I want everyone to know that I’m no longer going to be coordinating or running in 25 person cross-server raids.

I know this will come as a surprise.

The runs have always been fun, and it’s been a genuine pleasure to play with everyone involved.

Because of the way I set this up in the first place, the night we run, how long and what hours, it was fine during summer months and when our family wasn’t doing other activities.

Since the school year has started for my son, it’s been a lot more stressful.

I’ve been trying to find a middle ground, but I’ve decided that there really isn’t a middle ground.

I want to thank everyone who has ever participated in any of these cross-server runs with us.

We’ve done some amazing things, and we’ve had fun every step of the way.

From Icecrown Citadel and Ulduar to Firelands and Black Temple, we’ve been and done a lot of the content this game has to offer, and those runs are some of the best experiences I have ever had.

I thank you all, and I hope someday I’ll have the opportunity to run with you all again.

Last Sunday the cross-realm group had a nice run through Firelands 25 in normal modes.

The goal was to have that one extra week to get more folks in to complete Firelands on normal before we hit achieves or Heroic modes, but we might have had an accidental achievement happen anyway.

Let’s just say that if you’re a bit sloppy on technique on phase three, the true achievement is in NOT having wall to wall meteors on the kill.

There was another achievement earned during the run; it turns out Penguin is a master at guiding players through Lord Rhyolith, so we anti-Ambi-turned like champs.

That is going to do it for the normal 25 runs. From here on out, we’re doing Firelands heroics.

Next Sunday, 6 PM CST we’ll be going in and beginning Firelands 25 Heroic. If you would like to be a part, be sure to be online and ready for an invite.

I hope to see you there.

Wrath of the Lich King – Patch 3.1: Secrets of Ulduar

Good morning!

With the addition of pets in old raids, I’ve had to change up my plans for what we can do that would be more than a 5 second snack for a decent sized team.

Thus, I’m skipping straight to an Ulduar 25 person Achievement run. 

I’m planning on a two hour run, starting at 6:00 PM Central Time.

As has been the case in the past, if you are already on my Battletag or friends list, I’ll send you a reminder announcement on Sunday afternoon, and you’re very welcome to attend.

If you would like to take part and are NOT on my Battletag friends list, or are not a friend of someone who is, email me your Battletag info at thebigbearbutt@gmail.com and I’ll add you.

We have a special treat this week, as Askevar (of You Yank It, You Tank It of course!) told me she and her husband Venoym would be able to go along with!

So we are totally going to Ulduar ALL the things!

Alex is going to freak. He’s only been in there the one time, and only halfway through, but he loved it. Loved loved loved it!

Sidenote – We will plan on two hours this Sunday. It is a school night for my son, so assuming we don’t clear the whole bloody place, we’ll pick up where we left off the week after. Our goal – the mounts and achieves, of course!

I hope you’ll join us this Sunday at 6PM Central time, as we try once again to clear Serpentshrine Cavern and Tempest Keep: The Eye.

What are the odds that we’ll all get sick again? Anyone?

By the way, on that topic, does anyone know a reputable company that provides earthquake, fire, flood, black hole and meteor insurance coverage? No reason, just asking.

/whistles

The truth is, Alex was feeling a little better on Monday (while I was starting to go down with the ship), and wanted to run SSC and the Eye. So I hustled together a quick group of whoever was on in my friends list and a few nice guildies, and we cleared them both. Took very little time. Alex managed to get every piece of the Warlock Vanquished Hero Tier except the helm from Lady Vashj and the belt from the Lurker Below. (The belt isn’t tier, it’s just the piece that matches the set).

Pretty crazy. He’s hoping to finish the set, or at least see a helm drop from the Lady, but you never can tell with that crazy RNG. He says he likes that Warlock Tier look better than any other. I think he’s crazy, the Tier from Black Temple and Battle for Mount Hyjal is awesome. He doesn’t like the tauren sized horns on the hat, though.

Side note, what is your favorite Tier for your favorite class? And why? I’d really like to know… the why more than the what, the reasons people have for liking something can be quite convincing once you know the background story.

I’m thinking there will definitely be enough time after The Eye to ROFLStomp Gruuls Lair, and probably even Magtheridon’s for the finish.

Maybe next week… Ulduar 25 achievements?

Sorry for the very late notice.

Tonights Sunday night Cross-Server Raid into Serpentshrine Cavern and Tempest keep is canceled.

The Cub has been very sick this weekend, and while he is resting and has the right medicine now, it’s been a case of very long nights, and very high temperatures. We’re all now in vegetable mode. And the Cub doesn’t feel up to playing.

He seems to have no trouble sitting on the chair next to me watching back-to-back streaming episodes of Americas Funniest Home Videos on Netflix, though.

I guess if you’re nine, you can never have enough funny cats, peeing babies and groin shots.

Sigh.

By the way, the show has taught him that the proper name is the groin, not the balls, and not the “front tushie”.

Anyway, we’ll all be fine, but tired, sick and wiped out.

See you all next week!

Last Sunday, I was planning on Sunwell Plateau. It sounded like a fun time for an evening, that place was brutal back in the day, but we ought to have been able to get it done in two hours, right?

Yeah.

Thirty minutes into the raid night, and it’s all over.

Well, shoot.

Hey, hows about we go roflstomp through Black Temple?

Okay, that stretched the night out to an hour and a half.

It looks to me like Burning Crusade raids are now 5 mans, easy five mans. That is, if you want things to live long enough for a Warlock to have a chance to enslave something. Blink and you WILL miss the content if you go with more folks.

So, I vastly overestimated how long those would take.

I have a new plan.

Next Sunday… we’re going to plan on starting at Serpentshrine Cavern and then flying due North to Tempest Keep.

Dual Clear, and if time allows we’ve got Gruul’s Lair close by (which takes longer to reach than to run), and even Magtheridon’s Lair if somehow we have THAT much time left.

This time, I will NOT be… unprepared.

That phrase is so over used, I’m starting to expect a big stompy foot coming down when I write it, a la Monty Python.

It’s a fair cop.

Reminder – go to Darkmoon Fair to get your free 5 profession points!

I know I just posted about cross-realm last night, but I wanted to talka bout what my goals are and what I hope to see happen over the course of the next several months.

The new expansion brought with it new raids, factions, a new continent and a frenetic feel of activity. There is just a… well, my apologies to the Klaxxi but it brought with it a buzz that has me feeling that it’s all go go go, so much to do and there is more coming down the tunnel at a breakneck pace.

I know that there is typically three or four months between the announcement of a patch and the patch releasing, but even knowing that and KNOWING that everyone talking like patch 5.1 is ‘imminent’ is wrong doesn’t stop that feeling. Move forward, get things done because the next phase is right around the corner.

That’s all well and good, I’m glad of the vast quantity of things to do in the game.

What I’d like to do though, really like to set as a goal, is to complete all of the raids in the game, every last one of them, with friends.

We’re doing Sunwell Plateau next Sunday, but it’s not really my goal to hop around out of order like that. I wanted to do that one once quick, simply because Alex saw the artwork and took the virtual tour when we did the Magister’s Terrace instance, and he’s been hot to see the actual raid ever since.

What I’d like to do is pick a different raid each Sunday, and do them in order.

As a group the BBB Cross-server folks have killed the Twin Emperors in AQ40, so I see that as a starting point. From there, I’d like to go in order through all of the Burning Crusade raids whose only accomplishments are for final completion.

Some of them certainly don’t take very long, so I’m thinking Gruul’s Lair and Magtheridon’s Lair can be done in the same night.

I’m also thinking that, for something like Karazhan, we could split up into two teams all in one ventrilo channel, and compete on speed kills to see who downs the last boss first. Okay, three teams depending on how many were to sign up. Just for fun, no other reason.

But that’s my long term goal in the game right now. I want to progress in sequence through all the raids in the game, at least once, and eventually do all of the Naxxramas 25 heroic achieves, and then the Ulduar 25 heroic achieves, and from there possibly move on to Cataclysm raids.

Of course, by then my head might have exploded.

I’ll admit it, I’m really excited at some of them, like Serpentshrine Cavern and Black Temple and the Battle for Mount Hyjal. It’s been a real long time. But it makes sense to me to take it one step at a time.

I hope you’ll be able to join me!

Next Sunday evening November 4th, we’re moving on to a new raid… the Sunwell!

Sunwell Plateau is a 25 person raid tuned for level 70 players located on the Isle of Quel’danas. It was the last raid implemented in Burning Crusade, the most powerful (the drops were of more power than the Black Temple) and has the chance to drop a legendary, the bow Thor’idal the Stars Fury.

Sunwell Plateau is considered able to be cleared by a two person team of level 85 players.

However… I ain’t looking for two peeps. I’m looking for twenty-five.

Twenty-five insane souls willing to crash the Sunwell and have a lighthearted time while doing it.

You don’t have to be a part of a big team to do the raid, so if all you want is a clear and an achieve, you can certainly accomplish your goal with a 5 person group of regular composition any time you’d like.

But if you’d like to join me, next Sunday from 6 PM to 8 PM central time is when we’ll be going.

As usual, the only requirement to take part is that you be level appropriate or higher and either on my friends list (and same Alliance faction) or friends with someone who already is.

At 15 minutes ’til 6, I’ll be on and send out the broadcast to whisper me for an invite… so if you’re late, you might miss out.

Oh, and on a side note… Thor’idal will be handled like any other loot in these old raids. Roll Need if you are a Hunter and don’t have it, Greed if you don’t want it. That’s how we’ve been handling all transmog-appropriate gear, Need if you want it for your set otherwise Greed it.

Yes, I’ll be going on my Hunter, and no, Thor’idal is not reserved.

Tomorrow night, planning on going into ICC for a pure heroic-mode blowout.

Speed kills, my friends. Just how fast speed kills remains to be seen.

What I’d like to do is change the start time to one hour earlier than normal, from 7 PM to 6 PM, Central time.

I say again, start time for ICC heroic destruction is 6 PM Central time.

The reason is simple; if we go at 7, Alex can’t finish the run. Selfish, I know, but he was really unhappy he wasn’t allowed to stay up to kill the Lich King on our last one. Sunday night is a school night, and we’ve got a regular schedule for school nights, so he is done playing by 8 PM.

So, if you’d like to do ICC heroic with us Sunday night, be on and ready to rock at 6 PM Central, and of course already be on my friends list.. or friends with someone who is.

Oh, and as a reminder to the folks from last time… all we were missing was Been Waiting a Long Time on the Lich King kill, so let’s see if we can knock that out for the few folks that still needed it.

See you there!