Well, that was a brief bachelorhood.
I am no longer wild and free to chase the winds as I wish, reveling in the solitude among the masses. Quint is now a guilded Blood Elf. Again.
Okay, things aren't going to change too much, because I doubt there'd be any more guildies than me on at 5 AM, but you never know.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
The Early Bird Gets the PuG
Most of the time when I play WoW is early in the morning. Sure, I've got the once weekly time set aside to hang with Souldat and his wife, but I've settled into a routine where I play before I have to get the kids up for school. Since I'm up really early to go work out, I slip in some WoW time between 5-7 AM.
When I was on Stormscale (Pacific Time Zone server), that early time was great for dailies. You could get some dailies done, and then the server time would hit the 3 AM reset (6 AM my time in EST) and you could do the dailies again. It was also ideal for exploring; the likelihood of running into a pack of 80's while checking out Elwynn Forest was remote, particularly during midweek.
Ironically enough, I found the same competition for mining resources during those wee hours as I did at other times. Three of us (two Horde, one Alliance) would be duking it out for the same titanium ore in Icecrown, and you got used to being jumped just when you thought the coast was clear.
If there was one drawback to the early morning solo time, it's that the players for random heroic 5-man runs were few and far between. It wasn't an issue when I was handling the regular solo quest work, but now that I'm soloing the instances in Outland and the 5-man quests in Icecrown, I need to work on my gear. That means badges and instance runs.
Switching to an Eastern Time Zone server has it's drawbacks for some solo work -such as the dailies- but it's been easier to use the LFG tool to pull in a few runs. The last time I tried the LFG tool on Stormscale at that time, after about 45 minutes I gave up. When I tried using it for the first time that early on Area 52 --I chose an Azjol-Nerub run rather than purely random for the speed factor (10-15 minutes if you do it quickly)-- I only waited about 12 minutes before I got in and was on my way.
Not bad.
The irony of getting some 5-man runs in this early in the morning is that the pure randomness of the tool is defeated by the lack of players. For example, today's first run (the Oculus) had not only the same two guys from the Exodar server I saw yesterday (including one well run Druid tank), but another repeat player from a separate server. After a relatively painless run through the Oculus which included the occasional joke about needing coffee, we stayed together for a second run, this time through Utgarde Keep.
I had to beg off after Utgarde, but the quality of the PuGs in the 5 AM slot had me impressed. Compared to the lunchtime fare, the early morning runs are more about getting in, getting it done, and getting out. (Yeah, I know, insert tasteless jokes here.) I had yesterday's Azjol-Nerub run take twice as long as usual because the three guildies in the group had decided to go for the Hadronox Denied achievement without telling the other two of us, and that fight included both the healer and one DPS dying and running back to get into the fight.
If I had to choose between the two, I'd go for the early morning runs. They feel less like kids on lunch break at college and more like parents squeezing in WoW time before getting ready for work. I can get 2 to 3 runs in fairly quickly, get some questing done in Outland, and then I'm ready to start the day.
(It's still amazing that Dalaran is never empty, even at 5 AM. Org is dead then, but Dal? No way. I wonder whether Blizzard is planning on trying to spread the Dalaran concentration out a bit in Cataclysm, but I have no idea how they'd do it.)
When I was on Stormscale (Pacific Time Zone server), that early time was great for dailies. You could get some dailies done, and then the server time would hit the 3 AM reset (6 AM my time in EST) and you could do the dailies again. It was also ideal for exploring; the likelihood of running into a pack of 80's while checking out Elwynn Forest was remote, particularly during midweek.
Ironically enough, I found the same competition for mining resources during those wee hours as I did at other times. Three of us (two Horde, one Alliance) would be duking it out for the same titanium ore in Icecrown, and you got used to being jumped just when you thought the coast was clear.
If there was one drawback to the early morning solo time, it's that the players for random heroic 5-man runs were few and far between. It wasn't an issue when I was handling the regular solo quest work, but now that I'm soloing the instances in Outland and the 5-man quests in Icecrown, I need to work on my gear. That means badges and instance runs.
Switching to an Eastern Time Zone server has it's drawbacks for some solo work -such as the dailies- but it's been easier to use the LFG tool to pull in a few runs. The last time I tried the LFG tool on Stormscale at that time, after about 45 minutes I gave up. When I tried using it for the first time that early on Area 52 --I chose an Azjol-Nerub run rather than purely random for the speed factor (10-15 minutes if you do it quickly)-- I only waited about 12 minutes before I got in and was on my way.
Not bad.
The irony of getting some 5-man runs in this early in the morning is that the pure randomness of the tool is defeated by the lack of players. For example, today's first run (the Oculus) had not only the same two guys from the Exodar server I saw yesterday (including one well run Druid tank), but another repeat player from a separate server. After a relatively painless run through the Oculus which included the occasional joke about needing coffee, we stayed together for a second run, this time through Utgarde Keep.
I had to beg off after Utgarde, but the quality of the PuGs in the 5 AM slot had me impressed. Compared to the lunchtime fare, the early morning runs are more about getting in, getting it done, and getting out. (Yeah, I know, insert tasteless jokes here.) I had yesterday's Azjol-Nerub run take twice as long as usual because the three guildies in the group had decided to go for the Hadronox Denied achievement without telling the other two of us, and that fight included both the healer and one DPS dying and running back to get into the fight.
If I had to choose between the two, I'd go for the early morning runs. They feel less like kids on lunch break at college and more like parents squeezing in WoW time before getting ready for work. I can get 2 to 3 runs in fairly quickly, get some questing done in Outland, and then I'm ready to start the day.
(It's still amazing that Dalaran is never empty, even at 5 AM. Org is dead then, but Dal? No way. I wonder whether Blizzard is planning on trying to spread the Dalaran concentration out a bit in Cataclysm, but I have no idea how they'd do it.)
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Hellscream's warsong
So you may have had a surprise when you zoned in to Icecrown Citadel this week. Everyone has a awfuly nice buff applied to them. What does this buff do?
The current (and we'll get this in a bit) is this:
Hellscream's Warsong
The warsong of Hellscream fills you with strength, increasing total health, healing done and damage dealt by 5%.
Now you can look at this two ways.
The current (and we'll get this in a bit) is this:
Hellscream's Warsong
The warsong of Hellscream fills you with strength, increasing total health, healing done and damage dealt by 5%.
Now you can look at this two ways.
- zomg, they nerfed icc? casuals are ruining teh gaem!
- A buff to actually help us down that bastard of a boss (I'm looking at you, Saurfang) we're stuck on ? SWEET!
If you can't tell, I'm more of the mind set of the second option.
The nice thing about about this change, however, is that Blizzard gave you the option of declining the buff if you so choose. You can go on about your business as the hardcore raider and do things the hard way.
Where as currently with the group of wonderful people I raid with, we are more casual. We tend to bring alts or offspec people along to make due with what we've got. And it works for us. Gear for your offspec is obviously not going to be as good as your main spec, but you don't need 5 tanks for a ten man. So this buff will help us out and help progress us through the content.
Do I feel cheap for using the buff? No. I'm glad that Blizzard is giving everyone the opportunity to eventually see the content. I was one of the lucky ones in vanilla to see every raid but one. I was not one of the lucky ones to see all of the raids in BC. But I'm doing my best to make sure I see every raid in Wrath.
And to get back to a mention I made earlier in this post, the buff will eventually change to a 30% increase over time. What does that mean?
- Guilds that may be struggling will be able to progress pretty easily.
- PUG groups will have an easier time bringing under geared members.
- I'm going to have a shit ton of HP! Almost FIFTY NINE THOUSAND hit points. Muahahaha
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Um... Oookay....
I don't pretend to have done a boatload of heroics*, but today's quick and simple farming run through Azjol-Nerub had to be one of the stranger ones I've been in.
We had:
We had:
- Three players whose entire conversations consisted of "?". Not once, not twice, but at least 20 times. I mean, I can understand if you're puzzled about one thing, but when you're doing "?" the entire run, I have to wonder what's going on. While we were getting our buffs ready, one of the guys said "Pit of Saron?" No, dude, the sign said "Azjol-Nerub".
- The healer died early in the first trash before the first boss, and the tank kept pressing on anyway. I was the only other party member with rez capability, and the tank engaged the trash mob before I could start my rezzing. The healer runs back, and what does he do? Runs right in front of the next trash mob before he's not even back to 100%. ::sigh::
- The tank had some major difficulty holding threat. At one point I looked at the damage meter and found to my surprise I was on top (Paladins + Glyph of Sense Undead + Scourge = extra damage), but I knew I wasn't pulling the threat. I suspect the Hunter with his pet, but I've no proof.
- The tank died on some trash right before Anub'arak, and we're all standing around, puzzled. "Where did he go?" I asked. He was right behind me when we were swimming to shore, and the next thing I knew he was lying dead on the shore next to me.
- The healer was running around not healing anything for a while in the Anub'arak fight, so I had to heal myself and the tank for a minute or so.
I've seen my share of strange group behavior, but this bunch put the fun in dysfunctional.
*Considering what I've bought with badges and had left over, I had to have had at least 120 badges when that "100 Badge" achivement popped up. I wonder if the count got messed up during the transfer between realms.
Friday, March 5, 2010
Oh Brother
Can't a guy create a bank alt without any of the following happening?
- Getting wolf whistled
- Having a female character say "you're so sexy!"
- Getting an escort from another female character who makes a point of of emoting "XXX checks you out"
Just what is it about rogues, anyway?
Thursday, March 4, 2010
PVE vs. PVP (Or How I Spent My Lunchtime)
The past couple of lunch breaks I've been able go online and take care of some stuff I've been working on, like soloing Sethekk Halls and finishing up the Terror of Terokkar achievement. It's been a bad week at work, so the opportunity to go thwack something has its advantages. Today, while taking a run through Drak'Tharon to finish up the Guru of Drakuru achievement, I had some spare time* to think about the differences between PVE and PVP servers.
When you are out and about questing on a PVP server, the first thing you notice is that the monsters aren't what you need to fear the most, it's the opposing faction. Nothing quite strikes terror into your heart like when you're minding your own business, killing a few bears, and you turn to see the sight of a ?? Level player closing in on your poor 20th Level character. You learn very quickly to keep one eye over your shoulder no matter where or when you are; even when you're an 80 zipping through Thousand Needles you can still get jumped. (Stupid Gnome hunters.)
Such caution serves you well when you reach Outland and Northrend with the inclusion of flying mounts; all you have to do is spend an evening farming ore or herbs and you'll understand what I mean. In Icecrown, the game encourages you to seek and destroy the opposing faction with the inclusion of a Daily for killing a certain number of the enemy. Never mind that the Ebon Blade and Argent Crusade are pulling their hair out over this ("Hello! We're supposed to be fighting Arthas, not helping him!"), you get to go gank some people because the game said so!
Now, take that hard earned wisdom, and turn it on it's head. That's what it's like switching to a PVE server.
When my Mage first ventured into Hillsbrad Foothills as a young lass of 20 (yeah, I live dangerously given the number of monsters aggroing on me) I was shocked -shocked!- to see Alliance players passing me on the road and actually waving from time to time. The last time I saw an Alliance player wave at me was because they were trying to play nice and didn't want me to gank them, as I had the drop on the guy at the time. Once Quint arrived in town, I then discovered that this overall lack of fear toward the opposing faction wasn't limited to the Classic areas. Imagine my surprise at seeing a Draeneii Paladin go running right by me while I'm soloing one of those tunnel worm elites outside of Auchindoun. I know I had to be an ?? Level player to him as he was 65th Level, but there was absolutely no fear of the opposing faction in this guy**.
What do I think of this? Well....
For the quester, this is a godsend. You can go about your business without worrying whether just over the ridge is a Hunter ready to zap you from distance. For the casual player, it's a boon as they can work on those seasonal achievements in relative peace --until you venture into a capital city, that is. If you want to PVP, nobody is stopping you from flipping that switch on your character, but you don't have to join in if you don't want to.
The flip side is that you develop some very bad habits. There's a reason why there are opposing factions, and you don't have quite the same dislike for the other team without the occasional ganking. When Quintalan made 80, I fulfilled my vow to park him on a ridge overlooking Tarren Mill, waiting for the gankers to show. None did on those nights, but when a 77 Level Priest decided to pick on Grom'gol Outpost in Stranglethorn, I gave him a good old fashioned spanking. If the worst an Alliance character can to do you is say "neener-neener" after he got that titanium ore first, well, you don't have quite that same healthy disrespect for him.
Am I going back to a PVP server or flipping that switch to play PVP? For the mage, definitely not; I'm still learning the ropes there, and I know that her progression up to about 40-50 will be a slow road without all the PVP ganking going on. For Quint, I might flip that switch, if for nothing else to remind myself to stop getting into bad habits.
There's a war to be won, after all.
(Edit: Changed the first sentence in the last paragraph to avoid confusion.)
* Our DK tank dumped us after we wiped right before Trollgore, so we were stuck waiting for about 10-15 minutes until we got a new tank. Ah, the joys of a lunchtime run. I'm still not certain what happened there, but when I'm doing the highest DPS of the group, you know we've got a low DPS group. The new tank laughed when she saw our output. "That's all your DPS?" she asked. However, after that initial wipe we didn't have any issues throughout the rest of the run.
Oh, and Drakuru? You suck, man. I'd already kicked your sorry behind in Zul'Drak, but it needed to be said.
** He also had no fear of that elite monster, either, which proved to be fatal as when it tunneled to a short distance to spit at me, it aggroed on him instead. Sorry, dude.
When you are out and about questing on a PVP server, the first thing you notice is that the monsters aren't what you need to fear the most, it's the opposing faction. Nothing quite strikes terror into your heart like when you're minding your own business, killing a few bears, and you turn to see the sight of a ?? Level player closing in on your poor 20th Level character. You learn very quickly to keep one eye over your shoulder no matter where or when you are; even when you're an 80 zipping through Thousand Needles you can still get jumped. (Stupid Gnome hunters.)
Such caution serves you well when you reach Outland and Northrend with the inclusion of flying mounts; all you have to do is spend an evening farming ore or herbs and you'll understand what I mean. In Icecrown, the game encourages you to seek and destroy the opposing faction with the inclusion of a Daily for killing a certain number of the enemy. Never mind that the Ebon Blade and Argent Crusade are pulling their hair out over this ("Hello! We're supposed to be fighting Arthas, not helping him!"), you get to go gank some people because the game said so!
Now, take that hard earned wisdom, and turn it on it's head. That's what it's like switching to a PVE server.
When my Mage first ventured into Hillsbrad Foothills as a young lass of 20 (yeah, I live dangerously given the number of monsters aggroing on me) I was shocked -shocked!- to see Alliance players passing me on the road and actually waving from time to time. The last time I saw an Alliance player wave at me was because they were trying to play nice and didn't want me to gank them, as I had the drop on the guy at the time. Once Quint arrived in town, I then discovered that this overall lack of fear toward the opposing faction wasn't limited to the Classic areas. Imagine my surprise at seeing a Draeneii Paladin go running right by me while I'm soloing one of those tunnel worm elites outside of Auchindoun. I know I had to be an ?? Level player to him as he was 65th Level, but there was absolutely no fear of the opposing faction in this guy**.
What do I think of this? Well....
For the quester, this is a godsend. You can go about your business without worrying whether just over the ridge is a Hunter ready to zap you from distance. For the casual player, it's a boon as they can work on those seasonal achievements in relative peace --until you venture into a capital city, that is. If you want to PVP, nobody is stopping you from flipping that switch on your character, but you don't have to join in if you don't want to.
The flip side is that you develop some very bad habits. There's a reason why there are opposing factions, and you don't have quite the same dislike for the other team without the occasional ganking. When Quintalan made 80, I fulfilled my vow to park him on a ridge overlooking Tarren Mill, waiting for the gankers to show. None did on those nights, but when a 77 Level Priest decided to pick on Grom'gol Outpost in Stranglethorn, I gave him a good old fashioned spanking. If the worst an Alliance character can to do you is say "neener-neener" after he got that titanium ore first, well, you don't have quite that same healthy disrespect for him.
Am I going back to a PVP server or flipping that switch to play PVP? For the mage, definitely not; I'm still learning the ropes there, and I know that her progression up to about 40-50 will be a slow road without all the PVP ganking going on. For Quint, I might flip that switch, if for nothing else to remind myself to stop getting into bad habits.
There's a war to be won, after all.
(Edit: Changed the first sentence in the last paragraph to avoid confusion.)
* Our DK tank dumped us after we wiped right before Trollgore, so we were stuck waiting for about 10-15 minutes until we got a new tank. Ah, the joys of a lunchtime run. I'm still not certain what happened there, but when I'm doing the highest DPS of the group, you know we've got a low DPS group. The new tank laughed when she saw our output. "That's all your DPS?" she asked. However, after that initial wipe we didn't have any issues throughout the rest of the run.
Oh, and Drakuru? You suck, man. I'd already kicked your sorry behind in Zul'Drak, but it needed to be said.
** He also had no fear of that elite monster, either, which proved to be fatal as when it tunneled to a short distance to spit at me, it aggroed on him instead. Sorry, dude.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Class roles and filling what is needed
I've fallen into this trap before.
I play tanks. Prior to playing tanks (end of BC and forward), I played a healer(early BC). Prior to that, I played a dps (all of vanilla).
Why all the switching? Well, I saw a need, and jumped up to fill it. I had a decently fun time playing my rogue in Vanilla, but got burned out on the raiding scene right about the time my guild was a good ways into AQ 40. I took it easy and just chilled until BC released, where a group of friends and co workers all decided that we would make our own guild. We had a tank, we had dps. We had no healer, so I created my paladin and healed my fruity elf cheeks all the way through the first raid dungeon, where guild problems and frankly just lack of skill by the rest of the group stalled us out.
What is the end result? I loathe healing.
The guild stopped playing and most everyone quit. I decided I wanted to start playing again for the wrath release, and the rest of the guild sorta followed suit. Except this time, I wanted a tank. So I made a death knight and leveled it up 80. The only other tank we could find as a guild also happened to be a death knight. I didn't think this would be the best raid make up for the group, and we didn't have any other tanks, on top of me not completely understanding the mechanics of DK tanking at the time led to me once again dusting off my paladin.
The guild was actually successful this time, and we had accomplished all of the current raid content that was available prior to Ulduar. Right before that, though, I once again got completely burned out on my paladin. Guild drama ensued and the group fell apart once again, and I stopped playing.
A few months go by and I think it would be fun to play the game with my wife, and actually get her through the two expansions we paid for, but she never saw.
This time around, though, I resolved to play what I wanted, and be more relaxed about everything. And it worked, too.
I'm happy as a clam now, on my new server. I have a good group of people that are doing weekly 10 man raids, and I get to play my death knight tank, which I am really, really enjoying playing.
I'm in a role I enjoy, playing the class I enjoy, and doing content that is enjoyable and challenging, with my wife!
The moral of the story is, find the class you like, find the role you like, and stick to it. There's a lot to accomplish in warcraft, and finding the right character can help you stay happy and motivated in the game. And beyond that choice, find a guild where the people share your goals.
And just for fun, here's Soul and his new buddy.
I play tanks. Prior to playing tanks (end of BC and forward), I played a healer(early BC). Prior to that, I played a dps (all of vanilla).
Why all the switching? Well, I saw a need, and jumped up to fill it. I had a decently fun time playing my rogue in Vanilla, but got burned out on the raiding scene right about the time my guild was a good ways into AQ 40. I took it easy and just chilled until BC released, where a group of friends and co workers all decided that we would make our own guild. We had a tank, we had dps. We had no healer, so I created my paladin and healed my fruity elf cheeks all the way through the first raid dungeon, where guild problems and frankly just lack of skill by the rest of the group stalled us out.
What is the end result? I loathe healing.
The guild stopped playing and most everyone quit. I decided I wanted to start playing again for the wrath release, and the rest of the guild sorta followed suit. Except this time, I wanted a tank. So I made a death knight and leveled it up 80. The only other tank we could find as a guild also happened to be a death knight. I didn't think this would be the best raid make up for the group, and we didn't have any other tanks, on top of me not completely understanding the mechanics of DK tanking at the time led to me once again dusting off my paladin.
The guild was actually successful this time, and we had accomplished all of the current raid content that was available prior to Ulduar. Right before that, though, I once again got completely burned out on my paladin. Guild drama ensued and the group fell apart once again, and I stopped playing.
A few months go by and I think it would be fun to play the game with my wife, and actually get her through the two expansions we paid for, but she never saw.
This time around, though, I resolved to play what I wanted, and be more relaxed about everything. And it worked, too.
I'm happy as a clam now, on my new server. I have a good group of people that are doing weekly 10 man raids, and I get to play my death knight tank, which I am really, really enjoying playing.
I'm in a role I enjoy, playing the class I enjoy, and doing content that is enjoyable and challenging, with my wife!
The moral of the story is, find the class you like, find the role you like, and stick to it. There's a lot to accomplish in warcraft, and finding the right character can help you stay happy and motivated in the game. And beyond that choice, find a guild where the people share your goals.
And just for fun, here's Soul and his new buddy.
Friday, February 26, 2010
On Classes and Leveling
While I've been both busy and sick the past week, I haven't had that much time to goof off on WoW. When a sinus headache makes the screen look the same as when your character gets completely smashed, then it's time to stop playing. However, I have been doing some cleaning out of the bank, blowing off the dust on some old items, and putting stuff up for sale. (Effulgent Skyflare, anyone? They're going cheap on Stormscale right now!)
I've also been playing around with some other classes.
There's a Tauren Hunter that's hovering around 12 right now. He's kind of stuck, since I've not made up my mind which direction to take his talent track -not to mention what pet to acquire- but I found him slightly slower in leveling compared to a Paladin like Quint. Part of that could be starting out in Mulgore as opposed to Eversong, but I also think that part of it is the nature of the Hunter to balance melee with ranged attacks. The talent tree and the pet only have just come into play, so I'm not sure how it'll take off until I reach 20-25 or so.
I'm not going to bother talking about my Priest, since that was my first character and I hadn't really a clue how to play at all. Heck, I thought Priest = Cleric in D&D parlance, and it took me a good day or so to figure out that wasn't the case. In addition to that, I really didn't understand talent tracks and kept taking stuff all over the place and not sticking to one particular track for most items. The guy is straightened out about that now as a Shadow Priest, but rather than going back and redoing that initial leveling, I'm just going to keep going with him when the mood strikes.
Most recently, however, I've been playing around with a Blood Elf Mage. Maybe it's my experience at leveling, the class, or a combination of both, but she's been rocketing up the track like lightning. (Yeah, a she. So what? Souldat thinks Blood Elves are feminine anyway.) After about 2-3 hours, she was already at 10th level and climbing. Tack on another 2-3 and she'd probably be at 15th level, but I'm going to try to keep her Enchanting/Tailoring up to her leveling speed.
A Mage is a bit different compared to a Priest or a Hunter; the Mage has more offensive spells than the Priest and can hit from distance -like a Hunter- but for more damage. Just don't get in a slugfest, otherwise you'll lose. The mage does have some outs for that with polymorph and frost nova, but you have to learn to use them. I've still got a lot of "just run up and hit the damn thing" in me, so I have to remind myself it's okay to freeze them, back up, and hit them again from distance.
What do I think of the other classes? If I get the Hunter down, it's the ultimate soloing class with a built-in companion; it still lacks healing capabilities of a Pally, which the way I play I tend to need healing a bit. I doubt it's quite the best companion for running a 5-man, because I could see the pet drawing aggro away from the tank at the wrong times. If done well, however, it could be a great ranged asset in a 5-man.
The Priest? Well, I'll get back to you later on that guy. He's still recovering from my noob mistakes, and we'll get there when we get there.
The Mage? ::rubs hands together:: Power... I like power... Seriously, it can be a fun class to play for blasting your way to fame and profit. I used to think that Souldat's wife -a mage- was nuts for running through a trash mob and freezing them along the way, but I can definitely see the appeal having done it once. The healer in me is appalled ("dude, let the tank do that!") but I can see how the spellpower of the mage can give you that feeling of invincibility.
Right now, Quint is still my main character, but I know eventually I'll settle him in the garage and take him out for rides only occasionally. I might just see what this mage can do, and maybe she'll take over in the lead-in before Cataclysm.
I've also been playing around with some other classes.
There's a Tauren Hunter that's hovering around 12 right now. He's kind of stuck, since I've not made up my mind which direction to take his talent track -not to mention what pet to acquire- but I found him slightly slower in leveling compared to a Paladin like Quint. Part of that could be starting out in Mulgore as opposed to Eversong, but I also think that part of it is the nature of the Hunter to balance melee with ranged attacks. The talent tree and the pet only have just come into play, so I'm not sure how it'll take off until I reach 20-25 or so.
I'm not going to bother talking about my Priest, since that was my first character and I hadn't really a clue how to play at all. Heck, I thought Priest = Cleric in D&D parlance, and it took me a good day or so to figure out that wasn't the case. In addition to that, I really didn't understand talent tracks and kept taking stuff all over the place and not sticking to one particular track for most items. The guy is straightened out about that now as a Shadow Priest, but rather than going back and redoing that initial leveling, I'm just going to keep going with him when the mood strikes.
Most recently, however, I've been playing around with a Blood Elf Mage. Maybe it's my experience at leveling, the class, or a combination of both, but she's been rocketing up the track like lightning. (Yeah, a she. So what? Souldat thinks Blood Elves are feminine anyway.) After about 2-3 hours, she was already at 10th level and climbing. Tack on another 2-3 and she'd probably be at 15th level, but I'm going to try to keep her Enchanting/Tailoring up to her leveling speed.
A Mage is a bit different compared to a Priest or a Hunter; the Mage has more offensive spells than the Priest and can hit from distance -like a Hunter- but for more damage. Just don't get in a slugfest, otherwise you'll lose. The mage does have some outs for that with polymorph and frost nova, but you have to learn to use them. I've still got a lot of "just run up and hit the damn thing" in me, so I have to remind myself it's okay to freeze them, back up, and hit them again from distance.
What do I think of the other classes? If I get the Hunter down, it's the ultimate soloing class with a built-in companion; it still lacks healing capabilities of a Pally, which the way I play I tend to need healing a bit. I doubt it's quite the best companion for running a 5-man, because I could see the pet drawing aggro away from the tank at the wrong times. If done well, however, it could be a great ranged asset in a 5-man.
The Priest? Well, I'll get back to you later on that guy. He's still recovering from my noob mistakes, and we'll get there when we get there.
The Mage? ::rubs hands together:: Power... I like power... Seriously, it can be a fun class to play for blasting your way to fame and profit. I used to think that Souldat's wife -a mage- was nuts for running through a trash mob and freezing them along the way, but I can definitely see the appeal having done it once. The healer in me is appalled ("dude, let the tank do that!") but I can see how the spellpower of the mage can give you that feeling of invincibility.
Right now, Quint is still my main character, but I know eventually I'll settle him in the garage and take him out for rides only occasionally. I might just see what this mage can do, and maybe she'll take over in the lead-in before Cataclysm.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
All I can say is Wow...
As you can see in the post below, I was getting rather frustrated with the current situation on my server. Well, in frustration I hit the official forums for recruitment adds that would sound promising.
I found one.
They're advertised as a relaxed guild with "mature" members, that raids content at a relaxed pace.
Sounds too good to be true, right?
Well, they messaged me and said myself and the wifey got accepted and to just drop them a note when I arrive on their server!
So, after letting my favorite paladin know about this, I made my preparations and said goodbye to old Stromscale, and the name Kriegtrommel. Kriegtrommel is a mouthful, and I wanted something simpler. A new beginning on a new server deserves a new name. Souldat is born.
My first night in my new guild consisted of getting my mods set up again, doing a few random heroics with some of the officers (just by chance). Which was good, because it proved I'm not a drooling git smashing my face on the keyboard and hoping thing die. I only get like that when I pvp.
So, after the second random heroic, they dropped group and said it was raid time. They asked if I wanted to attend as well, and I jumped on the opportunity.
Off I headed to raid the home of Arthas. And you know what? I killed his first obstacle, and claimed my prize! I'm sporting a fancy new sword!
The exhilaration of killing a boss in an encounter you've never done before just can't be matched. And the thing that made this particular fight special, was the number of times we died before the boss did. We tried roughly 7 or 9 times before the boss finally died. And the officers of the guild that were in the raid group stayed relaxed and pleasant. They did not get all up in arms and start yelling about what people did wrong. They calmly explained the particular mechanic someone misunderstood and took another crack at it.
It is such a relief to know that my money spent on a server transfer seems to have been well worth it.
Kill Shot:
I found one.
They're advertised as a relaxed guild with "mature" members, that raids content at a relaxed pace.
Sounds too good to be true, right?
Well, they messaged me and said myself and the wifey got accepted and to just drop them a note when I arrive on their server!
So, after letting my favorite paladin know about this, I made my preparations and said goodbye to old Stromscale, and the name Kriegtrommel. Kriegtrommel is a mouthful, and I wanted something simpler. A new beginning on a new server deserves a new name. Souldat is born.
My first night in my new guild consisted of getting my mods set up again, doing a few random heroics with some of the officers (just by chance). Which was good, because it proved I'm not a drooling git smashing my face on the keyboard and hoping thing die. I only get like that when I pvp.
So, after the second random heroic, they dropped group and said it was raid time. They asked if I wanted to attend as well, and I jumped on the opportunity.
Off I headed to raid the home of Arthas. And you know what? I killed his first obstacle, and claimed my prize! I'm sporting a fancy new sword!
The exhilaration of killing a boss in an encounter you've never done before just can't be matched. And the thing that made this particular fight special, was the number of times we died before the boss did. We tried roughly 7 or 9 times before the boss finally died. And the officers of the guild that were in the raid group stayed relaxed and pleasant. They did not get all up in arms and start yelling about what people did wrong. They calmly explained the particular mechanic someone misunderstood and took another crack at it.
It is such a relief to know that my money spent on a server transfer seems to have been well worth it.
Kill Shot:
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Topped out
I've reached the plateau with the game where I can no longer advance with out getting frost badges and doing raids, or saving up roughly 10,000 gold for a crafted item from the new recipes. Beyond that, the content I currently have available to me is pretty much the following:
I really like gearing up my tank, making him the strongest possible character to tackle what ever dungeon or raid I can get into. Tanking TOC 5 man for the first time was a trip. Facing the cries of the elitists telling me my gear is too bad, my health is too low. But, I've always risen to the occasion, and was able to hold my own.
However, I'm actually pretty frustrated, now, with the situation.
So find a guild on your server, start PUG raids, or start your own guild you say?
Firstly, the server I'm stuck on currently is a west coast server. I'm an east coast kinda guy. Why am I on that server? Blizzard screwed me. My original east coast server was so packed after the game launched, they opened transfers off the server to a lower population server. So instead of facing a line of 45 minutes to even LOG IN, the wifey and I jumped ship and moved on over. Which, was not a big deal, as a LOT of others did the same thing. As a result, we had a decent balance of east and west coast players. This does not seem to hold true anymore. I've been hitting the server forums every day at lunch looking for recruitment posts, and all of the guilds posting do raids until about 1am my time. Uh.... right.
Why don't I start PUG raids? I'm not that brave. I am a supervisor at work and I don't want to have to do the same thing in the game I choose to play to relax.
Why don't I start my own guild? I have. I used to game with a bunch of guys from work. I only play with one guy now, because he said he was bored and wanted something to do during the winter. I'm actually relieved I no longer game with them, as that led to nothing but DRAMA. And as stated previously, I'm a supervisor at work. I don't want to have to be a babysitter in the game I play to relax.
All I want is a guild that actually has the capability to do raids together and a chance to even SEE the content I'm paying $15 a month to miss out on.
I have the sinking feeling, though, I will not find this on my server.
- Vault of Archavon 10 & 25 man raids, which is two boss kills (PUG groups only kill two bosses out of four, at least on my server)
- Weekly random raid quest - 10 man raid to kill one boss only in a random raid
- One daily heroic for two frost badges
I really like gearing up my tank, making him the strongest possible character to tackle what ever dungeon or raid I can get into. Tanking TOC 5 man for the first time was a trip. Facing the cries of the elitists telling me my gear is too bad, my health is too low. But, I've always risen to the occasion, and was able to hold my own.
However, I'm actually pretty frustrated, now, with the situation.
So find a guild on your server, start PUG raids, or start your own guild you say?
Firstly, the server I'm stuck on currently is a west coast server. I'm an east coast kinda guy. Why am I on that server? Blizzard screwed me. My original east coast server was so packed after the game launched, they opened transfers off the server to a lower population server. So instead of facing a line of 45 minutes to even LOG IN, the wifey and I jumped ship and moved on over. Which, was not a big deal, as a LOT of others did the same thing. As a result, we had a decent balance of east and west coast players. This does not seem to hold true anymore. I've been hitting the server forums every day at lunch looking for recruitment posts, and all of the guilds posting do raids until about 1am my time. Uh.... right.
Why don't I start PUG raids? I'm not that brave. I am a supervisor at work and I don't want to have to do the same thing in the game I choose to play to relax.
Why don't I start my own guild? I have. I used to game with a bunch of guys from work. I only play with one guy now, because he said he was bored and wanted something to do during the winter. I'm actually relieved I no longer game with them, as that led to nothing but DRAMA. And as stated previously, I'm a supervisor at work. I don't want to have to be a babysitter in the game I play to relax.
All I want is a guild that actually has the capability to do raids together and a chance to even SEE the content I'm paying $15 a month to miss out on.
I have the sinking feeling, though, I will not find this on my server.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
10K of Happiness
Seeing as it's patch day and I'm currently watching a progress bar inch to the left, I thought I'd finally write up a post I had been meaning to do ever since getting my Quel'Delar.
I mean to capture a whole slew of screenshots to tell the tale of Krieg and his Quel, but I got wrapped up in the quest at different points and forgot the print screen button. I did manage a few shots though, and you see these after the jump!
I mean to capture a whole slew of screenshots to tell the tale of Krieg and his Quel, but I got wrapped up in the quest at different points and forgot the print screen button. I did manage a few shots though, and you see these after the jump!
Friday, January 29, 2010
Miscellaneous Notes
None of these is deep enough to have a separate post, so I'm lumping them all together.
Playing DPS as a Ret Spec Paladin isn't so bad after all
I was so used to running dungeons as a Holy Spec Paladin that I wasn't sure what to expect; after all, I'd only dual spec-ed to a Ret Spec Paladin for my questing work. However, after a disastrous set of circumstances in the Trial of the Champion where our group must have wiped about 4+ times, Murtaugh sighed and told me that maybe my gear isn't up to spec for healing in the ToC, so he told me to switch to Ret Spec and go as DPS.
My first run as a Ret Spec paladin was interesting, to say the least. Murtaugh told me to just go in there and hit something, so I obliged. Of course, in our first trash mob, who dies? Me. Well, at least I didn't have to run far to get back in.
I also discovered that questing as a Ret Spec and dungeon delving as one are two different animals. When I quest as a Ret Spec, I hold back on Consecration unless I've got more than two monsters to deal with at one time, but in a dungeon that's the thing you should be using the most. Those first few dungeons, Murtaugh kept telling me that Divine Storm was doing the most damage for me, but it should really be Consecration. I paid more attention to Consecration last night, and it apparently showed.
I still die in the Halls of Lightning
"When those iron dwarves start their whirlwind," Murtaugh told me, "run."
I obeyed.
Naturally, I thought we were past those guys when we hit some vyrkul. Well, a couple of the whirlwind dwarves aggroed on us as well, and from my viewing angle the vyrkul blocked the dwarves. What happens?
The dwarves whirlwind.
I don't see it.
I die.
Then, to add insult to injury, my brain says "Get your ass in gear, buddy. You're the healer and you have to hoof it back." So I do.
Except I'm not the healer; I'm DPS. We have not only one or two but three people in our PuG who can Rez -myself included- and I naturally make it into the entrance before either of the other two can do it.
So I run. And run. And make a wrong turn. (But I correct myself before I run into a trash mob.)
"Quint," Murtaugh's wife says via chat, "you've got a map."
I do? I've gotten so used to not getting any help with interior maps while questing that I never even bother to look, so I was stunned to see an actual map of the dungeon, laid out before me when I pulled the map up. "Wow," I said. "I never knew that."
I could hear the facepalms from across the state.
Just What did that Pally Do, Anyway?
I'd been trying to get the To Hellfire and Back achievement for ages, and I was perpetually four quests short. I was reading on Thottbot, and I finally found what I'd been missing: a four quest chain that starts in Shadowmoon Valley.
Hot Damn! I was up early this morning, so I figured I'd get on WoW and knock those four out before work. The quest chain is the finding of the mold and the forging of the key for Heroic Hellfire Citadel, and the last quest in the chain was to go and kill a Fel Reaver to use the thing's innards for the key.
Crap. I'd watched an 80th level Pally die trying to kill one of those things, so I knew this wasn't going to be fun.
Well, I thought, let's do this. I don't feel like waiting around for help. I went out, found a Fel Reaver, took a deep breath, and went after it.
Surprise surprise, the thing went down with my only needing to pop a bubble once early on.
As I flew back to complete the quest -and the Achievement- the only thing I could think of was if it was that easy to kill a Fel Reaver as an 80 Ret Spec, just what did that other Pally do wrong? Was he using Holy Spec or something?
Playing DPS as a Ret Spec Paladin isn't so bad after all
I was so used to running dungeons as a Holy Spec Paladin that I wasn't sure what to expect; after all, I'd only dual spec-ed to a Ret Spec Paladin for my questing work. However, after a disastrous set of circumstances in the Trial of the Champion where our group must have wiped about 4+ times, Murtaugh sighed and told me that maybe my gear isn't up to spec for healing in the ToC, so he told me to switch to Ret Spec and go as DPS.
My first run as a Ret Spec paladin was interesting, to say the least. Murtaugh told me to just go in there and hit something, so I obliged. Of course, in our first trash mob, who dies? Me. Well, at least I didn't have to run far to get back in.
I also discovered that questing as a Ret Spec and dungeon delving as one are two different animals. When I quest as a Ret Spec, I hold back on Consecration unless I've got more than two monsters to deal with at one time, but in a dungeon that's the thing you should be using the most. Those first few dungeons, Murtaugh kept telling me that Divine Storm was doing the most damage for me, but it should really be Consecration. I paid more attention to Consecration last night, and it apparently showed.
I still die in the Halls of Lightning
"When those iron dwarves start their whirlwind," Murtaugh told me, "run."
I obeyed.
Naturally, I thought we were past those guys when we hit some vyrkul. Well, a couple of the whirlwind dwarves aggroed on us as well, and from my viewing angle the vyrkul blocked the dwarves. What happens?
The dwarves whirlwind.
I don't see it.
I die.
Then, to add insult to injury, my brain says "Get your ass in gear, buddy. You're the healer and you have to hoof it back." So I do.
Except I'm not the healer; I'm DPS. We have not only one or two but three people in our PuG who can Rez -myself included- and I naturally make it into the entrance before either of the other two can do it.
So I run. And run. And make a wrong turn. (But I correct myself before I run into a trash mob.)
"Quint," Murtaugh's wife says via chat, "you've got a map."
I do? I've gotten so used to not getting any help with interior maps while questing that I never even bother to look, so I was stunned to see an actual map of the dungeon, laid out before me when I pulled the map up. "Wow," I said. "I never knew that."
I could hear the facepalms from across the state.
Just What did that Pally Do, Anyway?
I'd been trying to get the To Hellfire and Back achievement for ages, and I was perpetually four quests short. I was reading on Thottbot, and I finally found what I'd been missing: a four quest chain that starts in Shadowmoon Valley.
Hot Damn! I was up early this morning, so I figured I'd get on WoW and knock those four out before work. The quest chain is the finding of the mold and the forging of the key for Heroic Hellfire Citadel, and the last quest in the chain was to go and kill a Fel Reaver to use the thing's innards for the key.
Crap. I'd watched an 80th level Pally die trying to kill one of those things, so I knew this wasn't going to be fun.
Well, I thought, let's do this. I don't feel like waiting around for help. I went out, found a Fel Reaver, took a deep breath, and went after it.
Surprise surprise, the thing went down with my only needing to pop a bubble once early on.
As I flew back to complete the quest -and the Achievement- the only thing I could think of was if it was that easy to kill a Fel Reaver as an 80 Ret Spec, just what did that other Pally do wrong? Was he using Holy Spec or something?
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Rinse and Repeat
I'd logged in this past evening with the intention of knocking out a couple of quests. Nothing special or anything, just wanted to get a bit more gold back after depleting my funds to get Artisan Riding. Anyway, Murtaugh and another Guild member were on, and after a few minutes of chatting they asked me if I wanted to do a quick random dungeon. "Sure," I said, after a quick consultation with the Boss.
(I've noticed that if I don't check in on the non-designated WoW night, she tends to get testy when I spend all evening in front of the computer. Can't say I blame her much for that.)
What shows up? Halls of Stone.
"Oh joy," I thought. A blast from the past.
You see, this dungeon was the first really bad PuG experience I had.
The only other time I ran this dungeon, I did not do well. At first, we had a DPS and a Pally both acting like the tank, and I had trouble keeping them both healed. Then, while I was trying to drink to replenish all of my mana the Pally (the true designated tank) kept running on ahead and getting himself into trouble. There's one thing about the tank running on ahead when they can do that -see Murtaugh's Kriegtrommel for an example- but quite another when the Pally isn't that overpowered.
Then, after the second set of trash mobs, the Pally turns on me and asks me if I can Heal this instance or not. After I replied that I have to keep drinking, he points out Arcane Torrent and Divine Plea, and that I should use them.
Well, duh, except that I'm replenishing 80% of my mana, not 20%.
After the first boss (the giant who turns you to stone) he runs on ahead before even letting me get a chance to get unstoned. One trash mob later and he just up and disappears, leaving the rest of the party in the lurch.
Damn, that sucked.
Yeah, I could have done some stuff better. I tried to make liberal use of Beacon of Light to keep him up and running while keeping the others going, but that was the first time I felt overwhelmed in trying to keep everyone afloat. I've had it easy keeping our regular group healed -Krieg as the tank was overpowered compared to just about anything else- and this was a real test with people who didn't have the epic gear and might not have known all the angles.
So this return to the scene of the crime was going to be interesting.
One difference was that this time I was going as DPS -I didn't bother switching to Holy Spec and running as the healer- and that I'd known enough as the Healer to help my DPS work. The simple things, like let the stinking tank get all the mobs to aggro on him before you start using your Judgements, are incredibly important. A Healer doesn't want to have to heal every little mistake, since it takes mana away from the tank.
Anyway, this run went well. I ended up biting it at the very end -quite literally the very end- but that was okay. An AoE got me, I think. About 3/4 of the way through, I asked Murtaugh how many more bosses we had, and he said one. I think he thought I was keeping an eye on the clock, but really, I had no idea. I'd never finished this damn thing before, and here I was going through it the first time on Heroic mode.
But hey, it all worked for the best; I ended up with a nice belt for my Holy Spec and a good 2H sword for Ret Spec.
(Um, my skill level for 2H Swords needs work, but other than that....)
Thanks for the run, gang, and thank goodness you guys helped me put that bad experience to rest.
(I've noticed that if I don't check in on the non-designated WoW night, she tends to get testy when I spend all evening in front of the computer. Can't say I blame her much for that.)
What shows up? Halls of Stone.
"Oh joy," I thought. A blast from the past.
You see, this dungeon was the first really bad PuG experience I had.
The only other time I ran this dungeon, I did not do well. At first, we had a DPS and a Pally both acting like the tank, and I had trouble keeping them both healed. Then, while I was trying to drink to replenish all of my mana the Pally (the true designated tank) kept running on ahead and getting himself into trouble. There's one thing about the tank running on ahead when they can do that -see Murtaugh's Kriegtrommel for an example- but quite another when the Pally isn't that overpowered.
Then, after the second set of trash mobs, the Pally turns on me and asks me if I can Heal this instance or not. After I replied that I have to keep drinking, he points out Arcane Torrent and Divine Plea, and that I should use them.
Well, duh, except that I'm replenishing 80% of my mana, not 20%.
After the first boss (the giant who turns you to stone) he runs on ahead before even letting me get a chance to get unstoned. One trash mob later and he just up and disappears, leaving the rest of the party in the lurch.
Damn, that sucked.
Yeah, I could have done some stuff better. I tried to make liberal use of Beacon of Light to keep him up and running while keeping the others going, but that was the first time I felt overwhelmed in trying to keep everyone afloat. I've had it easy keeping our regular group healed -Krieg as the tank was overpowered compared to just about anything else- and this was a real test with people who didn't have the epic gear and might not have known all the angles.
So this return to the scene of the crime was going to be interesting.
One difference was that this time I was going as DPS -I didn't bother switching to Holy Spec and running as the healer- and that I'd known enough as the Healer to help my DPS work. The simple things, like let the stinking tank get all the mobs to aggro on him before you start using your Judgements, are incredibly important. A Healer doesn't want to have to heal every little mistake, since it takes mana away from the tank.
Anyway, this run went well. I ended up biting it at the very end -quite literally the very end- but that was okay. An AoE got me, I think. About 3/4 of the way through, I asked Murtaugh how many more bosses we had, and he said one. I think he thought I was keeping an eye on the clock, but really, I had no idea. I'd never finished this damn thing before, and here I was going through it the first time on Heroic mode.
But hey, it all worked for the best; I ended up with a nice belt for my Holy Spec and a good 2H sword for Ret Spec.
(Um, my skill level for 2H Swords needs work, but other than that....)
Thanks for the run, gang, and thank goodness you guys helped me put that bad experience to rest.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Amusing post on the official forums
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=21971497420&sid=1
Somebody got the idea of following the popular TV show, Who's line is it anyway?
Suggestions are given in the thread, and participants try to act or emote out the given suggestion in a random PUG group.
Isn't anonymity great?
Somebody got the idea of following the popular TV show, Who's line is it anyway?
Suggestions are given in the thread, and participants try to act or emote out the given suggestion in a random PUG group.
Isn't anonymity great?
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
An Open Letter to Blizzard
Dear Blizzard--
When your character is going through the Storm Peaks questline that ends up with a warbear, either show the entire picture of the Brunnhildar warrior maiden disguise or your regular character in the Armory picture. Putting the warrior maiden and then covering her up in armor is a mite bit disconcerting, since it looks like Quint had a sex change operation.
Signed,
The Management
When your character is going through the Storm Peaks questline that ends up with a warbear, either show the entire picture of the Brunnhildar warrior maiden disguise or your regular character in the Armory picture. Putting the warrior maiden and then covering her up in armor is a mite bit disconcerting, since it looks like Quint had a sex change operation.
Signed,
The Management
Monday, January 18, 2010
How long is too long?
To set the stage for this question...
3.3 is released and the battered hilt item is available. I was excited to learn that you can actually get a great weapon with out having to do raids. Plus, I remember warriors from my first raiding guild taking great lengths to farm up for the book drop that started the quest for the Quel'Sarrar.
It was a pretty cool quest line that gave a unique item that just LOOKED cool. I was always disappointed that rogues (my main back then) never got a similar quest line.
Anyhow, 3.3 is released and the drop rate for the battered hilt that starts the quest for this sword is bugged, and Blizzard had erroneously set the drop rate at 10%. They quickly adjusted it in time for my gear to get good enough to run the new heroics though, and it's back down to 1%.
So, back on topic: I have now killed Scourgelord Tyrannus 30 times, and the last boss in the Forge of Souls roughly the equal amount of times, just slightly less.
I know these instance well enough to describe every pull in vivid detail. In fact, I'd say on the average run through the Pit of Saron, there is roughly 36 trash mobs I have to clear that actually have a chance of dropping the hilt, give or take a few depending if people are doing the quest in there on their first run through. And the average Forge of Souls run you clear roughly 31 trash mobs that could possibly drop the hilt.
On my combined runs thus far, I have killed roughly 2,010 mobs that have a chance at dropping the hilt. And I HAVE seen two hilts drop, but lost the rolls (as per my usual stacked dice... they're just stacked against me).
So I ask, how long is too long? How many more times can I throw myself at the mercy of tanking for random pugs hoping that a hilt drops and I actually win... Which by the way my chance of getting a hilt and actually winning would be .02%. How depressing is that?
Not as depressing as the thought of subjecting myself to further torture by means of PUG.
3.3 is released and the battered hilt item is available. I was excited to learn that you can actually get a great weapon with out having to do raids. Plus, I remember warriors from my first raiding guild taking great lengths to farm up for the book drop that started the quest for the Quel'Sarrar.
It was a pretty cool quest line that gave a unique item that just LOOKED cool. I was always disappointed that rogues (my main back then) never got a similar quest line.
Anyhow, 3.3 is released and the drop rate for the battered hilt that starts the quest for this sword is bugged, and Blizzard had erroneously set the drop rate at 10%. They quickly adjusted it in time for my gear to get good enough to run the new heroics though, and it's back down to 1%.
So, back on topic: I have now killed Scourgelord Tyrannus 30 times, and the last boss in the Forge of Souls roughly the equal amount of times, just slightly less.
I know these instance well enough to describe every pull in vivid detail. In fact, I'd say on the average run through the Pit of Saron, there is roughly 36 trash mobs I have to clear that actually have a chance of dropping the hilt, give or take a few depending if people are doing the quest in there on their first run through. And the average Forge of Souls run you clear roughly 31 trash mobs that could possibly drop the hilt.
On my combined runs thus far, I have killed roughly 2,010 mobs that have a chance at dropping the hilt. And I HAVE seen two hilts drop, but lost the rolls (as per my usual stacked dice... they're just stacked against me).
So I ask, how long is too long? How many more times can I throw myself at the mercy of tanking for random pugs hoping that a hilt drops and I actually win... Which by the way my chance of getting a hilt and actually winning would be .02%. How depressing is that?
Not as depressing as the thought of subjecting myself to further torture by means of PUG.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Care to find out what we've been up to?
Just check out the new RSS character achievement feeds. Blizzard implemented this feature to Armory recently along with a 3D model viewer, which is now integrated into bottom of the page!
Now I just need to get the layout right so that the 3d viewers are next to each other. That would be nice.
Cool stuff!
-edit- Got the layout right as well as a new background picture on the title. Looking good...
Now I just need to get the layout right so that the 3d viewers are next to each other. That would be nice.
Cool stuff!
-edit- Got the layout right as well as a new background picture on the title. Looking good...
Monday, January 11, 2010
Hmmm
To get some of the quest achievements for Northrend, you have to have completed a certain number of quests in each area. Now, I know that I left quite a few quests on the table when I moved to Dragonblight from Borean Tundra, but I figured I was finished with Howling Fjord when I moved away from there. Looking over the number of quests left to reach the achievement for Howling Fjord, however, I see that I must be wrong.
Where the heck are those extra 20+ quests anyway? Inquiring minds want to know.
Where the heck are those extra 20+ quests anyway? Inquiring minds want to know.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Wow
Earlier today -way earlier, don't ask- I finished the Wrathgate questline, which included the cutscene and it's subsequent follow-up.
Powerful stuff.
I like the complexity and depth of the characters portrayed -not necessarily in the cutscene, which is pretty standard, but in the events following the cutscene. I was already predisposed to like Thrall, but his pathos after the confrontation with Varian Wynn and Jaina's intervention is very cutting. His discussion with Saurfang about the dashing of his hopes and dreams for his people reveals more layers underneath him than what you'd expect, and you can see now why he rules from the Valley of Wisdom in Orgrimmar. By comparison, Sylvanas is motivated by hatred, grief, and the desire for vengeance. Those blind spots enabled her to be unwittingly manipulated by Varimathras, and instead of learning wisdom this experience seems to have fueled her desires further. Varian Wynn and Jaina are the most stereotypical of the four main characters (not counting Varimathras), with Varian's overt racism providing the kindling for the destruction of the tentative collaboration between Horde and Alliance in Northrend.
The push in Northrend now seems to take a more desperate tone, as Arthas proved in the cutscene he is still the master of all. Only the Blight is the potential game changer that the Alliance and Horde can use, and that has been taken from them by the betrayal of the Apothecaries.
I'm now really curious how the subsequent quests will play out, given all that has happened in the interim.
Powerful stuff.
I like the complexity and depth of the characters portrayed -not necessarily in the cutscene, which is pretty standard, but in the events following the cutscene. I was already predisposed to like Thrall, but his pathos after the confrontation with Varian Wynn and Jaina's intervention is very cutting. His discussion with Saurfang about the dashing of his hopes and dreams for his people reveals more layers underneath him than what you'd expect, and you can see now why he rules from the Valley of Wisdom in Orgrimmar. By comparison, Sylvanas is motivated by hatred, grief, and the desire for vengeance. Those blind spots enabled her to be unwittingly manipulated by Varimathras, and instead of learning wisdom this experience seems to have fueled her desires further. Varian Wynn and Jaina are the most stereotypical of the four main characters (not counting Varimathras), with Varian's overt racism providing the kindling for the destruction of the tentative collaboration between Horde and Alliance in Northrend.
The push in Northrend now seems to take a more desperate tone, as Arthas proved in the cutscene he is still the master of all. Only the Blight is the potential game changer that the Alliance and Horde can use, and that has been taken from them by the betrayal of the Apothecaries.
I'm now really curious how the subsequent quests will play out, given all that has happened in the interim.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Beacon Schmeacon
Ever since I've begun to pay attention to Beacon of Light in the Holy Spec bag of tricks, I've discovered an annoying side effect: spam healing.
Ideally, you slap Beacon of Light on a tank just before a big fight so that you can heal not only everybody else but the tank as well. It's great in theory, but when you're running through an instance without a clue as to what's up ahead, you end up healing the tank when it's not necessary. The trash mobs may or may not do a lot of damage, and unless you know the instance -and the tank- pretty well, odds are good you're going to misjudge when you need Beacon of Light.
Result: spam heals on the tank.
Side result: Healer looks like he's wasting mana.
Part of being a good healing Paladin is actually anticipating when someone is going to need healing so that you can start the Flash of Light/Holy Light spells just before they're going to get thwacked. If you don't know the instance, you run a greater chance of misjudging when to start the healing.
A short example: The first time we went through Drak'Tharon Keep, I was juggling everybody and keeping bodies up in the air. We survived pretty well all the way up until we reached King Dred, and then the debuffs he threw down simply overwhelmed my ability to keep up. Being too close to Dred when he unleashed Bellowing Roar didn't help either, and the party ended up wiping. The next time I ran through the Keep, I anticipated what was ahead and not only kept out of range but was ready and casting the healing spells slightly before Dred unleashed his attacks.
That kind of ties in with something that I've noticed about the new dungeon finder tool. If there's a drawback to the tool, it's that the random selector will throw the noob for a loop. For the noob, every instance is new, and with the instant gratification of the tool there's no time to strategize beforehand with your group before you're off and running.
Of course, that sort of issue will crop up in regular old pickup groups as well, but you can minimize that by getting a feel for the people and the instance you'll be going through beforehand.
While the Healadin's tools are great, there's no substitute for experience and advice.
Ideally, you slap Beacon of Light on a tank just before a big fight so that you can heal not only everybody else but the tank as well. It's great in theory, but when you're running through an instance without a clue as to what's up ahead, you end up healing the tank when it's not necessary. The trash mobs may or may not do a lot of damage, and unless you know the instance -and the tank- pretty well, odds are good you're going to misjudge when you need Beacon of Light.
Result: spam heals on the tank.
Side result: Healer looks like he's wasting mana.
Part of being a good healing Paladin is actually anticipating when someone is going to need healing so that you can start the Flash of Light/Holy Light spells just before they're going to get thwacked. If you don't know the instance, you run a greater chance of misjudging when to start the healing.
A short example: The first time we went through Drak'Tharon Keep, I was juggling everybody and keeping bodies up in the air. We survived pretty well all the way up until we reached King Dred, and then the debuffs he threw down simply overwhelmed my ability to keep up. Being too close to Dred when he unleashed Bellowing Roar didn't help either, and the party ended up wiping. The next time I ran through the Keep, I anticipated what was ahead and not only kept out of range but was ready and casting the healing spells slightly before Dred unleashed his attacks.
That kind of ties in with something that I've noticed about the new dungeon finder tool. If there's a drawback to the tool, it's that the random selector will throw the noob for a loop. For the noob, every instance is new, and with the instant gratification of the tool there's no time to strategize beforehand with your group before you're off and running.
Of course, that sort of issue will crop up in regular old pickup groups as well, but you can minimize that by getting a feel for the people and the instance you'll be going through beforehand.
While the Healadin's tools are great, there's no substitute for experience and advice.
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