Sideshow & Syrana

I thought I’d give an update on my gaming and an overview of my play-style.

Sideshow is currently at 80 and has been there for many months now. In all honesty, he’s probably as far as he needs to be. He has a few Naxx pieces, some PvP pieces, etc. I have no interest in getting him fully top-tier geared. That’s not how I play. I drop in to enjoy my free time with whatever I feel like doing at the time. I usually do a few dailies, hit up a few battlegrounds, and maybe run some stuff with guildies. I may start PuGing more when the dungeon changes come out in 3.3. It’s not the act of raiding that I don’t enjoy. (continue reading…)

With November fast approaching and Onyxia scheduled for a facelift, a few of us decided to go peek at her… and lop off her head.  I was never at level cap during Classic (or “vanilla”) WoW, so I never got to experience the thrills and headaches of 40man raids.

And I’d never faced Onyxia.

We figured now was a good time to do so and get the achievement before the re-tooling that will be done for WoW’s 5 year anniversary.

You notice how Maagrom looks scared?

Wuss.

Last Friday while I was raiding, I started getting hit with a new water based spell.  It appears to be an AOE spell, but it only hits in one spot… from above.  Unfortunately,  am required to ranged DPS at this stage of the fight.  I tried moving… If I move out of the spell damage area, then I’m out of range, but if I stay in range to DPS, then I’m taking damage.

It is making the fight extremely difficult since I only have so many self-healing abilities, and they just don’t cut it.  Plus, being hit with it causes a motivational debuff that can stack infinitely and also gives me the buff [Sour Mood] which has no duration and will randomly disappear based on an unknown proc.

I submitted a ticket requesting for this to be hotfixed.  I’m told it’s a minor bug, but it should not be cast this often, and ideally shouldn’t be cast at all within this room.

(This is a follow up of sorts to the first Work Raid Encounter post.)

I expressed interest to the GM of taking over as the raid leader for our guild. I feel it’s something I am ready for and have been preparing for for the last couple years of playing.

Unfortunately, they declined to take me up on that offer and wish to keep me as merely an officer/class leader/sometimes co-raid leader. I don’t know.. something about wanting to eventually rebuild a guild or 2 they disbanded months ago and run them either through a merger or as a raiding alliance all under 1 raid leader. Apparently I’m not qualified to “maybe someday” run such an alliance or merger.

How far ahead are we looking? Seriously? We can’t fill raid spots now and benching more members isn’t completely off the table that I’m aware of.

Blarg. I need another expansion so I can level up to the next cap and train s’more skills, me thinks. But damn, that gets expensive. And our guild bank doesn’t give out loans.

But they do “appreciate” my dedication and willingness to co-raid lead for the time being… as well as all the farming I do and helping my guildies gear up.

Taking Fulguralis’ suggestion to have some fun with equating work with WoW and vice versa, I present you (and myself) with another way to look at what’s been happenin’….

Our server is experiencing some isolated issues that don’t seem to be affecting other servers or guilds.  Some of the problems, such as loot table nerfs, are a bit more widespread.

Our raid team is currently short a few people, which we are unable to PUG at the present time.  This has resulted in additional adds for all members to be responsible for.  We’re also expected to output the same level of DPS, if not higher, than usual despite these circumstances.

The most frustrating bug is the lack of a boss in the encounter.  Although this is an isolated issue, it is quite a frustrating one.  GMs assure us they are aware of the issue and plan to fix it in an upcoming patch.  Of course, they need to test it out on the PTR and find the most appropriate fix.  It is undetermined when the PTR testing will begin and when the patch will be implemented.

As a result, I’m co-raid leading with another member of our guild.  We’re doing our best with developing strategies for this new encounter.  Some of the old strategies are viable, but some no longer are.  I’ve co-lead this raid before; however, my current co-leader has lead other raids, but is not as familiar with the mechanics of this particular one.  We are anticipating having to change them again once the boss patch drops.

It has not been easy to ensure and enforce that everyone’s gear, specs, and consumables are up to par.  At this time, we are having to be in a hardcore mindset with more elitist expectations of everyone, considering we’re not running with a full raid.  The biggest concern is a few members look like they could die in a firing.

I’m sick of warning people to stay out of the damn fire.

The loot table has also been nerfed.  The level of rewards do not coincide with the difficulty of the encounter.  In fact, they are below it.  This may or may not be fixed in the future.  We’ve actually read some patch notes discussing future nerfs.  I’m not sure they realize how much this is and will affect our progression.

There is no achievement listed for completing this encounter without a boss, only a feat of strength.

As some of you may know, our guild is not a raiding guild.  However, that doesn’t mean we don’t know how to play or don’t want to see content.  I posted previously about our first attempt at 10man Naxxramas.  Since that post, we have gone into Naxx 2 more times.

We have not been able to finish off the Arachnid Quarter though due to that evil spidey, Maexxna.  However, the last time we went in, we took down Anub’Rehkan and Faerlina quite quickly.  After getting stuck on Maexxna, we decided to head into the Plague Quarter.  There, we were able to easily down Noth the Plaguebringer.  We attempted the Heigan dance a couple times before calling it as we hit our time limit.

One of the things I did find interesting about the Naxx progress was the fact that only about 4-5 of us were signed up for all those runs.  So, to look at the progress we’ve made since that first attempt, it’s interesting to note that we had different group compositions each time and people new to the fights. (continue reading…)

Last week recap

Last week’s beware sign was indeed from Grizzly Hills as many of you had guessed!  Good job to all!

Introducing…

This week’s screenshot is not much for guessing, but for entertainment.  I mean, who woulda thought 10 little bunnies could take down Archavon?

Don't eat the bunnies, Maagrom!

Dear Archavon,

I’m sorry to leave you this letter, but I don’t know the next time the Horde will control Wintergrasp so that I can swing by the Vault to talk to you.  You see, I’ve been doing some thinking… and I need to set our relationship straight now so no one gets hurt.

Yes, Arky, I know you are the Stone Watcher and nothing can hurt stone.  But just hear me out and finish reading.

It’s not you, it’s me.

Arky, baby, I’ve enjoyed the few times we’ve hung out.  I really have.  You have given me some really fun times and gifts.  But, I don’t see us getting any more serious or ‘going to the next level‘ together.  I know your attention is usually focused on only me when I come by… but that one party… you know the one.  That one time I wasn’t the only Warlock over? Yeah, I noticed how you ignored me.  If you hadn’t ignored me that night, I probably would already have my T7 4 set bonus, but no.

And you thought that first date you were sooo slick… giving me two pairs of gloves… one for PvE and one for PvP.  Yeah, I know.  I know you were feelin’ me out to see what I liked.  You saw how I gushed over the PvE gloves and made sure to only bestow PvE gifts upon me after that.  The leggings were nice (and a not-so-subtle hint).  But the robes, oh, the robes! How I love them!

But, it’s over between us, Archavon.  You know that new guy that moved into your building, Emalon?  I hear he’s bigger, badder, and gives out better “rewards.”

I need better rewards, Arky.

And you know I’m a sucker for badass boys.

We can still be friends though.  Maybe even friends with benefits.  But, the next time I stop by the Vault, don’t be surprised if I stay at Emalon’s place, alright?

~Sins & Souls~

Syrana

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…)