Messing Around with a New Set of Udders

Now that I am back to playing WoW I find the nights when we are not raiding a little boring after the Argent dailies are done so I decided to try rolling an alt again.

Last night I started Kreame, a female tauren druid. Now I have never gotten an alt past 20 with exception of my warrior, but I think that Kreame might have a chance. I feel that the druid allows for the freedom to mix things up just as well as the shaman. If I want to melee DPS or tank, I go kitty/berar. If I want to pew pew I go laser chicken and for some god forsaken reason I want to heal I can go oak. Having that kind of freedom in an alt really make the idea of going another 80 levels a little less painfull.

Ulduar Tip – Iron Council

Ok, so I might not be updating Hoof n Healz anymore, but I still feel an urge to help out resto shamans when I can. Here are a couple of hints that will make your life a little easier for you and the raid group.

1) Grounding Totem: Grounding totem will eat the chain lighting that is getting cast. While not effecting 100% of the time, it is a help.

2) Healing assignments: The shaman should be in the back with the off tank. Use wind/earth shock to interrupt the chain lighting. This will make it a ton easier to heal the raid as well and making life easier on your other healers.

Hope this helps out a little bit.

Jagerbombz

PiM Raid – Ulduar – 5/19/2009

Last night the guild walked into Ulduar with the core 10-man team and things could not have gone better on night one. Leviathon went down with only one death and Ignis and Razorscale were handled as well with only a death or two as credit to the healers.

Deconstructor went down in record time and with the wipe free roll we headed to the Iron Assembly which we first killed Sunday. I spent time healing our warrior in the back while attempting to get chain heals off on the raid while interupting chain lighting. We had a couple of hiccups but recovered well. I will have to say, I think of all the encounters in Ulduar, this one is so far my favorite. There is so much coordination that if you are not paying attention, it just ain’t going to happen.

The big deal of the night was our Hodir encounter. For the first time the entire raid was able to see the ground markings for the falling rocks, so that made healing a bit easier. We also had our paladin around for the added frost resist which again made healing a little easier. When I say easier though, I mean easier by maybe 1%. I spent the whole fight raid healing and by the end of the third attempt I was a nervous wreck. I have never been so nervous and edgy in a fight. Healing frozen blows is enough to drive the raid healer crazy. There were times that I have no idea how I kept everyone alive but I did. With 10 seconds on the enrage timer we were able to take him down for another guild first. Me, I am just happy that I won’t have to heal that encounter until next week.

Tonight is our next big raid night with nothing but new content to push through. Time to go do my homework.

Weekend Nerdiness Abounds

This past weekend went by way too quickly for my taste, but I have no one to blame but myself. The buffet of nerdiness I feasted from this weekend was a delightful indulgence of geekiness levels I have not been at since Gen Con was still in Milwaukee.

It actually all started Thursday night. I logged on to play a little Warcraft and knock out some dailies so I would have repair/enchantment money for the next scheduled raid night. I ran the gambit of the Hodir brotherhood as well as the Argent Tourney. After I logged I sat in front of the TV to re-watch the Lost season finally and started the build up of my Klingon Bird of Prey model that has been sitting on my workbench for about a year now.

Friday was the big day. A friend and I took a half day so we could go see the New Star Trek. I had been giddy all day waiting in my cube for the moment we could leave. Once we arrived at the 70 foot Ultra Screen we sat down and awaited what could be the best or worst thing that could happen to my love of Trek. After it was all said and done I had nothing but giddy excitement and I was lusting for more. It was near perfect…I was not thrilled with the whole Red Matter thing, but I will let it pass since the story was near perfect, the reboot was perfectly done and the casting was perfect. Surprisingly, Bones might be my favorite retread, with Scotty as a close second.

Friday conlcuded with a mexican dinner with the family and a night out with my buddy before he headed off to Europe with his wife for two weeks. We talked all things Trek and Lost and pounded down about 5 Bombay Sapphire gin & tonics a piece and a plate of mozzerella sticks. That was a fine night I tell you.

Saturday was slow for the most part, I introduced my little boy to the original Trek while my wife and daughter went shopping for his upcoming birthday. After naps and a light dinner me and the wife headed out for some bowling/drinking with some work friends at my company’s annual bowling tourney. I think I bowled, but all I remember was eating and drinking more than I should have. I think the night ended on about 8 beers and 10 jello shots. I remember waking up in the morning, but don’t recall getting home, updating the Facebook status or logging onto Warcraft for about 30 minutes and verbally molesting half the guild.

Sunday the family and I headed off to south central Wisconsin to attend the Janesville Ren Faire where we met up with a friend of my wife’s and her son. The faire is nothing on the scale of Bristol, but fun none the less. It was nice seeing some faces we recognized from Bristol, especially Geoff the Gypsy. If you ever get a chance to catch this guy in action it is hilarious.

Once we got home, we got the kids to bed and I headed off to the guild’s Sunday night Ulduar Raid. This was my second raid night back and the cobwebs have been completed knocked off. I found myself getting back into the healing grove of knowing my tanks and the encounters. It is refreshing having to think about what I am doing and not jsut relying on chain heal spam with one eye on the TV. We only ended up killing Iron Council and Freya though. By the time we were on to hodir and Thorim we were just too tired to take it past midnight. The guild did progress and we are looking forward to the Tuesday reboot for some more fun in the tanks and the crotch pot of slag.

Now it is Monday and I am back in my cube <sigh>.

 

Litte Mail for the Day

I still haven’t had the chance to get any photos of my new chainmail coif taken yet.  In the mean time, I found a couple of pictures of the dice bags I did that were taken by one of my friends from work.  Both bags are basic English 4:1 weave in stainless steel.  The larger bag is the DM bag while the smaller bag is more appropriate for a player.

DM and player bag.

Close up of the player bag.

I would highly reccomend the dice bag as a good starter for anyone looking to start chainmailing.  A good start would be picking up the stainless steel start kit from the Ring Lord which includes rings, instructions for 4:1 and two pliers.  Directions on making the bag itself can be found here.  Good luck and happy mailing.

The Decision Has Been Made

Today, I have decided that I am going to go back to playing WoW. After a month off I have re-evaluated things and found that I miss WoW and the friends I have made over the past year too much to just let go.

One thing to note though, Hoof n Healz will still be closed. As much as I like the game, blogging about it no longer interest me and was part of the reason I left in the first place.

See you all in game!

Ok Guys, Not Cool…Stop Doing This to Me!

So I quit WoW.  It has been almost a month now and I have fought off the most recent urges to come back.  The one thing that I haven’t been able to do stop keeping up with the WoW updates from WoWInsider and MMO Champion.  Over the years it has been a daily habit that I have yet to shake.

Each day I find something  interesting, but nothing that has made me go “Oh my God, what have I done…I need to go back!”, until now…maybe.

It seems that the next expansion for the WoW CCG is going to include a new loot card for a mount.  This mount; a chicken.  A full fledged giant 100% speed running chicken.

Imagine the site of a Tauren riding a giant chicken.  It would be like an in-game promotion for Chick-fil-A. All I would need is a big off hand item that reads “Eat Mor Chiken”

So while I may not be coming back just yet, this does sweeten the pot a little bit.   

The Hands, They Hurt

About a month ago I picked up the stainless steel Coif kit from The Ring Lord. I had always wanted to try my hand at chainmail armor, but just never had the time to do so. The only things I have had time to make were a couple of dice bags and a some basic bracelets; far from anything on the scale of a coif. With my retirement from World of Warcraft though, I found free time in abundance and figured it was time to delve into a big project.

When my packaged arrived I laughed. In my hand I held a five pound box, no bigger than a softball. Inside were instructions on basic coif construction and about 7,000 stainless steel rings. When I showed this to my wife she sighed and told me I was crazy; honestly I was thinking the exact same thing.

That night I started. I sat infront of the TV watching LotR while mindlessly opening and closing rings to prep for assembly. This process lasted for a few days and gave me a true idea of just how many rings 7,000 really was.

Over the past month I sat infornt of the TV with pliers in hand and wove and wove.  I had lost count of how many rings I actually used and how many episodes of Warriors, Krod Mandoon and Legend of the Seeker I watched.

Last night I attached the final rings and the coif was completed.  It was a relief.  My hands had taken a beating the past month and my sleep habits were less than to be desired.  But now, I am now owner of a handmade chianmail coif I can wear with pride.  Where I will wear it I am not sure, but at this point it will make a great drinking hat.

This morning I grabbed the coif and put it on and snuck up on the wife and kids. The reaction I got was far from what I expected. The kids loved it of course, but my wife was shocked and generally impressed with my handy work. She even wanted to try it on, which for any nerd is a true dream…women in chainmail.

Now that I have the coif though, I find that I am in need of a Hauberk (shirt) to complete the set, but at this point I need to give my hands a break. With Ren Faire season approaching, maybe it is time to take up tailoring. I always wanted to try to make my own Faire garb, plus I hear cloth is a little easier on the hands than steel.

Looking Forward to a Warm Night in the Shire

Today, my wife will place an order for a lovely gift for Father’s Day, our Anniversary and My Birthday. In four long weeks I will be the proud owner of a handmade “Wizard” Churchwarden Pipe from MacQueen Pipes.

For some time I have dreamed of having a pipe that was reminiscent of Middle Earth so that I could release my inner Hobbit and relax in the evening air, puffing the sweet cool smoke of the Longbottom Leaf with a stout ale in the other hand.

This won’t be my first pipe though. I first fell in love with the churchwardens after I purchased a porcelain pipe from the Bristol Renaissance Faire, which was as much a work or art as it was an instrument of smoking pleasure. Unfortunately though while tapping the left over tobacco from the bowl, the end broke off. After moments of horror and anger, I was able to regain my composure and repaired it with some epoxy and thread wrapped around the stem. I have yet to use the pipe again though, in fear of mixing tobacco, fire and epoxy. What would start as a pleasant night of relaxation could end up in a ball of fiery death. So for now, it sits cool and smokeless as reminder to “be more careful”.

I Knew This Would Happen

It has been a week a couple of weeks now since I quit WoW. With all my free time, I have been able to catch up on some old hobbies, catch up on the DVR content and even start working out. I never knew how much time I really had from 8pm to about midnight when I normally would play.

Thing is now I am starting to miss it a little bit. Not so much the game, but my friends, the guild, the banter and even the drama. I am not going back, but I am just suprised of how much I actaully missed it. If I can hold strong for a little while longer I should be able to break the temptation to log back on.