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Friday, May 17, 2013

Dear So and So...

Welcome to another edition of 'Dear So and So', an often sadistic, offhand, silly, facepalm moment, open letter to people/things I encounter in World of Warcraft.

Looking for Dungeon is sometimes a disaster.
Dear So and So,

it all started when my panda priest finally made her way to Northrend. I decided that the quickest way to level was to quest and also queue up for dungeons. Cripes, was I ever wrong!

There is nothing random if it's the same dungeon over and over!
Utguarde Keep. Utguarde Keep and nothing but Utguarde Keep over and over again. Why are we even going into the queue for a random dungeon if all we get is the same dungeon? The LFD(looking for dungeon) feature. It boggles my mind. My panda priest was literally at her wits end as well. Here we were at L61 and still getting Utguarde Keep as our random dungeon. I decided to try my luck one more time.

*Enter epic opera music here*
Our luck had changed. Instead of looking at the Utguarde Keep loading screen we were presented with this new shiny. Bring on the Nexus! Once inside the dungeon I picked up the quests and set about to sail through the instance with the rest of the group. I shouldn't have been so eager. If only I had known...

A pretty literal representation of what I went through in the dungeon.
The tank was a warrior in a DPS spec. He had no shield instead welded a two-handed sword. Most of us were in heirlooms so I figured that we could handle this small problem. Except that the first thing the warrior did was run through, hit the first mob, then continued all the way to the ice room(the one where all the figures are encased in ice) and aggro'd them all. Our healer must have been pulling out every CD to heal us all up right? No, not at all. Instead, the healer(whom was in agility gear) was using spinning crane kick non-stop. This was the only healing spell the healer used for the rest of the instance. The 'tank' kept on pulling huge groups of mobs up until the end as well.

Nexus shouldn't be hard nor this scary.
The three DPS somehow managed to keep ourselves alive through out it all. Up until we reached the part where the elementals, fawn ladies, and treants wander around. The tank kept up with his haphazard pulling and the healer continued 'spinning crane kicking' to heal. None of that helped the DPS who kept getting mobbed by the monsters. Our health dwindled so fast in that room we started to go down one by one. The tank and healer didn't stop to rez us and kept on going.

Her name was Keristrasza.
Why did I continue with this group? I have no idea. One part insanity from running all those Utguarde Keeps runs and second part...well, it was utter insanity. We finally reached the end of the instance. The tank aggro'd the boss and five seconds after the pull? Keristrasza turned around and ate the warlock. You know how in that room there is a stacking debuff applied if you don't constantly move? We had that bit under control. Except that the boss randomly ice blocks a player in place. This is where the healer should dispell the magic effect. Except that our healer was too busy spinning kicking around the room. Not long after the hunter went down because he couldn't get out of the ice block in time to move.Then the tank died. The monk began to hit on the dragon. Keristrasza was at 30% health. I wasn't seeing a good outcome to the fight so I basically dropped group at that point. Enough was enough. Was it too much to ask for a real tank and healer?

Dear So and So, the next time I complain about Utguarde Keep I think I'll keep my mouth shut. I'll take a mundane run of that instance over that catastrophic Nexus run any day of the week. And believe it or not, at L62 I was still getting that same Utguarde Keep instance.  /headdesks

Thanks for reading!
-All My Alts

Sunday, May 12, 2013

Snapshots: A trip through Azeroth

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Time passes on but we still play on! Outside the game life has become hectic between finals and work. I expect to be back to more normal playing schedule as soon as the spring semester is officially over. Freedom! Still, the few hours I could play I spent traveling around Azeroth:

Throne of Thunder raid:

Mystic Dragon Nalak
Guardian Mogu statue
Mogu collide with Troll style
Choose your path wisely.
I'm honestly not impressed with the Throne of Thunder raid. The overall feeling I get from participating in this raid is akin to watching wallpaper peel. The build-up leading to Lei-shen is simply not there. From trolls to beasts, to a hydra, beholder, and then to random entities, which finally lead up to the Thunder King has one scratching their head. How in the world did it all connect after the troll encounters? It simply makes no sense. Don't get me wrong. It's a decent raid(far better than Firelands/Dragon Soul in my opinion)with interesting mechanics but it lacks an epic feeling.

Isle of Thunder:

Cool clique
Goda hut
Action City
Blizzard finally admitted it. The core of current progression revolves around this island. "The core of the current gearing system revolves around the new Isle of Thunder. By obtaining Elder Charms, defeating bosses, and using bonus rolls, you’ll receive more chances to acquire upgrades, helping you gear up at a faster pace." - Blizzard Blue quote. There is so many ways to get Elder Charms from rares, killing mobs, treasure trove run but it becomes redundant after the fourth alt slogs through the same content. Dailies....always the dailies. Sighs.

Misc stuff:

I can't bring myself to battle this pet. :<
Gold and Jade. The Pandaren are rich bears.
Shado-pan Exalted at last!
The wierd, wacky, and whatever of Goldshire.
At long last I have a character that is exalted with the Shado-pan. The black dragon mount is delicious. I'm now currently working on the Auguste Celestials. The new 5.3 patch is supposedly on the horizon. This is the patch that Blizzard believes will resolve the past issues with having one too many alts. For the life of me I still do not understand why the lead designer, Greg Street, is against having alts. Still, one of the biggest changes I'm looking forward to is the XP required to level from 85 to 90 being reduced by 33%. Bring on the alts!

Thanks for catching up with --
All My Alts

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Illidan and Kael'thas in the City

Beautiful artwork by someone I wish I could credit proper.
If Illidan and Kael'thas walked into my city I would so glomp them in a heartbeat. Most likely it would be followed by my clearly irritated husband peeling me off them as I kicked and screamed, "No, minnne!" What a picture! What? A girl can dream....

What have I been up to inside the game?

Dailies and LFR. Tons of both and quite honestly I have to take a moment to stop what I'm doing. I feel as if I'm running a work routine instead of playing a game. Lately my game experience has been:

Log into Alt 1 - dailies, LFR, weekly Sha/Galleon group, Oondasta if up.
Log into Alt 2 - dailies, LFR, auction stuff
Log into Alt 3 - dailies, LFR, weekly Sha/Galleon group, Oondasta if up.
Log into Alt 4 - dailies, LFR, auction stuff
Log into Alt 5 -  LFR with husband, weekly Sha/Galleon group, Oondasta if up.
Log into Alt 6 - auction stuff, random dungeons to level up

At the end of the day I'm left with making sure all my profession CDs are taken care of and any time left over is spent on the Tiller farm. Only two of my alts are not yet in Throne of Thunder LFR but it's a ton of dailies/dungeon running to get as close to valor cap as possible. Funny thing is I don't even know why. Ever since the big guild drama I had with my Alliance toon I have given up on finding another raid team. There's no reason to be geared but I suppose I still do it out of an old habit.

She's a bot, oh noes!
A bit random but I was on Delicacy(my L90 bank alt)and had just finished helping out to down Galleon. We started talking about drops and gold  in general chat. To my surprise someone remarked(picture above) that they thought I was a bot not a player. I'm still not sure if that person was for real or trolling or not but I was laughing so hard all I could put in response was that emoticon face. xD

Goldshire is now pornshire.
One last thing for this random entry. I was thinking of leveling an Alliance alt to balance out my roster when I stumbled onto something ....odd... in Goldshire. With no thanks to CRZ the quiet leveling hub of Goldshire has been turned into Moonguard's zone of the strange, smutty, and sad. Due to this I decided to not level my Human hunter but instead document the many on-goings that occur there. I guess it'll be a good example of the bad things that can happen with CRZ that Blizzard most likely didn't even think about could happen. I will say this though - I'm not going into the above rooms or the basement. (Shudders) Too scary!


Thanks for visiting!
-All My Alts


Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Game On: Last Stand of the Zandalari LFR Guide

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That feeling when you first step into a raid encounter. Here, at All My Alts, I hope to curb a little of that first timer anxiety with a basic survival guide to the Last Stand of the Zandalari raid in LFR.

Let's get our game on!

~*~

Jin'rohk The Breaker

He's a Dire Troll.
"Long-time players may remember Jin'rokh as one of the Zandalari berserkers living on Yojamba Isle in Stranglethorn Vale, back when the Zandalari were our friends. He was a quest giver in the assault on the original 20-player Zul'Gurub. He was a huge brute to begin with, but he’s been imbued with even greater power by the Thunder King. He crackles with electricity, using both his raw strength and channeled lightning to destroy his enemies". - Wowpedia quote
 
The hallway leading into the room of the troll.

LFR Strategy -

DPS: Start DPSing(save your DPS CDs) on Jin'rokh after the tank pulls. Stay spaced out a bit from other players. Look for a pool of water. It forms after the tanks are thrown. Stand in the water for a huge buff to damage. If you're melee you also can get in the pool. Jin'rokh has a very large hit box. While you stand in the water then use your major DPS CDs. When Jin'rokh casts Lightning Storm run out before he finishes the cast. It permanently electrifies the water so don't go back to it. Stack during Lightning Storm for AOE heals then go back to staying spaced out. Repeat.

Healers: Major raid damage all around. You can heal at ranged or in the middle(but behind the tanks). Tanks take significant damage from the boss when thrown or if their stacks get too high. Major raid damage occurs when the boss does Lightning Storm. Look for a pool of water. It forms after the tanks are thrown. Stand in the water for a huge buff to healing(Yep, the pools are not just for DPS). When Jin'rokh casts Lightning Storm run out before he finishes the cast. It permanently electrifies the water so don't go back to it. Stack on tanks for Lightning Storm and throw out AOE heals or any damage reduction CDs you can.

Note for both DPS and Healers: Jin'rokh will cast Focused Lightning often. If it targets you, run, because you'll be chased by a lethal ball of lightning. Run away from the raid and out of the water, then let it catch up to you and hit you, leaving a Lightning Fissure. Avoid having the Focused Lightning ball hit any other Lightning Fissures that are already on the ground, as it will do substantial raid damage.

Tanks: Tank Jin'rokh where he stands(in the middle) at all times. Taunt the boss quickly whenever he casts Static Wound on the other tank to avoid lots of raid damage. The boss will throw you occasionally, stunning you and forcing a swap. Get back fast! There is almost always a Static Burst right after a throw. Move the boss close(Keep him in the middle though and turn his back to the players) to the water after every Thundering Throw so players can stand in the water and attack his back. Don't stand in the electrified water while tanking.

~*~

Horridon 

Ancient troll tribal magic at its best.
Trolls love dinosaurs, so it’s only fitting that the most advanced and powerful troll tribe should have the largest and most powerful dinosaurs. Horridon is one of the Zandalari's biggest. The horns of Horridon, the fabled mount of War-god Jalak himself, can tear through the stone walls of a keep as a blade cuts silk. Get ready for a chaotic but fun fight.

Everyone get on the floor; DPS the dinosaur!
 LFR Strategy -

DPS: Don't ever stand in front of or behind Horridon. Always DPS him on his sides. Let the tanks pull and then start DPSing. During the encounter trolls will spawn at each door with a fixed sequence. Starting at the door to your left, when you enter the room, the kill order is: Dinomancer > Other adds > Horridon. Always interrupt Dinomancer's heal. When a Dinomancer dies, it drops Orb of Control. If you see it, click it. It makes Horridon rush the gate and stops that wave of adds. Avoid all ground effects and interupt the adds as often as you can. Rinse, repeat, for each door. When all doors are broken, the War-god Jalak will spawn in the middle of the arena. At this point, he is priority. Focus him down then go back to DPSing Horridon.

Healers: Surprise! Your job is actually pretty straight forward in this fight. Do not stand in front or behind Horridon. Keep to his sides and within range of the tanks. Tank damage increases with each stack. Avoid ground effects as the adds pour out from the doors. Interupt and dispel magic effects as often as you can. When all the doors are broken, the War-god Jalak spawns in the middle of the arena. At this point, tank healing(Jalak hits like a truck on the tanks) is your sole duty as there is no other damage to the raid.

Tanks: One tank on the boss, the other stands by the doors to quickly pick up the adds. When Horridon charges a gate and closes it, then swap with the other tank. Keep this in mind - you are always switching positions.

Boss tank: Keep Horridon in the middle as much as you can, turned so that its side is facing the raid. Important: He does two abilities of note. Triple Puncture which puts a stacking debuff on you, and Double Swipe, a front and rear cone ability that you can (and should) sidestep away from.

Add tank: The adds come out over time and are spread out, try to pick up as many as possible, but it's hard. Don't worry if hunter or lock pets tank an add. Keep picking up other ones. Put a skull icon on the Dinomancer when it spawns and always interrupt its heal. Avoid the ground efffects as best as you can.

When all the doors are broken the War-god Jalak spawns in the middle of the arena. He needs to be picked up by the tank not holding Horridon and focused down. Cycle through and use your survival CDs as War-god Jalak hits like a truck.

~*~

Council of Elders

Pah, we gonna bury ya...
The history of the troll tribes -- the Drakkari, the Farraki, the Amani, and the Gurubashi -- is awash with millennia of betrayal and conflict, but the Zandalari's promise of a new, unstoppable empire has finally united these desparate troll leaders. Talk about a hectic fight. This one has lots of movement, target switching, zones to avoid, and occasional adds.

Gara’jal the Spiritbinder’s defeat in the Mogu’shan Vaults was merely a setback
 LFR Strategy -

Recently I've noticed LFR groups seem to be focusing down Sul to eliminate the mess on the floor and the sand adds. Let me say this, however, this is only a viable strategy if the DPS is high enough. Any DPS below 50K will result in a terrible and fast wipe. If  the overall DPS is high then this zerg method is good. It's still vital that the empowered boss be DPSed down before it reaches full power. Concentrating half the DPS on the empowered add and half the DPS on Sul seems to work out fairly well, but again, only if the damage numbers are all high.

DPS: Kill Order priority: Blessed (or Shadowed) Loa Spirit > Sand Elemental > Empowered Boss > Other bosses. Focus on the empowered boss (larger and shadowy purple) when there are no adds up. Only DPS a non-empowered boss when it is near death to help finish it off. If you are on either caster boss, try to interrupt whenever possible. Immediately AoE down the sand elementals when they spawn. Avoid standing in lightning, quicksand, or anything else in this fight. When you see a player get Frostbite, stack on the player as it helps to reduce the damage. If you get focused by the High Priestess for a Shadowed Loa Spirit, start kiting(don't let it touch you) the spirit around so that it can be killed.

Healers: There is a ton of heavy damage flying around in this encounter. The tanks will be taking large amounts if they get frozen or during an add phase. Dispel the magic effect (a 30 second root in quicksand) that people will be getting from time to time. Sandstorm, and Kazra'jin's Overload, are heavy AOE heal periods. Use your raid-wide damage reduction CDs during these! Avoid standing in ground effects.


Tanks: Only two of the four bosses are tankable - Frost King Malakk and High Priestess Mar'li. Each tank should pick up one of the tankable bosses. Keep aggro on the others. In addition to the bosses, when Sul the Sandcrawler becomes empowered he summons sand elementals. These need to be tanked and killed quickly. Put a skull mark on the boss that is empowered so DPS will focus on that target. Try to keep Malakk and Sul close to the empowered target so they can be cleaved.

Frost King Tank - The boss will stack a debuff on you called Frigid Assault. If it reaches 15 stacks the debuff will disappear and the player becomes frozen for 15 seconds. Talk to your other tank. Depending on how you want to play it, you can either swap before you freeze or simply allow yourself to become frozen and the healers can heal through a zero avoidance period.

Priestess Tank
- Try to tank her somewhat apart from the other bosses, as she summons Blessed Loa Spirits with roughly 1M health that run toward the weakest boss and heals them. Mark the spirits(not the skull as that's used for the empowered boss) so that the raid can kill them. Interrupt her Wrath of the Loa spell whenever possible to cut back on damage taken.
 

~*~

Conclusion: At last, the shiny loot! I hope this Last Stand of the Zandalari LFR Guide helps you to become familiar with the encounters. Good luck, have fun, and look forward to the second half of the LFR guide soon.

Thanks for reading!
"May the epics rain down upon your character".
-All My Alts


Monday, March 18, 2013

Snapshots: Shenanigans

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The month is flying fast. Not too long ago I was chomping at the bit to be able to properly level my alts in the game. Now it seems there is way too much to do all around! Quite honestly, it's not a complaint but a compliment. It took a bit of learning but I finally figured out how to not feel 'socially pressured' to do everything at once on a single character. My playtime is my own. I won't let anyone else dictate how I enjoy it. Speaking of enjoyment --

Oondasta:

Bones, bodies, and a T-Rex. Oh my!
My poor warlock's body is in there...can you find it?
The joke here is that we killed him but he rezzed at the Spirit Healer.
On Dino Island there is a chance for Oondasta to appear on your server. This Dino boss is an oncoming train of pain! What you're seeing above is three different raids of 40 people being flattened in seconds by this monstrosity. The story behind the pictures? We got him down to 19% and then the server crashed. When the server came back up the boss was no where to be found. I have no words to describe the rage I was feeling. The anger didn't last very long. Five minutes later I was laughing and shaking my fist at the screen. Oondasta, my revenge will be swift and fierce!

Solo Scenario:

I have Lothermar all to myself. Muahahah!
It's dangerous to fly alone.
Blue, Mean, and Ugly.
Savior of the new Blood Elf section. Time for more dailies.
Wyrmrest Accord is about to enter Phase 3 on the Thunder Isle. Before that, we had opened up the second phase via a scenario that has to be done solo! Really Blizzard? First you state that World of Warcraft is a multi-player game with a huge emphasis on grouping. The next thing we know your team of developers are throwing out solo scenarios and events like the Brawler guild? Stop being a flip-floppity pancake. If making that type of decision is too hard might I suggest dungeon scaling? The newer MMOs have it and it makes sense to scale the dungeons/scenarios based on how many people are in the party. Certainly it would make a great deal of players happy.

Thunder King LFR Raid:

More big, mean, and ugly trolls. Except this one is a boss.Literally.
The Death Bridge.Oh Blizzard how you secretly laugh at our demise.
This one is not a boss but he's huge!
Dinobot boss. This fight is so much fun.
Strangely enough it wasn't my healer that was doing normal raids (up until the newest patch) that is stepping into the Thunderking raid in LFR firsthand but rather my bank alt warlock. Delicacy is no longer affliction(it still remains her main spec) but is now running amuck as destruction.

Troll boss in a nutshell: The first boss is easy enough. As DPS you need to stand in the water pools for a damage boost. When the boss summons his lightning strike the player needs to immediately move away before it strikes. There's also a debuff to watch out for that chases you. If you get that, quickly run it along the wall and out of the raid. If the room feels up with water(and it's prone to do that in LFR) and is struck with lightning then stack up on the tanks/healers for AOE heals.

Bridge boss: Okay, it's technically not a boss. However it might as well be. That section is a killer. Make sure the tanks do not overpull. It's not Mogushan vaults anymore! Be wary of everything and do not be carried away or run through the pillars of moving blue. Also, don't stand in front of that huge troll mini-boss. He has a nasty cleave.

Dinobot boss: I know, I know. That's not his name but I think it fits. What a fun fight. As DPS you want to always make sure to avoid both his front and his back. He has a double damage dealing attack that hits both areas. Stay to his side at all times. The main tank should be taking the dino boss to each individual door. Adds pour out from the door. The off tank should be picking up the adds. Focus down the adds. If a Dinomender comes out you want to interupt any heals he casts. This makes him top add priority. Once the first door is down the main tank moves the boss to the next door and so on. It's mostly repeating in LFR - adds > boss, adds > boss. My advice is to interupt(Dinomenders and the Poison priests especially) as often as you can. 

I forgot to take a picture of the council fight as it turned out to be pretty hectic. I also  may end up making a LFR guide for those that need a nutshell summary of what happens inside. Look forward to it at a later time.

Thanks for reading!
-All My Alts


Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Snapshots: All for Fun

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(¸.·´ (¸.*After several weeks of being ill I have finally begun to feel a heck of lot better. I realized that I had a lot of catching up to do inside the game. First order of World of Warcraft business? Level those alts! It didn't take me too long but I am now working on my sixth level 90. Two alts (warlock, shaman) are fully geared and ready for the Throne of Thunder raid and two others(my rogue and monk) are in Malevolent gear chomping at the bit for the new arena season to begin. My newest, a holy paladin, is still mucking about in a mix of crafted epics and quest blues and greens. Admist the raids and battlegrounds I am trying hard to level up my little goblin hunter. I really hope I can cap her level soon because it would mean I finally achieved my biggest game goal of leveling every class there is in the game. Wish me luck but meanwhile have a look-see at what I've been up to lately.

It's all in the style
My first level capped Rogue. She is now a Tiller.
Wrathion: I'm on your side. Yup. My Rogue: Yeah right.
I fished up a krakkon. He gave me 10 fish. :|
Got stuck in the trees again. I hate STV trees. I really do.
Legendary Battle Pet fish. He's a tough one.
My husband's hunter...has a frisky side apparently.
I always feel bad killing this spirit. His head just bobs up and down in the water.
The Darkmoon Faire's newest ride. So pretty and eerie
The first time I saw Galleon I did a double-take. So cool!
The clam. Defeating it gives a pretty. Go ahead, poke it.
My husband still holds a grudge against the Watchers raid in Winterspring.
Can you spot the not so hidden boss and critter in the background?
Talios the monk of Buddhei(pronounced booteh). He's a bit of a comedian.
Terrace of Endless Spring raid is completed finally. Throne of Thunder here I come!

Thanks for reading!
-All My Alts