Thursday, January 31, 2008
Ugh...blogger+blog noob = crappy formatting
Lately, I'm having to wrestle far too much with screenshots on this blog, so I'm picking a new template (tuning yet to come) and will have to go back and re-format previous photos. So presently, most of the older posts will have clipped, horrible formatting. Fix coming soon. :)
Out In OL
1 year gone
It’s oddly comforting that I’m moving through Outland again just about a year after Burning Crusade was released.
Good to be back.
Paquita, my Blood Elf hunter, is now 63 and well into Terokkar Forest. I spent two hours yesterday completing 12-14 quests at once in Zangarmarsh, only to turn them in and find that it only got me about 1/3 further toward my next level. That’s to be expected; I knew that the XP-to-level is insane, post-60, but I felt like I needed to step it up a little. So I passed on the second round of Zangarmarsh quests and rode straight on to Spinebreaker Hold in Terokkar. I found that the quests were already yellow to me, so I got a bunch of those done. I’m glad, because I recalled pushing to complete all of the available quests in a certain zone when I leveled Mercot to 70, and often would find that the next zone offered quest rewards I had already outgrown. So I found a few decent items through the Terokkar quests.
I also had a few fortunate runs through Hellfire Ramparts and Blood Furnace, so I’m sporting at least 3 new slick blue items.
Also tamed a sweet-looking Thornfang Ravanger, who I named JuanRico (reference to Johnny Rico, Casper Van Dien’s character from “Starship Troopers). It was cool. I got his loyalty level all the way up to Best Friend in a day. The only issue now, will be balancing him between my old trusty raptor (whom I’ve had since level 10) on the way to 70. It’s an aesthetic choice now, and their only obvious difference is JuanRico’s Gore ability as opposed to OldLace’s Bite. Both are mutually exclusive, and I’ll have to compare their stats more closely to see if one will help me more than the other.
Other than that, I’m just moving on up. I’m really enjoying Outland again. But I’m afraid I’ll get spoiled by the hunter. They’re so damn fun to play. I was getting bored with her before 60, but now she’s finished her Beastmaster tree, and is getting more into the Marksmanship stuff, as well as gaining new BC skills. It’s really quite a challenge to play her effectively. I worry that going back to my mage will be less fun. Ah well.
REALLY looking forward to Nagrand. That place is fucking gorgeous. Unfortunately all the questsgivers are gray at level 63, so I’ll have to ding once more before I can start that stuff.
It’s oddly comforting that I’m moving through Outland again just about a year after Burning Crusade was released.
Good to be back.
Paquita, my Blood Elf hunter, is now 63 and well into Terokkar Forest. I spent two hours yesterday completing 12-14 quests at once in Zangarmarsh, only to turn them in and find that it only got me about 1/3 further toward my next level. That’s to be expected; I knew that the XP-to-level is insane, post-60, but I felt like I needed to step it up a little. So I passed on the second round of Zangarmarsh quests and rode straight on to Spinebreaker Hold in Terokkar. I found that the quests were already yellow to me, so I got a bunch of those done. I’m glad, because I recalled pushing to complete all of the available quests in a certain zone when I leveled Mercot to 70, and often would find that the next zone offered quest rewards I had already outgrown. So I found a few decent items through the Terokkar quests.
I also had a few fortunate runs through Hellfire Ramparts and Blood Furnace, so I’m sporting at least 3 new slick blue items.
Also tamed a sweet-looking Thornfang Ravanger, who I named JuanRico (reference to Johnny Rico, Casper Van Dien’s character from “Starship Troopers). It was cool. I got his loyalty level all the way up to Best Friend in a day. The only issue now, will be balancing him between my old trusty raptor (whom I’ve had since level 10) on the way to 70. It’s an aesthetic choice now, and their only obvious difference is JuanRico’s Gore ability as opposed to OldLace’s Bite. Both are mutually exclusive, and I’ll have to compare their stats more closely to see if one will help me more than the other.
Other than that, I’m just moving on up. I’m really enjoying Outland again. But I’m afraid I’ll get spoiled by the hunter. They’re so damn fun to play. I was getting bored with her before 60, but now she’s finished her Beastmaster tree, and is getting more into the Marksmanship stuff, as well as gaining new BC skills. It’s really quite a challenge to play her effectively. I worry that going back to my mage will be less fun. Ah well.
REALLY looking forward to Nagrand. That place is fucking gorgeous. Unfortunately all the questsgivers are gray at level 63, so I’ll have to ding once more before I can start that stuff.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Bittersweet
Circle of Strife
Really, I never thought I’d be one of those people getting frustrated in Alterac Valley.
I’m talking, of course, about the poor caps-locked souls who spam orders in that commanding orange battleground chat, only to be ignored by the raid at large. They start strong, outlining their strategy during the pre-game buffs, and gradually realize as the game starts that people aren’t really listening to them at all. They so want the dots on the map to do what they ask, but alas those dots seem to have minds of their own. So their commands turn to sarcastic queries, and then to bitter cynicism and disdain for the raid at large. Finally, near the end, they are silent. Until the next pre-game buff session.
It’s the circle of life, without Sir Elton John.
Actually, I’m not one of those people. But last night for the first time in my WoW life, I found myself actually getting angry at my fellow AV raiders, and feeling the slightest twinge of sympathy for the PvP folks who must have to deal with this stuff on a daily basis.
I’m not even close to being a fan of PvP. It was kind of fun on my warlock (go figure, ‘cause they fucking rock), but beyond the grind to obtain my Whistle of the Black War Raptor, I really had no reason to return to PvP.
But now I find that I want the Ice Barbed Spear, for my hunter. One nice polearm. The price? Nothing really. It’s a simple matter of killing Vann Stormpike, the Dwarf general of Alterac Valley.
Really not as easy as it sounds, apparently.
I seem to recall, back in my old battlegroup, that the Horde continuously won AV without any difficulty whatsoever. Whether it was through sheer luck or consistent player coordination, we seemed to roll up the map, cap the twin Stormpike bunkers and proceed to effectively apply the smack on Vann till he wept like Lil’ Timmy upon losing his kittens. So I didn’t think I would have much difficulty in obtaining my spear. I was, it appears, several different kinds of wrong.
I went in first at level 51, which is when you are first eligible for the quest. Definitely on the low end of the bracket, but I was able to make myself useful on several kills. We still lost several games in a row, however, often getting cut off at the Stonehearth Graveyard and forced into a flailing defense at the Frostwolf Bunker. And that’s fine. That sort of loss translates to the Alliance players simply out-strategizing us and taking advantage of our uncoordinated raid composition.
So I gave up on the quest for a few levels and went back in last night at level 56. I entered a game in progress, so I immediately checked the map. EVERYONE was at Stormpike. I was like “fuck yes,” and raced up the map, praying that I would get make it before my fellow Hordies got Vann down so I would get my quest credit. I made it. Fought my way to the flag outside Vann’s bunker. Like I said, the whole damn raid was there, and everyone seemed to be standing around waiting for something. Once in a while someone would run in and aggro the angry Dwarf, only to run out quickly and fall dead as Vann one-shotted them. People kept shouting for a tank to grab him, but the tanks kept shouting for healers to cover them. And then DPSers would start the pull, only to be torn apart immediately by Vann and his lieutenants. One time we actually moved in as a group and waited in the split entryway for the tank to pull Vann outside for the kill. Those of us in the rear were summarily cut down by a warrior zerg from the Alliance players, with rogues de-cloaking everywhere. They outflanked us, and tore our ranks apart before we could even begin the Vann fight.
I was frankly appalled by the lack of coordination on our part, and this in turn surprised me, because uncoordinated battleground PUGs really shouldn’t be a shock to anyone.
We made several more attempts at rushing Stormpike, but to no avail. We’d cap the Stoneheart Graveyard, kill Balinda Stonehearth, destroy a couple of bunkers and then run up to Vann. We’d get slaughtered and then resurrect at the Frostwolf Bunker, realizing then that while we were getting creamed by the damned NPCs and random players, the rest of the Alliance had been systematically re-capping the graveyards and funneling us back down to Frostwolf, where they’d keep us on the defense until they won.
It could have been plain bad luck, but I think we lost mostly due to poor coordination and skill. I’m still struggling with the hunter in PvP. She can plink away with the best of them, and my raptor seems unstoppable, but it’s just not the same as all of those glorious DoTs my warlock has. I may consider some pure PvP if I ever find my way back to him.
So in all, I suppose I’ll keep trying for that Vann kill. I’m not holding my breath though. I opted to do the quest because I believed it to be relatively easy with a decent reward (yes, I’m totally guilty of that mindset, but if it’s there, why not take advantage?). But as I approach the end of my 50s, I wonder if there’s anything better than the spear in the first few quest of Hellfire Peninsula? I’ve only ever looked at damage-caster rewards for those quests, so it should be fun to experience the loot bump for a different sort of class.
I’m talking, of course, about the poor caps-locked souls who spam orders in that commanding orange battleground chat, only to be ignored by the raid at large. They start strong, outlining their strategy during the pre-game buffs, and gradually realize as the game starts that people aren’t really listening to them at all. They so want the dots on the map to do what they ask, but alas those dots seem to have minds of their own. So their commands turn to sarcastic queries, and then to bitter cynicism and disdain for the raid at large. Finally, near the end, they are silent. Until the next pre-game buff session.
It’s the circle of life, without Sir Elton John.
Actually, I’m not one of those people. But last night for the first time in my WoW life, I found myself actually getting angry at my fellow AV raiders, and feeling the slightest twinge of sympathy for the PvP folks who must have to deal with this stuff on a daily basis.
I’m not even close to being a fan of PvP. It was kind of fun on my warlock (go figure, ‘cause they fucking rock), but beyond the grind to obtain my Whistle of the Black War Raptor, I really had no reason to return to PvP.
But now I find that I want the Ice Barbed Spear, for my hunter. One nice polearm. The price? Nothing really. It’s a simple matter of killing Vann Stormpike, the Dwarf general of Alterac Valley.
Really not as easy as it sounds, apparently.
I seem to recall, back in my old battlegroup, that the Horde continuously won AV without any difficulty whatsoever. Whether it was through sheer luck or consistent player coordination, we seemed to roll up the map, cap the twin Stormpike bunkers and proceed to effectively apply the smack on Vann till he wept like Lil’ Timmy upon losing his kittens. So I didn’t think I would have much difficulty in obtaining my spear. I was, it appears, several different kinds of wrong.
I went in first at level 51, which is when you are first eligible for the quest. Definitely on the low end of the bracket, but I was able to make myself useful on several kills. We still lost several games in a row, however, often getting cut off at the Stonehearth Graveyard and forced into a flailing defense at the Frostwolf Bunker. And that’s fine. That sort of loss translates to the Alliance players simply out-strategizing us and taking advantage of our uncoordinated raid composition.
So I gave up on the quest for a few levels and went back in last night at level 56. I entered a game in progress, so I immediately checked the map. EVERYONE was at Stormpike. I was like “fuck yes,” and raced up the map, praying that I would get make it before my fellow Hordies got Vann down so I would get my quest credit. I made it. Fought my way to the flag outside Vann’s bunker. Like I said, the whole damn raid was there, and everyone seemed to be standing around waiting for something. Once in a while someone would run in and aggro the angry Dwarf, only to run out quickly and fall dead as Vann one-shotted them. People kept shouting for a tank to grab him, but the tanks kept shouting for healers to cover them. And then DPSers would start the pull, only to be torn apart immediately by Vann and his lieutenants. One time we actually moved in as a group and waited in the split entryway for the tank to pull Vann outside for the kill. Those of us in the rear were summarily cut down by a warrior zerg from the Alliance players, with rogues de-cloaking everywhere. They outflanked us, and tore our ranks apart before we could even begin the Vann fight.
I was frankly appalled by the lack of coordination on our part, and this in turn surprised me, because uncoordinated battleground PUGs really shouldn’t be a shock to anyone.
We made several more attempts at rushing Stormpike, but to no avail. We’d cap the Stoneheart Graveyard, kill Balinda Stonehearth, destroy a couple of bunkers and then run up to Vann. We’d get slaughtered and then resurrect at the Frostwolf Bunker, realizing then that while we were getting creamed by the damned NPCs and random players, the rest of the Alliance had been systematically re-capping the graveyards and funneling us back down to Frostwolf, where they’d keep us on the defense until they won.
It could have been plain bad luck, but I think we lost mostly due to poor coordination and skill. I’m still struggling with the hunter in PvP. She can plink away with the best of them, and my raptor seems unstoppable, but it’s just not the same as all of those glorious DoTs my warlock has. I may consider some pure PvP if I ever find my way back to him.
So in all, I suppose I’ll keep trying for that Vann kill. I’m not holding my breath though. I opted to do the quest because I believed it to be relatively easy with a decent reward (yes, I’m totally guilty of that mindset, but if it’s there, why not take advantage?). But as I approach the end of my 50s, I wonder if there’s anything better than the spear in the first few quest of Hellfire Peninsula? I’ve only ever looked at damage-caster rewards for those quests, so it should be fun to experience the loot bump for a different sort of class.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
UI Retrospective
A recent post over at WoWcast got me thinking about my WoW screenshot history. Lots of memories in there since I started the game in May 2006. And looking through them all, I thought it'd be interesting to review how my UI tastes have changed, be it a matter of aesthetics or broken addons.
I've never been big on looks for UI; it's mostly about minimalized HUD and maximized environmental visibility. Efficiency in system performance and play style is also a plus.
So here are a few examples of my major UI overhauls:
Mercot - Level 6 - Circa May 2006
Ahh...so young. I believe this was my very first screenshot. /Reminisce.
Mercot - Level 20 - Circa June 2006
Guess I'd figured out how to add in the side action bars by this point.
Mercot - Level 49 - Circa Nov. 2006
Some bigger changes by this time. I'd split my chat windows and used Move Anything! to organize my action bars into a little block over there in the lower right corner. Looks like my XP bar is stationed along the base of the screen. Move Anything! allowed you to move any part of the Blizzard UI to anywhere you needed it. You could also adjust the size of the pieces (hence the miniature action bars) and lock them in place. I'm probably also using Prat, a chat addon which provides timestamps.
Mercot - Level 60 - Dec. 26, 2006
DING 60! Missed the sparkles, though. I guess I was using some version of Fu here, along with some kind of portrait window icon animation. This was also when I started using Move Anything! to center all four of my actionbars and station my party member windows along the lower left.
Mercot - Level 60 - Circa January 2007
Heh, WIPE. Here, I've done away with most of the major Fu stuff, though I can see some elements stationed along the top and bottom of the screen. I think it was making my system chug through WoW something fierce, and I had to scale things back a bit. I also seem to have split my action bars a bit, and taken a cue from the previous Fu chat arrangement by placing three transparent chat windows along the bottom of the screen. Lower left party arrangement is still in place.
Mercot - Level 60 - Jan. 16, 2007
Here I am right before stepping through the Dark Portal for the very first time. A few minor changes to the actionbars, off-centering and shrinking them a little. Not many changes to the chat windows - I've darkened up the windows a bit, along with making them taller and thinner.
Mercot - Level 70 - Circa March 2007
Molten Core on easy mode. Still, it was my first (and last) time down there. And it was a blast.
I've done some kind of funky combination of Move Anything! and the default action bar arrangement. I've chat box color scheme I still use today: blue for trade, /say, general and emotes; green for guild, party, raid and whispers; and yellow for battle / experience info.
Paquita - Level 40 - January 12, 2008
And here we are today. I don't use a lot of addons these days. I pretty much stick with the Blizz UI scaled way down, and, as always, have my actionbars hotkeyed. My main addons are Omen (aggro meter), OneBag, OneBank, Prat 2.0, Enchantrix, Gatherer, Lightheaded (an in-game quest helper which pulls info from Wowhead), Tinytip, MobInfo, Auctioneer, and a few others. Mostly they're about functionality and reference, as opposed to looks. I've still got my chat boxes color-coded -- I do that with every new character, first thing. I stopped using Move Anything! over the summer, as one of the major updates broke it. It was a serious pain to have to reset all of those boxes and such anyway. So my party portrait arrangement is default as well these days.
Another large difference these days is my widescreen ratio, which adds a fair amount of space to the side margins. This is 1400 x 900 resolution.
And that's it. I'll probably experiment more with other addons from time to time, but I think what I have now works better than anything I've had thus far. :)
I've never been big on looks for UI; it's mostly about minimalized HUD and maximized environmental visibility. Efficiency in system performance and play style is also a plus.
So here are a few examples of my major UI overhauls:
Mercot - Level 6 - Circa May 2006 Ahh...so young. I believe this was my very first screenshot. /Reminisce.
Mercot - Level 20 - Circa June 2006
Guess I'd figured out how to add in the side action bars by this point.
Mercot - Level 49 - Circa Nov. 2006
Some bigger changes by this time. I'd split my chat windows and used Move Anything! to organize my action bars into a little block over there in the lower right corner. Looks like my XP bar is stationed along the base of the screen. Move Anything! allowed you to move any part of the Blizzard UI to anywhere you needed it. You could also adjust the size of the pieces (hence the miniature action bars) and lock them in place. I'm probably also using Prat, a chat addon which provides timestamps.
Mercot - Level 60 - Dec. 26, 2006
DING 60! Missed the sparkles, though. I guess I was using some version of Fu here, along with some kind of portrait window icon animation. This was also when I started using Move Anything! to center all four of my actionbars and station my party member windows along the lower left.
Mercot - Level 60 - Circa January 2007
Heh, WIPE. Here, I've done away with most of the major Fu stuff, though I can see some elements stationed along the top and bottom of the screen. I think it was making my system chug through WoW something fierce, and I had to scale things back a bit. I also seem to have split my action bars a bit, and taken a cue from the previous Fu chat arrangement by placing three transparent chat windows along the bottom of the screen. Lower left party arrangement is still in place.
Mercot - Level 60 - Jan. 16, 2007
Here I am right before stepping through the Dark Portal for the very first time. A few minor changes to the actionbars, off-centering and shrinking them a little. Not many changes to the chat windows - I've darkened up the windows a bit, along with making them taller and thinner.
Mercot - Level 70 - Circa March 2007
Molten Core on easy mode. Still, it was my first (and last) time down there. And it was a blast.
I've done some kind of funky combination of Move Anything! and the default action bar arrangement. I've chat box color scheme I still use today: blue for trade, /say, general and emotes; green for guild, party, raid and whispers; and yellow for battle / experience info.
Paquita - Level 40 - January 12, 2008
And here we are today. I don't use a lot of addons these days. I pretty much stick with the Blizz UI scaled way down, and, as always, have my actionbars hotkeyed. My main addons are Omen (aggro meter), OneBag, OneBank, Prat 2.0, Enchantrix, Gatherer, Lightheaded (an in-game quest helper which pulls info from Wowhead), Tinytip, MobInfo, Auctioneer, and a few others. Mostly they're about functionality and reference, as opposed to looks. I've still got my chat boxes color-coded -- I do that with every new character, first thing. I stopped using Move Anything! over the summer, as one of the major updates broke it. It was a serious pain to have to reset all of those boxes and such anyway. So my party portrait arrangement is default as well these days.
Another large difference these days is my widescreen ratio, which adds a fair amount of space to the side margins. This is 1400 x 900 resolution.
And that's it. I'll probably experiment more with other addons from time to time, but I think what I have now works better than anything I've had thus far. :)
A Ride For The Middle Ages
I never gave the Blood Elf mount much credit when I first saw them. Of course, now that I have my Blue Hawkstrider, my tune has changed. They're fucking wicked looking. And I love all the little avian details it has, like when it suddenly perks up, tilts its head and preens its wing just like any other bird. And it's actually larger than I thought it would be. Paquita fits it perfectly, and it compliments her petite frame. I might even go so far as to say that it is my favorite mount so far.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
It's Bloody 2008
And I’m sick. Suppose I was overdue for a bug of some kind.
Went home early yesterday and lay helpless in bed, sniffing and sneezing, barely strong enough to pull a fresh tissue from the nightstand.
Yeah, no. Went home and joined an SM PUG :D
Certainly sniffed and sneezed my way through it, but it was far better than being that annoying plague victim in the cube next to you at work.
So, it’s January 10. Last post was December 9? Good lord. I need to stay on top of this thing.
WoW is still at the forefront of my online activities, amazingly. My girlfriend bought me a beautiful 19” widescreen LCD monitor for Christmas, so I’m playing in a fantastic 1400 x 900 resolution with gorgeous colors.
Still playing with my hunter, though I had another lapse of altism a week after the last entry and rolled a Troll holy priest (and, um, a warrior and, uh, oh…a rogue). She’s level 29 now, and the hunter just dinged 38 last night.
I’d fallen into some boredom with the hunter, and I think that it was largely because I didn’t (and still don’t) know what I was doing. I didn’t know, for example, that one could temporarily tame pets just to learn their special abilities and then teach them to their main pets. Kind of important.
So when I learned this last week, I jumped back to the hunter and immediately ran out and tamed an Arathi spider for Bite (rank 4, I think), a Stranglethorn Tiger for Dash (rank 1) and a Desolace scorpid for Claw (rank 5). Got this done in about 45 minutes. I then shot back over to Org and overhauled talents for my pet and I both. I switched from Marksman to Beast Master and amped my Raptor up with all her new skills.
The difference is beyond insane. She now holds aggro like nobody’s business (we had two warriors in SM yesterday, and she kept stealing aggro until I turned Growl off (noob moment of the day). I also found myself consistently surviving confrontations of 3 and 4 same-level mobs at a time in Dustwallow Marsh.
I suppose it’s not all that big a deal; my warlock could always handle stuff like that. It just seems harder to manage multiples as a hunter since I have to maintain ranged attacks. The warlock had no minimum range with dots or nukes.
The SM run yesterday went fine, aside from a few wipes. One thing in particular really pissed me off: since when did respawns ever appear so quickly?
We ran the Library first and lost our mage right before Arcanist Doan. We ran back to escort our new member inside, and found that every single fucking mob had respawned. We hadn’t even been inside for 30 minutes. So we fought our way through it all again and took a break for supplies and repair before hitting the Armory. Same story. We had a full wipe at one point less than 30 minutes in, and found that everything was right back in play. Stationary groups and pats alike. No one seemed to recall SM ever respawning that quickly, and it was a serious pain in the ass to clear it all again.
Maybe it’s something Blizz implemented to counterbalance the leveling boost from patch 2.3? Whatever it is, it’s bullshit.
Suffice to say, I left SM and gathered mats straightaway to finally level my Engineering up to 165 and craft the Goblin Jumper Cables. Even if they rarely work, it’s worth it to have them around and not have to clear a whole fucking instance again.
Still haven’t taken my Omilia, my mage, past 60 yet. To be honest, I really enjoy my new guild and want to transfer her and Mercot over when the waiting period ends. It was a complete waste of money to take them to my brother’s server…long story. Seriously, this will be the last time I transfer those characters.
I did respec Omilia to learn Icy Veins after Tuesday, though. Ran a random twink through RFC to get a feel for her again. I do so love the mage. Nothing quite like decimating 15 or 20 Ragefire Troggs all at once with Nova and Blizzard. I’d like to play her more after the transfer and really practice AOE farming in WPL. Should be decidedly more challenging than level 14 elites. J
Everyone and their Orc greatmother is making WoW New Year Resolutions, so I guess I’ll make a few of my own:
No more server transfers after February 28, 2008.
Level Omilia to 70.
And relatively unrealistic goals:
Level the hunter, Paquita, at least to 60
Level the priest, Pulaski, at least to 60
If I get Paquita to 70, attain 375 epic flying skill and craft the engineer flying mount :)
That’s it for now. I hope to get Paquita to 40 this weekend, and nab her chicken mount. Pics forthcoming.
Went home early yesterday and lay helpless in bed, sniffing and sneezing, barely strong enough to pull a fresh tissue from the nightstand.
Yeah, no. Went home and joined an SM PUG :D
Certainly sniffed and sneezed my way through it, but it was far better than being that annoying plague victim in the cube next to you at work.
So, it’s January 10. Last post was December 9? Good lord. I need to stay on top of this thing.
WoW is still at the forefront of my online activities, amazingly. My girlfriend bought me a beautiful 19” widescreen LCD monitor for Christmas, so I’m playing in a fantastic 1400 x 900 resolution with gorgeous colors.
Still playing with my hunter, though I had another lapse of altism a week after the last entry and rolled a Troll holy priest (and, um, a warrior and, uh, oh…a rogue). She’s level 29 now, and the hunter just dinged 38 last night.
I’d fallen into some boredom with the hunter, and I think that it was largely because I didn’t (and still don’t) know what I was doing. I didn’t know, for example, that one could temporarily tame pets just to learn their special abilities and then teach them to their main pets. Kind of important.
So when I learned this last week, I jumped back to the hunter and immediately ran out and tamed an Arathi spider for Bite (rank 4, I think), a Stranglethorn Tiger for Dash (rank 1) and a Desolace scorpid for Claw (rank 5). Got this done in about 45 minutes. I then shot back over to Org and overhauled talents for my pet and I both. I switched from Marksman to Beast Master and amped my Raptor up with all her new skills.
The difference is beyond insane. She now holds aggro like nobody’s business (we had two warriors in SM yesterday, and she kept stealing aggro until I turned Growl off (noob moment of the day). I also found myself consistently surviving confrontations of 3 and 4 same-level mobs at a time in Dustwallow Marsh.
I suppose it’s not all that big a deal; my warlock could always handle stuff like that. It just seems harder to manage multiples as a hunter since I have to maintain ranged attacks. The warlock had no minimum range with dots or nukes.
The SM run yesterday went fine, aside from a few wipes. One thing in particular really pissed me off: since when did respawns ever appear so quickly?
We ran the Library first and lost our mage right before Arcanist Doan. We ran back to escort our new member inside, and found that every single fucking mob had respawned. We hadn’t even been inside for 30 minutes. So we fought our way through it all again and took a break for supplies and repair before hitting the Armory. Same story. We had a full wipe at one point less than 30 minutes in, and found that everything was right back in play. Stationary groups and pats alike. No one seemed to recall SM ever respawning that quickly, and it was a serious pain in the ass to clear it all again.
Maybe it’s something Blizz implemented to counterbalance the leveling boost from patch 2.3? Whatever it is, it’s bullshit.
Suffice to say, I left SM and gathered mats straightaway to finally level my Engineering up to 165 and craft the Goblin Jumper Cables. Even if they rarely work, it’s worth it to have them around and not have to clear a whole fucking instance again.
Still haven’t taken my Omilia, my mage, past 60 yet. To be honest, I really enjoy my new guild and want to transfer her and Mercot over when the waiting period ends. It was a complete waste of money to take them to my brother’s server…long story. Seriously, this will be the last time I transfer those characters.
I did respec Omilia to learn Icy Veins after Tuesday, though. Ran a random twink through RFC to get a feel for her again. I do so love the mage. Nothing quite like decimating 15 or 20 Ragefire Troggs all at once with Nova and Blizzard. I’d like to play her more after the transfer and really practice AOE farming in WPL. Should be decidedly more challenging than level 14 elites. J
Everyone and their Orc greatmother is making WoW New Year Resolutions, so I guess I’ll make a few of my own:
No more server transfers after February 28, 2008.
Level Omilia to 70.
And relatively unrealistic goals:
Level the hunter, Paquita, at least to 60
Level the priest, Pulaski, at least to 60
If I get Paquita to 70, attain 375 epic flying skill and craft the engineer flying mount :)
That’s it for now. I hope to get Paquita to 40 this weekend, and nab her chicken mount. Pics forthcoming.
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