I decided to move my blog to Wordpress. I really like their set up and interface much more than Blogger. I'm sorry the inconvenience this has caused, but it's a big part of being a fresh step for me as I try to focus more on writing.
The new blog is at
spinningcranekick.wordpress.com
I hope to see you all there!
Monday, November 5, 2012
Saturday, October 27, 2012
Woes and Hoes
LFR and Stupidity
Feng.
I hate you.
I remember a long time ago I was flabbergasted by the easiness of LFR and wondered if Blizz really thought players were that stupid. Then I did Feng and realized they may have been right. Can people just simply not run out of the raids when DBM yells at them?!?!?!?!?!? Can they not spread out? Can they not realize that big explosions are bad?!?!?! WHY!?
Every LFR I've done has involved a wipe on Feng. Good groups have only wiped once. Bad groups never get past it. Other crippling factors include low dps and low heals. And if I see one more DPS Bear I might stab them.
Grinding. Grinding. Grinding.
I'm worn out. And not because the game sucks or has no content. It has too much content. Everyday I log on and feel pressured to do dailies. The dailies are varied enough, but it's a hour long chore session no matter how I look at it. Some of the dailies are fun though. The Rolling one...OMG. I did it over and over again, giggling because it was some of the best fun I'd had in a while. I also enjoyed the Onyx Serpent one where you jump from drake to drake. It reminds me of Northrend, but it's still fun to be grappling around.
Raiding
I'm in a very close knit guild, who has seen rough times and thinning ranks. A few of us want to start raiding but we're having problems getting some people to commit. They either keep changing their main, won't run dungeons unless we are running them (and they do horrible dps), or say they'll be on but not show on. It's frustrating and is making one point clearly obvious- we are going to have to start recruiting.
I don't know how I feel about this, if it's at all possible. We don't even have a set raid going on, how can we build our ranks with nothing.
My problem is more on trust. I have a hard time trusting new people in game, especially those who are not friends of friends. I've been burned too many times for being open, and I'll be damned if that happens again. We haven't had to recruit in a real long time, so it'll be interesting to see if how this all pans out.
That guy
Have you ever had someone in your group/guild/raid who is just a bad player?
And you can't just exlude him because he's also a close friend of someone vitally important in the guild. So you're basically stuck with him.
I've never really considered myself an elitist, but I definitely have my moments. I did a long time ago when I was raiding with a group of friends. We had a healer who was not exactly very good. Part of it was he just didn't care as much as the rest of it. I'm not sure what part was exactly skill. His numbers were far below mine and our priest, but he still did enough that it wasn't entirely hopeless. That and the priest was a great healer too. I think my only real problem with him was that he always asked who to beacon. Hell if I know, I'm a druid.
This new guy is a whole set of different problems. He is the definition of tunnel vision, but even when that's okay, he still doesn't pull off the numbers he needs to be. What's even more disturbing is that instead of trying to fix the problem, he immediately blames the class and decides to level another alt. He has about 6 alts or so.
I'm trying to convince my raid leader/his friend that it might be best to have him DPS...as a mage...in a corner. But he thinks that as a healer, he'd be less of a problem. As a healer being told that I think I almost faceplanted on my keyboard.
It's also bad enough that during a LFR run, said bad player was called out in the raid and then effectively and loudly kicked. In LFR...
At least it's not all in my head.
When we do finally start raiding, I'll get to see how it all plays out. I'm pretty much in charge of healers, but I've been in this position before, and I almost lost my mind. I'm not good with people not doing their part.
Ultimately, there is a plus side. The player this time is actually dedicated (last guy wasn't so much, which was part of the reason why he sucked), and willing to help. And I can appreciate that.
But is there a line to draw in the sand?
Carrying people is no fun for the people involved.
Farming Master
I farmed up and fished up and finally got my Master of the Ways title. Basically you must master every branch of cooking to gain the title. This is done by leveling the branch from 550-600 and it's a separate skill level outside of cooking. There's one for each main stat, so there's five of them. The amount of meat, veggies and fish needed for each one was quite a bit, and even converting extra meat and veggies to Ironpaw tokens to get what you need is an inefficient method. So I farmed and fished and got this badass title that I think fits a monk perfectly.
I'm actually impressed with the fluidity of the Tillers and the extensiveness of the Cooking this time around. It's a bit of a grind, but now I'm faced with getting 50 Ironpaw tokens to buy my Cooking Bell, which supposedly has MORE dailies, as I teach another the ways of the kitchen. Kinda cool. Just gotta get them damn tokens. :(
Reputation Update
So I am exalted with the Cloud Serpents, Tillers, and Golden Lotus. I did realize that I had worn myself out a lot by doing so many dailies, so I only do three, which may seem like a lot, but it mostly feels like just 2 long ones. The Anglers and the August Celestials are not that long so together they equal one Golden Lotus imo. Man that daily chain was a drag. So glad to be done with that. Shado-pan are okay. They're a but long just because there's a decent amount of traveling. I don't particularly enjoy them, but the ultimate reward will be worth it.
Hopefully, when we start raiding, I'll be feeling happier.
Feng.
I hate you.
I remember a long time ago I was flabbergasted by the easiness of LFR and wondered if Blizz really thought players were that stupid. Then I did Feng and realized they may have been right. Can people just simply not run out of the raids when DBM yells at them?!?!?!?!?!? Can they not spread out? Can they not realize that big explosions are bad?!?!?! WHY!?
Every LFR I've done has involved a wipe on Feng. Good groups have only wiped once. Bad groups never get past it. Other crippling factors include low dps and low heals. And if I see one more DPS Bear I might stab them.
Grinding. Grinding. Grinding.
I'm worn out. And not because the game sucks or has no content. It has too much content. Everyday I log on and feel pressured to do dailies. The dailies are varied enough, but it's a hour long chore session no matter how I look at it. Some of the dailies are fun though. The Rolling one...OMG. I did it over and over again, giggling because it was some of the best fun I'd had in a while. I also enjoyed the Onyx Serpent one where you jump from drake to drake. It reminds me of Northrend, but it's still fun to be grappling around.
Raiding
I'm in a very close knit guild, who has seen rough times and thinning ranks. A few of us want to start raiding but we're having problems getting some people to commit. They either keep changing their main, won't run dungeons unless we are running them (and they do horrible dps), or say they'll be on but not show on. It's frustrating and is making one point clearly obvious- we are going to have to start recruiting.
I don't know how I feel about this, if it's at all possible. We don't even have a set raid going on, how can we build our ranks with nothing.
My problem is more on trust. I have a hard time trusting new people in game, especially those who are not friends of friends. I've been burned too many times for being open, and I'll be damned if that happens again. We haven't had to recruit in a real long time, so it'll be interesting to see if how this all pans out.
That guy
Have you ever had someone in your group/guild/raid who is just a bad player?
And you can't just exlude him because he's also a close friend of someone vitally important in the guild. So you're basically stuck with him.
I've never really considered myself an elitist, but I definitely have my moments. I did a long time ago when I was raiding with a group of friends. We had a healer who was not exactly very good. Part of it was he just didn't care as much as the rest of it. I'm not sure what part was exactly skill. His numbers were far below mine and our priest, but he still did enough that it wasn't entirely hopeless. That and the priest was a great healer too. I think my only real problem with him was that he always asked who to beacon. Hell if I know, I'm a druid.
This new guy is a whole set of different problems. He is the definition of tunnel vision, but even when that's okay, he still doesn't pull off the numbers he needs to be. What's even more disturbing is that instead of trying to fix the problem, he immediately blames the class and decides to level another alt. He has about 6 alts or so.
I'm trying to convince my raid leader/his friend that it might be best to have him DPS...as a mage...in a corner. But he thinks that as a healer, he'd be less of a problem. As a healer being told that I think I almost faceplanted on my keyboard.
It's also bad enough that during a LFR run, said bad player was called out in the raid and then effectively and loudly kicked. In LFR...
At least it's not all in my head.
When we do finally start raiding, I'll get to see how it all plays out. I'm pretty much in charge of healers, but I've been in this position before, and I almost lost my mind. I'm not good with people not doing their part.
Ultimately, there is a plus side. The player this time is actually dedicated (last guy wasn't so much, which was part of the reason why he sucked), and willing to help. And I can appreciate that.
But is there a line to draw in the sand?
Carrying people is no fun for the people involved.
Farming Master
I farmed up and fished up and finally got my Master of the Ways title. Basically you must master every branch of cooking to gain the title. This is done by leveling the branch from 550-600 and it's a separate skill level outside of cooking. There's one for each main stat, so there's five of them. The amount of meat, veggies and fish needed for each one was quite a bit, and even converting extra meat and veggies to Ironpaw tokens to get what you need is an inefficient method. So I farmed and fished and got this badass title that I think fits a monk perfectly.
I'm actually impressed with the fluidity of the Tillers and the extensiveness of the Cooking this time around. It's a bit of a grind, but now I'm faced with getting 50 Ironpaw tokens to buy my Cooking Bell, which supposedly has MORE dailies, as I teach another the ways of the kitchen. Kinda cool. Just gotta get them damn tokens. :(
Reputation Update
So I am exalted with the Cloud Serpents, Tillers, and Golden Lotus. I did realize that I had worn myself out a lot by doing so many dailies, so I only do three, which may seem like a lot, but it mostly feels like just 2 long ones. The Anglers and the August Celestials are not that long so together they equal one Golden Lotus imo. Man that daily chain was a drag. So glad to be done with that. Shado-pan are okay. They're a but long just because there's a decent amount of traveling. I don't particularly enjoy them, but the ultimate reward will be worth it.
Hopefully, when we start raiding, I'll be feeling happier.
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
The Endgame Lifestyle: Farmville Style
So I've been 90 for about three week now. The life of an endgame player besides heroics and raiding basically just includes dailies. I've been working on professions for my Monk and some pet battling since I'm a secret Pokemon-holic, but I find that in general, a good portion of my time goes towards dailies.
A few days ago, I finished The Order of the Cloud Serpent. In general, gaining Exalted was extremely easy. I only had to farm a few eggs as well, and that was all luck and casual glancing. I was rewarded with three gorgeous Cloud Serpents.
I did like the way this mount grind was handled. It was fun watching my Serpent grow up, finding food for it, picking up its poop and playing catch with it. Not a bad set up. The race was kind of weird because I wasn't quite sure what direction the course was. The balloons can be difficult to spot, and they vary in height differences. The cloud rings are another clue, but they're are so many and also in varying height that it can be difficult to figure out. I won 2nd place on my first try though, so must not be too hard.
One down. Six more to go.
I've been very vigilant in doing my Order of the Cloud Serpent, Golden Lotus, Tillers and Anglers dailies everyday. So when I finished Order, I thought that I could pursue Klaxxi. But then I reached revered with Golden Lotus...and Shado-Pan AND August Celestials opened up.
Dailies are basically consuming my WoW time and I'm starting to despise it. They aren't particularly hard to do and their varied enough from day to day, but each hub has between 4-8 dailies and it gets annoying at times. If I have limited amount of time online, like Wednesday when I'm at school most of the day, I feel pressure to log on and do dailies. It's not particularly enjoyable.
It still bothers me that both Rep and Valor Points are needed for the gear. I remember Blizz wanting people to be able to earn gear the way they wanted to. That's why we're getting Valor doing dailies. However, requiring rep forces people to do dailies, so I don't see how this ideal is achieved. But then again, this was back in Blizzcon 2011. Long time ago.
Farmer B*tch
I reached Tillers tonight, which I was particularly excited about. I can't believe I'm saying this, but my absolute favorite side thing to do is my farm. Well...Yoon's farm. He sucks at farming because he's a city boy (who knew pandas could be city boys), so I have to do everything. Thus, it's mine in my mind. I plant everything, fight off the wild vines, hoplings and birds. I pick the weeds off, pull up the runty plants, water and apply pesticide. Then I harvest them and do the entire thing over again.
On paper it just seems so monotonous and silly. But I love it. I get some sort of calm tending to my farm for a few minutes. I like seeing the crops I yield, what I can cook with them etc. It's silly. It's crazy. It's awesome.
So I after reaching Exalted, I went and purchased my fancy Riding Goat. I have mixed feelings about the mount. He seems... Small. Ish. I guess I expected him to be larger than a ram, which his model is made after, but he's still kinda neat. I don't regret not purchasing all three.
I also fully cleared out the junk on my farm, so I have 16 plots to grow yield crops on every day. Which is gonna help out alot, because the amount of crops I need to level and make Banquets for raiding is ridiculous.
A few days ago, I finished The Order of the Cloud Serpent. In general, gaining Exalted was extremely easy. I only had to farm a few eggs as well, and that was all luck and casual glancing. I was rewarded with three gorgeous Cloud Serpents.
 |
| From eggy. |
 |
| To hatchling. |
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| To Mount! Huzzah! |
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| I named her Sherbert. Reminds me of delicious sherbert. |
One down. Six more to go.
I've been very vigilant in doing my Order of the Cloud Serpent, Golden Lotus, Tillers and Anglers dailies everyday. So when I finished Order, I thought that I could pursue Klaxxi. But then I reached revered with Golden Lotus...and Shado-Pan AND August Celestials opened up.
Dailies are basically consuming my WoW time and I'm starting to despise it. They aren't particularly hard to do and their varied enough from day to day, but each hub has between 4-8 dailies and it gets annoying at times. If I have limited amount of time online, like Wednesday when I'm at school most of the day, I feel pressure to log on and do dailies. It's not particularly enjoyable.
It still bothers me that both Rep and Valor Points are needed for the gear. I remember Blizz wanting people to be able to earn gear the way they wanted to. That's why we're getting Valor doing dailies. However, requiring rep forces people to do dailies, so I don't see how this ideal is achieved. But then again, this was back in Blizzcon 2011. Long time ago.
Farmer B*tch
I reached Tillers tonight, which I was particularly excited about. I can't believe I'm saying this, but my absolute favorite side thing to do is my farm. Well...Yoon's farm. He sucks at farming because he's a city boy (who knew pandas could be city boys), so I have to do everything. Thus, it's mine in my mind. I plant everything, fight off the wild vines, hoplings and birds. I pick the weeds off, pull up the runty plants, water and apply pesticide. Then I harvest them and do the entire thing over again.
On paper it just seems so monotonous and silly. But I love it. I get some sort of calm tending to my farm for a few minutes. I like seeing the crops I yield, what I can cook with them etc. It's silly. It's crazy. It's awesome.
So I after reaching Exalted, I went and purchased my fancy Riding Goat. I have mixed feelings about the mount. He seems... Small. Ish. I guess I expected him to be larger than a ram, which his model is made after, but he's still kinda neat. I don't regret not purchasing all three.
I also fully cleared out the junk on my farm, so I have 16 plots to grow yield crops on every day. Which is gonna help out alot, because the amount of crops I need to level and make Banquets for raiding is ridiculous.
 |
| Being accepted into the Tillers. |
 | |
| 16 Plots to waste time on. |
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| Not as cool as my Terrible Turnip. It'll do. |
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| The Farmer Hayate Squad |
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Weaving the Mists: A Look at the Mistweaver Monk
I have been healing on my monk for about 2 weeks now. While leveling, I really only did the normals once each, and have only spent this week running heroics.
The difficulty has fluctuated for me immensely, depending on who's the tank (video reference for you, Aba), what the DPS is like/doing, and what dungeon is. Most of the time I enjoy it, but other times, I feel like I'm pulling my teeth out. I will say that when I do pull my group out of a tight bind, or do something pretty impressive, I feel that exhileration I used to get from healing on my druid. That's always a warm feeling. Unfortunately, I can't tell if it's when I just happen to do something right, or if I really am making a bad situation good.
Although...me being a monk might be a bad situation. :P
The difficulty has fluctuated for me immensely, depending on who's the tank (video reference for you, Aba), what the DPS is like/doing, and what dungeon is. Most of the time I enjoy it, but other times, I feel like I'm pulling my teeth out. I will say that when I do pull my group out of a tight bind, or do something pretty impressive, I feel that exhileration I used to get from healing on my druid. That's always a warm feeling. Unfortunately, I can't tell if it's when I just happen to do something right, or if I really am making a bad situation good.
Although...me being a monk might be a bad situation. :P
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Hotfix for the Lazy
I got into (and then was flat out ignored) a disagreement yesterday over Blizzard's recent hotfix for reputation gear.
Blizzard recently took away the requirement of reputation to purchase Justice Point gear, and ultimately lowered the Valor Point gear to Honored reputation, to make it more accessible.
A couple people in my guild immediately started crying unfair, complaining that Blizzard is once again catering to the *gasp* casuals, and boo hoo, that's just ridiculous. I immediately jumped to Blizz's defense on this, mostly because I felt the system was originally unfair.
1.) Anyone whose 90 knows that the sheer amount of reputation and factions is crazy. Upon reaching level 90 you are bombarded with dailies. Having to grind them out to access a couple of Justice Point pieces for each faction seems excessive. Doing quests for all areas doesn't necessarily bring you to the reputation you need. I think the only Honored reputation I have achieved by sheer questing was The Klaxxi, and even this was well after I hit 90.
2.) You still need to farm Justice Points. Blizzard is not handing out free rares. They still require a form of currency that requires a bit of farming. While factions in the past have offered rares and even epics, that required reputation, they did not require Justice Points, but gold. By combining the two in Mists of Pandaria, you are putting an entirely new bar that is difficult to pass. They are basically just replacing one requirement with another, but people fail to see that.
3.) Dailies and quests are the only way to gain reputation for these factions. There are no tabards and as far as I know, dungeons don't give rep the way they did in BC.
4.) Blizzard is a company. They are going to cater to the "casuals" because Blizzard wants money and "casuals" make up something like 80-90% of their player base. Sorry, and you can accuse Blizz of being rich greedy bastards, but the reality is that money makes the world go round, allows them to maintain the game and help them create new ones. It also pays for people to live. You know...
So the conversation was basically me saying the above and them getting to a point where they flat out ignored me. They start boo-hooing and comparing the situation to getting a college degree. QQ I went to college but it don't mean nothing, only the connections I make. I work hard but people who have better connections then me get better jobs. The part about connections is partially true, but being educated can still be extremely beneficial. Companies will still, in most cases, choose a college degree over a high school one. And what is this about working hard. People who make connections might work really hard in finding them and maintaining them. Some people bullshit their way through college and don't work hard at all. It's life people. It's unfair.
Despite the money and time I have put into my degree, its definitely not something I will regret, even if I'm still working my retail job for years to come. I've learned a lot and I want that for my children. I need to set an example.
I think the real question here is why did Blizzard even try this system out if they were going to hotfix it so quickly. I mean, sure this entire expansion has the feel of "Well...there wasn't enough endgame in Cata you say?!?!?! BWAHHAAHHAHAH HERE YA GO!" but setting a bar on earning gear seemed a bit odd. I understand having rep or justice points but both seemed excessive. It definitely didn't surprise me when Blizz changed it. It has nothing to do with giving gear to lazy players. Some players might run one dungeon but with good luck, get the drops they need. This solution to a problem is something, really noone should be freaking out over. It's not even epic gear.
Ultimately, one of the guys asked where he could do Shado-Pan dailies. I told him they didn't unlock until after he reached Revered with The Golden Lotus. He immediately cried "bullshit" and stormed off(line).
Blizzard recently took away the requirement of reputation to purchase Justice Point gear, and ultimately lowered the Valor Point gear to Honored reputation, to make it more accessible.
A couple people in my guild immediately started crying unfair, complaining that Blizzard is once again catering to the *gasp* casuals, and boo hoo, that's just ridiculous. I immediately jumped to Blizz's defense on this, mostly because I felt the system was originally unfair.
1.) Anyone whose 90 knows that the sheer amount of reputation and factions is crazy. Upon reaching level 90 you are bombarded with dailies. Having to grind them out to access a couple of Justice Point pieces for each faction seems excessive. Doing quests for all areas doesn't necessarily bring you to the reputation you need. I think the only Honored reputation I have achieved by sheer questing was The Klaxxi, and even this was well after I hit 90.
2.) You still need to farm Justice Points. Blizzard is not handing out free rares. They still require a form of currency that requires a bit of farming. While factions in the past have offered rares and even epics, that required reputation, they did not require Justice Points, but gold. By combining the two in Mists of Pandaria, you are putting an entirely new bar that is difficult to pass. They are basically just replacing one requirement with another, but people fail to see that.
3.) Dailies and quests are the only way to gain reputation for these factions. There are no tabards and as far as I know, dungeons don't give rep the way they did in BC.
4.) Blizzard is a company. They are going to cater to the "casuals" because Blizzard wants money and "casuals" make up something like 80-90% of their player base. Sorry, and you can accuse Blizz of being rich greedy bastards, but the reality is that money makes the world go round, allows them to maintain the game and help them create new ones. It also pays for people to live. You know...
So the conversation was basically me saying the above and them getting to a point where they flat out ignored me. They start boo-hooing and comparing the situation to getting a college degree. QQ I went to college but it don't mean nothing, only the connections I make. I work hard but people who have better connections then me get better jobs. The part about connections is partially true, but being educated can still be extremely beneficial. Companies will still, in most cases, choose a college degree over a high school one. And what is this about working hard. People who make connections might work really hard in finding them and maintaining them. Some people bullshit their way through college and don't work hard at all. It's life people. It's unfair.
Despite the money and time I have put into my degree, its definitely not something I will regret, even if I'm still working my retail job for years to come. I've learned a lot and I want that for my children. I need to set an example.
I think the real question here is why did Blizzard even try this system out if they were going to hotfix it so quickly. I mean, sure this entire expansion has the feel of "Well...there wasn't enough endgame in Cata you say?!?!?! BWAHHAAHHAHAH HERE YA GO!" but setting a bar on earning gear seemed a bit odd. I understand having rep or justice points but both seemed excessive. It definitely didn't surprise me when Blizz changed it. It has nothing to do with giving gear to lazy players. Some players might run one dungeon but with good luck, get the drops they need. This solution to a problem is something, really noone should be freaking out over. It's not even epic gear.
Ultimately, one of the guys asked where he could do Shado-Pan dailies. I told him they didn't unlock until after he reached Revered with The Golden Lotus. He immediately cried "bullshit" and stormed off(line).
Monday, October 1, 2012
Ding Dong Dailies
I ding.
And dailies appeared. Holy crap....man am I pissed.
I get it. Need lots of end game content to keep the Cataclysm naysayers down. But holy crap! I did 25 dailies from just three quest hubs. When am i going to have time to do all this.
Sure they give VP... but I need rep done for factions to actually GET the items. x_x seriously. I can't win! JP is the same. You need at least honored. Which doesn't seem to bad until you see how much rep you are getting.
You need to be at least Honored (? might be revered) with The Golden Lotus to access Shado-Pan and the August Celestials. I did the quests last night and I'm still neutral. And these dailies were the bulk of the 25 I had finished. When I saw 150 rep earned every time I turned something in, I think I died a little inside.
These just add to the fact that I also have two areas to complete, Townlong Steppes and the Dread Wastes, as well as heroics and scenarios I need to start runing. My brain hurts. My mind hurts.
Alts? What alts?
No time for alts.
Luckily, and by unfortunate circumstances, I am looking at a long weekend off, so I can attend to certain things.
1.) I need to raise professions. I'm still not sure which ones to do, but I think I might want to do atleast Jewelcrafting to help bring in some gold.
2.) Finish Townlong Steppes and Dread Wastes. Besides the achievements, and a sense of accomplishment, I also need the gear and rep.
3.) Work on my UI. Part of being comfortable as a healer is having a stellar UI set up. Make fun all you want about my use of addons, but when I'm comfortable, I'm on fire. Trying out WeakAuras instead of Power Auras and testing out Pet addons just for funsies.
4.) Gear. I need to gear. Run heroics and scenarios. Gear. -_-
5.) Get Monk Healing down. As I had expected, I'm struggling a little with mana and chi management. But I'm determined to get it. >.<
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Mists of Pandaria: First Impressions- Screenshot Edition
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| Pandas Pandas Pandas! |
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| You...uh...got something there...on your hands... |
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| I'll wear what he's wearing... |
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| The Hozen stole his eyes, bow and killed his pet. :( |
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| My family tree according to a Panda |
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| And my goblin's tree...everyone's on fire for some reason. |
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| Best. Glyph. Everrrrrr! |
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| Pretttayyy |
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| Baby Tauren are cute... |
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| until you look into their eyes..... |
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| Best. Land Mount. EVERRRRRRRRR! |
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| Taking my new mount to the |
Friday, September 28, 2012
Mists of Pandaria: Quick Update and First Impressions
I've been meaning to post about the my pre-expansion woes, namely trying to decide my class for Mists of Pandaria. It's a long, drab post that noone should be forced to read, so I'll give the summary here.
I was going to roll the hunter first, but realized that not only did I want to heal, but I was probably going to need to. I'm extremely unhappy with the state of druid heals, which was also complimented by the fact that I don't care for any of the other specs. The problem with the hunter is obviously that it is a dps only class. I have a priest, but we already will have a priest, and I have a shaman but we have two shamans. I know it sounds silly to base my choice on rounding out our group composition, but the truth is, we have such a small group, I can't help but think about these things.
So in the end, I did decide to reroll Monk. So far I am completely satisfied with the decision. The healing is quite unique and will take some getting used to, but I hope to challenge myself and eventually own at it. I also really enjoy the dps play style and love a lot of the abilities given to me.
#MistsLaunch
Because I live in California, I did go to the Mists Launch event at the Irvine Spectrum. It was much less crowded compared to the Diablo III launch. This is probably why I got so much free loot. Not only did I walk away with free t-shirts, a Steel Series mouse pad, and two MegaBloks Chen Stormstout Jade Figures, but my boyfriend managed to grab one of the free Intel Solid State 520 Series Hard drives. Yeah. Totally worth it. Here's a picture.
The event was much better handled too. While I completely admire and respect the artwork that the Blizzard team does, having to watch 30 mins of them draw wasn't as fun as watching two Challenge Mode groups. I often times forget how much I love eSports. I was watching the SCII finals at BlizzCon 2011, and I had no idea what was going on. But it was incredibly intense and so much fun. Same with the Arena tournament. Having an MC tell you what's going on helps a lot. And even though the Challenge Mode MC was mostly talking about "clutch heals" the entire time, it was still one of the more exhilarating events of the night.
It was fun seeing Felicia Day. She's always a pleasure and I'm excited for her career and the new season of The Guild. And hearing Chris Metzen talk in his non Thrall voice was nice for a change. The cosplaying was alright. After they showed the people they brought in for it, the extras they added were difficult to see from my vantage point. I'm still always amazed at how people are able to make these costumes. More than I could ever do. And just when you think you've seen the best, someone else shows you that you're wrong.
Overall, it was a wonderful experience and well worth it. I was extremely excited for MoP and being surrounded by people who also were was just as exciting.
The Mists Part
So, first thing I did was roll a monk. We had one level 80 from our RAF play, so we needed to get my monk to level 41 at the lowest. With triple experience, that really isn't hard to do. My boyfriend rolled a pally so we could tank/heal our way through dungeons. It was funny because that seemed like everyone's plan. We actually got better queues with him as a dps, and we ended up in groups entirely comprised of monks. That was no surprise but it still hurt my eyes to see so much jade green. The class color for monk really hurts my eyes.
I had prepared somewhat extensively for my 80 monk pre-expansion. I made bags, all the available glyphs, and had to gather some proper iLevel greens. It's harder said then done; I actually just recently, in MoP was able to find trinkets that were of appropriate level, and a lot of greens were outrageously priced. Damn you transmog.
So I spent the last night leveling my monk through Cataclysm.
Man. Do I hate Cataclysm leveling.
I don't really know why. It's much more linear and easier than, say the Burning Crusade. But man....I just hate it.
Despite that, I was able to bite the bullet and make it to 85 in one night. It helps that the Monk's class quests give them a 50% experience buff, and there is a daily to redo it. Since I could do the quest at different levels I just made sure to have the buff on the entire time I leveled. Despite my mediocre gear, my DPS was high enough that I didn't struggle and rushed through 80-85 in about 4 hours tops.
Afterwards, I finally got to go to Jade Forest. I have to say, I really enjoyed the opening quests. I felt like I was thrust into a war, and it felt exciting. Explosions everywhere, killing Alliance, jumping off airships with ropes. I could get used to this. Of course, it did settle down a bit, as quests focused more on exploring Pandaria and introducing its inhabitants.
My boyfriend mentioned last night that he felt they had added extra voice acting because of SWTOR and GW2. There are also a considerable amount of cinematics and scenes where you play out a part in a skit. They are entertaining and although I've spent a fairly small amount of time with them, I've enjoyed the company of the small Horde contingency that you work with in Jade Forest. The voice acting is good; I particularly liked the undead female. While of course, the "storylines" are nothing new; we saw a lot of that in Cataclysm; the extra voice acting definitely is.
So far, I love Mists. You can truly tell that Blizz put a lot of content in this expansion. I truly think they learned a valuable lesson in Cataclysm, and it shows in this new content. The more things I discover, the more I realize that there is just so much to do. From rares, to rare items, scrolls, factions, leveling, dungeons, gearing....I don't know when I'm going to have time for this.
At the moment...
I'm almost 89. It's amazing to think I'm almost level cap and have done barely 3 areas. Once that is over, I need to get my monk's professions and reputations going. It's back to the daily grind. I'm almost going to post my thoughts on monk healing so far, sometime in the near future. I'm not doing well at this blog update thing lately >.<
I was going to roll the hunter first, but realized that not only did I want to heal, but I was probably going to need to. I'm extremely unhappy with the state of druid heals, which was also complimented by the fact that I don't care for any of the other specs. The problem with the hunter is obviously that it is a dps only class. I have a priest, but we already will have a priest, and I have a shaman but we have two shamans. I know it sounds silly to base my choice on rounding out our group composition, but the truth is, we have such a small group, I can't help but think about these things.
So in the end, I did decide to reroll Monk. So far I am completely satisfied with the decision. The healing is quite unique and will take some getting used to, but I hope to challenge myself and eventually own at it. I also really enjoy the dps play style and love a lot of the abilities given to me.
#MistsLaunch
Because I live in California, I did go to the Mists Launch event at the Irvine Spectrum. It was much less crowded compared to the Diablo III launch. This is probably why I got so much free loot. Not only did I walk away with free t-shirts, a Steel Series mouse pad, and two MegaBloks Chen Stormstout Jade Figures, but my boyfriend managed to grab one of the free Intel Solid State 520 Series Hard drives. Yeah. Totally worth it. Here's a picture.
 | |
| /Loot! |
It was fun seeing Felicia Day. She's always a pleasure and I'm excited for her career and the new season of The Guild. And hearing Chris Metzen talk in his non Thrall voice was nice for a change. The cosplaying was alright. After they showed the people they brought in for it, the extras they added were difficult to see from my vantage point. I'm still always amazed at how people are able to make these costumes. More than I could ever do. And just when you think you've seen the best, someone else shows you that you're wrong.
Overall, it was a wonderful experience and well worth it. I was extremely excited for MoP and being surrounded by people who also were was just as exciting.
The Mists Part
So, first thing I did was roll a monk. We had one level 80 from our RAF play, so we needed to get my monk to level 41 at the lowest. With triple experience, that really isn't hard to do. My boyfriend rolled a pally so we could tank/heal our way through dungeons. It was funny because that seemed like everyone's plan. We actually got better queues with him as a dps, and we ended up in groups entirely comprised of monks. That was no surprise but it still hurt my eyes to see so much jade green. The class color for monk really hurts my eyes.
I had prepared somewhat extensively for my 80 monk pre-expansion. I made bags, all the available glyphs, and had to gather some proper iLevel greens. It's harder said then done; I actually just recently, in MoP was able to find trinkets that were of appropriate level, and a lot of greens were outrageously priced. Damn you transmog.
So I spent the last night leveling my monk through Cataclysm.
Man. Do I hate Cataclysm leveling.
I don't really know why. It's much more linear and easier than, say the Burning Crusade. But man....I just hate it.
Despite that, I was able to bite the bullet and make it to 85 in one night. It helps that the Monk's class quests give them a 50% experience buff, and there is a daily to redo it. Since I could do the quest at different levels I just made sure to have the buff on the entire time I leveled. Despite my mediocre gear, my DPS was high enough that I didn't struggle and rushed through 80-85 in about 4 hours tops.
Afterwards, I finally got to go to Jade Forest. I have to say, I really enjoyed the opening quests. I felt like I was thrust into a war, and it felt exciting. Explosions everywhere, killing Alliance, jumping off airships with ropes. I could get used to this. Of course, it did settle down a bit, as quests focused more on exploring Pandaria and introducing its inhabitants.
My boyfriend mentioned last night that he felt they had added extra voice acting because of SWTOR and GW2. There are also a considerable amount of cinematics and scenes where you play out a part in a skit. They are entertaining and although I've spent a fairly small amount of time with them, I've enjoyed the company of the small Horde contingency that you work with in Jade Forest. The voice acting is good; I particularly liked the undead female. While of course, the "storylines" are nothing new; we saw a lot of that in Cataclysm; the extra voice acting definitely is.
So far, I love Mists. You can truly tell that Blizz put a lot of content in this expansion. I truly think they learned a valuable lesson in Cataclysm, and it shows in this new content. The more things I discover, the more I realize that there is just so much to do. From rares, to rare items, scrolls, factions, leveling, dungeons, gearing....I don't know when I'm going to have time for this.
At the moment...
I'm almost 89. It's amazing to think I'm almost level cap and have done barely 3 areas. Once that is over, I need to get my monk's professions and reputations going. It's back to the daily grind. I'm almost going to post my thoughts on monk healing so far, sometime in the near future. I'm not doing well at this blog update thing lately >.<
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Transmog Post: Hunters and Dragons
I've been working on some outfits for my hunter. Since my old guildmates came back, we've been running the hell out of old content. It's been a lot of fun, and these runs, along with some Auction House hunting has produced a variety of nice outfits. It's unfortunate I can't just wear them all.
The outfits reflect the blog name and my obsession with House Targaryen (for Daenerys!). Prepare for some dragons (and fire. and blood. and no caps.)
Silver and Gold Dragon
And red, but that would make the title super long. I like the T1 pants from Molten Core, but not a big fan of the chest piece. A little ingenuity and some nice shoulders from Karazhan and wahhlahhh, an outfit to match the Magnetized Projectile Emitter.
Helm: Steamworker's Goggles - Ulduar 25 man (Flame Leviathan)
Shoulders: Dragon-Quake Shoulderguards -Karazhan (The Curator)
Chest: Wrathfin Armor -Random Drop Level 61
Hands: Marauder's Gauntlets -Random Drop Level 31
Waist: Tracker's Belt- The Slave Pens (Mennu the Betrayer)
Legs: Giantstalker's Leggings - Molten Core (Magmadar)
Feet: Giantstalker's Boots - Molten Core (Gehennas)
Weapon: Magnetized Projectile Emitter -Ulduar 10 man (XT Hard Mode)
Fire and Blood
I mentioned back on a warrior/dk transmog post, that I thought it would be neat to make Fire and Blood outfits. For those non- A Song of Fire and Ice fans, "Fire and Blood" is the motto for House Targaryen. After finally getting the Crown of Destruction from Molten Core, I now had the biggest fuel to my fire...or something... lol puns. I wanted to keep the outfit black and red, but that is, of course, easier said then done. I was lucky to scrounge up some rare green legs, Ebonhold Leggings, from the AH for a really low price. Along with my Drakescale Hauberk, a rare blue drop from Hemathion, I was able to complete the two biggest pieces of the Ebonhold set. To show the fire into cool molten rock, I looked at the T9 offset mail piece, similar to the shaman T9.
Head: Crown of Destruction
Shoulders: Shoulders of the Ground Breaker -WotLK Legacy Vendor in Dalaran (T9)
Chest:Drakescale Hauberk -Hemathion (Rare in Blade's Edge Mountains)/ Ebonhold Armor
Hands: Gloves of Taut Grip -Ulduar 10 man (XT)
Waist: Valestalker Girdle- Mount Hyjal (Kaz'rogal)
Legs:Ebonhold Leggings -Random Drop Level 51
Feet: Boots of Unsettled Prey -Ulduar 10 man drop (other version's as well)
Weapon: Wrathful Gladiator's Rifle - WotLK Legacy PvP Vendor (Stormwind/Orgrimmar/Tanaris)
The outfits reflect the blog name and my obsession with House Targaryen (for Daenerys!). Prepare for some dragons (and fire. and blood. and no caps.)
Silver and Gold Dragon
And red, but that would make the title super long. I like the T1 pants from Molten Core, but not a big fan of the chest piece. A little ingenuity and some nice shoulders from Karazhan and wahhlahhh, an outfit to match the Magnetized Projectile Emitter.
Shoulders: Dragon-Quake Shoulderguards -Karazhan (The Curator)
Chest: Wrathfin Armor -Random Drop Level 61
Hands: Marauder's Gauntlets -Random Drop Level 31
Waist: Tracker's Belt- The Slave Pens (Mennu the Betrayer)
Legs: Giantstalker's Leggings - Molten Core (Magmadar)
Feet: Giantstalker's Boots - Molten Core (Gehennas)
Weapon: Magnetized Projectile Emitter -Ulduar 10 man (XT Hard Mode)
Fire and Blood
I mentioned back on a warrior/dk transmog post, that I thought it would be neat to make Fire and Blood outfits. For those non- A Song of Fire and Ice fans, "Fire and Blood" is the motto for House Targaryen. After finally getting the Crown of Destruction from Molten Core, I now had the biggest fuel to my fire...or something... lol puns. I wanted to keep the outfit black and red, but that is, of course, easier said then done. I was lucky to scrounge up some rare green legs, Ebonhold Leggings, from the AH for a really low price. Along with my Drakescale Hauberk, a rare blue drop from Hemathion, I was able to complete the two biggest pieces of the Ebonhold set. To show the fire into cool molten rock, I looked at the T9 offset mail piece, similar to the shaman T9.
Shoulders: Shoulders of the Ground Breaker -WotLK Legacy Vendor in Dalaran (T9)
Chest:Drakescale Hauberk -Hemathion (Rare in Blade's Edge Mountains)/ Ebonhold Armor
Hands: Gloves of Taut Grip -Ulduar 10 man (XT)
Waist: Valestalker Girdle- Mount Hyjal (Kaz'rogal)
Legs:Ebonhold Leggings -Random Drop Level 51
Feet: Boots of Unsettled Prey -Ulduar 10 man drop (other version's as well)
Weapon: Wrathful Gladiator's Rifle - WotLK Legacy PvP Vendor (Stormwind/Orgrimmar/Tanaris)
Monday, September 10, 2012
Post Patch 5.04: The Little Things
So. The other behemoth in the room. The contender to face off against new release MMOs...Patch 5.04! YAY!!!!!
Kinda....I personally hate giant patch releases. Especially pre-expansion ones. It's cool when new things get added, but usually they break the game, addons, other things...my class sometimes. They involve lengthy maintenance and sometimes, lengthy downloading. Or in this case, optimization... I didn't mind the optimization, but the time left indicator was really odd. It sat at 0% for about 30 minutes, then creeped to about 4%...then shot to 100%....very accurate.
I also don't like patches because they break addons. I really like my UI, and am pretty reliant on things like Adibags to not make myself go nuts. I also feel uncomfortable without my Vuhdo, even though I've successfully healed without it. Just not the same.
Despite all this stress, I'm still incredibly pleased with the new patch. It brings about a ton of changes, but they are all, in my opinion, good, and I feel that there is something exciting for every class.Whether it be cosmetic glyphs, quality of life changes, or just new abilities, Mists of Pandaria is starting to look good.
Guild Rep and Experience Cap Gone!
You can also earn the same amount of rep and exp at all levels, so I've been seeing level 40s with exalted guild status...cool but crazy!
Hunters are cool! :D
Between our new talents, (A Murder of Crows, Blink Strike!) to glyphs (Fetch!) and quality of life improvements (bai bai range), I've been absolutely in love with my hunter. Beast Mastery got a lovely boost, and pets got a great revamp. We have some new and unique utility and I can't wait to go tame some more pets in MoP.
My biggest applause goes to the revamp of hunter pets. Being able to instantly switch from Tenacity to Cunning to Ferocity outside of combat, and with whichever pet you want, is a great change. It allows for people to use the pet they love, only having to consider abilities, and only really, at certain times. So outside of dungeons/raiding/bgs, you can use whatever you want, which is nice if you're leveling/questing. For those more important PvE endeavors, pets still offer different buffs, but some are changed and some are new.
Cats and Spirit Beasts now offer a boost to Mastery. (This replaces the Agility/Strength buff.)
Hyenas and Serpents increase Melee and Range speed by 10%.
Water Striders offer casters a 5% increase to Spell Power and Crit.
Water Striders are a cool addition to the pet family. Not only do they offer a buff to add to our utility arsenal, but they also give us Water Trot, our version of Water Walking. Love it! Been easily getting around Tol Barad using this pet when I do dailies. :) The other addition in patch 5.04 (excluding the MoP families) is Basilisks, who have a stone CC ability.
I also like how our ranged weapons now appear on our backs. Makes me feel very Katniss. I recently got the beautiful Golden Bow of Quel'Thalas and it looks amazing and uncomfortable on my hunter's back. :)
Still tryng to figure out a transmog outfit to match. It's a lot harder than it looks :(.
Account-wide Pets and Mounts
So, a long time ago, I was running my bf through Stratholme on my paladin. And guess what dropped...Rivendare's Mount! I don't play my paladin...ever, but it all paid off in the end. Account-wide mounts are an amazing thing to behold. Now I get to enjoy my Rivendare's Mount, Ultramarine Qiraji Battle Tank (arch mount), and Phosphorus Stone Drake on all my toons. Love it! :D
Druid Stuff
Tree form's back
While my days as a druid have been numbered thanks to recent events, I still have a lowbie I've been leveling for fun. Once I hit level 25, I grabbed my glyph and went for it. Gotta love those shaking roots. :)
Boomkin on mounts.
Enough said.
No more fishing poles.
I suddenly had this crazy idea that I wanted to level fishing on my hunter, since I've only ever leveled it on my druid. I forgot to put a fishing pole on, so I was surprised when I looked and I didn't need it.
I think it's kind of clever they just made it a stick with a string. It reminds me of my days as a kid at the park lake. :)
Until then, just enjoy the view.
These are just the little things; mostly nonessential or cosmetic. The big changes, such as the leveling experience, the LFR loot system, Talents/Glyphs changes and of course, Healing Mushrooms are for another post. I'm still finding new things every day.
Kinda....I personally hate giant patch releases. Especially pre-expansion ones. It's cool when new things get added, but usually they break the game, addons, other things...my class sometimes. They involve lengthy maintenance and sometimes, lengthy downloading. Or in this case, optimization... I didn't mind the optimization, but the time left indicator was really odd. It sat at 0% for about 30 minutes, then creeped to about 4%...then shot to 100%....very accurate.
I also don't like patches because they break addons. I really like my UI, and am pretty reliant on things like Adibags to not make myself go nuts. I also feel uncomfortable without my Vuhdo, even though I've successfully healed without it. Just not the same.
Despite all this stress, I'm still incredibly pleased with the new patch. It brings about a ton of changes, but they are all, in my opinion, good, and I feel that there is something exciting for every class.Whether it be cosmetic glyphs, quality of life changes, or just new abilities, Mists of Pandaria is starting to look good.
Guild Rep and Experience Cap Gone!
You can also earn the same amount of rep and exp at all levels, so I've been seeing level 40s with exalted guild status...cool but crazy!
 |
| After nearly a month of grinding dailies for rep, I finish off two weeks worth in 10 quests... |
 |
| Four days of dailies later... |
Between our new talents, (A Murder of Crows, Blink Strike!) to glyphs (Fetch!) and quality of life improvements (bai bai range), I've been absolutely in love with my hunter. Beast Mastery got a lovely boost, and pets got a great revamp. We have some new and unique utility and I can't wait to go tame some more pets in MoP.
 |
| One of the new families: Water Striders. |
Cats and Spirit Beasts now offer a boost to Mastery. (This replaces the Agility/Strength buff.)
Hyenas and Serpents increase Melee and Range speed by 10%.
Water Striders offer casters a 5% increase to Spell Power and Crit.
Water Striders are a cool addition to the pet family. Not only do they offer a buff to add to our utility arsenal, but they also give us Water Trot, our version of Water Walking. Love it! Been easily getting around Tol Barad using this pet when I do dailies. :) The other addition in patch 5.04 (excluding the MoP families) is Basilisks, who have a stone CC ability.
I also like how our ranged weapons now appear on our backs. Makes me feel very Katniss. I recently got the beautiful Golden Bow of Quel'Thalas and it looks amazing and uncomfortable on my hunter's back. :)
Still tryng to figure out a transmog outfit to match. It's a lot harder than it looks :(.
Account-wide Pets and Mounts
 |
| You've been far to unused for far too long. |
Druid Stuff
Tree form's back
Boomkin on mounts.
 |
No more fishing poles.
I suddenly had this crazy idea that I wanted to level fishing on my hunter, since I've only ever leveled it on my druid. I forgot to put a fishing pole on, so I was surprised when I looked and I didn't need it.
I think it's kind of clever they just made it a stick with a string. It reminds me of my days as a kid at the park lake. :)
Until then, just enjoy the view.
These are just the little things; mostly nonessential or cosmetic. The big changes, such as the leveling experience, the LFR loot system, Talents/Glyphs changes and of course, Healing Mushrooms are for another post. I'm still finding new things every day.
Friday, August 31, 2012
Character Post: Marpessa
So I thought I'd do a new thing and focus on my individual character's stories. The great thing about WoW (and what I thought was missing in SWTOR) is that I have much more freedom to create the background for my character. I'm not going into full blown storytelling mode here, just a little bit of background. This is actually a Transmog project for me, because I want to create outfits for each part of their storyline. There will most likely be 3-4 outfits, depending on their adventures in each expansion. I'm excited to do this project, because transmog is a passion of mine, and this is a good exercise for me to try and be more creative. However, have to admit, farming for these outfits is a pain in the ass.
Marpessa Duskbreaker
Blood Elf Hunter
(all my information is from wowpedia.org. If I have a canon error, I'm sorry and I'll try and correct it.)
Marpessa Duskbreaker
Blood Elf Hunter
(all my information is from wowpedia.org. If I have a canon error, I'm sorry and I'll try and correct it.)
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Real Impressions of Guild Wars 2
Well, life is back into the swing of things. I hate to see summer go. Especially recently, with releases galore and things I want to do. But I'm back to being a responsible person, going to class and going to work. (Well, during the summer, I do work a lot, but I've been on a nice week long vacation prior to this Sunday.) But that's boring information. Let's get to the good stuff.
Background Story and Characters
So I did play headstart. You read my woes there. I guess I should actually talk about the game and not the headstart/launch.
So, it's an MMO. And it's "Free to play"... kind of. You don't need a subscription, but you still pay for the game to access it. So its a non sub Pay to Play? It has aspects of Free to play. You can buy diamonds to purchase cosmetic upgrades, more character slots, extra bonuses, keys for lock boxes, etc. But to access the game, do PvE and PvP, WvWvW, all you need to do is pay the 60 bucks for the game.
I'm not really sure what's going on in Tyria (the setting). I've only played the Humans, and a very little bit of the Norn and Asura. I'm assuming it's tied somehow to Guild Wars 1...maybe....who knows...maybe not. I mean its a new game entirely right...Anyways, obviously I didn't care enough to do any sort of research. In fact, it's safe to say I am not really invested in the game's story at all. I do like the idea of the human race being in danger. I guess we're being driven around by centaur. I'm not sure I'm convinced about my own personal storyline, but it's nice to have variety. Basically you can choose if you're from nobility, common folk, or the poor. You also can decide what your biggest regret is (of three, of course), what god or goddess you're from, and how you deal with things (charm your way through them, fight, or show some dignity). These are just for human, by the way, each race has a different thing. The Asura, who are more technological, get to choose their teacher and what kind of school they're in. Norn choose an animal spirit and Char choose a military section (kind of).
Battle System
The game's battle system is a bit different too. Each profession (basically your class) learn skills from weapons. Equip a different weapon and you gain different abilities. This also changes with off-hands/shields as well. You can have dual pistols, or a pistol and a shield and maintain the first 3 abilities from having a pistol, but get 2 different abilities for the shield. You also learn skills by using skill points you gain through leveling. These are tied to your last buttons, since your weapon abilties are keybound to 1-5, and your healing ability is 6. That is one thing that is interesting- your abilities cannot be moved, or changed, and in general, you are stuck with your main abilties (there are plenty of skills to choose from, but at max level, looks like you can only have 3 or 4 total...can't remember). Casting does not require being stagnant. That's right...you can jump and cast/channel! FUN. Your first skill acts as auto-attack and for some professions, it changes different attributes (different debuffs etc) which I thought was pretty ingenious. Professions are well ranged as well, with 3 different casters, 2 ranged, and 3 melee. I've really only tried out Engineer, Elementalist (in beta), Mesmer and Necromancer.
Dynamic "Questing"
So...there is a small questline, that you follow that is the main story. Then there are heart side quests, where you do tasks for people around the area and fill up a bar to feel good about yourself and gain access to some decent rewards. Finally, there are dynamic events. These are random public quests that open up when certain circumstances are met. Usually, and I'm not 100% sure if this is right, it involves there being a certain amount of people in one area. I find that these events start when more people appear in the vicinity. Not all are like this though. You can start them by speaking to NPCs as well. Now these events are fun, especially since the realms are ripe with people. But honestly...dynamic's pushing it. They still feel like quests after a while, especially when you've done the same ones over and over. And I can't stop thinking about rifts...from Rift when I do it. I just hope these things lasts. Right now there are plenty of people, and if that stays the same, then this thing won't be so bad. But if things change, subs drop, or activities change (maybe people focus on dungeons or PvP when they hit cap), I wonder if dynamic events will still be around. See a huge problem I've been finding is that I lack experience to move to next areas. After doing side quests and exploring, I'm still short on the next bubble. I assume these dynamic events are supposed to fill that void. (That or PvP/WvWvW...I heard those things give massive amounts of EXP). But if activity falters, will there be enough? Of course, this will all be interesting to see play out later. (These and other critical points of view can be found on a great article from Massively).
Engineer
Currently I'm leveling an Human Engineer and have finished up the first area, Queensdale, which lands me around level 15. I promised the boyfriend I'd wait for him, although it more benefits me than him. I am having a TERRIBLE time trying to complete the storyline quests and definitely need a partner to soak up the damage.
So besides the weird heart grinds that you do around the world, the actual "quests" you have involve your personal story. You phase into your own instance to do them. Honestly, the human storylines are mediocre as far as interest go (although I do like the human race story in general). They do have a level besides them (suggestion maybe?), although it doesn't really seem to matter because you scale to that level when you go to do it. Every time I go to do them though, even if I outlevel the requirement by quite a bit, I somehow get my ass handed to me. Usually I just get overwhelmed with people, and I've found that some skills do far more damage then other ones. For example. Getting shot in the face does very minimal damage, but getting hit by one slice of a "whirlwind" type move halves my HP. When I'm fighting "elite" mobs (bronze circles around their portrait), I usually eventually just can't survive against them. They damage me a lot more than I damage them, and my healing cooldowns usually run out. I can kite okay, but only for so long and a lot of my enemies have been ranged. My healing abilities are minimal, and I've even switched to the healing technology to double my healing efforts, but that seems to not work.
I thought maybe it was a gear problem, but gear is hard to find, and I've crafted the best that I could wear. I can't rely on my own drops, and I can't rely on others. The Trade Market has been down the entire time, so no use shopping, and I've tried buying from the mass amounts of people in chat, but usually I'm out of luck or just too late. If its a choice of skills, well too bad for me because you can't reset skills. I've switched traits twice, but will probably settle on firearms or grenades or something.
The only way I was able to overcome the fights was to set up a turret, which basically acted as a dummy. It would usually gain the attention of the elite, allowing me to kite and kill the three or more adds that come with it. Then I have to hope the turret survives a decent amount so I can damage the elite, then kite to survive long enough (which has even involved me running to other areas to LOS them) to set up another turret. It's worked, with a bit of trial and error, but I'd rather just wait for my boyfriend, one because I want to play with him, and two because this shouldn't stress me out as much.
I don't know how I feel about the Engineer. I feel like I have a lot less abilities then everyone else. In fact, weapon skills, we only have about 3 sets. A rifle, 2 pistols, or a pistol and a shield. We do make up for that with kits that give us a whole new set of abilities. So far, I have unlocked a Healing Kit, which allows me to drop healing packs for people to pick up; a Grenade Kit, with several different types of grenades; and my favorite, a Flamethrower, which is....a flamethrower. In fact, since I've picked up the Flamethrower, my damage has skyrocketed.
Final "initial" thoughts
In the end, I feel that Guild Wars 2 successfully does its own thing great, while adding its own mix of other features MMOs have used. I enjoy the game, and been slowly moving my way around. It's a gorgeous sight to behold, although I'm more impressed by the artwork on each load screen....it's so...pretty. I'm really thankful for the battle system because it's not another WoW clone type (coughRiftSWTORcough). I have yet to try out PvP or WvWvW which is another one of the big draws of GW2. I'm also still trying to find a nitch I feel comfortable in as far as profession goes. So far, it looks like Engineer, although I'm enjoying Necromancer.
It's been hard finding time for the game though. Lately, I feel like I can't quite juggle this game with WoW...there's lots to do in patch 5.04 and since a few of my old guildmates came back. I like running stuff too. That and school and work are back in full force. WoW will always have that pull...
Background Story and Characters
So I did play headstart. You read my woes there. I guess I should actually talk about the game and not the headstart/launch.
So, it's an MMO. And it's "Free to play"... kind of. You don't need a subscription, but you still pay for the game to access it. So its a non sub Pay to Play? It has aspects of Free to play. You can buy diamonds to purchase cosmetic upgrades, more character slots, extra bonuses, keys for lock boxes, etc. But to access the game, do PvE and PvP, WvWvW, all you need to do is pay the 60 bucks for the game.
I'm not really sure what's going on in Tyria (the setting). I've only played the Humans, and a very little bit of the Norn and Asura. I'm assuming it's tied somehow to Guild Wars 1...maybe....who knows...maybe not. I mean its a new game entirely right...Anyways, obviously I didn't care enough to do any sort of research. In fact, it's safe to say I am not really invested in the game's story at all. I do like the idea of the human race being in danger. I guess we're being driven around by centaur. I'm not sure I'm convinced about my own personal storyline, but it's nice to have variety. Basically you can choose if you're from nobility, common folk, or the poor. You also can decide what your biggest regret is (of three, of course), what god or goddess you're from, and how you deal with things (charm your way through them, fight, or show some dignity). These are just for human, by the way, each race has a different thing. The Asura, who are more technological, get to choose their teacher and what kind of school they're in. Norn choose an animal spirit and Char choose a military section (kind of).
Battle System
The game's battle system is a bit different too. Each profession (basically your class) learn skills from weapons. Equip a different weapon and you gain different abilities. This also changes with off-hands/shields as well. You can have dual pistols, or a pistol and a shield and maintain the first 3 abilities from having a pistol, but get 2 different abilities for the shield. You also learn skills by using skill points you gain through leveling. These are tied to your last buttons, since your weapon abilties are keybound to 1-5, and your healing ability is 6. That is one thing that is interesting- your abilities cannot be moved, or changed, and in general, you are stuck with your main abilties (there are plenty of skills to choose from, but at max level, looks like you can only have 3 or 4 total...can't remember). Casting does not require being stagnant. That's right...you can jump and cast/channel! FUN. Your first skill acts as auto-attack and for some professions, it changes different attributes (different debuffs etc) which I thought was pretty ingenious. Professions are well ranged as well, with 3 different casters, 2 ranged, and 3 melee. I've really only tried out Engineer, Elementalist (in beta), Mesmer and Necromancer.
Dynamic "Questing"
So...there is a small questline, that you follow that is the main story. Then there are heart side quests, where you do tasks for people around the area and fill up a bar to feel good about yourself and gain access to some decent rewards. Finally, there are dynamic events. These are random public quests that open up when certain circumstances are met. Usually, and I'm not 100% sure if this is right, it involves there being a certain amount of people in one area. I find that these events start when more people appear in the vicinity. Not all are like this though. You can start them by speaking to NPCs as well. Now these events are fun, especially since the realms are ripe with people. But honestly...dynamic's pushing it. They still feel like quests after a while, especially when you've done the same ones over and over. And I can't stop thinking about rifts...from Rift when I do it. I just hope these things lasts. Right now there are plenty of people, and if that stays the same, then this thing won't be so bad. But if things change, subs drop, or activities change (maybe people focus on dungeons or PvP when they hit cap), I wonder if dynamic events will still be around. See a huge problem I've been finding is that I lack experience to move to next areas. After doing side quests and exploring, I'm still short on the next bubble. I assume these dynamic events are supposed to fill that void. (That or PvP/WvWvW...I heard those things give massive amounts of EXP). But if activity falters, will there be enough? Of course, this will all be interesting to see play out later. (These and other critical points of view can be found on a great article from Massively).
Engineer
Currently I'm leveling an Human Engineer and have finished up the first area, Queensdale, which lands me around level 15. I promised the boyfriend I'd wait for him, although it more benefits me than him. I am having a TERRIBLE time trying to complete the storyline quests and definitely need a partner to soak up the damage.
So besides the weird heart grinds that you do around the world, the actual "quests" you have involve your personal story. You phase into your own instance to do them. Honestly, the human storylines are mediocre as far as interest go (although I do like the human race story in general). They do have a level besides them (suggestion maybe?), although it doesn't really seem to matter because you scale to that level when you go to do it. Every time I go to do them though, even if I outlevel the requirement by quite a bit, I somehow get my ass handed to me. Usually I just get overwhelmed with people, and I've found that some skills do far more damage then other ones. For example. Getting shot in the face does very minimal damage, but getting hit by one slice of a "whirlwind" type move halves my HP. When I'm fighting "elite" mobs (bronze circles around their portrait), I usually eventually just can't survive against them. They damage me a lot more than I damage them, and my healing cooldowns usually run out. I can kite okay, but only for so long and a lot of my enemies have been ranged. My healing abilities are minimal, and I've even switched to the healing technology to double my healing efforts, but that seems to not work.
I thought maybe it was a gear problem, but gear is hard to find, and I've crafted the best that I could wear. I can't rely on my own drops, and I can't rely on others. The Trade Market has been down the entire time, so no use shopping, and I've tried buying from the mass amounts of people in chat, but usually I'm out of luck or just too late. If its a choice of skills, well too bad for me because you can't reset skills. I've switched traits twice, but will probably settle on firearms or grenades or something.
The only way I was able to overcome the fights was to set up a turret, which basically acted as a dummy. It would usually gain the attention of the elite, allowing me to kite and kill the three or more adds that come with it. Then I have to hope the turret survives a decent amount so I can damage the elite, then kite to survive long enough (which has even involved me running to other areas to LOS them) to set up another turret. It's worked, with a bit of trial and error, but I'd rather just wait for my boyfriend, one because I want to play with him, and two because this shouldn't stress me out as much.
I don't know how I feel about the Engineer. I feel like I have a lot less abilities then everyone else. In fact, weapon skills, we only have about 3 sets. A rifle, 2 pistols, or a pistol and a shield. We do make up for that with kits that give us a whole new set of abilities. So far, I have unlocked a Healing Kit, which allows me to drop healing packs for people to pick up; a Grenade Kit, with several different types of grenades; and my favorite, a Flamethrower, which is....a flamethrower. In fact, since I've picked up the Flamethrower, my damage has skyrocketed.
Final "initial" thoughts
In the end, I feel that Guild Wars 2 successfully does its own thing great, while adding its own mix of other features MMOs have used. I enjoy the game, and been slowly moving my way around. It's a gorgeous sight to behold, although I'm more impressed by the artwork on each load screen....it's so...pretty. I'm really thankful for the battle system because it's not another WoW clone type (coughRiftSWTORcough). I have yet to try out PvP or WvWvW which is another one of the big draws of GW2. I'm also still trying to find a nitch I feel comfortable in as far as profession goes. So far, it looks like Engineer, although I'm enjoying Necromancer.
It's been hard finding time for the game though. Lately, I feel like I can't quite juggle this game with WoW...there's lots to do in patch 5.04 and since a few of my old guildmates came back. I like running stuff too. That and school and work are back in full force. WoW will always have that pull...
Saturday, August 25, 2012
First "Impressions" for Guild Wars 2
First off, quick update. My new blog name and address. Considering I've stepped away from druids (and sometimes WoW) I felt it was time for a new blog name. I wanted something that easily represented what I do and write about (slaying Internet dragons) but also gave a shout out to a media outlet that I love (this being A Game of Thrones/ A Song of Fire and Ice). Thus I came up with:
Fire and Blood (and Internet Dragons)@ islayinternetdragons.blogspot.com
It's longer but I feel it better represents me and my blog. I hope you enjoy. Website layout updates are incoming as well.
Just a quick review of Guild Wars 2 Headstart so far.
Before I start ranting like a crazy person, let me just say that GW2 is impressive. It looks fantastic, combat feels smooth and I enjoy the visual world I have explored so far. That being said, I feel the hype far exceeds the game, but I highly doubt we have another Swtor on our hands.
So I originally wasn't going to purchase the game. Considering that MoP is right around the corner, I was feeling fairly certain that not purchasing the game was the right thing to do. My boyfriend had pre-purchased it and promised me a character slot so I thought I'd get my fix. Then I realized I wanted to play the game with him, and with no subscription, I was feeling okay about the purchase. So I put in my order and was eager to remake my engineer and level with my boyfriend.
Well a lot stood in my way. After ponying up 60 dollars, the registration servers weren't working. So I couldn't even make an account and enter in my game code.
Well an hour later, they started working again, so I eagerly registered and then logged on to pick a server. Not so fast. The server that my bf and his friends were playing on was full and I couldn't join them. So instead, I was looking at a measly choice of one High pop server or European servers. That or I could just sit around waiting for the servers to open up. Wasn't sure when that was going to happen so I sat around checking in and doing WoW stuff. Well an hour later they raised population caps on all servers, so I was able to finally join.
So all happy on GW2 right? Wrong... The name of the toon I wanted to use is locked out for 24 hours. Why you say? Idk... Just the way things work. No messing up here. Want to reroll... Be very very careful. So why don't you pick another name? I would. If it wasn't for the insane amount of names already used on the server. Unless you're using an incredibly obscure name, most names are taken. You're best bet is to do multiple names, like a first and last. But I really just want a singular, fairly normal sounding name.
Alas, 3-4 hours later, I still haven't gotten passed level one. I have to wait until 7 pm for my name to free up and then I can roll my engineer and start my adventure. I wish I had more to tell, but this was my personal experience.
Now I did level my original engineer to level 5 and I have loads of fun to say about that. But that's for another post. I need to sleep away this frustration.
Thursday, August 16, 2012
MoP Cinematic: What's wrong with it?
First off, let's take a looksee
Or 5...in my case.
I've watched it at least 5 times.
Now my initial thought was...awesome. I'm sooo ready for this expansion! Let's do it. I am going to roll a panda monk at the very beginning of the expansion, and do nothing but fight over quest objectives for the next few days. I was exhilarated. Pumped up. Fist pumping even?
Loved the music, thought the CG was smooth, was relieved the panda didn't look like Jack Black, and was in awe at the last shot that featured cherry blossoms floating over a glimpse of Pandaria.
After having "a moment", I finally decided to see what other's had to say.
And a lot of it was either confusion, or discontent.
Many of the complaints can be summed up by Klepsacovic @ Troll Racials
"In the past, the cinematics gave some sense of the enemy to fight. In the original we had the factions and the Burning Legion. Burning Crusade gave us Illidan and introduced the new races, without either stealing the spotlight entirely. Wrath of the Lich King gave us Arthas showing off his power while his father's words echoed in his head, perhaps giving us insight into the madness and evil within. Cataclysm had Deathwing blow up the world.
And now... who is the enemy? The panda?"
He points out pretty much the problem.
But let's be real. Mists of Pandaria is looking to be a far different expansion then WotLK, or Cataclysm for that matter. For one, the biggest difference is that there is no "main evil." Somehow, the Horde and Alliance, their war, and the effect of that war on Pandaria is supposed to be the evil. So what are they supposed to show in the opening cinematic.
Well, Cataclysm showed Deathwing breaking free and blowing up the world. Basically what happened before the Cataclysm. In essence, that is what the MoP cinematic is doing. The Horde and Alliance, while at war with each other, crash land on the island that ends up being Pandaria. I know this. I listened to Metzen announce it at Blizzcon 2011.
So this is what they decided to show.
Two ships fighting. Obviously Horde and Alliance, if you couldn't tell from the flags. They crash land on this island. They then begin to fight, basically trashing some really nice pandaren architecture.
A pandaren monk must've heard them because he decides to intervene.
He then basically starts owning the Horde and the Alliance at once in combat. I found it to be a pretty cool fight scene. But it does basically make us seem pathetically weak.
It also points out my biggest problem with the cinematic.
It basically shows us, Horde and Alliance, teaming up, to fight off a bigger, badder (stronger) foe. Extremely misleading. It's not even that the Pandaren seems like the evil bad guy in the cinematic (which isn't entirely true. He's more like the opposing force). It's the fact that we joined up against him.
A lot of times, people get angry because they take what they see as a grain of salt, instead of looking at the bigger picture. But even when you look at the cinematic alongside the bigger picture, you still can't help but scratch your head.
Now, in the cinematic's defense, it did showcase the new race and the new class, in it's own way. I don't really find a problem with them showcasing the pandaren, and only showing orcs and humans. Honestly, those two basically represent the Horde and Alliance, and we will be seeing to vastly different styles of leadership coming from an orc leader and a human leader.
So what should of Blizzard done?
I was kind of hoping for a Vanilla/Burning Crusade cinematic. Something a bit more montage instead of linear storyline.
With a type of story so vastly different from the last two, it just doesn't seem like the smart idea going a similar route. Both the Arthas/Lich King cinematic, raising Sindragosa, and Cataclysm's Deathwing blows up everything, were able to achieve the whole, "rawr me big bad evil coming to get you." These were great set-ups for an evil we were all planning to ban together to destroy.
But what does the cinematic for MoP offer us? It doesn't prepare us to go to war against the Alliance or Horde. It doesn't have us eager to explore the secrets of Pandaria. It doesn't hint at Garrosh's future, doesn't show the destruction of Theramore. It just shows us that hey, Pandas are cool. Monks are even cooler (and are going to be getting nerfed alllloottttt). Have at it.
PS....I still liked it. <.< September 25!
I've watched it at least 5 times.
Now my initial thought was...awesome. I'm sooo ready for this expansion! Let's do it. I am going to roll a panda monk at the very beginning of the expansion, and do nothing but fight over quest objectives for the next few days. I was exhilarated. Pumped up. Fist pumping even?
Loved the music, thought the CG was smooth, was relieved the panda didn't look like Jack Black, and was in awe at the last shot that featured cherry blossoms floating over a glimpse of Pandaria.
After having "a moment", I finally decided to see what other's had to say.
And a lot of it was either confusion, or discontent.
Many of the complaints can be summed up by Klepsacovic @ Troll Racials
"In the past, the cinematics gave some sense of the enemy to fight. In the original we had the factions and the Burning Legion. Burning Crusade gave us Illidan and introduced the new races, without either stealing the spotlight entirely. Wrath of the Lich King gave us Arthas showing off his power while his father's words echoed in his head, perhaps giving us insight into the madness and evil within. Cataclysm had Deathwing blow up the world.
And now... who is the enemy? The panda?"
He points out pretty much the problem.
But let's be real. Mists of Pandaria is looking to be a far different expansion then WotLK, or Cataclysm for that matter. For one, the biggest difference is that there is no "main evil." Somehow, the Horde and Alliance, their war, and the effect of that war on Pandaria is supposed to be the evil. So what are they supposed to show in the opening cinematic.
Well, Cataclysm showed Deathwing breaking free and blowing up the world. Basically what happened before the Cataclysm. In essence, that is what the MoP cinematic is doing. The Horde and Alliance, while at war with each other, crash land on the island that ends up being Pandaria. I know this. I listened to Metzen announce it at Blizzcon 2011.
So this is what they decided to show.
Two ships fighting. Obviously Horde and Alliance, if you couldn't tell from the flags. They crash land on this island. They then begin to fight, basically trashing some really nice pandaren architecture.
A pandaren monk must've heard them because he decides to intervene.
He then basically starts owning the Horde and the Alliance at once in combat. I found it to be a pretty cool fight scene. But it does basically make us seem pathetically weak.
It also points out my biggest problem with the cinematic.
It basically shows us, Horde and Alliance, teaming up, to fight off a bigger, badder (stronger) foe. Extremely misleading. It's not even that the Pandaren seems like the evil bad guy in the cinematic (which isn't entirely true. He's more like the opposing force). It's the fact that we joined up against him.
A lot of times, people get angry because they take what they see as a grain of salt, instead of looking at the bigger picture. But even when you look at the cinematic alongside the bigger picture, you still can't help but scratch your head.
Now, in the cinematic's defense, it did showcase the new race and the new class, in it's own way. I don't really find a problem with them showcasing the pandaren, and only showing orcs and humans. Honestly, those two basically represent the Horde and Alliance, and we will be seeing to vastly different styles of leadership coming from an orc leader and a human leader.
So what should of Blizzard done?
I was kind of hoping for a Vanilla/Burning Crusade cinematic. Something a bit more montage instead of linear storyline.
With a type of story so vastly different from the last two, it just doesn't seem like the smart idea going a similar route. Both the Arthas/Lich King cinematic, raising Sindragosa, and Cataclysm's Deathwing blows up everything, were able to achieve the whole, "rawr me big bad evil coming to get you." These were great set-ups for an evil we were all planning to ban together to destroy.
But what does the cinematic for MoP offer us? It doesn't prepare us to go to war against the Alliance or Horde. It doesn't have us eager to explore the secrets of Pandaria. It doesn't hint at Garrosh's future, doesn't show the destruction of Theramore. It just shows us that hey, Pandas are cool. Monks are even cooler (and are going to be getting nerfed alllloottttt). Have at it.
PS....I still liked it. <.< September 25!
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Transmog Post: Hunter T13 Look
Been really loving the current tier look for hunters. The helm and shoulders combo is a nice tribute to the WotLK dragons, Frost Wyrms. Because I'm only doing LFR, I made a set for that version.
Frost Wyrm (Blues, LFR)
Helm: Wyrmstalker's Headguard- Dragon Soul-Raid Finder (Token from Warmaster Blackhorn)
Shoulders: Wyrmstalker's Spaulders -Dragon Soul-Raid Finder (Token from Hagara the Stormbinder)
Chest: Mail of the Geyser -Legacy Justice Point Vendor in Dalaran (iLevel 264)
Hands: Spiritwalker's Gauntlets - Black Temple (Shade of Akama)
Belt: Naturalist's Preserving Cinch - Black Temple (Supremus)
Legs: Frozen Forest Kilt - Heroic Nexus (Ormorok the Tree-Shaper)
Feet: Boots of Oceanic Fury - Black Temple (High Warlord Naj'entus)
Ranged: Felglacier Bolter - Heroic Pit of Saron (Krick & Ick)
Frost Wyrm (Blues, LFR)
Helm: Wyrmstalker's Headguard- Dragon Soul-Raid Finder (Token from Warmaster Blackhorn)
Shoulders: Wyrmstalker's Spaulders -Dragon Soul-Raid Finder (Token from Hagara the Stormbinder)
Chest: Mail of the Geyser -Legacy Justice Point Vendor in Dalaran (iLevel 264)
Hands: Spiritwalker's Gauntlets - Black Temple (Shade of Akama)
Belt: Naturalist's Preserving Cinch - Black Temple (Supremus)
Legs: Frozen Forest Kilt - Heroic Nexus (Ormorok the Tree-Shaper)
Feet: Boots of Oceanic Fury - Black Temple (High Warlord Naj'entus)
Ranged: Felglacier Bolter - Heroic Pit of Saron (Krick & Ick)
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Transmog Post: Game of Thrones-Daenerys and Cersei
Winter is Coming
So I'm obsessed with Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire. Which is of course seeping into something I'm also obsessed with...TRANSMOG! WOO...So here's the first in a series I hope to complete. Game of Thrones Character Outifts! I'm focusing more on the outfits based on the TV show, simply because its better visual references.
So I'm obsessed with Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire. Which is of course seeping into something I'm also obsessed with...TRANSMOG! WOO...So here's the first in a series I hope to complete. Game of Thrones Character Outifts! I'm focusing more on the outfits based on the TV show, simply because its better visual references.
Things to do before Pandas
Been out and about in the lands of Warcraft, preparing for a new adventure. I'm pretty excited about the new expansion, and most of my activities preparing for it. I'm in the MoP beta, part of my annual pass, but I haven't been doing much. I have horrible lag in Pandaria, so I usually just mess with talents and glyphs and punch dummies in the face.
So we got about 60 days until release dayyy... what do I need to accomplish.
150 Pets
This might not happen before the release of 5.0, which will of course happen before MoP, and includes, if I'm not mistaken, the account wide companions. So by the time 5.0 comes out, if my luck doesn't take a nose dive turn for the better, I won't get this. But I'm trying, mainly for my own satisfaction. With out a doubt I will hit 150 when the account wide stuff hits, so it's not like it's impossible or a huge struggle. Just seeing how lazy I am.
Warlock to 85/ Inscription to 525
My warlock has been at 72 for a while now. I am planning to play a Warlock in MoP, especially with all the changes that have been made to them. They will probably be my choice caster dps since I am going to focus on Feral in MoP on my druid. So far, leveling my warlock has been the victim of drastic laziness- honestly, warlocks feel like they're at an odd state; noone seems to play them, and blogs I read about the class seem to proclaim them dead. However, MoP is offerring some great new additions and I think they will make a nice difference.
My warlock's profession is Inscription, and to be honest, it's probably more important than leveling the warlock herself. I've been regularly doing research so hopefully, I'll have a decent set of glyphs to offer when the new 5.0 comes out. Hope it works. >.<
Learning all the glyphs
Speaking of, it's going to be important to learn as many as you can before 5.0 hits. I would see what new glyphs are being kept and which are being deleted to know what your class needs. I'll be doing that for the druid and hunter soon, and may work on other alts if I feel they are worthy.
Get to exalted in my new guild on Aenerys
It looks like I will be able to accomplish this by the end of August, which is perfect timing in my books. I freaking hate the guild reputation system, not because its rep but because of the cap.
Anyways, I really would like to do this to obtain the pets and mounts...I know that sounds bad, but I am not sure if the guild I'm currently in will change their rules once expansion comes out (I'm currently running around with a skeleton crew), so I want those before I might be forced to leave.
Get Magria
Stupid pet is totally being elusive and hiding from me...I haven't seen Ankha either, but man Ban'thalos....best friend's he and I.
Complete Transmogs for toons.
Been checking the AH daily for assorted gear for Transmog. I've been lucky enough to find some nice pieces (Ulduar gems) and other things. Also running certain raids when I can. Sometimes, I can't wait to be 90 so I can have an easier time in places like BT and SSC. But again, I like the satisfaction of feeling that I did something special.
Looks like that's about it...Seems like there's a lot to do, as long as I keep my ass going. I'm very excited for MoP though, so even if I don't finish the list, I'll still be happy. September 25th! Can't wait.
So we got about 60 days until release dayyy... what do I need to accomplish.
150 Pets
This might not happen before the release of 5.0, which will of course happen before MoP, and includes, if I'm not mistaken, the account wide companions. So by the time 5.0 comes out, if my luck doesn't take a nose dive turn for the better, I won't get this. But I'm trying, mainly for my own satisfaction. With out a doubt I will hit 150 when the account wide stuff hits, so it's not like it's impossible or a huge struggle. Just seeing how lazy I am.
Warlock to 85/ Inscription to 525
My warlock has been at 72 for a while now. I am planning to play a Warlock in MoP, especially with all the changes that have been made to them. They will probably be my choice caster dps since I am going to focus on Feral in MoP on my druid. So far, leveling my warlock has been the victim of drastic laziness- honestly, warlocks feel like they're at an odd state; noone seems to play them, and blogs I read about the class seem to proclaim them dead. However, MoP is offerring some great new additions and I think they will make a nice difference.
My warlock's profession is Inscription, and to be honest, it's probably more important than leveling the warlock herself. I've been regularly doing research so hopefully, I'll have a decent set of glyphs to offer when the new 5.0 comes out. Hope it works. >.<
Learning all the glyphs
Speaking of, it's going to be important to learn as many as you can before 5.0 hits. I would see what new glyphs are being kept and which are being deleted to know what your class needs. I'll be doing that for the druid and hunter soon, and may work on other alts if I feel they are worthy.
Get to exalted in my new guild on Aenerys
It looks like I will be able to accomplish this by the end of August, which is perfect timing in my books. I freaking hate the guild reputation system, not because its rep but because of the cap.
Anyways, I really would like to do this to obtain the pets and mounts...I know that sounds bad, but I am not sure if the guild I'm currently in will change their rules once expansion comes out (I'm currently running around with a skeleton crew), so I want those before I might be forced to leave.
Get Magria
Stupid pet is totally being elusive and hiding from me...I haven't seen Ankha either, but man Ban'thalos....best friend's he and I.
Complete Transmogs for toons.
Been checking the AH daily for assorted gear for Transmog. I've been lucky enough to find some nice pieces (Ulduar gems) and other things. Also running certain raids when I can. Sometimes, I can't wait to be 90 so I can have an easier time in places like BT and SSC. But again, I like the satisfaction of feeling that I did something special.
Looks like that's about it...Seems like there's a lot to do, as long as I keep my ass going. I'm very excited for MoP though, so even if I don't finish the list, I'll still be happy. September 25th! Can't wait.
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
I R Disappoint
Today I am going to make a list of things that have disappointed me over the past month or so. My mood has greatly soured over the past day and now my poor blog gets to feel the wrath of it. There might be some spoilers for a few tv shows, but I'll spare you the Dark Knight stuff. And yes I liked the movie but I was still disappointed... Maybe I'll share it wayy down on the bottom.
SWTOR: My first victim.
I was given 7 free days of game time to try our 1.3. While I had fun doing a couple storylines, I wasn't overall impressed. My biggest disappointment in Swtor is the Legacy system. I don't like that I have to spend credits on some of the more wanted perks. I don't like that its ridiculous amount, even though credits aren't that hard to come. I don't like that, despite this, nothing has changed. No more subscription for me.
Game of Thrones will feature book 3, A Storm of Swords, in two seasons instead of one.
As the cast list grows and grows, the storylines become more complex and drawn out. So yeah, it's no surprised that A Storm of Swords is getting two seasons. But at this rate, I'm going to be like in my 30s by the time the seasons finish. And whose to say that other books won't get split up. From the looks of it, A Dance with Dragons is like three times the size of A Game of Thrones. I only mention my concern/disappointment because I worry about the shows longevity. As the show gets more expensive to make (them dragons and dire wolves be growing) I worry it will become more of a burden to make and they may stop making it.
Final Fantasy Versus XIII may have been canceled. But we don't really know.
The only game (besides a possible Kingdom Hearts 3) I've been looking forward to console and Ps3 -wise was FF Versus XIII. The characters intrigued me, the battle system, what little I knew, made me wanna try it. I loved the gothic feel they were going for. But we haven't heard anything in a while, and the game has been obviously missing at game cons and showcases. Square only seems interested in pushing out more Lightning games, which doesn't appeal to me at all. I hated FFXIII. Aside from the fact that it was damn beautiful, I thought the characters were boring or annoying (cough Vanille cough), the battle system wasn't for me, and I didn't much care for the story. I instead long for the days of old Squaresoft and the amazing RPGS they used to release. To make matters worse, they haven't even really said yay or nay to FF Versus XIII, so we don't even know for sure if its done for. But most sources point to yes. Square's having some sort of party/announcement thing soon so I'm sure we'll be put out of our misery soon enough.
Speaking of disappointment...the one recent game I would buy of theirs, Theatrythm Final Fantasy is Nintendo 3DS exclusive. Considering I wouldn't even play any of the games in 3D makes the console a waste of money for me...but that game looks soo much funnnn.
Spoilers below for True Blood and The Dark Knight Rises
SWTOR: My first victim.
I was given 7 free days of game time to try our 1.3. While I had fun doing a couple storylines, I wasn't overall impressed. My biggest disappointment in Swtor is the Legacy system. I don't like that I have to spend credits on some of the more wanted perks. I don't like that its ridiculous amount, even though credits aren't that hard to come. I don't like that, despite this, nothing has changed. No more subscription for me.
Game of Thrones will feature book 3, A Storm of Swords, in two seasons instead of one.
As the cast list grows and grows, the storylines become more complex and drawn out. So yeah, it's no surprised that A Storm of Swords is getting two seasons. But at this rate, I'm going to be like in my 30s by the time the seasons finish. And whose to say that other books won't get split up. From the looks of it, A Dance with Dragons is like three times the size of A Game of Thrones. I only mention my concern/disappointment because I worry about the shows longevity. As the show gets more expensive to make (them dragons and dire wolves be growing) I worry it will become more of a burden to make and they may stop making it.
Final Fantasy Versus XIII may have been canceled. But we don't really know.
The only game (besides a possible Kingdom Hearts 3) I've been looking forward to console and Ps3 -wise was FF Versus XIII. The characters intrigued me, the battle system, what little I knew, made me wanna try it. I loved the gothic feel they were going for. But we haven't heard anything in a while, and the game has been obviously missing at game cons and showcases. Square only seems interested in pushing out more Lightning games, which doesn't appeal to me at all. I hated FFXIII. Aside from the fact that it was damn beautiful, I thought the characters were boring or annoying (cough Vanille cough), the battle system wasn't for me, and I didn't much care for the story. I instead long for the days of old Squaresoft and the amazing RPGS they used to release. To make matters worse, they haven't even really said yay or nay to FF Versus XIII, so we don't even know for sure if its done for. But most sources point to yes. Square's having some sort of party/announcement thing soon so I'm sure we'll be put out of our misery soon enough.
Speaking of disappointment...the one recent game I would buy of theirs, Theatrythm Final Fantasy is Nintendo 3DS exclusive. Considering I wouldn't even play any of the games in 3D makes the console a waste of money for me...but that game looks soo much funnnn.
Spoilers below for True Blood and The Dark Knight Rises
Friday, July 20, 2012
The Return of Otacon Report and Mr. Pinchy
So tonight was a lazy night. I only did 3 dailies ( as opposed to all 25) and didn't really run anything. I did one run around of TB in attempt for a Fox kit and did no digging at all. (If you're wondering, I am painfully working towards 150 companions, hoping to achieve it before MoP comes out).
Yes, a lazy night indeed.
My hunter is still on Deathwing, but I would imagine she will be soon transported to Icecrown between the next couple of weeks. I just found out that character transfers are 25% off this weekend...whelp time to get her ready. I don't like doing much on her because PvP realms still make me nervous- yeah I'm that chicken. I like playing WoW and other MMOs, and I'm social, but not violently social...so PvP bad...I've been looking for Magria, to obtain before MoP. I believe we are getting more stable slots in MoP, so I want to have all the shinies. While searching, I've been surprised to be welcomed by this...Ban'thalos, untouched for apparently a while.
In fact, he's been up for the past 3 days. On Icecrown he's also been up, and I tried helping a hunter get him, but she "had to go" after three failed attempts. Anyways, my boyfriend also mentioned that all the spiders seemed to be up, so being curious, I checked it out. Only Kirix and Deth'talic were up...but Deth'talic was one I hadn't gotten. I hopped over to Deathwing to see if the same was true there, and not only was Ban'thalos up but so was Solix, Kirix, and Deth'talic.
Purple Doom
Now I have them all except Deth'talic, and to be honest...the scary stories I had been hearing about Deth'talic were making me nervous and I was okay with that...Or so I thought. After I put it off for a bit (I ran Black Temple, came back and he was STILL there), I started reading up, all the while twiddling my thumbs. My biggest concern was that people might try and grief me, but I soon began to think that if I didn't at least try, I'd probably feel regret every time I saw the damn spider. So off I went...ready to try. Also, aside from griefing, I am not the best kiter, nor the best trapper, so the thought of needing to possibly do both wasn't making me feel any better. The only other person on the Molten Front at the time was a lower geared hunter from the Horde, so that eased my worry a little bit. He was obviously doing dailies and would probably leave me alone.
So I made up an action bar specifically for the challenge and went for it.
Strategy (ish)
Now the trick to Deth'talic is kiting him and sending your pet to eat and die to his Deth Strikes. Each time he uses them a chunk (about 10%) of his ridiculous 77 million health goes down. When you're under 20 mill or so, he then loses his Molten Will buff and you can tame him. Deth Strike will kill you so you need a pet, usually the spiders in the vicinity, to eat the move. After they die, you have to make sure you have enough space between you and Deth to revive the pet for another hit. Another catch is that if you do not continually have damage going on him, (Serpent Sting, or Immolation Trap, or something) then he will speed up and get to you(in general he moves very slow). You have to kite him back and forth behind the Forlorn Spire thing, which is a strip of land.
My first attempt actually went incredibly well...in fact, I was so close to taming him, that when he started to evade and reset I almost threw up my hands and gave up. For some reason it didn't occur to me that the land strip I was kiting on was fairly long so I could revive and send in my spider several times before having to use Disengage to turn around. I did this on my last and successful attempt, which netted me a beautiful skin for the lava spiders. Although I had my reservations, I'm glad I went for it. Definitely worth it.
As you can tell from the screenie, I did have a little help. My bf put slow poisons on his throwing weapon and helped me keep up dps on the pet. He didn't do much though considering that I needed aggro for the tame. He also gave me a little bit of company and encouragement, which helped me out tremendously.
Magical Crawdad my *ss
So, a long time ago, I had this crazy idea that I would attempt to get the Salty title. Then I realized that I am working every weekend and am never home in time for the Fishing tournaments...both of them. But at that time, I did attempt to get the Magical Crawdad box for the pet. The first time I got Mr. Pinchy, the item you have to use to get the pet, it took me well over 10 hours to get the damn thing. I didn't sit there for 10 hours, but it took me a lot of farming over 3 weeks. When I did finally get it, I used to 3 times, and got no pet...but had to deal with the 2 day cooldown. Meanwhile, my boyfriend decided to join me in fishing, got Mr. Pinchy within a few casts (alot fewer then me) and got the pet on the first time...yeah...After the first failed Mr. Pinchy, I put the Salty title and all other achievements to bed.
Then the whole pet battle came about and I decided I needed 150 pets before MoP was released. One of the 26 pets I don't have but can reasonably get is the Magical Crawdad. So off I went, to go fish a few pools. Now my luck has completely changed. I caught Mr. Pinchy within a few pools around Terokkar Forrest. And after one failed, Angry Mr. Pinchy wish, the second wish, 2 days later gave me the Magical Crawdad box I so desired.
Behold!
Now if you're wondering why I chose the Tol'vir mount to ride, I like it because both of them scuttle...heeheee. >.<
From here
As far as the hunter goes, I have just Magria to tame and I am done with Cataclysm rares. Unless they increase the stables in MoP, I'm seriously going to have to start thinking of which pets I really want to keep. I hate that I can't have a lot of pets simply because I would love to have one of each type. But I'm also a huge collector at heart, so I have to be choosy.
My druid will continue her pet collecting. I try to break things down a bit- fish a little here, farm a few mobs there. I'm also doing Molten Front dailies again for a chance at the pet. I'm two dailies away from Pebble, and 8 away from the Chirping Box (other jousting bird). I am going to have to start farming for an Elementium Geode, make my enchanting pets (going to have to go to the Horde side for that too) and keep crossing my fingers as far as drops are concerned. Hopefully my hard work pays off.
Yes, a lazy night indeed.
 |
| It's a sad day...noone wants me... |
Purple Doom
Now I have them all except Deth'talic, and to be honest...the scary stories I had been hearing about Deth'talic were making me nervous and I was okay with that...Or so I thought. After I put it off for a bit (I ran Black Temple, came back and he was STILL there), I started reading up, all the while twiddling my thumbs. My biggest concern was that people might try and grief me, but I soon began to think that if I didn't at least try, I'd probably feel regret every time I saw the damn spider. So off I went...ready to try. Also, aside from griefing, I am not the best kiter, nor the best trapper, so the thought of needing to possibly do both wasn't making me feel any better. The only other person on the Molten Front at the time was a lower geared hunter from the Horde, so that eased my worry a little bit. He was obviously doing dailies and would probably leave me alone.
So I made up an action bar specifically for the challenge and went for it.
Strategy (ish)
Now the trick to Deth'talic is kiting him and sending your pet to eat and die to his Deth Strikes. Each time he uses them a chunk (about 10%) of his ridiculous 77 million health goes down. When you're under 20 mill or so, he then loses his Molten Will buff and you can tame him. Deth Strike will kill you so you need a pet, usually the spiders in the vicinity, to eat the move. After they die, you have to make sure you have enough space between you and Deth to revive the pet for another hit. Another catch is that if you do not continually have damage going on him, (Serpent Sting, or Immolation Trap, or something) then he will speed up and get to you(in general he moves very slow). You have to kite him back and forth behind the Forlorn Spire thing, which is a strip of land.
My first attempt actually went incredibly well...in fact, I was so close to taming him, that when he started to evade and reset I almost threw up my hands and gave up. For some reason it didn't occur to me that the land strip I was kiting on was fairly long so I could revive and send in my spider several times before having to use Disengage to turn around. I did this on my last and successful attempt, which netted me a beautiful skin for the lava spiders. Although I had my reservations, I'm glad I went for it. Definitely worth it.
As you can tell from the screenie, I did have a little help. My bf put slow poisons on his throwing weapon and helped me keep up dps on the pet. He didn't do much though considering that I needed aggro for the tame. He also gave me a little bit of company and encouragement, which helped me out tremendously.
 |
| Protecting our young :D |
Magical Crawdad my *ss
So, a long time ago, I had this crazy idea that I would attempt to get the Salty title. Then I realized that I am working every weekend and am never home in time for the Fishing tournaments...both of them. But at that time, I did attempt to get the Magical Crawdad box for the pet. The first time I got Mr. Pinchy, the item you have to use to get the pet, it took me well over 10 hours to get the damn thing. I didn't sit there for 10 hours, but it took me a lot of farming over 3 weeks. When I did finally get it, I used to 3 times, and got no pet...but had to deal with the 2 day cooldown. Meanwhile, my boyfriend decided to join me in fishing, got Mr. Pinchy within a few casts (alot fewer then me) and got the pet on the first time...yeah...After the first failed Mr. Pinchy, I put the Salty title and all other achievements to bed.
Then the whole pet battle came about and I decided I needed 150 pets before MoP was released. One of the 26 pets I don't have but can reasonably get is the Magical Crawdad. So off I went, to go fish a few pools. Now my luck has completely changed. I caught Mr. Pinchy within a few pools around Terokkar Forrest. And after one failed, Angry Mr. Pinchy wish, the second wish, 2 days later gave me the Magical Crawdad box I so desired.
Behold!
From here
As far as the hunter goes, I have just Magria to tame and I am done with Cataclysm rares. Unless they increase the stables in MoP, I'm seriously going to have to start thinking of which pets I really want to keep. I hate that I can't have a lot of pets simply because I would love to have one of each type. But I'm also a huge collector at heart, so I have to be choosy.
My druid will continue her pet collecting. I try to break things down a bit- fish a little here, farm a few mobs there. I'm also doing Molten Front dailies again for a chance at the pet. I'm two dailies away from Pebble, and 8 away from the Chirping Box (other jousting bird). I am going to have to start farming for an Elementium Geode, make my enchanting pets (going to have to go to the Horde side for that too) and keep crossing my fingers as far as drops are concerned. Hopefully my hard work pays off.
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
MoP Beta: Pet Battles Overview
They're here!!!! Probably one of the most anticipated parts of MoP...or at least mine. Pokemon Pet Battles!
Let's be honest here...this mini game is a complete rip off of Pokemon. Shifting battle scenes, turn-based system, and midi sounding music. But hey! Maybe that's the key here; taking a widely successful system and integrating it into the game. A perfect mini game to waste some time on.
I've put together some screenshots of my (extensive) experience with the Pet Battle System. I think overall, the system was handled nicely, but there is some room for improvement.
However, this is still beta...although I'm sure this is pretty much how the system will feel.
(Beware...mucho pictures under cut...I went a little Screenshot Trigger Happy. >.<)
Let's be honest here...this mini game is a complete rip off of Pokemon. Shifting battle scenes, turn-based system, and midi sounding music. But hey! Maybe that's the key here; taking a widely successful system and integrating it into the game. A perfect mini game to waste some time on.
I've put together some screenshots of my (extensive) experience with the Pet Battle System. I think overall, the system was handled nicely, but there is some room for improvement.
However, this is still beta...although I'm sure this is pretty much how the system will feel.
(Beware...mucho pictures under cut...I went a little Screenshot Trigger Happy. >.<)
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