I too thought WTF?

Second time I confronted Bronjahm in Forge of Souls I heard the music.  (First time I confronted him:  ”Man, I hope I don’t die.  Follow their lead.  What’s that?  Wait, what’s that?  What’s *that.*  Is that dangerous?  What’s that?”)

And I was thinking, 2nd time paying a visit, “What on earth is that playing?  It’s not my music.  It *is* music.  It can’t be in-game.  How on earth am I listening to someone else’s mp3s on their machine?”

And Bronjahm himself is pretty hip.  Oh yeah, “gimme hip.”

This is a fairly different direction taken musically from a lot of the previous content.  By “fairly different” I mean born of different mothers on different planets with entirely different biological make-up.  One being carbon-based, the other being IFG-based.

The music in the Grizzly Hills is some of my favorite in the game, in any game.

But from the mournful Uilleann Pipes of the Grizzly Hills to the Dirty Sax in the Ice Crown Citadel, they’ve gone a long way.  Too long.

It’s a fantasy game.  And, yeah, there’s a lot of in-game references to popular culture.  But they’re here and there and somewhat isolated little gems.  But now, up in ICC, there’s the Godfather of Soul taking you down, to the accompaniment of soul music? … That’s a little too unsubtle for me.

And, please, let there be no truth to the rumors that L85ETC is writing the soundtrack, no matter how appropriate the title may be, for the Cataclysm expansion.  But with Goblins in charge, who knows our direction; trapped behind the Greymane Wall might feel like a blessing.

 

Nerd Rage Revenge?

So, what’s up with the instant-queue tanks bailing on all the runs?

Is it amusing to queue up, get 4 random people suckered into an instance, and immediately quit group and leave the instance?

That’s 15 minutes I can’t requeue for another run.  There’s like 5 tanks, out of 11 million players, in the 70-79 level range.

Or do tanks decide “There’s nothing for me in this instance but stress and more than 15 minutes of work.  I’ll drop group, wait 15 minutes, and instantly have another group in possibly another instance, one with something I want.  If not, I’ll drop group again, wait another 15 minutes, and try again.”

So then we finally do get a tank that sticks around.  Troll Warrior.  We clear the Nexus.  Towards the end there’s some inside conversation going on.  The Resto Shammy says something unkind towards the tank.  Once Kele’s down, the instance is complete, the Mage and the Shammy call her, the tank, a fag and then drop group.  WTF was going on? She’d said nothing the entire run.  Had done a great job holding mobs and we had no deaths.  She deserved that?

Or are we now insulting the folks willing to tank because they have instant queues and the rest of us wait upwards of 30 minutes or more?  And that’s causing them to just bail than deal with it?

I’ve got plate.  Maybe they’ve got alts.

 

I need to read the Patch Notes better.

I was over reading Tobold’s blog and he mentioned mailing his heirlooms cross faction to another character of his.

Now, I did read where that was planned for the future, this mailing of heirlooms across faction lines to yourself, but I didn’t realize it was already available.

See, recently I’ve been working on some faction reps to get access to the BoA Head and Shoulder Enchants.  Arcanum of Torment from Knights of the Ebon Blade, etc.

Now I was thinking I was going to have to level up folks of each faction to the right reputation level, Revered or Exalted in some cases.

Well, according to Tobold, and some Patch Notes somewhere, that’s not the case.  No.

Did the rule for Heirlooms apply to any other Bind on Account item?

My Blood Elf Death Knight got Revered with the Knights of the Ebon Blade and picked up two of the head enchants.  One for himself, one for my Orc Warrior.  Before applying it to his own equipment my Orc Warrior mailed it to my Human Paladin instead.  Mail delivered, enchant applied.

Zounds!

Because I have access to a BoA with one character, all characters regardless of faction can have it now.

It also means my Draenei Warrior will be dual wielding Arcanite Reapers.  (I’d wanted to do that anyway.  And seals are easy enough to get and I’ve got four Crusaders so why not?)

I have *GOT* to read Patch Notes better!

Less time farming reputation and seals, more time Pugging and leveling.

Joy.

 

Happy New Years Folks!

The first of the years fireworks from Sydney, Australia.

 

Merry Christmas to you

As we gather with friends and family, making our homes warm with cheer, the smells of cooking, and wasail simmering on the stove top, let us remember the reason for the season, the birth of Jesus.

Merry Christmas everyone.

And I hope to see you in the morning at Greatfather Winter’s Tree, in Orgrimmar *and* Ironforge, checking out what gifts we get this year.  (I’m hoping for a Green Protodrake for Droonda and the Reins of Anzu for Greenclaw.)

 

LFG Tool is AOK.

I’ve been having some pretty great success with the LFG Tool.

Yes, it’s with my level 74 DK, but the tanks I’ve been grouped with, each and every one a Paladin, has done very well, and the healers have let very few die, and the DPS isn’t incompetent from what I can tell.

So far, in the mid-70′s range, I’ve been to Gundrak, Drak’Tharan Keep, Utgard Keep, Nexus, Ankahet, and Azjol-Nerub.  I’ve gotten a spiffy sword, bracers, and a chest piece I can’t wear for 2 more levels.  And a few enchanting mats that’ll find a good use.

All in all, this LFG Tool has worked amazingly well and fits an obvious niche in the gaming experience.  This has got Warhammer’s Public Quests beat like old batter.

P.S. Let me apologize for my spam filter.  I didn’t realize how many “non-spam” comments it would be catching.  I will keep better tabs on comments that might be pending that aren’t spam and release them.

 

LFG? More like LFW.

The new Looking for Group tool is working out more like Looking for Waldo, and being color blind.

I was very excited to finally have pugging instances be friendly, and have a LOT more people involved.  I mean, this is cross-server, and there’s, like, 110 million players.  (Okay, 4-8 million in North America where I play.)  That’s a LOT of potential party members.

Let’s ride!

Level 72 DK DPS looking to do any random dungeon.  Sign me up.

…

Yep, I’m ready.

…

…

Let’s go.  I’m here.  Ready.

…

:/  Hmm, how the group assembling?  Lessee.  Me.  No Tank.  No Healer.  No other DPS.  10 minute average wait.

15 minute average wait.

19 minute average wait.

Um.  Any freaking body needing to go to Utgard Keep, or Nexus, or any freaking anything?

…

I’m there.  LFG.

 

3.3 Thoughts

Lag, lot’s of it, once I managed to get on.  It seemed to go away after a few hours.  The ZOMG NEW CONTENT rush off to Icecrown must have fixed that.

Titanium, and lots of it.  Via Alchemy, of course.  No more Titantium Transmute cooldown.  I’ve seen it where I collect 200+ Saronite Ore just trying get 6 Titanium Ores to have the 3 bars to make the 1 Titansteel Bar.  Now I simply need to collect 24 bars of Saronite (or 48 ore) to create the 3 Titanium bars.  That’s about 1/3 to 1/4 the Ore Mining required to get a Titansteel bar produced.  Sweet.  Maybe I’ll craft two more Titansteel Destroyers for our Deathknights.  (I’ve already 8 Titansteel bars created, and just need another 8.  It’s kind of trivial to make at this point.)

Glyph of Eternal Water.  The thing I was looking forward to most in 3.3 was getting the Glyph of Eternal Water for my wife’s Mage.  Now she’s got a permanent Water Elemental pet.

Battleground XP.  It exists, and has gotten a boost.  My level 72 Deathknight was getting about 12-13k experience for a Balinda kill.  That’s way up from previously.  In 2-3 AV’s and a WSG I made 10% of a level.  Not terrible.  (This will let me level up and save the quests to do with my wife.) 

To those who think “72 in AV?  You’re a waste of a slot.” I say “au contraire.”  My role in Alterac Valley is to harrass enemy players.  I keep them from stealthing to the bunker flag with a death & decay circle that I maintain.  I’ve never seen a stealther attempt it, so I think it works.  And the cooldown = the duration, so that helps too.  And then there’s the “Hey, where are you going?  Come, meet my friends.” move.  I make a point of bringing in stragglers to where my side can effectively destroy them with the least amount of effort.  “Here, have another Shaman.”  Folks already ride past me, assess my level, think they’ve got an easy kill, dismount and come at me.  I position myself to snag them and bring them into a group, and they’re undoubtedly thinking “Oh, look.  Free lunch!”

Now it was in Warsong Gulch where this worked real fine.  Death and Decay is a great support for the flag carrier.  I’ll drop it ahead of the runner.  If someone gets past me I’ve got chains of ice, and a deathgrip, to pull them back.  My first time in WSG (I went since it was the daily, earning me gold, xp, honor, and arena points (woohoo!)) we managed a perfect game.  And I was 3rd or 4th in Killing Blows.  “Mind the Death Knights, they bite.

I was thinking the Argent Crusade and the Tournament would be all into the Ice Crown assault thing.  No.  The tournament remains unchanged.  No new “Make Arthas’ life suck” dailies or anything like that.

I did pick up a quest.  Go see Lady Sylvanas in the Forge of Souls.  Isn’t that a dungeon?  The quest doesn’t say so.  It’s not a group quest.  Uh.  Okay.  So I go, I figure I’ll stick my head inside, find the Lady, and turn in the quest.  Oh no, no can do.  Forge of Souls is an instance.  An instance, you guessed it, that can’t be found.

Anyway, that’s my first night with 3.3.  8 thoughts, so 4.7 apologies.

 

PvP’s been beddy beddy good to me

To us, actually, the wife and me.

Tally tells the tale: Msaker’s wearing 4 pieces of Deadly Gladiator’s and 2 Wintergrasp pieces.  Honorus is wearing 4 pieces of Deadly and 3 Wintergrasp pieces.  Greenclaw is wearing 3 pieces of Deadly and 1 Wintergrasp piece.  Arcarius is joining the fray and is wearing 1 piece of Deadly.  The lovely wife’s Droonda is wearing 3 pieces of Deadly and 1 Wintergrasp piece.  (If Horde ever manage a win, ever, she can visit the vendor and pick up her 2nd Wintergrasp piece.  Horde, however, never win.)

And given Horde never, ever, win in Wintergrasp (not until Tenacity is 100 and Blizzard ports all Alliance out of Wintergrasp and dumps them in Swamp of Sorrow to lessen defense of the fortress) it’s kind of a free-for-all easy place to earn a little honor, earn a few shards, and some marks, and the wife and I are going take advantage and gear our Alliance toons up a bit before the next expansion.

I mean, I thought crafted was as good as it gets for the casual.  Heck no.  Crafting at the iLevel 200 level was a waste (except for the weapons).  In an initial set of iLevel 187 crafted gear available at level 78 (i.e. Savage Saronite, Overcast, Eviscerator’s, etc.) you’ll be able to acquire a lot of the  iLevel 213 set before you reach 80 just pvping I’m sure.  Those crafted epics just aren’t worth the effort.  (As it turns out.)  Tournament (or other dailies) for the cash.  PvP for the gear.

One thing though:  There are no weapons available in PvP unless you accumulate Arena Points.  (And if there’s stuff available for badges, why? since if you’ve got badges you can have your instance weapons.)  So a Blacksmith who can provide spellpower maces and daggers, and bonecrushing maces one- and two-handed, is required.  Well, that’s not entirely true either.  You can acquire weapons nearly the equivalent of the Titansteel ones at the Tournament.  25 Seals gets you weapons that compare.

I’ve been doing this prior to every expansion.  At the tail end of the current expansion’s content, basically leveled to the end-level, and not raiding, I PvP.  Msaker had the full set of Level 60 PvP gear.  He had a few pieces of the Level 70 gear.  He’s fairly close to have another full set of the Level 80 gear.  (That’s to say “Full set for this casual player.”)  And I’m going to say this gear accrual has never been easier.  If you’re Horde on Kirin Tor, come to Wintergrasp.  Do it now.  If you’re Alliance on Kirin Tor… “Ooh, look.  Ice Crown.  Shinies.  Go there.  Wintergrasp will be fine.  Honest.”

 

Account bound

I’ve noticed something recently.  The pets they’re giving us are account bound.  Mr. Chilly, Onyxian Whelpling, the Polar Bear Cub.

I’ve been learning the pets and then just deleting them out of my bag.  Some pets you learn and they disappear from your inventory.  I was annoyed that some didn’t disappear and you had to manually delete them from your bags.

But wait.  That may have been an “Account Bound” item.  (Worse, it may have become an Account Bound item some recent patch.  I don’t pay that much attention to the finest of minutiae perhaps.)  You can send your Account Bound items to your Goblin Warlock next year.  If you managed to store it away in some characters bank account.  They’re like Heirlooms, but don’t have the tan item “quality”.

Anyone already delete all their Account Bound items in interest of saving bag space?

Sheepish /raise.

R.I.P. Baby Blizzard Bear.  Sorry for sending you into Oblivion with the latest alt’s deletion.