Great Expectations

As this is my first time writing here, I want to express my excitement about being a part of the new SK.us WoW squad. When I take into consideration the quality of my immediate teammates, combined with the strength of the other SK WoW squads, it should be clear as day as to why there has never been a better time to be an SK fan if you follow this game. I am absolutely thrilled to be a part of the organization that between these three powerhouse teams is going to completely destroy the WoW scene here in 2009. Believe me when I say that some good times are ahead.

Specifically for our US team, we are combining some of the biggest and best names with long history of success both in game and in tournament play. Serennia needs no introduction here, but the addition of Sck and myself to complete the new roster is a stacked combination of pure talent and modern-day Arena relevance. There will be a lot to talk about in the coming months.

I plan to make this whole blogging idea a regular thing here, but for the moment I feel an introduction is warranted so those who may be less familiar with me can get to know me better. Once I get a set schedule going with this I intend to provide some insights to my Arena theorycrafting, offer excessively biased opinions concerning game balance and upcoming or desired changes, just generally let you know what I'm up to, as well as hopefully eventually bring in some fraps'd videos highlighting particular topics or plays with commentary.

All About Me

That being said, allow me to introduce myself- My name is Ryan 'Realz' Masterson, I'm 24 years old and I live in San Jose, California (which is in the San Francisco bay area). I have been playing WoW since around the opening of the AQ40 gates primarily as a ShadowPriest and secondarily as a Rogue.

I carried the ShadowPriest into the Burning Crusade expansion and into the beginning of the Arena era which was a blast, and I enjoyed great successes on my home Battlegroup ladders (US Ruin) and also bg9 (US Bloodlust). Along the way I met and played with and against numerous top players, many of whom became tournament players and are part of the pro scene to this day.

During seasons 3 and 4 the Arena environment unfortunately became an unforgiving place for ShadowPriests and I took that as an opportunity to dust off the Rogue and prepare it for competitive play. Being able to evolve and adapt is a skillset of great value when the competitive format in which you play is set within a constantly-changing MMO.

My general policy regarding success in Arena play is... Stick to what you know. Therefore, know more. Fast forward to today and Hunter is essentially my new primary class, and I still have the extensive experience and success on Priest and Rogue to fall back on.

Speaking of Hunters... the class is very strong but the TNT stun proc has got to go, and the sooner the better.

And hey - does anyone have a sportbike that they have taken on the autobahn? I can only imagine that it is a blast, right? I have a Yamaha r6 that I desperately wish I could bring with me when we head to Germany for the ESL Extreme Masters global finals in March, but oh well~~

That's all for now but I will be back another day with some thoughts and ideas, hopefully with some sort of schedule in mind to share in case you decide you want to ride along with me.

Feel free to comment however you like good or bad, I have pretty thick skin.