Zul'Aman: My Second and Third Runs!

Since my first visit to ZA I've been lucky enough to return to Zul'Aman two more times with the same group! I have to say I really enjoyed the change of scenery from Karazhan - which I've been running for the past 4+ months. Anyhow - this post is my attempt to summarize these past 2 runs...

Opening the gates
First of all, something I didn't see last time was how the "instance" doors were opened. These past 2 times through the instance I got to see that in order to open the gates to the instance people have to bang on a gong! Usually you just walk into an instance and start killing stuff so I thought this was a pretty cool (albeit minor) little gimmick to add to the experience. I was too scared to click the gong myself in fear that there was some mechanic/trick I wasn't aware of, but they apparently didn't need my help because the main doors soon opened and the fast-paced fun began!

Pwnage!
Remember on my 1st visit to ZA I joined the group in the middle of the instance and spent the entire night attempting to kill the 5th boss... well, these past 2 runs through ZA were just a tad different... because we downed 5 of the 6 bosses in the instance!! I use the term "we" loosely here of course. I was there yes, but I'm sure I didn't contribute that much throughout the night. Honestly it took most of my focus to follow directions and simply not die during the boss fights - although, they all made it look so easy, I got the hang of things mid-way through each fight. Click the image to the right to see a cool picture of all the bosses we took down.

The final boss-related highlight was on my 2nd run where we downed Hex Lord Malacrass and we got to step up to Zul'jin's platform (the final boss) to take a look! Seeing the final boss on my 3rd run was pretty damn cool!!
2 out of 4 Hostages aint bad...
As if downing 4-5 bosses on both night wasn't enough, our group was able complete 2 of the 4 "timed events" (saving the hostages) on both nights as well! This definitely added a layer of nail-biting for me since I was just trying to learn the trash/boss fights. Having to keep up with the group as they raced the clock for each boss made things pretty hectic but it was tons of fun.

The ZA quest chain
To top everything off, I was able to finish the entire ZA quest chain (pre Zul'jin) all in one night! (my 3rd visit). Usually this takes someone at least 2 to 3 runs but since everyone else had done it alreayd, I got the fast-track mode! My quest rewards were:

• Charmed Amani Jewel
  
• Tattered Hexcloth Sack
  

The Loot
A bunch of loot dropped of course, but I, once again, forgot to turn on my 'loot tracker' addon for both runs so I can only report the loot I can remember:

• Nalorakk
  
• Main Loot: ??
• Timed Chest: Cloak of Fiends
  
  
• Akil'zon
• Main Loot: Akil'zon's Talonblade
  
• Timed Chest: ??
  
  
• Jan'alai
  
• Main Loot: Shadowtooth Trollskin Cuirass and Footpads of Madness (I got this!)
• Timed Chest: Didn't get this either attempt
  
  
• Halazzi
  
• Main Loot: Robe of Departed Spirits (I got this!) and ???
  
  
• Hex Lord Malacrass
  
• Main Loot: Tome of Diabolic Remedy and Girdle of Stromgarde's Hope

Deep Thoughts...
I have to admit that attending these past couple ZA runs did make me feel a bit guilty. I can't help but realize that this group has been running ZA for 2-3 months now and back when they first started they had to learn all the trash and boss fights the hard way (by many wipes and repair bills I'm sure). So the fact that this group let me swoop in after all their hard work and get to run through the place nearly wipe-free isn't something I take for granted. There's nothing I can really do but say "thanks" and try to pull my own weight while I'm there - both of which I've tried to do!

So - thanks again to Christy & the gang for the invites - I can't wait till there's another open spot for me to go again!

My First Visit to Zul'Aman!

I don't have any characters currently running through the new 10-man instance Zul'Aman (ZA), but last night one of the groups in my guild who have been running it were missing a person so they asked little ol' me to fill the spot (on Soofie)! I was a big fan of Zul'Gurub from the old world so I was excited to see what the new "outdoor/troll" raid instance was like.
This group has been running ZA for a while now and have a couple bosses already on farm. Last night however they were working on a boss they've yet to take down - Hex Lord Malacrass. The trash we cleared on the way to him wasn't anything special - though this group has some really good players so I'm sure it seemed easier to me than it really was.

We went through the trash pretty fast so I hardly had any time to take in the scenery. Here's one of the few screenshots I was able to snap outside while out of combat.

When we arrived at the Hex Lord's hut I saw that it was like Moroes from Karazhan where the boss has 4 friends (adds) that fight with him... joy. Fortunately we had a lot of people who could "crowd control" so two of the adds were sheeped and 1 was shackled. The 4th add was tanked by our "off-tank" while our "main tank" kept the Hex Lord's attention until we were done burning own the 4 adds.

Unfortunately we didn't get him down. Although we tried 6 or 7 times - the best we did was get him to 8% - which was painful to wipe at. We might have had him on our last attempt but one of our main healers was disconnected from the game *twice* during the fight which basically meant we were all dead - too bad.

In any case - I had fun and it was cool to hang out with some guild members I don't see as often as others. I even came in 3rd in the damage meters! (which I'm sure was a fluke of some sort). Thanks to Thayala & Co for the invite. I hope they have an open spot for me again soon! :)

Last Shaman Standing!

The other night I went on a unscheduled Karazhan run with a group from my guild (on Hoofie). Our group was made up of some "alt" characters (including Hoofie) so we struggled a bit throughout the run (though we did make it to The Curator in the end).

Anyhow, we got "The Big Bad Wolf" for the opera event. We wiped on the 1st attempt but fortunately we got him on the 2nd attempt.... barely. The 2nd attempt was almost another wipe - because by the time he was at ~2% everyone was dead - except ME!! At that point I threw in a few Frost Shocks, summoned my Fire Elemental and started running across the stage hoping to delay my probably impending death. And just when he was just about to smash my face in he fell over dead! Click here to see a screenshot commemorating the humorous ending.



Fortunately since Hoofie is a shaman, she could rez everyone so everyone else didn't have to run all the way back from the graveyard.

To top it off, one of the items he dropped was a great upgrade for me! Actually, speaking of useful drops, this entire Kara run ended up being one of those awkward runs where almost every boss seems to drop something that is a really good upgrade for your character that no one else really needs so you end up taking home quite a lot of loot!You always hate to be that person because as much as the game isn't about loot, it's much more fun when lots of people get loot - not just you!
But the people in my guild are all nice though and while some of them were sad about not seeing things they needed drop, they were all happy to see me get some upgrades. Here's what I got:

• Big Bad Wolf's Head (It's a cool +healing WOLF MASK!)
  
• Heart Flame Leggings (Nice leg upgrades with sockets!)
  
• Shard of the Virtuous (Very nice +healing mace)
  
• Emerald Ripper (Melee weapon for when Hoofie has to level to 80)

5000 to 100 in 3 seconds!

...gold that is.

Tonight I finally had enough gold on Zoof to buy the epic flying skill. So once I worked myself up for it, I flew to Shadowmoon Valley and paid the Riding Trainer 5000.

Saving my pennies seems to have had an effect on me because instead of paying the 200 more to get the default epic flying mount to actually starting using the skill I'm thinking I'm going to wait a bit longer and get the Netherdrake mount for free by doing the Netherwing daily quests. Hopefully I can be patient and wait that long.



I remember when I bought Hoof's 1st mount for ~100 a couple years ago. Money was much harder to save up way back then so it was pretty traumatic to spend that kind of money! So it's pretty nuts that the game has us spending 5000 now! Insane...


For the record, here's what I did to save up 5000 ...

• Instead of running to Outlands at 58, I stayed in the old world and did *every* (non-group) level 50-60 quest I could get my hands on to get every ounce of gold I could before heading to Outlands. This kept me in the old world until I was level 63 which was also a good thing. I did every ounce of EPL, WPL, Silithus, Winterspring, Azshara etc.
  
  
• I headed to Outlands at 63 and did every quest available in Hellfire Penninsula, Zangarmarsh, Terrokar and Nagrand.
  
  
• I specifically did NOT start questing in Netherstorm, Blade's Edge and Shadowmoon Valley in order to get the level 70 bonus gold for each quest in those zones.
  
  
• Once I hit 70, I got some guildies to help me unlock the Ogri'la daily quest hub. Once they were unlocked I did 5-8 daily quests every day for about 2 weeks on Zoof. Once I got the hang of them, they only took me 45 minutes each per day - not bad for rakin' in ~50 per run!
  
  
• Other Stuff
• Warlocks are overpowered... and I could do more quests faster/easier than other classes.
  
• Also, being a warlock, my "costs" for leveling/questing were pretty low since:
• I hardly ever was low on HP or Mana (Life Tap, Drain Mana and Drain Life FTW!)
• My "ammo" was free (vs. Hunter, for example, who has to buy bullets/arrows)
• I caught a special break along the way because a friend in my guild helped me save money while getting my lower level riding skill/mount. That probably saved me 300 right there.
• I was very stingy w/my money and only bought a couple things from the Auction House from level 60 to 70.

Another weird aspect to this whole process is that I probably had ~900 spread across all of my other characters but for some reason I refused to use their money! It was important to me that Zoof earn the entire 5000 on his own!

Boss Kill: SSC - The Lurker Below!

Last night the raid group I run with took down The Lurker Below in Serpentshrine Cavern for the first time!...

The Crafting Corner

#DRAFT#
(more info to come once I've inventoried what I have in-game...)

One of the fun "extracurricular" things you can do in-game is to level-up a tradeskill. These skills allow you to make various items you can use or sell in-game. Each character can train in any two of the following and level each up to skill-level 375:

• Crafting Skills:
• Tailoring Soofie (375)
  
• Alchemy Hoofie (375)
  
• Blacksmithing Hoof (~350)
  
• Enchanting Poofy (300)
  
• Engineering Hoof (~350)
  
• Leatherworking Poofy (300)
  
• Jewelcrafting Poof (~100)
  
  
• Gathering Skills
• Mining Zoof & Soofie (375)
  
• Skinning Zoof (375)
  
• Herbalism Hoofie (375)
  

In addition to the above list, all characters can also take up any of the following general "skills" (no limit):

• Cooking* Hoof (375), Zoof (375), Soofie (365), Hoofie (360)
  
• First Aid* Hoof, Zoof, Soofie, Hoofie (375)
  
• Fishing* Hoof, Zoof (~320)
  

For all of the "Crafting" skills (as well as "Cooking") it's possible to get a certain number of special recipes that make "rare" items. I don't have very many of these but here are the ones my characters currently have:

Cooking:

• Recipe: Delicious Chocolate Cake (Hoofie)
• Recipe: Stormchops (Soofie?)
• Recipe: Kibler's Bits (Hoof)

Guild Avatar Archive

I occasionally make forum 'avatars' for members of my guild based on their WoW character of choice. They started out as semi-jokes of using Windows Paint to whip out quick/silly 2 minutes renderings of guildmates but as I did more of them, I took it to an obsessive/extreme level (like always) and started adding more detail so the style has evolved quite a bit over time.
All of them still start out in Windows Paint, but now most all of them end up in Photoshop where they are then "polished up" to add dramatic lighting, fog/lighting effects etc. I now refer to the originals as the "Crayola" style, and the more recent ones as the "Comic Book illustration" style.

In any case - I have a blast making them - most likely because they are a strangely addictive combination of WoW, my guildmates and art - it's like making miniature portraits of all my in-game friends.

I do these for group/guildmates for free at no charge but happily accept donations of gold from satisfied customers :). I have so much fun making it's almost hard to keep the gold.....(almost!)

Current Queue Queue cap removed since it's harder to manage - just be patient for me! Bagheera Zailine Diva Umbrial

Guild Avatar Gallery The Originals! The Burning Crusade Series Wrath of the Lich King Series! Limited Edition, only 300 each!* /wink wink Donations to Date: 319 98 x 10