Sherlock Holmes

I just got back from watching Sherlock Holmes.

It was a pretty good movie. I liked the acting, the special effects, and the storyline. About midway through the movie, I had an epiphany:

It should have been called Sherlock House.

Screenshot, or it didn't happen

Today, first pull in Gundrak, the tank gathered up all the snakes in the room and held them.

Here's the damage meter from that fight:
That would be 16K dps. Oh...Yeah!

What was I thinking?

I'll admit it: Sometimes I try to please everyone, and in the end, I please no one, least of all, myself.

This last week or so, I've been flaky. I totally forgot about running my pally with Robin and Jay last night (Sorry!) as well as forgot last Monday. /facepalm.

I am just not motivated to level my poor little mage over on my new server; I got back a reply to my email and my friends have some alts in the works. Once they get them to level 12 or so, we can play together! Yay.

Meanwhile, I've gone back to Andorhal and did what I wanted.

I ran the daily on Daxie for Frost badges, then, I switched to Daxen the Hunter and signed up for group after group. Between groups, I was killing scorpids for their scales. I ended up buying some thick leather to get my leatherworking up to speed. I'm finally making armor that is above my current level.

Next on the agenda is gathering up 20 scorpid scales for my helm, then I'm done with scorpids. I need to look into becoming a Dragonscale leatherworker, so that will be next. I won't make the mistake I did last time with Rysteranch the Troll - I had just switched back to playing Horde when I needed to train Dragonscale LW, so I flew out to Azshara, made my way to the trainer, left clicked on him, and engaged him in combat. Whoops. I ended up killing the ALLIANCE Dragonscale trainer...lol.

Badlands...I need to go to Badlands...

I am really enjoying playing a hunter again. I've got my faithful PuddyTat by my side, my bow in hand, and arrows at the ready...sic 'em, girl!

This and That

I wrote more posts this year than last year or the year before. I don't know whether or not this is a good thing or a bad thing (or just a thing thing). It's just something I noticed.

I've had a declining readership as google analytics tracks it. I wonder if that's related to my more frequent posting...

My mage over on Silverhand...Silvermoon?...crud, I can't even remember what server I rolled it on...ANYWAYS, is level 14. I sent an email to my friends and am trying to convince them that if they roll some alts we can actually play together now, instead of them waiting for me to catch up. I'm already not wanting to level an alt to 80 that's not on my main server.

Oh, and I'm not going to transfer a character either.

I've been toying with the idea of playing Daxea the Priest again. I'd like to see the level 50 instances and spend her rest XP. Of course, Daxen the Hunter is 42, and I've enjoyed getting into groups with her as well. She absolutely owns the damage meter, sometimes racking up twice the amount of damage as #2.

One down side to chain LFG's on Daxen is getting Mara: Orange Crystal side almost every single time. I don't really like the orange side; the purple side is much better. I have gotten only one other dungeon from levels 41-42, and that was SM:Cath, which we didn't even do 'cause the other people in the group had already gotten sick of it.

Teurion has started playing again. Of course, he wants me to get back to Kael'thas and play my Alliance toons.

This weekend, we are headed over to Manteno, IL to visit friends.

Lastly, next week, Chuck Sullivan makes his triumphant return to the Biomed shop after being sidelined for knee surgery. Let me tell you, the last three months have been a freakin' vacation without this guy; I am not looking forward to him coming back.

Wrapping up the WoW playing for the year

I got three level 80's on my Alliance server - a priest, a hunter, and a death knight.

I quit for a while.

I gathered all my Horde toons over on Suramar and started playing again. My original Troll hunter made it to 69, and I created my army of alts.

Robin and Jay transferred to Andorhal, and I started some alts over there.

I also started on a new server: Executus for dabbling in the new server experience.

Jay tracked me down and wanted to start some new toons together. We decided on Rogues and Andorhal. Daxynn was born, and backs were stabbed.

After piddling around for a while, I decided that my Draenai Priest, Daxie, should switch factions to become a Blood Elf and transfer servers to Andohal to be my little alts' sugah momma.

Daxie has since supplied a plethora of alts with the Heirloom shoulders, chestpieces, and weapons, has gotten a number of T9 or better pieces for herself, turned Shadow, and did some serious face melting.

And lastly, I started some new toons over on Silvermoon to play with some old friends from Alaska.

Yeah, that last one was a surprise, eh?

Wrapping up the game playing for the year

I played WoW.

I quit playing WoW.

I played Diablo.

I beat Diablo.

I played Diablo II.

I quit playing Diablo II.

I played Oblivion.

I quit playing Oblivion.

I went back to playing WoW.

The End.

Thoughts on Creation

I had this thought on Biblical Creation and trying to reconcile it with what the apparent age of the earth seems to be (millions of years according to the theory of evolution.)

Make no mistake, I believe that the earth is very young (thousands of years) which is in accordance with my understanding of the Genesis account, but this idea may help explain why or how we observe a universe that appears to be much older.

The basis of my thought is found in Jesus' first miracle - the turning of water into wine at the wedding feast. My assumptions include believing that actual water was turned into actual wine in the space of moments (less than an hour) and that the resulting wine was, according to the steward present, of top quality and that the wine contained alcohol (otherwise it would have just been grape juice.)

The point here is that Jesus was able to create a substance that had the appearance of being much older than the time it took to create it. Alcohol cannot be created instantly (without a miracle) as it takes the process of yeast turning sugar into alcohol, which is a product of time. So, Jesus, the creator of the universe (Colossians 1:16), is able to produce an item that is old or should be old by all normal reckoning.

That being said, is it not possible for God to create a universe (and the earth with it) that has the appearance of being millions (or billions) of years old even while it isn't even close to being that old?

Is it such a stretch of the imagination to think that when God created the stars that He also created the light from that star to already have traveled millions of lightyears so be be observable on the earth? In other words, God created in an instant something that had the appearance of being very old (because the light had already traveled such a great distance to reach earth) in order to make the star visible from earth.

I suppose I wanted to write this out so that my thoughts were set down in order and so I could muse on it more. I definitely am not trying to reconcile the theory of evolution and the theory of creation; I don't believe there is any way to reconcile those two as one says man came through death and the other says that death came through man.

Chasing Gear

I'm 6 badges away from the 75 Triumph hat. I already have my meta cut and just have to figure out what epic gem to slot in the other spot.

After that, I'll need 25 badges for the wand, 30 badges for the T9 gloves, and 45 badges for the DPS shoulders (I have the healing ones.)

Then...I guess I'll be spending Triumph badges for healing gear, while continuing to save my Frost badges for the uber DPS gear.

In other news, I decided to get a Raptor mount for Daxie by grinding out the Darkspear Trolls rep. I dinged Exalted with Orgrimmar on the way and now have a sparkling new orange raptor!

And, since I've already got 3/5 city reps done, I figured I'd just go ahead and pound out TB and UC for the Ambassador title.

Speaking of titles, I did get "the Patient" the other day and also got the "Looking for Multitudes" achievement with the Pug non-combat pet. yay on me.

Yesterday, on the second pull in Gundrak, I hit 7500 DPS. Yes, I screen shotted it; no, I don't have it on me. Maybe I'll post it later. I figured it was AoEing all those little snakes along with the 6 big ones that did it for me.

That's all for now.

No real post

You know when I have either nothing to say or am busy at work, then there's no real post for the day.

This was/is such a day. Laters.

Priority List DPS

I decided to make a separate post about using Shadowaffinity's Priority List for doing DPS as a Shadow Priest. The following analysis is focused on single target DPS; I found that multiple targets require some different strategy depending on the group's DPS.

The post on Priority DPSing mentions "clipping" a Mind Flay to cast a higher priority spell. During my play time last night, I practiced this by trying to cast Mind Blast when it was available. Of course, if a higher priority spell was in order, I'd cast it first.

What I found out was that I would go through the first four in the priority order and do one Mind Flay. By the time that MF completed, Mind Blast was off cooldown. I then got in one and a half Mind Flays before something of higher priority popped up.

I could not get in two full, consecutive Mind Flays before something came off cooldown or dropped off the mob. So, I ended up "clipping" or interrupting Mind Flay by casting another spell since Mind Flay is the lowest

A big game changer in this entire discussion is the amount of Haste that I have, so other people who have more or less Haste than Daxie may have a different experience, and I fully expect to modify my play as I add more Haste and spells pop at different intervals. Luckily, I have my priority list!

I was going to go further into the analysis, but I realized after writing some stuff out that I really don't have the resources available here at work to figure out the interaction, cost per second, and mana efficiency of the different spells. And I also don't really care to find out; I have a system that works, and that's good enough for me...lol.

Another Tale of the Damage Meter

Despite Jay doing my Shadow spec spell rotation research for me, I couldn't help but do a little myself. I found a great resource that made it through the work filter at shadowaffinity.com.

Their recommended approach to dealing damage as a shadow priest is not a rotation, but rather a priority list. I rearranged my spells so that the first four are together...well, let me just draw you a picture:
Since I am a clicker, I like to get some sort of order to my buttons. The red arrows show the initial cast order with the blue arrows diverging depending on single target vs. multiple targets.

One thing I found out last night is that I need to find an addon that will either make my dots/debuffs much larger (easier to see) or will be a separate display like MagicRunes is for DK's.

First up was a HToC. This damage meter was reset after the mounted combat.
I was pretty happy that I sustained over 3K DPS for the entire instance. It gave me a lot of confidence in the Priority list playstyle, as well as let me know that I'm competitive.

Next up are some screenies from a PuG H. Culling of Stratholme; I was able to mostly follow this order with some departures that just hit SW:P, VT, and Mind Sear. Here is the result for the entire run (I died twice - once in the gauntlet and at the very beginning of the optional timed boss).Yeah...I carried them! CoS is a nice instance for AoEers as almost all of the trash is in tight packs. I was already happy with my AoE DPS; Mind Sear is just that awesome. But what I really wanted to improve was my single target DPS.

From the last fight, against Mal ganis, I present to you, the damage meter:
Mission accomplished! What helped out was only getting targeted for nap-time once. I followed the Priority list religiously, and obviously, the results speak for themselves.

Lastly, I have the breakdown of the entire HCoS damage by spell.
What really surprised me was that Vampiric Touch is my number two spell despite only being cast 97 times (vs 162 for SW:P). I'll still be following the priority list as Mind Flay refreshes SW:P, so I can keep it up all the time on a single target.

But, for sure, I'm going to keep VT up all the time. Oh, and by the way, it will last 6 seconds longer thanks to the T9 two piece bonus. Yeah, got me two items of the set! Woot!

G2G2 work.

The Tale of the Damage Meter

Yesterday, I did a bunch of Heroics as Shadow spec. Since it was a raid night for Robin and Jay, I only ran two instances with them; the rest, I turned to the LFG and was not disappointed.

Now, the queue time for a DPS is longer than I'm used to when lining up as a Healer - around 7-8 minutes, which was ok as I had errands to do.

First up, here's proof that I can sustain damage above the tank! And not only that, I can crank out some decent DPS. Note: This was only one pull...Now that pull was with Jay, so I didn't have any worries about pulling aggro. This next screenie is of another single pull with a PuG.
Still rockin' over 4500 DPS, not bad, not bad. But, can I sustain that? Well...no. This next damage meter is from Halls of Reflection. I was picked up after the first two bosses were down, and the party was on the Lich King run. We successfully completed the gauntlet, and my dps looked like this:Ok, I really can settle for just under 4K DPS...lol! Of course, there is almost all AoE on that gauntlet, so I pretty much spammed Mind Sear. And, lastly, what does a full clear look like? This is the final result from a PuG UP:

Second. And at 2629 DPS. That's more realistic, I reckon.

I attribute some of my loss of DPS to not being really up on a spell rotation for single targets. Ya, ya, ya, Jay rattled one off, but do you think I retained any of it? Bah, pish posh!

I also need to get better at switching targets. I'm starting to remember what I did as a hunter, and that is to watch the current target's health and switch when it gets low so I can maintain my output. One thing I have learned is to try to pick a target that is going to live the longest, thereby minimizing the DPS loss suffered when trying to click the next mob.

And, of course, I'm still learning what all these spells do. Last night, I figured out that Vampiric Embrace was changed somewhere along the line to be a 30 minute buff on myself to generate healing. [cue old man's voice] In MY day, VE was something you threw on the mob! You didn't put that crap on yourself! Kids these days! GET OFF MY LAWN!!! [/off old man's voice]

So, now I have two self buffs I need to keep track of: Vampiric Embrace and Inner Fire. Ok, got it.

I'll be doing some research on how my spells interact together; I already know that I've picked up a talent that increases the damage from my Mind Flay if Shadow Word: Pain is on the target and also I have the talent that has a chance to refresh SW: P with each Mind Flay.

Oh, I also discovered that, according to the tooltip, Vampiric Touch only regens mana from Mind Blasts. It also does some shadow damage, but the mana regen part has changed since I last played as shadow. Feel free to correct me or clarify this in the comments.

And, Jay, feel free to jot down that rotation in the comments as well so I can be lazy and not research it.

Embrace the Shadow...

A New Healer

Last night, Jay, Robin, and I did some Heroics - the first Random Dungeon had fail DPS and the second was OCC. We finally completed the stupid thing after two wipes on the last guy. I still hate that instance.

Jay and Robin had to bail for their raid, so I was left to my own devices. Now, I've been thinking about making my Druid, Daxenos, into a Healer, and last night, I bought the gear and respec to get that done.

I also reconfigured Healbot to place the types of heals in familiar key combos (Renew = Rejuvenation in my mind, which means CTRL+Right Mouse.) I'm still working on getting familiar with the different spells, so it's a work in progress.

I jumped in LFG and got a group for Scarlet Monastery: Graveyard. The warrior tank didn't really stop for buffs, aggro'd pretty much the entire first room (the torture chamber), and we some how survived. Luckily for us, the tank stopped to let me mana up.

The rest of the instance went pretty much the same. The tank wasn't too concerned about the DPS or Healer tanking mobs, so we all got hit some. I was throwing Rejuv's on all of us, which did a pretty good job of keeping people up.

We killed the last guy; I got the offhand loot. My Random Dungeon reward was a DPS Necklace. I'm sure I'll get something useful for healing sooner or later.

I do plan on picking up the Heirloom mace, chestpiece, and shoulders that are geared for healing. I may even send an Heirloom shoulder enchant because Daxenos should be the only one using them. The only problem is that I have enough Spirit Stone thingys for a weapon and shoulders, but I'd rather get the badge ones as I'm not planning on Battleground healing. Suppose I'll just have to see what my badge accumulation rate is.

Speaking of badges, I picked up a new ring and was going to pick up a wand next, but I got a nice drop in HoR, so I can put that off for a bit. I believe a head piece or legs are in order for my next purchase; of course, I suppose I need to sort out whether I want to gear up my healing set or my shadow set....choices choices...

More LFG

You would have thought that Blizzard would have learned from the last time they encouraged people to get into instances...

Embrace the Shadow....lolwut?

Last night, Robin, Jay, and I were supposed to hit up RFC on our little toons, but instead, we decided to rock some Heroics on our 80's.

Jay was stuck with the role of tank on his pally, and since I really like healing, I basically ninja'd the job which left Robin to Boomkin DPS (she's main spec Tree healer).

So, we decide to get the whole ICC five man content opened up for yours truly. LFG was almost instant in providing the other two DPS, and off we went!

The first thing I noticed is that the trash hit a bit harder. Now, Jay is a very well geared tank, and I've healed him before in other Heroics, so it was pretty evident the difference between ICC and the rest of WotLK content. Still, even with the harder hitting mobs, it was pretty easy keeping him alive.

Meanwhile, Robin is rockin' the bottom of the DPS meter, just above me. Well, that's misleading, she was waaaaaaaaay above me, but still in fourth place.

An aside: one of the reasons I chose the healer role was that, although Robin can easily out heal me, I figured she could also easily out DPS me because I have no idea of how to play my Shadow spec, and she is geared way better than I am. So, in my mind as long as I can keep the group alive, Robin is better at DPS than I am, and the group is maximized for its capabilities.

We got to the first boss in the Forge of Souls (FoS), and people died...I died in a pool of purple (lolepicfireftw!). Luckily, we had the boss down enough that even though the two PuGs died, Robin and Jay were able to finish him off. Now, Jay had explained the fight; I just hadn't been paying attention to where I was standing.

We didn't have any problems with the rest of that instance and moved on to Pit of Saron. We totally owned that dungeon. No deaths, no wipes, no problem. I really like the second boss, Ick; he involves a lot of moving around.

We lost one DPS, but LFG quickly provided another, and we marched on to the Halls of Reflection. This is by far, more healing intensive than the last two. The first boss is preceeded by four waves of trash, then, after a short break, there are four more waves of trash and the second boss.

Well, we made it through all of it pretty much unscathed, although Robin helped out with some healing and Jay did burn Lay on Hands. I started to think that I might not be able to keep up my end of the bargain in the Healing department.

And sure enough, on the next and last part, I couldn't. Sylvannas just couldn't down those barriers fast enough, and we died twice on the last barrier due to one crappy priest. I just couldn't keep everyone up.

So....I turn the healing over to Robin, break out my Shadow spec, and hope that I can not fail at DPS. Oh, and while I have what I think are good talents, I have no idea what some of these spells are, I have NO GLYPHS, and I'm all lolspellrotationwut? And to top it off, all of the +hit gear that I've accumulated....is in the bank.

Well, we buff up, drink up, and get our collective poop together and start the event. For some reason, Jay had already researched a spell rotation and rattled it off in Vent. I caught some of it, but the important piece was provided by Robin: Mind Sear is your AoE.

Mind Sear...AoE, right, got it!

So, the first fight, I pick a mob, stand in Consecrate, and Mind Sear.

When that one dies, I pick another mob and Mind Sear.

And at the end of the fight....I had done (according to Robin; I didn't screenshot it) 9K DPS.

lolwut? I was like nowai! And Robin was all WAI! And I was like rly?? And she was like yuhuh!

Wow.

I am such a noob. We proceeded then to absolutely smash the rest of the instance with Robin's 1337 healz and my more than adequate DPS.

So, I figured maybe it's a fluke or something, and I wondered how I'd do in another Heroic. I bought some glyphs but forgot to grab my hit gear, and we queued up for another almost instant Random Dungeon.

We got Halls of Stone. I was up against a shammy with a gear score of 4900+, a rogue with a gear score of 4600+, while I was rockin a gear score of 4200+.

For two thirds of the instance, I was queen of the DPS meter! I couldn't even get close to matching the others on single target pulls, but on AoE pulls, I was crankin' it out! There were numbers literally filling my screen from the damage I was doing.

In the end, I snagged second place to the aforementioned shammy by a little bit; if I think of it, I'll screenshot the DPS meter when I log on.

So...from now on, I'm going to let Robin heal...I have a new job...

...because there are faces that need to be melted.

Embrace the Shadow...

All LFG All the Time

I'm sure the newness will wear off over time, but the new LFG is just about the coolest thing to hit WoW in a long time.

There, I said it. I've been hinting at the fact that I'm liking the new system, and now I'm not afraid of sounding like some little fanboi. I definitely like it.

Two things sealed the deal for me:

Daxea can get a group in about 5 minutes, and I would rather heal my way to 80 on unrested xp than solo. Any. Day. Of. The. Week. Period. I'll do a solo quest here and there as I'm leveling, but the lion's share of my leveling will come from instancing. YES!! /fistpump.

Rysteranch, the Troll Hunter, drug himself out of the bar and did two Sethekk Halls runs last night. Yeah, I didn't have any glyphs....I forgot to spend PuddyTat's talent points since the last patch...I had some weird Survival spec that I thought would be useful for PvP....And still did a decent amount of damage and didn't get kicked from the group. If I can get a group as a Huntard, I can get a group for anything!

So, what's on the horizon? Well, pretty much anything that I haven't done in a group, I'm going to try. My 39 pally on Suramar is going to be tanking for some poor guinea pigs; I want to try out Druid healing; and I've never done a dungeon on my rogue. It's all in play now.

Tonight, though, Jay, Robin, and I have a date with RFC. Last week didn't go so well with the misses, so I'm hoping that two levels make a huge difference (we should be level 12).

Day 3 of LFG

Yesterday was all LFG all the time for Daxea the former Pox Priest.

For all of my play time, I ran instance after instance after instance. ZF, Mara - Purple, Mara - Orange, Mara - uh..the last part.

One of the cool things that I apparently didn't realize was that Mara is effectively three parts; the LFG recognizes that and lists them separately as well as teleports the group to the appropriate starting place. I haven't seen Sunken Temple pop up in the available dungeons yet, but I'm hoping that that one is chopped up as well.

I like the reward for doing the random dungeon; most of the stuff has been class appropriate (except the ring of DPS warrior or Ret Pally...what's up with that?). However, the armor has been almost exclusively boots or bracers. I've gotten a number of shards, so that's good, and I did replace my boots and bracers with whatever seemed better, but it would be nice to see some other armor slots drop.

As with all PuGs, there was good, bad, and ugly.

I saw a fury warrior try to tank, which meant everybody else got to tank a bit (including yours truly).

I saw a Ret pally tank Mara the last part...very well, actually.

I put my first cross-realm person on my ignore list (the aforementioned fury warrior). I did it after running a whole ZF with everybody tanking and wiping twice to stupidity; then the very next dungeon, the idiot shows up again in the tank slot! We wiped on the very first pull because I had buffed everyone and was out of mana. I then watched in horror as he charged the first mob. /facepalm. After venting my frustration that was still pent up after the crappy ZF run, I told the group they could find another healer.

I saw a Holy pally try to DPS.

And I saw a Holy Priest forget he had the Spirit buff and not use it for the first three or four instances of the night. Oh, that would be me...noob. Oh, and I still need to get some dang glyphs. Whoops...

All in all, I'm really liking the new LFG. Yes, I've seen my share of idiots (who runs into an area ahead of the "tank" and starts fighting the first mob they see??? Yes, the crappy ZF run...), but for the most part, I've seen pretty competent players. I really like grouping with people who are leveling alts; they seem to have their crap together and know what's expected in a group - even if they're kids.

I hate grouping with people who are leveling their first toon as they usually try to play solo roles instead of the group Tank/Healer/DPS roles. To top it off, usually they're kids and mouth off when you try to "help" them understand what's going on.

So, I have developed a defense mechanism: After the first wipe due to stupidity (one can usually tell these kind of wipes), I let the group know that I have a two wipe policy and that one of them was just burned. I then encourage the group to get their poop together and work as a team.

Of course, if and when the next wipe happens, I tell them good luck and leave group. Now, I may make an exception if we're particularly close to a boss kill, but I really don't need the aggravation of wiping through content because some idiot can't seem to find the taunt button.

Anyways....I am having a blast...really!

Day 2 of LFG

Yesterday, I signed up for more abuse and punishment with the Random Dungeon feature of LFG(Looking For Group) on both my level 44 former Pox Priest, Daxea and my level 80 Priest Daxie.

An aside: Teurion thinks that I have something wrong with me for wanting to run instances on my level 44 Priest. He cannot understand why I don't just level to cap and play there. I'm not sure I can explain why I enjoy running the lower level (less than 80) instances with a level appropriate group; all I know is that I DO enjoy the experience. I like it so much that I'm willing to chance awful PuGs in order to do it.

Another aside: I'm thinking that I really like the new LFG for the sole reason that it makes groups available. Before, I would peruse the LFG and maaaaaaybe see one other person in my level instances; now, I've gotten hooked up with groups in a fairly timely manner.

Daxea's experience with the new improved LFG:
I have seen good, bad, and ugly, which one expects from PuGs, but last night was more good than bad/ugly. I still got into some groups that fell apart, but I also hopped into a group that only needed to down the last boss. I got in a full run and a partial run of ZF and partial runs of Mara (no bosses, though).

I really think that the new LFG is going to be a boon for those of use who would like to run more lower level (<80) instances as the pool to pick from just got larger. Also, the automatic assignment of tank, healer, and DPS really helps fill groups quicker.

I am planning on doing at least one or two instances a day on Daxea for the time being, although I may cut back on that after her rested XP runs out.

Daxie's experience with the new improved LFG:
Much like Daxea's experience, I saw good, bad, and ugly from joining the Random Heroic PuG feature of LFG.

The Good: Both tanks that we had seemed to be fairly competent. The DPSers usually didn't require much healing. I completed both of the random dungeons that I signed up for.

The Bad: Loot etiquette is...well, I don't know. It seems that Need/Greed/Pass etiquette is different from server to server, so when grouping with people who are used to a different procedure (ie, everyone Greeds, if you need the item, Need it) than you are used to, conflict can arise. In my case, a Damaged Necklace dropped (I'm not sure what it's for, but I know JCers really covet them and Daxie is a JCer); now that item is a green, so I selected Greed. Obviously, one of the other members was a JC, and they selected Need. Whoops on me, I guess. From now on, I'll select Need for those.

The Ugly: Oculus. Yeah, we got that as our random dungeon. Yuck. Yuck. Yuck! We wiped twice on the last guy before we got our collective poop together. Of course, jumping in the random dungeon queue will expose me to more Heroics that I really don't care for - OCC, HoL, HoS, ToC. Yeah, it'll get really ugly, I'm sure.

Overall, though, I think I'll be signing up for more abuse with the LFG on Daxie for the Frost badges and the five man fun. Oh, and Robin wants me to get some Heirloom gear for my little pally, so....

Patch 3.3 thoughts

I almost never play my normal amount of time on patch day due to disconnects, lag, and general server quirkiness. Last night was no exception.

When I am able to play, I usually am not able to hop on my current server, but rather have to jump on one of the servers that I've stopped actively playing on. Last night was no exception.

For some reason, I really wanted to check out the new LFG system on my former Pox toon, Daxea. And, I wanted to heal in whatever instance popped up from the random dungeon feature. So, I respec'd from Shadow back to Holy, hopped in the queue, and voila! I was hooked up with a group for Maraudon.

The Good: The group turned out to be pretty good. The tank tanked. The healer (me) healed. And the DPS DPS'd. Some of the pulls were a bit tricky, but for the most part, the tank held aggro on all the mobs. We downed the first boss, and we all got the Random Dungeon satchel. Mine had a nice pair of blue boots in it.

The Bad: I died once on a bad pull.

The Ugly: The group disintegrated after the boss kill. This guy had to go, then another left, then the tank left. I joined LFG again with the remaining hunter; we got into another group, but someone immediately left the group which kicked us out of the instance. After that, I dropped group and attempted to join LFG with the Random Dungeon, but was locked out with the deserter debuff.

Now, I won't jump to any conclusions with just one experience. I still need to join up with some more PuGs and see how it goes. I may respec Daxenos the Druid to healing so I can start learning tree healing sooner rather than later. Also, Daxie could use some more badges now that Triumph badges drop from Heroics.

Back...ouch...spasms

Yeah, I'm canning the pushup routine for this week. I was sidelined yesterday from work due to back spasms, which I'm not sure if they're the result of the pushups or putting together a Treadmill type thing on Saturday (for my in-laws, not me).

Anyways, the net result is a doctor's visit tomorrow and a cancellation of pushups for this week. If I'm feeling better next week, I'll probably continue the regimen with repeating week 2.

And now I understand why all those exercise programs say to consult your doctor first before beginning any new exercise program...

I have a life...really, I do...

I put it off for a long time, but I finally downloaded the addon Allplayed, which tracks the aggregate amount of time that your characters have totaled in the wonderful World of Warcrack.

I had to log in on all of my alts to get the total. The addon subtotals your time for each of your servers and provides a gold amount to boot.

So....how much have I played?

Suspense, in a blog post, usually doesn't work because people will just skip to the end. Unless, of course, I don't post the answer in this post and make you all guess in the comments.

Hmmmm.....aw, fagghettaboutit. 224 days.

My most played toon? Daxe the BC raiding priest at 41 days.
The biggest surprise? My bank toon on Kael'thas, a level one pally, has over a day played.

What the addon doesn't do is account for characters that have been deleted. Off the top of my head, I've deleted a 20 druid, 18 warlock, 49 warrior, teens druid, the 8 members of the original team Ryster all in their mid to late teens.

But, really...I do get out once in a while...

Pox Time Again??

Well...sort of.

Robin, Jay, and I decided to roll new toons to level together.

Robin - BE mage
Jay - BE Priest
Rusty - BE Pally

The idea is to play these toons together and see what we can do with them as a trio. It's sort of like a Pox group in that we'll try to limit the xp we get outside of the group and reserve our leveling playtime to when we all can play together.

On the flip side, we'll feel free to tweak them as we see fit (but we won't be adding any xp gains gear), are free to powerlevel any professions that we choose, and can use our other toons on the server to help out with gold, gear, and other useful stuff.

At first, when Jay was presented with the idea of not using +XP Heirloom items, he was agast. To paraphrase: "But, but, that's like living in the stone age!!" Ok, maybe he didn't say that, but I know he was thinking it.

My response was: "We're gonna be rockin' it old school, baby!"

So, what are my goals for this group?

0. I'd like to have fun with Robin and Jay. (Computer Science dudes count from zero)
1. I'd like to, as much as is possible, level in instances. Gear resets for BC and WotLK would be an exception as well as class quests and the like.
2. I'd like to see all the Oldlands instances (and as many Outlands and Coldlands instances as we can manage) as a static threesome.
3. Jay is an awesome pally tank; I would like to learn at the feet of the master.
4. I would like to see Robin and Jay fight over clothie gear...I mean get their dungeon drops...yeah, yeah, that one...oh and get mine too!
5. I would like to have fun. Note: this list is not in order of importance!
6. I want see leveling as something that happens because we play, rather than playing in order to level.

That about sums it up. We're at level 5 right now. I'm planning on picking up Enchanting and am undecided on a second profession for the moment. Jay picked up Tailoring, so he's making some leet threads for him and Robin. My Blacksmith has crafted armor up to the 30's range, and my banktoon coughed up 12 Netherweave bags for us all. Daxxyn has 200 gold burnin' in her pocket, and a fire burnin' in her heart! LET'S GO!!

Recent Random Is What?

1 Strength gives 2 Attack Power for Druids. 1 Agility gives 0 Attack Power for Druids (but does give Crit). Somehow, I thought that Agi would give AP like it does for Hunters and Rogues. Since I made this discovery, I stopped using the Heirloom dagger on Daxenos and instead picked up a nice Str/Sta blue mace (level 23) and slapped the +25 Agi enchant on it. Yeah, I'm wasting money.../shrug.

Last night while watching House, I had an epiphany. See, the show was about this middle aged guy who had a recurrence of cancer and wanted his ex-wife to help him out with tough decisions rather than his 20 something girlfriend. The beginning of the episode showed the girlfriend completely out of her depth in trying to deal with her man's mortality. And this led me to my epiphany:

One of the reasons I love my wife so much is the fact that she and I are peers and equals. When either of us is struggling with a difficult issue, we know that we can turn to each other and expect at least our own level of competincy and maturity. We don't have to deal with gross inexperience or incompetence.

Let me tell you, no amount of anything that a younger person can offer will make up for that one solitary blessing.

A new post

YAY!

So, Thanksgiving went great. It was small with just my mother-in-law, her husband, and my son & girlfriend having dinner with the three of us.

Jay sucks because he started a toon on a new server and dragged me into his mess. I did about 12 levels on my newest alt - a night elf druid - before realizing that I hated being broke and having crappy gear. The broke problem was solved by picking up Herbalism and Skinning; the crappy gear part was going to take longer. That coupled with the thought of doing the Darkshore quests once again sent me back to Andorhal and my little Tauren Druid. Sorry, Jay.

After my little adventure over with Jay, I have come to realize something: I hate the Alliance. Right now, anyways. Their air of superiority, their feminine voices, their irritating laughs. Hate, hate, hate. So, I started throwing their greetings/farewells back in their faces in a real nasty voice: "No, goddess be with YOU! (stupid scumbag)." Maybe this PvP thing is having an affect on me...

Speaking of my newer alt, Daxenos the Druid is up to 24 now. This is the highest that I've ever gotten a Druid, so yay on me! I soloed RFC at 20; I completed all of the quests except the book quest, which I forgot to pick up. I also died on the last guy, but I killed him before I died, so I got credit for him. His loot table had absolutely nothing that I could use, so I didn't go back to loot the body.

I picked up Herbalism and Alchemy, and once again, I gained huge amounts of skill points from Oily Blackmouth and Firefin Snappers. Fishing, FTW!

I just peaked at 10,000 gold across my toons on Andorhal. So, I dinged 38 on Daxynn, picked up all her new PvP gear, and bought some enchants. I also spent some cash on Daxenos for the Feet of the Lynx. All told, I spent about 1k gold. Already, I'm back up to around 9,200; hey, what good is having a billion gold if you don't spend it sometime!

Not really sure what I think about the Druid Kitty form after playing a Rogue. Of course, it doesn't compare as I only have a couple of moves, but so far, it feels like Rogue-lite. No sapping, no evasion, no dual wield (/cry). I just got my Ambush equivalent, so at least I can do that. Hopefully, I'll be getting more equivalents here soon.

Well, the MRI just broke, g2g...

Random Thoughts

Yeah, everyone(on my currently played server Andorhal) but Daxea has done their Cooking grind.
For the record, I wasn't going to do squat with this new holiday until Jay pointed out the huge benefit, so I'm pinning my obsession on him. /pin

I have three toons that are sharing my Heirloom gear - a rogue, a hunter, and a druid. The druid currently has one dagger, the chest, and the shoulders; the rogue and hunter are sharing the other dagger and the bow. Of course, if (strike that, when) I play either the rogue or hunter with any intent on engaging in combat, I'll be mailing all the items to them.

This morning I weighed in at 190.8 lbs; unfortunately, one of the interns brought in chocolate chip cookies today. Let's just say that I've started my Thanksgiving eating early....

My wife and I started our six weeks to 100 push ups program. I was an idiot and did 15 in the initial test, which places me in the third column. Why didn't I sandbag like I always do at work??? /sigh. I really need to think about this competitive side of me and getting it under control.

On Monday, I ended up doing 47 pushups in 5 sets. Tonight I'll be doing at least 50. Meanwhile, my wife got off easy on Monday with only 12, and they were GIRL pushups at that! Yeah, don't talk to me about equality of the sexes!

My favorite knock knock joke:
Knock, Knock
Who's there?
Control Freak. NOWYOUSAYCONTROLFREAKWHO!!

I got mentioned on Kapau's 50 best WoW blogs! It looks like he sells stuff on his site, but what the hey, here's the link: http://www.wowfreetrial.info/50-best-updated-world-of-warcraft-blogs/

What do you call a walking stick made out of dried grapes? Raisin Cane.

I had Chicken Korma for lunch today. Yes, it was awesome. Yes, I made it Monday night. No, you can't have any.

It looks like the guild I joined has had some...uh...members leave(SOMEBODY STOP THE BLEEDING!!!). Several of the toons belonged to someone that I've mentioned on this post (no, not me). It looks like Deviant couldn't sustain the people willing to raid, and a lot of the officers/gm's haven't logged on in several days, so.../shrug, I know I ain't gonna step up and raid...

My co-worker, Lonnie, is starting a blog. As soon as he makes his first post, I'm going to run over there and comment on it: FIRST! I may link to it after I get in the virgin comment.

One of our interns (not the evil cookie bringer iner) has his mom and his brother in town and made the very poor choice to bring them in to work. Upon learning this (and before they arrived) I offered to punch the brother in his face; the intern declined the magnaminous proposal but reserved the right to pick it up in the future.

So, the family bringer iner intern's family ended up bringing in brownies. These interns are all the same: EVIL!

One more note about this particular intern, he introduced me to his brother, but didn't introduce me to his mom. Two things I wonder: "Why?" and "Does the fact that I insinuated that his mom and our boss are talking about his 'special' diet have anything to do with it?"

I'll be working Friday...well, 'working' is such a strong word...more like, I'll be sitting on my butt at my place of employment surfing the internet all day (all the clinics are closed, MRI is closed, surgery is closed = nothing to do). Ok, so I do that most days...I'll be doing more of it on Friday! Your tax dollars at...erm, work.

Cook....COOK!!!

With the advent of a new holiday event comes some exciting activities, namely, being able to level Cooking from 1-300 all from buying vendor items. Now, there are some people who are crying about the nerf and how easy it is for the newbies. Whaaaaaa!

I've leveled Cooking on at least 4 (probably 8)toons past 300, and, frankly, it sucks. Especially getting the 285 - 300 part done without Fishing - Silithus anyone? And before the addition of the Bear Kabobs, it was agonizing leveling the mid 200's as well!

So, I am a big fan of anything that helps out leveling Cooking (when's the First Aid holiday?). I try to level cooking on all my toons as I'm leveling them, but usually, I end up grinding out some gray mobs because I either didn't get the meat to drop as I was leveling or just didn't kill the right type of animals for leveling it. Or I didn't find the right recipes. Or I forgot. Yeah especially that one.

The "Build a Fire" to level cooking was really nice since it doesn't require any mats to build a fire now, but that only lasted until about level 60-80 or so. And let's just face it, if I'm given a super easy way to level a trade skill, I'm going to take it. Period.

So, Daxen got her Cooking to 300, and my new druid Daxenos (what? WHAT???? I'm not allowed to make an alt?? It's not like I have a problem or anything....I can quit any time I want to; I just don't want to!) is level 6 and has his Cooking up past 200 already. I plan on getting Daxynn, Daxjin, and Daxea's Cooking up there as well. I don't think I'll log onto my other servers to level it, but I may.

And finally, I did log onto all my toons to pick up my Onyxia Whelpling for each of them. Yeah, I'm that nerdy....

/snort! whaaa?

Huuuuuh?

oh. *rubs eyes* Is it time to wake up already? /sigh.

Last night... or was it this morning.../shrug, anyways, some time in the last 24 hours, Daxen hit 22. When she turned twenty, I bought her mount, sent her Daxynn's twinked Heirloom items, and started focusing on leveling her.

I just meant to get her to 20 so she could get the next level in Leatherworking, but I've been enjoying playing a hunter again and just wanted to putz around (she /gquit yesterday morning) without being bothered.

So, now, I'm looking at mailing the gear back and forth between the two toons.

What did I do? I did SFK in a PuG. We steamrollered it even with me running out of arrows for a bit (which is the only reason I didn't top the damage meter). I picked up a nice cloak for my efforts as well as a whole level.

I solo'd RFC. Yeah, at twenty one, it's not such a big deal, but some of the mobs were still green to me. I completed all the quests save one, which I'm kinda kicking myself about now. So, I may have to get back in there.

Jay and I are looking at duoing WC. He has a level 21 druid as well as a level appropriate hunter, I believe, so tonight or tomorrow we'll give that a go. I'm thinking that I'll pick up a Tenacity pet for it.

I'm going to let you all in on a long time dream that I've had that I've never been able to realize: I want at least one of my Blood Elves to have a Raptor mount. There...I said it. Go ahead and ridicule me...belittle me...make fun of me. The stupid bird mount is....stupid.

...a guy's gotta have dreams, ya know....

So, anyways, I'll be doing all the low level quests in Durotar with Daxen to earn that Troll rep. Why does the coolest mount have to be the hardest faction to earn rep with? /sigh.

I did something like this with Nitrodax (don't ask), my BS/Ench hunter. She's a Draenai who earned enough rep by level 40 (when mounts were originally awarded...) to get herself a Darnasty Kitty Cat. rawr! Of course the equivalent of what I'm attempting is for her to have done Gnome rep for the Battle Chicken of Doom mount. w/e.

Well, that was short

Ok, one night of the achievement group was the only night, it turns out. The group has moved its focus to raiding and really wanted me to come along.

Here's my issue: I don't want to raid; everyone else (it seems) sees Heroics as a stepping stone to raiding. I just like Heroics. Now, of course, I'm going to get the gear upgrades that badges offer - I still want to improve my equipment, I just don't want to do it through raiding.

And I'm not totally against raiding; I just don't want to do it every week or even every month. And I just don't want the commitment/guilt/time sink that comes along with it. I know it's not hard to understand, but for some reason, I think people have a hard time understanding....lol.

What I need is a new secret toon; I forgot to leave one of my toons out of the guild....doh! Ok, well, one of them is outside of the guild, but it's my bank toon. I suppose I could just sneak /gquit early in the morning with one of the toons I'd like to play intermittently. /shrug, don't want to cause any drama. Of course, being a guildless toon comes with disadvantages as well...

Now, if I decide to bring over my enchanter/blacksmith (a level 70 hunter), then I could leave her unguilded or at least throw her in a non-raiding nor want to raid guild. meh, I've thrown too much thought into this already, I think...

Tonight, we dine at Mitchell's, so I could really care less what's going on in Azeroth! muhuhuhahahahahaha!

Sometimes the PuGs are good.

Last night, Daxie fell in with what seems to be a somewhat static group. She answered a call in /trade for a healer for HToC and the daily.

The HToC went pretty well - no deaths, and the daily, HNexus, went equally well. On the third boss, the hunter suggested that we go for the achievement "Chaos Theory". He had a strat, articulated it well, and we executed it. Boom, got the achieve.

After the instance, we hearthed, took a bio break, and then headed off to AN and OK. In the mean time, I got to talking with the hunter and found out he and his friends were all about "Gettin' [stuff] done!" They were pushin' hard to get the "Glory of the Hero" achievement and wanted me to git 'er done with them. Woot!

So, we did "Watch Him Die", "Hadronox Denied", and "Gotta Go" (which Daxie already had). Then we zoned into Old Kingdom and did "Respect Your Elders", "The Party's Over", "Volunteer Work" (even though we all had it), and "Volazj's Quick Demise" (unfortunately, I released and ran back, so I didn't get the achieve).

I'm pretty excited about the prospect of ticking off all of the Heroic achievements; the red proto drake mount is just a bonus (personally, I think they're ugly...). I'm just happy to be doing something that is challenging, with a group that's pretty good and is not a raid.

Maybe I'm ADD or something, but I prefer the 5 man instances to the raids. They're short, there's usually not a lot of AFK's, and they're easy....ish. Of course, if we were just pounding through them for badges, that'd get old quick, so it's good that we're challenging ourselves with the achieves.

What's interesting is that my current guild doesn't seem to be too interested in running Heroics. They're interested in running 10 man raids, but getting even a daily Heroic group together is, at times, difficult. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about the guild 'cause I'm a big believer in people doing what they want to do in-game without feeling forced or compelled to group up for whatever. That's one of the reasons I won't be a regular raider and will only come to raids sporatically. I don't want the committment or guilt associated with raiding.

As an aside, I do have to give a shout out to Jay for getting Daxie "The Incredible Hulk" achievement a couple of weeks ago and for the guildies that took me to AQ20 and got me into the BT group, so it's not like I haven't been picking achievements up with my guild. Although, I must say this PuG group is intensely focused on getting them, and I find that my interest has perked up in this area...for now.

As a result from the badge farming, Daxie picked up her Triumph badge shoulders and the Valor badge boots. I've got my eye on the ring for my next Triumph badge purchase and the T9 legs for my next Conquest badge buy.

I'm in ur bg's, killin' da noobs

Daxynn passed the 5K kills mark yesterday. I think her total is more than all my other toons' kills combined.

I got stunlocked by another rogue with my trinket on cooldown. I died.

Daxie went to Naxx10 last night with a tank that had almost 50K health, raid buffed. I could have almost single healed the raid and did for a little while.

Daxie is also one Triumph badge away from replacing her blue shoulders. FINALLY!

Daxie also went to Ulduar10 on Tuesday night; the team downed the first 5 bosses, one of which was kind enough to drop a healing belt that was an upgrade.

Either someone is leveling Tailoring and flooded the market with Netherweave Bags or one of the major players is trying to drive out the competition. The market price has dropped below 16 gold...during the week! I'll wait it out and see if the price recovers or if I need to start dumping my bags.

A side note, I raided with one of the major players in the Netherweave Bag market; he is the person who has set the price (IMO) rediculously high (21-24 gold each). I usually set my price at 16-17 gold each with limited (4) listings. I sort of held out a carrot for him to continue doing what he's doing by saying that I had brought a bunch over with me when I transferred (which I did). My hope is that he infers that I have a limited supply.

What I didn't say was that I was intending on making more....Ah, the PvP Auction House game...lol. I'm in ur head, messin' with ur brain!!

Blah blah blah

Did some BG's, pwned some noobs, blah blah blah.

Checked out AQ20 and Black Temple, got the achieves, blah blah blah.

Found some relatively cheap Netherweave Cloth, made some bags, blah blah blah.

Actually worked today, got some Preventative Maintenance done, blah blah blah.

Had Corned Beef and Sauerkraut for dinner last night, had it again today for lunch, fart fart fart.

Thoughts on the weekend

I bought dual spec for Daxie and made up a Shadow spec. I DPS'd a Nexus run and managed to do 1500 dps. I don't really like doing damage as a priest, but it does expand the number of groups I can join. I'd rather just heal.

My Battlegrounds experience is going a bit better on Daxynn. I've done pretty much the same thing for every Arathi Basin battle: Guard the Blacksmith. For the millions of my readers who have never played AB, the BS is in the middle of the map with the other four nodes to the north, south, east, and west.

Guarding the BS is hands down the best spot to gather up Honor; I collected honorable kills from each of the other nodes (even dinged the Arathi Assassin achievement - 5 honorable kills at each node). I should have screenshotted it, but one game I had 6 killing blows, 0 deaths, and over 75 Honorable kills - all while defending the Blacksmith.

The Stables have to be closer to the Alliance starting gate than the Farm is to the Horde starting gate. I have never been in a game where the Farm gets tagged by the Horde before the Alliance gets to the Stables. Never.

Despite having a very slight disadvantage in the map, the Horde almost always wins AB in our battlegroup at our bracket (3X). I'm not sure why we win, but I'm sure that it's related to at least a couple of us willing to guard nodes instead of roaming around engaging the enemy. Of course, not too many of us guard nodes - I watched the Alliance try to turtle two nodes (4-5 defenders at each)...unfortunately for them, we had three nodes capped, so we just had to wait them out.

I joined a guild last week - Jay and Robin had joined, so I figured I'd go along with them. I was going to wait a bit before adding all my alts to make sure the guild was a good fit and (prematurely?) decided on Friday that I'd take the plunge and go all in. Then, I saw today that Robin left sometime yesterday. Don't know why yet - probably something to do with raiding or lack thereof. There doesn't seem to be more than 5 or 6 on at a time in the guild, so even putting together Heroics is sometimes a bit of a stretch; Daxie has been pugging all of her Heroics.

I finally bought the Heirloom bow and didn't have to convert any Triumph badges. Also, Daxie is not getting a new hat; she'll be grabbing some shoulders with 45 Triumph badges. Only 9 more to go....

I have never completed the Eye of Eternity raid on any of my characters; over the weekend, I went as heals on Daxie and made it to phase three with the drakes. I got totally disoriented on both attempts and died fairly early as I didn't stay stacked up on the group. I don't know if I'll ever complete that raid for the "Champion of the Frozen Wastes" title.

I'm approaching the end of my supply of Netherweave bags, and the availability of Netherweave cloth is slim and none, so I'm thinking that I'll have to find another way of making money on this server.

When I'm waiting for the BG's to pop on Daxynn, I've been working my way through the low level areas on Kalimdor. I'd really like to get a raptor mount for my rogue, which means doing lots of Darkspear Troll quests. I'll probably not make it before I hit 40, but it gives me something to do while waiting for battles.

That's about it. I am thinking of ponying up $55 to transfer another toon (my enchanter), but I'm not sure if I will.

Some Musings

Of all the subjects that I've covered under this title, my military applications of marine and domesticated lifeforms has drawn the most attention and feedback, so I wanted to update everyone on some of the more interesting developments.

As everyone knows by now, I have a puppy that's rapidly becoming a dog which is evidenced by her larger size, her recent surgery for da snip snip, and her wearing shorter skirts and makeup.

Now, I'm pretty sure that I mentioned somewhere that I was outfitting Denali with rocket launchers, but because she's still growing, I had suspended the project until she could handle the weight of the weapons.

Well, it's been a good two weeks since then and....she's still not noticeably larger. And that despite all of the growth hormones, steroids, and dog food that I've been feeding her.

It was then that I suspected that I might have bought a lemon (Indiana has laws protecting against Lemon Dogs - Apple Cats are still legal...for now), so I looked at the paperwork provided by the Continental Kennel Club....and was shocked!

Turns out that Denali is an American Eskimo Miniature (emphasis mine)! You could have knocked me over with a backhoe! I had to sit down in order to take in the sheer magnitude of this revelation.

I mean....I had been looking at my puppy as a mere beast of burden when in reality, she is a super tactical genius as applied to Miniature war games!!! That's like having an Albert Einstein and asking him to carry your books. It's like having a J.R.R. Tolkien and trying to get him to carry your books. I might as well try to make a Peyton Manning, Jimmie Johnson, or Tiger Woods carry my books. I mean, sure they're all capable of carrying my books, but is that the best thing that I can use them for? Ok, in Albert's case, maybe, but only because he's dead. Oh, Tolkien too. And they wouldn't be useful for carrying them, more like...holding them.

Anyways, once I realized that I had a being that was bred for (BRED!!! AS IN BREEDING!!! AS IN NON-ASEXUAL REPRODUCTION!!!!) tactical pwnage, I started changing my approach with my new found genius.

Unfortunately, I've had mixed results. I first tried a fairly simple game called Kingmaker. I'm sure that it was mere child's play for my brilliant pup, and I attribute that to her distinct lack of interest.

I figured I'd try a more advanced game: Axis and Allies: Pacific. At least with this game, Denali show some interest in eating the Yamato and the Missouri. I'm sure she was expressing her displeasure at the simple scenarios that don't even touch a portion of her huge intellect. /sigh.

I've tried computer sim games, XBox and Wii games (her lack of opposable thumbs hindered her complete domination in Left for Dead - I still lost, but it was only by 2.3 million). So, anyways, I'm at a bit of an impasse as I'm not really sure how to best use Denali's inherent gifts in the realm of strategy.

I will persevere, however. I mean, why would someone make a special breed of miniatures dogs if they aren't meant to be used? I'm hoping that it isn't just a leftover, obsolete breed like the Dodo Blood Hounds....

Some days you're the windshield...

...and other days, you're the bug.

Last night, I was the bug. I couldn't win a WSG to save my life, and, to boot, I was getting smashed left and right by just about everyone. Poor Jay could only stomach one battle before declaring that he was going to wait a few more levels before engaging in the BG's again.

One bright spot was I did win an AB game, so I wasn't totally demoralized. In that particular battle, I took down a level 36 mage all by my lonesome (still at level 31). He must not have liked the experience, 'cause i didn't see him the rest of the battle.

On the other hand, in the one WSG that Jay and I played together, we ran up against a level 39 hunter that took us both on...and beat us silly. It was rediculous how bad he smoked us both at the same time. He could really play his class well! /salute.

And last night I also collected up a total of 65 Conquest and Triumph badges to buy the Heirloom bow. I stood at the money changer to convert my Triumph badges....and couldn't do it. I just couldn't give up all that work (and the very nice gear) to further boost my rogue. Opportunity Cost defined.

So, I'll wait until I have 65 Conquest badges or 325 Stone Keepers shards and save the Triumph badges for a new hat for Daxie.

My father-in-law and his wife arrive for a visit today, so I'm not sure how much play time I'll have this weekend. Hopefully, I have at least a little; Daxynn is just a few hundred XP away from 32.

Title goes here

Last night, I got in a fair amount of WoW.

Daxie healed three Heroics and collected a number of badges and Stone thingys. I'm not sure what my badge count is up to, but I'm starting to be hesitant about using my Triumph badges for the Heirloom bow. I'm kind of torn anyways because the Stone thingys will get me the gun, which is better for PvP, but I like the Role Playing aspect of my rogue wielding a bow.

And to top it off, I'll probably have enough badges to get the bow before I get Stonies to buy the gun, unless I go for all Conquest badges...I reckon I'll have to just wait and see.

Daxynn played some Warsong Gulch and Arathi Basin, managed to mark herself for death, took down a level 35 Pally all by her lonesome, and got the "Perfect Arathi Victory (or whatever that name is for a 1600-0 win)" achievement.

On the marked for death bit, I seemed to draw a lot of targeting last night...more than usual. Yes, my playstyle tends to get people riled up and yes, Daxynn is still only 31, so I can see why. /shrug.

I also think that getting beat up by a lowbie 31 also has some people wanting to exact some revenge...lol.

The way I figure it is if I can occupy two or three people's focus, that's two or three people that aren't engaged in winning the game, which gives our side a distinct advantage. Disruption, confusion, and chaos....I specialize!

Making a name for myself

I think I'm making a name for myself among my Alliance peers in my battlegroup, or at least, I think I'm being targeted more. Why all the hate?

I like to Sap people. Diminishing returns aside, nothing is more irritating than being Sapped over and over again. And, if I can alternate between a couple of people, I can keep it going long enough for reinforcements to arrive.

I love to Ambush people. Poor little mages that finish a tough battle and sit down to eat/drink with half health....yeah, those kind of people. I love sneaking up behind hunters, casters, hell anyone and ganking them.

I love my Heirloom items. +15 agi to both weapons means a huge bonus attack power from the get go. The only reason I paid for the expensive enchants is the fact that my Heirloom items grow with me, so I won't have to replace them until level cap.

I have the irritating rogue jump fighting style down. Sure, you'll tear me up if I try to go toe to toe with you....so I don't. As a converted keyboard turner, I can instantly spot the people who have yet to master the mouse turn (or like me, refuse to learn it until they have to); I eat them for lunch.

I'll take on anyone. Yeah, Daxynn is only level 31, but I have done some serious damage on some 39's and outright killed 38's and below. If I can get an Ambush on someone, I stand a pretty good chance of taking them down. Paladins still pose a problem, though.

I tend to be a survivor. Vanish, FTW! If a fight is going sideways, I'm not afraid to disappear and reengage at a more opportune time. And I know that torques people off that I won't hold still so they can kill me...lol. Of course, I still die at times, but I'm getting better at picking winnable battles so I survive more often.

Oh....I guess I'd hate it too if I ran up against someone like that!

Two things I'm looking forward to:
1. Getting the Heirloom bow or gun. It'd be nice to have another Heirloom item to boost my stats.
2. Getting another level or two. I think I'm doing pretty well for being at the bottom of the bracket, and I can't wait to see the hate and discontent that I can cause at 35....hahahahahahaha.

Weight Update

So, it's been a while (a month or so) since I updated my weight loss.

I gained a pound or two (literally, not figuratively) on my vacation, so the last month, I've been working toward getting back down to my pre-vacation weight. Now, I haven't been working that hard, so it's taken longer.

But, last week, I had a morning weight of 191.0 lbs, which is right around what I weighed before I left on vacation.

The cooler part is that I am able to fit into some of my 34' pants now (I have been wearing 36's), and I didn't even realize that I was wearing some of the smaller jeans until my wife pointed it out to me. So much for being the observant one...

Regurgitation, Part II

Yeah, I suppose I forgot to write something, eh?

So, for Halloween, we dressed up for a costume party that was put on by our dance studio. It was a lot of fun! There was another couple that was dressed up as a gangster/flapper combo, so we took some pics with them:

Ok, ok, my costume doesn't really stand out without my accessory: My beautiful wife. That's probably why we didn't win any of the contest categories. But!....my outfit was cheap! I already owned the suit, so I paid a couple of bucks for the plastic hat and $10 for the tie. The red "hankerchief" is actually red tissue paper. Yup, I'm a big fake!

As part of the evening of festivities, we learned the Thriller dance. There was plenty of social dancing and a couple of feature dances. Unfortunately, the food left a bit to be desired, but the dancing made up for it. Oh, and the fact that we got in for half price sure helped...

Last night, I ended up watching Ice Age III with my wife. It was pretty good, but didn't measure up to the first one. The Tango scene was great, but a little too short. We bought the movie, so I might just have to pull up the dance scene and watch it again.

Hopefully tonight, I can squeeze in a little WoW; I think I played a grand total of about 2 hours over the weekend (not counting popping on to check auctions). Daxynn is still level 30. It sucks being back at the bottom of the bracket, but Jay and I did do decently one game where, despite being only 32 and 30, we topped the killing blows for the Horde. Yeah, we lost that game....lol.

I took some screenies of some BG pwness; I'll try to remember to upload them tonight. One of them is the BG where I dinged the "Frenzied Defender" achievement - return 5 flags during one WSG. I can't remember what the other one was for.

Yesterday, while grocery shopping, we found some fresh papayas. Mmmm....mmmm.....good! Ever since our Hawaii trip, we've been on the lookout for these tropical fruit; the canned stuff just doesn't do it justice as the fruit is picked and canned green, so it's hard and not as flavorful. The fresh papaya flesh is actually soft and has a different texture than the canned stuff. My dinner last night consisted of a half a papaya with cottage cheese and pineapple filling. Yummy!

The long lost Hawaii picture

I really like this pic, even though it looks like I've got a big melon head...

Regurgitation

Not much WoW over the weekend, so I'll just throw up what I've got...Pictures!



And I can't forget a puppy pic! Poor Denali got fixed on Friday.

The Perpetual Twink

Daxynn the Rogue now has the Heirloom Chest (with +100 health ench), Shoulders, and Balanced Heartseekers (daggers w/ +15 agi ench). I plan on buying the Heirloom bow next - yeah, doesn't it just suck when you root a Rogue in place, and you die to their ranged attack? I did that twice last night...haha. I might need to make a macro:

/lol
/Cast Throw

The log goes:

Daxynn laughs at you.
{thrown weapon} does XX damage.
You die.

So, with four Heirloom items (soon to be five) that grow with my level, I'm down to chasing a just a couple of armor items. I bought the AB boots last night as well as the WSG ring. I'm two marks short of the WSG lvl 28 neck and 19 marks short of the AB belt. With my recent influx of cash, I can afford to buy better bracers, legs, and gloves if any are available.

I'm still not wearing a hat, though; there just aren't any somewhat decent ones available, and I've been resisting buying an Int/Spi cloth hat just to add a bit of armor, although I may just have to break down and do that. Or drop Skinning for Engineering...

And finally, I'm up to level 28. I've pretty much stuck to the BGs for my XP gains, but now I'll try even more to limit my play to the BGs so I can milk these last two levels for as much honor and marks as I can before moving on to the 30's bracket. Oh, yeah, the 29 twink bracket is as broken as the 19, so we're moving on.

Personally, with the Heirloom items, I'm feeling much better about just leveling to cap with possible stops along the way if the X9 non-XP BG is viable. I'd like to be rockin' some Epic bracers from WSG as well as picking up the Epics from the other BGs at 60, although I'm thinking that the Outland starting gear is probably better.

If we do move on past 60, I'll be sad to see WSG, AB, and AV fall off the table as far as rewards go. It would be nice if Blizzard was to make level 68 and 78 versions of the slots that are available from each of the classic Battlegrounds. That said, I haven't even peeked at the EotS rewards or Wrath BGs, so I might just be pleasantly surprised. Let's hope so.

FOR THE HORDE!!!

The deed is done.

Today, when I get home from work, Daxie the Blood Elf priest should be resting comfortably on Andorhal.

Green Light! GOGOGOGOGOGO!!

I got the green light to use a bit of the entertainment budget to transfer Daxie from Kael'thas to Andorhal, from Alliance to Horde.

I looked over all of my Kael'thas toons and have come up with a plan to get four Bind on Account items over to my little rogue - the chest, PvP shoulders, and two PvE daggers.

I've also amassed 5K gold on Daxie, and I'm stock piling Netherweave Bolts on her. See, Netherweave bags sell for around 15-20 gold on Andorhal (6-10 gold on Kael'thas), and one bag takes one slot, but if I make bolts and hold off on making the bag, I can stack 20 bolts in one slot, which equals 5 bags. My aim is to fill every empty bag slot that she has.

So, assuming plenty of Netherweave Cloth, each of my bag slots is worth around 75-100 gold. If I'm keeping junk, I really need to re-evaluate if it's worth 75 gold to keep it or if I can sell it for whatever and put Netherweave Bolts in that slot. It's classic example of opportunity cost.

Unfortunately, there is not an endless supply of Netherweave Cloth, although I might look into the Frostweave Cloth/Bag market and see if that is profitable as well. I'm thinking that it might be due to Andorhal being a PvP server and a chunk of cloth going towards bandages - much more than on a PvE server like Kael'thas.

F.I.P. Need More Rage

Rats Hag, we hardly knew ya....and what we did know was WAY TOO MUCH INFORMATION!

Fish in peace.

About the last post...

It turns out I got the title and the next sentence wrong. It's fixed now.

Lefou, I'm Afraid I've Been Thinking....

"A dangerous pastime"

"I know"

Bonus points to the first person who comments the movie reference.

My wife and I go through this little routine whenever one of us gets a harebrained (or not) idea. And I have been thinkinating...

The fact that I'll transfer one of my toons from Kael'thas to Andorhal is a forgone conclusion. Yes, I will; here's your $55, Blizzard. My thinking has centered around "Which one?"

Here are the non-candidates:
Dwarfvader
Level 80 Hunter
Mining/Engineering
This name would make absolutely no sense if I gave it to an Orc, Troll, Tauren, or Blood Elf. I love the fact that he's a dwarf and has this name. Not gonna move.

Daxynn
Level 39 Paladin
Mining/Herbalism
Too low level and professions don't really help out. Staying put.

Respynot
Level 26 Mage
Herbalism/Skinning
Too low level, name won't make sense on Andorhal (it's a dig at one of my guildies in Blood for Blood), and professions don't really help out. Out of the running.

Vanco
Level 80 Death Knight
Mining/Jewelcrafting
My only Gnome coupled with the one DK per server (yeah, I could delete Daxjin) puts this guy in the do not move pile.

The real candidates:
Daxe
Level 72(maybe 71...) Priest
Herbalism/Inscription
The original Daxenos. He became second fiddle to Daxie during BC due to the Draenai racial being better and never caught up.
Pros: He has dual spec, maxed Herbalism and ~425 Inscription, epic and Heirloom flight, and he's my "extra" priest on Kael'thas.
Cons: Not level capped, and Jay has Inscription covered.
Verdict: Not too likely.

Rysteranch
Level 73 (74?) Hunter
Skinning/Leatherworking
The BC raiding hunter who stepped aside for Dwarfvader.
Pros: Maxed Skinning and ~426 Leatherworking, epic and Heirloom flight, and one of four hunters on Kael'thas.
Cons: Not level capped, and Leatherworking is only useful for my leather/mail wearers.
Verdict: Not too likely.

Smoochie
Level 73 Hunter
Herbalism/Alchemy
Another hunter created to cover professions.
Pros: Maxed professions, Heirloom flight, and one of four hunters on Kael'thas.
Cons: Not level capped.
Verdict: Possible.

Nitrodax
Level 70 Hunter
Enchanting/Blacksmith
Another hunter created to cover professions.
Pros: Maxed professions with some Dream Shard recipes, Heirloom flight, and one of four hunters on Kael'thas.
Cons: Not level capped.
Verdict: More possible.

Daxie
Level 80 Priest
Tailoring/Jewelcrafting
The BC raiding priest that usurped Daxenos and went on to heal quite a bit of Wrath including all of Naxx, VoA, Sarth w/ no drakes, and parts of Ulduar.
Pros: Maxed Jewelcrafting with a lot of Jewelcrafting Token cuts, epic flight, level 448 Tailoring, Raid and Heroic ready to collect badges for Heirloom items.
Cons: Kael'thas loses what is arguably my most developed character.
Verdict: Sold!

But, I'd solicite your comments on the matter. One of the most compelling Pros is the ability to smash through some Heroics with Jay and Robin to collect up badges for the Heirloom items. I'm thinking I might be able to make it happen this weekend....

....oh, and before I transfer, I'll be loading her up with gold, Netherweave bags, and other items that might be useful (Alliance only pets, maybe?). Time to look into any other considerations that I have to take into account before moving.

Still Learning How to go Rogue

I'm going to respec today; no, I'm not going to abandon the Subtlety spec, but I am going to pick up the Improved Sinister Strike before going down the Subtlety tree.

My combat style, as opposed to play style, is slowly but surely evolving into something akin to what most Rogues do - Jump around and spam Sinister Strike. I've got both parts down, now I could really use some Energy savings on the Sinister Strike.

Daxynn is level 23 now, and I'm pretty confident in taking on players three or four levels above me. I will take on anyone in the bracket, but if I get someone solo within 3 levels, I have a good shot at taking them down (unless they catch me at range, then I'm just toast).

Now, I'm not ashamed or timid about using my full powers as a Rogue. I mean, there's a reason Rogues get Cheap Shot, Kidney Shot, Vanish, Dirty Tricks, etc, WE'RE SUPPOSED TO BE SNEAKY SCUMBAGS! Just when you think you have us dead, we Vanish, Sprint, Bandage around the corner, Stealth, and Ambush you! Yep, it's cheap....and not fair.....and whaa whaa whaaa!

An example: I was Stealthed in the tunnel of the Alliance base when a level 26 Warrior ran past. I Sapped him. Then when I saw that he didn't have any back up, I inititated combat.

Ambush hit like a truck, and I quickly got into my jumping/SS rotation. I'd use up the combo points with Eviserate and go back to SS. He got some good swings in on me and after a bit, he was starting to win. That's when I Vanished and Sprinted down the tunnel toward the entrance.

After getting just outside, I ran to the side, Bandaged and Stealthed. His mistake was trying to find me instead of Bandaging. I Sapped him again as he searched around the tunnel entrance and finished him off with another Ambush and a couple of SS.

On Friday, I was talking with Jay and came up with this phrase (I might just have to have it gold plated somewhere on this site):

Ah, the life of a Rogue - making people spittle scream at their keyboards 1000 miles away.

And that little sentence defines what I think is my role in the Battleground, whether it's Sapping them Midfield, snatching the flag in a room full of defenders, Ambushing them (and eventually Stunlocking them), or Vanishing just when they think they have me. It is my full intention to use every single dirty, unfair trick in my arsenal.

It's no wonder people get a perverse pleasure out of killing a Rogue....

On another note, I have my Horde Insignia trinket and most of the WSG gear. I need about 100 more Honor to get the level 18 dagger, and then I'll start saving up for the level 28 gear. I've also started playing Arathi Basin so I can start saving up AB marks.

It dawned on me that the PvP game is designed for the single player. You mostly PuG Battlegrounds, your gear progression is not dependent on others (it's faster if you win a lot, but it still progresses if you only lose games), and everyone in the bracket can contribute (toward the battle) regardless of level or gear deficiencies.

It's funny that way back when I was first starting out, I gravitated toward the PvP side of things for the availablility of good gear without the pain of putting together a dungeon group. Cue music....IT'S THE CIRRRRRRRRRCLE OF LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIFE.....

I feel a new gear list brewing: Rogue PvP Battleground rewards, except this one will be tailored to equipment slot at any level verses at level cap. For example, I know I can get my PvP bracers, weapon, ring, and neck from Warsong Gulch and boots from Arathi Basin.

Anyways, while I know I have a lot of learning and practicing to go, it sure is a lot of fun!

More Rogue Thoughts

I just realized that my little rogue over on Andorhal is just over a week old. It feels like it's been a lot longer than that.

I'm pretty happy with where I'm at playing my toon as well as with what I've been able to accomplish.

My achievements include "1000 Honorable Kills", "{something} Defender" (the one where you kill 100 Flag Carriers), "Not In My House", and "Save the Day". I almost got "The Ironman", but I died once before starting my three cap spree. You can look Daxynn up on the armory to see the full list.

My playstyle and my talent spec have meshed up nicely. I love being in Stealth!! I'll probably never top the damage meter, the killing blows list, or the Honorable Kills column, but, hey, I ain't a hunter, ya know!

What I do bring to the table is more behind the scenes. I love to Sap people as they're running past me in Midfield. I infiltrate the enemy base on a regular basis and either relay information about EFC (Enemy Flag Carrier) location or engage in trying to get the flag back.

As already noted, I also am able to sneak into the enemy base and snatch the flag. In one game, there were four defenders in the flag room - three visible and one stealthed rogue. There was one by the flag and the others were patrolling around looking down the tunnel and such. So, I waited until the two visible ones were by the tunnel, Sapped the one by the flag, grabbed the flag and Sprinted past the rogue out the front door. It was EPIC!

I am really enjoying some of the strategy and tactics that I'm getting to employ from the shadows. The vast majority of strategy that I've used with other classes was pure brute force - I will burn you down even though you see me coming! With the rogue, of course, if they see me coming, I'm pretty much toast (one more level until Vanish), but if I can sneak up to them (and especially behind them) then I have a good chance to either incapacitate them with a Sap or just burn them down.

I really believe that damage meters have taken too large a role when evaluating DPS, and the PvE side is mostly to blame, imho. Since most of the PvE content is free from CC (now), the defining characteristic for DPS classes is damage (well, duh!). I can't remember the last time I had to chain trap as a hunter, and AOE tanking is the norm now.

So, while PvP has been an anathem to me, I am gaining a new appreciation for people playing their classes to their full extent. I see Mages sheeping, Hunters trapping, Warlocks fearing, and Rogues sapping; CC is in full play.

I also have seen the "useless" or quirky spells/talents come alive in the Battlegrounds; I mean, what use in PvE is Ghostwolf form for Shammys, really! But in the BG's, especially the 1X bracket, they're the preferred Flag Carriers precisely because of Ghostwolf form. Also, the fact that Druids can shapeshift out of any ensnare? Totally for PvP.

And don't get me started on innovation! Almost everyone knows that if you are carrying the flag in WSG and you go into Stealth, you automatically drop the flag. Did you also know that you can use that to your advantage?

I was chasing a Druid in the 2X bracket when suddenly, he Stealthed, which did two things: I lost my target and he dropped the flag. Since he planned it out, he snatched the flag back up and took off, while I was left trying to target him again before realizing there was a flag that I had just passed up. Whoops.

By the time I figured out what had happened (just a couple of seconds), he had already grabbed the flag, shifted to travel form, and was bookin' it for the tunnel. Well played, sir, well played.

And that sort of thing is what is exciting. Sure, it feels good to solo another player that's three levels higher than you, but for me, I really get into the strategy and the tactics. How can I grab the flag in a room with four people in it? What can I do to get our flag back? Can I Sap this guy without him sounding the alarm?

It has turned WoW into more of a thinking game rather than a button mashing game, and that, I like.

In which my total geekiness comes out

I am a geek.

I like geek stuff - computers, technology, sci-fi, etc.

I like both Star Wars and Star Trek.

I absolutely loved Episode 1 - 3.

...
I like music.

I like a diverse range of music from Chopin to Dragonforce, from Kelly Clarkson to Bowling for Soup, from the Star Wars score to Acapella.

I like the way the Star Wars music has many variations on the main theme as well as how it is adapted to generate emotion for each scene.

...
On Dec. 12th, here in Indianapolis, our family is going to the Star Wars In Concert at the Conseco Fieldhouse.

I'm quivering with excitement...

Oh, THAT'S what they mean....

Disappointment: When reality and expectations collide.

I've been reading Twinkinfo.com for a little bit now and couldn't see what all the fuss about the Battlegrounds changes was all about. Sure, I understood on an intellectual level - long wait times for non-XP games, but the reality of it didn't affect me as I didn't have a twink.

Of course, as with a lot of things, I tend to forget about such problems until I'm confronted with them. That was the case last night as Jay turned off his XP and queued up for a WSG with the Big Boys.

He waited....

And waited....

.....

And waited....

He was still waiting last night when I logged off.

Fast forward to this morning: I emailed him and asked what he ended up doing. He replied that he ended up turning XP back on and proposing that we level doing just BG's.

I have some reservations about leveling just in BG's - most of them related to getting pwned from levels x0 to x5 or so. I'm also not sure how much XP we'll gain at each level. But.../shrug, it's not like we can't readdress later if things don't work out quite the way we planned.

So, I think we're going to go for it!