Two weeks of daily grinding down, and today Destylae reached Exalted with the Netherwing faction!! Six Drakes came home to join my team toward the "Mountain O' Mounts" achievement. Also, Aliandara (my shape-shifting white Talbuk) gained the new form of Azure Netherwing Drake, on top of her other two flight forms of Armored Snowy Gryphon and Albino Drake. I tested all the other colors - but while the Onyx is my favorite, Azure fit Alli better, so as long as she's my mount, that'll be one of the possibilities when I call for her in flight form.
I should really write down the bits of her story that I know so clearly. :P I need to stop thinking that I have to write Draenai as a linear novel and just write the bits I know. I can always combine it later.
Anyway, that's another Exalted status to add to my collection of those as well. :P My current projects are now Therazane and Baradin Wardens. I'm also going to start the Sha'tari Skyguard quest chain, too - both in preparation for the Fa La La La La La Ogri'La achievement this Winter Veil, and to work toward the Nether Ray mount set as well. It should take a little over a month of those dailies, and any grinding I want to/have the patience to do in my free time.
I REALLY need to get to bed. I have a presentation in class in the morning, and a test tomorrow night... A FINAL. No more game thoughts for now! Night, all!
Monday, May 16, 2011
Friday, May 13, 2011
Retro Gaming - Returning To Your Roots
I don't even remember what year it was that my parents got me a Sega Genesis and The Lion King for my birthday. My guess is 1995, since that would be about a year after the movie came out, and since I know they got the whole shebang at Funcoland (a forerunner of Game Stop), that makes sense. It was a huge deal, at the time - my first game system. I'd played Sega Genesis in Target on their demo machines (Sonic 2 & Sonic and Knuckles), and at Funcoland itself, also on a demo machine, where I'd fallen in love with The Lion King.
Getting the game and the SG for my birthday was a huge deal, and a source of issues in months to come when I perceived a mistake in the game where there wasn't one and wound up spending money on calls to the game hotline as well as getting a replacement game only to have the same issue happen... Only to realize that what I thought was broken was an intentional puzzle on the part of the game manufacturers, and something that taught me ultimately that you do not leave ANYTHING you can interact with in a game un-interacted with. (The stalactites at the end of the 8th level, for those who are wondering - you're supposed to knock them down to blow a hole in the floor, and then continue on the level back in the opposite direction... but if you don't KNOW that, it looks like a dead end - and who would've thought to randomly smack at rocks on the ceiling?)
Many other games followed while I had that SG. Other favorites were Jurassic Park: Rampage Edition, and Ecco The Dolphin and it's sequel, The Tides Of Time, and, of course, the iconic Sega legend, Sonic The Hedgehog and all of his related games up through Sonic 3D (which gave me headaches, honestly, so I never beat it).
My mother enjoyed watching me play, and we bonded regularly over my video games. From that point on, I was hooked. I upgraded to a Playstation (PS1) within the next few years, and eventually to a PS2, which I still have to this day.
The point of this post, however, is emulation. As it is legal to own ROMs of games you actually own, I've made a point to keep my old Sega cartridges. Why, you may ask?
Well, because sometimes, like last night, I feel like returning to my gaming roots... And I'll take an hour or so to play through Sega Genesis' The Lion King, from beginning to end. And, retro or not... it's just as fun now as it was seventeen years ago.
Getting the game and the SG for my birthday was a huge deal, and a source of issues in months to come when I perceived a mistake in the game where there wasn't one and wound up spending money on calls to the game hotline as well as getting a replacement game only to have the same issue happen... Only to realize that what I thought was broken was an intentional puzzle on the part of the game manufacturers, and something that taught me ultimately that you do not leave ANYTHING you can interact with in a game un-interacted with. (The stalactites at the end of the 8th level, for those who are wondering - you're supposed to knock them down to blow a hole in the floor, and then continue on the level back in the opposite direction... but if you don't KNOW that, it looks like a dead end - and who would've thought to randomly smack at rocks on the ceiling?)
Many other games followed while I had that SG. Other favorites were Jurassic Park: Rampage Edition, and Ecco The Dolphin and it's sequel, The Tides Of Time, and, of course, the iconic Sega legend, Sonic The Hedgehog and all of his related games up through Sonic 3D (which gave me headaches, honestly, so I never beat it).
My mother enjoyed watching me play, and we bonded regularly over my video games. From that point on, I was hooked. I upgraded to a Playstation (PS1) within the next few years, and eventually to a PS2, which I still have to this day.
The point of this post, however, is emulation. As it is legal to own ROMs of games you actually own, I've made a point to keep my old Sega cartridges. Why, you may ask?
Well, because sometimes, like last night, I feel like returning to my gaming roots... And I'll take an hour or so to play through Sega Genesis' The Lion King, from beginning to end. And, retro or not... it's just as fun now as it was seventeen years ago.
Monday, May 9, 2011
Matron Destylae + Netherwing Reputation Grinding...
So there I was, the last day of Children's Week, with the Warsong Gulch and Alterac Valley goals still unmet for School Of Hard Knocks, but every other achievement for the Children's Week meta complete. I was having a horrible time with PVP, though I DID manage to grind my honor points up to the point that I was able to buy the Black War Ram. And get almost halfway to the Black War Tiger, too.
Anyway, PVP was evil. Very evil. Kicking my little Draenai tail evil. It being the last day, EVERYONE was trying to get this achievement. I queued for Alterac without much hope (the fourth time that day, but as it was the easier of the 2 goals, I was trying to do it first.
I shot out of the gate at the beginning, mounted, and ripped down the valley with the pack of players, at least half of which were being followed by orphans, Human, Draenai, or Wolvar. I had my Wolvar orphan with me for the sole reason that he was small enough that he might not get noticed - OR he might get mistaken for the Wolvar pet from completing the quests. So Hordies (who I'd learned were specifically targeting people with orphans) might miss him and therefore NOT target me. I was old hat at this sequence, but had decided to try something new this time. I took off away from the pack of Ally players and tore my own path down to the far end of the Horde field. I climbed one of their towers, killed their NPCs and entered the flag room with my orphan out for all to see.
There was a large, imposing bull Tauren standing in front of their flag. A player. I stopped, just inside the door, and I imagine I might have had the air of "oh, just kill me and get it over with" about me. To my surprise, he didn't do anything. Then he /poke-ed me. Then he /point-ed at my orphan. It didn't take me long to realize what he was offering... He was giving me their flag so I could get the objective done.
I captured the flag, stepped back - fully expecting him to gank me now that I was done. But he just calmly took the flag back,and /wave-ed at me. I was so excited that I /hug-ed him, and then left the tower and headed back for the pack of Ally players. There was still a battleground to complete, after all!
Alliance lost that BG, but I didn't care. That was one more objective down, thanks to that friendly Tauren. I proceeded to queue for Warsong Gulch, now more determined than ever to complete the achievement and the meta.
Warsong is arguably the hardest of these four achievements, as while the other three just involve grabbing flags or towers, Warsong specifically requires you to allow your flag to get taken, chase the attacker down and kill them, and be the first to click on the flag when he drops it upon death, reclaiming it for your faction.
After several attempts over the week to do this in the battleground at large, I realized that this one would require actual strategy. So, with my Orphan out, I didn't run out of the flag room with most of the rest of the pack of Alliance. It was me and a couple of other players, both with their orphans out as well. I camouflaged myself and hid near the main entrance to the flag room, then proceeded to lay ice and snake traps directly underneath the flag. The first enemy player to get near it would be slowed and poisoned, almost instantly.
Soon enough, a Tauren druid came darting in and went straight for the flag. The blue sparkles of the flag itself hid the ice trap well, and I imagine he might not have even known what hit him when he was suddenly slowed violently, and then set upon by ten snakes, all poisonous. He grabbed the flag and was immediately attacked by me, my pet, a paladin, and a warlock and his pet. He shifted to swift running form and managed to get away from us enough to get out of the room. Hatari's dash meant he was the only one of all of us who could keep up with the swift-running Druid... and he got too far away from me before I could get closer. Hatari despawned, and we lost the flag.
However, it DID cement in my mind that the strategy of hiding in the flag room and trapping the flag actually worked quite well. So I kept repeating it in each successive battleground. Finally, on my fourth try of the day, I managed to be on top of the flag stealer when he was killed, and, with my orphan out, I was the first to click on the flag. And there it was! The School Of Hard Knocks achievement, as well as For The Children and it's associated title, Matron! I think I squeed aloud. I don't remember.
But then I thought about the Tauren who'd helped me in the other battleground. Alliance was already losing this instance, so I spoke to the group at large and asked if anyone would mind if I returned the favor to the hordies. To my surprise, no one argued, as long as I only gave up the one flag. So I went running for the Horde base. Twice I was killed on my way in, but I kept going. I put on my new title and desummoned my Orphan to make it clear I wasn't competition.
I made it into the horde flag room... and was promptly killed. But I DID see a Troll Druid with his Orc orphan in the room. I returned. After 2 more attempts, I took the flag. Three of the hordies in the room ran for the door intending to intercept me, I think... but I didn't move. I stood there, next to the flag, and /point-ed at the Troll Druid and his Orphan. His bear form stared at me for a moment... then attacked. I'm assuming he got the idea.
What made me happiest was that it was obviously the last thing HE had for the achievements, too... because when I died and he grabbed the flag, I saw the general chat announcement that he had gotten both School Of Hard Knocks, AND For The Children, just as I had. And, to make it complete, he /salute-ed my body in thanks.
I was content, my purpose served, my achievements won, and the kindness paid forward back to the Horde side. I hope that Druid will remember the Draenai who sacrificed herself so he could have his Patron title. The battleground ended shortly after that, but I didn't care. One more step finished on the path to What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been!
The way I'm going, assuming I don't fail any of the Holiday metas for the rest of the year, next year during the Love Is In The Air festival, I should get the Purple Proto-Drake. :)
My in-between holiday project is reputation grinding for mounts, to take me closer to another coveted mount - the Blue Dragonhawk for the Mountain O'Mounts achievement. I decided to start with the Netherwing faction two days ago, and already I'm having a lot of fun spending part of every day pretending to be an Orc.
I also haven't even ENTERED Uldum yet. I plan on getting my Netherwing Drakes, picking a favorite, and having that be my mount around Uldum. You don't see them that often anymore. Another mount I'm trying for when I have time just to kind of sit around in Storm Peaks and let the NPC Scan add-on do it's thing, is the Time Lost Proto Drake. I lose inspiration for haunting for that particular mount quickly... Also known as getting bored. :P But I will get it eventually, I know I will. It's just a seriously rare spawn, so hunting for it is literally hit or miss. So far, I haven't even seen it DEAD. But I hold out hope, and my positive has already proven to effect the game, so that's part of this as well.
In the mean time, another holiday meta down, and more mounts on the way... I'd say my WoW career is just beginning.
Anyway, PVP was evil. Very evil. Kicking my little Draenai tail evil. It being the last day, EVERYONE was trying to get this achievement. I queued for Alterac without much hope (the fourth time that day, but as it was the easier of the 2 goals, I was trying to do it first.
I shot out of the gate at the beginning, mounted, and ripped down the valley with the pack of players, at least half of which were being followed by orphans, Human, Draenai, or Wolvar. I had my Wolvar orphan with me for the sole reason that he was small enough that he might not get noticed - OR he might get mistaken for the Wolvar pet from completing the quests. So Hordies (who I'd learned were specifically targeting people with orphans) might miss him and therefore NOT target me. I was old hat at this sequence, but had decided to try something new this time. I took off away from the pack of Ally players and tore my own path down to the far end of the Horde field. I climbed one of their towers, killed their NPCs and entered the flag room with my orphan out for all to see.
There was a large, imposing bull Tauren standing in front of their flag. A player. I stopped, just inside the door, and I imagine I might have had the air of "oh, just kill me and get it over with" about me. To my surprise, he didn't do anything. Then he /poke-ed me. Then he /point-ed at my orphan. It didn't take me long to realize what he was offering... He was giving me their flag so I could get the objective done.
I captured the flag, stepped back - fully expecting him to gank me now that I was done. But he just calmly took the flag back,and /wave-ed at me. I was so excited that I /hug-ed him, and then left the tower and headed back for the pack of Ally players. There was still a battleground to complete, after all!
Alliance lost that BG, but I didn't care. That was one more objective down, thanks to that friendly Tauren. I proceeded to queue for Warsong Gulch, now more determined than ever to complete the achievement and the meta.
Warsong is arguably the hardest of these four achievements, as while the other three just involve grabbing flags or towers, Warsong specifically requires you to allow your flag to get taken, chase the attacker down and kill them, and be the first to click on the flag when he drops it upon death, reclaiming it for your faction.
After several attempts over the week to do this in the battleground at large, I realized that this one would require actual strategy. So, with my Orphan out, I didn't run out of the flag room with most of the rest of the pack of Alliance. It was me and a couple of other players, both with their orphans out as well. I camouflaged myself and hid near the main entrance to the flag room, then proceeded to lay ice and snake traps directly underneath the flag. The first enemy player to get near it would be slowed and poisoned, almost instantly.
Soon enough, a Tauren druid came darting in and went straight for the flag. The blue sparkles of the flag itself hid the ice trap well, and I imagine he might not have even known what hit him when he was suddenly slowed violently, and then set upon by ten snakes, all poisonous. He grabbed the flag and was immediately attacked by me, my pet, a paladin, and a warlock and his pet. He shifted to swift running form and managed to get away from us enough to get out of the room. Hatari's dash meant he was the only one of all of us who could keep up with the swift-running Druid... and he got too far away from me before I could get closer. Hatari despawned, and we lost the flag.
However, it DID cement in my mind that the strategy of hiding in the flag room and trapping the flag actually worked quite well. So I kept repeating it in each successive battleground. Finally, on my fourth try of the day, I managed to be on top of the flag stealer when he was killed, and, with my orphan out, I was the first to click on the flag. And there it was! The School Of Hard Knocks achievement, as well as For The Children and it's associated title, Matron! I think I squeed aloud. I don't remember.
But then I thought about the Tauren who'd helped me in the other battleground. Alliance was already losing this instance, so I spoke to the group at large and asked if anyone would mind if I returned the favor to the hordies. To my surprise, no one argued, as long as I only gave up the one flag. So I went running for the Horde base. Twice I was killed on my way in, but I kept going. I put on my new title and desummoned my Orphan to make it clear I wasn't competition.
I made it into the horde flag room... and was promptly killed. But I DID see a Troll Druid with his Orc orphan in the room. I returned. After 2 more attempts, I took the flag. Three of the hordies in the room ran for the door intending to intercept me, I think... but I didn't move. I stood there, next to the flag, and /point-ed at the Troll Druid and his Orphan. His bear form stared at me for a moment... then attacked. I'm assuming he got the idea.
What made me happiest was that it was obviously the last thing HE had for the achievements, too... because when I died and he grabbed the flag, I saw the general chat announcement that he had gotten both School Of Hard Knocks, AND For The Children, just as I had. And, to make it complete, he /salute-ed my body in thanks.
I was content, my purpose served, my achievements won, and the kindness paid forward back to the Horde side. I hope that Druid will remember the Draenai who sacrificed herself so he could have his Patron title. The battleground ended shortly after that, but I didn't care. One more step finished on the path to What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been!
The way I'm going, assuming I don't fail any of the Holiday metas for the rest of the year, next year during the Love Is In The Air festival, I should get the Purple Proto-Drake. :)
My in-between holiday project is reputation grinding for mounts, to take me closer to another coveted mount - the Blue Dragonhawk for the Mountain O'Mounts achievement. I decided to start with the Netherwing faction two days ago, and already I'm having a lot of fun spending part of every day pretending to be an Orc.
I also haven't even ENTERED Uldum yet. I plan on getting my Netherwing Drakes, picking a favorite, and having that be my mount around Uldum. You don't see them that often anymore. Another mount I'm trying for when I have time just to kind of sit around in Storm Peaks and let the NPC Scan add-on do it's thing, is the Time Lost Proto Drake. I lose inspiration for haunting for that particular mount quickly... Also known as getting bored. :P But I will get it eventually, I know I will. It's just a seriously rare spawn, so hunting for it is literally hit or miss. So far, I haven't even seen it DEAD. But I hold out hope, and my positive has already proven to effect the game, so that's part of this as well.
In the mean time, another holiday meta down, and more mounts on the way... I'd say my WoW career is just beginning.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Epic Moment...
My brother-by-love, Kata, has a level 85 Worgen Death Knight. As a tanking, Hero Class, he's incredibly powerful and VERY good at what he does.
Tonight, my Hatari and I beat him in a one-on-one duel.
I don't usually PVP, as I've mentioned repeatedly, but Lona had never healed on her Pally before, and we were about to do a 4 man run of Utegarde Pinnacle in order to get the Children's Week achievement Hail To The King, Baby!, in which you must beat the last boss of that dungeon, with your Orphan out with you. (As of completing that, I only have ONE more achievement to complete... the ever-annoying School Of Hard Knocks, and I only have 2 more PVP objectives to complete ON that achievement before I'm done. I'll get it in the next 2 days for sure.)
Anyway, Lona wanted to test her healing, so Kata and I agreed to duel, with her healing him. Only we didn't quite take into account just how much damage I, as a high end Beast Mastery Hunter with a powerful Ferocity pet at my side, can actually DO when I throw everything I have at one target.
I did a lot of moving around, and didn't even DO most of the damage, though I know for a fact that it was my Kill Shot that won the round- most of the damage he took came from Hatari, well-timed Kill Commands, his Hamstring ability, and a few well aimed shots from me. THe point being - with a Pally focused on healing HIM... I won the duel.
I was... shocked. I went running around to see why Hatari was back at my side again.. and I saw Furfur (Kata's Worgen DK), sitting down to eat and heal. Kata is the best gamer in the house... Probably the best gamer I've ever MET. He beat Portal 2 in a little under a day, and I was amazed. He was the first of us to cap, and it was before Cataclysm came out. He once earned 10,000 gold in less than 2 days, because he wanted his flying speed maxed and he wanted it NOW.
SO the fact that me, a fairly unexperienced gamer, could actually BEAT him... I don't even know what to think. Other than that, once again, I am VERY happy with Hatari.
My very, very best friend in WoW world, Hatari the Hyena, I love him. :P
Tonight, my Hatari and I beat him in a one-on-one duel.
I don't usually PVP, as I've mentioned repeatedly, but Lona had never healed on her Pally before, and we were about to do a 4 man run of Utegarde Pinnacle in order to get the Children's Week achievement Hail To The King, Baby!, in which you must beat the last boss of that dungeon, with your Orphan out with you. (As of completing that, I only have ONE more achievement to complete... the ever-annoying School Of Hard Knocks, and I only have 2 more PVP objectives to complete ON that achievement before I'm done. I'll get it in the next 2 days for sure.)
Anyway, Lona wanted to test her healing, so Kata and I agreed to duel, with her healing him. Only we didn't quite take into account just how much damage I, as a high end Beast Mastery Hunter with a powerful Ferocity pet at my side, can actually DO when I throw everything I have at one target.
I did a lot of moving around, and didn't even DO most of the damage, though I know for a fact that it was my Kill Shot that won the round- most of the damage he took came from Hatari, well-timed Kill Commands, his Hamstring ability, and a few well aimed shots from me. THe point being - with a Pally focused on healing HIM... I won the duel.
I was... shocked. I went running around to see why Hatari was back at my side again.. and I saw Furfur (Kata's Worgen DK), sitting down to eat and heal. Kata is the best gamer in the house... Probably the best gamer I've ever MET. He beat Portal 2 in a little under a day, and I was amazed. He was the first of us to cap, and it was before Cataclysm came out. He once earned 10,000 gold in less than 2 days, because he wanted his flying speed maxed and he wanted it NOW.
SO the fact that me, a fairly unexperienced gamer, could actually BEAT him... I don't even know what to think. Other than that, once again, I am VERY happy with Hatari.
My very, very best friend in WoW world, Hatari the Hyena, I love him. :P
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
PVP Perils
Right from one achievement string to another! I'm in the middle of another WoW holiday achievement string - this one is for Children's Week, and a title I don't particularly want: "Matron". But it's a necessary trip on the road to the "What A Long Strange Trip It's Been" achievement which rewards the Violet Proto-Drake mount. Yes, I'm doing all of these, not just for the TITLES... but for the mount. Another drake to add to my collection of mounts.
Anyway, the achievements for Children's Week involve taking little orphans (who manifest as non-combat pets) around to different places and letting them see different things, then doing other things with them. The most evil of the achievements is The School Of Hard Knocks.
This involves you running some PVP battlegrounds with your orphan out, and accomplishing specific goals. The only issue is... I don't PVP. Not normally, anyway.
However, my first battleground, Eye Of The Storm, went REALLY well. I got the objective I needed, and then proceeded to not only help the Alliance win the battleground, but I got an insane number of compliments on the amount of damage my hyena did. No one had ever seen a Ferocity pet do that before - mostly Hunters bring pets from the Cunning family tree in to Battlegrounds - I brought a Ferocity... and he lived up to the family name.
I came off of that feeling off really good, and promptly queued for Arathi Basin, figuring I'd just rip through the other three just as easily. I was wrong. 0.o Had some issues, and one of them was a glitch, even.
However, I kept trying, and eventually got SOMETHING to work properly. I got 2 of the 4 battlegrounds out of the way last night. And here I go to attempt the other two again. Then a quick Guild Run of Utgarde Pinnacle, and another title will be mine. Then it's on to the Midsummer Fire Festival in a few weeks!
Ah... I think I see why the achievement's called "What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been...". :P
Anyway, the achievements for Children's Week involve taking little orphans (who manifest as non-combat pets) around to different places and letting them see different things, then doing other things with them. The most evil of the achievements is The School Of Hard Knocks.
This involves you running some PVP battlegrounds with your orphan out, and accomplishing specific goals. The only issue is... I don't PVP. Not normally, anyway.
However, my first battleground, Eye Of The Storm, went REALLY well. I got the objective I needed, and then proceeded to not only help the Alliance win the battleground, but I got an insane number of compliments on the amount of damage my hyena did. No one had ever seen a Ferocity pet do that before - mostly Hunters bring pets from the Cunning family tree in to Battlegrounds - I brought a Ferocity... and he lived up to the family name.
I came off of that feeling off really good, and promptly queued for Arathi Basin, figuring I'd just rip through the other three just as easily. I was wrong. 0.o Had some issues, and one of them was a glitch, even.
However, I kept trying, and eventually got SOMETHING to work properly. I got 2 of the 4 battlegrounds out of the way last night. And here I go to attempt the other two again. Then a quick Guild Run of Utgarde Pinnacle, and another title will be mine. Then it's on to the Midsummer Fire Festival in a few weeks!
Ah... I think I see why the achievement's called "What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been...". :P
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