Married IRL

I started another alt.

Now, I start random alts on random servers when I get stressed/bored/suffering from insomnia/laziness, etc ad nasuem…

But I might have gone over the deep end.

I deleted Lekklana, my 31 NE hunter because she was boring. She looked boring, her pets were boring, I was bored bored BORED with her!

Then I went ahead and made a BE hunter, Stephi. He’s dreamy. He’s 30 now, so he has a slightly scary milestone coming but I do think I’ll make it through this time. I know (vaguely) what I’m doing Horde side now and I’ve been having a blast leveling skinning and herbing to my hearts content with him.

But I’m not talking about Stephi. Nooooooo, you see, a guildie quit playing and donated his acct to the guild, aka all the stuff he’s gathered up on it can be used for the guild, and Jas and I can pass on his toons to whoever might need them, or use them ourselves in case one of them might be needed. I’ll miss the guy too, he was uniquely awesome. But you see, now Fio and I are gonna be paying for this here acct (this guy was an organized farming MACHINE) and it had a few slots open and ya see I was so bored last night and the white hair looked soooooo pretty…

Edit# 4:  I’m really starting to get ticked off at this layout.  The pictures I put run into to the previous post.  Wth?  Why is it doing that?

I may have to change layouts /grumble

Something coming soon!

I does! Sab’s sitting next to me on her spiftastic Black Battlestrider, which is only appropriate for the Goblin Rocket Launcher wielding dwarf priesty.

^.^

Remind me again to NEVER EVER do that grind again. K? If I look as if I have visions of black mounts in the future, STEER ME CLEAR!

Please? I like my sanity.

Oh and yea, btw, I won’t be posting during raid again in the foreseeable future.

It’s a bad night when the MT is really tired and just gave up smoking the day before O.O

I’m sure that most of you reading this have seen TJ’s post today. This is just to pitch in.

The situation: One of our guildies, Lamaa, was banned for using “unauthorized game modifications.” He’s done no such thing. If you wish to debate that point, please debate it elsewhere, on this blog we are going to trust our friend. In addition, the same day they banned him, they charged him $45 for his next 3 months of gameplay. Which they say is non-refundable.

The proposal: We want to make some noise about this. AC as a whole has a large web presence. As TJ puts it, we’re the bloggingest guild in WOW. Now, I fully admit that we here at marriedirl are a MINISCULE part of this, but hey, we’ll do what we can.

So, we wanted to draw some attention to the situation. Why? Because Lamaa can’t get a response from Blizzard, and from the horror stories I’ve heard in the past, even people who were eventually cleared still waited for weeks for the issue to get resolved. In my mind, this is unacceptable - I can see a few days, but weeks or months? That is unreasonable. So we want to flex our muscle a bit and hope that someone at Blizzard with a bit of weight to throw around will see it, and see fit to make sure Lamaa’s case gets looked at and doesn’t fall through the cracks.

Now, some people have said that this isn’t fair. Why should Lamaa get preferential treatment over any other innocent people, why should we advocate for him if we can’t propose a general solution? Well, to make an analogy, I’ve never had the education or the experience to figure out a reasonable solution to world hunger. No one really has to date, that’s why its still around. But I’ll be damned if I feel somehow guilty for buying a homeless guy a sandwich (which I’ve done on some occasions) just because I couldn’t help EVERYONE, and it wouldn’t be fair to them if this guy got preferential treatment. I’m even less likely to feel guilty if I call the person a friend.

So, if you have a blog, feel free to post Lamaa’s story. If you know anyone at Blizzard, send them this link. Or TJs might be better. Either way, if you want to help, we appreciate it. If you don’t, that’s fine too, just please don’t try to use this particular case as a soapbox for your overarching sociopolitical viewpoint.

Fio

Why, raiding SSC, just like every other Wednesday night.

Why am I typing here?

Cause SSC trash is very boring.

And Leo Trash sucks the most.

Grah!

Edit:

Bad night.  /le sigh

Firstly, I must woot.

That is a very dead fishy matron! /cheer

And now back to our regularly scheduled posting…

___

At this point, this is a very necessary list of stuff I need to do. I’ll forget otherwise. I have many projects.

1 - Level Squeake to 70, learn how to tank on a warrior.

This project is well under way, and has a bit of a side project to it in that she needs to level BSing to full, drop mining and add alchemy, level that to full, get her 30 tokens each to get her Reins of the Black War Tigger (only black mounts will grace her WAHREEOUR bottom), and toy with the possibilities of xfering her to an RP server. Hehe. I dunno. She just seems so RPable. ^.^
Edit: Ok, maybe not Alchemy… the thought has crossed my mind to try and get Phelyx rez’d. It’s gaining popularity in the chaos that is my brain. See point #7 for details.

2 - Level Rakzha’s skinning, then level Leilu’s Leatherworking.

My poor Shammy, Leilu, has seen three toons pass her since her creation. Rakzha, Moon and now Squeake. I created my Leilu when BC came out. She’s stuck at 43. I will level her… eventually. Her JCing is maxed for now, at 305, and I’ll start funneling her the necessary ores for max JCing after that once she hits 50.

3 - Get Rakzha some PvP gear.

She has some, the Unyeilding Girdle and Bracers, her trinket (5 min), the ghetto blue hat and chest, and her Battlecast set (I know, not really PvP, but it’s still pretty awesome) and her S1 gloves, but she needs more if she’s going to survive Arena. I don’t Arena much though, too busy leveling another alt. ;P It WILL GET DONE! But now I know what needs doing ^.^

4 - Find out why Sasha’s HP is still crappily low and fix it.

Sasha has 4 pieces of T4 now (All but chest) and is in dire need of heroic badges to get some DPS gear that isn’t laughable. I’ve been so caught up with making her a tank, I’ve pretty much ignored her DPS capabilities, which is bad, because what good is a feral druid if they don’t have DPS gear when they’re not tanking? What does this mean? Well, badge farming and primal farming for starts.
FYI, I HATE FARMING. I hate dailies, I hate farming, I really hate repetitive tasks. Leveling alts to 70 may seem like the epic of repetition, but when you’re doing it with a different class each time (Rakzha doesn’t count, I love priests!) then things are still different, because there’s new ways to tackle old problems, ya know?
As it stands, Rakzha is my skinner, Sasha is my uber farmer (herbalism and druids is just so OP! ^.^)

5 - Moon, Stephi, levels, money, ARG FARMING!

Poor Moon. She’s in the ghetto PvP blue gear because try as I might, I cannot get a regular group for anything on Drenden Horde side. I’ve really wanted to just say screw healing and go prot and try getting groups that way, but honestly, unless you’re guilded with the big boys, no one wants you. So I’m stuck for now it seems. Ah well.
Stephi on the other hand, needs some leveling love soon. He’s Moon’s money maker, and at level 24, he’s not making a whole ton of money. I plan on making him an herbalist/skinner or herbalist/miner, not sure which yet. (Probably skinning, it’s easier to level.) Then I’ll drop mining on Moon, pick up Alchemy (which I’ve been missing my potion whore dearly on horde side XD) and start with the potion making. Until Squeake is that magic number though, can’t level Stephi.

6 - Cay owes Fio 1500 gold still.

Did I mention how much I hate dailies?

7 - Demona, wtf?

I have pretty much let my little Lock stay at 29. She’s not a twink, she’s just… not being leveled. I wonder sometimes if I should just reroll her. Every time I try to get into the lock mood, I fizzle out. So for now, she’s an unknown. I may keep her, I may not. At this point, I don’t need to level her alchemy because I’m gonna make Squeake my Potion Bitch. I deleted Lekklana, my NE huntard, because of the feelings of apathy I had about leveling her. Demona’s getting there. Maybe I should just delete her and ask to restore my mage Phelyx?

8 - DO NOT LEVEL LUNARI

I spent good hard gold to make her my lvl 19 mage twink, DO NOT SCRATCH THAT LEVELING ITCH.
Though it’s really hard. She’s just ooooooooone level away from BLINK! T.T In fact…

9 - Delete Demona, try and get Phelyx restored.

Since Celli and I started leveling a pally/mage on an RP server, playing the mage has made me nostalgic. I leveled Phelyx to 42 (or 43?), got her tailoring up to 300, her alchemy to like 285 or 300 (I forget) and then deleted her to make room for Rakzha cause I’m a noob. I want my mage back. (Commence the end of the world, because I NEVER thought I’d say that. XD) Question: on a character that’s been restored, do they come back with their professions intact? If not, no biggie, I can commence with the Squeake Pot Bitch-if-cation and get Phelyx her tailoring and maybe something else (who knows). If so, then Squeake is free to try a different profession. We shall see.

EDIT: So I got Phelyx restored, Demona is gone, and I’m learning the ways of a squishy fire mage.
Stay tuned! XD

PS: Farming BG tokens SUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCKS. T.T

Ok, so that Fio’s LFWork thingie. It’s a Page…

So why did it come up like it was a post?

I’m so confused!

*is also a huge WP noob T.T*

*a huge one*

So, installment number two of my 25 man healing guide ^.^ (If you missed it, I did do a review of Gruul’s not to long ago ^.^)

There’s tons of guides out there for this fight. To name a few:

Bosskillers

WoWwiki

MMO Champion

You get the idea. Many people out there who can give you a general feel for the fight.

Here’s what it’s like to heal it as a lil’ ol’ priesty.

Bear with the diagrams… they’re the best I can manage without my tablet (the mouse is busted T.T)

So! … I just hit save, and it like, looked like this thing was published… ok, it’s a bad idea to write my post at 3am… but ITS IN MY HEAD NOW!

Anyway. Keep in mind, others may do this differently, but here’s what we’ve done in AC for sometime and it seems to work ^.^

This is the staging area for Hydross. The general composition for such a fight is going usually as follows:

Frost Phase Tank, Nature Phase Tank, 1(Pally) and 2 other Add tanks, 5 to 8 healers, DPS (AoE’rs like Locks, Mages, 1 minute Boomkin)

Healing wise, you have two groups: Phase tanks, and Add tanks. The Phase tanks will take more damage the longer they’re tanking Hydross on one side of the Magic Line (more on the in a sec.) The Add tanks won’t need healing until the first Transition. Usually, I have a Pally, a Tree and a Priest on the phase tanks, and whoever is left gets Add duty. Also, keep a Renew handy for the people who get caught in Water Tombs (more on that in a sec.)

The Frost Resist tank is the first up to bat, and usually the start of a pull will look like so:

The little push over adds that spawn from the side are pretty much a rage cookie for your Frost tank. Let him/her get the rage they need, while the melee take care of whatever keeps getting spit out. Once your Frost tank is good to go, he/she will go on in and engage Hydross.

So, the whole raid is now kicking Hydross butt. Everyone is on the side of the line Hydross is on. (I know, Nature tank “isn’t” but pretend s/he is there for now.) If Hydross happens to cross that Magic line before the raid is ready, her adds spawn and there is a strong possibility of imminent wipeage, since the first reaction of someone who pulls aggro is OH SH!T, and then using their aggro wiping ability, which makes Hydross RECROSS the Magic line, thus spawning even MORE adds.

So yea. It’s bad.

During each phase, Hydross will do a raid wide “Mark”. This increases the Frost/Nature damage the raid receives by a certain percentage (25/50/100/200 respectively). This is why the Phase tank will start taking more damage. The Marks are timed, and usually, 5 seconds before the 3rd Mark, we call for a STOP to DoTs (and usually HoTs, so no Renews) and for the Nature phase tank to get ready to tank. This is when it’s OK to cross the line… but do so with caution. In Frost Phase, Hyrdross does a Water Tomb attack that will encase you and anyone within 5 feet of you in a globe of water that stuns you and does frost damage over time to you. It’s never good to have a clump of people (especially if it’s your Nature/Add tanks) stuck in a Tomb when the Frost tank is bringing Hydross over the line. So make sure you watch out. The stun also only lasts for about 3 to 5 seconds too.

At the 4th Mark, the Frost tank starts bringing Hydross across the line and POOF! We have adds!

Hydross is not happy. You’ve taken her out of her nice clean sanctuary and now she’s got to like, I dunno, breathe Naga farts. So she’s poisoned and now inflicting Nature Marks to the raid. Oh and she brought some friends, so you have 4 aspected Adds looking to fight. Nature phase’s “Water Tomb” is a small DoT that lowers effective healing. Honestly, I really have never noticed the reduction in healing in this phase. It’s the lesser of the two evils when it comes to the random attack Hydross does. Renew and forget (which you will, because there’s no visual to this attack like there is with Water Tomb.)

Now, as for the Adds. The way we do it, pally tank drops his consecrate as soon as they spawn, Hydross is Misdirected onto the Nature Tank so that that little UMPH of threat gives him/her a chance, and then any stray adds are picked up by the two half and half resist tanks to bring back to the pally. Once the Add tanks have their mobs, AoE commences. (Some guilds do a single target DPS to kill them and it works, but we AoE with seeds and arcane explosions.)
Watch the locks health, and bubble those mages. Pallys are AMAZING AoE tanks, but squishys are squishys, and they might need a bubble or heal to keep them alive. The Add tanks might also take some initial spike damage from a Hydross hit too, since they’re trying to establish aggro so quick, so if you’re an Add tank healer, be ready for it.

By the second Mark, the adds should be down, and it’s back to killing Hydross. When the 3rd Mark comes, the Frost Phase tank and the Add tanks should be ready on the other side of the line for the Transition.

This time, there’s Frost Adds instead of Nature Adds, but the strategy is the same. I usually find it easiest to heal AT the line, spread out so that not all the healers get nailed if we get Tombed. That way, you have the least amount of distance to run in case of emergency.

Some things to note: Circle of Healing (LoLCircle) works very well for everyone here. There is very little room to maneuver, and while there are spots you can stay and not be doomed to get chain Tombed, everyone is still within spitting distance of each other and a LoLcircle on a ranged for an AoE heal won’t necessarily be wasted. Fribee (Prayer of Mending) for your tanks is a god send because, (and I think I forgot to mention this earlier) each transition phase is an aggro wipe. This is why you want to try and refrain from HoTs around Marks 3 and 4. Though, if you DO happen to pull aggro, Shield and run to the center! Make a Bee line for your Add tanks, and they should be more than happy to peal the angry mob off you.

So, what do you have to look forward too once you’ve downed Hydross? The healing priest has the Wraps of Purifcation. They are pretty fun, at least till you can get the ones off of Rage Winterchill. ^.^

Next time, at SSC camp, we’ll talk about my Favorite Fight: the Lurker Below!

So, some of you may know, I’m looking for a job. I’ve had a lot of people ask what I do, exactly, so I thought I’d do a bit of a blurb here. If anyone knows of any potential leads, go ahead and email me at fiordhraoi at gmail. You know the rest, just trying to avoid lots of spiderbot spam. I will craft puns for you as a reward if something pans out.

Basically, I’m looking for an IT job. I’ve got about five full years of field experience including end-user support, Windows server/domain administration, LAN network administration, and WAN/NOC administration. I’ve got my CCNA (Cisco Certified Networking Associate). I don’t have an MCSE yet, but I could easily pass the three mandatory tests, I just haven’t had a chance to get into the two elective ones yet. I’m very good with network architecture and design, anything from a small doctors office to the WAN connections for a large multistate corporation (for example, in one of my previous jobs, I handled about 40% of the T1 cutovers when CVS redid their infrastructure).

If you want an illustrious example of my work, when Bob Ballard went back to the Titanic, I was the onsite (and only) network guy for the event at the University of Rhode Island, Dr. Ballard’s home university. We (I) took the satellite feed and fed it into an H.323 video/audio unit, and rebroadcast over Internet2 to 60 Rhode Island schools and libraries. Every show, we’d have a session where once Dr. Ballard had made his satellite broadcast, we’d pull up one of the schools in the conference and give the students an opportunity to speak with one of the Marine archaeologists we had on site, letting them ask questions and get immediate feedback from a real expert. I also was responsible for our end of the live conference with Dr. Ballard for our VIP event, when the Governor and a number of notable state figures were present. And the Governor TOTALLY broke the wireless headset by pulling it too hard, so I had to do a quick patch job. Total panic moment. Oh, and by the way, I was given a weeks notice that we were doing this, and three actual days to set up. The auditorium I was using was equipped with ONE ethernet jack, and a sound system from 1978. That’s it. I work well under pressure.

So enough of tooting my own horn. Here are some reasons you SHOULDN’T hire me.

I’ve got a small amount of unix/linux experience, and Apache experience, but I’m definately not up to par to be a Unix/Linux server admin. Likewise, I know some HTML/Java/PHP/SQL, but if those are going to be the main focus of the job, then I’m not your man. Programming is the same thing - I know enough about programming to understand what is reasonable and what is a pipe dream, and to maybe be able to point out where something is breaking. But if the program itself needs fixing, I’m not the guy to do it. Figure my programming level is about equal to someone who’s done a semester each of a few different languages, and has no practical experience there.

So, let me know if you think you know a place I could fit in. We’re willing to move as long as the pay is worth it (median salary for someone of my experience, cross country, is about $65k, with a low of about $50k and a high of about $80k). Of course, all of that depends on the cost of living of the area, etc. If the job is right nearby and I don’t have to move, I’m certainly willing to take a lower paying job just to make ends meet, or if the prospect of rapid advancement is there, to stick with. I’d prefer to move somewhere near where we have family or friends, so the hotspots right now are most anywhere in New England, Philly, Pittsburgh, Maryland, Florida, and Seattle. It’ll be easier to convince us to go there.

Thanks for your help, all!

Cay Edit:
I can be convinced to go anywhere at this point. Pay no attention to Picky Poop Pants. ;P

This was a fun Kara night, to be sure ^.^ Many Draenei, 4 priests, GOOD TIMES!

This past Sunday we got Vashj to 5% on our best try of the night, which rocked hard.

Jas’s father is recovering amazingly from his surgery on Friday! /cheer

And some of the new recruits to AC have meshed awesomely (oh and Ego is teh awesome and gave me SUGAR! <3)

Squeake is 52 and 6 levels from Outland, and I’ll be closer and closer to the insanity that is 6 level 70s.

All in all a very awesome time.

But it needs a dash more awesome.

We’ve had a bit of a change in some of the raiding roster. Our RL of Nifty and infinite patience is now Fury, and there’s a new warrior filling in for the third prot tank spot. He’s doing retardedly awesome and our RL is also tearing things up in all his Furryious Gory. We also have had some growing pains in the healing. So we’re looking (Pally and Tree).

I’ve had a bit of a side track going on lately. I’m not totally burned out of WoW, but I’ve been catching up on my reading. It helps me not worry about Jas’s unemployment T.T The job market right now is barren. Even looking out of state. It’s full of epic suck. So I finally caught up on all the Questionable Content comic which Jas has been trying to get me to read for so Fing long.

It’s a very funny comic XD And I’m out of stuff to read. Ug. I’ve tried reading a few other webcomics, but other than my lovely CAD and awesome VGcats, Red String and QC have my brain.

Oh and I’m trying to get up the gumption/desire/umph to write some more. I have all these stories in my head. But I’m my own worst critic. I know I can write, it’s just my muse has been a stubborn butthead. Still working on it.

Also, it has been requested on pain of *arched brow* and the contemplation of something just AWFUL that I damn well better come up with some guides to healing some of the 25 mans I’ve been in. So, I’ll definitely be posting something like that this Friday. Cause I like my hide. XD

Toodles for now gang. Gotta clean house before raid tonight.

<3 Cay