The Farstrider Scout

So, we’re picking ourselves up and moving on.  Mailboxes have been cleared for an extended absence, and LotRO is slowly starting to grow on me again.  Granted, I really don’t feel like I can quit cold turkey, so I’m keeping things going with an alt (that seems to be forgettable) every once in a while.  We’ll see how things go.  The nice thing is that my role really doesn’t change much, and so even though I’m playing a completely different game, I’m going to continue this blog.  It won’t be nearly as WoW-centric, and there really won’t be very much as far as PvP goes, I don’t think, since it’s a totally different system.  The stories though, are already starting to form in my head…  And I take that as a good thing.

Tellingly though, a day after I leave, someone from Blood Wolves makes a post on the forums in what seems to be aimed at smearing my wife’s name, accusing her of trying to smear theirs.  Much consternation at home ensued, but once I was awake enough to read and understand, I focused on the first reply, from someone who also used to be a member of the Blood Wolves.  Basically, it boiled down to this:  The situation only really concerns a small minority of the people on the server – why are you trying to stir up more shit?

So if you think about this, it can really fall back on one of the sayings that you hear when someone complains about getting killed in PvP on the forums:  PvP happened.

So yeah.

Drama happened.

Well, the solution to my problem presented itself yesterday, and as of today, I am no longer a member of the Blood Wolves. I just hope the guild master realizes the consequences of his actions – and not just in my situation either, since only all but one of the members that was in the guild when I joined have since left.

Personally I feel much better now that I have made my decision, but now comes another question – to continue playing the game at all or not.  After a lengthy discussion with my wife, we have both come to the conclusion that we need to take a break from WoW…  Or at least start playing less.

As we all no, Blizzard’s servers are powered by a hampster on a wheel, and the tears of guild drama….   And right now, my guild is contributing their share, which must be long overdue.

Long story, short:  A guild member has been developing a less than desirable reputation by using the snake trap exploit…  But in this case, he decided to kill a naked level 70, and then brag about it on the forums…  And everything exploded from there.  /golfclap

Soo, that leads me to my situation.  What reason, really, do I have to stay with the guild?  Right now, there are 2 people that make this game worth playing for me, and as of today, neither are in the guild.  And if I do leave, should it be quietly in the middle of the night?  Or should I talk to the GM about it.

Or should I even keep playing at all?

Did I make a wrong turn somewhere on my way back from Florida?  I feel like I’ve been playing Alliance when it comes to battlegrounds on my druid lately.  Horde is making all the mistakes that Alliance normally would, and as a result, only luck has gotten us the occasional win.  I haven’t taken Arvelen to any BG’s at all, and my paladin seems to only have half luck – 2 AV wins back to back, but only after joining an AB where Horde started with 2, Alliance with 9, which slowly grew to a 6 on 15 fight.

I haven’t felt like playing Arv much at all lately, save to go to Gnomeregon once in a half-hearted attempt to obtain some [Petrospill Leggings] for Drekoran, and to go to Stratholme.  My attempts to solo there were quickly squashed, even with me dual boxing with the paladin.  I was able to solo up to Cannon Master Willy with 4-5 deaths, but there it ended.  Stratholme is vastly different from all the other old world instances that I’ve been through as of yet.  The undead come in so great numbers that it’s impossible to sneak by them, or run through them and feign death.  I eventually ended up doing a full clear of the area that I was travelling through, with some quick trapping.  Wyvern sting was worthless as well, at least until I got to the area filled with Scarlet Crusade, which became a whole different juggling act.

Needless to say, I won’t be trying for Scholomance either, even if I was able to put a key together.

So you’re driving down the road, minding your own business…  You spot a car, or cars, pulled off to the side, a field of debris scattered over the road, and no emergency vehicles in sight.  What do you do?  Stop and help?  Or try to ignore it, and drive on?

Sadly, today my answer would be the latter, and I rather regret my decision, as I feel almost obligated to help, both because of the training I’ve recieved as a Boy Scout and a member of the Air Force, and because it’s the right thing to do.

Unfortunately, I feel the latter is what the majority of people would do, given this situation and the state that our (American, I can’t speak for any other country) society has developed into.

But it’s food for thought, and something that I needed to get off my chest.

 On a lighter note, the global email listing that military people have available to them is quite nice…  I found BRK’s work email address today.

After going through one poor PUG experience myself, and my wife describing one of hers from today, I have come up with a new rule:  The Rule of Stupid Names.

 This rule is pretty straightforward and simple, and really only can apply to roleplaying servers.  It goes like this:  If you have a stupid name (I.E. Pattymelt, Moobull, Pwnpower, etc.) and you ask if I want to group with you for an instance, my answer will be no, even if I am playing a much needed class (Tank/healer).

This rule is developed under the assumption that, if you have a stupid name, and are playing on a roleplaying server, you’re an idiot.

Because 99% of the time, they are.

Well, actually I got back Friday night, but who’s counting?  After a week and a half of (nearly) no internet, I’m ready to get back in the swing of things.

Omen is still waiting in Moonglade for me to kill him.  After 2 hours of kiting him around the same tree and getting him down to 50%, the small group I was with wiped, and he despawned.  Hopefully I’ll be able to get him before he’s gone until next year.

And the guild wants to go to Molten Core!  Woo!

Temporary DutY.  Or “Temporary Divorce, Yo!”  However you want to call it.  I’m currently at Eglin AFB, FL (Read: Not at home), where we’ll be putting our newly upgraded aircraft to the test.

As I predicted, there is no wired internet access in our rooms, and the wireless signal from the lobby isn’t strong enough to pass through 8 layers of concrete and probably about 150 ft. of open space…  So posting will be spotty, if not non-existant, as will any game time, unless I lug my laptop over to the lobby and set it up.  Le sigh.

Have I mentioned how much I hate F-16’s?

It’s been a few days since I wrote anything, no thanks in part to my work schedule.  We went to 12 hour shifts for all of one whole day, but then I get told I’m going to day shift next week, resulting in another 24+ hours awake spree.  Ugh.  The upside to it was that I essentially got Friday off, since I got off of work at 8 am and stayed up until midnight with about an hour and a half nap to tide me over.

On to the main part of the post!  I finally finished BRD…  Solo, of course, and I cheated a bit.  I’ve already gotten as far as The Seven, and attune with Molten Core.  I ended up wiping when I tried to gather the torches and open the last doors that time, so I called it.

When I first started out to finish it yesterday, I figured “Hey, I’ll just talk to the guy to take me down to the Core, then pop out the exit and find myself in BRD where I left off!”  Yeah, not so much.  First, you have to be in a raid group to enter.  A quick invite to a guild member, switched the party to raid, and popped through.  Turned around, hit the exit and…  We’re back where we started.  No dice.  So, a quick thanks to the guild member for trying, and we head in the slow way.

Now, the nice thing about having gone so far before is that I already have everything I need to speed things through – a [Shadowforge Key], and “The Love Potion” quest completed.  So, I quickly run through, past the Grim Guzzler to Ambassador Flamelash, who is quickly killed… And this is where things change.  Normally, you would have to go through and fight The Seven, which is by far the hardest fight in the instance, at least while solo.  Then the doors would open and you could continue on.  There is, however, a large pool of lava between Flamelash’s platform and the Black Forge, with a small, fire elemental filled island.  So, if you have enough health and/or fire resist, you can just hop off and swim over to the Forge, which is behind the door that opens after the Seven.  And that’s exactly what I did.

The rest, as we say, is history.  The last bosses, Magmus and Emperor Thaurissan were absolute pushovers compared to the fight with the Seven, and within a few minutes, I had myself a new throne.