Petoholics Anonymous

Lame update title because I can’t think of anything funny

// February 2nd, 2010 // 3 Comments » // Hunters and Pets, Non-hunters, Random Stuff

My updates have been a little…lacking, so here’s a summary of all the things that have been happening.

On Saturday, we had our memorial for Vinny. Over 25 people showed up at the Shrine of the Fallen Warrior in the Barrens and we spent a couple hours recounting stories about him and giving a “KungalooooOOOOooooOOOooosh” salute. It was very nice.

My shammy Zulrea is level 78 as we speak, as well as Kazi’s warlock Basia. A destruction warlock and an elemental shaman are a scary combination. We keep lamenting about how we can only get 2 spells off each before a mob dies. >.> On that note, having Lava Burst always crit is awesome. Also, she dropped skinning and took up inscription…partially because I wanted a scribe and partially because Basia is a tailor/enchanter. So Kazi gets all my weapon/armor vellums.

Saraku is finally exalted with Netherwing (with much help provided by Kazi searching for eggs). So now he can transform back to his original drake form in character. Still working on Crusader dailies with him but not with much enthusiasm. He also has his complete T9 tanking set. I started getting his T9 healing set together but then I found out that I like healing on Zulrea better anyways.

Niqo has 4 pieces of T9, the Orca-Hunter’s Harpoon, the Felglacier Bolter, the Pauldrons of the Devourer,  the Crusader’s Dragonscale Bracers (a Christmas gift from Kazi), and the Recovered Scarlet Onslaught Cape. In short…she looks like just about every other hunter who’s done a ton of randoms. I’m quite satisfied about my 3.7-4k dps with a BM spec in heroics, with it spiking on the bosses when I pop my cooldowns and trinkets. Also, the redesigned Misdirect + Volley is sooooo nice. It really helped tanks in H-HoR before they nerfed the damage. Oh, and she got her “the Patient” title which is quite suitable for her RP-wise.

I rolled a fury warrior called Tuyok who now is level 25 and has 4 pieces of heirloom gear equipped. In character, he is Mysthowl’s and Niqora’s adoptive teenage son and his full first name is Issorartuyok. Try saying that five times fast. It’s the Inuit word for “leader dog”. He’s pretty much the character that I play solo when I’m not doing something with the people of BR.

Kazi and I have been talking about what characters we’re going to roll when Cataclysm comes out. I’m going to roll a worgen druid to be paired with his worgen hunter (with a wolf pet of course!) and a goblin hunter with his goblin priest/mage. We decided to reserve our names and because my 10 character slots on Wyrmrest Accord where already taken…I needed to clear up two spots. The first one to go was Fawnel, my tauren druid who wasn’t getting played anyway. My hope is that the worgen will have some sort of wolf-like cat form which will help me enjoy playing a druid more. Choosing the second character to delete was tough but I finally settled on Brighit, my draenei hunter. I play her even less than Fawnel and once I do start playing a little bit on Alliance side with the expansion, my focus is going to be solely on my druid. So it was hard to let her go but at least I’ll be making a goblin hunter, right? Right? >.> I’m currently debating between a raptor or a bear for her. I do love raptors and they have similar personalities to goblins. On the other hand, a giant bear with tons of explosives strapped to it does make a rather intimidating and funny image. Have I mentioned that the goblin is going to be half out of her mind?

Bloodriver as a guild is working on making our way through Ulduar and we’ve dipped our toes in TotC and Onyxia. We’ve come up to Freya on our last Ulduar run and we haven’t tried to get Ony down again since 3.3.0 came out. So I think that next time we go in there, we’ll be able to take her down. We also have a sister guild on Alliance side called Obsidian Phoenix that is slowly filling up with people who have Ally characters. That’s where our worgens will find their home.

And last but not least…I got a Logitech G11 keyboard. The blue LED lights are so very pretty and shiny. Plus the macro keys have given me a noticeable improvement in Niqo’s dps. I’d be completely pleased with it if the keys didn’t seem to randomly stop working when I switch characters (I blame the program, not the keyboard itself).

Patch 3.3.2 is all loaded up and I’m eager to get home for work and see what new things await for me. I heard there’s been a buff for elemental shamans.

Now hopefully my next update will come before Cataclysm is released. >.>

Saraku – Part 2: Fire

// November 2nd, 2009 // 4 Comments » // Non-hunters, Roleplay

“You have a choice, Saraku.”

That is what my tauren said to me the first day, when we stood on a windy ledge before another netherdrake disguised as a blood elf. I would not forget the way her eyes held my gaze as she spoke, because I would see that same glint in them every morning after. She did not speak those words again but then she did not need to. My choice was my own and only my own. At a moment’s whim, I could have flown away from Netherwing Ledge, away from Shadowmoon Valley, and I would have never had to return. She would not judge, she would not argue. My life was my own now, as she said it.

At first it was confusion that made me follow her back to the Ledge. The blood-elf-drake spoke of things that would only make sense much later, and all the while he looked down his nose at me with pity and frustration. My tauren, on the other hand, had been giving me the same gentle care that she gave her wolf Blacky and without my slaver, I was at a loss for what to do. She also cooked better food than I had ever tasted in my life. Merely thinking of her feltail delight made me drool.

I stared at her for a long moment when she said those words to me, not understanding what they meant. But I knew I was not allowed to ask any questions so I simply nodded my head. The blood-elf-drake then spoke some words to her and handed her a small metallic object. As soon as it brushed her fingertips, my tauren was gone and a slaver I had never seen before stood in her place. I shied away abruptly, fearing that another slaver had finally come to beat me for losing the first one. Then the slaver dropped the object as if it was burning him and just as suddenly my tauren was back. She dashed over to me and reached up to softly hold my head in her hands as she explained very patiently how it had simply been an illusion, nothing more. Once I had calmed down and understood what was happening, she scooped up the object to transform once again. She and the blood-elf-drake worked efficiently to secure already prepared packs to my back while Blacky weaved in and out under my legs. Before she heaved herself up on my back in a rather ungraceful manner, she bent over to give her wolf a tight hug who whined mournfully in response, to which my tauren whispered something softly in the beast’s ear. The Nether stirred itself forcefully the instant I snapped open my wings and threw us over the void.

The slavers were none the wiser of who my tauren really was, but seemed content with giving her menial tasks and then dismissing her with a crude grunt. Blacky joined us on the island sometime during the night, materializing out of the shadows with a wolfish grin that made my tauren laugh heartily.

“It is this gift she has,” she explained to me with a similar grin after she had finished hugging her pet and had noticed my startled expression.

The mundane tasks my tauren did each day appeared strange to me but soon she explained that her purpose–our purpose–was to sabotage the slavers from within. My part to play was not only to be her means of flying, but also her guide and sentry when her attention was otherwise on her mission.

At the time, I did not appreciate or understand her work as she did…it was our meals that were the highlights for me. She would make a small smokeless fire and the three of us would gather around it as she passed around whatever food that a certain netherdrake-disguised-as-a-goblin had smuggled to her that day. It was never the same thing twice but every meal was as tasty as the last. These were also the times when she would explain everything she did that day, why she did it, and then she would finish up with a tale of her own experiences before coming to the Netherwing Ledge. Slowly, under her careful encouragement, I began talking as well and asking questions.

One of the first questions I asked was if she was my new slaver.

Her stone green eyes widened at my words and she waved her hands at me frantically. “No no no, Saraku. I am not your new slaver, and never again shall you be a slave. You have your freedom now just as I or Blacky does. You need not listen to anyone’s orders anymore, not a slaver’s or even my own.”

“But you do the slavers’ tasks, you listen to their orders. Which is the orders that blood elf gave you. And Blacky listens to your orders,” I pointed out around a mouthful of grilled mudfish.

“It is my choice to follow those orders, because what I want to do is to help you and the other netherdrakes. If I did not want that, then I would not listen, and I would fight them tooth and nail if they tried to force me to do them. Blacky listens to me because she is my dearest friend and she wants to protect me as I protect her. If it was what she wanted, she could try to attack me and chew on my bones as her next meal, but she does not want that.” Smiling wryly at her wolf, my tauren added, “At least I hope that she does not want to do that.” Blacky huffed indignantly and cracked the large talbuk bone she had been chewing on as if to prove a point. My tauren laughed in response.

I scratched an itch under my chin with my right foreclaw. “So Blacky is your wolf, your pet, your friend, and you are her hunter, her friend as well. Then what am I to you?”

My tauren prodded the fire with a small thin stick, stirring up the ashes and sparks that floated up high into the night sky. “You are my guide, my drake, and if I may call you so, also my friend,” she said gently, eyes drifting from the flames to meet my gaze.

This concept of having a friend…I turned it over in my mind with a facination of someone who had just discovered a strangely brilliant gem hidden among dull grey stones. “So to me,” I mumbled slowly, “you are my friend, my rider, my…tauren.”

Her face broke out in a smile and she chuckled softly, her eyes lit with humor. “If that is what you wish me to be, Saraku. I would be honored to be all of those, especially your tauren.” She bowed to me awkwardly from her seated position and I could not help but return her infectiously good mood with a smile of my own, even though I was not quite sure what the joke was. It was then that she told me her first story of how she had met the blood-elf-drake and in joining the Netherwings in their cause, came to meet me. And it was also then that I realized, without even knowing what I had been doing, I had made the right choice and made my own dearest friend.

The Adventures of Kazimierz and Saraku: Kazi’s screenshots

// October 15th, 2009 // No Comments » // The Adventures of Kazimierz and Saraku

When I posted the first of Kazi’s and Saraku’s Adventures yesterday, I lamented not taking any screenshots of the Tanaris Islands and the tauren home. But lucky Kazi had the foresight to take a couple and linked them in the comments. So here they are in their own post!

Yeah, I know Kazi did all the driving the whole way there. But I provided directions and Crusader Aura, so that makes me a good co-pilot…right? Right?

On a side note, I think Kazi should start a blog of his own and join the Bloodriver troop of bloggers (even if he isn’t technically in Bloodriver, he’s an honorary member in my eyes). Dooooo eet, Kazi.

The Adventures of Kazimierz and Saraku: Shatterspear Village

// October 14th, 2009 // 8 Comments » // The Adventures of Kazimierz and Saraku

It started out innocently enough.

Kazi had offered to help me out with something on Saraku (looking for an engineering recipe I believe) and on the way he stopped to see if the raid boss dragon in Duskwood was around. We tried to 2-man it, discovered that it uses a cheap sleeping cloud trick, and ended up running back to our bodies. Then we rode around some more…well Kazi drove, I rode in the side car of his Mechano-hog. Then we started talking over vent about exploring and we discovered that Kazi had never been to the little tauren farm south of Silithus and neither of us had been to the Tanaris Islands.

This called for a road trip!

We hearthed to Dalaran, took the portal to the Caverns of Time, and then I hoped in the side car again as we made the trip. There was some fatigue getting out to the islands but we made it in plenty of time (yay for Crusader Aura). This is the part where I completely forgot to take screenshots. /sigh

The Tanaris Islands are 2 islands that are only inhabited by a handful of Bloodsail pirates, a scorpion, and a buzzard. However there are a bunch of buildings and contraptions that are interesting. After studying the architecture we discovered that the north islands have gnomish buildings and the south island has goblin buildings. Between Wowwiki and our own thoughts, the place could be a testing ground for engineers, an old competition grounds, or what’s left of a battle between the two races. Either way, it was pretty neat.

Then we headed over to the tauren farm, which is a good half hour ride over water (thank god for shammy water walking). There was a small detour as we explored the rather large cave that’s on the way there and Kazi claimed it for the Horde by planting an Orgrimmar banner in the ground. While admiring the tauren farm, we started talking again about exploring and I mentioned the dancing troll village that I had heard about between Felwood, Moonglade, Winterspring, and Darkshore.

At this point, there was no chance we were going to pass us that challenge. We were off again to Winterspring while I found this video to guide us down the right path. There’s some LONG falls you have to take to get there so you pretty much need some way to slow fall or survive the drops. In our case, we both had engy parachutes and I had bubbles. Engineers FTW. Kazi used his nitro boosts and parachute right at the first big jump, and he sailed right over the village and almost over the mountains on the other side into Darkshore. Being more nervous about it, I took the jumps slowly and one at a time.

Now at this part, I not only remembered to take screenshots but also remembered that Xfire has a built-in video capture. So I will let them speak for themselves.

I like how I ended the video with us fishing in the boat.

EDIT: Forgot to include this little tidbit from WoWWiki:

The Shatterspear village will become an accesible subzone of Darkshore in World of Warcraft: Cataclysm. A screenshot of the village released via press kit shows an ancient nearby.

Speculation has it, that these trolls are the next troll tribe to join the Horde (following the Darkspear and Revantusk tribes). The ancient standing in their village, the proximity to Moonglade, and the fact Trolls are going to be able to become Druids in Cataclysm, causes a suspicion that the Shatterspear Trolls are either becoming a “playable race” (Just saying that the Troll Druids are of the Shatterspear tribe) or that they taught the Trolls of the Darkspear Tribe how to become druids, as well.

Next time on The Adventures of Kazimierz and Saraku, we explore the Tauren house in the mountains between Mulgore and the Barrens!

*glee* Level 80 Round 2!

// October 7th, 2009 // 10 Comments » // Non-hunters

I have to say that when Niqora hit level 80 months ago, I couldn’t imagine maxing out another character nevermind a non-hunter. But last night was the night when my dragonling paladin Saraku dinged level 80. I had been hoping to do it the night before but I didn’t have as much time to play and I swear that the experience required to go from level 79 to 80 is twice what it was to go from 78 to 79. Overall though it seems like the time flew by, like only yesterday he was a little level 30. Between lots of rested XP, the heirloom chest and shoulders, flying in the Outlands and Northrend, and the Carbonite addon, Saraku raced through the levels.

My guildies have known that I’ve been trying to get Saraku to 80 for a while so they were waiting with baited breath last night as I quested my way through a 1/2 level of experience. Between vent and guild chat, I must have been asked 10 times how close I was to the end, or how much longer I thought it was going to be. Kazi (bless that orc man ) took me to the Amphitheater to get a nice healing mace as well as 2 bars of experience, because you know me, I completely forgot about that place.

By the time I had half a bar left, I was running all over Icecrown trying to complete quests as quickly as I could. Of course I went to turn in what I thought was my last quest but sure enough, I had a tiny sliver left. Cursing, I just started murdering the closest mobs (vrykuls) and a few mobs in…

DING!

Much caps over guild chat and many cheers over vent were to be had. And then suddenly everything got chaotic as invites were thrown around and people were clamoring for heroics and I was panicking because I needed to train and get my stash of level 80 gear and put my talent points into my dual specs and…

Well, here’s how I described it to a friend of mine today when I was recounting last night to him:

Okay, maybe I exaggerated in some places. >.> There weren’t actually a “million” invites going out but it seemed that everyone wanted to go to a heroic with Niqo’s new pally (some who had been very patiently waiting for me the entire evening) and there’s only so many spots in a group. The tank wasn’t going that fast, I could still keep up but the pace meant I was staring at Grid for most of the heroic. And I didn’t yell at Kazi, just poked fun at him for having trouble not stealing aggro that night. I did jokingly make a comment about having a nervous breakdown but they sympathized with me…before saying let’s do another heroic.

It was crazy but it was hella fun and I’d do it all over again. In fact, I have a feeling that I’ll be dragged to something crazy like timed CoS or ToC tonight, lol. But it’s not like I’m all that lacking in gear. Between Brewfest boss drops, 2 ToC runs (yes, my guild took me in there at level 75 and 77 just because they can), and what I go from the heroics last night, Saraku already has a handful of epics and several blues amongst his gear at this moment. I still feel like a n00b though.

Thank you Bloodriver and Carpe Jugulum for making this game so damn fun!

Oh and here’s a picture for the ladies. Go ahead and /swoon

Yes, he is /flexing on top of the tables in the Horde inn. Table dancing anyone?