The Weekend in Warcraft

Just puttered around on various toons for the past few days.

On Steamwheedle cartel, my troll death knight Rickenbacker continues to make progress through the instances. She got a nice epic 2-hander axe that was a minor upgrade.  She did Trial of the Champion and Heroic Forge of Souls, so she's getting into the upper level 5-mans now.  She's working on her badge gear and getting her gearscore up - she's got the 245 headpiece and shoulders, with some nice gems and enchants.

Someone had rankwatch running, and it pointed out that Rickenbacker was using the first rank of a few of her abilities.  I realized I've been handicapping myself for the past week, having not trained when I switched specs. DOH!  She's starting to make a dent in her damage output now.

Over on Archimonde, Julep became a male again.  He began life as a male gnome, moved to Archimonde to play with my son on the horde side and morphed into an Orc female.  After a few weeks, my son followed some friends to another server, leaving me alone on a PvP realm where I don't know anyone.  I wasn't happy with the ender, so I did the cosmetic change, and he's a big male orc warlock now.  Not bad.  I ran a few heroics and got a little more gear, but I want to move him back to a normal realm as soon as I find a good place.  I'm in no hurry, but he's on the lookout for new friends on an alternate server.  Playing as a lone wolf on a PvP realm is just a continual invitation to be ganked repeatedly.

Dungeon Finder vs. Windows Update

So, during lunch, I run 2 heroics on Julep. Violet Hold goes down awesome - I topped the damage meter by a sizeable amount, thanks to all this new gear I've been collecting for her.

Next up is Anh'Kahet, and we tried to do an achievement on the first boss that requires killing everything at once, and it goes very badly. Twice. On the second wipe, suddenly, WoW shuts down, followed by my entire computer. I suddenly remember that there had been a Windows update four hours ago, and I had told it to postpone the re-start for four hours. DOH!  Finally get updated, back online, and I've been vote-kicked, and they probably think I did it on purpose. /sigh

Got to remember to turn the auto-updating feature off.

Julep has the level 245 head, shoulders and wand now. Going for a ring and trinket next.  Exalted with Kirin'Tor and Ebon Blade as well.  It's been a very productive week for her!

Don't tell me how to play

Still running PuG heroics on my warlock Julep (Archimonde-US). Grouped with a shaman last night who refused to drop any totems. When prompted as to the reason why, he finally responded with, "Don't tell me how to play. It's just a game."  He was told it wasn't required, but it would be nice to have a few extra buffs, just like it's nice when he gets heals.  Someone initiated a vote to kick him but it failed. Not sure what his malfunction was.


Did a Heroic Oculus this morning, which fell apart on the 2nd boss. Frustrating finding people who will finish that one.


Later, during a heroic Violet Hold, the healer whined constantly about how bad the DPS was, even though we racked up several achievements for burning through things so fast. Every few runs, there's the obligatory "everyone sucks but me, and I'm going to let you know for the entire instance duration" douchebag.


edit: Reading someone else's post, I remembered another one - Start a PUG in heroic Violet Hold, and then the tank drops group as soon as the doors lock! Luckily another one zoned in and we recovered before anyone died. Takes a real ass-hat to pull that move.


Someone came up with PuG bingo cards for all the things you'll encounter. Sadly, I've done a few of them, but seen a lot of the others. These are hilarious -

Dungeon Finder- Jerk Finder

Ran a bunch of heroics on my warlock Julep (Archimonde US) this past weekend. Her gear is coming along nicely, but she still has a way to go to get her DPS where I want it.


Most of my runs have been quick and quiet, which is fine.  I've seen a growing encroachment of doucebags the past few days though.  There was the arrogant, chatty elitist prick, who criticized everyone else and lets us know how we were all boring him, like we were there for his amusement.  Then, there was the healer who dropped out of the group as soon as we got started, and had pulled a big collection of mobs.


This morning, I got into Forge of Souls with Julep for the first time.  The tank tried the same thing that they usually do in older heroics - gather up a whole bunch of trash at once, and expected us to AOE it down.  These guys were tougher though, and we wiped, so without a word, our fearless tank abandoned us. Leadership passed to another guy who never said a word and wouldn't rez, so we couldn't even re-enter the queue. We had to leave, and I didn't have enough time to find another group before I had to leave for work.


Most of my groups have been great, and I've met some nice folks, but there are still the guys who are already geared and think they're entitled to treat everyone else in the group like crap.  Gotta take the bad with the good, I suppose.

Badass warlock gear

Been doing more heroics on Skulfrak (Steamwheedle Cartel), and he's got the headpiece and shoulders from Triumph badges. He looks pretty cool.  I'm working on Julep (Archimonde) now, and am slowly bringing her up to speed.  She started this in blues & greens, so she's really benefiting from drops.

Ding! 45

So, today is my birthday (dinged level 45) and I spent the morning running a few heroics on Skulfrak.

His gear is coming along, and I'm not sure what to do next. I could dust off my tanking skills and gear up my 80 paladin, Carrara, on Steamwheedle Cartel.  I could finish leveling my 72 shaman, Portobello, also of SWC, but I'm kind of into running the heroics right now.  My death knight, Rickenbacker (SWC) is also 80, but there are so many DKs running, I don't have much interest in that.  I've been doing some on my Orc warlock, Julep (archimonde-PvP), but it's kid of just duplicating Skulfrak.

I'm kind of hoping to find someone who wants to start fresh and speed level a few new toons on a fresh server and make a go of things.  I'll be doing that with Cataclysm in a few months, but I'd love to start over and make one last run through the old world before it's changed forever.

Julep Returns

So, I had taken a break for a bit, but I'm back in the game, full-blown.

On Skulfrak, I still have not gotten than single Outland recipe that stands between him and the Chef title.  I've been doing heroics through the new dungeon finder tool, and the only place he hasn't done yet is Oculus. I'm sure it won't be long.  I still don't know a whole lot of people playing on Steamwheedle Cartel who are playing right now, so it's been very quiet.

I decided to dust off Julep on the Archimonde server, and get her some gear, so I can play more with my son who has a paladin there. She's still got some blues and greens, but on her first heroic, she got three blue upgrades, and her DPS went up quite a bit. After collecting some badges and winning a few pieces of epic gear, I'm sure she'll be right up there where Skul's numbers are. Julep is also Demonology, and I've got my rotation pretty tight. Even with some greens, I was number two on the damage meter, right behind a better geared death knight.

I was reading up, and I'm going to try switching to Seed of Corruption instead of Rain of Fire for AEO damage on trash pulls. Everyone says it's better, so we'll see.

Archimonde is a PvP server, so it's much easier to run heroics standing in Dalaran, using the new dungeon finder tool, rather than having to travel there and being ganked waiting to go in.  Getting some good rep gains in addition to the badges.  Now to save up the 5000 gold to get her epic flying!

Back in the Game!

So, I tried to take a break for a while - I managed a whole week without logging in!  And then patch 3.3 dropped, and what have I been doing? Same as everybody else, running random heroics with the new Dungeon Finder tool. I absolutely love this thing!  I've seen almost all of the 5-mans with Skulfrak now, but I got side-lined a bit with moving this week, and I don't have the series of tubes hooked up to my house yet to get me back on the Interwebs.  I upgraded my wand from my worst piece of gear to my best, and there's some very impressive shoulder and head gear I'll be trading some badges for in the near future.  Blizzard really scored big with the grouping tool.

I may switch over to Julep soon and give her the same boost.

A bunch of toons

For Tuesday's maintenance downtime, here's a list of all my toons and what they're doing.

Steamwheedle Cartel US
Skulfrak - level 80 undead warlock
Currently working through Sons of Hodir and Kalu'ak reputation grinds. This is my best geared toon.  My main man. Tailor/enchanter


Carrara - level 80 blood elf paladin
Currently sitting in Dalaran. Jewelcrafter/miner


Rickenbacker - level 80 troll death knight
Currently sitting in Dalaran.


Portobello - level 71 troll shaman
Currently leveling in Dragonblight. Inscription/Herbs.


Skulfrost - level 20 priest
Currently leveling in the Barrens. Mining.


Fairchild - level 72 human warlock
Currently sitting in Dalaran. Tailor/enchanter.


Tempus - level 62 night elf warrior
Currently parked in Shattrath. Alchemy/herbs.


Archimonde US
Julep - level 80 orc warlock
Starting Sons of Hodir rep. This toon used to be a male gnome warlock on Proudmoore. My buddy there quit playing for good, so I moved it to Runetotem to play with a guild made of podcast listeners.  I didn't do much there, so I moved to Archimonde and got a faction/race change so I could play with my son, who moved his toons here. It's a PvP server, which I'm not real confident about. Mining/jewelcrafting.


I'm going to be starting a new goblin warlock when Cataclysm arrives. Not sure yet if I'll make him on SWC or start fresh on a new server.  Open to suggestions if anyone else will be re-rolling.

Making the Most of Demonic Circle

Got Skulfrak out and did some Sons of Hodir dailies on Steamwheedle Cartel during lunch.  No ganking like this morning on Archimonde.  Made some money.

I practiced dropping a demonic circle every few mobs, but the range is so short, it's kind of a pain.  This is our big level 80 spell, though, and I'm trying to be more resourceful with it.  I know it's designed to be our "Oh, Shit!" button, but I rarely have it out, so I'm making myself get in the habit of using it.  Fear has been nerfed so hard, DC seems like one of our only options for getting some distance back when you get jumped.  If you're out of range, though, you're screwed, and dropping one every few feet is awkward.  Especially if you're out in the open, and the circle is plainly obvious to anyone who passes by.  It seems to work best when you can hide it somewhere and jump to an unexpected place to gain a few seconds before they find you again.

If you've been creative with this spell, I'd love to hear what you've done with it!

I've been ganked!

So I was doing my Sons of Hodir dailies on Julep this morning on Archimonde.  Suddenly, a warrior runs up and ganks me.  I rezzed, and he got me a few more times, and it was pretty bad.  He was using Berserker Rage, so spent a lot of time immune to fear, and I just couldn't get him off of me with that big 2-hander.  I thought about switching to my Affliction off-spec, but I'm not sure that would have helped me.  Without fear to maintain distance, warriors and rogues can ruin a warlock's day pretty quick.  I need to get in the habit of keeping a Demonic Circle dropped so I can get some range at all times.

My policy has been to leave other people alone if they're not bothering me, while I learn the etiquette of the new environment I'm in.  My son says he's been jumped quite a few times, so if there's a code of conduct about corpse-camping and repeated ganks, I'm not seeing it.  I don't want to reflect poorly on my guild, but I'm thinking if I see someone down on health, I'm taking a shot.

It did slow me down a great deal.  I had to rez, re-buff and look for a safe spot, and he kept finding me.  On one hand, a PvP server is a more honest version of the game.  The Alliance and the Horde are at war, so jumping others when you find them alone seems a natural thing to do.  *I* play alone a great deal of time, though.  My son is on the west coast, and the morning is when I usually do most of my dailies, and there aren't a lot of people around to group up with.  When Kyle gets stationed on a ship, he won't be able to play much for a while, and then I'll really be isolated.


It is a bit more exciting on a PvP server, though.  When I do dailies on Steamwheedle Cartel, it's just a matter of how much time will it take me.  On Archimonde, I'm finding I may not be able to work in a certain area, and I may have to come back.  It's no fun being on the short end of the stick all the time though.  If I can't dish it out, I'm not going to take it.

Skulfrak is still my main toon, and he's gone so far, I hate to keep going back and covering the same ground I've already gone over.  He still has a lot left to do, but at some point, I'd like to have one character that's really accomplished a lot, and that's Skul.  I'm going to keep working with Julep, but I think I'm going to keep the main focus on Skulfrak.

Julep presses deeper into Northrend

On Archimonde this morning, Julep became honored with the Sons of Hodir, and opened up a few new dailies, including the dreaded Thrusting the Spear, which I have yet to complete successfully.  I've been advised to strip off my gear to avoid the repair bill every time I fail it.

I haven't started my favorite Shadow Hold dailies with her yet, so I have the quest to go poke out the Occulous, which will open those up.  Saving my money for the epic flying skill for her.  She's still at normal.  I need to pick a flying mount for her to go after.  Maybe a nether drake.


Julep has skills lagging behind in mining and jewelcrafting.  I'm not sure what I want to do - dump JC and take up tailoring, or just going in JC.  On Skulfrak, I also have enchanting, which produces the much needed Infinite Dust for tailoring, but I'm not leveling another enchanter.  I'll probably stick with what I have.  I need to go back to Outland and mine a bit.

So far, Archimonde has been very normal.  Julep has not been jumped at all, and I leave people alone if they're not bothering me or anyone else.  Kyle said he got jumped the other day, and put the guy down, but I haven't found much action.  I'm sure it will come!

Blood and Thunder!

Julep has been establishing herself on Archimonde this week, and getting used to her new look.  I got her a re-spec, a new robe, and some new gems.  I'm still very low on gold, so I have a ways to go to get her to where I want her to be damage-wise.  She should be ready to start running heroics now, and is working on some faction.

My son Kyle got his Internet connection working, and I saw his toon Bellord online last night, along with his buddy Josh playing Rostall.  We're all in the guild Valor now.  My nephew is also on Archimonde, playing Xfatal for the horde.

I got my Wintergrasp quests and Sons of Hodir dailies out of the way this morning.  Not sure if the servers will be up for lunch, but I'd like to try for the Headless Horseman soon.

Julep goes to War- Again

So, in looking at what I want to do in the next few weeks for playing, I'm not all that enthused about grinding reputation just for gear that's going to be obsolete in the next expansion.


My son and his friend recently transferred their main characters, who were alliance, to the horde side, and onto a PvP server, so they could play with friends.  I don't really know a lot of people on my current server, Steamwheedle Cartel - even my guild is just acquaintances.  I'd love to be able to play with my son, as he's in another state, and I don't get to see him much.


I took my level 80 gnome warlock, Julep, and shuttled off to a new home, and a faction transfer, and he's now a level 80 female Orc warlock on Archimonde - a PvP server.  My friend Ron also plays there, but as Alliance.  Maybe I'll get to take him out in Wintergrasp.

Now, I've never gone very far on a PvP server.  I tried some leveling, and got tired of being ganked every few minutes.  Now that transfers are opened, I have a chance to do it as a level 80, so we'll see how it goes.  My son is having trouble getting his Internet in his current room situation, so he's not online much.  His buddy is kind of hanging in the breeze, so if I make the commitment to play there, maybe we can survive.  We're both warlocks, so I'm not sure how much instancing we'll be able to do, but I'm willing to give it a shot.


I'm pretty good in Battlegrounds.  I know my class.  I dabbled in Arenas, and did very poor.  I have no idea how I'll do in dailies and rep grinds on Archimond, but I think I may give it a serious try.  I still have Skulfrak on SWC, as he's paired up with my wife's toon, and even though she's not playing much at the moment, I'm not going to split those toons up.  Julep was created to play with a buddy on Proudmoore, and he quit the game, so I had moved him to Runetotem to play with a guild made up of podcast listeners.  He was actually my first 80, but I never did much with him past leveling. I geared him up at 70 in PvP gear, so he's earned some chops.  I feel bad that he didn't level in the PvP environment, so I'm keeping that on the down-low there. So, he's had a re-fit, and now he's a she.  I couldn't do another blood elf, so I chose Orc this time.


I have a gear set in mind, and he's already got a start in the Sons of Hodir grind.  Wintergrasp would be easy for some gear.  Julep's hit and spell damage are way below what Skulfrak is doing, but I don't think it would take me all that long to bring it up if I resist the temptation to chase achievements and just focus on gearing up enough to survive the ganking.  I'll let you know how it goes!