October 12, 2009

Another fun weekend...spent almost entirely in WoW -- our apartment's state of cleanliness makes that apparent. :-)

Independent Woman!
I've been humming the Destiny's Child song Independent Woman the last few days. Why? No...I'm not getting a divorce. Sheesh! :-) It's because I'm finally able to rely solely on my toons for my enchants, gems, flasks etc. Let's review:

• Druid gathers flowers (Herbalism) and makes flasks (Alchemy - Elixir Mastery). Distributes them to alts. She also transmutes stones into the new raw epic stones and sends them to the priest for gem cutting.
  
• Mage DEs all items (Enchanting) and makes vellum (Inscription). Then makes scrolls for enchants for alts.
  
• Priest cuts gems (Jewelcrafting) for her alt sisters. She also mines ore (Mining), prospects it and send it to her druid sister for transmuting.
• Warlock made bags (Tailor) for all his sisters. He just flies around on his carpet waiting for more bag-making needs.

I think that covers the items I've routinely spent money on. No more purchasing flasks -- Moonkin girl can make them. No more purchasing raw epic gems -- Priest and Mage ladies can use their Conquest badges to purchase them or have Moonkin transmute them.

Thank goodness I don't like Plate wearing classes. I'd have to level Blacksmithing. (Though my Pally is a blacksmith, so I'll be ready to do so if I ever decide to play her.) My druid might like some of the crafted leather gear, but I might be able to rely soley on drops. I don't plan on fully maximizing her gear. I just intend to use her for alchemy.

I'm an independent woman! Now I can make money on the AH selling flasks, not spend it. Woo hoo!

Raiding
This past weekend had highs and lows when it came to raids. Let's start with the high:

On Friday night we went to Ulduar 25 and got some achievements: The Antechamber of Ulduar (25 player) and I Choose You, Stormcaller Brundir (25 player). The most exciting part of it was getting down Iron Council. We had already done the other two Antechamber bosses on previous runs. This was definitely a milestone. We ended Friday night on a high...very happy with our progress and our performance as a group.

Saturday night was a different story completely. Several of the people from Friday night's run were not on. So, we filled in with some guildies with less experience and some PuGs. Also, our two regular raid leaders weren't on so another officer took over. She did her best, but she didn't know the fights as well as the actual raid leaders. So, it took longer than normal to explain and set up each fight.

Anyway, to say the night was a disaster is an understatement. Friday night we were already gimped because a few of the core players weren't on. But we still made progress. The extra gimpness (new word) on Saturday night was our undoing. We couldn't get Hodir down. We couldn't get Thorim down. Though to be perfectly fair, we only tried Thorim once. After that wipe, people started leaving. I'm sure some of them had to leave because it was very late. But others probably left out of discouragement. I'm annoyed by those in the latter group. We're a guild focusing on progression. That means we have to try and try again until we get it right. Some people are impatient though. They want instant success and give up if they don't achieve it. Oh well...in time we'll weed out those who are only with us for instant gratification.

Last night we went to Ulduar 10 for our core progression. Unfortunately, a few of the core team were still not on, so we had to fill spots with non-core guildies. We did well though. I got these achievements: Nerf Engineering (10 Player) and Nuked from Orbit (10 Player). I think others in the group got a few more that I already had. I've now completed 23 of the possible 63 achievements in 10-man Ulduar. Pretty fun!

Druid Leveling
My druid is now at lvl 76. I dropped the 5k to get her fast flying yesterday. Since she's going to be mostly dedicated to herb collecting and alchemy, it made sense. I'm hoping to earn that money back in short order either by selling flasks on the AH or at least by not buying any. Flasks were a huge weekly expense for me.

Nothing big to report about her. Did a couple instances, but still mostly herb collecting and doing quests.

Mage
I got new shoulders on my mage yesterday. I also got several gems for her using Conquest emblems to purchase Valor emblems to purchase Heroism emblems... So I should see a nice increase in her effectiveness. I didn't do anything exciting with her though, other than daily heroics.

I think that's it for what happened this weekend. Off to lunch!