Well, it's not a perfect EJ build, but level 74 Ikoli isn't raiding yet either.
http://talent.mmo-champion.com/?priest#9fD4HhGx3oBi,Oapeq-,9767
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Item level blows
Check this out. Note the item level difference:
[Ancient Draenei Arcane Relic]
vs
[Vengeance of the Illidari]
Which one should I dump from Ikoli's bags, since I just realized she's sitting on both.
[Ancient Draenei Arcane Relic]
vs
[Vengeance of the Illidari]
Which one should I dump from Ikoli's bags, since I just realized she's sitting on both.
Red Protodrake
I know DraNgNon already posted about Glory of the Hero. I still have spiffy screen shots, so I'm going to post them anyway.
And the obligatory pics of us on the drakes:
And Viljo flying on the drake:
And the obligatory pics of us on the drakes:
And Viljo flying on the drake:
Glory of the Hero
Viljo and Kuanchichi persuaded Ariyn, Grizloch, and Tildem to get teh Zombiefest! achievement just now.
We all know what that means.
Yes, kids, that's the [Reins of the Red Proto-Drake] attached to that message. Kuan and Viljo subsequently paraded around for admirers at Krasus' Landing.
This will be Kuan's new default flying mount. The drake isn't nearly as awkward as the proto-drake taxis are.
We all know what that means.
Yes, kids, that's the [Reins of the Red Proto-Drake] attached to that message. Kuan and Viljo subsequently paraded around for admirers at Krasus' Landing.
This will be Kuan's new default flying mount. The drake isn't nearly as awkward as the proto-drake taxis are.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Old Kingdom
Mornara and Ikoli did another random dungeon last night. Mornara is 74 and Ikoli is 73, so I was expecting to get Nexus or Utgarde Keep. Possibly they would get Azjol-Nerub, since they are in the level range for that too.
Since Mornara and Ikoli queue as tank and healer the wait time for them is anywhere from 5 to ten seconds. Imagine my surprise when not AN, but Old Kingdom pops up as our random. I believe that the 79 mage and 76 warrior skewed our average group level up enough that we got bumped to OK in stead of AN.
The run went ok. I'm not going to say it was smooth. I felt very rushed the entire time by the level 73 shaman who insisted on running ahead of me and occasionally pulling for me. I was usually waiting for Ikoli's mana. I didn't give in to this temptation, but I was very tempted not to taunt off of that shaman.
The 79 mage was a bit of a challenge for my nascent tanking skills, but that was just due to level difference. The mage was actually polite about aggro, and I think it was only where there was some heavy aoe that he pulled aggro.
Herald Volajz, the last boss, was actually not too bad as a tank. As Mornara it really doesn't phase me when there are 4 mobs beating on me. And at normal difficulty I can kill them pretty easily.
I'm still really enjoying the random dungeon finder tool. It's a great way to get some expereince tanking before I feel like I have to know what I'm doing. And the extra xp and badges are pretty sweet too.
Since Mornara and Ikoli queue as tank and healer the wait time for them is anywhere from 5 to ten seconds. Imagine my surprise when not AN, but Old Kingdom pops up as our random. I believe that the 79 mage and 76 warrior skewed our average group level up enough that we got bumped to OK in stead of AN.
The run went ok. I'm not going to say it was smooth. I felt very rushed the entire time by the level 73 shaman who insisted on running ahead of me and occasionally pulling for me. I was usually waiting for Ikoli's mana. I didn't give in to this temptation, but I was very tempted not to taunt off of that shaman.
The 79 mage was a bit of a challenge for my nascent tanking skills, but that was just due to level difference. The mage was actually polite about aggro, and I think it was only where there was some heavy aoe that he pulled aggro.
Herald Volajz, the last boss, was actually not too bad as a tank. As Mornara it really doesn't phase me when there are 4 mobs beating on me. And at normal difficulty I can kill them pretty easily.
I'm still really enjoying the random dungeon finder tool. It's a great way to get some expereince tanking before I feel like I have to know what I'm doing. And the extra xp and badges are pretty sweet too.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Dos and Don'ts of Pugging
In the usual case I'm a fan of the new LFD system. The algorithms do a good job of gear matching. And finding a group quickly is allowing more runs to happen faster. However, while most of my experiences have been positive I've run into a couple of ridiculous and annoying situations. Therefore I've compiled a list of suggestions.
DO: Take a few minutes at the start of the instance to drop some buffs.
Everyone should do what party and self buffs they have. Mages and warlocks should drop a table or fel toilet (healthstone thingy, but I swear it makes the same noise as a toilet tank refilling). Part of this should be making sure that everyone knows who the tank and healer are. Various classes and specs have buffs that are best used on a specific role. For example you really want the hunter and rogue putting their threat stuff on the tank.
DON'T: Go charging off as soon as you've got the buffs you need.
Having just buffed everyone and dropped a table Viljo would like a moment or two to drink.
Having just buffed everyone and healed their damage, Teltanara really needs a moment to drink. I know, Mr Uber-Leet-Pally-Tank, you're at full health, and you want this run to go fast. But trust me it'll go a lot faster if I don't have to rez the dps warrior because you were out of range and I couldn't catch up in time to heal both you and him before one of you took a dirt nap.
DO: Be polite to the other people in the run.
Give a polite greeting to everyone. Or at least don't be a giant flaming dickwad. I'm not expecting to be best buds with the random people from another server, but I do expect not to have to deal with rudeness. I'm here to heal or dps or tank, not put up with your crap.
DO: Wait for the tank to get aggro.
You may be annoyed at not being the top on the damage meter, but let me assure you you'll only get farther down if you die three seconds into the fight because you didn't let the tank get aggro. And by not letting the tank get aggro you're increasing the risk that the other dps and the healer will pull aggro as the tank runs around like a chicken with his/her head cut off trying to grab the mobs you yanked before they eat someone else's face.
DON'T: Ninja loot and then drop group.
Be reasonable with the loot. If something is a upgrade, need it. I'm glad you're gear is now better. If it's a frost orb or a Winter Hat and everyone has clicked greed, then you should click greed as well. If instead you wait to be sure that everyone clicks greed and then you click need, loot and drop group. Well, you're a ninja and I hate you.
DON'T: Try to level up some weapon skill.
I'm running this instance for rep and badges and maybe a piece of offspec loot. I'm not running it to help you get that last point in unarmed skill. Equip your goddam weapons. Next time my holy priest does more damage than anyone I will vote kick their ass.
DO: Take a few minutes at the start of the instance to drop some buffs.
Everyone should do what party and self buffs they have. Mages and warlocks should drop a table or fel toilet (healthstone thingy, but I swear it makes the same noise as a toilet tank refilling). Part of this should be making sure that everyone knows who the tank and healer are. Various classes and specs have buffs that are best used on a specific role. For example you really want the hunter and rogue putting their threat stuff on the tank.
DON'T: Go charging off as soon as you've got the buffs you need.
Having just buffed everyone and dropped a table Viljo would like a moment or two to drink.
Having just buffed everyone and healed their damage, Teltanara really needs a moment to drink. I know, Mr Uber-Leet-Pally-Tank, you're at full health, and you want this run to go fast. But trust me it'll go a lot faster if I don't have to rez the dps warrior because you were out of range and I couldn't catch up in time to heal both you and him before one of you took a dirt nap.
DO: Be polite to the other people in the run.
Give a polite greeting to everyone. Or at least don't be a giant flaming dickwad. I'm not expecting to be best buds with the random people from another server, but I do expect not to have to deal with rudeness. I'm here to heal or dps or tank, not put up with your crap.
DO: Wait for the tank to get aggro.
You may be annoyed at not being the top on the damage meter, but let me assure you you'll only get farther down if you die three seconds into the fight because you didn't let the tank get aggro. And by not letting the tank get aggro you're increasing the risk that the other dps and the healer will pull aggro as the tank runs around like a chicken with his/her head cut off trying to grab the mobs you yanked before they eat someone else's face.
DON'T: Ninja loot and then drop group.
Be reasonable with the loot. If something is a upgrade, need it. I'm glad you're gear is now better. If it's a frost orb or a Winter Hat and everyone has clicked greed, then you should click greed as well. If instead you wait to be sure that everyone clicks greed and then you click need, loot and drop group. Well, you're a ninja and I hate you.
DON'T: Try to level up some weapon skill.
I'm running this instance for rep and badges and maybe a piece of offspec loot. I'm not running it to help you get that last point in unarmed skill. Equip your goddam weapons. Next time my holy priest does more damage than anyone I will vote kick their ass.
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Ho ho ho.
As you can see, Kuanchichi the Jungle Troll is overjoyed at Winter's Veil festivities and merrymaking.
Last night Kuan and Viljo got the PvP achievement for Winter's Veil. We also got Let's Get This Done as a nice side effect. That only left one achievement to go, which Kuan got this afternoon!
Hmm, looks like he's not too thrilled with how fruitcake tastes either. Just like me.
Last night Kuan and Viljo got the PvP achievement for Winter's Veil. We also got Let's Get This Done as a nice side effect. That only left one achievement to go, which Kuan got this afternoon!
Hmm, looks like he's not too thrilled with how fruitcake tastes either. Just like me.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
New Shield!
Darkfall down'd Marrowgar again. He drops this kickass shield, which Kuan really wants to replace [Aegis of Damnation].
Of course, he didn't drop it for Darkfall. Disappointed once again, I pouted. And then, Darkfall announced a 2 week moratorium on 25man raids because people didn't want to deal with new content over the holidays.
So, Rahlenti pushed for a brief Ulduar 10 and we killed Ignis for the new "weekly" raid and I convinced everyone to down XT too. Yay, [Pulsing Spell] shield for Kuan! it's only been ... how long ... ? This is only Kuan's 4th shield upgrade since the badged level 70 shield.
Next up, 50 [Emblems of Frost] and that fabulous cloak.
Of course, he didn't drop it for Darkfall. Disappointed once again, I pouted. And then, Darkfall announced a 2 week moratorium on 25man raids because people didn't want to deal with new content over the holidays.
So, Rahlenti pushed for a brief Ulduar 10 and we killed Ignis for the new "weekly" raid and I convinced everyone to down XT too. Yay, [Pulsing Spell] shield for Kuan! it's only been ... how long ... ? This is only Kuan's 4th shield upgrade since the badged level 70 shield.
Next up, 50 [Emblems of Frost] and that fabulous cloak.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
PUGing it
I've tried out the new LFG system a bit. I have mixed feelings so far.
On one hand it's pretty speedy about finding groups. No whispering back and forth, no trying to find out what spec someone is. Just queue and, when everyone is set, off you go. Since there is the whole battle group to pick from you're more likely to actually find a tank and healer in a reasonable amount of time.
On the other hand, well, it's a PUG. A full on pickup group with people you'll never see again. Or at least you'll never control if you see them again. You may group with them in a BG or in another random dungeon.
So both of these situations has led to a little bit of bad behavior from everyone involved. I can see the start of a battle group instancing culture forming, but it's hard to tell so far how it will turn out. I've done random groups with Viljo and Telt so far and have had good luck to have decent tanks and dps and healers. Generally any issues come from over-eager or careless dps pulling aggro on the wrong thing.
I haven't run into any loot ninjas. And I like the new auto-disenchant option. There really was nothing more annoying for Telt than having to remember to DE and distribute shards at the end. Invariable someone forgot and hearthed out so I would have to chase them down in Dal or elsewhere.
The runs I've been on have been quite speedy and mostly wipe free. There are always a few deaths (see earlier mention of over-eager dps), but mostly things have been wipe free. The only exception was an AN run where it took 5 tries to get the Watch Him Die achieve. It would have been less if the group had listened to Viljo tell them how to do it before they tried a couple of other strategies...
The other odd thing about most of these runs is the absolute silence from most people. There is a tiny bit of strategy, but mostly people are just silently chain-pulling the entire instance. Even when I've said something I usually don't get a response. I can't tell if that is the other server's culture coming through or people being nervous about not looking like a fool.
So in general I have positive things to say about the new LFG system. Time will tell if Hyjal and the Whirlwind battle group gets a good instanceing culture, but so far things seem pretty good.
On one hand it's pretty speedy about finding groups. No whispering back and forth, no trying to find out what spec someone is. Just queue and, when everyone is set, off you go. Since there is the whole battle group to pick from you're more likely to actually find a tank and healer in a reasonable amount of time.
On the other hand, well, it's a PUG. A full on pickup group with people you'll never see again. Or at least you'll never control if you see them again. You may group with them in a BG or in another random dungeon.
So both of these situations has led to a little bit of bad behavior from everyone involved. I can see the start of a battle group instancing culture forming, but it's hard to tell so far how it will turn out. I've done random groups with Viljo and Telt so far and have had good luck to have decent tanks and dps and healers. Generally any issues come from over-eager or careless dps pulling aggro on the wrong thing.
I haven't run into any loot ninjas. And I like the new auto-disenchant option. There really was nothing more annoying for Telt than having to remember to DE and distribute shards at the end. Invariable someone forgot and hearthed out so I would have to chase them down in Dal or elsewhere.
The runs I've been on have been quite speedy and mostly wipe free. There are always a few deaths (see earlier mention of over-eager dps), but mostly things have been wipe free. The only exception was an AN run where it took 5 tries to get the Watch Him Die achieve. It would have been less if the group had listened to Viljo tell them how to do it before they tried a couple of other strategies...
The other odd thing about most of these runs is the absolute silence from most people. There is a tiny bit of strategy, but mostly people are just silently chain-pulling the entire instance. Even when I've said something I usually don't get a response. I can't tell if that is the other server's culture coming through or people being nervous about not looking like a fool.
So in general I have positive things to say about the new LFG system. Time will tell if Hyjal and the Whirlwind battle group gets a good instanceing culture, but so far things seem pretty good.
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Random observations
I've not jumped all over the game in the last 3 days since the patch dropped, mostly because of work. But I've played some and here is what I have experienced and learned. Most but not all of it is patch related.
• Northrend Inscription Research actually stops working, once you've learned all the glyphs you can use at level. Imagine my surprise to find out that now Ikoli is 73 it starts working again. So I've resumed building Ikoli's ... Inscription Resume.
• There are a lot of changes in Icecrown that aren't really part of the Citadel. A shrine, for example, has been added with Blood-Queen Lana'thel talking about a broken blade (Tolkein is rolling over in his grave). This is related to the new 5 mans in a way we shall soon discover; she is also a boss in Icecrown Citadel in the part not yet unlocked.
• Speaking of the new 5 mans, Sylvanas is the quest giver. Blizzard is clearly using a new voice actress for her; the difference grates on the ears since they did not replace her normal emotes.
• Timear is boring now and gives no quests. His stuff is replaced with random dailies you access from LFG. His achieve is now a Feat of Strength.
• Proof of Demise is now a weekly raid "...Must Die!" quest. Yes now I'm echoing the patch notes. The first one is Ignis. We will make sure to do these with Eeyan and Telt. That achievement is also a Feat of Strength. As far as I can tell there is no achieve for all the "...Must Die!" quests, which I interpret to mean they are leaving it open ended and will assign them in weekly server updates.
• The first boss in Icecrown Citadel, which has been acronym'd to ICC, is Marrowgar. New art - awesome. Old tactics - he's basically an uncomplicated combination of Leotheras, Patch and Najentus. We down'd him our first time in there, the second try ...after we got past the strategy writeups and realized what we were seeing.
• It appears that tabard rep now applies to all four Horde Expedition factions. I know, "tabard rep" is a misnomer as those reputation gains are what you get when you wear anything but a faction tabard. Anyhow Kuan & Viljo's Taunka and Hand of Vengeance rep shot up when they went into a 5man.
• ditto for some, but not all, of the Tourney dailies.
• Forge of Souls was a straight shot. I would rate it easy. But Kuan healed in a pug our first (and thus far only) time through, and he had to work for it; we had a few deaths and a wipe even. So some might dispute my "easy" rating. Honestly though, you're supposed to be struggling through an instance.
• Forge of Souls is pretty. Blizz continues to rock the art with the undead instances. I loved Stratholme in "vanilla" for all the detailed art, and I love this.
• The pug was cross-server! I hate pugs in some sense. The above screenshot is everything wrong with the pugs, as well as illustrating a lot of what I've typed in this entry. Notice the pug-badness even is contagious to me, there I was the healer, idle and targeted on Viljo. The lock is not targeted on the skull and has pulled a mob with AOE damage into the casters. etc.
• Northrend Inscription Research actually stops working, once you've learned all the glyphs you can use at level. Imagine my surprise to find out that now Ikoli is 73 it starts working again. So I've resumed building Ikoli's ... Inscription Resume.
• There are a lot of changes in Icecrown that aren't really part of the Citadel. A shrine, for example, has been added with Blood-Queen Lana'thel talking about a broken blade (Tolkein is rolling over in his grave). This is related to the new 5 mans in a way we shall soon discover; she is also a boss in Icecrown Citadel in the part not yet unlocked.
• Speaking of the new 5 mans, Sylvanas is the quest giver. Blizzard is clearly using a new voice actress for her; the difference grates on the ears since they did not replace her normal emotes.
• Timear is boring now and gives no quests. His stuff is replaced with random dailies you access from LFG. His achieve is now a Feat of Strength.
• Proof of Demise is now a weekly raid "...Must Die!" quest. Yes now I'm echoing the patch notes. The first one is Ignis. We will make sure to do these with Eeyan and Telt. That achievement is also a Feat of Strength. As far as I can tell there is no achieve for all the "...Must Die!" quests, which I interpret to mean they are leaving it open ended and will assign them in weekly server updates.
• The first boss in Icecrown Citadel, which has been acronym'd to ICC, is Marrowgar. New art - awesome. Old tactics - he's basically an uncomplicated combination of Leotheras, Patch and Najentus. We down'd him our first time in there, the second try ...after we got past the strategy writeups and realized what we were seeing.
• It appears that tabard rep now applies to all four Horde Expedition factions. I know, "tabard rep" is a misnomer as those reputation gains are what you get when you wear anything but a faction tabard. Anyhow Kuan & Viljo's Taunka and Hand of Vengeance rep shot up when they went into a 5man.
• ditto for some, but not all, of the Tourney dailies.
• Forge of Souls was a straight shot. I would rate it easy. But Kuan healed in a pug our first (and thus far only) time through, and he had to work for it; we had a few deaths and a wipe even. So some might dispute my "easy" rating. Honestly though, you're supposed to be struggling through an instance.
• Forge of Souls is pretty. Blizz continues to rock the art with the undead instances. I loved Stratholme in "vanilla" for all the detailed art, and I love this.
• The pug was cross-server! I hate pugs in some sense. The above screenshot is everything wrong with the pugs, as well as illustrating a lot of what I've typed in this entry. Notice the pug-badness even is contagious to me, there I was the healer, idle and targeted on Viljo. The lock is not targeted on the skull and has pulled a mob with AOE damage into the casters. etc.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Go forth with confidence
The "Fall of the Lich King" patch is today! Servers are down, but that means now is the time to download it and get it launched, before everyone else is busy trying to sort it.
Somehow I don't think there'll be raiding tonight.
Somehow I don't think there'll be raiding tonight.
Friday, December 4, 2009
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Achievement-O-Rama
Since Saturday night things have been pretty spiffy in Azeroth for Kuanchichi and Viljo.
Saturday night while bopping around on alts we noticed Ahngusbeaf, the bear-tank, asking for two more dps to run heroics. Viljo and Kuan have done a lot of achieves with Ahngus and so I suggested Heroic Occulus and the timed achieve, Make it Count. Ahngus and the other two members of the group said sure and we proceeded to smash through 5 heroics, getting just about every achieve.
Acheives that Kuan and Viljo didn't already have included: Split Personality (AOE for the win) and Lodi Dodi we Loves the Skadi. We failed to get On The Rocks in UK, and I'm not really sure why. Viljo was the only one who got the debuff, and I didn't Iceblock out of it or see anyone targeting the ice cube.
The last instance of the evening, we tried H Gun'drak. I figured that we were all a bit too sleepy and didn't have enough interrupts to get Less-Rabi. But we'd at least try for it. But then wonder of wonders, we got it! The rat bastard died without turning into a mammoth! Woo! We finished up the instance and managed to get Share the Love for the tank and another dps who needed it. After 6 heroics and a whole crapton of achievements we called it a night.
Sunday night, with a totally different group, Kuan and Viljo got Amber Void in Occulus. It really is a much slower fight without the Amber drakes, but totally doable.
Tuesday we went into Azjol-Nerub and got Watch Him Die. That achieve is a huge pain. We managed to kill Krik-whats-his-butt, but his adds took us all out. Still counted so I'm pleased. :D
The only achievements that Kuan and Viljo have left for Glory of the Hero are On the Rocks and Zombiefest.
Saturday night while bopping around on alts we noticed Ahngusbeaf, the bear-tank, asking for two more dps to run heroics. Viljo and Kuan have done a lot of achieves with Ahngus and so I suggested Heroic Occulus and the timed achieve, Make it Count. Ahngus and the other two members of the group said sure and we proceeded to smash through 5 heroics, getting just about every achieve.
Acheives that Kuan and Viljo didn't already have included: Split Personality (AOE for the win) and Lodi Dodi we Loves the Skadi. We failed to get On The Rocks in UK, and I'm not really sure why. Viljo was the only one who got the debuff, and I didn't Iceblock out of it or see anyone targeting the ice cube.
The last instance of the evening, we tried H Gun'drak. I figured that we were all a bit too sleepy and didn't have enough interrupts to get Less-Rabi. But we'd at least try for it. But then wonder of wonders, we got it! The rat bastard died without turning into a mammoth! Woo! We finished up the instance and managed to get Share the Love for the tank and another dps who needed it. After 6 heroics and a whole crapton of achievements we called it a night.
Sunday night, with a totally different group, Kuan and Viljo got Amber Void in Occulus. It really is a much slower fight without the Amber drakes, but totally doable.
Tuesday we went into Azjol-Nerub and got Watch Him Die. That achieve is a huge pain. We managed to kill Krik-whats-his-butt, but his adds took us all out. Still counted so I'm pleased. :D
The only achievements that Kuan and Viljo have left for Glory of the Hero are On the Rocks and Zombiefest.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Rearguard action
Poor Clara. Lithui is putting up a valiant defence, but despite his efforts to purge midlevel crafting mats from our own personal guild bank without flooding the market, my alts are replacing those mats just as fast.
Saturday, November 28, 2009
PvP Experience
Last night we took Ikoli and Mornara into the battlegrounds! We went into Alterac Valley and Strand of the Ancients. They garnered wins and all kinds of achievements!
The experience gains from Alterac Valley were insane. Capping a tower or downing Balinda were almost 12000 xp each. Ikoli gained 25% of level just in the battlegrounds. My goal for her is to get the [Medallion of the Horde] for her by the end of the weekend. I'm not sure what Clara's goal is for Mornara, or if she even has one, she was having so much fun.
Healing in a battleground is weird. I need to adjust my raid frames a bit as I do not grey out people who are out of range. This was never a problem with Kuan in the battlegrounds but is a big pain on Ikoli. I also need to reconsider her spec, but she's still too little for it to matter.
The experience gains from Alterac Valley were insane. Capping a tower or downing Balinda were almost 12000 xp each. Ikoli gained 25% of level just in the battlegrounds. My goal for her is to get the [Medallion of the Horde] for her by the end of the weekend. I'm not sure what Clara's goal is for Mornara, or if she even has one, she was having so much fun.
Healing in a battleground is weird. I need to adjust my raid frames a bit as I do not grey out people who are out of range. This was never a problem with Kuan in the battlegrounds but is a big pain on Ikoli. I also need to reconsider her spec, but she's still too little for it to matter.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Maarli and Chikari
Hyjal was down most of the night... it's still down. So, we rolled toons on Black Dragonflight, which is a PvP server. Clara rolled Chikari, a female orc rogue who spent quite a bit of the evening playing target to various turkey shooters. I rolled Maarli, a female troll hunter. For all this is hunter #4 or 5, I've not had a Troll hunter before. They've all been NEs or Tauren.
We grouped up since it was for fun, which slowed the leveling down, but Maarli got to 11 and Chikari got almost-not-quite to 10. Maarli has a Bloodtalon Scythemaw for her pet, which I chose because it's a pretty red raptor, and was unexpectedly pleased at it already having Savage Rend.
But now it's time for sleepies. way past time for sleepies.
Did I mention Hyjal was still down?
We grouped up since it was for fun, which slowed the leveling down, but Maarli got to 11 and Chikari got almost-not-quite to 10. Maarli has a Bloodtalon Scythemaw for her pet, which I chose because it's a pretty red raptor, and was unexpectedly pleased at it already having Savage Rend.
But now it's time for sleepies. way past time for sleepies.
Did I mention Hyjal was still down?
Monday, November 23, 2009
It's that time of year
They've made it so hard to retain a rogue's dignity, just so they can have a pun in the name of an achieve.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Fuck Yeti Cheese.
Fuck Mountain Water.
Fuck Snowballs.
Fuck the Brunhildar ice bitches. Give me my goddamn White Bear!
Fuck Mountain Water.
Fuck Snowballs.
Fuck the Brunhildar ice bitches. Give me my goddamn White Bear!
Friday, November 20, 2009
Once Upon a Time: Teltanara
My proper name is Telta'anara, which means "Over-shadowing Sun" in Thalassian, however, those not of the Sin'dorei mangle the accent. In the world outside Silvermoon city and the Evensong woods I go by Teltanara. I am a priestess of the Sindorei, and you are honored to have me heal you.
I am a child of the dark times. I was only a young elf when Arthas burned a swath through Evensong Forest and fouled the Sunwell. My parents were killed in the defense of our city. I barely remember the time when magic was plentiful and unfouled in our city. A time before the weakness of our current magical hunger.
When it was shown that I had an aptitude for the priestly arts, I was sent to training. I learned my lessons well, and learned just as well the things that were unsaid but just as directly taught. Good things come to those who take them, for nothing is free. This lesson was driven home early on, when my instructors taught me of the value of Power Word: Fortitude. I was told to cast the spell on at least 5 guards who were still defending the scar that Arthas carved, and which the undead still follow to attack us. By the time I had returned to my teacher, people had already told her of the wondrous blessings I had cast on them. They looked up to me, and all priests, for that.
For a time as a young elf I succumbed to the magical hunger that plagues us all. I tried bloodthistle. The rush was so addictive. I could heal myself faster and kill the undead more efficiently. But it's ill effects were terrible, I had to keep taking it so I didn't feel bad. The power was so addictive. I finally stopped myself, and vowed never to take bloodthistle again. While it might give me extra power for a time, it made me sick and weak afterward.
When I left Evensong Woods and ventured into the Ghostlands, I encountered the Forsaken for the first time. They were once the humans of Lorderon before the Plague turned them into undead. They claim to not be under the control of the Lich King and are led by Sylvanas Windrunner. These Forsaken say there are here to help us reclaim our land. I did not trust them at first, when they were human they failed to aid us enough. Why should it be different now that they are undead?
I met Sylvanas Windrunner, the Dark Lady of the Forsaken, for the first time after helping to clear out the scourge in the Ghostlands. I had been directed to kill as many scourge as I could in the former Windrunner estate. When I looted the body of one of them I found an amulet that, though I did not know it at the time, had been a gift from Lady Alleria to Lady Sylvanus. Not knowing if the amulet was a new magical weapon or just decoration I took it to the Magistrix of Tranquilien. She directed me to the chief Forsaken present, and he bade me journey to Undercity and present the amulet to Sylvanas. Sylvanas was not pleased to receive such a gift. It, and I, reminded her of the life she had lost. For she had once been Ranger General of Silvermoon. Despite her rudeness I stayed and heard her sing her grief to the world. I grieved with her for all that was lost of Silvermoon.
When I had become skilled enough in my arts that I would not embarrass the Sin'dorei, I was sent to the Warchief of the Horde. We Sin'dorei were treated badly by the bigoted alliance and have now allied with the Horde. I was told to help the Horde however they desired. I don't trust the Orcs or the Trolls, and the Tauren are too full of druidic magic, but Sylvanas leads the Forsaken. It was never explicitly stated, but my lessons had taught me that they would only help us if we helped them.
I am an enchanter, and when I was wise enough to learn more enchanting I persuaded a troll shaman to accompany me into the depths of Uldaman, a Dwarven excavation site. There I paid a human to teach me more of the art of enchanting. It was not cheap, as learning never is, but it was well worth it. The troll's price for helping me was that I would then perform enchants for him and disenchant his unused armor and weapons. This shaman is strong, and for his help in the future I barter my services now.
I have also met an undead rogue, named Eeyan, who is friendly to me. He does not seem to be the brightest, but he is good at killing things. I enchanted a mighty weapon for him recently. He told me how after much searching for all the materials necessary he had finally been able to make it. His skills in reducing the numerous enemies in front of us to corpses is quite useful to have around. And with me healing him he is even more effective.
The undead rogue and I recently went into the Temple of Atal'Hakkar with several other adventurers. There trolls attempted to summon an evil god into the world, but the green dragon flight stopped them by sinking the temple under the swamp. However the evilness of the god has corrupted the dragons. So we fought against both the dragons and the trolls. They all fell before us, and upon looting the body of the chief of the trolls I was able to get a kilt. This kilt will help me more than the pants that I was wearing previously, but it is strange to be wearing a skirt again. I had just gotten used to the pants I had made myself. And it is strange to think of the kilt as having come from a troll, I have cleaned it quite thoroughly several times and I think I finally have the troll stink out of it.
Eeyan, in return for my help later, has consented to help me kill the Scourge in the Western and Eastern Plaguelands. The scourge there are stronger than the ones I was used to in the Ghostlands. Fortunately they all fell to Eeyan's sharp blades and my wand and magic. We even helped out Nathanos, the Champion of Sylvanus.
Eeyan was also kind enough to lend me the gold to purchase my epic hawkstrider. Though it is stereotypical of me, I choose the Swift Pink Hawkstrider. My intent is not to be girly, the pink hawkstrider is really red, not pink. However that has not stopped Eeyan from teasing my about riding a "chicken" that is pink. Ah well I suppose that is a fair price to pay for having such a fast mount.
Anyway after getting my fast mount Eeyan decreed that since he had helped me so much it was time for me to help him. Therefore we went through the dark portal. It was my first time going through the actual portal. I have been going to Shattrath and learning the more skilled aspects of Tailoring and Enchanting there, but I had never gone through the portal directly. It was strange to follow in Kael'thas' footsteps. Though I do not think that I shall help Illidan or the Burning Legion ever.
Once we were through the portal, I went to Thrallmar and aided the war effort there. The fel orcs are making a nuisance of themselves in their citadel. So Eeyan and I and a couple of others went into Hellfire Ramparts and killed as many of them as we could. We did this a couple of times and were quite pleased to rid the world of a few more fel orcs. And the commander of Thrallmar was quite pleased to receive proof that the guards of the Ramparts had been dispatched.
I have recently been perfecting my tailoring. My skills are quite good, and I specialized in primal mooncloth tailoring. When I choose that specialization I was taught several recipes that only those of that specialization could learn. They are several very special armor pieces that will boost my healing when I am powerful enough to wear them.
Recently Eeyan and I helped the Violet Eye, the mages of Dalaran, discover some information about Karazhan, the last residence of Medivh. In the course of our research Khadgar told us that if we really wanted to know more about it we would need our own key. After fighting many monsters and gathering the separate pieces that Khadgar had hidden around Outland we had to travel back in time to the original opening of the Dark Portal. There we gave Medivh the reassembled key of Khadgar and in return Medivh gave us his very own key.
The gaining of this key is a rite of passage among those in our guild. They helped us at every step of the way, but we still had to go through all the steps. Also once we had this key we could go into Karazhan, and kill the monsters and undead beings there. Sadly these undead won't stay dead very long and our guild regularly kills them. Fortunately not long after Eeyan and I had received our keys we were invited to go with our guild to Kara. There we received many pieces of fabulous loot that dropped off the undead creatures of Karazhan. Consequently I am a much better healer and less likely to die and Eeyan is also a lot more deadly.
After this trip to Karazhan I was occasionally invited to go with Darkfall to help fight more creatures. I have helped to kill Gruul, Magtheridon, and some of the lieutanants of Lady Vashj and Prince Kael'thas in Serpent Shrine Cavern and Tempest Keep. My abilities as a healer, while not as powerful as some of the other members of the guild, are still strong and have been helpful.
Now the Lich King has awoken and is sending his minions out of Northrend to fight us. He unleashed a plague of undead on us again, and it took much work of the Forsaken Apothecaries to defend us against it. I aided the Argent Dawn in fighting it as well. and for my efforts they let me purchase their tabard.
The ways to Northrend are open. The Horde, and also the Alliance, are fighting their way into the newly opened continent. Teltanara and Eeyan have gone to Undercity to catch the blimp from there to Vengeance Landing, in the Howling Fjord. There we help the Forsaken Apothecaries set up their research to brew some sort of plague to help defeat the lich king. Telt and Eeyan also helped the Taunka and the Kaluak to fight against the Lich King and deal with the changes that his newly active armies had wrought on the area.
Once they were done in Howling Fjord Eeyan and Teltanara went to Dragonblight. That is where the dragon flights and aspects were created and empowered by the titans. The whole area was currently under heavy siege by the Scourge. Dragonblight is where the dragons came from and it is also where they go to die, so the Scourge wanted all of the skeletons of dragons to make in to frost wyrms. Telt and Eeyan reported into the apothecaries at Venomspite and helped there, and reported to Agmar's Hammer. There they went to rescue the Taunka and deal with the attacks of the Scourge.
Once all was made ready they joined their friend Evallen in the attack on the Wrathgate. They watched, unable to stop it, as the apothecaries betrayed the horde and attacked horde alliance and lich king. Then they reported to Thrall and helped Thrall and Sylvanas retake the Undercity. And until Jaina interfered they were helping Thrall kick the King of Stormwind's butt. Unfortunately the stupid humans, ignorant and xenophobic as ever, blamed all that happened on the Forsaken. Instead of listening to Thrall and Sylvanas about the betrayal from the apothecaries and Varimanthas.
After the Wrathgate battle Eeyan and Teltanara continued their journey. They traveled to Grizzly Hills and helped the Taunka and the Orcs there. They also ran into a curious troll. He wanted their help to fight against the scourge in Drak'tharon Keep. So they did a bunch of quests to help him. This culminated in their fighting their way, along with several other people, into Drak'tharon Keep. However it turned out that this troll, Drakuru, had lied to them this whole time. They weren't helping him fight the Scourge, they were helping him fight as part of the Scourge and defeat the remaining Drakkari trolls. It was quite a nasty shock to both Eeyan and Telt when Drakuru summoned the Lich King at the top of Drak'tharon Keep. Telt watched in horrified fascination as the Lich King turned Darkuru into a full fledged member of the Scourge.
Telt and Eeyan wandered to the Storm Peaks. There they found the goblins at K3 bemoaning the recent kidnapping of most of the men in the encampment. So they went up to help rescue them. This lead to uncovering the whole point of the Vyrkul work at Brunhildar. Which was to find a new wife for Thorim, and thus pull him out of the stupor he'd been in since Sif had been killed by Loken. After getting disguised as Vyrkul women and defeating all the challenges of they Hyldsmeet, Eeyan and Telt went to meet Thorim. Their disguises did not fool him, but he realized that his moping served no purpose. So they helped him mend his argument with the Sons of Hodir and rearm himself. Unfortunately when he went to confront Loken everything went badly. Loken had been watching and manipulating all along. While Eeyan and Telt were unable to intervene Loken summoned some evil tentacle things and captured both Thorim and his drake Veranus.
After Loken captured Thorim, Eeyan and Teltanara returned to the Sons of Hodir. They told them of what had happened. The Sons helped to plan an attack on Loken, which Eeyan and Telt gathered a few friends to carry out. It was an epic battle, but Loken fell dead. Teltanara's healing skills were sorely tested, but it was a good learning experience for both her and Eeyan.
Recently Teltanara and Eeyan ventured into Naxx. They went on two separate occasions. And while the second time was not as successful as the first they both gained several upgrades. Eeyan especially made out like a bandit. It truly is the luck of the rogue that he received so many lovely pieces of gear. He even got a most awesome fist weapon off of Kel'thuzad. Teltanara lacked the best enchant to put on it so we convinced our bear friend, Cemaros, formerly Leif, to go with us to Karazhan so that we could kill Moroes and Telt could get the Mongoose enchant.
Teltanara has not yet ventured into Ulduar, but she has tried out a small version of the new arena that Tirion Fordring and the Argent Crusade have built. Healing the heroic is challenging, but the arena itself is quite boring. Having the enemies come to you to fight lacks a certain adventuring spirit. At least the Argent Crusade is free with their rewards. In fact they are often too free, and Telt's skill as a dis-Enchanter is very handy.
I am a child of the dark times. I was only a young elf when Arthas burned a swath through Evensong Forest and fouled the Sunwell. My parents were killed in the defense of our city. I barely remember the time when magic was plentiful and unfouled in our city. A time before the weakness of our current magical hunger.
When it was shown that I had an aptitude for the priestly arts, I was sent to training. I learned my lessons well, and learned just as well the things that were unsaid but just as directly taught. Good things come to those who take them, for nothing is free. This lesson was driven home early on, when my instructors taught me of the value of Power Word: Fortitude. I was told to cast the spell on at least 5 guards who were still defending the scar that Arthas carved, and which the undead still follow to attack us. By the time I had returned to my teacher, people had already told her of the wondrous blessings I had cast on them. They looked up to me, and all priests, for that.
For a time as a young elf I succumbed to the magical hunger that plagues us all. I tried bloodthistle. The rush was so addictive. I could heal myself faster and kill the undead more efficiently. But it's ill effects were terrible, I had to keep taking it so I didn't feel bad. The power was so addictive. I finally stopped myself, and vowed never to take bloodthistle again. While it might give me extra power for a time, it made me sick and weak afterward.
When I left Evensong Woods and ventured into the Ghostlands, I encountered the Forsaken for the first time. They were once the humans of Lorderon before the Plague turned them into undead. They claim to not be under the control of the Lich King and are led by Sylvanas Windrunner. These Forsaken say there are here to help us reclaim our land. I did not trust them at first, when they were human they failed to aid us enough. Why should it be different now that they are undead?
I met Sylvanas Windrunner, the Dark Lady of the Forsaken, for the first time after helping to clear out the scourge in the Ghostlands. I had been directed to kill as many scourge as I could in the former Windrunner estate. When I looted the body of one of them I found an amulet that, though I did not know it at the time, had been a gift from Lady Alleria to Lady Sylvanus. Not knowing if the amulet was a new magical weapon or just decoration I took it to the Magistrix of Tranquilien. She directed me to the chief Forsaken present, and he bade me journey to Undercity and present the amulet to Sylvanas. Sylvanas was not pleased to receive such a gift. It, and I, reminded her of the life she had lost. For she had once been Ranger General of Silvermoon. Despite her rudeness I stayed and heard her sing her grief to the world. I grieved with her for all that was lost of Silvermoon.
When I had become skilled enough in my arts that I would not embarrass the Sin'dorei, I was sent to the Warchief of the Horde. We Sin'dorei were treated badly by the bigoted alliance and have now allied with the Horde. I was told to help the Horde however they desired. I don't trust the Orcs or the Trolls, and the Tauren are too full of druidic magic, but Sylvanas leads the Forsaken. It was never explicitly stated, but my lessons had taught me that they would only help us if we helped them.
I am an enchanter, and when I was wise enough to learn more enchanting I persuaded a troll shaman to accompany me into the depths of Uldaman, a Dwarven excavation site. There I paid a human to teach me more of the art of enchanting. It was not cheap, as learning never is, but it was well worth it. The troll's price for helping me was that I would then perform enchants for him and disenchant his unused armor and weapons. This shaman is strong, and for his help in the future I barter my services now.
I have also met an undead rogue, named Eeyan, who is friendly to me. He does not seem to be the brightest, but he is good at killing things. I enchanted a mighty weapon for him recently. He told me how after much searching for all the materials necessary he had finally been able to make it. His skills in reducing the numerous enemies in front of us to corpses is quite useful to have around. And with me healing him he is even more effective.
The undead rogue and I recently went into the Temple of Atal'Hakkar with several other adventurers. There trolls attempted to summon an evil god into the world, but the green dragon flight stopped them by sinking the temple under the swamp. However the evilness of the god has corrupted the dragons. So we fought against both the dragons and the trolls. They all fell before us, and upon looting the body of the chief of the trolls I was able to get a kilt. This kilt will help me more than the pants that I was wearing previously, but it is strange to be wearing a skirt again. I had just gotten used to the pants I had made myself. And it is strange to think of the kilt as having come from a troll, I have cleaned it quite thoroughly several times and I think I finally have the troll stink out of it.
Eeyan, in return for my help later, has consented to help me kill the Scourge in the Western and Eastern Plaguelands. The scourge there are stronger than the ones I was used to in the Ghostlands. Fortunately they all fell to Eeyan's sharp blades and my wand and magic. We even helped out Nathanos, the Champion of Sylvanus.
Eeyan was also kind enough to lend me the gold to purchase my epic hawkstrider. Though it is stereotypical of me, I choose the Swift Pink Hawkstrider. My intent is not to be girly, the pink hawkstrider is really red, not pink. However that has not stopped Eeyan from teasing my about riding a "chicken" that is pink. Ah well I suppose that is a fair price to pay for having such a fast mount.
Anyway after getting my fast mount Eeyan decreed that since he had helped me so much it was time for me to help him. Therefore we went through the dark portal. It was my first time going through the actual portal. I have been going to Shattrath and learning the more skilled aspects of Tailoring and Enchanting there, but I had never gone through the portal directly. It was strange to follow in Kael'thas' footsteps. Though I do not think that I shall help Illidan or the Burning Legion ever.
Once we were through the portal, I went to Thrallmar and aided the war effort there. The fel orcs are making a nuisance of themselves in their citadel. So Eeyan and I and a couple of others went into Hellfire Ramparts and killed as many of them as we could. We did this a couple of times and were quite pleased to rid the world of a few more fel orcs. And the commander of Thrallmar was quite pleased to receive proof that the guards of the Ramparts had been dispatched.
I have recently been perfecting my tailoring. My skills are quite good, and I specialized in primal mooncloth tailoring. When I choose that specialization I was taught several recipes that only those of that specialization could learn. They are several very special armor pieces that will boost my healing when I am powerful enough to wear them.
Recently Eeyan and I helped the Violet Eye, the mages of Dalaran, discover some information about Karazhan, the last residence of Medivh. In the course of our research Khadgar told us that if we really wanted to know more about it we would need our own key. After fighting many monsters and gathering the separate pieces that Khadgar had hidden around Outland we had to travel back in time to the original opening of the Dark Portal. There we gave Medivh the reassembled key of Khadgar and in return Medivh gave us his very own key.
The gaining of this key is a rite of passage among those in our guild. They helped us at every step of the way, but we still had to go through all the steps. Also once we had this key we could go into Karazhan, and kill the monsters and undead beings there. Sadly these undead won't stay dead very long and our guild regularly kills them. Fortunately not long after Eeyan and I had received our keys we were invited to go with our guild to Kara. There we received many pieces of fabulous loot that dropped off the undead creatures of Karazhan. Consequently I am a much better healer and less likely to die and Eeyan is also a lot more deadly.
After this trip to Karazhan I was occasionally invited to go with Darkfall to help fight more creatures. I have helped to kill Gruul, Magtheridon, and some of the lieutanants of Lady Vashj and Prince Kael'thas in Serpent Shrine Cavern and Tempest Keep. My abilities as a healer, while not as powerful as some of the other members of the guild, are still strong and have been helpful.
Now the Lich King has awoken and is sending his minions out of Northrend to fight us. He unleashed a plague of undead on us again, and it took much work of the Forsaken Apothecaries to defend us against it. I aided the Argent Dawn in fighting it as well. and for my efforts they let me purchase their tabard.
The ways to Northrend are open. The Horde, and also the Alliance, are fighting their way into the newly opened continent. Teltanara and Eeyan have gone to Undercity to catch the blimp from there to Vengeance Landing, in the Howling Fjord. There we help the Forsaken Apothecaries set up their research to brew some sort of plague to help defeat the lich king. Telt and Eeyan also helped the Taunka and the Kaluak to fight against the Lich King and deal with the changes that his newly active armies had wrought on the area.
Once they were done in Howling Fjord Eeyan and Teltanara went to Dragonblight. That is where the dragon flights and aspects were created and empowered by the titans. The whole area was currently under heavy siege by the Scourge. Dragonblight is where the dragons came from and it is also where they go to die, so the Scourge wanted all of the skeletons of dragons to make in to frost wyrms. Telt and Eeyan reported into the apothecaries at Venomspite and helped there, and reported to Agmar's Hammer. There they went to rescue the Taunka and deal with the attacks of the Scourge.
Once all was made ready they joined their friend Evallen in the attack on the Wrathgate. They watched, unable to stop it, as the apothecaries betrayed the horde and attacked horde alliance and lich king. Then they reported to Thrall and helped Thrall and Sylvanas retake the Undercity. And until Jaina interfered they were helping Thrall kick the King of Stormwind's butt. Unfortunately the stupid humans, ignorant and xenophobic as ever, blamed all that happened on the Forsaken. Instead of listening to Thrall and Sylvanas about the betrayal from the apothecaries and Varimanthas.
After the Wrathgate battle Eeyan and Teltanara continued their journey. They traveled to Grizzly Hills and helped the Taunka and the Orcs there. They also ran into a curious troll. He wanted their help to fight against the scourge in Drak'tharon Keep. So they did a bunch of quests to help him. This culminated in their fighting their way, along with several other people, into Drak'tharon Keep. However it turned out that this troll, Drakuru, had lied to them this whole time. They weren't helping him fight the Scourge, they were helping him fight as part of the Scourge and defeat the remaining Drakkari trolls. It was quite a nasty shock to both Eeyan and Telt when Drakuru summoned the Lich King at the top of Drak'tharon Keep. Telt watched in horrified fascination as the Lich King turned Darkuru into a full fledged member of the Scourge.
Telt and Eeyan wandered to the Storm Peaks. There they found the goblins at K3 bemoaning the recent kidnapping of most of the men in the encampment. So they went up to help rescue them. This lead to uncovering the whole point of the Vyrkul work at Brunhildar. Which was to find a new wife for Thorim, and thus pull him out of the stupor he'd been in since Sif had been killed by Loken. After getting disguised as Vyrkul women and defeating all the challenges of they Hyldsmeet, Eeyan and Telt went to meet Thorim. Their disguises did not fool him, but he realized that his moping served no purpose. So they helped him mend his argument with the Sons of Hodir and rearm himself. Unfortunately when he went to confront Loken everything went badly. Loken had been watching and manipulating all along. While Eeyan and Telt were unable to intervene Loken summoned some evil tentacle things and captured both Thorim and his drake Veranus.
After Loken captured Thorim, Eeyan and Teltanara returned to the Sons of Hodir. They told them of what had happened. The Sons helped to plan an attack on Loken, which Eeyan and Telt gathered a few friends to carry out. It was an epic battle, but Loken fell dead. Teltanara's healing skills were sorely tested, but it was a good learning experience for both her and Eeyan.
Recently Teltanara and Eeyan ventured into Naxx. They went on two separate occasions. And while the second time was not as successful as the first they both gained several upgrades. Eeyan especially made out like a bandit. It truly is the luck of the rogue that he received so many lovely pieces of gear. He even got a most awesome fist weapon off of Kel'thuzad. Teltanara lacked the best enchant to put on it so we convinced our bear friend, Cemaros, formerly Leif, to go with us to Karazhan so that we could kill Moroes and Telt could get the Mongoose enchant.
Teltanara has not yet ventured into Ulduar, but she has tried out a small version of the new arena that Tirion Fordring and the Argent Crusade have built. Healing the heroic is challenging, but the arena itself is quite boring. Having the enemies come to you to fight lacks a certain adventuring spirit. At least the Argent Crusade is free with their rewards. In fact they are often too free, and Telt's skill as a dis-Enchanter is very handy.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Burakai
The warrior swung again and again at the masses of scourge attacking him. He swung widely to give himself a bit of breathing room to wipe sweat from his eyes. He needed all his attention on the scourge around him. The masses of undead kept coming. He had piles of twice dead bodies around him, skeletal hands and legs sticking up at odd angles. He wasn't sure if he was getting weary or if the dead limbs really did try to trap his sword.
The mob of undead started to thin out, and he began to hope that he would make it home to see his nephews and nieces. From the trees a horrible wailing sounded. Banshees and a terrible lich drifted out of the blighted remains of the forest. He could feel the curses of the banshees draining his strength. His sword didn't seem to do much to them. He heard the lich chanting something foul that hurt his ears. But he had no attention to spare for the lich, the banshees were in his face and he had all that he could do to keep them away from himself.
Suddenly the chanting stopped and the banshees fell back. He was facing the lich. It had a mass of blue energy swirling and crackling in it's bony hands. With a final word of power that rang in the warrior's ears, the Lich threw the blue mass. The last thing the warrior saw was a great blue frostbolt streaming towards him.
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He had fought bravely and perhaps foolishly in the Plaguelands. When the orders had come down to retreat, he had sent his men back. He had planned to fall back after they did, but there were too many Scourge. He had known that was a possibility and had resigned himself to death at the hands of the undead attacking their small outpost. He had even thought that was his fate when the lich aimed the frostbolt at him.
He hadn't expected to be frozen and captured. He had vague memories of a knight with black armor ornamented with skulls inspecting him while he was trapped in the block of ice. But the pain of freezing had knocked him unconscious. He had come to momentarily when he was chained and put on a skeletal griffin.
The warrior was alone in a small cell. He was chained by his wrists to the back wall, farthest from the door. He had only his legplates and boots on and the thin linen shirt he wore under the padding for his armor. His sword and the rest of his armor was nowhere to be seen, and he suspected it was still on the battlefield. He was thirsty and hungry and every single muscle hurt from being frozen. He also had two serious wounds. His left ribs stabbed him whenever he took a breath, and there was a deep gash in the armor over his right thigh. Whenever he shifted in his crouch on the floor he felt the wound on his leg pull and start to bleed again.
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He woke to feel someone's hands on his chest. The sudden pain brought him to full wakefulness. He lunged to his feet and swung at whoever had touched him.
The chains caught his swing far short of his intended target. "Get away from me you Scourge bastards!" he shouted. He breathed raggedly, leaping to his feet had reopened his leg wound and caused his ribs to stab him anew. He could feel a warm trickle of blood starting down his leg.
"Silence, you dog!" the gauntleted fist of a black armored death knight smashed into the warrior's jaw. The warrior's wounded right leg buckled, and he dropped to one knee as a gasp of pain escaped his lips.
A scraggly haired man in dirty gray robes stepped forward. "I'm here to heal your, ah, more serious wounds." He held his hands out and as he touched the warrior coolness spread into the warrior's wounds. The gray man frowned. "I'll need full access to the leg wound," he said to the death knight.
The death knight knocked twice on the cell door. It opened immediately and a ghoul stuck its head inside. "Two of you in, and take the rest of his armor off." The death knight pointed at the warrior.
As the warrior painfully got to his feet, two ghouls shambled into the cell. The gray man stepped to the side and twitched his robes out of their way. The death knight grabbed the warrior by the throat and shoved him against the wall. As the ghouls came within range the warrior kicked out with his good leg, sending one of the ghouls flying.
The death knight smiled evilly. "You're feisty. A little too feisty for my liking." He backhanded the warrior twice and increased the pressure on the warrior's throat. The warrior's head rang and blood dripped from his split lip. The lack of oxygen made everything start to go dark. He tried to grab the death knight's arm and pull it away, but his arms were too heavy to do more than tug ineffectively at the gauntlet squeezing his throat. He vaguely noticed the ghouls ripping his leg plates off, and the renewed bleeding that caused in his leg. He also vaguely noticed the man in the gray robe stepping up and laying cool hands on his side and leg. He felt the wounds close and heal, but only partially. Enough that he was sure he wouldn't die from them.
"You'll live." The death knight released his hold on the warrior's throat. "Though you may regret it." He strode out the cell door and slammed it behind him as the warrior slumped to the floor gasping for breath.
The small snick of the lock echoed in the cell along with the death knight's words.
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The warrior didn't know how long it had been since he had last eaten or drunk anything. It had been before the battle in the Plaguelands, but he had no idea how long ago that was. The only light in his cell was a low blue glow from near the ceiling. There was no indication of day or night, just that blue glow. He was so thirsty his tongue felt three sizes too big for his mouth.
Every so often he would get up and take the few steps that his chains would let him make. He did this to test his leg and ribs out, and to keep himself from going completely stir crazy with boredom. The leg was better, though still not up to fighting strength. The ribs seemed to be completely healed but for a small tenderness when he touched them.
With a click and a creak the cell door opened. The same death knight as when he had been healed stood in the doorway, back lit by the glow of torches. The warrior warily got to his feet as the death knight motioned a pair of ghouls into the cell.
The ghouls grabbed the warrior and pinned him against the wall. The death knight tipped the warrior's head back and held a mug to his lips. When the warrior would have fought one of the ghouls held his head while the knight pinched his nose. The contents of the mug went down the warriors throat. He coughed some but his mouth and tongue already felt better. Whatever was in the mug wasn't making his stomach feel all that well, but he wasn't sure if that was because of what he had been forced to drink or because his stomach was so empty.
The death knight backed up and then waved the ghouls out of the warriors cell. The warrior was still leaning against the back wall of the cell. His chains clinked as he used the back of one hand to wipe his mouth. "Was that poison?" The warrior lifted his head to look the death knight in the eyes. The death knight's glowing blue eyes unnerved the warrior but he refused to let himself feel any fear. "Or was it the plague?"
"Neither." The death knight made a gesture and a green and purple globe of energy sped from his hand to hit the warrior in the chest.
The warrior bit back a curse. All his muscles tensed as the death coil's shadow energy coursed through him. He sucked in a ragged breath as the death coil faded.
Before the warrior could gather his composure for some sort of defiant remark, the death knight's hands were gathering shadow energy again. The warrior gritted his teeth and set himself to endure the pain as best he could. He would have tried to attack the death knight, but the death knight was out of reach of his chains.
The third death coil sent the warrior to his knees in pain.
The sixth death coil wrenched a scream of pain from the warrior.
At the tenth death coil the warrior blacked out. The last thing he remembered was the death knight smiling.
_______________________________
The warrior lay on the floor and shivered. The linen shirt and pants he had on were not enough to keep him warm in the cold blue-lit cell. He knew that his chances of fighting his way free diminished with each moment he didn't get up and do something to keep his muscles limber and himself warm. But he couldn't force himself to stand.
He lifted his head as the door to his cell was unlocked and opened. Again the death knight entered. "Get him up, and unchained," ordered the death knight.
Three ghouls shambled into the cell. The warrior thought about getting away from them, but before he could move two of them hauled him to his feet while a third unlocked the manacles on his wrists.
The warrior shuddered at the touch of the ghoul's bony hands as they held him up. He tried to pull away from them and walk on his own, but they wouldn't let go. When he stumbled on the steps out of the cell they caught him and for a moment he was grateful that they were holding him so that he didn't fall to his knees in front of the death knight.
He was guided out and up past many other cells. The hallways were all lit in a eerie mixture of flickering torches and that odd pale blue glow. He didn't know how many of the cells were occupied. Screaming or moaning came from some of the cells. Most of the cells were quiet, but he couldn't tell if they were empty or if the prisoners were too weak to do anything.
The ghouls and death knight escorted him to a balcony. There were braziers and torches lighting the back and sides of it, but the railed edge was dark. Several ghoul guards and death knights were scattered around the edge of the balcony, but they all stayed back from the dark railing.
The sky over the railing was dark and star spangled, There was a tiny hint of dawn off to the side in the east. The warrior stole a glance at the sky. The stars enthralled him, as they always had, with their pure and pale light.
"Wha-"The warrior coughed and tried again. "What do you want from me?" He felt naked and vulnerable with no armor or weapons, and all the Scourge surrounding him.
A shadow moved at the balcony rail. "You will serve me" said a terrible voice. The Lich King, with Frostmourne in his hand, stepped away from the edge of the balcony and into the torchlight.
The ghouls roughly shoved the warrior to his knees. "Never!" The warrior tried to stand, but the ghouls held him too tightly. The death knight stepped behind him and pinned his head. The warrior couldn't physically resist, but he continued to speak defiantly. "I will never serve you Arthas, you traitor! You have become what you swore to protect your people from."
The stream of cursing continued as Arthas paced slowly towards the kneeling warrior. When the Lich King stood in front of the warrior, the warrior's words slowly ground to a halt.
The warrior looked up at the glowing blue eye sockets of the Lich King's helm and spoke quietly but defiantly. "I am not afraid of death, do your worst. I will never serve you."
The Lich King laughed, and the hair on the back of the warrior's neck stood up. "There are far worse things than death." He touched the flat of Frostmourne to the warrior's forehead. The sword pulsed blue several times and then the warrior's eyes flared a matching blue. Both the sword and the warrior's eyes settled to the same blue glow. "Rise, my new death knight, rise and serve your master."
The ghouls and death knight let go of the former warrior, now death knight, and stepped back. The new death knight slowly stood and looked about him. Ghouls brought armor and put it on the new death knight.
As the sun broke over the horizon to the east the new death knight stepped to the balcony. He stood by his new master, "What is your will, my king?"
===================================================
===================================================
Burakai Eta
Human male
- Eta is Japanese for "filthy mass" the lowest caste of Feudal Japan. These people were in charge of "tainted" work, mostly they worked with the dead. They were executioners, leather workers, butchers, undertakers, and gravediggers. Modern usage of the Japanese word buraku is 'village' meaning a segregated village where the eta lived. Buraku is considered a derogatory word.
- Burakai has long-ish brown hair. He keeps it loose. He can't remember if his eyes used to be green or brown, but they now glow with the blue of the Lich King. Though he was part of the Scourge and the slave of the Lich King his expression is not bitter or angry.
Before Burakai was a Death Knight he was a Warrior. Burakai is the name he took after becoming a Death Knight. He doesn't use his original name anymore. Initially that was because as a new member of the Scourge he thought he had moved above and beyond his family and his past. But after he was freed by Tirion Fordring it was because he didn't want to shame his family, so he chose the name Burakai then. He has occasionally seen a few of his family members when he was in Stormwind, but he avoids them so they can continue to think that he is dead on a battlefield in the Plaguelands. He reasons that they have already mourned him, and letting them know he was part of the Scourge and all the terrible things he did would only reopen their mental and emotional wounds.
Burakai committed many atrocities while under the Lich King's control. He would like to blame all of them on the influence of Arthas, but he knows in his heart that he could have refused his initial training as a Death Knight. He could have refused to serve the Lich King. He would have been slowly and painfully tortured and then turned into a ghoul for anything but complete obedience, but he could still have refused. So Burakai accepts the responsibility for his actions, even if they were not completely his own. However, he harbors a great hatred for the Lich King for making him a Death Knight, and causing him to murder all of the people he did. Even if most of the people he killed were Scarlet Crusade, he still feels bad about their horrible deaths at his hands.
Burakai took the surname Eta because he refused to use his family name. He was the eldest son of a moderately prosperous merchant family. Growing up he wasn't interested in the family business. When cornered he could do the business management, but he was only interested in the guards who went with the caravans or guarded the warehouses. Burakai never married, and now that he is a Death Knight he is glad of that. It is bad enough that his family thinks he is dead, but at least he didn't leave a wife or children behind. His younger sister has a husband who is devoted to her and their children were already more interested in running the business than he had ever been.
===================================================
Note: This story and character came out of my thoughts on how the alliance has Death Knights. Given the Alliance rejection of the Forsaken I can't really see them accepting Death Knights that were actually dead. If humans are dead and controlled by the Scourge they become Forsaken when they break free, not Human. So I wrote it so that Death Knights aren't dead, just uber agents of the Scourge.
The mob of undead started to thin out, and he began to hope that he would make it home to see his nephews and nieces. From the trees a horrible wailing sounded. Banshees and a terrible lich drifted out of the blighted remains of the forest. He could feel the curses of the banshees draining his strength. His sword didn't seem to do much to them. He heard the lich chanting something foul that hurt his ears. But he had no attention to spare for the lich, the banshees were in his face and he had all that he could do to keep them away from himself.
Suddenly the chanting stopped and the banshees fell back. He was facing the lich. It had a mass of blue energy swirling and crackling in it's bony hands. With a final word of power that rang in the warrior's ears, the Lich threw the blue mass. The last thing the warrior saw was a great blue frostbolt streaming towards him.
__________________
He had fought bravely and perhaps foolishly in the Plaguelands. When the orders had come down to retreat, he had sent his men back. He had planned to fall back after they did, but there were too many Scourge. He had known that was a possibility and had resigned himself to death at the hands of the undead attacking their small outpost. He had even thought that was his fate when the lich aimed the frostbolt at him.
He hadn't expected to be frozen and captured. He had vague memories of a knight with black armor ornamented with skulls inspecting him while he was trapped in the block of ice. But the pain of freezing had knocked him unconscious. He had come to momentarily when he was chained and put on a skeletal griffin.
The warrior was alone in a small cell. He was chained by his wrists to the back wall, farthest from the door. He had only his legplates and boots on and the thin linen shirt he wore under the padding for his armor. His sword and the rest of his armor was nowhere to be seen, and he suspected it was still on the battlefield. He was thirsty and hungry and every single muscle hurt from being frozen. He also had two serious wounds. His left ribs stabbed him whenever he took a breath, and there was a deep gash in the armor over his right thigh. Whenever he shifted in his crouch on the floor he felt the wound on his leg pull and start to bleed again.
_________________
He woke to feel someone's hands on his chest. The sudden pain brought him to full wakefulness. He lunged to his feet and swung at whoever had touched him.
The chains caught his swing far short of his intended target. "Get away from me you Scourge bastards!" he shouted. He breathed raggedly, leaping to his feet had reopened his leg wound and caused his ribs to stab him anew. He could feel a warm trickle of blood starting down his leg.
"Silence, you dog!" the gauntleted fist of a black armored death knight smashed into the warrior's jaw. The warrior's wounded right leg buckled, and he dropped to one knee as a gasp of pain escaped his lips.
A scraggly haired man in dirty gray robes stepped forward. "I'm here to heal your, ah, more serious wounds." He held his hands out and as he touched the warrior coolness spread into the warrior's wounds. The gray man frowned. "I'll need full access to the leg wound," he said to the death knight.
The death knight knocked twice on the cell door. It opened immediately and a ghoul stuck its head inside. "Two of you in, and take the rest of his armor off." The death knight pointed at the warrior.
As the warrior painfully got to his feet, two ghouls shambled into the cell. The gray man stepped to the side and twitched his robes out of their way. The death knight grabbed the warrior by the throat and shoved him against the wall. As the ghouls came within range the warrior kicked out with his good leg, sending one of the ghouls flying.
The death knight smiled evilly. "You're feisty. A little too feisty for my liking." He backhanded the warrior twice and increased the pressure on the warrior's throat. The warrior's head rang and blood dripped from his split lip. The lack of oxygen made everything start to go dark. He tried to grab the death knight's arm and pull it away, but his arms were too heavy to do more than tug ineffectively at the gauntlet squeezing his throat. He vaguely noticed the ghouls ripping his leg plates off, and the renewed bleeding that caused in his leg. He also vaguely noticed the man in the gray robe stepping up and laying cool hands on his side and leg. He felt the wounds close and heal, but only partially. Enough that he was sure he wouldn't die from them.
"You'll live." The death knight released his hold on the warrior's throat. "Though you may regret it." He strode out the cell door and slammed it behind him as the warrior slumped to the floor gasping for breath.
The small snick of the lock echoed in the cell along with the death knight's words.
________________________________
The warrior didn't know how long it had been since he had last eaten or drunk anything. It had been before the battle in the Plaguelands, but he had no idea how long ago that was. The only light in his cell was a low blue glow from near the ceiling. There was no indication of day or night, just that blue glow. He was so thirsty his tongue felt three sizes too big for his mouth.
Every so often he would get up and take the few steps that his chains would let him make. He did this to test his leg and ribs out, and to keep himself from going completely stir crazy with boredom. The leg was better, though still not up to fighting strength. The ribs seemed to be completely healed but for a small tenderness when he touched them.
With a click and a creak the cell door opened. The same death knight as when he had been healed stood in the doorway, back lit by the glow of torches. The warrior warily got to his feet as the death knight motioned a pair of ghouls into the cell.
The ghouls grabbed the warrior and pinned him against the wall. The death knight tipped the warrior's head back and held a mug to his lips. When the warrior would have fought one of the ghouls held his head while the knight pinched his nose. The contents of the mug went down the warriors throat. He coughed some but his mouth and tongue already felt better. Whatever was in the mug wasn't making his stomach feel all that well, but he wasn't sure if that was because of what he had been forced to drink or because his stomach was so empty.
The death knight backed up and then waved the ghouls out of the warriors cell. The warrior was still leaning against the back wall of the cell. His chains clinked as he used the back of one hand to wipe his mouth. "Was that poison?" The warrior lifted his head to look the death knight in the eyes. The death knight's glowing blue eyes unnerved the warrior but he refused to let himself feel any fear. "Or was it the plague?"
"Neither." The death knight made a gesture and a green and purple globe of energy sped from his hand to hit the warrior in the chest.
The warrior bit back a curse. All his muscles tensed as the death coil's shadow energy coursed through him. He sucked in a ragged breath as the death coil faded.
Before the warrior could gather his composure for some sort of defiant remark, the death knight's hands were gathering shadow energy again. The warrior gritted his teeth and set himself to endure the pain as best he could. He would have tried to attack the death knight, but the death knight was out of reach of his chains.
The third death coil sent the warrior to his knees in pain.
The sixth death coil wrenched a scream of pain from the warrior.
At the tenth death coil the warrior blacked out. The last thing he remembered was the death knight smiling.
_______________________________
The warrior lay on the floor and shivered. The linen shirt and pants he had on were not enough to keep him warm in the cold blue-lit cell. He knew that his chances of fighting his way free diminished with each moment he didn't get up and do something to keep his muscles limber and himself warm. But he couldn't force himself to stand.
He lifted his head as the door to his cell was unlocked and opened. Again the death knight entered. "Get him up, and unchained," ordered the death knight.
Three ghouls shambled into the cell. The warrior thought about getting away from them, but before he could move two of them hauled him to his feet while a third unlocked the manacles on his wrists.
The warrior shuddered at the touch of the ghoul's bony hands as they held him up. He tried to pull away from them and walk on his own, but they wouldn't let go. When he stumbled on the steps out of the cell they caught him and for a moment he was grateful that they were holding him so that he didn't fall to his knees in front of the death knight.
He was guided out and up past many other cells. The hallways were all lit in a eerie mixture of flickering torches and that odd pale blue glow. He didn't know how many of the cells were occupied. Screaming or moaning came from some of the cells. Most of the cells were quiet, but he couldn't tell if they were empty or if the prisoners were too weak to do anything.
The ghouls and death knight escorted him to a balcony. There were braziers and torches lighting the back and sides of it, but the railed edge was dark. Several ghoul guards and death knights were scattered around the edge of the balcony, but they all stayed back from the dark railing.
The sky over the railing was dark and star spangled, There was a tiny hint of dawn off to the side in the east. The warrior stole a glance at the sky. The stars enthralled him, as they always had, with their pure and pale light.
"Wha-"The warrior coughed and tried again. "What do you want from me?" He felt naked and vulnerable with no armor or weapons, and all the Scourge surrounding him.
A shadow moved at the balcony rail. "You will serve me" said a terrible voice. The Lich King, with Frostmourne in his hand, stepped away from the edge of the balcony and into the torchlight.
The ghouls roughly shoved the warrior to his knees. "Never!" The warrior tried to stand, but the ghouls held him too tightly. The death knight stepped behind him and pinned his head. The warrior couldn't physically resist, but he continued to speak defiantly. "I will never serve you Arthas, you traitor! You have become what you swore to protect your people from."
The stream of cursing continued as Arthas paced slowly towards the kneeling warrior. When the Lich King stood in front of the warrior, the warrior's words slowly ground to a halt.
The warrior looked up at the glowing blue eye sockets of the Lich King's helm and spoke quietly but defiantly. "I am not afraid of death, do your worst. I will never serve you."
The Lich King laughed, and the hair on the back of the warrior's neck stood up. "There are far worse things than death." He touched the flat of Frostmourne to the warrior's forehead. The sword pulsed blue several times and then the warrior's eyes flared a matching blue. Both the sword and the warrior's eyes settled to the same blue glow. "Rise, my new death knight, rise and serve your master."
The ghouls and death knight let go of the former warrior, now death knight, and stepped back. The new death knight slowly stood and looked about him. Ghouls brought armor and put it on the new death knight.
As the sun broke over the horizon to the east the new death knight stepped to the balcony. He stood by his new master, "What is your will, my king?"
===================================================
===================================================
Burakai Eta
Human male
- Eta is Japanese for "filthy mass" the lowest caste of Feudal Japan. These people were in charge of "tainted" work, mostly they worked with the dead. They were executioners, leather workers, butchers, undertakers, and gravediggers. Modern usage of the Japanese word buraku is 'village' meaning a segregated village where the eta lived. Buraku is considered a derogatory word.
- Burakai has long-ish brown hair. He keeps it loose. He can't remember if his eyes used to be green or brown, but they now glow with the blue of the Lich King. Though he was part of the Scourge and the slave of the Lich King his expression is not bitter or angry.
Before Burakai was a Death Knight he was a Warrior. Burakai is the name he took after becoming a Death Knight. He doesn't use his original name anymore. Initially that was because as a new member of the Scourge he thought he had moved above and beyond his family and his past. But after he was freed by Tirion Fordring it was because he didn't want to shame his family, so he chose the name Burakai then. He has occasionally seen a few of his family members when he was in Stormwind, but he avoids them so they can continue to think that he is dead on a battlefield in the Plaguelands. He reasons that they have already mourned him, and letting them know he was part of the Scourge and all the terrible things he did would only reopen their mental and emotional wounds.
Burakai committed many atrocities while under the Lich King's control. He would like to blame all of them on the influence of Arthas, but he knows in his heart that he could have refused his initial training as a Death Knight. He could have refused to serve the Lich King. He would have been slowly and painfully tortured and then turned into a ghoul for anything but complete obedience, but he could still have refused. So Burakai accepts the responsibility for his actions, even if they were not completely his own. However, he harbors a great hatred for the Lich King for making him a Death Knight, and causing him to murder all of the people he did. Even if most of the people he killed were Scarlet Crusade, he still feels bad about their horrible deaths at his hands.
Burakai took the surname Eta because he refused to use his family name. He was the eldest son of a moderately prosperous merchant family. Growing up he wasn't interested in the family business. When cornered he could do the business management, but he was only interested in the guards who went with the caravans or guarded the warehouses. Burakai never married, and now that he is a Death Knight he is glad of that. It is bad enough that his family thinks he is dead, but at least he didn't leave a wife or children behind. His younger sister has a husband who is devoted to her and their children were already more interested in running the business than he had ever been.
===================================================
Note: This story and character came out of my thoughts on how the alliance has Death Knights. Given the Alliance rejection of the Forsaken I can't really see them accepting Death Knights that were actually dead. If humans are dead and controlled by the Scourge they become Forsaken when they break free, not Human. So I wrote it so that Death Knights aren't dead, just uber agents of the Scourge.
Kara keyed!
Last night Mornara and Ikoli convinced our excellent druid friend Cemaros to take us through Black Morass. It was the last thing that they needed to get the Kara key.
First Cemaros was going through Sethekk Halls in an attempt to get the Raven Lord for another guildie. He was kind enough to let us tag along. It was a speedy and hilarious run. Ikoli, like Teltanara before her, has aggro butt. DraNgNon is used to playing a higher level character or her rogue, who can stealth. So Ikoli, being the lowest level in the instance might have face pulled, a couple of times. Or as Cemaros and I have come to call it: Ikoli has aggro butt.
But we made our way through the instance successfully. Anzu died but dropped no mount. Ikiss died, after killing Ikoli and then Mornara. Mornara got the snazzy looking Spaulders of Dementia. I think I need to do a little bit of math and possibly some regemming to see if they are actually better than the shoulders she already had. But they certainly look better so I may wear them anyway. :D
The BM run was smooth. And Ikoli and Mornara are now both proud owners of The Master's Key. They have all the Outland keys and are ready to head on over to Northrend.
It was strange to be dpsing. I think that I like tanking better, just because I get to position the mobs. As a dps I have to run around and try to figure out where and when the tank is going to pick up the mob. It's not too bad after the first couple of times the tank pulls, but it's still nicer to be in control.
First Cemaros was going through Sethekk Halls in an attempt to get the Raven Lord for another guildie. He was kind enough to let us tag along. It was a speedy and hilarious run. Ikoli, like Teltanara before her, has aggro butt. DraNgNon is used to playing a higher level character or her rogue, who can stealth. So Ikoli, being the lowest level in the instance might have face pulled, a couple of times. Or as Cemaros and I have come to call it: Ikoli has aggro butt.
But we made our way through the instance successfully. Anzu died but dropped no mount. Ikiss died, after killing Ikoli and then Mornara. Mornara got the snazzy looking Spaulders of Dementia. I think I need to do a little bit of math and possibly some regemming to see if they are actually better than the shoulders she already had. But they certainly look better so I may wear them anyway. :D
The BM run was smooth. And Ikoli and Mornara are now both proud owners of The Master's Key. They have all the Outland keys and are ready to head on over to Northrend.
It was strange to be dpsing. I think that I like tanking better, just because I get to position the mobs. As a dps I have to run around and try to figure out where and when the tank is going to pick up the mob. It's not too bad after the first couple of times the tank pulls, but it's still nicer to be in control.
Some WoW Blogs
I've been reading a pretty varied bunch of WoW blogs lately.
LoreCrafted - Good lore blog.
WTT:[RP] - Role playing blog. Written by Feathermoon Alliance players.
Greedy Goblin - Decent WoW gold making blog.
Big Bear Butt - Feral druid goodness.
Forbearance - Ridiculous epeen waving ret pally blog. I read it for the lols.
Through Death's Eyes - Role playing blog. Only recently found this, but the stories are good.
LoreCrafted - Good lore blog.
WTT:[RP] - Role playing blog. Written by Feathermoon Alliance players.
Greedy Goblin - Decent WoW gold making blog.
Big Bear Butt - Feral druid goodness.
Forbearance - Ridiculous epeen waving ret pally blog. I read it for the lols.
Through Death's Eyes - Role playing blog. Only recently found this, but the stories are good.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Acceleration
Yesterday we played Tylara and Kairon mostly. Since going for Outland reps worked so well for Mornara and Ikoli, we decided to follow the same path with Tylara and Kairon. They needed everything.
We're starting earlier but they are wearing the Heirloom Shoulders, e.g. [Polished Spaulders of Valor], which has the 10% experience point gain. So yesterday we got them to Honored with Thrallmar, Friendly with Cenarion Expedition, and they went up a full level to 64. Weapon skills are falling behind, from the acceleration...
Hm, they're also catching up to Mornara and Ikoli. Time to play them next!
We're starting earlier but they are wearing the Heirloom Shoulders, e.g. [Polished Spaulders of Valor], which has the 10% experience point gain. So yesterday we got them to Honored with Thrallmar, Friendly with Cenarion Expedition, and they went up a full level to 64. Weapon skills are falling behind, from the acceleration...
Hm, they're also catching up to Mornara and Ikoli. Time to play them next!
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
I love Kuan so much. I just uploaded this screenshot of him from June 2008 right after he got his T5 shoulders. So pensive.
Wow is not just about raiding and "getting the next purple." These characters have stories and personalities, and I love how Kuan's actually shows on the avatar from time to time.
Wow is not just about raiding and "getting the next purple." These characters have stories and personalities, and I love how Kuan's actually shows on the avatar from time to time.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Achieve-O-Rama!
Kuanchichi and Viljo went to Old Kingdom with Naleana and Ahngusbeaf and Sunuru. It was the daily heroic so we all wanted some badges. In the usual way of things I like OK. It's got a couple of bosses with fun mechanics. Especially the end boss where you have to kill a copy of all the rest of your group. Unfortunately we ran into bugs on both crazy-cultist-lady and Herald.
Crazy cultist lady had about 10 of her elite minions run up the stairs and start beating us as soon as we pulled her. They aren't supposed to do that. But after a wipe we made sure they didn't do that again, and killed her handily.
Herald Volazj was more of a pain, with a much more difficult to work around bug. When he cast insanity each of us was faced with several copies of our team to defeat. Viljo was prepared to deal with the rest of his team, but not three copies of the rest of his team. So we wiped on him twice. The third time we actually managed to all survive the insanity, and killed Herald in 1:59. Just one second in time to get the speed kill achieve, Volazj's Quick Demise, for everyone in the party. It was epic, but usually I prefer not to have to work around the game's bugs.
After that DraNgNon and I were going to go to bed, but we were tootling around doing a few dailies and crafting stuff and Teltanara got pulled into VOA25. It was a good group, so it all went quite smoothly. Apparently Telt had never done any of VOA25 before. So she got all three kill achieves.
While Telt was in VOA, Rahlenti asked in guild chat if there was a shaman who wanted to be part of a Sarth+3 zerg attempt. Kuanchichi said yes and after several wipes Kuan is now the proud Kuanchichi of the Nightfall, and has the achieves Twilight Duo and Twilight Zone
Crazy cultist lady had about 10 of her elite minions run up the stairs and start beating us as soon as we pulled her. They aren't supposed to do that. But after a wipe we made sure they didn't do that again, and killed her handily.
Herald Volazj was more of a pain, with a much more difficult to work around bug. When he cast insanity each of us was faced with several copies of our team to defeat. Viljo was prepared to deal with the rest of his team, but not three copies of the rest of his team. So we wiped on him twice. The third time we actually managed to all survive the insanity, and killed Herald in 1:59. Just one second in time to get the speed kill achieve, Volazj's Quick Demise, for everyone in the party. It was epic, but usually I prefer not to have to work around the game's bugs.
After that DraNgNon and I were going to go to bed, but we were tootling around doing a few dailies and crafting stuff and Teltanara got pulled into VOA25. It was a good group, so it all went quite smoothly. Apparently Telt had never done any of VOA25 before. So she got all three kill achieves.
While Telt was in VOA, Rahlenti asked in guild chat if there was a shaman who wanted to be part of a Sarth+3 zerg attempt. Kuanchichi said yes and after several wipes Kuan is now the proud Kuanchichi of the Nightfall, and has the achieves Twilight Duo and Twilight Zone
Friday, November 6, 2009
Random happenings
This week has been a pretty good WoW week. Viljo and Kuan got some gear upgrades. Mornara and Ikoli got another heroic key.
Viljo gathered mats and found a tailor to create the Bejeweled Wizards Bracers. Kuanchichi was awarded a Trophy of the Crusade and used it (and a large amount of badges) to buy Thrall's Shoulderpads of Triumph. Vijjo also won the Netherwind Crown from Ony25. He wore the level 60 version of that hat for so long, I need to make sure that he shows helm.
Mornara and Ikoli convinced Ildiavolo, a level 80 Death Knight to go to regular Magister's Terrace with them. It was fun for the whole group as none of them had the attunement for the heroic version.
Viljo gathered mats and found a tailor to create the Bejeweled Wizards Bracers. Kuanchichi was awarded a Trophy of the Crusade and used it (and a large amount of badges) to buy Thrall's Shoulderpads of Triumph. Vijjo also won the Netherwind Crown from Ony25. He wore the level 60 version of that hat for so long, I need to make sure that he shows helm.
Mornara and Ikoli convinced Ildiavolo, a level 80 Death Knight to go to regular Magister's Terrace with them. It was fun for the whole group as none of them had the attunement for the heroic version.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
the hunt ends, once the hunted is caught
Kuanchichi, Viljo, and Maiev Shadowsong had a long overdue conversation with Illidan last night.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
achieve-o-rama
That's how it feels anyhow. Today Kuan has gotten (in reverse order) Medium Rare, Glaive Grave, Four Car Garage, Ruby Void, Emerald Void. Viljo has gotten Medium Rare, All Over the Isle, Hallowed Be Thy Name, Sinister Calling, Four Car Garage, Ruby Void, and Emerald Void.
Teltanara picked up Black War Mammoth, Wintergrasp Victory, That Takes Class, and Know Thy Enemy.
And Tylara and Kairon have been getting the "tricks and treats" achieves.
Kuan also picked up enough honor in Isle of Conquest and Wintergrasp to upgrade his [Medallion of the Horde].
This is all totally pleasing and I just wanted to note it.
Teltanara picked up Black War Mammoth, Wintergrasp Victory, That Takes Class, and Know Thy Enemy.
And Tylara and Kairon have been getting the "tricks and treats" achieves.
Kuan also picked up enough honor in Isle of Conquest and Wintergrasp to upgrade his [Medallion of the Horde].
This is all totally pleasing and I just wanted to note it.
Friday, October 30, 2009
Monday, October 26, 2009
For The Horde
Kuan and Viljo popped online Sunday evening. We had been planning to do some farming before the 9pm Ulduar raid. Maybe we'd run a heroic and get the daily done.
Instead draNgNon saw "LFM for Cap city raid" in trade chat. I quickly swapped to Viljo from my banker alt and off we went. The group decided to do Ironforge first. There was the usual mixups where people were confused about where to go and various people were unable to get on a bird and fly. But fortunately we had locks, so the summons went out.
Anyway, Ironforge was the first city we hit. We rode from Kargath and straight in the front gates of IF. As we rode into the throne room the RL apparently got coldfeet. He tried to tell us to abort because there were too many Allies. Fortunately everyone ignored him and we slaughtered Magni Bronzebeard. Booyah! Death to the King! And since that was the last Alliance leader that Kuan and Viljo needed they also got For the Horde!
There were enough alliance to kill us so we killed Magni but couldn't escape ourselves. Quick graveyard rez and then a port to Stonard. There Kuanchichi and Viljo checked their mail.
Thrall is so proud of us! We killed the Alliance leaders! He is so happy we did that that he sent us BEARS to ride.
Yay Black War Bear!
Instead draNgNon saw "LFM for Cap city raid" in trade chat. I quickly swapped to Viljo from my banker alt and off we went. The group decided to do Ironforge first. There was the usual mixups where people were confused about where to go and various people were unable to get on a bird and fly. But fortunately we had locks, so the summons went out.
Anyway, Ironforge was the first city we hit. We rode from Kargath and straight in the front gates of IF. As we rode into the throne room the RL apparently got coldfeet. He tried to tell us to abort because there were too many Allies. Fortunately everyone ignored him and we slaughtered Magni Bronzebeard. Booyah! Death to the King! And since that was the last Alliance leader that Kuan and Viljo needed they also got For the Horde!
There were enough alliance to kill us so we killed Magni but couldn't escape ourselves. Quick graveyard rez and then a port to Stonard. There Kuanchichi and Viljo checked their mail.
Thrall is so proud of us! We killed the Alliance leaders! He is so happy we did that that he sent us BEARS to ride.
Yay Black War Bear!
Sunday, October 25, 2009
BWL
Yesterday I was on my banker alt, Athria. I was putting a few things in the Ah and checking what had sold. Since she is my banker I have trade showing for her. Usually I find trade a wretched hive of scum and villainy, filled only with people asking dumb questions and posting Chuck Norris jokes. I do track it just because rarely people will actually have something they want to sell or buy.
Yesterday I saw someone looking for more for Black Wing Lair, the level 60 tier 2 raid. While both Kuan and Viljo did actually raid it at level 60 neither of them killed Nefarian, the end boss. So we joined up and headed to Black Rock Mountain. It was definitely a blast from the past. With a full raid of 80s the raid went fast. We just smashed through everything.
At the end Nef died speedily and both Kuanchichi and Viljo got the BWL achieve. Kuan also got Classic Raider, but Viljo is missing ZG and RAQ. I'm sure this will eventually become a feat of strength because Cataclysm and the upcoming destruction from Deathwing will most likely destroy the piddly strong hold that his easily defeated son (Nef) had created.
Yesterday I saw someone looking for more for Black Wing Lair, the level 60 tier 2 raid. While both Kuan and Viljo did actually raid it at level 60 neither of them killed Nefarian, the end boss. So we joined up and headed to Black Rock Mountain. It was definitely a blast from the past. With a full raid of 80s the raid went fast. We just smashed through everything.
At the end Nef died speedily and both Kuanchichi and Viljo got the BWL achieve. Kuan also got Classic Raider, but Viljo is missing ZG and RAQ. I'm sure this will eventually become a feat of strength because Cataclysm and the upcoming destruction from Deathwing will most likely destroy the piddly strong hold that his easily defeated son (Nef) had created.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Non-progression 10man raiding
For all that he's mostly been doing dailies, and not even selling mats or crafted items, Eeyan sure generates a lot of gold.
But, that gets boring. And Eeyan had not actually completed any 10man raids in WotLK. So today I caught some folks in guild chat who were feeling like OS 10, and Eeyan and Teltanara and a handful of guildies ran it and got the completion achievement!
Right when we finished, Evallen logged on. She was also feeling the lack of 10man raids in her uh, unlife and so despite it being Saturday we managed to put a run together with 6 Darkfallers and 4 pugs. It had some slow moments in there as we swapped out pugs (the dps warrior who only did 1400dps and had no flying mount got kicked after a while), but was pretty straight forward and we even oneshot Kel'thuzad. None of the Darkfallers in the run (including 3 mains) had down'd 10man Kel'thuzad before so I felt pleased it wasn't just a bunch of guildies escorting Eeyan and Telt through. Unfortunatly, Eeyan died the most. :-( I need to start actually playing him a bit more seriously.
He also got his [Heroes' Bonescythe Pauldrons], better late than never I suppose.
I am sure Clara will update this from a different perspective - she's been playing around with addons and these raids were her first use of the new setup -
But, that gets boring. And Eeyan had not actually completed any 10man raids in WotLK. So today I caught some folks in guild chat who were feeling like OS 10, and Eeyan and Teltanara and a handful of guildies ran it and got the completion achievement!
Right when we finished, Evallen logged on. She was also feeling the lack of 10man raids in her uh, unlife and so despite it being Saturday we managed to put a run together with 6 Darkfallers and 4 pugs. It had some slow moments in there as we swapped out pugs (the dps warrior who only did 1400dps and had no flying mount got kicked after a while), but was pretty straight forward and we even oneshot Kel'thuzad. None of the Darkfallers in the run (including 3 mains) had down'd 10man Kel'thuzad before so I felt pleased it wasn't just a bunch of guildies escorting Eeyan and Telt through. Unfortunatly, Eeyan died the most. :-( I need to start actually playing him a bit more seriously.
He also got his [Heroes' Bonescythe Pauldrons], better late than never I suppose.
I am sure Clara will update this from a different perspective - she's been playing around with addons and these raids were her first use of the new setup -
Friday, October 23, 2009
Going for the gold
So Clara and I have decided our Bank of Balou guild will have to pay for its own damned fourth bank tab. That means Lithui, her paladin fence, has to sell shit off to make the 1000 gold necessary to buy it.
The first 500 gold was pretty easy. And our other toons now have slightly more bank space. The next little bit of gold came from Kuanchichi farming Cenarion Circle rep in Silithus - goodness that has a lot of Runecloth as a side effect. But now it's gotten to the point where it will take actual effort.
Last night we decided to really quantify what was needed to make the money. I logged in Ikoli and Clara logged in Lithui, who has various game economic addons enabled. And we went through the list of what Inscriptions she can generate, and she made some of each of the most profitable ones and sent them off.
This weekend we'll see how well that works.
I can't wait until we get the fourth Bank Tab. Bank of Balou is overflowing and I still have lots of shared items to put in there.
The first 500 gold was pretty easy. And our other toons now have slightly more bank space. The next little bit of gold came from Kuanchichi farming Cenarion Circle rep in Silithus - goodness that has a lot of Runecloth as a side effect. But now it's gotten to the point where it will take actual effort.
Last night we decided to really quantify what was needed to make the money. I logged in Ikoli and Clara logged in Lithui, who has various game economic addons enabled. And we went through the list of what Inscriptions she can generate, and she made some of each of the most profitable ones and sent them off.
This weekend we'll see how well that works.
I can't wait until we get the fourth Bank Tab. Bank of Balou is overflowing and I still have lots of shared items to put in there.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Exalted CC
Kuanchichi has earned the title "Kuanchichi, Guardian of Cenarius".
Yes, young Paduwan, those Encrypted Twilight Texts are good for something.
Yes, young Paduwan, those Encrypted Twilight Texts are good for something.
note for reference, Kuan's raider eligibility
Darkfall requires 75% raid attendance on its raiders. Right now since Kuanchichi rejoined there have been 11 raids and he's attended 5.
I'll app for raider once it gets to 75%...
I'll app for raider once it gets to 75%...
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Son of ToC10 Fail
Friday night we took Mornara and Ikoli into Botanica, and killed two mobs, which is what it took to get Sha'tar Honored and the Heroic Key for Tempest Keep. While we did this, we convinced Rahlenti to walk us through Shadow Labs.
We had just embarked on this adventure when guildies put together another ToC10 run. This time they Rahlenti was going to tank, and since there was a mostly set of different people, we went to. They asked if Kuan was heals. I said "I can heal, but it is not my natural state of being." They got Eviljuls to be OT. She was worried about her health, but I wasn't really.
There were quite a few pugs, one at least I knew; a resto druid named Fleshwounds, whose lock is Doondoons and I've played with him on both toons plenty in the last couple years. So I felt better about this going in.
But we were still unable to get past the worms. Just total fail. A couple of the wipes were loosely my fault - Kuan died in the fire, once becuase he had a snobold and once becuase I was just too damned slow moving him - but after a large number of wipes, (mostly on Gormok, but a couple on worms) we gave up.
I don't get what the problem is, here. I don't think it's me, well other than the two wipes where I was in the fire...
We had just embarked on this adventure when guildies put together another ToC10 run. This time they Rahlenti was going to tank, and since there was a mostly set of different people, we went to. They asked if Kuan was heals. I said "I can heal, but it is not my natural state of being." They got Eviljuls to be OT. She was worried about her health, but I wasn't really.
There were quite a few pugs, one at least I knew; a resto druid named Fleshwounds, whose lock is Doondoons and I've played with him on both toons plenty in the last couple years. So I felt better about this going in.
But we were still unable to get past the worms. Just total fail. A couple of the wipes were loosely my fault - Kuan died in the fire, once becuase he had a snobold and once becuase I was just too damned slow moving him - but after a large number of wipes, (mostly on Gormok, but a couple on worms) we gave up.
I don't get what the problem is, here. I don't think it's me, well other than the two wipes where I was in the fire...
Thursday, October 15, 2009
ToC10 Fail
Last night we logged in to do a play a little bit of relaxing WoW. We were each bumming around on alts and about to do a few dailies and fish and such. Then someone asked if anyone wanted to do a ToC10 run. We said sure, and logged to Kuan and V and started moving to the instance.
We thought that it would be a speedy clear that would net us some nice badges and a potential upgrade dropping. Alas, it was not to be. The group was unable to get past Northrend Beasts. The whole thing was pretty fail. The tanks were both a little bit undergeared, all of us dps were not doing so hot, one of the priests had never seen it before, and the other priest was just not doing a good job.
It was really disappointing because both Kuan and V have done that instance just fine before. But instead of a nice speedy clear we just had wipes until we called it. We didn't ever get past the Jormungar. If we made it to them we would then die pretty swiftly to the worms.
Ah well, at least we when we called it WinterGrasp was just about to start. It made me fell better to go slaughter some Alliance and capture the Keep. :D
We thought that it would be a speedy clear that would net us some nice badges and a potential upgrade dropping. Alas, it was not to be. The group was unable to get past Northrend Beasts. The whole thing was pretty fail. The tanks were both a little bit undergeared, all of us dps were not doing so hot, one of the priests had never seen it before, and the other priest was just not doing a good job.
It was really disappointing because both Kuan and V have done that instance just fine before. But instead of a nice speedy clear we just had wipes until we called it. We didn't ever get past the Jormungar. If we made it to them we would then die pretty swiftly to the worms.
Ah well, at least we when we called it WinterGrasp was just about to start. It made me fell better to go slaughter some Alliance and capture the Keep. :D
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Ding! You have Guild Drama!
DraNgNon and I were driving home on Sunday night when my phone dinged. It was the new text message ding, and it was from Wendy. Wendy was texting us to let us know that someone had been kicked from the Darkfall.
There had been a few people leaving the guild over the weekend. Apparently they weren't happy with how things were going and went off to form their own guild. That's fine. I'm sure they will learn soon enough that running a guild is more work than they realized, and that getting 25 people together to raid is actually really hard. Anyway it only remained fine up to the point where they started trying to recruit people to join their new guild. Specifically people in Darkfall. That got the people who had not yet left but were recruiting kicked.
Anyway Wendy was texting to let us know that Hairsuit, the main beartank, had apparently posted on the Darkfall forums trying to recruit for the new guild. I don't know if he was planning on leaving or if he just thought that he was being helpful to people who might want to have a raid spot and currently didn't. Either way as soon as one of the officers saw his post he was no longer a member of Darkfall.
Now DraNgNon and I are wondering if we're the Typhoid Marys of Guild Drama. There was Drama, we left Darkfall last year. We went to Thwarted Destiny, and they had a couple of their better raiders leave. We went to Twisted Minds, and two thirds of their raiders left. We went to Deterrence, and while they recruited they never did get a regular enough group to get a full 25man going. And then some of the top officers stopped showing up and the guild fell apart. And now we're back in Darkfall, and 4 raiders have left. It's not enough to stop Darkfall from fielding full raids with several people on standby, but still it is weird.
There had been a few people leaving the guild over the weekend. Apparently they weren't happy with how things were going and went off to form their own guild. That's fine. I'm sure they will learn soon enough that running a guild is more work than they realized, and that getting 25 people together to raid is actually really hard. Anyway it only remained fine up to the point where they started trying to recruit people to join their new guild. Specifically people in Darkfall. That got the people who had not yet left but were recruiting kicked.
Anyway Wendy was texting to let us know that Hairsuit, the main beartank, had apparently posted on the Darkfall forums trying to recruit for the new guild. I don't know if he was planning on leaving or if he just thought that he was being helpful to people who might want to have a raid spot and currently didn't. Either way as soon as one of the officers saw his post he was no longer a member of Darkfall.
Now DraNgNon and I are wondering if we're the Typhoid Marys of Guild Drama. There was Drama, we left Darkfall last year. We went to Thwarted Destiny, and they had a couple of their better raiders leave. We went to Twisted Minds, and two thirds of their raiders left. We went to Deterrence, and while they recruited they never did get a regular enough group to get a full 25man going. And then some of the top officers stopped showing up and the guild fell apart. And now we're back in Darkfall, and 4 raiders have left. It's not enough to stop Darkfall from fielding full raids with several people on standby, but still it is weird.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Black Morass
Last night after we finally got on line we decided to mess about with Mornara and Ikoli. Even though we'd finished with work late I thought it was still early enough to get a Black Morass run in.
So Mornara and Ikoli grouped up and started looking for a few dps. We did a few quests in Nagrand before we ended up with a level 76 warrior, a 72 hunter, and hellnite (Hellwell's alt) a level 67 DK.
Of course we had forgotten to mention that BM needs the prereq of OHB in order to be able to enter it. It turns out that everyone but Mornara and Ikoli had not done OHB. SO we did that. It was pretty ok. Ikoli did a fine job of healing, and I think I did ok with tanking. I was a bit behind when Thrall went on his rampage, but at least I managed to keep Ikoli from getting hit too much. The hunter was pretty good, I got a bunch of misdirects from her, and that helped a lot.
Unfortunately after we did OHB the hunter had to bail because of a migraine. The warrior didn't say anything, but just disappeared. We were at a loss, because there was no way the three of us were going to do BM.
But then Eviljuls logged on. She said she'd help us. Unfortunately it turns out she had never gotten attuned to BM either. So back we went to OHB. It was a bit more chaotic this time, but with an 80 DK along it went even faster. So we blew through OHB and BM. And everyone got the achieve for reg BM. Perhaps if people are around we'll get H BM done tonight.
So Mornara and Ikoli grouped up and started looking for a few dps. We did a few quests in Nagrand before we ended up with a level 76 warrior, a 72 hunter, and hellnite (Hellwell's alt) a level 67 DK.
Of course we had forgotten to mention that BM needs the prereq of OHB in order to be able to enter it. It turns out that everyone but Mornara and Ikoli had not done OHB. SO we did that. It was pretty ok. Ikoli did a fine job of healing, and I think I did ok with tanking. I was a bit behind when Thrall went on his rampage, but at least I managed to keep Ikoli from getting hit too much. The hunter was pretty good, I got a bunch of misdirects from her, and that helped a lot.
Unfortunately after we did OHB the hunter had to bail because of a migraine. The warrior didn't say anything, but just disappeared. We were at a loss, because there was no way the three of us were going to do BM.
But then Eviljuls logged on. She said she'd help us. Unfortunately it turns out she had never gotten attuned to BM either. So back we went to OHB. It was a bit more chaotic this time, but with an 80 DK along it went even faster. So we blew through OHB and BM. And everyone got the achieve for reg BM. Perhaps if people are around we'll get H BM done tonight.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Tabard of the Achiever
Viljo has had 23 tabards for quite a while now. And recently I decided that this was no longer ok. Viljo needed to have 25 tabards.
So Viljo convinced Eeyan to come to Heroic Mana Tombs and kill some mobs until Viljo hit exalted with Consortium. It turns out that even with decent gear at level 80 those ethereals hit pretty hard when you're only wearing cloth or leather. But Viljo and Eeyan persevered and Viljo finally got exalted.
Unfortunately Eeyan said no to going to run Black Morass or Old Hillsbrad on Heroic. Especially since Viljo needed 1500 rep, instead of just the 700 that Consortium was missing. So Viljo was slightly disheartened as he went to get his spiffy new Consortium tabard.
But then I though of where I'd gotten my 23rd tabard: The Argent Tournament! Granted the paladins there were mostly a bunch of poufs, but they still gave out Champion's Seals. So Viljo tootled up to the Argent Tournament. And spent some seals on a very lovely Orgrimmar Tabard.
With that 25th tabard Viljo got the achievement: Twenty-Five Tabards. And suddenly there was a mail in his mailbox:
From: Windle SparkShine
Subject: Quite the Achiever
I couldn't help but notice what a fine collection of Tabards you've managed to collect over the seasons. You might as well add this one to your collection. It's simply been gathering dust in my wardrobe.
And contained in the mail was the lovely Tabard of the Achiever, which will be the tabard that Viljo wears from now on.
Well at least until I get bored of it. Or find one that matches better. Or decide that I want to have a special tabard on for some holiday or raid. Or, you know, just swap on a whim. How do you think I got so many tabards to start with??
So Viljo convinced Eeyan to come to Heroic Mana Tombs and kill some mobs until Viljo hit exalted with Consortium. It turns out that even with decent gear at level 80 those ethereals hit pretty hard when you're only wearing cloth or leather. But Viljo and Eeyan persevered and Viljo finally got exalted.
Unfortunately Eeyan said no to going to run Black Morass or Old Hillsbrad on Heroic. Especially since Viljo needed 1500 rep, instead of just the 700 that Consortium was missing. So Viljo was slightly disheartened as he went to get his spiffy new Consortium tabard.
But then I though of where I'd gotten my 23rd tabard: The Argent Tournament! Granted the paladins there were mostly a bunch of poufs, but they still gave out Champion's Seals. So Viljo tootled up to the Argent Tournament. And spent some seals on a very lovely Orgrimmar Tabard.
With that 25th tabard Viljo got the achievement: Twenty-Five Tabards. And suddenly there was a mail in his mailbox:
From: Windle SparkShine
Subject: Quite the Achiever
I couldn't help but notice what a fine collection of Tabards you've managed to collect over the seasons. You might as well add this one to your collection. It's simply been gathering dust in my wardrobe.
And contained in the mail was the lovely Tabard of the Achiever, which will be the tabard that Viljo wears from now on.
Well at least until I get bored of it. Or find one that matches better. Or decide that I want to have a special tabard on for some holiday or raid. Or, you know, just swap on a whim. How do you think I got so many tabards to start with??
Bank of Balou
DraNgNon and I decided that we needed our own alt guild bank. We'd been dumping random rep stuff into Ancestor Cult, but there is only so much space and we can't buy new tabs. Also both DraNgNon and I are paranoid. If we're going to put primals and high level ore into a bank we want to make sure the situation is entirely under our control.
So I took my alt, Lithui, and pulled him out of Ancestor Cult and bought him a guild charter. He pestered various friends and finally got the required 9 signatures the other day. And thus Bank of Balou was formed! I picked out a nice tabard: black background, white border, and a golden snarling dog head. It's meaner looking than Balou usually is, well unless he sees his reflection.
The first tab was 100g. It now holds a LOT of cloth. And that's not all of the cloth that our banker alts were carrying either...
The second tab was 250g. It now holds crafting mats. It's got stone, leather, grinding stones, ore and bars.
The third tab was 500g. It now holds gems and primals. We hold on to all of our primals and eternals. Between tailoring, blacksmithing, inscription, and jewelcrafting we go through a lot of materials.
We haven't rounded up the 1000g for the fourth tab yet. It will probably be for rep items when we do though.
Lithui will also be selling stuff as we go and putting that money back into the bank. Because there is no reasonable cause for keeping 25 stacks of solid stone.
So the general principal for using the bank and keeping it under control is that we'll sell the extra stuff, but never all of it. So the 25 stacks of solid stone will dwindle to 2 or 3 or so. There is also no limit on withdrawing as long as you're going to use it. Our characters will generally keep the materials that they need for skilling up on themselves. For example, Viljo is keeping the Northrend herbs on himself and will send any other herbs he gets to the bank. Mornara is keeping the gems that will skill her in her own bag, but the ore she is past will be sent to the bank.
So I took my alt, Lithui, and pulled him out of Ancestor Cult and bought him a guild charter. He pestered various friends and finally got the required 9 signatures the other day. And thus Bank of Balou was formed! I picked out a nice tabard: black background, white border, and a golden snarling dog head. It's meaner looking than Balou usually is, well unless he sees his reflection.
The first tab was 100g. It now holds a LOT of cloth. And that's not all of the cloth that our banker alts were carrying either...
The second tab was 250g. It now holds crafting mats. It's got stone, leather, grinding stones, ore and bars.
The third tab was 500g. It now holds gems and primals. We hold on to all of our primals and eternals. Between tailoring, blacksmithing, inscription, and jewelcrafting we go through a lot of materials.
We haven't rounded up the 1000g for the fourth tab yet. It will probably be for rep items when we do though.
Lithui will also be selling stuff as we go and putting that money back into the bank. Because there is no reasonable cause for keeping 25 stacks of solid stone.
So the general principal for using the bank and keeping it under control is that we'll sell the extra stuff, but never all of it. So the 25 stacks of solid stone will dwindle to 2 or 3 or so. There is also no limit on withdrawing as long as you're going to use it. Our characters will generally keep the materials that they need for skilling up on themselves. For example, Viljo is keeping the Northrend herbs on himself and will send any other herbs he gets to the bank. Mornara is keeping the gems that will skill her in her own bag, but the ore she is past will be sent to the bank.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
and, Ulduar 10 redux
I finally had some time last night to play Wow, the first block of time since rejoining Darkfall. Darkfall decided I was there as a friend (not probation) until I re-app'd, so I re-app'd Friday. The guild rule, that they've had forever and still have, is no raiding in non guild raids during guild raid times (whether you are in the guild raids or not). And, no raiding progression 25 mans with other guilds or pugs, period. Makes sense, what if they need you and you are saved? Fail.
So, I got Kuanchichi into a VoA 10 run; I tried to get Viljo but we were miscommunicating so Clara had to cool Viljo's heels in Wintergrasp while that happened. I don't think it was more than 20 minutes. After, we got pulled into an Ulduar 10 run that was mostly alts or mains that aren't able to make the regular raid times.
Oddly enough 5 of the 10 people, I am very used to raiding with. One of them, Kaviaa, had been offline for months and was only just restarting playing again. Which is not quite beside the point of this post.
Darkfall has always made their own strategies. In Siege of Ulduar, (the first 4 bosses), there isn't a lot of variety, and so was pretty straight forward. Once we got past there though, I ended up asking for more and more explanations. Iron Council was not so bad. Kologarn was a wipe fest; I think Darkfall would benefit from adapting Deterrence's strategy there honestly. I mean really. Kologarn is the easiest boss in there, and we had a wipefest forcing Kuan to be heals before we succeeded. Auriya was not so bad, but I was adjusting what I was doing on the fly as they pull her in a different place and kited and kited her up the Shattered Walkway. Hodir, they corner him near the cache to force the NPCs into a small area, both for toasty fire goodness and to make it easier to break them out of the Flash Freezes. By this time Kuan had swapped to heals but even 3 heals can't make up for undergeared alts, people unfamiliar with the fight and/or fight strategy, and a distinct lack of Frost Resist gear. So we called it at that point; I think we'd been in there maybe 3 hours.
Kuan picked up [Pendant of the Piercing Glare] off Kologarn, which means I now get to rework his hitcap and hitcap-minus-1% sets, which I will be doing this afternoon at some point. But I guess this serves as reassurance that Kuan is not terribly undergeared as all the other shaman loot got DE'd or nabbed by a paladin alt for his heal set. And, much as I hate to play for loot, I will be doing Uld 10 weekly now, as I've decided Kuan really needs a different shield.
Last but not least - Drognin came into our Ulduar 10 raid partway through. Drognin is his alt now, so he's one of the toons missing Frost Resist, tsk tsk; but anyhow, so much for worrying about our guild re-apps, with Kuan 2nd overall damage for the run even though he was healing on 2 bosses, and Viljo being regular awesome, we will be put back into promotable guild member ranks again.
So, I got Kuanchichi into a VoA 10 run; I tried to get Viljo but we were miscommunicating so Clara had to cool Viljo's heels in Wintergrasp while that happened. I don't think it was more than 20 minutes. After, we got pulled into an Ulduar 10 run that was mostly alts or mains that aren't able to make the regular raid times.
Oddly enough 5 of the 10 people, I am very used to raiding with. One of them, Kaviaa, had been offline for months and was only just restarting playing again. Which is not quite beside the point of this post.
Darkfall has always made their own strategies. In Siege of Ulduar, (the first 4 bosses), there isn't a lot of variety, and so was pretty straight forward. Once we got past there though, I ended up asking for more and more explanations. Iron Council was not so bad. Kologarn was a wipe fest; I think Darkfall would benefit from adapting Deterrence's strategy there honestly. I mean really. Kologarn is the easiest boss in there, and we had a wipefest forcing Kuan to be heals before we succeeded. Auriya was not so bad, but I was adjusting what I was doing on the fly as they pull her in a different place and kited and kited her up the Shattered Walkway. Hodir, they corner him near the cache to force the NPCs into a small area, both for toasty fire goodness and to make it easier to break them out of the Flash Freezes. By this time Kuan had swapped to heals but even 3 heals can't make up for undergeared alts, people unfamiliar with the fight and/or fight strategy, and a distinct lack of Frost Resist gear. So we called it at that point; I think we'd been in there maybe 3 hours.
Kuan picked up [Pendant of the Piercing Glare] off Kologarn, which means I now get to rework his hitcap and hitcap-minus-1% sets, which I will be doing this afternoon at some point. But I guess this serves as reassurance that Kuan is not terribly undergeared as all the other shaman loot got DE'd or nabbed by a paladin alt for his heal set. And, much as I hate to play for loot, I will be doing Uld 10 weekly now, as I've decided Kuan really needs a different shield.
Last but not least - Drognin came into our Ulduar 10 raid partway through. Drognin is his alt now, so he's one of the toons missing Frost Resist, tsk tsk; but anyhow, so much for worrying about our guild re-apps, with Kuan 2nd overall damage for the run even though he was healing on 2 bosses, and Viljo being regular awesome, we will be put back into promotable guild member ranks again.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Darkfall redux
Viljo and Kuanchichi are back in Darkfall.
They've gotten very big and probably don't have raid slots for us. But we'll see how that works out. I can't raid until next month anyhow, what with work and all. Clara, on the other hand, will probably be signing up and trying to get in.
Since they are on probation, we're not pulling in any other toons yet.
They've gotten very big and probably don't have raid slots for us. But we'll see how that works out. I can't raid until next month anyhow, what with work and all. Clara, on the other hand, will probably be signing up and trying to get in.
Since they are on probation, we're not pulling in any other toons yet.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
the Onyxia patch...
...means Kuan is going to have to re-glyph. It also makes the 2-bonus for Tier 8 meaningless.
Shamans
* Flame Shock: The duration of all ranks has been increased by 6 seconds.
* Lava Burst: This ability no longer ever consumes a Flame Shock debuff off of the target.
* Talents
o Elemental Combat
+ Shamanism: Your Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning spells gain an additional 3/6/9/12/15% and your Lava Burst gains an additional 4/8/12/16/20% of your bonus damage effects.
...
* Glyph of Flame Shock: Redesigned. This glyph now makes Flame Shock periodic damage able to be critical strikes.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Plosion
I can't decide if it is an IMplosion or an EXplosion. But either way there has been some sort of plosion in Deterrence.
For the past couple of weeks Deterrence has been unable to clear the Faction Champions in TOtC. We lost a few people and so had to pug 10-ish of the people in our 25-mans for the past few weeks as well. And now there are only 4 or 5 people showing up for 25man raids...
It's really sad, since I though that Deterrence actually had a lot of promise. But first Softieknight and then Carolije drove people out of the guild. Then one of of the officers (RequiemX) was absolutely childish in a raid and then looted the gbank and went off to form his own guild. And during all of this the original guild leader at first was MIA, and then passed leadership to the raid leader. The raid leader is a nice guy and he promoted a bunch of other officers, but he still wasn't all that great at delegating.
So Viljo and Kuan have watched the plosion of Deterrence and are now looking for another guild to join. Perhaps we can follow Nothinman into Smile. Perhaps we can convince Bloodcry and Hellshot to let us back into Darkfall. Perhaps there is another guild out there that we could make the raid times for.
For the past couple of weeks Deterrence has been unable to clear the Faction Champions in TOtC. We lost a few people and so had to pug 10-ish of the people in our 25-mans for the past few weeks as well. And now there are only 4 or 5 people showing up for 25man raids...
It's really sad, since I though that Deterrence actually had a lot of promise. But first Softieknight and then Carolije drove people out of the guild. Then one of of the officers (RequiemX) was absolutely childish in a raid and then looted the gbank and went off to form his own guild. And during all of this the original guild leader at first was MIA, and then passed leadership to the raid leader. The raid leader is a nice guy and he promoted a bunch of other officers, but he still wasn't all that great at delegating.
So Viljo and Kuan have watched the plosion of Deterrence and are now looking for another guild to join. Perhaps we can follow Nothinman into Smile. Perhaps we can convince Bloodcry and Hellshot to let us back into Darkfall. Perhaps there is another guild out there that we could make the raid times for.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
followup
I said in an earlier post: the +hit lets me swap a neck gear in my standard raid set for something with no hit, but crit, and more spellpower.
Well, that was the badged neck, Lattice Choker of Light. Now, Kuan was saving up for buying the T8.5 chest for his heal set, and once I had enough badges I went to the vendor. And saw that for 19 of them I could get Frozen Tear of Elune.
So now Kuan has even more crit, and the healy chest has to wait more. I know, that's not that many badges to farm, but we've been busy wiping on faction champions, which Deterrence would rather keep trying instead of progress in Ulduar which would, as a side effect, get enough people geared so that faction champions would be easy.
Hence my spending some cycles leveling Ikoli. I thought the Coliseum was boring when they first released it. Now I think so even more.
Well, that was the badged neck, Lattice Choker of Light. Now, Kuan was saving up for buying the T8.5 chest for his heal set, and once I had enough badges I went to the vendor. And saw that for 19 of them I could get Frozen Tear of Elune.
So now Kuan has even more crit, and the healy chest has to wait more. I know, that's not that many badges to farm, but we've been busy wiping on faction champions, which Deterrence would rather keep trying instead of progress in Ulduar which would, as a side effect, get enough people geared so that faction champions would be easy.
Hence my spending some cycles leveling Ikoli. I thought the Coliseum was boring when they first released it. Now I think so even more.
Ikoli is 70!
of course she got it working on the Karazhan key.
The keys she and Mornara sitll need are:
• Arcatraz - they are on the final quest
• Shattered Halls - not started
• Caverns of Time heroic - they need a Black Morass run
• Tempest Keep heroic - will get as a side effect of Arcatraz quest
• Karazhan - they are early on the quest chain
Friday, September 11, 2009
Living in Azeroth
I was looking at Blue posts last night while stuck at work. One of the posts I noticed was someone asking where your characters would live. It caught my attention and I've been randomly pondering where my different characters would all live.
Viljo would have a room at the Filthy Animal in Dalaran. He doesn't altogether trust the Dalaran mages, so he'd want to live in Dal to keep an eye on them. Even if that means that he'd have to deal with Alliance in the streets. He'd keep at apt in Orgrimmar to get some Alliance free time, and of course to be on hand to defend Thrall and Vol'jin at need.
Teltanara would for sure live in Silvermoon. Kael'thas may have betrayed the Blood Elves, but Silvermoon is still the capital, and has the best (BE/all others) ratio. It's also a city so she can get whatever she needs without putting too much effort into having to go get it her self.
Mornara doesn't really have a home. She's more of a wandering fighter. She spends time wherever she has been fighting most recently. If she could settle down though she'd probably want to be in Orgrimmar or possibly Undercity.
Kairon would have a hut in Sen'jin Village. He'd spend some time in Orgrimmar as well, but Casimir (his tiger) prefers the jungles of the Echo Isles best.
Viljo would have a room at the Filthy Animal in Dalaran. He doesn't altogether trust the Dalaran mages, so he'd want to live in Dal to keep an eye on them. Even if that means that he'd have to deal with Alliance in the streets. He'd keep at apt in Orgrimmar to get some Alliance free time, and of course to be on hand to defend Thrall and Vol'jin at need.
Teltanara would for sure live in Silvermoon. Kael'thas may have betrayed the Blood Elves, but Silvermoon is still the capital, and has the best (BE/all others) ratio. It's also a city so she can get whatever she needs without putting too much effort into having to go get it her self.
Mornara doesn't really have a home. She's more of a wandering fighter. She spends time wherever she has been fighting most recently. If she could settle down though she'd probably want to be in Orgrimmar or possibly Undercity.
Kairon would have a hut in Sen'jin Village. He'd spend some time in Orgrimmar as well, but Casimir (his tiger) prefers the jungles of the Echo Isles best.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Patience is its own reward
Well, OK, not really.
But Teltanara gave Kuanchichi a [Scroll of Enchant Weapon - Mighty Spellpower] and Kuan just banked it.
A couple weeks ago one of the officers gave me grief, why is there only +50 spellpower on Kuan's [Hammer of the Astral Plane]? I said, I don't want to blow the enchant on something that has a lot of upgrades... this is a Naxx 10 weapon off Kel'Thuzad.
Tonight, off the first boss in 25-man Coliseum, [Barb of Tarasque] dropped. It was rolls since we pugged in people, and Kuan won the roll! People were offering me 1,000 gold to trade it to them. But I hearthed, and used the scroll, pretty much as soon as I got the weapon. We had that kind of time; the raid leader talks too much between bosses.
And then, the same people were mad. Becuase they couldn't believe that I got it, and wasn't trading it to them.
Anyhow, now Kuan is wearing a daggar instead of a mace. (It's got the Horde logo on it too.) The +crit hit isn't as bad as it seems, the +hit lets me swap a neck gear in my standard raid set for something with no hit, but crit, and more spellpower.
But Teltanara gave Kuanchichi a [Scroll of Enchant Weapon - Mighty Spellpower] and Kuan just banked it.
A couple weeks ago one of the officers gave me grief, why is there only +50 spellpower on Kuan's [Hammer of the Astral Plane]? I said, I don't want to blow the enchant on something that has a lot of upgrades... this is a Naxx 10 weapon off Kel'Thuzad.
Tonight, off the first boss in 25-man Coliseum, [Barb of Tarasque] dropped. It was rolls since we pugged in people, and Kuan won the roll! People were offering me 1,000 gold to trade it to them. But I hearthed, and used the scroll, pretty much as soon as I got the weapon. We had that kind of time; the raid leader talks too much between bosses.
And then, the same people were mad. Becuase they couldn't believe that I got it, and wasn't trading it to them.
Anyhow, now Kuan is wearing a daggar instead of a mace. (It's got the Horde logo on it too.) The +crit hit isn't as bad as it seems, the +hit lets me swap a neck gear in my standard raid set for something with no hit, but crit, and more spellpower.
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