What's the opposite of being in the right time at the right place? This.

There’s a chance, a small chance, that I might be able to sneak my way into a 10 man Ulduar group bent on earning both their Rusted Protodrakes and the title, Herald of the Titans. I’m so excited!

Herald of the Titans is awarded when a group successfully kills Algalon, but only if they’re wearing 10 man gear. Fortunately Blizzard isn’t too picky about what constitutes 10 man gear and just put a restriction on the item level. Getting to Algalon in the first place requires you to complete all the hard modes: Flame Leviathan+4, Heartbreaker, Steelbreaker, Thorim+Sif, Hodir speed kill, Firefighter, Freya+3, General V without vapor and Yogg-1. All those 10 man hard modes award item level 226 gear. The same item level on normal mode 25 man Tier 8 gear.

I was asked: “What Ulduar gear do you still have?”

Perhaps they just want me for my Dispersion. Who knows and who cares, right? There’s a title at stake!

I knew that I still had my Tier 8 set in the bank. I’m a bit of a hoarder when it comes to armor. But I wasn’t sure what I had kept.

Unfortunately about a month or two ago I went through a mad Disenchanting spree in an attempt to clear out my full bank bags. Any item that I had no sentimental attachment to was turned into an Abyss Crystal. Fortunately I still had my weapon to go with my Tier set. But not much else. My belt from Ulduar still exists, although I put that down to pure luck.

I’m not sure exactly who is in this 10 man group. But I know that my friend in the group has killed Algalon on another character.  I’m sure that’s likely the case with some of the others in the group. I just know we’re up to the challenge, regardless of our gear.

My Herald of the Titans Set So Far

10 items. That still leaves a lot of slots empty including: Offhand, Wand, Neck, Back, Wrists, Feet, Ring.

A Patch 3.3 Shadow Priest in Ulduar

The interesting thing is that I’m not really trying to resurrect my old gear set. I’m not a Patch 3.1 Shadow Priest anymore. Things have changed, Shadow Priests have changed, and itemisation for Shadow Priest gear has certainly changed since then.

In Ulduar, in Patch 3.1, Shadow Priests geared for Spell Power alone. And when we couldn’t get that, we took Critical Strike Rating. Haste had next to no value to us – once we reached about 10% or 11% Haste it was enough to smooth out the hiccups in our rotation. In August of last year I posted:

The gear goals are:

• About 11% haste
• 263 hit rating (Heroic Presence) or 289 hit rating (No Heroic Presence)
• Heaps of Spellpower and Critical Strike

These days it’s all about Haste. We now have modified talents that allow two of our most powerful DoTs to tick more quickly based on our Haste Rating. In my Icecrown Citadel gear I’m sitting at around 1000 Haste Rating.

But I look at the remnants of my Tier 8 gear and my decisions back then are starting to haunt me. First and foremost, why didn’t I at least buy the Shadow Tier 8 legs for my glory box? At the time choosing the healing legs instead of the Shadow legs seemed like such a sensible decision. I did have a 4 piece set (Helm, Shoulders, Gloves and Robe) but was quite happy to scale back to my 2 piece bonus (Helm, Gloves, Robe) when I upgraded to Amice of Inconceivable Horror.

I much prefer Amice of Inconceivable Horror now and then, but I can’t quite decide if my 4 piece bonus (a temporary Haste boost) might be really worthwhile now even if it wasn’t back then. I think it just might. Especially since Algalon is a single target fight where I should be able to sink into a straightforward rotation with lots of time to Mind Blast > Mind Flay > Mind Flay.

I’ll probably regem for Haste instead of Spell Power too. At least that’s easily fixed.

Depending on how my set turns out I know that I can boost Hit or Haste will my buff food on the day.

Lets Go Shopping

So if I assume that I just might get an invitation to this group, I’d like to be prepared. Perhaps having my gear set all ready to go will be the reason that I get an invite.

I have 7 item slots to fill. I’d like to get some Haste gear. I’d like to get another 150 Hit Rating. But if I can’t do that, then I can work towards an extra 110 Hit Rating and bring myself up to Hit Cap with buff food.

The first thing that I did when I figured out what was missing was open up my Tailoring panel. What ilvl 226 BoE items can be sewn? Boots and belts. That might be the way to go to get some appropriate shoes. I could consider replacing my existing belt with Sash of Ancient Power. (I find this dilemma amusing because I had the same dilemma about this time last year. Never did decide if it was worth the gold.)

The next place I can go shopping for level appropriate items is the Emblem Vendors. They offered me these:

1. Evoker’s Charm (19 Emblems of Conquest, ilvl 226)
2. Disguise of the Kumiho (25 Emblems of Valor, ilvl 213)
3. Wraps of the Astral Traveler (60 Emblems of Valor, ilvl 213)

There’s also a belt available through Emblems but I think the crafted options are much better.

I’ll check out the Auction House for BoE items which drop in Ulduar but I don’t expect many to be available since nobody really runs Ulduar anymore. I think when I was running Ulduar I wore Asimov’s Drape which is BoE. But I’m not sure I’d choose to wear a Spirit/Crit cloak now even if I could get my hand on it again.

For my second, and only missing, ring slot I think I might purchase Band of Channeled Magic or more likely I’ll work up to buying Etched Signet of the Kirin Tor. The gold cost of the ring doesn’t concern me too much because I almost bought this ring when I started the grind for The Insane title just to get the free trip to Dalaran every 30 minutes (I haven’t had my hearthstone set to anywhere Northrend for almost a month now).

Still Missing

The tricky slots to fill, I think, will be my Wand and Offhand. Perhaps the new Icecrown Citadel dungeons can offer me something for these.

Here are all the potential Off Hand items from Wowhead. Oh why did I disenchant my Ironmender? Will I be back to buying (again, for the second time) and using Ward of the Violet Citadel? Perhaps I should keep my eye out for the raid weekly and, if I’m really lucky, I might score Ignis’s 10 man Igniter Rod.

Here’s a question. Do offhand items count as “weapons” or “armor”. I think I was told that you could use ilvl 232 weapons for Herald of the Titans – I presume that one of the hard modes dishes out ilvl 232 weapons as a reward – so perhaps I can use a ilvl 232 two handed weapon or a ilvl 232 offhand?

From Wowhead comments (if you trust such a thing):

This achievement is very poorly worded. I got this achievement tonight, using an ilvl 232 weapon and wand. Due to the way 10man hardmode loot works, you can still get this achievement using ilvl 232 weapons, offhands, wands, ranged weapons, sigils, idols, etc etc. You cannot be wearing any armor, or using any trinkets higher than 226.
– Hina9888

Armour (all armor, rings, trinkets, necklaces, cloaks) must not be higher than ilevel 226. It does not matter where you got it from.
Weapons (main hand, off hand and ranged) must not be higher than ilevel 232. It does not matter where you got it from.
– Shadowtion

Here are the ilvl 232 off hands. Now the beautiful Shriveled Heart, from Halls of Reflection, is available. Or I could go for a 232 staff. Like Pit of Saron’s Engraved Gargoyle Femur. That’s one way to solve my concerns about Hit rating.

Here are the ilvl 200-232 wands. Falric in Halls of Reflection drops a 232 wand, Soulsplinter, if I want to play it risky. I think my best bet might be to grab Rod of the Fallen Monarch from Anub’arak in Azjol-Nerub during a daily Heroic.

To 4 piece or not to 4 piece… and to take a risk or play it safe

So I’m left with a few decisions to mull over. I could try and get my hands on a Tier Token and pick up my Shadow set legs. But if I can’t get that, do you think I should try and hold onto my 4 piece set bonus even if it means losing Amice of Inconceivable Horror?

And finally, I should I play it safe and stick to ilvl226 weapons, offhands and a wand? Or should I try and win the ilvl232 staff and wand available from the Icecrown Citadel 5 man heroics? Can I use my very pretty Frostsycthe of Lord Ahune?

Either way, I’ve got a lot of Emblems to grind.

If only it was just the Darkmoon Faire component...

Like most players working on the Insane in the Membrane Feat of Strength I’m referring back to Saate and Fannin‘s excellent guides time and time again. But I’m not following their guides strictly.

Some of the advice just doesn’t really work for me as a Priest, and some of it definitely doesn’t work for me living on Barthilas. I can’t solo instances as easily like feral kitties or plate wearers. I have Enchanting as a profession to fall back on (which seems to be unusual). I have awful luck.

I do have gold. But even I wasn’t prepared for exactly how much gold I would have to throw at the Auction House to progress.

My perception of the Insane in the Membrane – before I started it – was that it was all about patience and mindless grinding. It’s something that would take a huge amount of time to complete. And you’d need to be persistent to slowly progress through the reputations.

I knew one involved PVP (stepping foot in Stranglethorn Vale is the equivalent of painting a target on your back), one involved soloing an instance, one involved pick pocketing and that one required gold.

I was so wrong. It’s really all about gold.

Perhaps what I should have done was read the two “bibles” linked above several times over and spent the first six months of the grind buying low-supply items off the Auction House.

You can’t farm for a lot of this stuff. You also can’t buy it all up on a whim – there’s simply not enough on Auction House to do so. Instead you have to buy up steadily over a long amount of time, careful not to unduly raise prices too high by inflating demand.

Unfortunately you’re at the mercy of the sellers on your server.

Note: I play a Human so most, if not all of the requirements listed here are from my own notes that factor in Diplomacy.

The Shopping List

300-500g

1. Pristine Black Diamonds

For Shen’dralar reputation. You’re going to need 82 Diamonds – one for each Libram turn in (below). Unfortunately you cannot farm for Pristine Black Diamonds. They drop from high level classic mobs – elites mostly. Bosses in Scholomance, Stratholme and Dire Maul don’t seem to have a higher drop rate than the mobs in those instances. It’s all the same.

There is absolutely no use for Pristine Black Diamonds except to raise Shen’dralar reputation. This means that your average player might just vendor them. Gold hungry players will buy the Diamonds and sell them at a premium on the Auction House just to make a bit of profit out of your misery – they know that you have no choice but to pay.

I’ve had one guildy tell me that in Classic, when Blizzard raised the drop rate, they would sell for a couple gold. Most Insane guides price them at about 20-40g.

On Barthilas there are only a few available at any given time. They are listed for 450g-500g.

50-200g

2. Libram of Rapidity, Libram of Focus, Libram of Protection

For Shen’dralar reputation. It’s not essential to buy all the Librams (you’ll need 82 all up) because if you intend to run Dire Maul: North to raise Steemwheedle Cartel – the recommended method – rep you’ll probably get lucky and pick up some Librams as you go.

I would recommend buying the Librams on the AH only if they are listed cheaply. Guides price them at 100g-200g. On Barthilas I can bid and win one every now and then for 50g. Perhaps more Librams are available for sale now that the Dungeon Finder regularly sends players into Dire Maul.

I’m trying to keep my Libram tally and Diamond tally pretty close.

Darkmoon Faire Decision Time!

Before you can finish the shopping list you’re going to need to make a decision. On one hand you can choose to generate many Greater Darkmoon Cards which will consume huge amounts of Felweed and Primal Life in order to create the level 70 Darkmoon Decks. Or you can generate many Darkmoon Card of the North which will consume huge amounts of Snowfall Ink and Eternal Life to create level 80 Darkmoon Decks.

I recommend choosing one path or another. You chances of forming full decks are halved if you split your resources.

Have a look at how many Primal Life and Eternal Life is available on your Auction House. Which is cheaper?

Primal Lifes are scarce in the lead up to Cataclysm. And they’re not cheap on Barthilas. In fact they’re priced similarly to Eternal Lifes (15-19g). I decided to create level 80 Darkmoon Decks.

15-20g

3 Eternal Life OR Primal Life

For Darkmoon Faire reputation. Each card consumes 3 Eternal Life (or 3 Primal Life if you create the level 70 cards). You need 97 Darkmoon Decks to reach exalted as a Human. If you were extremely lucky and ended up with just the right cards necessary to form Decks (Ace through Eight) you’ll need to create 776 cards.

That’s 2328 Eternal Life. Or 2328 Primal Life. Yep, start buying now.

3-9g

4. Snowfall Ink OR Felweed

For Darkmoon Faire reputation. Each level 80 card consumes 3 6 Snowfall Ink. Snowfall Ink is rarely found from milling Northrend herbs so, if you don’t have any, you’re going to need to mill huge quantities of Adder’s Tongue or Icethorn. Ask around and you might find many scribes with excess Snowfall Ink, after all, there’s not much use for Snowfall Ink these days.

You’ll need 2328 4656 Snowfall Ink.

If you’ve decided to create level 70 cards you need to mill Outland herbs for a chance to mill Ebon Pigment which you can turn into Darkflame Ink. You’ll need 2328 Ebon Pigment. The cheapest Outland herb available in high quantities on Barthilas is Felweed. I can pick up stacks for about 10g. Dreaming Glory drops down to this price occasionally too. Buy a lot. You can expect about 1 or 2 Ebon Pigments per stack of 20 Felweed.

40-60g

5 Undeath, Chaos, Prisms Cards OR Blessings, Lunacy, Furies, Storms Cards

For Darkmoon Faire reputation. I suggest waiting until you figure out which cards you’re creating way too many of – and don’t buy them. Buy any card that you don’t have many of (compared to others in the deck) when they’re cheap. I estimate the cost of creating a card at about 50g so don’t be afraid to bid on cards you need going cheap.

A full deck, created by yourself, is worth about 400g in pure materials. If you see any completed level 60, 70 or 80 epic decks listed around the 400g-450g I suggest you buy it immediately.

Don’t bother looking for cheap Nobles cards. These are still in demand and sell for a lot.

20-50g

6. Rogues Deck, Mages Deck, Demons Deck, Swords Deck

For Darkmoon Faire reputation. If a level 60, 70 or 80 deck costs approximately 400g and is worth 350 reputation that works out to be 1g 14s per reputation point earned.

These low level decks – Rogues, Mages, Demons or Swords Deck – will grant you 25 reputation when you hand them in. So a low level deck is well worth it if you can buy it for 1g 14s or less per reputation point. At 28g 50s or less, these are a bargain and just as worthy as the high level deck. Don’t be afraid to bid on these when they’re listed cheaply.

Stealthed in Lower Blackrock Spire

I never realised that WordPress’s Save Draft button secretly means revert to yesterday’s version. So let’s forget the writing. I’m not writing this post a second time. Sorry. Here’s the picture. And the conclusion: I got Exalted with Ravenholdt.

Here are some facts:

The Glyph of Pick Pocket is your friend

Camouflage is your other friend. Spec it.

Heavy Junkboxes gathered: 1340

Blackrock Depth runs: 24

Lower Blackrock Spire runs: 36

Average length of each run: 11-14 minutes

Junkboxes gathered per run: 17-24

The Blackrock Depths run took me 13 minutes to complete and covers 226 mobs.

The Lower Blackrock Spire run took me 11 minutes to complete and covers 196 mobs.

Both yield about the same amount of Junkboxes per hour. The takings seemed slightly better in BRD but the mobs like to move around a bit there.

Mobs respawn their pockets every 10 minutes. There’s no need to reset your instance.

Glee, Jesus Christ Superstar (the Aussie 1992 version) and Phantom of the Opera were my soundtracks of choice for this grind. Go figure.

You can move out of Pick Pocket range while you’re looting, you won’t miss anything

The game will re-target the Pick Pocket-ed mob while it’s processing loot

You should wait until you hear the *chink* of looting coins until you select your next Pick Pocket target

Checking the contents of the Junkboxes gave me about 50 Star Rubies and 5-10 Uncommon Items. I don’t recommend it.

The Glyph of Pick Lock is your friend (if you decide you just have to check the boxes)

Emptying a box consumes it – that is bad

1 Engineer’s Mailbox lasts 10 minutes

1/3 of the Junkboxes were handed in in 10 minutes

You can disenchant the uncommon item to consume it

Southshore is the closest Alliance mailbox to Ravenholdt Manor

The trip to and from Southshore is 1m 50sec

The second closest Alliance mailbox to Ravenholdt Manor is at Aerie Peak

The trip to and from Aerie Peak is 1m 58 seconds

Alliance characters cannot use the mailbox at Tarren Mill

You can Levitate or Slow Fall from Ravenholdt Manor and be just far enough from the Tarren Mill guards

To travel to Ravenholdt Manor from Dire Maul you need to Fly to Theramore, Boat to Menethil Harbour and fly to Southshore then run north. Takes about 10 minutes.

The mob directly in front of me likes to respawn in the air occasionally. LOL

I’ve started Insane in the Membrane. But I’m not entirely committed to finishing it. I probably won’t actually say “I’m doing Insane in the Membrane” until I’m about 95% through the requirements.

I reserve the right to decide, at any moment as I work through/research the requirements, that nobody in their right mind would do that. (Whatever that might be – Pick Pocketing 10 thousand mobs, or creating hundreds and hundreds of expensive Darkmoon cards, or running Dire Maul countless times, or ruining their Booty Bay reputation etc). But I guess that’s the entire point – you can’t be sane when you approach these reputation grinds.

But these crazy Insane in the Membrane rep grinds might entertain me during the pre-Cataclysm lull. Even though most guides – and the Achievement itself – start with the Bloodsail Buccaneers, I decided to start with Ravenholdt.

I’ve always liked Ravenholdt. My first character was a Rogue and I still remember the first time I traveled out to Hillsbrad Foothills and combed the mountains looking for the path up to Ravenholdt Manor. I got past the Master of Beatings and thoroughly enjoyed the quest to do so. Then I headed down to Durnholde and killed the Syndicate for well over an hour, returning time and time again because the Ravenholdt guards just kept asking for more Syndicate Emblems.

Yep. My first repeatable quest. After a couple hours I think I scrolled down through my quest log and started to question if there was any benefit to completing the quest. No XP. Just reputation with Ravenholdt. I abandoned the quest, secretly worried that perhaps I’d made the wrong decision. I mean, I was a Rogue maybe Ravenholdt reputation was important.

I haven’t been back to Durnholde Keep – well present day – since then. I don’t think I’ve ever had a quest that takes me there as any other Alliance character. And not only am I going back, but I’m going back again for Ravenholdt. And in order to reach Exalted as Cassandri I’ll be counting on my long forgotten Rogue to help me get there.

The way to Exalted Ravenholdt comes in two easy steps:

1. Kill Syndicate (the group that have taken over the ruins of Durnholde Keep are ideal) until you’ve maxed out Honored ie you’re 1 point away from Revered. Can be completed by any character, any class. Each Syndicate kill grants +5 reputation.

2. Hand in lots of Heavy Junkboxes. These are found by Pick Pocket-ing level 50-60 mobs. You cannot buy or sell them on Auction House. So you’ll need a Rogue.

I really have no excuse not to try this achievement – I have a level 80 Rogue with nothing else to do. My plan is to Pick Pocket until my bags are filled with Heavy Junkboxes – each will take up one bag space, head for a mailbox and send them to Cassandri (my Priest who is earning reputation). I will not open these mail messages, rather I’ll return them just before 30 days are up. Hopefully I can continue to Return the mail messages between the two characters indefinitely until I have enough.

Did I mention that, all up, you need about 1400 Heavy Lockboxes to go from Revered to Exalted?

Killing the Syndicate (til almost Revered)

Anyway, the first step is the easy bit. I flew to South Shore the other night, after raid ended, to scope out Durnholde. I fell down into the lowest level of the camps and started DoTing the mobs. A few minutes later, about the time I realised that I was wasting too much mana to regenerate it solely using Dispersion, I was slaughtered by a level 80 Orc Rogue. Huh.

I ran back and retrieved my body. I started looking for a way out, a way up. I was killed swiftly yet again. The next time I ran back, I waited until the Rogue was occupied elsewhere and quickly ran behind one of the buildings and logged off. Those 20 seconds were agony.

The next day I came back around lunchtime. And spent the first couple minutes finding a way out. I had the place to myself and figured out a nice route to kill as many Syndicate as I possibly could as quickly as possible. The re-spawn rate is just so damn good here. Even though each kill is only worth 5 reputation a caster, like myself, can easily pick off five or six mobs at once and then have several of those mobs respawn before you’ve moved at all. I quit when I was neatly into Friendly.

I came back twice more and grinded mobs for 30 minute stints. I left when level 80 Horde showed up – which they inevitably did after about 30 minutes. I spotted a couple Rogues and a Hunter all working on this achievement.

Then yesterday I logged back in over lunch, intending to grind out another 2000 rep or so and discovered that a Gnome Rogue was working his way around the place. We partied up and raked in double the reputation. He took care of the lowest level mobs – arguably the best spot to grind because the mobs are closest together here – and I took the upper level ruins. I figured, since I didn’t need to move as far, I could clear the upper floor quicker than he could.

Did I mention that it’s not worth looting anything that you kill in this place? This is the kind of rep grind that I like!

Things were going so well I surpassed my goal for the day (2000 rep) and just kept going. It was pure chance that I spotted the Hunter coming into the Keep just as I was clearing the Syndicate on the entry bridge. Having learned the lay of the land from previous Horde (especially that Orc Rogue on Day 1) I immediately switched into aggressive, kill-on-sight mode. Full DoTs, Mind Flay, Psychic Scream the works… except, well the Hunter was dead before I really got started.

It turned out that they were only level 75. I felt a bit guilty. I strongly believe that high level characters shouldn’t pick on lower level characters. Most especially when they’re trying to level and you’re in their territory. But why on earth would a level 75 Hunter come to Durnholde Keep?

I asked my Rep buddy Rogue that exact same question. He couldn’t give me an answer but his solution to the situation was simple:

If he gets in your way kill him.

I was also a bit dissapointed in myself for my knee-jerk kill it! reaction. Part of the unpleasantness of living on a PVP server is that some players believe that it’s okay to grief other players simply because other players griefed them when they were leveling.

Without intending to, I’d reacted to the level 75 Hunter as though they were the same Orc Rogue who killed me repeated on Day 1. Even though I know that they are not the same person, and just because the Orc Rogue had offered me violence, not mercy, didn’t mean that this Hunter would behave the same way.

To make a long story short, I kept on grinding rep, but I couldn’t seem to communicate with the Hunter that I was no longer out for his blood. He returned several times, and attacked me the moment he was at full health with his pet by his side. I tried to make it clear that I wouldn’t attack him again by running past him while he ate/regained his health. But perhaps I wasn’t clear. After the third or fourth kill I decided that perhaps I should just kill his pet and heal myself and wait until he got the message.

Is there some etiquette I’m missing here? The first attack (by me) was meant as a warning. Perhaps I should have stopped to type /shoo.

While I dithered, completely distracted, the Hunter returned from Spirit Form, mounted up, and left Durnholde Keep. And I was left feeling a bit like a bully.

Throughout the afternoon my friendly Rogue and I were met by many more Horde players: all level 20 to 30. A group of three came in, spotted the Gnome Rogue and promptly left. A Blood Elf came in not long afterward, followed the path of dead bodies up to me, and – right about the time I realised they didn’t move quite like the Syndicate usually do – they turned around and fled.

And, just as I was about to max out Honored a baby Undead Rogue came into the ruins and nearly walked right into me. Determined to prove that I wasn’t there to make his life hell, I immediately tabbed over and killed the mobs attacking him. Then ran past him and kept going. Killing everything except an enemy player sends a pretty clear signal, wouldn’t you say?

I stuck around a little longer to help my Gnome Rogue friend, who was a couple thousand reputation behind me, finish their rep grind. And not once, in all that time, did I see one leveling Alliance player. Does nobody roll Alliance anymore? Or is it only Horde questing in Durnholde Keep?

Pick Pocketing

A lot of the guides that I’ve flicked through have recommended trawling the Scarlet Crusade elites in Tyr’s Hand for Heavy Junkboxes. Fortunately for me, Chriara has been living in the Eastern Plaguelands for most of this year. I rode down to Tyr’s Hand and spent the better part of an hour stealthed. There’s something quite soothing and wonderful about staying in stealth purely to steal.

But I wasn’t the only Rogue hanging around. Occasionally I came across the odd dead member of the Scarlet Crusade – a mob who made the mistake of standing right in the middle of a very narrow doorway perhaps. I also got the “Your target has already had its pockets picked.” warning message at unexpected times.

I looted about 15 or 20 Junkboxes by the time I had picked every pocket. Unfortunately you can only pick the pockets of each mob spawn once. Usually this isn’t a problem – you just kill them. But for this “quest” I didn’t want to waste time killing stuff, I just wanted their Junkboxes.

A comment on Wowhead also suggested that Lower and Upper Blackrock Spire were prime locations to find Junkboxes on mobs. So I flew down and gave that a go too.

One stealth “clear” of Lower Blackrock Spire nearly filled my inventory with Junkboxes. I was thrilled.

I backtracked and tried out Upper Blackrock Spire next. The taking was not so good. In fact I had to do a lot of killing – I had to kill all the rooms to open the door to the first boss, kill the first boss to open the door into the Rookery, and then complete the Rend arena event (which, incidentally, bugs out if you enter the room in Stealth). I did get quite a few Junkboxes, but I just wasted too much time in order to get them.

I did a quick dungeon reset and pick pocketed the first half of Lower Blackrock Spire again, hearth-ing back to Light’s Hope as I reached the spider section. And everyone knows that spiders don’t have pockets.

My first set of Junkboxes (I estimate about 70) are in the mail. I have many many more to go.

Fine-tuning

I have two new goals:

1. Find the closest flight path with a mail box near Blackrock Mountain. I think this might actually be Ironforge because neither Morgan’s Vigil or Thorim Point have mailboxes. Perhaps Lakeshire?

Chriara will live there for some time.

2. Check to find out if there’s anything else I should be farming while I’m in Blackrock Spire. I think I might need Pristine Black Diamonds later on. I inadvertently looted some in Upper Blackrock Spire.

There’s nothing worse that thinking that you’ve finished a long, boring grind only to find you have to go back to the exact same area later for something you could have picked up the first time!

3. Equip the Glyph of Pick Pocket

Banned for "spamming and trolling"

I found this quite humorous – I have been given a 24 hour ban for trolling! You may now call me Lathere the Forum Troll. If only it were an achievement title you could actually earn in game.

I am responsible for updating the recruitment thread for my guild on the official World of Warcraft Realm Forum (Barthilas) and as usual you get the standard trolls who sit there and add silly comments about how shit your guild is and then the level 1 alts come out to then say how crap the previous poster/troll is and how nice your guild is.

Normally I completely ignore these but feeling ready for a good battle after an awful day at work I decided to try adding a bit of sugar (or spice?) into the mix and thanked the trolls for keeping our thread at the top of the forum homepage for a good 24 hours. All publicity is good publicity, right?

I wished I had written more on this blog post yesterday because then I could have kept some of the original comments and added them in for extra entertainment value. Most of them have already been deleted.

I’m admit the thread had deteriorated into something a bit nasty. One troll left a comment stating that the women in our guild are getting paid gold to “filch” potential recruits from other guilds – a whole new way of poaching. I assume filch means prostituting ourselves out. But I can’t be sure because I’m not really up with the forum lingo I’m afraid.

I will state that prior to my last post I had only written standard /bump messages. But my final reply which must have been seen as a bit naughty because, well I got a slap on the wrist and a 24 hour ban for trolling.

Ban Type: Temporary
Expires: 02/25/2010 09:56:17 AM PST
Ban Reason: Spamming and trolling

Suspended from the World of Warcraft forums for a 24 hour period for trolling the forums.

47. Re: [A] <Vitare> is recruiting for ICC25 02/24/2010 04:23:18 AM PST

I award this thread a 8/10 for drama and excitement.
Again thank you all for keeping the thread on front page of Barthilas forums all day – we picked up some good apps.
Also we’re still recruiting a spriest and ele shammy

Cheers
Lath

I don’t know, I’ve seen a lot worse threads that are still available to be read and the writers seem to have gotten away ban free. I would be curious to know if anyone else has been banned from the official forums and if they felt it was a bit over the top.

The Celestial Planetarium: my favourite place discovered in 2009

This questionnaire was created up by Bible of Dreams, and like Keeva, I’ve held back on publishing my answers until closer to New Year’s Eve. I’m going to be lazy and not tag anyone in particular, mainly because I’d love to read pretty much anyone’s reply to this questionaire. If you like feel free to write your own by leaving a comment.

What did you do in the World of Warcraft in 2009
that you’d never done before?

This may seem odd but it wasn’t until this year that I collected an entire Tier armor set. When I was level 70, I had a piece or two but most of the items available to me just weren’t worth equipping. But the full set? Not until I completed Naxxramas and eventually won my Tier 7.5 helm at the start of this year.

What was your favourite new place that you visited?

I’m going to have to say the Celestial Planetarium in Ulduar. That room is just beautiful and the ambiance is excellent too. And when you engage Algalon and all the stars all kind of collapse inwards? Very, very trippy.

I also quite like the beer garden hidden at the back of A Hero’s Welcome and the golden upstairs of the Ledgermain Lodge. Actually I like the commerce area in Dalaran, too. And I love that the NPCs and vendors are so friendly and greet you every time you walk in.

What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?

I can honestly say: nothing. I didn’t lack for anything in 2009 – great game and raid experiences with great people. I guess I’d be pretty thrilled if I managed to finally collect some of the earlier Priest Tier gear.

Is it wrong to say: more DPS? That lacked in 2009.

What was your biggest achievement for the year?

If you mean literally I’d have to say earning the title Argent Defender and being the first group on the server to claim it. It was perhaps only the 3rd week into patch 3.2 when we cleared Heroic Trial of the Crusader 10 man with 0 wipes in 10 man gear.

If you’re not talking about actual in-game achievements I’d say finding a spot in a new guild that I like that seems to like me back. Or perhaps starting this blog and getting our first comment from a reader.

What was your biggest failure?

Leaving the guild I was in at the start of the year with a giant black mark over my head and hated by pretty much everyone in the guild. I’m still not sure how my actions were deemed to be so… bad… or how I was blamed for the collapse of their raiding/progression. I was as perplexed then as I am now.

What did you get really really excited about?

Dual specialisation! And I wasn’t the least bit let down by it either when it was implemented into the game. The functionality was everything that I could have asked for and more. If it didn’t remember different interface setups for each talent build I wouldn’t love it as much as I do. But it does and I swap specs all the time. Which means I can more spend time playing my class, not just my spec.

Wait! I remember what excited me the most… this one time Lathere and I were leveling our alts through Dragonblight and questing up above Star’s Rest. I was playing a Rogue, Lathere her Priest. And this level 80 Orc Hunter came along and started trouble… yada, yada, yada…

He ended up taking durability damage.

What do you wish you’d done less of?

Standing around in Dalaran when I probably should have just logged off for the night! Or grinding the Sons of Hodir rep for the 2nd time on an alt. Giant waste of time.

No, wait. Jousting.

What was your favorite WoW blog or podcast?

I’d have to say Righteous Orbs. Tam and Chas are just so… smart. Their posts make me laugh every time. Flame Leviathan imagined vs Flame Leviathan in polygons: gold.

Tell us a valuable WoW lesson you learned in 2009

The best raid teams work when you trust each other.

The DPS should be able to tell the tanks when their positioning isn’t working for them. The healers should be able to speak up when line of sight is causing them grief. Any player should be able to speak up and offer a suggestion “if it’s all physical damage could we use Amplify Magic?”.

Only when you trust the other players on your team to handle their job can you focus on doing your own.

Who's the Crit Turkey Now!

I had this cast on me by a random player outside Stormwind and I loved it so much I refused to do anything that could make me change forms and lose the buff.  Yes you can kill turkeys as a turkey… crazy I know!

And you’ll be proud to know that I lasted up to 8 turkeys into The Turkinator meta achievement by savagely killing my own kind before the buff unfortunately ran off.

This Beats Mr T Any Day...

Another free Honor Kill incoming...

The Achievement system must have recently celebrated its first year anniversary. You now how I know? Because when All Hallows came around this time last year it was the first time I said to myself: I want that achievement because I want that title.

Cassandri the Hallowed

I’m a Shadow Priest. I’m like a little slice of Halloween all year round. Perfect match, right? And at the time having any kind of title was pretty special. You’d see a few Champion of the Naaru, Hand of Ad’al or Private titles wandering around Shattrath but most players were simply known by their name and their guild. I’ve got a thing for titles.

So last year I trekked through god-damned Horde territory twice a day for 2 weeks on my two level 70 characters to summon the Headless Horseman. I didn’t care much for the loot but I desperately needed two items dropped by the Headless Horseman for one of the achievements, a Sinister Squashling and a Hallowed Helm. I got the Hallowed Helm. I never got the pet.

By the last day of the holiday I had done so many ridiculous things that I never would have otherwise done in order to complete achievements that I was starting to question whether the title was even worth it. I Trick or Treat’ed an Innkeeper every hour with 3 characters hoping to collect each of the various Wands and Flimsy Masks. I’d attempted to compete the ridiculous PVP Southshore quest and gotten outnumbered by viscous, Flight Master killing, Horde for at least an hour before giving up.

Can the Mayor of Southshore employ some decent guards already?

So imagine that it’s the last day of All Hallows 2008 – my last opportunity to win a Sinister Squashling. I slowly make the trip from Chillwind Camp (of course, at least 5 Horde players are ready to kill you the instant you land) through Western Plaguelands, west into Horde territory and north to the Scarlet Monastery. About 30 minutes, numerous deaths later (because that’s the only way you can force your way through the last 100 yards to the instance door) my party gets into the instance. We summon and kill the Headless Horseman over and over again. A Sinister Squashling drops. So does the totally wicked Headless Horseman mount which flys.

I didn’t win the mount, but that’s ok, I’m not that lucky.

But I didn’t win the Sinister Squashing either. My roommate, who rarely plays, and in fact hasn’t really played World of Warcraft much this year (the Hello Kitty MMO and all that), won it. I was devastated. My chances at the title were gone for the year.

All that time spent earning the lesser achievements, swapping characters every hour to trick or treat innkeepers, logging in every day, getting ganked on the way to Scarlet Monastery could have been better spent doing… well almost any other in game activity. I would have enjoyed my time much more and ended up with the same result.

I vowed not to waste another minute of play time on holiday achievements.

Fast forward to Monday night. The first evening of All Hallows 2009. I let myself be talked into giving the Headless Horseman another go. The trip there is agony (nothing has changed since last year and the Southshore guards are still absolutely hopeless) and we finally get into the instance. What I would have given for a Paladin immunity bubble as I approached the path leading up to the Monastery… you don’t want to know.

5 friends. 5 attempts. No Sinister Squashling. But, miracle of miracles, the mount drops. My roommate wins it. That’s right, the same person who only just reactivated their account in the last few months, plays once a week if that, hasn’t reached level 80, doesn’t have Epic Flying and probably never will.

I’m not angry at my roommate for having such amazing good loot luck. But I’m angry at myself for wasting more time, yet again, even though I vowed after last year, to never waste time on an achievement which requires you to have luck to complete it.

All Hallows, you have made your point quite clear. I am not going to spend time on activities which I don’t particularly enjoy in the hopes of earning a title that I’d like to have.

I’d also like to see them put an achievement, required to earn the title Brewmaster or something, tucked away in Gnomergan, deep in the heart of Alliance territory and conveniently close to one of our capital cities and see how the Horde like being farmed as for honor kills. Fair’s fair and all that?

Note: Brewfest was the very first holiday scheduled after the Achievement system was launched, but “Brewmaster Cassandri”? No thanks!

Our 10 man group earns the achievement: A Tribute to Insanity (10)

I never would have thought we’d be able to get this achievement three weeks ago when I first tried Anub’arak on 10 man Heroic. That first week we breezed through the first four encounters. Okay, we stumbled for a wipe or two on Faction Champions. Only to spend hours, and more than 30 attempts, trying to get Anub’arak worked out.

I think all that time paid off. Last week the group got him in 2 attempts (without me, /cry) and this week we got him without wiping at all. No cool title for it unfortunately.

You wouldn’t believe the amount of loot that dropped. We got:

• 4 x Trophy of the Crusade
• Heartcrusher
• Cloak of the Triumphant Combatant
• Argent Resolve
• Crusader Orb
• A shield (I think. It’s a shield, I pass and then forget about it LOL)
• Swift Alliance Steed

Our Ret/Holy Paladin won the mount. And it’s so beautiful – all sparkly blue, gold and Alliance-y. I want one bad.

Lathere gracefully passed the Heartcrusher to our Elemental Shaman and took the Argent Resolve instead. She can be such a nice tree.

I got my first piece of Tier 9 with the Trophy I won. We went back in and cleared out 10 man ToC for Emblems straight afterwards (and managed to wipe on Beasts can you believe it?). I won some new boots, and, since I have enough hit on my new pants, I was able to chant them with Tuskarr’s Vitality. Cassandri is a happy Shadow Priest tonight.

That reminds me. I seriously need a new neckpiece and a new belt now that I don’t need any more Hit. A problem for another day, I think.

For all those other guilds out there – A Tribute to Insanity isn’t as far out of your reach as you might think!

Last night we had a dream raid. We went right in to kill Auriaya (no problem) and 1 shot Hodir and earnt the achievement. First attempt! And I recorded it for you all. I can’t believe we made it because we had about 3 people disconnect and at least 2 end up in Frost Tombs as a result. I think the main reason we got it was because we dropped down to 3 healers. That’s amazing – 3 healers!

So what was in his rare cache? The Staff of Endless Winter that our holy priest had wanted for such a long time. I’m just not that keen on staves in general, but I think most of the casters had seen the weapons available in Trial of the Crusader so the staff wasn’t really in demand.

I took a screen capture of the DPS but it seems silly to post it in hindsight. About 6 of us tipped over the 10k DPS mark and I came in last in that group. I think I was up there with a couple warlocks, a mage, a rogue and a boomkin.

After three hard modes I couldn't have said it better

We went on try Thorim hard mode for the very first time and 1 shot it. That’s unbelievable. I dropped lots of suggestions but our raid leader didn’t seem all that keen on using the Aura of Celerity method so no extra achievement or Mind Control. Maybe next week. I’m still carrying around my Frost Resist set just in case.

We also got Freya + 1 last night. We had previously tried Freya with the Iron Roots Guardian, and failed. Last night we tried Freya with the Sunbeam Guardian and … won! Got that one in the first attempt too.

We went on to try General Vezax hard mode… and stumbled. No more 1 shotting. Maybe next week.

Oh yeah and we had several of trash epics drop and five epic weapon enchants – Blade Ward x 4 and Blood Draining x 1. How lucky is that?