What classes bring what buffes/debuffs to raids, Part II

My last post on this subject listed the various buffs and debuffs that each class brought to raids, organized by the buff itself. I decided to repost that list with the entries organized instead by class, rather than buff. Like the last post, if a certain buff can only be brought by a specific spec of that class, I'll say so, and if being a certain spec improves that buff, I'll list the spec in parentheses, and ditto for hunters' and warlocks' pets. Items in italics are debuffs, while the rest are buffs.

Buffs

Death Knights: +strength/agility: Horn of Winter
Death Knights: water walking: Path of Frost
Blood Death Knights: +10% attack power: Abomination's Might
Frost Death Knights: +20% melee haste: Improved Icy Talons
(Balance) Druid: cause damage to attackers: Thorns + Brambles
Balance Druids: +5% spell crit chance: Moonkin Form
Balance Druids: +3% haste: Moonkin Form + Improved Moonkin Form
Feral Druids: +5% melee crit chance: Leader of the Pack
Feral Druids: heal self on melee crit (unique): Leader of the Pack + Improved Leader of the Pack
(Restoration) Druids: +armor: Mark of the Wild + Improved Mark of the Wild
(Restoration) Druids: +arcane resistance (unique): Mark of the Wild + Improved Mark of the Wild
(Restoration) Druids: +fire resistance: Mark of the Wild + Improved Mark of the Wild
(Restoration) Druids: +nature resistance: Mark of the Wild + Improved Mark of the Wild
(Restoration) Druids: +frost resistance: Mark of the Wild + Improved Mark of the Wild
(Restoration) Druids: +shadow resistance: Mark of the Wild + Improved Mark of the Wild
Restoration Druids: +6% healing received: Tree of Life Form
Hunters: +nature resistance: Aspect of the Wild
Hunters: detect stealthed/invisible enemies: Flare
Hunters: +ranged attack power (unique): Hunter's Mark*
(Beast Mastery) Hunters: +movement speed (unique): Aspect of the Pack + Pathfinding
Beast Mastery Hunters: +3% damage: Ferocious Inspiration
Survival Hunters: Replenishment: Hunting Party
Marksmanship Hunters: +10% attack power: Trueshot Aura
Mages: +intellect: Arcane Intellect
Mages: +healing/spell damage taken (unique): Amplify Magic*, -healing/spell damage taken (unique): Dampen Magic*,
Frost Mages: Replenishment: Enduring Winter
Paladins: +fire resistance: Fire Resistance Aura
Paladins: +frost resistance: Frost Resistance Aura
Paladins: +shadow resistance: Shadow Resistance Aura
Paladins: +10% stats (unique): Blessing of Kings, gain mana on dodge/parry/block (unique): Blessing of Sanctuary*, +mounted speed (unique): Crusader Aura
(Holy) Paladins: +mana per 5 seconds: Blessing of Wisdom + Improved Blessing of Wisdom
(Holy) Paladins: not loose casting time: Concentration Aura + Improved Concentration Aura
Holy Paladins: +resistance to poisons, diseases, magic (unique): Cleanse + Sacred Cleansing, Concentration Aura + Improved Concentration Aura
(Protection) Paladins: +armor: Devotion Aura + Improved Devotion Aura
Protection Paladins: -3% damage taken: Blessing of Sanctuary
Protection Paladins: +6% healing received: Improved Devotion Aura
(Retribution) Paladins: +attack power: Blessing of Might + Improved Blessing of Might
(Retribution) Paladin: cause damage to attackers: Retribution Aura + Sanctified Retribution
Retribution Paladins: Replenishment: Judgements of the Wise
Retribution Paladin: +3% damage: Retribution Aura + Sanctified Retribution
Retribution Paladins: +3% haste: Swift Retribution
Priests: +spirit: Divine Spirit
Priests: +shadow resistance: Shadow Protection
Priests: reduced fall speed: Levitate
(Discipline) Priests: + stamina (unique): Power Word: Fortitude + Improved Power Word: Fortitude
Discipline Priests: -3% damage taken: Renewed Hope
Shadow Priests: Replenishment: Vampiric Touch
Shamans: +fire resistance: Fire Resistance Totem
Shamans: +nature resistance: Nature Resistance Totem
Shamans: +frost resistance: Frost Resistance Totem
Shamans: water walking: Water Walking
Shamans: water breathing: Water Breathing
Shamans: +spell haste (unique): Wrath of Air Totem
Elemental Shamans: +spellpower: Totem of Wrath
Elemental Shamans: +5% spell crit chance: Elemental Oath
(Enhancement) Shamans: +strength/agility: Strength of Earth Totem + Enhancing Totems
(Enhancement) Shamans: +spellpower: Flametongue Totem + Enhancing Totems
(Enhancement) Shamans: +armor: Stoneskin Totem + Guardian Totems
(Enhancement) Shamans: +20% melee haste: Windfury Totem + Improved Windfury Totem
Enhancement Shamans: +10% attack power: Unleashed Rage
(Restoration) Shamans: +mana per 5 seconds: Mana Spring Totem + Restorative Totems
Restoration Shamans: not loose casting time: Earth Shield
Warlocks: water breathing: Unending Breath
Warlocks: detect stealthed/invisible enemies: Detect Invisibility
Warlocks (Voidwalker): detect stealthed/invisible enemies: Consume Shadows
(Affliction) Warlocks (Felhunter): +intellect: Fel Intelligence + Improved Fel Hunter
(Affliction) Warlocks (Felhunter): +spirit: Fel Intelligence + Improved Fel Hunter
(Demonology) Warlocks (Imp): +health: Blood Pact + Improved Imp
(Demonology) Warlocks (Imp): +fire resistance: Fire Shield + Improved Imp
(Demonology) Warlocks (Imp): cause damage to attackers: Fire Shield + Improved Imp
Demonology Warlock: +spellpower: Demonic Pact
Destruction Warlocks: Replenishment: Soul Leech + Improved Soul Leech
(Fury) Warriors: +health: Commanding Shout + Commanding Presence
(Fury) Warriors: +attack power: Battle Should + Commanding Pressence
Fury Warriors: +5% melee crit chance: Rampage
Protection Warriors: -3% damage taken: Vigilance

Debuffs

Blood Death Knights: -movement speed (50%): Heart Strike + Glyph of Heart Strike
(Frost) Death Knights: -melee attack speed (20%): Frost Fever + Improved Icy Touch
Frost Death Knights: -movement speed (50%): Chilblains
Unholy Death Knights: +13% spell damage: Ebon Plaguebringer
Druids: -armor (5%): Faerie Fire (Feral)
Druids: -melee attack speed (20%): Hurricane
Druids: -movement speed (20%): Hurricane + Glyph of Hurricane
Druids: can't flee: Rake + Glyph of Rake
Druids: can't stealth or turn invisible: Faerie Fire (Feral)
Balance Druids: +13% spell damage: Earth and Moon
Balance Druids: +3% spell hit chance: Faerie Fire + Improved Faerie Fire
Balance Druids: -3% chance to hit (melee): Insect Swarm - Glyph of Insect Swarm
(Feral) Druids: -attack power: Demoralizing Roar + Feral Aggression
Feral Druids: -melee attack speed (20%): Infected Wounds
Feral Druids: -movement speed (50%): Infected Wounds
Feral Druids: +bleed damage (30%): Mangle
Shadow Priests: +3% spell hit chance: Misery
Hunters: -3% chance to hit (melee): Scorpid Sting
Hunters: -movement speed (50%): Wing Clip
Hunters (Sporebat): -armor (3%): Spore Cloud
Hunter (Carrion Bird): -attack power: Demoralizing Screech
Hunters (Serpent): +casting speed (25%): Poison Spit
Beast Mastery Hunters (Wasp): -armor (5%): Sting
Beast Mastery Hunters (Worm): -armor (20%): Acid Spit
Beast Mastery Hunters (Core hound): +casting speed (25%): Lava Breath
Beast Mastery Hunters (Rhino): +bleed damage (25%): Stampede
Beast Mastery Hunters (Wasp): can't stealth or turn invisible: Sting
Marksmanship Hunters: -healing taken (50%): Aimed Shot
Arcane Mages: +casting speed (30%) Slow
Arcane Mages: -movement speed (60%): Slow
Arcane Mages: -ranged attack speed (unique): Slow
Fire Mages: +5% chance to be critically hit by spells: Improved Scorch
(Frost) Mages: -movement speed (70%): Frostbolt, Frostfire Bolt + Permafrost + Chilled to the Bone
Frost Mages: +5% chance to be critically hit by spells: Winter's Chill
Frost Mages: -healing taken (20%): Frostbolt, Frostfire Bolt + Permafrost
Paladin: can't flee: Judgement of Justice
Paladin: limited to normal movement speed (unique): Judgement of Justice
Paladin: heal attackers (unique): Judgement of Light
Paladin: restore mana to attackers (unique): Judgement of Wisdom
Retribution Paladins: +3% critical strike chance: Heart of the Crusader
Retribution Paladins: -attack power: Vindication
Shadow Priests: -healing taken (20%): Mind Blast + Improved Mind Blast
Shadow Priests: -movement speed (50%): Mind Flay - Glyph of Mind Flay
Rogues: -healing taken (50%): Wound Poison
Rogues: -armor (20%): Expose Armor
Rogues: +casting speed (30%): Mind-numbing Poison
Rogues: -movement speed (60%): Deadly Throw + Glyph of Deadly Throw
Rogues: -movement speed (70%): Crippling Poison
Combat Rogues: +4% physical damage: Savage Combat
Subtlety Rogues: -melee attack speed (20%): Waylay
Subtlety Rogues: -movement speed (70%): Waylay
Shamans: -melee attack speed (10%): Earth Shock
Shamans: -movement speed (50%): Frost Shock
Elemental Shamans: +3% critical strike chance: Totem of Wrath
Warlocks: +13% spell damage: Curse of the Elements
Warlocks: -armor (5%): Curse of Weakness
Warlocks: +casting speed (30%): Curse of Tongues
Warlocks: -movement speed (70%): Shadowflame + Glyph of Shadowflame
Warlocks: -resistances (unique): Curse of the Elements
Warlocks: +swim speed (unique): Unending Breath + Glyph of Unending Breath
Warlocks (Voidwalker): -10% chance to hit (unique): Suffering
Warlocks (Succubus): -melee attack speed (10%): Soothing Kiss
(Affliction) Warlocks: -attack power: Curse of Weakness + Improved Curse of Weakness
Affliction Warlocks: -movement speed (30%): Curse of Exhaustion
Destruction Warlocks: +5% chance to be critically hit by spells: Improved Shadow Bolt
Warriors: -armor (20%): Sunder Armor
Warriors: -melee attack speed (20%): Thunder Clap + Improved Thunder Clap
Warriors: -movement speed (50%): Hamstring
Arms Warriors: +4% physical damage: Blood Frenzy
Arms Warriors: -healing taken (50%): Mortal Strike
Arms Warriors: +bleed damage (30%): Trauma
(Fury) Warriors: -attack power: Demoralizing Shout + Improved Demoralizing Shout
Fury Warriors: -healing taken (50%): Furious Attacks
Fury Warrior: -movement speed (50%): Piercing Howl


*I only included these buffs for completeness sake. I know Hunters Mark only helps the hunter, that Blessing of Sanctuary only helps the paladin, and that Amplify/Dampen Magic suck.

Why hard modes are a better option than hard raids

Wrath of the Lich King brought many new things to WoW. One of them was the advent of Hard Modes. Although they became more prevalent with the addition of Ulduar, the original hard mode battle was Sartharion with three drakes. For those of you who don't know, Sartharion was the last Wrath boss before Ulduar was added. His lair contained him as the main boss and three drakes as sub-bosses. The drakes could be killed before Sarth, or they could be skipped. Each drake that wasn't killed would help Sarth out during the battle, making it more difficult as more drakes were left alive. If all the drakes were killed, however, Sarth became an easy run for easy epics. The rewards for leaving the drakes up were better loot, and if you left all three up, a chance at a drake mount and titles to show off just how badass you were.

Ulduar followed this model for many of its bosses, allowing 10 of the 14 bosses to be engaged in "hard modes," making them more difficult but allowing for better loot, as well as achievements, including this meta-achievement that rewards a cool-looking drake. This is a departure from the vanilla and BC model of raiding, in which the raid bosses were just very hard, meaning only well-coordinated raiding guild could kill them. It amazes me that this was Blizzard's design philosophy for raids for so long. After all, the majority of new content that we got from patches came in the form of raids, and yet raids were inaccessible to most people. This was especially true in the days of 40-man raids. Burning Crusade changed this somewhat when it allowed people to ease into raiding with the 10-man dungeon Karazhan and made the rest of the raids 25-man. Still, many guilds were not able to make the jump from Kara to the 25-man raids. Though organizing 25 people is significantly easier than organizing 40, the few people who knew that first-hand probably made the jump with no problem, while the rest of us were left behind in Kara. Thus raiding was still the land of the few.

Wrath of the Lich King changed this in multiple ways. First, Blizzard implemented two versions of every raid: a 10-man and a 25-man version. Although the belief that the 10-man versions are easier is debatable, that wasn't the purpose of implementing two versions of each dungeon. The purpose was to allow guilds to raid the way they are most comfortable raiding. Although the 25-man versions do give slightly better loot, the fact that these dungeons could be done in 10-man versions meant more people would actually see the raids. This makes a lot of sense from a design perspective. After all, why spend the majority of your time on content that the minority of your player-base is going to see? As I said in one of my other posts, Blizzard's main goal with Wrath of the Lich King seems to be to get more players into raids, and making each dungeon doable with ten people certainly makes that possible.

As I said before, Sartharion was also implemented with a hard mode so that casual players could enjoy seeing the battle while serious raiding guilds can still have something to brag about. Blizzard liked this idea so much that Ulduar got the hard mode treatment, meaning less serious guilds can still see the fights, experience the lore, and be amazed by the art design, while hardcore raiding guilds can still feel special about the difficult fights they have beaten. From a business standpoint, this is a really good idea, as it allows a wider swath of players to see the work that Blizzard puts into its content without completely taking out the challenge or denying the hard-core guilds the chance to show off just how good they are.

Some hardcore players felt quite indignant that raids, previously their own exclusive right and domain, were now being downed by more casual players PUG'ing their way through. I can understand their anger that raids themselves were once their exclusive right and no longer are, but I think they are being selfish. Asking Blizzard to continue to develop content for a small percentage of its player base is quite selfish on the part of those who got to raid in the old days. Besides, the one thing they always seem to complain about is that there is no more glory in being a raider. Now that anyone can raid, saying that you have full tier gear doesn't have the same impact it used to, nor does saying that you have finished a certain dungeon. This belief of theirs implies that there is less glory to be found in beating a hard mode encounter than simply beating a hard encounter. Perhaps this is true, but if you raid for the glory of it anyways, that's a pretty bad reason to raid. The true fun of raids is the personal satisfaction of defeating a difficult encounter, and I fail to see how defeating an encounter that is difficult itself is somehow less satisfying than defeating an encounter that you chose to make difficult. They are both equally difficult (I need a thesaurus, I know), so they should thus give raiders an equal amount of satisfaction. If they don't, I think the difference is really just in the raider's head.

How to pick a side hobby

WoW is a big game. There is a lot to do in this game, and though you should experience all of it in some respect, it's good to have one activity to fall back on when you just want to pass some time. Raiding, battlegrounds, and arenas are nice focuses for your game, but when you have a few hours before your guild's Ulduar run is scheduled to start or your full arena team isn't on yet, it's nice to have something to do on your own. That's what this post is concerned with; side hobbies. Here I will discuss various side activities and whether or not you will find them fun. I will also link the associated meta-achievement or max achievement.

Pet Collecting
Non-combat pets are those little companions that follow you around wherever you go. They are quite nice as a flavor item, and as a pet-collector myself, I can tell you that collecting them is an enjoyable pastime. In the days of pre-Wrath, when pets took up space in our inventory, pet-collecting was not a very lucrative hobby. Each pet you had took up one space in your bank or bags, thus making them rather cumbersome. With the new pets interface, that has changed for the better, and you can now have as many pets as you like without running out of bag space.

One of the nice things about collecting pets is the variety of activities involved in pet collecting. Some are gained through reputations, while others must simply be ground for. (I think that's the past tense version of grind. Edit: Confirmed) Many holiday events also give you a pet of some kind, which gives you even more motivation to participate in them. It you want a more focused activity with a more tangible reward, then you may not like pet collecting. Then again, most of these activities won't have tangible rewards. If you want to do something with valuable rewards, run some 5-mans or do some dailies. Also, pet collecting isn't something that you can really brag about, so if you want a hobby that will bring you fame and glory, look elsewhere. It's a shame that you can't display more than one pet at a time, but it is still nice to have many to choose from, especially when a pet showoff session happens in your raid. In the end, if you like varied activities with frequent rewards, pet collecting is a good choice for you. A good database for the dozens of pets available in the game is WarcraftPets.com.

Mount Collecting
Mounts are an important part of the game. They get you from point A to point B faster than hoofing it on foot will, and some even allow you to fly. Thus, collecting them can become a fun pastime. Since mounts are a good deal larger than pets, it's easier to show off your rare mounts than your rare pets. Like pets, mounts once took up space in your bags, which means you wouldn't want to have more than two; one for the ground and one for flight. The new pets interface also has a pane for mounts, which makes collecting them even easier.

Unlike pets, mounts often take more effort to get but come in groups. For example, many mounts require long reputation grinds, but once you finish those grinds, you get six or eight mounts that you can buy. Some mounts are also rare dungeon drops and take even longer to farm than rare pets. Of course, this means that getting one of those mounts can be a real status symbol. If you want something that requires more effort than pets but has more impressive rewards, mount collecting could be for you. Warcraftmounts.com is a good database for mount collectors.

Completing Old-world Quests
There is a lot of lore to be found in WoW, and most of it is found in the quests. Some give you engrossing storylines that also motivate you to go through those old-world dungeons that you missed, while others are just plain fun. Of course, some will make you pull your hair out with their low drop rates, but overall, old-world quests are worth doing. They give you reputation to help you get your crusader title, and though the money you make with them may not off-set the repair bills you build up, it's still worth seeing what you missed if you decided to grind through your levels like I did.

It can be difficult to remember which zones you cleared out in terms of quests, as well as which quests you did that were started by a zone drop. This can lead to long hours spent searching zones for quests you already did or grinding for items you already got. Still, doing old-world quests is really it's own reward. These quests were put in the game for you, so you may as well try them out. Although I don't know of any resources that allow you to see which quests you have already done, I know that wowhead is a great resource for finding quests that you may not have known about.

Exploration
Filling out your in-game map is a simple task that lets you see parts of the world you may not have seen otherwise. You will probably complete some of the exploration-related achievements by doing all of the old-world quests, but exploring for its own sake can also be rewarding. Aside from the title and tabard, you also get to see all of the effort the art team put into this game. Although, to be honest, aside from Jenkins, The Explorer is one of the most unimpressive titles in the game. Just saying...

Fishing
Although I did list the meta fishing achievement, fishing in general is a fun activity. You get to catch fish which can be turned in valuable food for raids, as well as some other interesting things. It's a relaxing activity that I myself enjoy a lot. In the olden days, fishing was less rewarding than it is now and was only a source of food. You may have been lucky enough to win the Stranglethorn Fishing Contest or fish up the 1 Ring, but aside from that, fishing was rather one-dimensional. These days, not only is fishing a source of some fantastic buff food, but you can also strike at rich with the dailies involved in fishing.

One of the nice things about fishing is that it's low key and peaceful (for the most part), and thus won't incur any repair bills. It's also possible to fish while waiting for other things. You can fish on a dock while waiting for a boat or fish next to a dungeon while waiting for your group to get there. Fishing is one of the few activities that you can do almost anywhere, making it quite a versatile hobby. If you seek something more action oriented, then fishing isn't for you. Also, though there are a variety of locations you can fish in and things you can catch, the basic motions are still the same. Still is you want something relaxing to do that you can do almost anywhere, you'll like fishing. A fantastic resource for fishing is El's Extreme Anglin', which has information on anything and everything fishing related.

Reputations
This is probably the most time-consuming hobby in the list. Many people grind reputation to some extent, but some are obsessive about it. Some get try to get exalted with as many factions in the game as they can. The rewards of reputation grinds aren't as great as they used to be, but back in the old days, you could acquire many things by being liked by the right people. There are also some reputations that don't really have great rewards, but people still grind them just so they can have another "Exalted" on their reputation tab. Those of you with no life could also go for Insane in the Membrane, if you really think it's worth it.

Although the ways you gain reputation with different factions vary quite a bit, they all have one thing in common: they take a long time. Grinding reputations as a hobby is not for those who play casually. This is an activity for those who really have nothing else to do and who just want to do something that takes a long time. Again, I don't know of any resources specifically for grinding reputations, but wowhead can probably help you. WoWWiki also has some good guides on effectively grinding various reputations.


It's worth noting that some of these hobbies bleed into one another. For example, pet collectors trying to get the Mechanical Chicken will need to do the old-world Distress Beacon quests, and as I mentioned, doing old-world quests will fill out a large portion of your map. You can also gain some of the rarest pets in the game by fishing. And, of course, many factions gives pets and mounts, so you will probably need to grind some reputations for those two hobbies.

So there you have it! Whatever your hobby may be, just remember to enjoy it. There's no point in playing WoW if you aren't having fun.

A philosophical analysis of the barrel series on XKCD

Edit: Blogger cut off the right edges of the comics. Click them to see the whole thing.

XKCD is one of my favorite web-comics, and though most of them are humorous in nature, some of the early ones seem to be more philosophical. This is particularly true of the barrel series. I recommend you read it and think of your own opinions on it before you read my musings on it so that you may develop your own thoughts rather than simply taking in mine.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Important aside
Part 5

Did you read it? They are all really short, so you may as well. They always confused me a bit, until one of my friends pointed out that they are meant to be meaningful, not funny. Thus I began to think about them, and these are the conclusions I came to. I present them to you strip by strip. Note that these are only my thoughts on these strips, and I do not by any means think that my opinion is the only correct one. Feel free to present your own opinion in the comments.


Thus our nameless protagonist starts on his adventure. The fact that he is never named means he could be anyone, and thus any of the trials he faces in his adventure could be faced by any of us. You will notice that proper capitalization is never used in this first strip. This represents a sort of rejection of society's conventions, or at least those of academia. And yet, after rejecting these conventions, our protagonist finds himself utterly alone in a vast expanse of sea. Perhaps the conventions that he rejected now seem to him to be something that connected him to the people around him. His face shows a lack of emotion, which to me shows that he must be feeling equal parts happiness and sadness. After all, how could someone lost in the ocean in a barrel not be at least nervous? Thus I think that he is happy that he is now free from the conventions that he rejected, but now realizes that they were simply part of the social system he too was a member of. By rejecting this system, he has rejected everyone else in his life.

Our protagonist now has only one option, and that is to abandon his society and wander. Without this familiar world, however, all he can do is wonder where he will float to next. What is interesting is that the panel of him lost in the sea is smaller than the panel of him wondering where he will float next. Perhaps the message in this size inconsistency is that it is more important to wonder where your life is going than it is to actually go there. After all, our protagonist has lost all that he knew with his rejection of society, and this society is now part of his past. He has thus rejected his past, and can now only look to the future. The future, however, is not guaranteed to be any better than his past. This is why his floating is trivialized by the size of the panel; it's not something he should actually look forward to. As we shall discover, the future can be fraught with danger and sadness.


One could interpret this to mean simply that there were no mothers where our protagonist floated, but I see more meaning in that. While he could mean there were no mothers in the places he floated to, I think it means that the places themselves had no mothers. I mean mother in more of the sense of a creator than the sense of a woman with a child. And who supposedly created all the places in the world? God. Thus, our protagonist has rejected not only his society but also his God.

You may think I am reading into this too much, but think about it. The protagonist makes his statement with a lot of certainty. None of the places he floated to had mommies; not a single one. That could not be a coincidence, and thus the only possibility is that there are no mommies in his world. This could also be simply a consequence of his rejection of society, but if this were the case, it would not be as much of a surprise to him, and he wouldn't feel the need to state that there were no mommies where he floated.

Staring into the abyss, our protagonist can see his inevitable demise, and yet he shows no worry; he is simply amazed by what he sees. It is important to realize at this point that our protagonist has abandoned his society and his God. Left floating in an endless sea, he has nothing to live for. My guess is that this is why he finds his doom interesting; if his life isn't worth living, then he may as well simply enjoy whatever it brings to him, even if it it brings him his own demise.

Of course, a maelstrom is no guarantee of death. People have survived them before, if not in reality, at least in fiction. Thus it is also possible that our protagonist is amazed simply because he knows he could survive the experience. And what an experience it would be; I can't even begin to conjecture on what it must be like to be sucked into a whirlpool, but it would certainly make a good story at the very least. If this is the case, then the larger lesson is that we should not fear that which may kill us. We could end up with an amazing story afterwards, or we may just be exaggerating the dangers. And if worst comes to worse, well, you can't really regret anything that kills you, can you?


At this point, the fate of our protagonist is unknown. We are left only with an image of his barrel floating semi-submerged in the water. It will probably sink at some point, disappearing from our protagonist's world forever. If he is still alive, he has now lost his only connection to his former world. In a way, this barrel was his world, and now it is on its way to a watery grave. In my opinion, this is meant to symbolize how when a man is removed from a world he has created, that world falls apart, and he cannot return. If our protagonist had made the ocean itself his home, he would still have a home to return to upon escaping the whirlpool. Instead, he tried to create his own artificial world, even while trying to escape the normal world. Now that he no longer has his barrel, he cannot return to it.

In a way, the barrel is symbolic of everything people try to do to make their lives easier. These include developing a Peter Pan complex, trying to shut out the tragedy in the world by avoiding the news, or using the idea of an afterlife as a way to not fear death. Often people do this because they find reality too difficult to deal with. Like the barrel our protagonist inhabited, these coping mechanisms are unreliable and can't protect people from the harsh realities of the world forever. At some point, these people are going to have to face the reality that they have been so diligently avoiding. And once they have done that, their old world and their old coping mechanisms will be gone. Having abandoned them, these people will now need to find some way to face the realities of existence without getting depressed. Life may be grim, but that doesn't mean that people need to be.


Although this strip is not technically a part of the barrel series, it still plays into the series's conclusion, and thus warrants analysis. We begin with a man who has whimsically put wings on his ferret, but his whimsy is ruined when his friend tells him his ferret could never fly. He is quick to assimilate to his friend's ideas of what is reasonable, not wanting to look silly. What is interesting is that the man's friend dismisses his fantasy and then suggests that they go indulge in a different kind of fantasy, i.e. video games. Perhaps his friend views video games as less silly than imagination because the fantasy is not his own, but someone else's. In other words, this man believes that having your own fantastic ideas is silly, but reveling in someone else's fantasy is perfectly acceptable. Then again, this man could be playing a realistic video game, in which case he simply rejects all forms of fantasy.

In the end, the first man forgoes playing video games in favor of indulging in his own fantasy of seeing his ferret fly over a lake. The proximity of their faces in this final panel suggests a great intimacy between them. Anyone who has ever felt that intimate with anyone, be it a person or an animal, can attest that it is a great feeling. One feels safe, comfortable, and happy when he or she is that close to someone, physically and/or emotionally. It's quite possibly the greatest happiness one can achieve. The message of this intimacy is that there is more happiness to be found in one's own fantasy than the fantasies of someone else.


And so we see our protagonist left drifting on a piece of wood in the vast expanse of ocean. The wood itself is probably of little comfort to him, since he is still submerged in the water. Then in flies our furry little winged friend to save him and they both fly off into the sunset. A touching ending, really. More important is the message of it, and I believe that message is that we can only be saved by our dreams. As we learned in part 4, most coping mechanisms for dealing with life's harsh realities don't work. The problem that these mechanisms have in common is that they all deal with shutting out part of the world. Dreams, on the other hand, deal not with blocking out what is but with imagining what could be. That is why our protagonist is saved by the ferret.

If you think I read too deeply into those comics, your probably right. Of course, considering the wealth of philosophical possibility in them, I'd like to imagine that Randall Munroe intended them to be analyzed in this manner.

Why I don't enjoy PvP

I'll admit it; I'm a carebear. I have a set of PvP gear left over from my Wintergrasp phase, but for the most part, I don't enjoy PvP. It's not because I don't enjoy PvP gameplay itself. I know a lot of PvP'ers think that us carebears don't enjoy PvP because it's actually a challenge, but if that were the reason, we wouldn't raid either. I quite enjoyed the challenge of PvP, since no two players ever fight the exact same way. Each battle is always different, and the thrill of it lies in the unpredictability.

But I digress. There is one reason that I don't enjoy PvP'ing, and it's more of a matter of principle than anything. Though I enjoyed PvP after I had gotten good at it, those days when I was just starting were really rough. I was always dying, and each death meant at least 30 seconds when I wasn't involved in the battle. In Wintergrasp, those 30 seconds could easily become two minutes in the right situations. Those were two minutes of me not being able to contribute to the fight at all, gain any honor, or have any fun. And those deaths happened a lot.

As I got better gear and became more skilled in the art of warfare, I began to die less often and actually be able to kill some players in fair battles. This should have been enjoyable, but those deaths I suffered back when I was starting out had done their damage. I realized that every time I killed an opponent in PvP, I was denying someone else that minute of action, of honor, of fun. All the things I didn't enjoy about PvP, I was now inflicting on someone else. That was my definition of victory: preventing another player from enjoying themselves. PvP in my opinion can best be defined as having fun by preventing another player from having fun.

Perhaps I'm just spoiled by PvE, but I find cooperative gameplay to be a lot more fun than competitive gameplay. In cooperative gameplay like raids, everyone has fun as long as everyone does their jobs. It's a win-win situation. Even if someone doesn't get gear from the encounter, they still get emblems and the satisfaction of killing someone more powerful than them. In PvP, however, every time someone wins, someone else needs to lose. I'm sure there are people who can walk away from a defeat, use it as motivation to play better next time, and be that much more satisfied when they do win, but I'm not one of those people.

Short post, I know, but there isn't a whole lot of explanation needed, really. Keep in mind that I am not saying anything against PvP; I'm just offering my reasons for not liking PvP so that maybe you PvP'ers can realize why we PvE'ers don't enjoy your part of the game.

How to avoid those "What do I do now?" moments

When I started playing WoW, I had one goal: to get to the level cap. I didn't think about why that was my goal or what I would do when I got there; all I knew was that was what I had to do. When I did get there, I had a moment I dreaded having: I thought to myself, "What do I do now?" After messing around in Outland for a while, I decided to make getting epic flight skill my next goal. Getting the Ogri'la dailies made that significantly easier, and though it took a while, I saved up that 5,000 gold. I knew I was going to have another WDIDN moment if I didn't think of something else to do after getting my epic flying skill, so I decided to go for exalted with Netherwing. I thought their mounts were really cool, and I had always heard people talking about how much money one could make with their dailies, so I figured it was a good goal. Well, when I did finally get my Netherwing drake, I had another WDIDN moment. I won't bore you with the continuation of my story. To sum it up, I've had quite a few of those moments where you complete a goal and realize you don't know what to do next. This post is about avoiding them.

The key to preventing a WDIDN moment is rather simple: always have a goal. It helps to have both short term and long term goals, since you may not have enough patience to see your long-term goals to the end if you don't try other things. You could make your long term goal making enough money to buy epic flight or getting one of the meta achievements. With the advent of achievements, nearly everything that you do in the game has a reward. Pet and mount collecters have their own achievements, cooks and fishers get their own titles, and even raiders and PvP'ers can get in on the action. These meta achievements often have their own rewards that make them worth doing, but just doing them is really what makes the game fun.

So, once you have decided on a long-term goal, you need a short-term goal to keep you entertained while trying to achieve that long-term one. These goals could be getting exalted with a certain faction or grinding the materials for a certain item or just doing dailies for money. It helps if your short-term goals help your long term goals. For example, if your goal is to save up enough money for epic flight, you could make a short term goal out of getting exalted with Ebon Blade or the Alliance Vanguard, both of which have dailies that reward a good amount of money. You could also make your short-term goals completely unrelated to your long-term goals if you just need a break. If you are tired of grinding reputation for 40 Exalted Reputations, you could try running a heroic instance for a specific item or doing the daily instance for extra emblems to buy something with those.

Raids and PvP are also good options for things to do. They both give you cooperative experiences that are rarely the same and give good gear to boot, although the gear is really just a side reward. In fact, if you are raiding or PvP'ing on a regular basis, you are much less likely to have a WDIDN moment, so you probably don't need to worry about it. People who mostly do solo content are the ones who are likely to have those moments, so it's them that need to keep goals in mind.

To give you an example of the goal mindset, I'll give you my current goals. I want to eventually save up enough money for the Traveler's Tundra Mammoth. My main method of doing this is dailies, but just to keep me from being bored as I do those dailies, I'm also saving up Champion's Seals. I was collecting them for the pets at first (I did use them to upgrade my weapons, so the pets were my secondary goal), since I am an avid pet collector, but with the promise of new items for people with the crusader rank in patch 3.2, I decided to save them up instead. I'm also doing the fishing dailies in hopes of getting the Weather-Beaten Fishing Hat. I enjoy fishing a lot, especially now that it is a great source of raid food, so the hat would be a big help.

As you can see, for some, goals are really about biding your time between raids or battleground or arena battles. They give you something to do when you aren't working toward a common goal with other people. And if you don't enjoy any of the above activities, then goals are really what it's all about for you. After all, if you aren't helping others succeed, you'll only find satisfaction in your own success, so you need to create that feeling of success.

What classes bring what buffes/debuffs to raids

I don't really consider this an advice post, so I'm posting it on Monday. In my last post, I covered how many class-specific buffs and debuffs were given to other classes when Wrath of the Lich King came out. I thought I'd go over the various sources of the various buffs, just to see how many sources of each buff there really are. I list them first by the buffs themselves, then the classes that bring them. If a certain buff can only be brought by a specific spec of that class, I'll say so. If being a certain spec improves that buff, I'll list the spec in parentheses. This also applies to a specific pet if the class is a warlock or hunter.

Update: This list is now accurate for patch 3.2. The wowhead links may not reflect these new changes yet, but they will.

Buffs

Replenishment:
Survival Hunters: Hunting Party
Frost Mages: Enduring Winter
Retribution Paladins: Judgements of the Wise
Shadow Priest: Vampiric Touch
Destruction Warlocks: Soul Leech + Improved Soul Leech

+3% damage:
Beast Mastery Hunters: Ferocious Inspiration
Retribution Paladin: Retribution Aura + Sanctified Retribution

-3% damage taken:
Protection Paladins: Blessing of Sanctuary
Discipline Priests: Renewed Hope
Protection Warriors: Vigilance

+6% healing received:
Restoration Druids: Tree of Life Form
Protection Paladins: Improved Devotion Aura

+strength/agility:
Death Knights: Horn of Winter
(Enhancement) Shamans: Strength of Earth Totem + Enhancing Totems

+intellect:
Mages: Arcane Intellect
(Affliction) Warlocks (Felhunter): Fel Intelligence + Improved Fel Hunter

+spirit:
Priests: Divine Spirit
(Affliction) Warlocks (Felhunter): Fel Intelligence + Improved Fel Hunter

+health:
(Demonology) Warlocks (Imp): Blood Pact + Improved Imp
(Fury) Warriors: Commanding Shout + Commanding Pressence

+attack power:
(Retribution) Paladins: Blessing of Might + Improved Blessing of Might
(Fury) Warriors: Battle Should + Commanding Pressence

+spellpower:
(Enhancement) Shamans: Flametongue Totem + Enhancing Totems
Elemental Shamans: Totem of Wrath
Demonology Warlock: Demonic Pact

+Armor:
(Restoration) Druids: Mark of the Wild + Improved Mark of the Wild
(Protection) Paladins: Devotion Aura + Improved Devotion Aura
(Enhancement) Shamans: Stoneskin Totem + Guardian Totems

+mana per 5 seconds:
(Holy) Paladins: Blessing of Wisdom + Improved Blessing of Wisdom
(Restoration) Shamans: Mana Spring Totem + Restorative Totems

+10% attack power:
Blood Death Knights: Abomination's Might
Marksmanship Hunters: Trueshot Aura
Enhancement Shamans: Unleashed Rage

+5% melee crit chance:
Feral Druids: Leader of the Pack
Fury Warriors: Rampage

+5% spell crit chance:
Balance Druids: Moonkin Form
Elemental Shamans: Elemental Oath

+3% haste:
Balance Druids: Moonkin Form + Improved Moonkin Form
Retribution Paladins: Swift Retribution

+20% melee haste:
Frost Death Knights: Improved Icy Talons
Enhancement Shamans: Windfury Totem + Improved Windfury Totem

+fire resistance:
(Restoration) Druids: Mark of the Wild + Improved Mark of the Wild
Paladins: Fire Resistance Aura
Shamans: Fire Resistance Totem
(Demonology) Warlocks (Imp): Fire Shield + Improved Imp

+nature resistance:
(Restoration) Druids: Mark of the Wild + Improved Mark of the Wild
Hunters: Aspect of the Wild
Shamans: Nature Resistance Totem

+frost resistance:
(Restoration) Druids: Mark of the Wild + Improved Mark of the Wild
Paladins: Frost Resistance Aura
Shamans: Frost Resistance Totem

+shadow resistance:
(Restoration) Druids: Mark of the Wild + Improved Mark of the Wild
Paladins: Shadow Resistance Aura
Priests: Shadow Protection

not loose casting time:
(Holy) Paladins: Concentration Aura + Improved Concentration Aura
Restoration Shamans: Earth Shield

cause damage to attackers:
(Balance) Druid: Thorns + Brambles
(Retribution) Paladin: Retribution Aura + Sanctified Retribution
(Demonology) Warlocks (Imp): Fire Shield + Improved Imp

water walking:
Death Knights: Path of Frost
Shamans: Water Walking

water breathing:
Shamans: Water Breathing
Warlocks: Unending Breath

detect stealthed/invisible enemies:
Hunters: Flare
Warlocks: Detect Invisibility
Warlocks (Voidwalker): Consume Shadows

reduced fall speed:
Mages: Slow Fall
Priests: Levitate

Unique Buffs:
(Restoration) Druids: Mark of the Wild + Improved Mark of the Wild
Feral Druids: Leader of the Pack + Improved Leader of the Pack
Hunters: Hunter's Mark*
(Beast Mastery) Hunters: Aspect of the Pack + Pathfinding
Mages: Amplify Magic*, Dampen Magic*,
Paladins: Blessing of Kings, Blessing of Sanctuary, Crusader Aura
Holy Paladins: Cleanse + Sacred Cleansing, Concentration Aura + Improved Concentration Aura
(Discipline) Priests: Power Word: Fortitude + Improved Power Word: Fortitude
Shamans: Wrath of Air Totem

Debuffs

+4% physical damage:
Combat Rogues: Savage Combat
Arms Warriors: Blood Frenzy

+13% spell damage:
Unholy Death Knights: Ebon Plaguebringer
Balance Druids: Earth and Moon
Warlocks: Curse of the Elements

+3% critical strike chance:
Retribution Paladins: Heart of the Crusader
Elemental Shamans: Totem of Wrath

+5% chance to be critically hit by spells:
Fire Mages: Improved Scorch
Frost Mages: Winter's Chill
Destruction Warlocks: Improved Shadow Bolt

+3% spell hit chance:
Balance Druids: Faerie Fire + Improved Faerie Fire
Shadow Priests: Misery

-healing taken:
20%:
Frost Mages: Frostbolt, Frostfire Bolt + Permafrost
Shadow Priests: Mind Blast + Improved Mind Blast
50%:
Marksmanship Hunter: Aimed Shot
Rogues: Wound Poison
Arms Warriors: Mortal Strike
Fury Warriors: Furious Attacks

-armor:
3%
Hunters (Sporebat): Spore Cloud
5%
Druids: Faerie Fire (Feral)
Beast Mastery Hunters (Wasp): Sting
Warlocks: Curse of Weakness
20%
Beast Mastery Hunters (Worm): Acid Spit
Rogues: Expose Armor
Warriors: Sunder Armor

-attack power:
(Feral) Druids: Demoralizing Roar + Feral Aggression
Hunter (Carrion Bird): Demoralizing Screech
Retribution Paladins: Vindication
(Affliction) Warlocks: Curse of Weakness + Improved Curse of Weakness
(Fury) Warriors: Demoralizing Shout + Improved Demoralizing Shout

-3% chance to hit (melee):
Balance Druids: Insect Swarm - Glyph of Insect Swarm
Hunters: Scorpid Sting

-melee attack speed:
10%:
Warlocks (Succubus): Soothing Kiss
Shamans: Earth Shock
20%:
(Frost) Death Knights: Frost Fever + Improved Icy Touch
Druids: Hurricane
Feral Druids: Infected Wounds
Subtlety Rogues: Waylay
Warrior: Thunder Clap + Improved Thunder Clap

+casting speed:
25%:
Beast Mastery Hunters (Core hound): Lava Breath
Hunters (Serpent): Poison Spit
30%:
Arcane Mages: Slow
Rogues: Mind-numbing Poison
Warlocks: Curse of Tongues

-movement speed:
20%:
Druids: Hurricane + Glyph of Hurricane
30%:
Affliction Warlocks: Curse of Exhaustion
50%:
Blood Death Knights: Heart Strike + Glyph of Heart Strike
Frost Death Knights: Chilblains
Feral Druids: Infected Wounds
Hunters: Wing Clip
Shadow Priests: Mind Flay - Glyph of Mind Flay
Shamans: Frost Shock
Warrior: Hamstring
Fury Warrior: Piercing Howl
60%
Arcane Mages: Slow
Rogues: Deadly Throw + Glyph of Deadly Throw
70%:
(Frost) Mages: Frostbolt, Frostfire Bolt + Permafrost + Chilled to the Bone
Rogues: Crippling Poison
Subtlety Rogues: Waylay
Warlocks: Shadowflame + Glyph of Shadowflame

+bleed damage:
25%:
Beast Mastery Hunters (Rhino): Stampede
30%:
Feral Druids: Mangle
Arms Warriors: Trauma

can't flee:
Druid: Rake + Glyph of Rake
Paladin: Judgement of Justice

can't stealth or turn invisible:
Druids: Faerie Fire (Feral)
Beast Mastery Hunters (Wasp): Sting

Unique Debuffs:
Arcane Mages: Slow
Paladin: Judgement of Justice, Judgement of Light, Judgement of Wisdom
Warlocks: Curse of the Elements, Unending Breath + Glyph of Unending Breath
Warlock (Voidwalker): Suffering

*I only included these buffs for completeness sake. I know Hunters Mark only helps the hunter, that Blessing of Sanctuary only helps the paladin, and that Amplify/Dampen Magic suck.