Cyriene - Paladin Prot (Ret)

Tell us tell us a little about yourself.

I work and live in Austin, Texas. I love to play softball which is usually what I am doing when not playing games. I play and coach a team. I also like to try and be active within my community when time permits. I enjoy reading, running, traveling, and watching Netflix. I'm a fan of Family Guy, American Dad, Bob's Burgers, and even the Cleveland Show. I'm originally from NYC but have lived in Austin for the last 16 years. I'll be 36 in a few weeks.

I've heard really great things about this guild from my friends Euphoric and Dysphoric. I am looking for a fun group of people to play with. I took a break from the game for a couple of months to study for a promotional exam (work) and now wanting to come back to finish up the content. I am central time so I do not know how much I will be able to play on Mondays. I generally work M-Th and have Fri-Sun off so Thursday nights should not be an issue for me.

Tell us about your WoW experience.

I am applying mostly as a Prot Paladin but willing to switch things up as needed for the group. I have a fairly decent Ret set and some holy pieces but they are probably a little outdated now that many guilds have Heroic HFC gear. I also have a 100 Hunter (BM), Priest (Disc/Shadow), Rogue (boosted assassination), and Warlock (Demo/Affliction). I enjoy playing a mage and look forward to trying the new Demon Hunter.

I started playing towards the end of Vanilla. I started out as Horde and was in a guild on Garona and then transferred to Proudmoore. When BC came out, Euphoric and I started a guild called Exquisite Pain. We co-led the guild until the end of BC when we took a break. When I came back towards the end of Wrath, I transferred to Alliance and joined Mattachine Knights where I have been ever since. I played in all the expansions but did very little raiding in Wrath. When I co-led Exquisite Pain, I was the main Raid Leader. We successfully downed Karazhan, Tempest Keep, Serpentshrine Cavern, and Hyjal. We cleared all of Black Temple until Sharaz. Back then I was a paladin tank and learned the art of AoE tanking when my paladin friends thought that pallys were only good for FoL spam (Holy). Those were the good ole' days ;)

Yes I am one of those that "misses the good old days" of Vanilla. I do NOT miss ridiculous 40 man raids. There are lots of changes to the game I love but I miss the unique challenges the game had to offer. I played with a lot of talented people and we always found fun ways to defeat things.

What is your Weakness?

My biggest weakness is not dealing well with weak leadership. I have a hard time when raid leaders are ineffective communicators, don't listen to other people's input, and/or do not have a grasp on a raid teams abilities to come up with effective strategies that work for a specific raid team. I'm not a big believer in there being only one way to do something; it's about finding the right solution for the people that are playing. I try to temper it by being constructive in offering alternative solutions.

What was your favorite gaming moment?

I have a few but in WoW I would say that my two favorite gaming cutscenes are (1) Battle of Angrathar the Wrathgate cutscene and (2) the scene between Garrosh and Thrall during questing in Northrend in Warlods xpac. I also loved the sense of accomplishment getting the Hand of A'dal achievement. My ultimate favorite moment was leading several groups to complete the Dungeon 2 tier upgrade back in Vanilla with the 45 minute Baron runs and vanquishing Lord Valthalak.

Extra Credit

Its been a few months since I've raided but here is a link to AMR battle logs for my tank:

http://www.askmrrobot.com/wow/player/us/proudmoore/cyriene