I am a 28 year old male who plays a female Draenei shadow priest in World of Warcraft. I read and participate in various theorycraft in both EJ (www.elitistjerks.com) and shadowpriest.com. While there is a lot of good discussion in both forums, they are rarely up-to-date with the cutting edge rotations and priorities, so I'll post my own thoughts as they arise through my own experience with simming vs. first-hand raiding. First things first, my user interface:
Let me just say that I am entirely addicted to WoW and everything it represents to me: team play, adrenaline rushes, community, and prestige. The bonds that form through the struggle of downing a difficult encounter are priceless, and the commonalities we discover in those we spend so much time with only serve to reinforce those bonds.
I began my shadow priest roughly three years ago while being kited by a mind flaying priest whilst traveling alone on my death knight. I hated priests. I had to be one. Leveling a priest, as warned, was a daunting and ball-busting task that required not only patience, but a whole new level of perseverance to actually grind out difficult quests.
Since hitting max-level my life was raiding. Dungeons? Only if necessary. I strongly prefer the big internet monsters. It's very pleasing to play David vs. Goliath, especially when David is wielding a bright glowing staff housing dragon essence ready to be unleashed on his gigantic foe. In January, 2010 I transferred to US-Baelgun and began raiding with my current guild, Crisp. It was professional, to say the least. We had tight competition and a very clear goal to be the best on our server. It remained that simply until the launch of Cataclysm, when we realized that, as a tight-knit force, we were damned good at this game. We decided to aim higher, be bigger, be Crisp. Cataclysm brought new faces and a whole new skill set to our growing top-US-bound guild. Names like Massakur, Kitycarebear, and Grayblade joined our ranks in tier 11 to make us the clear favorite for server dominance.
Upon the shrinking and eventual collapse of both our rivals, Bane and Rage (and their merger, Bage), we were forced to set our sights on competition outside of our realm. We looked toward the top 100 US 25m guilds and said very loudly, "Here we come, bitches."
Shortly thereafter we said "here we are." And here I am, reporting on my personal and guild conquests and challenges as we continue to flush Dragon Soul heroics down the toilet that is tier 13.
