Better late than never? A belated introduction post.

I'm one of those socially awkward, pathologically shy girl gamers who likens small talk to void zones: useless, swirling holes of black energy; mini-vortices of The Bad® that exist for no other reason than to be avoided — if not at all costs, then certainly at most of them.

Most, because if (1) I can heal through it and (2) the reward is appropriately epic, then I might hazard a "Lovely sub-zero weather we're having here in Storm Peaks" or "Don't look now, but I think the octopus on the end of your Terestrian's Stranglestaff is happy to see me." 

Either that, or rigor mortis finally set in.  Creepy.  (I sense a new blogpost coming on:  "You know it's time to DE your Karazhan epics when...")

... I think I might have taken this analogy (analogies? bizarre stream of consciousness?) a little too far ...

Anyway. The point is that I detest small talk, which is why I neglected to make the obligatory introduction post when I started this blog. 

I've been remiss.

So.  Who am I?

In an effort to be un-remiss — not to mention avoid turning this into some kind of boring "about me" monologue — I resort to my old friend: the bullet point.

I am:

• an Undead Warlock, and occasionally a Tauren Shaman;
• currently specced deep Affliction and the kind of haphazard I'm-still-leveling-my-alt-to-80-so-I'll-put-points-wherever-they-land-Enhancement that makes real Enhancement shamans cry;
• a self-professed Carebear, even though I play on a PvP server;
• a roleplayer at heart;
• a geek;
• a guild leader and, on rare occasions, a raid leader — although I much prefer to leave the latter to my boyfriend (yes, we met on WoW; no, it is not an e-Relationship);
• not nearly as obsessed with green fire as some of my posts would lead you to believe (still, I don't see why we can't have a purely cosmetic minor Glyph of Green Fire when mages get a purely cosmetic minor Glyph of Polymorph: Penguin);
• generally disdainful of mages, in part because I'm a warlock and it's in my nature, and in part because I've never met one who didn't scream bloody murder everytime she took damage — including from a level 1 critter aggro'd by a frost nova /cough; and
• as of last night, a Champion of the Frozen Wastes!

But more on that later.  For now, work beckons. 

(Speaking of void zones ...)

Blogging about … blogging?

One of the things I’ve learned from the many WoW blogs I peruse at work (Google® Reader: 1, Internet filters: 0!) is that consistent updates are the key to attracting — and retaining — readers.  Once I add a blog to my feedreader, it's there forever (lazy 'lock is lazy), but my favorite blogs are inevitably those I can count on for frequent updates.

This isn’t to say that quantity > quality; far from it!  But no matter how well-written a blog is, if it’s only updated once or twice a month, it’s unlikely to hold my interest for much longer than it takes to read through the last half-dozen entries.

Part of it has to do with relevance.  If an author’s most recent post is a three-week old description of her first impressions of Northrend, then it’s going to feel dated to someone who has already leveled to 80 and led her guild through Naxx 25.  It may be beautifully written, vivid and nostalgic — but it just isn’t relevant.

More importantly, it doesn’t allow the author to establish a personal connection with her readers.

So.  Three weeks ago, you set hoof, toe, claw or paw in Howling Fjord.  You were awed by the scenery, fascinated by the Vyrkul, suspicious of the Forsaken’s new research into the plague …

But that was three weeks ago! — a lifetime in the World of Warcraft, where epic battles are fought on a seven-day reset timer.  What have you done since then?  Where have you been?  Who have you seen?

The authors I enjoy the most are those who allow us to share their experiences, be it as roleplayers, guild leaders, a businessmen or an altoholics.

I disagree with almost everything the Greedy Goblin has to say … but his blog is one of the first I check each morning because I know there will be something new and provocative to read.

My hunterling has been sitting at level 30, collecting dust and rest XP in Shadowprey Village for six months … but Aspect of the Hare and BigRedKitty will be on my blogroll (when I get around to creating one), because they are so well and so personably written that I almost feel I know Pike and BRK personally, although I’ve never spoken to them or even commented in their blogs.  (What can I say?  I’m shy!)

I hate mages on general principle (hello, warlock?), but I subscribe to three mage blogs because their authors write frequently and well, and are thoughtful, humorous and better at math than I am.

For the moment, I'm not concerned with attracting readers myself.  Blogging is an outlet for my WoW obsession, first, and an exercise in discipline, second.  But it would be foolish not to take what I've learned from reading, and apply it to writing. 

My first goal for this blog, then, is to update frequently — at least three times a week, but ideally five. 

I have other goals in mind (I would eventually like to find a focus, and a voice, and establish an identity), but for now: three real posts a week, about whatever comes to mind when I sit down at my computer — provided that it's WoW related, of course.

Another thing I've learned from reading?  Blogging about blogging is boring! >.>  I won't make it a habit.  Promise.

Pink is the new green.

Yes, I know. 

Fel fire is green. Not red. Not orange. And certainly not the gnomishly cheerful shade of pink I've chosen to accent my fledgling WordPress blog. 

Green.

But here's the thing: I like pink. Green may be the color of fire, but pink? Pink is the color of souls. (Don't believe me? I have 32 right here to show you! Careful with that one on top, though. It was a fire elemental until about two minutes ago, so it might be a little hot to the touch...)

Seriously. Some of my very favorite things are pink:

• Soulshards
• Soulstones
• Spellstones (Technically, spellstones are blue. With pink sparkles. But for 1% extra DoT damage and spell haste, who cares?)
• Alexstrasza on a snow day
• Paladin T5
• Tempest Keep and those frenetic dragonhawks (i.e., SoC bait) that wiped us more times than A'lar and Solarian combined
• Illusion Dust, Arcane Dust and other pretty sparklies that still sell suprisingly well on Auction House, in spite of their general out-dated-ness
• That spellpower mace (Yes, that spellpower mace. The one that dropped every! single! time! my guild did Mount Hyjal, until every priest, paladin and druid in the raid had been inducted into the Lollipop Brigade and our enhancement shaman was dual-wielding two.)
• One of my favorite WoW bloggers, who I adore in spite of the fact that she's both a gnome and a mage (/hiss)

And if all of that wasn't enough, what color is the cascade of demonic energy that I call forth everytime I summon an imp, felhunter, succubus or dreadsteed from the abyss? 

Yes, that's right.

Pink.