Pixel Killers!

Where Do We Go (6/7/06)?

2006-06-06T08:52:00.000-07:00

Rimunathah got half-way between 54th and 55th level and he asks: where do we meet on Wednesday? Did everyone complete their Sunken Temple quests last week? Are there other important quests that need completion?

Potions, potions, potions! Whither horde night?

2006-05-22T05:55:00.000-07:00

Tarsius finally cleaned house and made a bunch of potions. Everyone should have 4 or 5 major healing potions, 3 or 4 superior mana potions (if you swing that way), 3 elixirs of superior defense, and elixirs of the mongoose (for Throttle, Bullvyne and myself). I also turned in some of the Everlook travel-to-the-plaguelands quests. Tarsius is still on the lower end of 53 (far enough out that I doubt I will hit 54 on Horde Night). I bid on a potion recipe for Elixir of Greater Firepower (adds 40 to fire damage spells for an hour). We'll see if I get it or not.

I picked up an item for Tarsius on the Alliance side so I'll need to do a transfer. Al, I got the Imperial Chestplate. I think all I need now are the leggings and gloves for a complete set (that and a couple more levels so that I can wear all the pieces).

Where shall we go this Wednesday? If we can manage to change Timbermaw rep that's two quests (one to turn in on each tunnel entrance). However, I bet that's a long, tough road. There are plenty of orange EP quests. If we have at least five, that might work out well. Sunken Temple? I still have that warrior quest there (though I may have dropped the others).

5/17/06 recap and 5/24/06 plans

2006-05-19T10:16:00.000-07:00

This week, the Fab Four of non-evil mayhem -- Tarsius, Rim, Ungarosh, and Ringo (sorry, I mean Throttle) -- had a productive session. They missed their fellow Purginistas, though, and hope they'll be back online soon.

We took care of money and gear transfers, then cleared out Jaedenar quests in Felwood. After that, we made some progress in Winterspring. Later on that evening, Ungarosh headed over to the Plaguelands and pushed on to 54th, partly so he could use some of his new equipment, but mainly because he's going to be missing at least two weeks in June while his alter ego does research in Prague and Budapest.

So what's our plan for next week? I think we're spread out from 52nd to 54th, which isn't too bad, but also a bit scattered where our progress on the Felwood/Winterspring quest lines is concerned. Also, most of us have quests in Sunken Temple, including class-specific ones, so maybe we should hit that soon. I'd be up for that next week, but if we want to hold off and focus on F/W instead, that's fine too.

-- Ungarosh/John

Greed is Good - Wednesday 5/17/06

2006-05-16T19:54:00.000-07:00

A recap of Wednesday night's plan for those of you keeping score at home:

1. We meet in Gadget for the Alliance/Horde exchange, whereby much wealth is distributed.

2. Then we bop over to Felwood to finish the Jaedenar questline.

3. If we have time, then we plow through Winterspring.

Post at will!

To Felwood...and Beyond!

2006-05-11T05:43:00.000-07:00

Rimunathah, Throttle and Ungarosh (the Terrible Three? The Thrifty Three?) teamed up last night. Throttle and Ungarosh were gracious enough to help Rimunathah complete several quests in Felwood, including the first few "Jaedenar" quests in that quest line. As a result of last night's efforts, the Timbermaw firbolgs are now merely "unfriendly" towards Rimunathah.

Tarsius made a Very Special Appearance for a few brief moments at the end, and Furorhoof tried to speak to us from the Great Beyond (rather, that is what it sounded like, as Eric attempted to use TS for the first time). But we missed having the entire gang with us as we cut a bloody swathe through our enemies.

Wednesday Night 5/10/06

2006-05-10T10:24:00.000-07:00

Rimunathah is camped out in Undercity. I will log on around 730 pm CST or so, and I am open for anything. Since I haven't been on for a while, I have no burning desire to complete any particular quest. Post your suggestions!

Purge Treasury

2006-05-10T08:47:00.000-07:00

Chemanis has sent a large sum of gold, herbs, and items to Senicus that need to be transferred (I can't remember the exact amount; 200 gp more or less without regard to the plants; Senicus bank and all his bags are full). Throttle, I assume you have received funds from Goragil. Let's try to see where we're at. I recommend sending Furorhoof 100 gp. If Throttle has those funds available, go ahead and do that (absent objections) and we'll transfer the other funds over at some point. Unfortunately, I will not be on tonight so it will have to wait a bit.

Horde Night and TeamSpeak

2006-05-09T12:38:00.000-07:00

Tarsius will likely be absent for most, if not all, of Horde Night 5/10/06. Let me know where you plan to go and what happens.

I think I should take over the TeamSpeak account from Molloy. Unfortunately, my e-mail to him just bounced back as undeliverable. So Molloy, if you're reading this, we need to hook up. Either you can show me how to create a new account or we can change the payee information on your account. This week is bad. Next week?

Felwood feels good!

2006-05-02T10:50:00.000-07:00

I suggest felwood. Many quest at the flight point and a few on the way in. Even a few boss fights at the end of quest lines. Throttle can act as tour guide. As Zinzi and Bullvyne are BOTH 54, mayhap we could help Eric through an instance? (with my pet as tank we'd be 4) Or whatever. Discuss.

Bullvyne

Throttle has a Crystal Ball ?!?

2006-04-25T19:35:00.000-07:00

OK, after doing some research (a couple of hours tonight) my best estimate is that we have two places we could hit for the next couple of levels. I think we will be able to pick up some of the Blackrock Depths quests in the Badlands and Burning Steppes areas, plus the quests in the Steppes themselves. Or we can hit the Felwood/Winterspring area, which I think will have more quests to do number wise. After that, we should be high enough level to get several more quests in the Plaguelands (both sides).

The difficulty in all these areas is that we are not quite high enough level to get all quests in the chains in those places. We're at the point where we'll be beginning chains with ending quests for level 60 (or close to it). So the chains will "peter out" until we get some more levels under our belt (as we've experienced in the Western Plaguelands). That makes things a little more difficult for us story-driven players (grin) and also might complicated things for any who might miss a night in the coming months because they won't have completed prerequisite quests in the chains.

Given that, and the fact that Felwood is slightly lower level than Burning Steppes, and that our resident leatherworker and our enchantress could benefit from reputation with the Firbolg, my suggestion is that we do some questing in Felwood/Winterspring for the next level or two (depending on how long they take), then knock out our Sunken Temple quests, then focus on the Burning Steppes and the Blackrock quests - which we'll have more of because we'll have gained some levels (less repetition of the instance, which – just like Scarlet Monastery – will most likely take several trips), and at some point in there (for variety’s sake, or if we need more xp) we can knock out some of the Plagueland quests – which can be exciting and/or different than some of the quests we’ve done (the Battle of Darrowshire, and that Scarlet Brotherhood city come to mind). This schedule, of course, subject to change and/or radical reworking as we go - Offer void where prohibited - Results not typical – Your results may vary…

But for this week, I’m still good with doing the murlock thing in Swamp of Sorrows as we gather, riding through Redridge (because I want to see what they do when we go through there), and make our first raid on BRD – to see what it’s like, and maybe get a little taste of what lies ahead. All of these activities (except for the ride-through) will still give us xp, and working through a plan might motivate us a little.

Feedback?...

Mjt!

Destroy Morphaz!

2006-04-25T16:22:00.000-07:00

Rimunathah has a quest in the Sunken Temple he'd like to complete. I must destroy a dragon named Morphaz and take an arcane shard from him. The quest is a yellow quest, so it shouldn't be too hard.

Any takers?

...And Hear the Lamentations of Their Women

2006-04-25T04:25:00.000-07:00

Conan's got a MMORPG coming out in time for Christmas.

4/26/06 Horde Night

2006-04-24T06:43:00.000-07:00

Where? Perhaps we can raid an instance? Dire Maul too high for our full contingent? I have no strong feelings.

I got Tarsius to 52 on Saturday and hunted down those remaining Pterodaxes.

Jurassic WoW - 19 April

2006-04-19T06:27:00.000-07:00

In accordance with the comments generated by the previous post, Rimunathah sez: let's go throw some frost on raptors in Ungoro! Meet at Gadget!

Brains....

2006-04-17T19:23:00.000-07:00

Rimunathah sez: let's head on over to the Plaguelands on Wednesday night and get busy bustin' skulls!

The beginning

2006-04-13T16:58:00.000-07:00

I have added myself to the blog invites.. note that now bliblo is posting.. hope thats ok.

Zinzi

A TS Fix...

2006-04-13T16:47:00.000-07:00

A FIX....

Ok, this is a back door fix, but if it fixes it great. I have tested it with Mike and it appears to work...
Go to Keymappings and change one of the key mappings to utilize the middle mouse button. Then change it back.. this should clear any mappings that were being associated with the middle mouse button.

If you need more guidance, ask.. or seek counseling.. the choice is yours.

Zinzi

Horde Night 4/12/06

2006-04-10T07:02:00.000-07:00

Tarsius votes for Un'Goro. Lots of quests. Lots of herbs. He's been such a slacker in the potion-making of late . . .

What say the others?

Argent Dawn

2006-04-09T10:13:00.000-07:00

Rimunathah completed some Plagueland quests this weekend and obtained the Argent Dawn Insignia. I wonder: is this an organization we want to be associated with? What are the benefits/disadvantages to joining such a group?

Alterac Valley

2006-04-07T06:45:00.000-07:00

Well, I tested my theroy. You can get into AV at 51. I think we should all do it. It's relatively easy to get into on Horde side. There are at least 2 quest we could do. (banner in cave and capture a mine) They con red, but the bads are low 50s and low 50 elites. Those who have been there could show everyone else how to gather and do quest turn in. (To help your NPCs get stronger and to summon elite units) We might get in some PVP, but wouldn't finish it I'm sure. The AVs I've been in have been impossibly long. Still, you'd get the guided tour without feeling like such a noob. So get to 51 everybody. :)

Bull

Sunken Temple Questing

2006-04-06T09:53:00.000-07:00

Well, Gor completed the first 2 of 3 quests to allow him to obtain a trinket that creates a mana tide totem. This totem will restore 27 mana points every 2 seconds. My current mana totem spell restores about 8 points every 2 seconds. This would be a big upgrade for the mana folks, since the radius of the totem in 20 yards and it lasts for 20 seconds.

Gor needs to quest the Sunken Temple and kill some of the trolls, maybe even the named ones we killed last night.

I say at 52-53, we should go back in for quest completion for all of our quests.

Gor

Tauren Can Read

2006-04-05T11:28:00.000-07:00

Many of you may not know that Eric, aka Furorhoof, is, among other things the editor and publisher of an on-line science fiction and fantasy magazine called "Lone Star Stories". Check out the latest issue here. I particularly enjoyed "Practical Zombies" and the Jeff VanDerMeer story.

Bloody Elves

2006-04-04T09:00:00.000-07:00

Blizzard leaked more content re: The Burning Crusade expansion today. There are new images of Blood Elves on Gamespy and a link to an interview with some dude involved in the project on the official site.

Bottom line: Rimunathah wants a flying mount, and he wants it now!

Whither Wednesday?

2006-04-03T07:56:00.000-07:00

Where are we going? What are we doing? Who will be on?

Honestly, I think we can go almost anywhere at this point except the end-game instances. I have no suggestions but we should come up with a plan BEFORE Wednesday night.

Tarsius.

Wisps? WTF?!!

2006-03-31T14:45:00.000-08:00

Check out the official site and see if you can explain that one to me. The new Alliance race is The Wisp. One of their racial powers is "detonate" which apparently results in permanent death but does mana damage to surrounding enemies. You can turn into a tree and gain 300 spirit.

My assumption is that this is an April Fools joke. Must be. Surely.

Let loose the dogs of War

2006-03-30T12:20:00.000-08:00

Is it cool? Can I level to 50 now? Anyone? Thoughts? Post, or I shall do it any way.

"My God, Its Full of Stars!"

2006-03-29T03:37:00.000-08:00

Downloading the patch was a relatively painless experience for me, as I hope it was for you. I was unable to log on last night, though. I am not sure what the problem was, but if I were to hazard a guess, I'd say it was because the server was not online.

I logged on this morning, cycling through my alts, to see if I could catch some of that weather. I didn't experience any rain or snow but I did note that that sky is now quite dynamic, with clouds and stars. It was pretty cool!

Rimunathah

Patch 1.10 is Live

2006-03-28T11:22:00.000-08:00

Check out the WoW website. Expect long download times!

There'll be no BG for Rimunathah tonight.

Wednesday, Bloody Wednesday

2006-03-27T04:15:00.000-08:00

Throttle asks (and I am paraphrasing here): Was last Wednesday's BG extravaganza a one-time thing, or can we do it again?

I say we do it again! I cannot speak for anyone else but Rimunathah is not yet even half-way through level 49. He is more than happy to spend time in a BG. And once we work the kinks out of our communication problems, we will dominate the field. Which is always fun.

What say we all?

Well Done! What next?

2006-03-23T05:26:00.000-08:00

Good job last night! Well, except for that first round. Not sure how we did that badly that quickly. But apart from that, well done.

Our second AB round and the the WSG, in particular, were well fought. We had good opposition. I think we would have pulled the WSG round off sooner if Ungarosh hadn't been summoned to the great beyond whilst carrying the flag. Damn the powers that be!

What do we want to do next week?

Beware the 22nd of March!

2006-03-22T05:45:00.000-08:00

Will the Alliance experience a mighty mighty beating this evening in Battle Grounds?

Of course they will.

I suggest that we sign up for both Arathi Basin and Warsong Gulch as a group. Rimunathah will be on around 730 pm or so. Send him a whisper or tell when you get on and we shall coordinate.

Upper+Middle+Lower Map = Bust

2006-03-17T06:06:00.000-08:00

I had Chemanis do the Tanaris "map" quest and it was a bust. The quest is listed at 40th level and you have to navigate past several ~50th elite turtles. Then you have to fight off 5 non-elite 45th pirates, after touching the "treasure" chest. No problem for a 60th, but the only magic item he received was a 37th level leather shoulders.

Just thought I would let the group know that there is not much of a reason to keep the upper and lower map pieces.

BTW, I may be on tonight for 2 hours if anyone is around. Gor will hit BG's unless there is a 60th group forming.

Gor/Chem

How'd we do?

2006-03-16T05:43:00.000-08:00

I wasn't monitoring the main group's chat last night. Did y'all prevail in ZF?

Bull and I completed a few quests in Un'Goro. Didn't make that much headway xp-wise I'd say Tarsius is near 40% of the way through 49. May try to do some BG to "keep warm" for next week's session. Is that what we're gonna do?

Wednesday Night fights (15th)

2006-03-15T07:29:00.000-08:00

It looks like the plan is to hit Zul F for the carrot. Group composition will have to be determined when we get there, as it looks like we'll have more than 5. Bullvyne isn't really that interested in the carrot. Like Tarsius, he would bow out if the group has too many. Of course I'm not sure how the group will survive without him, but whatever.

Of Cats and Conan

2006-03-10T08:52:00.000-08:00

If you have a few minutes, read this week's Planet Fargo on Gamespy. You'll be glad you did!

Check out today's PvP Online

2006-03-09T06:03:00.000-08:00

Not so much for the strip itself but for the WoW issue discussed beneath it.

http://www.pvponline.com/

Recap and Plans for 3/15/06

2006-03-09T05:58:00.000-08:00

Very good run. I am exhausted. Got very little sleep the night before. Did drills and hills at 6:00 a.m. the following morning. Did not get to bed until very late last night and got up at 5:30 a.m. Can hardy keep eyes open.

Tarsius still has a couple of quests to clear in Booty Bay (remember that chicken?) and Tanaris (egg). That will push him very close or over 49. Which will make me happy cuz I bought new stuff that I can't use until I'm 49. What I'm saying is I'll be 49 next session. I won't have time to do much more at all (going to Corpus to see my dad this weekend). But there it is.

Do we want to do group BG next week? Use our newly blessed mallets in ZF? Post your ideas.

WoW As A Text Adventure

2006-03-08T13:26:00.000-08:00

Enjoy! (link yoinked from Boing Boing)

TONIGHT 3/8/06 (PLEASE POST)

2006-03-08T06:12:00.000-08:00

We are meeting at Revantusk (as that appears to be the consensus and there have been no other proposals). I have proposed we start at 7:45 p.m. given our desire to get to the top. Please post with the answers to two questions:

1. Are you in?

2. Can you start at 7:45?

60th + Quest Completion = GOLD!!!!!

2006-03-07T06:17:00.000-08:00

If you have not read the 1.10 patch posting, check it out. It is reported that when a 60th level turns in a quest, after the 1.10 patch, they will get GOLD instead of the useless XP. Chemanis is saving his BG badges to turn in after the patch release to see if they give you gold also. He also has 2 non-elite quests that he will look to finish and see what the conversion rate is for them.

Chemanis/Goragil

Rimunathah Rocks!

2006-03-06T07:10:00.000-08:00

I just have to brag a little. I was en fuego in Warsong Gulch last night.

The oscar ceremony was threatening to melt my brain, so I logged on to WoW for a little BG action. Although I had to wait through a queue of 140 or so to get on the bloody game, BG was in full swing, so I was whisked away almost as soon as I signed up.

I found myself in a game that was already underway. Within seconds, a druid snagged the Horde flag and was making his escape. I think he was as surprised to see me as I was to see him, for he didn't make it into his travel form fast enough to escape my frost nova. I had just gotten on and I already made my first kill and returned the flag.

Feeling saucy, racy and even a little randy, I made my way across the battlefield to the Alliance camp. One of my teammates snagged their flag and was desperately trying to capture it. Apparently, the entire Alliance team was on his a**, as their flag room was totally empty when I got there. I hung out discreetly and, sure enough, our flag carrier went down and the flag appeared back in the flag room. Naturally, I seized both the opportunity and the flag.

Mana shield on and blinking like the wind, I headed straight for the Horde flag room. My teammates were already midfield after our last unsuccessful attempt to capture, so they thwarted a couple of attempts to sap/frost nova/fear me as I fought my way through the carnage. I finished off a few opponents with some arcane blasts, made my way to the flag room, and planted it. Since our side already captured the flag twice before, I won the game.

I didn't die once.

That had to be the sweetest WoW moment I have ever had.

Recap and Plans for 3/8/06

2006-03-02T05:26:00.000-08:00

Last night was a pretty decent run. As we all remarked, that is an ideal area for us because we can kill elites and do elite quests without being separated by an instance. We would not have wiped at all but for Blizzard's server burp. It would have been nice to have completed one of the elite quests but at least we made progress on several. We now know that to complete them we will need to start on time and immediately begin tackling elites. It takes a long time to get to the top which is where we need to be to complete most of the quests. I see no reason why we could not knock out most of them next week. Hopefully, we can finish at least a few. That is my suggestion for what we do next week. I doubt we'll hit 49 but we may if we knock out alot of those elite quests. Following that, we can do group PvP if there is interest.

Tarsius is less than a pip into 48. I will not have time to play him before next week. Most of my spare WoW time these days (and there is less of it) is spent playing with Cason. He's actually gotten pretty good and we have a good variety of characters to choose from. I'm officially giving up on PvP rank. I just don't have the time to focus on it right now and you have to play *very* regularly to keep your rank up. I would eventually like to get honored status with the Outriders and the Defilers for purposes of acquiring some items. At least reputation is permanent and doesn't fade. Thus, I can PvP every once and a while, turn in marks, and gradually get to honored.

Tarsius

World Event - The Gates of Ahn'Qiraj

2006-02-27T17:35:00.000-08:00

This past Saturday, Temm received a missive [phone call] from Alborlan that something massive was going on in the world of Azeroth. The legendary Scarab Gates of Ahn'Qiraj had been opened, and an invasion of the southern portion of the continent of Kalimdor was underway. The horns of war were sounded, calling heroes of both the Horde and Alliance to come and face the threat of alien invaders.

Temm girded himself and Patches for battle, and immediately hopped a griffon to Menethil Harbor. While waiting on the dock for the boat to Theramore, at least a dozen other heroes rode up, pacing and fidgeting with excitement. The chat channels were abuzz with tidbits of information and speculation, and via the Eternal Covenant's telepathic bond Al told Temm that Silithus was crawling with level 60+ Elite monsters. Temm asked out loud if anyone else on the dock was heading for Silithus, and the answer that came back - "Who isn't?" - sent a thrill through him.

Upon arriving in Gadgetstan for the last leg of the griffon journey to Silithus, the extent of the invasion started to become clear. A giant floating crystal had materialized in the middle of town, and the guards and visitors to Gadget were engaged with several bugs and giant 5-story level 61 Elite "Anubis" type creatures in a bloody battle in the street. The stomping attacks of the giants shook the ground, and the crystal would occasionally mind-control individuals, forcing them to attack the defenders and adding to the chaos. After helping take down one of the giants, and checking his mail [to which Al remarked, "the end of the world is here, and you're checking your MAIL?!?"], Temm decided to leave the defense of Gadget to those that had chosen to make their stand there, and headed for the flight master. Even they were affected by the invasion, and Temm had to run a few hundred yards into the desert to get clear of the "cloud of war" that had enveloped the city, before he could get clearance to take off.

Upon flying into Cenarion Hold in Silithus, the excitement in the air was palpable. The hold was crawling with heroes of both factions scurrying here and there, intent on each of their goals, and bodies and skeletons littered the sides of the hill upon which the Hold was built. Tavia had arrived slightly before Temm, and had already hooked up with Alborlan in the southern part of the zone - directly outside the newly opened gates of Ahn'Qiraj. As Temm rode down the path out of the hold, he stopped to admire a squad of Ogrimmar soldiers [NPCs] that were guarding the path. It was two ranks of 7 each level-60 Elite orcish axemen - with deadly looking sawblade axes and full plate armor - flanked by a rank of 7 level-60 Elite tauren riflemen for missile support. As he sat there, a squad of level-60 Elite dwarven cavalry rode by, their battle rams snorting with exertion as they galloped down the path. Temm wondered, "What kind of invaders would require these kinds of defenders?"

And then his question was answered. Stomping up the path toward the Hold came 4 of the Anubis-giants, and vaguely in the distance Temm could make out a monstrous 7-story tall insect, surrounded by more of the giants, pacing back and forth as if waiting for the defenders to come out and engage it. The squads of [NPC] guards sprang to attack the approaching giants, and individual heroes of the Horde and Alliance joined in, turning the path into a chaotic bloody mess. But the defenders held their ground. After the giant patrol was eliminated, many of the heroes started forming up groups to take on the monstrous mega-bug, but Temm decided his efforts would best be served by joining with his guildies. As he continued down the path to the south, passing easily a hundred yards away from the battle of the mega-bug, Temm was suddenly blown off Patches by a blast from the bug [for 3000+ damage] and through the air several hundred yards across the zone to a crushing fall [for another 2000+ damage]. That was the first of many deaths for Temm that day.

When Temm finally caught up with Al and Tavia, they sat on their mounts at the base of the staircase leading up to the dreaded Scarab Gates. The arch of the open gates were easily large enough to fly a zeppelin through, and was flanked by two giant guards, and a pair of hideous demon-insect looking creatures. The area beyond the gates was an open, rocky, barren expanse of ground large enough to fit a city within, with broad pathways leading further up into the ruins and the dangers that lay within [the 20 and 40 man instances of Ahn'Qiraj]. As we milled about with several other heroes of both factions, we vainly tried to join one of the raid groups forming so we could get a look-see inside of the ruins, but didn't have any takers. So we decided to try our hand at taking on some of the "fringe elements" of the invasion in other parts of the zone.

It was a dismal failure. As we rode off to one side of the gates, looking for a sub-group to take on, Temm noticed a distinct lack of the normal monsters of the zone. They were no where to be found. Apparently the invasion had scared them all into hiding [and the server probably wouldn't have been able to handle the load - the place was laggy enough with all the players in the zone, and the uber-creatures invading]. When we finally came upon a floating crystal and it's bug and giant guards, we were able to pull just one of the bugs but couldn't manage to defeat it. A quick repeating fear attack from the bug, combined with the occasional mind-control from the crystal, combined with the occasional "attention" from one of the giants, was just too much for the three of us to handle.

We regrouped back at the Hold, and tried for a run at Hive Zora in the southeast part of the zone. We had heard that the one remaining mega-bug was located there, whose defeat would mark the end of the invasion [for now?...], so we figured we might could get in on something there. But unfortunately, all the raid groups large enough to possibly take down the mega-bug were busy inside the instances, so although we fought alongside various groupings of Alliance and Horde teams, the bug just would not DIE! And we died far too often. [I suppose we should have expected it, considering the bug conned as "??" for us at 60.]

About this time Senicus arrived, so we did ANOTHER regroup back at the steps of the Scarab Gates. After several more postings on the Looking-For-Group channel - and seeing others doing the same - we finally decided to try and put together a raid group of our own. That in itself was an arduous task, with all the "add my friend so-and-so", and "sorry, I know I just joined, but I gotta go" and such, it took probably about an hour to get a full contingent of 20 people. We did discover that once we started forming the raid that we could enter the instance. So Temm got to see the first room of the 40 man instance [TOTALLY not doable at the time], and we started gathering our raid in the first room of the 20 man instance.

The number of people arriving in the instance slowly - slowly - slowly grew. Occasionally we'd engage a single, lone, wandering monster that would fly into the room and aggro on us. But as we discovered, the level 61 Elite monsters in a 20 man dungeon just cannot be taken down by 4, or 5, or 7, or even 11 players. They are designed to be a challenge when pulled by a full 20 man group and nothing short of that can really affect them. So we died. And died. And repaired armor. And died some more. I think sometime during the "gathering the group" phase, Alborlan decided to call it quits, but Tav and Sen stayed with Temm till the full gathering happened. Then there was the issue of getting 20 different players all organized. Fortunately, there was a player experienced with Molten Core runs who took charge and switched the teams around, and explained how to approach things. So in fits and starts we slowly got the gears into motion and began our run.

Once we got going, things went pretty darn well. The most powerful hunter in the group would mark and pull, and then feign death when the most powerful fighter (the Main Tank) stepped up and grabbed the aggro. If it was a mis-pull (more than the party could handle), the hunter could just feign death right off and preserve the rest of the group. If there were up to 3 bads, then the secondary tanks (Temm was one of those) would engage the subordinate monsters until the primary target went down and help from the group arrived. The healers were spread out among the sub-groups to do nothing but heal (non stop!) on the tanks - cause otherwise we'd go down in two or three hits. Everyone else would just focus on the marked baddie, supporting the main tank, until it went down, and then move on to the secondary targets. I'd say we went through probably close to 10 encounters that way, with no significant wipes - although Temm died many times because his armor wasn't as tough as some of the others.

We were within sight of the first big boss of the instance - a giant bloated "earwig the size of a city bus" visible in the next room - when we had to take a break for repairs. Unfortunately, time ran out for Tavia and Temm, and they had to retire from the field of battle. All in all, for my part, I have to say it was exciting to be able to participate in a big "World Event", and to just barely touch upon what it must be like to regularly engage in the high end content. It was very cool, and I really look forward to when our full gang can do these kinds of things.

TtT/Mjt!

Is It Crowded In Here, Or Is It Just Me?

2006-02-23T06:13:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine recently began playing WoW. I invited him to join us on Cenarion Circle but when he attempted to create a character, he was told that Blizzard will not allow people who do not already have characters on our server to generate characters on our server.

I think we are officially at full capacity.

But I am not surprised: everyone wants to behold the glory that is the Purge first hand!

Rimunathah

Recap and Plans for 3/1/06

2006-02-23T06:08:00.000-08:00

We did well as a group of five last night. I think we cleared five or six quests in The Hinterlands. Actually, it was pretty easy. The only thing that slowed us down was farmers. Tarsius is a little over half way to 48th (after turning in the last couple of weeks BG marks). We got the mallet for ZF but need to take it to a temple/alter somewhere before it can be used to summon the big beast (I haven't followed up on that yet).

I suggest we hit The Hinterlands again next week. If we get a couple more people we can split into two groups but effectively perform like a raid. Perhaps we hit the big village with the elites and, if in two groups, get some quest completion as well.

Once everyone is at 48 perhaps we can hit BG for a session or two just for a change of pace.

What say ye all?

Sir, Yes Sir!

2006-02-22T06:08:00.000-08:00

Just a note to the peeps. If you were to look at the PvP ranking section on the WoW website, you would notice that there are 4 Purge members in the top 2000 Horde characters for our server.

Here is what I saw:

Zinzi - First Sergeant
Rim - Senior Sergeant
Tarsius - Senior Sergeant
Goragil - Sergent

The Purge is not evil, they just kick a$$!

Gor

Meet at Revantusk in The Hinterlands

2006-02-21T09:41:00.000-08:00

In the absence of any objections, the plan for the 2/22/06 Horde Night is to meet in The Hinterlands at the Horde flight path in Revantusk (SE corner of The Hinterlands). I suggest getting the flight path tonight if possible as it is a bit of a run. Should be no problems if you are careful. Directions are in the comments to the "What a Ride!" post. Also, please clear a fair number of quest slots. There are fifteen quests available. Tarsius has all of them. I'll try to get on with him tonight to develop a sensible plan of attack. Should we start with kill quests or with trying to get the components of the ZF mallet?

Update on Group Funds

2006-02-21T06:04:00.000-08:00

Based on the recent sale of the Underworld Band for a take home of 185gp and some issuing out of funds for group needs, we currently have 435gp in our slush fund.

Does anyone need money before Wednesday night?

Goragil

Strange New Worlds

2006-02-20T14:15:00.000-08:00

The other night, as I pondered the fact that over 500 people were before me in the Cenarius Circle queue, my thoughts strayed to other servers. I do not have characters on other servers, although I am tempted to generate some so I can get my WoW fix during peak times.

Do you have characters on other servers? If so, which servers and why?

WoW: The Right Choice?

2006-02-16T07:09:00.000-08:00

Back in November 2004, our group decided to make the switch from CoH to WoW. The other candidate for our addiction and money was EQII. Personally, I bought and experimented with EQII but did not have many good things to say about it. Have you ever wondered whether we made the right choice? This is an excerpt from the Penny Arcade dude (also a WoW player who recently gave EQII a shot just for the halibut):

"I figured since it was free I’d give EQ II a shot yesterday. Tycho’s right about my take on the game. I found it nearly impossible to get past the visuals. The entire game looks like it was made using Poser and Bryce 3D. Actually some of that Poser art looks better than the shit I saw in EQ. It feels like it was all put together by computers and algorithms rather than artists. It is a world designed by math rather than imagination. There is no evidence of style in any of the characters or environments I saw. We were all talking about the game yesterday and the best word we could come up with to describe it was “sterile”. It is completely without life. There is no love or care given to any piece of it. The entire thing was made by robots in a vacuum.
I know there must be artists working at SOE. The only thing I can think of is that they are simply cogs in some corporate machine. They must be given no freedom at all. In fact after looking at the game I wouldn’t be surprised if they are beaten daily. Their spirits have been broken. The troll models specifically may even be some kind of internal attempt to destroy the game and strike a blow against their corporate masters."

What a ride!

2006-02-16T05:34:00.000-08:00

Easily, the best Horde Night in a long, long while. In particular, I had some concerns about our ability to get through the Divinomatic quest in ZF but we completed it without a hitch. We survived a number of encounters that I recall wiping our Alliance alts out. In fact, I recall ZF being a difficult area even with much higher level characters helping out. In short, we totally ruled. Tarsius completed four quests and is well on his way to completing a fifth. He gained a whole level of experience and is perched near the edge of 47. We discovered a "new" boss as well (though that is where we ultimately perished; WE SHALL RETURN). On top of all that, we got a purple drop?!!! Show me da money!

I think next week is a no brainer. We head to The Hinterlands. We need to get that flight path and complete some quests to get us the pieces to the mallet that we can then use back in ZF to summon Gah'jirra (or however they spell it). There is also the egg quest which takes us there and eventually leads us to the Sunken Temple. In the interim, it probably makes sense for those that are not so far along that line to complete the Vale Screecher quest and begin to advance that ball if they are interested.

I'll keep Tarsius where he's at of course. I may PvP and there are some travel quests I need to clear to get them out of my log. In any event, I won't turn any honor badges in. For purposes of knowing where we are level-wise, assume that Tarsius will hit 47 early in next week's session.

Bull and Rim: I am sorry you missed that one.

Wrewdie Wules!

2006-02-13T05:03:00.000-08:00

I spent some time this weekend with Wrewdie, the coolest gnome there is. I played round after round of Warsong Gulch. I must say that playing that BG on the Alliance side can be a bit depressing. We did manage to win once and we made the Horde work for every captured flag. Wrewdie's reputation with the Silverwing Sentinels increased and he should be nearly rank three after the honor is tallied. He is nearly 41st level too.

One of the problems I noted was the lack of organization on the Alliance side. I think that once some of your Alliance alts make 40+, we could really turn that downward trend around!

On another note, Rimunathah will not make the Wednesday night session this week. I will be out of town and out of internet contact for the next four days. Rim is about three-quarters of the way towards 46th level.

Have fun!

Timbermaw Reputation

2006-02-10T06:22:00.000-08:00

Chemanis has reached 'Friendly' status with the Timbermaw in Felwood. He would like to get to Honored so that he can buy the +15 Agility to Weaons Enchantment. If he can buy 1, then it will go to Zinzi, If he can buy 2, then 1 will also go to Sen, so that Chemanis can get his weapons enchanted. Chem is currently at 600 points of the 6000 needed. Grouping makes this much easier because everyone in the group gets Rep credit for the kills.

I am hoping to be on next Monday night at about 7pm CST. If any wants to work on the reputation, meet me at the flight path in Felwood (up north).

Chemanis/Goragil

Horde Night 2/15/06 and Recap

2006-02-09T05:18:00.000-08:00

Last night (2/8/06) went reasonably well. Tarsius gained about a half a level. He is a little over half way to 46. Seems like we have some stragglers. We agreed last night to stay put at 45 but let's see if the stragglers can't catch up between now and next week. For my own part, the most I will do is complete some of the quests that others seemed like they finished last night. That should not take me far as I think that is only one kill quest.

That brings up another point. Seems like we did a lot of quests that were repetitive for some but not others. Perhaps what we should do is set a target for the following week so that people don't do all the quests in that area between sessions. Hence the early post for next week.

In that regard, I think we can go a bit tougher. The primary question is whether we raid an instance or hit a new area. I am up for either. Is Un'Goro beyond us as a group? I doubt we are high enough to get many of the quests but perhaps we can hunt there. How about The Hinterlands? Looks like we can take a few of those questes. Thoughts?

Status of Group Funds

2006-02-08T10:19:00.000-08:00

What is the status of our group funds? It is looking like Tarsius will need around 15 gp to train at 46th. He has less than half that. Should he grind?

Tarsius

Patch Alert

2006-02-07T13:12:00.000-08:00

Looks like there is a patch coming out today/tonight. Sounds like it is probably small but you will want to download it tonight to avoid interfering with Horde Night.

Grrr. Mooo.

Horde Night 2/8/06

2006-02-06T06:03:00.000-08:00

What's the plan? Tanaris (still got about 8 quests there)? Zul'Farak (got almost as many)? We could raid Maraudon just for grins (I got nothing there but we could probably handle a lot of it)?

Saw practically no one this weekend. Very sad. I pushed my druid and pally to 6th (actually I hired Molloy's kid and Cason to work on that; they weren't very focused). I got my shammy to 14th and my cleric to 10th. I did numerous BG rounds on Sunday afternoon with Tarsius. It was double honor for AB but the Alliance barely put up anyone. 5 v. 15 doesn't work to well. They's show up. We'd cap all five. One or two of them would struggle uselessly and we'd win. What's up with that? AB is way more fun than WSG imho and it was double honor. Everyone was playing WSG so I did a few rounds of that as well. A bit more of a challenge but we still rolled over Alliance like a chainsaw through butter . . .

Alt List

2006-02-03T06:09:00.000-08:00

Rim brought up a good post in another post. Let's have this post list our alts. Here are mine/Tarsius'.

Alliance:

Senicus (Human Mage 60)
Rorick (Gnome Rogue 31)
Ironshot (Dwarf Hunter 21)
Morys (Human Paladin 5)
Dvinion (Night Elf Druid 3)

Horde:
Tarsius (Tauren Warrior 45)
Trekpa (Orc Shaman 12)
Visadros (Undead Warlock 9)
Mogrok (Troll Priest 8)

Add these to your friends list if you can. I think they are all in either EC or the Purge at this point.

Friday Night?

2006-02-02T05:49:00.000-08:00

Anyone up for a group this Friday 2/2/06? I got characters ranging from 3rd to 60th on both sides. I may not be on much this weekend.

I thought Horde Night went reasonably well given the disparate locations of our goals. We finished them. I'll keep Tarsius parked where he's at (just a hair into 45th). I may PvP but I will not hunt/quest.

Horde Night 2/1/06

2006-02-01T05:43:00.000-08:00

What is the plan? Where shall we meet?

I feel I've been too forceful in presenting plans and getting us moving. Thus, you will see a more mellow Tarsius (wine in hand) this evening.

Don't make me regret it though. Someone come up with a plan and let's roll with it on time to maximize the fun.

Tarsius.

Battle Grounds - For the Horde

2006-01-30T07:44:00.000-08:00

For those that have been playing BG on the Horde side, what have you found to be the most advantagous potions besides Swiftness, Healing and Mana?

What tricks have the 43-44th level folks learned to fight the higher alliance folks?

Goragil (Michael)

This Pimp Daddy is Fly!

2006-01-29T14:41:00.000-08:00

Rimunathah not only clawed his way to 44th level; he became an artisan tailor! Now most of his equipment is hand-stitched and he is the belle of the ball in black and orange mageweave.

Expect some shirts in the mail, in time for the Lunar Festival.

WoW Weekend 1/27-1/29

2006-01-27T08:08:00.000-08:00

Anything up this weekend? My wife is a little under the weather so I expect I might be able to game a bit more than usual.

I am considering trying to get a character of every class to 20th level. The reason is that it seems like you begin to appreciate a class' capabilities around that time. Before that, the characters are just too limited. I've learned a lot about PvP by experiencing first hand how some of the other character classes play. Thus far, I have a mage (60), a warrior (44), a rogue (31), and a hunter (21). I guess that means I need to work on a Druid, a Warlock, a Priest and a Shaman. Anyone want to blow throuth the lower levels with me? I am thinking Undead Warlock first so I can get a character near Rhane's level and help Horde side.

Horde Night Follow Up and Welcome Rhane

2006-01-26T12:16:00.000-08:00

I thought we did pretty well last night. We'd have capped those bosses at the end for sure if we hadn't had that surprise patrol.

We did not discuss level cap. Seems like no one leveled last night. A few of us are still 43. I suppose we can stay at 44. Tarsius is a few pips from 45. Of course, as always, I'd like to keep our momentum moving forward. But I'll stay put . . . probably. Unless I get bored. I did have a good PvP round before we started so maybe I can do that. Still felt outgunned at 44 though.

Welcome to Rhane! As of last night, he was 8th level. I have sent him some potions and 8-slot bags to tide him over. Let's see if we can get him engaged by sending some modest care packages. I think Throttle can make a gun useable at 10th level, a scope, and some decent ammo. Zinzi could upgrade his bags somewhat (I think all out Runecloth may be excessive for him right now but down the road). Perhaps Bull can make some low level leather items. Oh . . . and I'll buy him a tabard. If you see him on, say hi. If you have time, see if he needs help. I think he's working through the basics right now. Rhane, let us know if you need anything in particular.

Need Engineering Advice

2006-01-24T14:06:00.000-08:00

Throttle needs advice (among many other things...) He's at the point in his skill that he has to choose a specialty: Gnomish or Goblin Engineering. There's about half a dozen "specialty" items that each specialist can make, with the basic choices being things that go BOOM (in the Goblin specialty) or hinky doo-dads that can alter the world around them (in the Gnomish specialty).

The drawback to being a specialist is that the nifty things that you can make sometimes malfunction, causing damage or a hindrance to the engineer. Most goblin malfunctions set the user on fire or blow him up, causing damage - but not killing him (I presume). Most gnomish malfunctions end up rooting, slowing, or otherwise inhibiting the user - and I believe might have a slightly higher chance to malfunction.

An additional feature of being a specialist is that you can acquire a teleport device that can take you either to Gadgetstan (for Gnomish Engineers) or Everlook in Winterspring (for Goblin Engineers). I'm almost thinking that the ability to teleport to Gadget for the remainder of his career might swing the vote in favor of Gnomish Engineering, although it seems the Goblin Engineering might be more "in character" for Throttle - considering his love for things that make loud noises and playing with fire...

I should also mention that I will still be able to create that repair bot for instances, regardless of my specialty. But the XL Goblin Jumper Cables (with a greater chance for success) are only available to Goblin Engineers. Those are about the only things that might affect the other members of the team. But it also might irritate some when malfunctions happen - from either specialty...

So I guess my question to the group is: would you rather have the rogue of the party (I'm a TINKER, dammit!) occasionally blow up, or suddenly get caught up in a net of his own devising (for example) or become mind controlled by a monster we're fighting once in a while? Any preferences?...

Mjt!

We Really Need to Change Servers

2006-01-24T13:57:00.000-08:00

Long queues are becoming a problem. Logging on most evenings become less and less attractive when one finds oneself standing in a line with 200+ people waiting before you!

Keep your eyes peeled for the next Blizzard-sanctioned server exodus!

Does anyone know if we can switch servers without having to wait for Blizzard to open a window of opportunity for us?

The Purge Attacks (1/25/06)!

2006-01-24T13:48:00.000-08:00

The Purge will invade Zul'Farak with the intent to kill trolls and take their stuff on Wednesday night. All interested members of that guild should meet in Gadgetstan at the usual time.