Greetings Pathfinders!

I was spying your forums and armory for some time now, but hesitated for severaly reasons. Now, since even Thórva pointed in this direction in a DB forum topic i posted, there you got an application of a rogue...

NAME:
Zakeji

Race/Class:
troll, rogue

Main Spec:
dps - assassination/mutilate

Primary Professions:
alchemy and engineering

Armory Link:
there you go

in case Armory is down:
be.imba query

Fishing Skill:
max

What's your name and where are you from?

I'm Imre from Hungary (you know, Puskás, goulash and of course pálinka), a city called Székesfehérvár.

How old are you? Please give your answer in Reverse Polish Notation.

I'm not sure why you're asking for a notation at all, but if i'm correct it's 6 5*. Yes, it's a nice round number.

How long have you been playing WoW? (may also help explain strangely high fishing skills)

Since TBC came out. So i'm not as old school as i could be, but there was still plenty of time for fishing...

Is this your main? How often do you play this character? Tell us about your other characters, including any serious alts.

This is my main, i log in every day if i can, planned raids are more than ok to fit in. I used to be online from 19:00 to 23:00 or so (on weekends a little more, but not all day). In one third of every month i'm on callout duty for work though, so on these days i'm a liability if i raid (callout doesn't happen often, but i don't like to ruin raids so i tend not to sign on these days if there are others who can go). I have a lvl80 tauren shaman (Strayhand) in reserve, but i only use it to gather materials for Zake nowadays. He's stuck on Naxx10/Naxx25 gear level (i played him up to Mimiron as elemental). He's only semi-serious because i intend to continue raiding with my rogue.

What's your guild history? Are you in a guild right now? Are you leaving that guild because of some drama you caused? Cause one thing we really don't want is drama... No, you say? Then why are you leaving?

I began my adventures in the little hungarian guild on Defias - but since we were/are so little in numbers on the realm that we could not even raid 10mans, we decided to move on and more of us joined La Danse Macabre. It was a fun 1,5 year, raiding Kara and ZA with these guys was the golden era for me. We also made some semi-RP events back then (it was not long after LDM quit the Covenant), but the guild slowly advanced in a mostly 10man PvE guild (we made some 25man runs in alliance with Discordia).

When WotLK came out, LDM started to recruit, but in my humble opinion that was not a good decision. We turned into a hotel with a revolving door, people came and left, and we never managed to grow into a 25man raiding guild. Slowly the old raiding fellows from Kara and ZA left one by one, either for more progress or just simply quit the game. After some time i felt like old furniture, and i too felt that i need some big change or i would lose my interest completely. I can't say anything bad about the people in LDM, i love them very much, maybe it was WotLK (i remember, many guilds fell apart back then...) but the game, the guild, maybe even myself changed, and it was time to move on.

To make it a really big change and a fresh start, i left Defias to join some hungarian-only raiding. I was in a nice guild for some time on The Venture Co., but it fell apart because it soon had the same problem as LDM (people left for 25man progress, some of them even transferred away). After that guild went to almost inactive, i moved to Sporeggar where i am now. I'm in a nice guild, the PvE rogress is slow but steady, the guild even did some 25man runs at the beginning of September.

So why do i want to come back to Defias...? Firstly, because i miss it... I feel as a stranger on Sporeggar. Even if i'm ok there, i like my guildmates, but still... I left a very nice server here, some IRL hungarian mates, some other mates from the old raiding times (even if these people are scattered troughout the realm now), i know the guilds, etc.

And the reason i'm interested in joining specifically you - 10man raiding. I wouldn't say i don't like 25man, but as raiding activity, it's 10man what i like. I think it's better to have a smaller, but more used-to-eachother and prepared group for that, at least on a casual level it can be a pain to raid 25mans sometimes - and not because i dispise unprepared people or something (in fact i'm quite patient), but i still think that you have to be somewhat dedicated in preparing since you have 9 or 24 other people counting on you.

Provide the names of some people we can get in touch with in-game as references. If you know anyone on the Path, either in-game or IRL, mention that here also.

I don't know anyone from the guild, and i'm not sure you would know the ones i think could be references. Even LDM was left by many old members (although if you know someone there who counts old and respectable enough for you, feel free to ask), so for now, i place my bets on this application alone to convince you.

What is your role in raids? How do you judge whether you're doing a good job or not?

Simply said, a good job means doing the most possible damage to the boss while doing the least possible damage to the raid (including myself). I tend to be a little elitist towards myself and i'm a little addicted to doing good dps, but the success of the raid comes first (you don't see mee linking dps meters either). Tactics and coordination matter more than dps in my opinion anyway (although hard/heroic modes require some numbers of course), not to mention knowing the bossfights better brings more dps than some people would realize...

What's your PvE experience like?

I raided Kara and ZA regularly in TBC, downed some bosses in SSC (Lurker, Hydross and Morogrim), Winterchill in Hyjal, and "of course" raided Gruul and Magtheridon with Discordia and friends. In WotLK i killed everything in 10man normal except Yogg-Saron, currently did 4/9 hardmodes in Ulduar. In 25man i was up to Iron Council and Hodir from the keepers, and 4/5 in ToC25 normal. Naxx, VoA, Malygos and OS cleared in 10/25.

Describe your choice of spec, how you came to your current build, and any other things you feel we should know about why you spent your talent points the way you did.

Well, not much to tell here since i use the cookie cutter mutilate spec for PvE, it works. And i like it as well, i was mutilate even in TBC when it was far from mainstream so i'm used to it. Rogues on endgame content tend to respec according to their weapons, but i tend to stick to my daggers - somehow i got better weapons for mutilate usually anyway (i have an offhand sword from ToC10, and a mainhand from Ulduar10).

Where do you go to read about your class outside of the game?

There are some tips and tricks that you can learn on the Blizzard forums because there are some experienced rogues posting their answers from time to time, but to be sure, i read elitistjerks.com rogue forums every few days to stay up-to-date on the theorycraft. I use shadowpanther.net for gearing, it seems to work as a basic spreadsheet, it seems i'm lazy to fiddle around with real spreadsheet Excel tables...

RP story (wall of text critting you for over ninethousand)

((There are some repeatings in the first two sections here, because first i wrote the story differently for this application, but then i decided to put in the novelish parts that were written before that anyway. Sorry about that (or enjoy if you like to read much).))

So you want to know about that stray dog troll... Yes, I know him... In fact, many of us are aware of him in Mulgore. I'm glad you noticed that there is something strange about him - this means you are looking at the world now with the sight of the Earthmother, young shaman. What you felt is the mark of a nature spirit rebelling against the will of the Earthmother, by possessing flesh and blood, claiming the body of a living being for its own.

We encounter these beasts in the form of the fiercest animals of the land, driven by a bestial wrath, tearing apart everyone and everything unfortunate enough to get in their way. They enjoy their power, the strength of this unholy alliance of spirit and flesh, being a great threat to anything that's living. We sense them, track them down and kill them. That is the will of the Earthmother, for they are meant to be a part of her and not a part of us. This is however, only possible by killing the poor thing that the spirit possesses, sadly. With the death of the body, the spirit is forced to return to his place of existence. Yes, Zakeji was one of these feral beasts roaming the land of Mulgore. It is very rare however, that these spirits are strong enough to corrupt a thoughtful being - and in this case, it was not due to Zakeji's weak mind, because he has a strong one, I can tell you. This must have saved him from getting mad after all those years being part of the foul spirit.

Why did he came here, we don't know. He seems to be descending from the Darkspear. I suspect that the trolls cast him out when he became possessed, but his tribe knows less about him now than we do. Maybe he was haunted for a long time already before we found him, so they don’t even remember chasing him away. That long time spent cursed would explain his loss of memories of his early years. Because you must know that this alliance of the foul beast and the living thing does not benefit the fleshling, it only tortures him and drives him half-mad. Hunting down and killing these poor creatures for good is the only way to free the haunted soul from the grasp of the rogue nature spirit. Yes we tracked him down. Yes, we killed him... Yet, he's still alive. How, do you ask? Well that is another story, the story of the Forsaken Cannibal Legion. A bunch of outcast drifters brought back from the death by a cursed soul who was once alive, now floats in the spirit world. Guiding his chosen ones back to the realm of the Earthmother to serve his cause, planting a hate against all that's demonic into their hearts.

But for now we are talking about Zakeji. He was taken back to life, which was the will of that once-human soul. He returned to Mulgore, and that was his own free will. Because by the time we sensed his presence again, he was walking on the streets of Thunder Bluff! But he meant harm for us no more - he considered us the ones that freed him from the hurting bondage. A splinter of the rebellious spirit remained in his soul though, that's why we can feel his presence when he returns from one of his journeys, to freshen himself up with the breeze on the cliffs of Thunder Bluff. We look after him, and he looks after us. Because from that day on, he did much for us, we honor him as he was our brother. And you must do the same. Because he seem like a lowly rogue, but looks can be deceiving, this much you know by now I'm certain. Never was he a part of any underground unity of thieves, all of his abilities to prowl trough the shadows and move like the cougars of the flatlands remained from his unwanted alliance with a feral beast who tear itself from the body of the Earthmother.

***

OOC:
The circumstances of Zakeji's birth and young years are not perfectly clear. Even when the tauren shamans first sensed his presence on the plains of Mulgore, they identified him as a feral nature spirit rebelling against the Earthmother, one that tore itself off her and possessed the body of a young troll, roaming the land as a dire beast, slaughtering everything he encountered. The shamans have some old stories about spirits being so strong and wild, but these beleived to be really rare so they had no other idea but to hunt down and kill him for good, as they thought this would force the spirit to return from the physical world to its original home.

The soul of the troll could not rest however. He was brought back to life by a cursed being who's floating in the spirit world, and chooses his soldiers from the dead, planting a hatred against all demonic into their hearts (this refers to the RP story of my first guild, the hungarian Forsaken Cannbial Legion). Zakeji was revived - and he came to his senses, like he was free from whatever he was haunted by before. He was an almost normal troll of the Horde, although he didn't remember who he was or where he came from. After some months the influence of the cursed soul who commanded the Forsaken Cannibal Legion began to fade away, and he started to have some memories about the taurens and something happening to him in Mulgore, so he journeyed there to find out about his past. To his surprise he was welcomed by tauren shamans and brought to Thunder Bluff as a prisoner - as the shamans still sensed the presence of the foul spirit, but a lot weaker, and since Zakeji was not the dire beast as before, they decided to capture him instead of killing the troll. After a long meeting it was decided to let him go free, although he was put under the command of Quartiz the druid, who was the leader of La Danse Macabre at that time. It was beleived that the rebel feral spirit was indeed cast back to its plane of existence, but a splinter of it remained in Zakeji's soul. He possessed druid-like abilities without any training, although he was not able to shapeshift or heal, but prowl in the shadows and move quick like a mongoose.

In the years after that, Zakeji prooved himself worthy of the shaman council's trust, in fact he became a good friend of the tauren while spending a lot of time in Thunder Bluff and Mulgore. In the years spent as a member of La Danse Macabre, he learned a lot about his race's culture (among other things) thanks to his troll friends in the guild. He tried to find out more about his past, but even if he was seemingly a Darkspear, the tribe, the trolls in Sen'Jin didn't know anything about him, or didn't remember.

When the Lich King revealed himself and the battle against him began, the people of La Danse Macabre joined the Horde forces in Northrend as well. Zakeji was participating in a battle at Zul'Drak between the Argent Crusade and the Scourge, led by a corrupted troll. The shadow hunter seemed to notice the strangeness of Zakeji, because he struck him with a powerful curse, trying to corrupt him for the Scourge as well. The curse had an effect - but not exactly in the way the shadow hunter had in mind. Zakeji felt the dire spirit overcoming him once again. From time to time he felt something similar before, as if some feral instincts would guide him in battle, but this was something else. His Argent companions watched shocked and with disgust as he turned into a savage beast and ravaged, tearing apart the scourge - and the surprised shadow hunter - with his bare hands and tusks. Though he was not that young, easily controlled mind he was back than years before. He slowly overcame the bloodlust and the foul magic of the curse. But by the end of the battle, he was changed. From that time, he felt the real savage troll bloodthirst, as if he was closer to his primal animal roots.

***

The old shaman closed his eyes and held his head to the side like the sudden light was hurting him. The troll took a quick step inside the tent and let the leather fall back to make the place a twilight zone of incense smoke again. He stood there for a moment, then without any invite he stepped forward and sat on the ground facing the shaman. He blinked to the right. Strayhand gave him a sharp stare for a few moments, than stood up and went out of the tent leaving the other two by themselves. The shaman at the opposite side of the little smolder pile opened his eyes and looked at Zakeji. His face was wrinkled but his eyes were glowing with living energy, and the troll knew that he is not that old and helpless as he looks. He took a deep breath and pointed at the tent door.
- You never visit him anymore when you come to Thunder Bluff. He is mad at you, you know... - he smoked on his pipe for a few seconds staring searchingly at the troll but since he didn't answer apart from an almost unnoticable smile, the shaman sighed and continued - Well, it is your business, i did not wanted to see you because of this. I have a favor to ask.
The troll's face got serious. If the old Oak asks him for a favor in his own tent it must be something personal.
- As you have probably guessed, this is not about our people but me. My son actually...
Zakeji knew that the old tauren's son, young Ghoban went to Northrend with the Horde forces like many young taurens from Mulgore. All of them knew that the battle against the Lich King's forces there will be harsh and many of them will not return.
- I did not hear from him since he went north. He went with those Argent forces that left for Zul'Drak. I heard you will leave again soon so i thought... that maybe... - he went silent and stared into the smolder, raising his pipe to his mouth.
Zakeji hummed and scratched his chin, seemingly insensible. To an outsider this behaviour would even seem desrespectful, but the shaman didn't look like bothered about it. He knew the troll better.
- I do not really know dose savages ya know... Yes, i was dere before but as ya know dere be many kind of trolls, ya go to anotha land ya find anotha ones... - he stood up and went to the tent door, where he stopped for a second and looked back at the shaman - But do not worry wise Oak. If he be dere i'm gonna find him.
He nodded quickly and stepped out of the tent. The brightness lighted up the face of the shaman again, he sat there with closed eyes blowing smoke into the air.
- Thank you Haunted One... - he said before the tent door leather fell back, leaving him alone in the grey incense smoke.

Zakeji stood before the tent for a few seconds while his eyes got used to the sunlight. He already saw Strayhand, the tauren was at the kodos to the left. He noticed Zakeji coming out and called him waving with his hand.
- I guess you be goin' for a ride too - said the troll smilingly walking towards Strayhand.
- I am going with you - answered the tauren with a tone that makes clear there's no place for arguing.
- No problem mon, but me won't play da guide for you ya know - the smile got bigger on the troll's face, but seeing the serious look on the tauren's face it turned into a grimace - What be the problem Stray, you seem troubled. Hm? - He stepped to Strayhand's kodo and stroked it on it's neck.
- I am worried about you my friend... - the tauren staired at Zakeji with a blaming expression on his face - You have changed. I do not know if you realize it, but you have changed.
- I sure did bro' - the grin on the trolls face not changed for a second - My accent got betta, did ya notice?
- It is that spirit you carry within you - the tauren gave a searching look to the troll - As it gets stronger, it makes you stronger but you are not the peaceful one as you used to be... Do you even care about it...?
Zakeji took a deep breath and stepped away from the kodo. He took a long look around. Thunder Bluff stood there unchanged since the moment he set foot in it the first time years before.
- You will see mon... The North be a different place. Facin' the Frozen King's horde be a different battle than fighting against eachotha with dose Alliance humans. Take part in dat battle changes ya... - he took a break in his sentence, for a few moments only the light wind and the well known sound of the windmills could be heard - ...and me be not sure me don't want dat change ya know.
Strayhand stared at his friend searchingly but could not find out if he was joking or not. The troll was hard enough to know even before. He started to smiled again, seeing the serious look on Strayhand's face.
- Do not worry brotha! Oak sent ya with me to keep an eye on da beast so what could go wrong with you there, hm? - said Zakeji, then he turned around and walked away whistling towards the flight tower before the surprised tauren could say anything.
Strayhand stood there alone with his thoughts for a while. The troll sure knows his people well. And seeing how lightly he talks about his illness, or whatever it may be called, maybe the shaman councils worries are justified... Maybe he will turn slowly into the beast like he was before... But until then, thought Strayhand, they are friends and he will trust him and care about him. As being one of those who killed him back then and freed his soul from the grasp of that foul spirit, he felt responsible for him. He will go with him, as he wanted to join his Dancer friends fighting in Northrend anyway.

***

OOC:
Zakeji became more and more obsessed with this bloodthirst, and to his surprise he was enjoying it. His friends watched this worrying, and as time passed by, he realized it too - something has to be done or in the end he will lose the controll over his bestial side. He decided to walk the path of finding himself alone, and left his allies, disappearing for months.

These months were spent on the Echo Isles. There he finally found someone who knew about him. An old Darkspear shaman living in exile on the Echo Isles sent a dream to Zakeji calling the rogue to himself. There in the little hut of the old troll he finally learned about his past. The shaman told him he was an unusual child, since he had no father... The Darkspear looked suspiciously at the pregnant mother. Some of them saw him as a miracle, but some of them as a bad sign, and in the end, it was decided to cast the young mother out. Since she had no family remaining in the village, the trolls forgot about her soon enough. But not the shaman. He had visions, dreams about the future and the happenings that will change the face of the world as they know it. Not long after the mother was exiled, he woke from one of his nightmares covered in sweat, stood up, walked out of the tent into the jungle and never returned to the tribe since then.

He found the mother. He told her that the child was from the Loa, and his task is to help her give birth to him and raise him. Because the child is a sign indeed. A calling from the Loa to the Darkspear. Not long after Zakeji was born though, they were attacked by Zalazane's trolls. The shaman was left for half-dead, the mother and the child taken away - and the shaman didn't know what happened after that. He searched for the child but never found him, and he stayed on the Echo Isles in exile.

So Zakeji found out that it is not a feral spirit that is haunting him, it is his own self being. In the upcoming months he stayed with the shaman and learned to free and control his inner beast - which is similar to the way of enhancement shamans or druids.

***

((The story is of course in no way a hint to some godlike abilities, i just had the idea of a tribal warrior who fights predatorish style or something like that. A regular rogue, but his special abilities are not from rogue training but have some shamanistic/druidic origin. To my surprise the Cataclysm changes and the Loa part just fit in perfectly, and leaves it open for the crazy possibility of making Zakeji a druid in the expansion (i was always playing with the thought of changing to a druid)... Although i like rogue playstyle too much i guess, so that's not sure to happen...))

Additional notes. Optionally, mention anything else you'd like us to know about your application.

This might be strange after this but i think i have to point out that i'm not a big RP-er. I like it a lot, used to play IRL years ago and i like the lore and stories, so i'm not on an RPPVP server out of coincidence, but still. I think RP requires some dedication and most of the time when i log on into WoW tired after work, i don't have that... I'm into stories more than into actual RP-ing. That said i'm not against it of course, but i don't think i'm good at it.

And about the novelic parts, i apologize for any crime i committed against english language in the text above, what you have there is something learned from movies, music and video games... (And yes, i know that i should refer myself with an "I" in uppercase, but that's some bad habit i can't seem to give up, sorry...)

It's really nice to see someone who's both mastered Reverse Polish Notation and puts in the extra effort on the RP section.

Two quick questions: Can you give me a rough idea of your raid-buffed DPS? Also, while rogues don't have many direct ways of buffing other players (compared to, say, priests and paladins), all classes have some degree of support function in PvE. How do you see yourself helping other players fulfill their class's potential in raids, either through abilities or professions?

Nice effort on application.
Gear and gemming seems to be in order too.
Thumbs up. More trolls!

Sorry for the not-so-quick answer.



Ok, this will be funny but i don't really know what to say. I do quite good dps, but i look at dps only as a relative number and as one of the indicators about doing my part right or not. Since it varies too much from every raid to every fight because of raid composition (not to mention 10man compared to 25man) and i'm only checking it during/after the actual fights i really suck at remembering numbers, as stupid as this may sound (in fact i don't really try to remember because of the different circumstanses from fight to fight). As examples for low and high, i do around 3,8K on the boss dummy, on fights like Hodir it's somewhere around 7-8K in 10man - if i remember correctly (of course while avoiding falling ice and being frozen).



To be honest i see my tools limited, there was a time when i wanted to switch to my shaman as a main because i felt useless as a rogue. More so because i'm mutilate so even changing poisons is suboptimal for the spec (i used wound poison on the Champions only so far, but that doesn't mean i won't use it on other fights if really needed). But of course there are some useful abilities. I use Tricks of the Trade regularly (trying to use it every cooldown, but it depends on the situation, it's better to time it right than to spam), it's an imba tool. I find it funny raidleaders keep saying me not to dps at the beginning of the fight while i'm just misdirecting the tank... The other semi-raidwide buff would be expose armor, but that's good only with a non-warrior tank (and if i'm the only melee it's better to leave it out for more envenoms). I don't really know what other "raidbuffs" you might refer (well timed CloS and Feint removing pressure from healers crosses my mind), but it can be things that i consider too basic to mention...

Thank you for your answers. This has been a pretty great application all in all, so we look forward to having you on trial. /w Thórva, Zalmoxis, or Ekhan for a ginvite.