Why "Tanking Mage?"

"Tanking mage" harkens back to my early days playing MMOs, back when the trifecta of tank-healing-DPS was a hard and fast rule, before the days when you had games where building a sturdy mage was an option.

I had a buddy that I played with pretty often who played a mage. I would duo with him as a tank. Now, we'd be out in the world, bopping along and doing our thing. Invariably, we'd come across a large group of aggressive mobs and I would hang back for a second, trying to assess the situation. Should I try to pull off small groups? Is it even possible? How many of these can I take at once, do I think?

And, as I sat there, pondering, my friend would just...charge in. Robes flapping gleefully about his knees, he would run into the middle of the mobs and madly waggle his fingers, calling down fire and death and giggling like a madman while I sat there with my mouth hanging open, calling, "Wait! What are you...? Oh, for the love of....!"

And, then, I would charge in after him and try my damnedest to pull aggro off of him before his cloth-wearing ass got shredded. Sometimes, I was successfull. Sometimes, not so much. At the time when it happened, it annoyed me. I mean, I loved this guy. He was an awesome friend but...come on! Now, though, I'm glad that he pulled those shenanigans. I look back on the whole thing fondly and find myself giggling as I remember those frantic fights. Those memories bring a smile back to my face.

So...Tanking Mage! I named the blog after a happy memory. And, hopefully, I'll fill this space with yet more goodness and fun.