First Time in Utgarde Keep
Last night I got into my first Wrath of the Lich King instance; Utgarde Keep located in the Howling Fjord. As a newbie to instances here's a few things I learned. All of these are from a Hunter's point of view.
* Instances really are a different game from questing. To paraphrase a quote from Fight Club, "you don't really know your character or class until you're in an instance".
* You have to turn off practically all of your pet's special abilities except for Cower. Unlike, solo questing you *do not* want your pet generating threat and taking aggro from the main tank.
* Trapping is actually important.
* Massive amounts of DPS will not make up for the lack of other roles. We had three hunters, one death knight (frost), and one priest (holy). The priest was actually a dude playing a character on his girlfriend's account and had never healed an instance before. Our tank was also new the role.
* I need to look into acquiring a headset and getting into vent.
We mowed through the trash without much of a problem but wiped on the first boss twice before beating him. We wiped on the next boss-duo twice before we called it a night since it was getting late. All in all, it was a fun experience and I really enjoyed myself. I look forward to getting through more of it next time.
* Instances really are a different game from questing. To paraphrase a quote from Fight Club, "you don't really know your character or class until you're in an instance".
* You have to turn off practically all of your pet's special abilities except for Cower. Unlike, solo questing you *do not* want your pet generating threat and taking aggro from the main tank.
* Trapping is actually important.
* Massive amounts of DPS will not make up for the lack of other roles. We had three hunters, one death knight (frost), and one priest (holy). The priest was actually a dude playing a character on his girlfriend's account and had never healed an instance before. Our tank was also new the role.
* I need to look into acquiring a headset and getting into vent.
We mowed through the trash without much of a problem but wiped on the first boss twice before beating him. We wiped on the next boss-duo twice before we called it a night since it was getting late. All in all, it was a fun experience and I really enjoyed myself. I look forward to getting through more of it next time.
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Digg thisThe NXE
I got home last night before my family so I powered up the Xbox 360 to run through the update to kill the time before they got home. I was on the "choose an avatar as a starting point" screen when my wife came in the door. My wife had absolutely zero knowledge about the NXE update before seeing it on the TV.
HER: Hey, what happened to our Mii's? They're all different now.
ME: Uh, this isn't our Wii. It's the 360. Notice the crisp HD picture.
HER: Really? Whatever. Those look an awful lot like Miis.
ME: Yes, they do kind of.
HER: Why are they trying to copy the Wii?
ME: I don't know. They want what everyone else has I guess. [I proceed to choose my starter avatar]
HER: You picked a chick.
ME: No way. That's totally a dude. He's got camouflage pants on. And a baseball hat.
HER: It's a chick. Look at the available hairstyles. Those are female hairstyles.
ME: [Looks closer at TV. Realizes she's right.] Ah man. I could've have sworn that was a dude. [Hit's 'B' button a couple of times]
HER: Hey, what happened to our Mii's? They're all different now.
ME: Uh, this isn't our Wii. It's the 360. Notice the crisp HD picture.
HER: Really? Whatever. Those look an awful lot like Miis.
ME: Yes, they do kind of.
HER: Why are they trying to copy the Wii?
ME: I don't know. They want what everyone else has I guess. [I proceed to choose my starter avatar]
HER: You picked a chick.
ME: No way. That's totally a dude. He's got camouflage pants on. And a baseball hat.
HER: It's a chick. Look at the available hairstyles. Those are female hairstyles.
ME: [Looks closer at TV. Realizes she's right.] Ah man. I could've have sworn that was a dude. [Hit's 'B' button a couple of times]
The Prince of Darkness
I apologize for the bleeped out swearing but this is just too funny.
What Race for a Death Knight
My wife and I will be rolling our death knights soon. The question is which race? My wife will go with Blood Elf because they're pretty. There's nothing wrong with that logic. But which race for me? Two things to keep in mind are that I'll be Horde and I care very much about the aesthetics of the character I'll be looking at for hours and hours. Racial abilities don't really make much of a difference in the grand scheme.
Tauren: I'm not really down with the whole Earth Mother thing. And they're big. I'm annoyed enough with always having to look at the big hind quarters on my hunter's bear pet. I want to see the world and not a screenful of back side.
Orc: They're big. They're mean. They're the iconic Warcraft race. They look pretty cool in the death knight armor. But they have a posture problem. Maybe it's just the way they're built but they are always hunched over. Especially the males. Maybe it's not a big deal. I'll keep Orc on my short list.
Undead: Cool except for a few really annoying things. The bones of their elbows and knees are always exposed no matter what armor they're wearing. Most annoyingly, their toes always stick out of their boots and the undead toes look ridiculous. I thought the racial of breathing underwater would be nice but you don't really spend that much time underwater in WoW.
Troll: They look pretty mean. But a Death Knight with a Jamaican accent just seems out of place. Also, their boots never cover their feet. Just the ankles. That's always seemed weird to me.
Blood Elf: They look cool in the armor. I like the artistic design of the Blood Elf buildings. But I already play a Blood Elf hunter. It'd be nice to play a different race.
Look like it's Orc then.
Tauren: I'm not really down with the whole Earth Mother thing. And they're big. I'm annoyed enough with always having to look at the big hind quarters on my hunter's bear pet. I want to see the world and not a screenful of back side.
Orc: They're big. They're mean. They're the iconic Warcraft race. They look pretty cool in the death knight armor. But they have a posture problem. Maybe it's just the way they're built but they are always hunched over. Especially the males. Maybe it's not a big deal. I'll keep Orc on my short list.
Undead: Cool except for a few really annoying things. The bones of their elbows and knees are always exposed no matter what armor they're wearing. Most annoyingly, their toes always stick out of their boots and the undead toes look ridiculous. I thought the racial of breathing underwater would be nice but you don't really spend that much time underwater in WoW.
Troll: They look pretty mean. But a Death Knight with a Jamaican accent just seems out of place. Also, their boots never cover their feet. Just the ankles. That's always seemed weird to me.
Blood Elf: They look cool in the armor. I like the artistic design of the Blood Elf buildings. But I already play a Blood Elf hunter. It'd be nice to play a different race.
Look like it's Orc then.
On The Eve of Wrath of the Lich King Launch
What does one do with a week and half at the level cap before going back to the leveling grind? Solo a bunch of low level instances for the achievements. I had only run a handful of instances before so most of these are new to me. So far, I have to say Deadmines is my favorite. The Goonies-esque feel definitely adds to the appeal.
I also participated in the scourge invasion event as much as I could. I was lucky to have found a really good group my second time out. I managed to get three out of four pieces in the Undead Slaying gear set. Unfortunately, the event ended before I could get the fourth piece. So I feel a bit unmatched in my attire.
I have one more night before Lich King gets installed on my machine so I think I'll solo another instance.
I also participated in the scourge invasion event as much as I could. I was lucky to have found a really good group my second time out. I managed to get three out of four pieces in the Undead Slaying gear set. Unfortunately, the event ended before I could get the fourth piece. So I feel a bit unmatched in my attire.
I have one more night before Lich King gets installed on my machine so I think I'll solo another instance.
Recent Reviews
There's both good and bad points about this album. First the good.
It sounds great. The production quality the best of any Rush album since 1993's <em>Counterparts</em>. I don't really count <em>Feedback</em> as a proper album as it was all covers.
Three instrumentals! The first one is over five minutes and has some interesting parts to it but doesn't have the melodic hooks of some of their past instrumentals. The second is an acoustic guitar piece by Alex Lifeson. Very nice. The third is a short piece that sounds very aggresive, edgy and dark. One of my favorite tracks from the album.
Alex plays the blues. In a Rush song? Yep, honest to goodness blues solos in "The Way the Wind Blows". The majority of the song is typical Rush fare but those two solos were certainly different than anything we've heard from Rush before.
However, when it comes to the regular songs on the album they seem just a little too regular. I hear them and I think, "Ya, that's good. It's a Rush song all right". One of things I've always respected about Rush is their lack of formula. Maybe in this mature stage of their career they've found a style of writing they like and are sticking to it.
That's not to say it's bad. A mediocre Rush song is light years better than anyone else's mediocre songs. That's why I gave this four stars. I guess I'm just waiting for another five star album like <em>Counterparts</em> where every song blew me away.
It sounds great. The production quality the best of any Rush album since 1993's <em>Counterparts</em>. I don't really count <em>Feedback</em> as a proper album as it was all covers.
Three instrumentals! The first one is over five minutes and has some interesting parts to it but doesn't have the melodic hooks of some of their past instrumentals. The second is an acoustic guitar piece by Alex Lifeson. Very nice. The third is a short piece that sounds very aggresive, edgy and dark. One of my favorite tracks from the album.
Alex plays the blues. In a Rush song? Yep, honest to goodness blues solos in "The Way the Wind Blows". The majority of the song is typical Rush fare but those two solos were certainly different than anything we've heard from Rush before.
However, when it comes to the regular songs on the album they seem just a little too regular. I hear them and I think, "Ya, that's good. It's a Rush song all right". One of things I've always respected about Rush is their lack of formula. Maybe in this mature stage of their career they've found a style of writing they like and are sticking to it.
That's not to say it's bad. A mediocre Rush song is light years better than anyone else's mediocre songs. That's why I gave this four stars. I guess I'm just waiting for another five star album like <em>Counterparts</em> where every song blew me away.
posted May 22, 2007 at 02:28:37 PM
So I've only heard one song. Freya, which was included in Guitar Hero 2. But a damn good song it is.
posted February 6, 2007 at 11:33:04 AM
I haven't been this excited for a metal band in a long time. I couldn't be happier they gave up the screaming vocals in favor of more Hetfield-like yelling. I can actually understand most of the words now. The song writing is top-notch and the instrumental The Crusade is sure to become a classic.
posted November 10, 2006 at 03:20:59 PM
