Tuesday, December 30, 2008

To Make Zev Quiet...

...I'm writing this post. Happy now, Zev? :P And Borg, if you're reading this, update your own blog. Now. >.>

I suppose I should've posted a while ago anyway, and, no, I haven't forgotten about the blog - just been busy with stuff, in and outside of WoW.

Christmas is pretty much over, although I'm still on school holidays for another month. :D Got some Death Note soundtracks and manga, as well as cash. Cash is good.

And a belated Merry Christmas to whoever's still reading after this post-less month.

Anyway, I've gotten Makolan to 80, about a week ago. (Yay!) 517 defense so far, and I'm pretty much just waiting for 3.0.8's new runeforge-enchant-thing until I can take a peek at some heroics. Elf and Adi are still both at 72, and for some strange reason I can't convince myself that my time would be better spent on them than on the plethora of alts I'm bouncing between at the moment. As well as that, I've been spending my time on Mako PvPing for a trinket. If I haven't already mentioned that I hate PvP, then you're likely going to hear it a lot from me over the next few days.

Grats to my guild, who has downed the Spider Quarter, I think (I'm not sure, wasn't there) of Naxx 10, before moving onto Patchwerk, as well as then moving to kill Sartharion in the Obsidian Sanctum. Good job, guys! I'm looking forward to starting to raid.

And on a final note, I recommend both The Guild and Chronicles of the Annoying Quest for anyone who enjoys WoW movies. They're both different styles - The Guild being more of a sitcom, showing the lives of WoW players who meet in real life, whereas CoTAQ is a machinima I've been following for a while. If you're into either style, they're a good watch.

And, for if I don't post until then - have a happy new year!

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Memorable Quests

Okay, so I've been neglecting Elf a little lately. He's still at 72. And yeah, I still haven't logged onto Adi since I upgraded my account. Still, I've been playing just as much - on my DK Makolan. I just got level 70 on him earlier (yay :D), and have been in Howling Fjord since 68. I massively prefer this zone over Borean Tundra, which is simply plain, and kinda seems to be a mash-up of about five different terrain styles. Nonetheless, it has some good quests; that, and Howling Fjord, as well as re-experiencing past quests in OL through my Death Knight, gave me the idea for this post. This will hardly be a comprehensive list, just some of the things I found enjoyable. And that I can remember as I'm writing this.

Outland:
There's quite a bit I liked about BC and its quests, even if some zones made me feel like throwing my computer about the window (I'm looking at you, SMV). Contrary to what many other people say, Blade's Edge is actually one of my favourite areas, with the exception of a few quests. And since I've started playing, Toshley's Station is the only quest hub I've been to that has managed to have quests that simultaneously are interesting, enjoyable, memorable - and at the same time, extremely irritating. Here's a picture of Makolan on the Test Flight to Ruaan Weald, looking somewhat out-of-place spinning on top of a floating, electric orb.


Then there's ones that I remember from previous times; arriving in Outland, running past - and barely escaping - some of the Burning Legion's most powerful demons, and arriving at Honor Hold...only to be soon tasked with retrieving prayer beads from a dog. Hardly the most exciting of moments, but memorable in its own way, much like the dull repetitive task of hunting down half of Nagrand for Hemet Nesingwary. Luckily, though, there were some slightly more interesting quests to remember, such as the Jump-A-Tron 4000, the blood elf disguises in Netherstorm, seeing the crystals of Ogri'la for the first time, Medivh engulfing Arcanagos in flame to create the undead dragon Nightbane; as well as some of the more mundane tasks made more fun by mass participation, such as discovering the money-haven of Quel'danas, with the entire realm working towards unlocking more quests, more gear, and more jewels. I'm fairly happy with how BC worked out overall; and I'm interested to see how Wrath will play out at the later levels, and to see the full impact of the improvements it has made compared to Burning Crusade.

Northrend and Ebon Hold:
Although I've only seen a tiny fraction of what Northrend holds quest-wise, I already have a few opinions. As I mentioned before, I far prefer HF over BT. There was, though, one enjoyable quest from Borean that stuck in my mind. I won't explain it - I'm not sure if I could - but this picture should say enough:


Now, onto Ebon Hold, or whatever you call the DK starting area.

I can't say that there was a quest there that didn't seem well-made to me. I liked all of them except for one (the one where you need to get the info from the Scarlet; this was good in concept but took over half an hour). The last two quests were truly epic, and the rewards lasted well into Outland questing.

As for Howling Fjord, quite a few of the quests strike me as interesting and memorable. Personally, I liked the ones where you go back in time to find the Vrykul, as well as the chain involving a Forsaken plague and a gnome alchemist. Also, the Iron Rune quests, annoying as they were for Moon and I, were admittedly something that would be remembered.

Well, that pretty much sums it up now, apart from the fact that I've probably left out a thing or two. Next, I'll try to do a post on either gear upgrades or DK's, so I'll see how that goes.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

I'll Get There, Eventually...

Elf's going along with his levelling, albeit somewhat slowly. 72 now, and out of Borean Tundra for good. /cheer.

Just got Makolan to 63 as well. Kinda trying to split my time between the two, but the drawback's that, obviously, I'll get to 80 later than most of the guild's raiders.

Oh well, at least I'm having more fun this way. :P

Monday, November 17, 2008

He Returns!

Not much to say here, other than...Zev is back! In the form of his so-far level 63 DK, Zeltan :)

Sunday, November 16, 2008

New Layout

Well, mostly just a new heading. But I've modified some old info on the side as well.

Either way, I like the new title - any comments on it?

Wrath!! And other stuff.

Okay...a lot to talk about. But there's a long queue for Dath, so I'll be fine.

Firstly: The expansion, and everything that comes with it. I went to the midnight launch (thanks Moon)! Got home the next day, created a DK, Makolan. Now since I've got a lot to say, I'm going to try and summarise everything - so I'll just say that I love DK's. Especially the starter zones. And the gear looks great. The abilities are awesome, and more complex and interesting compared to spamming FoL/Steady depending on whichever character I'm logged onto. I'm Blood, at level 61, and the self-heals along with dps is pretty damn nice. 5-man runs of all DK's in Ramparts are fun. I'm not quite sure whether to level this guy or Elf, but I'm leaning towards huntering along to 80 before I spend too much time on Makolan.




And now for something completely different.

Northrend! Although I haven't done much here - neither toon's levelled yet and Adi still hasn't been touched - at least Elf's pretty close to 71. I'm hoping to get it tonight. Elf's replaced one of his rings, but no other gear's been touched yet. My skinning is 400-ish so far and my LW is somewhere around 390. Stampy the Gorilla is awesome for levelling - AoE-grinding with Thunderstomp, Volley, and 10+ mobs. I'm really looking forward to levelling through to 80 with Moon. I'm not sure about my overall feelings of Borean Tundra - I'm only about halfway through it, but there's already some things I like and some things I don't. The 'Kill X of Y' quests get a bit numerous, but it helps show off the zones you go to. I like the scourge-infected farm town and the mine, and the Mammoths are great for skinners and grinding, but a lot of the scenery seems to be a somewhat strange mix of Darkshore and Azshara. The mobs are all quite new, and the DEHTA quests are good. The mist effect from the titan-giant-thingies gets a bit annoying after a while. The Nexus is pretty cool, especially the last boss - the others are trivial for a well-geared group, but Keristrasza's stacking debuff, Intense Cold, adds some interesting things to the fight.

And now for something completely different.

This is a short one, but I love Devilsaurs. The shaking, the growing, all those other things melee people hate. My Devilsaur (named Cat) will likely be my DPS raiding pet for 80. I don't have any good screenshots of him in combat yet, but, just for good measure, here's a strange pic from when I was taming him.


And now for something completely different.

Another short one, but I may as well get the old news out of the way. We full-cleared ZA the week after 3.0, and Adirix got full-epic with his Dark Blessing mace from Zul'jin.

And now for something completely different.

Friends keep coming and going in WoW. Guildies join and leave. In the last month or so, I've had Obe and Red leave [:(], a Horde friend come and join the Alliance in the form of Doneath the Death Knight, Duskspeed rerolling a Death Knight also (with the name of Deathspeed. So creative). Zev's coming back in around a week, only to have the bad luck to have to leave for another 3 months again next April. (:P) Oh, and Obe and Red may or may not be coming back. If they are, none of us know whether it'll be tomorrow or in the next 5 years. Below - some screenshots of Obe's sendoff from me, Jondy, and Borg.






And now for something completely different.

The last thing for now...the queues! Dath'Remar isn't a low-pop realm in the first place, and is often full. But with WoTLK, the queues are insane (yes, I know all realms are probably like this, but testing each realm's queue length isn't exactly my idea of a good time). Just look at the picture...


All queues and no levelling makes Elf go crazy. 1531 queues are not good.

Anyway, that's what it was when I started writing this post...it's now at 715. And an estimated time of 141 minutes. /sigh.

Well, that's pretty much my summary of Wrath and all that's happened around the guild surrounding the release. I might add an extra pic or two later, and maybe another post if I've forgotten something, which I probably will have. And I'll try and post more frequently. I promise. =/

Bye for now,
Elf.

Monday, October 20, 2008

A Summary of 3.0

Here's my opinion of 3.0, and some of the things surrounding it.

1) The class mechanic/talent changes: For the most part, I like these changes. Elf is less about timing steady shots, and can now work in other things, as well as more micromanagement of the pet abilites. This is because most hunter shots have stopped resetting the Autoshot timer, which makes hunters more of a fast-paced dps class, instead of timing the same spammed attack. Steady's still the main shot by far, but glyphs now encourage us to work in stings and other shots. And also, pets and their talent trees are far better with the new system, as it allows us to decide more on what we want, as a matter of choice. Rabid and the new form of Kill Command are some nice things that add some more variation to our dps cycles.

Also, I might go MM soon to test out Chimaera Shot (or however it's spelt :P), and how that works with the stings. I have mixed feelings of AoTV - you regain mana far quicker, but lose damage in the meantime. Although it's far better for mana regain, and so only a short time with the dps recuction, I'm still not sure on this one. On a final hunter-mechanics note, the change to Volley is - obviously - very welcome. This allows us to do some nice AoE damage, just a nice new little element of the class. Overall, the new hunter mechanics are certainly a change for the better.

As for Paladins, the realm of healing has also become less boring. BoL, along with a glyph or two, increases our AoE healing capacity fairly nicely. Somewhere with the transition to spellpower coefficients, my heals have also been increased - FoL to an 1800 average, and HL to around 5-6k. I don't see why the complaints about Holy Light are so numerous, but then again, I haven't done much healing in 5-mans since the patch, so I can't be sure of everything. Holy Shock - while still not efficient - is now certainly a viable ability. With nearly a third of the previous cooldown, the mana cost lowered by a few hundred, a few talents that add synergy, and the healing amount/range increased (I've been able to crit-heal for well over 4000 a few times), being on the move doesn't hurt us as much as it used to. As I've already said, BoL helps with our raid healing (for those who don't know, Beacon of Light is a buff to put on the MT, and it means that whenever you heal someone within a generous range around the tank, the tank is healed for that same amount), but there's something that could change the usefulness of this - the controversial Glyph of Flash of Light. The question is - when Beacon is put on the MT, and you use the FoL so that your HoT is on 5 raid members at once - does the tank get healed for the combined sum of HoT's on all those 5 members? If so, this glyph could have some great situational uses. One last thing I'm glad about for Paladin changes is the Seal and Judgement rework. Judgement of Light in raids means I have a whole lot of ticks for around 150 on the melee, around 1 every 5 seconds for each melee - and in a raid with multiple tanks and a group of melee dps all on one target, this could surely help out with heals. As for the seals, I haven't tried Light yet, but Wisdom's mana regen is insanely good - although requiring me to swing away in melee, it allows me to keep a high mana pool - using this in some Kara fights, I had full mana at the end of the battle after being reduced to half at some point. And, for Prot and Ret - I don't know for sure, but Prot seems a lot of fun from what I've tried on PTR. And the ret changes are welcome, although I wish they'd stop requesting to be buffed more.


2) Instance changes: This is another topic on which I can't quite decide my feelings. The nerfs to raid boss health are great in that they allow everyone to get achievement points, instruct raiders for a brief few weeks to get ready for WoTLK, and see as much of the content as they can. The only problem I have with it, though, is that it's kinda an anticlimax. Blasting through things just doesn't mean as much as it used to, and it seems Blizz is just using this as another way to have us wanting WoTLK.
The thing is, it's working well for them. :P


3) Inscription: I don't have anything bad to say about this, really. I simply love this profession. Even though the insanely inflated price of herbs can get annoying while levelling the profession, and near-impossible for lower levels, there's nothing that can be done about that. It was expected, but couldn't be prevented. The actual profession, though, I enjoy very much. I'm not much of a crafter - it took me months after getting to 70 on Elf to raise my Leatherworking to maximum, and I didn't quite see the point in that, or enjoy it very much. Also, the general grind of getting different mats from all over the place, costing hundreds of gold to make a rare to even have a chance at getting one level, really isn't my thing. Inscription, though, is different. It's simple, basic. For the bulk of what you'll make - glyphs - all you need is herbs, and those thingies you buy from vendors. As usual, I forget what they're called for now. But anyway - as well as the simplicity of the mats, there's no long hours in instances or months of rep grinds required to get useful recipes. Everything you learn is - to my knowledge - from your Inscription trainer, or from minor glyphs you find via research. The last thing I like about this profession is that it doesn't need to be at maximum level to be useful. You can still make a living, if not a profit, from lower level inscription. There's rarely two glyphs for the same spell, meaning that if you like a certain spell, and it's a lower level glyph, then that lower-level glyph is what you'll use. Sure, things from 300+ are a fair chunk more useful, but the lower level glyphs aren't so obsolete that you'll never use them again.

I realise I'm rambling on, but - as I've probably said in about every sentence now, I've noticed - I really like this.


4) Hallow's End: Well, technically this isn't 3.0, but more a few days after. Either way though, it's a recent event that I thought I may as well post about, as the blog didn't exist this time last year.

I like the events - and especially the achievements centred around this. Although I think the one to gather 20 masks is pretty damn far-fetched. The Headless Horseman in SMGY is interesting, a way for people to get some quick epics - whether it be for saving them for the pre-WoTLK nostalgia that will come, trying to min/max every last bit for the final weeks of raiding, or simply because you want to ride around on a broom. All in all, a fairly good event, when compared to some of the others which are a fair disappointment. Maybe it's just because the achievements give a sense of - well, achievement - but I like this event, nonetheless.

5) THE LAG!: I don't think I can say much on this one. I probably don't need to, for anyone on Dath (or to a lesser extent, the other Oceanic servers) would know about this by know, unless theyve turned off all their chat channels, ignored everyone on their friend lists and sat in the middle of Silithus for the past week. And if I did say anything, I'd probably go for a hundred lines spamming about how annoying this can get while doing certain things (namely, collecting items from a mailbox) - so, for all our sakes, I think I'll stop here before I spam us all to death.


Wow, I've only just realised I've been writing for almost the last hour, and probably killed you all with my wall of text. My bad. :P

Friday, October 17, 2008

Of Healing and Hunting

Just thought I'd post some screenshots of a few things.


(Contrary to popular belief...Hunter DPS has not been nerfed. Much the opposite :D)


(Elf with his new gear)


(Adi, now only 3 off full-epic ^.^)

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

A Non-WoW post? No Way!

Just thought I'd make this post, for two reasons - firstly, because this is one of my favourite Youtube videos. Secondly, to see if I'm able to use the Embed feature. I really need to learn more about blogging.

Anyway, here it is - the ending theme of my favourite TV show, with a vid made by some guy. Not sure who.



(Edit): Whoa, something actually worked for once! That's a first. =/

Like An Elevator...

...Up and down.

Hooray, 3.0 is up!
...And, you guessed it, the servers are down.
I feel like throwing my Hearthstone at Blizzard Employees.
Except, I can't log in to get the hearthstone.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

...Pink? -.-

...Yes, pink. But for now - ignore the title. I'll get to that later.

Last night, The Ancients - along with some members from other guilds and PUG's - arrived at Gruul's Lair a bit past 7:00. It was my first time healing - I'd been lucky enough to have Adirix accepted into the raid group, and was eager to see how a 25 man would look from a healer's perspective.

As we walked through the portal, the usual near-endless buffing commenced. Then, we thought all the fuss was over - but, what would Gruul's be without people forgetting to stand right behind the Lair Brute?
Needless to say, this happened just about every pull.

After raid leaders and assistants trying - and failing - to convince people to stand behind the Lair Brute, we got to High King. Konbawa changed into his badly colour-coordinated stamina greens, and, after re-explaining the tactics, we were off.
We managed to down High King on our first attempt, and I found the healing to be quite a welcomed change from spamming Steady Shot.

We then - with more Lair Brute problems, of course - progressed onto Gruul. And can you guess what the final randomised pull before Gruul was?
Yep. Three Lair Brutes.

Running in knowing the tactics for Gruul - and yet bewildered on what to do as a healer - was a quite interesting experience. Unlike for High King, though, healing instead of DPS wasn't quite so fun. Here's what was going through my head, and across the screen, as the Gruul fight went on:
'Out of Range'.
'Out of Range'.
'Out of Range'.
'Out of Range'.
Ooh, I've found someone in range to heal! Yay!
*Start casting*
*Gruul silences*
Damn.
'Out of Range'.
'Out of Range'.
'Out of Range'.
Oh good, another person to heal, and Gruul can't silence yet...:D
*Start casting*
*Gruul uses Ground Slam*
Aww, you gotta be kidding.

Well, you get the idea. But, as with HKM, we managed to down Gruul, first shot. Grats to all who got loot from Gruul and High King - also, I managed to snag myself a pair of Justicar Leggings.

At that time, it was around 9:00, and only two people had to go, so we decided we'd press on for a try at Magtheridon. This was going to be the more difficult one - we'd only had one attempt, last week - which I couldn't go to anyway. But, it was worth the try for this week.

After finding a replacement healer and dps, we were set, and got quickly to HFC for summons. We rushed through the trash, and, before we knew it, the massive Pit Lord was standing in front of us. From there, some people got confused as the cubes and cave-in were explained in depth - but, the fight is simpler in practice than in theory, as long as the cube-clickers time well. Our first attempt got Mag to a near 11%, and after getting back in the instance and making a few changes, we were set for the second attempt. This didn't go quite so well as the first - with Magtheridon staying at 20-ish percent health, but, by now, we knew what to do. Our third attempt, with just a few minor tweaks to the strategy, managed to down the big slug with near perfection - only one death! ^.^

After we rezzed, the loot was again distributed - and, taking a look, I was amazed at the amount. A Thundering Greathelm, three T4 tokens, Magtheridon's Head - which turns into an epic ring and 3k rep - as well as a 20 slot bag, a sack of gems to distribute to the lucky ones, 3 BoJ...and the Aegis of the Vindicator. Loot was spread widely, and again, congratulations to everyone who got some - especially Barrath, who really cleaned up loot in both Gruul's and Mag's. Also, I envy all those who got their Champion of the Naaru titles.

The thing is, though - I'd say not many people would envy me. You see, I was 'lucky' enough to get the shield. Great!, I thought. I collected my BoJ, the shield, and left the raid, and Mort was nice enough to enchant the shield for me. I thanked him, then equipped my shield - and it should suffice to say that this is where the title of the post comes in. I mean, honestly! Does anyone have a slightest idea of a reason that an evil Pit Lord's shield would be flourescent pink! Why!? /QQ.

Pink shield aside, though - it was a great raiding night, and thanks to all that tanked, healed and dps'ed up a storm. Until next time!

Elf.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Alts + Ding = Fun :D

Lately, quite a few of my guildies have been making alts, getting to 70 and geared...thought I'd just mention the main group I've been levelling and questing with...so, here they are.

Zenborg, Shadow Priest. The guild's record holder for being the fastest Kara-geared toon after getting to 70, with a record of less than a minute. Alt of Borgthor.

Jossamine, Destruction Warlock. The biggest class change of us all, going from the guild's resident treeform druid into a massive crit-machine. Alt of Jondayla.

Konbawa, Fire Mage. Probably the guild's record holder of hating your main so much that you roll another dps...what next, a boomkin? ;) Alt of Obento.

Kattnip, Feral Druid. The 'tank', or so we say, who loves to sit in catform and watch the numbers tick away. Don't worry, catkins will be useful. In a few more expansions. Eventually. Maybe...oh, who am I kidding, never. Alt of Moonspirit.

Then...me. Adirix, Holy Paladin. It can get tiring sometimes going to raids and dungeons simply to steady-shot spam the enemy to death, so I thought I'd roll another class for a change every now and then. Little did I know, until I'd gotten into levelling to the point of no return, that the steady-shot spam I tried to escape from had led me straight into a FoL-spamming wall of easiness. Out of the frying pan, into the oven. Or whatever the saying is. Anyway...I'm enjoying Adi now, and healadins get more spells in WoTLK, so it's all good.

Grats to us all on 70, and now, as far as I know, all being nicely Kara-geared...I just scrape in, with 8.8k Mana, 21% Holy Crit, 1018 +Heals (I think :P)...and the MP5 of 41 that just makes me want to hide in the corner. Either way, it's there...barely. Except I still need attunement for the key. Say...anyone up for a Slabs run?

Saturday, August 2, 2008

Guild Progression

Over the last few weeks, The Ancients raiders have been flying through the content. Here's a quick catch-up, gear, and recognition list; if anyone or anything is forgotten, please let me know.

Firstly: A bit under two weeks ago, a mix of our raiding groups 1 and 2 entered Zul'Aman for the second time. We got through the adds much better than the first time, and it showed on the boss, too... we downed Nalorakk within a shot or two, and congrats to Moonspirit on the Robes of Heavenly Purpose. Afterwards, we progressed onto Akil'Zon, the eagle avatar, and tried him a few times. We lowered him to 49% on our best shot, which, considering it was our first night at him, was a quite good effort.

Now, to get more recent: Last Thursday, The Ancients combined with guild Captain Sanders Shirt, as well as some pugs, to give Gruul's Lair a shot. It took a while to get started, but after an hour of getting more people and buffing up, we progressed to High King Maulgar. It was a long process, taking a fair few shots because of mage-tank problems, but we eventually got a replacement mage-tank who had done the fight before, and got the fight easily from there. I'm not able to congratulate anyone on the loot for this one, as I forget who got it. :P

Moving onto Gruul's, we had respawn problems, but managed to clear it. After, again, the buffing and tactic-explaining, we lowered him to 40% for a good first shot...then, our next try was an agonising wipe at 2%. By that time, there were respawns, so after also being on for quite a long time, we had to leave. Correct me if I'm wrong, because I didn't hear much about it, but as far as I know, the raid dissolved soon after, and Gruul, sadly, remained alive, even after a great effort from the raid.

Now, to the most recent, and maybe most beneficial achievement; The Ancients first full one-night clear! We could tell from the start - from Borg's enthusiasm in pulling - that we were aiming for a full-clear. But it went even better than planned...we progressed through all the bosses as we passed them, with lots of loot, BoJ, and void crystals. Zev complained, justifiably, of the lack of Paladin T4 Tokens from Curator, as the Warrior-Priest-Druid one dropped for what seemed to be the millionth time. Also, there was yet again no luck with the ring for Odayla and I... although, a few bosses later, at Netherspite, I got a leg armour replacement, with the Skulker's Greaves dropping, and nobody else wanting to roll on them. Maybe just because gemming and enchanting legs costs so damn much. :P

After just over three hours, we got to Prince, the last boss standing. No wipes so far, and many people having gotten gear already. We were just going for a perfect full clear...when a bad infernal placement wiped us. At 1 damned percent. Annoyed, but still determined, we rushed back up for a second shot, and downed him easy, for us first 1-night full clear! Grats to Odayla on the T4 Headpiece token.

And finally, one last piece of news: Zevon/Beanieone - the guild's fastest leveller, and maybe wit - is unable to play until November. Zev's been a great friend and rival to me for many months now. We'll miss ya until then, Zev :(

So, cyas till next post, guys.
Elf.

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

New Gear :D

Okay, so I haven't posted in a while, I realise that. Really, it's mainly because not much's been happening, considering Kara was called off last week and a flop the week before...anyways. I thought I may as well post to update with my new gear, since I've gotten some stuff recently which I may as well sum up.

Number one: Crossbow of Relentless Strikes! This is, actually, from about a month ago...but I forgot to make a post. I tend to do that often. Either way, its ownage is nice.

Number two: Midnight Legguards. Was lucky enough to get these from H SP, so I'm in the process of trying to find someone for Nethercobra at the moment. Ugh.

Number three: Vengeful Gladiator's Chain Armour. Managed to finally get this from arena points, still need to get it gemmed though. Although it's PvP, it's still better than the crafted Thick Netherscale Breastplate.

And I haven't gotten another piece yet, although I have been farming BM for the elusive Hourglass. Damn Temporus! *Mutters about drop rates and uses /doom towards Obe and Zev*...anyways. I'll be getting the Skyguard Silver Cross very soon, and although it's pretty damn lame for raiding, it beats my old trinket by a long shot.

Oh...and it seems Gruul's is on the GC for next week, which could be...interesting. And Borg...if you read this, ignore the gems part for now. Please! /scared.

Cyas all.
Elf.

Monday, June 16, 2008

Full Clear!

On Saturday, June the 14th, The Ancients have had their first ever full Karazhan clear!

The night was a blast, with a great continuation from the Thursday. As Borg states, running into the first trash mobs... well, it isn't such a great start. I sometimes get the feeling that Blizz gave Netherspite, an 'optional' boss, control over half the trash in Kara as a simple attempt to spite us. Or it could just be because they sit there in their monitors, bored, giving bad infernal placements and doing things like this to pass the time.

It seems, though, that Blizzard's boredom was gone for the night, as we had our first ever one-shot at Prince. Perfect infernal placement and execution, paired with great gear, makes it hard to not down him. Barrath's bad luck came to an end with the token for Demon Stalker Greathelm, and Jondy's drop of the Jade Ring of the Everliving gave our Karazhan group yet another fully epiced toon!

Moving onto Netherspite, we mostly knew the tactic (Borg had given us research homework on the Thursday :P), but we had to have a good old wipe...or two...or three... to learn. Still, only three wipes is an awesome time considering he's one of Kara's hardest, and we'd never tried him before. The fourth shot was pure ownage, and Netherspite went down very well, the portals being blocked almost flawlessly. As the dragon fell, we all rushed up to see his loot, and saw our two BoJ's sitting there with some cash and epics. As no-one could use the epics, Moon, our resident enchanter, got us some Void Crystals for rolling goodness. We then moved onto the only remaining boss, Nightbane.



After lots of preparation and fumbling around, we got started. Borg and Jondy had their famous DC (well, nearly half our raid's famous for it. I've never seen Zev in for more than 10% of Chess, and my computer likes to pop WoWError up on me during Shade, Netherspite and Illhoof), but, we got there, and after another wipe, we had a pile of flaming dragon bones sitting nicely there before we knew it. Kara clear, woot!!! NB's Dragonheart Flameshield was DE'd, but the Scaled Breastplate of Carnage was of more use to us: Barrath's Felstalker Breastplate was replaced with quite a noticeable upgrade.



Then, the realisation of a clear Karazhan sank in... and, as all good raids should, we proceeded to promptly dance naked. Woot!



Soon to come, a video of The Ancients at Netherspite, to be filmed and edited by our own Barrath.

Friday, June 13, 2008

The Post Which Would Be Labeled 'Woot' If There Wasn't One Already

Wow. For anyone in last night's raid, you should agree that it more than made up for last Saturday. In a normal Thursday night, barely passing 10pm, we downed: Attumen, Moroes, Maiden, R&J, Curator, Shade, Chess and Illhoof... beating our first-night record by 3 bosses, and only taking an extra 15 minutes!

Many people got loot, and we're hoping for Netherspite to be nice to us for our first try at him on Saturday. Thanks to Borgthor, Dos, Jondayla, Moonspirit, Obento, Kalus, Barrath, Beanieone and Mortslock for an awesome 15-badge night of all-Ancients pwnage. Grats to Obe on his LONG-awaited Romulo's Poison Vial, Borgthor on getting his T4 Glove Token off Curator, and the always-complaining Beanieone on getting the Shard of the Virtuous and Legplates of the Innocent, both for his offset.

And I finally cracked 1700 unbuffed AP with Girdle of Treachery and Stalker's War Bands :D

Sunday, June 1, 2008

Wha?

I've been looking on Flash Game site XgenStudios recently, and playing a few of the games... and seen something that looks a hell of a lot like WoW. Seems like a mini-version, where you play a Murloc to level 10. I'm bored, so just thought I'd post this, and see if I can get a link going.

Play Murloc RPG

Terestian Time

Last night, Karazhan. To sum it up in two words - good night. On the fourth shot, Prince Malchezaar was down for a second time, and we all got some good loot... Jondayla got Light's Justice, Barrath got a belt (the name of which I forget, and cannot find on Wowhead), and grats to Mort on his second T4 piece for the week, Helm of the Fallen Defender.

After that, with some time to spare, we headed to Terestian Illhoof's room, thinking we could give it a shot at learn the tactics. We had a great first shot, getting him to 15%. Our second attempt was a good job by all, lowering him to 2%, and we failed only because of the dreaded WoWError message popping up on my screen. Finally, the third shot - after a sketchy start, we came back, and Illhoof was down on the first night we tried him! Congratulations to Pug Valarion on the Breastplate of the Lightbinder, Jondayla with Terestian's Stranglestaff for an offset, and the raid for downing another new boss.

Oh... and I got Bladed Shoulderpads of the Merciless from Chess :D

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Woot!

As of 24/05/08, The Ancients have downed Prince Malchezaar for the first time. It was a great effort from Borgthor, Mortslock, Barrath, Lashana, Moonspirit, Jondayla, Obento, Valarion (Pug) Moppet and I. We got him second shot, and we're hoping to start getting him frequently some time soon. Grats to our MT Borgthor on Gorehowl and our guild's first T4 Helm - Helm of the Fallen Defender, and hunter Lashana on getting the Ring of a Thousand Marks. Good job to all who were there, and remember... as we continue downing Kara, we can only advance further, thanks to the 5 or so epics going to the guild each Kara night. Let's keep going!

Sunday, May 11, 2008

My Current and Desired Gear

Okay, so just starting a list of the gear I want sometime in the future. I realise some of it could be a while, and this list will certainly take me a while to complete, but I may as well get started.

Head: Happy as it is, have Vengeful Gladiator's Chain Helm - this should last me a while, maybe even until late WoTLK :D.
Neck: Again, I shouldn't have to upgrade this until WoTLK, I'm hoping, since the AP and proc are nice - Shattered Sun Pendant of Might.
Shoulders: Beastmaw Pauldrons will do for now, hopefully will find something better before
WoTLK comes along.
Back: Blood Knight War Cloak - I like the +Agi and +AP, but I'd rather have something with, say, Intellect, instead of the Stamina.
Chest: Thick Netherscale Breastplate - quite happy with this, the AP is nice. This might be replaced around late Kara, I'm assuming.
Bracers: Felstalker Bracers. I get the feeling I should replace these, but I can't find anything better with LW, and so far none have dropped in Kara. They'll do for now, I suppose.
Hands: Demon Stalker Gauntlets have very nice stats, and I was thrilled to get my first piece of T4. (Grats to Lash on getting them recently :D) I'll leave these be until I get a better drop, or when WoTLK comes.
Waist: I recently got Girdle of the Deathdealer from H BM, and they seem good for now, but I'm not sure of the comparative stats of other items; I've seen quite a few better on trade. For now, though, the +Hit and +AP is good.
Legs: I'm trying to replace Retainer's Leggings as soon as possible. The +Hit works well, and I'm aiming to get the crossbow from BoJ before the legs, but I'm still hoping to have them replaced soon-ish.
Feet: Fiend Slayer Boots are a nice drop from Chess, and I've noticed that at least they beat the ones from Nightbane. They'll do until I get a drop from wherever I happen to go (Kara/Gruul's etc)
Ring 1: Violet Signet of the Master Assassin. Again, great stats, and I'd say I'd replace with one that doesn't have stamina, but there aren't many rings before T5 equivalent (as far as I know of) that can replace this.
Ring 2: Ring of Arathi Warlords is, from my knowledge, pretty much the same as the Violet Signet of the Master Assassin, except slightly lower stats.
Trinket 1: Okay, THIS is my main worry. Wasn't so bad compared to other trinkets I have had, but now that I have Bloodlust Brooch, but, just look at it. Bladefist's Breadth... -.- Essentially, it's just the +crit from a Level 58 Quest blue. I NEED to replace this.
Trinket 2: Bloodlust Brooch. I don't have any complaints about this one. Great AP, and the On-Use effect is great. Another one that, it seems, I can happily leave until either WoTLK or Gruul's, whichever comes first.
Melee Weapon: Vengeful Gladiator's Waraxe. The welfare epic for hunters. Great for now, but Legacy would be a nice PvE improvement on it - the PvP one has too many points towards Stam that could be going to extra Agility or Attack Power.
Ranged Weapon: Finally, the last one. Steelhawk Crossbow is great, but, since a ranged weapon is, obviously, a hunter's main dps output, I might replace it soon.

Items I'm Currently Going For -
Bracers:
This is one I can't link; I'm hoping, for now, to get decent bracers off Rokad the Ravager, which are unlinkable (they're a random enchantment). Hopefully, they won't be bad, but as long as they have stats geared towards AP/Agil, and no Stam, they should beat my current ones.

Legs: Hoping to get the T4 ones - Demon Stalker Greaves - off Gruul the Dragonkiller. It's a long shot, I know, so if I don't get that first, I'll go for some Sunwell BoJ rewards after the crossbow.

Trinket 1: Ideally, I'd love Dragonspine Trophy, but if I can't get that, I'll be just as happy until then with the Hourglass of the Unraveller. Anything beats what I have at the moment.

Crossbow: I'm going for the Crossbow of Relentless Strikes, myself. At 150 BoJ, I know it'll take a while, but it will be worth it when I get it, since the stats are fantastic.


Woot! Finally done with the links and posts :D Feel free to ask me in-game, here, or on The Ancients forums if you want to suggest an item, do a dungeon run for gear, or anything similar. And I'm not sure yet whether I'll update this when I get new gear, or just make an individual post for the gear. Probably both, but we'll see when the time comes.

Cyas again,
Elfangor.

Yet Another Dead Server Hamster For Dath

Our 6-DPS, 2-Healer, 2-Tank Karazhan formation was a great idea. It worked for clearing trash, bosses, all with ease. We didn't, though, count on another 'dead server hamster' for Dath'Remar. 10 minutes of fighting took us 35 to clear to Attumen. Then, just when we thought it was gone, the server shut down for half an hour. After nearly an hour's worth of DC'ing, servers down, and login problems, though, we finally got going. We downed Moroes on Thursday, and Maiden of Virtue would also have been dead had some raid members not had to go (hey, we can't blame you - the server was at its worst that night).

Saturday, though, was a much better night. We just about made up for our Thursday bad luck by downing Maiden, Opera, Curator (Grats to Lashana on her first T4!) , and the Chess Event. We still had bad luck - a bug in Chess caused Lashana, Moppet and Kalus to miss out on their two Badges of Justice. Overall, though, grats to all who got loot, and good job to all on catching us up (So close to Shade dying!)

I'd love a clear of Karazhan soon, which, although it may not happen soon - we can only draw closer to, as we all gear up and skill up over time.

Sunday, May 4, 2008

The Elf Attempts to Blog.

Heya all, welcome to my blog. Elfangor here. I'm a WoW member of the Dath'Remar guild The Ancients, if you don't already know. Seeing guildie Borgthor's blog, and having too much time on my hands yet never enough time to yabber randomly when there's nothing else to do, I made this blog. Not sure yet how often I'll get round to updating, but it'll happen... sooner or later.

Cyas for now, I'll post some more soon.
Elfangor.