Blog Azeroth Shared Topic: Playing Favorites

Who else would you expect? 😉

The current Blog Azeroth Non-Official Shared Topic was suggested by Mataoka (whoops! Okie, not current, seems I took too long and it is in the Previous category now!) at Sugar and Blood, put simply:

Who is your favorite and why?

Well, my favorite is, has, and always will be my Shaman, Effraeti!  I mean, she is my namesake.  She is even also a Death Knight, thanks to the wonders of magic and time travel.  My two favorite classes.  What more could I ask for?  🙂

When I started playing WoW, it was with the free trial, and as a Night Elf Druid named Rosaelyn.  Rosaelyn had been my online persona for as long I had been gaming.  (She is now a Human Hunter, but a redhead!)  But I really wanted to create a Draenei Shaman.  Somehow I knew it right away.

It did not take me long to get hooked on WoW, and rather than level a Druid and then make a Shaman later, I bought WoW and BC and Wrath.  (I think there was a deal to just get them all.  Like $10 off each or something.)

And Effy was born.

I never expected her to take on the life she did.  I love the class.  I love the race.  Draenei were what really sparked my interest in WoW lore.  Because, honestly, there is a lot less about Draenei than some of the other races.  So I really had to search.  (Draenei began it, and I believe it was the Qiraji who finally sealed the love of lore thing for me, because that led to the Old Gods and the Titans.)

Mists is my third expansion with Effy, and the only class that has ever come close to how much I enjoy my Shaman is my Death Knight.  Caeridwen has been with me for a long time, she was my second Level 80 and has never been too far behind Effy since.  I never intended her to be anything I played a lot, because she is melee and I really only created her because she started at Level 55 and I wanted to see the starter quest line.  I never figured she would leave BC.  heh  I also never intended her to be a tank.  But tanking on my DK was the most intriguing and different thing for me – someone who had always played a healer with a neglected DPS or two.

Effy and I have had our rough spots, though.

The transition from the end of Wrath to the beginning of Cata was rough.  I almost gave up my Shaman.  But with a little bit of coaching and some shoves from behind, I kept at it.  That translated into a fairly successful Tier 11 for me.

When I stopped raiding back at the end of Tier 11, and moved myself to an RP server, it was at a time where my Shaman felt awkward because of all of the attached feelings I was changing servers to escape.  So instead of brushing Effy off to the side completely, I KILLED her off and made her a Death Knight.

My Shaman never saw any play time during that period… basically all of Tier 12.

Effy as a DK seemed totally plausible from an RP perspective.  That was exactly what the Lich King did – twist the heroes who had fought him.  It was playing on the RP server that really started me thinking about who Effy was, where she came from, what the future held for her.

It was what started my blog.  One night, with one crazy tidbit that would not get out of my head until I wrote it down.  Somehow, writing it down translated into typing it, and typing it translated into my original blog.

As it happened, I started to miss raiding.  I had only just come to this realization when I came across Lissanna on Twitter, and found out Undying Resolution was looking for a Resto Shaman.  I was nervous, she was way behind in gear – a whole Tier.  But I was confident both she and I could perform.

We did.  Effy and I are a great team.  heh

I still have both Caer and DK-Effy, though, lately they are neglected for pet battling.  I have actually been thinking of leveling DK-Effy the rest of the way to Level 90, and retiring Caer as my main DK.

Oh, as for other toons?

I think the only other toon that could rightly make it into this post is my Paladin, the once-more Lazheward.  My Pally has had a tough time of it.  He started as a female Tauren Pally (Vianessa).  Then, a female Human (name long forgotten).  Then, a female Draenei (Aerora).  Then, Lazheward.  Then, a female Draenei (Aerora, again).  Now, once more Lazheward.

I have had other Pallies over time, but this particular Pally is the only one who has ever made it to max level.

The weird part is… even though I played him longer as a female Draenei, I have realized I just enjoy playing him more as his current incarnation.  I love Draenei, but I usually do not cross-gender my characters.  Lycaohn is one of the few exceptions, and that is because there is no other way I could see my Rogue.

There is something about a male Draenei Paladin, though.  It think that is the only way I really see a Pally, for me at least.  And he is Effy’s beau and story partner, so there is that.  🙂

I have many, many other toons, who all have special stories and places in my heart, but I cannot really ever see myself as anyone but Effy again.  She is stuck with me.  ❤

Thank you, Matty, for this post idea.  Sorry it took me so long to reply, but I was glad to go on about my Shaman some.

~ Effy

You know what makes for a good Effy song?  Girl on Fire by Alicia Keys!  Why?  Because in a very non-canonical way Effraeti means “Born of Fire.”