The Twitter Secret Santa Art Exchange

or

I Couldn’t Be Arsed to Find out about Password-protected Posts and Didn’t Care too Much whether Everyone Knew What One of My Characters Was All About

Edit: I made a separate post with the references when I realized this post became way too long for the poor guy or gal who has to draw my toon. And I didn’t want them to think “My god, when is he finally getting to his references? I don’t want to read through all of this nonsense and whining first.” The references can be viewed here.

Now, after that is out of the way, on to the excitement and whining. And nonsense, but that’s a given with me anyway.

Just a random picture of the Tirisfal zeppelin tower near Undercity.

Wow, that subtitle sounds way less cool and more aggressive than I thought it would. But since the lazyness factor is captured perfectly, I’m just going to leave it there.

…

What did I want to post about?

…

Oh, yes.

I’ve recently rekindled my love for drawing (after I had drawn next to nothing for several years), which is probably at least partly because I love experimenting with my (first ever) tablet. I feel like my sketches and “pencil” drawings have become somewhat better, but I haven’t found my “groove” with colours yet (tips are always welcome; I don’t even care if they’re about drawing, writing, behaviour or drinking). I really hope this isn’t one of my squirrelly flavor-of-the-month things and I stick with it, because it’s really fun to just forget your surroundings and problems and indulge in drawing stupid stuff for a few hours. I don’t know why, but writing doesn’t quite do that to the same extent. Maybe because I don’t have to think too much about how particular words and vernacular expressions could be translated from my mother language into English. But it’s probably more the fact that writing doesn’t come as natural to me. I don’t even remember if there was any particular reason why I stopped drawing when I did.

Anyway, a few days ago, I stumbled across this on twitter. The Twitter Secret Santa Art Exchange.It sounded like something I might like to sink my teeth into (which isn’t to say I’m necessarily on Team Edward; well, I’m not really on any Twilight team, but if Cho’gall was an option, he’d be my pick — the dude is big, bulky, has two heads, looks like he can smash you with his pinky, and the eyes all over his body are creepy as hell; when it comes to picking teams, I guess I’m quite the opportunist if I don’t have a strong opinion on any of it) and so, without thinking much about it, I signed up for it.

Oh, the horror! … Not really, but I have to illustrate my self-doubt in an exuberant fashion because otherwise I doubt that I get my point across (I even have doubts about speaking out about my doubts … huh). Don’t get me wrong, I am thrilled at the opportunity to create something for someone else than me. And the precise due date will keep me on my toes about it (I hope — I am terrible with due dates). But after I saw some of the previous years’ art (which can be viewed here: 2009, 2010), I became seriously concerned I was going to disappoint whoever had the misfortune of being the artist  I would be drawn to draw for. I’ll just have to give it my best shot and hope I can surprise myself, I guess.

I’m sure it will be fun (I know I did sound more like I was going to kill myself a minute ago, but I’m really psyched — that is a positive word, right? — at the opportunity). Plus, I receive a piece of art myself, drawn by one of the exceptional artists participating in the exchange. And who can say no to that?

Read Full Post »

Secret Santa Art Trade — References

Snippy

Snippy in the Spiritmender set (Spiritmend Robe and Spiritmend Shoulders), probably my favourite non-tier cloth set.

The Character

Snippy has always had a hand for fixing things rather than creating them on his own. As an engineer, that means he was mainly there to repair other people’s inventions and improve their functionality. Since those inventions came from engineering themselves most of the time, he lived a very dangerous life filled with explosions and subsequent shopping tours for new, unburned clothes. Which is why he eventually took up tailoring as his second profession. If he could fix complex mechanical gadgets, how hard could it be to fix his work clothes? Ignoring his initial difficulties, he soon developed quite skillful weaving and stitching techniques (again, based on the ideas of others and refined).

Being good at repairing and stitching things together, it seemed logical for him to pursue the career of a priest when he was enlisted for war. The Light itself has become more of a means to an end and (primarily) a very interesting study case for him. He is not really a devout follower of the Light like many Draenei, but since it seems logical to him that he could only study the Light if he believed in its existance, he believes in it enough to wield it. The fact that this is reverse logic doesn’t bother him at all.

The study of the Light has changed his behaviour quite a bit, even though he is not aware of it. He has gone from the typical gnome (lively, open-minded, overly curious, painfully honest, smiling all day long, and freaking out — both the good and the bad way — about the smallest things) to a much more balanced, calm, diplomatic, and mild-tempered person (still curious, open-minded and smiling a lot, though). This change, however, is not fully carried out, and if his self-restraint fails him he explodes with emotion. He’ll be furious, exstatic or depressed even more than a “normal” gnome in those cases (if any gnome really is normal).

He has a heart for critters and is often seen playing with a moonkin hatchling or an armadillo or has a mechanical pet he’s repairing for a friend next to him.

The Appearance

Snippy is in his late 40s, which in human years equates to something around his mid to late 20s; so he’s quite young still. His face is, for gnome standards, fairly pretty (if no mechanical squirrel has exploded in it) except for the very prominent nose that is the trait of all gnomes, and his calming smile adds to the sympathetic aura he emanates.

Mug shot profile. He doesn't look too happy, does he?

Unfortunately, creating a gnome with a pretty face is an impossible feat in this game. I guess that's what all the facial hair is for.

These are some facial shots so you get an impression of what he might look like.

His very clear-cut hair is more reddish-brown (think fox) than it appears in the pictures, and I imagine his eyes to be azure blue (with a hint of grey) rather than pink (unfortunately, eye colour is fixed to the face).

He is very cleanly and neat (a bit vain, but not overly so), and doesn’t like bad hygiene. He’s a bit of an order (and control) freak and hates irrationality and chaos (which makes him even more angry when he loses his temper and becomes irrational). He shaves daily if there is a possibility to do so (he has had bad experiences with beards and volatile inventions).

He isn’t a very physical person and doesn’t exercise much, which gives him a very lean, but not in any way muscular — almost fragile — look.

The Accessories

Snippy is a gnome of very simple taste. Since he has begun his studies of the Light, he has become more comfortable in robes, to the point where he will wear them almost exclusively (if he’s not tinkering on something). Other than that, he doesn’t wear any necklaces, rings, amulets or other trinkets of sentimental value. It’s just not logical to him why he should overburden himself with things that don’t have a practical use.

Whether you want to portrait him in a tier set-like bombastic and breath-taking outfit or in the simple robes of a priest is entirely up to you. Shoulder pats or no shoulder pats, I don’t care. Most helms I don’t mind. Even hoods that obstruct the view of the face are fine by me. Engineering goggles are fun to look at, and I don’t mind them at all (as long as they fit the picture ). The only exception is the tier 1 head piece. I don’t want him to have Mickey Mouse ears (the rest of the set is nice, though).

My favourite tier sets are

• tier 5
• tier 6
• tier 8 25 (mouth cloth piece or not, either is fine)
• tier 11 regular (although I don’t necessarily like the veil in front of the eyes — again, no pratical use)
• tier 12 regular (this one probably without the fish-bowl-socket-space-suit helmet, though)

Tier sets I don’t quite like as much (I don’t need a list for them) are tier 9 and 10 (they are fine in themselves, I just don’t like how they look on him somehow). But if you can make those look good, feel free to do clothe him in them anyway.

I have attached a few pictures of Snippy in some of his non-set robes below so you can see what he might wear (pictures vary in color, saturation, hue and brightness to better bring out the colours of the dresses- umm…robes; the first one in the series is probably best for skin colour reference and similar things; note that my in game graphics are not very high…poor old machine can’t handle fancy water).

Concerning weapons, you have absolute freedom. I don’t care if its a stick, a dagger, a mace or a wrench. He can have a weapon or have left it at home (he can sometimes be quite oblivious to these things).

ATTENTION! This last one is Not Safe For Work!! Viewer discretion is advised.

YOU WERE WARNED!

The Picture

Not much to say here, really.

Whether funny or serious, fiercely battling or being spit on his head by a troll, in a majestic pose or petting an armadillo, I don’t care, really. I don’t prefer any of these aspects and am happy with anything you can come up. So, no constraints there. Let your creative juices flow!

Read Full Post »

Not Dead Yet — An Indirect Apology

No, I didn't hide from you. Not at all.

Hey, my faithful and probably very disappointed readers. I know I haven’t been the most frequent blogger over the past few weeks (if I ever was).

That has several reasons, which I’m not going to bother you with. Let’s just say I’m lazy, work piles up because of it and, to make matters worse, I was away for some time.

Ultimately, this post is something like me handing you a forget-me-not with puppy eyes and asking you to give me a little time to get everything sorted out before I go on posting in a regular and topical fashion (at least I hope I’ll do that eventually).

Oh, and it is a short recap of “things that were, things that are, and some things that may yet come to pass.”

Read Full Post »

Stories of Spooning With the Os

Dum duddledum duum dumdumdum dum duddledum duum dumdumdum

A very daunting title, I know. For some obscure reason that I cannot comprehend the two Os — Oestrus and Ophelie — invited me to join their healing roundtable of The Double O Podcast (yes, we are all spying for her Majesty and no, despite my name being Daniel I don’t look a bit like Daniel Craig) as the priest guest. Apparently, all it takes to get onto a podcast is to offer. Who would’ve thought? If that isn’t encouraging, I don’t know what is. I have no doubt in my mind that they were running out of good options, though. Oh, and the fact that I am German and they expect me to have some weird accent might have played a role as well.

The Double O Podcast is not only an eccelent podcast about WoW and hosted by the wonderful and illustrious outspoken, opinionated, openminded, observing, omnipotent, omniscient, off-the-cuff, organized, outrageously original, overpowered, outstanding, outright owning, and otherwise O-some personalities that are Oestrus and Ophelie; one of the points that sold me personally was that they focus on a specific topic (and a different one) each episode and stick with it for the entire episode. In that respect, they are quite different from your normal WoW podcasts, which consist of news to a large degree. So, if you ever wanted to learn more about how to earn more gold in WoW or what it is like to be a gamer parent, listen to The Double O Podcast. Like, now. What are you waiting for? DOOO EEEEET!

The episode will, as I mentioned, be a healing roundtable. Since Oestrus spilled the beans on Twitter already (this IS how you’d say that, right?), I’ll go ahead and introduce you to the other knights of the O-shaped table (all THE awesome!!!). Besides yours truly (who can still not believe he’s going to be on a podcast and is afraid he might serious eff up the whole affair) the episode will include:

• Jasyla from Cannot be Tamed
• Lodur from WoWInsider (or WoWJoystiq or WoW.com or whatever they are now; I lose track) and World of Matticus
• Lynesta from Word of Glory

We’ll record on Sunday evening (or rather night for me) and the podcast will then probably take a few days to get all my “umm”s and silences (as I think of the right word for something) edited out.

Did I mention that I feel giddy as a horse? What? I don’t care if it’s a normal horse or a Worgen mount.

Can it be real?

If you have any healing-related questions, you can either send them to Oestrus or Ophelie via Twitter. Or you can also comment below or email me.

Read Full Post »

Class Feedback: Priest

A gnome priest in his natural habitat: above the ground. Most times because he blew up.

Blizzard (fairly) recently asked the player base for their opinions on their classes: what they feel makes their class more/less fun, how they feel their class performs and what they would like to see for their class in the future:

We’re looking for feedback on your class as we work on changes and adjustments for a future game update. While we may be making some specific class changes in 4.3, what we’re looking for in this thread is overall feeling on the class as a whole for more long term changes in the future.

As this is one of the few chances to voice your stance on the class(es) you love to play with a good likelihood it will be read, you should seize the opportunity. Now. Go on, spit spot!

Now, without further ado, here is my feedback (on the official forums, it can be found in these three posts):

Read Full Post »

How to Touch the Cooker … in a Positive Way

He certainly won't touch the cooker a second time.

Warning! Long post containing lots of rambling and criticizing ahead!

Misconceptions are a rather funny thing. 90% of any sitcom’s story revolve around them; in action flicks, they make heroes go after the wrong bad guys (rendering the real bad guys with more time to practise their evil laughs … muhaha); and directors like M. Night Shaman (or whatever his name was) base whole movies around the misconceptions of their audience. Of course, you expect a twist (not the tree dance, people!) at any turn during the Shaman’s movies (hah, ‘twist at any turn’…brilliant!), but that’s beside the point.

Misconceptions in the raiding world of WoW are hardly ever as funny or entertaining. They can be thrilling, but most of the time they are thrilling in the wrong way. This is the story of one person who failed to state their expectations beforehand and then got angry about the people failing to meet these uncommunicated expectations. For anyone asking themselves who this incredibly handsome, awfully intelligent and utmost perfect individual might be: it’s me. Did I mention I am as modest as they come and completely down-to-earth?

Read Full Post »

Cannot be Shielded

No more beating around the bush. Here I come!

 

Ever since I signed up on Twitter (@danslatable *shameless plug … on my own site*) people have started visiting this blog; which of course I didn’t expect at all! So, to finally get started (and before I find something else to divert myself with — I mentioned I was kind of a squirrel that way, didn’t I?), here goes. This post was inspired by Jasyla‘s post about sniping heals and padding meters and is written from a PvE Discipline priest’s perspective, hence the title.

 

I wrote a blog post about sniping heals (i.e. “stealing” heals from other healers) as a Discipline priest in Wrath of the Lich King and Cataclysm and how the healing mentality had changed throughout expansions. I thought it to be well-written, very professional and including many mentions of spells, talents and much crunching of numbers. Typing the last few words, I felt this was going to be a great first “real” post.

Then I read it. And promptly deleted it.

It was confusing as hell. It wasn’t linear by any stretch of the imagination. But worst of all, it was boring. It read like an analysis of how different sizes of suitcases affect the packing standards of their owners. Interesting for a few select people, but not at all relevant for the majority of humanity. It wasn’t just a theoretical post about sniping heals with shields. You would have had to have played the game for several years to understand the background of it, and even then you would have had to have a profound knowledge of certain mechanics of the priest class. Which I’m not even sure I possess.

So, instead of telling you in detail how shields are so much more expensive in Cataclysm (shields are so much more expensive in Cataclysm — happy now?) and that they cannot be used to snipe heals from anyone any longer (well, okay, in singular cases they can), I will do something else. About shields, of course. I’m a Disc priest, remember? At least for this post.

Read Full Post »