Facelift!

Lookie, lookie - a facelift!

I stuck with blogspot for ages just for convenience, since it's where I started, but I finally got around to putting it on my own webhost, thus the upgrade to wordpress. So you should already be in the right place if you're using the right url (www.xantherblog.com) then you're set. If you're still using the xanthersz.blogspot.com one, then please come on over and update your url!

3.3 Woes

As with every patch, comes the inevitable glitches.  They’ve already done a mini patch fix, which is good.  But the fix I’m really hoping for?  The Call Stabled Pet bug.  Yes, if you are using this ability while using the random dungeon finder beware.  It doesn’t seem it’s a problem if your entire group is from the same server, but it definitely is when you have cross-servers.  The bug?  The 5 minute cooldown goes up to 25 days.  Mine’s now down to something like 22 days, and still ticking.  I’m curious though – will the GM’s answer my ticket before the CD is up?  I’ve had it open for days.

Now, a guildie had another problem and put in the magic key words since it was a more immediate problem, which got him a GM within an hour or so (If you don’t know the key words, I won’t tell you.  And no, I’m not going to cheat and use them in my ticket since the issue is just an annoyance, not crucial – it’d be like skipping in line).  While he had the GM, he asked about my issue (they asked if he had any other questions, so that works, right?  Lol.) and they said yes, it’s a known issue and to keep doing what I am (using a regular stable, and leaving the ticket open).  But it begs the question – if they have the system in place to track for key words and phrases… why don’t they use it for known issues?  Wouldn’t it be great customer service (in comparison to what they have – certainly there’s even better than this small thing I suggest) if they found the key words for this glitch, then auto-replied with a status update, saying it’s a known issue and instructing you to stay/not stay in the ticket queue?  Or anything?  If someone in my office took more than 1 business day to reply to a customer, that might be ok depending on the issue and whether or not they got back within 2 business days.  If they did it to more than one customer, or if they were like Bliz and don’t respond for days on end – then there would be consequences.  It’s just plain terrible customer service.

Luckily, it’s not that big of an issue, and only really just an annoyance.  Hell, it goes back to the days before the ability existed.  So my frustration is more, once again, with Bliz’s poor customer service than the actual issue.  Probably because my own field is directly related to Customer Service, but oh well.  I expect glitches, especially when making changes of the caliber they did.  I just also expect some measure of Customer Satisfaction be included in their Customer Service.

He's Big, He's Blue, and He's Mine!

This past weekend, my wife went to scan for Arcturis for me, while I went real quick to check Sholazar for Loque. Amazingly enough, he spawned right in front of her! Heart racing, she puts him in roots, and tells me to hightail it over. She’s calmly holding him there and I’m on my way over, when Hardtobrake, a tauren, comes in. He starts trying to tame it, even though she’s already tagged it and is obviously holding him for someone. Somehow he managed not to tame him, and my wife kept him holding Arcturis. So then, the tauren decides to kill Arcturis – even though she’s emoting him to stop, begging him, etc. Wtf? Seriously, if you come across a rare-spawn that you know hunters around Azeroth are trying to tame, why would you kill it rather than let someone else tame it, especially if they tagged it first? Thus, the inevitable happened – he and I were forced to compete and camp the spot together until the next spawn. Because of that, I award him the following achievement.

I mean, honestly, it only hurts you to be a jerk like that. And then after killing Arcturis, he tries dualing her, taunting her, etc. Of course, he probably forgot he was a 77 and she was a well geared 80 when he flagged himself PvP, lol. He didn’t make that mistake twice. I’m happy to say, though, that the next day when I was camping him (I’d run a dungeon, check for the spawn, see afore mentioned huntard there, then go do another dungeon, lol) – he did spawn. I’m sitting there watching a movie, and he spawns right in front of me! Quick concussive shot & tame, and he was mine! Immediately fed him to get some happiness up, then thanked the other alliance hunter (I apologize, I forget your name – I was a bit preoccupied, lol!) who had come over probably 30 minutes prior. He said gratz, and as he saw I was already camping the spot – he let me tame Arcturis without a fight. Damned decent of him, and much appreciated that there are polite people on the server. And YAY! He’s my first Spirit Beast. I’ve now seen King Crush twice, but no Loque. Maybe luck will hold out and I can find Loque soon too. And fyi, if you’re looking for a spirit beast, Arcturis is your easiest bet, since he spawns in the same place every time. Simply camp the spot long enough and you’re essentially guaranteed a pet (provided some jerk doesn’t kill him first).

Thoughts on 3.3

Sooo I did have time to jump in last night.  Conference call got done early, and I just stayed up way too late.  Aside from the typical patch-day nightmares (“Additional instances cannot be launched…”, Dalaran nightmare lag, etc.), it was pretty good.  The new instances are fun, and a bit of a challenge.  I even picked up a new crossbow!  Rest of the stuff was mostly shaman gear (no one could use) or tank gear.  Very nice, is dungeon queuing that lets you port right from dungeon to dungeon.  Also nice is the random heroic option, which means we don’t have to sit around going “what dungeon do you want to do?”.

But nicest of all…  It looks like the Hunter Misdirect is finally fixed.  Not only that, but AoE Damage seems to work as well.  Thus we’re no longer limited to pulling 3 mobs weakly onto the tank – we can actually AoE a group onto them!  Or more importantly, once we hit MD, we can actually lay into a target without fearing that we’ll be pulling agro by our 6^th shot…  Yay!

Now if they just fix it so we can actually get the schematics for epic ammo…  I understand that it’s epic ammo – should take a little effort to get.  But after ages of gnomish/goblin engineering not really mattering, it seems so random to make bullets go to one and arrows to the other.  Not to mention, why does the schematic have a rep requirement and the ammo not?  Doesn’t that basically defeat the purpose of trying to get the schematic?  I mean, to get the bullets, I don’t need the rep, but to make the bullets someone else needs to get the rep.  Just seems a little weird to me.  Seems the schematic and the ammo should both have the requirement.  Oh well.  I doubt I’ll buy the ammo, and at some point I’ll get the rep up and then I’ll make them.  So not a big deal.  Just seems a little odd.

3.3 Live

I should be excited, except I have a full day of work, conference call this evening, and MBA to do.  I guess that means that 3.3 goes live for this Hunter tomorrow instead…  More comments on the patch after I have a chance to see them!  Lol.

RL WTH?

Ok, first the WoW.  If you’re going for Exalted w/ Bloodsail, find some friends or cross your fingers that there’s someone else as insane as you at the same time.  The 2 guys we’re farming it with are nice & fun.  Half the time, only one of us is actually at the computer killing Jazzrek, but we just stay in a raid group so when we afk out, and log back in, we’re still in the group.  Then whoever is around kills him, and everyone gets the rep.  Much nicer if you don’t have to always be there – and it works both ways!

Onto the WTH…  So we have a database, that tracks everything about everyone.  Well, not everything, but you know what I mean.  contact info, giving history, grades, degrees, employers, and so on.  Basically, everything is supposed to be recorded in it, so that all of us who have access, can pull the data we need, when we need it.

So knowing that there’s a particular department here that doesn’t do a great job of inputting the data, I always do one or two things on the side to make sure I actually have the data I need.  I also train people to let me know when they stumble across something I should know, so that they inform me – anything I can do to get the necessary data.  So now that I have my 90% solution, as accurate as I can get, I pull the list from the database to cross-reference.  My list has 22 names.  A little low (usually closer to 30 at this time of year), but still probably pretty accurate.  The list I pull?  Had 1.  WTH?  Out of curiosity, I run the same report for the list I should get in late FEB.  In late FEB it should have ~380 names.  Right now it has 150 (it should have 0 right now…).  And 12 of the names on my list (the ones that should be on the original list I pulled that only had 1 name), are on the FEB one!  W T H? ? ? ?

I know, probably confused everyone with this, but let’s just say the math doesn’t add up.  I swear, someday I’ll just make everyone elect me King. Then I can solve problems like these by hiring Lifeguards for the gene pool…

Sick

So at least the perk to being sick was that we got our Bloodsail rep up a bit.  Watching movies, and killing Jazrek.  And now we have 2 others who joined us, lol.  Makes it easier now too, since they’re also watching for him to kill him as soon as possible.  Though if you have to be sick, don’t be sick on a TUE so that you can log into WoW, lol.  Yet for some strange reason, Nazgrel wasn’t down when I woke up on TUE.  Weird!  Oh well, back to work now…  At least it’ll seem like a short week, since I went in MON, and now just THU & FRI.  Then a weekend!  Yay!

Wow he has free time...

http://www.mmo-champion.com/news-2/player-gets-all-achievements-shadowed-unit-frames/

 

 

Yeah, I’ll just let you read it yourself.  That guy must have no life!  Of course, imo, he still hasn’t beaten the game because he hasn’t done that with all the races and all the classes…  But that’s just me.  For some reason, I’d like to think that it’s different to play a druid healer and a dwarf rogue, so to beat the game you’d have to do all those achievements on both characters.  And since a paladin tank is different too…  Yeah, you see where I’m going with this.

Anyway, I’m sure I’ll get back to blogging more often soon.  Been too busy at work to do it in the past few weeks, then last week was vaca…  Quick shout out and thanks to the nice Ogre who helped Lady X and I get the turkey minipet.  Didn’t really have any time to log in over the vaca since we were visiting family in KS, so Ogre helped us finish up the parts we didn’t have time for.

The Grind...

Haven’t really had much time to play WoW recently.  Though we did start up 2 rogues for the Insane title.  Stupid junkboxes…  But since we’re on multiple accounts we can still get the 5 rep every 7 min while leveling the rogues.  Though it goes much faster doing the dungeon grind.  We’ve found it pretty effective and efficient to take 2 80’s in.  One rounds up one area & hurricane’s.  The other goes into the other area and does the same.  Then loot.  You’d be surprised how much gold you pick up from the mobs and from selling the trash!  The shoulders & chest pieces help too.  20% exp boost.  Got them up to 24 so far.  I wonder how far we’ll get them this weekend, after working on the MBA & all.

TY!

I just wanted to toss out a quick thank you to all veterans and their families.  Now that you’re done reading this blog post, take a trip over to Applebee’s and let them thank you with a free entrée!

Beds

How true, lol...

Long... Time....

Ok, so 5 rep every 7 min, when you have 20,500 rep to go ‘till exalted takes FOREVER!!!

 

Typical Dungeon

Yeah, I think this pretty much sums up the 3 types of people in a dungeon/raid:

D'uh!

No wonder the dude is so annoyed at us! I mean, he lost his head, it keeps flying away, and we keep digging him up from his grave just to kill him and leave his headless body lying in the middle of the street. I'd be pissed too!

Holidaiz Repetitive?

Ok, they’re fun.  They break up the same old day to day.  They take us  to places we don’t ordinarily go, and get us to view content we don’t otherwise see.  But sometimes I get the feeling that it is repetitive.  Maybe that’s because I play multiple characters, but maybe because it’s the same thing every year.  Like running kegs back and forth, or cleaning up stink bombs.  No offense, but couldn’t they add something new each year, instead of just upgrading the boss to a higher level?  Change something maybe?  I guess the assumption is basically that you’ll do it once or twice and then be done.  I guess they do add a new holiday from time to time, but I dunno.  Just sometimes seems to be repetitive.

Lolz

So last night I was running a dungeon w/ the guild.  Did a quick run before I had to go back to work.  Figured they’d pug out the spot, do a dungeon, and I’d be home again and able to jump back in for another dungeon later.  Well, I got home sooner than expected, to which my wife says “hurry up and sign on, our 5^th dc’d so you can help take out the last 2 bosses.”  I figure cool, so I jump back in and help take out the last two.  Then everyone went to have dinner (why do they all eat so late?!).

So I’m bored, looking around and realize I only need 4 more badges for new gloves for my tank.  Sweet!  So I hop into lfg.  After not too long, I get a wsp asking if I want to do Heroic Nexus.  I figure that’s perfect - it’s a quick, easy run, done it many many times, and gets me the badges.  Turns out the group was pretty good and we busted through pretty quick.  So we’re on Keristrasza, and I figure I already have the achievement but I should still hop and keep the ice down to make it easier on the healer.  Then we down the boss and I get two achievements – Intense Cold and Heroic: The Nexus.

WTH?

Oh crap, I guess I’ve never taken Datouv into the Nexus before!  Lolz.  I guess that’s the prob w/ alts – you never know which ones have been in different dungeons and which achievements they’ve completed.  Oh well, guess I needed to take Datouv in there after all!  And he got his new gloves, so doubly cool!

The Grind

So yeah, we’ve started working on Bloodsail Buccaneers rep.  Figure it’s something easy to do, just takes a while.  We’ve been working on ~4-5k rep per night before getting bored and doing something else.  I mean, the achievement is cool.  But is it worth it?  I think it will be eventually.  You know, once we’ve gone insane.  But considering this whole thing also helps us towards another one it ain’t bad.  I’ll tell you though, if we do ever manage the insane title…  Yeah, that’s probably the last one I’ll wear for a long time!

Viral Marketing FTW

Was cool enough I had to share...

Haxxors Suck

Oy.  So another hacker grabbed an account in our guild.  Sucks that it happens, but the really frustrating thing is that this happens all the time and Bliz’ only response is retroactive.  I mean, accounts are hacked all the time – if I ran Bliz, I’d have an automated system that detects Hacker behavior, and immediately suspend an account pending confirmation from the owner.  It would at least limit some of the damage and cleanup necessary.  Yes, you’d probably flag a legit person once in a while, but I’d rather that than have to deal w/ as many hackers as there are.

 

Eventually we get everything back (though this time they haven’t given it all back. Had over $3k in the bank and they’ve only sent us $500) but if they could catch hackers in the middle of wiping everything out, they’d then be able to log IP’s, connection info, etc.  And all automatically.  Then that would help them actually catch and eliminate hackers.

 

I mean, how hard is it to setup a system that auto-suspends an account when it w/d’s everything possible from the guild bank, sells everything or mails it away, then logs another character, does the same, and all within 30 min of each other?  Add in some controls for email addresses if they’re changed during that period, and so on.

But oh yeah, I forget… It’s easier to just say “your account and password are your responsibility”.  Best customer service ever.  Yes, everyone should follow good password protection procedures.  But even if you follow them… Someone can still hack your account anyway.

Random ToC Note

Random interesting note since the patch, where we can now skip all the hooplah at the beginning…  If you haven’t been in ToC since, you don’t get the option to skip.  After you’ve seen it once, you then get the option to skip.

I find that interesting.  Why?  Well, my guess is the intent behind it is so that people will actually watch the opening at least once, since Bliz put the time in to code it.  However, the only people that will watch it are the newbs who have never been there before, unless they’re going in with a group of friends (or a PuG) who have been through it.  Well, either them, or the sadistic annoying people who start it just to be a pain, lol.

I just think it’s funny that they put so much time into coding an event like that, which everyone does their best to skip.  Even before we were given the option, we found ways of skipping it and speeding the process.  I won’t complain though – it was rather a waste of time after watching it that first time…

Pets now eat food!

'nother cool thing I had 2 sec to post... Coolness!

9 Circles of MMO Hell

Thought I'd drop this in real quick:

AFK

Meant to put this up last week, but never got the chance… This week will be far busier than last, so here’s my AFK sign. Have no fear – I shall return!

Ain't if fun!

Yes, I’m lovin Brewfest.  I know, I already got Brewmaster on my 3 – 80’s (on the first day of brewfest of course, lol).  But the keg tossing, defending the camp, and Coren are just fun to me.  It’s probably also because we make it into a guild event, and have everyone bring in any alts they have/want to bring.  But it’s also cool because he has some pretty good loot.  In fact, one of our shammies was pretty stoked to pick up the Tankard.  Another guildie picked up a remote, so that makes porting easier now that another char has it.  We also saw the Kodo and Ram drop in the same kill.  Which makes me wonder how his loot works…  Is it that each special item (mounts, remote, etc.) has a chance to drop, and we were just crazy lucky to have the 2 mounts drop at the same time?  Or did they change it now so that the ‘mounts’ have a chance to drop and you either get both, or get none?  I have no clue, but we have a guildie keeping track of every drop we get.  She did it last year and it was cool to see that we ran it something like 87 times…  It was also fun to come up with our own approximate drop rates, based on the runs and loot we received, since we ran it so many times.  Last year’s rates (by our method) was approximately:

Dark Iron Smoking Pipe - 23.2% 
Empty Mug of Direbrew - 15.1% 
Balebrew Charm - 11.6% 
Brightbrew Chamrm - 10.4% 
Coren's Lucky Coin - 15.1% 
Direbrew Hops - 25.5% 
Direbrew's Shanker - 3.4% 
Direbrew's Remote - 6.9% 
Swift Brewfest Ram - 5.8% 
Great Brewfest Kodo - 3.4% 

So not perfect, but probably relatively accurate.  It’ll be interesting to see how it turns out this year.  Except, we can’t run as many times since some of us (myself included) are working 15 hr days, including weekends.  Why oh why does brewfest have to come during my busiest time of year!

Mmm, fast...

Yay!  It’s nice!  For those getting it this week, gratz!  For those who have to wait a holiday or two, hang in there!

Brewfest 2009!

YAY!!!  ZOMG, can’t wait!  Cuz we’ll finish up this, and we get this too!  For which the tooltip should read “super-duper-extra-fast mount”.  310% speed baby!

Ok, so I’m not really sure which I’m more excited about, the holiday or the mount…  My fav holiday in the game because, well, it revolves around beer and it’s just fun.  Cool mount that goes really fast…  Except that means it’s the only flying mount I’ll use from now on, just for the extra speed.  At least druids will get their flight form speed increased.  I wish they would’ve made it an ability you learn, or something that affects all of your mounts.  Like a passive ability “traveled the world, experienced the holidays – 30% mounted speed increase”.  But oh well, can’t complain too much about it – it’s a holiday dedicated to beer!!!

Of course, it must come during my busiest 2 weeks of the year at my job, but no fixing that.  So oh well.  During your times celebrating this glorious holiday, drink one for me!

Exalted or Exhausted?

So we hit 25 factions with Kurenai as the 25^th.  Probably one of the easier/faster ones to grind up.  But after 25, I’m looking at the 40 factions one…  Yes, the title Exalted would be pretty cool, but by the time you hit 40 factions, I think the title should probably be Exhausted.  That’s seriously a lot of grinding to get there.  Not sure which one is next.  Possibly the Diplomat, but that means we have to go back and pop up the Timbermaw.  They’re only at neutral right now…  Oh well, I guess that’s why they call them achievements.

What will go byebye?

With talk of the Cataclysm, I can’t help but wonder what will disappear, what will stay, and so on.  Which achievements will become feats of strength?  Which quests will we never be able to do again because of the changes?

One thing is for certain…  Those that join fresh and new will have a completely different experience from what we had!  It’s interesting to think how much, and how little, has changed over time in the game.

The parts I really wonder about though, are those quests and achievements.  Which ones do we need to complete before we can’t anymore?  Are there any titles that will be impossible to get after the cataclysm?  Minipets?  I have no clue, but I’m having fun racking them all up and working on them!  Even if it does get real boring grinding rep with some of the factions…

 

Musings

Random thought – I think we should have “I’m not having a baby” party…  Everyone can get my wife and I tools and cool gadgets.

Ok, so it’s not quite random, it comes from the fact that a coworker is having a baby shower.  I mean, it makes sense – they’re newlyweds, having their first child, so yes a baby shower is nice.  Everyone gets them something that helps build the stock of essential items for having a baby around the house.  I’m totally cool with that.

I just think that if people are going to give you free stuff, and the government is going to give you a tax deduction just because you don’t know how to use birth control or choose not to use it…  Then why not give free stuff to those of us who choose not to have kids?  Heck, if the average couple has 2.5 kids (aka 2.5 baby showers), then give me 2.5 parties.  I’ll even space them out over a ~5 year span.  Totally equalize the playing field here.  Let people choose what their 2.5 parties are going to be for – a baby, or just for the hell of it.

Of course, this comes from the person who could care less about his own birthday, lol.

Don’t get me wrong – I like kids.  I enjoy my nephew.  I just don’t want any of my own at the moment or in the near future.  This also goes along the lines of thought that sometimes I think it would be better for the human race if we had to do something to have kids, not have to do something to not have kids.  Or how I sometimes think we need lifeguards in that whole gene pool…

Reasons not to PuG

Yeah, just read it and weep.  This is an example of why I try not to PuG…  http://thebigbearbutt.com/2009/09/08/it-hurt-so-bad-and-thats-not-good/

 

Long Weekend

All I can say is… YAY!  Long weekend coming up.  Get to chill, watch the cadets march (instead of being one myself… I’ve learned it’s a lot more fun to watch other people in a parade than have them watch you… especially when it’s your choice to do so!).  But after a week like this… I think it’s much needed.  At least I don’t have to work late tomorrow too…  Though with all the server troubles recently, at least I haven’t been getting frustrated that the realm was down or that additional instances couldn’t be launched.  Why?  Haven’t had the time to log in /sniff.  Oh well.  C’est la vie.

[#c.T.] FTW!

Hellz yeah, busted out some fun stuff this weekend.  Kara was pretty cool, we busted through it so fast it was ridiculous.  So funny to think that way back when, it took 2 full nights.  Also hit up some of the others like Zul’Aman.  Magtheridon was a bit harder than the last time I ran it though…  Of course, considering last time we had 25 lvl 70’s and this time only one lvl 70 and like 5 80’s…  That might be why, lol.  But the 500g split among only like 6 people and the challenge of actually getting him down was totally worth it.

In case you can’t tell, it was an achievement weekend for us, lol.  Last few weeks we managed to get Classic Raider, Outland Dungeon Hero, Northrend Dungeon Hero, and then a slew of others such as Emerald Void and Experienced Drake Rider.

And this is why I’m glad that bliz added achievements to the world.  I mean, we could do these things on our own, just for the hell of it, but it’s rewarding to see the thing flash across your screen.  Or when you’re just plugging away and you see it pop up in chat for a guildie.  It’s also a fun way to look at your character and see how many different things you’ve done.  Some people might say ‘I’ve done all the raids in the game and have this awesome gear’ others ‘I’ve got 37 different titles’ and others ‘I’ve got over 75 minipets’.  To each his/her own – it’s one cool way to customize your character and let it reflect what you have done with your char.  Though I tell you, after becoming an Accomplished Angler on two diff chars… I’m not planning on going for it on a third for a while!

So anyway, gratz to those that got the achievements with me this weekend, and thank you for your help.  Teamwork is the only way to get them (either that or a hell of a lot of luck!).

Nostalgia Run

Yeah, doin Kara tonight.  Just for the hell of it on some alts.  Taking some guildies who weren’t high enough to do it back in BC.  Should be fun, can’t wait for the “oh yeah, that used to wipe us!” when people do things like move during a flame wreath and it only knocks them down a little, lol.  Or just to see how fast we can power-dps-down some of the bosses.  Might have to have a priest mele tank on one or two fights, lol.

Cockroach & GF's...

Lol, saw this and thought I just had to share. Specifically for a certain ogre that doesn't blog anymore...

New Class!

I know, long awaited are not only hearing the outline of changes, announced at blizzcon – but also, the inevitable commentary…  So first, the unedited summary, posted on bliz’ site:

Also receiving a massive overall are hunters.  The hunter’s need to rely upon mana is completely gone, and instead they will use focus. This means hunters will no longer care at all about Intellect, mana regen or Aspect of the Viper.

Focus will regenerate continually, similar to how rogues or feral druids regenerate energy. For comparison, rogues regenerate approximately 10 energy per second, whereas hunters will regenerate 6 focus per second.  However, Steady Shot can also be used to improve focus regen, and bring the rate at which hunters regenerate focus to 12 per second.

The hunter will have a maximum of 100 focus, and shots might cost 30 or 60 focus, with fewer cooldowns on abilities. Another exciting and long-awaited change regards the ammunition system. Ammunition will become an equipable item, and will no longer be consumable.

More details on that later!

And now the commentary…

Bliz is removing the Hunter class and has created a new one to replace it – Ranged Rogue!  I can say that I am glad I have alts that are not hunters, so I won’t have to play a ranged rogue.  I mean, I like the ammo change.  Not quite lore-friendly (an auto-replentishing single arrow??) but definitely nice on the bank (don’t have to pay  for more and more ammo – and people say tanks are the only one with big repair bills – heh, hunters don’t pay as much in repairs, but we then also go buy ammo), and nice on the bag space too.

But anyway – focus…  I picked the class because I wanted certain base mechanics.  Like a ranged damage dealer, that very rarely has to deal with spell pushback.  I also like the way mana is setup that you start at max, each thing you do costs some, you regen slowly over time, and if you do it wrong then you run out in the middle of the fight.  I like that we have various abilities that have different cooldowns, so it becomes an art form with timing them properly for maximum effect.

So now they’re going to want me to play a new character.  Instead of the things above that I liked, and the reason I picked the class (well, and for the pet too, d’uh!) they want me to change styles completely.  Now I get to cast any spells I want and not worry about cooldowns or anything – rather, I get to wait until my focus comes back, then burn it, then grow it, then burn it.  (I know, there’s more to it, but I’m simplifying here).  Seriously?  Like, you just gutted the class put someone else’s insides in it, then sewed it up and thought we’d think it looked like a present?  And on top of that, we’re supposed to be happy about it.  Like, happy about how one of the stats on our gear… is now useless to us…  Happy about how we have no choice in the matter…

This is basically like saying “hmm, we never got Paladin Tanks quite right.  Instead of using mana, we’re gonna give you rage instead, so you’re more like the Warriors.  Sorry, you’re going to have to learn how to build up rage instead of managing your mana.”

I mean, seriously?  Like, you’re actually planning on doing that to hunters?  Wtf?  Fine, whatever, since I can’t really influence their decisions, I’ll have to live with it.  But if you’re gonna f with us that bad, can you give us a stealth while you’re at it?  You know, so we can be more like hunters and sneak through the forest instead of running through it yelling “here I am!”  You’re making us ranged rogues anyway, so why not just include that with the “massive overhaul” too?

Simply put – my only rogue character is a lvl 13 because that’s how far I got when trying the class before I got annoyed with it and stopped playing.  I didn’t like how focus works then, and I don’t now.  Leave my character alone bliz.  I understand tweaks, like adjusting spells and abilities as needed, but don’t change one of the base mechanics of the class.

BlizzCon 2009

I had been planning on putting up a bunch of random theories about what they’d announce, what they’re planning, etc.  However, most would’ve been wrong, way off, though albeit very humorous.  However, I didn’t get the time, and BlizzCon 2009 is already here…  So instead I’ll wait like everyone else, lost in our own speculations.  Ghostcrawler has made many comments about revamping the Hunter class, so we’ll have to see what they plan to do.

Btw, did anyone else notice a patch today?

Cleaning the place out!

It was a good night for Galoriar.  After something like 4 months of no new drops, he picked up a new helm (first non-engineering goggle in like 1.5 years), new 2H, and new gun.  Yay!

Can’t complain too much that it’s been ages.  That was back when I had the time to run Naxx & OBS & such more regularly.  It was also before I got Datouv up to 80, since we needed tanks.  And since we needed tanks, it meant I never got to play Gal.  Then I finally got Kurandel up to 80, and since a bunch of guildies hit 80 too, we were all gearing them up together, so again no Gal.  So after a long wait… 3 Cheers for Gear!!!

Oh, and also thx to guildies for the drake!  Yay!  Told you Galoriar cleaned house…  Now time to get everyone else more gear too.  And another drake…

Drop Rates

Yeah, they’re predictable. It’s all done with RNG’s, but I figured out the formulas! Stop reading – this post may contain bliz spoilers…

Still here? Ok, here goes – the loot you want won’t, and the loot you won’t want will. At least, that’s the quick version. The real math behind it is related to who is in your group. So if you take a clothie healer, clothie dps, plate dps, plate dps, and plate tank – leather will drop. Similarly, if you have all mail & cloth wearers, plate will drop. But it gets more complicated, because sometimes trinkets cross over those lines, but it still follows the same general rules.

Thus it’s because of those crossovers that on occasion, the RNG gets all confused and accidentally drops something you want – like the helm or axe Datouv needed! Heck, we also got bracers for a guildie! I think the RNG must have been having a bad day or something because I think we got a couple other things too, I just can’t remember what they are, lol.

All joking aside, you must admit its cool when you run an instance to pick up gear, and you actually get something you can use.

//UPDATE// So today was the crocalisk fishing quest and the rumors are true - bliz messed w/ the RNG's because they realized how rediculous they were, and now the RNG's are confused. Not only did we test on 6 characters and all of them received a croc, but 1 of those was even Galoriar! Interestingly, 8 months ago I posted that I got a croc after 9 months of trying and predicted it'd be another 9 months or so until I got my next...

Redick-oo-lus

So I’ve determined, ToC is just plain crazy.  Not the instance itself.  Actually, I find it rather fun.  Kinda nice to have the champion-style dungeon, similar to VH but better.  Essentially no trash to bother with, and if you wipe – you get to start from where you left off.  So it’s basically boss fight after boss fight.

No, the ridiculous part is the loot.  I can’t believe how long it took to gear up before the latest patch.  I mean, badge farming or raid farming was about all your choices.  And with the lockouts, that meant it took weeks before you got a drop.  Or even had a shot at it!  Galoriar ran Nax regularly for a bit, and there’s still plenty of upgrades in there for him.  Kurandel, on the other hand, will soon be able to run ToC on heroic, and pick up gear better than Nax.  And he can farm it for the gear too! (If I had the time).  I mean, I know bliz is trying to make it easier for people to gear up so they can do all the end-game content, but seriously?  Other than just for nostalgic runs, achievements, or to show some newbies the zone, will anyone even bother with OBS or Nax?  What’s the point if you can take 30 minutes and get better gear off H.ToC?

Sry, it’s just frustrating to me.  Yes, it’s nice to be able to gear up my alt quickly.  But half of the fun is in actually earning the gear…

New Dungeon

Nope, haven’t had a shot at it yet.  One of these days…  Gotta love it when life gets in the way and you don’t have time for it.  Or when you do finally have the time, and no one else is on.  Oh well.  Just 1 more year and the MBA is done.  Then we should have a little more time on our hands.  You know, like 30-40 more hours per week…

In lighter news, I picked up Jeeves this weekend!  Well, I don’t have him yet.  Got the schematic on SAT and actually had almost all the mats on our various characters.  Only needed to farm a little Adamantite and Thorium and that was it.  And buy the stones, but that’s because we’re saving our Titanium for a couple other things, so we don’t want to prospect it yet.  So why do I not quite have him?  Well, we only have 4 Titansteel cooldowns among our chars, so we used all 4 on SAT.  Then we didn’t log in on SUN evening (when the cd was up) because of the MBA, so the next time I log in we can burn the 4 again and I can finish Jeeves!  Yay!

Then I realized I hadn’t made Moll-E yet, so I made him too, lol.  It’s nice to be somewhat useful as an engineer!

WoW & Pre

Ok, this one I just have to share. I mean, I like my pre a lot. I enjoy playing WoW (even if I don't care for bliz). And yes, my pre sits on my desk most of the time, next to my computer (it gets service there, lol). But not quite this obviously...



Think that battery is big enough? Sure, a time or two I wish mine lasted longer, but no way in hell would I get one that big! I did like the nice touch of it sitting on the mousepad. Especially considering it's bigger than the owner's mouse no doubt...

Not so bad...

Well, for a patch day, last night wasn’t too bad.  Most addons continued to work.  Lag was bad, as usual, but it wasn’t too terribly bad and instances still worked so I guess bliz was above par there.  The one thing that bliz needs to learn though, is that patch days take longer than they expect.  They need to tell the guy at the fast food place “we expect to be down until 3PM eastern – when you think we’ll be back up?” so he can go “at least 6PM dude”.  Now, we all know this, so we expect them to be down longer than they say, but they really should look at being more accurate from the start.  It’s called customer service…

I’ll tell you the most annoying part though – arkinventory was broken L.Amazing how useful an addon can be, and how you only really think about that when it’s broken…

Draenic Pale Ale

Ok, I think this beer is by far the best virtual one around, lol.  One char it did nothing but get him a little tipsy.  Always a bit of fun right there.  Like the time we played drunken chess in Kara…  Another character saw pink elephants.  Never had that happen in RL, so it was fun to know that at least my char can see them!  But then my third char actually wound up riding one!  What could be cooler than that?!  Ok, well, lots of things.  But still gotta give bliz props for 5 min of fun.

Seriously? That's normal?

So yeah, new computer is pretty awesome.  Didn’t get a complete gaming one, though it is a quad-core w/ a 24” monitor…  It’s amazing the difference between the old & the new.  For example, the old one had the graphics settings so low that I didn’t realize that you had a shadow…  It’s fun to fly around on a druid watching your shadow – just don’t forget about the trees, lol.

I’ll tell you though, it’s nice to be able to jog through Dalaran with minimal lag!  Or even being able to log in without being afk’d out before you even load…  It was also cool to dualbox on a single computer and have both running far faster than only one on my old comp.  Our internet still sucks though, so I can only do so much.  But one thing I definitely did do was to take a screenie of the mountains with the sunset in the background.  It was the first time I’ve been able to see that far in ages, and it was amazing!

New Comp

Yay!  New comp!  Now I’m just working on the hours and hours of setup to get it to where I want, where it’s useable, and where it’s playable.  Now if only our stupid, ridiculous, local cable internet provider would be bought out by a real company – then we’d have fast, reliable internet!   Heck, we’d even consider getting cable TV!  Stupid local provider wants $70+ per month for like 20 channels.  This is why our government doesn’t like monopolies…

 

New Comp

Yay!  New comp on the way.  Finally got around to ordering one – now I just can’t wait until it arrives…  So bliz still annoys me, but that’s not new so I won’t bother explaining right now, lol.  Anyway, since the comp blew up I hit 80 on my 3^rd char so I now have a tank, healer & dps.  The sad thing though, that I realized today, is my tank has more wrath raid achievements than my hunter!!  L  Not cool.  /sniff

So why did my pally get more love than my main?  Tank shortage.  Seems that no one wanted to play a tank or healer after wrath came out, too excited about DK’s and their mains and all.  And now while working on the MBA and working 6-7 day weeks because it’s summer…  I don’t have time to raid and to catch my main up.  Ugh.  I dream of the day that either Lady X gets a nice cushy job and I can be a stay at home husband (work on the car, landscape, etc.) or I find some awesome job that I don’t have to do anything at all, go to work, etc. – and get paid millions for it.  One of the two would be cool, lol.  That, or winning the lotto, but you have to enter to win that one.

 

Kaboom

No, there wasn't any green smoke, but yes, it's ded. D E D Ded. Here, lemme try it this way:



Yes, my computer finally died last night. So with that in mind, it's been a fun stretch with this blog, but as it will probably be a while before I bother trying to get back into WoW (or getting a new comp), don't hold your breath - might be a while b4 I blog too.

Why not bother trying to get back into WoW? No point. Getting too frustrated with it, the game play, the pathetic form of customer service, and how bliz has been going with things, so I'd rather do something else with my time.

RL OMFG!

This is one of those 'with some randomness thrown in' posts...

So yesterday I was helping run a retail store thingy (temporary store put up while we have an extra 400 people here). And we have clearly posted that the store closes at 1700. Now, I understand that people are still shopping at 1700, so we just shut the doors to indicate we're closed and it's just the last few finishing up (typical thing that many customer-service oriented stores do...). But when a guy comes in at 1730, past the closed door with clearly labeled store hours... and he remarks "wow, finally this place is empty and I can shop!" it just galls me. Especially when he then proceeds to look at every item in the store.

So that isn't enough? No? Well when he goes to check out, and sees the price - what does he do? Says "hmm, maybe I should go to my truck and get my credit card..." At least he a moment later said "do you guys take checks?". Now at this point, we're thinking "anything just to get rid of you so we can go home!!!". So we did finally get him out of the store at like 1750.

But seriously, who does that?!?! It's obvious he's the only reason we're there, and being polite to let him stay. But you also know that if we booted him out, he would have gone around telling everyone how horrible we are and that they should stay away from us. Ugh. Lose-lose situation. At least it's Friday, right?

Flame Wars

Lolz. Illustrates flame wars, how they start, etc. But I think it also carries well into some of the general chats in WoW, some chats in raids, etc. Enjoy!

Warning: Check 6, Headphones Required.

Holidaiz

‘Nother one comin’ up!

Midsummer Fire Festival – aka, fireworks and bonfires, and dancing nekkid Drenai on fire…

No, not going to explain the best/fastest way to gain the blossoms, other bloggers will do that.  Instead, I’ll part some random musings.  I think the holidays are just plain fun.  They give a break from the same old everyday WoW.  No need to focus on leveling an alt, no running XYZ instance again b/c it’s a guildie’s fav, no super focus on raiding, etc.  And there’s stuff for characters of all levels to do things.  ‘sides, you can just about get 2 titles out of this one…  Fire God and Been Around the Block!

Words & Accents

Nay, not about how it’s pronounced Da-la-ran, not Dolerum.  Or Kite-en not Chit-en.  Rather:

There are some names and words that they just shouldn’t put into children’s vocabulary.  You know, those shows that they watch when growing up…  Like for example, Thomas the Train Engine.  I know a certain little one that pronounces “er” more like “ew” so “Percy” comes out more like… well…  Yeah, makes it sound not quite so PG!  Makes it hard not to laugh too, lol.

So anyway, there’s the random thought for the day.  Enjoy.

Quick SV Update

So first, is it sad it's faster to use my Pre than my comp for this atm?

Anyway, first shot at SV proved it was better DPS than BM, even w/o glyphs or practice.  Makes me sad b/c BM is more suited to hunters since they have pets and all, but oh well.

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Palm Pre

Dude, i'm blogging from my palm pre, lol.  I actually grabbed the last one in the store!

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Droodz gots color!

Haha!  Occasionally Bliz does realize some changes that should be made and makes them!  What do I mean?  Well, 2 components here…

1 – Druids are in form over half the time.  Well, most of the time.  Currently, each form looks the same from one character to another.  Only difference is that Boomkins carry their weapon so you get to see that.  But other than that…  Yeah.  One of the strengths of an MMO is that you get to create a character and live in that world.  How you look and what you wear (ooh, shiny armor!) is a part of that, and helps build identity.

Of course, that forced unity by look has, I think, resulted in a sort of “Druid Community”.  Because they are so similar and so unique to the other classes, they have a unity among them.  So this changes that a little – but considering they still only have a few options among all of them, and it doesn’t make their classes look like the others, I doubt this’ll change much.  If anything, it may strengthen it further.

2 – Is it really important to change the Druid form models?  Yes and no.  Yes, because it’s something people have wanted for a while and it adds a new dynamic to the game, thus increasing the desire to play, etc.  No, because there are plenty of other things for Bliz to work on, such as a new area like the Sunwell Plateau or a new expansion, or other bugs and things in the game.


So anyway, it’s cool.  It’ll be nice to see some differences.  I’m still waiting for them to make the Tree & Boomkins have a similar skin capability (Christmas Tree’s for those w/ green hair?  Willow for those w/ white?).  Well, waiting for that and for Hunters to be able to tame…  (ducks as Lady X gets ready to throw a book at me from a few miles away)…

Mountain Dew

Dewd, check it out, it's cool!


They're actually giving stuff away, to include Alienware Computers!

When to Respec?

No, I don’t mean “We need DPS, can you respec Boomkin instead of Hug-a-Tree?”… Why? Because I’m a Hunter, lol. Well, I may post on it at some point anyway, but that day is not today! Haha!

Anyway, so I still don’t have a Spirit Beast, though I haven’t been trying recently. Call me exhausted from trying, take one look at my schedule with little to no time for WoW, and yeah – I’ve essentially temporarily given up. I’ll get back to it at some point, but I’m too busy right now. What does that mean? Being a Beast Mastery hunter is not currently necessary… But I still have hopes, so I don’t really want to switch… /sniffle

Why do I want to switch though? Because SV hunters are crushing DPS on BM hunters right now. Well, it’s been that way for a little while, but I’ve been ignoring it because I wanted to find a Spirit Beast. Considering I’m finally getting to play my main again in Raids (OBS this past TUE, Naxx this FRI/SUN, and EOE on SAT, since RN has grown and no longer needs me to be on my tank each time I’m on…), I need to once again be pushing the max DPS out of my hunter as possible. And that means a respec.

But what is it that finally makes me not /cry too much over a respec? Dual Specs. Yes, this is probably one of the few points in having Dual-Spec on a hunter (unless you lucky SOB already have a Rare pet and need BM so you can pull him/her out from time to time)… And that is so I can be an SV hunter for raids, and be BM so I can still search for the Spirit Beast. I guess another reason would be to compare DPS of specs, but I don’t have time for that, lol. Anyway… After cranking out the gold for my third character w/ epic flying, I finally have enough for him to get his cold weather flying too (in another 6.15 levels) – in addition to a respec for Galoriar. Thus… I guess it’s time.

So now that I’ve rambled, I have to laugh that it took this much thought to make the decision. My paladin and druid both got Dual-Specs pretty much the instant I logged in on them after the patch which enabled Dual-Spec. No thought necessary there, lol.

Happy Anniversary to Lady X and I!

3 Awesome years together and I'm looking forward to the next 100 or so... :) Yes, by that time they will have extended how long we all live, just so Lady X & I can spend more time together, lol.

He jumped from 30k feet and never pulled the cord...

Ok, so not many will get the blog title reference to a jodi, but anyway... I have the privilege of being one of the first in the world to blog from 30k feet in the air. Thank you Southwest for giving me the opportunity, lol!

I also have to say thanks to Southwest for the free drink on Monday. In honor of Memorial Day, they gave a free drink to all military. The acknowledgment of what the military does, and who they are is appreciated.

Viva Las Vegas!

Yes, that's where I'll be soon! Tomorrow we head out there and won't be back until Saturday morning - very very early (aka we fly in Friday night). So no, I probably won't be able to post until next week. Anyway, have fun and rock on! Now it's time to clean up, pack, and try and finish off Kurandel to lvl 70 b4 we leave...

Dude, wtf?

Ok, so I'm being the awesome husband that I am. Yes, next week in Las Vegas I'll prove that once again to Lady X... Hehehehe... She knows something's coming, but has no clue, so I'm reveling in the fact that she's gonna love it :) :) :)... So ANYWAY!!! I'm bein awesome and all and doing the jousting for her while she's in a mtng so she doesn't need to when she gets back. So I kill da guy, hit the heal button thingy, and as the servers lag... W T F??? I gets dis:




Quickpost this image to Myspace, Digg, Facebook, and others!

W T F? No idear. kinda lost. I mean, Damage Control? I'm seriously confused. Damage Control?

Ok, so honestly, it's because bliz coders are idiots and they made it so that the argent tournaments' NPC's are considered PLAYERS and somehow the math of 1+1=300k....????!?! Nevermind. They aren't that bright. They make money so they think they're cool. If they were smart, they'd hire me for $250k per year and they'd make billions. But they're not, and we play the game anyway cuz it's fun, so they win. Lol! I revel in my own enjoyment...? I lost. U here? U smart? Oy...... Vaca starting Monday!!!!

Ash-oles

Oy. Some days this game just brings out the most annoying of people. Today we ran into the best Undead DK I've ever seen. Apparently, as a DK at lvl 68, he can't kill single lvl 64 mobs by himself. So since we were on an escort quest, he'd run ahead, tag a mob, and then let our escort go after his target, then repeat. Maybe it's just that I'm a nice person in general, but why do people do things like that? It's annoying and stupid, and he'd have gotten more XP from killing them faster and on his own. Oy!

So we ended up running ahead and tagging them before he could, lol. Eventually he ran off, but geeze, why?

Quick, Fast, Fun

Often you hear people complain about raids/dungeons. They have a plethora of reasons why. It took too long. So and so won the loot instead of me. The group was undergeared. That person didn't do enough DPS. The tank couldn't hold agro. The healers didn't heal. And so on.

Personally, I think situations like those can be learning opportunities. You can build on them. And if it is done well, you have a situation like we did last night... We ran OBS. We did it quick, fast, and it was fun. Plain and simple. So thx to those that ran with us! I enjoyed it.

Goals

Does anyone else set goals for themselves in WoW?  I mean beyond the obvious “hit level 80”…

I just got onto the topic because I realized today that I might actually be able to log on late tonight!  Well, not certain, depends on when my conference call is done and how much work it means after it.  In other words, I may not actually be able to log in until SUN.  Regardless, I started thinking about “ok, I haven’t played for like a week – what do I do first?!”.

So then I started thinking of plans I had.  Like finishing the Argent Tournament on my mains.  Leveling my third toon to 80.  Getting some more heroic dungeon gear for my tank.  Getting my mage the last few levels to 65 so he can finish leveling enchanting.  Getting the Salty title on my second character.  Saving the cash for the parts I need for my chopper (since I’ve already saved up enough for my 3^rd toon to get his swift flight form + cold weather flying).  And so on.

But then I realized that none of those are actual goals.  They’re really just things I’d like to do at some point, but won’t be real heartbroken if I don’t achieve them.  The real goal for me is to have a good time with Lady X.  After the last few weeks, I’m really looking forward to sitting down, relaxing, and spending some time with her while we just chill and have fun.

If I had a puppy...

Unfortunately, where we live we can't have animals such as dogs and cats (not that we'd want a cat, I mean who does? Can't they just stay kittens forever? Those are so much cuter and more fun...). But if we did, our dog would probably be 1337 like this one:



Lolz. Anyway, hopefully I'll have time for WoW again soon.

Impressive...

So, with MBA & Finals I haven’t had any time for WoW and won’t for the majority of this week. It also means less blogging most likely, but I did want to share this since I thought it was rather impressive.

I don’t know of anyone that would intentionally interrupt a 3-Star General. Especially when he is the featured speaker, and most especially during a commissioning ceremony (we commissioned ~100 officers on Saturday). So it was rather shocking when it was a 3 year old that did it. Talking loudly, running loudly, standing up and bouncing up and down on top of his stroller, playing with his toy gun that happened to make nice loud clicking noises, and so on. Yes, apparently neither the mother or grandmother cared, considering they were both there and were letting him do that. But I guess you can’t have high expectations of a mother who changes her baby (her other child, not the loud one) at the back of the Field House. No, she didn’t bother walking outside. No, she didn’t bother going to the restroom. Just plop down, setup, and change away. UGH! So anyway, I’ll give you this video just for fun because it's semi-related, and quite entertaining.

Pregnant Women are Smug from Erika Lindhome on Vimeo.

I guess what I’ve realized is that I have a high tolerance for kids – they’re fun and nice! I just have a low tolerance for poor parents.

Alternatives

When is an alt, not an alt?  Can you have two mains?  Interesting things to ponder…

For example, if you have two 80’s and you switch between them for dungeons/raids and dualbox with them when not in dungeons/raids, then occasionally dualbox with them in a dungeon…  Does that make them both mains?  But if one has your preference (because it has all the achievements), does that mean it really is the main?  Even if you don’t get to play it as much?

What about specs?  I know I certainly have a main spec and an off spec for Datouv (main is Prot, off is Ret).  But I know there are those who have two specs that they bounce back and forth all the time.  Those ones are excited for dual specs – even more so than those of us who just wanted it to make questing go faster, lol!

But anyway, that’s just food for thought.  My brain is pretty fried this week.  It’s finals week for the MBA, I had two evening events to run this week (one for 12 ppl, the other for 200), got another 2 on Saturday, another on Sunday…  Going on vacation in another week so I have to catch up on work and get ahead…  Yeah, pretty much just fried brain right now.

Confuzzled

How to confuse an Ogre?  Hehehe…

So Naxx this weekend was pretty enjoyable.  3 wings on the first night, last wing & Sapph on second night.  Tried Kel, but he just didn’t want to die – even when he was @5%...  Oh well – he’ll go down this weekend!!!  I hope.

Anyway, back on track.  So we get up to this guy called Patchwerk.  Nice simple fight that’s basically a tank ‘n spank.  Max the DPS to kill him before enrage timer, heal up the OT & MT lots, etc.  We work him down and as he nears the enrage timer?  He goes down.  Then what pops up?  Ding by Lady X!

Needless to say some people were a little confused by which pet dropped from Patchwerk.  Personally I thought it was pretty funny, lol.

Heigan still sucks!

Oy…  Well, we beat our 15 minute fight this weekend.  This time it took 20 minutes!  Again, there were only 3 people up the entire time, but we did get through it.  Afterwards, we laid out where the safe zones and all were, so that we could have everyone practice when there weren’t any dead zones to accidentally run into.  Interesting thought though – I sorta wish that you could flip a switch in that room to turn on the floors.  That way you could actually practice.  Granted, there’d need to be a safe place for at least one rezzer to chill so that they can wipe up the bodies after the practice, but I think it could be a useful idea.

But it also got me thinking – in Wrath the bosses seem to be getting more creative.  Things like pushing a button in mid-fight to zap all the spawns, making a boss harder by leaving one of his buddies up for the fight, tossing tanks back and forth between platforms, and so on!  So it was just a random thought I figured I’d share.  So take it and do what you will with it, lol.

Hunter Solos Sarth!

Dining Out

Woohoo, I survived the Dining Out!  Ok, well I was the speaker, which means I was at the head table which is un-groggable…  But anyway…  Fun times.  Even for not having an alcoholic grog!

So everyone’s rambling about the Swine Flu.  That means that I should…  nevermind, don’t really care too much.  Everyone else is covering it so I don’t need to.  ‘sides, I don’t have a cool picture of a baby pig to post.  Other than – I hope it doesn’t interfere w/ my trip to Vegas in a few weeks!!!

So what next then?  It’s a weekend?  Well, aside from a huge paper due for the MBA, that also means more raiding!  RN is coming along and interest is beginning to pick up.  It’s getting back to where it was in BC, which is awesome.  We have yet to clear 4 wings in one weekend (mostly just kept running out of time, but there were a few bosses we couldn’t get past here & there), but I think we have a good shot this time.  Regardless, Heigan will be easier, lol, though I’ve no doubt we’ll run into some other walls to conquer.  Oh well, c’est la vie!  And on that note, Au Revoir!

Noblest of Nobles

So, I'm not quite certain why you get a title of Noble for going around picking up and laying eggs... But I did it anyway, lol.


But something we've found interesting is that some of these holidays bring out the best and worst people. For example, there is the nice person that sticks around for an extra 2 minutes so you can hit them with flowers to finish off the achievement. Even though you're the 3,849,133rd person to do that to them this week. On the other hand, you have the annoying people that camp the egg spawns rather than run around and have some challenge to it. And then they get mad at you when you run in and get it because even though their mouse was hovering over the spawn point, you were still quicker. Lol! Very useful to do that when every single spawn point is being camped... See, if everyone were running around, we'd all have a chance at the eggs. But oh well.

So the other note to share, since I haven't been here to blog in a bit... is that Heigan is annoying. Not hard, by any means - just annoying. In fact, for a 10-man raid, you can actually down him with just a tank and a healer - provided they know how and when to move. It's just a matter of dividing the room up into quarters and moving from 1->2->3->4->3->2->1 for the most part. But it does require minimal lag, and that the tank moves him appropriately.

So why do I say he's so annoying? Pets. You want to use your pet for the extra DPS, however he likes to stand behind the boss. If the tank is running in the direction of the next safe zone, that puts your pet right in the dead zones. Heck, I even tried putting it on passive, but since it was following me, with just a little lag it wound up dead too. So then, how do you actually keep your pet alive during the fight? The tank needs to be completely on top of their game and running to the safe area, turn the boss 90 degrees to pause while safe, run to next safe area, etc. Then, keeping on passive during Phase 2 and essentially doing the same yourself. That way you and your pet (or the tank, boss and pet) are all aligned with the safe zone rather than across it.

Now, of course, that's just a theory (we didn't have time or energy to fully try it - only had 3 of us, tank, healer, me, on the first try and only 5 on the second try) but put it to you this way... Light 2 fires that are 12" tall and 4" wide each, with 2" of safe area between them (so left to right is 4" fire, 2" safe, 4" fire). Then try putting a 1" player, a 2" boss, and a 1" pet in a row. They only fit one way within that safe area. No, those aren't meant to be accurate numbers, just a visualization of what I mean. Now, try to tack on the timing of the whole thing and that's what makes it harder. It's honestly much easier to just forget about the pets and make sure everyone else stays alive.

Nevermind, too confusing. Just look and think which would work better: A or B.



And yes, I realize that one is far easier, and it's not the same as which is better. So anyway, I'm done mourning the deaths of Travelform and will end this post....... now.

Umm, AFK? Yeah, that's it!

Well, yeah. Between work and other life events, I have not had much time for WoW. Sadly, I am not up to my goal of 1 post per weekday. So for the random thought to keep the interest up - wow that wind is loud! - anyway... On Monday we got snow. Dude, April is almost over, we're in mid-mud-season... Can we not be done w/ snow yet? Time to take the bike out! Nice windy roads, blue skies... Ugh. In any event, I'll be traveling tomorrow, and then it's the weekend. So off the side tangent and back to the point! Umm, I had a point? Well, in any event, I should be back Monday. Wait - meetings all day MON. Howabout Tuesday? Yeah, that sounds good. I'll shoot for TUE. CYA then!

Spirit Beasts Galore!

Ok, maybe it’s like when you have a specific car in mind that you see a lot of them…  But I’ve seen a decent number of Spirit Beasts on the Nazgrel server.  Yes, I’m jealous.  It’s pretty clear, lol.  But it really has amazed me at how many I’ve seen (all tamed, of course).  In all my countless hours searching, I’ve only seen King Krush once.  He was even at a spawn point not listed on WoWhead’s map.  So anyway, it’s just frustrating to see so many of them.

But whatever, I can still be happy for the other (VERY) lucky hunters.  But the part that frustrates me is the names…  Or when the hunters refer to Loque as a “cat”.  Yesterday, one was named “Beaver”.  Dude – it’s a Spirit Beast.  It’s a rare pet.  It is not a cat, it is not a beaver.  In fact, it more closely resembles a wolf, but you know what?  It’s a Spirit Beast.  Give it a good name already!!!  Heck, even if the name is “Spirit Beast” or “Loque” would work, considering it has its own name – “Loque’nahak <Mate of Har’koa>”!  Go with that – why rename Loque?

Ugh.  Ok, done ranting.  For the positive, a nice Ogre saw him once and was contemplating how to call me at work so I could log in and tame him, but another char swooped in and slay him before Ogre could do anything.  So Kudos to him!  I’ll get lucky eventually, right?

Darwin

Survival of the fittest – I survived this past weekend!

Actually, the way I plan my events is that everything is done prior to the event.  That way during the event I can, for the most part, sit back and just enjoy it.  Especially true of this one since I didn’t even have a speaking part – everyone else took care of that!  Granted I was running around like crazy the day of the event because 1 person decided to be a pain in the neck – nevermind I was coordinating an event for 249 other people and he was annoyed he wasn’t eligible to fully join…  Nevermind the extra hours wasted because of him…

But anyway, that’s also somewhat how I like to do instances/raids.  Coordinate beforehand, read up on the bosses & trash, etc.  Then when you’re running it, you can just enjoy and have a great time.  No need (most of the time) to worry about finding a PuG, no need for lengthy explanations, just jump in, buff up and off you go!

So since I was on this topic anyway, I figure I can also put out a plug for anyone on the Nazgrel server that wants to raid with friendly people and have fun runs…  http://www.raidnazgrel.com.  It’s basically a PuG but w/o the PuG.  You can stay in your current guild, and just sign up for a raid if/when you can make it.  Only real requirement is that you’re not annoying, lol.

Awwe

Poor Ogre.  He’s got the patch blues.  And he’s sad that Naxx may not happen this weekend.  Actually, I think it’s b/c I won’t be there and RN isn’t big enough yet to not need to PuG so he’ll need to PuG w/o me.  At least, that’s a guess since he always makes fun of me for PuG’n.  Lol.  In any event – I got your back for OBS dude!  Provided I survive *this weekend…

 

*This is the biggest weekend on campus other than Graduation and Xanther oversees the biggest part of the weekend.  He is holding onto sanity and hopes to be back to blog again on Monday.

To the Lists!

So much has come out with 3.1!  Dual Spec’s, Class changes, Ulduar, and of course – the Argent Tournament!  And of course, with all those changes means that many players return to the world of warcraft.  So what does that mean?  Well, TUE we didn’t really bother logging on.  Tried doing it but after getting insta-boot every time, we gave up.  So yesterday we were actually able to get in!

First things first, we had to fix our UI’s.  Then respect, since all talents were wiped.  And then?  Off to the Argent Tournament!  There was the initial ‘talk to this person’, then ‘talk to that person’, but the highlight?  You get a lance and a horse and can joust.  Well, kinda.  Day one is training and teaching you how to fight w/ a lance.  But it was still cool!  Just 2 more days of training and perhaps we can do some real jousting.

There were some additional dailies, but what I thought unique about these were that they take you to more than just one area in Northrend.  You wind up in Icecrown, Storm Peaks, and all the way down to Howling Fjord.  Btw – it’s Fjord.  Not Fajord…  It’s a “j” that sounds like a “y”.  In fact, Feeyord is closer than Fajord.  Kinda like how Lichen is not pronounced like the Lich King…  It’s liken to liken.  Anyway, sorry about the side track.  So I thought it was interesting how Bliz won’t make any mounts faster than already exist because they want us to see the countryside.  So this was an interesting way to make people head to zones they may not have hit in a few months.  My personal opinion though?  If I can fly faster, I’ll be able to get to areas faster, do more quests, and so on.  I won’t have time to explore every nuance in the game before the next expansion, so why not let me fly faster!

Ok, so that was totally a side track.  But anyway, the point is that the Argent Tournament is pretty cool and you should stop by to check it out.  Don’t forget to get tilted while up there!

Getting Hit

Yes, did OBS as OT w/ Datouv this past weekend.  I must say the weirdest thing was getting hit in a raid.  Very hard for a hunter to go from only getting hit on a rare occasion (such as all tanks are dead) to being an OT and it’s his job to be hit.

We certainly got through just fine.  All I’m sayin is it’s weird to be doing everything I can to get him to hit me instead of everything not to get hit, lol.

Every once in a while I come across one of these videos that makes you go "really?". It just puts things into perspective and makes you think about how we use technology. It's not about WoW, but it's fun to watch, lol.

Ups & Downs

What else could “Ups & Downs” be referring to other than PuG’s?  Ok, fine, probably quite a bit, but stick with me here…  And ignore the Ogre…

So last night we started to focus on doing a couple heroics.  Main point is to pick up some Emblems to get some shoulders for some alts.  Since it was a weekday, we didn’t have enough 80 guildies to run them, but we were able to PuG out 2 spots to fill the group.  The first 2 instances were fine and our guildie picked up a couple upgrades.  We then tried the 3^rd instance (HoL – daily Heroic) and had a diff group for it.

Now normally I’m cool with moving fast through an instance and chain-pulling so long as everyone is ready and good to go.  In fact, by the end we picked up a few achievements.  So that certainly proves the group was capable of going that fast.  But you know what annoyed me about the run?  The tank and PuG DPS didn’t bother to check if people were ready.  So even when the healer was sitting down drinking, the tank would go “r?” and immediately run down the steps, around a corner, and start hitting things.

I must say that I did laugh when 2 of the DPS wound up dead from doing that, but it immediately frustrated me when 5 seconds after being rezzed (not even with full health yet), they ran in to do it again.  Maybe I don’t understand how the mechanics work, but if someone rezzes you… they need to get mana back before moving on?  Especially if they had to rez multiple people…

But whatever, I can get over that.  I mean, it’s a PuG.  People are annoying and stupid because they don’t have any courtesy or respect online and you may never see them again so who cares.  However, on the final boss fight, the healer and I both die literally 5 seconds before the end of the fight.  The other 3 loot, and run off towards Dalaran.  Now, I can kinda understand the two Warriors just being annoying and not waiting to loot since they can’t rez anyone.  But the Shammy just running off?  Howabout a damn rez you piece of [insert expletive].   We were the ones who organized the run, the healer has already rezzed you multiple times, and you just run off after the final boss fight?  So after I recover from my shock at the audacity, I say “rez please?” and he does run back to rez us.  Kudos for at least fixing your mistake.

Maybe it’s because hunters need to have great situational awareness (need to know and handle melee and ranged mechanics at the same time, and be on the lookout for additional situations that might require them to save the day), but did they not realize that the healer and a DPS were dead?  Did the Shammy not know he could rez people?  Or do they just not care?  Oh well, let me pass along some guidelines so you do not wind up like those guys:

 1 – Don’t start fighting unless everyone is actually ready
 2 – Don’t line of sight your healer unless by pure accident, or necessary (such as pulling over a trap)
 3 – Rez people before moving on – even if moving on means hearthing because the instance is done
 4 – Don’t loot until everyone is rezzed
 5 – If you’re a DPS and you run around a corner, LoS your healer, and die – it’s your fault.  Don’t make the same mistake twice in a row
 6 – Say “thx” or something to that effect when rezzed.  After all, they could have made you run back.
 7 – Play nice!  Just because it’s a PuG doesn’t mean you should interact any differently than you would in person
 8 – Just because you can go that fast, doesn’t mean everyone wants to
 9 – Don’t tell people how to play their class if it is different from yours – chances are they’re better at it than you (yes, the warrior tried telling the druid how to heal) – especially when you’re giving bad advice
 10 – Live, learn, get over it.  It was just a PuG and you got what you wanted out of it… Emblems.

/steps off his soapbox…