L2 Arcane November 6, 2009

Not too long ago, Jet was always on top of the dps charts for Imposs raiding. Even if she was distracted or not fully paying attention she still found herself leading without even really trying. Spec’d into frostfire bolt, massively large crits were her specialty. Over the past several months that has slowly changed. Although still generally in the top five on the meters, she still found herself lagging behind on both overall damage and dps.

Now normally Jet is more concerned with the way her ass looks in her battle mage pants, or matching her clothes with her hair and tabard than she is with being number one on the meters. Lately, however it’s been increasingly difficult for her to stomach her performance.

Not wanting to let the guildies down I went on an epic search for more information on how she  could become a better mage. Now those who know me understand what an undertaking it is to flip though pages and pages of internet research. I tried *really* hard but it was just such a snooze fest!

I had fantastic intentions, but when I started surfing the pages and pages and pages AND PAGES of seemingly endless number crunching, rotation information, and stat stacking I decided I’d much rather paint my nails and get Jet a hair cut! So that’s what I did, but that definitely wasn’t helping my dps problem.

Well crap, since I fail hard at studying and researching myself, I decided to talk to my mage buddies and see what was working for them.

*Enter BFF Kalande*

In speaking with my fellow Imposs mage extraordinaire Kalande, I began to get curious about Arcane and what it might be like. She let me know that it is currently considered the best raiding spec but would require a lot of change on my part.

Main Differences between FFB and Arcane:

>FFB stacks crit, crit, and more crit. Arcane stacks spell power and haste.

>FFB has virtually endless mana. Arcane can be very mana intensive to maintain a high amount of dps.

>FFB casts beautiful red and blue bolts that are absolutely striking. Arcane’s main nuke (arcane blast) has no visual at all but does have pretty purple missiles on an occasional proc.

Once armed with all of that fantastic information from my dear friend I was totally ready to make the switch. Except for one thing…JET DOESN’T WANT TO LOSE HER PRETTY FFB SPELLS!!! *cries*

It’s true that it seemed worse to Jet than wearing an ugly piece of armor that she couldn’t turn off. How can blizzard do this to her?!?!

It was with a heavy heart we took the trip to Stormwind to re-spec. Not ready to say goodbye to FFB just yet, we chose to re-spec her pvp tree into arcane. I did drag my feet through a little bit of talent build research to make sure I had the most efficient tree for end game raiding and headed straight to the test dummies.

For several hours I adjusted my bars, played with rotations and just got used to what it would be like for Jet to be an arcane mage. And to our surprise, it really wasn’t all that bad! My dps was higher and the damage output wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. The hardest part is definitely going to be the mana management, which was a nice trade off watching the dot timers with FFB.

So for now I’m happy with Arcane and my DPS and everything is good in the land of Jetexx.  Now if she could only remember where she left her damn battle mage pants! >.<

We Must Continue On… June 1, 2009

Guilds, much like any group in any activity has ups and downs. Impossibilium is no exception. Right now we have increasing amounts of frustration and mixed feelings with what’s happening in the World of Warcraft for us.

It’s summertime and that means that school is out, swim suits are on, and almost everyone would rather be outside relaxing and having fun instead of sitting at their computer raiding. And that is exactly what a lot of people are doing right now, as they most certainly should.

The problem with this however, is that there is only one reason to want to raid, that is to down bosses. Summer or not, there is progression to be had for Imposs in Ulduar and for those of us who are not having tons of fun outside and away from the game it’s extremely frustrating to have night after night of a half full 25 mans and 5-10 sign up no shows.

I want more than anything to clear Ulduar. As far as 25 man content goes, we’ve only downed Flame Leviathan, so is it even fair to make clearing Ulduar my goal for the guild?? I suppose that a more realistic goal would simply to get a 25 man run going, clear FL, and get some good solid attempts on XT, Razorscale, or Ignis.

At this rate, things do not look good for 25 man progression. So what can we do to help with this predicament? Our fabulously optimistic and amazing recruitment officer has done a fabulous job of recruiting 5-7 new people this week alone. This is fantastic news since we rarely have enough bodies to fill a 25 man raid, and it is also a huge achievement considering the number of un-guilded level 80’s on our server is absolutely tiny (geared or un-geared). So now that we should pretty regularly have the bodies to fill a 25 man raid. As a raider in Imposs (dedicated or raider) there are a few things that we can all do to help with the transition of the new folks as well as get back into the raiding groove:

1. Feed the Excitement

This is ULDUAR people! Progression itself is exciting! Remember the tingling you got in the back of your neck the first time we downed Kel’Thazad? What about the large amount of yelling and screaming that goes on in those first amazing moments that a boss goes from 1% health to dead? That is the reason we do what we do, it’s high time we get back to it! Whether it’s in forums postings, g chat, vent, or any forum you can think of it’s important that discussions between guildies take place about the bosses we haven’t downed. I think that the old cliché ‘Out of Sight, Out of Mind’ definitely applies to raiding. So open your mouth, amp up the energy level, and get people excited about the Iron Council!

2. Think-Speak-Be Positive

This is the quickest and most important way to turn around the morale of a guild. In everything that you do, even things that do not turn out the way that you had hoped, be positive!  Compliment your friends on the things that they do great and praise them to excellence.  This may be the most difficult of the lot to actually do, but if you can truly be positive and encouraging to your guildies in all that you do it will make a huge impact.  This is especially important when you do not feel like being positive.  Trust me, it will help the guild and it will help you feel better too!

3. Bring Back Imposs Culture

One of my favorite things about Impossibilium is the feelings and relationships that I have formed in the short time that I have been in this great guild. The best way to ensure that all of the new recruits enjoy their time with Imposs and feel welcomed is to immerse them in the things that make Imposs a great place to be. Sure most of us do not need gear from 10 Man Naxx or OS but guess what?!? We should run them on off nights, before raid, after raid, or any time that we can until our eyes bleed if there are people that need stuff from those places. We should give what we can to those players to welcome them and show them that we care. Our dedication to them will result in their dedication to our cause, which is ultimately progression content. It is also equally important to involve them in jokes, fun stuff in off time, and anything we can to get to know them more!

Ok so that is most definitely a great start!  I know that Imposs will bounce back from the little rough patch and come back bigger and stronger and pwn more face!

Watch out Ulduar!

Down with Blogger’s Cramp! May 29, 2009

So I have been trying to start this here blog for months now. I had huge expectations and wanted to write fantastically interesting posts that would keep people entertained and thinking.

WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?!?

Blogger’s cramp happened! This blog has NOT lived up to it’s namesake. the Ramblings of One Verbose Mage?!? As far as I can tell there have been no ramblings since the conception of this page. I could hardly be described as verbose! Well, here is my first attempt…let us start out with an introduction!

Jetexx is a level 80 mage on the Thorium Brotherhood server. Her specialty is uber dps and looking spectacular while doing it! She is mildly vain, extremely blonde, and loves being naked. Let me just stress that last point…LOVES BEING NAKED!

The story of Jetexx is long and complicated; most definitely for another post.

the primary focus of this blog will be the wild and crazy stories of Jetexx and her guild mates of Impossibilium. There will be campfire tales, raiding rants, and probably tons of blatant and unnecessary nudity. So please stay tuned for more ramblings from one verbose mage!