Odds & Ends

Just a small update on Dakona's progression and she continues to chip away. I recently got enough Valor Points to finally purchase her Fluid Death which I couldn't get equipped fast enough once I finished the daily Heroic. I managed to get myself into a Baradin Hold pug and I even got loot! Only problem is I don't PvP and the Vicious Gladiator's Chain Leggings will collect dust in my bank... so close too! I decided to drop my Herbalism profession which was sad because as a lot of people know I enjoyed picking flowers. I spent 7 hours on Tuesday leveling my new profession Engineering which I decided on a whim will be totally worth it once I get my Deadly Bio-Optic Killshades which I think are uber cool. I think in the long runs the added pets and mounts will make the expensive grind worth it as well. Also adding Nitro Boosts, Synapse Springs and Flexweave Underlay should help a noob like myself get out of some sticky situations and who knows maybe I'll even get a Jeeves so I can repair my wounds in private and out of public sight.

I find myself doing a lot of older content on my down time and as you can see by my latest achievements have gone back and finished some of the ones I had missed. I do Sethekk Halls once a day as I try hopelessly to get Raven Lord which I have wanted for years. I've started trying to solo things that I see other hunters have on youtube. I recently tried Al'ar at Tempest Keep, it was pretty late so I gave up after two tries although I think it will be very doable when I give it a serious go. I'm hoping to eventually get to Kael'thas Sunstrider which I hope to be able to solo regularly without issue. I feel it is only a matter of time before you see Dakona riding around on her Ashes of Al'ar. I stopped by to do a Karazhan run with my Warlock friend, it was the first time I had done Kara since my numerous runs back in B.C with different toons. I use to love Kara and remember doing back to back runs which took anywhere from 5-7 hours combined in one sitting. I miss those days so I was looking forward to seeing some familiar faces. Oddly enough Fiery Warhorse's Reins dropped off of Attumen the Huntsman 5 minutes in. I told my Warlock friend we would both roll Need and let fate decide. He agreed and I predictably lost the roll. He tried to trade it to me to which I refused. I'm not a fan of being handed stuff and I did lose fair and square. After 5 minutes of arguing he finally made me accept the damn horse and revealed a few seconds later that he already had it. He thought that was funny, I didn't fine it as amusing! It's not one of my favorite mounts, I got it on my Shadow Priest back in B.C when my hunter friend Jibjab graciously passed it to me. Seems this horse is destined to follow me. I am happy to have it for my collection, I know some people are not as fortunate so I don't take it for granted. I got a picture of myself and my new horse, accompanied by my Warlock friend and a random dude who wanted to get on TMZ.

Number 25

It was a rough week for Dakona to say the least but I've learned over my life that some of the best experience you can get comes from your failures, even epic ones. So yes there were lots of tough pills to swallow this week but I do think I came out ahead in the long run. I may have put the cart before the horse so to speak but as pointed out by some, I do need to put in more work in practice before I jump into a real game. With that said I did manage to salvage the week by getting something that had been previously out of my control. Without knowing many people on my server getting help can be somewhat of a challenge at times, luckily for me I am a hunter and we usually manage on our own. Befriending a warlock and a druid can have many different benefits as I found out on Thursday. Having learned I was seeking out help to kill a few bosses in Blackwing Lair to get to my beloved Chromaggus. Two guildies Sephirothz and Williee joined me as we took on the first boss Razorgore the Untamed where reports had been that he was bugged and a ticket from a GM revealed it would be corrected in the next update. Nonetheless we gave it a go having read some people had managed to get him down even with the bug. We tried several times with different strategies but it was clear the bug would prevent us from killing him and I wasn't to disappointed having found some patient and mature people to hang out with for a few hours. I woke up Thursday morning and logged on to find Sephirothz waiting for me. Asking me what I was up to he encouraged me to come with him to Blackrock Mountain without letting on any details. When we entered Blackwing Lair I noticed right away Razorgore had been killed at some point during the night or morning. Turns out Sephirothz and Williee went back and managed to kill him and others leading the way to Chromaggus. I ran as fast and I could to Chromaggus and like a good boy he was waiting for me, albeit because he had no choice, behind a barred door.

I named him Chromie because well I'm original like that. He is definitely unique and I didn't want to take away his legendary name from him but I did want to make it more cute. Having two mouths to feed instead of one might be a challenge and expensive but his purple skin and pink tongue make it well worth it.

Hanging around Origmmar as I often do, I was quite surprised at how much attention he attracted. Keep in mind I also have a Spectral Tiger and Cub as well as a Time-Lost Flying Mount and several rare pets, none of which ever gotten as many comments and looks as Chromie did standing outside the Inn for 30 minutes while waiting for a Heroic to pop.

I created a video for you hunters out there curious about taming him. He is extremely easy to tame if you have some friends or guildies to help you kill a few bosses at Blackwing Lair. It is a level 60 raid so most fights can be done with two people but bring as many as you can and you can be in and out of there in 20 minutes with a new pet!

Having Fun Again

So after a bit of a snag in my progression at the beginning of the week I was given a good uplifting from some comments and went back in there swinging. I got my first raid invite Wednesday evening. Invited as a trial it was my first time raiding in a 25 man raid since killing Archimonde in the Caverns of Time during The Burning Crusade. Pretty exciting stuff and perfect timing as I needed a good raid experience to pump me up, right? Well not so fast, it's still me we're talking about. I was hoping I'd be able to fly under the radar, not get killed by standing in something and at the very least stay middle of the pack on the DPS charts. Off to kill some monster named Altramedes in Blackwing Desent, I was feeling optimistic. A dozen wipes later and only beating the healers in DPS, I knew I was in over my head. Not completely useless I did catch on to the mechanics very quickly and I was able to strafe to the left with the group when I was suppose to, and fortunately for me only got skulled once where I had to strafe to the right away from the group. During the last few attempts I died twice randomly while being in the middle of the group. I still have no idea how it happened because I was moving at the exact same time as everyone else but I'm sure there is a valid reason even though of coarse I think it's because of my dumb luck. Either way it's embarrassing for one and obviously you don't want to stand out in that way especially when you're trying to make a good impression on your first raid with your new guild. Oh ya and it also kills your DPS when you're lying in a pool of your own uselessness. So after repeated wipes, not the which were solely my fault, it was only a matter of time before the frustration of the raid built and courses of action would be taken. Alas I was removed from the group, and I hearthed back to Orgrimmar with my tail between my legs. Thank god for my pets because without sentimental attachment I might have uninstalled the game and hid under my blankets for god knows how long. Ironically when he finally was killed some attempts later, Themios the Darkbringer dropped, not that I would of probably gotten it and certainly wouldn't have deserved it, but a little salt in the wound maybe nonetheless. I thought about shutting it down for the night and trying to forget about WoW but instead a funny thing happened. I started talking to my new friend Sephirothz, a warlock who just happens to appear in an earlier blog posting I made when I didn't know him yet as the one who gave me a reality check when I was so proud of my new Time-Lost mount until he strolled past in his Mimiron's Head. He along with another guild mate Williee, enjoy exploring older content and soloing bosses from earlier expansions and like me enjoy some of the smaller things in this game. The two of them ended up helping me get something I've wanted for a little while now and the last thing I needed for my final collection. More importantly they helped me get over a bad raiding night and I was able to spend the rest of Wednesday and Thursday putting solid hours into Dakona's progression. This entry is turning into a novel so check back with me tomorrow for the rest of the story. Ooooh cliffhanger!! Oh shush.

Hunter's Rant

Ok well it's been awhile so you knew it was coming. I've hit a progression wall and my frustration level is starting to ooze through the cracks. As a recap my progression has been this, I hit 85, geared up for heroics, started heroics, geared up for raids, now here I am. I've been running heroics consistently for about 3 weeks. My gear is fairly good, at least I think so. Here is where it stands as of today: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/character/scilla/dakona/simple

I'm about a week away from obtaining the trinket Fluid Death as I will soon have the 1,650 valor points needed to purchase it. I will be trying to get the other trinket I want, Tia's Grace in the meantime. I will also be keeping an eye out for Bracers of Some Consequence when I do Deadmines although it isn't considered crucial in my eyes. What is important is addressing the few holes in my gear that I feel need to be attended to. Like getting my Earthen Ring rep to exalted so I can get Signet of the Elder Council instead of being distracted with Ramkehen rep which I'm getting for some stupid camel I'll never ride. (Yes I'm almost Exalted so you know I'm going to finish it.) With a new trinket and ring I'll feel as "bestly" (not a real word I know) geared as I can be without entering a raid. I'm currently waiting for all the new patch commotion to settle down before seeing which new hunter's spec has reigned supreme. It's currently looking like Marksmanship will regain it's Lich King title. This is something I'm not happy about as I was starting to get the hang of the Survival rotation and I'm wondering if Beast Mastery will ever become relevant again... my stabled pets sure hope so.

My work schedule is not going to allow me to take part in raids. Even if I could duck out of work 20 minutes earlier I don't see my current DPS opening any doors for me anyways. For now it looks like I'll be trying to keep myself busy hoping for a random invite. I recently did Baradin Hold for the first time, finishing 3rd on the meters which hopefully will get me another invite sometime. At this point I'm trying hard to tread softly while building some sort of reliable reputation. Wiping a guild heroic's run by tagging a mob before jumping down in front of Corla in Blackrock Caverns isn't a good start. Here I was feeling all proud of myself for dismissing my pet before jumping down, I didn't care to see what shenanigans were going on behind me. One of my new guild-mates with a bit of nerd rage made sure I felt all the guilt and shame that should accompany such actions. Not the reputation I'm trying to build here but such is to be expected in the life of a huntard.

Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!

Ok so maybe not as exciting for some as others. This year I am in the "others" group and while hanging out in Orgimmar this morning around 4am I saw something that made my day. I decided to share it with my "not so enthusiastic about Valentine's Day" friends, and I hope you think it's as funny as I did.

All you need is a Bombay Cat and Stinker the Skunk. It is totally worth it =)

Hunter Guide: Heroic Grim Batol

This is my Hunter's Guide to Heroic Grim Batol. I'm going to try to get one done for each of the heroics in Cataclysm. If you're a hunter like me and want to know what to expect as you head into heroics then check them out. Being prepared goes a long way in helping your group get pass bosses without wiping. Hopefully this will be helpful!

Changes & News

It's been a busy sort of time for Dakona of late, hence the missing updates. I've been looking for new opportunities since the new year and I've been a bit reluntant to make any moves until yesterday when I joined my new guild "Stimulate". It's only the second guild I've been a part of since I came to Scilla at the beginning of Lich King. I'm currently on "Trail" which means I will have to hide my huntardness from them as best I can until I'm offically in. I did consider switching servers, but staying on Scilla was something I prefered and Stimulate who is first in raid progression on the horde side was about the only guild I had considered, so I'm feeling pretty fortunate right now.

As for updates, I got this little guy for doing random heroics with 100 players.

It was also my 50th pet which finally got me Stinker.

I also got a few new pets. I did some fly bys through Uldum the other night and saw a lot of people leveling in the area that Madexx spawns. I stayed in that area while waiting for heroics to pop but did not see him for 10 hours straight and was starting to wonder if maybe he had spawned while I was doing an instance. Around 6am as I was getting ready to head to bed when the NPCscan went off and I saw him.

He was really big while looking down on him from my flying mount but I was really disappointed how little he shrank once he was tamed. I had no idea what to name him so I just kept it as is. I don't expect to use this pet since he is a Tenacity pet. Poor Diesel is hardly used as it is but he will go into my collection and I am happy I got the Blue verison although the Red is fairly pretty as well.

I was saving Ghostcrawler til the last because I figured a) I don't like being under water, b) I don't like being under water for long periods of time and c) putting both a) and b) on the table at the same time was too much of a double wammy for me to deal with right now. However... I had to go discover Abyssal Maw: Throne of the Tides as it was the only one I hadn't yet. So I figured since I was in the area of  Abyssal Depths I would do a little drive by. It was morning on a weekday so the traffic was very low in the area, I was getting distracted by the new herbs I could pick when the NPCscan went off not even a half a lap in. I was almost disappointed for a second because I was so use to long enduring camp outs and I figured this one was going to be my Everest. I expected him to disappear as he has a stealth but I was able to get a freezing trap down and tame him without to much trouble.

No name for this guy yet either. It is a decent size and pretty but with all my other spirit beasts like Duck whining to get some action, I can't imagine this little guy will get much use. My final 25 pets are getting close to completion. I still have a few more to go and will make a video to show them off when completed. I do have another pet to share as some of you might have gotten a hint from the video I just put out but I've been having some fun with him lately and will share that with you very soon!

My First Video

So it's 3:30 am and I just finished my first video. It's just a little peek into the world of Dakona. Now that I have the hang of it I'll be looking to make more. Let me know what you think.

Sincere Thank You

I started this blog a month ago with no blogging experience and not a single clue what I was doing. Now a month later with 1100 page views, I feel like I'm starting to get my mojo going. I wanted to take a second to show my appreciation to those of you who have visited this blog and taken time out of your day to read some of my mumble jumble. I'm looking forward to February and sharing all the shenanigans I'm sure I'll be getting into. So again, thank you.