Get your grubby claws of of my healing leather. That’s Mana Regen Spirit, not Hit Rating spirit!

I don’t often make this blog personal, but for this cause, I feel it’s important to get the word out.  I know it’s not everyone’s thing, and I know that some people don’t have the means to donate to causes which mean little to them personally, or even causes which mean a great deal to them personally.

Much of the text below is copied word for word from the email I received from the National MS Society, I just added in the personal stuff.

The National Multiple Sclerosis Society is kicking off the annual Walk MS: Nashua. I am walking, and I am asking you to join me in creating a world free of multiple sclerosis by making a contribution to support my effort. This will be my 4th MS Walk in the past five years, and I am hoping to meet my goal of $250 in donations.  You see, my friend Heather has MS, and has been participating in the MS Walk for the past seven years. Last year she and her husband made it about 1/4 of the way through the walk before she was unable to continue. This year, she is unable to attend the walk due to a family vacation that was planed before the date of the walk was announced.

I plan on walking in her place. Along with a group of friends and coworkers we have created a team: Team Atrium. Our collective goal is to help raise $1000 for MS research, education, advocacy and support. I hope that with your help I can meet my goal, so that next year, or the year after, Heather may be able to walk the full three miles with her Husband, Daughter and friends.

The National MS Society is moving research forward by relentlessly pursuing prevention, treatment and cure. They are moving to reach out and respond to individuals, families and communities living with multiple sclerosis. They are moving politicians and legislation to champion the needs of people with MS through activism, advocacy and influence. They are moving to mobilize the millions of people who want to do something about MS Now. And, they are moving to raise $1.25 billion dollars by 2010 to help create a world free of MS.

Last year, the Central New England Chapter spent over $8 million on MS education, support, advocacy, services, and research to benefit more than 16,000 individuals and families who are affected by MS in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts, and 400,000 across the country.

Please help by making a donation – large or small – to create a world free of MS. Or, why not join me on the day of the walk? Become a walker, and as teammates we can work together to raise the funds to make a difference.

Whatever you can give will help! I greatly appreciate your support and will keep you posted on my progress.

Click here to get to my personal page and make a secure, online donation.

To send a donation: Make all checks payable to: National MS Society
Mail to:

National Multiple Sclerosis Society
Central New England Chapter
P.O. Box 845945
Boston, MA 02284-5945
1-800-344-4867

http://www.msnewengland.org/

But UI posts take forever to put together! It’ll be a while, but I’m going to post a UI post or 2. Probably not 9. Keep your fingers crossed, but don’t hold your breath. I don’t want to kill anyone here.

What is going on? We Druids used to have Moonglade as a sanctuary. We could coexist, Tauren and Night Elf, all knowing that the ties that bind us as Druids are stronger than those which hold us together with the Alliance or Horde. With the influx of all of these “others” it’s like a free for all. I’ve seen more death in Moonglade than ever before. It’s sad.

The Lunar festival should not be used as an excuse to fight a war. It should be used to honor our elders. Right? Well, one of the ways that we honor those elders is to gain Elune’s blessing. There seems to be some confusion as to how that gets done. The main way to do it is to get into a group to fight Omen, fight until he’s dead and stand in the moonbeam that shines upon his corpse. What most people don’t know is that you can just walk up once he’s dead and stand in that moonbeam.

One word of advice for folks though. If you show up and there’s a group already fighting Omen, Help DPS him down rather than just standing there letting them do all the work. Nobody likes a dick. Beam poaching makes you a dick. We don’t need or want dicks in Moonglade. It’s a classy place. Dicks need not apply.

Today, I logged in to do some dailies and get started on Love Fool for Maerdred. Oh, WoW how I missed you. It’s been since last Sunday that I actually spent any time playing, and Man I forgot how great this game is.

I like the spaceflight part of Star Trek, but the ground combat is nothing to write home about. WoW, with all its bugs and complaints seems so polished when compared to STO.

I’m not really planning on getting into the differences in depth, since the games are completely different to begin with, but man… I’m not giving up WoW any time soon. I can tell you that much.

As I write this, the Saints just took the lead in the Super Bowl… See you after the football Season’s finally over.

Oh snap! Really? Let me open my spellbook!

Uh oh! ohhhh man I am such a noob!

Yeah, that’s what I JUST said!

Lookie what I found…

And then…

And then…

Seriously.. How long has it been like this? How did I level this far and not train Wild Growth? What the heck is wrong with me? I was wondering why Wild Growth was so crappy on the Alliance side. /facepalm

Last Monday while picking herbs and waiting for “How I met your Mother” to come on I joined the queue for a random Pug. abut 45 seconds later I was Halls of Lightning bound.(Seriously, I think HOL, HOS and Oculus are the only instances in the game anymore) I entered the instance to find a Hunter, Warlock, DK and Warrior. As soon as I cast Gift of the Wild and turned into a tree the DK ran off and grabbed the first group. OK. That’s a tank. Heal it.

Why is the Warrior pulling aggro off him? Heal him! ok. Pull’s over. Inspect the Warrior. Fury? He’s not a tank. Eff that. Heal the DK. Let the Warrior die. Wait, recount says the Warrior’s doing over 5k DPS? well… maybe let him live. If I let him die he may pull the whole “My Epeen is bigger than yours and I’m leaving this group! You can’t heal noob!” thing.  So what if he pulls aggro, he’s wearing plate. I can heal him and the DK all at once. Decision made.

So the first boss goes down without issue. The elementals that asplode kind of asploded on the Warlock, who didn’t seem to know that was a thing… I kept everyone else up, probably because they were in plate or far enough away. So the next pull goes well, and then the warrior keeps running up the stairs. Pulls the next group before I have a chance to even round the corner and mount the stairs and he dies. I’m next, then the DK gets control so I pop my Soulstone, only to die a second later. Warlock is next, Then the Hunter… FD anyone? then the DK. By the time he died, I was at the portal to the instance. The Lock, Hunter and DK released and ran in, but the Warrior stayed. “Oh great, Primadonna Warrior can’t run back. he’s too good for that.” When we got back to the Elementals, they had repopped, and then he says “srry back” and releases, so the DK waited for him and we went through. For the rest of the instance it was pretty much more of the same. The DK tanking, or trying, and Mr Warrior of Leet DPS pulling aggro off of him almost instantly and taking huge amounts of damage, which I have to say, I did a pretty good job of healing through. In the end it all worked out and we killed Loken, but the whole thing would have gone better if Mr. Warrior had tanked instead of DPS tanked. More annoying than anything else, but would it have been that hard to go tank spec, or hold off a bit and let the Tank Tank?

What stories of annoyance do you have from the Random Pugging that’s been going on? Horror stories? Email them, comment them they may make it to a blog post!

Last night when Bear logged in and mentioned the fun that was had in ICC, I hastily apologized for spacing on the raid.

Then he benched me.

It’s only fair. I ninja AFK’d out of Kara the other day, granted it’s Kara, but I should have said “AFK Dad aggro” but honestly I didn’t expect to be gone for a half hour.

So, two raids within a week’s time or so, and I’ve been banned from raiding with my guild. It serves me right. It sucks because this weekend we’re going to the Black Temple. I need to redeem myself and become un-banned. How to do that? I’m not sure. All I can do is hope that my flakiness hasn’t made me look as ditsy as Jessica Simpson eating a can of Tuna.

I mean seriously how do you flake out on two raids in a week and not say a word to someone without looking as dumb as the girl who asked if Tuna was Chicken? I’ll say this in my defense: I am very bad with time management, but I do know that Chicken of the Sea is a brand name, not a descriptor. I’m not that dumb.

If, for some odd reason, my ban gets lifted I am sure I can be a help in the Black Temple. I know we seriously over-level the place. I know we seriously over-gear the place, but the boss mechanics still could kill us.. I’ve been there. I’ve killed the first 5 bosses. I can help explain what to do in those fights. I can help explain what NOT to do in some fights. I think.  I can at least explain what a healer may need to know for those fights.

I learned last night that “knowing a fight as a healer and knowing a fight as Melee DPS are two different things.” We were in The Forge of Souls at the first boss. “Everyone know the fight?” crickets… “Ok let’s roll.” /blinders /fight fight fight.  “hey dummy, when you get such and such, run to the other side of the room.” “hey dummy, when souls show up kill them.” Oops. I felt bad for our healer, that fight lasted far longer than it should have because I didn’t know what I was supposed to know.

That said, Black Temple was my playground for two months. I know those Bosses. I’ve only done Heroic FoS like twice… So I should be able to explain the bosses a little. Right? Yeah I’ll be doing research before we go in just to refresh my memory, but I’ll leave you with this…

Raging Daisies’ First Supremus Kill, Months Behind, March 13, 08. With 24 people in the raid. yeah we were leet.(LOL)

As always, if you see something missing from my list, let me know what it is and where it comes from, and if it fits in with my progression, I’ll add it in.

So, without further ado, The gear list!

Rings:
Bloodshed Band:  Emblem of Triumph, 35
The Lady’s Promise:  The Captain’s Chest:  Halls of Reflection, Heroic
Purloined Wedding Ring:  Ick:  Pit of Saron, Normal
Band of Stained Souls:  Scourgelord Tyrannus:  Pit of Saron, Heroic
Dexterous Brightstone Ring:  Emblem of Triumph, 35
Ring of Carnelian and Bone:  Forgemaster Garfrost:  Pit of Saron, Normal
Ring of Invincibility:  Emblem of Valor, 25
Uruka’s Band of Zeal:  The Black Knight:  Trial of the Champion, Normal

Librams:
Libram of Three Truths:  Emblem of Frost, 30
Libram of Valiance:  Emblem of Triumph, 25
Libram of Reciprocation:  Emblem of Heroism, 15

Trinkets:
Herkuml War Token:  Emblem of Frost, 60
Mirror of Truth:  Emblem of Heroism, 40
Mark of Supremacy:  Emblem of Triumph, 50
Banner of Victory:  Confessor’s Cache:  Trial of the Champion, Normal
Sphere of Red Dragon’s Blood:  Keristrasza: The Nexus, Heroic
Incisor Fragment:  King Dred:  Drak’Tharon Keep, Heroic

Two-handed Weapons:
Orca-Hunter’s Harpoon:  Marwyn:  Halls of Reflection, Heroic
Garfrost’s Two-Ton Hammer:  Forgemaster Garfrost:  Pit of Saron, Normal
Mourning Malice:  The Captain’s Chest:  Halls of Reflection, Normal
Tyrannical Beheader:  Scourgelord Tyrannus:  Pit of Saron, Heroic
Marrowstrike:  Confessor’s Cache:  Trial of the Champion, Heroic
Edge of Ruin:  Champion’s Cache: Trial of the Champion, Heroic
Titansteel Destroyer:  Titansteel Destroyer:  Blscksmithing
Colossal Skull-Clad Cleaver:  Loken:  Halls of Lightning, Heroic
Claymore of the Prophet:  Champions Seal, 25

Thus Concludes the Non-Raider,Non-PvPer attainable loot for Ret Paladins. My list may differ from yours, but hey, that’s the way it’s supposed to be. As I’ve said before, If you notice something I missed, let me know and I’ll try to add it in. And of course, if you know more about Ret Paladins than I do, and I completely screwed something up, come yell at me.

As always, if you see something missing from my list, let me know what it is and where it comes from, and if it fits in with my progression, I’ll add it in.

So, without further ado, The gear list!

Waist:
Malevolent Girdle:  Emblem of Frost, 60
Belt of the Titans:  Belt of the Titans:  Blacksmithing
Belt of the Singing Blade:  Emblem of Conquest, 28
Bent Gold Belt:  Ick:  Pit of Saron, Normal
Flame-Bathed Steel Girdle:  Keristrasza:  The Nexus, Heroic
Verdungo’s Barbarian Cord:  Emblem of Heroism, 40
Girdle of Arrogant Downfall:  The Black Knight: Trial of the Champion, Normal
The General’s Steel Girdle:  General Bjarngrim: Halls of Lightning, Herois
Strategist’s Belt:  Prince Keleseth:  Utgarde Keep, Heroic
Girdle of Valorous Defeat:  Champion’s Seal, 10
Clinch of Savage Fury: Champion’s Seal, 10

Legs:
Legplates of Painful Death:  Legplates of Painful Death:  Blacksmithing
Lightsworn Legplates:  Emblem of Frost, 95
Turalyon’s Legplates of Conquest:  Emblem of Triumph, 50
Legplates of the Violet Champion:  Emblem of Conquest, 39
Legplates of Relentless Onslaught:  Confessor’s Cache/Eadric’s Cache:  Trial of the Champion, Heroic
Minister’s Number One Legplates:  Bronjahm:  The Forge of Souls, Normal
Staggering Legplates:  Ingvar the Plunderer:  Utgarde Keep, Heroic
Legplates of Steel Implants:  Meathook:  The Culling of Stratholme, Heroic
Legplates of the Oculus Guardian: Varos Cloudstrider:  The Oculus, Heroic

Feet:
Hellfrozen Bonegrinders:  Hellfrozen Bonegrinders:  Blacksmithing
Battlelord’s Plate Boots:  Battlelord’s Plate Boots:  Blacksmithing
Grinning Skull Boots:  The Captain’s Chest:  Halls of Reflection, Heroic
Bladed Steelboots:  Emblem of Valor, 40
Plated Greaves of Providence:  Confessor’s Cache: Trial of the Champion, Heroic
Death-Inured Sabatons:  Knights of the Ebon Blade: Exalted
Spiked Titansteel Treads:  Spiked Titansteel Treads:  Blacksmithing
Rift Striders:  Anomalus:  The Nexus, Heroic
Iron-Spring Jumpers(BOE): Naxxramas Zone Drop (Find on AH)
Echoing Stompers:  Svala Sorrowgrave:  Utgarde Pinnacle, Heroic
Berserker’s Sabatons:  Utgarde Pinnacle, Zone Drop, Normal/Heroic

Back:
Recovered Scarlet Onslaught Cape:  Emblem of Frost, 50
Might of the Ocean Serpent:  Emblem of Frost, 50
Hammerhead Sharkskin Cloak:  Emblem of Valor, 25
Drape of the Undefeated:  The Black Knight:  Trial of the Champion, Normal
Cloak of Bloodied Waters:  Gundrak, Zone Drop
Accursed Crawling Cape:  Devourer of Souls:  The Forge of Souls, Normal
Ice Striker’s Cloak:  Ice Striker’s Cloak:  Leatherworking

Neck:
Barbed Ymirheim Choker:  Forgemaster Garfrost:  Pit of Saron, Heroic
Spiked Battleguard Choker:  Emblem of Conquest, 19
Painfully Sharp Choker:  Scourgelord Tyrannus:  Pit of Saron, Normal
Ancient Pendant of Arathor:  Confessor’s Cache/Eadric’s Cache: Trial of the Champion, Heroic
Broach of the Wailing Night:  Emblem of Conquest, 19
Pendant of the Outcast Hero:  Emblem of Heroism, 25
Necklace of Arcane Spheres:  Xevozz: The Violet Hold, Heroic
Gold Amulet of Kings:  King Ymiron:  Utgarde Pinnacle, Heroic