My priest has been neglected as of late as my baby druid ever slowly inches toward 80. As my guild has serval alts around the same level that are dps or heals it was suggested that I turn bear to tank for alt runs. It was an off hand suggestion but it really nagged at me. I wanted my druid to tank and heal from the first day I made her. She was feral up to level 40 when I dual spec’d into Balance/Resto. I was so frustrated at not holding aggro that I gave it up. But I always wanted to have a big ass polearm on my dainty night elf. Polearms look a big odd on a boomkin or a tree. I kept 2 in my bank from Outlands because I thought they looked wicked cool. But, also there are no caster polearms.

Kells made the suggestion and by the next day I had enlisted Keeb the tree to help me out. I cobbled together a tank set from my leatherworking and some stuff I got out of dungeons for my “off spec” if no one wanted them. I still don’t have any trinkets yet. I guess Bliz thinks tanks don’t need trinkets at low levels. >< Keeb made me a marginal tanking neck and off we went to the druid trainer in Moonglade. We got my spec done and he gave me a tanking crash course at the training dummies in Stormwind. Then we headed over to Borean Tundra to practice on mammoths with a side benefit of skinning them. I was as ready as I could be with out actually tanking anything. I looked over the dungeons I could do and we chose UK as the first one I would attempt. AJ came on his shammy and off we went.

I warned the other people in the group I was a noob cake tank and to please let me get aggro before attacking. They did as I asked and it went really well. Keeb would sneak past me and pull other mobs to keep me on my toes. He said, just wait till you have to deal with a hunter! LOL (OMG, he was right! Stupid trigger happy huntards… ) I don’t think I blinked the entire time we were in there. My eyes were so sore after that! I was trembling so bad, thank god for Keeb and AJ in vent. We did a few more and AJ died once in the exploding corpses in UK. But, other than that – no deaths – more from Keeb being OP for reg UK and OK than my tanking skills. I’ve settled into it pretty well, considering I was a crit chicken a few days ago.

Being a tank is so differant than being a healer. People listen to me now. If I’m in the back drinking or skinning, they run off without me – even if I tell them what I’m doing. Now, when my big butt sits down and doesn’t more – no one else moves either. I like that power. I totally power trip when I’m skinning every little thing and no one dares to charge ahead of me. It does seem like if the tank talks people listen. If the healer talks, it’s ignored and they keep on rolling. (Then bitch you out when they die.) I am a bit scared of that power tho. I can get really lost really quickly. I just hope the dps doesn’t just blindly follow me in that situation.

But… the best part about being a tank is that I finally get to have a polearm!!! Keeb and I were going to ZD to grind out some leather from the raptors when we stopped by the Ampitheater of Anquish. We solo’d the first two bosses when a ret pally came along and helped us out. At the end of the quest line was a shiny new polearm for little old me! I had the worst epically ugly feral staff in the history of the game and I was so glad to get a new weapon! Especially a big, sexy polearm. Now that I had said polearm, it needed an equally sexy enchant. Mongoose was in order but our enchanter didn’t have it. Kells suggested a Kara run. ZOMG! Yes! Please Please! I need a Kara run because I’ve never done it before.

I hopped back on my priest and we four manned Kara. The Mongoose enchant dropped right away and so did another one. We got to play chess and were attacked by faux Wizard of Oz characters! It was heaven! I got my achievement and my new polearm enchanted. Hells yeah!

We did the Valentine’s day holiday boss in SFK today. When it came time to switch to alts it was so cool to bring my druid! It drops 226 level stuff and I got a decent tanking neck. Not looking forward to doing that everyday on multiple toons tho. A few times is fun but after that its a grind. That whole charm bracelet needs to be reworked. I am a healer and a tank – I rarely if ever land a killing blow.

So I had the most surreal experience last night.

Since layteknight is in warlock mode lately and talking about nothing but, I caught the DoT, so to speak, and felt the urge to pick up my own demonic caster. She’s level 19 and looks very cute in heirlooms and is spoiled beyond all belief because if she wasn’t I would fail abysmally. Me and ‘locks…not a winning combo unless I’m tanking for them.

Anyway, I haven’t played her in ages, so I think to myself, meh, why not? I pick her out of my character list and load her up. I spend the obligatory fifteen minutes cleaning up her bags, bank and mail, revisit her spec to see if it makes sense to me (nope, but then, it never did), and look in my quest log to see where I want to go. My reaction to its contents is roughly equivalent to “ew,” so instead I pop into the LFG.

Normally I am loathe to do the LFG if I’m unfamiliar with the class I’m playing. Sucking publically and/or inconveniencing 4-24 other people are not attractive thigns to me. But I figure I should be safe in this one case because I’m level 19. Nobody at that level knows what they’re doing. And it’s just a lowbie run; these things are keyed to be easy. Should be nice and low pressure. A much needed break from the high pressure, self-absorbed, too fast, unfriendly, half-finished PuGs in heroics. Right?

Right?!

Wrong. First thing I see when I load up in the instance (SFK)? I’m alone at the entrance. The group’s already past the first boss.

Oh. Okay. Whatever, that’s fine.

Then the first words out of the tank’s mouth are: “7 minuts til we kik u lil dickhead.”

“Ya,” chimes in the rogue, “fuckin rtard. u better put thos shuldrs on.”

“Wow,” I comment in the party chat, “what a friendly group I’ve joined.” I throw in a happy face, ’cause, you know, deescalate the situation maybe? You’re level 20. You’re not going to make it to 80 if you’re getting that mad already. Trust me.

“Fckng rtrd tnks hs mele,” the rogue informs me, apparently so angry he’s lost the use of his vowels. “AND HES GT 7 DPS. IM DOIN 35 WTHUT AMBUHS!!!!!!!”

And, despite the fact that this is obviously srs bzness, I giggle. Because…OMG, for real? 35 DPS? And this is a big issue for you? Don’t get me wrong, that’s decent DPS for that level assuming absolutely no extenuating circumstances, and yeah, 7 is probably low…I don’t know. Raiding has sort of removed the meaning from any numbers under 2000 for me. I’m just used to people screaming something similar, only with a couple zeros after it, that’s all. It’s funny to see it all naked, let alone to see someone so upset over it.

Anyway, the rogue continues screaming in caps at the hunter – who, apparently, ninjaed “his” shoulders. The hunter’s shoulders are naked, so the Rugged Spaulders (+8 AGI, leather) look like a valid need roll to me, but I wasn’t there, so I don’t comment. But I am vaguely frowny about the yelling and the swearing. Level 19 Hunter fighting in melee, talking in the say instead of the party chat, won awesome shoulders of the nothing-else-at-this-level, but doesn’t equip them? Poor kid’s probably brand spanking new to the game, and what a wonderful introduction he’s had so far. But before I can say anything non-vitriolic to him, they’ve kicked him. I vote with them, since, as I said, I wasn’t there and don’t know the details, and new or not, party chat or say, the kid is swearing his own blue streak right back. I am obviously surrounded by Quality Gentlemen at this point.

“You wouldn’t believe who you’re replacing,” says the tank, with a shake of his furry, ursine head (or so I imagine). “A pally with a GREEN sword and a SHAMAN offhand DOING 12 DPS.”

Um…I’m sorry, but we’re all level 20 or under, here. Did you seriously just complain about someone’s gearscore?! The only reason I’m not in greys is because, once again, I’m a stinking rich, spoiled rotten alt decked out in heirlooms. She was wearing vendor-whites as soon as I could get to a mailbox to pick up my free money. Most under-20s aren’t so privileged.

Then the tank says “hury up guys go,” and proceeds to chain pull the entire instance.

Between looting and skinning, I participate in maybe one of three trash pulls. Stuff is dying faster than I can put DoTs on it anyway so I don’t care much. Every time the healer and I stop for mana, the tank says “hurry up” and the rogue says “gogogo” and the move on without us. The pally pulls aggro like a bitch and constantly links the damage metres (literally about every other pull) to show she’s on top. The damage metres. At level 20. Why is Recount even on?

The tank leaves for work after Fenrus. We rejoin the queue and pull in a warrior to tank for us. Immediately after she joins the group, for reasons beyond my comprehension, the rest of us mulch through everything between us and Arugal without waiting for her to navigate the marathon that is that instance. As I’m nervously staring at Arugal, knowing that he is seven kinds of nasty at this level, and typing “maybe we should wait for the tank”, the pally runs in and aggros him. The warrior makes it to us halfway through the fight, but not in time to prevent a wipe.

It is a long fucking run back through the instance.

In the end, I won Odo’s Ley Staff, the Feline Mantle, and the Belt of Arugal. I dinged 20. And yet, despite the material rewards, I felt frazzled, bewildered, and kind of lost. I hearthed back to Dal in a daze and only just remembered to open my loot bag before logging (a blue bloak “of the bear”, which was the crowning achievement of the run).

All I could think as I closed the game headed to bed was, I don’t have to wait for Cataclysm to run heroic SFK.

I think I just did.

Willkommen in Asozialien oder auch: Ein ganz normaler Tag für einen Student.

Natürlich ist es im Ermessen eines jeglichen Studenten pünktlich zur FH zu kommen, natürlich studiert man auch fleißig die öffentlichen Bus- und in Kiel auch Fährpläne. Man möchte doch lediglich zu seiner heißgeliebten Hochschule, um dort fleißig zu studieren. Man wartet doch morgens nur regelrecht auf pausenlose Berieselung.

Umso beschissener wenn an einem kalten ungemütlichen Tag der Bus noch zu spät kommt. Der Fahrer mit endloser Lethargie den Bus um die Kurven schunkelt und dabei über 6 Minuten Verspätung einfährt. Es ist noch beschissener, wenn einen der Fährmeister über den gesamten Steg noch wüste Beschimpfungen entgegen wirft. Als ob man etwas dafür könnte!!!

Jeden morgen das gleiche!!

Alternative zur Fähre: Die ELF!
Die ELF, die jeden morgen auch mindestens 10 Minuten Verspätung einfährt, die ELF, die Osttour-Cruises zum Highlight macht, die ELF, die Gaarden-Sightseeing heißen müsste. Jaja, die ELF.

Im Grunde ist es eine Wahl zwischen Pech und Schwefel: Unschuldig am Steg angeraunzt zu werden: Denn wer immer noch am lautesten schreit hat Recht oder ELF-Tours durch Gaarden Hills mit garantierter Verspätung.

Am besten man geht dann lieber in Ruhe ne Stunde zu Fuß oder geht gar nicht mehr studieren.

Beschwerdemails gingen bereits raus an KVG, SFK und ASTA.

So nicht!
Ich denke nur, ändern wird sich eh nie etwas …

so it’s been a little hectic since I got back to salt lake a week or two ago. go look at the sfk blog instead. shit is going down at 992!

Bir bardak içinde sönen önemsiz sigaralar…

Tüm insan hayatları böyle değil tabiki. Bazıları kibrit olarak bazıları da sigara olarak gözlerini yumarlar hayata. Benim ki hangisi bilemiyorum. Fakat sigaraya yakın gözüküyor. Dünya üzerinde yaşamların devamı için hep bir telkini olmalı insanın. Onu yapmalı, şunu yapmalı ya da bunu yapmalı! Birde telkini olmayanlar var tabiki, zamanlarının hepsini düşünerek geçirir bu telkinsizler; ne kimseyle paylaşabilirler bu düşüncelerini, ne de vaz geçebilirler. En iyisimi her şeyi oluruna bırakmaktır çoğu zaman. Toplum dışı düşünce yapısı, öyle durakta ki insanların uzağında otobüs beklemeye de benzemez. Belirsiz bir haldir bu hal…

Ertesi gün sabah olur, yaşamak için düşünmemeye başlar artık insan. Ya ayak uyduracak ya da bu karmaşada yok olacaktır. Hemen de pes etmez, çaresizce planlar kurmaya başlar. Sonucunu en ufaktan bile kestiremediği onlarca plan. Günün birinde bu planlarda işe yaramayacaktır artık. Dış kapının dış mandalı olmuş şizofreni, git gide yer etmeye başlar aklında. Sığınacak, korunacak bir şey arar istemsiz olarak. Şanslıysa bulacaktır ama, işler yolunda gitmediği zaman dış hatlara kapalı olan beyni daha fazla enerji harcamak zorunda kalacaktır.

Önemsiz sigaralar, dünya gezegeninde işte böyle yaşamaktadırlar. Onların bu anlatılmayan, gizli ve sorgusuz hayatları başta da söylediğimiz gibi ikiye ayrılıyor; ya sigara olarak şansını bekleyeceksin ya da kibrit olup bir sigara daha yacaksın…

www.sfkurt.wordpress.com

Dünya denilen bu ufak yerleşke insan oğlunun başına her zaman türlü dertler açmıştır. Bir yanda insani ihtiyaçlar, diğer yanda bitmek tükenmek bilmeyen zalim eğoizm ve savaşlar. İşte her hareketimiz, her tavrımız, her küskünlüğümüz bu sebeplerden…

Daha dün gibi hatırlayamayız dünyanın geçmişini. Neden? Çünkü birde bencilizdir bizler. Buna acizlikte eklenince farkında olan kişiye çok komik gözükür dünya. Sizede komik görünmüyor mu? Görünüyorsa ne mutlu -Göremiyorum kör oldum- diyorsanız ne acı

Ben hayatım boyunca hep gelecek taraftarı olmuş bir insanım. Daha doğrusu hiç bilinmeyen bişeyi ilk defa gördüğüm de, tattığım da ya da kokladığımda en büyük hazzı teneffüs etmiş olurum. Cümle içinde kullanacak olursak, “Buğün elleri ve kulakları olan bir sehpa ile yürüyüşe çıktım.” Bu imgesel soyutlar imkan (hayalgücü) dahilinde çogaltılabilir.

Hani çok sıcak bir yaz günü, tek şeritli bir otobanın hemen yanı başında derme çatma içinde türlü lüzumsuzlukların satıldığı garip dükkanlar vardırya. İşte kendimi aynen öyle hissediyorum. Camlardan içeri yağan toz güneşi ve sıkıcı sinek vızıltıları gibi…

Bu tarz düşünceleri sakın evde tek başınıza denemeyin

www.SFKurt.wordpress.com

A couple of us in the guild have “hidden” alts.

These are toons that we have purposefully left out of the normal guild for various reasons.

My priest is my hidden alt.

I’ve kept him out of the guild for two reasons:

• First, I want to avoid the temptation of power leveling through the lower levels. I really want to learn how to heal as I get each new spell and see how they all fit together. I don’t want to get to 80 and freak out with too much stuff to figure out.
• Second, I <3 my guildmates. I really do. But the people we hold dear are also the people most likely to send us off the deep end and the people I am more likely to go ballistic on and then later regret it. Absence makes the heart grow fonder sort of thing. And sometimes I really just want a break from them.

Of course, I forgot the deductive capabilites of one of my guildmates. I should know better, I used to be his boss. I know that when the topic is completely useless and irrelevant to any actual productive activity he has the nose of a bloodhound and fucking channels Sherlock Holmes.

I inadvertently gave him just one too many pieces of information one day and he was able to track me down. I guess I was the only level 11 priest in all of Tirisfal that day.

So he knows, but has been very respectful about leaving me alone.

I have conversed with another guildmate about our hidden alts. He knew I had a priest of a certain level. I knew he had a hidden ret paladin. We talked about gear and stats and how much easier these instances are the second time through. He also reads my blog.

So I’m in LFG for SFK. SSSSSSSSSSSFK. Not RFK.

A rogue picks me for group. We also end up with a pally, a mage, and a DPS priest.

The paladin asks me, “So [name]. Are you terrible?”

Is this the standard greeting for healers in a group? Should I have been harassing healers in all my PuGs?

It wasn’t quite the same as the greeting I got in that one group, but maybe this is someone that reads my blog…

The paladin has “ret” in the name (a really cheesy name, I might add) so was a little unsure about the tanking, but said he had tanking experience on another toon so he could do it.

Hmmm… the plot thickens.

I suggested that he keep Righteous Fury up and we should be fine so long as no one does anything stupid.

He responds, “Righteous frickin’ Fury”

OK, that’s an inside joke in the guild. Our normal pally tank eventually had to get an add on to tell him to put Righteous Fury back on when it dropped because he was tired of hearing me scream in vent to put his RIGHTEOUS FRICKIN’ FURY BACK ON BEFORE WE ALL DIE AGAIN.

That pretty much seals it and we have a couple laughs.

So much for “hidden” alts.

The SFK run was insanely easy.

Not for a lack of trying on the part of the mage and the rogue.

What is it with DPS thinking they need to get the first shot in? I never had this issue. I recognized that I was squishy. I did not want to attract attention to myself. This is not the mage you’re looking for.

The ret pally did just fine tanking and no one died so I must have done just fine healing.

I got a nice belt drop for my troubles and completed 3 quests. I also hit level 26.

Group disbands, pally logs off.

I get a random whisper asking if I’ll heal RFK.

But I hate the piggies… meh, should be fast. Sure.

Join group.

Group leader is a Forsaken rogue, 27.

Next person is a blood elf rogue, 31.

Next person is a Forsaken rogue, 31.

FFS, get someone that can wear mail in here to tank!

Last person joins… blood elf… level 27… rogue.

Oh, hell no.

The 4th rogue and I start comparing gear, she’s decked out in almost as much BoA as I am, the other three seem to be average geared except the leader who is undergeared.

But hey, he says he just spent 30 gold gearing up his character. We all had a pretty good laugh at his expense on that one.

The rogue leader at one point insinutes that because I’m the lowest level member of the party (by 1 level) that if there were to be ANY problems with the run it would be because of me. Not because we don’t have a tank. Oh, and the fact that I outgear most healers 5 levels higher than me doesn’t even come into play.

They finally convince me to give it a shot. I figure it should be a good exercise in “OMGWTFBBQPEWPEWHEALZ” and get ready to head out.

But they found a pally in LFG so just dumped the 4th rogue. Mind you, she had offered to step out if a tank was found, but the leader just dumped her.

The leader pipes up with the random comment of, “I’m adding these rogues to my friends list!”

OK… random… smile and nod… I’m guessing he’s about 12.

So the two 30s rogues say they are at the stone summoning but it’s not working, we’re all going to have to run.

What? I was just there 2 levels ago, that doesn’t make any sense. I should still be well within the level range, as is the lower level rogue.

Wait. Why are they in Tirisfal?

Look at the map.

Yup. They’re up at Scarlet Monastery.

Um, guys. We seem to have a difference in opinion on which instance is being run. Can we come to a decision here?

*chirp* *chirp*

Leader finally says, “we’re running RFK”

OK, you might want to convince your other 2 rogues of that. They are no where near RFK and just tried to summon us to SM.

No response from the rogues.

The leader starts going off about how he’s been trying to put this group together for 2 hours and it’s so hard.

I almost spit out my drink.

I tell him to organize a 25-man Naxx and then we’ll talk about hard.

The conversation meanders and I’m just shy of being an absolute dick. I’m having fun.

Within a few minutes people come to the conclusion that the party is going no where and begin to drop out. The 2 rogues never did say anything again.

I’m the last to leave the group. Right before I do I post, “Well at least you have those 2 rogues on your friends list!”

Almost immediately, I get invited back.

WTF? How much abuse must I heap upon you before you will leave me alone?

He invites back the 4th rogue that he booted earlier and makes an attempt at an apology.

She leaves anyway.

Finally he gets a new pally and a shaman.

I’m testing the waters so see if we can try to 4-man this.

The pally seems intelligent, with a sense of humor. The shaman has BoA gear.

So, rogue… what’s your main’s class?

Knowing what someone normally plays may offer insight to their playstyle.

“I don’t really have one.”

OK… anything above 60?

“I’ve got 8 toons on this server, all 20-30.”

Oh god, we’re doomed.

He’s 12 and has ADD.

Somehow, he finds a bored DK that will run it with us.

I’ve been wanting to avoid getting run through instances, but I’ve already proven I can heal this one so I’ll let it slide this time. I also want more wool.

The rogue is a bit of a loose cannon.

He kept running up to the next mob, no stealth, and going to town right in its face.

Rogue, I don’t heal stupid, OK?

“But I like being in the action.”

I can tell by your gear that you have run in groups before. (He had a couple BoP blues from RFC and surprisingly, BFD.) Has no one ever explained the concept of tanking to you?

“I’m trying to get new gear, it’s not my fault it’s bad.”

I honestly was not making a crack at your gear.

Somehow, I manage to keep him alive through the run. Probably had something to do with the fact he was the only one I had to heal.

I picked up a BoE wand that was better than my enchanting one, but I think it’s time for me to make myself the next wand up. I’m also sporting the Moonsoul Crown and loving even that tiny bit of mana regen. I loves Mp5.

On my mage in a PuG, I feel nervous about my performance. Will I be good enough? What if I do something stupid?

On my priest it’s rapidly becoming: Why do you suck and why are you doing stupid things?

Playing a healer triggers an elitist complex in me.

I’m enjoying myself. =)

I love my city and I love dynamic choir Undefeated even more! If you happen to be in town on Good Friday, make sure you check them out in concert. Also on the bill is  rap group SFK (Seek First the Kingdom) and Tinika Wyatt. Its sure to be a true treat and most importantly..its FREE! Amen somebody!  For more info head on over to Undefeated’s official myspace page

Sehr interessante Infos bzw. Schlagwörter wie Communities, Blogs, Twitter, RSS-Feeds, Suchen+Finden.

iPhonAsia comment: Representative Gary Ackerman takes the SEC to task. iPhonAsia has written to the SEC several times in the last two years regarding hedge funds and market abuses. We received one form letter response in May 2008, some 5 months after our letter. Hence, in July 2008 we wrote an open letter to the SEC. Sadly our concerns have proved to be quite real. See letter below or > READ HERE

The video above is just a short clip from today’s hearings. Ackerman’s full dialogue with the SEC is compelling, confrontational and cuts right through the SEC’s legalese. This is well worth the click. Hit the play video button below.

Ackerman’s Attack on SEC CNBC - 5 hours, 42 MINUTES AGO

Here’s a video calling on the SEC to ban the SKF! (double short financials), See > VIDEO HERE 

Open letter to SEC Chairman Christopher Cox

Dear Chairman Cox:

Thank you for your recent acknowledgement that naked short selling is a problem that needs to be addressed. There’s much more to be done and I would like to emphasize a few points. 

First - Ignore the men in the expensive suits.  The ones who are now “working you” to protect their turf.  Reg SHO exemptions do not provide for free and efficient markets. Rather they have opened the door for abuse. The SEC MUST end grandfathering and eliminate the options market maker exception to the close-out requirement of Regulation SHO. The SEC’s own data shows that as of January 31, 2008, the options market maker exception was claimed in 16 threshold securities for a total of 6,365,158 fails to deliver. As of February 29, 2008, your own report shows the exception was claimed in 20 threshold securities for a total of 6,963,949 fails to deliver. That’s abuse!

Second - Go to Congress and use your bully pulpit to push for regulation of hedge funds.  Go also to the FSA and IOSCO and get all key international regulatory authorities on the same page.  The drunken party in the Cayman Islands needs to end.

Third – Reinstate the uptick rule.  Your studies were flawed and the industry smooth-talked their way into billions in manufactured profits by way of the uptick removal. I can just imagine the celebration on Grand Cayman the night after the SEC repealed the uptick rule.  Hedge fund managers in Tommy Bahama attire must have been puffing Cubans, swilling expensive brandy and toasting their newfound wealth.  Repealing the uptick rule was dumb and dumber!

Fourth – Expand and make permanent the emergency Reg SHO enhancements to all stocks – end all naked shorting … period!

Fifth – All of the above need to proceed at a rapid pace!

Giving your rambunctious teenager the keys to the Ferrari, the pool house and the liquor cabinet, and then leaving on holiday and expecting there to be no trouble is just foolish.  That’s exactly what the SEC is doing by allowing hedge funds to go unregulated, giving them freedom from the uptick rule, and virtually no action on naked shorts’ fails to deliver.

I believe the SEC has lost track of their mission –

… “to protect investors, maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets,” …

That’s to protect investors.  There are tens of millions of investors who, during options expiration, watch their stocks being pinned to strike prices by large institutions and hedge funds who are manipulating the prices to maximize their own profits.

Ask yourself a simple question.  How or why is it that hedge funds control only a fraction of the asset base compared to mutual funds, institutions and retail investors (there’s that “investors” word again) and yet they account for 70% of the daily trading volume on the NYSE?  Is this hedge fund investment activity?  No!  It’s rapid and massive market manipulation.  And much of this activity is done collusively!  The SEC and FINRA and other SROs are out manned and under-budgeted … but that is not an excuse to shrug your shoulders on the sidelines.  Put some heads on spears!  The markets still runs on greed and fear.  Clever hedge funds have no fear … they’ve effectively transferred this fear to retail investors whom they know will surrender their stocks in the face of their pre-determined ploys to whipsaw selected equities.

Remember your mission Chairman Cox.  “To protect investors, maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets.”

Think about British Colonel Nicholson (Alec Guinness) in the film The Bridge on the River Kwai … The Colonel, as a prisoner of war, leads his men in the construction of a bridge to re-supply the Japanese in Burma (WWII). A small team of allies stealthily make their way to the POW camp at night and succeed in wiring the bridge with explosives. They intend to blow the bridge in the morning just as the supply train crosses. Yet the river recedes over night exposing the wires. Making a final inspection, Col. Nicholson notices the wires and brings it to the attention of the Japanese commandant (Saito). The two men frantically hurry down to the riverbank, pulling up and following the wire towards the detonator. When they get too close, a firefight erupts. Nicholson yells for help and tries to stop the bridge detonation. Colonel Nicholson then recognizes a former escapee (Shears – William Holden) and then he’s hit by fire. Nicholson suddenly comes to his senses and exclaims “What have I done?”  Nicholson stumbles over to the detonator and falls on the plunger as he dies… just in time to blow up the bridge and send the train hurtling into the river.

The proud Colonel almost forgot whose side he was fighting on. “What have I done?”

Chairman Cox remember whose side you’re on.  It’s not the Hedge Funds … they are not investors.  Fall on the plunger and blow up the bridge you’ve built to billions in manufactured profits.

Scene: SFK 1st run as a baby bear tank lvl 20

Group: Someones decked out warlock alt… had all the wintergrasp gear and some fancy spell-patched pants. A hunter with a spider, a rogue (bouncy blood elf) and a low level druid as heals.

Knowledge: I do this in bear form right?

Spec: I wasn’t planning on being a tank, I was actually speced for being an awesome shape shifter and thinking about becoming a tree.

Gear: …err I had clothes on. (I did have leveling pants on… sure they were dirty leather whites but with +30 stam at that level I feel sooo hardcore – unfair advantage really.)

On with the highlights of the show:

So a room or two in the little hunter pipes up with: “Oh I’ve got no arrows.” “…But that’s okay man – I have this sword.” *Insert a bear boggle* O_O *No no no – it’s not okay. A hunter can’t not have arrows and stuff. It’s just not hunterly… unless you are like the one and only melee hunter on the server, and if you were a respectable melee hunter your bow skill would be like 1, and you would have mentioned the lack of arrows before the group.*

Spent most of instance learning how to steal threat back from a crazy hunter, a hunter pet with growl on, a decked out warlock and a rogue (rogues can be quite unpredictable can’t they?) while trying to keep wolf spawns off the healer (who would sometimes turn tail and run away out of the room when attacked) – not that he was a bad healer he just got a little OOM every now and then… made me nervous, had to pop my herbal heal occasionally. The warlock was a Pro he would run mobs to me – sweet sweet over geared warlock!…. anyway was a good lesson I guess… kinda like trying to herd cats. Got a bit quieter when the hunter ran out of arrows.

The little hunter rolled need on & won the final BOP cloth drop… it had spell or sprirt or some other boring not-hunter not-feral-druid stat. We had a mage, warlock and spell druid in the group – damn that was some bad manners. Announces “Well the other guy got the cloak so I get this” in party chat. *Ooooh hunter shame.* I wonder if he was surprised when no one was willing to do the instance again so he could try for the cloak?

That’s one baby hunter I wasn’t interested in coddling… or standing near… uh-huh that dudes totally not with me… we be completely unrelated.

My newfound noob tank wisdom:

• My growl taunt works behind me woot.
• Feral faerie fire totally rocks.
• When pulling a group it’s best to start by taunting a mob then focusing on one of the others – this way the hunter, his pet and the crazy rogue get nothing in the way of aggro no matter how hard they try by hitting everything but the guy I am hitting… bwahahahaha
• Swipe is my friend
• I need a Glyph of Maul
• Demoralizing Roar is my friend
• Being a herbalist has saved my toonish life
• And apparently being tank makes you the total group leader, responsible for directions, rest stop, roll disputes and probably kill orders. I had better go bind those raid icons to some keys… maybe if there is a big skull on the screen everybody will try to kill just it.
• Herbal heal works while shape shifted
• Other hunters … can kinda suck O_O (Guess my shock must-have been loudly verbalised throughout the instance because it looks like The Pally-Shammy blogged me while I was at it lol – this is what happens when you let guildies in your house)

Damn I love being a noob.

Här ovan skådas beviset Arugals förkrossande förlust mot <Fabulous Three>. Som utlovat blev guildets SFK run en enkel och smärtfri gearuppgradering för de tre kamraterna.  Med föreställningen att Blackfathom Deeps skulle presentera en välbehövd utmaning för hjältarna stormade de in där vid level 24. Och vände uppochner på stället. Vid några få olyckliga tillfällen blev fienderna så pass livrädda för de tre erövrarna att de sprang och samlade på sig hjälp, vilket i sin tur ledde till en eller två wipes. Men inget kunde stoppa Aku’mais oundvikliga underlag.

Med ett ryck på axlarna rusade våra hjältar vidare mot nya utmaningar. Näst på tur stod Charlga Razorflank och hennes otrevliga armé av grismän. RFK var onekligen den tuffaste utmaningen hittills för <Fabulous Three>, men presenterade inga direkta problem. Precis som förra instancen så var gruppens enda riktiga svaghet flyende fiender. Prällé fick peka mycket med sitt mäktiga finger och Rallf sprang omkring som en galning, men en efter en dog grisarna. Bossarna var generösa med loot för Rollf och Snowfish, synd bara att de alla var för låg level för att kunna använda pryttlarna. Den mäktiga slutstriden mot Charlga själv poserade ett seriöst problem för hjältarna. Hon är caster, och därmed svår att pulla till en bra screenshotposition. Det löste sig till slut, vilket vi kan se beviset på här nedan.

En efter en krossar det nystartade tremannaguildet spelets instancer. Och frågan de ställer sig är: finns det någon som kan stoppa dem? Mekgineer Thermaplugg står näst på tur.

Sexta feira, namorado morando longe, mortalmente entediada, fazer o que?

Me deu vontade de repetir Shadowfang Keep, e foi ótimo!!!!

Primeiro uma reclamação, detesto qdo o cara vaza no meio da instance, estavamos num grupo de 5, no meio do caminho o healer caiu fora, tudo bem, um paladino quebrou o galho, mais pra frente o hunter sumiu, resultado wipamos no boss.

Resolvemos tentar de novo e ding ding, boss down!! O paladino pegou o aggro, eu fiquei no dps e o druid desceu a porrada.

Bons drops pra mim, sendo a unica q usa cloth:

Fenru’s Hide

Bloody Apron

Belt of Arugal

Odo’s Ley Staff

Entre outras coisas que eu desencantei. Pena q foi quase tudo soulbound, senao dava pra fazer uma graninha na AH.

I always think of SFK as a higher level dungeon than it actually is. Before the 2.3 patch level adjustments, I remember someone inviting me to heal SFK as a level 22 priest, and I said, “I don’t think I’m high enough level, but thanks anyway.” They reassured me that 22 was plenty high, so I went, and of course I was fine. Since that patch, and I’ve been accidently exceeding the level recommendations for lots of instances, so I decided I’d better hustle and get my 22 mage into SFK there before she missed her LFG window. Curiously, all the quests were orange or red, but hey, it wasn’t like I was going to solo the thing, right?

I entered the LFG and a level 23 paladin (in a guild) invited me to join his group almost immediately. Sweet! I refreshed the LFG window, and noted another group of two had already appeared, a level 22 Blood Elf mage and a 22 Undead warlock (both from the same guild). The paladin seemed to be on top of things — within a few moments, our groups had merged. So, looked like we had plenty of DPS. I asked the paladin if he would be tanking or healing. “I tank.”

The paladin was in the area right next to the instance, but everyone else was scattered about. I was killing harpies in the northwest part of the Barrens, but since nobody else seemed to be heading to the stone, I decided to make my way there while we waited for a healer. I hoofed it back to the Crossroads and hopped a flight to to Orgrimmar. During all this time, the paladin didn’t seem to be making much of an effort to recruit a healer. He wasn’t posting in the LFG channel or anywhere else. Instead, he was busy linking us all the blue items he’d picked up in a previous SFK run. Ah, a budding Loot Linker. He informed us of other drops that could happen while we were in there, and lets us know which ones he would like. (Annoying as this was, he didn’t carry it to the next behavior that often accompanies this, the “If [this] drops, can I have it?” No, if that drops you can roll for it, kiddo.)

After about 10 minutes of waiting, the other mage said, “This isn’t working. Bye.” He left the group. Crap. I decided I’d better take recruiting into my own hands if we were going to get this run going. (I know, here I go interfering again…) I posted in the LFG that we needed 2 more, including a healer. Someone whispered me and asked if we cared about getting experience. They were a level 56 something or another. I said yes we were, but thanked them. “That’s cool,” they said, and added that they really loved SFK and were always looking for an opportunity to run through it.

A few minutes later, I advertised again, and got another whisper, this time from a level 40ish person who said they could bring in a level 22 warlock. I told them that would be great! “I know finding people for low level instances is rough these days,” they said. I don’t know that I necessarily agree, but what the heck. “Indeed,” I said. They switched characters and were added to our party.

Still no healer, so I took a more aggressive approach to finding one by messaging people who were questing in the area. (Cold invites? What is this project turning me into?! I’m going native… the horror…) “Sorry to bother you, but we’re looking for a healer for SFK. Would you be interested in joining us?” I asked a few priests in the level range and each turned me down. Questing with a friend, logging off soon… all the same reasons I usually give when my priest gets random invites. (Sometimes I do accept these invites, but when I really want to run an instance, I’ll put myself in the LFG.) I also started posting in the General channel. “LF1M for SFK, need healer please.”

“I’ll go,” whispered a level 28 paladin. Woo! 28 seemed a little high, but I really wanted to get the run going, so I asked the tank (who was still our leader) to invite him. “Hes 28,” said the tank. “That’s fine,” said the warlock. Good good. Turns out we couldn’t summon him because 28 was too high for the stone, but he was already in the area, so was able to join us shortly. Buffs were exchanged and away we went!

The tank was pretty much a charge in and start swinging kind of guy. No discussion, no marking. This was fine because we had plenty of DPS and people seemed to improvise pretty well, but for healers, SFK has a lot of line of sight issues. With all the multi-level rooms and winding stairs, just standing out of the fray means you’re not always in a good position to heal everyone. The healer was standing a bit far behind us at times, but when he did actually get a heal in, it was a big one, so it didn’t seem we were in danger. I hoped that after a few close calls, he’d come closer to the group.

We got to the bit where the guy unlocked the door for us, revealing a staircase leading down into a large courtyard filled with mobs. The tank charged down the stairs into the first group and we followed. I watched the tanks health get lower and lower and … I looked at the healer’s health, and it too was plummeting. I checked the map, and it turns out that the healer had gotten attacked before he managed to get through the door. Uh-oh. I don’t know if he hit patrols or whether he grabbed aggro off a group we skipped, but he was getting totally nailed by something back there. My inner priest felt completely helpless. “HEAL” said the tank. Well, that’s helpful.

I figured that just as long as one of paladins survived, they could resurrect the other, so I stayed and helped the tank finish off the mobs he was killing. He must have had a healing potion or healed himself, because he managed to survive, and we all ran up the stairs to help the healer. The healer survived, but just barely. The tank said, “Y NO HEAL????” The healer actually said nothing in his defense, so I spoke up. “He was getting attacked back here, and had no line of sight on you.” “Yep,” said the healer. The tank was not apologetic at all, and in my notes about the run at this point, I scrawled the word “obnoxious” in capital letters, but I forgot to take a screenshot of what was said next, so you can fill in the blank there.

After we were all healed and buffed again, we proceeded down the stairs together and took on a few more groups. We talked to the dude laying on the floor to complete the Deathstalkers in Shadowfang quest, and as we were waiting for folks to get their mana back, the healer disconnected. “WTF” said the tank. Frankly, I don’t blame the guy. He wasn’t getting any experience for the run. He was there just to help us out and the tank was a jerkface to him. “He just disconnected,” said the warlock. “Maybe he’ll come back.”

So, we waited. And waited. And we did all the things that groups usually do while they wait. We danced and told jokes. The Undead warlock flirted with me a bit, and I actually hadn’t heard most of those lines before, so I thought it was pretty amusing. (I’m better acquainted with the male Blood Elf flirts.) The warlock must have felt he was on a roll, because he decided to whip out (so to speak) this joke for us, which although possibly safe for where you work will be hidden behind a link here, because it is kind of inappropriate. Classy! As you can see, the tank thought it was pretty funny.

Five minutes went by, then five more. It was pretty clear that the healer wasn’t coming back. If the cat stepped on his power strip, he’d have come back by now. So, the leader removed him from the group and re-entered the LFG. (Oh great, everything sounds mildly dirty now. Thanks, warlock.) We ran out of the instance to the stone, so we could summon as soon as we got somebody. Again, I recruited aggressively, advertising in both the LFG and the general chat, and within five minutes or so, got us another healer, a level 18 priest. While we were buffing up, the warlock took the opportunity to repeat his joke from above, not once, but twice. Once was for the party, and the other was out loud for the other folks around the summoning stone. He must have a macro for that.

There weren’t any respawns yet, so we were able to run straight back to where we were before and continue. The new healer kept up with the tank pretty well, and the warlocks and I managed to keep ourselves out of aggro trouble. We handily squished Baron Silverlaine, who dropped the Baron’s Sceptor. After this, we ran up the stairs to get to the next area, but the healer stayed behind by the body for some reason. I thought maybe they were getting their mana back, so I asked folks to please wait for him. Of course the tank didn’t, but he was able to handle the one or two mobs he engaged. And then, we saw the healer’s health bar plummeting. Erm…

We ran down the stairs and killed the patrols standing by the priest’s corpse. “Awesome,” said the healer. “Use ss,” said the tank. “Wait, why don’t you resurrect him and save the soulstone for later?” I said. “Cant rez,” said our paladin tank. What??? Turns out he didn’t do the quest to get that skill, so he was going to have to wait another level to train it. Now that, to me, is just irresponsible. Good thing we had some warlocks with us.
We cleared the next hallway, and when we got to the end, the tank said, “u guys stay” while he went ahead to pull the mobs out for us. That was a nice surprise, given how he’d been charging in before, but knowing he’d been in the instance recently, maybe he had some sense of which parts were the most dangerous. He still got us totally jumped by Commander Springvale, however. It was a classic “ok, guys, coast is clear!” followed by “Raaar!” as the Commander attacked us. Our mana pools weren’t full, but thankfully we had plenty of DPS to take him down. He dropped the Night Watch Shortsword, which one of the warlocks won in a greed roll. I’m sure that will come in handy.

At this point, the tank started giving us frequent updates on how close he was to leveling. Maybe it was the reminder of how close he was to getting that resurrection skill that made him notice his XP bar, I don’t know. Or maybe he thought we’d think the countdown was exciting? “3000 more xp til 24.” “2000 til 24.” “1000 til 24.” One of the warlocks finally said, “Is this your first character?” “Yes,” said the tank. Ah-ha. “500 more,” he said. “200 more until ding!” And then…

Hee hee hee.

Odo dropped the Girdle of the Blindwatcher, which was kind of disappointing. (I’ve seen him drop his Ley Staff almost every time, and think it’s nice to see the priest of the party walk away with it for their troubles.) We got the rare spawn Deathsworn Captain, which was pretty cool because I’d never had a chance to kill him before. The tank immediately linked the Captain’s loot for us: “He drops [Haunting Blade].” Sure enough, that’s what he dropped. “See,” said the tank.

Fenrus the Devourer dropped his hide for us, which I won on a greed roll. I’d passed on every other BoP roll, and since I could potentially use this, I rolled. I should have taken an extra second to look at it though, since it turns out I really didn’t need it. (I got the Feyscale Cloak in Wailing Caverns, and like that better for my mageness.) I felt so bad about this ninja-esque maneuver that I equipped the new cloak for the rest of the run.

Finally, Archmage Arugal. We killed the stuff down on the floor below him, and then the tank arranged us all at the top of the stairs by the entrance and asked us to stay there during the fight. He ran up the stairs across the room, initiated the battle, and the DPS swiftly dropped Arugal to the floor. He only had a chance to port across the room once before he died. I was really hoping for his robes to drop with so many clothies on the run, but he dropped the next best thing for us, his belt. The warlocks, priest, and I rolled need, and I won the roll. Huzzah!

So, three instances down, and how many to go? I don’t think I’ll be able to get to Stormwind Stockade, but if I include Deadmines and Gnomeregan, it looks like I have 37 left!

Total time spent in the group:  1 hour 15 minutes

Total time spent in the instance: 1 hour 10 minutes

Wipes: 0

Factlet: I ran into the Warrior from the second RFC run when I was in the Undercity after this run, and he was level 49. Wow! I guess that was back in December, and this character isn’t exactly my main focus, but still… time to pick up the pace.

Cel mai tare site românesc de ambull este al canisei Sargetia Forest din Deva.
E simplu! E primul site românesc care tratează serios şi profesionist rasa.
Şi dacă ar fi doar un site, nu ne-ar interesa, dar site-ul acesta nu este decât un vizor pus la dispoziţia iubitorilor de American Bulldog de echipa SFK pentru a întrezări sclipiri din activitatea lor.
Site-ul este accesibil în engleză.

The best romanian site about American Bulldog is Sargetia Forest Kennels’ from Deva.
It is simply the best. And that is because this site is the first romanian site about ambulls that gives a professional view of the breed.
And if the would be all it wouldn’t catch our attention, but that site is for real, it offers to the bulldoggers a glimpse of the SFK’s bulldogging life.
The site is in English so please pay a visit.

Later Edit by SFK Bulldogger:
AMK’s Sargetia Forest Dragon aka Snoop USA import
Breeder Ben Allen – Allens Machine Kennels
Owner Bicskei Iuliu – Sargetia Forest Kennels
sire Allens Machine Angus
dam AMK’s Whisperin Belle
NKC registration

SFK’s Lucy of JDJ – USA import
Breeder Scott Weaver – JD Johnson Kennels LLC
owner Sargetia Forest kennels
sire CCK’s Dick the Bruiser of JJ
dam Savanah of Johnson’s bulldogs LLC
ARF registration

SFK’s Patch of SJKids aka DD
Breeder Dan Sabau – St Johns Kids Kennels
owner Sargetia Forest Kennels
sire DGM B
dam Beianu’s Peanuts
ABA registration

Pentru prima dată în istoria rasei American Bulldog în România la CAC Arad din 11 noiembrie 2007 au participat trei canise de bulldog american din România.
Canisele care au fost înscrise de către reprezentanţii lor au fost:
TSargetia Forest Kennels din Deva;
Transilvanian Bulls Kennels din Cluj;
St John’s Kids Kennels din Timişoara/Alioş.

At CAC Arad in 11th nov 2007 three Romanian American Bulldog Kennel were represented at a FCI Show.
Those were:
Sargetia Ferest – Deva;
Transilvanian Bulls – Cluj;
St. Johns’ Kids Kennels – Timisoara/ Alioş.

Transilvanian Bulls’ Ambra of Half and Half a primit la femele Clasa Deschisă CAC şi BOB, fiind prima femelă de Bulldog American produsă în România care a primit aceste distincţii într-o expoziţie FCI.
De altfel, Transilvanian Bulls Kennels încearcă să ne obisnuiască cu performanţa, ei fiind primii care au participat la HABC/ ABNA Show în Tokorcs- Ungaria cu Azteka of Transilvanian Bulls.
Ambra:

Ambra:

SJKids’ Criş of Half and Half a fost apreciat ca “foarte promiţător” şi Best Puppy. St. Johns’ Kids Kennel îşi pune speranţe în Criş, încercând să exploateze masivitatea moştenită de la părinţii săi.

Criş:

Sargetia Forest a înscris pe AMK’s Sargetia Forest Dragon la Masculi Clasa Deschisă, dar împrejurările i-au fost potrivnice şi nu a ajuns la expoziţie.

Dragon aka Snoop:

Transilvanian Bulls’ Ambra of Half and Half Ro won CAC and BOB at Open Class becoming the first Romanian American Bulldog Female winning those titles in a FCI Show. Anyway Transilvanian Bulls are striving hard to accustom us with high performance, they were the first Romanian Kennel at HABC/ ABNA Show Tokorcs- Hungary in 2007.
SJK’s Criş of Half and Hafl won “Very Promissing” and Best Puppy. St. John’s Kids Kennels have high hopes in this puppy.
Sargetia Forest Kennels has register AMK’s Sargetia Forest Dragon, but unfortunatelly they were not able to get to the show.

I have taken to queuing for dungeons to level in a party environment. My friends have already well out leveled me. I now know the Weeping Caverns and Shadowfang Keep like the spine sticking out of my toony back.

Interesting notes of dungeoneering:

Ran a WC with two hunters and like three priests …I thought healers were meant to be thin on the ground? Then one hunter discos, and we get another priest – managed the instance fairly well in any case. But really there seems to be a trend lately of these DPS groups and no tanks – maybe it’s the strange hours I play. In any case let me celebrate the successful priest group: YAY for priests – Yay.

Actually ran with a group that put voice chat to good use in Shadowfang Keep – awesome stuff.

Ran WC with a druid tank who was doing things the traditional raid way – rather interesting to watch, even if he did confuse the rest of the PUG group by insisting that all the mobs be allowed to attack him, and ONLY him: “Make your darn pet sit hunter, SIT” quote/unquote.

OMG … I feel like I have wrangled with the worlds most boring boring chore – but I make it to lvl 20 and get to train the next levels of my professions – more instances in my future, pity I can’t wear leather I would have the whole purple outfit by now.