Weekend (9 Jan) - Moping Around
Friday - Throne of the Tides Raid
Wild was one of ten guildies signed up for the Throne of the Tides 10 man raid on Friday night. Since the Baradin Hold raid did not go off last Tuesday, the Friday raid would be the first for the guild since Cata. There were about six guildies signed up as tentative, but when Wild logged in at 5:45pm things looked pretty good.
There was a Heroic Deadmines in progress, so Wild opened vent to listen in on how it was going. It was rough slogging, that was for sure. The bosses were extremely tough, and the group was taking their time, learning from their wipes, and being persistent. It was fun to listen in and tie in what they were doing in Heroic with the Level 15-16 Deadmines that Kiren and Sista did the night before.
While waiting for word on the Thrones raid, Wild completed his third daily cooking quest and was able to buy his first cata cooking recipe. Cooking recipes used to be available via a lot of ways, including many that could be bought with a few silver or gold from vendors. In Burning Crusade the cooking daily was introduced, which was a way to earn some gold, cooking skill, and additional recipes. However, plenty of other recipes were available via other means as well. In WoTLK there were new cooking dailies and all of the good recipes had to be earned through the cooking dailies. Yet, leveling cooking was still possible using recipes from other sources. In Cata the cooking dailies are the ONLY way to level cooking and acquire Cata level recipes.
For a healer the best cata recipe is Pickled Guppy, which grants an additional 60 +int and 60 +sta. The Auction House sells them for 10g each. Given the number of times we could be wiping on bosses in the early going raids, a stack of twenty could be needed. That's 200g potentially for one night of raiding. It takes three chef's awards to buy one recipe. The Guppy recipe requires cooking skill of 475, so Wild would have to pick a lower end recipe at skill 450 (Wild's current skill), craft that recipe up to 475, earn three more chef's awards, and then he'd be able to get the recipe he really wanted. Wild decided on Grilled Mountain Trot as his first recipe. Wild had already been doing a little fishing for mountain trot, and had plenty on hand. They wouldn't go to waste, though. The trout grants 60 +haste and +sta, which was still a plus for Wild, although not as good as the guppies.
More time passed and no invites had been sent out for the Thrones raid. The raid leader, Tk, and Bd, who I assumed would tank, were in private conversation on vent and there were only two guildies in Uldum (where Thrones is located). There were also two guildies in the Deadmines run that was signed up as tentative for Thrones, so maybe they were also waiting for them. In the meantime Wild got his fishing daily done.
At 7pm there was still no word. Wild whispered Tk: "I haven't received an invite to the raid, and I did sign up for it. Just wondering where we stand."
It took a few minutes, but Tk responded: "i dont wana seem like a dick, but i didnt send you an invite because your gear isnt up to snuff :( i r sorry"
Wild wasn't a happy camper, but I let the boil come down to a simmer before responding: "k, np, would have appreciated hearing that an hour ago."
Information about the Friday raid was on the guild website, and there was nothing that said there was a minimum gear ilevel to get an invite. That was one issue. Wild was one of 10 guildies who signed up for the raid. There were some tentatives as well, but guild invites are based on who signs up and who is there and ready to raid. Wild met those criteria, along with the nine others that made the commitment. Some of the guildies that did get an invite had not signed up, or had signed up as tentative. That was the second thing. Finally, if you know you are not going to invite someone who signed up for the raid and was present, it is an obvious courtesy to let that person know right away, not an hour after we were asked to be in game. This is just an opinion, but I think the raid leader paid more attention to who was in game than who had signed up for his raid.
Wild was terribly annoyed, and went fishing in the Twilight Highlands to cool off. The positive result of that is that Wild now has plenty of guppies to make Pickled Guppies out of in three days when he can buy the recipe.
Wild did not hear anything back from Tk. A funny thing did happen around 8pm, just as Wild was deciding to logout. Bd whispered a question about Wild's gear ilevel.
Bk: "What ilvl is Wild sitting at again? i320 right? I know its pretty not-rdy for heroics."
Wild whispered back: "It's i330." Which, of course, meets the criteria for heroics. Although I've heard that PUG heroics have been known to boot anyone that hasn't gotten their gear score into the i340s.
However, it was pretty obvious that no one checked Wild's gear score before deciding I wasn't going to get an invite. At least Bd eventually asked, but that probably was because Wild made an issue of not getting any kind of notification. It was equally obvious that an i330 gear score wasn't going to get Wild in the raid.
By 8pm the raid was finally getting started. Wild could see nine guildies in Thrones or Uldum. I noted only two healers, and I would bet they'd want three, but they likely had a third already picked out. I checked every member of the raid. Eight of the raiders had ilvls between i336 and i346. Four were under i340. The ninth raider was at i330. He was a hunter, which could mean the ilvl they wanted was a little more forgiving of DPS than healers or tanks. The two likely healers were a shaman (i341) and a druid (i346).
This raid has already been designated as the G1 raid. The G2 raid will be run by Bd, although he hasn't decided where and when he will schedule it. I know how these things work. If you get in on the ground floor of these raids and don't totally blow it, you are pretty much a regular from the start. Although I did run with G1 for a time, Wild was never a full time regular, and my sense is that they will give priority to the G1 regulars. Wild was certainly a regular with G2. We'll see how that plays out.
Still bit annoyed by the whole thing, Wild logged out.
Saturday - Wild posted the following on the guild website:
I'm excited that we are starting to schedule raids. I also understand that there will be some growing pains in getting groups set up and determining when to raid and what to raid given that Cata gives us some choices.
That said, I have a couple questions about how raiding will be managed.
1) Is there a minimum ilevel gear score required as a condition of getting an invite? If there is, I'd like to know what level is considered acceptable.
2) Are raid invites based on those who signed up (as they have been in the past) or are sign ups going to be more a measure of interest, with invites based on who is in game regardless of sign ups? I just want to understand the selection process.
Thanks,
Wild
Wild was able to bolster his gear somewhat with an AH purchase of some i333 bracers (replacing i312 ones) and took a step back to improve my overall gear by letting go the i339 pvp shoulders and using the i333 Dragonmaw rep shoulders I have that with a socket that has the better stats. Wild's ilevel drifted up to i331.
The MM guild reached Level 10 Saturday morning. The new level 1-85 heirloom capes became available. Wild bought three of them - one with strength (to Java), one with agility (to Sista), and one with intelligence (to JB). They are account bound so only those under Wild's account can get them. Yet another reason Philly needs to start leveling soon, since once she makes level 85 she can get the capes for that account.
The perks to guild members have accumulated as the guild completes achievements and move up in level. Here are the current guild perks:
* buff duration increased by 50% from guild cauldrons
* 20% reduction in durability loss when you die
* 15 minute reduction in hearthstone cooldown
* 10% increase in xp for killing monsters and completing quests
* guild gets a bonus 5% money each time money is looted
* 5% increase in reputation gains
* 10% increase in mount speed (outside BGs/arenas)
Sunday - Wild worked on his Earthen Ring (ER) reputation. The reputation grind for this one is complex as there are quests in Deepholm, Vashj'ir and Twilight Highlands. The Vashj'ir quests were originally bugged and didn't offer the reputation. Since Wild had done those quests when they were bugged he got no credit for the rep. ER offers an i346 leg piece that Wild needs. It only requires Revered rep, but Wild is at 5763 of 12,000 needed and after a morning of questing I've run out of quests.
Since ilvl gear score is going to be a difference maker in getting invites to raids, Wild put together a gear upgrade strategy based on what he could reasonably expect to acquire short of Heroics. Wild's goal is to get to i340 before jumping into Heroics.
The list is in this order: Gear, ilvl, targeted replacement gear. The minimum ilvl I'm after is i333. A lot of Wild's gear lacks one key stat or another, so in some cases I won't improve my ilvl, but I'll improve the stats on the gear.
Head, i346, good to go
Neck, i333, Dragonmaw (DM) Exalted rep i359
Shldr, i333, Justice Pts (JP) i346 (probably out of reach)
Cloak, i333, Hall of Origination (HOO) drop, also i333
Chest, i325, i333 Grim Batol (GB) drop
Wrist, i333, nothing better available
Hand, i346, good to go
Waist, i318, i333 HOO, i346 JP, or i359 DM (exalted)
Legs, i333, i346 Earthen Ring (ER) Revered
Feet, i333, nothing better available
Ring, i346, good to go
Ring, i333, i346 ER Revered, i346 DM Revered
Trink, i325, i333 GB
Trink, i305, i316 BRC, i359 Hellscream's Reach Exalted
2H, i333, nothing better available
Relic, i316, i316 Vortex Pinnacle
The trinkets are a special case because right now +int is the best to have in both slots, regardless of ilvl. Wild has i333 trinkets, but they have +spi or mastery, not +int. Relics are relatively hard to come by, so there isn't much chance of an ilvl upgrade there, either. Wild noted two pieces of gear that could be purchased with justice points (JP), shoulders and belt. Wild needs to do two more random daily dungeons (one per day) to have enough JPs to buy one of those two items. Wild will be buying the belt, as it's both the obvious choice (being low ilvl), and because it has a better mix of stats than the shoulders. It would take more than a month to acquire enough JPs to buy the shoulders, too.
Wild's plan is to continue to work toward the above gear goals before jumping into Heroics or signing up for any more raids. What I'm hearing and observing from guildies who have attempted Heroic level dungeons is that they are nasty. The dungeons all have interesting and often complex mechanics that require every player in the group to be on the ball; failure of any one player at any point in a boss fight generally results in a wipe. Cata Heroics are definitely not WotLK Heroics. There are some guildies that have been lobbying for more Heroic dungeon runs, but the position of guild leadership is that if we want to run more Heroics, those that have reached that skill level need to help other guildies get to that level. There just aren't enough guildies with good enough gear yet.
Wild did learn that Bd is scheduling a raid for G2 on Wednesday. Wild is going to keep that evening open, but I am not signing up for the raid. I'm only interested in joining the raid if Wild is the best healer available, and I'm asked to help out. Otherwise, I'll just continue with normal dungeon runs and rep grinding if Wild doesn't get a better offer.
Sunday Night - Random Dungeons
Coming up in the next post.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Friday, January 7, 2011
Thursday (6 Jan) - Tea Party Time
Thursday (6 Jan) - Tea Party Time
The newest members of the alliance team made their first major foray since they arrived around the same time of the great cataclysm. Two members of the new race of worgen (level 13 priest Maiy and level 16 druid Sista) were joined by level 14 paladin dwarf Kiren. The plan was to rock the pvp world for a couple of hours. But there was already a problem. Sista spent a lot of time out picking flowers and working on her skinning skills and failed to remember that the new pvp brackets were only five levels each: 10-14 and 15-19. Sista was too old for the 10-14 bracket that Kiren and Maiy qualified for. Sista apologized for the screw up and offered a solution. Her sister Rakta, a hunter, was level 13. Rakta was pretty bored at Booty Bay, where all she did was work the alliance half of the neutral auction house business. She was anxious to see some real action. Chaitee even let her borrow her heirloom bow.
The three hooked up and joined in their first battle together against the Horde in Warsong Gulch. That first battle was a great victory for the alliance as we swept the horde 3-0. Rakta surprised herself with 8 killing blows, third best on the alliance team of ten, and almost beat out Kiren in total damage (7695, #1), coming in second (7645). A very auspicious start for the new team. Maiy led all alliance healers and did a fantastic job keeping both Kiren and Rakta alive.
We then moved on to Arathi Basin. Rakta tried to get a picture of the threesome, but she is not much good with a camera. She captured herself and Kiren, but all she got of Maiy was the tip of her staff. Sorry about that, said Rakta.
None of us were sorry about the results of the match, though, as we powered our way through the horde and took the victory. Kiren totally embarrassed the horde, stomping them with an awesome 10,289 damage (#1) while Maiy again led in healing. Rakta? Well, she contributed in 65 honorable kills, good for third best among the alliance.
Back to Warsong Gulch, Kiren accomplished another milestone by winning the Ironman achievement when he captured and capped all three flags in another 3-0 victory! There were 95 killing blows for the alliance. The team of Kiren, Maiy and Rakta accounted for 23 of them while one other unbelievable hunter got 52 KBs all by himself. The remaining six players contributed the other 20 KBs.
There was a third WSG, but who wants to end on a down note. The new team was 2-1 in WSG battles and 1-0 in AB for a 3-1 record overall.
The focus then shifted to random dungeons. Rakta reluctantly retired for the evening. She had gotten close to level 14 and may get some time to reach that level. She did make a trip to Stormwind to find the hunter trainer, but that is another story.
The big story was the assault on Ragefire Chasm. Maiy had also retired for the evening, so the team was Kiren, Sista, and three more from the dungeon finder. The level 15-16 dungeon has four bosses and is basically the starter dungeon for horde since it is located within the city walls of Orgrimmar. With the dungeon finder, though, the team of five alliance was teleported directly into RFC.
We got off to a rough start. Even though Sista was a druid, she was specced for feral and had signed up as a DPS melee (cat form). The hunter in our group was the highest level at 17 and thought he could tank as well as DPS. The hunter kept pulling targets, ignoring Kiren's marks and the assignments he made as the tank. We muddled through some of the trash mobs without any deaths, but it was clear something was wrong - even more wrong than the overly aggressive hunter. No one was healing except Kiren, who was trying to both tank and keep himself alive without any help.
Kiren asked if Sista would heal, and she gave it her best shot. Sista was able to keep Kiren alive, but every fight would drain her mana down to almost zero. At that pace, with constant pausing to drink to restore mana, we'd be there all night. The supposed healer was not answering our questions and we booted him. The new healer we got a short time later was good and once we engaged again things moved pretty fast.
As many times as Wild, Happy, and others have been in RFC, you'd think we'd know how to find all the bosses. We killed Taragamen, then hunted around to find Jergosh and Bazzalan, but we forgot about Ogglefint, who hides in a dark room at the end of a dead end passage. Not a big deal, though, as we got credit for completing the dungeon anyway and Oggleflint doesn't even drop any loot. Kiren and Sista led in dealing damage, and no one was ever remotely close to dying. We could probably three man it, although it would take longer.
Kiren asked if the group wanted to run another dungeon. One player left, but the rest stayed and we added a fifth. As expected, we were sent to the Deadmines next. The Deadmines is a level 15-16 dungeon that is the defacto starter dungeon for the alliance. Pre-Cata this dungeon could also be done by horde as it was protected only by low level mobs that could be killed or avoided. Post-Cata there is now a level 85 heroic version of the Deadmines, and the area is protected by heavy duty alliance elites that will keep most horde away from the Deadmines except through the dungeon finder.
There are five bosses in the Deadmines. I've done Deadmines a few times, but it had been awhile. It seemed to me that there are fewer mobs now, and again we had little problem pushing through the instance. The bosses required some time to kill, and some of the mechanics have changed (for the better, I think), but were not difficult. Again, we could probably three man it. It was pretty fun to do as well. If I recall I believe that there are four quests that you get in the Deadmines. We picked up the first one at the entrance and then were given new ones as we killed each boss. I think Kiren broke his quest chain after the first boss and didn't get any of those quests.
As for loot, I saw a LOT of weapons drop. Maybe that's because Sista has an heirloom dagger and no need of another weapon, so it bugged her every time one dropped. Sista also had a blue cape she'd won in a quest, and ended the evening with three more blue capes, only one of which she rolled on. She now has a healing and a feral cape, which is good, and vendored the other two. I think Kiren had better luck with his gear, though. Kiren and Sista finished #1 and #2 in damage again. Kiren reached level 17 and Sista level 18.
I thought it would be nice to record the damage data for our first two dungeons. Overall, Kiren led with 50.7 DPS and 39.4% of all damage. Sista was 2nd with 39.5 DPS and 23.4%.
Sista's Damage breakdown (the percentage is the percent of damage done by that ability, the (#) is the count of the times that ability was used):
Melee - 43.3% (1045)
Rake (DoT) - 18.5% (178)
Ferocious Bite - 17.1% (111)
Claw - 11.1% (182)
Sista's basic attack rotation was Claw - Rake - Ferocious bite (which is a finishing move); melee was automatically used in between while waiting on cooldowns.
Kiren's damage breakdown:
Avenging Shield - 29.9% (210)
Melee - 28% (615)
Crusader Strike - 20% (389)
Judgement of Righteousness - 9.8% (175)
Seal of Righteousness - 8.1% (856)
Thorns - 4.3% (104)
Thorns was interesting, since that is cast on the tank by a druid (usually the healer). That's pretty good damage for a spell that only lasts 15 seconds, has to be re-applied, and has a fairly high mana cost.
The newest members of the alliance team made their first major foray since they arrived around the same time of the great cataclysm. Two members of the new race of worgen (level 13 priest Maiy and level 16 druid Sista) were joined by level 14 paladin dwarf Kiren. The plan was to rock the pvp world for a couple of hours. But there was already a problem. Sista spent a lot of time out picking flowers and working on her skinning skills and failed to remember that the new pvp brackets were only five levels each: 10-14 and 15-19. Sista was too old for the 10-14 bracket that Kiren and Maiy qualified for. Sista apologized for the screw up and offered a solution. Her sister Rakta, a hunter, was level 13. Rakta was pretty bored at Booty Bay, where all she did was work the alliance half of the neutral auction house business. She was anxious to see some real action. Chaitee even let her borrow her heirloom bow.
The three hooked up and joined in their first battle together against the Horde in Warsong Gulch. That first battle was a great victory for the alliance as we swept the horde 3-0. Rakta surprised herself with 8 killing blows, third best on the alliance team of ten, and almost beat out Kiren in total damage (7695, #1), coming in second (7645). A very auspicious start for the new team. Maiy led all alliance healers and did a fantastic job keeping both Kiren and Rakta alive.
We then moved on to Arathi Basin. Rakta tried to get a picture of the threesome, but she is not much good with a camera. She captured herself and Kiren, but all she got of Maiy was the tip of her staff. Sorry about that, said Rakta.
None of us were sorry about the results of the match, though, as we powered our way through the horde and took the victory. Kiren totally embarrassed the horde, stomping them with an awesome 10,289 damage (#1) while Maiy again led in healing. Rakta? Well, she contributed in 65 honorable kills, good for third best among the alliance.
Back to Warsong Gulch, Kiren accomplished another milestone by winning the Ironman achievement when he captured and capped all three flags in another 3-0 victory! There were 95 killing blows for the alliance. The team of Kiren, Maiy and Rakta accounted for 23 of them while one other unbelievable hunter got 52 KBs all by himself. The remaining six players contributed the other 20 KBs.
There was a third WSG, but who wants to end on a down note. The new team was 2-1 in WSG battles and 1-0 in AB for a 3-1 record overall.
The focus then shifted to random dungeons. Rakta reluctantly retired for the evening. She had gotten close to level 14 and may get some time to reach that level. She did make a trip to Stormwind to find the hunter trainer, but that is another story.
The big story was the assault on Ragefire Chasm. Maiy had also retired for the evening, so the team was Kiren, Sista, and three more from the dungeon finder. The level 15-16 dungeon has four bosses and is basically the starter dungeon for horde since it is located within the city walls of Orgrimmar. With the dungeon finder, though, the team of five alliance was teleported directly into RFC.
We got off to a rough start. Even though Sista was a druid, she was specced for feral and had signed up as a DPS melee (cat form). The hunter in our group was the highest level at 17 and thought he could tank as well as DPS. The hunter kept pulling targets, ignoring Kiren's marks and the assignments he made as the tank. We muddled through some of the trash mobs without any deaths, but it was clear something was wrong - even more wrong than the overly aggressive hunter. No one was healing except Kiren, who was trying to both tank and keep himself alive without any help.
Kiren asked if Sista would heal, and she gave it her best shot. Sista was able to keep Kiren alive, but every fight would drain her mana down to almost zero. At that pace, with constant pausing to drink to restore mana, we'd be there all night. The supposed healer was not answering our questions and we booted him. The new healer we got a short time later was good and once we engaged again things moved pretty fast.
As many times as Wild, Happy, and others have been in RFC, you'd think we'd know how to find all the bosses. We killed Taragamen, then hunted around to find Jergosh and Bazzalan, but we forgot about Ogglefint, who hides in a dark room at the end of a dead end passage. Not a big deal, though, as we got credit for completing the dungeon anyway and Oggleflint doesn't even drop any loot. Kiren and Sista led in dealing damage, and no one was ever remotely close to dying. We could probably three man it, although it would take longer.
Kiren asked if the group wanted to run another dungeon. One player left, but the rest stayed and we added a fifth. As expected, we were sent to the Deadmines next. The Deadmines is a level 15-16 dungeon that is the defacto starter dungeon for the alliance. Pre-Cata this dungeon could also be done by horde as it was protected only by low level mobs that could be killed or avoided. Post-Cata there is now a level 85 heroic version of the Deadmines, and the area is protected by heavy duty alliance elites that will keep most horde away from the Deadmines except through the dungeon finder.
There are five bosses in the Deadmines. I've done Deadmines a few times, but it had been awhile. It seemed to me that there are fewer mobs now, and again we had little problem pushing through the instance. The bosses required some time to kill, and some of the mechanics have changed (for the better, I think), but were not difficult. Again, we could probably three man it. It was pretty fun to do as well. If I recall I believe that there are four quests that you get in the Deadmines. We picked up the first one at the entrance and then were given new ones as we killed each boss. I think Kiren broke his quest chain after the first boss and didn't get any of those quests.
As for loot, I saw a LOT of weapons drop. Maybe that's because Sista has an heirloom dagger and no need of another weapon, so it bugged her every time one dropped. Sista also had a blue cape she'd won in a quest, and ended the evening with three more blue capes, only one of which she rolled on. She now has a healing and a feral cape, which is good, and vendored the other two. I think Kiren had better luck with his gear, though. Kiren and Sista finished #1 and #2 in damage again. Kiren reached level 17 and Sista level 18.
I thought it would be nice to record the damage data for our first two dungeons. Overall, Kiren led with 50.7 DPS and 39.4% of all damage. Sista was 2nd with 39.5 DPS and 23.4%.
Sista's Damage breakdown (the percentage is the percent of damage done by that ability, the (#) is the count of the times that ability was used):
Melee - 43.3% (1045)
Rake (DoT) - 18.5% (178)
Ferocious Bite - 17.1% (111)
Claw - 11.1% (182)
Sista's basic attack rotation was Claw - Rake - Ferocious bite (which is a finishing move); melee was automatically used in between while waiting on cooldowns.
Kiren's damage breakdown:
Avenging Shield - 29.9% (210)
Melee - 28% (615)
Crusader Strike - 20% (389)
Judgement of Righteousness - 9.8% (175)
Seal of Righteousness - 8.1% (856)
Thorns - 4.3% (104)
Thorns was interesting, since that is cast on the tank by a druid (usually the healer). That's pretty good damage for a spell that only lasts 15 seconds, has to be re-applied, and has a fairly high mana cost.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Tuesday (4 Jan) - It Comes and it Goes
Tuesday (4 Jan) - It Comes and it Goes
Over the past six days Wild has made numberless changes to his gear. That is nothing unusual, particularly early on in an expansion. What was both frustrating and kind of funny was watching the numbers change on his gear without doing anything at all to them.
On 30 Nov 2010 Wild's gear sheet listed his average ilevel as i321. As Wild has said way more times than he needs to, the magic number is i329, when Wild will be able to sign up for random Heroic mode dungeons. On 2 Jan 2011 Wild spent 2200 justice points for a new helm, and earned additional gear when he reached Revered with the Mount Hyjal faction. Those items plus a few more adjustments and Wild's score jumped to i327. On 3 Jan Wild replaced his last pre-cata piece of gear, an i264 +135 int trinket, with an i305 +194 int trinket. Wild's score notched up two more points to the magic i329. Wild went so far as to check the dungeon finder. Sure enough, Wild was now capable of running random Heroics. WOOT!
Later that day Wild noticed that his chest piece wasn't enchanted. Wild isn't paying that much attention to enchants at the moment, since gear tends to change fast. However, I had a +40 spirit enchant I'd made while leveling enchanting that would work just fine on the chest piece. Wild enchanted the chest. Later, I went to update the stat sheet I keep on every gear change I make, and my jaw dropped when I saw that the average ilvl score was now i328, not i329. WTH? I swear Wild was wearing the exact same gear; nothing had changed but a gear enchant that should have made no difference, and if it did anything, should have raised the ilevel. Baffling and frustrating. Another day passes and Wild buys a shoulder piece off the AH. Wild opens his gear sheet to compare his new shoulder piece with the old and his jaw drops again. Wild's score now reads i330. Wild had not equipped the shoulder. Wild was wearing the same gear that the day before had said first i329, and then i328.
Since then Wild's gear score has remained i330, and stayed that way even after Wild replaced the old i318 shoulder with the i339 shoulder. But I'm watching.
One other note. The shoulder gear Wild bought is a part of a set of pvp gear that tailors can craft. Wild liked it because it had most of the stats he wanted except for +spi. However, it had all this Resilience that I didn't need and so I planned to reforge that into +spi. Word of warning - Resilience cannot be reforged. Sigh. The shoulder was still worth having, fortunately, but that was a lesson learned.
I just peeked again and Wild's ilevel is still i330. I wonder if it will stay that way.
More stray notes -
Wild discovered that another faction called the Dragonmaw sold an ilvl333 shoulder at Honored rep. Wild really ought to study more. It took Wild about an hour to reach Honored with the Dragonmaw (he was already most of the way there via questing in Twilight Highlands), and Wild collected his new shoulder gear. Now, the pvp shoulder Wild already bought is i339 and is slightly better than the Dragonmaw one. But had Wild discovered the Dragnonaw shoulder earlier, he would never have bought the pvp one.
Here is the lesson learned - in Cata there are some nice goodies available at even the modest rep of Honored, and even more good stuff at Revered. Grinding that rep is not that hard, either. There are four general Cata rep factions: Guardians of Hyjal, Therazane, Ramkahen, and the Earthen Ring. And there are two each horde and alliance factions. For Horde it's the Dragonmaw Clan and Hellscream's Reach. For alliance it's the Wildhammer Clan and Baradin's Wardens. There is worthwhile stuff available in all of them. All them have several daily quests as well, once they've been unlocked through questing.
Happy has a surprise. He says it was time for a change.
Over the past six days Wild has made numberless changes to his gear. That is nothing unusual, particularly early on in an expansion. What was both frustrating and kind of funny was watching the numbers change on his gear without doing anything at all to them.
On 30 Nov 2010 Wild's gear sheet listed his average ilevel as i321. As Wild has said way more times than he needs to, the magic number is i329, when Wild will be able to sign up for random Heroic mode dungeons. On 2 Jan 2011 Wild spent 2200 justice points for a new helm, and earned additional gear when he reached Revered with the Mount Hyjal faction. Those items plus a few more adjustments and Wild's score jumped to i327. On 3 Jan Wild replaced his last pre-cata piece of gear, an i264 +135 int trinket, with an i305 +194 int trinket. Wild's score notched up two more points to the magic i329. Wild went so far as to check the dungeon finder. Sure enough, Wild was now capable of running random Heroics. WOOT!
Later that day Wild noticed that his chest piece wasn't enchanted. Wild isn't paying that much attention to enchants at the moment, since gear tends to change fast. However, I had a +40 spirit enchant I'd made while leveling enchanting that would work just fine on the chest piece. Wild enchanted the chest. Later, I went to update the stat sheet I keep on every gear change I make, and my jaw dropped when I saw that the average ilvl score was now i328, not i329. WTH? I swear Wild was wearing the exact same gear; nothing had changed but a gear enchant that should have made no difference, and if it did anything, should have raised the ilevel. Baffling and frustrating. Another day passes and Wild buys a shoulder piece off the AH. Wild opens his gear sheet to compare his new shoulder piece with the old and his jaw drops again. Wild's score now reads i330. Wild had not equipped the shoulder. Wild was wearing the same gear that the day before had said first i329, and then i328.
Since then Wild's gear score has remained i330, and stayed that way even after Wild replaced the old i318 shoulder with the i339 shoulder. But I'm watching.
One other note. The shoulder gear Wild bought is a part of a set of pvp gear that tailors can craft. Wild liked it because it had most of the stats he wanted except for +spi. However, it had all this Resilience that I didn't need and so I planned to reforge that into +spi. Word of warning - Resilience cannot be reforged. Sigh. The shoulder was still worth having, fortunately, but that was a lesson learned.
I just peeked again and Wild's ilevel is still i330. I wonder if it will stay that way.
More stray notes -
Wild discovered that another faction called the Dragonmaw sold an ilvl333 shoulder at Honored rep. Wild really ought to study more. It took Wild about an hour to reach Honored with the Dragonmaw (he was already most of the way there via questing in Twilight Highlands), and Wild collected his new shoulder gear. Now, the pvp shoulder Wild already bought is i339 and is slightly better than the Dragonmaw one. But had Wild discovered the Dragnonaw shoulder earlier, he would never have bought the pvp one.
Here is the lesson learned - in Cata there are some nice goodies available at even the modest rep of Honored, and even more good stuff at Revered. Grinding that rep is not that hard, either. There are four general Cata rep factions: Guardians of Hyjal, Therazane, Ramkahen, and the Earthen Ring. And there are two each horde and alliance factions. For Horde it's the Dragonmaw Clan and Hellscream's Reach. For alliance it's the Wildhammer Clan and Baradin's Wardens. There is worthwhile stuff available in all of them. All them have several daily quests as well, once they've been unlocked through questing.
Happy has a surprise. He says it was time for a change.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Monday (3 Jan) - Sista, Maiy, and Missing Kire
Monday (3 Jan) - Sista, Maiy, and Missing Kire
There was a flurry of correspondence between the three grand families of WoW (that would be the Wild, DER, and Sis clans) on Monday to arrange our weekly Monday night foray. When it was over I'm pretty sure we all had completely different ideas about what we would be doing or not doing on Monday night.
I got all my chores done earlier than expected, and in the early evening Monday night Sista made her debut. Sista is an alliance worgen druid. Worgens are a new character race, introduced in Cata. The worgen have their own starting zone and a simple but rich history that is introduced and expanded on throughout the starting zone quests. What are worgens, exactly? Well, we'll get to that.
Sista began her life in Gilneas City. The town was near over-run by wolf-like creatures and the townsfolk were terrified, but there was still the remnants of a city guard, and Sista was drafted to help them combat the menace. The city was isolated by the sea, a range of mountains, and the Greymane Wall, built to protect the city.
The town was dark even during the day, and an eery sounding wind blew through the echoing streets. Sista worked through the early quests in and around the spot where she started. She discovered a mailbox, and opening it revealed the three heirlooms Wild had left for her - chest, shoulder, and dagger. The stats on the gear combined both spell casting and feral stats so Sista could make use of both while leveling. Wild learned through Hap, a troll druid recently added to the family, that a young druid with cat form is a pretty deadly killer. Sista could not shift into cat form yet, so she would have to rely on her spell casting.
It didn't take long for Sista to tangle one too many times with the creatures that were pouring into the city. She was bitten badly, and was poisoned. She survived, but Sista was not unscathed. She had become what she fought - a wolf-like creature that stood on two feet. Sista had become a werewolf.
The worgen are humans who were afflicted by an ancient druidic curse. The people of Gilneas City realized what was happening to them, but how to eliminate the curse or control it eluded them. By experimentation, Gilneas alchemists discovered a way for humans afflicted with the curse to remain sane and cogent even when transformed. Sista was captured and placed in a stockade, and then forced to drink the experimental concoction. It worked.
The druid curse was not the only problem the Gilneas people faced. The Forsaken were on the march, led by Lady Sylvanas, and had breached the Greymane Wall. There were a series of conflicts, but the Forsaken triumphed in every battle and kept pushing back the Gilneas people. For the first few retreats class trainers were available so that new spells could be trained. Somewhere along the way, though, not only did the class trainers disappear, there were no vendors, either. Sista was glad that Lost had the foresight to send Sista some extra bags. Those bags were small, though (8 slots), and Sista started to run out of room with no one to sell the stuff to.
Sista also found herself left behind any number of times. In most cases she would eventually be granted a horse, flying mount, or even a carriage to get her back to where the retreating army had decided to make yet another stand. Of course, sometimes even that posed dangers.
Sista's wolf nature sometimes got the better of her, too. A "borrowed" mount was none too happy with Sista riding "bareback."
There was also no where to stop! After every battle and every retreat, Sista looked for a safe haven to call it a night. Not a single spot offered a place where rested xp could be earned. And once arrived at the new location there was no going back. The past was gone, obliterated by the phasing of events.
Ultimately, Sista arrived at the outskirts of Gilneas City. The Forsaken had chased and harried us all the way from the Greymane Wall back to the city itself. There was a great surprise waiting for her, though. Maiy, a young worgen priest and part of the Sis family, had battled her way to this same point. Maiy had fought against the constraints that kept us marching ever backward from the Forsaken. Maiy had looked for a way out - by sea, by air, over the mountains, through the Wall, and into the tunnels. But there was no way out. We had to see this to it's end, no matter what. In that way the worgen starting zone was very much like the death knight starting zone. DKs started at level 55, and could not leave the starting zone until all quests were completed at level 58. But the DKs had a town/camp to return to whenever a break was needed, and a floating fortress available with trainers and vendors. None of that was available to the worgen. Just one example - Sista set her hearthstone in one of the early towns that had both vendors and trainers. After a couple of battles and retreats she was relocated to a huge mansion with a great telescope. Tired and needing to see a trainer, Sista hearthed back to the town - but wound up right back at the mansion. Her hearthstone was moving with her. The mansion had no trainers or vendors.
With the Forsaken advancing there was nothing left for the Gilneas people to do but storm their own city and try to take it back.
The battle for the city was great fun, and took considerable time. The Gilneas people won their city back from the worgen, but could not hold it against Sylvanas and her Forsaken army. Not only did they take the city, Sylvanas killed the hero of the Gilneas people.
The remnants of the Gilneas people, along with Sista, and all of them afflicted with the curse, fled to the shoreline. There was another battle. We managed to get away by boat, and sailed to Rutheran Village on the island of Tedrassil.
At last, civilization again! The forced march was over, and Sista was free to go where she willed. Sista's "will" landed her at the Inn/bar in the nearby city of Darnassus, where she planned to drink until stupified, sleep for a week, and then find some young adventurers to hook up with and seek out our fortunes. That Maiy fellow looked promising. Sista is level 15.
There was a flurry of correspondence between the three grand families of WoW (that would be the Wild, DER, and Sis clans) on Monday to arrange our weekly Monday night foray. When it was over I'm pretty sure we all had completely different ideas about what we would be doing or not doing on Monday night.
I got all my chores done earlier than expected, and in the early evening Monday night Sista made her debut. Sista is an alliance worgen druid. Worgens are a new character race, introduced in Cata. The worgen have their own starting zone and a simple but rich history that is introduced and expanded on throughout the starting zone quests. What are worgens, exactly? Well, we'll get to that.
Sista began her life in Gilneas City. The town was near over-run by wolf-like creatures and the townsfolk were terrified, but there was still the remnants of a city guard, and Sista was drafted to help them combat the menace. The city was isolated by the sea, a range of mountains, and the Greymane Wall, built to protect the city.
Sista with the captain of the guard
The town was dark even during the day, and an eery sounding wind blew through the echoing streets. Sista worked through the early quests in and around the spot where she started. She discovered a mailbox, and opening it revealed the three heirlooms Wild had left for her - chest, shoulder, and dagger. The stats on the gear combined both spell casting and feral stats so Sista could make use of both while leveling. Wild learned through Hap, a troll druid recently added to the family, that a young druid with cat form is a pretty deadly killer. Sista could not shift into cat form yet, so she would have to rely on her spell casting.
Sista with her Heirlooms
It didn't take long for Sista to tangle one too many times with the creatures that were pouring into the city. She was bitten badly, and was poisoned. She survived, but Sista was not unscathed. She had become what she fought - a wolf-like creature that stood on two feet. Sista had become a werewolf.
Sista the Werewolf
The worgen are humans who were afflicted by an ancient druidic curse. The people of Gilneas City realized what was happening to them, but how to eliminate the curse or control it eluded them. By experimentation, Gilneas alchemists discovered a way for humans afflicted with the curse to remain sane and cogent even when transformed. Sista was captured and placed in a stockade, and then forced to drink the experimental concoction. It worked.
Sista is released from the stockade
The druid curse was not the only problem the Gilneas people faced. The Forsaken were on the march, led by Lady Sylvanas, and had breached the Greymane Wall. There were a series of conflicts, but the Forsaken triumphed in every battle and kept pushing back the Gilneas people. For the first few retreats class trainers were available so that new spells could be trained. Somewhere along the way, though, not only did the class trainers disappear, there were no vendors, either. Sista was glad that Lost had the foresight to send Sista some extra bags. Those bags were small, though (8 slots), and Sista started to run out of room with no one to sell the stuff to.
Sista also found herself left behind any number of times. In most cases she would eventually be granted a horse, flying mount, or even a carriage to get her back to where the retreating army had decided to make yet another stand. Of course, sometimes even that posed dangers.
Sista's wolf nature sometimes got the better of her, too. A "borrowed" mount was none too happy with Sista riding "bareback."
Sista astride a stead
The Look on his face!
There was also no where to stop! After every battle and every retreat, Sista looked for a safe haven to call it a night. Not a single spot offered a place where rested xp could be earned. And once arrived at the new location there was no going back. The past was gone, obliterated by the phasing of events.
Ultimately, Sista arrived at the outskirts of Gilneas City. The Forsaken had chased and harried us all the way from the Greymane Wall back to the city itself. There was a great surprise waiting for her, though. Maiy, a young worgen priest and part of the Sis family, had battled her way to this same point. Maiy had fought against the constraints that kept us marching ever backward from the Forsaken. Maiy had looked for a way out - by sea, by air, over the mountains, through the Wall, and into the tunnels. But there was no way out. We had to see this to it's end, no matter what. In that way the worgen starting zone was very much like the death knight starting zone. DKs started at level 55, and could not leave the starting zone until all quests were completed at level 58. But the DKs had a town/camp to return to whenever a break was needed, and a floating fortress available with trainers and vendors. None of that was available to the worgen. Just one example - Sista set her hearthstone in one of the early towns that had both vendors and trainers. After a couple of battles and retreats she was relocated to a huge mansion with a great telescope. Tired and needing to see a trainer, Sista hearthed back to the town - but wound up right back at the mansion. Her hearthstone was moving with her. The mansion had no trainers or vendors.
With the Forsaken advancing there was nothing left for the Gilneas people to do but storm their own city and try to take it back.
Storming Gilneas City
The battle for the city was great fun, and took considerable time. The Gilneas people won their city back from the worgen, but could not hold it against Sylvanas and her Forsaken army. Not only did they take the city, Sylvanas killed the hero of the Gilneas people.
Laid To Rest
The remnants of the Gilneas people, along with Sista, and all of them afflicted with the curse, fled to the shoreline. There was another battle. We managed to get away by boat, and sailed to Rutheran Village on the island of Tedrassil.
At last, civilization again! The forced march was over, and Sista was free to go where she willed. Sista's "will" landed her at the Inn/bar in the nearby city of Darnassus, where she planned to drink until stupified, sleep for a week, and then find some young adventurers to hook up with and seek out our fortunes. That Maiy fellow looked promising. Sista is level 15.
I like that Hat
Monday, January 3, 2011
Weekend (2 Jan '11) - It's A New Year
Weekend (2 Jan '11) - It's A New Year
In the last post Wild reviewed the prior year. I couldn't cover everything and probably forgot a few things, so feel free to add your own retrospective as well. Interestingly enough, after reporting on all of the guild machinations of the prior year, one of the first items for the new year were a few changes in the MM guild.
The guild leader for MM is Wb. Wild hasn't raided with him all that much as he led the G1 ICC group, and Wild raided primarily with G2. As part of the mere rank and file, Wild also hasn't much interaction with him on guild issues, either. That doesn't mean that he is not an active guild leader. Far from it. He doesn't mind telling folks that he has two accounts and the maximum twenty toons, at least one of every class, and many of them level 80 and probably soon to be level 85. I know of two he already leveled to 85. He likes to play and is in game a great deal of the time.
Prior to the Cata expansion Wb had let the guild know that he was planning some changes. A few days ago he posted those changes on the guild website. It was a long post, but here is the summary. When the guild organization was originally established, Wb laid out a rather large organizational structure to support what was expected to be an active raiding guild in both 10 and 25 man dungeons. That didn't happen, and much of that large organization never materialized or had little to do. As a result, Wb announced a much streamlined organization that essentially boiled down to the guild leader, three raid leaders, and a rank and file of only two ranks - members and recruits.
There were a number of comments and concerns, but the two primary issues that were raised consisted of the handling of the administration of the guild, and issues regarding raiding. The admin issue - since raid leaders would focus exclusively on raids, and there were really no other officer ranks per se, would Wb have the time to be the sole person handling administrative functions (including guildie complaints, etc). The short answer from Wb was that yes, he would handle all of that, and was in game often enough to be available as needed. If that grew too large a responsibility, he would make adjustments. The raiding issue focused on the informal nature of the guild structure, and concerns that it felt more like a casual/social guild than a raiding guild and might not be sufficient to support everything that a raiding guild needed. MM was large guild, and more raid organization was needed to support a raiding guild that also had a social element to it.
I initially agreed with the concerns. Wb, in his response, cut to the chase. MM has 426 members. However, most guildies have more than one toon in the guild, and MM has many guildies who have been inactive for some time. Wb also noted that MM has anywhere from 10-30 players in game at any given time, a number that is larger than normal because of the Cata expansion. Wb expected that he could manage 10-30 players at any given time.
His next statement kind of hurt, but then the truth can be painful. I quote: "On the subject of MM being a raid guild, it has become apparent that we are in fact NOT a raid guild, and thus, one of the primary reasons for the changes." Wb then made his case for that assessment. MM completed/cleared only three raids in the last several tiers of content (Naxx 10/25, ToC10, and with difficulty ICC10). MM never cleared Ulduar, ToC25, or ICC25. "This is not the mentality of a raid guild."
He was right, of course. He also said that he had wanted and planned for a "raiding guild with a casual atmosphere," but that what we are (and there is nothing wrong with what we are) is a "casual guild that raids." He then hammered home that point. "We have not enforced raid attendance. We have not penalized members that show up late or not at all. We do not have a structured loot system that rewards loyalty and diligence to the raid in question. And this is all just fine. Many of us have jobs and families or both to contend with and to assume that someone can just drop everything or somehow bend life to their will is ludicrous."
There was more, but the bottom line is that Wb's assessment is that guildies like the way the guild is now. We will certainly continue to raid, but that is only one reason that players join MM. The focus will be on ten man raiding, but there may be opportunities to do 25 man as well. A full time Cata 25 raid isn't likely. The silver lining to that last statement is that the new Cata 10/25 raids have the exact same loot in them in. In the 25 man more loot per raider is dropped, but that is the only difference. Wild likes 25 man raiding, but at least part the reason is that in the pre-cata raids the loot was better in 25 man. Now it's the same. Wild likes ten man raiding, too. And there are several new raids to conquer.
The coming year should be a lot of fun!
There wasn't a lot of activity over the weekend. I'm afraid that the worgen druid is still a level 1. I'm under orders to pack up and store all of the Christmas decorations today (Monday), so I'm not sure if I'll get to the worgen before tonight.
Wild did make progress improving his gear. Wild completed enough of the quests in Mount Hyjal to reach Revered rep with the Hyjal faction, and that got him a nice i333 cape and access to the head enchant that only Hyjal will offer. Wild also worked on Therazane rep and is almost to Revered. Therazane is where the best shoulder enchants will be found, and there is an i346 ring waiting for Wild when he hits Revered as well. In addition, Wild made the call to spend 2200 of his justice points for an i346 helm with a meta socket. Wild has just enough socketed gear to be able to activate that meta socket, but the gems cost him a small fortune. Philly is chomping at the bit to start skilling her jewel crafting, but I don't think Happy can afford what that will cost. Wild's enchanting skill is up to 501 (the max is 525). Wild's next goal is to get enchanting to 515 so he can craft the new high end enchanting rod he needs. Happy is going to faint when he hears what that will cost him. Wild's average gear ilvl went up to 327, two short of the i329 he needs to start Heroics via the dungeon finder.
In raiding news the first MM Cata raid will be Baradin Hold, and it will start this coming Wednesday. Sign ups have been posted. Wild is still a bit behind in gear, so I can't be sure he'll get an invite. Wild will have to wait and see.
In the last post Wild reviewed the prior year. I couldn't cover everything and probably forgot a few things, so feel free to add your own retrospective as well. Interestingly enough, after reporting on all of the guild machinations of the prior year, one of the first items for the new year were a few changes in the MM guild.
The guild leader for MM is Wb. Wild hasn't raided with him all that much as he led the G1 ICC group, and Wild raided primarily with G2. As part of the mere rank and file, Wild also hasn't much interaction with him on guild issues, either. That doesn't mean that he is not an active guild leader. Far from it. He doesn't mind telling folks that he has two accounts and the maximum twenty toons, at least one of every class, and many of them level 80 and probably soon to be level 85. I know of two he already leveled to 85. He likes to play and is in game a great deal of the time.
Prior to the Cata expansion Wb had let the guild know that he was planning some changes. A few days ago he posted those changes on the guild website. It was a long post, but here is the summary. When the guild organization was originally established, Wb laid out a rather large organizational structure to support what was expected to be an active raiding guild in both 10 and 25 man dungeons. That didn't happen, and much of that large organization never materialized or had little to do. As a result, Wb announced a much streamlined organization that essentially boiled down to the guild leader, three raid leaders, and a rank and file of only two ranks - members and recruits.
There were a number of comments and concerns, but the two primary issues that were raised consisted of the handling of the administration of the guild, and issues regarding raiding. The admin issue - since raid leaders would focus exclusively on raids, and there were really no other officer ranks per se, would Wb have the time to be the sole person handling administrative functions (including guildie complaints, etc). The short answer from Wb was that yes, he would handle all of that, and was in game often enough to be available as needed. If that grew too large a responsibility, he would make adjustments. The raiding issue focused on the informal nature of the guild structure, and concerns that it felt more like a casual/social guild than a raiding guild and might not be sufficient to support everything that a raiding guild needed. MM was large guild, and more raid organization was needed to support a raiding guild that also had a social element to it.
I initially agreed with the concerns. Wb, in his response, cut to the chase. MM has 426 members. However, most guildies have more than one toon in the guild, and MM has many guildies who have been inactive for some time. Wb also noted that MM has anywhere from 10-30 players in game at any given time, a number that is larger than normal because of the Cata expansion. Wb expected that he could manage 10-30 players at any given time.
His next statement kind of hurt, but then the truth can be painful. I quote: "On the subject of MM being a raid guild, it has become apparent that we are in fact NOT a raid guild, and thus, one of the primary reasons for the changes." Wb then made his case for that assessment. MM completed/cleared only three raids in the last several tiers of content (Naxx 10/25, ToC10, and with difficulty ICC10). MM never cleared Ulduar, ToC25, or ICC25. "This is not the mentality of a raid guild."
He was right, of course. He also said that he had wanted and planned for a "raiding guild with a casual atmosphere," but that what we are (and there is nothing wrong with what we are) is a "casual guild that raids." He then hammered home that point. "We have not enforced raid attendance. We have not penalized members that show up late or not at all. We do not have a structured loot system that rewards loyalty and diligence to the raid in question. And this is all just fine. Many of us have jobs and families or both to contend with and to assume that someone can just drop everything or somehow bend life to their will is ludicrous."
There was more, but the bottom line is that Wb's assessment is that guildies like the way the guild is now. We will certainly continue to raid, but that is only one reason that players join MM. The focus will be on ten man raiding, but there may be opportunities to do 25 man as well. A full time Cata 25 raid isn't likely. The silver lining to that last statement is that the new Cata 10/25 raids have the exact same loot in them in. In the 25 man more loot per raider is dropped, but that is the only difference. Wild likes 25 man raiding, but at least part the reason is that in the pre-cata raids the loot was better in 25 man. Now it's the same. Wild likes ten man raiding, too. And there are several new raids to conquer.
The coming year should be a lot of fun!
There wasn't a lot of activity over the weekend. I'm afraid that the worgen druid is still a level 1. I'm under orders to pack up and store all of the Christmas decorations today (Monday), so I'm not sure if I'll get to the worgen before tonight.
Wild did make progress improving his gear. Wild completed enough of the quests in Mount Hyjal to reach Revered rep with the Hyjal faction, and that got him a nice i333 cape and access to the head enchant that only Hyjal will offer. Wild also worked on Therazane rep and is almost to Revered. Therazane is where the best shoulder enchants will be found, and there is an i346 ring waiting for Wild when he hits Revered as well. In addition, Wild made the call to spend 2200 of his justice points for an i346 helm with a meta socket. Wild has just enough socketed gear to be able to activate that meta socket, but the gems cost him a small fortune. Philly is chomping at the bit to start skilling her jewel crafting, but I don't think Happy can afford what that will cost. Wild's enchanting skill is up to 501 (the max is 525). Wild's next goal is to get enchanting to 515 so he can craft the new high end enchanting rod he needs. Happy is going to faint when he hears what that will cost him. Wild's average gear ilvl went up to 327, two short of the i329 he needs to start Heroics via the dungeon finder.
In raiding news the first MM Cata raid will be Baradin Hold, and it will start this coming Wednesday. Sign ups have been posted. Wild is still a bit behind in gear, so I can't be sure he'll get an invite. Wild will have to wait and see.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Saturday (1 January, 2011) - Annual New Year's Post
Saturday (1 January, 2011) - Annual New Year's Post
Here we are once again. Wild and company celebrated a seventh New Year's in the world of Azeroth. Time for a look back at the year that was.
First are the numbers, and I am going to have to incorporate both TSN and blog numbers in the new accounting of visitors. The site meter for the blog only tracks visits and views, not posts. It would be a big pain to manually count every post, so I am dropping that stat. TSN doesn't track visits, but I will count TSN posts as a visit
On New Year's 2009 here is how the numbers looked:
TSN: 1,916 posts - 74,358 views
Blog: 1,475 views (I did not note the visit number)
Total: 1,916 posts - 75,833 views
New Year's 2010:
TSN: 2,308 posts - 120,142 views
Blog: 3,004 visits - 4,914 views
Overall for 2010: 5,312 posts/visits - 125,052 views
Wild's /played:
I haven't done this specifically in past annual reports, but the following lists each toon's level as of the end of the year:
The Wildshard clan
85 - Wild
80 - Philly
80 - JB
63 - Melasahnd
56 - Mery
46 - EZ
32 - Java (alliance)
23 - Jocey
22 - Happy
20 - Chaitee (alliance)
16 - Hap
13 - Rakta (alliance)
11 - Lost (alliance)
11 - Slash
11 - Deth
?? - Naithipe
The DER/Sis clans (I can't tell with some toons who was with who so ya'll get lumped together)
80 - Sis
80 - Sin the Elder
80 - DER
72 - Lao (Gratz! for gaining two levels since I last saw you!)
59 - Myst
59 - Red
48 - Ando
30 - Daeth (alliance)
29 - Unbleached (alliance)
29 - Sin the Hunter (alliance)
28 - Sin the Warlock (alliance)
28 - Sin the Younger
28 - Esor (alliance)
20 - El
20 - Andro
14 - Neek (alliance)
11 - Jab
At the dawn of 2010, the Fall of the Lich King patch had just been released, unleashing Icecrown Citadel. The first guild run with Wild in attendance happened on 30 December, 2009. Icecrown Citadel would dominate Wild and his guild for all of 2010.
Every year there is guild drama of one sort or another. Every year Wild ponders his guild situation and frets about how much raiding he gets or doesn't get. Soap opera fans love this stuff, but hey, I'm only reporting the facts.
As the new year unfolded Wild was a member of FS and a full time regular raider of the primary focus raid at the time, Trial of the Crusader (ToC). That was ToC25. The ToC10 group Wild was running with, led by Lady Hunter, was struggling and was near folding. Wild was raiding only irregularly. Two other ten man groups were still functional, but they did not have any spots available. Wild had friends in the MM guild, and began running ToC10 with them when it didn't conflict with the FS ToC25. Icecrown Citadel was open, but FS had not started ICC25 runs. The two ten man groups had begun to explore ICC, however.
FS was having issues, though. The ToC25 raids were starting to have trouble filling, and when FS had to start canceling those raids, Wild made the decision to put the MM Toc10 as his first priority over the FS ToC25. Wild explained his situation to the FS ToC25 raid leader, Rh, who understood and supported the decision. He joked with perhaps a bit of seriousness, telling Wild, "but don't forget about us!" Wild would remember those words much later. At the time, though, Wild was just happy to be raiding again.
On January 7th the MM guild, with Wild in tow, cleared ToC10 for the first time.
Meanwhile, in an effort to put some life back into FS 25 man raiding, FS leadership began talking with a team of more than ten raiders who had recently transferred to the server. Liking what they saw, the group was invited into the guild. Despite the tension it caused with some existing FS guildies, the infusion of new, well geared guildies helped get ICC25 raiding off the ground. Wild missed the first FS ICC25 run as he'd already committed that night to the MM ToC10, but Wild was considered a regular and began running ICC25 with FS. FS still had no spot for Wild on an ICC10 group, even though there were now three groups operating. The third group was made up entirely from the group of new guildies.
On 14 January Wild joined his first MM ICC10. Wild's first clear of ToC25 was with FS, although that run was effectively the end of ToC25 as the guild focused on ICC. At the end of January Wild had this to say about his guild situation: "There is the specter of the guild going more and more toward hardcore raiding, as there are really no high visibility "social guild" type players around anymore to balance things. Wild is something of a remnant of the days of "casual raiders" and some already disenfranchised friends have warned Wild privately that my days of raiding with the guild may be numbered. All I can say is that I've been through this cycle numberless times, and Wild is still here and still raiding. The way I see it is that the raid either still sees value in having Wild in the raid, or they can't figure out how to fill a raid without having Wild along. I know I'm not the best player and never have been. But I hope that Wild's reliable attendance, positive attitude, and willingness to pound my head against new bosses for as long as it takes carries some weight."
As February turned into March Wild continued to straddle the line between the two guilds, participating in ICC25 with FS and ICC10 with MM. The two guilds appeared to be going in opposite directions, however. FS was on the fast track with ICC25 and their ICC10 groups. New bosses were going down each week. Wild was very much a part of that ICC25 success, and was getting some nice gear as a bonus. The MM ICC25 effort floundered, went on "temporary hiatus," and was never resurrected. The two MM ICC10 groups were forced to combine into one, but continued to have problems filling and ten man raiding became an iffy thing for Wild. Wild's situation with FS then took a turn for the worse. New rules were announced. The new loot rules Wild had no problem with. The new rules that determined who would be invited to the ICC25 raid, however, placed Wild in the Tier 2 category, which effectively meant that Wild became a fill-in instead of a regular raider. Over the next 11 raid nights Wild was in game and ready for 8 of them (and gave the guild advance notice on the three nights I couldn't make it), but raided just twice.
Wild's raiding was on the skids, so it seemed appropriate that a revival of the clan's alliance cousins occurred around the same time. On 13 March alliance members of the three clans formed their own guild, Tea Green (TG). The guild primarily waged war against the horde on the field of the pvp battlegrounds, but also crashed any number of dungeons in the hunt for higher level and better gear to kill horde with.
March became April, but Wild's raid situation had not improved. In fact, it got worse. The MM guild still could not field a consistent ICC10 raid. Wild got only rare invites to the FS ICC25. There were some good moments, however. On 17 March Wild helped diffuse a conflict between the two guilds when an MM guildie invited into the FS ICC25 got kicked from the raid. Wild acted as the go between the two guilds, and in the end FS apologized for kicking the MM guildie. Wild's old friend, a shaman, returned to the game and to the FS guild on 30 March, although it was depressing to talk about the state of FS and what it was going through. Wild got to play moonkin for the first time in an ICC25 raid - actually, it was the first time Wild had ever raided with FS as moonkin, period. The raid downed six bosses that night.
Wild hit a new low in April. The lack of raiding pushed Wild behind other raiders gear-wise. Wild's healing in the ICC25 raid (when he could get a spot) became an issue. In one raid Wild was switched to DPS to get the moonkin buff and the raid opted to go one healer short, so little did they think of Wild's healing. The raid leader, surveydrood, took Wild aside and helped me work on improving my healing mechanics. It helped, and Wild certainly appreciated the advice and assistance, but it didn't change the lack of opportunity to acquire better gear. Wild's close in game friend and sometime confidante, P-Jo, had all but left the game. Lady Hunter, another good friend who along with P-Jo made up a large portion of the social element of FS, left FS for MM. FS raiding was still flourishing, having downed 10 of 12 bosses in ICC25, but it had become deadly serious business with much of the fun squeezed out of it, at least from Wild's perspective. Yet Wild had no where to go. MM raiding remained moribund, and he couldn't imagine trying to hook up with some other unknown guild. At the end of March Wild set his primary goal: "Do whatever it took to get to the Lich King before Cata arrived." That goal seemed far, far away.
Other family members were having a blast! In April Philly and Sis both DINGed to level 80. Weekly pvp battleground wars raged on both the horde and the alliance side. The secretive Naithipe kept popping up here and there. Lost became the alliance side Auction House trader with great success.
As April rolled into May, things started to unravel in FS. Even as the ICC10 groups brought down the Lich King for the first time, ICC25 raids lost attendance and focus. It was clear that raiders would show up to take down bosses already on farm, but had little interest in pushing past the first two wings against the tougher bosses.
Wild remained in denial, though. On 1 May Wild said this: "If Wild had left FS any of the previous times that we had gone through this, Wild would have missed out of opportunities to raid the best 25 man dungeons in the game, from Mount Hyjal to Naxxramas to Ulduar to Icecrown Citadel. The 25 man raiding will return, even if it goes dormant until Cataclysm. And Wild doesn't want to miss that. FS has survived longer than any other guild Wild would have jumped to, and despite it's problems is still a strong guild. I like MM, and have invested Philly in their future, but there is no overriding reason for Wild to join MM, and every reason to believe that FS will rise to the challenge of the 25 mans when the time comes."
Philly joined MM on 3 May. Wild had one last fling with FS ICC25, winning the main hand mace [Frozen Bonespike]. Wild claimed that the mace was so good he'd still be wearing it come Cata. He was right. But FS ICC25 raiding ended on 11 May when FS suspended it - permanently. On 4 May Wild joined the restart of MM ICC10 raiding and we downed three bosses with Wild leading the healing.
The suspension of ICC25 in FS cost the guild many raiders, including a lot of the newer ones who came to FS specifically to raid ICC25. FS also dropped back to two ICC10 mans, but later were able to put a third group back together. By July Wild was an FS guildie in name only, but he still failed to realize that. On 15 Jul Wild said: "Wild is getting some mild pressure again to move over to the MM guild, saying it would be easier to include Wild in MM guild events, and that the last of the old timers from FS would come with him if Wild only agreed to come. I doubt that is completely true, but Wild is tempted. Always tempted. I hold on to the thought, though, that the best place to be doing 25 man raids once Cataclysm arrives is still FS. Wild will continue to straddle both worlds."
While Wild maintained that the old guard FS guildies that still remained true to the social side of the guild were not an influence - on them or Wild - by remaining in FS, he couldn't deny the impact it made when P-Jo announced she was leaving the game for good.
22 July: "Wild finally made the decision to change guilds. The decision has been building for some time. In one sense nothing much will change, since Wild has had virtually no interaction with FS for quite some time. My friends in FS will still be my friends, even though Wild is no longer in the guild. And it'll make communicating with MM friends and learning about MM guild events much easier. It still makes Wild pretty sad, though." Wild joined FS on 8 May, 2005, as a level 36. Wild held uninterrupted service in the guild for 5 years, 2 months, and 14 days.
In news that no longer directly affected Wild, a piece of FS broke ranks on 28 July and left to form their own guild, WC. Long time friend and raid leader, Rh, became the WC guild leader.
In July and August the MM guild pushed deeper into ICC with two ICC10 groups, G1 and G2, and later added a third group, the Nooners (for alts). Wild was a regular on G2, and G1 and G2 had friendly but fierce competition on who would reach the Lich King first. During this time Philly also got into the act, getting into her first ICC25 on a weekend run that was part guild, part PUG.
Deathwing and the pre-cata events arrived in September and quickly became serious competition for time with Icecrown Citadel. The G2 had come up against a wall called Professor Putricide, but the pontificating professor finally fell on 16 September. MM made an effort to revive ICC25 raiding, starting a co-op with another guild for a weekly Saturday raid. We made surprisingly good progress, but the ICC25 co-op ended after four weeks to make way for the coming Cata patch 4.0.1. Wild did get two heroic mode kills (the Gunship and Lord Marrowgar) from the short lived co-op.
Wild's concern that the pre-Cata events would be the end of ICC raiding proved unfounded. The weekly raids continued, but progress was slow. It took until 31 October for all three raid groups to reach the Lich King. That included the Nooners, which had coalesced into a strong group of it's own and not just an alt farming group. None of the groups had killed the Lich King, and it seemed that time was against us. Wild, who went through a period when he was more absent than present in the raids, had yet to set hoof in LK's domain. We had five weeks to kill him.
All three groups had locked their raids, so that the sole target each raid night was the Lich King, and only the Lich King.
Wild got his first look at the end game boss on 2 November.
The G1 killed the Lich King on 10 November. That ended the hopes of G2 to be the first MM group to win the Kingslayer title, but we were ecstatic at their success and cheered them on even as we came up short once again.
On 23 November "The Shattering" ruptured Azeroth and reshaped the world. Time was running out.
And on 5 December, just two days before the full launch of the Cataclysm expansion, the G2 brought down the Lich King. "On 14 January Wild joined his first MM ICC10. Two hundred and ninety-four real life days later Wild got his first look at the Lich King on 4 Nov. That was the first of nine nights of battling the Lich King over 32 days. We fought the Lich King a total of 77 times before finally bringing him down on our 77th attempt."
Although I could not reach Naithipe for comment, the below is an attempt to track his sightings. Make of it what you will.
Naithipe Sightings:
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2010/02/weekend-13-feb-naithipe-surfaces.html
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2010/05/memorial-day-weekend-30-may-ruffling.html
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2010/06/monday-31-may-happys-dreams-come-true.html
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2010/06/monday-21-jun-secrets.html
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2010/07/sunday-4-jul-jbs-naithipe-obsession.html
15 jul: "In the meantime Naithipe moves through her world oblivious to all the drama around her. Her latest demand is for khorium ore. A lot of it. Of course it is rare. Of course it is expensive. And of course it will take hours and hours of someone's time to collect it. Of course, that doesn't bother Naithipe at all. "
20 Jul: "The latest Naithipe news - Naithipe was fishing when she started getting badgered by an alliance wanting to duel. The alliance was three levels higher than her. When the allie repeatedly asked for a duel even with Naithipe declining, Naithipe pulled her hook out of the river and turned to face the allie. Instead of accepting the duel, Naithipe flagged herself for pvp and waited to see what the allie would do. You want a battle, Naithipe decided, let's make it a real one. Funny, but the allie suddenly lost interest and left. Which, when Naithipe thought about it later, was probably a good thing, because when Naithipe flagged she was still holding her fishing pole instead of her weapon. "
22 jul: "For Almond, from Naithipe - Thanks, Hun. [Don't tell Naithipe I said this, but I think Naithipe even smiled - a little] "
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2010/09/monday-30-aug-all-over-map.html
If you'd like to see what the prior year was like, here is the link to the 2009 New Year's Report:
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2010/01/friday-1-jan-2010-new-years-2010.html
It's now 2011. Cataclysm is here. Icecrown Citadel must and has already become a fading memory. Goodbye, Lich King.
It's all about leveling and dungeon runs right now. But on the horizon broods Baradin Hold, Blackwing Descent, The Bastion of Twilight, and Throne of the Four Winds. Raids. They're coming. If you don't believe that look at the achievements page of the FS guild. Baradin Hold is a one boss raid. They've already killed him. So has Rh's new guild, WC. Wild's MM guild takes a slower path. But we'll get started down that road. Soon.
Here we are once again. Wild and company celebrated a seventh New Year's in the world of Azeroth. Time for a look back at the year that was.
First are the numbers, and I am going to have to incorporate both TSN and blog numbers in the new accounting of visitors. The site meter for the blog only tracks visits and views, not posts. It would be a big pain to manually count every post, so I am dropping that stat. TSN doesn't track visits, but I will count TSN posts as a visit
On New Year's 2009 here is how the numbers looked:
TSN: 1,916 posts - 74,358 views
Blog: 1,475 views (I did not note the visit number)
Total: 1,916 posts - 75,833 views
New Year's 2010:
TSN: 2,308 posts - 120,142 views
Blog: 3,004 visits - 4,914 views
Overall for 2010: 5,312 posts/visits - 125,052 views
Wild's /played:
I haven't done this specifically in past annual reports, but the following lists each toon's level as of the end of the year:
The Wildshard clan
85 - Wild
80 - Philly
80 - JB
63 - Melasahnd
56 - Mery
46 - EZ
32 - Java (alliance)
23 - Jocey
22 - Happy
20 - Chaitee (alliance)
16 - Hap
13 - Rakta (alliance)
11 - Lost (alliance)
11 - Slash
11 - Deth
?? - Naithipe
The DER/Sis clans (I can't tell with some toons who was with who so ya'll get lumped together)
80 - Sis
80 - Sin the Elder
80 - DER
72 - Lao (Gratz! for gaining two levels since I last saw you!)
59 - Myst
59 - Red
48 - Ando
30 - Daeth (alliance)
29 - Unbleached (alliance)
29 - Sin the Hunter (alliance)
28 - Sin the Warlock (alliance)
28 - Sin the Younger
28 - Esor (alliance)
20 - El
20 - Andro
14 - Neek (alliance)
11 - Jab
At the dawn of 2010, the Fall of the Lich King patch had just been released, unleashing Icecrown Citadel. The first guild run with Wild in attendance happened on 30 December, 2009. Icecrown Citadel would dominate Wild and his guild for all of 2010.
Every year there is guild drama of one sort or another. Every year Wild ponders his guild situation and frets about how much raiding he gets or doesn't get. Soap opera fans love this stuff, but hey, I'm only reporting the facts.
As the new year unfolded Wild was a member of FS and a full time regular raider of the primary focus raid at the time, Trial of the Crusader (ToC). That was ToC25. The ToC10 group Wild was running with, led by Lady Hunter, was struggling and was near folding. Wild was raiding only irregularly. Two other ten man groups were still functional, but they did not have any spots available. Wild had friends in the MM guild, and began running ToC10 with them when it didn't conflict with the FS ToC25. Icecrown Citadel was open, but FS had not started ICC25 runs. The two ten man groups had begun to explore ICC, however.
FS was having issues, though. The ToC25 raids were starting to have trouble filling, and when FS had to start canceling those raids, Wild made the decision to put the MM Toc10 as his first priority over the FS ToC25. Wild explained his situation to the FS ToC25 raid leader, Rh, who understood and supported the decision. He joked with perhaps a bit of seriousness, telling Wild, "but don't forget about us!" Wild would remember those words much later. At the time, though, Wild was just happy to be raiding again.
On January 7th the MM guild, with Wild in tow, cleared ToC10 for the first time.
Meanwhile, in an effort to put some life back into FS 25 man raiding, FS leadership began talking with a team of more than ten raiders who had recently transferred to the server. Liking what they saw, the group was invited into the guild. Despite the tension it caused with some existing FS guildies, the infusion of new, well geared guildies helped get ICC25 raiding off the ground. Wild missed the first FS ICC25 run as he'd already committed that night to the MM ToC10, but Wild was considered a regular and began running ICC25 with FS. FS still had no spot for Wild on an ICC10 group, even though there were now three groups operating. The third group was made up entirely from the group of new guildies.
On 14 January Wild joined his first MM ICC10. Wild's first clear of ToC25 was with FS, although that run was effectively the end of ToC25 as the guild focused on ICC. At the end of January Wild had this to say about his guild situation: "There is the specter of the guild going more and more toward hardcore raiding, as there are really no high visibility "social guild" type players around anymore to balance things. Wild is something of a remnant of the days of "casual raiders" and some already disenfranchised friends have warned Wild privately that my days of raiding with the guild may be numbered. All I can say is that I've been through this cycle numberless times, and Wild is still here and still raiding. The way I see it is that the raid either still sees value in having Wild in the raid, or they can't figure out how to fill a raid without having Wild along. I know I'm not the best player and never have been. But I hope that Wild's reliable attendance, positive attitude, and willingness to pound my head against new bosses for as long as it takes carries some weight."
As February turned into March Wild continued to straddle the line between the two guilds, participating in ICC25 with FS and ICC10 with MM. The two guilds appeared to be going in opposite directions, however. FS was on the fast track with ICC25 and their ICC10 groups. New bosses were going down each week. Wild was very much a part of that ICC25 success, and was getting some nice gear as a bonus. The MM ICC25 effort floundered, went on "temporary hiatus," and was never resurrected. The two MM ICC10 groups were forced to combine into one, but continued to have problems filling and ten man raiding became an iffy thing for Wild. Wild's situation with FS then took a turn for the worse. New rules were announced. The new loot rules Wild had no problem with. The new rules that determined who would be invited to the ICC25 raid, however, placed Wild in the Tier 2 category, which effectively meant that Wild became a fill-in instead of a regular raider. Over the next 11 raid nights Wild was in game and ready for 8 of them (and gave the guild advance notice on the three nights I couldn't make it), but raided just twice.
Wild's raiding was on the skids, so it seemed appropriate that a revival of the clan's alliance cousins occurred around the same time. On 13 March alliance members of the three clans formed their own guild, Tea Green (TG). The guild primarily waged war against the horde on the field of the pvp battlegrounds, but also crashed any number of dungeons in the hunt for higher level and better gear to kill horde with.
March became April, but Wild's raid situation had not improved. In fact, it got worse. The MM guild still could not field a consistent ICC10 raid. Wild got only rare invites to the FS ICC25. There were some good moments, however. On 17 March Wild helped diffuse a conflict between the two guilds when an MM guildie invited into the FS ICC25 got kicked from the raid. Wild acted as the go between the two guilds, and in the end FS apologized for kicking the MM guildie. Wild's old friend, a shaman, returned to the game and to the FS guild on 30 March, although it was depressing to talk about the state of FS and what it was going through. Wild got to play moonkin for the first time in an ICC25 raid - actually, it was the first time Wild had ever raided with FS as moonkin, period. The raid downed six bosses that night.
Wild hit a new low in April. The lack of raiding pushed Wild behind other raiders gear-wise. Wild's healing in the ICC25 raid (when he could get a spot) became an issue. In one raid Wild was switched to DPS to get the moonkin buff and the raid opted to go one healer short, so little did they think of Wild's healing. The raid leader, surveydrood, took Wild aside and helped me work on improving my healing mechanics. It helped, and Wild certainly appreciated the advice and assistance, but it didn't change the lack of opportunity to acquire better gear. Wild's close in game friend and sometime confidante, P-Jo, had all but left the game. Lady Hunter, another good friend who along with P-Jo made up a large portion of the social element of FS, left FS for MM. FS raiding was still flourishing, having downed 10 of 12 bosses in ICC25, but it had become deadly serious business with much of the fun squeezed out of it, at least from Wild's perspective. Yet Wild had no where to go. MM raiding remained moribund, and he couldn't imagine trying to hook up with some other unknown guild. At the end of March Wild set his primary goal: "Do whatever it took to get to the Lich King before Cata arrived." That goal seemed far, far away.
Other family members were having a blast! In April Philly and Sis both DINGed to level 80. Weekly pvp battleground wars raged on both the horde and the alliance side. The secretive Naithipe kept popping up here and there. Lost became the alliance side Auction House trader with great success.
As April rolled into May, things started to unravel in FS. Even as the ICC10 groups brought down the Lich King for the first time, ICC25 raids lost attendance and focus. It was clear that raiders would show up to take down bosses already on farm, but had little interest in pushing past the first two wings against the tougher bosses.
Wild remained in denial, though. On 1 May Wild said this: "If Wild had left FS any of the previous times that we had gone through this, Wild would have missed out of opportunities to raid the best 25 man dungeons in the game, from Mount Hyjal to Naxxramas to Ulduar to Icecrown Citadel. The 25 man raiding will return, even if it goes dormant until Cataclysm. And Wild doesn't want to miss that. FS has survived longer than any other guild Wild would have jumped to, and despite it's problems is still a strong guild. I like MM, and have invested Philly in their future, but there is no overriding reason for Wild to join MM, and every reason to believe that FS will rise to the challenge of the 25 mans when the time comes."
Philly joined MM on 3 May. Wild had one last fling with FS ICC25, winning the main hand mace [Frozen Bonespike]. Wild claimed that the mace was so good he'd still be wearing it come Cata. He was right. But FS ICC25 raiding ended on 11 May when FS suspended it - permanently. On 4 May Wild joined the restart of MM ICC10 raiding and we downed three bosses with Wild leading the healing.
The suspension of ICC25 in FS cost the guild many raiders, including a lot of the newer ones who came to FS specifically to raid ICC25. FS also dropped back to two ICC10 mans, but later were able to put a third group back together. By July Wild was an FS guildie in name only, but he still failed to realize that. On 15 Jul Wild said: "Wild is getting some mild pressure again to move over to the MM guild, saying it would be easier to include Wild in MM guild events, and that the last of the old timers from FS would come with him if Wild only agreed to come. I doubt that is completely true, but Wild is tempted. Always tempted. I hold on to the thought, though, that the best place to be doing 25 man raids once Cataclysm arrives is still FS. Wild will continue to straddle both worlds."
While Wild maintained that the old guard FS guildies that still remained true to the social side of the guild were not an influence - on them or Wild - by remaining in FS, he couldn't deny the impact it made when P-Jo announced she was leaving the game for good.
22 July: "Wild finally made the decision to change guilds. The decision has been building for some time. In one sense nothing much will change, since Wild has had virtually no interaction with FS for quite some time. My friends in FS will still be my friends, even though Wild is no longer in the guild. And it'll make communicating with MM friends and learning about MM guild events much easier. It still makes Wild pretty sad, though." Wild joined FS on 8 May, 2005, as a level 36. Wild held uninterrupted service in the guild for 5 years, 2 months, and 14 days.
In news that no longer directly affected Wild, a piece of FS broke ranks on 28 July and left to form their own guild, WC. Long time friend and raid leader, Rh, became the WC guild leader.
In July and August the MM guild pushed deeper into ICC with two ICC10 groups, G1 and G2, and later added a third group, the Nooners (for alts). Wild was a regular on G2, and G1 and G2 had friendly but fierce competition on who would reach the Lich King first. During this time Philly also got into the act, getting into her first ICC25 on a weekend run that was part guild, part PUG.
Deathwing and the pre-cata events arrived in September and quickly became serious competition for time with Icecrown Citadel. The G2 had come up against a wall called Professor Putricide, but the pontificating professor finally fell on 16 September. MM made an effort to revive ICC25 raiding, starting a co-op with another guild for a weekly Saturday raid. We made surprisingly good progress, but the ICC25 co-op ended after four weeks to make way for the coming Cata patch 4.0.1. Wild did get two heroic mode kills (the Gunship and Lord Marrowgar) from the short lived co-op.
Wild's concern that the pre-Cata events would be the end of ICC raiding proved unfounded. The weekly raids continued, but progress was slow. It took until 31 October for all three raid groups to reach the Lich King. That included the Nooners, which had coalesced into a strong group of it's own and not just an alt farming group. None of the groups had killed the Lich King, and it seemed that time was against us. Wild, who went through a period when he was more absent than present in the raids, had yet to set hoof in LK's domain. We had five weeks to kill him.
All three groups had locked their raids, so that the sole target each raid night was the Lich King, and only the Lich King.
Wild got his first look at the end game boss on 2 November.
The G1 killed the Lich King on 10 November. That ended the hopes of G2 to be the first MM group to win the Kingslayer title, but we were ecstatic at their success and cheered them on even as we came up short once again.
On 23 November "The Shattering" ruptured Azeroth and reshaped the world. Time was running out.
And on 5 December, just two days before the full launch of the Cataclysm expansion, the G2 brought down the Lich King. "On 14 January Wild joined his first MM ICC10. Two hundred and ninety-four real life days later Wild got his first look at the Lich King on 4 Nov. That was the first of nine nights of battling the Lich King over 32 days. We fought the Lich King a total of 77 times before finally bringing him down on our 77th attempt."
Although I could not reach Naithipe for comment, the below is an attempt to track his sightings. Make of it what you will.
Naithipe Sightings:
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2010/02/weekend-13-feb-naithipe-surfaces.html
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2010/05/memorial-day-weekend-30-may-ruffling.html
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2010/06/monday-31-may-happys-dreams-come-true.html
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2010/06/monday-21-jun-secrets.html
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2010/07/sunday-4-jul-jbs-naithipe-obsession.html
15 jul: "In the meantime Naithipe moves through her world oblivious to all the drama around her. Her latest demand is for khorium ore. A lot of it. Of course it is rare. Of course it is expensive. And of course it will take hours and hours of someone's time to collect it. Of course, that doesn't bother Naithipe at all. "
20 Jul: "The latest Naithipe news - Naithipe was fishing when she started getting badgered by an alliance wanting to duel. The alliance was three levels higher than her. When the allie repeatedly asked for a duel even with Naithipe declining, Naithipe pulled her hook out of the river and turned to face the allie. Instead of accepting the duel, Naithipe flagged herself for pvp and waited to see what the allie would do. You want a battle, Naithipe decided, let's make it a real one. Funny, but the allie suddenly lost interest and left. Which, when Naithipe thought about it later, was probably a good thing, because when Naithipe flagged she was still holding her fishing pole instead of her weapon. "
22 jul: "For Almond, from Naithipe - Thanks, Hun. [Don't tell Naithipe I said this, but I think Naithipe even smiled - a little] "
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2010/09/monday-30-aug-all-over-map.html
If you'd like to see what the prior year was like, here is the link to the 2009 New Year's Report:
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2010/01/friday-1-jan-2010-new-years-2010.html
It's now 2011. Cataclysm is here. Icecrown Citadel must and has already become a fading memory. Goodbye, Lich King.
It's all about leveling and dungeon runs right now. But on the horizon broods Baradin Hold, Blackwing Descent, The Bastion of Twilight, and Throne of the Four Winds. Raids. They're coming. If you don't believe that look at the achievements page of the FS guild. Baradin Hold is a one boss raid. They've already killed him. So has Rh's new guild, WC. Wild's MM guild takes a slower path. But we'll get started down that road. Soon.
Thursday (30 Dec) - Cata Level 85 Dungeon Sweep Part 2
Thursday (30 Dec) - Cata Level 85 Dungeon Sweep Part 2
Bd made Wild nervous when his reaction to making Grim Batol our next stop was, "that place is tough!"
Grim Batol is a Dwarven Fortress right out of Lord of the Rings. Think Moria. Like Moria, the dwarves are gone, defeated and destroyed. But instead of orcs and goblins in their place, we have Twilight Hammer cultists. The fortress has a long, rich history. Deathwing took refuge here after his prior defeat.
Our new/old guildie friend had not made it to Twilight Highlands yet and so Wild and Lady Hunter traveled there first and then summoned him to Grim Batol using the Summoning Stone. There are five bosses in GB, but the night must have started to grow long for Wild, because the trash mobs seemed to be endless and there was always another Boss around the corner. The fights all blended together, but here are the highlights:
- Between two of the boss fights is a bombing run. There is a very long corridor with a deep center line and pathways on either side, very like the one in the Alliance city of Ironforge. Clumps of hostile elite mobs line both pathways. After we cleared our way to the front of that corridor, there were five dragons available to mount. Bd wanted us to mount at the same time so we'd fly close together and our bombs would have the maximum affect. We would get one shot - a strafing run to the end of the corridor and back. What mobs we weren't able to kill on that strafing run we would have to kill on the ground the hard way. The strafing run was fun and a good stress reliever. There is also a quest for the bombing run, but Wild didn't kill enough mobs to complete it and will need another dungeon run to finish that one. Despite our efforts, though, there were still a lot of mob groups to clear to return (on foot) to the far end of the corridor.
- The final boss, Erudax (a multi-winged dragon that looked more insect that dragon) gave Wild fits because the boss drops two different kinds of purple floor covering - one of which can kill you if you don't stay out of it, and the other where you will die if you don't get in it. Wild's color blind eyes really had a time with that, but eventually could tell the difference based on the swirls and the spread pattern. Wild spent a lot of time in the wrong color swirls, though, which didn't help. He did go down, though, and a tuckered out Wild called it a night. Philly called Wild a wuss - it was only three hours, and only nine bosses total on the two runs. Heck, Wild is out of shape already from not doing ICC anymore. Bd rubbed it in further. He was going to run two more dungeons with a new set of guildies needing to work on their ilvl.
Wild averaged just over 4k hps (healing per second) across the evening, getting up over 5k on a couple of high damage boss fights. Wild's over-healing on the final boss was a stingy 37%, but overall it was around 60%, so it's hard to tell if these were good numbers or not. Overhealing is a lot more important to track now than pre-cata. The stats do provide a base for future comparison, and of course, the best measure of the night was that we cleared both dungeons and lived to tell about it.
Wild has now cleared all three of the level 85 only dungeons in normal mode. In a way I'm glad Wild must gear up more before being allowed in those dungeons in Heroic mode - I don't really feel ready for that, given the effort to take down those dungeons in normal mode. As Wild told Lao when she asked how Wild's healing went, "We cleared the dungeons and I didn't suck, so I'm happy."
Interested in the DPS numbers? All were level 85, although gear level varied quite a bit between them.
8861 dps, 36% damage: warlock
5262 dps, 25%: warrior tank (Bd surprised himself by being 2nd in dps)
5143 dps, 19%: fury warrior (very low geared)
5332 dps, 17%: hunter (maybe Wild forgot to count her pet damage)
615 dps, 3%: Wild ;-)
One final treasure of the night was that the former guild leader of FS, who has been out of the game for months, returned for a visit on her priest. P-Jo, a long time close in game friend of Wild, chatted a bit with Wild and with a lot of her other friends. She is still on the FS guild roster, and she's not sure how much or if she is going to start playing again. But it certainly was wonderful to chat with her again.
Bd made Wild nervous when his reaction to making Grim Batol our next stop was, "that place is tough!"
Grim Batol is a Dwarven Fortress right out of Lord of the Rings. Think Moria. Like Moria, the dwarves are gone, defeated and destroyed. But instead of orcs and goblins in their place, we have Twilight Hammer cultists. The fortress has a long, rich history. Deathwing took refuge here after his prior defeat.
Our new/old guildie friend had not made it to Twilight Highlands yet and so Wild and Lady Hunter traveled there first and then summoned him to Grim Batol using the Summoning Stone. There are five bosses in GB, but the night must have started to grow long for Wild, because the trash mobs seemed to be endless and there was always another Boss around the corner. The fights all blended together, but here are the highlights:
- Between two of the boss fights is a bombing run. There is a very long corridor with a deep center line and pathways on either side, very like the one in the Alliance city of Ironforge. Clumps of hostile elite mobs line both pathways. After we cleared our way to the front of that corridor, there were five dragons available to mount. Bd wanted us to mount at the same time so we'd fly close together and our bombs would have the maximum affect. We would get one shot - a strafing run to the end of the corridor and back. What mobs we weren't able to kill on that strafing run we would have to kill on the ground the hard way. The strafing run was fun and a good stress reliever. There is also a quest for the bombing run, but Wild didn't kill enough mobs to complete it and will need another dungeon run to finish that one. Despite our efforts, though, there were still a lot of mob groups to clear to return (on foot) to the far end of the corridor.
- The final boss, Erudax (a multi-winged dragon that looked more insect that dragon) gave Wild fits because the boss drops two different kinds of purple floor covering - one of which can kill you if you don't stay out of it, and the other where you will die if you don't get in it. Wild's color blind eyes really had a time with that, but eventually could tell the difference based on the swirls and the spread pattern. Wild spent a lot of time in the wrong color swirls, though, which didn't help. He did go down, though, and a tuckered out Wild called it a night. Philly called Wild a wuss - it was only three hours, and only nine bosses total on the two runs. Heck, Wild is out of shape already from not doing ICC anymore. Bd rubbed it in further. He was going to run two more dungeons with a new set of guildies needing to work on their ilvl.
Wild averaged just over 4k hps (healing per second) across the evening, getting up over 5k on a couple of high damage boss fights. Wild's over-healing on the final boss was a stingy 37%, but overall it was around 60%, so it's hard to tell if these were good numbers or not. Overhealing is a lot more important to track now than pre-cata. The stats do provide a base for future comparison, and of course, the best measure of the night was that we cleared both dungeons and lived to tell about it.
Wild has now cleared all three of the level 85 only dungeons in normal mode. In a way I'm glad Wild must gear up more before being allowed in those dungeons in Heroic mode - I don't really feel ready for that, given the effort to take down those dungeons in normal mode. As Wild told Lao when she asked how Wild's healing went, "We cleared the dungeons and I didn't suck, so I'm happy."
Interested in the DPS numbers? All were level 85, although gear level varied quite a bit between them.
8861 dps, 36% damage: warlock
5262 dps, 25%: warrior tank (Bd surprised himself by being 2nd in dps)
5143 dps, 19%: fury warrior (very low geared)
5332 dps, 17%: hunter (maybe Wild forgot to count her pet damage)
615 dps, 3%: Wild ;-)
One final treasure of the night was that the former guild leader of FS, who has been out of the game for months, returned for a visit on her priest. P-Jo, a long time close in game friend of Wild, chatted a bit with Wild and with a lot of her other friends. She is still on the FS guild roster, and she's not sure how much or if she is going to start playing again. But it certainly was wonderful to chat with her again.
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