I don’t quite know how to say this. To be honest, I think I’ve known for a while. Perhaps I’ve always been this way. It feels very natural actually. Maybe it’s who I really am. And it’s just … something about me, you know. Inside, I’m still the same person. It doesn’t change who I am. And I hope you won’t feel differently towards me because of it … but … but …
Tam’s a dorf.
Actually, no. That’s not true. Tam is NOT a dorf. I happen to have a level 80 dorf priest. Tam converted fully to the light, knocked back a bunch of protein shakes and became a paladin (or a Tamadin as I prefer to call it.)
I know this probably sounds like a ridiculous distinction but I cannot get my head around faction changes. Faction seems to deeply embedded who a character is – unless you deliberately set out to create a HORRIFIC TRAITOR TO EVERYTHING THEY BELIEVED IN. I couldn’t turn on Thrall! That’d be … unthinkable! Nor could I willingly leave behind the cultural heritage of a character. I mean, Comfrey is a cow – a big, gentle, sewing, flower-picking cow. And the prettiest elf – how could he be the prettiest elf if he was blue and pointy?
And, Tam, as we know is Tam, a ridiculous belf in a sissy robe. And through my various character-changes, name-changes, servers-transfers I missed the … the … Tamness of Tam. I know when I first I wrote about it I pretended (not entirely successfully because Dwism saw right through me) to be macho about it. Just a collection of pixels, I think I wrote. Lies. All lies. It broke my heart to dismantle Tam. Azeroth through his eyes is not the same place it is when I play Comfrey or even poor Kum – he has no appreciation for beauty (except for Cairne Bloodhoof, of course) and he’s snappy and mean and insecure a lot of the time but I was … used to him. And some essence of that survived, I think, through is various incarnations but it would never have survived a faction transfer. I would truly have destroyed Tam.
And then it hit me: a change of career. As long as he was channelling the power of his slightly-dogmatic religious conviction, surely it was about time to shed that sissy robe and take one in the face for the light. So Tamarind the belf Paladin was born. And here he is, looking like Captain Awesome:
Fear my blonde
I think he’s genuinely a bit of a happier character, too. He is still just as committed to enlightening Azeroth, and just as inclined to greet other races with “Good day, primitive!” But now bad guys are actually whacking him about the head with pointy sticks, he can probably leave off all the angsty self-flagellation. Oh, and, of course, some things never change:
I hate to break it to you, Tam, but I think he suspects something...
So all this left me with a level 80 priest, personality-vacant. And thus Calidore, the fabulous dorf came into being. Well, okay, he’s not Calidore yet. But he will be as soon as the 30 days of Blizzard-demanded “please for the love of God stop moving your characters around” are up. I’m also nerdishly gleeful to have a dorf called Calidore – named after the Knight of Courtesy from Spenser’s The Faerie Queene. I’m a big Spenser fan. I think it’s one of those impossible divisions in English literature: you like Spenser OR you like Milton, but you cannot like most. And I’ve never been able to get into Milton. I know, I just lost all my culture points there but, dammit, I don’t care. I don’t like Milton. I’m not ashamed. I stand by my inalienable human right to believe Milton is teh suck.
I prefer Spenser because it’s so much more colourful, with women having getting their hearts bled into silver basins and evil beasts vomiting up frogs, and a little bit (unintentionally) silly, although the Mutability Cantos are genuinely beautiful. Also I think he was writing with one hand on the quill and one hand on his cock. I genuinely can’t think of another quite as breastful text in the English language. It’s like he’s writing away, trying to talk about Elizabethan politics, virtue and religion, and every now and again he introduces a female character and he goes into this frenzy of excitement because … get this … women have breasts!!! Or “paps” as he prefers to call them. Lily paps, if you’re a virtuous woman, wrinkled dugs if you’re an evil witch. It’s delightfully juvenile. And at one point he completely looses it and starts writing about the gleaming marble buttocks of the young boys desporting themselves naked in the fountains in the Bowre of Bliss. You think I’m making this shit up, don’t you? As I live and breathe.
And the other thing I really like about Spenser is that he had a very … hmm … what’s the word, pragmatic, I think, attitude to the virtues he was writing about. I mean, he doesn’t let himself get too bogged down in the moral issues of actually, y’know, propagating said virtues. You just have to lay the smackdown on those who blatantly aren’t. Calidore is kind of an okay guy and all that but being the Knight of Courtesy seems to involve messing around with shepherdesses (sign me up) and beating up the discourteous. There’s no rules about actually being courteous yourself. And Guyon – the Knight of Temperance – is charged with the destruction of the Bowre of Bliss, a pretty rockin place by all accounts. And the way he goes about this is getting a fuck off massive sword, flying into an extremely intemperate rage and kicking the crap out of it.
I kind of dig this. It makes life so much simpler.
Aaaanyway, how did I get here? Oh yes. Calidore the fabulous dorf. I don’t know quite what to say about him, other than that he is incredibly fabulous. He has the most amazing facial hair – the kind of facial hair that takes actual honest to goodness commitment you know, and likely about 8 bottles of conditioner per day. I bet it even smells pleasantly of … I don’t know … rose oil or something. I have to say, I am a complete dorf convert. I have no idea why Calli goes around calling belves fruit elves when dorfs are so patently the most fabulous race in Azeroth. And Calidore just looks so relaxed about everything. Like when Tam sits down, it’s this prissy little “I’m just RESTING” gesture. But Calidore kind of plonks himself down with his dorf feet sticking right out and this air of “pass me some beard wax and a copy of Vogue darling, let’s make an afternoon of it.”
I LOVE it.
I also like the fact he’s clearly, and already a distinct entity from Tamadin. He’s just incredibly laid back and I’m pretty sure he interprets any religious prohibitions as “well, more sort of guidelines really…” I genuinely believe you couldn’t look as chilled as Calidore looks if you weren’t getting regular, boisterous rolls in the hay.
I stupidly forgot to take any piccies of him being fabulous but here is standing next to his tank. Check out the sexual tension … or maybe the tank just hasn’t noticed he’s standing there…
It's really nothing to be ashamed of. It's HEALTHY, laddie. A strapping young nelf like you is bound to have needs.
Sadly my BBQ hat is now free-standing ashtray height 
Firstly I think I need to go check out Spenser!
Secondly the plaits are swoonworthy! I'm swooning in my chair right now
And thirdly dorfs are fabulous. The only reason I don't play one is back in my early WoW days I made one… and the family fell about laughing on the basis that she looked just like me, (which is very scary indeed – I certainly didn't do it consciously, ain't the sub conscious a marvel eh?) except that I don't have the, uh, how to put this delicately… the whole…um… blowup doll mouth thing going on. That's probably TMI right there… *goes off to re-examine boundaries*
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I cannot tell you how pleased this makes me !
For sooo many reasons. Firstly, you sound happy, thats always nice.
Secondly: Dorf? I knew it!! I am pretty sure I called it like 6 months ago, that in my inner voice I always read you with a dwarven accent. There was a reason for this
Also, you need to take a good long look at dorf females; we need to make a convert of Calli about dem woman dorfs being so damned *hot*.
Lastly I could not agree more that my priest is also a very well-groomed fella. My DK on the other hand. I think it has a lot to do with plate versus cloth too. I have a full tuxedo set for both of them, and I have to say that the priest looks more fabulous in that set, whereas the DK just looks… well… Uncomfortable.
Imagine Gimli being forced into a pretty pink wedding dress. That sort of uncomfortable.
Oh and heres me wishing that your server of choice happen to be the one I am on
He looks great, and that's some serious facial hair.
I’m shocked to my core – what is Tam doing in those trousers?! What, oh, the dorf, cool cool. That IS attractive facial hair. I have one I named Thorlina (a dorf, not a beard), but I’m finding her tough to get used to…
On a serious note, I’m so pleased you’ve found an identity for your 80 priest that works for you, I’m sure it must make playing boatloads more satisfying.
He's got longer trousers now! He's looking a bit less Just William in chainmail, which is a relief for everyone I think.
Chas managed to make an insanely hot girl dorf rogue – I don't know how he did it but she looks like Elizabeth Siddal. Seriously. Well, a very short Lizzie Siddal but still.
And, yes, while my priest was personality-less I basically stopped playing him… there's no fun in it otherwise.
I'm just… so proud. *tear*
I am glad that you have found yourself again. (currently I am losing myself, so I am a bit envious).
BUT, but, but ,but – I cannot believe you faction transferred and didn't even consider us *grumble, grumble*
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I’m shocked to my core – what is Tam doing in those trousers?! What, oh, the dorf, cool cool. That IS attractive facial hair. I have one I named Thorlina (a dorf, not a beard), but I’m finding her tough to get used to…
On a serious note, I’m so pleased you’ve found an identity for your 80 priest that works for you, I’m sure it must make playing boatloads more satisfying.
/flirt at BE Paladin even tho he does look a bit grumpy. I like male BE Paladins, even if people laugh at them and call them gay. They remind me of a guy I used to fancy on the holidays I went on as a teenager. They have the same mouth shape…. ah, happy memories
Sorry, but dorfs just don't do anything for me. Everyone else is welcome to him – I'll have Tamadin thanks
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Tamarind glares at you, condemning you for the Whore Babylon your flirtatious nature suggests you are.
He's always looked that grumpy. I think it's the constant self-righteousness…. he's really a terribly unpleasant sort of character but I'm fond of him
I never got the male belf=gay thing. To me they look like the dudes on the front covers of the Mills and Boon my grandmother used to read – just stick one in a swashbuckler's shirt and add a woman in a skimpy dress
You get the shirt, I'll get the dress and we can meet in Booty Bay to make our own Mills and Boon cover
Or am I getting the whole RP thing all wrong?
My recent post Single Abstract Noun – AMAZING
Next time you're in SAN, let's do it! Let's make some WoW-themed Mills & Boon! It'll be awesome
Something like The Gold Farming Belf's Secret Virgin Orcish Mistress….
In fairness, pre-release the BElf males were extremely slender (aka, skinny, verrry similar to the current BElf female, except without boobs). There was a moderate outcry against it, and Blizz shifted the geometry to match that of Human males. Which baffles me to this day.
Beefed up magic junkies doesn’t make sense. If they were that worried about the popularity based on how bulky a race/sex combination was, or an imbalance between sexes, they should have done something about female dwarves as well…
Either way though – Dwarves as a race have a much stronger “personality,” and I’m glad you’ve discovered it.
How did I miss out on Spenser?! Thank you for the enlightenment, I shall have to go and purchase a copy in the very near future, having been bottlefed Milton in school many years ago. Perhaps they feared the breastage…
Spenser is actually pretty tough going – but just when you think it's going to get boring there are BREASTS! At least, that was how I got through it… Also I enjoy all that stuff. I mean, epic poetry. Not breasts. Although breasts are good too. GAH! I need to stop talking now.
I'm confused… you say "Hes not Calidore yet" then show a picture of him as a dwarf?
I got to say, Tam looks more happy now. Having one of your chars just….dissapear, isn't pleasant. And I have to wonder, if there wasn't a part of youy that thought "well, nobody is going to notice ANOTHER belfadin".
Second, the dorf has a really leery look, or is just me?
I can totally understand the feeling of loss when faction changing. I could never switch my main (or probably any character I've made) to the Alliance. Derull is an orc, he'll always be an orc. Llementas wouldn't be nearly as fabulous is he wasn't a belf. It's just the RPer in me I guess. I might not RP on WoW, but if I'm gonna play a toon for days on end, they have to have a personality. And if you take that away.. or even change it, the life of the character is gone.
I applaud and support Tamadin's change in profession. All healers should charge around in plate mail with shield imo.
Also, I couldn't faction switch, because I always get lost in Stormwind.
It's a shame he's not on Argent Dawn – I could introduce him to my tank, Daísy and her baby lock sister, Pumpkín. Not to mention their Uncle Daergel.
I love gnomes
Hmm, I've got to say that I'm one of those philistines who don't dig Spenser (despite the boobies). Also to be honest, sitting on the tube reading "The Faerie Queen" would get you some odd looks in my part of town. I prefer the general grim protestantism of Milton. I bet Tam-as-was (the discipline priest) would have preferred Milton too.
I'm not a big fan of dorf's either. I mostly tend to play female toons, and the shaving/waxing problems of female dorfs must be the bane of their lives. I can just imagine them chafing in their intimate places too.
I agree with you about the faction change thing though. It is just weird. I changed one of my alts from Night Elf to Troll in order to play with some hordie friends, and simply couldn't relate to her. I had to change her into a Blood Elf (i could easily RP that in my head as her inner pervert coming out). Having done that, I immediately wondered if she should stay a hunter. But you can't change class.
It made me wonder what is the platonic essence of a toon? At present it seems to be their class and level, along with a certain level of gear. A gearscore if you will. It's certainly not their experiences, since on switching faction you get all the old world flightpaths, which I never had before. I wonder if you should be able to buy a blank toon of a particular level and class, and just customise them. And why can't we switch class too. It's all very arbitrary. Without reason or rhyme.
I guess in the end they are just empty vessels into which we pour our time and money; shadows playing on the wall of the cave in which we pay our subscription.
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I faction transferred my Mage (Ally to Horde) and had no qualms. And strangely, my Mage – as a Gnome – had the most independant personality of all my characters. Between the Gnomishness, the name (who could take a Gnome Mage named "Police" serious?), and his Engineering antics.. he was just a blast.
I would regularly use my Engineering Mind Control cap on Horde players. When it worked, I would give them an Intellect buff and then "Gnome Dance" with them. When it failed… well they usually looked really confused having a Gnome as a pet… and then we would both laugh.
I would happily sheep enemy players and then /dance. Of course, sometimes I would then annihilate them in a Shatter Combo. I never knew what would happen.
Most of that attitude is gone, though. Doing the exact same things as a Blood Elf just feels wrong. "Gnome Dancing" is whimsical and funny. Blood Elf dancing just comes across as "I'm better than you". Then there's the laugh (shudder).
I think I'm about to talk myself into race-changing him to a Troll…
The tank is quite obviously LFD – Looking For Dwarf!
Having dropped my copy of "The Faerie Queene" on my little toe (which is still all bruised and purplish) whilst moving house, I'm going to stand up for Milton. Also when I was about twelve and going through a rebellious phase, I loved the whole concept of "better to reign in hell than serve in heaven". Finally the tutor who taught me Milton at University was sexy, the one who taught us Spencer considerably less so. Yes I was a shallow teenager. But that is some very fine facial hair. My recent post Dark Iron Pillow fight
Having dropped my copy of "The Faerie Queene" on my little toe (which is still all bruised and purplish) whilst moving house, I'm going to stand up for Milton. Also when I was about twelve and going through a rebellious phase, I loved the whole concept of "better to reign in hell than serve in heaven". Finally the tutor who taught me Milton at University was sexy, the one who taught us Spencer considerably less so. Yes I was a shallow teenager.
But that is some very fine facial hair.
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I realized some Irish people have long memories when my tutor in Cork told us how he couldn't stand Spenser because of his fraught relationship with Cork city and its inhabitants…
I realized some Irish people have long memories when my tutor in Cork told us how he couldn't stand Spenser because of his fraught relationship with Cork city and its inhabitants…
I realized some Irish people have long memories when my tutor in Cork told us how he couldn't stand Spenser because of his fraught relationship with Cork city and its inhabitants…
I realized some Irish people have long memories when my tutor in Cork told us how he couldn't stand Spenser because of his fraught relationship with Cork city and its inhabitants…
I realized some Irish people have long memories when my tutor in Cork told us how he couldn't stand Spenser because of his fraught relationship with Cork city and its inhabitants…
It's amazing how much life your toons seem to have, at least, according to your writing
Either you have a great imagination or a personality disorder which apparently, makes your life pretty interesting…
Anyways, enjoying the rants as usual, keep them coming!
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I've thought on occasion about faction changing one of my characters — temporarily, to get something only available to members of the other faction, then changing back. The story/personality that would go along with the whole uncomfortable I-am-not-myself-ness of it is that my character was CURSED! by an evil witch! to be a member of this other faction race.:P
What are the odds of Tamarind the paladin changing again for cataclysm?
Female tauren paladin fan-girl might make Cairne a bit less uncomfortable…
Standing at the front in his macho plate?
What spec(s) is Tam now? Sounds like you've turned him into a *gasp* TANK!
And congratulations on the dwarf! Dwarves are far and away my favorite Alliance race (I have an 80 dwarf hunter who is my favorite RP character, even above Linedan). The only drawback is, at least on my server, I'm worried about Ironforge's continued existence. There's about twenty male dwarves for each female, and it's a demographic disaster waiting to happen…
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What I'd like to know is how dwarves manage to look masculine standing around in their sissy robes. I don't think Milton or Spenser has the answer to that one!
I'm also glad to see if you've created a new Tamarind. I was starting to feel a bit silly calling you Tam.
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@Windsoar
Is the beard. The BIG beard.
I agree, the beard is a lot of it. Also the faces. Male dwarves have kind of craggy features. They all look a bit as if they have had their nose broken in a bar fight at some point.
As opposed to Auden, male human priest. Male humans are buff enough, but he still looks kind of silly in his heirloom sissy robe. But his face… you all know what male human faces are like anyway, and then when I made his face I was going for neutral, not too happy, not too stern. But the end result is that he usually looks kind of, well, vacant. Lights are on, but nobody's home, no matter how many points of Int he has. I tried giving him the maximum facial hair a human can have, and the flat-top haircut, and he still looked silly, so I've gone back to no facial hair and a longish haircut. Now he just looks like he wishes he were a belf.
I think the height helps dwarves too. It's not as obvious whether you're in pants or skirt when your belt is at other people's knee level. I mean look at Calidore there. The skirt thing hardly even registers, what with the height and the beard.
I like the dorf! He has a real nice beard.
And I think Tamarind doesn't have to worry at all. So many paladin tier sets come with their OWN sissy dresses…
My recent post A teensy bit of denial can go a looong way.
In fairness, pre-release the BElf males were extremely slender (aka, skinny, verrry similar to the current BElf female, except without boobs). There was a moderate outcry against it, and Blizz shifted the geometry to match that of Human males. Which baffles me to this day.
Beefed up magic junkies doesn’t make sense. If they were that worried about the popularity based on how bulky a race/sex combination was, or an imbalance between sexes, they should have done something about female dwarves as well…
Either way though – Dwarves as a race have a much stronger “personality,” and I’m glad you’ve discovered it.
I'm so glad Tam is back! Happy paladining.
Also, Calidore looks awesome.
I faction changed Rhii, and since I just have not been able to connect with her. It is like having someone else's toon on my account. I think it was a mistake not to rename her, but sadly one I cannot afford to rectify right now. With her still being Rhii, I can't even re-Rhii over in SAN without feeling odd… how can she be a draenei and a belf at the same time?
Paladining is totally my guilty pleasure. Tanking is such a 360 from dpsing that it's just… refreshing sometimes to play my tank, rather than my mage.
I have a secret, though. I totally love the female dwarf model. It's just so… cute! I prefer the draenei one, but dwarf is definitely number two. ^_^
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Ch.. Ch….. Changes!
Ah, glad you're feeling…. the love? the dorfism? the something.
And doubly glad that 'Tamarind' is back!
Funny that my 'new' toon is a dorf too. In my case, full circle. My very first character was a dorf pally that languishes to this day at lvl 30. My hunter – the class I'd 'never' play – has surpassed him.
As far as other changes, I was very delighted to have my resto shammy from BC 'become' my death-dealing DK when Lich King was released. I look forward to Cataclysm when I get to have a Worgen. Still trying to figure out how my DK can become a Worgen – because that's my first choice – but some fun changes will occur, without a doubt!
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Having not done a faction change myself, I have little to say on the matter. However, the line about not being able to turn on Thrall caught my eye. For a long time, I was playing a troll mage, who happened to be on a roleplaying server. The guild didn't roleplay, so I was pretty much alone in my longing for that outlet (though I did run into one lower-level warlock who had a hearty debate with me about arcane prowess versus fel domination [and not the talent]).
Then the city raids came.
One evening, I was hanging out around the auction house as I normally do, when I saw someone advertising a raid on all Alliance cities. It was written as a genuine call to arms! Not "lf39m For The Horde! need everything." It was an honest-to-Elune "Warriors of the Horde! Blood and honor awaits!" sort of ad. Naturally, I dove right in. It was decided we would start in Ironforge, and from there decide which way we'd go. Logic said Stormwind, so we ultimately did.
It was glorious. I was simply there as a murderer (though I did manage a couple of crafty POM-Polymorphs, thank you very much) but we got the job done. Magni fell to the weight of our onslaught, as did Varian. I'm sad to say we also took the life of an innocent pie vendor, but all wars have innocent deaths. We had two more to kill, and we couldn't hesitate for 40 people to /mourn the fellow.
We went next to Darnassus, and made our way to the Temple of the Moon. Sentinels fell at our feet. We stood in front of Tyrande Whisperwind.
And I faltered.
The fight began, and the others started to attack. And I realized that I just couldn't do it. I couldn't fight the leaders of the Alliance that I had genuine respect for. I was more or less ambivalent towards King Magni, but TYRANDE? I Polymorphed the defenders, Frost Nova'd them while they were out of line-of-sight. I felt guilty that I was keeping them from defending their priestess.
The night ended in a resounding success for the others, but I left before the raid continued to the Exodar. That troll still doesn't have For The Horde! for that very reason. I realized after I made my new main (this was pre-faction transfer, and I like leveling alts regardless) that during my time as an arcanist of the Horde that I developed a newfound respect for Thrall and Cairne. I couldn't care less for that addict in Silvermoon, or the dead woman who keeps us from retaking Lordaeron, but I will never (assuming my characters continue their association with my own thoughts) be able to get For The Alliance! either.
Man, being a roleplayer sucks sometimes.
((Sorry about the novel-length comment, I've been reading blogs this morning and was inspired to say something without a character limit.))
[...] There’s also the fact that.. My toons already are who they are. Some people get a ‘feel’ for their toons even without roleplaying them, and, I’m sorry, it’s going to be pretty much completely impossible to keep that identity when you are changing their whole race and faction. However on top of that inherent identity that I, too, have for my toons, even before I was roleplaying them… The ones on WrA I have roleplayed, several of them quite extensively. To change them so drastically would completely destroy them. Tam wrote on this when he changed his blood elf priest to a dwarf priest. [...]