Game Over!

The Druid's seen all the content (in 10 man) that the Crusade has to offer. The last boss fight is suitably taxing, but if I'm honest it's the PvP fight that makes the encounter overall. It all comes down to the RNG and which six jump down from the Arena. Last night was a big step forward from Wednesday's first try and it does reinforce the point that tired eyes and brains are no substitute for coming to an encounter fresh. Last night was two tries and done. I hope the same can be said for Mimiron on Sunday, who we had to 20% on Phase Four last night before we went to bed. I can see Yogg-Saron in my future...

I'm very happy with my Druid at the moment, not simply because I'm doing really challenging stuff currently which I'm finding extremely enjoyable. I'm finally able to do the damage I think I should be capable of. Observe this Recount log from a 25 man VoA in the week:

There were glorious moments when I broke the 4000 dps mark. I've NEVER done that amount of damage on anyone, anywhere, and it brings home to me that there are some REALLY large numbers to be had from the combination of decent gear, good enchants and the right rotations. I have a Starfire/Wrath combo that really works for me and I'm not far now from the haste cap for my Boomer. Haste makes a LOT of difference I now realise: casting spells faster means more spells more often which of course equals more damage. Duh. If you want to beat these more complicated fight, the big numbers, like it or not, really do matter.

The rest of this week has mostly been about PvP, for which I will make a separate post. Needless to say, I think people need to re-evaluate the merits of PvP in the light of XP from BG's. The 80's may hate it but BOY is it great times for everyone else.

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...

The Burning Question

One of the things as a non-number/gear/theorycraft geek that I find the most frustrating is the whole 'Is this bit of gear an upgrade?' question. It gets asked a lot during raids, when people are reviewing new gear via badges, and it inevitably relies on a bunch of lists that someone who's more hardcore/knowledgeable/geeky than me has up on a website somewhere. It's always worse when I'm the one having to make the decision.

So today, dear reader, you get to help me, and I get to show you a piece of webby stuff I find extremely useful. I picked up these trousers via Emalon 25 last night. According to Wowhead, there's only one other pair that have a higher iLevel in game, and they drop in 25 man. From Yogg-Saron ^^ Plus, they're for ferals...

(These are the ones that Emalon drops, ignore the team arena thingy) I'm currently only wearing these:


So I'll lose hit and int and spi but I gain spell and a shedload of health. It will make sense for me to keep the old trousers for my healing set and use these for dps and gem them for crit/haste. However, I'd like this in a form that can let me compare the two side by side. Wowhead's Item Comparison Tool does this beautifully and with simple numbers that even a nublet like me can understand:

As I don't use the set bonus on the old legs, and the 6 hit I lose from the gem bonus isn't an issue as I'm already over cap, there really isn't a reason not to use these, despite the fact they're PvP gear. It does bear out the fact that running the PvP bosses is far from a waste of time even if you'll never do any proper Battlegrounds or Arenas. I got 2 Emblems of Conquest to add to my total and I snagged an extremely decent pair of Boom legs, which just happen to have a load of resilience stuck on them. In fact, until I run the new 10 man Crusader's Coliseum, I'm not going to see anything better.

If you're not running VoA 25 in a PuG or with your Guild, you REALLY should be.

The State of the Notion

So, it is with a tear in my eye that I begin this particular update, as I say farewell to not one but two abortive Death Knight projects. I have to be honest, the notion of a Hero Class is great in principle but for me at least, it just didn't work. Should I be utterly wrong about the new races and the new profession next expansion I only hope they bring a Hero Class with a softer side. Having to butcher a friend halfway through my starting quests kinda did it for me. Next time I'd like something that doesn't involve quite so much innocent slaughter, if that's ok.

Anyway, without any more faffage, let us get down to the State of the Alts.


So the Hunter-Formally-Known-As-Main saw a Heroic tour of Naxx across the weekend. What was abundantly apparent from doing Naxx complete (for only the second time) is that the last two bosses are a bloody pushover compared to some of the wing bosses you need to fight to get there. It's great to have done it again, and the guests the Guild took to help us get over the 'it's Summer and we're a bit light on bodies' stage seemed to really enjoy themselves. Rumour has it we'll be in Ulduar 25 on Friday. That's gonna be interesting...


The Alt-That's-Now-A-Main, on the other hand, has had a bit of a rest. Apart from breaking the 250 emblem mark in Ulduar 10 midweek (more on which below) I've been desperately flying around trying to find a Frost Lotus ANYWHERE (did they nerf the drop rate and not tell me?) and stocking up on mats for the 3.2 Jewelcrafting smackdown. I've got to 350 fishing solely via the magic of Marcia Chase (gawd bless her!) and the Lock is close to doing the same. I am asking Greatfather Winter for more cool stuff in fishing bags come December. Deviate Fish and Pygmy Oil are SO last patch...

Talking of Ulduar, we'd like to debut a new feature.


Right, so as a rule I'm not here to blow my own trumpet, except when it's in the cause of spectacular stupidity. Thursday's Ulduar saw a fair bit of that from the Druid Corner. Top of the pile, the incident which demonstrates that Topping the DPS Meters is Dangerous and is to Be Avoided At All Costs...


So, there we are on Holdir, 45 seconds in, with a Toasty Fire to my right, standing in a spotlight and using the Storm Cloud handily provided by the Shaman healer. For a brief, *glorious* moment I'm doing nearly 7000dps. Then I'm dead. One-shotted by Holdir for nearly 30k, coz I pulled aggro from our DK tank. Duh.

Note to Self: leave dps to people who are competant and survive the fight.

Stand by for much more Epic Azerothian FAIL coming soon. It's a certainty.

Money Shots.

Oooh, haven't done an update in a bit.

So, this week was more 10 Man Ulduar progress. As you can see, Thorim joined Holdir in the Keepers Team we've helped free from Yoggy's diabolical mindgrasp. I'm especially pleased with the Cheese the Freeze achievement, considering how many people weren't managing to get to the snow piles on earlier tries. Plus we did it with 8 up for the last 40%. DPS last night was rather lovely. Thorim, despite being trailed as Most Complicated Encounter EVAH, was actually far from brain-twisting. I did both the Gauntlet run and the Arena bit and neither were hugely taxing and the fight itself is pretty much the easiest (in my opinion) in the entire instance. I didn't have to move for the whole thing \o/ We finished off with the Iron Council which is now offically on Farm Status. Tier Shoulders went to the Priest (not the same one from last wek) and legs to our stalwart Shaman Healer.

Oh, and Mr Main Tank Husbandadin is now the proud owner of the awesomeness that is Legacy of Thunder, and to say he's pleased is something of an understatement.

Last week also saw the Druid FINALLY snag the 'Champion of the Frozen Wastes' title. Having done the Eye of Eternity I'm still not convinced the 'gimmick' of the vehicle is an enjoyable one (though it seems I'm going to be forced to use mounts in the Crusader's Colluseum whether I like it or not :( , which is a bit bleh) but what was very apparent is that Malygos is not a boss to be fought if you're not 100% focussed. I'm pleased I've done it, but I'm not seized with an overriding enthusiasm to do it again, and that's not good.


The Hunter got taken out for a Naxx on Friday, for the first time in a fair few months, and we snagged a nice slew of achievements. I'm especially proud of the Patchwerk one considering this is the only toon I hold it on. We had only two deaths up until KT, I think had we started earlier The Undying would have been a distinct possibility. The pressure though is as much as a factor as anything else. It makes for an interesting extra dimension, and it shows for me why some of these Hard Modes may, in their own way, be just as challenging as doing instances with 39 other people in tow.


I should also take this opportunity to introduce F, my new project. She's my first Human to make it past L20 (23 at the moment) and as you can see is not only shamelessly exploiting Engineering, but is dealing out Holy Justice as a Retribution Paladin in the prerequsite Polished Spaulders of Valor (for 10% extra XP and pwnage^^) She's also the proud owner of a Reforged Truesilver Champion (with a Crusader enchant) which frankly, when it procs, is the stuff of legends. +100 Strength at L20 is a joy to behold, and the proc rate means I shouldn't be taking too long to level her. She takes her place on the character list and I'd expect here to see Dalaran well before any of my other pre-80 toons.



So, my realm is one of those listed to be unavailable until 3pm Central: this is God's way of telling me to go kick-start my new fitness regime at the Gym. Failing that there's Scrabble on Facebook or trying to beat my high score on Bejewelled... ^^

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!

Honor Amongst Thieves

So then. Epic Achievement. Nope, didn't get an Ulduar trinket (though last night I did pick up the rather gorgeous Vest of the Glowing Crescent) I cheated. Well, that's possibly the wrong word, but it did feel a tad sneaky. Let me explain why.

M picked up a lot of WG honor a while back, when she didn't have a decent hat and decided to grind for the WG Marks one. Yesterday I took P out for some PvP action, and to spend the 72300 HP I had before I hit the 75000 ceiling. I bought myself a Medallion of the Alliance and then started looking about for other possible upgrades... and then realised that the Battlemasters trinkets have an i213 level (hooray for addons that tell me this :D) So, I logged M, checked whether she had enough honor, and went and bought a Battlemaster's Bravery. I equipped it in both trinket slots and... DING!

Then I sold it back and got an honor refund ^^

M has no real intention of doing PvP seriously but P does. It does mean that Epic is doable on any of my alts with a bit of effort.

However, it really does feel like cheating.

Much of the Same

The Guild's been pretty quiet the last week or so: odd Naxx 10 run but not enough to make 25 viable. We scraped round with 20 last Friday (just under 2 wings) but it was close. I sense Real Life making playing a secondary interest.

In the absence of anything ground-breaking or exciting anywhere (well, Ensidia killed all the 25 man Ulduar bosses without dying, but that's hardly a surprise) I have been refining the Guide Route for the Dailies. When I've not been jousting or cooking or fishing... there has been some progress on Achieving.


Warlock first, and the Sarth + 1 came about of one of the impromptu Naxx Runs (we did Emalon beforehand) There was some lively debate concerning the best tactic for doing this, and after three wipes with us all stuck under Sarth's chest common sense prevailed and we split up boss and add. I came away with the Satchel of Spoils (which puts me close to sufficient tokens for Tier gloves) but a large gap in dps between me and the next placed person. Still needs werk ^^ Am working my way through Heroic instances, as and when I'm about and the opportunity arises. There really are not enough hours in the day you know...


The Druid's achievement are, let's be fair, a tad eclectic. As you can see we continue apace with Ulduar (hooray for self healing on Ignis) but in other news there's not been much else to write home about. The Duel I cheated in (shamelessly, sorry Pally friend) and you already know about the Oculus thing. Master Fishermen was only a matter of time with the Fishing Dailies. Last night I fished for 90 minutes and didn't get the quest item. I got over 100 Sewer Carp. *headdesk*


Hunter achievements are a good mix of Retro and Current: two more factions to go and I've covered all the Alliance (Pally friend got the Alliance achievement last night, grats go to him) We helped him earlier in the week with the last piece of rep from the Scale of the Sands to get him to Exalted (8 waves of trash in Hyjal with four of us, utterly insane stuff but huge fun) and also knocked off the Burning Crusade heroics to put us a step closer to the Dungeonmaster achievements. It's taken since i hit 450 skill to get that last copper coin. I suspect it will take just as long to land Arugal's Gold Coin. When I do then it's time to take the STV Fishing Competition seriously...

Reset Day, so summat interesting could break out this evening...

Many and Various

You know, we've not done a general update for a while...

Finally all that slapping of Giant Lazy Blokes in the Village of Blue Laydeez has paid off, and P has another mount to add to her collection. I have no idea how much Yeti Cheese my bear has eaten since the Expansion hit, but I know it's a lot. You can see the icon for the Green Proto Drake there in the background: I now have a rather lovely selection of unique mounts to choose from. Am tempted to start working on the Black War mounts from PvP as a side project but really I need to stop being distracted by Tournament Dailies and head back to Netherwing to work on the Exalted Rep Project. Hmmm, ERP sounds like some dodgy 70's prog Rock Band. I suspect we'll be adopting that as the Acronym of Choice as a result...


M's Achievement screen needs a bit of explanation. We never actually completed the Occulus last night (and Lord Knows we tried) in an attempt to get a Guildie their Frozen Wastes title. I was pulled in on Saturday afternoon to do the last boss in a Guild run, which I effectively one-shotted, but of course you don't get the DING! until all the bosses are dead. So I did do it, just not in the correct order... yesterday's PvP Fishing quest finished off my Dailies sweep. Fishing skill now is up in the 260's somewhere. I keep hoping for a Sparkly Fishing Rod in my bag 'o' goodies...


Warlock W continues to make steady progress, though still needs to find a L200 Wand from somewhere to grab her Superior Achievement. The 10 Reps was a pleasant surprise, on the back of repeated Fishing and Cookery dailies to pull in the KT Rep. Ooh that reminds me I still haven't bought the +19 spell gem recipe from the KT Quartermaster... /makes mental note as soon as the Server is back up again...

I'm pretty much rotating these three through my daily Dailies route where I can at the moment, saving up cash to fund another epic flying mount for the next alt I level (which I suspect is going to be the shaman) Mind you, 3 alts at 80 is a lot harder than it was with 3 at 70, especially with the level of gear required to make the DPS needed for the End Game Instances...

The Thing is...

I really like 3.1. REALLY Love the Argent Tournament, the new Fishing Dailies and the changes most people won't be raving about. The new content does seem to have been more considered than previously. Things that make me happy include:

• The FP to Winterspring, and the Summoning Stone inside the Keep. That wasn't always there, right? With the new fishing daily in there it makes life so much easier, though I suspect this will become a camp point for the opposition over time. Fishing rods at the ready!

• Chilled meats now have a chance to drop from ANY mob. I've been getting them from worms, mammoths and rhinos. Very useful for alts when doing the Cookery/Holdir/Tournament dailies.

• The quest tracking I discovered on the PTR really is fantastic. It's not perfect by any stretch of the imagination (certain quest items don't show even when required for a quest if they are part of a chain of actions you need to complete) but the difference it makes to questing is significant. It's also fabulous that quests now automatically appear when picked up.

• The amount of money I make simply by doing the Argent Tournament stuff. I've already paid back M's Dual Spec, and am well on the way to providing one for someone else. The jousting is a bit of a faff for Idiot Girl on some days, and I've not yet been able to defeat anyone in the Grand Melee quest :( Never mind, I can kiss frogs until the cows come home...

• The stuff in the Fishing Daily bags. I specifically point at the grey items (like the Battered Jungle Hat) which Blizz have clearly included for Bank Alt Pimpage. My vanity banker and the Guild banker both have one now, and very smart they look too. I really don't care how many New Age Paintings I get either: at 25g a throw, it's still a good living. Plus it's also good levelling: Druid's up to 200 and Lock's close to 225 now, just on the Dailies. It does take a while though, and considering the chaos offshore yesterday for the Severed hand quest I think I'll stick to fishing inland with those two until I get their skills up a bit.

• The new Books of Glyph Mastery. Lots of people on my server are not best pleased about this change: books are being sold for what people consider profiteering amounts... well they're right, of course. People all make money in their own way. However, the drop rate is pretty good if you're in 80 territory. A bit of patience... I've had two drop as a result of my work in Storm Peaks and Icecrown (plus one from a mate). As a result as of yesterday I was still the only person who was selling Glyph of Nourish on my server. I've done a very steady trade as a result: I refuse to sell them at the three figure prices most people seem to favour. As a result I finally have Inscription paying for itself.

• The new Raid Boss in Wintergrasp. No turning up without a brain in 10 man any more. Hooray!

Talking of which, M has the 10 man achievement. I'm guessing it's gonna be a few weeks before anyone's PuGGing him successfully in 25 man...

W got her first piece of badge gear last night, the very useful Ward of the Violet Citadel, which means I only need to upgrade three more items to be in all 80 gear. The Hat of Wintry Doom was my last crafted item which means it's boots, wand and trinket that remain to be replaced. It's a slow process, but we'll get there eventually!

Now if you'll excuse me it's off to get one step closer to P of Ironforge...

Don't Panic!

Ooooh look, I was wrong. 3.1 is tomorrow. Who'd have thought it?

MMO have the new cinematic for Ulduar, and it marks something of a departure from previous events. The Horde and the Alliance (thanks to the King in the main, whut a nublet) really are at each other's throats after the Wrathgate incident, and so it really is up to us, the humble Adventurers, to get into the instance and kick butt. The fate of Azeroth moves out of the hands of the Horde and Alliance radicals and into the hands of the people. We are truly the masters of our own destiny.

I'm not sure I'm ready for all this responsibility, you know.

I just need to make copies of all my Talents, across the family, then I am prepared. I'll spend an hour today making a list of all the new stuff I need to be on top of tomorrow as well.

Chaos is but a day away...

The Golden Age

When I started this Blog, one of the things I wanted to avoid was what I politely refer to in Guild as willy-waving. This may seem odd as a) I do not HAVE a willy and b) I wouldn't feel like waving it even if I did own one (in a jar perhaps) and at this point I should probably stop right there and properly explain the metaphor. I am not a big fan of people who like to exhibit their superiority. I do not like those who feel that they are better than everyone else because they have Item X or have Achievement Y. Life is all about what you want, not what others say you need. Except in a Game, where normally it's about maths and random numbers.

However, my numbers look pretty good right now, and I wanted to share. So I'm going to.


Via the wonder that is Be Imba, my gear scores are frankly as good as they are ever likely to be. I've worked hard to get here, and frankly I'm pretty bloody pleased. No showing off, not waving ANYTHING at ANYBODY.

This makes me happy. So I decided to share.

M the Shammy has arrived and passed L60 with some speed. I would predict at this rate she's gonna zoom towards 70 and then grind to a halt, so I think the next project is likely to be the Warlock to 80, possibly before Ulduar hits. First of all I need to FINALLY finish the Starting area quests...

Updatery Update

My tea making skills may suck, but the liquid does have the desired effect.

It's been a pretty quiet week, if I'm honest, but P is gonna hit Revered with the Netherwings after the next pass of quests. The money's been pretty good as well, even when to gather 35 Netherthingy Hides a day is actually a fair bit of work. Being in SMV has it's advantages however, especially when Doomwalker popped up yesterday evening. We had him at 25% (me, hubby, 2 mates) when 2 of the 'names' on the Server from what is probably the best-known Alliance Hardcore Raiding Posse appeared, clearly annoyed someone else had worked out that he drops 2 epic BoE's and 500g and is therefore worth farming. Yes, I may have been more pleased than is healthy we were there first. Especially when they turned up on Immortal Proto Drakes ^^

M the Shaman is in Outland \o/. She's also gathering dust atm while I stockpile mats to finally push her to 375 in Blackmithery. Once I've done that I'll send a higher level gatherer back to Azeroth to get the mats I need to finally finish the Mithril Order and Imperial Plate quests, after which it will be full steam ahead to 70. I've been trying to make the most of rested bonus, and so far it is paying off. Go organisation!

Tonight it's 25 man and we're hoping to get 3 wings of Naxx done. I haven't mentioned that on Tuesday we went back and killed the 4 Horsemen for the first time, which effectively means we have cleared EVERYONE in 25 man except KT and Sapph. I will need this weekend to get some mats to gem and enchant my Frost Resist items to a suitable level. Plus don't get me started about herbs and stuff. It's one non-stop gather, it really is...

Right, RL for a while. See you in the Mines...

PS: I rolled 100 for a shard last night and so did my Druid friend. This is the best rolling luck I've had for quite some time...

Not a Lot

As previously stated, it's been a quiet week.

• M is L53. BRD is pretty much done (Emp quest left) and I have the ST Quest in my log. There's been a fair bit of faffing, BS is at 355 and I suspect will sit there until I can mine in Outland, though I am tempted to run someone around the Isle of Dailies for a bit for the Adamantite spawns. This weekend I hope to clear out some of the Quest Log.

• M (the Druid) picked up some useful odds and ends on our 25 man run. Stuff for DS is almost ready (am gonna do a seperate post on this at the weekend) There's been grinding in Zul'drak for cash as well. You know, actual questage.

• P has *finally* picked up the Classic Dungeonmaster Achievement. I broke Zul'Farrak in the process. Note to self: if you don't let the NPC's on the Jailbreak event attack any mobs in a wave the entire thing bugs. Horribly. There's not been time for anything else except some light faffage beyond that, though a trip to Scholo and I will have the Well Read achievement done as well. Next I may be forced to do the Squirrels...

Nothing else to report, at least for now...

It's the Great Big Post of Everything

[I suspect that I watch too much kids television. It's good for the obscure post titles though...]

So, gonna have a bit of a roundup here as a) I can't get onto the PTR AGAIN :( and b) I've been doing a bit of faffage around the rest of the family. Really, you cannot faff enough.

P [Ironforge, Hunter] Update:

So, I ran around and fished and farmed and finally did the cookery stuff, and then discover that they're gonna make the trip to 450 a lot easier.

*headdesk*

P is enjoying her semi-retired status by farming leathers, defending (and attacking) Wintergrasp and doing the odd 25 man PuG at the weekends. Next up on the Agenda will be fishing achievements and some prep for a foray into some light PvP-ing. There is a good chance I will DS her into traps and work on a proper PvP build as her second string.

M [Darnassus, Druid] Update:


I've not done much instancing of late (most of my time's been on the Shammy, see below) but that night in HoL was class. We also did Lightning Struck, so all the achievements in 1 hit = WIN. I've been doing quests as a gold supplement, now the Basin is done we're beating up Trolls and Scourge... there's also been a lot of preparation for DS (I am thinking about writing a seperate post on this) I've invested with my badge pool in the Druid Healing chest, and the Handbook of Obscure Remedies, and after last night's Naxx 10 I have enough badgers to go grab the Egg of Mortal Essence which means I have a decent spread of healer-specific items. I've picked up odds and ends from heroics and swept up in 10 man (picked up a nice healing neck last night) and have been focussing on replacing the items I have with hit for things more appropriate for a tree.

Lesser-Levelled Update:

W the Lock (74) got an outing yesterday to AN, and K the Mage (70) has been working hard on her tailoring (443/450) . She even got to do Nexus and UK but has yet to update any gears. N the Priest (72) is one point away from maxxing Enchanting \o/ by the time-honored tradition of DE-ing greens from everyone else and selling the enchants via scrolls on the AH. Haste on Cloak does very well, I have discovered, and does not break the bank in terms of mattage.

The big moves however come over in Azeroth.

M [Exodar, Shaman] Update:

So, we are at L49. Yesterday I did Searing Gorge. Normally that quest hub at the Thorium Brotherhood would be a couple of days work but yesterday I completed it in three and a half hours, thus proving beyond a doubt they've nerfed the content pre-60 (to the ground, baby!) Even the Elite who guards the Firey Flux recipe is no longer, and has only one nonleet mate to biff. Shammy + Totems + Chain Lightning = owned. The only thing they have not nerfed is the bloody ridiculous Incendosaur + reagent + coal hand in you need to do the TB rep. GAH! Never mind, I still need to find a bazillion iron and mithril bars for all the Armoursmith quests (yes I know I'm a weaponsmith but I'm also a competist.)

One of the things I've noticed is just how utterly useless BS is pre 300. There are NO spell power items of any note, it's all crit and AP and strength and hit. Clearly Blizzard have noticed this as well as there is apparently a re-asessment of all the BS items coming in 3.1, which I hope will be too late for me as by that time I hope to be rolling into Northrend. However, it would be nice to be able to make lower level stuff that sells that's not Spurs or shield spikes.

So today I WILL do the Triage quest. I sent M out early to round up some more Thorium to hit out a few more points in the BS-ing and then I suspect I will spend an hour or so riding around the Charred Vale in Stonetalon picking up Mithril (or possibly Badlands depending on traffic) After that, I can hear the Sunken Temple calling me...

All This and World War Three

So, it was my daughter's 4th birthday on Thursday. If I said it had taken me this long to recover, it would not be too far from the truth.

So, I've not been to PTR Land since the latest Build (which I finally managed to download this afternoon) but the changes look very interesting. I also see that there are some new Fishing Quests in Dalaran, so that needs some investigation. The last couple of days however have been about clearing up loose ends.

• M finally got Exalted with the Sons of OhDear and has her shoulder enchant. This involved a long and entertaining grind session in the Blue Laydeez Mine area where, for the first time since at least before TBC, I found a Bot. How did I know? Well, I spent an awfully long time (back in the day) farming black scales from the dragons in Burning Steppes for crafting. That used to be the Farmers Base, the BM hunters who never slept, never took a break and who would have a manner about them that made them unmistakeably not human. You get a Spider Sense, after a while... and so I reported it to a GM who agreed that the behaviour needed further investigation. Let's hope it's quicker to ban someone now than it was back then.

• M the Shaman is now very close to 48. When I've typed this she's likely to ding, as it happens, which gives her a ton of stuff to grow into. I still need to do Alliance TRAUMA which still gives me bloody sleepless nights. I HATE that quest. It's gonna be another clear of the current quest log and then it is back to Searing Gorge to start on the Thorium Brotherhood quests. I may even get the rep for the patterns, because I can. I've finished everything up to Sunken Temple... and then it's BRD... :O

• There has been what, I suspect in business circles, would be referred to as cost containment amongst the alts. A couple are likely to be *gasp!* deleted as well, as I try and sort out who has use and who I want to play with in the future.

So, let's go get the Shammy up another level then...

[PTR] What a Difference a Day Makes

So, it's all change on the PTR. At least today I can see where I am, even if it's impossible to fly there (despite the now newly-coloured flight master and being able to fly out):

Yesterday this wasn't even ON the map, but today...

Things are pretty fluid, even down to complete changes in looks. To be honest, I preferred yesterday's version of the monument, but I can see why they changed it...

In the fast paced world of monument construction, Rome CAN be built in a day...

PvP has been deactivated on the entire server (wonder how many people complained) and there's been some swift changes, most important of which is the sequence for the Tournament. There's some basic gathering dailies, and a registration process. You need to learn how to control your new shiny mount and it's abilities (Block, Charge, Attack, Fall Off Ungraciously and Land in a Heap)[*], and you're going to need a weapon too if you want to fight for glory. In a Arthurian Legend meets Fairy Story fashion, you'll need to get your Chap Stick on and go kiss some frogs to find it...

Questing made Easy, Goblin Edition.

Once you're doing these Tournament Quests it's Silver Covenant rep you'll be stacking. You'll also need to complete a fair number them before you have enough items try your hand at some serious combats... oh and then there's the Black Knight. No, it's not Christian Bale (he's the Dark Knight). Nor is it John Cleese (Monty Python references notwithstanding). You'll have to go to Westfall (no I'm not kidding) to find out for yourself...

There's a lot here, which P is slowly working her way through. Some brief observations:

• Multi Shot has a new noise!!! It's... multiple shots!
• Pet talents still borked :( Wondering if this is actually deliberate.
  
• Westfall is the Trailer Park of Azeroth. All the dodgy characters are there: Van Cleef, Stalvan, and now my mysterious new Nemesis...
  

Plus it appears to be the middle of the night on the Server: reset the clock you nubs!

M's also materialised on the PTR this morning, so I've nipped off to Moonglade already, spent my 1000g and thrown together a rough healer build that looks promising (though the temptation to steal a Guildies was very, very strong) It's unlikely I'll get to do any real testing with her but I will go have a play with the dummies just to see how abilities work.

[*] One of these is not a genuine ability.

Weekend Update

• Half Term is over. We survived, not totally unscathed but fairly ok. Parents kindly took the kids on Saturday lunchtime, so there was some faffing. Who am I kidding, there was LOADS of faffing...

• 25 Man progress continues unabated. Two and three-quarter wings are now conquered. Last night we one-shotted Grobbulus (impressively it must be said) and 2-shotted Gluth. We will ignore the loot-drama ahead of a very good night's progress and a lot of laughter on TS. M walked away with 2 upgrades. All in all, decent night.

• Even more decent was the one-night clearance of Naxx 10. Despite the fact all I got to show for that was two greens and some spider silk, it is a significant step that we can now knock off the 10 man in an evening. I am guessing this post had a lot to do with it.

• PTR hysteria continues unabated. Despite having zero raiding stuffs on both M and P, both got coped as soon as I could actually access the PTR page. By then the wait time to copy was 14 days. Cuttently it's up to 25 days... I'd like to go see how the Dual Specs stuffs works more than anything else...

• I did a shedload of herb and eternal/crystallized farming. It seems the best bet is Wintergrasp between battles, doing a circuit around the edge of the Zone. This gives decent returns for ore as well (especially Titanium) I've got stock now for a couple of week's cloth manufacture. I am going to make Ebomweave Gloves on K the Tailor for levelling, and shard them to give to N the Enchanter for subsequent levelling. Selling them has proved problemmatic thus far. AH has gone into something of a freefall on all the Northrend stuffs. Old Skool items are where it's at, baby!

• Talking of Old Skool, the new project is L38, and was speed pulled through SM and Uldaman. Too low for the final quest inside I need to gather all the subsidiary quests now and badger somene to drag me through again at 40. BS stands at 220 and is gonna need some work on the mining front, but I have nearly everything I need for the Weaponsmith quest. I would expect this week to see some major levellage on this front...

And Now, the Headlines...

• P woke up on Wednesday and assumed it was maintenance but instead it was rolling restarts. By 11am she'd done OS 25 and 10 man, plus a 25 man Vault. She also got saved to a 10 man by accident, but let's not talk about that. Net loot = zilch. The day before, while one child slept and the other one watched, she cleared 2.75 wings of Naxx in a 25 man PuG. She kited Zombie Chow (successfully) and came away with 2 upgrades. Half Term has, all told, not been a total loss.

• M has a 25 man OS and a 25 man Naxx to look forward to tomorrow night as well. Blimey.

• I may have ressurected my Shaman (excuse the pun) who is currently at 35 and scraping together the mats required to complete the Armorsmith Quest at 40. I sense there may be much levellage inc.

• Husband's Search for Bindings of the Windseeker has now become a weekly stop on Wednesdays. Last night I got P in to grab another item in the AQ Quest Behemoth then took M into heal. I'm getting quite a pile of fiery and lava cores...
  
  

Coming up... more on the Shock Shaman levelling plus some possible actual questage on one of my 70's...

So Then...

See that there? That's a Black War Bear, that is :D

Needless to say the LAST thing I expected when I logged on last night was to get this. As is often the case in this game, you know the right moments when they happen. You are aware of when something is right, and it's time to run with it.

I logged to see someone PuG-ging for the Achievement. Their selling line in Trade made me laugh out loud (that a certain person had left the Raid, someone who if you end up in a PuG with them you KNOW it's gonna be bad) and I signed up with P (despite a 10 man slot in Naxx being available for M. Time to let someone else go.) As it stood before last night I already had three out of four Racial Leaders dead anyway, and all I needed to snag the Achievement was Lor'themar Theron. No matter, I could do the other three again without a problem.

I knew I was in a good group when I rode into Duotar and saw EVERYONE else making their own way there. No-one asked for summons, everyone was focussed and prepared. Within five minutes of the raid hitting 40 people EVERYONE was outside Orgrimmar and ready to roll. We moved in, killed Thrall, and had portalled back to Theramore within three minutes of the kill. At that point I realised we were onto a winner. Each kill went fast and smooth, mages having portals open as soon as we'd downed the leader. Thunder Bluff portals opened to Ironforge, people met at the Bulwark and dispatched Lady Sylvanas Windrunner with frightning speed, and then we were flying from the Island of Dailies back to ZA for the ride to Silvermoon. Even Hubby at this point had to concede how impressive a 40 man raid can be when it all just works.


Yes, I rode around Dalaran like a loon for thirty minutes afterwards, then did the same in Ironforge. Yes, I am a 12 year old at heart. Working as Intended :D

After that I rode into Wintergrasp and finally grabbed M her hat: Titan-forged Leather Helm of Dominance is not a pretty thing but it meant I could finally move some hit gems out of my set and go back into crit a bit. I spent money at the AH, grabbed the Kirin Tor head enchant and was about to have an early night when the 10 Man Naxx raid lost two people at Sapph. Well, I wasn't going to deny the other 8 people the instance clear, now was I?

KT died, and the Druid Tier Token dropped. The only Mage in the raid rolled 97. 'Never gonna beat that,' thinks I 'I've had all my luck for the evening.'

M rolls 100 (1-100)

Some days, try as you might, nothing goes wrong :D



So as you see above I now own 2 bits of Tier, have the bonus damage with Insect Swarm, and really need to sort out my PvP set now I own a kickass (spare) helm...

Weekend Roundup

So, it was a pretty packed weekend.

In Shock News we had sufficient people sign on Friday night to be able to take a realistic crack at 25 man Naxx. The Spider Wing fell with surprisingly little hassle, and we did the Safety Dance and cleared the Plague Wing with similar ease. We hit a wall with the Military Quarter, and even after a change of MC personnel on Sunday when we went back the Instructor remained stubbonly alive. So, we went and aced Patchwerk and had Grobbulus at 5% before time ran away with us. So, with twelve people aready signed for this Friday I'm pretty confident we'll see more progress. This is very satisfying considering Ulduar cannot be too far away.

There was even a decent 10 Man run on Saturday which I got a chance to participate in, though sadly rien de lewts. Am hoping tonight may actually yield summat, if we can get the Rookie Tank we have past the 4 Horseman...

As you see by the ? above I finally managed to grab sufficient Brood rep to get to Neutral and start the Scepter of the Shifting Sands questline proper. The AQ40 we did in the week got me 40 rep short of going from Hated to Hostile. I had to grind Carapace Fragments to get through Hostile and Unfriendly (just how much can someone not like you?) which was 6000 rep and a whole evening of mind-numbing torture with nothing to show from it apart from the fragments and 2 Thorium Lockboxes. Fortunately I had help (ty D) but now of course I have the task of downing all four of the Green World Dragons, plus the series of quests to get me to Neptulon. Methinks this may take some time...

I now have enough Wintergrasp marks for M's Epic Hat. I also have 55k honor, and mindful of the fact I can't have more than 75k thanks to Blizz' cap I may actually have to go look for an Arena partner. I think perhaps it is time to invest in some proper PvP gears. The craftable L78 stuff is really not gonna cut it after all...

This week's looking quite packed (RL and In game) and with That Valentines Festival looming am wondering which of the Alts I'm gonna get a title for this time...

End of an Era

So yesterday, after what's been (all told) several months of consideration, I decided I was going to make M the Boomkin my Main in the Guild. This has several ramifications, most notably that I will be unable to have primary priority on any Hunter lewts during raids. I have to say this does not bother me nearly as much as it would have.

P has a lot of history behind her (and a shedload of Achievements) and I doubt she's gonna get retired. I am embroiled in the AQ Scepter Quest sequence with her (more on that later) and she's still useful for farming and the like, but the fun has gone from her. The Hunter changes have not been kind, and although I can still pull the dps it is, if truth be told, becoming annoying and frustrating for me to be a Hunter while Blizzard faffs so much with the class. I am spending more time with M and enjoying it when I do, I find the mechanics of gameplay a lot less stressful, and perhaps most importantly of all (as was borne out by the 10 man Naxx last night) I have added utility as an offspec healer. It meant we could run 10 man with only two dedicated healers and I could switch forms for fights like Instructor Razuvious. It was a decent night last night: Spider Wing pretty much 1-shotted with a new tank, Plague Wing sorted (The Safety Dance sucessfully done with nine, which is a record) and everything in the Military Wing cleared up to the Four Horsemen.

It does mean that when the Dual Spec ability is introduced I can become a full healer/dps combo whic should make for a lot of game time. Somehow I doubt there's gonna be a lot of call for a Dual Specced Hunter when that time comes...

More for your Moolah

[BTW: It looks like I'm crazy, all these posts in such a short window. It's mostly because I have a lot to say currently and I have free time to write everything down. I confidently predict there will be days when I don't have either the time or the inclination to do this. So, just enjoy the outpouring while it lasts...]



So, some of my best work of late has been out of Guild.

There are a couple of people on my Server who, if you see them advertising for people for runs, you know you'd be mad not to try and join. They are good with loot, they know their tactics, and they don't suffer fools gladly. The person running this outing had, over the weekend, taken themselves out of a heroic VoA Run because they thought they might be saved (but wasn't sure), thus preventing the other 24 people from being locked out until the Reset. Last night I saw this person asking for people to do the Less is More achievement, so jumped at the chance. I spent an hour flying M around Northrend herbing while the group slowly formed: when we finally made it inside the Obsidian Sanctum I was confident we'd one-shot the lot. In the end it was a 2-shot, but no less satisfying as a result.

I still can't get the hang of the waves, even with my camera zoomed right out. The edges of the flame walls seem further away than they really are, and in the end one killed me at 42%. The last 40% on the successful try was completed with 16 people up.

I think this game needs to get harder, and soon.

There was one more Boomkin in raid who I took a quick look at for gears, and who I watched while I lay smouldering on the floor for rotation tips. I've learnt so much by watching other Boomers, especially in Raids. It seems to me to be a lot about speed and co-ordination, two things traditionally I suck at bigstyle. Quartz helps me enormously, especially in laggy situations like 25 mans. It makes my Hunter look positively pedestrian, especially when someone pops Heroism. 1 second casting. MmmmmmmmM.

My rolls were rubbish when we were done, but to be honest I wasn't bothered about coming away with nothing because I didn't, I have four more Emblems of Heroism to add to the pile and with the Guild not doing Heroic Naxx until we can bolster our numbers, it's enough. I feel like I'm learning new things, and I'm improving myself, plus I'm getting experiences of the game I might not normally see.

It's gotta be a good thing.

Don't Mess with Da Family :: One

So, the reason why I'm here is the group of females (only two males as it happens) that form my World of Warcraft Family. I have thirteen alts in one form or another, in various states of play. Of those a handful languish at 70, with two currently having made the transition to 80. I will introduce them all by initial only. Part of me (having had some fairly bad experiences online over the years) likes the idea of maintaining a level of anonymity. You don't need to know the names to read the story, after all...

[Edited 08/02, to reflect my change of Main.]

P the Hunter :: L80 :: 450 LW/450 Skinning :: 450 Cookery/Fishing :: Resting.

P and I have been together a LONG time. The last time I typed /played the number that came up was over 250 days. We have spent many nights together: breast feeding my daughter, playing through sleepless nights, through cold early mornings. We've raided too: MC, Ony, a brief start at BWL before TBC and then Kara, The Eye, SSC and then Hyjal and BT when they boosted the world pre-Northrend. I have had varying experiences through Endgame, run hundreds of normal and Heroic dungeons. At one point I was selling three sets of Black Dragonscale Armour a week, if a hunter was wearing the stuff it had 'Made by P' on the label. In may ways, they were happier times when things were less complicated and the only thing I had to worry about was my tier chest dropping in UBRS (and it never did, except that one time and I passed it to the other hunter in the raid who needed it more. Yes, I'm THAT kind of person.)

Currently she's completed Naxx, OS and Arch in the 10 man setting, done half of Naxx in 25 man mode, and is quite happy with the Heroic stuffs that adorn her cute and round Dwarven form. I have 30% Crit (and some), I'm happily over 4k AP and even after the nerf can pull out 2k with my marks build. So, as I type this, she's sitting in Dalaran with 80 or so Elbows of Heroism. She has the AQ Scepter Quest in her log (which she is slowly getting through) but as of early February she is retiring from Main Duty and taking a well-earned sabbatical.

M the Druid : L80 :: 450 Mining/Herbalism :: 300/180 Cookery/Fishing :: The
Main.

I worship at the Altar of Boom, and I love it. Boomkin makes for lovely damage (11k crits are almost in my grasp, oh yes) and for a refreshing change from the hunter lifestyle. Flight form gathering is THE ONLY WAY. I cannot think how I could ever pick another flower or bang another node without the zoom and the hover. Instant flight afterwards = win. Shadowform when confronted with mobs = win. Let's face it, my Druid is just 115.28% Utter Win.

The Project currently is getting the best gear outside Naxx without losing the inevitable Hit Cap. This has been causing some problems of late (Mark of the War Veteran refuses to drop now after more than 20 tries at VH heroic) but I am a woman who enjoys a challenge. Gem jiggerypokery has resulted in a set of gear while not totally ideal, is doing the job. It does however help enormously that I managed to snag both Cloak and mace from Sapph and Kel in a recent Guild run I was subbed into as I was the only available cleanser. The fact I hadn't cleansed for about three months prior to that point, totally irrelevant ^^

I'm not after running M through Naxx any time soon, if truth be told. I have my eye on 40 Wintergrasp emblems first (helmet upgrade) and possibly some more OS Loot. I have done him with a Drake up, via the wonders of the PuG. More on that elsewhere.

As anticipated, M has now been elevated to Main status, which will mean she'll be running Naxx 10 and 25 man full time and will be my first toon into Ulduar. I'm also giving serious consideration to using M for some PvP. More on that elsewhere.

W the Warlock :: L73 :: 450 Alchemy/Jewelcrafting :: 300/25 Cookery/Fishing :: The Leveller.

W was around before M even existed, as my primary DPS staple. She's also been Destro pretty much since birth. I tried all that dot-ting and stuff, I tried the pets and the damage and the yadda yadda hey but in the end, I like the way she made stuff burn. Back in TBC she was pretty much the only Lock running Kara for the first six months we did it, which meant she ended up hugely well geared. She levelled Jewelcrafting in nine hours, Alchemy in about the same when that first expansion hit, and the fact she has both professions maxxed now and isn't properly eligible for entry to Dalaran is a testament to M's ability to gather when required and the fact my daughter's insomnia still comes back to haunt us from time to time. Not many people circle the Storm Peaks at 4am, you know, but there are always people there.

W's pre-Wrath gear is serving her well. We've only replaced a ring, her main hand and her shoulders thus far, and I reckon she'll maintain most of her wardrobe until 78. We were lucky to pull 2 items from BT pre-expansion, both of which I think may stay on her to 80.

These 3 form the main part of my playing time currently, but there are many others in the family. I'll detail them and their importance in a later post.