Mage Tanking

Woooooooot! I am now officially no longer a squishy mage!  Well okay, that may be an exageration, but I am geared enough to handle Krosh Firehand!

I logged in game last night for the first time in almost a week, which was a nice change.  Work has been extremely busy lately, so finding time in the evenings was next to impossible.  But I had some free time last night and had told Sylus that I’d be able to get in game to do some Arenas with him and Nim that night. 

When I logged in I got inundated with messages.  Reav wanted some of the Primal Mooncloth I had save up for the Whitemend Hood.  He also wanted to know if I could craft it for him.  Unfortunately, my tailoring isn’t yet high enough to use the pattern, so no joy on that.  But I got him his Mooncloth anyways.  Savageblade (a guildie) then asked if I could give him Mongoose enchant.  Luckily for him, I’d gotten my enchanting past 375 (woot for BElfs) and had the pattern from a few months back.  So he got two Mongoose enchants.  Then he asked what my gear was like, so I told him and he wondered if I’d be interested in doing Gruul’s that night. 

Okay I said, throw me an invite.  So I got an invite and joined a raid.  Only knew 1 person in the raid (Savage) and found out that it was another guild’s run.  They needed a Mage tank however and the raid leader whispered me to ask what stats I had.  So I fired them off.  My HP were at 10,003 (with Power Word: Fortitude) and my Spell Hit was at about 3%.  I’m pretty sure these stats are low for being the Mage tank, but the RL felt that it was good enough.

So, the next problem? I’ve never Mage tanked before.  I mentioned this to the RL as well and she gave me a bit of a primer on what to do.  It goes something like this:

1. Mage pulls Krosh as the hunters MD pull the 4 other bosses.  Pull starts from the little steam vent on the right hand side of the chamber.  Krosh will run to that spot and then start casting so you need to back up immediately after the pull.

2. Mage spell steals Krosh’s shield.

3. Mage dps’ Krosh to maintain aggro.

4. Mage uses Deadly Boss Mods to watch when the next shield is going to come available.

5. Have a great healer spam heals on you.

6. Rinse and Repeat.

So that was basically it.  The first pull ended in a wipe for a few reasons.  The Shaman boss was allowed to run amok and killed off several key members.  The pull also wasn’t started by me and I hadn’t gotten into position so Krosh was not off to the side and was able to kill a few people himself.  I also screwed up and tried to allow a Frostbolt to finish casting before spell stealing his shield.  I got 2-shotted.

So on attempt number two, they asked me to pull.  +1 Mage Biscuit to the RL for that one.  I also realized from my first mistake that as soon as the shield comes up I need to stop casting and steal the shield. 

The second attempt was flawless.  I didn’t notice when the other mobs went down (priest then lock) but eventually all the ranged were dps’ing along with me and Krosh eventually ate dirt.  At that point we all moved onto High King and got <teh phat lewtz>.

Something else to note.  I was running out of mana faster than I would’ve liked.  As a frost mage, I don’t have the longevity of the Fire tree or the efficiency of Clearcasting.  If you’re the regular Mage tank for your guild, I’d recommend having a mana efficient build to take on Krosh as your dps isn’t the all important factor here, its having enough mana to continue stealing his shield.

Gone Fishin!

This is a bit of a bunny trail here, but a funny one. I assumed you all would at least be slightly interested in hearing about my real life fishing story! It all started at wal-mart of all places. My wife and I were out doing some last minute shopping and trying to prepare for the week. We were discussing our hobbies and thow all of them kept us inside tied down to a desk. My wife is hugly into the paper crafts, and I’m addicted to wow…duh. So, we decided to do something outdoors. I, automatically thinking about how boring fishing is in wow, spout off, “what about fishing?” She was all about it. So, we ended up spending about a hundred bucks getting some fishing gear, and planned on going the next day. ( we got licenses as well, gotta keep it legal!)

So, the next evening, after I get off work, we hed down to the local “lake.” (AKA a glorified pond) It was a blast. Neither of us really knew what we were doing. We learned how to tie the knots from the little piece of cardboard on the back of the hook bag. We ended up using fake bait, as all the real bait was sitting at home….another long story, well actually, I just left it on accident, so not a really long story.  We had fun, but didn’t catch a bite. Sinse I didn’t want to look like a patsy who didn’t catch a thing(even though I am) I decided to post this, a pic of me, catching a huge fish…well crap, something is wrong with photobucket atm, I’ll get the pic up later. Until then, go get your fishing up to 375…cause I don’t want too.

~Uncle Sy

 

Finding the Time

Okay, so I was pretty excited this weekend to get (back) into game and finally get some WoW goodness.  Unfortunately for me, work reared its fugly head and my WoW time evaporated like the shallow puddle that it has become.  /sadpanda.

I did get a little time in game Friday night, which was a blast.  Since Reav and Taki have their Priest/Pally duo up to 70 now, we took them into Mech (me on my Mage) and after that they all took my hunter through Sethekk Halls, and I was able to pick up Terokk’s Quill.  Its very shiny! 

In other news, I’ve realised a few things during my time out of WoW. 

1.  Teachers have one of the hardest jobs in the world.  I feel like a bone fide @$$hat for some of the crap I pulled back in my school days.  If you’re in school, thank them every now and again as its hard work and unless you do, then it is a truly thankless job.

2.  There’s these really crazy things that float in the sky and they take on weird shapes.  I saw one that looked like a duck and another one that looked like a Star Destroyer.  (I seriously was freaked out by that one.  I thought it was landing.)

3.  Running around screaming The Empire is landing troops, RAISE THE SHIELD!, doesn’t seem to get anybody moving.  We need a new call to arms.

4.  Call To Arms is a fun game.

5.  Some games for the DS are pretty fun.  Others are pretty frustrating.  I got Tetris DS while I was unplugged and I can’t beat it any more than I could beat the original.  What is with those stupid blocks.  They give me nightmares!

6.  When you have nightmares about falling blocks, YOU are in control, and YOU can make them all line up nice and neat, eliminating them and making them disappear.  YOU do not have to watch them stack up to the roof and suffocate you.

7.  House is an awesome show!

8.  Coffee is a lifesaver.

9.  It is perfectly acceptable for guys to ‘eyeball’ whether or not the new jeans are going to fit us.  If we have to go back to the store and get a different size, we just didn’t like the ‘look’ of the jeans.

10.  Sleeping in because you were up late watching the 5th overtime period in hockey is an acceptable excuse for being late to work in the morning.  If you’re CANADIAN that is!

Death Night Info

The great guys and gals at Ten Ton Hammer have a great article about the up coming death night class due to come out with the wrath of the lich king expansion. I just figured all of you should read about some of the changes they have announced about the death knight. Check it out at Ten Ton Hammer.

~Uncle Sy

I’m Back Baby!

WOOOOooooOOOOT!

So I’m back.  Sorta.  Work is extremely busy right now as there is a lot more to being an instructor than I thought.  Hopefully I’ll be able to post more than 0 times a day though.  Anyways, just a quick note to say hi and I’m back.  I’ll be trying to get a bigger post out this weekend.

-Fikkle

Season 4 armor and weapons released!

Okay, after giving fikkle so much crap for writing three and four posts per day, here is my thrid for the day! I came across the new arena season 4 stuff and wanted to provide you, the loyal readers, with the links. I’m a fan of the hunter gear, but the rogue gear, looks like poo. You decide what you like, and let me know! Thanks.

Season 4 Arena Gear

~Uncle Sy

Everyone read this!!!

I was scrolling through tobold’s mmo blog today, catching up on some needed reading time. Then I came across this artacle. Tobold was talking about how his guild leaders account got hacked and the guild bank lost everything. He goes into detail about how to protect yourself from something like this. Everyone should read this, and judge your protection levels.  Okay, that is all, go read this: Tobold

Thanks,

~Uncle Sy

My Mistake, and the return of Fikkle!!!

So, I did several BG’s last night, earned lots of honor, and got my honor points up to 24,500. I’m so excited that I’ll be able to get it after  3500 points today…So, this morning I go out to the hall of legend to gawk at the pretty shiney gladiator’s heavy crossbow one more time before I go out the door to work. Then it hits me. As I’m staring at how it will look in my hands in the dressing room screen, a number catches my eye…

that number is 27000 honor…wait, 27000 honor? I was so sure it was 28000 honor…CRAP! I ONLY NEED 2500 HONOR!!! So, now as soon as I get off work, I will be bging my butt off turning in marks for honor and GETTING MY PRECIOUS!!

Oh yeah, and in other news, fikkle gets his internet today!!!!! WOOT!!!!!!! I WON’T BE ALONE ON THE BLOG ANYMORE!!!!! The creator returns! This is good news for me, and great news for you, the reader!!! I can’t keep up with his frenzied pace of 4-5 posts per day! So, until later, when he finally gets a post up, enjoy my fine writings over the past two weeks, and realize how great it is to get fikkle back!

~Uncle Sy

6k to my precious…

Hello everyone, first, let me apologize for a lack of a post yesterday, but work called me away, to go fishing and camping. No lie. You may all hate me now, it’s okay. Somedays, I hate myself, but that’s another story!

I finally got home last night, and I was so tired and worn down that I needed a few battlegrounds. Theirs nothing like a good killing to get your spirits lifted! I’ve been working on saving enough alteric vally marks, and 28000 honor to grab me a gladiator crossbow. It’s a long and arduos task for me. I like battlegrounds, but when we start loosing, I get discouraged fast. When I get discouraged, I say screw it, I’m done, and quit BG’ing.  It’s usually a slow grind for anything I want honor related. On top of that, I had gone through a real rough patch in AV where all we did was loose. When you need 40 marks for something, and all you do is loose, it takes a while to earn all of them.

So, last night I was in a killing mood. I started the night with 31 AV marks. I thought, hey, if I get one ore two, that’s one or two closer to 40. MAN WAS I WRONG!!! We destroyed AV!!! I ended up playing 5 AV’s and won all of them! They were total destruction matches, not just yay, we won by 50 reenforcements, but total barn burners. One game we ended up winning 350 to 0. WOW We smoked em like a fat cuban cigar!

So, now I’m sitting at enough marks to get my bow, now comes the honor grind. I have a stash of AB, EOTS, and WSG marks sitting in the bank, so now every AV I do, will give me extra honor, as I can trade the marks in for the 314 honor. This should be nice. For every AV win, I’ll get an additional 942 honor! So, that 22k honor I have now, will grow in leaps and bounds from here on out! I’m hoping to have the bow by this weekend, and maybe even start grabbing some honor for arena season 4. I’m gonna wait to buy armor until then!

Anyway, have a great day bloggers, and try to stay dry. It’s pouring here, and EVERYTHING is soaked to the bone. BOO rain.

~Uncle Sy

For Sharvan!!!

This past satureday was the running of the bulls in memory of Sharvan. BRK and Ratshag raised over 500 dollars for her family to help with expenses. Sharvan’s mom wrote a very touching letter that I think all should read. It really hits home when you think about this game as real people, not just a bunch of pixels.

Here is a link to the letter. Letter to BRK and Ratshag