Each week, Jason Lotito contributes Hybrid Theory, a new column on hybrid classes in World of Warcraft.

I've never written an article about myself. I've never thought about what I should say if I was introducing. Despite being confident in my ideas (some call this arrogance), I'm actually quite humble about my accomplishments. I didn't want to start my column with an introduction. I wanted to show you exactly what it is you were going to get rather than just talk about what I intended you would get. Actions speak louder than words, though in this case, my words were my actions.

Frankly, my first article was a smashing success.

But now it's time for me to introduce myself to you. To give you an understanding of whom I am, where I come from, and my experiences as a player.

My first real character was a shaman by the name of Dragoon (later transfered to my current server) on the server PvP server Frostmane. Oh, I had a low level paladin on some other server before that, but I stopped in the mid-teens when Frostmane came out and rolled there. I had no clue what I was doing at the time (though some might argue I still don't). I got Dragoon to level 60 in awe of the premiere raiding guild at the time (a horde guild called Disband). I remember reading of their exploits in the Molten Core. I remember seeing videos of them fighting Onyxia. It was awesome. I was hooked.

After hitting 60, I joined a guild which merged with a few others, until I ended up in a little guild known as Zephyr. This guild eventually got into Molten Core, and I got my first taste of raiding.

I loved it. And I loved healing as a shaman. I was really hooked, now.

Around this time, another server had transfers opened to Frostmane, and that brought in an influx of brand new players. The server was swamped, and Zephyr suddenly found itself on a server with wait times, outages, and more lag than we'd ever experienced. We decided to move off Frostmane.

As luck would have it, a new server named Greymane had opened just then, and we jumped on board. I believe I rolled on Greymane the day after it had opened. Either way, it was early enough that our crew was still pretty strong. I remember those early days. Was a lot of fun, doing quests with fellow guild members at level 10 over vent. Of course, because we had all been horde before, we decided to try something different and went alliance. And because I was a shaman on Frostmane, rolling a paladin seemed like an interesting choice. After all, paladins and shamans were, at the time, faction specific classes and usually at odds with one another on the forums.

As a paladin on Greymane, I eventually joined the guild Crimson, and that is where I grew as a raider. Raiding became what I did. Sure, I PvP'ed some on the side, but raiding was my focus, and I loved it.

With The Burning Crusade, we have kept pace and pushed forward into end-game content with even more intensity. But with the expansion, I also tried my hand at tanking. I became a small celebrity on the paladin forums after posting about tanking Doom Lord Kazzak, back when paladin tanking was still new and exciting. This caused quite a bit of excitement on the paladin forums, and prompted other paladins to share their victory stories.

This leads to today. As I posted last week, there are problems with paladin tanks that have yet to be resolved. Considering my guild has pushed through content at a blistering rate, faster than Blizzard could fix content or fix paladin tanking, I've gone back to a Holy/Protection build.

So now you know my story. You know where I come from. And I hope this gives you some insight into where I am when I write my articles.

This leaves me with a simple request of you, my readers. I write this for you. Hybrids need a voice. While my voice won't always be about proposing change, I want the column to reflect the needs and desires of the hybrid community. So share your stories with me, share your concerns. Not ever article should be a call to action, not every story need be doom and gloom.

During the day, Jason Lotito browses the WoW forums. But by night, he takes the form of Endure, a level 70 paladin, and faces off against the toughest bosses Blizzard has to offer with his guild at his side. He's previously played a shaman to 60 and raided Horde for a while, and is currently leveling a druid just to see what all the fuss is about.

Tags: hybrid, hybrid theory, hybrids, HybridTheory, introduction, paladin, shaman

Filed under: Hybrid Theory, Paladin, Shaman, Raiding