Sideshow & Syrana

It looks like I have a fan on the Alliance side on Eitrigg. I’m so flattered. I ran across him when doing the cooking quests during Thanksgiving with my Alliance rogue.

I thought I would grace you with my presence since Syrana is taking a short hiatus and removing the sick germs from herself. What have I been up to? I bet everyone is waiting with anticipation.

Last I posted about WoW was when Syrana asked me to answer a few questions. One of those questions was about what I wanted to accomplish in 2010. I basically said that I wanted to get both the Salty and Chef titles. Looking at what I had left, Chef should be simple to grab first. It turns out that I got Salty first. I really didn’t spend a lot of time trying to catch that rare fish. I usually just logged in on my laptop during football games on Sunday and fished while I watched. I’d say it was probably 4-5 hours total until I finally caught that Dark Herring in Howling Fjord. I’ve read comments from people who’ve taken almost 40 hours to catch a rare fish. Crazy. Sadly, I still haven’t got the Chef title yet, but I really haven’t tried. I did take a quick WoW break for a few weeks to play other games.

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Sometimes those pesky macros go into the wrong channel…which requires me to be a smartass.

The other night, one of our guildmates logged on.  After a round of “Oi’s” (our way of sayin’ hello), that guidie says it’s not them, that they hacked the account.  Since a few guildies have been hacked in the past, one of the officers quickly demoted them in order to restrict guild bank access – just in case.

As it turned out, they weren’t really hacked but I came up with a new guild event idea when the officer that acted quickly on the demotion wanted to know if it was ok to restore their rank.

Where's my scalpel?

The moral of this story? Don’t joke about your account getting hacked, or you might lose a couple bags as well as your bank access.

Click for larger image

This screenshot is an interesting one.  When I first started playing WoW, I didn’t take many screenshots.  I certainly hadn’t thought to take screenies of my character screen either!  Well, I took this screenshot on January 22, 2007 (just a handful of days after the release of The Burning Crusade).

This (un)lovely Undead woman was my very first toon EVER.

The name listed under hers, Inawen, was my highest character ever until I rolled Alynedarra with the Blood Elf craze.

Stranger yet, NONE of those toons listed are in existence anymore.  They’ve all been deleted.

Just a memory.

I am currently using the name Zuranisha for my Troll Death Knight, but that’s the only resemblance my current character screen has to this one from two and a half years ago.

Interesting how things can change, isn’t it?

WTA, you are wondering? Want To Adopt, of course!  Seriously, the orphan NPCs are adorable.  Yes, even the little Orc boy.  He’s so ugly he’s cute, like an orangutan.  The cutest of them all has got to be the little Draenei girl though.  She’s is absolutely delightful.  I mean, I’m Horde and I’d still be willing to adopt that cutie patootie.  But, Blizzard, I ask you this… where are the orphans of the other races? I bet you little Tauren children are adorable.

Children’s Week – I Get a Pet, But Can’t Keep the Orphan

I’ve enjoyed Children’s Week in the past.  It was fun taking them around to see landmark sights and influential NPCs.  I’m kind of disappointed in the change to the Blood Elf girl’s quest.  I realize M’uru is no longer in Silvermoon, but the impact of her visit to the Caverns of Time just isn’t the same without the encounter with M’uru.  I’m glad I was able to experience it that way two years ago. (continue reading…)

As many of you have noticed around here, there aren’t many posts that talk about boss downage.  Our guild is small and focuses on community first and are not what you’d consider a ‘raiding’ guild.  We do have a lot of really great and skillful members, so the fact that we consider ourselves a ‘casual’ guild does not = bad players.  If I wasn’t so biased, I’d say we have one of the greatest mixes of new players and veterans alike.  Until more recently though, we’ve never really had the fortune of having enough guildies geared to attempt some raids.

So, you may see a few more of these types of posts from time to time.  We’re talking about scheduling a weekly raid night, which I’m really hoping for.  (continue reading…)

Lay Your Weary Head to Rest

At the beginning of January I wrote a post speculating on the State of the Warlock and feeling as though I was headed for the endangered species list.  Unfortunately, it looks like I am on there.  I can handle that… being special… just as long as we don’t become extinct.  I really, really love playing my warlock!

At the end of said post (if you didn’t catch it, you can go skim it if you want quick), I questioned if there was a decline and why this was so.  Some people claim warlocks are broken, nerfed, too complicated, too easy, etc. etc.  I’d also made a decision to revisit this topic once I hit 80 to see if there has been any change or not.  It has been 2 months since that other post, so let’s take a look, shall we?

Now, I apologize that I had not taken screenies of the stats at that time, so I will copy over the text with the population information for easier comparison:

Overall Eitrigg (Horde and Alliance) “warlocks and rogues are tied at 8%.”

Eitrigg Horde side, warlocks are considered to be tied for 3rd of the most represented classes.  Huh.  Death Knights still top the charts at a whopping 19%.  Hunters are second with 15%, but warlocks are tied with paladins at 10%.

So what do the numbers look like now?

7 7 7 - The new number of evil?

I got these figures from Warcraft Realms.  Granted, the Eitrigg census warns that there has been a lack of Horde side data uploaded in the past 2 weeks, but all three ways I looked at it showed warlocks steady at 7% among level 80s.  Now, don’t get too excited just yet.  When I wrote the last post, I was looking at levels 10-80.  Although, when I bring up 10-80 the numbers are not much different.  Warcraft Realms show 8% over all servers, both factions; 8% for Eitrigg, both factions; and 9% Eitrigg Horde.

What this is showing is that there aren’t a lot of warlocks being  leveled to 80 since the representation drops at 80.  This is sad to see.  Very sad indeed.  It can’t be because we suck, can it?

Don’t You Cry No More

Guildie: Why dps as a clothie if you can wear plate?

Syrana: I’m eviler in cloth.  No one expects the squishies.

There have certainly been speculations about warlock DPS.  And we have heard that Blizz is working on us (and those darn soul shards!).  We also know that Blizz intends for pure DPS classes, like ourselves, to be rockin’ the top of the meters.  Now, I know meters aren’t everything.  I also know that putting up numbers can be heavily influenced by who is in your group.  But, my first attempt at a heroic (with others that are geared for it while I know I was NOT) less than 24 hours after dinging 80 gave me some hope because I know there is room for improvement with gear and enchants/gems.  Now, for this chart, please keep in mind that we did not clear Heroic Violet Hold.  We got stuck with the 2 hardest bosses spawning and decided to call it after wiping on the 2nd boss instead of going through the first one ALL over again.  So, considering the running and stuff I had to do on the first boss…

Not too bad, amirite?  This was before the upgrades I have now and NO enchants.  I had very little hit at that point.  Since that attempt, I’ve crafted Ebonweave Gloves and Wintry Hat of Doom.  (I’d link all that, but you can see ‘em on the right by hoverin’ over my armory stuff if ya want.)  I also got a new belt from the Wyrmrest and a new cloak from the Kirin Tor.  I’ve also gotten a few enchants.  I mean, honestly, I didn’t go in there with all level 80 equivalent gear on.  Yes, basically all blues – but quest blues and crafted blues…. and not much of anything from instances.

Are warlocks gear dependent for top numbers? Uhh, yes.  And a good rotation makes a difference too.  There’s some great info over at the Warlock’s Den on gearing for hit cap in Wrath.  The other raiding gear guides don’t appear to be updated for Wrath, unless I was looking in the wrong place.  But the hit guide should definitely be helpful for me, at least!

We’re Not in Kansas Anymore

Just wanted to give a couple updates!  I’ve tackled a few more zones in Northrend, so we’re on the way to finishing those quest achievements up and getting closer and closer to “the Seeker.” I also hit revered with the Oracles and was called a savior or somesuch.  I bought my first egg and am waiting anxiously for it to hatch.  I’m close to maxing out tailoring and getting closer and closer on alchemy.  (Thank you, Noc, for the herbs!)

Let’s see…oh! I also hit honored with Sons of Hodir and despise that stupid spear.  I want to stab the developer of that daily quest in the eyes with that spear.  I read up on it and followed the suggested strategy and still seem to have issues with my grip before getting to Phase 2.  I can get the bastard down to 30ish%…. grrrr.

I think that was all I wanted to update on.  If not, I’ll make another post!

Oh! Thank you, Fin, for helping me to farm eternal shadows in Wintergrasp.  I have enough for my ebonweave robe…now to wait patiently to utilize mine and others’ cloth cooldowns!  It was also my first time really going into Wintergrasp to battle.  Unfortunately, I showed up shortly before the Alliance finished bashin’ the door in.

Now I’m done!

Last Friday, I hosted another social guild event.  This event was set up (quickly and belatedly) to celebrate the creation of our guild’s chapter of OI on Eitrigg, which was created on 2/10/06.  You would think this would have been combined with the previous week’s Valentine’s Party, but no.  No.  I needed to set up a social event to advertise to all guild members and press upon the importance of our guild leader’s attendance for a higher purpose.

To present a special gift.

Brainstorm

During the planning our the Valentine event, Neph brought up the idea of presenting our guild leader, Les, with a special gift.  A way to show our appreciation of him.  Her and I were tossing around some ideas such as getting a crafted epic for him.  A few days later, Daank suggested a sweet new ride: the hog.

We knew our very own Goz could craft one (Gozaar Davidson ftw!) and we began planning.  We made announcements to guild members while Les was not on to let people know of this plan and to ask for donations.  We were unable to reach our initial goal of having it ready by the Valentine beach party, but that was fine.  Although, it was ready to leave the shop soon afterwards.  I had to think of a good way to get everyone together again without making Les suspicious and without having to do all sorts of secret communication.

This is when I remembered that our guild chapter was created in February.  A quick /ginfo confirmed that we were a bit belated, but it would suffice.  It would be a wonderful opportunity to get together, have some fun, and present a special gift to a special leader.

Cha-ching

Amusing thing though, if you check out the sidebar for Syrana’s recent achievements… see it? See the one for the hog?  After Goz created it, he mailed it to me.  I left it in my mailbox until the day of the event because I was ridiculously paranoid of equipping it to myself.  So, about an hour before the event is to begin, I go to take it out of the mailbox in order to wrap it up nice and pretty.

Yeah, as soon as it went into my bag, I got the achievement.  Thank goodness, Les was not on yet.  Although, a few members were not aware of my devious sneaky ways and were genuinely thanking me.  I suppose the achievement technically says “obtain” and not equip, but jeepers!  So, I falsely hold that achievement.

Pictures after the cut!

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Hello everyone!  Sorry I have not posted in a few days.  I was busy with work and preparing for our guild’s Valentine’s party on Friday evening.  It was a blast!  I know my guildies are anticipating a recap of the event, and I hope you enjoy it too!  Not only do I have some fun pictures to share (yay, I finally got GIMP), but I must share these crazy Valentine’s Madlibs!

So, the OIsters got together on Friday evening and partied it up on Azurebreeze Coast in Eversong Woods.  It didn’t take long for the dancing and drinking to begin!  A few of us partook in some picnic goodies and cake.  Meanwhile, Goz (the pimpest Orc there ever was) was showin’ off his Mechano-Hog and givin’ the ladies (and Sideshow) rides around the beach.  By the time Dande got the fireworks show started, a few of our guildies managed to lose their dresses.  Syrana was tempted to snag someone’s lovely black dress off the sandy beach, but she received one as a gift from Ori.  What a sweetheart!

Drang then suggested that all 34 of us should try to get organized for a group picture.  Everyone got nice ‘n cozy with each other and smiled wide.  Then, Neph and Syrana asked everyone to line up and come forward to receive their Valentine cards from us.  Syrana was too busy to write them up herself so she tossed a gold at some kid named Valentino and asked him to pen a few for her.  Take a look at some of these timeless Valentine’s Cards.  (Oh, you know you want one!)

Click to read these gems!

After the card exchange, Syrana figured everyone was good and toasted… as the party had been going strong for over an hour, making it the perfect time to ask them to come up with a list of nouns, verbs, adjectives, colors, and body parts for a Valentine Letter Madlib!

Dear Jane, my most fruity Valentine,

You are in my beautiful thoughts every moment of the day.  My arm skips a beat every time I think of your funky hair flowing down your thigh.  Mere words cannot express the sloppy feelings that I have for you my darling pie.

Valentine, you are the most sexy lady in the world, all my friends are jealous.  When you run into the room everyone explodes at you.  My friend Mark said you look like a delicate dog.  My other friend Bob said you reminded him of a cherry because of your smelly complection.

Baby you have it all.  Your smell is like a Harley waving in the breeze.  Your lips are tender as a paperclip, every time we kiss I feel chocolates in my booty.  Your 69 inch waist is the envy of every lady in Paris.  My sweet snow if you ever left me I would feel like jumping in to a Crown Royal.  Since you promised me your love and completely broke off your relationship with Nick I feel I can do what I am about to do.

My sweet horse my net worth is 13 dollars so I feel I am established enough.  I couldn’t wait until we were together in person so just imagine me bending my tongue.

Jane, will you marry me?  Enclosed is a velvet covered golf ball with a condom as a token of my love.  I hope you say yes!

Text message me with your reply.  I am making reservations to fly out to the gutter for our honeymoon.  Go ahead and get that wedding dress at the police station you have been eyeing a long time.  I have already asked your dad he said “Peace.”  I took that as a ‘yes’.

Just in case this is worrying you, I told Luvalot to ‘Eat your heart out, I’m taken.’

Next thing you know it we’ll have 3 kids trailing behind us.  You ought to see the 25 story house I have built for us and it’s your favorite color red.

Valentine, I have to go tickle, I will see you soon.

Love your kielbasa sausage,

Larry

Syrana hopes everyone had a great time either being there or hearing about the craziness afterward.  Hmmm, what can she plan next?