Don't Drop That- *crash* ...Box.

Just a link/heads up that I'm moving the blog. Wordpress has a few more options and nifty management features, so I ported all my entries over to there and have been setting up shop. I can finally declare things functional!

Linkage: http://killcommand.wordpress.com/

It Takes Two, Baby!

The Dark Side tempted me with cookies and cake (or was it punch and pie?), and I finally gave in. Rerolled. New server, new faction, same class.

What? You didn't think I could start with anything BUT a Hunter, did you? :P

Revn is now level 11 and questing his little heart out, Engineering goggles firmly in place. But I digress - this post is about the most important quest a Hunter will ever face: Taming a first pet.

After a bit of confusion as to which zeppelin would get me to Howling Fjord, I was on my way to the cold dark Aran was always trying to tell me about. Having never been on one of these airboats before, I took a tour, attempted to talk to the crew (apparently goblins get cranky when they're cold), and anxiously awaited departure. Now, I have seen Howling Fjord before. I have NOT, however, seen it through the eyes of a very squishy L10 Blood Elf. It was stunning up until the snarling wolves found me. One cannot outrun these things without a mount. Trust me.

Just beyond the wolves is that oh-so-inviting lift, boosting folks up into the continent proper. I found it interesting that, once I was past this lift, I only ran into a problem once. Did you know that there is a dwarf hiding near the entrance to the Keep? Yeah, he apparently has issues with Horde. Talk about uncalled for ganking...

As soon as I revived, however, I saw my target. Daggercap Hawk, level 6. Scraggly. Underfed. Pitch black.

I had to have him.

A guildmate of mine suggested Lucien as a name, and I think it fits him. Lucien, the Tauren Dru- er, Daggercap Hawk. And here I was going to name him Edgar or Poe or something.

The Sound of... Techno? o.O

Some things in this world require sharing. Things like, I'unno, a large group of people bursting into dance to a techno remix of Do Re Me from The Sound of Music. In the middle of a Belgian train station.

My favorite part of the whole thing is the look of sheer joy on the face of the guy who starts it. He knows what he is about to do. He is about to kick off something of epic proportions, and look like an idiot doing so. And he loves it!

I wonder what it'd take for someone to do this in America... Well, watch and enjoy. I know I did. :)

1) Get bored. 2) ??? 3) Profit.

This is what happens when I am up all hours of the night stalking a book spawn with only one person to talk to. I get bored. And when I get bored, I do crazy shit. Tonight's crazy shit is... a blog header.

It was done in paint. That's as hi-tech as I get, folks. Besides, the whole blog is ghetto, why should it have a super fancy header?

Huh?? WHY I SAY?

... Another 1.5 hours to go for the next spawn... Guess I better grab more caffeine.

EDIT: Book did not spawn at 6 AM like it should have. Must wait for 7 AM. Good thing I work at 2:30 PM unlike a normal person.

EDIT 2: Blizzard has a way of rewarding the tenatious (read: stupid). My book did indeed spawn, and I collapsed into bt immediately after for about 6 hours sleep. I hope everyone else slept better than me! :P

How Is Surv Working Out?

The spec: 5/14/52 Survival

The (Major) Glyphs: Viper, Steady, Serpent

The Pet Spec: Pure DPS, baby.

The Gear: Mostly purple.

Thoughts: Alvar counts as ~400 dps. Must not let kitty die, even as Surv! With Alvar still up I'm constantly seeing above 2k dps, otherwise I drop to about 1700. Lag is still killing my DPS - I'm sure if I wasn't seeing 2k ms and tiny random lag spikes during a boss battle, I'd managed 2k DPS on my own, with Alvar being pure gravy. Ah well, not much I can do on that front.

I have cleared Naxx to the Four Horsemen, and seen Sarth die on both 25 and 10-man, no drakes. Next goal: Malygos! His fight looks awesome, with the mages on flying circles you can hijack, and the platform exploding just so you can be picked up by red drakes to shoot fireballs into Maly's face... Aah, I so want to try it, even if I fail miserably. Oh yeah, and I want the rest of my Naxx achievements!

I have GOT to finish upgrading my gear to the dungeon purples I can get... My rings and trinkets are fine, but that helm and those boots have GOT to go! (Not to mention the helm is fugly as hell.)

A Bitter-Sweet Goodbye

Today we watch as another blog of huge importance (for me and many Hunters, anyway) shuts down for at least three months. For once, though, I understand and completely agree with the reason - usually the blogs I read just cite "real life" and leave it at that, but our good Daniel Howell of BRKWWA has explained why. I won't go into that, just head over and read the post. I'll wait.

I'm not going to turn this into a eulogy - the guy isn't dead, he's just not blogging/playing right now. But I do feel the need to thank him better than I could in the comments, thus this post.

Thank you, BRK, for teaching me how to trap and kite, the mechanics of aggro and why it's so important to Feign Death early.

Thank you, BRK, for showing me it's ok to love a spec even if it's not the "best" one.

Thank you, BRK, for keeping the love of the Hunter class alive for me through all the nerfs, buffs, lag from my ISP and disapointment from not being progression-worthy DPS.

Thank you most of all, BRK, for the laughs. For not being afraid to admit that you Disengaged off of a boss platform right after the pull. For sharing the conversations between you and your Brain (and incidentally calling attention to the fact that I have some inner dialogue like that, too).

And thank you Daniel for sharing your stories of the Air Force, showing it's not all drills and spittle and running around pointlessly, and inspiring me to take a step out of my comfort zone and talk to a recruiter myself. I always saw a lot of potential, but it always scared the shit out of me too. But hey, you seem to have had good times as well as bad.

We will miss you while you are gone, and if that ends up being forever, well... Thanks for all the fish.

-Eric (Xanthelei, Alliance - Suramar)

Bring It On Home

Well, it's been a while. I simply wasn't having fun playing on Xanth, as Suramar is a plain PvE server, I can't seriously raid in anything progression, and I remember days of Huntering around Azeroth with no lag.

So what changed? Well, Tuesday night my best RL friend called me up.

"Hey E, you up to doing a 10 man Naxx with the guild? We got a lot of people interested with alts, but we need more DPS."

"I don't know, M..."

"Come on, we haven't raided together in too long. And I'll be on my priest! I'll heal Alvar for ya."

".... Fine, I'll go sign up on the forums."

So I do so, and the raid gets underway. Full guild alt/second string raid, nothing much to be proud of, but hey, it's been a while and maybe I'll get some achievements I haven't managed to snag yet. We start clearing the Spider wing, and lo and behold, Maexxna drops her Wraith Spear - and I'm the only one who wants it. /cheer! Nice upgrade, even if I'm losing some hit with it.

Move along a bit, and we're killing Gluth. I dislike Gluth because, even as a Hunter, all I can really contribute to chew toy kiting is my trap. Seriously, my lag is bad enough I can't kite shit around a frost trap and keep aggro off the pocket healer! Sad times... So we had the holy pally kite them around, I unleashed all the Survival DPS I could, and we got the kill. What drops? The token for my tier chest! Did I mention we had no Shamans, and the Warrior had it already?

"I think the GMs are trying to tell me to come play Xanth again, M."

"You should."

Last night we finished everything up to the Four Horsemen (had a few troubles with our Spriest tanks in the back eating it, thus making the raid explode - is it bad I found the latter part hilarious?) and I picked up the tokens for both the legs and the shoulders.

I am now 3/3 in tier from Naxx 10. Plus an awesome polearm. In a matter of two nights.

Wakey wakey Xanth, we have baddies to shoot in the face!

Stable Master

I don't know about any other Hunters out there, but I adore my pets. I've had a few over the years - Vryth-the-cat who became Vryth-the-carrion-bird, Yona the black bear, and Irwin the ghost-croc to name a few - but I've only held on to the ones I truely love for any great length of time. Currently all the pets in my stables have a story to them, and because this is my blog and I can, I'd like to share them with you. :D

Meet Alvar. This is the pet that, as soon as I hit 21, I begged my Shaman friend to help me find and tame. He's a Ghostsaber, the only "official" ghost pet in the game (all the others with ghostly appearances have been rendered untamable). As you can see, he's transparent. How awesome is that!?

Alvar has leveled with me from 21 on, almost always staying right up there with me. If Blizzard ever decided Hunters are allowed only one pet, Alvar is the pet I'd keep.

This is Wailflash, my Gorilladin. He spent a few days as Gorilla because I just couldn't think of a good name. The solution? Name him after guildie Mages of course! :) He comes with me to grind leathers, since he can handle piling them up in a neat skinning mound for me.

Now, I read over at SES that all tanking pets will have access to Thunderstomp come the next patch... So what, if anything, would replace Wail as my farming buddy?

Hmm, I don't think he's impressed.

Next in line comes the newest member of the team, Aspatha the Broodmother. (Anyone seeing a theme here?) The name rocks, so she got to keep it. I've heard rumors that Moths are actually decent for raid DPS, so I'm going to level her up to 80 and do some pet-only testing against Alvar. And should Mrs. Flappy win out, Alvar will get a well-deserved break from dying in a fire during Sarth raids. (Seriously, wtb better way to position pets against bosses!)

For the rare occasion of PvP I like to bring out my WaspofLSDoom (yes that's the pets actual name!) because once I sic him on Rogues they can't Vanish for the stunlock - which means I have a infinitesimally better chance at kiting them to their death. Will it ever happen? Heck, not on this connection, but it's a nice dream eh? :P

I have to give a shout out to BRK for the inspiration for his name - he's been calling the Hive Queen "LSD Wasp of Doom" for a few months now, and it totally fits!

Last, and just maybe least these days, is Reptilicus the Devilsaur. He's stuck in the stables while I run around as a Survivalist, and seems less than happy with that. Once Aspatha is up to level 80, I might just spec back to BM to finish leveling the poor thing, give him some fresh air. ...Or maybe I'll be lazy and demote him to Raptor status. <.< Dunno if I can get away with this, but I would love for BRK and Pike share their current pets and any stories behind them. I'm sure Pike has an RP background for them all (loved the story for Wash). If not, I'll be content with this snapshot of my stables, for posterity's sake.

It's Kinda Like My Raid DPS

So I changed the layout a bit. I think this is less distracting than the old one, and hopefully a little less dull. I tried to keep with the colors on the Kill command icon in game, but I think I only did so so... At least it's less formal feeling. :)

Should I ever figure out how to work a paint-like program, I might even have a header someday! /cheer

Just In Time To Curl Up With

I can has teddy bear transport?







Yes, but only at the cost of catching the flu, it would seem. *sigh*

In other news, Skinning has reached slvl 375 and I have Aspatha the white moth to level and test for DPS. At least I can keep myself busy while I'm sick.

Xanthelei the Argent Champion

Has such a nice ring to it, I must say.

When In Rome...

Pike at Aspect of the Hare was recently tagged for a meme to show off the 6th screenshot in her folder, regardless of what it is, and in turn tagged anyone who wanted to. Well, I happen to like my 6th screenshot, so I'll share. :)

This is the coolest picture I have ever taken, bar none:

The view of Light's Chapel from the Death Knight staging grounds, just before charging in for a one-sided fight. But while I love the DK starting area - and it's quests! - I just can't get that into my DK. So he's probably going to be stuck as my auctioneer.

/comfort Tenderizor

How Blizz Got It Wrong By Getting It Right

It seems these days that poor Blizzard just can't win one. As the title says, they got something very wrong in getting something very right in Wrath.

Achievements. Love 'em, hate 'em, ignore 'em; whatever floats your boat. Me, I'm a completest. When I was younger, I was so into Pokemon I actually caught all of the originals on my Yellow cartridge - just to find out that you did not get Mew, or the ability to buy some super awesome item for $10, but instead you got to print out a certificate that says "I have no life!" On a Gameboy printer neither I nor anyone else I knew even had heard about.

Yeah, I started over.

But back to World of Warcraft's Achievement system. In Burning Crusade (and possibly in Vanilla) end game, there wasn't really anything to do other than PvP, raid, or level another toon. To combat this ending of the game syndrome, Blizz decided to copy Xbox and give you titles, items and mounts for doing certain things in the game. Uncovered all of the map while herbing? Have an Achievement! Reach level 80? Have another! Mastered your craft? Here you go - a fancy ding! just for you. Got the Bloodsail hat, pointlessly making all of the goblins south of Northrend hate you in the process? Erm, yeah, have a ding, a title, and seriously - go get some fresh air.

On paper it sounds like a ton of fun. And I'll admit, it's nice to see something for doing something you'd do anyway, like train a craft or hit a new level. But there's people in this world where the casual, "Oh hey I got something done" mentality just doesn't work. People like me.

I have already decided I will have the Admiral title, the Loremaster title and tabard, that little skunk minipet, and as many proto-drakes as I can stuff in my digital bags. And when they decide what to do with the points that come along with the cool stuff, I'll be able to buy everything in the store. And since my work is keeping me from raiding right now, this gives me a nice reason to keep playing my toons.

The real problem comes in deciding what I'm going to work on. In the past week, I've powered Blacksmithing and Jewelcrafting to 300 on my Paladin (yes, I am crazy), leveled Leatherworking on Xanthelei from 1 to about 370, started collecting items for turn ins with Cenarian Circle, gone through a third of the quests needed in Ice Crown to inch my way to Loremaster... and a bunch of other stuff I can't even think of right now.

How am I supposed to DO it all? I can't even keep track of what I was working on two days ago, let alone filter through all my "dailies" for rep, items, and such today!

The solution? Permanent Achievement tracking. Blizzard is on the right track in making Achievements filterable, and allowing you to track a certain one per session. What they really need to do now is fine tune this. I would love to see Achievement (and quest!) tracking saved between sessions (and in fact Overachiever has already proven this can be done), as well as letting you track more than one Achievement at a time. Even if this meant you could only track up to six Achievements and/or quests at once, I would be happy with that.

So what's the bottom line, in my opinion? Love the Achievement system, but want to buy better basic tools for working with it. And I'm really hoping the rep returns in Booty Bay have increased, because 5 per kill is cramping my Steady Shot finger...

A Letter From Thrall

I been keepin' busy dis mornin', what with runnin' round an' grabbin' herbs outta da ground. Got me a few shinies for dat, too.

I had just returned ta Razor Hill when de inn keeper, Grosk, told me a letter had come for me. He seemed ta tink it be important, so I checked de mailbox - an he was right.

Thrall, de great warchief o' da Horde, had summoned me ta Orgrimmar for an audience.

O'course I went immediately! Kneeling before da great warchief was thrillin', mon, even if it be a bit scary. He told me der be a corruption near Orgrimmar, and asked me ta find and kill a person o' rank in dis Burning Blade cult. His idear were ta get whatever marker dey use ta identify der higher-ups, den test an ally o' his - Neeru Fireblade - an' make sure he not be one o' dem nasties. So I done it and got meself a stone rune what say I be important, den go talk to dis Neeru fella.
Les just say, I can see why Thrall be da warchief. Sure enough, Neeru starts tellin' me how we be part o' da Shadow Council and rippin' on Thrall's honor. Was all I could do ta not shoot an arrow in his eye right dere, but Thrall said to just get his reaction to da rune. My pet Scorpid, Bloodtalon, sure picked up on me bein' outta sorts, so I got outta dere 'fore he decided ta sting dat filthy liar in de foot.

I were surprised ta see Thrall was bein' so cheerful 'bout all dis when I reported back. I told him all dat Neeru had said ta me, an' I was told ta head into dat Chasm in de city ta shoot arrows in de faces o' two leaders o' da Searing Blade. I weren't ta let Neeru know it were me, o'course, since dat'd blow my cover 'n all, but I be happy ta oblige de warchief. Jus' as soon as I know I ain't gonna die in dere, yanno?

Show And Tell

'Ello mon. My name be Nykol, and dis be my story 'bout runnin' round Azeroth. Now, Xanthy dun know 'bout my talkin' to ya, so keep it down-low, ya?

It took me a while ta get outta dat valley where dey make ya do chores for your allowance, but now I be on my own in Durotar. Lotsa runnin' mon, and I tell ya, someone need ta make shoes we Trolls can wear. Dem rocks hurt!

One o'da first tings I wanted ta do was ta go and train up in de arts of skinnin' and herbin'. I figure if I's got gold, what I need craftin' skills for mon? I can just buy what I need! Besides, dem mounts ain't free, and I ain't walkin' my whole life. Anywho's, best place ta train up in somethin' be Orgrimmar, so dat's where I headed. Found a few tings ta do along da way, so I had a few silver which ta buy some trainings with when I got der. But, heh, what's a girl ta do when some goblin promises a whole new look for under a silver? So I let 'em chop off da mane and add some ogre spit, and I must say, dis be sassy.


So after blowin' half my moneh at dis place, I got around to da trainin'. And whaddya know, some orc be runnin' round Org tellin' everybody 'bout some fairground outside of Thunderbluff. I knows an opportunity when I sees one, and dis be an opportunity for fun, so off I go.

Problem is, I forgot about da runnin'. /grimace

Fairs always seem to be more hype dan dey are fun. After all dat runnin', all I could do was turn in the voucher that fashion-deprived orc gave me for five tickets, then hearth back home, where I celebrated my 10 season milestone. At least I found a few flight paths for later.

Now I gotta snag a few beasties for dis orc what be trainin' me ta befriend 'em, so I better get to it. Later mon.

Comma =/= Period

So I've been on a small hiatus from WoW the past, oh, three days, while I get my finances in order. It's hard to enjoy shooting things in the face with a bow an arrow when you're screaming inside about a bill bigger than rent, electricity and internet all rolled into one (yes, I'm glaring at you, Sallie Mae!).

Meanwhile, I have found another blog I may read sporadically that serves a dual purpose, the first being to enjoy reading. Lienna the Belf Huntress is Surviving well in Northrend, it seems. Love the down to earth style of writing, but the run on sentences make me cringe inside. Ah well, not everyone is anal about writing like I am, and I can live with that. Check her out, random Pike-person who apparently checks my blog every so often. (Seriously gal, you came back? I'm impressed!) :P

Meanwhile, I shall return to crunching numbers and shortly fall into bed. I am blessed, I have a job... too bad it's an hour's drive from here. =(

And yes, I've left off the second purpose off on, well, purpose. I'm not ready to share with the class yet. :D