UI on my mind

So, I am unhappy with what I'm doing in instances, and a lot of the unhappiness has been UI. After last night I decided to deal with it.

So, I had this epiphany with Eeyan. He has no abilities that can be on either self or others. Well, except for bandaids and that is never hotkeyed. So I remapped 10 of the mouseable buttons into alt-N for the hotkey they sat over. Then I reordered some of his attacks. I will have to take him into instances with PUGs to deal with the mistakes that result from the first few hours of this, but it will make things so much better.

As for Kuan. A couple things were bugging me. The first one was easy. I had Purge hotkeyed, which is necessary as it is not really used many times, but when it needs to be used, it Needs To Be Used. And hence the problem, if Kuan was in the middle of a cast. So I wrapped it like I have Earthshock wrapped:

#show Purge
/stopcasting [harm]
/cast [harm] Purge

I put the harm conditional in there becuase if I hit the key by accident while healing a friend, I don't want the stop casting. That's unlikely but not as unlikely as I'd prefer.

Actually I don't have that on Earthshock. I probably oughta. There.

#showtooltip
/stopcasting [harm]
/cast [harm] Earth Shock

I need to combine this in some intelligent way with a similar macro that casts on focus, just for the interrupts.

The larger challenge was Ele Mastery. I really forget to cast it most of the time, which is stupid for a 31-point talent. So I checked if it was subject to GCD, and it is not. (More on that below.) So I put together a macro that would cast it, then Lightning Bolt. Now, while it's not subject to GCD, it does have a 3 min cooldown. Really, that sucks, so only once every 3 mins do I get to avoid big red "Spell not ready yet" on my screen. A bit of poking around on wowwiki gave me what I needed though. I added this to the top of both my Lightning macros:

/script UIErrorsFrame:UnregisterEvent("UI_ERROR_MESSAGE");
/cast Elemental Mastery
/stopcasting
/script UIErrorsFrame:RegisterEvent("UI_ERROR_MESSAGE");

It still makes the fail-to-cast sound but I don't care.

Now I have a hotkey free on Kuan's UI. I am going to try adding the Searing Totem back in for now.

time passes
Ok, the /stopcasting after Ele Mastery is not working for me. I will try them without it tomorrow.

draNgNon progress 25 Feb

It's been 2 weeks, well, and a day but I was busy yesterday. Time for my progress based on my last list. I have not updated the blog as much as I'd like, I have not played as much WoW as I have been previously, and what I have played was not so much raiding, becuase of work. I said this last time. My hopes were dashed. Anyhow...

Kuanchichi
• Exalted with Darkspear • Finish all the coins • Exalted with Keepers of Time • Heroic SH, timed • farm for [Major Frost Prot] • 350 on 2H Maces • PvP... at least the daily... • Learn Cauldron of Major Fire Prot	• woo, got it!!! • done! • broke 17000 revered, but no. • got it • no runs • nope • did a couple, not enough • nope
Eeyan
• Revered with Cenarion Expedition • At least the outdoor Lunar Festival coins • Start Scryer quest chains in SMV • Clear Deathforge quest chain • Onyxia key • Strat run • Scholo run • 375 blacksmithing • 340+ all ranged	• got it! • only a couple • started • cleared • got it, w00t! • full clear, no drop • nope • 369 • 338 arrows, 338 guns
Aurochh
• Clear Stromgarde • Start on Badlands • Uldaman runups • 280 enchanting • Mounted	no progress on any of this
Vhaas
• Belore lvl 58 • At least the outdoor Lunar Festival coins • Clear outdoor Silithus quests • BRD	• got it • about half • 3 or 4 left • nope
Trismestigus
• quests in Silithus • 290 Tailoring	• nope • 280

Here is my new list. Kuan's DPS has gone down, not up, and I've started to get very sloppy. So I need to focus on improving my reflexes here. Or UI. Or both.

Kuanchichi Flask of Supreme Power, PVP, and Pugs
• Exalted with Keepers of Time
• Heroic Arc
• PvP... get at least 2 pieces of S1
• farm for [Major Frost Prot]
• 350 on 2H Maces
• Learn Cauldron of Major Fire Prot
• Pick up the badged healy shield

Eeyan blacksmithing, 0.5 quests, epic mount money for Teltanara
• Revered with Thrallmar
• Finish Scryer quest chains in SMV
• Run Stormpsire quests
• Strat run (for Tier 0 Shoulders and Pants)
• Scholo run (for Tier 0 Hat)
• 375 blacksmithing
• 340+ all ranged

Aurochh leveling, enchanting skillups
• Start on Badlands
• Clear BB quests in STV
• Uldaman
• 280 enchanting
• Mounted

Vhaas mount money, Dranei rep
• Clear outdoor Silithus quests
• Start Dranei quests in Hellfire
• BRD

Trismestigus mount money, tailoring
• quests in Silithus
• 290 Tailoring

Elephant here I come

I was busy with RL things yesterday and got stuck. So I decided while I waited on getting un-stuck I'd get Vhaas her coins. As a result Khyrie and Vhaas ran around Azeroth for quite a while, gathering coins for the lunar festival.

While we were at it, whenever we were in areas where the mobs were still green, we went on a killfest. The xp wasn't really good for lvl 61 player characters, but it was fantastic for the level 50-some pets. Now Dorano is 60, and Belore 57 I think. And Vhaas' Exodar rep is 7800+ Revered!

Today we logged them in to finish the coins, and woe, the Lunar Festival is done! But with Dorano 60, we paid a visit to Hellfire Penninsula. Did a couple HH quests, and ran to the next flight point. Which is all Exodar quests, woot!

Meanwhile I discovered my hunter macros no longer work quite like they did when I wrote them. Good thing I found that picking up coins, and not in some lvl 60 instance when I would be the idiot by pulling early.

Today I am almost done with the RL things. So now I turn back to Kuan, who need just 4 badges to upgrade his boots, which would be nice before another try at Void Reaver tonight.

Miscellaneous Raiding

We ran ZA on Monday and while we got the first boss down within the timer the second boss turned out to be a bit more of a challenge. Our first try we got up the gauntlet just fine. We had three tried on the boss before repops, and managed to get him to 3% on our last try. However, our second try didn't really count as half the raid got dc'd just as the tank pulled.

Anyway after repops we couldn't get the coordination together to make it up the gauntlet again. Some harsh words were said and we decided to reconvene the next evening at 10.

Kuan and Viljo were at the stone at 9:50 Tuesday night. But the main tank and healer didn't start forming the raid then. At 10pm I asked the MT if there was actually going to be a raid, his response was "maybe". So I bummed around doing a few daily quests and a bit of farming. At 10:30 Kuan and Viljo finally agreed to go with a bear-tank friend to do Heroic Shattered halls, since that was the daily. We said yes and in a few moments we had another dps and a healer.

The 5 of us headed to SH and just as we were summoning people at the stone, the pally lead asks me if I'm ready for an invite. It's now 10:35, the raid was supposed to start over half an hour ago. I hadn't gotten any indication that I should wait. Now I was about to start a full-guildie heroic.

Sadly I said no to the pally. If he had asked just a few minutes earlier, or even given me any indication that the run was actually going to happen I would have waited. As it was I put the bear-tank off for quite a while before I said yes and helped to organize the group. Hopefully the officers aren't annoyed too much, but if they are it's really too bad. :(

On the good side of all of this we got the Trial of the Naaru: Mercy quest done. And we even saved Captain Bonesahatter. This was despite 3+ seconds of lag during the gauntlet for most people and me disconnecting every 5 seconds. I am quite surprised that we actually got the timer done at all, let alone saved Boneshatter too. (On an unrelated note they swap the NPCs around if you're horde or alliance. Alliance get to save someone else.) So all we need to do is keep the crazy suicidal gnome in heroic Arc alive and then kill Mag.

These are the People in your Raid

I know that eventually it will go away from Blizzard's forums, so I have saved it here for posterity.

These are the People in your Raid

The Raid-

You raid with these people. You work with these people. These people are closer than your family. You should worry.

The GM- He’s sacrificed his family, friends, and probably a couple of jobs to drag you through new content. When the guild isn’t performing, these decisions are in question. Prone to shooting sprees, forum flame wars, and the rapid advancement/gearing of whatever toon the guild “needs”. If you can keep your mouth shut, he’ll go emo and quit before you get gkicked. Still, you do like the guy. Or did. Before he went crazy. See drunks, below.

The GM's Significant Other- Okay, so he was going to have to quit but he tricked his SO into playing. She loves it. She's terrible. You'll effectively 24 man every boss. Count on 4 constructs in the raid, every attempt. She plays a Belf.

The Raid Leader- When you stand in the flames, he dies a little bit inside.

The Positive officer- “That was great. Just great. You know, only 5% of guilds have even made it to Supremus, and getting him down to 67% on the second attempt is hawt.” See Stoners, below.

The Negative officer- “Jesus Christ why are there corpses under all these goddamn volcanoes? It’s Supremus for %@*@s’s sake. GET OUT OF THE GODDAMN FLAME!” See Drunks, below.

The Healing Officer- Has this job because, as the newest officer who plays a healer, he’s stuck with it.

The Guy Who Runs the Guild- He’s been here a long time. Like forever. He’s an officer if he accepted the position. He knows all the gossip and understands the politics. For the love of God, don’t make this guy decide that you are hurting the guild. The last GM did.

The Hunter Class Lead- Will tell you that it does actually require skill and preparation to play a hunter well in the end game. Lies frequently.

Stratman- Has read every strategy on the entire internet for every boss. Unable to think critically. Knows where his talk key is. Hated by the officers. Likely to play a hunter. If this is also Chick With Accent, below, guild will probably collapse.

The Gay guy- Affects the gay accent for effect. Upgrade decisions tend to involve lengthy discussions about gear appearance. Learned to use the dressing room function before the ‘v’key.

The Stay At Home Mom- She’s around children all day and craves adult conversation. Babbles incessantly in vent, forgetting that adult conversation doesn’t usually begin with, “So I was talking to (insert name of four-year-old child) and he says…” May or may not be on speaking terms with spouse. Is muted on vent by 90% of the raid.

Mr. Mikeless- Has a microphone. Hears the conversation and directions. Once wiped the raid because he started talking most folks alt-tabbed to see who the hell was speaking. May be your best player.

The Kid- So, you messed up on this guy’s interview and nobody noticed that he was 12. But, he can play. And if he gets a little bit excited when boobies are getting talked about? Hey, he’s young.

The Other kid- Remember that accountant you interviewed for the fury warrior position? And how you wondered how he’d make time to raid during tax season? He couldn’t. His eleven year old daughter took over about that time. She’s been raiding since. Mages… that’s an eleven year-old girl owning you night after night.

The Drunks- The core of your guild. As raid progresses, their voices in vent are getting just ever so slightly slurred. You don’t notice because you’re trying to sound sober yourself. DPS output seems to scale positively with blood alcohol content.

The Stoners- Quietly wiping raids since the beta. They really, really, really hate having to move out of the fire. Two of them are dead under the volcanoes. They live in fear of the negative officer. They have their own channel. Try /join (insertguildname)stoners. You’ll see who’s in there. It’ll explain a lot. They’re also having more fun that everyone else combined

The Prima Donna- Requires special attention from management. Constantly whining. Plays some vital role. Might be a main tank, mage tank, or lock tank. The officers really hate this guy and as soon as they can find another tank with 24,000 buffed HP, he’s out. Not a stoner.

The Chick with the Accent- Is the accent fake? Nobody knows or cares. Future visits to Australia/Britian/New Zealand/Alabama are now planned by all single raid members. The Negative officer will never, ever call her out.

The Healing Pallie- Hates healing and had to go holy to see endgame. If you raid with a boomkin, a feral druid, a fury warrior, or any non-resto shaman, you are not getting a 10 minute blessing. Forget it. He hates you. Also, see Prima Donna, the Gay Guy.

The Warlock Whisperer- Directionally challenged. Despite having run Karazhan 1.26 million times, will require a summon to Maiden's room from the entrance. Has a "summon pls" macro.

The New Guy- Begins most sentences with, "That's not how we did it in my old guild on Korgath." Likely to remain guilded for approximately one week. You wonder if he'll be tellign his next guild, "In my old guild, we ran TOWARDS the volcanoes.

Takin' care o' business

And tonight, Viljo and Kuanchichi finally Finished their Gordok Business, and 2-man'd Dire Maul West and then a Tribute Run in North.

UBRS

So, after poking around the game tonight, we decided we'd take Eeyan and Teltanara to clear the Deathforge sequence in SMV. We got halfway through the next quest when a lock in our guild, who loves the old content and has the Marau key, whispered me if I wanted to go get Kuan's 50th coin. Of course!

We got to talking and I asked if he'd be willing to try UBRS with Eeyan and Telt. He was a bit dubious that we could 3man it, but was drinking and willing to try. We got our coin (yay!) and decided hey, maybe we should ask in guild if anyone was interested. There were a few in Vent running AV for honor.

Lo and behold, before we knew it we were in Vent with an organized run! They all pulled out of PvP and some went off to finish world dragons while a 5man party went into UBRS to get Telt her Rend kill. We brought in a 64 warr who was still just leveling up and had never seen UBRS either. It took a while, but in the end, we had an 8man raid to down Drakk; 4 of those got the blood for the [Drakefire Amulet]; a different 4, got BWL attunement done.

And Eeyan was one of those 4!!! Finally, Eeyan is Onyxia attuned. Wahoo!

O wow! It's 4am. I better go to sleep! Well, the SC chest didn't drop, and Telt has 2 more UBRS runs for her key. So it won't be the last we're there...!

Telt's profession needs

Teltanara has two professions that need lots of rep and farming to get all the patterns and formulas. I'm only going to list those items that are available from factions, world drop, regular instance or heroic instance drops.

Tailoring
Faction Recipes:
• Aldor: exalted: Flameheart Vest and Golden Spellthread
(There are still factions in Azeroth that Telt lacks patterns from. These are Argent Dawn, Cenarion Circle, Thorium Brotherhood, Timbermaw, and Zandalar. I would only want these patterns for completions sake. The actual items made are outclassed by level 70 gear.)
Drops:
• Whitmend Pants: Arcatraz: Dalliah Doomsayer
• Whitmend Hood: Botanica: Warpsplinter
• Arcanoweave Robe: Mechanar: Pathaleon the Calculator (I think I have this already)
• Arcanoweave Bracers: Arcatraz: Arcatraz Sentinel
• Arcanoweave Boots: Mechanar: Sunseeker Astromage
• Spellstrike Pants: Shadow Lab: Murmur
• Spellstrike Hood: Shattered Halls: Grand Warlock Nethercurse
• Battlecast Pants: Botanica: Thorngrin the Tender
• Battlecase Hood: Steamvaults: Kalithresh
• Unyielding Bracers: World Drop

Enchanting
Faction Recipes:

• Cenarion Expedition: Exalted: Enchant Cloak - Stealth
• Consortium: Revered: Enchant Ring - Weapon Might (Not actually useful to Telt.)
• Thrallmar: Revered: Enchant Chest - Exceptional Stats
• Thrallmar: Exalted: Enchant Cloak - Subtlety
• Keepers of Time: Exalted: Enchant Gloves - Superior Agility
• Lower City: Exalted: Enchant Cloak - Dodge
• Shat'tar: Exalted: Enchant Gloves - Threat
• Violet Eye: Exalted: Enchant Weapon - Greater Agility
(There are still factions in Azeroth that Telt lacks enchant recipes from. These are Argent Dawn, Cenarion Circle, Thorium Brotherhood, Timbermaw, and Zandalar. These enchants are useful, particularly for twinks, as they do not have the level 35 item restriction.)
Drops:

• Shadowmoon Valley: Eclipsion Archmage: Enchant Cloak - Greater Arcane Resistance
• Netherstorm: Voidshrieker: Enchant Cloak - Greater Shadow Resistance
• Blade's Edge Mountains: Bloodmaul Geomancer: Enchant Bracer - Spellpower
• Netherstorm: Ethereum Nullifier: Enchant Bracer - Major Defense
• Netherstorm: Sunfury Researcher: Enchant Weapon - Major Intellect
• Blades Edge Mountains: Bash'ir Spell-Thief: Enchant Weapon - Major Spellpower
• Shattered Halls: Shattered Hand Centurion: Enchant 2H Weapon - Savagery
• Arcatraz: Eredar Deathbringer: Enchant 2H Weapon - Major Agility
• Steamvault: Coilfang Oracle: Enchant Bracer - Fortitude
• Auchenai Crypts: Raging Skeleton: Enchant Boots - Dexterity
• Mana Tombs: Ethereal Priest: Enchant Boots - Fortitude
• World Drop: Enchant Boots - Cat's Swiftness
• World Drop: Enchant Boots - Boar's Speed

Edit: Getting this post to look right is a pain in the ass. Blogger doesn't deal with HTML correctly. :(

the other side

On Greymane, one of our guildies is actually new! And he hit 69 Wednesday. He sent out a mail, wheee, I am 69!

The email thread quickly disintegrated as one of the tanks cranked about dying 5 times in Arc helping someone else who wasn't ready to run the instance get a Kara key and he was no longer willing to do that and repair bills and blah blah blah.

This upset both Clara and I as it held echoes of the attitude which drove us both out of KTSNI earlier last year, and this blog off Livejournal. We pushed back on his attitude and there was some sniping.

Finally, I mailed,

o for pete's sake. how many times did you die? when I get home
tonight I will put the gold in the guild bank.

Turns out he'd died 5 times. So I put 30g in the guild bank to cover his repairs. I pulled it off Tris, so Tris now has like 19g to his name. Wow, I still won't take these toons to Outland without Epic Ground mounts. It feels like they will never get there.

Meanwhile, the guildie who hit 69 felt so bad for starting the thread. However most of the folks in the Alliance guild are good folk, and soothed him, and said no don't feel bad. We are actually excited for you. I told him hurry to 70 so he could fly! Flying rules!

Revered with CE

One of our recently-70 rogues wanted to run a heroic, any heroic, and the daily was Underbog. So I brought Eeyan and Clara brought Viljo and off we went.

This was a disaster as the healer was a resto druid who kept falling asleep. So instead Clara brought Teltanara and we got an ex-guildie Ladrean to fill in the DPS/CC spot. He's a lock and that's better CC in Underbog than a mage anyhow.

It took much longer than I thought it would - we kept wiping on trash - the only wipe on a boss was when our tank started the fight while Eeyan was still trying to poison his weapons - but now Eeyan and Teltanara are both revered with CE. Telt has a new healy head and Eeyan has his +hit +AP head enchant. Yay!

Exalted with Darkspear

Well, the coins weren't enough to do it. But whilst doing the coins, Kuan discovered he'd never killed Fizzle. And while running about BRD for the coin in the Ring of Law, some Runecloth dropped.

So, at 3 years since getting rolled, and 94 days 50 mins played, Kuanchichi is finally Exalted with Darkspear.

Now, I can go to sleep.

pictures

We are not posting enough pictures to this thing, I think.

I will try to change that, too, over the course of the next week,

draNgNon progress 11 Feb

It's been 2 weeks, well, and a day but I was busy yesterday. Time for my progress based on my last list. [[[sigh]]] I have not updated the blog as much as I'd like, I have not played as much WoW as I have been previously, and what I have played was not so much raiding, becuase of work. Hopefully all that will be rectified soon. Until then...

Kuanchichi
• Exalted with Keepers of Time • Heroic SH, timed • farm for [Major Frost Prot] • 350 on 2H Maces • PvP... at least the daily... • Learn Cauldron of Major Fire Prot • [Seal of the Exorcist]	• 15640 revered... • nope • lost the roll to Viljo • still no! • nope • haven't tried • got it! more: Exalted with Skyguard
Eeyan
• Revered with Cenarion Expedition • Revered with Scryer • [Blood Knight War Cloak] • Onyxia key • Strat run • Scholo run • 375 blacksmithing • 340+ all ranged	• 10643 honored • 8090 honored • got it! • nope • nope • nope • 368 • 336 arrows, 338 guns more: Revered with Sha'tar
Aurochh
• Clear Stromgarde • Start on Badlands • Uldaman runups • 280 enchanting	Instead of all this, hit lvl 39 clearing Mudsprocket quests

Here is my new list. I'm adding the Alliance toons back in, as I am playing them a couple hours a week or so... Hm. This looks a bit ambitious considering I'm not really playing a lot until Thursday...

Kuanchichi Flask of Supreme Power and coins
• Exalted with Darkspear
• Finish all the coins
• Exalted with Keepers of Time
• Heroic SH, timed
• farm for [Major Frost Prot]
• 350 on 2H Maces
• PvP... at least the daily...
• Learn Cauldron of Major Fire Prot

Eeyan blacksmithing, 0.5 quests, epic mount money for Teltanara
• Revered with Cenarion Expedition
• At least the outdoor Lunar Festival coins
• Start Scryer quest chains in SMV
• Clear Deathforge quest chain
• Onyxia key
• Strat run (for Tier 0 Shoulders and Pants)
• Scholo run (for Tier 0 Hat)
• 375 blacksmithing
• 340+ all ranged

Aurochh leveling, enchanting skillups
• Start on Badlands
• Clear BB quests in STV
• Uldaman
• 280 enchanting
• Mounted

Vhaas mount money, Dranei rep, leveling pets
• Belore lvl 58
• At least the outdoor Lunar Festival coins
• Clear outdoor Silithus quests
• BRD

Trismestigus mount money, tailoring
• quests in Silithus
• 290 Tailoring

Plans and how they get happily upset

I logged in last night with grand plans. There would either be coin collecting for Kuan and Viljo, or questing for Eeyan and Telt, or heroic UB for Eeyan and Telt. I figured that while I looked for a group and DraNgNon dealt with her banker I'd take Telt to bomb in Skettis.

I was almost half way through bombing when I get a random whisper. "Wanna heal heroic Mech?" It was from an enhance shammy that Eeyan and Telt ran around with once when we were all little in Hellfire. This enhance shammy is in once of the top guilds so I figure the run shouldnt' be too painful. I ask if they have room for a rogue too. Because I know Eeyan's real goal is badges for the Blood Knight War Cloak. Enhance shammy says yes and off we go.

Then I am reminded that as much fun as playing Teltanara is it's really hard to make sure everyone stays alive in a heroic. Telt has just over 1400 +heals, but if the tank is taking a lot of damage, say from those stupid bomb throwers, I don't have time between spamming heals on the tank to drop more than a renew or two on the melee, and sadly that isn't enough to keep them up in that case. :( So, much to my chagrin, Eeyan died a bumch :(

But we persevered, and managed to down every boss on our first try. I was doing pretty well keeping everyone up on the fire lady until the eles decided to go after me... Then 3 of us (including me) died, but we still managed to kill her. The gauntlet part was also pretty challenging. The first set of 3 waves we plowed through, I was very close to OOM a couple of times but managed to keep everyone up. Sadly I was not so lucky the second set of 3 waves. The tank went down but the rest of us managed to run out.

Pathaleon was interesting. It's funny how fights feel entirely different as a healer than as a dpser. Telt got mc'd first but fortunately didn't do too much damage :) and the tank stayed up. Then the loot popped up and Telt won Boots of the Pious and Pattern: Arcanoweave Robe. And with the badges Eeyan did get his spiffy new Blood Knight War Cloak.

the Lunar Festival is here!

and OMG, the quests have all reset!

I am going to get them ALL with Kuan this time. Maybe, he will even manage to hit Exalted with Darkspear.

Lurker Down!

We just downed The Lurker Below! I am so excited at our first boss kill in SSC! It took a lot of work and coordination but it was so worth it to still be standing when that giant fish died. :) It is also pretty good because one of my favorite tanks got the Mallet of the Tides.

In the process we lost a bear tank who, well, I'm not terribly sorry to see go. Apparently in our last failed attempt she was one of the people not listening to the RL's directions. Instead she was listening to her bf, who was standing behind her. He had quit the guild some time ago and I was quite glad to see him go. Anyway after Wednesday's attempt and the RL shouting on vent about people who weren't listening (but not naming names) apparently she cried. So she qguit before our tries tonight and wonder of wonders it took us only 2 tries to down Lurker. First one we got him to 20% and the second one we had one a couple of people down when we killed Lurker.

Then of course we tried Hydross a couple of times just so everyone could see him. We've got the resist gear for that fight, but our tanks need to work on the hand off between phases. And our dps needs to work on not dotting him too close to the hand off.