"What are all these bones on the floor?" I asked, feigning innocence. I had just teleported into a Heroic Stonecore well underway, and found myself standing before Therazane's wayward son Ozruk - who was still very much alive - with the remains of countless failures littering the floor around him.
The tank's answer came slowly. "Wipes." He sounded tired - as tired as you can sound in a one-word answer. And he looked tired. He went on to explain, "Morty, you've arrived for a particularly difficult fight. Ever been here before?" Despite my "yes," he went on to explain the fight in detail. We would all use auto-attack melee to avoid Paralysis, then scurry away to safety before his next attack 1-shots us all. By his telling, it was all very complicated and deadly dangerous. I couldn't remember doing ANY of that in my previous jaunts into Stonecore. I just remember the tank facing Ozruk away from us, then I'd cook him in fire until well done. But I wanted to be a team player, and tried to follow along with the tank's detailed description. It wasn't sinking in, though.
So when the fight started, I ignored everything, stood far back at a safe distance, and proceeded to dispense the burning stuff. I'd periodically be Paralyzed, but it would wear off and I'd get back to tending the fire. The rest of the group was doing a complicated dance... all swinging never-used sticks and wands at Ozruk's feet, then scurrying away to escape the impending Attack of Guaranteed Death. Invariably, the dance was too difficult, and people wouldn't get out in time. One by one I watched them fall, and prepared for my own death soon to come. Ozruk did not fail to deliver.
After my own bones had been added to the growing collection on the floor, we gave it another go, with identical results. And again. (For the full flavor of things, simply re-read the above paragraph over and over.)
I don't know how many times they'd wiped on Ozruk before I'd gotten there, but we'd wiped 3 times already with me in the group. But amazingly, people weren't abandoning the run. In fact, true to the new dungeon tool's unwritten rules, no one said anything at all. It was eerily quiet. While zoning back into Stonecore to pick up our corpses, the Tank would ask us, "Should we give up and re-queue for a different Heroic?" But there was never any answer. Not one word. The crew just kept zoning in, then running back to their place. There was a growing feeling of "we're going to keep doing this if it takes all night." But SOMETHING had to be done to stop the bleeding. I decided to speak up.
"Ummm... last time I was here, we didn't do any of that running back and forth. All ranged just stood back here the whole time. Not saying it's a better plan, but we lived through it." The tank wasn't sure about ignoring the mechanics of the fight, but after so many wipes, he was open to the idea. We launched into Ozruk one more time, and we'd get hit with the waves of Paralysis, but then all jump back into things after it wore off. The tank's health would dip unbelievably low while the Healer was Paralyzed, but each time he'd be healed just in time to keep going. We lost a DPS or two. It wasn't me, so I didn't sweat it. And after far too long of a fight, Ozruk finally fell. Tired, weak cheers went up from the group.
We made our way along to the final boss of Stonecore - a thankfully short trip. The army of trash at her feet burned to their deaths in a deeply satisfying Rain of Fire. (Blizzard - please add more opportunities for nuking large masses of creatures in a single Rain of Fire!) The tank once again explained the fight in great detail, which I simply wanted to summarize to the group as "Don't stand in bad." My experience so far is that this final boss (I never bothered to learn her name) is the easiest of all bosses in Stonecore. Simply ignore the adds, stay out of the purple circles and away from the rumbling ground, and the rest is a faceroll. But apparently I oversimplify - because midway through the fight, our tank died. And in a flash of pure madness, I concocted a wildly reckless plan. I Soulburned my last Soul Shard to instant-summon my Voidwalker to tank for us. "TANK, JUK'NAK, TANK!" I screamed as the words "ATTACKING YOU!!!" spread across the screen. And Juk'nak - reliable old Juk'nak - threw his blue arms up in the air as he drew on Suffering and Torment to pull a very angry Boss and an army of adds off of me. I desperately searched for my long-unused Health Funnel, so that I could channel my health into Juk'nak to keep him alive longer. And somewhere in the chaos, we lost our healer. One other DPS followed immediately. My own death seemed assured. There were only two us left, (another DPS and I - and Juk'nak) still alive. I burned everything possible. Healthstone. Healing Potion. Lifeblood. Infernal. Demon Soul. The whole world seemed to burn. And I knew Juk'nak would not last much longer, even with my Health Funnel on him. Then suddenly, the boss gave a final scream and the Completion banner popped front and center. We had DONE IT.
"I'M ALIVE!" I exclaimed. It seemed impossible. Juk'nak glided over to me. I was proud of him, and gave him a pat. It's not too often that a Voidwalker tanks in Heroic Stonecore.
Overall, it was (another) brutal run in Stonecore. I racked up 26 Gold in repairs from just doing Ozruk and the final boss. But this run had MEANT something. The group had stuck together through some serious failures, and only by fighting tooth and nail, blood and bone, did we make it through. There was no complaining. No whining. Just an unending will to fight against failure over and over. Looking at the recount meters, we shouldn't have been able to pull it off. I've been in better groups that folded and quit. This time, it was not about gear. It was not about DPS. It was not even about ability. It was about giving it all and not giving in. I'm proud of everyone in that crew that stuck it out. I'm still high-fiving us all this morning, as I sit in this cubicle, starting another ordinary week in an ordinary life.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Friday, March 25, 2011
More Useful Information
I'm truly getting worried. Two posts in a row with real, usable information puts me in serious danger of wrecking what this blog is all about. But I just can't stop myself. Cataclysm demands that I get more organized - especially in terms of how my UI is laid out, and passing my ideas along seems like a very bloggish thing to do.
Last night I finished rearranging the buttons on my UI, which should make things MUCH more efficient. I just feel sorry for the randomly-selected people who will have to group with me for the next two or three heroics, as I will undoubtedly wipe us repeatedly and try to explain, "Sorry, my fault. I REORGANIZED everything to be much more logical and easy-to-find and now I can't find anything!"
Overall I think I've found a nice solution, and the concept should work no matter what class you play. Or I assume so, as I've never played anything but a Warlock, and know NOTHING about what all you other types do.
Anyway, here it is in a nutshell.
First, there's my CORE spell rotation, set up per normal procedure in order across the number keys. Specifically:
1. Macro: Soulburn Soul Fire
2. Immolate (always a party favorite)
3. Conflagrate (fun for the kids)
4. Chaos Bolt (because we all love green)
5. Incinerate (moar fire!)
The rest of my numbered keys are for spells I frequently need, but since they aren't rotation spells, we'll skip those for now.
And next is where the organization comes in. Not included in the above rotation are other important bits which I've split into two main groups:
1. Long-term DoTs and Curses (Banes, Curses, and Corruption)
2. Short-term Buffs, Shields, and Healing (Demon Soul, Lifeblood Herbalism buff, Infernal, Doomguard, Healing Potions, Healthstone aka Lock Cookie, etc.)
I created two separate bars to organize these spells/items on. (I use Bartender 4 because it ROCKS.) These two bars I positioned vertically (it helps distinguish them from the rest of the buttons on screen), and moved them down near the main cast bar where my main rotation is. Spells and items from these two bars can easily be cast by mouse-clicking. Here is a screenshot:
Basically, by organizing my DoTs and Curses on one bar, and my Buffs and such on the next, I can easily locate and cast them as needed. For boss fights that last a long time, it is very easy to cast all of the applicable DoTs, then launch into my rotation. As the fight wears on, I can start popping the buffs to get increased DPS, drop an Infernal or Doomguard into the fight, and if needed, consume my Healthstone and Healing Potion. When I had my buttons NOT grouped in this manner, I would often forget to use them - or at least forget SOME of them. I've often forgotten to use Lifeblood (the Herbalism ability) - but not anymore. I'm growing flowers on every boss fight these days!
A second added benfit to organizing this way, is that it gets this stuff out of my way and lets me focus on my spell rotation. I generally do not bother using long-term DoTs and Curses for trash fights. Probably someone over at Elitist Jerks could show why this is bad advice, but for a fight that is going to last only a matter of seconds, I don't see the point in wasting time applying DoTs that are never going to last their duration. I guess some arguement can be made for casting perhaps 1 of them - either Curse of Elements or Corruption perhaps. But on quick trash fights I usually launch right into my rotation of destruction, leading off with a very satisfying Soulburned Soul Fire.
And all of my buffs and healing are in one place together, making them easy to ensure they're getting used. If I end up with any trinkets with a USE option, I'll add them to the bar as well. So really it comes down to separating out the DoTs that get cast infrequently, and the buffs that get used infrequently, from the core spells that are always in use.
And to wrap things up, just as an FYI, here is the rest of my cast bar:
6. Fel Fire - this instant cast is useful when moving, or when the target's health is too low for anything else. And it's GREEN FIRE!
7. Shadowburn
8. Lifetap
9. Soul Harvest
0. Rain of Fire (A zero looks like an AoE circle - Boy, I'm smart!)
-. Soulshatter (the spell that kills mages - and the minus represents losing threat.)
=. Soul Fire (Empowered Imp procs this as an instant cast. Also needed for those occasions where something goes wrong with a Soulburn, and it's still active after casting - use this to keep from wasting it.)
I'll try to get a screenshot this weekend to show this UI layout, but most other people's screenshots look like Greek to me, so not sure how helpful it would be.
Bottom line - any class should be able to divide things up into their main rotation, items/spells to use early in a fight, and items/spells to use later in a fight. Works for me, anyway.
Mortigan of the Dewey Decimal
PS - Apropos of Dewey Decimal, wouldn't "Dewey Decimation System" be a rocking good guild name?!
Last night I finished rearranging the buttons on my UI, which should make things MUCH more efficient. I just feel sorry for the randomly-selected people who will have to group with me for the next two or three heroics, as I will undoubtedly wipe us repeatedly and try to explain, "Sorry, my fault. I REORGANIZED everything to be much more logical and easy-to-find and now I can't find anything!"
Overall I think I've found a nice solution, and the concept should work no matter what class you play. Or I assume so, as I've never played anything but a Warlock, and know NOTHING about what all you other types do.
Anyway, here it is in a nutshell.
First, there's my CORE spell rotation, set up per normal procedure in order across the number keys. Specifically:
1. Macro: Soulburn Soul Fire
2. Immolate (always a party favorite)
3. Conflagrate (fun for the kids)
4. Chaos Bolt (because we all love green)
5. Incinerate (moar fire!)
The rest of my numbered keys are for spells I frequently need, but since they aren't rotation spells, we'll skip those for now.
And next is where the organization comes in. Not included in the above rotation are other important bits which I've split into two main groups:
1. Long-term DoTs and Curses (Banes, Curses, and Corruption)
2. Short-term Buffs, Shields, and Healing (Demon Soul, Lifeblood Herbalism buff, Infernal, Doomguard, Healing Potions, Healthstone aka Lock Cookie, etc.)
I created two separate bars to organize these spells/items on. (I use Bartender 4 because it ROCKS.) These two bars I positioned vertically (it helps distinguish them from the rest of the buttons on screen), and moved them down near the main cast bar where my main rotation is. Spells and items from these two bars can easily be cast by mouse-clicking. Here is a screenshot:
Basically, by organizing my DoTs and Curses on one bar, and my Buffs and such on the next, I can easily locate and cast them as needed. For boss fights that last a long time, it is very easy to cast all of the applicable DoTs, then launch into my rotation. As the fight wears on, I can start popping the buffs to get increased DPS, drop an Infernal or Doomguard into the fight, and if needed, consume my Healthstone and Healing Potion. When I had my buttons NOT grouped in this manner, I would often forget to use them - or at least forget SOME of them. I've often forgotten to use Lifeblood (the Herbalism ability) - but not anymore. I'm growing flowers on every boss fight these days!
A second added benfit to organizing this way, is that it gets this stuff out of my way and lets me focus on my spell rotation. I generally do not bother using long-term DoTs and Curses for trash fights. Probably someone over at Elitist Jerks could show why this is bad advice, but for a fight that is going to last only a matter of seconds, I don't see the point in wasting time applying DoTs that are never going to last their duration. I guess some arguement can be made for casting perhaps 1 of them - either Curse of Elements or Corruption perhaps. But on quick trash fights I usually launch right into my rotation of destruction, leading off with a very satisfying Soulburned Soul Fire.
And all of my buffs and healing are in one place together, making them easy to ensure they're getting used. If I end up with any trinkets with a USE option, I'll add them to the bar as well. So really it comes down to separating out the DoTs that get cast infrequently, and the buffs that get used infrequently, from the core spells that are always in use.
And to wrap things up, just as an FYI, here is the rest of my cast bar:
6. Fel Fire - this instant cast is useful when moving, or when the target's health is too low for anything else. And it's GREEN FIRE!
7. Shadowburn
8. Lifetap
9. Soul Harvest
0. Rain of Fire (A zero looks like an AoE circle - Boy, I'm smart!)
-. Soulshatter (the spell that kills mages - and the minus represents losing threat.)
=. Soul Fire (Empowered Imp procs this as an instant cast. Also needed for those occasions where something goes wrong with a Soulburn, and it's still active after casting - use this to keep from wasting it.)
I'll try to get a screenshot this weekend to show this UI layout, but most other people's screenshots look like Greek to me, so not sure how helpful it would be.
Bottom line - any class should be able to divide things up into their main rotation, items/spells to use early in a fight, and items/spells to use later in a fight. Works for me, anyway.
Mortigan of the Dewey Decimal
PS - Apropos of Dewey Decimal, wouldn't "Dewey Decimation System" be a rocking good guild name?!
Monday, March 21, 2011
Something Useful For A Change
I make special effort to ensure that all advice I provide on this blog is as packed with misinformation, vagaries, and shoddy research as humanly (and worgenly) possible. And so it may come as a shocking surprise that I'm about to provide a few useful tidbits that other Warlocks might actually want to USE.
As I run Cata Heroics, I'm finding that Crowd Control spells (Fear and Banish specifically) are in actual frequent need. I don't think I EVER cast Fear or Banish in any Wrath Heroic - or even Wrath Raid, so I've had to knock the dust off these spells and figure out a better, easier way to cast them. They needed to be keymapped someplace very convenient. And let's face it - there are more necessary spells and actions than there are keyboard keys available (at least within a convenient, easy-to-reach location). For me, if I can't easily reach a key from my spell rotation position on the keyboard, it's not worth keymapping. So I've tried to be very creative (and selective) with those keys in easy reach.
I created 2 very basic CC macros that functioned very well for me over the weekend: one for Fear, the other for Banish.
Previously, I'd simply mouse-click a target that I wanted to Fear or Banish, cast my spell, then either mouse-click or Tab to the primary target (SKULL). The problem I had was that very often, Karuri my Imp would get himself all worked up and just keep blasting the original Feared or Banished target with fireballs. For Feared targets, it was bad news because his fireballs would break the Fear spell and I'd have to recast on the fly, only to have him wreck it for me again. With banished targets the effect wasn't so bad, but all of his fireballs would be wasted - basically cutting my DPS by 2000 or so. Either way, I had to get my Imp to switch to the main target - and quickly.
I'm not a Macro guy. I'm a Google-For-A-Macro guy. I'm a Steal-A-Macro guy. I've been caught copy/pasting from Cynwise's Battlefield Manual more than once. Somebody reading this is guaranteed to come up with a better way to do this - and if they post it in the comments here, I'll be sure to steal THAT, too. But for now, my 2 macros have worked well. Let's have a look.
The Fear Macro
/cast Fear
/target focus
/petattack
Simple. With no Focus target designated, it will cast Fear and do nothing else, basically. But when you've already established your Focus target, it does a couple really nice things:
1. It tells your pet to attack the Focus target (SKULL) instead of the target your're Fearing.
2. It switches you automatically to the Focus, eliminating the awkward mouse-clicking or tabbing to get to the main target (SKULL). Life gets a lot easier.
'F' Is For Fear
I keymapped the Fear Macro to the 'F' Key - because it's easy to reach, and 'F' is for Fear.
The Banish Macro
/cast Banish
/target focus
/petattack
See what I did there? Ooooh I changed the spell to Banish! The only difference with casting this spell, is if you try to cast it on a non-banishable target, you get a message telling you that it's invalid. Otherwise, just like the Fear macro, with no Focus target designated, it will cast Banish and do nothing else. When you've already established your Focus target, it performs just like the Fear - getting your Imp (and yourself) shifted over to the right target.
'R' Is For Banish
I keymapped the Banish Macro to the 'R' Key - because it's also easy to reach, and 'R' is for... ummm.... Banish.
Using the Macros
To use these well, you're going to have to establish an easy way to designate Focus targets. I forget how Focus was originally mapped, and I'm too horrified of what might happen if I ever Reset to Default to find out. But since I'm really only setting a Focus target before a fight - generally when the tank is marking one with SKULL, I figured it would be easy enough to just create a one-line macro so that I could button it on screen. So I made a macro called "Focus" with nothing but "/focus". I buttoned it on my UI in an easy-to-locate spot.
When it comes time to fight, I simply choose the main target (SKULL), click my Focus macro to set it, then switch to the target I'm going to Fear or Banish when the fight starts. Presto - I'm ready to go.
One More Thing
I think it's really important to have Death Macros. They're indispensable. I have 5 of them set up. Seriously. The first - and most important - is to be used during a wipe, at the moment you see "ATTACKING YOU!!!" in thousand point font. What this macro does, is it casts Incinerate, and then emotes your dying battle cry. Let me illustrate:
A Raid Boss so large that all I can see are his toes has just stomped the rest of my party into the great black and white, and now he's turning on me - and I treat all of my dead comrades to the following:
It's important to go out in style. If you too want to die with style, just set up a button macro on your UI with the following:
/cast Incinerate
/emote casts one last Incinerate and cries, 'This one's for all the pretty unicorns!'
My other Death Macros are reserved for non-wipes, and should be used frequently when another member dies, but you survive. They are also emotes, with wonderful, heart-warming messages like:
Enjoy!
Mortigan the Helpful
PS - If you're going to cast Fear, you'd better friggin set up the Fear Glyph, or you're going to have your target running all over the map, pulling who-knows-what. ONLY use Fear if you've got the Glyph to keep him standing dang still.
As I run Cata Heroics, I'm finding that Crowd Control spells (Fear and Banish specifically) are in actual frequent need. I don't think I EVER cast Fear or Banish in any Wrath Heroic - or even Wrath Raid, so I've had to knock the dust off these spells and figure out a better, easier way to cast them. They needed to be keymapped someplace very convenient. And let's face it - there are more necessary spells and actions than there are keyboard keys available (at least within a convenient, easy-to-reach location). For me, if I can't easily reach a key from my spell rotation position on the keyboard, it's not worth keymapping. So I've tried to be very creative (and selective) with those keys in easy reach.
I created 2 very basic CC macros that functioned very well for me over the weekend: one for Fear, the other for Banish.
Previously, I'd simply mouse-click a target that I wanted to Fear or Banish, cast my spell, then either mouse-click or Tab to the primary target (SKULL). The problem I had was that very often, Karuri my Imp would get himself all worked up and just keep blasting the original Feared or Banished target with fireballs. For Feared targets, it was bad news because his fireballs would break the Fear spell and I'd have to recast on the fly, only to have him wreck it for me again. With banished targets the effect wasn't so bad, but all of his fireballs would be wasted - basically cutting my DPS by 2000 or so. Either way, I had to get my Imp to switch to the main target - and quickly.
I'm not a Macro guy. I'm a Google-For-A-Macro guy. I'm a Steal-A-Macro guy. I've been caught copy/pasting from Cynwise's Battlefield Manual more than once. Somebody reading this is guaranteed to come up with a better way to do this - and if they post it in the comments here, I'll be sure to steal THAT, too. But for now, my 2 macros have worked well. Let's have a look.
The Fear Macro
/cast Fear
/target focus
/petattack
Simple. With no Focus target designated, it will cast Fear and do nothing else, basically. But when you've already established your Focus target, it does a couple really nice things:
1. It tells your pet to attack the Focus target (SKULL) instead of the target your're Fearing.
2. It switches you automatically to the Focus, eliminating the awkward mouse-clicking or tabbing to get to the main target (SKULL). Life gets a lot easier.
'F' Is For Fear
I keymapped the Fear Macro to the 'F' Key - because it's easy to reach, and 'F' is for Fear.
The Banish Macro
/cast Banish
/target focus
/petattack
See what I did there? Ooooh I changed the spell to Banish! The only difference with casting this spell, is if you try to cast it on a non-banishable target, you get a message telling you that it's invalid. Otherwise, just like the Fear macro, with no Focus target designated, it will cast Banish and do nothing else. When you've already established your Focus target, it performs just like the Fear - getting your Imp (and yourself) shifted over to the right target.
'R' Is For Banish
I keymapped the Banish Macro to the 'R' Key - because it's also easy to reach, and 'R' is for... ummm.... Banish.
Using the Macros
To use these well, you're going to have to establish an easy way to designate Focus targets. I forget how Focus was originally mapped, and I'm too horrified of what might happen if I ever Reset to Default to find out. But since I'm really only setting a Focus target before a fight - generally when the tank is marking one with SKULL, I figured it would be easy enough to just create a one-line macro so that I could button it on screen. So I made a macro called "Focus" with nothing but "/focus". I buttoned it on my UI in an easy-to-locate spot.
When it comes time to fight, I simply choose the main target (SKULL), click my Focus macro to set it, then switch to the target I'm going to Fear or Banish when the fight starts. Presto - I'm ready to go.
One More Thing
I think it's really important to have Death Macros. They're indispensable. I have 5 of them set up. Seriously. The first - and most important - is to be used during a wipe, at the moment you see "ATTACKING YOU!!!" in thousand point font. What this macro does, is it casts Incinerate, and then emotes your dying battle cry. Let me illustrate:
A Raid Boss so large that all I can see are his toes has just stomped the rest of my party into the great black and white, and now he's turning on me - and I treat all of my dead comrades to the following:
"Mortigan casts one last Incinerate and cries, 'This one's for all the pretty unicorns!'"
It's important to go out in style. If you too want to die with style, just set up a button macro on your UI with the following:
/cast Incinerate
/emote casts one last Incinerate and cries, 'This one's for all the pretty unicorns!'
My other Death Macros are reserved for non-wipes, and should be used frequently when another member dies, but you survive. They are also emotes, with wonderful, heart-warming messages like:
"Mortigan starts to dig a grave for <dead guy>."
"Mortigan rummages through <dead guy's> pockets. There MUST be something here worth selling!"
"Mortigan starts to take <dead guy>'s cloak. Oh wait, never mind, he's getting rezzed."
FYI - I use %t in place of <dead guy> so that it populates with the name of the target. <Dead guy> is just there for illustration purposes. I just be sure to click on the corpse before running the macro.Enjoy!
Mortigan the Helpful
PS - If you're going to cast Fear, you'd better friggin set up the Fear Glyph, or you're going to have your target running all over the map, pulling who-knows-what. ONLY use Fear if you've got the Glyph to keep him standing dang still.
Mortigan Cashes In
Teething has transformed my level 1 Female Warrior into the nastiest Raid Boss I've ever encountered. She constantly spams Tantrum and Fit, and if they are not interrupted, she will become Enraged in an amazingly short amount of time. Worse, if she remains Enraged long enough, her Broodmother will also become Enraged, ensuring not only a brutal wipe, but a crazy-expensive repair bill to boot.
And so it is under these treacherous conditions that Mortigan runs Heroics. But on some rare nights, luck smiles on Mortigan, the stars align, and all the right pieces fall into place. And Saturday night was the perfect scenario for a much-needed win:
Ingredients for Win Soup
1. Landed a DPS slot on a Halls of Origination Heroic group that had only 2 bosses left to clear.
2. Earthen Ring rep was finally only a few hundred points from Exalted.
3. Was only 50 points away from having 2200 Justice Points again - the needed amount for shopping the better JP gear.
4. The Cool Down on Transmit Truegold was up and ready.
The Level 1 Raid Boss was sleeping. Joining the Halls of Origination Heroic and finding we're almost done was an awesome surprise and the first inkling that things were going to go really well. Back when I first began grouping with the new-to-me Dungeon Tool, I really hated getting dropped into runs well under way. I felt that there should be an option on the tool to opt for full runs only (and I still think it's something they should add) - but that was when I wanted to learn the instance and check out the various drops and such. Now days, I just need the points - so jumping in right at the end of an instance is like skipping the first 24 miles of a marathon and just running the final .6 for the win. I get to strut across the finish line with all my fur still nicely combed.
On the first fight (not sure which boss it was - they all kinda look the same to me and I never bother to learn their names), something gloriously unexpected occurred. Instead of the useless-to-me Agility Gear that ALWAYS seems to drop in Halls of Origination, a smoking-cool ring drops, complete with all the stats that makes Morty feel warm and fuzzy. I politely asked if I could NEED it - but honestly, between you and me, I would've NEEDED even if they'd said no - because I rarely find anything usable in the Heroics I've run. But they were fine with me getting it, and so the Ring of Sweet Awesomeness was MINE - replacing a green Quest Ring that I just couldn't seem to get off my finger for the longest time.
The second fight went flawlessly (he was the final boss - once again not sure who he was - just follow my "Single Set of Rules on How to Raid ANYTHING" and you'll never need to know this stuff), and immediately upon his death I was rewarded with green flash of becoming Exalted with Earthen Ring, and well as a surprise Achievement banner for becoming Exalted with 10 Factions. Hooray for me!
With my new Exalted Earthen Ring status, a trip to the painfully-hard-to-reach Earthen Ring Quartermaster in Vashj'ir rewarded me with Flamebloom Gloves - which very nicely match my Dreamless Belt, I might add.
But I'd also crossed the 2200 mark for getting any JP gear I still needed/wanted, and so with my new Earthen Ring gloves in hand (pun intended), I hearthed back to Stormwind for more shopping. There isn't much left in the way of Justice Points gear that I still need, but was nicely surprised to see that the Pensive Legwraps were a smoking good upgrade. They made Morty's butt look nice, too. "I'll take 'em!"
And while in Stormwind, I remembered my Truegold Transmute, and dropped it into the Auction House for the low, low price of 690 Gold. It sold within seconds.
So in the span of 15 minutes, I'd picked up a new ring, gloves, pants, and 690 Gold plus whatever I received during and for the Heroic. Pretty dang sweet if I do say so myself. And my Level 1 Raid Boss slept happily all the while.
Mortigan the Quiet
And so it is under these treacherous conditions that Mortigan runs Heroics. But on some rare nights, luck smiles on Mortigan, the stars align, and all the right pieces fall into place. And Saturday night was the perfect scenario for a much-needed win:
Ingredients for Win Soup
1. Landed a DPS slot on a Halls of Origination Heroic group that had only 2 bosses left to clear.
2. Earthen Ring rep was finally only a few hundred points from Exalted.
3. Was only 50 points away from having 2200 Justice Points again - the needed amount for shopping the better JP gear.
4. The Cool Down on Transmit Truegold was up and ready.
The Level 1 Raid Boss was sleeping. Joining the Halls of Origination Heroic and finding we're almost done was an awesome surprise and the first inkling that things were going to go really well. Back when I first began grouping with the new-to-me Dungeon Tool, I really hated getting dropped into runs well under way. I felt that there should be an option on the tool to opt for full runs only (and I still think it's something they should add) - but that was when I wanted to learn the instance and check out the various drops and such. Now days, I just need the points - so jumping in right at the end of an instance is like skipping the first 24 miles of a marathon and just running the final .6 for the win. I get to strut across the finish line with all my fur still nicely combed.
On the first fight (not sure which boss it was - they all kinda look the same to me and I never bother to learn their names), something gloriously unexpected occurred. Instead of the useless-to-me Agility Gear that ALWAYS seems to drop in Halls of Origination, a smoking-cool ring drops, complete with all the stats that makes Morty feel warm and fuzzy. I politely asked if I could NEED it - but honestly, between you and me, I would've NEEDED even if they'd said no - because I rarely find anything usable in the Heroics I've run. But they were fine with me getting it, and so the Ring of Sweet Awesomeness was MINE - replacing a green Quest Ring that I just couldn't seem to get off my finger for the longest time.
The second fight went flawlessly (he was the final boss - once again not sure who he was - just follow my "Single Set of Rules on How to Raid ANYTHING" and you'll never need to know this stuff), and immediately upon his death I was rewarded with green flash of becoming Exalted with Earthen Ring, and well as a surprise Achievement banner for becoming Exalted with 10 Factions. Hooray for me!
With my new Exalted Earthen Ring status, a trip to the painfully-hard-to-reach Earthen Ring Quartermaster in Vashj'ir rewarded me with Flamebloom Gloves - which very nicely match my Dreamless Belt, I might add.
But I'd also crossed the 2200 mark for getting any JP gear I still needed/wanted, and so with my new Earthen Ring gloves in hand (pun intended), I hearthed back to Stormwind for more shopping. There isn't much left in the way of Justice Points gear that I still need, but was nicely surprised to see that the Pensive Legwraps were a smoking good upgrade. They made Morty's butt look nice, too. "I'll take 'em!"
And while in Stormwind, I remembered my Truegold Transmute, and dropped it into the Auction House for the low, low price of 690 Gold. It sold within seconds.
So in the span of 15 minutes, I'd picked up a new ring, gloves, pants, and 690 Gold plus whatever I received during and for the Heroic. Pretty dang sweet if I do say so myself. And my Level 1 Raid Boss slept happily all the while.
Mortigan the Quiet
Monday, March 14, 2011
Playing a Different Game
There are no more Basilisks remaining on Azeroth. Sometime around 2:45 am late Saturday, Mrs. Mortigan hunted down the LAST SURVIVING BASILISK as it rested lazily near a small swampy pool, and Frostbolted it into extinction. Thus ended an entire species - and their bones will be dug up by apprentice archaeologists for generations. When studying them closely, they'll exclaim, "These bones have frost damage, too! I wonder what would've caused that? An Ice Age?" No. It was Mrs. Mortigan's Frostbolts.
Mrs. Mortigan has killed THOUSANDS of basilisks. One. At. A. Time. She doesn't group. She doesn't chat. She doesn't even use a proper spell rotation, and has only recently begun questing. For the most part, she has Basilisked her way to level 72. She plays a different game - one that's more relaxing, less stressful, and for her, FUN. Any attempts on Morty's part to "Up" her game are quickly shot down:
"Hey, let me show you a faster way to -"
"NO."
"If you cast -"
"I know what I'm doing."
"Your DPS would be better if you -"
"I don't care."
She's picked up a few things that she finds useful. She keeps her Water Elemental out. She casts Mirror Image a lot - so that multiple version of her can all be spamming Frostbolt simultaneously. She cast a shield that seems to work pretty well. And overall, Azeroth is her playground. She OWNS it - perhaps much more than I do, because I'm always scraping away to get that better piece of gear, that Exalted Rep, that potion recipe I really, really need. I chase after things, while for her, the world patiently waits to be Frostbolted into oblivion at her whim. If I was a Frenzyheart in the Sholazar Basin, I'd be getting really nervous about now - especially since Mrs. Mortigan has her eyes on a Green Proto Drake, and she's ready to kill a nation of Frenzyheart - One. At. A. Time. - to get one.
An interesting side phenomenon is that Mrs. Mortigan has admirers. Or fans. Or something. I don't know WHAT to call them. I'll come home from work to find her twinked out in the best gear available for her level. "Where'd you get that?!" I'll ask. "Somebody gave it to me." She responds. "I was killing Basilisks and some guy came along and just said, 'HERE.'" Then I check her character a bit more closely and find more surprises. "Where did you get another 500 gold so quickly?" And very casually she answers, "Oh, someone else came along after the other guy and let me have it." And she's not even surprised. As if all the time people give away 500 gold at random for absolutely no reason. For Mrs. Mortigan, it DOES happen all the time. My secret theory is that people somehow figure out that she really IS female, and see that she plays the game differently and more simply - and they somehow become overwhelmed with compassion and start handing over BOE gear and piles of gold. No one ever gives MORTY any gold (unless you count that Chinese Farmer, but uh, we won't go into that right now).
For the longest time, I always thought that only Mrs. Mortigan was playing a different game. The rest of us were all on the same page. We were all grouping and raiding and auctioning and harvesting and having the same experience overall. But lately, living on PVP Daggerspine-US, I've come to see my own reflection more clearly, and I've realized that I'm playing a different game as well. I shape the game just as Mrs. Mortigan does, to suit my own personal tastes. I live to group - especially Heroics - where I feel challenged while remaining confident of winning. I like 10-man raids for much the same reason. 10-mans are small enough that I still feel like my performance MATTERS. I'll join a 25-man raid, but don't care for them as much. In a 25-man raid, all I'm really doing is shortening the fight by adding a bit of damage on top of the pile. Ultimately, my grouping is really nothing more than my personal version of Basilisk-killing. I'm doing what I like, and NOT doing the rest. I DON'T do PVP - I HATE IT. I mean REALLY HATE IT. Maybe because I lose all the time. Maybe because those bastards that kill me laugh at me afterward. It's too much like high school, and reliving my high school days through the virtual eyes of Mortigan just isn't my cup of tea. Many people have told me I should do battlegrounds. I've never - NEVER - been on a battleground, and truthfully don't ever want to go. Even the lure of cool PVP gear is not enough to get me out of PVE mode.
And now my Guild (run by personal friends) has packed up and left Daggerspine-PVP for Korgath-PVP, and they've asked me to join them. I don't think I'm going. Oh, I'm packing up all right - to get the hell out of Daggerspine and away from the ganking bastards that frequently kill me there - but I won't be headed for Korgath, that's for dang sure. I'm headed back to a nice safe PVE server where I can raid, group, quest, and harvest in peace. Sorry, guild, I guess I'm playing a different game.
Mortigan the Immigrant
Mrs. Mortigan has killed THOUSANDS of basilisks. One. At. A. Time. She doesn't group. She doesn't chat. She doesn't even use a proper spell rotation, and has only recently begun questing. For the most part, she has Basilisked her way to level 72. She plays a different game - one that's more relaxing, less stressful, and for her, FUN. Any attempts on Morty's part to "Up" her game are quickly shot down:
"Hey, let me show you a faster way to -"
"NO."
"If you cast -"
"I know what I'm doing."
"Your DPS would be better if you -"
"I don't care."
She's picked up a few things that she finds useful. She keeps her Water Elemental out. She casts Mirror Image a lot - so that multiple version of her can all be spamming Frostbolt simultaneously. She cast a shield that seems to work pretty well. And overall, Azeroth is her playground. She OWNS it - perhaps much more than I do, because I'm always scraping away to get that better piece of gear, that Exalted Rep, that potion recipe I really, really need. I chase after things, while for her, the world patiently waits to be Frostbolted into oblivion at her whim. If I was a Frenzyheart in the Sholazar Basin, I'd be getting really nervous about now - especially since Mrs. Mortigan has her eyes on a Green Proto Drake, and she's ready to kill a nation of Frenzyheart - One. At. A. Time. - to get one.
An interesting side phenomenon is that Mrs. Mortigan has admirers. Or fans. Or something. I don't know WHAT to call them. I'll come home from work to find her twinked out in the best gear available for her level. "Where'd you get that?!" I'll ask. "Somebody gave it to me." She responds. "I was killing Basilisks and some guy came along and just said, 'HERE.'" Then I check her character a bit more closely and find more surprises. "Where did you get another 500 gold so quickly?" And very casually she answers, "Oh, someone else came along after the other guy and let me have it." And she's not even surprised. As if all the time people give away 500 gold at random for absolutely no reason. For Mrs. Mortigan, it DOES happen all the time. My secret theory is that people somehow figure out that she really IS female, and see that she plays the game differently and more simply - and they somehow become overwhelmed with compassion and start handing over BOE gear and piles of gold. No one ever gives MORTY any gold (unless you count that Chinese Farmer, but uh, we won't go into that right now).
For the longest time, I always thought that only Mrs. Mortigan was playing a different game. The rest of us were all on the same page. We were all grouping and raiding and auctioning and harvesting and having the same experience overall. But lately, living on PVP Daggerspine-US, I've come to see my own reflection more clearly, and I've realized that I'm playing a different game as well. I shape the game just as Mrs. Mortigan does, to suit my own personal tastes. I live to group - especially Heroics - where I feel challenged while remaining confident of winning. I like 10-man raids for much the same reason. 10-mans are small enough that I still feel like my performance MATTERS. I'll join a 25-man raid, but don't care for them as much. In a 25-man raid, all I'm really doing is shortening the fight by adding a bit of damage on top of the pile. Ultimately, my grouping is really nothing more than my personal version of Basilisk-killing. I'm doing what I like, and NOT doing the rest. I DON'T do PVP - I HATE IT. I mean REALLY HATE IT. Maybe because I lose all the time. Maybe because those bastards that kill me laugh at me afterward. It's too much like high school, and reliving my high school days through the virtual eyes of Mortigan just isn't my cup of tea. Many people have told me I should do battlegrounds. I've never - NEVER - been on a battleground, and truthfully don't ever want to go. Even the lure of cool PVP gear is not enough to get me out of PVE mode.
And now my Guild (run by personal friends) has packed up and left Daggerspine-PVP for Korgath-PVP, and they've asked me to join them. I don't think I'm going. Oh, I'm packing up all right - to get the hell out of Daggerspine and away from the ganking bastards that frequently kill me there - but I won't be headed for Korgath, that's for dang sure. I'm headed back to a nice safe PVE server where I can raid, group, quest, and harvest in peace. Sorry, guild, I guess I'm playing a different game.
Mortigan the Immigrant
Friday, March 4, 2011
What Went Wrong With PVP
Guild Message of the Day: All Raiders must be ready to PVP Saturday!
Mortigan's Translation: Prepare to be raped, ye squishy cowardly PVE lock!
I haven't always hated PVP. Only since playing World of Warcraft really. So what went wrong? Mortigan digs up his previous selves to find the answer.
My first real taste of online PVP came from first-person shooters. Unreal, with its ground-breaking 3-D Accelerated images, was truly unreal to behold, and Mortigan was a trash-talking death-dealing bastard:
HEADSHOT!
"How do you like THEM apples?!"
HEADSHOT!
"OOOOOH that looked REAL painful!"
HEADSHOT!
"Sucks to be you!"
KILLING SPREE!
"You LIKE to die, don't you!"
"f**k you, Mortigan!"
"You're welcome! Uh Oh - look out!"
BLOODBATH!
"MUHAHAHA!"
Other PVP games came and went, like Tribes, Quake, etc. All of them had the same goals:
To crush your enemies
To see them driven before you
To hear the lamentation of their women
- Conan the Barbarian
During those times, much blood was spilled, and Mortigan was very happy. But there was generally no real fear of death. In many cases, death resulted in an immediate respawn, and the main thing that counted was to simply rack up more kills than anyone else. There was no real need to be cautious about one's own health.
Then came America's Army, and Mortigan (using his last name "Davengeful" as is appropriate in the Military), was recruited into the Special Forces. Many, many hours were spent in nerve-wrackingly intense combat situations. Life MEANT something. Staying alive was important. You didn't run all over the map like a fool - you CREPT through it cautiously. You listened for footsteps or the sound of a grenade pin being pulled. Knowing the map was crucial to survival: Know the hiding spots. Know the camp sites. And never, ever forget that your enemy only needed to hit you with one bullet to send you to the grave.
But as far as PVP goes, all those games - from Unreal to America's Army - are all the same, because there are no differences in the characters. Sure, different weapons are available, but you generally can choose the weapon of your choice. There are no other differences between being one character or another. What REALLY matters in those games is how well you - the gamer - can play. It's about reflexes, instinct, experience, and yes, in some cases latency. But one person really doesn't have any real advantage over another.
Then along comes World of Warcraft, where the difference in classes can be HUGE - despite any attempts by Blizzard to level the field. The wide variance in gear specs further expands the differences of one character over another. Some combinations are simply FAR more deadly than others. And those differences result in an environment far too reminiscent of high school, where the bigger more powerful ones crush the smaller weaker ones. And that imbalance requires the weaker ones to invest more time in gearing for PVP and learning PVP strategies, roll an Alt that is more PVP deadly, or disengage and focus on PVE. Mortigan chose the last.
And so when the guild message says "All Raiders must be ready to PVP Saturday!" Mortigan can't help but wonder, "What the hell am I doing on Daggerspine?!"
Mortigan the Introverted
Mortigan's Translation: Prepare to be raped, ye squishy cowardly PVE lock!
I haven't always hated PVP. Only since playing World of Warcraft really. So what went wrong? Mortigan digs up his previous selves to find the answer.
My first real taste of online PVP came from first-person shooters. Unreal, with its ground-breaking 3-D Accelerated images, was truly unreal to behold, and Mortigan was a trash-talking death-dealing bastard:
HEADSHOT!
"How do you like THEM apples?!"
HEADSHOT!
"OOOOOH that looked REAL painful!"
HEADSHOT!
"Sucks to be you!"
KILLING SPREE!
"You LIKE to die, don't you!"
"f**k you, Mortigan!"
"You're welcome! Uh Oh - look out!"
BLOODBATH!
"MUHAHAHA!"
Other PVP games came and went, like Tribes, Quake, etc. All of them had the same goals:
To crush your enemies
To see them driven before you
To hear the lamentation of their women
- Conan the Barbarian
During those times, much blood was spilled, and Mortigan was very happy. But there was generally no real fear of death. In many cases, death resulted in an immediate respawn, and the main thing that counted was to simply rack up more kills than anyone else. There was no real need to be cautious about one's own health.
Then came America's Army, and Mortigan (using his last name "Davengeful" as is appropriate in the Military), was recruited into the Special Forces. Many, many hours were spent in nerve-wrackingly intense combat situations. Life MEANT something. Staying alive was important. You didn't run all over the map like a fool - you CREPT through it cautiously. You listened for footsteps or the sound of a grenade pin being pulled. Knowing the map was crucial to survival: Know the hiding spots. Know the camp sites. And never, ever forget that your enemy only needed to hit you with one bullet to send you to the grave.
But as far as PVP goes, all those games - from Unreal to America's Army - are all the same, because there are no differences in the characters. Sure, different weapons are available, but you generally can choose the weapon of your choice. There are no other differences between being one character or another. What REALLY matters in those games is how well you - the gamer - can play. It's about reflexes, instinct, experience, and yes, in some cases latency. But one person really doesn't have any real advantage over another.
Then along comes World of Warcraft, where the difference in classes can be HUGE - despite any attempts by Blizzard to level the field. The wide variance in gear specs further expands the differences of one character over another. Some combinations are simply FAR more deadly than others. And those differences result in an environment far too reminiscent of high school, where the bigger more powerful ones crush the smaller weaker ones. And that imbalance requires the weaker ones to invest more time in gearing for PVP and learning PVP strategies, roll an Alt that is more PVP deadly, or disengage and focus on PVE. Mortigan chose the last.
And so when the guild message says "All Raiders must be ready to PVP Saturday!" Mortigan can't help but wonder, "What the hell am I doing on Daggerspine?!"
Mortigan the Introverted
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