Better off Dead?

The obligatory Money Shot, with attentive hound looking on...

Yes, I has THAT sword. After several hours consideration I decided to go with the 2H version (Quel'Delar, Ferocity of the Scorned) as much for the stats as for the fact it felt that's what this sword would have originally been. That made a difference too, in the end, because what doing this Questline did was make me think. It also made me wonder about the future of Raid Instances, and actually how great it would be to NOT be able to go back and do the same 10 and 25 man places again and again. Suddenly, I have a great desire for closure.

Arriving at the Sunwell, where much has changed since my last visit.

Without giving away the contents of the Quel'Delar questline, there's a point where you need to return to the Island of Quel'danas, and gain access to the Sunwell itself. This of course is going to cause a problem with the way Blizzard's basic game mechanics operate, or at least it would have done before the days of Quest Phasing. Arriving at the Island with the sword in tow there are no demons any more, no vampiric Blood Elves ravaging the countryside. There is reconstruction, with the Shattered Sun Offensive working hand in hand with the Blood Elves to rebuild the island. Yes, the Horde and the Alliance are co-operating, which rather nicely mirrors the joint efforts of the two mortal races in Icecrown to take out Arthas. The quest giver at the entrance to the Sunwell even mentions how this holy Blood Elf shrine was recently returned to them thanks to the SSO, and it's not a place for Dwarven visitors or tourists. So, as it is documented that the Sunwell has been freed in this timeline, I can gain access to it and throw in Quel'Delar, thus completing my quest.

Maybe it's because I've just completed the Sunwell proper in the last seven days, but part of me now thinks it could be time to close off instances to people like this. Yes, I know in many cases there is reputation tied to areas that people like to complete, and certainly thanks to the WOTLK Expansion there are achievements that you can get that maybe you weren't geared for when you ran the place at original difficulty. However I've always thought that doing that is a bit of a sham: it's great to be able to run through Naxx for The Undying with your ToTC gears, but you're not doing it the way it was meant to be done, are you?. When all is said and done, it should be about completing the content at close to a relevant level, at least for it to maintain the original difficulty envisaged by the Devs.

This then throws up another possibility. If killing the last boss of an instance were to shut it off to you for good, locking you out of achievements and Hard Modes and effectively phasing you into an instance where the content has been defeated, this would mean achieving the last boss kill would lose a great deal of it's significance, at least in terms of being the first people to do it. If being the best meant NOT getting that last boss in Hard Mode, but involved garnering all those achievements BEFORE you went and topped off the Big Bad (and effectively locked yourselves out) it would change the entire landscape of the game. Guilds would not fight to get to the end of an instance first, they'd be slowly picking their way through it knocking off the Hard Modes along the way. Part of me thinks that would be a fabulous idea, especially as if by going and killing the last boss in every instance you'd be the engineer of your own closure. Oh, and if the last boss doesn't give the best loots but instead gives you a unique item (like a title or a tabard, or possibly a pet) then let that be all he gives. If the Big Guilds want to make sure they don't lock themselves out let them just keep doing the Raid Instance minus the last boss until the last few weeks before a new patch... No longer is your Kudos measured on who killed X first, but on how long they waited until they did :p

This method would also have benefits for the Devs. If they continued to follow the 'gated content' model they have with ICC it would allow for more testing between wings. It would extend the life of content significantly, as people wouldn't simply be constantly just aiming to get to the end boss first. Plus it would create a lovely continuity in the Game World. Those that were new to the Community could still do the content, the only problem of course would be you couldn't get your friend who'd already completed it to run you through it. However, would that really be so bad? Your friend could re-roll a new character and start again. There is nothing to say you'd have to go do the content at it's relevant level either (especially looking at the 60-70 raid content) If you wanted to farm rep for a Faction, just make sure you don't kill the end boss in the Instance you're farming. Simples!

The Holy Shrine of the Blood Elves, with some Dwarf and her Dog causing trouble.

Of course, Modern Gaming doesn't work like this. It's all about instant gratification and being able to do what you want, without being restricted by issues like continuity. It's only people like me who yearn for being closer to reality, where being finished means just that, it's done and you can move on. When all is said and done, it's very much like asking if we could lose a fight in Warcraft now and again, and that really is unlikely to happen in Azeroth. It's a shame though. Maybe one day I'll kill a boss, and they'll actually end up staying dead... :D

Better Late Than Never

 

That's Outland finally finished, then. I suspect it's going to take as long to polish off Northrend... :D

I totally enjoyed Sunwell. I can see how it garnered it's reputation, how Guilds who completed it at the relevant level should be congratulated, because many of the encounters were genuinely fiendish, the Twins especially. I would not have relished completing it at the correct level. It had the same feel about it as SSC, you needed to be really on your game to complete it. Fact remains, it's the past, and so much has changed. Part of me knows full well why they changed this dungeon style. Still not sure they did the right thing in doing so.

 

It's going to be an Old Skool Weekend too.

In my pursuit of finding different ways to make money I've been skinning a lot of late. Thanks to the ICC recipes the cost of Heavy Borean Leather's gone through the ceiling, so when I'm not picking it up in instances I've been sneaking over to the Netherwing Mines and making some extra cash on Knothide and Heavy Knothide (which is never on sale on the AH and which always sells as a result) The added benefits of doing this run are twofold: green Outland weapons and armour drops, the DE results of which are also a good seller, plus the fact I can still make a bit of cash on the side from the Dailies. Best of all it's just me there 99% of the time, unlike Northrend which is pretty busy at the moment, especially as Schools are on half term holiday.

If you want to know where I'll be this weekend, I'll be pretending to be an Orc with no legs. For some reason the transformation doesn't work on my current trousers...

New Kid on the Block

 

I have cracked 7000 Achievement points. I can has a shedload of new PvP Gears (thank you, saved honor and spare Triumph elbows!) Yesterday, ICC borkedness notwithstanding, was a pretty good day.

New PvP Boss: Drops 2 Frosties, iLevel 264 legs and hands, is worryingly easy if you remember that aoe can kill. He's also a fairly serious Gear Check on 25 Man. Our mage in ICC last night, who was topping the meters with 7k on trash, was refused entry to a PuG on the grounds that his gear 'didn't cut it' It is truly a strange Virtual world in which we inhabit. Oh yeah and the two Occulus achievements have been added to with Chaos Theory since I did the screenie. Heroics are now easier than Normals, it's official :p

Oh, and despite the broken nature of the 10 man, I have another upgrade. This is getting silly ^^

Behold the Bone Warden's Splitter. WTB a second for double 'worn on my back' coolness...

Looking Good!

It's the start of a new week. Time to take a look at how everyone in the Family is doing in Azeroth:

#1: Almost 7000 Achievement Points :D
#2: 'of the Nightfall ' Title. So what if it's two patches ago in terms of cutting edge!
#3: Rotface 0 :: Our Guild 1

It wasn't a clean kill, neither was it particuarly pretty. But it was a kill, after over two hours of people trying their best to remember the sheer number of things required to make it happen. In many respects this reminds me of the Shade of Aran in Karazhan: watch your feet, watch the boss, be ready to move, be ready to run, kite your slime, watch the pools... so much going on. My heart goes out to our Gnome DK Tank last night, who's kiting was nothing short of miraculous considering the utter chaos (and often stupidity) unfolding around him. Needless to say, Execution of Tactic Needs Werk ^^

Hopefully when we start again on Wednesday, we can do 6/12 bosses in a night. Halfway through, and Arthas appears in Europe that day. I'd better make sure I book us an Instance space early then...

50 Point Thursday \o/

Even though most people's focus in the End Game Zone right now is Icecrown, it's important to remember this isn't all that is difficult or taxing for the Raid Guild who's not grinding through 25 man and waiting for Hard Modes. There's a lot to still do, thanks to the Wonder That Is Achievements. Last night, for instance, I earnt 50 points being awesome:

The dps for Sarth + 3 was very fast, very focussed and (in the end) it gave me another first. I broke 6k single target :O

The fight was 81 seconds. I died, and was looking through the 'what killed me' section of my combat log when Sarth died (hence no screenie, I was expecting to have to go again) First try we managed 14%. I will be making P a stack of haste potions not simply for Festergut in the future...

The Lock won the Drake, having beaten the 99 roll made by the Shaman. It was once of those nights, and we then went on to grab the achievements in ToTC10 in a shamless attempt to make the 10-man Achievements (Strict) numbers look a bit healthier. As of this morning, we're #1 on the Server.

I confidently predict that there will be plenty more Sarth + 3 in the future, a fair few Malygos in 6 Minutes and anything else that we can polish off before someone starts looking at the Ulduar Hard Modes...

So what if it's content out of order? It's fun, that's all that really matters :D

Expect the Unexpected!

Today, I decided to try and win the Kalu'ak Fishing Derby. I failed :(

However...

I would argue I won something far more valuable instead :D

Hooray for the unexpected Achievements, and the pleasant surprises that happen when you least expect them :D

Never Easy...

I feel the Shaman's Achievement List is worth reproducing today, for several reasons:

Yes, that's the Alterac Blitz, right there. It's the first time since the Achievement appeared I've been in a group that looked anywhere capable of completing it. Doing so, frankly, was glorious. Forty people went to Garv, dispatched him, and then 40 people went to Drek, without exception. 23 people got the Achievement with me. All on a Monday Lunchtime too... I'm going to be forced to do the rest of the AV achievements now... :D I should also make a nod to the two significant Ulduar achievements as well: XT in 205 secs, Sif and Thormin down to 45% before we wiped. This means we're now in the top 10 of Strict 10 Man Achievements on our Server. Not too shabby at all.

Now, all I need is enough Honor for a trinket and a pair of boots and I can add Epic To M's Achievement list...

A Tribute to Insanity

New PTR Build downloading as I type. Maybe this time I can go get into the new instance \o/

Amongst the datamined items popping up thus far, a new slew of Achievements:

• Looking For More: Use the Dungeon tool to finish random heroic dungeons until you have grouped with 10 random players total.
• Looking For Many: Use the Dungeon tool to finish random heroic dungeons until you have grouped with 50 random players total. Awards the title: the Patient.
• Looking For Multitudes: Use the Dungeon tool to finish random heroic dungeons until you have grouped with 100 random players total.

I am SO aiming for that title. Just.... well, just *because* :D

Guiding the Way

Back from my break, with the customary Post-Getaway-Illness. Kids, you gotta love them. I meant to do this before I left, but you know how it goes... so here we are now with what I think is one of the most significant PTR developments thus far.

So the Game Map has again undergone something of a regeneration. We have already noted how quest items can be tracked, now we have the quests themselves to refer to (though as you can see it is not yet fully functional, bizzare green squares notwithstanding) There I am, the small arrow at the Tournament, but I would bet at some point that icon will change to something easier to see on a map that size. What I'm now interested in is how this particular feature will play out in Expansion Beta, especially with new areas as yet unexplored.

I'm still unable to get into the new instance because of the Phasing issue, and there are still issues with DC's on zoning (which to be honest I'm having in the game as well currently and therefore may well be related to server lag) so there's nothing new to report, but I'd expect a new build soon especially as it's US maintenance today. What I will show you as a point of interest is my PTR mailbox.

So, they may not move across your achievements when you make a PTR copy, but it appears that the things you achieved as a result are unaffected, especially when related to in-game rewards. Of course none of this stuff is any real use (though I will grab the potions from Rhonin's package should I get a chance to instance) but it does show how much stuff I've managed to nab via Achievement in the last few months. I can see why it's such a popular pastime...

Right, updates later but for now I gotta find a place to hang all this washing with it tipping down outside... :(

3.3 ALREADY????

PTR Downloading as I type... ^^

I have to admit I'm a bit surprised this is happening as fast as it is. There's been a HUGE amount of info dumped via MMO in the last 24 hours, including Dwarven Totem models, which is making me think the race changes really can't be that far away either. On a cursory first glance, things are looking interesting, including links to the mystery sword in the ice at the Tournament, a new slew of resist gears for crafting and a WEEKLY RAID QUEST which rewards you for killing a specified raid boss with 10 emblems. TEN!!! They're giving them away!!!

My screenshots folder is now so large I'm going to need to take a copy and delete the lot. Before I do...

The Shammy finally lucked out with a decent Ony group last night (it was in essence a Guild run with me and someone else as #9 & 10) and I have the 22 slot bag to show for my troubles. Getting the heroics done was a good bonus, and my gear is well on it's way to being acceptable for most raiding situations.

Talking of raiding, yesterday I was asked for my gear score when in LFG. My first reaction was 'whut'? Things move so fast at the moment, you're asked for so much to even play in a PuG (drivers licence and birth certificate soon to be a requirement) that I had to admit being a nub and having no idea what I was being asked. Thirty minutes later, I had the Gear Score addon installed to see what all the fuss was about:

It appears that each item you wear is 'scored' depending on it's iLevel and where it drops, and an overal score is then derived as a result. As you can see, I have a score of 4543, which is 'not imba but ok', at least according to the 12 year old Raid Leader that decided as a result I was good enough to do VoA 10 with his mates (and yes I did ask him why when I discovered he was 12 he wasn't in school and apparently he has H1N1, so may be best avoided anyway) Needless to say this is not really the best way to be deciding anyone is good enough for your group, it's yet another example of what you can do when you know how to code and like pretty colours. I expect everyone to be using it therefore within a week...

Oooh, PTR has finished...

Money Shots

For the first time since it's introduction, we extended a Raid ID yesterday. Mostly it's because of this guy. Vezax is now all that stands between us and Yogg Saron on 10 man.

I completely understand why the Hardcore Guilds don't consider 10 man as 'proper' raiding. In ALL respects getting 25 people in one place and getting them to work as a team is more complex, more time consuming and ultimately should give better rewards. The fact remains however if you don't have 25 people around, 10 man gives you what you'd expect, and probably demand from this kind of experience. There is a lot to consider: there's the question of making sure you are operating at maximum capacity, of functioning well in a unit, whilst ensuring you're doing what you're bought to the raid to do. Currently the loot is pretty much an aside (as we have TotC virtually on farm, PvP bosses depending) and it's all about completing the instance. Without 10 man modes our Guild would probably still be in Naxx, or at least as part of an Alliance... which is nearly not as good as doing it for yourself.

I don't doubt for one second, with the people we have currently running the instance, that we won't finish Ulduar very soon. Actually, I'd say we'll be ready for Icecrown as soon as it appears (which I'll predict will be around the Christmas holidays) with decent gears and people hungry to face off against Arthas. In that respect the game is keeping pace with us for the first time, I suspect with a lot of the more casual guilds overall. I think it's a testament to the changes Blizzard has made that we have a game that now remains current for longer and offers greater overall challenges to it's participants. Props to Blizzard as a result.

Of course, as soon as the servers stabilise all thoughts of Ulduar and the Crusade are out of the window. All roads will inevitably lead to the Wyrmbog... :D

BOOOM!

...was the sound my graphics card made Friday night. It's been poorly sick for a while, if truth be told. Now I have a lovely 1GB Behemoth, and a DV lead for the first time, and frankly Azeroth looks GORGEOUS.

It makes Brewfest Rams look particuarly good. \o/

Normal Service will be resumed when I've sorted out the Alt/Brewfest daily cyle...

...and there it was!

I had planned a spectacular action shot in AV to celebrate the Shammy hitting L80 but the best laid plans... ah well.

Take this shoddy list of statistical increases as a poor alternative ^^

Gear Wise, things are not looking too shabby either. Thanks to a friends generousity (I've not forgotten your armour either :D) I have Zom's Crackling Bulwark and the Titansteel Guardian to act as my healing weapons of choice. I got the PvP Gloves and Shoulders and am nearly 20,000 honor into the next step (probably the legs, possibly a ring or a trinket depending on where I stand) Everything else is blue, with the sad exception of my Relic, which will be my first purchase with Elbows. It almost looks like I did some planning, doesn't it? :p

In Hunter News, last night was scheduled as a Naxx 10 Achievements Run, and all in all it was exactly as advertised.

That's the one I'm particuarly proud of at the top there, but there were loads of others: Patchwerk in WELL under 3 minutes, 10 people alive at Heigan, 18 Abominations at KT. The only two we missed were Shocking and The Undying, and I would confidently perdict both of those to be on notice for the next time we go. And before you say it, yes I KNOW this is old news and all you imba people have already done this like, two patches ago, but it's new to me.

So :p to you!

Oh yeah, and Occulus done, Quests complete, nuff said.

Next step is a bit of long term planning. More to follow.

Compare and Contrast

Draenai on Stormpike Battle Charger = Cool

Big Blue Laydee on Stormpike Battle Charger = Stupid.

I've officially entered the home stretch. My Shammy's run the last few levels to 79 thanks to the wonders of AV (PLEASE stop whining Alliance 80's, if you really don't want L71's in BG's go turn your XP gain off, otherwise just let them enjoy the brief moment of glory when they win) and is not capped at 75,000 Honor in anticipation of hitting the big Eight-oh. As you can see I'm already well into the Holdir questline, and as the nice letter in my Inbox informed me 77 is time to start work at the Tournament. I have a TON of stuff to do, and 80 may only be a day away.

It's not just simply fun times in levelling land either, oh no:

So, the Big Giant Head is no more :D It's only one more boss and Yoggy is there, ready for us to bitchslap him into the next patch. Soon I will be able to say I've seen most, if not all of the available game content. In over four years I've never been this current. It's scary.

Hang on, if I'm writing this I've stopped levelling!!! NOOOO!!! Back to the Grind!

The Glory Days

Standing Guard at Snowfall

It's official: PvP is great again.

For me at least, Arenas kinda sucked all the life and fun out of the entire PvP experience. It became too much about the gear and not enough about enjoying the game. To do PvP you needed to be Pro: top notch gear, imba friends, hours of practice for quick bursts of adrenaline and rewards that, although impressive, did not seem enough for all the work needed to get them. If you did BG's they were slow, frustrating and ultimately depressing if you were Alliance in my Battlegroup. When Blizzard announced the XP gain in Battlegrounds and the changes to each area a bit of me silently /cheered and hoped that finally there'd be some love for the people who play their game in PvE and take PvP as a hobby. As it stands, I've yet to be disappointed.

Losing a game is no longer a loss when everything sub L80 has a benefit. My Shaman's been PvP-ing pretty much constantly for the last three levels between questing, and it's 325 kinds of awesome. I'm getting honor I can save to buy some very useful (and relevant) L213 items once I hit 80 (so what if they have resilience as a stat, it gives me a head start over the items I'm already wearing), which will supplement my existing PvE gears (the pile in the bank of crafted epics and AH-bought items is growing nicely) As I fight my way through the BG's I pick up a pretty steady stream of Achievements as I go, and yes they are working as just that, a way of making me feel I am progressing. My XP gain is frankly immense (so much so I find myself thinking Blizzard may nerf AV, nearly 19,000 XP per tower captured with rested seems too good to be true) However by far my most important gain while doing this my skill in healing. My reaction times are faster, I'm thinking in a more group-orientated way, and PvP is making me better. I can feel it happening, and when I've been healing in 5 mans I know that the skills I've picked up in AV, AB and in WSG especially are helping me to make a better character. I cannot state this fact enough.

There is a downside: PvP doesn't make you money. However, this is SUCH a minor issue for me, as I have plenty of other characters who can do dailies and supplement my needs while levelling, that I find myself thinking that the cash doesn't matter. Anyway, I'm having way too much fun to care anyway!

There's also moments of utter brilliance and comedy, moments which make you just feel GOOD, and I love the fact this game can inspire such emotional responses. There was the Strand of the Ancients game that we won with five seconds to spare with a display of utter teamwork from a group of random players as to make you wonder why it's taken this long for people to work out what to do. Or there was that AB match which we won with no-one in the party higher than 75 with higher-levelled opposition, and by 200 resources, where three people took the time to whisper me and to thank me for my superlative healing. That makes a girl feel good.

The best moments however are in AV. I'm in the same battlegroup as the German servers, who's reputation as battlers is pretty legendary. You get the Germans in your BG and you KNOW you're in for a long fight, in the middle of the map with no ground given. To make matters worse the Horde have started forming insanely organised premades, headed by 5 or 6 L80's who forge ahead and cap everything, leaving lower levels to guard the captures. Yesterday, 30 of us camped out in the Hall of Stormpike as a last ditch attempt to stop one such group. I got half of my Loyal Defender achievement in one hit. It's possibly the most fun I've had in a BG for a LONG time, and I'm not even 80 yet.

The word is spreading: I've seen an increasing number of 80's in my Guild in Battlegrounds or in WG, and it's not simply for the gear or the Achievements. More than ever before PvP his a great way to let off steam, or play your character and improve their skills if you have limited playtime. Wait times are down, enjoyment is up. Blizzard did exactly the right thing when they updated the PvP options, and I for one hope that things continue in this vein.

Long live PvP!

Shorts

- Further to the Arm Pen grumbles, I now get why Blizz are doing this. If you take a look at the team who completed the World First Heroic Trial of the Crusader, 3 of the top 5 placed DPS-ers are Combat specced Rogues. Check their gear out on the Armoury... Arm pen gems in EVERY SINGLE SLOT. #1 dps in that fight = 10,003.

Now I understand.

Ironically there was one hunter in that group. He was Marks. He has just about every slot gemmed Arm pen as well. He only managed #14 on the meters.

As my US brethren would say, Go Figure.

- I did the Occulus last night in under four hours. I remember how traumatic that place used to be, but with better gear, drake scaling and a sensible game plan it's now no more hassle than any other Heroic. Amazing what a little gear and some time can do to soften the blows. I'll need to do it again when the Proof of Demise quest rolls around but after that, truth be told, I'll be happy never to go there again.

Some places just hold too many bad memories.

- We now present, for your viewing enjoyment, my Hunter's next Project after 40 Exalted Reputations:

So I've decided I'll be aiming for 25,000 acts of well-calculated slaughter in the coming weeks (probably should add months here as well ^^). As it's taken 4 and a bit years to get this far I have no idea how long the remaining 3265 will take to complete, but it should be interesting to watch the counter. This will in turn allow me to completely upgrade all my PvP gear to 213 and beyond via the wonders of Honor, plus I am sure there will be achievings. I could get all the mounts as well I suppose...

- This week will therefore be some PvP, some levelling and quite possibly a fit of mass gathering to restock all my alts with potions, foodbuffs and other sundry gubbins...

Hit it and Hope

So I have finally done some experimentation with the merits of levelling in BG's.

Here's my Shaman's achievement list from yesterday. I managed Damage Control after three AV's, the Grim Reaper and Class kills came from the first. It took me several weeks of play to pick Stormpike Perfection up on my Hunter: that came from the second AV of the day. I was getting invites roughly every 5 minutes: each tower destruction or enemy target awarded 18.5k XP with Rested. Yesterday I did pretty much a level in an afternoon (Rested bonus plus two +10% XP items). In the group there would be 2 or 3 L80's, the rest were 71+, and it was INSANE, but in the best of ways. At one point I was one of fifteen people in Iceblood Tower trying to beat off a particuarly insane L80 Pally. Healing spec really paid off, my regen was pretty good and clearly I could do the big numbers over a reasonable battle. Only when the German server group turned up did I see anything like an epic fight, and that only lasted 35 minutes. The rest of the time it was quick, clean, and pretty much the fastest levelling experience I've seen.

Suffice to say I'd bet this XP level will be nerfed by Blizzard at some point, because I reckon it's giving an advantage to people levelling via this method. If you want to advance using PvP, make the most of it!


So, I've done Koralon in both modes with the Hunter, and even with 25 it's hardly difficult (though saying that I would not want to heal the fight, the potential for stupidity really is very high) We had the dreaded 1% wipe with only my second PuG, and he died next pull. It took a LOT longer to grab the achievement with Emalon. I've seen Rogue loot drop from 10 and 25 man a LOT, and yet again last night there were no rogues around to sweep it up. Where have they all gone? :( Happy though, 226 hunter gloves are now MINE, 3/5 tier also dun. IoC was yesterday's BG daily as well (though still need to complete it) but this did give me a chance to do some Achievement sweepage. Back Door Job ftw! (fnar fnar)

This week I will look at the other BG's with the Shammy, but I'm betting that none will do the job as well as AV for instance XP. Plus, there's the small matter of the 25,000 HK achievement on the Hunter...

Good Things Come...

... to those who are patient. Apologies for absence, but now the kids are back at school I may have more than thirty seconds each day to think about something else for longer than five minutes. I can but hope. Start of the Summer seems a LONG way away... but there has been much fun in the house with the World of Azeroth. My 8 year old now has a L10 with a higher Cookery skill than the vast majority of my alts (400 and rising ^^) while I... well, I went to BWL in a Pirate Hat. Oh yeah, there was other stuff as well...

M the Shaman may not be old enough to play WG but she's there, mining and fishing like there's no tomorrow. She hit 72 last night and is well on her way to 73, thanks to heirlooms and judicious use of Rested Bonus. I hope to get to mid 70 mediocrity by the weekend as there's a shedload of upgrades waiting for her when she does, including a much needed new shield. Early PuG healing indications show I may not be as rubbish as I first thought. There may yet be hope for Shamankind...

In Fishing News, I finally snagged the Tiffany Cartier Original Fishing Rod, just not on the character I'd hoped. This does at least give the Druid the incentive to keep levelling the skill to max. Those of you paying attention will notice the lovely Conquest Elbows Chestpiece... but that's only a part of the awesomeness that the Trial of the Crusader has given. I'll do a gear update at some point, but that's not why I'm here. This is why.

See that? 40 Exalted Reputations. FINALLY. Dinged on Golemagg. NEVER EVER want to see MC EVER again. Well, at least not until they make it 10 man and upgrade the loot, which at this rate could be weeks... Now all I need to do is resist the temptation to convert myself from Dwarf to Tauren... nah, I'll stay as a Dwarf. But I will be having a bit of a rest, and possibly a drink.

Thunderbrew Lager, anyone?

Achieving made Simple

So I'm betting that a large number of people have achievement screens not unlike the Hunter's from over the weekend. I'm aware of at least one Guildie who ran literally EVERY heroic instance over the weekend, several times. There were competitions for speed completion too, and late last night I healed a 4 Man VH that took less than 25 minutes. Needless to say it's abundantly clear that people are already outgearing Heroics to the point of them being academic exercises. One assumes that as soon as people have all the available Conquest upgrades they'll just go back to doing the Daily Heroic Quest for the two Emblems of Triumph, or in my case start again on an alt. Gonna make Ulduar a heck of a lot easier, and should facilitate a push into 25 man pretty soon...

What this is doing for the Druid is making very successful use of her Offspec healing abilities. I've been acting as healer #3 in Ulduar 10 for a couple of months now but I've not really done much 5 man work. This weekend I learnt a fair deal about what I can and can't do with a Tree. Don't tell anyone, but I really enjoyed it as well...


The other benefit from all this time out across several characters is the Stone Keeper's Shards I'm racking up. As I'd like to send my mini-rogue through PvP for XP I suspect they may be very well kitted out in the Land of Heirlooms...

The other unsung benefit from all this instancing has been cash and items. This has led to some impulse buys... and got me 4 pets away from the 75 pet achievement late last night. In return for the large pile of Khorium I gave my husband (so he could complete his Jeeves) he rewarded me with the last 2 Alliance Tournament pets I didn't have. A quick rummage around his bankalts also unearthed a Green Winter Helper which got me to 74.... and then it was grind for one more or go to the AH. The simple solution won.


See, I didn't even move from the mailbox... ^^ I suspect with the new slew of Dailies it will take me less than a week to make back the money I spent.

Maybe I'm not as frustrated with the new patch as I first made out...

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

So, the new content. Patch 3.2. Loads of NEW things to do, loads of NEW stuff to earn and win and upgrade. Except, actually, how much of it is really new?

Let's face it. The new dungeon isn't. The new 5 man starts with JOUSTING (*headdesk*) and a boss which recycles old bosses... not with their original abilities, but WITH THE SAME 3 EVERY TIME. Saving a fortune on new boss models as well Blizz. Let's hope nobody else notices.

Yeah, and the Black Knight joke isn't funny. Really.

*sigh*

The only reason most people will run it is the loot at the end. This is NOT good. They won't look at how you're introducing rolling trash as opposed to static groups, they won't appreciate the fact that dungeons are now forcing movement and promoting the use of interrupts and kiting... just like Arenas. They'll miss the fact that you're actively involving people by use of their character names coz the monologues and reaction text is stuffy and takes too long. All the good ideas are going to get lost in the fact YOU HAVE TO JOUST the first boss pack. Even though I can do it now, it's not a good dungeon mechanic, because it depends too much the shields. People like seige vehicles coz they don't have to worry about dying in 10 seconds.

I suspect the only reason anyone will do the new dungeon is for the loot, and that's not good. I'd kinda like the BRK Tribute Gun, I will confess, but we all know how I feel about loot and dungeons. It's a shame, and just like the Isle of Dalies, this place will be a ghost town as soon as Blizz come up with something better.

So, we officially rename 3.2 as The Patch of BG's, PvE for Elbows Only, and we'll be off this weekend to enjoy the Isle of Conquest during it's holiday period, in an attempt to see how many achievements we can rack up in 3 days.

Meanwhile, we bring you updates.

With normal speed mounts now at a bargain 80 silver and epic ground at a modest 8 gold, it would have been rude not to get the achievement last night on P. With the Children's Week Q's done and the Ravasaur bought from the Gnome in Dalaran I'm 3 pets short of the magic 75 as well so I'd expect that to be done soon. The Argent Pony Bridle is officially the BEST THING EVER, and is getting far more use than is healthy.

Right, let's go and do some pottering. Expect a large IoC post over the weekend!

Lordy!

It's been quite a weekend. No, really it has. It's been HUGE.


See that there? Phear the Heroic Ulduar Achievements!!! Have been talking for a few weeks with someone from another Guild with guys at about the same level of progress as us, and last night they had some spots in a 25. So we went (myself, 5 others) and concluded that our Guild ROCKS. It was a good night, but given the choice I'd far rather be doing any content with the Homies. I am not complaining however for I have Boots of Hasty Revival and some Emblems of Conquest, which I reckon will be useful at some point in the future.

In Hunter News, 3 of the 4 Steamweedle factions are now done. I still have a chunk of Everlook rep to knock off, but it just needs me to apply myself and it's done. I'm 600 rep short of Exalted with the Scale of the Sands after an impromptu Hyjal on Saturday. And with a couple more trips to MC, I will be done. I'll have Flame Keeper as a title before that however, despite the screwup Blizz made with the Midsummer achievement. After that I have a vague plan that involes 75 pets and 50 mounts. I will be changing my name to Noah shortly afterwards.

There is more, but I need to prep myself for a Sunwell Run tonight as we attempt to finish off the Dungeonmaster Quest. To the bank!

Priorities

So, it would be fair to say that at present Azeroth is not particuarly high on my list of priorities. I'm not one to sit here and contemplate my own navel, so you'll be pleased to know there's gonna be no deep and insightful commentary as a result. However, even if I'm not playing as much I still need to keep myself up to date.

I used WoWMatrix before the big fallout with Curse et al and it's only this morning when I manually spent an hour going through my addons and updating them that I realised just how simpler the all-in-one downloader made that process. I have read a lot about what happened there and how priorities for one party came in to direct conflict with another, and it occurs to me that sometimes contemplating one's navel (metaphorically) does have it's benefits. Certainly if peeople had talked to each other a lot sooner I suspect I'd still be using WoWMatrix without all the blocked addons. Odd that when all these people are doing the same thing there's so much trouble finding a path that everyone enjoys. I reckon that's a metaphor for life if ever you needed one.


The measured walk to The Exalted continues, with Timbermaw Rep FINALLY dealt with forever (I don't care if they made it easier, it still sucks) giving me 34/40. The Silver Covenant will roll over to Exalted tomorrow if I have the opportunity to do dailies today, after which it's Oracles. After that it's instance rep or 21,000 pirates. Okay so it's not THAT bad but it's still not an easy job with the time available. Ho hum. We will get there, just not very fast.

However it's likely today I'll end up with this achievement. That's commitment, that is.

Moving Forward

Half Term again, and this time with added ill kids with new and exciting illnesses. I've also managed to screw up comments here as well and stuff has disappeared :( Some days, try as you might, nothing goes right.

So, the plan for The Exalted is going well, albeit a bit slowly. Next on the list of easily achievables is the Timbermaw (10k's worth of feathers I knocked off in a nap phase for the wee girl) and after that it will be the Oracles. In a burst of 'honest it's not me competing' from the Hubby he's off doing the Wintersaber Trainers (all that for a purple cat? hmmmmm) which looks like an awful lot of hard work. The better bet is trying to find people to help with Scale of the Sands rep (Archimonde would have been ace to do back in the day, can see how the fight would have been a problem, as is also the case with Vashj, all those Tainted Core macros finally make sense) and try and knock off some of the instance-based ones over time. I need the Waterlords, the Scale and the Ashtongue. BT defeated us when we tried to casual it, gonna need more bodies and brains if it's gonna get knocked off the list.

This is actually harder than it looks.


Another thing that is easily achievable in short bursts is Honor. In an attempt to score Epic on my non-raiding Hunter I've been going through the BG's. There's a definite pattern in my Battle Group: huge long periods of totally rubbish playing and then a Group of Genius. Take this group of Achievements for instance: all in the same five minute period. This one also let me complete the 'do all 4 Daily PvP Quests' Achievement at the same time. The day before I also managed a WSG in under 7 minutes. Go me!


It's also been the time to pick off some of the more annying Achievements from my To Do list. The critters I did with my daughter who was considerably better at spotting them than I was, and we did all three of the set. The PvP Quests in Venture Bay I've never really taken the time to look at, but it's also a place to get Steamweedle rep (albeit not very many mobs^^) but does give me the idea to go see if I still get rep from killing the Pirates in Tanaris. I also ought to see what I can buy with Venture Coins coz if it's anything of any use I might stick those Dailies into my routine. I'm 60 quests away from completing 1000 Dailies. Erk.

./wanders off to look up Venture Coin on Wowhead...

All in a Night's Work

Ooh, it's been almost a week. In my defense I have a girl ill with Tonsillitus and slept about five hours in total over the whole weekend. So, bearing that in mind there's actually a heck of a lot to catch up with...


Ignis fell at the weekend, thus granting M with the 'first four Ulduar bosses' points. The new tactic Mr Chief Pally gave us worked a treat (tank all the adds, no sticking them in the water to shatter, Boss by a pool so the Scorch gets swallowed by the water) worked an absolute treat. Next up will be The Iron Council, but it does mean that the first 4 bosses are effectively on Farm Status.

Yesterday, after having finally got my daughter to sleep after an emergency trip to the Doctors (she has medicine!) I decided I'd finally do some work on my AQ40 Questline.


The last thing I did (apart from go get lightly toasted by a Green Dragon in Darkshire) was pick up Chapter VI of 'Draconic for Dummies' from Onyxia. Chapter IV was causing me some problems, what with it being located above (in the Undercity) However, a bit of a scouting trip revealed a reasonably pain-free route to pick it up via the Sewers. As it transpired I only had to kill three Patchwerk guards to get to the book. Of all the parts to secure, what I thought would be one of the hardest ended up as the simplest.

That left two chapters: VII from Ragnaros and I from Dr Weavil on Alcaz Island. Last night we started with a full MC clear (four of us, three of whom benefited from Hydraxian rep, one who is working on Thorium Brotherhood rep and so was gifted all the cores and Core Leather I skinned) The Druid Tank landed four pieces of T1 (including the chest, M is jealous) and I picked up both the Major Rejuve and Flarecore Wraps patterns for altage. The Force Reactive Disk also dropped... had this been Vanilla that would have been one of the best MC's I'd seen in terms of craftable drops. Once Raggy bit the dust (T2 Hunter legs!!!!!!!) we popped over to Duskwallow and eradicated Ony *again* before strolling over to the Lair of Weavil.

The Good Doctor owned us the first two tries, it must be said. His MC ability reduced our tank to a 2-shot killing machine (much to his and our amusement) and it took a moment of genius from Mr Pally to give us a decent shot at him. Getting our Retri Pally to engage alone and then pop a bubble at the MC we got 90 seconds to grind the Good Doctor to the ground. Needless to say, it all worked out just fine.

Those 8 Tablets? WEEKS worth of Work, I tells you!

So, I freed up six bank slots (five tablets, one book binding) last night and picked up the rather lovely Gnomish Turban of Psychic Might for my troubles. It's really rather satisfying to have finished this step, especially as it's involved so much Old World entertainment along the way.

Next step's a bit of a pig, though ^^

The MC trip was notable for one drop, which after four years I FINALLY won without having to worry about rogues or DKP.

I remember how much I wanted this when we ran MC in 40 man. I dreamed about it (no really I did ^^) and I always made sure I kept enough DKP *just in case* (on many occasions in detriment to other upgrades) Now I have it as part of my Old Skool Set, with Crul'shorukh, Edge of Chaos as my Dual Wield weapons of choice...

So, while we're here, there's summat else from the weekend worth reporting: this was the time when I finally sorted That Jousting Thing at the Argent Tournament:

Look! SEVEN Champions! I even picked up Lance a Lot as part of a fabulous sweep that included 22 Dailies (I'm back on the Netherwing Bandwagon for even more rep!) I'm halfway to Champion with the Darnassians and then it's just Exodar to do and I'm sorted. Plus it will mean Exalted with the Silver Covenant to boot, which is likely to become Exalted Faction #32 purely by happy accident.

I sense a great deal of factional faffing in the week to come...