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
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
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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