The Hand Of Dune

Sorry for the lack of updates around these parts.  Recovery from surgery still and just haven’t been on very much.  I shall return once I get healed up.

Thanks to Stuntyone over at Incompetent Warrior for the mention on the blog. You are very welcome for the blogroll add, keep up the good work :)

On Gear:
I hate having to have multiple sets of gear. I mean, I can live with having PVE and PVP sets, but do I seriously need different sets of gear for PVE and Instances? I suppose what is grinding my gears is low level +spell damage and +healing gear. Why do I dislike these sets of gear? Because they have absolutely no stats except the +spells.

Keep in mind that I’m still pretty much getting back into WoW, meaning that I’m learning how to play all of these classes over again. The biggest problem I have is on my Priest. What’s wrong you ask? Could it be the fact that I only have 300 and change HP? Yes, I think it could be.

Don’t get me wrong, I understand that I’m a squishy and that I’m going to die fast if engaged in up-close combat if unprepared. But getting anally violated by green and barely yellow mobs when I forget to keep my buffs up or when I’m outta mana is just not right.

Dunepixie’s pants got it right. That’s what I want to see on lower level +spell gear. 1 stat and +damage, that’s all I need. Hell, I don’t even want a lot, just give me somewhere between 2-4 to one stat and I’ll be happy. It sucks feeling like I’m making my Priest so much weaker because I’m choosing to sacrifice stats in order to learn how to heal in PVE so that I don’t get into an instance and not have a clue how my heals work with all the +damage and shiz.

On a side note, Dunesare has +76 to healing which makes me happy :D

On Wii Fit:

Wii Fit is amazing. Seriously. If you don’t have it, go buy it. If you don’t have a Wii, go buy that, then buy Wii Fit.

On Furniture:

I recently re-did my room, and let me say that, for the record, putting together furniture is a big pain in the ass. Especially when the person who made the instruction booklet is an idiot.

“Ok, bedframe is almost done. Just one last step.”
*Turns to last page of the booklet*
“Mmmmk, just have to put on these risers for the mattress.”
*Goes to put on the risers*
“WHAT THE HELL?!?!?! HOW THE EFF AM I SUPPOSED TO FIT A SCREWDRIVER UNDER THE FRAME WHEN THERE IS ONLY 4 INCHES OF CLEARANCE??!?!?!!?!?!?”

Seriously, it would have made sooooooooooooooooo much more sense to put on the risers before I even bolted on the mattress supports. If you’re going make the risers the last step in the process, then at least make the risers themselves screws, instead of making me try to fit a screwdriver in between the frame and the floor and trying to screw a bolt that way. I’m pretty sure whoever designed my bedframe didn’t think that step through and most definitely didn’t try to assemble the bed him/herself.

On Life:

Surgery is fast approaching. Only have like 2 1/2 weeks left *GULP*

-Dune

Much time has passed since I was first greeted by a fallen hero on the border of the Blasted Lands. The spirit of the fallen sent me on a quest, to free the souls of eighteen of his former soldiers, who much like he, were bound to this world. I set forth on this quest immediately, making my way to the eastern borders of the land.

I spotted the first set of three soldiers, now servants of Allistarj and charged into battle, cutting my way through enemy forces until I was standing eye to eye with the first of the soldiers. We gazed into each other eyes and for a moment I bore witness to the soul’s pain. A moment later and the expression was gone, replaced with rage, hate, and bloodlust. He was now fully under the command of his master, and as he made a movement to draw his weapon, I charged with sword and mace in hand. We exchanged blows, but in the end, it was I who broke the stone that bound him and set his soul free. The exchange was by no means an easy one. Fighting through the surrounding forces and then against the spirit brought me to the brink of death. But I couldn’t stop now, I had two more servants to free.

I moved through enemy territory slaying those who would stand in my way. Much like my first encounter with a servant, I eventually put to rest the remaining two. Each battle, however, brought me closer and closer to my own death.

While passing through Nethergrade Keep, I had caught word that the souls I had just freed were the weakest of the group. Since these servants had pushed me to my limits, I knew that there was no way I could set the others free…Yet.

I set forth to new lands. I sought to gain vital battle experience, strength, and resilience. Many days passed before I would have the courage to return to the Blasted Lands. It would not be until I was to venture forth into the Temple of Atal’Hakkar that I would return to these lands. Now much more wise and experienced and with upgraded armor and weapon, I thought of the fallen hero and the quest which he had given me. While waiting for my fellow adventurers to travel to this distant land, I sought out the remaining servants.

I ventured west, into the territory of the Dreadmaul. The mighty Ogres fell at my hand with ease. I discovered the location of the next three stones and set forth on freeing the souls of the servants. Unlike my previous encounters, the Servants of Grol fell quickly with my newly acquired strength. I traveled south and vanquished the three servants of Sevine with little effort. The easy portion of my quest was now completed. It was time now to travel to the far southern reaches of the land…To the Dark Portal. I knew from previous experience that the area was surrounded by ferocious Helboars and patrolled by demons. I rode across the land to my final destination, determined to set free the nine remaining soldiers.

I stepped foot onto the crater’s walls and sought out the stones. Helboars and demons that once overpowered me now lay dead at my feet. I made my way around the crater’s edge and, one by one, destroyed the binding stones. I lingered for a moment…The Dark Portal looming in the distance kept catching my eyes. It was as if it were trying to pull me towards it. I turned away from the portal and set out towards the Temple.

My party of adventurers made haste through the sunken temple. Slaying all manner of trolls, dragons, and their kin. I obtained many a treasure, little of which proved of any use for me. Once through the temple I found myself returning to the Blasted Lands and riding out towards the Dark Portal. I could not resist the urge, something, or someone was drawing me towards that portal.

I found myself, once again, on the crater’s edge. I walked slowly, carefully, quietly down the slopes, staring in fear at the deserted, battle-scared camps around me. I found myself standing but mere feet away from the portal now…Looking straight into the cosmos. I felt sick and wanted nothing more than to turn and flee from this cursed barren land. But I found myself inching closer, and closer, to the portal.

I was face to face with the beast now. I could feel the hair on my body rise and be pulled towards the portal. My legs wobbled and felt weak…I noticed myself rocking back and forth, as if someone were nudging me into the unearthly portal. I shook in horror and took the smallest of steps back in fear. The portal flared and moaned, like a women in bed…So seductively. I couldn’t resist the urge any longer; I moved forward. There was no turning back now, my hands pushed through the plane and I felt myself falling. Falling through utter darkness. Falling without time. I thought I was going to die in this place…In this place between worlds. The falling stopped, and what felt like an eternity was nothing more than a mere moment. I was standing on terra firma, eyes closed as if I had been sleeping.

I was on the other side.
——————————–

What a weekend. My first time through the Sunken Temple. My first venture into the Outlands. My first level 60. And my first epic mount! Now I must push towards that ever elusive (For me anyway) level 70!

-Dune

So, just a quick update on how leveling is going.

Duneilo: Finally got him to level 57. I started running some low level instances with him (SFK, WC, SM), and I remembered how much fun it is to play a warrior. I still hate tanking, however. Well, let me clarify that. I hate tanking pugs. Why? Because someone will always pull adds, grab aggro and run around like a chicken with their head cut off so that I can’t catch up to them and regain aggro on that mob, leave in the middle of the run. It is beyond annoying and frustrating. I also hate pugs because I automatically get locked into the tanking position just because I’m a warrior. And yea, I know warrior of any spec can tank every pre-70 instance and whatnot, but darn it, I’m an Arms warrior…I just want to run around and hit people with my Big Stick.

Duneai: Still stuck at 39. Still debating on whether or not I should finish grinding PvP or just ding. I’m only like a bar away from 40. The only reason why I was still grinding BGs was so that I could get enough marks for These, These, and possibly These. I’m really tired of BGs at the moment though, and especially tired of teammates. It isn’t that the Horde in my battlegroup are all that good, but rather, that the Alliance in this group is just idiotic and bad. Did all of these kids fail basic math? In AB, is 3>2 really that hard of a concept to understand? Group 1 goes GM, group 2 goes LM, group 3 goes ST. Capture, defend, assign a couple of guys as the rotators. Is that really such a hard strategy? But no one listens, they all just run off and do their own thing. All the while we’re losing bases left and right and I’m screaming my head off at them. It isn’t like sitting back and defending is really going to hurt you anyway. Sure, you’ll hit a couple games where you see very little action. But you know what? More often than not, I can sit back on defense and still finish in the top five in kills and damage.

Dunerae: Next up on my plate is a Gnomer run (Have I ever mentioned that I hate that instance?). Noticing that my girl here burns through mana like there is no tomorrow. Even with points in Convection and Ancestral Knowledge. Hopefully when I get Restorative Totems and Mana Tide Totem, things won’t be as bad. In retrospect, I probably went Resto too early on, but you know what? This is a toon I’m leveling with a friend. He’s a Lock so he’s got the DPS down and can tank world mobs as well, so why shouldn’t I go Resto? Plus, the whole healing bit is pretty fun actually. I healed on a Stocks run, and as geeky as this will make me sound, there was a rush of sorts keeping our MT alive when there were four mobs on him and his health was in free fall. At the end of the battle, you get this sense of accomplishment…Like, damn, we wouldn’t be alive right now if it wasn’t for me. It is pretty cool.

The Lowbies Group: Ran 2 toons through VC, have 2 more to run through. Need a port from Darn to SW to complete the stupid Aquatic Form quest. Impressions so far - I really like playing my Priest, I really don’t care much for my Rogue, Draenei Paladin was by the far the easiest one in the group to level.

Other News: Rolled a bunch of Horde toons on a RP server. I’m addicted to making new characters, and I’ve been wanting to give the whole RP thing a shot for a while now. Thinking up back stories for all of them…So be on the lookout for those.

Still guildless. Thought I had found one in <Dead Horde Cant Say No> but that disbanded the other day.

Surgery in less than a month *Gulp*

-Dune

Sorry for the lack of updates gang. Things have been crazy here as I’m getting ready to go under the knife. Long story that I’m not going to get into at this point. What I will tell you is that I’ve been dealing with ongoing health issues, and that hopefully this procedure will be my last. Wish me luck huh?

In WoW news, I rolled a bunch of alts and have been resting and leveling them. Warrior is farming instances up to SM to make me some more gold. Hunter is still stuck at 39…Got bored grinding for pvp marks. Made a Shaman to play with a friend and got it up to 26. Then rolled five or so other character that are levels 16-18 at the moment. Playing each for a couple of levels then switching to another and letting the previous one build up rest.

I’ll update things around here when things start to settle down a bit. Lots of planning and whatnot still going on.

-Dune

For some reason, I didn’t think pvping at 39 would be this easy. Having spent so much time in the 20s bracket, I was afraid that the new skills and whatnot would change my performance. Apparently, that’s not the case. In fact, the only new spell I even seem to notice is Intercept (Which can be pretty damn annoying to tell the truth). I won’t be in this bracket for much longer. I need about 22 more AB marks and 38 more WSG marks, and then I’m done. Anyway, here are a few screenshots of my better games (Click to view bigger SS of scoreboard):

This pretty much sums it up:

And just for good measure, here’s a glimpse of how my conversations with friends end up:

Woot! Don’t really know how much longer I’ll keep going in the 20s bracket. I’m not twinked, so it isn’t like I have an obligation to stay stuck at 29. I want to get a few more kills under my belt though for sure.

The road to 1000 wasn’t easy by any means. I started and ended the run with big time losses.

#1
Twinked out hunter dominated us. Racked up 107 Kills, 57 KBs, 8 Deaths, and managed a measly 80K damage (2nd had 47K, I was in 3rd with 39K)

#4
Premade group of 3 twinked out hunters. They traveled together, killed together, probably even sleep and piss together as well. Individually, there weren’t as dominate as other twinks I’ve played with, but there’s power in numbers. 3 average twinks taking the flag, protecting the FC, and raising hell are enough to destroy a pug.

It is matches like these which make me want to roll another hunter and fully twink it out. I mean, a hunter in this bracket is damage EZ mode by default…Twinks just take it to another level and demolish everything that crosses their paths.

-Dune

You know, I was going to post all of the screenshots, but it was a whole mess of them. So, here’s just a quick recap (All from WSG):

Matches of Note

#5
Probably my best game, and definitely my best at the time. 2nd in Kills, tied for 1st in KBs, and 1st in Damage. Made me very happy and I /gloat’d in guild chat :D

#7
The match before, I finished 2nd in KBs and damage. Well, the guy who finished 1st in both of those categories (Must add that he destroyed everyone in damage…He finished with 50K and I came in 2nd with 26K…) was in this game as well. And guess who got stuck on defense? That’s right BOTH of us. The two best offensive players in the whole raid, and we get stuck on defense. Why you ask? Well, the leader started throwing out strats, and when it came down to game time, both of us ended up in the defense group. Needless to say, it was a strong defense. He finished 8-0, I finished 5-0, Horde never touched the flag once.

#8
Two Hunter Twinks beat me out in damage (1 doing 7K more, and the other doing 10K more). My first time playing with Quiver. Why is this notable? Because I HATE Quiver with a passion. I’ve played with him quite a bit now, and he just plain and simply owns my ass. I can’t even come close to killing him 1v1. I’ve seen him take on group of 3 of 4 and hold his own and survive. The last time I remember killing him, he started off the fight at 75% HP. I had help in an ally. We pounded away at him. I trapped his pet, he trapped mine. He kills my ally. I eventually kill him…With the smallest sliver of HP left (A Lock would come in, curse me, and I’d die at the first tick). I tip my hat off to you Quiver…But I also spit upon the ground you walk.

#14
They had 6 or so twinks, we had 2. Group /dance in the graveyard.

All this pvping is slowly starting to play off. I actually started strafe/circle/”please lord let me get away”-kiting people (yay!) those last few matches. Definitely is helping me to learn how to play a hunter. Plus, I get upgrades!

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooo….Shiny….
I (now) know that there is a quest gun/bow that would be better to get, but I didn’t find out until very recently, and I think I’m definitely too close to dinging to try and get it. Oh well, will have to keep that in mind for when I roll Horde. But this is definitely an upgrade over what I was using, so no real complaints.

-Dune

Key - Outcome: level, class, level differential (+: how many levels higher than me -: how many levels lower)

Loss: 26 Lock +3. Here I was thinking I was all that and a bag of chips after my last handful of pvp experiences. “Only 3 levels higher? Psh, I can take him. WAIT! WTF, WHY IS MY HEALTH DROPPING SO FAST?!?!?!?” Seriously, DoTs hurt…A lot. So I not only die, but I die fast. Insult to injury my friend. Definitely a big hit to my pride.

Win: 26 Lock +3. Same guy. After rezing, I followed him halfway across Ashenvale. Thankfully I learned a bit of a lesson and didn’t underestimate him this time. Turn PIGGY loose on him, fire off my first volley of shots and stings, run away like a little girl to hide behind a nearby hill. CDs reset, run back out, pop off another volley of shots and stings, and finish him off this time. Really easy fight this time. Not the manliest of affairs, but guerrilla tactics are mighty useful.

Wins: 23 Hunter -2. 24 Mage -1. 23 Hunter -2. 24 Lock -1. 25 Mage -1. Lumping this group together because there isn’t much to tell. Send in PIGGY, fire off everything I got, rape, rinse, repeat.

Win: 27 Hunter +1. Only reason I won this fight is because he was too slow in trapping my pet. I trapped his right away, ran away from it, and did my best to pound him down with PIGGY and my volleys. After a while he notices that his pet isn’t in the fight, and figures out to trap PIGGY. Too late by then, trap goes off, but it doesn’t matter. Killed him 2 seconds later.

I really, really, really hate pvping against other hunters. Against higher levels it just feels like I’m banging my head against a wall. How do I win against someone who is me, only bigger and stronger? I’ve tried pulling some out of the box tricks (Trap pets, fire stings, charge into melee, pop back out in range after CDs, stings, melee, etc.) But even then, I’m still really struggling. Anyone have any advice?

Wins: 25 Rogue -1. 25 Priest -1. 27 Pal +1 (2x). 23 Hunter -3. 24 Hunter -2. First fight was boring. Rape, rinse, repeat process (Hence forth referred to as RRR). Ganked my first bitch with that priest. He was in a fight with another hunter, but was actually starting to get away. Hunter was out of range, and his pet wasn’t catching up. I happened to run across them and finished off the job. Paladin tried to gank me shortly after. Unfortunately for him, the mob died a half second after he engaged me, so I throw down a trap, start running, and here comes PIGGY to the rescue! RRR. I go about my business, he rez’s and tries me again. Sorry pal, no dice. RRR. Hunters, well, same shit different noobs.

Loss 70 Mage +44. Maybe I shouldn’t have ganked that priest. The karma gods did not approve, and sent in a 70 to do his bidding. I actually almost got away. Frost Nova missed me (Sorry PIGGY, it was either you or me, and I’m higher up on the food chain), and it was a race against the clock. Just as I hit the limits of his range, he gets a fireball off on me. And yea, it hurt. I’m dazed (and screwed) now cause I really had thought I might make it away, and am granted a quick death.

2 Wins, 4 Losses: 27 Rogue +1. I’m not going to lie, this guy just had my number. The first fight was really tough, but overall it went really well and ended in my favor. I had hoped that it would have been enough to scare him out of they area, but I threw on Track Hidden just in case. I go about killing satyrs, and lo and behold, the rogue pops up on my screen and minimap. I’m screwed this time though. I’m in the middle of a fight, so I drop down traps, take PIGGY off the mobs, and try to run away. No go. The trap hits a mob instead of the rogue (ARG!), and I’m dead shortly after. Third fight, I return the favor and gank him. I run off a bit and heal up. I’ve still got track hidden on since he is a persistent little bugger. I spy him stealthed behind a tree, waiting for a chance to gank me again. I target him and /smile and /wave…Hoping that we could put our differences behind us and go about grinding. I ran off a bit and started grinding away. Apparently, he didn’t like my smile because who do I see pop up on my minimap? Yup, you guessed it. I try to run away, knowing that I can’t take him and mobs at the same time. DAMN, too late, stunned, send in PIGGY, fight for pride, die. Fifth fight, I waited around for a while to rez, hoping that he’d finish his quest or whatever. I rez, wait, don’t see anything on humanoid or hidden. Go back to trying to grind/quest. WTF?!?!?! WHERE DID HE COME FROM?!?!?! I turn to run and head straight into a 29 Shaman. Slow poison, shocked, GG. Rez and hide while they camp and grind.

Final Fight, I finally decide to just forget about the quests and head to a different (nearby) area to try another quest. I’m there for a while, doing my thing, when who do I see pop up on my minimap? Yea…Same story. I run, but I have mobs on me. He catches up, stuns, everything starts pounding away at me. GG. I know…I should have just gone somewhere way away…But I had like 5 quests in that away, and dammit, I wanted them done.

Wins: 28 Rogue +2, 28 Lock +1. There we go. That feels much better doesn’t it? This rogue was pretty bad. Really, really easy RRR fight. Lock wasn’t much better. Trap pet, RRR, feeling pretty good about myself.

Loss 31 Hunter +4. Not much I could do. Didn’t want to fight, he engaged, I struggled and did all I could to delay my death. Trapped Pet, fired stings, ran into melee…Just wasn’t enough.

3 Wins, 1 Loss: 27 Lock +-0. This kid was horrible, like, really, really, really bad. He tries to gank me, I pull off mobs, drop a trap to freeze his pet, send PIGGY lose on him, RRR. Run away from mobs, heal, go back to questing. He rez’s, tries to gank me again. This time he manages, only because he fears me right as I’m clicking on my potion (Potion doesn’t take effect), I run straight into mobs (Horde friendly I should mention) and they kill me. I rez only to find that he had convinced a 31 priest (+4) to camp my body with him. The lock is away looking for me, and while he is off, the priest hands down a whooping on me. I come back, wait a bit for them to turn their backs to my location, rex and shadowmeld.

Priest eventually gets bored and runs off, I head to a different area, but here comes the lock trying to gank me again. Pull of mob, send PIGGY, trap pet, RRR. I just continue questing because unlike the rogue, I’m handling this guy without much of a problem. He comes back, but yet again, he brings help along with him. Fortunately I am in between mobs this time, so with full hp and mana, I mark him, send in piggy, freeze his pet, and RRR. Well, remember how I said he brought help? Well, while I’m busy beating his ass, out pops a stealthed 28 druid (+1). The druid pounds away at me, my trap is still on CD, so I just finish off the lock, and try to run away from the druid. Wing clip misses, I potion, trap is almost off CD, I die. ARG! I come back and rez. No one is in sight, so I turn around to go heal up…”OH SHIT THAT ASSHOLE IS STEALTHED.” I die, and he runs away. Rez, no one is there, go back to questing, “Where did this mark come from?!?!?!” Turn around to be met by the lock’s 70 Hunter. Awesome, he’s a scrub so he logs and gets his 70 on me. I rez at GY, hearth and log.

Loss: 30 hunter +3. Ganked. I was really hoping it wouldn’t happen. The hunter looked at me, watched me, then ran away. I thought I was in the clear, but a couple minutes later, here comes the hunter again. I already wrote about my struggles against other hunters, especially those that are higher level, so you can guess how this fight went.

Win: 26 Druid -1. Tried to gank me and failed miserably. Felt good to end the day with a solid win.

I originally planned to wait until I was out of the twink-filled brackets to start pvping with my hunter, but some of those items are oh so tempting.

WSG - Loss

5th in kills, 2nd in damage done. Deaths definitely need some improving on. I still have that warrior mentality though…I see a big group and a lot of action, and I want to be in the thick of things. Really need to work on my kiting and staying at range.

WSG - Loss

Respec’d to MM, thinking that I could kill things faster and therefore have less deaths. Well, the SS speaks for itself. Ok, so it wasn’t so much that I sucked because of MM, but rather that the entire group sucked. Spent the entire match with 7 Horde camped right under our GY (And even a couple in the GY at times). Back to BM!

WSG - Loss

Same story as the first BG. Really need to cut down on the deaths, but 4th in kills and, once again, 2nd in damage.

Still have quite a bit to learn and polish. Hopefully I’ll start getting the hang of things soon!

-Dune