Taking on Responsibility

Razuvious Fight

Recently, I have found myself taking more responsability in my current guild. I am not sure how I feel about this. I mean, I like being asked for my opinions, and actually having my thoughts carried out by guild members. I guess this is how it feels to be a “main tank” of a guild. There are two issues though that I have been fighting tooth and nail with the guild leaders over;  gear requirements, and benchmark requirements.

Currently, we have a few members in the guild who are having a hard time beating -me- in meters on bosses. The image above displayed a WWS of Instructor Razuvious, from the Naxxramas 12-23-2008 (Group B) clear, as I do not have a patchwerk one recent enough to show. Anyways, we can see that we have two dps that are below 1,000. Before I start ripping apart said dps, I take a look into some circumstances. Tae, the Ret Paladin, died when Sibe momentarily lost control of his add, so Razuvious hit him. It is understandable that Tae did low dps.

When we move to Majinga, my stomach fills with ice. He was alive the entire fight, and was able to dps the boss completely. Yet he was still below 1,000 dps. That is completely unacceptable. A fresh rogue in greens can easily hit over that. So, what do I do? I look at his ARMORY. First thing I notice, he has very few achievement points, which means his character is relatively new. Second thing I notice is his stats. He is way below hit cap. Then, looking at his gear, I just jawdrop. Some level 70 epics and quite a few level 80 pvp epics. Wasting itemization points in a raid on resillience? Obviously this rogue is a wannabe pvp jock.

What to do now though. The guild leaders insist that since we do not have choice pick, we have to home grow our dps. I argue back that we will drive away the good dps we have by carrying people. Most of us are really “hardcore” but have been forced to raid late at night due to real life schedules. Despite this, we cannot carry people. Either they need to do heroics while we raid, and gear up, as well as research their class, or we boot them. If no change is made after a certain amount of time, then they prove that they fail at a very easy game (compared to pre-BC!).
Currently, we have 4 active raiders (in 10 mans) that cannot beat me in damage done on patchwerk like bosses. I have stemmed the flow of more coming in, and have done my best to offer resources to the four. So far, very little change has been made. Now, how to trim the fat off this cow.

Quest Thursday: Dark Herring

It’s Big

It’s Bad

It’s Angry

It’s Coming After Your LIfe!

“What is this nonsense?” you ask. Well, I’ll tell you! This fine specimen of smelly, slimy [Dark Herring], also known as the “Terror of the Fjord“.

I can see it now. My audience laughs at me! Just you wait. This little sucker is not to be taken lightly, for he is a devil fish! He lurks in your ponds, lakes, and rivers, waiting to feed on your unsuspecting soul. As soon as you catch him.. POOF! Your soul is gone, and your body is just a lifeless husk not even fit for scourge revival.

Knowing all of this, you might all ask me, “If you know this Wukki, why are you trying to catch him?” Once again, I’ll happily tell you. It has been a dream of mine to walk around Dalaran with a Pole in one hand and a bucket in the other. The locals would look out of their shops and wave, and yell “Going Fishing again Salty?“, and of course I would chuckle and wave them on.

Okay, no, not really. That was never my dream. I just want the achievement, The One That Didn’t Get Away. Yep. Simply for Obsessive Compulsive Purposes.

Dark Herring Collected: 0/1

A Loved Tank

You know you are a loved tank when:

1. Many healers want you to be their tank
2. When DPS apologize for doubting you
3. When Mallet can watch the game and not pay attention to you
4. When they wait for you to log on for hours to run something
5. When they offer to cut you gems and enchants
6. When you are asked to tank a heroic even when you are already in one! (courtesy of Herc)
7. When people try to schedule heroic’s with you (courtesy of Herc)

Ding 80

So.. here is the end to what I began a few days ago. Congrats to Wukki!

p.s. Leveling as prot rocked!

The End of the Burning Crusade

It has been almost two years since The Burning Crusade came out, and it was a wild ride for sure. It took me a while, but I finally decided what it is I wanted in this game, and have since strived to achieve it in the past few weeks. I am glad to say, I have succeeded in TBC, and will continue to do so in Wrath. To new Beginnings!

Now, on another note, here is what I think the best and worse of TBC.

The best, being able to raid a bit more easily because 25 people is easier to find than 40. In wrath though, I still prefer 25 to 10. 10 man just seems too casual for me. 

The worst, PVP. I hate, hate, hate, hate the resillience mechanic. It sucks especially if you started pvping during season 3 and 4. You would get torn up, with minimal honor gained. Bukki added onto this by saying that the worst thing was druids. Which is understandable, since you can hardly snare and stun them easily. Nerf cyclone!

My choices in Wrath

Five days… I only have five more days to decide what it is I want to do in Wrath.

Do I want to stay with Wukki, and level to 80 with Bukki, where at 80 we possibly transfer off of Sisters of Elune. My alternative, to stay with Aylii, my Shaman who has cleared the game, and follow Mallet off to who knows where? This decision has been plaguing me for weeks now, and I have only a few more days to decide. 

I love both of my characters. Why, oh why, did the people that mattered had to be on different sides.

Edit: A few conversations with people have led me to go with what makes me happy, and that is playing Wukki. Goodbye Carnage.

Ask the Murloc

Like my friend, Saresa, I have been struggling to find things to talk about. With 3.0.3 in full swing, and wrath coming next week, there just seems to be nothing to talk about but ‘Wrath” this and “Wrath” that. So, borrowing an idea from the sadistic warlock, I opened myself up to answer any question asked of me.

1. Will you come to winnipeg and help me cope with the coming winter?

- Sorry, but I have obligations here in SoCal

2. What do you want in a guild?

- What I want is a guild that is focused on being progressive, no matter what. I am not talking about spending 40 hours a week raiding. Rather, 25 members who want to see end-game content, and be near the top.

3. What do you want to do as a player?

- I want to do whatever is needed from me, as long as I get to see end-game content. Personally though, tanking has gotten appealing for me.

4. What vision do you have for your WoW career?

- The vision I hold before me is to find a guild that doesn’t suck much and stay with them until the day to quit wow is there. Unfortunantly, I havent found one that matches my vision of a progressive guild: Serious Business in raids, relaxed elsewhere.

5. If the Lich King made you a boss, would you drop epic loot?

- Of course. I’m almost as epic as the Lich KIng, especially considering that I tricked him into watching this youtube video.

6. What do you think will be the reason and way you quit WoW?

- The day it becomes boring, or real life needs me more.

7. Why am I a sucky tank?

- That is a general question. What is your gear? What is your spec? What abilities do you use? If you are in blues and greens, do not be surprised if you find it hard to keep aggro, for that gear was not changed to work with Warriors, like the tier pieces were. Try again at 80.

8. Why are some bad pugs expecting my warrior to be prot? I hardly get into groups and so I specialize in fury or arms. Is it me or them?

- Because since we can tank, we’re expected to tank. It has taken classes a long time to start realizing that we have DPS specs. As for between you, or them, I usually assume them. 

9. I thought blizz was going to incorporate a threat meter but see only combat text. Is that it?

- They got lazy, so all you see is the SCT. What is important though, is that there is now API for it. Meaning, all threat meters will work together now, and be accurate.

10. How did you choose your main? 

- Carnage needed a Shaman, so I leveled one.

11. Have you ever switched mains?

- Yes, many times.

12. Was it a hard Choice?

- It didn’t used to be, but I am pondering switching mains again, and this choice is really hard. It is like asking which side of my body do I want to give up.

13. If murlocs became playable, what would you name yourself and why?

- Murkilla, because of this trailer.

Thank you Saresa, Pacho, Mallet, Medros, Veneretio, and Doug Williams for the questions.

Bai Bai KJ

It was not you KJ, it was me. I was tired of wiping, so I finally killed you.

Tattered Cloak of Antonidas

Hammer of Sanctification

Handguards of Defiled Worlds

Thori’Dal, the Stars Fury

Insane Recipe For Leveling

This is a quick and savory recipe for a dose of delicious, chocolate questing with a dash of butter cream grinding. I have used this recipe in many characters, and all of them came out superb. Just make sure you dont burn the filling.

Ingredients

• 10 Cases of Bawls
• 1 QuestHelper
• 1 browser tab with WoWHead open
• 5 Empty Bags
• 2 Stacks of Food and Water of your choosing
• 1 Complete map of Northrend
• A week of spare time
• Very Little Sleep

Directions

Get all your Ingredients ready before the dreaded November 13th. Download Questhelper, order your caffeinated drinks, and clearing out your bags.

The day/night Wrath comes out, if you can, Stand in line at the store you ordered from, and pick up your copy. Get home, install it, start playing. There are two “starter” zones in Wrath, feel free to fly between the two to complete all quests there before moving on. 

Do NOT step foot into Dragonblight and Grizzly Hills until all Quests in Borean Tundra and Howling Fjord are completed.

Pick a level you want to obtain every day. My goal is 72/73 the first day. Stick to your goal for the day, then sleep, only for a few hours. Wake up, pick a new goal, continue.

Do not level any profession skills while leveling except First Aid. The rest will slow you down. You may work on cooking, but do not go out of your way to get the meat. Just cook what you do get.

Run circuits, do not just do one quests and turn them in. Take all quests, do them all, turn them in, repeat. This provides good grinding and questing experience. For optimum results, study all quests before Wrath and make mini circuits, to save time and have maximum quest output.

Sell, repair, get food everytime you are back in town. Mail any things of interest to your bank out. Get back out there!

At 77, make sure you have enough money to buy your northrend flying. It helps a lot.

Your goal is to hit 77 as soon as possible, for the last three zones suck to travel by land.

After you reach 77, spend that night sleeping fully. You’ll need it, for the final push.

There are many daily quests that coincide with your questing areas. Do them. It is an extra 20k xp and 15g.

Loot mobs completely, sell the items. This makes them respawn faster.

If you feel like this is going to be too much for you, STOP. This is a game. Do not press yourself to go as fast and hard as you can to 80 unless you are bored like I am. This also applies to those who are lucky enough to have school and work right now. Do not sacrifice your life for this.

End Result

You will be 80, and will be able to get a leg up on, most likely, everyone else in your guild. You can either gear up or relax. You deserve it.

Image © Lolcats

This guide is meant for those who want to speed level to 80. I am not responsible for anyone who gets sick, loses their job, quits school, or does anything else retarded because they pushed their limits too far. Stay in school kids.

Where I will be at Blizzcon and When

October 10th

October 11th