I'm actually pretty close to catching all the various battle pets for the different continental capture acheevements. I've already captured (and gotten the achievements for) all the pets on Eastern Kingdoms, Outland, and Pandaria.
In Northrend I'm only missing the Arctic Fox Kit. And I currently have an alt parked in Storm Peaks waiting and waiting for the snow to blow in. I suspect that like the Baby Ape this will take months. There is no schedule that I've been able to find so it's all up to luck if I log in when there is snow falling.
I have two pets left to capture in Kalimdor for the Kalimdor continental catch'em all achieve. One of these pets is the Minfernal. The other is the Qiraji Guardling.
I had been missing the Giraffe Calf from Southern Barrens. However, a lucky capture just outside of Dominance Hold netted me one. It is grey quality, but I totally don't care. This is the exact situation that Battle Stones were invented for. Next Flawless Critter Stone I get it'll be upgraded.
I have an alt stationed in Felwood for the Minfernal. I check every so often to see if there is one up. Possibly I need to take drastic late night/early morning action there. But I do enjoy sleep and I'll catch it eventually.
The Qiraji Guardling however is a "summer pet". It spawns in Silithus, allegedly near the Scarab Wall in Southern Silithus, but it only does so during summer. Whenever that is. There has been massive speculation about when that is. After March 21st. After May 1st. After the summer solstice in June.
I checked last night, and regrettably it appears that it is likely after summer solstice. Or at least it wasn't after May 1st. And, yes, the various blue posts that I've looked up today have confirmed that it's not going to be around until late June at earliest.
Once I get the Continental achieves I'll go back and be super OCD about getting the newer capturable pets added after the achieves were in there. I just can't force myself to park an alt waiting for the Stunted Yeti or Infinite Whelp, for example, when the Minfernal is roaming free and taunting me.
Thursday, May 2, 2013
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Red Panda
With the 5.2 patch there were many new things introduced into WoW. Aside from the new islands and their denizens and daily quests and the Throne of Thunder raid there was also some other fun stuff. The players got the farm from Yoon if they were exalted with the Tillers. Alliance and Horde got access to the opposite faction's scenario. There was also a new set of pet battles added.
The new pet battles added in the idea of solo battle pets. Not for players to have, but for players to fight. They are the Beasts of Fable. (Dun Dun DUN!) These mythical creatures live around Pandaria, and if you defeat all of them you get a Red Panda. The red panda is quite simply adorable! Not necessarily top of the adorable scale, that goes to Baby Blizzard Bear, but it's pretty far up there.
So Mornara set out to thrash the Beasts of Fable. Being creatures native to Pandaria they were all beast, critter, flying, or aquatic. Most of the fights were relatively easy. In fact only Gorespine was any trouble, but his Spiked Skin really was an issue until I remembered that my Clockwork Gnome had a missile instead of turrets.
And then I flew back to the Shrine of Two Moons and acquired my absolutely adorable Red Panda.
The new pet battles added in the idea of solo battle pets. Not for players to have, but for players to fight. They are the Beasts of Fable. (Dun Dun DUN!) These mythical creatures live around Pandaria, and if you defeat all of them you get a Red Panda. The red panda is quite simply adorable! Not necessarily top of the adorable scale, that goes to Baby Blizzard Bear, but it's pretty far up there.
So Mornara set out to thrash the Beasts of Fable. Being creatures native to Pandaria they were all beast, critter, flying, or aquatic. Most of the fights were relatively easy. In fact only Gorespine was any trouble, but his Spiked Skin really was an issue until I remembered that my Clockwork Gnome had a missile instead of turrets.
And then I flew back to the Shrine of Two Moons and acquired my absolutely adorable Red Panda.
Saturday, April 27, 2013
Monk
When Mists of Pandaria was released I rolled a monk. An Orc monk to be precise. Little Sucan was always going to be a brewmaster monk. Because tanking is fun, and really with his name he must be a brewmaster.
Anyway, I'd gotten him a few levels here and there since Mists came out. But being little is tiresome. You have no mount and, even with the Cata streamlining, everything is far away. At least the Monk skill Roll makes that a little faster.
Last week, while DraNgNon was out of town, I took some time to get Sucan more levels. I was questing him up through Northern Barrens. Because of Cross Realm Zones it was mildly painful. There was a fair amount of competition for quest kills. But, even worse, there was some jackass level 90 ret pally flying around killing the quest givers. Fortunately I hit level 15 before too long and could queue for a random dungeon.
Sucan ported in to the start of Ragefire Chasm. The group grabbed up all the quests and stomped our way through the dungeon. It was fun and weird to be an at level tank in RFC. Especially since at that level I had very few of the actual tools of Monk tanking. Basically all Sucan could do was throw beer and kick a little bit. But once I got the hang of it I found it's really nice to pull with beer. Just throw beer everywhere and all the mobs are mad at you. It's ranged, and pretty cheap to use.
After that dungeon was done I queued and ran a bunch more. Between the heirloom shoulders and staff that Sucan had I was level 30 before the evening was done. Also, starting at level 20, Monks can go to the Peak of Serenity in Kun-Lai Summit and once a day get a +50% xp buff. It's pretty spiffy and the extra xp is kinda ridiculous. Anyway, there were some good groups and a few ridiculous ones that were utterly confused about what to do and where to go, but for the most part it was pretty good.
By the time Sucan was level 30 I actually felt like a tank with some basic tanking tools. In addition to throwing beer I can now set people on fire if they are covered in beer. I also have short and long CD damage reduction abilities and a self heal. Oh, and I can make people charge into me; Clash will force someone to charge into me as I charge into them, and it stuns enemies around where we meet. It gives brewmaster Monks a more mobile and dynamic feel than Blood DKs.
I do think that before I run anymore dungeons I need to take a bit of time and have my Leatherworkers make Sucan some gear. The instances weren't hard, but there was always either a rogue or a druid who outrolled me on all the leather agility gear that dropped. So I got a few quest item upgrades, but missed out entirely on any dungeon gear. And now that I'm level 30 the greens I got for questing at level 15 are not really cutting it.
Anyway, I'd gotten him a few levels here and there since Mists came out. But being little is tiresome. You have no mount and, even with the Cata streamlining, everything is far away. At least the Monk skill Roll makes that a little faster.
Last week, while DraNgNon was out of town, I took some time to get Sucan more levels. I was questing him up through Northern Barrens. Because of Cross Realm Zones it was mildly painful. There was a fair amount of competition for quest kills. But, even worse, there was some jackass level 90 ret pally flying around killing the quest givers. Fortunately I hit level 15 before too long and could queue for a random dungeon.
Sucan ported in to the start of Ragefire Chasm. The group grabbed up all the quests and stomped our way through the dungeon. It was fun and weird to be an at level tank in RFC. Especially since at that level I had very few of the actual tools of Monk tanking. Basically all Sucan could do was throw beer and kick a little bit. But once I got the hang of it I found it's really nice to pull with beer. Just throw beer everywhere and all the mobs are mad at you. It's ranged, and pretty cheap to use.
After that dungeon was done I queued and ran a bunch more. Between the heirloom shoulders and staff that Sucan had I was level 30 before the evening was done. Also, starting at level 20, Monks can go to the Peak of Serenity in Kun-Lai Summit and once a day get a +50% xp buff. It's pretty spiffy and the extra xp is kinda ridiculous. Anyway, there were some good groups and a few ridiculous ones that were utterly confused about what to do and where to go, but for the most part it was pretty good.
By the time Sucan was level 30 I actually felt like a tank with some basic tanking tools. In addition to throwing beer I can now set people on fire if they are covered in beer. I also have short and long CD damage reduction abilities and a self heal. Oh, and I can make people charge into me; Clash will force someone to charge into me as I charge into them, and it stuns enemies around where we meet. It gives brewmaster Monks a more mobile and dynamic feel than Blood DKs.
I do think that before I run anymore dungeons I need to take a bit of time and have my Leatherworkers make Sucan some gear. The instances weren't hard, but there was always either a rogue or a druid who outrolled me on all the leather agility gear that dropped. So I got a few quest item upgrades, but missed out entirely on any dungeon gear. And now that I'm level 30 the greens I got for questing at level 15 are not really cutting it.
the world of our imagination
Blizzard has put out preliminary notes on the upcoming 5.3 patch "Escalation." A glance at it shows they are taking some care with the story line and are actually following up on some early 4.0 story laid down and neglected since. Good for them, the world and its story hasn't been this "interesting" since the original game.
However... that's not why I am writing this post. Or maybe it has something to do with why. Remember the original game? The MMORPG that is. The opening cinematic? The very first scene, with the dwarf warrior and his bear walking towards Ironforge? Shown with a detail - hair, snow, muscle movement, one only expects on console games or movies?
That's, unfortuantely, the world of our imagination. We try to pretend we are in that world, when not actually in PVP or a Raid. Shut off the names, the name plates, the glowy sparkles, the heads up displays, and just watch the events in Azeroth like it's a movie unfolding a story. And our imagination often fails, of course. Becuase everything looks sorta goofy.
I bring this up becuase of a small graphic in the webpage with the patch notes. Along with screenshots that look like they are taken from a turned-up Windows box with bad gamma, and therefore look more like cartoons than 3-d reality, there's a matte drawing of a Horde lookout in the Barrens.
Look at that. It looks like one could walk right up to it... taking care not to turn an ankle or stumble in the loose dirt of the chaparral. I wish so much the game looked like this at all.
I wonder where this is. Kuanchichi will need, before this patch drops, to clear all Barrens quests reset from Cataclysm, if I find it I will take a screenshot to compare.
However... that's not why I am writing this post. Or maybe it has something to do with why. Remember the original game? The MMORPG that is. The opening cinematic? The very first scene, with the dwarf warrior and his bear walking towards Ironforge? Shown with a detail - hair, snow, muscle movement, one only expects on console games or movies?
That's, unfortuantely, the world of our imagination. We try to pretend we are in that world, when not actually in PVP or a Raid. Shut off the names, the name plates, the glowy sparkles, the heads up displays, and just watch the events in Azeroth like it's a movie unfolding a story. And our imagination often fails, of course. Becuase everything looks sorta goofy.
I bring this up becuase of a small graphic in the webpage with the patch notes. Along with screenshots that look like they are taken from a turned-up Windows box with bad gamma, and therefore look more like cartoons than 3-d reality, there's a matte drawing of a Horde lookout in the Barrens.
Look at that. It looks like one could walk right up to it... taking care not to turn an ankle or stumble in the loose dirt of the chaparral. I wish so much the game looked like this at all.
I wonder where this is. Kuanchichi will need, before this patch drops, to clear all Barrens quests reset from Cataclysm, if I find it I will take a screenshot to compare.
Friday, March 29, 2013
Brawler's Guild
Mornara bought herself an invitation to the Brawler's Guild. It wasn't cheap but the Black Market AH prices have really gone down since it initially came out. So she didn't need to break the bank to get in the door.
I have tried a couple of fights so far. I know she is only rank 1, but they seemed ridiculously easy. Morn was handily able to beat the enrage timer despite being in her blood spec and gear. I'd like to stay blood for all of the fights if I can, some of the fights I saw had people die to boss abilities and not just the enrage timer.
However, I'm not really seeing the allure of the fighting. OK, sure you get to kill stuff, and that is always nice. However, you need to wait your turn, because only one person can fight at a time. Also the only actual reward I can see is that at rank 4 you can buy Clock'em a mechanical gnome battle pet with spiked boxing gloves. I'm going to guess that once you get to max rank (rank 8 I think?) you'll get a title or achieve or both. However, before my two fights I was subjected to the worst sort of e-peen waving from someone talking about their past Gladiator achieves.
I'll try it again, I'd like to at least get to rank 4 to get the battle pet, but we'll see how far I get after that.
I have tried a couple of fights so far. I know she is only rank 1, but they seemed ridiculously easy. Morn was handily able to beat the enrage timer despite being in her blood spec and gear. I'd like to stay blood for all of the fights if I can, some of the fights I saw had people die to boss abilities and not just the enrage timer.
However, I'm not really seeing the allure of the fighting. OK, sure you get to kill stuff, and that is always nice. However, you need to wait your turn, because only one person can fight at a time. Also the only actual reward I can see is that at rank 4 you can buy Clock'em a mechanical gnome battle pet with spiked boxing gloves. I'm going to guess that once you get to max rank (rank 8 I think?) you'll get a title or achieve or both. However, before my two fights I was subjected to the worst sort of e-peen waving from someone talking about their past Gladiator achieves.
I'll try it again, I'd like to at least get to rank 4 to get the battle pet, but we'll see how far I get after that.
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
New Mouse / Redoing Macros
New Mouse
So, I finally caved in and got a new mouse. I'd been using a Logictech trackball, and I liked that I didn't need to have a flat surface for mousing. However, I was unable to turn up the dpi of the trackball enough to get across the screen without 2 or 3 scrolling motions on the trackball. So DraNgNon finally convinced me to buy a Razer Naga. It arrived the other day and I installed the drivers last night.
I'm liking it so far. The higher dpi is a lot nicer, and I'm already liking having a mouse again. I'm not entirely sure what spells I want to put on the thumb pad, but I've set up another bar in Dominos for the numpad. Minimally I'll want to put the targeted AoE spells on the mouse pad. I've also put a mouseover rez macro for Morn. And I'll definitely want to get the dumb healing mushrooms for Khryie on the mouse as well.
Macros
So with a new mouse I've been looking at my macros. I needed a mouseover macro for rez and I wanted to put my focus interrupt/cc macros in a central place so I don't have to worry about copying new macros over for different characters.
Focus CC Macro:
#showtooltip
/cast [target=focus,exists,nodead] [] Strangulate
/cast [target=focus,exists,nodead] [] Mind Freeze
Mouseover rez:
#showtooltip
/cast [target=mouseover] Raise Ally
Mouseover healing with fallback to targeted ally heal and then self heal:
#showtooltip
/cast [target=mouseover,help] Lifebloom; [help] Lifebloom; Lifebloom
Mouseover heal with trinket use:
/target mouseover
/use FabulousTrinket
/cast Swiftmend
/script UIErrorsFrame:Clear()
So, I finally caved in and got a new mouse. I'd been using a Logictech trackball, and I liked that I didn't need to have a flat surface for mousing. However, I was unable to turn up the dpi of the trackball enough to get across the screen without 2 or 3 scrolling motions on the trackball. So DraNgNon finally convinced me to buy a Razer Naga. It arrived the other day and I installed the drivers last night.
I'm liking it so far. The higher dpi is a lot nicer, and I'm already liking having a mouse again. I'm not entirely sure what spells I want to put on the thumb pad, but I've set up another bar in Dominos for the numpad. Minimally I'll want to put the targeted AoE spells on the mouse pad. I've also put a mouseover rez macro for Morn. And I'll definitely want to get the dumb healing mushrooms for Khryie on the mouse as well.
Macros
So with a new mouse I've been looking at my macros. I needed a mouseover macro for rez and I wanted to put my focus interrupt/cc macros in a central place so I don't have to worry about copying new macros over for different characters.
Focus CC Macro:
#showtooltip
/cast [target=focus,exists,nodead] [] Strangulate
/cast [target=focus,exists,nodead] [] Mind Freeze
Mouseover rez:
#showtooltip
/cast [target=mouseover] Raise Ally
Mouseover healing with fallback to targeted ally heal and then self heal:
#showtooltip
/cast [target=mouseover,help] Lifebloom; [help] Lifebloom; Lifebloom
Mouseover heal with trinket use:
/target mouseover
/use FabulousTrinket
/cast Swiftmend
/script UIErrorsFrame:Clear()
Saturday, March 16, 2013
Bat Hilarity
Khyrie and Tylara both finally hit exalted with the Klaxxi the other day. The holdup was all Khyrie slacking on the dumb daily quests. Anyway, we finally did the quest to go along with Malik the Unscathed to break the siege the Empress and her loyal minions have around Klaxxi'vess.
This quest is one big phase, and it's done such that we can actually fly with Malik as he makes his way to the Heart of Fear. Keep in mind that it's about 1:30am at this point, and I've had a long week at work so far. Also that my favorite druid form is flight form, and especially the Bat form that Trolls get.
Anyway we're flying along next to Malik, and I am providing a small stream of consciousness for Khyrie and her fabulous bat form.
"I'ma bat. I'ma bite you.
"unya, unya, unya." *
"I'ma eat you Malik, because you're a big bug."
"unya unya unya unya."
"You're a big tasty bug, and I like eating bugs because I'm a bat."
"unya unya unya."
At this point DranGNon turns her head slowly, looks at me, and asks "What the hell is wrong with you?!"
My response, before we both dissolve into laughter: "I'm a BAT! Unya unya unya"
* - I'm really not sure how to spell the chomping/gnawing noise I was making. Unya is the closest I can come, but it doesn't really capture the teeth click as I close my mouth on the ending 'ya'.
This quest is one big phase, and it's done such that we can actually fly with Malik as he makes his way to the Heart of Fear. Keep in mind that it's about 1:30am at this point, and I've had a long week at work so far. Also that my favorite druid form is flight form, and especially the Bat form that Trolls get.
Anyway we're flying along next to Malik, and I am providing a small stream of consciousness for Khyrie and her fabulous bat form.
"I'ma bat. I'ma bite you.
"unya, unya, unya." *
"I'ma eat you Malik, because you're a big bug."
"unya unya unya unya."
"You're a big tasty bug, and I like eating bugs because I'm a bat."
"unya unya unya."
At this point DranGNon turns her head slowly, looks at me, and asks "What the hell is wrong with you?!"
My response, before we both dissolve into laughter: "I'm a BAT! Unya unya unya"
* - I'm really not sure how to spell the chomping/gnawing noise I was making. Unya is the closest I can come, but it doesn't really capture the teeth click as I close my mouth on the ending 'ya'.
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