Chillin’ With Ony

I’d shiv someone for this miniature. Don’t judge me, Arvash would do it too.

Onyxia has always been one of my favourite characters/bosses in World of Warcraft.  When I first started playing, killing her was my goal.  Didn’t care about anything else, I was killing Onyxia.  Siori got the attunement and everything for it, and I think I still have the necklace in her bank.  Good thing, as less than two months later the attunement was removed as I remember it.

When I heard stories of people soloing her, I was a bit sad inside.  I just don’t think raid bosses should be able to be solo’d…well, ever.  But, such is how gear inflation works.  So you can imagine what it’s like when toons of 85 go in to visit her at level 80.

Take for example, myself, Dragonray, Navimie, and many of her friends in 25-man mode.  Yesterday morning they invited me in and we wiped.  It was an elected wipe, though, as the whelps spawned far earlier than needed for the achievement.  After that, it was a bit of a cake walk.

Good times were yet again had.  More achievements for Saintvache, and my account as well actually.  Not that I seek out that sort of thing, but I’ll not turn some of it down either.  The nice thing was, it gave me a lovely chance to visit the location of this week’s Laid Back Raids.  Difference is that we were doing it Alliance side.  So with Mrs. Amateur, Mavgret, Dragonray, Repgrind & co, we headed in 10-man.  We should have probably done 25 and the achievements.  That fight was “blink and you’ll miss it.”  The Mrs. was on her level appropriate Druid, so we needed to heal her back from near death at one point.  After that, I don’t think I cast a single heal spell.

It was nice to go back in there, let alone twice in the same day.  I know a lot of folks were hoping for the mount, but I honestly was a bit happy it didn’t drop.  For whatever reason, I just have this issue with people “riding around on Onyxia.”  It’s pure nostalgic, I think.  Or perhaps it’s the level of the character.   I’m not keen on any of the bigger characters having a mount version (granted, it’s supposed to be a Broodling).  That aside, both raids were a real pleasure and as always I thank the folks involved.

Just a reminder that next week’s LBR is also on a Saturday night.  I didn’t want to risk running late prior to the Twisted Nether Podcast, and as the schedule shows we will hit up Ahn’Qiraj on the Horde side.

LBR – Where It All Began

Left to Right: Navimie, Cymre, Coolidge, Repgrind, Glyph of Jai, Kamalia, Amateur, Tome of the Ancient

Given the previous week, and this time of year, I wasn’t sure what to make of the planned raid heading into it. Apparently that was all for not, as we had a great turnout, as you can see by the above picture! With such a stellar group, it should come as no surprise that the chess event probably took longer than the rest of the run. It was nice that we had the Wizard of Oz event in the opera, but unfortunately for the cloth Moggers in the party, there was no hat to be found. Saintvache picked up the Shield of Impenetrable Darkness courtesy of Nightbane, though. I foresee an upgrade to his look coming.

All in all, there was actually a lot of great loot dropping, including a Tailoring pattern that Navimie won. Can’t recall it at the moment, but it was a Cloak and one I’d never even heard of. After that, a couple of Repgrind‘s guildmates joined us for Gruul’s Lair (congrats to the one who got the achievement as well!) and I picked up two more Tier pieces. I didn’t see if Kamalia got her shoulders, but I know she was hoping. It was at this point the group wanted to continue on to Magtheridon’s Lair, but Navi had to call it quits and looking at the clock I realized it best that I do the same.

To the best of my knowledge the rest stayed together and carried on. For me, though, there was a special moment. When we were all gathered inside the gate I suggested the obligatory picture (seen above) next to the caretaker. We notoriously wait until the end of the raid usually, and then a few people are gone by that time so I thought it wise to get the picture first this time. Setting up my screen for the shot was when it hit me that this was where it all started.

Way back in April, when I was set to retire, we ran Karazhan first and did so with Horde toons. I wanted to take Saintvache because it’s truly my favourite instance in the game. I think I accurately summed up what happened that night, and here we are some three months later.  While a few people have faded from that night there have been a tonne more that have joined in. As I think back on the days leading up to that night, and the evening itself, this is about the last thing I would have expected. Yet, here we are. Folks who, like yours truly, love nothing more than kicking back and visiting the old content once a week – together. On occasion it can still be tough. On occasion it’s pure zerg (funny enough, that seems to be when Coolidge is along). But it’s always relaxed and enjoyable. Someone told me this morning they’re glad I didn’t call it quits that night. Every week I’m reminded why I’m glad I didn’t either.

Earthmother’s Day

For those of you who have not only brought children into the world, but to any ladies who have been a pillar in raising them, I wish you the absolute best for today.  To my wife, you are the most amazing mother my son could ever hope for.  To my Godmother and Grandmother, I owe you more than I could ever show you.

*********

Yesterday was an interesting day in the world (of Warcraft).  I tacked another level onto Fireflint in the hopes that I might actually hit 75 yet during this expansion and then jack his blacksmithing.  I also tried boosting Saintvache prior to the funraids scheduled for the night but not enough experience to hit 83 and no significant gear.  So I just made do with what I had.

Speaking of making do, it was just Jai, Kamalia, and myself when the time rolled around so needless to say we did not traverse Obsidian Sanctum.  Instead, we merely waited a bit and then Mrs. Amateur and a Shaman healer friend of Jai joined us and we took down Magtheridon.  Let me tell you, that was insane.  We just kept getting add after add after add after add after add after add…and then Mags triggered and we had more of the same until he finally died.  There was some amazing healing I don’t mind telling you.

Saintvache flanked by Ysera’s Daughter and Skadoosh, with Boomchicken Kamalia in the background.

It was about this point I got a whisper from my guild leader asking if I wanted to hit any Northrend raids.  I said we were going to Gruul’s and that’s when things started to pick up (not that we weren’t having fun to begin with). Ysera’s Daughter joined in at this point along with Paliclaus and a few more folks from Myth.  Gruul got burned down something fierce.  The talk of Northrend resumed but I pointed out Mrs. Amateur couldn’t go and that maybe we should first do Illidan.

Oh hey, look at that.  I’d love to say that was the best part of the run, just hanging with people (including Khizzara, who came out just before we started) and having a grand time.  But it gets incredibly better.  You see, the Amateur has done Illidan a fair bit on Alliance side.  But never, not once, have I seen half the gear drop.  No bow.  No shield.  Certainly no Glaive.  Even Paliclaus laments how he’s never seen the shield drop.

Yep, the Bulwark of Azzinoth dropped.  Needless to say, there was much rejoicing on that one.  Couldn’t have happened to a nicer fellow.  This happened moments after our guild leader picked up the cloak he needed for his Taragosa transmog as well.  So everything was coming up “Millhouse” or “Myth” in this case.  Actually, it was just an epic loot drop.  We had all gasped at the same time because we got more than just the shield.  We got a glaive.  We were even talking about how great it would look with Mrs. Amateur’s transmog outfit on her Death Knight prior to it dropping.  So, yeah, there was much excitement.  She edged out a fellow Mythian to get her new weapon (which was also a genuine upgrade at her level).  As you can guess, and I’ve suggested, incredibly happy for both of them.  For me, it was amazing just seeing those items drop for a change.  The only item I’ve yet to see is the bow now.

After that, it was agreed that we were Naxxramas bound.  We did the 25-man version with 11 people so plenty of achievements were to be had, though we missed out on the positive polarity one at Thaddius.  Honestly, I was just happy I didn’t die…and for the first time EVER I didn’t screw up the safety dance!  I credit Paliclaus and just chasing him around the fight.  Still, it’s definitely a small miracle.

When the night concluded, I was amazed at how much Tier gear was in my bags.  I didn’t even bother sorting it all.  I might do that later today.  You know, when I make up for the horrible act of missing most of Tome on the Twisted Nether podcast last night.  Amidst all the excitement, it completely slipped my mind.  Fortunately, Navimie came on and gave me a proper tongue-in-cheek scolding before I caught the final 20 minutes.   It’s something I really wanted to hear, and will be certain to do so.  Also, Tome sounds exactly like I thought (surprisingly).  Or at least really close.  Also, we knew she’d do fine contrary to her post earlier yesterday.

Finally, I’m sure you’ve noticed a bit of tweaking around here again.  I discovered this theme a few weeks ago and the change was in the works.  I was going to flip things around my birthday next weekend but I wanted to get the Raiding link up.  I also went through every post and updated all my categories.  Over 300 posts later, I’m still amazed that Matty went back and read them all.  It was flattering to say the least.  So now all that’s left is a few more minor housekeeping details (like checking the formatting of every previous post) and possibly a new header.  Otherwise I’m quite happy with it compared to the other theme.  It feels more organized to me and less wasted space -two issues I had with my old theme.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I hear Mrs. Amateur got out of her Mother’s Day bath.  Wonder if the brie and fruit is all gone…

Another Musings Post

I find myself with a great many thoughts on a great many things, but at the moment none of them amounts to a full post.  As such, you get another set of random ramblings this morning.

• Got my soundtrack in to ALT:ernative.  60 minutes was just cruel.  Back in my cassette making day, 90 was the way to go.  As it was my original compilation was closer to 120 minutes.
• Having mentioned “playlists” in my post the other day, I really see that coming to fruition either later this month or early in March.  Too many ideas already.
• Stonetalon Mountains is my favourite Horde quest area thus far.  The quests are moderately fun, there’s a few really funny comments, and I knocked off levels ridiculously fast for not having BoA’s.
• SWEET ILLIDAN I WANT GOT THE HEART OF THE ASPECTS MOUNT!!!!! (see below)
• If you don’t understand why the Lovebird sells for more than a Chopper, you don’t understand economics at all.
• Your situation is worse if you don’t understand it a month from now.
• Claws of Nature hit Level 9 this week.
• After we came up just shy Sunday night, I logged on and did two dailies Monday night.  Done and done.  Yay!
• I want level 10 for cloaks.  Not good when I want character levels elsewhere.  I see a time issue, but it will happen.
• Getting to level 10 will take a while.  I gave up trying to form a raid.
• Even the night people said they were free, few ever actually are.
• Twice in the last month I’ve set a record for site visits.  That’s an awesome feeling.
• Checking the “what linked people here” and finding random forums talking about me is also an awesome feeling.
• Raiding is 2011.  Transmogging is 2012.  Start profiting NOW.
• Expect a detailed post on that in the coming days.
• Hrm, I have been challenged.
• I should really take Tumunzahar into the final HoT 5-man.  It’s the only one I’ve not done yet.
• Why do I keep grouping with dps Shamans who refuse to drop totems?
• Seriously, just because you’re not Resto does not mean it wouldn’t help even in a 5-man.
• I have no idea how the Love Is In The Air dungeon fight works.  I just heal through it.  No one (short of the guide by Tome of the Ancients) has ever bothered explaining it.  All I know is I aggro huge when healing it.
• Formula: Enchant Chest – Greater Stats.  To learn or not to learn?  Money is the question.  Perfect recipe book is probably the answer.
• No Mists of Pandaria this year?  I’m actually ok with that.  Folks who signed up for a year might not be as content and that’s understandable.
• I wonder if we’ll get anything new between now and Mists…
• I’ve never levelled a Paladin to 20.  Now I have one past 30 and he’s starting to pull me, with a sign that looks like a faint “8″ and “5.”
• Liouxpold is camped in Zangarmarsh.
• He’s not coming out until he’s Exalted and has that damn Hippogryph.
• He’s about halfway to Exalted.
• I can only take so much Naga.
• I miss when Hunter pets took off after what you shot at.  It’s a little thing I don’t understand why they changed (especially when they removed Aggressive pet behaviour setting from the game).
• I have seen Loque’nahar 5 times roaming the wild but have yet to see another spirit beast.
• I don’t think I want to go anywhere near his spawn point until I have an actual Beast Master hunter.
• Speaking of which, Oddfodder now has a color changing crocodile named “Fido.”
• This is why playing a character is more fun than just killing time on a toon.
• I want those ampm cups, all of them.
• I live in Canada.  This leads to a rather flawed hope.

Behold the generosity of The Godmother!

Races And Praise

Oddly enough, a week later and I’m writing another “thanks” post.  Right off the hop, special thanks to Kuroma for her guest post yesterday.  Seriously, I’d be ticked if that happened to me. I can sort of see how it would go down (group continues after someone leaves and then that split second where they start the fight and your queue window pops up)…but still.

Thank you Blizzard.  I love Transmogrification, and as I said on Tuesday I’m actually excited about a great many things Patch 4.3 has brought us.  I imagine it will take me most of the month just to get a real feel for all of it.

Thank you to all of you who’ve started following the Amateur!  Based on site stats, many of you have come from either a Transmogrification Search or one of my fellow bloggers.  I hope you like what you see and continue to follow the site.  I’ll do my best to maintain the qualities that make me worth your time.

Speaking of doing my best, I was incredibly pleased with my entry into the Thanksgiving Event last week -though I wish I could’ve made the video.  Having said that, never in my wildest dreams did I think it would get the response that it did.  All the kind words were very humbling, to say nothing of being awarded second place by the judges!  Words cannot describe how all of that feels.

Speaking of that event, I thanked her on her own website but for some reason I didn’t see it make it through the cracks of the internet and appear online.  As such, I’m going to formally thank Amerence for her brilliant idea.  It was such a wonderful thing to be part of, to say nothing of her generosity of prizing the event.  I was introduced to so many new blogs, and as I mentioned a moment ago many new bloggers were introduced to me.  So, very much a humble thank you Amerence.

Now, the Thanksgiving Event was the shared topic on Blog Azeroth last week.  This week an interesting one was posed by Mia and I’d like to tackle that now.  What would I make as a playable race? 

The Quilboar are simple enough that I don’t have to get fancy or creative, and because I’m not on the WoW development team I don’t even have to look at it from a logistics standpoint (though safe bet they’d never join the Horde).

So, first question is what would the racials be?  I’d give them two; a 10% armor boost (Thick Skinned), and Gore (a melee attack with their tusks, creating a bleed effect for 10 seconds…would have a cooldown similar to Tauren Stomp).

The classes would be pretty easy actually, since we’ve seen them in action enough to have an idea of what they’re capable of.  So I’d go with Hunter, Mage, Shaman, Warlock, and Warrior.  While I might not have to worry about logistics, the other classes just don’t make sense.  Priest might be the only one, but I’d say the Shaman fits them better.

I thought a brilliant start zone would be a phased version of one of the Razorfen instances…the one without the Lich at the end (sorry, I’m notorius for confusing them). As a Quilboar Hero you’d do your thing early on, and then reach a point where your questgiver sends you to one of two NPC’s.  Depending on which one you chose, you’d head off to defend the place from an attacking party…one NPC would result in a Horde party attacking, and the other an Alliance party.  After you succeeded, they’d praise you something fierce and you’d get your “Get Out Of Phased Zone Free” card.

Again, I can’t really see how a Neutral race would work in World of Warcraft in this day and age as there is an immense emphasis on conflict (perhaps 2-3 races would be implemented together?) between the Horde and Alliance, but if it happened I could see the Quilboar getting involved and becoming playable in a logistical manner.  What do you think?

Twenty Days of World of Warcraft Day Thirteen: For…?

While I don’t know if it stands today, there was a time when the Alliance was viewed as mostly younger players and the Horde was mostly older players.  Based on my limited PvP experience, I won’t argue the concept.  Horde players can follow direction.  Alliance players think they all know what they’re doing.  At least, that’s the impression set by law of averages.  If I were a betting man, it would be that both are equal.

Still, when it comes to which faction I’m “for,” I’d say probably the Defias Brotherhood.  I know what you’re thinking.  I’m supposed to say “For The Horde!” or “For The Alliance.”  Truth be told, I’m not.  Most of my “main” characters are Alliance simply because that’s the faction I was first invited to play when introduced to the game.  When I in turn brought my wife into WoW, she wanted to play Night Elves, and our alliance toons spread from there. 

I still have my fair share of Horde toons because aside from the current Warchief I’m rather fond of them.  As of late I’d really like to be playing some of them, but time’s not been a friend.  Still, when someone says they’re pro one side and anti the other side…I don’t get it and I never will.  Plain and simple.

Getting back to the Defias Brotherhood, though.  I can really understand the basic principle by which they came to exist.  When Stormwind was destroyed the first time, the labourers busted their asses to rebuild it.  When it came time to live in the city and get paid for their work, the monarchy shafted them but good.  If that were me, I’d probably have the same attitude.  Unfortunately, the Van Cleefs keep taking things a bit too far and manipulating the bitterness of the Defias members.  As unfortunate as that is, it does make for one of the best instances in the game’s history.

One Life To Live

How Could I Possibly Apply This To WoW?

Today was one of those rare times where I didn’t really have anything ready for today’s post, and what I do have in the pipeline just isn’t to my liking (the editing process never ends), so I’m jumping the gun a little bit with an idea I have that will begin next week.  How far can I get without dying?

Between now and Tuesday I’ll create two guilds, one Alliance and one Horde with essentially the same name, or at the very least identical meaning.  I’ll keep a toon on the guild to keep it active when not being used.  On Tuesday, when Worgens and Goblins are introduced to the game I will choose a random race and class combo.  By random, I’ll use a d12 for race and then a die that best corresponds to the number of classes available to that race.   I will then see how far I can get without dying.

My characters will have one life.  I won’t cheat, and take on low-level quests and do simple things that will allow me to “beat the system.”  I will play the same way I always have, though obviously these toons won’t go into a battleground.  I will still do instances.  If we wipe, or I die in the instance, then I’ll finish the run obviously out of courtesy to the rest of my group, but then that character will be deleted and I’ll start new.  If by some fluke a toon gets to 85, I’ll retire them and start again.

The process for character selection will be to go with a different race each time, and ideally a different class each time.  With more races than classes, the latter will obviously repeat with more frequency than races.  I’ll continue to cycle through and keep a running tab on who gets how far and so forth.  If I really wanted to make this a challenge, I’d do it on a PvP server.  Alas, I’m afraid anyone who saw the associated guild tags that I have will just gun me down on first sight. 

Instead I will be doing it on an RP server, though.  I’ll share my character names as they come to pass, so that you can cheer me on (or grief me) if your heart desires.  It’s something I have given an incredible amount of thought to (at one point I was also going to make them bounty hunters, but the mortality rate would be even skimpier) and am looking forward to it.  It won’t be my main focus, but will most assuredly be a nice way to switch things up now and then or take a break.