Hidden Warcraft » Guild (Brute Force)

Farming Emblems of Heroism

Renei — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 11:40:30 +0000

Farming Emblems of Heroism. I suppose it was bound to come to this eventually.

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Over their lives, my toons have farmed pretty much everything. They have farmed Ore, for blacksmithing (and a brief and regrettable foray into Engineering), Herbs for Alchemy and Inscription, and Leather for Leatherworking.

I have farmed gold, greens to disenchant and pretty much anything else you can think of.

I have farmed rep – recently and successfully for the Knights of the Ebon Blade. I even tried farming Honor in Battlegrounds, although I can’t stand it and that didn’t last too long.

After discussing with Hladonar yesterday, it was established that what I *really* need now is to farm Emblems of Heroism.

I was looking through the lists of reputation rewards, and nothing seemed to strike my fancy. Oh, I’ll keep the Wyrmrest Accord Tabard on, since it looks cool and I want that Drake, but in terms of gear, I figure I need to farm about 400 Emblems of Heroism to get the following:

I realize, of course, that the next Expansion, whatever it may be called, will probably be out by the time I get all this stuff, rendering all my efforts obsolete.

But eh, I need an excuse to keep playing Mordauk, by far my favorite character. So there you have it, 400 Emblems of Heroism, which boils down to over 100 Heroic Instance Runs.

The promising thing is that we have several toons that are coming to 80 now in the Guild, so there will be opportunities for many runs!

Edit by Renei:

According to Hladonar, who knows better, this article is full of uber-noobish mistakes. Seems that the Emblems of Heroism don’t give access to that nice gear, the Emblems of Valor do. Or something.

Sorry about that, I’m new to the Epic stuff.

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Friday Night in Utgarde Keep

Renei — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 02:04:00 +0000

As you may know, Mandorall’s previous adventures in Utgarde Keep turned out disastrously. He respecced to a Healer for the occasion, and unfortunately was the cause of several of the many wipes that befell the Brute Force Guild that fateful evening.

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But there’s a new player in town now! Mordauk, level 77 Death Knight, needed Utgarde Keep, not only for the achievement – he doesn’t very much care about that, no he doesn’t precious – but for the Experience Points as well as the cool necklace that comes as a reward.

So we decided last night that a little dungeon run would be in order. Our epic party consisted of:

Chianna, level 80 Mage and Brute Force Guild Master
Kithany, level 80 Paladin and main tank
Gravewax, level 80 Mage and ass-kicker extraordinaire
Iktre, level 74 Shaman and designated Healer
and yours truly, Mordauk, level 77 Death Knight, Melee DPS and all-around great guy

Overall, the Instance was a breeze. As far as I remember we only had one wipe at the last boss, that was probably caused by something I did or did not do when I should’ve.

Iktre’s healing was more than adequate to the task throughout the Dungeon, and to my knowledge there were no Mana problems.

Here is a little family portrait, just before tackling Ingvar, the Final Boss:

I’m the one sitting down – also, I have glowing eyes.

Honestly, this was nothing like my first experience in Utgarde Keep. Of course, the fact that even the lowest level member of our group was overpowered for the Instance helped quite a bit.

Another very pleasant surprise is that the quest rewards for the (2) quests were very nice indeed, and that even at level 77, I could equip them without too much embarrassment.

In closing, Utgarde Keep is a lot more fun when you don’t die all the time, and choke before killing the final boss.

For posterity, check out this awesome portrait of Mordauk the Destroyer and his bitch, Ingvar the Plunderer (now Ingvar the PlundereD!)

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Upcoming Features on Hidden Warcraft

Renei — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 11:10:48 +0000

I spent the whole weekend leveling, and I must say I was not very assiduous in taking notes for my articles. It was one of those traditional World of Warcraft weekends: get up really early and play and level like crazy.

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Of course, being level 71, leveling like crazy takes a whole new meaning! Gone are the days where I could gain 5 levels in a day! No, my Death Knight started the weekend, on Friday night, at level 71, and finished on Sunday night at level 73, well on his way to 74.

I have a little friendly leveling competition going with Chianna, our Guild Leader (who also occasionally writes here) and I’m curious to see how she is going to catch up, since she abandonned her Death Knight, Fluffmuffin, at 71 to play her level 40-something Shaman, Moyamoya.

But I’m not taking this too seriously: if you’ve been reading this blog for long enough, you must have figured out that I am never in a rush to level. I enjoy playing too much to miss out on things because I’m in a rush.

Over the past couple of weeks, a friend of mine – real life – started playing World of Warcraft, at my recommendation. He is not someone who is naturally inclined to video games, and to my great delight, seems to be enjoying himself very much.

He calls me every night with all sorts of questions, and I’ve found that I really enjoy answering them. Usually they are pretty basic questions – how the trainers work, talents, quests and so forth.

I realized that there must be TONS of people just like him out there, and I know that getting answers to basic questions is not always easy. World of Warcraft jargon and terminology is often baffling to the new user, and database websites can be more confusing than they are helpful if you are not familiar with game concepts.

To that effect, I’ve been writing an e-course. It will be available in the next few days – once Hladonar is done editing it! – and will address basic concerns that a new player may have.

Of course, I’ve taken care that it is also valuable to the majority of players. It will cover concepts such as Farming, installing the proper add-ons, how to use Bank Alts and the Auction House, and more.

The whole course, which will take place over 10 days, will be available by email, and while the focus will be about making and keeping WoW Gold, it is full of clearly written tips that will be useful to the new players trying to find their ‘WoW Legs’.

At the request of a Guildie – Chromer I think, but I may be wrong – I will also feature an article on how to easily transfer gold and items from Horde to Alliance and vice-versa. This will be available on or before Wednesday.

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Are Death Knights Overpowered?

Renei — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 11:37:57 +0000

So are Death Knights “Overpowered”?

For sure.

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Does that give you sense of satisfaction while you bash a mob in the head with ease?

Without a doubt.

Does that give an up-and-coming Death Knight a swollen head?

No question whatsoever. It goes without saying.

Which leads to Fluffmuffin and Mordauk, two very happy, head-bashing, think their poop-don’t-stink, Death Knights … happily questing together on the “Last Rites” quest chain in the Borean Tundra … a must have, I can assure you.

“So, Mordauk, you think we can do it by ourselves? The quest says it’s a level 72 3-man group…” Fluffy asks him… “Well, we are Death Knights, are we not? Who needs a third with head-bashing Death Knights??? We ROCK!!!” < insert testosterone level here>

Although I couldn’t help with the testosterone level, my head is swollen with Death Knight grandeur, and thinks it’s a swell idea as well….

We die…
Horrible deaths…
The two Grandest Death Knights have slightly lesser swollen heads now…
We call in reinforcements…
Fluffy’s husband, Drehand, level 80 Hunter, with his tanking turtle “Flo” (now you all kiss my grits!) enters the scene… We complete but Mordauk still kicks the bucket and can’t turn in….enter random level 80 warlock…finally! Completion is had!!!

Do we still have swollen heads? ummm… probably… lets see when we tackle those group quests in Dragonblight…

—
Liberty Smith has been playing World of Warcraft for over 2 years, and is the Guild Master of Brute Force on US-Gnomeregan Realm. She is a wife and mother and resides in Texas.

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What To Do with my [Orb of Deception]?

Renei — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 02:18:02 +0000

Fluffmuffin, my Death Knight had to give a Woot! Woot! ( our guild call for something fun/interesting had happened ) the other day. However, before I begin, I know “Fluffmuffin” is a silly name for a Death Knight.

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It’s on purpose.

My very fluffy kitty, Tucker, insists on sitting on my lap when I play WoW and he is a bad ass. Oh he’s very cute, cuddly, sweet, until……he bashes your head in…especially at 3am and thinks it’s fun to throw a toy at your head ( how he managed that, I will never know ) but I digress…back to my Woot! Woot! moment..

Fluffy is now 71 and stalking Mordauk, as promised, throughout Northrend…but alas, she had to go to work to pay for her first flying mount. Being a miner/herb…she sets off too Silithus for some thorium to feed her Jewelcrafter toon. A wasp thingy was really annoying me and wouldn’t go away while I try to mine, so I turn and bash it in the head and lo and behold the [Orb of Deception] drops for me. Let me hear a Woot! Woot!

Orb of Deception, for those that aren’t in the know, is a costume that you can wear for 10min that makes you look like a member of the opposing faction. My server value in the AH 1400g! Woot! again…but there is too much fun to had to just sell a rare drop like this. No, no…PvP fun will be had I can assure you!

Now if I can just sneak past those pesky NPC’s who see clearly through the disguise…

Liberty Smith has been playing World of Warcraft for over 2 years, and is the Guild Master of Brute Force on US-Gnomeregan Realm. She is a wife and mother and resides in Texas.

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How to Annoy your Guildmates

chianna — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 01:15:15 +0000

As I may have mentioned, I really, truly like my guildmates. We are all roughly the same age, have the same kind of twisted humor, and well, like to play games. Heck! Our generation are the ORIGINAL gamers!

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This of course, leads to a bit of friendly competitiveness. Alex and I have been enjoying leveling our Death Knights together this past week… but who will make what level < insert current level trying to be obtained> first? And yes, he got to 69 first and left me in Netherstorm all by myself! That selfish prig! So I think I will have to stalk him throughout Northrend now…

Another thing I find endlessly amusing in WoW is how people handle their Gold. Some are hoarders, some spend like drunken sailors, with most being somewhere in the middle. Alex, my dear guild mate, is a hoarder. A tight-fisted, not-buying-nothin’ hoarder! On the flip side, he is incredibly wealthy in WoW standards. I, on the other hand, am the proverbial drunken sailor! So, on my flip side, I’m always broke. But, Oh how I love to buy new, shiny things in WoW! However, I love it more when I taunt Alex with my latest purchase and how much I spent for it… the more expensive the better, the more useless, the better!

Wait until he finds out that I’m still going for my rep with the Aldor and that I’m NOT grinding for it, Mark of Sargeras direct from the AH for me! muhahahahaha

By the way… if you are on my server, and put some in the AH, please do it cheaply for me, because I’m broke…

Liberty Smith has been playing World of Warcraft for over 2 years, and is the Guild Master of Brute Force on US-Gnomeregan Realm. She is a wife and mother and resides in Texas.

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Why a Soccer Mom Plays World of Warcraft

chianna — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 01:32:04 +0000

Greetings and Salutations fellow “casual” addicts! I just wanted to take a moment to introduce myself, since Alex has so kindly offered his blog to me after he has done all the work to get it up and running. My name is Liberty {bow to you} and I have been playing WoW for roughly 2 years. Most of that time with Alex I might add, who offers limitless entertainment as a guild mate! Gripped with the “need” to share my experiences within World of Warcraft as well, I hope to offer insight and tips from a “soccer mom” point of view. Not all of us are 14 year old boys you might be astonished to find out!

Having made an introduction, I would like to relate something I discovered and why things like this find keep me playing WoW. Way off in the corner of Hillsbrad near Dun Garok sits a memorial. I have never seen it before, even after cycling through all my alts. Of course my Death Knight had to pause a moment from that flower she was picking and take a look expecting a WoW related story-line kind of thing. No, it was a real memorial! It reads, ” In loving memory, Anthony Ray Stark, 1961-2005″. I was impelled to pause and say a prayer for this person that meant so much to a Blizzard employee, that a remembrance was called for. I think that is just about the coolest thing! If you would like to check it for yourself, coord are 68,78 ish….for those without….far southeastern corner of Dun Garok and the Eastern Strand in Hillsbrad.

So, in closing, it is these kind of gems that you come across from time to time that keep this Soccer Mom playing World of Warcraft.

[Special Thanks to Chianna for this article]

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WoW: What a Difference Gear Makes!

Renei — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 22:06:58 +0000

Mandorall, my woefully under-equipped Paladin, tried tanking Stratholme a few weeks back, for the benefit of my friend Kithany, a 61 Paladin who wants her epic mount. There were 3 of us:

Kithany, Level 61 Paladin
Hamstav, Level 70 Rogue
Mandorall, Level 70 Paladin

Now, the “Plan” was simple. I would Tank, Kithany would heal, and Hamstav would kill everything with his crazy Rogue DPS. It was a good plan. A simple plan. A straightforward plan. And we wiped twice in 10 minutes.

Mandorall, as the Official Tank of this particular endeavour, was singularly ill-equipped to deal even with the trash mobs, being a Retribution Paladin.

Needless to say, he was quite embarrassed. He IS level 70, after all! So he spent maybe 25g re-speccing to Protection, following the Talent build provided by WoWWiki. 49 Points in Protection, 12 Points in Retribution, mostly to get the Improved Judgement, which is totally worth it. (like, totally, dude)

Then came the challenge of finding decent gear. For that purpose, I called on Morevan, my Epic-wearing Warrior-Tank Extraordinaire friend, for his recommendations. Mandorall doesn’t really raid, so Epic drops are out of the question. He recommended:

I managed to acquire the set for about 210g, total. Mandorall is a lazy Blacksmith and he can’t make it himself. I spend another 10g for some gems for the sockets, and voila! I was ready to try out my new tanking abilities.

It was a dark, stormy and undead-filled night when Kithany, Hamstav & Mandorall returned to Stratholme. Despite one early wipe – we went in the back door, bad idea – it was one of the easiest instance runs I’d ever done. Keeping aggro was not a problem, and taking out groups of 10 or more mobs, including Elites, was child’s play.

Even after Kithany had gathered all her Stratholme Holy Water, we stayed around killing more mobs because it was just so easy.

Mandorall has finally discovered how gear really DOES make a difference, and through it, has been introduced to the Joys of Tanking. Incidently, he also discovered how everyone snickers behind the backs of Retribution Paladins, as they are so useless.

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The Last Ride Of The Knights of ‘Brute Force’

Renei — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 16:52:49 +0000

I’d been playing Herbiez, my new Human Priest, with Attic, a fighter, yesterday afternoon, when the Guild channel lit up. I don’t remember exactly what was being said, but I suggested that we all take out our level 70 toons and raid CrossRoads. I know I know this is sooooo yesteryear but whatever.

We met in Ratchet at 3pm Server time. I was, of course, late, because I had dinner and watched an old Star Trek TNG Episode (QPid for those who care – horrible episode starring Jean-Luc Picard as Robin Hood and Worf as a ‘Merry Man’ – “SIR! I MUST Protest! I am NOT a merry man!”)

So anyways our Epic raiding party consisted of:

Chianna, level 70 Gnome Mage and esteemed Guild Leader
Gravewax, level 70 Human Mage, wearing Epics from head to toe.
Drehand, level 70 Night Elf Hunter with a fantastic sense of humour
Daralan, level 70 Night Elf Rogue and Raid Party leader
Burnman, level 56 Human Mage, who likes beer and has a slow horse (not his fault!)
Mandorall, level 70 poorly-equipped Paladin and designated “Healer” who died a lot

So we raided Crossroads, managed to kill pretty much everyone, then some level-70 Hordies started showing up. Of particular annoyance were a Warrior, Shaman and Rogue who were quite adept at killing the Paladin, and everyone else.

We did that for a while, then went down to Camp Taurajo for fresh killing. That went well as well, mostly because no enemy players showed up.

At that point it was getting a bit late, so someone had the great idea of a suicide run on Orgrimmar! In all honesty it was Daralan’s idea but I type faster so I said it.

The goal would be to ride in as fast as possible, and try to kill a banker!

So being the ultimate sport that I am, I rode in first, aggroed all the guards, bubbled and made my way to a banker, which I managed to hit for maybe 2,000 damage before dying struck down. Daralan actually managed to kill a Banker – an Epic feat if there was ever one! – before being undone.

I’m not sure what happened to everyone else, but we all died. IT WAS GLORIOUS!

Daralan and I are thinking that we should organize a huge raid group – preferably several of them – and go raid Undercity. Of course it would be better if someone else would organize it, so all we’d have to do is show up, but eh, whatever.

It was only our “Last Ride” insofar as except for the Rogue, we all had to talk to the Rez-Lady to come back to life.

“We’ll be Back”

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