Welp, things kinda took a different (and in many ways BETTER) turn regarding my brother.
Badass Siblings… for the Horde?!
Originally the intent was to, um, get Robert to bring Kiros (or any of his level 100 alts really) to the EoTT OpenRaid events.
Except lately our raid composition has been rather odd in Lazy Peons, Horde-side. Because we’ve had to compensate for not having Sarah and Suzi, and also my having to swap in Cow!Phil in case one of our other normal healers is absent, we miss out on some pretty critical raid buffs. And as the Peons progress further into HFC (and start poking around in Heroic mode), we’re going to need an additional healer that can also Lust. Something like… a shaman.
…which Robert has, if you recall. (Mr. Cloudshatter up there, that sexy orc)
Boss-man Char asked me, ever so subtly (not), to “work my Annoying Little Sister magic” and prod Robert into levelling said shaman so he can raid with us. And so I pitched the request, fulling expecting my brother to say no (because, really, that IS asking a lot).
But… he said yes?! GASP.
I think it’s part-“Robert gets to play his favorite class” (he’s never OUTRIGHT said it, but the dude loves shammy-ness) and part “okay, there isn’t much more to do aside from farming gold/oil/achievements.” And he did say quite awhile ago that he missed raiding and wanted a consistent group to run with. So, wish granted, in a manner of speaking!
And he’s been levelling like a fiend, getting from 52 to, as of this writing, 97. From what I understand, he’s going Resto/Enhancement (where Akaycia is Resto/Elemental). I would honestly be surprised if he was not level-capped and raid-viable as of Tuesday, just in time for the next guild raid. I have done my part in helping him along, as much as he would allow me to (mostly in the capacity of Shaman glyphs), as well as introducing him to others in the guild (who all get to see first-hand how terrible he is at asking for/accepting help). He seems to get along rather well with Cy, Broc and Schado, and while he hasn’t gotten to really talk with Char and Alex yet, the epic meeting’s going to happen eventually! One way or another, either sometime before or on the day of Robert’s first attendance, they will meet, and it will be both scary and awesome.
(Hell yeah, I’m recording that raid session. Bonus points if I can record Vent on a separate audio track. I need to preserve such a thing, it’s that much a big deal.)
It’s… a little funny, in a way. Officially, cow!Phil is Sarah’s substitute (as well as the sub-of-the-day for whoever of our 3 healers is absent) but it seems Robert may be more appropriate, since it’d be a Shaman replacing a Shaman. Well, it’s not like this arrangement eliminates me from healing, it just pushes me to Absolute Last Resort territory, like if we’re missing TWO healers. Which HAS happened, by the way. I mean, we have Paladin healers (Cy, Cowgath and I think Cathari?) but… Paladin healers don’t have AoE healing cooldowns, which are kind of a necessary thing, you know? And the few AoE heals they have are best used in melee range, so… yeah.
Shorter version: Robert is joining the Lazy Peons raiding team and we are all very happy and thankful for it (especially me, because oh my god I have wanted to raid current content with him FOR-FREAKING-EVER). Just one more thing, he says he’s going to be listen-only on Vent if only because he can’t be bothered to get a headset or pick a hotkey. We’ll have to sell him on actually talking, because if you know my brother, he’s pretty much prime voice actor material and the potential for badassery is too great. We can’t have him being a permanent non-talker! It’s bad enough I don’t get to hear Alex on Vent! :P
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Other stuff of less import: I’ve been in the hospital twice, again, because of UTIs and intestinal wonkiness and… yeah, that was a thing that happened. See my Facebook timeline if you want that story. Blah.
Tags: awesome, bro hug, cloudshatter, koyoshial, lazy peons, warcraft