As many of you know, it was announced that patch 4.3 will be released on Tuesday, November 29th. The guys over at Tankspot noted during Legendary that this could be the biggest non-expansion content patch ever.
Showing posts with label Firelands. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Firelands. Show all posts
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Just a Picture
This. Yes, this. Very happy about the newness. Posts will follow, but now it's bed time.
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| Rag, my mechanical squirrel is going to leave little metallic squirrel turds ALL OVER YOUR THRONE OF FLAME! |
Sunday, November 20, 2011
The Weekly Outlook
Greetings all, it's that magical time of the week where I cover my prospects for the upcoming reset. With most of our guild being out for Thanksgiving festivities this week, we're planning on doing a full Firelands clear on Tuesday. Last week's raid went so smoothly, I strongly believe we can knock out our first one-night clear.
Friday, November 18, 2011
Progress on Majordomo Staghelm Heroic
I just wanted to share in the joy and the pain of this screenshot. Up until this point this particular attempt on Majordomo was going fantastically. Unfortunately the RNG gods shat upon our humble little raid. If anybody knows how to deal with every single orb soaker getting pounced 4 times, please DM me on twitter at @ColinJHawkins. I think this would have been a kill if not for our unfortunate leaps. Such attempts (and we had a couple of good ones) are heartening still. I'm looking forward to posting a kill shot next week. One way or another, I think this fight will be our first bit of heroic mode success.
In other news, I finally got a Rag kill! I fail at screenshotting, which disappoints me. Wednesday was our guild's 4th time downing the Firelord. That night it only took two attempts and the first wipe was due to poor positioning resulting in a tank death. All in all, it's been a good week.
Finally, it's looking like I may be able to attend all three of our raid group's raid nights. My girlfriend and I had some friction followed by a lot of good discussion. Above all, my relationship with her matters significantly more than this game (which she's not a big fan of.) I'm happy to report progress on *possibly* being able to find a happy place for both of us concerning this part of my life.
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Prospects for The Week
It's Sunday night and I find myself house sitting yet again. I have a few friends and family members that turn to me for somebody to watch their homes and pets. Over the last couple of years I've house-sat probably six times a year on average. Depending on the duration, I usually don't mind it. I usually end up missing my own bed, my cats, the comfort of my house, but it takes me a good while to get to that point.
Tonight I'm nestled in a comfortable leather chair belonging to my good friend Bevan's parents. Watching their house is always a pleasant experience. Since I'm away from home I'm actually reaching out to you, my faithful audience, from my laptop. I haven't played WoW/done much of anything on my lappy in a while, so I'm giving it a minute to let Dropbox sync and for windows to update. What a pain in the ass. Dropbox is a wonderful program that is usually as reliable as the day is long, but right now it seems to be having some issues downloading the files I added earlier today. These particular files are actually my user interface. I'm trying to attempt to keep some uniformity between my two pc's. Since my computer is crawling a bit due to the Windows/Dropbox updating, I thought I'd blog a bit about my hopes for the week.
Tonight I'm nestled in a comfortable leather chair belonging to my good friend Bevan's parents. Watching their house is always a pleasant experience. Since I'm away from home I'm actually reaching out to you, my faithful audience, from my laptop. I haven't played WoW/done much of anything on my lappy in a while, so I'm giving it a minute to let Dropbox sync and for windows to update. What a pain in the ass. Dropbox is a wonderful program that is usually as reliable as the day is long, but right now it seems to be having some issues downloading the files I added earlier today. These particular files are actually my user interface. I'm trying to attempt to keep some uniformity between my two pc's. Since my computer is crawling a bit due to the Windows/Dropbox updating, I thought I'd blog a bit about my hopes for the week.
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Disappointments of a Casual
In WoW the term "casual" is typically pejorative. Being an individual that plays the game in the fashion I do, I think some would apply it to me. I'm an active raider, but only one day a week. I'm not even exalted with Avengers of Hyjal yet. To be fair, I'm not positive anybody in Cereal Killers is. Don't quote me on that though.
Here's a poorly sized screenshot to prove it. Casuals are treated as a blight upon this game. We've been blamed with diluting it, making it too easy. Epic quality gear, at one point in Warcraft history, was a mark of dedication. A player could spot a hardcore raider in a crowded auction house. These days Blizzard is scorned for how simple it is to get purples, for how easy raid content is. I never played in vanilla, in the days where killing Ragnaros 1.0 required 40 people to have their shit together. I started playing in BC and since I have been a casual in several senses of the term.
On Wednesday this week the guild I'm in, Cereal Killers on Kael'Thas (or Fail'Thas as it's lovingly referred to by many,) killed Rag on 10 man regular for the first time. I was not present because I was with my girlfriend, living out parts of my life that have taken priority over Warcraft. I found out late that night when I logged in to do my rogue's jewelcrafting daily (gotta be ready for epic cuts!) Our GM's girlfriend, who raids on a resto druid, linked me her meta achievement for Firelands in guild chat. Instead of feeling triumph for my friends, I was filled with disappointment.
For most of the time I've spent playing this game, I've filled a backup raider-type role. In BC my hunter came into SSC to wipe on Tidewalker when people were sick of it. I did that sort of thing a lot for Uprising. My longest stretch of full time (3 days a week) raiding came when I started healing on my shaman in Wrath. Being a casual among casuals (or bads, people we carried the whole way through progression,) I considered myself better than a lot of my guildmates. Naxx wasn't a cakewalk for us. I remember how we never really got around to having Kel'Thuzad on farm, or at least it felt that way. I was with players who constantly stood in the fire, causing avoidable wipes. I don't say this to reject them as contributors to our time, but to help explain that when we triumphed, even with things other players quickly found mundane, we fucking triumphed.
When t11 came around, I was still on my shaman, but I was playing mainly as elemental. I was also in a new guild, one I saw as a step up from Uprising. The Ebon School, interestingly enough, was where rogue Uprising members defected to. TES was an improvement, but not by much. I had taken a break from the game when Uprising was flailing around in Ulduar. My first full clear of Uld was with TES, but we were in t9 gear, and we still wiped over and over and over on Yogg. Later, ICC became a place I was intimately familiar with. Ebon School hammered away at Arthas's stronghold until long after the 30% buff was released.
These experiences were fraught with frustration. Almost all of my raiding has been to some degree. Repeated wipes with these guilds never really felt like a learning experience. I've always been mixed up with players who simply got carried. There is something I always cherished with these guilds though: success. I think there's a lot to be said for the sense of joy a group of casuals feel when they drop a particularly difficult boss. When we killed Yogg in Ebon School we nerdscreamed like it was a world first. Killing The Lich King, even though it was way past when even our crappy server should have had him on farm, was exhilarating. I love first kill screenshots. Sometimes I get all nostalgic and look though those I've saved, trying to pick out the names of the other players against the backdrop of the slain monster.
The pride felt when being part of a guild-first boss kill is something I've always valued. Being denied such pleasures makes subsequent kills feel like sloppy seconds. This is all wrapped up in the way I feel about Wednesday's Ragnaros kill. Even though I'm a casual in an underachieving guild, my objective is to find success where I can. Without it, my reasons for playing Warcraft all wither away. Perhaps all this is selfish, but I can't help it. I'm proud of my guildies, that much is true. We've struggled with Ragnaros way too long. I certainly wasn't present for every wipe. Still, I wish I had been there to the kill. Hopefully Deathwing will be different.
On Wednesday this week the guild I'm in, Cereal Killers on Kael'Thas (or Fail'Thas as it's lovingly referred to by many,) killed Rag on 10 man regular for the first time. I was not present because I was with my girlfriend, living out parts of my life that have taken priority over Warcraft. I found out late that night when I logged in to do my rogue's jewelcrafting daily (gotta be ready for epic cuts!) Our GM's girlfriend, who raids on a resto druid, linked me her meta achievement for Firelands in guild chat. Instead of feeling triumph for my friends, I was filled with disappointment.
For most of the time I've spent playing this game, I've filled a backup raider-type role. In BC my hunter came into SSC to wipe on Tidewalker when people were sick of it. I did that sort of thing a lot for Uprising. My longest stretch of full time (3 days a week) raiding came when I started healing on my shaman in Wrath. Being a casual among casuals (or bads, people we carried the whole way through progression,) I considered myself better than a lot of my guildmates. Naxx wasn't a cakewalk for us. I remember how we never really got around to having Kel'Thuzad on farm, or at least it felt that way. I was with players who constantly stood in the fire, causing avoidable wipes. I don't say this to reject them as contributors to our time, but to help explain that when we triumphed, even with things other players quickly found mundane, we fucking triumphed.
When t11 came around, I was still on my shaman, but I was playing mainly as elemental. I was also in a new guild, one I saw as a step up from Uprising. The Ebon School, interestingly enough, was where rogue Uprising members defected to. TES was an improvement, but not by much. I had taken a break from the game when Uprising was flailing around in Ulduar. My first full clear of Uld was with TES, but we were in t9 gear, and we still wiped over and over and over on Yogg. Later, ICC became a place I was intimately familiar with. Ebon School hammered away at Arthas's stronghold until long after the 30% buff was released.
These experiences were fraught with frustration. Almost all of my raiding has been to some degree. Repeated wipes with these guilds never really felt like a learning experience. I've always been mixed up with players who simply got carried. There is something I always cherished with these guilds though: success. I think there's a lot to be said for the sense of joy a group of casuals feel when they drop a particularly difficult boss. When we killed Yogg in Ebon School we nerdscreamed like it was a world first. Killing The Lich King, even though it was way past when even our crappy server should have had him on farm, was exhilarating. I love first kill screenshots. Sometimes I get all nostalgic and look though those I've saved, trying to pick out the names of the other players against the backdrop of the slain monster.
The pride felt when being part of a guild-first boss kill is something I've always valued. Being denied such pleasures makes subsequent kills feel like sloppy seconds. This is all wrapped up in the way I feel about Wednesday's Ragnaros kill. Even though I'm a casual in an underachieving guild, my objective is to find success where I can. Without it, my reasons for playing Warcraft all wither away. Perhaps all this is selfish, but I can't help it. I'm proud of my guildies, that much is true. We've struggled with Ragnaros way too long. I certainly wasn't present for every wipe. Still, I wish I had been there to the kill. Hopefully Deathwing will be different.
Sunday, October 30, 2011
A Bit of History
My journey through the World of Warcraft started in 2007. At the time I lived in a home with two good friends who just happened to have very similar gaming tastes. WoW came into the house through a fairly unlikely means. Oddly enough, the catalyst that got us playing was the Warcraft episode of Southpark. On that fateful day I rolled a hunter named Lighthawk, which was my gamertag of choice back then.
In the following four years I've enjoyed my time playing quite a bit. The two friends I started with hung around, sometimes in the same guild as me, sometimes not. Among all the reasons I've ever cited for "why I play World of Warcraft," the friendships I've forged with other players is always the first.
Over the course of the last four years, I've played a lot of Warcraft. Raiding is absolutely the end objective of all my efforts. Out of all 12 (soon to be 13) tiers of content, the only ones I've actually successfully cleared are 4, 7(25 man), 9(25 man), 10(10 man), and 11(10 man.) Of the four guilds I've belonged to, none of them could be categorized as progression guilds. For me, that's okay. The kind of player I'd like to be is generally at odds with the kind of social life I'd like to have. Again, I'm okay with that. Mostly.
Out of those five tiers of content, I've raided as a marksman hunter, a resto shaman, an elemental shaman, an assassination Rogue, a holy paladin, and a ret paladin.. As the banner on this blog suggests, my current main is a holy paladin. I named him Jacklalane after the late and quite famous "Juice Man." Lalane was a fitness/health buff, so I find it a fitting tribute (if I can call it that) to play a healer with his name. Most people don't realize the reference, but that's cool. It's nice and easy for people to say "Jack" on vent, so that works for me. My first real raiding main was a hunter named Kiadimundi and NOBODY could say that name on vent. I ended up with the nickname "Kia" as a result.
At present I'm an active member of an (Alliance) ten man raiding guild On Kael'Thas called Cereal Killers. The guild was created by a guy I've known in game for almost the entirety of my experience. We're a patchwork of players who are generally pretty profane and always fun-loving. CK is another guild that I wouldn't call "bleeding edge," but we're doing all right in Firelands. Some may laugh at our 6/7 normal-mode progress (especially after nerfs,) but all things considered I think we are proud of our success. Membership is low and most weeks it's a crap shoot as to who will be participating in raids. I myself am only currently raiding one out of three days a week. We're making progress on Rag, but it's difficult because we generally don't have a lot of stuns and knockbacks. If not for the add phases, I'd say we would have the firelord on farm by now.
Despite the fact that we're not running hardmodes, I always enjoy my raid time with CK. Healing as a holy paladin suits me so well. Post Firelands nerf I've started contributing more as a DPS in raid, which I also love. For me raiding is somewhat of a competition against others in the group who have similar roles. That might be why I've never really gravitated toward tanking. Contributing toward kills while excelling (read: topping meters) vs other players is a big part of the fun I have raiding.
The purpose of this blog is going to be simple and straight forward. I'm just here to share my thoughts. I don't really theorycraft or get into lore. That said, Warcraft has been a big part of my life for the last few years and I do enjoy the blogging community that has grown from the game. I'd very much like to be a part of it. Although I'm not a member of a wildly successful guild, I hope I can contribute something to the WoW bloggersphere. Please always feel free to comment, but if you're here to troll, put people down, or contribute negatively, don't expect anything other than removed comments. This is about fun, sharing, and collaborating. I hope to see at least some traffic, and maybe some comments. If you've come this far, thank you. I hope this space embodies something interesting for those players who are like me.
In the following four years I've enjoyed my time playing quite a bit. The two friends I started with hung around, sometimes in the same guild as me, sometimes not. Among all the reasons I've ever cited for "why I play World of Warcraft," the friendships I've forged with other players is always the first.
Over the course of the last four years, I've played a lot of Warcraft. Raiding is absolutely the end objective of all my efforts. Out of all 12 (soon to be 13) tiers of content, the only ones I've actually successfully cleared are 4, 7(25 man), 9(25 man), 10(10 man), and 11(10 man.) Of the four guilds I've belonged to, none of them could be categorized as progression guilds. For me, that's okay. The kind of player I'd like to be is generally at odds with the kind of social life I'd like to have. Again, I'm okay with that. Mostly.
Out of those five tiers of content, I've raided as a marksman hunter, a resto shaman, an elemental shaman, an assassination Rogue, a holy paladin, and a ret paladin.. As the banner on this blog suggests, my current main is a holy paladin. I named him Jacklalane after the late and quite famous "Juice Man." Lalane was a fitness/health buff, so I find it a fitting tribute (if I can call it that) to play a healer with his name. Most people don't realize the reference, but that's cool. It's nice and easy for people to say "Jack" on vent, so that works for me. My first real raiding main was a hunter named Kiadimundi and NOBODY could say that name on vent. I ended up with the nickname "Kia" as a result.
At present I'm an active member of an (Alliance) ten man raiding guild On Kael'Thas called Cereal Killers. The guild was created by a guy I've known in game for almost the entirety of my experience. We're a patchwork of players who are generally pretty profane and always fun-loving. CK is another guild that I wouldn't call "bleeding edge," but we're doing all right in Firelands. Some may laugh at our 6/7 normal-mode progress (especially after nerfs,) but all things considered I think we are proud of our success. Membership is low and most weeks it's a crap shoot as to who will be participating in raids. I myself am only currently raiding one out of three days a week. We're making progress on Rag, but it's difficult because we generally don't have a lot of stuns and knockbacks. If not for the add phases, I'd say we would have the firelord on farm by now.
Despite the fact that we're not running hardmodes, I always enjoy my raid time with CK. Healing as a holy paladin suits me so well. Post Firelands nerf I've started contributing more as a DPS in raid, which I also love. For me raiding is somewhat of a competition against others in the group who have similar roles. That might be why I've never really gravitated toward tanking. Contributing toward kills while excelling (read: topping meters) vs other players is a big part of the fun I have raiding.
The purpose of this blog is going to be simple and straight forward. I'm just here to share my thoughts. I don't really theorycraft or get into lore. That said, Warcraft has been a big part of my life for the last few years and I do enjoy the blogging community that has grown from the game. I'd very much like to be a part of it. Although I'm not a member of a wildly successful guild, I hope I can contribute something to the WoW bloggersphere. Please always feel free to comment, but if you're here to troll, put people down, or contribute negatively, don't expect anything other than removed comments. This is about fun, sharing, and collaborating. I hope to see at least some traffic, and maybe some comments. If you've come this far, thank you. I hope this space embodies something interesting for those players who are like me.
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