Prepped For Naxx

For someone who doesn’t have much luck in Arena Play, I’ve amassed a bit of gold now.  Heck, I think I’ve played 1-2 Arena games since the beginning of April in an effort to stockpile the surefire amount of gold.  Do I miss out on cards as a result?  Of course.  But my current decks are doing alright on their own.  I honestly wanted to make certain I had enough gold for the launch of Adventure Mode.  Not because I want to get the new cards immediately, but because I want to be able to access Naxxramas right away.

Blizzard announced the solo game earlier this spring and, while they haven’t announced a release date for it, I suspect the July or maybe August season. The idea is something for casual players to indulge in.  Yes, there is a Casual Mode but if you’ve played it…it tends to be anything but.  I find I either lose to a 4+ Legendaries deck, or beat someone in 7 rounds.  There’s literally no control over the balance, and it worsens when players of high rank hit a cap because they then take their decks into Casual and just stomp anyone and everyone.  Why?  I have no idea.  I don’t have that kind of complex.

So Naxx is on the way and will solve that, to some degree.  I expect it to be difficult, more so than the computer mode now.  We’ve also seen a few previews of the card rewards and that’s going to make it even more appealing to all types of players.  The plan is Blizzard will release the first wing free of charge.  After that, they will release one wing per week, at a cost.  You can pay either real money or you can pay with gold.  Clearly the latter is the route I plan to take and that’s where it becomes a guessing game.  Just how much will it cost?  That depends on the approach taken.

My original theory was 150-250 gold.  That’s just above the cost of Arena, which means it isn’t terribly out of reach for the average player. If you only manage to complete 1-2 quests a week and win 3 or 6 games in a week, that would get you 100 gold or more, depending on the quests.  So every couple of weeks even a weaker player would have a fair chance to play the new wings.  But is that what Blizzard is aiming at, or will it be a high end investment reward that nudges impatient players towards buying?  If that’s the case, 250g won’t be nearly enough.  In that situation, I see 400 gold being a more realistic amount.  Possibly even a bit more.  With an amount like that, good players will have no problem getting that much gold together and players who don’t want to wait to do so will just choose to spend the money and buy it right away. Given a company that still charges 15 dollars a month for their million dollar MMO, I can’t put a financial grab past them.

Regardless of what the decision ends up being, I honestly think I’m now set.  Come whatever may, my decks are ready (as they’re going to be) for Kel’Thuzad and the rest.  I’m looking forward to it.  If nothing else, it will be something different and the end result will determine whether or not we see future “expansion” adventures down the road.

Thuzad Teh Bashturd (Oh, And Dragons Too!)

“Psst..Mage.  Yesss, YOU.  Magik man.  How about just nuking all your friends here?  Excellent.”

“Hey there, Druid.  You’re insane, right?  Being a cat isn’t nearly as much fun as a bear.  Why don’t you shift and then show your friends all that pent up pet battle frustration you’ve been supressing.  Just…let it all out.”

Yeah, you can have the middle finger and then some KT.

The Alliance Laid Back Raid hit up 25-man Naxxramas last night.  Yes there were 10 of us, but a few were 90.  So we pretty much had it made.  Except, of course, for one teeny tiny itty bitty detail.

Kel’Thuzad casts Mind Control.  And he’ll cast it on level 90’s.  It was not a pretty sight.  So after the raid got ripped a new one a few times, we decided to call it a night.  It was getting late, thanks large in part to me getting in the  door about a half hour after we were to start.  But we had a tonne of fun and learned that Glyph of Confession really is the best Glyph in the game.  And some folks got some spiffy Transmog gear as per usual.

The night before, the members of Claws of Nature who were on decided we wanted to go back and visit Sarth for the mount.  However, with only four of us, I felt a little underpowered.  I sweet talked Draynee and Repgrind into joining us and booyah it was a cake-walk.  Mrs. Amateur won the mount, so that leaves Magik to get it next week (unless Grex is on, then it’s 50/50 again).  But after we were done folks were keen on doing something else yet and somehow we decided on Onyxia and also 25-man.

There was a bit of concern whether or not we had the power to do it, but figured if we failed we could just drop it down to ten.  Well, the fight probably took the normal amount of time, but we knocked it off.  Once again the fun was had and oddly enough I picked up the 22-slot bag from Onyxia and from Sartharion.  Tum’s a bit happier now.

She took her last deep breath…

Going into the instance, I actually saw a Spawn of Onyxia.  So, I battled.  Not only did I win against what I suspected was a rare based on the insane stats….but I killed the damned thing.  Not my finest hour.  Fortunately, coming out of the raid I found another one.  It was a poor quality, but the end result was a taming.  In sheer befuddlery, Tum actually captured it on the first try instead of his usual fifth or sixth attempt (yes I have improved traps).

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…