Waldonnis

I had lots of fun at the party...and the summoning event was quite memorable as well! Great planning by Baracko and Grawuulf on both events. It seemed like everyone was in good spirits and it's always nice to get everyone together for something that doesn't require "DPS on" calls... I'm looking forward to the Ball now (not-so-subtle hint for people to sign up...*nudge*) and to the New Year with everyone...should be an adventure!

Eek! Put down the clippers and step away from the wookie!

If they allow buffbots, may they burn in hell The one thing that ruined my playtime more than all of the things that SOE did to combat/crafting was the invention of those macros and subsequent validation of them by SOE...yes, I'm a bitter, bitter entertainer.

I have my doubts about how total the threat wipe is with a fireball, but it sounds consistent with what I've noticed (if it weren't, I'd be the very first person she goes for when she lands almost every time). What I'm curious to see is, if I stop casting after being whacked by a fireball, would I be effectively off of the threat list for phase 3. If this is the case, then a shift in tactics may make the transition much easier (although it would take a bit more time to get her to land). Assuming this is how threat works the way they suspect it does, it seems like one change that can be tried is similar to what we do now, but with a bit more coordination. Basically have the classes that do heavy ranged damage but have no threat wipe abilities (mages, warlocks) start heavy and lighten their damage as phase 2 progresses, while classes with partial or full threat wipes (hunters) start slow and progressively increase their damage throughout phase 2 (autoshots at first and ending with a rapid fire/trinket/full shot rotation going). Priests should likely be fading as much as the cooldown will allow throughout that phase and healing druids should be shifting to cat and cowering near the transition (aside from tranquil air, shaman are kinda screwed, unfortunately). With any luck, fireballs would have wiped enough threat from the mages and warlocks, hunters will have feigned just prior to or at the time of her landing for phase 3, and priests/druids should be low enough threat-wise so that it's easy for a warrior to get her attention and hold it. She seems to like totems more than shaman, so they will likely not attract much attention. Like I said, I'm not totally convinced that their theory is correct, but it does generally line up with what I've noticed on our successful and unsuccessful runs. Could be worth a try if we're up for it. I'll look into modifying KLH Threat Meter to test out this theory, if we decide to do it.

Yup, I hung up my hawtpants (on the dancers) and old-school Knight robes and saber collection....I don't so much miss the game as much as I miss the creative and good people who used such a wide-open setting to make it so much fun.

I've been to Oklahoma....there are PLENTY of scary monsters there Waldonnis may actually attend this one. Verissi had to sell off some of her better outfits awhile ago and I haven't found time to repopulate the wardrobe yet. Being a tailor, Waldy can always whip up some fancy duds for himself and not feel bad about disenchanting them later Plus, we'll likely need to have at least one warlock there to summon our younger friends, so having him there will be helpful.

Count me in! Verissi and Waldonnis, being of more privileged upbringing (whilst alive), are as comfortable in high society as they are in combat. Kelani and Hoofie are not really the party sorts...free spirits, both of them (must be in the blood) and they tend to prefer wandering or sleeping....or eating (Hoofie's waistline needs a little work lately). And Tobalaya......he tends to eat with his hands a lot, get food stuck in his tusks, and doesn't talk so much anyway, so it's probably best that he stays stealthed somewhere Bring on the party! *hastily fires up the Snowmaster 9000*

Waldy's hearth is still in Kargath, so if you need me to bring him down to pass out some healthstones, let me know. I only keep about 20-22 shards now, but they're available if needed.

I know the person that did Fallen as well, although not as well as I know Bal (we mostly just performed together at Cantina Crawls, whereas I know Bal in RL). I was out for the Cheeky Cheeky filming, but made it for most of the others. Fett's Vette was filmed on the test server...Pex (SOE Event Coordinator for SWG) helped immensely with that one, loaning the armour and some other props (saved us the pain of trying to drag a dancer/musician and a DE through DWB...90% saber block was great, but those shots that got through HURT). I miss doing those videos quite a bit. Balgosa was always coming up with ideas and I don't know how many times we would just sit there playing with emotes until he got exactly the expressions he wanted. Reminds me, I should call his sorry butt and see what he's up to I still have a pic of him on Halloween dressed as his SWG character

I got an invite as well, but I doubt I'll be trying it. I've still got a bit too much going on in the pre-BC game and am content with just waiting until it's released. Having been part of many, many closed betas in my time, I know all about the bug-hell that usually comes with them. From the sound of it, they're doing an install of the beta client into the same directory structure? Ugh, recipe for disaster...the one thing I liked about Sony's test/beta system: it installed to a completely different directory and registry area. It took longer to get installed (since you were installing a completely new copy), but it never interfered with anything from the current live installation.

A good friend of mine turned me on to MC Chris when I was still playing SWG (Balgosa, who made many of the SWG-based videos that were widely distributed...I'm even in a few since he used guildies as cast most of the time ). Good stuff in there for sure and I absolutely love the Imperial Senate skits.

Happy birthday...whenever it is/was/shall be (I'm confusled!)!!! Happy Birthday!

I've run into some warlock bugs as well...it'll get fixed eventually. That is pretty bad, though. They really need to stop screwing so much with the shaman population.

I'm slowly working on a few armour pieces for Waldy (cowl and shoulders...maybe the spellblade), so I'll be doing some AB and AV as well. I really don't like running in prime-time (getting trained by pre-mades gets really old), but if I'm not doing anything else, I'll join in the fray. I eventually want to get Toba back in there as well for some new weaponry and armour, but I still haven't figured out how I want to spec him

Pfft...says who???

Well, I hate to announce this now, but I'm suspending BWL until after 1 January for a few reasons.... First off, attendance in raids is always a problem during this time of year, when so many have family activities, trips planned, personal/work parties to attend, and religious commitments. Since we're not a raiding guild, I cannot nor would I set attendance rules, so I'd rather just pause the raid and let everyone enjoy their real life time over the holidays. Secondly, I have a duty to the Crushers as an elder that I need to balance out with leading a raid. Holiday times mean more time for some in-game and, seeing as we are an RP guild, I feel it's best to free up as much time as possible to allow for holiday events and RP time. Winter Veil party is coming up and I've already received some questions about planning other events, so I'm looking forward to having an extra night per week to get together with the Clan and toss about some surly Verissi-style RP in good fun...and I encourage others to share in this time of year and explore some roleplaying avenues. Third, a few are in what I call "pre-BC paralysis" (me included to a certain extent), where we know too much about what's coming and see gear from BWL being tossed aside like yesterday's leftovers in January. Knowing about the coming gear, many folks feel that it's almost pointless to even bother raiding when the tier 2 loot will be replaced by greens and blues in the expansion. I don't know how to counter that, so I'm not going to fight it...I raid for fun and the challenge, with the loot as merely a side-benefit...and it just seems counterproductive to push continued raid progression when so many have plans for January (or immediately, given the PvP changes). Fourth...addons and UIs right now are a mess. Don't think much more needs to be said here, but every raid so far has been mired in relogging and disconnects.... Lastly, and somewhat bluntly, I've noticed a decline in signups...some of which I attribute to time of year, but I also know that there's a natural tendency to shy away when raids don't progress rapidly or when approvals appear to never come one's way. We cannot "pug BWL" like we could with Onyxia and MC...it's just too complicated to get everything explained and it's pretty important to have people that are used to working together (see Odenn's post on BWL, it's VERY good). I've had a million "if you need people, invite <name>" whispers before and, with few exceptions, I've had to ignore them to avoid even longer explanatory delays or hoping we can get some semblance of a workable class balance. It's not that I want to ignore everyone, but I have to adjust tactics if we get an extra few of any one class and a shortage of another...which adds to what I have to explain if I do have to change it (which sucks). I know many are anxious and encouraged to defeat Razorgore...and I'm probably at the top of that list, but I'm also a realist and want everyone to have some time to rest and relax with family and friends so we can come back fresh and with some fire

Odenn and I were comparing notes very late last night and we both agreed: damage is definitely boosted for many classes. With the rage normalisation (really a nerf) and this apparent trend, though, a few people that I talked to had noticed that tanks were having a bit more difficulty in building/holding aggro compared to pre-patch times. I only threw a few frostbolts in front of Org and UC, so I couldn't really get a feel for how this all fits in a raid-setting yet personally, but it concerned me hearing it from quite a few. My own observations with Verissi otherwise lead me to believe that many of us are going to have to be conservative with casting until the warriors adjust to the new rage generation (if it's required, but from Relikk's description of how the new skills work and Odenn's observations, I suspect it'll take some practice). Verissi's damage has increased by around 100 damage per frostbolt and my previously-noticeable resist rate was virtually gone during my limited testing. Waldonnis saw similar results, despite having sacrificed some heavy-damage talents...and others were commenting that their damage had apparently increased as well. Kelani's remained roughly the same, although I did notice a big improvement with the new arrows (my gear was mostly +AP rather than +agi anyway, so it didn't affect me much). With the increased damage, I'm bound to build even more threat than before, so I plan on personally being a bit more conservative when it comes to timing my first casts/attacks. So, just a word of caution for raiders...be careful with opening up too soon in raids until we all get a bit more familiar with our increased (or nerfed, in some cases) abilities. I'm not saying to wait longer, but be sure you don't start slamming the mob with damage before the second sunder is up...let the tanks call out when they're ready. Vrugz version: wait for dps calls since we all got a damage boost now

Verissi added damage and reduced resists...also cut out frostbite since it's useless in many cases and I can't rely on it: CLICKY Waldy's soul-link/felguard with the last points in destruction (and liking it so far). I may not keep it, but it'll be fun to play with for a bit. Hoofie's screwed up a bit (forgot feral faerie fire), but I'll fix it. Should generate much more threat now than before, which is good, and resist some fear/stun mechanics now. ILoTP is in there for tanky/healy goodness for my party. Now to fix his gear as well to account for the armour loss from dropping thick hide... Kelani's pretty solid marksman with the only points outside of marksman sunk into the increased range in survival (DPS effectively unchanged). Pet wasn't holding aggro anyway, so I dropped the few beast talents that I had before. Tobalaya's just confused...not sure what to do yet. Rodala's too young to have to worry about additional talents

*respecs to soul-link with Felguard and cackles*

Having defended XR countless times with Trisper (while I was on Tobalaya) as well as running a few instances with him on an alt, I can say that I've never seen him do anything similar intentionally (nor had any reason to suspect that he ever would). I've never had any reason to question his character nor those in EoM, so if all parties are content with his apology and explanation, then I don't see any harm done. As other Crushers have said, we all do make mistakes and I'm happy to see that those involved are willing to look past them and forge ahead....speaks volumes about the quality of people here Trisper, as an Elder in the Clan, if our members that might have been affected accept the apology, then I support them and have no issues moving forward. We also appreciate you offering the apology and understand how such things can happen. I think most of us agree that every piece of loot will eventually drop again (and again and again), so things like this, while sometimes frustrating, are just a small bump on a very long road and not worth fretting over.

Well, the UI that I've been using (and have been very happy with) was released to public beta this week, so those interested in checking it out should head here (linkified) to download it. Installation instructions are included, definitely follow them at first (includes moving your existing settings elsewhere...you can re-add stuff after the fact, but don't mix and match in the beginning). I did a "cold turkey" drop-in of the UI at first just prior to ZG, which I do not recommend doing for anyone serving a key role in a raid....I'm just adventurous/stupid that way and it was DEFINITELY hampering me during that raid due to unfamiliarity I haven't installed this version yet and am still using the 0.5ish release, so I'm unsure of what's changed. I can generally help with any questions about functionality, though, and would be happy to field the questions. I'll be swapping to the new release some time this weekend, though, and don't expect much to have changed overall anyway. Oh, one other tip, when you run the Mazzifier configuration, do so while in flight or alone in an instance. If your not in-flight and in a public place like Org, you will yell out something that might be slightly embarrassing around strangers Plans are to continue development even after the UI-altering patch, but as of yet, not all of those pieces have been fixed up yet, so I cannot answer to concerns about what may break or not at that time (nor can the author until we see what they release). In short, use it if you want, but don't count on full functionality for a bit once Blizzard makes their changes on the live servers. Personal thanks go to Mazzlefizz of Argent Dawn for taking the time to put this together and also for being kind enough to allow crazy people like me to test it out before it was released

Already discussed DPS was most of our problem against Ragnaros, and we had serious issues with Sons control. Dots were slow to get applied (I don't think we filled his debuff slots at all on either attempt) and, to make it all worse, he was punting the highest-damage people almost non-stop. Healing was rocky at the start, but smoothed out long before Ragnaros....well, with the exception of Smedlock, which we all seemed to agree was much harder to keep alive that night for some reason. Healing was not our problem against Rags, unless we were planning on healing him to death...

Additionally, I'd like to add that we cannot support the idea of "the raid gives you potions to use" as we enter more instances and start more raids. When we were only MC, it was a strain, but doable, and folks like Scryll were sacrificing quite a bit of their own time and resources and allow us all to focus on the fights themselves and have more freedom otherwise (endless thanks to those who gave so much time and gold for this). Now, we have numerous raids during the week and it's too much to expect the few to supply the many with little support in return. Also, BWL will also have some specific needs and supplying potions or materials for two different raids at once is just too much to ask or expect from those who have given so much to get us to this point. What can we all do to help? Two things: bring/buy potions or organise some "gathering days". We have had success in the past with getting people together on a day or two and farming together for materials, so it could make for some fun, profit, and help the raids collectively. The raid leaders have organised this in the past, but we can't do everything and would appreciate it if people interested in this would coordinate and organise it if it's something that we all feel can/should be done.

If your fire resist is low (or Ragnaros is especially fussy), you'll likely go through more than two greater fire protection potions. Last night, for instance, I burned through my second potion within the first 30 seconds of the fight, so I'd recommend a stack of five to be safe. This also allows for one wipe, should things go horribly wrong. If you have problems getting that many and already have reasonable fire resist, I've had good success with magic resistance potions (raises your resistances for a few minutes, typically lasts me the entire Ragnaros fight pre-submerge). Mage notes for 20- and 40-person raids: With proper mana gem usage, it's rare that I go through more than 2-3 major mana potions per MC run, but always bring at least five (since they stack to five). If you have a smaller mana pool, you may want to bring two full stacks until you are more familiar with how far your gems and cooldowns can get you before using potions. In instances that aren't on farm status, always bring at least two stacks. You may never need them if no progress is made, but they're invaluable for learning a new encounter should it go that far. Also to add to the reagent list for mages, I recommend at least six runes of portals per run. Ideally, I only use three (one for each destination) and everyone jumps into one immediately, but we always get a few stragglers (or in the case of Rhoach, decide to pull a boss before jumping through the portal that just faded ). With enough mages, you should only need 1-2, but they stack to 20, so there's no sense in not carrying more. Last and slightly related note: I highly recommend repairing and restocking immediately after an instance run rather than doing so before you go to one. I know that I'm not alone in sometimes running a bit late and it helps to know that I can just log in and start moving rather than stopping at the reagent vendor and finding a vendor to repair. If you portal to Org, an easy path to do both is to stop by the faction vendor near the portal-in location for repairs, then drop down a level and hit the reagent vendor behind the windrider tower...takes less than 2 minutes to do and saves a ton of "oh crap" moments