Might tell you ’bout the fun we had w/ the nephew if I get a chance, because he was fun, but regardless, I hope you had a great day today!

Another one that was annoying, was the one that got into the group and 5 seconds later said “Tank’s not geared enough. Bye”. So being defense capped and geared well enough for Ulduar isn’t good enough for a heroic anymore, eh? Oh well, we moved on at a pretty quick clip anyway with the new healer, so I’m glad the stupid healer wasted their dungeon timer CD. I’d be willing to bet we would have gone slower with them healing anyway!

But in short, these things keep happening. I guess it’s just the natural rotation of what we need most and what people gravitate to without learning the necessary skills. I mean, I play a healer, tank & 2 dps. But I spent the time learning how to play them so I do it decently or better. Or more importantly, I’m nice. I say hello. I say thank you. And if someone says “mana”, I wait for them, not run off like mad. And if I’m a healer and feel like the group could go faster because I’m barely dipping below 98% mana… I help DPS. I don’t sit there and yell “go faster, go faster, go faster” every fight. Even when the pally tank and all dps are out of mana… Yeah. Quite simply – “Xanther says Play Nice!” And I can’t wait for Cata so our friends all come back & play w/ us, lol.

Anyway, how to find it? Run in circles in EPL. How to find it in a decent amount of time?

1. Get an addon such as Cartographer which allows you to use waypoints.
2. Create 5 macros and insert the text below. I recommend labeling them One, Two, Three, Four and Five.
3. Fly to EPL, specifically Light’s Hope Chapel.
4. Mount up and punch all 5 of the macros, in order from 1 through 5.
5. Follow the arrows. When you come upon a blood, open it, kill the 1-2 leets that spawn
6. Continue following the arrows. Clean, rinse, repeat.

Expect to pick up roughly 4 in a run, and expect a full run to take somewhere in the neighborhood of 30-45 minutes. The macros below I have put the waypoints in what I’ve found to be as efficient as possible, and it hits all the spawn points. It’s pretty darn accurate too, so if you get to the waypoint and nothing is there, then just go to the next one. You don’t have to look in a 30′ circle or anything – it’d be right there. Oh, and as an fyi, when you get to the western edge (and the arrow says you have something like 2500′ to go to the next waypoint), just continue up that path, and go through the tunnel. The waypoint is pointing to the next spot, but it’s through the mountains. So go through the tunnel, and then follow the arrow. When you’ve hit all the waypoints, you’ll end up right back at Light’s Hope Chapel. If you have time, punch the macros & do it again. And if you try it, and appreciate the work I’ve done in writing out the waypoints, in order, and grouping them in the right length for macros… Then post a comment that says thank you. It will let me know there’s actually a reason to do posts like this, lol. So anyway, here they are:

ONE
/way 72.8 51.7
/way 70.2 49.6
/way 70.6 45.1
/way 68.3 45.5
/way 60.9 47.5
/way 48.8 45.2
/way 45.8 40.1
/way 43.1 35.6
/way 44.6 30.4
/way 40.6 28.2
/way 34.7 22.2
/way 34.5 26.5
/way 34.9 31.0
/way 32.7 32.8
/way 29.8 27.8
/way 30.6 21.5
/way 4.3 45.2

TWO
/way 11.1 58.7
/way 16.7 55.0
/way 17.1 60.6
/way 23.7 58.0
/way 27.1 59.5
/way 23.1 63.3
/way 22.8 63.9
/way 18.1 67.5
/way 23.3 69.0
/way 23.6 68.9
/way 25.5 72.1
/way 18.7 78.1
/way 20.8 81.2
/way 25.1 78.9
/way 30.2 73.6
/way 37.3 73.0
/way 43.6 73.2

THREE
/way 42.1 68.3
/way 41.9 64.2
/way 38.1 69.1
/way 37.3 73.0
/way 30.2 73.6
/way 30.7 70.2
/way 31.6 66.8
/way 32.8 64.5
/way 30.4 61.6
/way 33.1 59.6
/way 37.2 59.7
/way 41.9 57.9
/way 44.4 61.0
/way 50.7 52.9
/way 51.5 57.6
/way 53.6 58.9
/way 54.5 56.2

FOUR
/way 58.6 61.3
/way 55.1 61.4
/way 56.6 63.8
/way 52.7 65.6
/way 54.6 69.5
/way 52.9 69.5
/way 51.8 69.8
/way 52.3 75.0
/way 53.6 72.7
/way 54.5 74.0
/way 59.7 74.3
/way 63.3 71.7
/way 63.5 73.9
/way 63.7 76.7
/way 65.2 74.2
/way 68.0 75.5
/way 68.5 76.8

FIVE
/way 70.6 71.7
/way 68.2 70.2
/way 66.9 71.7
/way 65.8 68.8
/way 63.0 67.9
/way 63.0 64.1
/way 62.5 60.8
/way 65.3 63.1
/way 67.8 63.7
/way 71.1 66.0
/way 73.0 61.2
/way 73.3 57.5
/way 74.7 53.8

So anyway, going to be here still through the end of October, but I have a lot to wrap up and hand off. Our “Super-Bowl” is in early OCT and I can’t really leave a number of the people before then. At least, not without making lots of extra work for my friends and coworkers. Plus it gives us time to pack and get ready to move since we’re also going halfway across the country. But considering I’m going from “Assistant Director” with about 45 direct reports that aren’t considered direct reports when it comes to title or pay, and going to be a Regional Manager for a group of companies in various states where I can actually be a manager? And be paid an appropriate salary? And be able to use my MBA? Yeah, pretty much a no-brainer. Plus we’ll be close to Lady X’s fam which will be nice. Of course, there are a few mixed feelings there… Closer to the in-laws could be… interesting. Except we actually get along with them, so I think it’ll be good. But anyway, here’s the cool part:

Yeup. Like 15 within 15 minutes of where we’ll be moving. And the nearest movie theater will be 45 minutes closer than it is here. Same with most things like Lowe’s and more! Granted, we’ll miss lots of things like foliage season, but it’ll be nice for a spell. Right now I’m just looking forward to getting away from the craziness going on in my office, moving somewhere fresh, moving up in the world, and opening doors for our future. And a decent ISP. Man it’ll be nice to have faster & more reliable internet…

So in case you haven’t noticed, I’ve been a little afk. The above hopefully explains why. As well as why I’ll be a bit afk for the next few months as we prepare to move, move, get settled, and about that time Cataclysm should be out!

Here’s to great things happening, and to a bright looking future!

Been working on some alts, now up to 78, so she’s been on her DK and me on my mage. Originally, her lvl 80 warrior was going to tank, but frankly she just had a lot more fun just running in and hitting things on a cute little warrior gnome. But since we’ve been leveling up another set of alts, she’s been tanking whenever we had a bunch of dungeon quests. And she’s been doing well!

Until the last month or two, I hadn’t really used the LFG for regular dungeons, let alone the ones at the right level while leveling. I’ve noticed you mostly run into two types of people. The impatient or the ignorant. Essentially, you see the person who is used to lvl 80 heroic runs and wants to push the group faster and faster and faster. Nevermind that it’s physically impossible to go any faster because their DPS isn’t quite what they think it is. Or, you run into the person who is on their main. Congrats to them for figuring out how the LFG works! But I usually end up offering helpful tips, like which way to go…

So the one person is trying to make everyone go faster, the other is making the group slow, and I’m in the middle, going “chill” to both, lol. The poor healer is trying just to keep everyone alive, forget keeping them topped off. Especially when you have 3 DPS and they are: 1 is trying to tank, 2 is doing their job, and 3 is hitting random mobs. And the poor tank is frantically trying to keep the mobs on themselves when it’s all just a Charlie Foxtrot.

So anyway, Lady X used to help Raid Lead by organizing the raid. She preferred helping by scheduling and getting the group together rather than running the show on day-of; didn’t want to deal with which direction to go first, which pull, who is assigned to what, etc. So I think it’s cool she stepped over that barrier! But I also don’t blame her for being wary of trying to tank. If there’s a wipe, everyone blames someone, and the tank is an easy target. Whether or not it’s their fault. I guess it’s a tough balancing act on Bliz’ part of trying to make tanking easy enough to deal with idiots, but still hard enough to make it a challenge and be fun.

But anyway, I figure I should help her practice when we’re just questing… I pull lots of extra mobs, AoE, and make her save me! Hehehe… Ok, well, I guess I’m not that bad. I do pull an extra mob sometimes, or just go in and AoE blast stuff. But I have Ice Block if I screw up. And I only pull as much as I think she can handle. And it’s a good thing I’m on a mage instead of my hunter, because then I could play some real nasty games! Hehehehe… Ok, thinking about getting some flowers or something on the way home from work today because our couch is comfy, but not that comfy…… Lol. ‘Sides, I’m not too woried. The next pair we’re leveling is my DK and her mage. So I have no doubt she’ll do the same, if not worse, to me soon.

So anyway, I post this for 3 reasons. First, because lately we haven’t been playing WoW too much, and when we do play its mostly leveling which means nothing really new, so I have little content. And since I have content, it gets posted. Second, to compliment my wife because I know she’ll read this (/hug!). Third, and the real reason, lol, is to brag.

Now, these tips will probably help other tanks too, but I figure I just have to share as a reminder that yes, Hunters can DPS. Yes, Hunters can Heal (well, ok, never done a raid as a healer, but we can at least tank-heal things where our pet is tanking! lol). And yes, Hunters can Tank. HUNTERS FTW! Haha.

Ok, now the actual details, before someone thinks I mean that a hunter can run up and Mele Tank the Lich King. So I was actually in a good PuG. Run with these guys before, and this time happened to be on 10-man. Actually, we started one night, wiped on Rot a couple times, called it a night, and scheduled to go back in and try again later. So we did. Part of the problem was that neither of our tanks had ever succeeded in off-tanking Rot. So those of us who had seen it done were offering pointers, and no one really minded wiping because they were learning. They were listening and learning (such a different dynamic than the other day!). So we tried a number of times. Then we decided to change it up and I’d try tanking. Well, kite-tanking. And on our first try, we got down to the dreaded 0% wipe. Yes, Rot had less than 60k health left when the last person died. ZOMG! So then next try we had a healer DC, then another random prob, and then we successfully downed him. Yay us! Hunter tank FTW!

Soooooo onto the how. It’s actually pretty simple, and very reminiscent of Nax. Basically, it’s a combination of Distracting Shot, Disengage, Frost Trap, and strafing. So basically, the tank in plate armor keeps Rot’s attention in a simple Tank & Spank. The tank in mail armor starts off as DPS. As the fight goes on, Rot will create a small ooze. Whoever gets it runs out near (NOT ON TOP OF) the Hunter. When the next person gets a small ooze on them, they run out and merge it with the other one. They create a Large Ooze. At this point, the Hunter uses DS to get the Large Ooze on him/her. They then just kite it around the outer edge of the room. AotW will help mitigate the dmg of the green circles of death on the floor, but avoid them when possible to help the healer. Remember though – healers can heal you through the green circle of death. They can’t heal you if the Large Ooze hits you. Quite simply, the Large Ooze will kill you if it catches up. This is also why you need to have it merge near, not on top of, you. In one of our pulls, it merged almost directly on top of me, so when he went after me he killed me dead real quick. Where as sometimes when kiting, I had to run through the green goo. My health got low and I had to pop a health pot, but I lived. So word of advice – avoid the green goo of death on the floor, but avoid the large ooze more.

That’s really all there is to it. When I had the opportunity, I threw some extra DPS on Rot, but mostly just kited the ooze. Eventually it breaks apart, and periodically a new one will spawn. So don’t stand near Rot when it breaks up, and if a new one appears, grab it. If the ooze is getting too close, use Disengage to get away. Drop Frost traps to slow it down (well, I don’t know if it actually does, but it makes you feel better at least, lol). And that’s basically it.

So for that first wipe we had when I was tanking, it was all just bad coincidence. Somehow, our ooze just broke up, but then 2 new ones spawned at the same time that green goo came out. So I was standing in an area that was clear, saw an ooze pop up and grabbed its agro. Of course, that was the same time the goo appeared underneath me, and the other ooze appeared on the opposite side of the one I had. So it cut through the group as I tried to side-step in order to get a clear shot at the other one, and the heals just had no chance to keep up on either the group or I. So once I went down the 2 oozies went amuck and decimated the group. Still not really sure how we had the 2 pop up so close together, but seriously – less than 60k health! And no, 2 large oozies is not the end of the world. On our successful attempt, at one point the second ooze came up. Everyone’s initial reaction over vent was “Oh no, we’re gonna wipe” basically. Then those comments were followed by “Oh, nevermind, he’s got both of them!” because I quickly and calmly picked up the second one and kited it as well. The first one soon after broke up and I was back to kiting just one. No biggie, lol.

So anyway, I hope that helps people tanking on Rot. It’s not that it’s really hard to do, you just have to nail 2 things. 1 – land the taunt. 2 – don’t get hit. And that goes for whomever is tanking the oozies, whether Hunter or other. And no, you cannot taunt the little oozies. Don’t even waste the GCD on them. Just wait until it combines with another and forms a large ooze. Then taunt the large one. And all the while? Let your pet stack some nice deeps on Rot! Might as well give him as much damage as he’s giving out, right? Hunter tank ftw – we tank and dps at the same time! Lol.

So if Bliz realized that they needed to protect the identity of their staff, then there’s still time for them to realize that they should also respect (and protect) the privacy of their customers.

But here’s the second reason. I don’t have to post in the forums. In fact, I rarely do. And if Bliz went and made it retroactive…? I’d delete my old posts. I don’t have to post, so I don’t have to worry about my name appearing on there.

So why would I delete my posts and refrain from posting anything new? Because in the WoW world, I go there as Xanther (or my various character names associated with this identity). I don’t go there with my real name out in front. There are just too many things that could go wrong / be a pain, by directly, publicly associating my WoW identity with my RL one on the web. No, it’s not because I go around doing things I wouldn’t want other people to know about me (like flaming or trolling forums, creating a bad name for myself, or any number of things). I try to be more of the “do unto others…” type of person. But it’s just because I choose to keep the two separate. When someone searches for my real name, I want the things that come up to come up (well, not everything, but at least it’s all associated with me in RL). I don’t want WoW to be on the top of the list.

I mean, I’d be fine if I had to post under the same name every time, and was able to use a screen name (aka Xanther). Or if you had to get the character you’re posting under to a certain level (so people don’t just create level 1′s and troll the forums), or any number of other things. But I don’t think it should automatically, and without option, be associated to your real name. Regardless, it’s my choice to post or not under that real name, and I choose not to. So there’s still a choice. Of course, it’s all subject to change anyway. Who knows, maybe this will mean Bliz finally goes away from using our email addresses as usernames and will let us get back to using a username to login… For security reasons alone they should make that step! But anyway. It’s still subject to change. And if we really don’t like it? We can just stop giving them our money. Either way, at this point… I have no Real(ID) Worries.