HAOW: 3.3 Affliction Warlock Raiding Spec

I'm going to call this series: How to Afflict Others with Warlockery.  In the next few days we shall cover such basics as speccing, glyphing, rotating, petting, and gearing.  Some of those may sound dirty, and they are, but not in the way you think.  This is simply my patch 3.3 update for Aff'locking in the World of Warcraft.  As usual, the best place to start is with the spec, so off we go on the HAOWay to Hell...

The Spec
The most recent simulations preformed over at the Elitist Jerks forums point to an Affliction Warlock spec being the top dog, raid wise (at a T9 gear level). The spec the use is noted at 55/0/16.  The spec I'm using is 56/0/15, a variation of the top spec.  I'm not exactly sure what, if anything, differs as I wasn't able to find a link on the simulation report, but I imagine it might involve pet buff talents.  I'll write more in-depth about pet choice in a subsequent article, and the short story is that I haven't decided yet, but want to use my Felhunter if it works out.   In a small way, this affects my talent choices, but all the big ones are there.

Here's a picture for those of you that might not be able to access the link (note: pic is prolly out of date as I've been playing around with a few points.  I try to keep the above link up to date with what I'm running though.  Also, this still gives you a good visual of the trees.):

The affliction tree is loaded with all sorts of goodies, and I'm not going to break down each individual talent as they all seem pretty self-explanatory to me.  Feel free to leave a question in comments if you have one, but most of them give very straight forward, percentage-based damage increases to our staple spells.  The base build is commonly referred to as the Haunt/Ruin build, naming the hallmark talents in each tree.  We put 55 well-placed points into the affliction tree to get Haunt and 15 points into the Destruction tree (mostly to buff our shadowbolts) in order to get Ruin.  Thus, there is one "extra" point that can be tweaked without losing the major talents.

Within the affliction tree, I think the only trade-offs you have to make are based on utility and personal play style.  For instance, when I was using my Succy mostly in raids, I specced out of Improved Felhunter.  Since I had to keep those points in the tree in order not to lose Haunt, I chose to take Improved Howl of Terror for an "oh shit" button. This really does nothing to help the raid and probably could have been better spent on a few other talents in there. 

In my last spec I'd also had a point in Dark Pact.  Before the life tap glyph was in existence, I used to make extensive use of dark pact since it didn't steal any health.  Now that I've grown used to life tapping and I sport the glyph, I don't ever find a use for dark pact.  As long as I'm smart about it, mana is never a problem.  Thus, I moved that point into Grim Reach, increasing my affliction spell range by 10%.  The downside to Grim Reach is that without the corresponding destruction talent, you're still going to have to be at the non-extended distance to shadowbolt spam. So that's where my one "bonus" point is going to go: Destructive Reach.  This talent has the added benefit of reducing threat caused by my SB.  I'm only taking one point in each since thats all I have left to play with.  This may or may not be useful in a fight where a lot of movement is required, depending on your playstyle, but I think I'll like the bit of extra range and threat help.

This left me with one point in the Affliction tree that had no home.  If I filled up Grim Reach, it wouldn't really gain me anything as I'd still have to be at the same range for to cast shadowbolts.  Thus, I put the point in Improved Felhunter.  It'll help for those times when the raid my need the pup buff, plus with all the recent buffing of the hunter, I may end up using this guy a lot more.

If you're not a fan of these last few talent choices, you could probably take the three points and invest them elsewhere.  I don't know really where else I'd put them to keep in the affliction tree and not lose Haunt.  I don't feel like push back is a problem, so I'm not going after the creepy hand talent.  Also, I wouldn't use the other curses, nor would I use improved fear.  Furthermore, I don't need an improved life tap because as long as I space them out properly, I don't have any problems with mana and feel like my current strategy keeps the buff up without needlessly draining extra life.  You may want to stick one of the points in an improved Imp or Succy if you plan to use those pets more and forgo the range.  It depends a bit on your personal pet choice.  I like to mix my Felhunter in from time to time, so the point won't be completely wasted.

I think that just about covers it.  Unlike a lot of other class trees, I feel like Affliction is pretty straightforward and preforms very well when you dump a lot of points into it.  There are very few tough choices in my opinion.  Really, a lot of it hinges on pet choice, and I need to do a lot more research before I make up my mind on that one.

So that's the raid spec I'm running with.  Questions? Comments?  I'd love to see what you think.

The 3.3 Plan Around Here

The plan is to update the Affliction Warlock stuff first. As such, I'm going to point all my links on the left to this article for the time being, and then link the new articles as I update them. At least for the warlock side of things, there are enough changes to warrant a complete rewrite. At the very least, I need to go through them with a fine-toothed comb and make sure they're still valid before I return the links to their normal condition.

So this is just a heads up: if you're looking for those links, they'll all point you here. If you're looking for the new 3.3 "how to" stuff, I'm working on it and, bit by bit, you should see them go up.  In fact, I'd look for my revised spec today, maybe even glyphs and rotation (rotation didn't change much).  Also, depending on how much time I get, I may throw up multiple posts in the next few days just to stay on top of the wave. 

For ease of reference, I'm going to transfer all the old links here so they're still easy to fine. However, realize that all of these are now officially out of date.

Old Links
Aff'lock 3.2 Raiding Spec
Aff'lock 3.2 Rotation/Glyphs
Aff'lock 3.2 Pet Choice Guide 
DK 3.2 Spec/Glyphs/Rotation (Tank)
DK 3.2 Spec/Rotation/Glyphs (DPS)

3.3 Paladin (Protection Emphasis) Changes

Paladins should be excited about this patch because... BLIZZARD IS LEAVING US THE HELL A LONE.

Well, for the most part that is.

From the General Class Notes:

*Taunt Diminishing Returns: We’ve revised the system for diminishing returns on Taunt so that creatures do not become immune to Taunt until after 5 Taunts have landed. The duration of the Taunt effect will be reduced by 35% instead of 50% for each taunt landed. In addition, most creatures in the world will not be affected by Taunt diminishing returns at all. Creatures will only have Taunt diminishing returns if they have been specifically flagged for that behavior based on the design of a given encounter. (There are only a handful of Boss fights where aggro drops are in play, I don't believe that this would really effect anything that tanks do normally. No worries here unless someone tells me otherwise)

Paladins

*Divine Intervention: This ability now also removes Exhaustion or Sated from a target if the recipient is out of combat when the effect ends. In addition, the cooldown on this ability has been reduced from 20 minutes to 10 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas. (Well, I enjoy that it's only 10 minutes down from 20 because I can use it to save myself from repairs ;) - buff)
*Flash of Light: This spell no longer causes a heal-over-time effect unless the player has the Infusion of Light talent. (Well, poo. I rather enjoyed this for Northrend Beasts because when I was in between fights, I could cast Sacred Shield on myself & one FoL to help with the excess damage I was taking from any debuffs that I might have. Stupid Holy Paladin's having all of the fun- Nerf for Ret & Prot)
*Lay on Hands: This ability will place Forbearance on the paladin if used on his or herself. It will not place Forbearance on others. (Total Nerf! This sucks for Protection Tanks. Forbearance can go to hell! Seriously, I'm sure that Blizzard has no Flippin clue on what spells they want to generate this Debuff and the duration of it. Get your shit together blizz, this is getting quite old.)

Talents

Holy (I'm not going into these because I don't heal but I'll keep them pasted here for those of you who care)

*Aura Mastery: This effect of this talent has been reduced in duration to 6 seconds.
*Infusion of Light: This talent now causes the paladin’s Flash of Light spells to heal the target for 50/100% of the Flash of Light healing amount over 12 seconds.

Protection

*Divine Guardian: This talent no longer increases the amount of damage transferred to the paladin from Divine Sacrifice. Instead it causes all raid and party members to take 10/20% reduced damage while Divine Sacrifice is active. In addition, the duration has been changed to 6 seconds, however the effect does not terminate when Divine Sacrifice is removed before its full duration. (Ok, I'm actually really excited about this change. This allows for Any Paladin to spec into it and create a 10/20% Raid wide shield wall. Who wouldn't love that? In my eyes this is a total buff for a MT Protection Paladin. I'm going to Spec into this & give it a whirl)
*Divine Sacrifice: Redesigned. The effect of Divine Sacrifice is now party-only and the maximum damage which can be transferred is now limited to 40% of the paladin’s health multiplied by the number of party members. In addition, the bug which allowed Divine Sacrifice to sometimes persist despite reaching its maximum damage has been fixed. Divine Sacrifice will now cancel as soon as its maximum damage value is exceeded in all cases. Finally, Damage which reduces the paladin’s health below 20% now cancels the effect early. (Very interested in this change. It is a nerf since it now only effects the paladin's party members but listen to this:

My Protection Paladin runs around 41,000 health. Let's say I'm in a group of 5 with healers & tanks. 40% of 41,000 health = 16,400. If I multiply that by the number of members (5) I'm able to absorb 82,000 health. That is ABSOLUTELY nothing to sneeze at! If I were to do this, I would be using my 50% Shield wall while tanking, we would cut that 82,000 incoming damage in half back to 41,000. 41,000 Damage is still quite a bit of damage to be taking aka ALL OF MY HEALTH POOL. I really like that there is a safety valve on this though that it cuts off if the paladin's health drops below 20% (roughly 8,200 health) very nice if you bite off more than you & your healers can chew. Again, we'll see how this pans out.)

Retribution (Again, I'm not going to talk about this because I don't ever really play ret but it's here for your reading pleasure)

*Repentance: This crowd control effect will no longer break early from the damage done by Righteous Vengeance.

Racial Abilities

*Every Man for Himself: Disconnecting while rooted will no longer sometimes trigger this ability. (Obviously this is for Humans only but I just had to put this in here because the wording is by far the most confusing thing I've read thus far. Just read the change out loud & have yourself a confused laugh. I think that it was a glitch when someone was disconnecting from the server while Rooted and when they got back into the game, the Ability was triggered? I think that's correct?)

Bug Fix

*Hand of Reckoning: Tooltip clarified to indicate taunt immune targets will not take damage from this ability. (This really makes me concerned because this is my back up for if my Avengers Shield misses & I need to get the boss on me & not eat the healer. I know that there are a few bosses that cannot be taunted so maybe I should start looking further into my Hit rating)

That's pretty much it for Paladin changes. There are tons of really neat little things in the game that have changed and added. Personally, I'm looking forward to the new Fishing Tournament in Northrend. If you are interested in the full patch notes, look at Ful's post where you can find the link or go to MMO-Champion)

<3 Fuu

3.3 Is Here! Notes at a Glance.

That's right. It's official. And thanks to Jess from Miss Medicina, I had a lovely copy of the official notes sitting in my inbox this morning. As usual, she is this warlock's personal savior. Especially when she decides to sing once we've got the fight firmly in the bag if only so she can see her nifty macro. "I would do anything for love" has sort of become a last 10% battle cry for us. /shrug. There are worse things.

As usual, I will pick out the ones pertinent to the classes I play here and try to get them out to you quick today before more discussion ensues in the coming days.

Of General Interest

• New five man dungeon, new raid
• Cross-realm LFG implemented
• Meeting stones no longer have a max level 
• Pets should be immune to tail-swipe now - Yay for no more flying felpup.
• AoE cap redesigned.  - it's a lot more mathy, but should be better for us.
• Pets get 100% of your resilience - great for PvP 'locks
• BG Dailies award arena points - This may get me back into PvP.  I never cared much for arena, but I guess this opens up the arena gear for me now.  I'd love to have it on my DK, just only really like BGs.
• The last wing of Naxx is now open at all times (don't have to clear the rest)
• Occulus got nerfed, millions rejoiced.
• Greatly improved quest tracking built in. - I may get rid of Questhelper now.  
• Weekly raid quests implemented.  - Woot.  I forsee doing these a lot to switch up the raid schedule.
• Upgradeable rings for ICC - I always liked this about Kara, glad to see it back.
• Faction enchants now BoA - I'm going to pick up some of the best ones for my DK now that I don't have to do the rep grind.
  

Death Knigget

• Army of the Dead: The cooldown on this ability has been reduced from 20 minutes to 10 minutes. Army Ghoul damage dropped by 50%. Cannot be used in Arenas.
• Raise Ally: The cooldown on this ability has been reduced from 15 minutes to 10 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas.
• Rune of the Stoneskin Gargoyle: There is now a 1-handed version of this rune in addition to the current 2-handed rune.
• Rune Strike: Threat generated by this ability increased by approximately 17%. 
• Glyph of Icy Touch: Instead of granting additional runic power, this glyph now causes Frost Fever to deal 20% additional damage.  (ooooh, I may have to switch to this)
  

Not too much for the DKs.  Important to us DK tanks is that last one.  It doesn't really change a rotation, but you should see a drastic increase in threat generation.  That's a buff.  The Army trade-off isn't bad either.  The damage decreased but the cooldown is also decrease.  Now, you can probably shoot to use this on each boss (except in a no-trash raid like ToC).  In my mind, this is a good thing.

The Warlockery

• Affliction
  

• Improved Drain Soul: This talent now reduces threat by 10%/20%, up from 5%/10%. (buff, yay)
  
• Improved Felhunter: This talent now also reduces the cooldown on the felhunter’s Shadow Bite ability by 2/4 seconds. (buff and see next)
  
• Shadow Mastery: This talent now also increases the damage done by the felhunter’s Shadow Bite ability by 3/6/9/12/15%. (Word on the street is that this effectively puts the felpup to the top of the affliction warlock's pet choice list.  I <3 my felpup and this change.  I'll have to spec back into IF though I believe.  More on that in the next few days.)
  

• Demonology

• Decimation: Redesigned. When Shadowbolt, Incinerate or Soul Fire hit a target that is at or below 35% health, the cast time of Soul Fire is reduced by 20/40% for 8 seconds. Soul Fires cast under the effect of Decimation cost no shards. (what was the old one, I think this is a buff)
  
• Demonic Pact: This talent now also increases the warlock's spell damage by 1/2/3/4/5%. (buff)
  
• Molten Core: Redesigned. This talent now increases the duration of Immolate by 3/6/9 seconds and provides a 4/8/12% chance to gain the Molten Core effect when Corruption deals damage. The Molten Core effect empowers the next 3 Incinerate or Soul Fire spells cast within 15 seconds (Incinerate: increases damage done by 6/12/18% and reduces cast time by 10/20/30%; Soul Fire: increases damage done by 6/12/18% and increases critical strike chance by 5/10/15%). Molten Core now has a new spell effect. (this may change some rotations, but a buff overall I think)
  

• Destruction

• Conflagrate: Redesigned. This talent now consumes an Immolate or Shadowflame effect on the enemy target to instantly deal damage equal to 9 seconds of Immolate or 8 seconds of Shadowflame, and causes additional damage over 3 seconds equal to 3 seconds of Immolate or 2 seconds of Shadowflame. In addition, the periodic damage of Conflagrate is capable of critically striking the afflicted target.
• Destructive Reach: This talent now reduces threat by 10%/20%, up from 5%/10%.
• Ruin: This talent now also increases the critical strike damage bonus of the imp’s Firebolt spell by 100%. (great for those times when you need an imp, or if you're destro to begin with) 
  

• Other

• Avoidance (passive): Now reduces the damage your pets take from area-of-effect damage by 90%, but no longer applies to area-of-effect damage caused by other players. (this makes sense and should be good for PvE play)
  
• Doomguard/Infernal: These pets now innately have Avoidance like all other warlock pets.
• Inferno: The cooldown on this summoning spell has been reduced from 20 minutes to 10 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas. (I need to get back into using this and the doomguard more... laziness has made me just run with the same pet)
  
• Shadow Bite: This pet ability now does 15% increased damage for each of the warlock’s damage-over-time effects on the target. (Go Go Gadget Felpup)
  
• Summon Imp: This ability is now available from the trainer for level 1 warlocks and no longer requires a quest to learn.
• Glyph of Life Tap: The effect of this glyph now has a chance of activating when Dark Pact is used.
• Glyph of Quick Decay: This glyph allows for the warlock’s haste to reduce the time between periodic damage effects of Corruption. (This may have just become a "must have" for an affliction lock.  Corruption is a huge staple and this should be awesome)
  

So, in short, I'm going to start using the Felpup right away.  He got some massive buffage in this patch and I'll look for the maths to support his being the best DPS choice for raiding affliction warlocks.  I'll also need to reanalyze my spec to make sure I'm taking advantage of all the Felhutner talents.  This is the major change to take from this patch.  Also, word on the street is also that affliction will be the new King of Raids.  Looks like I'll need to take a sojourn over to EJ this weekend to make sure the maths support the theorycrafting.  If anyone gets there before me, feel free to shoot me a link and make my life easier.

Enchanting

• Enchant Weapon - Black Magic: This enchantment now sometimes increases haste rating for the caster rather than inflicting the caster’s target with a damage-over-time effect. It is also now triggered by landing any harmful spell rather than inflicting damage with a spell. 
• Enchant Weapon - Unholy: This enchantment now inflicts Shadow damage in addition to its original effect.

Anyone know if the maths support these being any good?  I still think spellpower is the best option...
No tailoring changes that I see, nor anything particularly titillating for the miners and engineers of the world.  There are also several "bug fixes" for Warlocks and DKs, but nothing earth-shattering there either.  A lot of the stuff is how I would assume it would operate, and am now like: "oh, I guess that would be a bug."  

Sometime in the next few days I'll update my guides on the left.  I believe the pet choice is the main thing that will need change.  Rotation should stay the same for affliction.  Spec may change slightly.   Glyphs will probably change a slight bit.

I'm trying to badger Fuu into doing a glance of the Paladin stuff, and I'm sure Jess will do more than a glance of the Priestly endeavors.  That about covers our class interests.  For reference, the official notes can be found here.  This is an exciting patch and hopefully ICC is everything we'd hoped it would be.  I'm mostly ecstatic to finally get some love on the afflicted side of things. :-)

Cross-Genre Skill Ups

Lately, I've been playing a lot of massive multiplayer online first person shooters (MMOFPS, or specifically: Modern Warfare 2).  If you've ever seen The Guild, then you may know that there is definitely a difference between the MMOFPS player and the MMORPG (you should know this acronym by now) player.  Yet, as I've been playing, I've been wondering just how different those players really are.

In The Guild, Riley (the FPS player) and our red-headed heroine (Felicia Day aka Codex) are portrayed as having almost nothing in common (except maybe Zaboo, but this isn't a gossip blog, now is it?).  Personally, I've always been a fan of both styles of games.  Ever since grabbing three of your friends for a night of Goldeneye on the N64 became socially acceptable, and yes, even popular (dare I say it), the FPS genre has been a staple in my gaming diet.  In fact, I'd almost say I'm more social about FPS games than I am about RPG games.  I mean, FPS games are a blast to play with friends and often dull on the one-player side, whereas RPG games are usually quite stellar as a one-player but can lose some of the epic-ness as a multiplayer game.  Not that I don't love myself some MMORPGs, but the truth of it is that some of the story is lost in the process of making it an MMO.   And story, while pretty much optional in an FPS, is quite necessary in an RPG. 

In any case, my polygamerous (#iblamesyrana) nature led me to question the accuracy of the portrayal in The Guild.  Now, I love the show and so I have to point out that the relationship wouldn't be nearly as funny or entertaining without the extreme characterizations.  After all, that's sort of why we all watch it, right?  Not because we actually identify with any of the characters.  Oh no, never that.  We're all quite healthy and balanced individuals.

However, despite the publicized differences between the two gamer sub-types, I believe they actually have several things in common, especially when you look at PvP players within the RPG world.  I would even go so far as to say that there are skills that are transferable across the different genres.  Unlike the timid Codex, many of us are quite comfortable with a controller in our hands.  It may even be that controllers were your first introduction to gaming and the keyboard/mouse combination came later in your gaming life.  For me, I think they sort of came in at the same time: I played on battle.net just as much as I coerced gaming-newbs to let me ricochet grenades off three planar surfaces around a blind corner only to explode at their feet.  All while running around as the diminutive Oddjob (or the second moonraker person.  Not the first mind you, the second FFS), taking golden gun potshots at your waist-region.

So what are these transferable skills?  Let's take a look at my top-ten:

1. Situational Awareness - Topping the list, this is a highly sought after skill for any game type.  If you know what's going on around you, you're gonna live longer, and aren't all these games really about trying *not* to die? 
2. On-The-Fly Thinking - Or OTFT as I call it.  In a good FPS, you're required to adapt to changing situations and make the best of what's presented to you.  This is great for an RPG raider, even better for a PvP'er.
   
3. Snap Decision-making - This goes hand-in-hand with #2.  What do you do when there isn't a clear-cut "right" decision?  It's one thing to just be able to judge on the fly.  Here I'm talking about being given a 50-50 choice and having to choose one.  After all, as Rush says: If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.  Fail at this in an FPS and you're done for, with someone tea-bagging your dead body.  Fail at this as a raid leader and you may cause a wipe.  Fail at this as a PvP'er and you're getting "kek'ed".
4. Honed Reactions - Or practice-makes-perfect.  Any good FPS player can tell you how hard it is to switch FPS games.  Go from say Resistance 2 to MW 2 and you know what I'm talking about.  I pwn'ed ass on R2, but I can't freaking target people in MW 2 before I'm face down.  Targeting is ever so slightly different between games and when you pick up a new one, you realize you're going to have to train your fingers a bit before you can get back to doling out dirt naps.  I think a lot of RPG'ers really downplay the value of trained fingers.  If you have 2 and 3, but not trained fingers, you're going to be throwing your keyboard at a wall (or the infamous controller through the big screen).  
5. Learning The Maps - One of the earliest complaints you'll hear during a LAN party: "But you know this map!"  An excuse used to explain why you just got pwned by your little brother, there is some validity to it.  It won't restore your tea-soaked pride, but it will inspire you to learn the maps yourself.  Any good PvP player can pick out the newbs from this alone.  This is also the ability that will help you set up ambushes and net easy HKs.  It doesn't hurt in PvE either, as it can really help you plan your pulls or retreat to fight another day.
6. Teamwork Prospers - God I'd hate playing those clans with their snazzy [TAGS] and team headsets.  You'd kill one of 'em and have three more hunting you down.  Free-for-all is one thing, but if you can get a group of similarly skilled friends together, you'll roll roughshod over the general FPS populace.  FFA/PuG teams just don't know how to work together.  It's sort of like the despair you might feel when someone calls out "premade" five seconds into your favorite BG.  The bottom line here is that these games are designed for you to work as a team.  The sooner everyone figures this out, the better.
7. Death Defying - You learn real quick in an online FPS that dying is No Big Deal.  Sometimes you just have to run in, guns blazing, and kill three to your one.  After all, that's a small victory right?  Plus, maybe you're breaking up their Maginot Line for your team's blitzkrieg.  Sure you could flank it, but subtlety costs time and time is something you don't always have.  This doesn't translate well to PvE, but PvP could definitely demonstrate this one.  Sometimes you just have to be okay with dying. A lot.
   
8. Patience Under Pressure - It's easy to lose your head when you've just been knifed from behind twice in a row only to spawn looking a Harrier strike in the face.  It's easy to then not notice the convenient nearby doorway you could duck into and avoid the barrage.  It's easy to become a free kill for someone.  If you keep your head under pressure, however, you can greatly extend your life in any game. Clutch players aren't born, they've just seen a lot more action than you have.  Michael Jordan was special, sure, but without having experienced some tense situations early on in his career, he might not have become so great later.  You learn from having "been there".  You get confidence from facing challenges.  Success breeds success.
   
9. Game Format Familiarity - Capture the flag is capture the flag, no matter how you dress it up.  Maybe you're playing PvP, maybe you're in an FPS, maybe you're running through the neighborhood with paint guns and bandannas.   It's tough to play a game well if you don't know the rules.  However, if you've played any capture the flag before, you can probably wing it.  Same with other types of games, if you've seen 'em before, you're probably going to be a little better.  Not to mention being able to adapt strategies to different genres of the same game.
10. Language Insulation - I'm not sure if this last one is a skill.  Is "selective hearing" a skill? Is it an art form?  If you've ever thought Barrens or Trade chat was bad, get on any FPS and hook up your headset.  Not for the faint of heart.  WoW is like family programming when compared with MW2's Howard Stern wannabes.  Sometimes you just have to block it all out and play.  After all, someone can only insult your entire family so many ways before it just gets repetitive.  It's not like any of these folks are all that imaginative anyways.  What I wouldn't give to hear a new "your momma" joke...  At least I might get a good chuckle of that instead of twenty-seven-different-ways-to-say-the-F-word-so-I-can-prove-I-know-how.  

That's the top ten I can think of.  Got any other ones?  I think the main point to take away here is that no matter what game you're playing, there are always redeemable gaming skills.  Even in different genres.  FPS games may bring a host of different personalities than an RPG, but at the end of the day, good gamers are the ones that can bring the skills they've learned from the past to prevent the tea-baggings of the future.  Also, experiencing a variety of games could potentially help increase your WoW skill level.  Sometimes what you fail to learn in an MMORPG may be taught better in an MMOFPS.  

At least, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

The Light Is Loud

Fulguralis reaches up and cinches his cowl a bit tighter around his head to ward off a chill. Winter was settling over Azeroth, which in Icecrown meant business as usual. Thank the Light that dragons come with built-in heaters, thought the warlock.  Or maybe I should be thanking Alex. 

Lighter than one would think possible, the large reptilian beast beneath Fulguralis lands on the snowy ground between a row of canvas tents.  It's flared wings cause several of the Argent guards to scatter like scarabs.  The warlock pats the beast appreciably on the side of the neck.  It seemed to be picking up a few tricks from him along the way and that made Fulguralis proud.  If only he could have squashed one or twelve of them...  Who am I kidding, the warlock admits, I don't do thankful.

Fulguralis dismounts the dragon, pulling his robe down demurely to be sure it covers all the important places.  No one had seen his pants in ages, and he wasn't about to start showing them off now.  They were chosen for utility, not style.  In fact, as he thought about, he couldn't really recall which set he was wearing, so effectively had he blocked them from his mind.  That, and the constant chattering of minions tended to overshadow mundane things like what pants you had on.  Did he even have pants on?   Pulling on his belt, Fulguralis ascertains that he is, indeed, wearing pants.  One could never be too careful, especially around these Argent types.

Pants or no pants, he was going to get his promised audience with Tirion Fordring today.  He had a bone to pick with the old man. Fulguralis had been getting screamed at by the leader of the Argent Crusade every week for nigh on a month now.  There were a few things they needed to get straight if he was going to continue his work for the dodgy fellow.  Tirion, of course, was pleasantly surprised by his request for an audience and quick to grant it.  It's not like he apparently had anything better to do: parking his butt day in and day out on those wooden bleachers bellowing at folk and what have you.  He had evidently delegated the Iceclown Shitadel planning to one of his human minions.  Sorry, Icecrown Citadel.  And when they're human they're called underlings.  Got it.

Arthas.  That was the goal.  Sometimes the warlock found himself confused by all the pomp of this silly tournament.  If they really wanted to kill Arthas, they'd get twenty-five of the best warlocks, and sack the place over night.  That's fifty bodies, including minions, and minions are re-summonable.  There wouldn't be supply issues if they let the warlocks handle it.  But nooo, let's bring those Dalaran mages in on it, they're the smart ones.  Pffft.  Might as well go visit the Hunting Lodge while you're at it and bring those 'tards along. 

A tuft of smoke rises up and stings Fulguralis in the eyes, drawing attention to the fact that he had inadvertently set the hem of his cloak on fire.  Quickly, he stomps out the small blaze before repairing the vestment with a bit of magic and some spellthread.  Fordring is the focus today, not the mages and hunters.  The walrock sets his mind right as he approaches the door that leads to Tirion's war room on the tournament grounds.

The guards step aside, expecting the warlock as he enters and nods to the old man who rises from behind a large saronite desk in the center of the room.  Various devices of war lie scattered haphazardly around the room, along with colorful garments and impressive banners.  The area looks more like a glorified storeroom than a personal sanctuary. 

"Greetings Fulguralis!" Fordring booms.  "It is good to see you alive and well."

Wincing at the volume, Fulguralis says, "I'm right here you know, you don't have to shout."  Poor old fool must be losing his hearing.

"Apologies," Fordring continues at the same volume.  "What weighs on your heart, friend?"

"Well, it's these stupid champions of the Horde, Tirion," Fulguralis explains.  "Do you really think they're playing by the rules?  I mean, seriously, they send six guys to face our ten?  Then they resist or dispel every damn thing we throw at them.  I've fought the Horde before, these are not normal Horde!  They're probably being assisted by spellcasters in the stands.  You can't trust Grom!  He would do anything to give them the edge!  Why can't we just stick to the planned itinerary of beast?"

"There is no conspiracy at play here!  The walrock... er... Horde acted on their own volition!" Tirion yells.

Fulguralis shakes his head, "No, I didn't say they're being mind controlled.  I said they're juicing.  Or kungalooshing.  You know, taking special mage potions or yeti steriods or something.  I don't know.  Check them out.  Test them."

"But there is no conspiracy here!" Tirion maintains.

"Well how do you know?  Did you ask them?  Did you test them?"

"I'm Highlord Tirion Fordring! Soldier of the Light!  I would know if there was something foul afoot!"

"What if I told you the warlock council put ol' Willy up to it?"  Fulguralis suggests.

"Excuse me?  Are you trying to tell me that there is, in fact, a conspiracy here?"  Tirion questions, a bit of uncertainty creeping into his voice.

"Well I'm just saying you wouldn't really know now would you?" Fulguralis points out.  The warlock council would never confide in Fordring, so Fulguralis knows there is no risk in his bluff.  Wilfred had been the smelly kid in warlock class, there was no way the council would have sent him on a mission of any importance.  Hell, he had only been given the grandiose title "Grand Warlock" because of a high ranking cousin or something.  Or maybe it was sympathy for his destroyed home town.  Either way, that was probably why he'd been loaned out to the Argent folks in the first place, to get him out of our hair.  Fulguralis smiled smugly, "Have them tested is all I'm saying."

"I will do no such thing!" Fordring roars, red in the face.  "For as long as they are a part of this coalition, I shall trust them implicitly!  Darkness shall pale in the face of the Light!"

"What does that even mean?  And when they kill someone in a fit of some substance abusing mage-rage, don't say I didn't warn you," Fulguralis retorts, pointing a bony finger.

The two scowl at each other across the room.  Realizing he's not going to get anywhere with this Light-headed old man, Fulguralis swirls around and stalks out of the room.  What a douche, he thinks.  Mumbling to himself, the warlock imitates Fordring's deep voice, "The death of Wilfred Fizzlebang, while tragic, should yadda-yadda-yadda, I-like-the-sound-of-my-own-voice."  Who can say Fizzlebang once a day without giggling anyways?  Ha.  Fizzlebang.  Sounds like someone had too much to ale on a bad date.

Maybe if the guy didn't talk so much, we'd have killed Arthas by now.  And with Arthas dead, Tirion could become the undisputed talks-a-lot-without-action champion.  I hear that honor comes with a spiffy tabard.

An Open Invitation For Advice

So I've recently found myself in a situation, and I want the interwebs' advice on how to handle it. However, I don't want to make it completely RL-boring for you guys, so I'm going to try to describe the problem in WoW frame of reference. We'll see how this goes. (Thus, this is an actual RL situation, definitely not an in-game issue, but I think the parallels will be perfect).

Say for a moment that for the last three years, you've been involved with a moderately successful raid group.  This group is pretty hardcore, requiring some time nearly every night of the week.  You're not always raiding, but you have to do a lot of preparation, so a lot of time goes into that: learning strats, making sure you've got the materials you need, etc.  It's pretty stressful on you, your wife (a fellow gamer who is not part of the group, but is supportive), and your life in general, but you also really enjoy the nights you raid, and don't always mind the preparation so much.  Still, you almost never get an "off" day because if you don't do the little things, you don't get to attend the raids.  In other words, it's not like you can just take a night off to go to dinner with your wife, or to get stuff done around the house. There's always something you'd have to work around.

Now, this is not "just a game" to you, so that excuse won't work here.  It's not your job, it's not your family... it's a hobby, but it's a hobby that means something to you and is important.  It's a hobby you made a commitment to three years ago to be there and do this stuff.  You knew what you were getting into.

Also, this hobby really only effects three months of the year.  It's not perpetual.  Let's say, for our analogy, it's like a hardcore raid group that can clear all the content in three months.  So you come together for three months, work your butts off to clear the content, and then the rest of the year go your separate ways.  Some of you may still play the game on your own while others go play other games.  You can still PuG and stuff, but the group doesn't officially come back together until the same time next year, when you'll be put through the wringer again.

So for three months, it really dominates your life.  You still get your sleep, get to work on time, and you have an hour or two of leisure per night... it pretty much ties up 3 hours after work, every night, with the raid nights taking the whole evening (lets say two per week).  Also, you can't really travel during this time because you're playing on a PC (not a laptop), so you're really stuck at home or confined to short weekend day trips.

Finally, you're not the raid leader.  However, you are an individual class leader (this is a larger raid, 25-mans for the purpose of this analogy), so that's part of your investment.  You were selected to be a class leader for your expertise, and you can't really turn that down.  You can't just be a normal raider, those spots are filled.  They need you as a class leader.

Now, you're three years into this gig, having mostly proven yourself and earned the trust of both the regular raiders and your raid leader.  You're a valued member of the team.  Heck, next year they're even thinking about letting you raid lead one of the "just for gear" raids.  That's a pretty cool step up for you.

However, you're a bit burnt out (not on the game, but on your affiliation with this group and what it demands).  You never wanted this to become a job, and it's feeling more like a job with each passing year.  You still really care about the group and it's success as a whole.  What's more you really care about all of the raiders.  They're friends or fellow warriors.  You've gone to battle together.  You've been through some shit together.  These are people you don't lightly leave in the lurch.

You're not sure you want to do it again, and it's a lot of time for something you're unsure of.  You think it might be nice if they let you scale back your involvement a bit, yet still raid, but there is no guarantee they'll let you.  In fact, it would almost certainly leave them short-handed for leaders.

Soon, you are scheduled for a one-on-one meeting with the raid leader to discuss the future of the group (he has these meetings with each class lead).  What do you do?  Do you lay it all out there, knowing it might leave him short handed and he might get angry with you, questioning your dedication to the group (because some people view "stepping back" that way, especially other leaders)?  Do you suck it up and hope another leader steps up so you can graciously hand the reigns over to them?  Do you back out entirely because any hobby is not worth such consternation?

Personally, I think I'm just going to be honest with the leader and let the chips fall where they may.  I've always believed honesty is the best policy in raid groups and beyond.  Still, it's not always easy to be honest.  Especially when you care about the group and would be very upset to have your dedication questioned.  It's a group I really care about and don't want to abandon, but it's really hard to put in all the time too.  I mean, I really want to have my cake and eat it too here.  I want to be involved, but on my terms, as it fits my schedule.  However, life rarely works like that, does it?

So interwebs, I ask you, what's your advice?