Saturday, November 29, 2008
More Secure Than My Bank Account
Two Blizzard Authenticators arrived in my mailbox today. I got the PTouch out and labeled them so we could tell them apart. Then, I set them up on our systems in seconds. The process was easy. The extra step of getting the random secure number and entering it is fairly painless. The price included shipping and was reasonable @ $6.50 each. Of course, now I'm more nervous about misplacing them than getting my account hacked. For now, we're keeping them at the bases of our respective monitors. I was thinking about getting some retractable keychains like people get for keycards at work. Heck, we probably have some lying around.
Monday, November 24, 2008
When Bears Fly
Frantically Flying Flvy
Now, with Kung Fu Action! I couldn't resist. Gratz on 77...you bastard!
Flawless victory. Fatality.
You knew someone was going to do it eventually....
Scorpion's "Get over here" for Death Knights using Death Grip
(This is the sort of thing I get to do for the next week while I'm in WoW withdrawal, look up goofy little add-ons and read blog posts about the game.)
Scorpion's "Get over here" for Death Knights using Death Grip
(This is the sort of thing I get to do for the next week while I'm in WoW withdrawal, look up goofy little add-ons and read blog posts about the game.)
I'm Back
Account is back up and running. I think I've gotten all my gear. I'm still missing my gold, all 5k worth of it, but Typhia is covering me until it is. I've taken this time to follow Blizzard's request that I clear my UI settings & mods. I'm doing it not because I think account settings & addons caused my issues. Instead, when faced with the opportunity for a clean slate and a chance to wipe bad settings, I might as well take it. Unfortunately, I'm a pack-rat. So, the mountains of items that I now have to sort through is insane.
There's only one real problem now.
My inlaws are in-route for Thanksgiving visit, eta 2 hours. I really love my inlaws, but I really want to organize my stuff and get back to leveling. Sigh!
There's only one real problem now.
My inlaws are in-route for Thanksgiving visit, eta 2 hours. I really love my inlaws, but I really want to organize my stuff and get back to leveling. Sigh!
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Waiting
Well, I'm still locked out. I've received an email stating that most of my items have been restored with a long list of said items. I've received an email with a temporary password. The password page tells me that my account is still locked out but the time stamp is for several hours ago.
I've watched all of my Netflix films, my team has played football (although I wouldn't call that "playing") and even done some Christmas shopping. I've got nothing else. The book I've been reading isn't very good. I've caught up on my Heroes viewing.
The time away from the game itself isn't so bad except that it's the 2nd weekend since the expansion and the last weekend before things get nuts for the holidays. Rhus is sitting 1/2-way to 74 & Beroth is 1/2-way to 72.
Then, there's the wife. She's been cleaning all day and is looking forward to a nice evening leveling her druid or mage. So basically, I need to find something to do away from the computers or spend my time watching her play without me.
The good news is that the security software on her system was not compromised and she didn't get hacked too. It's small comfort, but I'll take it.
I've watched all of my Netflix films, my team has played football (although I wouldn't call that "playing") and even done some Christmas shopping. I've got nothing else. The book I've been reading isn't very good. I've caught up on my Heroes viewing.
The time away from the game itself isn't so bad except that it's the 2nd weekend since the expansion and the last weekend before things get nuts for the holidays. Rhus is sitting 1/2-way to 74 & Beroth is 1/2-way to 72.
Then, there's the wife. She's been cleaning all day and is looking forward to a nice evening leveling her druid or mage. So basically, I need to find something to do away from the computers or spend my time watching her play without me.
The good news is that the security software on her system was not compromised and she didn't get hacked too. It's small comfort, but I'll take it.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Hacked
Well, it finally happened. My WoW account has been hacked. I verified from my wife's bank alt, that OrdoSerp's bank has been totally cleaned out. It had over 2k gold, stacks upon stacks of healing & mana potions, & a ton of Burning Crusade crafting items that didn't get sold durning the expansion run-up. OrdoSerp kept the gold access confined to just my account to protect us from random hacks like this. Heck, I was on my account less than 6 hours ago checking my Auctions before bed. I run full system scans weekly, keep up active scans, worked in IT for several years and am, to say the least, very careful with all my information.
My account has a 24 hour ban on it while they investigate, so, I won't be playing or seeing the damage anytime soon.
Update #1
I've just finish a complete system scan (virus/spyware) on all 3 computers...nothing. I ran scans using other programs...nothing. I've been skimming the forums looking for examples of issues...nothing.
I changed my wife's password info on her computer just in case.
I surf using Firefox w/ NoScript running. I suppose I could have turned off security on a website, but my security software scans should have caught anything. I don't use my WoW password for anything else. And I don't log on to any computers other than ours. I, unfortunately, haven't changed that password in over a month, but usually I do. The only change I made this week was downloading some quest addons. But those shouldn't have gotten my account hacked. Besides, addons should not cause a hacked account, only their source.
I use a Merc keyboard running the ZBoard engine & I use WoWMatrix. But there are no reports of issues with either of these.
There's nothing remotely suspicious running on my task manager either.
Everything here is behind a router/firewall and I keep Windows Firewall on. Yes, Windows Firewall isn't the most secure software firewall out there, but it should be "fine" being run in conjunction with a hardware firewall.
I am at a complete and utter loss here.
I just have to wait and see what Blizzard says. Not that they will tell me anything.
Update #2
My account was hacked at approximately 3AM EST. I assume everything is gone.
After several hours of extensive system scans, a conversation between my wife & and in-game GM, several searches through the forums, and a lot of bad words, I have found nothing...
Absolutely nothing except one tiny "low threat" cookie that seems to be getting past my NoScripts filter currently.
Could something have gotten past FireFox, NoScripts, CA Security Center, Window Defender and remain completely undetected after extensive searches? Yes. Could it have happened weeks ago and since been removed? Yes.
The thing that is really upsetting me is not the part about being hacked, having my virtual stuff stolen or even my account being temporarily banned. It's the not finding anything on my system or any evidence of something on my system. I would much prefer I find something and chock it up to bad luck.
Instead, I've got that nagging feeling like I've missed something. And if "they" hacked my blizzard account, should I worry about my other online accounts like email, iTunes, Amazon, ... , bank accounts? Which, again, I rigorously secure, just like my WoW account.
I've purchased a pair of the authenticator tags for us. They should arrive in the next week or so.
Update #3
They have reset my password, but my account suspension looks like it's going to remain in effect until tomorrow afternoon. No WoW for me. Not that I would want to WoW if all my epics are gone.
Update #4
This is the last "update" I'll add to this thread. I've reinstalled my "stronger" software firewall and have been looking things over. My conclusion? There's nothing here. A few weeks ago, I logged onto the game on the "entertainment" PC connected to our TV. I detected a Trojan on that machine last week. That's when it must have happened and the goldspammers only got around to using my password last night.
My account has a 24 hour ban on it while they investigate, so, I won't be playing or seeing the damage anytime soon.
Update #1
I've just finish a complete system scan (virus/spyware) on all 3 computers...nothing. I ran scans using other programs...nothing. I've been skimming the forums looking for examples of issues...nothing.
I changed my wife's password info on her computer just in case.
I surf using Firefox w/ NoScript running. I suppose I could have turned off security on a website, but my security software scans should have caught anything. I don't use my WoW password for anything else. And I don't log on to any computers other than ours. I, unfortunately, haven't changed that password in over a month, but usually I do. The only change I made this week was downloading some quest addons. But those shouldn't have gotten my account hacked. Besides, addons should not cause a hacked account, only their source.
I use a Merc keyboard running the ZBoard engine & I use WoWMatrix. But there are no reports of issues with either of these.
There's nothing remotely suspicious running on my task manager either.
Everything here is behind a router/firewall and I keep Windows Firewall on. Yes, Windows Firewall isn't the most secure software firewall out there, but it should be "fine" being run in conjunction with a hardware firewall.
I am at a complete and utter loss here.
I just have to wait and see what Blizzard says. Not that they will tell me anything.
Update #2
My account was hacked at approximately 3AM EST. I assume everything is gone.
After several hours of extensive system scans, a conversation between my wife & and in-game GM, several searches through the forums, and a lot of bad words, I have found nothing...
Absolutely nothing except one tiny "low threat" cookie that seems to be getting past my NoScripts filter currently.
Could something have gotten past FireFox, NoScripts, CA Security Center, Window Defender and remain completely undetected after extensive searches? Yes. Could it have happened weeks ago and since been removed? Yes.
The thing that is really upsetting me is not the part about being hacked, having my virtual stuff stolen or even my account being temporarily banned. It's the not finding anything on my system or any evidence of something on my system. I would much prefer I find something and chock it up to bad luck.
Instead, I've got that nagging feeling like I've missed something. And if "they" hacked my blizzard account, should I worry about my other online accounts like email, iTunes, Amazon, ... , bank accounts? Which, again, I rigorously secure, just like my WoW account.
I've purchased a pair of the authenticator tags for us. They should arrive in the next week or so.
Update #3
They have reset my password, but my account suspension looks like it's going to remain in effect until tomorrow afternoon. No WoW for me. Not that I would want to WoW if all my epics are gone.
Update #4
This is the last "update" I'll add to this thread. I've reinstalled my "stronger" software firewall and have been looking things over. My conclusion? There's nothing here. A few weeks ago, I logged onto the game on the "entertainment" PC connected to our TV. I detected a Trojan on that machine last week. That's when it must have happened and the goldspammers only got around to using my password last night.
Friday, November 21, 2008
Professional Frustration
Now that I've been working heavily on leveling up a death knight, I've also been trying to figure out what professions to give to him. With my large stable of alts, he's going to overlap with someone else no matter what, so I figured I'd go with something that Avouz could benefit from himself: Enchanting.
Enchanting is easy, if a bit tedious, to level. You buy up a slew of mats and just hit your bracers, gloves, and whatever else over and over again to level your skill. The problem is you eventually run out of mats, namely around 250 skill or so.
This is because no one runs the old Classic endgame dungeons anymore. They skip to Outland immediately at level 58, which means stocks of enchanting mats like Eternal essences and illusion dust are pretty scarce. When they do show up in the AH, the prices are outrageously high.
So, my only recourse to grind Avouz those last 25 points or so is to send Stofnar into Scholo and Strath and have him farm those places for green drops. At level 73, he should have no trouble, but it's annoying. Only enchanting really has this problem. Low 50 folks can mine thorium and skin rugged leather and all those sorts of mats, but GEEs and illusion dust only come from those occasional lvl 55+ green drops that aren't from Outland.
Grrr.
Enchanting is easy, if a bit tedious, to level. You buy up a slew of mats and just hit your bracers, gloves, and whatever else over and over again to level your skill. The problem is you eventually run out of mats, namely around 250 skill or so.
This is because no one runs the old Classic endgame dungeons anymore. They skip to Outland immediately at level 58, which means stocks of enchanting mats like Eternal essences and illusion dust are pretty scarce. When they do show up in the AH, the prices are outrageously high.
So, my only recourse to grind Avouz those last 25 points or so is to send Stofnar into Scholo and Strath and have him farm those places for green drops. At level 73, he should have no trouble, but it's annoying. Only enchanting really has this problem. Low 50 folks can mine thorium and skin rugged leather and all those sorts of mats, but GEEs and illusion dust only come from those occasional lvl 55+ green drops that aren't from Outland.
Grrr.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Learn to DPS n00b!
Rhus, my "little bear," is a small-group tank. I've raided enough on her to know I like it and would like to find a part-time (as my health permits) off-tank role in a raiding guild, preferably QSS but I'm keeping my options open. My only concern is dps. The role in a 25-man I'd like is one somewhere in that #3-4 tank/dps slot. Except I am so accustomed to solo-cat/group-bear that I've spent next to no time dps'ing. I need practice.
Enter Typhia, the Death Knight tank. Typhia is power-leveling for his guild, Edge.
This should be a win-win situation for me. OrdoSerp now has two mains who tank as their preferred role. Having Typhia around for group activities or for 10-mans when we get to them, means I have no pressure. For a while, I was the best tanking choice for OrdoSerp. Sometimes, however, that meant I was the only tank available for our group. Now, I can tank, off-tank, dps, even off-heal. Tonight, we blasted through Azjol-Nerub & Ahn'kahet. Typhia tanked and I dps'ed. We've done the opposite in both places with great success.
Now, let me emphasize that I know tanking. It's instinct. I rarely even look at my abilities/spells. I just click the right key in rhythm with the global cooldown. If I knew then what I know now, my first toon would have been one that could tank instead of my beloved hunter.
Furthermore, Bear tanks dish out a lot of damage right now. I'm out damaging other party members on AoE pulls. I also know my group. I react to their presence instinctively. I know that Stofnar, the Retadin, is durable, boosts my damage and can take take orders like "Protect the healer" or "Heal me" with great responsiveness. I know that Sofea, the Frostmage, will inevitably pull the #5 mob in an AE pull off of me. I know it so well, I can usually plan for it. I know that in "wave" fights, Calendriel's dots are always on someone, making it a safe bet that I should move toward her when mobs spawn.
Unfortunately, none of this is true when I switch to cat and take a dps role. Getting behind a single target and staying there is surprisingly disorienting right now. There's absolutely no time to get into anything like a rhythm. By the time I get a few shreds in and pop a finishing move, not only is my target dead, everything else is dead. The AoE took care of that. My damage & dps is dismally low in these fights. The truth? I feel like I'm spending more time trying to find the ass-end of a mob than I am fighting. That's just frustrating.
Boss fights or complex pulls with extra adds, it does get more interesting. On those pulls, things happen. I could end up cycling through a real attack rotation on a "stable-positioned" boss. I could end up switching to bear to help the DK pick up some mobs, even steal them from him while the healer tops him off. I could pop up to remove poison, back-up heal, or become the shit the party looks bad "tranquility!" The healer's in trouble. No problem. The healer's dead. No problem. My weak trash damage become forgotten thanks to pure utility.
Clearly, there's life for single-target cat to raid and put up good numbers. What I lack is experience in this role. I will get it. The question is about my real place in raiding. Is that what I really want? Do I really want to be the "extra" Off-tank because my class is so naturally good at it? Or do I need to be true to myself and say No! I'm a main-tank or #1 off-tank kind of guy. I'm the kind of guy who focuses on bear talents and bear responsibilities.
I will need real, honest opportunities to slay dragons. I need to pounce and shred them. To build combo points using max-dps rotations. I need to do this in such a way that I am making the most out of my situation in the new world of AoE instancing. Because there's no such thing as a sheep pull anymore.
The easy answer tonight would have been for me to bring Beroth. He would easily put up 1.2-1.4k dps on trash pulls instead of my weak 6-700 dps). But Beroth is like an old shoe. I know everything there is to know about the toon. I don't plan on raiding with him. There's no lesson learned. Rhus is the best choice.
Enter Typhia, the Death Knight tank. Typhia is power-leveling for his guild, Edge.
This should be a win-win situation for me. OrdoSerp now has two mains who tank as their preferred role. Having Typhia around for group activities or for 10-mans when we get to them, means I have no pressure. For a while, I was the best tanking choice for OrdoSerp. Sometimes, however, that meant I was the only tank available for our group. Now, I can tank, off-tank, dps, even off-heal. Tonight, we blasted through Azjol-Nerub & Ahn'kahet. Typhia tanked and I dps'ed. We've done the opposite in both places with great success.
Now, let me emphasize that I know tanking. It's instinct. I rarely even look at my abilities/spells. I just click the right key in rhythm with the global cooldown. If I knew then what I know now, my first toon would have been one that could tank instead of my beloved hunter.
Furthermore, Bear tanks dish out a lot of damage right now. I'm out damaging other party members on AoE pulls. I also know my group. I react to their presence instinctively. I know that Stofnar, the Retadin, is durable, boosts my damage and can take take orders like "Protect the healer" or "Heal me" with great responsiveness. I know that Sofea, the Frostmage, will inevitably pull the #5 mob in an AE pull off of me. I know it so well, I can usually plan for it. I know that in "wave" fights, Calendriel's dots are always on someone, making it a safe bet that I should move toward her when mobs spawn.
Unfortunately, none of this is true when I switch to cat and take a dps role. Getting behind a single target and staying there is surprisingly disorienting right now. There's absolutely no time to get into anything like a rhythm. By the time I get a few shreds in and pop a finishing move, not only is my target dead, everything else is dead. The AoE took care of that. My damage & dps is dismally low in these fights. The truth? I feel like I'm spending more time trying to find the ass-end of a mob than I am fighting. That's just frustrating.
Boss fights or complex pulls with extra adds, it does get more interesting. On those pulls, things happen. I could end up cycling through a real attack rotation on a "stable-positioned" boss. I could end up switching to bear to help the DK pick up some mobs, even steal them from him while the healer tops him off. I could pop up to remove poison, back-up heal, or become the shit the party looks bad "tranquility!" The healer's in trouble. No problem. The healer's dead. No problem. My weak trash damage become forgotten thanks to pure utility.
Clearly, there's life for single-target cat to raid and put up good numbers. What I lack is experience in this role. I will get it. The question is about my real place in raiding. Is that what I really want? Do I really want to be the "extra" Off-tank because my class is so naturally good at it? Or do I need to be true to myself and say No! I'm a main-tank or #1 off-tank kind of guy. I'm the kind of guy who focuses on bear talents and bear responsibilities.
I will need real, honest opportunities to slay dragons. I need to pounce and shred them. To build combo points using max-dps rotations. I need to do this in such a way that I am making the most out of my situation in the new world of AoE instancing. Because there's no such thing as a sheep pull anymore.
The easy answer tonight would have been for me to bring Beroth. He would easily put up 1.2-1.4k dps on trash pulls instead of my weak 6-700 dps). But Beroth is like an old shoe. I know everything there is to know about the toon. I don't plan on raiding with him. There's no lesson learned. Rhus is the best choice.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
The Triumphant Return...
Everyone goes into a new expansion with certain expectations. Oh, I'm going to focus on this character and this character, work up my professions, play in these zones, etc.
In many ways, I've not deviated from my intended path all that much. Stofnar is now officially my main toon. He's hit Uthgardt Keep and the Nexus. He's just a smidge short of level 71. I'm getting compliments about how my DPS is competitive in a way it never was when I was playing Nord.
It's a nice payoff. Stofnar was one of the very first toons I rolled and he's been a labor of love ever since. Emphasis on "labor." Prior to the 3.0.2 patch, paladins were a chore to play. I kept at him out of stubbornness more than anything.
But the one toon that's been missing from my retinue all this time is my usual namesake, Avouz. WoW is probably the first game in ages where my central character has not been someone based off of my iconic D&D toon from back in the day.
It's not that I haven't tried. I rolled an Avouz around the same time as Stofnar and Nord, a night elf rogue. Got him to the early 40s, but hated rogue. Deleted him. Rolled him again as a warrior. Got him into the 20s before I realized he was just not going to be different enough from Nord to be interesting. Deleted him again. Horde night on Malfurion gave me another incarnation, this time as a blood elf paladin. Here, I ran into a lot of the same trouble as I had with Stofnar and eventually we abandoned our toons on Malf to focus on Garona.
Enter the death knight. I wasn't sure this was going to work, since the roleplayer in me wasn't sure that Avouz would work as an undead monster turned good again. But I rolled him anyway.
Wow. Not only is the death knight starting zone some of the best storytelling WoW has offered yet, but the class is a lot of fun to play. I'm still trying to figure out what to do next, since I hardly use half my abilities. I don't need to. I feel way overpowered and I'm just kicking ass wherever I go. Having a blast doing it.
So, odds are good my #2 toon in Wrath is going to be Avouz. Typhia's pretty keen that we stick to our guns in terms of leveling our mains all at once, rather than split our group time between all our alts. He's got a good point, so Stofnar will be my group toon. But my solo toon, the toon I play when everyone else is either offline or otherwise occupied, is going to be Avouz for a while.
Forces of evil, beware. He's back.
In many ways, I've not deviated from my intended path all that much. Stofnar is now officially my main toon. He's hit Uthgardt Keep and the Nexus. He's just a smidge short of level 71. I'm getting compliments about how my DPS is competitive in a way it never was when I was playing Nord.
It's a nice payoff. Stofnar was one of the very first toons I rolled and he's been a labor of love ever since. Emphasis on "labor." Prior to the 3.0.2 patch, paladins were a chore to play. I kept at him out of stubbornness more than anything.
But the one toon that's been missing from my retinue all this time is my usual namesake, Avouz. WoW is probably the first game in ages where my central character has not been someone based off of my iconic D&D toon from back in the day.
It's not that I haven't tried. I rolled an Avouz around the same time as Stofnar and Nord, a night elf rogue. Got him to the early 40s, but hated rogue. Deleted him. Rolled him again as a warrior. Got him into the 20s before I realized he was just not going to be different enough from Nord to be interesting. Deleted him again. Horde night on Malfurion gave me another incarnation, this time as a blood elf paladin. Here, I ran into a lot of the same trouble as I had with Stofnar and eventually we abandoned our toons on Malf to focus on Garona.
Enter the death knight. I wasn't sure this was going to work, since the roleplayer in me wasn't sure that Avouz would work as an undead monster turned good again. But I rolled him anyway.
Wow. Not only is the death knight starting zone some of the best storytelling WoW has offered yet, but the class is a lot of fun to play. I'm still trying to figure out what to do next, since I hardly use half my abilities. I don't need to. I feel way overpowered and I'm just kicking ass wherever I go. Having a blast doing it.
So, odds are good my #2 toon in Wrath is going to be Avouz. Typhia's pretty keen that we stick to our guns in terms of leveling our mains all at once, rather than split our group time between all our alts. He's got a good point, so Stofnar will be my group toon. But my solo toon, the toon I play when everyone else is either offline or otherwise occupied, is going to be Avouz for a while.
Forces of evil, beware. He's back.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Oh, yeah, they did....
My wonderful friends in Ordo "arranged" for a copy of Wrath to show up at my house today. Of course, my wife got it first and now I have to make nice with her in order to play. But hey, that's a bonus too. Awesome new game and time with the wife.
Of course, not quite sure where to begin in-game. I had all these plans to occupy my next two weeks in Outland.
Nice problem to have. Thanks guys.
Of course, not quite sure where to begin in-game. I had all these plans to occupy my next two weeks in Outland.
Nice problem to have. Thanks guys.
It has begun!
(No apologies to Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as Shang Tsung in Mortal Kombat)
Well, Wrath went live at midnight and already the signs can be seen. I logged on this morning to post and check auctions with my bank alt. Stormwind was as empty as I've ever seen it.
A few Wrath items are already appearing on the AH at highly inflated prices. (20g for a single lesser cosmic essence?)
Haven't seen a death knight yet, but I'm guessing they're all still working their way through the starting zone for that class.
I don't envy those trying to level in Borean Tundra right now. I'm sure those Northrend zones are insane right now. Maybe there's a silver lining to not getting the expansion at launch after all.
Well, Wrath went live at midnight and already the signs can be seen. I logged on this morning to post and check auctions with my bank alt. Stormwind was as empty as I've ever seen it.
A few Wrath items are already appearing on the AH at highly inflated prices. (20g for a single lesser cosmic essence?)
Haven't seen a death knight yet, but I'm guessing they're all still working their way through the starting zone for that class.
I don't envy those trying to level in Borean Tundra right now. I'm sure those Northrend zones are insane right now. Maybe there's a silver lining to not getting the expansion at launch after all.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Still Down
Before the first expansion there were times when server maintenance ran a long time. But now, with the servers still down at 11:15 AM EST on Wednesday, I can't remember when the servers have been down for this long. The expansion will be available to purchase/pickup in less than 13 hours!
Good luck Blizzard. Hope the servers are up soon. I hope your tech people get some sleep soon.
Good luck Blizzard. Hope the servers are up soon. I hope your tech people get some sleep soon.
Tough Choices
So far the hardest decision to make regarding switching mains from warlock to death knight has been what race to pick. In fact with less than 24 hours to go I still haven't settled on anything. My first instinct was to go with Draenei since I think they are visually the most polished race Blizzard has put out so far. Normally that would be sufficient for me since the racial abilities really only make a difference at the cutting edge of PvE/PvP play. But now, 2 days before Wrath releases, the leadership of my raiding guild has decided we should be a top 100 guild. Our server first Kil'Jaeden kill (it makes me cry that it had to come after the Great Nerf of '08) got us a U.S. ranking of 172, and a world rank of 403. So we will definitely need to step things up if we want to get into the top 100 U.S. This makes me think my racial bonuses could be a little more important than just icing on the cake. So, the big question is now, what is my raiding role with a death knight? I'd like to be one of the guild's MTs (and the night elf racial is going to be huge for tanking), but there are 4 others in the guild that are interested in MT roles (one of each tanking class) and all of them have experience from the entirety of BC as MTs (though the other death knight's experience is as a feral druid tank). Realistically this means I will probably be at best an OT for trash, and will mainly be doing melee dps. I'm fine with that, but the night elf racials don't really do anything to help with dps, whereas humans and draenei have good dps racials. But then what happens if we lose a tank and they decide to recruit outside the guild since I didn't roll a night elf and will be at a disadvantage tanking? Sigh.
First instincts are probably the best to go with, and Draenei chicks are really hot.
First instincts are probably the best to go with, and Draenei chicks are really hot.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Building for Wrath
I've been doing a lot of research tonight (damn broken servers) on tweaking Rhus' build. I've changed my talents a few times since the patch so I could play with stuff like Infected Wounds (meh) and Berserk (love it) but it's not streamlined and it's time for me to choose my path from 70 to 80.
The insane number of options is killing me. I've reviewed various recommendations from all the best feral bloggers including Kalon, Karthis & Flyv.
Leveling Specs - Flyv
Core Bear Talents - Kalon
Unfortunately, as much as there's synergy & consensus, there's uncertainty & choices. I wish I could squeeze 85 levels worth of talents into 80 levels worth of Rhus.
Tomorrow, OrdoSerp is going to try and clear Kara & part of ZA with 6-7 players as fast as we can as a last BC hurrah. For it, I may load up on bear talents before my "final" expansion respec. But after that?
It's clear to me that I want to try and eventually get all of Kalon's "core" talents by level 80. It's also clear that I want to shift my focus to include more cat/dps talents both for leveling & for a potential life as a feral dps/#4 raid tank role.
Here's how I'm leaning.
0/50/11 - PvE Leveling Build
This build includes Shredding Attacks, Predatory Instincts & Omen of Clarity. The next steps, I think, are to take Rend & Tear (5/5), Berserk (1), Protector of the Pack (3/3) & Natural Reaction (1/3).
Do I miss much as a level 80 tank not having 3/3 Natural Reaction? And if so, what could I possibly give up? One option would be Shredding Attacks, but wouldn't that significantly nerf my dps? Isn't the ability to dps my "in" when applying to for a role as an end-game raider?
Since level 80 is at least a month away (maybe more with holiday family obligations) I'm sticking with this plan until then. I suspect that someone will have theory-crafted the hell out of this by the time I'm raiding. I'll make the necessary adjustments then. Until then, I think I have a plan.
With only one more day to the expansion, I feel like I need a "24" countdown clock running somewhere.
The insane number of options is killing me. I've reviewed various recommendations from all the best feral bloggers including Kalon, Karthis & Flyv.
Leveling Specs - Flyv
Core Bear Talents - Kalon
Unfortunately, as much as there's synergy & consensus, there's uncertainty & choices. I wish I could squeeze 85 levels worth of talents into 80 levels worth of Rhus.
Tomorrow, OrdoSerp is going to try and clear Kara & part of ZA with 6-7 players as fast as we can as a last BC hurrah. For it, I may load up on bear talents before my "final" expansion respec. But after that?
It's clear to me that I want to try and eventually get all of Kalon's "core" talents by level 80. It's also clear that I want to shift my focus to include more cat/dps talents both for leveling & for a potential life as a feral dps/#4 raid tank role.
Here's how I'm leaning.
0/50/11 - PvE Leveling Build
This build includes Shredding Attacks, Predatory Instincts & Omen of Clarity. The next steps, I think, are to take Rend & Tear (5/5), Berserk (1), Protector of the Pack (3/3) & Natural Reaction (1/3).
Do I miss much as a level 80 tank not having 3/3 Natural Reaction? And if so, what could I possibly give up? One option would be Shredding Attacks, but wouldn't that significantly nerf my dps? Isn't the ability to dps my "in" when applying to for a role as an end-game raider?
Since level 80 is at least a month away (maybe more with holiday family obligations) I'm sticking with this plan until then. I suspect that someone will have theory-crafted the hell out of this by the time I'm raiding. I'll make the necessary adjustments then. Until then, I think I have a plan.
With only one more day to the expansion, I feel like I need a "24" countdown clock running somewhere.
Wrath @ Midnight
My local GameStop, where I pre-ordered copies of Wrath for the wife and me, is doing a midnight release party.
What do I do? What do I do?
What do I do? What do I do?
Bear Goes to Tempest Keep
For personal reasons, I stepped away from raiding this summer. I also stepped away from my hunter at the same time. I focused on my Feral Druid and helped OrdoSerp get into Heroics & 10-mans without having to pug dps or beg someone to jump on their tanking alt. It's been great. I missed the excitement of raiding but not the stress. Soon though, I started to wonder how I would do tanking in a real raid. Could I handle it? Would I enjoy it? Would it be less stressful than dps'ing?
Last night as I sat down to watch a DvD, Cainam called me up and begged me to bring Rhus to Tempest Keep with QSS. Cainam has been trying to get his mage, Sofea, in on a Kael'thas kill in TK for months. With only a few days to go before the expansion, this was, perhaps, his last legitimate chance.
The problem with "best friends" is that sometimes you have to get up off the couch with your freshly popped popcorn & just-queued DvD and actually do something for them.
And so, there I was in TK on Vent with people I haven't spoken to for months off-tanking mobs in my Bear's first 25-man raid.
I had several things working for me. First, the entire raid consisted of seasoned raiders who knew the instance. Second, most of them were on their mains with T5 & T6 equivalent gear. Third, I was the 2nd off-tank with very low pressure. Fourth, I know TK from my time on Beroth. And finally, the place has been majorly nerfed.
So, how'd I do?
I discovered early on, with the help of Flyv (on his alt-hunter) quietly whispering advice to me, that my Glyph of Maul needed to be destroyed. I inadvertently broke a sheep when I fired off some Mauls on my tank target. Oops! No harm, no foul. Or should I say Fowl. It was Sofea's penguin "sheep" I broke.
I was not standing close enough to the edge of my first platform assignment for Al'ar and only lived thanks to a ton of health and a smart healer who called out in Vent for me to reposition myself. But, I did well tanking Al'ar during the ground phase and even held threat against the T6-geared Pally off-tank.
We then went and killed Void Reaver. I learned there that there was no way that I could keep up in a threat race with two T6-geared veteran raiding tanks for threat and could have just cat-dps'ed for the fight.
As we downed VR, it suddenly hit me that I had only the vaguest clue about my job on Kael'thas would be. Hell, when I stopped raiding, Beroth had only seen 3 phases of the fight. What do I do? What do I do???
Whisper-spam Flyv, "WHAT DO I DO?!?"
Thankfully, Flyv is an amazingly standup guy and I had nothing to worry about. I did my job almost flawlessly. (I'm as shocked as you are.) It took 3 pulls to get him due to some dps errors. That was fine for me, because with each pull I learned more stuff about the role of a feral druid in raiding. I shifted form throughout the phases, tossing battle res's, doing cat dps & dealing with my tanking assignments.
After we downed Kael we went on to put a smackdown on Solarian. I got no gear (I was out-rolled on the VR shoulders by 3 points) and I didn't care. A friend, also on an alt, lamented that they didn't get any gear. All I could think was "OMG, I can raid-tank! OMG, I finally got to kill Kael'thas!"
It was a very good night.
Last night as I sat down to watch a DvD, Cainam called me up and begged me to bring Rhus to Tempest Keep with QSS. Cainam has been trying to get his mage, Sofea, in on a Kael'thas kill in TK for months. With only a few days to go before the expansion, this was, perhaps, his last legitimate chance.
The problem with "best friends" is that sometimes you have to get up off the couch with your freshly popped popcorn & just-queued DvD and actually do something for them.
And so, there I was in TK on Vent with people I haven't spoken to for months off-tanking mobs in my Bear's first 25-man raid.
I had several things working for me. First, the entire raid consisted of seasoned raiders who knew the instance. Second, most of them were on their mains with T5 & T6 equivalent gear. Third, I was the 2nd off-tank with very low pressure. Fourth, I know TK from my time on Beroth. And finally, the place has been majorly nerfed.
So, how'd I do?
I discovered early on, with the help of Flyv (on his alt-hunter) quietly whispering advice to me, that my Glyph of Maul needed to be destroyed. I inadvertently broke a sheep when I fired off some Mauls on my tank target. Oops! No harm, no foul. Or should I say Fowl. It was Sofea's penguin "sheep" I broke.
I was not standing close enough to the edge of my first platform assignment for Al'ar and only lived thanks to a ton of health and a smart healer who called out in Vent for me to reposition myself. But, I did well tanking Al'ar during the ground phase and even held threat against the T6-geared Pally off-tank.
We then went and killed Void Reaver. I learned there that there was no way that I could keep up in a threat race with two T6-geared veteran raiding tanks for threat and could have just cat-dps'ed for the fight.
As we downed VR, it suddenly hit me that I had only the vaguest clue about my job on Kael'thas would be. Hell, when I stopped raiding, Beroth had only seen 3 phases of the fight. What do I do? What do I do???
Whisper-spam Flyv, "WHAT DO I DO?!?"
Thankfully, Flyv is an amazingly standup guy and I had nothing to worry about. I did my job almost flawlessly. (I'm as shocked as you are.) It took 3 pulls to get him due to some dps errors. That was fine for me, because with each pull I learned more stuff about the role of a feral druid in raiding. I shifted form throughout the phases, tossing battle res's, doing cat dps & dealing with my tanking assignments.
After we downed Kael we went on to put a smackdown on Solarian. I got no gear (I was out-rolled on the VR shoulders by 3 points) and I didn't care. A friend, also on an alt, lamented that they didn't get any gear. All I could think was "OMG, I can raid-tank! OMG, I finally got to kill Kael'thas!"
It was a very good night.
Monday, November 10, 2008
What to do while everyone else is in Northrend leveling...
Real life financial realities being what they are, odds are good I'm not going to be able to purchase Wrath when it releases this Thursday. In fact, I'm likely not to see it until my birthday at the end of this month.
So while all the other members of Ordo dash off to Northrend to begin the war against the Scourge, I'm stuck with Outland and Quel'Danis. Thankfully, being a "alt-aholic" as LRNs points out gives me a few options.
So while all the other members of Ordo dash off to Northrend to begin the war against the Scourge, I'm stuck with Outland and Quel'Danis. Thankfully, being a "alt-aholic" as LRNs points out gives me a few options.
- Raid the AH for Northrend greens. These should be upgrades for a lot of my toons. Granted Nord with his T4/T5 level epics isn't going to find much, if anything. But Stofnar (my new paladin main) still has a few green items, as do my warlock and my hunter.
- Level a few lowbie alts. I've got a low-40s druid and a mid-20s shaman waiting in the wings. I could put a few levels on them in the meantime.
- Level my hunter's pets. The new feature that dings pets automatically to 65 is a great help, but a level 65 pet vs. a level 70 mob is still pretty weak. Ellote's a beast master and has picked up two new exotic pets, a silithid and a core hound. Lots of work to get them to 70 and ready for Northrend.
- Grind rep. Stofnar is an alchemist by profession and he could really use those fancy alchemist stones that are available at exalted SSO.
- Achievements. Got a few lowbie dungeons that I don't have credit for on my various alts. Some of these can be soloed by toons at 70.
Friday, November 7, 2008
The Return to Karazhan
I've been playing this game almost since launch (I came in right after the Maraudon patch, for those who remember those days.) In the course of that time, I've been a part of four different raiding guilds. I've also had to deal with pretty much every possible problem that comes along as a part of said guilds.
I've had to deal with pissy guild leaders, prima donna officers, attention whores, lackluster performance, overzealous raiders, and the often inevitable implosion/disintigration of the guild. A lot of this comes about because of the annonimity of the Internet, where people can be jerks in ways they wouldn't face-to-face.
But we put up with it, because we want raid content. We wanted to kill Ragnaros. We wanted to farm Nefarian. We wanted phat lootz, like Ashkandi and Tier pieces and whatever else.
TBC changed the dynamic somewhat by lowering the maximum raid size from 40 to 25. Fewer people to get pissy about raiding, the more stable guilds would be. Less dead weight, etc. Well, things didn't really change all that much, so now in Wrath, you're going to be able to raid with as few as 10 in every raid instance.
We've been putting this concept to the test in Ordo by hitting TBC 10-man content with our little guild. We don't have 10. We have 8, and one of them is still leveling to 70. Technically, we're tearing through Kara and ZA with only 7.
And we're kicking serious ass. Our first run last week cleared Kara of all bosses save Netherspite (and he is so not worth it.) We also took out 3 of the initial bosses in ZA. Last night, we repeated our success, clearing Kara through Shade with only a single wipe due to a botched Curator pull.
On average, we're not overgeared with Tier 6 equipment. We have some folks with that stuff, but we also have virgin 70s with instance blues and AH greens. One of our real advantages is years of raid experience. We know these fights. We know how to beat them. And the potency given to every class in the 3.0.2 patch doesn't hurt.
We're hoping to carry this over into Wrath. Can we take Naxx with only 7 or 8? Who knows? But I'm eager to try.
I've had to deal with pissy guild leaders, prima donna officers, attention whores, lackluster performance, overzealous raiders, and the often inevitable implosion/disintigration of the guild. A lot of this comes about because of the annonimity of the Internet, where people can be jerks in ways they wouldn't face-to-face.
But we put up with it, because we want raid content. We wanted to kill Ragnaros. We wanted to farm Nefarian. We wanted phat lootz, like Ashkandi and Tier pieces and whatever else.
TBC changed the dynamic somewhat by lowering the maximum raid size from 40 to 25. Fewer people to get pissy about raiding, the more stable guilds would be. Less dead weight, etc. Well, things didn't really change all that much, so now in Wrath, you're going to be able to raid with as few as 10 in every raid instance.
We've been putting this concept to the test in Ordo by hitting TBC 10-man content with our little guild. We don't have 10. We have 8, and one of them is still leveling to 70. Technically, we're tearing through Kara and ZA with only 7.
And we're kicking serious ass. Our first run last week cleared Kara of all bosses save Netherspite (and he is so not worth it.) We also took out 3 of the initial bosses in ZA. Last night, we repeated our success, clearing Kara through Shade with only a single wipe due to a botched Curator pull.
On average, we're not overgeared with Tier 6 equipment. We have some folks with that stuff, but we also have virgin 70s with instance blues and AH greens. One of our real advantages is years of raid experience. We know these fights. We know how to beat them. And the potency given to every class in the 3.0.2 patch doesn't hurt.
We're hoping to carry this over into Wrath. Can we take Naxx with only 7 or 8? Who knows? But I'm eager to try.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Keyboard Layout
I'm planning a more detailed post about ergonomics for gamers, but I'm really excited about this and wanted to post this for my friends. My Merc keyboard arrived yesterday. I was able to spend just enough time before the server maintenance to unbox it and try the WoW pre-made keyboard layout. I immediately hated that layout. The layout was clearly for easy access to various windows like bags, character screen & spellbook. That's completely pointless. So after some tweaking, some reading and some tests, I figured out a good configuration for me.
In conjunction to the Bartender4 mod, I'm maximizing my access to the most needed spells and abilities. I'm also planning on mimicing some of the button postions with on-screen layout. Visually, I want 1-6 & 7-11 to match the positions over the directional keys. The layout matches (almost exactly) the layout I prefer on your basic QWERTY keyboard, only button postions are easier to reach.
When the game comes back online, I'll take some screenshots for Rhus & Beroth to show you what I mean.
Monday, November 3, 2008
Switching Mains
One of the frequent questions players have to face is what to do when you discover you like one of your alts better than your main.
I've been playing Korathnord since Day One. He was the very first toon I rolled in WoW. That, in of itself, is a bit unusual. But the time has come for me to consider switching to someone else.
This has been building for sometime. When TBC came out, Nord was an arms DPS/off-tank warrior. He did okay in that form, but after the first round of druid nerfs it became clear that Ordo needed Nord as a full tank. Then the problems became apparent. I just wasn't very good at tanking. I got better with practice, but was never comfortable playing that role.
Then came endgame and the desire of several Ordo folks to move their mains into raiding guilds (for most of us, it was Que Sera Sera). I became the odd-man out. Most raiding guilds don't need tanks and don't want DPS warriors, and, unsurprisingly, QSS didn't really need either. I specced fury and held my own for a time, but as the raiding content got more complex and difficult, I got left behind for rogues a lot. I spent a lot of time on the guild wait-list for raids. Eventually, I gave up and requested that I become what QSS calls "F&F," friends and family who are members of the guild, but not raiders.
And Nord went into the dustbin for a time as I leveled alt after alt. I got my mage to 70, then my hunter, then my warlock, and now just last week, my paladin, Stofnar.
So I have a broad list to choose from, and somewhat interestingly enough, it is the last of these that is most likely to become my new main: the paladin.
Part of that is, of course, the fact that post 3.0 patch, retribution paladins are way overpowered. It's fun slaughtering my way through hordes of mobs even as badly undergeared as I am. But even with nerf after nerf, I'm finding my enthusiasm holding fast.
Here's a big part of the reason. Before, both with Ordo and with QSS, I was locked in as melee DPS. Stofnar is not so limited. Even as ret, I can spot heal. I can tank. I can DPS. I can fill multiple roles and be useful. I've got versatility I lacked with Nord.
This is particularly handy in small guild gaming like we do here in Ordo. When you've got an eight person guild, and when it's anyone's guess who is going to be online on a given night, it's real handy to be able to fill any role.
That doesn't just apply to five-man content either. LRNs has been lauding our efforts in Kara and ZA this past week. Stofnar was along for much of the Kara run and it did help that I could swap to healing or tank gear depending on the pull.
In Wrath, I intend to level all my toons to 80 eventually, even Nord. But odds are good Stofnar will be my first to do so and will be my main toon for most 5-man and raiding content in the future.
I've been playing Korathnord since Day One. He was the very first toon I rolled in WoW. That, in of itself, is a bit unusual. But the time has come for me to consider switching to someone else.
This has been building for sometime. When TBC came out, Nord was an arms DPS/off-tank warrior. He did okay in that form, but after the first round of druid nerfs it became clear that Ordo needed Nord as a full tank. Then the problems became apparent. I just wasn't very good at tanking. I got better with practice, but was never comfortable playing that role.
Then came endgame and the desire of several Ordo folks to move their mains into raiding guilds (for most of us, it was Que Sera Sera). I became the odd-man out. Most raiding guilds don't need tanks and don't want DPS warriors, and, unsurprisingly, QSS didn't really need either. I specced fury and held my own for a time, but as the raiding content got more complex and difficult, I got left behind for rogues a lot. I spent a lot of time on the guild wait-list for raids. Eventually, I gave up and requested that I become what QSS calls "F&F," friends and family who are members of the guild, but not raiders.
And Nord went into the dustbin for a time as I leveled alt after alt. I got my mage to 70, then my hunter, then my warlock, and now just last week, my paladin, Stofnar.
So I have a broad list to choose from, and somewhat interestingly enough, it is the last of these that is most likely to become my new main: the paladin.
Part of that is, of course, the fact that post 3.0 patch, retribution paladins are way overpowered. It's fun slaughtering my way through hordes of mobs even as badly undergeared as I am. But even with nerf after nerf, I'm finding my enthusiasm holding fast.
Here's a big part of the reason. Before, both with Ordo and with QSS, I was locked in as melee DPS. Stofnar is not so limited. Even as ret, I can spot heal. I can tank. I can DPS. I can fill multiple roles and be useful. I've got versatility I lacked with Nord.
This is particularly handy in small guild gaming like we do here in Ordo. When you've got an eight person guild, and when it's anyone's guess who is going to be online on a given night, it's real handy to be able to fill any role.
That doesn't just apply to five-man content either. LRNs has been lauding our efforts in Kara and ZA this past week. Stofnar was along for much of the Kara run and it did help that I could swap to healing or tank gear depending on the pull.
In Wrath, I intend to level all my toons to 80 eventually, even Nord. But odds are good Stofnar will be my first to do so and will be my main toon for most 5-man and raiding content in the future.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Old Friends
Virgin Raider
Mardigilian has never raided. He's never been in a raiding guild. He's one of our few "mains" who is actually a member of Ordo Serpentis. Last week seven of us went to Karazhan to kill Attumen the Huntsman & try the temporary event boss. Thanks to the recent changes we were able to stay and do a full clear with just 7. Amazingly, only 2 of our party were in T5 or better gear. Most of the party still had a mix of Kara-level gear or PvP gear on. This screen shot is for him.
Grats on your first "Raid!"
Managing the Guild Within the Guild
Another "relevant" re-post from Beroth the Hunter
How did you get into World of Warcraft? Did you do it by yourself? Did you do it to meet people?
If you're like me, you did it with a group of friends. Two or three of us started, but then the rest of us joined in. We live hours apart. WoW brings us back together. I've nearly quit the game dozens of times, but my friends keep me playing.
Even now after joining an end-game raiding guild, my friends figure prominently on my game-play decisions. Which raids will I sign up for? Which days will I reserve for them? When will I go do RL stuff and when will I log on simply to hang out and chat with them? The good news is that most of them are in the same guild with me. For the most part, the guild schedule is "our" schedule.
The drive to progress in end-game raiding can be all-consuming. When I'm not raiding, I'm often doing quests or farming materials with one goal in mind: Prepare for Raiding! I need to pay for potions, repair, new gear, and contribute to the guild bank. There are weeks when all my game-play is consumed by the raid or the raid-prep. Where do my friends fit in when this happens? Do I play to raid or do I play to do stuff with my friends?
If you're like me and the answer is a resounding BOTH, you've got your work cut out for you! Here's some of the stuff we do to maintain the balance. Some of it might seem *Duh* obvious. Sometimes it's the no-brainer stuff that's easiest to overlook, but makes all the difference
The Friends Channel
Everyone has these channels. It's the conversation within the conversation. In our case, it's a lifeline. Even when all of us happen to be in the same guild or party channel, we inevitably hold our group conversations here. Now that we've spread to more than one guild, we still maintain our channel. It's essential. It keeps us all in contact. When one of us needs something, we come to this channel first before going to the guild.
The Alt-Guild
Even while our mains bounce from raiding guild to raiding guild, our Alt Guild remains constant. All our bank toons & non-raiding characters are members of our Alt Guild. It provides us a haven from the "responsibilities" of being in a larger guild.
Alt Night
Along with the Alt Guild is Alt Night. For a long while it was "Horde Night," but we finally abandoned that to remain on the same server and in the same channels. Right now, alt night is just getting fired back up for the new year for a group of toons we have in the 30's. This year's "project" is called OPERATION ALT-SQUAD!
Numbers
Our biggest issue is numbers. Our guild w/in the guild is about 8 people. Guilds & groups in WoW work best in multiples of 5. If I had a dollar for every time we had 6 of us logged in and someone had to be excluded, I'd be rich. The best way to deal with this is to find ways of being inclusive. Here are some things we've tried with mixed results:
The second is schedules. Two of us are in different guilds with very different schedules. Frankly, it's not gone well, but it has solved our first issue. Right now, schedules have created a situation where about 5 of us are online together regularly. That's been fun for us, but unfortunate for our other friends.
Staying Focused
Because we have two different foci,* it's really easy for us to drop one for the other. I do our Alt Night scheduling. There are weeks when I really need to farm something up for Beroth OR the raiding guild needs Beroth for a run that I didn't sign up for. It's so easy to go do those raid-related things and forget Alt Night. The same thing happens for the rest of our group.
Moving Forward w/ Operation Alt Squad
Over the weeks ahead, I plan to share stuff about Alt-Night and our progression. Our first hurdle is adjusting to the new "old" game. With the last patch, Blizzard changed a lot of level requirements. We're re-learning the levels of instances, mobs & general progressions.
Our goal this time around is to enjoy stuff we might have missed the other times we leveled toons. We're hoping to eventually hit some "old" end-game instances that we never really got to enjoy for various reasons.
The first hurdle is that our group is not as level-tight as we'd like. Our Tank, a feral druid named Rhus (me) is level 36, but our Priest is only 31. This was fine when we hit the Scarlet Monastery Graveyard on Monday, but I'm not sure how far we should go without shrinking that gap.
*RANT! Foci is the plural of Focus. Stupid blogger doesn't know that. It wants me to use focuses. I acknowledge that somewhere along the line general stupidity won over and made it focuses acceptable. I don't have to like it, but I accept it. Still, for the spell check to not recognize foci...Arrrgghhh!!
Now, I can go back and point out the numerous grammatical corners I regularly cut in this and other blogs. I think it's part of the nature of blogging. Sometimes, I purposefully cheat to maintain a conversational tone. I admit to an insufficient level of editing. I often catch really ugly mistakes days or weeks later. That's all part of blogging.
All that said, it still bothers me that the English language is becoming such a wasteland of inarticulate, dumb-speak.
How did you get into World of Warcraft? Did you do it by yourself? Did you do it to meet people?
If you're like me, you did it with a group of friends. Two or three of us started, but then the rest of us joined in. We live hours apart. WoW brings us back together. I've nearly quit the game dozens of times, but my friends keep me playing.
Even now after joining an end-game raiding guild, my friends figure prominently on my game-play decisions. Which raids will I sign up for? Which days will I reserve for them? When will I go do RL stuff and when will I log on simply to hang out and chat with them? The good news is that most of them are in the same guild with me. For the most part, the guild schedule is "our" schedule.
The drive to progress in end-game raiding can be all-consuming. When I'm not raiding, I'm often doing quests or farming materials with one goal in mind: Prepare for Raiding! I need to pay for potions, repair, new gear, and contribute to the guild bank. There are weeks when all my game-play is consumed by the raid or the raid-prep. Where do my friends fit in when this happens? Do I play to raid or do I play to do stuff with my friends?
If you're like me and the answer is a resounding BOTH, you've got your work cut out for you! Here's some of the stuff we do to maintain the balance. Some of it might seem *Duh* obvious. Sometimes it's the no-brainer stuff that's easiest to overlook, but makes all the difference
The Guild Within the Guild
aka The Alt-Guild
aka The Alt-Guild
The Friends Channel
Everyone has these channels. It's the conversation within the conversation. In our case, it's a lifeline. Even when all of us happen to be in the same guild or party channel, we inevitably hold our group conversations here. Now that we've spread to more than one guild, we still maintain our channel. It's essential. It keeps us all in contact. When one of us needs something, we come to this channel first before going to the guild.
The Alt-Guild
Even while our mains bounce from raiding guild to raiding guild, our Alt Guild remains constant. All our bank toons & non-raiding characters are members of our Alt Guild. It provides us a haven from the "responsibilities" of being in a larger guild.
Alt Night
Along with the Alt Guild is Alt Night. For a long while it was "Horde Night," but we finally abandoned that to remain on the same server and in the same channels. Right now, alt night is just getting fired back up for the new year for a group of toons we have in the 30's. This year's "project" is called OPERATION ALT-SQUAD!
Alt-Guild Issues
Numbers
Our biggest issue is numbers. Our guild w/in the guild is about 8 people. Guilds & groups in WoW work best in multiples of 5. If I had a dollar for every time we had 6 of us logged in and someone had to be excluded, I'd be rich. The best way to deal with this is to find ways of being inclusive. Here are some things we've tried with mixed results:
- Instead of running an instance, split into groups of 3 and quest.
- Split into the groups and then ask members of our various raiding guilds to join us. Just don't ask me to LFG! I hate pugs (even when 1/2 of it is friends.)
- Never let the same person sit out two nights in a row.
The second is schedules. Two of us are in different guilds with very different schedules. Frankly, it's not gone well, but it has solved our first issue. Right now, schedules have created a situation where about 5 of us are online together regularly. That's been fun for us, but unfortunate for our other friends.
Staying Focused
Because we have two different foci,* it's really easy for us to drop one for the other. I do our Alt Night scheduling. There are weeks when I really need to farm something up for Beroth OR the raiding guild needs Beroth for a run that I didn't sign up for. It's so easy to go do those raid-related things and forget Alt Night. The same thing happens for the rest of our group.
Moving Forward w/ Operation Alt Squad
Over the weeks ahead, I plan to share stuff about Alt-Night and our progression. Our first hurdle is adjusting to the new "old" game. With the last patch, Blizzard changed a lot of level requirements. We're re-learning the levels of instances, mobs & general progressions.
Our goal this time around is to enjoy stuff we might have missed the other times we leveled toons. We're hoping to eventually hit some "old" end-game instances that we never really got to enjoy for various reasons.
The first hurdle is that our group is not as level-tight as we'd like. Our Tank, a feral druid named Rhus (me) is level 36, but our Priest is only 31. This was fine when we hit the Scarlet Monastery Graveyard on Monday, but I'm not sure how far we should go without shrinking that gap.
*RANT! Foci is the plural of Focus. Stupid blogger doesn't know that. It wants me to use focuses. I acknowledge that somewhere along the line general stupidity won over and made it focuses acceptable. I don't have to like it, but I accept it. Still, for the spell check to not recognize foci...Arrrgghhh!!
Now, I can go back and point out the numerous grammatical corners I regularly cut in this and other blogs. I think it's part of the nature of blogging. Sometimes, I purposefully cheat to maintain a conversational tone. I admit to an insufficient level of editing. I often catch really ugly mistakes days or weeks later. That's all part of blogging.
All that said, it still bothers me that the English language is becoming such a wasteland of inarticulate, dumb-speak.
Life of a Bank Alt / Guild Master
Today, we delve into the life and times of Narah, my bank-alt. This is a repost from the old blog, but ironically Narah is also OrdoSerp's current Guild Master. It's just easier that way. Mains swap from guild to guild, but level 10 bank alts never go away.
Hi I'm Narah the "failed" experiment. I hit level 10 and like a cold slap in the face, LRNs stopped playing me. I'm not sure why he stopped. I've got hot cans and a great rack! Is he the only heterosexual male who actually prefers male toons? Seriously, that's so lame. What's wrong with him?
Anyway, after months of living in cyber-limbo worrying that I would be deleted and replaced by some skeevy gnome or a hairy dwarf, poof! I'm back! At first, I'm so like "Where are we going?" But then I was sorry I asked because guess where I ended up? Ironforge! Instead of being replaced by a hairy dwarf, I'm shopping with them?!? Actually, I think I'm developing a thing for short men, rawr!
OK, where was I...Ironforge, right!
So, you may ask, why Ironforge? I know I did!...loudly, often and until I got tired and looked for a Starbucks...
Turns out that instead of a life of adventure, I've been turned into a supply-whore. Actually, not as bad as it sounds. Seriously! On one hand, I'll never see the world. On the other hand, I'll never have to pick up spider ichor! BLEH!
Also, I'm a professional shopper! Wahoo! Now, I know what you're thinking because I thought it too! Neiman Marcus here I come! Baby needs a new pair of shoes...I mean, Beroth totally needs an extreme makeover! Yeah, not so much. Turns out I spend most of my day talking with Auctioneer Lympkin. After work, we like to grab some banana bread from Myra and then see if we can get men buy us drinks at the Stonefire Tavern. Watch out for the Dwarven Stout, it'll put hair on your chest! Really, you don't want to get your boobs waxed it's...painful!
Wow, talk about diarrhea of the mouth! I'm soooooo sorry. I'm supposed to be giving you suggestions about living as a bank alt/personal shopper!
The reason I didn't get booted off to cyber-oblivion is that having a bank alt is a serious must for raiders. Note: It's not that he doesn't like my curves; he just doesn't want to play a priest. Go fig! I'm so easy..wait, I mean, I make things so easy! I'm not one of those sluts...I mean night-elves! Woah! Gotta focus...
Think of it this way, I'm like having an extra bag at every mailbox. I also allow you to run your utility addons like Auctioneer. The value of doing your Auctions here with me, instead of out on your main is that I protect your raider from dreaded addon bloating! There's nothing worse than starting a Tidewalker pull and feeling bloated! Or so I'm told. I'm not going near him unless someone gives him a couple bottles of Beano!
A bank-alt is also great for the dreaded "stock-pile." After a while, even the minimalist end-gamer acquires too much crap. The obsessed player might have 3 or more every-day toons. Someone's got to keep them organized and focused. That's where I come in. Not only am I a personal shopper, I'm an office manager! I keep this ship afloat. See, you thought I was just a bubble-head, but I'm more like "Legally Blond" only with short red hair and no way I'm wearing that much pink!
So, here are my survival tips for surviving the mean streets.
- First off, a girl can never have too many bags. Make sure that sugar-daddy of yours sets you up right!
- Don't let him undress you as make you dance all day for coin. It might sound fun at first, but it's really degrading. Let those night-elf witches do the dancing! You're here to shop! I got myself a nice White Traditional Hanbok from Lisbeth's place in Stormwind. It turns heads without saying "Look at me, I'm a slut!"
- Learn to report spammers and slap that ignore button hard! Seriously, those bastards should be sent to the third ring of hell or Molten Core. I can do it faster than you can say, "Amex or Visa?"
- Start your day off right. Fire up Auctioneer do a scan. It goes something like this, "Yo Lym! What's hot today!" Then you buy low and sell high! Those shirts on Wallstreet got nothing on us girls in the trenches of Ironlag!
- Always shop in the most accessible places like Ironforge or Undercity. Seriously, too much running around and you can get big calves. There's a reason why Darnassus and Thunder Bluff are empty. They are like really bad Outlet Malls....too far away and with bad prices.
- Unless you want to go all Carry, turn off General Chat. Seriously, it'll rot your brain. Heck, I'd turn off Trade for all the morons there, but you never know when a sweet deal will crop up. Just try not to pay attention to the dorks that yell all the time. They are Trolls. The first time you yell back you end up in a shouting match and they win. The second someone yells more than 4 or 5 times in a row, give em the ignore-slap! Speaking of a full ignore box, I just delete the spammer names after a while to free space. No reason to grab another addon. Addon management is too much like work as it is.
Wow, have I wasted this much time? Goodness, I've got to go see what the prices are like for Heavy Knothide Leather. If I don't sell this stuff soon, Beroth will let Relan* start shopping. That moron might know how to wield a sword, but that doesn't mean he's ready for the auction house!
Seeyabye!
*Relan is my "abandoned" warrior. I gave him a tux & a big-ass samuari sword. Now, he carries excess Leatherworking mats for me.
Hi I'm Narah the "failed" experiment. I hit level 10 and like a cold slap in the face, LRNs stopped playing me. I'm not sure why he stopped. I've got hot cans and a great rack! Is he the only heterosexual male who actually prefers male toons? Seriously, that's so lame. What's wrong with him?
Anyway, after months of living in cyber-limbo worrying that I would be deleted and replaced by some skeevy gnome or a hairy dwarf, poof! I'm back! At first, I'm so like "Where are we going?" But then I was sorry I asked because guess where I ended up? Ironforge! Instead of being replaced by a hairy dwarf, I'm shopping with them?!? Actually, I think I'm developing a thing for short men, rawr!
OK, where was I...Ironforge, right!
So, you may ask, why Ironforge? I know I did!...loudly, often and until I got tired and looked for a Starbucks...
Turns out that instead of a life of adventure, I've been turned into a supply-whore. Actually, not as bad as it sounds. Seriously! On one hand, I'll never see the world. On the other hand, I'll never have to pick up spider ichor! BLEH!
Also, I'm a professional shopper! Wahoo! Now, I know what you're thinking because I thought it too! Neiman Marcus here I come! Baby needs a new pair of shoes...I mean, Beroth totally needs an extreme makeover! Yeah, not so much. Turns out I spend most of my day talking with Auctioneer Lympkin. After work, we like to grab some banana bread from Myra and then see if we can get men buy us drinks at the Stonefire Tavern. Watch out for the Dwarven Stout, it'll put hair on your chest! Really, you don't want to get your boobs waxed it's...painful!
Wow, talk about diarrhea of the mouth! I'm soooooo sorry. I'm supposed to be giving you suggestions about living as a bank alt/personal shopper!
The reason I didn't get booted off to cyber-oblivion is that having a bank alt is a serious must for raiders. Note: It's not that he doesn't like my curves; he just doesn't want to play a priest. Go fig! I'm so easy..wait, I mean, I make things so easy! I'm not one of those sluts...I mean night-elves! Woah! Gotta focus...
Think of it this way, I'm like having an extra bag at every mailbox. I also allow you to run your utility addons like Auctioneer. The value of doing your Auctions here with me, instead of out on your main is that I protect your raider from dreaded addon bloating! There's nothing worse than starting a Tidewalker pull and feeling bloated! Or so I'm told. I'm not going near him unless someone gives him a couple bottles of Beano!
A bank-alt is also great for the dreaded "stock-pile." After a while, even the minimalist end-gamer acquires too much crap. The obsessed player might have 3 or more every-day toons. Someone's got to keep them organized and focused. That's where I come in. Not only am I a personal shopper, I'm an office manager! I keep this ship afloat. See, you thought I was just a bubble-head, but I'm more like "Legally Blond" only with short red hair and no way I'm wearing that much pink!
So, here are my survival tips for surviving the mean streets.
- First off, a girl can never have too many bags. Make sure that sugar-daddy of yours sets you up right!
- Don't let him undress you as make you dance all day for coin. It might sound fun at first, but it's really degrading. Let those night-elf witches do the dancing! You're here to shop! I got myself a nice White Traditional Hanbok from Lisbeth's place in Stormwind. It turns heads without saying "Look at me, I'm a slut!"
- Learn to report spammers and slap that ignore button hard! Seriously, those bastards should be sent to the third ring of hell or Molten Core. I can do it faster than you can say, "Amex or Visa?"
- Start your day off right. Fire up Auctioneer do a scan. It goes something like this, "Yo Lym! What's hot today!" Then you buy low and sell high! Those shirts on Wallstreet got nothing on us girls in the trenches of Ironlag!
- Always shop in the most accessible places like Ironforge or Undercity. Seriously, too much running around and you can get big calves. There's a reason why Darnassus and Thunder Bluff are empty. They are like really bad Outlet Malls....too far away and with bad prices.
- Unless you want to go all Carry, turn off General Chat. Seriously, it'll rot your brain. Heck, I'd turn off Trade for all the morons there, but you never know when a sweet deal will crop up. Just try not to pay attention to the dorks that yell all the time. They are Trolls. The first time you yell back you end up in a shouting match and they win. The second someone yells more than 4 or 5 times in a row, give em the ignore-slap! Speaking of a full ignore box, I just delete the spammer names after a while to free space. No reason to grab another addon. Addon management is too much like work as it is.
Wow, have I wasted this much time? Goodness, I've got to go see what the prices are like for Heavy Knothide Leather. If I don't sell this stuff soon, Beroth will let Relan* start shopping. That moron might know how to wield a sword, but that doesn't mean he's ready for the auction house!
Seeyabye!
*Relan is my "abandoned" warrior. I gave him a tux & a big-ass samuari sword. Now, he carries excess Leatherworking mats for me.
Reposts
I will be dropping a series of "greatest hits" re-posts from Beroth the Hunter to get this party started.
It's a Brand New Day
First posts on a new blog are always really exciting for the author and usually extremely mundane. Not wanting to buck that trend, I present the introduction post to "OrdoSerp."
OrdoSerp is a blog about the life and times of a small band of World of Warcraft players. The Ordo Serpentis is an Alt guild on the Garona server. This blog is the successor to the hunter blog, Beroth the Hunter. Beroth was my main toon & raider for a long while. Now, with the Wrath of the Lich King expansion less that 2 weeks away, I am moving to shift full time to my feral Druid, Rhus.
This blog will be a home to screen shots, experiences, personal stories, and tips from the various members of OrdoSerp as we move from Outland to Northrend.
OrdoSerp is a blog about the life and times of a small band of World of Warcraft players. The Ordo Serpentis is an Alt guild on the Garona server. This blog is the successor to the hunter blog, Beroth the Hunter. Beroth was my main toon & raider for a long while. Now, with the Wrath of the Lich King expansion less that 2 weeks away, I am moving to shift full time to my feral Druid, Rhus.
This blog will be a home to screen shots, experiences, personal stories, and tips from the various members of OrdoSerp as we move from Outland to Northrend.
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