Monday, December 28, 2009
Nothing new in daily random hc
Emblem of this and emblem of that. Call me easily bored but I'm getting a bit tired of running heroics for new kind of badges. Of course you can go down the raid boss the quest person formerly known as the daily heroics guy wants dead weekly but as the quest implies it's only once a week. Then you can raid Icecrown Citadel but for us who still stuggle to get that big bug down in 25 man Trial of the Crusader I think Icecrown Citadel is more to think of in terms of wieving new scenery in between wipes rather than a chance to get emblems of frost. So that leaves the daily random heroic. Which you can almost do in your sleep but still: it's not that much fun. And isn't fun what the game is about? Something must be a little wrong when you log in and think of the daily random hc as you think of those boring work tasks you know you would feel better if you took care of right away but you still find excuses not to do for as long as possible. On the flip side this will probably make me a better cook and maybe even get me some quest achievements.
Friday, December 25, 2009
Favourite piece of loot
I asked Tamarind over at Righteous Orbs if I could be part of his blog content gift exchange and the topic I got was ...
...I hereby address myself to your inner material girl, remembering how happy you were to nab Malfurion’s Leggings of Triumph – I’m sure it goes without saying that we’re putting aside anything silly like, y’know, *the numbers* but what’s been your favourite piece of in-game loot thus far, either because of the looks, the lore, the name, the story behind acquiring it, whatever.
It had taken me this long to get something down on this topic because at first I feared I have gear altzheimers because I coudn't for the life of me come up with an item that I remember has turned me into Gollum of Lord of the Rings and go "...my precioussssssss....". After even more thinking I realized this was a difficult topic for me because I tend to took more at stats than to looks, lore or name of my gear. Well, if I have to walk around with someone's cut out tounge in my off hand then of course I notice but then I tell myself that's how it is in this game and try not to think about it too much. If I have to say anything I do pay attention to more than stats it's the look of the gear. Now, since I'm a druid, my gear tend to go in the colours of green and brown and mostly seem to be designed to help me shadowmeld, but one item that I felt genuinely sad to part with was my level 70 Merciless Gladiator's Kodohide Spaulders (this was back in the days when I did a lot more pvp than I do nowdays). They were made of bark and had small violet flowers that sprouted, bloomed and wilted every other second on them. You really didn't notice the flowers in game if you didn't look very close, in fact they were best watched on the log in screen. I liked the notion that someone at Blizzard had programmed those little flowers, even though they maybe wouldn't be noticed, just because they were such a nice touch.
Or wait...maybe the shoulders does not count as loot since they were pvp rewards and not a boss drop? Damn...oh well, I have to think about it some more then. But I can say I'm happy I don't play a char that can benefit from the Unidentifiable Organ that drops in Icecrown Citadel. I know that if I would always wonder just what organ I was carrying around in my off hand.
...I hereby address myself to your inner material girl, remembering how happy you were to nab Malfurion’s Leggings of Triumph – I’m sure it goes without saying that we’re putting aside anything silly like, y’know, *the numbers* but what’s been your favourite piece of in-game loot thus far, either because of the looks, the lore, the name, the story behind acquiring it, whatever.
It had taken me this long to get something down on this topic because at first I feared I have gear altzheimers because I coudn't for the life of me come up with an item that I remember has turned me into Gollum of Lord of the Rings and go "...my precioussssssss....". After even more thinking I realized this was a difficult topic for me because I tend to took more at stats than to looks, lore or name of my gear. Well, if I have to walk around with someone's cut out tounge in my off hand then of course I notice but then I tell myself that's how it is in this game and try not to think about it too much. If I have to say anything I do pay attention to more than stats it's the look of the gear. Now, since I'm a druid, my gear tend to go in the colours of green and brown and mostly seem to be designed to help me shadowmeld, but one item that I felt genuinely sad to part with was my level 70 Merciless Gladiator's Kodohide Spaulders (this was back in the days when I did a lot more pvp than I do nowdays). They were made of bark and had small violet flowers that sprouted, bloomed and wilted every other second on them. You really didn't notice the flowers in game if you didn't look very close, in fact they were best watched on the log in screen. I liked the notion that someone at Blizzard had programmed those little flowers, even though they maybe wouldn't be noticed, just because they were such a nice touch.
Or wait...maybe the shoulders does not count as loot since they were pvp rewards and not a boss drop? Damn...oh well, I have to think about it some more then. But I can say I'm happy I don't play a char that can benefit from the Unidentifiable Organ that drops in Icecrown Citadel. I know that if I would always wonder just what organ I was carrying around in my off hand.
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Winter whining
Am I the only one who feel that for every new content patch the demands on having achievements and a high gear score increases? How long has patch 3.3 been out now, 2 weeks and I already feel stressed because I have only had time to run Forge of Souls and and Pit of Saron once and haven't completed Halls of Reflections. But it's December and Christmas is around the corner and there is work to be done, Christmas gifts to be bought, dinners to attend to and what not. No time for emblem farming or running new instances. In a way it's silly to feel any pressure since it's only a game after all but still there is one tiny part of me that feel that I'm not keeping up.
Another thing I haven't paid any attention to so far is the Feat of Winter Veil. To my surprise I won a red winter's hat the other day when I did the daily random heroic and to my even greater surprise two players in the group quit right after that since it turned out they were only interested in getting it and not in finishing the instance.
Another thing I haven't paid any attention to so far is the Feat of Winter Veil. To my surprise I won a red winter's hat the other day when I did the daily random heroic and to my even greater surprise two players in the group quit right after that since it turned out they were only interested in getting it and not in finishing the instance.
Friday, December 11, 2009
Patch 3.3 first impressions
I was occupied with the non WoW aspects of my life in the beginning of the week so it was only yesterday I logged in to see what patch 3.3 has to offer and really, you miss the first day after patch and some people go "Oh, haven't you been to the new 5 man instances yet?". Well, no sorry I'm late...ehh.
I started the night by trying the new lfg system's random daily heroic and it didn't take a minute to get in a group and be teleported to the Nexus. It's probably to early to have an opinion but I do think I like the new cross realm lfg and the way Blizzard try to make it easier to pug groups. The Nexus run went fine and the only thing to mention is that on Omorok the Tree shaper one of the dps was offline before starting the boss and the other two died of ice spikes when the boss was around 70%, which left the dk tank and me to finish him off. It took quite a while and I coudn't even chip in a tiny bit of dps since my dps in tree form is zero. I felt like a healing cheerleader waveing my arms (branches) in the air supportivly every now and then as the tank slowly nudged Omorok to death.
One other thing I like with the new daily dungeon system is that you don't need to pick up items or body parts to present as proof of what you have done. Maybe you have better memory than I have but several times I have forgot to pick up whatever I needed to bring back to the quest guy in Dalaran.
As for the "Oh, haven't you done the new 5 man instances yet" I did my best to do them too yesterday but I only had time to do the two first ones, Forge of Souls and Pit of Saron, before bedtime. My first impression I must say, is gloomy. And of course it is, the Lich King is the Sauron of Northrend and evil does not like colour for some reason. So it's all different shades of black and the only presence of light is the glowing skulls floating around in the Forge of Souls. As for the bosses I think my favourite one this far is the four faced devourer of Souls.
I started the night by trying the new lfg system's random daily heroic and it didn't take a minute to get in a group and be teleported to the Nexus. It's probably to early to have an opinion but I do think I like the new cross realm lfg and the way Blizzard try to make it easier to pug groups. The Nexus run went fine and the only thing to mention is that on Omorok the Tree shaper one of the dps was offline before starting the boss and the other two died of ice spikes when the boss was around 70%, which left the dk tank and me to finish him off. It took quite a while and I coudn't even chip in a tiny bit of dps since my dps in tree form is zero. I felt like a healing cheerleader waveing my arms (branches) in the air supportivly every now and then as the tank slowly nudged Omorok to death.
One other thing I like with the new daily dungeon system is that you don't need to pick up items or body parts to present as proof of what you have done. Maybe you have better memory than I have but several times I have forgot to pick up whatever I needed to bring back to the quest guy in Dalaran.
As for the "Oh, haven't you done the new 5 man instances yet" I did my best to do them too yesterday but I only had time to do the two first ones, Forge of Souls and Pit of Saron, before bedtime. My first impression I must say, is gloomy. And of course it is, the Lich King is the Sauron of Northrend and evil does not like colour for some reason. So it's all different shades of black and the only presence of light is the glowing skulls floating around in the Forge of Souls. As for the bosses I think my favourite one this far is the four faced devourer of Souls.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Money definately can improve your reputation
Last week I got tired of being revered with the sons of Hodir. The thought of grinding the dailies the final way to exalted made me want to cry or fall asleep over my keyborad. I resolutely made my way to the auction house and bought enough relics of Ulduar to bribe my way to exalted. It feels a tiny bit like cheating but what the hell. No more polishing and thrusting of spears or handling of other Hodir artefacts. It's definately worth it.
Trial of the Crusader 10
Last week and this week we have cleared 10 man Trial of the Crusader. The guest appearence of the Lich King when he shatter the floor and you drop down to Anub'arak is a nice touch I think, even though when it happened the first time I was out in the kitchen getting a cup of tea and came back just in time to watch our GM drown since he was afk. I must admit I was a bit confused about what had happened. At first I thought I thought the whole Argent Tournament had been flooded.
When it comes to the fights, the one we have had most difficulties with is the faction champions. I think it's the pvp element in that fight that takes some time getting used to if you are a pve player. As with pvp the champions gang up on players and they behave somewhat unpredictably and last week it took us a great many tries to get into the right "don't think so much, just concentrate on the right target and burn it down really fast while at the same time making it as difficult as you can for the others to hit or heal"-mood.
I think this fight is easier for healers than for the dps and tanks. As healer you just heal whatever you can, dispel whatever you can dispel and try to run away when the champions chase you and I generally have the feeling that even if healing of course is part of the success, this is not a blame the healer fight if you don't make it.
As for the twin valkyrs, the strategy that is most succesful for us is that everyone except one tank, that tanks healer and one more player (preferably a healer) pick the same colour and dps concentrate only on one twin. The only time the raid switch colour is when the twins do vortex of the opposite colour. After the vortex everyone switch back to the original colour they had and continue to dps the one twin. This way the twins will heal 20% when they do twins pact but if dps is high enough this won't be a problem and you don't loose time and dps with people running to change colour and changing twin to dps. The three players that had a different colour than the rest of the raid from the beginning stick to their colour too just like the others and for the two that are not tank their task is also to pick up the orbs in their colour so they don't hit other players. Best is to have one player on each side of the room for orb catching.
On general Jaraxxus I know many groups say you should spread out in a circle around the boss. For us it has been way more easy to stand in a semi circle on one side of the boss. This way everyone will be in range for healers and I think it's also easier for the OT to pick up the adds that way. My only wish in the Jaraxxus fight is that people wouldn't run away when they get the incinerate flesh debuff. Maybe it's the skull on the head that dbm puts up that scare people but please stand still so I can heal you instead of having to chase you across the room.
When it comes to the fights, the one we have had most difficulties with is the faction champions. I think it's the pvp element in that fight that takes some time getting used to if you are a pve player. As with pvp the champions gang up on players and they behave somewhat unpredictably and last week it took us a great many tries to get into the right "don't think so much, just concentrate on the right target and burn it down really fast while at the same time making it as difficult as you can for the others to hit or heal"-mood.
I think this fight is easier for healers than for the dps and tanks. As healer you just heal whatever you can, dispel whatever you can dispel and try to run away when the champions chase you and I generally have the feeling that even if healing of course is part of the success, this is not a blame the healer fight if you don't make it.
As for the twin valkyrs, the strategy that is most succesful for us is that everyone except one tank, that tanks healer and one more player (preferably a healer) pick the same colour and dps concentrate only on one twin. The only time the raid switch colour is when the twins do vortex of the opposite colour. After the vortex everyone switch back to the original colour they had and continue to dps the one twin. This way the twins will heal 20% when they do twins pact but if dps is high enough this won't be a problem and you don't loose time and dps with people running to change colour and changing twin to dps. The three players that had a different colour than the rest of the raid from the beginning stick to their colour too just like the others and for the two that are not tank their task is also to pick up the orbs in their colour so they don't hit other players. Best is to have one player on each side of the room for orb catching.
On general Jaraxxus I know many groups say you should spread out in a circle around the boss. For us it has been way more easy to stand in a semi circle on one side of the boss. This way everyone will be in range for healers and I think it's also easier for the OT to pick up the adds that way. My only wish in the Jaraxxus fight is that people wouldn't run away when they get the incinerate flesh debuff. Maybe it's the skull on the head that dbm puts up that scare people but please stand still so I can heal you instead of having to chase you across the room.
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