Top 10 WoW Memories

Over at Blog Azeroth, Cathmore posted this idea for a shared blog topic…Your Top 10 WoW Memories. Now that I have given it some thought, here are my 10 in no particular order.

• Loading up the open beta client and logging in and thinking that this is nothing special. A couple of months and a trip to EB Games later I picked up WoW on the recommendation of my buddy. That was what now….3 or 4 years ago.
• Going into UBRS for the first time with my rogue. This was the first “real” dungeon I had gone into with a raid group. I will never forget seeing that two headed dog, The Beast and thinking to myself…”OMFG! We have to kill that thing!”
• Grinding away in Eastern Plague Lands as my rogue and getting an Epic Sword drop. Not only was this my first epic, it was a hug upgrade for me as a sword spec rogue at the time.
• Hitting 60 as my rogue. I was grinding in the plague lands when I dinged. For the life of me though, I can’t remember when or where he hit 70.
• Early world PvP. The battles that were had in South Shore/Tauren Mill just seemed so epic at the time.
• Starting my Horde Shaman as a last chance at staying with WoW. I started Jagerbombz after my life as the rogue came to a screaming halt. I was 70 with some gear and without a guild. At the time either no one wanted a rogue or they were all full on rogues. I started the Shaman with the single thought of going Resto thinking that being healer would finally allow me to start seeing some “end game” content.
• Hitting 70 with Jager. It was on a quest hand in for Papa Wheeler in Area 52. After that gold diminished I let out a sigh of relief.
• Getting guild summoned into Karazhan at 68 to be the third healer. What I thought would be a one time thing ended up being a weekly event that actually slowed down my leveling a little bit. I can proudly say that before 70, I had 5 epic Kara loots, I was honored with The Violet Eye and I had my first badge loot too. This is more a testament to my guild than it is to my “udder” greatness.
• Getting my Tier-4 shoulders. I know this isn’t that big of a deal, but this was my first foray at 25 man content and after 3 weeks I had enough DKP points for our combined guild run to get them. My god! Not only did I get cool shoulders, but I actually had DKP points!
• Shadow Labs. OMG, I think my buddy and our friends ran that so many times I could have done it blind folded. It seemed that every night for 3 weeks straight we ran that damn instance. They might not be the best memories, but they did have their moments. Plus, our healer friend was a shaman, and without him there would have never been a Jagerbombz.

Raid Night Spawns Progression

Since joining the raiding ranks of my guild, very little “new” territory was forged. On a weekly basis we would go to Karazhan, kill the bosses, get some gear and loot our badges. Now, there is nothing wrong with this, especially since each week find ourselves becoming better, faster and more efficient. We are quickly closing in on clearing Karazhan in a single night now; but the thirst for more lingers.

This thirst has led us into the depths of Zul’Aman. For two weeks now we have gathered on Sunday night for something new…new trash, new bosses, new loot. For a second week now we have been able to defeat the Bear Avatar, Nalorakk and can safely say we have him on farm status now.

After our kill we decided to bypass boss #2 to avoid another embarrassing run of the gauntlet and went off to what we thought was boss #3. We ended up taking a wrong turn and came face to face with Halazzi, the Lynx Avatar. After three attempts the raid was called, but we found success in our defeat.

• We learned that you must walk up the MIDDLE of the stairs leading to Halazzi’s room after a wipe.
• We were able to hold our own without one piece of Tier 5 gear.
• We were able to get to through the first phase of the fight when Halazzi splits and spawns the Lynx.
• Most of all, we finally were able to wipe on a whole new set of trash.

Hopefully each week we will continue to find success in this dank Troll infested hole.

Good job guys!

Karazhan Gear

When the work is slow and the mind wanders I like to head over to cafepress and play around. This time I think I might have stumbled upon a keeper.

I think I will have one made up to see how it looks. If things go well, these might end up making great x-mas gifts for the guildies.

Here is the shirt design in more detail.

Now I know everyone knows atleast one person they have met that needs this shirt. Maybe I should make the companion shirt too, the "I moved during Flame Wreath" shirt.

Karazhan Guide – Part Seven: Reading with Aran

This is part f seven of my short Resto -Shaman guides to Karazhan. Today we focus on the The Shade of Aran.

Curator is down and you are off to the library where you will be met with the angriest librarian I have seen since Mrs. Stingle my grade school librarian. Luckily, Aran doesn’t wield the 12 inch, metal edged ruler of +5 vs. children.

You will need to pay 100% attention to this fight. Yup, stop mashing that chain heal button for a second and get your face out of the keyboard. There will be a number of things that you will need to do on this fight other than just healing. You will need to know when to move, when NOT TO MOVE (Flame Wreath) and when to stun. Also remember that Aran has no agro table so anyone is free game to him, much like Dorothy in the OZ opera event.

Shade of Aran:

• It doesn’t really matter who you earth shield on this fight. Usually out of habit I will ES the tank, but you may want to put it on the lowest HP person in the raid to help heal a little bit.


• Drop standard Totems for your group. If you would like, you can drop the Grounding totem to absorb Aran’s Frost, fire or Arcane attacks, but I would rather have Windfury or Wrath of Air down to speed up DPS since most of Aran’s cast should be interrupted.


• Use rank 1 Earth Shcok to help interrupt Aran’s casting. Work out with the raid group who will interrupt which spells.


• Keep the raid topped off with Chain Heal, make sure not to let them get too low.


• Pop a mana pot when your mana is at 70%-75%, usually this will allow you to get another pot in during the end of the fight.


• When Aran pulls you into the middle of the room, get to the outer wall fast or the Arcane explosion will probably kill you.


• DON’T MOVE DURING FLAME WREATH! You will wipe the Raid.


• Avoid the Blizzard. If you get caught in it, you will be slowed down and will take considerable amounts of damage.


• DON’T MOVE DURING FLAME WREATH!


• Blood Lust at 25%. Try to do it after an arcane explosion. Having Blood Lust up when you are walking to the outer part of the room is just a waist.


• DON’T MOVE DURING FLAME WREATH!

This isn’t a very difficult fight, but healing/interrupt management is the key. This will be a good test of your ability to handle raid heals and management and your raid’s ability to listen to instructions and move when needed and not move when needed.

DON’T MOVE DURING FLAME WREATH!

Resto Shama Loot:

• Pendant of the Violet Eye

Next time we will go over the Guild killer known as the Chess Event.

Big Bad Mojo Time

Last night the guild went to test our mojo in Zul Aman. The main goal for the night was to get to Nalorakk and possibly kill him. Thanks to some good raid leadership we got to him rather quickly and if not for a misplaced tank and a one second to late heal, we would have gotten him down before the sacrifice. After the re-set we regrouped and took him down with relative ease. The drop was really nice...Fury for our enhancement shaman and everyone got there Tattered Hexcloth Sack from the "Promises, Promises..." quest.

After the buzz of our first kill we went to try our hand at the gauntlet to get to boss #2...and that is all I have to say about that.

We ended up going off and killing Nethspite and Illhoof (w/o warlock) for our second full Karazhan clear in the same number of weeks.

All in all it was a great night for the guild. It is nice to have a couple of really good weeks back to back. Now let’s hope we can get week three to be just as good.

Note: Apologies to the guildy we had to drop due to sign up priority. It was really hard to do and no one wanted to be the bad guy. It is just the first time we actually had more than 10 people signed up. I will make sure that we make it up to you.

Karazhan Guide – Part Six: Meeting the Curator

This is part f six of my short Resto -Shaman guides to Karazhan. Today we focus on the Curator.
Now that the front of Kara is cleared, it is now time to hit the back door and make your way to your first boss, the Curator. Technically Nightbane would be the first, but I will be dealing with that guide later.

Now this fight has no need for any special shaman tricks, your job will primarily be raid heals during the spark phases. The one thing to note is that is a very mana intensive fight and you will need to keep an eye on your mana usage as well as manage your mana regen abilities as much as possible to avoid being OOM during the last 10% of the fight.

Note: Arcane resistance is a big help on this fight, it isn’t absolutely necessary though.

Curator:

• Earth Shield the Tank and keep it up on him at all times, this will normally be the only thing you will be casting on the main tank.
• Drop standard Totems for your group.
• Keep the raid topped off with Chain Heal, make sure not to let them get too low.
• Pop a mana pot when your mana is at 70%-75%, usually this will allow you to get another pot in during the end of the fight.
• During evocation sit back and regen some mana, if needed drop mana tide if the casters are getting low on mana, especially the main tank healers. If done early enough you might have another opportunity to drop it again during the end of the fight.
• When Curator is at 25% and in evocation, pop Bloodlust. Timing is everything, you don’t want to Blood Lust when he is not in his evocation stage.
• If you are seeing DPS is a little slow, you can drop your Fire Elemental Totem to help out with DPS, it won’t be much but any little bit helps.

This isn’t a very difficult fight, but healing/mana management is the key. This will be a good test of your ability to handle raid heals and management of your mana pool. It may take a couple of times to get it down, but it will come with time.

Resto Shama Loot:

• Gloves of the Fallen Champion
• Dragon-Quake Shoulderguards

Now that we have met our host, it is time to take the tour and head off to the Library to meet the Shade of Aran.

Daddy Raider

/Real Life On

Like a good number of players in the WoW world, I have children. I am the proud father of a 3 year old girl and a 1 year old boy. I may be a level 70 Resto-Shaman, but I am a father first. I try to spend as much time with my kids as possible between the time from when I get home from work to the when they go to bed. Balancing the life of a dad and a WoW player can be difficult some times, especially with a young child like my boy.

Raid time is at 9pm server time. Bed time is usually around 8pm. Around 8:30 pm my son decides that he isn’t going to sleep for my wife so it is now my daddy duty to get the man down. So me and the little guy head downstairs and jump onto WoW.

With son in hand we start the raid. Normally my son will last until Maiden, at that point I feel his head on my arm and the quiet snoring begins. Now depending on the night, I will either put him down or I will keep him in my lap. Even though he is asleep, it is really fun to have him with me. Occasionally he will wake up and watch again for a little bit, but then it is back to sleep. I can proudly say that I have healed each Karazhan boss with a sleeping child in my lap (God bless the clique mod).

Now, I have played WoW since before my daughter was born. It has been a fun game and I have had some good times, but nothing beats playing WoW with my son.

From the moment he sees the login screen till he passes out in my lap he is laughing, smiling and looking at me with a wonder that can only be seen in the eyes of a child. I am not sure how much he gets, but I know he knows that the big black cow is daddy. He points at Jagerbombz and then points at me and laughs knowing that this “thing” on the monitor is some how connected to daddy.

These are the little things that make being a dad so much fun.

/Real Life Off

Guild Communication

Vent has given guilds a leg up during raids. The ability to explain andcommunicate without having to type everything out allows for faster response time and faster raid runs. One of the side affects though of using vent is thehilarity of random things that people say during the length of the raid. I have compiled a small list of the more memorable vent moments from our raids.

Enjoy

• "Stop sucking so much!" During our 100th wipe on Nightbane.


• "Sorry, my fault, forgot to heal, (name) was talking dirty to me." - Another Nightbane wipe.


• "He talks all quiet like because he is masturbating." - On why our main tank starts whispering after 11pm."


• He tanks a lot better when high." - After our main tank took a couple of sleeping pills.


• "Damn...why is my ancestral recall button so close to rez...I'm gonna need a summon." - Me...my first kara run.


• "I wonder if I can chain lighting the whole audience." - During a conversation on how to get to the back door faster.

Twisted Nether - Episode 4

Episode #4 of the Twisted Neather Blogcast is up for your enjoyment.

Twisted Nether Blogcast #4

"This week we have an epic interview with the Big Bear himself, another great tip from Toomanyannas, kids in raids and a contest!"

Good job again guys!

Who You Gonna Call?!

We came, we saw, we kicked its ass! - Dr. Peter Venkman

Last night was a good night for the Pen is Mightier. We cleared Kara for the first time in awhile; well, except for the beast bosses, but who even counts them. Per standard form we got the worst infernal drops ever on Prince, but did up getting some what lucky on run #4. We also went and one shoted Netherspite with some sweet beam blocking coordination and some nice dual tanking between our main and off tank.

This was also the first run with couple of our new recruits. They did very well and I am glad they are with us. One is a resto druid that rounds out our healing crew and the other is an elemental shaman that gives us a complete set of shaman talent builds. Hopefully in the next few runs we will be able to get a couple of more of the new people in with us and maybe, just maybe get a second Kara group going.

Karazhan Guide – Part Five: Taking in a Show

This is part five of my short Resto -Shaman guides to Karazhan. Today we focus on the Opera Events.

Now that you have killed Attunmen, Moroes and Maiden, it’s time to take a breather and have some fun. To me, the Opera seems to be one of the two “breaks” from the boss fighting. None of the events are overly difficult and are more amusing than anything, with my personal favorite being the Big Bad Wolf.

Big Bad Wolf:

• Execute all normal healing and buffing functions.


• Drop Tremor Totem to break the Bad Wolf’s Fear.


• Earth Bind Totem may slow Big Bad down during the chase…haven’t tried it yet.


• Earth shield anyone with the little red riding hood de-buff, if possible


• Heal the crap out of little red riding hood.


• If you are little red riding hood, get to the perimeter of the stage and run around the stage like a mother f***er.


• Blood Lust at 25-20% as normal.

Big Bad Wolf is pretty much your normal tank and spank boss. Nice and easy if you ask me.

Wizard of Oz:

• Fire elemental is perfect for Straw Man, if you can get him to go after it.


• Searing Totem is also good for Straw Man.


• Don’t use Magma Totem, only the first pulse affects Straw Man.


• Your Frost Resist Totem works to minimize Dorthy’s water bolt damage.


• Tremor Totem breaks the Fear.


• Blood Lust at 25-20% as normal when Fighting the Croan.

This is one of the more envolved events since you have to deal with multiple targets at once, incuding the Tito. See all that time on Moroes helps doesn't it.

Romulo and Julianne:

• Earth Shock interrupts all of Julianne’s casting (Eternal Affection – heal, powerful attraction- stun, blinding passion - holy damage 6k).


• Purge Julianne’s Devotion.


• Remove Poison, Poison Cleansing Totem removes Romulo’s Poison thrust.


• Purge Romulo’s Daring.


• Blood Lust at 25-20% as normal.

Resto Shaman Loot:

• Ribbon of Sacrifice


• Earthsoul Leggings – (Meh)

Now it is off to some backdoor action as we roll to say hi to the mother of all hospitality robots…the Curator.

Why Gnomes are Creepy

'nuff said!

Picture courtesy of VG Cats: http://www.vgcats.com/

The Pen is Mightier than Nightbane!

After a few weeks of wipes, repair bills and Pink Bunny tabards the Pen has finally taken down the boney menace, Nightbane. Watching the fight unfold was a think of beauty. Everyone moving when required, fears controlled, heals criting at just the right time, perfect agro management and ZERO deaths made for one of the finest nights in the Pen's short history. A job well done guys and congrats too on the phat lewtz.

Robe of the Elder Scribes

Ferocious Swift-Kickers

W00t!

New World of Warcraft Expansion Announced!

Now this is someting I can get into!

Twisted Nether Blogcast

I have recently come across this blogcast from a couple of the more popular WoW bloggers out there. They are currently on their third episode so far and seem to be doing really well. I highly recommend checking them out.

Episode Three of the Twisted Nether Blogcast

Thanks guys!

Karazhan Guide – Part Four: A Date with a Classy Dame

This is part four of my short Resto -Shaman guides to Karazhan.

This time we focus on the Maiden. She is one of the first "optional" bosses in Karazhan, but if you are a Resto Shaman you MUST go get her. She has a bunch of loot love jsut waiting for you.

Trash:

• Execute all normal healing and buffing functions.


• Drop Tremor Totem to break the Concubine’s Temptation.

Maiden:

• Earth Shield Main Tank.


• Drop Grounding Totem (Absorbs Holy Fire). This is a MUST! Holy Fire on a totem is so much better than Holy Fire on your Mage.


• Keep Earth Shield up on Tank for heals during repentance. There is nothing more helpless as a healer than watching your Tank's health drop when you can't do anything. Earth Shield may be the difference between a living or dead tank.


• Keep Grounding Totem up as much as possible.


• Blood Lust at 20% and after a repentance. Blood Lust pooping and getting dazed just after is just embarrassing.

Note: If you have a couple of Shamans, this is a rather easy fight. With multiple Grounding Totems up, it greatly reduces the amount of healing needed during this fight

Resto Shama Loot:

• Gloves of Centering


• Shard of the Virtuous


• Totem of Healing Rains

Next time it'll time to put on your top hat and tails because we are going to the Opera.

Recruiting Woes

As you have seen here, our guild is recruiting. We are not an uber guild, but we hold out own. We are that CasualCore guild. We don’t require raid attendance but have the core 7 to 9 people that raids weekly without a second thought. We normally raid after 9PM (CST) because of most of us have other commitments that keep us from logging on until later in the evening.

We are running Karazhan weekly. We offer plenty of opportunities for more people to come in, learn how to raid and gear up without a DKP system. But since we have started looking we haven’t been able to scrounge up even one recruit.

Why is this? Yes, we raid a little later than normal, but we can’t be the only 7 people out there that can only jump on after 9PM…are we? Seriously, I don’t know why there is such a drought on guild recruits. I wonder if other guilds are having the same problem.

If you have any thoughts or ideas I would be interested in hearing them.

/sigh

Karazhan Guide – Part Three: Party Crashing Moroes

This is part three of my short Resto -Shaman guides to Karazhan.

This week we will be working on taking down Moroes and his part guest.

Note: This is the first fight that will really test your raid’s ability to handle multiple targets and minor chaos. It might take a couple of times to get this fight down, but once you got it, a well fought Moroes battle is a thing of beauty. For a full run down of this fight and kill order for Moroes guest, please visit Boss Killers, the one stop source for all your boss killing needs.

Trash: Ghostly Guests

• Earth Shield the Main Tank – Single Pulls


• Heal Tank when needed – Single Pulls


• Earth Shield main AoE Caster – Group Pulls


• Spam heal main AoE Caster – Group Pulls


• Drop Stone Skin Totem for some help if in AoE Caster Group – Group Pulls


• Drop Fire Nova and then Magma Totem to add to AoE Damage – Group Pulls

Boss: Moroes and his Dinner Guests

• Earth Shield one of the tanks, or a caster assigned to shackle or kite.


• Chain Heal Tanks fighting for aggro on Moroes.


• Drop Poison Cleansing Totem to cure Blindness - Only if in the Main Tank Group.


• Earth Shock will interrupt Millstipe’s Mana Burn – Granted she should be shackled


• Purge Paly buffs on Moroes if possible.


• Raid heal as much as possible if not assigned to a tank, assess garroted target and heal if Toon is needed if not, sadly…let them go.


• Blood Lust around 20%, make sure it is just after Moroes comes out of vanish. There is nothing more embarrassing that popping Blood Lust and not having anything to do.

Resto Shaman Loot:

• Belt of Gale Force

Now, the next stop…the Maiden and her ladies.

Pen vs. Prince

“I’ve been running Kara for a year and you guys have the worst infernal luck I have ever seen" -Atar

Finally after a couple of frustrating weeks we got Prince down again…it only took three attempts. It isn’t that hard of a fight and if things go well it is actually pretty easy. Unfortunately the fight is about 90% luck with the infernals. No matter what we would do, we just could never catch a break until this week.

Loot was pretty Rogue heavy…to bad we didn’t have one.

Helm of the Fallen Champion

Farstrider Wildercloak

Malchazeen

I did end up with the helm so that gives me 3/5 Tier 4 pieces. Now I am just missing the BP and the Legs but I think I will go for the better BoJ items that are available instead.

Again, good job guys and lets hope this changes our luck a little bit.

Karazhan Guide – Part Two: The Stables and Attumen the Huntsmen

This is part two of my short Resto -Shaman guides to Karazhan.

Now that you have gotten into the front door, it is time to get down to business. There are a lot of loot and badges to be had and stories to be told. So lets head off to our first boss, Attumen.

Note: The trash leading up to and inlcuding Attument is a good "check" (Gear?Skill)for your raid group to see if you are ready for Karazhan. If you consitently wipe during this point, your might not be ready for Kara.

Trash: Spectral Stallion/Spectral Charger

• Earth Shield the Main Tank and keep it up whenever possible.
• Heal Assigned Tank when needed. Note: Now that there is more than one tank, you must communicate with the other healers on which target you will be healing. This will help reduce the amount of over healinga dn will help in your mana pool management as you go.
• Purge Stallion’s buff from Absorb Vitality.
• Drop Tremor Totem to counter-act Charger Howl of Terror.
• Stay close, the Chargers goes for farthest raid memeber.

Boss: Midnight/Attumen

• Earth Shield Midnight Tank for the first round
• Heal Midnight Tank when needed, if he is not your assigned tank, just sit back and don't waste your mana
• Earth Shield Attumen Tank when Attumen appears.
• Heal assigned Tank, most of the time I am assigned to the Attumen tank.
• When Atutmen and Midnight combine pile onto the mounted Attumen and stay close to him.
• Heal main tank if needed, if not just toss your hammer around and add to the DPS.

Resto Shaman Loot:

• Whirlwind Bracers

Enjoy the badge and get ready for one more trash pull to get to the repairman. Now that you have passed your first test in Karazhan it is time to get some dinner with Moroes.

Karazhan Guide - Part One: Getting In

This is part one of my short Resto-Shaman guides to Karazhan.

Getting into Kara

• Get your Key (Don't be lazy)
• Make sure someone in the raid has a key (You're lazy)
• Befriend a Warlock (You're double lazy)

Thats it. BTW, I have no key and I know a lock. I am double lazy for the win!

Next time, we will start focusing on the bosses of Karazhan and your roll as Resto Shaman in these fights.

The Pen Wants You!

The Pen is Mightier on Hellscream (US) is recruiting. The time has come for some guild growth and we are in need of more people willing to come out after 9PM CST and have some fun, wipe a couple of times and pay off some hefty repair bills.

We currently are running Karazhan with much success with our normal crew but want to get a second kara group rolling. We also have the need to start thinking about bigger and better things that reside in the 25-man content realm.

So if your toon has what it takes we come on in and we will work you over a couple of times to see if you have what it takes to be one of the Pen.

As a side note, I personally am looking for another Rogue a Resto Druid and Shadow Priest. Three of the things that our guild needs a little of on a reqular basis.

No Raiding on Sundays

I have no idea what the problem is. My guild, The Pen is Mightier, starts running Karazhan like most do, on Tuesday night. We one shot every boss and end the night after Shade. We then plan on finishing up the full clear on Sunday. Well now for two weeks that Sunday is something to forget about. Be it disconnects, bad infernals or kids waking up at the wrong time our luck on Sunday just sucks. I am suprised we haven't wiped on the Chess Event yet.

In an attempt to end this issue we are going to start maning up and attempt to get Kara done in one fell swoop on Tuesdays when our luck is gold and our pockets flow with badges adn phat lewts.

God I hope we don't ruin Tuesday nights now too =)