Our guild downed heroic Domo last night - we are now 3/7 hardmodes! I'm incredibly proud of us and how far we've come in just a few short weeks. Since the nerf we've downed one new heroic boss per week and we're showing no signs of slowing down! As we down more bosses, we're getting more signups to raid and you can feel a renewed sense of enthusiasm in the raid group.
I've noticed though that we're starting to go back to that "serious progression" mindset. While I don't mind serious progression, I like knowing where we stand one way or another. Are we a progression-driven, casualcore guild that keeps track of attendance, performance, min/maxing etc etc? Or are we strictly casual and missing one raid is not going to land me on the bench indefinitely? It's hard to gauge things right now.
When we raid we do joke around plenty and the RLs don't fly off the handle if we get one no-show or someone is 15 min late. During a boss fight people still crack jokes and poke fun at each other, even if it's a progression fight.
But last night we were told by the more serious of the two RLs to "stop messing around and focus". His tone wasn't mean or snippy, it was just a calm, but firm warning. It caught me a little off guard because while it was hardmode Domo, we had only put in a couple attempts so far - it was far from a situation where everyone is pissy from 2 hours of almost-had-it situations. And the other RL was joking around too, and I thought we were all having a good time and being a little goofy.
I didn't take it personally because I knew it wasn't directed just at me, but it did dampen my attitude for the rest of that night. And yeah, we downed Domo after all and everyone was happy. But I dunno...are we really the type of guild that can't tolerate a few silly comments during fights?
I know my guild used to be a pretty serious progression guild - that's why I joined, and that's why I left, because we no longer raided. At that time I wanted raid progression, and I treated the guild as a means to get what I wanted out of the game (as I'm sure many of the raiders did as well).
And now I'm back in this guild because I like the people, I like our atmosphere and I like that I click well with everyone - we have similar nerdy hobbies, similar sense of humor and similar interests. I'm not here to push bleeding edge progression - I'm just here to have fun. Which is why I don't mind sitting out a couple nights or I don't sweat it if a raid gets cancelled.
I guess the whole point of this is that I don't know if I would be happy going back to the old model. I gave up hardcore progression for a reason - it was too much like a job. It took a lot of enjoyment out of the game to treat raiding as the single all-important element of the game. When you stake 3 hours worth of fun on getting down a raid boss, and that raid gets cancelled or you wipe all night, you end up just feeling crappy and angry at other people for not showing up, not playing well, etc.
I still enjoy raiding and still look forward to every raid night - I think end-game raiding will always be a big part of wow for me, but I've learned to not get hung up on it so much. I would be happy raiding once a month or twice a week and anything in between, as long as it's with the right people and it's a chill atmosphere. I've learned to branch out and enjoy other aspects of the game (soloing old instances, BGs, achievement farming, alts, the list goes on). Raiding is not the ultimate goal anymore - it's just one of the many things I do on wow.
Well, I guess we'll see how things play out. At this point it's nothing more than a gut feeling that's worrying me. I know that we're going to continue pushing progression likely until heroic Rag goes down, and then the Deathwing raid will be right around the corner. I just don't want to go back to that "THIS IS SRS BSNS" mentality at this point. It's no fun to sweat bullets during a raid.
Friday, October 14, 2011
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Mogging efforts
I am so excited for transmogging, and with every preview and PTR patch notes, the harder it is to contain my excitement! I'm finally going to look the way I want my character to look, as opposed to whatever garbage gear blizz decides to slap onto me.
I don't expect to look "unique" or anything - from what I've gathered on the forums, every other rogue is going to be rocking Bloodfang, so I don't expect to be original. Hopefully though, most people will go for the original red bloodfang rather than the blue recolor that I'm going for.
After months of BC heroic dungeon grinding, I have finally completed the look I want - it's mainly the blue recolor of the bloodfang set they introduced in BC, but with a few tweaks of my own. I swapped out the bulky boots (makes me calves look big!) with a more skintight version, added in a matching cloak and found a good dark blue shirt to go with it. I'm not a fan of the exposed-elbow-look you get when you don't stick on a shirt with set pieces.
As for the weapons I thought that Timeslicer matched perfectly, with the graceful yet deadly blue design. Starlight dagger was also a good choice (I love the brutal serrated edges), but unfortunately it's a specifically main hand dagger :( I just want to add that getting that stupid dagger took me about 20 kills of Epoch Hunter in Old Hillsbrad. Anyone who's tried to farm a scripted instance knows that a pain in the ass that is...by the end I wanted to kill Thrall myself.
Here is also another set that I like - I might have to switch between the bluefang (ooh I just made up a nickname) and this one. It's rather flashy for a rogue (can you imagine trying to sneak around while flashing this much bling?) but who really cares? This isn't an RP realm...
It's the gold recolor of the Nightslayer set, another excellent and popular set that drops from Molten Core. I especially love the look of the mask/helm - subtle yet chic. Unfortunately the original Nightslayer was a little too "bleh" for me. I already had a dark bluish set, I really didn't feel the need for another one. The gold recolor looked absolutely gorgeous, and had that cool plate mail look to it that I loved but is unfortunately not often available to leather classes.
My only problem was the shoulders - the original ones look like bowling balls (or D-cups, depending on who you ask) and it just looked hideous. Trying to find something else that matched was also a big challenge since that bronzed-gold tone is unique to this set. I experimented with pretty much every shoulder model & color that wowhead had to offer, and came up with this one. I'd have preferred a black motif, of course, but at least this one has a gold trim that matches the rest of the set pretty well (many gold tones looked too orange or yellow). By throwing on a red/gold cape and completing the look with black/gold/red daggers, the shoulders flow with the rest of the set pretty nicely.
The minor tweak I had to make was to swap out the fat calf boots with a skintight version. Other than that I think everything is the original intended recolor except the shoulders.
Farming this one will be a bit tricky though - while I can acquire everything easily from BC heroics, the weapons are a drop from a Sunwell raid boss. My guild is doing some transmog gear runs, and my best bet is to just hope that it drops during one of those runs. I don't think you can 2-man Sunwell easily...
So yeah, it looks like when 4.3 hit, I'll be rolling around Orgrimmar either as a dark blue assassin, or a ritzy gilded ninja. Can't wait!
I don't expect to look "unique" or anything - from what I've gathered on the forums, every other rogue is going to be rocking Bloodfang, so I don't expect to be original. Hopefully though, most people will go for the original red bloodfang rather than the blue recolor that I'm going for.
After months of BC heroic dungeon grinding, I have finally completed the look I want - it's mainly the blue recolor of the bloodfang set they introduced in BC, but with a few tweaks of my own. I swapped out the bulky boots (makes me calves look big!) with a more skintight version, added in a matching cloak and found a good dark blue shirt to go with it. I'm not a fan of the exposed-elbow-look you get when you don't stick on a shirt with set pieces.
As for the weapons I thought that Timeslicer matched perfectly, with the graceful yet deadly blue design. Starlight dagger was also a good choice (I love the brutal serrated edges), but unfortunately it's a specifically main hand dagger :( I just want to add that getting that stupid dagger took me about 20 kills of Epoch Hunter in Old Hillsbrad. Anyone who's tried to farm a scripted instance knows that a pain in the ass that is...by the end I wanted to kill Thrall myself.
Here is also another set that I like - I might have to switch between the bluefang (ooh I just made up a nickname) and this one. It's rather flashy for a rogue (can you imagine trying to sneak around while flashing this much bling?) but who really cares? This isn't an RP realm...
It's the gold recolor of the Nightslayer set, another excellent and popular set that drops from Molten Core. I especially love the look of the mask/helm - subtle yet chic. Unfortunately the original Nightslayer was a little too "bleh" for me. I already had a dark bluish set, I really didn't feel the need for another one. The gold recolor looked absolutely gorgeous, and had that cool plate mail look to it that I loved but is unfortunately not often available to leather classes.
My only problem was the shoulders - the original ones look like bowling balls (or D-cups, depending on who you ask) and it just looked hideous. Trying to find something else that matched was also a big challenge since that bronzed-gold tone is unique to this set. I experimented with pretty much every shoulder model & color that wowhead had to offer, and came up with this one. I'd have preferred a black motif, of course, but at least this one has a gold trim that matches the rest of the set pretty well (many gold tones looked too orange or yellow). By throwing on a red/gold cape and completing the look with black/gold/red daggers, the shoulders flow with the rest of the set pretty nicely.
The minor tweak I had to make was to swap out the fat calf boots with a skintight version. Other than that I think everything is the original intended recolor except the shoulders.
Farming this one will be a bit tricky though - while I can acquire everything easily from BC heroics, the weapons are a drop from a Sunwell raid boss. My guild is doing some transmog gear runs, and my best bet is to just hope that it drops during one of those runs. I don't think you can 2-man Sunwell easily...
So yeah, it looks like when 4.3 hit, I'll be rolling around Orgrimmar either as a dark blue assassin, or a ritzy gilded ninja. Can't wait!
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
FL Nerf
Last week our guild went into FL for the first time since the massive raid-wide nerf (25% nerf to all bosses HP and damage). Having downed normal Rag literally a few days before the nerf hit, we pat ourselves on the back and took a short break, and came back ready to f*** s*** up.
We decided to go straight away for heroic Shannox. He still wasn't a pushover on heroic mode, and it took us a good 20 attempts or so to down. Having spend the majority of the raid night on the encounter, we called it a night.
The next day we came back and to clear the rest of the raid on normal. We only had 9 people online so we begin clearing trash, figuring that once someone logs on we'll work on bosses.
We waited a while and no one came on, so we decided to 9-man Rhyolith. And he went down easy. Like, we poked him a few times with a sharp stick and he cried, "I surrender!" and crumbled. And dropped my new helm! Finally I can get rid of the ugly monstrosity known as tier 11.
Next was Beth'tilac. Again, easily one-shotted. Alysrazor was a total joke. Not only was HP and damage nerfed, they had nerfed the two most crucial mechanics that made the fight somewhat difficult - the fire tornado was slowed down, and the flame druid initiates no longer spammed fieroblast. Given that my personal biggest screwup is not interrupting the fieroblast, that made my life a whole lot easier. And given that whenever someone dies, it's usually to that fire tornado, the encounter was a breeze. With 9 people we were able to beat our previous kill record, and everyone was just sort of stunned into silence after we downed her. "Seriously...that's it?"
We brought in a 10th finally for Baleroc, but I feel like we could've easily 9-manned that too. At least we got the speed kill achievement.
Ragnaros was also significantly easier. We had only one wipe and the second try was a little messy but we got the job done. I didn't notice much in the way of damage reduction but the phase transitions sure went a heck of a lot quicker with that massive 25% nerf to HP.
We're planning on attempting more heroic modes this week. My guess is they'll be pretty challenging, but given how boring the normal modes were, the heroics will actually provide some challenge. I guess my question to Blizz is, did you really have to nerf so much? I feel like a simple 10% nerf would've been sufficient, or maybe just a 25% nerf to HP and leave the mechanics alone. Yes, we like loot but we also like to not pass out from boredom while raiding.
We decided to go straight away for heroic Shannox. He still wasn't a pushover on heroic mode, and it took us a good 20 attempts or so to down. Having spend the majority of the raid night on the encounter, we called it a night.
The next day we came back and to clear the rest of the raid on normal. We only had 9 people online so we begin clearing trash, figuring that once someone logs on we'll work on bosses.
We waited a while and no one came on, so we decided to 9-man Rhyolith. And he went down easy. Like, we poked him a few times with a sharp stick and he cried, "I surrender!" and crumbled. And dropped my new helm! Finally I can get rid of the ugly monstrosity known as tier 11.
Next was Beth'tilac. Again, easily one-shotted. Alysrazor was a total joke. Not only was HP and damage nerfed, they had nerfed the two most crucial mechanics that made the fight somewhat difficult - the fire tornado was slowed down, and the flame druid initiates no longer spammed fieroblast. Given that my personal biggest screwup is not interrupting the fieroblast, that made my life a whole lot easier. And given that whenever someone dies, it's usually to that fire tornado, the encounter was a breeze. With 9 people we were able to beat our previous kill record, and everyone was just sort of stunned into silence after we downed her. "Seriously...that's it?"
We brought in a 10th finally for Baleroc, but I feel like we could've easily 9-manned that too. At least we got the speed kill achievement.
Ragnaros was also significantly easier. We had only one wipe and the second try was a little messy but we got the job done. I didn't notice much in the way of damage reduction but the phase transitions sure went a heck of a lot quicker with that massive 25% nerf to HP.
We're planning on attempting more heroic modes this week. My guess is they'll be pretty challenging, but given how boring the normal modes were, the heroics will actually provide some challenge. I guess my question to Blizz is, did you really have to nerf so much? I feel like a simple 10% nerf would've been sufficient, or maybe just a 25% nerf to HP and leave the mechanics alone. Yes, we like loot but we also like to not pass out from boredom while raiding.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Batman
Wow. The new rogue tier 13 was unveiled today, and all I have to say is...wow. It sure is one ugly set.
Yeah, everyone thinks that their class set is the ugliest (although the shamans seem to be pretty happy with the Flinstones look), I have to say this is a new low.
Rogues (like every other class) has had their ups and downs when it comes to tier sets. I personally love tier2, the bloodfang set, because I think it's both really awesome and deadly looking, while keeping in line with the whole idea of a stealthy, sneaky rogue. The dark red/black combo of the bloodfang set, combined with the not-too overdone shoulders and general motif made it look really great. The darkened headpiece that completely shrouds the face was also a great touch and made you look more sinister than ever.
The BC recolors of the tier2 set were really nice too - hence, that is why I'm collecting the dark blue/black recolor for my transmog set. I'd love to get my hands on the original bloodfang but alas, blackwing lair is not soloable...
Tier 1 set is alright too, you can tell blizz really drew some inspiration from ninjas, what with that headpiece and the scaled leg armor. While it looks nice overall, I find it a touch too bright for my tastes, and I just can't get over the bowling ball-look of the shoulderpads. If I could find an alternate shoulderpiece I'd consider getting the set for transmog.
Then blizz starts getting all weird on us. I mean, look at the Netherblade set. What is that bizarre shiny space suit all about? Because nothing says "rogue, master of stealth" like a bright glowing lavender chrome suit?
Things seem to get better with tiers 6-7, a bit too gladiator-like but still not too bad. Then blizz goes and makes it totally weird again with the Terrorblade series. What is with those creepy skeleton masks???
Tiers 9-10 I think are quite alright. Garona's set was pretty nice looking, actually. The Shadowblade set looked weird to me at first, with the tattered plague geist look and all that, but over time I grew to like the twisted, sinister look it had going on. Especially the 10H/25 version of the gear had a nice darkened look to it too.
And then came the abomination known as Wind Dancer's Regalia, which unfortunately I had to suffer through most of Cataclysm with. Those big ugly glowing shoulderpads looked awful on every single race. The helmet was truly the ugliest I'd seen in a long time (in fact I haven't seen a helmet I'd actually display since tier 2). I jumped for joy when I finally got some new shoulderpads...
Tier 12 looked great, I loved the Dark Phoenix set. Not sure why they went with that theme, but visually it looked pretty nice, even down to a mean-looking helm (which I have yet to acquire). Both the normal and heroic versions look good, though the darker purple set looks a tad bit prettier.
And now...tier 13. The ugly ass batman suit. Is this what I have to look forward to in the next patch? Thank god for transmog!
Friday, September 16, 2011
Top 2%
Heh, I just read a forum post where a guy was QQing that only 2% (by his rough estimates) have killed Ragnaros on normal mode. He was of course complaining that it was too hard, casuals deserve easier raids and more loot, etc etc etc.
Our guild just downed normal mode Rag after extending a raid lockout this Tuesday. We said, hey, let's not expend energy clearing the bosses over again, let's just get to Rag and DO THIS THING!
Especially given the announcement that they were going to nerf both normal and heroic Ragnaros next week, everyone was quite anxious to get him, come hell or high water.
We went for a pretty radical new strategy we had never used before and decided to 2-heal the fight. Things seemed a bit dicey at first, but around the 10th try or so, we got him down!
It reminded me a bit of the Nefarian fight, where we just struggled so damn much just to see the last phase. And once we made it to the last phase, it wasn't hard at all (at least for DPS, I imagine the healers were sweating bullets).
We were having trouble with the 2nd phase transition where the lava Scions come out. We were using a 3 healer strat previously, which meant that almost every time one of the sons of flame would get lose (due to lack of stuns on the last one) while the tanks picked up the scions, blow up and wipe the raid. Prior to tuesday night we had only managed to get past this transition once, and with half the raid dead at that.
But we decided to 2-heal it and have the tanks focus on stunning the sons and ignore the scions at the start. It worked like a champ, and even though it took us a few wipes to get to the phase transition, once it clicked, it worked. We had no problem getting the adds down, and we wiped once while the scions were still up due to fire (it's all fire. Fire is everywhere in Firelands). But the next time, the scions went down smoothly and the next phase finally started with everyone in the raid still alive.
This was the "meatball" phase, which I don't think anyone in the raid had really done before. But we knew we had to kite it, then attack it right before it hits you and send it bouncing to someone else. We still had about 25% more to push before Rag went down but luckily everyone was alive and focused. The meatballs bounced around, Rag summoned engulfing flames everywhere, and everyone was burning (the boss, not standing in fire) as hard as they could.
Someone died due to engulfing flames around 20%. I saw someone else die to...something. Then a DPS blew up from the meatball right next to me. 6% more to go. I see one of the tanks go down. Engulfing right under my foot! I'm fixated by a meatball! 2% left to go. It's coming towards me but it's far away. I pop every single CD I have available and literally start mashing some buttons. And just as I see that meatball about to run me over...Rag dies and everything vanishes.
Ah, it's always an epic feeling to down an end boss. Not to mention that we're in the top 2% of the population that managed to do it before the nerfs.
Deathwing, you're next.
Our guild just downed normal mode Rag after extending a raid lockout this Tuesday. We said, hey, let's not expend energy clearing the bosses over again, let's just get to Rag and DO THIS THING!
Especially given the announcement that they were going to nerf both normal and heroic Ragnaros next week, everyone was quite anxious to get him, come hell or high water.
We went for a pretty radical new strategy we had never used before and decided to 2-heal the fight. Things seemed a bit dicey at first, but around the 10th try or so, we got him down!
It reminded me a bit of the Nefarian fight, where we just struggled so damn much just to see the last phase. And once we made it to the last phase, it wasn't hard at all (at least for DPS, I imagine the healers were sweating bullets).
We were having trouble with the 2nd phase transition where the lava Scions come out. We were using a 3 healer strat previously, which meant that almost every time one of the sons of flame would get lose (due to lack of stuns on the last one) while the tanks picked up the scions, blow up and wipe the raid. Prior to tuesday night we had only managed to get past this transition once, and with half the raid dead at that.
But we decided to 2-heal it and have the tanks focus on stunning the sons and ignore the scions at the start. It worked like a champ, and even though it took us a few wipes to get to the phase transition, once it clicked, it worked. We had no problem getting the adds down, and we wiped once while the scions were still up due to fire (it's all fire. Fire is everywhere in Firelands). But the next time, the scions went down smoothly and the next phase finally started with everyone in the raid still alive.
This was the "meatball" phase, which I don't think anyone in the raid had really done before. But we knew we had to kite it, then attack it right before it hits you and send it bouncing to someone else. We still had about 25% more to push before Rag went down but luckily everyone was alive and focused. The meatballs bounced around, Rag summoned engulfing flames everywhere, and everyone was burning (the boss, not standing in fire) as hard as they could.
Someone died due to engulfing flames around 20%. I saw someone else die to...something. Then a DPS blew up from the meatball right next to me. 6% more to go. I see one of the tanks go down. Engulfing right under my foot! I'm fixated by a meatball! 2% left to go. It's coming towards me but it's far away. I pop every single CD I have available and literally start mashing some buttons. And just as I see that meatball about to run me over...Rag dies and everything vanishes.
Ah, it's always an epic feeling to down an end boss. Not to mention that we're in the top 2% of the population that managed to do it before the nerfs.
Deathwing, you're next.
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Nerd Rage Topic: heroics =/= normal
Since when did heroics become so...non-heroic? By that I mean the general player base perception of heroics, not the dungeon difficulty itself.
Yeah, yeah, wrath was too easy and heroics were a joke, I get it, I get it. I was there too so I can understand where the mentality comes from. But I mean, cata has been out almost a year now, don't people understand that the wrath days of roflstomping a heroic in 15 minutes is gone?
Normals are easy. Normals are forgiving. One-shot abilities don't actually one-shot you because a good healer can heal through most anything on normal mode. Sure, let those shock blasts go off once or twice or every single time. Go ahead and stand in front of Ozruk, eat those ground slams and shatters, I will heal your sorry ass back up to full because everyone makes mistakes, right?
Heroics are not easy. They are not forgiving. Sure, you might think it's no more difficult than normals because you were lucky and got into a good run a few times where the tank was chain pulling and you stood in the fire and someone healed you through it. It made you cocky, it made you think heroics are just like normals!
No. No they are not. If you get in with the average dungeon group, heroics are a different experience, because you will end up with 1-4 idiots who do not know the difference between a normal and heroic dungeon.
NEWS FLASH: not only do things in heroics hit you harder, faster, and more frequently in the face, one-shot mechanics will ACTUALLY one-shot you.
Normal modes are where you learn these things, but the problem is no one learns the correct thing to do because they never see that doing the wrong thing = death. You tell a noob "don't stand in this" and he does, sees that he didn't die despite standing in it, so he thinks that it's ok to stand there. You tell the noob "interrupt this ability" and he forgets, and sees that no one died from it, so he thinks you can ignore the interrupts.
Which just leads to a big clusterf**k when you enter a heroic with one of these idiots. You see them just standing there. IN FIRE. Just standing there, their hp dropping faster than the time it takes you to cast a flash heal. They die, and wonder what happened, and about half the time they jump to this amusing conclusion: "I died because you're a bad healer"
Like the time I got Stonecore with a very intellectually challenged mage. First he almost dies to trash by standing in whirlwind. I life-gripped him out a couple times and managed to keep him alive.
At Corborus, he stands in the dust trail during the submerge phase and gets one-shotted. After the fight his words are "That's really weird, I wonder how I died."
I told him that he stood in the dust trail, and his response? "I don't think so, that's never happened to me before"
/facepalm.
Then he stands right in the crystal barrage during Slabhide, doens't even try to LoS the damn thing and dies almost immediately. After we kill him I say, "if you need an explanation on the fight just say so."
His response? "Lol I've done this place like 10 times, dude"
"Is that why you ate the crystal barrage to the face?" I asked. He just shrugged at me.
Finally at the pack of mobs with the sentry, he ignores the sentry (marked with a skull) and it ends up pulling another pack. As we're running back he says "how did we aggro the other group? That's never happened before"
I checked his achievement and lo and behold, he did not have the heroic: stonecore achievement. So the 10 times he had done Stonecore was on normal mode, which is why he was failing so miserably. I dropped group as soon as I zoned in.
What bothered me the most about his attitude was the constant "that's never happened before", which usually is an indirect way of saying it was someone else's fault, since it's clearly never happened to that player in another group. OR MAYBE it's never happened before because you've never done the goddamn heroic mode dungeon?!?! It's great that you've done the fight 10 times on normal, you know what that means? You don't know shit about the fight on heroic mode.
Healing is stressful enough, the last thing I need to hear is some snotty fail DPS pulling 4k making some thinly veiled jab and trying to blame me for their repairbill.
I'm not an unreasonable person, I don't expect you to go research the fights. I know I didn't, I simply learned from other people. Just speak up and admit you don't know it and I'd be more than happy to explain it to you. And if you're so terrible of a player that you can't even be bothered to admit that, then at least keep your mouth shut when you die and gratefully take the rez.
/end rant
Yeah, yeah, wrath was too easy and heroics were a joke, I get it, I get it. I was there too so I can understand where the mentality comes from. But I mean, cata has been out almost a year now, don't people understand that the wrath days of roflstomping a heroic in 15 minutes is gone?
Normals are easy. Normals are forgiving. One-shot abilities don't actually one-shot you because a good healer can heal through most anything on normal mode. Sure, let those shock blasts go off once or twice or every single time. Go ahead and stand in front of Ozruk, eat those ground slams and shatters, I will heal your sorry ass back up to full because everyone makes mistakes, right?
Heroics are not easy. They are not forgiving. Sure, you might think it's no more difficult than normals because you were lucky and got into a good run a few times where the tank was chain pulling and you stood in the fire and someone healed you through it. It made you cocky, it made you think heroics are just like normals!
No. No they are not. If you get in with the average dungeon group, heroics are a different experience, because you will end up with 1-4 idiots who do not know the difference between a normal and heroic dungeon.
NEWS FLASH: not only do things in heroics hit you harder, faster, and more frequently in the face, one-shot mechanics will ACTUALLY one-shot you.
Normal modes are where you learn these things, but the problem is no one learns the correct thing to do because they never see that doing the wrong thing = death. You tell a noob "don't stand in this" and he does, sees that he didn't die despite standing in it, so he thinks that it's ok to stand there. You tell the noob "interrupt this ability" and he forgets, and sees that no one died from it, so he thinks you can ignore the interrupts.
Which just leads to a big clusterf**k when you enter a heroic with one of these idiots. You see them just standing there. IN FIRE. Just standing there, their hp dropping faster than the time it takes you to cast a flash heal. They die, and wonder what happened, and about half the time they jump to this amusing conclusion: "I died because you're a bad healer"
Like the time I got Stonecore with a very intellectually challenged mage. First he almost dies to trash by standing in whirlwind. I life-gripped him out a couple times and managed to keep him alive.
At Corborus, he stands in the dust trail during the submerge phase and gets one-shotted. After the fight his words are "That's really weird, I wonder how I died."
I told him that he stood in the dust trail, and his response? "I don't think so, that's never happened to me before"
/facepalm.
Then he stands right in the crystal barrage during Slabhide, doens't even try to LoS the damn thing and dies almost immediately. After we kill him I say, "if you need an explanation on the fight just say so."
His response? "Lol I've done this place like 10 times, dude"
"Is that why you ate the crystal barrage to the face?" I asked. He just shrugged at me.
Finally at the pack of mobs with the sentry, he ignores the sentry (marked with a skull) and it ends up pulling another pack. As we're running back he says "how did we aggro the other group? That's never happened before"
I checked his achievement and lo and behold, he did not have the heroic: stonecore achievement. So the 10 times he had done Stonecore was on normal mode, which is why he was failing so miserably. I dropped group as soon as I zoned in.
What bothered me the most about his attitude was the constant "that's never happened before", which usually is an indirect way of saying it was someone else's fault, since it's clearly never happened to that player in another group. OR MAYBE it's never happened before because you've never done the goddamn heroic mode dungeon?!?! It's great that you've done the fight 10 times on normal, you know what that means? You don't know shit about the fight on heroic mode.
Healing is stressful enough, the last thing I need to hear is some snotty fail DPS pulling 4k making some thinly veiled jab and trying to blame me for their repairbill.
I'm not an unreasonable person, I don't expect you to go research the fights. I know I didn't, I simply learned from other people. Just speak up and admit you don't know it and I'd be more than happy to explain it to you. And if you're so terrible of a player that you can't even be bothered to admit that, then at least keep your mouth shut when you die and gratefully take the rez.
/end rant
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Top 5...Epic Bromances
Ra ra ah ah ah, Roma roma-ma, ga, ga, ooh-la-la...what's your wow bromance?
Sometimes you see characters in wow that are just a little more than friends. The bromance is so blatantly obvious that you know it wasn't just poor dialogue choice, it was very deliberate, and shows that the devs have a sense of humor after all...
5. Kalecgos and Korialstrasz
At first they seem to be at war - the Nexus war, to be specific. But regardless of Kalec's allegiance to his flight, he admits to having deep respect and admiration for the red dragon Korialstrasz. This is fleshed out in much greater detail in the Sunwell Trilogy, the novels Night of the Dragon and Thrall: Twilight of the Aspects, to some degree.
Sure, they bicker at first, but their begrudging friendship soon gives way to a budding bromance. With Korialstrasz's unfortunate and untimely demise in the latest novel, we won't be seeing any more of this draconic bromance. But these two show that even dragons have feelings!
4. Gidwin Goldbraids and Tarenar Sunstrike
You first encounter these energetic and sometimes troublesome duo in the Eastern Plaguelands. If you follow the entirety of Fiona's caravan questchain, you'll see them bicker, banter, frolic and finally rescue each other in a dramatic conclusion.
It's so cute how they both aspired to become paladins of the argent crusade ever since they were boys. Which also begs the question, how did they meet? I mean, Tarenar is a blood elf...Gidwin is a dwarf...technically they're supposed to be hated enemies. I like to think that they both lost their parents to the scourge and grew up in the same orphanage! How they ended up with a Gypsy Worgen caravan saleswoman named Fiona I'll never know.
3. Jadaar and Asric
These two would have to be classified as the bitter old bromance, sort of like two old married people who, deep down, do love each other but bicker constantly and don't even realize what they're fighting about. They've been arguing since Shattrath city, to the Dalaran Sewers, and finally have settled at the Argent Tournament grounds, drinking and lobbing insults at each other.
Their dialogue is really funny if you take the time to listen:
Jadaar says: Remind me again why I tolerate your company, Asric.
Asric smirks wryly.
Asric says: I have decades of practice handling blowhards like yourself, and I'm the only one you know here in this abominably freezing land.
Jadaar says: I should leave you to rot in this sewer with the filth.
Asric says: No doubt.
Jadaar says: You are beneath me.
Asric says: A lowly worm, I'm sure.
Jadaar says: Stop agreeing with me!
Asric says: You're right, of course, it's a terrible practice.
Jadaar says: AGH!
And then this little gem at the Argent Tourney grounds:
Jadaar says: You realize, of course, that we would likely have to joust one another should we enter the tournament.
Asric says: There is no doubt in my mind you'd lose. Speed and wit triumphs over brute strength and bullheadedness any day of the week.
Jadaar says: Bullheadedness? It is my perseverance that has gotten us this far, dandy. You wouldn't last five seconds.
Asric says: Typical empty boasting. Still, the stables are rather distant and the drinks here are decent enough.
Jadaar says: I hear those lances are rough-hewn, too. I'm no fan of splinters.
Asric says: Just as well.
Just listening to them talk about splinters cracks me up!
2. Koltira Deathweaver and Thasaarian
They were sworn enemies in life (Thasaarian actually even killed Koltira), but in undeath they seem to have worked out their differences. They claim it's just a totally "brotherly bond" (see Thasaarian's dialogue below), but I suspect there's more at work here...
Orbaz Bloodbane says: Why do you care, Thassarian?
Orbaz Bloodbane says: His weakness led to his capture.
Orbaz Bloodbane says: Only the strong should survive. Not to mention...
Thassarian says: What, Orbaz? That he's a blood elf?
Thassarian says: In life we were hated enemies - this is true...
Thassarian says: But in death... We are the children of the damned. The bastard sons and daughters of the Scourge.
Thassarian says: In death we are brothers.
Orbaz Bloodbane says: To hell with you, Thassarian.
Don't tell me it's just camaraderie when these two are being all buddy-buddy even after going back to their respective original allegiances. You know in Andorhal when they talk about how they'll kill each other, they're staring deeply and soulfully into each other's eyes when they say that. Er, as soulfully as they can, being death knights and not having a soul and all that...
And finally, the most EPIC wow bromance of all time...
1. Tholo Whitehoof and Anren Shadowseeker
Oh, these two are totally bromantic and they don't even bother to hide it! When you first stumble upon them they are standing back-to-back (described as a 'druid combat circle'), fighting mobs and cheering each other on in a most bromantic way. Just listen to some of the stuff they say to each other:
"Together we can do anything, Anren!"
"You are a good friend, Tholo!"
"I will stay with you, Anren!"
"Stay on my back, Tholo!" (EHEM)
"I will protect you, Anren!"
"I wish I knew how to quit you, Tholo."
Ok, so that last part isn't actually in the game, but these two are completely bromantic for each other, in a way that is very reminiscent of JD and Turk. You can almost just hear them singing 'Guy Love' when you're not looking...
Double points for that fact that not only is this bromance inter-horde/alliance, inter-racial, but like, inter-SPECIES! Tholo being a tauren and Anren being a night elf, just makes this bromance mind-blowingly adorable on so many levels.
So that's it for the most epic bromances of wow. Maybe someday I can find some examples of wow girl crushes for the next blog post.
Sometimes you see characters in wow that are just a little more than friends. The bromance is so blatantly obvious that you know it wasn't just poor dialogue choice, it was very deliberate, and shows that the devs have a sense of humor after all...
5. Kalecgos and Korialstrasz
At first they seem to be at war - the Nexus war, to be specific. But regardless of Kalec's allegiance to his flight, he admits to having deep respect and admiration for the red dragon Korialstrasz. This is fleshed out in much greater detail in the Sunwell Trilogy, the novels Night of the Dragon and Thrall: Twilight of the Aspects, to some degree.
Sure, they bicker at first, but their begrudging friendship soon gives way to a budding bromance. With Korialstrasz's unfortunate and untimely demise in the latest novel, we won't be seeing any more of this draconic bromance. But these two show that even dragons have feelings!
4. Gidwin Goldbraids and Tarenar Sunstrike
You first encounter these energetic and sometimes troublesome duo in the Eastern Plaguelands. If you follow the entirety of Fiona's caravan questchain, you'll see them bicker, banter, frolic and finally rescue each other in a dramatic conclusion.
It's so cute how they both aspired to become paladins of the argent crusade ever since they were boys. Which also begs the question, how did they meet? I mean, Tarenar is a blood elf...Gidwin is a dwarf...technically they're supposed to be hated enemies. I like to think that they both lost their parents to the scourge and grew up in the same orphanage! How they ended up with a Gypsy Worgen caravan saleswoman named Fiona I'll never know.
3. Jadaar and Asric
These two would have to be classified as the bitter old bromance, sort of like two old married people who, deep down, do love each other but bicker constantly and don't even realize what they're fighting about. They've been arguing since Shattrath city, to the Dalaran Sewers, and finally have settled at the Argent Tournament grounds, drinking and lobbing insults at each other.
Their dialogue is really funny if you take the time to listen:
Jadaar says: Remind me again why I tolerate your company, Asric.
Asric smirks wryly.
Asric says: I have decades of practice handling blowhards like yourself, and I'm the only one you know here in this abominably freezing land.
Jadaar says: I should leave you to rot in this sewer with the filth.
Asric says: No doubt.
Jadaar says: You are beneath me.
Asric says: A lowly worm, I'm sure.
Jadaar says: Stop agreeing with me!
Asric says: You're right, of course, it's a terrible practice.
Jadaar says: AGH!
And then this little gem at the Argent Tourney grounds:
Jadaar says: You realize, of course, that we would likely have to joust one another should we enter the tournament.
Asric says: There is no doubt in my mind you'd lose. Speed and wit triumphs over brute strength and bullheadedness any day of the week.
Jadaar says: Bullheadedness? It is my perseverance that has gotten us this far, dandy. You wouldn't last five seconds.
Asric says: Typical empty boasting. Still, the stables are rather distant and the drinks here are decent enough.
Jadaar says: I hear those lances are rough-hewn, too. I'm no fan of splinters.
Asric says: Just as well.
Just listening to them talk about splinters cracks me up!
2. Koltira Deathweaver and Thasaarian
They were sworn enemies in life (Thasaarian actually even killed Koltira), but in undeath they seem to have worked out their differences. They claim it's just a totally "brotherly bond" (see Thasaarian's dialogue below), but I suspect there's more at work here...
Orbaz Bloodbane says: Why do you care, Thassarian?
Orbaz Bloodbane says: His weakness led to his capture.
Orbaz Bloodbane says: Only the strong should survive. Not to mention...
Thassarian says: What, Orbaz? That he's a blood elf?
Thassarian says: In life we were hated enemies - this is true...
Thassarian says: But in death... We are the children of the damned. The bastard sons and daughters of the Scourge.
Thassarian says: In death we are brothers.
Orbaz Bloodbane says: To hell with you, Thassarian.
Don't tell me it's just camaraderie when these two are being all buddy-buddy even after going back to their respective original allegiances. You know in Andorhal when they talk about how they'll kill each other, they're staring deeply and soulfully into each other's eyes when they say that. Er, as soulfully as they can, being death knights and not having a soul and all that...
And finally, the most EPIC wow bromance of all time...
1. Tholo Whitehoof and Anren Shadowseeker
Oh, these two are totally bromantic and they don't even bother to hide it! When you first stumble upon them they are standing back-to-back (described as a 'druid combat circle'), fighting mobs and cheering each other on in a most bromantic way. Just listen to some of the stuff they say to each other:
"Together we can do anything, Anren!"
"You are a good friend, Tholo!"
"I will stay with you, Anren!"
"Stay on my back, Tholo!" (EHEM)
"I will protect you, Anren!"
"I wish I knew how to quit you, Tholo."
Ok, so that last part isn't actually in the game, but these two are completely bromantic for each other, in a way that is very reminiscent of JD and Turk. You can almost just hear them singing 'Guy Love' when you're not looking...
Double points for that fact that not only is this bromance inter-horde/alliance, inter-racial, but like, inter-SPECIES! Tholo being a tauren and Anren being a night elf, just makes this bromance mind-blowingly adorable on so many levels.
So that's it for the most epic bromances of wow. Maybe someday I can find some examples of wow girl crushes for the next blog post.
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