Brewfest 2010

It's that time of the year again... the time when all hell breaks loose and you can see almost-nekkid orcs and dwarves scattered in front of Orgrimmar and Ironforge.

It's Brewfest - let the virtual beer flow!

So instead of half-heartedly approaching this annual event, I decided from day one to try and get the Brewmaster title for Aenur and Aerhandor, maybe even Aerdread. I could include Aelyra in this venture, but decided there's always next year for her - she only needed to get the wolpertinger pet and she'll be done.

To accomplish my goals, I had Aenur rush all the way from Dal to Org (heh, only one portal away lol) and set her up for the festivities. Bad news hits first, though - along with the celebration came a heavy wall of 5k latency, making Brewfest laggy as hell for her. Five disconnects and one hour later, she got the wolpertinger pet plus all the achieves necessary for the meta except two: snuffing Coren Direbrew, and The Brew of the Month membership that costs 200 Brewfest tokens. Shuddering to think how to do the ram racing (and getting the tokens) in this kind of lag, I decided to make Aenur do the latter. And it was a very fortuitous decision.

Aenur queued for the holiday boss via LFG, and almost immediately the dungeon confirmation window came up. She found herself teleported into the encounter, starts to help out, killed the nasty Coren... but wait, what's this? Another requeue window? Apparently she had the good fortune to be grouped with the determined few who plans to farm Coren Direbrew for all the dwarf's worth. It was fun, it was intense, it was rewarding - almost 15+ encounters later and she had Ancient Pickled Egg, Mithril Pocketwatch, Brawler's Souvenir and the very nice Coren's Chromium Coaster. She also got the two Brewmaiden charms, which will be useful as part of her Prot off-spec. No mount drop, though - but you can't have everything I guess =)

When it's Aerhandor's turn, he got a bit less lucky - he's got the chromium coaster, but nothing else. It was, however, hugely compensated when he opened the keg he got as the daily reward - BOOM! A Swift Brewfest Ram!

It looks to be the start of a very delightful festival, this Brewfest 2010. I wish you guys all the best of luck - as best as mine, if I may say so ^_^

Oh Yeah...

***

Now I can finally sleep at night in peace. =D

The darn thing doesn't come cheap though... the first group splintered, first when the tank bailed without a word, then when the other two DPS followed suit. Me and the healer re-queued (him as DPS this time) and got another group within a couple of minutes. The letdown?

A Hunter among the newcomers (o_o") I checked him out - he's sporting the True-Aim Long Rifle. Hmm... maybe he's a gun-user and won't roll on the bow, I thought.

The run went quite ok, and RNG was kind - Crypt Fiend Slayer dropped. I asked if I could roll Need on the bow...

...just as the other Hunter hit the Need button. The others were silent - either oblivious or they don't give a damn. I was breathless - if my Need roll fails, I'm going to have to face the possibility of re-running HoR again and again! But... I steel myself and press Need. And hope.

I won the roll. And the other Hunter drop group without a word.

Of Rotten Luck and Bad Drops

A slight rant is incoming. Are you prepared?

Yesterday evening, after finishing dinner and cuddling with my baby son, I fired up my PC and logged in to WoW for the daily dailies - and maybe a random or two. The dailies took longer than usual because I had to split my attention from the game to my boy who just couldn't bear to let me out of his sight =D

Anyways, by the time I finished all of Aenur's, Aelyra's and Aerhandor's dailies it's almost 10.00 p.m and according to schedule I only have another one and a half hour to go. Enough to squeeze in at least two randoms while doing a mining circuit around Icecrown, I was thinking. So I popped open the Dungeon Finder and registers Aenur for her first run - a random reg (for the pair of Emblem of Triumphs). In a few minutes, as she was mining a Saronite node - out pop the confirmation window. I press Enter Instance.

And watched in amusement as Hall of Reflection's loading screen came up.

The group assembled were professionals - all of them (except me) have done the place at least twice, and have nailed the encounters every time. Even so, I piped up in party chat saying I haven't done this fight, might die yadda yadda - but they said it was fine since it's the reg version. And then off we go. The fights were furious but under control: I noticed that no one had their health below 80% most of the time, the mobs are downed as per the tank's instructions (Priests first, then Mages, Mercenary and Footman last) and boss fights are a delightful event. Loot time - Ghoulslicer dropped, a nice 1h sword that I figured would be great on Aelyra... but I passed since she's far, far away. Little that I know the loot table is against me this evening.

And then, after a short skirmish with the bone commander guy we came up to see Arthas vs. Sylvanas in an amazing display of bladeworks. The tank spoke up - chase time: blast anything that has rotting flesh pronto.

And then onto the chase.

Boy, that was one fun pursuit episode - we were AoE-ing mobs right and left, Aenur was laying down Consecrates and DS-ing like crazy, flashes of flying ghouls passed before my eyes just to fall prey to our Mage's bolts of frost/fire/? and most of all, the Lich King in the background, slowly gaining ground. We made it pass the last barrier intact, got to see the short scripted event at the end, and Ding - I got the achievement, the emblems, and loot, and...

...What in the name of Darnassus - Crypt Fiend Slayer in my bag??

I took another look at the chat log - there. Apparently I won the Greed roll for the item (since there's no Hunter or enchanter in the group, everyone Greeded). I was stumped - I had planned to make Aelyra come and get the weapon this weekend ever since I learned about it... and Aenur got it on her FIRST run?? That bugger had an 18% drop rate according to Wowhead, for crying out loud. Why wouldn't Mourning Malice drop - that had a 24% drop rate! >_>

With that experience fresh on my mind, I logged off Aenur and switched over to Aelyra. Queued her up for PoS and hoped to be able to finish it so she can finally enter HoR and get that bow. With an awesome piece of luck, the group she was in decided to take on HoR after the PoS run for the extra emblem and loot. The HoR run went less smooth than Aenur's (we had one wipe due to a runaway Ghostly Mage who nuked the hell out of our healer) but eventually we got to the end of HoR intact.

And as far as loot goes - you know the saying, when you really want it, you won't get it? I can vouch for the truthfullness of that saying. No bow. I would definitely weep with frustration...

...if I hadn't, during the PoS run, won Scabrous Zombie Leather Belt from Ick.

Ah well, tomorrow is another day, eh?

A Little Bit of Nostalgia

You may remember I mentioned something about being nostalgic in my previous post, right?

...no? You mean, you don't realize I mentioned it? But... I did ment- Oh well...

/sigh

I was out adventuring with Aenur when it happened, and it all began with the simplest action... and that action turns out to be a reminder and ultimately a revival of my past adventure. The action? Mining a Small Thorium node in Un'Goro Crater. The consequence?

Read on for that bit of nostalgia.

My very first toon in WoW is a Human Paladin over in Nagrand EU. He's the toon I committed a lot of noobish mistakes on - failing to buff during fights, using the wrong equipment on, pursuing an unprofessional interest at the expense of other, more valuable objectives... you know, that kinda stuff.

At about that time, my former guild was recruiting - they were a social, friendly guild looking for a few good people to play with. I applied, and was accepted. Thus began my short (but life-shaping) journey with Chronicle. Tyoril, the Druid tank GM, is a respectable goofball - he'd organize instance run and rope a few guildies in, and then proceeded to have fun with all of them during the run. I still remember one of the few runs I had - this was Uldaman, and we were about to face Archadeus (I think that's his name, the last boss of that place). We finished discussing about strategy, and was about to pull when he somehow botched the initial assault... as a result, the entire group ran helter-skelter as Archadeus aggros each and every one of us and poor Tyoril was running after him trying to establish aggro. It wasn't a wipe however, and we managed to complete the run alive.

Chronicle didn't last long. It wasn't dissention or progression that broke it, it was RL. Tyoril was leaving for a long time in order to pursue his education, and was unwilling to make us wait for him, so he told us about his decision and let everyone leave. Despite that, I was reluctant to leave this guild that I've grown to love - and eventually, on his last day online Tyoril had to kick me out (he sends a mail just before doing it, informing me of what he's about to do).

At that time, my Paladin was about to step through the Dark Portal at level 59. Although I've several other alts, none of them was remotely near him in any aspect. So since Chronicle was 'disbanded', I took the step through the Portal alone. The experience I had on Outland at that time was different - being without companionship (no gchat, no friendly banter, etc) made it like I was actually alone in this world. After only 2 levels in Outland, I broke down and left.

(This was the time I found out about my current guild, Ten Ton Hammer on Hydraxis US. I've been on TTH official forum for almost 3 months then, and have received an unofficial invitation from Ztormy - who will be later known fondly as Guild Mom - to come over to the guild. After much deliberation, I made the switch... and until today I am glad I did.)

Fast forward a few years...

I have been on and off the Paladin, usually after a patch, to update his talent points (out of sentimentality reason) and checking out for old friends. Over the years he managed to gain another 3 levels, but his equipment, skills and professions are untouched. One of the most heart-breaking aspect of him (to me) is his low Blacksmithing skills, which is 288/375. The main reason I couldn't level that up is the insane price on Thorium during his leveling days and how overfarmed the metal is - you cannot spot a Thorium node without it being ninjaed one way or another.

Last Saturday, on Hydraxis, Aenur was wading through swamp and mud to get herself poisoned by Venomhide Ravasaurs when I notice a couple of yellow dots on my minimap. Turns out those were Thorium nodes - ignored, no less - and she mined them. My curiosity was aroused, and I made Aenur do one full circuit of Un'Goro. By the time she's done, I had 4 stacks of Thorium ore, a couple of Arcane Crystals and a lot of Dense Stone. Realization dawned.

I hopped back to Nagrand once all my mains had done their dailies - my Paladin was still there, parked at Telaar. I quickly took him back all the way to Un'Goro. Sure enough, the place is deserted except for one level 48 Night Elf Hunter. My Paladin went on a mining craze - in about one hour, he has 210 Thorium ores and bagfuls of other items. By carefully making some Imperial Plate items, he has managed to hit 305/375 that day. Elated, I took him on a leveling trip - by the time I had to leave, he's 80% to 66.

I wonder though, if I could take him to 80 - and then it would be a grand achievement on it's own... a tale of one adventure, lost and was found again, and made anew...

"This is my first Alliance toon to make it to 80, and he is also my very first toon."

Jousting - Oh, How I Hate You So

As expected, Aelyra dinged Exalted with Silvermoon City last night after handing in her dailies. So now it's time to take the jousting test again. I wasn't apprehensive at that point - I had done the Grand Melee quest over and over before, and I know how the Argent Champion NPC fights. And even though the comp's saying 1k latency and 11 fps, I wasn't daunted - I've done jousts under worst conditions, so I figured, "Meh, let's get this over with."

Equipped the lance, mounted the Hawkstrider, and away to Squire Danny I go.

And got my butt handed to me in all three matches (the first attempt, plus two subsequent attempts).

At first I was amazed - how could this be? Since when did the Argent Champion became godlike at jousting? Or had my own skills atrophied? But on the fourth attempt, when I closely observe the fight, it became crystal clear. He was CHEATING!! There was no other way to explain it - He was charging and throwing Shield-Breakers at point-blank range, while my Shield-Breakers were screeching 'Target was too close'. His skill cooldowns were non-existant, he can basically use Charge, Shield-Breaker and Shield within half a second from one another. He had me down to half-health and no shields while he's barely scratched! I was incensed - time to call in the cavalry! A guildie, Roywen, answered my distress call and came in all ready to Shadowbolt and take names - but when the fight started, the Argent Champion automatically ended the match. Wha...?

Turns out Blizzard had re-tooled the fight so that any outside interference would disqualify the attempt.

I would hereby state my official stand on the matter - This quest should be rated poorly. Whoever implemented this is doing so without taking into account the lag on the player's side, the difference between NPC skill CDs and the player's, as well as being buggy enough (NPC ran all the way out of the ring during the fight and claim auto-victory) that you cannot find the 'fun' in it. Heck, you can't even use any of the innate strength of your class to win - you are fully limited to 3 basic skills on your mount.

As of now, Aelyra is stuck on The Valiant's Challenge... at least until I find out that the latency has dropped and the connection is stable enough for me to at least stand on equal lag ground with the blasted cheating Champion. Until then, I would have no choice but to lose every against him and hear his mocking voice saying:

"You are not good enough to become Champion. Come back after you have more training."

Hah - easy for you to say, cheater.

EDIT: Finally nailed the encounter with an unorthodox but highly effective tactic - which took almost 5 minutes for a single joust >.< I would not mention the tactic here, because it gives me more dishonor points than being AFK during a BG.

Lich? Which Lic---aaAARGG!!

A couple of days ago, Aenur finally hit Exalted with Thunder Bluff, and thus completing the last Exalted Champion achievement. And because of that, now she has no faction to grind rep with for the time being.

I was considering getting her to The Storm Peaks to try and make friends with the Storm Giants, but at the same time I hate to leave my Champion Seal count at 30-ish (I wanted to get the Hippogryph, after all). So I took another look at the Northrend map - and finally it hit me. The Oracles. Aenur had stopped grinding rep with the fish-people since level 78 due to her inability to solo the elite Lich Artruis the Heartless. Well, that was post Dual-Spec, and since Aenur's secondary spec is Protection, and she's level 80 now, I decided to pay a little visit. And maybe bring a houseload of divine vengeance on the guy. I thought about getting a guildie to tag along, but it was a tad too early and the only people available was Beefythighs (level 32 Feral Druid) and Deadnlovinit (level 67 Combat Rogue).

When I got to the cave, latency was at about 800+ ms... a bit on the high side, but still not enough to cause me worry. Aenur swaggered into the cave full of confidence, easily disposing the few undead skellies between the entrance and Artruis. Finally - the moment of truth. Aenur swapped her trusty Titansteel Destroyer for Reaper of Dark Souls and Titansteel Shield Wall, switched her spec over to Protection, and put on her Frost Resistance Aura. Now - to pull with Shield of the Righteous...

And all hell broke loose.

My latency choose the moment just before the pull to spike to 1.9k ms, and as a result Aenur got a faceful of Frostbolts before she can even register she's under attack O_O

I quickly try to get Aenur's acts together - Judgement of the Wise, Exorcism, Consecrate, and began to systematically solo-tank the darn Lich. But the lag continued to get worse - I found that Aenur was swinging at an empty spot while Artruis had already frozen her in place and moved away to Frostbolt her, her health drops at an alarming rate, I was panicking, her rotation went south, and all the while the actions on the screen was coming in sporadic bursts. I had Aenur blew a Lay on Hand to compensate and to try to regain the advantage, but Artruis was having none of it. A couple of Freezes and some Frostbolts later, Aenur's down to quarter health.

Curses, I thought, I should've brought a Priest. But still, Aenur still haven't even touched half her skills. Maybe we can still drag a win outta this.

I had Aenur bubble, then threw on some heals. Latency choose this moment to plateau, and we quickly go on the offensive - Artruis was hit with everything that wasn't on cooldowns... Exorcism, Judgements, Hammer of Righteousness, Shields, Consecrate... mana's low, chug a mana pot, moar Judgements, Exorcism... and before we know it he's barely clinging to life and summoning his assistants. Aenur quickly mow down the crazy wolvar and switches back to the now freaking Lich, ignoring the fish-guy's word of thanks and assistance. A minute later, and Artruis is nothing but a black dot on the floor.

Aenur was a bit miffed, though. "If it wasn't for that lag spike, Lich, you wouldn't even be able to scream when we jumped you." She bit out as she bandages herself.

As for me, though, I'm glad I got that Lich out of the way. I definitely can use less lag-spiked-during-elite-encounter in my adventures.

Exalted with The Oracles (and Green Proto-Drake), here we come!