I was smirking my way past the Gordon Ramsay-esque commentary on Twitter recently (go to the tweet to view it in all its unblurred, NSFW glory) when it struck me: Blizzard has created so many incentives to play a healer. Obviously, they've worked -- but are the healers enjoying it?

As a long-time healer, I find myself broken-hearted at the idea that players are going through the motions of healing simply because for the sake of faster random queue times or to fill a hole in a roster lineup. Healing by people who aren't passionate about healing? Healing by people who aren't glued to the action? Healing by people who might be watching "other things" on another screen, or eating pizza, or, or ...? Dear readers, we're talking about saving lives here. I weep. Seriously, I weep.

Still, there seem to be quite a lot of healers going about their business in today's game. If you're a healer, do you enjoy the role? Did you choose to be a healer of your own volition, or were you influenced by queue times, role benefits, or the needs of your raid or guild? If you were nudged into healing by outside forces, has it been worth it? Are you a happy healer or a reluctant healer?

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Filed under: Breakfast Topics

One might expect a machinimist to be come at you with a rather snarky, biting personality, especially a creator who's known for poking fun at WoW player stereotypes. Not so Wowcrendor. Wowcrednor's a nice guy in the true sense of the word. He also happens to be funny -- funny enough, in fact, that the list of posts of his WoW machinima here at WoW Insider goes on for pages and pages.

So how does a nice guy who has fun making video game machinima end up making a living at it? We wondered, too, so we asked -– and nice guy that he is, Wowcrendor spilled all the beans.

WoW Insider: So you're living the dream, making a living making WoW videos. Congrats! How has that changed the way you play the game? Things must be quite different now.

Wowcrendor: It is really a dream come true. One day you're sitting in a college math class writing scripts about Mankrik's wife, and the next you're making a living off it. I don't think I ever saw it growing to the point it's grown to, but I'm thankful for it nonetheless.

As for how it's changed the way I play the game, I think it's actually impacted me negatively, as odd as that sounds. Before I made videos about the game, my sole focus was just having fun or getting involved in the virtual world of Azeroth. Now that I do this as a living, it really shifts your mindset. If I'm playing the game, I'm constantly thinking if something could be made into a video instead of actually focusing on enjoying the game. For example, before I started making videos, I raided in every expansion. I enjoyed raiding and even got to raid with the guy who inspired me to start making WoW videos, a surreal experience at the time.

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Filed under: Interviews, 15 Minutes of Fame

Alterac Valley sets my towers aflame. I fell in love with AV during classic WoW, in those sprawling, drawn-out matches that spun out over a day or longer. With a big map and plenty of time, you can savor the micro-encounters that make up a true battle -- that exquisitely frozen moment when you come face to face with an opponent behind a bunker, the off-objective chase that neither of you will give up, the "happy" grudges that leave you seeking out the same opponent the moment you respawn. I gulp down that stuff like water. Objective-driven play has its appeal, but it's the serendipitous moment of connection with the enemy that really turns my flag.

I have a friend who adores siege weaponry. For him, PvP queuing means a beeline for Wintergrasp, Strand of the Ancients, or Isle of Conquest. That's fine. While he's staying busy with catapults and cannon, I'll be slowly throttling some newly met nemesis in the somber shadows behind the keep.

What do you enjoy most about your favorite battleground? Is it something that's there by design, or is it some player dynamic or bit of byplay that fires you up?

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Filed under: Breakfast Topics

If you'd ever care to observe a WoW player heat up to a slow boil and finally explode in a spectacular, spittle-flecked rage over a minor technical issue, find someone whose favorite character model suffers clipping issues. Most long-term players have a character who can't wear or wield a much-loved item because it does something annoying -– clips through their back, chops off their hair, or disappears into the ground. This is a shoulder-shrugger of an issue to me, but for players who want their favorites to look their best, graphics clipping is utterly incensing.

After eight years, we've had ample time to grow weary of the ugliest graphical glitches that persist in the game. The old character models get cited for a variety of abuses. Night elf hands/mittens, anyone? Creepy. Sometimes, it's their expressions -– the terrifying rictus on a female night elf when she's "smiling." Just look at that screenshot up there. Definitely zombie material. And I know this isn't a superficial issue, because I swim. Ever looked up the skirt of a robe-wearing class while they're swimming? You can see their brains.

Blizzard's deft art direction and over-the-top, cartoon-ish fantasy aesthetic smooths over a multitude of aging and sins, but at some point, rough edges simply refuse to stay hidden. What do you find to be the most appalling graphical eyesore in today's WoW? Is it part of the older character models or landscapes and dungeon textures? Is there some aspect of WoW's graphics that shouts "old and tired" every time you see it?

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Filed under: Breakfast Topics

Word on the street is that fewer players maintain level 90 alts these days, preferring to concentrate their efforts on a single main character and goof off in the 1-to-90 game rather than the endgame. Does that sound like you? And if it does, has it affected your grasp of gameplay mechanics for the classes other than your main?

I've never been a member of the "one of everything" crew. My typical realm loadout is a level-capped priest, a mid-range paladin and mage, sometimes a high-level rogue, and a banker -- and then more priests, paused at varying states of leveling up alongside now-inactive partners or guild groups. I've earned my understanding of other classes through hours painstakingly assembling raid strategies during early WoW (before the advent of the Dungeon Journal and boss videos) or, more recently, via hard knocks in PvP -- the best teacher, in my humble opinion. Nothing lends a dawning awareness of how another player's skill works better than an injection of quick, brutal death with it.

How familiar are you with the mechanics of today's WoW classes? Do you know all the contemporary systems like the back of your hand, or do certain specs or classes remain a mystery? Do you play the classes you seek to understand, or do you conduct your field research in other ways?

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Filed under: Breakfast Topics

When it finally comes time for your ship to make a final departure from the shores of Azeroth, the lands you're leaving behind will almost certainly not be what your heart aches for the most -– it's the people. Skittering about atop superficial friendships with guildmates and situational acquaintances is easier than ever in the age of LFD and LFR, but we're sure it's unnecessary to remind you that lifelong friendships and marriages are forged and strengthened in Azeroth, as well. The people we meet here are most assuredly part of our lives – and stepping away from WoW (whether for a temporary sabbatical or on a permanent basis) doesn't inevitably mean losing touch.

We never recommend sticking with the game solely to stay in touch with or please other players. It's no fun to play if your heart's not in it, and nobody has any fun if you're obviously slogging along with little real enthusiasm. If you need to take a break from World of Warcraft but you don't want to lose touch with the people here who've brightened your life, you can keep in touch so many other ways.

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Filed under: Drama Mamas

Just the other day, we talked about your favorite Mists 5-man instance or scenario. Turn about's fair play -- and come on, what's a little grousing and griping among friends?

You git what you git, and you don't have a fit. The 5-man instances we have in the game right now are all we're getting for the rest of the Mists expansion. But with new scenarios keeping things fresh, we'll have plenty of material to rescue us from instances or scenarios we've come to find an utter drag.

So let it all out: What's your least favorite Mists of Pandaria 5-man instance or scenario? Do the revisions of Scarlet Monastery or Scholomance rub you the wrong way? Is there something about a barrel full of monkeys that's less than a barrel full of monkeys to you?

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Filed under: Breakfast Topics

Leave it to a player who attacks WoW with the ferocity and passion of his orcish character to rationally and objectively dissect the pros and cons of making a guild home in a racially exclusive guild.

"Pros of a one-race clan, tribe or house: Focus, intensity, and real sense of being dedicated and set apart, as well as shared lore that becomes a motivating force in itself," enumerates Stonzgrinda, the GM of what might be the game's only orc-exclusive guild on an RP-PvP realm. "The immersion is much more credible and intense for roleplaying purposes. Cons of a one-race clan, tribe or house: Some classes are unavailable for specific purposes -- for instance, a stealthing druid healer for a team of rogues. Some achievements are not obtainable. The narrow niche makes recruiting difficult. ... Players have to know some lore and be able to present it to a standard."

So what makes it worthwhile for the Bloodfury Clan of orcs? "Our sense of camaraderie, shared culture and purpose gives our roleplayers something that no general RP guild could ever attain," Stonzgrinda answers without hesitation. "When we say 'Strength and honor,' it means something. When we mourn the passing of a player who has quit the game, we truly mourn them and remember their contributions and the unique light they brought to our warband."

Ready for some industrial, orc-strength opinions of Garrosh Hellscream, Thrall, and more? Read on.

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Filed under: Interviews, 15 Minutes of Fame

You know the feeling: You're doing much more than merely firing on all cylinders. Your performance is absolutely, magnificently beastly. If you're a tank, nothing escapes the force of your presence. If you're healing, the party runs breathlessly without pause, wondering how you're pushing them on DPS. In the face of your DPS, no mob is safe once you're in line of sight. It's a feeling like no other, and it's the kind of gaming experience you remember for years to come.

Raiding can be (to fall back on that ever-popular vocabulary favorite) an epic adventure in World of Warcraft. But in smaller groups -- in 5-man instances and battlegrounds -- players are even more likely to get the chance to experience those peak moments of play when everything comes together to create a real hero tale. Tell us about your best-ever small instance run (5-man only; no raids) or battleground experience -- that time when you not only led the charts but saved the party, turned all the flags, reversed the tides of battle, or carried the day.

Or maybe even all of the above. You hero, you.

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Filed under: Breakfast Topics

A friend and former WoW player asked me a question yesterday that left me hemming and hawing: What's my favorite instance in Mists of Pandaria and why? I found myself looping about in circles, citing oddities that tickle my fancy and new fight mechanics that entertain. When it became apparent that I wasn't coming up with a firm response, my friend scoffed that perhaps Mists hadn't presented me with a scenario worth appreciating. "Aha!" I cried. "Scenarios!" And I launched into a lengthy description of scenarios, happily diverting his attention from the fact that, well, I can't seem to choose a favorite Mists instance.

Can you? Is there a Mists 5-man that rises to the top of your list as a favorite? I'll toss scenarios in there too, just to broaden the field. What about your favorite 5-man or scenario makes it enjoyable for you? Is it the setting, the music, the story? Or confess your greed: Is it more that the loot inside is your favorite loot?

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Filed under: Breakfast Topics