I Found My Rhythm

Apparently whining and complaining does actually get me somewhere. A couple days ago I wrote a terrible blog post whining about my miserable DPS. I spouted terrible things about how awful a player I was and generally was annoying. And it apparently worked.

I had just logged on and started Sons of Hodir dailies when Jeff asked if I wanted to do a heroic. I've been wanting to get some instances in before the big patch, when warlocks will change beyond recognition and I will have to relearn to play. He mentioned Utgarde Pinnacle which has been my old nemesis. I just haven't been able to get through the gauntlet. He threw the offer out and we had a group in seconds. The plan was to do UP and UK. The first two bosses in UP went quick. None of us had ever had either with either Svala or Gortak. Then we got to the gauntlet. First attempt was too quick and we were smothered by the constant mobs. The second one was slow but the last ones did us in. The third attempt proved just as frustrating. Then one of our shamans offered to bring in his feral druid. The current tank, a warrior, took the boss after we knocked him off his high horse (ummm dragon) and the druid took the last couple adds. Down without trouble and we even got the achievement.

The last boss went down quick and easy but it was already 11. We decided to just to a quick Violet Hold run. And it proved to be quick. No deaths, no wipes, just constant activity. All the drops were plate but we had a good time and our warrior cleaned up. After the run I did some enchanting for our warrior and Jeff took the time to pull up the WoW Web Stats reports. This is traditionally my least favorite thing. I always come up at 800 or so. He asked me to guess what I thought I had gotten and I said 920. When he said over 1200 I thought he was lying. But no. I did over 1200 for the whole fight and over 1400 for the bosses. Woohoo!!! I had a couple bosses where I was over 1700 and two where I topped 2000. It was amazing.

Here's what I learned. I had been watching my casting bar. It seemed to take forever to get through a spell and I was waiting on that to hit the next one. Jeff got me started looking at my cooldown bars. I had tried it outside of instances and had been happy with how fast I could cast my next spell. So last night I focused on the cooldowns and that worked. I was able to go from 75% dps time to 98-100%. I topped the damage meters on most of the fights. I was tired but happy. But this morning I'm just so excited. I finally found my rhythm. It just took my focusing on the right thing...and possibly a little whining.

I Can Quit Anytime I Like

This phrase gets bandied around my house a lot lately, sometimes by Jeff and lately sometimes by me. And it seems so appropriate for this post. I've always been a moderation person so these past couple of weeks have been odd. Then again there are worse things to be addicted to.

First I have to say that I am humbled and awed by the fact that people read this thing. I do it mostly for fun, mostly for an excuse to write, and mostly because I'm forgetful. This is a great way to remember things. But it is a little off putting when you have just finished bringing down the second boss in Utgarde Pinnacle (Gortok Palehoof) and you are still dealing with some sort of curse. I was bright green and dropping health at an alarming rate. (squishies don't do well with curses) So I'm wondering where my heals are coming from when my guild leader, who happens to be the healer, mentions that sorry he was reading my blog and got distracted. My first thought is "Really!! Yay". The fact that my guild leader reads my blog is exciting. The second thought I had was "hello, still dying". So after I was decursed and healed I whispered him with a "thanks for reading". He said he enjoyed the blog but wanted more WoW stuff. So Nereeza, this is for you! :-)

I can quit anytime I like! Really I'm not addicted. I just don't want to. And no I haven't gone into withdrawl, or dreamt about WoW. No I have never told my husband to hurry his shopping up (at Target no less) so I can get home and play. No I haven't spent an entire weekend in front of the computer only leaving it for breakfast each morning. No I have never spent more time playing WoW in one day then I have working. No I've never eaten dinner in front of the computer. (And if you believe all this I have some very nice oceanfront property in New Mexico to sell you.)

I'm seriously addicted. I figured I would slack off a little once I hit 80. The lure of leveling would be over. But that has simply not been the case. I'm almost ashamed to say that I spent well over 25 hours in front of the computer this weekend. (note the almost) I finished all my Ice Crown solo quests, pugged an Ahn'hahet-Old Kingdom run for a fellow guildy, ran The Culling of Stratholme (literally minutes after finishing Old Kingdom, and last night did Utgarde Pinnacle. I'm signing up for Naxxramas this week. I'm scheduling time to do instances. And I'm desperatly trying to get my tailoring up. I spent part of my day on Friday figuring out all the Knights of Ebon Hold quests so I can get my rep up. I actually played more than Jeff this weekend. (And that is saying a lot)

So this morning I had a touch of guilt that I was not more productive this weekend. I'm supposed to be working on a scarf to give to charity. That didn't even get touched. The poor cat is lonely and bored and only really sees me when she jumps up and plays behind the computer. I keep telling myself that I should be reading, or professional development, or writing books. But for the first time in a while I'm being selfish. I'm letting myself play as much as I want to. But I can quit anytime I like. (Really!!....Maybe....)