Tale Twenty Four: A congrats goes to...

My Horde toons all belong to a guild on the Cenarius Server called Lords of Ancient Sin. It's one of the oldest of living guilds on the Cenarius Server (November 2005....!) and made up of people who ... are plain awesome, I guess.

We raid 4 times a week. 2 nights are dedicated to 10man Ulduar. 1 night is dedicated to H ToC. And the other night, dedicated to 25man Ulduar...

Mind you, while we raid alot we are not at all hard core or anything. We goof around and we have fun. Our 25 mans are done with a joint guild because we both don't have the numbers. I feel that the 25mans are more stricter. There's not enough laughing. Most of my pet peeves come from the 25man runs.

Now. Our 10mans have not seen Yogg. They haven't even seen Freya! We only just thought up of the genius idea of doing Ulduar 2 nights a week. We always get stuck on Hodir, because by the time we get to him we're pooped!... but on Saturday night, Lords taught that jerk a lesson. Hodir went DOWN!

Yes, ladies and gentlemen. Our small and fun group beat him. FINALLY! (PS: Thanks Averna for your guide >.>). You should have heard the vent celebration. It was amazing.

And then today, we all walked back in there, not thinking we'd really get anything else down. Just practise, right?

.....

We killed Thorim as well! (PS: Again, thaaaanks Averna!) Celebration. Happy tears. Fireworks. Fun times.

Moral of the story: A good guild is one that doesn't leave you wanting to bang your head agaisnt the key board. Over and over again. A good guild will give you a few laughs rather than wanting to stop playing all together. A good guild will laugh off the mistakes yet learn and push forward instead of blaming each other.

A good guild is trying over and over again and finally seeing the fruits of your labour.

Lords of Ancient Sin, you made me proud this weekend.

A job well done.

Tale Twenty-Three: So... Blizzard hates me.

So some of you may have heard the speculation of the new expansion pack. Here are the possible new classes each race might have:


•Human Hunter : This I can understand. In fact, I used to think humans had the option to be hunters.
•Orc Mage : Eh... not the worst one out of the convo. I still can't see it though. Imagine, this manly looking orc suddenly casting... a cute baby sheep.
•Night Elf Mage : This one is so wrong. The reason the Blood Elves and Night Elves
•Dwarf Mage : This one I don't see a problem with, I guess.
•Blood Elf Warrior : This one should totally been brought in when Belfs came out.
•Dwarf Shaman : I don't know Dwarf lore, so I'm not sure about this one.
•Undead Hunter : All I can see if their pet running away with their arm that fell off.
•Tauren Paladin : To quote some people "HOLY COW!" I can't see this
•Tauren Priest : Or this one for that matter. Tauren are very spiritual... shamans and druids kind of follow the same beliefs. All about nature...
•Gnome Priest : *giggle* doable, I guess.
•Troll Druid : No. Just no...

AND that's not the worst part:

The New (New) Horde

Thrall will hand over the leadership of the Horde to Garrosh Hellscream, while he serves as a coordinator for both the Horde and Alliance forces in and effort to combat the new threat of the Naga and Black Dragonflight. Without Thrall to keep Garrosh in check, he declares open war on the Alliance. In the political upheaval Cairne Bloodhoof is implicated as a traitor to the Horde and murdered by Garrosh. Cairne's son Baine takes over as the new Tauren chieftan.


......


Way to go, Garrosh, you IDIOT. Like father like son, I guess. And what the hell is Thrall doing/thinking? Is he so trustworthy of him that he didn't see that coming?!

AND!

"Durotar is wrecked and apparently Orgrimmar could be destroyed. A new Orc city is rebuilt over the course of the expansion. "

That makes me so sad. Orgrimmar is the Horde's home. I love it there.

Thoughts? Comments?

Tale Twenty-Two: Druid and their abilities

I don't pretend to be a "Great Druid" but I do like to think that I know my class fairly well. And as such, here's a little something I think might help new druids. When I hit 80 and realized I wanted to heal, I was confused. Lifebloom? Wild Growth? What is that?! Well, here, I'll explain it to you.

What does a Resto Druid bring to the raid?:

The resto druid is well known for bringing HoTs to the raid (Healing Over Time). What are these spells?

Lifebloom
Rejuvenation
Regrowth
Wild Growth (51er in the Resto tree. A MUST have)
Nourish
Healing Touch
Tranquility

Gear!

Gearwise, you want to focus on these stats: Spellpower > Spirit/Int > Haste/Crit/MP5 > Stam

The more the spell power, the more effective your HoTs are. Spirit got nerfed big time for us in 3.1 so we don't have to stack up on it as much.

One of the mistakes I made when I was gearing up Littlebark was forgetting an important stat: HASTE. The haste cap for resto druids, Gift of the Earthmother included, is 359.

Gems!

Some good gems for druids are :

Insightful Earthseige Diamond
Runed Scarlet Ruby
Luminous Monarch Topaz
Purified Twilight Opal

Glyphs!

Swiftmend
Nourish
Wild Growth

Those are great ones, depending on your build/gear.

Healing Rotation!

There isn't one, really. Usually, if I'm tank healing, I'll throw a stack of Lifeblooms on the tank, a rejuv a regrowth and then go from there, with Nourish making a huge portion of my healing arsenal. If I'm raid healing, I'll still do some of the above.

Healing Mods!

There are two major Healing Mods out there right now. Healbot and Grid. Personally, I use Healbot just because it's what I'm used to. Its not standard for all healers and by no means the better one of the two. Just the one I use as I find it easy to use and customize.

Food/Flask!

Depending on how your mana regen is, you can use two different kind of flasks.

If you need a boost in mana regen, I'd use Flask of Mojo. If you don't need the extra mana regen, I'd go for Flask of Frostwyrm. Foodwise, I use Firecracker Salmon.

I'm sure I missed something. If you'd like to point it out or add in your comments, by all means please do :)

Tale Twenty-One: WTF!?

So. Questing on Baby Druid. Needed to Escort the Defias Traitor and this pally is nice enought to offer his help even though he'd already done it. After it was done, I thanked him and he told me that if I was gonna do Van Cleef later, to add him up, he'd tank or heal.


Sweet! I thought and went my merry way. I went to get some lunch came back and saw that he'd whispered me. Here's a little clip of our convo:

I was all the way in Redridge, but I thought 'Hey. This guy helped me out when he didn't get any benefits. Time to return the favor!" So I hauled my butt to SW, through the tram, to Ironforge, to outside of IF... and then this!

Gagiu and Gaciu, I hope you enjoy being on my Ignore List. May I point out that the guy who went AFK was not AFK the second before, as he'd been telling me where to go. So you two. I hope you enjoy your crappy trial accounts. People like you give WoW a bad name.

I don't see the point in dragging me all the way to IF and beyond just to turn out to be a "SUCKA!" moment. But then again, I'm not an evil genius. Perhaps there is a greater motive.

Tale Twenty: Paper Zep

Please, never throw that thing at me. Most of the time, I am afk and you will not get it back until I get back. Please, do not swear at me because you threw it at me without me asking and I'm not at my computer. Insert a short convo I had recently on Littlebark:

You are now AFK
You recieve: [Paper Zeppelin]
[Ithrewit] whispers: Throw it back
[Ithrewit] whispers: Hey, give my paper airplane back
[Ithrewit] whispers: dont mess around, give it back
[Ithrewit] whispers: throw it f**king back you cu**
[Ithrewit] whispers: if dont fucking throw it back im gonna f**king report you you f**king w-

Twenty minutes after, I come back to my keyboard with poor Littlebark /spitting, /disgust, /etc. You get my drift.

to [Ithrewit]: o.O
to [Ithrewit]: I was afk. Sorry.
[Ithrewit] whispers: Whatever, bitch.
to [Ithrewit]: I'm sorry!
Ithrewit is now ignoring you.

The next event happened while on my Baby Druid (Level 14 now!) when I was walking to Redridge. I was on my merry little way, almost half way there! When this happens:

[Inyourbags] whispers: give it back
to [Inyourbags]: Give what back?
[Inyourbags] whispers: My paper airplane. I threw it to you, its in your bag.

Mind you, I'd been up for about 45mins, had only gotten 3hours of sleep and was very grumpy.

to [Inyourbags]: If you come get it, sure. But I'm not going to go all the way back to get something you threw at me when I didn't ask for it.

Props to [Inyourbags]. He invited me to his group, mounted up and hurried over. As soon as I gave it back to him, he kicked me outta his group and I went my merry way.

Now question for all you Alliance people. What is the big deal about Goldshire. Every time I go there, there's always 80's and duels and whatnot. Enlighten me?

Tale Nineteen: No news

Hey guys...

No news that really matter. Haven't touched Littlebark in like... a week. Real life getting in the way. Alliance toon also getting in the way. Which reminds me, [After Hours] is recruiting for like... every class. Specially healers, since my Disc priest makes a crappy raid healer. Our raid times are from 9pm-12am (server time)Wednesday, Friday and Saturday on the Cenarius US. Awesome raid times for me, since I work till like an hour before raid time and my house is like 5minutes away from my work.

*back on topic*

Leveling Artaius veeeery slowly. She's only like level 8. Levels 1-20 SUCKS. Why can't Blizzard just give me my Kitty Form of AWESOMENESS right off the bat?!

QQ

Tale Eighteen: The Death of...

"I can only pray to the ancestors that I am never placed in the same position as my father—torn between what I know in my heart is right and the defense of my people. It is why I continue to strive to uphold the tenuous peace between us and the Alliance. Because few offenses and insults in this or any other world are sufficient to warrant the slaughter of children."

~Thrall

Mr. Littlebark and myself were doing ToC on Wednesday and I commented that I thought that it was so cool that Thrall was up on the bleachers, cheering us on. It totally brought out the RP'er in me, and already I was building a story in my head.

When I was rudely interuppted by Mr. Littlebark saying something along the lines of, "Yeah but it's even cooler that Hellscream is gonna be the next Warchief."

Hold your horses. Put a break on that. What the hell!?

"What?!" I spat, "You've got to be kidding me! Hellscream is ignorant, he fights at every chance he gets, he doesn't think things through! Where did you hear this from?"

Mr. Littlebark shrugged, "Just speculation. That might be why Thrall is training Hellscream. He's always at his side, haven't you noticed?"

"Jaina is always at Varian's side. Are you telling me that she'd become Queen?" Indignant now, I glared at the Hellscream telling me to rip apart my oponent, "I would never follow him as a Warchief."

"It'd be cool! Come on, it's HELLSCREAM! He's a hero! His father killed the demi-god Cenarius-"

"And now the Night Elves are pissed at us."

"He's all about action-"

"Mhmm. Like when he was the first one to drink the demonic blood and curse the orcs?"

I'll give Mr. Littlebark props. He shrugged and gave up. "It's just speculation", he said.

But it got me thinking. Thrall is my favorite WoW Lore character. He's so diplomatic, he learns from past experiences, he analyzes things... what kind of Horde would it be Grommash Hellscream was the Warchief?

Any thoughts? Who's your WoW Lore? Or am I the only nerd here?

Tale Seventeen: Post Patch 3.2

So the patch has me excited. As soon as I came home, Littlebark transformed into kitty and ta-da! She's gorgeous. I've said it before and I'll say it again. The druid class was the reason I "love" WoW. This totally made me happy.

I haven't gotten her into a raid yet, and I probably won't be able to until Saturday, which kind of sucks! But I did heal the new dungeon, Trial of the Champion. I love that dungeon. From the beginning where the announcers introduces us (he called me a cunning druid *blush*) to where Thrall is watching you... It's an amazing dungeon.

I also tried the new battleground, Isle of Conquest. Laggy is the only word that comes to mind. Anywho, it's a bit of Alterac Valley, Arathi Basin, and Strand of Ancients. It's really neat. If you like PvP, then you should definitely check it out.

Tale Sixteen: Patch 3.2

Is it here?! My server is down for an extra hour... ack, the frustation!

I just want to go check out the kitty/bear forms! I'm so glad I managed to gather enough gear to have a feral set again.

Is it bad that all I want to see is the new forms? *le sigh*

Tale Fifteen: Pet Peeves

You’ll have to excuse this fluff blog, but I’d rather not muddle my way through the patch notes right now. I have a killer headache that has decided to pay me a visit for the past two weeks and just won’t leave me alone, no matter how much I tell it that it’s unwanted. Some things just don’t know how to take a hint.

It’s been a year and four months since I began my WoW journey. And to quote an achievement: “what a strange long ride it’s been”. Or something to that effect. Which means that I’ve been raiding for about a year.

Without further ado… here’s my pet peeve list!

Anyone other than the Raid Leader giving me instructions:
This one is major for me. It is, perhaps, my biggest pet peeve. Step into my shoes for a second: you’re healing, trying to concentrate and out of nowhere, yelling explodes. “PUT THE WINGS ON THE TANK! GET OUT OF THE WAY! LASERS!!!” By the end of the raid, I have to knock down painkillers to try to kill my already massive headache. Vent should be only for the Raid Leader. Unless the RL says “so-and-so will be helping me explain the fights” I don’t want to hear you crowding the Vent channel. And if you’re helping out with the explaining of the fight, do it before the boss. I swear to God, if one more person YELLS in Vent, I will take my head piece and throw it across the room. Gearing up my druid should not have me wanting to bash my head at the end of the raid.

Solution: Don’t talk unless you’re the raid leader. Don’t tell me what to do during the fight. I’ve done the fights before. I know what I have to look out for. And if I did something wrong; do not yell at me. It will only make me curse you endlessly. Use bio breaks to crack jokes.

Calling out people’s names:
“I’m in the pot!” or “so-and-so is in the pot”. As I understand, all raiders MUST have Deadly Boss Mods on, right? So why the hell are you telling me what the mod is already announcing on the screen? I can read! And I can sure as hell see your health go down super fast. My fantastical brain will pick up on the fact that you’re taking more damage because… you’re in the frigging pot or something!!

Solution: Let me do my frigging job. I know who my healing assignment is, and won’t just stand there with my mouth hanging open while I slowly watch you die.

Fail-bot Mod:
This one, I’ve seen pop up lately. Basically what it does, it’ll tell you who stood in the bad stuff, who got hit by the icicles, etc. But it’ll say it like this: “Littlebark fails at not casting x 1”. Hmmm…. Let the tank die because the other healers have stop casting or risk just me getting spell locked while I cast a Nourish to make sure he doesn’t die? As long the tank doesn’t die because my HoTs are rolling and I managed to get a Nourish on you, I’ll take the spell lock. You know what this Mod makes me think of? That kid from the Simpsons. Nelson Muntz, I think his name is. As soon as I see “So-and-so fails at doing …” all I can see is that kid going, “HA-HA!”
Solution: If I see that Mod one more time, I’m just going to put you on my ignore list. If you need to get a hold of me, you can do so in Vent. Sans the yelling, please.

Talking so much in Vent that I have to mute you:
Yeah. Pretty self explanatory. The Raid Leader will be explaining the fight in Vent and people like this would go “AND HE DOES THIS AS WELL!!!” Yes, Skippy. He was getting to that part. Slow your horses and shut up. You know what’s worse? When he does this every single raid. You know what’s even worse? When it gets to the point that you’ve muted him but you can still hear him through other people’s mics.

Solution: You’ve been muted. Take a hint.

Crying out for buffs:
Most usually, until last night, I have been the lone druid in our Ulduar raid. Which means that its up to me to give you my Paw. I usually come prepared with 40. We wipe a lot. We’re still a learning guild. I will not Paw you unless everyone is within my range. If you died and need a rebuff, and I still haven’t given you one before the next boss, then by all means, whisper me or something.

Solution: Let me do my job. I’ll rebuff when we get to the next boss.

Trying to be “helpful”:
But LB, I can hear you say, what’s so wrong with you being helped? Well, I consider myself a very good healer. I do. I know what I can easily do and what my weakness’ are. If you assign me to heal the people in Ignis’ crotch pot and the raid, I’ll happily oblige. If you assign me to something that has alarm bells going off in my head, I will whisper you and let you know. But for me to be comfortable in my healing assignment, and we wipe for X reason, and then you come in and say “Looks like Littlebark was struggling back there. Let’s send another healer to help her”… that ticks me off. Look: as an amazing healer as I am, I cannot heal while Kologarn has me Stone Gripped. So if you really want to be helpful, you’ll toss my target a couple of extra heals while I’m up there.

Solution: Unless I speak up about it being too hard, please assume that all is okay.

Now this isn’t a pet peeve, exactly, but it’s not my favorite thing. The two priests that we’ve been running Ulduar with are very dependant on these things they call Wings. I’m assuming this is the spell that’s actually called Guardian Spirit. My dwarf priest is Disc so educate me here: Is this spell really something you need every fight? I don’t mean only boss fights, but also trash pulls. Am I just being naïve here?