Just Another Shaman Sunday

So it was Laid Back Raid night again last night, with a quick trip through Burning Crusade again.  However, late in the afternoon I was puttering around on my Shaman, Carrera, when I noticed something.  I was at about 68 1/2.  If I moved my butt, she could go to the LBR!  I figured a run through Utgarde would give me a quick boost, so I queued to heal…and got Durnholde Keep…three times.  I don’t think I’ve ever done the Thrall one more than once in LFD.  The good news, if there was any, was that I did manage to hit 69 before supper.

Mrs. Amateur tap dancing on Ingvar while I watch from a safe distance.

Immediately after, the lovely Mrs. offered to run me through Utgarde Keep.  With the dungeon quests and two BoA’s on, I got a little more than half my level.  Alas, I also ran out of rested experience in the process.  But, we ran it again.  I got another fair-sized chunk of my level but the clock was starting to tick.  So I got wise and ran back to town and started grabbing quests.  The Mrs. was right beside me, killing anything that came near me and so about 20 minutes before raid time, I had a freshly pressed 70!  Unfortunately, no one told me it was Mage night…

Seriously, that’s a fair number.  I think out of nine or ten people, we had four Mages.  Didn’t upset me too much, because Sweet Illidan was the mail dropping left and right.  Some good, some meh…heck I even got an epic trinket that was an upgrade.

We took down Mags and Gruul in no time, and Serpentshrine Cavern took a little longer only because we did a full clear.  Figured it never hurt for the chance at nice looking BC gear.  Then Lady Vashj herself took her sweet time as her minions didn’t want to drop the orbs.  But, you can only delay the inevitable so long…

Triumphant once more…Grexinimi, Flagsworth, the Amateurs, Helke, Kamalia, Tome and Magik.

Another fun night was certainly had.  There were several lovely pieces of gear in what was the last official LBR visit to the BC era for a little while, as you can see by the updated Raid Schedule.

The End (of 2012) Is Near

Less than a week remains in the 2012 calendar year, though we already lasted longer than the Mayans figured.  I really wish I knew one of the folks who truly believed the end was nigh.  But, that’s just my surly mood shining through.  I can say with all honesty, The 2012 Challenge is a pipe dream at best.  I pretty much gave up ages ago, truth be told.  I honestly got so busy with Mogging and LBRs and other things that were just quite enjoyable.  Sure I’ve done some leveling, but nowhere near what I needed.  I’ll have to check, but I think there were only two people who crossed the finish line in the end, so kudos to them and everyone else who made the effort.  No, I won’t even consider it for 2013.

Alas, 2013 isn’t here yet so it’s time to make a small list of things I’d like to do before next week:

• Get Pésus to 20 so that Oddfodder gets his Goblin mount to drive around (though thanks to a change in 5.1 he at least has the Chopper now).
• Get Carrera to 70.  I know Magik is working on his Shaman now, but she’s long overdue to at least qualify for the Burning Crusade LBR’s.
• Unlock at least one Pet Battle daily.  I’ve been so focused on the Tamer achievements that I ignored these rather foolishly.
• Speaking of pets, find a critter in Storm Peaks.  It’s nice to see other players land right beside me and start a battle with a pet I can’t even see.  Another great side effect of CRZ’s.
• Create my Battle Pet Guild Bank.  This one will require some pre-planning, including who will be the owner.  Might be Vortmar…might be a new alt.  LOL.
• Outline the upcoming Transmog Contest in an actual post.

There’s a few other things I would definitely like to get done, but I’m not going to bite off more than I can chew at this point.  If I get this list done, I’ll be pretty happy.

 

Days Go By

It was a long weekend here, and I was enjoying the weather and the family yesterday and even some WoW.  So things here were quiet, though I did stay on top of the Transmogolympics.  The contest was only announced a couple days ago and we’re already up to twenty participants.  In case you missed it, there is no limit on how many people take part.  However, if we manage to have more participants than factions, then some factions will merely have more than one representative; much like the real Olympic Games. Also, I wanted to take a moment to once again thank Tome of the Ancient for the logo.  I told her what I wanted and she delivered beautifully.  I’m also happy to have her, Matty, and Khizzara as fellow judges for the event.

We had another successful Laid Back Raids on Saturday night.  The only place scheduled this week was Trial of the Crusader, but that didn’t stop us from also kicking down the doors to Ruby Sanctum and Obsidian Sanctum. We had a solid turnout including, for the first time, both Repgrind and Ratters (and his daughter as well)!  It was great timing as Rep knew TotC and was able to provide some guidance, though we did zerg the sucker down pretty fast.  For the Sanctums, I filled out the group with my friend Valanyr and a couple of his buds.  Oh, and Tum even got himself a new set of wings.

In Azeroth over the weekend, there was a great deal of puttering about, or “faffing” as Godmother and Kamalia have come to tell me.  Fireflint is finally 75, and that means time to boost his Blacksmithing.  I’ll obviously have to gain a few levels before I can max him out on it, fortunately I’ll be able to hit the Darkmoon Faire before the week is out.  I also snagged a few levels for Carrera and Estheriot.  Plus, three new faces are showing up around here now.

I have no clue as to why internet demons have taken the Gnome’s face.  Fortunately she sent me a postcard of her hanging with faction leader of epic epicness,

Zero Zero One One One Zero One Zero!

She joined the ranks for a few reasons.  The first, is admittedly, I had a sudden fetish to have a character with the Very Light Sabre.  As I pointed out to Mrs. Amateur, it’s a coincidence I gave her the Leia hair buns.  Also, I rolled her on Fenris (US).  I’ve heard horror stories about the economy and thought I would check it out for myself.  I farmed up some quick Peacebloom and Silverleaf, and threw that on the Auction House.  Neither was a full stack and it resulted in about 10 gold in her pocket.  That allowed me to grab a couple of items off the Auction House to sell, as well as purchase some of the rabbits from Amberstill Ranch and see if I can get a few coin for those as well.  So, so far things don’t seem too strange.  Hopefully the Schematic: Mechanical Mithril Dragonling sold at the behest of my advice.  I managed to sell one with Tumunzahar yesterday on Runetotem for 85g.  I still think that’s absurd, but if folks aren’t going to go get it out in the Hinterlands I may as well.  It didn’t hurt I was getting a couple points in Archaeology at the time either.

In closing, let me just tell you how strange it is to see “Semblance” in Trade chat.  Even merely as a name, it seems to look out of place.  Funny that.

Carrera

Armory Info

Outfit #1
Shoulders: Black Dragonscale Shoulders
Chest: Black Dragonhide Breastplate
Cloak: Ironhide Cloak
Belt: Renegade Belt
Gloves: Bloodspattered Gloves
Legs: Ironhide Legguards
Feet: Ebonhold Boots
Staff: Staff of Hale Magefire

Rollin’ With The Gnomes

Was a good week for my Shaman Carrera, that concluded a few moments ago.

Oddly enough, both my Shamans hit key levels the past few days, Carrera getting 50 as you can see and Egwydorian is now 30.  As I want Loremaster on her, each zone takes a bit longer than it needs to.  But, getting back to Carrera you can see that she hit Exalted with a rep.  As an Engineer, it was just natural for her:

I’ll have to work on her outfit yet, as it looks somewhat strange on the Peep.  That it passes right through the robe is somewhat odd looking as well.  In all fairness, as she’s riding it looks like a smokestack out her tush.  Now if you’ll excuse me, it’s time to do the Winterspring daily on my Hunter for my next mount.

Need Roll – 88

After much technical difficulty this week, I find myself with a nice new laptop. Things got up and running just in time to run a couple of randoms with Carrera as she grinds Gnomer rep for her “Peep.” She’s now about half way to Exalted, after visits to Dire Maul and Stratholme. For the most part, times were good though I had a tank who liked to pull everything despite being a bit under-geared. I’m amazed how people still underestimate Dire Maul, I really am. What I’m truly amazed at is the fact people are rolling on everything now. Saw a Rogue roll on Blue Plate gear, a Tauren Warrior roll on Healing Cloth, and a Hunter roll against me on Mail gloves that had Spirit & Intelligence.

With a little digging, I’ve found people seem to be carefree about “ninja” rolling on lower levels. They seem to think people won’t care because they’ll be three levels higher tomorrow. Whether that is actually the case or not, people still need to actually be able to do their part. Some folks are also twinks. They don’t necessarily plan to be three levels higher. They might want to stay at the level they’re at. But most importantly of all, there’s common sense and courtesy. Then again, I’ve heard people more and more frustrated over antics such as this. Is it new players who don’t know better? Is it new players that don’t care? Is it old players that don’t care? It could also be there’s the same amount of ignorance that always existed, only we’re more exposed to them via the random dungeon finder.

What do you think? Is there a reason there seems to be more “jerks” than before and have you encountered many?

The Week That Was

Sure, I could say in the two weeks that was, but I honestly hit a dry spell where my time in Azeroth was next to none.  The past week, however has been pretty kind to me.

My Tauren Warrior Levache is now 22.  I’ve BG’d with him and I’ve run a couple of randoms with him and seem to be holding my own.  Sure, it’s early but I’m pulling aggro off the tank (Levache is Arms) simply because of numbers, and on a couple of occasions tanked when needed.  Still not sure about my confidence level doing so, but we’ll see how things go when my Tauradin starts to perform that role.  Saintvache has started seeing some play time as of late (only had the name reserved since Cataclysm launched).

Speaking of tanking…does this guy look like a tank to you?  Yes, that’s Logard.  Yes, he’s a Hunter.  Ran Scarlet Monastery’s Graveyard in what was just a weird run all around. I joined the group as it nearly wiped.  I say nearly because I went Cheetah aspect and booked it out in time.  We lose a dps, but since the place is green for the healer and myself we continue on.  The Paladin tank does fine, but moments before we enter the outdoor portion of the place…he says “someone else tank, I’m going to eat.”  Then he’s on follow.  Yes, this is where I’m impressed.  So a Priest and a Rogue are with me.  We decide I should tank.  That my pet is a Raptor means he isn’t holding much aggro, so it really falls on me.  Oddly enough, I did fine.  Only missed one mob.  Of course, we get to the room before the final boss and ye tank returns.  Interesting to say the least.

Finally did some more healing on my Shaman, Carrera.  My random ended up being Dire Maul and I immediately noticed the tank and I were grouped with three Gnomes from the same guild.  I wish I could remember the name of the Khaz’goroth guild, because these three were a piece of work.  Despite outnumbering us, a ninja vote went through to get one of them kicked.  Eventually, they were all replaced and the run went pretty well.  Carrera even got some solid upgrades.  I celebrated by maxing her Inscription at 300.  Engineering still needs work, but I bought her the Schematic: Lifelike Mechanical Toad, so I still felt pretty good about where she was at.

The only other toon to see some major play was Siori.  She’s a point shy of maximum Herbalism (stupid Twilight Highlands and all the Twilight Jasmine that requires 525).  Her Enchanting is nearly 500 as well.  But, the best thing of all was that she hit 85 yesterday.

I finished up Uldum on Saturday with the Harrison Jones chain (the keg sabotage quest creator can Die In A Fire), then got into some great quest hubs and stories in the Twilight Highlands.  The best of the bunch tells me the Drakkensryd was popular with more folk than just me as a quest that borrows heavily from the mechanic is in this zone.

Needless to say, I loved it all over again.  I’d also like to give honorable mentions to the wedding and Iso’rath.