Flying Blue

Finally.

I queued for randoms in Wrath endlessly, hoping to get a Blue Drake in my Oculus goody bag. I watched others get them. Hell, I watched others get them who already *had* it and couldn’t even use it.

I queued for randoms in Cata whenever Call To Arms was up for healers, hoping for … well, anything in the way of mounts or pets. I did get some pets that I needed, but no mounts. Other people got Blue Protodrakes and the Baron’s Deathcharger … two mounts that I am still missing even after countless hours of farming.

Then, the BMAH appeared! I’ve gotten some small things from it that I had farmed for previously, like the Giant Sewer Rat. But mounts eluded me, going for far more than I could afford. Arvash paid 60k for his Blue Drake. I knew if I was patient though, eventually there would be no competition left.

Ha! Take that, Arv!

Now if only that Deathcharger would show up again.

Killing Trolls

Finally. The Council of Elders is defeated. This one took almost as many pulls as Horridon. We just couldn’t find a strat that would work for us. Then yesterday, Leit posted about his group downing them and the strat that they used. Stack ’em up, burn ’em down. That sounded like the kind of strat we excel at, so I linked the post to Slice and Adoe and we made plans to try it.

Raid time approaches, however, and there are issues. Adoe’s computer was misbehaving and Sorak and Wok were not online. Sorak was just running late, but Wok wasn’t going to make it. Adoe commandeered Shadeey’s computer, but of course, that left us without her. Ok, no problem, we have backups. Zug goes tank and we bring in Bocat and our shiny new rogue Psynite. It’s almost working, but we’re lacking just a bit more dps.

How do you get even moar brute force out of a brute force tactic?

We don’t need two tanks. Zug, cleave all of teh things plz.

But wait, doesn’t the tank get stunned for 15s repeatedly throughout the fight? Meh. You have CDs bitch, use them.

And, since Arv is Batman ….

Yes, it actually worked with him solo tanking it.

AND everyone lined up nicely and got in the picture.

Left to Right.
Back row is Zarm and then Sorak and Zugzuug on their birdies.
Front row is Liyhe, Psynite, Vanicus, Arvash, Bocat, Lyssianna, and Adoe.

Here’s what Lei Shen really thinks of the Zandalari.

We dropped down into the Depths, played in the waterspouts and died to some bats.
Some of us have very different reactions to the loot we receive from the trash, though.

Bo, I really don’t know what to say. :p

Leveling Alts

No pictures today. Deal with it.

I’m curious about something. Alts. Which ones are people leveling? I don’t mean specifics here as far as classes or races that they like. I mean level-wise.

Let me explain my own situation. At the start of MoP, I had 11 max level characters and one level 82 that I never quite managed to finish. (She/he languished at 76 through the end of Wrath, also, thus has never actually achieved max level at any point.) Currently, I have 3 max level characters. The other 8 still sit at 85-86, the 82 has made it up to 86, and I’ve leveled the warlock from scratch up to 85. So I have 10 level 85+ now sitting around waiting for me to take them through Pandaria.

So what am I doing then? Rolling babies. Yes. I KNOW. I have enough toons. I had to delete toons to make new ones. But …I don’t know. I just *feel* like running around lowbie zones, happily licking flowers and capturing murlocs so old man Calston can have a pet. And I didn’t make just one. I made three. I know what you’re thinking …

‘But wait! Don’t you already HAVE lowbies that you haven’t leveled?’

Yes, yes I do. My panda hasn’t even made it off the turtle yet. I have others that are not so low that had hopes of getting leveled someday as well, like the shaman at 60+ and the rogue at 40+.

You others out there. I see you leveling the ones you already have. I see you gearing up multiple alts in LFR. (Of my 3, only the main is geared for anything other than MSV. The third … um … what is the ilevel for heroics, anyway?) I see you taking multiple toons to the Isle of Thunder day in and day out. And here I am, quietly puttering around on toons that aren’t even able to choose a spec yet, in a guild where only one or two other people are logging in.

Part of the reason I bring this up is because the PTR patch notes indicate a 33% nerf to the xp needed to get from 85-90 in the next patch. Are there others out there like me who just aren’t really motivated to finish off their high-level toons? Will this nerf get you to focus more on those characters to get them leveled?

I really don’t think it will make a difference for me. It’s not that I dislike Pandaria. I like it quite a bit. I like it even more now that I’ve seen everything and don’t feel like my alts that go there have to follow a designated path for leveling. Kirgra has been having fun just riding all over the countryside, hunting down rares and camping spawn points for the BoA weapons. I enjoy the leveling part. It’s just the other stuff that comes after it … especially LFR and Isle of Thunder. (The lock is hopefully the exception since she wants to see the green fire questline, but she has plans to level through Pandaria with a friend, so she’s in a holding pattern temporarily.)

There. Have I rambled enough for one day? Good. So tell me … what level are your alts and what have you been doing with them?

This Just Will Not Do

For those of you who missed it, there was a rap battle between Garrosh and Varian on Sunday night at The Warchief’s Command Board. A poll was put up to determine the winner. Clearly Garrosh’s EPIC VERSE should come out on top. Yet somehow, some way, Varian is winning. I mean, There are even HORDE voting for him. Now, I understand that faction loyalties should not matter for something like this … IN THEORY. We all know that isn’t how things work in reality though, right? RIGHT?!?

Ok. Maybe I was wrong. It seems that, just as there are Horde voting for Varian, there are also Alliance voting for Garrosh. Carry on then.

And if you have any suggestions for future matchups, make sure to drop them in the comments on the Command Board!