Archive for January, 2007

Last night we ventured into Coilfang Reservior: Slave Pens for the first time. Blizzard has certainly kicked it up a notch…

In previous instances, we could easily expect pulls of 3 or 4 elites, maybe even 3 elites with up to 4 non-elites. In CR:SP, we were faced with several pulls of 6 elites. In fact, without sheep and mind-control, these mega-groups were seriously wipe-worthy. Don’t let the level 62-64 label fool you — we had 2 63s (Skykomish & Ungulataur), a 64 (Dixi), 65 (Gorysh), and 66 (Necromage) and ultimately had to call it a night from utter gear destruction.

Although the Bogstrok makura (crab-men) came in the largest groups (5-7), we were able to sheep one, and mind-control another to make the group more manageable. However, because of MC, we lost primary healer, putting the shaman on the spot to keep the tank alive while 3 or 4 makura beat the snot out of me. Holding agg on several monsties became even more difficult with the naga, since they too would mind-control, fear, spell reflect, and AoE, among other dirty tricks usually unseen in instances previous… especially by trash. Bosses maybe, but not trash.

Speaking of bosses, we were only able to fell the first, a nasty druid-shaman hybrid named Mennu the Betrayer. He had a healing totem that would heal him 5% per tic, and a few others. DPS was crippled during the fight just to keep the totems in check. He was so kind as to drop shaman-gear: [Vest of Living Lightning]. Ungulataur ended up with the new socketed item, although reluctantly…

The other two bosses were attempted, since they could be hit out-of-order. The second boss, Rokmar was personally responsible for 6 wipes, full or partial (vanish is overpowered). Ultimately we gave up when our final and best attempt only got him to 25%. Durability only allowed one attempt on the final boss, Quagmirran, but fatigue and frustration held us back… Oh, and destroyed armor once we wiped on him.

In conclusion, the bar has been raised. The level description for the instances is misleading. Gear is becoming ever more important, and groundbreaking strategy is called for. With long pulls, don’t be afraid to fear or pull other tricks out of your hat that you wouldn’t normally try… but we’ll take them down, even if we all have to gain another level or two.

I think we may continue having a winner in Ramparts until everyone sees Nazan dead. We’ve only dropped him once, and while that was fine for the 5 of us who were in there, that still leaves at least 3 times that many guildies/characters who haven’t looted him yet.

[edit] Vote for next week’s FNF instance.

Wednesday, everyone head on down to the Blackrock Mountain for some LBRS action. Depending on quests, LBRS can be run 5-man or as a 10-man raid…

As we learned last night at Scholomance, if you are above the level requirement for the instance, we will not be able to summon you (without a warlock). This means that if you are 61 or higher, and you want/need to hit LBRS, you can’t just continue questing in Netherstorm and hope for a ride. =]

Vote for next week’s Mid-Night instance.

In the coming weeks, more and more of the sub-60 content will be added to the Mid-Night vote. Eventually, maybe even UBRS.

Was it worth it? Was the collector’s edition of the Burning Crusade expansion pack worth an extra $20? …an extra day’s wait?

Personally, I’m still torn. The initial 36-hour delay from those lucky enough to snag BC at a midnight sale got quite the edge over me. A few were already 61 before I even stepped thru the Dark Portal, and now nearly a week later, I’m at a good 2 level disadvantage since I can’t focus on one character long enough to make a major impact. Level? PvP? Bloodelf? The lack of a rested bonus is really discouraging too…

Over time, the extra day of waiting will have little or no impact, since we’re all going to be “stuck” at 70 together, so at that point it’ll only be the extra goodies that make the difference. For those who didn’t get it, and have already upgraded your account, don’t bother looking for the CE if you want the Netherwhelp pet. Once your account has been upgraded, you can’t upgrade it again. That only leaves the other goodies to win you over. Plus, although the whelp is nice and all, it’s a little goofy looking; like a smurf and dragon had a little too much to drink in Neverland…

First off, the install discs are available both on 4 CDs and 1 DVD. Again, this just makes the install process really fast (if you use the DVD), which is something you’ll only do once, or maybe another couple of times if you destroy your machine and need to reinstall from scratch. Then you’re left with a fat jewelcase and a sleeve for storage, twice as much as without it. Net benefit over time seems to be a minor inconvenience, unless you’re a pack-rat…

Then, there’s a mousepad with a map of Outland. I already have a mousepad, and am not too interested in replacing it just yet. I suppose I could frame it or something… Net benefit: none.

Now to the goodies: A behind the scenes DVD. This contains making-of footage for the game, cinematic intro, music, voiceovers, and other little trailers. Overall, there’s apparently 5 hours of footage, all in convenient bite-size segments no longer than 20 minutes. I conquered most of the non-alliance parts in a single afternoon. The marionette mage/sheep scene was priceless… Given the price of DVDs, particularly the “bonus features”, I’d say this was worth about $5. Not a whole lot of replay value.

A 21-track CD containing the music from BC. I’m about halfway thru and have to say that I’m impressed. Although I listen to the music in game while I’m playing, I never gave it much more thought than the ambiance it presented. By itself, it is very nice. Normally I’m not into the whole classical-esque style of music, and probably would not have bought the CD alone, but I’d guess this would be your average $12 CD.

This brings us to the book: The Art of WoW:BC. Awesome. I’m a big fan of these books, and it reminds me very much of a D&D hardbound, like the Draconomicon, or even the Player’s Handbook — except chock full o’ drawings, paintings, and designs. I would say that this book alone is worth the price difference between the normal and collector’s editions. Now if only I can keep it in the really nice condition it is in…

In conclusion, I’m still torn whether it was all worth it, but I’m happy with the CE, and there’s really no going back now, is there?

The winner of the vote for this week’s FNF is Hellfire Ramparts (as you may well have guessed). Unfortunately, this is a 5-man instance, and 7 people voted for it (others may want to attend as well). Fortunately, it is rumored to be a very short instance, clocking in at 45-90 minutes… so in theory, we can do multiple runs.

So, unlike normal FNF’s, let’s play this by ear. Start showing up whenever you do, and as soon as we can get a rounded group together, we’ll head in. If another group can form in the meantime, we can have two at the same time. Otherwise the late arrivals can join a second run. I personally have no objections to instancing all night long… or all weekend!