Raid Tanking the Abyss: All dressed Up...

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)

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!

I'm back, bitches!

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!?!?

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...

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

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

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

*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

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!!!

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).