I had a lot of time to play WoW yesterday, which was good, because there was a lot I needed to do. Mostly they involved Shattered Sun dailies, which I've been fairly religious in doing. I'm hoping to be Exalted before Phase 4 arrives so that I can have the Shattered Sun title.
At 2 pm Anyssa asked me to run Heroic Shattered Halls as a tank. I happily obliged, and spent most of the rest of the afternoon and evening in instances. Here's the breakdown:
1. Avierra (protection specced) - Heroic Shattered Halls with ASTIG (Supsop, Anyssa, Xahmyob (mage), Sagrado (shadow priest)). Downed 4 bosses, looted 4 Badges of Justice. Completed Trials of the Naaru: Mercy.
2. Avierra (protection specced) - Heroic Shadow Labyrinth with ASTIG (Kalabog, Anyssa, Blinquemasta (warlock), Xahmyob). Downed 4 bosses, looted 4 Badges of Justice and Shockwave Truncheon. Completed Trials of the Naaru: Strength.
3. Avierra (holy specced) - Karazhan with ASTIG. Downed 5 bosses, looted 9 Badges of Justice and Vambraces of Courage. This was my first run as RL... it felt so strange.
As interested as I am in other epic gear, I kind of like the Shockwave Truncheon. I think I'll hang on to it even after I've upgraded past it.
Avierra now has 132 Badges.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Sunday, March 30, 2008
WoW Update - 30 Mar 2008
Today was a good day for WoW. I logged in at around 9 am to start my dailies. And there were so many of them! Bleeding Hollow is midway through Phase 2 of the Shattered Sun Offensive and naturally there were a lot of quests to do.
It took me three hours to finish fifteen daily quests. Fifteen! I walked away around 200g richer; unfortunately, by the end of the day, it was all gone.
Just after lunch, I ran Heroic Mech again with Anyssa, Kalabog, Herri and Larrygibb. This time, I ran it as tank - my first instance as a protection paladin. I hit Exalted with the Sha'tar right after Mechano-lord Capacitus. Once we got back to Shattrath I picked up my Crest of the Sha'tar and Gavel of Pure Light.
Around an hour later, I joined Supsop, Anyssa, Payat (rogue) and Herri for Heroic Shattered Halls. We almost completed it in time, but unfortunately Anyssa's Internet connection was acting up. She disconnected twice during consecutive Bladefist attempts; during the third attempt, we wiped when Bladefist charged and whirlwinded her.
I was dragged in for a Magtheridon's Lair attempt at around 10 pm, but I left after the first attempt as my wife wanted us to spend some time together. It also means that right now, Avierra is Holy; I'll be doing dailies later as a Holy pally. And I need to farm; right now I have just 27 gold on Avierra.
At the moment she's also got 112 Badges of Justice (I spent 15 on a Libram of Repentance). I was considering saving up for a Gavel of Naaru Blessings (150 badges) but instead I think I'll just spend badges on a Ecclesiastical Cuirass (100 badges) - the upgrade is greater, plus I have an epic weapon now anyway.
It took me three hours to finish fifteen daily quests. Fifteen! I walked away around 200g richer; unfortunately, by the end of the day, it was all gone.
Just after lunch, I ran Heroic Mech again with Anyssa, Kalabog, Herri and Larrygibb. This time, I ran it as tank - my first instance as a protection paladin. I hit Exalted with the Sha'tar right after Mechano-lord Capacitus. Once we got back to Shattrath I picked up my Crest of the Sha'tar and Gavel of Pure Light.
Around an hour later, I joined Supsop, Anyssa, Payat (rogue) and Herri for Heroic Shattered Halls. We almost completed it in time, but unfortunately Anyssa's Internet connection was acting up. She disconnected twice during consecutive Bladefist attempts; during the third attempt, we wiped when Bladefist charged and whirlwinded her.
I was dragged in for a Magtheridon's Lair attempt at around 10 pm, but I left after the first attempt as my wife wanted us to spend some time together. It also means that right now, Avierra is Holy; I'll be doing dailies later as a Holy pally. And I need to farm; right now I have just 27 gold on Avierra.
At the moment she's also got 112 Badges of Justice (I spent 15 on a Libram of Repentance). I was considering saving up for a Gavel of Naaru Blessings (150 badges) but instead I think I'll just spend badges on a Ecclesiastical Cuirass (100 badges) - the upgrade is greater, plus I have an epic weapon now anyway.
Friday, March 28, 2008
WoW Update - 28 Mar 2008
Last night was a pretty good night for Avierra. I logged in at around 9 pm and did a couple of Shattered Sun dailies. I cleaned out the auction house and my bank alts putting together the mats in the shopping list I published yesterday (since removed from this blog due to bad formatting). Then Anyssa sent me an invite for Magtheridon's Lair.
By 10 pm, most of the raid had materialized, and I figured that this would be a good run. We had nine healers, but that was ok. Everyone brought flasks and consumables. We headed to the instance and waited.
And waited and waited and waited. People were going afk on bio breaks and generally needed to be taught the instance. It was so frustrating. By the time we were ready to start, I had only ten minutes left on my Brilliant Mana Oil.
Eight wipes later the frustration reached boiling point. It wasn't that the instance was hard. As a matter of fact, it had been nerfed in the 2.4 patch. It was that people were making mistakes. The healers (myself included) messed up one attempt by failing to keep the main tank up after the first blast wave.
And the DPS... oh my God, the DPS. At least four wipes came from one of the DPS failing to click on their cube at the proper time.
We called it quits at close to 1 am. I was sleepy but determined: I would exalt with the Sha'tar that night. I sent a tell to Isorla, who was on an alt, and we put together a Heroic Mech group. Along with us for the ride were Larrygibb (a warlock), Kalabog (also a warlock) and Anyssa. Yeah, we had 2 healers and 2 warlocks. But it was Heroic Mech, so we figured it would be an easy, short run.
It was easy - so easy that we basically just laughed our way through the instance. We needed to de-stress after the pathetic Mag run we'd just botched. We wiped once when we overpulled, but otherwise we breezed through the instance pretty quickly.
So Avierra came out one Large Prismatic Shard, one Primal Nether, and four Badges of Justice richer. But not, sadly, exalted: she's just over 1k rep shy of Sha'tari exaltation.
But one Primal Nether! That means Tankatronic Goggles, which is known far and wide for its sheer tankadin goodness.
Isorla helped me out by enchanting my chestpiece after that. I guess I'm farming engineering mats later today; at least, that's what I'd like to do. That's if I'm not out getting a beer to celebrate.
It's been a long, rough week, after all. Azeroth can wait.
By 10 pm, most of the raid had materialized, and I figured that this would be a good run. We had nine healers, but that was ok. Everyone brought flasks and consumables. We headed to the instance and waited.
And waited and waited and waited. People were going afk on bio breaks and generally needed to be taught the instance. It was so frustrating. By the time we were ready to start, I had only ten minutes left on my Brilliant Mana Oil.
Eight wipes later the frustration reached boiling point. It wasn't that the instance was hard. As a matter of fact, it had been nerfed in the 2.4 patch. It was that people were making mistakes. The healers (myself included) messed up one attempt by failing to keep the main tank up after the first blast wave.
And the DPS... oh my God, the DPS. At least four wipes came from one of the DPS failing to click on their cube at the proper time.
We called it quits at close to 1 am. I was sleepy but determined: I would exalt with the Sha'tar that night. I sent a tell to Isorla, who was on an alt, and we put together a Heroic Mech group. Along with us for the ride were Larrygibb (a warlock), Kalabog (also a warlock) and Anyssa. Yeah, we had 2 healers and 2 warlocks. But it was Heroic Mech, so we figured it would be an easy, short run.
It was easy - so easy that we basically just laughed our way through the instance. We needed to de-stress after the pathetic Mag run we'd just botched. We wiped once when we overpulled, but otherwise we breezed through the instance pretty quickly.
So Avierra came out one Large Prismatic Shard, one Primal Nether, and four Badges of Justice richer. But not, sadly, exalted: she's just over 1k rep shy of Sha'tari exaltation.
But one Primal Nether! That means Tankatronic Goggles, which is known far and wide for its sheer tankadin goodness.
Isorla helped me out by enchanting my chestpiece after that. I guess I'm farming engineering mats later today; at least, that's what I'd like to do. That's if I'm not out getting a beer to celebrate.
It's been a long, rough week, after all. Azeroth can wait.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
WoW Update - 27 Mar 2008
I logged in last night expecting either a Magtheridon's Lair run or a lot of Magister's Terrace spamming. In the end it was the latter - Supsop cancelled the planned run because of instance lag. So Isorla, Biancandrea (Doc's Retri pally), Herri, Yz and I grouped up to run Magister's Terrace.
For those of you unfortunate enough not to have run this yet, well, it's a hard instance. It's as much a pain in the ass as Shadow Labyrinth was when the expansion first hit the scene. There are trash pulls of four to six mobs; if your group can get past those, then there are boss fights that are harder than they originally seemed.
Or maybe I've just gotten spoiled with ASTIG instance runs and the presence of well-geared raiders. Biancandrea, while mostly epicced out with S1 gear, was still sporting greens. Yz, who had barely instanced since hitting 70, was still in mostly below-level blues and some greens.
The first boss took a while to kill. The second boss wiped us twice before we figured out a strategy to kill it - namely, having Yz put Dampen Magic on all of us except the tank so we'd take less damage from the Pure Magic mobs he summoned. The third boss we one-shotted, although we didn't kill her cleanly, Yz having died early in the boss fight.
Kael'thas was ridiculously hard. We wiped around a dozen times. We left the instance to repair and then came back to wipe again.
There were a lot of things working against us - bad class composition (three pallies), undergeared players (Yz, Bianca, even myself), and a boss fight that makes a pally healer weep in frustration. I just couldn't throw out heals fast enough in phase 2 of the Kael'thas fight. Often Yz would die early in the second phase, as he just didn't have enough HP.
We called it a night at 1:30 in the morning. I didn't get to do any dailies - Bleeding Hollow's 44% into Phase 1 so far - and I didn't get to kill Kael'thas.
After a lot of discussion with Isorla and Anyssa, I'll be respeccing this weekend to protection just to have a shot at finishing Magister's Terrace. There's no way I can heal through that instance alone, even with the gear I've currently got.
To help me prepare for a respec, I've gotten Herri and Isorla to agree to a Heroic Mech run tonight. I'm one Heroic Mech run away from exalting with the Sha'tar, which will in turn give me the Crest of the Sha'tar. I'll stick my gearing thoughts in another post so that I can refer to it at leisure; in the meantime I just want to crawl under my desk and fall asleep.
Sigh. Progression hurts.
For those of you unfortunate enough not to have run this yet, well, it's a hard instance. It's as much a pain in the ass as Shadow Labyrinth was when the expansion first hit the scene. There are trash pulls of four to six mobs; if your group can get past those, then there are boss fights that are harder than they originally seemed.
Or maybe I've just gotten spoiled with ASTIG instance runs and the presence of well-geared raiders. Biancandrea, while mostly epicced out with S1 gear, was still sporting greens. Yz, who had barely instanced since hitting 70, was still in mostly below-level blues and some greens.
The first boss took a while to kill. The second boss wiped us twice before we figured out a strategy to kill it - namely, having Yz put Dampen Magic on all of us except the tank so we'd take less damage from the Pure Magic mobs he summoned. The third boss we one-shotted, although we didn't kill her cleanly, Yz having died early in the boss fight.
Kael'thas was ridiculously hard. We wiped around a dozen times. We left the instance to repair and then came back to wipe again.
There were a lot of things working against us - bad class composition (three pallies), undergeared players (Yz, Bianca, even myself), and a boss fight that makes a pally healer weep in frustration. I just couldn't throw out heals fast enough in phase 2 of the Kael'thas fight. Often Yz would die early in the second phase, as he just didn't have enough HP.
We called it a night at 1:30 in the morning. I didn't get to do any dailies - Bleeding Hollow's 44% into Phase 1 so far - and I didn't get to kill Kael'thas.
After a lot of discussion with Isorla and Anyssa, I'll be respeccing this weekend to protection just to have a shot at finishing Magister's Terrace. There's no way I can heal through that instance alone, even with the gear I've currently got.
To help me prepare for a respec, I've gotten Herri and Isorla to agree to a Heroic Mech run tonight. I'm one Heroic Mech run away from exalting with the Sha'tar, which will in turn give me the Crest of the Sha'tar. I'll stick my gearing thoughts in another post so that I can refer to it at leisure; in the meantime I just want to crawl under my desk and fall asleep.
Sigh. Progression hurts.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
WoW Update - 25 Mar 2008, New Patch Goodness
Avierra didn't do much on the 24th. Just had a really bad Botanica run, bringing her up to around 17500/21000 Revered with the Sha'tar. More on that in another post, but the real meat of this post should be the 2.4 patch.
As the patch maintenance ended at around 3 am today, I wasn't expecting to get to play WoW till this evening. But at around 5 am, our dogs woke me up by barking loudly and scrambling at the door to get out. I groggily headed downstairs to the PC to start my add-on downloads, fully expecting to get back to bed in a few minutes' time.
On impulse, I started up WoW -- and the rest, as they say, is history.
I brought Avierra and Froufrou up to the new island as soon as I could to start with the dailies. There were so many people there, an echo of expansion day. Avierra was ganked just once by a pair of enterprising rogues, but she took one of them down (surprising me with a Honor Kill: Warlord notice) with Retribution Aura and Consecrate.
The new island is a real pain in the ass for a paladin. The constant mana burn and pressure to keep moving, lest one get ganked, means that Avi was not once at full mana while she was farming. I had a couple of invites to run Magister's Terrace, but I declined them, as I still intended to sleep after doing the dailies.
Froufrou, on the other hand, had a ball. No one tried to gank her. Froufrou finished the dailies in half the time Avierra took. I parked both toons and logged out. When I get home this evening I will do the dailies again.
There were a couple of idiots in general who kept asking where the new badge vendor was - clearly, not everyone who plays WoW enjoys checking out WoW Insider and WoWWiki. And the roving gank squads were very annoying. Other than that, things seemed to be moving on at a good pace. When I logged in at 5 am, the server progression to unlock the second stage was already at 6%. When I logged out at close to 6 am, the server was at 9%. By the time I log in this afternoon I won't be surprised to find us at second or even third stage.
Since Isorla's PC is down, I might respec this weekend to prot to spam Magister's Terrace for reputation. I will see about dragging Anyssa in to heal for me; I'm sure DPS won't be that much of an issue. I'll also bring Froufrou in for some instance runs; I want the title for her at least ("Froufrou of the Shattered Sun", how nice). Avierra already has the Master Sergeant title, after all, and is quite likely to get the Champion of the Naaru title soon.
As the patch maintenance ended at around 3 am today, I wasn't expecting to get to play WoW till this evening. But at around 5 am, our dogs woke me up by barking loudly and scrambling at the door to get out. I groggily headed downstairs to the PC to start my add-on downloads, fully expecting to get back to bed in a few minutes' time.
On impulse, I started up WoW -- and the rest, as they say, is history.
I brought Avierra and Froufrou up to the new island as soon as I could to start with the dailies. There were so many people there, an echo of expansion day. Avierra was ganked just once by a pair of enterprising rogues, but she took one of them down (surprising me with a Honor Kill: Warlord notice) with Retribution Aura and Consecrate.
The new island is a real pain in the ass for a paladin. The constant mana burn and pressure to keep moving, lest one get ganked, means that Avi was not once at full mana while she was farming. I had a couple of invites to run Magister's Terrace, but I declined them, as I still intended to sleep after doing the dailies.
Froufrou, on the other hand, had a ball. No one tried to gank her. Froufrou finished the dailies in half the time Avierra took. I parked both toons and logged out. When I get home this evening I will do the dailies again.
There were a couple of idiots in general who kept asking where the new badge vendor was - clearly, not everyone who plays WoW enjoys checking out WoW Insider and WoWWiki. And the roving gank squads were very annoying. Other than that, things seemed to be moving on at a good pace. When I logged in at 5 am, the server progression to unlock the second stage was already at 6%. When I logged out at close to 6 am, the server was at 9%. By the time I log in this afternoon I won't be surprised to find us at second or even third stage.
Since Isorla's PC is down, I might respec this weekend to prot to spam Magister's Terrace for reputation. I will see about dragging Anyssa in to heal for me; I'm sure DPS won't be that much of an issue. I'll also bring Froufrou in for some instance runs; I want the title for her at least ("Froufrou of the Shattered Sun", how nice). Avierra already has the Master Sergeant title, after all, and is quite likely to get the Champion of the Naaru title soon.
Monday, March 24, 2008
WoW Update - 24 Mar 2008
In an effort to keep domestic peace, I didn't play much WoW today, forgoing even my dailies. I turned down two instance run invites to finish off some quests and to craft a Goblin Rocket Launcher - an utterly necessary trinket for my (still-pending) respec to Protection.
Nothing much more to report beyond that I finally got my Overlord's Helmet of Second Sight, replacing my last green in my "farming" gear. Good-bye, Ash-Covered Helm. I won't miss you too badly.
Nothing much more to report beyond that I finally got my Overlord's Helmet of Second Sight, replacing my last green in my "farming" gear. Good-bye, Ash-Covered Helm. I won't miss you too badly.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
WoW Update - 22 Mar 2008
More farming today, with two very drawn-out and ultimately aborted runs.
1. Avierra - Heroic Botanica (pugged). Downed 2 bosses, looted 2 Badges of Justice. Avierra's badges at 115. Left group 2 hours into the instance, I'll write about that later.
2. Avierra - Heroic Shadow Labyrinth (with ASTIG). Downed 1 boss, looted 1 Badge of Justice. Left group after 2 hours due to prior commitments.
There's more to tell but that deserves its own post. Avierra has 116 Badges now. 84 to go and I'll have a second badge epic.
1. Avierra - Heroic Botanica (pugged). Downed 2 bosses, looted 2 Badges of Justice. Avierra's badges at 115. Left group 2 hours into the instance, I'll write about that later.
2. Avierra - Heroic Shadow Labyrinth (with ASTIG). Downed 1 boss, looted 1 Badge of Justice. Left group after 2 hours due to prior commitments.
There's more to tell but that deserves its own post. Avierra has 116 Badges now. 84 to go and I'll have a second badge epic.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
WoW Update - 21 Mar 2008
We're on Easter Break (called Holy Week here in the Philippines) so I have a lot of free time to play WoW.
I got into a Heroic Slave Pens PUG pretty early in the day.
Avierra - Heroic Slave Pens (pugged). 3 bosses downed, 3 Badges of Justice looted. Also picked up the SSC attunement quest.
I spent the rest of the day farming primals and gold. Thanks to Waven, Yz, Doc and Herri, Avierra is now Ogri'la enabled, which means a little extra gold on days that I can afford to spend time farming. From under 100 gold Avi is now up to 350+.
We ran Zul'Aman last night as well and downed the bear boss. We didn't have the right group (undergeared characters, etc.) to down a second so we called it quits at midnight.
As of last count, Avierra is now at 113 Badges of Justice.
I got into a Heroic Slave Pens PUG pretty early in the day.
Avierra - Heroic Slave Pens (pugged). 3 bosses downed, 3 Badges of Justice looted. Also picked up the SSC attunement quest.
I spent the rest of the day farming primals and gold. Thanks to Waven, Yz, Doc and Herri, Avierra is now Ogri'la enabled, which means a little extra gold on days that I can afford to spend time farming. From under 100 gold Avi is now up to 350+.
We ran Zul'Aman last night as well and downed the bear boss. We didn't have the right group (undergeared characters, etc.) to down a second so we called it quits at midnight.
As of last count, Avierra is now at 113 Badges of Justice.
Friday, March 21, 2008
WoW Update - 20 Mar 2008
Quick Kara run last night to finish off the last few bosses. We got them all.
Avierra - Karazhan (Supsop's group). Downed Curator, Illhoof, Aran, Netherspite, Chess and Prince. Looted 13 Badges and Gilded Thorium Cloak.
That puts Avi up to 109 Badges, enough for Ecclesiastical Cuirass. Time to work on badges for Greaves of Pacification.
Avierra - Karazhan (Supsop's group). Downed Curator, Illhoof, Aran, Netherspite, Chess and Prince. Looted 13 Badges and Gilded Thorium Cloak.
That puts Avi up to 109 Badges, enough for Ecclesiastical Cuirass. Time to work on badges for Greaves of Pacification.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
WoW Update - 19 Mar 2008
After a brief hiatus, I'm back. We ran Karazhan last night to farm badges; once more I wound up looting lots of gear.
Avierra - Karazhan (Supsop's group) - Attumen, Moroes, Maiden, BBW, and Nightbane. Looted Eternium Greathelm, Red Riding Hood's Cloak, and Barbed Choker of Discipline. Also looted 9 badges - Avierra's now at 96.
4 to go till Ecclesiastical Cuirass. Woot!
Avierra - Karazhan (Supsop's group) - Attumen, Moroes, Maiden, BBW, and Nightbane. Looted Eternium Greathelm, Red Riding Hood's Cloak, and Barbed Choker of Discipline. Also looted 9 badges - Avierra's now at 96.
4 to go till Ecclesiastical Cuirass. Woot!
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Whoops, No WoW After All
At 7 am I received a text message informing me that my grandmother had passed away. I'll probably be at the wake in my free hours until the funeral (Wednesday morning), so it's highly unlikely that I'll be able to play WoW this weekend.
WoW Update - 15 Mar 2008
No Mag run tonight; Supsop announced it as a "free night", which of course meant Karazhan. Two Kara groups formed tonight. Unfortunately, I wasn't in either of them.
With Isorla back in action, the plan was to run heroic Shattered Halls to complete Trials of the Naaru: Mercy. Anyssa gracefully stepped aside to allow me to run it with Isorla, as she was busy helping Supsop get his video card problems under control. Thanks to an ASTIG warlock, Magenta, we were able to put together a group: Isorla as tank, me as healer, and Magenta, Silencioso (rogue), and Jopaxz (hunter) as DPS.
We wiped a little too often to make the timer, but by the end of the run we were quite satisfied with the results. We'd gotten the timing of the gauntlet down pat. We didn't get to finish heroic Shattered Halls, but we would have an easier time of it next run.
Two bosses down for Avierra, giving her 87 badges. I'll probably run Kara this weekend to farm more.
With Isorla back in action, the plan was to run heroic Shattered Halls to complete Trials of the Naaru: Mercy. Anyssa gracefully stepped aside to allow me to run it with Isorla, as she was busy helping Supsop get his video card problems under control. Thanks to an ASTIG warlock, Magenta, we were able to put together a group: Isorla as tank, me as healer, and Magenta, Silencioso (rogue), and Jopaxz (hunter) as DPS.
We wiped a little too often to make the timer, but by the end of the run we were quite satisfied with the results. We'd gotten the timing of the gauntlet down pat. We didn't get to finish heroic Shattered Halls, but we would have an easier time of it next run.
Two bosses down for Avierra, giving her 87 badges. I'll probably run Kara this weekend to farm more.
Friday, March 14, 2008
WoW Update - 14 Mar 2008
This update comes kind of late, I know. Bear with me; I've been busy with non-WoW things.
The raid formed by 9:30; a little late, but still reasonable. We started clearing trash by close to 10 pm.
The objective was simple: get to Phase 2 and kill all five channelers. We didn't expect to down Magtheridon on the first night. We just needed the experience.
So in we went, and by the tenth attempt we'd gotten it. All five channelers down. Of course, by then, close to a fifth of the raid was dead.
The next run is on Saturday night. We'll see if we can down all five without losing anyone. I think the next milestone after that is to get Mag down to 32% without anyone dying.
Total repair bill was around 35 gold, but it was definitely worth it.
The raid formed by 9:30; a little late, but still reasonable. We started clearing trash by close to 10 pm.
The objective was simple: get to Phase 2 and kill all five channelers. We didn't expect to down Magtheridon on the first night. We just needed the experience.
So in we went, and by the tenth attempt we'd gotten it. All five channelers down. Of course, by then, close to a fifth of the raid was dead.
The next run is on Saturday night. We'll see if we can down all five without losing anyone. I think the next milestone after that is to get Mag down to 32% without anyone dying.
Total repair bill was around 35 gold, but it was definitely worth it.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
WoW Update - 13 March 2008
I regret to report that I've been playing WoW for the past couple of days with a dearth of results to show for it. Avierra has just five Fel Armaments; Froufrou has just a little more gold. This is the part of life on WoW that I hate - the constant farming for gold and materials to get a better enchant or to replenish gold used up in repairs or consumables.
One of the principles they drilled into me in management training is that you must focus on the best and highest use of your limited resources; that is, you must make use of your time in the way that best helps you achieve your goals. That said, my time has most definitely not been spent in the best and highest way. I've been struggling to farm Stratholme without dying; so far, for about an hour's work I've generated 2 gold in profit. Not the best at all.
Last night was another disappointment. ASTIG moved into Magtherridon's Lair. To be fair to our raiders, most of them were ready for the raid. The few who weren't, though, really disappointed me. Add to that the crippling lag that most of our raiders experienced last night, which forced us to abort the raid after clearing the trash leading up to Mag himself.
We're set to run again tonight. Hopefully Blizzard has fixed whatever's wrong with the server and we can finally get some attempts in. I've no illusions that we can down Magtherridon on our first try, but I'm hopeful that we'll be able to down him in the next week or so.
One of the principles they drilled into me in management training is that you must focus on the best and highest use of your limited resources; that is, you must make use of your time in the way that best helps you achieve your goals. That said, my time has most definitely not been spent in the best and highest way. I've been struggling to farm Stratholme without dying; so far, for about an hour's work I've generated 2 gold in profit. Not the best at all.
Last night was another disappointment. ASTIG moved into Magtherridon's Lair. To be fair to our raiders, most of them were ready for the raid. The few who weren't, though, really disappointed me. Add to that the crippling lag that most of our raiders experienced last night, which forced us to abort the raid after clearing the trash leading up to Mag himself.
We're set to run again tonight. Hopefully Blizzard has fixed whatever's wrong with the server and we can finally get some attempts in. I've no illusions that we can down Magtherridon on our first try, but I'm hopeful that we'll be able to down him in the next week or so.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
WoW Update - 11 Mar 2008
Well, today was neither here nor there. I was expecting to log in to WoW and run Heroic Shattered Halls with Isorla, but he didn't answer my text messages today. This isn't new - he's as moody as I am, and vanishes oftener than a rogue with unlimited flash powder.
It also meant that I wouldn't be running Heroic SH. Anyssa and Supsop put a group together to run it in preparation for Mag on Wednesday night. (They didn't make it, sadly, as someone disconnected with 30 minutes left on the timer.)
Here's the thing: of the Trials of the Naaru quests, I have to run Heroic SH and Heroic SL to be ready for Mag.
I am just not willing to run them without a paladin tank. Preferably Isorla.
There's a good bit of arrogance behind that. I'm a pretty damn good healer. In half purples and blues I can outheal epicced-out priests. I expect my tanks to be great; it's why I am careful about which PUGs I join.
Isorla, besides being my buddy, is a great paladin tank. And great paladin tanks make heroic instances easy to run.
So I filled up my evening with other things: I farmed gold in Strat (hard!), farmed another Fel Armament with Froufrou, and played in a few arena matches (all but one lost). Then I started to reconsider respeccing.
If Isorla is taking an extended leave of absence from the game, I might be better off respeccing to protection to run heroic Shadow Labyrinth and heroic Shattered Halls. At least I know I'll be able to get a good healer (Anyssa) for my runs.
To do that, I'll have to do the following:
1) Exalt with the Sha'tar for the Crest of the Sha'tar. I'd better pick up a couple of Solid Stars of Elune for it, too. And an Enchant Shield - Major Stamina.
2) Craft a Goblin Rocket Launcher to fill up my second trinket slot.
3) Farm mats for an Enchant Chest - Exceptional Health, Enchant Bracer - Fortitude, Enchant Boots - Fortitude, among others.
4) Purchase at least four Enduring Talasites to fix my gems.
5) Purchase a Libram of Repentance. (boo!)
If I can get these done, I'll have 491 Defense, with 57.91% avoidance (almost 88% with HS up), and around 12k HP. That should be more than enough for heroics.
It also meant that I wouldn't be running Heroic SH. Anyssa and Supsop put a group together to run it in preparation for Mag on Wednesday night. (They didn't make it, sadly, as someone disconnected with 30 minutes left on the timer.)
Here's the thing: of the Trials of the Naaru quests, I have to run Heroic SH and Heroic SL to be ready for Mag.
I am just not willing to run them without a paladin tank. Preferably Isorla.
There's a good bit of arrogance behind that. I'm a pretty damn good healer. In half purples and blues I can outheal epicced-out priests. I expect my tanks to be great; it's why I am careful about which PUGs I join.
Isorla, besides being my buddy, is a great paladin tank. And great paladin tanks make heroic instances easy to run.
So I filled up my evening with other things: I farmed gold in Strat (hard!), farmed another Fel Armament with Froufrou, and played in a few arena matches (all but one lost). Then I started to reconsider respeccing.
If Isorla is taking an extended leave of absence from the game, I might be better off respeccing to protection to run heroic Shadow Labyrinth and heroic Shattered Halls. At least I know I'll be able to get a good healer (Anyssa) for my runs.
To do that, I'll have to do the following:
1) Exalt with the Sha'tar for the Crest of the Sha'tar. I'd better pick up a couple of Solid Stars of Elune for it, too. And an Enchant Shield - Major Stamina.
2) Craft a Goblin Rocket Launcher to fill up my second trinket slot.
3) Farm mats for an Enchant Chest - Exceptional Health, Enchant Bracer - Fortitude, Enchant Boots - Fortitude, among others.
4) Purchase at least four Enduring Talasites to fix my gems.
5) Purchase a Libram of Repentance. (boo!)
If I can get these done, I'll have 491 Defense, with 57.91% avoidance (almost 88% with HS up), and around 12k HP. That should be more than enough for heroics.
The People In My Neighborhood
It goes without saying that I don't play WoW alone.
I thought I'd write a little bit about the people I spend online time with. It's no surprise to me that they're also people I enjoy spending offline time with (even though it's been perhaps two months since we've hung out together.) Without them, Azeroth/Outland would be far less interesting.
I know I've mentioned Anyssa previously. She came into the game relatively late into classic WoW and immediately rolled a dwarf priest. She's famous for not having any other alts (not really true, but it's mostly true). She's never specced shadow, either. We used to joke that she turned SM into her favorite department store, she was in there so much.
She's living proof that all it takes is a girl's voice on Vent to make most World of Warcraft players go nuts. I've seen guys hit on her on /1 and /2 while killing time in Shattrath. I've seen Horde hit on her - and we're on a PVP server!
She's also one of our best healers. We constantly chide her for being partly afk during raids - she's usually got the TV on or something like that - but more often than not, she's at the top of the healing meters. Tanks beware, though... she's been known to healbomb tanks she feuds with, just to make them wake up and pay attention.
Isorla is perhaps the friend I'm closest to who plays WoW on a regular basis. Actually, he's got five toons at level 70 - the product of an extended vacation in front of his computer. Of his toons, I'm the most attached to Isorla. He was once a Holy Paladin, but lately he's shifted focus to being a Protection Paladin. He claims that he did this on the strength of Anyssa's and my recommendations, but we know better. After all, he's spent months acquiring every tank drop from Karazhan in addition to his healing gear.
We kind of leveled up together when the expansion came out. Anyssa, Isorla (on his hunter, Rothgarth) and I would run instances together... up until we hit level 68. At that point we knew we were doomed to split up, as our DPS guys just weren't geared enough to allow two healers to be in one group. Thanks to some pretty bad scheduling, we weren't able to run Karazhan together until fairly recently. Now that we're all together again, though, we're looking at powering our way to Serpentshrine Cavern and beyond.
Up until Isorla respecced into protection, we were a pretty solid healing clique in ASTIG. Offline, we talk about healing strategies and raid composition. Online, we talk about loot. We're funny like that.
Supsop is the only one of our buddies who we didn't know offline before WoW. He's currently Guild leader of ASTIG, one of the Guild's Raid Leaders and a main tank, to boot; how he handles the stress is beyond me. He and Anyssa usually team up to run dailies and instances. It's a perfect symbiosis: as a tank, he needs a healer, while naturally a healer works best with a tank. I don't get to run instances with him very often anymore, as he partners with Anyssa most often. Every once in a while, though, I'll get on Froufrou so we can all be together in one party.
Every so often Supsop comes back to Manila from Singapore, where he's based. When he comes into town we set aside WoW for a little while to share a beer and look at pretty girls.
My RL buddy Yz doesn't get a lot of mentions on this blog; that's because his game time has, in recent years, been curtailed by a pretty hectic work schedule. When he's online, though, things pick up; he's a funny, funny guy and he makes our private chat come alive. His gnome mage Yz hasn't even set foot in Karazhan, despite having been attuned for months. We're just waiting for the day he's free enough to run instances with us again.
Herri is another buddy I haven't brought up enough. He ranks pretty high on our server's list of hunters for sheer attack power. We PVP together (I'm in a 5-man team with him) and occasionally run Kara together. The biggest obstacle to us getting more playtime together is his work shift; he's perennially got the night shift and it means he can't play WoW easily.
There is no truth to the rumor that he opened a hole in his company's firewall so he could play WoW from the office. None whatsoever.
Last but not least is "Doc". That isn't his toon's name; it's what we call him since he's really a doctor. We've been friends since our college days, but we drifted a bit since he went into medical school after graduation. WoW reconnected us.
Since he games from home and clinic (while waiting for patients) he's managed to level up four toons. He alternates between his shaman and his mage for raiding, although his warrior is always available to tank. Lately he's taken to PVP with a retri pally.
I know I've left out perhaps ten to twelve other people who I consider friends but don't blog about much. They've made WoW a really great experience for me, and they were the real turning point in my decision to stay on Bleeding Hollow.
I thought I'd write a little bit about the people I spend online time with. It's no surprise to me that they're also people I enjoy spending offline time with (even though it's been perhaps two months since we've hung out together.) Without them, Azeroth/Outland would be far less interesting.
I know I've mentioned Anyssa previously. She came into the game relatively late into classic WoW and immediately rolled a dwarf priest. She's famous for not having any other alts (not really true, but it's mostly true). She's never specced shadow, either. We used to joke that she turned SM into her favorite department store, she was in there so much.
She's living proof that all it takes is a girl's voice on Vent to make most World of Warcraft players go nuts. I've seen guys hit on her on /1 and /2 while killing time in Shattrath. I've seen Horde hit on her - and we're on a PVP server!
She's also one of our best healers. We constantly chide her for being partly afk during raids - she's usually got the TV on or something like that - but more often than not, she's at the top of the healing meters. Tanks beware, though... she's been known to healbomb tanks she feuds with, just to make them wake up and pay attention.
Isorla is perhaps the friend I'm closest to who plays WoW on a regular basis. Actually, he's got five toons at level 70 - the product of an extended vacation in front of his computer. Of his toons, I'm the most attached to Isorla. He was once a Holy Paladin, but lately he's shifted focus to being a Protection Paladin. He claims that he did this on the strength of Anyssa's and my recommendations, but we know better. After all, he's spent months acquiring every tank drop from Karazhan in addition to his healing gear.
We kind of leveled up together when the expansion came out. Anyssa, Isorla (on his hunter, Rothgarth) and I would run instances together... up until we hit level 68. At that point we knew we were doomed to split up, as our DPS guys just weren't geared enough to allow two healers to be in one group. Thanks to some pretty bad scheduling, we weren't able to run Karazhan together until fairly recently. Now that we're all together again, though, we're looking at powering our way to Serpentshrine Cavern and beyond.
Up until Isorla respecced into protection, we were a pretty solid healing clique in ASTIG. Offline, we talk about healing strategies and raid composition. Online, we talk about loot. We're funny like that.
Supsop is the only one of our buddies who we didn't know offline before WoW. He's currently Guild leader of ASTIG, one of the Guild's Raid Leaders and a main tank, to boot; how he handles the stress is beyond me. He and Anyssa usually team up to run dailies and instances. It's a perfect symbiosis: as a tank, he needs a healer, while naturally a healer works best with a tank. I don't get to run instances with him very often anymore, as he partners with Anyssa most often. Every once in a while, though, I'll get on Froufrou so we can all be together in one party.
Every so often Supsop comes back to Manila from Singapore, where he's based. When he comes into town we set aside WoW for a little while to share a beer and look at pretty girls.
My RL buddy Yz doesn't get a lot of mentions on this blog; that's because his game time has, in recent years, been curtailed by a pretty hectic work schedule. When he's online, though, things pick up; he's a funny, funny guy and he makes our private chat come alive. His gnome mage Yz hasn't even set foot in Karazhan, despite having been attuned for months. We're just waiting for the day he's free enough to run instances with us again.
Herri is another buddy I haven't brought up enough. He ranks pretty high on our server's list of hunters for sheer attack power. We PVP together (I'm in a 5-man team with him) and occasionally run Kara together. The biggest obstacle to us getting more playtime together is his work shift; he's perennially got the night shift and it means he can't play WoW easily.
There is no truth to the rumor that he opened a hole in his company's firewall so he could play WoW from the office. None whatsoever.
Last but not least is "Doc". That isn't his toon's name; it's what we call him since he's really a doctor. We've been friends since our college days, but we drifted a bit since he went into medical school after graduation. WoW reconnected us.
Since he games from home and clinic (while waiting for patients) he's managed to level up four toons. He alternates between his shaman and his mage for raiding, although his warrior is always available to tank. Lately he's taken to PVP with a retri pally.
I know I've left out perhaps ten to twelve other people who I consider friends but don't blog about much. They've made WoW a really great experience for me, and they were the real turning point in my decision to stay on Bleeding Hollow.
Monday, March 10, 2008
WoW Update - 9 Mar 2008
Farmed 2 more Fel Armaments with Froufrou again, bringing Avi's total up to 4 - halfway there! Then, after doing Skettis dailies, I logged out Frou to bring on Avi.
Which led to a nice, quick run of Heroic Steamvaults.
1. Avierra - Heroic Steamvaults (Waven (Prot Warrior), Mitayka (Fire Mage), Daynah (Mage), and Bakekang (Warlock). 3 bosses downed, 3 badges looted (total: 85). Also looted Breastplate of the Righteous, and of course Kalithresh's Trident.
Signed up for Mag's Lair right after that. That happens Wednesday night.
Which led to a nice, quick run of Heroic Steamvaults.
1. Avierra - Heroic Steamvaults (Waven (Prot Warrior), Mitayka (Fire Mage), Daynah (Mage), and Bakekang (Warlock). 3 bosses downed, 3 badges looted (total: 85). Also looted Breastplate of the Righteous, and of course Kalithresh's Trident.
Signed up for Mag's Lair right after that. That happens Wednesday night.
Saturday, March 8, 2008
WoW Update - 7 Mar 2008
Nothing much to report; I just logged in with Froufrou to farm gold. The wife wanted some downtime together so I knew I wouldn't have a lot of time for any WoW. I walked away with around 30 gold and a Fel Armament.
No WoW this weekend, as I'll be in Baguio getting away from the world.
No WoW this weekend, as I'll be in Baguio getting away from the world.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
WoW Update - 5 March 2008
I was determined to log in early last night so I could do a little farming before any instance runs. I was online and farming gold by 8 pm, which was good - I figured that I'd have an hour before we put together a 5-man group. The heroic daily was Heroic Arcatraz, which boded well - it was an instance we knew how to run effectively.
What I hadn't counted on was that (a) Supsop/Kala was on night shift and thus unable to join us, and (b) Isorla was studying for a certification exam, which meant we would not have a tank. Anyssa found out that Lylanna, a Feral Druid and one of two Druid tanks in the Guild, would be online by 10 pm, so we put together a group and waited.
10 pm arrived and Lylanna logged in. We started our run by 10:30 thanks to a bit of running around; someone needed to kill an elite, then it turns out it wasn't necessary after all. Then bad things started to happen: it turns out Lyl hadn't run Arc in a while and didn't remember the pulls or the strats, and our warlock hadn't run Arc at all! Our mage and warlock kept pulling aggro off the tank, and lots of little things kept the run from proceeding smoothly.
By 11 pm we hadn't even taken down the first boss. We had wiped perhaps three times so far. There wasn't a whole lot of time left, as we had an hour before heroic reset.
So we skipped the first boss and proceeded to the next two. We killed them both with twenty minutes to spare. Then we went back and killed the first boss.
Avierra looted Rubium War-girdle and three badges, bringing her to 82 - but how unsatisfying!
What I hadn't counted on was that (a) Supsop/Kala was on night shift and thus unable to join us, and (b) Isorla was studying for a certification exam, which meant we would not have a tank. Anyssa found out that Lylanna, a Feral Druid and one of two Druid tanks in the Guild, would be online by 10 pm, so we put together a group and waited.
10 pm arrived and Lylanna logged in. We started our run by 10:30 thanks to a bit of running around; someone needed to kill an elite, then it turns out it wasn't necessary after all. Then bad things started to happen: it turns out Lyl hadn't run Arc in a while and didn't remember the pulls or the strats, and our warlock hadn't run Arc at all! Our mage and warlock kept pulling aggro off the tank, and lots of little things kept the run from proceeding smoothly.
By 11 pm we hadn't even taken down the first boss. We had wiped perhaps three times so far. There wasn't a whole lot of time left, as we had an hour before heroic reset.
So we skipped the first boss and proceeded to the next two. We killed them both with twenty minutes to spare. Then we went back and killed the first boss.
Avierra looted Rubium War-girdle and three badges, bringing her to 82 - but how unsatisfying!
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
WoW Update - 3 March 2008
No instance runs last night, as I got home at past 11 pm.
Instead I ran into Karazhan with Avierra to set up for the next step in the Medivh's Journal questline and to turn in the Demonic Presence quest. Normally I wouldn't rush to turn in quests, but I'm running low on funds, with less than 1k gold between two level 70 characters. Sooner rather than later I will need to set aside time to farm gold; it's a setback, I know, but it can't be helped. Raiding means consumables, and progression raiding especially needs gold.
I was able to run only one of the Skettis dailies since I was on such a tight schedule, but I hit 350 Engineering. And once I hit 350, it was time to craft Justicebringer 2000 Specs.
Fortunately, Isorla logged in right at around the time I crafted the helm, so I was able to bug him for a Royal Nightseye and an Enchant Shield: Intellect for my new Triptych Shield of the Ancients to boost my unbuffed mana pool above 10k again. Along with a Bracing Earthstorm Diamond (also courtesy of Isorla) and a Glyph of Renewal from Honor Hold, my new headgear really boosts my healing. I'm now at 1204 healing (from 1141) and I crit at 24.50% (from 23.96%). My mana regen is not as high as I'd like, but I prefer to regen mana on crits anyway.
I logged out at past 1 am (again!) happy but tired. It was time for bed.
Instead I ran into Karazhan with Avierra to set up for the next step in the Medivh's Journal questline and to turn in the Demonic Presence quest. Normally I wouldn't rush to turn in quests, but I'm running low on funds, with less than 1k gold between two level 70 characters. Sooner rather than later I will need to set aside time to farm gold; it's a setback, I know, but it can't be helped. Raiding means consumables, and progression raiding especially needs gold.
I was able to run only one of the Skettis dailies since I was on such a tight schedule, but I hit 350 Engineering. And once I hit 350, it was time to craft Justicebringer 2000 Specs.
Fortunately, Isorla logged in right at around the time I crafted the helm, so I was able to bug him for a Royal Nightseye and an Enchant Shield: Intellect for my new Triptych Shield of the Ancients to boost my unbuffed mana pool above 10k again. Along with a Bracing Earthstorm Diamond (also courtesy of Isorla) and a Glyph of Renewal from Honor Hold, my new headgear really boosts my healing. I'm now at 1204 healing (from 1141) and I crit at 24.50% (from 23.96%). My mana regen is not as high as I'd like, but I prefer to regen mana on crits anyway.
I logged out at past 1 am (again!) happy but tired. It was time for bed.
Monday, March 3, 2008
Five Things I Have Learned While Raiding
1. Always have a goal.
It must be something that motivates you. Right now our goal (mine and some of my raiding buddies) is the Champion of the Naaru title. Loot is a good motivation, but be aware that it's pretty easy to get disillusioned if said loot does not drop.
2. Come prepared.
Always have all your proper reagents for raiding. On Avierra I carry:
- Between 180-200 Symbols of Kings
- 3 Symbols of Divinity
- 15-20 Super Mana Potions
- 5-10 Super Healing Potions (you never know)
- 15-20 Adept's Elixirs
- 15-20 Elixirs of Draenic Wisdom
- Superior Mana Oil (I'm considering upping this to 2)
- 1 stack of Heavy Netherweave Bandages
At raid onset I make sure to get all relevant healthstones and at least 60 Conjured Manna Biscuits. And I don't come to raids unrepaired, either.
Yes, this is a major use of bag space. It is also somewhat expensive. But raiding is, in effect, you asking 9/19/24/39 other people to make an investment of time and effort in your character. Be big enough to start with making an investment in yourself.
The other aspect of coming prepared is simply reading up on boss fights and watching videos. "Learn the fight and be precise" is how my friend Kelvs puts it. If you need hand-holding during the raid, you are a liability to the rest of the raid and will be treated as such.
3. Be sociable.
Raids are social events. Don't be the asshat telling everyone else off about equipment or play skills - that's the Raid Leader's and/or Class Leader's job. If you really need to speak up, /w the assistant Raid Leader (if there isn't one, then you bug the Raid Leader).
This is especially important when you raid as part of an alliance; you want to put your best foot forward. Letting your allies know that you've got prima donnas in your Guild is the best way to spread the word that your Guild isn't worth the time and effort.
4. Spec properly.
This comes out wrong, I'm sure. I love tankadins, shadow priests, and all the other classes that are "off-spec", or at least were off-spec for classic WoW. But don't take a healer's slot if you are a retribution paladin; it's an insult to you and your spec. If your Guild won't let you raid without respeccing, consider whether or not you are in the right Guild.
5. THOU SHALT NOT BE A LOOTWHORE. THOU SHALT NOT NINJA PHAT LEWTS. THOU SHALT ACCEPT /ROLLS GRACIOUSLY.
The vast majority of arguments in raids are about loot, which is why most raid rules are about looting. If you haven't learned the triad of commandments detailed above, stop raiding. You're only digging your own grave.
It's difficult in a small casual Guild to deal with lootwhores, and this in my experience has been the demise of many a "family" Guild. If you're friends offline, you can afford to talk to each other offline about it. If you're not, you'll have to be more creative about dealing with the problem.
More next time... I'm off to watch a movie.
It must be something that motivates you. Right now our goal (mine and some of my raiding buddies) is the Champion of the Naaru title. Loot is a good motivation, but be aware that it's pretty easy to get disillusioned if said loot does not drop.
2. Come prepared.
Always have all your proper reagents for raiding. On Avierra I carry:
- Between 180-200 Symbols of Kings
- 3 Symbols of Divinity
- 15-20 Super Mana Potions
- 5-10 Super Healing Potions (you never know)
- 15-20 Adept's Elixirs
- 15-20 Elixirs of Draenic Wisdom
- Superior Mana Oil (I'm considering upping this to 2)
- 1 stack of Heavy Netherweave Bandages
At raid onset I make sure to get all relevant healthstones and at least 60 Conjured Manna Biscuits. And I don't come to raids unrepaired, either.
Yes, this is a major use of bag space. It is also somewhat expensive. But raiding is, in effect, you asking 9/19/24/39 other people to make an investment of time and effort in your character. Be big enough to start with making an investment in yourself.
The other aspect of coming prepared is simply reading up on boss fights and watching videos. "Learn the fight and be precise" is how my friend Kelvs puts it. If you need hand-holding during the raid, you are a liability to the rest of the raid and will be treated as such.
3. Be sociable.
Raids are social events. Don't be the asshat telling everyone else off about equipment or play skills - that's the Raid Leader's and/or Class Leader's job. If you really need to speak up, /w the assistant Raid Leader (if there isn't one, then you bug the Raid Leader).
This is especially important when you raid as part of an alliance; you want to put your best foot forward. Letting your allies know that you've got prima donnas in your Guild is the best way to spread the word that your Guild isn't worth the time and effort.
4. Spec properly.
This comes out wrong, I'm sure. I love tankadins, shadow priests, and all the other classes that are "off-spec", or at least were off-spec for classic WoW. But don't take a healer's slot if you are a retribution paladin; it's an insult to you and your spec. If your Guild won't let you raid without respeccing, consider whether or not you are in the right Guild.
5. THOU SHALT NOT BE A LOOTWHORE. THOU SHALT NOT NINJA PHAT LEWTS. THOU SHALT ACCEPT /ROLLS GRACIOUSLY.
The vast majority of arguments in raids are about loot, which is why most raid rules are about looting. If you haven't learned the triad of commandments detailed above, stop raiding. You're only digging your own grave.
It's difficult in a small casual Guild to deal with lootwhores, and this in my experience has been the demise of many a "family" Guild. If you're friends offline, you can afford to talk to each other offline about it. If you're not, you'll have to be more creative about dealing with the problem.
More next time... I'm off to watch a movie.
WoW Update - 2 Mar 2008
Wow, where do I start? Sunday was a big WoW day.
Logged in at around 10 am and began farming gold through daily quests. I was leery of heading to LFG as I wasn't feeling up to joining a PUG. At around 11 am, I got a tell from an Aquos, an ASTIG mage, asking if I'd be interested in running Heroic UB. I agreed and we proceeded into the instance.
That was my first run of the day.
1. Avierra - Heroic Underbog (pugged). 4 bosses downed, 4 Badges of Justice looted.
Dabs showed up at around 1 pm, but we weren't done with the run yet. We agreed to meet at 4 pm for Heroic Arcatraz, which we did.
2. Avierra - Heroic Arcatraz (Isorla (Prot Pally), Anyssa (Holy Priest), Kalabog (Warlock), Mitayka (Mage)). 4 bosses downed, 4 Badges of Justice looted. 4 quests completed, including the daily instance quest, daily heroic instance quest, Arcatraz completion quest, and Trials of the Naaru: Tenacity. 2 additional Badges of Justice acquired as quest completion of daily heroic instance.
We disbanded and met up online at 9 pm to complete Karazhan.
3. Avierra - Karazhan (with Supsop's ASTIG group). Illhoof to Prince, all downed. Looted Mender's Heart-Ring, Triptych Shield of the Ancients, Girdle of Truth, and the T4 head token, which I turned in for Justicar Diadem. I normally don't lootwhore this much, but recent events have led me to reconsider my gearing. 9 Badges of Justice looted.
All together, that's a whopping 19 Badges of Justice for one day's work, plus four epics that are upgrades to my existing equipment!
Logged in at around 10 am and began farming gold through daily quests. I was leery of heading to LFG as I wasn't feeling up to joining a PUG. At around 11 am, I got a tell from an Aquos, an ASTIG mage, asking if I'd be interested in running Heroic UB. I agreed and we proceeded into the instance.
That was my first run of the day.
1. Avierra - Heroic Underbog (pugged). 4 bosses downed, 4 Badges of Justice looted.
Dabs showed up at around 1 pm, but we weren't done with the run yet. We agreed to meet at 4 pm for Heroic Arcatraz, which we did.
2. Avierra - Heroic Arcatraz (Isorla (Prot Pally), Anyssa (Holy Priest), Kalabog (Warlock), Mitayka (Mage)). 4 bosses downed, 4 Badges of Justice looted. 4 quests completed, including the daily instance quest, daily heroic instance quest, Arcatraz completion quest, and Trials of the Naaru: Tenacity. 2 additional Badges of Justice acquired as quest completion of daily heroic instance.
We disbanded and met up online at 9 pm to complete Karazhan.
3. Avierra - Karazhan (with Supsop's ASTIG group). Illhoof to Prince, all downed. Looted Mender's Heart-Ring, Triptych Shield of the Ancients, Girdle of Truth, and the T4 head token, which I turned in for Justicar Diadem. I normally don't lootwhore this much, but recent events have led me to reconsider my gearing. 9 Badges of Justice looted.
All together, that's a whopping 19 Badges of Justice for one day's work, plus four epics that are upgrades to my existing equipment!
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Saturday Night
While out bar-crawling with my wife and her friends, I wound up text-messaging Isorla and Anyssa about plans for the next day. I expressed some unhappiness about running with Supsop/Anyssa's group in Kara due to the relatively long lockout (the raid save expires on Tuesday) and low badge count. One of the measures Supsop and Anyssa have taken to keep raiders happy is to use Karazhan as a filler raid - after downing two bosses in Zul'Aman, for example, they go back to Kara to take down two more bosses rather than dishearten raiders by pushing for aggressive but expensive raid progression.
This meant, though, that they'd gone back to Kara at least twice since I had not been available for follow-up raids. I had since received three invites to PUG Karazhan, none of which I could accept since I was still saved to the instance.
One of the things Anyssa and I agreed on is that I would be joining them for progression content but not necessarily farm content. I can PUG Kara with other groups for badges, after all. Zul'Aman, Gruul's and Magtheridon's Lair I will happily raid with ASTIG.
That done, we made plans for the next day and Heroic Arcatraz... stay tuned for how that turned out.
This meant, though, that they'd gone back to Kara at least twice since I had not been available for follow-up raids. I had since received three invites to PUG Karazhan, none of which I could accept since I was still saved to the instance.
One of the things Anyssa and I agreed on is that I would be joining them for progression content but not necessarily farm content. I can PUG Kara with other groups for badges, after all. Zul'Aman, Gruul's and Magtheridon's Lair I will happily raid with ASTIG.
That done, we made plans for the next day and Heroic Arcatraz... stay tuned for how that turned out.
WoW Update - 1 Mar 2008
Yesterday was not a very good day for WoW. I logged in as Avierra intending to run a few heroics and get some badges. A half hour into my farming run (for Thorium in Silithus) Waven, whose Kara group I used to run with, sent me a tell asking if I was free at 1 pm for a Kara run.
Since I was still saved to Kara with Supsop/Anyssa's group I told him I couldn't join... but since I kind of felt guilty about leaving the group, I offered to run Kara with my 'alt', Froufrou.
So right after lunch I got a text message from Waven asking me to log in Froufrou. I wasn't really expecting an invite, to be honest - Frou is a great farmer but I haven't had a lot of raiding experience with her.
The first sign I had of things not being all right was the raid group - full of ASTIG friends and allies I'd never run with. Rosetato I knew from old ASTIG, and of course Waven was there (on his alt Pareko), but more than half the raid, myself included, were on alts.
The next sign was that Waven went to LFG to fill out the raid. A dwarf pally named Gimbled and a gnome mage named Tinyman joined us. Gimbled was pretty good, very highly experienced and mostly epicced out. Tinyman was not bad, but he needed gear and experience.
We started our Kara run by one-shotting Attumen. Once we got to Moroes, however, everything went pear-shaped.
I was given contradictory instructions by Waven and another guy (who shall remain nameless for now) regarding add control. I needed to cheap shot one mob to stun it, then run after a second mob and blind it... then I needed to go back to the first mob and kill it before the second mob got out of blind! Needless to say, this method caused wipes.
We finally killed Moroes after five or six wipes (!) then proceeded to Maiden. We kept wiping to Maiden since the tanks kept kiting Maiden to the healers during Redemption to get them out of Redemption. Gimbled was very vocal about his unhappiness at this tactic. He shut up when Shard dropped, however.
We continued clearing to Opera and wiped a few times on BBW. At that point, sick and tired of the raid, we disbanded. My total repair bill was around 30 gold - on a character with mostly blue equipment.
Frou hit honored with Violet Eye and looted 5 Badges and Gloves of Dexterous Manipulation. But I'm not terribly happy about it. It was a massive waste of time and money without building up to my goals. While I enjoyed the break from farming engineering mats, I needed the badges on my main, not my alt. I don't think I'll be running with Waven again, at least not on Froufrou, and certainly not in any alt runs.
At least I got to spend some time farming engineering mats... Avierra hit 335 Engineering, a stone's throw away from the target 350.
Since I was still saved to Kara with Supsop/Anyssa's group I told him I couldn't join... but since I kind of felt guilty about leaving the group, I offered to run Kara with my 'alt', Froufrou.
So right after lunch I got a text message from Waven asking me to log in Froufrou. I wasn't really expecting an invite, to be honest - Frou is a great farmer but I haven't had a lot of raiding experience with her.
The first sign I had of things not being all right was the raid group - full of ASTIG friends and allies I'd never run with. Rosetato I knew from old ASTIG, and of course Waven was there (on his alt Pareko), but more than half the raid, myself included, were on alts.
The next sign was that Waven went to LFG to fill out the raid. A dwarf pally named Gimbled and a gnome mage named Tinyman joined us. Gimbled was pretty good, very highly experienced and mostly epicced out. Tinyman was not bad, but he needed gear and experience.
We started our Kara run by one-shotting Attumen. Once we got to Moroes, however, everything went pear-shaped.
I was given contradictory instructions by Waven and another guy (who shall remain nameless for now) regarding add control. I needed to cheap shot one mob to stun it, then run after a second mob and blind it... then I needed to go back to the first mob and kill it before the second mob got out of blind! Needless to say, this method caused wipes.
We finally killed Moroes after five or six wipes (!) then proceeded to Maiden. We kept wiping to Maiden since the tanks kept kiting Maiden to the healers during Redemption to get them out of Redemption. Gimbled was very vocal about his unhappiness at this tactic. He shut up when Shard dropped, however.
We continued clearing to Opera and wiped a few times on BBW. At that point, sick and tired of the raid, we disbanded. My total repair bill was around 30 gold - on a character with mostly blue equipment.
Frou hit honored with Violet Eye and looted 5 Badges and Gloves of Dexterous Manipulation. But I'm not terribly happy about it. It was a massive waste of time and money without building up to my goals. While I enjoyed the break from farming engineering mats, I needed the badges on my main, not my alt. I don't think I'll be running with Waven again, at least not on Froufrou, and certainly not in any alt runs.
At least I got to spend some time farming engineering mats... Avierra hit 335 Engineering, a stone's throw away from the target 350.
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