…that this happened to somehone who isn’t me:
Still a hunter though. Bwahaha! We shall take over the world, soon enough.
Note: Cause I know someone’s gonna bring up all the Marksman stuff on my bars: I am experimenting with raiding as Marksman when there’s a ret pally in the group already bringing the 3% damage buff, since it overwrites Ferocious Inspiration anyway. I want to get good with Marksmanship, and then someday, I swear to you, I’ll be good at Survival too… maybe… /bangs head into wall
…but C’thun was the greatest Old God of all time! The greatest Old God of all time! Peace.
(Okay, so really I just wanted an excuse to make that joke. Sorry. D= )
So yeah, I have now officially seen every boss inside Ulduar, and killed them all except Yoggy*, whom we wiped on a couple times and then we started doing really well before suddenly everybody had to leave (myself included, sadly.)
I have to admit I’ve been feeling some compunctions about raiding and my aptitude at it lately; it feels like 50% of my boss kills and achievements happen with me facedown on the floor, and while there are times where my DPS shines, it also seems like as time goes on and I get into harder content and as my fellows acquire better and better gear, my position on Recount just seems to be slipping. It is probably partially because I cling to a less-than-ideal spec, but also I think because I just really stink at climbing the raid boss learning curve. I really don’t want to be Donald from Dark Legacy Comics, but sometimes I worry I am turning into him. >.>
Hopefully it is just a phase and will pass as I get more practice. It just takes me a little bit of extra time to learn what stuff my pet shouldn’t be hitting (Giant Tentacles and Freya Mario Party minigames, I’m looking at you), or what I should and should not be standing in (Vezax can DIAF). I may not be Ensidia or Death & Taxes material, but hopefully I will at least be halfway competent with a little more practice.
I am signed up for ToC25 and Ulduar25 this week, and Ulduar10 seems to be in the cards as well… holycrap, does this make me a real raider? It seems so surreal! x_x I hope my poor alts don’t feel too neglected… D=
—
* And that one guy who I’m never going to see ever
1. Your pet dies
2. Your pet dies again
3. Your pet dies, yet again
4. Is your pet dead? No? GOTO 1
5. Watch your pet die as he stands next to you
6. Watch your pet die while you spam Mend Pet
7. Be content that your pet is at 100% health, glance the other way for two seconds, glance back and notice your pet is dead
8. Forget about your pet and switch to your Marksmanship dual spec
9. Get the Power Rangers theme song* stuck in your head…
10. Stare into the pretty laser beam coming out of the guy’s face… and die.
—
* I swear to you, when I figure this fight out I am going to FRAPS it and set it to the Power Rangers theme song. Cross my heart, hope to Feign Death.
As a DPS, I normally don’t feel under the same pressure that I do on say, my healer (or as I imagine a tank would feel, though I haven’t tanked so I can’t say.) I mean sure, we’re sort of fighting against this nebulous “enrage timer” but for the most part, “DPS faster” or “DPS more” just means I’m gonna… press my buttons a little harder and hope it somehow turns into more DPS. It doesn’t really feel like I’m contributing something tangible, so much.
Enter “Iron Council Medium Mode”.
See, today I logged on, went to go do Icecrown dailies, and received a whisper from someone I hadn’t heard of it in a long time. It was my old Naxx group. The one I went to Naxx10 with every week for a good few months earlier this year. They invited me to a 10-man Ulduar. I had nothing better to do and I was excited to see some people I hadn’t played with in a while, so I accepted.
…so…
…so, in the time between us struggling our way through Naxx10 and now, they got good. And also got some friends in high places. We were smashing through achievements left and right with tanks who had close to 50,000 HP.
Anyways, Iron Council, aka Falcon Punch. Apparently the order you kill the guys in determines how difficult your encounter will be. We opted to go for a “Medium Mode”, which involves little elementals that spawn every ten seconds or so and must be AoE’d and slowed and kited and pretty much killed immediately, or Bad Things Happen.
Due to group makeup, it was pretty much up to me, a warlock, and a mage.
…and I dunno if I’ve ever felt like so much depended on me as a DPS. If we died, it wasn’t cause the tanks failed or the heals failed or because of something passive like a lack of gear. No, this time, if we died, it was all on the heads of the DPSers.
As a hunter on this, your job is a.) keep your pet on the boss, b.) Keep an eye out for the purple circles, c.) lay down Frost Traps as available, d.) Volley the heck out of the purple circle, e.) pick off any stragglers that snuck past the AoE, f.) avoid the crap on the ground, and g.) somehow manage to keep your mana up throughout all of this (curse you Volley, you mana-sucker you.)
It was not easy.
But man it felt good afterwards.
Warlock, mage, and I all got specifically thanked by name afterwards for our work.
DPS frequently feels like a thankless job, but I felt good today. Kudos to Blizz for (perhaps finally) making an encounter where it feels like all depends on you and your active efforts, my fellow PewPew-ers.
“Okay, Dragonbots… roll out.”
Raidbuffed. I basically pulled my character screen up and promptly made a O_O face.
Wash, raidbuffed. 4458 Attack Power.
My jaw. It was on the floor.
This was on trash, so nothing important, but as far as I am aware this is the highest single-target (aka, none o’ that silly Volley spam) DPS I have ever attained. I was very happy to do this well as a Beast Master. ^_^ I giggled like a maniac when I took this screenshot. This also means Wash was doing somewhere in the area of 2500 DPS by himself. You probably won’t want to curse his sudden but inevitable betrayal anytime soon. *sage nod*
Since last week, I have replaced four pieces of gear; since two weeks ago, I have replaced five. They have all been pretty substantial upgrades, and it’s really showing in my DPS. Last week, I was feeling kind of sheepish, putting along somewhere in the middle of Recount– this time, whenever I remembered to check anyway, I was somewhere near the top. I am so glad to be able to contribute to my guild and raid group via Massive Quantities of Sustained Ranged PewPew. *nods*
I had a lot of fun today, I didn’t even see many new bosses (well, I saw a few), but I had so much fun! We did some messing around in the new 25man as well. You know, the one with the infamous Two Jormungars. We had some issues that prevented us from nailing Northrend Beasts but we got pretty close a couple times. I was doing about 4500ish DPS all told on those bosses, from what I saw. It is really weird to think that just a few months ago, 3800 was my high score on Patchwerk. But yes, I am glad to report to you all that Beast Mastery seems to be back in business for the most part ^_^
Just for fun, and because I stink at remembering the names of bosses, I present to you:
Pike Names The Ulduar Bosses She Has Seen So Far:
(Can you figure out who is who? =P)
Vehicle Fight
Dragon Thing
Fire Guy
Elmo Bot
Doctor Octopus/Falcon Punch/That Group of Three Annoying Guys
Giant Popup Book Guy
Cat Chick
Hodir (Oh hey, I remembered someone’s name!)
Fight That Involves Running To Walls and Millions of Adds Because It Is Kel’Thuzad Redux In The Mountains
…hmm. That’s all I’ve seen so far. >.> The list shall be expanded at a later date.
WoW is so fun lately, between raidstuff on Tawyn, gearing up Lunapike, and dinking around on my lowbies, I’m having a blast <3
One of the best parts of the Super Bowl is gathering around with family and friends, and eating amazing food while watching the big game.
If you’re trying to count calories or stick to a healthy diet, though, you may be tempted to feel like you can’t really eat snacks — or at least none of the great ones — come game day. Read more about Alpilean benefits.
To bust this myth and share tips on enjoying delicious, healthy foods and how we can approach our dietary choices during the annual football feast, FIU News spoke with dietitian Tania Rivera, an assistant clinical professor at the Robert Stempel College of Public Health & Social Work.
Here are her top tips for keeping it healthy while enjoying the Super Bowl: Check these prodentim reviews.
Top recipe suggestions:
1. Skip the dip — go for hummus and carrots (or other veggies) instead.
Those creamy, white dips are the ones that come chock-full of fats. Substitute the dip for hummus and, instead of dipping chips, enjoy veggies.
“Hummus is an excellent dip for everything,” Rivera says. “Hummus with carrots is always a fan favorite. And as much as you can use veggies, that ups the nutritional value in any snack.”
Rivera adds that salsa is also a great option for dip. The tomatoes, onions, cilantro, lime and other vegetables usually found in salsa are healthy for you.
If you really want chips, she adds, choose the baked ones. “You save a lot of calories and saturated fats with baked chips.”
She also recommends chopping bell peppers and using them for dipping or even stuffing bell peppers with lean ground beef. “Those are great snacks,” she says. For more veggie layering, you could also stuff avocadoes with fresh vegetables like tomatoes, onion and cilantro.
Whole grain crackers are another substitute for chips. “Fiber fills us up more,” Rivera explains. “So, we tend to eat less whole grain crackers. Let’s let the crackers and veggies fill us up instead [of filling up on the more fattening foods].” These are the latest ikaria lean belly juice reviews.
2. Use lean meats and bake chicken wings.
Burgers and wings are the royalty of Super Bowl foods. You can modify recipes to enjoy them both while staying on a healthy meal plan.
Use extra lean ground beef instead of sirloin for burgers. Instead of chicken wings, you can try other chicken cuts. “Chicken breasts are healthier than chicken wings,” Rivera says.
If chicken wings are your heart’s desire, baking them is your best choice. Rivera says baked chicken wings are completely fair game when it comes to a healthy diet.
“The biggest health culprits at Super Bowl gatherings are often fried wings,” Rivera says. “That’s a hot ticket item. You can make a big difference in your health by baking them instead.”
3. Try to avoid foods with very high amounts of sodium and preservatives.
Charcuterie boards with cold cut meats are one item you may want to stay away from, Rivera says.
Ham and salami often contain high amounts of salt and sodium. And, if not eaten in moderation, those cold cuts could turn into high sodium numbers.
Desserts that are loaded with sugars are obviously not the best option. If you want to have a cookie, let yourself have one. “Limit yourself to one or two as opposed to mindlessly filling up your plate,” she says.
As for drinks, Rivera recommends sticking with water.
So I was in Icecrown, doing a couple dailies (my Mechanostrider obsession means I will get the Argent Tourney Mechanostriders as well), when I somehow wound up in a PuG for the new 25man. Trial of the Crusader? Dunno, all the names and modes throw me off.
The PuG was kind of a failure, although I now know more about killing Snobolds and giant Jormungar than I ever figured I would.
So anyway, I was trying to figure out a sneaky way to weasel out of the failure PuG when I got a whisper from my guild. “We’re throwing together a 10-man Ulduar, want to come?”
…
…
/raid “Hey uh guys, thanks for the fun, I’ve got a guild raid now.” *poofs*
So this… okay. Basically I just spammed 1 and 2 and occasionally spent more time than I probably should’ve trying to figure out how to pick little blue glowy buckets off of the ground. I was basically informed to just shoot stuff while sitting passenger in this tank thing. It gave me Halo vibes. You know, sitting in the back of the Warthog? That was fun…
This fight, I ran around like a chicken with my head cut off, shooting the dragon thing when it landed. I think there was fire and stuff but I couldn’t see it half the time (My Windows version of WoW likes to conveniently not show important things like buildings and fire and void zones.)
This fight… hmm. I think I just stood there and shot him. There were other people doing a bunch of running around but I just sort of… yeah, stood there. OH, I totally got an Achievement without even trying, cause the guy picked me up or something.
I’m also pretty sure this is the boss that yielded a sexy new polearm that a paladin won the roll on, but he gave it to me because MY GUILD IS WAY TOO NICE TO ME DARNIT.
This guy was really annoying, and I’ll tell you why. It’s cause every so often he’d pull a Curator and stop attacking and his “heart” would show up and you’d have to DPS it, but guess what… your pet refuses to attack it.
Other than that, it was Grobbulus 2.0. Get the debuff, run away, then come back.
I think he and Patchwerk would get along well. “OOOH I WANT TO PLAY WITH MY TOYS!” “PATCHWERK WANT TO PLAY TOO!”
Oh right, this guy. There were three guys and they all took forever to kill. And the last guy would every so often turn into Doctor Octopus and walk around the room on these electric spider legs. There was stuff that you weren’t supposed to stand in, and stuff that you were. That’s about it >.>
Oh wait, he also did a Falcon Punch every so often. Actually I don’t think that’s what it’s really called, but that’s what I called it. *nods*
“Tawyn! Walk across the line!” said my guild.
So I did. Big huge scary guy popped up. Like from a pop-up book.
So this is another one that reminded me of Curator, in that you stuck your pet on the main guy while you shot other stuff. Every so often he’d do a laser eye beam thing like in Old Kingdom and Halls of Stone. Freakin’ scary when it happens, I would high-tail it to the other end of the room. XD
At the end of that fight everyone said “Tawyn wins!” and I was like “Buh-wuh? What did I win?” and my guildies said “On Recount, duh!” So I pulled it out and I had! I was happy to see that even though I had no freakin’ clue what was going on, I was still pulling my weight.
This chick had a bunch of kittycat adds. Of course, the very first thing I did when we pulled was Beast Lore to see if they were tameable. …what? >.> They weren’t. They’re level ?? anyway.
I don’t really remember the details on this boss much. Honestly what I remember more was the pull riiiiight before it which was a cross between Romeo and Juliette and Curator (again). That pull was crazy.
At this point I informed my guild that I was turning into an all tuckered out lil’ hunter, having done such a crazy Raid Boss Tour, but they informed me that they were stopping for the night anyway. I think they may go back to finish tomorrow; I’m not sure if I’ll go or not because Yours Truly is having the BlizzCon Live Stream beamed into her computer. (Confession: I ordered it almost exclusively for the Murloc Marine minipet.)
A month ago I was dinking around feeling like I’d hit a glass ceiling as far as my ability to see content was concerned, and now here I am: Champion of the Frozen Wastes, wearing a polearm from ten-man Ulduar, and slated to go to the 25-man counterpart on Saturday. I’m really starting to feel like a raider. It is… a very odd feeling.
I also feel like… you know in the Matrix when they upload stuff into Neo’s brain and he goes “Whoa… I know Kung Fu!”
That’s how I felt today after getting about a dozen new boss strats crammed into my head… x__x
*curls up in a ball and falls asleep*