Tag Archives: Selite

Fiction: Letter To Nowhere

Dear Sister,

How are you? Are you doing well? It’s been a long time since I last saw you. I’ve officially finished my tour with the Argent Crusade, helping with the cleanup after the defeat of the Lich King.

I rushed back to Orgrimmar to help with the reconstruction there, but… I wasn’t exactly welcome. Still, in the wake of Deathwing’s reemergence, I have been helping where I can, but it’s not much.

Anyway, please, if you get this letter, please write back. I haven’t heard a thing from you in over half a year. I’m worried. I know you were looking for something, I just wonder if you have found it. Or, if you are even alive.

Who knows, perhaps I will find what I am looking for too,

None the less, I hope to hear from you soon, my dear sister.

Yours truly,
Iriai.

Things Are Going to Change

This post has not been an entirely trivial one to write, but it’s something that I’ve know has been coming for a few months now.

Arcane Envoy has always been an interesting name, personally. It kinda breaks the “First Rule of Blogging” which was, (I think) “DON’T NAME YOUR BLOG AFTER YOUR CLASS/SPEC DUMPASS”. However I chose it, feeling that regardless of what I played in the future, ‘Arcane’ would always be somewhat pertinent, especially when coupled with ‘Envoy’ which was originally chosen to represent the fact that I do play a fairly large number of alts and other games, dragging me away from Selite.

If you haven’t already guessed, come Cataclysm (December 7th/8th-ish), I will be raiding ‘full-time’ as a Holy Paladin, in a SRSBZNS 25 man raiding guild, to partake in the killing of INTERNET DARGONS.

However, in my mind, Selite will still be my main, and I will continue to refer to her as such. She might only raid in alt runs, and spend most of her time in Rated Battlegrounds killing Alliance like the mercenary she is. I guess you could say she’s still my ‘true love’. It just wouldn’t be that accurate, I guess.

In addition, I plan to write more reviews, including one of FFXIV, when I finally figure out exactly what my opinion of it is.

So, in hindsight, I guess nothing much is changing at all. Guess I’m just a big liar.

No, wait, that’s not entirely true. There will be a new layout come Cataclysm (the plan is to release it in the first week of December, but we will see if I get it done sooner, I guess?)

Self Personification in Games (Parts 2 & 3)

Extra Note: This post currently has only a couple of images, because I seem to have lost my DA:O ones, and don’t have any NWN ones. >_>

Okay, real life totally crit for max damage for a while there. Time to post up what were going to be the 2nd and 3rd parts of this series.

The first part can be found here for your reading ‘pleasure’. Now to get on with the show.

Generic Elf Lady Mages (ELMs, for short)

Elf Lady Mages (or Magi, if you prefer) have long been a staple of my RPG repertoire. Now, there are a great many games in which ELMs can and have existed, but today we are primary going to look at one, Neverwinter Nights (NWN), a Bioware (of Mass Effect, Dragon Age, and many other, more better, games) game from approximately 2002 (that’s what the back of the manual seems to say, but I can’t be certain). Continue reading

Beta Beta On The Wall

Yeah, I’ve been sinking lots of time into beta, squashing bugs into oblivion with my strong, mage arms. I’ve also formally gotten into a ‘hardcore’ (read: heavy progression) raiding guild for the expansion, which will be… an experience.

So, beta is awesome. Bugs, random DCs, broken Goblin quests, it has EVERYTHING.

However, the big thing that is awesome is ARCHEOLOGY. It’s… just… damn. Love it more than fishing, mainly because the titles are A: Better than Salty, and B: Easier to get. Aw yeah, RNG boss FTW. (Says he with the worst luck).

Haven’t been rushing off leveling, as there are mini-showstoppers in the form of NO QUEST REWARDS for the best zone (Uldum) and Twilight Highlands. This means that leveling is “not easy”. Especially for a crappy geared, kinda squishy, mage. So waiting for that to be itemised, then making a dash for 85.

After that it’ll be using Tour Guide Recorder (mainly for my own nefarious uses, but I also plan to send my datasets to Tekkub, because sharing is caring, kids). (Please note: Nefarious uses === leveling on live in a less-inefficient manner. Also Loremaster), while I level up Iraia through the gambit of quests to 85.

Then, if I have time, hopefully I will be able to make a full 1-30+ run with a goblin mage, mainly to fully test out Kezan (which I’ve done, but the final quest can’t be turned in) / Lost Isles / Asharza (old favorite zone, because it is/was PRETTYFUL. Less so now, though).

So yeah. Expect a more proper writeup of Archeology when I’ve managed to get a few more skill points under my belt.

Character Interview – Iraia

Yes, it’s time for another Character interview. Yeah. Not much else to say about this yet.

I walked into the bar, checking the letter that I held firmly in my hand, that I am truly in the right place. A small bar, hidden in the old part of Stormwind. Strange place to be meeting with a member of the Horde, I thought.

I walked up the stairs to the upper area, it’s tables filled with surly retired soldiers and adventures, and looked around for the Paladin. The letter said that she would be wearing black, unfortunately, that described about half of the bar’s patrons.

I was getting the evil eye from about the room, so I simply turned around and walked down the stairs. Stepping out into the small alleyway, I felt a hand on my shoulder.

“Where do you think you’re going, kid?” A male voice said from behind me, as the hand clamped down. “Nobody walks into our bar, and walks back out instantly, you see, because that’s sus-er-sus-”

“Suspicious?” I offered.

“Yeah! Sus-pee-sush.” I felt his grip tighten, as his other arm wound back. “Nothin’ personal kid, them the boss’s rules.”

THUD!

I was surprised when I wasn’t feeling after effects of the man’s fist on my head, and slightly less so when his grip loosened as he fell to the ground.

“Sorry about that, but you forced my hand.” A female voice said from behind me. “Not that it’s my job to look after you, but you are here on my account, so it’s only fair.”

“It’s good to see you.” I said, before she grabbed my hand and pulled me after her as she dashed down the alley and into another, and another.

When she finally let my legs catch up with me, along with my breath, I looked her over. She was wearing a cowl, along with a cloth mask over most of her face, both were black.

“So, I see you got my letter.” She said, pinching it out from my hand, where it had nearly been ripped in half. She pulled out a small ruby from inside her loose robe, and muttered a few words under her breath, throwing the letter away as it burst into flames.

“Why, here?” I asked.

“Not here, we’re going to go to my place.” She said, starting to walk towards the main road leading out of the district.

“You have a place?!” I said, running to catch up with her, before slowing down to her casual pace. “Just how long have you been here, anyway?”

“A few months now, I was here when they were still building the Argent Tournament.” She said, as we crossed the bridge to the Trade District.

I did the math in my head. “It’s been almost an entire year?” I exclaimed. “Christ, I wasn’t aware how-”

She raised a finger to silence me. “There are too many ears here, it can wait.”

We had walked straight through the middle of the trade district, past the huge number of adventurers who lined the streets between the bank and the auction house. We silently made our way across the bridges to the Mage District, and from there, across to the Park.

As we walked slowly towards her apartment, we heard a loud bell ringing from the Harbor in front of us.

“What does-”

“The Horde.” She answered, before throwing me against the wall, protecting me from being trampled by the platoon of bodies that rushed past, and started fighting on the streets.

“Shit. Shit, shit, shit.” She fumbled with the key in the lock, and shoved the door open, pulling me inside, and grabbing a large sword and shield that were sitting next to the door.

We moved back against the wall. “Wait for it,” she said.

“Wait for what, exact-”

Two humanoid figures flew in through the window. Before I could blink, they were both surrounded by bubbles of light, which they pointlessly fought against.

“Now.” She said, looming over the pair. “Nobody, Horde or Alliance, travels through my window and gets away with it.” She kicked the poor Alliance warrior in the face, and turned to the Blood Elf, giving her the once over. “Well, solider, get back out there, before I decide to really hurt you. I’ll deal with her.”

The human freaked out, and ran out the door.

“Now, where were we?” She said, grabbing the wrist of the elf and pulling her upstairs.

The elf, who was half dead, by all accounts, was not too happy with this, and assailed her newfound captor with an assault of the foulest Thalassian that she could muster.

“Calm down, I just had to put on a show for those bloodthirsty idiots out there.” She said to the elf. “Sit still, you’re badly wounded.” She muttered a few words, and the elf’s wounds healed slightly.

She lit a fire under the washtub, and told me to “Get the hell out”.

I took that as an open invitation to look through all of her things, to see what kind of person she was now. Her home was small, and sparsely decorated. There was a grand total of 0 interesting things to look at. At least, zero out here.

The fighting had stopped outside, the horde were pushed back. Not surprising though, as the Alliance and Horde both seemed to be quite fond of these pointless skirmishes.

I turned around at the sound of one of the stairs creaking. “How is she?” I said.

“G-good.” She smiled at me slightly. “I take it that you recognized her?”

“Of course,” I smiled back. “I take it you don’t really want to let her know about you?”

“Well, not yet. I like living here, it’s relatively peaceful.” She said.

“You, uhh, don’t say.” I cocked an eyebrow, and walked towards her. “You want me to take her back to Silvermoon?”

“I don’t think she’ll need your help.” We hugged each other. “I just feel like I need a bit more time.”

We stayed there, letting it hang there for a minute.

“Anyway, I’m sure I’ll be able to convince her to make me a portal to Dalaran.” I frowned slightly. “Come visit me soon, okay?”

She smiled, “Okay.” She waved, as I walked upstairs.

I banged on the door. “Hey, princess, you got clothes on?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” The elf said, opening the door.

“You got a portal to Dal for an old friend?” I asked.

“Perhaps, if you can afford it.” She smiled, and pushed the door open further, revealing a ready to go portal.

We walked through the portal, and found ourselves standing in the streets of Dalaran in no time at all.

“So,” she said. “I didn’t know my sister had decided to defect.”

I sighed. “She’s just going through a rough patch, Sel, no need to be mean.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. Anyway, I’ve got places to go, so we’ll have to get together some other time.”

I sighed, and walked back to my apartment.

Writing Characters

So – as an aspiring RPer, (and more so as a writer,) I tend to try and write my characters. Not in a ‘they do this’ narrative fashion, but in a ‘they think this’ fashion.

When I plan out my characters, I get a piece of paper, and write down 3-5 traits that they have. These can (and should) change over time, but they represent the character at the current moment.

For instance, let’s take Selite. (Oh yay.) When I sat down and did this she was level 70 – and had been ‘shaped’ a little, and she’s been ‘shaped’ since, but she’s one of my more static characters.

Selite, at 70.

  • Wants to help people. This is her primary motivation.
  • Wants to obtain more knowledge.
  • Independent.

Now, this is much earlier, and is quite different to the current style I use to write these. But still, these give a good idea of what her motivations and wants will be at a given time. As an example of ‘evolution of character’ I’ll now show you what she’s all about at level 80.

Selite, at right now.

  • Independent.
  • Mercenary disposition.
  • Vengeance to the Scourge.

So, Selite now is much more about killing undead, and getting payed for it. You might notice that I wrote ‘Independent’ first this time. This is what I call the ‘primary motivation’ of a character. While the other factors are a part of her, the higher up the list it is, the more it means to her. (Well, you forgot “likes things to be shiny” and “likes cats” :p)

This whole post isn’t about Sel though. (Boo.) It was inspired by her wonderful younger sister Iraia. (You’ve been hitting on my sister?)

Iraia has recently gone through Dragonblight. Now for those of you not familiar with Warcraft, Dragonblight is a big zone, filled with lots and lots of quests (over 130 of them, at least). The main quest chain in Dragonblight, however, is about the Wraithgate, which is where the forces of the Alliance and the Horde have decided to prepare for their initial assault upon the Lich King. Unfortunately, bad things happen, and they get killed by a dangerous splinter group of undead.

Then a few more quests happen. But before that last part of the quest, you have probably spent the best part of the last 3-5 levels perfecting that plague for the undead. Now, this has changed Iraia dramatically.

She used to be all about (exclusively) ‘Seeing new things’. Being responsible (at least in her eyes) for the deaths of not only a bunch of mooks, but the greatest hero the Alliance has ever know (or so she thinks) has made her quite the introverted Blood Knight (fancy way of saying ‘Paladin’ if you’re a sexy elf). (One more thing, Iraia is technically part of the Horde – not that she feels like she has any reason to hate the Alliance)

Iraia, after Wraithgate & battle of the Undercity.

  • Introvert.
  • Wants to help people.
  • Is inclined to pacifism.

Now this has already changed in the course of the last 12.5 hours, but there’s no rule against that. I say ‘inclined’ as she is still leveling, and as such, is still a Retribution Paladin (basically she hurts things) out of necessity (and don’t say “why don’t you heal randoms”?) – but she’s changed slightly.

Iraia, after completing the quest [Mystery of the Infinite] (level 73 version).

  • Wants to help people.
  • Has come to grips with the fact she needs to use violence.

Now, this quest has some funky time travel bits, so most of this is due to the influence of FUTURE IRAIA! *Cue Twilight Zone music*

Anyway. I’m not sure if that helps you guys think about your characters, but it’s always nice to throw out some examples of what I’m thinking.

New post “Character Interview – Iraia” coming soonish. (I’m thinking before friday, but we will see)

Character Interviews : Selite

So, I’ve been inspired by this Shared Topic idea, by Azryu of  The Arcanery, and have decided to steal it for myself, and perhaps will end up doing all my characters in the future (and I mean all my characters, both from Warcraft and elsewhere). Therefore, today I have decided to go ahead a have a chat with Selite. This shouldn’t be too hard, everything I say she comments on anyway (at least in my head).

The crunch of leaves can be heard underfoot, as I step into the autumnal clearing.

There she is, sitting on a tree stump, with a tired look obvious upon her face. As I enter the clearing, she looks up at me, and says softly…

So, you’re here at last, huh? I was wondering when you would get here.

I go to open my mouth, but she continues regardless.

Are you surprised to see me here? Are you that daft?

I- well,”

You should know that I have a life of my own when you’re not looking through my eyes. You’re smarter than that.

I sigh, and step towards her, into the clearing. “Sure, but here, why here? A small clearing in the middle of Eversong Woods, of all the places in Azeroth, why right here?

Really? This is my home, you idiot.

She kicked up a bunch of orange leaves, which floated slowly to the ground in between us.

We stared at each other, assessing each other, for minutes.

Anyway, how’s magic working out for you?” I asked clumsily. ‘Oh god, this is even worse than unresolved sexual tension.’ I thought.

F-fine.

She looked at me like I had asked her to stab her mother in the face, mixed with the slightest hint of concern.

And what about you, how’s whatever you’re doing going?

I smiled. “Nice to know for all of your powers of precognition aren’t all powerful.” She glared slightly, before she gave me a strange look and smiled a little, realizing it was a joke. “I’m fine, by the way.

Good, good. Anyway… I’ve got to go. Uhh, take care of yourself, eh?

You too.” We smiled nervously at each other, before we both walked away.

Well, I’m not sure what to think of that. Both me and Sel are amazingly shy? Perhaps it is just the whole privacy thing. We would of been better off conducting this chat somewhere more public, like in Dalaran. Perhaps next time, eh? (Perhaps)

I Dream a Dream

Now, this post has a great name, because with such an ambiguious name, I can talk about almost anything, of course, I’m not that imaginative, so this will be about my recent thoughts while leveling the most fantastic of professions, Enchanting, from ~250 to 350 over the last two days.

Point One : Leveling Enchanting When Capped is a Pain in the Ass. (or LEWCPA, if you like acronyms)
Especially if you are a clothie, and can hardly solo Coilfang normals for mats, at least.
However,  it did give me one great method to get all the crap I need. Loremaster. Chances are, that you have quests from Outlands (and near definitely from old world, but you can solo 60 instances easy anyway) to do, as documented in the Quests-Outlands tab of the Achievement frame. So, pick a zone (I started with Hellfire, as it was the lowest, and I felt like it’d be fun-ish) and look for quests. You’ll get tons of cash (or a bit, whatever) and enough greens to sate your needs (pick weapons wherever possible though, as they are rarer (as you will get green drops as well), unless you specifically need dusts) unless you need lots.

Protip! If you make an account with WoWhead, you can be a sneaky unit and use their new features to see what quests are left in the zone for you to do, by using their client and uploading data. I personally didn’t need it for the Outland or Northrend zones, but think it might come in handy if I decide to get Loremaster on Selite some time. There are also several addons that will mark questgivers on your map for the quests that you have not yet completed (I’m fairly certain Questhelper will do this, and Carbonite probably will too).

Point Two : Even Then Enchanting Still Costs a Billion Gold. (ETESCBG)

This mainly the point that states why I’ve stopped at 350 (Heroic Greens and Blues DEible) instead of 375 (80 epics DEible) to get much further past 350, you need a certain rod, in this case it is the wondrous [Runed Adamantite Rod] or, to be precise, the hellishly annoying to get mats, otherwise known as [Primal Annoyance (Might)] – now, I know this seems slightly stupid, but you’d be surprised how hard it is to find an alchemist who is willing to transmute you one of those around New Years (perhaps that is the problem).

Protip! Be a Blood Elf, they get a bonus to Enchanting, so they can use lower level enchants to level their enchanting higher! (Also we are sexy, what more could you want?)

Now, to solve the mystery of why this post is called what it is, for the 3 people who will read this thinking it is something to do with some speech a guy made in the past (not that they would read to here). This is called what it is (obviously to anyone who has done a heroic since 3.3) because of the frankly scary number of [Dream Shard]s that you get running Heroics non stop.

Memememe!

Yeah, there’s a DPS Meme going around at the moment, so I thought I’d give it a shot.

Got it from Some Crazy DK lady who made this meme up or something. I don’t know.

WARNING. There’s a lot of snark here, but it’s all meant in the name of fun. If you are offended by swearing, caps, or me slagging off your class, then don’t read it.

What is the name, class, and spec of your primary dps?
Selite, ARCANE MAGE! Bringer of portals to Stonard and level 70 tables.

What is your primary dpsing environment? (i.e. raids, pvp, 5 mans)
I am a solowhore. (Which is really bad for a Mage, ne?) I’ll do 5 mans, occasionally, and I’ve been known to switch to fire and go LBing in AV, or playing any BG that isn’t Arathi ‘Hellhole’ Basin.

What dps spell do you use least for your class and why?
Frostbolt? I’ve used that less than 20 times EVER. I think. Out of spells that I might actually use, on occasion, it’s Pyroblast or Arcane Bearage (Barrage). Both are talent-obtained in my solo spec, neither gets used much.

What do you feel is the biggest strength of your dps class and why?
Our fantastic ability to not die in fires as much as you’d expect. When you can only take one tic of damage before dying, you get fairly good at not failing at the Safety Dance (lies) or at Thaddius (So good at Thad.).

What do you feel is the biggest weakness of your dps class and why?
The fact that we are not glass cannons, we’re glass ‘the same as everyone else, kinda’. If a mob even looks at us, we tend to be half dead. So, to put it better, we can’t do shit solo (because we DIE) and we deal okay (= lower than some hybrids = ANGER) DPS.

In a 25 man raiding environment, what do you feel, in general, is the best dps assignment for you?
Single target damage, PEW PEW PEW ON THE BOSS LADYMAN.

What dps class do you enjoy dpsing with most and why?
None. Preferable ones are ones that don’t need gear (because I never have anything drop EVER for me T_T) and if they post recount stats, they get /ignored ’till I remember to take them off.

What tanking class do you enjoy dpsing with least and why?
No preference. I am not so keen on DKs, as they can do everything and are SUPER OP TO THE FUCKING MAX. So DKs. Hate those fuckers, from a mechanical standpoint.

What is your worst habit as a dps?
That I hate everyone else in the raid for some reason or another, chances are, and I’m expected to fucking cater for them and port them out (or get kicked after the first boss in VoA for no reason whatsoever. Isn’t it funny that the fail DPS are always the leaders?)

What is your biggest pet peeve in a group environment while dpsing?
DPS that do more DPS than me, and spam recount in 5mans. NOBODY GIVES A SHIT. NO ONE. (that cares. You’re doing the best DPS, mr feral rogue? Get fucked, me and my hunter mates will be over here, crying.)

Do you feel that your class/spec is well balanced with other dps?
Yeah, we’re the ‘baseline’ that they’re balancing everyone else to. Don’t believe me? We haven’t had a significant change (in number or severity) since pre 3.0.

What tools do you use to evaluate your own performance as a damage dealer?
Did the boss die? Yes? Carry on then. No? Get kicked, sulk.

What do you think is the biggest misconception people have about your class?
That I would be happy to be their fucking meals on wheels taxi vending machine. GET FUCKED, YOU SHOULD OF ROLLED A SHIT CLASS IN BC TO GET THE PRIVILEGE OF PORTING TO PLACES THAT ARE USEFUL. Ofc, with a tip, sure, I can take you where you want.

What do you feel is the most difficult thing for new dpsers of your class to learn?
There’s something hard about pressing two different buttons? If they leveled a mage (not a fage, or a fail mage, or frost mage, whatever you prefer, they might need to learn to be good, who knows) they should know how easy we die.

What dps class do you feel you understand least?
… I have no idea. Warlocks, despite not understanding why, I understand how. Rogues, I dislike playing, but I understand. Hunters have guns, they shoot them. I’m fairly certain that that is all the DPS classes that would be DPSing in any of my raids. :P

What add-ons or macros do you use, if any, to aid you in dps?
I use a fuck ton of addons, but none are ‘dps’ enhancers. SBF, I guess, I have it give me easy to see bars for my procs/AB debuff.

Strength over other stats or balanced stat allocation, and why? Spellpower. Sure, haste is okay (but lame) and crit is fun (but for FIRE). There’s a reason we only gem +23 or whatever it was SP apart from setting up our meta gem or getting hit.

Lazy Screenshot Post is Lazy

Alright, I put most of my 3.2 ranting into that wonderful podcast you see below this post, so I didn’t have much to talk about. But, thanks to my random screenshots I figured I could upload some of them and talk about them as a fantastically easy way to write a ~2000 word post. (What, I picture is worth a thousand words, right? I’ve got two.)

In addition, there are a bunch of comments from the crazed loon herself (Look who’s talking – Selite), all of which are in curved brackets, with a ‘- Selite’ or ‘- S’ at the end. I might figure out a more unified way to do this in the future, but it works for now.

Frumpy Human Form, FTW?

Frumpy Human Form, FTW?

Clicky on the Image to make it nice and big. (1680×1050, about 2mb) It’s frumpy human form, in the worst version of the best instance around. (Around being defined as ‘In Stratholm’) Fun instance, but I still wonder why they couldn’t of turned some of us (me) into high elves, others into Dwarves, but no Gnomes (they were in Gnomers dying all of WC3) or Draenai (EREDAR!) or Nelfs (they were across the sea, remember?). I do actually like how Sel looks as a human, I actually like the grey hair, I think it looks cool (Really? Really? – Selite) but I’m fairly sure that it’s partially due to the hair style. Remind me to goto the Barber to see if I can get it done like that. (What? Nooooooo! – Selite)

RAWR! BEARZ ARE 4 RIDIN!

RAWR! BEARZ ARE 4 RIDIN!

This is a fairly simple picture, of Sel in some slightly older gear (it was taken a few days before 3.2 :P) ON A FREAKIN BEAR. I don’t care what you say, bears are cool. (I don’t like them, they smell funny – Selite) At the Oracle town, obviously buying a [Mysterious Egg] or something, as I doubt I’d go there otherwise. (The Gorlocks smell like fish; at least they aren’t annoying and childlike like the Wolvar – Selite)

Alright, well, I should go take some more pictures, like ones on [Rivendare's Deathcharger] and Cronormi (A [Bronze Drake], if you can’t see the WoWhead tooltips), or just of me jumping off of shit, then IBing at the last possible second. Man, I am so stupid sometimes… (You’ve got a fucking death wish, you mean – Selite)