For a creature that existed with its belly on the ground, the caterpillar managed to move extraordinarily quickly. After a good fifteen minutes in pursuit, Neg lost all track of it, save for the tale-tell signs of the trailing rope.
Undaunted, she carried on, following the curved patterns of the rope as it was dragged through the dirt. The larva was headed north, and while its trail was erratic to the point of confusion, there was some obvious end goal in its mind as they trekked through the woods. The great mountains of Hellfire Peninsula loomed in the distance, casting the forest in shadow. It was when their massive form took up the majority of the sky that Neg finally caught up to the furry caterpillar.
The end of the rope had become miserably frayed and filthy, and when she found it, she paused to trace its course further through the underbrush.
In a small clearing surrounded by dense trees, the larva was busy chewing through its bindings. Now that it could manage without a grip on the rope’s slick surface, it was making considerable progress in a short amount of time – its strong mandibles had already chewed through half of the rope’s width. Unable to bend well enough to reach the noose around its midsection, it had settled for a section closest to its body. Losing the majority of the rope’s length would free much of its movement.
Not wishing to startle it from its task, Neg looked around the wooden niche. This must be a place the caterpillar was comfortable with, and she wondered why. The trees were very tall and very thin despite their number. In between their dark trunks were thick bushes reminiscent of the Silverleaf of Azeroth. Above her head, the canopy spiraled up into a maze of needle-like leaves.
Frowning, Neg couldn’t distinguish anything particularly notable about this place until she heard it: A low clicking noise similar to the chewing noises the caterpillar was making. She looked closer at the dark tree trunks across the clearing. They were covered in the same dark needles that filled the air above her head… in addition to pairs of dark eyes that stared down at the struggling moth larva in the clearing. Caterpillars coated the trees, their mouthparts clicking away as they watched their companion chew away at the rope, though whether or not their sounds were meant to be encouragement, Neg could not say.
Separated from the rest of the rope, the noosed-caterpillar marched over to the nearest bush and began chomping away at the leaves, evidently quite unperturbed by the attached loop of rope. As Neg watched, it ate its full, then climbed the nearest tree and settled next to its trunk-companion, completely blending in to the surroundings, save for the obvious light-colored cord around its middle.
Neg sighed a bit, debating whether or not she wanted to put forth the effort for what she had in mind. While she was not under any contracts at the moment, nor were the times overwrought with danger, it was a time investment to help this creature she found so intriguing. Still, it may be her only chance.
Slowly, she stepped out into the clearing. Immediately, the caterpillars that covered the trees retracted back up the trunk, disappearing into the foliage. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her tethered-friend retreat into the shadows. Careful to move in the least-threatening manner possible, Neg set up camp.
Over the next several hours she tended to her weapons, polishing and oiling her gun and blades; sorted her ammunition; mended and cleaned her mail and leather armors and packs; darned her cloth underclothes; checked her stores of potions, scrolls, and dried foods; wound up the rope for later use; overlooked the various items she had picked up over her travels that served more specific uses; and made bandages from the stock cloth she had gathered. Above her head, the caterpillars occasionally clicked or rustled in the darkness, but were otherwise silent.
She slept unperturbed through the night, then woke at the dawn for a morning hunt. Returning several hours later, she found her orderly camp disheveled, and her things covered in fine, dark hairs. After making sure nothing was damaged (abet some dried jerky was missing), Neg settled down to make lunch, ignoring the outbreak of chattering above her head.
As the day waned, she pulled a handful of berries from her pocket and placed them at the outskirt of her camp before going to bed.
Deep into the night, she awoke to sounds of scuffling and the chitter of mandibles, but she remained motionless, listening to the caterpillars move about in the dark.
The next morning the berries were gone, but Neg ignored their absence as she went about her morning routine. That evening, she deposited another handful of berries, and the cycle continued.
On the fourth day, she began noticing curious eyes peer out at her from the canopy above, and this time she laid out a small pile of berries during the day, leaving them in their now standard location, before dealing with her daily chores.
It was a few hours before dusk when the first caterpillar descended the trees. To her frustration, it was not the noosed-larva, but another large, bristled individual. Over the next several minutes more caterpillars came down, but the one she freed was not among them. Annoyed, she tossed the remaining berries in her pocket out among the gathering horde.
She watched as the large larvae greedily ate the berries that were scattered about, apparently quite comfortable with her presence. She scanned the tree trunks, hoping to see a flash of pale rope, but there was nothing of note among the black needles. Masking her disappointment, she turned to a bag of apples behind her. A bright splash of white caught her eye, and sure enough, at the base of a tree opposite from the gathered mass of caterpillars, was the noosed individual.
It bristled up when it noticed her attention to it, but relaxed when she made no further move. It moved its head towards the greater gathering of larvae, appearing interested in their frenzy to find any remaining berries, but made no move to join them. Its gaze fell upon her again and stayed.
Carefully, Neg removed an apple from the sack, and gently rolled it towards the caterpillar
Friday, March 27, 2009
In the field (still)
Due to high winds, we cannot do some of the bird trapping that we had intended to do, so today is essentially a break day until the afternoon, when we might try some bird netting then.
So, here I am, on an ancient computer at the Archbold Biological Research Station. It's still running IE 6.0 (shudder) on Windows 2000 Professional (shudder shudder). I feel like I'm 10 years old again, only no longer excited about using a state of the art computer... Strangely enough, someone has been to both my guild site and the Butterfly from this very computer in November 2008. I wonder who it was!
I've been tagged in memes, both here and on Facebook. This seems to be the season for "tag-your-friends" everywhere. I'm also very behind in all my blog reading and posting, as if it wasn't obvious. I've been spending my free evenings writing up that short story bit, but it's been rough going.
I return to civilization on Wednesday, at which point I promise to post a couple of happy lepidopteran pictures and spend copious amount of time on WoW. It has been a solid week without it, and I've had several dreams about the game, but those have been the only really notable symptom of my withdrawal.
Off to enjoy my internet time!
So, here I am, on an ancient computer at the Archbold Biological Research Station. It's still running IE 6.0 (shudder) on Windows 2000 Professional (shudder shudder). I feel like I'm 10 years old again, only no longer excited about using a state of the art computer... Strangely enough, someone has been to both my guild site and the Butterfly from this very computer in November 2008. I wonder who it was!
I've been tagged in memes, both here and on Facebook. This seems to be the season for "tag-your-friends" everywhere. I'm also very behind in all my blog reading and posting, as if it wasn't obvious. I've been spending my free evenings writing up that short story bit, but it's been rough going.
I return to civilization on Wednesday, at which point I promise to post a couple of happy lepidopteran pictures and spend copious amount of time on WoW. It has been a solid week without it, and I've had several dreams about the game, but those have been the only really notable symptom of my withdrawal.
Off to enjoy my internet time!
Monday, March 23, 2009
Neg and Tinea Part 1: Hanging In The Balance
Neg is AFK for Spring Break, so to keep the Butterfly from becoming too idle, here's a Neg Adventure. Enjoy!
It was a peaceful day in Terokkar when Neg came across the giant caterpillar dangling from a rope trap. Wary of the Broken Draenei that stalked the worn paths of the forest, the tauren hunter preferred to go cross country; at least in the woods she had equal advantage of terrain. She was familiar enough with the wildlife by this point, so she did not expect to encounter anything she couldn’t deal with as she traveled west to Hellfire. Coming across a large, fur-covered larva, on the other hand, was something completely new to her.
Negathle had dealt with insectoids before – she had spent years inSouth Kalimdor battling the Aqiraji from the Barrens to their heart in Silithus. She learned how they fight and how they think, and, to her great frustration, how they defied being tracked. Their undying drive for imperialism and unending greed disgusted Neg to the point of blinding fury, and most of her work in Ahn’Qiraj was volunteered. But the insects of Outland were not like the hive-minded Qiraji. These creatures were calm, reclusive, and capable of independent thought and life, despite their choice to live in colonies. Even if they were related to the hive-creatures of Kalimdor, she recognized in them those qualities that she prized so much in herself. While she had considered taming either a wasp or a moth as a companion, she pushed it off. The thought of subduing such a free, independent mind disgusted her. No, if she were to befriend one of the insects of Outland, it would be of their own volition.
So it was with great surprise and anger that the hunter came upon the trapped caterpillar. She knew that the moth larvae existed in Terokkar, and was even considered a delicacy amongst the Broken despite the sharp bristles that covered their bodies, but she had never seen one before. She had assumed that the alien denizens of the forest had actively hunted them on foot, not through the devious methods of bait-trapping. It was honorable to track and subdue prey in person, but to hide in the shadows, using trickery and stealth for passive trapping, was sickening to her. There was no pride found in inciting unnecessary fear and pain in another.
Upon Neg’s entrance to the clearing, the caterpillar began bristling in anticipation of defense. It contracted its body, extending the thick covering of undulating hairs. Its head shrank into its body, and its many feet folded on themselves. It appeared nothing more than a great burr suspended in air. Neg looked up at it silently, examining the rope that had contracted around its lower half. Fortunately, the creature was not like the gigantic grubs of the Plaguelands that were little more than mobile bags of puss. Rather, it had a strong, chitinous frame that prevented the rope from pinching it in half. Her eyes followed the path of the rope across the pulley limb to its anchor on another tree. It was a simple trip trap, and, sure enough, there was a scattered pile of bait-berries below the captured prey.
Its supposed-captor’s silence caused the quarry to slowly peak out from its protective ball. Seeing the tauren staring up at it, it frantically attempted to double up on itself in effort to crawl up the rope. But the slick quality of the cord didn’t allow any grip, and watching the creature’s miserable twisting and spinning caused another surge of annoyance within Neg for the trappers that caught it. Still without a word, Neg set about releasing it.
The anchor of the rope was on a limb about an arm’s length above her head; the Broken Draenei must have had to climb up the tree to tie it down. There was not much excess rope tying it off, making her think the trappers cared little for the condition of their prey once it fell. Neg scowled in her frustration.
She looked back over at the caterpillar. It was still now, watching her with tiny black eyes that glistened from beneath waves of bristles. Neg cocked her head, looking at it from an angle, thinking. Slowly, she unsheathed her skinning knife.
“RIK-TA!” she screamed at the hanging creature, jumping out at it aggressively.
Instinctively, it curled up again, its hairs expanding in every direction. Neg deftly cut the rope above her head, and the ball of spikes fell to the ground, the rope screeching as it was dragged across the pulley limb. The caterpillar bounced once, twice, then came still.
Sensing firm ground below it, the moth larva extended its body and speedily crawled away into the underbrush, the rope trailing behind it.
It was a peaceful day in Terokkar when Neg came across the giant caterpillar dangling from a rope trap. Wary of the Broken Draenei that stalked the worn paths of the forest, the tauren hunter preferred to go cross country; at least in the woods she had equal advantage of terrain. She was familiar enough with the wildlife by this point, so she did not expect to encounter anything she couldn’t deal with as she traveled west to Hellfire. Coming across a large, fur-covered larva, on the other hand, was something completely new to her.
Negathle had dealt with insectoids before – she had spent years in
So it was with great surprise and anger that the hunter came upon the trapped caterpillar. She knew that the moth larvae existed in Terokkar, and was even considered a delicacy amongst the Broken despite the sharp bristles that covered their bodies, but she had never seen one before. She had assumed that the alien denizens of the forest had actively hunted them on foot, not through the devious methods of bait-trapping. It was honorable to track and subdue prey in person, but to hide in the shadows, using trickery and stealth for passive trapping, was sickening to her. There was no pride found in inciting unnecessary fear and pain in another.
Upon Neg’s entrance to the clearing, the caterpillar began bristling in anticipation of defense. It contracted its body, extending the thick covering of undulating hairs. Its head shrank into its body, and its many feet folded on themselves. It appeared nothing more than a great burr suspended in air. Neg looked up at it silently, examining the rope that had contracted around its lower half. Fortunately, the creature was not like the gigantic grubs of the Plaguelands that were little more than mobile bags of puss. Rather, it had a strong, chitinous frame that prevented the rope from pinching it in half. Her eyes followed the path of the rope across the pulley limb to its anchor on another tree. It was a simple trip trap, and, sure enough, there was a scattered pile of bait-berries below the captured prey.
Its supposed-captor’s silence caused the quarry to slowly peak out from its protective ball. Seeing the tauren staring up at it, it frantically attempted to double up on itself in effort to crawl up the rope. But the slick quality of the cord didn’t allow any grip, and watching the creature’s miserable twisting and spinning caused another surge of annoyance within Neg for the trappers that caught it. Still without a word, Neg set about releasing it.
The anchor of the rope was on a limb about an arm’s length above her head; the Broken Draenei must have had to climb up the tree to tie it down. There was not much excess rope tying it off, making her think the trappers cared little for the condition of their prey once it fell. Neg scowled in her frustration.
She looked back over at the caterpillar. It was still now, watching her with tiny black eyes that glistened from beneath waves of bristles. Neg cocked her head, looking at it from an angle, thinking. Slowly, she unsheathed her skinning knife.
“RIK-TA!” she screamed at the hanging creature, jumping out at it aggressively.
Instinctively, it curled up again, its hairs expanding in every direction. Neg deftly cut the rope above her head, and the ball of spikes fell to the ground, the rope screeching as it was dragged across the pulley limb. The caterpillar bounced once, twice, then came still.
Sensing firm ground below it, the moth larva extended its body and speedily crawled away into the underbrush, the rope trailing behind it.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
AFK ~11 days
I'm off to meander through southern Florida for the next 11 days for a Field Ecology class. Yes, I am so nerdy that I choose to spend my spring break identifying birds, catching small mammals, dodging alligators, and (most importantly) playing with insects.
My internet access will be limited, but I'll have some entries on auto-post to keep you all amused. My WoW playing will be down to the two days that I will dare to log on and check/purchase my Oracle egg. I say "dare" because I will be on my crap-tastic Dell, a laptop that I raided on for over a year and am now quite uncertain how I ever tolerated it. However, considering I start jonesing for WoW hard after about two days of non-raiding, I'm curious to see how my withdrawal symtoms will manifest themselves after a full week...
Enjoy the coming spring, and happy hunting! See you in April!
My internet access will be limited, but I'll have some entries on auto-post to keep you all amused. My WoW playing will be down to the two days that I will dare to log on and check/purchase my Oracle egg. I say "dare" because I will be on my crap-tastic Dell, a laptop that I raided on for over a year and am now quite uncertain how I ever tolerated it. However, considering I start jonesing for WoW hard after about two days of non-raiding, I'm curious to see how my withdrawal symtoms will manifest themselves after a full week...
Enjoy the coming spring, and happy hunting! See you in April!
Friday, March 20, 2009
Rapid Defense and You
I suppose it's the inner desire for mid-air battles that inspired Blizzard to create the timed daily achievements that require you to complete the mounted abilities within two minutes. I distinctly recall Bombs Away being very easy, though I have reservations about Blade's Edge Bomberman being a success without a speed boost, supposedly it is possible at 80 using the "double bomb trick".
However, due to its current popularity, Rapid Defense is challenging not only because of the distance you must cover and the mobs you must destroy, but competition from other players doing the daily.
The easiest solution to the later difficulty is to do the quest in the morning hours of the server; otherwise, you will have to deal with a considerate amount of other players. My personal frustration with this was recognizing that there were many dragons and drakes to the north of Wyrmrest, but everyone, including people not working on the achievement, always focuses on the mobs south of the Temple due to proximity to the Azure Dragonshire. Since these are the mobs you need in order to complete the quest on time, you need free reign over this section.
As a Hunter, I have the benefits of using both Aspect of the Cheetah (to run to the mount once the quest was accepted) and Track Dragonkin. The tracking was particularly useful to find pockets of three or four drakes and dragons. I highly recommend using some form of speed boost in the period between accepting the quest and getting on the mount to shave off some very needed seconds.
Once mounted, head south as soon as possible, find a pocket of dragons and drakes, and start attacking. Drakes only require one fireball (1) and one DoT (2) to kill them, so don't waste more time than necessary on them. The dragons require a DoT and around three fireballs to do them in. If you can, take advantage of any mob that has already had its health lowered by the friendly NPC dragons. Use your heal as soon as you start taking damage, particularly if you are dealing with three or more drakes/dragons, as you should.
I highly recommend waiting to use your speed boost AFTER you finish at the Azure Dragonshire. Along the way you should have completed around 4/5 and 2/3 of the necessary mobs, such that there will be one or two of each available to kill on the way back. Becareful though: Make sure a mob dies before considering it a success - I've ended the quest several times thinking I was completed only to find one of the mobs didn't die.
Track the achievement to keep an eye out on the time, and if you fail, abandon the quest and try again.
Good luck!
However, due to its current popularity, Rapid Defense is challenging not only because of the distance you must cover and the mobs you must destroy, but competition from other players doing the daily.
The easiest solution to the later difficulty is to do the quest in the morning hours of the server; otherwise, you will have to deal with a considerate amount of other players. My personal frustration with this was recognizing that there were many dragons and drakes to the north of Wyrmrest, but everyone, including people not working on the achievement, always focuses on the mobs south of the Temple due to proximity to the Azure Dragonshire. Since these are the mobs you need in order to complete the quest on time, you need free reign over this section.
As a Hunter, I have the benefits of using both Aspect of the Cheetah (to run to the mount once the quest was accepted) and Track Dragonkin. The tracking was particularly useful to find pockets of three or four drakes and dragons. I highly recommend using some form of speed boost in the period between accepting the quest and getting on the mount to shave off some very needed seconds.
Once mounted, head south as soon as possible, find a pocket of dragons and drakes, and start attacking. Drakes only require one fireball (1) and one DoT (2) to kill them, so don't waste more time than necessary on them. The dragons require a DoT and around three fireballs to do them in. If you can, take advantage of any mob that has already had its health lowered by the friendly NPC dragons. Use your heal as soon as you start taking damage, particularly if you are dealing with three or more drakes/dragons, as you should.
I highly recommend waiting to use your speed boost AFTER you finish at the Azure Dragonshire. Along the way you should have completed around 4/5 and 2/3 of the necessary mobs, such that there will be one or two of each available to kill on the way back. Becareful though: Make sure a mob dies before considering it a success - I've ended the quest several times thinking I was completed only to find one of the mobs didn't die.
Track the achievement to keep an eye out on the time, and if you fail, abandon the quest and try again.
Good luck!
Thursday, March 19, 2009
All in one basket
Some where in the Blue Tracker was some quote about giving Frost Mages Replenishment in attempt to make them more raid friendly. Half of me supports this - I hate to think of a person playing a spec that they don't want to because their preferred spec does intrinsically less DPS than another spec. The other half of me sees this as a cop-out.
I really wish I could find the post, as I distinctly recall first thinking: "They are buffing a lower-DPS spec by giving them Replenishment? What does this mean for the lower-DPS specs whose classes already have Replenishment?" Is it really fair, by this trend, that SV has both the top end DPS for our class and satisfies the Replenishment role?
This isn't a case of what a spec brings to a raid. You don't need to bring every single buff in order to succeed. Replenishment is fully intended to be a given now, and its role a considerable part of anything above 5-mans. One of our healing priests even jokes with me that he heals me last because I don't give him mana. SV gives everything a raid needs, so where does that leave the rest of us?
I am bitter, and I know it's obvious. I've been bitter for the majority of time since 2.0. This comes up only because a fellow officer, an officer that should know better, asked me why I didn't spec SV so I could have as high DPS as the other hunter officer. In return, I asked him if he ever considered that I don't like playing SV. The conversation ended there as we made another attempt on Six Minute Malygos.
Wrath was supposed to be the end of speccing against your preference in order to satisfy the raid. I did my time as SV - I recognized MM was just not cutting it in BT/MH/SW, so I chose the lesser of two evils to fulfill my contribution to the raid. I was not happy, but when the disparity was as great as it was for MM in BC, I had to accept that if I wanted to not feel carried. When 3.0 hit, I was back MM as soon as I could, and I was content with the game again. There was no longer a massive gap between the specs, and even now, it's not like I'm not doing competitive damage.
Now MM and BM are being put off as the "selfish" trees - our buffs are not mandatory, our DPS is nice, but not as good as SV's, so obviously we only spec the way we do because we are more interested in our own enjoyment than the raid. And I think that's grossly unfair, not to mention against the nature of Wrath.
Unless they adjust the DPS differences between the specs (come on 3.1!) or move Replenishment (yeah, right), this is the way it is, and once again MM (along with BM - welcome to the party guys!) is back to being the undernourished tree of the Hunter class.
I really wish I could find the post, as I distinctly recall first thinking: "They are buffing a lower-DPS spec by giving them Replenishment? What does this mean for the lower-DPS specs whose classes already have Replenishment?" Is it really fair, by this trend, that SV has both the top end DPS for our class and satisfies the Replenishment role?
This isn't a case of what a spec brings to a raid. You don't need to bring every single buff in order to succeed. Replenishment is fully intended to be a given now, and its role a considerable part of anything above 5-mans. One of our healing priests even jokes with me that he heals me last because I don't give him mana. SV gives everything a raid needs, so where does that leave the rest of us?
I am bitter, and I know it's obvious. I've been bitter for the majority of time since 2.0. This comes up only because a fellow officer, an officer that should know better, asked me why I didn't spec SV so I could have as high DPS as the other hunter officer. In return, I asked him if he ever considered that I don't like playing SV. The conversation ended there as we made another attempt on Six Minute Malygos.
Wrath was supposed to be the end of speccing against your preference in order to satisfy the raid. I did my time as SV - I recognized MM was just not cutting it in BT/MH/SW, so I chose the lesser of two evils to fulfill my contribution to the raid. I was not happy, but when the disparity was as great as it was for MM in BC, I had to accept that if I wanted to not feel carried. When 3.0 hit, I was back MM as soon as I could, and I was content with the game again. There was no longer a massive gap between the specs, and even now, it's not like I'm not doing competitive damage.
Now MM and BM are being put off as the "selfish" trees - our buffs are not mandatory, our DPS is nice, but not as good as SV's, so obviously we only spec the way we do because we are more interested in our own enjoyment than the raid. And I think that's grossly unfair, not to mention against the nature of Wrath.
Unless they adjust the DPS differences between the specs (come on 3.1!) or move Replenishment (yeah, right), this is the way it is, and once again MM (along with BM - welcome to the party guys!) is back to being the undernourished tree of the Hunter class.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
I wasn't there, but I bet it was awesome
Malygos10 went down in less than 6 minutes Sunday night! Grats to the ten man that got it done. Here's hoping they get Sarth10+3D tonight!
I wish I could be raiding right now, but with a math final tomorrow, I can't risk it. This makes three weekends in a row that I will be missing 10 man content, a fact I'm not overly pleased about, but I really don't have a say in the matter. Raiding will not be an option over Spring Break, which means I can pretty much kiss goodbye any chance of getting the Plagued Proto. On, well. There is always Ulduar.
I wish I could be raiding right now, but with a math final tomorrow, I can't risk it. This makes three weekends in a row that I will be missing 10 man content, a fact I'm not overly pleased about, but I really don't have a say in the matter. Raiding will not be an option over Spring Break, which means I can pretty much kiss goodbye any chance of getting the Plagued Proto. On, well. There is always Ulduar.
Monday, March 16, 2009
3.1 LW
Leatherworking
I assume that the Borean Leather Scraps changes just reflects another profession leveling relief for some of those dry gaps.
Yay, instance patterns! I admit, there is a certain appeal to them - collect them all, and you become in high demand. On the other hand, don't collect them all, and your OCD causes your eyes to twitch... or maybe that's just me. The pattern's BoE state makes me think the items are going to be BoP (think shoulders and chests from TBC), and no doubt of a decent upgrade. I'm keen on seeing professions go back to producing usable upgrades instead of just enchants. The list of these patterns are here.
Ah, more business for the leveling professions, or me, the monopolizer of Trade chat's leatherworking needs.
- Added a recipe for combining Borean Leather Scraps into Borean Leather. You can still use Borean Scraps from your inventory to combine them.
I assume that the Borean Leather Scraps changes just reflects another profession leveling relief for some of those dry gaps.
- Added new recipes for epic gear, found rarely on Ulduar bosses. These recipes are unbound and can be traded.
Yay, instance patterns! I admit, there is a certain appeal to them - collect them all, and you become in high demand. On the other hand, don't collect them all, and your OCD causes your eyes to twitch... or maybe that's just me. The pattern's BoE state makes me think the items are going to be BoP (think shoulders and chests from TBC), and no doubt of a decent upgrade. I'm keen on seeing professions go back to producing usable upgrades instead of just enchants. The list of these patterns are here.
- Several lower-level items crafted by leatherworkers have received major changes to make them more appealing.
Ah, more business for the leveling professions, or me, the monopolizer of Trade chat's leatherworking needs.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
*gigglegigglegiggle*
My, that's a nice pulse baton you have there >.>
On a similar note, I finally got around to seeing Watchmen. I enjoyed it, though it did lead to a conversation with the significant other as to which was more graphic, it or 300. It may be that I've just become considerably desensitized, but I found the most disturbing part of Watchmen was Nixon's third term.
One final left to go, then I'm home free for three days to work on my BA and play a lot of WoW.
That reminds me: I'm going to Florida for 10 days (Spring Break!) for a Field Ecology class, which means I won't be posting much. My plan is to do a bit of a write up about Neg and place the postings on auto. That's the plan, anyway.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Screenshot Randomness
Almost done with finals, but in between grinding out papers and studying all night, I find time to play:
Over 100% crit on Loatheb!
Some issues came up during our Sarth10+3D attempts, so I started fooling around with Hawk's Eye. There are some rather beautiful aspects of this game, ya know?
Tinea finds a foe! (And kicked her ass, duh!)
Over 100% crit on Loatheb!
Some issues came up during our Sarth10+3D attempts, so I started fooling around with Hawk's Eye. There are some rather beautiful aspects of this game, ya know?
Tinea finds a foe! (And kicked her ass, duh!)
Monday, March 9, 2009
Why I love/hate achievements
My opinion is that achievements are a mixed blessing, depending on what level you play the game.
I've talked with many PvP lovers that find it frustrating that people forgo basic strategies out of pure intent to only grind achievements. While its nice that the achievement system encourages players to try aspects of the game they usually don't engage in, they are trying it without interest of becoming good at it. Examples: Holy Priests attempting to run the flag in WSG, Assassin attempts in EotS/AB, busy looting for rare drops in AV instead of keeping people off flags, etc.. People work towards the achievements they can do alone and are only required once, as opposed to achievements are truly require work and skill on the part of the raid group. For PvP, the system promotes selfishness, and that is frustrating on the PuG level.
For premades and PvE raids, I love the achievement system. I play this game for the content and encounters, not the loot. The loot is simply a means to an end, though it doesn't mean I'm not happy to receive loot or the rewards that accompany the difficult achievements - they are symbols of my hard work and dedication that I'm happy to display without the intention of flaunting them. Achievements offer incentive to push the content, to make the grinds more interesting - not because you have to, but because you want to. Sure, you could have done these sort of things without the achievement system, but few did. Why? Because there is a psychological satisfaction by seeing that little box pop up and the chimes ring. Achievements are the 'gold stars' of raiding, the sprinkles on the cake of 5-mans, and the medals of PvP premades. Yes, they are trivial and for the most part bring nothing productive to the encounter... or do they?
The greater portion of the instance and PvP achievements require considerable quantities of communication and teamwork in order to pull off. This in itself is a benefit to the raiding guild: It makes people better raiders by recognizing the need to communicate, think outside of their own class/role, and find solutions to problems unique to the situation.
In addition, achievements introduce people to parts of the game they have never even thought to encounter: Lore and art. Players get drawn into stories of the WoW universe, and want to know more, so the delve further in out of pure interest. They find parts of zones and quests they never knew existed, and can be blown away by some of the details Blizzard incorporated, i.e. the portal to Mount Hyjal in Winterspring, the caravan site at Grim Batol, and the orphanage in Nagrand.
Of course, there is the typical amount of bitching that accompanies the achievement system, which is very annoying, but in some cases understandable. It does not help the addictiveness of the game, where many of the seasonal achievements cannot be completed by players with limited play time, and in addition to the aforementioned selfishness, players may be more interested in gaining their achievements first than helping other guildees with theirs. It can also be frustrating for players seeking to move to other guilds, as recruitment is now heavily based on achievement standings. If you go to the guild recruitment forums, posts are now headed by their greatest achievements instead of content cleared. Applicants have their achievements at full view for guilds to scrutinize: Does X not have Achievement #165 because he doesn't have the skills, because he doesn't have the ambition, because he doesn't have the time, or because he can't get a group? None of these may be true or all of them could be true, but it does bring another layer to be considered in raid recruitment.
For the most part, I believe that Blizzard did well with introducing the achievement system. The pros outweigh the cons in the long run, for in addition to introducing another layer to game play, it delays instance burn-out by allowing players to add complexity to farmed encounters, allowing more time for developers to create more content (though, I suppose this could be viewed as a cop-out >.<). I'll continue to enjoy my gold-stars and sprinkles for as long as I play.
I've talked with many PvP lovers that find it frustrating that people forgo basic strategies out of pure intent to only grind achievements. While its nice that the achievement system encourages players to try aspects of the game they usually don't engage in, they are trying it without interest of becoming good at it. Examples: Holy Priests attempting to run the flag in WSG, Assassin attempts in EotS/AB, busy looting for rare drops in AV instead of keeping people off flags, etc.. People work towards the achievements they can do alone and are only required once, as opposed to achievements are truly require work and skill on the part of the raid group. For PvP, the system promotes selfishness, and that is frustrating on the PuG level.
For premades and PvE raids, I love the achievement system. I play this game for the content and encounters, not the loot. The loot is simply a means to an end, though it doesn't mean I'm not happy to receive loot or the rewards that accompany the difficult achievements - they are symbols of my hard work and dedication that I'm happy to display without the intention of flaunting them. Achievements offer incentive to push the content, to make the grinds more interesting - not because you have to, but because you want to. Sure, you could have done these sort of things without the achievement system, but few did. Why? Because there is a psychological satisfaction by seeing that little box pop up and the chimes ring. Achievements are the 'gold stars' of raiding, the sprinkles on the cake of 5-mans, and the medals of PvP premades. Yes, they are trivial and for the most part bring nothing productive to the encounter... or do they?
The greater portion of the instance and PvP achievements require considerable quantities of communication and teamwork in order to pull off. This in itself is a benefit to the raiding guild: It makes people better raiders by recognizing the need to communicate, think outside of their own class/role, and find solutions to problems unique to the situation.
In addition, achievements introduce people to parts of the game they have never even thought to encounter: Lore and art. Players get drawn into stories of the WoW universe, and want to know more, so the delve further in out of pure interest. They find parts of zones and quests they never knew existed, and can be blown away by some of the details Blizzard incorporated, i.e. the portal to Mount Hyjal in Winterspring, the caravan site at Grim Batol, and the orphanage in Nagrand.
Of course, there is the typical amount of bitching that accompanies the achievement system, which is very annoying, but in some cases understandable. It does not help the addictiveness of the game, where many of the seasonal achievements cannot be completed by players with limited play time, and in addition to the aforementioned selfishness, players may be more interested in gaining their achievements first than helping other guildees with theirs. It can also be frustrating for players seeking to move to other guilds, as recruitment is now heavily based on achievement standings. If you go to the guild recruitment forums, posts are now headed by their greatest achievements instead of content cleared. Applicants have their achievements at full view for guilds to scrutinize: Does X not have Achievement #165 because he doesn't have the skills, because he doesn't have the ambition, because he doesn't have the time, or because he can't get a group? None of these may be true or all of them could be true, but it does bring another layer to be considered in raid recruitment.
For the most part, I believe that Blizzard did well with introducing the achievement system. The pros outweigh the cons in the long run, for in addition to introducing another layer to game play, it delays instance burn-out by allowing players to add complexity to farmed encounters, allowing more time for developers to create more content (though, I suppose this could be viewed as a cop-out >.<). I'll continue to enjoy my gold-stars and sprinkles for as long as I play.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Almost there!
Nearly 5000 RAP self-buffed! Once Malygos and KT decide to stop holding out on me, I should hit it.
And on a completely unrelated note, check out the comments by Lesetmoe. It's obvious the guys is just a kid, but he has some of the best comments in all of Wowhead!
WSG Break
It was a good run - 3:0 shut out, but that last flag cap took awhile! I ended up getting ganked at half-health by a druid that stealthed in after a three-man team attempted to take us out, but we recovered, and it was fun!
Flag? What flag?
I've been grinding out some PvP achievements lately (seriously, Arathi Basin Assassin is a bitch!), so my free time in WoW has been in the battlegrounds.
In the spirit of a comic that I can't find (but distinctly recall), I decided to give this a try:
It didn't work -_-.
In the spirit of a comic that I can't find (but distinctly recall), I decided to give this a try:
It didn't work -_-.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
It's gonna be a long week..
It its now the tenth week of the Winter Quarter, and if any of you are familiar with the quarter system, you'd know that this means finals week is next week. However, my professors decided to surprise me with two finals this week instead! Yay.
I'll manage to sneak in raiding, and maybe I'll make some entries to post later (I have one in mind), but for the most part, the next five days or so is going to rather quiet on the blogging front for me. I'll be on Twitter if you'd like to harass me there :P
I'll manage to sneak in raiding, and maybe I'll make some entries to post later (I have one in mind), but for the most part, the next five days or so is going to rather quiet on the blogging front for me. I'll be on Twitter if you'd like to harass me there :P
Friday, March 6, 2009
Some personal questions
Okay, Brajana tagged me, and since I'm due for a little personal info on my characters (more later, much much later), I decided to bite :P
You are supposed to answer for three of your characters, but I only have one who has any true development, so I will answer for Neg.
Okay, I tag Rilgon, because I'm actually rather curious where he got his name from... Anyone else who wants to copy n paste should do so!
You are supposed to answer for three of your characters, but I only have one who has any true development, so I will answer for Neg.
What is your name and where did it come from?
Negathle comes from the "book" I've been "writing" since I was a child (not unlike everyone else, no doubt). Her name means 'woman of Strength.'How old are you and what is your birthday?
Neg is around 30 summers old, by my estimates. She was 12 when Thrall landed on the shores of Kalimdor. She was born on an autumn night.Are you in love and with whom?
Neg was in a relationship with a Warrior mercenary throughout her travels in Outland. Their love was to be bonded in marriage, but he perished in a foray in Shadowmoon Valley not long before Arthas resurfaced in Northrend. She has spurred any romantic love since.What is your favourite mount and why?
Her favorite mount is most likely the black war raptor she earned as her first epic speed mount. It took a lot of grinding, dammit...Do you prefer a certain type of Azerothian meal and where do you get it from?
Why, Neg's favorite meat of Azeroth is Gnome, of course! When she can't get that, she's content with Poached Northern Sculpin and Tundra Berries.You know those giant mushrooms in Zangarmarsh? What is your theory on how they came to be and why are they so huge?
Not being the scholar, she would ask her little sister Ranrele, who in turn would tell her that giant fungus is common in the early evolution of land life on any planet. No doubt this section of Draenor is just a remnant of this time. (Duh, she would add.)
If you saw the Lich King walking toward you, what would you do?
If the situation became uncontrollable... Feign Death and run away as he reset :3.
Okay, I tag Rilgon, because I'm actually rather curious where he got his name from... Anyone else who wants to copy n paste should do so!
Thursday, March 5, 2009
I found Rilgon a new girlfriend!
Ever since I broke the bad new to him about Chromie, I've felt guilty about destroying his fantasies.
Her name is Occasi - call her at 1800-TIME-4-<3
Fast night
With 3.1 on the horizon now, there has been some push to start doing the achievements that don't necessarily provide anything more to the encounter besides difficulty, i.e. Six Minute Malygos, The Immortal, etc.
Typically we one-shot Maly, leaving the rest of the night to grinding out Sarth3D. Last week we introduced the idea of working the the six minute achievement, and pointed out things to start getting into the habit of doing, such as moving on every other bubble and range immediately on the Scions..
Our strategy is to move Maly around as the sparks come, which is no easy feat in itself (seriously, like a 800-pound gorilla, a Dragon Aspect moves only when he wants to), allowing the sparks to land in the center of the platform. We currently have 1 to 2 DKs in raid, neither are "specced" for the fight, but for the most part, spark stacking hasn't been too much of a problem. It is important to get him to 50% before the second vortex, though timing with spark speed, Bloodlust, and vortex -> speech can be haphazard.
Since sparks only last for a set amount of time now, spark stackingx4 is no longer a feasible method, so we have to make it up in other ways. In Phase 2 our main plan is to allow the range to work on the Scions in the air while the melee deals with the Nexus Lords. If a spark or two are still down from Phase 1, a single range can easy take down half the health of a Scion alone; if not, well, it's about focus-firing. The range also needs to remain in one place for as long as possible. To do this, we only move every other bubble - one person calls out when to stay and when to move. This means that by the time the Deep Breath occurs, the bubble is quite tight, and everyone must be centered under it.
By the time Phase 3 hits, if P1 has gone according to plan, Maly should be at 20-25%. To help shave off time in P3, we are working on the strategy where no one shields, maintaining only the DPS rotation or healing. This strat relies heavily on the group healing spell, so it is important that everyone groups up and moves together.
We worked on it for about 45-minutes last night, making significant improvements (shaved off 1:30 from our previous record) in three tries before calling it a Kill and moving on to Sarth3D. However, we made three awesome attempts before killing him on the fourth try, making it our fastest night on Sarth yet. Next week we will kill off Sarth3D first, then spend the rest of the night on the Malygos achievement.
Typically we one-shot Maly, leaving the rest of the night to grinding out Sarth3D. Last week we introduced the idea of working the the six minute achievement, and pointed out things to start getting into the habit of doing, such as moving on every other bubble and range immediately on the Scions..
Our strategy is to move Maly around as the sparks come, which is no easy feat in itself (seriously, like a 800-pound gorilla, a Dragon Aspect moves only when he wants to), allowing the sparks to land in the center of the platform. We currently have 1 to 2 DKs in raid, neither are "specced" for the fight, but for the most part, spark stacking hasn't been too much of a problem. It is important to get him to 50% before the second vortex, though timing with spark speed, Bloodlust, and vortex -> speech can be haphazard.
Since sparks only last for a set amount of time now, spark stackingx4 is no longer a feasible method, so we have to make it up in other ways. In Phase 2 our main plan is to allow the range to work on the Scions in the air while the melee deals with the Nexus Lords. If a spark or two are still down from Phase 1, a single range can easy take down half the health of a Scion alone; if not, well, it's about focus-firing. The range also needs to remain in one place for as long as possible. To do this, we only move every other bubble - one person calls out when to stay and when to move. This means that by the time the Deep Breath occurs, the bubble is quite tight, and everyone must be centered under it.
By the time Phase 3 hits, if P1 has gone according to plan, Maly should be at 20-25%. To help shave off time in P3, we are working on the strategy where no one shields, maintaining only the DPS rotation or healing. This strat relies heavily on the group healing spell, so it is important that everyone groups up and moves together.
We worked on it for about 45-minutes last night, making significant improvements (shaved off 1:30 from our previous record) in three tries before calling it a Kill and moving on to Sarth3D. However, we made three awesome attempts before killing him on the fourth try, making it our fastest night on Sarth yet. Next week we will kill off Sarth3D first, then spend the rest of the night on the Malygos achievement.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Name Clarification
I first created a Blogger account in order to comment on other blogs. I used Neggles - a name of endearment that a girlfriend-guildee called me. I thought it was less abrasive than my full character name, and since I was just a commenter at the time, it needed only to be notable.
When I started the Butterfly, I disliked doing it under Neggles (since it was just a minor nickname) but needed to keep it connected to my comment name, so I just ran with it. In that time, I've commented under Neggles, Negathle, and Neg (which is what everyone usually calls me). While the three can be easily associated with each other, on the fly the connection can be missed; not to mention the fortune that Neg-based names are relatively rare, so there has never been confusion, though the chance is still there.
With the addition of Twitter to my blogging experience, I've decided to make an active effort in replacing Neggles with Negathle. I thought that Blogger's Display Name was akin to account name, such that replacing it would mean starting over, but a little digging finds that it may be changed as well (Google Account -> Blogger Settings). Neggles is fully replaced!
So Negathle it is, but please, feel free to call me Neg ;).
When I started the Butterfly, I disliked doing it under Neggles (since it was just a minor nickname) but needed to keep it connected to my comment name, so I just ran with it. In that time, I've commented under Neggles, Negathle, and Neg (which is what everyone usually calls me). While the three can be easily associated with each other, on the fly the connection can be missed; not to mention the fortune that Neg-based names are relatively rare, so there has never been confusion, though the chance is still there.
With the addition of Twitter to my blogging experience, I've decided to make an active effort in replacing Neggles with Negathle. I thought that Blogger's Display Name was akin to account name, such that replacing it would mean starting over, but a little digging finds that it may be changed as well (Google Account -> Blogger Settings). Neggles is fully replaced!
So Negathle it is, but please, feel free to call me Neg ;).
What's your title, girl?
If you could have any title (in game or completely made up), what would it be? Pike asks, so of course, we oblige.
Negathle would either be Negathle the Determined or Negathle the Solitary. Both fit her temperament well. One day I'll post my character's story and show why.
Over at Slow Wolf, Klinderas wants to know what makes your character angry. Neg, above all, hates waste. Waste of resources, waste of time, waste of energy - Neg can't stand any it. If there is something to be done, some pressing need that can be satisfied, she must meet it.
Some slow day, I'll write up something explaining the history of my character. I used to write a lot as a kid, but college killed that habit. I miss imagining stories though, so once I have free time again, I'll get back into it as a minor aspect of this blog.
Negathle would either be Negathle the Determined or Negathle the Solitary. Both fit her temperament well. One day I'll post my character's story and show why.
Over at Slow Wolf, Klinderas wants to know what makes your character angry. Neg, above all, hates waste. Waste of resources, waste of time, waste of energy - Neg can't stand any it. If there is something to be done, some pressing need that can be satisfied, she must meet it.
Some slow day, I'll write up something explaining the history of my character. I used to write a lot as a kid, but college killed that habit. I miss imagining stories though, so once I have free time again, I'll get back into it as a minor aspect of this blog.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Sarth10+3D Grinding
For the past several weeks we haven't had the chance to really work on Sarth10+3D. Mainly we have lacked the people we need, due to unfortunate MIAs or simply scheduled nights off. So tonight was the first night that we've had a chance to work on it.
Our raid was comprised of a Druid MT, Warrior Add Tank, Holy Priest, Holy Pally, and Resto Druid healers, SV and MM Hunters, Enchance Shaman, Fire Mage, and Affliction Lock.
On our best attempt we managed the second drake to about 60%. We blew Bloodlust on the first drake, and I blew back to back Rapid Fires on the second.
The Tallstrider is great for this fight. The OT was really pleased when all of a sudden the couple dozen or so adds on him all missed.
Also, this macro is great considering Hunters are the only class taking care of the enraged adds:
/tar Lava Blaze
/cast Tranquilizing Shot
/targetlasttarget
It worked nearly every time - the only time I noticed it didn't work was when the add was in the middle of everything (and I couldn't target it by hand anyway) - and it saved a lot of effort of actively trying to Tranq the elementals.
Tomorrow we might work it some more. The Immortal is scheduled, so we'll see.
Our raid was comprised of a Druid MT, Warrior Add Tank, Holy Priest, Holy Pally, and Resto Druid healers, SV and MM Hunters, Enchance Shaman, Fire Mage, and Affliction Lock.
On our best attempt we managed the second drake to about 60%. We blew Bloodlust on the first drake, and I blew back to back Rapid Fires on the second.
The Tallstrider is great for this fight. The OT was really pleased when all of a sudden the couple dozen or so adds on him all missed.
Also, this macro is great considering Hunters are the only class taking care of the enraged adds:
/tar Lava Blaze
/cast Tranquilizing Shot
/targetlasttarget
It worked nearly every time - the only time I noticed it didn't work was when the add was in the middle of everything (and I couldn't target it by hand anyway) - and it saved a lot of effort of actively trying to Tranq the elementals.
Tomorrow we might work it some more. The Immortal is scheduled, so we'll see.
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