Wednesday, June 27, 2007

A PVP Gem of a Match.

I have to make this post as an addendum to my rant against the arenas.

It surrounds my statement of never having fun in WSG except with guildies. I now have to take that back. Last Friday I was feeling up to a little pvp. I didn’t have a lot of time or more truthfully didn’t wanna be at it all night. So I picked a WSG BG for a quick match. They usually run anywhere from 9 to 25 minutes. The longer the match the more likely it’s a horde pre-made farmin kills.

I played 1 WSG……for an HOUR AND TEN MINUTES!

I will say bar none that was the best match of any of the PVP BGs I have been a part of. This includes all WSG, AB, AV, and EOS. I love AV, still do, but I never had this much fun there. Both sides seem to be matched almost perfectly, even with people afkin out or just plain leavin. There was never at any time an imbalance that led to an easy victory.

It was a close match through out the entire hour and change play time. I didn’t see any uber weapons of death, I saw stuff from quests and drops from normal dungeons. Tactics were used on both sides and both sides seemed to be communicating with their teams the way its supposed to be. Occasionally after a stalemate we would meet in the middle and just wail on each other till enough were dead for one side to make a grab for the flag. I did not top the damage done or kills made, but damn I got 60 kills and 48 killing blows.

I was the bane of one poor hunter that seemed to think he could solo 2 level 70 rogues working together. He was wrong. While he would be occupied by one of us, the other would sneak around, disarm his freezing trap, and the stun locking would commence. Also a level 70 warrior got rolled several times by yours truly. He seemed to think cuz he could limit my run speed that it would help him…..cept I was using crippling and mind numbing poisons this time. Yeah, no getting to charge range for you baby.

I also finally got back into using gouge, haven’t used it much for a long time…never really needed it. It helps a lot in PVP though. If I feel I need more CC I’ll see about incorporating Blind back into my action bar, never used that much either. We will see. As the match progressed it seemed more likely that it would last awhile longer. I kept seeing a few people afk out yet, another would replace and get right into the action.

At about 1 hour 5 minutes we took each other’s flags, theres made it out with some heavy help from their side…ours got smooshed midfield. We ended up losing the match, I didn’t care I had a BLAST!

I didn’t go into any other BGs that night. Hell I haven’t doen any PVP since that match. I’m sure I’ll get back in there, I need 10 more marks before im through with WSG. Then comes the real nasty AB for token. Meh. EOS will be a nice change after ward. Then AV for honor.

If all WSGs were like that, more people would play them for fun….instead of marks.

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

I have the wings to prove it.

Might as well spill the beans.

Last night I achieved a mile stone in my WOW playing. I hit 5000 gold. With a little questing before heading to Shadowmoon I had pushed that to 5025 gold. A quick money transfer form the wife’s account an I have enough cashe to buy my EPIC TRAINING & FLYER.

I opted, after careful consideration and advice from the wife, to go with the blue griffon. This thing hauls 10 kinds of ass. Now I can fly anywhere in style and speed. Rockin baby!!! After I took a spin around the world to stretch out my new ride, I looked up the opening quest giver for the Netherdrake quest lines. After about 10 minutes I finally find him and begin the journey. I killed the rock flayers for their goblets and carcasses. Props to blizzard for making a collection quest actually fun and quick. I had 8 whole carcasses in about 15 minutes as I learned the fights with the flayers. I fed the drakes which seemed very appreciative. I went on to killing some dragonmaws, which was cake being the uber rogue I am. After collecting the crystals I was told to free some drakes. Now this one was a cool quest. You fire this sparkly thing at the drakes in the dragonmaw’s camp, they snap out of their funk and attack the nearest dragonmaw. You have to help them kill the orc guarding them and then they go free. Again props to blizzard they could have made this part a drag ass kill quest. Instead you only have to kill maybe 5 orcs to free the 5 drakes, more if one wanders too close and aggros the drake. I did all these quests in under an hour, mainly cuz I kept having this urge to buzz the wandering mobs with my uber fast griffon.

I got all the way to the quest to free the dragon-in-the-sky’s wife. I had to end the night at that point as there was no one around for helping. Maybe tonight or this weekend I can advance to where you open up the daily quests. Those seem to be cake as well. I didn’t see too many people around doing them, maybe the 5000 gold threshold is keeping them away or at least down to a trickle. I might have to enlist my guildies for the group quests.

I took a screen shot when I hit the big 5k mark. I may never get there again anytime soon. I have been grinding out the cash and scrimpin for almost….hell I don’t know, awhile at least. Some weeks I pulled in 800g while others it was a measly 50. I did it even though it took 2 characters. I have been funneling netherweave and nettherweb silk to my wife’s character. Not to mention all the DE’d equipment turned into arcane dusts and planar essences. All this in order to level her tailoring high enough to make the Imbued Netherweave Bags. Since I did all the farming for the mats we were able to under cut anyone and get our bags sold. Though this route we have made a good 500g on hers and that’s just half assed. Theres no telling how much we could make if we could put more then 5 bags up per week.

But that will wait at least a week. I’m done on the farmin for now. I will concentrate on some quests to build up a bit of cash. Also see about completing the Netherstorm quests I still have. I don’t want to start on the Shadowmoon quests, excluding the Netherdrake stuff, until the other areas are done with. I still see a lot of yellow exclamation marks in Shadow moon so I know money will still come easy. I didn’t want to reach a point where I couldn’t bang out a quest and get some cash. Though now with the daily quests that’s prolly not an issue. Still it will be nice to get back to knocking out quests primarily for the questing and not money makin.


I finally got my third key fragment, now I just need to get into Durnhold then Black Morass. After them it’s on to Kara.

Friday, June 22, 2007

Me an PVP....not so much.

I wonder if I can squeeze out a post with just random things about my time in game with out a theme of sorts. Here goes.

I have been playing Gnome Mindkiller heavily. I really want to get the need amount of money to get and train an epic flyng mount. I have been scrimping and saving all I can. I have been doing the daily quests religiously for the skettis, and if I could get a group for the last in the series of 5-mans for the ogres I would crank out their dailies too. I don’t want anything from either of these faction so its all about the money. I don’t even care if I get to kill the large beasties you need for one item drops for their faction. You can have that shit. I do want to try out the bombing quests for the ogres, the idea of being shot at by AA guns would be cool. After I get me an epic flyer it would prolly be cake, not sure though yet.

I spent the better part of the last week mining and just plain screwing around. I got an invite from a former guildie to check out the arena. We made a team with just us and tried it out last night. I will say it here now: 1 on 1 pvp and I do not like each other. I suck big time. I’m ok when there are a few more team mates around to help me out, but solo or 2 v 2, nope no dice. I’m not specced for it is a nice excuse but I just don’t have the skills for pvp. I have never used blinding powder, I rarely use gouge, and its hit and miss with stun locking people. Some of it can be attributed to lag but not enough that I can use it as a crutch. I liked the arenas for the scenery even though I barley got a look before I got smeared, they had a nice look about them, but not near enough to get me to go back. I have read about all the little details for each arena where you can do this or do that to help you and screw your opponent. Yeah, I never got a chance to even think about that crap when I’m fighting to stay alive long enough to actually hit my opponent.

The “matches” went pretty quickly. None lasting more then 30 seconds I would say. We got rolled. I was usually the last on our side standing…only because they seemed it think he was the greater threat and Focues Fire on him……yeah I’m not even insulted cuz its more then true. We got owned first by a lock/pally, then a rogue/priest then a hunter/shaman. After the first battle I knew I was not long for the arenas. After one fight I had done maybe 2k damage. That’s shit compared to any classes health at level 70specially any PVPrs. At the same time I was getting 4-5 shotted by a rogue wearing t4s. Yeah the matching system blows. I have one piece of D3, the rest aren’t even close to that level. If it was by rating…fuck it I don’t care. Just another aspect of this game I will fail to see to any degree. My team mate decided 3 losses was enough for the night. I agreed and added that I thought 3 losses in a row basicly told me I was not cut out for the arenas. He explained that after awhile we could get better gear and get better. Yeah nice wish. I am not into self flagellation, I need advancement even if its just the accumulation of virtual wealth. Getting butt raped by PVPrs is not my idea of a fun time. Why would I pay to play a an aspect of a game that rewards the narrow minded pursuit of making a fight so one-sided that the opponent has no room what so ever squeeze out a surprise victory. There was no point in the three battles that I had and thought that we could win. Not because I knew I sucked at PVP either. It was because I knew what classes are most often in the matches and what builds they prolly are and what combos are pretty much an ass kicking waiting to happen. I know I can take out a……shit I can’t take out anything since I suck so bad. That’s what pisses me off: I can’t seem to translate my ease with PVE into any thing resembling an decent showing in a PVP setting. (I told him I wasn’t gonna take this shit for weeks on end to build up enough point for piece of gear that wont increase my chance of beating the next opponents enough time to get more points for the purchase of more equipment. Naw I got some repeat/daily quests already thank you, I’ll stick with those. At least I will get gold and items from that and a better chance at weapons and armor after gaining rep with those quests,)I have even thought of respeccing and learning a new build as an alternative. I don’t think it will work though. Any spec of any class I will encounter in PVP will be catered to PVP and as such I am screwed. I hate dying, I hate it even more when it is some asshole on the other side who just 2 shotted me with a nice “Kill-Rogue” macro. I know how to use my rogue to stun lock casters in PVE but that wont work for human target since they have all kinds of nifty gadgets an then there is the twitch factor that is disastrous to the mediocre PVPr that I am. I told my guild that the next time I even consider doin arena I will quit WOW. I’m pretty sure it would happen to. I have never gotten that mad at this game since….hell never really. I quit the arena team after 3 battles and losing 40pts in standing. Fuck you arenas!

So I go to get my “free epics” from the BGs instead. At least there I can get in a few actual kills. I had assumed I would never go back here again, yet I did the crawl once to get my dagger and Knight rank so it seems to me better investment then the arenas. Plus I’m not going to be forced to play “X” amount of battles to ensure I get points.

I had farmed up a ton of marks from the different BGs pre-BC. I ended up trashing them after since they had not released the lvl 70 BG stuff yet, or if they had I didn’t see them. I plan on working toward the 3 non set epics from the BGs the honor is within reason and the marks are just a matter of showing up and getting the required amount.

I need approximately 35000 Honor Points and
40 marks from EOS
40 marks from AB
20 marks form WSG

These will get me the bracers gloves and boot. Or is it bracers, boots, belt? Crap who cares? It will be 3 non set epics that are damn nice and better then I could hope for since I have only one Heroic Key and have yet to finish the Kara Attunement crap. (I remember when I first saw the attunments for the BC, I was floored, now it don’t seem all that bad even with all the dungeon time needed. The Heroic keys are a walk in the park if you have a decent group to run theose needed lvl70 instance for rep. 1000+ per most of the time is not bad. Though I’m still behind on that too.)

I digress, I zoned into a WSG last night to get another mark toward my goal of 20, I have 8 now btw, all from losses. I look at the horde side and see……10 players from the same server…..same freaking guild, and all obviously on vent. Not that it mattered since most of the alliance afked out right at the start. How bad was it? Let’s see I did almost 3000 damage total in 10 minutes. The only reason it lasted 10 was they horde were there to farm HKs. They took the flag and capped it 2 times, then grabbed the flag and held it while massacring the alliance in the center of the BG. Just like lambs we all went there and waited to be killed. I do not understand how they can be consistently more coordinated in WSG and AB time after time. If I could figure it out I could at least find a way to beat them.

The only fun I have ever had in WSG is when 5 guildies joined me there and we just stood at the ally’s tunnel and killed anything that came near. We got 45+ kills in one match. We lost but we got the kills so we could give a shit. It looks like I will spend another 12 matches there unless we pull off a miracle. I am not looking forward to the 40 ABs, those matches cam go one for ever. I like the 5 minute Abs where the pre-made take all 5 nodes and the resources just skyrocket. Three and a half hours of five minute Abs would get me all the tokens needed.

I know I will like the EOS BG. I have been there a few times and it seems ok with several things goin on so you can just DO something at least, not like AV where there is a ton of shit to do. I think AV is much more fun then any of the others. Not because the ally’s win these more then the others but because there are actual points where team work just falls into place with out any one needing to try an wrangle everyone into the right path. A few times yeah it all falls apart but for time/reward my moneys on AV all the way. If you don’t want to fight you can farm shit there for rep with out screwing around with anyone.

Not that I need AV rep anymore. Exalted had some nice rewards….now? Not a fucking thing. I still have my lobotomizer. I just can’t seem to get rid of it. I can sell it or shard it so the only way to get rid of it is to destroy it. I’m not sure I can just toss a dagger that took me that long to grind for, money and rep wise. So in my bank it stays, along with my PVP trinket and AV trinket that I never use anymore. I prolly will use the AV one when I go back the to farm honor. Since I wont have to care about wining or loosing AV it will be a nice fun time where I can contribute my damage to a kill at certain choke points and most time get some bonus honor just for showing up. If I manage to get my ass into Kara or some Heroics and get some drop that will negate the awesomeness of the PVP stuff, then I will have to reprioritize my plans. Yet as soon as I have 20 tokens I will prolly have enough honor for my first piece of PVP gear: The bracers.
Wow for random thoughts I created a monster post. Here you got Gitr, chew on this for an update

Thursday, June 07, 2007

I grew as a person because of games.

This is a response to a friend’s statement of growth as a person. It became too long to put into a comment so I decided to make a post that is very non-WOW related.

Responding to Peterson:
Glad to see someone evacuated the cylinder of plant matter out of your posterior extricator.

Growing as a person is something I can understand. I was a wall holder for most of my high school years. I had many friends that knew me as a quiet yet imposing figure. Many stories were made up about my 'legendary' anger that had no basis in reality. The stories kept me out of trouble since no one wished to challenge the voracity of those claims. I kept that image in line by being fiercely loyal to my friends and defending them when needed.

I still had this aura around me even after I graduated. Kind of a suppressed violence about me. I had always felt I was alone and would stay that way forever. I looked at people as rivals for living. Not that I attacked or did anything really. Yet I didn't let anyone come close either. I created a bubble around me that was a deterrent to others. I was always polite but not overly so. I never allowed the slightest interest in anything other then a passing familiarity to show to people I interacted with.

I can remember the exact time and place when I realized that it was time to slough off that mode of existing without living. Course the realization was after the implementation. Sometimes my body runs ahead of my mind. Turns out this time it worked for the better.

It was 1999, prolly around March or so, at a Denny’s near where I still live. I walked into the place like I had for the few months at pretty late hour. I had quit a security job yet had some funds still available. There were these to guys there, twins yet very different personalities. They were having a discussion about a video game, a game which I was very familiar with and loved a great deal. I wanted to join the conversation, yet the old high school clique mode of interacting kept me from saying anything. They were gamers, but at the time I had not thought of my self as a gamer and that we are a community. Sure I played but I was a solo by geography and not choice. I kept my mouth shut listening to them discuss a game I felt in my blood was the greatest game ever, that is until I heard them giving false info out to some one who would not know it was false. After I heard the one say it, I was compelled by some force to correct them, these strangers that knew no what they dood. (Did. Yeah, but dood sounded better.) I corrected them and they paused, for a second I thought they would disregard my statement and dismiss me from a discussion I had no place in. Instead there passed a moment of synergy, a pulse of like to like, they recognized that which was there that I had not seen.

I was a Gamer.

Introductions were made, food was ordered, and a relationship with these 2 amazing people began. I was welcomed into their inner circle of friends and gained new ones as our friendship grew. We became a normal fixture at that Denny’s so much so that people when looking for us would look there first. People would arrive to catch a few words then leave just as the next group would arrive. Looking back I see that I had been allowed into their ‘court’. First I was just a visitor; soon however I was one of the few, the diehards that stayed there well past the midnight hours and sometimes deep into the next morning. For over 1 year I spent most of my waking time when not working or sleeping (and sometimes sleeping there to) at that Denny’s. As the months passed I became more of the person I am today. Perhaps it was the variety of people I was exposed to or the camaraderie I felt with these 2 men. My self worth grew in tandem with my confidence. I met intellectuals, Goths, college students, aspiring actors, and workers. We were there when the place had to shut down do to lack of food because of a screw up with the ordering. We helped clean the place before a very important inspection that would determine the longevity of the restaurant. I helped people by being there. Me. Some how I became a something other then a person not wanting to be around other people. I became a human with all the emotional baggage that goes with it. I would not change that for anything. Because of that single piece of misinformation about a video game I was opened up to the world. Confidence, in my right to say and have opinions that I would have kept to myself in school, became a permanent fixture in who I am. I also gave up placation. I stopped telling people what they wanted to hear and told them what I wanted to say. People listened to me. Very weird.

It comes as no surprise to me now that I met my wife at that Denny’s. No she wasn’t working there, though she had in the past. In fact she had quit or got fired from there only a few months before I started going there at night. Might have turned out differently if she had still worked there…perhaps.

I look at the person I am today and I see the steps I took to get here. I made mistakes, most often with money, but there were times when the relationships I wished I had nurtured were let whither due to callousness or distance. Most often distance lead to the dissolution of a friendship. I recently took the time to find 2 friends I was very close to in high school. Perhaps it was my love of RPGs that always lead me back to searching for them. Side quests for the win.

I have attempted to track them down a few times in the past 10 years with little success. After my newest child was born I had a week off to help the wife. I spent nap times on the computer digging through the muck of the intertubes. It took me 2 days of search engines and white pages. I found one of them through his mom and dad. The other I found through Myspace. Yeah I have one, doesn’t get much love but its there. I speak with one a few times a week through IM and the other through emails. One has had a rough time of it yet is thriving, while the other seems to have given up on life. I wish they didn’t live so damn far away. I’m a guy who even in my introverted high school days knew the power of a hug. I spread that to my friends then and still do to this day.

Finding these guys makes me realize how much has happened to me since I received that piece of paper telling me I’m done with being a kid. Although I held on to being one for a few more years. Through all this time one thing has let me into more circles, video game. I look back and still see the kid I was. High school kid, yeah not a young adult. Nothing about me in those last few years was adult, except maybe the drive to make up for the mistakes I made academically. I was 16 years old for at least 5 years. That 16 year old is still here. He is more verbose and eloquent when it comes to expressing his feelings and even expresses those feelings. He stands up for what he believes. Still plays way too many video games. (Not really, GAMER FOR LIFE!) Games are a part of who I am and helped shape me into the well adjusted dashing man meat that I am. Without the knowledge of a certain game who knows how long I would have maitained the distance, placed by me, between me and other humans.
I’m not really sure how to end this strange piece of verbage, or if it is really a response to what Peterson wrote. I can not bring myself to hit the delete button. So now I end it without having any idea as to how to end it. Perhaps a critique of my self to show there is still room for improvement:

I do not take criticism well. No joke there and no remorse. Don’t be hating. I’m always right and righteous. That’s just how I roll.

Monday, June 04, 2007

Busy week, gold grows when tended.

I started to play my Gnome some more since I can't really play with the wife all that much on Velen. I finally started the Kara chain. I now need the first Fragment, course it seems to be the hardest to acquire. A few more runs and I will be revered with CE and can start to run that Heroic there. Looking to get me a primal nether for my Epic Goggles of DOOM! I cleared out a whole lot of quests and started in on the Netherstorm quests as well. I have made over 300g just from quests and a few instances. I'm only half way done with the quests in Netherstorm. I still have yet to go to Shadowmoon and start the quests there. Plus all the instance quests I have neglected are waiting for completion. There are a few scattered quests in Nagrand, Terrokar and Blade’s Edge that I have not touched yet. With the new daily quests it won’t be hard to get a constant income of cash. I tried out the Skyguard quests and started the Ogre’s chain but dropped them to go and run with the wife for an hour or so. With all the quests now available to me I don’t see me having trouble getting to 5k gold. Might be able to afford to start the Netherdrake quest chains for the mount. I want one o them. I just have to pick the right times to tackle the tight quests so I can have support.

Last weekend I spent 4 hours farming netherweave cloth for my wife’s character. I shot for and got 16 stacks of 20 plus several green items and a mess of Marks of Kejadeen or what ever. Also picked all kinds of pockets and made 40g just from drops and pockets. Landed 4 stacks of Super Healing potions for use in making a Healing potion Injector. I had to return to sell and repair about the same time as getting all the cloth and running out of space. After transferring all that cloth and the Arcane Dust from the green items Snow started to make all the Imbued Netherweave bags she could. Turned out we had enough mats for 3 bags. She made them and posted them for a price I recommended. All three sold in less then 2 hours. 30g a pop. I’m leaving the gold she makes form my farming on Snow. If I can gather enough cloth to keep making the bags I can make enough money from quests and bag making to afford Mindkiller the epic flyer training and buy Snow an epic ground mount.


I checked Joly last night since I haven’t played him in 9 days. I forgot I had put some bags up n the AH. They had all sold. Walked away with 14g in me bags. Bag making is defiantly lucrative in any server population. Only downside is getting to where you can make them and farm/buy the mats cheap. Meh, still worth it.