Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Ding.

And Blackheathen - never has a Tank been more excited. And watching him nosedive his new flying machine into the ground never grows old!

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Ding. Ding.

Two more graduate to the School of Seventy - Fugg first, then Neitzsche. Both last seen flying around Outland at great altitude!

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

The Magic Number

We have a winner: Beastheart dinged 70 at 02:35 this morning! Our first seventy FtW!!

Congratulations and may the wind always be at your back. Beastheart is a legend on Barthilas, and Midnight's Children have prized the alliance forged between Beast and Paxmortis. Though Pax might be a little miffed by Beast getting there first!

In other progress news, Blackheathen & Fugg are both at 68 now, with Neitzsche not far off the pace on 67, and Paxmortis at 66. Stroeb, as usual, is tailing behind on 64, whilst Rahjin has entered Outland at 60. And as befits his class, Silentndead is sneaking up on 58.

Sunday, April 6, 2008

An ordinary day of fishin'

I'd studied the form guides, listened to wiser fishers than I will ever be, lined my trusty FC-5000, baited up, and re-consulted The Bass And You. It was time. The Stranglethorn Fishing Extravaganza awaited!

For those unfamiliar, the SFE is a true test of an angler's skill, and the rewards are great - from the legendary Arcanite Fishing Pole to the Hook of the Master Angler. Held along Stranglethorn coast, it attracts all comers searching to perfect their art, and catch a couple of stacks of rare Tastyfish.

I started in Grom'grol, and immediately joined the swarms of anglers with poles being tuned and tactics discussed. Ally gankers were having a field day before the competition started, taking down innocent twinks with glee. This didn't bode well for the competition itself - how can you fish when you're being one-shotted?

But, interestingly and perhaps surprisingly, once the fishing begun, the ganking stopped. Once again our humble pastime achieved what nothing else could, with Horde and Alliance monentarily declaring a truce...to fish.

I started well, finding and emptying a couple of pools all to myself. The Tastyfish squirmed in my bag and the rod twitched in my hand, as fish after fish was landed.

Pirates fish too

Before long though, the traffic started to appear. And so did the dubious tactics - this fellow was leaping about in the water, diverting attention and making it very hard to reel my bobber in when it jumped.

Side by side in perfect harmony

I had racked up about 17 fish when the competition ended - alas! But I could sense something else was out there, and fished on for a few more pools. There was something beckoning, something Nat Pagle had taught me about. Using a special Mormyshka lure, crafted from the finest materials, I landed the elusive Keefer's Angelfish.

So rare are these fish that the Fishbot 5000 in Booty Bay swapped it for something magical...

Lucky!

Nice hat

The SFE was a great experience, and there's plenty more rewards for those that are attuned. Perhaps some fellow Guildster's will join me next time - a competition within the competition!

"We're ok, he's down..."

Our fearless leader, Paxmortis, decided enough was enough and wrenched the mantle of command from Fugg and Blackheathen last Thursday, leading the Elder through the spell drenched Mana-Tombs.

Mana flows

This all came about because, as most have realised, Paxmortis now has a mic, much to the horrordelight of all who roll with him. His running commentary was a revelation, and kept everyone well focussed for the night. Pax introduced some nice new features to the run. The best was the ingenious use of smoke flares to set pull and ranged positions in the kill zones. Certainly helped for positioning, and led to a more structured setup.

Pandemonius

Unfortunately for Pax's Warmaster ambitions, we had a few wipes on trash as usual. But we managed to take care of the Bosses pretty smoothly, wiping only once on Pandemonius, and not at all on Tavarok. Blackheathen also starred, taking on Mana Leeches all on his lonesome, whilst Fugg and Stroeb cheered from the sidelines. Fugg's classic "can I get a heal" after one particularly nasty Leech encounter left Blacky with 51HP was perfect.

Tavarok

Stroeb got her first taste of being a sheep thanks to some mob casters, Fugg spent an entire fight trying to control his Tonk Tank instead of his axe (leaving Pax to threaten to replace all Fugg's enchants with Intellect buffs to make him the smarted warrior around), and perhaps the highlight was Pax's calm assurance that "We're ok, he's down..." whilst we were being cut to pieces by an add he hadn't seen.

The final Boss, Nexus-Prince Shaffar, proved a real challenge. His three companion Ethereal Beacon's caused all sorts of problems as we needed to take them down before they summoned Apprentices, who packed a nasty Fireball punch. Blackheathen did a masterful job tanking the Prince himself, and Neit more than kept him up. But the DPS brigade kept getting overwhelmed by the summoned nasties. We tried various tactics - concentrate on one, take one each, pull them away from each other - before a final attempt led to an epic victory. Pax's voice control directed the DPS traffic, which allowed Fugg and Stroeb to alternate between the Beacon's and the Prince. Neit and Blacky meanwhile kept the Prince busy, and we steadily wore him down - and we steadily went down too. First Stroeb (as usual!), then Pax, then Fugg, and Neit.

In the end only Blackheathen was left standing when the Prince finally died, and even he went down thanks to some leftover trash. But the boss was down, and it was a sweet win.

Once again no loot to speak of (other than loads of dull +intellect gear, as befits the mana rich atmosphere), and we failed on the escort quest on the way out that would have given Blackheathen a nice pair of tanking boots. Maybe next time!