Our Dragon Soul Progress

We got our first heroic kill (Morchoc) the other night, which felt good. We killed Deathwing a while ago, into the second or third week into Dragonsoul, but haven’t really started heroic modes until now. There is of course a lot of discussion of whether Blizzard made DS too easy, both in guild and in general. I try not to get into that discussion, because to me, it actually doesn’t matter what we do as long as we have fun together. When Cata was released, people complained that it was too hard to start with, now it’s too easy, it’s not possible to keep everyone happy anyway.

I have a friend on realm who is on a very casual guild where they try to raid during weekends, but without doing all the planning and organisation that a raiding guild needs to do. She told me they had heard so much about the level of easiness in DS that her guild thought they would give it a shot and maybe clear the first bosses. Well, they killed Morchoc (10 man, normal mode), but that was after 3,5 hours and with 2 people alive. And although they could not get pass trash on next boss, they were genuinely happy for their guild. We consider Morchoc on normal as an extension of boring trash mobs, so it’s hard to understand that, but that goes both ways. Our guild is not hardcore, but most of us were geared in Firelands Heroic gear, which made us rush through normal modes pretty fast. Gear helps, but it’s not everything, we have raid leaders that do their research (or pretend very well!) and lead us through the fights. My point is that for a casual guild without any real raid leaders, knowledge of tactics and low gear on top of that, Dragonsoul might not seem so faceroll.

The heroic modes aren’t, for sure. And I am ok with that, Dragonsoul is supposed to be the last raid before Pandarien, and we will need something to do before that. Farming for the sake of farming is fun the first weeks, then it gets repetitive and ends up in a bunch of Maelstrom Crystals.

Lootship taken using Far Sight spell

We sometimes still go back to Firelands to help last guildie get her legendary staff, and I can’t say I miss it. We ended on 5/7 heroic and although it would have been great to check off the two last, I never expected it. It’s usually like that in my guild, back in SSC Lady Vashj never died. In Ulduar, we banged our heads at Mimiron hard mode but never got to Algalon. In Wrath, we killed Sindarogosa on heroic, but not Lich King. And that’s ok. I know that if I really wanted that, I need to apply to a more hardcore guild. We have been in realm top 10 or right below most of the time, there was a time where we were crap and suffered at 27th or something like that, but we bounced back. At the end, to me, it’s more important enjoying the people you play with, have a laugh and be social rather than raiding 5 nights a week and always worry about not being good enough. I complete understand the ones who do, but I just wouldn’t have time. Or would want to have time 🙂

Thoughts on Dragonsoul? Heroic modes? Missing Firelands at all?

My Firelands “video” from our time there

Visiting Al

Sometimes it’s fun to re-do raids you completed ages ago, just for fun and social. I always hated Al’Akir because I, just like with Alyzrzor, have a problem moving out of hurricanes. But now that it’s easy mode, I like to go there. I also think Throne of the Four Winds is one of the most beautiful raids in game, just like the instance Vortex Pinnacle. All of out guild videos are to be found on YouTube, thanks to the lovely Elias. My favourite is still the video above, from our first meeting with Al’Akir when he was still one of the hardest bosses to kill. I love how fast we die 😀

Toooodles!

I know this iste has been terribly neglected all throughout July. Guild times and raid times have been a bit frustrating, progress (well, the lack of it), management, summer times… stuff like that. Seems management issues will change for the better soon, and we have at least killed one more boss in Firlands now. Also, with recent events in Norway, it hasn’t felt right for me to write about killing pixelated monsters really, not because it would be wrong but because my mind has been elsewhere. July has been a month of much rain, grief and sadness.

I welcome August and hoping for better times, both on this site and in general. For starters, I am going on holiday, as we speak I am staring at suitcase wondering how I can manage to cut down  its weight with 4 kilos? I only brought things I really NEED. I think…

Anyway, I am off to Egypt, have a lovely week 🙂

Stuff!

Sometimes I ask myself for how long I will play WoW, at least on the same basis as I’m doing now. Only thing I know is that it will probably (and hopefully?) not be forever.  I’m not planning to quit now, I’m having too much fun for that, but when that times comes I was planning on ordering an ego-copy of myself. For memories. Means something I can look at and think “why on earth did I bother spending such amount of time on that game”, but hopefully it will also remind me all the fun I had, and that I actually got several friends out of it. And no, not the pixellated friends who take your alt through Deadmines, but actual, real homo-sapien friends you have dinner and do actual rl-stuff with.

You have maybe heard of, maybe even visited, FigurePrints. Personally I have earlier found it a bit too expensive to actually place an order, but the prices are now reduced (from 170 to 130 Euro).  If you are the proud owner of a toon that you want to see shaped into stone you will also probably want some better gear than those green-of-the-boar leggings which makes your ass look big. This is also FigurePrints conclusion, because lately they have added an option where you either can choose your own gear, updated from Armory, or pick another armor set. Were you a hardcore Vanilla raider, had full t3 set and would like to remember your toon from the glorious days when you had the time of your life before Blizz messed it all up? You got it!

I’m obviously not the only one who is considering purchasing some WoW effects to cheer up my home, there are tons of stuff out there!

How about a shirt for the doggy? Jewelery for your sweetheart? Soap for the bathroom? Or, mana / health energy drinks to get you through those long wip.. uhm I mean raid nights /nod. If nothing else, would be a fun present for a friend who is also trapped into this hobby we call World of Warcraft.

I also found a selection of plush animals, and have to admit I am very attracted to the voidwalker one. And how cute isn’t the baby murlock??

Gimme, please

Shooting Stars

Ever since Ulduar was released, I thought the title Starcaller was one of the prettiest titles in game. I killed Yogg-Saron on both 10 and 15 man when he (it?) was the newest boss in game, and it’s still one of the fights I remember best. We also had a 10 man group going for hardmodes so we could kill Algalon the Observer, who spawns after completing several hard modes. After engaged, you’ll have one hour to kill him before he despawns.

However, the Mimiron hard mode fight was too hard for us at that time, and after pushing the button over and over, our raid leader went into frenzy mode, followed by enrage and /gquit. We were all so fed up with whole place and situation, so when ToC came out few weeks later, we moved on and didn’t look back. Until now, where we thought it would be a good idea to go back, faceroll through the hard modes and put Algalon to his final rest.

Even though it was really not a huge challenge, I loved the fight, I think it’s one of the prettiest bossfights I have been to, shiny (deadly) stars, glows and sparkles all over. I also love how, when the boss is dead and you hand in the quest item he drops, the Dalaran sky lights up for some seconds, and you see the stars above the city. Oh. So. Pretty.

Before

After

 

Just in time for big numbers…

…before Cataclysm, my great friend Simon got his Shadowmourne 😀 Grats!

Simon is one of the guildies I feel I know the best, sometimes it feels like we come from different planets, but most of the time we have lame conversations about random topics:

Simon is also the one who made me aware of a great video, about fury warriors in pvp. Very sarcastic, kinda funny. Recommended 😀 You just can’t deny the numbers!

 

Nudazhan!

I love Karazhan. It was my first raid instance in my first raiding guild. I had just being accepted on a trial,  and was doing dailies out on the island when I got a whisper from one of the officers “hey wanna come Kara? We need one more ranged”. I was horrified, my hands were ice-cold and heart beating. What if I messed up? What if I got kicked from guild for lack of dps? However, I joined and had so much fun, one of the best WoW nights ever. Back then Kara was still pretty hard stuff, so we cleared half place and everyone were really pleased about that. I got two new weapons and my first tier piece. Also, the officer whispered me afterwards and said I had done a great job, I know it might sound ridiculous, but I felt really proud and happy.

Later on, with higher level gear, we arranged “Kara Friday drunk runs”, where we pulled pretty much room by room and cleared the place in some hours, while people got drunker and Vent conversations got funnier. Good times.

No armor allowed, at least none with stats on

 

Remember how hard this used to hit?

I still try to go there every once in a while, just for the first boss to see if he drops his mount. No luck so far. However, the other day we had a cancelled raid and decided to arrange a Kara nude run, meaning you have to start naked, with no armor or weapons, and you can only equip what drops in there. I have never heard so much excitement over green loot, “oooomg! Leather bracers +10 spirit, GIEF!”, and the epics from the bosses were mostly welcomed. Great fun, and can be recommended on a  raid-free night 😀

Result: gray bracers, green shoes and gloves and epic, shiny mace!

 

Victory!

Ow yes! (approved by Kimani :p)

We killed ugly bugly Lich King some days ago, for mnay it’s probably “yeah big deal, join the club bla bla”, but I had only killed him on 10man before, and it was so nice to have it done before Cataclysm. W had a bad summer in the guild, where people wanted to watch the World Cup (whyyyyy?), going on holidays etc, so first now that summer is gone we managed to get our 25mans back on track. So grats to us! Also going to add the second part of the video we recorded, probably very boring for people who are not in guild, but since some guildies are so nice to visit my blog, I’m posting it anyway. Yay!

Standing Still

Wild evening. Sitting on bench in Dalaran wearing fishing outfit. Wohoo.

Lately, I have been really bored in WoW. Our raids seem to get cancelled a lot more than they happen. People don’t seem to care anymore. Some months ago lots of people failed on their 2 weeks trial in guild, and there were always more sign ups than raid spots. Now  we recruit people with no experience, gear or, in some cases, skills. I log in to WoW and don’t do much more than check some auctions or just standing in Dalaran chatting to people from friend list. Doing a 10 man raid just makes we want to zzzz, well that pretty much goes for whole if Icecrown, 10 or 25. The new dragon Halion from Ruby Sanctum was exciting the first week, haven’t seen him much since.

The most sad thing is that people are starting to leave not only the guild, but the game itself. And even though you have never really met them, they leave this huge gaps that are hard to fill (This goes especially for you, Mick, if you should read this). Today our up until now GM decided it was time to leave game, which actually made my eyes a bit wet, and I have been feeling down rest of evening. There are still a lot of great people in-game, and I really hope I will see them for a lot longer time.

Yes. I drew it myself, dont mock it 😛

Even though I can be hung on same things for a reeeally long time (I played Tetris every day for 3 years), hanging out in Dalaran doesn’t really give me that much anymore. But still, the thought of quitting WoW has not got to me yet. I am still looking forward to Cataclysm, and I hope that magical feeling will get back. I have been playing for nearly 5 years now, and the game and me have been through quite a lot together, when you think about it:

4 guilds (King’s Elite, the Night Watch, Barry Manilows (!), Crescent Dawn)

2  main characters (#1 deadly hunter, #2 lovely shammy)

4 appartements (slightly nerfed each time, shouldn’t it be other way??)

3 cars (blue Skoda,  old Mazda,  new Mazda)

4  computers (upgraded each time, got that one right at least)

3  jobs (all boring ones, not worth mentioning)

3 studies (still not on right track, and still waiting to practice that Russian)

3 broadbands (Telenor ftw)

2  hair colours (#1 my own, #2 “brown mahogany” which obviously is another word for deep purple?)

2 relationships (#1 good riddance, #2 still hurts like hell sometimes)

1 pet (love of my life)

2 beta keys (love you long time, Blizz)

2 expansions (soon 3!)

I guess WoW is one of the few things in my life that has been constantly the last 5 years, which makes be both a bit sad and freaked out. Seems like my longest relationship ever has been with a bunch of pixels!  On the other hand, I have met some wonderful people through this game, and several of them I have met and got to know in real life also. And quite a few I really hope I will meet in the (nearest) future. So to summon up this somehow messy post, big thanks to you (you know who you are) for making game still enjoyable 🙂 xxx

Shark Attack

Speilberg created Jaws, Blizzard has Maws. Maws the Shark has (literally!) been my wet dream since I read about him on my wonderful friend Toms’s blog.  Always been fascinated by sharks, and would really like to go down in a shark cage once. He is last part of The Scepter of the Shifting Sands quest chain, and after helping Simon (who was mad enough to go for Loremaster) out in Blackrock Mountain, we finally got to kill him. You need a quest item to make him spawn somewhere in waters of Azhara (would be Assssscccchhhharaaaaaaaaahh!!! pronounced  à la Elise), he used to be quite easy even back in Vanilla, where you could kill him with a team of 15 raid members. We were 4 people and killed him so fast I had to ask people slow down on dps just to be able to make a screenshot. Poor Maws.

A new loremaster is born