Adventures of a Casual

Oh....Oh my god

2011-08-25T20:50:00.000-07:00

So I was reading this fantastic WoW blog called WoW Trotter...I found it on Saniel's blogroll.
And.
Oh.
Em.
Gee.
THE NICE LADY WHO WRITES IT MENTIONED ME!
LOOK!

Inspired by Adventures of a Casual, I went soloing Utgarde Keep one day.

THAT WAS THE COOLEST AND THE NICEST THING I'VE EVER SEEN OMG. I might even post again.

Miss WoW Trotter lady, you rock!

Today Has Been an Amazing Day

2011-01-12T18:01:00.000-08:00

Today has been more than Cataclysmically Superior. I'm writing this with tears of geeky, geeky joy in my eyes.

I love my tank, Laia, more than almost all my other characters. She's tanked through most of ICC. She's poked C'thun in the eye (20 levels higher :D) and mauled Ragnaros the Firelord.

But today....well....

Now I know that we're all 85, so this doesn't give me any excuse to brag.
BUT BEAR WITH ME!

...
Get it?
Bear?

Today I spent five minutes dancing around my computer room in joy.
Because today, my tank became Laia the Kingslayer.

Oh, it was fabulous. A full group of level 85s and we still wiped 3 times :D
This is the first time I've ever done an expansion. Killed the final boss and danced on his corpse. Never before have I even been able to go into raids.
I've fought Arthas before, on Eyowyn, and suffered terrible repair bills at his hands. But it was so great to actually beat the fight, to get the achievement and wear the title that "everyone" has.

This afternoon my guild went back to BWL to get one of our star hunters Chromaggus as a pet. She thought he was cute, or something.
I can't see it. He looks like a misshapen clump of purple dirt to me.
But, eh. So next awesome part of the day...we went raiding again!

And finally, I've raved about my twink Umber. She's a Subtlety rogue, specced to deliver swift and painless death to as many Horde as she can.
I want the Bloodthirsty title for her! She's almost got 3000 honor kills (don't mock) and she's not even level 22 yet :D
But today, I got an achievement I didn't think I could get.
An achievement I've only gotten on my shaman, Hiemalis, when she once roamed the BGs in her 30s.
Ironman.

Have you ever had any WoW days where everything seems to go the way you want it to be?

Kalesril and new Hunter Pets

2011-01-02T17:32:00.001-08:00

I've been steadily plugging away at Kale, and she's now level 66 and rocking it in the Outlands. I can't wait until I can hit 69 and go tame one of those white Devilsaurs :D
She's tamed 2 pets since she hit 60...a golden wasp she named Serenity (get it? Firefly!) and this seriously pretty new cobra skin.
PVP is a lot harder in this range. I've seen -tons- of people in full level 60 raid gear. They must have dedicated friends, I'm thinking. Poor Kalesril gets slaughtered extremely quickly. Serenity is doing pretty well in PvP for a Ferocity pet.

Speaking of PvP, at the moment I am desperately trying to kill a level 66 pally in Nagrand, and he's absolutely slaughtering me. It's depressing. I blow all cooldowns and then POOF! The bubble :(
He just exorcism spams me to death. There's got to be a better way. I wonder if there are hunter PvP blogs out there? I even dragged him into Horde-owned Halaa and he still slaughtered me.
Saffron sad face D:

I am so desperate to hit 85 as Kalesril. Not for raiding, or heroics, or anything else but OH THE PETS THE PETS I WANT A GHOSTCRAWLER and one of those AWESOME SPIRIT WOLF THINGS!

I've got NpcScanner and whatever the heck the other thing is called. And much apologies for not linking to y'all. I'm lazy. You can tell by the month-absences between posts.

SHORT STORY TO END (AND BY SHORT I MEAN REALLY SHORT):

His black golden locks curled voluptuously around his glowing silver orbs. His face was immaculate, aside from the scars that tore through his well-tanned and moisturized skin and turned it into bloody lace. Kalesril was immediately attracted to him by the mysterious, bestial musk that dripped from every pore.

"Gross," she said, then turned to her NOBLE SPIDER COMPANION. "Hungry, Ghostsilk?"
The spider chittered hopefully.
Kalesril grinned, patted her on the head, and motioned at the gnome in her frost trap.
"There's lunch."

W.O.L.F.

2011-01-01T09:07:00.000-08:00

Hey there, folks. I know you don't remember who I am anymore.

Too bad, because I have a post!

My guild is doing a project I dubbed W.O.L F., Worgen Offensive Lethality Force, where we roll worgen rogues, get them to level 15, then exp lock them and twink them. It is pretty awesome. There's my girl, Umber, and 8 other worgies. All subtlety specced. 8 shadow steps plus 8 boosted ambushes equals a whole lot of dead Horde.
We found a great website to use to help us twink our rogues out.
Linkage love goes to Shadowpanther, for his rog ue twink armor guide.
Little Umber, at level 15, has 1000 health and 50% dodge. Oh yes :D.

We all unlocked when we had all the gear we could get, engineering at 150, and mining/skinning at 225. We tried out Warsong Gulch, but I like Arathi Basin better. Umber got Wrecking Ball there.

Happy New Year, people :) It's good to see you all again.

Lucrative Way to Level Skinning

2010-12-07T13:56:00.001-08:00

You know where you start, in Vash'jir? Well just outside, everybody and their mother are killing crabs. And those crabs are skinnable, my friends.

GO TO ET!

Kalesril's Triumphs

2010-09-24T21:51:00.001-07:00

Hey, you thought I'd forgotten about you, didn't you? No sir, not me! I have news!

I kited my first ?? mob as a hunter! Those dang Sentinels need to get out of my questing zone! (and I killed her too!)

Kal and Hawky hit thirty, learned Feign Death (woot woot) and went hunting after Takk the Leaper. Earlier today, in fact, I found his nest, but not him, and got a Leaping Hatchling. These go for crap on the AH, so I decide that I'll probably keep it.
I immediately ran around Takk, but no luck. About four hours later, I popped on again, and what do you know?

Pay no attention to the weird guild name, they gave me monies :D But anyways, I went running back around the mountain where he patrols, and omigosh, there's a nest AGAIN!
So, I learn to summon one of the leaping hatchlings, and, extremely happy I left Hawky at the stable masters, Kalesril now has a rare pet family! Takk and his baby and her even posed on this hillside.

Now that's my newest alt :)

Cough cough

2010-08-31T17:53:00.000-07:00

/blows dust off of poor, neglected blog
/feeds cupcakes and math teachers
/pets
/offers post
/backs away
/runs
/trips over geometry proofs
/pleads f--
/r----y
/0110101101

*beep beep beep*

REAL POST PENDING. HAVE A NICE DAY.

Spellstealing Utgarde Pinnacle

2010-08-14T09:57:00.000-07:00

My guild boomkin transferred his DK tank over to our server today, and I've been running heroics with him and Tiglath of Super-Haelz ever since. For our first dungeon, we got Utgarde Pinnacle.
The first three bosses fall, easy peasy, and we get to the nastiest trash mobs in the dungeons; the beserkers, dusk shaman, and necromancers. We start fighting, and one of the dusk shaman kneels down to change into a wolf. A little buff icon appears for him, titled Lycanthropy, and it's highlighted in yellow which means that it's spellstealable.

"Speallsteallable?" I say to myself, and so I do. Eyowyn promptly kneels down, surrounded by purple fog and poof!-turns into a big grey wolf.

It only lasts for 12 seconds but boy it's freaking awesome.

Brought to you by Eyowyn and Co.

SHINY!

2010-08-06T17:03:00.000-07:00

The loot gods smiled on me tonight!

Edit: LOOOOOK AT THE SHINY

Facerollers the Stars are Not

2010-08-02T17:01:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I'll tell you how we got here in a minute.

As usual, I rolled up to my guild's weekly classic raid alongside my faithful healer and his wife, our short, bearded shadow priest. We three, the tall, noble paladin, all clad in shining armor; the even taller, savage night elf, scarred from countless battles and chafing to leave her humanoid form; and the portly dwarf, robed in shadows like black silk and sipping happily at a hipflask; stood around the summoning stone and twiddled our collective thumbs.

I mean, it was 4 hours before the raid, but come on? Slackers!

Our super hunters (one of them came on her druid alt) showed up at the prescribed time, and eventually so did the 2nd to last of the 80s in the guild, a boomkin.

/shudder

Yeah, I know the Stars are, err, a bit tiny. But we like 6 manning stuff! It's fun!

We kicked butt and took names in Gruul's Lair under our superb leadership (done by yours truly). I had PUGed it once with Laia, and let me tell you, 6 organized, intelligent guildies are far, far more effective than 25 overgeared morons. The super hunter's druid was a semi-offtank to help me control the Council's adds.

We shot them until they died and went on to ze big bad himself, Gruul the Oddly Articulate. His voice acting is weird. He sounds like a CEO.

I checked the clock and it had only been 20 minutes, so I shepherded the guildies to Magtheridan's Lair. I conveniently forgot that all the trash you left uncleared added with the boss. Nonetheless, since I checked to make sure everyone was inside before I pulled (an extremely important tool in any raid leader's arsenal) we slaughtered them all with lots of AOE.

Now, after this, it was only 5'oclock. "Hmmm," thought your humble author.

"Should we try to 6man VoA or do Tempest Keep?" I asked my gleeful guildies, who were cheering our leet hunter's druid on as she stuck Maggy's head on a stake outside of Honor Hold.

"YES YES YES!" was what I deciphered from frenzied joyous screaming in raid chat. So, badge epix in hand, we trundled off to pay a visit to Kael. Al'ar actually killed me with Flame Quills! /shock/horror/disbelief

We didn't get the mount to drop, either. Of course, the great part about having 3 druids in a 6man raid is there is a lot of Brezzes. Battle resurections* for the druidic abbreviation impaired. Our sole healer had us all stand between Void Reaver's ginormous tootsies and take the Pounding damage rather that watch the DPS run around like headless chickens dodging orbs. Solarian killed Pilaser when our id-beloved boomkin blew her up with Wrath of the Astromancer. Those lazerchickens. Tsk, tsk, tsk.

Then, we come to Kael, and I'm feeling pretty cocky. Phase 1 goes by without a hitch. Phase 2, fairly the same, aside from me frantically screaming for the boomkin to grab the legendary staff.

But Phase 3, where the four cronies of Kael all come at you at once...

Wipe.

Wipe.

Wipe.

Then one time we got to Phase 4!

Only healer mindcontrolled.
Boomkin with staff that prevents disorientation mindcontrolled.
Say it with me, my dears.

Wipe.

Wipe.

Wipe.

I bow before you, Kael'thas Sunstrider, and your infuriating mechanics that really need more than 6 people.

And of course, your fabulous hair.

Hawky!

2010-07-28T08:21:00.000-07:00

I have a belf hunter! Her name is Kalesril, which means "Dragon of the Elves" in Drow.

Yes. Yes, I know. Bite me, I have a D&D supplement.

Anyways, I made Kal back at the start of BC, and left her to languish at level 12 for something along 2 years now. At the urging of the two super hunters of SoA, I decided to go revisit the old girl.

It's really fun, surprisingly. I really enjoy the hunter/pet relationship, so naturally I made her BM and started putting points towards making my dragonhawk awesome and smexy. Hawky is already pretty awesome and smexy though. Whooo's a gooood little impromptu 5man quest tank?

She's great fun to play, especially decked out in Hiemalis' heirloom, enchanted gear. Did you know you get Aspect of the Viper at level 20? And disengage!

I fall off cliffs a lot with disengage :D

Now, everything I've read suggests that I should go get a wolf pet, because wolves are filled with win and coated in winsauce and dragonhawks are cunning pets and thus jacks of all trades and masters of none.

But what, might I ask, is cuter than a red and gold dragonhawk? Nothing, that's right.

Magtheridan/Gruul's Lair next Sunday!

Troll Raids-There iz lots

2010-07-25T17:23:00.001-07:00

Jindo the Hexxer is freaking ridiculous, I tell you. AAAH MIND CONTROLL AAAH. In other news, the Stars got Zul'aman today! It's so pretty-I like it much better than the other instances we've been in. No frog pets, sadly. We blew through it so fast with our twin leet hunters Morkerron and Taillie that we decided to head to Zul'gurub and clear it again!

I'm going to go eat ice cream now :D Pro tip--the elementium ore we got from Blackwing Lair sold for 4k on the AH, in case you ever do it.

On Shaman Tanking, Stories, and Randomness

2010-07-16T16:46:00.000-07:00

Hiemalis hit 71, yay for everyone. Heroism is sexy. She's doing a nice 1.4k DPS on boss fights with her cooldowns. I think I'm going to tipetoe off the deep end and make her a shammy tank.

Yeah, you heard me. Be AFRAID.

Healing Northrend dungeons is interesting, and a LOT harder than I thought. I've only had 3 successful runs-2 in UK, 1 in Nexus. I'm starting to really like group/raid healing as opposed to MT healing. I imagine myself as running around and handing out bandaids. Heroic!

Liselle, my warrior, is 78 today, slowly creeping up on that dreaded time when I'll have to gear up the poor girl. Warrior tanking scares me--it's considerably harder than Bear.

The Stars have Kara tomorrow, we'll see how it goes. Sadly, our super hunters, Taillie and Morkerron, can't come D: Of course, the last time we did it we 4manned it...so anything is better than that. Outland Raider, here we come!

Eyowyn is 8 emblems away from a new trinket, woo-hoo! She'll finally break 5.5k gs! Her DPS is crazy as arcane, I tell you. I keep begging our resident druid for innervate so I can keep doing AB spam.

My writing contest entry is going well. I'm at about 5000 words, and I've decided to change it fairly significantly, yay editing. I have to think of a title soon...hmmm...

If you were to write a backstory for a vengeful, 200 year old draenei shaman, what title would you give it?

<3

How I Hate You, Twin Emperors

2010-07-12T14:35:00.000-07:00

Eight 80s.

Four Wipes.

Two Emperors.

The Stars of Azeroth: Classic Raiders

PS: Laia got the Eye of C'thun, and lookie!

More Song Parodies!

2010-07-07T23:08:00.000-07:00

I Tanked a Raid

This was never the way I planned, not my intention.
I got so brave, gear in hand, lost my discretion
It's not what I'm used to, just wanna try it out.
I'm curious for this, caught my attention.

[Chorus:]
I tanked a raid and I liked it,
the taste of my stoneblood flasks
I tanked a raid just to try it,
I hope my new guild don't mind it.
It felt so wrong,
it felt so right.
Don't mean I'm tanking tonight.
I tanked a raid and I liked it (I liked it).

No, I don't even know the boss, it doesn't matter.
It's an experimental raid, just feral nature.
It's not what good tanks do, not how they should behave.
My head gets so confused, hard to obey.

I tanked a raid and I liked it,
the taste of my stoneblood flasks
I tanked a raid just to try it,
I hope my new guild don't mind it.
It felt so wrong,
it felt so right.
Don't mean I'm tanking tonight.
I tanked a raid and I liked it (I liked it).

Us tanks we are so magical,
Armor, high health, invulnerable.
Hard to 1 hit, so healable.
Too good to deny it.
Ain't no big deal, it's pure skill.

I tanked a raid and I liked it,
the taste of my stoneblood flasks
I tanked a raid just to try it,
I hope my new guild don't mind it.
It felt so wrong,
it felt so right.
Don't mean I'm tanking tonight.
I tanked a raid and I liked it (I liked it).

Blizzard Has Gone Crazy

2010-07-06T15:09:00.000-07:00

WTF, Blizzard? WTF?!

If you do not understand why I'm twitching furiously at my keyboard, reduced to streams of gibberish, go check out any major blogger.

Seriously,

WTF!

Edit: So now, if someone trolls you, you can stalk them! That will make the forums a better place!

The Stars of Azeroth take down Blackwing Lair

2010-07-04T10:32:00.000-07:00

Who at Blizzard came up with the Supression Room? I think we should go to his house AND BURN IT.

I personally had to go through it 5 TIMES because certain morons kept AOEing when I said not to AOE! Battle rez FTW, people.

Slow motion running in the supression room.

The instance was awesome. The first and second bosses were my favorite--I was the controller for Razorgore. The burn for the second boss was crazy. Burning adrenaline FTL!

Nefarion goes down!

Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj next!

Weird

2010-07-01T23:55:00.000-07:00

I just had some random BE DK named Kolvidor (something like that) whisper me as T'kela, asking me what she was like. When I demanded to know why he was whispering me, he said he'd tell me later and logged.

Huh.

Maybe he reads AoC?

Or maybe he's a stalker.

-THE ABOVE ARE RANDOM LATE-NIGHT THOUGHTS-

Tanking Sarth3D

2010-06-29T10:23:00.001-07:00

Is freaking terrifying. No matter how geared you are. Yet, somehow...

And I can't find the screenshot for Of the Nightfall. Fail.

Anyways, Twilight Vanquisher Laia of the Nightfall, Champion of the Frozen Wastes, is feeling mighty pleased with herself.

Pity my realm's offline all day today :(

Oh! One more picture!

Be afraid, Moorabi. Be very afraid.

YES! YES!

2010-06-26T21:30:00.000-07:00

2010 Blizzard Writing Competition

2010-06-25T16:00:00.000-07:00

Remember the intro I posted yesterday? That story, about Hiemalis' background and the flight of the draenei from Draenor is going to be my entry for the competition!

It's very exciting. I've written about seven pages for it so far, but I'm already planning everything out. There's a lot of lore holes for what happened to the draenei civilization after Shattrath and before the blood elves fought them for Tempest Keep and its satellites and the Exodar fled. I'm trying to avoid them as best I can, but in some cases I'm just blatantly going to make it up :D

How about you? Are you excited about the writing competition? Are you planning on entering?

On a separate note, I love the emblem pinata Frost Lord Ahune. I only need a few more emblems to get my set bonus for Eyowyn. I also won a BOE that dropped in my last ICC25. I didn't realize it was one until I tried to equip it. Now, unfortunately, I'm stuck with a difficult choice: it's an upgrade to my bracers, but only by a tiny bit, and it's worth something upwards of 5000 gold on the AH. Decisions, decisions. I recently bought some Deathfrost Boots on the AH for about 6000 gold. It was a great upgrade, and now little Eyowyn is pushing 5.5k gearscore, and a respectable DPS. I'm tempted to try out fire, or arcane again, to see if I could boost my DPS, but I love my Water Elemental (Bubbles) too much to give him up for good.

I finally got to replace my 219 cloak with the 232 one Ahune drops. Now my lowest iLevel is 232 :D

You know what? I think I am going to go play around with fire/arcane a little bit. See y'all later!

Birth of the Storm (Introduction)

2010-06-24T07:58:00.001-07:00

(This is pretty much just a backstory for one of my favorite characters. Enjoy!)

Birth of the Storm

It started with a spark. A mote of darkness that ate up the light around it until only nothing was left, an empty shell where life used to be.

The creator of the spark was a tall, unhealthily pale figure that looked something like a human, if the observer did not take into account the balls of green fire that burned where eyes should be, or his long, pointed ears. His fingers fluttered like a violinist's, playing not an instrument of wood but a seething red light that fed the darkness he had summoned. He spoke rapidly under his breath in words that were in no human language, nor even any elven one.

No, this elf called out to the great powers of the empty spaces between worlds in Demonic, that foul, snarling tongue of imps and succubi. The mote contorted as he paused, wiping the sweat off his face, in the midst of a particularly complex passage, but quickly returned to its normal shape as he focused his energies back on it.

The woman who watched him allowed herself a smile at his ineptitude. Long, thin tendrils shifted slightly forwards as she peered at the red light. This woman looked very much like the demons this warlock was trying to summon, in fact, with her cloven hooves, tail, and curling horns. But, her eyes did not glow with the green taint of fel energy, and her skin was blue.

Hiemalis, was, in fact, a draenei.

She shifted slightly in her careful crouch, hidden in a pile of rubble not ten feet from the elven warlock, and judged the progress of his summoning spell. She didn't want him to complete it before she killed him. Having the demon to slay as well was just extra effort.

Yes, it was perfect.

She vaulted out from her hiding place, her hooves steady on the blasted, crimson dust of the ruined land around her. The warlock, shocked, looked at her. Unfortunately, his incantations did not falter.

His eyes widened. "You!" he gasped between syllables of his spell.

"It's gratifying to be known," Hiemalis said softly, sweetly, and threw out her hand towards the warlock. He flinched, but when no attack came, his mouth curved into a sneer.

Hiemalis clenched the hand into a fist.

A gust of wind smashed into the warlock, throwing him twenty feet into a nice, sharp cluster of boulders. He let out a quick gasp of dismay before Hiemalis was on him, her long daggers in her hands.

"Velites," the draenei whispered, her eyes going bitter and terrifyingly ruthless. The elf began a fruitless plea for mercy just as Hiemalis sunk her daggers into his chest, impaling him like a butterfly on a card. The hate in her eyes dimmed, leaving only a terrible sadness as she looked at his body. She yanked her daggers out, wiped them on his robes, and thrust the m absentmindedly in their sheaths.

"Az lok maladath," she said, and held up her hand once more. Fire leapt from her fingers and devoured the elf's body, reducing his corpse into ashes before the draenei turned and ran, fleet as the wind, to where she had tied her elekk.

Behind her, only smoke remained to speak of her killing.

"I will never be able to avenge your death, Velites, but these vermin, these Man'ari will pay for it ten thousand times over," the draenei shaman thought, a leaden weight settling on her, pushing her down into her embroidered saddle.

"I will never forget you, Velites."

The New Random Dungeon Feature: What It Didn't Account For

2010-06-23T08:25:00.000-07:00

The scene, Halls of Lightning. The players, Eyowyn, a DK, a hunter, a priest, and the tank who left so fast that I didn't see his class.

I sighed and reuqueued us, only to have that $%^&#$ the priest refuse over and over again. He smugly informed us that he was waiting for the rest of us to leave, because then he wouldn't get the debuff.

Then mentioned, offhandedly, that WG was about to start.

$%^&hole. I was all for sticking it out and working on Loremaster, but I do actually did WG marks. So, seething with hate, I left.

And it's going to be counted against me in kicking idiots like him.

/fume

Off to England!

2010-06-07T22:33:00.000-07:00

I'm sad to be going, since I had a ton of fun tonight doing BGs with some of the 80s in SoA, as well as a impromptu dueling tournament and party at the Darkmoon Faire, where I got to show off all the costumes I had collected from What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been. Did you know I can create my own 10man raid? I equipped my Commander's Badge, my Horseman's Baleful Blade, popped both and my Mirror Images, and summoned my faithful companion Bubbles.

Boom. A nether whelp, an elemental, five mages, and four terrifying pumpkins. Be afraid. Be very, very afraid.

We then proceeded to switch to Frost spec and spar with our guildie Naita. My army advanced on her, then promptly despawned :(

Oh, well. I beat her anyways. We were nicely matched; we dueled about 20 times and won fairly evenly. Obviously, this called for us forming an arena team and charging into the thick of battle.

We got annihilated and decided to go fool around in battlegrounds until we got enough PVP gear to be a threat. Many thanks go to Euripedes, formerly of Critical QQ, whose posts I devoured and knowledge made me suck ever so slightly less.

I'm so excited that I finally figured out how to link posts from WoWhead! When I get back I'll have to go through my posts and get them all labeled.

Bubbles and I say farewell!

Soloing Northrend: Gundrak

2010-06-05T11:46:00.000-07:00

Gundrak

You start off at the top of a long and totally unnecessary staircase that leads down into a pool of water. Jump. Even if you miss the water, the fall won't kill you, and that is what Tranquility is for. You'll come to a small ledge with two snakes on it.

Cat up and prowl past them, down into the Pit of Indiana Jones' Worst Nightmares. Ignore the patrolling snakes, and get yourself all the way over to the altar and Slad'ran. If you fight him at the very edge of the water, you don't need to worry about aggroing the snakes, although the ones he summons are sort of annoying. Snake Wrap is scary mean. Kill the snakes as fast as you can, and don't do the fight in cat like I did (and died). Pop Barkskin if you do get Snake Wrapped to minimize the damage.

Fudge. I died again. How is this happening?

Ok. Blow all your freaking cooldowns. Or, alternatively, kill the freaking trash in the room and pull him up the stairs.

...

The trash killed me. :(

Ok. Crowd control. Yeah.

Mutter mutter stupid snakes mutter mutter 20 gold mutter mutter mutter.

Oh. $%#&.

Ok. Buff food, drums, self buffs...

NO. NO. YOU'RE KIDDING ME. I SOLOED $#%^ing HALLS OF LIGHTNING!

Ok. Ok. No more damn snake boss. Drakkari Colossus. That should be easier.

I refuse to use a Flask of Stoneblood. This should not be this hard. Don't stand in puddles, burn the boss....mmmk. Let's see how this goes...

#$^%. It pulls the trash. /sigh

I...I...I...

I give up. /sniffle

If you do manage to solo this confounded place, especially Slad'ran, let me know how you did it. He and I have unfinished business to attend to...

Give it Here, Grandma

2010-06-02T17:42:00.000-07:00

Karazhan is awesome! I finally get what Pike (Aspect of the Hare) was talking about!

Edit: Click on the picture!

Laia takes down The Professor

2010-05-27T21:41:00.001-07:00

Got him, his two ugly creations, and the Blood Prince Council!

You Know What?

2010-05-26T20:20:00.001-07:00

I lied :D Gundrak eventually. I was having much too much fun teaching my cousins how to do the Heigan dance. And by teaching I mean LAUGHING OVER THEIR DEAD BODIES.

Ah, summer.

Mass Effect 2 is so Awesome

2010-05-25T18:59:00.001-07:00

I loooooooooooove Jack. I looooooooooove her. Who's my little psychotic mass-murderer?

Gundrak coming tomorrow.

Soloing Northrend: Drak'tharon Keep

2010-05-17T13:40:00.000-07:00

I'm not going to be posting much for another week, while exams are going on. I had a bit of time today, though so here is the next installment in my series.

Drak'tharon Keep

As usual, run in and buff up. Get your bearings (Hah! Bear-ings! Get it?, shift into cat, and start stealthing.

You can easily make it all the way to the Room of Pulls That Make Your Healer go "OH #&*#!" without having to dirty your claws. Be careful to edge around to the backs of mobs on the stairs, and wait for all the undead trolls to run down.

Now, there are two ways to do the Room of Pulls That Make Your Healer go "OH #&*#!", the boring way and the fun way. The boring way is to pull mobs back carefully with Faerie Fire and Growl. The fun way is to charge into the middle of the room while screaming "LEEROY!" and slaughter them all after popping all your cooldowns.

Guess which way I picked?

You may find yourself at slightly low health after this. I was at about 4k. Since you aren't ever going to be using caster spells, you feral tank you, feel free to blow all your mana healing yourself and then use innervate. Now, for Trollgore.

He's easy. Tank and spank. Swipe to take care of the adds. Go to sleep. Really. I even went into cat form so he would go down faster.

Sneaksneaksneak through the spider room, take up position on the stairs, and throw a faerie fire at Novos.

Sit on the stairs, swiping adds, until the first necromancer spawns. Go kill him, toddle back to the stairs, and resume killing adds. The little, non-elite adds hit like soft pillows. They only dangerous in numbers. Once all of the crystals are down, engage Novos. You won't have much rage, because he's a caster, so I recommend shifting to cat form if you are impatient (like me). Don't stand in the blizzards, and soon you'll have a dead Lich at your feet.

More sneaking! Imagine that! Get through the bat room, and out into the courtyard. Since you're following my guide, I'm assuming that you want to solo every boss, so we're going to be taking a little detour for King Dred. Start slaughtering the raptors in his area.

You can kill the first two before he paths back your way, if you're quick. Ocne they are gone, feel free to pull him. I never had another raptor aggro. Save Beserk for the fear, otherwise this is a tank and spank if you have Improved Leader of the Pack (which you should).

From here, you can sneak all the way to the Prophet Tharon'ja.

This fight is also easy. Heck, this whole instance is easier than Ahn'kanet. Stay out of green poison puddles, and save berserk until after her turns you into a skeleton. Bash Drain Life if you want.

Congratulations on soloing Drak'tharon keep!

Mage 4 Piece Tier 10 Set Bonus, I Long For Thee

2010-05-08T20:48:00.000-07:00

And if Toravon wills it, you will be mine.

And maybe that Drak'tharon guide, if finals don't leave me a bloody stain on the ground.

What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been (Hell yeah!)

2010-05-03T17:06:00.001-07:00

Oh. Yes.

School of Hard Knocks, go spork yourself and die.

The Violet Protodrake is MINE.

What Did You Say Was in my Throat?

2010-05-01T21:40:00.000-07:00

Eeeurgh. I have something the doctor thinks is thrush...a yeast infection in my mouth/throat/OMG I HAVE FUNGUS IN ME AAAAARGH SO CREEPY AND MY MOUTH HURTS.

So, sorry I didn't post :D

There Is Some Hope For Us Yet

2010-04-29T12:56:00.000-07:00

That's right. Eyowyn, finally, finally, finally got to go to ICC10. And even though the group wiped 4 times on Gunship (how does that happen exactly?) I had an absolutely marvelous time.

I was a slot-filler for a guild run, and the folks there were charming and silly. The guild master whispered me the instructions for ranged DPS, and off we went.

I got a nice caster sword that I gave to our pally healer after drooling over it for a minute or two, bracers, and no small measure of pride for kiting the Blood Beasts on Saurfang.

Raid leaders of Kargath, I apologize. Some of you do have sense, after all.

My Arguement For Going Frost

2010-04-28T15:26:00.001-07:00

Taking a short break from my Soloing Northrend series, I feel that it is time to defend my most beloved character's spec.

Now, every mage worth her salt is familiar with the common assumption that Arcane is the king of specs, followed by Fire, and very, very, VERY distantly by Frost. In fact, other classes think this way too.

"LFM ICC10 whisper with class and spec"
"Hey there. I'm a mage, about 5k gearscore and 5-6k DPS, specced frost with Replenishment."
"lol no"
"Why not?"
"frost DPS sucks go arcane"

This infuriates me. My DPS is fine--I probably don't have enough gear for ICC, not yet, but I know what I'm doing and can do far more as frost than arcane. I did, actually, respec one afternoon,and performed the 4x arcane blast, arcane missiles when barrage procs, and that...other, shiny spell to clear stacks if I hadn't gotten a proc.

I ran out of mana in what felt like a few seconds and did a steady 3k DPS. Frost, on the other hand, goes on forever with inspiration and a low-mana frostbolt, plus I usually spec to get arcane concentration, which gives me a free spell fairly often. Frostbolt is also the fastest non-instant mage spell (correct me if I'm wrong) and I usually have an insanely fast cast time when everything decides to proc at once.

Frost's rotation is also easy to learn. Hit frostbolt. Again. Again. Again. Again. Fingers of frost procs, and you hit it, then hit it again and slam deep freeze just as the second finishes casting for a huge crit. Weave brain freeze procs in with frostbolt when you can, especially when you have the two-piece Tier 10 set bonus, which gives us another 12% of that delicious haste.

Frost also gives you the biggest crits of, dare I say, any class. I've gotten Deep Freeze crits up to 30,000 damage. Yes, that's right, that's damage from an instant spell. And let me tell you, seeing those numbers pop up feels pretty amazing. I'm sure that mages with better gear would see even more mouth-watering numbers.

So I call out to you, mages of the world. Give Frost a chance.

Or I'll turn your blood to ice. :D

Back Once More

2010-04-25T10:56:00.000-07:00

I've returned (considerably the worse for wear), and in between sucking down large amounts of boiling cider and Motrin for the horrifying throat virus I have, I will try my best to fight my way online.

Back Thursday

2010-04-17T21:17:00.001-07:00

I'm off to Washington for the week (work, y'know?) and I'll be back on Friday with a guide to Drak'Tharon Keep!

Soloing Northrend: Ahn'kahet, the Old Kingdom

2010-04-16T12:46:00.001-07:00

I write these posts as I'm doing the instance, so at this moment I have no idea if I'm going to survive. I guess that there's only one way to find out!

Ahn'kahet, the Old Kingdom

This place is so truly, truly cool. I wish Blizzard had actually implemented it as a zone. I like the blue spectral bats a lot, too.

Buff up and run down the spiderwebs. Go into cat. Survey your surroundings. Now bypass all those 20k damage shadowbolts with ease. There are no beginning guards in normal Ahn'kahet.

No huge ugly flesh-constructs either. At least, not yet.

Stick to the edges, and you'll easily make your way to some annoying swarmers. And the first boss, of course. Elder Nadox is fairly simple--swipe the adds into oblivion and shift your focus to the guardian as soon as it spawns, just like on heroic mode.

Here, Brood Plague is the greatest threat, dealing over 1000 damage every 3 seconds. And it's a disease, so you can't cure it.

I got to around 30k health, but he went down without me having to use more than Barkskin.

Onwards, now, to the second of the Cullens, Prince Taldaram. You will have to kill the second and third groups of Plundering Geists, as they go up the web ramps to the orbs that dispel this boss' shield. The groups of four guarding the orbs are mildly threatening--they do a lot of magic damage. Maul and swipe will destroy them before your health drops far enough to be worrying, however.

Kill them, pop the orbs, and sneak your way to the San'alyn. Time to see if that blood drain still works when you're solo...

Well. It does. And he killed me, just like his brother. /sigh

I'll try again, for your sake!

YES! YES! Mark of the Wild made all the difference, as did a good survival instincts+frenzied regeneration+runic healing potion.It was damn close. I have 2k hitpoints when he keeled over. But at least I can keep going through Ahn'kahet!

/happy dance

Sneak your way to Jedoga Shadowseeker, say a brief prayer, and dive in. Try and use Barkskin right after the worshiper gets sacrificed-it's almost impossible to kill them in time. I found her extremely easier--much more so than Taladram.

Onto the final boss!

If you tank Herald Volazj in the absolute western corner of the room, you do not have to do the trash. Barkskin during Mind Flay, and if you're getting low on health, root your double during the insanity and heal yourself up. It can't do much damage, anyhow.

That's it! Grats on soloing Ahn'kahet!

Soloing Northrend: Azol Nerub

2010-04-12T14:19:00.000-07:00

EDIT: Pictures aren't working on this post. I'll try to get them up as soon as possible.

Here we go again!

Azol Nerub

I've always found AZ to be particularly beautiful. The lost remnants of an ancient, eight-legged civilization and all that. Unfortunately, now that it's fallen to the Scourge, it's time for me to break out the bug spray and go spider squashing.

The first pull is simple. One caster, one melee. I hate the Webspinners (that web is a nightmare like Keleseth's ice blocks) so they're going to die first.

Be warned. Without a party, that web wrap in an unbreakable 9 second stun. It can be lethal.

Kill the spinner, then the skirmisher, then the warrior at the entrance to the Azol Nerub Baggage Check.

On Krik'thar's groups, just follow the basic pattern of taking down casters, melee, DPS, warriors, and then the bosses with AOE. There is not much time to eat between waves, but a quick Tranquillity can help if you are at critical health.

Edit: If there are no webspinners, kill the bosses first. They can web you too.

Krik'thir himself is cake. Swipe the adds, bash Mind Flay, and he's down.

Now, tiptoe into room of Spidery Spiderful Spiderness. Don't fall off the bridge unless you want to get eater by Anub'ar crushers. I don't advise using the cheat to despawn the mobs. They'll start coming back before you can kill Hadronox, since your bear DPS is fairly low.

Don't stand in poison. Put abolish poison up when...you know, she poisons you. Wait for her to kill the adds first. She's fairly easy.

Now ruuuuuun down the ramp and jump in the hole. Smashing the spiderlings is optional, but highly therapeutic.

Weeeeeeeee!

Hop out, dry yourself off, and lumber over to Anub'arak's two special friends. Scary, aren't they?

Haha :D Keep scurrying down the path, and sneak into the Tiny Circular Platform Suspended In The Middle Of A Huge Cavern But Yet You Can Still Apparently Burrow Through It Without Falling To Your death. TCPSITMOAHCBYYCSABTIWFTYD for short.

Because I mean, really, if you're burrowing in there you're essentially stuck inside a giant soup bowl. And when you're a massive mutant spider thing, that's going to be hard to maneuver in. However Anub'arak does it, this fight is still a dificult test of endurance. Dodge every single Pound, without question. You'll need the health for the add phases. Swipe will take care of the little adds, while focusing fire on the big ones will bring them down fairly quickly. This is a tough fight. You may wipe once or twice. Don't get hit by spikes either.

Thank you for reading! Next up.../drumroll...Ahn'kanet!

Oh you know you want to watch me start screaming in horror :D

Soloing Northrend: The Nexus

2010-04-09T14:40:00.000-07:00

*waves all 'round*

The Nexus

It's a heck of a long flight to get here. Seriously. Get a book or something.

I do think, however, that Coldarra is very pretty. See, here's Laia swooping in on Shatterscale!

Zone in and buff thyself, young druid. The creepy masquerade mask is optional.

Go kitty, hit prowl, and take the first left. The patrolling Azure Warders/Magi can detect stealth, so hug the walls.

Hang on...he's awfully tough....

Oh. Heh. Make sure it's not on heroic. Even on normal, he managed to find me, though. Remember, skinners, you can skin almost everything here. I got several stacks of leather.
Now, it's time to sneak past the patrolling mage and his pack of dogs. And guess what? they detect stealth too. Wait in an alcove for them to pass you, then you can avoid them without aggroing.
The doggies may turn to growl at you in the alcove, but you're perfectly safe. Next is the Room of Way Too Much Air Conditioning.

These are all very easy to stealth by, but we want the boss, don't we?
If you are very, very careful, you can get right behind and tank him and his adds against the wall.
Kill the priests first. Spam Mangle with Berserk up and they should crumple like paper.
Got him! Unlike his heroic counterpart, though, Mr. Horde Commander only drops a green. Pathetic.
Sneak out of the Room of Way Too Much Air Conditioning, past another set of patrolling doggies and up a short tunnel. They aggroed on me, though :(
Now, we're in the YMCA-Young Mage's Club of Azeroth.
They're all a bit high off of all the latent magical energy, so they are quite easy to sneak past. Even the bodyguards to Miss Telestra's "Private Area" aren't very alert. Get behind the Grand Magus, and begin the process of clawing her into tiny shreds. You can strafe to avoid Firebomb, but it's really not necessary.

Chew on her until she splits, then burn down the copies: Frost, Fire, then Arcane. You can even heal up a bit while she's reforming. Also, I would save Berserk...you can avoid her guards, but you might get thrown into them when she does her Nether Chains thingy.
After that, tiptoe out of the YMCA and down another corridor, complete with another set of patrolling doggies. This corridor is extremely wide, so the dogs should be easy to avoid.
Now we come to the Cavern of Ten Thousand Sparkles.
You can stealth past everything here, as long as you are careful to give even the scrawniest mob a respectful berth. Beware of falling off the edge like I did.

Prowl your way up to Anomalous. The portal thing might shock you-run up the ramp a bit and Shadowmeld (or kill them). Enjoy the scenery. Then kill Anomalous- he does a good bit of magic damage, but swipe, glyph of maul, and berserk will slaughter the portals.

I advise taking the long way down-you might not make the jump while Prowling. Turn left, then go straight ahead, past the mana elemental and group of dragons, and into the Woods of Glowingness. The little trees here are EXTREMELY annoying, but they can be avoided.
Go all the way to Ormorok and squash him. He can reflect Faerie Fire when Spell Reflect is up. Drag him up into the icy tunnel to avoid having to kill his guards. Also, try to not get hit by ice spikes-you'll take 8000 falling damage.
Now, it's only a matter of prowling to poor Keristraza's room. You need to kill the patroller in there- he can detect stealth. So can the guards in the adjacent hallways.
Final boss time! Hop like a freaking madman, here, and shift out and immediately back into bear to break Crystal Chains. You're going to be taking a considerable amount of magic damage-consider using barkskin and any trinkets you have. Survival Instincts+Frenzied Regeneration should be saved for a serious emergency. (Actually, I lied. I barely lost 4,000 health :D )
There you have it! Good luck on your solo journey!

Dragon Age: Awakening

2010-04-08T13:03:00.001-07:00

Oooooh...yes. So much win. I miss Alistair, though.

As soon as I beat it, the Nexus post is going up! I swearz!

WTB Hot Bunneh Sex

2010-04-04T14:11:00.001-07:00

I wonder if this will show some interesting searches?

But really.

WOOT!

Soloing Northrend: Utgarde Keep

2010-03-31T14:55:00.000-07:00

Are you ready, Internet?

ARE YOU?

A Note: I'm going to be doing all of these as a druid in badge gear, no outside buffs unless I'm wiping too much.

Utgarde Keep

Zone in, take a look around, and put up Mark of the Wild- this will be important later. Get in kitty form, hit prowl, and start weaving through mobs and patrols.

I'm not sure if you can stealth through the first two mobs. I forget about that useful ability until I was halfway through the forge room.

Either way, first pull: Root one of the mobs, change to bear, and kill the other guy. If you feel like you are taking too much damage, use Demoralizing Roar.

You can dodge and weave through the next room, easy. I marked the patrollers for you.

Sneaksneaksneak into the forge area. You have to kill the groups here, sorry. Root one of the mobs, go bear and eat them up. Remember Demoralizing Roar and don't be afraid to use your cooldowns if you need them.

The next group is exactly the same. Try and Bash Cauterize if you can. After them, we get to the stairs and the dragon room!

You can sneak through here and into the first Cullen's room very quickly. However, you do have to kill the 4 in front of the San'alyn. I rooted one and moonfired the heck out of another. Switch targets when the rune casters put their immunity shields up. Now, here comes the vampire boss. At first I thought, "No big deal. I mean, he can't frost tomb me."

Heh, yeah. That went well.

I can't see doing him, even at my gear level. 15 second stuns where you take damage and and keep getting beaten on, that happen over and over again, are impossible to handle solo. However, since he is low level, with MotW up you may be able to resist the vast majority of them. I decided to skip him and start prowling towards the next bosses.

You can sneak through here with no trouble. Be careful of the geists; they run really quickly.
After this, you reach the first (and only) mobs here that can detect stealth: wolfies.

Go up the stairs and, if you're lucky, you can dodge the patroling wolfie. If not, kill it. Up the stairs, and through the tunnel, you'll come to the next bosses. They are ridiculously easy to kill. Glyphed maul and swipe are your friends here.

Keep on stealthing. I didn't have to kill a single mob until Mr. The Plunderer after these two.
Speaking of Mr. The Plunderer, he's cake. Run out of the way of Smash and he goes down like
********************************CENSORED*************************************

Grats on soloing Utgarde Keep! Next up, the Nexus!

Soloing Northrend Dungeons: Introduction

2010-03-29T13:37:00.000-07:00

Well. I've decided AoaC (acronyms FTW) needs something. Like a project. Everyone always loves watching people suffer over incredibly difficult goals.

Are you ready, dear readers, for my screams of frustration?

To this end, I've decided to dust off my super-geared tank, Laia, and send after the Northrend dungeons with murder on her mind. I'll be starting with Utgarde Keep, which I'll have up in a few days.

ARE YOU EXCITED? ARE YOU, INTERNET?

Stolen From Saniel of Primal Precision- What Wows You in WoW?

2010-03-23T17:35:00.000-07:00

Well! I apologize for my silence..no, actually, I don't, because the dreadfully tedious business of RL has kept me from anything except sleeping+work for the past few days. So there. Deal with it.

With all due friendliness, of course.

-Random thoughts: Are you allowed to use emoticons in posts? Is that morally wrong, somehow?-

Well, according to Saniel (That's Saniel, of Primal Precision . On my sidebar. Go. Read.) Blog Azeroth has a shared topic up about your best moments in WoW. Or something like that. So, I obviously stole it from him and decided to post about it in the bit of spare time I have today.

Hmmm. What wows me in WoW...well...a lot of thing, really. The great, beautiful starlit forest in Teldrassil where Laia took her first steps. Seeing Stormwind City, then Ironforge for the first time. The creepy vastness of the Undercity. The time when Tiglath and I ran to explore the Tirisfal Glades at level 20. My first mount. When I hit 60 and was so proud of my little mage.

The time when just before TBC, I took a trip down to the Caverns of Time. AND IT WAS HUGE! And so pretty, and cool, and I wandered around for hours staring at it all.

The sun rising in Mulgore and the moon on the water in Auberdine. The first time Laia ever tanked a raid. The time I raid-lead Naxx because the leader had to leave (without ever having been there before). The time when the same thing happened with Ulduar, and we got all the way to Kologarn.

The first time I came to Icecrown and did it properly, all of the questchains and plotlines meshing together as one. The sense of ancient horror, hidden by the snow and ice, is so prevalent through the whole zone.

The harpoon-surfing quest in the Howling Fjord. Getting my Netherdrake. Finishing the Epic Flight Form questchain. Killing Lord Marrowgar when only 3 DPS and I were still standing. Going to the Black Temple for the first time. The time when Hiemalis got the Ironman achievement in Warsong Gulch because the whole raid pulled together to help her.

The Storm Peaks and the questchain with Thorim. Flying around a huge pinnacle, leaping from dragon to dragon with my spear in hand. The time that my guildleader on my RP realm stepped down and passed the reins onto me. When I first became an officer in that same guild.

World of Warcraft is made up of memories. Before you decide that Blizzard is out to get you, step back and take a look at a world of such beauty and all the memories you have in it.

That's what wows me in WoW.

Trial by Fire

2010-03-19T14:56:00.000-07:00

Today, I dusted off Liselle, my 75 warrior, and decided to throw her into the Random Dungeon Finder. "How hard could it be, really?" I asked myself as my party filled with DPS in the blink of an eye. "I mean, I've tanked everything from Sartharion to Deathbringer Saurfang. This should be easy!"

But oh no. It was not easy.

Warrior tanking is so confusing! There are so many buttons to push- no reliable AOE like swipe or even something to throw down like consecrate. Shouts, interrupts, disarms, AOEs that do just shy of nothing, and 5 defensive cooldowns stared at me out from my cluttered bar.

I informed the party of my ineptitude, and set to work.

Goodness, was it hard. Thunderclap was completely incapable of holding group aggro, so I eventually settled for frantically alt-tabbing while spamming Devastate and Heroic Strike. It was a tad bit hard on my fingers, but after two wipes I managed to get into the groove of things. Mobs actually started hitting me, praise be to Elune!

Looking back, I suppose that using Cleave might have made my life easier.

The first instance I got into was Drak'tharon Keep, palace of the Hakkar Wannabe. After I stumbled through that, miracles of miracles, a few members of my party actually wanted to run again with me. Shocking, right? I grabbed a guild healer one of my dear friends was leveling, threatened him with death and dismemberment if he didn't come and hold my hand through the next dungeon, and tossed him an invite. Together with a charming shadow priest, I clicked Find Random Dungeon.

And it was Ahn'kanet, a hellhole even on my Druid.

Ok, ok. No big deal. I've...I've...yeah, we're screwed.

Surprisingly, we only ever wipe once, on Miss Jedoga Shadowseeker. That enrage is impossible. Otherwise, we go along quite fine and dandy, my large repertoire of stuns and horrified screams for the DPS to interrupt keeping the Spellflingers unable to ever finish their Shadow Blasts. The only exciting moment was when, before Jedoga, we pulled a group of four casters right before a patrol walked into the healer.

At that moment, I was grateful for the warrior defensive cooldowns. I blew Challenging Shout. Last Stand, Shield Wall, Shield Block, Battle Rage, Beserker Rage, and both of my trinkets, and
I kept those mobs off my healer.

We pulled through, 2 of the DPS dying in the process. I tanked that awful pull like I was on my invincible druid. And because it was actually hard, it felt pretty good when they bit the dust.

That's a big thing I noticed while I was on little Liselle. Everything wasn't a cakewalk. I couldn't charge down the hallways, swiping as I went and pulling 30 mobs at a time. I had to concentrate and actually work to do well.

It was great.

PS: My faithful readers, I beg of you, if there is any advice you can give me please leave it in the comments. I could definitely use it.

It's Hard to Pay Attention

2010-03-17T17:13:00.000-07:00

I wonder about PUGs these days. "How could mankind fall so far?" I ask myself in despair.

Ego's replies really aren't suited to be read by the public.

You see, Tiglath went about pestering me until I agreed to run his baby shaman (Buccephalas, named after the Elekk of some great Draenei hero, I am told) through a few randoms. Now, you see, Buccephalas is a lowly level 72, so I expected shouts of astonishment from the lucky DPS that we were grouped with when they glanced over and saw my health pool.

But no. Not a word. No one said anything throughout the whole run (we got Azol Nerub) even when I charged in and took the first boss and his three guardians (and their attached trash packs) all at once. I tanked poor Anub'arak in cat form, for crying out loud.

Our next run, Nexus, was a little better. We got a hi, once.

A hi.

Yeah.

That's kind of awesome, right?

But, I mean, really? I try not to go about flexing my ego- I mean, I've met and worked with far better tanks. Sometimes, though, when you're running through Nexus non-stop with a horde on your tail, you want a little recognition, you know? A bit of praise, or a "Wow!" Is that pathetic of me to think?

/sigh

Ah, well. It was pretty fun all the same.

How to Be a Semi-Successful Raid Leader-The Rambling Version

2010-03-15T21:11:00.000-07:00

I've returned! I know you've mourned my absence.

I don't even want to talk about how the competition went (Clue: BADLY) so, onto WoW related subjects.

I completed my two weeklies this week with Eyowyn and Laia. As usual, Eyowyn's runs are a bit trickier than Laia's; the poor mage can't get a break.

For example, as I was merrily bounding along towards poor Razorscale on my Moonsaber, at peace with the world, some idiot in the raid offered a thousand gold to the RL if he would kick me out.

Goodness. I'm sorry, I tried to give a bit of instruction on Flame Leviathan. I figured; hey, it's a vehicle fight, maybe someone hadn't done it before? Apparently, it's heresy. The raid leader, Elune bless his soul, ignored him and we downed Razorscale with me 2nd in DPS. Wootness.

Being a frost mage is awesome. I laugh at the floor: you may hate me and my kind, cover yourself in poison, fire, frost, void energy, spikes, or erupt and send us hurtling to our doom, but with Blink and Ice Barrier at my disposal your days of terror are over. Really, though, Ice Barrier does wonders for minimizing boss AOE damage. Plus, Bubbles is so heroic. He stood water-torso deep in fire so I didn't have to stop casting.

Aren't yoooou the best elemental in the whole world? I wuve you, Bubbles!

Laia, on the other hand, sat about in Trade channel today, desperately advertising her services as a tank, until a priest threw me a whisper.

Snugglypriest: Hey, how about I join you and we form a raid?
Laia: Sure!

/invite Snugglypriest

Snugglypriest apparently had a lot of friends, since after about ten minutes of me screaming in Dalran we had a full group and were on our way to Ulduar.

Do you know how many whispers you get when asking for DPS in Trade? A freakin' ton, that's how many. And because I am a good and kindly soul, I felt obliged to sift through them all with, "Sorry, we're full."

Flame Leviathan fell within 39 SECONDS, restoring my faith in the fraction of humanity that knows how to use Pyrite, and under my polite instruction we finished off Razorscale. I had a druid volunteer to tank, and thus assumed that he was a cat throwing on the iron hide of a bear for the first time.

Then, I glanced over and saw he had 60k health. My goodness.

So, I threw on cat and he tanked Razor....and I totally forgot about Fuse Armor. So, it was to my shock that I noticed Razor was beating on my purple-furred kitty self.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

I changed form and smashed survival instincts, frenzied regeneration, and barkskin while praying to the Lady RNG for a swift and merciful death. Happily, Razor keeled over before the Lady made up her mind.

So, what was the point of this post?

Um...

People like small words. And simple, to the point instructions. That's all you need to raid lead a PUG.

Good night!

Assume I'm saying this like the current governor of California

2010-03-12T09:32:00.000-08:00

I'll be back!

I'll be heading off to a competition and won't be back til Sunday/Mondayish. Don't have too much fun without me XD

In Which My Ego Introduces itself

2010-03-11T15:33:00.001-08:00

Well, since my disclosure of Ghostcrawler's secrets has gone so over so well, I...I....what is this? What-what is happening? This sudden urge...no...no! It can't be!

Run, run while you still--

Silence, mortal. You are mine now- can you not feel it? Your thoughts turn to your triumphs, you grow eager to share them with the world, to loudly proclaim your superiority over the lesser beings.

An audience?

Hmmph. Greetings, creatures. My name is Hubris, but you may simply call me Ego. I dwell within the dark recesses of every flesh-being in this wretched world. There are some whose minds are closer to me, who are...privileged, in what I grant them. There is no shame, under my control. Humility does not exist. I am the hand behind every Recount-spamming DPSer, every moron that announces his achievements in the Trade Channel, in every being that bellows, "heal ffs lol." And now, even dear, sweet Saffron is mine. Perhaps, only for the moment, but she can not stop me now.

To business: My host's principal achievement main, Eyowyn, had the uncanny fortune to be in a Gundrak PUG. She and her companions (a pathetic bunch, I assure you) fought their way to Slad'ran, the snake lord. And my host managed, in a ragged mix of epics and blues, as a frost mage who had thrown her points wherever they seemed best, to do this:
I am not sure of how legible this picture is, so I will elaborate.

Eyowyn did 6,300 DPS.

LOL EAT THAT NOOBS!

Hahaha...hehe...

Ego, get out!

Fine...I've done what I came here for, anyhow. Farewell, mortals...we shall meet again.

Oh, goodness, I'm sorry. Ego...well, he gets pretty stubborn. But I am pretty proud of what I pulled in that heroic.

/sigh

He's probably going to start gloating.

Cataclysm and the Shiny Things We Get at 85

2010-03-10T13:37:00.000-08:00

In the spirit of having sore feet and an extremely wearying day, I've decided to run through the classes and showcase the new spells they will get at 85. Obviously, Mr. Ghostcrawler himself told me all of this, face to face.

Death Knights: Whispers of the Departed
10 Runic Power
Instant Cast
You fill the minds of your enemies with the endless cries of the damned, reducing their attack power by 1,500 for 30 seconds.

Druids: Nightmare Touch
Usable in All Forms
5% base mana, 20 energy, 15 rage 2 minute cooldown
Instant Cast
The power of the tainted Dream courses through you, inflicting a terrible curse on your enemy. The wild and chaotic nature of the Emerald Nightmare may occasionally pervert the spellcasting
(Curse silences an enemy with a mana for 5 seconds and drains 5,000 mana. Curse decimates an enemy without a mana bar, reducing their damage done by 3% and causing 10,000 damage)

Hunters: Elemental Shot
5% base mana 6 second cooldown
Instant Cast
The hunter channels the power of the Elemental Planes into a shot that inflicts (not unreasonably high number) frostfire damage.

Paladins: Zeal 10 minute cooldown
Instant Cast
Call upon the light to increase the critical hit chance of your party and raid members by 10% for 30 seconds. Causes Unworthy, which prevents recipients of the buff from benefiting from Zeal for 5 minutes.

Priests: Celestial Pillar 2 minute cooldown
2 second cast
Divine power explodes around you, knocking enemies back 20 yards while restoring 5% of your mana and increasing your spellpower by 500 for 10 seconds

Mages: Master of Magic 3 minute cool down
Instant Cast Passive Ability
The mage becomes one with the forces of Arcane, Frost, and Fire, increasing all damage done by 20%. This ability steadily drains mana, the rate increasing over time.

Shaman: Spiritsong 6 second cool down
10% of base mana
Instant Cast
Requires Active Air Totem
Waves of unearthly energy pulsate from the Shaman's air totem, causing 2000 damage per second to enemies within 20 yards for ten seconds.

Warlocks: Archdemon 10 minute cooldown
50% of base mana
Instant Cast
Channels the powers of one of the greatest demons of the Burning Legion into your currently summoned demon, increasing its damage by 500% and attack speed by 300%.

Warrior: Reaper 6 second cooldown
20 rage
Instant Cast
Instantly attack an enemy, doing 80% of your base damage. If the target is affected by Rend, this attack does 200% of base damage. If your target dies from this attack, you gain 5% of your health back.

The Quest for Loremaster and Random Thoughts

2010-03-08T13:38:00.000-08:00

Yup, that's right. Little Eyowyn is on her way to Loremaster, with Northrend done this weekend and Outland on its way. Of course, the old world is going to take the longest to complete, but that's what summer is for.

There are rumors it will go "poof" when Cataclysm comes around...and, as my devotees may know, I am a title fanatic. Plus, I can get Seeker with this too!

With a combination of threats, blackmail, and bribery I've coerced one of my dearest friends into playing again. She has a 60 mage and a DK, and sadly my resto/enchance baby shaman is just a bit too low to play with her. So, time to grind a few levels. My DK is high enough to group with her, but quite frankly, I loathe them. Plus, my shaman does more DPS, and she's 14 levels lower.

I repeat. 14.

-Some time later-

The commander in the Nexus squished me. That's just sad.

I'm soloing all these group quests and feeling awesome because I remember how hard they were at 80. Die, Sons of Gruul!

You know, once I had a goal in mind for this post. It went away. Too bad.

There is no Defense Cap for Real Life

2010-03-05T11:21:00.000-08:00

I don't think I've even launched WoW since I've gotten my Elder title. I'm being pounded into the dust by various things...you know, staying up late, getting up early, and still feeling crushed by the amount of work I have to do. Woot.

I've read all the new Cataclysm information...and, well, mostly I'm just thinking, "Ok. So, some pint-sized gnome is going to have more health than me. Cool."

It's all very confuzzling. And if you dare say that "confuzzling" is not a word, I will beat you over the head with a mace UNTIL YOU DIE.

Ahem. So, gearing will be a lot simpler, awesome, and MP5 dies in a fire. This all sounds good to me. I wonder what they are going to make hunters use instead of mana? Energy, maybe? And what will Aspect of the Viper become?

I personally think hunters should have some form of stealth. Camouflage, the new level 85 hunter ability. It could be like Evasion, too, increasing your chance to dodge by some ridiculous number.

Speaking of which...that gives me an idea....

Anyways! See you eventually, beloved and faithful readers. The 2 of you that exist. Or maybe 3. I'll go with three.

WOOT!

2010-03-01T14:05:00.000-08:00

ELDER IS MIIIIIIINE!

Hilarity in the Random Dungeon Finder

2010-02-26T15:11:00.000-08:00

Story time!

I almost always queue with Pilaser and Tiglath in the dungeon finder, so they can get the benefit of my instant queues and I can be assured of both having a majority of the party and a healer/DPS that knows what they're doing. We find ourselves in Forge of Souls; not bad, trash is pretty light, bosses aren't very hard, and some good epics drop in there that Pilaser could use.

Upon zoning in, we find ourselves with a warrior and a hunter. They're both from different realms, and they both have names that aren't absolutely ridiculous, so I assume that we're going to have a pretty good run.

Everything goes well, up until we reach the room of death. 4 casters, in 4 opposites corners, vs. a bear tank that has no way of silencing=aggro hell. I type into party chat.

"Please only attack my target."

I charge. The hunter immediately opens up on the caster in the opposite corner from where I'm at.

/facepalm

The warrior, Pilaser, and I, proceed to burn down each one while Tiglath frantically works to keep the idiot hunter alive. When the pull is over, I ask:

"Hey, -Idiothunter-, why did you not attack my target?"

-Idiothunter-"If. You. Do. Not. Mark. I. Will. Not."

Ok. I don't know about you, but that pisses me off to even remember it. And apparently my beloved guildies agreed, because we votekicked that ***hole within the next 10 seconds. The warrior, wisely, said nothing.

It amuses me to think that someone refusing the follow the tank's instructions on a pull where aggro is difficult to handle has got the guts to try and call the tank out over not marking. I could have, sure, but I hope that attacking the mob closest to a giant pink bear isn't that strenuous of a task. And it was the FOR DRAMATIC EFFECT I. WILL. USE. PERIODS. AFTER. EVERY. WORD. that really made the red haze descend. I wonder if he didn't notice that three of the party members were from the same realm and guild and thus would OBVIOUSLY support each other.

Seeing "The vote to kick -Idiothunter- has passed." was extremely satisfying, however.

Shatterscale, The Tale of my Blue Protodrake

2010-02-24T19:37:00.000-08:00

Well! This has gone through a lot of revisions, and I'm going to be changing it to first person and scrapping some of the WoW-specific stuff, so I'll be publishing this bit. Those of you that have slain Skadi the Ruthless will be very familiar with parts of this.

Without further ado, I present:

Shatterscale

He did not have a name; his kind did not need them. They distinguished one another by sight and sound and smell, and they did not need to be bound to a single, meaningless word. When he lived in the mountains and hunted the herds of wooly rhino, he liked the freedom of being nameless. The humans that came called him a dragon, but he merely thought of himself as one of the people.

A year before they came, he built his nest on the peaks that ringed the mountains, close to the highlands where his prey roamed and sheltered from blizzards. The flat claws on his feet let him easily hold to the stone, and he used his wings like arms to climb the wind-ravaged spires. He climbed as often as he flew; in the harsh winds it was often easier.

Like the others of his kind, the primal energy of the mountains was contained within him. It was not magic as humans thought of it, an art reserved to men with long grey beards. To his people it was as natural as breathing. The mist that wafted from his maw made the ones that came to the mountains think he was like his cousins in the south, the flame-snorters. His people breathed ice on their prey to freeze their blood and chill their hearts, and the one who became his master knew this.

His master came from the south, from the fjords near the coast. The land there was greener, but the ones that lived there were savage. They are humanoids, similar in form but twice the height of humans, much stronger but not as intelligent. They took the dragon after his first year in his nest. They bound his jaws and wings with ropes that burned and carried him away from his nest. They took his mate, as well, and his eggs, but his kin did not survive the journey back to the fjords. They brought him to what he perceived as their nest, put ropes in his mouth and tied a thing much like a saddle to his back. His master used his axe to show the dragon what he wished; to spit his cold fire down onto the ones that invaded the stone nest and to carry his master in battle. He did not want to do these things, he still grieved for his mate and children, but his master did not understand.
He learned to do what his master required of him in the moment that his master asked it. It was easier than resisting. The ropes in his mouth told him which way his master wanted him to fly. They hurt the tender flesh in his mouth, but he endured. The intruders to the stone nest killed his master’s kin, for they wanted the hard, bright things that his master kept safe. He hoped that the intruders would come deep enough into the stone nest to kill his master and set him free.

There came a time when he heard the sounds of new intruders. His master seemed worried; he paced back and forth down the place he was supposed to guard. It was a long corridor, open to the sky, that the nearest chamber opened into with a small passage, and the ones of his master’s kin here defended the stone nest from those that would fly in to assault it. There was a large platform on the end of the corridor, past a doorway on the left, where the things that the dragon’s captors called spear-launchers were. They were snarling metal creatures that spat at the air, operated by a few of the ones that kept him there. They were at them now, fidgeting as they heard what he heard.

It only took a few minutes for them to reach the adjacent room. He heard a bear’s furious roar as his master’s kin swarmed down on the intruders, then their death-cries. He flexed his wings, and his master climbed quickly to his back as the intruders came fearlessly through the door.

There were three elves, and a short thing with fur on its face. They all stood behind a fourth elf, a violet-haired woman that acted as if she intended to protect her fellows. He laughed at her bravery, and took to the air, rising up over the roofless corridor. He wheeled about and letting out a single growl of surprise as the woman leaped forward and changed into a bear. She charged into the flood of his master’s people that ran down the corridor, snarling with rage and laying all about her with claws that were nearly as impressive as his own. His own attempts to top them were pitiful in comparison as he dived down to breathe a long trail of blood-freezing mist along the corridor’s side. Almost as one, the intruders ran left and avoided it completely, fighting their way up to the spear-launchers, cutting down the guards as they came. The short thing took up the spears that the operators dropped, then stood there, waiting for some signal as his master’s kin came at them in waves.

He felt his master take up the ropes in his mouth, and he flew down to where the spear-launchers were. The short thing saw him coming and bellowed something before shoving one of the spears he had taken into one of the metal creature. There was a roar, and the dragon screeched in outrage. The spear-launcher had bitten his side, and he looked down to see a metal thorn embedded in his flank. He clamped his jaws around it and tore it away, shuddering at the taste of his own blood.

He fought to stay flying as the spear-launcher bit at him again and again. His master screamed and beat at him with an axe, not letting him flee from the short thing. It loaded one more, and this time the spear tore through his wing. He gave up, and his master leapt off his back as the dragon collapsed on the end of the platform, smashing one of the spear launchers under him and forcing the short thing to run for its life. He watched as his master struck at the bear (which turned to face him eagerly) and as his master finally crumpled under the intruders’ blows, his axe broken on the beast’s iron hide. The violet-haired woman reappeared, a savage grin on her heavily-tattooed face. He blinked at her and she seemed shocked, rising to her feet and exclaiming something in a tongue he did not understand before darting to his side.

He shied away from her as she patted his nose, a strange, tingling, itching feeling passing over him as her hands started to glow, the places where the spear-launcher had bitten him suddenly feeling much better. The woman took the ropes out of his mouth and ripped off his saddle. He stared at her as she nimbly vaulted onto his back and murmured in his ear.

“Fly, Shatterscale.” She said, in his own tongue. And so he flew, perhaps not to freedom, but with the strange, savage female that seemed so like his own people.

Shatterscale

2010-02-23T13:47:00.001-08:00

I'm working on a short story for a writing competition, so I decided to use WoW as my inspiration. Specifically, Laia's blue protodrake mount, and Mr. Skadi the ruthless' fight in Utgarde Pinnacle. It was tricky to avoid all the copywrite stuf, but it's done now at the maximum limit for the contest I'm in; 1,200 words. I'll post it here if I can, but I need to check the rules first.

Anyways! I will post something...not...completely meaningless. Eventually.

Pulling Time

2010-02-21T18:08:00.001-08:00

If I get begged enough, I may possibly record myself singing it.

Pulling Time- Pardoy of Lady Gaga's Poker Face

(m-m-m-ma) (4x)

I wanna hold em' like tanks do in icecrown, please
maul em', let em' hit me, taunt 'em, all mobs stay with me (I love it)
hardcore intuition, play the game with noobs to start
and after he's been pulled I'll break the deconstructor's heart

oh o-oh oh oh, o-o-o-o-o-oh
I'll keep aggro, show 'em what I know
oh o-oh oh oh, o-o-o-o-o-oh
I'll keep aggro, show 'em what I know

can't pass my, can't pass my
no, he can't pass my TPS
(he's supposed to kill somebody)
can't pass my, can't pass my
no, he can't pass my TPS
(he's supposed to kill somebody)

p-p-p-pullin' time, p-p-pullin' time
(m-m-m-ma)
p-p-p-pullin' time, p-p-pullin' time
(m-m-m-ma)

I wanna roll with heals, to do mass pulls for speed
a lot of agggroing is fun when you're with me (I love it)
raiding ICC is not the same without a wipe
and baby when it's raids, if it's not hard it isn't fun (fun)

oh o-oh oh oh, o-o-o-o-o-oh
I'll keep aggro, show 'em what I know
oh o-oh oh oh, o-o-o-o-o-oh
I'll keep aggro, show 'em what I know

can't pass my, can't pass my
no, he can't pass my TPS
(he's supposed to kill somebody)
can't pass my, can't pass my
no, he can't pass my TPS
(he's supposed to kill somebody)

p-p-p-pullin' time, p-p-pullin' time
(m-m-m-ma)
p-p-p-pullin' time, p-p-pullin' time
(m-m-m-ma)

(m-m-m-ma)
(m-m-m-ma)

I won't tell you that I rez too, buff or mark you
'cause I'm bluffin' with my gearscore
I'm not lying, I'm just puggin' to get mah two frost emblems (ma)
just like a member of ensidia, you'd better repair 'fore I kill ya
I promise this, promise this
invite this tank 'cause I'm marvelous

can't pass my, can't pass my
no, he can't pass my TPS
(he's supposed to kill somebody)

can't pass my, can't pass my
no, he can't pass my TPS
(he's supposed to kill somebody)

can't pass my, can't pass my
no, he can't pass my TPS
(he's supposed to kill somebody)

can't pass my, can't pass my
no, he can't pass my TPS
(he's supposed to kill somebody)

can't pass my, can't pass my
no, he can't pass my TPS
(he's supposed to kill somebody)

can't pass my, can't pass my
no, he can't pass my TPS
(he's supposed to kill somebody)

p-p-p-pullin' time, p-p-pullin' time
p-p-p-pullin' time, p-p-pullin' time
(I hope you're buffed and ready)
p-p-p-pullin' time, p-p-pullin' time
(m-m-m-ma)
p-p-p-pullin' time, p-p-pullin' time
(m-m-m-ma)
p-p-p-pullin' time, p-p-pullin' time
(m-m-m-ma)
p-p-p-pullin' time, p-p-pullin' time
(m-m-m-ma)

Stormrage, By Richard Knaak

2010-02-20T16:17:00.000-08:00

My faithful semi-existent readers, out of my love for you, today I decided to indulge in a little masochism and read the new book of WoW lore by our favorite author, Mr. Knaak. I prepared for my session with large amounts of chocolate, and settled down.

And oh dear god, the horror. The unimaginable horror.

If you thought some of his other characters were just a bit unreasonable, poor Malfurion blows them all out of the water.

Spoilers! Spoilers!

He just about single-handedly saves the world from the Emerald Nightmare, rescuing Ysera, awakening and purifying the entire world with a rainshower, all after mind-controlling Brox's niece to save him from the Nightmare Lord by cutting down his evil, twisted tree form with Brox's axe...

Are you lost yet? This book is one of the most confusing, bewildering books that I have ever read. Even now I'm not exactly sure of the plot. All I do know is that for the 10,000 years that Malfurion and our favorite moon priestesss were together, they never got married. Talk about living in sin. And of course, at their wedding, the red and green Dragonflights appear to bless them and the World tree.

The revelation that Xavius was the hand behind the Emerald Nightmare was interesting, however, and that the Nightmare was growing within the heart of Teldrassis also made sense. The tone of the night elven starting quests announces that, as well as the strange plant abberations that you'll find around the area. That's not enough, though, it turns out the ruby-eyed satyr has an even greater master, one that hides under the Maelstrom...definately an Old God, then?

However nice these tidbits of lore might be, the writing was....kind of terrible, actually. It was a boring, with a monstrosity of a plot, and a story that in the hands of a competent author might have been interesting.

As it is, it was a waste of 2 hours of my life.

Aspect of the Hare has critted Myheart for 13,450. Myheart dies.

2010-02-19T16:49:00.000-08:00

Way before I started blogging (which includes much of my life XD ) I would read Need More Rage, Aspect of the Hare, Big Red Kitty, and many other blogs faithfully, always much to intimidated by their sheer AWESOMNESS to ever comment. That holy trinity predominated over almost every other blog that I read. I loved them, felt a close kinship with their authors, and went back and read every post. Through their entire archives.

I get bored sometimes!

So it really struck a blow when Big Red Kitty hung up his Bestial Wrath macro and left us. I follow him as Brain Needed Space, of course, but it isn't the same. It's never the same as the old glory of that blog.

When Ratshag, whose glowing character RP I imitate in Adventures of a Casual, left the community as well, it refreshed that old sense of loss. The WoW blogging community had two brilliant members leave us, one for only a time, and one forever.

And now the last member of my Holy Trinty, the eternally lovable Pike of Aspect of the Hare, gave her readers this post.

I miss her already. And it is with all of my heart that I want to tell my fellow bloggers that no mattter what the people Gevlon call M&S dare to say about you, we readers will miss you when you are gone.

Don't worry, though, we will never forget you.

Postcards

2010-02-17T11:10:00.000-08:00

Cryomancer Eyowyn Tidefire

"Greetings from the charming village of Dolanar. Fifteen-something Elders down, fifty to go. It's nasty, humid, and there's no good snow anywhere. I miss Northrend. So does Bubbles."

Liselle the Unbroken

"The Light of the Naaru is faint indeed in these lands. Villagers turned to savage wolfmen, terrible, barbaric acts committed out of desperation in these tangled woods. The Grizzly Hills have the shadow of old tragedy over them, but I will not be stopped. Nagasraka carries me well; her feathers are good camoflage against the snow. Be well, my friends."

Laia (Fang) Starwind

"Hmph. This is not unlike writing with the blood on my claws. Far less fun. Arthas' bouncer tastes funny. Like blueberries."

Talaia Blackpetal

"I rather like this holiday. Everything smells nice, and there's chocolate...oh, how I love chocolate. This dress doesn't show how fat I've been getting, does it? Heehee, if you tell anyone, I will rip out your tongue and feed it to the crows. Toodles!"

Hiemalis

"The healing arts come easier to me now. The path of flame and blood, the screaming bloodlust, it is still an escape from the world. Loosing myself in the rage of the elements distracts me from all that I have lost. Keeping life within others that I love, however, is a duty that I must not forsake. One day, my vengeance for what has happened to the Draenei will come to pass; for now, I immerse myself in the mysteries of what the Krokul have shown us. Bright future and good fortune, my kin."

I've Gone and Killed the Comments

2010-02-14T22:14:00.000-08:00

The title says it all. Somehow I killed the commenting feature and I don't know how to fix it. If anyone could comment on a previous post and help me, that would be lovely.

Edit: Well, I killed the comments on some of the posts. Argh.

Edit 2: Woot, I fixed it!

Welcome back, my non-existent readers!

On the Lunar Festival and Tanking ICC

2010-02-14T14:01:00.000-08:00

Well, Eyowyn is on her next step to her violet proto-drake, but the Elder Festival...it's a life-sucking excuse for a holiday achievement. There are 75 Elders scattered around the entire world that my poor little mage has to go chat up. And without a speck of gold on them, she has to ride her Moonsaber to every freaking corner of Azeroth to get the achievement.

I swear, only envisioning that 310% flying mount keeps me going. And even then, my spirits flaggerd after finding only aobut half of the elders of Northerend.

The part with Omen is cool enough, but Blizzard did a terrible job with the Lunar Festival.

Onto something my non-existent readers might find more interesting, I've tanked ICC a few times on Laia, as I've mentioned. It's fun; Blizzard did do a great job of making it feel like a huge citadel, filled with the shadows of a great man's descent into darkness. I've seen-

SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT!

-the movie that plays after you kill Arthas, and it does touch my heart. I am sure many people disagree, but it was the last, tortured remnant of humanity in the Lich King that spoke his last words, those of a frightened little boy trying to cling to his father. I'm glad Bolvar still had a part to play- he is one of my favorite characters. The question of his intentions as a burned shell of a human is one that only Blizzard can answer, and I'm sure that they are going to drag out the waiting as long as they can.

I haven't ever tanked any other wings but the first, but I am looking forward to it. Laia is just shy of 5.2k gearscore, with 44k health, 30k armor, and about 43% dodge unbuffed, so I think that she'd be able to. I found Deathbringer Saurfang to be my favorite of the four fights in the first wing. The precise tank switching kept me on edge and concentrating intently throughout the whole fight. The ship battle was fun, too, but all I really did was pick up adds, so I didn't get to hop around on jetpacks. However, the idea of two goblin rockets strapped to Laia's furry behind left me giggling in my chair.

Lord Marrowgar gets my vote as the coolest version of Generic Skeletal Creature (TM), with his wheezing "BOOOOOONESTOOOOORM!" and the innuendo-filled achievement attached to him. Which I happen to have. Not a terribly difficult fight, at least to tank, but watching squishes run for cover is very theraputic. Lady Deathwhisper, on the other hand, is cofnusing to me even after putting her down, and I'm glad that the other tank usually instructs me when we get to her.

All in all, I like ICC. I can't wait to get to tank the other wings! And the Lunar Festival sucks.

Love is in the Daillies

2010-02-11T19:11:00.000-08:00

Hi there, non-existent readers. Star Trek Online has seduced me away from WoW for the time (damn those Klingons) but not so much that I could forget my ultimate goal for my achievement main/ titles junkie, Eyowyn.

-Private thoughts last year-

I want the Violet Protodrake. And it WILL BE MINE. I mean, come on, a whole bunch of titles and a 310% mount to mock my guildies with? Excellent! Count me in!

What...almost every holiday is governed by the RNG? I can't get this last item for HOW LONG? THere's no way to get this other than luck?

No. Just no. I do not accept that you are taking my SHINY away from me.

/grumbles

Brew of the Month...meh....Flame Warden....god I don't want to do this!

But somehow I perservered. My awesomeness is probably part of that. Obviously. Ahem. So yes, this year I was determined to get my rime-coated hands on my pretty purple dragon. And the titles just started to roll in.

I went after Brewmaster with a gimlet glint in my eye and smashed through the daillies, forgoing the truly adorable pet so i wouldn't have to do another awful keg run. Hallow's End was far more stressful, but Lady RNG (Blessed be those that walk in her incalculable footsteps!) smiled upon her humble servant, and the Sinister Squashling was mine!

Winter's Veil was a lot easier, so far as I remember, the whims of our Goddess unable to touch me as I ran about making cookies and flattering dwarves that should really be on diets. But alas, fear struck my heart. Even Merrymaker Eyowyn quailed at the thought of Love is in the Air, the most horrifyingly RNG dependent holiday ever spawned.

And then Blizzard smote it with the Nerfhammer, and lo! There was light! Daillies, actually quite hilarious methods of picking up tokens and a mini storyline that I actually found interesting replaced the annual sexual harrassment scheduled for the guards of Azeroth. I finally had a guaranteed way to get all the things I needed for my acheivement.

So I went out and slaughtered bunnies. All's fair in love and...no. I won't say it.

Overall, a good holiday. The hearts constantly popping up got pretty annoying after awhile, though.

See you later, my non-existent readers!

PS: WAR!

How to Train your PUG: Part 3

2010-02-10T14:38:00.000-08:00

How to train your PUG as a: DPS (Disposable and Probably Stupid)

Step 1. Go BEHIND the mob to DPS! This will save you from getting cleaved in the face, and the tank will appreciate it.

Step 2. Do not pull. As a tank, there is nothing that irritates me more than anyone pulling that is not me without explicit instructions. Hang back and let the massive, plate-clad warrior do his thing before throwing balls of fire at the mob's head.

Step 3. Since DPS are generally regarded as Disposable and Probably Stupid, you need to be even more firmly polite than a tank or healer when attempting to instruct your fellows. Not doing anything idiotic (see step 2) increases your chances of the group listening to you. Marginally. Oh, who am I kidding, there's about a 15% chance they are going to follow your instructions, a 5% chance that they will votekick you for speaking, and a 80% chance that they will simply ignore you and carry on. Hope springs eternal, though.

Step 4. Kindly whisper those that do stupid things. No matter how infuriating it is, unless they are another DPS, a private conversation will help keep the group from drama.

Step 5. Ask the tank if they want you to CC. I've been in charge of sheeping the Dark Adepts in the Forge of Souls since I started advertising my services.

Step 6. Be cheerful and mildly funny in party chat, if you can. If the other members feel some sort of bond with you, then the group is more likely to stick together after wipes and even for another instance! Even if you loathe them, try to keep the hate inside.

Step 7. Buff and rebuff. Throw out a fish feast if you have it. This will help the dungeon go by faster by compensating for poor player performance and may encourage other people to do the same.

Step 8. If you want to do an achievement, mention it before pulling the boss.

Step 9. Complimenting your healer is a wonderful thing that keeps your health bar nice and full. See, every healer has a priority list, and you want to be as close to the top as possible. Not dying=faster run=more loot.

Step 10. Ummm...

Anyways! See you tomorrow, and I'm going to talk about Love is in the Air (and the WoW holidays in general).

T-t-t-t-tankin'

2010-02-04T19:01:00.000-08:00

Read this now while listening to Fergalicious. I command you.

How to train your PUG- Part Two

2010-02-03T19:00:00.000-08:00

How to train your PUG as a: Healer

Step 1a. If you are geared and the tank asks about mass-pulling, tell him that you're ok with it as long as he can keep the mobs on him. Tell the DPS that if they pull aggro off the tank then they aren't getting any heals if they do so. However, if its o0bvious that the tank is really, truly terrible, feel free to keep the poor DPS alive.

Step 1b. If you are not "geared" (I consider over 4500 gearscore to be a very well geared healer and an undergeared healer to be around 3000 gearscore) and the tank starts pulling more than you can handle, ask him to slow down and explain that you can't keep him up with the amount of mobs hitting him. If he keeps pulling and he dies, then it is no one's fault but his.

Step 2. Suck up to the tank. Together, you are invincible, and the DPS will bow before you or risk another 20 minute wait.

Step 3. Withholding healing is a powerful tool for getting DPS to do what you tell them. By the 19th time they die a terrible, fiery death, they will learn to obey your commands.

Step 4. Make note of the DPS that protect you. They get extra heals so that they will be encouraged to continue to do so.

Step 5. Read Righteous Orbs. It's on my blog list. Now.*

Step 6. If in a long dungeon that DPS are likely to get lost in while running back, just rez the idiots. It's faster in the long run.

Step 7. ???

Step 8. Emblems and precious minutes of your life probably wasted.

*Not exactly helpful in training your PUG, but he is a great writer.

How to train your PUG- Part One

2010-02-02T13:45:00.000-08:00

It occured to me to make this handy guide to -hopefully- better PUGs. Without further ado, How to train your PUG as a: Tank!

Step one:

From the get go, start sucking up to the healer. Compliment his/her skills, call him by his/her character name, do whatever you have to so that he/she will love you and feel needed. With the healer, you control the party absolutely.

Step two: Ask the healer if they're ok with a speed run, if you're going for that. Start your mass-pulling, if the DPS are idiots or the healer can't keep you up, sloooooow down.

Step three: Be polite, but firm, with the lovely breed of morons in your group.

ex: Forge of Souls, during the pulls with caster spread waaaay apart.

"DPS the skull so that you don't pull aggro off me."

"k"

"You didn't attack my target."

"lol i did"

"Then why did I have to chase after the -insert mob name here-?"

"bc ur a fail tank"

"Ok. Last warning, attack my target or I will let you die."

"lol kk"

Noob ignores instructions, the healer that you've been whispering to doesn't heal him, and he dies.

"WTF man!?!?!?!?!111"

"You didn't attack my target, so you died."

"lol u suck **** u"

Noob has left the party.

And all together, in Party chat!

"Thank god!"

======================================================

And you thought I was gone? Pfffft. Nevah XD

PS: Ratty is back! Go look at Need More Rage now and go through the archives. Ratshag is a genius.

Stuff comes in freakin' waves

2010-01-30T14:55:00.001-08:00

Mneh.

I haven't had the heart to post, really. Life's been kicking me. Repeatedly. But I'll get my act together one day.

I don't know if I'm doing this right, but it's fun!

2010-01-26T17:45:00.000-08:00

I officially have a healer. And I'm loving playing her.

You see, due to assorted RP concerns, T'kela has become a resto shammy. And I'm finding it incredibly fun to try and heal for the first time in my WoW career.

I've put recount up to show overhealing done, and the challenge of mixing lesser and greater healing waves in to minimize wasted healing is a fascinating one. I managed to get only 1, 678 overhealing in an Ulduman PUG, and the only person that died was...me, actually.

I've thrown my talent points in wherever they seem to fit best, and am healing with a mixture of enchancement gear and a few cloth blues. I throw in a combo Riptide+ Nature's Swiftness+ Healing Wave to restore a massive amount of health and stick to lesser healing wave to top the tank off.

It's a lot different than DPSing or tanking, but for the foreseeable future I'm going to be queuing up to heal a lot more often.

T'kela the Stormbringer, Priestess of the Loa and Once-Clanmother of the Stormrocks

2010-01-25T09:23:00.000-08:00

'ey dere, mons? Whatcha be doin' comin' ta see old T'kela?

Some 'a ma old buddehs tell ya 'bout meh? I know more 'bout da Loa dan any otha monessa alive, dis I can promise ya. But you nat be knowin' much 'bout dem, I be tinkin'.

The troll grins at you, the firelight catching the tattoos of flames that circle her wrists.

I know dere names, ja, and dere spheres of influence, da tales and da legends dat go back ta da time o' our great empire! I 'ave seen dem with mah own eyes, seen Samedi, Raven Goddess 'a da Aftahlife, take the dying under her black wings, seen the hoofprints of Lukou, Deer God 'a Life.

Perhaps I teach ya, ja? I tell ya 'bout da Loa?

She laughs.

Nah, ya a big, strong, adventurer type! Yah ain't got time fah a monessa's teachin's. Tell ya what, I'ma just give ya dis...ya wanna know more, yah seek me out. I ain't leavin' dis place aneh time soon.

The troll woman fishes out a crumpled, water-stained scroll and tosses it in your direction.

Spirits be witcha, mon, and Dambala nat touch ya.

Curious, you open the scroll. In bright, bold letters, T'kela's clear hand reads:

THE FELINE LOA

Shirvallah, the Tiger
-Domain/Trait: Ruthlessness
-Symbol: A claw that's dripping blood

Bethekk, the Panther
-Domain/Trait: Stealth
-Symbol: A moon, with some stars inside the crescent

Kimbul, the Lion
-Domain/Trait: The Wild and The Hunt
-Symbol: A pawprint on a leaf

THE ATTRIBUTE LOA

Hir'eek, the Bat
-Domain/Trait: Speed
-Symbol: Three zig-zagging blue lines

Hethiss, the Snake
-Domain/Trait: Agility
-Symbol: A small snake

Shadra, the Spider
-Domain/Trait: Cunning
-Symbol: A spider's web

THE SPIRIT LOA

Lukou, the Deer
-Domain/Trait: Healing and Respite
-Symbol: Sunbeams

Ogoun, the Wolf
-Domain/Trait: War
-Symbol: Two crossed swords

Ezili, the Dove
-Domain/Trait: Love, Beauty, and Dreams
-Symbol: A crescent moon

THE ARCTIC LOA

Har'koa, the Leopard
-Domain/Trait: Motherhood
-Symbol: Spots

Rhunok, the Arctic Bear
-Domain/Trait: Strength
-Symbol: A huge pawprint

Mam'toth, the Mammoth
-Domain/Trait: Endurance and Stamina
-Symbol: A cluster of rocks

Akali, the Rhino
-Domain/Trait: Brute Force
-Symbol: A rhino's horn, curving upwards

THE AQUATIC LOA

Ro'naeja, the Crocolisk
-Domain/Trait: Tenacity
-Symbol: A scale

B'klarna, the Seal
-Domain/Trait: Ice
-Symbol: An icicle

Jhafna, the Crab
-Domain/Trait: Willpower
-Symbol: A crab's claw

Aqi'kan, the Shark
-Domain/Trait: Cruelty
-Symbol: A shark fin in water

T'jenta, the Frog
-Domain/Trait: Mobility
-Symbol: A small tree frog

Hinsa, the Fish
-Domain/Trait: Generosity
-Symbol: Small fish with three bubbles at the mouth

THE RULERS OF THE LOA

Quetz'lun, the Wind serpent
-Domain/Trait: Magic and Vengeance
-Symbol: A glowing rune

Mueh'zala, the Vulture
-Domain/Trait: Death
-Symbol: A skull

Samedi, the Raven
-Domain/Trait: Cemetaries (Peaceful Resting of the Dead)
-Symbol: Three black feathers

Shango, the Eagle
-Domain/Trait: Storms
-Symbol: A lightning bolt

THE ELEMENTAL LOA
Note: These are other names for the Loa held captive in Zul'Aman.

Ata'latki, the Dragonhawk
-Domain/Trait: The Element of Fire
-Symbol: Flames

Ina'aeri, the Eagle
-Domain/Trait: The Element of Air
-Symbol: Lines representing a gust of air

Tedra'no, the Brown Bear
-Domain/Trait: The Element of Earth
-Symbol: A tree

Hy'nakra, the Lynx
-Domain/Trait: The Element of Water
-Symbol: Water

THE ETERNAL LOA

Dambala, the Scorpid
-Domain/Trait: Treachery
-Symbol: A scorpid's stinger

Zanza, the Owl
-Domain/Trait: Wisdom
-Symbol: A scroll

Raen'elda, the Rabbit
-Domain/Trait: Purity
-Symbol: A snow-white flower petal

Baladaezor, the Dragon
-Domain/Trait: Bravery
-Symbol: The head of a dragon, color depends on your particular skills.

Geres'tek, the Tortoise
-Domain/Trait: Time and Aging
-Symbol: An hourglass

At the very bottom of the parchement, there is her swirling signature, and a drawing of a lightning bolt striking a pool of water.

The Titles Grind: Part 1

2010-01-22T17:14:00.000-08:00

Titled Part 1 since I forsee that there will be several more stories of me and my obsession.

As I told you before, I loooove titles. Love them. And after staring at the helpful green bar that tells me that Laia is Revered with the Cenarion Circle, I simply couldn't stand it any longer.

That title had to be mine.

I yelled for a mage in Dalaran, got nothing, and resigned myself to the twenty minute flight from Darnassus to Cenarion Hold.

Tiglath, obligingly, hopped on his baby mage and found me, glaring at the flight master in Ru'theran Village, to offer me a portal at no charge.

Have I mentioned I love my pet pally healer dearly? Then I will now XD

After a short, comfy griffon ride to Sithilus, I settled down in my usual farming spot, just northwest of Cenarion Hold.

And there I stayed for the next 2 hours.

I'm back!

2010-01-22T15:31:00.000-08:00

And waddling like a duck. But I did manage to make my way from the couch upstairs,so here I am! Time to go grab some Frost Emblems and try to remember how to tank, eh?

<3 Missed you, non-existent readers. That could be the pain pills talking, though.

A bit of RL and a smattering of Dragon Age

2010-01-20T15:24:00.001-08:00

My faithful readers (yes, I see you, 1 follower. Be afraid. Very afraid.) I'm afraid that the mocking tones of Shimmer, the casteless dwarf assasin, when she proudly proclaimed "I was half--unconcious and I still beat them! How awesome am I?" (or something along those lines) have seduced me away from WoW for a little.

I beat Dragon Age before as my blood mage, Eyowyn, and plan to make a shapeshifting mage called Laia soon after Shimmer betrays and murders everyone in Fereldon.

You see, playing as an evil seductress who panders to her companions whims to get them to assist her gets old after awhile, since you really can't do anything openly evil. This is where Shimmer comes in, a lovely girl that cuts the throats of wounded soldiers and spits on their corpses.

I'd go on, but quite frankly I'm also a bit sick with nervousness over my surgery tomorrow. I'm getting my Achilles tendons lengthened, you see, and while I know it's a routine operation, etc, etc, I still can't bring myself to look forward to some stranger slicing open my ankles.

Anyways, see you tomorrow! I may be high off drugs, though....the medical kind, since my supplier is unfortunately out of town.

...

Kidding! Kidding! Sheesh.

Achievements that I'd love to get

2010-01-19T14:48:00.000-08:00

As you may have noticed, Laia is my "Smash bosses into bloody pulp!" main and Eyowyn is my "Oooh! A fluffy bunny!" main.

Now, while Laia has her shiny Champion of the Frozen Wastes title and is working on Guardian of Cenarius (since,as I explained before, I ground all the way to exalted with the Cenarion Expediton to get my beloved Earthwarden), Eyowyn is the one with 20plus titles. Ambassador, Crusader, of (insert capital city here), and all but 3 of the holiday ones as well. She has Stinker and could get an Albino Drake if I ever decided to spend that much money on a sort of ugly-looking mount.

You see, I am a title fantatic. I like having titles that really suit my characters.
Champion of the Frozen Wastes is pretty good for Laia, but I'd love Primal Laia or Laia the Primal. Explorer Eyowyn is what I usually go with for her.

But there are more titles that I'd love to have. And, in order from GIMME to YES PLEASE, here they are!

1. Loremaster Eyowyn- Since I am a WoW lore geek...would be perfect
2. Eyowyn the Seeker- About as good as the above
3. Eyowyn the Exalted- 40 exalted reps, thank you Keri :)
4. Eyowyn the Insane- Because it's awesome
5. Astral Walker Eyowyn- Impossible, but sounds cool

And, if I could make some for her...

1. Eyowyn, Daughter of the Violet Citadel
2. Eyowyn, Hand of the North
3. Eyowyn the Obsessed
4. Cryomancer Eyowyn
5. Archmage Eyowyn

Laia would be...

1. Savage Defender Laia
2. Shifter Laia
3. Laia, Champion of the Wilds
4. Fanglady Laia
5. Primal Laia

Dearest non-existent readers, feel free to make up a title or two for yourself. Your title can say a lot about you or your character. Edward the Immortal would be a great example.

See you tomorrow!

I'm not very interesting this weekend.

2010-01-18T20:16:00.000-08:00

There's lots of things to account for this. For one thing, I've got a U.S History and Math test on wednesday that I've been studying frantically for. For another, I'm having surgery in a couple of days.

But really, I think that my creativity tends to run out when I'm not pressed for time. So perhaps one day I will gush over...hmm...idk, my adventures, eh? For now, good night!

Forgive me

2010-01-17T22:53:00.000-08:00

But I'm so very tired today. I'll post tomorrow, I promise.

WHY?! WHY?!

2010-01-16T20:01:00.000-08:00

I just had to say it, didn't I? I practically asked for a fail PUG, and boy did I get one.

The scene was Utgarde Keep. The time, about 6pm. The character, Eyowyn, searching for a last few emblems to afford some epic pants.

Now, before I go on, let me just say that both of the other DPS and the healer were perfectly lovely, sensible folk.

But the tank, oh the tank...

You see, when the five of us first joined our tank immediately left. And, I mean, WTF? It's Utgarde Keep, for crying out loud! Easy! Effortless! Come on!

So we wait another freaking fifteen minutes for another tank, and when a shiny, 5300 gearscore prot pally arrives, I have no idea of the horror that awaits.

How this absolute IDIOT got any gear whatsoever is a mystery to me. Aggro was a foreign concept to her. I found myself alternating between using my wand and desperately burning down the 2-3 mobs that would peel off onto the poor healer.

Maybe there was some rational explanation for how much she (or probably he) sucked. Maybe they were trying to bring about world peace and doing calculus with their toes while they were tanking.

But I really doubt it, since after a glorious wipe to the four mobs in front of the Prince, this idiot told me that she was drinking coffee when I plaintively wailed, "You have 5300 gearscore! How can you not keep aggro off of the healer?!"

Coffee? HOW THE HELL IS THAT AN EXCUSE?

Ugh. I need Aspirin.

Would you like that frostbolt with a side of Deep Freeze?

2010-01-15T13:41:00.000-08:00

Deep Freeze. The most wonderfully useless ability (in PVE, at least) ever conceived by Blizzard.

Other than Sentry Totem, of course. I'd hate to take that honor away from it.

But now...now Deep Freeze crits regularly for 20,000 damage even when cast by my terrily undergeared mage. And let me tell you, there's nothing more fun then seeing Fingers of Frost proc, then throwing off two frostbolts and whacking your Deep Freeze hotkey.

"IMMUNE!" screams the text floating merrily above a mobs head, shortly followed by a crazy amount of damage. It's a lovely thing to watch.

You see, the fun thing about Frost, to me at least, is all the cool, shiny procs we get. Fingers of Frost and Brain Freeze procs always make my DPS meters do a little dance of purest joy. It's cool to weave in a fireball, ice lance, or deep freeze with your never-ending stream of frostbolts.

Don't take my word as gospel, though, dear non-existent readers. I'm probably doing something terribly wrong. Go poke Euripedes at Critical QQ and I'm sure he will be far more helpful than I.

Good night! I'm going to try and run a bunch of heroics tonight, so I may have my first fail PUG story to share with you!

I don't miss the "Good Old Days"

2010-01-13T16:32:00.000-08:00

Taking a break here from "I iz feral, hear me rawr", I've been reading a few blog posts about those "Good Old Days" of TBC.

You know what? I disagree. Those weren't "Good Old Days", they were "Miserable, Boring, Stressful Gear Grinds and Nightmarishly Hard Instances Days".

Let me explain. In these "Good Old Days", even an instance on normal could make your party grind to a halt in a horrible 3-hour wipefest. Instances on heroic were nigh-impossible for me and my team of three intrepid guildies. The Swift Flight form quest chain was the hardest thing I've ever done.

You see, the Stars of Azeroth only had 4 accounts with 80s. There was me, the bear tank, Gryff the druid healer, Whisder the boomkin, and Idoneus the hunter of pure amazingness. We clawed our way towards Heroic Sethekk Halls over about 5 months.

5 months to get me the gear to survive the pounding I would take. 5 months where Idoneus and I would 2-man the Lieutenant in CoT: Durnholme Keep until he gave up 2 Iron Bands of the Unbreakable for me. 5 months of 0 -10 arena scores every week, to try to get the PVP epics that I needed. 5 months of even more BG grinding for every precious piece, 5 months grinding to exalted with the Cenarion Expedition for Earthwarden, 5 months of scraping copper coins together to afford the best enchants and gems.

It was brutally hard work, boring work. Not fun, not anything even CLOSE to fun. It was work. And in World of Warcraft, a MMORPG labled as a game, I don't think that we should have to work for 5 months to get our epic flight forms.

It almost made me cry when they made it trainable. Cry, I tell you.

Not that there wasn't a few fun bits, like winning our first arena match, or the time that little Eyowyn took on a rogue and a warrior by herself and lived to see the sunset. But they were flecks of gold in a whole mountain range of granite.

I don't miss the "Good Old Days" where tanks would go squish! when you threw a paperclip at them. I never even got to finish a heroic. Ever. We only even made it to Anzu in Sethekk Halls. Raids were laughably out of my reach.

I like being able to take on 12 mobs at a time and come out at full health. I like seeing Icecrown Citadel, being able to actually participate in the whole game.

I once had a PUG raid where when we killed Lord Marrowgar, the other tank had been dead for the last 20%, everyone but 3 DPS and I had bit the dust, and a priest in Spirit of Redemption form keeping me alive. That was fun.

And you know what? I still can only barely field a heroic with the level 80 accounts in my guild.

Thank you WotLK, for making World of Warcraft fun to a casual like me.

I iz feral, hear me rawr (Part 2)

2010-01-12T18:05:00.000-08:00

( 3 more days till the weekend! And I'm giving up and making this into a total RP post)

Laia Starwind's occasional companion, the cryomancer Eyowyn Tidefire, gathered the few people she had met over her travels into a guild called the Stars of Azeroth. This was a small organization, not built to facillate delving into the deepest, darkest caverns in the land, but to bring real friends together.

The druidess was the first to arrive in the mage's humble home, a fat, two-story building on the outskirts of Dalaran City (then under its protective dome). She made her way past floating looms and cloth that burned as the grinning human wove it, and settled down to watch the door.

Next to come was the night elven hunter, Idoneus Swiftarrow, and the grey wolf Shiloh that followed at his heels, grown larger and more savage than others of his kind by, as peasants would whisper, licking up the drops that fell from his master's alchemical experiments. He greeted her with a gruff nod and stood by the door as if uneasy to be inside for long.

Pilaser Stonebeard and Tiglath Lightbearer came in together, swaying slightly. Laia smirked at the pot-bellied dwarf until she noticed his outline flicker in the sunlight.

Eyowyn greeted the three of them with open arms, not even noticing the treant that craned its head in through the doorway and dropped Laia a wink with a wooden eyelid, or the blue-feathered mookin that ran in, tripped over the mage's cooking pot and erupted into a mass of flames. Laia laughed, and lazily closed her eyes.

It was safe here. She could rest.

But not for long. The next day, Eyowyn shooed the three druids outside with howled instructions to find her old friend a mace called the Earthwarden. It was an old weapon, she said, made by Neltharion long before her mother's-mother had been born, imbued with the breath of Ysera and Alexstraza before the metal cooled. It would keep the "tank", Laia, from falling under enemy blows when the druids sought Anzu, the Raven God, on their quest to learn the shape of an impowered storm crow.

Idoneus dodged the irate cryomancer and joined them, and together they walked through the mage's portal to Dalaran.

(4 manning swift flight form quests for the win! This all happened back in the good old BC days, when the four of us ground Steamvaults until it begged for mercy and the Cenarion Expedition gave me my shiny mace.

Ah, those were the good old days. Not really, though, I love being able to set foot in a dungeon without 4 months of careful preparation.)

I iz feral, hear me rawr. (Part 1)

2010-01-11T16:41:00.000-08:00

((I can not stand boomkins. I am sure that you are all lovely people in real life, but that stupid-looking chicken-bear-moon-thing grates on my nerves like they were soft cheese.

Shush. That metaphor totally made sense.))

Laia has always been a feral druid. From the very first moment that she started bouncing on my screen, I knew that a path of finger-twirling was not for me. I wanted Laia to be a savage huntress of the wild, with muscles like steel springs under thick violet fur. I wanted her to be the eyes in the darkness, beauty and ferocity combined, not some silly antlered owl-creature.

I thwacked things on the head with my staff for ten levels, eagerly awaiting my first form. The second I finished the questline, I smashed that icon with all the strength in my hand.

There was a poof of lavender smoke, and then a massive, hulking beast, covered in tattoos and wielding claws like scythes, sat scratching itself on my monitor. I nearly succumbed to helpless weeping on the spot.

Laia was strong now, her iron hide blunting the blows of her foes, the keen nose of the bear warning her of any that would dare to stalk her down. Her weak, mortal shell was no longer neccessary, the strength of the ancient forest spirit compensating for any elven weakness. She was unstoppable.

I have never stopped loving the sheer, raw power of a druid's bear form. Even today, I feel like Laia simply tolerates the trapping of civilization around her, that she could stalk off into the woods and return, unscathed, in a few years.

Ten more levels passed, and the shape of a panther was hers. This shape she (and I) liked even more. We were swift death in the shadows, mist in the hands of our enemies, the whisper of a growl on the wind.

We never gained another form after that, aside from the skin of a cheetah, and the soft hide of a sea lion, but those do not truly count because they are not specialized for combat. The silent hunting of prey through the wilds, the pounce and the feel of their throat between your jaws, the sweet blood that splatters on your whiskers as your fangs slice through their flesh and end their life, the meat of the kill, rightfully earned by skill and wisdom, these are the things that are the triumph of the huntress. These things made us grow stronger in the way of the predator, that endless cycle of life and death that is failure to the dead and victory to the living. We embraced it, gloried in it, chose moss-strewn hollows for soft beds and lapping water from forest pools for a mug of ale at a tavern.

We were wild, free, and unstoppable, with not a care in the world or an obligation to anyone. Until, that is, we found our family.

((This post sort of turned itself into a RPed one as I wrote it. It's rather nice, actually, I hope you don't mind, my non-existent readers. ))

Hi there.

2010-01-10T09:55:00.001-08:00

Welcome to Adventures of a Casual. Grab some conjured Mana Pies, take a seat, and enjoy the show.

This blog is about my adventures in the sprawling World of Warcraft, primarily with my two mains, Eyowyn and Laia. No comments about their spec and gear, please, especially with poor Eyowyn, who I'm still trying to gear. If you want to be helpful, sure, but if you want to be an asshole, I will take offense.

If you came here expecting a long dissertation on casual...sex, maybe, then you're going to be dissapointed. I'm not very sorry for you, after all, you're not the person I particularly want to read my writing.

Anyways, I am a very causal player in a guild made up of only 5 accounts with 80s, a guild that is composed only of my RL friends and family. I'm the leader, obviously, Star General Eyowyn.

We have arena teams called the Two Stars of Azeroth, 3 Stars of Azeroth, and so on. We suck.

My mage is my achievements and rare mounts main, currently chasing after a Violet Proto-drake on the wings of her nether drake, who I call Veranaku, or Lavender if I'm feeling sleepy and/or high off chocolate.

She piddles about, doing the odd heroic or two with her water elemental, Bubbles, while Laia goes and conquerors raids. I've clawed up the Deconstructor in Ulduar, put Anub'arak down AGAIN in the raid version of the Trial of the Champion, and shed bitter bear tears after Deathbringer Saurfang went down. Obviously, I have no real raid experience whatsoever so take any further opinions on them with a large grain of salt.

Since this is my blog (or at least, that's what blogspot tells me) I will probably include my alts at some point, too.

Need any more Mana Pies at this point? Eyowyn's specced Conjuring.

For information about me, I love all sorts of computer games, just beat Dragon Age with a mage called (guess what?) Eyowyn, write frequently and read even more often than that.

I read many, many WoW blogs, which I will happily link in some form whenever I figure out how to.

Now, a question for you, non-existent readers, is there any way I can promote this shoddy piece of the Internet? Any way to alert the esteemed Big Bear Butt Blogger that I exist?

No? Oh well, see you tomorrow.