...I can still kind of sort of vaguely kung-fu bear after all!
Y'know Chillmaw, right? The undead dragon that flies around in circles in northern Icecrown, utterly lost, looking for the Argent Tourney grounds, all the time? The guy who cheats and is in his 82nd season of adventure even though we can't get that seasoned? Who has three bomb-wielding maniacs on his back, giving him all sorts of bad directions all the time?
It turns out I can still go all kung-fu bear on him and, all on my lonesome, smash him down to the ground! Like I used to be able to.
I have absolutely no confidence or desire in tanking as a kung-fu bear though. Swipe is so forceful that if I were to try doing it any more often than once every six seconds, I'd make myself extremely sick and throw up and fall off a cliff or something. I'll just stick to healing groups for now.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Friday, October 29, 2010
I no longer know how to kung-fu bear
Hail and well met gentle readers.
Except that there hasn't been much for you to read lately.
I must admit I've been in a slump. There really doesn't seem to be much to do these days. I potter around Dalaran, pick up cooking assignments from Awilo and don't do much else.
(And no matter how many times I fill someone's order, and reassure them that no, I've cooked it and can verify there is absolutely no gnome in the food, that the mere thought of gnome in the food sickens me, they ask me every time... sigh)
Oh and lately I've been dutifully going into the Scarlet Monastery to fight the Horseman's reign of terror.
But apart from that, not so much. I'm waiting for the future, where my RL Avatar has been reassuring me I will once again be a kung-fu bear... except, will I? The inconspicuous bear has been saying that things are going to get even more complicated than they are now, and my health in bear form is going to go down and I'm going to become even more like a Warrior.
Look, if I'd wanted to tank like a Warrior, I would have been a Warrior. But instead I've been happy with being a kung-fu bear. I knew how to be a kung-fu bear. I don't any more. I'm happy to just be a healer, even if I can't be a tree any more. I'm happy to be a big cat. The new abilities in bear form, not so much.
So aggravated.
Except that there hasn't been much for you to read lately.
I must admit I've been in a slump. There really doesn't seem to be much to do these days. I potter around Dalaran, pick up cooking assignments from Awilo and don't do much else.
(And no matter how many times I fill someone's order, and reassure them that no, I've cooked it and can verify there is absolutely no gnome in the food, that the mere thought of gnome in the food sickens me, they ask me every time... sigh)
Oh and lately I've been dutifully going into the Scarlet Monastery to fight the Horseman's reign of terror.
But apart from that, not so much. I'm waiting for the future, where my RL Avatar has been reassuring me I will once again be a kung-fu bear... except, will I? The inconspicuous bear has been saying that things are going to get even more complicated than they are now, and my health in bear form is going to go down and I'm going to become even more like a Warrior.
Look, if I'd wanted to tank like a Warrior, I would have been a Warrior. But instead I've been happy with being a kung-fu bear. I knew how to be a kung-fu bear. I don't any more. I'm happy to just be a healer, even if I can't be a tree any more. I'm happy to be a big cat. The new abilities in bear form, not so much.
So aggravated.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Hallowed luck
My policy when it comes to the Random Number Goddess of Luck, is to not rely on her at all, and offer a prayer of thanks if she ever smiles on me and I get a lucky drop. Like, say, a nice piece of armor drops from a dungeon boss, or the mount from a seasonal event boss.
Back during Brewfest, I completely forgot this policy and fought Coren Direbrew every day - not that this had any effect on his raids on the Brewfest grounds. I guess he was getting resurrected just as fast as we adventurers were killing him. Anyway, so every day I was grouping up and entering Blackrock Depths, and then smashing Coren Direbrew in the face a lot, hoping desperately that this one time, the Random Number Goddess of Luck would smile on me and grace me with a Brewfest-styled kodo. My kodos, Ben One and Ben Two, get a bit lonely sometimes. A Brewfest Ben would have been a nice addition to the family, right?
Sadly, there was no Brewfest Ben, and I cursed my bad luck.
Then along came Hallow's End, and I dutifully grouped up to take on the Headless Horseman to stop his mad rampages throughout Azeroth.
I wasn't even after it, and after only a few of days of fighting against the Horseman, I got one of his horses.
To celebrate, I ate far far too much candy, and got very very sick. Not a good combination when you have a magically-refilling beer keg and aren't happy with the Darker And Edgier way the Horde is going...
I found myself outside in short order.
I do believe my Wolpertinger said, "Foolishness, thy name is Donda." Or pehaps she just said Snufflecluckle. I was a bit drunk at the time, I can't be sure.
I self-exiled myself to Dalaran, ate some more magic candy, and promptly found myself larger and oranger. I've always been large, but here I am, absolutely towering over a couple of elves.
I think the moral of the story is I should just return to my former policy of not relying on the luck of random numbers, and just treat anything I do get as a nice bonus.
Postscript: Good lord, Garrosh Hellscream. You look even more ridiculous than ever, with that big branch around your neck.
Back during Brewfest, I completely forgot this policy and fought Coren Direbrew every day - not that this had any effect on his raids on the Brewfest grounds. I guess he was getting resurrected just as fast as we adventurers were killing him. Anyway, so every day I was grouping up and entering Blackrock Depths, and then smashing Coren Direbrew in the face a lot, hoping desperately that this one time, the Random Number Goddess of Luck would smile on me and grace me with a Brewfest-styled kodo. My kodos, Ben One and Ben Two, get a bit lonely sometimes. A Brewfest Ben would have been a nice addition to the family, right?
Sadly, there was no Brewfest Ben, and I cursed my bad luck.
Then along came Hallow's End, and I dutifully grouped up to take on the Headless Horseman to stop his mad rampages throughout Azeroth.
I wasn't even after it, and after only a few of days of fighting against the Horseman, I got one of his horses.
To celebrate, I ate far far too much candy, and got very very sick. Not a good combination when you have a magically-refilling beer keg and aren't happy with the Darker And Edgier way the Horde is going...
I found myself outside in short order.
I do believe my Wolpertinger said, "Foolishness, thy name is Donda." Or pehaps she just said Snufflecluckle. I was a bit drunk at the time, I can't be sure.
I self-exiled myself to Dalaran, ate some more magic candy, and promptly found myself larger and oranger. I've always been large, but here I am, absolutely towering over a couple of elves.
I think the moral of the story is I should just return to my former policy of not relying on the luck of random numbers, and just treat anything I do get as a nice bonus.
Postscript: Good lord, Garrosh Hellscream. You look even more ridiculous than ever, with that big branch around your neck.
Monday, October 18, 2010
No monthly brews this year
I got enough Brewfest Prize Tokens to get a magically-refilling pony keg! And say hello to my Wolpertinger.
Snufflecluckle
Unfortunately, I remembered far, far too late that my Brew of the Month membership was only one year long, and had nowhere near enough Prize Tokens to sign up for another year. Well darn and blast. Fortunately, I had a magically-refilling pony keg to help drown my sorrows.
I don't remember very much after that.
Snufflecluckle
Unfortunately, I remembered far, far too late that my Brew of the Month membership was only one year long, and had nowhere near enough Prize Tokens to sign up for another year. Well darn and blast. Fortunately, I had a magically-refilling pony keg to help drown my sorrows.
I don't remember very much after that.
Annekah, chilling at Sen'Jin Village
Hey there again. My RL-Avatar, he says I can write however I want to, but to least sound intelligible this time.
It not be my problem if he can't read Troll. Anyhow.
So's I been hangin' out at Sen'Jin village, helping out with security and the upcoming move back to the Echo Isles. Then I'd been helping out so much, gettin' so experienced with the shootin' of things, that I reached my tenth season. And when you be a hunter in her tenth season, there's one thing you just got to go do, even if you ain't gonna be huntering for very much longer...
...that right, the big news be that I have a pet raptor! I thought I'd name him something exotic - so instead of something normal like Den'rasta, Cop'pasta or even Han'solo, I heard about some human naming custom, and called him George!
This be me.
This be me with George.
Ain't he just the cutest raptor evah?
I been helping out with clearin' out the Echo Isles - not by much, seein' how I only be tenth season and all - but I been doin' my bit.
Some day soon we's gonna be movin' back there. Don't they look awesome?
This fella in Sen'jin wanted some cleanup done - there were some enchanted Tiki masks what lost their mojo and ain't enchanted no more. I went and found a bunch of them and brought 'em back to him.
He also wanted the skull of his dead brother Minshina. Skulls? Dead things? Meep. Dead things give me the creeps, mon. I'm just glad things be over and done with in Northrend, I wouldn'ta wanted to go there and go up against all sorts of dead things what still walking around like they ain'ts dead. And on top of undead Scourge horrors, Northrend's even got undead bugs!
Anyhow. Back to the Echo Isles. They be full of fellow Darkspear trolls, doin' ritual dances to help rid the Isles of that dirty Zalazane's foul taint.
I went and found Minshina's skull (shudder), then watched some of the dancin'.
They got some moves, mon.
Anyhow, back to Sen'Jin Village I went, and saw the fella what wanted me to do the cleanup. All well and good, up until the point the spirit of his brother Minshina showed up and said thanks for freein' his skull.
Meep. I know Minshina was just bein' nice, but dead things still give me the creeps.
So now I and George be back to patrollin' around Sen'Jin.
Don't we looks fierce!
...I not be lookin' forward to when Zen'Tabra starts teaching druiding. You seen any druids with pet raptors? No, didn't think so. I likes George too much already. Gettin' a pet was probably a bad idea. Maybes I can see about him gettin' training as a riding raptor.
It not be my problem if he can't read Troll. Anyhow.
So's I been hangin' out at Sen'Jin village, helping out with security and the upcoming move back to the Echo Isles. Then I'd been helping out so much, gettin' so experienced with the shootin' of things, that I reached my tenth season. And when you be a hunter in her tenth season, there's one thing you just got to go do, even if you ain't gonna be huntering for very much longer...
...that right, the big news be that I have a pet raptor! I thought I'd name him something exotic - so instead of something normal like Den'rasta, Cop'pasta or even Han'solo, I heard about some human naming custom, and called him George!
This be me.
This be me with George.
Ain't he just the cutest raptor evah?
I been helping out with clearin' out the Echo Isles - not by much, seein' how I only be tenth season and all - but I been doin' my bit.
Some day soon we's gonna be movin' back there. Don't they look awesome?
This fella in Sen'jin wanted some cleanup done - there were some enchanted Tiki masks what lost their mojo and ain't enchanted no more. I went and found a bunch of them and brought 'em back to him.
He also wanted the skull of his dead brother Minshina. Skulls? Dead things? Meep. Dead things give me the creeps, mon. I'm just glad things be over and done with in Northrend, I wouldn'ta wanted to go there and go up against all sorts of dead things what still walking around like they ain'ts dead. And on top of undead Scourge horrors, Northrend's even got undead bugs!
Anyhow. Back to the Echo Isles. They be full of fellow Darkspear trolls, doin' ritual dances to help rid the Isles of that dirty Zalazane's foul taint.
I went and found Minshina's skull (shudder), then watched some of the dancin'.
They got some moves, mon.
Anyhow, back to Sen'Jin Village I went, and saw the fella what wanted me to do the cleanup. All well and good, up until the point the spirit of his brother Minshina showed up and said thanks for freein' his skull.
Meep. I know Minshina was just bein' nice, but dead things still give me the creeps.
So now I and George be back to patrollin' around Sen'Jin.
Don't we looks fierce!
...I not be lookin' forward to when Zen'Tabra starts teaching druiding. You seen any druids with pet raptors? No, didn't think so. I likes George too much already. Gettin' a pet was probably a bad idea. Maybes I can see about him gettin' training as a riding raptor.
You don't mess with Valerie's Conquest emblems
The "patch 4.01" event has affected more than just the adventurers. Remember Valerie Langrom's use of Emblems of Conquest as hair decorations?
Yes, well. Usuri Brightcoin went into Langrom's Leathers and Links to request all outmoded currency be handed over, so that the shop owners could be compensated in gold. Well. Valerie didn't like the sound of that. It turns out that she can use her repair tools with quite deadly force, and decided to do a forceful repair job on Usuri's armor, while she was still wearing it.
End result - Valerie still has her Emblems of Conquest, which she's guarding like a hawk, Usuri is never entering that shop again, and people are being very very careful when they enter Valerie's shop.
Yes, well. Usuri Brightcoin went into Langrom's Leathers and Links to request all outmoded currency be handed over, so that the shop owners could be compensated in gold. Well. Valerie didn't like the sound of that. It turns out that she can use her repair tools with quite deadly force, and decided to do a forceful repair job on Usuri's armor, while she was still wearing it.
End result - Valerie still has her Emblems of Conquest, which she's guarding like a hawk, Usuri is never entering that shop again, and people are being very very careful when they enter Valerie's shop.
New bracers get!
So there has been this terrible, cataclysmic event, known as "Patch 4.01".
No, I don't know what that means either. But class trainers everywhere have come up with new and/or improved ways of doing things, and it's all terribly confusing.
Remember me talking about Turak Runetotem's changes to Swipe, and the Leather Armor Specialisation? Then remember me talking about how I'm relearning how to be a kung-fu bear all over again?
What I didn't mention was that the druidism trainers looked at healing spells as well and decided to change them around a bit. I went in to the druidic tent on the Elder Rise to learn the new Swipe and leather specialisation, and came away from the druidic tent all reeling and confused. So many new things! Though I must admit I do like being able to cast this new Efflorescence spell with a Swiftmend.
Anyway, it's like that for everybody. Suddenly, folks everywhere are reeling, dazed, and confused. Everyone's having to deal with changes to their spells and abilities, and their magic gems not working anymore, and the like, and it isn't pretty. Though I think I've finally got the hang of healing. I've joined up as the healer in a couple of groups and apart from one nasty surprise where the overseer in the Pit of Saron suddenly hit the tank with a really huge blow, things have been groovy.
Oh! Which reminds me. I finally did something about the cloth bracers that were part of my healing armor! I mentioned how I couldn't find any, right? Well, it turns out I didn't look hard enough! In the Hall of Legends in Orgrimmar, I found my PVP honor was in good enough standing to get a decent set of healer's leather bracers.
Me. Honoured enough to get something useful. I'm not quite sure how that happened. Generally I avoid hostile actions against the Alliance. (Unless dwarves are involved, in which case I might be convinced... with lots of convincing... and maybe a beer or two...) The folks in the Hall of Legends would snicker as I went by. "There goes Donda, the not-even-a-private," they would laugh.
Anyway. Here are some pictures!
A comparison of the cloth bracers, and my new acquisitions. I don't care if they have Resilience and no Haste, they're leather and otherwise much better for my purposes.
My stats before...
...my stats after.
Much higher Intellect (and spellpower, and spell crit), woo! Check out my victory arm pump.
...of course, then I had to go fiddle around with stats at the reforger, which was brain-melting, but oh well.
No, I don't know what that means either. But class trainers everywhere have come up with new and/or improved ways of doing things, and it's all terribly confusing.
Remember me talking about Turak Runetotem's changes to Swipe, and the Leather Armor Specialisation? Then remember me talking about how I'm relearning how to be a kung-fu bear all over again?
What I didn't mention was that the druidism trainers looked at healing spells as well and decided to change them around a bit. I went in to the druidic tent on the Elder Rise to learn the new Swipe and leather specialisation, and came away from the druidic tent all reeling and confused. So many new things! Though I must admit I do like being able to cast this new Efflorescence spell with a Swiftmend.
Anyway, it's like that for everybody. Suddenly, folks everywhere are reeling, dazed, and confused. Everyone's having to deal with changes to their spells and abilities, and their magic gems not working anymore, and the like, and it isn't pretty. Though I think I've finally got the hang of healing. I've joined up as the healer in a couple of groups and apart from one nasty surprise where the overseer in the Pit of Saron suddenly hit the tank with a really huge blow, things have been groovy.
Oh! Which reminds me. I finally did something about the cloth bracers that were part of my healing armor! I mentioned how I couldn't find any, right? Well, it turns out I didn't look hard enough! In the Hall of Legends in Orgrimmar, I found my PVP honor was in good enough standing to get a decent set of healer's leather bracers.
Me. Honoured enough to get something useful. I'm not quite sure how that happened. Generally I avoid hostile actions against the Alliance. (Unless dwarves are involved, in which case I might be convinced... with lots of convincing... and maybe a beer or two...) The folks in the Hall of Legends would snicker as I went by. "There goes Donda, the not-even-a-private," they would laugh.
Anyway. Here are some pictures!
A comparison of the cloth bracers, and my new acquisitions. I don't care if they have Resilience and no Haste, they're leather and otherwise much better for my purposes.
My stats before...
...my stats after.
Much higher Intellect (and spellpower, and spell crit), woo! Check out my victory arm pump.
...of course, then I had to go fiddle around with stats at the reforger, which was brain-melting, but oh well.
In which Donda is annoyed
14th October 2010
I thought I was ready. Turak talked to me about Swipe and my cloth healer bracers, and I was looking forward to not spinning around so much anymore...
...but great googly moogly my moves have been completely changed.
I'd been tanking the same way for three years, and I was fine with it! Then that frigging patch 4.0 hit and now I don't know how to tank anymore. I'm like a frigging warrior. I don't want to be a warrior! If I wanted to be a warrior with their "SUNDERSUNDERSUNDER oh crap everything is on cooldown what do I do now SUNDERSUNDERSUNDER" style then I wouldn't be a druid, I'd be a warrior!
I am going cat, and healer, and NEVER TANKING AGAIN.
...for a given value of "Never". I might learn how to be a kung-fu bear again someday. But in this day and age, where people expect bears to grab everyone's attention with a lot of whirly-whirly Swipe-fests, it will be far too stressful to educate them that, actually, we can't do that anymore.
I'm slightly less annoyed with the changes to my healing spells, though the change to tree form is a sad blow. I liked being a tree and thinking plant-like thoughts. Also, again, I'd been running with my healing spells for three years, and developed all sorts of tricks with them, which no longer apply because Blizzard wants me to be more like a priest.
But I don't want to be like a priest, I want to be my old druidy leafy self!
What is *wrong* with classes that are actually different, instead of classes that do the same thing in different ways? Is it too hard for Blizzard to balance us if we're the former? Bah.
I thought I was ready. Turak talked to me about Swipe and my cloth healer bracers, and I was looking forward to not spinning around so much anymore...
...but great googly moogly my moves have been completely changed.
I'd been tanking the same way for three years, and I was fine with it! Then that frigging patch 4.0 hit and now I don't know how to tank anymore. I'm like a frigging warrior. I don't want to be a warrior! If I wanted to be a warrior with their "SUNDERSUNDERSUNDER oh crap everything is on cooldown what do I do now SUNDERSUNDERSUNDER" style then I wouldn't be a druid, I'd be a warrior!
I am going cat, and healer, and NEVER TANKING AGAIN.
...for a given value of "Never". I might learn how to be a kung-fu bear again someday. But in this day and age, where people expect bears to grab everyone's attention with a lot of whirly-whirly Swipe-fests, it will be far too stressful to educate them that, actually, we can't do that anymore.
I'm slightly less annoyed with the changes to my healing spells, though the change to tree form is a sad blow. I liked being a tree and thinking plant-like thoughts. Also, again, I'd been running with my healing spells for three years, and developed all sorts of tricks with them, which no longer apply because Blizzard wants me to be more like a priest.
But I don't want to be like a priest, I want to be my old druidy leafy self!
What is *wrong* with classes that are actually different, instead of classes that do the same thing in different ways? Is it too hard for Blizzard to balance us if we're the former? Bah.
Spirits be wit'choo, mon
12th October 2010
Spirits be with you, mon. I be Annekah, a young Darkspear troll.
I know what you thinking, mon. "Why isn't she saying, 'Spirits be wit'choo, mon,' and turning her ths into ds and ts?" Well, it be simple! That might be my accent but I not be about to write out my accent. That be a silly idea!
Anyhoo! This be where I would normally say I be a hunter, except I'm not going to be a hunter much longer! Instead, I going to be a druid!
Yes, yes, I know druiding be traditionally night elf mojo, and trolls and elves don't exactly get along. But I not be getting the druiding from some poncy night elf. I be getting it from Zen'Tabra, a fellow troll! Once I convince her too.
It were not too long ago, when Vol'jin launched his big offensive to take back the Echo Isles from the witch doctor Zalazane. There we be, scouting out the Isles, and Vaniya finds a tiger what hunts like a troll. She empowered me with a tiger spirit - it felt goood. I be feelin' strong, and powerful. Over to the Isles I go, and look around for this mysterious tiger...
...and it attacked! It tried shredding my face off, mon! It not be a pleasant thing, no how! If I'd been just me I woulda been a very dead troll girl, and dying never be much fun. But I be having the tiger spirit empowering me, so instead of dying I just got hurt a lot. Infuriated, I lashed out, ripping and shredding and whatnot, we fought like the crazed cats we were, then suddenly the tiger stopped being a tiger and was a troll lady! Turns out she be a druid!
It of course be Zen'Tabra.
So, anyhoo, she said she gonna be our ally in the battle for the Isles.
Unfortunately I only be in my ninth season of huntering, and I weren't allowed to join in on battle to reclaim the Echo Isles. "You be havin' a great spirit, young Annekah," said Vol'Jin, patting me on the shoulder, "but yoo only be in yo ninth season. I can't be lettin' yoo come along, you'll be splatted in seconds."
I hear they met up with Bwonsamdi, loa of the dead! He be pretty angry, we haven't been on the Isles or following the rituals of the dead for a long long time. Perhaps it be good I weren't there. Dead spirits and loas of the dead be scary stuff, mon.
Anyhoo, the battle all be done now, and them folk at Sen'Jin village be moving their stuff back over to the Echo Isles. I be helping them out! And when Zen'Tabra starts teaching druiding, I so gonna be there.
"But why's you wants to be a druid," I hear you cry, or I would if you were here but you ain't. It's simple, mon. Them druids, they be changin' into tigers and bears and birds and sea lions and cheetahs! I like nature and animals, so's I was learning huntering, but as a hunter ultimately I be shooting them full of arrows. Druiding is a way to be much closer to nature and the animals, you know?
Gah, that makes me sound like some poncy hippy night elf druid already.
...don't matter, them night elves is all freakish tuskless mutated trolls anyways. They say they ain't, but we trolls know better.
But here be the best bit - you also gets to be a kung-fu bear! You poor mons on the other side of the screen only see them druid bears standing around on all four legs and slashing with their forepaws. Over on this side, though, they be a whirlwind of activity, dodging and spinning and bashing things like some kinda ursine Jackie Chan. They be like them pandaren brewmaster monks you all be clamoring for.
And I'm going to be one of them kung-fu bears too!
Spirits be with you, mon. I be Annekah, a young Darkspear troll.
I know what you thinking, mon. "Why isn't she saying, 'Spirits be wit'choo, mon,' and turning her ths into ds and ts?" Well, it be simple! That might be my accent but I not be about to write out my accent. That be a silly idea!
Anyhoo! This be where I would normally say I be a hunter, except I'm not going to be a hunter much longer! Instead, I going to be a druid!
Yes, yes, I know druiding be traditionally night elf mojo, and trolls and elves don't exactly get along. But I not be getting the druiding from some poncy night elf. I be getting it from Zen'Tabra, a fellow troll! Once I convince her too.
It were not too long ago, when Vol'jin launched his big offensive to take back the Echo Isles from the witch doctor Zalazane. There we be, scouting out the Isles, and Vaniya finds a tiger what hunts like a troll. She empowered me with a tiger spirit - it felt goood. I be feelin' strong, and powerful. Over to the Isles I go, and look around for this mysterious tiger...
...and it attacked! It tried shredding my face off, mon! It not be a pleasant thing, no how! If I'd been just me I woulda been a very dead troll girl, and dying never be much fun. But I be having the tiger spirit empowering me, so instead of dying I just got hurt a lot. Infuriated, I lashed out, ripping and shredding and whatnot, we fought like the crazed cats we were, then suddenly the tiger stopped being a tiger and was a troll lady! Turns out she be a druid!
It of course be Zen'Tabra.
So, anyhoo, she said she gonna be our ally in the battle for the Isles.
Unfortunately I only be in my ninth season of huntering, and I weren't allowed to join in on battle to reclaim the Echo Isles. "You be havin' a great spirit, young Annekah," said Vol'Jin, patting me on the shoulder, "but yoo only be in yo ninth season. I can't be lettin' yoo come along, you'll be splatted in seconds."
I hear they met up with Bwonsamdi, loa of the dead! He be pretty angry, we haven't been on the Isles or following the rituals of the dead for a long long time. Perhaps it be good I weren't there. Dead spirits and loas of the dead be scary stuff, mon.
Anyhoo, the battle all be done now, and them folk at Sen'Jin village be moving their stuff back over to the Echo Isles. I be helping them out! And when Zen'Tabra starts teaching druiding, I so gonna be there.
"But why's you wants to be a druid," I hear you cry, or I would if you were here but you ain't. It's simple, mon. Them druids, they be changin' into tigers and bears and birds and sea lions and cheetahs! I like nature and animals, so's I was learning huntering, but as a hunter ultimately I be shooting them full of arrows. Druiding is a way to be much closer to nature and the animals, you know?
Gah, that makes me sound like some poncy hippy night elf druid already.
...don't matter, them night elves is all freakish tuskless mutated trolls anyways. They say they ain't, but we trolls know better.
But here be the best bit - you also gets to be a kung-fu bear! You poor mons on the other side of the screen only see them druid bears standing around on all four legs and slashing with their forepaws. Over on this side, though, they be a whirlwind of activity, dodging and spinning and bashing things like some kinda ursine Jackie Chan. They be like them pandaren brewmaster monks you all be clamoring for.
And I'm going to be one of them kung-fu bears too!
In which my sense of timing and scheduling could have been better
12th October 2010
Obviously, this journal of sorts would have been much more useful if I had started writing it in my first season. There would have been a sense of my progression and growth in power. But instead, I am currently based in Dalaran and in my 80th season of adventuring, and have been for months now. The Lich King has even been felled, and a statue commemorating his fall has been put in the middle of Dalaran.
I am very much not in my first season of adventuring, is what I'm saying.
But.
Recently Vol'jin sent out a call to adventurers, asking them to come to the Echo Isles and get rid of Zalazane, once and for all. So of course I went along, to aid our troll brothers and sisters of the Horde.
And then during it all we found out about a bunch of troll druids that have been hiding out on the Echo Isles for ages.
During the whole thing, there was this particular young troll girl, called Annekah. She seemed very impressed by Zen'Tabra, the troll druid that we found, and was badgering her almost immediately to teach druiding. Annekah and I share an RL avatar, so once she actually gets around to learning druiding and leading the life of an adventurer, she's going to be posting here from time to time, telling us about her exploits. Please be nice to her.
Obviously, this journal of sorts would have been much more useful if I had started writing it in my first season. There would have been a sense of my progression and growth in power. But instead, I am currently based in Dalaran and in my 80th season of adventuring, and have been for months now. The Lich King has even been felled, and a statue commemorating his fall has been put in the middle of Dalaran.
I am very much not in my first season of adventuring, is what I'm saying.
But.
Recently Vol'jin sent out a call to adventurers, asking them to come to the Echo Isles and get rid of Zalazane, once and for all. So of course I went along, to aid our troll brothers and sisters of the Horde.
And then during it all we found out about a bunch of troll druids that have been hiding out on the Echo Isles for ages.
During the whole thing, there was this particular young troll girl, called Annekah. She seemed very impressed by Zen'Tabra, the troll druid that we found, and was badgering her almost immediately to teach druiding. Annekah and I share an RL avatar, so once she actually gets around to learning druiding and leading the life of an adventurer, she's going to be posting here from time to time, telling us about her exploits. Please be nice to her.
Why I like being an engineer
12th October 2010
Sometimes it really confuses people that I'm an Engineer, and a gnomish engineer at that! They look at Tauren structures, which are mainly tents and occasionally wooden loghouses and wonder why a Tauren is interested in Engineering. They look at my fingers, which are the size of an average gnome's arm, and wonder how I can do all the fiddly bits.
It's true that Tauren structures are canvas and skins and wood, and not what you might call the cutting edge of technology. But I would like to direct your attention to the lifts that take you alll the way up to Thunder Bluff - and can carry a full-sized Tauren on a full-sized kodo with a heavy load - and the incredibly long bridges between the mesas. The lifts and the bridges required a fair bit of engineering know-how, thank you very much.
I would also like to direct your attention to the Great Lift. It goes even further than the Thunder Bluff lifts and can lift an even greater load. And it never breaks! That required a lot of engineering know-how, too.
So. Just because we Tauren like tents and loghouses, doesn't mean we don't know squat about engineering.
The other question is simple. Gyromatic Micro-Adjusters.
As to why I like being an Engineer... I could go on about how handy and useful and versatile it is, and how I like to get into the nitty-gritty of things and know how something *works* before I press the on switch. Which I guess I just did. But two really big things are:
Teleporters and parachute cloaks.
Who needs arcane magic to teleport around the place, or fall slowly, when technology can do it for you? Certainly not this engineer.
Sometimes it really confuses people that I'm an Engineer, and a gnomish engineer at that! They look at Tauren structures, which are mainly tents and occasionally wooden loghouses and wonder why a Tauren is interested in Engineering. They look at my fingers, which are the size of an average gnome's arm, and wonder how I can do all the fiddly bits.
It's true that Tauren structures are canvas and skins and wood, and not what you might call the cutting edge of technology. But I would like to direct your attention to the lifts that take you alll the way up to Thunder Bluff - and can carry a full-sized Tauren on a full-sized kodo with a heavy load - and the incredibly long bridges between the mesas. The lifts and the bridges required a fair bit of engineering know-how, thank you very much.
I would also like to direct your attention to the Great Lift. It goes even further than the Thunder Bluff lifts and can lift an even greater load. And it never breaks! That required a lot of engineering know-how, too.
So. Just because we Tauren like tents and loghouses, doesn't mean we don't know squat about engineering.
The other question is simple. Gyromatic Micro-Adjusters.
As to why I like being an Engineer... I could go on about how handy and useful and versatile it is, and how I like to get into the nitty-gritty of things and know how something *works* before I press the on switch. Which I guess I just did. But two really big things are:
Teleporters and parachute cloaks.
Who needs arcane magic to teleport around the place, or fall slowly, when technology can do it for you? Certainly not this engineer.
Why I like being a druid
12th October 2010
I could go on about being incredibly versatile and being able to do all sorts of things, and how being a druid lets me get by on my lonesome a lot of the time, which suits my adventuring hours... and it's all true, but there are two things that make me really like being a druid:
Being a kung-fu bear, and being able to change into a bird.
I could go on about being incredibly versatile and being able to do all sorts of things, and how being a druid lets me get by on my lonesome a lot of the time, which suits my adventuring hours... and it's all true, but there are two things that make me really like being a druid:
Being a kung-fu bear, and being able to change into a bird.
From Swipe to Hair Decorations
12th October 2010
Your typical Swipe attack has the bear-form druid extend a foreleg and swipe - so hard and so furiously that the motion carries the druid up on to stand on his (or her) rear legs as he (or she) continues to spin around, slashing everyone in range, before finally completing the spin and thunking down on to all fours again. It is strong and effective and you can use it to hit everyone around you.
The problem is, it's not as damaging or as threatening as it could be. You end up using it all the time and all the spinning around makes you thoroughly dizzy. It's good that in bear-form I have un-Tauren features and fur covering my face, because otherwise everyone would see how green and dizzy I am after a heated battle.
But here comes the good news.
The other day I was by the druidic tent on Thunder Bluff, and saw Turak, one of the trainers, practicing his bear moves. Only, his Swipe was different. It was *strong*, and vicious.
Here's the good news - it's so strong, and so vicious, that you don't need to be spinning around all the time anymore.
But then I heard the bad news - he's *also* working on a new move, where he thoroughly thrashes everyone around him and makes them bleed. Which of course means more spinning. Oh joy.
Changing topic a lot, he saw that I was wearing some cloth bracers. How did he do that? They're mostly covered by my gloves. Anyway, he saw my cloth bracers and shifted back to Tauren form.
"Hail, and well met, brother druid."
"Hail," I said.
"I can't help but notice you're wearing some cloth bracers."
Of course I was surpised - as I said, they're almost completely hidden by gloves, but I nodded along with him. There's a reason he's the druid trainer and I'm not. "Indeed I am. I haven't yet been able to find any leather bracers better than them."
"Great changes are afoot, Donda," he said. "You have already seen our improved Swipe, which we will be teaching very soon. Once we get the kinks worked out, anyway..."
"Kinks?"
"It is a very forcible spin. You need control, and balance, unlike poor Kym, who went spinning right off the Elder Rise."
"Oh my goodness. Is she okay?"
"She went splat. We were able to revive her though. But Donda! I was telling you about our upcoming changes, and I'm worried about your bracers! Something else we're working on is a type of... specialisation, or meditation, or peace of mind, or something, that comes with wearing leather armor."
"How does that work?" I asked.
"I'm not too sure," Turak admitted. "It's something to do with the nature of the material, and attuning yourself to it... or something... It is very advanced, and only Hamuul Runetotem knows the full details. The upshot is that you will want leather bracers as soon as you can get them."
That's easy for him to say. Do you know how impossible it's been for me to find a decent set of leather bracers? I checked the Auction House, Langrom's Leathers And Links shop in Dalaran, and the Sunreavers' emblem vendors, and all I could find were some dinky leather bracers hidden under a shelf at Leathers and Links that were *almost*, but not quite, good enough.
"I forgot we had those," said Valerie Langrom.
They were a truly ridiculous 60 conquest emblems, or something like that. But who uses conquest emblems these days? Valerie Langrom, obviously.
"Conquest emblems are awesome," she said. "They make great hair decorations."
So my quest for suitably useful leather bracers continues.
Your typical Swipe attack has the bear-form druid extend a foreleg and swipe - so hard and so furiously that the motion carries the druid up on to stand on his (or her) rear legs as he (or she) continues to spin around, slashing everyone in range, before finally completing the spin and thunking down on to all fours again. It is strong and effective and you can use it to hit everyone around you.
The problem is, it's not as damaging or as threatening as it could be. You end up using it all the time and all the spinning around makes you thoroughly dizzy. It's good that in bear-form I have un-Tauren features and fur covering my face, because otherwise everyone would see how green and dizzy I am after a heated battle.
But here comes the good news.
The other day I was by the druidic tent on Thunder Bluff, and saw Turak, one of the trainers, practicing his bear moves. Only, his Swipe was different. It was *strong*, and vicious.
Here's the good news - it's so strong, and so vicious, that you don't need to be spinning around all the time anymore.
But then I heard the bad news - he's *also* working on a new move, where he thoroughly thrashes everyone around him and makes them bleed. Which of course means more spinning. Oh joy.
Changing topic a lot, he saw that I was wearing some cloth bracers. How did he do that? They're mostly covered by my gloves. Anyway, he saw my cloth bracers and shifted back to Tauren form.
"Hail, and well met, brother druid."
"Hail," I said.
"I can't help but notice you're wearing some cloth bracers."
Of course I was surpised - as I said, they're almost completely hidden by gloves, but I nodded along with him. There's a reason he's the druid trainer and I'm not. "Indeed I am. I haven't yet been able to find any leather bracers better than them."
"Great changes are afoot, Donda," he said. "You have already seen our improved Swipe, which we will be teaching very soon. Once we get the kinks worked out, anyway..."
"Kinks?"
"It is a very forcible spin. You need control, and balance, unlike poor Kym, who went spinning right off the Elder Rise."
"Oh my goodness. Is she okay?"
"She went splat. We were able to revive her though. But Donda! I was telling you about our upcoming changes, and I'm worried about your bracers! Something else we're working on is a type of... specialisation, or meditation, or peace of mind, or something, that comes with wearing leather armor."
"How does that work?" I asked.
"I'm not too sure," Turak admitted. "It's something to do with the nature of the material, and attuning yourself to it... or something... It is very advanced, and only Hamuul Runetotem knows the full details. The upshot is that you will want leather bracers as soon as you can get them."
That's easy for him to say. Do you know how impossible it's been for me to find a decent set of leather bracers? I checked the Auction House, Langrom's Leathers And Links shop in Dalaran, and the Sunreavers' emblem vendors, and all I could find were some dinky leather bracers hidden under a shelf at Leathers and Links that were *almost*, but not quite, good enough.
"I forgot we had those," said Valerie Langrom.
They were a truly ridiculous 60 conquest emblems, or something like that. But who uses conquest emblems these days? Valerie Langrom, obviously.
"Conquest emblems are awesome," she said. "They make great hair decorations."
So my quest for suitably useful leather bracers continues.
Views of the Alliance
1st October 2010
I'm actually quite mellow towards most of the alliance.
Us Tauren, see, have been wandering around Kalimdor and never even set hoof in the Eastern Kingdoms, and so haven't had much experience at all with the humans, dwarves, or gnomes. We know of the night elves - it's hard not to. Thousands of years ago they went bugnuts insanse with magic power from the Well of Eternity, built a massive empire over the whole world, and then there was a lot of nastiness with the Burning Legion, followed by the night elves blowing up the world. They went kindof invisible after that, and who can blame them.
I mean, they BLEW UP the world!
But that was ten thousand years ago. Night elves now are alright and trying hard not to blow up the world again. Though they do occasionally give off an impression of, "I'm thoroughly ancient and know oodles more than you do and so can tell you you're about to do something stupid," which gets *really* annoying.
Then the lady night elf you're talking to does her bounce-bounce thing, acting like some hyperactive kid, and it shatters her holier-than-thou impression. Plus you get kindof distracted.
Anyway, rapidly moving on.
I owe one particular lady night elf a great debt. When I was just a young calfling there was this big centaur raid on my tribe's camp, me and my sister got separated from the rest of the tribe, and she and I were practically done for. Then out of the trees there burst this massive bear that made short work of that centaur.
O'course, it wasn't actually a bear but a lady night elf druidess in her Dire Bear form. She changed back into a night elf, and we couldn't understand a word she said. But she wasn't trying to kill us, didn't *sound* dangerous, and was smiling at us. She pointed roughly in the direction of our camp.
And she did her bounce-bounce thing.
I must admit, I stared slack-jawed. Sis elbowed me good and dragged me towards the campground, mumbling something about elven hussies. But if it wasn't for that lady night elf Sis and I would have been dead that day.
Years later I was a young druidling, in the Moonglade for the first time to seek out the Great Bear Spirit, and what do you know but I ran into that very same lady night-elf again.
This time she knew a little Taurahe and I knew a little bit of the Darnassian Night Elf lingo. It was certainly enough for me to go, "It's you!" and her to say, "Ohmygoddess it's you!" and for us to swap names. Turns out she's Shukeralle Wildsong.
Yeah, I know, a typically poncy night elf name. Though when she heard my name, she mumbled something about typical Tauren names. Or possibly she said something about the virility of my horns. Darnassian can be tricky sometimes.
I'm actually quite mellow towards most of the alliance.
Us Tauren, see, have been wandering around Kalimdor and never even set hoof in the Eastern Kingdoms, and so haven't had much experience at all with the humans, dwarves, or gnomes. We know of the night elves - it's hard not to. Thousands of years ago they went bugnuts insanse with magic power from the Well of Eternity, built a massive empire over the whole world, and then there was a lot of nastiness with the Burning Legion, followed by the night elves blowing up the world. They went kindof invisible after that, and who can blame them.
I mean, they BLEW UP the world!
But that was ten thousand years ago. Night elves now are alright and trying hard not to blow up the world again. Though they do occasionally give off an impression of, "I'm thoroughly ancient and know oodles more than you do and so can tell you you're about to do something stupid," which gets *really* annoying.
Then the lady night elf you're talking to does her bounce-bounce thing, acting like some hyperactive kid, and it shatters her holier-than-thou impression. Plus you get kindof distracted.
Anyway, rapidly moving on.
I owe one particular lady night elf a great debt. When I was just a young calfling there was this big centaur raid on my tribe's camp, me and my sister got separated from the rest of the tribe, and she and I were practically done for. Then out of the trees there burst this massive bear that made short work of that centaur.
O'course, it wasn't actually a bear but a lady night elf druidess in her Dire Bear form. She changed back into a night elf, and we couldn't understand a word she said. But she wasn't trying to kill us, didn't *sound* dangerous, and was smiling at us. She pointed roughly in the direction of our camp.
And she did her bounce-bounce thing.
I must admit, I stared slack-jawed. Sis elbowed me good and dragged me towards the campground, mumbling something about elven hussies. But if it wasn't for that lady night elf Sis and I would have been dead that day.
Years later I was a young druidling, in the Moonglade for the first time to seek out the Great Bear Spirit, and what do you know but I ran into that very same lady night-elf again.
This time she knew a little Taurahe and I knew a little bit of the Darnassian Night Elf lingo. It was certainly enough for me to go, "It's you!" and her to say, "Ohmygoddess it's you!" and for us to swap names. Turns out she's Shukeralle Wildsong.
Yeah, I know, a typically poncy night elf name. Though when she heard my name, she mumbled something about typical Tauren names. Or possibly she said something about the virility of my horns. Darnassian can be tricky sometimes.
The Brewfesht - Ahn'Quiraj conneckshon... hic!
31st September 2010
The haze lifted, I came to my senses, and I found myself charging halfway to Razor Hill on a legally obtained racing ram.
"Oh, right, it's Brewfest," I told myself.
The craziest things happen when you're getting smashed every night at Brewfest. You get drunk and you see pink elekks wandering around, and weird little rabbit-deer-chicken things hiding in your beer mug. I'm pretty sure that I've engaged in fierce battle with a bunch of dwarves invading the Brewfest grounds, except these fierce battles involve me drinking beer as quickly as possible then throwing the now-empty mug to bonk them on the noggin.
They're pretty fragile dwarves, if you can knock them out with a single empty beer mug to the head. Maybe the lack of beer in the mugs offends their dwarven sensibilities and it overloads their ale-addled brains to the point where they just keel over in outrage. But as odd as it is, it's the bashing up of dwarves. It's quite therapeutic.
Anyway, because of all the drinking, by the time the dwarves leave, I'm usually so drunk I can't tell if we've won or lost. I think I've won a couple of times.
Also at Brewfest, some of the stall vendors take advantage of your pliable drunken state and convince you to get on a legally obtained racing ram and charge around Orgrimmar, hawking their wares. It must work. I see lots of drunken louts charging around Orgrimmar on legally obtained racing rams and yelling about beer, and sure as eggs I find myself at the Brewfest that night and hung over the next morning.
There's also the goblin who sends you to his supplier, who always, always, *always* breaks down halfway between Orgrimmar and Razor Hill. You have to go pick up as much of the beer shipment as you can. On a legally obtained racing ram of course. They must go to a lot of trouble to legally obtain the racing rams because you get a lot of use out of them. But why don't they take the trouble to fix the wagon, if it's always breaking down?
Oh well. So, where was I? Oh yes, that's right, on the back of a legally obtained racing ram and charging down the ravine to Razor Hill, with the drunken haze lifting. Over my whisperbox I heard Dreadkrathor, orc death knight extraordinaire from the guild, asking if anyone could come help heal his raid, which was quite thoroughly stuck in the Temple of Ahn Qiraj.
I eyed my ram critically, and checked my stash of Brewfest Prize Tokens. I'm saving them up so I can get a magically-refilling pony keg, see. Anyway, I figured I'd easily be able to get enough tokens by the end of Brewfest, and besides my racing ram looked pretty tired. I decided to give him a much needed rest. As soon as I had picked up and delivered the next keg, anyway.
Once that was done I let Dreadkrothor know I could come help.
In short order I found myself standing outside Ahn'Qiraj.
The place had been quite thoroughly wrecked a few years ago. I was just a young Tauren calfling at the time, not even a novice druid yet, but I remember all the hoo-ha going on as people got ready for the opening of the gates of Ahn'Qiraj. Varok Saurfang made an awe-inspiring speech, there was a lot of bug-squishing, then a whole bunch of adventurers went in to Ahn'Qiraj and beat the snot out of a bunch of really nasty bugs that were planning to take over Azeroth, or something.
But the funny thing is that nothing really stays dead for very long. Adventurers come back, big nasties come back, and so to stop the big nasties from regrouping, training and improving their skills, and resuming their plans of conquest, us adventurers have to repeatedly stomp them into the dirt.
Like our raid was about to.
It became clear from the discussions over the whisperbox that not only was it my first time there, the place was new for a lot of the group. I followed Shadowtoch, a Forsaken priest that looked like he knew where he was going. Turns out he was following me, too. Quite obviously, we both got thoroughly lost.
Uriu, the guy that was organising the whole thing, came and got me and Shadowtoch and showed us where to go. Yay him!
So, after a little while of being lost and confused, we all assembled deep in the bowels of the Temple of Ahn'Qiraj, ready to stomp Qiraji bugs into goo.
There were a few others in the raid who, like me, were in our 80th season of adventuring, including the paladin main tank. It's fair to say that we quite thoroughly pwned practically everything there. Though some of the young'uns just kept dying, over and over, with nothing but a look from one of the bugs. It was quite depressing really. There I was, charged with keeping people alive, and they were dying the instant a bug looked at them.
We came thoroughly unstuck when we came to the Emperor brothers, though. Our guide tried to tell us what we were supposed to be doing and what the Emperor brothers were going to do. But barely 30 seconds into the fight the Emperor brothers did their teleport switcheroo trick, the pally tank ran after his target instead of staying put, a bunch of the group died instantly, the Emperor brothers were busy throwing massive heals on each other, and Uriu our guide, dead himself, was telling us all through the whisperbox that we'd lost and it was time to wipe.
(Incidentally, as useful as it is, doesn't anybody else find it creepy that the whisperbox lets you talk to dead people? But I digress.)
Oh well. I rustled my branches in a leafy shrug, wandered over to one of the Emporer brothers, waited, and he duly smashed me into firewood.
Ow.
We were all quite dispirited after the defeat, and the group split up so we didn't get to try again.
And thus ended my first ever attempt at Ahn'Qiraj.
I went off to find out more about the Emperor brothers and what they do and how you fight them. If we'd gotten our tactics right I imagine our fight against them would have been absolutely epic!
But I think the most *important* thing to take away from this is that raids aren't scary. Er, well, actually, okay, they are. You fight big scary monsters and Old Gods and the Lich King himself, after all. But what I think I mean is that the forming of a raid isn't as scary as I always imagined it to be. Who knows, maybe I'll go on another raid one of these months.
The haze lifted, I came to my senses, and I found myself charging halfway to Razor Hill on a legally obtained racing ram.
"Oh, right, it's Brewfest," I told myself.
The craziest things happen when you're getting smashed every night at Brewfest. You get drunk and you see pink elekks wandering around, and weird little rabbit-deer-chicken things hiding in your beer mug. I'm pretty sure that I've engaged in fierce battle with a bunch of dwarves invading the Brewfest grounds, except these fierce battles involve me drinking beer as quickly as possible then throwing the now-empty mug to bonk them on the noggin.
They're pretty fragile dwarves, if you can knock them out with a single empty beer mug to the head. Maybe the lack of beer in the mugs offends their dwarven sensibilities and it overloads their ale-addled brains to the point where they just keel over in outrage. But as odd as it is, it's the bashing up of dwarves. It's quite therapeutic.
Anyway, because of all the drinking, by the time the dwarves leave, I'm usually so drunk I can't tell if we've won or lost. I think I've won a couple of times.
Also at Brewfest, some of the stall vendors take advantage of your pliable drunken state and convince you to get on a legally obtained racing ram and charge around Orgrimmar, hawking their wares. It must work. I see lots of drunken louts charging around Orgrimmar on legally obtained racing rams and yelling about beer, and sure as eggs I find myself at the Brewfest that night and hung over the next morning.
There's also the goblin who sends you to his supplier, who always, always, *always* breaks down halfway between Orgrimmar and Razor Hill. You have to go pick up as much of the beer shipment as you can. On a legally obtained racing ram of course. They must go to a lot of trouble to legally obtain the racing rams because you get a lot of use out of them. But why don't they take the trouble to fix the wagon, if it's always breaking down?
Oh well. So, where was I? Oh yes, that's right, on the back of a legally obtained racing ram and charging down the ravine to Razor Hill, with the drunken haze lifting. Over my whisperbox I heard Dreadkrathor, orc death knight extraordinaire from the guild, asking if anyone could come help heal his raid, which was quite thoroughly stuck in the Temple of Ahn Qiraj.
I eyed my ram critically, and checked my stash of Brewfest Prize Tokens. I'm saving them up so I can get a magically-refilling pony keg, see. Anyway, I figured I'd easily be able to get enough tokens by the end of Brewfest, and besides my racing ram looked pretty tired. I decided to give him a much needed rest. As soon as I had picked up and delivered the next keg, anyway.
Once that was done I let Dreadkrothor know I could come help.
In short order I found myself standing outside Ahn'Qiraj.
The place had been quite thoroughly wrecked a few years ago. I was just a young Tauren calfling at the time, not even a novice druid yet, but I remember all the hoo-ha going on as people got ready for the opening of the gates of Ahn'Qiraj. Varok Saurfang made an awe-inspiring speech, there was a lot of bug-squishing, then a whole bunch of adventurers went in to Ahn'Qiraj and beat the snot out of a bunch of really nasty bugs that were planning to take over Azeroth, or something.
But the funny thing is that nothing really stays dead for very long. Adventurers come back, big nasties come back, and so to stop the big nasties from regrouping, training and improving their skills, and resuming their plans of conquest, us adventurers have to repeatedly stomp them into the dirt.
Like our raid was about to.
It became clear from the discussions over the whisperbox that not only was it my first time there, the place was new for a lot of the group. I followed Shadowtoch, a Forsaken priest that looked like he knew where he was going. Turns out he was following me, too. Quite obviously, we both got thoroughly lost.
Uriu, the guy that was organising the whole thing, came and got me and Shadowtoch and showed us where to go. Yay him!
So, after a little while of being lost and confused, we all assembled deep in the bowels of the Temple of Ahn'Qiraj, ready to stomp Qiraji bugs into goo.
There were a few others in the raid who, like me, were in our 80th season of adventuring, including the paladin main tank. It's fair to say that we quite thoroughly pwned practically everything there. Though some of the young'uns just kept dying, over and over, with nothing but a look from one of the bugs. It was quite depressing really. There I was, charged with keeping people alive, and they were dying the instant a bug looked at them.
We came thoroughly unstuck when we came to the Emperor brothers, though. Our guide tried to tell us what we were supposed to be doing and what the Emperor brothers were going to do. But barely 30 seconds into the fight the Emperor brothers did their teleport switcheroo trick, the pally tank ran after his target instead of staying put, a bunch of the group died instantly, the Emperor brothers were busy throwing massive heals on each other, and Uriu our guide, dead himself, was telling us all through the whisperbox that we'd lost and it was time to wipe.
(Incidentally, as useful as it is, doesn't anybody else find it creepy that the whisperbox lets you talk to dead people? But I digress.)
Oh well. I rustled my branches in a leafy shrug, wandered over to one of the Emporer brothers, waited, and he duly smashed me into firewood.
Ow.
We were all quite dispirited after the defeat, and the group split up so we didn't get to try again.
And thus ended my first ever attempt at Ahn'Qiraj.
I went off to find out more about the Emperor brothers and what they do and how you fight them. If we'd gotten our tactics right I imagine our fight against them would have been absolutely epic!
But I think the most *important* thing to take away from this is that raids aren't scary. Er, well, actually, okay, they are. You fight big scary monsters and Old Gods and the Lich King himself, after all. But what I think I mean is that the forming of a raid isn't as scary as I always imagined it to be. Who knows, maybe I'll go on another raid one of these months.
Just another heroic face in the crowd
30th September 2010
Sadly I am not the funniest of Tauren, nor the most artistically adept. Neither am I the most powerful of tauren druids, nor the best hunter. I am just another face in the crowd.
But I've faced off against all sorts of nasties and monsters. I've faced the demons of the Burning Legion and the undead shambling horrors of the Scourge. I have even faced the Lich King. (Albiet briefly, then our hastily-assembled party ran even more hastily away from him.) There are some that call me a hero of the Horde.
Me, a hero? Of the Horde? That just makes me all nervous and flustered and embarassed.
Especially given, y'know, the Darker and Edgier way the Horde is going. I thought I was fine with the orcs, but events in Northrend have shown that Thrall is a bit of an exception. That he's a bit of an odd duck amongst the orcs. It's become pretty apparent that your common orc is all about glory and honour through battle and is more likely to look up to Garrosh Hellscream. He makes more sense to them.
Anyway, me being called a hero by a common orc is, well, puzzling and a bit scary. It's not like I take great pleasure in the smashing of things. Unless I'm smashing in demons or the undead. I'm all for the smashing in of demons of the Burning Legion and the undead of the Scourge.
Alright, I must admit I feel a guilty pleasure if I ever have to smash in a dwarf. They're pretty friendly and have great beer, even if it's sometimes pretty hard to tell what the heck they're saying. But the little buggers have to go and dig great big holes in everything. "Important Archaeological Investigation," they call it. Which is fine, but then they go and dig great big holes in sacred Tauren or Orc sites, and then get all upset when we get all upset and things degenerate from there.
But as much as I might enjoy the smashing in of a dwarf, it's not like I go out of my way to find and smash in any dwarves. I'm a modern cosmopolitan Tauren and I can rein in my urges to smash in a dwarf. Especially if we're getting drunk together.
Sadly I am not the funniest of Tauren, nor the most artistically adept. Neither am I the most powerful of tauren druids, nor the best hunter. I am just another face in the crowd.
But I've faced off against all sorts of nasties and monsters. I've faced the demons of the Burning Legion and the undead shambling horrors of the Scourge. I have even faced the Lich King. (Albiet briefly, then our hastily-assembled party ran even more hastily away from him.) There are some that call me a hero of the Horde.
Me, a hero? Of the Horde? That just makes me all nervous and flustered and embarassed.
Especially given, y'know, the Darker and Edgier way the Horde is going. I thought I was fine with the orcs, but events in Northrend have shown that Thrall is a bit of an exception. That he's a bit of an odd duck amongst the orcs. It's become pretty apparent that your common orc is all about glory and honour through battle and is more likely to look up to Garrosh Hellscream. He makes more sense to them.
Anyway, me being called a hero by a common orc is, well, puzzling and a bit scary. It's not like I take great pleasure in the smashing of things. Unless I'm smashing in demons or the undead. I'm all for the smashing in of demons of the Burning Legion and the undead of the Scourge.
Alright, I must admit I feel a guilty pleasure if I ever have to smash in a dwarf. They're pretty friendly and have great beer, even if it's sometimes pretty hard to tell what the heck they're saying. But the little buggers have to go and dig great big holes in everything. "Important Archaeological Investigation," they call it. Which is fine, but then they go and dig great big holes in sacred Tauren or Orc sites, and then get all upset when we get all upset and things degenerate from there.
But as much as I might enjoy the smashing in of a dwarf, it's not like I go out of my way to find and smash in any dwarves. I'm a modern cosmopolitan Tauren and I can rein in my urges to smash in a dwarf. Especially if we're getting drunk together.
Here we are at Blogspot
I've moved! To get away from my RL-Avatar's space. He mumbled something about my blogging exuberance showing up his lack of interesting posts, and the difficulty of pictures, then showed me this Blogspot place.
There's been some teething troubles, to be sure, but here I am, on Blogspot! Annekah is coming over, too, and has been taking all sorts of pictures for the occasion. You'll hear from her soon.
There's been some teething troubles, to be sure, but here I am, on Blogspot! Annekah is coming over, too, and has been taking all sorts of pictures for the occasion. You'll hear from her soon.
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