The Raid, and Yogscast!

I haven't been up to much in Wow lately. The pre-expansion lull sucks and there isn't much raiding going on. So, to prepare for Cataclysm I've been farming Arathi Basin reputation, which is so annoying, and working on achievements for Elewe.

Just a note, there is a documentary about raiding in Wow coming out soon. It's called "The Raid" and might just be a web documentary? maybe? I dunno. The Raid <-- It looks kinda neat, I'm curious to see how it turns out.
Also, I have to mention again how awesome the Yogscast guys are. Here is their youtube page and their website. They are so incredibly funny and wonderful.
Oh yeah, and there is a bit of cursing in the video, so.. nsfw. :)

YAY! We beat the LICH KING!!

I didn't get a screen shot with the Lich King body because we looted him, and I took too long to set up my pic. >< argg.. However, I grabbed a couple other pics of the room after the fight. It was quite amazing, we got a bit of a late start, and were expecting to wipe a lot, but at least get down some of our new strategies. One of our dps decided to move to another raiding guild, as well, just a few hours before our raid time, which hurt quite a bit. One of Erin's friends hopped on a char and came along to help out. We got the kill on the second attempt! We were all in shock, and vent was full of cheer and happiness. I'm so proud of my raid, we've worked so hard and yesterday it paid off. :D Hooray Sans Reproache!!!


^That guy next to me(I am the tree XD) is Tom's character, Peeve, a human warrior. He works so hard to manage our raid team and recruits. /hugs

More Lich King, and stuffs

It's been so long since my last post! >< I don't know where the time went. I've been working, and just doing life stuff. For an adventure.. I cut my own hair yesterday, and it turned out pretty dang sweet. I think it's the best cut I've had. It looks better, anyway, than most other cuts I've had. It's still quite long, so I'll probably put in some more layers or cut a bit more all around over the next week or so. Anyway, thank you youtube girls, for giving me tips, and courage. lol :P Now I can spent haircut money on way cooler stuff, woot!

And, in the game I've been poking around on a little warrior alt. She's quite fierce, and fun to play so far. The major thing I've been working on is the Lich King fight, though. Erin, a friend and guild/raid mate, taped the attempts we made on the boss last night. This is just part one, with about 4-5 attempts, but it will give you an idea of what it looks like for us.



We go back again tonight. /gulp

Lich King

So, I had ideas for a lovely series of posts on the city of Dalaran, but I have not had the time to gather the videos I had planned for them. So, I will have to pick up the project again at a later time.

As I have mentioned, my guild's main raid group is working through some very difficult content at the moment. We are on the Lich King, the last boss(a game term for an enemy more difficult than most you would encounter) in the Icecrown Citadel raid dungeon. Preparing for this fight has been my main focus lately. And since it is this encounter and the work I am doing for it that is most on my mind, I thought I would share some of my thoughts, and the process by which I prepare myself.

The first step in researching any fight, for me, is watching a tutorial video of the encounter created by a trustworthy group of players who work for the site Tankspot. For very challenging bosses I will watch their video a few times through, getting used to the names of attacks used against the raid, encounter or boss ability mechanics which could make the fight more challenging, or impossible, if not countered in specific ways, and the general positioning of the raid throughout the encounter. For anyone interested, here is part one of the fight we are on:



After watching a video like this I will go to a couple different sites, such as Wowhead or Wowwiki to see lists of the abilities the boss has. This is helpful because I will usually better remember the names of attacks or encounter effects, some of which I might need to watch warnings or timers for, and so that when my raid group talks about strategy I will be able to follow more easily, and will be in a better position to contribute. After this step, I go back and re-watch the video, to try to focus on how the raid handled some of the mechanics and boss abilities I now know more about.

At this point I usually start to consider what could potentially pose a challenge for our raid group specifically, which others might not face to the same degree, perhaps due to greater skill and experience, or even the benefits of a different set of classes with abilities our group does not possess. Of course this is when I also consider the benefits our raid might have, and how we can best use them to our advantage. For specific concerns which arise at this time, I usually look to the WoW forums, Tankspot and Wowhead comments, and to other players in the game for advice.

Each time we get together to work on this fight we make some progress. We have been able to get phase one and the first transition phase(phase 1.5, or phase 4 on the Tankspot video) down fairly well, healer mana is holding out better overall, positioning is more controlled, and mechanics are being dealt with more quickly. We have only seen the beginning of phase 2 so far, the mechanics in this phase are proving to be quite an immense challenge for us. Tonight we will go back though, hopefully to make progress and see phase 3.

Have a great weekend everyone! And best of luck to my raid team tonight! :D

Dalaran night sky

I'm off to work soon, so just a nice video post today.
Dalaran is very beautiful. :) I'll be posting more about the city over the next couple days.

Damage

At times, when I am not healing with Elewë in instances, I step in to dps. El has a set of gear, and a talent specialization she can switch to, which allows her to turn into a moonkin, a sort of giant, antlered, owl-like creature. In this form she has access to special abilities and her damage spells become more powerful.



To demonstrate what it looks like when a few kinds of dps fight a target, I took three characters to the target dummies in the Alliance city of Stormwind. The characters here would use these abilities in instances, or out in the world on hostile beings.

Elewë, as a moonkin:




Luinil, as an elemental shaman:




Epicharis, as a destruction warlock:



As you can see, I favor caster-dps. XP

Pets!!!

Eek, it got so late! I worked today, and didn't prepare anything yesterday, to post today. And, as my friend Chris pointed out, unlike Shay Carl I have no beard to blog about. A fact which is unfortunate, as another friend Erin pointed out, since it would be ideal for "holding cake-y foods for later".

I'm very happy because today I bought the Carl Sagan book "Billions and Billions". :)

Enjoy vanity pet shenanigans!!

Turtle boats and WoW chores

Yesterday I worked and then had to prepare for a raid at night, so I didn't have time to post. Saturdays will be a no-post day, most likely.

I have good news though! Our guild has been working so hard to "down" a very difficult boss named Sindragosa, and last night we were finally successful. So, three cheers for my teammates!! Afterward, we spent some time on the Lich King, who is the end boss in the most difficult, and last, full raid dungeon of this expansion. We have phase one down fairly well, which is nice, but there is a lot to work on. More on that another time.

Earlier today I worked at the bookstore, and when I got home I couldn't really think of a post. So, you guys get to see me do some WoW chores. I made them interesting though. XD yay!

First, I took a turtle boat to Borean Tundra. heee



Then, I did a "daily"(repeatable quest, which can only be done once a day) for the Kalu'ak. Dailies are a decent way to earn gold.



After that, I did a bunch of fishing. The "Pandaren" monk pet you see isn't part of Borean Tundra, he's a "vanity pet" I can summon whenever I like. He practices kung fu when he gets bored. XD

Epi and Squishy!

I'm out of it today, and I am a little stressed about fighting a very difficult boss with my raid soon, so let me present the most adorable duo ever!! Here is Epicharis, my warlock, and her turtle mount named Squishy, playing around in Howling Fjord. These two are just bound to have many awesomely adorable adventures together.

Grizzly Hills

It's another work-day post today. :P Grizzly Hills is a zone in Northrend, and the best place to fish up salmon. That's why the bears love fishing here too. :) Have a great Thursday everyone!

Borean Tundra

I'm heading off to work. :/ Here is a nice work-day video post though. This is a scene from Borean Tundra. The boat you see passing by in the distance is the one that brings characters from Stormwind(an Alliance faction capital) to this zone to begin questing and exploration in the continent of Northrend. I have wonderful memories of that boat ride, and the beauty I saw when I stepped off of it for the first time.

My Main

In WoW, most players have a character they designate as their "main". A main is the character you might raid the most with, spend the most money on, or maybe it is the highest level character you currently have. While the reasons for referring to a specific character as "main" will differ, it generally indicates that you make this character a priority in the game.

My main is Elewë, a female, Night Elf Druid. Druids, in World of Warcraft, are people in tune with nature, and their bonds with it allow them to draw from it's power to aid themselves or others. They are masters of shape-shifting, and can, with the appropriate form and talent specialization, play any role in the game. They can tank as a bear, melee dps as a cat, cast spells to dps as a moonkin, or heal others in their tree of life form.

Out of all the classes I have played, and roles I have tried, I find I am at my best, and have the most fun when I am healing with Elewë. :)

Instances

So, I realized that before I could really introduce Elewë, and what she does in the game, I would have to explain instances and raids. :P

While there are many things a player can do in the World of Warcraft, the activity that offers both the most difficult challenges, and the best rewards, are "instances". Instances are also referred to as "dungeons", or "raids", and are private zones with enemies who can be engaged with 5-person groups in some cases, or a "raid group" of as few as 10, or as many as 40 players. It is more common for 5-man instances to be referred to as "heroics" or "dungeons", and for 10-40-man instances to be referred to as "raids".

There are three roles to be filled in all dungeons and raids. There is the role of "tank", a player who will seem to enemies, through talent specialization and use of abilities, as the biggest threat, and therefore keep enemies attacking only him or herself, and not other group members. Also, there is the role of "healer", a player who focuses on healing other players while they are taking damage from enemies. And the last role is that of "dps"(damage per second), a player who must focus on doing as much damage to enemies as possible in order to kill the enemy and end the fight quickly.

Elewë

This character is Elewë, my "main", and here she is in Borean Tundra, on her blue proto drake.

El will be the subject of my next post. :)

Desolace

One of the most special places in the game, to me, is a zone called Desolace, on the continent of Kalimdor. The majority of the zone is quite bleak with dark, dirty skies, and ash-like, dusty earth. Most of the trees are long dead, and nothing much grows here. The wildlife mainly consists of scavengers and herds of large animals that seem to make their way here for the purpose of dying in the graveyards of their ancestors.



Desolace is bordered by the zone Stonetalon Mountains to the north, Mulgore to the east, Feralas to the south, and an ocean called "The Veiled Sea" to the west. And it is on this coastline that Desolace is transformed. The coast is covered in wildflowers, lush grass, soft sand and green trees. The sky above these small patches of coast is clear blue, dotted with small puffs of white cloud. You will also find the ruins of buildings built long ago by an ancient race of elves. That a place so warm and beautiful could exist in such a dark land is heartwarming.



When I miss someone I've lost, or feel sad in some way, I come here, where serenity and beauty exist despite all the surrounding bleakness.

Nagrand at night

Nagrand is my favorite place in the game. Throughout the entire "zone" of Nagrand, floating in the air, are little islands dotted with trees and, on occasion, magically flowing waterfalls. When I first visited this zone, I could only ride around on a "ground-mount", so when my first character learned how to fly and flew into the air here I was so excited to find all these little islands, they seemed like the most special thing in the game, to me, at the time. And now that I have leveled far past this zone, on most of my characters, and don't have projects to do here anymore, I still come back to relax and enjoy it's beauty.

Twees

This is a low level, Tauren druid alt of mine, named Twees. Here he is walking around an inn he stays in when I'm not questing with him.

In World of Warcraft there are two major factions, Alliance and Horde, which players must choose between when creating a character. The races you are able to play depend on which faction you choose. Alliance races are Humans, Gnomes, Dwarves, Draenei, Night Elves, and will soon include Worgen. Horde races are Orc, Tauren, Troll, Undead, Blood Elves, and will soon include Goblins. Neither race is clearly "good", or "evil". Both struggle, usually against each other, for power, prosperity, justice, knowledge about the world they live in and the control they have over it.