Shameless guild recruitment post (we need a resto druid)

What can I say.  I am a GM now and I am going to use every tool in my armory.  And we are so close to that Majordomo kill – if we had a healer who could have done the whole raid tonight he would have gone down.  17%!!!

So …

Dreamstate is level 25 Alliance guild on the Darksorrow-EU server and we are looking for a resto druid. We have killed 5/7 bosses in FL and you could help us make it 6/7!

Key info
Raid times:

• Thur 2100-2400
• Sun 2100-2400
• Tue 2100-2400

We are looking for someone who can make at least two of those raids and specifically the Sunday raid.

We expect you to come to raids having read up on the tactics in advance. The guild provides all consumables and repairs during raids. We run a loot council system which works extremely well as we are a relaxed guild and most people want the loot to go where it will help us progress.

Why join Dreamstate?
Dreamstate is a fun guild to be in. We have a website and you can apply there, but all of our communication is via our Facebook page. We do our best in raids, but we also like to have a laugh. We named the raid trash in FL as we got so bored of farming it (sadly Barry and Steve were the surgers that went on an extended holiday and we miss them). We are looking for someone who wants to raid in this kind of environment. We are a mature guild, with mostly older raiders and understand that people have RL commitments. We have a lot of people with lots of achievements and we often do achievement runs. We also have a lot of alts if thats your thing and we do alt runs too. Dreamstate is a community, not just a raiding guild.

Does this sound like the kind of place you want to raid in? If it does then you can apply via that website, or you can whisper Akandra (GM) or Palladig (Recruitment Officer) or any Officer, or any of our many alts … just ask anyone in guild and they can point you our way.

Moar Achievements: Twilight Highlands

Twilight Highlands is a levelling area you can access at level 84.  It is opened via a quest line starting in Stormwind or Orgrimmar.

You can find the following achievements in Twilight Highlands:

• Fading into Twilight – complete 120 (Alliance)/95 (Horde) quests in Twilight Highlands.
• Consumed by Nightmare - Endure the nightmares of Iso’rath in the Twilight Highlands.
• Wildhammer/Dragonmaw Tour of Duty – Kill the named mobs.
• King of the Mountain - Complete the Twilight’s Hammer quest chain in Twilight Highlands up to and including Skullcrusher the Mountain.
• Round Three, Fight! - Complete the Crucible of Carnage quests in Twilight Highlands up to and including The Twilight Terror!
• Explore Twilight Highlands - explore the entire area.
• Wildhammer/Dragonmaw Clan – gain Exalted with the Wildhammer Clan (Alliance) or Dragonmaw Clan (Horde).

Within Twilight Highlands lies Grim Batol.  You can find the following achievements there:

• Grim Batol - complete this dungeon on normal difficulty.
• Heroic: Grim Batol - complete this dungeon on heroic difficulty.
• Umbrage for Umbriss - Defeat General Umbriss while he is affected with Modgud’s Malice
• Don’t Need to Break Eggs to Make an Omelet - Defeat Erudax without letting a Faceless Corruptor begin to cast Twilight Corruption on any of Alexstrasza’s Eggs

You can also obtain the following pets/mounts/tabards:

• Tabard of the Wildhammer/Dragonmaw Clan – Don’t forget to wear it and write down somewhere that you have done so.

You also want to complete the following component of achievements:

• Gilnean White  - Eat it for Cataclysmically Delicious.
• Stewed Rabbit  - Eat it for Cataclysmically Delicious.
• Hardtack  - Eat it for Cataclysmically Delicious.
• Tropical Sunfruit  - Eat it for Cataclysmically Delicious.
• Yellow-Bellied Marmot - /love it for To All the Squirrels Who Cared For Me.
• Highlands Turkey - /love it for To All the Squirrels Who Cared For Me.
• Rattlesnake - /love it for To All the Squirrels Who Cared For Me.
• Highland Guppy - Fish it for The Limnologist.
• Deepsea Sagefish - Fish it for The Oceanographer. 
• Algaefin Rockfish - Fish it for The Oceanographer.
• Murglesnout - Fish it for The Oceanographer.   

How you do it
This is some further explanation for some of the achievements above:

1. Just keep completing quests and you should get Consumed by Nightmare and King of the Mountain.
2. For Wildhammer/Dragonmaw Tour of Duty you need to kill the following:
1. High Shaman MacKilligan (Dragonmaw) – Can be found around 45,33 in the daily quest town.
2. Gunwald Greybeard (Dragonmaw) – Can be found around 45,42 in the daily quest town.
3. The Black Recluse Spider (Both) – Can be found in the basement of the building at 45,31.
4. Dillan MacHurley (Dragonmaw) -  Can be found around 46,36 in the daily quest town.
5. Cliff Tundermar (Dragonmaw) -  Can be found around 52,28 in the daily quest town.
6. Korthalon the Black (Both) -  Can be found in the basement of the building at 51,27.
7. Warlord Halthar (Wildhammer) -  Can be found around 49,36 in the daily quest town.
8. Karkrog the Exterminator (Wildhammer) -  Can be found around 51,33 in the daily quest town.
3. Complete the Crucible of Carnage.  You will need to find a group to do this – just ask in General in the area (or ask your guildies to help, or both).
4. To get exalted with the Wildhammer/Dragonmaw Clan you can do dailies as well as wearing the tabard.
5. For Umbrage the buff on the boss is caused by killing the Malignant Trogg add near him.  It lasts for 20 seconds.  Control the Malignant Trogg until you have him at about 10-15%, then kill the Trogg before killing the boss.  It is important to kill it right next to the boss.
6. For Eggs just do the fight really well. Assign dps to adds and head for the adds as soon as Shadow Gale has finished making them your absolute priority.  Use any slows you have.
7. The Highlands Turkey can be hard to find.  Wowhead lists one around 29,31 but mine have been in green areas along the river.  /tar Highlands Turkey macro spam ftw.

The above is based on my experience or the best information I could find where I did not have direct experience.  If you think anything is wrong please post below and I will do my best to respond although I may not agree.  If there is something wrong/especially useful I will update the guide.

Current as of 24 August 2011 (patch 4.2).

Thinking about Looking For Raid

So although theres a few details to iron out, we basically know how LFR will now work.  The points below have either been explicitly stated or are implied.

• LFR will offer 25 man current tier raiding at a lower difficulty level than normal raiding
• LFR will offer gear below the current tier, but (I assume) above the previous normal tier.  If this had been implemented for Firelands I suspect it would ilevel 365 gear.  Its not clear if the gear will be the same items, or different items.  Its not clear how trash drops or tier items will work.
• LFR will be a mirror of LFD in many ways.  It will be cross realm.  It will put together the group for you.  I suspect it will have the same loot limits.
• LFR will work the same way as LFD for lockouts (this was explicitly stated).  I am not clear exactly how this will interact with normal/heroic lockouts.  I suspect it will be completely separate.
• LFR will have its own separate achievements.

What LFR is not going to do
Its not going to eliminate the problems of current raid PuGs if you can’t use LFR for normal difficulty raids too (so far it appears you can’t do that).  Will people still want to PuG normal raids? Probably.  Because the gear in LFR raids just won’t be as good.  LFR is a bit of a misnomer because its not really the equivalent of LFD for raiding.  It won’t stop people doing PuG raids and it won’t prevent the ninja problem.  I think less people will PuG normal raids.  And I think a lot of people will complain about how they can’t get the loot in normal raids.  But in all honesty those are very small down sides compared to what it does do.

What LFR is going to do
So if its not really LFD for raiding, what is LFR.  Well, its quite a few things rolled into one.

• Its Heroics in a 25 man format.  If you can’t raid right now for whatever reason, you never get to experience the epic feel of raiding.  If theres enough interest people should be able to dip in and out.
• Its introductory raiding.  Its where you learn how to not stand in bad and jump through hoops on a larger scale and over a longer period of time.  Its where you learn to tank, heal, dps, etc. on mobs that last long enough to stretch your mana or allow you to manage your cooldowns over time.
• Its where you can gear your alts without dealing with the ninjas and fail-PuGs (when I said I was feral cat that was feral cat – c-a-t not b-e-a-r!!!)
• Its where people who like 25 man raiding but don’t like the politics and pain of a 25 man guild can still get a dose of 25 man raiding.
• Its going to make for smoother normal raiding in guilds by allowing players to go and practice their raids in advance.  Either as a formal part of guild activity, or informally.  I hope that groups up to 25 people will be able to queue so we can take all interested guildies when we go.
• Its going to offer an option if you are short a few raiders one night.  An option where players can bring their mains or alts or whatever.
• Its going to make using alts viable in guilds that aren’t top end.  I do find players who learn a fight only from their point of view and if they are on an alt, they have no clue what they are doing. In LFR they can practice and gear!
• It creates a use for Archeology.  You need something to do while you wait for your queue to pop.

And on the down side:

• Its going to bring back the repetitive play problem we had in Wrath, where you felt obliged to do a raid more than once a week.  However, I think this format is better.  You can front load your LFR raiding for gear and because you are getting practice too it will feel valuable.  You shouldn’t need to LFR on your main after a point.
• Its another thing to do.  I really hope an LFR run gives a time appropriate amount of Valor Points to make it a viable alternative to heroics.  For example, Firelands has seven bosses.  So 20 VP per boss leading to 140 (the same amount as a troll heroic) would seem logical.

Morrighan’s verdict
Overall I like it.  In an ideal world LFR would be LFD for raids, but when you start to think about the complications of that … its just too restrictive.  What happens on a one tank fight?  How do you ensure the people going in are vaguely ready without a gear score so high no one would bother?  How would you stop people gaming any gear score with PvP gear?  These could be overcome, but not without changing key game mechanics and restricting raid design.  So this is a good alternative.  I love what this system offers players who can’t commit to raiding and I think it has something to offer raiding guilds too.  It seems a far better implementation that the 10/25 system of Wrath.

Moar Achievements: Tol Barad

Tol Barad is accessible via a portal from Stormwind or Orgrimmar at level 85.  It is a PvP zone in two parts – Tol Barad Penninsula and Tol Barad itself.  Both parts have daily quests.  The former are always available from faction base camps.  The latter is fought for every 2.5 hours.  The faction holding Tol Barad has access to further dailies and the Baradin Hold raid until 15 minutes before the fight.

You can find the following achievements in Tol Barad:

• Breaking Out of Tol Barad – Complete 100 daily quests in Tol Barad.
• Baradin’s Wardens/Hellscream’s Reach – Become Exalted with your faction group.
• Just Another Day in Tol Barad – complete each daily quest at least once
• Pit Lord Argaloth – kill Pit Lord Argaloth (there isn’t an achievement for Occu’thar)

The following achievements are available from participating in the Tol Barad battle:

• Tol Barad Victory - win the battle
• Tol Barad Veteran – win the battle 100 times
• Towers of Power – Destroy 3 deployed siege engines in one battle
• Tol Barad All-Star – Get 10 honor kills at each base
• Tower Plower – Destroy a tower
• Tol Barad Sabateur – Destroy 20  deployed siege engines

You can also obtain the following pets/mounts/tabards:

• Rustberg Gull - this pet can be brought for 50 Tol Barad Commendations at Honored reputation with your faction
• Spectral Steed/Spectral Wolf - this mount can be brought for 165 Tol Barad Commendations at Exalted reputation with your faction
• Drake of the West Wind – this mount can be brought for 200 Tol Barad Commendations at Exalted reputation with your faction
• Baradin’s Wardens/Hellscream’s Reach Tabard -  this pet can be brought for 40 Tol Barad Commendations at Honored reputation with your faction
• Fox Kit – rare pet that drops from the foxes in Tol Barad Peninsula (not the Baradin Fox Kit critters in Tol Barad proper)*

You also want to complete the following components of achievements:

• Snake - kill it for Pest Control (in the marshy area of Tol Barad)
• Squirrel - /love it for To All the Squirrels I’ve Loved Before and then kill it for Pest Control (in the Peninsula)
• Baradin Fox Kit – /love it to To All the Squirrels Who Cared for Me (this in in Tol Barad proper)
• Sassy Cat – /love it to To All the Squirrels Who Cared for Me (in Rustberg Village in the Peninsula)
• Wharf Rat – /love it to To All the Squirrels Who Cared for Me (in Rustberg Village in the Peninsula)
• Fathom Eel – fist it for The Oceanographer (in pools all over the Peninsula)

Just Another Day in Tol Barad checklist
The following quests make up the Just Another Day in Tol Barad achievement.  This includes both Tol Barad proper and Peninsula quests.

• Captain P Harris
• Captain P. Harris
• Boosting Morale
• Claiming The Keep
• The Forgotten
• First Lieutenant Connor
• Cannonball!
• Not The Friendliest Town
• Thinning the Brood
• Magnets, How Do They Work?
• Watch Out For Splinters!
• Bombs Away!
• The Imprisoned Archmage
• D-Block
• Cursed Shackles
• The Warden
• A Huge Problem
• The Leftovers
• Rattling Their Cages
• Shark Tank
• Leave No Weapon Behind
• Salvaging the Remains
• Ghostbuster
• Taking the Overlook Back
• Teach A Man To Fish…. Or Steal
• A Sticky Task
• Finish The Job
• WANTED: Foreman Wellson
• Clearing the Depths
• Learning From The Past
• Svarnos
• Prison Revolt
• Food From Below
• Swamp Bait

How you do it
This is some further explanation for some of the achievements above: 

1.  Do dailies.  Then do some more dailies.  Then some more dailies.  These provide both reputation and commendations.  If you don’t need commendations for the trinkets this will go quicker, but you will still need to do lots of dailies.  The three dailies relating to the underground dungeons in Tol Barad can be done more than once in that you can do each location’s dailies in one day if they happen to be available after different wins.
2. Sign up for the Tol Barad battle every time it comes up.
3. Towers of Power and Tol Barad Saboteur can only be completed when you are defending Tol Barad.  You can’t just kill the Seige Engines where they stand – you need to kill them when they are deployed and attacking towers.
4. Tower Plower can only be completed when you are attacking Tol Barad.  Your Siege Engine has to get the killing blow on a tower so this might take a few attempts.  There are 6 engines placed around the three underground dungeons.
5. The Tol Barad All Star is best achieved by moving from area to area.  You don’t have to get all 30 kills in one battle.  You do have to get the 10 kills in each place without dying.
6. Please note that various critters, etc. will not be available in Tol Barad proper once the preparation for battle starts until the fight is over.

*Follow the link to Wowhead for detailed information on rare spawns and how to get them.  There is normally a wealth of information on these as people hunt them obsessively.

The above is based on my experience or the best information I could find where I did not have direct experience.  If you think anything is wrong please post below and I will do my best to respond although I may not agree.  If there is something wrong/especially useful I will update the guide.

Current as of 14 August 2011 (patch 4.2).

Its oh so quiet …

Sorry about the break in posts at the moment.  I am trying to get my house ready to sell, I’ve been ill, I’ve taken over the GM role in my guild and am generally MAD CRAZY BUSY.  I’ve set myself a deadline to get my house on the market of two weeks from now (kind of a motivational thing – otherwise I will just keep slacking), so normal posts should resume then.

Since I have already written it I am going to post Tol Barad before Twilight Highlands.  I will try and get Twilight Highlands up and then a special guide for Archaeology to keep people busy until I make a start on Eastern Kingdoms once the house is up for sale.