WotLK Archives - Anexxia's Bible of Dreams

We Saved Bolvar

Congratulations to all of AF’s new Kingslayers! And thank you all for making one Boomkin’s dreams come true.

Bolvar, we can never forget you, despite your request. Safe travels.

And the Winner is…Me! Blazing Hippogryph Mount is All Mine

That’s right, your eyes are not deceiving you: that’s an undead priest on a hippogryph mount. Mwahahahaha!

You see, over the course of the past month, I’d been retweeting the @rawrcast contest twitter phrase, for a chance to win a Blazing Hippogryph mount code, courtesy of the Wootloots.com peeps. (NOTE: I’ve been a subscriber to the Rawrcast podcast for a good while, and had been following them on twitter since I made my first serious effort to find all the folks whose blogs I read/podcasts I listened to and follow them.)

I certainly didn’t expect to win — after all I most commonly roll a 6 or a 7 whenever I want an item that drops in a raid. Lucky is *not* my middle name.

So it seriously made my week to get a DM that I’d won the mount from the June contest. For those of you not familiar with it, the mount is an exceptionally uncommon loot card from the WoW trading card game.

Her feet are even still on fire in shadowform! How cool is that?

When I told my guildies of my extreme good luck, my GM asked me “So, wait, did you set a hippogryph on fire, Anexxia?” “Uh..no! Of course not! It was on fire when I found it!” (likely story, yes?)

I don’t think I’ll be eligible to win their Blizzcon t-shirt slogan contest now, but that won’t stop me from sending them my ideas…I am torn between a 2-sider with “I remember you…” on the front and “…in the mountains” on the back, or, in the sassy spirit their podcast embodies, maybe a naughty defile reference, but I am honestly too tired at the moment to think of one witty enough.

And yes, I milled around in Dalaran to show the guildies my new toy.

Thanks again Rawrcast — you’ve made this pet and mount collector very very happy.

cheers!

Mission Accomplished: Gnome Mage Dings 80!

With a lot of help from friends and guildies who patiently helped Fyn and I grind out XP and phat lewts in regular dungeons all day today, my wee gnome mage, who languished at 72 for the better part of a year and a half, hit 80 today. I am so proud. She will now be both ready and able to assist with the Gnomer liberation in a few months. Huzzah!

P.S. did you know penguins can fly? I had no idea:

Continue reading “Mission Accomplished: Gnome Mage Dings 80!”

BQL25 and Dreamwalker25 Also Completed!

Wow. What a week for us Pirates…

Two new bosses down in 25-man tonight, and after killing Halion on Tuesday. I’m wiped out just thinking about all that raiding…

🙂

Blood Queen gave us a little trouble, thanks to blips with the bite order, then Dreamwaker was a relative cakewalk. I think we got her on our second try. Which was probably our third try ever on 25man. Thank you WoW Gods for a great night of raiding.

Halion Dead!

It was cool to get to sub in unexpectedly tonight when I got home. My second shot at him, and WHAM! Dead! Whooohoo!

I had an easy job — stayed out in Phase 3 if I understand it correctly. Ran around and avoided that damn fire that gave me Mount Hyjal flashbacks. Avoided the General Vezax void crashes on the ground. Ran away from the fire circles. Had a great time. Not bad for a Tuesday night.

My Wrath of the Lich King Best Ofs…

With the Wrath of the Lich King expansion all but completed, this felt like a good time to look back at WotLK and share my thoughts on what was most memorable and fun for me in this expansion.

Best Quest Chain Payoff: Wrathgate.

I’ve heard through the grapevine that some people I know actually avoid or skip this chain while leveling, but so far, I’ve completed it as soon as possible on each of my characters, be they Alliance or Horde.

I remember my first time through, which was Alliance-side. I was so proud when Bolvar Fordragon said to me, as an aside, Psychocandy, I remember what you did for me back in the day.” (I paraphrase. but still.) Bolvar? Remember little ol’ me? My heart fluttered, it truly did. And then I followed him into battle, only to watch him fall in battle, always the hero.

That would have been enough to give it the best of slot, but it’s capped off with the Battle for the Undercity, which showed off their phasing capabilities, and truly made me feel I was an integral part of the storyline in a way nothing had previously.

Second runner up: The Wolvar and Gorlok chains in Sholozar basin.”You see his face? He so scared!”

Best Addition to the Shadow Priest’s Arsenal: Mind Sear.

Mind sear, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways…I love you when the tank mispulls two packs but holds onto them. I love you when the pack of geists comes in to Rotface/Festergut’s corridor. I love you when they # gets to something unfathomable on recount. And I most especially loved you on Ony’s whelps. How did shadow priests live without an AOE? oh that’s right, everyone used to love us for being a mana battery and for having a passive heal that was often a solid third healer in raids. That’s right…

Second runner up: Improved Devouring Plague. Spam it baby!

My Biggest Sense of Accomplishment, Raid Edition: Defeating Arthas.

I honestly can not think of any other boss that took as much time and trial and error as Arthas. This is partially due to the changing nature of our raid teams each night. My earlier WoW raiding was almost always with pretty much the same 25/40 people each week, which made progression a little more smooth and go a little more quickly. But it just made the victory over him that much sweeter. The fact that he popped up throughout the expansion, taunting us, also gave us more bloodthirst than I had for Illidan, for example. I actually felet somewhat bad about breaking into Illidan’s house and stealing his stuff. Killing Arthas? We were doing the work of the Light, and freeing him.

My Biggest Sense of Accomplishment, Not About Raiding: Finally Making a Go of it Horde-side.a.k.a. the little shadow priest that could. This entire blog for the past year has, essentially, been a chronicle of that.

My Hero of the Expansion: Bolvar Fordragon.

Yes, I know I talk about Bolvar a lot. And I named my kitty after him too. But for good reason! He embodied the goodness of the light in all things he did. Starting initially with the end of the Onyxia chain, but in WotLK with the Wrathgate chain, and ending with the Lich King’s death cut scene, Bolvar Fordragon was always a hero, sacrificing himself for the greater good. They don’t make heroes like him often. A big thank you to Blizzard for keeping true to his character throughout the expansion. Even though you disregarded his final wish to keep things quiet *glances at Dalaran fountain.*

No one even came close for me, so no runners-up for this. Sorry Tirion Fordring, even though you were a great hulking Paladin you just didn’t capture my heart. Especially not after the raid nicknamed you Captain Popsicle.

Best waste of my gold: The Mechanohog.

Yeah yeah yeah. It’s a waste of gold. You don’t need a motorcycle. But it’s so shiny! I had to make it twice. And I have never thought to myself that I wanted back the 12,500G in vendor mats that I spent on it. It paid for itself in amusing me while waiting for Ulduar raids to start, as I jumped off stairwells and foothills with abandon.

Second Runner Up: Making my very first engineer her helicoptors.

TO BE CONTINUED

I’ll post more best ofs as they occur to me. Because Summertime is all about sequels, yes? But what about you? What are your WotLK Best ofs?

Friday Five: 5 Things I Accomplished with 5 FPS

Since I am still without my super awesome desktop computer, I bring you today's Friday Five, on the things I have managed to accomplish on my rickety old laptop, with its 5 FPS…

I got my new DK out of the starting area. I know this doesn't sound like much to those of you with a whole army of alts, but have I mentioned here lately how I made a gnome DK on the day Wrath came out? And how she's still in the DK starting area? I blame the quest where you have to beat the living daylights out of those Scarlets for information…
I got the DK's skinning to 300 and Mining to 254. She'll have her professions Outland-ready by the time before I get my computer back. And she's made a tidy pile of cash for my future Alliance alts on the new server.
I braved the yellow to red latency and the low FPS to finish the last couple of pre-Wrathgate quests my gnome mage had. All because I wanted to go visit Bolvar. *sniffle* WTB more phased/instanced content like the Battle for Undercity. That was blissfully lag-free.
Re-organized my bank alt guild's tab content, including throwing out some items I don't think I'll be needing for Cataclysm. It's a fine line between holding on to items for my future goblin hunter and having my bank be too full of crap that Cataclysm will render obsolete and worthless. See also why I've sold all my mithril casings. And yes, as @Shieldbreakr noted last week, I am obsessed with having an orderly bank!
Survived what would have been tough WoW-withdrawl. Even with all there is to do here, especially on the days with the gorgeous weather, I do enjoy winding down my evening with some WoW time. I would have been bummed out to have been completely WoW-free for this past busy week. I cheered on my 25-man raid team from the sofa last night. Sad to not be in there with them, but happy to see that they

P.S. Achievement #1 is due entirely to the support of Psynister. Huzzah!

Small Moments: Raiding Traditions

Note: if you have never stepped foot inside of Icecrown Citadel, and would consider anything relating to the plotline therein to be a spoiler, please do not read further today as it contains a small spoiler.

It’s the little things that can make or break a raid.

The guildie who turns everyone into bunnies or ninjas or pirates as you wait for your last raider to log in.

The nekkid danceparty screenshots for especially hard-won victories.

Ever since working on Chromaggus in Blackwing Lair, I’ve had my own small tradition: before a final or near-final boss fight, I make a basic campfire.

Back in the day that small spirit increase helped my druid eek out another few smidges of heals I’m sure. 4 1/2 years later, it helps rekindle the focus and excitement of inching closer to a kill. And it provides a great visual marker on the floor for whatever it is we’re doing.

The first night we stepped foot in Icecrown citadel, however, a new tradition was born for me, due to this exchange started by Highlord Tirion Fordring:

The Lich King says: You now stand upon the hallowed ground of the Scourge. The Light won’t protect you here, paladin. Nothing will protect you…

Highlord Tirion Fordring says: ARTHAS! I swore that I would see you dead and the Scourge dismantled! I’m going to finish what I started at Light’s Hope.

The Lich King says: You could’ve been my greatest champion, Fordring. A force of darkness that would wash over this world and deliver it into a new age of strife.

The Lich King says: But that honor is no longer yours. Soon, I will have a new champion.
The Lich King says: The breaking of this one has been taxing. The atrocities that I have committed upon his soul. He has resisted for so long, but he will bow down before his king soon.

Highlord Bolvar Fordragon says: NEVER! I… I will never… serve… you.

The Lich King says: In the end you will all serve me.

Bolvar! Here in ICC? Without thinking, in that split second, I yelled in reply: “BOLVAR! We will save you!”

And that became my rallying cry every first night in ICC, when we would hear that exchange. And finally, once we faced the Lich King, my rallying cry each night.

On the few occasions I did not make it to our weekly raid (vacation, or being sat out when we have an overflow of DPS), it got back to me that my battle cry was yelled in my stead. To say this warmed my heart immensely doesn’t even begin to capture how it felt to hear that.

The night we defeated Arthas, I changed things up a bit. I said, “Bolvar! We will save you, TONIGHT!” And we did.

A small tradition, to be sure, but one that gave my raiding throughout ICC a purpose. Bolvar Fordragon had long been my most beloved hero of the Alliance, and thus inspired this small tradition, that I will remember always.

I’m sure I’m not the only one who has made their own raiding traditions. What are yours?

The King is Dead! Long Live the Lich King!

Last night, after 11 raiding nights, spread out over 5-6 weeks, at a cost of about $1,000 gold to those of us who came most nights (we had a few weeks with repairs turned on which was a blessing, but this is still our RL's ballpark cost), we defeated the Lich King.With 10/10 standing for the ending which feels pretty damn impressive to me for a first kill.

This also meant I FINALLY got to experience the cut scene and the ending of the fight myself. The cinematic was a perfect end cap to the Wrathgate cinematic, and an effective closure to this expansion.

Good job Blizzard. And thank you for keeping one of my favorite characters true to himself to the very end. Sniffle. That's all I am saying about the ending and the cinematic, to avoid spoiling it for anyone. And yes, at the end of the fight, I thanked my guildies for allowing me to make it through that fight to see the conclusion myself first-hand, without having it spoiled.

The spoilers from twitterland prepared me somewhat for the ending but did not totally ruin the impact for me. So that's a good thing. And thank you for Naie after that incident for encouraging me to keep hope alive I could attain my personal goal, retaining the rallying cry I yelled every night 1 of every ICC raid we've done as a team.

It's been a long road to the Lich King. My RL just reminded me it has been 3 tanks, 5 healers, and 10 dps that participated in the learning curve from start to finish too. A huge effort. But we're done. It feels pretty amazing to actually kill the final boss of an expansion before the next expansion (or all its uber talent changes hits — hello patch 3.0 I am looking at you.)

I took a ton of screenshots, none of which I am posting here as most are incredibly spoilerific, like this one. And I sat down on the stairs of the frozen throne for a very long time, and got screenshots there with some of my favorite raiders.

How We Stack Up

Just for fun, here are some statistics regarding our server's raiding progress, courtesy of Guild Progress:

Bronzebeard
Ranked Guilds: 310
209 Alliance 101 Horde

Icecrown Citadel 10 Boss Kills

Lich King 5.81%
Sindragosa 10.65%
Rescue Valithiria 18.39%
Blood-Queen Lana'thel 15.81%
Blood Prince Council 18.39%
Professor Putricide 19.35%
Festergut 39.03%
Rotface 33.87%
The Deathbringer 44.84%
Gunship Battle 48.71%
Lady Deathwhisper 49.68%
Lord Marrowgar 50.97%

Bummer

I managed to avoid the Lich King cut scene on the Dalaran fountain.

I managed to avoid the comic contest spoiler.

I managed to avoid the original MMO Champion dialogue and cut scene post spoiler.

But in the excitement over the leaked Alpha screenshots MMO Champion posted today, I finally found out what I wanted to see for myself when we finally kill the Lich King.

And I am bummed out.

We got the Lich King to 32% last night. So we are very very close now.

We go back in to see him tonight.

But I won't be able to give my usual battle cry. because it's been spoiled for me. And it does bum me out a bit.

Over the next 5 months or 6 months, the Internet is going to be filled with spoilers galore. And again I will implore folks to think twice about what you post that other folks can not avoid. Consider keeping your spoilers to your blogs where you can provide a spoiler alert. Twitter, alas, doesn't give folks a real opportunity to skip over the spoilers. And I for one don't want to have to stop reading twitter. So please do think twice before posting spoilers there.

Thanks and safe travels.

And P.S. Asros I know you didn't mean to spoil it for me.