— I don't think you'll find his plan much more palatable. My people professional, give them time and they won't fail you.
— What you do not understand is that I have no time. No plan that requires is palatable in any way.
— But while you are sitting on your sorry ass declaring that everyone wants time and there is none, I can do something! You are losing that time you don't have. Doing anything is more palatable than doing nothing. Know the difference between palatable fruit and palatable scheme? There is none. As time goes, fruit rots and scheme becomes less and less attractive. The infuriating thing is, fruit rots even if you didn't harvest it. And ideas don't stay palatable while you're banging your head against the wall trying to come up with them.
///
— Your food should be palatable to you, not to some bulemic crazy dietitian. It should not be poison, and your body will tell you the rest.
— Yeah, I think the most revolting thing about food is when someone's pushing it down your throat. If a dietitian says “something's palatable” to me, I'm gonna be sick with as much as a thought of “something”.
Communication piece
Communication in a raid is vital. It can use the eyes, or it can use the ears. It's very easy to decide that eyes < ears in terms of raid.
- Ears don't require typing and reading. Everybody keep their eyes on what's important.
- Speaking is faster than typing, so more information can flow in the same period of time.
But! Shifting perspective.
- Everybody keep their eyes on what's important — if there's something they are needed to be specifically told about, they are not, obviously.
- More information in the same period of time equals, yes, yes, you guessed it: SPAM.
So what do we have here.
If someone needs to speak, it is most likely a warning before a mistake. If someone's screaming for Innervate, then someone else failed watching raid frames. If one tank has to tell the other one to taunt the boss off, then other tank failed to set focus target with debuffs and set up raid-warning addon (that's failing twice).
While backing each other up is all nice and good, when almost every mistake there is to be made has to be voiced, it's too forgiving. People think that meddling with UI isn't worthwhile, they'll hear everything there is to know. UI became clogged long ago, but now there isn't an incentive to do anything about it. Four Horsemen of Apocalypse ride among the heaps of virtual corpses and bones, because once your raid leader made you install TeamSpeak.
Voice communication can help to turn those without hope into a decent raid, but it cannot turn a decent raid into top-progress monsters. It's almost like crutches: if you have trouble standing, they'll help, but if you are a professional runner, they can bring more trouble than good.
WoWless diet
After spending so much time in WoW just trying to make a game for myself it's such a relief to play something completely off-beat and polished.
I'm so very bad at quests. So hopelessly and entirely bad, I don't even try to play the game, I google a walkthrough and lean back to enjoy the melodies. Afterall, music soothes even the savage beast. I mean, Monkey Island.
Sound work in that game is amazing. As a self-proclaimed audiophile I just lose myself in all the sound — music, environment, dialogue, it is so beautiful that I can't help giggling even when Guybrush for the 50th time says “Nice!” or “Niiice.” looking at a door or through a window.
iMUSE system that changes background tune a little bit when Guybrush is walking about different places in the same location is absolutely brilliant. I mean, that is what soundtrack is for — to accentuate background changes, not to steal attention, or worse, be thrown away by brain that is busy with the game to which annoying soundtrack obviously has no connection.
As for the rest of the game, it's great. I'm bad at quests, I warned you. It's just pretty pictures dancing along breathtaking sounds :)
I returned to my Jess Shepard, who was brave enough to struggle through the first Mass Effect so that I could import her into the second. To spice things up I even installed Overlord and Hammerhead.
Mass Effect is a good blockbuster overall, it is directed incredibly well and its action is just what I can digest — moderately paced and with just a pinch of tactics.
There isn't much role-playing, especially if you decided how to play from the very start — it's top-left for Paragons, it's low-left for Renegades (almost a memory song). But if you're trying to do something different for one goddamned time and play a hero who is quick to anger, but generally helpful and warm kind. I literally spend minutes and minutes about a decision.
And there's no reward for that! If I'm gaining paragon and renegade points at the same time I'm not gonna be able to resolve most plot conflicts (Jack vs. Miranda, for example). Of course, pushovers seldom get what they want, but maybe just a videogame in which pushovers save the world elegantly? Come on, american schoolboys have dozens.
Monkey Island 2 Special Edition: LeChuck's Revenge
I'm so very bad at quests. So hopelessly and entirely bad, I don't even try to play the game, I google a walkthrough and lean back to enjoy the melodies. Afterall, music soothes even the savage beast. I mean, Monkey Island.
Sound work in that game is amazing. As a self-proclaimed audiophile I just lose myself in all the sound — music, environment, dialogue, it is so beautiful that I can't help giggling even when Guybrush for the 50th time says “Nice!” or “Niiice.” looking at a door or through a window.
iMUSE system that changes background tune a little bit when Guybrush is walking about different places in the same location is absolutely brilliant. I mean, that is what soundtrack is for — to accentuate background changes, not to steal attention, or worse, be thrown away by brain that is busy with the game to which annoying soundtrack obviously has no connection.
As for the rest of the game, it's great. I'm bad at quests, I warned you. It's just pretty pictures dancing along breathtaking sounds :)
Mass Effect 2
I returned to my Jess Shepard, who was brave enough to struggle through the first Mass Effect so that I could import her into the second. To spice things up I even installed Overlord and Hammerhead.
Mass Effect is a good blockbuster overall, it is directed incredibly well and its action is just what I can digest — moderately paced and with just a pinch of tactics.
There isn't much role-playing, especially if you decided how to play from the very start — it's top-left for Paragons, it's low-left for Renegades (almost a memory song). But if you're trying to do something different for one goddamned time and play a hero who is quick to anger, but generally helpful and warm kind. I literally spend minutes and minutes about a decision.
And there's no reward for that! If I'm gaining paragon and renegade points at the same time I'm not gonna be able to resolve most plot conflicts (Jack vs. Miranda, for example). Of course, pushovers seldom get what they want, but maybe just a videogame in which pushovers save the world elegantly? Come on, american schoolboys have dozens.
Juicy details
Well hello there nice BoA cloaks and hats! If only I had another character slot to dress someone up in all this.
If GC doesn't give me another slot or two, I will delete someone. Losing professions and achievements is sad, but I'm not paying 15€ to free some space. First two nominees are the hunter and the priest. None of them got really far in Wrath, just level cap. Their professions are tailor/herbalist/skinner/leatherworker, of which only leatherworking is not backed up on some other toon.
On the bright side — innate hunters' battleground awesomeness isn't going anywhere anytime soon, and shadow priests look very promising with all their shadows (in Wrath there was a pretty texture, but nothing frigthening or horror-striking).
///
Guilds as a concept are starting to look more and more promising. People whine about things you don't get without a guild, it means these things are a real treat. Not that I was not convinced earlier, but something named Dark Phoenix is rad even if it's one of those useless tiny pets. Which it is not.
And guild leveling is leveling taken on a whole new level, if you are not averted by this terrible pun. I'm gonna be the most fierce contributor! Me! Me!
///
I stopped caring about beta mechanics and abilities completely. Give me the release — I'll be bitching about their clumsiness and underpoweredness and counter-intuitiveness as much as the next guy. Until then I leave you beta fanboys to your buggy wet dreams. Honestly, you work 6 months in an outsourcing QA company and you lose any taste for unfinished software for the rest of your life. If Blizzard wants to cheat, feeding raw cataclysmic meat to anyone willing to be test subject, it's their decision. I like my meat as I like my coffee — hot and steaming. You're welcome to get entangled in my metaphors, by the way.
If GC doesn't give me another slot or two, I will delete someone. Losing professions and achievements is sad, but I'm not paying 15€ to free some space. First two nominees are the hunter and the priest. None of them got really far in Wrath, just level cap. Their professions are tailor/herbalist/skinner/leatherworker, of which only leatherworking is not backed up on some other toon.
On the bright side — innate hunters' battleground awesomeness isn't going anywhere anytime soon, and shadow priests look very promising with all their shadows (in Wrath there was a pretty texture, but nothing frigthening or horror-striking).
///
Guilds as a concept are starting to look more and more promising. People whine about things you don't get without a guild, it means these things are a real treat. Not that I was not convinced earlier, but something named Dark Phoenix is rad even if it's one of those useless tiny pets. Which it is not.
And guild leveling is leveling taken on a whole new level, if you are not averted by this terrible pun. I'm gonna be the most fierce contributor! Me! Me!
///
I stopped caring about beta mechanics and abilities completely. Give me the release — I'll be bitching about their clumsiness and underpoweredness and counter-intuitiveness as much as the next guy. Until then I leave you beta fanboys to your buggy wet dreams. Honestly, you work 6 months in an outsourcing QA company and you lose any taste for unfinished software for the rest of your life. If Blizzard wants to cheat, feeding raw cataclysmic meat to anyone willing to be test subject, it's their decision. I like my meat as I like my coffee — hot and steaming. You're welcome to get entangled in my metaphors, by the way.
Woooo!
My bony warlock made his way through dungeon set upgrade.
There was grief — especially when he and felpuppy had to melee their way to the woman-that-drops-shoulders. And when the Headmaster of Scholomance chose not to drop our precious mask for 20 times in a row.
There was luck — when my pocket alchemist was able to create Flask of Supreme Power or when General Drakkisath dropped our precious chest on the third time (my other rogue was grinding her sharp blood elf teeth, having slain freaking general a hundred times without a drop).
There was challenge — the same Drakkisath managed to kill me twice, each of them when I didn't bother to clean room's corners and pulled a pack with my squishy tush. And the last battle, Lord Val'thalak! Once in this whole quest chain I was on my toes and actually was glad I read strategy beforehand. And still died due to GUI-design- (and a little bit of a brain-) failure on my part.
But now I'll log off in a full D2 set and with my awesome staff from Stratholme. Gandling was not willing to drop his Charge, but he dropped the mask, I can't be mad with him.
There was grief — especially when he and felpuppy had to melee their way to the woman-that-drops-shoulders. And when the Headmaster of Scholomance chose not to drop our precious mask for 20 times in a row.
There was luck — when my pocket alchemist was able to create Flask of Supreme Power or when General Drakkisath dropped our precious chest on the third time (my other rogue was grinding her sharp blood elf teeth, having slain freaking general a hundred times without a drop).
There was challenge — the same Drakkisath managed to kill me twice, each of them when I didn't bother to clean room's corners and pulled a pack with my squishy tush. And the last battle, Lord Val'thalak! Once in this whole quest chain I was on my toes and actually was glad I read strategy beforehand. And still died due to GUI-design- (and a little bit of a brain-) failure on my part.
But now I'll log off in a full D2 set and with my awesome staff from Stratholme. Gandling was not willing to drop his Charge, but he dropped the mask, I can't be mad with him.
Halion, the PuG destroyer
Normal Halion certainly is not a worthy foe even for a semi-raiding guild. But.
Three mechanics:
In that order.
Three mechanics:
- move out of the fire;
- dispel-leaving-a-puddle;
- ray of death (essentially, Heigan dance).
In that order.
- Move out of the fire. There's a mark on the floor so nobody should be hit with the meteor itself, and there are arrows on that mark showing direction in which fire will spread.
- Dispel at the right time. Tunnel-visioned healer sees different color in his Grid, automatically clicks it, bam! there's a puddle on the floor. And pray that it is a puddle of fire, not remains of some unfortunate melee.
- If you're a melee, tank should be dragging Halion around so nor him neither you should even come close to the Cutter. If you're ranged, look! Ideally, you should be right behind the orb when the Cutter activates. That way you can reapply DoTs, HoTs, buffs and debuffs before you absolutely have to move.
Okay, if you stay really close to the orb ahead of you, you don't have to move in normal mode. But come on, we all know we want heroic. Two rays of death for a price of one, only in Ruby Sanctum.
They say that in heroic-25 each meteor spawns adds and, more importantly, zones that appear on the ground affect both realms — so dispelling everything on sight is much more worse than in normal. I've yet to read or see something on 10 heroic.
There you go, paladins!
So in recent Twitter chat Blizzard somewhat revealed their concept for the brand new paladin resource. Yeah, because I told them so ;P
Q. What is the goal when re-designing the paladin class? How do you plan to change rotations, talents, etc?Paladins, rejoice!
A. All of the paladin specializations will make use of a new resource called Holy Power. Holy Power accumulates from using Crusader Strike, Holy Shock, and some other talents. Holy Power can be consumed to augment a variety of abilities, including:
We also introduced several new heals for Holy Paladins including Healing Hands (an AoE heal-over-time that is applied to all players standing near the paladin), Light of Dawn (a cone heal with a 30-yard range), as well as a new heal called Divine Light, which is similar to a priest's Greater Heal, and the new instant heal mentioned above, Word of Glory.
- An instant mana-free heal: Word of Glory
- A buff to increase holy damage done: Inquisition
- A massive physical melee attack for Retribution paladins: Templar’s Verdict
- Holy Shield’s duration is now extended by Holy Power
- Divine Storm’s damage is now increased by Holy Power
Cataclysm Analytics, revisited
I wrote that there is almost nothing to discuss at this point because vast majority of new beta features relies greatly on numbers. Numbers that may and will be tweaked. But there are also mechanics — Tree of Life cooldown, Balance/Nature moonkin craziness and so on. I choose you, 31-points talent trees.
Masteries are a great way to cut out this “you hit X% harder” bullshit. Talent points should be spent on something I like, not on some offer I can't refuse. Of course, I like getting 10% damage by clicking on a button, but that is so far from the point, its cell phone goes roaming.
The point is in bringing up skill. DPS should depend on skill first, on talents second. Talents for +damage don't really help reaching that goal. How do we concentrate on skill? We tie abilities to each other, we suggest synergies. Player herself is ought to use these synergies. If she doesn't, her damage is going up slowly, as her abilies scale and mastery effects grow. If she does, her damage jumps, as masteries and abilities are multiplied by skill.
***
Double specs (warlock 0/41/30, we'll miss ya), occasional downranking (bye-bye, double Flamestrike!) — this is all cheating the system. System got better, so cheating is off the table, and now you don't like it?.. Okay, I love double Flamestrike as any of you, but I hear double Flamestrike << Cataclysm. Get over it.
Masteries are a great way to cut out this “you hit X% harder” bullshit. Talent points should be spent on something I like, not on some offer I can't refuse. Of course, I like getting 10% damage by clicking on a button, but that is so far from the point, its cell phone goes roaming.
The point is in bringing up skill. DPS should depend on skill first, on talents second. Talents for +damage don't really help reaching that goal. How do we concentrate on skill? We tie abilities to each other, we suggest synergies. Player herself is ought to use these synergies. If she doesn't, her damage is going up slowly, as her abilies scale and mastery effects grow. If she does, her damage jumps, as masteries and abilities are multiplied by skill.
***
Double specs (warlock 0/41/30, we'll miss ya), occasional downranking (bye-bye, double Flamestrike!) — this is all cheating the system. System got better, so cheating is off the table, and now you don't like it?.. Okay, I love double Flamestrike as any of you, but I hear double Flamestrike << Cataclysm. Get over it.
Cataclysm Analytics
The thing is, there is nothing to analyze.
- Yay, new abilities! Abilities that can be made overpowered and useless by a single digit.
- Yay, new no-rubbish talents! That are nowhere near done.
- Yay, new dungeons! That noone knows how will work with the new talents and abilities.
- Yay, UI improvements! ...yay again!
At the present stage all you can do about Cataclysm, strictly speaking, is be excited. Which I am. But that is not the most entertaining conversational subject.
I leave beta-theorizing to those who really enjoy metagames or, you know, those who get paid for this kind of thing. When 4.0 drops, I'll be all over their theories. Until then — sorry, I've got some quests for Loremaster to do.
Cataclysm has already crippled my wrapping WotLK up. Now it just have to not spoil itself several months before launch. I don't really care about horrific lore revealings, I just don't like chewing on what new things might or might not be until I lose my freakin' taste for these new things.
Mana mana
I'm confident now that my favourite class (rogue, duh) is my favourite because of its resource system. Energy and combo-points are the greatest synergy known to MMO. Similarly, classes I dislike are using mana.
And the worst of them are not mages or warlocks. The worst of them are hunters and retribution paladins.
Damage-dealing gameplay in WoW is a game of resources. You usually have to hold balance: rogue fears energy-cap as much as she doesn't like sitting at 5 CP, warrior wants to hit things, but he has to consider his rage generation, death knight has to hold 4 different resources in his head. Mages and warlocks are tied to time as a resource — all spells require timing, whether to cast them in time or recast them appropriately.
Retridins were facerollers in PvE from the start of WotLK. Infamous FCFS rotation holds its ground. Why? Because there are no resources retridins use. They have global cooldown and a bunch of local cooldowns. Gee, how can this be no fun! It's like you get railroad train for Christmas, but you can only put passengers in and pull them out, because train goes all by itself stopping at the station for a few moments.
Hunters are trickier, but the problem is identical. There is almost nothing to consider besides the GCD and abilities' cooldowns. “Omigod, Serpent Sting fell off! Oh well, here we go, reapplied it.” End of story. It's much less boring in PvP, but if nobody's heading your way — same thing. “Burst, you say? Let me see what's not on CD and fire it.” It reminds me about a certain PvE rotation. Oh, retridins, right.
***
So what do we have here. Hunters will get focus instead of stupid mana in Cataclysm. Paladins will get stupid mana instead of stupid mana. Paladins? If noone invents something absolutely brilliant, you're screwed. Enhancement shamans may have something for ya, but although I didn't get myself to play one, I doubt there is something besides wolfs.
RealID buzz
I don't really care.
No, I don't want to show my real name to anybody interested. No, I don't give a crap about the official forum. I almost never use friends-list. RealID can be turned off only through parental control, which is ridiculous and too demanding. Blizzard does what they gotta do, and I play all the way on the other side. If they screw up, well, Guild Wars 2 is upon us, that Star Wars thingie is upon us.
I am emotionally invested in my characters, I have hopes and dreams for them, bright future lying ahead... but these investments are rather diversified as I have ~20 toons already. Eventually I found out that my best experience was during leveling, each character being a campaign of a single RPG with occasional company. So these 20 toons are like 20 saves in Dragon Age. Do I care about them? Yes. Do I feel like deleting them would be end of the world? No. I grasped the “casual” — it's not that you play less, because hardcore raider may play less, but you play however you like.
Hardcore means setting up rules over rules over rules, and the one who wins while not breaking the most rules is the king. Casual means playing by some rules that are most convenient or most enjoyable or most unusual, but casual will never stack many obstacles just for their number.
Unfortunately, Cataclysm is going to meet the casual and nourish it. So Blizzard really should not push that RealID thing, because I want to see how this meeting goes.
No, I don't want to show my real name to anybody interested. No, I don't give a crap about the official forum. I almost never use friends-list. RealID can be turned off only through parental control, which is ridiculous and too demanding. Blizzard does what they gotta do, and I play all the way on the other side. If they screw up, well, Guild Wars 2 is upon us, that Star Wars thingie is upon us.
I am emotionally invested in my characters, I have hopes and dreams for them, bright future lying ahead... but these investments are rather diversified as I have ~20 toons already. Eventually I found out that my best experience was during leveling, each character being a campaign of a single RPG with occasional company. So these 20 toons are like 20 saves in Dragon Age. Do I care about them? Yes. Do I feel like deleting them would be end of the world? No. I grasped the “casual” — it's not that you play less, because hardcore raider may play less, but you play however you like.
Hardcore means setting up rules over rules over rules, and the one who wins while not breaking the most rules is the king. Casual means playing by some rules that are most convenient or most enjoyable or most unusual, but casual will never stack many obstacles just for their number.
Unfortunately, Cataclysm is going to meet the casual and nourish it. So Blizzard really should not push that RealID thing, because I want to see how this meeting goes.
MW2
Modern Warfare 2 is one enormous exaggeration. What exactly ripped ISS apart when that nuke went off? Power of imagination, that's what. And Soap, pulling knife from his chest and throwing it straight into Shepard's eye! I mean, what the hell.
Other than that single-player campaign sometimes gets plain messy, especially for a guy who isn't so fond about shooters (like me). There was a mission where you have to wait for files to be copied while defending the computer from the enemy. I went through last checkpoint of that task like 10 times in a row — enemy is everywhere, grenades, my bad aim... In first Modern Warfare there were few such places, in the second — madness. Yes, kinda like «Sparta!», because allies are few and in Brazil mission I realised that they are really not respawning.
But as with any other shooter these days there's a huge online-play-with-strangers thing attached. And that thing is madness too.
For the first 4 levels they allow playing only in Team Mode where wins the team with the best killers. Ah, being dumb meat... how can I ever forget that feeling. It gets better, though, and despite my shooter-unawareness WoW melee skills can be applied and my acute reflexes are playing — I often finish matches with the most knife kills. I've yet to see more kills than deaths on the final sheet (I was a Juggernaught once — I just have yet to look at stupid sheet when that happens).
In WoW you engage other players in 36 yards maximum, them being clearly visible for at least several seconds. In MW2 you can kill whoever you see however you please. “He never saw it coming” is about almost every death in the game. Not saying anything about aircraft.
To sum up my first impression.
Other than that single-player campaign sometimes gets plain messy, especially for a guy who isn't so fond about shooters (like me). There was a mission where you have to wait for files to be copied while defending the computer from the enemy. I went through last checkpoint of that task like 10 times in a row — enemy is everywhere, grenades, my bad aim... In first Modern Warfare there were few such places, in the second — madness. Yes, kinda like «Sparta!», because allies are few and in Brazil mission I realised that they are really not respawning.
But as with any other shooter these days there's a huge online-play-with-strangers thing attached. And that thing is madness too.
For the first 4 levels they allow playing only in Team Mode where wins the team with the best killers. Ah, being dumb meat... how can I ever forget that feeling. It gets better, though, and despite my shooter-unawareness WoW melee skills can be applied and my acute reflexes are playing — I often finish matches with the most knife kills. I've yet to see more kills than deaths on the final sheet (I was a Juggernaught once — I just have yet to look at stupid sheet when that happens).
In WoW you engage other players in 36 yards maximum, them being clearly visible for at least several seconds. In MW2 you can kill whoever you see however you please. “He never saw it coming” is about almost every death in the game. Not saying anything about aircraft.
To sum up my first impression.
- Aircraft is overpowered.
- Maps are way too complicated for a shooter. My experience with MMO-shooters being Counter-Strike and Battlefield Heroes. Too many threats, too easy to die.
- Read strategy guide, really. Save yourself a couple hours of figuring out.
- I suck at this. Well, except for knife-stabbing part. «Boy, I just love to stab», paraphrasing famous sitcom.
Versus
I stepped on Darkshore. Boy, do these elves have psychological problems. I did not pass my history lessons often enough not to know about their fault in everything falling-apartedness, but come on already. To live that long you have to forget about things, not to drag them along for thousands of years. If our Tinker was that nervous, he would kill himself the next day Gnomeregan was irradiated.
There are elves, who seem to stop caring about the past and turn their attention to the present. Silverwing forces in Ashenvale were formed to keep Horde from cutting trees. They tend to speak about ancient powers and nature calls and fauna suffering, blah-di-blah. Forest is fortress for kaldorei, orcs are slowly turning their fortress into planks and logs. It's obvious, as obvious is the need to strike back. It's a war.
I heard, that you can earn quite a lot, fighting for the gulch which controls southern orc camp. Not money, but experience- and gear-wise. So I decided to lend them a gnomish hand.
It was exhausting. There is not that much space in the gulch, more than 10 people is too many — because if the enemy can hold off 10 people in this trench, thay can hold off a small army. But 10 soldiers (escpecially “soldiers” like me) cannot hold the entire base without being everywhere — which means running and running and running around. I was taught to run fast, but not for half hour, dammit. And my stealth quite often let me down, but Subtlety training is not what I can handle right now. It requires steady hand and agility which I lack. So down with Combat for now.
By the end of the day we took and lost the lumbermill four times, my wounds were screaming with pain and head was dizzy from paladins' hammers. Maybe another week.
There are elves, who seem to stop caring about the past and turn their attention to the present. Silverwing forces in Ashenvale were formed to keep Horde from cutting trees. They tend to speak about ancient powers and nature calls and fauna suffering, blah-di-blah. Forest is fortress for kaldorei, orcs are slowly turning their fortress into planks and logs. It's obvious, as obvious is the need to strike back. It's a war.
I heard, that you can earn quite a lot, fighting for the gulch which controls southern orc camp. Not money, but experience- and gear-wise. So I decided to lend them a gnomish hand.
It was exhausting. There is not that much space in the gulch, more than 10 people is too many — because if the enemy can hold off 10 people in this trench, thay can hold off a small army. But 10 soldiers (escpecially “soldiers” like me) cannot hold the entire base without being everywhere — which means running and running and running around. I was taught to run fast, but not for half hour, dammit. And my stealth quite often let me down, but Subtlety training is not what I can handle right now. It requires steady hand and agility which I lack. So down with Combat for now.
By the end of the day we took and lost the lumbermill four times, my wounds were screaming with pain and head was dizzy from paladins' hammers. Maybe another week.
Not bad
I admit, going to Anvilmar I was ready for quite a bit of pig-grazing and floor-sweeping. I can't do anything besides some basic mechanic things that go “boom” and waving wooden sword frantically. But as I always knew, the less you expect the better you feel afterwards.
There were not almost any training per se, but people in charge saw that I'm not a baby who can't stand her ground. I told them about my... distrust for purely intellectual exercises, so they got me a job that has thicken my muscles and steadied my hands. Daggers I hold are no more valuable by itself but rather are instruments like my spanner or pick.
I slashed wolfs, I eviscerated boars and troggs, I stroke until my body ached. But I am no clumsy pretty gnome any more. I hold my balance, I see weaknesses in my opponents, I have got tools to exploit these weaknesses. Far from perfect, of course — I need strength to put in my strikes, I need fair constitution to hold longer against my enemy, I need expertise to hit more reliably. I need to use «I» less.
Anyway, in that time, like 2 months, I outgrew boar-hunting. I'm sent to Lock Modan now where troggs and cobolds are much more a threat than trolls of Dun Morogh who just need a major kick in the nuts besides occasional rogue thining out their ranks.
Cya.
There were not almost any training per se, but people in charge saw that I'm not a baby who can't stand her ground. I told them about my... distrust for purely intellectual exercises, so they got me a job that has thicken my muscles and steadied my hands. Daggers I hold are no more valuable by itself but rather are instruments like my spanner or pick.
I slashed wolfs, I eviscerated boars and troggs, I stroke until my body ached. But I am no clumsy pretty gnome any more. I hold my balance, I see weaknesses in my opponents, I have got tools to exploit these weaknesses. Far from perfect, of course — I need strength to put in my strikes, I need fair constitution to hold longer against my enemy, I need expertise to hit more reliably. I need to use «I» less.
Anyway, in that time, like 2 months, I outgrew boar-hunting. I'm sent to Lock Modan now where troggs and cobolds are much more a threat than trolls of Dun Morogh who just need a major kick in the nuts besides occasional rogue thining out their ranks.
Cya.
Big cold world
My mother is a mage, my father is a mage, my brother became a warlock, so naturally I chose the path of the rogue. I mean, obviously, right.
Pa and Ma were a little bepuzzled by this. They thought, okay, so she likes wooden swords more, books less, but it's just childhood. Gnome, slashing throats open — not exactly everyday occurence. But what can I say. I am pretty special.
***
Jokes aside, I did not dig into magic that deep. I mean yes, it works wonders if you can handle it, but I found no particular pleasure in such handling. Things need to be more real than some arcane or elemental powers. Things like bombs and swords and tanks. They are not going to vanish the second I forget about them. They work as they should until breaking for some reasonable reason.
What I did dig in, was art of subtlety. At about 20 years old I saw myself as a swift predator in gnome form, hiding in the shadows of our house, waiting patiently for prey and striking fiercely, but silently.
First thing which I learnt to hunt down like this were pies. I remember putting a whole blueberry pie under my dress on Ma's one-hundredth birthday. Invisible warrior strikes again! And eats the pie all by herself.
Then there were books and stuff from Pa's cabinet. Things I hated to be lectured about seemed quite amusing in my very own hole by the lake in the Forlorn Cavern. But alas, not more than just amusing.
Taking book from a library and pie from a kitchen sound ironic by itself, I know, but I was twenty years old. However, it only went down from there.
On my fortieth, when I already felt like a Real Grownup, I wanted to seize something magnificent, something absolutely gorgeous and adorable. A sword, maybe.
I moved as a grey ghost among treasures of the Commons, gravely realizing that even the smallest sword would not fit under my clothes even if I came wearing a blanket. I immediately settled for a dagger and casually put my elbow on one especially shiny while my oh-so-experienced fingers ran along the blade of another one. Sigh a little louder than needed, «maybe some other time» look in my eyes and gracious departure. With the dagger's guard piercing between my ribs.
Well, I certainly did not see any beginner's luck there. Pa got a little mad, when I was brought to him being “a little mischievous”, as the dwarf merchant said. Pa insisted on buying the dagger, and after dwarf merchant was gone he asked what I did this for. I said I wanted to test my skills. He doubted that such skills would be of much use if I planned on staying part of the family. I said, great.
I didn't exactly slam the door. When Ma understood that I was really going to leave and not be home for dinner, she started offering help and “acquaintances”. Several understandings later I left for Anvilmar where recruits like me, useless in battle, were of some use. Pa gave me one more dagger to wield heroically and some gold not to die starving, but being the proud lass that I am I refused money.
For Gnomeregan! I guess.
Pa and Ma were a little bepuzzled by this. They thought, okay, so she likes wooden swords more, books less, but it's just childhood. Gnome, slashing throats open — not exactly everyday occurence. But what can I say. I am pretty special.
***
Jokes aside, I did not dig into magic that deep. I mean yes, it works wonders if you can handle it, but I found no particular pleasure in such handling. Things need to be more real than some arcane or elemental powers. Things like bombs and swords and tanks. They are not going to vanish the second I forget about them. They work as they should until breaking for some reasonable reason.
What I did dig in, was art of subtlety. At about 20 years old I saw myself as a swift predator in gnome form, hiding in the shadows of our house, waiting patiently for prey and striking fiercely, but silently.
First thing which I learnt to hunt down like this were pies. I remember putting a whole blueberry pie under my dress on Ma's one-hundredth birthday. Invisible warrior strikes again! And eats the pie all by herself.
Then there were books and stuff from Pa's cabinet. Things I hated to be lectured about seemed quite amusing in my very own hole by the lake in the Forlorn Cavern. But alas, not more than just amusing.
Taking book from a library and pie from a kitchen sound ironic by itself, I know, but I was twenty years old. However, it only went down from there.
On my fortieth, when I already felt like a Real Grownup, I wanted to seize something magnificent, something absolutely gorgeous and adorable. A sword, maybe.
I moved as a grey ghost among treasures of the Commons, gravely realizing that even the smallest sword would not fit under my clothes even if I came wearing a blanket. I immediately settled for a dagger and casually put my elbow on one especially shiny while my oh-so-experienced fingers ran along the blade of another one. Sigh a little louder than needed, «maybe some other time» look in my eyes and gracious departure. With the dagger's guard piercing between my ribs.
Well, I certainly did not see any beginner's luck there. Pa got a little mad, when I was brought to him being “a little mischievous”, as the dwarf merchant said. Pa insisted on buying the dagger, and after dwarf merchant was gone he asked what I did this for. I said I wanted to test my skills. He doubted that such skills would be of much use if I planned on staying part of the family. I said, great.
I didn't exactly slam the door. When Ma understood that I was really going to leave and not be home for dinner, she started offering help and “acquaintances”. Several understandings later I left for Anvilmar where recruits like me, useless in battle, were of some use. Pa gave me one more dagger to wield heroically and some gold not to die starving, but being the proud lass that I am I refused money.
For Gnomeregan! I guess.
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