Originally posted by drizzt2k2
Europe isn't a language...or nationality...

Originally posted by Mort-Hog
hehe. I love these MMO stories. except I hate it when they're written by 'roleplayers'.

So, a question. I shall probably be starting WoW in a few days, as a mage, on a PvP server. Not because I'm hugely into PvP, just because there didn't seem to be any point on going PvE as PvP servers have all the same stuff as PvE.
So, what are the pros and cons of the mage talent builds?

My immediate thought is frost/arcane, as the 'slowing' effects seemed very useful generally, moreso than just huge damage. Also, is frost/fire or fire/frost not an option at all? Is arcane totally necessary?

Originally posted by Mort-Hog
hehe. I love these MMO stories. except I hate it when they're written by 'roleplayers'.

"This is by no means the most fun thing to do" mutters the Tauren. Cyran was an up-and-coming warrior and could almost learn how to ride a kodo. The thought of riding one of those great beasts was the only thing keeping him going. He looked out over the hills with scattered tigeress and panther carcasses and spotted a female Tauren and her pet who must also be hunting in this region and were slightly more experienced than he was. He gives her a gentle wave and then walks not two steps when he sees two more hunters, a male dwarf and a female night elf, run across the hills. They were evidently hunting here as well.

Cyran had no ill will for the Alliance, and he even helped them when he could, but he noticed something about the Night Elf. She had the Mark of War on her. She was advertising her hostility. Cyran’s ears twitched at the though of a skirmish, however, he didn't think he could take both hunters alone and he knew the dwarf would Mark himself as soon as his companion was attacked. He also noted that the night elf seemed more experienced than he was and the dwarf was probably on par with his own experience.

Wanting a battle, he decides to try and even the odds a little. He approaches the Tauren hunter he had greeted earlier and points out the Night Elf. "Feel like a little battle?" The female Tauren declines the offer however and continues on her way. Turning back to the Night Elf, he notices she in engaged in battle with a creature, yet the dwarf is no where in sight. "Excellent" he thinks. Now, Cyran loved battle and he was also a Tauren of fair honor in spontaneous skirmishes like these. So, Cyran runs a little ways to the side of the Night Elf so she can see him, waves to her, then Marks himself.

The Night Elf and her pet soundly defeat the random creature and the Night Elf starts running towards the corpse, to skin it no doubt. Wanting this opportunity to test his own skills, he waits for the hunter to make it to the corpse and inspect it for a second. Now, he had given the Night Elf notification that he was going to attack, but he wasn't necessarily going to let her idle around and get the first strike on him whenever she pleased.

With a burst of speed, Cyran runs at the Night Elf and slams into her, stunning her for a precious second. He takes this time to pull out both of his axes and begins swinging at the momentarily helpless hunter. Feeling the pet close in on him and strike at him at a weak point in his armor, he quickly shifts over to defensive battle tactics, but still choosing to ignore the Night Elf's pet crocolisk and instead roars at it, sending it running away.

By this time the Night Elf is now again fully aware of her surroundings and takes out her large weapons and begins fighting back. However, the Night Elf was making one fatal error: she was trying to stand toe to toe with a Warrior. No bobbing, no weaving, just standing there as if she were fencing. Taking advantage of this, Cyran pounds at her with both his weapons, sometimes missing completely in the chaos of the battle and sometimes striking weak points in the Night Elves’ armor. During this the pet gets enough courage to come back and fight him, but Cyran pays it no heed.

Then suddenly, the Night Elf dies. She collapses to the ground and remains motionless. Now, it was time to deal with her pet. Cyran turns to the pet and begins slicing at it, but then realizes something. When a hunter gets killed, their pet runs away. It was kind of like how in a large scale battle if the King or General was killed, then the soldiers would disintegrate and run away. But this pet was not running. He quickly looks over at the hunter and sees her chest almost imperceptible rise and fall. Greatly angered at himself for falling for this deception, he turns once more to the hunter and begins to hack viciously into her armor.

The Night Elf must have realized her rouse failed because she then jumped up and ran around Cyran and seemingly away. However, when she passed she took her sword and made a gash in Cyran's foot, which only angered Cyran more. Cyran gave chase with the pet at his rear when he felt a sudden sting in his back. He could feel venom seeping into his veins, and knew almost immediately that the Dwarf hunter was back.

But first thing first. He managed to limp his way to the Hunter and takes his axe and slash it across her calves as she drank a healing potion. Cyran presses on the attack, this time not fighting at a stand still but running around her as he attacked. Soon enough, he noticed she was horrible wounded, and with that he brought one axe up and sliced it across her neck, killing her instantly.

But he was not safe yet. During all this the dwarf had been shooting arrows into his armor and flesh. Cyran quickly turned and closed with the hunter and his raptor pet, laying into the dwarf. However, his health was getting perilously low, and Cyran took a quick moment to let a healing potion rush into his mouth. It wasn't the best healing potion he could use, but it would have to do. Finding several weak points in the dwarfs armor, he quickly dispatched the dwarf without as much trouble and executed him the same way he had done to the Night Elf, though it still wasn't easy. Had he allowed himself to be completely engulfed in the battle and had instantly counterattcked against every attack the dwarf made on him, it would have been far easier.

Now, all this commotion must have attracted the attention of the female Tauren hunter as during all this she was standing near by, chastising Cyran for engaging in a fight. Perhaps she had more loyalty to hunters than Tauren. After the fight the female Tauren challenges Cyran to a duel, but before it starts Cyran makes a point of quickly eating something to regain his strength. Now being at full strength again, he accepts the challenge and backs up a ways.

Cyran gets the first strike and makes a running slam into the Tauren hunter. After striking the hunter several times and getting struck in turn by her and her pet, the Tauren lifts her foot and crashes it down onto the ground, stunning Cyran. The hunter runs past Cyran and begins pelting him with arrows, but he comes out of it soon enough and attacks her once against, giving her a war stomp of her own. She snaps out of it and begins attacking again, but Cyran decides to stack the odds a little more in his favor. He turns around one of his axes so that the pick axe point is now what would be hitting her. He drives the point against her armor several times, tearing and shattering parts of it.

He quickly turns it around and begins hacking once more at her. The hunter runs past Cyran again, but entangles one of her legs with his and begins to make him stumble. As she is running away to get to a point where she can turn and shoot at him, Cyran realizes he won't be able to catch up with her. He lets out a loud shout and runs at her with the speed he had at the beginning of the battle and crashes into her again, stunning her. She fights back, but it is now futile. Within seconds Cyran finds an opportunity once again to execute his opponent and brings his axe blade across her throat, but leaves her just enough life to stumble, fall down, and admit defeat.

Shaking his head, Cyran returned to the nearby Orc base camp to recuperate from his wounds. He was suprised he had taken out three as or more experienced hunters sequentially, one of which actually started attacking him while attacking the other. However, he realized where he could work on his technique. During the entire battle, he had not once hit the opponents weapon out of their hands. This would have given him several seconds of great advantage. Alas, it was something to improve upon. There is always something to improve upon.