Showing posts with label priest. Show all posts
Showing posts with label priest. Show all posts

Aug 26, 2008

Curtain Call: Anna's Friday Five - RP Style

Though you may not know it*, I'm a serious sucker for a bit of Roleplaying. Despite all its well-advertised faults and foibles in the WoW community, it is a great way to add interest and depth to the smallest aspects of the game. Have you ever composed a little diddy while cooking Brilliant Smallfish in Bloodhoof Village? Juggled rings over fire totems for coppers in Stormwind's Trade District? Have you ever toured the Barrens on your brand new, completely runaway lizard mount, screaming curses and pleas to stop the whole way?

I have. No joke. I have screenshots (somewhere). That kind of little foolery and fun makes the 40 points' worth of cooking skillups, practice with new totem hotkeys, and the long run from Ratchet to Thousand Needles an order of magnitude more enjoyable than they could have been. As an added bonus, you never know who'll bite and start playing along, whether you're on a roleplay server or not!

That's why I was so thrilled to read Anna of Too Many Annas' most recent Friday Five post. She's borrowed the famous Friday Five meme** and put a fun, roleplayer's twist on it: she's asking her Friday Five questions to our toon(s) instead of us. Starting out light, it seems like she's going to use it as a way to ease the newcomers into the concept of developing a character for roleplaying. If you ask me, it's also a great way for the non-newcomers to explore their character a bit more, perhaps even flesh out some details they hadn't encountered for themselves, yet.

All I know for sure is that I'm stoked, and the toons in my head are all clamoring for attention. Here's my Friday Five - RP Style. Let's see yours!

  1. What is your character’s name?
    My name is Rhoelyn. In the lands outside of Teldrassil, I am sometimes given the surname of Silverwing, though I rarely use it for fear that the Sentinels to whom it truly belongs would object. I believe my friend, Axus, chose it in reference to my hair. I would never presume to call him unimaginative, but ... well...
  2. Why did he/she pick his/her class?
    One does not choose to become a priestess of Elune; the Goddess does the choosing, and we who are so blessed answer Her call. I believe I knew this was my path from a very young age. Suffice to say, I cannot remember a time before I knew that I was a healer and lightbringer. Certainly, I would not know how to be anything but a priest. It is my role in the deepest, most intrinsic sense.
  3. What’s the worst trouble he/she ever got into as a child?
    Somehow, though I have ever been the last child to cause trouble, I found myself in it quite often when I was young. I suppose that has something to do with my brother, Rhese, and his unerring ability to convince me to join in whatever adventure he had found for the day. No matter how clearly I saw the danger, I never had the heart to tell him 'no' when he turned that excited smile my way. Not then, and certainly not now.

    The worst punishment we ever received, though, was when we decided to follow a friendly furbolg we encountered outside Starfall Village. He told the most amusing stories, and before we realized it, we were standing on the outskirts of Astranaar, waving goodbye as he flew off on a hippogryph. When our keepers finally found us, they were so upset that they refused to let us out of their sight for a solid fortnight. It was very ... stifling.
  4. What is his/her favorite thing to eat?
    My favorite food? Hm. I do not really have a favorite. I just eat what I need to be well fed. Does the flavor really matter?

    ... then again, I did really enjoy that Box of Chocolates from my friend, Rastelli. Do candies count?

  5. What does he/she have in his/her pockets?
    Oh, dear. Are you sure you really want to explore that potentially hazardous topic? I carry so much in my packs that they are near to being classified as disaster areas. Truly.

    Imagine a dank, cluttered space bursting with a dozen different types of herbs, potions, cloth, odd dusts, dirt, keepsakes, and even a few pieces of equipment. Now, add quest items - most of them grisly and rotting - a few dormant pets, a pretty dress or two, and one very small purse of Gold.

    I pity poor Murky for having to put up with it, but he seems to be quite content to spend his days swimming amongst the detritus.

* Or does the comic silliness give it away? :o
** Gasp. Yes, another one! They are rather... viral. ;)



Feb 4, 2008

Intro: Rhoelyn, the Toon

Because everyone likes to know what the bejoolies is going on, let's continue getting to know the different themes and types of posts you'll find here. Meet the charcoal grey theme:

./who Rhoelyn of Proudmoore

Rhoelyn of Proudmoore
(c) Blizzard Entertainment, 2007

Allegiance: Alliance
Race: Nightelf
Class: Priest, Shadow
14 / 0 / 47
Played: 58 days
(over 3 years)

Level: 70
Tradeskills: Herbalism (375)
Alchemy (375)
Raid Experience: Molten Core, Onyxia, Blackwing Lair, Zul'Gurub, Ahn'Qiraj, Karazhan, Gruul's Lair and more

Overview:

The scene is Teldrassil, sometime roughly in the middle of the World of Warcraft Closed Beta Test. One moment, Conservator Ilthalaine was standing alone on a grassy hillside. The next, he was staring at the game's latest newb, a silver-haired young priest wearing a shiny, green 'Rhoelyn' tag over her head.

Five minutes later, after she'd floundered around, learning the basics of moving and clicking and controlling the camera, he gave her the first quest on what would become a long and illustrious career in Azeroth... and beyond.

Baby Rhoelyn (or Rhoelyn I, as I like to call her) loved all the typical newb things. She danced her funky nightelven dance. She jumped her funky nightelven jump. She Smited some boars and imps and panthers, and over time, she managed to be less newb and more kena. (I'd say 'face melty', but keep in mind that face melting came along much later.) She figured out what Shield was for. She practiced her Heals and made funky resurrection macros. She made it all the way from level 1 to level 52... and then Beta was over, and she was wiped from the servers like so much errant data. But somewhere, on the other side of the computer screen, the knowledge she had earned of how to NOT be a newb priest endured!

Thus, when the live game began and people were scrambling to be the first to login, Ilthalaine found himself once more staring at a purple-skinned toon wearing a shiny 'Rhoelyn' tag. Only this time, he knew better than to underestimate his newest student. Armed with 52 levels of unproveable experience, Big Rhoelyn (Rhoelyn II) blasted her way through Shadowglen, then Teldrassil, and then an Azeroth that she had already defeated, stopping only to read every single in-game book she found. :P

As a result, Rhoelyn was hardly the first toon to 60... more like toon #198,204 to make the level cap. Approximately. She trailed her friends, but they were all kind and amused by her witty /g chatter. When she was level-appropriate, they helped her through all kinds of group activities, and she learned all about both solo and party play. She turned out to be passingly good at whatever needed doing, fun to play with, dedicated to her guild and her friends, and just generally a nice toon to have around. (Only a few people she's come across would disagree, and that's really because they wore their loincloths too tightly.)

Before the Burning Crusade came, Rhoelyn had the opportunity to get a lot of raid play time in with her guild(s). She had leveled with the Shadow talents, melting faces (once face-melting was invented) with evil joy, but she quickly switched to Holy in order to save her errant friends' lives in Molten Core, Blackwing Lair, the Temple of Ahn'Qiraj, Onyxia and more. Those experiences taught her a lot, not just about being a great priest, but also about people and devotion and the life cycle of guilds. She carried all of this into the next level grind when Azeroth gave way to Outlands in the advent of the Burning Crusade.

Now, having fought her way up to level 70, she resides primarily in Shattrath City where she devotes herself to her current guild, . She has returned to a Shadow talent spec, and lends her face-melting power to the guild's second Karazhan group, which she helps her good friend, Ultarn, to lead. Outside of raid time, she can usually be found pursuing some futile attempt to earn enough gold for her epic flying mount, gleefully mixing Alchemy potions, or farming for herbs so that she can resume gleefully mixing Alchemy potions. She takes great joy in learning about her fellow adventurers, including tips, tricks and abilities for classes not her own.

The Gyst: Rhoelyn of Proudmoore is the World of Warcraft toon whose experiences and abilities translate directly to game play. Journal entries in soothing grey will be discussions of game mechanics, strategies, play styles, PvP and all kinds of practical advice for the people who sit in front of a priest of their own. Here is where you will find class-related ways to improve your play, but if you think the only 'voice' you'll hear from is Rhoelyn's, then you might be in for a surprise.

To be continued ...