http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/sylvaneart/ en Mon, 23 Nov 2009 10:37:49 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.tankspot.com/forums/images/misc/rss.jpg http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/sylvaneart/ http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/sylvaneart/2819-glory-ulduar-raider.html Sat, 10 Oct 2009 17:22:09 GMT DONE!!!!!!! Several weeks ago our 10man progression group completed this achiev. I had done most of the things with them but schedule conflics... DONE!!!!!!! Several weeks ago our 10man progression group completed this achiev. I had done most of the things with them but schedule conflics kept me out of Firefighter. Since that group got FF we had not been able to get people to try it again. Last night we roflstomped a couple HM others needed but the main goal was FF. Took us a couple trys but man what a fight. With this achiev out of the way I guess many are "done" with Uld 10. I enjoy raiding so i will be there for my guildies when they need but thanks to the ones that didnt need FF anymore and still came to help out. ]]> Sylvaneart http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/sylvaneart/2819-glory-ulduar-raider.html http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/sylvaneart/2737-wow-its-been-awhile.html Fri, 11 Sep 2009 16:02:42 GMT I havn't posted a blog in god knows how long. There is a great reason for that. Progression work and LOTS of it. Since my last blog I have cleared ULD10/25, TOC 10/25, and TOC10 Hard.

I am having so much fun. I'm not in the MT rotation like i was. My dps is just to great at the moment. BUT..... I have succesfully tanked the 10 man hardmodes. I was the tank for our guildes 1st Knock, Knock, Knock on wood. Side note we got the speed kill. Heartbreaker. 1 Light. and General. I have tanked all the others but not guild 1sts.

Both my DPS and Tank sets have improved greatly.

Tonight I will be tanking Algalon. We gave it a shot last week. I made some bonehead mistakes but it was my 1st time seeing it. The others had gone in the week before.

Algalon has shown the cracks in my armor greatly that is for sure. My healers told me that my damage intake was really choppy. Mass amounts followed by a little then 2 monster hits then chill. Our DK tank was much more even. I have made some spec changes and gotten some more gear. Hopefully tonight will go better.

Algalon has kinda made me laugh. With my healers and gear they said they literaly AFK heal me in Uld 10, heroics and regular TOC. Algalon is such a step up. His damage output is rediculous. This really is the 1st boss I have faced wear I have felt unready. Odd since all my gear is Uld25. I would assume blizz thinks with that gear I should be fine.

So tonight we try again. I am missing disarmed from Kolo. It keeps bugging. Tickets to blizz don't help. I am also missing firefighter but that was due to a prior commetment not an inability to do it.

Wish me luck TS people for if all goes well I will have my proto drake and Starcaller after tonight. ]]> Sylvaneart http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/sylvaneart/2737-wow-its-been-awhile.html http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/sylvaneart/2618-yogg-down-out.html Tue, 28 Jul 2009 15:47:58 GMT It’s has been an awesome week. Our 25 man cleared to yogg in 1.5 nights. We waited until Sunday so we would have plenty of time on Yogg. We still had... It’s has been an awesome week. Our 25 man cleared to yogg in 1.5 nights. We waited until Sunday so we would have plenty of time on Yogg. We still had some newer people in guild so it was gona be a learning thing for half the raid. Well RL got in the way and we cancelled do to attendance. That was a bummer but not to worry. I was leading a 10 man group also.

Our 1st night on the 10man teams was a good one. We cleared everything except Mimi, General, and Yogg. So on Monday we went back in. My OT was a no-show. A ret we had in group said he would love to tank. So he switched to Prot and in we went. Personally I like tanking with a prot pally. I feel it complements my bear nicely. While waiting for our final healer to get done with his arena we cleared trash to Mimi.

This being our 1st run as a group we decided not to try any new hard modes. Also some of these toons were alts. So we did Mim regular. I had never tanked Mimi before only DPS. I wasn’t exactly sure on the cool downs or when the taunt came. Well we learned that a 25man geared bear with tons of mitigation can take 3 blasts. I quickly yelled for taunt at that point. We wiped on P1 because I asked for taunt and he went right into the big lightning blast and my slow butt didn’t get out in time. Next try went fine. I was really happy with how well people listened when they needed to switch on segments. Great group.

So, on to General. OK let me start by saying I LOVE THIS FIGHT! I get to stand there and just see how much TPS I can produce, non stop. For a tank this is almost as easy as Decon. As a druid I only have 3 cooldowns. I find it works best to use bark skin for 1st surge. Survival Instincts + Frenzy Regen for 2nd. 3rd I can use Barkskin again. 4th I use a trink. 5th just starts everything over. I have no idea how the rest of the group was doing. I couldn’t see them really. All I cared about was the fire being interrupted and no one died. The 25 man version actually seemed less hectic.

Yogg. I have yet to beat him in 25man. This will be fixed this Sunday. I had yet to beat him 10man also. This would be my 1st 10 man attempt at Yogg and my 1st attempt MT him. I figure everyone had to have there 1st MT of him so whatever. We got our assignments straight and in we went. OK this really sucks. It took me a couple shots at Ignis to learn that standing on the edge of his Scorch graphic does not count. Well with Yogg standing near a cloud but not in it does count. We had A LOT of adds. Ok reset and go again. We got to P2 but our healer assigned to go in portal got gripped right as he was going in. Reset and we did it. It was nice to get 3 achievements from 1 fight. Got Secrets of Ulduar, Decent into Madness, and Drive me Crazy. I must say I am rather proud of myself for MT every boss in 10 Uld now. Most of it was do to my stellar group.

The royal Seal of King Llain dropped off Yogg. This trink is #2 BiS for me right now do to its 155 Stam. Now our loot rules are very simple. Since this was a guild run we knew each others Main Specs. Roll for main 1st then roll off 2nd. Our 25mans use DKP. Tanking was the pallys off spec so I was gona take that trink until I looked closer. Not only does it have 155 stam but it has a use. Increase parry rating by 380 (7.73% @ L80) for 20 sec. (2 Min Cooldown). As much As I wanted that trink and it was my right to take it, I just couldn’t take it from someone else that can get 2 benefits from it. He was in the middle of telling me it was cool if I took it (I could hear the want in his voice) when I looted it to him. Funny thing was he kept talking for like 3 more min when someone said Hey *** check your bags fool.

So in recap. We cleared Uld10. I MTed the whole thing. Let awesome trink go to off spec. But I am pretty sure I earned some respect and a new friend. This was indeed a good week. ]]> Sylvaneart http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/sylvaneart/2618-yogg-down-out.html http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/sylvaneart/2599-death-general.html Mon, 20 Jul 2009 18:40:19 GMT OK many of you have done this already. My guild has done this already. But I had never seen the fight before. Sure I watched the TS vids like all... OK many of you have done this already. My guild has done this already. But I had never seen the fight before. Sure I watched the TS vids like all good raiders should be I still find there is nothing like experiencing it. Let me lay it all down for ya.

We had 3 tanks on this Uld 25 run. Our guild MT(prot war), new tank (prot war), and me(BEAR). Obviously General only needs 1 tank so I am cat spec, cat form. The new tank doesn’t really have dps gear but hey whatever. The GMT goes running in. 2 min into fight shes dead. WOW that dude hits hard! We do not do the kitting method. Not sure why I just do what I am told. OK buff and back in dead in under 30seconds I think. Hmmmm. We might have a problem here. Think we gave it 1 more try and 2min mark again. Maybe less. So there I sit. Thinking please don’t call it please don’t call it. Then the RL speaks up. This guy is hilarious. Hey you druid guy. Go bear, do many threat. Don’t get hit, make boss dead collect epics. Yes my chance has arrived.

So after changing specs and gear I rebuff to bear. Get ready and in we go. Died 5 min into fight do to getting antsy with my cool downs and finding myself with none during a surge. Decision is made GL logs from Mage and gets priest. Now we finally have a fort buff. Back in we go. Cool down rotations work so much better when you do them right. General is dead. Even with my Hi Stam set I managed 6k TPS. Woot. No drops but man what a kill. My 1st big boss that tanking was all on me. I considered Decon a joke even when Uld was new. MT doesn’t have much to do with Decon. But General, General was a rush. One I haven’t had in WoW for quite some time.

The next day I got a chance to parse the logs to WWS. I don’t think I did too bad. Dodged 3 out of 4 attacks for the most part. Never got hit 2 times in a row. Used cool downs and trinks on strict rotation so they could be used during surge. Didn’t use any during rest of fight since I really didn’t need to. Hit Berserk every chance I got.

We went and looked at Yogg’s room but the raid was done for the night do to our time windows. Hard stop at 11pm.

What a fight. What a rush. What a great feeling getting the good job whispers afterwards. We spent Sunday evening getting our butts handed to us on Yogg. I know the guildies who have done him before where getting mad. Mistakes were made but everyone agreed there was definite progression from the new people that had never seen fight before. He will go down this week. Sure of it! ]]> Sylvaneart http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/sylvaneart/2599-death-general.html http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/sylvaneart/2585-oh-what-night-yeah-tier.html Thu, 16 Jul 2009 14:06:55 GMT I love my new guild. This is where I should have been all along. Recently we have had some really great players quit. Not just us but WoW as a hole.... I love my new guild. This is where I should have been all along. Recently we have had some really great players quit. Not just us but WoW as a hole. Playing something for 4 years can get old. Good luck to them and thanks for all the fish. We did have a couple transfer to a PVP server from which they came. Good luck to them and thanks for all the fish. So we have been doing a lot of recruiting. With this new wave of recruits it came time to test them in our ULD25 run.

Oh what a night. FL+2 no problems, and got Leviathan’s Coil(sweet). Razor quick shave no problem. Decon, no hard mode due to slight lack of dps, but no deaths. Ignis, 2 shot(I hate Ignis and his bastard loot table). Kolo, no problem. Iron Council, problems. Had some movement issues and on final time when we got them down half the raid DC’d. Some of us returned to dead bodies. Some were able to stay and fight. Auriaya, first pull was disaster but then cake, and got Gloves of the Stonereaper. Hodir, such not a problem we got Cheese the freeze and I got my T8.5 chest. My chest was without a doubt my biggest gear problem. This is also the 1st Druid tier gear I have EVERY seen in ULD 10 or 25.

So why am I loving this guild? Is it the gear I am getting? Don’t get me wrong I like shiny new purple things, but…… It is the team. Yes we had some problems. Yes I didn’t get to tank much do to testing of new pally. Yes I spent a lot on repairs and food. But the atmosphere is one of pure WIN. We wipe, it is unacceptable. Everyone looks at their own performance first not others. What did I do wrong? What can I change? Our RL is hilarious. He yells and screams and calls everyone teribad and quits the guild 5-10 times a day. But it is all in fun. I have noticed the people he has known for years he really gets on. The noobs he just tells them what is expected and what to do diff. It is this fun loving environment that makes it so if people have a question they aren’t afraid to ask. You might get yelled at but it is not serious.

This guild IS NOT for everyone. Some can’t take it because they take everything to personal. Just about everyone is married with kids. We don’t raid every night. We only raid 3 nights a week, Wednesday/Thursday, and Sunday. Invites at 7. First pull at 7:30. No matter how good or bad things are we stop at 11.

This will be my last blog tell you how much I love this guild as I am sure it is getting old. I have other stories I would like to tell. Been running old instances for achievements. Crazy things happen when an 80 bear that can top 50K HP runs heroics with DPS pulling 6K. And a healer that describes his sex life during the fights to general chat. LOL ]]> Sylvaneart http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/sylvaneart/2585-oh-what-night-yeah-tier.html http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/sylvaneart/2575-ode-summer-how-i-hate-your-schedule.html Fri, 10 Jul 2009 19:03:33 GMT Nice intro ya think? Lol. As I spend time with me new progression guild I find that it is a bad time to be new. Or maybe it is a good time. With a... Nice intro ya think? Lol. As I spend time with me new progression guild I find that it is a bad time to be new. Or maybe it is a good time. With a guild that has cleared 10/25 ULD and is working on hard modes at the moment, I was afraid I wouldn’t get to raid. Teams would be set and not much room for noob me. Well noob to this guild anyways. But it is summer. Cookouts, fishing, camping, cross country trips to see family. Our attendance has been a little lax. At 1st I was very worried about this. The GL made a nice post about how no one is leaving we just have RL things to do. True is true I say. Most (80%) of us are married with kids I think. So this is to be expected. Will see the same thing come Christmas I would imagine.This guild uses DKP. I personally like it. Even though I am new and don’t have much(will cover that in next area). We even got DKP for showing up to an ULD25 run that had to be scratched do to attendance. Still got a very nice 10man run in. DKP takes those crappy dice I used to own and lets me throw them out the window. I hated those dice.

Cancelling a run JUST PLAIN SUCKS. I love to raid. I was always one of those people that could pick up a game figure out the AI and finish it in a day or so. Made 1st person shooters boring. But a 25man raid in Ulduar with 24 people that have to know there own thing while I do mine is awesome. I have to know my job. I kinda know theres. Some I have to know in case they go down. It reminds me of when I was in the army. You have to trust that the person next to you knows and is doing there job because if you try to do both or even keep checking it is fail. I love wiping on a boss, reworking strat, getting that epiphany and BANG boss dead. Hitting a wall and working through it as a team. This guild excels at that. We had a couple ugly moments but we diagnosed the problem fixed it and brought down the boss. No feelings got hurt even though there was no sugar coating anything. Everyone there is there for a common goal.

As the new guy I start with 0DKP of course. But with summer absences I have been raiding. I have earned DKP. But this is a progression guild. Lots of these people are geared already. Things like Twisted Visage are coveted by Druids and Hunters alike. But in a guild that is clearing and has been Twisted Visage was going to get sharded. In steps the noob. Why of course you can have it. Rather gear a player than make a shard. As it is I have gotten 5 pieces of gear, 3 LW patterns, and the Feral belt and boots from Ulduar LW crafting. Needless to say I am in the hole on DKP. I spoke with the GL one night and asked her about the DKP. I did not want to piss anyone off by taking all this gear and have negative DKP for a long time. She set me at ease. No one cares about DKP. Yes you spend it but people aren’t going to shard stuff instead of gearing me because I am negative. These guys are so cool. I figured she would say something like that but wanted to make sure.

So Mr. Summer, while I hate you for cancelling some of my raids. I feel compelled to thank you for creating holes in the raids I can fill. It has allowed me to get 5 hard modes down. I have also gotten some great gear from it. If you could find the time please have someone drop a chest piece for me. While I will never like Summer over the other seasons, especially since here in central Illinois we get all 4 seasons, I will say you have moved above Spring. Sorry I like college football too much to move you over Fall or Winter.

P.S. Our guild is currently recruiting. Send me message or comment for more info. ]]> Sylvaneart http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/sylvaneart/2575-ode-summer-how-i-hate-your-schedule.html http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/sylvaneart/2571-apologies-my-old-guild.html Fri, 10 Jul 2009 13:21:10 GMT It has come to my attention that my blog has left many people in my old guild with hurt feelings. This was never my intention. Let me reiterate... It has come to my attention that my blog has left many people in my old guild with hurt feelings. This was never my intention. Let me reiterate that I never used the guild’s name. I never used any of your names. My intention was never to piss any of you off. But apparently like in many other things intention and perception are 2 different things. I have deleted the old blogs chronicling my time with your guild. My blog moving forward will only be about my current WoW adventures and I will exclude any dealings with your guild that may transpire. As stated in those old blogs I wish you guys nothing but the best.

Deepest regrets,
Sylvaneart ]]> Sylvaneart http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/sylvaneart/2571-apologies-my-old-guild.html http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/sylvaneart/2542-1st-raid-new-guild.html Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:43:09 GMT So after all the emo turmoil of waiting to get into my new guild and getting in, the big day has come. 1st raid. Better show my stuff. Tank hard,... So after all the emo turmoil of waiting to get into my new guild and getting in, the big day has come. 1st raid. Better show my stuff. Tank hard, avoid damage, don't step in that, move boss so they can step in this. I review the TS vids on all the fights I am not familiar with. I restock my raid supplies and park my toon outside of Ulduar and log for the night. I was pretty worried about pissing them off becouse I allready knew I would be late for my 1st raid with them. We don't do calander invites people just show on progression nights and we go.

OK, raid starts at 1900. I am drummer in the church band. I have to setup for concert at 1600, sound check at 1700, play from 1730 to 1830. Teardown and home around 1915. Not bad 15min late will be ok since i informed them the day i was accepted I would be late.

Then I find out the truth. The pastor and the council decided it would be better if we served the meal first. Oh man. I love old people's cooking at a church event as much as the next guy but ya kinda need to announce these things. So lets check times. Raid is at 1900. Set up at 1600. Sound check at 1700. Eat 1730. Concert at 1830. Tear down at 1930. Home about 2015. 75min late. Not what I had in mind.

So we got throught the concert. Guitarist was somewhere in space. Sounds like someone needs to show up to practice more. But it was a good time. And old lady cooking is awsome. My 6 year old decided that, why have chicken when there are more desserts than spots on the plate. Can't say I would have made a diff choice myself at that age.

2000, woot speed teardown, and lots of people helping. Home logged in and ready to go. Put up in guild chat a simple good evening people. Get wsp from RL. You want in? Yes i do but I don't want to take anyone's spot that was ontime. No probs he tells me. This guy wasnt feeling well and was just going to go to bed. WOOOOT!!!! Riad invite, lock summons and I am standing at Razor. Apparently i was not the only one late. Then the bad news. They needed me to dps this night. Ya know what. I'm ok with that. I just wanted to raid.

1st impression of raiding with new guild. I love these guys and gals. This invironment suites me perfectly. Lots of fun and chatting. joking around. Time to pull a boss and they lock in. All serious at that point. Fast moving to. My old guild had to have smoke breaks every other boss in Naxx. I staid quite for the night as I was new and not sure of my place. We proceeded to 1 shot Razor, Decon, Kolo, Freya, Ariya, Hodir, and mimi. Tonight we are starting with IG, IC then hardmode Thorim(progression). Even though I am new and not allowed to roll yet I got Twisted Visage from Decon and Shoulderpads of the Monlith from Kolo. Those that posted I would get gear even though i was new in this guild were right. Those 2 things where the only feral drops of the night and i got both.

In closing TY to all you who read my crappy blog entries and offer up your support. The GL and RL contacted me after run and asked what i thought. I told them how much fun i was having and how impressed i was with there leadership and everyones eagerness to listen to that leadership. They said ty and infromed that the officers had talked and they where impressed with what they saw. It was a unanamous decision i was a good pickup for the guild. So my night that i thought was screwed becouse of conflicks turned out great. Feels good to be home in this guild. ]]> Sylvaneart http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/sylvaneart/2542-1st-raid-new-guild.html http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/sylvaneart/2539-guilded.html Tue, 30 Jun 2009 18:46:38 GMT Well i got my shot. I am now a member of Equitas - US. Malygos. Big step up for me. Going from #106 on server to #6. The next 2 weeks will see no... Well i got my shot. I am now a member of Equitas - US. Malygos. Big step up for me. Going from #106 on server to #6. The next 2 weeks will see no loot to me but man what an oppertunity. I can't wait to start raiding now and seeing that ever elusive content. Hopefully I can get in on there 25s but I have a spot in 10s right now for sure. WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ]]> Sylvaneart http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/sylvaneart/2539-guilded.html http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/sylvaneart/2536-another-weekend-no-guild.html Mon, 29 Jun 2009 15:42:43 GMT So here I am. Guildless and waiting. I have an app into a top 10 guild but havn't heard anything. In the meantime I have been holding out of raids just incase i get a call and they want to try me out in OS/VOA/Naxx.

I was holding off on Ulduar until it dawned on me. These guys are working on 10/25 hardmode progression right now. They arn't going to give me a shot in that atmosphere. Luckly this thought happened right before a friend Invited me to DPS his new guilds Uld25. Sure I'll go.

This friend has been trying to recrute me to this guild ever since I left my last. So i figured the officers would be watching. Sure enough they decide to post the meters for decon kill. 7K for me. Nice. Next highest......4200. Vent chat starts lighting up. Why arn't you in a guild? Want to be in ours? How is your tank set? We went on to clear 3 more bosses, it was a good night.

Next night same friend wispers me. Want to join our Uld 10 continuation. Hmmmm....how many bosses down? 5 down allready. Thank you but, no thanks. Then the guild MT whispers me. Want to OT a fresh 10 Uld. Now that I can do. So we did FL, Razor, Decon, Kolo, Freya, and Auria. Great group of people really liked them. Mt keeps asking me to join.

Here is why i wont join them. I have an app into another guild allready. I know people in that guild also and really want to run with them. I don't want to join this other guild and turn around and leave if the 1st accepts me. Also I don't want to not get picked up by app guild becouse I joined someone else. Call me crazy but I don't want to waste peoples time. I explained all this to the MT. He told me not to bother with an app that i was in and just to whisper him when i was ready.

So I still wait for the app guild to give me a call. I didn't want to offend anyone by being to pushy but it has been over a week now. One of my friends in the guild said my app had mixed reviews as they wern't sure they needed another melee DPS. Great I said couse I want to tank. They recently lost there feral tank so there is an open spot. I decided to whisper an officer and ask him how it was going and if there where any questions I could answer. He put me intouch with there main recruter who admitted he hadn't looked at any apps as of late do to raids and real life. No problem I have kids and I know what comes 1st. He did tell me at 1st glance he liked what he saw and was going to review it that night(sat). Sunday saw them doing 25 man progression. No response.

I want to raid, I want to be in this guild, but I can't wait forever. ]]> Sylvaneart http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/sylvaneart/2536-another-weekend-no-guild.html http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/sylvaneart/2528-time-go-full-tank.html Fri, 26 Jun 2009 14:40:07 GMT My last guild hardly ever let me tank. Even though i was brought in as a tank I was told to go Kitty. This was mainly based on the fact I was top DPS... My last guild hardly ever let me tank. Even though i was brought in as a tank I was told to go Kitty. This was mainly based on the fact I was top DPS in guild. I was ok at first with it until I was told Cat was my main and I would have to wait for off spec to roll tank gear. Over time my tanking belief in myself dwindled. Not tanking for whatever reason was eating at my confedence.

While being a druid alows me to collect gear that goes both ways I really lost out on trinkets. None of mine are over LvL200:( But i do have some great DPS gear to show for it.

So now I am searching for a new guild. App into 1 and offer on table from another. I apped the 1 first so I have informed the other that I wanted to wait on it since I didn't want to waste there time by apping then joining someone else. They are being cool and waiting. They have offered me #1 OT slot for Uld 10 and 25man hardmode progression. I should probably jump on it after some research of guild rules and all that.

This true tanking roll has got me thinking. It is time to spend the loot and convert a majority of my DPS gear over to tank.
Current tank stats(unbuffed)
HP 34867
Arm 30282
Expert 77
Hit 70
Dodge 42.33%
SD 76.35% 1243
Tot Mit 85.22%
TPS 3903

New tank stat(Unbuffed)
HP 31737
Arm 30529
Expert 155
Hit 206
Dodge 45.28%
SD 82.33% 1252
Tot Mit 86.23%
TPS 4290

Last night I OTed for procpective guild #2. I got Mark of the Unyielding - http://www.wowhead.com/?item=45696
What a nice neck for a bear. Rawr has it as BiS. Even with my blah stats the MT told me I did great. He said I was first tank he had trained in Uld that did what he said to do the 1st time he said it. Felt good to hear. Hmmmm confedience restored? We shall see. My old guild had only gotten FL, Razor, and decon so Kolo, Freya, Auria(whatever) and Thorim going down last night was all new to me.

Tanking spots in established guilds are a premium. It is time I commet to tanking as my main and prove my worth. ]]> Sylvaneart http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/sylvaneart/2528-time-go-full-tank.html http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/sylvaneart/2512-guildless-can-fun.html Tue, 23 Jun 2009 15:52:53 GMT Since I recently decided to drop my guild I have had free time waiting for my apps to go through. I want to be online so if ##### guild wants to... Since I recently decided to drop my guild I have had free time waiting for my apps to go through. I want to be online so if ##### guild wants to talk I will be available.

So what to do? Don't really feel like pugging any raids since my interview will most likely pull me into a raid. I would hate for my big chance to come and not be able to go.

Start a new toon? Nah. I am not one of those people that roles a ton of toons. I have 2 lvl 80s but only play one. Thats why I chaose a druid. Tank, DPS I can do it.

So why is there a lvl8 lock on my account? OH SH*T I'VE BEEN HACKED!!!!. Quick check my main. Gear good. Money good. Quick Batman to the ALT! Gear good. Money good. OK lets check this lock. OMFG the addons are all turned on and all over the screen. I can't see a thing. Hmmmmm the name of the lock is in Korean. Handy dandy Korean - English dictionary tells me it means Little Demon(fitting for a gnome lock). It isnt twinked out. It has gear like you would excpect at that lvl. A wopping 27 silver. WTF. If your going to hack me have it make since. Who has access to my account? My son played on my account before he passed but never a lock. I also think I would have noticed before now. My wife knows my passwords.............My wife?!?!?!?!?

So i have spent the last couple of days setting up a new account and fixing all the addons for my wife on her PC. My wife hated me playing WoW. But she decided to give it a try and loves her little lock. Didn't want to waste money transfering a toon so low lvl so she made a new one. New ones name is Korean for Demon Caller. Why all the Korean? My wife was a translator for the U.S. Army. She intercepted North Korean coms and translated it.

So in my "downtime" from not being in a guild I have spent it helping her lvl. Teaching her the basics of the game. How a rotation works. I have not been killing for her just throwing the occasional heal. This is something I never thought would happen. It has been very nice to spend time with her in game just talking about everything. I also managed to get the explorer achievment done lol.

This has been a nice bonding experience for us and she is really into it for now. She has a million questions and thank god she listens and learns fast.

So I'm guildless and not raiding right now which can be hard for a raider like me. But I'm loving life and having fun all the same. Guildless can be fun. Thank god for my wife.

Love you babe. ]]> Sylvaneart http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/sylvaneart/2512-guildless-can-fun.html http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/sylvaneart/2408-you-know-its-glitched-when-gm-mad.html Mon, 01 Jun 2009 15:47:26 GMT My guild is a good guild. We have people that really know there classes. We farm Naxx while leveling professions and tend to pull entire rooms or... My guild is a good guild. We have people that really know there classes. We farm Naxx while leveling professions and tend to pull entire rooms or hallways becouse, well becouse we can:) We where just getting started on Ulduar 4/14 25 man 4/14 10 man when someone said hey. We have never done Maly. Whoops. We just kindof skipped him. Well we can't have this lets go kill Maly. So we researched the fight. Watched videos. I even went in with a group i knew would fail so I could see the fight. Friday night comes. Before raid officers and strat hounds meet to explain fight. OK everyone understands. Into the dragon's den we go. Phase 1. Hmmm not moving Maly to force sparks over middle. Ok we are still doing hela damage and getting couple stacks. More luck by not moving him but not bad. Phase 2. Hmm complete brain dump on the concept of letting a tank get aggro to many dead. Oh well this is 1st try many havn't seen it. Hey Phase 3 great people well get to see it and get some understanding. WOW!!! Everyone is dead. No enrage just mass death. And we wern't in cloud. Hmmmm. Ok rez, buff engage. Phase 1 goes same Phase 2 goes MUCH better. Phase 3 ALL dead. Lets check logs while i get friendly priest to rez me. Healers not using AOE heal. OK quick class, buff, and engage. WTF!!!! Maly just Arcaned Breathed the raid. MT has mountains of aggro but that stupid Wyrm turned and fired on us. Hmmmm. OK rez, buff, and engage. Phase 1 going good. AHHH! i have aggro! I'm in cat form NOT GOOD. Why do I have Aggro. Oh I see MT is dead. OK checking logs, 48K non crit hit?!?!?!?!?! HMMMMM. We didn't even have time for Maly to get a spark so that wasn't it. He checked his gear he is crit immune(notice I didn't say capped as we have discussed on this site.) OK was it a glitch? Lets find out. Rez, buff, and engage. Maly flies down tank grabs him and we are all dead!?!?!?! WTF Checking logs. Hmmm no damage recorded. NONE. Some non progression people starting to complain. Not used to the troubles of progression raiding just wait until we have something on farm then come for gear. RL getting a little pissed. Tech note says rolling restarts tomarrow. Maybe this is bugged and that is what the restarts are for. Lets give it 1 more try. Rez, buff, and engage. P1 another mass Arcane Breath but most live. P2 fine fine. P3 we all land on drakes. We fly up to maly. OK i cant target him yet and we are all dead. NO WAIT not dead. I have no dragon. No one does. Not falling through space just floating there with no dragon. OK i think this might be glitch. Maly wont engage us. It wont reset. He enrages. He flies around enraged. BAM we all dead. Ticket time. The GM tells the raid leader thank you and that he to has noticed problems with Maly when running with his guild. OK so what you going to do. Oh your going to thank me for bringing this to your attention and ask if there is anything else you can help with. Ummmmm, No. I'll be fine. All in all around 200gold repair plus pots and food. But look at the bright side. Becouse of me Maly will be fixed for the entire world. While I did not kill Maly I did make the world a better place so I can't really complain. ]]> Sylvaneart http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/sylvaneart/2408-you-know-its-glitched-when-gm-mad.html http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/sylvaneart/2375-teeth-pulled-claws-clipped-end-fera.html Fri, 22 May 2009 13:19:34 GMT When I 1st started playing a druid I was a sponge for information. I had questions, I had questions about questions, and I had questions about... When I 1st started playing a druid I was a sponge for information. I had questions, I had questions about questions, and I had questions about answers. Then right here in TS Flyv gave me the hook up. All my questions were good ones. They had all been answered (as most have with any class) before. There was a simple place to go to find these answers. It was like the Matrix. I was searching for him only I didn't know his name. It was the question that drove me. I took the red pill and there he was. Karthis and his blog http://teethandclaws.blogspot.com/

This was a treasure of a find. ANY feral druid should visit his site. If you’re a tank and/or dps he has the answers. Now, I'm not saying Karthis is the best druid in the world or that the answers he has are even his. His blog is actually a combination of postings from him with links out to various guides and forum posts from others. He did make many posts with math supporting his theories and he was usually spot on. His site has so much useful info it can be used by beginners or advanced Druids. Karthis and TS where my 2 fav sites.

But things happen. A nerf here, a bad patch day there, new content with same feel. And Karthis has hung it up. Good news for the druids is he still has all his old postings available. Bad news is his blog is now a general game review site. WoW is a game. It is not life and life takes priority. People don’t and won’t play this game forever.

His new blog is also great (same name as old one). Ever think of branching our to a new game? Not sure if it is for you? He has a nice review of EVE Online up that answered alot of my basic questions having never played the game.

Flyv thank you so much for linking me Karthis’s blog. My tanking has improved so much from it I am a corpse dragger not a dragged corpse. Karthis, I am sad that you have left WoW. Thank you for taking the time to find all this info and the non-elitist attitude to share it with the rest of us. In keeping with the changes on your blog I wish you success in all that you do Andrew. ]]> Sylvaneart http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/sylvaneart/2375-teeth-pulled-claws-clipped-end-fera.html http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/sylvaneart/2368-1st-blog-how-came.html Thu, 21 May 2009 14:46:39 GMT 1st off, hello and welcome.
I'd like to start with some background info. I will be 1st to admit in the eyes of many I am late to the party. I started playing WoW November of 2007. Those commercials with the Toyota Tundra driving into the dragons mouth and exploding out with the heart in the bed of the truck hooked me. "I am the LAW GIVER!!!!" that cracked me up. I still have a saved copy i watch for a laugh every now and then. I started with a NE Huntard and did everything i could to make it a NE Hunter. I worked my way into all the T4 and T5 content. Finally i got my shot and got to run with a guild that was into T6. I got a rep for being one of the few Huntards in the game. Life was good.

Then came all the changes to the hunter spec. It wasnt that I couldn't handle it anymore I just didnt want to relearn a toon. Thats when i decided to go Bear. I LOVE being a druid. Everything about it is everything I love about RPG. I have surfed, dug, asked, and begged every bit of info I could get out of anyone that had any. Now my druid makes my Hunter llok like a step child. My son loved my druid also. He wanted to tank so bad but was happy to stay a twink. He would often with permission only tank low lvl Northrend instances with me watching. Once again life was good.

1 week before his 12 b-day my son took his own life. Needless to say I put the game down. Infact I put everything down. My wife and I where/are complete wrecks. One of the things my doctor told me was how important it was to return to a sense of normalicy. Old hobbies and friends would be good food for the soul. 1 Friday evening I decided to go downstairs and fire up WoW. At the character selection screen was my sons warrior twink. I logged off and went to bed. A week or so later i tried again. As i zoned into Dal I could allready here the whispers coming in before my screen was fully loaded. My friends were glad to see me and very supportive. I was glad to see them too. I took a while before I could become effective in a raid as it was and still is from a time to time to keep my mind focused on the task at hand. Life was better than it was 2 months before.

The guild I had been in since day 1 was just a bunch of friends and fam from work. There where only 5 serious players so we where to small for most anything. We had formed an alliance with another guild and saw the writing on the wall. While we were still the same little group of guys they were growing and we were getting pushed out. So we joined there guild. BEST IN GAME SOCIAL MOVE WE EVER MADE. They are awsome and I'm not just talking about dps or tanking. I mean help with strat, heroics, anything. They all have a guild first attitude. If i help you it will help the guild. Life once again as far as the game goes was better.

While cleaning up (not out) my sons room i came across a bunch of art work he had done about my druid. I didn't know he liked Syl so much. My wife asked what i thought about that. Hell I don't know. Should I stop and let him stay the way my son remembers him or deck him out in all T7.5 like my son had drawn. I decided that I would make him the best I could. I decided that what worked for my hunter couldn't hurt my druid. I researched constantly and ran instances over and over and over. I now have a complete NAXX25 dps and a seperate NAXX25 Tank set. I am top dps in our guild in both AOE fights and single target. I am the number 3 tank. Both sets now have some Ulduar gear to go with them.

So here I am. A 32 y/o, ex-army, network admin, married, devorced, married, father of 2(one 6 and one eternaly 11) WoW gamer. If anyone acctually reads all this thank you for your time. I plan on reviewing druid based WoW things here often. I welcome your feed back. I reall want your feed back if anything I am thinking is wrong as I obviously don't know and will allways accept help. ]]> Sylvaneart http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/sylvaneart/2368-1st-blog-how-came.html