Sunday, August 31, 2008

Dwarf Hunters

My first toon was a druid, and since the guild my daughter was in was Alliance, she was by necessity a Night Elf. This is my first MMO, and in the beginning I was so noobish and terrified, I had no thought of doing anything without being close to real life acquaintances.

Although I enjoyed the druid playstyle, and still do, I seriously did not like the looks of my toon. I hated her dance. I hated being flirted with. Even more shocking was when folks assumed I was a guy.

When 'Achi' was 45ish, I had to go for several months to care for my mother. My Mom only had dial-up, so I could not play. While I was away, I read massively about WoW, and haunted my guild forums and even, *shock* the Blizzard forums. I decided I wanted to be a hunter. I love animals in Real Life, and have virtually never been without at least one dog, and usually a zoo of other critters. So I planned my hunter career, deciding which pets she would have, and as she could only have two pets, I quickly realized I needed more than one hunter, so I planned three.

When I returned to WoW, I immediately made three lady Dwarf hunters. Why Dwarf ladies? I play Dwarf ladies for several reasons. I love the way they talk and dance. I am mostly Scottish in real life and the accent and step-dancing is fabulous. Also, and even more compelling, female Dwarfs do NOT look like Barbie dolls. The only people who flirt with me are Dwarf males, and this is comfortable RPing, not an invitation to cyber. When I meet another female dwarf (very rare, but it happens) we are both 95% certain that the other person is truly a female.

Achi, the druid, is seventy now, as are the Dwarf ladies, Sugarmaple, Bluespruce and Ngakma. I have my assortment of pets, and am looking forward to having five pets per toon in Wrath. But that is still only 15 pets, and there are so many great choices coming...I think it is time to get leveling a few more hunters...

Bluespruce

*Headdesk*

Sometimes, I truly do not understand the logic that runs through Blizzard HQ.

Originally, game designers had wanted to require a level 80 character to be the key to unlocking a death knight. However, this was changed because blizzard wanted to avoid having people rush to 80, missing content etc in their pell-mell headlong rocket toward level cap.


A few short days ago however, Tigole announced the introduction of Realm-First titles. What happened to wanting players not to rush to 80? What happened to wanting the players to actually experience the game as they climb to the new level cap?

.... And who else will be fighting for those titles with me? >.<;



For those of you who for some reason or another haven't yet seen the list, here you go!

Achievements Titles

  • Arena Master - Complete the arena achievements
  • Salty - Complete the fishing achievements
  • The Diplomat - Raise your reputation level from unfriendly to exalted with Timbermaw Hold, Sporeggar and the Kurenai / The Mag'har.
  • The Hallowed - Complete the Hallow's End achievements
  • The Seeker - Complete 3000 quests.



Feats of Strength
  • The Supreme - First player on the realm to achieve level 80.
  • Assassin - First rogue on the realm to achieve level 80.
  • Warbringer - First warrior on the realm to achieve level 80.
  • Archmage - First mage on the realm to achieve level 80.
  • Of The Ebon Blade - First death knight on the realm to achieve level 80.
  • Stalker - First hunter on the realm to achieve level 80.
  • The Malefic - First warlock on the realm to achieve level 80.
  • Prophet - First priest on the realm to achieve level 80.
  • Crusader - First paladin on the realm to achieve level 80.
  • Arch Druid - First druid on the realm to achieve level 80.
  • Of the Ten Storms - First shaman on the realm to achieve level 80.


  • Twilight Vanquisher - Participated in the realm first Sartharion the Onyx Guardian kill (25 player).
  • The Magic Seeker - Participated in the realm first Malygos kill (25 player).
  • Conqueror of Naxxramas - Participated in the realm first Kel'Thuzad kill (25 player).
  • Of Gnomeregan - First gnome on the realm to achieve level 80.
  • Of Quel'thalas - First blood elf on the realm to achieve level 80.
  • Of Argus - First draenei on the realm to achieve level 80.
  • Of Khaz Modan - First dwarf on the realm to achieve level 80.
  • The Lion Hearted - First human on the realm to achieve level 80.
  • Champion of Elune - First night elf on the realm to achieve level 80.
  • Hero of Orgrimmar - First orc on the realm to achieve level 80.
  • Plainsrunner - First tauren on the realm to achieve level 80.
  • Of the Darkspear - First troll on the realm to achieve level 80.
  • The Forsaken - First forsaken on the realm to achieve level 80.


  • Grand Master Blacksmith - First player on the realm to achieve 450 skill in blacksmithing.
  • Grand Master Alchemist - First player on the realm to achieve 450 skill in alchemy.
  • Iron Chef - First player on the realm to achieve 450 skill in cooking.
  • Grand Master Enchanter - First player on the realm to achieve 450 skill in
    enchanting.
  • Grand Master Engineer - First player on the realm to achieve 450 skill in engineering.
  • Doctor - First player on the realm to achieve 450 skill in first aid.
  • Grand Master Angler - First player on the realm to achieve 450 skill in fishing.
  • Grand Master Herbalist - First player on the realm to achieve 450 skill in herbalism.
  • Grand Master Scribe - First player on the realm to achieve 450 skill in inscription.
  • Grand Master Jewelcrafter - First player on the realm to achieve 450 skill in jewelcrafting.
  • Grand Master Leatherworker - First player on the realm to achieve 450 skill in leatherworking.
  • Grand Master Miner - First player on the realm to achieve 450 skill in mining.
  • Grand Master Skinner - First player on the realm to achieve 450 skill in skinning.
  • Grand Master Tailor - First player on the realm to achieve 450 skill in tailoring.
  • Hero of Northrend - First player on the realm to gain exalted reputation with the Argent Crusade, Wyrmrest Accord, Kirin Tor and Knights of the Ebon Blade.


Friday, August 29, 2008

Out with the Old, in with the New!

Right now, I'm not entirely sure whether to laugh, or to cry. I have been playing World of Warcraft as a raiding moonkin for nearly 3 years now. In this time, and especially since the release of the Burning Crusade, I've found myself in a somewhat tight, but mostly comfortable niche: support class.

I could lower the boss's chance to hit our tank by 2% with my fancy Insect Swarm... I could give my group of 5 people 5% extra crit just by standing around and dancing with, you must admit, the best dance in the game! And last but not least, with judicious 40-second reapplication, I could increase the hit of every single melee and ranged (re: hunters) dpser by 3%! Granted, my personal dps was occasionally lackluster, but the antics of my trees, and of course the dance often made up for any deficit not provided by my support buffs.

However, with the upcoming release of Wrath of the Lich King, it seems I am to be pried out of my comfortable, though slightly undersized home, and flung to the far reaches of WoW hybridom thanks to the latest mechanic change that has been announced.

What I am refering to, of course, is what Zarhym has told us about the "Great Buff Normalization of 08." Or in other words, "what this change means is that many buffs and debuffs that were previously allowed to stack together no longer can, and that many buffs and debuffs that only a single talent specialization could bring can now be brought by multiple different specializations."

To put it succinctly ladies and gentlemen..... I fear I am about to become obsolete.

~Syri

Thursday, August 28, 2008

The Introduction!

Well, it's time for that ever-present, unavoidable "first post" in a brand new blog. Welcome to HCG: Hardcore-Casual Gamers. My name is Syri and I'll be... well, one of your hosts, anyway! This blog is something I and another World of Warcraft player thought up over the span of about a month, as we both waited with baited breath to see if we got into the Wrath of the Lich King beta.

Unfortunately, neither of us have.. at least not yet! However, it did at least lead to the creation of HCG so something good came of it, I suppose! This blog exists as our way of writing about something we care about: Gaming. We hope to bring you information, articles, and perhaps even short, funny, or interesting bits of information regarding several of the games we play. We may wander off topic now and again with posts about our lives, and don't say I didn't warn you!


Speaking of off topic, I suppose I might as well tell you a bit about myself! As I said, my name is Syri. I'm 24, living in Florida with a man and a cat, and have been gaming for something like 10 years now. Myst, Return to Zork, Diablo, EVE Online, Maplestory, and yes... Even Neopets are some of the games/sites I've frequented over the years.


For the last 3 of those, I have been an avid World of Warcraft fan, and have 2 level 70's (a boomkin and a huntard) and neumerous alts ranging from level 11 to 49. I'm an officer in a hardecore-casual raiding guild, and am an on again, off again PvPer.


When Lord of the Rings Online came out, I of course picked it up (having been fed and watered on the stories of Tolkien as a child), and I've also recently preordered and briefly played the game Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, so you can expect to see me posting about any of those games, as well as whatever random shtick I happen upon.


Well, that's that I suppose, at least on my end! Now I'll go ahead and pass you over to my co-writer, Blue!


All yours, BS!



---------------------------


Thank you, Syri! I am Bluespruce, BS or Blue for short. I met Syri on a thread she created, that is now in it's fifteenth incarnation on Blizzard's "Wrath of the Lich King' forum. One day, in casual forum back and forth, we found out that we each had a yen to blog about gaming.

About me, in Real Life: I am 57, I live in Wisconsin with a dog. My two grown children and their respective SOs live within shouting distance. I've been gaming for...30+ years, starting with D&D in the mid-seventies. I brought my kids up as gamers, and our first computer game was Ultima V. They plunged into the online community in the 90s, while I puttered about with various PC games.

In November, 2004 I came to stay with my daughter and son-in-law for several months. They had just bought WoW, after having participated in the open Beta and I was immediately enthralled. I have 6 seventies, and only 3 of them are Dwarf hunters. *cough* I also have a seventy druid, a shammy and a Tauren hunter. I have hit the level cap of characters on my first account several times; altoholic does not even begin to describe it, so I recently broke down and bought a second account. On my main server I have a great guild, but still mainly solo, and hope to try to multi-box over the next few months.

I am a somewhat gimped player, since I did not grow up with computers. I also have Multiple Sclerosis, and am therefore mildly clumsy, and tend to have brain 'hiccups', brief blank patches, which make raiding harder, so I have only done a little with my main.

WoW is my only MMORPG. So far, I am not tempted by any others. So WoW is all I will be writing about in the gaming world. As Syri said, I may tell some RL tales occasionally!


---------------------------

Syri again here!

Well, that about sums up our first post on HCG! You know who we are and what we want to do! Blue and I will probably do articles at will... anywhere from multiple times daily to every couple of days, and we will probably write some together as well (much like this one).

We hope you enjoyed this entirely off-topic post, and... well, it seems so cliché to say but, "We'll see you again next time, folks!"