Thoughts on Wrath

All i can say is... I Love Wrath. This is a great expansion. I have come across very few bugs. There a lot of people complaining in general chat about quests not working. All i have to say about that is, READ THE DAMN QUEST TEXT!!! Blizzard™ is trying to make things interesting. And i really appreciate it. It's not just go kill 12 crows and then come back. It's more like "Here, take this cage. Release the dog. Kill some crows and gather their meat. Feed the meat to the dog and then return to me." I praise Blizzard™ for making things fun. But then all you hear in general chat is "Where is the dog i'm supposed to have and what do i do with him?" AARRGGGG!!! Sorry - drives me crazy. I mean take 2 minutes. Carefully read the text and follow the instructions. Too many people get a quest and then hop right onto the general chat and start complaining that the quest is bugged. Anyway - i'll stop complaining myself. Overall, i love this expansion better than The Burning Crusade expansion. The new Blood Elf and Draenai races were fun and new content is always welcome but Wrath is really better. Even if you don't intend to run up a Death Knight i highly recommend starting one and running thru the starting quests. Well worth the lore and the screaming citizens is hilarious. It's fun to be feared by your very presence. You just get close to them and they cower and run away screaming. A total laugh riot.

Northrend is very well done. As far as i have delved into it. I am just beyond the point i got to in the beta, so it's all new now. I have my hunter to 72 already and my warrior to 71. I know, i know! You're saying, "So what, my rogue is 79 already." I am a slow grinder but hey, i have a job and kids and a wife and kidney problems. This is fast for me and besides. I read quests. I like to take my time and move thru the content with precision. Exploring and mining and looking at the scenery. I really am appreciating the terrain and art that i think so many people overlook. Keep it up Blizzard™. There are many of us that really do love what you have done. 

WotLK Addon Gathering

WoWInsider has put together a great list of addons that work with WotLK. I hope there is minimal trouble with addons on Thursday morning. But here is something you might like to look at to prepare yourself. You can see the article here, it includes links to Curse and WoWInterface that are very concise. Try it out.

Pre-Expansion Trouble

Is this a bad sign? Blizz brought down servers for regular Tuesday morning down-time. But this is rediculous. It is almost 1:30pm PST and the servers are all still grayed out. They say its some problem with the mail system. This makes me feel a little uneasy. This kind of stuff happening this close to a major release is, to me, disconcerting. C'mon Blizz - i need to get my steady fix of daily quests.

Monkey Love

I must take this chance to profess my love for the Gorilla pet and thanks to the website, Big Red Kitty They have a videos out there on the intertoobs that are AWESOME!
One specific one is the Gorilladin 101 video that shows you how to use a Gorilla like a pally tank. Gather up 5, 8, 22 mobs and let the volley fly. I love it. After watching this i went to Un'Goro crater and tamed me a monkey. It has only been 3 days and i got him from level 65 to level 69. It was easy. Just doing 10 dailies or so and grinding a little Mag'Har rep and boom. This monkey kicks the ass of all asses. I will use Monkeedin (so i named him) to level to 80. I see no other viable option. With less than a week before WotLK i am as ready as i can be.

LOL! Cons has her eyes closed in this shot. Just bad photography.

Mechno-Hogs

I am hoping that these are only beta mounts. In Dalaran you can just walk right up to one of the NPCs and just buy one of these. They are cool but do they really fit into the WoW story line. But at second thought i guess they are just as viable as the engineering rofl-copters huh? Anyway, thought i'd share a shot or two of these.

The creeping dead

Check out this little video i took of some of the non-combat ghouls lurking around Death's Breach. They climb walls and they are just generally creepy. When we all finally get the X-Pack make sure you have the sound up or some earphones on. Especially when you play a Death Knight. Arthas the Lich King is continually talking to you. Like he has some super-natural connection to your brain. But besides that, when you are killing some of the civilians in the Scarlet Crusade area it sounds like crowds of people screaming in horror and running. The distant screaming is really funny.

Lich King Beta

I got my invite to the Wrath of the Lich King beta this week. It took about 2 days to get all the patches and stuff setup. But i am in it now. All i can say is - COOL!!!! I met Arthas face-to-face. Had to sell my soul and promise to exterminate any and all living Scarlet Crusaders. The job of a Death Knight is never done.

The Lich King is neigh

So the Wrath of the Lich King expansion pack for WoW is coming out Nov. 13. Oh boy - i guess i better get ready. I'm scrounging for PTO forms now. When Burning Crusade came out i took a week off to enjoy it. My browser is giving me trouble. I got an invite the the beta last night and i am currently trying to download all the patches right now. I'll post more later, maybe with pictures.

Rumors of the Lich King

There are a lot of rumors going around but tell me if i'm wrong. If you go to amazon.com or gamestop.com you can look up Wrath of the Lich King and it says that the title will ship on November 3, 2008. So can this be true? I hate it how Blizzard™ will not tell us anything. Not even a hint of when they are going to release things. I guess i just don't understand the marketing behind it but if GameStop can tell us when to come and get it, why can't Blizz just tell us? Anyway. I am a big idiot for the collectors edition. I didn't get the vanilla version of WoW in the collectors edition but i did get the Burning Crusade collectors edition. I love it still. I never have regretted the extra $30 or so. Very well worth it. That being said, what about the Wrath of the Lich King collectors edition. Well, as per usual, Blizzard™ wouldn't tell us if they were gonna release a stiff fart let alone the expansion and especially a collectors edition. So the rumor has it and WoWHead, a very reliable and very well used by me web resource, has some compelling proof of the Wrath of the Lich King Expansion Pack Collectors Edition. One sure sign is this, the baby frost wrym non-combat pet.



There is trouble uploading images. I think i need to restart my computer or go take a fire axe to my ISP. I HATE THEM!!!!

Wu-Tang Name

My Wu-Name is Masta Hunter. Funny huh?
Take Wu-Tang Clan Name Generator today!
Created with Rum and Monkey's Name Generator Generator.

WotLK Pet Calculators

Now this is cool.  An update from the forthcoming Wrath of the Lich King expansion.  I had heard that pets will have their own talent trees.  WoWHead has posted a preview of the Pet Talents and it looks awesome.  Any hunters that want to see what they might want to do with their pets can start to plan for it now.  I am really looking forward to this.  Rock on.

Sad Development

This is sad.  My laptop is getting old and i think from hours, nay, months of play time on WoW, i think i have fried my graphics card.  WoW looks like this...

...it's not like this laptop ever really ran the game well anyway.  So, i felt very fortunate to have a great computer provided me by my employer.  They have indeed spoiled me with a Quad4Duo Mac Pro.  It has a 512 graphics card and other bells and whistles.  Runs WoW like a dream.  I have had permission to take it home with me occasionally as long as i did indeed get some work done while i had it.  But yesterday i was informed that i am no longer allowed to remove my tower from the premises.  So i am officially WoW-less at home.  It is unplayable on this laptop.  Can't see anything.  The good news is that i can still do my free-lance work and browse the internet.  But most games are unplayable.  i.e. Diablo, StarCraft and Warcraft are all too hard to see.  Even Halo and Unreal Tournament are too taxing to this machine.  A tear was shed after hearing that news.  Yes, the sky is a little less blue.  That means no more Wednesday night raids with my friends and stuff.  I need a Coke™.  I'm gonna go drown my sorrow.  Wish i had something a lot harder than that tho.  It's gonna take something really strong to get me thru my withdrawls.  Wish me luck.

Summer Lag

Okay, i know it's been a long time since i posted.  I suppose if i blogged for a living or others were relying on me to keep them informed, i would be more diligent.  But since this is just kind of a fun thing for me, the posts tend to be a little sparse.  That being said...

... there has been a lot of information coming out about the forth coming Wrath of the Lich King expansion pack.  Still no date but there are official and still subject to change before the actual release talent calculators.  So check those out.  Kinda cool.  You can kind of get a feel for the way you might want to spec your new Death  Knight.  

In other announcements,  the public beta is in full swing.  There is ongoing random selections for the beta.  Blizzard™ released an opt-in page from their main sight.  That means that when you opt-in you are making yourself more likely to be picked from the random account selection process.  I don't think it really helps you get selected any sooner than anyone else.  I think it just tells them that you would indeed play the beta and provide viable feedback.

I think thats all i have for now.  If i think if more i'll be sure to get another post done.  It's kind of slow right now.  A lot of my RL friends are taking breaks because of summer activities and people are bored with grinding on the Isle of Quel'Danas.  There are only so many times you can free murloc slaves without bouncing your head off your keyboard from sheer lack of caring....

...Blizzard™! PLEASE!  Give us a date for the release.

Merciless Shoulders

My hunter now has some cool shoulder armor.  Consarnit is by far my best geared character.

Gotta get me one of these.

Blizzard™ announced a new Hero Class for the Wrath of the Lich King expansion.  Check out the Bard Hero Class here.

I gotta have this axe.

P.S. Please don't be fooled.  Remember it's April 1st.

More Cow Bell.... LAWL!

Vengeful Gladiators Plate Helm

I finally got enough arena points to get this Season 3 helm.  Love it.  Besides it looks great.

And now Plumbman and i will carry on with our 2v2 arena battles.  

Great Video

Machinima is making movies using an existing game engine.  Such as World of Warcraft.... this guy is really good at it.

Holy Lag...

You ain't never seen LAG like this.

"Is that a sword? LUXURY!"

Look at Cragniums cool new pokey thingy.  It's called the Gladiator's Greatsword. Very big upgrade.

Now i just gotta get rid of that ugly Warlords Helmet.  Should have that replaced in the next couple weeks.  Me and Plumbman are doing arenas so i'll have the Season 3 hat soon.  It's called the Vengeful Gladiator's Plate Helm. I'll post a shot of that too.

"Is that a helmet? VANITY!!!"

Noblegarden Event, March 23

On March 23rd the Noblegarden event starts. It is Blizzards answer to Easter.  There will be some spring attire and eggs to gather.  Nothing really noteworthy.

To help offset the strain and tension of constant warfare, the leaders of the Horde and the Alliance occasionally organize full-blown festivities for their people, centered around holidays and special events. What better way to celebrate the year's victories and other achievements than in the company of a few thousand of your closest allies?

Noblegarden

The great feast of Noblegarden has long been celebrated by the races of the Alliance and recently adopted by those of the Horde. On this joyous day, it is customary for the nobles and lords from each race to hide coins, candy, and the occasional treasures within special eggs painted to look like wildflowers. These eggs are then scattered around the major cities for the citizenry to find. From heroes to commoners, and everyone in between - the feast of Noblegarden is meant to bring communities together to share the joy of life and friendship.

Rumor Mill

I have not found anything affirmative on this but the PTRs have the Midsummer Fire Festival up now.  Presumably to test it for the actual release this summer.  The big news is that there will be a summonable boss in Shadow Labs the will be dropping class cloaks and an epic staff. This will be much like the Headless Horseman event they had during Halloween last year.  Tho this will be in a much higher level dungeon. Remember the Headless Horseman was in Scarlet Monastery which most 70's can solo.  This will take a little more to get to.  I will be trying to gather more info as the event draws closer.

Opera Event

This was our first time doing the opera event. There were only 2 or 3 of us that have done it before.  We one shotted it.  I personally have only done it once before and it happened to be the same as this one. The Wizard of Oz.  The event is variable.  You get this or Big Bad Wolf or Romeo & Juliet.  You have to be ready for any of those 3.

Well , the whole fight did not upload.  Suffice it to say.  We did it.  My Shaman got Legacy.  Nice DPS 2 handed axe.  I'll get this blog thing figured out.  Anyway, Gratz and thanks to all who were on that run.

Fallenx (tank pally, aggro junkie)

Tideturner (offtank warrior, meat shield)

Dolohov (priest, healer super-extra-ordinary)

Remorse (priest, specced in awesome)

Scp (priest of shadow and maker of dust)

Xandrii (mage, feared by all)

Magiwiz (little ball of hate, mage)

Fitzhume (sneaky stabby rogue)

Deathbone (warlock damage meter maxifier)

and yers truly Shawstfrock (lowly shaman)

Ghost Wolf pet - GONE!

Blizzard™ announced that through a hot fix they made Ghost Wolves will no longer be tamable for hunters.  Drysc, a blue poster in the Blizz forums wrote:

Through a hotfix we’ve recently removed the ability to tame a Grimtotem Spirit Guide. Players who have already gone through the trouble of taming the creature will be able to keep them unchanged. This hotfix only removes the possibility to tame this creature from here on.

The removal of the spirit guide has been debated within design discussions for a while now as to what impact the pet and its precedent has on the game.
The unintended nature of the taming, the undead status of the guide, appearance of the wolf in relation to the feel of the hunter class, and the complex processes of taming were all issues touched upon and discussed.

Ultimately the discussions brought us to the conclusion that this should not be a permanent addition to the pet selection available to hunters; however, those that have already tamed them should be allowed to keep them due to their efforts in obtaining one.

Those of you who got one, gratz... keep em.  They will be the most rare of rare hunter pets. Specifically, gratz to Tryptic.  The only RL person i know that has one.

My character breakdown

I guess i better give a breakdown of my World of Warcraft characters:

First of all - best of all Doomhammer

70 Orc Hunter - Consarnit

70 Orc Shaman - Shawstfrock

70 Undead Warrior - Cragnium

54 Troll Rogue - Vanish

60 Tauren Druid - Buffaloa

plus various other alts.

Llane

60 Human Warrior - Meatstik

44 Dwarf Hunter - Nimrodd

plus various other alts.

I am an alt-aholic, i intend to run up many more characters but these are my main focuses for now. I love Consarnit, she is my main DPS but as of late, and with our Wednesday night runs, Shawstfrock has been a more viable and contributing part to our raids. Karazhan is really fun. I just love to play which ever toon i take.

More later.

First Karazhan run with RL Friends

Last night we had our first Karazhan.  Very fun 10 person raid dungeon.  We had such a good time.  How fun was it? You ask.  Well, it was so fun that i forgot to take screen shots and/or video.  I'll have to make sure i get some evidence of the run next time.

Suffice it to say... We killed the first boss Attumen, first try.  Not too tough and the loot was good. A couple of cloth pieces if i remember right.  The second boss, Moroes was a little tougher, naturally.  We got him on the 3rd try. I think. Dropped some plate boots and his pocket watch. Pretty good stuff.  The third boss was not so easy. Maiden of Virtue, she is mean. But you can at least see her loot table. We could not finish her after 5 tries. Oh well, next time.

The good news is that the instance doesn't reset for 5 days.  So the place is clear up to her.  We might try her again tomorrow.  We'll see.