Catching up...

The end of expansion malaise has hit me so I've been lacking enthusiasm for all things WoW and mainly just logging on for raids.  A lack of enthusiasm in the game means a lack of enthusiasm to write about the game, for me anyway.

Having said that, lots has actually been happening over the past few weeks so it's time for a catch up...

I was recently faced with a dilemma on how to continue my play and to take more enjoyment from my play.  I made the decision to raid quietly on my horde rogue for the rest of the expansion to take a break from everything else. 

Well, that lasted a grand total of one raid night.

Fresh run for the week, heroic SoO.  With the guild at 4/14hc at the time I knew that these bosses weren't exactly 'on farm' so was expecting a tough night on my rogue.  I wasn't disappointed. 
I struggled through all 4 fights on the night and decided that learning how to play a class properly probably shouldn't be done whilst progressing heroic content.

I could have persevered here, pushed myself to learn the class better, grabbed more gear so I could make more of a contribution, or grabbed a shitty dagger and switched to Assassination which I know how to play... but I did none of these.  I didn't want to be carried through content while I caught up (in gear and skill) and I was missing my shaman, Sol is the one that should be doing the heroics not some rogue who was meant as a distraction.

So I moved my shaman to horde.

Now fighting through heroic SoO hoping to gain the 'Cutting Edge' achievement but that might be a step too far this late in the expansion.  I'm going to do a full post on my raiding adventures so I'll stop this part here.

Other WoW stuff...
The profession plan for Wod has completely taken a back seat, what's the point when I'm not even sure which realm I will be on?
The alts are slowly making their way to 90, currently sat at 8 classes with only monk, hunter and warrior to go.
Monk is now at 85 and has just landed in Pandaria.
Hunter is now at 39 which while being easily the furthest I have got with a hunter, is a long way from 90.
Warrior is at 29 and has not been touched for months - he was part of an abandoned tank/heal project with the other half.

Starcraft 2...
I've been dabbling with this for a while now, dipping in to the campaign and slowly progressing, but mainly watching videos of pro-gamers playing in Korea (I'll assume it's South Korea ^^).

A couple of weeks ago, that all changed! 

When randomly following youtube links to various WoW and Starcraft vids I came accross a guy called Husky. 
He casts Starcraft games (amongst other things) and has a feature on his channel called "Bronze League Heroes!" This series is just him commentating on replays sent in by Bronze League Starcraft players, this is the lowest league in Starcraft and the people are there just for the fun of the game.

Well, this series is hilarious! It's barely recognisable as the same game those Korean guys play and it inspired me to have a go myself.  After all, if they are that bad and still enjoying it, maybe I would too.

So I had a go...  I'm now at around 20 games played and I have won 3 of them, 2 of which I won because the other player dropped out at the start.  So really I have won 1 out of 18 games which is truly awful but I'm loving every minute of it :-)


 

Will Hunters Rule Draenor?

There are a massive number of changes coming to classes in Warlords of Draenor but one that strikes fear into the heart of this Elemental Shaman is the removal of Unleashed Lightning.


Background
Early in Cataclysm ele shaman had an horrendous time maintaining dps if the fight involved any movement at all.  A combination of long cast times and very few instant cast abilities meant massive loss of dps during movement, with the only exception being 15seconds every 2 minutes when Spiritwalker's Grace was available.

This may be applied to all casters but they have other abilities that give them a huge advantage... 

When it all falls apart...

I've reached a crossroads in my WoW play and now have a decision to make...

My raid team has fallen apart due to a split in the officer ranks.  There was fault on both sides, as there always is, and half of the raid team has split off to form their own guild.
I didn't go with them as I didn't agree with their decision to split. I think it was the easy way out and they could have worked through their issues keeping the guild whole.  That was their decision though, they chose to do what they thought was best for themselves.

The split was disappointing to say the least.  We had just seemed to overcome a lull in sign-ups to reach Garrosh again on our 25man team.  Some raiders had been using an extra night to finish off the raid in 10man but that would no longer be needed.  Confidence was high that Garrosh would go down very soon, a lot of the new recruits were finally caught up in gear, and we were ready to push forwards as a team.

Then the split came.

Those that left were generally the better players, with the exception of a few stalwarts of the guild who had been together for a long time, and immediately began progressing in 10man heroic.  Those that remained were left to regroup and rebuild again, not having the quality available in all of the roles to push on.

The dilemma... What do I do next?

Mists of Pandaria Raiding - Part 1 - Mogu'shan Vaults

With Mists of Pandaria drawing to a close (hopefully) quite soon I thought I would take a look back at the raids in this expansion and give my thoughts. First up was...

Mogu'shan Vaults

The architecture for this raid was magnificent.  It was beautifully created and atmospheric, with Cho's commentary adding to the experience.  A fantastic setting for our first raiding adventures in Pandaria...

6 weeks and 2 days...

6 weeks and 2 days ago my horde rogue reached level 90.

How to Die in WoW - A Pro Guide

Anyone can stand in front on the boss and get beaten on.
Or stand in the fire, slowly burning to a crisp to the sound of your healers crying.

Recently, I have been finding new and innovative ways to die...

The Dream Rogue - Gearing up in 5.4

The rogue has finally made it to 90 and, after seeing the procession of 480 - 500 ilvl recruits appear in my main guild, I was curious to see how difficult it was to gear up in the current patch.

It must be really difficult to gear up, right?  500 must be a magic number that is virtually impossible to pass without being boosted in a couple of raids, right?

TWIW - Week 2

This Week in WoW...
Raiding News

Monday was a great surprise as, despite having only a few signed up until the last minute, we ended up with 28 players online at raid start!
Out of the window went the plans to go for a Garrosh 10man kill, we were heading back to Thok to take him on mob-handed!

Would Thok be able to withstand the might of our burgeoning 25man team?

Why am I levelling an Undead Rogue?

I already have a rogue at level 90, which I rarely play. 
I have no other horde toons. 
I have no other toons on that realm even.

So why am I now levelling an Undead Rogue on a new server?

TWIW - Week One

This week in WoW...

So... Wednesday's raid.
RL turned up 1 minute before raid start (and it was another 15mins before he was on mumble) so we were, of course, late getting started.
We could get away with this kind of thing a lot more on 10man but it's intrinsically more difficult to organise the 25man anyway so we have to be much sharper right from the start. 
Add in the horrendous impression it gives to new recruits and it's just unacceptable.

Anyway, back to the raid...
By the time we got started, we only needed to pug one extra player and were lucky enough to bring in Noxxus (friend of the guild and heroic-geared, super-rogue!).
Immerseus was one-shot and went down at around 9.45pm :-s
Then RL left to sort out some stuff at home.

At this point I was wondering if the night would just peter out into nothing until...