LittleBlackKitty

Bael'Gar.

2008-08-03T20:16:00.000-07:00

For about a week now I've been playing my night elf priest pretty exclusively. She was sitting at level 30 for months, but the new patch and the ability to get a mount at 30 was motivation. I've been trying the constant "instancing" approach and it's going good...mostly. (More on that later.) So Tack has run me through an instance or two when I couldn't find a group and on Saturday it was time to return the favor.

He is working on a new character named "Stryder" which is a human warlock lvl 50. So I decided to run him through the Blackrock Depths with Cerwyn. We rolled through most of it really well.

It is an extensive instance though. I can't believe the quantity of content. After like 3 hours we had only made it through about 1/3 of the place. Lord Incendius and "the Vault" were the highlights for me. I've never went as deep as we did and I really felt that thrill of seeing "deep" content that I usually don't get to.

Towards the end we sort of got separated and decided it was time to go shopping IRL anyways. Since I'm a 70 I was able to sneak past all of the mobs and get a peak at Bael'Gar (pictured). This shot was taken about .2 before I attacked...and killed him. Unfortunately he spawned some little minions and they were the death of me. Good times.

OMFG! I'm back.

2008-07-18T13:12:00.000-07:00

Hey.

/wave

I'm trying to compose the millions of events that have happened in the last few months.

Pvpness...inch by inch.

2008-04-01T15:09:00.000-07:00

Old draft I never posted from April. ---->

I'll start at the beginning. I've been spending a lot of time in Nagrand farming Thick Clefthoof leather, because it's one of the easier ways for me to earn money for an epic flying mount. Somehow this evolved into a rep grind for gear with Aldor and the Consortium, which somehow lead me to try "take Halaa" to hand in some dust...or something. Anyways, Tack and I had a really exilarating evening killing some horde. And it was strange to be so thrilled to earn honor. Like, "Omg, I've got like 46 honor...oh wait now it's 63." (These specific numbers are purely fabricated by me...but they are in the general range.)

And then it occurred to us that we could get much larger amounts of honor much faster by running battlegrounds. So for a couple of weeks we've been running battlegrounds.

Speaking of links.

2008-02-21T14:44:00.000-08:00

I've been meaning to mention this for ages. A couple months ago when I was writing more frequently this chick named "Mania" left some comments on my blog. Huntard moment on my part. It's Mania! The goddess of Azerothian pets.

To put it in perspective. Long before I'd heard the name BR...what's it again?'s name I knew all about Petopia. I really don't think hunters could survive without it. Literally every pet I've had has been selected off of her site first. (Well, except Thor...but that was destiny.)

Unbelievable. I thought she'd be waaay to busy making appearances and signing book deals to stop by such a small blog as mine. So I'm thrilled that she's been here and hopefully will stop by again.

Trouble's a brewin'.

2008-02-21T13:38:00.000-08:00

Has anyone heard the news? Some sort of sneaky abomination terrorizing the locals up in Tirisfal Glades. Burning villages and plundering for fun. /whisper Don't worry it's really just me. ;) /stop whisper.

So I started this new blood elf rogue. (The picture is totally inaccurate.) I seriously haven't had this much fun since I started Cerwyn. Rogues are very different than other classes. There are all of these cool things like lock picking and poisons that I haven't even experienced yet, but I'm just so excited I can hardly stand it.

So I've been searching for rogue blogs, because I basically have no clue what I'm doing. (I just know it's fun.) So I searched BRK's recommendations and found "A View from Behind". The site is really great and I've already picked up tons of information. So he's linked in my sidebar now. I also linked "Toxification", because he's got a pretty solid sense of humor...and as a bonus he knows what he's talking about.

Those darn PUGs.

2008-02-13T15:12:00.000-08:00

So last Friday night I ran my first instance since turning 70. Tack came with and we had to piece together a group since we are still not in a “real” guild. So we picked up a tank, a healer, and another hunter. We ran Shadow Labs. I think it was Shadow Labs…is that where you start getting the Karazan key fragments? Ah, anyways. It was bad. Like really, really bad. So our tank couldn’t keep agro on anything and our healer couldn’t heal much and the hunter traps just could hold.

The only bright side was that I was out DPSing everyone by at least 200. Which felt really good for about a minute. Since our tank was having issues it meant that the priest and I were top on the stomping list. So really it just meant I was dieing first and most frequently.

So this brings me to my questions about the dynamics of a group. In my mind, a group theoretically should function as follows: the tank holds the mobs, the healer heals the tank, and the dps burns down the mobs. If there are multiple mobs the group should use crowd control to cut down the number of mobs that the tank needs to deal with.

In our group, the tank was taking on one mob at a time leaving all the others (sometimes 3 or 4) to be trapped or tanked by the pets. Of course this didn’t work and we wiped multiple times before everyone just flat out quit. ( = No key fragment for me.)

So a tank should be able to take on more than one mob at a time right? Or can’t they? I’ve never done these high-end instances before and I’d like to get some feedback before I jump to conclusions.

In the tanks defense, I do believe that he was a nice person and felt really terrible that he wasn’t doing well. I think he was making an effort and for whatever reason just couldn’t get it to work. It turns out that the 3 people we picked up were all in the same guild and the other two were talking trash about him in guild chat (super uncool), which he found out about and felt terrible and it was all very sad.

If anyone could share some experiences that would be awesome.

Pet Skills MIA.

2008-02-13T14:26:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I fear that I don’t post any useful information on this blog. So for the sake of being useful here we go. (This isn’t really aimed at the level 70 expert hunters as much as the newbs and huntards.)

A long time ago…at least 20 levels ago. I was trying some different combinations of moves and decided to throw some commands off of my pet’s action bar. Claw and growl to be specific. I can’t remember, but I think the purpose was to deactivate them. Well, I’m sure most of you know that this doesn’t work. They are still active, you just can’t see them. So then at some point I wanted them back on the bar so that I could turn them off and on properly. So I attempted to open my Spellbook > then my Beast Training book > then grab the appropriate icon and drop it back onto the pet action bar. Didn’t work. Wtf? So since this method made sense…the program must be broken. ;)

Well, believe it or not the program was not broken and the correct way to fix this is to open the Spellbook and there will be two tabs at the bottom of the window. One for you and one for your pet. So select the pet tab and from here you will be able to select your pet skills and drag them back onto the bar.

I felt like sharing this knowledge because last weekend I was in a group speaking with another hunter. This particular hunter is a mix of Marksmanship and Survivalist. It was interesting because he happened to have a cat identical to Caedmon. Cool, right? Then he claims that he’s going to get rid of it, though. It’s been “bugging out”. In fact, this will be the 6^th pet he’s dismissed recently. /furrow brow. That’s weird. So after further investigation I discover that some of the actions on his pet bar have “disappeared” and he can’t get them to show up again. So he keeps replacing pets trying to get them back. Now in all fairness, perhaps there is some sort of pet-action-bar-wrecking bug that I don’t know about. But it’s likely that he’s just been running around Azeroth wasting time and food, taming then releasing perfectly good pets, because he doesn’t know about this little tab. So anyways. I did try to quickly explain the solution to him before we got busy killing foes. Ah, and now it’s time to write about my newest adventure in PUGism.

The big boom.

2008-01-30T20:44:00.000-08:00

70.

Yep that's right. Me. 70. Finally. 70.

Did I mention 70 and me?

Anyways, I had great aspirations to grab a screen shot of the big moment. I even practiced and got my technique down to a science. Send in the pet > start firing > alt Z > pivot camera > ready. When I grabbed the shot it had all the big flashing lights....but in reality I got the frame after the big flashing lights. I was pissed for a minute and then I remember I'm 70. :)

And then there's my new traveling buddy.

So what now? Funding for an Epic Flying? Instances? Building rep? Suggestions?

Case of the Fridays.

2008-01-11T14:57:00.000-08:00

So….on the last post when I said, “To be continued…later this afternoon”, I meant in a month. So in that case I’m early. :) Seriously, sorry for the delay.

Too many stories to tell. Ok, so Catja came out of retirement and we had some short lived fun. First, I wasted some time earning Darnassus Reputation for my Saber mount. To many people this may have seemed foolish, but for me…a girl…this particular girl...it was essential and I have no regrets.

Ummm…what else? We respeced frost and hit 50. I like frost a lot. I think it’s exactly what I expected. Less dps, more survivability. I had enough talent points to get “Ice Barrier”. This is key. Basically I kept it on at all times and it’s much easier to take on 1, 2, or even 3 mobs at a time. And the mana conservation is great. However, for whatever reason I just can’t stick with that character. So she’s back in “storage”.

And then the other alts…

Ellektra – Level 13 human warlock.

DorisMoloris – Level 10 gnome warrior.

Eirwyn – Level 21 blood elf warlock.

Antigoni – Level 13 blood elf hunter. (yay hunters!)

Kaielyn – Level 8 night elf hunter. (yay more hunters!)

Ummm…I know there’s more.

Malifecent – Level 6 undead rogue.

/* Edit - Her name is not Malifecent...it's Desdemona. Apparently I haven't played her enough to remember her name. :) */

And then the diamond in the rough….

Cataryna – Level 25 night elf priest.

She is actually the second character I ever created. I think the priest class was hard for me to play back then because I didn’t understand how to play Wow in general. Now that I understand some of the strategies and whatnot this character has jumped almost to the top of my favorites list, second to Cerwyn of course.

I’m specing her Shadow for right now.

Is it time to go home yet? I wish you all a happy Wow playing weekend. :)

Binge Alting.

2007-12-14T11:57:00.000-08:00

Where do I begin? This blog has been woefully neglected over the last few weeks and I apologize. I imagine most of you can relate to hectic work schedules. It seems where I work as a graphic designer it’s feast or famine. Finally, I have run out of projects. Today happens to be our ~~Christmas~~ Holiday party and everyone is distracted by the loud, drunken, hullabaloo that will begin at 6:00.

A few weeks ago, I spend some time binging on the Wow drug know on the street as “alts.”

It started innocently enough. Cerwyn was doing some ogre related quest and I happened to team up with a frost mage. I like grouping because it’s a great chance to show off. The reality is I usually could handle the situation by myself, but if there is another Alliance member working through the crowd towards the same named boss as me I tend whisper, “Wanna group up?” Rather than stealing the kill and making them wait for a respawn. I’m not a hunter jerk.

So we group up and now it’s my time to shine. I hit my “Pet Attack” macro (Cast hunter’s mark then pet attack rolled into one button. Courtesy of BRK.) and hit “Beastial Wrath” and “Intimidate”. Then Concussive Shot, Rapid Fire, Arcane Shot, Steady Shot, etc.

*/ On a side note. When I brag about great dps, trapping, pet tanking, or whatever else it’s not meant in an egotistical way. I’m not bragging about my personal skills. I’m bragging about the hunter class in general. As a player, I’m average at most. However, any player with the proper education can maximize their character’s potential. That is what this blog and so many others are about. /*

Usually regardless of what class is in my team I do at least 100 dps more than them (if not considerably more). So on this occasion I did around 400 dps. Which for me (a hunter at 64) is typical. And my co-destructor: 800.

“Omg, wtf. He didn’t even break a sweat.”

So this event began my renewed interest in Catja – human mage.

To be continued…later this afternoon.

Holy long-winded ramblings, Batman!

2007-11-20T12:05:00.000-08:00

As are most hunters, I’m constantly plagued by the fact I only have 3 stable slots. (This in reality means that I can only have two consistent pets, because the 3rd slot will be used for taming new pets with higher abilities of bite, claw, etc. for the two mains.) Anways, my stable was currently filled with Caedmon (cat), Archimedes (snowy owl), and Thor (orange gorilla).

I remember roaming around Stormwind post-BC and seeing a hunter hot-trotting around with a nether ray. At that point in my Wow career I was still playing Catja and had very little understanding of hunters, but I still could appreciate a thing of beauty. Perhaps it was strange alien, floating, buggish, creepy beauty…but beauty to be sure. So I made a note-to-self to add that to my imaginary pet wish list.

We fast forward to the present and Cerwyn has reached Outland and it’s time to let the new pet taming ecstasy begin. Where to start? How about a Sporebat or Nether Ray? My high expectations for a “glamorous” pet were dashed quickly after a stop at Petopia. (On a side note: may I recommend Petopia to any and every hunter looking for new pets or where to find new levels of abilities. Many ludicrous pet ideas have been trashed after looking up the pets real stats on this website.)

As it turns out, Sporebats can learn absolutely no skills. That’s right none. So this makes them entirely a fashion statement and nothing more. Sure they might look trendy strutting around Shatrath with you, but you’ll also be followed by the sniggering of hunters who know the truth. You’ve sacrificed an entire stable slot to look “cool”. The Nether Ray situation is similar. Most of them are “casters” to start with, meaning that they are inferior (lower armor, health, and dps than other pets of the same level). In addition, the few that aren’t casters can’t train very many abilities.

So eventually practicality sinks in and I settle on a Ravager (not attractive but effective). This is when the strategic planning began. One of the pets had to go and it would be Thor. Him and I had some great adventures together, but he never really got leveled very far as he just can’t compare to Caedmon. So I had to make the most of the open slot and run some “errands” before finally grabbing a ravager.

First, I journeyed to Winterspring and tamed a Frostsaber Stalker with both Dash and Prowl rank 3. Then I grabbed a “Hobbes” cat just to take some pictures and say that I’ve had one before. Then I came back to Hellfire and trained a Thornfang Venomspitter which had Bite Rank 8.

Whew! With all of those abilities collected I could finally get down to business. I found that the “style” of ravager I preferred most was the Rip-Blade Ravager, who’s skin is “crawlervar2”. This ravager also had Gore Rank 9, so the plan was coming together. I trekked up to blades edge and found the ravager breeding grounds.

Initially, all I see are ravagers with the “crawlerpurple” skin and I jump the gun and tame one. At first I assumed that perhaps Petopia was mistaken and the “crawlervar2” ravagers were not located here. After further exploration of the area I do indeed find one that “looks” right and tame him. So this is the 3^rd ravager I tame in less than a ½ hour. But w/e. I’ve got my ravager and my skills and I’m ready to roll back to Zangarmarsh. So I grab the flight point at Toshley’s Station and fly back to Telredor.

Upon arrival I glance over at my accomplice and “WTF! This isn’t even my ravager! This is the second one I tamed…crawlerpurple!” So at this point my hinny is sore from riding hypogryphs all over the place, but a mistake this monumental cannot go uncorrected….so I head back. I land at the Station and to my bewilderment yet another ravager is with me this time. Now I’m intrigued. This one is “crawlerorange” a variation that I had never tamed before and there must be some method to this madness. So I do some tests with dismissing and calling the ravager and low-and-behold his skin randomly changes with each summon. Now after I return to Petopia to investigate whether this is common or not I find that it is clearly documented. (Perhaps some of you more perceptive readers noticed this already.) Anyways, 3 ravagers in one? Sold.

So please give a round of applause to Prickle the newest member of my clan. Due to his Stat superiority he will most likely earn himself a permanent spot on my roster next to Caedmon.

Screenshots of my studies will be posted when I get to my home computer.

Underblog.

2007-11-13T11:29:00.000-08:00

Two nights ago I ran Underbog for the first time with a PUG. Our group consisted of…a level 70 warrior (not Tack), level 64 warrior, level 64 Paladin, level 62 rogue, and level 63 hunter (me). We were sort of strange mix, but it worked well and we had a great time.

Since reaching Outland I’ve had a few chances to practice my chain trapping in Ramparts and Blood Furnace. In Underbog I really fell into the rhythm of it and I feel very confident now. It’s all about the timing. Learning to set the trap ahead of time, so that the cool-down is up in time to set it again and again and sometimes…again. I was able to consistently trap a mob up to 3 times until the rest of the party was ready to burn him down. On a couple of occasions someone (I think our pally) broke the trap and it was stressful waiting for my cool-down or the group to assist me, but it never became a serious problem.

Then there is dps to discuss. Even though I was constantly trapping I still managed to top the dps charts. I was almost at 500 which was a full 100 higher than anyone else. My dps has recently increased a great deal by improving my hit rating. It was a good feeling to know that I was pulling my own weight.

After the second boss the group kind of fell apart. The Paladin needed to leave and our new Paladin needed to be summoned and we swam through some infested waters and all died and I needed to go to bed…but a fun night for sure.

The big two four.

2007-11-12T20:32:00.001-08:00

Whew, what a day. White chicken chili...cards...flowers...a new video camera...a new episode of Heroes...Pene got her staples out...the kitties got bathes...watched this funny Charmin commercial with a pink and blue bear...searched Temerity Jane's blog for a funny post she wrote about that subject. Now I feel the urge to write on my own blog.

Tonight I'm at T.G.I. Friday's and I'm wondering in my head, "Should I mention it's my birthday? I mean, they certainly must have some sort of a reward. It's Katie Day darn it. I must be entitled to some sort of chocolate sunday or something right?" But in the end I chose to keep it on the dl. Who wants a plain old sunday anyways? It's Katie Day and I need some cheesecake or something else worthy of the occasion.

So I'm eating my dinner and I kid-you-not the girl in the booth next to us has a birthday sunday delivered. It was a massacre. Total public humiliation. They make her stand-up next to them and then the shouting, singing, hullabaloo starts. I was embarrassed for her and thanking Elune that I didn't order anything alcoholic which could have blown my cover.

So watch out for T.G.I. Friday's and their false promises of free birthday deserts. They make you earn it.

Pene got cwned.

2007-11-02T07:38:00.000-07:00

Look at her lay there…all conked out after her hectic day. It’s not funny…but it sort of is.

I brought Penelope home from being spayed Wednesday evening. After getting home she immediately started picking at her stitches. So an hour later I realized that it wasn’t going to stop, so I had to rush back to the vet before they closed to pick up some “bitter orange” stuff to put on the incision. And it worked really great. All night she left it alone and cuddled and purred and all was well.

Then yesterday morning I wake up to find that she has managed to completely remove her stitches. And you can imagine it was very gross and I don’t deal well with those types of things. So luckily the vet opened in about 10 minutes, so I was able to rush her in.

(On a side note…it turns out that Pene hates the vet. She is the most loving affectionate kitten you could ever ask for and it’s because of her strong attachment to us that she pitches a fit at the vet’s office. I have never heard a cat hiss and growl like that. So it’s just pleasurable to take her there repeatedly.)

So the vet glued her shut and put more bitter orange on it. Now at this point the vet recommends that I keep an eye on her for a while to make sure that she leaves it alone.

And our morning/afternoon consists of:

She licks at it, I apply more bitter orange, she leaves it alone.

30 minutes later…

She licks at it, I apply more bitter orange, she leaves it alone.

30 minutes later…

She licks at it, I apply more bitter orange, she leaves it alone.

And by mid-afternoon her incision is half open again and we are headed back to the vet. This time the vet means business and so my poor, poor Pene got stapled/glued and a cone.

After getting back home she seemed just sort of defeated and slept for the rest of the day.

Happy Halloween!

2007-10-31T18:12:00.000-07:00

I decided to be BigRedKitty for Halloween. Like my costume?

Just for fun...

2007-10-31T12:39:00.000-07:00

This is from one of my regular sites I visit. http://icanhascheezburger.com/

Outland Baby!

2007-10-26T08:58:00.000-07:00

Taken right after I arrived.

Look at all those sexy cats.

2007-10-26T08:27:00.000-07:00

I was digging through my screenshots and I found this. A while back there were a couple of posts about how the size of a cat (or any pet) increases as it levels up on BRK's blog. Then I stumbled upon this unique photo opportunity. I should have written it down but I believe their levels were 8, 21, 54.

Yes, I’ll take a one way ticket to Outland please.

2007-10-25T14:45:00.000-07:00

So I’m in Outland now.

I don’t even know which topic to start with.

The experience is awesome. The loot is awesome. The quest rewards are crappy. Just kidding, they’re awesome too. The instances are awesome. The sky is absolutely awesome.

This reminds me of something…

DOG DIARY

8:00 am - Dog food! My favorite thing!
9:30 am - A car ride! My favorite thing!
9:40 am - A walk in the park! My favorite thing!
10:30 am - Got rubbed and petted! My favorite thing!
12:00 pm - Lunch! My favorite thing!
1:00 pm - Played in the yard! My favorite thing!
3:00 pm - Wagged my tail! My favorite thing!
5:00 pm - Milk bones! My favorite thing!
7:00 pm - Got to play ball! My favorite thing!
8:00 pm - Wow! Watched TV with the people! My favorite thing!
11:00 pm - Sleeping on the bed! My favorite thing!

CAT DIARY

Day 983 of my captivity.

My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects. They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while the other inmates and I are fed hash or some sort of dry nuggets. Although I make my contempt for the rations perfectly clear, I nevertheless must eat something in order to keep up my strength. The only thing that keeps me going is my dream of escape. In an attempt to disgust them, I once again vomit on the carpet. Today I decapitated a mouse and dropped its headless body at their feet. I had hoped this would strike fear into their hearts, since it clearly demonstrates what I am capable of. However, they merely made condescending comments about what a "good little hunter" I am. T here was some sort of assembly of their accomplices tonight. I was placed in solitary confinement for the duration of the event. However, I could hear the noises and smell the food. I overheard that my confinement was due to the power of "allergies." I must learn what this means, and how to use it to my advantage.

Today I was almost successful in an attempt to assassinate one of my tormentors by weaving around his feet as he was walking. I must try this again tomorrow -- but at the top of the stairs. I am convinced that the other prisoners here are flunkies and snitches. The dog receives special privileges. He is regularly released - and seems to be more than willing to return. He is obviously retarded. The bird has got to be an informant. I observe him communicate with the guards regularly. I am certain that he reports my every move. My captors have arranged protective custody for him in an elevated cell, so he is safe. For now...

This was emailed to me by a coworker. I can’t find the original source, but I wish I could give them credit.

Anyways, I’m like the dog…everything in Outland is my favorite thing.

And the cat one is just…well…hilarious.

I can has a mount?

2007-10-24T14:48:00.000-07:00

It was with Catja – human mage that I made my first grind to 40 in Wow. Gaining a mount might be one of the single most exciting milestones a player reaches. Tack and Catja were still the same level back then and we hit 40 on the same evening. Tack had no problem with the horse mount provided to humans. As a warrior the classic horse seemed fitting. Catja had different plans. A cat mount. Yes, definitely.

“I’m all magical and mana filled and girly and I love kitties and yes I would like a saber mount, please.”

And then that snooty b*&#* Lelanai – animal handler said, “No.”

“What? But I’ve waited 40 levels for this.”

So I spent a very upset evening reading forums about why the heck I couldn’t buy my Saber. Not enough reputation with Darnassus. Now I could be wrong about this…but I believe at this point in time the patch hadn’t been released to solve the rep/level problem. (The bulk of quests that grant Darnassus rep are for levels 1-30. So as a 40 doing these quests would grant me little to no rep at all. Now they have changed the system so that a player will still receive full reputation for a lower level quest.) It was impossible for me to get enough reputation with Darnassus as a human.

/fell asleep on a tear stained pillow

Fast forward to when I was leveling Cerwyn up to 40. I did my forum research and found that I need to be revered with Darnassus to get my kitty mount. (Wait, did she say revered? /sigh Yes, I said revered.)

So as soon as she got to level 10, I fled from Azuremist Isle and hit the shores of Darkshore. Then for 20 levels I did just about every quest in Darkshore and Ashenvale. Somewhere along the way I hit revered. “Yes, I’m ready.” And then I chose to do the rest of my leveling to 40 in Stranglethorn.

So 40 rolls around and go see if Lelanai is ready to talk business.

“No.”

WTF. After some more forum research I realize that I have been misinformed and I need to be exalted to get a Saber mount.

I chose to keep leveling and work on the Saber slowly. I would rather be a 70 riding an Elek than a 50 riding a cat. So a Teldrassil quest here and there, a little runecloth, a little morrowgrain.

And at 58 I finally got my Saber mount.

I got the white saber with spots. He looks like Caedmon inversed.

I will admit though, there is definitely something wrong with the animation for a Draenei riding a cat mount. It looks fine from the front and side I guess, but from behind it’s…well…awkward. Almost painful to watch. They sit too stiffly or something. I don’t know if they use the same animation as when they ride an Elek or what. She just sits to rigidly and the saber is very fluid. And then she is also sort of floating above the seat. Eh, I’m thinking when I get my epic the saddle will help mask the problem.

▲ The section up above was actually drafted out about two weeks ago and then never finished. Since then I have purchased an epic. The saddle and the faster speed have seemed to help the problem quite a lot. In the future I’m going to try and post a comparison video.

Ironically/coincidentally as I’m writing this post my boss shows up with her new Porsche…just released from customs after being imported from Europe.

http://www.porsche.com/usa/models/911/911-targa-4s

Now that is a mount.

Dermatology FTW?

2007-10-24T12:38:00.000-07:00

Recently many exciting events have taken place in the World of Warcraft.

Many things that we not had time to write about and here’s why…

http://www.skincaredrs.com

Completely designed and programmed by yours truly in one week (7 days straight with no weekend break).

/wallow in self-pity

So over the next few days there will be quite a flood of posts coming in to update you on my adventures.

I’m not so sure about PUG’s.

2007-10-10T15:11:00.000-07:00

Quite a long time ago Tack, Thegorke, and Catja started a guild. Originally we had a few people…enough to get the charter signed at least. Now it’s dwindled down to just us and our alts. There is actually one other person. They’re very mysterious though. They log in quite frequently but never seem to level up. Gold farmer?

Anyways, it’s been handy for situations for when we all want to talk, but aren’t in a group together. Other than that our guild is useless. I’m getting to the point where I need one. So the time has come to either start some sort of wild marketing scheme to get our attendance in the hundreds…or move on to greener pastures.

This whole subject has become relevant because I’m trying to get back into instancing. Friday night I did a PUG and ended up running around the Sunken Temple with a bunch of 15 year olds. /sigh

The whole experience was a disaster. I’d even call it a debacle.

First, we had no tank. There was one other hunter and so our pets were the tanks. Ok fine, I can live with that. This is, however, where the stupidity began. Throughout the entire instance we rarely had a “plan”. But occasionally the group leader came up with this. There are 3 mobs. The rogue zaps triangle, the group kills skull, and the pets attack square.

“Wait, what?” you say. My thoughts as well. So if everyone is attacking skull, but the tanks are attacking square…who’s skull attacking? I mean, if there is one thing a BM hunter needs to work effectively it’s their pet…so I spent about 6 seconds burning down square by myself and then assisted in finishing off skull. (I was about 5 levels higher than everyone else, so I was able to take down mobs by myself.) And when the group leader would present this plan I tried to explain that the hunters and their pet should work together…no response.

There were countless other problems and miscommunications that I’m not even going to get into. The one good thing I can say is that we never wiped…but that was because we were very overqualified for the instance.

Anyways, after we got in there and I realized it was a bad group I didn’t want to be a jerk and leave right away, which would ruin their fun…so I stuck around for about an hour. Then the rogue or someone had to leave and I grabbed the chance to get out as well.

So I’m in the market for a new guild.

‘Hi, my name is LittleBlackKitty and I have an addiction.’

2007-10-10T12:59:00.000-07:00

Typically, I first wake up in the morning at 7:00. This is when the alarm goes off and I hastily hit snooze. Don’t be mistaken. This is not when I get up. This is when I make sure that Mr. Tack has heard his wake-up call. After he gets out of bed this is when the good sleep starts. Can anyone deny that stretching across the whole bed produces the best quality sleep? I didn’t think so. So the kitties curl up on top of or beside me and we slip back into blissful dreams.

Moving forward. At 9:00 (eh, maybe a little after) I finally open my dreary eyes and get ready. After a quick shower and some necessary primping I head off to work. The goal is to make it there by 10:00 (give or take 10 minutes). Then I head over to my computer. Check for any urgent emails and then go grab some coffee.

Now it’s time. I launch Firefox > Bookmarks > Entertainment > BigRedKitty. First one on the list. There is almost always something waiting for us. Whoot. Usually it’s a letter from some level 70 hunter whose problems are about 15 levels ahead of us and the witty solution BRK provides won’t help us for quite some time…it doesn’t matter. We check his blog approximately once an hour for the duration of our workday. It’s this humorous ‘fix’ that gets us through the day. My fellow designer whose cubicle is behind mine probably wonders about me. “What is that girl up to?”

In fact, I just checked it now…nothing new. /sigh

I just can’t get enough of it. Is it the witty humor? The oversized ego? The kitty? Probably all of the above…but in addition I think it’s the knowledge I gain.

There are many people in the world (none of whom are reading this blog) that feel video games are not useful. They feel that video games are a waste of time, as they produce nothing…nothing tangible at least. Perhaps part of that is true. Do I play to relax and forget about my long day? Yes I do. Have I spent many a Saturday hermitted up in my apartment playing…when perhaps the laundry should have been done instead? Well of course.

But I think that games generally (and for me this game particularly) are much more than a way to spend aimless afternoons. It can become a hobby and a learning experience. I’ve increased my vocabulary, learned about strategy, and most importantly teamwork.

Anyways, this is my hobby and I love to study it. This is why I’m so hooked on BRK’s blog among others. For every piece of information that doesn’t pertain to me there is one that does. I may not be doing upper level instances yet, but I will someday and the content there won’t be a huge surprise when I get there. There is also a lot of content that is aimed at lower level players and I’ve benefited from all of it.

I think reading wow blogs and wow sites improves us as players in many aspects…not just the hunting ones.

Just checked his blog again.

Holy Hell...8 minutes until the new BRK WowInsider column.

Funny Bunny FTW

2007-10-03T16:13:00.000-07:00

When you are living/sleeping/raising kittens with a level 70 warrior there are perks. For example, there is typically no quest you cannot complete. When a red quest should present itself, merely turn to the desk next to you and sweetly whisper “Hey ‘Funny Bunny’*, could you maybe help me with this quest when you get a moment?”

If you haven’t met a warrior, specifically the fury kind, know this: they like to show off. Don’t get me wrong, this is a good thing. They won’t object one bit to coming to the rescue. And then when you see the sweat on their rippling muscles and the sun glinting off their shiny armor you’ll be glad they like to save damsels in distress (or whomever might be in need). Oh and then there’s the sword…big and aglow with some flashy enchant. Yes, I’ll take a warrior bodyguard any day.

So in addition to quests, we’ve had many adventures running instances together. In the beginning it was probably too easy. We completely breezed through Uldaman and Zul’Farrak. Often I barely had time to send Caedmon after a bully and fire a shot before the fiend was dead.

Then we got to Blackrock Depths and that was slightly more difficult. Not that we couldn’t do it, but it took a little more strategy which was good. At first I wanted to learn chain trapping, but we actually found the most success with dropping my frost trap to slow the mobs down….which equals less damage for Tack. So between Tack, Caedmon, and I we could take on 4 or more mobs and live to brag about it.

Recently we went and tried out the Temple of Atal’Hakkar (Sunken Temple) because I had about 7 quests to finish in there. We actually haven’t finished it yet, but so far we have been receiving suburb loot and that makes me happy. I also have zero competition for the stuff I can use, so I picked up a pair of shoulder pads the other night that are pretty solid.

Then Sunday we went and tested out Dire Maul east. We actually wanted to find some additional party members…but for the love of Elune there was no one interested. Anyways, it was considerably more difficult and we are starting to reach our limit. We did, however, clear out 2 bosses with only two deaths. Honestly though, the loot there was ‘eh’. Nothing spectacular at all. Did anyone else experience this? Maybe it was just the section we were in.

Anyways, this evening I plan on whispering sweetly to my 'Babester'* that we should make a temple run.

* If you didn’t already realize it from our cat names…we like to name stuff. We have lists upon lists of nicknames for each other that have evolved over time…you don’t even want to know some of mine.

My identical hand twin

2007-10-03T16:11:00.000-07:00

Saturday I’m in the Ironforge auction house trying to upgrade my pooie armor. And for the record…I can’t seem to find anything decent armor within 10 levels of myself. I need to start running more instances…more on that later. So I happen to look to my left and notice that my long lost twin is standing right next to me. Anyways, she grew up to be a Shaman I guess…hunting must not run in the family.

Mervyn "The Infinite"

2007-10-01T15:08:00.000-07:00

It’s Friday night and my red-hot plans involve running around Darnassus trying to earn rep. I’m handing in Runecloth and Morrowgrain, because Elune as my witness my Epic mount will be a saber. Dahlia and Pene are running around like crazies, playing a rather rambunctious game of “Who’s chasing who?” Dahlia makes a not-so graceful land onto my desk and knocks over some stale orange soda. “OMG WTF…does someone need a timeout?” Anyways, I go grab a towel to begin the recovery effort on the beige carpet.

Then Tack – human warrior (who is helpfully watching this whole mess go down) points out that someone has whispered me in the game. It says, “Hi, LBK.” LBK? But that’s my blogging name. Whoot, it’s a reader! I didn’t believe that in all the realm of Hyjal there was a soul who’d read my blog.

So Mervyn - Nightelf Hunter gets a shout out because:

He’s the first reader to say hi.
It’s cool when a level 70 hunter acknowledges my presence.

Check out his blog The Eternal nOObie.

The Not So Black Little Kitty

2007-09-27T15:37:00.001-07:00

So I've mentioned my precious little Dahlia and the legacy she's inspired, but I've completely neglected to mention my second "child" Pene. I'm a terrible kitty mother.

Their full names are Dahlia Lindau Shamalan and Penelope Artemis Bonkers-Bjorn. Pene is the LittleWhiteKitty. Both of them love to curl up in Grandma Tack's knit blanket on my desk and sleep while I play Wow.

The great Feralas expedition.

2007-09-25T15:05:00.000-07:00

Caedmon was way behind on his level of claw, so this weekend I headed over to Feralas to tame a bear and obtain it. To free up a stable slot for this mission I had to say goodbye to Malfoy my red wind serpent. It wasn’t heartbreaking. I never really cared for him. (In fact, I lied. His name isn’t Malfoy. He’s been sitting in the stable unnamed and I just wanted an easy way to refer to him in the future.)

I had to choose between him and Franklin the Turtle (Caedmon has earned a permanent life-shield). Honestly, I hate Franklin too. And here’s why: he’s got a lot of armor, but less dps. He can’t hold aggro either…which means that I have to produce less dps as well…unless I want mobs running at me…which leads to melee…which is just a mess. So the result is…we are a highly inefficient team. He is adorable, however, so he’s gained sanctuary for another week or so.

So anyways, I’m riding my Elek through Northern Feralas (which I must recommend for anyone interested in a lovely fall stroll). And I tame this bear…and I get claw rank 7…and then I see it. This gorgeous red gorilla. So I tame him...name him Thor...and we’ve been hanging out all weekend. I’m a fan of his Thunderstomp move, which allows him to hold aggro on multiple mobs, so I’m free to use Multi-shot as I please.

So please say hello to Thor, god of Thunder.

Foolish little salesman.

2007-09-21T13:04:00.000-07:00

It was a sunny afternoon at Northshire Abbey the day I started my first Wow character. Catja - human mage was running around killing wolves like nobody's business. "2 copper and a piece of linen cloth...sweet! I'll be a millionaire in no time." Does anybody else remember this? You're brand new to the World of Warcraft and you're broke as a joke...and you have no idea.

It didn't hit me until I took my first venture into Stormwind. "Hot Child in the City" is playing in my head. Remember walking through the Valley of Heroes past those huge statues? "That's gonna be me!" I thought to myself as I gazed up at the night-elf hunter with a hawk on her arm. Hold on, hold on. Is that even what she is? Ok, I'm back from my research. Captain Alleria Windrunner - high-elf (blood-elf) ranger (closest playable character is a marksmanship hunter). I'm so far of track.

Money...I needed money to make all of my dreams come true. I turned to the rare recipe resell black market. I don't really want to get into the ethics of it...but at the time it helped me get my character established. I don't, however, do it anymore as it isn't worth my time...farming seems to be paying the bills.

Back to the point. During my recipe collecting travels I frequently picked up one for the Accurate Scope. What's a scope? Didn't know, didn't care. Last night I bought my first scope. Fantastic. Huge increase in dps for a ranged weapon. I should have bought one 48 levels ago, but I had no idea they were an option.

Hmmmm...what point am I trying to make?

Present day Cerwyn would kick past day Catja in the behind for not taking two seconds to read the description on the recipe (not that she could have used it without being an engineer...but at least she would have known they existed).

And scopes rule.

This just in...

2007-09-20T19:38:00.000-07:00

Tack is doing Durnholde Keep as we speak and you'll never guess who's topping the DPS charts. If you guessed a rogue...that's wrong. The correct answer is a hunter.

Ok, in all fairness...when the hunter's pet was counted separately he was actually in 3rd. Tack was at the top, closely followed by Thegorke.

All smiles.

2007-09-20T10:33:00.000-07:00

Whew, I've finally regained consciousness after fainting yesterday. Don't worry, other than a little dehydration and a headache I'm fine. The blackout began yesterday when I checked my blog hoping that perhaps someone had stumbled upon my tiny newbie blog. To my extreme delight the BRK had left a comment. Now today I find that I've been mentioned on his blog. The hunting gods must be smiling down on me.

It's funny because I think Tack - human warrior is already sick of me talking about the BRK and now this will undoubtedly fuel the fire. I'm constantly like, "The BRK says 'Say no to Serpent sting'", "The BRK says I should learn chain trapping", "The BRK says hunters are supposed to provide massive amounts of sustained ranged DPS", and the list goes on.

Last night I even told Dahlia, "The BRK watched your video...you're just like Hobbes."

One more thing, if someone is not familiar with the BRK (however, if you have made it to my blog...you most likely got here from his) may I recommend reading "BigRedKitty: The Stable Situation"? It's in my "Top 5" BRK articles and I think hunters of all levels can relate and enjoy it.

About Little Black Kitties.

2007-09-18T12:26:00.000-07:00

To begin, you must understand a few things about Katies. This one in particular. They like the color pink, vintage My Little Ponies, a good Malibu diet, and most importantly kittens.

The term "LittleBlackKitty" was termed about the same time I started this hunter. It actually refers to my "muse" Dahlia. For a better visual, enter here and check out the "little black kitty" link. In addition, it refers to Cerwyn's first and most beloved pet Caedmon. He is also a "LittleBlackKitty" in the fact that he is black (with white spots) and has been with me since he was a tiny level 9 (the rare "Duskstalker").

I will not, however, deny that there is a certain about of hero worship when it comes to the BigRedKitty and it is a happy coincidence that our names have a certain similarity. :)

In the beginning.

2007-09-18T11:19:00.000-07:00

If a person could travel back in time and spy on my usual evening activities one year ago...they might see some casual internet surfing, likely some online Boggle action, occasionally some Ebay hunting for vintage My Little Ponies, and most definitely an irritated Katie waiting for her BF to finish playing his video games and pay her some attention. These were the days long before my WarCrack addiction.

Approximately some time in early December of last year my BF (a veteran video gamer) decided to open a Wow account. A few weeks later I decided to do the same...10 days free...why not? Flash forward to the present and I've dedicated an entire blog to this ~~obsession~~ hobby.

So after starting Wow I spent a ridiculous 6 months leveling a fire mage. This was great fun when Tack - human warrior was there to tank for me. However, eventually Tack spent more time on the servers than me and Catja - human mage was left in the dust. Don't get me wrong...she is powerful...but cloth armor bites, so she still sits at level 48.

Then one fateful afternoon I was working on leveling some tiny little alts, which is fun because the first few levels breeze by oh-so-quickly. What's this? A Draenei hunter. Wicked cool crossbow? Check. Leather armor? Check. Possibility for my own personal tank? Check. Stylish horns? Check. The deal was made.

Cerwyn - draenei hunter is currently at 52 and so as we edge closer and closer to 70 I thought it would be an opportune time to begin documenting our wild adventures.