So, I have a 5 and a 7 year old. We happen to listen to a ton of Jack Johnson. I'm not sure if that's his target market, by my kids love him. Anyway, they heard Upside Down from the Curious George movie (which was horrible (except for Will Ferrell as the Man in the Yellow Hat)). I had the toon in my head as I sat down today. So mage - here ya' go:
What's a mage?
A glass cannon
Of the arcane.
A vending machine;
Biscuits they create.
They have frost and fire abilities,
But in vanilla WoW they sheeped some things.
Here in Wrath it's a different game:
Frost is useless 'cept in PVP,
DPS-ers use the arcane tree.
I want to change the way that mages pwn
I spec myself into Chilled to the Bone
So Winter's Chill crits all my AoE
Water Elemental does DPS for me
I think my damage is here to stay
Who's to say
Frost spec sucks, but
well, I can try
And as I grind mobs down, I begin to find
They die quickly and easily
I want to change the way that mages pwn
I spec myself into Chilled to the Bone
So Winter's Chill crits all my AoE
Water Elemental does DPS for me
The crits keep comin' and with plenty of haste
well damage keeps comin comin up and up and
Mages pwn
Every way we spec we grind mobs to the ground
I think my damage is here to stay
Please be here to stay
Please be here to stay
Please be here to stay
Until Blizzard decides to nerf me
Until Blizzard decides to nerf me
I don't play my lowbie mage very often - in fact it isn't even on my main server. Perhaps in Catacylsm I will roll one. I do think mages have suffered huge changes over the years. It's not a bad thing, all the classes have changed, and min/max specs have changed. I still love to see lower geared mages who know their class out dmg higher geared ones that don't. Mages are probably my favorite example of this. So - mages - whatever your spec: CHEERS!
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Monday, January 11, 2010
Learning Curve
So we have had 2 days (one full day, and one day with only a token pull) fighting Saurfang. We have issues with our raid composition, specifically, our two best healers are Druid and Shaman (and the fight works better with Disc and Pallie). Anyway, we spent 2 hours pulling him yesterday. And although it is frustrating to run into a slight wall (more of a speed bump, really), I felt pretty good about our progression. Everybody is learning their role in the fight, and I feel pretty confident that without any changes we will down him soon.
That is the great thing about my 10-man. I really feel that everybody is ok with a night of wipes while learning a new boss. In 25s, I never feel that way. If we aren't passing out loot, we are failing in 25s, it seems. In the 10-man, everybody was learning from the wipes and we were progressing even without downing him. I don't think we will have the same positive attitude if we had 4 weeks of wipes, but a few nights of learning is totally acceptable. We had very few bad pulls. I would love to see us reset quicker after a wipe. I would love to see errors NEVER repeated. Still . . . it feels good. I know we are at the very right level of content. This is where our team SHOULD hit the speed bump. A few more weeks of farming Frost, a few more weeks of passing out loot from the first 3 bosses . . . then Saurfang, and Fester, Rot, etc are all within reach.
By the way, I'm writing from work, so no song parody today. Sorry kids.
That is the great thing about my 10-man. I really feel that everybody is ok with a night of wipes while learning a new boss. In 25s, I never feel that way. If we aren't passing out loot, we are failing in 25s, it seems. In the 10-man, everybody was learning from the wipes and we were progressing even without downing him. I don't think we will have the same positive attitude if we had 4 weeks of wipes, but a few nights of learning is totally acceptable. We had very few bad pulls. I would love to see us reset quicker after a wipe. I would love to see errors NEVER repeated. Still . . . it feels good. I know we are at the very right level of content. This is where our team SHOULD hit the speed bump. A few more weeks of farming Frost, a few more weeks of passing out loot from the first 3 bosses . . . then Saurfang, and Fester, Rot, etc are all within reach.
By the way, I'm writing from work, so no song parody today. Sorry kids.
Friday, January 8, 2010
One of these zones is doing its own thing
So - all of the zones in Northrend are pretty distinct. When you are in any given zone, the graphics and mobs let you know where you are. It's awesome. Most of the zones in Northrend are either tundra or alpine forest, or, y'know. . . semi-tropical jungle. Errr. Huh? Well, now that we are in RL mid-winter, a little tropical paradise sounds like a really nice thing. When I think tropical paradise I think . . . Jimmy Buffet.
Sholazar Basin
Those aren't the murlocs
They're really called gorlocs
They give you an egg that may spawn a mount
Warm by the Titans
Wolvar's you're fightin
Oracle rep is so easy to count
Grindin away again in Sholazar Basin
Almost through the level grind
Some people say that lore is way too lame
But I love. . . all the story I find
Just one verse for today. I have loads of RL stuff to do, and the weather is adding about an hour to my day, so that hour either means that I slack off on this blog a little, or I don't do my daily heroics.
Still, writing about Sholazar makes me think about all the non-instance stuff that is in the game. 90% of my gameplay is in dungeons and raids. I know there are a lot of people for whom that is true. When that gets old, I will pick up a lower level alt and move that toon up for a few days. However, even when I am doing that I tend to think 'wow, when this guy is 80, this is going to be a fun class to tank with . . . '. I tend to ignore my cooking and JC dailies, my alchemy transmutes, farming for gold on my DK, all that stuff. It's more these days since lfg is so good. I am LIVING in the new dungeons. I wonder what would have to be in the game to get me to want to spend more time outside of instances?
Sholazar Basin
Those aren't the murlocs
They're really called gorlocs
They give you an egg that may spawn a mount
Warm by the Titans
Wolvar's you're fightin
Oracle rep is so easy to count
Grindin away again in Sholazar Basin
Almost through the level grind
Some people say that lore is way too lame
But I love. . . all the story I find
Just one verse for today. I have loads of RL stuff to do, and the weather is adding about an hour to my day, so that hour either means that I slack off on this blog a little, or I don't do my daily heroics.
Still, writing about Sholazar makes me think about all the non-instance stuff that is in the game. 90% of my gameplay is in dungeons and raids. I know there are a lot of people for whom that is true. When that gets old, I will pick up a lower level alt and move that toon up for a few days. However, even when I am doing that I tend to think 'wow, when this guy is 80, this is going to be a fun class to tank with . . . '. I tend to ignore my cooking and JC dailies, my alchemy transmutes, farming for gold on my DK, all that stuff. It's more these days since lfg is so good. I am LIVING in the new dungeons. I wonder what would have to be in the game to get me to want to spend more time outside of instances?
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Icecrown boss rollouts
It was bound to happen at some time, please, forgive me.
Ice, Ice Baby - Vanilla Ice:
Ice Ice Icecrown, Arthas in Ice Ice Icecrown
All right stop, Get a raid and listen
Ice's here with some lore from a Lich King
Mar'gar, puts me on a bone spike
I get a cold flame, and its good night
Will it ever stop? No, that's bone storm
Stop your dps, reset aggro
Back to the boss the tanks are picking up threat now
Get out the fire, yo dps - hit your cooldowns
Death, her Fanatics 'round the room
I'm killing her shield making her go OOM
Deadly, when they get a buff from her
Mages and druids gettin rid of Curse of Turpor
Green all around, better get away
Whisper's Aoe, it'll end your raid
If there was a problem, Yo, its phase one
Just get to phase two, and you'll be done
Ice Ice Icecrown, Arthas in Ice Ice Icecrown
Ice Ice Icecrown, Arthas in Ice Ice Icecrown, Arthas
Now that the bosses are dyin
With a raid locked in and the loot is flyin
Quick to the portal, to rampart you'll take her
Clear up the trash to Orgrim's Hammer
Burnin' 'em, heat up your cannon
The mage cools 'em, then you're tankin
Adds on your boat, boss on the other one
Burn the mage down, come back and get some
Jet Pack, damn thats fun
With rocket on, I'm in Bear son
The guners goin down, Range is just burnin
Did you stop? No -- I hit Bloodlust
Face melt, dps that just cant stop
Cannon's going nuts until the mages hit ice block
The mage is dead? Yo
So I continued to DPS and then get my loot.
Saurfang Jr died at wrathgate
Deathbringer, the one that daddy hates
Magic, Nah, it's all physical
Range stay away, or else you're mental
Cause those Blood Beast, they need roots
Keep 'em of the tanks, if you want loot
Shields, all around like a wall
Grab a bubble - no Marks will fall
He's not that bad, until twenty five
Boss is there than you wanna hide
He enrages something wicked
Get him dead fast, or you'll kick it
That was the first wing, it aint on big thing
The loot is phat, the best we ever seen
It shouldn't be a problem, got a month to clear it
Then another wings here, if you can beat it
Arthas in Ice Ice Icecrown, Arthas in Ice Ice Icecrown
Arthas in Ice Ice Icecrown, Arthas in Ice Ice Icecrown
That is a much longer song than I recall.
Anyway, we tried ICC 25 last night. Something needs to be remembered in our raid group. Wiping is not a bad thing. One a new boss the group should expect to wipe for a while before we move on. I think a lot of people were expecting to get 3 bosses dead last night (because that's what we do in 10 mans). I knew that was not realistic, but to see so little interest in the raid was pretty disappointing. However, we're just now getting back into the 25-man groove, so it will take a while for folks to get their schedules back in order. Next week I know I'll see a lot more commitment. Maybe I'll give a big Braveheart-style speech to start. Would that work?
In other news, has anybody else noticed the editorial changes at WoW.com? I guess I never fully appreciated how awesome Mike Schramm is. I have definitely noticed the shift. I've noticed the change in the WoW Insider Podcast too. It's not worse, per se. The difference is more in attitude and focus, but, to me, it seems more like SRS BZNS and less fun.'
Also in the news is UI lag. In ICC-25 I noticed some hefty lag. After disabling mods that store combat log data it pretty much went away. I will be reintegrating these mods in raids, one at a time, to see if it's a mod issue.
OK, I hope everybody is enjoying the song parodies. They do sound better than they read, but recording them is not in the immediate future for me at the moment.
Ice, Ice Baby - Vanilla Ice:
Ice Ice Icecrown, Arthas in Ice Ice Icecrown
All right stop, Get a raid and listen
Ice's here with some lore from a Lich King
Mar'gar, puts me on a bone spike
I get a cold flame, and its good night
Will it ever stop? No, that's bone storm
Stop your dps, reset aggro
Back to the boss the tanks are picking up threat now
Get out the fire, yo dps - hit your cooldowns
Death, her Fanatics 'round the room
I'm killing her shield making her go OOM
Deadly, when they get a buff from her
Mages and druids gettin rid of Curse of Turpor
Green all around, better get away
Whisper's Aoe, it'll end your raid
If there was a problem, Yo, its phase one
Just get to phase two, and you'll be done
Ice Ice Icecrown, Arthas in Ice Ice Icecrown
Ice Ice Icecrown, Arthas in Ice Ice Icecrown, Arthas
Now that the bosses are dyin
With a raid locked in and the loot is flyin
Quick to the portal, to rampart you'll take her
Clear up the trash to Orgrim's Hammer
Burnin' 'em, heat up your cannon
The mage cools 'em, then you're tankin
Adds on your boat, boss on the other one
Burn the mage down, come back and get some
Jet Pack, damn thats fun
With rocket on, I'm in Bear son
The guners goin down, Range is just burnin
Did you stop? No -- I hit Bloodlust
Face melt, dps that just cant stop
Cannon's going nuts until the mages hit ice block
The mage is dead? Yo
So I continued to DPS and then get my loot.
Saurfang Jr died at wrathgate
Deathbringer, the one that daddy hates
Magic, Nah, it's all physical
Range stay away, or else you're mental
Cause those Blood Beast, they need roots
Keep 'em of the tanks, if you want loot
Shields, all around like a wall
Grab a bubble - no Marks will fall
He's not that bad, until twenty five
Boss is there than you wanna hide
He enrages something wicked
Get him dead fast, or you'll kick it
That was the first wing, it aint on big thing
The loot is phat, the best we ever seen
It shouldn't be a problem, got a month to clear it
Then another wings here, if you can beat it
Arthas in Ice Ice Icecrown, Arthas in Ice Ice Icecrown
Arthas in Ice Ice Icecrown, Arthas in Ice Ice Icecrown
That is a much longer song than I recall.
Anyway, we tried ICC 25 last night. Something needs to be remembered in our raid group. Wiping is not a bad thing. One a new boss the group should expect to wipe for a while before we move on. I think a lot of people were expecting to get 3 bosses dead last night (because that's what we do in 10 mans). I knew that was not realistic, but to see so little interest in the raid was pretty disappointing. However, we're just now getting back into the 25-man groove, so it will take a while for folks to get their schedules back in order. Next week I know I'll see a lot more commitment. Maybe I'll give a big Braveheart-style speech to start. Would that work?
In other news, has anybody else noticed the editorial changes at WoW.com? I guess I never fully appreciated how awesome Mike Schramm is. I have definitely noticed the shift. I've noticed the change in the WoW Insider Podcast too. It's not worse, per se. The difference is more in attitude and focus, but, to me, it seems more like SRS BZNS and less fun.'
Also in the news is UI lag. In ICC-25 I noticed some hefty lag. After disabling mods that store combat log data it pretty much went away. I will be reintegrating these mods in raids, one at a time, to see if it's a mod issue.
OK, I hope everybody is enjoying the song parodies. They do sound better than they read, but recording them is not in the immediate future for me at the moment.
Some times its hard to be a healer
Ahhhhh, Tammy Wynette, the Queen of Country:
But the greatest version, from Bob's Country Bunker
Sometimes its hard to be a healer
Giving all your mana to just one tank
You'll have some aggro
He'll get it back tho'
Doing things that you dont understand
But if you want loot, be sure to heal him
Even though a tank and spank
And if you want loot
Be sure to heal him
'Cause after all he's just a tank
Stand by your tank
Give him your HoTs and shields
And save all your cooldowns
For when the boss enrages
Stand by your tank
And tell the raid you'll heal him
Keep giving all your HoTs and shields
Stand by you tank
So I spent more time on my tank last night than I have in the past few weeks. It's a tough balance for me at this point. I want to pull mobs as quickly as the pallies and the DKs do, but my AoE is still not nearly good enough to get away with as aggressive pulling as those guys. Especially in PUGs where the AOE starts even before I finish my charge.
My healer last night is a gulidie who is gearing up his resto shaman. We also brought 2 guildies for dps, so it really did go pretty smoothly. But, I am realizing that I need like 200 more Triumph badges. That's just for my tanking set. My dps set is really sad. So that plan is to do my daily on druid and priest, but to farm more on the tank. The good news? He's a tank, so I pretty much get in a group as fast as I can hit the button.
But the greatest version, from Bob's Country Bunker
Sometimes its hard to be a healer
Giving all your mana to just one tank
You'll have some aggro
He'll get it back tho'
Doing things that you dont understand
But if you want loot, be sure to heal him
Even though a tank and spank
And if you want loot
Be sure to heal him
'Cause after all he's just a tank
Stand by your tank
Give him your HoTs and shields
And save all your cooldowns
For when the boss enrages
Stand by your tank
And tell the raid you'll heal him
Keep giving all your HoTs and shields
Stand by you tank
So I spent more time on my tank last night than I have in the past few weeks. It's a tough balance for me at this point. I want to pull mobs as quickly as the pallies and the DKs do, but my AoE is still not nearly good enough to get away with as aggressive pulling as those guys. Especially in PUGs where the AOE starts even before I finish my charge.
My healer last night is a gulidie who is gearing up his resto shaman. We also brought 2 guildies for dps, so it really did go pretty smoothly. But, I am realizing that I need like 200 more Triumph badges. That's just for my tanking set. My dps set is really sad. So that plan is to do my daily on druid and priest, but to farm more on the tank. The good news? He's a tank, so I pretty much get in a group as fast as I can hit the button.
Life in the pug
Who doesn't love Destiny's Child?
Now that you're out of my group
I'm so much better
You thought that I'd get no loot without you
But I'm all epic
You thought that I'd be lost without you
I got the strats
You thought I wouldn't progress without you
I'm clearin bosses
You thought that I'd die without you
But I'm healin
Thought that I'd have not threat without you
But I'm tankin
You thought that I'd have no dps without you
I'm meltin faces
You thought I wouldn't get a group
But I'm farmin
I'm a survivor (What?)
I'm not gon give up (What?)
I'm not gon stop (What?)
I'm gon work harder (What?)
I'm a survivor (What?)
I'm gonna make it (What?)
I will survive (What?)
Keep on survivin' (What?)
Yeah, I love pugging. I have 2 healers and a tank that are doing random groups every day. My priest was the first to get 'the Patient', my druid has it now too, and my warrior is just about there. The priest has his Perky Pug (which is super-cute, I have to admit), and I can't wait until I have a whole kennel of them. Often, the tank or healer in the group will say, "You guys suck. I'm going to drop. Good look getting a group without ME!" I think this is a fairly common experience. The only more common is the dps-er who says, "this rogue in the group sucks, boot him or I will drop". I have never thought that so many people would try to take a group hostage, but I see it a few times a week. I don't mind when people are frustrated by wipes, or disapprove when somebody has an attitude or is afk. I even don't mind when people say, "your dps is really bad, do you know what you're doing?" Still, when people think, "I'm so good, that nobody can do this content without me" I giggle and get pissed at the same time.
As a healer, I take pride in being able to 'heal through stupid'. As a tank, I love tanking a boss getting as few heals as possible (sometimes none). But, I really never think, 'I hate you people and I'm going to waste your time because of my ego.' I'm not LEET enough, I suppose. Thank God. : )
Honestly though, the MOST surprising thing about the new LFG system is how nice almost everybody is, and how they average player is really pretty decent. Lots of folks need more gear to get better dps, but those are clearly alts, or new 80s. I love that 90% of the time I can get into a totally random group and have the run go smoothly, and have no attitude. It's because the average groups are so good that the aberration of a douchebag is so noticeable.
Now that you're out of my group
I'm so much better
You thought that I'd get no loot without you
But I'm all epic
You thought that I'd be lost without you
I got the strats
You thought I wouldn't progress without you
I'm clearin bosses
You thought that I'd die without you
But I'm healin
Thought that I'd have not threat without you
But I'm tankin
You thought that I'd have no dps without you
I'm meltin faces
You thought I wouldn't get a group
But I'm farmin
I'm a survivor (What?)
I'm not gon give up (What?)
I'm not gon stop (What?)
I'm gon work harder (What?)
I'm a survivor (What?)
I'm gonna make it (What?)
I will survive (What?)
Keep on survivin' (What?)
Yeah, I love pugging. I have 2 healers and a tank that are doing random groups every day. My priest was the first to get 'the Patient', my druid has it now too, and my warrior is just about there. The priest has his Perky Pug (which is super-cute, I have to admit), and I can't wait until I have a whole kennel of them. Often, the tank or healer in the group will say, "You guys suck. I'm going to drop. Good look getting a group without ME!" I think this is a fairly common experience. The only more common is the dps-er who says, "this rogue in the group sucks, boot him or I will drop". I have never thought that so many people would try to take a group hostage, but I see it a few times a week. I don't mind when people are frustrated by wipes, or disapprove when somebody has an attitude or is afk. I even don't mind when people say, "your dps is really bad, do you know what you're doing?" Still, when people think, "I'm so good, that nobody can do this content without me" I giggle and get pissed at the same time.
As a healer, I take pride in being able to 'heal through stupid'. As a tank, I love tanking a boss getting as few heals as possible (sometimes none). But, I really never think, 'I hate you people and I'm going to waste your time because of my ego.' I'm not LEET enough, I suppose. Thank God. : )
Honestly though, the MOST surprising thing about the new LFG system is how nice almost everybody is, and how they average player is really pretty decent. Lots of folks need more gear to get better dps, but those are clearly alts, or new 80s. I love that 90% of the time I can get into a totally random group and have the run go smoothly, and have no attitude. It's because the average groups are so good that the aberration of a douchebag is so noticeable.
Monday, January 4, 2010
On the raid again . . .
C'mon, sing along with Willie:
In the raid again,
Just can't wait to get in the raid again, The life I love is killing bosses with my friends
And I can't wait to get in the raid again.
In the raid again,
Doing instances where I've never been
Using spells that I will never use again,
And I can't wait to get in the raid again.
In the raid again,
Like a group of fresh 80s we die in the fire,
We're a LEET raid team
The final boss's death is all that we desire
And our desire,
Is in the raid again.
Just can't wait to get in the raid again,
The life I love is killing bosses with my friends
And I can't wait to get in the raid again.
We got 2 more bosses in ICC last night. We had three short pulls on Saurfang before we called it. Nevertheless, it was a great raid night. Our newest dps-er, Sebastion, the rogue, got TWO new weapons. That is totally awesome, his MH and his OH both dropped. Nobody else could use 1H dps weapons, so it was great to give them both to him. Overall, we're one boss away from being caught up with 10-man raid content. It is totally great being back home and playing with the team again!
In the raid again,
Just can't wait to get in the raid again, The life I love is killing bosses with my friends
And I can't wait to get in the raid again.
In the raid again,
Doing instances where I've never been
Using spells that I will never use again,
And I can't wait to get in the raid again.
In the raid again,
Like a group of fresh 80s we die in the fire,
We're a LEET raid team
The final boss's death is all that we desire
And our desire,
Is in the raid again.
Just can't wait to get in the raid again,
The life I love is killing bosses with my friends
And I can't wait to get in the raid again.
We got 2 more bosses in ICC last night. We had three short pulls on Saurfang before we called it. Nevertheless, it was a great raid night. Our newest dps-er, Sebastion, the rogue, got TWO new weapons. That is totally awesome, his MH and his OH both dropped. Nobody else could use 1H dps weapons, so it was great to give them both to him. Overall, we're one boss away from being caught up with 10-man raid content. It is totally great being back home and playing with the team again!
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Shameless plug for a good guildie
So - I have a new rig for gaming. My desktop was 5 years old and was given to my wife about a two years ago when I got my laptop. I had been gaming on my laptop for the past year or two. I realized that I needed a new desktop for a while, but I wanted to get a really nice rig (to be better than my laptop), but I also did not want to spend $2k. Enter Packetloss (aka Ian). He opened a business a few months ago building computers and servicing them. Like Dell, but not in India . . . Anyway, we gave me a pimp rig, which I am running at max settings and sound and laughing at stuff I have not seen previously. So, I'm totally thrilled with my new system - especially for the price. IF you are thinking about upgrading, please check him out.
HLC Computers
HLC Computers
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