First Post!

Okay, I thought I'd do this in a kind of question and answer format.


Why should I read this? Because you enjoy reading about other people's experiences, the odd rant and just general thoughts about WoW as a hobby. I've been inspired by blogs such as Noobding and Big Bear Butt and so decided just to write a few thoughts now and then about low end raiding and heroics.

Why CowTank? I'm currently playing as my main a Tauren warrior on the EU server Aszune.

Why is this here? Simply because I'm enjoying playing the game and reading other blogs from players and thought I'd write a few of my own experiences and thoughts for others to laugh at, agree or disagree with and maybe even learn from.

What sort of player are you? Casual raider. Yes I know this is a contentious term and that lots of people say you can't be a casual raider. Well you know what? I don't care, the term seems to fit me. I'm in a small guild with about 14 actual players. Towards the end of Burning Crusade we were running Karazhan a couple of nights a week and doing pretty well to be honest, given that most of us weren't uber geared (well my warlock was but those were the days when a few bits of arena and lots of pvp gear were exceptional for 'locks) and that half the time we were doing Attumen and Moroes with 9 people. We actually managed to get all the way to Curator once with only 9 though we did skip Maiden on that run.

Why don't you join a 'proper' raiding guild? Because I enjoy the guild I'm in very much. Many of us are from the same town and so we meet up semi regularly for a few drinks and WoW related chat. Also everyone in the guild, without exception is polite and friendly. The larger the guild, the greater the chance to get people in who will moan about loot or bitch about not being able to get into groups. We all know what it's like. I would love to have seen more of the raid element as I levelled. I've never seen any of the 40 person raid content nor the 25 man stuff in Burning Crusade. I never saw Zul'Aman and I may never see Icecrown in 10 man. That's a shame, but I wouldn't leave the guild I'm in just for the loot because the people are great.

On the same point I don't like the pressure of larger raiding. When I played Everquest I was a cleric and I did a few things like Naggy and Hate and I just didn't like it. One mistake and you wipe, continual Complete Heal rotations and the like. The pressure of that was just too much to be fun for me. Sure it was great to get loot but the game is about more than that for me. It's about the balance between challenging and fun.

What classes have you played? Most of them to the mid fifties with the exception of druid. For a long time my main was an undead warlock but at 60 the guild I was in disbanded and so I stopped playing WoW. Then some friends who had the game came up with the idea of starting a group who would play regularly one night a week, doing all the instances. For some stupid reason I posed the idea of playing alliance on Moonglade so we did. On that server I levelled a priest and hunter to 70 as well as a paladin and rogue to 61 and a shammy to 54. Then due to frustrations about failures in heroics and encouragement from old friends on Aszune I switched back to playing my warlock up to level 70 where I found a guild capable of doing heroics with ease.

The guild were often short of tanks, and the paladin who did most of the tanking preferred to be retribution and doing battlegrounds so I thought I'd level a warrior. It took a long time and I hated most of it as I was levelling as fury but though I only did a couple of instances before Lich King came out I found tanking to be challenging and fun. This has continued all the way through Northrend, and due to the fact that I find warlocks are absolutely awful to play in Lich King my warrior has become my main. I've also levelled a mage to 70 on Aszune too and played around with a Death Knight to 60.

Anything else? I think that's enough for now, don't you?