November 25, 2008

Moonglade

Wasn't Princess Theradras of Maraudon a real cutie pie?



~Princess Theradras Bio (from Wiki)
She is an elemental force of earth related to the Old Gods, a daughter of Therazane the Stonemother. Ages ago, Theradras and Zaetar, first son of Cenarius, began a relationship. The offspring of their time together became known to the people of Kalimdor as centaurs, who promptly slew their father for his part in their misbegotten creation. Fearful of Cenarius' wrath, the grief-stricken Theradras sequestered her dead lover's body in her secret sanctuary, the Crystal Caverns of Terramok, where she watches over him to this day. Travelers who come to Desolace have little trouble spotting Zaetar's tomb, for the blessing of nature that permeates his being transformed his resting place into a verdant paradise of flora and tranquil pools. Today, this tomb is now trodden by the hooves of Zaetar's children, who have claimed this great cavern as their sacred stronghold Maraudon. The subterranean tunnels are populated by the vicious, long-dead ghosts of the centaur Khans, as well as Theradras' own raging, elemental minions.

I managed to get to Moonglade last night to turn in the Seed of Life quest. My first attempt to drown myself so I could exploit the spirit rez didn't work so good. Just before drowning I must have tapped one of the move keys and it nudged me into the adjacent zone....I rezed in Darkshore instead. The next attempt went fine. Afterwards, I stopped in at Nighthaven to see what they had to sell. I couldn't leave without getting Mugato some peaches.

~History of Nighthaven (from Wiki)
This city once held the largest concentration of night elves anywhere on Kalimdor. Massive trees, ancients, and many forest beasts fill the surrounding woods. Nighthaven has survived for centuries despite demon and undead attacks, and the night elves protect their home fiercely. They are very cautious of whom they let enter the village. High elves are not allowed under any circumstances, and anyone smelling of arcane power is likewise turned away. Those allowed entry find Nighthaven hospitable, though a subdued and even eerie place. Night elves run the inns, taverns, and shops, and their way of life is rooted in nature. This spiritual heritage manifests in many small ways that foreigners may find unsettling - from how the buildings are constructed to mesh with the surrounding woods to a wildness that seems to lurk just beneath a quiet demeanor. While visitors may come and go as they please for the most part, they are never allowed near moon wells. In addition, any high elves seen near a moon well are attacked on sight.



Instead of hearthing out, I decided to explore some and then visit Felwood, a zone I had never been in. That plan involved traveling through the tunnel of angry Furbolgs to get out. Before leaving Moonglade I grabbed the Horde flight point very close to the tunnel entrance. Most of the way through the L53 Furbolgs went fine, with 2 and 3 pull encounters. However, things got real difficult towards the exit when Mugato had to tank 5 of them, and I had to chain-trap a 6th. We lived!....much to the surprise of two waiting Draenei, who were able to then waltz right down the tunnel without a scratch. They could have at least given Mugato a thank you banana.


Felwood is a little depressing, but after visiting Bloodvenom Post, I'm considering doing my L50s questing in that zone rather than Hinterlands. They also have three cooking recipes there that are good for progression of that skill. I'm interested in seeing what fish come out of the slimmy ponds in Felwood. Another motive for staying is that during some of my older AH research, I discovered that this zone can yield a vanity pet called a Disgusting Oozeling. Maybe I can bring one home for each of us.

November 22, 2008

Maraudon

Maraudon has GOT to be the longest instance in the game. We have still not gotten all the way through it, but have hauled in some good upgrades and had lots of fun. I'm still refining my guide for this place.

Tyberiuss replaced his helmet with the Bloomsprout Headpiece (kinda looks like a hippie headband), and his pants with the Infernal Trickster Leggings.

Over both sessions, attendees were:
Tyberiuss, Asterien, Nowand, Darkdoc, Vynaron, and Fluoxx.

Here is the stat report from the second mission to Maraudon.

~Bacchus Achievement
You may remember me writing that I’m not interested in any of the achievements; if I get one, great!.if I don’t, that’s ok too.

However, before the achievement system was added, there was one "goal" I had in the game that has continued to elude me!.. winning the Stranglethorn Fishing Tournament with my alliance hunter, Bacchus.



The event is held every Sunday at 2pm (server) and I have participated many times; and at best, I come in around 5 fish short of the winner (first to 40 wins).

Last Sunday, I hoped to take advantage of the WotLK launch and win the tournament while all he L70s were in Northrend. No such luck! There were still L70s there, apparently with the same idea as me. I lost by 5 fish again......dang it.

November 07, 2008

Zombies in my Bedroom

So, starting this post off in a personal direction, I have a funny story to tell you. When I sleep, I like to have the room totally dark.....and there is a good reason for this. Any kind of light shadows on the wall or ceiling will cause me problems when I occasionally stir, because in my groggy, dream-fading thoughts, my mind starts to play tricks on me and makes up strange reasons for what I'm seeing. This happens a lot to me, but on rare occasions I will act upon or speak out loud about what I'm perceiving....much to my wife's amusement. Also, stressful life events of the day have also caused me to partially awake and act-out remaining portions of dreams related to those stressful events. During morning breakfast I will get laugh-filled reports from my wife about these rare antics of mine.

Some of my more funny episodes include:
New Hotel Accounting Job - My wife and I awoke one Saturday morning, to see strange and expansive scribbling on my side of the bed sheet. After closely examining these marks, I discovered that some time during the night I had reached over to my nightstand, grabbed an INK PEN, and began writing room rates and accounts receivable info on the bed. I'm glad she was not too mad about that.

New Aircraft Mechanic Job - My wife was awakened when I asked her to pass me a 5/16" wrench. When she asked "what for?", I told her I was taking the engine starter off. She proceeded to play along by passing me imaginary tools as I asked for them....all while I made wrench turning motions in the air.

My newest episode can be blamed on WoW. I routinely stir and have dream-fading thoughts about WoW, but last night I spoke out about it......waking my wife in the process. Her morning report included accounts of me pointing to our bedroom ceiling fan, and referencing a zombie necropolis in the sky. I then began pointing to the light shadows on the wall, and started explaining to my wife that wherever the light beams come out of the necropolis, zombies will be there. She opted not to play along with this one, but knew exactly what I was talking about. I went back to sleep after the raid wiped them out.

Look at this. You can totally see how I could have gotten freaked out.





The zombie event was fun, but apparently I've gotten too large a dose of them.

~Zul'Farrak
This instance is one of my favorites. And fresh into my stables, Mugato made an appearance with me in his first instance. He was a little overzealous on the thunder stomps, but I finally got him calmed down. Make sure to give him a hug when you meet him. He is very anxious to meet the rest of the group, especially Nowand, since I had to explain to Mugato that there are actually boy and girl bloodelfs. He is not convinced, and still thinks all bloodelfs are girls.


The rest of our ZF crew consisted of Asterien, Darkdoc, Firfeldre, and Yrys. While almost everyone came away with the Carrot on a Stick as a quest reward, some folks also got some blues.

Firfeldre picked up Big Bad Pauldrons. Darkdoc got the Bad Mojo Mask.

I recorded the combat log that evening on a WoW Web Stat Report. Make sure to click on the toon name to get even more details. This is a great tool, and reviewing the content may help the attendees get a better idea of their performance at the micro level. Check it out soon, as the free version only maintains the report for around two weeks.

Report Snapshot

~Running of the Beef 4: The Resurrection
Some of our group did partake in this event. We all rezd on the Stormwind Cathedral steps, and proceeded to wreak havoc amongst the terrified inhabitants. Here is a pic of us all in the spirit world just before resurrecting. My toon created just for the event was named Fmundacheeze.