Whirlwind of Doom

Raid Tanking the Abyss: All dressed Up...

2011-01-11T12:34:00.000-06:00

So I'm just hanging out during Blizzard's maintenance (which may or may not go on for the rest of the day) and pondering my new role in Kirin Tor's premier raiding guild. Now, I don't have any complaints about my crew. They're freaking awesome, even by elitist standards. They're just kinda... small.

My old Alliance guild started raiding 25 mans last week, and we're stuck in the limbo that is guild recruitment. We've received exactly -one- application since we switched to horde side. A month ago. 30 DAYS! ONE APP!

It's a little frustrating, to say the least. Our days are spent chattering on vent, working on archaeology or alts (Go pally power!), or just staring at each other. Raids will come, I know, because there is always the option to pug a few people. Until then, I have to find ways to keep myself and my crew motivated while we warm the bench.

Heroic Deadmines! (Or: Ripsnarl's Revenge)

2010-12-13T10:59:00.000-06:00

Trying to keep my sanity together long enough to get through a few heroic dungeons. Unlike their normal counterparts, heroics seem to require one to pack a lunch. Even when a group is mostly guildies (not my guildies, mind you), it seems to take forever to organize pulls and talk over boss strategy. Of course, this might be the way that blizzard intended it to be, but it makes it difficult to farm your gear in a timely fashion.

Complaints aside, I actually enjoyed the dungeon and the boss mechanics we faced. For posterity, I want to talk about those boss mechanics, so that my guild and I can reference them at a later date.

Haughty Victory Pose!

Glubtok

This big two-headed ogre was mostly a pushover. We wiped once only because we didn't know what to expect. The extra magic damage he does from Fists of Frost and Fists of Flame have to be managed by cooldowns and an attentive healer. During his second phase, he will drop ice bombs on the ground while he summons a fire wall on either side of his body. This 'wall' starts turning clockwise, and will insta-kill you if you get in it's way. Other than that, this boss is very un-noteworthy.

Helix Gearbreaker

This little jerk takes the place of the shredder rider from Vanilla Deadmines. He's also riding a 'vehicle,' of sorts, in the form of a Lumbering Oaf. He hits harder than the trash variants you just faced, and lays time bombs at irregular intervals that need to be avoided to prevent further damage to the party.

Intermittently, the lumbering oaf will grab a random player, walk to the far side of the room, and charge to the opposite end, causing a large amount of damage. When it was my turn, he dealt between 80-100k worth of damage. This might be a sort of gear check for dps and healers.

This entire time, Helix will occasionally jump onto a party member to strap a bomb to their chest, Al-Qaeda-style. It's important to stay away from your party members when you're the victim of this particular maneuver. When the oaf dies, Helix will continue to hop from party member to party member, planting bombs as he goes. The fight is pretty much over once the oaf is dead, since with enough mana the bombs are easy enough to manage on their own.

Foe Reaper 5000

I'm a little hazy on how this boss works, since I only saw half of the fight. From what I saw and read on wowhead, it seems as though one player needs to mount one of the provided harvesters and tank the flame elemental adds that spawn around the core, while the rest of the party takes on the boss up and down the ramp. The reason everyone moves up and down the ramp is to avoid his two primary abilities: Harvest and Overdrive.

Harvest causes him to spin up his arm blades, and charge slowly to a highlighted area on the ground. Everyone needs to move out of the Reaper's way, or they will be killed instantly by this attack.

Overdrive sends the Reaper into a bladestorm-type attack. This can be avoided if the tank and party properly kite the boss up and down the ramp.

Overall, this is an easy fight so long as the adds are controlled by the player-controlled harvester.

Admiral Ripsnarl

Ripsnarl can eat a dick.

This boss has a single sort of 'repeating phase' that restarts depending on his life(?). The first 25% is easy enough: Tank the boss facing away from the party, to ensure they don't get killed by cleave, and take note of the stacking buff. When it reaches 15, he does ridiculous damage to the tank. when he reaches 20, things can go sideways really fast. This resets with every phase change, and is a brief respite for both tank and healer.

At 75% he will vanish, and begin to summon adds along with a fog that obscures the ship's deck. The big adds require tanking, and should be burned by at least one dedicated dps. If they get too big, they will explode, instantly wiping the party. Ripsnarl will reappear shortly after, and will start building his stack again while the adds continue to spawn. If you can get through the adds and keep the tank alive at 20 stacks during the last few seconds of the phase, then you've got this fight won.

The last 25% he enrages, I believe, so any remaining cooldowns should be used here.

After him is a fight with cookie, which I didn't understand, but it seemed like free JP. So I'll talk about...

Vanessa Vancleef

The hardest part of the Defias kingpin is the walk through the nightmare that comes before it. She poisons you and forces you to walk through a dungeon full of weaker versions of previous bosses, as well as some gnarly traps. The most important one seems to be the long hallway full of spinning lightning walls. Similar to Glubtok's firewall, this wall can kill you quickly if you just walk through it. Time your sprints, and maybe bring a warlock with you if you're bringing that special guildie that can't seem to life during a frogger event. (Here's lookin' at you, Noc.)

Vancleef herself is not hard at all. There are adds, she uses a shadow step to attack multiple party members, and she plans a bomb on the deck to try to blow you up. There are ropes conveniently placed on the edge of the deck for when this happens. All you have to do is click on it, and you will swing, Harrison Jones-style off of the ship to avoid the explosion. This happens three times, the last of which will leave a stunned Vanessa to eat her last explosion.

And that's the dungeon. There will be lots of tears and rending of garments, but you'll get it finished with a little patience.

I'm back, bitches!

2010-12-06T07:53:00.000-06:00

Note the usage of a comma.

That's right. After a long hiatus, I'm back in-game and making people suffer. I know it's a little late for it, but I got my Kingslayer title last night, right before the Cataclysm launch. Obviously not a world first, but not bad for someone who got back into the game like... a month ago.

While pugging for said achievement, I met an awesome guild who invited me to tank for them horde side. So guess what I've been doing?

PVP BITCHES!

Keep an eye out for me, former alliance! If you get between me and my former guildies, then you'll be considered an appetizer.

WTF!?!?

2010-09-07T16:31:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I was looking for a crappy video of a kid singing for my mom, when I came across the most fucked up thing I've seen in a long time. I usually don't post this kind of thing because there's a freakin' website dedicated to it, but seriously.... what the fuck?!?

I'm Seeing a Theme Here...

2010-09-01T10:07:00.000-05:00

So... I quit my own supergroup. I'm feeling pretty lame right now, but christ I can't keep dragging the ball anymore. Dayn was supposed to help me... hell, it's his supergroup, originally. I just don't have the connections or enthusiasm to make the Peacekeeper Initiative anything more than a group of alts.

So I just gave it up. Booted everyone out and left them a nice letter telling them the PKI was done, and put in an application at a currently active supergroup. Why? Because I've spent too much time freakin' recruiting and tampering with that silly effin' base to actually enjoy myself. And I miss being a part of a super team. I haven't done that since my first few days on Virtue. The rest has been working on this stinkin' group.

So yeah... I quit a lot of things... Probably should learn to stick it out... but whatever. It's a video game, and if you're not having fun in a fucking video game, it's time to bail.

DPS Tracks 28: Cover week!!! part 5

2010-08-27T17:29:00.001-05:00

The Supergroup leader scene in City of Heroes sucks ass. Imagine that... you know what, nevermind. There is no WoW analogy. Basically, because the majority of the content is before max level and they give you 12 character slots, people in CoH make a -lot- of alts. This makes it very difficult to keep your members active since, once joining, there is a good chance that they'll just not log into that character ever again. Kinda silly, isn't it?

...I need to clean up my roster...

Anyway, Friday wraps up with another Dragonland cover. Don't know why I couldn't bother to find another band... but whatever. The heat does funny things to my brain.

DPS Tracks 27: Cover week!!! part 4

2010-08-26T19:26:00.001-05:00

It's entirely possible that I'm running out of covers... well, not really.. Sonata Arctica and Dragonland seriously have one or two cover songs on each special edition album, but it would be way too easy to whore those guys out. So instead, as is the case at least once in every party ever thrown, it's time to bring out the fucking Bon Jovi.

And yes, that's how -everybody- dressed in the 80s. EVERYBODY.

DPS Tracks 26: Cover week!!! part 3

2010-08-25T15:51:00.001-05:00

*Yawn* I've been sleeping all day and I just can't think of much to say. Don't you hate when your dog (you might not own a dog) hogs the blankets and you're just laying down from 4am-8am out of habit and not actually sleeping?

Yeah... I need to have a talk with that dog...

Coming up is a Sonata Arctica cover of the Scorpions classic "Still Loving You."

DPS Tracks 25: Cover week!!! part 2

2010-08-24T08:39:00.000-05:00

My brother's going back to World of Warcraft. Who saw that coming? To put it in perspective, he has asked me on more than one occasion when I'm going to stop playing those "stupid MMOs."

w/e

Next up, it's time for a cover by the champs of American mainstream metal. Five Finger Death Punch (affectionately known as FFDP) has enjoyed quite a bit of success if radio is any indication, and released their second album late last year.

On that album was a cover track originally written and performed by English superband Bad Company. Of course, Lexi and a few others enjoy the original version more than the covers... but at this point, I'm just amazed that Lexi knows who the band is. Gotta take your victories where you can get them.

DPS Tracks 24: Cover week!!!

2010-08-23T10:57:00.008-05:00

I don't know if anybody remembers that far back, but the first DPS Tracks entry at WWOD was an awesome cover. Since then, I've run into more than my fair share of bands eager to pay homage to the greats that came before them in the form of B-sides and bonus tracks. So, I thought it'd be appropriate if I shared.

And y'know.. it gives me an excuse to actively post... for at least a week... (shut up)

First up is a Dragonland cover of the Helloween (Japanese-released) single Sole Survivor.

Lyrics have been omitted for space and sanity, since some artists like to ad lib for their covers. (Editor's note: Blogger can eat me).

DPS meters... the good and the bad.

2010-08-16T18:33:00.003-05:00

Holy Fucking Dog Shit Batman! Yes, dear readers you're eyes aren't deceiving you. I, Gincan, am actually writing something after seven months of silence. I've decided it's time for me to finally stop being so fucking lazy and actually post something that I've been meaning to post for quite some time. Today's topic is the ever controversial DPS meter, but I'm sure you already figured that out.

So there is this add-on that many people know and love called recount. It will tell you and your parties personal performance in simple and easy to read format. Sounds great right? The simple answer is, it can be. However, this seemingly harmless add-on can cause a veritable shit storm if it is abused.

So here's the good side of damage meters. You can use them to track your own personal performance. It's a great tool to use when trying to perfect your rotation while swinging away at a training dummy. I've personally tested many different strategies of a Fury Warrior rotation and seeing what worked the best. This is in my opinion the best use of a meter.

The bad side of a damage meter is why I believe Blizzard has never taken the time to add in this feature to the default UI. The majority of the people abuse the fuck out of recount. You'll see it everywhere. Ass clowns posting the damage after every pull in a random dungeon. Dumb shits getting so obsessed with the number they actually believe the higher the number the better the player, hell I've even believed this one for a while. Unless you're an officer in a guild with the responsibility of making sure everyone is doing an appropriate level of DPS you should just turn recount off during a raid. It really doesn't fucking matter as long as your team can kill the boss.

Now I brought up the guild officer position about making sure players are contributing their fair share of the damage. This is a vital role that every guild should have, but this isn't supposed to be make fun of the guy in last place. His job is to simply look at the damage meters and make sure that people are meeting the requirements for the fight. If they are consistently under performing, then it's his job to try and find out what the problem is. From their he can either help the player out himself, or find someone of the same class that can give him some tips. That's how DPS in a guild should be run. I'm sure their are other ways of doing it that can work, but that's how I've seen it run smoothest.

And since we're on the topic of Damage meters I'd like to pass on an important lesson that I've learned. You can't do it all on your own. No matter how fucking hard you try, it's just not possible. You can cleave your way to the top of the charts, making everyone look like a god damn chump, but it doesn't amount to shit if the boss is still laughing at you when your group wipes. I've personally seen myself do over twice the amount of damage done in a single fight than the player in the number two spot on the meters, but guess what? We still wiped. Was the wipe my fault? Usually no, but to be honest I've caused my fair share.

So my little rant is coming to a close, and I'll leave you with this small nugget of knowledge. Don't get so caught up in the damage meters. If you play a Fury Warrior, congratulations, you should be beating just about everyone in dps. It's just the way the class is designed right now. We have more rage than we know what to do with at this stage in the game, that's why so many people have chosen to apply a rend when they have a hole in their rotation, the lost rage just doesn't matter that much. You'll be back to a full bar in one swing. So please don't piss me off and go posting the fact that you beat my dps in Heroic Nexus... I really don't fucking care.

2leep: You're next!

2010-08-13T12:26:00.000-05:00

I've found a new target for my ire. Ever see a link on the side of a random stumble page and think, "That might be interesting!" For one, trust me, it's not. For two, the fucking link won't send you to the desired page... it'll send you to a page of links (in a shiny new tab or window), with one of them being your desired destination.

2leep is the offender's name, and it's punishment should be death. It claims that it's goal is to "connect bloggers," but I haven't been connected to anyone's blog yet... unless you consider those massive picture dumps a blog. And I fucking don't.

It takes absolutely no talent, journalistic integrity, or even thought patterns to put that shit on the internet. I'm not claiming that my blog is an ode to intellectualism... but at least I take the time to think and type out my thoughts in a constructive manner. I'd need a lobotomy to regress to simply posting stupid pictures and captioning them with 'lulz.'

So seriously, 2leep, get the FUCK out. You're part of the problem.

DPS Tracks 23: Bulletproof

2010-08-12T21:26:00.001-05:00

I know I shove FFDP in people's faces, but I freakin' love this band. As far as I'm concerned, everything they do is golden. This one's no different. I like this one playing in the background to remind criminal's that they might as well have left their guns at home...

Bulletproof
By Five Finger Death Punch

You can take the money, you can take the ride
You can take it all but never get inside
You can't take my honor, you can't take my soul
You can't take the fact you'll never have control

[Chorus:]
You won't break me, no matter how hard you try
You can't shake me down, I'm fucking bulletproof
All Ive learned, it's like poison
All I've known, inside my mind
All I've seen, it's like venom
All I know, it's all that remains

You can keep the fortune and you can have the fame
You can have the shit you never will obtain
But you can't take my virtue, no you can't take my pride
You can't take the anger building up inside

[Chorus x2]

All I've learned, it's like poison
All I've known, inside my mind
All I've seen, it's like venom
All I know, it's all that remains

High School of the Dead

2010-08-11T08:14:00.002-05:00

Wait a second... Xi's not an anime critic.

STFU, Earl! I am too an anime critic.

Well... I am in the sense that I can criticize -anything- with a straight face.

So out of the blue, Lexi (the draenei, not the dog) sends me a link to watch this anime called "House of the Dead" on some streaming website. It's a show based on a manga that is pretty much one of those zombie apocalypse stories.

Given it's rather simple setup, I think it's done really well. The writing is above par for a zombie flick, and the zombie killin' is as juicy and gory as it should be. The only thing that kinda rubs me the wrong way is the amount of gratuity shown in the anime. (LOL SPOILERS) The level of fan service reaches a shameless crescendo in episode 6 where the girls are all bathing together, and we get to see a lot of awkward, albeit completely nipple-less, breasts.

Gratuity in moderation, people. I mean, I don't mind nudity one bit. But I figure it should at least do something, plot-wise. I don't expect boobies to advance the plot or anything... but at least they provide sexual tension and/or development of a romantic interest. Nudity for the sake of nudity has always kinda ticked me off, in both American and Japanese films/t.v.

But if you can stomach that, I think the series, which apparently is still being shown on Japanese network/cable television, is worth a recommendation. And the theme song is kinda cool, too.

For those who missed it, you can watch a fansubbed H.O.T.D. at animefreak.

DPS Tracks 22: Anthem

2010-08-10T12:02:00.001-05:00

My dog has been keeping me up at night. I'd have more to say about this band... but I'm half asleep, and it's only noon, so... yeah. Wiki links and junk after the youtube vid, which are naturally after the jump.

Anthem (We Are the Fire)
by Trivium

Just when they thought
You were through
You've burned their lies
Now you strengthen it's true

Turn your backs on your enemies
And let those motherfuckers rot in their jealousy

They
Can't stand
That the worlds up for taking
And we're adamant
Hell bent
Determined to dominate everything

We are the fire
We are the fire
We'll sound the Anthem
We are the fire

The music connects
Unites us more
Our masses strengthened
An Unstoppable horde

We're all now a family
Together let's show the world what we say

They
Can't stand
That the worlds up for taking
And we're adamant
Hell bent
Determined to dominate everything

We are the fire
We are the fire
We'll sound the Anthem
We are the fire
We are the fire
We'll sound the Anthem
We are the fire

(Solo)

Whoa whoa
(Whoa whoa)
Whoa WHOA!
(Whoa WHOA!)
Yeah yeah
(Yeah yeah)
Yeah YEAH! YEAAAHHHHH!

We are the fire
We are the fire
We'll sound the Anthem
We are the fire
We are the fire
We'll sound the Anthem

We are the fire
We are the fire
We'll sound the Anthem
We are the fire
We are the fire
We'll sound the Anthem

We are the fire!

Ser-i-ously, Lindsey? (Or: Our System is Broken)

2010-08-08T12:03:00.000-05:00

I don't really follow celebrity news. Mainly because I don't really get how anybody could give a shit about someone -just- because they were in a movie. Spoiler alert: Their lives are just as boring and they're just as big of an asshole as the rest of you.

The same applies to everyone's (FotM) favorite child-star-turned-alcoholic/drama queen Lindsey Lohan. Again, I didn't follow this story with much attention. All I know is that she was supposed to go to jail for 90 days. Ninety days... Three months, for you laymen. And what happened? She was out by day fourteen..

I've had WoW-inspired isolation sessions that lasted longer than that. Could the justice system not cope with her intense, awe-inspiring lameness for more than two weeks? My mom said she was out due to overcrowding, so with red in my eyes I started browsing the internet for a source... and I couldn't get a clear read on why she was released on account of my constant passing out. Why, you might ask?

Every article was filled with the kind of stuff that made you think she was a kidnapping victim, and had been missing for no less than a calendar year. There was an article about how she and her mother were "reunited" after two weeks apart. "I finally got to hug my daughter after two weeks of talking to her through glass."

...I didn't know you were living in your mom's uterus, Lindsey.

Seriously, though. The media parade surrounding little Miss Lohan is a fucking farce. They're all treating her like she's done nothing wrong; as though she's just a child in the wrong place at the wrong time. Every other word that I have read today has sent an impulse of pure, unadulterated rage down my spine, the kind which, if it could be harnessed into kinetic energy, would make Fat Man look like Milla Jovovich.

(That was a size pun. It was not a pun related to the proverbial bombs that are the Resident Evil movies. Thank you.)

So yeah, there was so much blood in the center of my brain responsible for being pissed off that I passed out while reading about it. At least three times. Whatever happened to being held responsible for your own actions? She had a DUI, which luckily didn't result in the injury or death of an innocent, and then violated her probation. Ninety days in solitary is too good for that little wench. I would've stuck her in gen-pop, and warmed up everyone the day before her arrival by making all the inmates watch Herbie Reloaded.

Then I'd take bets on who got to shank her first.

Bored.

2010-07-10T16:41:00.000-05:00

Blogging these days is hard. It's not so much that I don't have anything to talk about. It's that, times like these, I feel like I don't have anybody to talk -to-. Yes, there are followers down on the sidebar, but they're all from my old "WARKRAFT RULZ" days. And I kinda miss that, honestly...

No, I don't miss Malfurion's Raiders or parsing through lists of sub-par gear upgrades. None of that junk. I miss browsing through all the blog/community links that holds everyone together. They've got massive websites dedicated to this mammoth of the game, and it feels like playing City of Heroes is like moving from the big city into sunny little Bumfuck, Egypt.

Yes, everybody knows each other and all that crap. I used to sift through articles, blog posts, freakin' miles and miles of comments, and now I get to kick around a tumbleweed. The forums aren't even very active. The Virtue forums ("Unofficial roleplaying server") only kick over like 20 times a day. And that's considered busy.

Holy fuck, where are all the people who -like- this game!?!?

Roger Ebert's Regrets

2010-07-02T10:53:00.000-05:00

Ho-hum. It's not every day that a douchebag wishes to make up for his past mistakes with a public (sort-of-an) apology, but Roger Ebert is expressing that he "was a fool for mentioning video games in the first place" in his blog post on Thursday.

Of course, his blog post was marred with the dribble "I still think I'm right, I just should've kept my fat, cock-mouth shut." And what kind of shit is that? I guess he felt he had to say -something- when the shitstorm that is all gamers (and anybody with a modicum of common sense) rained down on him and his blog for what could've been the dumbest comment in history.

Anyway, I've gotta wrap this up because I've got some bad guys' asses to kick before 1:30. Roger Ebert doesn't get off the hook that easily. Nobody else on my shitlist does, so why would I let some no-talent movie critic off the hook?

Instead of offering to send Roger Ebert a bunch of video games so he can familiarize himself with games as an artform, I'm going to simply send him a spoon.

So he can eat my ass.

DPS Tracks 21: Duke Nukem Theme

2010-06-25T22:24:00.001-05:00

Haven't really been around, for a while. Been discovering the joys of Xbox Live with Lexi and leading a new supergroup, at that. Well, it's an old supergroup.

The Peacekeeper Initiative is back after a two year hiatus, and we're doing reasonably well, if I do say so myself. I wish our attendance was a bit higher, but what can you do. This is City of Alts, y'know.

Anyway, I was rummaging through some old cds and found this gem. Thought I'd throw it out there. XD

DPS Tracks 20: Dying Breed

2010-06-03T08:14:00.001-05:00

Over the course of the last year, DPS tracks has changed quite drastically. I used to have a playlist on my winamp client (god bless that little music player) labeled DPS, and I'd use it every time I raided (for maximum face-to-keyboard action).

Obviously, I don't raid anymore, and since the upgrade to Windows 7, I've lost that old playlist. Where does that leave it, then? Not that anybody cares, but I consider "DPS tracks" "music to rock to." It's my personal blend, and obviously everyone's mileage will vary. But it's what I game to, and it doesn't seem hard to imagine that others could game to it, too. Game on.

Dying Breed
By Five Finger Death Punch

ROUND ONE, SWEAR TO GOD I DO IT FOR FUN
JUST A DEAD MAN WALKING WITH A DOUBLE BARRELED SHOTGUN
AIN'T A SINGLE FUCKER LEFT TO FEAR
SEE THEIR LIPS MOVING BUT I DON'T WANT TO HEAR

SHOW DOWN I ain't backing down from anybody
THROW DOWN if I don't get some space
BREAK DOWN not in this life or another
ITS A NIGHTMARE and it's not going away

All I wanted was your honesty
Something more than this something more than me
Death can take me if I can't be free
I'm not like you I'M A DYING BREED

ROUND TWO SOMETHING YOU JUST DON'T WANT TO DO
GO DANCING WITH THE DEVIL LESS YOUR WEARING MY SHOES
YOU GOT NERVE AND I'LL GIVE YOU THAT
WATCH THE WORLD TUMBLE WHILE YOU SIT ON YOUR ASS

WAKE UP get you head together motherfucker
STRAIGHT UP before it's too late
STAND UP nothing ever lasts forever
DOES IT and thats how it's gonna to stay

All I wanted was your honesty
Something more than this something more than me
Death can take me if I can't be free
I'm not like you I'M A DYING BREED

All I wanted was your honesty
Something more than this something more than me
Death can take me if I can't be free
I'm not like you I'M A DYING BREED

Stranded

2010-06-01T18:49:00.002-05:00

From the Diary of Alana "Star" Weaver a.k.a. Miss Starfall

October 29th, 2008

I've been thinking about that one movie, lately. I can't remember what it's called... it's got that governor in it, and there's this robot that goes back in time to kill people. I'm pretty sure somebody won an award for it...

Anyway, it doesn't even matter. That movie was ancient when I was young, although I bet the people I know nowadays might think it's still new.

Anyway, I remember thinking about how I wish time travel worked that way: A small instance of an electrical storm heralding the arrival of a time traveler. Except, I wouldn't want to land in a parking lot all naked. That would be totally embarrassing!

Well, Hollywood's got it all wrong. To an extent, the Ouroburos doesn't really compare either. Not when you're talking about the random occurrence of a rip in the fabric of space-time. Those trips down the rabbit hole that is Portal Corp. didn't really prepare me either. They both have their guidelines and preparations, and even then, you have to physically interact with some device (technological or otherwise) in order to commence the transport.

So there I was, checking out some trouble in an alternate reality, when I tripped over (or into?) aforementioned rip. You think Portal Corp. could have forecast that sort of thing. I know who I'm not going to for my 7-day weather and sports.

Where was I? Oh, yeah... Time traveling isn't like in the movies. When that rip opens up, it's going to open up somewhere on the other end, and you no idea where. It could put you in the middle of an open field, all nice and neat and sitting indian-style. Imagine if the earth is in a different position in relativity to the sun from where it was in the world that you left. You could end up in the darkness of space, or in the middle of a mountain.

I 'chose' the middle ground. I was only about 25,000 feet in the air. This normally wouldn't be a problem, but for some strange reason, in the few weeks surrounding my appearance in this timeline/universe, some of my powers didn't really work. Of these powers, flight was the most important, given the situation.

I actually screamed and cried for the first time that I can remember since grade school. Hurdling towards the earth, I prayed and pleaded with no one in particular for my flight to be restored. I could see my tears slipping off of my face and into the sky above me as I plummeted to my doom.

This must be how Tom Welling feels...

No need to worry, though. A building broke my fall.

The police officers said I actually crashed through 22 stories before coming to a stop in the middle of an old oak conference table, which I still managed to crack before my descent of property damage was over. I must've been in shock, because I really can't remember any of it. The paramedics said I was curled up in the fetal position, sucking my thumb, when they rushed to treat what was only a few cuts and bruises.

After my short recovery, I was immediately contacted by the owners of the building. It seems, even though I wasn't registered with this world's Hero Registry, they still managed to find me. And they wanted me to pay for the extensive property damage I had caused just a few days prior.

Little did I know that it would be the first of many damages I'd have to pay before all was said and done...

More of the Same

2010-05-30T08:10:00.001-05:00

It's time again for one of those "why the fuck can't I sleep?" posts from that insomniac, dyslexic agnostic you've all come to know and love. Joke's aside, I've been feeling like crap all month. Dizzy spells and the like. It's gotten better, so I'm hoping that sooner or later, it'll just go away if I just take care of myself. If it doesn't, well... what's the worst that could happen?

So I played Red Dead Redemption. And it might be the game of the year. It's that damn good. Probably the best game I've played in a long time. A western sandbox really is much more fun than it sounds. I think the reason it's so good is because there is less sandbox and more plot/purpose to it than the average GTA clone. They give you plenty to do, and it's not all typical, "tee-hee, i can blow shit up" kinda stuff. I'm on my second playthrough, 95% total completion. Yeah, it really is that good. Don't walk, run to get yourself a copy.

So it got me thinking... what makes westerns so great? Nobody's really been crazy about those things since my dad was young. I never really cared for the genre, so I decided to give it a visit and watched all three of what can be considered the "Dollars Trilogy." And you know what? Epic, from start to finish. Eastwood's character is just... well... I can only think of one way to sum it up.

Last Show Standing

2010-05-01T08:32:00.000-05:00

Warning: Unintelligible rant ahead!

Last year, I remember watching three shows fairly religiously: House M.D., Smallville, and Supernatural. But as time passed by, I realized something. Love triangles suck. I don't mean just a little bit. I mean Jenna Jameson at a hot dog eating contest.

We'll start with Smallville, since that's pretty much all they do there. I only watch the show for the meaty goodness that is the Superman universe. But they only really touch on it for the season finales/premiers, so the middle is like an oreo with some abominably flavored stuffing that nobody likes. Maybe... peep-flavored oreos. Awesome chocolate cookie on the outside, bullshit squishy disappoint-flavored candy-chick in the middle. If I see another "Lana returns" arc I'm going to drive up to the studios and punch random people in the crotch.

Which brings me to House. Gregory House, everybody's favorite wise-cracking, pill-popping doctor (with a horrible bedside manner) has never been in a serious relationship. Unless you count those episodes with Stacy in season 2. But even then, it was more of a "suck it, you can't have a relationship" kind of thing. So how did the love triangle happen? Apparently, our doctor got "better" (such a relative term), and wants to finally get with Lisa Cuddy, his boss. And of course, because the network heads know how much Xi dislikes love triangles, she's written to date some d-bag that had a guest spot like... 2 seasons ago. I can't even remember the guy's name.

Seriously hate love triangles.

So Supernatural is pretty much the only show on my plate. Not only does the show get better and better every week, but there is no room for love triangles. The two brothers (which are popular in the gay fanfic circles -_-) are trying to stop the end of the world. There's no time for that weaksauce romance and love triangles that the CW is good at pumping out.

So there you have it. Supernatural is pretty much the best show on T.V. Go watch it or something. And save your drama for your mama.

DPS Tracks 19: Everlasting

2010-04-29T21:47:00.002-05:00

I just killed a cockroach the size of my big toe, while screaming "eat loafer mother bitch!" It was kinda cool.

At least, it was the highlight of my day since lately I've felt like rolling over and dying. I really don't know what's wrong with me, but it's getting a little old.

Moving on, the new influx of awesome bands included an interesting (and already broken up) band from Japan. Japanese heavy metal, you say? It's not a joke, I swear. These guys know how to use a double bass pedal, have a rockin' guitar soloist, and are bold enough to use an electric organ. Top that!

(Lyrics unavailable for obvious reasons)

Everlasting
By Galneryus

Issue 17 Goes Live Today

2010-04-28T04:43:00.001-05:00

Coinciding with it's 6th anniversary, Paragon Studios is releasing the 17th free update to City of Heroes. It's amazing to me that they've stuck it out for so long, given that for the most part they fly under the mmo radar. But here's the thing: the fans that CoX does have, they're real fans. Not those "I'm gonna quit this shitty game when Warhammer comes out" WoW fans. Real, superhero-to-the-core fans. And that's something you have to admire.

Sticking it out for the long haul rewards those fans with added features and content that shows the development team tries to listen to it's fanbase without sacrificing the integrity of the game (see Star Trek Online). Also, they get neat veteran rewards and anniversary rewards.

Issue 17: Dark Mirror is fairly modest in size, content wise. After all, we're only getting four or so story arcs out of the deal. However, it lays the groundwork for their third paid expansion, Going Rogue. And that's something to be excited about. The Going Rogue system is innovative, and allows heroes and villains to walk the line between good and evil, and possibly cross it. But let's not get ahead of ourselves...

What Issue 17 does give us is the new graphical update (albeit a superficial one), as well as extra costume pieces and animated tails. We also get some neat "quality of life" updates, including the ability to send money to ourselves via the mail system (iknorite?).

All in all, I'm pretty excited about the changes coming to the game. I'm starting to think that I came back to the game at exactly the right time.

DPS Tracks 18: Beethoven's Nightmare

2010-04-27T22:30:00.000-05:00

I wouldn't consider myself "cutting edge DPS" anymore, but I still find excuses to whack the metaphorical pinata until my hands and face are coated with... candy. And when I am giving mob bosses are bad day, I need tunes with a visceral, sometimes carnal feeling to them.

Everybody who's visited WWOD knows I have a thing for power metal, and Dragonland fits that bill pretty nicely. Some of their tracks are much more musically ambitious than the standard fare, and that might be why I like them so much. In Beethoven's Nightmare, from their most recent album Astronomy, Dragonland uses themes and motifs from Beethoven's work, and they sound equally timeless on guitar as they did on piano.

I actually found this band through a friend of a friend, who thought my taste in music could benefit from adding even more of the same thing to my library. They were right. xD

Beethoven's Nightmare
by Dragonland

Twilight, candlelit walls
A strong crescendo
Highlights the lonely calls
From my piano

Melody, come to me
sing your silent voice
Remedy my envy
Bring me one last choice

Why, why can't you bring me to find
To hear your sound
no wayfarer is blind

See my hands
Conducting a Nightmare
The symphony of a tragedy
So great it devours me
These notes are just fantasy
Perpetual dream
won't let go of me
I struggle to live
without the notion of a sound
that could open my mind

Moonlight, make me conceive
a slow sonata
Midnight, the dead will grieve
to this dark cantata

The detestable dance to my score
they hear my cries
Your guidance I implore

See my hands
Constructing a nightmare
the symphony of a universe
So vast it devours me
These nights are just fantasy
Celestial beam,
help me to see
I struggle to live
without the notion of a sound
That could open my mind

Solo: mörck, Magnunsson

Into an unending sorrow
A festival of horror
An orchestra of the undead

So bright my destiny was
Golden future
Inside shadows amass
Nocturnal rapture

Melody, come to me
Sing your silent voice
Remedy my envy
Bring me one last choice

Why can't you bring me to find
to hear your sound
No wayfarer is blind

See my hands
Conducting a nightmare
The beauty of a melody
Is all that inspires me
to write my last symphony
Perpetual dream
never lets go of me
I struggle to live
without the notion of a sound
That could've opened my mind

Xi's Guide to Not Sucking in City of Heroes Pt. 1

2010-04-26T05:58:00.004-05:00

So I got to thinking, the other day. Just because I'm not playing WoW anymore doesn't mean I'm necessarily forced into refraining from belittling my fellow player for the sake of comedy and higher learning. I've still got other MMO's that could use my touch, and I'm more than willing to show people how to play.

So, without further ado...

Whenever you start playing a game, no matter who you are, you start as a scrub. You've probably spent your pre-hero days flipping burgers or staying on your friend's couch so you won't get arrested for vagrancy. Or maybe you were involved in the mob, and as a low level henchman struggled to make ends meet because your coke-snorting girlfriend keeps stealing all your money. Or maybe you're apart of some villain reform program, and you're only a hero because you don't want a permanent record. No matter what your background is, you can be successful in Paragon City with a few really easy to remember tips. The first of which is covered by this part of the guide: Dress for Success!

These guys are doing it wrong.

I remember hearing this argument on the World of Warcraft forums back in the day. The cooler your character looks (or the cooler your character has the potential to look), the more often you are to play that character. Having to go a few months in a lame armor set because the Blizzard designers think pink is cool (sucks to a be a paladin in t5) is a major drag on player morale. Why can't I look cool too?

Well, you can. In City of Heroes, your "equipment" or enhancements don't affect the way you dress. Instead, you get a full hold on how your character looks from the character create screen. Your hero, your costume. Will you wear tights or a trench coat? Will you wear a hat or a mask? Maybe you'll want all of the above! We can't let ourselves get too carried away, though. Naturally, there are a few combinations that work better than others.

This obviously isn't one of them.

After years of on and off CoX gameplay, I've figured out what works and doesn't work. For me. Your mileage may vary. Remember, the following examples are to make sure you don't look like a Starburst factory exploded and you were the only survivor.

First and foremost, tights are not gay. You can't go wrong with a sharp looking set of tights and a cape. Tradition isn't tradition because a bunch of girly guys didn't wanna nut up and wear a leotard.

I look sharp in these!

Miss Starfall(Me!) and Pyre Strike(Lexi!) at a doubles' costume contest.

Something else to notice in the screenshots above (This post is SS-heavy, sue me) is that I use a lot of two tones. This is a great way to flesh out a costume. Find a pattern that works, and two colors that compliment each other, and you've got a timeless look. Throw a little of a third color for flare or trimming (gold works really well), and the villains will run like bitches when they see you coming.

Something to remember when going two-tone, it's more important that the two colors work well together than anything else. Your favorite colors could be cherry red and lime green, but your costume will make eyeballs bleed if you try to fly around in that. As another example, red and black is a popular choice, but it's hard for a lot of people to pull off because they use clashing shades of the colors together. Bright red and black = bad. Crimson + black = good!

Robo-ninjas!

My last bit of advice for anybody struggling with a costume design would be to ape a friend's. Maybe not plagiarize, but see if it's okay to build a character around your friend's character concept. Their well known toon could easily have a clone or an evil cyborg-turned-henchman or an alternate dimension self that allows for some nice costumed pairs.

The Flag Siblings: Kickin' Ass and Takin' Names!

And there you have it. While looking good isn't everything in the world of fighting crime, it's half the battle. Fuck knowledge. With spandex this tight, there won't be any blood going to your brain any time soon!

Thoughts on Roger Ebert...

2010-04-25T11:05:00.001-05:00

I took a few moments (and only a few moments) to browse over this journal entry that everybody is shitting their pants about, and I only really have one thing to say about it.

...Roger Ebert can suck it.

The big stink is over his (apparently) casual dismissal of video games as art. Now, I didn't think I really had to say it, but blog posts and their comments haven't really hit the mark. They're too busy trying to be right that they've missed two pretty obvious points. That's where I come in.

Wikipedia defines art as "...the process or product of deliberately arranging elements in a way to affect the senses or emotions." Whether it is or isn't interactive is completely beyond the point. Games are art. Check out a dictionary, Ebert.

The second major point is that Roger Ebert is a shitty movie critic. Films are considered a medium of art, and I'd be inclined to agree, but I wouldn't trust the final word to some chump who is paid by large studios to pull his thumb out of his ass to put it on display for poorly conceived movies.

Whew... that was a long sentence. If you doubt my findings, just remember Roger Ebert gave Titanic a positive review.

I'm just saying. You wouldn't ask someone to make you a five course meal if they're prone to lighting PB&J sandwiches on fucking fire.

On a completely unrelated note, I'm hiring myself out as a freelance obituary and eulogy writer. Leave a comment to ask for rates.

I Don't Know If I Mentioned This...

2010-04-24T18:14:00.005-05:00

I sorta quit WoW three months ago. Almost to the day, for that matter. And believe me, I've read every "I quit /wah" forum and blog post in the entire freakin' universe, so I thought I'd spare everyone the emo/angst trip and just leave quietly. Long story short: There was some... guild... management issues, and I just left. Gave all my primordial saronite to the guild leader and /gquit (Something like 28 pieces between me and Lexi).

After that, I signed up for Star Trek Online and bought a lifetime sub to Star Trek Online like the sucker I am, and the rest is history. Sort of...

What followed is the worst string of bad luck I've ever experienced in such a short period. Again, you get the short version: I've been through two monitors, a whole freakin' computer, and my car asploded. Combine that with the fact that Star Trek Online's design team waited until -after- the lifetime sub grace period ended to show us how stupid they were, and I'm actually starting to regret quitting.

Yeah, I know.

I wasn't one of those people who thought Warcraft kept my universe together. On the contrary, I was looking forward to getting rid of something that my non-Warcraft friends considered an addiction. So I quit, and I get mechanical (and in the case of NCSoft: brain) failures across the board, as if WoW was singlehandedly keeping my world from falling apart at the seams.

Doesn't make any sense to me, either. If you ask me, the whole thing is kind of lame. If the universe wants to beg me to go back to Warcraft, an email would suffice. I really could do without replacing computer and fucking car.

The urge to spill my (not-so-)religious beliefs aside... I've been struggling to blog lately. The three months away from WWOD was intentional, since I had planned to just fork it over to Gincan. But TeamDXL never became what I needed it to be. I started it in hopes of collaborating with my good friends, Dayn and Lexi. Who never post. Oh, well.. so it's not a tank blog. We all went to STO, and I thought... STO BLOG!!! That didn't really happen either... Chances diminished even further when we all pretty much pulled away from that game until they started making design decisions that made sense.

At least I still have my music... Dream Evil put out a new album right about the time that I quit. Go buy it. Be a sheep. Obey me! :3

Immortal

By Dream Evil

It's time to surrender, you know we feel no fear
Inferior contender, your men will not survive
You better tell your mortals to step aside
Or be the last man standing to watch them die

Immortal, forever we stand in line

Battlefield burning, arrows shadow the sky
I feel the yearning, longing to see their skin fry
Too late to beg for mercy, to step aside
This is your termination, just say goodbye

Immortal, forever, we just can't die

I am immortal, I cannot die, you better run and hide
We are immortal, we rule the slaughter, and side by side we ride

Immortal, forever, we stand in line
Immortal, forever, we just can't die
Immortal, forever, we stand in line

I am immortal, I cannot die, you better run and hide
We are immortal, we rule the slaughter, and side by side we ride
We are immortal, we show no fear, you better step aside
We are immortal, we rule the slaughter, and side by side we ride
We are immortal, we show no fear, you better step aside
I am immortal, I rule the slaughter, and side by side we ride

So many choices... so little... good choices...

2010-01-21T12:46:00.000-06:00

I know I already bitched about the gear situation in Icecrown, so I'll keep it brief. Basically, because losing my 4 piece is a big deal (until I get another armor token), I'm looking at one of the cloaks. The ap cloak has all the right stats, but the strength cloak is actually really nice... only if I need the expertise. The real problem is I can't see far enough into the future to tell whether or not I could use it, or not. Upgrading my boots or belt would make the cape attractive instantly, but there are other things to consider.

Which brings me to my next bit: The upcoming Ashen Verdict Strength Ring. They've talked about implementing it, but they haven't shown us what kind of stats it'll have. Crit and ArP rating would be ideal, but what if it has haste and (fuckin' a) expertise on it? I'd be fucked. Actually, if the damn thing has haste on it, I can safely say that most players will stick with the ap ring. And that'll just set me off.

I mean, why make a ring just for warriors/paladins/death knights, and not give us the stats we need? You'll see me all over the forums if it happens. I'll be the idiot getting banned from the forums for calling the development team fucktards.

Musings During Maintenance

2010-01-19T11:52:00.002-06:00

It's been a pretty slow week. Festergut looks like he isn't budging for our little casual guild, so I've been concentrating on leveling an alt. Mage is my class of choice, and I've gotta say that questing and grinding is full of suck. At least, leveling a fire mage is full of suck: All the mages I know are sure to let me know exactly how retarded I am for not leveling frost. What can I say, I really like lighting things on fire.

Any class can look awesome on a harpoon-surfboard!

The thing I hated more than the fjord is having to arrange every pull so that I don't get gang stabbed and die. It feels like I'm in the Barrio. If I piss off the wrong local, fourteen mother fuckers come running, and I die horribly. It wasn't like that on my paladin/warrior. Just faceroll the aoe abilities and they're all dead before they have a chance to eat your face.

This isn't to say that all of my leveling experience has been bad. I'm actually really enjoying the lfg system (20 minute waits aside), in that I can actually do at level content, instead of just waiting to hit it up on heroic mode, which is sort of what happened with all of my other characters. I can just queue up as DPS, knock out a quest or 20, and temporarily pause my questing trend to do a random dungeon if it ever actually happens.

Although, even at my level, there are plenty of people who really should've stayed home. Just last night, a hunter and druid pair were picking on the lucky bastard that had queued up as a tank for not having full +def gear at level 77. It's level fucking 77! My gear looks like shit too. Be glad the LFG gods gave us a tank, and try not to scare him off by being an insufferable fuckwad.

I really hate myself sometimes.

DPS Tracks 17: War is the Answer

2010-01-13T01:08:00.001-06:00

I've got a few things on my mind, today. First, is Saurfang. Well, it's not that I hate Saurfang (although, he isn't on my fucking Christmas list or anything). But I kinda hate that our guild has a tendency of... slipping back down the difficulty slope. We get a kill, we make it look clean, and then the next week it's /smack! back to progression style wiping.

I know we only killed the big stupid orc once, but I suppose I have a case of wishful thinking, and hoped that we could, y'know... get through him before he got to 10 FUCKING MARKS!

Obligatory rant about Guild/Raid night aside, I found out that FFDP put out a second album. Sure, it came out in September, but sue me, I've been busy. I don't know if I talked about how much I like Five Finger Death Punch...

I like it this much!

Before I get to that, I've been noticing a large amount of (additional) QQ in the blogosphere about dps in Heroics. And while I already threw in my two cents on the matter (I really don't give a shit), I thought I'd share an encounter that tickled me pink.

I actually was not a member of this pug, but experienced it vicariously through guild members. I suppose some of you remember huntards. There aren't nearly as many as there used to be, since most of them rerolled Deathtards, so it is really a sight to see when you catch a glimpse of them in the wild. And this one was no different.

Clad in spellpower gear (possibly even a few cloth pieces), this Hunter came in at a low 500 dps, and the entire guild was giggling at his gear and his performance. We didn't bother to tell him in party chat, mind you, that he was possibly the worst player we'd seen since Braylon Edwards. We just thought it was funny to see someone two entire expansions behind in class knowledge and damage output.

Which is what brought me to my next thought. The next time I am actually watching the meters in a pug heroic, and someone struggles to break 1k dps, I'm going to stop and calmly tell them:

Burning Crusade called: They want their DPS back.

War is the Answer
By Five Finger Death Punch

[Verse 1]
(GO!)
This aint a test, fuck the rest.
Time to set the record straight.
Talk your shit behind my back, let's hear you say it to my face?
I've heard the words roll out your lips.
You little trendy fuckin' bitch!
The time has come to get you some, cause I just do not give a shit.

[Chorus]
Do you take me for a fool!?
How's it feel to be a tool!?
See to me you're just a cancer!
Motherfucker!, War is the Answer!

[Verse 2]
As of now the end begins,I want to laugh but there's no joke.
To eat with the beast, and run with the wolves.
On the Ashes you must choke.
I know it's got to chap your ass, to think I just won't go away.
Forget me not, I'm writing you off.
I've got nothing more to say.

[Chorus]
Do you take me for a fool!?
How's it feel to be a tool!?
To me you're just a cancer!
Motherfucker!, War is the Answer!

[Bridge]
(Get some!)
You wanna disrespect me, you little fuckin' punk?
Everything I've done?, And who I am? As far as I've fuckin' come?
I'll slap you so fuckin' hard, It'll feel like you kissed a freight train.
Fuck you!

[Guitar Solo]

(Rawr!)

[Chorus]
(Bam!)
Do you take me for a fool!?
How's it feel to be a tool!?
Talking shit behind my back...
See to me you're just a cancer!
The time has come to get you some.
Motherfucker!, War is the Answer!

Yeah!!!!!!!!!!

One mob at a time please...

2010-01-11T12:05:00.007-06:00

If anyone knows me even a little bit, they would tell you I'm an incredibly laid back guy. And if you know me even better, you'd know that it takes quite a bit to get me pissed off. But when people say and do things that are so far away from intelligent that it makes you wince, I tend to get pretty annoyed. Especially when said offender repeats these offenses several times. Now when I'm puging the new heroics I know what kind of gamble I'm taking. But there is a limit that even the patient dwarf has.

Since I don't like waiting around in a queue for fifteen minutes, I tend to tank most heroics. So it's common practice of mine to inspect my healers gear to know how fast I can pull mobs. I knew it was going to be a painfully slow Forge of Souls when saw some gear so bad he'd have a hard time healing ten man Naxx. Since I'm a nice guy I didn't want to vote kick him, but my mouse was hovering over the option for a moment. Little did I know, the healer wasn't the problem.

So things get started, I pulled the first two mobs and the amazing happens. The mage in our group dies. I laugh it off to the fact that he probably killed himself to the spell reflects. Healer tosses a rez and we get moving. Next pull, I laugh a little bit more when our little mage friend dies again, almost instantly this time. I was a little confused why he died so fast that time, that is until I checked the combat logs. The little fucker started casting before I had pulled the mobs. And what does he say while lying on his back counting the tiles? "WTF? Again?" I delicately pointed out that if he felt like pulling the mobs it was bound to happen. He denied the fact that he pulled the mobs, but it's hard to ague against combat logs. I had thought the worst was behind us, but the fun was only getting started.

What my little mage buddy said next was perhaps the dumbest thing I've heard uttered in game. "Hey tank, stop pulling so many mobs!" Slightly confused I responded, "Uhh, what?" Certainly he didn't think I was pulling too many mobs? I was pulling them one group at a time, like any tank would if his healer wasn't that geared. "Pull them one mob at a time please!" Now here is where I started to get pissed. "And how do you propose I do that assclown? I pull one mob and the whole group comes with." The other members of the group backed me up and we slowly continued through the dungeon. "ONE MOB AT A TIME PLEASE!" Did he really just say that? Did he not see four people just tell him it is physically impossible to pull only one mob when my dps seem to lack the mental capacity to understand how cc works. "Listen jackass, I already told you, we can't pull ONE MOB AT A TIME. So just shut the fuck up and stop dying." Luckily he got the hint and shut up, he even managed to stay alive for one pull, but only one.

Just when I think his stupidity can't get any worse he proves me wrong, again. We've made it to the first boss. Not a hard fight at all. Before pulling the boss I do a quick glance over the party and notice my healer's mana is under 50%. The dps wasn't stellar so I gave him a chance to fill his mana pool back up. Oh but what's this? Our mage thought that since he was ready it was totally cool to pull the boss. This was right after face pulling a group of mobs, and succeeding in wiping the group. So I did what every smart tank would do in that situation. Let the boss kill the dumb ass then taunt him. He pissed and moaned the rest of the fight while taking a dirt nap.

The rest of the run was pretty much the same too. He'd face pull and die, or attack a mob before I charged in and die. I think my only bit of revenge the group got as a whole was during the Devourer of Souls fight. No one stopped damage when he cast Mirrored Soul on him. And the healer stopped wasting mana on him after the first boss. I'm pretty sure the only reason I didn't vote kick the bastard was I got too much enjoyment out of watching a gnome mage die over and over. So please, anyone reading this, if you're a douche bag don't expect the tank or the healer to save your life. No one cares if a douche bag dies.

Retribution Paladins...

2010-01-10T14:33:00.001-06:00

I found a new blog that I really enjoy, although it is about the life and times of a couple of ret pallies. I'm gonna send Martana that way so they can go all Discovery Channel on each other's asses. I suppose I can't be too snarky. I imagine they don't like us nearly as much as we don't like them. That, and one of our best players is a ret pally.

Oh, shit, I said it. Yeah, I can respect my guildies when I'm not in the middle of a rant. But apparently, I rip on our resident retnoob a little too much. Why? Because I want him to get better.

That's why I started this blog (That and to bitch about Christian Fundamentalists). I've been improving since I started raiding, and I don't ever want to stop. It's been said that I take raiding a little too seriously, and that might be true for the casual raiding guild I chose to stay with. But I don't think that our "casual" tag should be an excuse to be unsuccessful. And I firmly believe that, with our 6-9 hour/week schedule, we are capable of quite more still.

And that's why I piss and moan when people backpedal out of doing simple things like bringing their own strength food, or flasking for every boss fight, or not installing Pally Power.

Little things, and... fuck it, I'm spent. Watch a movie or something and leave me alone.

Xi's Guide to Raiding

2010-01-09T03:43:00.003-06:00

When coming up with a "commandment-style" list of things that every raider should adhere to, I noticed the first two applied to everything else. Really, it all boils down to two very brief principles.

A. Don't be a douchebag
B. Use some common sense

The first of which is actually pretty easy. It's in the bible, even. Now, I don't know the book word for word, but I'm pretty sure the lesson could be paraphrased into "Thou shalt not be a large sack of douche."

The second is a little bit more complicated. What members of the generation before me have considered to be "common sense" doesn't seem to be very common these days. I suppose a less "PC" way of saying it is: Don't be a complete idiot.

Obviously, given that the above statements are at the very core of this post, a monkey with a grease pencil could construct a guide to raiding. Well fuck that monkey. I got here first.

#1: Don't stand in the fire

This applies to fire patches, poisonous or otherwise "ominous" clouds, lightning lines, etc. Don't stand in the dangerous shit.

Seriously.

If it hurts you, the raid, or even just turns on some dude's porch light in China, don't fucking touch it unless your raid leader tells you to.

#2: Never blame the healer

I don't even care if it's their fault. In a guild setting, you have the opportunity to correct any healer issues through other channels, through suggestions from the main healer and other members of the healing ensemble, or through assigned readings from the wealth of articles online.

#3: Bring your goddamn raid mats

Seriously. Get some flasks. Your own goddamn food (spellcasters only are excluded if a fish feast is present). Shut up, sit down and eat. Every minute, of every hour, of every raid. Use them. You know what happens if you do more dps during trash? You get done faster. Which means you get more attempts on the boss. Just do it.

And if I hear one more ret paladin tell me that the fish feast is "just as good" as a piece of strength food, I will explode and take out an entire time zone in the process.

I don't even play your class and I know strength food is better. /backhand

#4: L2P

I'm sure I'll get shit for this one. See that shit in the side bar? That's for Fury warriors. And there are about a billion other people, just like me, with websites and blogs dedicated to discussing the mechanics which are specific to your role and class. Go there. Learn from them. And stop doing 3k dps in full 245 gear.

#5: Obey your raid leader

Raid leading is a pretty stressful job. I know, I used to do it on the weekends. Nothing like trying to lead a bunch of casuals (some of which don't like to show up on time/at all) to lower your life expectancy. The last thing they need is some ungrateful little pissant to start spewing their filth about how much we need to do better. If we're wiping, i.e. not killing a boss, then yes, we need to do better. Thanks for the tip, asshole.

Do what your raid leader tells you, and shut the fuck up. I don't care if he tells you to go across your street IRL and slap someone's mom in the face. Either do it or leave, because you are fucking up the program by sitting around and arguing. They're leading the raid for a reason. Respect them or get replaced.

And yes, my raid leader did tell me to slap some kid's mom. I've never felt so satisfied.

#6: Wipe and recover quickly

A wise man once told me that the key to progression raiding was quick wipe recovery. Fast recovery means more attempts on a boss, and more attempts etc. etc. If -one- assbag decides to go check his livejournal between attempts, it effectively slows down the whole thing. It only takes one per attempt to make a night of 15 attempts end up being more like 5.

Stop screwing around and stay at your keyboard. Emergencies happen, but if your bladder is that weak, get a goddamned bucket.

I actually started writing this damned thing months ago, and at the time, I thought I had lots more to pour into it. I am so full of anger and ramen that I thought I could keep it going forever. But a lot of pieces of advice not on the list are somewhat useless. I could talk about loot, and how to behave during distribution, but if you're talking about loot, you already beat the boss, so there really isn't a problem with the raid.

I'll likely add to this over time, or maybe Gincan will come along and drop in his two cents. But I'll have to edit it. I don't think he uses enough four letter words.

Itemization Woes

2010-01-08T15:18:00.000-06:00

I swear, it's as if the Blizzard Developers took a vacation during Trial of the Crusader. Because when they came back, they completely forgot how to itemize plate. Hit and haste? Paladin, please. The entire zone is littered with an overabundance of items with these stats. Don't believe me? Let's look at the 2 hander situation in Icecrown.

What two handers, you ask? There's a mace with an obscene amount of hit rating on it, and that stupid Bryntroll that all those paladins are shitting the bed about. Yes, it's high (compared to TOC counterparts) top end damage and decent proc make it more than suitable as a main hand weapon. However, it's fast speed and relatively small top end (when compared with Shadow's Edge and the Cryptmaker), not to mention it's lack of stats make it absolutely horrible for an off hand. Which means, once you upgrade it (and you will), you might as well go back to a Justicebringer in your off hand. It's stats are just that much better than that proc'ing piece of crap.

I'm a little pissed off at the set bonus situation, too. The ilvl 251 gear just doesn't size up to ilvl 245 ToC gear, when the set bonuses are taken into account. I'm talking about -all- the set bonuses. I exchanged every last piece on Landsoul's spreadsheet, regemmed, and the difference is marginal. It certainly isn't worth the 300+ badges you need to gear yourself out. I think it's Blizzard's way of saying 1) Fuck you, and 2) Go get 25 man tokens, and 3) Fuck you warriors, suck your shitty tier bonuses.

/rant

DPS Tracks 16: Won't Back Down

2010-01-06T21:56:00.004-06:00

That'll Do Pig, That'll Do...

2010-01-04T10:50:00.008-06:00

Ever since the Random Dungeon finder tool was introduced, I've done more tanking than ever before. But I find tanking gets increasingly boring. It's also a bit of a thankless job too. Now I don't run these dungeons looking for praise or respect, but it's nice to hear a good job, or even a thanks when a dps is acting retarded and I save their life. Not once has a dps said one thing to me for keeping them alive. I've had a healer or two thank me for the easy run, but that's about it. This is why I often find myself sucking it up, unchecking the Tank box and waiting 10 - 20 minutes for a spot as dps.

Here is where being a good tank and a good dps differs. About every other run someone will speak up and say something to the effect of "Jebus, sick DPS Gin!". As a matter of fact, that is a direct quote from the Warlock in my Forge of Souls run last night. It's something everyone likes to hear. Even if it comes from the mouth of a Gnome Warlock. It validates the fact that all your hard work is something praiseworthy. I put a lot of effort into learning the ins and outs of my class, and getting a tiny bit of praise makes me want to work even harder. And more importantly, it keeps the game fun for me.

The same is true for every job, in and out of game. You can be the best at what you do, but if no one goes out of their way to give you a small bit of praise it all feels worthless. It's simple thing to do but it's something the majority of us fail at. Maybe it's the fact that we've been conditioned to only point out the negative and not the positive in people. Perhaps it's our own insecurities that keep us from speaking up. Or maybe most of us don't run recount. Whatever it may be, I've made it a habit to say good job to anyone who has done an outstanding job. It's not often that I tank for a dps that really knows what he is doing, but when I do I say something.

How did I L2P?

2009-12-28T11:56:00.008-06:00

I just finished reading an article over at World of Matticus and it got me thinking. How did I learn to play a Fury Warrior? There was no quest somewhere in the game that taught me the ins and outs of this class. It wasn't anything that I just learned overtime either. Most of what I learned was actually the result of talking with Xirella and reading copious amounts of information out there on the web. I'll even admit that I got a lot of info from this very blog before I started writing here.

So that got me thinking. Is there anyway Blizzard could teach a young player to crush mobs with the best of them? I honestly don't think there is. I totally understand where Matticus is coming from and how that quest taught him a lot when it comes to healing, but I don't see anything like that working for a melee dps class. So here are some of the problems I can see Blizzard would run into if they ever tried to tackle this issue.

Threat

One of the biggest issues any melee dps class has, and especially Warriors, is learning to manage your threat. When you're out on your own questing away threat means absolutely nothing to you. My first few dungeons this was never a problem because, to be perfectly honest, I was terrible. I had no concept of what a rotation was and my rage bar was this magical thing that I didn't really understand. But as soon as I started putting up some decent numbers mobs started paying more attention to me, and shortly after I would be dead. It never really occurred to me that maybe I should back off a little bit on the dps, and maybe I should actually focus on the correct mob. I swear, if a tank didn't mark targets I would die nearly every pull.

Gear Scaling

This issue is primarily directed at us Warriors, Fury and Arms alike. I've seen over and over again people talk about how Warriors are one of the most gear dependent classes, because of one reason and one reason only: Rage. At the early stages of a Warrior's life he doesn't generate much rage. And why is that you might ask? It's because you can't do very much damage. To break it down real easy, the more white damage you do the more rage you will generate. So if you don't have any decent gear you're rage bar won't fill up very fast. And without rage, you can't do anything but wait.

This "issue" is actually an important stage in a young Warrior's life. When you don't generate much rage you're forced to pay very close attention to how much you have. You can't spam Heroic Strike if you ever want to be effective. Managing rage is something that no Warrior is perfect at doing and should always try to do better. I still get into rage issues every now once in a while.

Every Warrior is a Tank right?

When Blizzard's quest development team is designing quests I don't think they have any method of letting some random quest giver to know what you're spec is, and if there is, I've never seen it before. It is a fact that there are more Prot Warriors out there than there are dps, so if the quest giver doesn't know what your spec is it's a pretty good guess that he would assume you're a tank. So if this idea of making a quest to learn your role ever does get put into place a warrior would most likely get lumped in with the tanks.

So in conclusion, I would like to just say there already is a valuable tool in place that will teach you how to do your job. Dungeons. There is simply no better way to learn how to dps properly. Dying is annoying and each time it happens you should find out what went wrong. Did you pull aggro off the tank and the mob smacked you in the face? Were you not paying attention and stand in some poop that killed you? Once you learn to stop dying you are moving in the right direction. Cause how much dps can you really do when lying face first in the dirt?

Been away for a while...

2009-12-26T13:37:00.001-06:00

Xi is busy with the new content. Specifically, I've become obsessed with farming badges for money. Gems, Crusader Orbs, anything that will fetch a price on the auction house, and I've got my head stuffed in the corner of some five man, while 4 idiot pugs try to make me drop an F-bomb on them.

Which is sort of where this next bit is coming from. I still assert that playing different roles and classes can make you a better player. Well, let's just say I've met a few people with only one 80.

I don't get to melee dps in pugs very often. But for those of you that do, I have one lesson I'd like to pass on:

STOP BEING A SHIT HEAD!

I met a death knight last night whose only claim to fame was a Heroic JB. The rest of his gear was mostly 232 and 245 (no other 258, curious..), but his trinkets and rings were atrocious, and his belt and boots were from the ToC 5 man. An unusual combination, like he was an alt of a cutting edge guild, or someone who got really lucky in a pug.

Vital statistics out of the way, we'll call this guy Idiot Douche Knight (IDK for short). Mr. IDK just had to link his dps after every boss, and let us know that he was the baddest dude on the planet. I made sure to let him know that, at the end of the dungeon, I saw him turn his presence on after the 3rd boss.

I know the Drama Mamas at WoW.com have covered the bad pugs and told the "power gamers" how they should act. But here's my advice for the "hardcore": Just shut the fuck up. Nobody cares about your DPS, especially in a heroic. So stop bitching that someone in blues can't break 1k, and stop boasting that you can break 4. I don't care so long as it gets done. And you shouldn't either.

Stop being a shit head.

Christmas Eve

2009-12-24T18:06:00.002-06:00

Its Christmas eve and I'm here with my family trying not to act like a total ass. But as I wait to eat I thought I would give my thoughts on the random dungeon system.

Overall I think it's a great adition to the game. The only flaws I have found with the system has nothing to do with the system at all, but some of the wonderful people I've come across. I still haven't come across the loot ninjas but there are plenty of ass hats to go around.

Now I'm not one to complain usually since I'm the king of pulling aggro off tanks these day, but since I queue as both dps and tank I -always- end up tanking. Most groups I tank for are fine, but every so often I will find the turd that pisses me off. Most the time it's a hunter but I've seen a number of just about every other dps class too. These wonderful people like to talk about how great they are and complain when they pull aggro and I let them die.

The last thing I'd like to point out is my favorite group. The silent and deadly force that rushes through a dungeon in no time at all. There is nothing I love more than seeing a well oiled machine of murder kill everything in sight without speaking a word.

Home again.

2009-12-17T17:09:00.004-06:00

I've been out for a week while spending some time with my family. While away I managed to pick up some exotic sickness so my raiding last night was a bit lazy. Now I don't mean I did crap for dps. Actually I was beating the crap out of most people, but I blame that on the fact that I was just hitting the boss and mostly ignoring the spikes during the Lord Marrowgar fight. Lady Deathwhisper is a little different though. I was getting myself in trouble with aggro all the time.

I didn't like the fact that the first day of my vacation was on patch day, but it may have been a blessing in disguise. Most patch days I get home from work and the game is either still down or hardly working. By waiting a week the headache of a patch was completely removed. All but about two addons were updated and the crazy rush was over. I may be a week behind in badges and Ashen Verdict rep but over all I think the break was worth it.

- Gincan

Thoughts on 3.3

2009-12-09T21:29:00.001-06:00

I can see that everyone has survived patch day, and more than a few people have rather positive things to say about the new level of content and the brand new features. Well, I suppose it's my responsibility to bring the negativity.

While the Dungeon Finder system looks quite nice, the execution on patch day was rather sloppy. The "one more hour... wait, another hour... wait... how do we install this stuff again?" of Blizzard's patch days aside, the new instance servers were far from stable once everything was online, and they remained unstable until about 6am the next day. Some people say "patch day blues" or something like that, but I've always been of the frame of mind that a company that has that many resources should have the capability of testing their systems and software before bringing it online for the public.

Now that everything finally seems to be evening out, there are some issues with the matchmaker that I just don't like. I select two out of the three possible roles when I pug, because I can do two, but it seems as though I always tank (on my warrior) or heal (on my paladin) without absolutely zero variation. Perhaps this is just something that reflects the way the population is divided between roles, but it is a little iritating. I mean, who wants to do the same thing -every- single 5 man dungeon run?

My last gripe (new dungeon difficulty isn't really a gripe at Blizzard) has to do with the people I've come across in my quest for random dungeon rewards. I know that Frozen Orbs haven't been a big deal since Naxx, but they're worth at least 30g on my server, which is equivalent to 2-3 wipes worth of repair bills. Not exactly negligible. And yet, in every group -but one- someone has waited until everyone else has greed rolled on an orb and then pressed the 'oh-so-convenient' need button to scoop it up at the last minute. I thought, at first, that it might have been some kind of server only thing... or maybe 'everywhere but my server.' But people were doing it despite their server of origin, ninja looting against people from their own servers, as well. At least one per group. 20% of WoW players are ninja-looting, asshats. Can that be right?

I know it's just a little, near worthless crafting item. But what do you think? Is it right for someone to just take something like that, without bothering to ask? I don't think so... and without a way to compile and an enforce a "do not group with" list, there's just nothing I can do about it.

DPS Tracks 15: Drones

2009-12-04T04:32:00.001-06:00

I've been running low on steam lately, so I took the 3.3 announcement as a sort of break. I figure, anything I do now will mean next to nothing when the new patch drops, so I might as well take a breathe, stretch my legs, and catch up on some sorely needed relaxation.

Well... as much as someone like me can relax. Google Analytics was fun to install. Mainly because the damn code wouldn't stay in the right place when I hit save. Stupid templates... after wrestling with it, I finally got it working at, I don't know... 4:30 a.m. -_-

On an unrelated note, I figured out which track I want to share next.

Drones
By Rise Against

Deep inside these burning buildings
Voices die to be heard
Years we spent teaching a lesson
We ourselves had never learned

And if strength is born from heartbreak
Then mountains I could move
And if walls could speak I’d pray
That they would tell me what to do

If you see me, please just walk on by, walk on by
Forget my name and I’ll forget it too
(Simple lives)
Failed attempts at living simple lives, simple lives,
Are what keep me coming back to you.

No signs of life here, save the embers, the occasional flame
We know the way but can’t remember, conception to the grave
Shout confessions from the greatest heights, where no one can hear
All my fears, my insecurities are falling like tears

If you see me, please just walk on by, walk on by
Forget my name and I’ll forget it too
(Simple lives)
Failed attempts at living simple lives, simple lives,
Are what keep me coming back to you.

The drones all slave away
They’re working overtime
They serve a faceless queen
They never question why
Disciples of a god
(I won’t come back!)
That neither lives nor breathes
(I won’t come back!)
But we have bills to pay,
Yeah we have mouths to feed!
(I won’t come back!)
I won’t change back!

And if you see me, please just walk on by, walk on by
Forget my name and I’ll forget it too
(Simple lives)
Failed attempts at living simple lives, simple lives,
Are what keep me coming back to you.

I'm coming back to you...

Xi's Gold Guide (Or: How I Learned to Write Like Nostradamus)

2009-12-03T21:47:00.002-06:00

So I was browsing the internet, using the power of Google Search to find even more like-minded bloggers. I had a lot of trouble finding blog entries, though, because apparently the words "Blog" and "Warcraft" send you to a very sad place: Unrelated blogs with "How to make in-game gold" guide advertisements.

Now, it's not enough that these stupid things have completely derailed my goals of reaching out and touching the WoW-blog community (Not that I'd ever take it personally >.<), but these things are 100% crap. Not a single bit of these guides is anything more than common knowledge. Trust me, I've seen them. I've never purchased one, but suffice to say, I have my ways of getting my hands on a copy.

Here's the basics:

1) Farm what sells really well
2) Buy low, sell high
3) Do your dailies

Yeah, not very helpful, I know. But that's what those guides say. I've seen some pad their pages with gathering route guides, but these things are as reliable as those free guides you can get on websites, which are directly linked to wowwiki. And the ones online are free.

I understand that people want/need to make money. But I think writing and selling a 'Make 1000g in a day!' guide is basically duping your readers. Don't be an idiot. Don't waste your money on these damn things.

3.3 is Next Week! (Also, Changes to the Blog and My Ego)

2009-12-02T21:54:00.003-06:00

So MMO-Champion has estimated that next week will be when we get our new content patch. Seeing as they have a really good track record guessing release dates (read: Blizzard leak), it's a pretty safe bet that we'll be checking out the new bosses pretty soon.

3.3 is prompting me to get rid of my 'DPS Milestones' from the sidebar. I have a few reasons for this, but ultimately, it could turn into a giant ugly hassle when/if Gincan or I switch to Arms. I wanted to take the time and post them at the bottom of this post, for posterity, before doing away with them. But before I get to that, I wanted to say a few things about that part of the blog.

A ret pally once came along who was really butt-hurt about my (this was before Gincan joined WWOD) posted numbers, and went on a tirade about how I wasn't better than he was. I, of course, deleted the comment, because censorship is the only real way to affect one another on the internet (Thank you, Anonymity).

Why bring it up, you ask? Well, he said I had a big ego, and I wanted to put something to rest. Yes, I have confidence in what I do. I believe that, in any competitive environment, a high amount of confidence is necessary to succeed. But my kills aren't my e-peen. They don't define me, and they don't make me better than that paladin, or anybody else, for that matter.

The reason for those posted numbers, then, are two-fold: I require a means of recording and keeping track of my performance, in order to make tweaks and improve myself. The second reason is that, when I started writing about fury warriors, I wanted to help other fury warriors out, to help them step up their game. My WMO parses were my credentials: The equivalent of degree framed on a doctor's wall. Would you ask a plumber how to DPS? No. But I bet you would ask that warrior that lead a pug parse by a margin of 4k.

And let's face it, I haven't exactly been writing how-to's lately (been meaning to get back to that). Couple this with the fact that WMO has improved their software to allow me a better view at my DPS over the course of several fights, and the 'DPS Milestones' box has become obsolete.

So, without further ado, the DPS Milestones, from 3.1 to 3.3. And here's hoping Icecrown treats me better than Black Temple did.

Ulduar
Razorscale - 3898
Ignis - 5094
XT-002 Deconstructor - 7348
Iron Council - 4471
Kologarn - 7494
Auriaya - 6414
Hodir - 8663
Freya - 3305
Thorim - 4634
Mimiron - 3964
General Vezax - 4980

Trial of the Champion
Beasts of Northrend - 5611(Xi)
Lord Jaraxxus - 6980(Xi)
Faction Champions - 4665(Gincan)
Twin Val'kyr - 9486(Xi)
Anub'arak - 6835(Xi)

Onyxia's Lair
Onyxia - 5022(Xi)

Happy Turkey Day!

2009-11-26T12:23:00.002-06:00

...from all of us at Whirlwind of Doom.

Which wouldn't be complete without...

Shadowmorne has found a home...

2009-11-25T23:00:00.003-06:00

This is a quick shout out to Xirella. Our guild has named her first to receive the legendary axe. I'm glad that the meeting we had about it went well. In my opinion it went just how I expected it would. Xi on top, our resident retnoob second and myself in third. Things considered I'm still new to the raider core so I'm fine with being third.

Once again, grats Xirella! You earned it!

The Verdict is in...

2009-11-25T00:41:00.008-06:00

2009-11-25: Death's Verdict

That's right, tonight I picked up the trinket every single physical dps member of the raid wanted. I gave up my loot position to do so, but since the one member that would have gotten it wasn't here tonight, I had to take it.

Trinket aside I felt it was a bit of an off night for me. I blame the people that kept coming up and bugging me, but that's the problem with raiding when you're family is home. I think I was paying too much attention to my rotation as well instead of just mashing the keys in a frenzy, and oddly enough I suffered for it. One of these days I'll stop acting like a noob.

Lord Jaraxxus - 6980(Xi)
Anub'arak - 6835(Xi)

My Time with Blizzard Billing Support

2009-11-24T13:32:00.003-06:00

It's 1:27, I've been on hold for only five minutes, but I'm seeing estimates of 15 minutes from the automated robot voice, and an hour from players on the forums. So I thought I'd bitch about it on my blog.

So I log in to WoW to finish up my turkey dailies (got tired last night) and get my mats for the raid, and the message on the login screen says... my prepaid time is up.

...wait a second, I use a credit card. How can my 'prepaid' time be up. I got to the account, re-enter everything, I get the same. So, I call up my bank, and they say my card is golden. So... here I am, on the phone with Blizzard because... hey, it's Blizzard. If I don't get on it now, there's no way I'll get to my raid time, eight and a half hours from now. -_-

Edit: It's 1:49 P.M, and my phone says I've been on hold for 30 minutes. Least I got food.

Edit: 2:00 P.M. Nothing. No reason why it can't go through. Since I had already called my bank, the rep just kinda scratched his head and asked if I had another credit card to try. He didn't know what the result code meant, either. >.Shattered Crystal. If you ever need a game time card, and don't want the hassle of going to the store, you can get one easily, through your email account. It's fast, and secure. /advertising

Blast from the Past

2009-11-23T13:53:00.000-06:00

And no, I'm not talking about that ridiculous Brendan Fraser movie. I'm talking about the little things that used to get me through the day, back in Burning crusade. I pulled this little puppy out of my bank last night, and I just wanted to smack something with it. For the heck of it. A few things I noticed...

First and foremost, the weapon model is freakin' awesome! Second, Executioner and Mongoose were much more interesting looking (and mechanically interesting) than berserking or massacre, which seem to be the only enchants anybody uses in WotLK.

And finally, the little, low item level pair of axes still tore into enemies at a decent pace. I did some dailies at the Argent Tournament grounds, and went about as fast as I do on my ret paladin, and managed 3.5k on a level 80 test dummy in Stormwind. I would've tried the heroic version, but I didn't feel like leveling my one handed axe skill to 400 just to check it out. =\

While these weren't the last weapons I used in BC, they were by far my favorite. And I'm just too sentimental to get rid of them.

The True Cost of Shadowmourne

2009-11-22T13:08:00.000-06:00

We've all seen the staggering quest requirements, and have a pretty good idea what has to be done to get one lucky guild member a legendary weapon to take down Big Daddy Emo himself. But how does a guild decide? That's the real killer about legendary weapons: At the end of the day, they're really just big pieces of loot, designed to kill guild morale and, if the bonds of a group are too weak, a guild itself.

This Wednesday, I get to attend a meeting with 2 (or 3) possible candidates, and it has been suggested that we are to talk about the fate of the weapon and make a decision amongst ourselves. Seriously? I've talked to every one of us, and they all have the exact same response: "I'm going home with that weapon." I think they actually want us to tear each other's throats out.

With portents of a stalemate and a stomach ulcer on the horizon, I kind of get the idea that the guild's officer council just doesn't want to do anything about it. And that is the thing that I really don't want to see happen. An officer decision was made regarding the legendary healing mace, and I don't think that the melee should be cared for any less.

For posterity, I'll say here what I will end up saying at the meeting. Legendaries require large amounts of guild resources, and have the potential to benefit the guild as a whole. Shadowmourne should be awarded at the guild's (or officer's) discretion, which should ultimately be into the hands of the member that would provide the largest benefit to the raid as a whole.

ToC/Ony

2009-11-19T01:17:00.000-06:00

2009-11-19: ToC/Ony

Got to do a little tanking tonight when a) one of our main tanks took the night off after an exhausting day and b) our main tank and raid leader couldn't stay logged in. The stars were in alignment for that shit.

Been trying to work something new into the mix. Been trying out an Indestructible Potion before the pull, to give myself a little under 2 minutes of almost 100 AP at the start of a fight. Every little bit counts, I say. Kudos to Gincan for bringing that idea to the table.

Beasts of Northrend - 5611(Xi)
Lord Jaraxxus - 6891(Gincan)

DPS Tracks 14: Whirlwind of Doom

2009-11-17T21:50:00.001-06:00

My favorite band of all freakin' time!

Seriously! Wikipedia entry here.

And yes, I have a goddamn theme song. Sue me.

Whirlwind of Doom
By Iron Fire

One for all...

It's been five long years in the dark
And now a new age will begin
This time there will be no prisoners
There will be no mercy
Bloody wars in the underground
Has made a new monster
And the war for revenge, will strike, now go

Trapped in a nightmare, lost in a dream
Betrayed at the battle scene
Backstabbing brothers wanted me dead
Now my steel is all that they get

Like a shadow rising up from below
Years in darkness, now we finally
Know where to go
Metal we will consume like a...

Whirlwind of doom, one for all
The hammer of Caine will crush you
Whirlwind of doom, hear the call
Ironheads united
Whirlwind of doom, one for all
The hammer of Caine will crush you
Whirlwind of doom, hear the call
Ironheads united for revenge.

They granted me power and took it away
Here’s another battle to slay
A monster of metal, a creature of steel
To no man we will kneel

Like a shadow rising up from below
Years in darkness, now we finally
Know where to go
Metal we will consume like a...

Whirlwind of doom, one for all
The hammer of Caine will crush you
Whirlwind of doom, hear the call
Ironheads united
Whirlwind of doom, one for all
The hammer of Caine will crush you
Whirlwind of doom, hear the call
Ironheads united for revenge.

It felt just like paradise days of no compromise
Bridges will burn but we will build new ones
So join us in our world and fight by our side
Brothers and sisters, we bid you welcome

Hail to the chosen ones
There will be no mercy, no prisoners
Hail to the chosen ones
We will last like no one before
Hail to the chosen ones
There will be no mercy, no prisoners
Hail to the chosen ones
We will last like no one before
No one before

Like a whirlwind of doom
We're out for revenge
Like a whirlwind of doom

Macros: Two for the Price of One

2009-11-16T17:11:00.005-06:00

I would like to bestow upon you a bit of knowledge. The problem with playing a warrior is we have a lot of different skills we need to use, and use them quickly. Here's the solution that has worked for me.


#showtooltip?
/cast [modifier:alt] Battle Shout; Heroic Strike
/cast Bloodrage
/script UIErrorsFrame:Clear();

So let's break this down.


#showtooltip?

This simply displays the tooltip of either ability you specify.


/cast [modifier:alt] Battle Shout; Heroic Stike

Here we are specifying that you want to cast Heroic Strike, or Battle shout if holding the alt key. The same result can be accomplished using key bindings and additional action bars, but this way it takes up less real-estate on your screen.


/cast Bloodrage

This is easy enough to understand...


/script UIErrorsFrame:Clear();

I've added this at the bottom of every one of my macros so I don't see the error crap flashing across my screen. It's nice because I tend to mash buttons rapidly.

So there you have it. One simple macro that if altered slightly I'm sure will suit your play style. Just change what abilities you wish to cast and you can cut your action bars in half.

And what everyone has been waiting for...

2009-11-16T14:59:00.004-06:00

...Gincan's answers to the survey.

What is the name, class, and spec of your primary dps?

Gincan, Short and angry Fury Warrior

What is your primary dpsing environment? (i.e. raids, pvp, 5 mans)

These days I dps mostly in a raid environment, both 10 and 25 mans. I also enjoy doing the occasional 5 man Heroic and destroying everyone's numbers. I may be a bit of an ass hole, but I find it entertaining pulling aggro off the tank and killing the mob before it kills me.

What is your favorite dps spell/ability for your class and why?

Whirlwind. When I started playing I knew exactly what I wanted to be. I made a dwarf because I've always envisioned them as the craziest sons of bitches out there. I went fury because nothing is greater than running into battle swinging two giant weapons, killing anything that stands in your way. And Whirlwind gets that job done better than any other skill out there.

What dps spell do you use least for your class and why?

Victory Rush. I honestly don't think I've ever used this. I just don't see the point.

What do you feel is the biggest strength of your dps class and why?

If you take a warrior, let him stand right in front of a boss and let him just go to town he'll out shine any other class. Warriors kill things, and they kill them well.

What do you feel is the biggest weakness of your dps class and why?

As a dps class we don't bring much to the table besides raw power. The warrior in every environment (5 man dungeons, raids, PvP) doesn't do much on his own. But when paired with a team he becomes a damn rear unstoppable force. So to put it simply our major weakness is how much we rely on other classes.

In a 25 man raiding environment, what do you feel, in general, is the best dps assignment for you?

A Warrior is best suited to kill. We are designed at our core to do nothing but kill, and kill as fast as possible. Throw us in the front lines and we'll bring the pain.

What dps class do you enjoy dpsing with most and why?

I dps as a fury warrior only. For a couple reasons. First of all I understand the class and I do my job pretty damn good. Secondly, I don't think any other toon I play would be quite as good.

What tanking class do you enjoy dpsing with least and why?

Feral druids. Some people think a Warrior tank has little to no AoE tanking abilities. But anyone who thinks that has never tried to work with a bear. They suck, they really really suck.

What is your worst habit as a dps?

In a 5 man, I'm a total ass and don't care about my threat one bit. Nothing hits hard enough to kill me very quickly. And sometimes those horrible habits carry over to a raid. I try to be more conscious about my threat, but when the tank is having some kind of issue generating much threat I'll take a smack to the face and take a dirt nap faster than I can blink.

What is your biggest pet peeve in a group environment while dpsing?

I tend to be pretty laid back, but that doesn't mean I'm not competitive. When I first started raiding I saw the numbers other raiders were putting up and I worked hard to become that good, and my work paid off. My major pet peeve is anyone that doesn't try and beat me. I shouldn't be on top of the charts all the time, people should be beating me. My team should be making me work harder, and grow as a team. When people aren't pushing me like they should it gets frustrating.

Do you feel that your class/spec is well balanced with other dps?

I think we are fairly well balanced overall. Nothing about us is too over powered and we're not struggling to prove ourselves as viable raid specs. I'm pretty happy overall.

What tools do you use to evaluate your own performance as a tank?

I look over the raid parses put up on WoW meters Online as well as review my dps from recount. I like to make sure that I'm not doing anything horribly bad. I just need to work on my death count >.>

What do you think is the biggest misconception people have about your class?

I don't see many misconceptions floating around anymore. A lot of people assume we're tanks, but that has lessened greatly. If their are any misconceptions still lingering, I don't hear them very often.

What do you feel is the most difficult thing for new dpsers of your class to learn?

Understanding how to utilize rage effectively. Rage is the building block of our class, whether you're a tank or dps you have to understand how it works and when to use it. The concept of a "rage dump" is simple to understand but can be hard to master. If you follow the normal rotation (which you should) you need to know when to use Heroic Strike. If you use it too much, you'll be sitting around with nothing to do for a good 2 to 3 seconds. If you use it too little you're losing out on a lot of dps.

What dps class do you feel you understand least?

Shadow Priests. I typically don't raid with any so I don't really know what they bring to the table. Mind Control is pretty much the only thing I know they can do.

What add-ons or macros do you use, if any, to aid you in dps?

Power Aura Classic. I have it set up to remind me to shout if I'm the only Fury Warrior (I'm usually not). And I have a big ass warning right in my face when Blood Surge procs.

Icehud. I have it set up to help my monitor my health, and most of all my rage.

Strength over other stats or balanced stat allocation, and why?

I still don't entirely understand the best way to go with stats. But so far this is how I've done it.

~140 Hit
~26 Expertise
Go balls out on Strength.

I don't worry about Armor Penetration much since most of the best gear has it, so I tend to not gem for it.

Seriously, Blizzard?

2009-11-16T14:24:00.000-06:00

Okay, this is just getting ridiculous. I think that, since the release of Lich King, Blizzard has done a lot of things right. Tier pieces for badges, Heirloom pieces, and faction/race changes have made WoW a lot more fun than ever before. But regardless of their success, I guess ad campaigns die hard.

Hey, yo... (A Survey)

2009-11-13T22:17:00.002-06:00

First thing's first. I'm not in love with the new composition tool that blogger uses. That aside, I found a wonderful post through WoW.com about a dps survey that is being done, obviously inspired by the healer and tank surveys that have been going through the blogosphere. And they're missing a dps warrior's opinions. Well, guess what?

What is the name, class, and spec of your primary dps?

Xirella, Proud Fury Warrior

What is your primary dpsing environment? (i.e. raids, pvp, 5 mans)

I primarily dps in the 10 and 25 man scene. Heroics are a bit too frustrating to dps on a regular basis, given the skill level and threat output of the average PuG tank. PvP is out of the question because a) I'm fury, and b) PvPing as a warrior is like being the fat kid on the playground.

What is your favorite dps spell/ability for your class and why?

Whirlwind. This embodies everything about who I am and what I do. Fury warriors are one-man wrecking crews, wading into battle, blindly swinging gigantic weapons in a powerful frenzy that can bring even the mightiest foes to their knees.
What dps spell do you use least for your class and why?

Victory Rush. It was easy to get excited about it when 3.0 first dropped, and we all got to level with it. Lots of damage, for free, right? Well, this thing is never used in a raid. Ever. Even if I get the killing blow on a boss, I get to watch it light up while we're distributing loot and then fade away into a meaningless nothingness.

What do you feel is the biggest strength of your dps class and why?

I suppose the real strength of a warrior is the ability to suck it up and tank. I know that's not really what people ask for, but I find that, with the introduction of dual spec, there is no sensible reason for a warrior not to have a tank spec and a bag of gear with you at all times. You never know when the opportunity will arise where you can show off your tanking chops on a big stage.

What do you feel is the biggest weakness of your dps class and why?

I feel that the DPS warrior suffers from a lack of versatility. All of our buffs are mirrored by an array of different classes, we have limited ability to heal ourselves or others. We have no abilities that can be considered "raid savers" (such as Lay on Hands, bubbles, battle res, etc.), and our raw dps is underneath that of the "pure" dps classes.

In a 25 man raiding environment, what do you feel, in general, is the best dps assignment for you?

I am a boss killer. Put me behind a stationary target and let me go to town. I face roll from one side of my keyboard to the left, keeping the damage rolling in until we're smacking the master looter for our stuff.

What dps class do you enjoy dpsing with most and why?

Warriors. Fury only. I find the arms rotation to be a bit too clunky for my tastes. Warriors have gone through a lot of changes over the ages, but they still manage to maintain an easy to learn, difficult to master dps rotation, and more than capable of making your guild leader want to adopt you for your in-game prowess. (No, really... she wants to adopt me.)

What tanking class do you enjoy dpsing with least and why?

Feral druids. Short of quoting my raid leader ("Druid Tanks ****ing suck"), it doesn't seem as though, through game mechanics of lack of skill, druid tanks have the ability to hold threat on a level that is necessary for competitive dps. I'm sure there are druids out there who could prove me wrong. I'd love to meet them.

What is your worst habit as a dps?

Ignoring my Threat Meter. While I dance around the clouds/fire/orbs/whatever with the greatest of ease, I can't seem to watch my threat meter for more than a few seconds after engagement. This isn't normally a problem, since our raid tank is top notch, but say, for example, the tank is stunned or slowed by the ridiculous poison debuff in heroic beasts, I may or may not be able to pull off long enough to keep from dying horribly.

What is your biggest pet peeve in a group environment while dpsing?

Players who settle for mediocrity. Just because we're not in a top end guild doesn't mean you don't have to give it your all. My guild is only in here for 6 hours a week, and I don't think it's too much to ask that people read up on their class rotation, bring consumables and focus until we call it for the night.

Do you feel that your class/spec is well balanced with other dps?

I think warriors are fine. I've heard the blues talk about more buffs to compensate from the 10% that was cut in 3.1, but as long as we don't get another large chunk cut away before Cataclysm, I think I'll be just peachy.

What tools do you use to evaluate your own performance as a tank?

WoW Meter Online. I watch my progress like a hawk, and keep track of my dps milestones so that I know that I'm improving.

What do you think is the biggest misconception people have about your class?

That we are all tanks. Since Titan's Grip, I'm sure this has been reduced somewhat. But it was a big deal in BC.

What do you feel is the most difficult thing for new dpsers of your class to learn?

Capitalizing on the global cooldown. Doing something every 1.5 seconds adds so much to dps as opposed to simply pressing a button when you happen to notice it's off cooldown. Learning to feel the GCD is probably the best way to boost a newbie's dps.

What dps class do you feel you understand least?

Warlocks. I can't even keep track of their buffs. I remember walking into Heroic Botanica and asking the warlock... "Hey, do you have any CC?"

...I did the same thing in Utgarde Pinnacle, at the start of Wrath.

What add-ons or macros do you use, if any, to aid you in dps?

You can't ask me that. You'll make me blush...

Seriously though, there are a lot of things I do to keep my DPS as high as it can be. I abuse Power Auras Classic, and have all of my macros listed here.

Strength over other stats or balanced stat allocation, and why?

Oh, wow. There's a lot involved in determining how you should gear and gem. I use Landsoul's Warrior DPS Spreadsheet to determine what upgrades are for me, and which stats hold a priority. The basics are:

-Reach the soft hit cap
-Reach the expertise cap
-Slot for either str or armor penetration as your primary.

DPS Tracks 13: Treason (Battle with the Four Fiends)

2009-11-12T22:19:00.000-06:00

This is fairly old news for some, but the geniuses (no sarcasm, really) at Overclocked ReMix have given us a free-to-download album featuring my favorite game of all time: Final Fantasy IV. Run, don't walk, download it here.

Gincan....The Towering Monstrosity

2009-11-05T13:18:00.007-06:00

If you play a dwarf you are bound to be subject to a certain level of crap being thrown your way. This is especially true if you're the only dwarf in the guild. I'm not bothered by the jokes in anyway, I actually find most of them fairly funny. But last night I got a little revenge on the number one crap talker of Dwarves...our guild leader.

So here's what happened. This nice chest piece dropped off of the Northrend Beasts. It was pretty clear that it would go to off-spec since all of our main tanks either were rocking one already or had one floating around in their bags somewhere.

So as loot shows up a comment is maid that "Whatever happens, that chest piece can't go to Gincan. There is no way he could ever be a Towering Monstrosity." Everyone had their laughs. Even I thought it was a funny comment. But when it came time to roll I got my little bit of poetic justice. I rolled a 100, got my chest piece, and took my place as a "Towering" Monstrosity.

So the moral of the story today is: Racism is wrong, hug a dwarf.

Heroic Beasts, Round 1

2009-11-05T01:34:00.001-06:00

2009-11-05: Heroic Beasts: Ouch

I really didn't think they would hurt half as much as they did. But oh, our little healer core was -not- ready for they had in store for us. Running in light (only five healers showed up and hey, if it was just normal ToC, they were complaining about being bored) on heals, our tanks died horrible, horrible deaths in the first few seconds of our first pull. Further attempts revealed that a) Gormok is not a pussy, and b) Need moar healers.

Other than that, Gincan's been impressing the guild with two brand new 232 weapons (we take what we can get in this raid group), and even got to post a DPS milestone of his own.

Now if I can just push the rest of the melee...

Beasts of Northrend - 5138(Xi)
Lord Jaraxxus - 6645(Xi)
Faction Champions - 4665(Gincan)
Onyxia - 5022(Xi)

An Obligatory Intoduction

2009-11-03T09:11:00.003-06:00

As Xirella has already pointed out there is a another contributor to this blog. So this is a quick introduction of myself, Gincan. Originally my relationship with Xirella was strictly student teacher. I was the lowly newb that knew nothing of rotation, or even how to dps my way out of a paper bag. But after getting several pointers and some decent gear, I quickly rose to be one of the hardest hitting members of our guild. I frequently out dps people who have been doing this for years, and I do it while standing a good two feet shorter than them (Yeah, I'm a dwarf....in game, not real life). So from time to time you can expect to see a post here and there from this angry little dwarf. I promise I'll be more entertaining next time.

LFG: Wheel of Misfortune

2009-10-30T16:14:00.000-05:00

If you've been keeping up with the new LFG system, you know that pretty soon we're getting a new "random dungeon" option, that pits us and 4 players in a dungeon of it's choosing.

The only issue I can think of (and it's a big one) is that, right now, pugging is kinda random anyway. I was picked up just yesterday by a group of people whose tank ditched out on them after wiping on Dred. They were really glad to see a tank with over 30k health, but even I died pretty badly to the hands of the large dinosaur, and was forced into wearing a raid suit.

Now I don't think that they were bads, necessarily. But they were definitely in the lower end of the gear pool. And I wonder (and fear) that such random placement can put me into pugs with mismatched talent... constantly. After all, when rolling for loot, I can't seem to roll over a 20. I think that applies to all WoW aspects that work on the random number generator.

In other news, I've posted my (soon-to-be-outdated) guide to tanking, as well as taken on a partner to contribute to the blog. He's around here somewhere... he's probably just a little shy. I just gotta figure out how to make a multiple author widget, and I can plaster it over the side bar...

Many Whelps! Handle It!

2009-10-28T17:53:00.005-05:00

Server first achievement. I'm not sure if this one is really really relevant, but it was kinda fun. And yes, this is the size of the video posted on our forums, likely due to forum (and my blog) size constraints. Click the youtube logo to watch it in it's real size on youtube.

Warning: Video contains harsh language... remixed.

Devils!

2009-10-25T23:58:00.002-05:00

Whee! Nothing says loving like copyright infringement!

Youtube has been cracking down on this kind of thing lately, giving you options of using their licensed (and also of poor audio quality) recordings for your videos. So you can choose to buy them. So they(youtube) can make money.

Hmm...

So yeah, I might have to find some other place to use when I embed music for my dps tracks.

DPS Tracks 12: I Am Hated

2009-10-21T16:43:00.005-05:00

I AM HATED
By: Slipknot

The whole world is my enemy - and I'm a walking target
Two times the devil with all the significance
Dragged and raped for the love of a mob
I can't stay - because I can't be stopped
Eat motherfuckers alive who cross us
I know you're all tired of the same ol' bosses
Let me tell you how it's gonna be
I'm gonna kill anyone who steps up in front of me

Welcome to the same ol' fucking scam
Same ol' shit in a dead fad

Everybody wants to be so hard
Are you real or a second rate sports card?
They all lost their dad or their wife just died
They never got to go outside - SHUT UP
Nobody gives a fuck
it doesn't change the fact that you suck

(We are) The anti-cancer
(We are) The only answer
Stripped down, we want you dead
But what's inside of me, you'll never know
(We are) Bipolar gods
(We are) You know what we are
My life was always shit
And I don't think I need this anymore

Now I'm not pretty and I'm not cool
But I'm fat and I'm ugly and proud - so fuck you
Standing out is the new pretension
Sreamline the (sic)ness, half-assed aggression
You gotta see it to believe it, we all got conned
All the mediocre sacred cows we spawned
Put your trust in the mission
We will not repent - this is our religion

(We are) The anti-cancer
(We are) The only answer
Stripped down, we want you dead
But waht's inside of me, you'll never know
(We are) Bipolar gods
(We are) You know what we are
My life was always shit
And I don't think I need this anymore

I AM HATED
YOU ARE HATED
WE ARE HATED

Everything sucks and I can prove it
Everybody dies, shuffle on, remove it
Individuals, indispensable
I'm the paradox deity vessel
...the other side holds no secret
But this side is done, I don't need it
Before you go, you should know you're breaking down
You'll be rotten by the time you're underground

(We are) The anti-cancer
(We are) The only answer
Stripped down, we want you dead
But what's inside of me, you'll never know
(We are) Bipolar gods
(We are) You know what we are
My life was always shit
And I don't think I need this anymore

(We Are) The source of conscience
(We Are) Distorted sentients
There's only one thing left
And I can't leave until it's sated
(We Are) The absolute
(We Are) Controlling you
They're closing in, I can't escape
I AM HATED

Feeling sick...

2009-10-21T02:01:00.002-05:00

2009-10-21: Blargh

Haven't been feeling that great lately. Having dizzy spells. Thinking it might be related to how freakin hot it is here, regardless of how cool it is outside. I hate this inbetween weather. Too cool for the AC (which is the only thing keeping my computer from heating my entire bedroom) but too warm for the weather to cool me down. Yeah, I have a window wide open, but with no breeze and an unusual lack of fans (someone threw them out when we got central heat and air...), it's hotter than dog shit in here.

Oh yeah, and if you're a ret paladin and your name begins with the letters RET you probably deserve to be slapped.

That is all.

Beasts of Northrend - 4919
Twin Val'kyr - 9486
Anub'arak - 6549

No moar yogg! :O

2009-10-15T00:07:00.002-05:00

Huh..

Every once in a while, the guild will surprise me.

Actually, that's a lie. It wasn't a surprise. We really worked that sonuvabitch over, and took his obsolete loot. Guild firsts are never bad, no matter how late in the game we've hit it.

Moar Yogg

2009-10-14T21:22:00.003-05:00

I know, it's odd to post before the raid. But I've got so much data on yogg already that I don't really plan on parsing it. Besides, it's more about gauging my own improvement than anything else, and it's hard to see the improvement in the stop-and-go environment of Yogg 25. Our DPS have really itchy trigger fingers, and the adds die in seconds, which is disastrous for the first phase.

I think we're getting to it, but we're having trouble learning the transitions and the things that come in the later stages of the fight. The issue, obviously, is that it is tiring to get to the 3rd phase, and people usually lose focus by the time we're getting there consistently. I hope we can just hop back into 3rd phase attempts tonight, and maybe even get Yogg, because it seems our raid leader isn't giving us the go for ToGC until we get him down.

2009-10-14T00:14:00.002-05:00

Justicebringer

Finally.

After two content patches, Lexi and I both have a 25 man weapon drop. The sword dropped off Onyxia too, and the long time we waited to get them finally paid off.

Go team DXL.

DPS Tracks 11: Crush'em

2009-10-10T20:36:00.004-05:00

Blah blah competitive spirit blah blah.

It might have something to do with my work in the arena. I don't know.

And yes, this is from what is likely Megadeth's worst album (although it and Cryptic Writings are pretty close in that respect). Also of note, is that you'll notice (somewhat) famous film and t.v. personalities Jean-Claude Van Damme and Bill Goldberg. This may be the last Van Damme movie that anybody actually cared about. And by care about I mean... it was in theatres.

Edit: The hyphen was in the wrong place -_-

Crush 'em
By Megadeth

Enter the arena and hit the lights
Step up now you're in for a ride
this is war, ain't no fun and games
we get it up, you go down in flames

Party time, going down
you better not mess us around
the stakes are rich, take a hit or stay
the price is high, someone's gonna pay

Heads I win, tails you lose
out of my way I'm coming through
roll the dice don't think twice
and we crush, crush 'em

Looking for trouble, now you've found it
you're a drum and we're gonna pound it

Last one standing wins the fight
hear us scream and shout all night
down on the floor and eat the grit
this is gonna hurt a little bit

Heads I win, tails you lose
out of my way I'm coming through
roll the dice don't think twice
and we crush, crush 'em

Now we lay you down to rest
you'll never be more than second best
step inside you're in for a ride
and we crush, crush 'em

Don't need reason, don't want names
just a John Doe to put to shame
step aside let me explain
the name of the game is pain

Now we've found you
We're gonna pound you
We're gonna beat you
Gonna defeat you
We're gonna bust you
We're gonna crush you
We're gonna crush 'em

Rules of Raiding: Never Blame the Healer

2009-10-09T15:52:00.002-05:00

I figure this was a pretty unspoken rule. At the very least, it's something that I've always lived by, and something that our guild upholds to a fairly high standard. And it makes sense: Piss off the healer, and you might not get heals anymore. Do you have a replacement? Then it's time to put something in that cake hole.

Here's my story: I'm on my little paladin, and get recruited for a 10 man ToC pug. Now, these usually end pretty badly. The tanks aren't usually well-geared enough for the encounter, and the healers usually follow suit. But, this is good practice, I figure, for when my healer has to do the real thing for the guild.

So there's this tank that decides to take over as raid leader. And to his credit, he does a decent job at explaining the boss fight in detail. His problem? Not only is he really undergeared (and inappropriately geared, with a 2.6 speed agility weapon and a lot of block rating and block value), but he absolutely has to tell you how -you- wiped the group and how you just need to fucking do better.

First he was all over the melee for not killing the kobolds. Then the ranged for not avoiding the fires. Wipe #6 comes around and he eats a huge spike of damage while he's got 4 or 5 stacks of the bleed debuff on him and I can't keep him up. Next thing you know, in whisper and over vent, he's letting me know that my healing ratios are off, that he knows healing and that I fail.

Hmm...

Now, I'm not the best healer in the world by my own admission. But if someone wants to tell me how to play my class, they better be playing that class at the very least. This guy could barely play his own class.

It didn't help that he was playing a warrior, a class that I know like the back of my hand.

This comes back to my original thought. Never blame the healer. I don't even care if it's their fault. In a guild setting, you have the opportunity to correct any healer issues through other channels, through suggestions from the main healer and other members of the healing ensemble, or through assigned readings from the wealth of articles online. In a pug? Just replace them if you think they're that bad. But don't fucking waste everyone's time trying to micro manage every aspect of a fight. It makes you look like an asshole. That warrior was an asshole.

Why don't you blame the healer? Because you won't get any more heals, which is what happened to this guy. I just left. And ran it later when my guild leader's 10 man had an open spot. Guess what crappy healer got to clear 10 man ToC for the first time?

I really hate...

2009-10-07T23:27:00.002-05:00

Yogg-Saron!

Seriously. I'm not even parsing this crap, since it's the equivalent of handing someone a stack of food, 4 flasks, and 200g to slap me in the virtual (or actual) face for a few hours.

I can only imagine we're after the achievement, because the loot pinata that is ToC has been relatively good to us.

Relatively...

I hate adds. I hate them.

Hate.

Adds.

Back to the fight. >.<

Hmm...

2009-10-04T17:34:00.003-05:00

So I've been kinda speechless lately. I've been working (very little) on a guide to raiding, which I'm sure nobody actually needs... but every other thing out of my mouth sounds like "don't be an idiot," or "don't be a douche bag." I've just had nothing to report. Just like those few weeks that we were stuck on Thorim. Nothing new is happening.

In raiding, anyway. I've been playing my paladin a lot lately. I've joined our guild leader's Monday Night 10 man roster, and now have more access to Badges of Triumph and the possibility of loot (you know how me and loot don't get along). When I'm not raiding, I pvp my ass off. My paladin has a full Deadly set (with the exception of gloves), and we're working our way past the 1200 arena barrier in a 3v3 team. Doing the holy pally thing is pretty fun, since we have a lot of tools to get through the high burst that a lot of teams and specs have.

I see a lot of people covering the next "great" update already, and the thing that always sticks out in my mind is... what's the rush? Why is there such a huge urge to move forward the -moment- something has just changed? It's not like the ToC content is old. It just came out! The very day that 3.2.2 dropped they were talking about 3.3. I wonder if it's just a sign of the times; The masses suffer from a form of commercially induced ADD and are unable to sit still for more than 2 seconds.

That's just my thought, anyway.

Post #69: Disappointment with a Side of Fries

2009-09-30T00:37:00.002-05:00

2009-09-30: MOAR ToC

I can't seem to catch a break. Y'know there was a death knight on our server that had the Justicebringer on the very first week that the Faction Champions were available? The "prolific" ret paladin from the server's top guild has a heroic version of the reckoning, and I'm still swinging a silly ass Betrayer of Humanity and a 10 man weapon. I have been passing -all- loot in hopes of upgrading the one thing that has been stagnating since Naxx, and quite frankly, I'm getting a little disgusted at being left hanging by the ridiculous RNG.

To be more clear: Since Naxxramas, no strength based two handers have dropped in 25 man content.

Beasts of Northrend - 4883

DPS Tracks 10: 99 Ways To Die

2009-09-29T11:26:00.002-05:00

When I was young (read: in high school), I stopped into a used record/cd store and picked up a random album, thinking I needed to branch out my musical tastes. I just happened to pick up an album with some skeleton on the front. Seemed relatively harmless... What I found was a fast-paced metal experience that changed my life.

This particular track was featured on The Beavis and Butthead Experience, and was later available on a sort of greatist hits compilation album.

And yes, I realize that thar be controversial images in this video. Deal or don't press play.

99 Ways To Die
By Megadeth

If I see the morning hours
Ill have one more yesterday
Take life from tomorrow
Cause Ive burned out my today

If I get up to the top I know
Ill just go back downhill
Gotta terminal future
And its time to write my will

Down another glass of courage
And a shot of thorazine

Were not ready to see you yet
99 ways to die
Were not ready to see you yet

Gotta short between the earphones
Wringing my hands in dismay
A more efficient maniac
With two feet in the grave

Aint got no last words to say
Yellow streak right up my spine
The gun in my mouth was real
And the taste blew my mind

In a black tie and straight jacket
Man Im gonna try again

Chorus repeat

Demitasse of arsenic
Try on this tie
Never mind the tree

There is only death and danger
In the sockets of my eyes
A playground of illusion
No one plays they only die

Theres a prison in my mind
And the bars are gonna break
Im as mad as a hatter
And strung out just the same

Taunting rigor mortis
I feel it draw me in

Xi hates Yogg-Saron

2009-09-28T08:39:00.002-05:00

I was half asleep last night, so my anger may seem a little... muted...

But would it be bad form if I made the following macro for the pedestrians that wandered into the spawning clouds instead of into traffic?

"Congratulations, you're our 1,000,000th customer!"

Seriously. It's not that fucking hard. And it's the same two or three people -every- time. Sometimes multiple times. Our group, for whatever reason, can barely handle -one- extra spawn, let alone a legion that is spawned when a hunter takes a step forward, into the cloud that is right in fucking front of him to take his shot.

I move around the entire freakin' room if I have to in an attempt to avoid a cloud. There is never an instance where it is okay to move through a cloud to get to where you need to go. The fact that I have to say that is embarrassing, to say the least. We're making it into phase 2 fairly consistently, but without enough people alive to take on the tentacles and that stupid portal room, we're not really making any progress.

I hate Sunday raids.

MOAR DOWNTIME

2009-09-25T08:25:00.004-05:00

No, the WoW servers aren't down. I've actually been spending a lot of time playing Champions Online. I've been trying new builds, different character concepts, and checking out the player community.

But I have to say that the player community is probably the worst part. Maybe I'm not used to it because I hardly ever go to the WoW forums. But each and every post I see is negativity about the game's changes since launch. Everyone is either a doomsayer or a troll. They're leaving because the game is doomed, or just bitching because the game is doomed, and regardless of my own opinion, it's hard to even browse through all of that crap.

A lot of these people don't have valid arguments, either. Mini-mines and the ability to hold something with ice by just blocking 100% of the time was just plain cheap, and the -only- reason so many people used it was because word got around, and it was just the easy way to play.

Naturally, when something too powerful gets nerfed, there are people who can't adapt. And then the QQ starts. And my bottle of aspirin gets popped open.

This kind of reminds me of the biggest nerf I ever experienced to a class/AT I actually played. Back in City of Heroes, I played a Fire Tanker, long before the power sets were transferred to scrappers (melee dps). And we had something that seriously destroyed wave after wave of mobs: burn.

Burn was an interesting ability. All it did was drop a patch of fire at your feet. Because you were a tank, you taunted your enemies into melee range, drop the burn patch, and throw one more taunt while the single patch ate away at their health. All of it. Admittedly, it was overpowered, but it was the general assumption that this high AoE dps tool had been given to us because of our rather low survivability (for a tank, that is). And that is not something that even the devs argued with the community: Fire tanks were fundamentally inferior for tanking purposes. I myself found a lot of situations where the objection was to kill the large group that I pulled before the incoming damage took me down.

They kept adjusting it, and the community continued to shrug off the changes. They adjusted it's cooldown, damage, number of ticks, threw a hit roll in, anything they could think of to keep it in line with other AoE powers. And then they broke it. Devs don't break very many things, mind you. In my opinion, the average player will claim a broken mechanic when they don't get their way. This is far from the case. They added a 'fear' component to the burn patch, so that enemies would run away from you when you dropped it, and in some cases, targeted other characters.

There are two problems with this fear component. All enemies have a ranged attack in City of Heroes. So, when you drop a Burn patch, they all get out of the way (which takes them out of range of all the rest of your attacks, which are melee range only), and start firing at range. The goal of a tank in City of Heroes is simple: grab agro of a large group of villains, and hold them together while the group takes care of them. Yes, there's knockback, and there's a target limit on taunt, and all kinds of things to make it interesting. But all of the Fire AT's -big- AoE threat generators are melee range. If you scatter them, it makes it infinitely harder to do your job, especially since villains, once ranged, have a tendency to stay at range.

The second problem is the sometimes wonky threat mechanic. Sometimes, mobs at range will randomly begin attacking non-tank team members. And when it's the squishies, this becomes a dangerous scenario. All because they wandered away from your burn patch.

Here's my problem: Because the ability Burn was too powerful, they changed it into something that a tank would never use. It doesn't fit into the tank mentality. You need to stand there and eat melee damage to the face, and keep your team safe. Using this ability, with no attack power upgrades, will scatter the enemy and turn a controlled situation into chaos. Cryptic Studios very effectively removed the power from the power set entirely, because there was little to no way to make use of it's damage or it's threat implications.

And so I say, they broke a rather important power in the fire tanker set. What's all this mean? I don't know. Maybe I'm trying to say that I know what it's like to see a power or power set broken. And that's not what's happening now, in Champions. People need to chill the hell out. I got on without Burn, and I made something of my Fire Tanker, that wowed every single person I teamed with.

I think the servers are finally up. Time to beat up some bad guys.

Oh, yeah...

2009-09-23T01:38:00.002-05:00

So, yeah, in case you've been in a cave for the last five years, this is possibly the most hilarious Onyxia related video ever created. And for those who have seen it... it -never- gets old.

Ony's Back?

2009-09-23T01:25:00.003-05:00

2009-09-23: Ony's back?

No, I'm not really surprised she's back. I read the blogs and wowinsider and every insipid website that has to give us "up-to-the-minute' coverage on things going on with the PTR.

And I still suck at starting the freakin' combat log on time. The Beasts parse is, for that reason, a smidge short because the first minute or so was cut off. For that reason, I'm discarding fight entirely. Y'know... for my records anyway.

Anub'arak - 5957

SSDD

2009-09-21T00:43:00.003-05:00

2009-09-21: SSDD

Nothing new to report. More wipin' on a boss that doesn't actually drop loot we need. Cool.

Dread and the Last Boss

2009-09-20T21:12:00.002-05:00

There aren't very many bosses that scare me. I've been taunting them since Vancleef. But there are two bosses that stick out in my mind as bosses I -never- want to run into again.

One was Archimonde...

The next will be Yogg-Saron, of this I have no doubt. Our guild has never been that great at the seriously complicated encounters. I thought Mimiron was going to smear us against the wall, but we took him down with surprising ease. What's really got me scared here is everyone and there mother has run into a freakin' cloud. That's right. We can't get past phase 1.

Even I hit a cloud. And our main tank hit a cloud. And everybody we thought would be too skilled/coordinated/attentive to run into a cloud did. And that's seriously got me worried. That's why this scares me, and reminds me of Archimonde. It's the same "one mistake costs the raid" mechanic that made me hate that stupid, red skinned douche bag.

I'll still raid, and throw myself at him until they call it a night. But I'm just saying... if there were ever a time that I thought about not showing up... tonight would be it.

More Like Snog-Your-Mom

2009-09-17T00:48:00.003-05:00

2009-09-17: Anub-Yogg

Yeah, I don't know what I was going for there. First 25 man attempt at Yogg EVER. And I think I might hate him nearly as much as my ex. Maybe... depends on whether or not he likes dog...

Anub'arak - 5488

DPS Tracks 9: Get Inside

2009-09-16T13:59:00.005-05:00

Corey Taylor's other band. Yes, you can laugh at that.

I personally enjoy the sound of Slipknot much more than the traditional five-man setup that Stone Sour uses. But they still crank out a few hits. Here's one of my favorites.

Stone Sour - Get Inside
by Duketrasher

Seed, gotta let it grow, why ya gotta watch when I let it feed?
Better look into the mirror for the face you hide away, everyday
But I don't give a fuck; I let it roll - I smoke the old
Gotta run, gotta rend, gotta maim, gotta make it through another maze
STAY AWAY!
Please: wring the blood from my hands
Don't pretend that you understand me
I don't even want you looking at me
Motherfucker, GET INSIDE!

Get inside, get inside (motherfucker) x4

Christ, have you seen this guy? Make ya sick, gonna peel away all the impurities
Cuz all you wanna do is keep curin' me, but I don't give a fuck I kill everyone
You'll be mopping up blood and guts and all the shit when I'm done
Isn't this fun? Gimme a gun and I'll tell you all the secrets I hide
BEFORE I RUN!

Please: wring the blood from my hands
Don't pretend that you understand me
I don't even want you looking at me
Motherfucker, GET INSIDE!

Get inside, get inside (motherfucker) x4

[Solo: Josh]

Maybe if you look away, I can slip away, gotta get away (RUN, MOTHERFUCKER)
Right now I stare at shit, I'm a heretic, but I'll never give you none of it
Tied up in the back of the lab, laid on the slab, got the gift of gab, what'choo want from me?
I don't even know I got a damn disease, but I KNOW YOU WANNA KILL ME!

Please: wring the blood from my hands
Don't pretend that you understand me
I don't even want you looking at me
Motherfucker, GET INSIDE!

Get inside, get inside (motherfucker) x4

Another Tuesday: No New Weapon

2009-09-16T01:28:00.002-05:00

2009-09-16: 2-handers are a lie

I got nothing. Exhausted and dog sitting a stray. Posting the milestones and gonna find some grub.

Beasts of Northrend - 4226
Lord Jaraxxus - 6636
Faction Champions - 4256
Twin Val'kyr - 7271

Weird: Guild first Mimiron + Vezax

2009-09-14T01:20:00.002-05:00

2009-09-14: Mimiron + Vezax

It's funny how it takes us longer to clear Ulduar than it has taken us to clear normal ToC. We haven't attempted the hard modes in the Trial yet (the beasts look lovely), but Anub Arak was cake. I guess we're working on Yogg next week. Oh, it sounds like great great fun.

Least I got to dps Thorim for once:

Thorim - 4634
Mimiron - 3964
General Vezax - 4980

Hot Dog Buns

2009-09-11T16:54:00.002-05:00

MOTHER FUCKING BULLSHIT!!!

Warning: The following is a rant. Run for your lives.

How hard is it to make a mother fucking hot dog bun without it falling apart as I pull it out of the package!?!?

I mean, I don't know jack about making bread. But how hard can it fucking be. I get ridiculously cheap hot dogs from places like wienerschnizel (yum) and corner stands all the time and their buns are fucking perfect. But I buy some from the store, and the package of 'fresh' hot dog buns can't stand to even be pulled out of the package, let alone hold a frank.

Learn to make hot dog buns, bread vendors! Learn or I will find you and make you suffer!!!

Can I Have Your Stuff?

2009-09-09T20:08:00.002-05:00

I'm sure you've all seen them. Posts on the forums about how so-and-so is "fed up" of "this stupid game" and how "they're quitting because can't get it right." This type of stuff is seemingly prerequisite in the endless QQ that is the MMO forum community.

Every once in a very great while, I'll find someone who posts in a very refined manner, with intelligent points of view on different mechanics or circumstances in-game that they weren't pleased with which ultimately led to their departure.

Even these are responded with: "Can I Have Your Stuff?"

And then the "power" gamer chimes in: "I'm just fine, l2play."

And then the troll comes by with some remark that is completely unrelated.

And by page two, you can't even remember what the thread was about.

I don't have a problem with people quitting a game. I encourage it, actually. It is the -only- way to let the guys upstairs know that you're truly discontent. Online games are a democracy where votes are cast with your game time cards. And while I personally like reading through the more intelligible "Here's why I'm leaving, I hope this is helpful" posts, I kind of feel that they are out of place outside of a direct line of communication with the game's development.

The reason for this is the trolls. Everybody and their mother has been infected with this disease that started over at 4-chan. All of a sudden, griefing/trolling/being a douche bag is popular. So they think they're actually being cool when they come by and completely derail any conversation that could've blossomed into something good.

I think I"m rambling... I'll get to it... maybe...

Basically, I read a post about a lifetime subscriber who canceled (!) his subscription to Champions Online due to several gameplay bugs as well as the drastic change that occurred on launch day. And while the post left me feeling all right, the following horde of zombie-trolls pissed me right off.

So trolls: Go home. Oh, wait, you -are- home. You probably never left home. Because no one out here loves you. Try as hard as you like to get the attention you crave, but you will -never- find true happiness.

Suffer!

Guild First: 25-man Faction Champions and Twin Valkyrs

2009-09-03T14:32:00.002-05:00

Yay. A bunch of carebears from a roleplaying server beat down a pseudo-pvp encounter. After trying for a looooooooong time.

Heads against a brick while for like... 20 wipes only killing one person. Until we got our cc coordinated and pushed past the first 3, after that it was cake.

And the Twin Valkyrs were a little disappointing in comparison. Seriously, after being stunted on the champions for 4 nights, you would think the Valkyrs would pose some sort of challenge. Not really. We wiped twice learning the fight. 3rd time was easy mode.

I dunno if this is what Blizzard had in mind. But I'm not complaining. Actually... I think I will until they drop a goddamn 2 handed weapon.

In other news, Champions Online is totally borked. WTB working servers. Yay.

Daily Maintenance -_-

2009-09-01T12:49:00.002-05:00

Yay, extended extended maintenance!

Seriously, I wouldn't have such a problem with this if they actually fixed something. Which, it is important to note, they didn't last week.

This isn't hard, guys. You take the systems down. You do what you gotta do. And then you bring them back up. Didn't start that 4 hour procedure till 5 minutes till deadline? Do it next week.

I swear that if I get another "Additional instances cannot be launched" message, I'm gonna go postal on some Blizzard employees.

I don't know if I have anything witty to say... I'm just bored.

I pre-ordered Champions Online, which is supposed to release today. In fact, I think that if I had taken my lazy ass to the store and purchased a physical copy, I would already be in game. But, because I used some company's digital download service to pre-order, the whole thing is screwed up. Apparently, my order is still pending.

Well, I'm pissed off. Maintenance isn't over for another three hours, and I'm stuck with my thumb up my ass.

Oh, and Dayn's still MIA. Someone remind me to hurt him when I see him...

DPS Tracks 8: Only for the Night

2009-08-31T15:59:00.010-05:00

I know it seems like only yesterday that I was ranting and raving about these guys. I can't help it, I think they're so freakin' awesome, I might just commit violent acts if they requested it.

Just kidding. Don't call the freakin' police.

I remember debating on whether or not to use this on my playlist, because it's subject matter is a little less than... up to my usual angry, violent standards. But the song is just so intense, that I can't help but look -forward- to listening to it. Decide for yourself.

Edit: God fucking damn it. I got psyched about embedding a youtube video that -didn't- look like it was made by a retard. And guess what. It fucking was. Apparently, some people think it's cool to only have a primarily audio listing available in WIDESCREEN. A track from an album... with only the album cover for video.. as widescreen. Needless to say, the widescreen vids take up my whole effin' blog, including the side bar. Makes the kid below seem like a genius.

Dream Evil
Only For The Night

How I hate to see you leave tomorrow
Leave behind a man in pain and sorrow
Silly me, who thought we'd be together
But tonight we'll say goodbye forever

Only for the night
Take me to the moonlit sky
Only for the night.

Even though I do respect your wishes
All we had in a whiff has turned to ashes
You and I were perfect for each other
Can't you see, you and I must be together.. but!

Only for the night
Take me to the moonlit sky
Only for the night.

This is wrong - Don't you see
We belong - you and me
How I wish that you could change your mind

Only for the night
Take me to the moonlit sky
Only for the night.

This is wrong - can't you see
We belong - you and me
How I wish that you could change your mind
Only for the night

Improving DPS

2009-08-28T12:53:00.011-05:00

Okay, let's get the silly, preface crap out of the way. World of Warcraft is just a game.

Wow, I said it. It's pretty true, too. It runs on your computer and everything.

But before you start quoting those words on your license to be retarded, there is something else to consider. World of Warcraft is also both a social medium and a group activity. Well, raiding is a group activity. As with any other group activity (sports, D&D sessions, etc.) a certain level of maturity must be brought to the table to ensure that you don't let your team mates down.

With this in mind, I bring you the DPS = Sacrifice way to improve your dps performance. Because "it's just a game" doesn't give you an excuse to suck.

Improve Framerate:

I don't see this one mentioned very often, but there are times when I have personally felt that a slow system/game client can limit a person's DPS ceiling. Think about it. Every time the game stutters, you lose a few seconds where you could (and really should) be doing something.

Unfortunately, due the vast amount of computer configurations, I wouldn't really be able to list any specifics on improving your framerate. This type of improvement would take a bit of research on your part. Don't have the time? Make the time. DPS = Sacrifice.

I can provide you with a few of the following places to start:

-Disable unncessary Windows Services
-Update your hardware drivers to their latest versions
-Update Windows appropriately
-Turn off all unnecessary programs in the background (ICQ, MSN, browsers)
-Browse the tech support forums for system and game-related advice (Here and here are good places to start)
-Lower your video settings for raiding

Spec for Success:

I know I've said this before: If you want to be successful, do what successful people do. I suppose that doesn't mean that you have to get the 'most awesome cookie-cutter build EVAR,' but you should probably find a build that suits you that is pretty darn close. Alterations to your build should be adequately researched to determine if they suit your role and playstyle.

I'm always lounging around in my tank getup, so for those who need easy access, my build is here. For more in-depth discussions on your spec and class, I would recommend heading over to Elitist Jerks. Yeah, those guys are awesome.

Rotation:

This. Read it. 3.2 didn't change anything.

Gearing up:

There are several ways to make a "gear progression list." I personally prefer to use the spreadsheets instead of word-of-mouth advice or the infamous 'eyeballing' method our resident retnoob employs. I used to swear by maxdps.com, but in the update-deprived weeks that followed 3.2, I found a tool I like more. The spreadsheet I use was here, but there were some... uh... issues, and the thread was locked. Hopefully, our buddy Landsoul will get things straightened out and that link will actually be useful in the near future.

Analyzing Your DPS:

Of course, all the gear lists in the world won't help you if you're not actually improving dps. Either use your combat log or recount to analyze your dps. This is the only way to ensure that what you are doing is correct, and that you are improving as a player.

I prefer to turn on combat logging and then use the WoW Meter Online client to upload my parse at the end of the night. I do this for two reasons:

1) It lets me record it for posterity, and allows me analyze my progress from week to week.
2) I'm not tempted to look at my dps during combat

The last one should find a way into your brain. I'd recommend a silver hammer, if necessary. DO. NOT. LOOK. AT. YOUR. DPS. DURING. A. FIGHT!

The reason for this is pretty simple. Unless you're a super genius (Chances are, you're not), staring at a flashy number is going to distract you from the task at hand. More importantly, if you're doing well, it could cause you to do something stupid. And for the uninitiated, when DPS does something stupid, they die. Tell me, class, how much dps does a dead person do?

Don't do it. It's bad DPS.

And there you have it. The unofficial compendium of ways to make you DPS just a little harder. Now press the buttons faster, I'm gonna make me a sammich.

Tuesday Night: Back to Work!

2009-08-26T00:40:00.003-05:00

2009-08-26: Back to Work!

I'm lazy. Milestones are down there. I'll have something witty to say tomorrow. I need to find food.

Kologarn - 7494
Auriaya - 6414
Hodir - 8663

Heroic Daily: The Oculus

2009-08-25T17:49:00.006-05:00

So let's get it out of the way. I -hate- Oculus. I'm talking about hate. The kind of hate that most people reserve for their former employers (Fuck you, Steve), their exes, or that guy you caught masturbating in your closet.

...you know who you are.

What I hate about Oculus is that the entire dungeon makes you use a stupid game mechanic that completely trivializes your gear and experience up to that point. If you will...

Development meeting #152
(...2 minutes before lunch)
Ron: We need to do something special for Oculus.
Alan: How about a boss with adds?
Tim: You're an asshole, Alan. How about...
Ron: I know!
Tim: I was talking...
Ron: How about we put these annoying dragons that you have to fly around and clear trash with! We'll even make you fight the boss in them, and their abilities will be full of suck and fail!
Tim: ...that's a terrible idea.
Boss: I like it. Let's do that. Off to lunch!
Tim: ...you guys are assholes.

Yes, I know that they made the drake's hp scale with gear. But I didn't notice it. The entire ordeal was just as frustrating as the last three times I did it. Which also happen to be... the only times I did it.

Pushing my obvious hate for the instance aside, I went back because, thanks to my guild's week long break from raiding, emblems of Triumph haven't exactly been falling from the fucking sky. So I go back, find a healer (pulling teeth), find a tank (God hates me), and two other slobs to drudge our way through another fun afternoon in my least favorite place.

Let's skip to the end. Because while there was a wipe on the 3rd boss (healer went one way, tank went the other -_-;), up until then I wasn't going to say -anything- about today's daily. Nothing at all. And then we wiped twice on Eregos. And that, apparently, is a deadly sin. Because our third dps decided that he didn't want to pay a large repair bill for two silly emblems.

Now, I'm not going to get up on a high horse. There have been circumstances where I have left a group hanging in an instance. Wipe 10 times on the first boss? Yeah, I'm thinking this isn't going to happen. Priest thinks they can heal in shadow form? Better start heading for the door. And then there was that one time where my brother's car broke down...

My point is this. This is Oculus. Not only do most people consider this to be the hardest of the Lich King heroics, but no one that I've talked to has even done it in the last 5 months. Expecting perfection from people you -just- met just makes you an asshole.

If you're just another dps in ToC gear, don't cry to me about wiping on heroic content. If you don't have the cash to cough up a 2 wipe repair bill, then frankly, you don't belong in heroics. That's what normal mode is for, you big pussy.

Ranting aside, it took five minutes to summon my guildie Volsh to man a green drake and kill him with no problems. Guess that says something about the type of person who can't finish a dungeon run.

DPS Tracks 7: The Devil's Own

2009-08-25T13:25:00.003-05:00

Still raiding. Still being a little badass. I've just been distracted. Blizzcon and the new expansion, along with a week off raiding has left me forgetting about the blog. Sue me. Here's my new favorite song. :P

The Devil's Own
Why!?

[Chorus:]
Where did I go wrong? Who was I supposed to be?
No matter what I've done, you've always criticized me
Where did I go wrong? Who was I supposed to be?
When it's said and done, will you remember...

[V1:]
Slap on the wrist, smack in the face
The family tree, gave me a name and nothing more
Neglected seed, why!?

[Pre-chorus:]
It's because of you I'm broken
It's because of you I'm dead inside
I never asked to be here
It's because of you I'm godforsaken
I never wanted this
It's because of you I'm dead inside

[Chorus:]
Where did I go wrong? Who was I supposed to be?
No matter what I've done, you've always criticized me
Where did I go wrong? Who was I supposed to be?
When it's said and done, will you remember me?

[V2:]
A happy home, a fairy tale, a broken dream
Gave me a life, then turned away
Killed everything, why!?

[Pre-chorus:]
It's because of you I'm broken
It's because of you I'm dead inside
I never asked to be here
It's because of you I'm godforsaken
I never wanted this
It's because of you I'm dead inside

Fuck!
Father, bastard, I'm the Devil's very own
Mother, know not, just who I've become
Father, hate me, for being all your not
Mother's baby, I hate what I've become
I hate what I've become
I hate what I've become

[Pre-chorus:]
It's because of you I'm broken
It's because of you I'm dead inside

[Chorus:]
Where did I go wrong? Who was I supposed to be?
No matter what I've done, you've always criticized me
Where did I go wrong? Who was I supposed to be?
When it's said and done, will you remember me?

Anyway, user uploaded live footage sucks. The stuff is usually filmed from someone's iphone and sounds like someone farted into a blender set to the highest setting, with a hole in the bottom to get the sound to an industrial fan via a leaky pipe.

So instead, I just found the live recording which is on the actual album. Professional sound guys FTW.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

2009-08-12T21:18:00.002-05:00

Getting Old

2009-08-06T16:21:00.002-05:00

I rant and rave in guild chat and then remember I have a blog.

You know what pisses me off? Waiting for a heroic. No, not sitting in LFG. I don't sit in LFG. People randomly whisper me to tank/heal in heroics. I'm that fucking good. No, I don't have to wait for groups...

I have to wait to actually go -inside- an instance. Like a 5-day waiting period. And I'm seriously fucking tired of it.

What -really- pisses me off about the whole situation is that this problem existed quite a few months ago, and has been increasing gradually up until this last Tuesday when Blizzard provided individuals with actual incentive to run heroics. And what happened? They fucking did.

Or at least they're fucking trying. So here we are, with at least 15 other people, sitting to get into Heroic: Culling of Stratholme. And all I can think of is... why the fuck aren't I still farming saronite?

Guild First: Northrend Beasts!

2009-08-06T07:35:00.004-05:00

Or something.

I'd say something about this boss -not- having any adds... but it's 4 mobs for one "boss," so you do the math.

After a frustrating Tuesday (A seriously bugged XT and Coliseum attempts where we didn't know what the -fuck- we were doing), we came back with a little research and kicked the beasts' asses on 25 man normal. I even managed to snag a trophy of the crusade (might as well, a two handed weapon won't drop until I lost my sk roll).

And now I'm awake bright and early and can't play because of maintenance.

...on a Thursday.

I don't really think I ask for much. Two handed weapons. Performance-based loot system. Guildies that know the difference between damage-per-second and "double penetration." Don't google that. Anyway, I don't think it's too much to ask for our servers to be up and running, y'know, outside of the weekly maintenance window.

Yes, it's a new patch and there were a few kinks. That just means it should've been tested longer. A lot longer. Do I expect perfection? Hardly.

I -don't- expect to die in every Trial of the Champion (even on regular) because the damn thing bugs out. I don't expect to lose my ass to XT when we've had his ass on farm since the 3rd week of Ulduar. And I don't expect to be sitting on my ass on a -Thursday- with nothing to do but load up a free-to-play mmo to keep me from chewing my hand off.

Something else that bugs me: Full instances. Really, Blizzard? I thought that was part of the whole "20-hour maintenance" thing. I'm logging in Tuesday to make sure my meta gem works in the few minutes before raid time, scrambling really, and I -still- can't do a heroic when I damn well please.

Ugh. People piss me off sometimes. On that note, anybody know how to dps a ret pally after the changes? Cuz I sure don't...

Too soon, Blizzard, too soon...

2009-08-05T00:59:00.002-05:00

Okay, quick thoughts on 3.2.

A deadline is a deadline. 3PM PDT does not mean you can bring up the server 2 or 3 hours later. Seriously.

Second, way to test Ulduar and the other content you freakin' broke. *cough* XT *cough*

Lastly, the new instance kicked our asses. I'm out.

2009-07-30T01:24:00.003-05:00

Disconnects = Fail

Now, we barely squeaked out a victory for last week's Guild First Thorim success. So it's nothing new that coming back for more wasn't necessary going to mean a one shot. But Blizzard wanted to insure our failure: Constant disconnects. From both arena tanks. And then there was the kick-in-the-face disconnect that I, my brother, and 8 other people suffered in the middle of the arena.

I mean seriously... it's not like we don't already have enough problem downing this boss.