Ladies, Start Your Engines!

My little girls have been getting mounts left and right recently!

Silvver got her Striped Frostsaber ...

... Disuna got her Swift Stormsaber ...

... and Noirre FINALLY got her Swift Red Gryphon!

Yep, that's a lot o'gold going out! But it's worth it ... in every single case. Now I only wish I'd succumbed to the mind-numbing monotony of dailies long ago. Man, they're boring, but they do roll in the gold.

And closer still ...

Little Noirre is now wielding Gladiator's Heavy Crossbow. And can I just say that I am thoroughly SICK of pvp? Ugh. I hate it. Oh, it's kind of fun for about two runs. And then it's just tedious. But it's a good way to get better gear.

I am finally starting to get a few heroic groups. Mostly, these have turned out horribly. Tried heroic Black Morass this past weekend. Our tank (all in blues) went down in three hits. Of course, it didn't help that he got not one single heal. After two swift wipes, we gave that up. But I slid into a group for the heroic Ramparts daily yesterday. It was a beautiful group. I wish I could have them every day. I was by far the worst geared with my three measly epics. Our Pally tank and Priest healer were dreams. /wistful sigh

And Disuna finally got to Outland. And then I took her back to Eastern Plaguelands to do some skinning to get her leather working up to 300 so she can actually use the skins she's getting in Hellfire Penninsula. She just hit 60 and, when I have the time, I'm going to try healing a group for Ramps. We'll see how that goes. I can only hope for the same kind of tank Noirre had yesterday.

I've been stinking lucky lately

I believe I may have had more luck with drops in the last few weeks than I have in the entire past year of WoW. I got drawn into a group going to Botanica on my hunter the other day. I thought they were doing heroic. So I agreed to go since it was the daily and I've really been wanting to start heroics and start getting badges. At the last minute, it was decided to do it on regular instead since our tank wasn't heroic geared. Ah well. I didn't need to go there for anything else, but didn't want to back out on the group at that point. So I went. And I got Beast Lord Cuirass. Three runs have now yielded three Beast Lord items for me. Does the great god Blizz want me starting Kara or what? Me thinks he does.

Oh, and then there was the Blackrock Depths run I did on my 55 Resto Druid. I went for xp and to complete a couple of quests. I ended up with five rares: three healing armor pieces, one healing mace and one dps armor item for soloing.

I wonder how long this luck will last???

One step closer ...

A quick Shadow Labs run last night with an awesome group (thanks for inviting me Warwinds!) yielded Sonic Spear. After grabbing a Major Agility enchant for it, I'll be set for melee weapons.

Now to go after that new crossbow.

Getting there

So I got Noirre Kara keyed a while ago. She's been 70 for ages but I've never bothered with any of the Kara prep as, 1) I'm pretty much never on when my guild is doing (attempting) a run, and 2) there are already several hunters Kara ready. However, I recently decided that I'm going to get her keyed and geared and all prepared ... just in case.

Gear is the trickiest part for me. There are some decent items in instances, but it's kind of hard for me to instance. The best time for me to go is weekday mornings. It's not easy to find groups in the mornings. I did buy all three pieces of the Felstalker set and popped agility gems into them. Made two Steamvaults runs and, miracle of miracles, came out with the Beast Lord shoulders and legs. Hm, I wonder if a third run would yield the Wrathtide Longbow? Is that too much to ask? I'd like to grab the Beast Lord handguards but, Shattered Halls ... *shudder*.

I'm busily PvPing for a few other items, I have mats for some nice attack power enchants and will add the Nethercobra Leg Armor soon.

Will that get me into Kara? I think so. Not the most massively-buffed hunter in the group to be sure, but I should be ready to at least get in the doors.

Hell yeah!

Last night a guildie needed help taking down Durn the Hungerer in Nagrand. I was doing a bit of grinding in Blade's Edge working to level and loyalize a new level 67 wolf I had just tamed. But the call for help went out and after, admittedly, waiting and hoping others would answer the call first, I came to her aid. We took Durn down and Araluen was happy. But then, afterwards, so was I. Someone in the group had one of those damage report thingies. For the first time ever ... are you ready for this? Little Noirre topped the damage charts! Woot! I religiously follow BRK's site and (usually) follow his advice. Still, I had yet to be number one in damage. I know part of that is due to my fairly crappy gear in comparison to the other 70s in any given instance. Now, admittedly, there were only two other level 70s there and one of those was the healer. Still, I'm counting it. Why, oh why, didn't I screenshot it? The top numbers were (rounded):

My Noirre, 70 hunter - 30%

Ravenhawke, 70 rogue - 25%

Araluen, 67 arms/fury warrior - 16%

DarkLord, my wolf - 8%

Sunkist, protection warrior - 8%

So *I* actually did 38% of the dps considering the fact that my pet is yet another weapon for me. But here's the kicker ... this is a BRAND NEW pet. He's not even trained in bite yet!! Now I'm really wishing I had Amenti, my level 70 fully-trained kitty with me. What would our damage have been then?

*smile*

Keyed, O Lord, I'm keyed at last!

Woot! Finally got my Karazhan key yesterday morning with a little help from guildies Jerrybizbond and Shamanbruce, I finished the Durnholde and Black Morass portions to finally completely my key quest.

And now .... gear.

Oh, and bit of advice? If someone in your group tells you they've never been to a place and to please let them know anything they need to know, do so. Okay? Don't run off and leave them, assuming they'll figure things out. When they ask how they got the dragon ride inside, don't tell them "you have to have epic riding skill" only later to ask why on earth you're not taking the dragon rides. Don't say "Talk to the dragon" assuming they'll know to come INSIDE the instance to talk to that dragon when there's a big-arsed dragon outside the instance where they are. One who, incidentally, will not talk to you. And then laugh at them for not knowing that. Don't leave the area while they are afk for a sec assuming they'll figure out to talk to the Blood Elf to exit. If someone asks you to help them, freaking HELP them. Tell them these little tidbits. Okay?

Why, Blizz, why??

WHY does Blizzard make armor look like this on females? All naked and everything? I thought the last chest piece was bad but this one is worse. Yes, I could wear my guild tabard but then it looks like I'm running around with a tunic and no pants. I'm not sure which is worse. Then again, instead it looks like I'm running around in a leather bra, mini-skirt and go-go boots. Perhaps this is the new Stripper class?

Gee, can you tell that this game is made by males for males?

Harumph.

It's bad when you dream about it

First, let me say that I never mind helping people. Well, for the most part. There are some quests that require help. And those are the ones that I have no problem helping with. The only time I do mind helping is when, say, someone asks for help and I travel for hundreds of miles and thousands of hours (well, it seems like it) and we kill one guy. Now my hearth's on cooldown and I'm in Burning Steppes. People, please try to get a group from the area first.

I also mind it when someone just wants to level faster. I have a friend like that. He tries to race from 1-70 as quickly as possible and, in doing so, will jump to a higher zone before he's quite ready. Then he wants me to come help. Too often.

A couple of days ago I tried to help a guildie on the Dire Maul part of his Paladin epic mount quest. I say 'tried' because it didn't work. First, it took us ages to find help. Finally were ready to start after about an hour - it took that long to find help and get them all there - and the priest had to go after killing maybe two trash mobs. Tried to go on with him, Retribution Pally, healing my pally tanking and the 54 rogue. Pulled a pat. Died. Try again. Got to Tendris and he spawns all his helpful little Treants and we all died before downing him.

After a goodly while of waiting in LFG again, bugged Shake, 70 hunter, to come dps. He did, but it took another goodly while for him to get there. In the meantime, the other Pally insists we clear all the elite Treants in the garden area. He says it's like Sunken Temple where, if you don't kill all the dragons outside, they'll come inside to help. I told him that wasn't where they came from. We didn't clear that area when I did my epic mount quest. He insists. I shrug. Might as well kill something while we wait. So we clear the whole garden.

Now Shake is here so we make another run at Tendris. Downed him this time but his spawns killed us. I assure Wang he shouldn't worry. We wiped on this part on my quest too (we were 3-manning it) but I was able to complete the quest after rezzing. He is relieved. And then?? Get back in, rez, he runs to the area. Can't complete. Why? Because he didn't read his quest log and he didn't bring the Enriched Mana Biscuits he needs. Grrrr. So, after two hours, no completed quest. *sigh*

Last night, spent some time helping the kid with group quests in Netherstorm. Didn't mind a bit. He was close to 68 and has a goal of getting to 70 by Sunday and these were all group quests.

Late last night, the Pally logged in and immediately asked for DM again. *groan* I told him if he'd find a healer and a DPS I would. He couldn't. I was relieved. (I was tired and didn't want to spend ages getting everyone there again.)

So ....

Last night I dreamed that I was sitting in a restaurant playing my Gameboy while waiting for my food. A lady sat down at the next table, pulls out her Gameboy, looks around, sees me and says, "Hey, would you mind helping me with a few quests?"

It's bad when you start dreaming about it.

Cast of Characters

As we begin the new year, I thought I would list my current cast of characters. I started WoW in February of 2007 with Disuna, my Druid. Not long after, I made Diannah. When Burning Crusade was released, I started Noirre and those first two quickly fell by the wayside. I had found "my" class. Who knows what this year will bring? A Hero, no doubt. But not for a while.

And here are all my little girls ...




Darkke
Level 20 Enhancement Shaman

She's pretty cool. I'm enjoying playing her so far. I started her after playing with a few high-level Shamen. They were awesome. And, no matter what class I'm playing, I love having one in my group.










Diannah
Level 30 Fire Mage

This poor little girl got stuck at 30 and may stay there forever, although I do keep thinking about starting to play her again and so I'm including her.





Ebonye
Level 33 Affliction Warlock

Still not completely sure about her. I like her, probably because 'Locks are like hunters in some ways. For now, I'm keeping her but I'm not sure she'll ever see Outland.











Silvver
Level 35 Shadow Priest

I really like this Priest. And, no, she'll never be a healer except in cases of dire need. Shadow is just too awesome.






Disuna
Level 48 Restoration Druid


(I should have dressed her in her healing gear, not the soloing stuff for this screenshot but oh well.) Di very well may become my main. I like healing and it's so freaking easy to get a group as a healer. I started PVPing on her yesterday to start building up honor for high level gear just in case.









Ravenn
Level 62 Protection Paladin

Rave was supposed to be my healer and I went Holy for about 10 levels around level 50. But, man oh man, is it hard to keep up heals with a Pally when you have a crappy group. At 60, I changed her to Prot and made my Druid my healer. (Group heal, ftw!) Not sure how much I'll like tanking. Tanked for Ramps the other day and did fine, well, except for the Mage-who-thinks-he's-a-tank, but other than that I did okay. Just not sure it's going to be my thing. Oh, and yes, I do know that Hellreaver isn't a tanking weapon. But I got it and it's cool and I'll use it for soloing as it has 20 more dps than my 1-hand mace.




And my sweetheart ... Noirre
Level 70 Beastmaster Hunter
(Yeah, all you MM hunters can just shut up.)

She'll always be my favorite. She's in desperate need of gear and that 3rd key fragment, but I still love her. And always will. I just wish there wasn't 800,000 other hunters out there in LFG on the average day. My instance time is limited and hunters are not often the class people are looking for. Oh well, she'll get there one day.