This Day

We think about those that have fought and are still fighting so that we can continue to think.

Comic: Daily Quest

Daily Quest has been one of my favorite web comics for a while. Fyreuni posts a new comic on Fridays (most of the time). I love when she features her Grumpy Tree.

This last weeks comic “No Fear” made me laugh so much I HAD to share it with all of you. It boggles me at how talented she is. Look at the subtle change in facial features of her characters. This striped exemplifies what she seems to continue to perfect strip after strip.

She comments on her strips giving insight and further depth into what she was thinking while drawing the strip. After reading it I always find myself rereading the comic to observe if what she was trying to portray was what I got from it too. It gives the strip deeper meaning and is even more enjoyable in a second read.

Lich King’s Val’kyr

Learning the Lich King fight is some serious … well either you know what I mean or you will eventually find out.

Lich King is a place that having a few locks in raid is an asset. I have heard that Hunters can Disengage back onto the cliff and Mages can possibly Blink. Neither of those things are a guarantee like a lock portal.

In the second phase, Lich King summons Val’kyr to pick up random raid members and DUMP them off the side of the platform. Three Val’kyr are summoned in 25 man and one in 10 man. They can be stunned but become immune quickly and can only be slowed, not permanently stopped.

A Demonology warlock has Intercept with their minion. A Destruction warlock has Shadowfury and Conflagrate to stun targets. An Affliction warlock has none. BUT remember the Val’kyr become immune quickly to types of stuns (a mechanic like tank taunts), our stuns could be a hindrance.

Personally I feel we are better suited to killing them ASAP then to play games with stuns and slows that other classes can succeed better in. Remember one person does not make a raid.

YOU ARE THE CHOSEN ONE.

Before you start the Lich King fight get an idea how far you can be in this room from your portal to use it. This will help you in your confidence of using your portal in phase two. What does the 40 yards look like?

As soon as the second phase starts I lay my Demonic Portal near the edge of the inner platform. I want it to be a close to the edge as possible.

There should always be a line between Lich King, yourself (at ranged as you can be), and the portal. You don’t want to run off because of Defile and leave your DP on the other side of the platform. Readjust portal placement as needed.

When you are picked up, NO ONE SHOULD BE DPSING your Val’kyr.While learning this phase the RL may want you to call out if a lock is picked up. The raid should know that people standing out on the edge are out of luck. The only ones who should be out there are the locks.

Less distance the Val’kyr has to go to drop you off the edge the better.We want the Val’kyr to drop us ASAP.We will be able to return and help DPS the other Val’kyrs down.Key things to remember:
1) Place Demonic Portal at the start of Phase 2
2) DP should be near the edge
3) Keep DP in line with LK.
4) Don’t use your DP to get out of Defile since you need it for Val’kyr.
5) Move your portal if you have to change positions.

Anything else to remember for this phase of the Lich King fight?

Evil Check: Averted Guild Drama

The guild did a 10 man raider shuffle. We had a three and a halfish 10 man teams going. With the transfer of a few players off server a few weeks ago things got rearranged.

Just because I am not involved doesn’t mean I will not make myself involved.

Husband is nice. Shocking as a rogue, but if you met him you will just know it. Any sarcasm he has is from spending 20 plus years in my presence. We don’t complete each other (I never understood that line and actually hate when people use it.) but we do balance each other.

Husband helps a Tree in guild co-raid-lead a 10-man group. For purposes of this blog I will call it Husband’s 10 man. He will correct me by saying he just helps… so we acknowledge that and are moving on.

Officers worked with Raid Leaders to rearrange groups. Balance classes and styles.

The toughest part in all of it was tanks. In a 25 man raid guild there are two primary tanks and then a short list of off tanks.

Two of the officers trying to “help groups out” were coming in to Husband’s group and tanking. This worked out great … except for one thing. They have their own 10 mans on their mains. In our raiding schedule they only had one night a week available to them. This left the other eight raiders with no tanks the other two nights.

Somewhere in here I started talking to officers.

Here is where I had to decide my involvement. My evil check was this...
1) I had a moment of KNOWing I could watch things blow up.
2) I could start some things so when people start getting heated they have actually have thought about it a bit.

With the second option... there is the benefit of maybe having my opinions in their head.

I was concerned about WTF is going on about the tanks. Husband’s group was told they were getting one of the 25 man main tanks into their group. But after three weeks … it had not happened.

Then … not only were the two main tanks in the guild leader's 10 man raid but also the two geared off tanks (as dps).

We see the problem with this correct?

BEFORE anyone flipped a lid… though it didn’t prevent some steam... I had already continued conversations with most all of the officers. Admittedly I didn’t talk to the guild leader. I respect the GL to much to think he had devious plans. I wanted to understand if this was a conscious decision by all officers or just a tanking spiral of potential guild drama.

I enjoy a good bit of drama… but not near me. I will not tolerate it. I also know the officers are not a fan either.

Most of my conversations went like this (not exactly but close enough)…
[Hydra] Hey. So who are the tanks in guild?
[Officer] That would be Uberpally and The Bear. There are some more…
[Hydra] You could include the Lolret going tank and the DK. They both have great off sets and know what they are doing.
[Officer] Yea. Them too. That is not a lot of tanks is it?
[Hydra] Nope.
[Officer] We need to work on that.
[Hydra] Agreed. Just out of curiosity whose 10 man are they running in? ‘Cause some of the ten mans are looking for tanks.
[Officer] ummm… they are all in the …same …group.

It was about this time that Husband and co-RL were starting to realize the current state and health of their 10 man.

Extended conversations happened. I was not privy to them all. Which I don’t need to be to know what was going on. I was focusing on Husband’s sudden grumpyness and cussing. (He apologized to co-RL for later *eye roll*).

These things take time to address. No one involved had intentions of making anyone angry or lie to them. It was just a situation.

In a night or two some conversations between officers and Husband and his co-RL happened.

I stuck myself into vent. Put myself in-game. I than stuck a “/AFK” comment in my vent comment …And listened in.

No one was deluding themselves that I was ACTUALLY /AFK. It became quite evident when I started whispering them.

Whispering Husband about points he told me that he was NOT telling the Officers. Whispering Officers that the offer of help they gave and Husband and the co-RL pushed off as no big deal was ACTUALLY a big deal to them but were to NICE to say so. Everyone pretended I was not there… which made me laugh.

Ultimately everything was worked out.

This is the thing I love about my current guild. They are adults. They act like they are adults. Adults can be wrong, but with communication and understanding it can be fixed. People can have fits, but it is how they react after them that makes them mature or not.

At no point would I feel I could call this guild drama. This was a growing pain that had to be addressed. Sometimes to do that it takes time and communication. Without either of those this could have been HUGE.

While /AFK listening in … I did have something reinforced by an officer to Husband and co-RL.

“You guys are lucky to have Hydra as an advocate. I would want her on my side too.”

Which got me a whispered “I love you.” from my husband.

Where’re the Tanks?

I think the lack of tanks in my guild it affecting my brain. I clicked on a protection warrior in the armory and said to myself "That's hot".

I think if he was a gnome I would have actually yelled.

I am not a happy lock unless I can trust the tanks holding the HUMONGO FACE EATING BOSS.

You don’t want me to scrutinize you as a tank. Not that I have to tell you this… but I can be blunt. The intention is not to hurt feelings … I am told it does happen. I state an obvious issue that many are to nice to say. Feelings don’t have anything to do with a tank not using their cooldowns, moving out of things, or pointing the boss away from raid when needed.

As a raider, I leveled a warrior until she had the fundamentals of tanking. I did this years ago to understand how to be a better dps. I also have a bear. I read up on “How to Tank guides.” I need to understand the basic fundamentals of tanking so that I COULD be critical. Plus it has helped out my tanks.

If I can look this stuff up as a Lock and understand it on an Alt, I expect someone who says “I can tank” to actually tank. But can you actually tank? I can throttle my dps, but can you actually tank?

I can go on longer, but I forgot if there was a point. *grin*

Gamer Girl, Maybe?

When considering baby proofing, I didn’t know I had to worry about things like this!
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2010/5/10/frostmourning/

Saturday, we had a cousin do an almost hour long ultrasound. My mother and mom-in-law were there too. This was both their Mother’s Day gift. Husband’s cousin has been doing them for decades and proclaimed “If it is not a girl I would be extremely surprised.”

Pretty much we didn’t see “extra” parts. During that hour she (which I will now use until otherwise told) was extremely active. Sucking her thumb and moving her jaw. Keeping her ankles crossed to be annoying.

Husband is left handed and I am right handed. There was already talk about that topic. I told the room. “It doesn’t matter. She will use both because she couldn’t be anything but a gamer.” *grin*

My Priest playing sister-in-law is extremely excited. After I told her, she went searching for baby gamer girl clothes.

I am taking it one moment at a time. I have been lucky so far except for some queasiness. This is why I have not been raiding as much.

Some nights long expose to all the flashing AOE lights, how fast I play, and all the camera movement crits me right between the eyes with a headache. When we pull in ICC the Lower Spire, The Plagueworks, and Crimson Hall all in two and a bit hours …it is actually really bad on me.

I cannot even watch Husband play. When he uses Tricks of the Trade on mobs and his rogue pops all over the place it gives me an instant headache.

When I can I have traded my raid spot on that first night. I really hope they understand it is not because I don’t want to raid. Some days are better then others and well .. if I see that there are a whole bunch of people waiting a turn to get in… they might as well come in on farm content.

Progression fights for me are much better. After a wipe there is a pause. It is long enough for my eyes and head to rest. Plus, with everyone arguing over strategies … it gives me plenty of time ... plenty of time to pick on people.

New Super Mario Brothers Review

Polygamerous the gaming podcast is looking for you! Mike, aka Fimlys of Twisted Nether Blogcast, and his cohorts are looking for game reviews. In a rare attempt for me to be “helpful” I recorded and sent in a one minute review a few months back. Help them out and send your own!

Here is what I had to say...

Last Christmas I gave to my mother the Wii game NEW Super Mario Brothers.

Through the day we sat and played through some of the levels.

The game has the same 2D game play as Mario 3.

Minor changes we immediately noticed were the use of whirly hats instead of raccoon tails. I was kind of sad about the loss of tail.
They do utilize a shaking movement to use the hats with the Wii remotes that I thought was very clever.

There are New types of mini games. A lot of new levels but with highly familiar game play.

It has the same exciting sounds when you complete levels or a challenge.

While more then one person can play… you can be a help or a hinder to each other.

You cannot run through each other but bounce off … which can be helpful to reach things.
BUT … you can also push your partners into lava… repeatedly.

A con for many people would be that it IS exactly like Super Mario 3…
Down to level 1.1 being exactly the same with updated graphics.

But if you are looking for a game that has classic play with updates … I highly recommend New Super Mario Brothers.