All right, gather one and all, to hear the history of AQ! In it’s own world, of course. From the Brilhado, to The’Galin, I will do my best to shed light on all your queries in this post!

The Early Years

Undead Wars

The first war ever, was the undead war, waaaaayyy back in 2003. Very simple, very easy, very little plot. Moving on.

Dragon Wars

True, we do have our share of draconic wars nowadays, but in the beginning, these dominated the storyline, and were the first wars to really have some plot. These centered around Drakath, Akriloth, and the Elemental Orbs. Drakath wants the Prime Darkness Orb, and you subsequently kill him. Then, Akriloth shows up, gets the Prime Fire Orb, thanks to you, and eats it, bringing about another war. These were…. simpler times.

Drakonnan’s Rampage

This little arc took place after the dragon wars. The powerful, insane pyromancer Drakonnan is attacking villages, using Plasma Dragons, and just bringing Chaos, all in his pursuit of the Prime Fire Orb. This baddie caused us to go through many lands, searching for powerful weapons to combat him. He was, thankfully, cast down, and this saga was over.

The Truth Saga

Ahhh, here we go. The true beginning of the Truthseeker area, and the beginning of AE’s main storyline.

The Carnax Saga

This saga begins with strange apparitions appearing in Battleon. Two fists, and an odd intelligence, floating around. After defeating them, Warlic finds that they are the vestiges of Carnax, an ancient beast that brought ruin upon a great civilization, and was thought dead. Needless to say, things aren’t looking good. Then, you hear reports that Drakel, in their search for something to slow down or appease The’Galin, have attacked Stonerule, a far away city. After thwarting the attempts of the Drakel, a strange Monolith appears from the top of Stonerule’s temple. It appears to be a clock, and it seems that whoever it is waiting on, is coming soon…. Carnax.

The Prophetess

A raid on one of the Kelds, a Drakel domed city, reveals some answers, and the knowledge that a “prophet” will appear in Stonerule sometime soon. A strange woman, Riona Shadowgale, a.k.a, the Prophetess,  shows up in town, and needs aid. In assisting her, you find out that she is one of the last remaining members of the Taladosians, the race destroyed by Carnax. The clock is, of course, counting down his arrival. Riona is attacked by Death and his minions before she can tell you anything else. Later, she introduces you to her son, Danail, and tells you that in order to merely weaken Carnax, the warriors of Battleon will need to use the Azru stones, which survived the fall of Talados. Eventually, Carnax awakens, and forms a link with Danail. In order to defeat him, Riona uses this link, along with the Azru stones, to finally kill Carnax. Sadly, it costs Riona her life. However, she manages to get you to come to Death’s Domain, kill the ghost of Carnax, and bring her back to life. A happy ending! For now….

Future War

Your character is moseying along through Battleon one fine day, when a strange portal appears to him. Being the morons we are, we step in, and are sent to the past, in an area that looks like Battleon before being settled. After battling your way through, you find another portal and go back…. to the future . Seriously, you find yourself immersed in a futuristic Lore, where robots are commonplace, and magic is all but gone. Here you meet up with a young man named Maxwell, the descendant of the kings of Stonerule, which is where you currently are. He and several others, including a young girl named Anna, are members of the Order, a group fighting an evil man named Makkisar, who has resurrected– Carnax! Using Carnax, he has created an entire army of Carnax spawn, and is taking over the world! Fortunately, all of Lore’s past warriors help to defeat Carnax again, and seperate his soul into all the Azru stones in existence. But Something about Makkisar is troubling… A strange green-robed creature, whispering in a strange tongue… A Faceless…

The Devourer Saga

Epic Quest

After the Carnax saga ended, there was a brief lull in the huge going’s on of Lore. During this time, the Epic Quest was released, which brought new quests every few levels. From thwarting the attacks of Orc generals, to finding magical shields and light orbs, to meeting a powerful entity called the Shadow Master. The Shadow Master is a being named Epheel, who greatly resembles a spider. He claims that he makes deals on Lore in order to help prepare it for a great evil that is on its way to returning. This “evil” is called the Devourer, a being which Epheel claims travels the realms and cleanses entire planets of life in order to feed itself. Lies, all of it. A history lesson is in order…

The’Galin, the Devourer, the Uncreator

Born on the island of Tjeli, near the continent of Inilar, The’Galin was the model of a man. Kind, caring, and full of love. He ran an orphanage in his homeland, although it was hard due to the corruption that so abounded in the land. After a law was passed that made it illegal to care for children that were not your own, The’Galin and one of his old enemies left Tjeli with the children. Sadly, his friend was killed, along with most of the children he cared for. Despite this, The’Galin continued to work to make the world a better place for all. Along the way, he met his wife Lauren, a soul almost as kind and gentle as his. Unfortunately, she too was killed along the way. The’Galin went on to form the School of Thought, a great school designed for all people to be able to join and grow in knowledge. However, Tjeli worked its vile influence into the School of Thought, and, eventually, managed to get The’Galin back and had him hung.

But this wasn’t the end. His wife, Lauren had in fact been the great goddess Lorithia, the creator of all the Lorian world. She offered The’Galin a position as the Uncreator. His job would be, like a sculptor, to find the areas of creation that didn’t deserve to exist, and remove them. At first, he vehemently refused. There was no way he, a man who loved Creation with all his heart, could harm it. But, in time, he gave in to her wishes, and took up the mantle as the Devourer. He became Lorithia’s consort, and was given godhood.

Where did his bad reputation come from? Mostly in the way he worked. In his travels prior to his death, The’Galin met a group of farmers in a frozen northern land. Though nothing should have been able to live there, they had managed to make their plants strong and hardy. Every year, they took the best, strongest seeds, and stored them, sewing the second-best for the next year’s harvest. They also kept the worst, weakest seeds, for using these they could identify and destroy the bad crops when and if they came back around. They also “Uncreated” fields of food that had become rotten, as it paved the way for better crops than had been there before. So The’Galin created his plan of using corruption, chaos, and destruction to test Creation, and to make sure that Unity could persist. Jealousy from others as well, played a part in making him appear to be an evil being. More history folks…

Brilhado

Brilhado are very beautiful creatures that look like angels. They are often seen with purple wings, but they occasional Goldwing can be found as well. They were tempted by Xilar’s smooth tongue, and fell from the Light Lord’s graces, after slaughtering their families only to bring them back with necromancy. However, they do have many noble members. Diviara, his brother Giliara, and Amiliara, Diviara’s son.

Xilar, First Avatar of The’Galin

In order for a god in the Lorian world to communicate with the world, they need an avatar or a communicant, one in which they can channel their power and truly speak. The’Galin found this in a Silari, a kind of desert-dwelling Drakel, named Xilar. Xilar wanted nothing more than to serve Creation, yet he was spurned, hated, and thrown away at every turn. In those days, service to one of the temples of the Elemental Lords was the best way to live, and though he was extremely talented, none would accept him. Eventually, while sitting and thinking one day, a voice came into Xilar’s head. It offered him service to a great lord, one who would change the world. Xilar recognized The’Galin, and rejected him at first. But, after coming to the brink of death, Xilar accepted, and began to spread the seeds of doubt in Lore.

One of the greatest lies that he spread was that the elements were constantly at war, which helped to spread chaos quite well. He was also responsible for the fall of the Brilhado, the beautiful, angel-like creatures who once served the Light Lord. Others, jelous of Xilar’s success and not understanding The’Galin’s motives, portrayed him as an evil being which existed only to consume and destroy, which is not at all true in any way. But all this was necessary, for things to fall as they have. And now, back to the story…

The Rise of the Network

After Epheel, the untruthful beast, fed us all his carefully fabricated lies, the Huntress came. Appearing at first to be an agent of The’Galin, she actually opposes him and the Network. The net work is a huge group made up of multiple races, from the Lorian creation, and otherwise. They travel with The’Galin through the realms, “serving” him. Many of his agents have agendas all their own, however. I’ll get to that later though. The Huntress is actually trying to help find the Salvation weapons, powerful weapons made with an element called viridium. In following The’Galin, his agents grow a weakness to it. After Epheel truly reveals himself to serve The’Galin and the  weapons are retrieved, things grow even more interesting.

Ryuusei Cartwright

Ryuusei Cartwright is many things. A Vespirian from around Terra (Earth), the head of The’Galin’s armies, one of his communicant’s, and an evil, despicable, and terrible man. The Vespirians are all but gone, and his life has been one of great difficulty, so he uses all this as an excuse to madly try to destroy all of Creation. This is not, however, the mission of The’Galin, and it later makes Ryuusei serve himself rather than his master.  Ryuusei has one great motive that he wishes above all others… To force the Manifestation…

Marduk (Agent Smith)

Agent Smith is Ryuusei’s right hand man. Smith is generally seen working alongside races that have joined the Network, and helping to incorporate them into the armies of The’Galin. He is also very good at using the Cold.

The Cold

On a side note, I should probably explain the Cold. It is often used by higher ranking Network agents to “convince” people to see things a cretain way. It can be called a telopathic invasion of the mind. In the Truthseeker logs, it is often seen as a way to boost a person’s emotions, in either a positive or negative way. Even the meekest of people could become bloodthirsty killers, and someone caught deep in despair could be given new Hope.

Mt. Thrall and the Order

After many events, things grow even more interesting with the arrival of the Order on Mt. Thrall. In fighting the Network, they managed to acquire one of the Network ships, which they can use to traverse time and space. 

The Temple of Hope

Still greater things happen, which take you to the Temple of Hope alongside Galrick. The Temple is located on the continent of Deren across the sea from Battleonia, which is where Falconreach and Battleon are located. There, you meet the Drakel King Tralin. Here, great knowledge is given to you. Namely, there is the Elemental Orbs, the Avatars, and the Manifestation. I’ll explain.

The Elemental Orbs

In the Lorian world, there are a few main gods. You know of Lorithia, and The’Galin so far. However, there is also the Elemental Lords. Each of these deities is in charge of one of the eight elements. Fire Lord, Ice Lord, Wind Lord, etcetera, etcetera. A long time ago, before one of The’Galin’s previous visits (And has had some- about 5), the Elemental Lords roamed Lore freely. Eventually however, they resigned themselves to being watchers alone, and left the world of Lore in a physical sense. When they did this, pure remnants of their power were left over. As such, the Prime  Elemental Orbs were formed. These orbs are very powerful, and it is important that they be unified, as doing this is almost akin to unifying the elements themselves. 

The Creation Orb

In addition to the normal elemental orbs, their is an eighth orb. This orb, symbolic with Lorithia and often called Lorithia’s shield, is also called the Creation Orb. During the Devourer saga, many battles were fought over shards of it, after it was split by Diviara, a Brilhado general for the Network (He became a good guy). The battles by the drakel against Stonerule and other places were all in search for this orb.

The Avatar

An avatar is, in the Lorian world, generally one of two things. The physical manifestation of a deity, or an Annunaki that plays a part in helping Lore to resist The’Galin. Both are integral parts in the story, so I’ll detail both.

Avatar: Deity

So, an avatar is the physical manifestation of a deity. One important avatar that we see all the time but take for granted is the Loremaster, Falerin. Fal is the avatar of the Caelestian God of Evil. You see, in the AE universe, there are multiple realms, and some of them are governed by different groups of gods. In Caelestia, the Farpoint is the primary group. After The’Galin was allowed to enter the Caelestian realm, Falerin was allowed to visit Lore as well. But, I digress. 

Hope

Also amongst the ranks of the Avatar, is Hope. Hope is the most mysterious of the group, as no one really knows if it has one definite shape, or if it is merely all the people of Lore. Hope was later revealed to be… Well, you’ll see.

Omega

Another important Avatar in the Devourer Saga is Omega. In the earlier stages of the story, no one, even the Truthseekers, really knew what or who Omega was. Either an evil Faceless, or the avatar of The’Galin. It later became obvious that it was the latter. Omega is the main way The’Galin works his uncreation. Who is Omega? Stick around and I’ll tell you.

Avatar: The Eight

The other Avatar are what we call Annunaki. These are very, very special creatures. They share a common ancestor with Drakel, but are different in almost every way. Somewhere along the path of evolution, Annunaki moved beyond a physical form, and now exist as beings made of energy. Well, some exist as albino drakel, but those never factor into the story. The Annunaki, also known as Faceless, must attach to a host to survive. Once there, they can somewhat influence the thoughts and actions of  the host. One such case was when Truth entered Makkisar in the Future Wars. In any case, on to the Avatar. In all the groups of the Faceless, these are some of the most important.

Each of the Avatar represents an element, and has a special name. Truth, representing Earth, Lies, with Water, War consuming with Fire, Peace as calm and cooling as Ice, Eternal crackling with Energy, Transient blowing along like Wind, Life shining with Light, and finally Death shrouded with Darkness. Each of these Avatar are key in resisting The’Galin, both them and their host. During the Devourer Saga, many guesses were made as to who the Avatar were. While it was never revealed, many believe this to be the list:

• Truth- Maxwell and his immediate family. Truth split itself amongst many people, but it is found most strongly in Maxwell’s daughter, making her the true avatar of Truth
• Lies- Lies was originally found in Riona Shadowgale, and passed to her son Danail. Whether part of it returned to her when she came back to life, is unknown, but Danial is part of the Avatar of Lies
• War- Mercuria, who lost her sister some time ago. A prophecy was given by Cor-Dem (I’ll get there) which told this.
• Peace- Twig. The existence of an Annunaki in a moglin host can cause certain… Problems. This explains Twig’s behavior changes.
• Eternal- Who else, the Eternal. Also known as Garavin.
• Transient- The Huntress, who flows through time and place.
• Life- Tralin, this much was confirmed by him. Life was given to him by Lorithia after he had a confrontation with The’Galin
• Death- Edward for a time, but he eventually gave it up to his sister Cenera.

Again, this is only the theorized pairing for the Avatar. It was never confirmed. The Avatar are the key to channeling the power in the Elemental Orbs to stop Omega.

Forsaken

While we’re on the topic of Annunaki, it’s also important to mention the Forsaken. When an Annunaki leaves a host that is still alive, a Forsaken is created. The Forsaken has no soul, since an Annunaki bonds to that, and rips it out when it leaves. Here is some more information, courtesy of ZeltanX.

• Advantages

  • Enhanced senses, able to see the dead
  • Immunities to Uncreation
  • Walk in the shadows
  • Never to die form mortal wounds

• Disadvantages

  • Hunted by the Grim Reaper
  • You die a slow and painful death.
  • Will never find rest

The Final Battles!

The Rise of Omega!

After all the orbs were collected, many attacks were made on places in Lore, including Granemor, and Augerthorne. Finally, the forces of The’Galin centered themselves on the Temple of Hope. Led by Ryuusei Cartwright and Marduk, things began to reach their peak. At the Cor-Dem gate, the main way to get to the Temple of Hope, Ryuusei Cartwright and Galrick have a huge confrontation. Galrick was once the avatar of The’Galin, similar to Xilar. However, he turned against his master, and decided to serve Creation. Ryuusei, with his hidden motive coming ever closer to being known, kills Galrick, who may have very well become Omega. Now this leaves Ryuusei as one of the final avatara of The’Galin on Lore. Hmm, where could this go next?

The Manifestation

After reaching the Temple of Hope, you catch up to Ryuusei. There, he sicks litle old Marduk, his personal hound on you. After beeating him down, he turns on you, releasing most of his power. You lose, needless to say. Ryuusei unleashes the power of the Cold on you, crippling you. Amiliara, Diviara’s son who has recently returned to his father’s side, appears and almost kills Ryuusei with his power. Ryuusei had staged all this though, hoping for it since the start. With this, he can force the Manifestation of Omega. All along, Ryuuesi had sought to become Omega! 

Once this has happened, Nightbane, who has sworn a vendetta against The’Galin for his family, appears, intent on killing Ryuuesi Omega! The’Galin easily dispatches him, and the greatest hunter in Darkovia is destroyed. The Manifestation is complete. Now, the Final Battle is upon us.

The Final Battle

This is the final act. The culmination of every action. Lore and its right to exist hang in the balance now. It’s just you and Omega now, face to face. The’Galin decides to kill you, and does just that with a wave of his hand. Thankfully, the former avatar of Death, Edward, a.k.a. Vampire Slayer E, cashes in one of his favors and convinces Death to send you back. You enter battle with The’Galin, since he has the intent this time of uncreating you. Just before he does so, your soul exits your body, and something odd happens. A part of it floats free, and the face of a beautiful woman appears in the place of your face. It… Is Hope. Hope actually lived within the hearts of all Lorians! Hope was within everyone all along! Sadly, in order for Hpe to truly awaken, you must become Forsaken. Since The’Galin isn’t interested the Forsaken, he rushes to the Temple to finish his job.

Thankfully, Beleqwaya, Tralin, and Kalanyr are already there and ready for The’Galin. Tralin uses the Creation Orb to summon the power of the Orbs. The three begin to sing the Hymn of Elemental Unity, and the Avatars finally awaken! After the orbs soar off, Lauren, for it is Lorithia who took the embodiment of Hope, enters the Temple. She tells The’Galin that she believes that there is great Hope for Lore. The love that exists between Lorithia and The’Galin compels him to allow Lore to exist until he believes it needs to be tested again.

The’Galin leaves Ryuusei’s body, which leaves just Ryuusei the Wretch and Beleqwaya in the Temple. These two are sucked deep into the Void by a portal above the statue of Lorithia, where their final confrontation takes place. Bele uses pure mana to rip Ryuusei’s very essence apart, but does the same to himself in the process. Thankfully, in later days, Bele would be broght back. Sadly, so is Ryuuesi…

Alright, so I know this doesn’t answer everything by a long shot, so if you have any questions at all, just post them here! Also, for those who want to know more, I get most of my information from here. Happy Seeking!

Well, I’m late again, and I have no excuse. I won’t have to take a sabbatical, but they will be a few days late for the foreseeable future. Sorry! So, let’s check out some supernatural, undead creatures! Maybe we’ll even get a few new spells and items, from cardboard no less!

AE Promotional Event Continuation

Alright, I don’t have a huge amount of stuff to say on this, but I figured that I should include it none-the-less. As you know, AE has a promo event featuring Magic: The Gathering, which is a huge success. Three new items have been released to the roster, and they are:

• Damnation: A powerful darkness spell that can decimate many enemies. Powerful, but balanced by the fact that using it dismisses your current pet and guest. Very nice, and innovative in its drawbacks.
• Kiss of Amesha: A very, very, well animated healing spell, where an angel-like being comes, and kisses you. Also has a chance to give you back one Mana and one Health potion. A great spell, which breaks the monotony of the normal, run of the mill healing spells. Great!
• Mindlock Orb: This may be the best of all the items released for this event. The Mindlock Orb seals off all magic on the battlefield. Meaning that, while you won’t be able to use spells, your enemies won’t either. Against tough enemies, such as the Ogre Shaman, that rely on mana for their attacks, this is devastating. It has a high price, 100 SP per turn, but is still well worth it. If you need a strategic item, look no further.

What, I leave for Five Minutes, and Everyone gets Delusions of Grandeur?! (NightReign and GraceFang)

About

Ahh, where to begin. This release was excellent, with a ton of story significance, showing just how interesting and complex Darkovia can be. This event revolved around the events of the last Darkovia event. After Cenara was infected by Balius’s (Nightbane’s) blood, and Donovan prepared for a ceremony that would turn him into a Dracopyre. At first, it seemed that Donovan would perish from the strain it took on him. After learning that he was able to travel to the Void and back, Donovan reveals himself again, this time in his new and transformed shape: NightReign. Think a long, black drake, mixed with a vampire. After fighting through the waves of the war, Cenara, in her new and greatly improved mature form, appears, recovered from her illness. Cenara reinforces the fact that she will destroy things that are knowingly evil wherever she finds them. After transforming into her Dracopyre form (Think Drakel mixed with vampire), Cenara soars of to face her Half-Brother.

Pros

This war had a huge amount of story significance. It shed light on who and what Donovan is, and revealed a little more of the nature of the races in Darkovia. The rewards were also excellent, if you were a mage.

Cons

Yet again, this week’s release had only magic weapons. I know that the magi need their weapons just like all the rest, but they have had the spot light for the past month or more. Still, I can overlook that when I see the revelations brought by this addition to the Legacy of Nightbane.

Overall Grade of Release

While the rewards were lackluster, the event, as I have said before, really highlighted what an AE event should be. I give this release, 7.5 Suabbling Sibblings, out of 10.

All right, here it is: the long-awaited Part Three of my series on Karazhan bosses! This time, we’ll look into what many consider the true final boss of Kara: the dreaded Nightbane.

Nightbane requires an urn to summon: you’ll need to kill Shade of Aran as well as getting some books from both Shattered Halls and Sethekk Halls in order to obtain the urn for yourself. If you’ve downed Prince, you’re probably ready to attempt this boss; if not, I suggest you wait, as Nightbane is much more difficult than Prince, especially if you’re using the Prince strat put forth earlier in this blog.

As usual, click on this image to view it!

Okay. So you’ve decided you’re ready to go. There are a few things you should know BEFORE you summon; first, get some priests in your group so that you have Fear Ward available: this is VERY necessary for a successful attempt. Keep Fear Ward up on the tank; once it’s used up after Nightbane fears, the tank needs to let the raid know so that another priest can FW him again.

The tank should be tanking NB with his back to the outside wall so that his breathing…attack…thing flies RIGHT OVER the tank’s head, leaving him unharmed! Melee DPS needs to watch out for NB’s tail swipe; it’s absolutely decimating. This means you can’t attack NB from directly behind.

Also, note the positioning of the groups. Group 1 (I prefer having healers stand here) needs to stand ON THE INSIDE WALL of the crescent-shaped terrace on which you’re fighting; Group 2 (ranged and spell DPS) should be ON THE OUTSIDE WALL. DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, STAND IN THE MIDDLE. Why? Because occasionally NB will do this thing called Charred Earth, which you need to make sure your graphics options are turned up far enough to see. If you’re in Charred Earth, GET OUT. If you’re on the outside wall and Charred Earth gets put over there, run to the inside wall. Same thing if it’s on the inside wall. If both sides of the room get Charred Earth, move forward or back. Do not stand in the Charred Earth or in the middle of the terrace.

When NB gets to 75%, 50%, and 25%, he’ll go into an air phase. Don’t DPS him during this phase; his aggro table resets and the tank needs to pick him up easily. Misdirect can come in very handy if NB is MD’d onto the tank as he lands. As soon as he leaves the ground, everyone needs to run and stand on the tank. EVERYONE. Healers, DPS…no exceptions. NB will do this thing called Rain of Bones; once he starts that, you can spread out a little. Paladin tanks help here cause they can grab all the skeleton mobs that spawn: either AoE or single-target DPS them down. Once all the skeletons are dead, the raid needs to move back to its normal position for the ground phase. WAIT for the tank to pick up threat before DPS starts; 10k threat is probably appropriate if the tank was MD’d onto, and maybe 7-8k without a MD. Nothing changes between ground phases-the fight’s basically just rinse and repeat after you get through the first air phase.

If a healer goes down, they should be battle rezzed if you have a druid; if not, …good luck.

Charred Earth, Fears...everything you need to know!

Okay, in this picture you can see the Charred Earth to my right–please note you don’t have to be RIGHT ON the inside wall, since it restricts LoS, but you need to be as close as you can to it. Fears shouldn’t be a problem for the ranged groups, but do remember to keep Fear Ward up on the tank.

I’d post a loot picture, but I have so many screenshots in my WoW folder that they’re hard to find! Regardless, congrats on downing Nightbane!

As always, links to the strategies here as well as a mention of my blog if you used them is appreciated; in addition, comments on my UI would be nice.

Well, I went into Kara without having checked loot tables for the first time in weeks–figured the early bosses couldn’t possibly help me other than [Trial-Fire Leggings].

I was wrong.

After an unexpected wipe on Attumen and another wipe on respawned Attumen trash, we settled in and rocked through the first half of the instance, plus Nightbane (With 2 healers!) and Curator (Also with 2 healers!). When we downed Attumen, he dropped [Harbinger Bands]–an upgrade from a blue for me! I won the roll on ‘em, too. =) Opera also dropped my Trial-Fire Leggings–I won those too! Gonna end up saving me around 1500g – was planning to get [Spellstrike Pants] off AH if they didn’t drop. Planning to socket ‘em with [Veiled Noble Topaz] x3.

As an amusing side-note, Reanimator, Galistul, and I made a bet on Opera–20g each. I bet on Oz, and it was, in fact, Oz….so I’m up a good 40g from where I expected to be last night. =)

Netherspite strat later today.

Slow, but we'll get there

Meh, I didn’t get to do much today.

I did intend to get back to work (those pain were getting better, and some PC time was allocated), but unintended delays popped out of nowhere.

Well… Not exactly nowhere, but things took longer than I have expected.

I was supposed to have a free hour before I go Karazhan with the guild, but what was estimated to take two hours, ended up taking three and a half so… No time for blogging tonight (*sigh*).

The Karazhan run however, was pretty good.

We don’t have the manpower to do a guild thing lately (curse that damn good weather and people’s wish to take vacations!), so we had to PuG some from the LFG channel. Quite surprisingly, things went very well.

No wipes.

Ok… One wipe, but it was forseen in advance. Due to popular demand, we attempted Nightbane with only 9 peeps online, just two healers, and horrible encounter setup.

It was great fun.

Back to topic though.
Do not despair !
I have some new ideas up my sleeve for future posts. I will make up for those last couple of days.

See you tomorrow.

So slow, that eventually it took me by surprise when it got there. Go figure.

We Win!

So yeah. Got Prince, Netherspite, and Nightbane down–in that order. Only one death on Netherspite!

We pretty much own. Here we are in front of Nightbane. =) As you may note, Detlo didn’t quite make it into our picture, but you can still at least see his name. A bunch of caster stuff dropped, thankfully–Galistul got a couple upgrades, and I got rid of another blue in favor of the off hand from Nightbane.

Some great strategy help from Bento: despite a brand-new strategy he gave us on Prince (Comment this post if you’d like the strat, it’s quite good), along with directions and coordination on the 2 dragons (the Nightbane strat was excellent too!), his best advice was to Kythrine: “Okay, here’s the masterful strategy: strip naked and go play with Netherspite” after a wipe.

Of course, I can’t not mention his hilarious practical joke he played on Michelle after the run: as he was playing her toon, he took her toon to the tram between SW and IF, destroyed the hearthstone, stripped her naked, and left her there. =) It was very amusing, when she logged in especially.

I also got my next rank of the Violet Signet–only about 15k more rep till I get the top rank one!

Thinking about buying [Sunfury Signet] to get to Exalted with Scryers. Any suggestions?

As much as I love playing with Vel (especially after today!) I’m thinking about working a lot more on my druid healer. I love druid-style heals, and think it’d be fun to play him to 70. Advice from resto druids on how to play as well as advice from everyone about what to do is appreciated!

23 more badges till I get my Corrupted Soulcloth Pantaloons! So excited!

It’s so good to be back. I really missed everyone in the guild, and am happy to have returned. =)

I used to die during the Nightbane fight without fail during the parts where Nightbane flies off and we get masses of skeletons around us.  Someone would always have to battle res me mid fight which obvisouly isn’t the smoothest way to run a boss fight.  Last night, was the first time I didn’t die, so here are my tips for staying alive and healing through the Nightbane fight.

Healing assignments 

The best healer should be on the tank whilst fighting nightbane and raid healing during the skeleton parts.
Every other healer should be raid healing for charred earth mishaps and also healing the tank when needed. 

Fighting Nightbane

When the raid is fighting Nightbane, you must watch out for charred earth that appears on the ground and move out of it immediately.  If you have the healbot add-on, set it up so that you can clearly see when you can dispel a magic effect from a person.  You can’t dispel charred earth, but you can at least see the people who are in the charred earth immediately and begin casting heals on them incase they take forever to move out of it. 

To see charred earth on the ground, you will need to turn your graphics spell detail setting up so that it is just past the half way mark.  If you can’t do this, keep a PW: Shield on you to absorb some of the damage and look out for grey smoke rising from the ground as this is also part of the charred earth animation.

The Skeleton Part

This is the part where nightbane flies off for a bit and a few skeletons come out to play with the raid.  There is also alot of aoe damage occuring that you will need to heal through. 

You must have some form of protection against spell cast interruption for the skeleton part. Usually a pally or a shaman can provide this for you. 

Spamming circle of healing (priest) or chain heals (shammy) on both teams during the skeleton part, extra flash heals on the tank when needed and using prayer of mending is generally enough to keep everyone alive.  The 3 second group heal (prayer of healing) simply takes too long to cast and if you have no protection against spell cast interrupts, then party memebers will die.  Be sure to keep yourself topped up during this stage and use PW: Sheild on yourself and send off Prayer of Mending around the raid as many times as you can during this part. This will help to keep everyone topped up while getting lots of aoe damage.

Mana Regen

Nightbane is a long fight and I usually run out of mana during the aoe part when I’m spamming my circle of healing.  It’s best if you have a shammy who can drop mana tide in your party. I’d also suggest putting some mana oil on your weapon for this fight as well.

Send your pet in, drink a mana potion and use any mana regen-ing trinkets you have after the first skeleton part. If possible, use your wand at this stage to get outside the 5 second rule for spirit regen so you are fully topped up again.  If you do it this early on, you will be able to use your trinkets and potions again before the end of the fight.

The posts on NRT seem to be getting further apart but longer perhaps as karmic payback for them getting smaller and more regular over on Mark’s Impotence blog – So I apologize if this sometimes degrades into nothing but a wall of Zzzz worthy text.

Last night I ventured back into Karazhan for the first time in a fair few months – First time since before Christmas at least since thats when NI moved their raid schedule to days I couldn’t do and forced me to raid Mags and Gruuls instead – and I’m glad to report it went really very well. We followed a somewhat less than typical path of [Attum -> Moroes -> Maiden -> Opera (Oz) -> Nightbane -> Curator] before calling it a night.

Oh yes, I said Nightbane! The whole experience was much smoother than I was expecting with no wipes and most people well within the gear margins for such a run. Kudos have to go to our two tanks who – even though the Paladin was somewhat under-geared Spell Damage wise – did a top notch job of keeping me alive. That is not to say I didn’t nearly die once or twice, with no-one HoT’ing me for Maiden until about 50% and me tanking the Shadow Priest and then the Ret Paladin on Moroes it could have gone far worse.

My only two rewards for the night were my T4 gloves (that now makes 3/5 needing the head and Shoulders so I’m going to both Gruuls and Kara again soon as much as my current helm is actually better) and a fist full of badges which I turned in for an Epic relic which I felt was probably the best upgrade for me since there is only one other relic in the game worth considering but impossible to get. Although bizarrely my new Relic is proc based granting 100~ Attack Power on chance of casting a shock (Approximately 30-50%) … But the proc animation is the Blessing of Wisdom.

On other news I just finished watching a fascinating lecture approximately an hour and a half long on YouTube that I recommend checking out, you can find the first episode here (or watch below) and you’ll have to get the rest for yourself! It’s an interesting discussion about how the Bible as the inspired word of God has been altered many thousands of times, a quote from the videos approximates to: “There are more inconsistencies in the New Testament translations, than there are words.” Of course Theists are quick to say that he’s wrong and everything he says is either misleading or irrelevant, in fact I watched a Theist response to his book that in the course of a few minutes both said the book intentionally misleaded people and stated that it was O.k. for the church to make additions to the Bible.

It’s not misleading to CHANGE THE WORD OF GOD, but it is to talk about how scribes make mistakes and intentional changes over the course of thousands of years?

Sheer brilliance.

I have also spent some time on the Official Wrath forums in a few threads which illustrate perfectly how they don’t understand the implications of the changes they suggest. One of the things I truly despise is the idea that the Bard would be a viable new class. Yes, it would and could work but these people are ignoring the big picture! As soon as you put in a class who’s primary role is buffing (and they have described buffs for everything from Haste to Regen) Blizzard will then start making instances more difficult to scale with these buffs and ultimately all you end up with is a Raid that effectively requires a Bard and possibly several.

How is this a Good thing? There is no space in WoW for a pure buffing class … When told that he says that they will also have some DPS so the statement is effectively changed to There is no room in WoW for a required Buffing class let alone another DPS-Buff Hybrid.

Just to illustrate to you the general intelligence level of a WoW Forum poster there is also a thread asking if we will finally discover “Quel’thalas” in Wrath of the Lich King.

I have also recently watched two new movies, Planet Terror and The Happening. Planet Terror is a great Grindhouse flick which may not appeal to everyone but is still pretty funny. The key is to not take it seriously and you probably shouldn’t eat meat whilst watching

The Happening is shit. Do not watch it. I’ll give you five reasons:

1. Mark Wahlberg is one of the worst actors in the world
2. Zooey Deschanel (you might remember her as that annoying bitch who couldn’t act in Frasier) is absolutely terrible.
3. This movie might actually have the worst script ever made.
4. It’s not scary. It’s not even remotely entertaining.
5. It was the trees that dunnit.

I will sum up the movie with my favourite sequence:

————–
Women on Phone: Honey, are you near the Window with the tree? What can you see?

Wahlberg has shocked expression

Wahlberg: Tell her to get away from the window with the tree!
Women on Phone: Honey, get away from the Window with the tree!

Women puts Girl on Speaker phone
Girl is speaking jibberish

Women on Phone: Are you ok? What’s the matter?

Sound of Girl smashing through window
Women previously on phone hands Wahlberg the phone and runs away crying

Wahlberg puts the phone his ear
Wahlberg: Don’t go outside
————–

Don’t … Go outside? You have to see his face and the whole scene to really feel how stupid that is but my God people laughed at parts of that movie they shouldn’t have. Two people left at about the hour mark.

That is about all I can be bothered to write, nobody has submitted their 5 Tracks for my last post challenge so I will give you another chance.

Regards,
JamesR.

The Happening annoys me, because it’s a perfectly solid premise that M. Night managed to completely ruin.

This is another in a series of posts covering a full Karazhan clear – mostly from a Main Tank’s Point of View.

Nightbane is an optional boss in Karazhan. His difficultly is on-par with the Prince, and in some ways he is the toughest fight in Karazhan. He does require that someone in the raid has completed the quest line to get the Blackened Urn, which is used to summon him.

You fight Nightbane on The Master’s Terrace. To get there, go to the back door and then move towards to ramp up to Curator, but instead of going up the ramp go through the doorway under it. Outside you will find a large circular Terrace. Nightbane always lands in the same spot, so you will want your tank setup there. To find it, walk about 60% of the way around and start looking for a broken barrel. Near that barrel, close to the inside wall you will see a skull on the ground – that is where Nightbane lands.

This fight has two alternating phases

Ground Phase

Positioning: In the ground phase the tank should stand with his back to the outside wall and position Nightbane so that his tail is in the inside wall.  Melee DPS need to position themself on a rear leg, as -like most dragons- the front and rear are dangerous.  Cleave, Breath Attack and normal melee damage hit the tank hard, so be ready with a lot of healing.

Charred Earth: In this phase circular zones of “Charred Earth” will appear.  These do massive fire damage, so you have to move out of them ASAP.  Melee will need to switch sides to avoid these.  Ranged should be split into two groups – one to the right, one to the left – starting close to the inside wall at max range.  When a “Charred Earth” zone opens, they will be able to move to the outside wall and continue on.

Bellowing Roar: At least once each ground phase Nightbane casts a AoE fear, which is a 2.5 second cast.  Ranged should be at max range to avoid this.  Melee should hope to not take a cleave while running around.  The tank needs to try to avoid it.  Warriors should ’stance dance’ to use Bezerker Rage.  PVP Trinkets break the also break the fear.  Fear Ward and Tremor Totem also work (though the Tremor totem is not ideal).  If the tank eats a fear, Nightbane should stick on him, but the tank will likely pull the dragon into a dangerous position – try to recover as quickly as possible.

Air Phase

At 75%, 50% and 25% Nightbane flies into the air.  After a few seconds an AOE “Rain of Bones” is targeted on a random player, and then several skeletons appear.  Deal with the AOE by all grouping up on the tank, and then moving to one side as a group.  Once out of the damage zone, your tanks should hold down the Skeletons as much as possible while they are DPS’d down.  From the air, Nightbane targets a player – usually a healer – as starts firing Smoking Blasts at them.  This is a high damage attack, and will require quite a lot of healing.

This phase requires high DPS to burn the skeletons down, and strong healing.  Having an extra tank to help hold the skeletons helps a lot here.

Air to Ground Transition

After 50 seconds in the air, Nightbane lands.  If the skeletons aren’t down yet, dps needs to finish them off ASAP.  The Tank needs to get Nightbane’s attention, and this is far harder if healers are still actively casting.  Misdirects help immensely here.  If you don’t have a hunter, the tank can use a ranged attack on Nightbane as he lands, and then pull him into position.  Getting this transition down smoothly is probably the trickiest element of the fight, as loosing anyone on the landing really hurts you for this already challenging fight.

For many groups Nightbane is the last fight in Karazhan that they master, and even if he isn’t the Final boss of the zone, he is always a challenge.  While learning this fight can easily take upwards of 10 minutes (13′21″ for our first kill).  While gear and experience will speed things up a bit, the quickest I’ve seen Nightbane taken down was 7′35″.  This is always a long fight, longer than anything else in Karazhan or even Gruul’s Lair – although Magtheridon does take us a *bit* longer.

Ho vagato per settimane nei cieli delle Outlands, cercando nemici a Skettis, Netherstorm e nella Shadowmoon Valley. Ho affrontato uomini serpente sotto le paludi di Zangramash e demoni nelle Caverne del Tempo di Tanaris. Ho ucciso i principi eterei nemici del Consorzio ad Auchindoun e ho conquistato Halaa per i figli dell’Orda…
Nonostante tutto questo, i miei racconti di oggi partono da una stalla.

Ho dunque messo piede per la prima volta nella Torre d’Avorio dell’Ultimo Guardiano di Tirisfal, Medivh, a Karazhan.
Volendo, mi potrei fermare qua, tant’è stata l’emozione di accedere alla dimora di un personaggio così leggendario per Azeroth. Ma non lo farò, perchè è giusto che i posteri sappiano.

Avevo detto che sarei dovuto andare a visitare l’arcimago Alturus, per comunicargli che avevo la chiave di Medivh, e così ho fatto. L’arcimago, insieme ad un paio di suoi apprendisti, mi attendeva infatti dinnanzi alla Torre, in un luogo remoto del Deadwind Pass.
Da quando Medivh è scomparso la situazione di Karazhan è assai confusa – le difese magiche sono rimaste attive, e non è molto chiaro chi ora occupi il maniero; la società segreta Violet Eye (legata ai Dalaran) si preoccupa di controllare lo stato del castello e Alturus ha necessità di una sorta di diario tenuto da un’agente della società infiltrato che sembra sia deceduto – ulteriori informazioni, mi verranno date dallo stalliere di Karazhan, Koren.

Come si può capire, il primo contatto l’ho avuto con i destrieri fantasma nella stalla della Torre, mentre cercavo di contattare tale Koren [Assessing the Situation]. Non è che questi cavalli traslucidi abbiano avuto modo di impensierirci — e questo non è successo nemmeno con Attumen the Huntsman e Midnight (rispettivamente cavaliere e cavallo fantasma). Tra l’altro, ho anche ottenuto qualcosa visto che frugando adosso al caduto sono riuscito a trovare gli Handwraps of Glowing Thought. Non si butta via niente, da queste parti.
Parlando con Koren veniamo a scoprire che si ricorda vagamente dell’infiltrata, Keanna, e che l’ultima volta che l’ha vista era nelle stanze degli ospiti; beh, almeno sappiamo da dove cominciare.

Ripulite le stalle, siamo passati ad affrontare la Maiden of Virtue nelle stanze degli ospiti e Moroes nei saloni della torre (vi sono ancora molti fantasmi che si radunano lì, nonostante non possano più mangiare… ironico).
[Moroes era il cameriere personale di Medivh, ma quando l'arcimago impazzì, il servitore morì circondato da visioni orrorifiche e squassato da malattie devastanti. Che sia un po' nervoso ora che è tornato in vita, lo posso anche capire. La cosa curiosa è che lotta insieme a vecchi nobili ospiti della sua mensa... Questo è cameratismo!]
Nonostante tutti i loro sforzi, la Maiden e Moroes (e i suoi amici) non avevano possibilità contro delle Brave tanto scafate, e anche qui ho avuto modo di accattare qualcosa (Brooch of Unquenchable Fury).

Dopo tutto quel macello nella sala dei banchetti, i miei compari mi hanno trascinato a teatro. Non che io ne sentissi la necessità, ma devo dire che alla fine mi sono pure divertito. In scena c’era “Cappuccetto Rosso e il Grande Lupo Cattivo” e ammetto che quando mi sono ritrovato sul palco nelle vesti di cappuccetto inseguito dal Lupo le mie migliori doti recitative sono venute fuori — come se fossi nato per questo!
Gli scroscianti applausi che hanno premiato la nostra interpretazione mi hanno scaldato le ossa, e ho concesso ai nostri fan anche un bell’inchino.
“Fatti non foste a viver come bruti…” diceva sempre il mio warlock trainer orco, a Ogrimmar.

Dopo tutta questa rumba, e la porca soddisfazione di aver contribuito alla nostra fama di attori consumati, non ho capito ne perchè ne per come, qualcuno ha deciso di andare in terrazza… E sono cominciati i casini.
Sul terrazzo di una torre esterna c’è piombato addosso Nightbane, un drago d’ossa esageratamente ingombrante.
Qui le cose si sono fatte dure, e io sicuramente ho sbagliato diverse volte.
Comunque sia, la bestia alata che sembrava indomabile, è poi dovuta scendere a più miti consigli dopo aver subito le peggio angherie che 10 Brave infoiate possono imporgli.
Il nostro mago (Hellskull) ha preso il focus che voleva, e tutti abbiamo lanciato un sospiro di sollievo (ora in terrazza si poteva respirare), consapevoli di aver fatto la nostra parte.

E così il giro a Karazhan è finito, ma necessitiamo ancora di esplorare un paio di aree perchè non abbiamo ancora capito chi comandi là dentro…

Oops, ora che ci penso, mi sono dimenticato di cercare il diario di Keanna. Beh, poco male, mi toccherà tornare nella torre a dare una controllata.

Nel caso dovesse servirmi in futuro, ho cominciato a disegnarmi una mappa di Karazhan.

A clearing of Tempest Keep (except for the old head-honcho himself, Kael’thas) tonight and more badgers to round up in Karazhan.

I want to improve (gear & skill) for each Tempest Keep run so I keep the stats and compare with previous fights.
Al’ar

Starting off, we downed Al’ar the Phoenix in Tempest Keep with a #10 ranking in overall damage output.

Miss rate (white damage): 18.9% much better than the 22.7% miss rate from last time.

Crit rate (white damage): 32%

Windfury proc rate: 29%

Void Reaver

Loot Reaver still kills a lot of raiders, even on a 1-shot. My damage done getting to #4 overall output to Void Reaver. In fact, I was #4 ranked in damage done back in Dec. 11, 2007.

Miss rate (white damage): 17.8% is actually worse than 15.7% back in Dec. 11, 2007. Hmmm.

Dps now: 784 vs. dps then 689.

Crit rate (white damage): 22%

Windfury proc rate: 27%

Strange that my crit rate and miss rate are worse now compared to Dec. 11, 2007, but my overall dps is higher.

High Astromancer Solarian

I continue to look forward to this fight because the mage has low armor and I can do more dps than any other boss in Tempest Keep. I did get 1626 dps vs. Solarian at one point. That’s the best I’ve done on any Tier 5 (SSC/TK) boss. Overall dps this time was #8 and 1053 dps. Even though I was ranked #6 back in Jan. 14th, my overall dps was 936.

Miss rate (white damage): 12.7% is mucho better than 18.1% on Jan. 14th, 2008.

Crit rate (white damage): 26%

Windfury proc rate: 30%

Karazhan

Still looking forward to the 2.4 badge rewards? I know I am. I just hope Blizzard doesn’t pull a frosty one on us and make the Badge rewards 2.4 Badges only or something.

Moroes

#3 ranked damage output on Moroes at 730 dps. Miss rate was 17.3% (not too bad) but that ole rogue can still dodge a fair bit (7% dodge rate). Ayep. The only difference from last week’s Karazhan is that I was in survival mode for most of this fight because the Moroes adds were running around mostly free. Last week dps: 946. Last week’s miss rate: 18.8%. Last week’s Windfury crit rate: 50%. Sometimes it is better to be lucky than good.

Crit rate (white damage): 20%

Windfury proc rate: 30%

Maiden of Virtue

Maiden was full of melee this go round. Again like last week, I ranked at #3 in overall damage done. My dps was slightly better at 780 dps vs. 754 dps last week. Only a 22.3% miss rate this time vs. last week’s parry-extravaganza 35.6% miss rate. 15% parries are serious, so I stayed behind the big lass as best I could this time.

Crit rate (white damage): 22%

Windfury proc rate: 34%

Opera – Big Bad Wolf

The Big Bad Wolf event from Opera was fun (and I don’t remember getting the Little Girl debuff) so I was one of three people who didn’t get killed and survived to rezz up the fallen raiders. Is he really that hard? Or people just not knowing the encounter, bad luck, etc.?

Miss rate (white damage): 12.9% (nice!)

Crit rate (white damage): 27%

Windfury proc rate: 18% (that’s all?! geez. unlucky)

Nightbane

Nightbane last week was horrible. This week was a little better because I only got one Charred Earth near me, so I could dps a fair bit this time. I was the main assist for the Rain of Bones. Managed up a 660 dps and #2 overall damage done to the scary skeletal dragon.

Miss rate (white damage): 15.1%

Crit rate (white damage): 33%

Windfury proc rate: 27%

More next week. Enjoy your WoW.

Oooohhhh – noch vor nicht all zu langer Zeit hätte ich folgender Karazhan Aufstellung gesagt “Wie weit solls gehen? Ballsaal?”:

• 1x Off Krieger
• 1x Def Krieger
• 1x Feral
• 2x Shadowpriest
• 2x Holy/Diszipriest
• 1x Schurke
• 1x Eleschammi
• 1x Paladin

Aber weit gefehlt – eigentlich – naja, nicht eigentlich sondern alles Mainchars, die auch alle wußten, was sie taten. Keine Bosserklärungen – kurze Ansagen á la “Ich nehm die beiden, nimm du die anderen” oder “Shackled mal irgendwas alles”. Alles hat prima gepasst! 5 Todesfälle über den ganzen Abend – immer der gleiche Shadow verreckt und einmal der Eleschammi. Kurzum -> in 3:02 Stunden war Karazhan dann leer. Ohne AoE-Bomber, Hexerzeugs – kein MD-Shot, trotzdem hat alles geklappt. Es zeigt hier nur wieder, das trotz des nicht zu vernachlässigbaren Equipmentvorteils, dann doch wohl nach wie vor gilt: Skill>>All. Immerhin fehlten ja einige der immer wieder beschrieenen Kernklassen für einige Bosse – oder der gern’ mehrfach benutzte AoE bei den grösseren Packs.

Aber Killtimings von:
-Kurator in der ersten Evocation auf 8% gebashed
-Siechhuf in unter 3 Minuten
-Aran starb mit 58% Mana
-Netherspite nur einmal verbannt
-Prinz in gut 3.5 Minuten
…das was unten herinnen steht wurde einfach im vorbeigehen umgewemmst. Mittnacht groß antanken? Wozu? Einfach mal den Klepper pullen und dann FullDPS-Go… Moroes wurde gar nicht zu seiner Meinung befragt – lediglich Tante Shattenpriesterin wurde vor ihm in die Ewigkeit geschickt (bis hierhin fehlte sogar noch einer, sprich wir waren lediglich 9 Mann). Die Maid? Kaum der Rede wert – 2x Buße, das wars. Im Theater den Zauberer von Oz, oha – kein Feuermage=unspiebar, weit gefehlt… Und bis dahin hatten wir mit 9.5 Leuten nicht mal eine Stunde verbraten.

Am Ende war es ein sehr entspannter Run. 22 Marken FTW. Schade, das man für Speed keinen Extrabonus bekommt…

What’s your game?
Sascha

Progress with my new guild has been exciting, we have 3 raid groups each week on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. The other week we downed Prince for the first time as you can see in my previous posts. Our raid group (Wednesday) has had good success, we have downed Nightbane and cleared all of Karazhan in 5 hours with the exception of Netherspite. We are trying our best to make sure one raid group isn’t progressing faster and leaving the others behind but Wednesdays group seems to be slipping ahead. I imagine we will be rotating spots around to make sure everyone has a fun time and doesn’t feel left out. One of our mages, Kiwifruit has been gearing up like crazy to be our mage tank for the Gruul fight and is really nervous.

A core group of players have been rocking the heroics on the side as well. Fathos (pally tank), Kiwifruit (mage), Xwizitrod (shadow priest or Rogue) and sometimes me are running heroic instances like there is no tomorrow and we’re doign it Really Really fast. We clear heroic Under Bog and Slave Pens in about an hour now. We have cleared heroic Shadow Labs now, it was extremely easy (I couldn’t tell a difference between heroic and non heroic) up to Murmur where we wiped about 10 times only to give up on the strat that we were using and come up with our own. We beat him on the first try.

I was playing Xwizitrod’s shadow priest during this heroic

Arena and Battle Grounds have played a little bit of a role as well. I got my Gladiator’s Warstaff last night (finally). We usually buy a 5v5 every 2 weeks to keep our score up and it has gone well, 300-350 points a week. This week however we threw a group of guildies together (completely random) and we actually gained some points instead of lost So that saved us 100g in arena charters (at least) and we’re going to go again this week with our new found team. On top of the 5v5 teams I have been screwing around with the other size brackets and it has been fun. This is a funny screenshot, check out our leetness.