Avatar: The Last Windwalker Monk

This was my life for a couple weeks, but it’s all good now!

Before I dive into an article, I want to offer an apology to you guys.  Yotaan and I abruptly stopped blogging last week, and we didn’t really give you a warning.  You see, the boss fight called SCHOOL OF IRL got down to the last 2%, and I was required to help down that last bit.  The debuff FINALS has kept me away from blogging and WoW for the last couple weeks.  Don’t worry, I’ve dispelled the FINALS debuff, and have almost downed that boss.  We are back in blogging business!

So now, onto the article!  I received many ideas for an article from the friendly people of the twitters after my plea for help went out.  The venerable SpaceBard suggested I write a spin off of one of his articles in which he assigned classes to his favorite characters in the TV show, the Walking Dead.

I’ve decided to do the same, only with the TV show, Avatar: The Last Airbender!

Aang- As the title suggests, I can totally see Aang as a windwalker monk.  He’s a very much use his enemies weapons against them in a way that Windwalkers do.  Also, monk just fits because he is an air nomad.

Katara- Katara would probably be a cross between a frost mage and a resto shaman.  She can fight like a BA (hence frost mage… ha ha, you know where my loyalties lie), but also is concerned with healing and balance between people and the planet, like a shaman.

Sokka- This one is easy; I totally see Sokka as a warrior.  The way he fights, and the way he thinks are very warrior oriented

Toph Beifong- I have no freaking clue what Toph would be.  A tank of some sort, maybe?  Prot warrior?  Guardian druid?  She’s got such a layered personality.

Zuko- I can see Zuko as a cross between a Fire mage (because firebending) and a combat rogue because of his stint as the Blue Spirit.  His personality matches both too.

Azula- Demo warlock most likely.  Fiery and unstable, but cunning and controlled and all at the same time.  Actually, her insanity is mostly why (MAGES RULE!)

Iroh- Brewmaster monk.  Definitely.  Iroh is both deep and thoughtful, as well as free-spirited and jovial.  Plus, he loves food and tea, and is obsessed with balance.

So, what do you all think?  Do you think I have matched up the characters pretty well, or was I way off the mark?
Also, if you couldn’t tell, I’m kinda a cult Avatar: The Last Airbender fan.  If you haven’t seen the series, I strongly suggest you watch it!  Even Yotaan as an adult enjoyed it!

Why WoW when you can Hearthstone?

By the way, totally won this game

It’s confession time!

I have barely played WoW the past few weeks.  I’ve been cheating on WoW.  Yotaan has been thoroughly drawn into Hearthstone!

I have always been curious about those card games.  The Magic cards looked fascinating to me.  As you all know quite well, I’m the older partner of this writing duo and I fondly remember playing Advanced Dungeons and Dragons with my friends.  That was way before the card games came out, but when they did, I was already to busy with life to check them out.  But I was curious.  Skip forward to WoW times, and I got some of the WoW TCG cards in one of the collector edition expansion packages  Way cool!  Fussypants and I even bought some packs, mostly looking for the in-game items.  But I never tried playing with them…

Then along came the Hearthstone beta, and I somehow got in the second wave of invites.  I was hooked.  I have always enjoyed the PVP aspect of WoW and so playing against someone else was immediately appealing.  Additionally, it was new, not only to me, but to most folks and that made it fun to figure out new combinations and new ways to play.

Yotaan can hardly be called a Hearthstone expert.  I don’t have many legendaries or any giant epics (which sucks because I want to try Handlock.)  I’ve made it as far as 15 on the ladder, which is great considering I have spent just a few dollars total on the game.  I love my Shaman, Warlock, and Paladin, which is funny, cause that is pretty much the same as my WoW toons.

I know I’ll go back to WoW.  When 6.0 drops, I’ll play.  When Warlords opens, I’ll be totally sucked in.  But, in the meantime, I’ll play some Hearthstone and try to get all the cards.

This was completely written by Yotaan.

P.S. Can’t wait for Adventure mode!

New Character Models: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

With the exception of blood elf (and frankly, I care the least about her appearance), the new character models have been released for all of my main characters. Now that I have them all available for comparison, I’ve decided to evaluate each and every model based on what I think my character should look like.

Draenei
The Good
⦁    Whole body is smoother and more realistic
⦁    Hands look like real hands!
⦁    Face stays true to spirit of the original face, but makes it look better
⦁    Horns are way better defined
The  Bad
⦁    The eyes are now blue instead of white as before
⦁    The more realistic hair does not stay true to the original styling
⦁    Hooves are lighter shade than before
The Ugly
⦁    Do not like the new lip pucker thing.  There is a reason why I find the ‘duck face’ so annoying, and the draenei models shown seem to be stuck in perpetual duck face
The Verdict
Even with the drawbacks, I really like the new draenei models.  They look smoother, more elegant, and more alien.  My only pet peeve is the ‘more realistic’ hairstyles don’t match at all with the old ones, and the duck face phenomenon.  However, the face shown in the Art Craft article was not the one I use, so I am hoping that my draenei’s face will have less pronounced lips.  I am slightly worried about how the back bend will turn out (I’m all for it, as a goat-legged creature biologically would stand differently and have a different center of balance) and also how the different skin tones and hair colors will look.  I hope they keep the darkest skin tone (the one I use) as dark as it is, and the lightest hair color (also the one I use) as light as it is.  However, a final verdict cannot be reached until my own character gets the new model.

Night Elf
The Good
⦁    Gives off a strong Sentinel vibe that the old model was lacking
⦁    That stupid second eyebrow underneath the long one is GONE! HURRAH!
⦁    Face looks amazing and realistic
⦁    You see that hairstyle on the top middle?  That is SPECTACULAR
⦁    Hands look way more real
The Bad
⦁    Some anatomical issues with the placement of the belly button
⦁    Teeth are a little over defined
⦁    Not a huge fan of the uber dark lipstick
⦁    Thighs are utterly massive
The Ugly
⦁    While I do like the fangs, the ones proposed are entirely too large.  When I first saw that image, all I could think of was VAMPIRE, and that’s not what Night Elves are.
The Verdict
The Night Elf model is my favorite of the races shown thus far.  I think they really captured the essence of the kaldorei.  However, the fangs really turned me off.  I think the fangs should be shorter, and the teeth in general less defined.  This being said, I really love these models and am excited for what the hair will turn out like.  Like the draenei model, I cannot make a final judgement until I see my own character re-imagined.

Gnome
The Good
⦁    Look like gnomes, and not squashed down humans
⦁    Expressions on face are very gnome-like and expressive
⦁    Hair is much improved (excepting the hair style my gnome wears )
The Bad
⦁    Now are a little too cute looking
⦁    Not a fan of the rubber lips
⦁    Pupils on eyes should be black instead of the current dark brown
The Ugly
Oh my god, what is this?? Kill it with fire and quickly!!!
So, using the WoW Head profiler, I was able to see the new model of my gnome mage.  Unless this is just a stand in model (which I hope it is), this is the worse thing I have ever seen.  First of all, I specifically picked this face because it had turquoise eyes.  Not green, turquoise.  Secondly, I see the face I have as a neutral serious face, not as an old, happy, crazy lady.  This is the scariest and least successful new model.  Which is a real shame, because I was the most excited about how the gnomes were coming out.  Well, unless things change, I am either paying to recustomize, or to race change.

Overall, my favorite models were definitely the night elf and draenei ones.  I really love how realistic (but still Warcraft-styled) and elegant those two look.  On the other hand, I am far less excited about the gnome model.  The new gnomes are just a touch too cute, and a little creepy.  However, the game is still in alpha, so here’s to positivity, eh?

Dragonhawks Infestation

The reference photo

Many readers may have been wondering why our posting habits have become rather erratic over the past couple of weeks.  The reason for this being a dragonhawk infestation in real life.
At school Fussypants is taking an art class in school called Design and Sculpture.  And, the mother of all school sculpture projects is none other than papier-mâché.  So, Fussypants decided to make a dragonhawk from World of Warcraft for her project.  She researched online, found a reference, and sketched out what she was going to make.

The Concept Sketch (I’m ridiculously proud with how well this turned out!)

So, as you can see, Fussypants had set her self up for a massive challenge.  However, she was undaunted, and started to create the beast.  Fussypants had planned for it to be about a foot tall.  Needless to say, it did not turn out that small.

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The body, once papier-mâchéd, was about 3 1/2 to 4 feet long. It took about a week to construct the base, and two and a half weeks more to cover it in newspaper.  The time to complete the project in school had long run out (though Fussypants’s teacher was very kind, and allowed Fussypants for more time), and Fussypants brought the beast home.
There it sat, unpainted and unfinished for about two weeks before Fussypants’s mom guilted her into working on it again.  The two of them spray painted the beast, and Fussypants then painted on bronze accents.

Now, the real challenge had come.  How in the world was Fussypants going to attach wings to this monster?  She attempted several different methods, before putting the project aside for a bit more.  A few weeks later, Fussypants took another hack at it.
Using the power of physics, wires, and time, Fussypants crafted a wire framework.  She wrapped this around the body of the beast, and began to drape her fabrics!  The dragonhawk was coming together!
Another quick paint job later, and the beast was finally done!

So, this is Fussypants’s pride and glory!  A life-sized (although she didn’t mean it to be) sculpture of a dragonhawk!  It is also the LAST project of this magnitude she is attempting for a long while.  Enjoy!!

Random Acts of Uberness: Shield ‘n’ Heal

When the well-loved column, Random Acts of Uberness on WoW Insider had to be retired, I decided to pick up where it left off and continue writing the column on my own blog! So, as promised, here is this week’s uber people!

Sniggit-Khaz-goroth US
So I was healing on my undergeared, kinda unskilled, new disc priest in a raid finder the other day.  I was doing SoO for the first time, trying so very hard not to be at the bottom of the meter.  I wasn’t actually doing that bad for a 505 ilvl, but my numbers still left much to be desired.  We run through the raid, and it’s a typical Monday afternoon LFR.  Many almost wipes, lots of 420 jokes, and much rage.  We get to the last boss (Sha of Pride), and one of the tanks, Sniggit-Khaz-goroth asks me to come on his side of the boss so that we can free people from the cages on this side of the room.  I oblige, but warn him in a whisper about my rather dismal healing.  Sniggit tells me not to worry, and we pull.  The fight starts off rather smoothly, me mostly shielding him and Atonement healing, all while freeing people from the prisons.  And, I’m third on the healing meters, so I am feeling pretty good  about myself.  
Then, BOOM! half the raid drops like flies, with the other half knocked down almost dead.  Frantically, I’m spamming all my cooldowns, in an attempt to keep everyone up.  In all of this craziness, I lose the tank I was healing, and run over to heal the other tank still alive.  A bunch of mobs begin to chase me, and I begin running again in an attempt not to die.  The other tank dies, but the first tank, Sniggit, has been battle rezzed!  I quickly shield him and Penance him, and he takes the mobs off of me.  I’m in the middle of a hard cast big heal when he dies again. “Oh no!” I’m thinking, as I have let him die twice now.  Miraculously, the few remaining dps get the very last of the boss’s health down, and we kill him with barely five raid members left alive.
But here comes the best part.  That tank, Sniggit, the one I’d let die twice, he whispered me again.  Sniggit congratulated me on my healing, and told me that I was the reason why we were able to pull it off!  I thanked him profusely, and he went on to say that my quick shield and heal allowed the mobs to be yanked on to him for long enough that the dps could bring the boss down.  Again I thanked him, and we parted ways.  So this random acts of uberness goes to Sniggit of Khaz’goroth for his incredibly friendly and helpful remarks to a new healer!  He certainly boosted my confidence, and I’m no longer as skeptical of my heals as I was before!  Thanks buddy!! (Elfster-Windrunner US)

Email me your tales of uberness at thefussypants@hotmail.com.  Be sure to include the name and realm of the person(s) who were uber, as well as your own if you want to be credited. Hopefully, I will be able to post this every other Monday!  Until next time, be uber to each other!

Atone for Atonement

Ok, this is a pretty boss screenshot

So, I’ve gone and done it again!  I have fallen in love with another type of healing that will be invalidated come Warlords of Draenor.  This time though, it’s a different healing class.

It’s priests.

Discipline priests to be exact.  I decided to make the switch from holy to disc, and right away dove straight into healing LFRs.  I had some vague idea of spamming Smite, but other than that I was walking in blind.

I spent the first LFR frantically trying to switch between Atonement healing and normal healing.  Needless to say, I was a far last place in the healing meter, and was very disheartened.  But I rolled up my sleeves, and queued up for another.

This time, there was another disc priest in the raid, who obviously knew what they were doing.  I sent them a quick tell, asking how to disc priest properly.  They responded with “Spam Smite”.  I responded back, “lol”, but it turns out that they were serious.  This LFR, I tried to do as the other disc priest, and only spammed Smite, Penance, and Power Word: Solace.

And it made worlds of difference.  I was able to put out quite good dps (better than my similarly geared feral druid), and moved all the way up to second in healing.  When you just stick with one type of healing instead of attempting to juggle the two, disc’s numbers get much bigger and more consistent.

I have now been disc healing for about a week now (I know I am nowhere near pro at it) and I’ve really come to like it.  At my lower ilvl, I put out pretty good healing numbers, and a respectable amount of dps.

At low ilvls that is.  As I did more and more raids, I ran into a few heroic geared disc priests.  The heals they put out were formidable (but not crazy), but the damage, oh dang.  The few disc priests I healed with were eight or higher on the dps, pumping out above 100k. 100k.  That is crazy high.

And then there is the mana component.  I didn’t ever go oom- in fact, I didn’t even need to think about my mana at all!  The mana cost of my dps spell are so low that I could effectively spam them all day long.  And, these spells cost far less than the equivalent healing spells.  It was a win win situation, and probably too much of one.

So, I can see why Blizzard decided to nerf this ability. I wish they hadn’t nerfed it so hard, but I can totally see why they did so.  Atonement was far too powerful for its own good.  Even still, I will miss it.  Yes, it will become far less effective after the nerfs, and I expect than it’s popularity will decline.

Atonement appeals to me not because of the overpowered-ness (though that does help), but more the creative way of healing.  At this point, I have had experience with four different healing specs, and Atonement was one of the most unique.  I love the hybrid feeling of doing dps to heal (part of why I love Selfless Healer).  It requires a dps mindset,  mixed with a healers awareness, which is something I actually excel at.

And Atonement healing is fun.  There’s no other way to put it.  I love seeing those green numbers mixed in with the yellow ones.  I love that my Penance can heal anyone if I direct it at a mob, or do a big heal on a single ally.  I like the fact that I can be almost competitive with my dps, and that I don’t really have to worry too much about healing.  My dps will handle it.

So, it seems I’ve fallen in love with healing again.  I’ve been playing my healers far more than my dps classes, and am really enjoying it again.  My question to you is should I try Mistweaving or Restoration next?

A… Second? Legendary Update

So, umm, yeah.  I seem to have gotten a second legendary cloak.  Call me crazy, but I’m glad I did it.  I finally feel like I can flex raid sufficiently on this character now! As you can see, I got a little dressed up for this occasion this time.
With this recent acquisition, I have now completed my stretch goal.  No, actually, my stretch-stretch-stretch goal.  To be honest, I did not think I would ever get this thing.  Because of this, I now need a new goal to keep me occupied (I am a very goal oriented person, ok??).  After some deliberation and decision-making, I have decided to make it my goal to completely max out my main character.  Full exalted reputations, maxed out professions, the whole shi-bang.  Like my previous stretch goal, this one (hopefully) won’t happen for a long while.
On top of that, I have been given the opportunity to raid with some twitter celebrities (ok, not personally, but still!).  Unfortunately, they are a horde guild, so I need to get up my blood elf priest’s ilvl up fast.  At this point, she is at 503, but I’m aiming to get to 530 if possible.  I also need some advice from you, the readers!

1. What is the fastest way to get a dirt-poor, isolated alt’s ilvl up to 530?
2. Currently, I am holy specced, but should I go disc? Is it significantly better?
3. How can I gem/enchant said dirt-poor isolated alt properly??

As always, big thanks for the help!
Addendum:  What are you guys doing to keep yourself interest in WoW?