Tylara is 50 now!
...and as she hit it, still without a carrot. That was no good, so Clara pulled a pug together for ZF. With me tanking! OMG! That was pretty hard, especially since we had an impatient enhance shaman who kept bloddy pulling. But we cleared it (skipping the Event) in less than 90 mins.
It was actually quite instructive. I've not been sure of what to hot key and button placement. Now I see some abilities I didn't have hotkeyed totally need to be, and I need to unhotkey others... I may have to define a separate action bar for tanking, as some abilities like flash heal are useful when running about outdoors.
...I sure hope pallies get more mana efficient at higher levels...
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Thursday, August 28, 2008
the night of New Content
Today, we were supposed to try try Azgalor. This apparently scared people.
Instead Kuan and Viljo got pulled into the tail half of an all-guild Zul'Aman. Now, in the last few months Kuan's been there once, just to down Hex Lord, and I wanted another shot at the [Hex Shrunken Head].
It dropped, and they gave it to the spriest. Drat! But more importantly, we decided to go after Zul'jin. He was waiting for us.
We'd not tried the fight before, and only one person in the raid had even seen it past phase 4. The raid leader was surprised there was a phase 5 even. Anyhow, we tried him once, and got paralyzed. Then we tried again, and got claw'd. But third time's the charm. Viljo dropped dead, but everyone else survived til the dragonhawk phase. So we got him down! Even though I was thinking it was going to be a 1% wipe again.
(I note, that dead Tauren in front of Kuan is Tobis.)
Viljo got a nice haste neck item from him, [Loop of Cursed Bones].
Instead Kuan and Viljo got pulled into the tail half of an all-guild Zul'Aman. Now, in the last few months Kuan's been there once, just to down Hex Lord, and I wanted another shot at the [Hex Shrunken Head].
It dropped, and they gave it to the spriest. Drat! But more importantly, we decided to go after Zul'jin. He was waiting for us.
We'd not tried the fight before, and only one person in the raid had even seen it past phase 4. The raid leader was surprised there was a phase 5 even. Anyhow, we tried him once, and got paralyzed. Then we tried again, and got claw'd. But third time's the charm. Viljo dropped dead, but everyone else survived til the dragonhawk phase. So we got him down! Even though I was thinking it was going to be a 1% wipe again.
(I note, that dead Tauren in front of Kuan is Tobis.)
Viljo got a nice haste neck item from him, [Loop of Cursed Bones].
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
the 1% wipe.
So, I took Eeyan to Gruul. Now he only needs a Heroic Slave Pens run to get his Champion of the Naaru. And moreover, the guild leader has agreed to start working him into higher-level raids as space permits. Yay!
I was going to post about that and about how I reworked Eeyan's UI for raid frames. But no, not now.
I've been in at least 4, possibly 5 1% wipes in the last week. For folks who know me in real life and not in Wow, they know just how terrifying and expletive-ridden my reaction to such a situation is.
A lot of times, my guildies - including the officers - have told me I'm too hard on myself. It sounds like my peer reviews at work, honestly. But even though the facade is similar, there is a fundamental difference here.
Last night I finally said, in raid chat, We'd all be better off if you all follow my example. If the raid wipes, think: that was my fault. And try to figure out what you did wrong. One of the tanks immediately took umbrage to it, said it was never his fault there was a wipe, and we got in an argument. I let it subside as it was again near those pre-Leotheras trash pulls in SSC that everyone always seems to screw up. Then we wiped on Leo at 1%.
That was my fault. I got hit with the whirlwind on 3 separate occasions, which meant out of the entire 10 minute fight I spent at least 36 seconds doing nothing but healing myself. Then I pulled aggro at 1% and he killed me. What a screwup. The raid leader called it in disgust. We dispersed.
Analysing the fight later, I think every last person in the raid could say something along those lines. It was one of the mage's fault as he died in the first whirlwind. It was the bear tank's fault becuase the bear tank let him get loose a couple times while in elf-form. It was the healer's fault for getting killed by Inner Demon. It was one of the paladin's fault becuase he stood too far away from the warlock tank to get his FR over cap, and the warlock went down. It was Tobis' fault, becuase Tobis is just Tobis.
I could keep going but I won't. Instead I will look at another 1% wipe - Kaz in Hyjal. It was my fault becuase I popped before my Mana Pot timer was up. So I popped just to blow up again, taking a healer out on the process, whereas if I'd've waited we'd've had it. It was one of the mage's fault becuase he blew up in the middle of all the casters. It was the raid leader's fault for not telling people to spread out. No wait it was a pally tank's fault becuase he didn't run out when his mana was low and he blew up the melee. It was the shaman's fault for not Bloodlusting early enough.
And so on.
No goddamn it, this is not my being too hard on myself. This is the attitude everyone should have if they give a shit at all about playing a game that involves group play. The Darkfall officers took far too long to let the rest of us see what wowwebstats had to say. But now I can see it, I can tell.
The wipes are all my fault.
As far as performance though, going back to that SSC run last night, which had a 1% wipe on both Leo and Lurker, I topped the meters for overall raid damage. Honestly, much as I wish that was a boast, I didn't have any performance of note. I think instead that should more be taken as evidence that the rest of the mages and locks in the raid need to take on the attitude I'm talking it, individually accept the blame for the 1% wipes, and try to figure out what they did wrong.
Becuase 1% is pathetic, and unless you die with 0 mana at the very last second, you could have done better, goddamn it.
I was going to post about that and about how I reworked Eeyan's UI for raid frames. But no, not now.
I've been in at least 4, possibly 5 1% wipes in the last week. For folks who know me in real life and not in Wow, they know just how terrifying and expletive-ridden my reaction to such a situation is.
A lot of times, my guildies - including the officers - have told me I'm too hard on myself. It sounds like my peer reviews at work, honestly. But even though the facade is similar, there is a fundamental difference here.
Last night I finally said, in raid chat, We'd all be better off if you all follow my example. If the raid wipes, think: that was my fault. And try to figure out what you did wrong. One of the tanks immediately took umbrage to it, said it was never his fault there was a wipe, and we got in an argument. I let it subside as it was again near those pre-Leotheras trash pulls in SSC that everyone always seems to screw up. Then we wiped on Leo at 1%.
That was my fault. I got hit with the whirlwind on 3 separate occasions, which meant out of the entire 10 minute fight I spent at least 36 seconds doing nothing but healing myself. Then I pulled aggro at 1% and he killed me. What a screwup. The raid leader called it in disgust. We dispersed.
Analysing the fight later, I think every last person in the raid could say something along those lines. It was one of the mage's fault as he died in the first whirlwind. It was the bear tank's fault becuase the bear tank let him get loose a couple times while in elf-form. It was the healer's fault for getting killed by Inner Demon. It was one of the paladin's fault becuase he stood too far away from the warlock tank to get his FR over cap, and the warlock went down. It was Tobis' fault, becuase Tobis is just Tobis.
I could keep going but I won't. Instead I will look at another 1% wipe - Kaz in Hyjal. It was my fault becuase I popped before my Mana Pot timer was up. So I popped just to blow up again, taking a healer out on the process, whereas if I'd've waited we'd've had it. It was one of the mage's fault becuase he blew up in the middle of all the casters. It was the raid leader's fault for not telling people to spread out. No wait it was a pally tank's fault becuase he didn't run out when his mana was low and he blew up the melee. It was the shaman's fault for not Bloodlusting early enough.
And so on.
No goddamn it, this is not my being too hard on myself. This is the attitude everyone should have if they give a shit at all about playing a game that involves group play. The Darkfall officers took far too long to let the rest of us see what wowwebstats had to say. But now I can see it, I can tell.
The wipes are all my fault.
As far as performance though, going back to that SSC run last night, which had a 1% wipe on both Leo and Lurker, I topped the meters for overall raid damage. Honestly, much as I wish that was a boast, I didn't have any performance of note. I think instead that should more be taken as evidence that the rest of the mages and locks in the raid need to take on the attitude I'm talking it, individually accept the blame for the 1% wipes, and try to figure out what they did wrong.
Becuase 1% is pathetic, and unless you die with 0 mana at the very last second, you could have done better, goddamn it.
Flying Carpets!
So I was chatting with DraNgNon and a couple of other friends yesterday, and one of them mentioned that in Wrath of the Lich King Tailors will be able to make and ride Flying Carpets. At first I was incredulous, how could something so sublimely cool get added when I have a tailor? Then I just grinned like an idiot. I thought it was just too cool to actually happen, so I just savored the thought while insisting that everyone else was making it up.
Today I did some research. Magnificient Flying Carpet has an entry on wowwiki, but no actual information. However there is a link to the Flying Carpet on WoWhead, and that pointed me to a very fast rug. Which has a pic from Blizzcast 4 where they have a screen shot of the text for a flying carpet. So apparently there will be Flying Carpets!! OMG I will need to level Telt's Tailoring as soon as Wrath drops.
Today I did some research. Magnificient Flying Carpet has an entry on wowwiki, but no actual information. However there is a link to the Flying Carpet on WoWhead, and that pointed me to a very fast rug. Which has a pic from Blizzcast 4 where they have a screen shot of the text for a flying carpet. So apparently there will be Flying Carpets!! OMG I will need to level Telt's Tailoring as soon as Wrath drops.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Black Temple!
So this week both Drangnon and I got to raid. Monday was TK where we killed Al'ar, Void Reaver, and Solarian. This was quite exciting as Both Kuan and Viljo had the quest: Ruse of the Ashtongue. So the phoenix was killed and disguses were worn. I also got some good shots of Kuan fighting Void Reaver. I'll try to post those soon.
Anyway we killed the giant fire chicken, and then went to talk to Akama. Akama was quite happy about this, but still needed more work out of us. Fortunately Tuesday Darkfall was raiding Mount Hyjal. So upon Rage Winterchill's death (and subsequent looting) An Artifact from the Past was completed. We continued on to kill Anetheron, and Viljo got the spiffy shoulders: Hatefury Mantle. Of course Viljo got a new set of shoulders, I just finished putting epic gems in his t5 shoulders...
After Anetheron was dead we all ran to the Horde encampment. I have to say that I liked the waves of trash before Kaz'rogal. It was complete chaos, but so much better to be fighting beside the orcs, trolls, and tauren. Also the gargoyles, while annoying, were quite fun to kite. I think that Viljo will have a better time with the frost wyrms after I spec him back into fire and he has the extra range to reach them. We only had time for one attempt on Kaz'rogal, and we had a one percent wipe. There were a number of people who blew up the raid. Including one, usually stoned, mage who blew up *eleven* other people. Ouch. :(
Anyway we killed the giant fire chicken, and then went to talk to Akama. Akama was quite happy about this, but still needed more work out of us. Fortunately Tuesday Darkfall was raiding Mount Hyjal. So upon Rage Winterchill's death (and subsequent looting) An Artifact from the Past was completed. We continued on to kill Anetheron, and Viljo got the spiffy shoulders: Hatefury Mantle. Of course Viljo got a new set of shoulders, I just finished putting epic gems in his t5 shoulders...
After Anetheron was dead we all ran to the Horde encampment. I have to say that I liked the waves of trash before Kaz'rogal. It was complete chaos, but so much better to be fighting beside the orcs, trolls, and tauren. Also the gargoyles, while annoying, were quite fun to kite. I think that Viljo will have a better time with the frost wyrms after I spec him back into fire and he has the extra range to reach them. We only had time for one attempt on Kaz'rogal, and we had a one percent wipe. There were a number of people who blew up the raid. Including one, usually stoned, mage who blew up *eleven* other people. Ouch. :(
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
TopScore
So I play on both a laptop and a desktop. I'm thinking I want to somehow keep a merged copy of the FuBar_TopScoreFu.lua around...
I know some people have a svn server setup for this sort of thing, but that's a tad overkill. Any lighter weight ideas?
I know some people have a svn server setup for this sort of thing, but that's a tad overkill. Any lighter weight ideas?
Saturday, August 16, 2008
knocking things out
Since I posted about my toons, I sure got a lot done. Eeyan got his Kara run in, has gotten his Flaming Signet, is now exalted with Violet Eye, and picked up an epic crossbow I need to scope. Now he needs Gruul.
Kuan did get his little dragon from the battlegrounds; and his 1200 gold, 22-slot bag. A daily run of Heroic Slave Pens got enough badges for the healy gloves, and Teltanara put +35 heals on them too. Picked up some lichens in there too; I'd thought they were only in Auchidoun. Some other dailies and he's sporting 100+gold and enough mats for anything, well, other than Primal Waters, so I'm about to go see about that.
And Tylara? She got to do the BG daily, but even though she won, no little dragon. She does, now, have her first tabard. It looks a bit incongruous... until the chest she's wearing sinks in.
She'll be wearing that tabard for a while, I bet. Once she's in full plate I'll think about a guild one, unless she has the Blood Knight tabard first.
Kuan did get his little dragon from the battlegrounds; and his 1200 gold, 22-slot bag. A daily run of Heroic Slave Pens got enough badges for the healy gloves, and Teltanara put +35 heals on them too. Picked up some lichens in there too; I'd thought they were only in Auchidoun. Some other dailies and he's sporting 100+gold and enough mats for anything, well, other than Primal Waters, so I'm about to go see about that.
And Tylara? She got to do the BG daily, but even though she won, no little dragon. She does, now, have her first tabard. It looks a bit incongruous... until the chest she's wearing sinks in.
She'll be wearing that tabard for a while, I bet. Once she's in full plate I'll think about a guild one, unless she has the Blood Knight tabard first.
Friday, August 15, 2008
Viljo wears the ninja pajamas!
That's what we concluded after Clara heard about it for daring to take a Nethermine Cargo from Paze, o noes, whom we didn't realize was "clearing it" at the time. You know. By killing all the mobs around it everyone needs for the kill-quest daily in there...
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
catching up on draNgNon's toons
I've not updated in here much lately! That's becuase it seems that every time I have time, I'd rather actually play the game.
Tylara is 45 and is starting to acquire some plate. I've still not tried tanking a pug; she's only been asked twice, for ZF and RFD, right as I was within 5 minutes of logging. I'm not sure I'd be any good tanking RFD, I'm not nearly as familiar with the instance as I am... well, with any other instance besides Marau. Perhaps I should just walk in there with Eeyan and learn it. Or perhaps, I should get the runups to ST and BFD done and stick with running those.
Eeyan is now capable of equipping a full set of Epics. He has had his T4 hat for a while, but was lacking the meta gem. Last night I found out Elut could cut it and so tonight Eeyan will have his T4 hat. He also has the 100-badge [Tunic of the Dark Hour] and is starting to embark on collecting badges for the 100-badge pants. Eeyan right now needs Gruul and Nightbane for the Champion title; I need to nudge Darkfall's officers a bit more for a Mags/Gruul title raid. He is also one Karazhan run away from exalted with Violet Eye.
Kuanchichi has regemmed/reenchanted his gear after I concluded that deriving spell hit from gems was stupid. I put the +spellhit enchant on his gloves, +spellpower on his bracers, and replaced the spell hit gems with epic gems that have spell crit. Last night in Mt Hyjal I got to see the fruits of that effort as his DPS broke 1000 a few times. Also I have decided that - silly name aside - he needs one of those 1200 gold, 22-slot bags from Haris Pilton. He's a bit short of the gold, but sometime this week I'll farm up the rest and get him one of those bags. Kuan has 57 badges right now, and unless I'm given a very good reason not to he will spend 60 on a pair of [Polished Waterscale Gloves]. Yes, off-spec, but then his healy set won't suck so hard. Lastly, becuase I might as well, I'm trying to pick factions for dailies that Kuan isn't yet exalted with. He hit exalted with Ogri'la last weekend. I think Netherwing is next.
Speaking of Netherwing, Eeyan and Teltanara are still neutral. Probably we should get them up there, since Viljo is already exalted so I'm sure Clara would rather bring Telt along with Kuan.
Finally, there's PvP. I've started Kuan in the battlegrounds again... I want to try Tylara in there. Maybe Kuan or Tylara can get the little dragon. Teltanara went along with him becuase Clara wants the little dragon. As a side effect she got her PvP trinket to make the Rage fight in Mt Hyjal easier.
Of course that meant Viljo went to Mt Hyjal last night. Raiding-wise, Darkfall has started on Black Temple and is working on Naj'entus. But Kuan has yet to go, becuase of schedule madness. Hopefully next week.
Sometime soon I hope to poke back through here and find my progress list, and update it for "what I hope to get done before the expansion drops."
Tylara is 45 and is starting to acquire some plate. I've still not tried tanking a pug; she's only been asked twice, for ZF and RFD, right as I was within 5 minutes of logging. I'm not sure I'd be any good tanking RFD, I'm not nearly as familiar with the instance as I am... well, with any other instance besides Marau. Perhaps I should just walk in there with Eeyan and learn it. Or perhaps, I should get the runups to ST and BFD done and stick with running those.
Eeyan is now capable of equipping a full set of Epics. He has had his T4 hat for a while, but was lacking the meta gem. Last night I found out Elut could cut it and so tonight Eeyan will have his T4 hat. He also has the 100-badge [Tunic of the Dark Hour] and is starting to embark on collecting badges for the 100-badge pants. Eeyan right now needs Gruul and Nightbane for the Champion title; I need to nudge Darkfall's officers a bit more for a Mags/Gruul title raid. He is also one Karazhan run away from exalted with Violet Eye.
Kuanchichi has regemmed/reenchanted his gear after I concluded that deriving spell hit from gems was stupid. I put the +spellhit enchant on his gloves, +spellpower on his bracers, and replaced the spell hit gems with epic gems that have spell crit. Last night in Mt Hyjal I got to see the fruits of that effort as his DPS broke 1000 a few times. Also I have decided that - silly name aside - he needs one of those 1200 gold, 22-slot bags from Haris Pilton. He's a bit short of the gold, but sometime this week I'll farm up the rest and get him one of those bags. Kuan has 57 badges right now, and unless I'm given a very good reason not to he will spend 60 on a pair of [Polished Waterscale Gloves]. Yes, off-spec, but then his healy set won't suck so hard. Lastly, becuase I might as well, I'm trying to pick factions for dailies that Kuan isn't yet exalted with. He hit exalted with Ogri'la last weekend. I think Netherwing is next.
Speaking of Netherwing, Eeyan and Teltanara are still neutral. Probably we should get them up there, since Viljo is already exalted so I'm sure Clara would rather bring Telt along with Kuan.
Finally, there's PvP. I've started Kuan in the battlegrounds again... I want to try Tylara in there. Maybe Kuan or Tylara can get the little dragon. Teltanara went along with him becuase Clara wants the little dragon. As a side effect she got her PvP trinket to make the Rage fight in Mt Hyjal easier.
Of course that meant Viljo went to Mt Hyjal last night. Raiding-wise, Darkfall has started on Black Temple and is working on Naj'entus. But Kuan has yet to go, becuase of schedule madness. Hopefully next week.
Sometime soon I hope to poke back through here and find my progress list, and update it for "what I hope to get done before the expansion drops."
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Spirit of Competition
There is an event going on in Azeroth right now. It is the Spirit of Competition. Coincidentally this event is running from the 8th to the 25th of August, which is the same time frame as the Olympics in China. The rewards are something that I really WANT Viljo and Teltanara to have.
These rewards are the Gold Medallion and the Competitor's Tabard. The Gold medallion summons a mini Asian Dragon! The tabards are white with a 4 ring design.
Anyway it is quite nice that this even coincides with our decision to do more battle grounds. Last night Kuan and Telt did enough battle grounds to get Telt the last few thousand honor for her Medallion of the Horde. In the process both of them got the tabard. Since you get the tabard for any full participation in a battle ground, win or lose, this isn't that special. The gold medallion is a chance on wining a battle ground, and while they won 3 of the 4 bgs run, there was still no pet. :(
These rewards are the Gold Medallion and the Competitor's Tabard. The Gold medallion summons a mini Asian Dragon! The tabards are white with a 4 ring design.
Anyway it is quite nice that this even coincides with our decision to do more battle grounds. Last night Kuan and Telt did enough battle grounds to get Telt the last few thousand honor for her Medallion of the Horde. In the process both of them got the tabard. Since you get the tabard for any full participation in a battle ground, win or lose, this isn't that special. The gold medallion is a chance on wining a battle ground, and while they won 3 of the 4 bgs run, there was still no pet. :(
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Regemming Viljo
I've been putting bids in on gems for Viljo lately. He needs a bunch of epic gems. Specifically he needs to swap out some of his +crit gems and have +hit and +spelldamage ones instead. If I get 8 more points of spell hit then I can swap the offhand he uses for boss fights and still be hit capped. Bleh, epic gems are expensive.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
a long-held goal
Eeyan is finally 345+ all ranged. Took him long enough.
What's funny is the reason he got it was that he'd picked up [Wolfslayer Sniper Rifle] last weekend in a Karazhan run. I decided to grab an [Adamantite Scope] from teh AH for it for 80g and run SSO dailies until I'd made up the gold. And while running the dailies, just use the bow & crossbow as much as I could to get the last point in each to hit 345.
Alright, not that exciting of an update for anyone but me. I will be annoyed, though, if WotLK gets released and he's not 349+ in all ranged.
What's funny is the reason he got it was that he'd picked up [Wolfslayer Sniper Rifle] last weekend in a Karazhan run. I decided to grab an [Adamantite Scope] from teh AH for it for 80g and run SSO dailies until I'd made up the gold. And while running the dailies, just use the bow & crossbow as much as I could to get the last point in each to hit 345.
Alright, not that exciting of an update for anyone but me. I will be annoyed, though, if WotLK gets released and he's not 349+ in all ranged.
Friday, August 1, 2008
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