Today’s blog is more about wow in general than it is about my night last night. We ran Kara as we usually do, and even downed The Maiden in 1 min 32 seconds, which is the fastest I have ever seen her go down. Adazar and Calanas got some great upgrades, with more to follow tonight.

The game world, however a game is much like the real world. In the real world, you pay people like me to sit here and answer the telephone when you have a problem with your Television/Computer/Telephone. You might say hey Knurd, I pay the cable company not you. This is untrue. The Cable Company pays me with the money you pay them therefore in the end; you pay me to do this job.

The in game world is not that much different. A few weeks back I saw a guy, (I use guy because it was a guy toon), was asking in trade chat over and over again to buy 3 Primal Mights. Now I am an Alchemist so I sent him a whisper stating that I would transmute one for him if he provided mats. He got the mats and gave them to me, and in return I gave him his Primal Might. First he complained that I was not a transmute specialist therefore it would not proc. Let’s examine this situation for a second. You give me the mats for 1 Primal Might, and I return 1 Primal Might to you, I have done what you asked no matter what procs. I will come back to that later. My transmute, as is everyone’s, is on a 24 hour cool down. Which means that if I do something for you, I can’t do anything for myself during that time. I don’t mind doing it as this is not something that I use everyday. What I expect in return is to be paid for my time and abilities. This is partially my fault because I didn’t discuss payment from the start, instead expected the person to do the right thing and tip me for my time. As far as the proc goes … If I choose to give that to you; that is up to me as the deal was 1 for 1. If you tip me something, anything I will happily give you the proc as you have done me a favor in gold, (don’t care if it’s one gold, it’s the thought), and so now I will do you one. I had this happen again this morning when someone wanted a transmute of Primal Shadow to Water. I whispered them and asked how much they were paying, and they replied, "Why should they have to pay for it, it doesn't cost you anything?" I charged him 15 gold for something I normally do for tip because of his reply. So basically it cost him an extra 14 gold just because he didn’t think he should have to pay for something like that.

Running in groups with others:

If you are a multirole class, ie Pally, druid, priest, basically anything but a true DPS class which is a one trick pony, ie my Hunter, you are spec’d one way because that is the way that you choose to be spec’d. If you find a group that needs say a tank, and you are spec’d healer, and you choose to respec that’s great. Don’t be confused though, you probably respec’d because you wanted to run that instance, not because the group needed you specifically. There a lots of toons, and lots of tanks, some are just better than others. The group, myself especially, appreciates what you have done, and even the gold that you spent on the respec, but that doesn’t mean that you get special privileges. Also, if you do this stating that you want gear for your other spec, that’s great too. Don’t see anything wrong with that as long as it is stated before the run. Once you are in there, stating that you are now rolling on your current spec as a tank, and any gear for your normal spec, that is just wrong. The rest of the group only has the ability to roll on one type of gear, and so do you. It’s just rude to try and do it any other way. If no one can use said piece of gear, than take it. At least it will be put to use rather than sharded. I would much prefer that ... but attempting to deny someone in the party an upgrade so you can have a piece of gear for the rare occasion when you are in your current spec?

This also extends to hunters. Feign Death is probably the greatest ability a Hunter has. It's origional intended use was to drop the agro that we as hunters build up very quickly. A secondary use is to save your repair bill when the party wipes. A good hunter will always be near the bottom of the agro list because they use their FD ability to continually wipe the agro slate every 30 seconds. This means that they generally die along with the group because our FD is on cooldown. Saving your FD on the other hand until the party wipe, (or using it when it appears that there might be a party wipe and taking advantage of the 5 min timer where you appear dead while everyone else keeps fighting until wipe), is just wrong. Many Hunters wonder where the term Huntard came from? I just told you. That is one of the spots … sure, save your skin if you’re the last one alive, but until both tanks are dead, and there is no hope, FD and laying there to save your repair bill while everyone else just dies is wrong.

The conclusion here is if you ask for services, no matter what they are, gear or otherwise, don’t get upset when someone else asks for limitations on those services, or asks to be paid for their time and abilities. You would expect this both on your toon, and in real life, so extend that curtosity to everyone else. Give some thought to the others that you are playing with, it’s a group sport, and should be treated as such. We down the bosses together, therefore we fight to the end together.

I am going to close with a quote from Book XIII of the “Iliad:"

"His skin turns green, can not stop shaking, moves to and from, his knees buckle beneath him, his heart misses a bit and his teeth grind.” The good warrior, to the contrary, remains impassive both of body and spirit, "looking forward to fight hand-to-hand against the enemy, like if it was a love date.”