The Curtain Call

I'm done guys. I've decided to quit WoW to give myself more Real Life time to get things done (like improving the quality of my marriage and my health). Because of this, I will no longer be updating the Blog. It's been fun, but I think this is for the best. I leave behind a lot of good friends in my Guild (Nexus) and will miss them all sorely.

All the best.

/goodbye

Who needs Resistance Gear?

Last night was my first Guild kills of the last bit of Naxx-25. The big icy dragon and Mum-Ra himself. Let me tell you now: I have ZERO Frost Resistance gear. None. I will get some eventually (if my Guild continues to raid Naxx after 3.1) but I haven't had the time/gold to get it before now.

Well, with raid buffs I have a static 130 Frost Res and my Dwarven 2% miss chance with Frost spells. I thought I'd be fine. I was. I lasted until he was down to about 18% and the only reason I died? I got Ice Blocked and was already low on health, so the healers could react quick enough to me. No biggie.

On KT I died again, but also right near the end. Reason was someone got Frost Bolted and they were running through the raid, so tagged myself and one other person as well. With three ice-cubes up it was tough on the healers, so I was allowed to drop. No biggie, I got the achievement :)

I also picked up the Trash MH Sword last night. Silent Crusader I think it's called. I thought it was the off-hand for some reason and was passing, but my fellow Rogues noted in raid chat "umm, it's Raitin still using a blue as his main hand?". Yes, Silent Crusader replaced my Reaper of Dark Souls. I AM trying to get away from Sword Spec (I promise!) and get back into my Quest for Fist(/Dagger), but this was an upgrade too nice to pass up.

I also traded in 25 of my Valor tokens for a Ring of Invincibility to replace Grob's Sealing Ring. I missed out on the T7.5 helm last night though, but that wasn't surprising. Looking over my gear, I've had quiet a few upgrades over the last two weeks. Like 10 or so. I think the only slots where I don't have an iLevel 213 item are my Ranged Slot, Back Slot one of my Weapon Slots and one of my Trinket Slots. Wow. Raitin be movin' on up!

Minor Blog Updates

I'm changing a few of the settings on the Blog. Changing the appearance and what not. I still need some images to spruce up the place a bit, but that will come in time, I'm sure. I'll fiddle around with colours until I find something I like, then go from there. If anyone has some images they feel like throwing my way, please feel free. Heck, if anyone actually wants to Follow my Blog, I'll be even happier :)

I live..... again!

5g to the person who can name that reference. (Clue: A really old PC game that is named after a Potent Fluid).

So my internet started working again last night. Turns out the 'upgrade' really did bugger my phone line, but it's all sweet now. Guild was fine with it, as soon as I explained the GL said "no worries mate, thanks for letting us know". Top bloke.

I was also whispered by another person in my Guild, named "Jyna" asking if I know who he was. Of course, I suspected immediately and found it was my old mate Earthshockaz! Hooray for mates showing up out of the blue after DISAPPEARED FROM THE FACE OF THE EARTH AND NOT SAYING WHY!!!1!! Ok I'm good now, I promise.

So I'm a bit worried as to the state of Rogues these days. I love my Rogue and he'll always be my main, but I'm feeling more and more like we are going to be more easily replaced with other DPS or Hybrid classes, especially now with 3.1's Dual Spec just over the next hill.

With this is mind, I was thinking of levelling one of my alts to 80 (finally). I have the choice of the following:

68 Male Night Elf Druid. 375 Alchemy & 375 Gnomish Engineering. Currently Balance, but I used to be Resto at 60. Just started in Northrend with this guy. Would probably spec Bear Tank at 80 with a Duel Spec as Resto (or Cat Dps... Hmmmm).

60 Female Human Death Knight. 1 Herbalism & 1 Inscription. Was going to do an Unholy AOE Tank, but I really am considering Frost Dual Wield DPS, but it's very similar to a Rogue, however I'll be able to Duel Spec as Tank.

Or I can start a new character: A Female Draenai Mage. Herbalism and Skinning is what I'm thinking. Or Herbs and Tailoring. Or Skinning and Tailoring... Hmmmm. I would level and raid as Frost, with a Duel Spec as Frostfire, or Fire (Duh :P).

Any thoughts/opinions on the above?

Interwebs Woes Return!

As I was checking my Facebook last night, just before logging into WoW, my internet connection drops. "How odd" I thought. I went and did a power cycle, no go. Isolation test, still no love. Tried using my phone (isolated) - HEAPS of data noise on the line, not even a dial tone. My connection can't sync. "Bother" I say, "Just after I got this fixed, too". I remember something about iiNet doing some upgrade and think to myself that I'll just try the whole process again later. I did and it still wouldn't sync and the phone was drowned out in data noise.

So my wife has the next 4 days off, so I'm going to ask her to call iiNet and try to organise a tech to attend before the end of the week. Hopefully this gets fixed soon, as I can't even tell my Guild that my internet is borked!

More Naxx news and Gear Updates

G'day all.
Last night was going to be another 10-man night, but we managed to scrap together enough healers to get a 25-Naxx run going. I got invited, yay!
We started a bit late, so finished a bit late (hooray for cans of V!) and it was awesome. We cleared all 4 wings, but are leaving Saph and KT for tonight. I think it's not very far off until we clear 25-Naxx in a single night, which is awesome.
My 'average DPS' according to recount is now just over 3k, which is around a 1000 dps increase over my 10-man Naxx the other day! I'm almost certain this is due to the extra buffs available in 25-man content, but I'll compare it to when I next do a 10-man something.
So I got some more loot as well, here is a list:
Helm from Live/Dead boss in Military Wing (Harvester? Something like that). Non-Tiered, but I will be wearing it once I get another 4th peice for T7/T7.5 (read below).
T7.5 Leggings - Yay, my first T7.5 peice!
T7.5 Shoulders - 2nd bit, but now it gives me my 4-peice set bonus! This is why I will continue to wear my T7 helm and not the Helm that dropped until I replace the 4th set peice.
2nd Best-In-Slot Ring dropped and I won as well! So I WAS going to make a Titanium Impact Band tonight, but now I no longer need it. I think I'll still make it and sell it. Should be around a 1000g profit, because I earned the mats, I didn't buy them (The Dragon's Eyes anyway).
That's about it from me. I'll keep you informed as to how things continue. I REALLY want some new weapons, but Webbed Death didn't drop and I won't know if Calamity's Grasp drops until tonight and I doubt I'll win it if it does :P
Peace.

Raiding and Nub-Knights

So it eventually had to happen. I got invited to a 10-man Naxx last night, after completing about 4 Heroics with some Guildies. I loved the experience, it seemed a lot easier than I thought, but that might just have been because I was going with all experienced Guildies. It was great.
Not that this matters totally, but I got several peices of gear last night. Let's begin:

Heroic 1: HoL - Chest upgrade from Quest with SoH.
Heroic 2: VH - Get enough rep with KotEB to upgrade MH Sword.
Heroic 3: UP - I think I got my new necklace from here.
Heroic 4: Nexus - 2nd Chest upgrade from final boss.
Naxx 10 - Where to begin?! New Boots, new Ring, new Trinket, 3RD new Chest(!!! 1st bit of T7!) and new Helm(2nd bit of T7). I now also have enough Heroism Emblems to get Mirror of Truth, an awesome trink for me.

So after today, I'll be Honoured with SoH and get my Shoulder Enchant, then maybe I'll go buy my Head Enchant from KotEB, like I forgot to do last night :P

I have also purchased most of the mats for my Titanium Band (JC Ring), but not the Dragon's Eyes. I already have one, but I think I'll use it to fill one of my MANY Blue Gem Slots, as I only need 1 for my Meta Gem.

Sigh. I'm going to be spending a lot of gold tonight on gems and enchants, but it'll be worth it! :)
We were going to do 10-man Malygos last night, but we didn't finish Naxx until just before 12, so we'll do it tonight.

P.S. Oops, I forgot all about the "Nub-Knights" thing. Well, basically the Death Knight I rolled in an earlier post (scroll down) was done on the WRONG SERVER. My friends all switched servers ages ago without telling me, so now I'll just have to do it again :) Oh well!

Updates and Death Knights

Another brief update as to things happening with me and my Guild:

1) I should be hitting up Raids with one of the Guild's 10-man teams soon, which is awesome news. I've mentioned to Jack, the GM, that I'm really keen to get back into raiding, but I know I'm not geared enough for the 25-mans. I'll be happy starting off with the 10-mans and working my way up from there.

2) I'm almost to Honoured (maybe 3 more days?) with the Sons of Hodir, which means Shoulder Enchants for me! I'll keep on doing the dailies as it's very quick and easy gold, but at Exalted the Shoulder Enchants become Epic!

3) Just over halfway through Honoured with Knights of the Ebon Blade to get my new Main Hand sword, Reaper of Dark Souls. Also doing the dailies with these guys and the gold is nice. Once I'm running Heroics/10-mans it'll come faster, as I can Champion myself to them.

4) Doing my daily Cooking and Jewelcrafting quests as well. Keeping the JC tokens to buy a ring recipe and a necklace recipe. Takes 12 tokens and several Dragon's Eyes, so it'll take a few weeks to save up. Why can't I can TWO a day? Grrr.

5) Got around 3.5k gold or so, give or take. Doing all these dailies is really nice, so I should have my Epic Flying Training in no time. I can't wait!

6) A RL mate of mine and I decided we were bored last night and rolled Death Knights on another RL mate of mine's server (Barthilas[sp]-Oceanic, look for Daarkon!). And it's reminded me why I HATED rolling on a PvP Server! I had just gotten out of the starting zone when a 80 Human Death Knight decided to corpse camp us. Why? It's no honour, so why bother?! Oh well. I'm going for a Frost/Unholy Dual Wield DPS Build, my mate is doing for a Blood Tanking build.

That's about it. I'm heading out with some mates tonight to go LAN, which is always fun! Take it easy.

"Nexus beats Wotlk"

Well, almost. Last night my Guild, Nexus, downed the last content they haven't done: Heroic Malygos. It was a massive effort that just clicked in the end. Well done team!

Ok, so technically we haven't even attempted 2-Drake or 3-Drake OS, but that will come, oh, that WILL come! Hopefully before 3.1, but we'll see.

Speaking of OS, I was about to jump offline last night after doing ALL the quest chains for Sons of Hodir and doing all the available dailies there, when I got a random invite by Jack, my GM. Turns out they needed a few more people to do OS, so I got to tag along.

We were going to do attempts at 2-Drake OS, but then thought "nah, let's just do the content and call it a night" so we did 0-Drake OS and just destroyed it. No loot for me (not that I can, it was just good to raid again!), but I did get my first (4) Emblems of Valor. Yay me!

There were two other Rogues in the raid last night, Isc and a new Dwarf Rogue (am I being replaced? :P). Both were spec'd Mut, so hopefully that leaves a spot open for me as Combat as they will mean I bring a different utility to the Raid (Savage Combat), especially after 3.1!

Both Rogues were doing 3k+ DPS, I was hovering around 1.9k-2.3k. Pretty pathetic compared to them, but hey, I have ONE Epic and it's a ranged weapon (ok, I've still got Dragonspine Trophy, but that will get upgraded to Mirror of Truth once I have 40 Emblems of Heroism).

I'm still feeling sick as a dog, but can't take time off work, as someone else is on annual leave for another TWO WEEKS. Grunt.

And there was much rejoicing

Hooray!

Last night, I finished getting WoW patched and running. I downloaded Vent and jumped on with my Guildies. All VERY happy to see me. I'd had quite a few in-game mails from the GM and other Guildies, LOADED with free gear (A'vool's Sword, anyone?) which I thanked them for, but returned. It wouldn't feel right now that I have ALL of my gear back!

So I've lost all my gems and enchants, but I really don't care. Now I can do quests and make some gold to get them back (those hackers organised ALL my lewtz as well, so now I think I have MADE gold, and have lots of stuff to throw on the AH, go figure). Got around 3.5k gold, which is plenty go get my gems and stuff going again. After all my auctions though, I imagine it will shoot up to around 8k. Yes, 4.5k of auctions about to throw my enonomy out of balance :) Epic Flying Training for me!

I'm just totally pumped right now. I also need to download all my mods (or just transfer them from my old HDD) and get going! Also, word on the horizon is that Rogues are getting a (very much deserved) huge buff! Read my mate Hatch's post here: http://esc-hatch.blogspot.com/2009/02/31-class-change-preview-explodes-my.html. Do it now! GET TO THE CHOPPAH!

Ok, I'd better do some work now. I'm just so excited! :D Talk soon, fresh again with exploits in Azeroth!

Recall: Success!

Ok, so the title is a bit melodramatic, but I'm still missing my speakers and subwoofer for my new computer. I haven't checked inside the box, but I'm confident all the bits are in there. I'll double-check tonight. Time for more annoyed calls/emails!

P.S. Vista is very hard to get used to in the first 5 minutes! :)

P.P.S. I installed WoW, TBC and WotLK last night, tonight I will patch it (was getting a bit late last night)

Success!

Ok, so I think everything is sorted now.

Yesterday, the computer didn't arrive AGAIN. So after a few calls to the delivery company, it looked like the computer had vanished into thin air. The only option left was a re-order that would mean it would take at least another week to get my computer. I was NOT happy to say the least.

I said "Let's give it one more day, try find out as much as you can because I'll kick myself if it shows up the next day after a re-order". And this morning, I got a delivery from Dell. I haven't checked the contents of the box just yet (I'll do that in about 1 hour) but assuming it's all there, I'll be up and ready to go in a few days (it's takes AGES to install and patch WoW...).

So good news!

"But I didn't even know there was a 5am!"

Ok. I'm back at work after going to the airport. Stupid having to get up at 5am! Well in short, my computer still hasn't arrived. Dell sent me an email saying the case is now closed. I called my loading dock, nope, no computer. I emailed them back basically saying "it's not here, reopen the case immediately and get me my computer. and try confirming next time you want to close the case!". Not in those words, but yeah, close enough.

Great news though! I got a few emails from Blizzard last night that seems to imply that ALL my gear/characters/gold have all been restored! WOO HOO! The system (slowly!) works! Now I just need my computer to arrive, a quick re-install and patch of WoW and away I go! :D

Today?

Ok, so after many frustrating delays, my new computer is arriving today (apparently...). I also have to give blood today, then pick up my Mum from the airport tomorrow morning @ 7:15am (Yuck!) and then my mate from the airport @ 9:15pm. Going to be a long few days, so bare with me!

Ups and Downs

So I think I might be cursed or something. My luck has been going up and down over the last two months, with my internet woes and WoW account hassles. I thought everything was going back up: Internet was working, WoW account back (but still being worked on), mate moving back from England and bringing an Authenticator with him for me. Stuff like that.

So last week I decided that my computer needed replacing. I ordered a new one and it is due to arrive tomorrow. However, the VERY SAME DAY that I ordered my computer (the day after my last post) my computer at home carked it and decided it didn't want to work anymore. I think the RAM has gone back, but the RAM in my old PC doesn't fit in it, so I can't test that.

So, that annoyed me, but I am getting a new computer tomorrow, which is good. Not looking forward to reinstalling everything again, but thems the breaks.

Now, woes with my account again. Obviously haven't been able to play because my computer, but that's not so bad, because it's still under investigation. I emailed Blizz asking for an ETA on the restore. They basically said "The Account Admin department is not responsible for restoring compromised accounts".... WTF? Isn't that your job? After a bit of cursing I realised my request "has been forwarded to the investigations department and they will get back to you when it's completed". Great, that could take FOREVER. So I've decided to get myself geared up as best I can (basically starting from NOTHING) and then I'll pay back the Guildies who help me out. Someday. Somehow.

Eventually, I hope all my gear is restored, but until that time I'm happy to go with what I can get. But of course I'll need to get back on a working computer first :)

FYI

Yes, I do have my account back. No my gear/characters/gold have not been restored. I've emailed Blizz asking if I should stay logged-off the account while they do it and if so, for how long. Well my Guild has been fantastic, Jack gave me a /ginvite as soon as I came online, everyone was very happy to have me back. I explained my situation and was immediately flooded with people wanting to send me gold to give/craft me some gear. I was flattered, but told them not to bother, as I was hoping Blizz would restore everything. I did accept a small amount of gold so I can get back to Dalaran and set my hearth there. Also, to pass the time while the Guild raided H-Naxx I got a fishing rod and started leveling my fishing. I got from 396 to 418 in ~1 hour I think, then got sick of it. But I'll be back on tonight to see if Blizz has responded to my email/ticket.

Halleujah!

It's done!

Lots of things are going right for me now. My internet is working fine (a few drops outs, but I think that's my fault, not the ISP's), my new computer is going to be delivered within a week (Oh, by the way, I'm getting a new computer :P) and I've just heard back from Blizz saying my account has been reactivated!

Bit of an issue there, because the account was opened in my brother's name (I didn't have a credit card at the time), I technically wasn't allowed to do the recovery - They rejected my application. So I got my brother to fill out the forms as well and we sent them all in, 24 hours later and it's (apparently) all done!

Now, I'm at work at the moment, so I can't confirm and don't have the details, but I'm hoping I'm 100% restored and the account has been switched into my name. If not, I'll email them for a restoration and I've already asked my brother to ask them to switch the account to my name.

I'll update tomorrow or the next day to let you know how it's all going. Here's hoping for the best!

Won't be long.....

Some extra good news:

Blizz has emailed me updating my account from 'Closed' to 'Suspended' and have emailed me the "Account Recovery Form". I'll be filling this out today and emailing this back. The form says they should get back to me within 48 hours (I'm assuming that means it won't be fixed in that time, but they'll get back in touch with me). So hopefully that means soon I'll be back, fully restored and geared and ready to hit Naxx with my Guild! That makes me SO happy! ^_^

Well, just wanted to share that with you all. Wish me luck!

Light at the end of the tunnel

I can has internets?

I verbally berated iiNet and threatened with cancellation, so they begged me to give a tech one last chance. He arrived the next morning (I took the morning off work) and after about an hour of troubleshooting, he got it all fixed. It had something to do with an old back-to-base alarm (that wasn't functioning by the way) that was clouding the line. It worked like a charm after he removed it. The thing is, I TOLD iiNet about the alarm and they said as long as it wasn't functioning, it would be fine. WRONG. If they had of told me on day 1 that it needs to be disconnected, I could have gotten it fixed WEEKS ago.

Well, as long as it works, I'm happy. Now I just need to get iiNet to credit my account for the downtime...

The downside to this ray of light, is that now Blizz have Closed my account. Yep, CLOSED. Because I was unbalancing the enonomy or something. I wrote a pretty heated email back saying very clearly that I've been talking to Blizz for weeks about my account being hacked, so clearly it wasn't me doing the unbalacing. No response as yet. Well, on the plus-side, at least the hacker doesn't have access to my account anymore. I'm hoping Blizz will re-instate it and restore my characters, as I requested, but I'm not holding my breath for it. My Guild thinks I should buy a new account and pay-transfer one or all of my toons over to it, but I don't see the point: I'll be naked and have no gold (plus I'm not sure I can transfer my toons from a Closed account). So I am willing to give Blizz another week to fix this up, or I will have to start from scratch and level from level 1. Not looking forward to that, but thems the breaks.

Let me know your opinions, oh vast audience that reads my blog...








**Tumbleweed rolls by**

Guild Update

So I'm going to take a change of direction here and stop whining about my poor circumstances for a change (even though, as I thought, the internet STILL isn't fixed - I'll be calling them to cancel in a few hours). I'm going to take a opportunity to give a shout-out to my Guild: Nexus.

I've been with these guys since clearing Kara and just branching out into 25-mans. Seems like ages ago. Well, I suppose it was months ago now. But they have been friendly, supportive and just plain awesome the whole time.

My internet started playing up just before they started attempting 10-man Raids in WotLK. I've been gone for just over a month and they have already smashed all 10-man content, in 2 or 3 running 10-man groups. Now they've started on 25-man content and last night I was at a mate's place and watched them break a number of wings in Naxx-25. Oh! Grats to Ischemic on getting Webbed Death! BEST FAST OFF-HAND WEAPON IN THE GAME! Man I am SO jealous. On the plus side, Isch is the only Rogue raiding at the moment (that I know of) so that means all the Roguey-Loot (as Zoolu called it :P) will have no-one but me to go to :D Haha.

Nexus are a great bunch of guys and girls that I am glad to call my friends. I'm looking forward to getting back as soon as I can to hang with them all. Hopefully very soon.

Right, so I'll give a brief update on other things: I've asked Blizz to suspend my account, change my password and restore everything up to the 8th of December 2008 (when I lost my internet at home) to give me back everything I had. I've also asked them to send me an Account Authenticator, but I don't see that happening :)

Other than that, as I said, when I'm on my lunch break I'm going to call iiNet and cancel my account. Then I'm going to sign-up for BigPond Cable. Enough is enough. I want my Internets back!

That's it for today, I'd better get to work. Now, I've posted a link to this blog on Nexus' website, so maybe, MAYBE now I'll get some readers.... and maybe even a comment or two! :D

End of the Line

Ok. It's make-or-break time. Today iiNet apparently fixed my internet. AGAIN without telling me the tech would be showing up today. But still, if it's fixed, it's fixed. But seriously, I doubt it. I doubtt it because the tech I spoke to on the phone today couldn't see me connected, even though the modem is plugged in all ok. They said to call immediately when I get home if it isn't working to organise another tech. But there is NO CHANCE I am organising another tech. I've HAD IT with iiNet. I'm going to tell them to cancel the account, NOT charge me any fees and re-imberse me the 2 month's of fees that haven't worked, the account transfer fee, the relocation fee and the tech fees, if there have been any. I refuse to pay the early-cancellation fee, because they voided the contract when they failed to supply any sort of service. So I won't be paying that either. I'm then going to sign-up for BigPond Cable tomorrow at work. That should be up and running within a week, or so I've been quoted. All of this planning of course assumes iiNet really didn't fix the problem, which I'm sure they haven't.

Now onto my hacking issues. I think I'm up to the FIFTH hack in as many days. It's rediculous. Obviously something has happened, but none of my friends or my brother (whose computers/internet I have been using to deal with this) has been affected. So I figure they have gotten into my Hotmail account. So I've changed that and went to reset my WoW account 1 more time, only to find a message telling me I've requested it too many times and to contact them to get my password. I was FUMING at this point. I'm taking a few hours off then I'm going to email Blizz tonight to get my account fixed. I'm going to request they roll EVERYTHING back to the 8th of December 2008. That is before all these problems started happening. I'll beg if I have to, I really don't want to quit WoW (it's a good de-stress for me), but if they can't restore my toons I don't really see any other way. The Blizzard Authenticators are still Sold Out in Australia, but as SOON AS they become available, I'm getting one. Hopefully I won't need one, as IF my Hotmail was the issue, then they won't have access to that anymore, so won't have access to my WoW Account anymore (once I get Blizz to reset it again...). But better to be safe then sorry, right?

I think that covers the two big issues happening in my world right now. Two of my Guildies are in Melbourne at the moment, but they can only contact me on Facebook, which I don't have access to! I've left my mobile number with them, so hopefully they call (it's been 3 days now though, so I doubt it). On the off-chance you read this blog (unlikely :P) Dood and Makey, give me a call!!!

Well, sorry for the rant, but I just needed to vent BIG-TIME. It's good to get it all off my chest. I'll let you know more as it happens, every few days/1 week.

If my Guild reads this: I miss you guys like crazy. Wish me all the best to get this fixed so I can come back and hang out with you. I'll be posting a link to my blog on the Guild website later on this evening.

Peace.

Another Update 8th Jan

One more quick one. My internet still isn't working at home. I'm getting SO sick of this nonsense. If they don't have it working in the next week, I'm cancelling it, kicking up a fuss so I won't pay any fees, then going to get cable internet or something. This is getting beyond a joke.

Also, I haven't had a chance to check my email since my last post, so I will update on that as I can.

Also, today marks my 1 month anniversary for buying my house! My first mortgage repayment, yay!

Account Update

Just another brief update. My account got hacked.... AGAIN. The fools also pay-transfered my 68 Druid to another server with all my gold. ARG! I've lodged a 'wrongful transfer' thing with Blizz to get him bought back.

Apart from that, my other toons are still naked. Hoping Blizz will fix that soon. My account seems 'stable' now, which is good, I guess.

My Guild attempted 25-man Naxx the other day and they ROCKED it. Well done guys!

I've got a technician coming around to my place tonight to get my Sync, which will hopfully fix my internet! The system (slowly) works!!

That's it guys. More news as it comes.