Thanking all the mobs I had to kill...

In the spirit of the Academy Awards®, Tsuri would like to thank the following entities for getting him to Northrend:


• Durn the Hungerer
• Moth Larve (dey go squish real good-like)
• 3,467 Murlocs
• An indeterminite number of Kobolds
• Ditto Helboars
• The Venture Company
• The Scarlet Crusade
• The soon-to-be-extinct Talbuk (mmm...tasty)
• Drunk Ogres


Additionally, Tsuri needs to say thanks to everyone in Demon Knights for the assistance, encouragement, and allowing him to wash all their Kodos.


Last but not least, special thanks go out to:

• Boblynop, who saved Tsuri's ass from Hillsbrad through Hellfire and has been a constant quest buddy (and decent human being...err...Blood Elf).
• Vampireshade, one of the more fun hunters I've quested with.
• Ashfist, 'cuz the undead need to stick together. Solidarity, brother.
• Zuedama, who was constantly reminding me why questing was important...even if she's a bit OCD about it.
• Androctonus, for cooking up all those Talbuks and Clefthooves, and generally pushing me to get in the game.
• Revannsi, for escorting me through the tough stuff yet knowing when to step back and let me do what I do best (rawr, smash!).
• Nagiken, for the leather stacks and general amusement.


OK, enough thanks. Time for stats! Y'all will probably remember the first pic...Pic #2 is the new...um...hotness, I guess...





















Wow...what a difference an expansion's worth of content makes. Huge sta increase, damage is almost doubled, 10K armor is awesome.

Now I need to get out of this pretty pretty pally princess armor and into some stuff that more fits my MO.

Borean Tundra is Mine!!!!

Quick update since I'm at work and can't go into much detail: I hit 68 this weekend and booked my trip to the Borean Tundra! About fricken' time, too. Now I can focus on getting myself leveled up to the mid 70s, getting some proper tank gear (instead of Mighty-Morphin Pally Plate), and be able to actually play the game with my friends (which is why I bought it in the first place).

Will post in more depth tonight...

Tsuri's Drive for Northrend

Can't wait to run Naxx...Can't wait to run Naxx...Can't wait to run Naxx...Can't wait to run Naxx...


What the Hell are you?! Die! Diediediediediediedie!!!

*WHOOSH* W00t! 67! Naxx here I come, baby!

O_o

o_O

O_O

585k XP until 68?! WTF???!!!!

Grrr. Where are them rare Nesingwary critters? And the Hungerer? Bring on the Hungerer, beeeeyotch!

That's right! You're goin' nowhere! Where you goin'? Nowhere! I gots Nesingwary's gun now; don't make me bust caps!

........

Can't wait to run Naxx...Can't wait to run Naxx...Can't wait to run Naxx...Can't wait to run Naxx...

So I can get out of this stupid purple armor...grrrr...grumble...

A Question for the Designers

OK, I understand how the armor in Outlands needed to look different to differentiate itself from the Azeroth stuff. I get how you wanted it to look fanciful, yet functional. I empathize with your need to make some stuff that looked different from the old and busted armor.

But really, we tanks would like some armor colors that don't make us look like we're rejects from a Shriner's convention...

I understand Ratter's pain now. I hadn't seen the full effect of the armor rewards and drops I had been getting until I zoomed in this evening. I especially like the absolutely fabulous wolf-head helm (and yes, the shield is pink, too). Ugh.

Weekly Update

Better late than...oh...never mind.



Dungeons/Heroics/Raids:


I wasn't able to polish off Blood Cauldron like I wanted to this weekend. However, I did manage to get the Uldaman achievement. Only a few more to go for classic DM. And guess what? That was solo, baby! Yes, for those of you unaware, Uldaman is soloable now. You no longer need 3 people to summon the stoner at the end. I was amazed at how expansive Uldaman was. I actually solo'd it twice, since I'd mistakenly left the instance in error and had to go back after everything had reset. Oops. Oh well. I filled up every bag I had with AH loot on it, too. I've never had that many auctions running at once.

At some point this weekend, I'm going to go take care of Sunken Temple solo and see about getting Scholomance out of the way, as well. I really want the Classic Dungeonmaster achievement and the phat loot that goes with it.


Questing:


The reason I even attempted Uldaman was because I was in Badlands farming Mithril for the Armorsmith quest. Yes, I'm still doing that. I really don't like farming, so I've been putting it off as long as possible. Well, my mining is maxed out at 375 for the time being and I only have 1 or 2 blueprints that will give me bsmith skillups, so I really needed to get the Ornate Mithril plans for the quest. So, I bit the bullet and started. In about an hour, I had 30 Mithril and some of my new guildies from Demon Knights are going to be shipping over whatever they can find, too (bless their demonic little hearts). Only 200 or so more to go...ugh.


Other than that, I finished off some more quests in Terokkar and got the sprirt wolf's head on a stick, then went on over to help the demoralized horde forces in Nagrand. I still deperately need some new bracers. The valor ones are looking pretty shabby next to my Outlands gear.


Leveling:


Tsuri's now at 65, still specced as a tank, still a walking human shield. I had 3 63 mobs pounding on me for a good two or three minutes when I wasn't looking, and when I came back, one of them was dead from my passive damage talents and throwing himself on my Mithril Spike. I personally had taken a whopping 500 damage. O_o


I also hopped on Tsanuri for a short while last Fri night and got her up to 13. I had forgotten how easy early leveling was. For those who have been too busy with the cooking dailies to work on a brand new alt, here's how Tsanuri's leveling has been going...


Tsanuri: Hello big, weird world! Hm. I'm apparently a goat. Well, that's going to limit my wardrobe options. Wait, who's that?

Boored-looking Draenai functionary: Hello. I'm very glad. To welcome you. To Azuremist Isle. *yawns and pulls out a pen* State your name.

Tsanuri: Uh...Tsanuri?

*WHOOSH!*

Booming Godlike Voice: You have reached Level 2!

Tsanuri (while hitting the deck): What in the name of the 7 Hells was that?!

Functionary (eyes barely open): Oh. Yay. W00t for you. I'm. So happy.

Tsanuri (still on the ground): Can I help you with something? What precisely are you doing here, anyway?

Functionary: I am the official Introductory Questgiver of the Draenai. Unfortunately, there is no room for advancement in my current job, the pay is barely subsistance-level, and you won't miss me after you've gone 20 feet down the road.

Tsanuri (gets up): Oh...well...why don't you put in for a transfer or look for another gig with the Blood Elves or something? Why stay?

Functionary (showing peraly whites): Dental.

Tsanuri (nodding sagely): Ah. yeah, hard to find a job with decent benes these days.

Functionary: Speaking of which *flourishing pen*...what class have you chosen to follow for the betterment of the giant galactic...whatever?

Tsanuri: Huh? Oh...Shaman.

*WHOOSH!*

Godlike voice of happiness: You Have Reached Level 3!

Tsanuri (shooting lightning bolt into the sky from behind the boulder she is using for cover): STOP THAT!

Functionary: Very well. *scribbles something on a rune and hands it to her* Take this to the old gnarled goat inside the totally incongruous spaceship behind me. He will give you your MOP-4 suit for HazMat cleanup duty. Welcome again to Azuremist Isle. NEXT!

Tsanuri (taking rune): HazMat duty? Like...industrial waste and stuff?

Functionary: More like radioactive and gene-altering. But it's perfectly safe. Please move along, you are holding up the line. NEXT!

*Tsanuri walks off, loking at the Rune in confusion. Meanwhile, the 30-deep line of paladins, warriors, priests, and druids moves slowly toward the functionary's desk. Slow dissolve*

This weekend:

I should head back to Nagrand and power up to 66 or 67 with Tsuri, but I'll probably do more Valentine's stuff, instead. I really need to quest in Nagrand for the gold and rewards, though, so I'll probably head back on Sat or Sun. I'd also like to get Tsanuri up into the 20s so I can head to Stormwind and quest there, as well. Blood Cauldron is still an option, as well as Scholomance and Strat.

Top 25

Damn. I's been tagged. Fair enough. In the spirt of blogidarity, here is my list of the top 25 console/computer video games of all time:

25. Pitfall, Atari 2600. Let's start with a classic. I wasted hours of my life on this game.
24. Final Fantasy VIII, PlayStation. I may have been the only human being on Earth that liked this game.
23. Sonic the Hedgehog, Sega Genesis. Simple, fun, and addictive. Plus, at the time, we were prone to imbibe certain relaxing substances and then play what we lovingly called "Chronic the Hemphog."
22. Sea Battle, Intellivision. I can still sit down and play this to this day. Awesomely fun naval strategy game.
21. Demon Attack, Atari 2600. Somewhere I have the Polaroid I took of my top score on this game: 1,250,000. Yeah, I played for about 13 hours straight.
20. Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe, PC. Lucasfilm's testbed for the 3D modeling engine they used for the X-Wing and TiE Fighter series of games. Big time fun as you bomb German factories into submission with your B-17 or take the helm of a theoretical Gotha GO-229 Flying wing in an attempt to preserve the Reich.
19. TiE Fighter, PC. Speaking of Lucasfilm, a highly enjoyable flight sim based on the Star Wars franchise where you play one of the hapless thousands assigned to a rickety, poorly constructed interceptor charged with taking out much better armed and armored opponents. The frustration factor early is offset by the coolness of some of the toys you get later.
18. Super Mario Bros., NES. I still have the music stuck in my head to this day.
17. 1942, NES. Would have been higher on the list except for the crappy ending.
16. Diablo, PC. The grandfather of all MMOs is still fun to play.
15. Doom, PC. Quite possibly the biggest reason PC gaming is as popular as it is today.
14. Madden '93, Super NES. The first of the next-gen sports games that took advantage of 16-bit tech to introduce realistic-looking characters.
13. Super Mario World, Super NES. Nintendo's franchise goldmine just gets better with age.
12. Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, NES. A much more robust and difficult game than the original; added a "battle screen" side-scroller for in-depth gameplay.
11. Resident Evil, PlayStation. So incredibly cheeseball, but tons of funs. Introduced the idea of "survival horror" as an archetype to the industry.
10. Sim City, PC. Be your own city manager/mayor and make your townspeople happy...or find yourself testifying before Congress.
9. Master of Orion, PC. The first, and best, Empire-builder I ever played.
8. X-Wing, PC. What nerd didn't want to be Han Solo or Luke Skywalker growing up? Well...then again, I always wanted to be Darth Vader. I guess that's why I play an undead...
7. The Legend of Zelda, NES. The game that introduced the concept of role-playing to a generation of geeky kids.
6. Starcraft, PC. The king of the RTS games for my money. Great graphics, amazing storyline, replayability out the wazoo.
5. Civilization, PC. It was electronic crack long before WoW came along. The other titles in the series are amazing, too, but this one is still my favorite, bad graphics and all.
4. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, PlayStation. Hear our battle cry: "Dude, I can grind that."
3. Legend of Dragoon, PlayStation. Quite possibly the best RPG in terms of story and playability ever made. I actually cried at the end, it was that good.
2. World of Warcraft, PC. Sorry, Blizz. You're #2. A strong #2, granted. I've had more fun with this game than any in a long time. But it still doesn't beat...
1. Resident Evil II, PlayStation. Fantastic voicework, great graphics that withstand the test of time, an engaging storyline, plenty of replay fun, and basically 2 games for the price of one as you get to play from both the heros' perspectives. This is the only original PS1 game I still own, and I still enjoy it every now and again.

Postcards from the Edg-AIIIEEEEEeeeeeeee.....

Looky look! Tsuri sent me a card! How nice of him. Not sure how he got that picture on the front, but it's very epic-looking...

Holy crap! I didn't realize how freakin' tough critters out here would be. One second I'm king of the hill, straight murderin' Lich servants, Scourgies, and huge bugs. The next? Gettin' gored in the junk by some giant Javelina! WTF??

Well, it ain't all bad. After I got my bearings, the Orcs in a lovely little Hamlet called Thrallmar (not too inventive, are they?) gave me a job killing the various Scourgies that are runnin' all over the place. They neglected to tell me about the Fel Reaver, though. Two words: Tsuri pate'.

No, I am most definitely not hiding from the Reaver. I'm performing tactical reconnaisance...from extreme distance.

This place sucks so bad even the ghosts try to kill you. All I did was run past them, too. Wasn't even gonna' mess with them, until they decided to mess with me. Then I had to regulate, yo (like my impression of the Pally circle of death?).

Luckily, thanks to some work helping elements of thier forces take vengeance on the Fel Orcs that slaughtered them, I was able to make them see the error of their ways...and then they made me their King. All shall serve the Forsaken! BWA-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Ha ha...ha....ahem.

Yeah, that's me and three Alliance DKs rolling on Arazzius. What? Hey, the enemy of my enemy and all that jive. Might as well at least try to be diplomatic. Additionally...DK's!: When it absolutely, positively needs to fucking die this very second, accept no substitute (and all the hordies were apparently passed out for the night).

All in all, I've been too busy to notice the suckage goin' on out here too much, what with being sent on seek-and-destroy missions against errant Voidwalkers, fortifying our defenses against the Alliance, and running messages back and forth to Thrall himself in Orgrimmar. Plus, the local General has been giving me some totally stompin' armor for being his Mr. Wolf. I've even gained enough strategic know-how to make it halfway to my 64th season.

Only a few loose ends to tie up before heading to Zangermarsh. I hear them Orcs in Hellfire Citadel have been causing a ruckus. Someone should really...talk to them...about that.