On the highway to hell

ACDC in Athens 28/05/09 - Black Ice Tour

Nothing much to blog about WoW these days, everything revolved around the first ever ACDC concert in Athens. I have been a fan for years. I am utterly thunderstruck... a childhood dream came true, I haven't had the chance to see them live before.

Rosie on the Rock 'n' Roll Train

They were f@king awesome!

What do you remember...

Averna tagged me with her meme and I must say, its a nice subject, brought a smile on my face after thinking of the past... Apologies for being late, work was rather hectic.


What do you remember about being a newbie... The good old days, indeed.

• As soon as I logged in, my dear friend Elisdav invited me to my first guild Maza of Crushridge. Elisdav was at the time studying for his PhD along with me in the University of Essex. So, truth be told, I was never guildless. Well, a few sec maybe :p

• I started going around smacking things. I do not remember using any of my abilities to start with, just auto-attack everything. I almost got a stroke when I died for the first time...
  

• I was immediately called 'Lance'. My toon's original name is Lancebit (derived from Lancelot) but I do not think I have been called Lancebit more than a couple of times during my 4 year career as a Paladin...

• Elisdav chipped in and bought me a Searing Blade. I was the most fearsome paladin ever... withing two yards of my standing point...

• I was dragged into Deadmines with Pizzaman and Maluska (or something...). People I did not know. People I eventualy met and hang out with...
  

• I thought at the time those lvl 60 players were Gods!!

• I once say Blessing of Kings casted on me during a 'rumble' in Southsore (brings a tear in my eye... world PvP at its best)... and SoC on a fellow paladin. I started looking where they got these toys... Talents... that figures... so that's what that menu is for!!!
  

• I was then praying for a Soc Proc just to see Lance jump in fury and slam that two-hander. At least I got the two-hander part right...
  

• I had no idea what a tank is. Why the hell they call it a tank. Is it a vehicle?
  

• I remember standing thunderstruck when my friend Dentrag used Buff-ahoy to buff in Uldaman. It had a 'say'-bubble confirmation that you were about to buff. An add-on... what the hell is an add-on...

• And then came level 60. That's when things started falling into place... I went with Elisdav and some other friends in Dire Maul. Apparently... I was one of the healers. Yes, we had two, don't ask me why, it was 4 years ago :p. At the time I had absolutely no idea what I was supposed to do. And that became quite apparent. The other healer, a druid named Debran went ballistic with me. And there I am, ruining their instance...

• Eventually I caught up with times. I was thrilled when I completed my 1st 5man, along with one of Escape's current MTs. Yes, we go a loooong way back. I remember it was Stratholme, both sides. Till now, I consider it the most entertaining instance ever.

• I went ballistic when another Paladin casted DI on me in a UBRS run. I had no idea what it was. You can imagine... I though my keyboard was dead... (naab...)
  

• I used to see paladins wearing Lighforge and thought it was cool. Then I say Lawbringer and said to myself that's impossible for me to get... (I got the shoulders, the only piece missing a few months ago in an MC achievement run! ha! gotcha!)

Now I am wearing a purple-red brown skirt those people in game call tier8.5 or sumthin... I still visit Stratholme, thinking of my old team-mates / friends. Good thing I'll meet them for coffee this or the next weekend to talk about Guitar Hero... Elisdav, I know you read this from time to time... I blame you for everything...

Now, lets tag Jong , Firelight , Vaadren and Jesper in his personal blog.

Bad to the bone...

After some farming, quite a few dailies - as I am pretty crapy with the AH, contrary to Gevlon - I managed to get the cash I needed for my Mekgineer's Chopper. I must say driving this thing is immense fun, much more than I thought. And since the new bike needs a `bad-to-the-bone attitude' Lance is now sporting a new punky hairstyle. If only I could get rid of that skirt...



On another note, Escape killed General Vezax and had our first tries on Yogg-Saron. He will soon become the dead old god of death...

Why the bloody hell do we go in Ulduar?

Sometimes I wonder if its a good thing or a bad thing not having anything `juicy' to write in my blog. You see, I often report either good/positive or bad/negative news. If everything is...yikes!...`normal'... nothing to report.

Escape has been progressing steadily, facing today Mimiron seeking to complete the Keepers of Ulduar achievement. Freya was freed this week for the first time and although we got only 3 raid days per week we seem to make the best of them. Our 10-man groups also do well, with the most 'advanced' one facing Yogg-Saron.

On the solo front, I have been leveling fishing, (around 390 nowadays), doing some dailies in case I do get that chopper (yes, I still haven't crafted that for me...) and collecting my Argent Tournament badges for future use and rep with Silver Co. I already spent the first 50 on the Stormwind tabard but the damn thing depicts the guild's tabard when you are guilded. Still, I wait patiently till they fix it, I think its the most `definitive' tabard for Lance.

Nonetheless, one of the things that have been bothering me for some time is...why?

Why the bloody hell do we go in Ulduar, why do we participate in AT. Ok, in `game-terms' we do it for the loot, the fun, the progress. But what is the justification for our characters, our toons. The Ulduar cinematic did give some... political background in the whole story. But being an old player that have gone through the quest lines for Onyxia, Molten Core, AQ and even the old Naxx (although I never set foot in it)... I was used in having a background story, something to support why I am going there. Although Wotlk arguably placedt the players deeper in the story-lines, I feel that Blizzard kinda missed something when it came to Ulduar. Unless I am missing something - dazed from the endless coding in a tcl/tk 'clone' for work' - there is not even an NPC to direct you there. Someone to say, `oh shit, Yoggy is loose, the shit is about to hit the fan so we need someone to grab him and turn that fan facing Arthas bedroom...'!.

Or... maybe there is something and I missed it
...but then again...
...I shouldn't and if I did, its not my fault alone...

Thinking out loud

I sit down thinking, hoping to come up with something interesting for my blog. Various thoughts revolve around my mind but I eventually end up with the same. I am having fun in this game. Multidimensional fun. People seem to think I am crazy. You see, many of my older guildies have recently quit the world of warcraft. It was more or less that time for them. I feel tiredness was showing up in their game.

Still, I like it in Azeroth, its kinda fun and relaxing at certain moments. Granted, some times things are repetitive, but I often find that particular fact relaxing. Other times we are short of one person or two for raiding. Ok, been there, done that. There are good times, bad times, as Led Zeppelin sang. Jousting, farming, pvp... round round, I get around...

This raid week was somewhat `clumsy'. Yes, clumsy is the right world for it. We cleared most of the `farmed' content during the first two raid days and we got Hodir towards the end. That is 8/14 now. Still, our last raid was hindered from low numbers. It seems once in a while the stars align and mock us. We are a fairly small guild with fairly regular raiders. But once in a while things just do not add-up. So, this week left me with a bitter-sweet taste. Ok, we did get one more boss down (freed actually) which, sufficient to say, its more than many can say for their raid weeks. But I do feel with a tad more dedication and commitment we would be way ahead of us, competing with the `hardcore' ones in our realm.

But clumsiness often comes with the luxury of being able to raid three days a week to the max. Sometimes your guildmates may have prior obligations. Other times people have the odd-connection issue. Many things hinder a small guild like ours.

A busy week for me comes to an end. I think its time for me to come up with some more thoughtful posts than simply thinking out loud...