Wednesday (30 Jan) - Mesmerized by Pet Battles
I must admit that playing pet battles has become a guilty pleasure. The latest thrill is catching wild pets. Until recently I was focused on raising the level of the pets I already had, and the best way to do that is to kill the opponent pets. However, it is also possible to capture a wild pet and add it to my collection. I didn't really know what I was doing at first, and I captured some high level pets that in reality weren't very useful.
Pets are classified by their quality. The worst pets are rated as Poor quality. Next is Common, then Uncommon, and then Rare. Pets that are rated Poor may have a high level but also have very poor combat stats compared to higher quality pets. Since it is very time consuming to level pets, it's usually best to stick with only the Rare quality pets.
It was only recently, though, that I discovered that wild pets revealed their quality level when combat is started. So now I knew whether to try to kill the wild pet or, if it showed as rare quality, to try and capture it.
After learning that, I also released back into the wild those pets I'd captured before that were Poor quality. They just weren't very good.
One of the best pets for pet battles is the rare Strand Crawler. This pet is a random drop through the Fishing profession, so not only is it rare quality, it is also somewhat rare to have. My Strand Crawler has been lovingly leveled up to 14 so far, my highest level pet.
The next best thing to a Strand Crawler is the more easily attained Strand Crab. This is a wild pet that lives along shorelines. For my purposes, I went to the Swamp of Sorrows, where level 13-15 Strand Crabs could be found. Strand crabs are almost as tough as the crawler, so killing these is a chancy thing. Capturing one is even harder to do. Now, add the additional challenge of trying to find and capture a rare Strand Crab, and that is a tough challenge indeed.
One small advantage is that I can start a battle against a crab, note what it's quality is, and then determine whether to continue the fight. There is an option to Forfeit a battle at any time. Since my goal was to find and capture a rare Strand Crab, I used the Forfeit each time I took on a strand crab that was not a rare. It took some time, but I did eventually come across a rare, level 14 Strand Crab. The battle was ferocious, with three rounds. I captured the strand crab in the first round, but I would lose that capture if I failed to win all three rounds. Two of my pets died during that battle, and the last one - my Strand Crawler - was down to only 5% health when it won the final round. So now I've added a level 14 rare Strand Crab to my team.
I have captured two other rare wild pets so far. I have a level 13 Gold Beetle. Unfortunately, it's ability set was not very powerful, and so the beetle will not likely see much action.
Ability sets are designed based on the type of creature it is, but the selection of those abilities within the type are somewhat random. My poor beetle just got a bad set.
The other wild pet rare I captured is a level 12 Bat. That may sound a bit boring, but I like my Bat. It does very high damage, so I can use it to do some big early damage, or save it for a late in the fight kill shot. Combined with my very hard to kill crabs, the Bat gives me some potent offensive power when I need it.
I also have two captured pets that are at Uncommon quality. There is a Parrot and a Rattlesnake, both level 14. While they are not as powerful as the rares, they do serve a purpose.
Pets take damage during pet battles, and they regenerate health very, very slowly. So, after a battle of two, I will have damaged pets. There is a "heal everybody" button that is handy to have, but it can only be used once every eight minutes. Eight minutes is a looong time when waiting around for a pet battle. So I mix and match pets, using my parrot and rattlesnake as fill ins so I can play more pet battles while waiting on the cooldown of my main pets.
I also slip in the parrot and rattlesnake when leveling lower level pets so that I can send them in against higher level wild pets and level faster. For example, I am leveling two rares that I had to start at level 1 with. They are both very powerful, so I want to get them into the higher levels as soon as I can. One is Spirit of Competition, a dragon that was only available during the Olympics - sometime in 2006? Can't recall. Anyway, you can't get it anymore, so it's not only rare quality, it's rare, period. This pet has very good offense and healing ability, which makes it extra special. Mine is level 12. Another special dragon that I like is 'Lil Deathwing, which is now at level 11.
The highest level a pet can attain right now is level 25. I still have a good ways to go before any of my pets reach that max level. I have to ensure that I have not just one, but at least three of near equal level, since most pet battles above level ten are three round battles.
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Monday, January 28, 2013
Weekend (27 Jan) - Can "Pet Battles" Save the Wild Family?
Weekend (27 Jan) - Can "Pet Battles" Save the Wild Family?
Pet Battles are a new invention by Blizzard that I haven't paid much attention to until recently. Players have had companion pets for as long as the game has existed. Many players collect them, and the most serious collectors will go to any length to get hold of the rarest of them. Pets come in all types and sizes. Only one pet can be active at a time, but they can be switched around as often as you'd like. They are completely passive in that they can't attack or be attacked by enemy mobs or players. They are just for show. Until now. Sort of.
Blizzard got this idea to have companion pets fight each other. Call it Warcraft's version of pit bull or cock fighting. Every companion pet in the game was given ratings and skill sets, and the opportunity to increase in level and get stronger by defeating other pets in combat.
My first thought was that players would pit their pets against each other. However, that is not really the focus of pet battles. Players "can" pit their pets against each other, even against opposing factions (ie, alliance vs horde). However, that is for simple personal bragging rights, only. Those battles are conducted like duels, where no experience is gained and no skills are improved.
The real pet battles are waged between player pets and Tamers or wild pets. Wild pets of every type now roam all over Azeroth. Any player can initiate a pet battle with them and the pet gains experience by killing them or capturing them. Capturing a wild pet adds the pet to the player's pet journal, and those pets can then be used to kill or capture other wild pets. "Tamers" are npc characters who have quests that give experience and other pet battle goodies. As each Tamer is defeated, another, stronger one becomes available. Tamers are scattered all over the world, so it takes time to locate and defeat them all.
Pet battles are rarely just one on one battles, either. Battle is defined by rounds, and as pets gain in level, the number of rounds of battle also increase. While every pet in the pet journal is a potential combatant, each player may only have up to three pets available for a specific battle. Only one of those pets is actually fighting at any given time, but players can swap out pets among the three available during the fight.
Combat is turn based. Pet abilities are chosen by each combatant, the actions completed, and turns are taken until there is a winner.
There is a lot more to it than that, particularly where strategy is involved, but that takes care of the basics.
Pet battles are easy to play and, I must admit, kind of fun. Considering there are something like 500 plus companion pets available, the possibilities for combinations of three pets are virtually limitless. I can tell already that it is also a humongous time sink, since each pet has to be individually leveled, just as a player character has to be leveled, and at nearly the same lengthy pace, from what I've seen so far.
One great feature, though, is that the pet leveling process is account based. Each pet needs to be leveled only once, and every character has access to that same pet. There is a rare exception that I came across by accident, and it took Sin and Wild some time figure it out. A very few pets are specific to a faction. In my case, the pet that caused a problem was the Moonkin Hatchling. There is a unique hatchling for the horde, and a similar but also unique hatchling for the alliance. A horde player cannot use an alliance hatchling in pet battles, and visa versa. Like I said, though, those cases are rare.
I have only been playing pet battles for a few days. Here is my list of the best of the pet battles team for the Wild Family:
Level 10: Strand Crawler - this is a crab with great shell defenses and some healing abilities; he's very good at staying alive.
Level 9: 'Lil Deathwing - This little dragon is all about doing damage. I really like his nuclear arsenal, but he is a little quick to die if I'm not careful.
Level 8: Spirit of Competition - Another dragon with a combination of good damage and survivability.
Level 8: Core Hound Pup - I like the two headed doggy, and he has a good bite, but he's more of a backup than a top 3 type.
Level 7: Strand Crab - This is a wild pet that I captured when I was testing this out. Very similar to the Strand Crawler. The nice thing about this is that I did not have to level this crab from 1 to 7. It was level 7 when I captured it, so it's already almost ready to fit into the team.
I'm not sure how long the fascination with pet battles will last, but for now it's been an amusing way to pass the time in between Happy's Auction House and
Fist's vegetable farming.
Pet Battles are a new invention by Blizzard that I haven't paid much attention to until recently. Players have had companion pets for as long as the game has existed. Many players collect them, and the most serious collectors will go to any length to get hold of the rarest of them. Pets come in all types and sizes. Only one pet can be active at a time, but they can be switched around as often as you'd like. They are completely passive in that they can't attack or be attacked by enemy mobs or players. They are just for show. Until now. Sort of.
Blizzard got this idea to have companion pets fight each other. Call it Warcraft's version of pit bull or cock fighting. Every companion pet in the game was given ratings and skill sets, and the opportunity to increase in level and get stronger by defeating other pets in combat.
My first thought was that players would pit their pets against each other. However, that is not really the focus of pet battles. Players "can" pit their pets against each other, even against opposing factions (ie, alliance vs horde). However, that is for simple personal bragging rights, only. Those battles are conducted like duels, where no experience is gained and no skills are improved.
The real pet battles are waged between player pets and Tamers or wild pets. Wild pets of every type now roam all over Azeroth. Any player can initiate a pet battle with them and the pet gains experience by killing them or capturing them. Capturing a wild pet adds the pet to the player's pet journal, and those pets can then be used to kill or capture other wild pets. "Tamers" are npc characters who have quests that give experience and other pet battle goodies. As each Tamer is defeated, another, stronger one becomes available. Tamers are scattered all over the world, so it takes time to locate and defeat them all.
Pet battles are rarely just one on one battles, either. Battle is defined by rounds, and as pets gain in level, the number of rounds of battle also increase. While every pet in the pet journal is a potential combatant, each player may only have up to three pets available for a specific battle. Only one of those pets is actually fighting at any given time, but players can swap out pets among the three available during the fight.
Combat is turn based. Pet abilities are chosen by each combatant, the actions completed, and turns are taken until there is a winner.
There is a lot more to it than that, particularly where strategy is involved, but that takes care of the basics.
Pet battles are easy to play and, I must admit, kind of fun. Considering there are something like 500 plus companion pets available, the possibilities for combinations of three pets are virtually limitless. I can tell already that it is also a humongous time sink, since each pet has to be individually leveled, just as a player character has to be leveled, and at nearly the same lengthy pace, from what I've seen so far.
One great feature, though, is that the pet leveling process is account based. Each pet needs to be leveled only once, and every character has access to that same pet. There is a rare exception that I came across by accident, and it took Sin and Wild some time figure it out. A very few pets are specific to a faction. In my case, the pet that caused a problem was the Moonkin Hatchling. There is a unique hatchling for the horde, and a similar but also unique hatchling for the alliance. A horde player cannot use an alliance hatchling in pet battles, and visa versa. Like I said, though, those cases are rare.
I have only been playing pet battles for a few days. Here is my list of the best of the pet battles team for the Wild Family:
Level 10: Strand Crawler - this is a crab with great shell defenses and some healing abilities; he's very good at staying alive.
Level 9: 'Lil Deathwing - This little dragon is all about doing damage. I really like his nuclear arsenal, but he is a little quick to die if I'm not careful.
Level 8: Spirit of Competition - Another dragon with a combination of good damage and survivability.
Level 8: Core Hound Pup - I like the two headed doggy, and he has a good bite, but he's more of a backup than a top 3 type.
Level 7: Strand Crab - This is a wild pet that I captured when I was testing this out. Very similar to the Strand Crawler. The nice thing about this is that I did not have to level this crab from 1 to 7. It was level 7 when I captured it, so it's already almost ready to fit into the team.
I'm not sure how long the fascination with pet battles will last, but for now it's been an amusing way to pass the time in between Happy's Auction House and
Fist's vegetable farming.
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Wednesday (24 Jan) - The Death Knell Approaches
Wednesday (24 Jan) - The Death Knell Approaches
A friend of mine recently posted on the guild website, relating to a number of severe real life medical problems he has been battling and is still going through. That was a sobering moment compared to the much less important issues surrounding the game of World of Warcraft. I'm praying for his recovery and wish him well. Even under those circumstances, he keeps the faith with the guild and his guild friends.
In light of that, the failings of WoW and my own fading interest in the game seem pale in comparison.
The adventures of the Wild Family and company have not yet ended, though greatly curtailed. One could also question the state of the game itself, which seems to have entered some strange limbo of often frenzied activity that goes no where and accomplishes little.
Reading the forums, half are posts written by game authors or those writing for the game (ie, wowhead). Of the 47 posts on the first page of wowhead's General forum, 24 were by players, and 23 by professional pundits. Checking out the Monk forum, which one would think would be alive with discussion of this new class, I find only four posts less than ten days old. The WoW Monk forum only recently posted a windwalker guide, which has some good information, but that forum is not that well populated, either.
Guild raiding is again on semi-hiatus as the guild leader deals with real life considerations. That takes one raid group out of action and leaves the other missing at least two raiders. Raid progress remains slow for a guild with 88 level 90s. Of the 17 raid bosses available in four Pandaria raids (counting Sha), they have downed three bosses as a guild.
The Mists of Pandaria (MoP) is a veritable smorgasbord of opportunities, from raiding to dungeons, to scenarios, to special quest threads, to pvp. There are more factions than ever, and more daily quests to do than are humanly possible (or by any other race).
None of it feels connected, though. MoP was a radical a departure from past expansions. Talents were completely re-written. Fundamental practices on how a character was played were completely changed. Even simple things, such as the Cooking profession, became arcanely difficult and complicated. Every class has to be re-learned.
Even Happy's Auction House has strange echoes. The new MoP enchanting mats were going to revitalize Happy's coffers, but buy and sale activity has been all but dead. The means of combining and breaking up the new mats require an accounting degree to understand, and Happy was up for that challenge, but the mats just sit there in the AH unwanted and unused. It may be that active players simply generate enough mats in daily play that there is no need to buy them from the AH. If so, Happy is on a slow slide to doom. Gems are following a similar path. The mid-level gems are so cheap they aren't worth selling, and the high-end gems so expensive there's no profit margin. Lao reports, and Happy confirms, that herb gathering may be somewhat profitable for gatherers, but it remains spotty and mostly unprofitable for Happy.
It has become a strange, foreign land. The linchpin that kept Wild connected through prior expansions was raiding. The death of raiding for Wild began when Looking For Raid (LFR) was implemented. Both the LFR and the LFD (Looking For Dungeon) were both a godsend and a hidden nightmare for Wild. For the first time, players could defeat raid bosses with random groups of players. Wild's gear grew quickly richer through the weekly slaughter of Dragon Soul, and primed him for the regular raid runs with the guild. That came with a surprisingly high price. Wild got bored with the endless LFR/LFD grinding and frustrated with the slow progress in regular guild raids.
There seemed little incentive other than pride in finishing normal mode Dragon Soul, when Wild had defeated it in the LFR so many, many, many times already. So Wild stopped raiding for the several months between his disillusion with the LFR/DS and the arrival of MoP.
The LFR/LFD process expanded in MoP, but the idea of entering that grind once more ... Well, Dragon Soul was just one raid. MoP already offers THREE raids of LFR grinding, not to mention a gob of LFD's that must be ground through before getting to the LFRs. Fist, happy to have made it to level 90, could not bring herself to enter that pipeline.
The linchpin of raiding was broken.
I'm told that the MoP LFD/LFRs are so easy the only obstacle is waiting around for a group to form. The first time Fist did them, it would probably be kind of fun. The thousandth time ... I just don't think I'm going to go there.
The only semi-active players I have now are Fist and Happy. The rest make mere cameo appearances. I'm in game less than an hour a day.
The twilight may be descending. For the Wild family, the death knell waits.
A friend of mine recently posted on the guild website, relating to a number of severe real life medical problems he has been battling and is still going through. That was a sobering moment compared to the much less important issues surrounding the game of World of Warcraft. I'm praying for his recovery and wish him well. Even under those circumstances, he keeps the faith with the guild and his guild friends.
In light of that, the failings of WoW and my own fading interest in the game seem pale in comparison.
The adventures of the Wild Family and company have not yet ended, though greatly curtailed. One could also question the state of the game itself, which seems to have entered some strange limbo of often frenzied activity that goes no where and accomplishes little.
Reading the forums, half are posts written by game authors or those writing for the game (ie, wowhead). Of the 47 posts on the first page of wowhead's General forum, 24 were by players, and 23 by professional pundits. Checking out the Monk forum, which one would think would be alive with discussion of this new class, I find only four posts less than ten days old. The WoW Monk forum only recently posted a windwalker guide, which has some good information, but that forum is not that well populated, either.
Guild raiding is again on semi-hiatus as the guild leader deals with real life considerations. That takes one raid group out of action and leaves the other missing at least two raiders. Raid progress remains slow for a guild with 88 level 90s. Of the 17 raid bosses available in four Pandaria raids (counting Sha), they have downed three bosses as a guild.
The Mists of Pandaria (MoP) is a veritable smorgasbord of opportunities, from raiding to dungeons, to scenarios, to special quest threads, to pvp. There are more factions than ever, and more daily quests to do than are humanly possible (or by any other race).
None of it feels connected, though. MoP was a radical a departure from past expansions. Talents were completely re-written. Fundamental practices on how a character was played were completely changed. Even simple things, such as the Cooking profession, became arcanely difficult and complicated. Every class has to be re-learned.
Even Happy's Auction House has strange echoes. The new MoP enchanting mats were going to revitalize Happy's coffers, but buy and sale activity has been all but dead. The means of combining and breaking up the new mats require an accounting degree to understand, and Happy was up for that challenge, but the mats just sit there in the AH unwanted and unused. It may be that active players simply generate enough mats in daily play that there is no need to buy them from the AH. If so, Happy is on a slow slide to doom. Gems are following a similar path. The mid-level gems are so cheap they aren't worth selling, and the high-end gems so expensive there's no profit margin. Lao reports, and Happy confirms, that herb gathering may be somewhat profitable for gatherers, but it remains spotty and mostly unprofitable for Happy.
It has become a strange, foreign land. The linchpin that kept Wild connected through prior expansions was raiding. The death of raiding for Wild began when Looking For Raid (LFR) was implemented. Both the LFR and the LFD (Looking For Dungeon) were both a godsend and a hidden nightmare for Wild. For the first time, players could defeat raid bosses with random groups of players. Wild's gear grew quickly richer through the weekly slaughter of Dragon Soul, and primed him for the regular raid runs with the guild. That came with a surprisingly high price. Wild got bored with the endless LFR/LFD grinding and frustrated with the slow progress in regular guild raids.
There seemed little incentive other than pride in finishing normal mode Dragon Soul, when Wild had defeated it in the LFR so many, many, many times already. So Wild stopped raiding for the several months between his disillusion with the LFR/DS and the arrival of MoP.
The LFR/LFD process expanded in MoP, but the idea of entering that grind once more ... Well, Dragon Soul was just one raid. MoP already offers THREE raids of LFR grinding, not to mention a gob of LFD's that must be ground through before getting to the LFRs. Fist, happy to have made it to level 90, could not bring herself to enter that pipeline.
The linchpin of raiding was broken.
I'm told that the MoP LFD/LFRs are so easy the only obstacle is waiting around for a group to form. The first time Fist did them, it would probably be kind of fun. The thousandth time ... I just don't think I'm going to go there.
The only semi-active players I have now are Fist and Happy. The rest make mere cameo appearances. I'm in game less than an hour a day.
The twilight may be descending. For the Wild family, the death knell waits.
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Tuesday (15 Jan) - The Divine Bell
Tuesday (15 Jan) - The Divine Bell
The Divine Bell is the next installment in the Domination Point quest line.
Lao has been delaying the telling of the Divine Bell because she was greatly hoping for more news. She feels now that this will not happen until after the next patch.
Lao had captured the Bell from the Night Elves which caused a great rift in Dalaran. While it seemed too easy to Lao (though she was not the one who made the cloaking spell) to get the Bell back, it was indeed the true Bell.
Hellscream was about to ring the Bell and Lao was told she could be present. Lao did not want to be there at all but felt she had no choice, so she went. Ishi, who has been a strong proponent of Hellscream, was also there, as well as some miscellaneous soldiers who always seem to be at such events.
Before Hellscream rang the bell, Anduin Wrynn, the Prince of Stormwind arrived, telling Hellscream to stop.
Hellscream was very surprised to see "Varian's welp" (King Varian Wyrnn) rather than Varian himself. But Hellscream was going ring the bell and kill Anduin.
Lao was very uneasy at this point. Against her better judgement she liked Anduin. He, like Thrall, saw past factions and bigotry.
Hellscream rang the Bell.
As Lao suspected, people were not able to master their anger or hate. Lao herself had to kill six soldiers and then had to watch Ishi try to master his doubt and hate, ultimately failing and being killed by Lao.
His last words were, "I have failed you, Hellscream." To which Hellscream responded, "yes, you have."
At this point Lao had had enough and was about to lay into Hellscream when Anduin spoke.
While the Mongu created the Bell, the Pandarians created a Hammer to counter the Bell. This Hammer would ring harmony rather than anger or hate. Anduin has the Hammer and, before anyone can stop him, sounds the Bell with it.
Hellscream is appalled and angry at Anduin's actions but before he can attack, a rumble occurs. The Bell cannot handle the harmony that is occurring around it. The Bell crumbles and crushes Anduin.
Hellscream's quest to use the Bell is destroyed and so is Anduin, it seems. Furious with the loss of the Bell, Hellscream leaves.
Lao waits till Hellscream is gone and rushes over to Anduin. He is not dead as Hellscream assumed but he is very much crushed, hanging on with just a thread of life.
Lao can't heal him, cannot do anything for him. She is Horde and he is Alliance. She waits around hoping for someone else to come, but no one does, and she leaves. Not knowing what else to do.
There have been no more letters from Vol'jin, no summons from Baine or Thrall. Everyone has been very quiet.
The Divine Bell is the next installment in the Domination Point quest line.
Lao has been delaying the telling of the Divine Bell because she was greatly hoping for more news. She feels now that this will not happen until after the next patch.
Lao had captured the Bell from the Night Elves which caused a great rift in Dalaran. While it seemed too easy to Lao (though she was not the one who made the cloaking spell) to get the Bell back, it was indeed the true Bell.
Hellscream was about to ring the Bell and Lao was told she could be present. Lao did not want to be there at all but felt she had no choice, so she went. Ishi, who has been a strong proponent of Hellscream, was also there, as well as some miscellaneous soldiers who always seem to be at such events.
Before Hellscream rang the bell, Anduin Wrynn, the Prince of Stormwind arrived, telling Hellscream to stop.
Hellscream was very surprised to see "Varian's welp" (King Varian Wyrnn) rather than Varian himself. But Hellscream was going ring the bell and kill Anduin.
Lao was very uneasy at this point. Against her better judgement she liked Anduin. He, like Thrall, saw past factions and bigotry.
Hellscream rang the Bell.
As Lao suspected, people were not able to master their anger or hate. Lao herself had to kill six soldiers and then had to watch Ishi try to master his doubt and hate, ultimately failing and being killed by Lao.
His last words were, "I have failed you, Hellscream." To which Hellscream responded, "yes, you have."
At this point Lao had had enough and was about to lay into Hellscream when Anduin spoke.
While the Mongu created the Bell, the Pandarians created a Hammer to counter the Bell. This Hammer would ring harmony rather than anger or hate. Anduin has the Hammer and, before anyone can stop him, sounds the Bell with it.
Hellscream is appalled and angry at Anduin's actions but before he can attack, a rumble occurs. The Bell cannot handle the harmony that is occurring around it. The Bell crumbles and crushes Anduin.
Hellscream's quest to use the Bell is destroyed and so is Anduin, it seems. Furious with the loss of the Bell, Hellscream leaves.
Lao waits till Hellscream is gone and rushes over to Anduin. He is not dead as Hellscream assumed but he is very much crushed, hanging on with just a thread of life.
Lao can't heal him, cannot do anything for him. She is Horde and he is Alliance. She waits around hoping for someone else to come, but no one does, and she leaves. Not knowing what else to do.
There have been no more letters from Vol'jin, no summons from Baine or Thrall. Everyone has been very quiet.
Monday, January 7, 2013
Wild Family Ninth Year (7 Jan 2013) - 2012 New Year's Report
Wild Family Ninth Year (7 Jan 2013) - 2012 New Year's Report
Last year’s report for 2011 had to be divided into two parts, Guilds and Raids (ie, guild drama), and Family Matters.
The biggest shock of the annual report for 2012 has to be that there was no guild drama. Wild is still a card carrying member of the MM2 guild (real name, Meitha) since he left MM (Mayhem) on 28 June. Hmm, well, that was only six months ago. Ok, so there was guild drama, I found the first sign of it in a 11 Jan post titled “Life Goes On.” Say la vie.
It seemed appropriate that on Friday, 4 Jan 2013, a long time friend who had left the game for many months popped up in game. His name is Ristan, a fine druid tank who had just started the trek from level 85 to 90. Ristan is one of Wild’s cabal, which has dwindled to only two regulars: guild leader Bloodknuckle (known as Bd) and Tala (known as Lady Hunter). Ristan said he was back, for now, but wasn’t sure for how long. He chided Wild: “You haven’t leveled to 90 yet, what’s up with that?” I told him that Wild was semi-retired now, but that I had a new main, Fist, a level 90 blood elf monk. Ristan said he loved his druid tank too much to change, although he was still feeling his way with all the changes to druid tanking in MoP. Ristan was voice from a disappearing past.
With that in mind, take a walk with Wild through 2012.
Wild started off 2012 with an i384 gear score and had been a regular raider with the guild. He would end 2012 with a gear score of i422, good enough for dungeons but not good enough for raiding, not even LFR raiding.
JB made it to level 85 on 3 Jan, 2012.
The pvp team, Hunter Fortress, put away their bows on 16 Jan, after three months of inactivity. It was great while it lasted.
Wild’s Alliance Family, Sista and Bruiserbabe, also went mostly on hiatus in January, but BB would pop up later in the Naithipe affair.
On 24 Jan, 2012, Cataclysm issued it’s last Cata content patch. The Dragon Soul raid nerfing began. Speaking of guild drama, I came across this on the same day:
“The end game boss story suddenly struck me:
Icecrown Citadel's Lich King - Nerf sticked to the max, but our guild grimly kept after him, going toe to toe 70+ times before killing him. We never gave up, and we brought him down. A grand accomplishment.
Fireland's Ragnaros - Dysfunctional raids, warring guilds, and absent raid leaders made a mess of things. Ragnaros never fell even though the Mf raid still tilts at that windmill once in awhile. A failure.
Dragon Soul's Deathwing - Dead on the same day Wild first stepped into DS via the raid finder. As for the guild raid, it's hard to see how either raid group will be able to beat even the nerfed content, or whether the guild will even care.
Wild thinks about what it would be like to be in a guild where raid progression was something to get excited about.”
On 5 Feb, 2012, Wild achieved the ultimate goal for him from the perspective of riding mounts - Wild finally earned the Raven Lord mount. It is far and away my favorite mount, even though it can’t fly and is so large Wild has to manually dismount when entering doorways.
On the same day, 5 Feb, JB earned her Raider badge with the guild, passing the guild tests for the required DPS.
Wild caused a titter on 23 Feb, when he surprised a guild raid by using his new microphone in vent. Wild NEVER talks in vent. It went like this: “ "Hey." That's all I said, but one would have thought that single word had come directly from Heaven. Vent went silent. "Who is that?" someone asked. "WILD!" Lady Hunter yelled. For the next five minutes the only thing on anyone's mind was getting Wild to say something in vent. Lady Hunter declared that she has known Wild for five years and never once heard me say a single word. Which was true. Wild was quite the celebrity for awhile, but eventually we got back to the task at hand.”
On April 14th, in a post titled “Girls Rock Out” JB got her first official invite to a guild Firelands raid. The G3 raid (yes, MM was running THREE raids at this juncture) ran on the weekend. JB made the run in melee spec and the group killed just one boss (the 5th boss, Baleroc - JB came in on the second night of the raid), but JB got her first regular (vs lfr) raid boss kill on this day. JB also defeated three Dragon Soul bosses (Morchok, Warlord, and Yor). Philly had gotten back into the saddle earlier in the month and was actively leveling via the pvp battlegrounds. She had reached level 83.
On 30 April, JB and DB joined up for an lfr Dragon Soul raid. I’m not sure if it was the first time they had raided together, but it was a good night, downing seven bosses.
Philly reached level 85 on 4 May, 2012.
On 10 May Wild took a break from raiding. MoP was still a long ways off and DS raiding had begun to get stale. There was also the release of Diablo 3, and that consumed my game time for awhile. The entire month of June was devoted to finishing Diablo 3.
On 5 Jun Wild had this to say: “Wild's replacement in the RG2 raid has four normal mode wins in the final Dragon Soul encounter, Madness of Deathwing. That was six raids/weeks ago. Wild's timing was perfect - he stopped raiding two weeks before the guild started to get DS on farm. Funny and sad, both. Wild is still better geared than the druid that got Wild's spot.
On 2 August, Naithipe contemplated the idea of having a daughter. The seed was sown for Plumrosefist. Here is the list of posts following this major story:
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2012/08/wednesday-15-aug-shattered-family.html
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2012/08/thursday-16-aug-walk-of-elders.html
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2012/08/monday-20-aug-seasons-change-for-azeroth.html
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2012/08/wednesday-22-aug-conundrum-of-naithipe.html
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2012/08/thursday-23-aug-in-her-own-head.html
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2012/08/monday-27-aug-lighting-fuse.html
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2012/08/wednesday-30-aug-images-of-shalandis.html
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2012/08/wednesday-30-aug-showdown-at-shalandis.html
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2012/09/monday-3-sep-waiting-game.html
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2012/09/wednesday-5-sep-cougar-jocey-eyes-boys.html
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2012/09/monday-17-sep-dress-rehearsal.html
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2012/09/friday-21-sep-house-of-wild-evolves.html
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2012/09/monday-24-sep-house-of-naithipe.html
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2012/09/tuesday-25-sep-wandering-isle-for.html
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2012/09/tuesday-still-25-sep-wandering-isle-is.html
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2012/09/thursday-27-sep-fist-wastes-no-time.html
Note that Patch 5.04, the pre-release of MoP, arrived on 28 August, with the full release coming on 25 September.
Fist’s march to Level 90 began on 27 Sep, 2012. Her capsule story, from level 1 to level 90, can be read here:
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2012/12/december-magic-26-dec-ascendance-of.html
That wraps up the recap of 2012. Below is the annual review of the raid guilds Wild has been involved in over time. It seems strange to continue this, since Wild has not raided since 10 May, 2012.
MM2 (Meitha) - Wild’s current guild. Bloodknuckle GM
Total Members: 386 (2011), 487 (2012) - an increase of 101
Total 85/90s: 209 (2011), 85 (2012) - 286 if counting 85s +
Raid Accomplishments: 3 ten man raid groups
Raid Dec 2011 Dec 2012
Firelands (6/7) (6/7)
Dragon Soul (1/8) (8/8)
Heart of Fear (0/6) (0/7)
Mogu’Shan Vaults (0/6) (2/6)
Terrace .. Spring (0/4) (0/4)
MM (Mayhem) - Wild’s guild until June 2012. Kira/Wightblade GM
Total Members: 146 (2011), 102 (2012) - a loss of 44
Total 85/90s: 81 (2011), 23 (2012) - 72 if counting 85s +
Raid Accomplishments:
Firelands (4/7) (4/7)
Dragon Soul (6/8) (8/8)
Heart of Fear (0/6) (0/6)
Mogu’Shan Vaults (0/6) (0/6)
Terrace .. Spring (0/4) (0/4)
FS (Fate Sealed) - Wild’s longest serving guild. Ramux/Frohgurt GM.
Total Members: 131 (2011) 165 (2012) - an increase of 34
Total 85/90s: 66 (2011) 42 (2012) - 102 if counting 85s +
Raid Accomplishments:
Firelands (6/7) (6/7)
Dragon Soul (6/8) (8/8)
Heart of Fear (0/6) (0/6)
Mogu’Shan Vaults (0/6) (3/6)
Terrace .. Spring (0/4) (0/4)
WC (Warchild) - FS spin off. Rhonna GM
Total Members: 71 (2011) 70 (2012) - a loss of 1
Total 85s/90: 54 (2011) 15 (2012) - 51 if counting 85s +
Raid Accomplishments:
Firelands (7/7) (6/7)
Dragon Soul (1/8) (8/8)
Heart of Fear (0/6) (0/6)
Mogu’Shan Vaults (0/6) (0/6)
Terrace .. Spring (0/4) (0/4)
There’s not a lot that can be determined from the above, particularly the raiding, since MoP has been out less than two months. Frankly, despite Wild’s long absence from raiding, he really isn’t that far behind.
Last year’s report for 2011 had to be divided into two parts, Guilds and Raids (ie, guild drama), and Family Matters.
The biggest shock of the annual report for 2012 has to be that there was no guild drama. Wild is still a card carrying member of the MM2 guild (real name, Meitha) since he left MM (Mayhem) on 28 June. Hmm, well, that was only six months ago. Ok, so there was guild drama, I found the first sign of it in a 11 Jan post titled “Life Goes On.” Say la vie.
It seemed appropriate that on Friday, 4 Jan 2013, a long time friend who had left the game for many months popped up in game. His name is Ristan, a fine druid tank who had just started the trek from level 85 to 90. Ristan is one of Wild’s cabal, which has dwindled to only two regulars: guild leader Bloodknuckle (known as Bd) and Tala (known as Lady Hunter). Ristan said he was back, for now, but wasn’t sure for how long. He chided Wild: “You haven’t leveled to 90 yet, what’s up with that?” I told him that Wild was semi-retired now, but that I had a new main, Fist, a level 90 blood elf monk. Ristan said he loved his druid tank too much to change, although he was still feeling his way with all the changes to druid tanking in MoP. Ristan was voice from a disappearing past.
With that in mind, take a walk with Wild through 2012.
Wild started off 2012 with an i384 gear score and had been a regular raider with the guild. He would end 2012 with a gear score of i422, good enough for dungeons but not good enough for raiding, not even LFR raiding.
JB made it to level 85 on 3 Jan, 2012.
The pvp team, Hunter Fortress, put away their bows on 16 Jan, after three months of inactivity. It was great while it lasted.
Wild’s Alliance Family, Sista and Bruiserbabe, also went mostly on hiatus in January, but BB would pop up later in the Naithipe affair.
On 24 Jan, 2012, Cataclysm issued it’s last Cata content patch. The Dragon Soul raid nerfing began. Speaking of guild drama, I came across this on the same day:
“The end game boss story suddenly struck me:
Icecrown Citadel's Lich King - Nerf sticked to the max, but our guild grimly kept after him, going toe to toe 70+ times before killing him. We never gave up, and we brought him down. A grand accomplishment.
Fireland's Ragnaros - Dysfunctional raids, warring guilds, and absent raid leaders made a mess of things. Ragnaros never fell even though the Mf raid still tilts at that windmill once in awhile. A failure.
Dragon Soul's Deathwing - Dead on the same day Wild first stepped into DS via the raid finder. As for the guild raid, it's hard to see how either raid group will be able to beat even the nerfed content, or whether the guild will even care.
Wild thinks about what it would be like to be in a guild where raid progression was something to get excited about.”
On 5 Feb, 2012, Wild achieved the ultimate goal for him from the perspective of riding mounts - Wild finally earned the Raven Lord mount. It is far and away my favorite mount, even though it can’t fly and is so large Wild has to manually dismount when entering doorways.
On the same day, 5 Feb, JB earned her Raider badge with the guild, passing the guild tests for the required DPS.
Wild caused a titter on 23 Feb, when he surprised a guild raid by using his new microphone in vent. Wild NEVER talks in vent. It went like this: “ "Hey." That's all I said, but one would have thought that single word had come directly from Heaven. Vent went silent. "Who is that?" someone asked. "WILD!" Lady Hunter yelled. For the next five minutes the only thing on anyone's mind was getting Wild to say something in vent. Lady Hunter declared that she has known Wild for five years and never once heard me say a single word. Which was true. Wild was quite the celebrity for awhile, but eventually we got back to the task at hand.”
On April 14th, in a post titled “Girls Rock Out” JB got her first official invite to a guild Firelands raid. The G3 raid (yes, MM was running THREE raids at this juncture) ran on the weekend. JB made the run in melee spec and the group killed just one boss (the 5th boss, Baleroc - JB came in on the second night of the raid), but JB got her first regular (vs lfr) raid boss kill on this day. JB also defeated three Dragon Soul bosses (Morchok, Warlord, and Yor). Philly had gotten back into the saddle earlier in the month and was actively leveling via the pvp battlegrounds. She had reached level 83.
On 30 April, JB and DB joined up for an lfr Dragon Soul raid. I’m not sure if it was the first time they had raided together, but it was a good night, downing seven bosses.
Philly reached level 85 on 4 May, 2012.
On 10 May Wild took a break from raiding. MoP was still a long ways off and DS raiding had begun to get stale. There was also the release of Diablo 3, and that consumed my game time for awhile. The entire month of June was devoted to finishing Diablo 3.
On 5 Jun Wild had this to say: “Wild's replacement in the RG2 raid has four normal mode wins in the final Dragon Soul encounter, Madness of Deathwing. That was six raids/weeks ago. Wild's timing was perfect - he stopped raiding two weeks before the guild started to get DS on farm. Funny and sad, both. Wild is still better geared than the druid that got Wild's spot.
On 2 August, Naithipe contemplated the idea of having a daughter. The seed was sown for Plumrosefist. Here is the list of posts following this major story:
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2012/08/wednesday-15-aug-shattered-family.html
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2012/08/thursday-16-aug-walk-of-elders.html
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2012/08/monday-20-aug-seasons-change-for-azeroth.html
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2012/08/wednesday-22-aug-conundrum-of-naithipe.html
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2012/08/thursday-23-aug-in-her-own-head.html
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2012/08/monday-27-aug-lighting-fuse.html
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2012/08/wednesday-30-aug-images-of-shalandis.html
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2012/08/wednesday-30-aug-showdown-at-shalandis.html
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2012/09/monday-3-sep-waiting-game.html
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2012/09/wednesday-5-sep-cougar-jocey-eyes-boys.html
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2012/09/monday-17-sep-dress-rehearsal.html
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2012/09/friday-21-sep-house-of-wild-evolves.html
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2012/09/monday-24-sep-house-of-naithipe.html
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2012/09/tuesday-25-sep-wandering-isle-for.html
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2012/09/tuesday-still-25-sep-wandering-isle-is.html
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2012/09/thursday-27-sep-fist-wastes-no-time.html
Note that Patch 5.04, the pre-release of MoP, arrived on 28 August, with the full release coming on 25 September.
Fist’s march to Level 90 began on 27 Sep, 2012. Her capsule story, from level 1 to level 90, can be read here:
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2012/12/december-magic-26-dec-ascendance-of.html
That wraps up the recap of 2012. Below is the annual review of the raid guilds Wild has been involved in over time. It seems strange to continue this, since Wild has not raided since 10 May, 2012.
MM2 (Meitha) - Wild’s current guild. Bloodknuckle GM
Total Members: 386 (2011), 487 (2012) - an increase of 101
Total 85/90s: 209 (2011), 85 (2012) - 286 if counting 85s +
Raid Accomplishments: 3 ten man raid groups
Raid Dec 2011 Dec 2012
Firelands (6/7) (6/7)
Dragon Soul (1/8) (8/8)
Heart of Fear (0/6) (0/7)
Mogu’Shan Vaults (0/6) (2/6)
Terrace .. Spring (0/4) (0/4)
MM (Mayhem) - Wild’s guild until June 2012. Kira/Wightblade GM
Total Members: 146 (2011), 102 (2012) - a loss of 44
Total 85/90s: 81 (2011), 23 (2012) - 72 if counting 85s +
Raid Accomplishments:
Firelands (4/7) (4/7)
Dragon Soul (6/8) (8/8)
Heart of Fear (0/6) (0/6)
Mogu’Shan Vaults (0/6) (0/6)
Terrace .. Spring (0/4) (0/4)
FS (Fate Sealed) - Wild’s longest serving guild. Ramux/Frohgurt GM.
Total Members: 131 (2011) 165 (2012) - an increase of 34
Total 85/90s: 66 (2011) 42 (2012) - 102 if counting 85s +
Raid Accomplishments:
Firelands (6/7) (6/7)
Dragon Soul (6/8) (8/8)
Heart of Fear (0/6) (0/6)
Mogu’Shan Vaults (0/6) (3/6)
Terrace .. Spring (0/4) (0/4)
WC (Warchild) - FS spin off. Rhonna GM
Total Members: 71 (2011) 70 (2012) - a loss of 1
Total 85s/90: 54 (2011) 15 (2012) - 51 if counting 85s +
Raid Accomplishments:
Firelands (7/7) (6/7)
Dragon Soul (1/8) (8/8)
Heart of Fear (0/6) (0/6)
Mogu’Shan Vaults (0/6) (0/6)
Terrace .. Spring (0/4) (0/4)
There’s not a lot that can be determined from the above, particularly the raiding, since MoP has been out less than two months. Frankly, despite Wild’s long absence from raiding, he really isn’t that far behind.
Sunday, January 6, 2013
Weekend (6 Jan, 2013) - Phantom Cat Capers
Weekend (6 Jan, 2013) - Phantom Cat Capers
You all know we have cats. A lot of cats. We love them and we would never think about giving any of them up. Well, there was that time ... oh, and then there was this other time ... ok, maybe we THINK about throwing the whole lot of them out in the street to fend for themselves once in awhile - like every day - but then they’d just hang around and cause even more trouble. Honestly, though, they are like children to us and we take very good care of them.
I think I’ve already mentioned that we have to gone to extraordinary lengths to “cat-proof” our yard. No yard is really 100% cat-proof (unless you are Ernest Hemingway - his house and yards are surrounded by a ten foot concrete wall, and even today the house remains and his six toed cats still have the run of the place). What we’ve done is raised our six foot fence to seven feet using decorative lattice that the cats don’t particularly like. That hasn’t kept two of our more adventurous cats from still getting out of the yard by climbing our two gates (even though both have their front feet declawed).
Well, the city wasn’t going to let me build a ten foot fence, so my next step was to see if I could confuse the cats by making it “seem” like they couldn’t climb the gates. We tried various things that didn’t work. My most recent idea was to use shade cloth to cover the entire gate. The shade cloth hides all of the possible spots they could use to climb the gate, and it’s loose enough that if they try to climb it, the cloth moves. Cats don’t like that unstable feel. So far it’s been working, although they regularly sit by the gate, staring at it in deep thought. Or maybe they were getting ready to upchuck a hairball, it was hard to tell the difference.
We have indoor challenges as well. There are cats that get along with each other and cats that don’t. We have our older cats - Mom and the “kittens” we kept are now turning 13 - and the younger brood. Keeping the peace is a daily chore. For some time now we have been battling a phantom. Someone or someones, who we have not been able to pin down, has been spraying our furniture. You would not believe the things we’ve tried and still try to stop that. I don’t think there is a single idea we haven’t tried, with varying, but ultimately failed results. Clean up involves a several part process of washing, deodorizing, etc, that does eliminate the stains and the odors, but the irritation factor is pretty high.
We have gone hi tech with our latest attempt, which we put in place last Thursday. We bought a wireless security camera. I’d never used one of these things, so it’s been quite a learning experience. There are all kinds, with all kinds of features, so it took some time just to figure out what to get. I settled on a dLink DCS-942L cloud camera. The installation instructions were terrible, and the phone assistance so overwhelmed I never actually reached a human person. I kept at it and finally got it working.
The camera holds a 32GB micro-SD card (not included, of course, that cost extra) and has numerous and arcane settings. Ours is set for motion detection, and I was pretty pleased at it’s range. The camera can be placed anywhere in the house, or even our yard, as long as it has a power receptacle. We can monitor the video from any computer or even our smart phones. We don’t have to monitor it, though, since the camera automatically captures video whenever motion is detected, runs a one minute clip, and then waits for the next motion.
The video is black and white only, at 640x480 resolution, but the video is quite clear. It has night vision settings as well, but the default settings have worked just fine even with all the lights out. We can only monitor one room at a time, so we chose our front room, as all three pieces of furniture in that room - couch, love seat, and recliner, have been targeted by our phantom. I couldn’t get an angle that covered all three, though, so I settled on monitoring the couch and love seat.
Of course, the first couple of days all of our cats were perfect gentlemen and ladies. There was no spraying anywhere in the house. Then, yesterday morning, in broad daylight, the phantom struck - the recliner. The camera was not aimed at the recliner, and the phantom did not trigger the camera. Sigh.
Saturday morning we moved the camera around found another, better angle. The camera can now see all three pieces of furniture. We set our trap once again and, hopefully, we will nab our phantom.
Of course, we still don’t have an answer about what to do about it when we do catch our phantom.
Stay tuned ....
You all know we have cats. A lot of cats. We love them and we would never think about giving any of them up. Well, there was that time ... oh, and then there was this other time ... ok, maybe we THINK about throwing the whole lot of them out in the street to fend for themselves once in awhile - like every day - but then they’d just hang around and cause even more trouble. Honestly, though, they are like children to us and we take very good care of them.
I think I’ve already mentioned that we have to gone to extraordinary lengths to “cat-proof” our yard. No yard is really 100% cat-proof (unless you are Ernest Hemingway - his house and yards are surrounded by a ten foot concrete wall, and even today the house remains and his six toed cats still have the run of the place). What we’ve done is raised our six foot fence to seven feet using decorative lattice that the cats don’t particularly like. That hasn’t kept two of our more adventurous cats from still getting out of the yard by climbing our two gates (even though both have their front feet declawed).
Well, the city wasn’t going to let me build a ten foot fence, so my next step was to see if I could confuse the cats by making it “seem” like they couldn’t climb the gates. We tried various things that didn’t work. My most recent idea was to use shade cloth to cover the entire gate. The shade cloth hides all of the possible spots they could use to climb the gate, and it’s loose enough that if they try to climb it, the cloth moves. Cats don’t like that unstable feel. So far it’s been working, although they regularly sit by the gate, staring at it in deep thought. Or maybe they were getting ready to upchuck a hairball, it was hard to tell the difference.
We have indoor challenges as well. There are cats that get along with each other and cats that don’t. We have our older cats - Mom and the “kittens” we kept are now turning 13 - and the younger brood. Keeping the peace is a daily chore. For some time now we have been battling a phantom. Someone or someones, who we have not been able to pin down, has been spraying our furniture. You would not believe the things we’ve tried and still try to stop that. I don’t think there is a single idea we haven’t tried, with varying, but ultimately failed results. Clean up involves a several part process of washing, deodorizing, etc, that does eliminate the stains and the odors, but the irritation factor is pretty high.
We have gone hi tech with our latest attempt, which we put in place last Thursday. We bought a wireless security camera. I’d never used one of these things, so it’s been quite a learning experience. There are all kinds, with all kinds of features, so it took some time just to figure out what to get. I settled on a dLink DCS-942L cloud camera. The installation instructions were terrible, and the phone assistance so overwhelmed I never actually reached a human person. I kept at it and finally got it working.
The camera holds a 32GB micro-SD card (not included, of course, that cost extra) and has numerous and arcane settings. Ours is set for motion detection, and I was pretty pleased at it’s range. The camera can be placed anywhere in the house, or even our yard, as long as it has a power receptacle. We can monitor the video from any computer or even our smart phones. We don’t have to monitor it, though, since the camera automatically captures video whenever motion is detected, runs a one minute clip, and then waits for the next motion.
The video is black and white only, at 640x480 resolution, but the video is quite clear. It has night vision settings as well, but the default settings have worked just fine even with all the lights out. We can only monitor one room at a time, so we chose our front room, as all three pieces of furniture in that room - couch, love seat, and recliner, have been targeted by our phantom. I couldn’t get an angle that covered all three, though, so I settled on monitoring the couch and love seat.
Of course, the first couple of days all of our cats were perfect gentlemen and ladies. There was no spraying anywhere in the house. Then, yesterday morning, in broad daylight, the phantom struck - the recliner. The camera was not aimed at the recliner, and the phantom did not trigger the camera. Sigh.
Saturday morning we moved the camera around found another, better angle. The camera can now see all three pieces of furniture. We set our trap once again and, hopefully, we will nab our phantom.
Of course, we still don’t have an answer about what to do about it when we do catch our phantom.
Stay tuned ....
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Tuesday (1 Jan, 2013) - Yes Fist, There is a Sunwell
Tuesday (1 Jan, 2013) - Yes Fist, There is a Sunwell
Fist has been dealing with a lot of distractions lately on the RL side of things - there was the holidays, of course, but also work on the RV, new stickers for both cars and the RV, installing a home security system (in order to find out which of our cats has decided that litter boxes just don’t work for him or her), packing up the Christmas decorations, building a cat proof (HAH!) gate so the more adventurous will stay in the yard, and the list is still growing faster than I get to them.
So imagine Fist’s joy when Sunhands caught her in game trying to decide which packet of seeds to buy this time around - she’s been rather partial to squash, lately - and asked her if she would like to have some fun with Lao in Sunwell. That was a YES.
Sunwell Plateau is a level 70 raid dungeon that has some Bosses with unique abilities, which make things a little more interesting than a straight “just kill everything in sight” approach. With two level 90s and Sun at level 70, we didn’t think there would be any problems.
I suppose that Fist was technically the tank, but Fist was so scatter-brained even the “let’s just kill things and sort it out later” JB had to wince. After the third of fourth time Sun had to yell out “Kill the slayers first! The SLAYERS!” Fist started to get the message. Marking targets worked better, when Sun remembered to mark them and Fist remembered to look for them. Lao decided she would lead, most likely because it was safer to be far away from Sun and Fist.
We sort of got the hang of it after awhile. We killed the first boss, Kalecgos, but he refused to stay dead. The battle bugged on us. We managed to get past him later just by out running the poor, winded dragon. We also wiped once on the second boss, Brutallus, when Fist got hit with Burn. If there was a way to remove it, Fist couldn’t figure out how, and combined with additional fire damage from Meteor Slash ... well, Fist lasted quite awhile, and Lao even longer, but we eventually wiped. On the second round Brutallus died.
Sun picked up a pair of pants he really wanted. Fist tried to steal them (you know all about the clothes horse Fist), but she eventually gave them up so that Sun could look impressive in the pvp battlegrounds.
When we had that wipe of Brutallus, it was suggested that Fist switch to healing, but Fist had forgotten to bring along her healing gear, having set it aside to carry all of those seed packets and bags of vegetables and fish she always has. Fist had to admit that lugging around seeds, veggies, and fish was even worse than having four sets of clothes. She managed to find room in her bags for her healing set and will be ready should she get another chance.
Lao also had a new installment on the Dominion Offensive:
Lao did not see this coming, but at the same time she is not too surprised. To catch all parties up: as Lao thought, there was an invasion of Darnassus but just a solo one. The Sunrevers, a neutral faction that co-existed with the Silver Covenant in Daralan, broke their neutrality and helped the Horde retrieve the Bell. They set up a camp right outside the gates of Darnassus and cloaked Lao so she could go in and retrieve the Bell.
Jaina, a top Alliance officer and mage, found out about this somehow and convinced the Silver Covenant to arrest all the Sunrevers. Lao set out for Daralan at once. Lao was in it for the long haul. She had to tell any still loose Sunrevers to make a run for it, without drawing the attention of the Covenant. Once this was done she had to give them a mode of escape by loosing the captured flying mounts. At this point there was no hiding her presence. She was to clear paths and kill any hindrances.
Grand Magister Rammath was leading the escape plans and routes. He had Lao go in and teleport all the VIPs out of the city and then it was saving Archmage Aethas Sunrever. Rammath, Aethas and Lao made a run for it. Jumping out of a tunnel leaving Daralan and arriving at Silvermoon to a bewildered Theron. Once the situation was explained Theron was enraged at the loss of life of his people in Hellscream’s quest for the Bell and also the Alliance’s actions.
"When will they ever see that the HORDE exists BECAUSE of the Alliance? Because of their prejudice and their bigotry!?" Theron fumed.
One of his commanders commented that they thought Theron would make a great warchief. To which Theron responded that it may come to that.
"Bring me my blades. The next move is mine." Theron said as he walked off.
Lao was at a loss, not knowing what would happen now, but in hopes that Vol'jin would write. He must have heard by now, so Lao rushed off to the closest mail box. She sighed in relief when she saw that there indeed was a letter, but it provided little guidance. Vol'jin was just as baffled. The Jaina he knew was a level headed thinker, not a person who desired the Bell as much as Hellscream. He was still to weak to travel but his desire for action was apparent.
Lao is leery of what is to come. Factions are falling apart, and others are becoming more angry and volatile. Some big changes are on the horizon and likely some large battles.
Fist has been dealing with a lot of distractions lately on the RL side of things - there was the holidays, of course, but also work on the RV, new stickers for both cars and the RV, installing a home security system (in order to find out which of our cats has decided that litter boxes just don’t work for him or her), packing up the Christmas decorations, building a cat proof (HAH!) gate so the more adventurous will stay in the yard, and the list is still growing faster than I get to them.
So imagine Fist’s joy when Sunhands caught her in game trying to decide which packet of seeds to buy this time around - she’s been rather partial to squash, lately - and asked her if she would like to have some fun with Lao in Sunwell. That was a YES.
Sunwell Plateau is a level 70 raid dungeon that has some Bosses with unique abilities, which make things a little more interesting than a straight “just kill everything in sight” approach. With two level 90s and Sun at level 70, we didn’t think there would be any problems.
I suppose that Fist was technically the tank, but Fist was so scatter-brained even the “let’s just kill things and sort it out later” JB had to wince. After the third of fourth time Sun had to yell out “Kill the slayers first! The SLAYERS!” Fist started to get the message. Marking targets worked better, when Sun remembered to mark them and Fist remembered to look for them. Lao decided she would lead, most likely because it was safer to be far away from Sun and Fist.
We sort of got the hang of it after awhile. We killed the first boss, Kalecgos, but he refused to stay dead. The battle bugged on us. We managed to get past him later just by out running the poor, winded dragon. We also wiped once on the second boss, Brutallus, when Fist got hit with Burn. If there was a way to remove it, Fist couldn’t figure out how, and combined with additional fire damage from Meteor Slash ... well, Fist lasted quite awhile, and Lao even longer, but we eventually wiped. On the second round Brutallus died.
Sun picked up a pair of pants he really wanted. Fist tried to steal them (you know all about the clothes horse Fist), but she eventually gave them up so that Sun could look impressive in the pvp battlegrounds.
When we had that wipe of Brutallus, it was suggested that Fist switch to healing, but Fist had forgotten to bring along her healing gear, having set it aside to carry all of those seed packets and bags of vegetables and fish she always has. Fist had to admit that lugging around seeds, veggies, and fish was even worse than having four sets of clothes. She managed to find room in her bags for her healing set and will be ready should she get another chance.
Lao also had a new installment on the Dominion Offensive:
Lao did not see this coming, but at the same time she is not too surprised. To catch all parties up: as Lao thought, there was an invasion of Darnassus but just a solo one. The Sunrevers, a neutral faction that co-existed with the Silver Covenant in Daralan, broke their neutrality and helped the Horde retrieve the Bell. They set up a camp right outside the gates of Darnassus and cloaked Lao so she could go in and retrieve the Bell.
Jaina, a top Alliance officer and mage, found out about this somehow and convinced the Silver Covenant to arrest all the Sunrevers. Lao set out for Daralan at once. Lao was in it for the long haul. She had to tell any still loose Sunrevers to make a run for it, without drawing the attention of the Covenant. Once this was done she had to give them a mode of escape by loosing the captured flying mounts. At this point there was no hiding her presence. She was to clear paths and kill any hindrances.
Grand Magister Rammath was leading the escape plans and routes. He had Lao go in and teleport all the VIPs out of the city and then it was saving Archmage Aethas Sunrever. Rammath, Aethas and Lao made a run for it. Jumping out of a tunnel leaving Daralan and arriving at Silvermoon to a bewildered Theron. Once the situation was explained Theron was enraged at the loss of life of his people in Hellscream’s quest for the Bell and also the Alliance’s actions.
"When will they ever see that the HORDE exists BECAUSE of the Alliance? Because of their prejudice and their bigotry!?" Theron fumed.
One of his commanders commented that they thought Theron would make a great warchief. To which Theron responded that it may come to that.
"Bring me my blades. The next move is mine." Theron said as he walked off.
Lao was at a loss, not knowing what would happen now, but in hopes that Vol'jin would write. He must have heard by now, so Lao rushed off to the closest mail box. She sighed in relief when she saw that there indeed was a letter, but it provided little guidance. Vol'jin was just as baffled. The Jaina he knew was a level headed thinker, not a person who desired the Bell as much as Hellscream. He was still to weak to travel but his desire for action was apparent.
Lao is leery of what is to come. Factions are falling apart, and others are becoming more angry and volatile. Some big changes are on the horizon and likely some large battles.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
