Thursday, June 5, 2008

Back Behind The Shield.

Yesterday I tanked for the first time in tier five content. It was only a quick run to The Lurker Below, but still it was nice to be back behind the shield. One of the guild tanks had gone off for some fun in real life for a couple of weeks so we were short a tank for the run. A quick respec and brushing the dust off my tanking set was all I needed to fill the spot. Oh and making sure that I had rearranged my user interface properly, I've had some bad experiences with that one.

It was some nice stress free tanking. All I had to do was tank my marked trash mob on the way to the Lurker, and on the lurker himself (whom I caught with my imba fishing skills) all I had to do was keep the warrior debuffs on Lurker and tank the inner ring add near my island.

We one shot the fishy with only two death's. One being a mage new to the fight eating a spout, and the other being Lady B, we still can't quite figure out how she died.

The Important Bit.

None of that is really important. The thing I want to talk about it the refreshing perspective it gave me on the game. I've been dps in the raids for a while now and it's seemed to become more and more about the numbers behind the game rather than the feel of the game that I've been concentrating on. During the trash pulls I felt something I had not felt in a long time, I felt I was part of a battle, part of an adventure.

Standing out in front with the other tanks, flanking the main tank to the right while the prot pally flanked him to the left as he leads the charge at the enemy, the melee class following close behind. It felt more like the start of an epic fight rather than just another trash pull.

The enemy would see us and start to counter charge, and we would clash together in a swirling melee, then separating out into it's separate duels. I could almost see it as you would see a movie. The melee fighting for their lives in the thick of it while the mages and other casters crackling with power, raining destruction upon the foe. The willy hunters unleashing their pets and firing volley after volley into the enemy ranks, using their traps and tricks to slow any loose foe that managed to make it to their position. The healers calling upon their patron gods or the forces of nature to heal the wounded and protect those around them.

At that moment I could understand why people like to play on RP servers. It was a very refreshing moment and if I can continue to see the game in this light I could very well avoid burn out indefinitely.

So my advice for today would be that the next time your in a raid, while continuing to concentrate on your role within the raid also think about your role within the game :). Also try thinking about it less as a raid and more as an army. Who knows you might just enjoy it a little more.

The Mistake.

Damn, I nearly wrote a full post without mentioning an incompetent moment. What ever you do don't start tanking a loose sheeped mob unless the raid leader tells you too. The resulting reattempts the sheep the mob could very well sent the mage into fits (at least that's what I imagined him having behind the computer screen). I only did it once, but once was more than enough.

Oh and I got a nice piece of loot too. A shiny new thrown weapon, and many many thank you's to the fury warrior who passed on it for me. I love it to bits :)

So until next time this is Stuntyone the Incompetent Warrior signing off.

3 comments:

Kartheis Canis Lupus said...

I know that feeling but it's never happened in a raid (too technical).

I like reading up on the history of the druid as opposed to better way to 'play it', looking for new addons or arguing in forums. Makes me feel 'odd' for a while.

'We are the preservers of the balance, now and forever, as Malfurion lies in the Dreaming. Never forget this.'

'Among night elves, gold-colored eyes, as opposed to the traditional silver, are a sign of inherent druidic potential. Among the class-obsessed night elves who lived prior to the War of the Ancients, gold eyes were rare, and thus viewed as a sign of underlying greatness.'

Anonymous said...

Indeed Karth, lore is a very big part of wow. You can just abandon it, but you'll never know what the bigger picture is. You'll never know who those bosses that you're fighting are, or what the area is that you're questing in.

Karazhan, Vashj, Archimonde, Illidan, the Broken/Naaur and pretty much everything else plays its part. They're not just super-mean bosses, it's all part of a bigger story and they all have a background, which is told during some quests and the previous Warcraft games.

Most of it is a pretty nice read actually :>

Unknown said...

Yah, the whole tanking the sheep thing... done that... Raid leader almost killed me.

Grats on your shiney