Concerning the Bloggers introduces you to the people behind WoW Insider. You could find articles on more of our staffers in earlier About the Bloggers profiles.What do you do for WoW Insider?I was hired by WoW Insider in late 2008 to jot down the weekly rogue column, Encrypted Text. I had truly applied for the position a couple of months earlier however wasn't initially selected, so I simply assassinated their first selection and left them with no alternative however to signal me as a substitute.When WI decided to broaden its protection of hybrid lessons, I put in my application for the holy paladin place. I presently maintain both Encrypted Textual content and The sunshine and Tips on how to Heal It portion of the paladin column on a weekly basis. My secondary function is to get confused with Christian Belt and Chase Hasbrouck.What's your predominant?My twin mains are my Goblin rogue, Madsushi, and my Blood Elf holy paladin, Cure. I have had several rogues earlier than and since Madsushi, however I am notably connected to him. I inherited Cure from my brother in the Burning Crusade, and she's been the leader of my guild and its 10-man raiding crew. Madsushi tends to be my PVP character whereas Cure is my PVE character, although I cross these streams very often (regardless of Egon's warning). I've tanked on Cure when my guild wanted it and I've a number of alts that I play occasionally, but almost all of my playing time is spent getting bloody with Madsushi or healing with Cure.Horde or Alliance?After i first starting taking part in WoW, I leveled an Alliance holy paladin on a PVE server. After realizing that I hated every thing in regards to the arrangement, I rerolled a Horde rogue on a PVP server, and that i've never appeared back. The Horde vs. Alliance aspect of WoW is a very powerful part of the sport to me. If Blizzard decided to finish the war, I might cancel all of my subscriptions. Whereas I don't play on an RP server, I nonetheless take the battle to heart. It is why I slay each Alliance participant that I see, it's why I gank mercilessly, and it's why every single member of my guild knows our official policy on cross-faction relations -- red is useless.While I know plenty of softies which can be upset about Thrall's appointment of Garrosh as Warchief, it was my favorite part of Cataclysm. With regards to Horde vs. Alliance politics, I purpose to be Garrosh's most loyal soldier. I fight the Alliance always in Azeroth, and we even take our quarrels to the realm forums commonly. I could be the WoW Insider writer with the most forum warnings/bans to his identify.What's the best 5-man occasion in the game? What's the very best raid?Dire Maul North is my favorite 5-man occasion, and by a big margin. I ran it a minimum of 100 times while farming my guild just a few Quel'Serrars. As a rogue, I could literally information your entire experience. My Saps and Distracts created our paths, my lockpicking and pickpocketing gained us entry to barred doorways, and my Stealth and cunning allowed us to skip as many mobs as doable. Dire Maul North was the ultimate take a look at of a rogue's talents, and i loved having full management over my group's success and failure.My favourite raid is Ulduar, simply due to its beauty. The structure and artistry have all the time awed me. Algalon was the proper closing boss; we fought our means into the corruption, slime, and filth of the Old God, which was then starkly contrasted by unfeeling bleakness. Ulduar was additionally when my guild's raid crew finally started to click on, and we have been actually in a position to clear your entire place on heroic and receive our first raid meta-achievement.What's your favorite factor to do in Azeroth?World PVP is unquestionably my favorite activity on Madsushi. The release of patch 4.2 and the Molten Entrance was like an early Christmas for me. I racked up a whole lot of kills over the following weeks. I've spent extra time within the Molten Entrance than you have, and I feel I am simply barely finished with the first section of the each day quests. I could not care less about some awful ilvl 365 gear -- I'm there to make enemies.When I'm enjoying Cure, I'm all about raiding. I really like main my guild by way of new encounters. We've been raiding collectively for years now, and so each raid night is like meeting up with old associates. Blizzard's choice to keep up 10-man raiding as a viable development path is the best thing that's ever happened to our guild, as we can work as a small group to accomplish our goals.What's your favourite piece of loot?I'll share my secret with you here, however only as a result of I do not want it now that I farmed up my Reins of Poseidus. My favourite item is the Azure Silk Belt. While it seems so easy, the 15% swim pace bonus has saved me a lot swimming time over the past several years. A buddy of mine made me one, and I have not been with out it since. I have evaded would-be gankers with its pace bonus, and i've caught up to some of my prey that was making an attempt to escape. At first, they swim away, and then they stop as they realize they will not make it to the shore. There's nothing quite like watching somebody realize that resistance is futile. The belt has saved my life greater than as soon as and gained me greater than a few honorable kills, and it never leaves my aspect.What's your favourite mount?That could be my Blue Nether Ray. Much like how I worked the Molten Entrance, I farmed the Skettis area for Alliance gamers day by day throughout the Burning Campaign. While I used to be there, I'd occasionally complete just a few quests while waiting for recent meat to fly in. Over the course of several months, I by chance reached exalted with the Sha'tari Skyguard without even discovering Ogri'la. While the Nether Ray is awesome and I love the way it matches the Nether Ray Fry pet, it is the truth that I paid for it in gallons of Alliance blood that makes it my chosen mount.What is the #1 factor Blizzard has done nice?Blizzard has allowed me to cease caring about my gear. I really do not care about gear at all. As a healer, I am always passing tier items and ambiguous caster items to my raid's DPS classes. On MINECRAFT SERVERS , I just want to be stabbing folks and never worrying about what ilvl my stuff is at. I raid recurrently on both characters, and I do know that so long as I'm placing in my time every week, I will get my gear eventually. I take upgrades as they arrive, and i spend my valor points after they stack up. I don't need to spend my time farming for resistance gear or grinding some esoteric repute, which lets me do more of what I like.When I am not playing WoW, I'm ...I am married and reside in Santa Barbara, Calif., with my wife and our cat. I am a tech nerd at coronary heart, so I spend most of my time working with computers and watching StarCraft 2 matches. I have been spending my evenings constructing new PCs for a few of the gamers in my guild, choosing out the perfect components and putting all of them together. Throughout the day, I work full-time as an engineering advisor for an IT outsourcing company right here. If it's IT-related, I work with it indirectly. Up to now MINECRAFT SERVERS , I've built new servers, installed a VoIP phone system, applied virtualization, configured SANs, managed a corporate iPhone deployment undertaking, solved networking issues, and even changed the ink cartridge in a printer. I tell people that I like playing Minecraft, however I even have more fun managing my guild's Minecraft server than I do enjoying Minecraft itself.