Archive for the ‘PVE’ Category

What’s on Tap: Episode 62

March 10, 2010 :: Posted by - Stompalina :: Category - Community, PVE, Raiding

You may recall our frequent updated on The Raid movie project being produced by Kevin Michael Johnson, in cooperation with TankSpot.com. I wanted to follow-up to make sure everyone knows, there are only 29 days left on Kickstarter drive. If you haven’t made a pledge, please check out the details surrounding the production, and the beneifts of becoming a sponsor.

Additionally, we are looking forward to having Kevin on for a brief interview this weekend. If you have any questions you would like to ask about The Raid, contact the sack!

Lastly, a new video has been released this week featuring Lady Raiders. Collectively they discuss the stereotypes surrounding female gamers, the luster of MMO raiding, and how much joy they get in kicking masoganist asses!

@JointheRaid on Twitter | Facebook

Fork This!

March 03, 2010 :: Posted by - Eulixe :: Category - PVE, Raiding

Gief Emblems

Reading through the official WoW EU forums earlier today, I stumbled across a post regarding the current progression system that is in place within Wrath. The main issue that was brought up was to do with the ease of gearing up your freshly dinged 80. Obviously this topic isn’t anything new, but there was an interesting point brought up that I’d like to give my 2 cents on.

The issue was to do with the large volume of Wrath content that is skipped by the majority of fresh 80’s nowadays. Instead of a streamlined progression from Heroics -> Naxxaramas -> Ulduar -> ToC -> ICC, most players, if not all, opt for the alternative of badge farming. A week or two of heroics, and as long as you’re gearing correctly, there’s a good chance you’re ready to hit up ICC-10. The downside of this being, all you’re doing before you start raiding in ICC, is grinding the same heroics you’ve done, time and time again. However, when comparing this to the Naxx/Ulduar route… are Heroics not the lesser of two evils? Read more…

ICC

February 24, 2010 :: Posted by - Plectical :: Category - Other, PVE

So last night I managed to catch up with the rest of my guild and down Professor Putricide in 25 man ICC. After the fight was finished, it occurred to me that our regular 25 man roster had passed a certain threshold. Our tanks were surviving much longer, our healers were cranking out huge numbers and the raid wide DPS was very high. It looks like we’ve been exposed to enough ICC and Frost Badges so that everyone has received several upgrades. We had hit the tipping point where it now appears likely that we’ll be doing the Lich King in the very near future. Read more…

Episode 59: Kangaroos and Marshmellow Guns

February 22, 2010 :: Posted by - Stompalina :: Category - PVE, Podcast, Raiding

This week Haf and Stomp turned a bad week into an amazing one! Find out how Bound earned the spot as the second Horde guild on Staghelm to earn The Orb Whisperer achievement. Catch up on the latest news surrounding upcoming hotfixes and the new 3.3.3 PTR! And, listen to the 9-line (559.949.RAWR) calls left for the hugesack!

This and much more is available for your listening pleasure via iTunes, RSS feed, direct download, or you can stream it from our website!

EXCLUSIVE THIS WEEK

  • 30-minute AFTERSHOW – Get to know Haf and Stomp, catch some RL questions offered up by the LIVE audience!
  • Warlock Round Table Discussion – With members of #1 US Guild – EXODUS – and, Nibuca of Twisted Nether Blogcast. To be released later this week…
  • Staghelm Raiding Round Table Discussion – With members of #1 Staghelm and top 100 US Guild – Reawaken, and more TBA! Watch the wesbite and twitter for LIVE details!

Links to topics discussed this week:

During the month of February, tweet #WOWBONK to enter and win our best giveaway yet, a [Foam Sword Rack] Loot card from WootLoots.com. Bonk your friends! Bonk your enemies! Either way, bonk your twitter first to win this amazing prize!

Special Thanks to our Sponsors
WootLoots.com, UGT-Servers.com, and J!NX.com use the code RAWRCAST for 10% off!

| facebook | twitter | call us: 559-949-RAWR | discussion forums | calender of events | support the rawr |

| DFW WoW Meet-up Squad |

Rawrcast@gmail.com

Music provided by:: Darklight Incorporated - Ramrod69 & Sweet Sickness

other tunes were previously featured on Rawrcast. Check out our new Featured Music page for the Rawrcast Playlist!

Loque’nahak is mine!

February 15, 2010 :: Posted by - Ozimandias :: Category - Other, PVE

I have to admit that I am really excited. For two days I have been on patrol over Sholazar Basin constantly pressing my macro key and flying endless circles for hours.  I can’t tell you how boring that was! It’s the same thing, over and over. I was not only worried about actually spotting him, but also wondering if someone out there was going to kill him for the achievement. To say that my nerves where shot would be an understatement. After 7 hours of hunting the first day, I logged off.
It took another 6 hours the second day. When I saw him, I actually yelled to my son that I finally found him! I swooped down off my slow mount and targeted him. I was literally shaking as I thought of the sequence of events I needed to do. I landed, and used “Call stabled pet.” I stabled my ghost saber and cursed out loud as I waited for my faithful companion to go back into her stable. I was out of agro range and I just knew that someone was going to ninja this majestic feline out from under me. I laid down a frost trap and tagged the cat, while yelling the whole time, “Hurry up! Oh God, HURRRYYYYY UP!” It seemed to take forever.
She didn’t like my shot to her head and charged in to me. It all seemed surreal and I didn’t know how bad I was shaking until I tried to maneuver around to make sure she hit the frost trap. My fingers didn’t want to work. All this time I am freaking out and I just knew that somehow I was going to mess this up. Growling and snarling, she hit my trap and froze. As I was moving my finger to the ‘5’ key to start my tame beast I realized that I made a fatal mistake. My auto-shot was just about to break my trap. “Noooooooooooooooooooo,” I screamed and cried out in frustration! All I could do now was wait and hope. My hunter was standing there, radiating love as this pissed off cat was shredding me to pieces. It was now a race between my dwindling health and my tame beast countdown. If I lost this now, I was going to just die in frustration. My screen was flashing red and “Low Health!” was up. With 8% or so left I finally tamed him! High-fives and congrats went out as my son and I celebrated! What a rush!
So I learned a lot about this elusive and extremely rare beast. I really felt like I was living the life of my hunter. Where does this beast spawn? For how long? It was like I tracking her, just like my hunter was doing in the game.
Much love goes out to the huntsmanlodge.com and their FAQ. If you want to go after this cat for achievement or taming purposes, then I highly recommend you read every last word they have up on Loque’nahak. Again, much love! She is on a 6 hour spawn, spawns in 7 (Yes SEVEN) different locations and is rumored to only be up for approximately 10 minutes a pop. That means that at best you are looking at is 40 minutes of up time during a 24 hour period. The ten minute window is under ideal conditions. I don’t think that this mob stays up for a full ten minutes before someone gets her. There are too many people mining and skinning this zone for her to go unnoticed for ten minutes. So assuming 40 minutes divided by 1440 (24 hours* 60 minutes) minutes, you are looking at a 2.7% chance of her being up.
I know that you are going to check out the FAQ and read up on this magical beast if you are serious about seeing her. The guys over at huntsmanlodge.com did an awesome job so I am not going to replicate their page. What I will suggest is a mod that I remember Haf talking about on the podcast. Silver Dragon does an awesome job of alerting when a rare is around, and even gives you a huge button to push to target the mob. It alerted me twice on my hunt—one was for a corpse, and the other got me my new pet.
I found her on the westernmost spawn point. Make the targeting macro and spam it. It was about 7 pm server. I was patrolling the southern 5 spawn points. I didn’t have a 280 speed flying mount, so don’t feel too bad if you don’t have a drake to ride. Ultimately, it is all about being in the right place at the right time. Good luck to you and good hunting.

loque'nahakI have to admit that I am really excited. For two days I have been on patrol over Sholazar Basin constantly pressing my macro key and flying endless circles for hours. I can’t tell you how boring that was! It’s the same thing, over and over. I was not only worried about actually spotting her, but also wondering if someone out there was going to kill her for the achievement. To say that my nerves where shot would be an understatement. After 7 hours of hunting the first day, I logged off.

It took another 6 hours the second day. When I saw him, I actually yelled to my son that I finally found him! I swooped down off my slow mount and targeted him. I was literally shaking as I thought of the sequence of events I needed to do. I landed, and used “Call stabled pet.” I stabled my ghost saber and cursed out loud as I waited for my faithful companion to go back into her stable. I was out of agro range and I just knew that someone was going to ninja this majestic feline out from under me. I laid down a frost trap and tagged the cat, while yelling the whole time, “Hurry up! Oh God, HURRRYYYYY UP!” It seemed to take forever. Read more…

Recount does more than show DPS

January 15, 2010 :: Posted by - Plectical :: Category - PVE

Last night as I was checking out Recount for each of our attempts on Professor Putricide, it occurred to me that there is another number located on the add on that counts as much (if not more) than a player’s actual damage per second. I’m referring to the total percentage of damage that you are dealing to the boss. This number looks at the overall damage being dealt by the entire raid to the boss and then calculates what percentage you are contributing to total DPS. For example, last night I was contributing 5.8% of the total raid dps (in 25 man ICC, in 10 man, a player’s percentages will undoubtedly be higher).

Now, this number obviously factors in your total DPS but it also captures several other metrics that are difficult to otherwise quantify. For instance, a high percentage of damage done to the boss may show that a player is effectively using DOT’s when forced to move around during the raid. Raid design places a premium on movement and for many dps classes, movement can break up rotations and lower overall dps. It’s important for all the DPS in a raid to have “filler” spells that can act as a bridge when moving around during a fight so your overall DPS numbers don’t tank. Read more…

The Raid: Movie Project

January 14, 2010 :: Posted by - Stompalina :: Category - Community, PVE, Raiding

A guild member sent me a link to a promotional video put together by the producers of a new World of Warcraft documentary that is currently in the early stages of production. It is called The Raid, and from the look and feel of the early video, it will be a great representation of the life, love and passion behind the players and guilds within World of Warcraft.

Rawrcast has already made a contribution to support the planned production of the film, and I would recommend that others do the same. By supporting the film you not only are a part of production of the movie, but there are also membership benefits like donor status on TankSpot.com, movie posters, production notes, etc.

I am excited to see who all is involved onscreen and behind the scenes. With the support of our amazing online community, this is bound to be an amazing representations of our lives in-game, and our love of raiding.

The Plague Works

January 13, 2010 :: Posted by - Plectical :: Category - PVE

Last week, my guild and I joined what I am sure was literally thousands of other guilds as we stepped foot inside the recently opened Plague Works of Icecrown Citadel. We’ve steamrolled the first four bosses in the Lower Spire as we worked our way towards the new content. We worked as a well oiled machine, properly dps’ing down the adds in Lady Deathwhisper and picking up achievements on Saurfang as well as Lord Marrowgar. Spirits were high as we stepped into the Plague Works.

And that’s where our momentum ended. No one in the guild has a character on the PTR so, other than the early strategies that were posted on TankSpot, we went into the instance essentially blind. It was thrilling to see our tank pull the first mobs and then over vent remark, “Well, that’s certainly interesting. I wonder what that does?” We wiped several times on trash learning specifically what the capabilities of the mobs where, discovering the proper way to pull, and figuring out the best positions for healers and dps. Read more…

LFG

January 05, 2010 :: Posted by - Plectical :: Category - PVE

LFG

So I figure an apology is in order. I was gone, I’m back, I’m sorry. Yes I missed you, no it was me, not you. Here’s a tissue, feeling better? Wonderful, let’s talk WoW.

I’ve been having an absolute blast tanking on my Death Knight using the new LFG system. I usually step into the game, quickly repair my armor, and then queue up as a tank for the random daily dungeon. Groups are usually mixed. Sometimes the healing is there and the dps is missing, some runs my tanking skills aren’t up to par. Regardless of the group or its performance, I usually always walk away with a slew of badges for new gear.

Gearing at the current rate has been like playing WOW on speed. My abilities and survivability as a tank are directly proportional to the number of instances I run. I specifically attribute this to the number of instances run and not the number of badges I receive because each random dungeon is a fertile training ground with a new set of circumstances to troubleshoot. Group makeup, low heals, slow dps, bad pulls, agro issues; I’ve seen it all and learned appropriate responses to each. I feel that this has helped to make me a better tank at least as much as Badge Gear has. Read more…

Ep 50: Fiery Balls of Love

December 21, 2009 :: Posted by - Stompalina :: Category - Community, PVE, Podcast

Despite an onslaught of technical difficulties this week, Haf and Stomp are back with tales of PUGs gone wrong, and changes of perspective in post 3.3 World of Warcraft!

This and much more is available for your listening pleasure via iTunes, RSS feed, direct download, or you can stream it from our main page.

Links to topics discussed this week:

Don’t forget to tweet a #RAWRCAST to enter an WIN an [Landro's Pet Box], [Little Ivory Raptor Whistle] or [Little White Stallion Bridle] from WootLoots.com. Don’t forget to grab a loot card code from a friend this holiday season!

Special Thanks to our Sponsors
WootLoots.com, UGT-Servers.com, and J!NX.com use the code RAWR for 10% off!

| facebook | twitter | call us | discussion forums | calender of events | support the rawr | DFW WoW Meet-up Squad |

Rawrcast@gmail.com

Music provided by:: Coded – Wasteland