20 Questions with Lassirra of The Hunter’s Mark
Folks today I’m again truly honored. Lassirra of The Hunter’s Mark has agreed to sit down with us for what I think you will find a truly insightful, honest, and funny interview.
Just in case you don’t know who Lassirra is, or what The Hunter’s Mark is I suggest you read below and then immediately go check out THM. Lassirra’s frank and honest writing style has helped her win over legions of fans as well garnered her a ton of respect within the Hunter community.
Well, enough accolades, let’s meet Lassirra.
Thanks again for doing this Lassirra; I truly appreciate your willingness to take time out for this.
No problem! I have to admit, I was a little excited about the whole thing. This is actually the first time anyone’s asked to interview me. I figure it’s a sign I’m officially e-famous or something now.
So how’s life at the moment? It seems a bit hectic with “Survivor Hunter Island” going on.
Yeah, things have been a bit hectic, I have to admit. I’ve never organized something like this before, so it’s been interesting trying to figure out how to proceed with the whole thing. I was actually surprised at how many submissions I got. I’ve sort of tested the waters with other smaller contests before that didn’t pan out so well, so I wasn’t sure what to expect from this, heh.
You seem to be every where, just how long have you been playing World of Warcraft
Hehe, for someone who’s actually extremely anti-social, I do somehow manage to get my hands into lots of different things. I have no idea how! Lol.
I’ve been playing WoW since shortly after its initial release, actually. Since the beginning of March, 2005. I’d been watching the press releases about the game before its initial launch since I’ve been a Blizzard fangirl for ages, and the only reason why I wasn’t lined up at the door with the other nerds on launch day was because I was being stubborn. This was the first “pay to play” game that Blizzard ever released, and I didn’t like it. So I boycotted the game, heh. That lasted a couple months, until one of my pals showed me the game first-hand. I knew I was sunk, then, and bought the game the next day, lol.
When you started playing WoW, what drew you to being a Hunter?
Hehe, funny you should ask. When I first installed the game, the first character I rolled was a Warrior. (A night elf—I won’t play anything but, if I can help it.) I got to about level 17 before I got bored with it and ran from Darkshore to Azshara just for something to do. Questing and soloing was tough as a warrior back then, and I hated it. My friend that introduced me to the game played a Hunter, and suggested I roll one. He figured I’d like it a lot better than my Warrior, and he was absolutely right! I played almost entirely solo at that point, because the folks I knew in-game had a head-start on me level wise, so I wanted to play a class that soloed well, but didn’t really feel like I was soloing, ya know? Playing a Hunter was perfect! I had my pet to keep me company.
At what point did you decide, “You know? I need to write about this stuff?
I can actually remember the EXACT moment I decided to start writing about it. It was a couple nights before 2.0 went live, and I was making the push to finally get to 60. (In my defense, I’d taken a 6 month long break from the game due to personal real life issues going on at the time, so there’s an excuse for why it took me so long to get to 60!) I’d been doing a few Google searches, looking for tips to help me out in choosing gear and stuff when I finally did get to 60 and couldn’t find ANYTHING! There were no “just for Hunters” sites back then and the official forums and ThottBot were what they’ve always been: a cesspool. I figured there had to be other folks like me that were looking for help, so I started my own site thinking that maybe my bumblings might help someone else. Web design had been a hobby of mine for years, so it seemed like a good idea.
Now that we got to know you a little bit, let’s get to the tough 20 questions.
1. Let’s start with the Survival Island Concept. Can you give our readers some insight? Because on first read it might that you’re burned out on the whole blogging idea, or is it something deeper than that?
I have to admit, that’s certainly part of it. I’ve been playing the game, and the same class, for four years now and blogging about it for over two years, and sometimes I think I’ve said all I can about it. Its hard sometimes coming up with new and interesting topics to cover. When I first started, I was the only Hunter blogger out there, so I didn’t have to fight that feeling that someone else had already talked about what I want to talk about. Now, there’s TONS of Hunter sites out there, many of which are great, so its hard for me to justify re-hashing the same old subject matter. But at the same time, I get excited about it all over again when I talk about it with other folks that feel the same way I used to. It sort of breathes new life into it for me, so I figured what better way to really spice things up than to bring on folks that were just like me once?
2. You’ve a great deal of respect out in the community at large, what would you credit that to?
Do I? Lol. I have no idea, honestly. From day one, I’ve never tried to be right all the time. I like it when I am, certainly, but that’s not my goal. Right or wrong, I’ve always just shared what was on my mind and been honest about it. Sometimes folks don’t like it or disagree, or sometimes my theories have been wrong, but I figure “Well, at least I shared them” and that’s been good enough for me. I’m an open book kind of person, and I like to put all my cards on the table. If people respond well to that (and I guess maybe they do, otherwise no one would have ever heard of me!), so much the better. I write mostly to think out loud and solve the problems I’m thinking about. I guess people respond to that kind of approach more than I would’ve thought, lol.
3. The Hunter’s Mark is one of the most linked and recognized Hunter Blog out there. What would you say to the new or struggling blogger out there? How could they work towards your success?
Hmm. That’s a tough one, honestly. I’ve just sort of flown by the seat of my pants this whole time, and I just happened to get lucky! It certainly helped that I was the first, or one of the first, Hunter blogs out there. People had no choice but to listen to me yammer! For new bloggers, I guess I would say this (because there’s a lot of competition for readership out there now):
Game content is not unique, personality is. Give readers something unique. Readers can get blue post updates or patch notes in any number of places, so why would they come to you for that? Don’t focus on that. Instead, focus on what makes you a unique person and don’t be afraid to step on some toes now and then to get your point across. Being a good writer takes courage, and that includes having the courage to disagree with people or having the courage to throw new ideas out there and see what happens. Provide quality content and the readers will come.
4. What would you say is your focus now? Your raiding, and playing, but is this where you want to be? Is there something out there on the horizon that Lassirra wants or feels the need to do?
Wow, I’m not sure, really. I’m sort of in a place now where it seems like I’ve gotten everything I wanted. Folks who’ve read my blog for a long time will know that I’ve been in some crappy guilds before (“crappy” being defined here as “not what I was looking for”, heh) and that my primary desire in the game was to see all the content Blizzard could throw at us. I’ve done that now, so I have to wonder what else is left, honestly. I mean, sure there’s Ulduar and Icecrown Citadel coming up, but who knows how long that will take to come out and then beat?
Usually, when I don’t know what else to do with myself, I work on alts. I like learning new ways to play the game. I like having to study new mechanics and things like that, so alts are a great way to do that. (Warrior theorycraft is a big hobby of mine, even though my Warrior’s only in the mid-30s, lol.) The problem with this, though, is that… my alts aren’t my Hunter! They’re not my “first love”, and so I get bored with them quickly. That’s when I start looking for side projects, lol. Lately, I’ve been working on rep grinding, doing heroic dailies, things like that. There’s always little things I can do to improve, but what I really want is a challenge. Maybe I’ll try soloing all the old world raid bosses? I don’t know.
5. Having seen the changes from the beginning of World of Warcraft, then The Burning Crusade, and now Wrath of the Lich King, has your perceptions changed? If so, how?
My perceptions have definitely changed! Most of that is due to the fact that I know a LOT more about the game in general now than I ever have before. In “vanilla WoW”, I barely knew what kiting was, let alone how to do it. In TBC, I became a raid leader for the first time, so I had to learn about other classes and how they fit together to form a successful group. In Wrath, a lot of the game has changed entirely, so I’ve had to learn how to put what I knew into a new context. WoW is a game that’s constantly changing, and so what we know or think we know about the game is in a constant state of flux. I’ve learned that once you think you know everything there is to know about the game, something big changes. A good example of that was when AutoShot stopped getting clipped. That was a big adjustment for me, since I was never a big fan of shot rotation macros, for example.
Another thing that’s changed is the perceptions others have about Hunters in general. We’re not really “huntards” anymore, even though the term still gets thrown around a lot. People don’t really shy away from inviting Hunters anymore, which is something that started back in TBC when folks were looking for SV Hunters for EW buffs in 25s, especially once folks got to Illidan. Hunters have become something people actually understand a lot better, both for folks that play the class and folks that don’t, and it’s been interesting to watch the process unfold.
6. So we’ve heard from Ghostcrawler that Hunters are being rebalanced in the Ulduar (Patch 3.1). What 3 things do you feel need to be addressed for hunters?
Talk about a loaded question! Hehe.
Honestly, I think there’s a lot that needs to be looked at where Hunters are concerned. We’re a pure DPS class, and so I think all three specs should perform equally, but have different purposes. That, I think, was the original intent, and it seems like somehow the devs got away from that. This isn’t a problem exclusive to Hunters, either, so don’t think I’m QQing about “teh poor huntards”, but it’s what I know the most about, so I put it in that context.
I’ve never liked the fact that there’s always “one uber raid DPS spec” that’s the flavor of the month. In fact, I LOATHE that, and purposely avoid whatever spec that happens to be just to be contrary. I play whatever spec I enjoy, or what to experiment with, and damn the rest. What I would really like to see is a REAL balancing of the three specs, where each is doing roughly equivalent DPS, but each is desirable for their own special perks.
So, spec balancing is a big thing I really think they need to work on. Beyond that, what the heck is up with Freezing Arrow? Does anyone ever use that? I think I’ve used it ONCE since I got it, and if I’d had Silencing Shot at the time, I wouldn’t have had to. Maybe it’s used more in PvP (which I don’t do much of)? I’d also like to see another shot added to our rotation that isn’t a 51-point talent (so all Hunters can use it) to vary things a bit. I know the Steady Shot nerf was designed to encourage players to vary their rotations, but I don’t think it accomplished that goal. I think it just pissed a bunch of people off. So, fine, leave it nerfed, but give us a viable alternative.
7. Speaking of class rebalancing, do you really see a way that Hunters will ever gain the respect from the other classes and be able to stand on their own with the chants of “Hunters are too OP!!” or the “Huntard” tags?
It’s not going to be easy, and I certainly don’t have a solution that everyone would be happy with. If class balance is something we’re looking for, then they need to start with spec balance. BM, MM and SV need to be dealing similar damage. We’re a pure DPS class, so I don’t see any reason why all three specs shouldn’t be equally viable in a raid environment. I think once they’ve figured out how to balance the three specs, they can tune from there to balance Hunters with other classes. Class balance is something the devs are really struggling with in general right now, it seems like. I know Rogues are in rough shape at the moment as well, so this clearly isn’t something unique to Hunters. The problem is there’s no “right” answer that will work across the board, so they have to approach it from a “guess and check” angle, which is bound to piss people off while they work out the kinks.
They’ve got years of experience with this, though, so I have faith that sooner or later they’ll work things out. The problem right now is that the devs are struggling with the same problems all of us are struggling with. The mechanics of the game have changed so drastically that the approaches that worked before don’t work now, so they’re having to learn things all over again. I mean, when WoW was first released, things were totally fubar for a long time. Feral druids? Anyone remember those from vanilla WoW? Yeah, I thought not. It’s because they didn’t exist. This is the same kind of thing. They’ll figure it out eventually.
8. With WoTLK basically done for many of the raiding guilds, do you think it was too easy? Maybe Blizzard underestimated the thirst and hunger for new content? Or something else?
To a certain extent, I do think the content was too easy. But, we have to remember that the content that’s in the game now was specifically designed to be accessible to casual players. They didn’t want a repeat of the original Naxxramas, and I think they were successful here. So, of course raiding guilds have blown through this content quickly. It was designed specifically with that in mind. But, yes, I will agree that the content was easy. For example, I remember spending weeks running regular 5mans in TBC just to get ready to THINK about entering Karazhan. The gear check walking into the first raid in TBC was much more stringent than Wrath has been. However, I’m constantly reminding myself (and others) that the content we’re seeing now was never intended to be “the end”. What we’ve already seen isn’t the only challenge Blizzard has in store for us in Wrath, and that was stated from the get-go. They’ve released what we’ve already seen so that casuals can enjoy raiding also.
The content coming up is supposed to be much more challenging, to give the hardcore raiding crowd something to really sink their teeth in, and hopefully they’ll deliver on that promise. Also, you have to remember that it doesn’t matter how much content they release or how quickly they release it, there will ALWAYS be guilds sitting around waiting for more, so for them to have released Ulduar and Icecrown Citadel along with Naxx, OS and Malygos would’ve been stupid. They’d have ended up with all the top guilds officially finished with this expansion MONTHS before they intended. I think it was very smart for them to have released raids in stages like they have. It gives people something to look forward to, while giving them time to get ready for upcoming content. Also, seeing how quickly guilds progress through the first set of raids will give the devs a much better idea of how subsequent raids need to be tuned. They can look at the progress through Eye of Eternity or Sarth with drakes up and say “Wow, guilds did that much quicker than we thought they would. We’ll need to kick it up a notch in Ulduar.” It gives them time to assess and adjust. I think they were very smart about it, and did it precisely how they needed to.
9. Do you have a favorite quest chain that’s a Must Do or Have for all your characters or suggest to friends?
Questions like this always make me have to pause to think for a moment. I’m not big on questing, I have to admit. I’m very much a “means to an end” kind of person. I quest to get to the end-game, not for love of questing. There are a few quest chains, though, that I’ve always enjoyed and do on all of my toons, most of which are from vanilla WoW, heh. One example would be the Defenders of Darrowshire chain. I love the lore from EPL and WPL and how its woven into the fabric of most of the game. In Wrath, I have to admit to having skipped a ton of the “must do” quests that folks talk about. Wrathgate, for example? Yeah, I skipped that. Bad Hunter is bad. I did like the quest chain in Icecrown that grants access to the Knights of the Ebon Hold quartermaster, though. My favorite part was shooting the eye at the top of the tower. It took me a few tries to get that right, but I really enjoyed it. Sure, it was a blatant LotR rip-off, but hell, I like LotR, so rip away, Blizz!
10. As a follow up on that, give us 3 greatest moments for Lassirra.
Hehe, I don’t know about “greatest”, but here’s one that I always have to chuckle about because I’ve determined through long thought on the subject that it’s a Hunter Rite of Passage. My first trip into UBRS, aeons ago when the world was new and dinosaurs roamed the earth, we get to Drak and, being the only Hunter in the group, it was of course my job to kite him. No biggie. By then, I’d put on the Big Girl Pants and learned how to kite. BUT! I was unfamiliar with the zone. So, we start the fight, and I get Drak’s attention. Off I jog to The Beast’s room with Drak in tow, because, well, that’s the deal. So, I’m running. I do my awesome lil jumpy turny shooty huntery thing to keep Drak’s attention, and then spin around to keep going. And I kept going alright, right off the bridge right before Drak’s room and straight into my own personal pit of fail. “Wtf just happened?!!” I hear as players start dying left and right as Drak goes steamrolling through the ranks. “Ummmmmm… I fell off the bridge…” I respond, and the facepalms are AUDIBLE. Needless to say, I learned my lesson and never did it again, but I’m convinced that this is something every Hunter has done at least once.
This next one actually is a “greatest” moment, and it’s something I’m secretly EXTREMELY smug and proud about like, all the time. Okay, so we’re a couple months into TBC and my guild has started doing Gruul’s. I’ve got some Raid Leader experience under my belt, having led many, many Karazhan runs and having helped coordinate our other forays into Gruul’s before with another group of folks. So, I log on one night to start up my coordination duties and hear through the grapevine that the run for that night has been canceled, without any real good reason as to why that’s the case. So, my immediate response is “F- That! We’re going!”, so I start scrambling to get the word out and get people together for the run. I’m sending tells left and right, yapping on Vent to get things sorted out, etc etc. It was very frantic, lol. All the other officers were decidedly dubious about the whole thing, especially since we hadn’t downed Gruul yet, but I’m hell bent on getting the thing going because BY GOD THAT GRONN’S GOING DOWN!! Tonight would be the night! And indeed it was! We ended up rolling out with 4 of our 7 leaders missing that night, and a few of our “key” players MIA, but the night went off FLAWLESSLY. Gruul went down like a sack of potatoes, and there was much rejoicing. I love knowing our first kill wouldn’t have happened that night if I hadn’t insisted on getting the group together.
I can’t think of a third thing that would top either of those two moments in my mind, so you’ll have to live with two.
11. From The Hunter’s Mark we get a bit of insight into Lassirra, but what would be the one thing that would shock us? What would be something that none of us would truly expect that you would do?
Hmm, I’m not sure. I honestly have no concept of the type of person people think I am. I mean, I know me, but most of my readers sure don’t, you know? So I have no idea what people think of me, lol. I guess one thing my readers don’t really know about me (and this has been deliberate) is that I’m actually a very abrasive and foul-mouthed individual “in person”, like in actual interactions with people. Most of the time, I do try to be nice, and fair, in my dealings with others, but I do have a short fuse and I’m very high-strung (which, I’ll be the first to admit), so sometimes I run off at the mouth when I probably shouldn’t. I try to keep that off my blog because that’s not the kind of atmosphere I want to build there.
But, a good example of that would be, a long time ago, I was an officer in a guild and they made me their official raid leader. One of the other officers used to snipe at me a lot and try to undermine my authority or just generally cause trouble. (Not saying I’m completely innocent there, surely not, but I couldn’t understand why she was like that in the first place. I mostly ignored her and just did my own thing.) Anyway, one night I was putting a raid together and she signed on late and ended up not getting a spot. Furthermore, she wasn’t a very good player in general, so if I had better healers available, I would take them instead since we were still learning the encounters. It was purely a logical decision on my part, not a matter of “I don’t like you, so I’m not taking you”. I don’t think like that. But anyway, she blew up in officer chat about it, and eventually things degenerated from there, so I invited her to the group, said “If you think you can do better, feel free”, /gquit, and logged off.
I’ve often been the officer in the guild that isn’t afraid to tell it like it is. I wasn’t afraid to say things like “Your performance is lacking, so until you improve, you’re not going to raid.” One of my other guildmates used to have a “safe word” for me that he would send in me a tell when he thought I was getting too worked up about something, lol. (The safe word was “buttercup”, if you’re curious.) So yeah, it’s not something I’m real proud of, but it is true. I’m abrasive, high-strung, and foul-mouthed. I try to leave that at the door when I work on my blog, and for good reason, I think. I don’t think my readers would like that person, lol.
12. I know you’ve established a Hunter’s Mark Forums, how is that going for you? Do you have any goals or plans for them?
The forums were actually something I’ve had installed for a very, very long time, but just never really advertised much. Like I’ve mentioned before, I’m generally a pretty anti-social person. I’m very bad at talking to people I don’t know. I mean, I can do it, but I’m never comfortable with it. I have to admit, I don’t think the forums are going very well. Like, I know what I want them to be and I think they can be what I want them to be, I just don’t think I’m the right person to make that happen because of my social shortcomings.
My goals for the forums are to have a small community similar to Elitist Jerks in that game mechanics and theorycrafting is the primary focus, but without the insult slinging, judgments or back-biting. I love EJ, don’t get me wrong, but I’ve never posted a word there because I don’t feel comfortable there. No one wants to be laughed at or told they’re stupid, you know? So I wanted to form a community where people would feel comfortable posting their questions or ideas and get intelligent responses to those concepts without having to worry about being crapped on.
13. Speaking of forums: Do you still track or follow the Official Forums?
I do, though not as much as I used to. Primarily, I follow MMO-Champion for news and updates or hot topics about the class or game in general. These days, the only time I stop over to the official forums is when there’s a pretty heated discussion going on that hasn’t degenerated into flame wars, or if I’m looking for ideas. I’ll occasionally stop over to the WoWHead forums or a couple Usenet groups I’m familiar with for the same reasons. Sometimes I’m fresh out of ideas, so checking out the buzz on those sites sometimes gives me food for thought. Otherwise, I tend to avoid forums in general. Part of that is also, as I’ve said, I’m anti-social so I don’t make a habit of hanging out in places like that.
14. Since almost every hunter and blogger out there truly respects you, can you list some blogs or people out there that you truly respect and encourage others to follow?
This is a tough one simply because there are so many out there, and I feel like if I leave someone out I’ll hurt their feelings or something, which I don’t want to do. But, there’s definitely one in particular that really stands out to me. Drotara from Less QQ, More Pew Pew is just awesomesauce incarnate. If you haven’t checked out his blog, you HAVE to. Go! Do it now! I’ll wait.
Okay. Awesome, right? Damn right! I honestly can’t say enough good things about what that guy does. He’s very smart and very insightful. He works very hard to bring valuable information to the community, and he pays a lot of attention to detail, which I absolutely love. That’s actually why I contacted him to start the Lock and Load podcast with me in the first place, because I just love the work he does. We’ve only released one episode of the podcast so far, but we’ve been talking for a long time about releasing a second but just haven’t gotten around to it yet. I feel kind of bad about that, actually, because we scheduled a day to do some recording for episode two not too long about, but I totally dropped the ball. I’d been sick, and fell asleep and missed our meeting. I felt like a total jerk. I hope he’s not mad at me…
15. What 3 things could Blizzard do that would make the game perfect for you?
Not to beat a dead horse or anything here, but if they could balance Hunter DPS across specs, I’d be totally psyched, truly. That’s a big thing for me. I want to be able to play the spec I love, and not get looked down on for not playing the flavor of the month. I get sick of all the “I’m such-and-such a spec, so I’m better than you!” crap that seems to thrive in the Hunter community. Its really tiresome.
I’d also like to see them retune old world instances for heroic modes at 80, or something similar. I really liked the original instances, and want an excuse to go back to them for real, not just as “fun runs” to fill time. I once spent 16 hours in BRD one day working on my Ony attunement, and while I was exhausted and miserable at the end of it, I look back on that experience as one of the most epic things ever. I want to have a reason to go back to those places and experience them all over again.
I’d also like it if leveling alts were easier. And by that I don’t mean that any subsequent alts we have should start at 55 or anything like Death Knights, because I think the leveling process is important for learning how to play the class well. However, for someone who’s got one 80, two 70s, and a half dozen toons in the 40s, it does get a little tedious. I know Blizzard has tried very hard to work on that, but I don’t think it’s quite “there” yet, if that makes sense.
16. What is your favorite non-wow game?
That’s a tough one. I don’t play much besides WoW these days, mostly because I just don’t have time for anything else. I’ve done Lord of the Rings Online, Warhammer, Guild Wars, EQ, EQ2, all that, but none of them have been able to keep my attention for long. I will admit, though, I’m a PokerStars.Net junky. I LOVE online poker. I’m also a big fan of Soul Calibur tournaments with my real life friends. I’m the Button-Mashing Wonder! /flex
17. Do you think it’s time for a WoW replacement? Meaning, has Lassirra done about everything that she’ll do and now it’s time to move on, but there’s just nothing to move on to? Or does WoW still have enough challenges and ways to keep her interest?
I have mixed feelings about that. See, here’s the thing. WoW does sort of feel like it’s run out of challenges for me, unless I start completely over or something (which I’m not about to do), but at the same time, I’ve invested a TON of time into this game, so I’m very much against just ditching it. That would feel, to me, like I wasted the last four years of my life, ya know? To work so hard on something just to throw in the towel one day rubs me the wrong way. Besides, Blizzard will no doubt come out with more content and more expansions, so I’ll lay low for a while and work on alts or something until it’s time to get back in the saddle again.
18. Do you have any pre-raid or pre-game rituals that you just have to do before setting out?
Oh, absolutely. I’m very much a creature of habit, so if I don’t do all my little OCD activities, I just don’t feel right. I have little post-it notes on my monitors that I use as a “pre-flight checklist” of sorts, that way I don’t get that odd feeling that I’ve forgotten something important.
First, I get my physical environment all happy and set before a raid. This includes making sure I have a drink next to me, and a refill within easy reach (I have a mini fridge behind my desk for this reason). As a smoker (yeah, yeah, I know. Bad habit. So sue me!), I also make sure I’ve got plenty of smokes on hand so I don’t have to get up for anything. I hate AFKing during a raid, so I make sure I do everything I can to make sure I don’t have to. If I haven’t eaten that day, I make sure I have a snack handy as well. I make a couple restroom trips well before invites go out so I don’t have to worry about that, either. I won’t AFK to use the restroom during a raid, I just won’t. I’ll hold it if I have to. I think it’s stupid to make people wait just because I have to go potty, you know? So I don’t do that, unless there’s a scheduled break during the raid, and even then I rarely AFK during those times. Once that stuff’s taken care of, I fire up Vent and get my playlist set up in WinAmp. I don’t have any specific playlist for raids since what I want to listen to varies from week to week, but I do always have something playing. I do last minute volume checks and such to make sure WinAmp’s not too loud, and folks can hear me if they need to over Vent and I can hear them. That kind of stuff.
In-game, my ritual isn’t much different. A few hours before raid time, I make sure I do all the daily quests I want to do, because I almost always log off right after a raid, so I try to get all my usual stuff done before hand. I NEVER run instances before a raid. I’m always afraid they’ll take too long, so I just don’t do it. About an hour or so before raid time, I double check my gear. I make sure it’s repaired, everything’s enchanted, and I’ve got some back-up gear in my bags in case my stuff busts mid-raid and I can’t go repair it. Then I start hitting the auction house. I check my bags to make sure I’ve got all my buff food (as a cook, that’s usually easy—I farm that stuff throughout the week, so I usually have a healthy supply on hand), and buy any I might need if I’m running low. Then I check prices for flasks, elixirs, potions and ammo. I’ll buy a couple flasks if we’re on a progression night, otherwise I just stick to buff food because I rarely have a lot of money to spend, then I stock up on ammo. I usually buy two extra arrow makers to keep in my bags after making sure my quiver’s full, just in case. Once I’ve got everything I need, I’ll head out to the meeting stone and just wait. I like to be at the stone when invites go out, or hanging out nearby.
Once I’m at or near the stone, I’ll get up and pace around the room a little bit to stretch and stuff. Then I’ll sit back down and just sort of stare at the screen until something happens, lol.
19. Some find WoW to be a bad influence; others see it as a positive outlet (Much like the old D&D debates back in the 80’s and 90’s). It has definitely provided many of us with a creative outlet, what do you think?
To put it bluntly, I think opinions are like assholes. Everyone’s got one, and most of them stink. People will always find something to get up in arms about, and more often than not its stuff they’ve never tried doing themselves. Likewise, people will always find ways to justify activities they enjoy. That’s just the way the world works. Players of the game are going to be inherently biased because it becomes a matter of defending their lifestyle. For me, that’s even truer, because I base my livelihood on this game. It’s how I make a living, so I’m bound to say it’s super awesome, you know? On the other hand, people who have never played this game or games like it have no idea what the experience is like, so how can they accurately judge if it’s good or bad? You can’t accurately judge what you have no experience with.
So, here’s my take on the matter, for what it’s worth. People are going to indulge in healthy and unhealthy habits regardless of whatever anyone else has to say about it. “Everything in moderation” is not a motto all subscribe to, so there are bound to be people who take gaming to an unhealthy level. That’s just how it goes. The lifestyle choices people make are not a reflection of the activities themselves, necessarily. Take alcohol for example. There are people who proclaim that it’s evil, bad, the work of the devil, whatever. There are people who think it’s perfectly acceptable. There are people who abuse it, and people that don’t. Why should gaming be any different? I think it’s HIGHLY debatable as to whether gaming is “addictive” or not. I rather think it’s not, its more a matter of people being unable or unwilling to change their lifestyle habits. But, does what people DO with games make them inherently good or bad? No. Let’s put the responsibility where it belongs for once, shall we? With the individual, not the game. The experience is what you choose to make of it.
20. Finally one that I find intriguing and allows us to get to know just a bit about the real you; how much of your online Lassirra persona influences you in real life, and vice versa, how much of your real life persona influences your online one?
My site’s actually really important to me. It’s a big part of who I am in general. All my real life friends know about it, and visit occasionally, but that’s just because they’re my friends and they’re supportive. Most of my friends aren’t WoW junkies like I am. They ask how things are going, and offer help or suggestions and stuff when I’m stuck. I guess they sort of figure my site is just like any other job, which is true. I mean, that’s what I do for a living. I write about WoW all day. That’s my job. (Running my site, as well as working for the Azeroth Advisor.) So my friends are really supportive, and curious about it. Any time someone asks me what I do for a living, I say “I write about a video game”, and the response is almost always “That’s really cool! How do I do that?!”, which I love.
I’m very much who I am, regardless of the name you put to it. As Shakespeare put it, “a rose by any other name would smell as sweet”. Sure, there are aspects of my personality that I definitely tone down considerably for the sake of my readers, but for the most part what you see is really what you get. I don’t “role play” online. “Lassirra” and “Jessica” are the same person, just different names. There are also details of my personal life that I keep off my site, but that’s more for the benefit of my friends than for any aversion I have to talking about those things. I self-censor information that affects the people in my life, not the things that would only affect me. For example, I rarely talk about my boyfriend on my site. Not because I didn’t want people to know, but because I wanted to protect his privacy. I talk about the things that matter to me on my site, not because I think they should matter to this character I’ve created in a game, but because they matter to the person behind the keyboard, you know? That’s much easier to do anyway, I think, than trying to figure out what might or might not matter to this character I play. It’s hard enough trying to figure out what matters to me. I just try to keep things on-topic, mostly. I’m fairly sure no one cares about the fact that I rearranged furniture this weekend, so that’s not the sort of thing I talk about on my site. I figure if that’s what people want to know about, they’d ask or something. I mean, I’ve got Facebook and Twitter accounts. I’m not totally inaccessible.
Like I mentioned before, I’m actually really high-strung. I try to keep that offline as much as I can because no one would read my site if they knew I was totally crazy, so I guess that’s different. I’m much more social online than off, too (which is mildly amazing, because I’m not very social online either, heh). I try to take the lessons and skills I learn from people online and apply them in everyday life when I can. Like, running THM has taught me to always strive to just be me and be comfortable with that. I don’t have to be perfect or please everyone all the time, and that’s okay. It’s also taught me to be a bit more courageous in speaking my mind, which I’ll admit isn’t such a major fault of mine, I’m pretty good that that, but sometimes I falter. Speaking your mind is easy to do when you’re not face to face with someone, you know? I’ll be the first to admit that my social skills are sorely lacking, so working on my site is a great way to work on me, too. I’m constantly trying to push myself to handle social situations better. After all, that’s what this game is about, right? I don’t always succeed, but I figure if I’m trying, then that’s what counts. Screw Yoda and his “Do or do not, there is no try”. I think trying counts.
I think that’s enough rambling, don’t you? Who’s gonna actually read all this?! I feel bad for them!
Well thanks again for taking out the time for this. I hope it was as enjoyable for you as I know it is for me and our readers.
Oh, I had a blast! Thanks so much for asking me to do this! It’s not everyday I get an excuse to just ramble about myself for pages and pages. I just can’t fathom why anyone might want to know about me, you know? Who the hell am I, anyway? Just some weird chick that writes about a video game a bunch of people play. But hey, whatever blows your skirt up, right? (This has to be the longest friggin interview in history. Get me going and I just don’t stfu!)
Folks i truly hope you had as much fun as I did.
Lassirra, thanks again. It was a true honor.
And readers if you want to learn more about THM and what’s going on with there, I encourage you to check it out!
