(World of Warcraft) Malpheus: Razorfen Kraul down

This weekend I purchased a new widescreen monitor - not because I needed to (the old 15" crt was working fine) but because I felt that I should. Why not have a bit of extra space around the sides? I'm still tinkering with the settings and layout but so far it has made gaming easier (no more frantic swishing the mouse from side to side in an effort to have peripheral vision when flagged for pvp!). Of course the old monitor is ready to function as a second screen but after a bit of play I decided I don't really need to... although keeping an eye on Farmville on the old monitor while raiding on the big monitor is amusing...

Speaking of raids (well, low level instance runs) our gang cleared Razorfen Kraul this morning with no wipes. After Wailing Caverns it was nice to have a run that was a bit shorter and much less of a maze! Readers will note that I claimed Shafowfang Keep would be our next run but looking over our characters we decided to skip ahead to something that would be a bit more challenging - sadly RFK was easymode for us too. I did get a chance to Dispel some debuffs (after a much needed reminder that "the priest can get rid of those" :P) and a little healing although the majority of my time was spent spamming shadow dots and drinking water.

To my dismay I'm coming 4th on the damage meter (only the dedicated resto druid who spends the majority of his time healing and getting the odd Moonfire off is ranked lower than me) although I did get the much coveted Shadow Weaving talent after the run so perhaps that will help? Maybe it's too early to worry about it - the group is flying through encounters as it is. I suspect the Shadow Priest will slowly creep up our dps rank with levels and talents - although to be fair I'm competing with a hunter and rogue!

Malpheus at 27 hanging around Splintertree Post
(Click on image for a larger version)

I gave some awful advice during the run based on faded memory rather than one of the many run-throughs I should have read. The worst was to suggest that we clear the lower run first - only to get to the goblin escort quest and realise the dungeon was designed with the intention that players would do this bit last! Not that it mattered as the goblin needed to head back to our intersection anyway... only because it's near the entrance/exit :O

My other blunder was to confuse the fence which keeps Roogug (objective of a Warrior quest) separate from the rest of the run with the field that holds Agathelos the Raging (aka The Bigpig) back - insisting that it was worth the effort of trying to get through, which it wasn't as Roogug doesn't drop anything. Ooops.

((Oh, and a gopher I set lose for giggles just before a pull may have triggered another group of mobs to add to the fun, but it seemed to be agreed that this made the current fight 'almost a challenge' so no harm done. However it was a newbie mistake to be sure and one that I shouldn't have made given my experience with WoW.))

Next weekend is Gnomeragen at level 28. I haven't run Gnomer from the Horde side (well, not properly anyway) so it will be interesting to see how much I remember. The rest stop will be no good for Hordies, they don't give coffee and biscuits to the likes of us!

BTW during the week we managed to organise ourselves into a guild "Ye Olde Skoole". The name honours our real life ages and our dedication to running old content. I suspect linguists may raise an eyebrow at our use of Ye but we're thumbing our nose at the error as much as we are celebrating it.

(World of Warcraft) Malpheus: Wailing Caverns await!

Just so there's no confusion, Malpheus is not the most attractive character you'll meet. When I play Undead I like to go "all-out" with the customisation, so he has no lower jaw. Hey, if you want pretty - play an elf :P

Malpheus at 20 with Staff of the Sun and Darkcloth Shoulders of Concentration.
Mounted on his black skeletal charger whilst loitering at The Crossroads.
(Click on image for a larger and less attractive view)

Ragefire Chasm was easier than I expected... with the benefit of hindsight this shouldn't have been a surprise given that we were rolling through with a well balanced and full team. No wipe. As I've mentioned before I've been into Ragefire Chasm many times - although this was the first time I was with a level-appropriate group.

Having cleared it with ease we were filled with confidence - so off we charged to Ghostlands to take on Dar'Khan and grab an easy blue... with the benefit of hindsight I shouldn't have described him to the group as "easy" :P

We almost wiped on him although Kevin quickly changed to bearform to pick up the adds once Russel hit the floor - while I fumbled with the off-heals and (I think?) Michael finished off Dar'Khan. It was all rather chaotic and quick although I'm glad we had a gentle wake-up call here. Whilst we didn't wipe our Pallytank and Hunter died before I noticed they needed heals (more dots! ...no more dots!) and midfight I stupidly shielded myself rather than the Beartank due to hitting the Alt key by habit.

Food for thought: Even as a shadow priest I need to keep an eye on the party's health so I can quickly change from concentrating on dps to adding off-heals ~ rather than waiting until the Druid turns into a bear and the Paladin is lying motionless on the floor! Healing is clearly my secondary role, but when it's needed it has to come quickly.

Next weekend is Wailing Caverns and possibly Shadowfang Keep depending on how our confidence sways. Wailing Caverns is a loot train and I don't think I've ever finished Shadowfang so I'm looking forward to it. I've heard rumour that Cataclysm is November 2010 so we have twelve months to work our way up through the 'classic' instances before they are altered, or lost, or wrecked by a river of lava running through the middle, or whatever is going to happen to the old content.

Warhammer RPG: Adventures in Zhufbar and surrounds

Usually I would be in bed by now, but I have had too much caffeine - so I must type!

After a brief stint in Sylvania our company has moved upriver to the dwarfen city of Zhufbar. This has proven to be quite satisfying as we have a number of nearby hotspots that can be used for adventures; Karak Varn, "Laketown", the Black Lake, the many unnamed valleys and mountains surrounding the area and of course Zhufbar itself.

In our vision of the zone we have large enemy forces occupying the interesting areas - a squabbling mass of goblin tribes in and under Karak Varn and a swirling horde of chaos marauders that refuse to be drawn into warfare with anyone other than the goblins (who they periodically displace onto the dwarfs). Skaven have recently been introduced as mysterious manipulators of the goblins although what they are up to remains to be seen. Add to all this the machinations of rival dwarf nobles and the whole place is ideal for adventurous mercenary types... such as the player-characters!

We have agreed that next week will be a special session which Ken will run for us where we gather the materials and reputation required to have a Master Rune inscribed on an item of our choice. Personally I would like to see each of us use a Fate Point during the adventure so that the rune really means something - rather than just being another piece of loot (as magic items tend to be in 'other' roleplay games). The feeling is that we have reached 6000 xp and we deserve something special for it (other than the many advances those experience points have paid for of course).

Speaking of 'other' roleplay games I haven't been back to the RPGA since Gencon Oz. On balance it seems better to play frequent and regular ongoing games with the same characters and the same players using the same game system (ie Warhammer RPG) but I still have Grognard the Cleric in his folder ready to go if no other gaming is available and I feel a great urge to go back to an RPGA table for 4th edition Dungeons and Dragons.

(World of Warcraft) Malpheus: Ragefire awaits!

Two weeks ago an old friend of mine grabbed a cheap copy of Warcraft to see what the fuss was about. As news spread of his arrival some other old friends dusted off their deactivated accounts and rerolled new characters with him on Proudmoore. Not being one to miss out on a new team I joined them with an Undead Priest: Malpheus.

Malpheus at 16 wearing a rather striking 'Day of the Dead' mask and sporting Tranquillien reputation items.

The plan is to slowly level up our characters to keep pace with the natural progression of our new player as he explores the world. I'm opposed to rushing him as I feel it's important not to race straight to the endgame but rather enjoy the ride, see the sights and have casual fun... it's not supposed to feel like work after all!

We have agreed to wait at level 16 for him to catch up - at which point we'll be running Ragefire Chasm as lowbies! I'm quite excited by this as we'll then be visiting each of the instances as our levels become appropriate and we won't be doing it with an overpowered escort (as would usually be the case for the typical loot-runs we've come to expect).

So far the line-up is:
Blood Elf Paladin (Tank)
Tauren Druid (Heals)
Blood Elf Rogue (dps) <- the 'new guy'
Undead Shadow Priest (dps) <- me
Troll Hunter (dps) <- a friend from work who has recently joined the team

This gives us a good 5-man mix that will see us through a lot of content. If we need off-heals I can help, or if we need more dps the druid can add some damage to his rotation. Hunters and Rogues have excellent control tricks which will help with the big pulls. Paladins make excellent (and popular) tanks - and if we need an off-tank the druid can change to bear form... although this will leave me on healing duties *shrug*.

This Sunday morning looks like it will be Ragefire, let's see how we go playing it at the correct level wearing nothing better than greens :)