Wednesday (24 Jan) - The Death Knell Approaches
A friend of mine recently posted on the guild website, relating to a number of severe real life medical problems he has been battling and is still going through. That was a sobering moment compared to the much less important issues surrounding the game of World of Warcraft. I'm praying for his recovery and wish him well. Even under those circumstances, he keeps the faith with the guild and his guild friends.
In light of that, the failings of WoW and my own fading interest in the game seem pale in comparison.
The adventures of the Wild Family and company have not yet ended, though greatly curtailed. One could also question the state of the game itself, which seems to have entered some strange limbo of often frenzied activity that goes no where and accomplishes little.
Reading the forums, half are posts written by game authors or those writing for the game (ie, wowhead). Of the 47 posts on the first page of wowhead's General forum, 24 were by players, and 23 by professional pundits. Checking out the Monk forum, which one would think would be alive with discussion of this new class, I find only four posts less than ten days old. The WoW Monk forum only recently posted a windwalker guide, which has some good information, but that forum is not that well populated, either.
Guild raiding is again on semi-hiatus as the guild leader deals with real life considerations. That takes one raid group out of action and leaves the other missing at least two raiders. Raid progress remains slow for a guild with 88 level 90s. Of the 17 raid bosses available in four Pandaria raids (counting Sha), they have downed three bosses as a guild.
The Mists of Pandaria (MoP) is a veritable smorgasbord of opportunities, from raiding to dungeons, to scenarios, to special quest threads, to pvp. There are more factions than ever, and more daily quests to do than are humanly possible (or by any other race).
None of it feels connected, though. MoP was a radical a departure from past expansions. Talents were completely re-written. Fundamental practices on how a character was played were completely changed. Even simple things, such as the Cooking profession, became arcanely difficult and complicated. Every class has to be re-learned.
Even Happy's Auction House has strange echoes. The new MoP enchanting mats were going to revitalize Happy's coffers, but buy and sale activity has been all but dead. The means of combining and breaking up the new mats require an accounting degree to understand, and Happy was up for that challenge, but the mats just sit there in the AH unwanted and unused. It may be that active players simply generate enough mats in daily play that there is no need to buy them from the AH. If so, Happy is on a slow slide to doom. Gems are following a similar path. The mid-level gems are so cheap they aren't worth selling, and the high-end gems so expensive there's no profit margin. Lao reports, and Happy confirms, that herb gathering may be somewhat profitable for gatherers, but it remains spotty and mostly unprofitable for Happy.
It has become a strange, foreign land. The linchpin that kept Wild connected through prior expansions was raiding. The death of raiding for Wild began when Looking For Raid (LFR) was implemented. Both the LFR and the LFD (Looking For Dungeon) were both a godsend and a hidden nightmare for Wild. For the first time, players could defeat raid bosses with random groups of players. Wild's gear grew quickly richer through the weekly slaughter of Dragon Soul, and primed him for the regular raid runs with the guild. That came with a surprisingly high price. Wild got bored with the endless LFR/LFD grinding and frustrated with the slow progress in regular guild raids.
There seemed little incentive other than pride in finishing normal mode Dragon Soul, when Wild had defeated it in the LFR so many, many, many times already. So Wild stopped raiding for the several months between his disillusion with the LFR/DS and the arrival of MoP.
The LFR/LFD process expanded in MoP, but the idea of entering that grind once more ... Well, Dragon Soul was just one raid. MoP already offers THREE raids of LFR grinding, not to mention a gob of LFD's that must be ground through before getting to the LFRs. Fist, happy to have made it to level 90, could not bring herself to enter that pipeline.
The linchpin of raiding was broken.
I'm told that the MoP LFD/LFRs are so easy the only obstacle is waiting around for a group to form. The first time Fist did them, it would probably be kind of fun. The thousandth time ... I just don't think I'm going to go there.
The only semi-active players I have now are Fist and Happy. The rest make mere cameo appearances. I'm in game less than an hour a day.
The twilight may be descending. For the Wild family, the death knell waits.
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Tuesday (15 Jan) - The Divine Bell
Tuesday (15 Jan) - The Divine Bell
The Divine Bell is the next installment in the Domination Point quest line.
Lao has been delaying the telling of the Divine Bell because she was greatly hoping for more news. She feels now that this will not happen until after the next patch.
Lao had captured the Bell from the Night Elves which caused a great rift in Dalaran. While it seemed too easy to Lao (though she was not the one who made the cloaking spell) to get the Bell back, it was indeed the true Bell.
Hellscream was about to ring the Bell and Lao was told she could be present. Lao did not want to be there at all but felt she had no choice, so she went. Ishi, who has been a strong proponent of Hellscream, was also there, as well as some miscellaneous soldiers who always seem to be at such events.
Before Hellscream rang the bell, Anduin Wrynn, the Prince of Stormwind arrived, telling Hellscream to stop.
Hellscream was very surprised to see "Varian's welp" (King Varian Wyrnn) rather than Varian himself. But Hellscream was going ring the bell and kill Anduin.
Lao was very uneasy at this point. Against her better judgement she liked Anduin. He, like Thrall, saw past factions and bigotry.
Hellscream rang the Bell.
As Lao suspected, people were not able to master their anger or hate. Lao herself had to kill six soldiers and then had to watch Ishi try to master his doubt and hate, ultimately failing and being killed by Lao.
His last words were, "I have failed you, Hellscream." To which Hellscream responded, "yes, you have."
At this point Lao had had enough and was about to lay into Hellscream when Anduin spoke.
While the Mongu created the Bell, the Pandarians created a Hammer to counter the Bell. This Hammer would ring harmony rather than anger or hate. Anduin has the Hammer and, before anyone can stop him, sounds the Bell with it.
Hellscream is appalled and angry at Anduin's actions but before he can attack, a rumble occurs. The Bell cannot handle the harmony that is occurring around it. The Bell crumbles and crushes Anduin.
Hellscream's quest to use the Bell is destroyed and so is Anduin, it seems. Furious with the loss of the Bell, Hellscream leaves.
Lao waits till Hellscream is gone and rushes over to Anduin. He is not dead as Hellscream assumed but he is very much crushed, hanging on with just a thread of life.
Lao can't heal him, cannot do anything for him. She is Horde and he is Alliance. She waits around hoping for someone else to come, but no one does, and she leaves. Not knowing what else to do.
There have been no more letters from Vol'jin, no summons from Baine or Thrall. Everyone has been very quiet.
The Divine Bell is the next installment in the Domination Point quest line.
Lao has been delaying the telling of the Divine Bell because she was greatly hoping for more news. She feels now that this will not happen until after the next patch.
Lao had captured the Bell from the Night Elves which caused a great rift in Dalaran. While it seemed too easy to Lao (though she was not the one who made the cloaking spell) to get the Bell back, it was indeed the true Bell.
Hellscream was about to ring the Bell and Lao was told she could be present. Lao did not want to be there at all but felt she had no choice, so she went. Ishi, who has been a strong proponent of Hellscream, was also there, as well as some miscellaneous soldiers who always seem to be at such events.
Before Hellscream rang the bell, Anduin Wrynn, the Prince of Stormwind arrived, telling Hellscream to stop.
Hellscream was very surprised to see "Varian's welp" (King Varian Wyrnn) rather than Varian himself. But Hellscream was going ring the bell and kill Anduin.
Lao was very uneasy at this point. Against her better judgement she liked Anduin. He, like Thrall, saw past factions and bigotry.
Hellscream rang the Bell.
As Lao suspected, people were not able to master their anger or hate. Lao herself had to kill six soldiers and then had to watch Ishi try to master his doubt and hate, ultimately failing and being killed by Lao.
His last words were, "I have failed you, Hellscream." To which Hellscream responded, "yes, you have."
At this point Lao had had enough and was about to lay into Hellscream when Anduin spoke.
While the Mongu created the Bell, the Pandarians created a Hammer to counter the Bell. This Hammer would ring harmony rather than anger or hate. Anduin has the Hammer and, before anyone can stop him, sounds the Bell with it.
Hellscream is appalled and angry at Anduin's actions but before he can attack, a rumble occurs. The Bell cannot handle the harmony that is occurring around it. The Bell crumbles and crushes Anduin.
Hellscream's quest to use the Bell is destroyed and so is Anduin, it seems. Furious with the loss of the Bell, Hellscream leaves.
Lao waits till Hellscream is gone and rushes over to Anduin. He is not dead as Hellscream assumed but he is very much crushed, hanging on with just a thread of life.
Lao can't heal him, cannot do anything for him. She is Horde and he is Alliance. She waits around hoping for someone else to come, but no one does, and she leaves. Not knowing what else to do.
There have been no more letters from Vol'jin, no summons from Baine or Thrall. Everyone has been very quiet.
Monday, January 7, 2013
Wild Family Ninth Year (7 Jan 2013) - 2012 New Year's Report
Wild Family Ninth Year (7 Jan 2013) - 2012 New Year's Report
Last year’s report for 2011 had to be divided into two parts, Guilds and Raids (ie, guild drama), and Family Matters.
The biggest shock of the annual report for 2012 has to be that there was no guild drama. Wild is still a card carrying member of the MM2 guild (real name, Meitha) since he left MM (Mayhem) on 28 June. Hmm, well, that was only six months ago. Ok, so there was guild drama, I found the first sign of it in a 11 Jan post titled “Life Goes On.” Say la vie.
It seemed appropriate that on Friday, 4 Jan 2013, a long time friend who had left the game for many months popped up in game. His name is Ristan, a fine druid tank who had just started the trek from level 85 to 90. Ristan is one of Wild’s cabal, which has dwindled to only two regulars: guild leader Bloodknuckle (known as Bd) and Tala (known as Lady Hunter). Ristan said he was back, for now, but wasn’t sure for how long. He chided Wild: “You haven’t leveled to 90 yet, what’s up with that?” I told him that Wild was semi-retired now, but that I had a new main, Fist, a level 90 blood elf monk. Ristan said he loved his druid tank too much to change, although he was still feeling his way with all the changes to druid tanking in MoP. Ristan was voice from a disappearing past.
With that in mind, take a walk with Wild through 2012.
Wild started off 2012 with an i384 gear score and had been a regular raider with the guild. He would end 2012 with a gear score of i422, good enough for dungeons but not good enough for raiding, not even LFR raiding.
JB made it to level 85 on 3 Jan, 2012.
The pvp team, Hunter Fortress, put away their bows on 16 Jan, after three months of inactivity. It was great while it lasted.
Wild’s Alliance Family, Sista and Bruiserbabe, also went mostly on hiatus in January, but BB would pop up later in the Naithipe affair.
On 24 Jan, 2012, Cataclysm issued it’s last Cata content patch. The Dragon Soul raid nerfing began. Speaking of guild drama, I came across this on the same day:
“The end game boss story suddenly struck me:
Icecrown Citadel's Lich King - Nerf sticked to the max, but our guild grimly kept after him, going toe to toe 70+ times before killing him. We never gave up, and we brought him down. A grand accomplishment.
Fireland's Ragnaros - Dysfunctional raids, warring guilds, and absent raid leaders made a mess of things. Ragnaros never fell even though the Mf raid still tilts at that windmill once in awhile. A failure.
Dragon Soul's Deathwing - Dead on the same day Wild first stepped into DS via the raid finder. As for the guild raid, it's hard to see how either raid group will be able to beat even the nerfed content, or whether the guild will even care.
Wild thinks about what it would be like to be in a guild where raid progression was something to get excited about.”
On 5 Feb, 2012, Wild achieved the ultimate goal for him from the perspective of riding mounts - Wild finally earned the Raven Lord mount. It is far and away my favorite mount, even though it can’t fly and is so large Wild has to manually dismount when entering doorways.
On the same day, 5 Feb, JB earned her Raider badge with the guild, passing the guild tests for the required DPS.
Wild caused a titter on 23 Feb, when he surprised a guild raid by using his new microphone in vent. Wild NEVER talks in vent. It went like this: “ "Hey." That's all I said, but one would have thought that single word had come directly from Heaven. Vent went silent. "Who is that?" someone asked. "WILD!" Lady Hunter yelled. For the next five minutes the only thing on anyone's mind was getting Wild to say something in vent. Lady Hunter declared that she has known Wild for five years and never once heard me say a single word. Which was true. Wild was quite the celebrity for awhile, but eventually we got back to the task at hand.”
On April 14th, in a post titled “Girls Rock Out” JB got her first official invite to a guild Firelands raid. The G3 raid (yes, MM was running THREE raids at this juncture) ran on the weekend. JB made the run in melee spec and the group killed just one boss (the 5th boss, Baleroc - JB came in on the second night of the raid), but JB got her first regular (vs lfr) raid boss kill on this day. JB also defeated three Dragon Soul bosses (Morchok, Warlord, and Yor). Philly had gotten back into the saddle earlier in the month and was actively leveling via the pvp battlegrounds. She had reached level 83.
On 30 April, JB and DB joined up for an lfr Dragon Soul raid. I’m not sure if it was the first time they had raided together, but it was a good night, downing seven bosses.
Philly reached level 85 on 4 May, 2012.
On 10 May Wild took a break from raiding. MoP was still a long ways off and DS raiding had begun to get stale. There was also the release of Diablo 3, and that consumed my game time for awhile. The entire month of June was devoted to finishing Diablo 3.
On 5 Jun Wild had this to say: “Wild's replacement in the RG2 raid has four normal mode wins in the final Dragon Soul encounter, Madness of Deathwing. That was six raids/weeks ago. Wild's timing was perfect - he stopped raiding two weeks before the guild started to get DS on farm. Funny and sad, both. Wild is still better geared than the druid that got Wild's spot.
On 2 August, Naithipe contemplated the idea of having a daughter. The seed was sown for Plumrosefist. Here is the list of posts following this major story:
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2012/08/wednesday-15-aug-shattered-family.html
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2012/08/thursday-16-aug-walk-of-elders.html
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2012/08/monday-20-aug-seasons-change-for-azeroth.html
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2012/08/wednesday-22-aug-conundrum-of-naithipe.html
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2012/08/thursday-23-aug-in-her-own-head.html
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2012/08/monday-27-aug-lighting-fuse.html
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2012/08/wednesday-30-aug-images-of-shalandis.html
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2012/08/wednesday-30-aug-showdown-at-shalandis.html
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2012/09/monday-3-sep-waiting-game.html
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2012/09/wednesday-5-sep-cougar-jocey-eyes-boys.html
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2012/09/monday-17-sep-dress-rehearsal.html
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2012/09/friday-21-sep-house-of-wild-evolves.html
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2012/09/monday-24-sep-house-of-naithipe.html
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2012/09/tuesday-25-sep-wandering-isle-for.html
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2012/09/tuesday-still-25-sep-wandering-isle-is.html
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2012/09/thursday-27-sep-fist-wastes-no-time.html
Note that Patch 5.04, the pre-release of MoP, arrived on 28 August, with the full release coming on 25 September.
Fist’s march to Level 90 began on 27 Sep, 2012. Her capsule story, from level 1 to level 90, can be read here:
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2012/12/december-magic-26-dec-ascendance-of.html
That wraps up the recap of 2012. Below is the annual review of the raid guilds Wild has been involved in over time. It seems strange to continue this, since Wild has not raided since 10 May, 2012.
MM2 (Meitha) - Wild’s current guild. Bloodknuckle GM
Total Members: 386 (2011), 487 (2012) - an increase of 101
Total 85/90s: 209 (2011), 85 (2012) - 286 if counting 85s +
Raid Accomplishments: 3 ten man raid groups
Raid Dec 2011 Dec 2012
Firelands (6/7) (6/7)
Dragon Soul (1/8) (8/8)
Heart of Fear (0/6) (0/7)
Mogu’Shan Vaults (0/6) (2/6)
Terrace .. Spring (0/4) (0/4)
MM (Mayhem) - Wild’s guild until June 2012. Kira/Wightblade GM
Total Members: 146 (2011), 102 (2012) - a loss of 44
Total 85/90s: 81 (2011), 23 (2012) - 72 if counting 85s +
Raid Accomplishments:
Firelands (4/7) (4/7)
Dragon Soul (6/8) (8/8)
Heart of Fear (0/6) (0/6)
Mogu’Shan Vaults (0/6) (0/6)
Terrace .. Spring (0/4) (0/4)
FS (Fate Sealed) - Wild’s longest serving guild. Ramux/Frohgurt GM.
Total Members: 131 (2011) 165 (2012) - an increase of 34
Total 85/90s: 66 (2011) 42 (2012) - 102 if counting 85s +
Raid Accomplishments:
Firelands (6/7) (6/7)
Dragon Soul (6/8) (8/8)
Heart of Fear (0/6) (0/6)
Mogu’Shan Vaults (0/6) (3/6)
Terrace .. Spring (0/4) (0/4)
WC (Warchild) - FS spin off. Rhonna GM
Total Members: 71 (2011) 70 (2012) - a loss of 1
Total 85s/90: 54 (2011) 15 (2012) - 51 if counting 85s +
Raid Accomplishments:
Firelands (7/7) (6/7)
Dragon Soul (1/8) (8/8)
Heart of Fear (0/6) (0/6)
Mogu’Shan Vaults (0/6) (0/6)
Terrace .. Spring (0/4) (0/4)
There’s not a lot that can be determined from the above, particularly the raiding, since MoP has been out less than two months. Frankly, despite Wild’s long absence from raiding, he really isn’t that far behind.
Last year’s report for 2011 had to be divided into two parts, Guilds and Raids (ie, guild drama), and Family Matters.
The biggest shock of the annual report for 2012 has to be that there was no guild drama. Wild is still a card carrying member of the MM2 guild (real name, Meitha) since he left MM (Mayhem) on 28 June. Hmm, well, that was only six months ago. Ok, so there was guild drama, I found the first sign of it in a 11 Jan post titled “Life Goes On.” Say la vie.
It seemed appropriate that on Friday, 4 Jan 2013, a long time friend who had left the game for many months popped up in game. His name is Ristan, a fine druid tank who had just started the trek from level 85 to 90. Ristan is one of Wild’s cabal, which has dwindled to only two regulars: guild leader Bloodknuckle (known as Bd) and Tala (known as Lady Hunter). Ristan said he was back, for now, but wasn’t sure for how long. He chided Wild: “You haven’t leveled to 90 yet, what’s up with that?” I told him that Wild was semi-retired now, but that I had a new main, Fist, a level 90 blood elf monk. Ristan said he loved his druid tank too much to change, although he was still feeling his way with all the changes to druid tanking in MoP. Ristan was voice from a disappearing past.
With that in mind, take a walk with Wild through 2012.
Wild started off 2012 with an i384 gear score and had been a regular raider with the guild. He would end 2012 with a gear score of i422, good enough for dungeons but not good enough for raiding, not even LFR raiding.
JB made it to level 85 on 3 Jan, 2012.
The pvp team, Hunter Fortress, put away their bows on 16 Jan, after three months of inactivity. It was great while it lasted.
Wild’s Alliance Family, Sista and Bruiserbabe, also went mostly on hiatus in January, but BB would pop up later in the Naithipe affair.
On 24 Jan, 2012, Cataclysm issued it’s last Cata content patch. The Dragon Soul raid nerfing began. Speaking of guild drama, I came across this on the same day:
“The end game boss story suddenly struck me:
Icecrown Citadel's Lich King - Nerf sticked to the max, but our guild grimly kept after him, going toe to toe 70+ times before killing him. We never gave up, and we brought him down. A grand accomplishment.
Fireland's Ragnaros - Dysfunctional raids, warring guilds, and absent raid leaders made a mess of things. Ragnaros never fell even though the Mf raid still tilts at that windmill once in awhile. A failure.
Dragon Soul's Deathwing - Dead on the same day Wild first stepped into DS via the raid finder. As for the guild raid, it's hard to see how either raid group will be able to beat even the nerfed content, or whether the guild will even care.
Wild thinks about what it would be like to be in a guild where raid progression was something to get excited about.”
On 5 Feb, 2012, Wild achieved the ultimate goal for him from the perspective of riding mounts - Wild finally earned the Raven Lord mount. It is far and away my favorite mount, even though it can’t fly and is so large Wild has to manually dismount when entering doorways.
On the same day, 5 Feb, JB earned her Raider badge with the guild, passing the guild tests for the required DPS.
Wild caused a titter on 23 Feb, when he surprised a guild raid by using his new microphone in vent. Wild NEVER talks in vent. It went like this: “ "Hey." That's all I said, but one would have thought that single word had come directly from Heaven. Vent went silent. "Who is that?" someone asked. "WILD!" Lady Hunter yelled. For the next five minutes the only thing on anyone's mind was getting Wild to say something in vent. Lady Hunter declared that she has known Wild for five years and never once heard me say a single word. Which was true. Wild was quite the celebrity for awhile, but eventually we got back to the task at hand.”
On April 14th, in a post titled “Girls Rock Out” JB got her first official invite to a guild Firelands raid. The G3 raid (yes, MM was running THREE raids at this juncture) ran on the weekend. JB made the run in melee spec and the group killed just one boss (the 5th boss, Baleroc - JB came in on the second night of the raid), but JB got her first regular (vs lfr) raid boss kill on this day. JB also defeated three Dragon Soul bosses (Morchok, Warlord, and Yor). Philly had gotten back into the saddle earlier in the month and was actively leveling via the pvp battlegrounds. She had reached level 83.
On 30 April, JB and DB joined up for an lfr Dragon Soul raid. I’m not sure if it was the first time they had raided together, but it was a good night, downing seven bosses.
Philly reached level 85 on 4 May, 2012.
On 10 May Wild took a break from raiding. MoP was still a long ways off and DS raiding had begun to get stale. There was also the release of Diablo 3, and that consumed my game time for awhile. The entire month of June was devoted to finishing Diablo 3.
On 5 Jun Wild had this to say: “Wild's replacement in the RG2 raid has four normal mode wins in the final Dragon Soul encounter, Madness of Deathwing. That was six raids/weeks ago. Wild's timing was perfect - he stopped raiding two weeks before the guild started to get DS on farm. Funny and sad, both. Wild is still better geared than the druid that got Wild's spot.
On 2 August, Naithipe contemplated the idea of having a daughter. The seed was sown for Plumrosefist. Here is the list of posts following this major story:
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2012/08/wednesday-15-aug-shattered-family.html
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2012/08/thursday-16-aug-walk-of-elders.html
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2012/08/monday-20-aug-seasons-change-for-azeroth.html
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2012/08/wednesday-22-aug-conundrum-of-naithipe.html
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2012/08/thursday-23-aug-in-her-own-head.html
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2012/08/monday-27-aug-lighting-fuse.html
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2012/08/wednesday-30-aug-images-of-shalandis.html
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2012/08/wednesday-30-aug-showdown-at-shalandis.html
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2012/09/monday-3-sep-waiting-game.html
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2012/09/wednesday-5-sep-cougar-jocey-eyes-boys.html
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2012/09/monday-17-sep-dress-rehearsal.html
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2012/09/friday-21-sep-house-of-wild-evolves.html
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2012/09/monday-24-sep-house-of-naithipe.html
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2012/09/tuesday-25-sep-wandering-isle-for.html
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2012/09/tuesday-still-25-sep-wandering-isle-is.html
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2012/09/thursday-27-sep-fist-wastes-no-time.html
Note that Patch 5.04, the pre-release of MoP, arrived on 28 August, with the full release coming on 25 September.
Fist’s march to Level 90 began on 27 Sep, 2012. Her capsule story, from level 1 to level 90, can be read here:
http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2012/12/december-magic-26-dec-ascendance-of.html
That wraps up the recap of 2012. Below is the annual review of the raid guilds Wild has been involved in over time. It seems strange to continue this, since Wild has not raided since 10 May, 2012.
MM2 (Meitha) - Wild’s current guild. Bloodknuckle GM
Total Members: 386 (2011), 487 (2012) - an increase of 101
Total 85/90s: 209 (2011), 85 (2012) - 286 if counting 85s +
Raid Accomplishments: 3 ten man raid groups
Raid Dec 2011 Dec 2012
Firelands (6/7) (6/7)
Dragon Soul (1/8) (8/8)
Heart of Fear (0/6) (0/7)
Mogu’Shan Vaults (0/6) (2/6)
Terrace .. Spring (0/4) (0/4)
MM (Mayhem) - Wild’s guild until June 2012. Kira/Wightblade GM
Total Members: 146 (2011), 102 (2012) - a loss of 44
Total 85/90s: 81 (2011), 23 (2012) - 72 if counting 85s +
Raid Accomplishments:
Firelands (4/7) (4/7)
Dragon Soul (6/8) (8/8)
Heart of Fear (0/6) (0/6)
Mogu’Shan Vaults (0/6) (0/6)
Terrace .. Spring (0/4) (0/4)
FS (Fate Sealed) - Wild’s longest serving guild. Ramux/Frohgurt GM.
Total Members: 131 (2011) 165 (2012) - an increase of 34
Total 85/90s: 66 (2011) 42 (2012) - 102 if counting 85s +
Raid Accomplishments:
Firelands (6/7) (6/7)
Dragon Soul (6/8) (8/8)
Heart of Fear (0/6) (0/6)
Mogu’Shan Vaults (0/6) (3/6)
Terrace .. Spring (0/4) (0/4)
WC (Warchild) - FS spin off. Rhonna GM
Total Members: 71 (2011) 70 (2012) - a loss of 1
Total 85s/90: 54 (2011) 15 (2012) - 51 if counting 85s +
Raid Accomplishments:
Firelands (7/7) (6/7)
Dragon Soul (1/8) (8/8)
Heart of Fear (0/6) (0/6)
Mogu’Shan Vaults (0/6) (0/6)
Terrace .. Spring (0/4) (0/4)
There’s not a lot that can be determined from the above, particularly the raiding, since MoP has been out less than two months. Frankly, despite Wild’s long absence from raiding, he really isn’t that far behind.
Sunday, January 6, 2013
Weekend (6 Jan, 2013) - Phantom Cat Capers
Weekend (6 Jan, 2013) - Phantom Cat Capers
You all know we have cats. A lot of cats. We love them and we would never think about giving any of them up. Well, there was that time ... oh, and then there was this other time ... ok, maybe we THINK about throwing the whole lot of them out in the street to fend for themselves once in awhile - like every day - but then they’d just hang around and cause even more trouble. Honestly, though, they are like children to us and we take very good care of them.
I think I’ve already mentioned that we have to gone to extraordinary lengths to “cat-proof” our yard. No yard is really 100% cat-proof (unless you are Ernest Hemingway - his house and yards are surrounded by a ten foot concrete wall, and even today the house remains and his six toed cats still have the run of the place). What we’ve done is raised our six foot fence to seven feet using decorative lattice that the cats don’t particularly like. That hasn’t kept two of our more adventurous cats from still getting out of the yard by climbing our two gates (even though both have their front feet declawed).
Well, the city wasn’t going to let me build a ten foot fence, so my next step was to see if I could confuse the cats by making it “seem” like they couldn’t climb the gates. We tried various things that didn’t work. My most recent idea was to use shade cloth to cover the entire gate. The shade cloth hides all of the possible spots they could use to climb the gate, and it’s loose enough that if they try to climb it, the cloth moves. Cats don’t like that unstable feel. So far it’s been working, although they regularly sit by the gate, staring at it in deep thought. Or maybe they were getting ready to upchuck a hairball, it was hard to tell the difference.
We have indoor challenges as well. There are cats that get along with each other and cats that don’t. We have our older cats - Mom and the “kittens” we kept are now turning 13 - and the younger brood. Keeping the peace is a daily chore. For some time now we have been battling a phantom. Someone or someones, who we have not been able to pin down, has been spraying our furniture. You would not believe the things we’ve tried and still try to stop that. I don’t think there is a single idea we haven’t tried, with varying, but ultimately failed results. Clean up involves a several part process of washing, deodorizing, etc, that does eliminate the stains and the odors, but the irritation factor is pretty high.
We have gone hi tech with our latest attempt, which we put in place last Thursday. We bought a wireless security camera. I’d never used one of these things, so it’s been quite a learning experience. There are all kinds, with all kinds of features, so it took some time just to figure out what to get. I settled on a dLink DCS-942L cloud camera. The installation instructions were terrible, and the phone assistance so overwhelmed I never actually reached a human person. I kept at it and finally got it working.
The camera holds a 32GB micro-SD card (not included, of course, that cost extra) and has numerous and arcane settings. Ours is set for motion detection, and I was pretty pleased at it’s range. The camera can be placed anywhere in the house, or even our yard, as long as it has a power receptacle. We can monitor the video from any computer or even our smart phones. We don’t have to monitor it, though, since the camera automatically captures video whenever motion is detected, runs a one minute clip, and then waits for the next motion.
The video is black and white only, at 640x480 resolution, but the video is quite clear. It has night vision settings as well, but the default settings have worked just fine even with all the lights out. We can only monitor one room at a time, so we chose our front room, as all three pieces of furniture in that room - couch, love seat, and recliner, have been targeted by our phantom. I couldn’t get an angle that covered all three, though, so I settled on monitoring the couch and love seat.
Of course, the first couple of days all of our cats were perfect gentlemen and ladies. There was no spraying anywhere in the house. Then, yesterday morning, in broad daylight, the phantom struck - the recliner. The camera was not aimed at the recliner, and the phantom did not trigger the camera. Sigh.
Saturday morning we moved the camera around found another, better angle. The camera can now see all three pieces of furniture. We set our trap once again and, hopefully, we will nab our phantom.
Of course, we still don’t have an answer about what to do about it when we do catch our phantom.
Stay tuned ....
You all know we have cats. A lot of cats. We love them and we would never think about giving any of them up. Well, there was that time ... oh, and then there was this other time ... ok, maybe we THINK about throwing the whole lot of them out in the street to fend for themselves once in awhile - like every day - but then they’d just hang around and cause even more trouble. Honestly, though, they are like children to us and we take very good care of them.
I think I’ve already mentioned that we have to gone to extraordinary lengths to “cat-proof” our yard. No yard is really 100% cat-proof (unless you are Ernest Hemingway - his house and yards are surrounded by a ten foot concrete wall, and even today the house remains and his six toed cats still have the run of the place). What we’ve done is raised our six foot fence to seven feet using decorative lattice that the cats don’t particularly like. That hasn’t kept two of our more adventurous cats from still getting out of the yard by climbing our two gates (even though both have their front feet declawed).
Well, the city wasn’t going to let me build a ten foot fence, so my next step was to see if I could confuse the cats by making it “seem” like they couldn’t climb the gates. We tried various things that didn’t work. My most recent idea was to use shade cloth to cover the entire gate. The shade cloth hides all of the possible spots they could use to climb the gate, and it’s loose enough that if they try to climb it, the cloth moves. Cats don’t like that unstable feel. So far it’s been working, although they regularly sit by the gate, staring at it in deep thought. Or maybe they were getting ready to upchuck a hairball, it was hard to tell the difference.
We have indoor challenges as well. There are cats that get along with each other and cats that don’t. We have our older cats - Mom and the “kittens” we kept are now turning 13 - and the younger brood. Keeping the peace is a daily chore. For some time now we have been battling a phantom. Someone or someones, who we have not been able to pin down, has been spraying our furniture. You would not believe the things we’ve tried and still try to stop that. I don’t think there is a single idea we haven’t tried, with varying, but ultimately failed results. Clean up involves a several part process of washing, deodorizing, etc, that does eliminate the stains and the odors, but the irritation factor is pretty high.
We have gone hi tech with our latest attempt, which we put in place last Thursday. We bought a wireless security camera. I’d never used one of these things, so it’s been quite a learning experience. There are all kinds, with all kinds of features, so it took some time just to figure out what to get. I settled on a dLink DCS-942L cloud camera. The installation instructions were terrible, and the phone assistance so overwhelmed I never actually reached a human person. I kept at it and finally got it working.
The camera holds a 32GB micro-SD card (not included, of course, that cost extra) and has numerous and arcane settings. Ours is set for motion detection, and I was pretty pleased at it’s range. The camera can be placed anywhere in the house, or even our yard, as long as it has a power receptacle. We can monitor the video from any computer or even our smart phones. We don’t have to monitor it, though, since the camera automatically captures video whenever motion is detected, runs a one minute clip, and then waits for the next motion.
The video is black and white only, at 640x480 resolution, but the video is quite clear. It has night vision settings as well, but the default settings have worked just fine even with all the lights out. We can only monitor one room at a time, so we chose our front room, as all three pieces of furniture in that room - couch, love seat, and recliner, have been targeted by our phantom. I couldn’t get an angle that covered all three, though, so I settled on monitoring the couch and love seat.
Of course, the first couple of days all of our cats were perfect gentlemen and ladies. There was no spraying anywhere in the house. Then, yesterday morning, in broad daylight, the phantom struck - the recliner. The camera was not aimed at the recliner, and the phantom did not trigger the camera. Sigh.
Saturday morning we moved the camera around found another, better angle. The camera can now see all three pieces of furniture. We set our trap once again and, hopefully, we will nab our phantom.
Of course, we still don’t have an answer about what to do about it when we do catch our phantom.
Stay tuned ....
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Tuesday (1 Jan, 2013) - Yes Fist, There is a Sunwell
Tuesday (1 Jan, 2013) - Yes Fist, There is a Sunwell
Fist has been dealing with a lot of distractions lately on the RL side of things - there was the holidays, of course, but also work on the RV, new stickers for both cars and the RV, installing a home security system (in order to find out which of our cats has decided that litter boxes just don’t work for him or her), packing up the Christmas decorations, building a cat proof (HAH!) gate so the more adventurous will stay in the yard, and the list is still growing faster than I get to them.
So imagine Fist’s joy when Sunhands caught her in game trying to decide which packet of seeds to buy this time around - she’s been rather partial to squash, lately - and asked her if she would like to have some fun with Lao in Sunwell. That was a YES.
Sunwell Plateau is a level 70 raid dungeon that has some Bosses with unique abilities, which make things a little more interesting than a straight “just kill everything in sight” approach. With two level 90s and Sun at level 70, we didn’t think there would be any problems.
I suppose that Fist was technically the tank, but Fist was so scatter-brained even the “let’s just kill things and sort it out later” JB had to wince. After the third of fourth time Sun had to yell out “Kill the slayers first! The SLAYERS!” Fist started to get the message. Marking targets worked better, when Sun remembered to mark them and Fist remembered to look for them. Lao decided she would lead, most likely because it was safer to be far away from Sun and Fist.
We sort of got the hang of it after awhile. We killed the first boss, Kalecgos, but he refused to stay dead. The battle bugged on us. We managed to get past him later just by out running the poor, winded dragon. We also wiped once on the second boss, Brutallus, when Fist got hit with Burn. If there was a way to remove it, Fist couldn’t figure out how, and combined with additional fire damage from Meteor Slash ... well, Fist lasted quite awhile, and Lao even longer, but we eventually wiped. On the second round Brutallus died.
Sun picked up a pair of pants he really wanted. Fist tried to steal them (you know all about the clothes horse Fist), but she eventually gave them up so that Sun could look impressive in the pvp battlegrounds.
When we had that wipe of Brutallus, it was suggested that Fist switch to healing, but Fist had forgotten to bring along her healing gear, having set it aside to carry all of those seed packets and bags of vegetables and fish she always has. Fist had to admit that lugging around seeds, veggies, and fish was even worse than having four sets of clothes. She managed to find room in her bags for her healing set and will be ready should she get another chance.
Lao also had a new installment on the Dominion Offensive:
Lao did not see this coming, but at the same time she is not too surprised. To catch all parties up: as Lao thought, there was an invasion of Darnassus but just a solo one. The Sunrevers, a neutral faction that co-existed with the Silver Covenant in Daralan, broke their neutrality and helped the Horde retrieve the Bell. They set up a camp right outside the gates of Darnassus and cloaked Lao so she could go in and retrieve the Bell.
Jaina, a top Alliance officer and mage, found out about this somehow and convinced the Silver Covenant to arrest all the Sunrevers. Lao set out for Daralan at once. Lao was in it for the long haul. She had to tell any still loose Sunrevers to make a run for it, without drawing the attention of the Covenant. Once this was done she had to give them a mode of escape by loosing the captured flying mounts. At this point there was no hiding her presence. She was to clear paths and kill any hindrances.
Grand Magister Rammath was leading the escape plans and routes. He had Lao go in and teleport all the VIPs out of the city and then it was saving Archmage Aethas Sunrever. Rammath, Aethas and Lao made a run for it. Jumping out of a tunnel leaving Daralan and arriving at Silvermoon to a bewildered Theron. Once the situation was explained Theron was enraged at the loss of life of his people in Hellscream’s quest for the Bell and also the Alliance’s actions.
"When will they ever see that the HORDE exists BECAUSE of the Alliance? Because of their prejudice and their bigotry!?" Theron fumed.
One of his commanders commented that they thought Theron would make a great warchief. To which Theron responded that it may come to that.
"Bring me my blades. The next move is mine." Theron said as he walked off.
Lao was at a loss, not knowing what would happen now, but in hopes that Vol'jin would write. He must have heard by now, so Lao rushed off to the closest mail box. She sighed in relief when she saw that there indeed was a letter, but it provided little guidance. Vol'jin was just as baffled. The Jaina he knew was a level headed thinker, not a person who desired the Bell as much as Hellscream. He was still to weak to travel but his desire for action was apparent.
Lao is leery of what is to come. Factions are falling apart, and others are becoming more angry and volatile. Some big changes are on the horizon and likely some large battles.
Fist has been dealing with a lot of distractions lately on the RL side of things - there was the holidays, of course, but also work on the RV, new stickers for both cars and the RV, installing a home security system (in order to find out which of our cats has decided that litter boxes just don’t work for him or her), packing up the Christmas decorations, building a cat proof (HAH!) gate so the more adventurous will stay in the yard, and the list is still growing faster than I get to them.
So imagine Fist’s joy when Sunhands caught her in game trying to decide which packet of seeds to buy this time around - she’s been rather partial to squash, lately - and asked her if she would like to have some fun with Lao in Sunwell. That was a YES.
Sunwell Plateau is a level 70 raid dungeon that has some Bosses with unique abilities, which make things a little more interesting than a straight “just kill everything in sight” approach. With two level 90s and Sun at level 70, we didn’t think there would be any problems.
I suppose that Fist was technically the tank, but Fist was so scatter-brained even the “let’s just kill things and sort it out later” JB had to wince. After the third of fourth time Sun had to yell out “Kill the slayers first! The SLAYERS!” Fist started to get the message. Marking targets worked better, when Sun remembered to mark them and Fist remembered to look for them. Lao decided she would lead, most likely because it was safer to be far away from Sun and Fist.
We sort of got the hang of it after awhile. We killed the first boss, Kalecgos, but he refused to stay dead. The battle bugged on us. We managed to get past him later just by out running the poor, winded dragon. We also wiped once on the second boss, Brutallus, when Fist got hit with Burn. If there was a way to remove it, Fist couldn’t figure out how, and combined with additional fire damage from Meteor Slash ... well, Fist lasted quite awhile, and Lao even longer, but we eventually wiped. On the second round Brutallus died.
Sun picked up a pair of pants he really wanted. Fist tried to steal them (you know all about the clothes horse Fist), but she eventually gave them up so that Sun could look impressive in the pvp battlegrounds.
When we had that wipe of Brutallus, it was suggested that Fist switch to healing, but Fist had forgotten to bring along her healing gear, having set it aside to carry all of those seed packets and bags of vegetables and fish she always has. Fist had to admit that lugging around seeds, veggies, and fish was even worse than having four sets of clothes. She managed to find room in her bags for her healing set and will be ready should she get another chance.
Lao also had a new installment on the Dominion Offensive:
Lao did not see this coming, but at the same time she is not too surprised. To catch all parties up: as Lao thought, there was an invasion of Darnassus but just a solo one. The Sunrevers, a neutral faction that co-existed with the Silver Covenant in Daralan, broke their neutrality and helped the Horde retrieve the Bell. They set up a camp right outside the gates of Darnassus and cloaked Lao so she could go in and retrieve the Bell.
Jaina, a top Alliance officer and mage, found out about this somehow and convinced the Silver Covenant to arrest all the Sunrevers. Lao set out for Daralan at once. Lao was in it for the long haul. She had to tell any still loose Sunrevers to make a run for it, without drawing the attention of the Covenant. Once this was done she had to give them a mode of escape by loosing the captured flying mounts. At this point there was no hiding her presence. She was to clear paths and kill any hindrances.
Grand Magister Rammath was leading the escape plans and routes. He had Lao go in and teleport all the VIPs out of the city and then it was saving Archmage Aethas Sunrever. Rammath, Aethas and Lao made a run for it. Jumping out of a tunnel leaving Daralan and arriving at Silvermoon to a bewildered Theron. Once the situation was explained Theron was enraged at the loss of life of his people in Hellscream’s quest for the Bell and also the Alliance’s actions.
"When will they ever see that the HORDE exists BECAUSE of the Alliance? Because of their prejudice and their bigotry!?" Theron fumed.
One of his commanders commented that they thought Theron would make a great warchief. To which Theron responded that it may come to that.
"Bring me my blades. The next move is mine." Theron said as he walked off.
Lao was at a loss, not knowing what would happen now, but in hopes that Vol'jin would write. He must have heard by now, so Lao rushed off to the closest mail box. She sighed in relief when she saw that there indeed was a letter, but it provided little guidance. Vol'jin was just as baffled. The Jaina he knew was a level headed thinker, not a person who desired the Bell as much as Hellscream. He was still to weak to travel but his desire for action was apparent.
Lao is leery of what is to come. Factions are falling apart, and others are becoming more angry and volatile. Some big changes are on the horizon and likely some large battles.
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Wednesday (26 Dec) - More Domination Point
News from the Lao team:
12/21 - Not too much new on my end. I am kind of leveling Neekia, apparently I got annoyed with leveling Almond as a healer. Not that Kia is much better, Almond was slow but did not die on me. Other than that I just doing to the Domination dailys in hope to find out more about the story line. The GM of our guild might be starting a guild rbg, mainly because he wants to gear up his alts. He wants Lao to be shadow focused. Lao told him she is happy to use her off dps gear and do shadow but is leveling up her heal gear first.
12/24 - Speaking of Lao she has only two new Domination Point updates. Lao meet up with Theron in Silvermoon to assist him and what it boils down to is this. Theron is not happy, not happy enough that he is thinking about breaking off from the Horde if Hellscream keeps being an ass. He did not say it in so many words, but that is what it boils down to.
Also, Baine had Lao drink an experimental mind memory retrieval brew. She was not too excited about chugging down an experimental drink but trusted Baine not to give her anything harmful. In this she was able to see where the Mongu hid the Bell that Hellscream so badly wants.
This cinematic made Lao think.. Is Hellscream the one they have been waiting for the return of? They hid it in wait for their leader to return.. maybe it is Hellscream. Either way, Lao told Baine what she saw; what he does with the information is anyone's guess.
Oh, and Ding, 87, on Neekia.
12/26 - The Domination Point took a deadly turn in a way that cost Lao her life - twice. Lao, via a brew induced vision, saw the site of the Bell. While Hellscream sent out a hundred scouts to locate it, Vo'jin sent a letter to Lao saying the Alliance was also searching for the Bell.
Ishi laid claim to this prize of finding the resting place of the Bell. Lao was sent to assist Ishi in the Bells recovery. When Lao arrived she found the Alliance had arrived first. It seemed like a trap but orders were orders. Lao and Ishi were to recover the bell.
Once in the cave Lao had to watch her step. The red stone burst into lava sprouts and the blue-white stones could give a nasty case of frost bite. Also she had to be quick on her feet. Stay in the Sentinels sites and the arrows would take you out in two quick shots, she found. Ishi and Lao worked their way in, trying to get to Sarannha Skyglave, who had the Bell. Falling statues or caving in floors, the Bell had to be retrieved. Lao very quickly found out that her orc companion did not even try to gain aggro as she died under the onslaught of four elites.
Death would not stop Lao, however. She worked her way back Ishi and they engaged Skyglave again, but she had already sent the Bell to Darnasas.
What the Alliance plans to do with the Bell, Lao does not know. At this point she is more concerned with Hellscream's reaction to it being in Alliance hands. If he does not kill her he might send her to the front lines of an Alliance invasion. Neither one is an appealing option.
News from the Lao team:
12/21 - Not too much new on my end. I am kind of leveling Neekia, apparently I got annoyed with leveling Almond as a healer. Not that Kia is much better, Almond was slow but did not die on me. Other than that I just doing to the Domination dailys in hope to find out more about the story line. The GM of our guild might be starting a guild rbg, mainly because he wants to gear up his alts. He wants Lao to be shadow focused. Lao told him she is happy to use her off dps gear and do shadow but is leveling up her heal gear first.
12/24 - Speaking of Lao she has only two new Domination Point updates. Lao meet up with Theron in Silvermoon to assist him and what it boils down to is this. Theron is not happy, not happy enough that he is thinking about breaking off from the Horde if Hellscream keeps being an ass. He did not say it in so many words, but that is what it boils down to.
Also, Baine had Lao drink an experimental mind memory retrieval brew. She was not too excited about chugging down an experimental drink but trusted Baine not to give her anything harmful. In this she was able to see where the Mongu hid the Bell that Hellscream so badly wants.
This cinematic made Lao think.. Is Hellscream the one they have been waiting for the return of? They hid it in wait for their leader to return.. maybe it is Hellscream. Either way, Lao told Baine what she saw; what he does with the information is anyone's guess.
Oh, and Ding, 87, on Neekia.
12/26 - The Domination Point took a deadly turn in a way that cost Lao her life - twice. Lao, via a brew induced vision, saw the site of the Bell. While Hellscream sent out a hundred scouts to locate it, Vo'jin sent a letter to Lao saying the Alliance was also searching for the Bell.
Ishi laid claim to this prize of finding the resting place of the Bell. Lao was sent to assist Ishi in the Bells recovery. When Lao arrived she found the Alliance had arrived first. It seemed like a trap but orders were orders. Lao and Ishi were to recover the bell.
Once in the cave Lao had to watch her step. The red stone burst into lava sprouts and the blue-white stones could give a nasty case of frost bite. Also she had to be quick on her feet. Stay in the Sentinels sites and the arrows would take you out in two quick shots, she found. Ishi and Lao worked their way in, trying to get to Sarannha Skyglave, who had the Bell. Falling statues or caving in floors, the Bell had to be retrieved. Lao very quickly found out that her orc companion did not even try to gain aggro as she died under the onslaught of four elites.
Death would not stop Lao, however. She worked her way back Ishi and they engaged Skyglave again, but she had already sent the Bell to Darnasas.
What the Alliance plans to do with the Bell, Lao does not know. At this point she is more concerned with Hellscream's reaction to it being in Alliance hands. If he does not kill her he might send her to the front lines of an Alliance invasion. Neither one is an appealing option.
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
December Magic (26 Dec) - The Ascendance of Plumrosefist
December Magic (26 Dec) - The Ascendance of Plumrosefist
This is a capsule biography of Plumrosefist in words and pictures.
Plumrosefist, aka "Fist," was born in Eversong Woods, the starting zone for blood elves on the Eastern Continents, on September 27th, 2012. Fist made an impressive first appearance, going from level 1 to level 20 in a single day. As the Wild Family historian, the ageless Rheebah tracked Fist's progression in comparison with the rest of the family tree.
Fist is both nervous and excited to start her journey.
Jocy and Mew deliver the Family heirloom gear to protect her and help speed her progress.
Fist surpasses Alliance cousin Rakta (12) and troll entrepreneur Hapless (16), who are both still learning the Neutral Auction House trade in Stranglethorn Vale.
Fist shows off her "city" clothes at level 20 in Silvermoon City. Jocy helped show her around. Fist already seems to like the city life.
On 30 Sep, 2012, Fist took time off to travel from Silvermoon City to Orgrimmar for Brewfest. She was wide eyed and loving every minute of it! Fist also made it to level 23 just playing all the games offered by Brewfest.
Fist passed Alliance cousin Chaitee (21).
Fist got caught in the above picture drinking beer at level 20. Beer drinking age is level 21 in these parts, friend Lao was quick to point out. Fist was certainly keeping interesting company, as well, looking at those hard cases standing around her.
Fist kept up her swift progress, and Rheebah next caught up on her whereabouts on 3 Oct, 2012. Fist had already swept through Tranquillen and was on her way to The Undercity when she paused for the pic below.
Fist's raven lord mount provided the only color on a grey, misty morning. At level 27, Fist had only begun to think about a future further than the next dawn or the next battle.
Fist saluted the settled Happy at level 23 and acknowledged Bean's level 25 contribution to the family's pvp heritage. Happy gave up the glories of the battlefield for the glory of making gold a long time ago. Bean belonged to a great period of pvp success as part of a troupe of bow wielding hunters.
Over the period of 4-8 Sep, 2012, Fist was a whirling dervish tearing through Hillsbrad Foothills, Arathi Highlands, the Hinterlands, and Desolace. Fist's mentor, Jocy (level 27) smiled in pride as Fist eclipsed her. Fist also waved past Bean's partner Shevils (level 30).
Fist was now level 40, having gained 13 levels in five days.
Fist was told that Desolace was a dusty, dead place, but she found it invigorating. New green life had begun to spread across that land.
By now, most in the Wild family thought Fist would start slowing down. Instead, she doubled down. Over the course of two intense days (9-10 Sep) in Feralas and Tanaris, Fist went from level 40 to level 50.
Oddly enough, there was only one Wild family member in that level group. Shaman EZ (level 47) took a surly bow and retreated back into her self-imposed exile.
Fist wanted to show off a new mount and returned to Orgrimmar for a short - very short - stay. Here she is on her wolf mount.
Fist went from level 50 to 55 killing dinosaurs in Ungoro Crater, and reached level 60 in Winterfell, just as Wild had achieved that same milestone at Winterfell so long ago.
On 15 Oct, 2012 Fist entered the Outlands and the zone of Hellfire Peninsula. She stretched level 60 to level 64, passing Java (61), Mery (62), and Babe (63). Fist was a young woman, now. She showed off a more sophisticated wardrobe at Garador in the Outlands.
With the bevy of level 60s behind her now, Fist had no rivals between her and level 85. Well, except one.
Fist took some time out to re-evaluate her combat skills, and used them with deadly effect on the special beasts of Ernest Hemingway's great safari. It proved anti-climactic, however, as the once elite beasts had been neutered to normal size and proved no challenge at all. Fist cleared another hurdle, though, reaching level 70 on 20 Oct, 2012.
JB then joined Fist for a series of dungeon runs that brought her to level 71. They had such a good time they forgot to take photos. JB did dig up one picture, below. I always thought that JB was short, but Fist is even shorter!
On 22 Oct Fist achieved a milestone of singular importance, but passed by without fanfare of any kind. Not even a single photo.
Quoted from the entry of 22 Oct: "Along about midnight she (Fist) reached level 73. Naithipe made a point to congratulate her daughter Fist. Naithipe doesn't generally talk about her own status or proficiencies, but this was a special case. Fist has now passed her mother (level 72). There is no one left ahead of her other than Wild, JB, and Philly. "
It was certainly a major event for the Wild Family, despite the two of them downplaying it. So an effort was made to dig into the archives to find a photo of the two together. One was found that was taken in Thrallmar in the Outlands. It's a good shot, one that the family thinks Fist and Naithipe are secretly pleased to have. Naithipe even allowed a less formal shot in the second pose.
Fist did not do all this by herself. She got additional help along the way. Lao did some dungeon runs with Fist in the spider dungeons. Sin also helped out, doing some of the "Halls" dungeons in the wee hours of the morning. With their help, Fist reached level 78 on 26 Oct, a six day march from level 70 to 78. So intent was Fist on impressing Lao and Sin (and not screwing up - much) she failed to take any pictures again!
On 28 Oct Fist reached level 80: "It was a little serendipitous, then, that Fist found herself heading for the Nessingway Base Camp in Sholozar Basin for her next stop. The Nessingway Camp is where Wild made it to level 80. Along about midnight on Sunday, Fist also made level 80."
Fist left Northrend behind her and started her march through Mount Hyjal in the Cataclysm. She pounded through Mount Hyjal and then went directly to the higher level Twilight Highlands. It took Fist a week to reach level 85, on 4 Nov. I have a feeling it took Wild, JB, and Philly a whole lot longer than that to reach that point in their lives.
Fist could have taken a break at that point. She certainly deserved it. However, at 11pm on the night she reached level 85, she was headed for Pandaria.
Pandaria was a whole 'nother level of challenge for Fist. She got some help from Happy to get her gear upgraded, now that she was level 85 and had to give up her heirloom gear. She finally reached level 86 on 11 Nov, a journey of seven days to gain a single level.
It was a bit scary that Fist was now the highest ranking member of the Wild Family. Wild took that in stride, though. It was time to pass the baton on to a younger generation.
The road to level 90 took a few days longer. In fact, it took 26 days until Fist finally reached the new maximum level of 90, on 7 December, 2012. That averages out to almost a week per level, which, all things considered, was not bad at all. Her entire journey from level 1 to level 90 took 71 days. Another way to look at it is that each level took an average of 19 hours to complete.
These days Fist mostly spends her time farming her pretty little plot of land in Halfhill. And fishing. She's happy, and as yet has not been bitten by the raiding bug. She gets regular encouragement from Wild's raiding guild, but so far has graciously declined their invitations. She is always and remains Naithipe's daughter, though. The ambition may be slumbering in a very deep pool, but it's there. One day it may waken.
This is a capsule biography of Plumrosefist in words and pictures.
Plumrosefist, aka "Fist," was born in Eversong Woods, the starting zone for blood elves on the Eastern Continents, on September 27th, 2012. Fist made an impressive first appearance, going from level 1 to level 20 in a single day. As the Wild Family historian, the ageless Rheebah tracked Fist's progression in comparison with the rest of the family tree.
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| In her Initiates Garb |
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| Donning her Heirlooms |
Fist surpasses Alliance cousin Rakta (12) and troll entrepreneur Hapless (16), who are both still learning the Neutral Auction House trade in Stranglethorn Vale.
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| Showing off her "City" Clothes |
On 30 Sep, 2012, Fist took time off to travel from Silvermoon City to Orgrimmar for Brewfest. She was wide eyed and loving every minute of it! Fist also made it to level 23 just playing all the games offered by Brewfest.
Fist passed Alliance cousin Chaitee (21).
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| Drinking Age |
Fist kept up her swift progress, and Rheebah next caught up on her whereabouts on 3 Oct, 2012. Fist had already swept through Tranquillen and was on her way to The Undercity when she paused for the pic below.
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| Raven Lord Morning |
Fist saluted the settled Happy at level 23 and acknowledged Bean's level 25 contribution to the family's pvp heritage. Happy gave up the glories of the battlefield for the glory of making gold a long time ago. Bean belonged to a great period of pvp success as part of a troupe of bow wielding hunters.
Over the period of 4-8 Sep, 2012, Fist was a whirling dervish tearing through Hillsbrad Foothills, Arathi Highlands, the Hinterlands, and Desolace. Fist's mentor, Jocy (level 27) smiled in pride as Fist eclipsed her. Fist also waved past Bean's partner Shevils (level 30).
Fist was now level 40, having gained 13 levels in five days.
Fist was told that Desolace was a dusty, dead place, but she found it invigorating. New green life had begun to spread across that land.
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| Desolace Greens |
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| More Desolace Greenery |
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| No Changes Here |
Oddly enough, there was only one Wild family member in that level group. Shaman EZ (level 47) took a surly bow and retreated back into her self-imposed exile.
Fist wanted to show off a new mount and returned to Orgrimmar for a short - very short - stay. Here she is on her wolf mount.
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| Fist's New Mount |
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| Winterfell |
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| An Elegant Look |
Fist took some time out to re-evaluate her combat skills, and used them with deadly effect on the special beasts of Ernest Hemingway's great safari. It proved anti-climactic, however, as the once elite beasts had been neutered to normal size and proved no challenge at all. Fist cleared another hurdle, though, reaching level 70 on 20 Oct, 2012.
JB then joined Fist for a series of dungeon runs that brought her to level 71. They had such a good time they forgot to take photos. JB did dig up one picture, below. I always thought that JB was short, but Fist is even shorter!
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| Fist and JB Together |
Quoted from the entry of 22 Oct: "Along about midnight she (Fist) reached level 73. Naithipe made a point to congratulate her daughter Fist. Naithipe doesn't generally talk about her own status or proficiencies, but this was a special case. Fist has now passed her mother (level 72). There is no one left ahead of her other than Wild, JB, and Philly. "
It was certainly a major event for the Wild Family, despite the two of them downplaying it. So an effort was made to dig into the archives to find a photo of the two together. One was found that was taken in Thrallmar in the Outlands. It's a good shot, one that the family thinks Fist and Naithipe are secretly pleased to have. Naithipe even allowed a less formal shot in the second pose.
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| Mother and Daughter Formal |
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| Mother and Daughter Playful |
On 28 Oct Fist reached level 80: "It was a little serendipitous, then, that Fist found herself heading for the Nessingway Base Camp in Sholozar Basin for her next stop. The Nessingway Camp is where Wild made it to level 80. Along about midnight on Sunday, Fist also made level 80."
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| Fist at Level 80 |
Fist could have taken a break at that point. She certainly deserved it. However, at 11pm on the night she reached level 85, she was headed for Pandaria.
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| Flight Path Pandaria Style |
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| A Lovely Land |
The road to level 90 took a few days longer. In fact, it took 26 days until Fist finally reached the new maximum level of 90, on 7 December, 2012. That averages out to almost a week per level, which, all things considered, was not bad at all. Her entire journey from level 1 to level 90 took 71 days. Another way to look at it is that each level took an average of 19 hours to complete.
These days Fist mostly spends her time farming her pretty little plot of land in Halfhill. And fishing. She's happy, and as yet has not been bitten by the raiding bug. She gets regular encouragement from Wild's raiding guild, but so far has graciously declined their invitations. She is always and remains Naithipe's daughter, though. The ambition may be slumbering in a very deep pool, but it's there. One day it may waken.
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| A Farmer's Life |
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| Deep Pools |
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