Guide to Melee DPS - Pity Party Week

Noritam is a sad space goat these days.  Between spring weather IRL creating havoc with my health, broken game installation, and attempting Proving Grounds.  It's Pity Party week.

This is where the rubber meets the road.  I've done my questing, participated in current content dungeons and raids and now it's time to improve my skills.

The next steps in the Legendary Ring Quest involve Heroic Raids, which means Proving Grounds Silver, minimum.

All of the available quests in the garrison these days are Hard and Scary.  Invasions, Treasure Hunting, Apexis Crystal Dailies.  ugh, it's either that or fishing and frankly, after fishing my way to a level 3 Fishing Shack, I've about had it up to here --slashes at chin level-- with the fishing.

On a brighter note ...

Vier did some awesome achievements in Spires of Arak and has a beautiful purple outfit, cool tabard and a new Title.  Queen Vier!

I can hardly wait to finish getting my purple outfit and the new purple mount!

Back to my reading and learning ...

Guide to Melee DPS - Guides - Wowhead: "Being in the melee cluster sometimes means it is hard to see important harmful visuals due to clutter."

'via Blog this'

Perfect Purple Plate - Part 2

Lightsworn Garb (Lookalike)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Faceplate of the Forgotten - Festergut
 Rusted Bonespike Pauldrons - Lord Marrowgar
 Rot-Resistant Breastplate - Rotface
 Waistband of Righteous Fury - Gunship Armoury (Icecrown Gunship Battle)
 Leggings of Dying Candles - Cache of the Dreamwalker (Valithria Dreamwalker)
 Boots of the Funeral March - Cache of the Dreamwalker (Valithria Dreamwalker)
 Crypt Keeper's Bracers - Prince Valanar (Blood Council)
 Fallen Lord's Handguards - Lady Deathwhisper
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Head - Faceplate of the Forgotten Dropped by: Festergut The Plagueworks

Shoulder - Rusted Bonespike Pauldrons Dropped by: Lord Marrowgar The Lower Spire

Chest - Rot-Resistant Breastplate Dropped by: Rotface The Plagueworks   Rotface also drops the cloak intended for this set.

Waist - Waistband of Righteous Fury Dropped by: Gunship Armoury (Icecrown Gunship Battle) The Lower Spire    **see note below

Legs - Leggings of Dying Candles  Dropped by: Cache of the Dreamwalker (Valithria Dreamwalker)
 
Feet - Boots of the Funeral March Dropped by: Cache of the Dreamwalker (Valithria Dreamwalker)  

Wrist - Crypt Keeper's Bracers Dropped by: Prince Valanar (Blood Council)

Hands - Fallen Lord's Handguards Dropped by: Lady Deathwhisper The Lower Spire
 
**Note: other things in the Gunship Armory -

• Primordial Saronite useful for Blacksmithing
• Shield:  Neverending Winter

This is the cloak that is intended to "go with" this set.
Cloak: Winding Sheet  Dropped by: Rotface The Plagueworks

My two favourite cloaks however are:

Used Bar Rag  and Cloak of Cleansing Flame.  I don't think either will go well with the dark purple plate, so the search is on for a dark purple cloak similar to the Used Bar Rag and the Cloak of Cleansing Flame!  It's hard to find a long purple cloak with dark blue on it instead of red.

Transmogrification Guide: All Cloak Styles
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Two weeks ago [mid-Apr/2015], Mr. Kitty and I did our first run of ICC [Icecrown Citadel] in my quest for my Purple Plate Transmog set.

While we were figuring out the where-tos and why-fors, we both found this "Look-a-like" set that drastically reduced the number of runs of the raid required!  YaY!

Mr. Kitty also expressed delight that the pieces come from the Heroic version.  I'm not so sure about that but .... .... I had been in ICC
once before but of course retained zero knowledge of it, Mr. Kitty said, "No problem, just follow me and kill stuff when you can, if you like".

Really, he's far too easy-going!  So the next amount of time passed by in a delightful blur of me concentrating very hard on keeping up, not doing stupid stuff [not being completely successful at that! lol], and having fun.

I did have an enormous amount of fun.  Truly, the pressure is off being that it is "old content", and we're at level 100 and the raid is set at level 80.

Plus, Mr. Kitty is too polite and kind, and reassures me that he's having fun too and isn't bored to tears.  So, for now, I'm taking him at his word and just doing my best to keep up and have fun.

It kind of reminded me of learning how to drive a snowmobile as a young teenager.  I was always afraid to drive one and one evening I confessed as much to a friend.  He suggested that the two of us should go out alone, and he'd teach me how, in private.

His "method" of teaching was, "Follow my lights, don't fall behind, don't get lost", and off he went.  In the dark, after we'd done a couple of on-the-river off-the-river turns and twists, I was completely lost and my only salvation and "survival" was to keep up to his tail light.  I was terrified, horrified that I'd lose him and be lost forever, but, man, did I ever learn quick how to drive!

Mr. Kitty was, of course, way more patient and forgiving.  He came back for me when I had trouble with an elevator!  I didn't know you had to jump onto the platform to activate it.  I'm still not 100% sure if I'm to jump onto it, as in stand aside and literally "jump onto" it as it arrives, or, if I can walk onto it and "jump" to activate it.  I'm sure I'll learn it and be bored by it by the time we've run the raid enough times to aquire all my stuff!

I hadn't read about the fight so was blissfully unaware of any scary bits coming up.  I just cringed my way through the icky spider part.  blech.

Near the end, of course, there's a bit where "don't stand [somewhere] because you'll get knocked off the ledge", and just as I'm reading that typed warning from Mr. Kitty in the chat log, and processing it, OF COURSE I got knocked off the ledge!

But now I'm completely comfortable rezzing and corpse-running back into the instance, and finding my way to where I left off!

Mr. Kitty has also perfected the timing of telling me where I need to get off the elevator just as I'm approaching it!

I'd also forgotten about the heart-wrenching end cinematic to this raid.  --sniff--

After we were done, we agreed that I'd make a list of who drops what piece of gear I'm looking for, and next time, Mr. Kitty will set the loot-
gathering specifics so he controls the loot and hands it out accordingly.

I was slowing us down considerably having to read all the loot descriptions on the loot rolls.  Plus I passed on a lot of things that weren't necessarily stuff I needed or wanted but that I could have vendored for a pretty chunk of gold.  But, not being sure what, if anything, he wanted/needed I figured it best to be safe and not sorry/greedy!

I successfully got one piece of the 8 pieces I need for my set.  As soon as I log in again I'll check my bank to confirm it but I'm pretty sure I have the Bracers.  One down, seven to go!

I have this sword in my bank, if I can find a high ilvl two-handed sword, I'd love to transmog it into this look:
Karabor Greatsword

I am currently working on collecting the Savage Bloods I need to upgrade my crafted Warlords Axe to the second level.  Then it will begin all over again to collect the crap needed to upgrade it tot he 3rd and 4th levels.  Once there, I need to decide if I like the look and if it goes with my Perfect Purple Plate.

I may decide to transmog it with this Axe: Stormedge comes from Ulduar Cache of Winter
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The spring weather in my part of the world has interfered for a bit.  I was down sick for the past week and am only now starting to feel well enough to get back in the game!

This post is the promised list for Mr. Kitty and a bit of a commentary on where we are, what we're doing!

Maybe Vier will blog about the lengths she had to go through helping me "Wrangle a Wolf" in Nagrand.  What a day that was, but I got it!  Thanks to Vier, there is no way on earth I would have wrangled that wolf without her!

Raiding with Leashes - Achievement - World of Warcraft

Raiding with Leashes - Achievement - World of Warcraft

Questing in Telaar

Hey folks! The other day, Noritam mentioned to me and Kitty that she had some quests to do in Nagrand that she was having a hard time with. I had about an hour and a half before I needed to get to sleep, so naturally I volunteered to help her with a few. I also volunteered Kitty to come along and assist.

We all headed over to Telaari Station - Nor as herself, Kitty on his monk tank, and myself on my second hunter, who also had to complete the quests. Nor was already a few quests into the chain, so I left here in Telaari Station with Kitty and told them to wait there while I got to the same point in the quest chain. I said not to go anywhere, and that I would come back in a few minutes to show her where to go.

This conversation with another friend of mine should illustrate exactly how that went down:

i had to quest with my mother again last night
IT IS SO PAINFUL
ahahahaha
oh dear
we had to do the same quest hub right
but she was like 2 quests ahead of me
no problem, i know where to go to catch up
and i can do it in like 5 mins
so i tell her to sit tight while i go do that, then we will finish them together
as i'm off doing that, i see her dot on the map move
....
"where are you going"
lmao
oh no
"I think i figured out where i need to go, i finally figured this map out!"
loooooooool
keep in mind that i am standing where she needs to go
and she is running in the OPPOSITE DIRECTION
did her quest also tell her where to go anyway
ahahahahahah
oh god
which also happens to be into a huge pack of things that will kill her
 LMAO
also keep in mind that i'm locked to wehre i am
so i can't go get her
ALSO KEEP IN MIND that she doesn't always read her chat
 and she doesn't answer her phone when it rings
 i'm imagining this like a pleasant cartoon
and then WOLVES EVERWHERE
or some wow enemy equivalent
that is exactly what it was
it was wolves
oh man
well orcs riding wolves
same thing
 if she had STAYED WHERE I LEFT HER
 i was gonna say how did i know that but you said pack
in the SAFE PLACE
so that must be why
lololol
she would have been PERFECTLY FIND
*FINE
enemies literally are not able to get there
but no
she went running off by herself
DUM DE DUM DE~
AAAAAAAAAAAAH
so i'm typing at her in capslock
while finishing these few quests faster than ithink i've ever quested in my life
lmfaoooo
how colourful can your language get with your mom
 "STOP. STOP MOVING. STOP. YOU ARE GOING TO DIE."
"TURN AROUND. DO NOT GO THERE. YOU ARE GOING THE WRONG WAY"
"MOTHER."
"MOTHER STOP!!!!!!!"
oh my god

Ding 100!

100!

How I got there,  ... from 98 to 100.

I made a lot of leveling progress by running a current content dungeon.  A first!

How did it happen that I am running "current content dungeons", you might ask? [typing those words still kinda freaks me out.  I cannot believe that I have progressed far enough in the game to be running current content dungeons!]

Vier called one evening as asked if I wanted to run High Maul with her.  "um, ... OK."  [thinking to self, this ought to be interesting!]  By the time I got online and in-game, the adrenaline was running high.

"Crap!", said Vier, "um, ... sorry, ... I forgot you weren't at max level yet."

Taking pity on me, and because she had roused me from reading my book into an adrenaline rush - she offered to run a "my level" dungeon with me.

Already at the "OK, why the hell not!" mind set, I agreed.

"Crap!", [again!] " ... your gear isn't a high enough ilvl to join in the lowest current content dungeon."  

No problem, I know exactly what the next level weapon is that I want, now to find the quest string that rewards it.  I thought I found it. After doing a dizzying couple of quests in what I thought was the right area, realized, ... it wasn't the right place.  The rewards I was getting were way too lo level.

Just think about that for a second ...  ... I found a quest chain to do that was was too LOW a level for me.  ME!

As I was Alt-Tabbing in and out of wowhead/the game, trying to find the quest chain for my next big-ass-purple-sword [Restalaan's Great Sword], Vier disappeared for a bit.

"Come to my garrison" she says.

"but I think I found the right quest hub, it's right close by here, and, ...  the garrisons are way over there [remember, no flying in Draenor] ... ", I whined.

"just come to my garrison, I have a sword for you.  I just bought it at the AH."

"You are so like your father.  No problem too great, or too small, that throwing a little money at it won't solve".

I'm not even going to think about, or ask about, how much gold she threw away on my new sword.  It was JUST enough to get my ilvl at exactly the minimum to enter the dungeon.

As I was to learn later, Skyreach is the first dungeon in WoD. Remember way back, when I was given a week-long homework assignment to learn about the bosses in Throne of Thunder?  Red Bear does!  She helped me study over two weeks, even though she had absolutely no interest or knowledge of the game!  Imagine the thrill of helping someone study for something you don't know anything about, or could care less about!  That is friendship!

Now, Vier and I are sitting in a queue for a dungeon that I not only don't know the name of, I don't have a hairy-rat's-ass clue what it's about!

While we wait, Vier's giving me some pointers.

"Just attack what the tank does, but don't attack anything until the tank starts."

"Don't run ahead."

"Just follow the group."

And a summary of the encounter, which I vaguely remember was a lot of typing about ... not falling off ledges,... lots of birds, ... and many "up the stairs" references.

"Watch the chat window!"

My head spinning, I asked some important questions.  "How can I tell who the tank is?"  "How do I know what the tank is attacking?"

To her credit, Vier did not feign an internet outage and disappear offline!   She didn't even make the most horrible sound in the game, by using her "feign death" ability!  Such a loving daughter. [It's at times like these that I'm sure she questions herself about why she was ever so hot and bothered to get me into the game - lol - ]

Something I had long wanted to know, has such a simple solution it makes me slightly crazy.

• The tank has the Shield-symbol by their name in the group list on the left. 
• The Healer symbol is the + cross sign.   

Have a look in the upper-left of the screenshot all you non-WoW readers.  See the list of character portraits up there?  The top one has a white + sign, the second one has a shield and the other two have sword.  At least I think that's supposed to be a sword - even viewing it at 100% magnification, I have a hard time telling exactly what it is, but the red background behind the sword stands out.  Red for Danger!  That's us Damage Dealing [DPS] guys 'n gals, danger on the run! lol

Doh!

And we're in!

My first current content dungeon.

The good, the bad, and the ugly, of World of Warcraft.

The Bad.  

The first tank we had in our group was an ass-hat.  Plain and simple.  During our first run, I got swept off the ledge by the Jet Steam imitation "wind river".

C'mon, we all knew THAT was going to happen.  

I got healed right away and all I had to do was run up to where I left the group.  Around the ledge, up the stairs, .. uh oh, two stairs to choose from ... choose left?  choose right?  Of course I chose wrong and ended up in the middle of a fight with the mobs on the side we didn't clear ... Of course I died again.

So instead of just sitting there feeling stupid and not playing, I typed in chat ... "Sorry, I'm lost".

Ass-hat:  "what?  she doesn't remember the route we took?"  No, ass-hat she doesn't.

Vier: "Her first dungeon".

While the group waited for Vier to come escort me back to where everyone else was [dammit, choose the --clear-- stair case Nor, not the one with mobs on it!] Ass-hat is querying Vier's spec and wondering why her DPS is so high.

"I've never ran with anyone that has twice the DPS as I have" ponders Ass-Hat.

Being a terrible person and a bitch, and feeling stupid for not remembering the route we took, I typed

" ... 'cause she's awesome" [but didn't type "ass hat"].  

The Good.  

Ass-hat left our group.  While we were waiting for a new tank, I asked the healer and Vier some questions.

I felt like maybe I was doing something wrong 'cause I was the only player getting up close and personal with the Boss and adds, was I doing something wrong?  Nope, just happened that I was the only melee DPS in the group.  OH!, OK, that's cool.  I forget now what other lame questions I asked but the explanations made sense and cleared things up for me.

Our new tank, our healer and the rest of the group, were awesome ... The second run went so well.  I kept up.  I didn't fall off the ledge.  The other DPS, the healer, and Vier, all cheered when I made it!  We had, I don't remember how many, great runs.  I actually felt like I was getting the hang of it.  Other people were making mistakes too, not just me.  I fell off the ledge again, got rezzed and found my way back all by myself.

I had a lot of fun!  

The Ugly.

The only ugly part would be my DPS statistics.  But, ... being a smart cookie, I didn't even bother to look at the numbers.  Not that I would remember how to do that anyway, but knowing the numbers would just depress me.  I decided that I didn't need to know.  They'll only get better anyway! lol  Living by the River De'Nile is a blissful place.

Besides looting some great tokens for gear that "requires level 100", [wow, 3 good pieces to start off when I finally get there], "Holy Crap!" Sometime during the dungeon runs, ... I dinged 99 and was well on my way to 100!

I did most of my levelling from 99 to 100 by doing the Bonus Quests [which grant a lot of gold that I'd need to upgrade my Garrison] and, of all things, hunting a Snowy Owl [Battle Pet for the non-WoW readers] in Winterspring.

The Snowy Owls only spawn during real-life Northern Hemisphere winter, Dec. 21 - Mar. 20.  In addition to being a time-limited pet to collect, it is also a less-than-plentiful spawn, and a bit of a PITA to:

1. find a Snowy Owl Battle Pet, 
2. have a rare quality show up and, 
3. successfully trap it!  

The very first one I found spawned was a rare and I was so excited I killed it!

Also in Winterspring, I discovered, are quite a few mechanical pets [mechanicals being some of my faves], a "free" Frostsaber Mount, and a couple of other easy achievements that I forget, y'know, it being a whole 10 days or so later as I type this!

Which brings us to March 18, 2015.

I was out and about, mining, and collecting cooking meat, when I noticed I was about to hit 100.

I very carefully ran back to my garrison.  Carefully, as in taking care not to aggro some random mob and hit 100 by killing a wolf, or worse, one of those annoying little flower dudes.  Just for the eye-roll inducing pleasure of it all, I wanted to ding 100 as I handed in a Daily at my Fishing Shack.  Just because ... reasons.

W00t!

 I DID IT!
It only took sixteen months to reach max level!

Woo Hoo!
 --two arms raised in joy--

Yippee!

I reached 100 and I'm finished the game!

ROLFLMAO
Just kidding!

Playing WoW is like "reading the internets", ...you never finish!  There is always something interesting, cool, or confounding, at the next mouse click.

So what now? ... ... In no particular order:

• finish my Crazy Cat Lady title.
• finish the Darnassus and Ironforge Lunch Lady achievements.
• gather the pieces for my Lightsworn Garb (Recolor) set.
• Sushel - change profession to engineer, level into WoD, and get her garrison going.
• Saelybrooke - get her to level 60 so I can boost her and her professions of Alchemy and Herbalism, level her into WoD, and get her Garrison going.
• Soozuu - figure out how to level, gear for, and play PvP. Also, level her Tailoring to make many big bags.
• Gnome Death Knight - start an alt, just because I want a teeny "cute" gnome playing the bad-ass-est spec in the game!
• Bank Alt with a Guild Bank - I need to start a bank alt that I won't be tempted to play and level, who will stay just a bank alt.  So I'm thinking a human, male, something.  Probably a Ret. Pally just because it will be my third and I won't be tempted to level that!  I also have to learn how to set up a one-person guild to get a guild bank to store my crap.  I wonder if that is "legal"? Research Required.
• level fifteen pets to pet level twenty-five so I can take on all the Pet Tamers, the August Celestials, and get my damn Safari Hat.So I can open the Pet Menagerie in my garrison, to have all my cat pets running around the ol' castle. To go with my Crazy Cat Lady Title. [I was confused about how to open the Pet Menagerie, I've since discovered how easy it is and mine has been opened]  
• finish my Crazy Cat Lady mini-scrapbook that Red Bear made for me.  ah ... the collision of my life in WoW and IRL activities! [in real life, Red Bear made me a Scrapbook for my Crazy Cat Lady status irl and, hopefully, in WoW]
• run all the dungeons with Mr. Kitty. [my new WoW friend whom I've dubbed Mr. Kitty because of his battle tag I.D.]
• get Vier to update my Profile Pic! [as soon as I take a good screenshot for it!]

That's all for now!  Ciao!  Nor.

Perfectly Pretty Purple Plate [100th post]

Of course! The most gorgeous plate set I've ever seen comes from an old 25H [twenty-five player heroic] raid.

First, it doesn't have huge sticky-outy shoulder crap.  It is a SKIRT!  A plate skirt!  It is Purple. with bits of orangy-amber shiny. The boobs aren't weirdly accented, lightly colored or encircled with metal. The helmet isn't the most hideous I've seen.  Which doesn't matter as I never show my helmet anyway.  sigh.  it is perfect.

First, you must obtain the 10N [ten player normal] mode items to use as "tokens" to get the 25N [twenty five player normal] mode items to use as "tokens" to get the set I want.

Assuming we have the people to do the runs and all the runs go perfectly and we get the items required in the first attempt, {HA!}, IT STILL MEANS A MINIMUM OF THREE RUNS through the Ice Crown Citadel.

ICC-Lightsworn Garb Recolor

On the one hand, I feel slightly hopeful, it was a run through ICC that I first met Mr. Kitty, the night Vier got her [ugly] Dragon mount.

But, ... still ... that's a lot of running old content to get a transmog set.

Assuming, of course, that I ever get to max level and a decent ilvl set to transmog from in the first place!

And then, I'm still a bit confused about the whole transmog thing.  I know Vier has been consistently wearing her brown horny dinosaur look-a-like set for a bit now.  But, the gear we get through questing, dungeons and raiding is always improving.  In this game, you're always, always looking for better gear.  Does this mean every time you get a new piece you have to re-do the whole transmog?

That's not cheap!

And what if you want to keep a lower level piece for one reason or another?

I have a 400 something level trinket that I am loathe to give up.  It's a Bag of Bombs.  Being a melee fighter, I don't have a plethora of ranged attacks at my disposal and that trinket has saved my butt on more than one occasion.  Either when a mob is at range or when I get into a hairy scary scenario, having an extra bomb or two can be the difference between life and death.  I don't know if I'll ever want to give up my bag of bombs.

Is there such a creature as a serious raider who is also into transmog? Seems to me you can be one or the other.  Either care about your character's looks or be a serious fighter.

In other news ...

I'm spending some serious time in Hillsbrad Foothills trying to snag a Black Tabby pet. [A 0.01 to 0.03% drop rate]  I've managed a couple of uncommon infested bear cubs and a rare spider.  Haven't seen a Lofty Libram yet, nor the cat carrier.

I've also been spending a lot of time ranging far and wide in Shadowmoon Valley looking for True Iron Ore.  In an attempt to reduce the number of times I get lost, I'm trying something new, I've set my mini-map to be rotating not stationary.  It's weird, but at least it's labeled with N for north now and I can always use that as an orienting function.

Being so heavily involved with maps in my old real life, I think one of the reasons I'm always so lost and confused, [besides the no-brain-function] is that unconsciously looking at the mini-map I equate top with north.  Which I have discovered is very rarely the case.

Very strange set-up these computer games.  Why would you have a map not oriented to north?

Spent several hours fishing this past Wednesday night.  On a lark, I put on my glow worm lure [which lasts for an hour], sitting in my own fishing pond, turned the sound way up and wore my head set as a necklace but could still hear the splash mechanic indicating a hooked fish. ... while Himself and I watched Survivor! 300 fish caught, one a Lunker, and completed the Fire Ammonite daily quest without having to go to Frostfire Ridge and watched Survivor.  win-win.

Later that gaming session I had discovered that the Draenor food that gives me the most stat enhancement beneficial to my character requires a fish from Nagrand.  YaY! Vier!!  She helped me snag that one flight path in Nagrand that makes it super-simple and safe to bop over and grab some fish!  w00t!

I did venture out and about close to the safe station, but was ever mindful of getting stuck in places I might not be able to get out of.  damn I miss being able to fly.  If I get down someplace, I have to be able to get back out again!

Right by two spawn points of Fat Sleeper Fish Schools is a True Iron Vein that is guarded by a very large 101 Elite Eel.  If I could fly-hop over the river to a rock on the other side, I could reach the ore.  But, even with water-walking that damn eel would eat me before I could get there.  So I have to sit so I can't see the ore vein taunting me while I fish and ignore the bright gold pulsating dot on my mini-map.  DO. NOT. TAKE. ON. THE. EEL!  It would cost me 30+ gold to repair my equipment after dying from the eel and probably still no ore.  Better off to tackle the annoying podlings in Shadowmoon Valley!  grrr.

So that's where our WoW mind is at.  Contemplating Plate Beauty, snagging the elusive Black Tabby, fishing and amassing quantities of True Iron Ore.

Back at the Garrison, I've assigned a follower to my Forge, upgraded my Storehouse with my bank and now, access to the guild bank, tore down my Inn and put up a Trading Post in its stead.  Upgraded my fishing shack to level 2.

Still sitting myself at level 97.  No questing lately.

Nor.

Transmog Question

If I've completed a quest and either didn't pick or didn't keep a piece I now want for transmog, is there any way to get it?

For example, according to my wowhead profiles, both Nor and Sushel have completed the quest to choose Ringmail Armor of Eminent Domain as a reward.

Now, I want to use that piece for a transmog set for Sushel.

Do I have to now go back and run the raids and/or dungeons for the piece?