Whirly: good to go

We’ve never been in Scholomance. I spent part of presidents day doing the quests necessary to get the key. All except for killing Araj the Summoner (elite 61) which we went and kill as a group. Three 62s do well in Scholomance. The Chamber of Summoning gave us trouble with it’s unlimited supply of summoned skeletons, plus the mobs move around and aggro others - there were a few deaths on our side. Once past that room we had no major problems. We only made it to Rattlegore who we killed. It was fun enough that we are considering returning next time. I didn’t do any research on the place. It was an old-school crawl.

It would be easy to return to the two instances in Hellfire Citadel we are working, but it gets so boring doing the same instance over and over again. We need a little change-up occasionally. The old world instances we never did as just three 60s are a great alternative, though the experience isn’t quite as good. The drops, while ok, aren’t anything we can use. We’ll continue for a little while. Then, once we get closer to 63, we’ll head back to the better experience of Hellfire as the urge to ding overwhelms us.

Oh, I used that “Shadow Pain: Death” a few times. It’s a good damage dealer. I just have to decide if I can take the hit if it fails.

It never gets tiring writing about our trips into Hellfire Ramparts. Ok, it does, but it’s what we are doing, I got nothing else. We owned that place, this time, except for Omor the Unscarred - a group wipe out, and Vazruden - untested. We had to resort to tricks only a few times. Taking all but the largest groups straight up. We hoped Watchkeeper Garglomar would drop something other than leather, he didn’t. We were also hoping to ding 62, we did. It would have been nice if 62 made Omor doable, instead Omor found us doable. I’d cuss at him, but it was a fare fight, and our only wipe, though I lost Mark’s Warrior to dog poison once. I might have died once as well, I seem to have blocked the memory. Mike’s Mage picked up new chest armor. There were several other nice drops, but nothing we needed.

It was a successful evening if not all that exciting. Blood Furnace next time, maybe. Though it would be nice to get a usable drop off of Watchkeeper Garglomar after all the effort we’ve put in. I purchased my new spell - Shadow Word: Death. I’ve tried it on a few level 8 pigs around Orgrimmar, it killed them quick enough - instant cast 450-522 shadow damage. But, “If the target is not killed by Shadow Word: Death, the caster takes damage equal to the damage inflicted upon the target,” kind of gives me pause. I’ll try to find a use for it that doesn’t get me killed.

We made our first run at Blood Furnace. It went much better than expected. We made it a good ways in before we ran into groups we couldn’t handle. Multiple Warlocks and their multiple pets. You pull three guys and end up with a crowd, that didn’t work out very well. The experience was good. There’s a chance we will all ding 62 Friday.

What the? I just checked out my one and only 62 spell, Shadow Word: Death. Inflicts 450 to 522 Shadow damage to the target. If the target is not killed by Shadow Word: Death, the caster takes damage equal to the damage inflicted upon the target. Wow that sounds like something I’ll use seldom. Though I see other Priests saying it works well.

Things were different last night. We’ve been working Hellfire Ramparts for months. These mobs are well known to us. Strategy was a moments discussion of sequence. We talked computers, we sang songs, we paid little attention to the fights - little was needed, everybody did what was required. Soon we were clearing the area around, then fighting, the first boss Watchkeeper Garglomar. This was our first boss kill in Ramparts. He dropped Leather of course. We don’t use leather. We engaged and failed with both Omor the Unscarred, and Vazruden, but we killed everybody else, and we now know what to expect. With only three of us, this is our lot in WoW-life. We often can’t take the end bosses until the rest of the instance is trivial. Still, we take pleasures as they come. Last night was a pleasure enjoyed. We are level 61.

I had a dream last night as well. We had lost the big game, coach was pissed. I never played basketball in high school, so I have no idea where this came from. Coach had a young Shaq, who mysteriously was on my dream basketball team, explain life’s truth. Shaq turned it over to his little friend. I couldn’t understand a word Shaq or his little friend said, but I think the truth is - heroic greatness and failure lies in all of us, we choose which to live. I’m sure I could explain it better if I had understood what they were saying. Later, I started thinking, it would be easier to be a hero in basketball if you were seven foot rather than four. Shaq, could you call me. I’m not sure I got the message right.

Mike and I have been waiting for Pirates of the Burning Sea for years. Mike and Mark both played in beta. Unfortunately, although I got a beta invite, I was never able to get through their beta acceptance program. The reviews I’ve read haven’t been all that kind. I questioned Mike and Mark. They weren’t all that keen on the game either. I decided to take a look myself.

I’ve only played one weekend. I’ve reached level 8 as a trader. Everybody says PotBS has a steep learning curve - I’ll join them and say the same thing. There is a basic ‘how to walk and drive’ tutorial, but you come out knowing very little about how the game works. I knew that going in, so I was prepared to take it easy, fail, and have a good time. I’m very pleased so far. Yes, I’ve failed repeatedly. Yes, I spent money badly. Yes, I have no idea what’s going on. I’ve been sunk a few times, maybe more than a few. I have 200 stacks of wood and don’t know what to do with them. I am level 8 though, with a new ship I’m trying to upgrade. I purchased a new sword I can’t use for the next 9 levels. You can’t let those kind of minor things upset you. It’s the price you pay to learn the game.

You hear complaints about games being too easy. You hear complaints about games being too hard. I’ve purchased a lot of bad games over the years. Pirates of the Burning Sea isn’t one of them.