Saving the world, by myself

I’ve managed to get through a couple more of the Harrison Ford chain. Some interesting quests again. They certainly have put a lot of effort into some of the Cata quests.

Here I was invisible, looking a bit like a Predator! Ah, yes, that would be my crate.

And here we are, switching off some machine that would have reset the world.

The other biggest change I’ve noticed as a solo grinder is that whenever the quests put you up against an Elite mob, you always get some form of assistance be it a device, potion, additional powers or extra NPCs to help. Makes them a lot less worrisome than they were back in vanilla.

Though in some ways that has reduced the threat of the Elite. For example who remembers fleeing for your life as the ground shakes beneath the feet of the approaching Fel Reaver. And how ever did that massive hulk manage to sneak up on so many unsuspecting players.

I know the Whale Shark in Cata is sort of the same, but it isn’t a threat unless you stray close to it. I remember in vanilla having Elite quests sitting in my Log for levels and levels after I received them as I struggled to solo these guys.

Viral Youtube

I was reading Gizmodo and they presented this video from the Trend manager (?) from Youtube discussing why he thinks some videos go viral and explode across the internet. An interesting and amusing watch.

48hours every minute is amazing!

 

Gimme my DVD back!

Well after a bit of a heart attack everything seems fine again. I have been slowly importing my DVDs so that I can have them in iTunes and subsequently can watch them on my iPad or (more importantly) have them available to the Apple TV in the lounge. Just minutes ago I threw a DVD in and started a Handbrake encode.

Nothing happened and the DVD wasn’t showing in Finder.

Eject didn’t work and neither did the Terminal command (drutil eject)

Now most of the Apple family use slot loading DVDs. This means that the handy little pinhole that you can insert an paperclip to physically eject the media just isn’t around, so unless you open up the thing and physically get in there, a command is the only way to do eject the dvd.

So I can’t do it that way, and I’ve tried the only commands that I’ve found.

With my heart racing its back to the internet.

I tried a method suggested using CMD OPTION O F at boot. I think that’s an old firmware code (the article was about 2005). Eventually I have one last try with a method, hold the mouse button down whilst booting.

Simple? Well, no, I have two mouse connected to my Mac. Mouse one is the Bluetooth Apple Magic Mouse. Is BT going to be up and running that early in the boot process (I’m assuming this trick is very early in the boot, likely before many of the services are up and running). The other is a Razer Naga (awesome mouse btw). Its USB, so the connection is physical. But its not Apple, will there be some mysterious Apple ID problem. I didn’t even think about if they conflict during boot until now… there’s another risk.

I decided to go with the Razer and eventually the DVD does pop out the side. My heart rate slows to normal and as I’ve been typing this I’ve tested a different one with complete success. I guess the Apple mouse may have worked.

Remember, Apples, like any technology, aren’t infallible. But you guys probably knew that already.

Questing again – been a while

Some months ago I ran into a small roadblock with questing down in Uldum. I had been running the quests out of Schnott’s landing and when I stopped my quest was motivating the slacking workers. It didn’t seem to matter what I did I couldn’t get any to get off their butts. At the time, I was a bit tired of questing Mab so I switched over to Mabango.

One of the Schnott's quest has you acting as tank gunner

Yesterday morning in a rare flash of genius, I checked thottbot. I think I had been motivating the wrong mobs, and hadn’t ventured far enough from the cabins to find the right ones.

An untimely demise

So the quest chain played itself out ending with Schnott about to execute Mab only to be dramatically rescued by Harrison Jones (I was wondering where he went after we explored Obelisk of the Stars). Of course if he hadn’t turned up, I would have just rezzed myself so I’m not sure it was a big deal.

My Saviour <3 (lol)

Anyway, my run in with Harrison Jones linked me to a new quest hub, in the NW corner of Uldum, where the Oasis is.

I’m currently questing up there right now, but the first couple this morning were capture quests. The camels went without a hitch (except it appears that they adjust your aggro range when you are towing the camels), but the pygmies were dropping fast and would be corpses very, very quickly after getting into the range where the cage was active.

Got One!

This can be a problem when you start to seriously out level (or in this case, out gear) the quests. In this case I simply turned off Lightning Shield, Windfury and Flametounge weapons enhancements. I think WF was the most important as it made my DPS slower and more consistent. With the pygmies captured, I was off to the Obelisk of the Moon to do some work for Harriosn Jones.

Finally, here’s an odd shot, Miss 4 managed to walk Dasal off the Zep tower and not fall down. I apologise for her state of dress, Miss 4 also discovered the Equipment Manager in this session. I really don’t know why she wanted her in her knickers, but there you are.

A Messy Divorce Averted

Ha, bet that got your attention. No, all is well at home, this post is about bikes.

Recently Mrs Mab suggested that maybe it’s time to look into a new bike. My current ride, a 2004 VFR800, I’ve had since, well 2004, and I’m not silly enough to seek confirmation of her suggestion (in case she changes her mind).

I’ve had my eye on this recently.

Ducati Streetfighter 848

This morning I got to have a ride of the Demo bike at the dealership.

First impressions (compared to my VFR)

• very narrow at the seat, but taller
• felt like the front was missing…. no fairing, panel is set closer in etc.
• pegs a lot closer to the ground so legs are a lot straighter. That was a big surprise.

Fired it up and a nice V-twin warble from the pipes. Bit of a crackle. Very nice sound and I wonder what other pipes would sound like on it. Then we left on the demo ride, basically a follow the leader with a guy from the shop and a couple of others testing other bikes (a BMW S1000RR and a couple of K1300).

• Awesome brakes
• neat sound
• very responsive engine once you’re over about 3000rpm.
• hopeless shaky mirrors (but I think all Ducati’s have that problem!)
• Easy to ride and a fairly upright position

But I finished up feeling a lot less interested than when I left. Really not sure what to do now. Not sure if I want to try another bike, or another style of bike. Or do I use the money I am saving for the replacement bike to upgrade/service parts of the VFR.

The immediate result is that my trusted VFR isn’t getting replaced or supplemented.

Peddlefeet and friends

With some grinding and a few dailies to finish up, I managed to get enough Tokens in order to get Peddlefeet. Then, inspired by my work on my banner, I made this.

Mabaho's Menagarie.

I won’t be doing that again. Cleaning up around each pet was extremely monotonous. At least I have it saved and can add other pets as I earn them, rather than doing 28 all at once.

I’m well aware its not the greatest collection. My favourites are the Creepy Crate, the Wolpentigger (my first pet), the Sinister Squashling and the Corehound pup. I have actually had a Hyacinth Macaw drop, but you’ll have to check out Navimie’s collection to see it.

 

Wait! That’s a

Now that the dresses have been completed, I decided I might as well get the pet. So I’ve been grinding away in my normal spot. I use a place over in Icecrown at the Valkjyr village next to Icecrown itself. It has a string of mobs that I can circle around, killing quickly. Mab isn’t a great AOE killer so its easier this way.

Valkyr Taskmistress

In a cavern at the back of the village are these ladies who seem to spend their time bashing the enslaved orcs. And they are only in the cavern. This morning I was merrily smashing my way through a back corner of the village when I came across one.

My first thought was “that’s odd, I’ve never seen one of those up here.”

Just as it was about to drop I’ve realised. OMG its a rare I should get a screenie.

And then she died.

I got the Northern Exposure achieve.

But my screenie looks like this.

Hildana Deathstealer

She could look like this (Navimie collection).

Now as far as I know, this is my second rare. I also killed something in Archidoun many years ago. My achieve Bloody Rare notes it as Crippler.

I also found a treasure chest. I wonder how many times I’d run past that this morning! With this luck I might head over to Stranglethorn see if I can get a second Hyacinth Macaw.

Why not alt?

Through a range of links I ended up reading this page on the subject of alts and wanted to put forward my position.

Ever since the early years of my WoW life I have had a few alts. Most came up for one reason – storage space. It was a cheap way (gold was a scarce item in my early days) to get bank space and store the herbs, cloth and other junk I thought might be useful.

Pumatay was levelled slowly as it meant I could run about Azeroth without the guild knowing (long before Real ID). Why did I want to do that? Well sometimes you just need time alone. Though eventually Puma became a Frostie as well. He also gave me a chance to play a few areas (the troll/orc start area for example) that I hadn’t seen, and to try tanking, which I enjoyed.

Dasal came from trying to get my Mrs involved. It meant I could play along with her at her level and also gave a leg up with LFG as we brought DPS (her mage) and Heals to each run. Eventually she lost interest, but I found myself enjoying the job of heals, and later the challenge to do something that for me was inconceivable – to have TWO level cap toons!

I’ve also commented in an earlier post that I prefer to play alts rather than try to play Mabaho in a different style. That’s partly because of the attachment that Fannon talks about, it’s not Mabaho’s personality. It’s also my slow old brain wants to rush in and start bashing heads (Mabaho runs Enhance, which is melee DPS) whenever I’ve tried Resto or Ele spec.

So with Dasal I have the opposite effect, Dasal has on occasion tried to zap stuff to death, as Holy or Shadow and I get totally frustrated trying to do that as I have no idea of the rotation and she’s so hopeless at it. This is made worse if I’ve just been playing Mab who knocks most mobs over in a few hits.

What would I do if there were no alts, Sylvara challenges us. I’d be a bit stuck to be honest. My heavily irregular often interrupted gaming means that anything that depends on others or others depending upon me (like a regular raid slot) is out of reach. And this is the crux of the matter …

I like to play alts to see new parts of the game during the times when I can’t experience the new parts that require a group.

Another Alt - Mabango - Races across Tanaris on some wacky goblin rocket!

I don’t have a thing to wear

Ok, Mab done the work and the girls get their new dresses. Here’s Dasal Modelling her two for you.

Dasal in the Elegant Dress (the Pink Princess one) with a Red Linen Shirt.

Lovely Red Dress.

Miss 4 has been placated again, but she will have to wait until Noble Garden festival before Pink Princess can properly return.

Where’s my Rep!

While trying to figure out the best way to get these dresses for Miss 4, I sent Dasal on a flightpath from Warsong Hold up to the Ebon Blade site. I headed AFK to sort some RL things out and eventually came back.

A bit of background is that apart from about a level or so of questing at 70 and 80 in the starting areas for each (Borean Tundra and Mt Hyjal respectively) Dasal has spent her entire time levelling inside 5mans using LFG. It does mean that she has very blank map and very little rep with anyone.

So I return to my computer to find her half dead as the DKs at Ebon Hold have been smashing her since she landed. Only her high level has saved me from a ghost run.

The lesson for the day kids is – don’t forget your alts might not have the same rep as your mains. (and I have no plans to get Dasal rep with any WotLK factions!)

I have picked up a lovely black number for Mabango though.

Mabango wearing Lovely Black Dress