Casavel, my paladin tank

"My comrades are my weapons, and I am their shield.
While I draw breath, they shall not perish.
So long as they live, our enemies will fall.
I am defender, protector, guardian.
I am a Paladin." - Cathela the Seeker

This sums up so well what I feel when I pull on the plate and pick up a shield. I may only be a lowly level 70 tankadin at the moment, but she's coming along, slowly, but sure in her path.

So far I've only done a few guilded runs, the first of which was tanking for a 65, 70, 72 group. Yes, we four manned a few things like Underbog and Mana Tombs with only four people. I must say my level 65 healer rocked. I only freaked out once... and that was because I was tanking a nexus terror right next to a four pull. We somehow didn't pick up the four pull and the fear sent me in the opposite direction, Anti-Shadow buffs non-withstanding. Cleared both = happy, bit more confidant paladin tank.

Yes, those were my first attempts tanking. And the 65 priesty (welcome back Sol!!) was 66 by the time we were done, and rocked my socks off. The group was willing to risk getting severely mauled by a complete and utter rookie tank. I'd never actually tanked an instance prior to attempting those two.

Then last night? We did Nexus and Azjol-Nerub (AN). I did die twice, through no fault of our tree druid. The first time? I wasn't familiar with the patrols, and had a second patrol right into me. Single group pull turned into a massive two group pull, and I went down HARD. It basically was 60%, 40%, Dead.

Zharve (the Tree): "Wtf Cas' health? OMG MOBS!" :Dead Tree:

The second time? First time handling Keri in Nexus. Forgot about the tail swipe thingie, turned her just wrong, dead plant life, so dead paladin, and the 80 hunter kills her after everyone else is dead... go go Niqo!

AN went flawless as far as I'm concerned. Though, The paladin retadin/holyadin (Vel)and our Tree did comment at one point that it got close... I didn't notice, was too busy trying to keep all the mobs in ONE SPOT. I didn't have time to glance up at health bars, my eyes were trained on the mobs being hit by consecrate. They stayed put. ^_^

As I said to them, "If nobody died, it was a good pull." I admit as a tank, I put my trust in the healer and just dive in. I'll do my job to the best of my ability, just keep me alive. That's all I ask. Especially while learning the ropes of how to be a paladin tank.

Thank You Bloodriver. Thank you for being willing to let me practice on guild mates before attempting a PuG of any instance. Being able to survive two healers tells me I might actually be able to carry off this crazy idea of being a tankadin for our guild at 80. I'm also humbled by the fact you are even willing to let me try, when everyone knows I'm a hunter first. Thank you.

Spec 'Splosion

Well, I've got an annoying visual glitch on Casavel, my paladin over on WRA. Or more specifically, on her talents. Armory, and the game itself, both claim that for all intents and purposes I have a level 19 paladin, when in fact she's a 68. Armory shows I have a 0/10/8 build when I know its actually 0/51/8, with a planned 0/51/20. The game can't display anything past my first 10 points in protection. She does not have a dual spec, or even glyphs at this point. And she's the only character I've leveled since 3.1 came out... boy am I glad I don't need to put any points in the Prot Tree.

From reading a few forum posts, and talking to a friend over xfire, it sounds as though the glitch may be linked to dual specs. Or the new preview thing that Blizzard introduced. Jury's still out on that one, and I could see it being either.

I'm just worried that if she hits 69 the Ret tree will gray out like Prot did and I'll be stuck unable to spend points. I really do want to play my paladin, but with issues seemingly plaguing WoW, perhaps its time to test run War? I know, Tzia wondering about Warhammer... feel free to cringe. I know I am.

Does Your Character Have A Soul?

The question seems simple enough. Some people would argue no it does not. Its just colored pixels, the way a warlock's pet is just colored bits of light and data. Nothing more.

I say differently. Each character I play and interact with is different, even if it shares a name with another character. Tzia is my primary moniker in WoW, everyone knows me as Tzia, the hunter. I've had my main hunter, the troll, Tzia since at least mid July 2005. I've also had a few Night Elf, Draenei, Orc, and even a Tauren Tzia.

Yet, each one, weither played on a RP Realm or not, feels different; and not just from racials. My main has Ruka, her Pridewatcher. The others have various pets with other names scattered over the known WoW-verse. My Night Elves are always a touch timid, the tauren charged into everything, bull-like to the core, my draenei were always drawn to water. The orc? Just a bit stubborn, but drawn, if I remember correctly, to the wolves of Mulgore.

I always feel most at home playing my main hunter with Ruka next to her. The pet in part makes it home, and any time I play a Tzia, it feels weird to look down and not see Ruka next to her. Yet I wouldn't dream of taming just any old cat and naming it Ruka. Ruka is unique, different, and is only the troll's companion.

The other Tzia's, scattered from 12-55, are almost empty shells, without their stories or personalities told. I haven't played them enough to decide who they are individually. They do share a name, but that is all they share. Each will develop their own personality. I don't believe in cookie cutter of much of anything (even spec). The slightly sarcastic, raised by orcs, fiercely proud of Orgrimmar and the Horde doesn't come through on anyone except the troll. That IS her in-game persona. And even though I am Horde First, and the character gets that from me I can be comfortable enough in an alliance skin to play.

So does this mean that my troll has a soul? I think it does. She is my favorite character after all. The one I've put the most time into. So, it would stand to reason that she is unique, her personality fully developed, and a glimmer of a spark that could be called a soul exists somewhere inside.