That Guy's Blog

367 Days

2010-09-30T14:42:00.000-07:00

It's been a year since I made a post.

Couple Tid Bits

2009-09-28T11:37:00.000-07:00

It's been nearly 3 months since I've posted anything. I've been distracted. We;re trying to find a house to buy in our budget. So far we're 0 for 3 on the offers we've put in.

In WoW all is carrying on as you'd expect. I still raid a bit, have upgraded a piece of gear here or there, and finished the Brewfest Meta achievement. This means I have the 'Brewmaster' title now. I'm not using it.

The reason I am not using the 'Brewmaster' title is that some guildies and I ran Naxx10 man with 8 of us and got the 'Undying' title. It's much more impressive than 'Brewmaster.' I think I'll sport it for a while.

Lemme Catch You Up

2009-06-30T11:32:00.000-07:00

I have not done any one thing that was particularly note-worthy lately. Every time I occomplish something, I just figure it's not blog worthy. The I realized I'm the only one that reads this so I going to epeen a bit.

I haven't been raiding regularly for quite some time. My schedule allows for one of the three days per week, so I can't really raid. In addition to that I have been enjoying some of the casualness of the game again.

I participated in the Mid-Summer event. I spent a weekend honoring and decicrating fires. It was fun, and allowed me to get my world explorer achievement too. Three achievements and two titles in a weekend ain't too bad.

Last night I relieved Uncas. He was raiding Ulduar with the guild, and wanted to go to bed. He had an early start to his day today, and wanted the extra shut-eye. I joined the guild at Hodir, and we carried on for another couple bosses. I forget which boss was kind enough to drop the head token, but I sure appreciate him doing so. I finally got my Epic achievement.

Some old Anathema guys joined the guild. Euripedes (mage) and Decessus (death knight - formerly Vox the mage) are nor part of our friendly guild. A PUG priest from last night's raid also joined up. It's nice that raids will have a better chance of happenning with the new blood. It seems we were always a man or two shy lately.

Since Armory is down I can not cross reference any of my achievement information to see what else I've been up to. No big. I'll let you (me) know what the hell I've been doing next time I post.

New Signature

2009-05-11T11:26:00.000-07:00

Courtesy of Sequel What a stud!

http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/8035/ghostsigfinal.png

Chef Title, etc.

2009-05-06T12:31:00.001-07:00

Got this title last night.

While I was running around farming mats, making food, and seeing what time the Auction House could save me Gabrielle was working on Fishing achievements.

In the span of under 3 hours he finished up all of his coin fishing, fished up the sewer rat, fished up Mr. Pinchy, and fished up the turtle mount! A luckier fishing expedition has never occurred.

Upon learning that he has over 5900 achievement points I lost my zeal for accomplishing any more achievements. My 4600 (ish) points used to mean something. I thought I was just behind everyone else. Fucking Gabrielle is throwing off the curve!

A special 'shout out' goes to Pakmooicus. He provided me the last fish I needed to get my Outland achievement and title. It was some kind of rare trout that he happened to have in his bag. The stud saved me 30 to 45 minutes in Zangarmarsh. What a stallion!

Children's Week

2009-05-04T11:17:00.000-07:00

I loathe PvP. It both sucks and blows.

Children's week in upon us. Blizzard has it's standard array of silly quests to do with an orphan out. It has also added 4 achievements in the 4 primary battlegrounds that must be accomplished with the orphan out in order to get the title, "Matron/Patron."

I spent this past weekend in the battlegrounds. Yay me!

I am so bad at PvP that I don't even bother swapping out gear. I run around in my raid epics and do as much damage as possible. Screw resiliance, etc. Any PvPer that gets his hands on me is going to have me for lunch, anyway.

I got my title, but enjoyed very little of the event. Mind-numbing quests, an heroic instance, and 4 PvP achievements later I am now Ghostkid the Patron.

You know you're jealous.

Noblegarden

2009-04-29T15:19:00.000-07:00

I was working on the Noblegarden event because I've blown it off the past few years and was told it only takes a few hours. A few hours of silly shit for the 'Noble' title sounded fine to me.

As I was running around collecting eggs and completing menial quests I found a Noblegarden Quartermaster. The only thing the Quartermaster had that appealed to me was a companion pet (bunny) for 100 chocolates. The chocolates are attained by opening eggs (think decorated Easter eggs) that one gathers from the hiding spots near major cities. There are many toons hunting eggs to collect chocolates and to fulfill a daily quest requirement.

I collected enough eggs to buy my new companion pet with 100 chocolates. Honestly, by the time I collected 100 chocolates I had decided the entire event was an epic waste of time. It took me 2 hours just to get the damn pet.

I logged, because I was done hunting eggs for the day.

The next day I picked up the event again. I had to go to major cities to allow my new rabbit to mate with other players' rabbits, and I needed 20 more eggs to complete the daily quest.

As I was tootling along doing my egg gathering I looted a shirt from one of the eggs, then some pants. One of the event achievements was to loot the outfit, so I got that. I looted a robe from an egg that allowed me to plant flowers, which was another achievement. At this point I figured getting the 'Noble' title wasn't going to be so bad.

Before I looted my 20th egg for the daily one of the eggs gave me the companion pet bunny. This is the same bunny I spent 2 hours gathering eggs for the day before. I was not a happy camper, and I wanted my time back!

You see, one of the achievements is to eat 25 (then 100) chocolates. I could have eaten the chocolates instead of handing them over for a little rabbit that I just got for free.

I continued my egg hunting because I still needed to eat 100 chocolates, and loot a dress from an egg. After I looted enough chocolates I ate 100 of them and crossed the achievement off of my list of to-dos. I kept hunting eggs because I still needed the damn dress. I only had to loot the dress and sprinkle flowers on different female players for my title. I was determined.

Not 2 minutes went by after I ate my cocoa delights I looted another pet; then another 30 minutes later, and another 20 minutes after that. I currently have 1 pet learned, and 4 in my bags. The rascally rabbit is soulbound and can not be vendored. Yay me!

I hunted eggs for about 3 hours the second day, and never got the dress. With 2 achievements left in the event I decided to finish sprinkling flowers on the ladies. I camped Yellek from Shai in Dalaran who was sitting on her mount allowing herself to be sprinkled by any passer by that waited for the 2 minute cool down to expire. She's a troll, and that was my last lady. God bless her whorish soul.

Upon sprinkling the flowers on Yellek I got the achievement, and credit for finishing the event...and the title of 'Noble.' I was surprised and relieved.

I think I'll leave the dress egg undone. Maybe Blizzard found pity on me for looting over 400 eggs, and never getting the garment from hell.

Guardian of Cenarius

2009-03-12T12:08:00.000-07:00

I forgot to mention...I got this title too.

It took about 6 hours to grind the mobs and drops to get from neutral to exalted.

I really need a more productive alternative for my free time.

...The Diplomat

2009-03-05T13:34:00.000-08:00

Yup, I got the title.

I accidentally stumbled upon the Timbermaw last weekend. I was going to the multi-faction auction house in Winterwhatever and killed a mob that yielded me Timbermaw rep. The kill was fast, so I hung out long enough to kill as many mobs as it took to pass through the damn tunnel safely.

I decided it was time to get the Leatherworking and Enchanting patterns/formulae these guys had to offer. I had always wanted them.

After a day or two of grinding mobs and drops I hit exalted. I thought that would be enough for me to get my whimsical desires for rep out of my system, but then I stumbled upon "The Diplomat" title. I already had 2 of the 3 exalted reps done...time to work on number 3, Sporeggarr.

It didn't take too long since I was already Honored. I ran Underbog about 7 times, and collected enough Hibiscus to turn in for my exalted rep. I got the title, bought the sporebat, and finally hit exalted with all of the TBC factions (non-raid)...4 months after WOTLK. I tend to do theings bass ackward sometimes.

New Hands and Stuff

2009-02-20T14:43:00.000-08:00

The guild was in 10 man OS last night trying to down it with two drakes up. I think they managed doing it with one. I was the 11th guy on line after they started, so I didn't get to go play with my guildies.

I joined a PUG for 25 man OS. It was the same guy running this week's PUG as last week's. I didn't post about last week because nothing came of it.

This week, however, I got my 25 man hands token. Yay me! More stats for everything except Hit. There's less Hit. Fuck, I need Hit. I'm rolling at about 200 and cap is 263. What a waste of 3 talent points.

I'm rambling....

While I was in the raid getting buffed I looked at one of the other two Hunters in the raid. He was head-to-toe blues...quest blues; except his bracers. His bracers were crafted epics.

Bracers have been a bit of an issue for me. Mine were blue, and I haven't gotten an epic drop yet.

I looked closer at his bracers and realized they were crafted by a Leatherworker. It's a simple Dalaran pattern. Hell, any Leatherworker could craft these nifty little things.

HOLY SHIT!

I'm a Leatherworker, and never bothered to learn the pattern of craft them for myself. What the hell!

I swear that the more I play this damn game the worse I get.

Is that possible?

Love Seasonal Thing

2009-02-20T14:41:00.000-08:00

I'll admit I wanted the title for the Valentine's Day crap, but I didn't have enough on-line time to accomplish all of the silly things to get it. Oh well. There's always next year.

Lunar Thingy

2009-01-30T15:46:00.000-08:00

I made a commitment to myself to get the Elder achievements done this year. Mainly because Blizzard has provided me with a checklist of shit I am missing.I started the journey last weekend, and got my title last night.

What an epic pain in the ass!

I hate having to travel the world to talk to different NPC's. This is a huge waste of time. I could be masterbating to Wowhead or something instead of seeking out Elder Dick-In-His-Mouth in Bumfuck Egypt!

Anyway...it's done.

Now I need a new goal. I really only enjoy playing when I'm trying to accomplish something. It's usually an obscure thing that means nothing to most people.

This is where most bloggers would ask for your suggestions. I won't. It's my goal, not yours! Stop trying to control me! Ass!

TBC Waste of Time Heroics

2009-01-21T10:53:00.000-08:00

Oliveta has posted in comments how he considers it a waste of time to go do things in the old world for the achievements. Another guildie, Hottietroll, has the opinion that the entire game is about achievements. Hottietroll's point of view is that the achievement system was added to WoW, but each person was doing them already...geared toward their own personal goals of what they wanted out of the game.

Both of these people are right. I'm leaving it at that because I do not have the time nor desire to carefully craft a well thought out post on things that do not matter in real life.

This post is about the smack-in-the-face difference in power I am seeing with the new talents, glyphs, gear, etc. from level 70 to level 80. Ironically, I am posting the day after a patch that has nerfed my toon.

I did not play old WoW when the level cap was 60. That's not true. I got the game when the level cap was 60, but at level 42 The Burning Crusade came out. Obviously, my guild was all about hitting Outlands and the new content. I hit level 58, went to Outlands, and continued leveling. I saw no instances past Scarlet Monestary and ZF in the old world.

By reading the above paragraph the reader can assess that I never saw the difference from level 60 to level 70.

Last nigth Pak was going to run some TBC heroic instances to clear the achievements from his log. Blizzard does not give a player credit for doing an instance unless there is a piece of gear, etc. in the player's inventory from the instance with the new achievement system. Pak had run these things multiple times, but has since out grown the gear and vendored it. I did the same thing.

Pak got a small group of 4 together that included me, and we went to Outlands to terrorize some bosses.

It was bitter sweet. I had an old attitude at my new level. I looked at a boss that took some strat and finess, and tried to remember how I was supposed to perform my roll. You know. I didn't want to be responsible for a wipe for poor performance. Nothing should have been farther from my mind.

Pak would engage 3 or 4 trash mobs at a time. He'd pull them into a moster cluster, and we would burn them down into a mass grave. It was rediculously easy. I felt joy when we spanked a boss that used to give me fits, but felt sad that all of the time I spent honing my approach to the fights was now of no need.

I have to say that finishing a Heroic Crypts in 6 minutes was kind of cool.

At one point we were in Mech, and it seemed like Pak pulled everything from the enterance to the elevator for one big killing spree. It was like we brought a hand grenade to a pea-shooter fight. Maybe a case of grenades.

Heroic Ramparts is all I have left in Outlands. I didn't want to bring it up last night becauses we had just run 8 to 10 heroics back to back, and I wanted to go to bed. I will do the instance for no other reason than for my own satisfaction to have the pixels on my monitor tell me I have done them all.

I play for fun, and will eke it out where I can find it.

Pretend Money

2009-01-17T10:00:00.000-08:00

Gold is the currency of WoW. This gold is acquired as one plays the game, and is spend on imaginary crap within the game. All of these things on my monitor do not really exist, to I am not really acquiring them, and the gold I spend to get them is pretend...just pixels on a screen.

Then why does it hurt so much that I dumped 2300 imaginary gold on 10 levels of imaginary Enchanting, leaving my imaginary charachter with 1700 gold to his imaginary name?

Fuck...I am pretend broke!

Chillaxin'

2009-01-14T13:27:00.000-08:00

I spent last night goofing off. I went to WC with Mokasa to do the instance (third time) to get the achievement. This time I let the summoning dude get hit so the mob can be summonned. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, it's OK. That's not what this post is about.

After completing WC and another instance in the area Mokasa hearthed out to do dailies. I need rep too, but had no desire to run around Northrend doing mindless tasks just for a shoulder enchant.

I hung around The Barrens and finished exploring the zone for the achievement. I had such a fun time that I continued doing the exploring thing. I hit Thousand Needles, Ferales, Durator, and Mulgore.

It was relaxing and nostalgic. I was on my mount riding through different zones without a care in the world, remembering different times playing WoW in the different areas. Some were good, and some had me thinking of wipe fests.

A long time ago Anathema was raiding 25 man content regularly. Raids were scheduled for 3 hours a day 3 times a week. I saw Nisko on one day just questing in Netherstorm. I offered to help him with whatever he was trying to accomplish. This was a bit presumptuous because his gear and skill enabled him to own the zone. He declined my offer, and later stated that he had a blast just questing.

The raids and heroics are fun, don't get me wrong. Last night I finally understood why Nisko was enjoying lower level content.

Sometimes it's good to just treat the game as a game. Just play. Enjoy the pasttime. No pressure, just joy.

Heroics anyone?

Jenkins Title

2008-12-31T11:53:00.000-08:00

If you are a gamer in any sense of the word then you are likely familiar with the story of Leroy Jenkins. In the unlikely case that you have no idea what I am referring to click the following link...it's OK...I'll wait.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkCNJRfSZBU

Continuing on...

With the release of the new patches and expansion Blizzard added an achievement type thingy to the game. Basically, if you do something noteworthy then you get an achievement logged and some achievement points the first time you do whatever it is. I'm unsure what the points are for. I just call them as I see them.

There is an achievement for killing 50 whelps in UBRS within 15 seconds. It's the 'Leeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeroy Jenkins' achievement. It also comes with a title...'Jenkins.'

I had not run UBRS until last night even though my buddy, Oliverta, got me the ring/key months ago. My friend, Mokasa, had not stepped into and BRS at all, and had not earned a title in the game yet. Laelaps, long time guildie, joined us so we could summon the first boss and get to the whelps. It was Mokasa and I's chance for the achievement and the title.

The massacre happened flawlessly. Mokasa and I became Jenkins titled, and Laelaps hearthed out with more 'ty's' than you could shake a stick at.

Mokasa and I proceeded to finish the instance for the achievement, and both agreed we don't want to go there again.

I'll let you know if anything else interesting (to me) happens.

A New Battleground

2008-12-30T15:46:00.000-08:00

While working on my Merrymaker title I had to kill 50 people while wearing a Santa's Helper outfit. I look adorable as a Dwarf by the way.

The concept is very simple. One goes into a magical booth that changes your appearance into a Santa's Helper. Upon accomplishing this trivial task enter a battleground and start killing people. Simple, huh?

There is a rub. When you die in the battleground you lose the disguise.

I elected to try a new battleground since I hate PvP and have had my fill of Warsong Gulch, A Basin, and AV. I haven't run them in months, but still did not have any desire to set foot in any of them.

The name of the new battleground escapes me. The premise is a simple one...defend against a siege while the other side sieges. There is a timer running, and when the attackers successfully complete their siege everyone changes sides. The defenders become siegers and the siegers become defenders. If the new siegers beat the time of the old siegers they win, if not they lose.

This is a fast battle...maybe 20 minutes (if that).

I hate to admit it, but I enjoyed this new battleground. There is a great deal of action, and it ends way before it becomes tedious. I didn't mind having to run it 5 or 6 times to get my achievement done. And, hey, I got about 5,000 honor points out of it too.

I guess it's time to start grinding for some welfare epics before I get complacent about PvP again. I can't let Wriken and Uncas out DPS me forever. Welfare epics are going to be better than half my gear anyway. What's a week of mindless killing among friends?

I'm Still Here

2008-12-17T13:48:00.000-08:00

I haven't blogged in over a month because I've had nothing of interest to post. This includes this posting, by the way.

I hit level 80 on GHOSTKID about 3 weeks after the expansion came out. This is 2 weeks behind the rest of the guild.

Because it took me so long to level I missed out on all of the guild instance runs, the emblem grinds, and am not in the 10 man raids. The guild has cleared Naxx. Woot!

I have crafted what I can to upgrade my gear. There are just a couple of pieces left until I have crafted all of the pieces I can to improve the toon.

Running heroics has been spiratic for me, at best. It seems that the times I am available are not gelling with the current membership at the moment.

Not running too many thing with the guild has really made me realize how much I play this game for the social aspect of the game.

I love the people I've met on WoW. For Whom the Bell Tolls and Stay Frosty have introduced me to some awesome people I enjoy chatting with while I'm out and about doing my own thing in game. It makes questing and the like so much more bearable when one can shoot the shit with the guildies as they do whatever they're doing. I love my guildies!

Hopefully I'll have something of interest to post eventually. You'll know as soon as I do, because I'll put it here.

The Expansion

2008-11-14T14:19:00.000-08:00

The install went well, buying 3 copies of WOTLK sucked, and the queue time sucked balls. I waited an hour to get on-line. By that time I was no longer anticipating the new lands, but thinking about how much I could get done before bed.

I had trouble finding the correct zeppelin to get to Northrend. First I took a zep from Org to UC for no good reason, then I hoped onto a zep from UC to some fiord place. I learned my profession training, and set out to explore a little bit.

I think I completed the immediate zone's quests, and it's taking me up a lift. I logged around that time because it was either that or get so involved in the game that I pull an all-nighter. I'm too old for that shit.

Most of the guild was at level 71 and some were at level 72. I'd like to slowly level to see what's out there, but fear I'll be left in the dust for instance content. We shall see, I guess.

More to come if it's blog worthy.

Halloween Night

2008-11-04T14:17:00.001-08:00

When I was a kid I would go Trick-or-Treating. It was a happier time when kids were kidnapped and never heard from again as opposed to kidnapped and found dead in a shallow grave...sexually molested.

The good old days.

Anyway...as my children (15 and 7) have been growing I've noticed less and less participation in Halloween by the neighborhood where I live. There are less candy-giver-outers and less Trick-or-Treaters. The lack of participation on one side furthers the lackluster performance of the other. 'Tis a vicious cycle.

In all fairness to the candy suppliers and demanders I live in a condo complex that required costumed kids to climb stairs every door they knock on. Every fucking one. Poor kids poop out after an hour, but their thighs get HUGE.

My family and I went to some friends-of-the-family's house this year to do the Halloween thing with them. The thinking was that the kids could go beg for candy under the close supervision of their moms while my buddy and I would sit outside his front door with bowls of candy and a lot of beer, hoping to catch a glimpse of a Milf that dressed like a slut the one day a year she can get away with it. Tradition runs through my veins.

I picked up a couple bags of bulk candy at Costco before arriving at my buddy's house. He had mentioned that he gets a decent turn out of little pan-handling sugar fiends, so I figured it couldn't hurt to have some extra cavity creators on hand. Besides, I'd put the extra stock to good use if we didn't hand it all out.

The two families started out into the neighborhood to extort sweets backed by a threat of tricks should the poor homeowner not pay up the protection fee of sugary goodness, and my friend and I proceeded to crack the top of a couple of Bud Lights. If you are looking for a real beer connoisseur please go to http://jillianunbound.wordpress.com/.

The waves of children with hands out and the chimes of 'Trick-or-Treat' were endless for a solid 2 1/2 hours! It was AWESOME! People came from miles around to beg for candy in my friend's community. It reminded me of Halloween when I was a kid...back when Fred and Barney would hand out rocks from the quarry they bought at a discount from Mr. Slate.

The candy we had on hand went very quickly. My friend had to open his private stash of Bazooka Joe gum that was in a tub of 500 pieces, and break out his treasure trove of Snickers, Milky-Way, and other chocolaty goodies.

We had over 600 Trick-or-Treaters! It was the most amazing thing I had seen since I saw the image of the Virgin Mary in my stool last summer...spitting image...except for the little corn pimple.

All those costumed freaks, and no Milf worth mentioning. Maybe next year.

Mokasa's New Helm

2008-10-31T15:02:00.000-07:00

I was on GHOSTKID last night and ended up getting into a partial group for the Headless Horseman event.

We needed a healer and 1 more DPS.

I pulled a healer named Darkvenom from AV who was grinding honor for epics, and my buddy Mokasa. Darkvenom is a real life friend of my son who dinged 70 last week...just in case you giva a shit.

Mokasa, Darkvenom, and I picked up the quest in Brill and headed over to Scarlet Monestary to do our thing with the pumpkin-headed freak. This was nice because we could run it an extra 3 times in the hopes of getting the mount.

No mount, but Darkvenom and Mokasa got epic rings. Mokasa also got the plate helm. The thing is sick! I can't link stuff well, so click to see http://www.wowwiki.com/The_Horseman%27s_Helm

Man, this dude is lucky.

What's Happening With My Toons

2008-10-27T13:45:00.000-07:00

OK...

Nostik is 360/375 Inscriptions. I am not going to bother trying to get the last 15 ticks until after the expansion comes out. Nostik can make all of the Major Glyphs available through the trainers, and is doing the daily 'Learn a Minor Glyph thing" now.

GHOSTKID is rusty as all fuck! I took him into Kara with Shai (Zeet was tanking!) and it took a while to get back into the grove again. I got DC'd right before Moroes, and was unable to get back on the whole night. So much for getting into that guild.

Zombies suck balls! It's a chore to get anything done with all of the little kids on the server infecting Org and such for jollies. Shit, it's a pain in the ass!

Gavo (level 68) will be my Death Knight.

My level 70's are running zombie-ridden dailies constantly. I need gold like a hooker needs tricks to satisfy her pimp.

Mokasa (my buddy) is spending his time leveling Blacksmithing and running dailies. Leveling Blacksmithing is an expensive proposition.

And now you know what's going on.

Tunnel Vision / Procrastination

2008-10-18T09:02:00.000-07:00

I haven't been doing anything on any of my toons except Nostik for the past few months. My whole focus on the game was to get him to level 70.

I have run very few dailies on my other toons. It has cost me about 2,500 gold from bank toons to get Nostik and Mokasa the essentials to make game play tolerable (mounts and training). Why so much gold? We both dinged 70 last night through a dozen World Server disconnects. Flying mount training, epic ground mount training, etc. will cost a bit of gold.

Now there are so many things I have not been doing that I don't know where to begin. I really need to recoup my gold, but I can't just abandon Mokasa for my other toons. This is his main. He has to go get his quest blues, start running instances, etc. and I know he'll need a bit of hand holding.

Maybe I'll just hop on GHOSTKID and team up with him that way. The quests should go fast enough that I can farm gold as well on the same night.

Sheesh! I wish I kept up on my normal maintenance routines on my other toons, bank alts, and the like. The game just turned into a job.

Dumber Ass!

2008-10-17T11:24:00.000-07:00

Remember last post? Probably not. I know this is more of a diary than a blog because no one reads it.

I solved my problem.

In the orge camp described in the post just below this one (read it to be on the same page...come on...lazy fucker...I'll wait) I found that there is an elite in the camp named Gurok that never dies. Of course it is not possible to just Auto-Shot your way to max level, but it's easier than running around killing random mobs. I fought him until I hit a level acceptable for Outland mobs.

Since I was in the area I ran through the Dark Portal to get back to Outlands. I hate using my hearthstone cool down. When I arived in Hellfire Penninsula I had a YOU-FUCKING-IDIOT moment.

I walked to the top of the stairs at the pit where the endless fight is going on at the portal, targeted a mob, and started Auto-Shotting my way to max level. What a dweeb. No aggro...grab a sandwich and hit the peak level.

I hope this helps you, even though you don't actually read this blog. I, really, hope I don't forget this tip for the next time I vendor my main weapon.

Dumb Ass!

2008-10-16T10:51:00.000-07:00

I finally got to log onto Nostik last night. He's the level 69 Hunter. I tought him his talents, got my training, and leveled Inscriptions to about 120ish (ran out of mats). I just checked The Armory for a more precise number, but the data is out of date.

Since it was more of a maintenance night as opposed to a leveling night I decided to level guns up to 345. Nostik has had a bow since he was first conceived, and was 1/345 in guns. I got the gun from the hunter camp quest in Nagrang, and never equiped it. It was time to get that gun and its 11 more DPS onto the toon.

I took the time to empty my bank of lower level ranged weapons, get an ammo pouch, and vendor the weapons I no longer needed...including the bow I have been using for the past level or two. I bought the cheapest ammo the Org vendor had because I knew I was about to waste a lot of bullets on the practice dummies near the mount vendor in Org, so why pay more than I had to? I have a flying mount to buy, after all.

I dismissed my pet and unleashed a hail of bullets onto the wooden practice post with a smile on my face. "Thank you, Blizz" actually came from my lips when I started this task. It is very nice of them to allow one to level skills like this instead of killing random mobs for no benifit.

I wasn't getting any skill points. Hmm. What am I doing wrong? I whispered other toons doing the same thing with their ranged and melee weapons to see if there was something I was missing. They indicated that they had no success either.

I noticed the practice post was grey when I was shooting it, and decided to level my guns elsewhere. I had been clued into mobs just south of Swamp of Sorrows (SoS) that never die. Once you got them down to 1% health they take no damage. I had used these mobs to level other skills before on GHOSTKID, so off I went - catching a bird to Ratchet to catch a boat to Booty Bay (BB) to catch a bird to SoS - you know the routine.

When I mounted the bird from BB to SoS I made a mental note to buy back my bow from a vendor in case anything "bad" happened.

Then it did. Something bad did happen. I got kicked off of the server.

I know Blizzard's servers are smoking hot with activity right now, and the occasional disconnect (DC) is to be expected. I spent 20 minutes trying to log back on before I was finally successful.

20 minutes! My bow was no longer at the vendor for buy back. Shit!

Oh well, off to the immortal mob I go...Son of G-something I think is the name. I'll be fine since I'm never going to equip that bow again.

I entered the camp where the Ogres that surround the immortal mob. My pet did all of the killing on the level 45 mobs with me behind firing miss after miss. The occasions that I did hit a mob yielded very little damage (lowest bullet rating and no skill level at guns).

After clearing the area to get to Son of G-something I sent in my pet, fired a shot, got a skill point for the shot, and relaxed because everything seemed like it would be OK in an hour or so (see old post for exactly how long 1 to 350 takes on a level 70 Hunter).

Everything was not OK. Once the never-ending mob hit his minimum health level I stopped getting skill points. Blizzard fixed/nerfed/fucked-up my immortal mob!

I am now a level 69 Hunter with about 25/345 in guns and the weakest ammo in the game, parked near an ogre camp that I will be clearing for the next two hours of game play. FUCK!

Does anyone know what's going on with my situation? Are things broken right now, or are they fixed to be permanent?

Please help.

I know the handful of readers I have are either another classes (mage, etc.), my family (non WoWers) or people that don't play anymore; but I'd like a nugget of knowledge if you have it. If not, just comment about how utterly NOOB I am for such a boneheaded vendor move in the first place.

Patch Gripe

2008-10-15T12:36:00.000-07:00

I am not going to go through all of the Hunter changes that happened in patch 3.whatever yesterday. I will not be commenting on the new Talent tree, the new Inscription profession (Nostik hasn't learned it yet), nor any of the other changes that came with this patch - save one.

Before I go into the change that gets my ire up it is necessary to give a bit of background on shot rotation. This will not be extensive because it is boring for anyone other than a Hunter, and even Hunters start to yawn (Dinah, Anathema's guild leader, has told us Hunters to "blow it out our asses" on many occasions). This explanation is specific to Beast Mastery Hunters, relative to the old talent tree.

GHOSTKID is a SSC, HT, Gruuls, Mag (no BT or Sunwell) level Beast Mastery Hunter in T5/badge gear (proper enchants and gems) and can top the WWS charts with raiders at similar gear level. Ironically it takes time to get to that gear level, but with the two piece T5 set bonus the game gets easier. Barring nuances of the class to top the WWS charts all I had to do was make sure I wove my Steady Shot in between my auto shots.

Auto Shot has a 1.5 second cool down, and Steady Shot had a 1.5 second cool down. The trick is to use Steady Shot every time it's off of cool down without interrupting (clipping) Auto Shot. Of course there are other things being done to deal out DPS, but this is the most significant part. Done properly a Hunter can get an Auto Shot or Steady Shot off every .75 seconds. Please note that this is over simplified and takes no other shot rotation formulas into account. This post is a gripe session, not a theorycraft session.

Blizzard has increased the Steady Shot cool down to 2.0 seconds. I believe they did this so a beginner Hunter, or dumb Hunter (Huntard) can now spam Steady Shot and clip much less of the Auto Shots than he/she used to. In theory one could spam Steady Shot and never see an Auto Shot on the old system. Auto Shot does more damage than Steady Shot at GHOSTKID's gear level by the way.

I have been gimped! Not only do I shoot 10 less Steady Shots per minute than I did, but all of my crit procs just lost 10 chances a minute to proc. If I'm at 30+% crit, that's roughly 3 times per minute less procs. ****Please visit Criticall QQ for mind bending math. It's mage stuff, but the math gets detailed. I will not be doing any more today. That's Rip's job.****

So now I have to get GHOSTKID's talents past 375, train an exotic pet, get glyphs, and LEARN HOW TO PLAY ALL OVER AGAIN!

This blows. I hope my soon-to-be-acquired Devilsaur makes up for it.

Slight Modification to the Master Plan

2008-10-13T16:35:00.000-07:00

Just an alt change of duties. This may be more of a To Do list for me than a worthwhile post for you.

Nostik - Get to level 70 (69 now) and pick up inscriptions as a second profession to the 375 mining already attained. Park at Sunwell place for gold dailies.

Gavo - Get to level 70 (68 now) and continue to level Herbalism (156) and Skinning (160) to 375. Park at Sunsell place for gold dailies.

OCKilla - Already 375 Blacksmith and 375 Mining. Leave at Sunwell place for gold dailies.

Blender - Already 375 Engineering and 375 Mining. Leave at Sunwell place for gold dailies.

Pinkfarry - Get to level 70 (doubtful) from level 53 where he is at this time. Continue to level tailoring (250ish) and mining (unknown level).

So...anyone want to help me do my dailies? GHOSTKID and I get bored farming gold, so we can only handle one round a day when we have the time. I haven't farmed the dailies in a few months and am feeling quite the economic pinch.

Inscriptions

2008-10-10T15:02:00.000-07:00

I've decided to take another level 68 Hunter that came included with one of my adopted accounts and turn him into a flower picker and Inscriptionist. Since I've made this decision weeks after many people have gathered the seemingly infinite amount of herbs required to effectively make glyphs and such, I think my efforts to kick ass leveling these professions will be futile. That is all. Carry on with your day.

Euripedes Moment

2008-10-08T10:30:00.000-07:00

If you know me then you know I really don't PvP. I have the reflexes of an arthitic snail, and prefer the pre-set paths of PvE mobs.

Last night before I partied with the people in the post below I found myself defending Halaa. There were only 2 Alliance guards alive when I joined the raid and hopped on my bird for the bombing run. I haven't been to Halaa in well over a year (different toon), so I wanted to check it out...refresh my memory of the place.

After we Hordies took the place over, but before the slider thingy indicated it belonged to the Horde, a level 70 Tauren Hunter challenged my little level 67 ass to a duel.

I am a duel decliner. I see no reason to boost some kid's ego because he can out-react an old man. Fuck that!

This duel, however, I accepted. I did this for a few of reasons. I was bored. I was 3 levels lower, so what kind of accolades could he get for beating up on me. He was a Marksman Hunter.

As the duel timer counted down we both dropped out Freezing Traps. He sent his pet, and I sent mine. I, however, have Beastial Wrath.

My pet ran over his trap like it wasn't there, I started launching everything I had at him, Feigned Death, popped my trinkets and Rapid Fire, and WON! I beat a higher level toon in a duel!

My family heard a hearty, "Fuck yeah," followed my a slightly lower, "Rip would be proud."

My wife called out, "I thought you said they both suck! What are you so excited about?"

I was alone at my computer with the debate on the TV. I thought if trying to explain my outburst to her, but answered her with the obligatory, "Nothing." I had questing to get to.

Oooo Face!

2008-10-08T10:06:00.000-07:00

This post (like most) has little content, but if you have a bit of time to kill I'll try to keep it fairly brief.

I was questing in Nagrand without my friend last night. He had a long day of meeting after meeting, and probably got home around 10:00PM PST (1:00AM server time). I knew he wouldn't be on, and that he finished wome quests I didn't, do I figured I'd make sure I wasn't too far behind.

I ended up partying with a Mage, Druid, and a Fury Warrior to kill Cho'cho...Cho'gor...Cho'konit (fuck if I know) in an ogre camp to the upper left of the map. You know what I'm talking about. Stop criticizing. Anyway, we are all about the same level (66 to 67).

So we all get into the camp, and clear to the boss dude, down him with little trouble, and then everyone starts linking their group quests in party chat. All is well and good.

We decide to do another boss kill in the aforementioned area where one summons the boss using skulls and such. I don't have the quest yet, though my description would contain no more insight, anyway, if I did. It was at this time that the Warrior got another Fury Warrior to join the party. This warrior was level 70, and made the kill very simple.

After the boss went down we were going to kill Durn the Hungerer (legitimate name ftw). On the way down the hill I asked if we could kill Gutripper (twice!) real quick because I need him, and he's right in front of my face. The lower level Warrior bitched because he really wanted Durn, but he helped (kind of) in the Gutripper kill.

About 100 yards south we stopped to kill the Elite Talbuk Stag guy (streak ended) that I needed too. The same Warrior was doing the typical "OMG, wtf, DURN" stuff in party chat, which we ignored.

Do you remember how hard it was to do the Camp Forge Pain-In-Ass quests? Remember trying to kill canons, Engineers, Tinkerers, Legionaires, lions, tigers, and bears? Well we did that one on the way to Durn too. The sixty-something Warrior had to be losing his fucking mind by now. I think I could actually hear him swearing at his computer even though my headset was unplugged and my sound was off.

To add a little frustration to this guy's life our Mage and Druid both went to turn in, vendor, and repair before Durn. Yes, they did it on purpose because this guy was a tital dick.

Eventually we downed Durn. The little asshole got his drop, and chatted something to the effect of, "Finally!"

The level 70 Warrior (cool guy helping us little guys) chatted that the little Warrior owed us (other little guys) a thank you. When the little Warrior brought up the fact that he killed all of the other mobs for our quests, and how he doesn't think it's fair that he was singled out; the level 70 linked a Damage Meter. The mage was on top, closely followed by yours truly, then the level 70 Warrior...and the healing Druid was fourth! The little whiner was dealing less damage than the fucking healer!

The shithead promptly left the group.

Lucky Schmuck!

2008-10-06T09:01:00.000-07:00

First off…”Fuck off, friend of mine.” You will be standing at my side telling my buddy the same thing.

It was the middle of July this year that I got my partner addicted to WoW. His wife LOVES me. I’m such an ass.

For you veteran WoW players out there…ponder this.

My friend starts playing WoW. The ease of leveling from 20 to 60 is already in effect. He has a friend leveling along side of him that has nearly 2 years into the game and is playing a class he knows inside and out. He will hit level 70 a day or two before the expansion comes out, and will level his toon to 80 at the earliest opportunity. When he hits level 75 to 76 his gear will be on par with the highest geared toons on the server because T6 means nothing now, even though those T6 guys have years invested into the game.

He started playing WoW at the absolute perfect time. He’ll have no stall time waiting for the expansion. He’ll have no reputation grinds in Azeroth or Outlands because they won’t matter. He’ll have no wasted time played at all doing any kind of grinding until he hits 80, and he’ll be doing it after he’s been playing four months and be at the same rep., gear level, talent builds, etc. as the studs that have years under their belts.

Shall we all toast my pal? Get ready. Everyone raise your middle digit in the air. All together, now…

FUCK YOU Mokasa!

Uninteresting Boasting

2008-10-04T10:16:00.000-07:00

I have written about how I'm leveling a toon along side my buddy. He just started WoW, so I wanted him to be able to have a friend next to him leveling the whole way to 70 instead of taking one of my 70's and power-leveling him through the game. He needed to see how much time, thought, and design went into WoW, and appreciate what Blizzard is providing him for his $15 a month.

Leveling is fun and all, but every once in a while a player just needs to bring the pain to a zone.

As previously posted my little Hunter is at level 66. I finished that Stonebreaker Hold/T-Forrest zone, and am about to step into my beloved Nagrand. I needed to get my buddy caught up. He hasn't been on-line the past couple of days, and I got a bit ahead of him.

Last night I was goofing off on GHOSTKID. I was hanging around in Shat doing enchants and making armor kits. A little gold here and there helps pay for the 1.6 gold-per-stack arrows in my mega-quiver.

I was DE'ing some stuff for a customer when I saw my buddy was logged on. I flew to T-Forrest, put on my humanoid tracker, and hunted my prey. I am, after all, a Hunter. I swooped down from the skies on my Netherdrake in my T-5/Badge gear and commanded (nicely asked) him to put each of his weapons in trade so I could throw on a couple of enchants before we took off to tear this zone up. He only had about six quests to finish before he was done here, anyway.

We set out to go on an XP killing spree, and kill we did. There was one point where I was killing mobs, and he was just looting (needed 20 skulls for some quest). I was killing the level 64 and 65 mobs faster than he could loot. It was epic slaughter.

I am not sure why it brought me such satisfaction to kill mobs 5 levels lower than me in seconds, but I have a theory.

It is my opinion that I enjoyed the masacre because GHOSTKID was a raider until Anathema stopped raiding. Every mob, every boss, every single thing was a challenge. I raided for content and gear. Killing the same bosses every week to get to the next one earned me DKP. I saved my DKP until a piece of gear I could use dropped, and I did my best to get it. About every 2 to 3 weeks I got something for GHOSTKID. Man...that's a long time to get him where he is. I retired from raiding when Anathema did. No more gear. Waiting for the expansion.

I think I enjoyed the quick mob kills because GHOSTKID and I worked long and hard to get him to the level of gear and skill where he is. He EARNED the right to go onto that pile of bones and single-handedly kill all mobs faster that a pocket looter can loot. Why not use what he has? Did GHOSTKID not get this gear to help be an utter killing machine?

So....Am I nuts?

I wasn't showing off. My buddy knows that GHOSTKID has years invested into the toon. A NFL player doesn't walk onto a pop-warner field and offer to take all comers.

I think I was relishing the rewards of all of the time invested into GHOSTKID. It felt like I could see why all of those nights of raiding were done.

I didn't really see it before because as my gear and skill increased the trash and bosses got harder. It never seemed to make much pf a difference when I was raiding, but I can sure see it in the real world of pixels outside of a 25 man where the air smells like Undead and Clefthoof shit.

Myspace - Mobsters

2008-10-03T09:19:00.000-07:00

My sister, bless her heart, invited me to play Mobsters on Myspace about 6 weeks ago. Since then I have slowly build my mob to 83 members, and am trying to amass money. I want $550,000,000 so I can buy 10 properties at once to avoid the you-already-have-one surcharge.

Now I get to log onto Myspace every hour to bank my money, do a mission if I have the energy, and fight a lower level mob to take their money.

I have an addictive personality. This is why I can never try cocaine. I will not TRY cocaine. I will LOVE cocaine and snort it until I die or everything I own is gone.

Thanks, sis. I love you, but you are interfering with my work!

My New Hunter Dinged 66

2008-10-02T11:35:00.001-07:00

As you may have read (unlikely according to my site counter) I started another Hunter to accompany my newly-WoW-addicted partner at work as he levels his Warrior. I dinged 66 last night, and he's well into level 65. Honestly, this is my first toon I've taken from level 1 to level 70 (soon) on my own. My kid usually does a lot of the grunt work, and I steal the toon from him at level 70.

Long after GHOSTKID hit level 70 I started reading WoW blogs. I learned that I leveled GHOSTKID wrong/inefficiently. When I would hop on the toon I killed things for XP, I never logged off inside my inn for the rested bonus, and I never quested...ever. I, personally, grinded (ground?) GHOSTKID from level 68 to 70. It got me enough gold for my flying mount, but it was a tedious week or so.

This toon was going to be different. My buddy (Mokasa) had never seen WoW. I told him that if we party together I (Nostik) may start to just run off to start questing without realizing he just walked into a new zone, and might want to take in the sights and smell the flowers. I assured him that he had my permission to bitch me out if this happened. It hasn't happened yet.

I'm having a blast questing and leveling. I never did it (remember my kid does the grunt work). I have survived the Barrens, STV, Hinterlands, Tanaris and that fucking crater, Silithis, and all of the other lands Blizzard created for the most polished MMO ever. Thottbot, I confess, is my GOD right now. Blizzard's quest instructions are way too vague for me. I need direction, not lore. Go, go dual screens with Thottbot!

I brought all of that crap uo for a reason. It's escaping me. Give me a minute. Oh yeah, the leveling wrong thing.

Traditionally the fastest toon to level is a Hunter. I'm talking /played time here. You know, the guys that get from level 1 to level 70 in blahdy-blah days/hours/minutes; ejaculate on the screen, drink a Red Bull, and do it again.

Knowing my class levels easy, having raided with a Hunter, and partying with a complete noob gave me an idea. Only one idea, and it wasn't going to save mankind. I am going to level without any Auction House use, and I will level BeastMastery instead of the ever popular Marksman.

Yay! Revelation realized. I am leveling with the drops that come, and speccing BeastMastery. Believe it or not, this is not whay I'm posting today. Neither is the crap up top.

I am posting today because leveling my little Hunter is making me a worse player on my main Hunter. I don't have all of the abilities on my little Hunter that my big Hunter has, so I've learned to live without them instead of salivating at the idea of getting them.

On the Brewfest boss I partied with one of my kid's real life friends and his guild while on GHOSTKID. Of course I topped their damage meters, but I'm in T5/badge gear to their quest blues and sparatic Kara epics. It wasn't until the third Brewfest boss kill until I started playing GHOSTKID properly. There was a 400 DPS difference. No lie!

It worries me that I'll completely forget how to play one of my toons.

Maybe that's why I stick to Hunters.

I remembered my password!

2008-09-30T13:03:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in so long I was worried that I wouldn't remember my password. I was right. I looked it up.

Blogging is not my thing. It is difficult for me to write about anything interesting, and harder for me to craft it into the page-turner many bloggers have perfected. Just look at how many times I used 'I' in the first paragraph.

Every day I hit a few blogs to start my day while waiting for my guts to brew a healthy crap that leaves me at about 9:30AM. I peruse the sites you see on your right as you read this. I don't know how to do fancy links to the sites, so just look to your right a bit...just a few inches. See them? Good! Now we're on the same page.

Anyhoo...

Rip and Oliv have a tremendous amount of content about their respective classes. There is advice and explination throughout each of these blogs...good stuff. BRK is, well, BRK. He makes me smile most of the time, which is hard to do; especially when your bowels are summoning you to the Royal Throne of the City of Stinkfest.

I have been inspired to do a hunter post! For any real content please stop reading and click one of the aforementioned links.

There are more Hunters on any given server than any other class for a mind-bogglingly simple reason...it's easy to level a Hunter. Hunters allow for a lot of mistakes. Should you fuck up as a Hunter you have more outs than Bagdad's power grid (I liked that reference). If a Hunter accidentally pulls a mob that will easily smash him into the lush Nagrand grass the Hunter can send in the pet to grab aggro, activate the big-red-kitty talent of the pet, push the squishy saver button of the pet, misdirect to the pet, shoot Disengage shot, shoot a Cuncussive shot, drop a trap, and feign death. Blizzard designed Hunters for beginning gamers, which is why I'm a hunter.

The current hunter specs are Beast Mastery, Marksman, and Survival. All specs shoot bullets or arrows to kill stuff. A very brief description of each follows.

Beast Mastery - A common misconception is that the pet does a tremendous amount of damage relative to the total DPS of the Hunter/Pet team. This may be true in the lower levels, but once a Hunter starts raiding the other benefits of this spec shine. This spec allows you to shoot a whole lot faster than the other specs. The DPS per shot is not a monster, but the amount of shots that can be made in a given time period are staggering relative to the other two specs. There is a buff that increases the damage done by the party by 3%, which is just gravy. It is this reason a Beast Master Hunter usually tops (or damn near) WWS reports.

Marksman - Monster burst damage with this spec. This is why many PvP Hunters are Marksman. It's cool do take someone down in a few shots, but this spec eats mana like Wimpy does hamburgers (are you old emough for that reference)?

Survival - This is the best raid helping spec in Tier 6 gear. Survival Hunters are fun to play in instances. A survival Hunter can effortlessly chain trap like no other spec. The mob stays on ice better than Han Solo (Encino Man for your illiterate fucks). A Survival Hunter provides a nice buff that helps an entire raid, not just the party. The Survival Hunter will not come close to topping the WWS, but will be a major factor in the raid's success.

This is the part of the post where I close with some profound conclusion, and encourage the reader to try all of the specs to see which he likes best. There are a few more closing words, and one last flowery line that borders on clever that leaves the reader warm and fuzzzy inside.

Level 70 Rogue

2008-08-22T12:59:00.000-07:00

I have another WoW account with a level 70 Rogue now. A buddy stopped playing, so I'm babysitting it for him.

$15 a month, and I have no idea how to play the class...dandy. At least Engineering and Mining is 375.

Here we go again.

2008-07-19T10:27:00.000-07:00

So my partner was watching TV with his young daughter one day, and they see a Disney commercial about an online pirate game. They log in, create a character, and begin playing on a free trial account. His daughter didn't enjoy all of the nuances of leveling a character and completing missions, so she went on her merry way shortly after game play began.

My partner, however, played all of the payable play the free trial allowed before it got redundant killing the same things over and over.

He and I were shooting the breeze in front of our office about a week ago when he told me the above story. I listened to his tale with a sinking feeling he was going to ask me about WoW. I feared he wanted my opinion about the most popular, most polished, largest MMO in the history of MMO's. My frear was realized.

After cautioning him many times over that WoW is more addictive than crack laced with nicotine I told him how much I enjoy the game and how much I think he would enjoy the game. I told him it is easy to lose entire days playing WoW, and apologised in advance to his wife; whom I adore - very nice young woman. I emailed him a link to a trial offer on Friday and figured he'd play around on the weekend.

I received an email at work on Saturday around 11:00AM that he loaded his trial account around dinner time the night before, and didn't go to bed until around 3:00AM (Welcome to the World of Warcraft)! He wrote that he was adicted and called me many bad names; and I'm not talking about Eugene, Poindexter, and Francis here. He requested I call him later.

I called my partner at around 12:00PM that day from my car on my way home. He told me how much fun he is having, and we talked WoW the entire 20 minute trip until I walked through the front door. My son heard about the new gamer, and promptly started a new Orc to play along with my partner. I requested a hunter, and my son obliged. Yes - another hunter!

I spent 11 hours leveling the new hunter grouped with my partner's Orc warrior. Man, we make an ugly pair. I logged off and went to have drinks with my wife. My partner kept playing. I hope his wife doesn't hate me.

Keep track of our progress. The Armory links follow:

Me - http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Duskwood&n=Nostik

Him - http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Duskwood&n=Mokasa

Guns 1 to 350

2008-07-10T16:55:00.000-07:00

You will not find this information anywhere else.

If you have a level 70 hunter with a gun speed of 2.60 and an overall sped rating of 1.78 and you only use auto shot; it will take you 72 minutes and 2632 bullets to level from 1 to 350 in guns.

The sacrifices I make for curiosity and the betterment of WoW mankind are amazing.

Did I mention?

2008-06-24T09:32:00.000-07:00

I got Trollbane last week (http://www.wowwiki.com/Trollbane_%28axe%29). I decided to enchant it and equip it even though I think I gain 1 RAP. The sword and fist are cooler than this axe, but I've wanted it since ZA came out. I might as well use it for a bit.

Season 4

2008-06-19T09:29:00.000-07:00

As any WoWer knows Season 4 will begin shortly. I am in the battlegrounds fairly regularly these days to farm honor. I have to get out of my Gladiator stuff and get my Merciless Gladiator stuff, don't I?

Why?

I hate PvP. I'm wondering if there is a point to upgrading to the next generation of gear if I hate using it in the first place. I didn't bother changing out of my PvE geat last night, and still got enough honorable kills to put me on the FBI's most wanted list.

I guess it kills time, and makes me feel productive. It's funny how a relaxing game has turned into my 'job' at home.

Insight

2008-06-18T18:04:00.000-07:00

I felt the need to post something profound, something Earth-shattering that makes one reflect on their life and the lives around them to contemplate how mankind could be better served if certain adjustments were made and rough edges were polished and refined. It was my intention to release knowlege that would ease the burdens of stress and make it simpler to earn a living and vacation more. All of these things were at the tips of my poorly typing finger tips. Then my mood changed and I wrote this.

Testing Photo Adeptness

2008-06-16T09:46:00.000-07:00

Did the photo appear?

Yes?

I'm a fucking genious!

Oh! I forgot to call my Dad on Father's Day.

I'm a genious with a side of asshole.

Ouch! I hurt my own feelings.

2008-06-12T14:04:00.000-07:00

Last night I accepted the invitation to join Stay Frosty. It's not like they pursued me all over Duskwood trying to get me to notice their advances. I applied.

My son has wanted me to apply to Stay Frosty for nearly 2 months, ever since Anathema ran into problems filling raids. I couldn't do it.

How could I leave the people I shared the better part of a year with just because the road was rocky? This is the guild that took me out of my Auction House greens and quest blues, and got me as close to T6 as progression allowed (T5 and badge gear). They took me from a guild where I saw twice to full 25 man raids, and improved my play style by giving me tasks that would wipe the raid if I messed up.

How do you walk away from that? With a heavy heart, that's how.

All of the guys in Stay Frosty complimented my application, and were welcoming when I joined. I was gracious, of course. Don't get me wrong! That was mega-cool! I was just a bit depresses over typing "/gquit" moments before.

I ran a Heroic Slave Pens instance with some new guildies a few minutes after I joined. It went flawlessly. The party all commented on how it was the smoothest run ever. I'm not taking credit for the smoothness, of course; but I can tell you I made no errors. How could I? I had Dinah, Uncas, and the whole crew that raised me to this level was sitting on my shoulder pressuring me to live up to the name Anathema...to prove I was worthy of the title though it was now gone. They would have been proud.

So ends an era and begins another. Fairwell to the guild I loved so much for so long, and welcome to the guild that has yet to know me. I will endear myself to Stay Frosty like I did with Anathema, and I'm sure they will return the favor.

I need to go kill some monsters to get over this emo shit!

Good News From Last Week

2008-06-09T16:33:00.000-07:00

I got a voice mail message from my younger sister last week. She quit smoking! It had been about 2 1/2 weeks when I got the message, so it's probably been 3 weeks now.

I am very proud of her, wether or not she smokes. Now I am happy for her. Quitting sucks, but continuing means I have my sister for less time.

Mom is smiling in heaven I'm sure. Heck, she is smiling all of the time. She's probably doing some extra bragging about her daughter right about now... if that's possible.

Thumbs up, Kiddo! I love you.

Practice Practice Practice

2008-06-05T12:47:00.000-07:00

I am trying to learn to type correctly as opposed to the 'Hunt and Peck' method. This post took 2 minutes and about 8 corrections...no 9...damn 10!

Son of a Bitch!

2008-06-03T08:50:00.000-07:00

Well, it's official. Anathema is no longer going to be a raiding guild. It feels like it will be a 10 man alt raiding guild...at best. Yay!

Undiscovered

2008-05-28T11:50:00.000-07:00

Have you ever been surfing the internet and come across something completely unknown to you? You know, the type of thing that you believe is an actual discovery of some kind, and you are the only person that has knowledge of it. Isn't that cool? It is until you realize the poster knew it first and the counter on the web site is in the six digits range for that day. Then you feel dumb for being one of the few that didn't know your newly discovered fact.

Ever done that?

Gross

2008-05-15T11:37:00.000-07:00

I am an insurance agent by trade. Vanessa is the receptionist that works with me. The following was an email I sent to my mother at her job about a bathroom break.

This morning I was running ahead of schedule, and showed up to work about an hour early. This was a good thing because I wanted to catch up on some work that is best done while uninterrupted.

I sat down at my desk, and realized I had to poop.

This was not good. I had stuff to do.

I stayed at my desk and grinded through paperwork, both happy with my productivity and sad that my guts ached with turd.

Imagine my relief when I saw Vanessa come into the office at 8:57AM! I can go drop a deuce while she watched the store. Hooray!

At 8:58AM my first client walks in. Unfortunately it was someone whom I have helped for years that was completely unprepared. He wanted to catch up on recent life changes, and get a policy done that required a great deal of research on my part. Yippee! I get to wallow in my fecal frustrations a little while longer!

Somewhere around 10:00AM he left, and I fielded ‘urgent’ phone calls until about 10:30AM. As I hung up the phone on my last call I told Vanessa that I needed to go potty right away. She nodded as she picked up the ringing phone and began taking a message for me. I bolted out the door and shuffled to the shitter, wondering if I was going to deposit my load in or out of my pants.

I got into the rest room, locked the door behind me, did the unfasten-the-pants dance, and simultaneously dropped my drawers and sat down.

I made it!

The pressure inside of me was not just blustering for attention. I was about to lay siege to the toilet with an epic attack of porcelain putty.

I felt my sphincter begin to expand. The flexing was almost frightening. I knew this was going to be a monster. It was only the beginning and I succumbed to the idea that my tushy would tear from the enormity of my evacuation.

Then it happened. Right when the poop was prairie-dogging, something horrible took place.

I coughed. I coughed a big cough. I coughed a cough that made the bathroom sound like a sonic boom went off in an echo chamber.

My Diaphragm and the rest of my insides all contracted quickly, and with vigorous force.

This propelled my football sized feces from my hind quarters at break-neck velocity. My anus passed a three pound chunk of waste in .3 seconds. The pain in my guts went to a pain in my ass in an instant.

I felt violated. How could my body betray me like this?

My self pity was quickly washed away with the ice cold splash of public bathroom toilet water right up the poop shoot. Apparently my butthole hadn’t closed fast enough to prevent the enema of a thousand strangers’ rest room visits from cleansing my colon.

Yay!

At least there was nothing but water to wipe off of my disgraced back side.

I’m still sitting crooked in my chair at my desk. Only time (maybe therapy) will heal this wound.

:)

I'm a man of few words

2008-04-23T14:24:00.000-07:00

Still nothing to say.

That's a lie! BRK has another race coming up. It's on 5/3/08, and should be a blast.

It is a Horde race that covers many lands and 2 continents.

http://www.bigredkitty.net/2008/04/21/the-final-rodb-race-course-no-more-changes/

It's Been a While

2008-03-19T13:18:00.000-07:00

Dang! It has been a while since I made a post.

Finally! T4 done.

2008-02-25T10:56:00.000-08:00

I spend about 10 hours playing yesterday, and was able to get the last badges I needed for a trinket, and Legacy dropped off of Crone.

I'm done with T4! No more Kara needed. No more badges needed.

Now when patch 2.4 comes out my world will be rocked, and I'll have to start over with badges I'm sure.

see my current gear here: http://armory.worldofwarcraft.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Duskwood&n=Ghostkid

BRK's Gnaked Gnome Race

2008-02-11T13:12:00.000-08:00

Two days ago I participated in BRK's Gnaked Gnome Race.

Well over 200 (closer to 300) level 1 gnomes raced through 3 lands for no good reason. It was awesome! I finished terrible because I checked my map when I made a wrong turn, and found I was eaten by a goat when I turned the map off. The ghost walk took forever.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B362_MG9Z68
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2BqH89Airo

Blog Noob

2008-02-01T11:49:00.000-08:00

I just remembered I had this blog. I opened it to see what the hell I wrote the last time, and completely forgot my user name and password.

I feel my dedication to keep this going may not be genuine.

By Popular Demand

2008-01-25T11:27:00.000-08:00

I have updated my blog. This post, the one you are reading right now, is the update. I have done this because Rip requested it in comments. When 50% of the commenters request something, there is a nagging feeling to oblige.

I don't feel as if I've furthered the reader's knowledge of anything to this point. Such responsibility was not requested nor is it desired! What to write? What to post?

Oh! My neglected hunter alt got Kara keyed yesterday!

Now you may click away with the satisfaction of having learned one more kernel of useless knowledge.

Why Do I Need a Blog?

2008-01-24T11:11:00.000-08:00

I posted a comment on Captain John's blog, which required me to create a Google Blog account. After a confirmation email - tah dah! I have a blog.

Congratulations! You have read my first post.