UI on my mind

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

draNgNon progress 25 Feb

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Elephant here I come

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

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

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

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

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

Miscellaneous Raiding

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

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

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

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

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

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

These are the People in your Raid

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

These are the People in your Raid

The Raid-

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Takin' care o' business

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

UBRS

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

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

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

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

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