs..es.”

Littlebark’s eyes snapped to Ras'han's face, concentration lines decorating her forehead, “hush now. You need the energy to get better.”

“Hu-huuuurts.”

“Yes,” she whispered softly, “I know. I’m trying to make it better.” He fell into silence, still twitching and moaning softly. “Cryssam, start making arrangements to send him home.”

“How.”

She looked at him, daring to take her eyes away from Ras'han, “by mail? A messenger?”

Cryssam sighed impatiently, “by portal or in a coffin?”

“How dare you-“

“BARK!” the priest quickly stood up, putting a hand on her shoulder and struggling to hold the giant druid back.

Littlebark glared at Cryssam, hating her for staring back with amusement and such cold eyes, “he’s going to make it.”

Shrugging nonchalantly, the death knight walked out of the tent. Littlebark shuddered slightly, as she always did when Cryssam was around.

Staring into the restless face of Ras'han, she began to panic. Who would she go to when she needed help? He was her source of entertainment in this cold land, one of her only friends left. He knew and had everything and was selfless enough to help her. She had arrived to the battalion and been so clueless and he had been kind enough to show her around and keep her informed. “You have to get better, you hear me?”

His eyes fluttered slowly. Maybe she imagined it or maybe he was trying to tell her everything was going to be okay… but she could have sworn that the force on her hand got heavier, as if chasing away all her fears.

Tale Seventy Nine: Littlebark's Corner - Relocation

noreply@blogger.com (Littlebark) — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 06:08:00 +0000

PART II

Cryssam stared at the druid with cold eyes. She had seen this coming, of course. Everyone had. But hearing the words come out of her mouth made all final.

Momentarily, she wondered how the team would go on. Littlebark had been the one everyone talked to, someone you could find refuge under and led the team when morale sunk. We will go on, she thought with resolve, Others will pop up to fill her spot.

They had suffered bitterly when Littlebark told them that the Cenarion Expedition had asked her to join her Night Elf brothers and sisters, fighting a more intel team at the Citadel. For months, they faced the same enemy but on different sides.

Months passed before ‘Bark made her way back, trying to fit in but feeling lost. When they weren’t pressing their forces on the Citadel, she was out by herself farming herbs for her potions or fishing or helping the tribes in Scholar Basin. She kept to herself, Cryssam noted, and in doing so lost touch with everyone she loved.

“You want me to re-assign you… to where?”

She shrugged, the fur on her body rippling slightly, “I don’t know, Cryss. All I know is that I haven’t been around.”

“And when you do go to the front lines, your feral sides shines when all we need are healers.”

Littlebark felt the jab but merely sighed, “Which is why I’m asking you- if you have any work for me elsewhere, please assign me to it.”

“We’re at war, ‘Bark. I don’t go around picking up fluff work when I have a damn Lich King looming over us,” Cryssam rubbed her temples, not really feeling pain but merely doing it unintentionally. Old habits die hard, she thought morbidly.

“How about work in Azeroth? Training young recruits or tending to the injured?”

“The injured here need you.”

Stubbornly, her nose went up, “I won’t stay in Northrend, Cryss. Not after everything that’s happened. If you don’t have anything, I’ll put in my request to be removed from my post and find something on my own terms.”

A threat veiled in sincerity and determination. Cryssam’s eyes narrowed, making the slits glow an eerie, cold blue. “I picked this up a couple weeks ago. They might still need help.”

Littlebark grabbed the paper from her hand, eyes flying over the paper, “Draenor?”

“The Sporeggar need help,” said the Death Knight simply, “and like you said, there’s no use in you being dead weight here.”

A growl escaped Littlebark. “I’ll head down there as soon as I say my goodbyes.”

“Littlebark.”

The Tauren stopped in her tracks, obviously resisting the urge to continue walking.

“You may have been dead weight… but you are one hell of a soldier.”

Littlebark’s eyebrows rose, surprise in her eyes. “You are a good leader, Cryss.”

“Just not the right one for you.”

“I’m not right to follow command right now,” she admitted, “and you’re doing a good job despite his absence.”

“I’m… trying my best,” Cryssam whispered hoarsely but Littlebark had already left. Suddenly overwhelmed, she shivered and grasped her head in her hands. One of the few veterans left had walked out of her camp.

It was happening too often for her liking.

Tale Seventy Eight: Introduction...

noreply@blogger.com (Littlebark) — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 07:54:00 +0000

To a corner on this blog that I'm naming "Littlebark's Corner". Creative, yes?

I server transferred Littlebark over to Moonguard, which was my original server on my hunter before I made the switch to Cenarius. I'm quite excited about the RP aspect of this adventure, about the fact that I've left all my alts and now have to start from stratch so that LB has everything she needs -on her own.

So, to explain what has been bottled up inside me and in a way inside Littlebark as well, here is the first part of a series that I hope will continue on. It's nice therapy now that I'm on my own.

*** **** ***** ******** ******

“Maybe you should take a break.”

The words stung. The druid lifted her nose stubbornly, her eyes narrowing. The Blood Elf sensed the tension that suddenly filled the air and quickly cast her eyes down to the table, absent mindedly petting the giant wolf next to her.

“I don’t need a break, Thienna.”

The elf named Thienna shrugged her petite shoulders, choosing her words carefully, “You’ve… become hard, Littlebark. A loner –and that’s quite an achievement, seeing as that role is usually played by me. You’ve lost so many-“

“Loss is part of war, Waverunner. I don’t expect you to understand that since you don’t get to be up at the Front.”

The insult hit it’s mark, leaving Thienna red in the face, “You know that if they’d let me-“

“Excuses.”

“Bark, I’m just trying to help.”

The druid’s shoulders sunk slightly. “I haven’t been around as much. Not since…”

Since his departure, Thienna registered. They had all noticed it, of course. So many of the veterans had left the North –either wounded or dead. Littlebark was one of the veterans standing when they brought the wounded troll and she lost all hope in winning the war. “We all understand –“

Littlebark’s eyes caught hers, “what, have you all been talking about me behind my back?”

“No!-“

She stood, defeated and angry, “Tell Cryssam that I’ll be by to see her later today. To start thinking of a place to reassign me.”

“Littlebark, we need you.”

The words froze her, and she sighed, “I was a healer. But I can’t even begin to heal the pain from here.”

Momentarily stunned, Thienna stared at the spot where Littlebark was pointing –her heart. Sighing Thienna stood, “I’ll tell her.”

Littlebark nodded her thanks, starting to feel right for the first time in a long time.

Tale Seventy Seven: WoWBook

noreply@blogger.com (Littlebark) — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 06:41:00 +0000

"Blizzard's partnership with Facebook, announced today, means that players of StarCraft II and World of Warcraft can create a social network with their friends who also play those games on Battle.net and frequent Facebook.

"Step one in our relationship is to have this Friends Importation," says Battle.net project director Greg Canessa. "Really what you are going to do once you buy StarCraft II and you take it home and install it and log onto Battle.net for the first time, you'll be able to essentially hit a button and bring all your Facebook friends that are also on Battle.net into Battle.net and create (Real ID) relationships."

For the full article, read here.

I only have four friends of my 192 friends on Facebook who play WoW. A good 90% of them don't even know what WoW is. And when they hear what it is? They look at me like I have a third head or something.

I don't care about what people think: in fact, I'm quite a proud nerd who loves arguing about superheroes, have most of the game consoles in my living room and play quite a bit. I've shamelessly written Dragon Age fanfiction.

But a game, which could potentially put my family and career in danger?

The risk is too much.

Blizzard goes on to say: "Culturally, I think we have become more and more accepting of social networking in the context of your real identity and Facebook, of course as the leader in the space, has led this charge. We're now at something five years ago I don't think any of us would maybe necessarily be comfortable with. We all now have our own Facebook pages and we have got a lot of our information on there. We've got our real names and pictures of ourselves on there and so forth."

And while I agree that we are moving to a more social society, I do not agree with mixing in Facebook and WoW. I have a Facebook page to stay in touch with my friends. I have a WoW to get away from them and stress.
The part of the article that made me laugh bitterly?

Do you expect any push back from diehard Blizzard fans from the Facebook features?
And their answer?

We don't anticipate any.
......... How very wrong you were, Blizzard. How very very wrong.
*However*, I heard from a friend that he read on EJ (as soon as I can find the thread, I'll link this here) that this change comes not from Blizzard but from Activision, who owns Blizzard.
Who interestingly enough? Just signed a biiiig fat deal with.... Facebook.
*punts the "geniuses" behind all this*
Photo Courtesy of: www.penny-arcade.com

Tale Seventy Six: Why Blizzard is being put DOWN.

noreply@blogger.com (Littlebark) — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 01:44:00 +0000

So…. Wow.

Blogsphere has exploded with the RealID on the forums.

I’m getting more and more pissed off at the game, at Blizzard, at some stupid choices they’re making and as a result, they’re going to lose customers. Not smart, especially in the middle of a lull before of an expansion.

Like I said on Twitter, the whole RealID showing the friends of my friends my real name isn’t too big of a deal. All my friends are taking breaks or quit the game, my guild is no more to me and Littlebark is homeless. So that change hasn’t impacted me that much.

But this? I do post on the forums from time to time and it really pisses me off that my name will be popping up. Online, I am Littlebark. In fact, the few people I’ve met in game –via guild- have my number and they call me LB when they text me. It’s who I am when I switch on WoW. I’m under no illusion that it’s my alter ego and that it’s going to help me un-blur the lines. No. I know Littlebark is my online persona and the real me is different than when I go to work or school or whatever.

I find it funny that even Littlebark has a “real name” (for RP purposes) but most people don’t know it because her persona is LB or Cuddlebug or Lovebug or Bark. If you’ve read this blog for awhile, you know my first name. It’s literally a unique name in North America, and combined with my last name? I’m the only one of me in my city with that combination. Only one person in game knows my full name, and that is Grimmstone, whom I trust completely with it.

Blizzard, I am not comfortable with sharing my private and confidential details in-game, where literally every peeper and weirdo can see me.

I am tired of changes. Catalysm and druid changes aside, this is one too far. My family emigrated from my home country when I was a youngster for political reasons. When I started WoW, I was weary of it but Mr. Littlebark assured me that my name would not ever show up online. And I felt safe because of it. With this, I’m afraid that I won’t be able to post on the forums for fear of not only myself but my family.

Another thing that pops to mind is famous people that play WoW. I bet they play under an alias, happily hiding behind a character and not having to worry about the “OHMYGOD ITS THAT

FAMOUS PERSON! AHHHHH” kind of fans.

Not too long ago, after I left Lords, I joined an Alliance progression guild on a different server with my priest. And one of the first things they told me is that they used their first names instead of avatar names. *blink* Ooookaaaay, I guess that’s fine. But after a few days of seeing my first name in my guild note, I /gquit. I didn’t like blurring my RL with my toons. I feel that it’s okay to use RL names in a guild where it’s a family or close friends. But strangers like this…. It felt strange.

In short, I’m giving you the big WTF STAMP, Blizzard. You’ve received a failing grade on this one.

/end tree rage.

Tale Seventy Five: A Fond Farewell

noreply@blogger.com (Littlebark) — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 06:02:00 +0000

My best friend, the one who hooked me into WoW and druids is not renewing her game time when it runs out in July. Tonight, we went around collecting screenshots.

Goodbye, Rakota... I loved having you as a partner in crime.

PS: Has anyone noticed that more and more people are taking breaks or leaving the game? ):

Tale Seventy Four: One Year Old

noreply@blogger.com (Littlebark) — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 15:26:00 +0000

Tomorrow is this blog's anniversary.

It hasn't felt like a year, and I've found that this blog has been a "WoW Therapy" of sorts for me. And while it started as a blog about me, I found it soon evolved into a WoW blog.

I haven't really "defined" what this blog is, I suppose. At times, it's felt like a me-me blog. Other days, it can actually be a helpful blog to other people. I also did a stint at doing ICC guides! That died down pretty quick since everyone else was doing it and I felt that I could focus on other things. At one point, I even did a bit of RP! Of course, there was the one where Petal took over. And when I ranted about the women issue that happens in WoW. And a fun blog post about the statistic tab. I also compared Northrend to my Canada. And most recently, we went through a blog makeover.

All in all, it's been a fun ride. And while I've been silent this last month, it's because I'm not raiding or playing much. With the summer here and my guild not being the same as before, Mr. Littlebark and I have been playing a druid/shaman alt (role reversal!). Here's to another great year!

Tale Seventy Three: Understanding the Feral Side

noreply@blogger.com (Littlebark) — Thu, 13 May 2010 04:19:00 +0000

Specs:

There are two differents a feral cat can run with. This one focuses on single target DPS, leaving one point left over for you to decide where to put it in.

This spec is a AoE oriented spec, allowing you to pump out as much DPS while AoEing.

Personally, I run with the first spec. I need my maximum damage on bosses, where I NEED to output as much dps as possible.

Glyphs:

What I find to be the best glyphs for kitty DPS are: Glyph of Savage Roar, Glyph of Rip and Glyph of Shred. Coming in behind these glyphs are the Glyph of Mangle and Berserk.

For minor Glyphs I tend to stick to Glyph of Unburdened Rebirth, Glyph of Challenging Roar and Glyph of Dash.

Enchants:

For the head enchant, I would recommend Arcanum of Torment, which can be purchased off the Ebon Blade Quartermaster.

If you're an inscriptionist, you should be using the Master's Inscription of the Axe which is better than the Son of Hodir's Greater Inscription of the Axe.

For leg enchants, I find that the Icescale Leg Armor. If you're a Leatherworker, you can stick with the Nerubian Leg Reinforcements.

Unless you're an engineer or tailor, you'll be better off with the 22+ Agility for your back.
When looking for a chest enchant, +10 stats to the chest is the best.

And for your weapon? In my opinion, I'd say Berserking, then Mongoose, then Massacre then Executioner.

Gemming

Meta - when at all possible, stick with Relentless Earthsiege Diamond.

Red - Fractured Cardinal Ruby only AFTER You have reached 400~500 ArPen. Before that, agility is the way to go, so if you're not at that point, gem with Delicate Cardinal Ruby.

Blue - I find myself sticking Nightmare Tears in blue sockets. When I don't worry about socket bonuses, I socket with the two red gems mentioned above.

Yellow - Up to your discretion. If the socket bonus isn't worth it, I'd just stick one of the two red gems. If you think it's worth it, then go ahead and decide between an Accurate Ametrine, Glinting Ametrine or a Deft Ametrine.

Caps & Facts!

Hit cap when you're fighting a level 80 is 5% or 163.95 hit rating. If the target is level 83+, our hit cap is 8% or 262.32 hit rating.

Expertise rating is something that I found a lot of melee players overlooked in my old guild. It is quite an important stat, since it lessens the chance of getting parried or dodged. You should always be behind your target. You need 26 expertise rating (213.13) to be "capped". However, you SHOULD have taken Primal Precision in your talent build, which automatically gives you 10 expertise rating.

DPS Rotation, whaaaa!

To be truly honest, I find that kitty DPS does NOT have a set rotation. This makes the class more exciting and fun to play -for me, as I do not have to spam 1,1,1,3,1,1,2.

That being said, here are some pointers on what to do whilst DPSing.

*Always keep Savage Roar, Mangle and Rake up.
*When you have 5 combo points and you have Savage Roar up, proceed to slap Rip on your target.

Most importantly, try to have fun. I've met people who have walked away frustrated with the kitty's DPS and rotation and stats and stuff. But it is quite honestly my favorite DPS class. And if worst comes knocking on your door? At least keep an ear out for the awesome feline sound your druid makes when you fire up Savage Roar.

Happy Hunting!

~LB

Tale Seventy Two: Notice

noreply@blogger.com (Littlebark) — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 04:54:00 +0000

*Hangs up the "Shop is Closed" sign*

I'll be going on vacation on Saturday so if you don't hear from me, you'll know why.

A quick note before I disappear: I cannot express how happy I am over the Catalysm raid changes. As someone who loves doing, leading and being a part of stricly 10 mans, I am glad that we will no longer will be the odd ones out: doing the same amount of work as 25 mans but not getting the same loot. This way, we'll ALL on equal footing. I'm sure people who enjoy 25 mans will surely keep that raid size alive. But for quiet little old me... 10 mans is the way to go.

Cheers!

Tale Seventy One: Dealing with Raiding in a in a casual guild.

noreply@blogger.com (Littlebark) — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 16:05:00 +0000

The guild LB is in right now has a rather interesting spin on it... it's doing raiding in a casual atmosphere. What's interesting about that, right? Lots of people do it!

Well, in the guild, raiding is expected by at least 50% of it. The other 50% are retired toons, casual players that have only about 1 hr a day to play, players that WANT to play but have school/work/kids. Players that LOVE to PvP but raid only once in a blue moon. Players who play with their kids.

I just started noticing the...division? I guess, that's the word... since our guild master Grimm left for personal reasons. Since then, I've been promoted to officer and hilariously enough, I've been playing the game less.

Since Grimm left, the ranks changed as well... I'm not saying it's a bad thing. But I've never been a fan of having ranks according to how much you raid. Especially NOT in a casual guild where half the guild doesn't even raid. We've had a player playing with us since the guild existed -so five years. And all the sudden he gets demoted to just "member" or whatever the hell the rank is... and I don't know. It just doesn't seem right to me that he gets to be at the bottom of the food chain just because he doesn't like to sit on his ass for 4 hours a night. I realize that ranks don't mean anything in RL life... but in game, I'd be pissed if me being in the guild with the rank Member for 2 years has to watch as the New Guy gets promoted to Ubber Awesome just because he raids ALL THE TIME.

There has to be a balance, surely. Or maybe this is the casual me in a casual guild.

*sigh*

Tale Seventy: WHAT THE CRAP, BLIZZARD!

noreply@blogger.com (Littlebark) — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 16:37:00 +0000

If I wanted to see my armor when I heal, I'd go and roll a priest, shaman, or paladin. The druids mojo is the SHAPESHIFT! That's what brought many of us to the class, the simple fact that we get to shift into a bear to tank, a cat or owlkin to dps or tree to heal.

None of the other specs are being pushed to dps or tank in their "caster form". Why should us healers!

Come ON Blizzard! So what if we can't dps in tree form. WE'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO! THAT'S WHAT OWLKIN IS FOR!

Disappointing preview for catalysm. No new resto ability, a shiny "OH LOOK FLOWERS UNDER PEOPLE YOU JUST HEALED" and ToL on Cooldown.

Tale Sixty Nine: Real Life Ding!

noreply@blogger.com (Littlebark) — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 06:24:00 +0000

As the tittle suggests, it's my real life birthday!

This weekend has been tons of fun with lots of food and laughter, and of course in guild banter... of my age. Bah! ;)

Tale Sixty Eight: Healing is a Trust Game

noreply@blogger.com (Littlebark) — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 02:34:00 +0000

Today, it struck me "healing is very much a trust game."

And you know at what precise moment it hit me? Moments after I was hit by another vehicle today. I'm not sure why I thought that, and at that moment. But I did.

You see, when you're on the road, you expect -or rather- trust, that the other drivers will follow the rules of the road. And if they don't follow the rules of the road, you just hope to God that whatever the hell they're doing keeps you alive.

Same with healing. In a raid, you hope to the WoW Gods that your healers keep you alive. Without healers, there is no raid. Same goes for tanks and DPS, but at the moment, we're sticking with tanks.

When I was "healing coordinator" in After Hours, I would make evaluate how well the healers did together. Why? Because, as silly as it sounds, healers need to have some sort of chemistry. I've run into so many groups (especially PuGs) where one healers is over healing because they don't trust the other healer. Or where they have amazing healing potential but they keep blaming each other because one heal didn't go off or X person didn't heal enough...

I've also found that while in guild raids, us healers trust too much. For example, I feel completely safe and sure of what I'm doing when I heal with Grimm, Mr. Littlebark or Apadwa from my guild. When others from my guild heal with me, I still trust them, but I'm still on my toes with them in case it's needed. It's almost mechanical. I know what my healing team will cast, what they'll use, what their OH SHI- buttons are.

So to sum this all up: healing is very much a trust game.

Tale Sixty Seven: Block'ed

noreply@blogger.com (Littlebark) — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 04:07:00 +0000

This is what I stares at when I tank.

It is very big.

Tale Sixty Six: Blog Makeover!

noreply@blogger.com (Littlebark) — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 18:57:00 +0000

If you've walked in here and are wondering what on earth is going on and who is this anyways, it's okay.

This is still Littlebark. Just less bark and more claws.

I'm shifting the content of this blog to resto/feral instead of resto/whatever fluff post I want.

I have to thank Jaedia, for being taking the time to do the header for me. It's great, its much bettert han what I had drawn out in my head. So, thank you Jaedia!

If not for her... I would have done the blog makeover and it would have looked something like this:

Tale Sixty Five: Bloggers Unite!

noreply@blogger.com (Littlebark) — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 06:17:00 +0000

If you haven't heard already, many bloggers on the blogsphere have joined a guild called Single Abstract Noun on the Argent Dawn (US & EU).

You see, this all began with Tamarind. Yes.

I stumbled on Jaedia's blog and saw she'd made a Horde Shammy alt. Nothing out of the ordinary, right?

Here, I'll quote her:

"Single Abstract Noun is a guild made on Argent Dawn EU Horde-side for the blogging community. I would like to add, that the blogging community isn’t purely made up of bloggers, but also readers."

Damn, I thought. EU Horde side.

But wait! There's more.

Miss Medicina has started a US sister guild to Single Abstract Noun, on the Argent Dawn US server. You have to be Alliance though, because that is the faction that was chosen.

I don't know when the guild was formed but as of 11:45 Thrusday night, there are 102 member in the guild. G Chat is very lively. It's neat seeing so many bloggers in the guild!

So if you want to have fun, chill out and just chat... come join us. Bloggers and readers alike are welcome. You can whisper anyone (I believe) and they'll be able to shoot you a ginvite!

LittleBark.0I'veLostCount

Tale Sixty Four: WoW Karma

noreply@blogger.com (Littlebark) — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 07:22:00 +0000

- Somewhere in the cold North -

Mr. LB: So! We can upgrade your Deadly hand to Furious. You only need like... 9 more Triumph badges? Lets go do the weekly, then I'll tank the last bit that you need.

Me: Okay! After the weekly, I'll need... *looks at Mr. LB expectantly*

Mr. LB: Anyways, after the weekly we'll need a dungeon with 4 bosses. Like UP -

Me: Gundrak.

Mr. LB: Or the one that you hate.

Me: AN?

Mr. LB: What? No. That one is easy-

Me: It's annoying...

Mr. LB: and only has 3 bosses. The OTHER one you hate.

Me: *crossing my arms* Nu-uh. Forget it. I won't do Occulus.

Mr. LB: Oh come on. It's easy now! And you get extra badges at the end. And a chance at a mount.

Me: I have flight form, and I only need 4 badges after the weekly. I know it's easy now. But it's the principle of the thing. Occulus is my nemesis!

- One hour later -

Mr. LB: Okay, let's do your Random for your Frost Badges.

Me: Okay! *happily clicks "healer" and waits for the instant pop up*

..........

Mr. LB: *Burts out laughing as the Occulus loading screen comes on*

Tale Sixty Three: I Is Helping Out

noreply@blogger.com (Littlebark) — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 06:05:00 +0000

For Averna, who switches her mounts when she takes a long trip so they don't get worn out.

Yes, I am totally carrying my mount in flight form. I got tons of whispers because I am SOOOO OP!

PS: I seriously love that glitch.