The Wild Family Eleventh New Year's Report for 2015

The Wild Family Eleventh New Year's Report for 2015

It's time for the annual review. Grab a cup of coffee, it's a long one.

The big news of 2015 was the latest expansion, Warlords of Draenor (WoD). Wild and family are thrust 35 years into the past, planted on a chunk of rock and embedded in an endless war. The centerpiece of the expansion is the new, personal Garrison which establishes a base of operations for individual characters and provides for almost every need. Suffice it to say that Draenor occupied us all for the entire year. Draenor will still be with us until Legion arrives, somewhere around September, 2016.

The year 2015 began with frustration. Wild was the first in the family to try his hand at establishing a Garrison. The best that could be said of that task is that Wild suffered through all of the mistakes so that the rest of the family could have a smoother transition.

It took Level 90 Wild 59 days to reach the new max level of 100. By then his garrison was more or less working - limping along, mostly. Perhaps annoyed by his garrison issues, Wild made some strange decisions.

Wild convinced the boosted Jocy into learning Herbalism and Alchemy, figuring they would be needed in Draenor. She took on the task, getting those two professions to level 600 and reaching level 93 in the process. She at least professed to have enjoyed the journey. That outlook would later change for the worse when it became clear that farming herbs was a waste of time since Garrison herb gardens could produce far more than farming. Jocy never bothered to finish leveling either profession.

Wild still thought he might return to raiding, an idea that would come and go numerous times over the course of the year, but which never got any further along than a couple of trips into the Proving Grounds.

Jocy and Fist endlessly challenged each other, making wagers on who would reach level 100 first. As March turned to April, both girls were neck and neck at level 95. In May Jocy began pulling away from Fist. On June 1st, Jocy hit level 100. Fist was still plugging away at level 97.
In late June Patch 6.2 launched, opening up the Tanaan Jungle in Draenor. Wild and Jocy were ready for the invasion into Taanan, but Fist still lagged behind.

Patch 6.2.1 came along in mid-July. Up until then only ground mounts were allowed in Tanaan. Flying mounts were off limits. Tanaan was now open to flying mounts, but there was still a catch. A series of achievements had to be completed before flying mounts could be used.

The grind to complete those achievements began. Little did Wild and Jocy know just how difficult reaching that goal would be. Wild soon gave up the effort and turned the task over to Jocy exclusively. It only required one of them to finish, and then all could get their mounts into the sky. So, on July 28th, Jocy laid out a specific, step by step plan to complete every element of the flying mount achievement called Draenor Pathfinder.

Jocy was the first to figure out that all those Garrison followers she was housing and feeding could be put to use. Specifically, Jocy learned that followers with the bodyguard trait could go to war alongside her. Suddenly, she had a partner to help with everything Jocy needed to do. Jocy had her choice of several bodyguards, and she chose Vivianne.

Around the beginning of August an impromptu pageant was held between Jocy and Fist on who had the best wardrobe ensembles. Both were stunning, but neither would compliment the other, and Wild hid from view until it was safe to return. Stalemate.

It's August 3rd and Jocy is working Pathfinder Part 5. Already frustrated with the Pathfinder grind, she explodes when Happy asks her to make some healing tonics.

"I HATE the Alchemy profession, and herbs give me hives and makes me sneeze. Why I agreed to take over the flower business from Jezzibel I'll never know."

Jocy pleads with JB. "JB! PLEASE take it back!" Jocy sneezes violently and rubs snot from her nose. "This may be a big mistake, but I want to unlearn alchemy and learn mining and Blacksmithing, even though I'll lose my alchemy trinket." JB smiled to herself, and took back her profession. JB quietly began making future plans.

Fist began leveling again at level 97 on August 9th in the Spires of Arak. She moved on to Nagrand for the final push. The rush ended in Lok-Roth twenty-three minutes after midnight on Sunday morning, August 15th. Plumrosefist earned Level 100, i601 gear level.

In late August Jocy suffered a meltdown with her bodyguard, Vivianne, who kept falling into misfortunes. So says Jocy: "Viv" has reached a point where she is more hazard than help. She's maxed out in weapons and gear, but she just doesn't have the stamina to last against the level and number of mobs Jocy is dealing with. Viv is usually already dead before Jocy really gets warmed up. That costs Jocy an hours time for her to resurrect, and it's easier to not even ask her to come along.

Jocy began looking for an alternative. She found another follower with the bodyguard trait, Aeda Brightdawn. The little warlock was enthusiastic but lacked basic common sense, her outlandish wings kept getting in the way, and a frustrated Jocy had to toss her out. Jocy turned away from the flighty bodyguard and took a chance on hiring Leo, a powerfully built lion-like shaman bodyguard with healing abilities. Leo lasted one day before Jocy fired him. Hmm, one wonders if the problem is the bodyguard, or Jocy?

At the end of August Jocy was still grinding out Pathfinder, but there was at least the glimmering that the long journey was coming to an end. Wild, who had largely stayed out of the way, weighed a number of decisions that had been on his mind.

Wild quietly gave up his patriarch's role and turned the family leadership over to Jocy. Jocy's first act was to tell everyone that Patriarch was a fine title for Wild, but one better not refer to her as Matriarch. With Wild's acquiescence, Jocy is cleaning house in preparation for the next expansion.

Ten family members make up the current active account, including: Happyface, Jocelyne, Wildshard, Plumrosefist, Jezzibel, Phillyperdue, Chaitee, and Tiphaine. Sistaphilia will also come over from the inactive account, and there is the new demon hunter spot as well.

Five family members currently residing in the inactive account are now considered retired, but will remain on the account (Bruiserbabe, Beanoevil, Hapless, Alwayslost, and Mewgoogaipan).

The next move will be a difficult but necessary one. Wild is glad that it's Jocy having to make such a decision. Javajoo, Merylitlbotm, and Hearnoevils currently reside on the active account. Once the above changes are put into place, however, there will not be enough room for everyone, even with the addition of a 12th spot (which will be held for the demon hunter). Javajoo and Merylitlbotm will be able to stay on, at least for the time being. They have to know their spots are shaky. Unfortunately, that leaves no place for Hearnoevils.

Hearnoevils got some support from Beanoevils and Chaitee, asking Jocy to activate the second account. Jocy nixed that right away. There will be only one active account and only twelve active family members. The only hope is that the gods of WoW decide to pay a transaction fee and move Hearnoevils to the inactive account. All in all, it's possible that Mery, Java, and Hearnoevils could all be permanently retired.

JB was so angry at the decisions being made she ran amuck for several days, working through her fury by improving her level from 85 to 87. Her defiant manner continues to grow, worrying many in the family, though Jocy has ignored the whole outburst. The fact that JB, in her younger years, fought ferociously as a mail wearing, dual blade wielding, Enchancement Shaman was not lost on Jocy. They just might need her one day.

On the positive side the family got a flying mount upgrade, adding the Dread Raven as an upgraded Raven Lord, Wild's favorite mount. Even better, Jocy finally settled on Tormmok as her full time bodyguard, having fired Vivianne, Aeda, and Leo. Tormmok is a keeper.

On October 8th, Jocy finally finished Draenor Pathfinder. The skies are now open to flying mounts for the Level 100s!

Less than a week after Jocy's mammoth Pathfinder success, the reclusive Tiphaine suddenly came back on the scene. Tiphaine has a very nasty history, and has transformed herself at least twice. Who knows what motivates her actions? Not even her daughter, Fist, can say what her mother's ultimate goals are.

The facts, however, can't be denied. Tiphaine returned at level 72 and has seen only one expansion, The Burning Crusade, where the level cap is 70. She is four expansions behind and might still be short when the NEXT expansion arrives, Legion, which would raise the cap to 110. The possibility of a "Boost" maneuver could get her quickly to level 90. If Jocy gives her enough leveling time, she could follow Wild, Jocy, and Fist to level 100.

What is Tiphaine up to? Should Tiphaine come out of the shadows again? Remember, real characters died permanent deaths the last time she rose into action.

Tiphaine does return to action. See the post:

http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2015/10/tiphaine-begins-her-journey.html

In early November, Tiphaine reached level 100 with surprisingly little fuss. However, she had a few thoughts about the new Demon Hunter Class: "Demon Hunters?" Tiphaine mused aloud. "I'd say this new Hero class is no more than a pale copy of the original (note that Tiphaine is a Death Knight, the first Hero Class). A "hunter" that can't use ranged weapons? A demon that leaps backward away from the enemy instead of facing it?" She shook her head. "These demon hunters are toys, and when the time comes my daughter Fist will prove just how easily she can take them apart."
And now Fist has something to worry about, too.

Personal Bests and Raid Info

The Wild family grew to four level 100s this year:
Name         Gear    Followers
Jocy           i693    24/25
Tiphaine    i653    22/25
Wild          i653    21/25
Fist            i660    19/25

Guild Review (What there is of it)

Home: Happyface continues to run a successful business from his guild, The Order of the Dragon. On the Alliance side, Chaitee is the guildmaster and caretaker of the guild Tea Green. What only a few others knew until now is that the Wild family has a second horde guild. When Tiphaine was still calling herself Naithipe, she took over another guild from a guildmaster who no longer wanted it (rumors say it was a forced transaction). Tiphaine's guild is called Knights Templarr. She is the only member.

Summary: Fate Sealed (FS) was Wild's first true raiding guild. Mostly a fun and casual raiding guild, it had a small contingent of super raiders. Wild would still be in FS if he hadn't been forced out of the guild by Kikz when the uber raiders were trying to become a top tier raiding guild. Wild didn't meet Kikz's standards. Wild loved FS, but followed other friends to join the Mayhem guild. When Mayhem fractured, Wild followed his friends into Meitha. So, Wild moved from FS to Mayhem, then to Meitha, and has been a happy member there ever since. Meitha is a casual raiding guild, mostly interested in enjoying the experience and playing with friends. It appears that FS remains a formidable raiding guild.

On the downside Rhonna's Warchild (WC) guild shows some slippage. The guild did gain a small number of new recruits, but it wasn't enough to stop a fall off in raiding or the complete failure to get a single boss down in HFC. Mayhem was already failing last year, and is now gone. Mayhem spawned Meitha when the guild fractured. The two guilds competed against each other, and now there is only Meitha.

 Raids: Note that raid success is determined by checking on the activity of key guildies.

Meitha (MM2) - Guild Leader Talatiana, plus Porkkchopp & Grrbaby
    - 479 total members (down from 486, minus 7)
    - 140 level 100s (up from 76, plus 64)

    Highmaul (LFR/Normal/Heroic) - 7/7, 5/7, 4/7
    Blackrock Foundry (LFR/Normal/Heroic) - 10/10, 0/0, 0/0
    Hellfire Citadel (LFR/Normal/Heroic) - 13/13, 0/0, 0/0

Fate Sealed (FS) - Guild Leader Ramux, plus many others (Frohgurt, Muximus, Kikz, Lagaris). Wild counts all of these folks as friends, and very glad that the guild is still active. Based on the numbers below, the guild grew significantly this past year. This is the only guild which got into Mythic level raids.
    - 213 total members (up from 176, plus 37)
    - 90 level 100s (up from 36, plus 54)

FS is a very active raid with a top notch group. LFR is taken for granted so it isn't listed.
    Highmaul (Normal/Heroic/Mythic) - 6/7, 4/7, 0/0
    Blackrock Foundry (Normal/Heroic/Mythic) - 10/10, 0/0, 0/0
    Hellfire Citadel (Normal/Heroic/Mythic) - 13/13, 13/13, 2/13

Warchild (WC) - Grymshot Guild Leader (aka Rhonna), Amevia 2nd. Rhonna was Wild's first raid leader, guild leader, and a good friend who taught me a lot. I wonder how this guild is doing, given poor results in BRF and not a single boss down in HFC.

    - 72 total members (up from 69, plus 3)
    - 28 level 100s (up from 18, plus 10)
    Highmaul (Normal/Heroic/Mythic) - 7/7, 5/7, 0/0
    Blackrock Foundry (Normal/Heroic/Mythic) - 4/10, 0/0, 0/0
    Hellfire Citadel (Normal/Heroic/Mythic) - 0/0, 0/0, 0/0

Mayhem (MM) - The Mayhem guild that is now in Silvermoon is not the Mayhem guild that Wild once was a part of. It has been replaced with no recognizable characters. The former guild leaders, Whiteblade and Kira, no longer exist.

Wild has not stepped into a live raid since May 10th, 2012.

Great Heart, Questionable Intellect

Great Heart, Questionable Intellect

JB's Alliance friend, UB, got it right when she heard that JB was heading back into Naxxramas for the second time. "I admire JB's heart," UB stated, "but question her intellect."

In last night's raid JB focused on the Construct Quarter. The first raid boss in this quarter is Patchwerk. What a nightmare that ugly, smelly monster was back in the day. Getting to him required killing a bunch of mobs, which JB had no trouble with. She also had to jump a flowing gulley of very nasty goo. The smallest touch (when the back of her heel touched the goo when she jumped over it) brought her health down to 2%. That was close. JB then sidestepped the moving drops of goo in the lane that Patchwerk paces. The battle was anti-climactic as JB shut him down in under ten seconds. So much for the nightmare that Wild used to wrestle with on a weekly basis.

Getting to the next two bosses required walking a narrow, winding pipe. Wild was always terrified he would fall, which was instant death and cost the raid a lot of time. JB was more sure footed and traversed the pipe without issue, and very quickly two more bosses, Gluth and Grobbulus, went down. One of them is a giant sized dog, and JB actually felt sorry for the pup.

Then came the final boss in this quarter, Thaddius. Wild has nightmare's about this one, too. There are two adds to kill, on platforms that require jumping one platform to another. Fall short, and the deadly water below will kill you in a few seconds. JB killed the adds but failed to make the leap to Thaddius's platform on the first try (the timing is very tricky). She survived the deadly water by using her walk on water talent and clambered back out for another try. Lightning strikes from the boss kept disrupting JB's attempts to make that leap, and the hits were actually causing disturbing damage.
"Hell with this," JB muttered, "what's the worst that can happen?" She jumped. She didn't make it.

Splash.

Sigh. JB hearthed home. But it doesn't look like she's giving up.

If Jocy Can, So Will I

If Jocy Can, So Will I

Edit Update - This Naxx clear was done by Wildshard, not Jocy. How I mixed that up . . . well,  it sure stirred things up in the Wild family until it was straightened out.

Jocy recently soloed the Level 83 Elite raid dungeon, Naxxramas. Jocy, of course, is a Level 100 with raid level gear (i693) and waltzed through the place. Jocy had fun, but she also picked up enough frostweave for Wild to make four bags.

When Jezzibel (JB) announced that she, too, was going to solo Naxxramas, there were some scratching of heads and questioning looks. JB, at level 87, is five levels above Naxx, but she's 13 levels below Jocy. JB's gear is also significantly below Jocy's: i693 vs i421. Those facts didin't deter JB.

She began in the Arachnid wing, just as Jocy did. JB struggled with her weaponry and spell casting at the beginning. She is out of shape. Still, JB got through that wing and took out the three spider bosses found there. It was messy and JB had to heal herself at times, but she got it done.

JB moved on to the Military Wing and did a good job slaughtering all the hired help. JB wanted to try her hand at Instructor Razuvious, and the two other elites with him. When Wild was doing ten mans in Naxx it was hell getting him down, which we sometimes managed and on other night's we failed. Jocy so overwhelms this raid that she was able to kill Razuvious without resorting to the mind control trickery normally required from a raid group. JB found out the hard way that blunt force was not good enough against three boss level elites. JB killed one of the elites before dying. She reincarnated and the other two were on her immediately. Even with a surviving elite hanging on her, she managed to beat Razuvious down to 15% before she died a second time.

Finding her way through Naxx to the distant graveyard was too much trouble, so JB called it a night and hearthed home. There was some hope that running Naxx would help her leveling, but the gain was minimal. Entering Naxx, JB was level 87 +67% of the way to level 88. When she returned home she was still level 87 and +72% of the way to level 88, earning only 5% total toward the next level.

JB is not discouraged. Further forays might yet get her to level 88 - if she was determined to go back in there. The Plague Quarter and the Construct Quarter await her.

Naxxramas Plundered

Naxxramas Plundered

Edit Update: I mistakenly have Jocy listed at completing the Naxxramas run when in fact it was Wildshard who did the clearing. Wild is level 100 with i653 gear. Wild made great use of his mass kill weapons such as Hurricane and Wild's great healing strength to bring down gobs of mobs at once and down the bosses while staying alive.

Naxxramas is one of the great raid dungeons. In Wild's heyday as a raider, tackling the many levels and bosses of the huge fortress was a formidable task. Four main wings held an array of deadly horrors, plus a bonus wing if we cleared the other four. Our raids of ten and sometimes 25 raiders were lucky to clear two chambers in an evening of combat, taking many hours and numerous deaths.

Wild returned to Naxxramas this week. His purpose was both nostalgia and practical. His level and his gear far surpasses the old place, so there was little personal danger. Wild can one-shot anything in there except for the bosses. The bosses, too, went down, just a little more slowly. It is now a place for farming frostweave cloth to make bags. Wild also hoped to pick up some old gear to finish his gear sets.

I plan to run Naxxramas again in the near future and video tape it to give readers a chance to see what the place looks like. These old raid dungeons are truly awesome. A lot of work went into the look and feel of the raid, and the monsters we fought were truly fierce in their time. Wild did a full clear, except for the final, optional boss, Kel'Thuzad. I lacked a key quest or achievement to be able to take him on. Maybe next time. It brought back awesome memories, that's for sure.

Grasping at Straws

Grasping at Straws

In recent weeks there has been a rather desperate attempt to maintain interest in the goings on of the Wild Family. November was a very bad month.

[] Fist was dragged out of her cocoon and pushed to get out of the garrison and do something "useful."
[] Tiphaine made desultory efforts to upgrade her garrison.
[] Jocy made a half hearted attempt at getting "raid ready," going so far as shaking the dust off her Holy Paladin spec.
[] Wild? Just follow the sound of snoring.

Happy is losing gold every day. The market has gone crazy stupid, selling goods for less than it costs to make them. Insane, but the prices keep falling on many of the goods Happy depends on, and no one wants to consider going back to the desperately dull process of farming materials.

The latest effort to force activity by hunting down a bunch of garrison followers was met with a tepid response.

The doldrums are truly here.

Bored with Warcraft, I can usually turn to sports for a pickmeup. The San Diego Chargers (that's a football team by the way) finally won a game last week. Not that it matters much. The team has a 3-8 record and is blatantly trying to move the team to Los Angeles despite pretty strong local fan support. Los Angeles hasn't had an NFL football team in 20 years, which should say something about the caliber of fans there, but the Chargers think they're the team that will ignite the supposed huge, slavering fan base in LA. If it weren't for quarterback Phillip Rivers (a great guy, always the optimist, eight kids to feed, and HOF caliber player) there'd be no reason to watch the Chargers play.

Winter baseball talk is growing with spring training only three months away. The San Diego Padres made a big splash last season, hiring a high energy general manager (AJ Preller) and given a wad of money to remake a team that usually lives on food stamps. Preller bought some big time talent and fans were buzzing. The buzz had fizzled before mid-season and the team finished 74-88. Now the team has traded away most of the stars they'd paid big money for, and are now trading away some of the better and most appreciated players that are left in order to build up their minor league system (which Preller decimated to get those big name players). The main lament is not so much about being a bad team (Padres fans are very used to losing) and more about seeing fan favorites traded away for what seems little in return.

San Diego has a soccer team, too. I tried to get some information, but the loading page for their website takes as long to load as a soccer game (do soccer games ever end?). I had to go to Wikepedia. I know nothing about soccer leagues, but it says that in 2015 they were 1st in the West-Southern NPSL league division semi-finals but didn't qualify for the Open Cup. Whatever that means. Doesn't soccer keep track of wins and losses?

Hmm, maybe I can find a rugby league in San Diego . . . ok, never mind.

Finding Followers

Finding Followers

Happy is glum in a down cycle for the Auction House. Nothing to do but wait it out, which leaves him with little to do. Jocy and Tiphaine are bored silly earning apexis crystals et al and do nothing but putter about the garrison. Wild's single contribution of the day was to tear down his Spirit Lodge, which turned out to be less than worthless to him, and built a War Mill. Despite Wild being the first to get a garrison, his followers lack even the basic gear. With the War Mill he can start making improvements. Fist is active within her garrison, but even she feels the duldrums blanketing the family.

While the family frets, I decided to make a full accounting of garrison followers and see if I can get all four of the level 100s to the current follower max of 25.

Jocy has the most followers with 23, Tiphaine with 20, Wild with 19, and Fist with 18. I have a chart that shows who has which followers.

There are only eight followers that all four have in their garrisons: Ahm, Kimzee, Lantressor, Mulverick, Olin, Rala, Ulna, and Vivianne.

The total number of known followers in the family is 32. There are many more followers that none of the family has, but for now I'll focus just on getting all of the family to the 25 limit using those followers we do have.

The Plan is to just go alphabetically. If a follower proves difficult to get I'll just skip him and move on. There are far more followers than room to collect them, so I'm hoping it won't take long to max out.

What about getting the best followers instead of the easiest? No, because my experience is that at this level there is little difference in which specific followers are used in missions, as long as there is enough with the right stats to fill that mission. Quantity trumps talent in my view, except where a follower has minimal traits and abilities, but I can't control that, or change the limit of 25 total active followers. The best followers have a total of five traits and abilities, the worst have only two. PS - Yes, I know there are those who put a lot of work into follower missions and that there are some pretty nice things available if one wanted to put in a lot of extra time and effort. Maybe a time will come to pursue that, but for now the family is just trying to manage what they can manage.  Missions have on occasion provided gear upgrades, which is nice, so getting followers into the higher ranks is needed for those upgrades to appear.

Tiphaine's followers are particularly bad. She has only one follower with five traits and abilities (I call them"Fives"). Of the rest, she has 16 Threes and three Twos. That is a miserable combination. Fortunately, her one Five is Tormmok, for whom Tiphaine is very, very pleased to have. Without Mock she would have wound up with bodyguard Vivianne, who is only a Three.

Tiphaine, of course, wants to get more and better followers, but for some reason she was stuck at a max of 20, instead of the 25 the others have. Hmmm. I was curious what would happen if Tiphaine went out and brought back a twenty-first follower. How would that be handled? I quickly found out. Tiphaine brought back Abu'gar, an easy follower to pick up that Fist had found. Abu'gar joined the list of followers without a problem, and Tiphaines follower list showed 21/20, one over her max. What changed is the follower list turned RED and all missions were shut down. Uh Oh.

After doing some research I learned that we can have as many followers as we want, but the maximum that can be activated is 25. So why is Tiphaine's followers limited to 20? Tiphaine forgot to build up her Barracks to level three, that's why. That was an easy fix, and her followers now show as 21/25. All is well. I also learned that followers can be deactivated, so, for example, if a 26th follower is added a follower could be deactivated. There is no limit on how many deactivated followers one has. Any follower can be re-activated by paying 240 gold.

Adding followers is a time consuming process, but eventually every family member should have every follower that's been found.