Archive for January, 2007

Assuming everyone isn’t too busy with Blood Elves, Outland, or slashing their wrists because the stupid expansion pack hasn’t arrived yet and the mail-order company is claiming that their major distribution center in Texas is snowed in and iced over due to some freak unexpected storm and that they appologize, they really do, but there’s simply nothing they can do at this time short of refund the purchase… not that we know anyone like that…

BRD! Mid-Night! I know I’ll be there! I have Dark Iron to smelt!

Vote for next week’s Mid-Night instance.

While I was at the Dark Portal last night, I grabbed a few new friends.

    

The Portal Hound is like a mini Beast, and the Lieutenant is like the Felguard, but, much bigger. I sacrificed my Felguard and just used these two the rest of the night. I will be going back to grab one of the large Doom Guards next, maybe an Infernal while I am at it. Fun Times.

Aloha

The Burning Crusade is upon us. Demons are pouring out of the Dark Portal (good thing we raced there when it was still safe, eh?). Millions of subscribers are chomping at the bit to fork over the cash and race to 70, start new alts with new races, and generally disregard everything held sacred at 60.

So, it is with this in mind that I announce UBRS as the final FNF before the expansion. Although the loot may not matter in a few days, it will be the last time for months that more than 5 of our members will group in an “endgame” instance. Sure, we might be able to hit ZG along the way (if there are enough votes AND enough who sign up), but Zul’Gurub will no longer be an instance above us — we’ll actually have to come back to do it later. Same goes with the other 20- and 40-man content.

As a result, there are new instances added to the FNF Poll in the forums. Currently only the first couple of expansion content instances, but as our ranks advance in level, more instances will be added to the poll. To make room, other instances (anything below level 58) have been moved to the Mid-Night Poll… and to make room there, lower level instances have been removed altogether. They will still happen, but rather on an as necessary basis (or when the Blood Elf ranks demand it). In total, there are 15 (fifteen) new 5-man instances, all of which can be re-run again at 70 under heroic difficulty, making for 30 new 5-man instances, as well as 1 new 10-man, and 7 new 25-man raids. Our instance progress page has been updated to reflect this, splintering off a raid progress page as well.

Phew, that’s a lot, and makes for a long post… back to the FNF: UBRS. For those not familiar, Upper Blackrock Spire is a 10-man raid (so xp sucks) in Blackrock Mountain. Minimum level is 58. We have several more than 10 level 58+ members, so space is limited to signups! An additional run (or two?) may happen, and we can always swap out people if they really want in/out.

Click here to sign up for UBRS.
Click here to vote for the next FNF.
Click here to vote for the next Mid-Night.

The winning team in the Race to the Dark Portal was Team Raptor, comprised of Grauenvoll’s level 1 alt Quicklilguy, his captain Skykomish, and with Bomosnipah, Gorc, Malgash, Necromage, Paed, Quorthon, and Travysh rounding out the team.

Overall, many participants, both on Team Raptor and Team Wolf noted that the race was much easier than originally expected, with combat avoidance as one of the keys to keeping the pace up rather than potions or other speed-related buffs.

The next race is already in the works, to be announced in the next few weeks.

To everyone who signed up, thank you. I realize some who signed up will not be in attendance, and others will probably want to show up who didn’t sign up, or even bring a character they hadn’t originally intended. Feel free. We know signups were quite a while ago, and were mostly to get a feel for how many people were interested in participating.

Here’s the deal:

1. Be around the campfire at the Den at 11pm Greymane Time (9pm PST) with the character you intend to bring on the Race. If you know you are going to be late, have someone vouch for you, your character, and the time you will be showing up.
2. Get onto TeamSpeak. Although this is optional, it will make the process of determining teams, and team communication much easier — even if you are only listening. I realize some people have feedback issues, which is probably due to speaker/microphone settings. We’ll have a little time to resolve those before the race. If you are not going to be on TeamSpeak, let someone else know so that important details can be relayed by channel or whisper.
3. Once everyone is accounted for (signups or relayed interest), we will begin with the /roll to determine those who create the Level 1 character. Anyone with a free slot on Greymane is welcome to /roll, regardless of whether they asked to do so earlier. You must be present for this roll, so late-arrivers will have to escort.
4. The Alts then choose their team captains. Then the alts go create their character. These charcters should not have been made in advance, but we aren’t looking over your shoulder… and you won’t know whether you are creating an orc or a troll.
5. The captains then alternate picking the remainder of the people for their team; present characters picked first, with others picked afterwards. Any odd members will be on the team that picked second.
6. The teams’ party/raid composition and organization is entirely up to the team. They may use TeamSpeak, or opt against it. They can discuss tactics, path, etc.
7. Once the team captains both say their team is ready on /guild the Race will begin…

Good luck!