[WoW - Hunter] This post took longer than expected to get online

Some connection issues kept me from finishing what I started to do yesterday, but everything seems to be fine now. More importantly, I'm finally part of the Level 80 circle, which is definitely good news and bad news in a certain way.

The good news is that I can now start working towards getting into raids with my guildmates. The bad news is that I now have no idea what the hell I'm doing. Reaching level 80 means a couple of things:

1. Researching strategies and whatnot for bosses in dungeons and raids, as I soloed most of the way to 80.

2. Upping my gear to acceptable levels, making sure that I can hit enemies and do at least 1200 DPS (a relatively respectable number at the start) in a fight.

3. Learning even more things about the hunter that I probably didn't expect to know, such as gems and enchants and whatnot.

The important thing is that I don't make it feel like a grind. That's definitely something that's tough to do, since I make everything feel like work, but I do hope I can pull it off. WoW is supposed to be for fun, right!?

[General] What a week it's been!

I took some time off from posting content on this blog and my personal one to go and finish up some real-world things that needed my attention, the most important of which was completing and sending my application to the Ateneo de Manila University for graduate studies.

Suffice it to say that the one big thing standing between me and graduate studies will be the exam that'll be coming up on May 9.

Despite my being unable (or perhaps unwilling would be the better word choice) to post updates here, I did update the blog's World of Warcraft blogroll with some more hunter-related goodness.

A very special shoutout goes to Garwulf of Huntsman's Lodge for not only offering sage advice to a perpetual hunter-in-training like myself, but for also offering to make Giantmaim Legguards at no charge once I scrounge up the mats for it.

Anyway, expect another post within 24 hours with a status update on Stillwater. Cheers!

[WoW - Hunter] Victor Stillwater, Giant Rider

The last few bits of experience before hitting 78 were quite interesting. What really caught my attention was the opportunity to ride a giant, in order to find an even bigger giant, so that I could beat the stuffing out of said humongogigantinormous person.

The quest line I'm talking about can be found in Zul'Drak (obviously, I decided not to skip it ^_^), and starts off with you finding Gymer, a storm giant, in a cage. After finding some components to create a special batch of Seaforium to blow up his cage, you get to ride on him as part of the quest, "The Storm King's Vengeance."

After killing 100 Scourge and two Elites, the final guy shows up, and his name is Thrym, The Hope Ender. Defeating him after going through a veritable gauntlet isn't easy, but so long as you're able to command Gymer to grab a storm cloud during the fight to regain HP, everything should go smoothly.

For hunters, the item you'll want to pick up from the quest will be the Bracers of Vengeful Flight, a pair of nice blue bracers.

Pretty epic actually, and rampaging as on the back of giant is fun. If you haven't tried it out yet, head over to Zul'Drak and look for the quest at the approximate starting coordinates of 20, 56.

As for a picture, I'm having a bit of trouble with Blogger at the moment, and my pics won't upload. I'll update this with pics when I have the chance. :D

[WoW - Hunter] Level 77 means never having to say you're landlocked.

First off, I just want to say that I hate shouting, and I don't think that the guy above should be asking me if I was bitten. That's a private matter between Stillwater and his Night Elf lady friends.

Anyway, I'm proud to have finally reached level 77, and all of it from the comfort of doing Kalu'ak Dailies and Grizzly Hill quests. To date, I have not yet done Zul'Drak, and I might just skip it for the chance to do the Oracle questlines in Sholazar Basin. Just a handful of quests away from finishing up Grizzly, and then I may just head there directly.

To that end, I'm also proud to announce that level 77 also means never having to say you're landlocked. By that, I mean I can now fly around Northrend without having to worry so much about travel expenses, and on my engineered Turbo-Charged Flying Machine, to boot!

First off though, I may need to look into the pros and cons of skipping Zul'Drak. As much as I want to do the quests in Sholazar, there may be something important in Zul'Drak that I need to do, such as a faction questline, or something else.

Would anyone care to enlighten me on the pros and cons of skipping ZD?

[Games Geekery] Two hours with Resident Evil 5

I'm back with a new monitor and a new game from the local game store, and I thought to give a write-up about my experience so far with the latest iteration of Capcom's Resident Evil series, Resident Evil 5.

So far, I've spent two hours with the PS3 version of this game, and gotten through chapters 1-1 and 1-2, as well as part of 1-3, and I must say I quite like this game, even if it does take a bit of getting used to.

For one thing, the control scheme has changed again (at least, as far as I can remember it when compared to RE4), so it takes a bit of getting used to. While I could change the settings into an RE4-ish style, it seemed more fitting for me to get used to the new scheme, as even obsessive compulsive people like myself need a change of pace every so often.

One other thing I've noticed is that you have to team up with a partner, which, while nice in theory, isn't my style when it comes to playing games. Resident Evil has more or less been about being by yourself against a horde of zombies (while your comrades did their own thing elsewhere), and while the added firepower and covering fire is nice, actually having a partner can be annoying in this case. *remembers the President's Daughter in RE4*

One thing I liked was the whole weapon upgrading system that I started trying out. Making my guns more powerful is always nice, and I've heard that a full gun upgrade can give you unlimited ammo, so it seems like a good deal for later portions of the game.

In any event, in addition to zombified people and gun-mastery, I also encountered the first big boss of the game, which happens to be kinda like a souped up zombie covered in oily zombie worms. One brush with an incinerator, however, was all it took to take that sick puppy down.

More Resident Evil chronicles and adventures when I get back into it. Till then... don't look behind you. :D

[General] Technical Difficulties

Just to let any of you folks out there reading this blog, I might not be able to post for a day or two.

My monitor's screen gets a little blurry when I try to use it, and I know it's not my eyesight failing, so I might have to buy a new monitor so I can use my computer again.

That said, expect a new post up as soon as I can manage to scrounge up the money.

[WoW - Hunter] Becoming a Veteran of the Wrathgate

I didn't know that this seemingly innocuous questline I followed with a missing courier could lead me to an epic questline and a new achievement. I encourage everyone who's ever been in the Dragonblight zone to go and do the quest beginning at Star's Rest (for the Alliance, anyway).

It doesn't have a formal name, so let's just call it the Veteran of the Wrathgate questline. It's comprised of around 37 parts (more if you do some optional quests for specific areas that are close to the region you're in), which begin with a missing courier and lead up to an epic battle at the Wrathgate, and even finishes with the storming of the Undercity.

All in all, you get some useful Blue-level upgrades for your character, an achievement, 1/3 of the Required Quests for the Dragonblight zone questing achievement, and an awesome replayable cinematic that can be accessed by talking to a giant red dragon.

For more information on the questline, feel free to check the link above for the Veteran of the Wrathgate achievement, there's a list of links for both Alliance and Horde so that people can do the questline.

The only thing missing: a title like "Wrathgate Survivor" for following this epic quest to completion.

[WoW - Hunter] Level 75 and an accidental achievement

An hour or so ago, I hit level 75 with my Hunter... it was an anticlimactic sort of level up as I picked it up from killing a lower-leveled mob while looking for Rhino meat for one of the cooking dailies. Still, that brings me one level closer to joining my guild in the endgame, which is always good to know.

As for the accidental achievement noted above, I picked one up called Northern Exposure. I got it in the middle of performing the Kalu'ak daily quest in Kamagua, wherein I had to get two sea bulls to fall in love and, presumably, mate.

The thing that unlocked it... Attacking a larger than average penguin for no apparent reason, only to realize it was a rare enemy. Below, you'll see screenies of King Ping and the subsequent acquisition of this little achievement.


And the Achievement: