Not A Happy Camper

My latest foray into achievements in WoW has me camping out in The Storm Peaks which is snowy enough to make me feel cold just by going there.  What am I camping for, you might ask?  The Time-Lost Proto Drake.  This is an extremely rare dragonkin who flies around just asking to be killed because he drops reins that let you get him as a riding mount.  The frustrating part of camping for him is that there is no pattern to his spawning.  He could spawn three times in one day or not spawn at all for three weeks.  Yesterday I camped for 14 hours with WoW in the background and listened for my SilverDragon to go off while I worked on homework.  As I was on my last question for my discussion board, I was concentrating so much on my answer that I didn't hear SilverDragon.  I finished my answer and posted it then flipped back to WoW and found the Time-Lost plate up on my screen and realized I had just missed him flying by.  I swooped down the mountain only to find that a douche on the server named Nish, who had seen me camping, had stolen the kill out from under me by about 30 seconds.  It's not that Nish needs this mount by the way, he's killed it at least three times.  The first time he did he stole the kill from a guildie of mine who had also been camping him and had him marked already.  No, Nish killed it just to be an ass because he knew I was tabbed out.  He even said so to another guildie of mine who was online at the time.  I'm not ashamed to say that I was extremely put-out, frustrated and very unhappy.  So now I sit here and camp some more because Seph loves green mounts and TLPD is olive green.

Oh, and Nish, if you read this, thanks for proving everyone on the server right about your character.

Lemarchand's Box

 

I've previously mentioned my penchant for getting achievements in WoW, and as you can see by the little indicator bars on my achievement screen I have over 75% completion in all areas...except one.  Player vs. Player (hence forth to be known as PvP).  This category makes me cry and it shows in my abysmal numbers; 32% completed.

I just don't PvP well.  I usually die 20+ times in any given battleground...even when I'm in full PvP gear with a good PvP spec.  Yet, I still torture myself every once and a while and throw my poor shaman into them.  But arena?  Don't even get me started:

  

Arenas are where you form a team with either 2, 3 or 5 players and then proceed to beat the shit out of other teams of 2, 3, or 5 players.  I have one, just one, achievement in arena.  I was delusional enough over two years ago to create two teams (2v2 called Sadistic Ponies and 3v3 called Not Illegal In Denmark) and then actually go into arenas with a couple of brave souls...and we won one of those arenas, for which I got an achievement.  I haven't been back since then.  Why?  Because it took 50+ arena matches to win that one.  Now you know why I cry.

Unfortunately this is the area where I will next need to concentrate my efforts if I am to maintain my achievement desires.  I wonder if drug addicts feel this way, willing to substitute their drug of choice with something they know isn't good for them just so they can satisfy their habit. 

Keyser Söze

 

It's been a while since I posted anything about WoW, but since I got the Insane title, everything else seemed kinda low key.  Until now.

You're probably wondering what the post title has to do with what I'm working on in game.  Well let me tell you:  in The Usual Suspects, Verbal says "The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist."  And that applies to the WoW achievement Frostbitten.  This achievement has you trying to kill every silver rare in Northrend.  These guys only spawn a couple of times, sometimes only once, a day.  You have to fly around hoping to spot them and then gank them.  As you see below, I'm pretty well on my way to getting that.

What you don't really know yet is that the name at the top of the list, Loque'nahak, is a silver rare that is also tamable by hunters to use as their dpsing pet.  It's also the most desired by hunters of all the tamable silver rares out there.  

Now, I run and addon called SilverDragon that spams a macro to target silver rares for any given "country" I happen to by moseying along in.  Whether on foot or in the sky, I know if a silver rare is present, even if it's just its corpse.  My screen edge starts flashing red, a name plate pops up on my screen allowing me to target the rare, and I'm pretty sure there are sounds as well (not heard them myself since I play with my in-game sounds off...I like to listen to music, what can I say).  The information on which rares I've seen, how often and how long ago gets logged so I can cry over the times I missed a rare that I've needed because I was on a taxi, or the rare was already dead, or in the process of becoming dead due to the actions of another player.  I've run the addon for the past two years.  Want to know how many times I've seen Loque'nahak?

  

Yeah, you're seeing properly, 0.  Never.  Not once.  Not even as a rotting carcass.  You know why?  Because every hunter on the server camps the hell out of every spawn point for that damn cat.  Which brings me back to my comparison.  I think that the greatest trick Blizzard ever pulled was convincing players outside of hunters that Loque'nahak ever existed.  Seriously, just look at that.  I haven't even seen the other two rares in Sholazar.  Why?  Because as these hunters camp for Loque'nahak, they kill dead the other rares out of frustration.

I'm going to go and cry in a corner now. 

March Madness

 

After a very, VERY long run, my shaman has finally managed to jump on the crazy train.  And I am so glad it's over.  I will no longer have to scour the AH on a daily basis for cards to complete decks that can only be turned in for rep seven days out of the month to a side faction that NO ONE gets exalted with...unless they're, you know, insane.  I will sell the leftover cards in my possession for large sums of gold (the only people who will buy them will be others trying to get on the train...and they'll pay handsomely for the opportunity to get these cards whilst knowing they are being gouged).  With my ill gotten gains I will purchase crazy-expensive things like Vial of the Sands and maybe take up belly-dancing.

There are a few people who really helped me along the way and they need to have a big round of applause and thanks.  Without their generosity I'd probably still be in Bedlam, whimpering in the corner of a padded cell.

Gaz

Zitho

Bluey

Xr

Elonia

Emily

Steal

Shadow

Dorlish

你瘋了嗎

 

Thanks Blizz, for making our toons do badass poses on the character list screen, but do you think you could fix the bug that makes it look like they're wearing their guild tabbard when no tabbard is equipped?  It's hard to give off that "I will kill you dead with my pointy axe!" vibe when your guild happens to think it's funny to have a pink tabbard with a bunny on it.  kthnx.

So my push for insanity is nearing a close, and I can tell you that it's none to soon.  I feel like a lifeless drone.  The only two reps I have to complete are for Ravenholdt and Darkmoon Faire.  

Ravenholdt:  Revered 13124/21000

Darkmoon Faire:  Honored 800/12000

I'll have Ravenholdt done by the end of this week.  My baby rogue can pick-pocket mobs in Tyr's Hand without being spotted (unless I'm a noob and right-click on the mob) so I didn't have to level her further in order for her to benefit my main.  That's not to say that she'll stay at 60, but for the time being I'm going to abuse her for her pick-pocketing abilities.

Darkmoon Faire and I should be ok....once I stop crying in the corner thinking about all the decks I'll need to make and turn in to finish rep with them.  Hey, I don't have a lot of gold so buying higher decks is out of the question and I don't plan on having a lot of gold in the near future so my only alternative is to make the cards and decks myself.  It's going to hurt.

*Thanks to Emily for the Chinese translation of "Are you crazy?"....and for the cocoa roasted almonds, omg, I drool

Sind Sie Verrückt?

A request was made by RamenBoy for an update on the insane title, so here we are.  (Don't think this means I won't talk about food again see post below)

Rep Update:
Bloodsail Buccaneers: Honored
Darkmoon Faire: Friendly (3225/6000) (can't do anything about this until 10/3)
Ravenholdt: Revered (224/21000) (give me a break, my rogue is only lvl 56)
Shen'dralar: Exalted
Booty Bay: Exalted
Everlook: Exalted
Gadgetzan: Exalted
Ratchet: Exalted 


*btw, if you add another r to his name, he would be Bicycle, Grand Mater Rogue..hehehe

Non Compos Mentis

When we last joined our heroine, she was diligently plowing her way through Dire Maul over and over and over again.  And then, just for kicks, she ran it again and again.  Crazy, you say? No, folks, not crazy, she's heading toward insane.

Rep Update:
Bloodsail Buccaneers: Honored (this one is still done)
Darkmoon Faire: Friendly (3225/6000)
Ravenholdt: Honored (6240/12000)
Shen'dralar: Exalted (yeah baby, this one is done!)
Booty Bay: Exalted (up yours dire maul!!)
Everlook: Exalted (ditto)
Gadgetzan: Exalted (xerox)
Ratchet: Exalted (reasonable facsimile)


What really got my panties in a bunch during the last runs through DM was that I had not one, not two, not three, hell...not even four, but TEN pristine black diamonds drop. And I didn't need a single one of them *fume*.  Oh, and to top it ALL off, I had no less than 21 librams drop as well.  


I swear there are days I think I'm cursed.

Check Your Sanity

I've finally gone back to working on my insane title in WoW after the slight distraction of leveling a warlock to 80. She's ultra cute and has minions, what's not to love?

As part of my work on the title I have also started leveling my own rogue (see above). In order to get Ravenholdt rep up to exalted I'll need to turn in something like 1400 heavy junkboxes....boxes only obtainable by pick-pocketing rogues. And since I didn't see anyway I could convince Alex to farm all of those for me on his rogue, I made my own. She's level 40 at the moment and moving up fast. That's because she has massive amounts of BoA gear and can kill mobs around 4 levels above her own without much trouble.

As for the other reps, here's the latest:
Bloodsail Buccaneers: Honored (this one is still done)
Darkmoon Faire: Friendly (2775/6000)
Ravenholdt: Honored (2305/12000)
Shen'dralar: Revered (19000/21000) (four more turn ins until exalted)
Booty Bay: Honored (222/12000)
Everlook: Honored (97/12000)
Gadgetzan: Revered (9982/21000)
Ratchet: Honored (360/12000)

Insane, Now With More Mount

There are some sweet benefits to working on Insane. One of those is Baron Rivendare's Deathcharger. See, part of working on the title requires that you pick up Frayed Abomination Stitchings, which are soulbound (they are bound to the character that loots them), because they are part of the mats needed for Libram of Protection turn ins for Shendra'lar rep (say that three times fast). These things only drop in Old Stratholme and only off of the abominations in front of Baron Rivendare's quarters. Back in the old days it was kind of difficult to get to Baron before the 45 minute timer ran out and he skiddadled. Nowadays at level 80 you can one-man the instance and, even if you kill all the mobs and other bosses, make it to Baron with time to spare. Which is fantastic because one of the things that can drop off of him is his deathcharger. Granted, it only has a 1% drop rate, but when you compare that to other rare mounts in the game, that's pretty damn good. And I got it last week. It was a bittersweet moment since I was elated for myself and sad for Gaz and Bluey who have been farming for this mount since they ran Stratholme back in Vanilla.

Bloodsail Buccaneers: Honored (this one is still done)
Darkmoon Faire: Friendly (can't work on this one again until next tomorrow)
Ravenholdt: Friendly (haven't worked on this one for a while)
Shen'dralar: Revered (1500/21000)
Booty Bay: Hostile (710/3000)
Everlook: Hostile (710/3000)
Gadgetzan: Honored (7557/12000)
Ratchet: Hostile (973/3000)

Insanity Update

I've made some progress for the Insane achievement:
Bloodsail Buccaneers: Honored (this one is done)
Darkmoon Faire: Friendly
Ravenholdt: Friendly
Shen'dralar: Honored
Booty Bay: Hated
Everlook: Hated
Gadgetzan: Honored
Ratchet: Hated

And I'm really sick of running Dire Maul North >.< I've been going out and killing the pirates in Lost Rigger Cove for goblin rep in between runs of DM. That's how Gadgetzan ended up further along than any of the other goblin factions.

Priestly Fail

I have an alt in WoW that I enjoy playing almost as much as my main, and on occasion I fool myself into believing I can play her as well as I play my main. Then I get my ass handed to me in Ulduar and I realize that I'm sailing a failboat and there are no life-vests or life-rafts on board.

Sephina is my priest. She's cute (see picture above), makes all my flasks (elixir master ftw) and has the ability to herb frost lotus at an amazing rate (seriously, I got 27 in one farming session). She's also a healer. Which means that even if I knew what it was like to be at range during a fight, I still wouldn't know what to do with lightening speed. Couple that with the fact that until today I've only healed as disc and what you get is disasterous on 10 man Firefighter. I wanted to cry, I was failing so badly. AND after I switched spec to holy, I didn't realize that I needed to train circle of healing and was using rank 1....*sigh* How the boys put up with me I'll never know, but they did. Even stuck it out when I said they should replace me.

To all the healers in my guild (except one who shall remain nameless), I take my hat off to you. Especially Dizzy, without whose help I would have failed even more abominably than I did. To the guys in my alt 10 man, thanks for sticking it out with my priest in the group. She looks like the ugly red-headed step child of alts on her lowly griffin. Getting a rusted proto on her will be like going from a gremlin to a rolls.

WoW Introduction

My main toon, Sephestra, a level 80 enhancement shaman. I raid with my guild, Bleach, on the US Azjol-Nerub server. We're pretty good and it's a lot fun. Right now we're working on 25 man Lich King in ICC and 10 man hardmode ICC.

And outside of raid I'm working on the Insane in the Membrane achievement....because I am an achievement whore. I can't lie, I love to see the little pop up when I get one. It's shiny and flashy and pretteh. (Yes, I change my toon's hairstyle based on the gear I get, why do you ask?) When I finish this achievement I'll get a very nice title, Sephestra the Insane, and a bunch of achievement points.

I'll tell you more about that later, for now just know that I enjoy playing WoW as much as I enjoy cooking. And that's saying something.