And to you warlocks ... Good luck getting a group, but as for me, I don't want you. -- Gohan

"Look at them Mezzy ... "

The little warlock leaned against the stones of Theramore Keep, watching the fighters in training there. The rank and file, the knight marshalls, the squires being tutored by their knights.

Listening to them talk strategies and tactics, comparing their sword against a mage's spells, a priests prayers ...

" .. or me an' you Mezzy. Like we are nothing more than a pawn's gambit on a chessboard with Horde on one side and our Alliance upon the other.

"I guess it must be very tempting, to use use weights and measures, to compare those apples and oranges, to make sweeping generalizations, all designed, of course, to sway a balance one way or another, dependin' on who is doing the balancing. The problem, of course Mezzy, is like building a clock ...

"No matter how good the individual parts are, if'n they don't fit together right, the clock doesn't work. I always remember what that druid up in Astranaar told his students, "Look too closely at the trees and one loses sight of the forest."

"Kinda like that warrior there. He sees his sword, the damage he can do, and know exactly how many number of blows it will take to return a Tauren bull to the spirit plane.

"And tries to compare me an' you like that."

There comes a slow shake of her head, ponytails bobbing beneath her pointed hat.

"And that's the very last person I want to be standing next to me when the fight turns sour. When the sun sets at the end of the day, such compilations have everything to do with counting and absolutely nothing to do with winning or losing.

"Want to know what's important when working with other folks?

"First ... a person you can trust to work with you, that you know will be standing at your side without having to go looking for them.

"Second ... a person who not only knows what they are doin' but how what they do works with those around them.

"Which reminds me, Mezzy.

"Stop eating Sheep !

"Ahem.

"Kinda like what we do. You know when its me an Miss Freyara, and she's a mage, you're our bestus friend, Mister Voidwalker. When we got a pair of warriors and paladins about, the its little imply Pizzyap who fits in best. Or if we are facing sorcerers that are beast fiends incarnate, well Zhaa really likes to eat those mages right up.

"It might take us a moment or two, to figure out how our particular team works best. But at least we have the tools to match our strategies to help and supplement most other folks.

"But that's not the point, per se. So we aren't the Big Hero. Is that what's really important? Being a one trick pony is just that. Knowing how what you do fits with everyone else and to be willing to make those choices, that's what makes a good swordsister.

"Third, to be working for everyone's sake, patient and understanding. Remember how we felt, discovering ourselves all alone in the deep halls of Uldaman, our companion's tasks completed and then them having waved and left ... but our task, after helping them, was left unfinished before us?

"Or the rogue that kept running ahead as if he was hunting solo, leaving us to handle the trail of disaster he left behind ... like the time we got abandoned on the upper floors of Stromgarde Keep looking at those four big nasty guards.

"I know, Mezzy ... it's not my fault they didn't believe we were delivering chocolates and flowers to Mister Otto.

"Its the same when you watch as that one piece of treasure you had been looking for vanishes into someone elses pocket. Not that me and you are treasure hounds, Mezzy. Miss Freyara has to always remind us to take stuff ...

"Fourth, a person who understands that that sometimes things go wrong no matter how well you plan.

"Fifth, a person that knows that sometimes sacrifces must be made ...

"That's right. I'm a warlock. Even if many times I'm the last person to fall when things go bad, if I get smashed to the spirit plane in order for Miss Freyara to hold on for a few more heartbeats ... then I have succeeded. I've done good.

"Five simple qualities.

"You can count them on the ... well, not me and you, but thats what the humans say.

"Trust. Compatibility. Commitment. Understanding. Sacrifice.

"That's what makes a good companion in a group.

"And it doesn't matter if you are warrior, priest, paladin, mage, druid or warlock. That is what makes a winning team.

"All this talk of swordstrokes and spells and who can hit harder than who ...

" ... clouds the real issue.

"Its why we have little problem working with other folks.

"That's right Mezzy,

"Gimme a choice between someone I can trust and someone who hits harder ...

"I'll always choose the person I can trust."

... from the Warlock Forum, usually a very depressing and destructive place. A person, quite possibly trolling for a touch of sensational ism, posted in the guise of a fighter saying that warlocks are useless in a group situation. The thread immediately fell into the expected arguements back and forth about the relative merits and power of the tools we have in the game.

The my gun is bigger than your gun arguement.

Until I realized they had completely missed the point.

And Mezzy?

Stop eating sheep!