Friday, June 27, 2008
Progress
My new laptop is in Wilmington, OH. DHL is carrying it to my house. Updates later....maybe.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Uldaman - PWNED
Yep. Purple Poxers took on the troggs, Dark Iron Dwarves, and a couple of statues in their quest for adventure....at 37.
Sadly, this run, we had our first tank death. It was my fault too. See, on one of the bosses, there is this almost constant AoE stun/silence that I thought would only last a few seconds, and by the time I figured out that I needed to move, Harisan was dead. DOH! Thankfully, Madja picked up the mobs in bear form, and I was able to keep her alive.
Other than that one blip, the whole evening was smooth sailing. I'll have to add some pics when I get home as I forgot to email them to work...8~(
We all ended the evening at 38, so I'm wondering where our next foray should be. We picked up the quest for RFD, so there's that. Also, SM:Cath has a nice mace in it for me as well as TEH HAT for the other two casters. Maybe.....we can see how many of these instances we can run through in one evening. Hmmmmm....
Start at RFD.
Hearth to UC when done for SM:Cath.
Port to Stonard, fly to Kargath and do Ulda.
It could happen....We'd all have to be on time, and ready to hit RFD right at 7 eastern. Harisan would probably be chain pulling to beat the band. We might have to skip the escort quest in RFD.
Just checked email, and the discussion has started, so I'll leave this here and see what everyone else has to say.
Sadly, this run, we had our first tank death. It was my fault too. See, on one of the bosses, there is this almost constant AoE stun/silence that I thought would only last a few seconds, and by the time I figured out that I needed to move, Harisan was dead. DOH! Thankfully, Madja picked up the mobs in bear form, and I was able to keep her alive.
Other than that one blip, the whole evening was smooth sailing. I'll have to add some pics when I get home as I forgot to email them to work...8~(
We all ended the evening at 38, so I'm wondering where our next foray should be. We picked up the quest for RFD, so there's that. Also, SM:Cath has a nice mace in it for me as well as TEH HAT for the other two casters. Maybe.....we can see how many of these instances we can run through in one evening. Hmmmmm....
Start at RFD.
Hearth to UC when done for SM:Cath.
Port to Stonard, fly to Kargath and do Ulda.
It could happen....We'd all have to be on time, and ready to hit RFD right at 7 eastern. Harisan would probably be chain pulling to beat the band. We might have to skip the escort quest in RFD.
Just checked email, and the discussion has started, so I'll leave this here and see what everyone else has to say.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Rysteranch's Upgrades
Rysteranch got exalted with SSO this weekend and picked up his new neck piece. He lost a bit of +hit, which dropped him down to 141.....Dang, one point shy of being hit capped. He had also lost the use of his meta gem from a previous gear switch.
So, I looked for yellow gems with +hit and found a recipe for a +hit/+agi gem. I blew the 800 gold on it plus 40 gold for the uncut gem, sent the whole mess over to Daxie, who promptly learned the recipe and cut the gem (for a skill point!). Once Rysteranch got the gem back, he subbed it in for a +16 attack power. Yeah, he lost some RAP, but he's over the hit cap. Trade offs....
Speaking of trade offs, I'm debating on whether to start picking up the blue quality cuts for Daxie or get her an epic mount. I'm leaning toward the recipes as I already have two epic fliers, and Daxie doesn't do that much flying around. Either way, it's back to SSO dailies, especially for Daxe and Daxie as they aren't exalted yet.
So, I looked for yellow gems with +hit and found a recipe for a +hit/+agi gem. I blew the 800 gold on it plus 40 gold for the uncut gem, sent the whole mess over to Daxie, who promptly learned the recipe and cut the gem (for a skill point!). Once Rysteranch got the gem back, he subbed it in for a +16 attack power. Yeah, he lost some RAP, but he's over the hit cap. Trade offs....
Speaking of trade offs, I'm debating on whether to start picking up the blue quality cuts for Daxie or get her an epic mount. I'm leaning toward the recipes as I already have two epic fliers, and Daxie doesn't do that much flying around. Either way, it's back to SSO dailies, especially for Daxe and Daxie as they aren't exalted yet.
Shout it, shout it, shout it out loud
And so, I have to give a big shout out to my guildies who helped me get the Primal Lifes that I needed for Daxie's unenchanted gear and to Doodle, who performed the "wiggling of the hands" ceremony to add a total of +146 healing to Daxie's stuff. Woot on her!
Now her +healing is over 1700, and she's nearly equal to Daxe! A big plus was getting a ring off Illhoof and her T4 gloves from the Kara PuG this weekend. She also snagged 2 +damage epics to save them from the shard pile for a total of 4 epics!!! Not bad for a 15 gold repair bill....
Now her +healing is over 1700, and she's nearly equal to Daxe! A big plus was getting a ring off Illhoof and her T4 gloves from the Kara PuG this weekend. She also snagged 2 +damage epics to save them from the shard pile for a total of 4 epics!!! Not bad for a 15 gold repair bill....
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Oh no you dih-ent!!
Oh yes I did! 7 different guilds represented....and at the end of the night, my armor was in the red zone.
Friday, June 20, 2008
Oh Upgrade, Where Art Thou?
| | Next Upgrade via Instance | Next Upgrade via BoJ (cost) |
| Head | Kara - Shade | None |
| Neck | SSO Rep | None |
| Shoulder | Steamvaults or H. Blood Furnace | None |
| Back | | Got it |
| Chest | MrT or HMrT | 100 |
| Wrist | | Got 'em |
| Hands | Kara - Curator | 75 |
| Waist | Heroic Shadow Labs | 60 |
| Legs | Heroic Underbog | 100 or 75 |
| Feet | Heroic Botanica | None |
| Ring | Kara Rep | None |
| Ring | | 60 |
| Trinket | | 75 or 41 |
| Trinket | | |
| 1H wep | | |
| Offhand | | |
| 2H wep | Kara - Opera | 150 maybe… |
| Ranged | Kara - Prince | 150 |
So, here's a list of gear for Rysteranch. I'm not too worried about trinkets, hence the empty instance slots. It's nice to have it all in one place; now excuse me while I enter LFG....
PuGing
Yesterday, I PuG'd Heroic Ramparts with Rysteranch. Lately, I've been wanting some badges to start working on his gear, so I've been doing the SSO dailies that give SSO supplies in hopes of getting a BoJ. Of course, running heroics (or Kara if I can find the time or group) would accomplish this faster, but I do not like to PuG. Add to this the fact that the Sidhe Devils hasn't shown much interest in Heroics (but interest is growing in the level 70 instances and it will only be a matter of time....), and you have where I'm at: Back in PuGville.
The group make up was Pally Tank, Priest Healer, Hunter DPS, Hunter DPS, Warlock DPS. Now, I've run Heroics with Turion the Pally Tank and never had to trap, but this guy wanted us to trap....ok. So the other hunter and I took turns dropping our traps on the square, which was fortunate, as her trap seemed to break early and mine would pick it up. So, the tag-team trapping was good for controlling our mob!
We had a couple of wipes, but no one started pointing fingers, and usually the guilty party spoke up. We all passed on the first go around of looting, then rolled. We did not wipe on any of the bosses (for some reason the last boss wipe was avoided when the dragon reset with us two hunters still firing at him), and we did pretty good as a group.
For most of the instance, the 'lock and I were neck and neck for top of the damage meter, but I fell behind after the first boss. But, due to the nature of the bosses and no need for CC, I was able to climb back on top by the night's end. /preen.
So, now, I'm going to try PuGing more. I know I'll get into some bad ones (like the other night in NORMAL Mech), but at the very least I'll get some practice at playing my hunter and might even score a BoJ or two as well!
The group make up was Pally Tank, Priest Healer, Hunter DPS, Hunter DPS, Warlock DPS. Now, I've run Heroics with Turion the Pally Tank and never had to trap, but this guy wanted us to trap....ok. So the other hunter and I took turns dropping our traps on the square, which was fortunate, as her trap seemed to break early and mine would pick it up. So, the tag-team trapping was good for controlling our mob!
We had a couple of wipes, but no one started pointing fingers, and usually the guilty party spoke up. We all passed on the first go around of looting, then rolled. We did not wipe on any of the bosses (for some reason the last boss wipe was avoided when the dragon reset with us two hunters still firing at him), and we did pretty good as a group.
For most of the instance, the 'lock and I were neck and neck for top of the damage meter, but I fell behind after the first boss. But, due to the nature of the bosses and no need for CC, I was able to climb back on top by the night's end. /preen.
So, now, I'm going to try PuGing more. I know I'll get into some bad ones (like the other night in NORMAL Mech), but at the very least I'll get some practice at playing my hunter and might even score a BoJ or two as well!
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
What makes this Poxer group tick?
As I mentioned earlier, last night we discussed a bit about why the Purple Poxers have had so much success at taking down instances while at the low end of the level range for them.
Nas wrote a nice little piece that included some of the stuff I was thinking about. Go ahead and read it.......ok, I'm back, are you?
Since Nas already talked about gear, spec specialization, group synergy, knowing roles, AND knowing each other, I'm left with very little. But, as far as our success is concerned, they might be the biggies!
Experience. With the exception of Sal, who's raiding experience is a mystery to me, every one of us has been in Kara at the very least. We are battle hardened veterans of wipefests that taught us not only how to best play our class, but more importantly, taught us perseverance and adaptation skills. Sure, a number of us are playing new classes, but the lessons learned while wiping can be applied across the spectrum of different roles. When we accidentally pull an extra group (with our kitty butt), we don't freak out, run for the exit, or start doing what comes naturally to a PuG. Instead, we buckle down. We become VERY focused. When all is said and done, and the battle is over, then we can see what happened or how it happened, but the middle of the battle is not the time for an analysis - put up a new skull if necessary and let's roll!
Maturity. Closely related to the previous aspect is maturity. We are all in our early to mid twenties (or a bit older) (ok, maybe a lot older) (OK OK, ALMOST TWICE AS OLD!!), and none of us acts like the typical teen. (what?) (what?????) (lolwut?) Ok, well, sometimes I say some stuff that is a tiny bit off the beaten path, but then, we all do! No, what I'm talking about is the rogue/druid that stealths ahead to scope out the instance and comes back with half of the dungeon's mobs on his heels screaming for HAELZPLZWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW. We don't have the hunter that insists on leaving Growl on, targeting the X first, and pulling into his trap with a Serpent Sting ("my traps always break early!"). lolwut? We are all very team oriented, and go out of our way to help each other with mats, buffs, enchants, and other things. No selfish ninjas here! We do have a Ninjaneer, but that's a different story.
I could expand on the stuff Nas mentioned, but she covered it pretty well. Something this experiment has stirred in me is a desire to level a hunter in the Pox tradition, but seeings how I have a long way to go still with Daxe, I'll just have to wait on that one.
EDIT: It turns out that Sal has no raiding experience, so now we know who to blame the wipes on.
Nas wrote a nice little piece that included some of the stuff I was thinking about. Go ahead and read it.......ok, I'm back, are you?
Since Nas already talked about gear, spec specialization, group synergy, knowing roles, AND knowing each other, I'm left with very little. But, as far as our success is concerned, they might be the biggies!
Experience. With the exception of Sal, who's raiding experience is a mystery to me, every one of us has been in Kara at the very least. We are battle hardened veterans of wipefests that taught us not only how to best play our class, but more importantly, taught us perseverance and adaptation skills. Sure, a number of us are playing new classes, but the lessons learned while wiping can be applied across the spectrum of different roles. When we accidentally pull an extra group (with our kitty butt), we don't freak out, run for the exit, or start doing what comes naturally to a PuG. Instead, we buckle down. We become VERY focused. When all is said and done, and the battle is over, then we can see what happened or how it happened, but the middle of the battle is not the time for an analysis - put up a new skull if necessary and let's roll!
Maturity. Closely related to the previous aspect is maturity. We are all in our early to mid twenties (or a bit older) (ok, maybe a lot older) (OK OK, ALMOST TWICE AS OLD!!), and none of us acts like the typical teen. (what?) (what?????) (lolwut?) Ok, well, sometimes I say some stuff that is a tiny bit off the beaten path, but then, we all do! No, what I'm talking about is the rogue/druid that stealths ahead to scope out the instance and comes back with half of the dungeon's mobs on his heels screaming for HAELZPLZWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW. We don't have the hunter that insists on leaving Growl on, targeting the X first, and pulling into his trap with a Serpent Sting ("my traps always break early!"). lolwut? We are all very team oriented, and go out of our way to help each other with mats, buffs, enchants, and other things. No selfish ninjas here! We do have a Ninjaneer, but that's a different story.
I could expand on the stuff Nas mentioned, but she covered it pretty well. Something this experiment has stirred in me is a desire to level a hunter in the Pox tradition, but seeings how I have a long way to go still with Daxe, I'll just have to wait on that one.
EDIT: It turns out that Sal has no raiding experience, so now we know who to blame the wipes on.
SM Cathedral - Pwned
That's right, double Poxing this week!! My RL commitment fell through, so I floated the idea of running last night. We were able to coordinate our schedules, and around 8 pm, we set off for the Cathedral. We were all level 36.
The first couple of pulls are onesie twosies, and then Harisan went out into the courtyard to grab a guy...and got a bunch! I'm not sure how many we were fighting at one time, but each of us got to work on our defense while Harisan's taunt cooled down...lol. At the end, we were still standing and there were 9 bodies littering the ground.
After that, we settled into a pull/kill routine and cleared the right half of the instance. We proceeded to clear the Cathedral by pulling about half of the groups outside and beating the snot out of them.
We killed the advisor, checked for respawns and engaged Morgraim, or whatever his name is. Well, some how, we missed a Wizard, so that made things a bit more interesting, but all in all, both of the bosses went down. Whitemane dropped...TEH HAT!!! All of us clothies drooled over it, rolled need, and cheered, as Daxe won!!! They were all so happy for me!! Ok, well, maybe they weren't that happy, but I sure was! Oh, and Harisan got a very nice shield.
The whole instance took us about an hour, so here we are at 9:15 sitting around, twiddling our thumbs, when someone suggested that we run the Library for Doan.
"Start the timer", said Madja. 1/2 hour later, Wara was holding a shiney new staff, and I was holding a shiney new shard.
The question came up during the run as to why these instances are so easy for us. I've come up with several reasons, but you'll have to wait for another post. Today, I actually have to work...at work....lol.
The first couple of pulls are onesie twosies, and then Harisan went out into the courtyard to grab a guy...and got a bunch! I'm not sure how many we were fighting at one time, but each of us got to work on our defense while Harisan's taunt cooled down...lol. At the end, we were still standing and there were 9 bodies littering the ground.
After that, we settled into a pull/kill routine and cleared the right half of the instance. We proceeded to clear the Cathedral by pulling about half of the groups outside and beating the snot out of them.
We killed the advisor, checked for respawns and engaged Morgraim, or whatever his name is. Well, some how, we missed a Wizard, so that made things a bit more interesting, but all in all, both of the bosses went down. Whitemane dropped...TEH HAT!!! All of us clothies drooled over it, rolled need, and cheered, as Daxe won!!! They were all so happy for me!! Ok, well, maybe they weren't that happy, but I sure was! Oh, and Harisan got a very nice shield.
The whole instance took us about an hour, so here we are at 9:15 sitting around, twiddling our thumbs, when someone suggested that we run the Library for Doan.
"Start the timer", said Madja. 1/2 hour later, Wara was holding a shiney new staff, and I was holding a shiney new shard.
The question came up during the run as to why these instances are so easy for us. I've come up with several reasons, but you'll have to wait for another post. Today, I actually have to work...at work....lol.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
RFD - Pwned
And if there was an RFE and RFF, they'd be pwned too! We started the night at level 34 and everyone dinged 36 by the last quest turn in.
The Purple Poxers put the smackdown on Razorfen Downs last night. We got a late start, so we didn't know if we could complete it in the two hour time frame. It turns out that we only needed one and a half hours.
Harisan was the big winner on the loot scene - she got the chest piece off the spider and the helm off the last boss. Of course, they're both plate.....so she has to wait 4 levels to wear them...lol.
Madja got a nice pair of gloves off the escort boss as well as a very nice pair of shoulders off Glutton.
Salindar got a belt off the skelly boss; I picked up a green ring that was better than what I had; and Waradwene got squat. Gratz WARA!!!!
It was a nice change of pace to do RFD instead of running through SM again. We were a bit too little for the Cathedral, and the Armory held little loot that we wanted. OK, well, I'm sure Harisan would like the Scarlet Leggings, but they drop in the Cathedral also...lol.
The third pull in, I officially declared us overpowered for the instance, as Harisan went after the archer w/ the 4 pigs and the 4 pull that was next, joined the fight!
"We got adds!", I noted over vent and went about the business of keeping Harisan alive. It turned out to be a bit hairy, but we pulled through without too much trouble.
And, speaking of trouble, from a healing perspective, there were two, maybe three times that we skirted close to danger.
Time the first: The skelly boss. There are a WHOLE LOTTA SKELLIES that are bangin' on the tank and I pretty much had to chain spam Heal. But with Consecrate going and some AoE, the skellies went down and so did the boss.
Time the 2nd: The last boss. The longer the fight goes, the more spirits that are spawned. Couple that with having to constantly dispel some sort of freezing spell that kept rooting Harisan in place, and I was kept hoppin' for the fight.
3rd time: The escort boss. This is just a long fight with wave after wave of mobs. We did a great job of killing at least the two elites in each wave, but near the end, I was OOM and had to tell people to use pots. In the end, we were successful, and Madja did not have to supplement healing.
The experiment is starting to show some interesting results in my gameplay. I already have over +100 healing, which I don't know how it compares to others my level. What I do know is that I'm pretty sure I have significant over healing with my style of healing. I will definitely look at the Recount data to see how I did, but I'm thinking that I might want to replace some of that +heals for +int.
I consistently crit'd for over 1200 health and had at least one crit over 1300, so I'm pretty sure that I'm getting huge heals for my level. It will be interesting to play around with some different gear to see how things turn out.
The Purple Poxers put the smackdown on Razorfen Downs last night. We got a late start, so we didn't know if we could complete it in the two hour time frame. It turns out that we only needed one and a half hours.
Harisan was the big winner on the loot scene - she got the chest piece off the spider and the helm off the last boss. Of course, they're both plate.....so she has to wait 4 levels to wear them...lol.
Madja got a nice pair of gloves off the escort boss as well as a very nice pair of shoulders off Glutton.
Salindar got a belt off the skelly boss; I picked up a green ring that was better than what I had; and Waradwene got squat. Gratz WARA!!!!
It was a nice change of pace to do RFD instead of running through SM again. We were a bit too little for the Cathedral, and the Armory held little loot that we wanted. OK, well, I'm sure Harisan would like the Scarlet Leggings, but they drop in the Cathedral also...lol.
The third pull in, I officially declared us overpowered for the instance, as Harisan went after the archer w/ the 4 pigs and the 4 pull that was next, joined the fight!
"We got adds!", I noted over vent and went about the business of keeping Harisan alive. It turned out to be a bit hairy, but we pulled through without too much trouble.
And, speaking of trouble, from a healing perspective, there were two, maybe three times that we skirted close to danger.
Time the first: The skelly boss. There are a WHOLE LOTTA SKELLIES that are bangin' on the tank and I pretty much had to chain spam Heal. But with Consecrate going and some AoE, the skellies went down and so did the boss.
Time the 2nd: The last boss. The longer the fight goes, the more spirits that are spawned. Couple that with having to constantly dispel some sort of freezing spell that kept rooting Harisan in place, and I was kept hoppin' for the fight.
3rd time: The escort boss. This is just a long fight with wave after wave of mobs. We did a great job of killing at least the two elites in each wave, but near the end, I was OOM and had to tell people to use pots. In the end, we were successful, and Madja did not have to supplement healing.
The experiment is starting to show some interesting results in my gameplay. I already have over +100 healing, which I don't know how it compares to others my level. What I do know is that I'm pretty sure I have significant over healing with my style of healing. I will definitely look at the Recount data to see how I did, but I'm thinking that I might want to replace some of that +heals for +int.
I consistently crit'd for over 1200 health and had at least one crit over 1300, so I'm pretty sure that I'm getting huge heals for my level. It will be interesting to play around with some different gear to see how things turn out.
Monday, June 16, 2008
WoW....not much
I didn't get a whole lot of WoW time this weekend.
Friday was my son's BD party, but it was at a gaming place, so I was able to play a bit.
Saturday, I had to run some errands in the afternoon and went to my wife's cousin's house for dinner and socializing...with real living people! We watched the Nationwide race for a bit, FTW! I must admit that I wasn't sorry that Kyle Busch spun himself out with no one else around to blame it on.....yes, I'm that petty.
Sunday...SUNDAY(!!!!), we skipped church and went to King's Island for the day. HoooooWeeeeee!! It was a blast! I think I rode all the smooth rollercoasters and one of the jerky (wooden) ones (the Son of Beast). My favorite was the Firehawk, but the Drop Tower was a close second and reinforced the notion that I want to try out skydiving.
Unfortunately for me, none of my family likes to ride these kind of rides, so my son's girlfriend became my ride buddy for at least a couple of rides. But for a good chunk of time, they went to the water park, and I went on the rides. Happy Father's day, I suppose,lol.
Of the WoW that I did get in, Daxynn hit 17 and 150 engineering. So, just a few more levels, and she'll be able to bump the cap up to 225. I am really liking running around with my priest buddy, Healyfeelie, and we've done a good job of staying alive. In fact, we took down that pesky lvl 18 elite that likes to squash unsuspecting players; he was fairly easy to kill. Of course, neither of us was high enough level to have the quest to kill him yet, but it was satisfying regardless.
Friday was my son's BD party, but it was at a gaming place, so I was able to play a bit.
Saturday, I had to run some errands in the afternoon and went to my wife's cousin's house for dinner and socializing...with real living people! We watched the Nationwide race for a bit, FTW! I must admit that I wasn't sorry that Kyle Busch spun himself out with no one else around to blame it on.....yes, I'm that petty.
Sunday...SUNDAY(!!!!), we skipped church and went to King's Island for the day. HoooooWeeeeee!! It was a blast! I think I rode all the smooth rollercoasters and one of the jerky (wooden) ones (the Son of Beast). My favorite was the Firehawk, but the Drop Tower was a close second and reinforced the notion that I want to try out skydiving.
Unfortunately for me, none of my family likes to ride these kind of rides, so my son's girlfriend became my ride buddy for at least a couple of rides. But for a good chunk of time, they went to the water park, and I went on the rides. Happy Father's day, I suppose,lol.
Of the WoW that I did get in, Daxynn hit 17 and 150 engineering. So, just a few more levels, and she'll be able to bump the cap up to 225. I am really liking running around with my priest buddy, Healyfeelie, and we've done a good job of staying alive. In fact, we took down that pesky lvl 18 elite that likes to squash unsuspecting players; he was fairly easy to kill. Of course, neither of us was high enough level to have the quest to kill him yet, but it was satisfying regardless.
Friday, June 13, 2008
Ye Olde Hillsbrad
So, last night, in our newly commissioned Thursday Night Fights, the Sidhe Devils get a little group together to run an instance.
A couple of different dungeons were discussed including Steamvaults (my pick), Underbog, and Crypts. So we went to CoT: Old Hillsbrad. Yeah, that's logical...lol.
One of the reasons for going to Durn was for Wulfa and Ishvi (both lvl 68) to come along, which was great because both of them need Durn done for the Kara key quest chain and there's some good upgrades for them as well.
At first, we were going to 4 man it with me healing, but Doodle showed up, and I switched to DPS. We really didn't have any issues - one wipe on the gauntlet due to being feared into another group, and several wipes on the last boss due to Ishvi dying on the trash before the Epoch Hunter. But, in the end, we successfully freed Thrall and completed the instance.
Because I knew the instance fairly well, and the others didn't seem to know it as well, and two of them having never been in there, and because I have a big mouth and like to talk, I appointed myself as Group Leader. Ishvi did the marking, but I ran the show. Yes, I just sort of took over.
What follows is a flogging of myself that I would like to keep for posterity; IT...IS....NOT!!!!!!....A PUBLIC FLOGGING OF ANYONE BUT MYSELF!!! So, teammates, this is all about me and my performance; if you get any good information out of it, so much the better. But, I am critiquing myself here; no one else. Enough disclaimers? Ok, let the flogging begin.
The good:
I provided MQoSRDPS. Period. At the end of the run, I had almost twice as much damage as number 2.
While I did pull aggro once or twice, for the most part I Feigned Death before my threat got too high or pulled aggro as the mob was nearly dead.
I provided decent leadership in keeping the group moving, informed, and on track.
I used Misdirect to do several LOS pulls that can be tricky.
The bad and ugly:
If you don't practice you get Rusty (hahahahah, inside joke). It had been several weeks since I had played my hunter in a higher level instance (say 65+), and I must say that my skills were not very fresh.
My sloppy play was encouraged by my attitude about pally tanks (I lurves them) and in my confidence in their ability to hold aggro. There is a big difference between a level 68 and a level 70, and I am amazed that Ishvi did a great job in keeping ahead of me. That should not have been the case; I should have watched my aggro more closely so that he didn't have to burn a taunt on account of me.
Other ugliness? I FD'd right in front of Doodle, the healer. Now, you'd think that a tree could take a lot of hits, but it turns out that they're pretty squishy...good job, mail wearing hunter.
As RL, it was my job to get the right strategy for the fights. There are two parts to this, planning and execution. I did a pretty good job up until wiping twice on the last boss, for which I will flog myself here.
On the execution part, I screwed up a self assigned job of taking down the casters by pet tanking. I recovered to take down the last one on the third group, but the second group caster didn't get pet tanked at all, so they were nuking the healer....good job, hunter.
On the planning part...I totally forgot the options we had at our disposal, namely, two ice traps. It would have been easy for Wulfa and I to keep those casters on ice until the cows came home or Thrall broke it. Either way, I neglected to use all the tools in my toolbox. I'm fairly confident that, had we used those traps, we would have avoided at least one of the wipes and possibly all of them.
So, there you have it. A mediocre performance that was sloppy, undisciplined, and caused unnecessary wipes. I need to do better.
Oh, and yes, I am intentionally being hard on myself to reinforce the lessons that I need to learn; I did a passable job, but I don't want to be just ok. I want to be the best; I want to perform at the high level I know I'm capable of.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand....flogging off.
A couple of different dungeons were discussed including Steamvaults (my pick), Underbog, and Crypts. So we went to CoT: Old Hillsbrad. Yeah, that's logical...lol.
One of the reasons for going to Durn was for Wulfa and Ishvi (both lvl 68) to come along, which was great because both of them need Durn done for the Kara key quest chain and there's some good upgrades for them as well.
At first, we were going to 4 man it with me healing, but Doodle showed up, and I switched to DPS. We really didn't have any issues - one wipe on the gauntlet due to being feared into another group, and several wipes on the last boss due to Ishvi dying on the trash before the Epoch Hunter. But, in the end, we successfully freed Thrall and completed the instance.
Because I knew the instance fairly well, and the others didn't seem to know it as well, and two of them having never been in there, and because I have a big mouth and like to talk, I appointed myself as Group Leader. Ishvi did the marking, but I ran the show. Yes, I just sort of took over.
What follows is a flogging of myself that I would like to keep for posterity; IT...IS....NOT!!!!!!....A PUBLIC FLOGGING OF ANYONE BUT MYSELF!!! So, teammates, this is all about me and my performance; if you get any good information out of it, so much the better. But, I am critiquing myself here; no one else. Enough disclaimers? Ok, let the flogging begin.
The good:
I provided MQoSRDPS. Period. At the end of the run, I had almost twice as much damage as number 2.
While I did pull aggro once or twice, for the most part I Feigned Death before my threat got too high or pulled aggro as the mob was nearly dead.
I provided decent leadership in keeping the group moving, informed, and on track.
I used Misdirect to do several LOS pulls that can be tricky.
The bad and ugly:
If you don't practice you get Rusty (hahahahah, inside joke). It had been several weeks since I had played my hunter in a higher level instance (say 65+), and I must say that my skills were not very fresh.
My sloppy play was encouraged by my attitude about pally tanks (I lurves them) and in my confidence in their ability to hold aggro. There is a big difference between a level 68 and a level 70, and I am amazed that Ishvi did a great job in keeping ahead of me. That should not have been the case; I should have watched my aggro more closely so that he didn't have to burn a taunt on account of me.
Other ugliness? I FD'd right in front of Doodle, the healer. Now, you'd think that a tree could take a lot of hits, but it turns out that they're pretty squishy...good job, mail wearing hunter.
As RL, it was my job to get the right strategy for the fights. There are two parts to this, planning and execution. I did a pretty good job up until wiping twice on the last boss, for which I will flog myself here.
On the execution part, I screwed up a self assigned job of taking down the casters by pet tanking. I recovered to take down the last one on the third group, but the second group caster didn't get pet tanked at all, so they were nuking the healer....good job, hunter.
On the planning part...I totally forgot the options we had at our disposal, namely, two ice traps. It would have been easy for Wulfa and I to keep those casters on ice until the cows came home or Thrall broke it. Either way, I neglected to use all the tools in my toolbox. I'm fairly confident that, had we used those traps, we would have avoided at least one of the wipes and possibly all of them.
So, there you have it. A mediocre performance that was sloppy, undisciplined, and caused unnecessary wipes. I need to do better.
Oh, and yes, I am intentionally being hard on myself to reinforce the lessons that I need to learn; I did a passable job, but I don't want to be just ok. I want to be the best; I want to perform at the high level I know I'm capable of.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand....flogging off.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Not an alt!!
No, no, no, no, no, no, NO!!! Daxynn is not an alt. My little level 9 pally, miner/engineer, is NOT an alt!
(I do not have altitis.)
I am having fun, though. I mean, if - IF - I was playing a pally alternate character, it would be pretty cool to wear mail and wield a big ole sword/axe/hamma. It would be cool, if I were playing such a 'toon, to take on two level 9 mobs at the same time as a level 7 and survive. Yeah, that'd be neat. If I was playing another character.....if.....
(I can quit at ANY time!)
Turion, the Pally tank, would be giving me a hard time this morning if he wasn't at a school over in Washington state...if I started a Pally alt....He'd be saying how I finally got around to trying the best class in WoW, blah, blah, blah.
(I don't have a problem)
My son, who respec'd his pally to heal and his friend, who he is trying to get addicted, are in need of a tank and I'd fit that slot perfectly.....if I leveled a pally alt.....IF!.......as if.....
(It's not my fault; you don't understand.)
My previous experience with pallies ended at level 8, so, if I were playing a level 9 pally, then I would be foraying into new territory. Of course, my bank alts are always pallies because...wait for it...they have great judgments!
(Lots of people have altitis...it's not that bad)
(I am not in denial)
(Not.....an......alt......)
(You're judging me! What, are YOU a pally?)
(She's.....my.......preeehhhhhhhhhhhhhhh-cious.......)
(I do not have altitis.)
I am having fun, though. I mean, if - IF - I was playing a pally alternate character, it would be pretty cool to wear mail and wield a big ole sword/axe/hamma. It would be cool, if I were playing such a 'toon, to take on two level 9 mobs at the same time as a level 7 and survive. Yeah, that'd be neat. If I was playing another character.....if.....
(I can quit at ANY time!)
Turion, the Pally tank, would be giving me a hard time this morning if he wasn't at a school over in Washington state...if I started a Pally alt....He'd be saying how I finally got around to trying the best class in WoW, blah, blah, blah.
(I don't have a problem)
My son, who respec'd his pally to heal and his friend, who he is trying to get addicted, are in need of a tank and I'd fit that slot perfectly.....if I leveled a pally alt.....IF!.......as if.....
(It's not my fault; you don't understand.)
My previous experience with pallies ended at level 8, so, if I were playing a level 9 pally, then I would be foraying into new territory. Of course, my bank alts are always pallies because...wait for it...they have great judgments!
(Lots of people have altitis...it's not that bad)
(I am not in denial)
(Not.....an......alt......)
(You're judging me! What, are YOU a pally?)
(She's.....my.......preeehhhhhhhhhhhhhhh-cious.......)
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Sir Mix a Little
I don't know, just roll with it - I'm running out of titles for putting a bunch of unrelated items in a single post!
Last night, I was a druid. Firstly, Helhthnofury is back! So, Feraldax got some play time in the afternoon and gained a level. Then, after dinner, Rof was on, so Flowerdax came out and ran around Darkshore with him. She ended up dinging 20, so the next levels in herbalism and alchemy got trained.
Oh, yeah....I'm a kitty!! I forgot to take a screenie, so I'll put that on the todo list and hopefully will remember to take a shot.
In other news, I am making progress on getting legit with my songs. I contacted Bug Music, who is the publisher of two of the songs and have emailed them the lyrics for my versions - adaptations. It turns out that parodies have an easier time of being granted mechanical licenses than covers, or so it seems. Now, I just have to wait for the Cash estate to approve my lyrics, and I'll be able to get a mechanical license to distribute my songs! Woot!
The downside to being legal is the cost. For every copy of the song that I distribute (sell or give away), I have to pay $.091. While that's not bad for 10 or even 100 copies, it is money out of my pocket and if the number gets much higher than 3-4 hundred, I'll be feeling the pinch.
So, I'll ask you, my 6 faithful readers, for your input. Should I post a donate button on the blog and rely on the goodness of strangers to (hopefully) fund my little projects or should I set up some sort of e-commerce deal where I charge for each download? To tell you the truth, I'm leaning towards the latter as it would guarantee that I can pay the royalties.
I'm not just thinking about the current songs that I've recorded, but to the future. I don't want to set up some system now, only to change it down the road because it didn't work out. I think I'll help you guys help me by posting a poll...if I can figure out how to do that...lol.
Last night, I was a druid. Firstly, Helhthnofury is back! So, Feraldax got some play time in the afternoon and gained a level. Then, after dinner, Rof was on, so Flowerdax came out and ran around Darkshore with him. She ended up dinging 20, so the next levels in herbalism and alchemy got trained.
Oh, yeah....I'm a kitty!! I forgot to take a screenie, so I'll put that on the todo list and hopefully will remember to take a shot.
In other news, I am making progress on getting legit with my songs. I contacted Bug Music, who is the publisher of two of the songs and have emailed them the lyrics for my versions - adaptations. It turns out that parodies have an easier time of being granted mechanical licenses than covers, or so it seems. Now, I just have to wait for the Cash estate to approve my lyrics, and I'll be able to get a mechanical license to distribute my songs! Woot!
The downside to being legal is the cost. For every copy of the song that I distribute (sell or give away), I have to pay $.091. While that's not bad for 10 or even 100 copies, it is money out of my pocket and if the number gets much higher than 3-4 hundred, I'll be feeling the pinch.
So, I'll ask you, my 6 faithful readers, for your input. Should I post a donate button on the blog and rely on the goodness of strangers to (hopefully) fund my little projects or should I set up some sort of e-commerce deal where I charge for each download? To tell you the truth, I'm leaning towards the latter as it would guarantee that I can pay the royalties.
I'm not just thinking about the current songs that I've recorded, but to the future. I don't want to set up some system now, only to change it down the road because it didn't work out. I think I'll help you guys help me by posting a poll...if I can figure out how to do that...lol.
Monday, June 9, 2008
Rising expectations
Well, it seems my readership is up and with it comes the pressure to put out higher quality posts. My last post was an attempt to scar those new readers before they had a chance to run. I'm fairly certain that I got at least Lil' Goodroot and Jamaal, but Bert and Ernie seem to be unfazed. /shrug.
Over the weekend, I mostly played Dwarfvader, although Flowerdax came out long enough to ding 19 (Sorry about having to bail on ya Rof!). Ole DV is up to 44 as of this morning.
I wanted to do all the new Dustwallow Marsh quests at the appropriate level - mission accomplished. It was irritating, as a hunter, trying to do the totem quest. It turned out that I had to have aggro for the killing blow in order for the quest to update; have I mentioned how much I dislike meleeing as a hunter? Bah! So I suffered through that one, but the rest of them were pretty cool. At least it was new content in a neglected zone. HOWEVER (and that's a big however cause of the caps and all) the quest rewards did not include any hunter loot! None! Zippo! Zilch! Nada! You'd think that with the big armor change for hunters at 40, that some nice agi mail would show up, but you'd be wrong! Ok, well, I was wrong. T_T
And, because of doing all those quests and the decreased XP required per level, I was able to skip Stranglethorn Vale. In its entirety! Now, I don't have the hate for the zone that some people do, but I do remember spending a loooooooooooooooooooooong time in the zone with lots of frustrations. So, I was happy to level up to 43 without completing a single quest in the zone; I did grab the two flight points, though.
And, lastly, my Puggin' Kara song was on the WoW Insider podcast from a week ago, two more podcasters have asked permission to use it, and Curt Shilling mentioned it on The Instance podcast......whoa, I suppose I really need to check into that copyright thing.
Over the weekend, I mostly played Dwarfvader, although Flowerdax came out long enough to ding 19 (Sorry about having to bail on ya Rof!). Ole DV is up to 44 as of this morning.
I wanted to do all the new Dustwallow Marsh quests at the appropriate level - mission accomplished. It was irritating, as a hunter, trying to do the totem quest. It turned out that I had to have aggro for the killing blow in order for the quest to update; have I mentioned how much I dislike meleeing as a hunter? Bah! So I suffered through that one, but the rest of them were pretty cool. At least it was new content in a neglected zone. HOWEVER (and that's a big however cause of the caps and all) the quest rewards did not include any hunter loot! None! Zippo! Zilch! Nada! You'd think that with the big armor change for hunters at 40, that some nice agi mail would show up, but you'd be wrong! Ok, well, I was wrong. T_T
And, because of doing all those quests and the decreased XP required per level, I was able to skip Stranglethorn Vale. In its entirety! Now, I don't have the hate for the zone that some people do, but I do remember spending a loooooooooooooooooooooong time in the zone with lots of frustrations. So, I was happy to level up to 43 without completing a single quest in the zone; I did grab the two flight points, though.
And, lastly, my Puggin' Kara song was on the WoW Insider podcast from a week ago, two more podcasters have asked permission to use it, and Curt Shilling mentioned it on The Instance podcast......whoa, I suppose I really need to check into that copyright thing.
Friday, June 6, 2008
Some Musings
So, since my readership has increased to 6 (thanks Uncle Ernie for tuning in - Uncle Ernie brings along Bert, Jamaal, and Lil' Goodroot with his multiple personalities), I've decided to bring everyone up to speed on my current efforts to become superhuman (supero humano xmen-us) via contact with a 3 Tesla MRI. Recently I found out that Wara has been trying to do the same thing via the South Pole - great minds think alike!
Over the weekend, I had two opportunities to come into close contact with a Philips Acheiva 3 Tesla MRI and came away with mixed results. But before I disclose them to you, please allow me to list my superhuman abilities as of last Friday.
1. I can fold a sheet of paper (8.5X11) into perfect thirds making it into a 8.5X3.66666666666666666666666666666666666666666666667 folded piece of paper. This ability is well documented by my envelope stuffing days at the Geriatric Endotoxin Race for the Moat (GERM) offices.
2. I have some sort of mass on my wrist from when my brother bit me long ago that may eventually grow into a tentacle. So far, I have been unsuccessful in taking control of the mass to bend it to my will, but I continue to exercise the nerve endings in my efforts to fully develop this part of my inhuman anatomy.
3. And speaking of anatomy, the hair on my back continues to thicken into a finely woven cloak that may eventually be bullet proof. The same armor is already protecting my ears, armpits, and nostrils.
There are other abilities/anatomical niceties that I could mention, but if I told you, (everyone say it together),
"I'd have to eat granola and snort Root Beer through a straw."
LOL! That saying never loses its luster....anyways, back to the point.
So, the results of my cuddle time with the 3T (as a recent graduate of the Philips School of MRI Leetness, I'm authorized to call the Philips Achieve 3 Tesla system by the name of 3T or Trudy - my choice) were mixed. There were no Hulk like immediate changes that I could see, but there are some developing issues that may culminate with me in a spandex suit.
1. Through the power of suggestion (and a P.O.) I was able to move a part from Louisville (pronouced Lolwvul - one syllable), KY to Indianapolis (pronounced Indy), IN with very little sustaining effort on my part. All of the initial energy I expended in "thinking" the move was sufficient for the action to take place. I will have to see if I can speed up the process as it took about 12 hours for the part to make a 2 hour journey. Maybe more initial thought would do the trick.
2. I have a new freckle that bears watching. No, I haven't given up on my bite mark that will one day save the world from the Girl Scout extremists, but the spot in question has grown from 1.178472647856 mm to 1.178472647857 mm. Yes, a relatively small increase, but remember, it's taken me 41 years to grow 49 inches in stature.
3. I was able to successfully hack into the Biomed laptop that is used for getting into Trudy's service software. Nevermind the fact that there are no defined users on the laptop, so it comes up in Windows instead of a log in screen; the point is that I....I!!!!....gained access to this valuable resource. While this may be more of a skill rather than a quantum leap in brain power, I'm leaning towards the latter as it makes my reports look better.
There are other developing changes/mutations that I've noticed, but if I told you (everybody say it together!!),
"I'd probably get rabies and poison ivy, that leaves a nasty rash and makes you scratch it until it bleeds and then you have to go the hospital where you wait around while the so called heart patients continue to bump you back on the priority list and the kid next to you pukes on your shoes and finally you get an MRI done for your rash and get told to suck it up and just live with it."
/sigh! That saying never gets old!
Over the weekend, I had two opportunities to come into close contact with a Philips Acheiva 3 Tesla MRI and came away with mixed results. But before I disclose them to you, please allow me to list my superhuman abilities as of last Friday.
1. I can fold a sheet of paper (8.5X11) into perfect thirds making it into a 8.5X3.66666666666666666666666666666666666666666666667 folded piece of paper. This ability is well documented by my envelope stuffing days at the Geriatric Endotoxin Race for the Moat (GERM) offices.
2. I have some sort of mass on my wrist from when my brother bit me long ago that may eventually grow into a tentacle. So far, I have been unsuccessful in taking control of the mass to bend it to my will, but I continue to exercise the nerve endings in my efforts to fully develop this part of my inhuman anatomy.
3. And speaking of anatomy, the hair on my back continues to thicken into a finely woven cloak that may eventually be bullet proof. The same armor is already protecting my ears, armpits, and nostrils.
There are other abilities/anatomical niceties that I could mention, but if I told you, (everyone say it together),
"I'd have to eat granola and snort Root Beer through a straw."
LOL! That saying never loses its luster....anyways, back to the point.
So, the results of my cuddle time with the 3T (as a recent graduate of the Philips School of MRI Leetness, I'm authorized to call the Philips Achieve 3 Tesla system by the name of 3T or Trudy - my choice) were mixed. There were no Hulk like immediate changes that I could see, but there are some developing issues that may culminate with me in a spandex suit.
1. Through the power of suggestion (and a P.O.) I was able to move a part from Louisville (pronouced Lolwvul - one syllable), KY to Indianapolis (pronounced Indy), IN with very little sustaining effort on my part. All of the initial energy I expended in "thinking" the move was sufficient for the action to take place. I will have to see if I can speed up the process as it took about 12 hours for the part to make a 2 hour journey. Maybe more initial thought would do the trick.
2. I have a new freckle that bears watching. No, I haven't given up on my bite mark that will one day save the world from the Girl Scout extremists, but the spot in question has grown from 1.178472647856 mm to 1.178472647857 mm. Yes, a relatively small increase, but remember, it's taken me 41 years to grow 49 inches in stature.
3. I was able to successfully hack into the Biomed laptop that is used for getting into Trudy's service software. Nevermind the fact that there are no defined users on the laptop, so it comes up in Windows instead of a log in screen; the point is that I....I!!!!....gained access to this valuable resource. While this may be more of a skill rather than a quantum leap in brain power, I'm leaning towards the latter as it makes my reports look better.
There are other developing changes/mutations that I've noticed, but if I told you (everybody say it together!!),
"I'd probably get rabies and poison ivy, that leaves a nasty rash and makes you scratch it until it bleeds and then you have to go the hospital where you wait around while the so called heart patients continue to bump you back on the priority list and the kid next to you pukes on your shoes and finally you get an MRI done for your rash and get told to suck it up and just live with it."
/sigh! That saying never gets old!
Thursday, June 5, 2008
I ain't complainin'!
For those of you out there that play a tank or healer, I'm wondering if you run into the same thing that I do when you want to play your DPS alt.
"Uh, can you heal(tank)?"
"Well, I'd rather bring my DPS"
"Oh. Well, we already have enough DPS and just need heals(tank) and we're G2G!"
"/sigh....ok."
Now, make no mistake about it, I love healing. I think I'm pretty good at it and have had a number of people reinforce that idea.
What is interesting is that over at Sidhe Devils, I'm known for my DPS/trapping skills on my hunter. I think I've healed one instance with Daxie, who is not geared as well as Daxe. It's a refreshing change from always having to be the healer. And before Turion, the Pally tank comments, yes, I actually got quite a bit of instance time on Rysteranch before switching servers.
So, how about you tanks and healers (or mad DPSers that want to bring a tank/healer), do you face the same situation? Or are tanks/healers = gold and DPSers = dime/doz?
"Uh, can you heal(tank)?"
"Well, I'd rather bring my DPS"
"Oh. Well, we already have enough DPS and just need heals(tank) and we're G2G!"
"/sigh....ok."
Now, make no mistake about it, I love healing. I think I'm pretty good at it and have had a number of people reinforce that idea.
What is interesting is that over at Sidhe Devils, I'm known for my DPS/trapping skills on my hunter. I think I've healed one instance with Daxie, who is not geared as well as Daxe. It's a refreshing change from always having to be the healer. And before Turion, the Pally tank comments, yes, I actually got quite a bit of instance time on Rysteranch before switching servers.
So, how about you tanks and healers (or mad DPSers that want to bring a tank/healer), do you face the same situation? Or are tanks/healers = gold and DPSers = dime/doz?
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
A can of worms
Well, it turns out that legally recording original lyrics to copyrighted music is the same as recording a "cover" of the song. I'm looking into obtaining permission to use the background music for my three (yes, one more than you may have been aware of) parodies.
The big advantage of using someone else's music is that the song is already a hit, and people know the melody. The down side is that I would have to pay royalties on each and every copy that I give away or sell.
The big advantage of writing my own music/lyrics is that I would own all the rights to the songs and wouldn't have to pay anyone else for the privilege of using their stuff. I would also be free to distribute them as I see fit. The big downside is coming up with all that material...lol.
The point may be moot, as I've cut the songs that I've been thinking about and will have to dream up more lyrics. We'll see...
The big advantage of using someone else's music is that the song is already a hit, and people know the melody. The down side is that I would have to pay royalties on each and every copy that I give away or sell.
The big advantage of writing my own music/lyrics is that I would own all the rights to the songs and wouldn't have to pay anyone else for the privilege of using their stuff. I would also be free to distribute them as I see fit. The big downside is coming up with all that material...lol.
The point may be moot, as I've cut the songs that I've been thinking about and will have to dream up more lyrics. We'll see...
Monday, June 2, 2008
Whoa
I got 159 hits on Friday; now I wonder why....lol.
Over the weekend, I bought another epic flying mount. I made 5500 gold in 10 days to get Rysteranch his Swift Red Griffin. Of course, Daxie is still torqued that SHE didn't get it....such a drama queen!
Oh, and yes, I think I'm a bit tired of dailies; there were some days that I did all the QD Isle dailies on each of my 70's as well as the Outland Shattered Sun dailies. Don't get me wrong, I like these new dailies better than the old ones (which I never really gave a chance), but doing the same thing every day tends to wear a person out.
So, I'm not sure what I'll be doing now. I almost dropped skinning and leatherworking on Rysteranch to pick up Mining/Engineering, but I really just need to level DV so that he can progress in those professions.
I do need to grind out two levels on Flowerdax to catch her up to Rof, who has been absent grinding his Horde toon's epic flying.
I have written the lyrics to my next song, but I haven't found the time to record it. Maybe today.../tease.
Over the weekend, I bought another epic flying mount. I made 5500 gold in 10 days to get Rysteranch his Swift Red Griffin. Of course, Daxie is still torqued that SHE didn't get it....such a drama queen!
Oh, and yes, I think I'm a bit tired of dailies; there were some days that I did all the QD Isle dailies on each of my 70's as well as the Outland Shattered Sun dailies. Don't get me wrong, I like these new dailies better than the old ones (which I never really gave a chance), but doing the same thing every day tends to wear a person out.
So, I'm not sure what I'll be doing now. I almost dropped skinning and leatherworking on Rysteranch to pick up Mining/Engineering, but I really just need to level DV so that he can progress in those professions.
I do need to grind out two levels on Flowerdax to catch her up to Rof, who has been absent grinding his Horde toon's epic flying.
I have written the lyrics to my next song, but I haven't found the time to record it. Maybe today.../tease.
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