Some Gals Play With Swords.

Drunk on Poison

Sunday, February 28th, 2010

Last night I got my priest drunk on poison.

It wasn’t my fault, really. It was the warrior. She got me into it.

Berengaria and I were off in Zul’Gurub farming Zandalar rep. At that point we were clearing some trash, and had just invited Rayvann to join us. She was on her way to STV and suddenly I hear Bere say ‘my screen is all foggy’ … I laugh and the next thing I know, mine is too. I guess that’s what I get for laughing at her.

Poison Drunk.

Poison Drunk.

Totally weird. I’ve never gotten a character drunk on poison, but I guess there’s a first time for everything.

Dungeon Finder aka Achievement Spammer

Sunday, December 13th, 2009

So, I’ve been getting a lot of dungeon based achievements and I’m only running when my guildies do.

I can only imagine how many they’re getting. This is just the last few days.

Did a few heroic achievements:

New Heroic Achievements.

New Heroic Achievements.

And then got a few out of the new Icecrown regular dungeons:

New Icecrown Regulars.

New Icecrown Regulars.

FYI – I FINALLY GOT A WAND UPGRADE!!!!! OMFG. Yeah, I sound like a teenager, but you have no idea the angst involved in the fact that I couldn’t find a better wand. It was almost as bad as my trinket issues of the past.

Superior Items Achievement.

Superior Items Achievement.

Oh, actually its a bit funny that the name of the wand is ‘Coffin Nail’ and I just stopped smoking recently. Someone has a skewed sense of humor.

Finally, for those who were apparently counting my money for me…

Emblems Achievement.

Emblems Achievement.

It’s fun when new stuff comes out. Lots of new achievements to get!

Our Last Quest Based Heroic

Sunday, December 13th, 2009

Well, I had said I was boycotting the dungeon finder due to the enchanting thing. I still am, except when running with guildies. I mean, it’s not like I’m angry at players for using a button that the game makes available to them, it’s about the game putting the button there in the first place.

Anyway, that’s not what I’m here to talk about. It’s actually been pretty fun.

This is my salute as I pay homage to a system that is no more – the daily dungeon blue quests.

Our last daily dungeon quest was done in Gundrak, and it was a nice way to end the time of dungeon blue quests as we ring in the time of random daily dungeons where you don’t have a clue where you’re going.

Along for the ride were Berengaria, Padrillan, Allgaron, and myself… can’t remember who was 5th, but if they remember they can tell me and I’ll update this.

Our Last Quest based Heroic.

Our Last Quest based Heroic.

( And yes, I got sticker happy, tis the season dammit. )

From the Priest – Know When To Release

Tuesday, November 10th, 2009

So I feel like griping about something that I think a great amount of people need to understand.

First off, and before I start talking strategy: Being resurrected is a privilege, not a right.

Ok. Got that off my chest.

There is, always, going to be one person who waits to be resurrected while everyone else runs back. If you’re not sure, ask!

When Not To Release

In some cases, not releasing is strategic and it is important to not release.

Lets say your team is fighting in Heroic: Utgarde Keep and you get destroyed by the end boss but the rest of your team is still up and fighting.

In that case, do not release, do not attempt to run back. You will miss the end of the fight.

If you need the achievement for that boss, it should trigger and count if your team kills it while you’re laying on the ground. Go team!

If you’re trying to farm up some pretty little tokens, go ahead and wait for a rez so you can loot the body and get your tokens.

In fact, most of the time, if you’ve got someone who can rez you – go ahead and wait for one. However, here’s the catch, you also need to know when to release.

When To Release

There are some instances where releasing and running back are vital to the flow of the fight.

Some fights are very long, and if you just hang around waiting to be rezzed you aren’t being effective as a team member.

A good example is Trial of the Champion in Icecrown.

Some of the fights in ToChampion are a bit long and complex and your team needs you back. Add that to it being one of those instances where the graveyard is ridiculously close AND you are spirit flying on a mount back to the instance — there is no reason not to release UNLESS…

The boss you are fighting is almost dead.

When I say ‘almost’ dead I don’t mean halfway down in health. We’re talking like… less than 1/4 of health and plenty of DPS remaining to push him down the rest of the way in less time than it would take to fly back to the instance.

Also, last phase of the fight is important. Let’s say you’re fighting the Black Knight and you see his health going down and he’s almost dead.

Yay! Ok, I can just hang out here and not release right?

Nooooooo.

The Black Knight is a 3-phase fight and you’re team is gonna be pretty ticked off if you don’t run back. You have to effectively kill him 3 times.

How about Utgarde Keep – we talked about that boss… well, that’s a bit different. That final boss in UK gets a rez after you kill him the first time and you have to kill him again. One would think you should run back if you die in the first phase – right? Nah, probably not.

In UK it’s just too far to run back to your body to make it worth it. By the time you get back they’ll be done with the second phase of the fight.

How Do I Know Which To Do?

1 – If you’re not sure, ask in party/raid : “Release?”

2 – You’re just going to have to pay attention to how the fights work and after a while you’ll know what to do.

This article is, mostly, hoping to encourage people to do either #1 or #2 instead of some other insane response that causes an argument. :)

Shablani Has a New Ride

Sunday, November 1st, 2009

So we had decided that we really wanted to start making sure we did the daily normal and heroic each day to save up badges.

Nexian and Denaiden wanted to go to bed after our ToC run, so we pugged a couple of guys to help us with Culling of Stratholme on Heroic.

We got very lucky. The tank was an awesome warrior named Jazzman, and the dps was a pretty powerful retribution pally called Mosfet.

They knew the trick to getting CoS done under the time limit and to the boss that drops the drake. Awesome! Now we know how to do it too :P

Shablani - Bronze Drake

Shablani - Bronze Drake

When we got to the Infinite Corruptor, he dropped his Reins of the Bronze Drake mount. Jazzman passed since he already had it, the rest of us rolled on it..

Shablani walked away with an awesome new ride :)

While reasonably jealous, we were at least content with the fact that we got the achievement called The Culling of Time.

Now that we know the trick to getting that mount, I have a feeling our core group will be farming for it :P

More ToC Drops

Sunday, November 1st, 2009

So we did a little ToC run last night and got a few drops pop up. Unfortunately, none were usable by the crew.

Greaves of the Grand Paladin
Binding of the Tranquil Glade
Carapace of Grim Visions
Belt of the Churning Blaze

These hands I’m keeping, just in case I can find a stone that would make up for the loss of spirit and int that my current ones have. I like the haste these have.
Handwraps of Surrendered Hope

Ah well, better luck next time I guess.

We tried it once on heroic right before this one, but died really really fast. It’s the rogue poison clouds. We’ve got to find a way to work around those. Still drawing a blank. I’m <this> close to making our warlock kite/tank him around the room while we kill the others.

Trial of the Crusader – Down!

Friday, October 30th, 2009
ToC - Complete!

ToC - Complete!

Zul'tore

Zul'tore

Well thank goodness we didn’t get Paletress as one of the random bosses last night!

We were really hoping for Zul’tore – since he was the last boss we needed to down in ToC … and we got him!!

He was actually really easy.

Just a basic fight, nothing major or significant except for the fact that we all dinged the achievement at the end of it :)

We got 3 pieces of mail & plate caster gear that has to be trashed.
Greaves of the Grand Paladin
Leggings of the Bloodless Knight
Helm of the Bested Gallant

We had Denaiden with us last night and she got a couple of upgrades out of there.
Helm of the Violent Fray
Girdle of Arrogant Downfall

So that’s a good thing, we had hoped she’d get some drops out there.

Of course, Nexian is already saying we need to do it on Heroic.

We really should do it on heroic to get the achievement, but man I’m not looking forward to an even more evil and deadly Paletress…

Of course, we’ll eventually do it on heroic.. although there isn’t a single upgrade for Everonna (my healer)… it’ll be nice to get the achievement and use it to get Denaiden some upgrades.

A ToC Disaster – Paletress, You’re a Bitch

Tuesday, October 27th, 2009
Argent Confessor Paletress

Argent Confessor Paletress

Well, don’t exactly know what happened last night. Nor do I understand what happened in CoS last time. In fact, I’m pretty much confused in general right now.

What the heck is wrong with us?!?!

Is there some syndrome that works out to ‘get better gear, start to play worse‘?

So we beat this instance two times in a row, and last night we wipe on Argent Confessor Paletress half a dozen times??

I just don’t get it. I mean, yes, she sucks. She’s a hard boss to fight, particularly from a healer perspective. As the healer, I have to be healing and dispelling her magic and heals over time. It’s really lousy.

A mage who could spell steal her renews would help a lot, but that’s not going to happen.

Anyway, the point is that we DID kill her before. Suddenly last night not only did we get trashed on her, she wiped the floor with us.

Very irritating.

Trial of the Champion – A Learning Run

Saturday, October 24th, 2009
The Argent Coliseum Map.

The Argent Coliseum Map.

So when we decided to run ToC for the first time after a bad-luck night in CoS farming, we knew it would be a learning experience. We also were prepared to have some difficulty not knowing this dungeon and being one man short, but we did it on normal to compensate.

I was a bit disappointed by this dungeon, but I’ll get into why toward the end.

After we got over our panic about being watched by major NPC’s in the game, we figured that with all these mounts along the walls and racks of lances that we’re doing mounted fighting.

We ran over and grabbed lances, mounted up, and put up our shields to wait.

We watched as group after group of opposing faction fighters came in the gates. I’m pretty sure I recall Shablani saying that someone needed to learn to lock the gate :P

Anyhow, they all set up in there forming little packs against the walls, and we weren’t sure if we’d get to pick our first group to fight or if they’d start fighting us. Turned out they picked for us and one group came forward to fight.

The next few minutes were pretty much just like doing the Battle Before the Citadel daily quest out at the tournament with a group. Not hard, you can also switch to a fresh mount just by riding next to one of the others ones against the wall and clicking on it – you’ll hop over and have a full health mount.

As a side note – if your mount dies and you still have aggro on someone you’re fighting, you’re probably dead too. If you die, you can go back quickly, run in, mount again, and keep fighting.

After we’d killed all the mounted opponents, all the horses and lance racks along the walls despawned. We took that as a hint that we’re done with the lances and switched back to our normal weapons.

The next stage was regular boss fighting – some with adds, some without.

The first group was 3 elite mobs, two were casters and one a rogue. We didn’t know what the casters were, but decided to take them out first. Unfortunately, we picked the wrong caster to target first. We didn’t realize the Tauren we were fighting was a healer – after a couple of minutes fighting a mage with everlasting health, we turned to the Tauren (shaman?) instead.

Eadric the Pure.

Eadric the Pure.

The fight lasted forever. As in, my cooldowns were coming back up. Probably close to 10 minutes and the tauren still had full health. We finally mistepped and wiped. We came back, targeted the healer from the start, kept interrupting heals, and took all 3 mobs down in just a couple of minutes.

Next was Eadric the Pure. He was the easiest by far. He’s a pally and does 2 things aside from melee – both of which he announces in raid warning messages.

He periodically announces he’s going to cast Radiance and you need to shield your eyes. If you turn away from him, put your back to him, it doesn’t do damage. If you keep facing him you get stunned and take damage. My easy solution was to just heal facing backwards, that way I didn’t have to interrupt my heals to turn around.

He also did occasionally throw his Hammer of the Righteous on people. If that doesn’t get dispelled it will do a large amount of damage to them (up to about 15k). What we didn’t know is that you can throw the hammer back at him by hitting the 1 key and it’ll do damage to him instead. That would’ve made this fight even easier than it already was.

The Black Knight.

The Black Knight.

The next guy to fight was the Black Knight. He comes swooping down on his skeletal dragon and starts talking crap. This fight was the hardest for us. It’s a three-phase fight and he keeps changing forms. At one point he’s himself, then he’s a skeleton, then he’s a wraith. Guess you’re just getting him closer and closer to death? Who knows.

This fight was much more rough, but could be managed by moving out of his death knight ground circle thingy… you know what I’m talking about.

Oh, in phase two he does spawn a bunch of undead adds to help him, they’re nothing major, an AOE can manage them – which I’m glad we did cause I found out later that if you kill him first the adds explode and do AOE damage in a corpse explosion.

So then… it’s done?

Yeah, apparently, that was it.

No message, no achievement pops up, we’re like.. is there more?

ToC Bosses Achievement.

ToC Bosses Achievement.

That was massively disappointing. Every other instance you expect if you finish it and kill all the bosses that come at you – that you get an achievement pop up the first time you do that. Not for this one.

Apparently, the bosses we fought are random bosses and there are also some different ones. We’ll have to keep going back and hope the other bosses show up in order to complete the achievement.

Strangely I didn’t get the Black Knight showing up as dead on my achievement count – even though everyone else did. Don’t know why.

We got gear drops, all of which are heading to DE. We couldn’t use any of it.

Time to Disenchant.

Time to Disenchant.

The gear that dropped was:

Leggings of the Haggard Apprentice
Uruka’s Band of Zeal
Scale Boots of the Outlander
Girdle of Arrogant Downfall
Gauntlets of the Stouthearted Crusader

In any case, now we have to make sure and go back to kill the other bosses that live in that place.

Overall, I was very disappointed that we didn’t get a completion achievement.

I really think you should have one achievement for finishing it, and one achievement for killing all the possible random bosses in that dungeon.

Ah well, not much to do about, we just have to go back now.

I’ll post an update when we go back and get them all down :)

CoS Wipes – How about some ToC?

Saturday, October 24th, 2009

We must have had a really off night. Every group has those, this one just surprised us quite a bit.

We’ve been farming Culling of Stratholme (CoS) for badges because it’s a super quick heroic. We’ve never wiped – until last night.

Not only did we wipe, we wiped twice. WTF?!?

I’m knocking it down to us just having a bad night. It could’ve been because both Shablani and myself were playing on computers we don’t normally use. It could’ve been too many sweets from Hallows Eve in our bellies.

It could’ve been anything.

After the second wipe we decided to call it a night for CoS. Denaiden wanted to go to bed, but we still had some energy left at 2am and decided to go to Trial of the Champion (ToC).

We’d been meaning to go over there and try it out, but somehow hadn’t gotten there yet. Don’t know why exactly, we just hadn’t.

Lady Jaina is Watching!

Lady Jaina is Watching!

We figured we’d try it on normal since we only had 4 and had never been there before. The objective was to learn how it worked, nothing more.

Nexian was going on about gear drops from there, but most of them wouldn’t be upgrades for us (perhaps they would be on heroic – didn’t check those – but definitely not on normal).

It was mostly just a ‘lets try it out’ kinda thing. So we headed over there to see how it worked.

Of course, the first thing all of us were thinking was… holy crap.. all these people are going to watch. Oh no! Lady Jaina Proudmoore is going to watch us!!

No! We’re just here to learn! Ack – pressure! Can’t. Disappoint. Proudmoore. Arrrgghhhhh….

In the long run, it turned out okay!

We learned how the instance worked for our first time in ToC – and it went much better than CoS did last night :P