No Rest for the Wicked

Well for the few who have read my blog, it's been obvious that I haven't written much. There hasn't been a post in several weeks.

I simply have been so busy lately that I don't find time to post. I'd like to have thoughtful and meaningful posts, which require time and effort. I am working full time in my real job in addition to numerous side jobs that I do. I am making plans to further my education beginning this summer. This also means that I'll be moving so even more time is dedicated to looking at areas and apartments.

I have barely even had time to play WoW, so really don't have time to post about it-I don't even really have anything that I can post about since my playtime is so limited.

So for now, I'm hanging up my writing hat and putting the blog on hiatus. Perhaps I'll be able to start it back up again in the future, but who's to say. To those few who did frequent my blog, I thank you. Hopefully in the future I can at least bring a little bit of entertainment or enlightenment through my musings but for now it isn't in the cards.

Another Off the Bench

So I hinted to it in some recent posts, but lately I have dusted off another old retired character of mine, Zao the feral Druid. I do enjoy Rai. Hunters are fun classes, especially for a player like me, who prefers playing alone. However, I can't always play alone. I like running instances too. If you have a halfway decent group, they can be good fun.

Therein lies the problem that I should have realized a long time ago. It is hard to get groups as DPS. Koji often had issues, I don't know why I didn't consider it for Rai. Add to that the general stigma against hunters. The huntard label continues to stick. It is easy to play a hunter even poorly and breeze through levels. Like every class, it takes skill to play a hunter well. Unfortunately, most hunters fall in the former category so they are often judged negatively from the start. I just frankly don't want to spend all day to get one group that seems to more often than not be a mess.

I'm playing Zao as a kitty now but will likely play primarily as a tank once I hit 80. However, that'll take some time.

It has taken some getting used to playing Zao again. I had retired him even earlier than I had Rai, which was quite a long time ago. It has taken a bit of time getting back into the groove. There's also been plenty of new things to learn. He can charge, swipe, Nature's Grasp, Barkskin, just to name a few things. Tiger's Fury is useful now, I never used it in the past. I can use items, potions, all that, which is quite nice. It seems that as you get even higher they get pretty complex, keeping up dots, debuffs, and buffs during a fight. I look forward to it.

With 3.1 around the corner, there is also the potential of dual speccing resto, which I probably will. I intend to on Koji as well, so that gives me two chances to see if I like healing or not, in two very different styles.

And just a little testament to how much of a nerd I am. I spent probably almost an hour yesterday trying to get Mik's Scrolling Combat Text to play a Mortal Kombat II "Finish Him" sound effect whenever I have 5 combo points. It seems the better part of the time was spent learning that I just had to change the events drop menu from "Incoming Player" to "Notifications". Regardless, I am quite proud of my accomplishment =)

Dragons Aren't so Tough

Yarr, for her to make an appearance that means Malygos be dead. Was quite a fight too. Took several tries, two of which got him to less than 5% before enrage hit. Well he enraged on three, but on the third we managed to eke out the kill. I fell right as he did, it ended with one person still alive! I'm glad that we have taken a nice step in progression. Unfortunately I haven't been able to raid much lately because of work so I'm falling a bit behind gear-wise, hopefully my DPS isn't faltering too much with it.

Here's some food for thought. Alexstrasza has 140 million HP. She's the dragon Queen. She looks mighty fine in her humanoid form. Why doesn't she just come in and smack around Malygos' 20 mil and call it a day?

Shinies!

I'm certainly nuts. I admit it, nothing wrong with it.

Well I guess there could be.

A couple weeks ago I mentioned my efforts to level Jewelcrafting on Rai the Hunter. It was kinda tedious. I made the decision on the fly so wasn't able to stock up on materials or get the best prices. But I did it. I was quite happy when I finished to, and I still am. It has proved to be reasonably profitable, and pretty interesting to say the least. I've never been into production professions. Koji has near maxed Enchanting, though I consider that a little different, even though it is production.

I guess it hooked me because I decided to raise jewelcrafting on Zao, my Druid. And with that, I also started a Death Knight bank alt and raised his enchanting to 350 for disenchanting. You must realize, however, that I don't play Zao. I am considering playing him. So if I turn around and decide not to, well that's that. But I have absolutely no life and too much free time so chances are good you will be seeing his tales soon enough.

Yes, yes, pretty nuts huh? But wait, there's more! Last night, about 1AM or so, I get this feeling. Koji is pretty much just a raider now. I do run some heroics but not like I used to. I certainly don't need any drops, any badges. I do it to help other guildies or try for achievements. His mining sees very little use. Yea I hit a node here and there in my travels but if I'm not questing or anything, it seems rather a waste. I know I'm not clinging to it for the 50 stamina. So, have you guessed where this is going? Yup, I'm going to start jewelcrafting on him now. At least he's already an enchanter so I don't have to raise another one. I haven't started his leveling yet but it looks like it will be much easier; it seems like there are plenty of mats for reasonable prices compared to the other two servers.

Can't say why I'm doing it. Sure the prismatics will help some. My guild already has a few jewelcrafters so it's not like the skill is in dire need. I'm just doing it for kicks. Yup, if not crazy, I'm certainly weird. Not that there's anything wrong with it. Well I guess there could be.

Locked and Loaded

So Rai hit 80 yesterday doing his Sholazar dailies. Hurrah! First thing I did? I logged on Koji and did a couple heroics.

But then! I went to Orgrimmar to get another gift of adoration.
But then! I did jewelcrafting for a little while that I've been meaning to do for maybe a week.
But then! I managed to get to the hunter trainer to get my new skills.
And then! I finally thought of getting my Nesingwary 4000 out of the bank. That one that I worked to get at 77, making myself completely broke in the process? Yea, that one. My funds are doing quite swimmingly now, by the way.
Along with that I grabbed my Dragonscale Ammo Pouch and snagged a few thousand rounds.

The only problem is, I can't remember what level I stopped using a gun. I know that at 70 I started using Valanos' Longbow, and got a Steelhawk Crossbow, which is what I brought to Northrend. I can't recall when I last had a gun, though. So my skill was around 350, and I obviously wasn't doing a lot of damage. Luckily range weapons are easy to raise, easier than melee, and having a gorilladin to take the beatdown makes it even easier.

I finally got around to buying a Heartseeker Scope today, it's in my inventory, yet I haven't gotten around to putting it on my gun. I still haven't gotten a gem, probably sometime today once I figure out what's best, probably something with hit since my gear sucks and I'm not capped.

So, anyone see a trend of laziness?

Not Too Shabby

Since I began raiding, I've been fairly content with my DPS. It's been up there, nothing stellar, not topping the charts, but getting the job done. So that's why tonight's WWS report of Sarth+1, Archavon, and 2 wings of Naxx surprised me a little.

We started with Sartharion +1 drake. The fight can be a little hectic and messy, and you're dealing with a dragon, a drake, whelps, and elementals, so the report may be a bit off, but it was fairly standard.

4th, not too shabby, I usually float around 6th at best to 10th at less than best.

Naxx was a little more surprising.

First Anub'rekhan,

Then Grand Widow,

Then Maexxna,

Then Noth,

Needless to say, I was rather surprised. The rest of the fights was more where I was used to, 7th for Archavon, 6th for Heigan, and an icky 10th for Loatheb. In my defense, Archavon and Heigan are more range-DPS friendly with Archavon jumping all over the place and having to avoid his clouds, and Heigan offering the safety of his platform for the non-dance part of his fight. On Loatheb I got only one spore, so only enjoyed 95% crit for a couple minutes while most probably got a lot more.

On the flip side, I shouldn't get full of myself. BRK was raiding as BM, testing their post 3.09 viability. His DPS was on par with the rest of the raid, though he generally topped it as SV. But I'm sure he'll have more to say on it than I ever could. Also our two other SV Hunters weren't attending tonight, or our top mage. So I guess that all considered would put me back around 6th... well that's kinda a downer.

Now I know DPS charts don't tell nearly the whole story, there is a whole lot more to being a good raider. But I think I performed as I should have. No standing in the fire, no deaths during boss fights. Always rather low on incoming damage and offering a decent spattering of my own healing into the mix. Well there was Archavon...

See, I can tank! I wear mail, that's made of metal, just like plate, so I'm practically a warrior. So not sure if I screwed up there, or it's just that no tanks picked him up after eating the MT, or whatever, I'll play it safe and say it's my fault. But I didn't die, so it's all good.

A Name Change?

So I've been thinking of renaming Ghouls and Ghosts and giving it a face lift. The original concept of the blog was the focus on Death Knights-ghouls and Enhancement Shamans-ghosts(spirit wolves). However, after I got Anguish to 70, I had pretty much lost all interest in him. I had intended to revive him in the future, but I'm currently really enjoying my hunter, Rai, and I'm considering bringing my old Tauren Druid, Zao out of retirement.

So except for Koji, the name isn't all that fitting. So I'm trying to think up something new that can incorporate the classes I now play, an Enhancement Shaman, Beast Mastery Hunter, and Feral Druid. All seem somewhat animistic, so maybe something up that alley. I know I have only a small handful of readers so far, but any suggestions are appreciated =)