WoW = World Peace

I was AFK for almost two weeks over the holidays... which explains why this pally still hasn't beaten HoR! :(

The holidays were packed full of travel, visiting family members, and trying to hide the WoW withdrawal (symptoms include shakes, gazing longingly at anyone holding a laptop, and yelling "Handle it!")

One thing that did surprise me was how much I missed my WoW friends. It was only ten days... and still, I kept wondering how my guildies were doing and thinking about how much this warrior or that DK or that druid would love to hear my funny story about my family's super alcoholic holiday punch.

WoW friendships are a funny thing - I've never met these people in RL, but I spend hours with them just about every night. You get used to spending that time with those people, and when they aren't around, you miss them. One of my former guild masters left the game about six months ago, and I still miss him like crazy - much more than I miss, say, some of my best friends from college who I haven't seen in years.

One of the many, many things I love about WoW is the way it has expanded my world. I've got friends of all ages, all over the world, in all walks of life. I'm an almost-30 woman living in a small town in the Pacific Northwest - there is no other way I would have met a high school student in California, a landscaper in Florida, a semi truck driver who could be anywhere in the lower 48.

And, crazy as it sounds, these friendships from a virtual world make me more connected and engaged with the real world. When General Motors filed for bankrupcy last year, I worried about the mage in Michigan who makes parts for them. Florida had record lows this week, and I was hoping that DK in Tampa didn't have his pipes freeze. When South Korea experienced flooding this summer I sent a letter to the warrior serving in the Army in Dagu to make sure he was ok.

The world is a smaller place since I started playing WoW, and things that happen half a world away effect the people I care about - and effect me, too.

So hey - it could be that the key to world peace is just getting everyone to play World of Warcraft. Because who would start a war if your top tank was living in that country? ;)

Gender Rolls

Girly Pally - surprise, surprise - is a girl in RL too.

And one of the great things about downloading vent and buying a headset ("umm... for my friend," I told the clerk at Best Buy - Girly Pally being squarely in the WoW closet) was the realization that I'm not the only woman in WoW.

As my husband says, I'm one of 13, maybe even 14 girls who play WoW. ;)

Actually it's been awesome meeting some serious, fabulous women who WoW. And so far I've noticed some similarities among my virtual female friends.

First, they tend to be pretty drama-free. This may be because there are so few of them, and yes there is one girly mage I know who kicks up some controversy from time to time, but the major drama I've witnessed tends to be between guys.

They also tend to know their stuff. Again, this could be the group I run with, or just that I've known a lot more men than women in WoW - and I've known one major exception who couldn't seem to understand that you must move out of the fire or you're going to get burned (made me wonder how she cooks...) but I've noticed no major difference in skills between the boys and the girls. Actually, for a while the top geared player on our server (Grizzly Hills) was a holy girl pally.... sadly, not this holy girl pally!

And - they aren't tanks. Far and away, most of the women I've met in Azeroth are healers. There are a few dps, both ranged and melee (mages, rouges, and hunters mostly) - but resto druids and holy pallys seem to dominate with the XX chromosome set.

I've never met a female tank.

Sure, I've met guys who rolled girl tanks - but the voice on vent for that cute little warrior chick has always been male.

What's up with that?

Is it society? Is it the way we were raised? Are we women caving to cultural demands that we fill the role of nurture/healer, or is it just more fun to dps the heck out of a monster than worry about aggro? In a world where you can experiment with becoming something other than what you are - where you could even roll a different gender - it's interesting that so many women choose not to experiment with the traditional masculine roll of warrior/protector.

Girly Pally has decided to try bucking the system... I rolled a dranii warrior who has already tanked Stockades and Scarlet Monastery. ;)

What about you? Any girly tanks out there? What do you think about gender and its impact on our rolls (and roles) in the game?

Holiday shopping... WoW style!

Well, Girly Pally's holiday shopping is all finished.... on WoW :P

This year I went to the AH and got everyone a companion animal. Prairie dogs and tree frogs seem to be very popular this year!

Then I picked up some wrapping paper (available in a bunch of random places, but I just happened to be passing through Elwynn Forest, so I got some off the innkeeper there) and turned those prairie dog whistles and tree frog boxes into beautifully wrapped presents.

This works out well, because I'll be offline for a couple weeks while I get out of town for Christmas and New Years. Since I worry obsessively about my friends if they are logged off for several days (yes, Girly Pally is that neurotic...) I like to tell people if I'm going AFK for a couple days - and what better way to hear your friend is going offline than to get a shiny package from her in the mail?

I'd love to hear about other WoW holiday traditions out there... Do you always visit Father Winter? Have a guild office party? Any other fun, cool celebrations out there?

Worst. Pug. Ever.

So a friend of mine who I hadn't seen in a few weeks logged on last night, and I was wicked excited to show him the new dungeon finder system. We grouped up and got into UK... no problems, right?

The tank - a gnome warrior whose name I have totally blocked from my memory - comes in and immediately says "u all suck u should delete your chars"

Ok... I nod, smile, and say "rdy when you are!"

He says: "shut up"
Me: "excuse me?"
Dude: "oh i'm sorry.... SHUT UP"

We run the first few rooms with no problems - no health bars even got below half - and then he starts up again: "ur heals suck"

Me: "I can stop healing you if you'd like :)"
Dude: "would be better than ur heals"

I got so mad... I let him die!

I've never done that before - but I don't think I've ever been that angry in WoW before. It was a total disaster, I felt like a jerk, and my friend didn't get any of the Trimph Emblems he really, really needs.

We got back in UK and he totally had his vengence... he pulled a few dragons, dumped the aggro, and ran out of the room. Wipe number two in UK - ouch!!!! >.<

The other two random dps left the group, and we did too - my friend was out of time, and we were both pissed off. Yuck! This is exactly the kind of obnoxious stuff that non-gamers picture when they think of ppl who play WoW....

Please people - don't reinforce the stereotypes! Please!!!! :)

Your friend is a jerk....

Ah, my good friend left the guild yesterday!

I logged on ready to head to Icecrown and help Jania escape the Lich King in the Halls of Reflection - and noticed his name wasn't on my guild list. I wasn't able to get the full story (too bad, because Girly Pally kind of likes to hear about drama) because he's been very quiet lately and my new all-business-all-the-time guild wasn't telling, but an officer confirmed it was a /gquit, and promised that he didn't /gkick my friend.

Girly Pally has run with this guy since Westfall - yes, Westfall. We've borrowed gold from each other, farmed Blood Furnace a million times, he was there when I hit 80, and I followed him when I left both my previous guilds. In Azeroth, we're tight... and outside of Azeroth, I like to think we're friends too.

But as much as I like him - dude is drama. He's a yeller ("WHY DIDN'T YOU HEAL ME!!!!!!!"), he's emotional, he's moody - and he's funny, generous, and kicks serious butt as tank and dps on his three 80s.

So what's a girly pally to do?

In my previous guilds there was a fair amount of eye rolling, /whisper It's just him... and letting things be. The drama has always been worth it to Girly Pally, who likes to get to know people as individuals as well as tank, heal, or dps.

Still... it's a little embarassing to feel like you have to apologize for your friend, or walk on eggshells around him.

Does anyone else have someone like this they WoW with - or even hang with in RL? What do you recommend??