Entries in Death Knight (4)

Wednesday
23Dec2009

You threw off my groove!

DateDecember 23, 2009 at 1:20 AM

I am still a pretty big fan of the dungeon finder, for all the reasons that I (and just about every other WoW blogger) have listed.  However, I'm starting to see the other side of the coin.

I quest when I level.  It's almost exclusively what I do - this whole "multiple dungeons a day" thing is only a recent happening with the dungeon finder.  I work my way through areas and do just about every quest I can see until it's time to move on to bigger, better, (prettier) areas.  There are certain zones that I will drop every quest I have in an old zone to run start - Stranglethorn Vale is one of these zones, Zangarmarsh and Nagrand two others.  I've been looking forward to Dragonblight so I can finally see what Wrathgate is all about and then Storm Peaks later. 

However... since I've been so busy with the dungeons, I've gained lots of experience in level but I find myself behind in quests.  I've not moved through them as I ought to have.  There's been hardly any quest progression!  I only just tonight got the three quests for the Nexus, even though I've run it at least 6 times already.  And those quest rewards would've been GREAT for me had I gotten them when I first started running the Nexus. 

It's not just about the quest rewards, either.  Even though I've been having fun (most of the time) in the PuGs, I've been feeling a little... uneasy, shall we say.  While I was writing yesterday's post about finding "the one" for my main, I started to feel worried, thinking that this was the start of an upheaval and change of mains.  But, I think I've pinpointed what the issue is.  I'm not questing as I am wont to do, so I don't feel the smooth progression through chains and zones that I usually do.  It's surprising how much I favor structure like that in my leveling.  I just need to get back into my questing groove.

I did hit 73 early this morning in a Nexus PuG that probably has been my favorite thus far.  Our bear tank lagged out so we were going to wait for another tank, but I stepped up and offered to tank to save time so we only had to wait a few seconds for a DPS to port in.  The group was quick and efficient, I was moving at a nice pace, tanking well and having fun.  I jumped off a platform and totally missed the landing and died from falling too fast - and the group laughed at it.  That was a nice bit of comic relief - jokes were made.  I just had a great time on that run <3

AuthorAnea | Comment3 Comments |
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Friday
18Dec2009

And on the 18th day... she tanked

DateDecember 18, 2009 at 4:54 PM

Yes, you read right, dear readers!  I finally got up the nerve to join the Random Dungeon Finder as a tank.  I was slightly disappointed that I wasn't thrown an invite in 10 seconds, but it was still pretty quick!

It ended up that I got a group that had already started Utgarde Keep - they were only three pulls in and this is what I see:

[RetPally]:  You better be a real tank Cel, or we're kicking you - I'm just telling you now
[RetPally]:  And you better be Frost
[HealSham]:  Fo' real
[Me]:  Oh shit

Since, y'know... this was my first instance as a tank ever, I'm sure I didn't fall into the "real tank" category.  However, I didn't tell them this and apparently being specced Frost was enough for them.  It turned out that they were the pushy group that was all, "Go go go NOW NOW NOW" and we had that boomkin that was always inching towards everything and "accidentally" pulling.  Because they wanted to blast through so quickly, Utgarde Keep was really a blur to me that time - my hands were shaking, I was mashing buttons blindly and when Lus came in from work, I wouldn't even look at him.  I (practically) snapped at him, "I can't talk to you right now.  I'm trying not to be horrible."  In my defense, it was the first boss fight and my first boss fight ever as a Real Tank™.

In fact, it went well enough that after the last boss I was invited to join their guild - to be leveled up and geared up so I was on par with everyone else.  I was extremely flattered by this and it boosted my confidence a lot and I took it as a sign that I hadn't fallen into the dreaded Fail Knight category.  They pushed the guild thing more... I demurred, thinking that by saying, "I'm probably not as experienced a tank as you're looking for" wasn't a lie of omission but I finally got the point across - a whole instance later.

I was invited after UK to go run the Nexus - although I did make it clear that I hadn't run it in a LONG time and hadn't ever tanked it.  "You'll be fine!" they assured me.  That instance went pretty smoothly too (despite the damn boomkin with a death wish) but my biggest screw up was porting out of the instance after Ormorok the Tree-Shaper thinking we were done.  It had been so long and I was still so wired that I had completely forgotten Keristrasza!  (Yes, I did feel the shame.)  However, no other blunders were made, tanking or otherwise.

The First Foray into Tanking:  Good!  I'm not paralyzed with fear like I was before I actually queued, but I'm still a little shaky in my tanking boots.  However, now that the first steps have been taken, I know I'll get better with practice.  I had the usual post-First fears that I voiced to Naithin and he gave me this advice:

Mashing buttons and making it look convincing is what tanking is all about!  Class changes merely how hard you need to mash and what it looks like on screen!

AuthorAnea | Comment13 Comments |
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Tuesday
08Dec2009

+100 [Cuteness]!

DateDecember 8, 2009 at 3:43 AM

If you needed some cute to make your Patch Day morning a little brighter, look no further!

After seeing the amazing chibis that @Kenichan and @LoreliAoD (of Re-Roll fame) had commissioned, I had to get in line too!  @Baenhoof, the artist, has special Christmas prices, so I was able to get three (3) chibis done for a great price.  *squee*

 

 

And so you now have a lovely banner to look at as well, rather than the boring old text of before - thank goodness!  The lovely cow you see at the top is my newest Death Knight, Numu.  I've tried Death Knighting before, in several different racial forms and have always failed - the constant here is that I was trying to level frost and I had absolutely no idea what I was doing.  The few people I asked about it just said, "Faceroll to 80 lawl!"  While this is true - just randomly pushing buttons and hoping the thing hitting you dies does technically work - it does nothing for the ego of the player and in fact can make the player feel very stupid. 

While on one of my many attempts, I thought that I could really appreciate having to level all the way up to 55 in all the other classes.  Yes, the playing might be tedious at times and if it's an alt (or 100th alt) you're going through content you've seen too many times before... but you're getting to know your class.  You're introduced to your spells and abilities in an orderly fashion and you learn how they relate to one another and - by trial and error - you can figure out what order they ought to be used in order to get maximum damage for your effort.  Logical progression is our friend.

With the Death Knights, on the other hand, you level up three levels in quick succession.  You learn lots of new abilities and you are forced to use them right away.  They throw decades worth of talents at you willynilly.  Unless you've read up on the class and know what each of the trees do and know what you want to level your Death Knight as, this is very overwhelming.  I was used to easing into a class and learning as I go - this "class quickie" caught me off guard.

I even berated myself a little bit about it - when I very first rolled a Death Knight, it was months and months after Wrath had come out.  In that time, there were articles written and posts blogged about them, but I hadn't really done more than glance at them.  I had decided I liked the "look and feel" of the Frost tree (what better for a cold, heartless Death Knight?) and that's what I was going to do.  (It didn't go well.)  However, I knew that Death Knights had quickly been stigmatized and that "Death Tards" ran rampant over Northrend.  If anyone and their mother could be a Death Knight (and make it to 80, if not do it well) why couldn't I?

Just as with my warrior episode... it seems I was just trying with the wrong spec.  Frost wasn't clicking for me and when I took the advice of Moodyloner, things went rather swimmingly!  I've not lost sight of my Frost dreams, however - she'll play around with Frost when she gets to 80 - but for now, Numu will try not to stain her pretty white fur with all the blood flying to and fro.

AuthorAnea | Comment1 Comment |
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Tuesday
26May2009

Naughty Death Knights

DateMay 26, 2009 at 6:30 AM
Up until this weekend, I had never played a Death Knight through the whole chain of quests and made it to 58.

In the last month, I had two forays into the darkest class in Warcraft: once on my own as a Blood Elf (didn't even see 56) and once as a Gnome (she saw 56 at least, but only 56) with Grimtorn as my escort. It was a late, late night idea, so it got cut short - sleep sounded better than slaughtering more Scarlet Crusade - call us crazy.

My inability to settle on a "main alt" has had me jumping all over the place for the last several weeks - apparently I need to have a "project" otherwise I lose my mind. I got it in my mind (again) that I wanted to play a Dwarf and after much hemming and hawing, I re-created a months-old idea in the form of my female Dwarf Death Knight. I set a goal for myself - this time, I would make it through the quest line.

Like a good little killing machine, I ran over to forge my runeblade as Instructor Razuvious would have me do. However, after having forged my blade, I got distracted upon seeing a book labeled "Death Knights of Archerus" - it was just calling out to be read!

Harmony

There was even a page for me! Apparently I am lacking a bit though...

Pella

There were other interesting reads scattered about near Highlord Darion Mograine, such as "One Truth of Undeath" and "Account of the Raising of a Frost Wyrm".  As I happened upon "Touch of the Banshee" I expected similar material - something all good Death Knights would need to know.

However! It's quite the interesting read (and yes, finally, here is the reason for the enticing title of this post) - I have the text here for your perusal:
Skor'zad nervously peered around the corner of the column. As he has planned, he saw her floating there, alone in her chamber. Had he made the right decision, visiting the banshee's private chamber so late at night? The necromancers would surely put him back into the ground if he was discovered. What's worse, he didn't even know if his feelings were requited, and Madame Sidnari was known for her short temper.

What few doubts the zombie had were quickly tossed aside once he caught a full glimpse of her beauty. Her distinctly elven features - a reminder of her form in a past life - were now only enhanced by the oozing wounds and scabs that dotted her face. Purple, almost translucent skin was frugally covered by necrotic wrappings that hugged her waifish figure. Cold flesh neatly fused with the ephemeral as her legless torso sat upon a bluish sphere of energy, drifting a few inches above the cold granite floor. Skor'zad allowed himself to relax a bit and wiped the sweat and ichor that dripped alternatingly from his prominent brow.

Seemingly unaware of his presence, she glided to the only window in the room and looked out upon the battlefield. Desolation stretched out before her. Not six hours ago has the shrill cries of human children pierced the air, but now... only the sweet silence of death.

The wind caught her hair now, playfully flipping the worm-like tangles around her hollowed-out eye sockets. Skor'zad, suddenly aware that he was leaning forward with lust, shrank back behind the column, terrified that the Dark Wailer might have seen him. She had indeed seen him - but he had no reason to fear.

"Skor'zad," she said. "I've been waiting for you. You fought well today." The banshee glanced coyly over her rotting right soldier, allowing her wrappings to loosen ever so slightly. "It's time you... collected your reward."

<The next few pages seem to be stuck together.>

And, in the spirit of naughtiness, may I also draw your attention to the second comic on this page - images NSFW - Rilgon, has this ever happened to you?
AuthorAnea | Comment6 Comments |
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