Hoof's World of WoW (a World of Warcraft Blog)

/cry... Finally disabled the auto-renew on my account

2009-09-29T14:57:00.000-04:00

Such a sad day... but since I haven't played in months I suppose I should have done this way earlier. I know I can renew whenever I want and I *think* BLIZZARD will never delete my characters (/pray) - but still... very sad moment.

Goodbye to raiding... for now

2009-03-03T23:49:00.001-05:00

As I mentioned in my previous post, seeing exactly how much time I'd poured into WoW over the last few years certainly startled me a bit. 223 days - that's 5,352 hours! Obviously that's a very large number - but then again I'm not sure it's an overly unreasonable amount of time for an avid gamer like myself to spend "playing video games" over a 4-year period.
The only oddness of it, if anything, is that it was the same game for the entire 4 years instead of being spread across 10-15 different games in shorter bursts. But that just speaks to the quality, immersion and plain old "fun factor" of WoW really. The game was fun enough to keep me consistently entertained and coming back for 4 years - that's just amazing really.

So - for the last month or two I tried *only* playing WoW on TUE and THU nights with my raid group. It's been fun and we've actually starting getting a very nice momentum in Naxx (and OS). However, its become clear to me that the game is just not very fun (for me) if I don't have *any* solo time. I was going to try to add a 3rd night a week to do just that (get some solo WoW time in) but I just can't swing it w/my current RL schedule.

Another "writing on the wall" type thing I noticed as I stuck to my "raiding only" plan over past month or two was that I was logging on so little that my banker's mailbox had items being deleted from inactivity - and to my surprise... I didn't really care. I don't think I've lost anything super valuable yet - but the notion that I'm ok with ANY of my banker storage items being deleted is pretty telling given my past history with loving to hoard things on my banker(s).

Anyhow - having said all the above... I'm saying goodbye to raiding for the foreseeable future - so I've notified my raid leaders that I'll be officially bowing out of our group starting next week. :(

I'm sure they'll find someone to fill my slot so I'm not worried about that. The saddest thing about it for me isn't playing less of the game so much as the fact that I'll no longer have an extracurricular activity on TUE and THU nights anymore - having that interaction with other people my age was pretty nice since I'm otherwise stuck at home w/two kids under 3 at the moment. Plus it was really neat to be part of a team who was consistently doing better and better each run.

I actually contemplated leaving the game for good (including deleting all bank items, all characters etc) but after talking with some folks (some who still play, and others who don't) I decided not to be that extreme. So my characters and their bank items will remain in Azeroth for now at least - so this is not a "final goodbye" - at least not yet.

Thanks again to my raid group for letting me be a part of the team (even way back in the Karazhan days!). I hope to see you guys around from time to time - I may logon from time to time to play some solo (if I think I can handle it in small doses) so if you see me around say hi!

Here's a handful of folks who were in my raid group over last couple years - sorry to those I don't have avatars of! (Umbrial and Balmar specifically! :( Raiding was a neat way to get to know folks a bit more and I enjoyed raiding with all of you! It has been a pleasure guys (and gals)!

Total Played = 223 days (!!?)

2009-02-09T15:23:00.005-05:00

Last week as part of my personal Facebook "25 Random things" I tallied up my WoW /played totals to find out how much time I've played the game since I started my account (back in 12/2004).

The total was... 225 days.
I use the [223] number in conversations since at least 2 days of that number were spent AFK, auction house idle times, leaving machine on all night during long flight paths etc). Like 2 days makes any kind of dent/difference though!....

Anyhow. After learning that number I've been in deep thought for past few days on everything considering all things... friends I've made in that time, in-game adventures and accomplishments I've achieved - but also the negatives.... weight I've gained in that time, fresh air I've not had, art projects I haven't done, music I haven't played on guitar ...etc.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do about it yet... stay tuned I suppose...

Dual Boxing = Fun!

2009-02-02T02:07:00.007-05:00

Just quick post that my dual boxing fun continues. Friend of mine doesn't use his WoW account often lets me use his 70 DK to help level up some of my lowbie toons by dual boxing late at night.

My undead rogue Poof who was level 13 two weeks ago is now level 36 and hasn't done a quest for over 10 levels. All I do is run instances over and over so he gets kill XP and all the blue drops. Aside from being a fun alternative to the usual "questing to level" I have to say it's fun to romp through instances that most of my characters never got to do w/out any worry of dying. The DK just pulls a whole room, kills them all and my rogue sits back and gets all the xp/loot!

So far my instance runs count goes something like:

WC: 1
BFD: 2
RFK: 7
RFD: 5 (full) 8 (partial)
SM: 5 (all 4 wings)
ULDAMAN: 3
ZF: 1

I just ran him through Zul'Farrak at level 35 (he dinged at the end) since 35 is the lowest level you can be before you enter (I didn't even know there were "lowest level limits" in WoW). It was pretty funny because my rogue couldn't even tell what level the trash was in there - they were all ?? Elites to him! But we cleared the place! Even the final dude in that cave, Antu'sul who was nice enough to drop his sword for when Poof hits level 44!

Update 2009/01/04:
Ran through Maraudon last night! I'm starting to have to be a bit more careful with my pulls - sometimes I can only take on 1 group of 5-6 mobs at a time which certainly slows things down a bit. Maraudon is also HUGE so it took a good 2 hours to do a full clear - but both the DK and my rogue got the achievement. Sadly only 1 useable item dropped [Claw of Celebras].

I am starting to wonder if it's worth worrying about what drops since some blue items in my bank are already worthless. I guess when I hit the point where the DK can't solo instances above a certain level I'll be left with whatever blue gear my rogue was able to get before that point. Who knows what I'll do then!

Auction House Gold Rush!

2009-01-19T02:03:00.005-05:00

I went from 1400 to 3900 gold on my banker in one weekend! At this rate I may be able to afford two fast flyers soon! I'm not doing anything super sneaky/secret - just found something I can farm during my kids' naps and sell in the AH for decent profit. I'll post specific details later once my luck runs out. :)

That is all!

Achievements FTW!

2009-01-12T09:58:00.005-05:00

/blows 3 inch layer of dust off top of the blog...
I'm not sure I have any readers atm since it's been so long but I figured I'd post something anyhow for my own records/etc.

I just wanted to post that I think the new ACHIEVEMENTS system in WoTLK is great! I suppose it would be hard to find someone who thought otherwise. In any case - the reasons *I* personally think it's great are:

Whole new layer to game!
It's another "bite size" way to play the game over time - if you're like me and don't have enough free time to schedule more traditional play stuff (heroics, arena, group questing).
It breathes life (or at least one last dying breath) into the "old world" areas as many achievements encourage folks to go see, do, kill, etc things from the old areas of the game.
It's like POKéMON and has that "gotta catch 'em all" feeling!

In addition to just enjoying single achievments as my toons get them, I'm have long/short term plans on getting Hoof the "Accomplished Angler (Fishing)" achievement for the "Salty" title and Hoofie the "Hail to the Chef (Cooking)" one for the "Chef" title. I may never get the Salty one because the final item I need to do is based largely on LUCK (a fishing tournament every Sunday at 3PM) - but I'm fairly certain I'll get the "Chef" one at least.

There are of course more impressive titles from PVP, arenas, raiding and exploring (even one that comes from getting *25* mounts!!!!) - but the fishing and cooking ones are things I can do w/my tricky free-time schedule and I do actually enjoy both fishing and cooking in game (I bet my wife wished I was that way IRL!... at least the cooking).

Zul'Aman: My Second and Third Runs!

2008-03-04T00:08:00.044-05:00

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:

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!

2008-02-28T20:13:00.009-05:00

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!

2008-02-26T22:45:00.002-05:00

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!

2008-02-20T23:05:00.005-05:00

...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!

2008-02-20T15:26:00.005-05:00

Last night the raid group I run with took down The Lurker Below in Serpentshrine Cavern for the first time!... And so our slow-n-steady move through WoW end-game continues :). Fortunately, it only took 3 or 4 two and half hour runs to get him down so that's nice - unlike Magtheridon - who we've still yet to take down after 5+ runs! We certainly don't have him on farm status but once you down a boss, odds are you'll have a 70% or better success rate from then on.

The fight itself is pretty neat once you have seen it and know what to watch out for. Our raid leader did a good job of explaining the various phases of the fightand also made sure everyone was positioned correct beforehand so that made a big difference.

I don't always live through entire boss fights but I was lucky enough to survive this time so I was up for the whole fight (I was on Soofie btw)! At around 25% health there were only a few of us still alive but we were able to squeeze out enough healing/DPS to finish him off! It was a pretty mana intensive fight - I ended up using 3 Super Mana Potion and used my Shadowfiend twice - I have no idea how other casters kept their mana up.

Anyhow - /congratulations to us! :) Here's what we got: (I think...)

The Crafting Corner

2008-02-17T23:55:00.000-05:00

#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

2008-02-15T22:43:00.073-05:00

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

Raiding: Loot History

2008-02-11T22:03:00.006-05:00

#DRAFT IN PROGRESS#

SSC

2008-03-30

SSC: The Lurker Below

[Tempest-Strider Boots]
[Velvet Boots of the Guardian]
[Grove-Bands of Remulos]

2008-03-16

Tempest Keep: High Astromancer Solarian

2008-03-09

The Lurker Below:

2008-03-02

The Lurker Below:

2008-02-24

The Lurker Below:

Ancestral Ring of Conquest

Earring of Soulful Meditation

Glowing Breastplate of Truth

2008-02-10

The Lurker Below:

Karazhan

2008-02-10

History: Combat Log

2007-12-29T21:42:00.018-05:00

There are so many interesting dungeons and bosses in the game that I thought it'd be neat to list out all the ones I've had the opportunity to experience. So - here's a complete history (sorry no dates) of what dungeons or raids I've attended. Since I have leveled up 5 characters past 60 (4 to 70), I don't have a perfect memory of which character ran which instance [x] number times - but in general though I think my "estimated # of runs" for each instance below are pretty close.

If you take all the estimated # of run numbers below and multiply them by 2 hours each (average time per run) you get a pretty crazy number of "time spent in game". For any detractors, in my defense all that time was spent talking/joking around with real people with headsets/microphones most of the time so technically it was some form of social interaction! :D

The saddest part of this page is that due to the way BLIZZARD releases expansion packs for the game, 80% of locations listed on the page are no longer worth visiting because the gear drops and/or the quest/experience rewards for running through them are just not worth it for people leveling to 70+! :( It's a tragedy too because so many of these places were really fun at-level. I still hold out hope that somehow BLIZZARD will one day breathe new life into these places to make them worth visiting (at or even after level).

Wailing Caverns - Estimated # of runs [~20]

Blackfathom Depths - Estimated # of runs [~10]

Razorfen Kraul - Estimated # of runs [~6]

Roogug
Aggem Thorncurse
Death Speaker Jargba
Overlord Ramtusk
Agathelos the Raging
Charlga Razorflank

Razorfen Downs - Estimated # of runs [~3]

Tuten'kash
Mordresh Fire Eye
Glutton
Amnennar the Coldbringer

Maraudon - Estimated # of runs [~4]

Noxxion
Razorlash
Lord Vyletongue
Poison Falls
Celebras the Cursed
Landslide
Tinkerer Gizlock
Rotgrip
Princess Theradras

Zul'Farrak - Estimated # of runs [~10]

Antu'sul
Theka the Martyr
Witch Doctor Zum'rah
Nekrum Gutchewer
Hydromancer Velrath
Gahz'rilla
-- never killed -- Shadowpriest Sezz'ziz
-- never killed -- Ruuzlu
-- never killed -- Chief Ukorz Sandscalp

Scholomance - Estimated # of runs [~15]

Kirtonos the Herald
Jandice Barov
Rattlegore
Marduk Blackpool
Ras Frostwhisper
Instructor Malicia
Doctor Theolen Krastinov
Lorekeeper Polkelt
The Ravenian
Lord Alexei Barov
Lady Illucia Barov
Darkmaster Gandling

Stratholme: Undead Side - Estimated # of runs [~5]

The Unforgiven
Timmy the Cruel
Malor the Zealous
Cannon Master Willey
Archivist Galford
Grand Crusader Dathrohan
Balnazzar

Stratholme: Undead Side - Estimated # of runs [~20]

Baroness Anastari
Nerub'enkan
Maleki the Pallid
Magistrate Barthilas
Ramstein the Gorger
Baron Rivendare

Lower Blackrock Spire - Estimated # of runs [~25+]

Overlord Wyrmthalak
Highlord Omokk
War Master Voone

Upper Blackrock Spire - Estimated # of runs [~35+]

Pyroguard Emberseer
Warchief Rend Blackhand/Gyth
The Beast
General Drakkisath

Dire Maul: East - Estimated # of runs [~1]

Zevrim Thornhoof
Hydrospawn
Lethtendris
Alzzin the Wildshaper

Dire Maul: North - Estimated # of runs [~3]

Guard Mol'dar
Stomper Kreeg
Guard Fengus
Guard Slip'kik
Captain Kromcrush
King Gordok
Cho'Rush the Observer

Dire Maul: West - Estimated # of runs [~3]

Tendris Warpwood
Illyanna Ravenoak
Magister Kalendris
Immol'thar
-- never killed --Prince Tortheldrin

Zul'Gurub - Estimated # of runs [~25+]

High Priest Venoxis
High Priestess Jeklik
High Priestess Mar'li
High Priest Thekal
High Priestess Arlokk
Bloodlord Mandokir & Ohgan
Edge of Madness
Gahz'ranka
-- never killed -- Jin'do the Hexxer
Hakkar the Soulflayer

Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj - Estimated # of runs [~15]

Kurinnaxx
General Rajaxx
Buru the Gorger

Onyxia's Lair - Estimated # of runs [~10]

Onyxia

Molten Core - Estimated # of runs [~15]

Lucifron
Magmadar
Gehennas
Garr
Shazzrah
Baron Geddon
Golemagg the Incinerator
Sulfuron Harbinger
Majordomo Executus
-- never killed -- Ragnaros

Blackwing Lair - Estimated # of runs [1]

-- never killed -- Razorgore the Untamed

Naxxramas - Estimated # of runs [1]

-- never killed -- Anub'Rekhan

Hellfire Citadel: Ramparts - Estimated # of runs [~5]

Watchkeeper Gargolmar
Omor the Unscarred
Nazan & Vazruden

Hellfire Citadel: The Blood Furnace - Estimated # of runs [~3]

The Maker
Broggok
Keli'dan the Breaker

Hellfire Citadel: The Shattered Halls - Estimated # of runs [~8]

Grand Warlock Nethekurse
Blood Guard Porung (Heroic)
Warbringer O'mrogg
Warchief Kargath Bladefist

Hellfire Citadel: Magtheridon's Lair - Estimated # of runs [~5]

-- never killed -- Magtheridon

Coilfang Reservoir: The Slave Pens - Estimated # of runs [~8]

Mennu the Betrayer
Rokmar the Crackler
Quagmirran

Coilfang Reservoir: The Underbog - Estimated # of runs [~8]

Hungarfen
Ghaz'an
Swamplord Musel'ek
The Black Stalker

Coilfang Reservoir: The Steamvault - Estimated # of runs [~10]

Hydromancer Thespia
Mekgineer Steamrigger
Warlord Kalithresh

Coilfang Reservoir: Serpentshrine Cavern - Estimated # of runs [~3]

The Lurker Below

Auchindoun: Mana-Tombs - Estimated # of runs [~6]

Pandemonius
Tavarok
Nexus-Prince Shaffar

Auchindoun: Auchenai Crypts - Estimated # of runs [~5]

Shirrak the Dead Watcher
Exarch Maladaar

Auchindoun: Sethekk Halls - Estimated # of runs [~2]

Darkweaver Syth
Talon King Ikiss

Auchindoun: Shadow Labyrinth - Estimated # of runs [~6]

Ambassador Hellmaw
Blackheart the Inciter
Grandmaster Vorpil
Murmur

Caverns of Time: Old Hillsbrad Foothills - Estimated # of runs [~7]

Lieutenant Drake
Captain Skarloc
Epoch Hunter

Caverns of Time: The Black Morass - Estimated # of runs [~10]

Chrono Lord Deja
Temporus
Aeonus

Karazhan - Estimated # of runs [~25+]

Servant Quarters
Attumen & Midnight
Moroes
Opera Event: Romulus & Julianne
Opera Event: Little Red Riding Hood
Opera Event: Wizard of Oz
Maiden of Virtue
The Curator
Chess Event
Terestian Illhoof
Shade of Aran
Netherspite
NightbanePrince Malchezaar

Gruul's Lair - Estimated # of runs [~10]

High King Maulgar
Gruul the Dragonkiller

Tempest Keep - Estimated # of runs [1]

Voidreaver

Bank: For the...Hoard!

2007-12-28T21:53:00.009-05:00

#DRAFT#

I’m a bit of a pack rat so I enjoy stocking up on lots of things and keeping them… even if I have no immediate/future plans of actually needing or using them in-game!

I currently have 2 characters wholly dedicated to being ‘bankers’ and use a couple of my lower level characters as ‘overflow’ bankers since I have too much for just 2 characters to hold right now. These ‘bankers’ are level 1 characters who are only used to store things in their bank/bags, handle auction house transations and mail gold and stuff to my real characters whenever/if they need something.

I won’t keep track of EVERYTHING they have here - just the more interesting/useful (read: "shiny!") stuff. I’m sure I won’t keep this anywhere near ‘real-time’ accurate but thought it would be cool to get a snapshot now and then of what I’ve got hoarded up…

Bankatella - (Full-time Banker)

STORAGE TYPE: Auction-worthy Items & General Storage

Gold on Hand: 405

Rocks - (Full-time Banker)

STORAGE TYPE: Gems, Ores and Metal/Bars

Gold on Hand: 5

Poofy (36 Mage) - (Temp Banker)

STORAGE TYPE: Enchanting & Leather

Gold on Hand: 45

Poof (15 Rogue) - (Temp Banker)

STORAGE TYPE: Food & Potions Related

Gold on Hand: 13

ADDON: Easy Emote Bar 1.?

2007-12-25T23:22:00.000-05:00

Current Version: ???

I, like most mmo players, used to do my "emotes" by typing things in the chat box. Commands like /smile, /thank, /hug seemed easy enough to type when the situation warranted it. However, as I leveled up my characters and had more things to deal with in my UI (in and out of combat) typing my emotes started to become a bit too time consuming/tedious.

I didn't want to stop using emotes because I like them so much - SO... I threw together this addon.

This addon is an extremely plain/basic bar of buttons (configured with 20 or so of my favorite emotes) meant to make emotes simple as "clicking a button". Besides eliminating the hassle of having to TYPE my emotes, this also lets you avoid having to waste the in-game button bars on single emote macro buttons. It's nothing special but I still use it to this day.

If you dig emotes, try it out!

Download Easy Emotes v0.1 here...

ADDON: Hoof's Map Notes!

2007-12-25T23:20:00.000-05:00

"Hoof's Map Notes" isn't really an addon - it's more of a "DATA" file to use with an addon. It is quite useful though - at least it has been for me! ...

#DRAFT/OLD TEXT BELOW#

======== Hoof's Map Notes! Version 021508 ====================

LATEST VERSION: v021508

Having recently finished getting a 4th toon to 70 (Zoof) I figured I should release an update here . Since it's been so long since the last update I don't have a "here's what's new in this version" list. All I can say is there's more dots!... I mean mapnotes!

Updated Install/Remove JPGs

>>> Download Hoof's MapNotes Data v021508 here... <<<

Enjoy!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Hoof MetaMap "MapNotes" v021508
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

INSTALL NOTES

==================================
Step A: Download/Install latest verison of MetaMap!
http://ui.worldofwar.net/ui.php?id=3331

Step B: REMOVE Old Hoof Map Note Data
-------------------------------------------------------------
If you have a version of Hoof's Map Notes already imported into MetaMap you will need to remove them. To do this

1.) Load up WoW

2.) Follow the directions in the RemoveOldNotes_01, RemoveOldNotes_02 and RemoveOldNotes_03 jpgs included in the "helpful_jpgs" folder in the zip.

3.) You should see a m

Step C: IMPORT NEW Hoof Map Note Data
-------------------------------------------------------------
To import the latest version of Hoof's Map Note data:

1.) Download the [HoofMetaMapNotes_021508.zip] file

2.) Copy the file MetaMapEXP.lua from the zip to your [\Interface\Addons\MetaMapCVT] directory

3.) Load up WoW

4.) Follow directions as shown in the InstallSteps_01, InstallSteps_02 and InstallSteps_03 jpgs included in the "helpful_jpgs" folder in the zip.

enjoy!

PS: If you realize that you hate my map notes after importing them go up to Step A above and follow the directions to remove all my notes

Loot: Current Items of Interest

2007-11-04T17:56:00.003-05:00

I’ll use this page to keep track of what items my characters are currently working on getting and/or interested in.

Hoof

Chest piece (TBD in 2.4) --> (buy something with [Badge of Justice] x ??)

Girdle of the Immovable (Heroic Slave Pens)

Eaglecrest Warboots (Heroic Blood Furnace)

Zoof

Reins of the Cobalt Netherwing Drake (Grinding Netherwing faction... 0!!!)

Hood of Oblivion (Arcatraz)

Sigil-Laced Boots (Arcatraz)

Crown of the Sea Witch (Crafted)

Hoofie

Soofie

Groof

Poofy

Characters: My Toons

2007-11-01T21:32:00.016-04:00

Welcome to my character ("toon") list page where I'll post their latest levels, abilities etc. They are listed in order of who was leveled to [70] first.

Hoof (70) Warrior Tradeskills: Blacksmithing: 359/375 - Engineering: 358/375

Hoof was the first character I created. The day I installed WoW and saw the character creation screen for the first time there was no question in my mind I had to be a Tauren (and no it had nothing to do w/the fact that my birthday is in May!). I just loved how they looked - there was something strong but gentle about them. Plus, in Everquest I'd always been a melee class of some type so making Hoof a "warrior" was an easy decision as well.
As far as the name goes... I'm a bit picky/obsessive about names so I thought for a few minutes about what to name him. At some point the term "hoof" popped into my head (inspired by Tauren anatomy of course). I initially thought about stuff like Stronghoof, Megahoof and other names that incorporated the "hoof" but they all felt weird/forced. Then I thought... why not just use "Hoof" by itself! Fortunately, the game was new enough still that there was no other "Hoof"s on my server (WHISPERWIND) yet so that was that - and Hoof was born! At that point I had no idea/plans about using "Hoof" in my other character names - I really didn't even think about creating a new character until Hoof was in his 30s.
I may not play Hoof as much these days but I still consider him my main. I'm taking steps to gear him up a bit so he may get more raid time in the future, but for now he just pokes around when his sword and shield are needed. :) These days his main action is at 7AM on Sunday mornings where he does a fairly regular heroic instance run with 4 other guildmates. He also logs ever other day or so to try to stomach the PvP daily to so he can eventually get a [item]Gladiator's Shield Wall[/item]. The rest of the time he's usually parked in Blades Edge Mountains and occaisionally logs on to see if anyone's killed Grulloc/etc so he can loot them to get access to the Ogri'la daily quest hub.

Soofie (70) Priest Tradeskills: Mining: 375/375 - Tailoring: 375/375 (Shadoweave)

After being level 60 with Hoof for a while, I got the itch to want to see what it would be like to be a "healer" class. So naturally I rolled a priest.
Of course, if you "level up" a priest by yourself (vs running w/other people) you don't really heal much since most priests spec as damage ("shadow") priests to level quickly. So I didn't heal much at all from levels 1 through 70. I maybe did 2 or 3 (?) instance runs as the 'healer' class - but that was it.

Anyhow, after being "shadow" on Soofie for 69 levels I naturally got used to it. So ironically, when I hit 70 and was faced with the "what spec will I raid with" question - I decided to go Shadow for good.
This decision to was made a lot easier thanks to my guildmates (Mary, Zach, Karen etc) who donated embarassing amounts of materials to help me finish leveling up Shadoweave Tailoring and to make my Frozen Shadoweave set:
Frozen Shadoweave Boots
Frozen Shadoweave Robe
Frozen Shadoweave Shoulders
Here's my best guess/memory of the mats they donated to my cause - these are all expensive items so these donations were very humbling to say the least:
Shadowcloth x16
Primal Shadow x16
Primal Fire x18
Netherweave Cloth x240

Primal Water x24

Anyhow - the rest is history really. With the creation of my Frozen Shadoweave set I was "good enough" to start raiding and has been raiding ever since. Soofie is the best geared of all my toons now and is still my primary raiding toon.

Hoofie (70) Shaman Tradeskills: Alchemy: 375/375 - Herbalism: 375/375

...(to be cont)

Zoof (70) Warlock Tradeskills: Mining: 375/375 - Skinning: 375/375

I've always heard warlocks are tricky to play so I never thought I'd play one. I honestly don't even remember what spurred me on to create one - but apparently I did! Like most alts, I leveled him up to his 20s/30s and left him alone for a while...(to be cont)

Groof (65) Hunter Tradeskills: Mining: 375/375 - Engineering 301/375

(to be cont..)

Poofy (36) Mage Tradeskills: Enchanting: 300/375 - Leatherworking 300/375 (Shadoweave)

...(to be cont )

About Me & WoW...

2007-10-20T22:56:00.003-04:00

About Me...

Like many World of Warcraft players I was a huge Everquest addict before I was into WoW. I played a ton of EQ back in its hay day. I loved RPGs in general so once I tried EQ I was hooked. EQ was my first MMORPG and its level of immersion, character leveling, quest for better gear/weapons and most importantly ability to let me hang out and raid with my friends in-game all created an irressistable experience that I couldn't get enough of. Greater Faydark FTW!

I played EQ for a good 4(+?) years but surprisingly only leveled 1 character past 50 ("Rhydius" the rogue on Veeshan server). I was a member of the Dread Templar guild for most of that time. After the 1st couple EQ expansion packs I started having computer problems since the expansion packs required a faster computer. So around the time the 3rd (Luclin) expansion pack came out my EQ addiction was sadly almost gone. A good number of guild members had stopped playing around that time as well, so I eventually stopped playing as well. However, by that time news of "Everquest 2" was already on the horizon so I was hopeful that my love (addiction) for the game would come back when EQ2 came out...

Unfortunately when EQ2 came out things took a turn for the worse. While there were various issues w/the game the one that killed it for me was the hardware/technical issues with it. The game had incredibly high system requirements and even if you had a system capable of playing it there were still issues with slow video performance, audio issues etc. I gave the game a good 2 months of "Oh I'm sure they'll release a patch to fix everything" - but nothing ever came. I was crushed to accept the reality that I was just not going to be able to play Everquest 2.Around this time a game called "World of Warcraft" had come out and was a direct competitor to Everquest 2. I was very against the idea of myself ever playing WoW just for the dumb/stubborn reason that it was a competitor of Everquest - and even though I was currently going mad with technical problems with Everquest 2, I refused to even contemplate trying WoW myself.Eventually one of my EQ1 friends told me he and some other guildies were playing WoW and loving it. I was pretty shocked that they would betray EQ. But, after realizing that EQ2 was never going to work on my computer, I finally gave in, bought the game, installed the game on my computer and signed up for a trial account thinking..."I'll just try this while I wait for EQ2 to get fixed..."

I was hooked on WoW on the 1st day I tried it! I uninstalled EQ2 that same day and have never looked back! I've been playing WoW for over 3 years now and so no signs of slowing down yet! As of writing this I have four characters at max level (70), one in his mid 60s and then a few other mid-level alts - See this page for details about my characters. I'm currently in a great guild of around 30 people all around my age (mid-20s, to early 40s) and I also have a number of in-game friends from other guilds. I go on 2-3 regular raids a week and play whenever my other free time allows.

About WoW

For those who don't know what World of Warcraft (WoW) is here's my humble attempt at describing it...

WoW is an incredibly popular, record-breaking massive multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG) developed by BLIZZARD Entertainment. Even though the game has been out 4 years now it still has millions of active subscribers (*10 million* worldwide).It's definitely the most popular/most-successful MMORPG ever.

WoW isn't the #1 MMORPG by default or by accident though - it earns that title by being a true "eighth wonder of the [PC gaming] world". Here are a few reasons why this PC gaming juggernaut is so popular likely to stay that way for quite a while...

Level of Polish
The game's level of polish on all fronts surpasses any other game I've ever played. The user interface, the combat, the mechanics of character development are all not only extremely intuitive but are gleefully entertaining to interact with as well. So many game developers skimp on "polishing" various aspects of their game but BLIZZARD makes it a point/standard to maintain an extremely high level of polish on everything in the game and it certainly pays off.

Art/Design & Environments
With the incredible variety of landscape types (snow, mountains, forests, jungles etc), the real-time day/night mechanic and unique musical scores written for each area it's really impossible to describe how amazing the game world is. After playing the game as much as I have it's easy to overlook the beauty of the game world but I still find myself stopping and smelling the roses (read: "taking screenshots") as my characters through the world. I literally catch myself going "Wow.. that is awesome looking..." every once in a while (still!).

Engaging Storeyline/Lore
As you'd expect from any RPG, the storyline/lore in WoW is always intriguing and engaging. The "Warcraft" world actually had quite a storyline developed before it was an MMORPG thanks to the "Warcraft" RTS games that came before it.

Endless List of Things to Do and Support for Multiple Play Styles
There is an almost endless list of things you can do in-game. You can pickup a tradeskill and sell your wares, farm materials and sell them on the auction house, raid with your guild or pickup groups through the various "dungeons" in the game, go up against other players in arenas or battlegrounds, or just play solo and quest and kill stuff for gold/loot!

The game also provides an enjoyable experience for all sorts of players with all different amounts of available playtime. You can play just an hour or two a night or spend all day in-game.

Frequent Game Updates & Patches and Expansion Packs
Blizzard keeps the game fresh and bug-free by releasing frequent content and gameplay updates. In addition, their expansion packs seem to have the potential to extend the game for years to come.

It's hard to even fathom another PC game ever coming close to WoW's level of popularity or perfection. Sure people leave for breaks to play their Half Life 2, Team Fortress 2, Bioshock or whatever - but they always come back to WoW! If Blizzard maintains the level of committment to WoW they've displayed so far, who knows how long their subscription base will thrive.

/Welcome!

2007-09-28T22:15:00.002-04:00

Yes this is yet another World of Warcraft (WoW) blog...

Given the fact that I first started playing WoW shortly after it launched almost 4 years ago, I probably should have started this a looong time ago... In any case - I figured since I'm still playing the game quite a lot I may as well start now.

Why make a blog about a game? Well, if for nothing else than for me to have a record that outlines of all my WoW advetures/etc for my own reference/entertainment. In addition to documenting my adventures I'll also use this site as a 'reminder/shopping-list' of sorts as well to jot down things I need to remember etc in-game.

Whether I play the game 5 more years or just 5 more weeks it's been a great experience and I've had a blast. I've been in small guilds (30 people) and large guilds (400+ people) and have made some good friends along the way.

Anyhow - welcome to my humble WoW blog!