Status update

So after my /gquit-rage-winter-holiday-special-extravaganza, Rayon convinced me..unwillingly..partially resistant...to come back.

EVEN THOUGH those responsible still haven't uttered a word , least an apology, its okay.

EVEN THOUGH every instinct tells me to take them to the Gurubashi Arena and let my Fire Elemental throw them around a bit while I shake the ground beneath them...I shall do as was suggested and be the bigger person. (Which probably means I should take off the slanderous, public commentary on the old guild website...)

EDIT: I removed the comments.

Forget being an officer in that guild. Although I agreed I wouldn't be slandering them in guild chat, I did delete the guild website and also all the recruitment information on wowprogress.com I've taken the time to work on. If they can do a better job and don't feel like appreciating the people that were already taking care of it, I believe they can start their own websites and recruitment threads themselves. And forget about raid leading... don't even get me going....

Merry Christmas! May all your drops be needed epics!

In-Game Politics part 2

Found out it wasn't anyone close who demoted me but a long forgotten Co-Gm who had been AWAY FOR FUCKING MONTHS (who had demoted me for not logging into my toon enough) and an incompetant new GM who refuses to excersize any control over him. Holy Legion down the tubes. Rawgrglglrlglrlg!!!! Murloc rage!

In-Game Politics

It's one thing that game packet doesn't tell you about when you pick up a fresh copy of World of Warcraft. You think it's all about MMO's...questing  and adventuring in a beautifully rendered pixelated world where slaying foul beasts is the ultimate reward.

But it's not just that.

What the advertisements fail to mention is that World of Warcraft like many MMO's are inhabited by large group of real people playing on a particular server. Everything you experienced in high school: Earning reputations, prestiges, followings or groupings (cliques) also happens in the game. Your success largely depends on the friends your able to make and the kind of reputation you forge for yourself.

My "reputation" on the server and my accomplishments and experiences as a player is without a doubt, a top priority for me in the game. To an extent, making (and keeping) as many good friends as possible in the game is beneficial and has saved my butt many a time before when a Guildie couldn't make it to raid. I have friends that mean a lot to me for sentimental reasons (they were there from the very beginning or I've played the game a lot with them), and some friendships or "alliances" i forge with others for a mutual benefit or purpose.

But keep too many friends and it can backfire on you. People can get jealous or feel slighted or feel ignored.

I've been demoted in my guild Holy Legion for said possible reasons:
1.) I never raid
2.) I never participate in guild events
3.) I don't log onto the toon that is in the guild ever

This saddened me immensely today. Mostly because I don't find the accusations to be correct. And the people who agreed to this demotion were most likely people I felt closest to.

I attribute myself with helping build this guild from the start. I was the 3rd member to join. Our goal was to raid with good people. I helped build the roster by convincing friends that i knew to be good players to join. In fact, our very first raid "team" was mostly made up of close friends of mine from a previous guild.

Since then, it has grown, as did my responsibilities. I was officially an assistant-gm in charge of not only raid leading an ICC 10 team, but also recruitment, and website managing/creating.

Over the course of a few months we've had guild-merges, guild leaders dissapearing, raid attendance issues, rageing guild quits, you know..the usual guild politics. Through it all, I've managed to continue recruiting, managing the website, and raid leading a successful team through ICC 10. The amount of time and effort and networking I put into the guild was in part, taking away a lot of the things I wanted to personally accomplish in the game. But I didnt mind, I was determined to see my friends through the storms.

The approaching Cataclysm and the dwindling raid attendance all but put me out. It became a one-handed effort. Well, not entirely. There were people who diligently showed up to raid all the time, and they know who they are. But there were many who didn't.  We also had an issue with tank healers: could never find one that could stay or that we liked. I tried so hard to friend tank healers to no avail.... we only attempted the Lich a couple times before it all went downhill.

There was a lot of behind the scenes things I had done to keep our raid group afloat. To ignore everything I had put into the guild is such a hurtful insult.

And with Cataclysm only days away I'm sorry If I don't log onto my druid as much as I used to: My goal with her was to lvl to 80, get a few peices of gear then wait till Cata. I wanted to have another healer for the guild to go to.

Im sorry if I don't raid anymore. I don't feel like saving my main healer to raids that don't go anywhere and take 3 hrs to assemble. I want to accomplish doing Heroic modes before the expansion comes. I pay for the game every month, I'm going to do what I want to do with the game. That's why I took my main toon out. I've already worked for months getting my friends to the top of the game. Then no one showed up to raid after patch and I personally didn't feel like struggling to fill the roster anymore. Thats after a straight 8 months of non-stop raiding....every week.

I'm sorry I don't particiapte in guild events...but honestly I never got an invite and honestly....do we really have guild events? When have we ever had guild events? Oh I didnt go to the spontaneously, random Molten Core run with you guys last night? You know I love Molten Core, I'm always down for Molten Core. But not 1/2 an hour before I must raid. (The raid was cancelled after a while anyway, and I tried to put together a weekly for you guys to make up for it. A couple of you went!)

I'm very hurt that you guys ninja-demoted me after all the stuff I've done. Especially considering that I was the only one demoted from all the offciers...completely ignoring the ones that hadn't logged on in WEEKS or raided in WEEKS. Especially considering that I had already, personally, stepped down as assistant GM when I removed my main from guild.

Good Luck with your guild. Even though I am currently hurt by your actions, I'll get over it. I know I've been busy in-game with my new guild and preparing for Cata, but that'll end soon enough, and if and when you need a hand or partner in-crime, just ask. For godsakes we're all on the same frikin server. But I've hung up my raiding hat with Holy Legion. A new chapter begins for me now.

Grats Liquid Courage!

Parting gift to all the raiders at Liquid Courage: everyone has finally gotten their ICC mounts. A few missing people from the photos like Blazblue, Bluekii, amongst others (including Kamble, who doesnt have epic flying because he's a scrub). This final week we will be devoting a few raid nights to Heroic Lich King. We shall see where we go with that. Kinda hard with only 2 healers.

Get Off My Lawn!!!

In the Gunship Battle, remember that dude that needs to be tanked on the Horde boat when the cannons freeze up? Well, what happens when he finally gets smart and tries to do the same thing to your tank...on YOUR boat?

Pure chaos ensues and people die, that's what happens.

How do YOU like IT?!

7 days countdown to Cataclysm

Getting ahead of the game is currently Électra's number one priority. This last week before expansion, I've been meticulously questing in Northrend, trying to open up as many dailies as I can. Never thinking I would need to grind rep with the Sons of Hodir/Argent Crusade/Argent Tournament, I never got around to completing, or in most cases, even starting those quest lines. Bad mistake. But it has been kinda fun just doing mindless quests I haven't done in a long time. Sort of like a final goodbye to Northrend....

Anyways... sentiments aside, I'm collecting a maximum of completed 25 daily quests to turn in once the servers go live. It should put me halfway to 81 once I've turned them all in, giving me a small boost. This boost will allow me to skip the starting lvl 80 zone in Hyjal (yes, i will be starting in Hyjal...screw swimming quests in Vashjir) and hop on down to the next "hub" next door.

And why, you ask, would I rob myself of the new experience and hype? The sheer frustration of 200 other players doing the same quest as you at the same time is not an experience I would prefer to have. I'll save the experiencing with my other 80's, thank you very much. But the desire to reach lvl 85 quickly and before others do is undeniable. I probably won't have the server first Shaman, because I've never played the beta. But It will give me more time in the end to level professions and gear up.

PTR 4.0.3 The Shattering.

Spent some free time wandering through the new landscapes in the PTR on both Horde and Alliance side. The changes are very exciting! There are some areas that will be "phased", meaning they won't look like that when Cataclysm comes out, but they are "progressing" the storyline of the area. For example: Astranaar is being bombed and attacked by Horde, but in Cataclysm, Astranaar become Horde territory.



This will be your new login screen!

Here are a few pictures from the PTR. I didn't want to give too much away. But now from experiencing it I realize everyone should be placing most there toons in Stormwind or Ironforge before Tuesday, because there will be NO PORTALS in Dalaran or Shatt any longer.

With 2 AH's AND banks...Stormwind will once again become the New Dalaran....for now.

                                              Theres a missing statue to the right as well.

New Entrance to Stormwind Keep. Much more epic!

Bank

New AH

                                                       Check out the new town center!

When I logged onto a Horde toon to explore Orgrimaar and the new Goblin City in Azshara, I was immediately impressed at how changed Org was and how much more powerful and city feeling it has now.

                                       This is the exact center of town now. Looks amazing.

                                           
Even the AH seems very lofty and impressive. Overall , you dont feel like some refugee in a tribal internment camp somewhere. They made it the horde equivalent to Stormwind, which is what I think it needed.

A couple sneak peeks at Azshara and Gilneas. You ARE able to roam these cities. But again, they are "phased" set pre-Cata.

Entrance to Gilneas

The now broken Greymane Wall

travelling the roadways by goblin rockets....its sort of run like the Tram with diff stops along the way. I'm jealous that the goblins will level easier in Azshara this way!

Once this patch goes live on the real servers, I think the main goal for me will be to pick up all the new flight patterns (there are more than 1 in most questing areas now). I also think I'll be preparing to make Stormwind my new home. Overall, I think most of the land has stayed somewhat the same, with places like The Barrens and Darkshore on the farther end of completely altered. Head to those places first after seeing Stormwind and Org! Then try out the new starting area quests for Gnomes and Trolls.

Heroic Sindragosa Down Drakes Up

I am pretty sure we attempted this fight (on going from last week) about 10 times before we had success. Heroic Sindragosa....I hope to never do it again. (At least not until I'm level 85 and fully geared)

                                                     I hate this fight...so so so much.

                                           But the reward makes up for it... BEHOLD!

Lich King the almost nearly wipe, last minute Victory.

Picture this scenerio: 4 players left alive, Lich King is at 13% health....do you give up and wipe it? The answer is , YES.....if you aren't Liquid Courage. But we have a way of pulling out some bullshit at the last minute to save the raid. As our raid leader says, "We make easy stuff luck hard and the hard stuff look easy". Yes, we may wipe to trash from time to time, but goddamnit, we'll take on the Lich King with 4 players...and doing the achievement at the same time.

 



Can't you see the excitement building?

you dead!

Last month I had posted my previous' guild's kill of Sindragosa. Then my hopes were in progressing through the Lich King fight slowly, but forward minded. Unfortunately with the new patch and a few key players going on leave.....I had to put an end to our raid group before we really even got a chance to progress through the Lich King fight. In the end, I let my group down and this Lich King kill with Liquid Courage felt lack luster as they have already downed him many times before.

Thank you to the Raiders of Holy Legion who trusted a complete Noob to lead them through some difficult content. I am sure if the expansion had not been knocking on our door so soon, we would have had victory. Thank you to all who dedicated their time and effort and showed up every week. It's because of you special few that we had the best team in the guild:

Rayon (warrior tank), Matszuzaka (death knight tank), Kasaria (shaman healer), Alisha (mage), Momir (druid), Hyli (hunter), Mus (warrior), Arabella (warlock), Moonlapse (jack of all trades).

Achievement Whoring

Don't know what made me suddenly decide to go through with this long, boring, repetitive rep grind for The Wintersaber Trainers in Winterspring. At exalted you are able to purchase a Wintersaber similar to the one pictured below. You are also given a "Feat of Strength" Achievement for obtaining one. I'm determined to see this rep grind through to its hellish finale.

This man was not easy to find. He's hidden at the very north point of Winterspring on top of a jutting crag at the end of the winding road:



looks like this as you approach. He's at the tippy top.

Might take a couple weeks of grinding to gain Exalted reputation. I've calculated that I must do these quests a total of 60 times to get there. OUCH.



Totem Babies!

So I do some hand stenciling for craft fairs, just for some creative fun. I made up a couple new ones. Bare with me, they're just prototypes. First time copies! The Draenei totem one didnt come out that great and i have to develop a new way of stenciling it better. But you get the basic idea! These t-shirts are both 18 months baby size. As soon as I develop a method of better producing them, I shall be placing them on my Etsy.com store!



For the Horde!




Need to post a better one next time! For the Alliance!



4.0.1 PTR

As I wait for the new patch to go live on our Realm, a few photos to share from the PTR:
Earth shatter...or sunder... i forgot the name, but it looks cool with a very powerful sound and visual graphic! What else can you do with Earth Shatter/Sundry/Earthquake thing.....?

You can place it atop lamposts!

In the middle of walls!            

Atop/In the middle of trees!   

A fabulous addition to the Elemental Shaman's retinue of "wtf was that?" spells.

Thanks Blizzard!

Lich try #2

Second Week and second attempt at the Lich King. Lasting any longer than 5 minutes into the fight was the biggest challenge. We did accomplish what I had wanted to accomplish for this week. Which was to master Phase 1 and transition and start practicing 2nd phase.

2nd phase took a few ideas and many attempts. In the end, everyone had progressed a lil bit furthur each time....albeit very slowly. Next week we will all be better prepared for 2nd phase grind and hopefully will be able to survive longer than 5 minutes.

                                                                  A lot of this last night! :(

If there has to always be a Lich King, at least make him a boomkin.

Fear the Mighty Momir!

Lich King ... Before!

Our first attempt ever was held last night. The Lich King fight itself is very demanding, requiring all 10 players to be highly aware at all times. You will constantly be watching timers and the rest of your raid members very closely. Respect this fight.

On a lighter note, we practiced the first phase and transition phase to the fight and it went well. But we ran out of time to go into the next phase any furthur. Next week I hope to master the first phase and practice the second phase with the group.

We are very lucky to have a dedicated and tight knit raid group. Thanks guys for coming in on time every week and working hard! - Rayon, Matszuzaka, Griet, Kasaria, Momir, Hyli, Mus, Alisha, Arabella, and Moonlapse.

Ohhhhh yeah.

Sindragosa delivered. Most painful fight I've ever had to endure in ICC. Eternal glory is within our grasp. Amazing team effort! For anyone that hasn't tried this fight on 10 man, I suggest you put in the effort to accomplishing this fight. It is the truest test of the abilities of your raid group. High communication, big healing, group movement, and precision tank positioning.... We haz it!




You got knocked the F*k out!



Goodbye!

Pwnography has officially stopped raiding as a guild. No more 25 man ICC's :( . Everyone seems to be hibernating until Cata release. I took out my Shaman and went back to me old guild, Holy Legion. But I'm happy there. It's good to be back. They even gave me my old job back as Ass. GM. Even the Old GM came back after a 2 month hiatus, causing some players who had orgionally left to come back. Holy Legion feels reborn admist the downward spiral of the alliance guilds. Time to enjoy the company of friends and level alts!

Defile

You're Doin it Wrong

Under Pressure

When I started playing WoW, the WoTKL expansion had already been out for a long time. The first 4 bosses of ICC were already up. Having started very late in the expansion, there's been a lot of catching up I've been doing. Our 10 man group was in ICC trying to down The Lady back when we were all still beginning our Tier 9 gear sets. (It was rough). But now that we all have great gear, the experience, and the time invested in completing the final bosses of ICC.....we've hit a wall.

When in doubt, do a gnome dance.

It's the end of expansion bomb that destroys guilds and breaks up long time friendships. Now I feel tremendous pressure to deliver a Lich King kill, and very quickly. With only a couple months left before Cataclysm release, keeping people motivated to raid has been challenging. Everyone is suffering from a bit of WoW fatigue.



C'mon Paladin, let's whoop his ass, I'm tired and war beaten.


We've been grinding away at Sindragosa for about a month. We still haven't been able to get past 20% in her brutal 2nd phase. Help!

WoW chose ME.....!

Holla! Korean Food in WoW!~

It just made my day!

RL lag...

Anyone else feeling the end of expansion lull?

Operation: Gnomeregan

Pre-Cataclysm Event! Received a letter from the High Tinker Mekkatorque, King of Gnomes, to aid in the long awaited take over mission of Gnomeregan. For any of you that grinded for 3 hours straight inside the Gnomer dungeon at lvl 30, desperately attempting to navigate it's confusing layout and endless rooms. And before the blessings of Heirloom Gear and Dungeon Finder. This is a spectacular event. Your mission:  

Drop them off in Khaz Modan

Next comes a series of Equipment testing and takeover preparation quests:

Bomb the radiation vents!

Next meet the King of Gnomes at the meeting point near Gnomeregan. Be prepared to wait as other players and gnome troops assemble. Soon High Tinker Mekkatorque will start the 3 phase assault:

The Little Gnome Banners give you an endless life buff so feel free to go Balls Out no matter your level!

Muradin's Alliance, coming together seamlessly and surprisingly without Vent, Raid Assemblage, or <Shadowraven> offering gold.

Spoiler Alert...............................................................................!!!!!!
Screen cuts away to a short bombing animation and then magically transports you back to Tinker Town in Ironforge.

Congratulations you've regained the surface and entry way to Gnomeregan for the Gnomes. The more difficult task of regaining complete control has only just begun.......in Cataclysm!!!!!!!!!

Look at the shnazzy quest reward you receive: An achievement and a gnome cape! Yay pre-Cata events! Makes me wonder if the Horde had their own version???

AQ-40 is NOT Molten Core-40

I learned this the hard way. Nothing can humble you like an old-world 40 man raid. I give so much respect to the players who used to do these instances in Vanilla. 40-man raid guilds seems nearly an impossible number to organize. AQ-40 was tough (especially one healing it). I honestly thought it would be as 5-manning Molten Core. It wasn't. It took much effort and popped cooldowns just to down the first boss.

One of these things is not like the other.

With 8 well geared lvl 80's, we could not close the deal on the Princes. But in the end, the red buggy mount dropped 4 times, not to mention about 10 of the other colors. So our crew still got a few achievements and we had a few laughs.

Who else thinks that raid monsters need to have more wow-factor like back in Ulduar?

Wish List

World of Warcraft has become the ultimate fashion accessory:

I haz one plz ?!!!!

Bamboozled

I've been hoodwinked!

Shortly after advertizing my Enchanting profession onto Trade chat, I get a whisper from a lvl 79 Warrior, wishing to twink his lvl 1 toon... for what purpose? He says it's to duel other lvl 1's. Hey, to each their own....just pay me my money.

He requested a certain enchant I did not own. That's okay, I'll go grab it. I look online. It's purchased from a little known vendor in Darnassus. Okay, I'll take the trip out to Darnassus. Afterall, I am an enchant collecter.

The guy doesn't have it. Look online again. Read fine print. Oh, only one enchant is available to the entire alliance on the realm. looks like someone already snagged it today. Well what's the respawn timer on those things? More research... some say 24 hours, some say 3 hours, some say 30 min, there is no exact time.

 Only thing to do: must camp out the vendor and wait, rechecking every 2 min. I tell the lvl 79 Warrior to check in tomorrow, I'll have it by then, hopefully. How much is gonna cost? I only have 2 golds to my name. That's okay, just pay for the cost of the enchant.

45 minutes later... OMG finally. +7 defense on shield. I hate you. What?! You cost 1gold 50 silvers? Seesh.

Next day I get a whisper from same guy. Awesome! Thanks for doing all that, lets meet in Stormwind. The cost will be 1 gold. "But", he says " I have the mats!". Fan-frikin-tastic, pay me my money. "Okay then". Opened trade. Did the enchant.... waiting on the tip..... waiting.....waiting..........nothing....wtf?

"I only have 70 silvers" , says the lvl 79 Warrior.

A letter...

Dear Cenarion Circle,

Your quests make no sense (Questhelper is not really helping with quests) and you've got a serious infestation problem. I hate you and I'm leaving you for AQ. They have better reputation gains anyway.

Love,
Électra

Last night I completed the final rep grind for both The Thorium Brotherhood and the Argent Dawn. Both factions might revere me , but I, personally, hate them. F U Old world factions. Cenarion Circle is next on my list (currently at Neutral....thats gonna suck). I used to like druids before... we will see how I feel about them after this next rep grind.

she works hard for the money..so hard for the money..
so you better treat her right.

I have a personal quest to collect every enchant you can possibley have in the game. And now, for months without end, the one enchant that still continues to elude me, is the holy grail Molten Core +30 spellpower weapon enchant. I had once saw it on the auction house for a ridiculous amount of money. I might consider rallying a bunch of friends to go into MC everyday of the week and offer free enchants for the rest of your existance on Muradin...if you bring me back the Holy Grail.

The times they're a-changing

Never got a chance to really congratulate you , Darvius, on your successful infiltration into <ShadowRaven>!  We are happy for your success but sad to see you go. Hopefully when get that Heroic Lich King server first, you'll remember the little people that taught you what being a noob was really about.

/cry

Picture was taken when you just turned lvl 80. Look what a big kid you are now! /cry

You forgot something

I did accidently iceblock the raid on Sindragosa, earlier. So I guess we're even.

No love for the shaman.

More from the peanut gallery

I have 5 alts spread across 4 different guilds, I won't devuldge which guild this one is...but they know who they are! But I can't help myself, still come back for more each week.