The Life of Lazz

Macros, Macros, Macros

2008-05-18T14:55:00.001-07:00

Oh, the beautiful thing that is a World of Warcraft Macro. They make our lives so much simpler, from freeing up action bar space to helping us crowd control better. WoW simply wouldn't be WoW without macros. Here is a collection of the macros that I use to make Azeroth and Outland a better place to play in.

Paladin Macros:

As a healing Paladin starting out at level 70, I found that I had all sorts of abilities and trinkets that I was almost never using. Because when is the best time to use them? If I use it now, what happens if I really need it before the cooldown is up? And so, they went mostly unused out of fear. Recognizing this as a problem, I decided to macro them into my two main heals so that I was using them ever time the cooldown was up. I have been very pleased with the results, and can't imagine playing the game having to manually pop my trinkets.

Not only that, but paladins use Librams (equipped in their ranged weapon slot) to do various things in various situations. Because they are considered weapons, they can be swapped in combat. So I also tied in the specific Librams to each macro so they are swapping themselves as needed.

Flash of Light Macro:

#showtooltip Flash of Light
/console Sound_EnableSFX 0
/use 13
/use 14
/console Sound_EnableSFX 1
/script UIErrorsFrame:Clear();
/cast Flash of Light
/equip Blessed Book of Nagrand

This macro attempts to trigger my two trinkets (slots 13 and 14 on my character sheet), then casts Flash of Light and swaps in my Blessed Book of Nagrand Libram. It also turns off any error messages or sounds that result from not being able to use a trinket due to its cooldown not being up.

Holy Light Macro:

#showtooltip Holy Light
/console Sound_EnableSFX 0
/cast Divine Favor
/cast Divine Illumination
/console Sound_EnableSFX 1
/script UIErrorsFrame:Clear();
/cast Holy Light
/equip Libram of Mending

This is the heal I pull out when someone is taking some major damage. It costs a ton of mana, but heals for a ton of health. Because this is my "oh shit" heal, the macro attempts to use Divine Favor and Divine Illumination. It then casts Holy Light while swapping in my Libram of Mending. This macro has done wonders for my mana conservation, both by reducing the cost of my Holy Light as well as returning Mana Per 5 after casting. As you can see, I've also made it ignore the error sounds and messaged that result in an abilities cooldown not being up.

Cleanse Mouseover Macro:

#showtooltip Cleanse
/stopcasting
/cast [target=mouseover,exists,help] Cleanse; [help] Cleanse; [target=player]Cleanse

Paladins have one of the best dispells in the game. It can dispell poisons, disease, and magic effects of friendly players. Because of this, we are often called upon to be quick on the Cleanse, and this macro helps me do it. It immediately stops whatever cast I'm currently involved in and attempts to cleanse whatever raidframe or character my mouse is hovering over. If my mouse isn't hovering over anyone, it casts Cleanse on my target.

Turn Evil Macro:

#showtooltip Turn Evil
/clearfocus [target=focus,dead]
/clearfocus [target=focus,noexists]
/focus [target=focus,noexists]
/cast [target=focus] Turn Evil

Paladins have an under appreciated crowd control when facing undead or demon mobs. We can FEAR! I use this macro mostly on the Moroes fight in Karazhan to keep one of Moroes' guests occupied while the uncontrolled mobs are being burned down. Were you to listen in on our vent, you would likely hear me laughing maniacally, shouting "I am Lazz! I am Lockadin!".

What this macro does is sets your target as your focus and casts Turn Evil on them. Then, I can happily heal away while my feared target is running around like the chicken he is while I keep an eye on my Focus Raidframe to see when the fear is up. Seeing as the fear only lasts 20 seconds with a cooldown of 30 seconds, you have a 10 second window where the mob is running around free. If my raid isn't yet ready to deal with him, I usually bonk him over the head with my Hammer of Justice, then run to the opposite side of the room. By the time he's done being stunned and runs across to me, my cooldown on Turn Evil is up and I can fear him for another 20 seconds.

Also, if your focus is dead, hitting this macro will clear your focus.

Exorcism and Holy Wrath Macros:

#showtooltip Exorcism
/cast Exorcism
/equip Libram of Wracking

#showtooltip Holy Wrath
/cast Holy Wrath
/equip Libram of Wracking

Paladins have special damage abilities against undead and demon mobs. I have a special Libram to enhance these abilities (Libram of Wracking), so these macros simply swap that Libram in when I choose to use them. Easy peasy.

Consecration Macro:

# showtooltip Consecration
/cast [combat] Consecration; [nocombat] Consecration(Rank 1)
/equip Libram of the Eternal Rest

Likewise, I have the Libram of the Eternal Rest which enhances my Consecration ability. This macro simply swaps that in, with the added functionality that if I'm not in combat it casts my lowest rank Consecration rather than my highest. This, I've found, is a great, low mana, stealth detector in arenas and battlegrounds.

Maiden Macro:

#showtooltip Blessing of Sacrifice
/stopcasting
/cast [target=focus] Blessing of Sacrifice(Rank 1)

This is a macro I whipped up for the Maiden fight in Karazhan. It simply casts my lowest rank Blessing of Sacrifice on my focus (the tank). This blessing will transfer a small amount of the damage the tank takes to me, which will break me out of the stun Maiden does and allow me to continue healing when all other healers are incapacitated. Since it's important to keep it up, I added to stopcasting function to allow me to recast it the instant the cooldown is up, regardless of what else I'm doing or who else I have targeted.

Paladin Taunt Macro:

#showtooltip Righteous Defense
/cast [help] [target=targettarget] Righteous Defense

I'll admit, I don't go prot often (I'm not yet completely happy with my tanking gear), but when I do I've found this macro to be immensely helpful. You see, a paladin's "taunt" doesn't work the way warriors or bears taunt works. Instead of being cast on the mob, to pull him back to you, it's cast on the player and will pull up to three mobs off of that specific player to you. What this macro does is simply make Righteous Defense work more like a conventional taunt. You cast it on the mob, and it targets the mobs target (the player who just pulled aggro). I've saved many a crit happy mage or lock from an untimely demise with this beautifully simple macro.

Avoidance and Block Calculators:

Since I'm working on making my paladin uncrushable when he's specced Prot, I've been using these two macros to calculate my overall avoidance and my block percentage.

/script DEFAULT_CHAT_FRAME:AddMessage(”Need 102.4 combined avoidance. Currently at:”,0.8,0.8,1)
/script DEFAULT_CHAT_FRAME:AddMessage(GetDodgeChance()+GetBlockChance() + GetParryChance() +5+(GetCombatRatingBonus(CR_DEFENSE_SKILL) + 20)*0.04,1,0.5,0)

This macro calculates your total Avoidance. Just be sure to have your Holy Shield ability up before you use it, to give you a better picture of where you are avoidance-wise. A protection paladin needs 102.4 combined avoidence (block, parry, dodge) with Holy Shield up in order to be uncrushable.

If you are only interested in your Block rating, use this macro:

/script DEFAULT_CHAT_FRAME:AddMessage(”Block Currently at:”,0.8,0.8,1)
/script DEFAULT_CHAT_FRAME:AddMessage(GetBlockChance() + 20*0.04,1,0.5,0)

Hunter Macros:

Since I've already gone into tying your trinkets and special abilities to your "staple" abilities in order to make better use of them, I won't go into it here. Really, the applications are endless. Whether you want to tie your Beastial Wrath to your Rapid Fire if you are Beastmaster, or your Deterence to your Wingclip if you are Survival, just use your imagination and see what you can come up with.

The two macros that are most important to me as a hunter are my two pullshots. When I'm out questing and want to pull one mob away from a group I use this:

/cast Arcane Shot(Rank 1)
/stopattack
/stopcasting

A nice, simple, low aggro pullshot which allows my pet to easily pick up the mob.

Now, when I'm in an instance or raid and am in charge of trapping a mob, it gets a little more tricky. It's important that I stay on top of the trapped mobs hate list instead of the healer. So I use this macro:

#showtooltip Distracting Shot
/clearfocus [modifier: shift]
/clearfocus [target=focus, dead]
/clearfocus [target=focus, help]
/focus [target=focus, noexists]
/cast [target=focus] Distracting Shot
/stopattack
/stopcasting

So say I'm supposed to keep the Blue Square trapped. I drop a trap, the tank pulls once my 30 second cooldown is up, I target the Blue Square and hit my macro. The macro sets the Blue Square as my focus, then casts Distracting Shot on my focus. *Shooooop* Blue Square is trapped. I move away a little, drop another trap, and merrily start pew pewing on skull. Now, the silly healer is standing right next to the trapped mob and is steadily gaining threat on Blue Squares hate list. All I need to do to insure Blue Square will run toward me and my fresh trap instead of pounding on the silly healer is tap my macro again. I don't even have to change targets, as the macro will cast a Distracting Shot on whoever my focus is (Blue Square) and then stop casting. Trap breaks, Blue Square charges me, *Shooop*, trapped again. Rinse/Repeat. Once the pull is over, I only need to [Shift] hit my macro to clear my focus.

Warlock Macros:

Warlocks have two main forms of crowd control (besides fear): Banish, and Seduce. Since the only good crowd control is a focused crowd control, I use these two little macros.

Focus Banish Macro:

/clearfocus [modifier; shift]
/clearfocus [target=focus, dead]
/clearfocus [target=focus, help]
/focus [target=focus, noexists]
/cast [target=focus] Banish

Focus Seduce Macro:

/clearfocus [modifier: shift]
/focus [target=focus, noexists]; [target=focus, dead]
/clearfocus [target=focus, help]
/petstay
/petfollow
/cast [pet: succubus, target=focus, exists, harm] Seduction; Seduction

Both of these macros work the same way. They set your target as your focus, then cast the crowd control on your focus. Later, when you are busy blasting away at your DPS target you can reapply the crowd control without switching targets, as the macro applies the CC to your focus. Again, you simply Shift hit the macro to clear your focus after the pull.

These macros can also be easily applied toward Priests Shackle or Mages Polymorph. The focus macro is a powerful tool, making crowd control a cinch.

The Rolling Stones Macro:

/cast [nomod,equipped:wand] Shoot;[nomod,equipped:relic] Lesser Firestone;[mod, equipped:wand]Create Firestone
/equip [mod, equipped:wand]Lesser Firestone;[mod]Lesser Mystic Wand

I have noticed on my little lowbie warlock that none of the wands available to me have any stats. I can, however, make Firestones (and later Spellstones) that do effect my abilities. Sometimes, it is nice to be able to wand stuff, but the rest of the time I have found it better to run with a stone in wand slot (at least until I start picking up wands that actually have stats on them). In the meantime, I use the above macro. If I Alt hit it, it swaps between my wand and my stone (or makes a stone if I do not already have one in my inventory). If a wand is equipped, and I hit it, it shoots the wand at my target. If a stone is equipped and I hit it, it attempts to use the stone. The only annoying thing about this macro is I have to manually change the name of the wand every time I upgrade. Still, an interesting macro that has made my warlocking life easier.

I would like to leave you with a picture I love so much, it is now my desktop. Lazztastic: Champion of the Naaru, with his trusty Smolderweb Hatchling taking in the sights in The Eye for the first time ever.
EDIT: Speaking of non-cobat pets, one macro that I failed to mention is my Pet Randomizer Macro. Oh, the joy that is castrandom.

/castrandom Magical Crawdad Box, Worg Carrier, Smolderweb Carrier, Wolpertinger's Tankard, Egbert's Egg, Turtle Box

This macro will randomly pick which one of the pets I carry around with me is going to be joining me this run.

Perplexed Pink Pally

2008-05-03T13:34:00.000-07:00

I must admit, I have a few issues with holy Paladin gear, post Kara. I don't understand the itemization, the set bonuses, and most importantly, the color! Why am I pink? I had picked up the BoJ shield a while back, and there was much joshing in gchat because the inside of the shield was a bright pink color. Everyone knew about Lazz's pink shield. But it was just the inside, so it was bearable. The outside was white which I thought fit with the Holy Paladin persona.

Then, I started getting Tier 4 pieces. Again with the pink! Granted, the pieces were mostly white, but every piece has glowing pink gems in them. Did Uther Lightbringer have some sort of pink fetish? You have to admit, pink is a very unmanly color.

Now, I've started to have mana issues due mostly to the itemization of the Tier 4 set (which I'll get into momentarily) so when Magtheridon dropped the Aegis of the Vindicator last night I rolled on it. It wasn't a typical guild run (we had a lot of people who couldn't show for various reasons, so we had brought in outside help), and as such I didn't have to spend any DKP for it. And the 11Mp5 looked very nice.

Then I started to hear some chuckles on Vent. "Uh...Lazz. Equip your new toy".

Arrrgh!

WTF?

It's pink!

Both inside and out! A bright, vibrant, Hello Kitty* pink.

Why is it Hello Kitty pink?

And I thought the guildies were laughing before.

/cry

Well, at least it boosts my Mana per 5, a stat that has been seriously shrinking since acquiring my Tier 4 set. You see, Holy Paladins have a talent called Illumination that returns 60% of the base mana cost of a healing spell every time it crits. Awesome talent. And when I was raiding Kara, it was a nice little addition to my mana regeneration repertoire. Paladins don't use spirit; we are completely dependent on our mana being able to regenerate while we are casting. We are a healing class that is designed to be constantly casting. So in Kara, I stacked the Mp5 and had Illumination to fill in the gaps.

The Tier 4 set, however, is apparently designed specifically for Illumination. Little to no Mp5, just lots of spell crit. Which, in theory, is great. But with every new Tier piece I get, I'm loosing mega Mp5, and it's starting to really hurt. My spell crit isn't at a place where it can compensate for the loss. In other words, 20% spell crit + 90 Mp5 while casting (where I'm at now) does not equal 15% spell crit + 160 Mp5 while casting (where I was). I find myself having to pot multiple pots on every boss fight, and I'm not pleased.

I guess I'm just not making the transition from Mp5 to Crit well. I plan to pick up the Greaves of Pacification once I have enough badges. Nice big Mp5 to snuggle up with. I will probably gem it with as much spell crit as I can, and get the best of both worlds. I already have the four piece T4 set bonus, so I don't need the T4 pants (itemized for spell crit, of course). I can use the DKP instead on The Eye of Gruul, and the Head of Magtheridon. I will also likely pick up the Band of Halos with badges. Hopefully, at that point I'll be happy with my mana regen.

I'll be happy with my regen, ecstatic with my +healing (currently just over 1900), but still confused about Holy Paladin Tier set bonuses. Honestly, I just don't get it! Ok, the T4 bonus is weak, but not completely useless.

2 piece bonus: Increases the amount healed by your Judgement of Light by 20.

4 piece bonus: Reduces the cooldown on your Divine Favor ability by 15 sec.

I use Judgement of Light on boss fights if our guild's one and only Ret Pally is in the raid. Other than that, it's not really useful, because in order for it to live up to it's full potential I would have to be melee hitting the boss to keep the debuff going. And I'm too busy healing.

As for Divine Favor, the set bonus actually prompted me to use it more. I've macroed it in to my Holy Light spell, so the first Holy Light spell I cast is always a crit. Since I only break out Holy Light when someone's taking some serious damage, a guaranteed crit on the first cast is nice. Nice, but not game winning.

Now, let's look to the future. Tier 5! I've heard BRK raving about the Hunter set bonuses. I wonder how great the Holy Pally ones'll be? My guild is on the brink of downing our first T5 boss, so I could maybe start to replace these weak set bonuses with some great ones.

2 piece bonus: Each time you cast a Judgement, your party members gain 50 mana.

Hold on a sec! Are you sure you're looking at the holy set? That looks like a good Ret Pally bonus, but it certainly couldn't be for the holy set.

...could it?

But. But. But. I can count on one hand how many times I'll cast a judgement in a raid. How is this a help to holy paladins? Yes, Mr. Raid Leader, you should take me instead of the priest to tonight's raid because I will cast a total of 4 judgements which will in turn give everybody in my entire party 200 extra mana!

Well, at least the four piece bonus must be good, right? I mean, in order to get four pieces of T5 gear you've basically gotta have SSC and TK on farm. That's an accomplishment that should be rewarded.

4 piece bonus: Your critical heals from Flash of Light and Holy Light reduce the cast time of your next Holy Light spell by 0.5 sec for 10 sec. This effect cannot occur more than once per minute.

Really? You mean that once a minute one Holy Light cast will be half a second faster. That's great. Thanks.

Seriously, though. I don't get it. Color me pink and confused.

On a lighter note, this week is children's week, and I've endeavored to collect a cute little non combat pet on each of my characters. In my travels, I chanced upon another collector who had fed her orphan some growth hormones. Behold.

*if Hello Kitty pink isn't actually a crayola color, it should be.

Lazz IRL

2008-04-28T21:41:00.000-07:00

Hello all. I know that I've been absent for a while now, but seeing as my readership isn't very high (hey Rabbit!) I didn't think you'd mind all too terribly. You see, I've been having a pretty rough and tumble go of things lately, and haven't been able to find the time for much of anything. I hope that has changed, and I'll be able to devote more time to this wonderful Internet community.

There are some changes that I intend, however. TJ says that if you are going to blog, you've got to blog about something interesting; something that isn't already blogged about on a hundred other sites. And if you have to blog about the same thing, at least do it in a different manner. Well, let's face it. I am not a big theorycrafter, and my guild is just now starting to tackle Tier 5 content. There's nothing I can say that hasn't already been said a million times, by people far more eloquent than myself. The one thing that I do have going for me is that I'm Lazz, and there's just one me.

I'm fairly new to the Internet. Just over two years ago I had ended a pretty intense and lengthy relationship, and I had moved in with my brother to pick up the broken pieces of my life. At the time, I was reading a wonderful book called, "The Metaphysical Touch", by Sylvia Brownrigg, and it suggested to me that I might find a path back to myself on that new-fangled invention, the Internet. So, I started posting my thoughts on My-Diary.org, and later on Myspace. I met some great people who supported me through some really tough times in my life. People I've never met, but in many ways people who I know better than my close friends in real life. The power of electronic touch is powerful, man, and I don't know where I'd be today without it.

By the end of 2006 I had met a new girl, moved half-way across the country to live with her, and stopped "blogging". Not intentionally, I just kinda.... stopped. I guess that I had found other ways to fill that need, the most prominent being my new found World of Warcraft addiction and all the great people I had met therein. I still had an online support system, but now I could actually do stuff with them as well. Like kill furbies. Nothing more therapeutic than killing furbies.

Well, that relationship didn't work out either, and I recently decided to pack up and move back home. (Home being the entire province of Ontario, not necessarily a specific part....I move around a lot). But I miss the act of writing something about myself; writing something about my experiences. And then posting it where anyone can see. Not that I expect many people to stumble upon my little corner of the intra-web, and that suits me fine, but there's something in the act of posting that means a lot to me.

And lo! I already have a half started blog. Just a bit of tweaking in the title section of the page, and it's no longer a blog about Lazz's adventures in Azeroth, but also a blog about Lazz's adventures in real life.

Ok. It's been done.

It's been done a lot.

Not saying I'm gonna move mountains here, but I am uniquely Lazz. Hope it's enough.

Director's Note: Success!

2008-03-12T07:43:00.000-07:00

If you remember, I started this blog not too long ago with the hope that keeping a log of my activities would help me focus. I have three main's on three servers, and was getting a tad overwhelmed at how to best use my time to efficiently progress all three.

Lazztastic: Being my most progressed toon in the "actively playing" category, he also required the most of my time. When I started, I had around +1200 to healing and was going for my Dungeon 3 Armor set which meant a LOT of instance runs. Enter an amazing guild, some changes to my RL schedule, and PRESTO! he's now at +1650 and in mostly Kara epics. I've also leveled his fishing and cooking abilities to the level cap (though Blacksmithing is still at the Thorium phase, and I haven't yet been able to bring myself to grind it up)

Locolazz: Originally started with the intent to power level him up with a friend to join another friend in exploring end game content, this project has kinda fizzled out. The other friend has instead rolled a warlock on Malygos (Lazztastic's server) to power level up. Which kinda sucks! Hunter's are definitely my favorite class to play, and now I've got two (a 70 horde on Malygos, and Locolazz is level 55) that I can't play a lot. I mean, I suppose I could play them, but to what purpose. Being a social creature, I like to play where my friends are, and at the moment, none of them are Hordies.

Lazztentious: I'm having loads of fun with the Anti-Pug experiment. My group mates are great, and the whole environment over there is friendly and inviting. Even when I'm not leveling with my fellow Yellows, I enjoy just fishing and chatting with folks from other groups via guild chat. The rest of my toons are meat and potatoes; my Poxic toon is dessert!

So what this post is trying to say, in a very round about manner, is that it's accomplished the goals I've set for it. That's not to say I won't keep it up, I'm having a lot of fun, but more to simply say, "Yay for me!"

Unrelated Story: A guildy is unsatisfied with his job. He said he wants to hand his boss a slip of paper with /jquit written on it. I lol'ed.

Act 3: Saturday Night Yellow

2008-03-09T12:45:00.001-07:00

Folks, meet Lazztentious, the newest member of the Yellow Poxless Squirrel Squad. He's very excited to be a part of such a momentous project, and couldn't wait for the shenanigans to begin. Being a new addition to the group, he hadn't yet completed any of the RFC quests, so that was the first order of business. Unfortunately, Demotail couldn't make it so we were four-teaming it again, but not to worry, Rabbit, Fuller, Blackmyst and I brought the pain!

The play mechanics of the warrior is very different from anything I've ever done before, and will take some time to get used to. But it's also a very interesting play mechanic. I've been having a lot of fun just thinking about the best way to generate aggro, and what combination of skills will work best in which circumstances. It will help once I have a few more talent points to spend; at the moment I'm pretty rage starved.

RFC was a breeze. We've obviously already outgrown it, and I'm grateful to my teammates for running it again. Not only did it give me a chance to practice "gettin' all up" in the mobs faces, but the first boss dropped a beautiful Subterranean Cape that looks just great on Lazztentious. It's too bad Demo wasn't there, because the second boss dropped the Robe of Evocation that just screams Holy Troll Priest, but I'm sure there will be some great pieces in Wailing Caverns too.
After chewing up Ragefire and spitting it out, we decided to head to the Barrens to do a prerequisite quest for Wailing Caverns and help Myst out with a Druid quest. On the way, we met some wonderful Alliance characters, one in particular that gave us a lot of attention. Myst had at some point flagged himself for PvP, so he got the most attention of us all. He gave Alillan (the very strong and mighty 60something druid who attacked him) a good run for their money, but in the end he was ganked. Fuller tried to give him some help of the healy sort, which flagged him as well.

The end result was this very powerful Alliance corpse camping us for about five minutes until they finally got bored and moved on. I've got to say, I simply don't understand the "hey! let's go hang around the Barrens hoping to one shot flagged Horde" mentality.

After the pvp fun, we decided to climb a mountain. What else could we do? I love the detail that Blizzard puts into the game, and I really enjoyed the atmosphere up there. This next screenie is entitled, "Myst in the Mist".

I'm very happy with the Yellow team as a whole. Everyone is a strong player, able to think quickly on their toes and adapt to unforeseen events. If we pick up an unexpected pat, Rabbit is quick to sheep it, or Myst is quick to pick it up and offtank. And Fuller once again brought some amazing healing to the table, even if he's no long speced Resto. I can't wait for Wednesday, when Demo will once again join us and we can give the Wailing Caverns a try. Not only is there some great loot, but it can be a challenging Instance that will help us hone our crafts.

Next time, on Attack of the Killer Yellows!

Act 1: Sing-a-long

2008-03-07T05:51:00.001-08:00

Karazhan loves me this I know
Cuz I get great loot each time I go
I reached revered with the Violet Eye
Though every time on Shade I die

Yes! Kara loves me!
Yes! Kara loves me!
Yes! Kara loves me!
My plus to healing tells me soooooooooooo!

Red Riding Hood's Cloak

Girdle of Truth

Heart Flame Leggings

Violet Signet

Drape of the Righteous (for my soloing set)

Light-Bearer's Faith Shield (BoJ buy)

Lazz = Happy Camper

Act 3: Four Squirrels, Two Bears, an Orc, a Forsaken and RFC

2008-03-04T08:51:00.000-08:00

Oh, yeah! The Yellow "We gots squirrels" Poxless team took care of that nasty nest of Burning Blade in the caverns under Orgrimmar last night. Demotail had called in sick, so to speak, so it was just going to be the four of us. Rabbit and I were really pumped at being able to run RFC, as were our newest members, Fuller and Blackmyst. Myst had yet to pick up an Insignia, so off we went to that familiar cave east of Orgrimmar to kill some evil doers, expecting it to take a while (the drop rate, as you remember, is terrible). Not so! It dropped off the second guy.

Yippee! Back to Orgrimmar so he can turn it in and we can start the instance. Rabbit had been busy in her off time putting her leet engineering talents to work, and had created a Mechanical Squirrel for each of us. Interestingly enough, these squirrels were higher in level than we were! (we were all level 12 at the time)

I tried to take some screenshots of us outside the instance with our squirrels, but the little guys tend to get underfoot, so none of them showed up.

So, off we went to clear out this den of evil. Sure, there were only four of us, but we cleaned house. Rabbit, as always, was quick with the sheep, and having Myst along to offtank was great for the bigger pulls. Fuller did a great job with the heals, and whenever his mana diminished, Myst was quick to pop out and toss a few heals. All in all, it went very smoothly.

The beginning of the instance was a joke. Honestly, we just steamrolled through. Oggleflint went down without any problems, and we all picked up our Lost Satchel to return to Thunderbluff. Then upwards and onwards! We cleared through some Earthborer's and Molten Elementals on our way to the back of the cave. Easy peasy.

From this point on, it started to get a little tougher. The pulls usually consisted of a Searing Blade Warlock, his Voidwalker, and two melee mobs (either Searing Blade Enforcer's or Searing Blade Cultists). The general idea was to sheep the lock, I'd pick up one of the melee mobs and the Voidwalker while Myst off tanked the other melee. It seemed to go well, except for one point where we pulled more than we'd anticipated. The result was a wipe, and us taking a moment of silence as we ponder our skellatal remains. (the image is dark, I'm sorry. But the bleached white bones really stand out. Note the large Tauren skull)

After that, it was personal! We slaughtered Taragaman the Hungerer and looted his heart (he had four!). Not only that, but he dropped the Crystalline Cuffs, which Fuller got to augment his epic healing. Woot woot for phat lewt!

On to Jergosh the Invoker, who was also a piece of cake. Let me tell you, there was much rejoicing when he fell, though none louder than Rabbit who got to claim her Robe of Evocation. Grats Rabbit!

I always get lost trying to find the path to the last boss, but Myst knew the way! We carefully pulled our way up to him, expecting a tough fight. I mean, he's the last boss, right? Bah! No problem. He had two adds with him, but spaced far enough appart that I was able to pull them one by one. Bazzalan soon found himself alone and out gunned, and we took him down easily, then posed for pictures. And so concluded our Attack of the Yellow Squirrel Pox! We had all dinged inside the instance, and I believe we all dinged again turning in all the quests we'd done, so we're all level 14 now. Hopefully, Demotail will be able to catch up with us so she can show off her leet healing skills next time. I can't wait.

Oh! And I was able to upgrade my gear as well. Behold!

As an aside, I'm thinking of rerolling. I still want to be Yellow group's Main Tank of Agro Generating Greatness, but I think I would be contributing more to the group as either a warrior or a paladin. Mainly because I think Myst and I will be competing for gear as it stands now, and the mail/plate niche isn't currently filled in our group. Also, I would pick up herbalism/alchemy on my new toon, since there aren't any Yellows with a green thumb.

Problem is, I'm torn between the two classes. I would absolutely love to go Pally. I know the class better, and the AoE tanking abilities of a paladin would fit better in this group makeup I think. On the other hand, there isn't much Pally gear available to low level Horde, while there is a lot of Warrior gear. I've never played a warrior before, so it would be new to me, and the Troll racial (the race I would pick if I were to roll warrior) is much better than the Blood Elf one (the only class available for Horde Paladins).

Basically, I think I'm looking for advice. Personally, I'm leaning towards Paladin, but what would truely server the group better?

Act 1: Pretty Purple Plate

2008-03-02T07:45:00.000-08:00

I forgot to take screenshots. :'( This is such a screenshot worthy post.

Remember how I was running Shadow Labs over and over and over and over trying to get the Breastplate of Many Graces? Remember how Vorpil just refused to give it up, no matter how many times I killed him? Well, guess what folks! I will never have to run Slabs again.

You see, last night I called up Van (he'd been away vacationing in Mexico for the last week and got home on Friday), anyway I called up Van and he said that our guild on Malygos was about to run the second half of Kara and needed a Pally Healer. Wait a sec! I'm a Pally healer! And SSG almost never raids at this time! I'm so there.

So, I logged on. Ported to Shatt, portaled to Stormwind, ran to the Auction House, bought some consumables, got summoned to Kara, logged off so I could turn on my raiding addons (Deadly Boss Mods and Pally Power....I'll do an addon article at some point), logged back in, and was ready. Phew! For the record, this was to be my third time in Kara. The first time we finished up to the destruction of Curator, the second up to Maiden, and this time we were picking up directly after Curator, so it was all new to me.

The first boss we did was the Shade of Aran. I was nervous, as I always am in new instance encounters, and Van (who was there on his epic Priest) was furiously explaining the fight to me via whispers. Seemed fairly easy, from what I remember of the strategy. He summons wraiths, don't move! He summons blizzard, run like the dickens away from it. I think he also does something like Vorpil where he summons you close and then does an Arcane Explosion of some sort, but to be honest, the night was a blur so I'm sure I'll mess up on strategy.

Maybe I should have been paying more attention, because I ended up dying. I think it was a blizzard that did me in. However, the group downed him, they ressed me, and, low and behold! What does he drop but the Pauldrons of the Justice-Seeker. Now, that's a nice bit of Pally healing gear, and I'm all about seeking justice, but it's hard to get super excited when replacing one bit of Kara purple with another. Especially when you're still sporting so many Outland Blues. Sure, the armor bonus is nice, going from cloth to plate, but other than that, a mediocre upgrade. Still, phat lewt is phat lewt, right?

On we went to tackle Netherspite, failing miserably. In defence of the raid leader, most people were either completely new to the fight, or were on an alt and perhaps not so sure of their role. And this is a technical fight! For those of you who don't know it (don't get your information here!), it's a laser light show. Three beams shoot at the dragon, and have to be intercepted. I don't remember what all of them do, but the red one equals instant agro, so the tank has to grab it. However being in it gives you a two minute debuff disallowing you from entering it on the next phase. So you need two tanks switching off. Then there's a green beam that will heal Netherspite if it hits him, and a blue beam that will increase his damage. I'm sure I'm getting this all wrong, or at least missing key strategical points, but the point of this paragraph is, we didn't down the dragon. I pity the people who first entered this room and had to figure all this junk out. Let's all take a moment of silence for those who went before us.

The group had already done the chess event on a previous night, much to my dismay. I've heard about it, and was really looking forward to seeing it first hand, but that will have to wait for another time. We had other things to occupy us, namely, Terestian Illhoof.

And boy, did this guy love me. I mean, take how much Vorpil hates me, multiply it by twenty, and that's how much Illhoof loves me. First of all, he put me in shackles three times in a row. Sure, I know, sounds a little strange, but that's really how demons show their affection. Besides, much better me than the squishy priesty, no? Then, when we sent him back to his master in shame, he left behind a little present for me. Did I say little?

Breastplate of the Lightbinder.

I meant to say huge! Think of what this means! It means I no longer have to count on my Dungeon Three Breastplate dropping in Shadow Labs. It means I'm almost at +1500 to healing. It pretty much means I'm ready for heroics. Needless to say, the group was really happy for me. Most of them know how hard I had been working to get a chestplate upgrade; most of them had helped out in one run or another. What can I say? I love my guild.

The rest of the night was even more of a blur. We one shotted Prince (which was a surprisingly easy fight in my opinion) and gave Netherspite a few more unsuccessful attempts. At this point it was starting to get late, and most of the group was raiding Serpentshrine soon, so we called it quits.

That's two fantastic new pieces of epic loot for me, plus a good bit of raiding experience. I can now say I've seen all of Kara except Nightsbane, the Chess event, and two Opera's (I've gotten Romulo & Julianne both times so far). Plus, raiding is a great way to bond with your guild mates.

What a great weekend this is turning out to be!

Act 3: And it was all Yellow

2008-02-29T05:39:00.000-08:00

Yellow team brought some pain and devastation to the Barrens and Northern Durator last night. We cleaned up! We kicked ass! We dinged 12! (well, two of us did, that is....Hurry up Demo!)

Let's recap.

It all started on a mild Thursday evening. Rabbit was scurrying around Orgrimmar turning in the quests from last time, while Demo patiently waited for us outside. It was her turn to be the Fearless Yellow Leader, and she had plans, let me tell you. (PS. No, Fearless Yellow Leader is not an oxymoron. At least, not in this case)

I don't think any of us were impressed with the in-game voice quality last time, so Demo suggested we set up a conference call on a free, third party program. Though it took Rabbit and I a few minutes to get it set up, it was well worth the effort. We could talk!

First we went to Northern Durotar so Rabbit and I could do the prerequisite for our first quest. We ran around picking up sacks and killing a few Harpies, and it went fast. After turning them in, we were all on the quest Securing The Lines which had us killing more harpies. As an aside, I've just got to say that killing quests of this sort are the way to go for us poxers. We just steamrolled the place. The harpies will never look at us the same way again.

Next, we traveled to Crossroads, so Demo and Rabbit could pick up the flight point, and so we could plan our next adventure. Along the way, Demo regaled us with a tale of woe leaving Rabbit and I in stitches. Honestly, it's hard to steer a Tauren while laughing and shaking your head. It's surprising that I didn't crash, or run over some poor Razormane Quillboar.

We made it to Crossroads safely, Demo and Rabbit picked up the flight point, and we headed North East to take care of Disrupt the Attacks. This was another killing quest that we just decimated. Again, I broke a few sheeps, but it hardly mattered we were killing these guys so fast. So fast and efficiently that Demo was getting a little bored. "How'm I ever going to learn how to heal if you guys don't start taking some damage?" she asked. So, I told Rabbit to sit the next one out, collected four or five Plainstriders, and let Demo heal me through it. Pfft! As if she has cause to worry. Healer extraordinaire!

I also got complimented (I think). "You have quite a good vocabulary, despite the fact that you have a penis." Thanks (I think). Does this mean I have a new nickname? The Penis Poxer?

The Razormane's had also stolen some of the Crossroads supplies (which I'm betting they desperately need, given how often they are under attack) so we collected these up as well. Then, we started the run down to Ratchet so that Demo could also pick up that flight point, as well as empty our bags. Along the way, we spotted a level 18 raptor and, despite the fact that I was only 12 and the other two were only 11, we figured we'd give it a try. Booya! So sorry, Mr. Raptor, sir. So sorry we PWONED YOUR FACE!!

It was starting to get late when we finally made it to Ratchet, so we all took a flight up to Crossroads to turn in our quests. Unfortunately, Crossroads was (surprise, surprise) under attack, and we had to wait while our quest giver respawned. So we did what any self respecting, fierce member of The Horde would do. We danced. Or, at least, I danced. Demo seems to be watching me with contempt.

So, all in all, another great meeting of the Yellow Poxless team. I flew up to Thunderbluff to learn my new skills while the other two bid their adieus, and we'll be picking things up again on Monday. It will be Rabbit's turn to be the Fearless Yellow Leader, and she's promised us adventures of epic proportions. I can't wait.

Act 1: Healadin Am I

2008-02-27T13:32:00.000-08:00

I figured that I'd tackle the easiest upgrade first. (That, and I just wasn't in the mood today for anymore pug-ing despite Shadow Labs being the regular daily). So, off I went to Netherstorm to start the Dismesius quest line.

The first link had me picking up Fragment's of Dimensius from Voidshrieker's and Unstable Voidwraths outside of Manaforge: Ultris. I've got to say, from a holy paladin's perspective, those Voidshrieker's are about the toughest non-elite mob I've ever had to kill. First of all, they fear, and they fear often! Plus, their primary attack is to spam holy bolts of some sort which hit for around 700-800 each. So during the fear, and after as I run back to the mob, I'm taking some heavy damage. Then, they have a buff called Damage Reduction: Holy. So my holy damage (the only kind of damage I'm capable of dishing out) is diminished by a whopping 75%. I'm telling you, it took all 10k mana, and most of my health to down one of these things. Needless to say, collecting 8 Fragments that had about a 25% drop rate took quite a while.

The next link in the chain was fun. The quest giver let me borrow his Nether Drake, which flew me above the manaforge while I tossed bombs. I love those bombing run quests, and wish there were more like it in the game.

And so I came to the last link in the chain, a 5-man group quest to go up and kill Dimensius. I had looked up the quest on Wowhead earlier, so I knew that it was possible to solo as a holy paladin, but it looked time consuming so I threw out a "LFG" in general chat. Sure enough, there was a balance/resto druid and an affliction warlock who needed it done, so we joined up. The nice thing about this quest is you get a little NPC help, so no tank is necessary. Captain Saeed handles all the aggro. All in all, it was a pretty easy fight. I made sure that the good Captain stayed up while the druid and the lock dps-ed down Dimensius. Then, I just strolled back to the quest giver and picked up my new pants.

A kind guildie crafted me a Silver Spellthread and also swapped enchants on my mace (from Major Int to Major Healing) and I'm now sitting at over 1400 + to healing unbuffed. Oh, yeah. Sure, I'm poor now (those mats are expensive), but I'm one happy Healadin.

Here's my new look, front and back. I just love the way my mace glows now.

Edit: I realize that on the shopping trip I took on Tuesday, I forgot to look for gloves and bracers. For gloves, I've decided on the Merciless Gladiator's Ornamented Gloves. These will cost me 978 Arena Points, once I can find someone intellectually challenged enough to pvp with me. (Interestingly enough, these are the only pvp related piece that I'd be interested in picking up. Sure, there are a few minor upgrades, but certainly nothing else that would be worth the time or effort this side of S3)

For Bracers, I'm going to pick up the Vambraces of the Naaru once I have enough badges, and after I've upgraded my shield, of course. Currently, I have 15 Badges. The Shield will cost 33, the bracers 35, and after that I'll likely spend 25 on a new ring and 20 on a new Libram. Woot woot for phat loot!

Act 3: A Pox on the Burning Blade

2008-02-27T06:43:00.000-08:00

So, last night was the first meeting of the Yellow "We Ain't Got No Pox" Group. Lazztacular was chompin' at the bit to get going and prove his tanking prowess, so I logged in early to run around and pick up a bunch of quests.

Demotail was also on a bit early, just to finish the leveling process and ding 10. I think she bumped into Daxe (of the highly acclaimed Daxe Fifth Avenue) because all I heard through guild chat was "Hey Guys! Check out the Kmart clothes I found on TJ!!!!" Needless to say, we waisted no time in ushering her into the store and outfitting her in all the latest, trendy heal gear. I wish I had taken screenshots.

While the outfitting was going on, I shared all the quests I had been picking up in the Barrens and for Ragefire Chasm. One of the RFC quests first had us going outside the city into a cave infested with Burning Blade Fanatics to collect a Lieutenant's Insignia for Thrall. Since it was close, we figured we'd start with that one.

So off we trooped to the cave, all very excited to start our adventuring. And I've got to say, my group mates kick some serious butt! Demo's a healing machine, yet she's quite capable of melting faces when the opportunity arises. And Rabbit has some massive dps, and is quick with the Polymorpoh. Personally, I think I have some work to do in the tank department, as I broke a few sheep and had some bad pulls, but it's a work in progress.

I got my Insignia quite early on, but unfortunately the fanatic who dropped it only had the one. So on we went, decimating the Burning Blade ranks significantly, searching for another two Lieutenants. There was a brief point where it was just Demo and I (Rabbit had to log out for a bit) where we ran into problems. Demo had warned us that she's a rare elite magnet, and she certainly proved herself right. A level 14 elite patrolled into us while we were fighting two fanatics and two voidwalkers. I rushed in to pick him up, but I was just taking more damage than Demo could heal. My health was dropping so I sucked back a Lesser Healing Potion and went right on tanking. I was still taking too much damage, however, and without our mage there to crowd control and dps, the mobs just weren't dying. I opted to try a War Stomp to stun my attackers so I could pop a rejuvenation on myself, but in retrospect this was probably not a good idea. In humanoid form, I just don't have the same mitigation, and I promptly died a horribly gruesome death. Demotail followed shortly, but she took the elite down with us. Talk about a kick ass priest, huh? Unfortunately, there was another player there, a troll rogue, who slipped in and tagged the elite, so no phat lewt for us. :(

Rabbit quickly rejoined us, and we went back to merrily wreaking havoc on the place. Eventually, my groupmates also received their insignias, and we left the cave. Our allotted play time had expired, however, and we had to call it a night. We'll be picking things up on Thursday, though, and bring our three person killing machine to the Barrens.

Lessons Learned:

TJ has exceptional hearing. While we were setting up the ingame voice, and I was spouting nonsense (ie. check. check. you all hear me? check. check.) she writes "OMG! I HEAR A CANADIAN!!!" I didn't realize it was that noticeable.

Growl works great to get a mob's attention but doesn't raise my threat if he's already targeting me

Quests where we all have to pick up a certain item (or collection of items) suck. Let's try and avoid them as much as possible, kk?

If I'm going to be all like "moon = sheep!", first, I should make sure the moon is sheepable, and second, I shouldn't attack said sheep seconds after the sheeping has occurred

Mages are Over Powered. It's not hard to tank if the target falls dead seconds after I engage it. Kudos to Rabbit for the massive dps output

Having a priest who can heal and dps is a rare treat. I highly recommend the other Pox groups get their very own TJ

I must remember to take screenshots next time.

All in all, it was a fantastic time. I can't wait for Thursday. Until then, it's back to fishing for me.

Act 1: Pretty in Plate

2008-02-26T10:12:00.000-08:00

Well, it's Tuesday.

I hate Tuesday's (the new Monday?) because the servers all being down throws a serious kink in my routine. I did manage to log into Taccy for a brief foray into the Auction House, but the clock was ticking and I didn't get much accomplished besides an Auctioneer scan.

So I moped, and thought about all of the great things I'd be accomplishing if only the servers were up. And then I did what anyone would do to stave off the Tuesday blues--I went shopping!

Here's my current gear.

As you know, I've been busting my butt trying to pry the Breastplate of Many Graces out of Vorpil's cold dead hand. So far, no success. My many attempts, however, have left me quite close (nearly 3/4 of the way) to Exalted with Lower City, which would allow me to purchase the Gavel of Unearthed Secrets, a very nice upgrade for my soloing set.

That's two major upgrades that are very attainable (assuming that Vorpil starts cooperating). I've already decided that I'm going to re-enchant my Shard of the Virtuous with the Healing enchant since my new hat has put my mana pool at a comfortable level, and my new damage gavel would get a nice damage boost. And since I gots lots of mana, but very little regeneration, I've decided that when I finally claim my new breastplate, I shall adorn it with a little Mana per 5.

So, I'm starting to feel a little better. A couple more Shadow Lab runs will get me halfway to where I want to be. And, as I discovered today, the other half is almost as easy. I only need 3000 more reputation with Honor Hold to make Revered, which would allow me to purchase both the Glyph of Renewal and the Ring of Convalescence. Not only that, but running a few Shattered Halls would net me a pretty new cloak. (The Mantle of Vivification, a quest reward for doing "The Will of the Warchief". Though try pronouncing the name. Vivphthication) Now, there aren't many good healer enchants for cloaks, but I figure I'll give it a nice threat reduction.

Aside from that, I only need to quickly do "Dimesius the All Devouring", pick up some shnazy new Starcaller's Plated Legguards, slap a silver Spellthread on them, and I'm off to the races, baby! (read: heroics)

Really, I'm quite excited. This all seems quite do-able to me. Aside from the momentous cost of all the enchants I'm planning, all this will take is a little time and a very little amount of luck. (come on Vorpil...you know ya wanna).

Color me cheered up!

Oh! And in other news, the Yellow Poxless will be sweeping a swath of destruction across the Barrens this evening. Taccy is anxiously awaiting.

Act 3: Pox-pothesis

2008-02-24T04:19:00.000-08:00

It's being called, "The Great Experiment". And as every good experiment must start with some hypothesis, let's review mine.

Lazz's Top Three Predictions of Pox Arcanum:

1) The leveling process will take much longer. The fact is, Blizz just didn't set the game up to be played the way we're playing it. Quite the opposite, they set things up to make soloing the quickest way to gain xp, and they penalize players who want to group up. The good news is, we're not in this to power level our toons. We are here for the social aspect, so taking a little longer to get to the next level isn't such an issue. One thing I will predict, however, is that we will be much more choosy about which quests we complete during our limited playtime. (for example, can you imagine doing the "Collect 40 Pirate Hats" quest of Tanaris. That's 200 hats!)

2) Instance running will be the most viable way to gain experience/loot. First of all, while questing out in the world of Azeroth isn't set up for five person groups, instances are. The loot/experience gained per kill is greatly increased, as is the challenge. Not only that, but it's better loot, and better enchanting mats. So I think that we'll find ourselves drawn to running instances over general questing in the long run.

3) Our professions will level much quicker than normal. This one's a gimme. When the only time you can gain xp is when your four other companions are on, the rest of the time will be spent working on your professions. Also, as we are a community, with mats freely shared, we'll be better equipped to level our professions as we will generally have more of everything we need. It will be interesting, as four groups of five level at approximately the same rate, they will generally be at the same level in their professions as everyone else. So the Jewelcrafters, the Blacksmiths and the Engineers will all need copper at the same time that all those who've chosen gathering professions will be mining copper. And, since our professions will be higher than they usually are at any given level, the craftables will actually be valuable (too often with a crafting profession, by the time you can make the item, it's no longer an upgrade for you).

I think that the Yellow Poxless will be up and running this coming week, and I'll be able to see how my predictions shape up. Really, it's an experiment that can't fail, because the purpose is simply "have fun in a group", but it's interesting to see how the details work themselves out.

Act 1: Fashion Faux Pas

2008-02-23T13:44:00.000-08:00

So I finally got my Mask of Penance out of Steamvaults. And though it's a massive upgrade for me in almost every aspect, I can't force myself to show it off. Before this dropped, I was wearing one of those generic "...of healing" helms that gave me +110 to healing and nothing else. It looked like a helmet's supposed to look like and was a generic grayish brownish shade that went with everything. Though the rest of my outfit wasn't really designed to go together, it didn't give me a headache to look at myself.

But now! I want to bury my head in the sand. It's awful.

I do have several options. I can use the WoW Interface Options Menu to hide both my brand new helmet and my ugly teal Cloak of Whispering Shells. The results are not quite as horrific.

Another option would be to never don my healing gear when out in public. My damage set isn't all that bad looking, and this solution would cut down significantly on my humiliation time.

Now, I don't think it's the Mask in and of itself that's the problem. It's actually kinda cool lookin'. I think the main accessory that throws everything else off is my huge yellow shield. The Crystal Pulse Shield. Hopefully, once I can gather the 33 Badges it takes to purchase, I can remedy the entire situation with the Light-Bearer's Faith Shield. But until then, I'm going to have to swallow my pride and hope that the tank doesn't go into epileptic seizures every time he looks at me.

Isn't it sad that I feel as if my healing credibility is shot because of my clownish appearance? Does this make me terribly vain?

As for the other gear I'm grinding for, I'm oh for eleven on my Breastplate of Many Graces and oh for three on the Life Bearer's Gauntlets. After the mask dropped, I thought that it might be my lucky day, and rushed off to Slabs. Alas, Vorpil was as tight fisted as ever, and all I got was a slight headache from looking at myself and a lasting irritation from a bad pug. Hopefully tomorrow will tell a different story.

Act 3: Rejuvenation ftw!

2008-02-22T09:07:00.000-08:00

So, I spent the morning playing Taccy, and I gotta tell you, I'm having a blast.

First of all, the Druid is great fun to play in the early stages of the game. (I just dinged level 9!) I can cast Roots, Moonfire the sucka, Wrath to my heart's content, and when the enraged mob gets close and thinks it's gonna do a bit of damage, BAM! Rejuvenation! I'm really enjoying the Druid as a caster, and if the Yellow team doesn't need my services as a tank, I think I'm going to spec Balance. (Not that I wouldn't mind being a tank either, but if I'm to dps, I think I'll prefer the feathery kind)

Wulfa was kind enough to send me a tabard, and boy do I look dashing! Really accentuates my skin tones, don't you think?

Speaking of skin, I've decided that Lazztacular is going to be a skinner/leatherworker. Not only are there some great patterns out there, but I'll be able to make Armor Kits for the tanks, Quivers and Ammo Pouches for the Hunters, and Drums to buff the entire group.

And that's really what is the most fun about all this--figuring out how I'll best be able to contribute to the group. The gear I craft to level my Leatherworking will be sent to my group's Enchanter to disenchant. The mats from that will go to leveling their profession and equipping us all with enchants. The trick will be to level my professions on off hours without gaining experience. I'm thinking I'm going to have to farm beasts that are grey to me so as not to Ding inadvertently.

One thing that puzzles me, though. I had always thought of the Taurens as being like our Native Americans were. Living off the land, but also giving back to the land. Hunting for survival, rather than sport, and as such using every part of the creature so as to honor it's sacrifice. Could be that I have very misguided views about the Tauren race, however, as this Kodo Head suggests.

EDIT: I logged in this afternoon, just so I can ding level 10 (yay!) and I discovered something interesting. You know when you see a critter and you just can't resist running up and smashing it's cute, fuzzy little face in? Well ho! No xp, and a nice little Ruined Leather Scrap. Sometimes you even get a full piece of leather! So, one day soon I will embark on The Great Critter Face Smashing Skinner Grind Extravaganza!

Act 3: Lazztacular

2008-02-22T03:00:00.000-08:00

or "Shoot. The onus is on me now".

So first I got me my very first comment. (/target Pike /wave). And then I signed up to be a part of an epic, groundbreaking, utterly spectacular guild... that also happens to be full of bloggers whom I read diligently. Bloggers who are likely going to be poking around here. Bloggers whom I want to impress.

Shoot. The onus is on me now.

It's obvious that if people are actually going to be stopping by from time to time, I need to have new and interesting stuff for them to read. So, in the interest of keeping things simple, I've decided to shelve all of my alt projects for the time being and focus on the three characters that I've committed myself to playing. My holy Paladin on Malygos, my beastmaster Hunter on Darkspear, and my shiny new druid on Anvilmar.

Let's make some introductions. Lazztacular, your viewing public, public, Lazz.

Lazztacular hails from a proud tribe of Taurens. His father was a Hunter. His father's father was a Hunter. In fact, except for one strange cousin who ran off to become a Paladin, all of Lazztacular's family rolled a Hunter.

But Lazztacular was different. He was more in tune with nature; he walked with the Earth Mother. Rather than taming animals, Taccy wanted to be animals.

So it was, on the day of his creation, when a level 2 hunter with a less than modest name challenged him to a duel, Lazztacular felt it was his duty to accept. Sure, there was a level difference to consider, but Taccy felt he was up to the challenge.

It was an epic struggle, and for a moment it seemed as if all was lost for our brave Tauren druid, but then it came to him. "I'm only minutes old. I'm too young to die! I'm sure that the Earth Mother will give me some way overcome this obstacle". And lo! There was. Suffice it to say, the hunter was not impressed with his defeat, and vocally told Taccy where he could "stick his heals".

And this was my introduction to Anvilmar.

Not to worry, however, things are looking up. Dammerung sent me a guild invite to the illustrious Pox Arcanum where I shall be either Feral Druid Tank, sneaky kitty dps, or feathery Laser Chicken of The Yellow Poxless team. I'm terribly excited. It was an honor to simply be in the same guild chat with these folks, whom I've been reading but have never interacted with before. I can't wait to start the journey with my fellow Yellows.

All in all, I think it's going to be a rewarding experience. Not just meeting a bunch of cool new people, learning about a whole new class, or experimenting with brand new professions. It's the group aspect of it all that I think is going to be the most interesting. The Anti-pug.

I can't wait.

Act 2: Locolazz

2008-02-17T08:34:00.001-08:00

Introducing Locolazz

On the left, you can see his beautiful windserpent, Temper. And on the right, his faithful wolf, Hampton.

Temper is a fantastic pvp pet. Lightning Breath is a massive damage dealer, though it really burns through the focus (can't wait till I get Go For the Throat).

And Hampton is a solid addition to any group. Van loves Furious Howl, and to be honest, so do I. Though he's not as good at keeping agro as other pets, he really doesn't have to be. Like Ess from Outland Bound is doing with her Anti-Pug experiment, so has Locolazz been leveling only in a group. (It's great fun, and I highly recommend it. The Hunter/Druid team has been especially strong.) So Hampton is merely there for added dps, and his nice group buff.

So let's talk spec. Locolazz has chosen a standard 41/20/0 spec, and will likely stay in a similar spec for his entire life. (though there may be some tweaking once, and if, he starts doing 10 man and above instances).

Because he only plays in a a group setting, he's chosen 5/5 in Improved Aspect of The Hawk, and boy, is it nice when it procs. He's gone 2/2 in Focused Fire because, though he doesn't have Kill Command yet, he will someday, and until then a 2% overall damage increase is nothing to sneeze at.

All in all, a standard build. I've seen many hunters putting points into Spirit Bond and Pathfinding, which seems like wasted points in my opinion. Or more, a sacrifice too great to make. Because in order to have Pathfinding (situational at best) and Spirit Bond (a minor, minor increase to health regen) you must take the points from other, more useful talents.

If you're like me, you enjoy agonizing over talent choices long before you actually have to make them, and this is (in my opinion) the best use of 41 points within the Beastmaster Tree to make a hunter viable in both a PvE group and a PvP setting. Gottsa bring my MQoSRDPS but I also want to kick ass both in Battlegrounds and in the world at large.

I find I'm really enjoying the PvP aspect of the game for the first time. I've never pvped on any of my other toons, and I like the fact that circumstance (ie. being on a pvp realm) has forced me to learn how.

And I'm not doing too badly.

...considering I've power leveled this guy.

Director's Notes: WTB Blogger Advice

2008-02-15T21:20:00.001-08:00

Just a quick question to any Blogger-er who might be strolling through.

I want my links to Wowhead to show up as item tooltips, like all the cool Bloggers are doing. Now on the Wowhead website, it says to copy a piece of HTML code anywhere on my site, and any link to Wowhead shall show up as a tooltip.

Sounds easy in theory, but for a computer semi-illiterate such as myself, it's a little harder to put into practice. I've tried pasting the code in many different places, and either the site rejects it, or it does nothing at all.

So, help me!

WTB Blogger Advice.

Where, on this site, am I supposed to paste the code so that all my pretty little links show up as tooltips?

thanks,
~Lazz

EDIT: Hey! I figured it out! If you got to "Edit Layout", and "Add A Page Element", and select "HTML/Javascript", you can place the code there and it will effect the whole page. Yay for me!

Act 1: Lazztastic

2008-02-13T08:51:00.000-08:00

Everyone, this is Lazztastic, Lazz, everyone.

kk.

Introductions aside, I've found myself far more bound and determined to play my pally than I have been in the past few weeks. Probably, simply to have something to report on this here blog. Alas, it is not to be.

After 6 pick up Slab runs, I'm Oh for Six on Vorpil dropping my Breastplate of Many Graces. I'm serious. Six runs, and the only thing I have to show for it is Revered Rep with Lower City allowing me to purchase my Lower City Prayerbook. It is a cool trinket, however. So all is not at a complete loss.

I took a break from Slabs to run Steam Vaults (I'm trying to replace my green "+ to healing and nothing else" hat with Mask of Penance) and what should drop but the Breastplate of Righteousness. Now, I'm kinda excited. With the right sockets, this piece replaced both my old healing and my old damage chest piece. I realize that it's tank gear, but I've taken a new approach to my Pally.

Or I should say, I'm starting to take the correct approach to soloing on my Pally.

To Illustrate just how noobish I was, let me show you what I was killing things with before my Eurika! moment. The Singing Crystal Axe (which isn't a bad Ret Pally piece, haste is great) with a Savagery enchant on it (and since I know now that weapon damage is less than desirable as a Pally, this chant was a major waste of money). Now, in my defence, this character has never gone Retribution. He leveled Prot, and switched Holy at level 70. Still, I should have known better.

When airing my woes to Van on vent one day, he suggested I switch things up a bit.

me: I KEEP DYING!
Van: Why not switch things up a bit. That new axe of yours is pretty, but it doesn't seem to be doing it's job. How bout you try killing things in your healing gear.
me: Well, I might be able to heal through fights a little better, but I want to KILL THINGS!!!!
Van: At least you'll survive

Eurika!

That's really my only option. Survival.

So, I respeced Holy/Prot from Holy/Ret. I tossed most of my "damage" set. (lol) And I'm making out much better on my own.

Lesson learned: Pally tank gear = WIN for soloing Holy Paladins.
Gear I'm working on getting: Breastplate of Many Graces from Slabs, Mask of Penance from SV, and Life Bearer's Gauntlets from SH.
Other Goals: Work on leveling fishing and cooking while waiting for pugs
Weekend Wishes: My most wonderful guild has once again invited me on their "scrub" Kara run (where the Hardcore raiders get to take their Alts, and the noobs like me get to take themselves). I wish I may, I wish I might.... all depends on real life scheduling

Introduction and Cast of Characters

2008-02-12T17:55:00.000-08:00

I fear I'm developing split personality.

I am Lazz, but I exist in many places at once.

Not only that, but I'm having trouble staying focused, and am starting to show signs of the dreaded Altitus. You see, at this point in my WoW career I'm trying to progress two toons on separate Realms, along with a host of Alts that keep cropping up like pimples on Prom day. It can hardly be ascribed to wow burnout. I'm fairly new to the game, and still find it fun and exciting. So I can only assume that I'm getting overwhelmed with "the big picture"; I'm seeing where I want to be, and trying to get there all at once. I see the forest, just can't discern the individual trees.

So, in an effort to alleviate the symptoms, and (cross fingers) cure the disease, I've determined that it would be helpful to keep a log of my actions, goals, and accomplishments. It will help to keep me on track.

My first home, is a lovely little place called Malygos. I've had the opportunity to level a character to 70 on both the Horde and Alliance side of this server, and though I now lounge around Stormwind rather than hanging out on the Orgrimmar Bank's roof, I've enjoyed both experiences. Let me introduce the Act 1 Cast of characters.

Lazzerific: This was my first level 70, my first hunter, and my first horde. I absolutely love the Hunter class, and had a lot of fun leveling him. He is currently guildless and unused, so he probably won't make it into my little play very often (if at all). Still, he deserves an honorable mention, no? Goals: -if I ever pick him up again, it'll be to pvp.

Lazztastic: My second level 70. He's a human Holy Paladin with a flair for fishing and spicy dash of noobishness. I must admit, though on paper he's my main, I'm not as good with the paladin play mechanic as I'd like. Which is probably why I haven't been playing him as much as I should be lately. I want to raid with him, but am having motivational issues in getting him ready. Goals: -level professions to cap (Blacksmithing, Fishing and Cooking) -gear up for Kara (though, through the graciousness of a wonderful guild I'm already sporting a few Kara purples, I am mostly undergeared for the raid) -raise money for an epic flyer -Mr. Pinchy (booya)

Lazzalicious: What else would I call a Night Elf girl who runs around with a big gun all the time? She is pure pleasure when I can steal the time for her (which isn't very often). I'm experimenting with the Survival spec. I had decided to make her both an Engineer AND a Jewelcrafter with my Pally feeding her the mats for both, but in retrospect that's idiotic, and I'm gonna drop the JCing. Goals: -likely twinkification at some point

Lazaras: He stared as a Tauren Druid, but then he accidentally stepped through a friends Dimensional Ripper and he became Gnomified. Truth be told, it's probably for the best. The Cenarian Circle frowns on their members running around summoning demons and sucking peoples souls. Goals: -I'd like to see him make 70. I love the DOTDOTDOTDOTlifedrain play style. And it would be nice to have someone on Malygos who isn't a Pally to farm stuff.

The second star of Act 1 is my best friend, and the person responsible for introducing me to WoW. He shall henceforth be known as Van. His host of characters on Malygos who will likely make guest appearances in Act 1 of my little play include:

Lightbreeze (an ultra-geared 70 holy priest)
Nightshadows (an uber 70 hunter)
Wavehunter (a fear inspiring lock)
Vandora (a sneaky, sneaky rogue)

I'm sure I'll add more support characters from my social tab, but let this suffice for now

Moving on to my second self.

Darkspear was a little scary at first, I'll admit. Van has a coworker who had recently rolled a toon here, and we decide to join him. Both, because neither of us had any experience with a pvp realm, and because Van was getting bored with Malygos. In many ways, he's at the opposite point of the game from me. Whereas, I have so much to do it overwhelms me, he's done it all. So a pvp realm offered him a fresh experience, and one that I am glad to share.

It's not as bad as I thought it would be. Sure, I've been ganked, but that's to be expected, I guess. Maybe, once I hit 70, I'll run around Hillsbrad killing anything that moves too (though how this is a rewarding use of time, I'll never know). But let me tell you something, when I see that red name in the distance, and I can actually see the enemy's level, my blood get's a pumping. Great fun. Let me introduce myself.

Locolazz: Yup, I fell back on what I know best. This guy is going full 41/20/0 Beastmaster, and is kicking butt the whole way up. Though, if I could change the name, I would. Too many people asking "Local Azz?" or "Low Class?". I've chosen two gathering professions, as he's my only toon on this server, and I wanted to generate some money quickly. Once I have my regular flying mount at 70, I'm going to drop one and either go Leatherworking or Engineering. Not sure yet. Goals: -level to 70 -after that, who knows.

Supporting cast: Vandora (Van's tanking druid), Eithna (the coworker's 70 Arcane/Fire Mage), and more to come (as I meet people, and as people from our Malygos guild take us up on our offer and roll toons here)

And there you have it. Me in a nutshell. Me in a nuthouse.

I welcome comments. I adore compliments, but appreciate critics. Especially, any insight you may have concerning my Pally.

Cheer and beer,

~Lazz