http://i.imgur.com/If4PDGD.jpg

If you didn’t already see it, it premiers again tomorrow at midnight at www.twitch.tv/Hydramist. Watch it.

Most of my work I try to edit and make perfect, but I think this is best just being the gut reaction and raw. Maybe not. But yeah.

Hydra. Ryan. Is an inspiration as a person, not just a player.

I never thought I would watch a PvP video and ever feel anything beyond the point of “Damn, now I just wanna do some arenas.” I’m sure not many of us did, but somehow it happened. It felt awesome to get the opportunity to write for Hydramist, but I never thought I’d feel like this about it, like it was an opportunity beyond just something cool in a video game.

Hydra, the reason most of us use this website, has really managed to create a movie that was more than just a montage of him playing, it’s bizarre to really talk about World of Warcraft with words I would normally use to describe books I’ve written about at University, or people, but truly. Hydra 11 is a masterpiece, it appeared to be more than just a byproduct of turning fraps on every now and then and playing a video game. It became something more, at least, whether intended or not.

We spend a lot of our time telling ourselves “It’s just a game”, and it is – but it’s filled with real people. And just like real people form relationships with sports stars, coworkers, people who frequent the same bar as you and so on, we form a relationship with the people in the game, whether we know them directly or not. For anyone who has been a long term fan of Hydra, Hydra was a part of your experience in World of Warcraft – I’m sure plenty of you have seen his earlier videos.

Then streaming arrived, and you got to be there, spend time with him or just watch him, and Hydra became even more involved with your experience in World of Warcraft. I’ve had the pleasure to get to know Hydra a little more recently, but before I was just like any other person who watched his videos, and I don’t think I ever looked at him as a Person, rather than a player, until very recently and even more so after watching premier of Hydra 11 this evening.

I am not Hydra’s best friend, I am not someone who regularly spends time with him, I’m not even a priest player, and I’d even go as far as to admit that I haven’t watched every Hydra movie from beginning to end. I am just someone who is fortunate enough to post his thoughts on his website and occassionally talk to him, but I care about Hydra as a person. The moment the angelic music came on for the outro, I felt as though I was watching a real movie and the end credits were rolling down, that moment when you feel like you’ve learnt something from the Movie. All I learnt was that Hydra was a person, but Ryan, is truly someone who impresses me as a person – he impresses us all as a player, of course, but he impresses me as a person. I did not think I would ever see someone who reeps in the public attention that Ryan does who really appreciated every single 1 that made the 2,000+ that watch him on twitch, but I really think he does.

While constantly burdened by his “Chronic Bitch Face” (his words, not mine), or while cursing, or even while blurting out explicit words directed at certain classes, we all continued watching. Because he’s something different. I don’t think the other popular twitch streamers would be as lucky to hold onto the attention of people without making sure their every facial hair was perfectly placed to entertain the viewers. But we watched, why? For the rare smile? For the laughs? Sure. But because Hydra was, and is, something a little different. What that is, is he’s a real person. He’s Ryan. And I’ve never felt more certain that someone really appreciates the people who contribute to his life. Whether you donate regularly, or once. Whether you watch him regularly, or just every now and then. Whether you’re active in the chat, or not. I’m pretty sure he cares.

And we do too.

I, like all of you, hope that Ryan goes on to do something great in whatever it is he does at University, and in later life. I hope he finally gets the girl he’d name a WoW character after, even if it was a dwarf female (You totally deserve a nelf/belf though, you sexy hunk of man, you). I hope, despite all the annoyance he’s had, he doesn’t look back on his time spent on World of Warcraft and think “What could I have been doing while I was busy playing that?”, because I hope that just like his time on WoW has made me come to appreciate that all players are people too, his time on WoW helped him figure out who he was in some way shape or form, and helped him become whatever he will become.

It’s not the end of Hydra, yet, apparently. But, if it is the end of his movies, he couldn’t have ended it on a better note. With a movie that rivals 7 amongst the most hardcore of fans, and some strange underlying tone that brings World of Warcraft out to be more than a game. He’s outdone himself. And in a way that I can’t quite understand, has created a community that are substantial.

Please continue to support him while he, and WoW, is still around. He appreciates you as people, not just numbers on his view counter. Just as we appreciate him as Ryan, not just Hydra.

There is a little Hydra in all of us (There are a lot of jokes I really want to make, I mean, he’s even a priest) – but there is a little of us all in Hydra too.

Ryan, while you tear up, we do too.

We all hope you go far.

Some of you may have read Ceon’s post earlier in the week regarding the majority of this, but I felt the desire to write more about the topic.

While at first looking at changes to PvP we all get relatively excited because we hope they’ll be fixing things, I’m worried that their most recent prospective overhaul might not necessarily make things better for people who currently actively PvP and do not PvE.

Please note, that the majority of this post is based on information I had readily available to me. I haven’t been on the PTR yet, and I’m guessing the PvP power numbers will be tweaked on gear, or at least the usefulness of PvP power. Or, as you’ll see, they might have to be.
Read more

Game with cool positioning with me focusing on keeping my team on a target while avoiding cc and keeping them topped off

My thoughts on the 5.2 changes

A bunch of semi-decent kfc games

Comedy clip with link and dave

Some more of my undoubtedly quality mage play

As I’m sure many of you are aware the Yaspresents 3v3 Tournament began yesterday.

The tournament format is relatively simple,  with 12 teams battling in 2 groups for 4 spots into the final leg of the tournament, and 6 teams invited. With an impressive $16,000 prize pool, taking place online on Blizzard’s EU Arena Tournament Realm, it has attracted US players as well as EU ones, big names and smaller ones.

The qualifying brackets are as follows:

Group A

Nuevos no somos eh: Blukstack/Methodx/Akane (Warlock/Paladin/Warrior)
Fanclub Zeyns: Enteyjin/Astaraya/Summi (Death Knight/Druid/Paladin)
Kurts Crew: Exerion/Hexur/Evleh (Druid/Shaman/Priest)
Toxic Youth: Boetar/Swapxy/Linkx (Warrior/Shaman/Paladin)
Shes Asian: Redx/Oldogstyle/Trollsweed (Shaman/Warrior/Priest)
Shoulda rerolled Warrior: Samx/Khryl/Vilefic (Rogue/Priest/Shaman)

Group B

Xero Practice: Salv/Ruddy/Forteh (Druid/Hunter/Paladin)
Alors la: Emelys/Shivz /Drat (Druid/Shaman/Priest)
Honor Capped: Colard/Saffie/Teebow (Warrior/Warlock/Shaman)
Prestige Gaming: Fritterus/Anberlin/Kekepopa (Druid/Shaman/Warrior)
Rat League Queuers: Shouri/Nadagast/Hoodrych (Druid/Warlock/Warrior)
Toaster Toasting Toasts:Yipz/Dakkroth/Chromix (Druid/Shaman/Priest)

The invited teams, that skip the qualifying are:

Last Again: Venruki/Sodah/Talbadar (Mage/Druid/Priest)
The Time is Now: Jahmilli/Starship/Zaddo (Mage/Druid/Priest)
TSG: Veev/Talason/Zilea (Warrior/Druid/Paladin)
Knew you were trouble: Cdew/Kurum/Corje (Shaman/Hunter/Warrior)
Comprendre L’Empire: Flubbah/Cara/Skoe (Shaman/Warrior/Priest)
Yas Reality Check: Shawir/Another/Geru (Warrior/Death Knight/Paladin)
Read more