Back.

Just a quick post to let everyone know that I’ve returned and will be back to blogging again soon! I’m working on some more Naxx strategies right now, and should have some up shortly. Next in line: Loatheb. Should be a short one.

Headin’ out!

afk, bbl!

No, seriously though. . .I am headed out to New York (whee!) until the 31st. Probably won’t have Internet, so won’t be around. Oh well. I’ll come back next year totally recommitted!

I’m kinda sad I won’t be able to do Jewelcrafting dailies or burn my Titansteel cooldown. It should be a nice little break though, getting back together with family.

Carolynz, Refund. . .hope to see you guys up there! <3

While I’m AFK. . .may I recommend the music of Jonathan Coulton?

Surviving in raids as a mage

I remember way back when I first got into a Cloudy Day pug. They were doing SSC that night, and Galistul got me into the raid. We downed a couple bosses including Vashj (I was in the center rather than being out killing Tainted Elementals that time), and I ended up getting the T5 helm. I loved it. The two fights that I did were the most complex fights I’d seen to that point.

The next week, I believe, we ended up going to A’lar; although we killed him, I died early in Phase 2. In fact, I died a lot during those weeks of raiding, especially before I actually joined CD. It was a little nerve-wracking for me, since I didn’t feel like I was really doing my part in raids, at least on boss encounters.

Of course, I eventually made it into CD, and here I am now, doing a much better job surviving in boss encounters. I largely attribute this to being more comfortable with the people I’m raiding with, and knowing my role as a raider a lot better; in addition, I think I’ve honed my skills to the point that I’m getting a lot better at knowing what to do.

For the Horde! ; Tonight’s raid

I did a raid of the Alliance cities today, and had a total blast. Had fun afterwards chilling in Dalaran with my Black War Bear, too.

Fights were stupid easy, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t fun. Having 40 people blitz 4 cities in about an hour was quite a thrill–I can certainly see the appeal of world PvP, although it’s still not really my thing.

Comcast, I hate you!

Comcastic? Comcastic my lily-white blood elf ASS! This debacle made me very happy that I don’t use Comcast’s terrible internet, and instead have a sane ISP.

From East Coast to West Coast, Comcast users had trouble logging in for more than 15 minutes for most of the day today. Blizzard had a relatively timely response to the issue; our guildies that called Comcast tech support were basically told that Comcast had nothing to do with the issue for a few hours, often by people with no knowledge of the problem whatsoever. This connection issue made it impossible to do a 25-man raid tonight; instead, we killed everything in Naxx except KT and Sapphiron.\

Regardless of how good the run was tonight, I’m still angry that Comcast screwed up Cloudy Day’s 25-man. GG Comcast. Here’s hoping many, many people cancel their Comcast subscriptions after yet another terrible problem caused by this particular ISP.

IRL, I’ve developed a nasty cough; I’m leaving town for Christmas so I’m hoping it goes away by then.

When you just need to relax. . .

Try Slow Falling off the Temple of Storms in Storm Peaks. I personally aim for a Dalaran landing, but you can pick and choose targets. Epic ground mounts are recommended.

H-Naxx: first impressions. Also: Upcoming strats!

Cloudy Day hit H-Naxx tonight, and hit it HARD. We had 22 people for the first fight, 23 people for the next couple, 24 for the rest. Cleared a total of 2 wings. Last two bosses tonight, Heigan and Loatheb, were one-shots. T7 shoulders dropped for Brimbidus and Kolbach; grats, guys! My rolls were, unfortunately, not what I’d hoped they’d be, but a lot of people geared up, so s’ok. =)

We might end up clearing the rest of the instance tomorrow, which would be leet. =D Additionally, the gargoyle trash at the beginning of Plague Wing was actually really easy! =P

Upcoming strats include a full rundown of both arachnid and plague wings, with added sections for heroic. I’m excited!

I’ve updated my Heigan strat too, with a couple screenshots of phase 2. Feel free to check it out.

Naxx strats: HEIGAN

I picked a relatively simple fight – the 2nd boss of the Plague Quarter, Heigan the Unclean, sometimes known as “the DDR boss” - to start my strategy series, but this is also a fun fight that can wipe careless raids. Even though the mechanic is relatively simple, you HAVE to stay on your toes! Join me after the break for the full strategy.

Getting better!

And just in time, too! With any luck CD will start Naxx-25 tomorrow, and I think I’ll be healthy enough for it. Did a H-HoS today (admittedly not a 25-man), and didn’t notice too many problems with my playstyle/concentration (even got a couple achievements!), so I think I’ll be 100% for raiding tomorrow! =)

Despite that, I’m still taking relatively early nights this week so far, just to err on the side of caution.

Got a bunch of achievements today, including 3 or 4 of the Winter’s Veil ones. Good stuff =) Took me forever to find a Dwarf Paladin, though! Eventually, I ran into him hiding in the Alliance section of Dalaran. Managed to get him before he ran back behind a corner.

Blah, getting sick…

Missed a bunch of stuff today (H-Gundrak, H-Archavon, reg Sarth/Archavon) cause I’m running a 102 degree fever. Probably not gonna be doing much for a while. =( Fortunately the fever is down from where it was before (104) so I’m hoping I’ll be better tomorrow!

While I’ve been sick, I’ve leveled up my warlock to 37, and worked on my hunter’s engineering. All in all, a day well spent. =)

As far as Champion of the Frozen Wastes goes, I found out that I’ll have to kill Malygos–I’ve done all the other things though! Hopefully CD’ll kill him this weekend.

Naxx Full Clear!

We had two 10-man groups going this week in Naxx, and both groups downed Kel’Thuzad tonight. Same drops for both groups–the druid staff and the fist weapon–but definitely a great run! Our group finished early enough that we got in a couple attempts on Malygos, but things did not go well, unfortunately, and we called that after 3 attempts.

Despite that, tonight was a great raid night–more so since I got my network connection down to a manageable latency value. I’ve only got 2 more heroics to go before I get my “Champion of the Frozen Wastes” title, which will be nice. I was getting tired of Champion of the Naaru. =D

–

My current plan is to do some strats, similar to what I did for Kara. If anyone would like to see these strats, I’d be happy to post some–just tell me what you’d specifically like to see!

Long ping times mean anime and farming!

Vel will be farming a lot more than raiding, I guess. 1400 ping times would not endear me to my raid group. =D (Dorm internet is better than home Internet? What?)

I’ve also decided to get back to watching a bit more anime, and what better time to do so than while Internet has issues anyway? I’m going to start inserting breaks in my posts; join me after this one for a look at both farming and anime. Should be a unique post, eh?

Wintergrasp: benefits for everyone

I’ve found myself in Wintergrasp nearly all the time recently. It’s not because of the world PvP–although that is a nice bonus. Rather, I hang out there for farming. Wintergrasp, whether you control it or not, is a great zone to stock up on Saronite and Titanium — sometimes, it’s actually easier to farm if you don’t control the fortress, as many of the ore spawns (at least on my rotation) are in the southern part of the zone, where the non-controlling faction NPCs hang out.

Not only is Wgrasp a great farming zone, if you control the fortress, your faction gets access to the Archavon the Stone Watcher encounter, a 10/25 man raid that drops T7/S5. I’ve already got the s5 pants, and have seen the T7 gloves drop. (I bought the gloves using badges.) It’s an easy fight, but also fun. Think an easier, less complex version of Magtheridon.

Lastly, of course, is the PvP event. Every 2 1/2 hours (or so; I’m not sure of the exact interval), a fight for control ensues. If you haven’t done this, it’s very fun; destructible buildings are of course a blast, and both attacking and defending are exciting. Blizzard did a decent job of balancing faction population in the zone by using the Tenacity buff, which increases HP, healing, health regen, and damage by a set percentage based on players in the zone. Definitely something to check out even if you’re not into PvP.

I’ve finally made the move to Bartender: it’s more than worth it, especially since my interface is a LOT cleaner. In addition, I’ve bound all my cooldowns to one button; if you don’t have this macro, I recommend it. (Made it myself, although it didn’t take much.)

/cast Combustion               (if specced)
/cast Icy Veins                 (if specced)
/cast Arcane Power                     (if specced)
/use Figurine - Twilight Serpent                 (insert your on-use trinket here)
/cast Mirror Image (last, since it's on the GCD)

Basically, it’ll pop everything simultaneously–a lot easier than pressing 5 buttons. =)

Progress with finals; leveling Enchanting; guild drama and the Cloudy Day Way

Well, it’s Day 2 of Finals week here at the University of Montana, and things are going better than I expected them to. Despite that, things are just starting; Thursday’s the big day, with 3(!) finals on the same day! Not looking forward to that.

Regardless of finals, I still find time to play; I picked up the epic Anveena’s Ring out of heroic Utgarde Keep today, a nice upgrade. Got me the “Superior” achievement too. I’m hoping to raid this weekend, but things could be tough owing to having to stay in a hotel room. We shall see.

Brimbidus, a hunter from CD, won the [Reins of the Blue Proto-Drake] out of H-UP earlier this week in a great run. Go congratulate him! =D

I’ve been working on leveling Enchanting on my alt in my spare time – I’m at 293 currently, and have spent probably 300g or so leveling up from 280. Greater eternal essences (and the greens that disenchant into them) can be expensive! I’m planning to run Strat on Vel in order to get the required mats (the achievement would be nice as well, as I’m closing in on the Classic Dungeonmaster achievement!), but my chanter’s only L36; I won’t be able to get past 310 Enchanting until I level him, and I don’t really want to do that. =P

Recently, a long-time officer in CD, Cendres, left the guild over some differences with our GM, partially due to the way raids were being run. The dispute has since turned into whether we should have daily roll-offs for raid spots, or weekly roll-offs, since we’re only running one instance right now. Here’s what I believe about the whole thing, and also my understanding of what being a Cloudy Dayer really means:

1. HELP YOUR GUILDIES. Don’t leave someone behind just because they’re slightly less geared; rather, help them gear out and start raiding with the team. When we are raiding, make the decisions that are best for the ENTIRE guild. If that means giving up your spot because you’re very well geared already, then so be it. If it means passing on a piece of loot because it’ll be, for example, a HUGE upgrade for another member, whether they be heals, DPS, or tank, then so be it. You should make a point of helping out the GUILD. (Not to say that you’re supposed to pass on everything, and never go raiding, of course!)

1a. GUILDIES FIRST. Yes, Cloudy Day has helped people out by pugging them into raids and offering assistance outside of that; despite this, guildies come first. This became rather important one night in Black Temple where apparently this was miscommunicated–if someone gets pugged into a CD raid, and then is passed over in favor of a Cloudy Dayer the next night, that’s what we do. Cloudy Day members always come first, and that’s simply part of supporting your guildies. (Of course, I’m not saying “only do stuff with guildies” — of COURSE you can do stuff with people outside Cloudy Day!)

2. BE CIVIL. This seems obvious, especially since Cloudy Day was the one guild on our server at the end of BC that was still trying to help out people who weren’t quite raiding T5/T6 yet–despite that, I can name a lot of people from other guilds, that don’t adhere to this idea of civility. This shouldn’t HAVE to be included in the Cloudy Day Way, but what with some of the jerks I’ve seen on our server, I’ve added it to how I interpret what we stand for as a guild.

2a. BE NICE TO YOUR GUILDIES! Cloudy Day is a reputation-based guild; as our guild leader TheNINO put it, ”Every member of CD will be rewarded for dedication to the guild, our goals, and our members. Kindness, Loyalty, and honesty are high ranking virtues in Cloudy Day, and each are rewarded as such. We care about our internal guildie to guildie reputation just as much as our public standing with others.” Back your guildies up, and help them out. Stick with the Cloudy Day ideals no matter what you’re doing. (Back when I was in NI, I saw a guildie get gkicked; I later (after I left NI) found out that the entire reason for the kick was actually a complete lie. This really rubbed me the wrong way.)

I’ve taken these ideas, and tried my best to live up to them both in-game and IRL (although obv. slightly modified IRL.)–and honestly, I think I’ve done a pretty good job.

 

APPENDIX: My post on the Cloudy Day raiding invites system.

“As far as a /roll for a weekly thing…people whose current schedule prevents them from raiding on Fridays, as others have said, would be kinda out of luck as far as raids go. I’m not sure I agree with that.

I realize that the idea of keeping the group together all week is not a greed thing and, rather, is more based on a view of stability – despite that it feels like with that, we’re kinda disregarding some people, and for that reason, I can’t support it.

Either way, people are gonna have problems, and are gonna get rubbed the wrong way. The raiders from Fridays are gonna be frustrated if they don’t get in for Saturday, and the people who can’t make it on Friday, or who lose a single roll, are gonna be frustrated if that means they can’t raid for the week. However, I think that the guild AS A WHOLE will benefit more from new rolls for each day, simply because that lends itself to more loot being spread around, and therefore more viable raiders for the future.

Despite this, weekly rolls MAY be a good option after T8 or T9 patches come out and most of the guild is pretty well geared. But to maximize opportunity for everyone in the guild, in the situation and gear we’re in right now? Daily rolls, please. (Incidentally, even when we do get into later raids, I can see people getting frustrated if they lose rolls for the week, esp. if we go back to Thu-Sun raiding.

This is not to say that those who advocate weekly rolls are wrong; in this case, there are two different schools of thought, and neither one is wholly wrong. I simply agree more with daily rolls.

As Galistul has said, hopefully we get to 25-mans soon so this’ll be much less of a bone of contention!”

A few disjunct thoughts: CURRENT RAID SPEC INCLUDED! (Frostfire Bolt: The wave of the future)

After this post, I will not be posting for at least a week, probably longer. Finals start in 10 hours, and I’m more nervous than I ever have been before in my life.

I respecced 0/53/18 recently – it’s a Frostfire Bolt spec. I was convinced to give FfB a shot, and I must admit I was skeptical, especially when my two theorycraft tools listed crits as hitting for 9k, yet my crits were only hitting 6-7k. Despite this discrepancy, I’ve given it a try in 3 or 4 instances now; I’ve seen a 200dps increase (having another cooldown to pop certainly helps), and I’m expecting +300-400 dps in raids, as FfB currently benefits from a “ghost hit” bug similar to the one that Frostbolt used to have, where it gains double hit % benefit from the Frost talent Elemental Precision. This means my required hit rating is way down from 386; it’s probably closer to 290. Currently I’m about 100 below that, but I’m gearing up very quickly. I only have one piece of gear from my L70 raiding set left to replace – my necklace, and a guildie and I are actually trading crafting stuff – I’m crafting a ring for him while he crafts a necklace, so I’ll actually have fully replaced my L70 set as of tomorrow.

Despite this, I’m at a measly 18.5% fire crit and 1400 spell-damage. I’m not sure why my stats are so low. Even so, my spells seem to be hitting fairly hard, and I’m getting amazing DPS – actually topped the charts on Heigan the Unclean in Naxx (the Dance Dance Revolution boss).

My new build is VERY crit-dependent, and with as low a crit% as I have, I’m a little nervous. I’m hoping things work out well, but we’ll see. As things stand, I take back all the negative stuff I said about FfB.

I picked up the Exalted robes from Kirin Tor today, along with the bracers from H-VH. I’m back in mostly epic gear, something I missed after WOTLK came out.