We've got this... Really...!

As we got around to doing our usual Wednesday Mogu'shan Vaults run, suddenly after the Stone Guards I got the idea of recording our raiding for the first time since Dragon Soul, from where we sadly don't have much better material than the Kalecgos part of the Madness of Deathwing Chromatic Champion achievement, a (very stylish indeed) heroic Morchok clip and some early Dragon Soul progression kills like Zon'ozz, Yor'sahj, Hagara and Ultraxion with the classic bad screaming, despite clearing the raid on heroic mode. Those videos actually make me miss Dragon Soul, heh. The oldest raid video of us, known as "Shannox now", dates back to early Firelands and, well, Shannox, Rageface and Riplimb.

We are well past our progression phase in normal mode Mogu'shan Vaults, but my sudden idea to Fraps the raid really messed with our heads. Before beginning, I told everyone how we should portray ourselves: we mustn't stand in poop, we mustn't die, we mustn't go out of mana, we mustn't do anything stupid! We mustn't do anything that wasn't what I did. For long I've thought I don't really tunnel vision, but after Feng, well, I am humbled. Please do enjoy this exclusive content of a Menagerie raid that was by far the most fun raid I have attended. We sure didn't live through our smoothest kills in history, but people were positive all the way from the first second to the last and beyond, which was really spectacular and made me incredibly happy. It really reminded me of why I fell in love with raiding in the first place.

I just wish Fraps had been running when the Eye of Kil'rogg made the first pull on Gara'jal the Spiritbinder.

Then came the time for the most flawless Elegon kill.
"Did you record that?"
"Nope."
"...You're kidding me?"
"Nope."

This is just one of those times when I try to say that you guys mean a ton to me.

Life-threatening bugs detected

How could I have missed this??!?!? I am forever disappointed and sad.

On another note, there was a bug that I certainly didn't miss out on. In last night's Dragon Soul, at Ultraxion, I experienced a random death that apparently didn't have a cause. Basically, what happened was I got Fading Light. A second or two after getting it, I died. Since it was so soon, it couldn't have been Fading Light that killed me, but I'll get back to that in a bit. I wasn't smart enough to screencap my combat log, but basically what it reported was Nicasia first taking damage from Ultraxion's instability, then that Nicasia died. We were all at a high health and I received no 'low health!' warnings during the encounter. After my death my DBM count down 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 for Fading Light going off - yet another proof it wasn't the debuff that killed me. And you can be sure I cleared that out, since I, officially again, lead the no fails list of Ultraxion. /cheer

Bright things are that with 5.0.5 some existing bugs, such as Karazhan chess speed and Halion's post-pull disappearances, were fixed. It seemed to bring some new ones to light our paths, though. I'm not complaining, certain bugs make the game more fun and unpredictable. Well, sometimes. I can also see how they would be extremely non-beneficial.

A rather short post this one, but I'm still busy with work and I'll have more time to write about things when it's done. All in time.

Through Your Interface: 15 Days of Screenshots #7

See Saz's blog for more information regarding the challenge!

7. Best screenshot of the year
Show us the best screen shot you believe that you have ever taken and why you think it is the best (content, meaning, how you framed it, etc).

I realise I'm twisting the order of the days a little bit now, but I just have to give this one to a shot I just took tonight. While helping a friend's guild in Dragon Soul, we found ourselves in a 'custom story'-like situation. (I also think it's quite essential to just have one screenshot here, so consider the first one the one that represents the title.)

Indeed, when we were jumping over to the platform involving Kalecgos, Deathwing suddenly went: "I am Deathwing, the Destroyer, the end of all things..." and got a little bit ahead of things, giving us two phases to deal with at the same time.

Let this be a tribute to what is by far the worst raid I have ever raided. But even in all that crap we can dig out good things. It's been a real changing point for our guild, and we've achieved a lot in the raid. But thank the Light, the Death God, Elune, the loa, Hakkar, the sha, the spirits, King Rastakhan, the Earthmother, the aspects, the titans, Cult of the Damned, the Old Gods, the deities and all the power of fel that we only need to go there a few more times!

Fangs of Fluty

Thank you, thank you. -Fluty

Wings of the Father.

Nicasia = Interviewer, guild master.
Fluty = Core raider, honored member.

N: Congratulations, Fluty!
F: Whoo!
N: How do you feel now that this journey towards your laggers is finally over?
F: Awesome.
N: How are you planning to use your daggers in the future?
F: Stab stuff, flair.
N: How do they feel in your hands?
F: Have you looked at them? There are tentacles on the handles.
N: So, wiggly then?
F: Yes, very.
N: That is fascinating. How do you think that will affect your fighting?
A part of the interview has been censored.
N: How do you feel about their pink colour?
F: Yay! Pink! Landslide should be pink, too.
N: Fair enough. How do you feel about Pandaria's greens replacing your oranges?
F: They what? They are not going to replace them with greens!
N: Well, blues then.
F: Meh, I'll still have them to show off.
N: Will you be sad when you cannot feel the wiggle in your hands anymore?
F: Yes, wiggling in hands is good.
N: I can't really come up with any more questions. How are you feeling overall?
F: Well, WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!! That and slightly hungry.
N: We will get you some food immediately.
F: Whoo! Food!
N: Thank you for the interview and congratulations again!
F: No problems, and. Thank you, thank you.

Shiny admiring shiny.

Because we do not appreciate censorship, we have published the parts that originally had to be cut out of the interview.

F: I might "accidentally" stab Mael.
N: Who is this Mael? Would you describe them for us?
F: Maelarii? He's known mostly as Dolores.
Muffet: Fluty, can I touch it?
F: He mumbles and he calls himself a tracker, but he usually gets lost. And he's lazy, very lazy.

Hail Fluty

On Friday 25th our little guild fought the evil Warmaster Blackhorn, his companion Goriona and their horrifying friends. Our aim had always been to save the ship from any damage caused by Twilight Barrages. However every time at least one was too far, or had a particularly unfortunate timing.

Desperation filled our hearts as our beloved Skyfire was about to suffer a blow! Luckily our amazing rogue Fluty bravely sprinted into two barrages, sacrificing his life for the sake of Skyfire!

Fluty's heroism will inspire our further adventures. He had to make a macro to thank people for praising him.

All hail Fluty, champion and savior of Menagerie! And the Skyfire. Sky Captain Swayze also sent his regards to him.