I've been watching a lot of college basketball lately and haven't felt motivated (read: I've been at my
computer but I've been playing and watching TV) to post. But today is Laundry Day so I'm... Bored.
The guild has finally crept up to 13 people at level 80 or higher. While this increases the likelyhood
that we'll have 10 people playing on raid night, it also means that they're not as geared as some of
the people who have been 80 for 4 months. But we've also been running the daily heroic almost every day
so people have been getting badges and gear and can reasonably expect that if they log on, we'll do
something. This has lead to a significant increase in the total number of people who are playing on any
given night which has lead to an increase in the amount of stuff we can do... It's a good cycle.
I've been tanking on my death knight frequently so she's gotten pretty well geared. With her gear and
my increasing familiarity with the class, she's become an effective tank. I still miss a few cooldowns,
get caught without runes up (and forget about the 5 minute reset) or caught without an AoE ability
available when there are adds but I'm getting better and I feel like I could tank every heroic and most
of Naxx on her.
Two weeks ago, we had 8 people on so we PuGged two people for Vault. A PuG rogue quit after 3 pulls. So
we 9 manned it. And given that there were two people who disconnected during the fight, we essentially
8 manned it. We thanked the PuG for joining us and he moved on. But that left us with 8. Too few to do
a raid and too many to do a heroic...
So we decided to "take a look" at one of the bosses in Naxxramas. We chose Anub'Rekhan because, well...
It's the first boss Crucify downed in Naxx40 back in the day. We wiped on it for about 12 hours before
we downed it... So I know the fight pretty well. Plus, since we weren't expecting to down anything, it
was a good one to look at the mechanics for next time.
Frankly, I didn't think we'd get past the trash. But with a poison cleansing totem, those trash pulls
are a lot easier than I remember - particularly because it's raid wide now. We tried the boss 4 or 5
times and we never made it past the first transition. We even tried bringing in a couple of different
alts for raid composition but we just didn't have the timing down... And by we, I mean me.
So we called it and talked about it during the week. People watched videos and had a better idea what
was going on in them because they'd seen it for themselves... So it wasn't a complete waste of time.
However, during that week... One of the guys who just pushes my buttons started popping off in the
forums. Normally it just pisses me off, but he's recently switched from his completely geared out prot
warrior to a rogue. He's offered to tank "anything" for us but hasn't tanked squat. And this rogue
doesn't have anywhere near the gear, doesn't bring any buffs, etc... So when he plays it, I can't bring
my paladin who does way more damage and has way more buffs to bring to the table.
The short version is, he started stroking his epeen in the forums about how he's the top DPSer in the
guild. Now... This guy wears on me and I hate... Hate hate hate hate hate hate hate damage meters
because they promote exactly that kind of e-preening. So I laid into him. I allowed that he has topped
a few heroics in total damage done because 1) I've been chain pulling instances and the mana users have
to stop and drink periodically so they have less total DPSing time 2) he has been ignoring all markings
so that he can get all his combo points in 3) he's been getting a huge buff from the death knight tank
that doesn't benefit the mage in the least and 5) he's started attacking almost before the tank does -
which leads to aggro problems down the road. I also pointed out that he just lead in total damage done.
The mage was about 300 dps higher than he was. In short, I accused him of being a self-involved epeen
stroking... Well... rogue. Probably not the most mature thing I've done but... He crossed about 6 lines
that day (that wasn't his only inflamatory post). I mean... He cut down one of the more helpful members
of the guild for missing a raid when he was sick when he missed the previous two weeks including the
previous week where he logged off 15 minutes before raid time, didn't log back on until 2 hours after
raid time (thereby insuring he wouldn't have to participate) and started trying to get people to run
him through heroic Gundrak. Really, really pisses me off.
I went on to say that while he tops the heroics in damage done by a small amount, my paladin (who I
can't play when he's on his rogue because we need _someone_ to tank) tops that same mage by about 25%
in total damage done and by about 100 in DPS - while providing buffs that help (*gasp*) others, spot
heals, in combat CC when necessary (like Heroic VH... That one 3 pull where two mobs go one way and one
goes the other), off tanking, AoE, cleansing and all of those other things that a paladin does. Also
not the most mature thing I've done but.. Of the 13 80's we have now, 3 a rogues and our next 80 will
probably also be a rogue. Fan-freakin' tastic. Plus... That guy pissed me off. I mean... So much that I rolled a new Alliance Death Knight on a PvE server (which I've found very relaxing... Not just the fact that there aren't rogues lurking around every corner to gank you but also because I'm playing Alliance and they're so much nicer than the horde generally are) to hide out from him and the guild.
Since then I've ignored him in the forums and have instructed people to tell me if he makes a post that
is in any way constructive... Or can even be considered non-negative if you took words out (but left
them in the same order). For the record, I had to go back 7 posts before I could find one and that one
pretty much blasted the whole guild for not being prepared. But I digress...
I guess what I'm saying is that we had a tumultuous week in the guild. But on Tuesday night, we had exactly 10 level 80's on-line at raid time... And the rogue wasn't one of them. We abandoned the Heroic Violet Hold run we were on and formed a raid. We decided to do Vault first even though with travel time, etc. it takes about 30 minutes. After vault, we decided to do a boss in Naxx. We had seen Anub'Rehkhan but now that we had 10, I thought Razuvious would be easier for us because we really only need one tank for it and I could bring in my druid to heal. Fortunately, one of our members had been fishing in the Dalaran fountains so he had a coin to flip. The coin chose Razuvious.
Which turned out to be a good choice. It took us 3 attempts but we did down him pretty easily. Now that we've seen that, I'm certain that we can do that in one shot, every time. Plus, people had fun and were feeling pretty optimistic and looking forward to next week.
I know it's not much and that PuGs routinely steamroll that place but... They're an extremely casual guild and this is a huge step for us.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Right in the Epeen
They've already offered transfers off the new server because it's too crowded. We were considering moving but it looks like enough people have moved off to make it tenable (ironically, Garithos has been showing up as a medium population server for the last couple of days. The only time that ever happened was right after the 3.0 patch and Garithos was one of about 8 servers that was up).
However, I'm not sure I like the culture of Scilla. For one thing, on Bloodscalp people might ask for your stats but on Scilla, they ask for stats and they want you to link the achievement for the instance they are trying to run... Which is to say, you can't do it unless you've already done it. It's quite mad.
But beyond that, there's the ganking. And it's not the quanity... It's the quality. On Friday I was leveling my shadow priest and I was doing some furbolg quests in Winterspring. At level 56, I got ganked by a level 80 Shadow priest named Insaetia. Now I don't normally call people out for a ganking. Hell... I've certainly ganked more lowbies than I've been ganked. But this was different.
I rezzed and went about my business. Clearly this priest was grinding Timbermaw rep because he found me about a half hour later and ganked me again. A one shot. I'm so impressed. But then he stood on my corpse. He hit me with three emotes. Jumped up and down on my body. Then he started pulling mobs and fighting them on my body.
OK Jackass... You earned it. I logged off my shadow priest and logged on my paladin. I was in Everlook a few minutes later and was actually right behind Insaetia who was heading back to the furbolg camp... Perfect!!! I judged justice. It crit. So did Seal of Command. Hammer of wrath was up before he could even fear. Which he did but I bubbled and nuked him with HoW and boom. Dead. I followed with the same three emotes and started _my_ camp.
But he didn't rez... But I'm sufficiently pissed now. I'll wait. 5 minutes later and I'm still waiting when a mage - Devasteight (of the Shattered Sun... OMG!!! I am so impressed at your ability to do daily quests!!!) showed up and the two the them WTFPWNed me. /golfclap
So I rezzed, healed, etc. and went out looking for them. And they WTFPWNed me again. Completely thrashed me. And this time they started camping me. I mean campfires and beach umbrellas and the whole bit. But I'm not an idiot so I was able to rez and get away. Clearly I'd touched a nerve and he'd gotten a big brother to protect him. So I logged onto my priest with the intention of moving to another area. But as soon as I'd mounted, I was hit with Shadow Word:Death. Boom. Dead.
It was the shadow priest... Again. And the mage. And they'd set up shop again. But now they've been joined by a warrior - Vassilico. Take a look at his armory... I'll wait. Currently, he's Fury and dual wielding Ebon Blade rep rewards. He's got an agility gem in his boots. A +24 stamina gem to get a +4 strength bonus. And he's rocking the +72 attack power trinket (level 70) from the Brewfest event. Grats on your epic fail, n00b.
But I've been tired all week. So I take a nap. I wake up 25 minutes later and they're still there. I went to cook dinner. I ate dinner. Still there. I LOGGED OFF and played an alt for a half hour. STILL THERE. Three level 80's camping my level 56 clothie in crappy gear for at least 90 minutes and I've been asleep, afk or on a different character and they're still at it. At this point, it's gotten sad.
At some point the server rebooted... After which, I was able to log onto my shadow priest, finish the quest chain I was on and head over to Silithus. I get that I'd kicked that guy square in the epeen and that this assault on his manhood could not go unavenged. But... Seriously... I mean... REALLY??!?!? An hour and a half for one piece of payback for something YOU started?!?!? GROW UP!!! And the extent of it... A single level 60 of any class would have been sufficient to keep me locked down for hours. Did it _really_ warrant three level 80's - one of which was decked out from head to toe in epics?
And what about your two friends? How sad is it that you would actually waste an hour and a half of your lives doing NOTHING for an "offense" against someone else? It makes me sad for you... And your sad, pathetic, shriveled, little manhoods.
However, I'm not sure I like the culture of Scilla. For one thing, on Bloodscalp people might ask for your stats but on Scilla, they ask for stats and they want you to link the achievement for the instance they are trying to run... Which is to say, you can't do it unless you've already done it. It's quite mad.
But beyond that, there's the ganking. And it's not the quanity... It's the quality. On Friday I was leveling my shadow priest and I was doing some furbolg quests in Winterspring. At level 56, I got ganked by a level 80 Shadow priest named Insaetia. Now I don't normally call people out for a ganking. Hell... I've certainly ganked more lowbies than I've been ganked. But this was different.
I rezzed and went about my business. Clearly this priest was grinding Timbermaw rep because he found me about a half hour later and ganked me again. A one shot. I'm so impressed. But then he stood on my corpse. He hit me with three emotes. Jumped up and down on my body. Then he started pulling mobs and fighting them on my body.
OK Jackass... You earned it. I logged off my shadow priest and logged on my paladin. I was in Everlook a few minutes later and was actually right behind Insaetia who was heading back to the furbolg camp... Perfect!!! I judged justice. It crit. So did Seal of Command. Hammer of wrath was up before he could even fear. Which he did but I bubbled and nuked him with HoW and boom. Dead. I followed with the same three emotes and started _my_ camp.
But he didn't rez... But I'm sufficiently pissed now. I'll wait. 5 minutes later and I'm still waiting when a mage - Devasteight (of the Shattered Sun... OMG!!! I am so impressed at your ability to do daily quests!!!) showed up and the two the them WTFPWNed me. /golfclap
So I rezzed, healed, etc. and went out looking for them. And they WTFPWNed me again. Completely thrashed me. And this time they started camping me. I mean campfires and beach umbrellas and the whole bit. But I'm not an idiot so I was able to rez and get away. Clearly I'd touched a nerve and he'd gotten a big brother to protect him. So I logged onto my priest with the intention of moving to another area. But as soon as I'd mounted, I was hit with Shadow Word:Death. Boom. Dead.
It was the shadow priest... Again. And the mage. And they'd set up shop again. But now they've been joined by a warrior - Vassilico. Take a look at his armory... I'll wait. Currently, he's Fury and dual wielding Ebon Blade rep rewards. He's got an agility gem in his boots. A +24 stamina gem to get a +4 strength bonus. And he's rocking the +72 attack power trinket (level 70) from the Brewfest event. Grats on your epic fail, n00b.
But I've been tired all week. So I take a nap. I wake up 25 minutes later and they're still there. I went to cook dinner. I ate dinner. Still there. I LOGGED OFF and played an alt for a half hour. STILL THERE. Three level 80's camping my level 56 clothie in crappy gear for at least 90 minutes and I've been asleep, afk or on a different character and they're still at it. At this point, it's gotten sad.
At some point the server rebooted... After which, I was able to log onto my shadow priest, finish the quest chain I was on and head over to Silithus. I get that I'd kicked that guy square in the epeen and that this assault on his manhood could not go unavenged. But... Seriously... I mean... REALLY??!?!? An hour and a half for one piece of payback for something YOU started?!?!? GROW UP!!! And the extent of it... A single level 60 of any class would have been sufficient to keep me locked down for hours. Did it _really_ warrant three level 80's - one of which was decked out from head to toe in epics?
And what about your two friends? How sad is it that you would actually waste an hour and a half of your lives doing NOTHING for an "offense" against someone else? It makes me sad for you... And your sad, pathetic, shriveled, little manhoods.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
How is that better?
So... The server move is complete. It was three days of scrambling, setting up interfaces and not having enough guild members on the new server to do anything but we've moved. And now that we're here? There's a longer queue earlier than there ever was on Bloodscalp.
So many people transferred to Scilla that it has gone from a low population server to a high population one. People are logging on at 8 and complaining about queues. Wintergrasp is so crowded it's unplayable. Dalaran is so crowded that I'm reluctant to check mail there.
Which is to say... We actually _did_ trade all of my friends for another bloodscalp with earlier queues but a faster ping time. Fan-tastic.
So many people transferred to Scilla that it has gone from a low population server to a high population one. People are logging on at 8 and complaining about queues. Wintergrasp is so crowded it's unplayable. Dalaran is so crowded that I'm reluctant to check mail there.
Which is to say... We actually _did_ trade all of my friends for another bloodscalp with earlier queues but a faster ping time. Fan-tastic.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
To Parts Unknown
/sigh
So... The guild switched servers this weekend. I'm not happy about this. Quite the opposite, in fact.
When my Alliance guild broke up, I decided to play with people I knew. It took me several weeks of hardcore leveling to catch up to them because I'd already leveled my Alliance mage to 70. I also tried to keep a toon at about the same level as my main group... Which meant I leveled one character from 35 to 70 and at the same time, one from 1 to 35.
They were behind me progression-wise in vanilla WoW so it was no surprise that when I got to 68, they were still trying to get past the second boss in Shadow Labyrinth. We developed a comfortable group of five people and learned all of the new instances and taught them to the rest of the guild. I even got them started on the Karazhan key quest lines. When others in the guild wanted keys, I tanked the instances for them. No questions asked. Nine months after Burning Crusade came out, we had 7 people with keys and decided to try to make a Karazhan run. We all got together for a party and I helped two people finish the last two legs of the key quest. We downed Attumen that night and everyone was ecstatic... After all, we're talking about a guild that had never even been into Upper Blackrock Spire as a group.
Over the next few months, we got further and further. Curator, a big stumbling block for a number of guilds, was a joke for us. The only times we ever wiped on him were when we tried to 8 man him... And even then it was close. We got all the way to Chess but never got any further. These people had jobs and children... So people got bored. They stopped coming out.
I was still interested, however. So I started PuGging for people who needed a tank. Some of them were terrible... But some of them were pretty good. I was the first person in our guild to down Prince... And Nightbane... And... Well... Pretty much everything after Maiden/Moroes. I took everything I learned back to our raids every time there was an uptick in Karazhan interest.
But something happened I hadn't expected: I made friends. I didn't talk to them every day but it pleased me to see them running around and to /wave at them. Maybe throw them a buff or two. If I ever saw them looking for people, I'd always sign up because I knew I'd have a good time.
Interest in WoW waned after the expansion was announced. It wasn't uncommon for there to be only one or two other people in the guild on-line at any one time... One of them even quit WoW for the summer. But I was still playing and "doing stuff". I even went so far as to download a mod that kept me in the Looking For Group channel all the time. Along the way, I earned the Champion of the Naaru title... Something of which I was really proud because, without guild support, it had taken a lot of work on my part.
When Wrath of the Lich King came out, I was the first person in our guild to hit 80... By about two days. Three more followed in the next couple of days but then no one. All this fabulous new content and I had no one to expore it with. One of the 80's pretty much only logged on to do Wintergrasp. So I turned to the LFG channel again.
After I had gotten to exalted with Sons of Hodir, I spec'd Hiahotah resto because there were more people looking for healers than tanks. I found that I could run pretty much any instance I wanted at pretty much any _time_ I wanted. One of the guilds I used to run with in Burning Crusade invited me to a Naxx run early on. I was undergeared but consider that at the time I hadn't even done a heroic, I think I held my own. I collected badges and got upgrades... We still only had 4 level 80's... In fact, the fifth 80 in the guild was my death knight. My paladin was the 8th.
Two weeks ago, I filled out a slot as a healer for a guild Naxxramas run. It was their first time in Naxx so many wipes were expected. I'd seen a number of the fights back in vanilla WoW or during that time I did it at 70 before the expansion or during that one run. I let them wipe a couple of times on each boss and then made suggestions as to how they could do it better and they would down the boss. It was fun learning the content and coaching a guild through the fights. They invited me back the next week and we got further faster. Learning had taken place. We actually cleared all four quarters and even took a few shots as Sapphiron. A couple of them would whisper me during the week to see if I was coming out on Friday. It was a young group but willing to try and learn. It was a satisfying experience. They filled out their healing roster so they didn't need me any more... Which was great. I can always find a group.
Then this week, we got our 10th person to 80. We did our first all guild heroic in weeks. It was an ugly run through Halls of Lightning but it was the Daily Double so we ground through it. And after about 4 wipes on Loken, we finished it. Great!!
Well... Not really... You see... One of our members (the one who quit for the summer) who has been hot to transfer off Bloodscalp noticed that there were free transfers to Scilla for horde. While all this exciting stuff was going on for the guild, people were talking about moving.
We've been through this before. The guy who quit wants vast fields of mobs all to himself for farming purposes. Some claim they get disconnects and lag. Others don't want to worry about mean old Alliance lurking around every corner waiting to gank them. I tried to argue that there were more horde on Bloodscalp than Alliance (by a 2:1 margin) so it's mostly the other way around for the gankings and that the disconnects were largely due to poor internet connections (the one with the most disconnects uses his neighbor's wireless connection) and the lag was due, in part, to inferior video cards (one guy can't see the statues in the pit in Halls of Lightning... If you've been there, you know what I mean... Basically it's about 20 feet away and he only sees gray mist). As for the vast fields of mobs... Does that really compare with my ability to find stuff to do when the rest of the guild isn't on line? Apparently it does.
The discussion went something along the lines of:
"We want to leave."
"I have friends here."
"We want to leave. There's lag."
"EVERY server had lag during Wintergrasp. It's been better since they made the orb instantly clickable."
"We want to leave. There's a queue."
"For, like, 5 minutes if you log on after 9:30 and, frankly, when you people log on after then, you don't really _do_ much, do you?"
"We want to leave."
"THere's enough of a population here to support PuGging. Something that _I_ enjoy when you're not around. I've played on a low population server before. It's painful watching someone begging for a tank in LFG for two hours. They don't allow transfers to high population servers."
"we want to leave."
I've checked the new server. There are about one quarter the number of the people in the LFG channel that there are on Bloodscalp. Have you checked to see if the lag and disconnects are any better on the new server?"
"We want to leave."
"Look... I'm being asked to give up something that is a large portion of my enjoyment of the game. If you can prove that your technical concerns are valid, then I'll drop my objections."
"Just move one of your characters then."
"I have a whole mini-economy going. I'd hate to leave one out in the cold."
"Just roll a new character and level it to 80."
"Screw you."
"This isn't a democracy. You don't have to move." (Read: We're leaving.)
"One of my friends just transferred from there to Bloodscalp. He says it sucks."
"We left."
So... To me it feels like I've lost a lot for a vague hope that any server would have to be "better". No one is able to define what that means or prove that things are less "unbearable"... And things that I just haven't had a problem with. I think it's safe to say that I play more than anyone else in the guild and I've not had a problem with any of the things they complain about. Maybe there are the odd, 2 to 3 second lag spikes but I think it's a small price to play for a LFG channel full of people who are also looking to "do stuff". So this move has limited benefits for me and a huge downside. For them... I don't know. I don't know what was wrong with Bloodscalp and what makes them think a new server would be better... I guess I'll find out.
Now my (horde) characters in a queue to move to server unknown and I'm locked out of being able to play them for 48 hours. I have no idea what will happen... But those asshats had damn well better be available for instances when we get to the new server or I'm going to be super-extra pissed.
So... The guild switched servers this weekend. I'm not happy about this. Quite the opposite, in fact.
When my Alliance guild broke up, I decided to play with people I knew. It took me several weeks of hardcore leveling to catch up to them because I'd already leveled my Alliance mage to 70. I also tried to keep a toon at about the same level as my main group... Which meant I leveled one character from 35 to 70 and at the same time, one from 1 to 35.
They were behind me progression-wise in vanilla WoW so it was no surprise that when I got to 68, they were still trying to get past the second boss in Shadow Labyrinth. We developed a comfortable group of five people and learned all of the new instances and taught them to the rest of the guild. I even got them started on the Karazhan key quest lines. When others in the guild wanted keys, I tanked the instances for them. No questions asked. Nine months after Burning Crusade came out, we had 7 people with keys and decided to try to make a Karazhan run. We all got together for a party and I helped two people finish the last two legs of the key quest. We downed Attumen that night and everyone was ecstatic... After all, we're talking about a guild that had never even been into Upper Blackrock Spire as a group.
Over the next few months, we got further and further. Curator, a big stumbling block for a number of guilds, was a joke for us. The only times we ever wiped on him were when we tried to 8 man him... And even then it was close. We got all the way to Chess but never got any further. These people had jobs and children... So people got bored. They stopped coming out.
I was still interested, however. So I started PuGging for people who needed a tank. Some of them were terrible... But some of them were pretty good. I was the first person in our guild to down Prince... And Nightbane... And... Well... Pretty much everything after Maiden/Moroes. I took everything I learned back to our raids every time there was an uptick in Karazhan interest.
But something happened I hadn't expected: I made friends. I didn't talk to them every day but it pleased me to see them running around and to /wave at them. Maybe throw them a buff or two. If I ever saw them looking for people, I'd always sign up because I knew I'd have a good time.
Interest in WoW waned after the expansion was announced. It wasn't uncommon for there to be only one or two other people in the guild on-line at any one time... One of them even quit WoW for the summer. But I was still playing and "doing stuff". I even went so far as to download a mod that kept me in the Looking For Group channel all the time. Along the way, I earned the Champion of the Naaru title... Something of which I was really proud because, without guild support, it had taken a lot of work on my part.
When Wrath of the Lich King came out, I was the first person in our guild to hit 80... By about two days. Three more followed in the next couple of days but then no one. All this fabulous new content and I had no one to expore it with. One of the 80's pretty much only logged on to do Wintergrasp. So I turned to the LFG channel again.
After I had gotten to exalted with Sons of Hodir, I spec'd Hiahotah resto because there were more people looking for healers than tanks. I found that I could run pretty much any instance I wanted at pretty much any _time_ I wanted. One of the guilds I used to run with in Burning Crusade invited me to a Naxx run early on. I was undergeared but consider that at the time I hadn't even done a heroic, I think I held my own. I collected badges and got upgrades... We still only had 4 level 80's... In fact, the fifth 80 in the guild was my death knight. My paladin was the 8th.
Two weeks ago, I filled out a slot as a healer for a guild Naxxramas run. It was their first time in Naxx so many wipes were expected. I'd seen a number of the fights back in vanilla WoW or during that time I did it at 70 before the expansion or during that one run. I let them wipe a couple of times on each boss and then made suggestions as to how they could do it better and they would down the boss. It was fun learning the content and coaching a guild through the fights. They invited me back the next week and we got further faster. Learning had taken place. We actually cleared all four quarters and even took a few shots as Sapphiron. A couple of them would whisper me during the week to see if I was coming out on Friday. It was a young group but willing to try and learn. It was a satisfying experience. They filled out their healing roster so they didn't need me any more... Which was great. I can always find a group.
Then this week, we got our 10th person to 80. We did our first all guild heroic in weeks. It was an ugly run through Halls of Lightning but it was the Daily Double so we ground through it. And after about 4 wipes on Loken, we finished it. Great!!
Well... Not really... You see... One of our members (the one who quit for the summer) who has been hot to transfer off Bloodscalp noticed that there were free transfers to Scilla for horde. While all this exciting stuff was going on for the guild, people were talking about moving.
We've been through this before. The guy who quit wants vast fields of mobs all to himself for farming purposes. Some claim they get disconnects and lag. Others don't want to worry about mean old Alliance lurking around every corner waiting to gank them. I tried to argue that there were more horde on Bloodscalp than Alliance (by a 2:1 margin) so it's mostly the other way around for the gankings and that the disconnects were largely due to poor internet connections (the one with the most disconnects uses his neighbor's wireless connection) and the lag was due, in part, to inferior video cards (one guy can't see the statues in the pit in Halls of Lightning... If you've been there, you know what I mean... Basically it's about 20 feet away and he only sees gray mist). As for the vast fields of mobs... Does that really compare with my ability to find stuff to do when the rest of the guild isn't on line? Apparently it does.
The discussion went something along the lines of:
"We want to leave."
"I have friends here."
"We want to leave. There's lag."
"EVERY server had lag during Wintergrasp. It's been better since they made the orb instantly clickable."
"We want to leave. There's a queue."
"For, like, 5 minutes if you log on after 9:30 and, frankly, when you people log on after then, you don't really _do_ much, do you?"
"We want to leave."
"THere's enough of a population here to support PuGging. Something that _I_ enjoy when you're not around. I've played on a low population server before. It's painful watching someone begging for a tank in LFG for two hours. They don't allow transfers to high population servers."
"we want to leave."
I've checked the new server. There are about one quarter the number of the people in the LFG channel that there are on Bloodscalp. Have you checked to see if the lag and disconnects are any better on the new server?"
"We want to leave."
"Look... I'm being asked to give up something that is a large portion of my enjoyment of the game. If you can prove that your technical concerns are valid, then I'll drop my objections."
"Just move one of your characters then."
"I have a whole mini-economy going. I'd hate to leave one out in the cold."
"Just roll a new character and level it to 80."
"Screw you."
"This isn't a democracy. You don't have to move." (Read: We're leaving.)
"One of my friends just transferred from there to Bloodscalp. He says it sucks."
"We left."
So... To me it feels like I've lost a lot for a vague hope that any server would have to be "better". No one is able to define what that means or prove that things are less "unbearable"... And things that I just haven't had a problem with. I think it's safe to say that I play more than anyone else in the guild and I've not had a problem with any of the things they complain about. Maybe there are the odd, 2 to 3 second lag spikes but I think it's a small price to play for a LFG channel full of people who are also looking to "do stuff". So this move has limited benefits for me and a huge downside. For them... I don't know. I don't know what was wrong with Bloodscalp and what makes them think a new server would be better... I guess I'll find out.
Now my (horde) characters in a queue to move to server unknown and I'm locked out of being able to play them for 48 hours. I have no idea what will happen... But those asshats had damn well better be available for instances when we get to the new server or I'm going to be super-extra pissed.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
The Joys of PuGging
So... There I was minding my own business... I'd just gotten to a convenient stopping point in doing dailies on my paladin (who is 80 now... As is my death knight) when someone asked for a healer for Heroic Nexus in LFG. Hiahotah (who is resto now... Man... It's been a while. Whole other story...) was sitting on the daily from the day before so I logged onto him and said I'd go. I wish I'd thought that through...
The first warning sign was when they started calling each other by real life names. It turns out that three of them were from the same guild. Oh good. A guild that can field three players but can't find a healer. The second warning sign was when one of them asked how to get to the instance... Which was THE NEXUS!!! It's the first damn instance 80% of people do!!!
The group consisted of a prot paladin, ret paladin, boomkin (the guildies), a rogue and me. We managed to down the first mob with only the ret paladin dying. (Seriously?) The tank didn't consecrate or taunt so when the ret paladin body pulled and then fought back... It was over pretty quickly. Yes you're in plate but you're still not wearing a shield. We wiped on the second pulls. The paladin _still_ didn't consecrate on a 3 pull. Very, very bad sign. I thought about leaving but decided to give them another chance. I figured that with 2k spell power I could make up for a little nubitry.
I wish I'd thought that through. It turns out there were two skinners in the party but one of them didn't have a high enough skill level to skin the mob. Oy. You got to 80 and didn't level your skinning? Oh come on!!! At this point, one of them said he had turned his microphone on. I shudder to think that these guys were actually communicating with each other.
We got to the "optional" boss. And wiped because I couldn't keep the melee up... And because the tank backed up into me just as I was trying to heal him and just as the boss did his whirlwind. That's when I decided I wouldn't be using any more buff foods. I gently suggested that the melee needs to run away from the whirlwind. I should have said that they should run away as soon as they see it and stay out until it was over. My bad. In any event, they were nominally smarter and we got some lucky fears just before whirlwinds so melee was out of range for a couple of them. We downed him with only one death. The druid got the achievement for looting his first emblem of heroism. Another ominious sign. But now I was saved to this instance so I was in for the duration.
We had a couple of deaths before the mage boss... One of which was me. The paladins seem to have misplaced their resurrection buttons so I ran back. The mage boss can be very chaotic during the splits. Things happen. This time, the ret paladin - the one who was leading and seemed to have some reasonable gear and doing the most damage - died about half way through the fight. It happens... When you consecrate and the tank doesn't so you end up with two of the adds on you.... And people aren't focusing on one of them. So I battle rezzed him... He didn't take it until the boss had about 10% health left. There are TWO druids in your party. One of them knows what he is doing. You don't go AFK after you die. You just... Don't. Wait for the battle rez.
The clear to the next boss... And the next boss, for that matter, went mostly without incident. No... Wait. Scratch that. The tank ran in just before the second boss and pulled 6 mobs but didn't consecrate... But he needed heals so... I healed him. The 5 mobs he hadn't generated threat against me... Killled me dead. The boomkin and the ret pally managed to heal him through the fight. And one of the paladins found a rez button after about two minutes of me not releasing. We did down the rift boss without too much trouble. It was around this time that I started looking at their gear. Among other things:
1) The boomkin was rocking a staff that had +242 spell power, a pile of int and some spirit. A two hander with +242 spell power? There's a level 78 one hand rep reward with +314 spell power. Sure you have to be revered with the Kalu'ak but... Who isn't revered with the Kalu'ak? I mean... They look like Wilfred Brimley!!
2) It wasn't enchanted. Throw in an off-hand that has a modest +25 spell power and you're looking at another 147 spell power. Things will die faster. As it was... I was running out of mana and having to use innervate in what is generally considered an "easy" heroic.
3) The tank had 22k health... Buffed. I've got a death knight who has that much unbuffed and I wouldn't even _think_ about tanking a heroic like that. So I inpected his gear. Helm. Tempered Titansteel helm. Good. But... Two gem slots... Both empty. Throw in a +32 stamina meta gem and a +24 stamina gem and with blessing of kings, we're looking at over 600 extra health. Or maybe throw in a +21 defense +5% shield block value meta gem in there. Either one will make things a little easier on your healer. One will provide a little extra cushion, the other will improve your mitigation. Can't go wrong with either one.
4) The helm didn't have an enchant on it. If you're going to be remotely serious about tanking... You get to revered with Argent Crusade so you can buy the head enchant. Even if you aren't serious about it... Do it anyway.
5) The tank had attack power trinkets equipped.
6) The boomkin had level 65-66 healing idol equipped. I know idols are hard to come by... But... Still...
7) The tank was wearing his Blood Knight tabard. Maybe he wants something from Horde Expedition but... Damn man... Slap on an Argent Crusade tabard. Get to revered. Get to revered with Wyrmrest for the two sweet tanking pieces.
On the way to the rock giant boss, the rogue bailed. We joined LFG for about 2 seconds and resumed clearing. Just before we got to the boss I asked if we were looking for someone. They said yes and I said that "a hunter in my guild was willing to go but we'll have to summon him". The hunter was actually my brother but I wasn't going to tell them that. They invited him and kept clearing to the boss... And, yes, it was in the hallway respawning plants... So we had to fight all the way back to a safe spot. And we'd taken the long way around, so we had to run all the way back through the instance to summon and then once again to get back to where we were... And then we had to clear the hallway... A third time. We did, however, down the boss with no deaths. It was hard as hell to keep that paladin up through the enrage though. Cripes. I'm guessing he isn't defense capped.
We wiped on the end boss. The ret paladin body pulled, got insta-gibbed and the prot paladin never did pick her up. The second time went a _litte_ better. There was still one death but that's mostly because it took so damn long. I had to make a choice between healing myself or healing some DPS with healing spells of their own. I didn't really need any of the loot but the boomkin rolled need on everything (it was cloth and leather so... Whatever) including the Frozen Orb. Now I had 4 on me but that was a PuG and 3 were guildies. He had a 60% chance of getting it. The orb is one of those little niceties that you give PuGs a chance to roll on... Particularly when you've been carried by one of them through the entire instance.
So... The short version is... I won't be doing any (heroic) runs with that guild any time soon and if I do, I'll check for gems and enchants first. Don't get me wrong... Things like that make me a better player but... It really stressed me out. My chest was actually tight for about a half hour after it ended. I don't need that.
The first warning sign was when they started calling each other by real life names. It turns out that three of them were from the same guild. Oh good. A guild that can field three players but can't find a healer. The second warning sign was when one of them asked how to get to the instance... Which was THE NEXUS!!! It's the first damn instance 80% of people do!!!
The group consisted of a prot paladin, ret paladin, boomkin (the guildies), a rogue and me. We managed to down the first mob with only the ret paladin dying. (Seriously?) The tank didn't consecrate or taunt so when the ret paladin body pulled and then fought back... It was over pretty quickly. Yes you're in plate but you're still not wearing a shield. We wiped on the second pulls. The paladin _still_ didn't consecrate on a 3 pull. Very, very bad sign. I thought about leaving but decided to give them another chance. I figured that with 2k spell power I could make up for a little nubitry.
I wish I'd thought that through. It turns out there were two skinners in the party but one of them didn't have a high enough skill level to skin the mob. Oy. You got to 80 and didn't level your skinning? Oh come on!!! At this point, one of them said he had turned his microphone on. I shudder to think that these guys were actually communicating with each other.
We got to the "optional" boss. And wiped because I couldn't keep the melee up... And because the tank backed up into me just as I was trying to heal him and just as the boss did his whirlwind. That's when I decided I wouldn't be using any more buff foods. I gently suggested that the melee needs to run away from the whirlwind. I should have said that they should run away as soon as they see it and stay out until it was over. My bad. In any event, they were nominally smarter and we got some lucky fears just before whirlwinds so melee was out of range for a couple of them. We downed him with only one death. The druid got the achievement for looting his first emblem of heroism. Another ominious sign. But now I was saved to this instance so I was in for the duration.
We had a couple of deaths before the mage boss... One of which was me. The paladins seem to have misplaced their resurrection buttons so I ran back. The mage boss can be very chaotic during the splits. Things happen. This time, the ret paladin - the one who was leading and seemed to have some reasonable gear and doing the most damage - died about half way through the fight. It happens... When you consecrate and the tank doesn't so you end up with two of the adds on you.... And people aren't focusing on one of them. So I battle rezzed him... He didn't take it until the boss had about 10% health left. There are TWO druids in your party. One of them knows what he is doing. You don't go AFK after you die. You just... Don't. Wait for the battle rez.
The clear to the next boss... And the next boss, for that matter, went mostly without incident. No... Wait. Scratch that. The tank ran in just before the second boss and pulled 6 mobs but didn't consecrate... But he needed heals so... I healed him. The 5 mobs he hadn't generated threat against me... Killled me dead. The boomkin and the ret pally managed to heal him through the fight. And one of the paladins found a rez button after about two minutes of me not releasing. We did down the rift boss without too much trouble. It was around this time that I started looking at their gear. Among other things:
1) The boomkin was rocking a staff that had +242 spell power, a pile of int and some spirit. A two hander with +242 spell power? There's a level 78 one hand rep reward with +314 spell power. Sure you have to be revered with the Kalu'ak but... Who isn't revered with the Kalu'ak? I mean... They look like Wilfred Brimley!!
2) It wasn't enchanted. Throw in an off-hand that has a modest +25 spell power and you're looking at another 147 spell power. Things will die faster. As it was... I was running out of mana and having to use innervate in what is generally considered an "easy" heroic.
3) The tank had 22k health... Buffed. I've got a death knight who has that much unbuffed and I wouldn't even _think_ about tanking a heroic like that. So I inpected his gear. Helm. Tempered Titansteel helm. Good. But... Two gem slots... Both empty. Throw in a +32 stamina meta gem and a +24 stamina gem and with blessing of kings, we're looking at over 600 extra health. Or maybe throw in a +21 defense +5% shield block value meta gem in there. Either one will make things a little easier on your healer. One will provide a little extra cushion, the other will improve your mitigation. Can't go wrong with either one.
4) The helm didn't have an enchant on it. If you're going to be remotely serious about tanking... You get to revered with Argent Crusade so you can buy the head enchant. Even if you aren't serious about it... Do it anyway.
5) The tank had attack power trinkets equipped.
6) The boomkin had level 65-66 healing idol equipped. I know idols are hard to come by... But... Still...
7) The tank was wearing his Blood Knight tabard. Maybe he wants something from Horde Expedition but... Damn man... Slap on an Argent Crusade tabard. Get to revered. Get to revered with Wyrmrest for the two sweet tanking pieces.
On the way to the rock giant boss, the rogue bailed. We joined LFG for about 2 seconds and resumed clearing. Just before we got to the boss I asked if we were looking for someone. They said yes and I said that "a hunter in my guild was willing to go but we'll have to summon him". The hunter was actually my brother but I wasn't going to tell them that. They invited him and kept clearing to the boss... And, yes, it was in the hallway respawning plants... So we had to fight all the way back to a safe spot. And we'd taken the long way around, so we had to run all the way back through the instance to summon and then once again to get back to where we were... And then we had to clear the hallway... A third time. We did, however, down the boss with no deaths. It was hard as hell to keep that paladin up through the enrage though. Cripes. I'm guessing he isn't defense capped.
We wiped on the end boss. The ret paladin body pulled, got insta-gibbed and the prot paladin never did pick her up. The second time went a _litte_ better. There was still one death but that's mostly because it took so damn long. I had to make a choice between healing myself or healing some DPS with healing spells of their own. I didn't really need any of the loot but the boomkin rolled need on everything (it was cloth and leather so... Whatever) including the Frozen Orb. Now I had 4 on me but that was a PuG and 3 were guildies. He had a 60% chance of getting it. The orb is one of those little niceties that you give PuGs a chance to roll on... Particularly when you've been carried by one of them through the entire instance.
So... The short version is... I won't be doing any (heroic) runs with that guild any time soon and if I do, I'll check for gems and enchants first. Don't get me wrong... Things like that make me a better player but... It really stressed me out. My chest was actually tight for about a half hour after it ended. I don't need that.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Back to the Grind
It's been a while since I posted. That's mostly because I've been playing the game at night and actually having to concentrate at work. Since I last posted, Hiahotah got to 80. I had started fourth thursday of november just into level 78 with the intention of grinding it out to 80 that day... I mean... Why the hell not? I've got nothing better to do that day... Man do I hate fourth thursday of november. But I digress...
I was making good progress towards 80 but at around 8pm after about 11 hours, I started getting a little punchy. I was working my way through Sholazar Basin and I was having a very hard time making decisions about gear, so I was just letting it accumulate in my bag. I was also having a hard time with a number of the "vehicle" quests. By 10 pm, I was a third of a level away. I could have made it but... I was completely asleep at the switch and I wasn't enjoying myself... So I shut it down early. Just turned off the computer and went to bed. I just can't understand those people who plow through to max level in just a couple of days.
Since then, I've been making the rounds of dailies: Seven in Icecrown (I'm over half way to exalted with Ebon Blade and about a third of the way with Argent Crusade), 3 in Sholazar (I got to revered with the Oracles just this afternoon and I'm not that interested in the trinket, so I'll probably stop doing those (on Hiahotah...)), one in Borean Tundra (for Wyrmrest Accord rep), another Wrymrest quest in Dragonblight, the Troll Patrol quests in Zul'Drak for Argent Crusade rep and now 5 in Storm Peaks for Sons of Hodir rep... Oh... And the cooking daily if it's not the one that takes 12 chilled meat.
I have to say... I do NOT like the Wrath dailies at all. There are no major quest hubs... Well... That's not entirely true... But a number of the quests just grant gold. No rep. No possibility of a badge... Just... Gold. That seems cynical to me. There _are_ 6 Ebon Blade quests in Icecrown... At two different locations. All told, it takes me about 3 hours to do those 24 daily quests... About a half hour of which is just traveling.
But that's not all... I really actively dislike some of the quests. I find them very frustrating. For example, he quest where you free prisoners from the mine in Icecrown where one of three things can happen - you can free them, they turn on you or... THEY JUST RUN THE WRONG WAY... IDIOTS!!! Very frustrating. Also in Icecrown is the one where you have to shoot down 20 drakes and riders. If you're not in a group, that one just sucks. Out loud. I did OK this morning when I was by myself but things didn't pick up until I joined forces with someone and we got credit for each other's kills. When you're not in a group, you only get credit for the ones you tag. If you're very unlucky, you could down 40 of them, but 20 would be credited to someone else. The patch notes on the PTR say that they are changing that quest so that you only have to kill 15 and it is reducing the energy cost of firing the cannon by half. It should make that quest better. I'm not sure how it got out of Beta that way. It's excruciating... Like the quest to control the super awesome looking cat to kill 50 wolvars in Sholazar... The cat that doesn't kill things any faster than I can kill them just by going into bear form and swiping 5-15 mobs at a time. And then there's the Apothecary quest in Zul'Drak... I can't tell you how many times I've gotten to adding the last ingredient and he's listed something that I've never seen before and there's only one of and, oh yeah, it's only found on the other side.
But the granddaddy, worst Wrath of the Lich King daily quest that I've found so far? It's the one for the Sons of Hodir where you have to harpoon a Wild Wrym and kill it while you're clinging to it's belly. You have to keep mashing the button (on a GCD) that tightens your grip while spamming a quick, small attack while the big attack is on cooldown and trying to dodge when he swipes at you but... Be careful... The big attack prevents you from dodging for about 5 seconds. Then at about 20-25% health, he switches over and you have to pry his jaw open and use a fatal strike that misses repeatedly. And... Yes... It does appear to be on a bit of a timer so don't take too long or you'll be unceremoniously dumped... Same if you lose your grip. I don't know if you would die from the fall because I'm on a druid and just pop into flying form on the way down. But I'm usually two minutes from the starting point and at low health after every attempt. It's never taken me less than 6 attempts and I've actually died from the quest at least 4 times.
That said... The quest line to open up the Sons of Hodir dailies is among the most fun quest lines I've ever done... Particularly one of the last quests... Where you're riding the drake with a harpoon in your hands and... Well... I won't spoil it for you. Trust me... It's fun. Do that quest line.
In other news, my death knight is almost 75 (About 3% away) and I did the For the Horde achievement series in a PuG last night. There were some coordination issues and people who didn't get credit for various kills started bailing. By the time we got to Ironforge, we were down to about 30 people and the Alliance started defending the boss there. But we ground him down with about 15 people still standing, rezzed the dead and hopped a portal to Dalaran... And in the mailbox... A Black war bear. I've been meaning to buy one of those but... Free is good too. I'll have to take it to Undercity at some point to see if I can fit onto the elevator while mounted...
I was making good progress towards 80 but at around 8pm after about 11 hours, I started getting a little punchy. I was working my way through Sholazar Basin and I was having a very hard time making decisions about gear, so I was just letting it accumulate in my bag. I was also having a hard time with a number of the "vehicle" quests. By 10 pm, I was a third of a level away. I could have made it but... I was completely asleep at the switch and I wasn't enjoying myself... So I shut it down early. Just turned off the computer and went to bed. I just can't understand those people who plow through to max level in just a couple of days.
Since then, I've been making the rounds of dailies: Seven in Icecrown (I'm over half way to exalted with Ebon Blade and about a third of the way with Argent Crusade), 3 in Sholazar (I got to revered with the Oracles just this afternoon and I'm not that interested in the trinket, so I'll probably stop doing those (on Hiahotah...)), one in Borean Tundra (for Wyrmrest Accord rep), another Wrymrest quest in Dragonblight, the Troll Patrol quests in Zul'Drak for Argent Crusade rep and now 5 in Storm Peaks for Sons of Hodir rep... Oh... And the cooking daily if it's not the one that takes 12 chilled meat.
I have to say... I do NOT like the Wrath dailies at all. There are no major quest hubs... Well... That's not entirely true... But a number of the quests just grant gold. No rep. No possibility of a badge... Just... Gold. That seems cynical to me. There _are_ 6 Ebon Blade quests in Icecrown... At two different locations. All told, it takes me about 3 hours to do those 24 daily quests... About a half hour of which is just traveling.
But that's not all... I really actively dislike some of the quests. I find them very frustrating. For example, he quest where you free prisoners from the mine in Icecrown where one of three things can happen - you can free them, they turn on you or... THEY JUST RUN THE WRONG WAY... IDIOTS!!! Very frustrating. Also in Icecrown is the one where you have to shoot down 20 drakes and riders. If you're not in a group, that one just sucks. Out loud. I did OK this morning when I was by myself but things didn't pick up until I joined forces with someone and we got credit for each other's kills. When you're not in a group, you only get credit for the ones you tag. If you're very unlucky, you could down 40 of them, but 20 would be credited to someone else. The patch notes on the PTR say that they are changing that quest so that you only have to kill 15 and it is reducing the energy cost of firing the cannon by half. It should make that quest better. I'm not sure how it got out of Beta that way. It's excruciating... Like the quest to control the super awesome looking cat to kill 50 wolvars in Sholazar... The cat that doesn't kill things any faster than I can kill them just by going into bear form and swiping 5-15 mobs at a time. And then there's the Apothecary quest in Zul'Drak... I can't tell you how many times I've gotten to adding the last ingredient and he's listed something that I've never seen before and there's only one of and, oh yeah, it's only found on the other side.
But the granddaddy, worst Wrath of the Lich King daily quest that I've found so far? It's the one for the Sons of Hodir where you have to harpoon a Wild Wrym and kill it while you're clinging to it's belly. You have to keep mashing the button (on a GCD) that tightens your grip while spamming a quick, small attack while the big attack is on cooldown and trying to dodge when he swipes at you but... Be careful... The big attack prevents you from dodging for about 5 seconds. Then at about 20-25% health, he switches over and you have to pry his jaw open and use a fatal strike that misses repeatedly. And... Yes... It does appear to be on a bit of a timer so don't take too long or you'll be unceremoniously dumped... Same if you lose your grip. I don't know if you would die from the fall because I'm on a druid and just pop into flying form on the way down. But I'm usually two minutes from the starting point and at low health after every attempt. It's never taken me less than 6 attempts and I've actually died from the quest at least 4 times.
That said... The quest line to open up the Sons of Hodir dailies is among the most fun quest lines I've ever done... Particularly one of the last quests... Where you're riding the drake with a harpoon in your hands and... Well... I won't spoil it for you. Trust me... It's fun. Do that quest line.
In other news, my death knight is almost 75 (About 3% away) and I did the For the Horde achievement series in a PuG last night. There were some coordination issues and people who didn't get credit for various kills started bailing. By the time we got to Ironforge, we were down to about 30 people and the Alliance started defending the boss there. But we ground him down with about 15 people still standing, rezzed the dead and hopped a portal to Dalaran... And in the mailbox... A Black war bear. I've been meaning to buy one of those but... Free is good too. I'll have to take it to Undercity at some point to see if I can fit onto the elevator while mounted...
Monday, November 24, 2008
Lost Weekend
I've been playing both my druid and my death knight still. Right now I've got the third highest level character in the guild at 76 (or more appropriately, the third closest to 80). I actually did all of the started quests in Howling Fjord and in Borean Tundra. I wanted to do the D.H.E.T.A quest line but couldn't find their camp (plus I was exploring new areas and doing new quests... I couldn't help myself... New content!!!). By the time I did find it, I was close to completing enough quests to get the achievement for quests for Borean Tundra. So now I'm working Dragonblight and the mobs are level 71-72. They die really fast. Particularly with the new rank of Ravage I got critting for 4k and the new rank of Mangle I got at level 75. There are a lot of new quest types, believe it or not. I'm pleased with the variation in the quests (and the lack of collect X of item Y quests with crazy low drop rates). It can still be tough with people spawn camping but I've been able to get through everything. The next pass will be faster because I know where things are now.
As for the Death Knight... Well... She's a problem. My druid would be at 80 by now (although there's still a chance I can overtake the others on the 4th Thursday of November - I boycott the event so I have the whole day free) if not for her. She's been a lot of fun. I plowed through Hellfire, Zangarmarsh, Terokkar and Nagrand. It's a lot easier because I know where everything is. I hit level 68 after a few quests in Blade's Edge and went straight to Northrend. While I'm not getting any major upgrades (I've upgraded my boots, bracers and trinkets and have some shoulders that will be good when I decide to break my PvP 4 piece for my DPS set and some balance upgrandes... No tanking upgrades though) on my druid, pretty much everything piece of plate is an upgrade for my death knight.
Along the way, I did a couple of quests that gave me pretty nice one handers and I tried dual wielding them. I don't like it. It seems to reduce my DPS AND reduces my spell damage - which in turn reduces the amount of healing I get from death strike. Since runes are a limited resource, I want the most bang for my buck that I can get out of them. So after a level of playing with dual wielding (to make sure it wasn't just the low sword skills that were hurting me) I switched back to my axe of killing everything dead (I got a BoE green axe "of the beast" that I could equip at 67 that does 110 dps - it's 70's heroic drop quality) and have been much happier. I hit 70 on Sunday morning and promptly forgot to get her flying mount training. So I went back to Ebon Hold to buy the special death knight flying mount that scales with riding skill. It cost 950 gold PLUS the 800 gold for flying mount training but it's TOTALLY worth it. It's arguably the best mount in the game. And in seven more levels... I'm really going to enjoy it.
As for the Death Knight... Well... She's a problem. My druid would be at 80 by now (although there's still a chance I can overtake the others on the 4th Thursday of November - I boycott the event so I have the whole day free) if not for her. She's been a lot of fun. I plowed through Hellfire, Zangarmarsh, Terokkar and Nagrand. It's a lot easier because I know where everything is. I hit level 68 after a few quests in Blade's Edge and went straight to Northrend. While I'm not getting any major upgrades (I've upgraded my boots, bracers and trinkets and have some shoulders that will be good when I decide to break my PvP 4 piece for my DPS set and some balance upgrandes... No tanking upgrades though) on my druid, pretty much everything piece of plate is an upgrade for my death knight.
Along the way, I did a couple of quests that gave me pretty nice one handers and I tried dual wielding them. I don't like it. It seems to reduce my DPS AND reduces my spell damage - which in turn reduces the amount of healing I get from death strike. Since runes are a limited resource, I want the most bang for my buck that I can get out of them. So after a level of playing with dual wielding (to make sure it wasn't just the low sword skills that were hurting me) I switched back to my axe of killing everything dead (I got a BoE green axe "of the beast" that I could equip at 67 that does 110 dps - it's 70's heroic drop quality) and have been much happier. I hit 70 on Sunday morning and promptly forgot to get her flying mount training. So I went back to Ebon Hold to buy the special death knight flying mount that scales with riding skill. It cost 950 gold PLUS the 800 gold for flying mount training but it's TOTALLY worth it. It's arguably the best mount in the game. And in seven more levels... I'm really going to enjoy it.
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