It’s done Gnomeaggedon, and I think you’ll be satisfied with the results.
- If you aren’t into streams of achievement screenshots, then you may not want to read any further.
- If my post from yesterday about Achievement Envy rang some uncomfortable bells, likewise this isn’t the post for you.
- If however you want to live vicariously through my many minor triumphs, then read on.
It all started on Thursday, yes some of my playtime envy has been sated, I have had some bonus time online.
Hitting the Basin
1st order of the night was to catch me some fish down in Sholazar basin, somewhere that I hadn’t even flown over as yet. Now I’m not sure about you, but when I am in the air these days, I find it hard to fly into an unexplored zone and just do my business… I need to take a quick look around.
I did me some looking, and with Sholazar basic explored, that capped off Northrend. Outland yesterday, Northrend today. I has been a busy Gnome…
… and I appreciate getting the recognition I deserve, nay demand, from them Dwarves.
What was I doing in Sholazar again?
Oh yeah, fishing… not too much fishing, but just enough fishing…
Enough for what you ask?
To prove my worth as a Master Fisherman and show I had the skills to pay the bills… Maybe Marcia will look at me in a different way from now on… or at least let me look at her in a different way 
While trotting through Ironforge, I, for maybe the 1,000th time, passed by this beggar. I see them a lot in real life, though rarely of the veteran variety. I find it so sad that the veterans get forgotten after the wars are raged, they are left standing by the side of the road, hoping that someone will at least stop by and reminisce about the good ol’ days, when Dwarves were Dwarves and Orcs were KoS.
This Summer Scorchling reminded me painfully that I want one (curse you Prelimar for reminding me).
I especially want one if they go on these rants periodically. I would love it if a semi-afk party member came back to Ragnaros sitting amongst the party… hell, it would be fun mid battle!
Mind you he does go on a bit… nearly as much as a Gnome we all know.
LFG /fail
There are a couple of things I want Blizzard to fix as a high priority. Not because they are earth shattering, rather the opposite… how hard can they be, and why the hell don’t they work already?
So you are giving us a Midsummer event that requires us to get a group and go and kill a boss in an instance.
This would require a group, therefore we will all turn to Blizzard’s trusted LOOKING FOR GROUP tool… wont we?
Ohh, what do you know… the F’N! instance isn’t listed (I have placed the F’N in this post, because there was lots of F’n swearing going on in chat by me about the F’n LFG instance that didn’t list the F’n instance required to get a group for the F’n Midsummer quest that F’n Blizzard wants us all to have F’n fun while completing. Mr. Z! pointed out I could just use /general or /trade when in a zone… I did that, time and again… Hopefully all my mates had their profanity filters on so they could appreciate the ends I was prepared to go to to circumvent the filter to express my F’n frustration.)
Soup Kitchen
So while traveling the Outland, spamming /general and /trade looking for a group that would hand over something more than F’n Cloaks of the Cheap Arsed Vendor, I did my Outland cooking daily…
Two recipes required to finish off the Outland Gourmet achievement
…Make that one more…
Heroic Friday
While we were futzing around trying to decide what we were doing on Friday night, my mate’s guild (most of them are in the same guild) asked if they wanted to come along. They had 8 spots for Heroic Naxx, 1/2 the instance was already down, but since there were 8 of us, and 8 spare spots, it made sense to up things a notch.
For one thing, I managed to pick up some more Emblems of Valor, while they are still worth something and pick up an achievement to boot.
Then it was off to Spider Wing… you know, the one we have been struggling for weeks trying to complete the Arachnophobia achievement. Funnily enough, the same discussion was had about whether we should try to combine a couple of achievements in one run, but the end result was just work on one.
So now I have a matching set, Normal Arachnophobia and Heroic Arachnophobia… kinda sounds like my phobia is getting worse, doesn’t it…
We called it at KT because it was getting late for some folk… and when it’s a 25 person raid, chances are there are more that have to go than in a 10 man raid.
But not before we took down Sapp, and more importantly I got a ride on a Spectral Tiger.
I did pick up a couple of items… a new Cloak and a new ring
Funny thing is, after the run, my Mate’s guild asked my mates to ask me if I would join the guild…
Why is that funny?
Well you see the guild was formed after splitting from my current guild (or one of it’s many incarnations), in part because of the previous Guild Leader (who has since left the guild and the server). So I know (and are known) by many of the folks in my mate’s guild, yet I am playing with many of their original guild mates.
I like the folk in my current guild, and as much as I like the folks in my Mate’s guild, I figure there is no good reason to move over. They know me. I’m on their DKP list…. I figure I will join them when I can, and when I can’t I will be hanging with my guild.
This is what Ahune disappointment looks like
My mates generously took me to Slave Pens (OK I begged and begged, it was pathetic), both Heroic (for those with the key) and non-Heroic (for their un-keyed alts). I lost count of how many times we did it… but later I realized I had a bag full of trash cloaks and needless to say, no fiery pets.
Still I had to find some fun in there somehow. Apart from running off when no one was looking and pulling more mobs back (most of which would be dead before my return mind you), I was also really enjoying the catapult rides.
Find an incoming Ice spike, and ride it. It wasn’t like I was slacking off, I was still popping instants, but I was just trying to make it a tab more fun…
I nicked on last night (Tuesday night Oz time) as my wife was going out and suggested I play… one more try at the pet maybe…
Server shutdown in 3 minutes…
I don’t think so!
Saturday Session
I wanted some Mammoth to feed my Achievement needs, just a couple you understand…
After the 1st couple of FFBs I though, why not speed up the process…
Before I knew it the Borean Tundra was littered with Mammoth corpses (both in size and biologically), and I was having fun… mmm I need some Rhinos too…
Get me for Free!
I had a quick look at my blog stats at one point, and noticed something a bit… well, strange…
A new GoogledGnome maybe? Armaggedons coming free download
Not one hit… but two hits!
Sounds like a great idea… I mean if I can save on travel time by having you guys download me somewhere else, then I am up for it.
And done
So I only need one more recipe….
Make that no more recipes…
I am a GourmetGnome! (Taste best with chilli)
On a roll…
Surely I can’t stop at just one achievement…
I still have to go back to Outland for the daily fishing quests.. there is more there I want, but not much now…
Looking for my beloved Squirrels
I have some time, so it’s time to go possum hunting!
Of course, that will require that I go a few places I haven’t been before, and you know how much I like unexplored bits…
No more sorrow in the swamps for me….
OK, actually there was…
I cleared the zone, killed a toad and went on my merry way…. only to discover later it was a Huge Toad I was after…
Gorge Seared and…
Pests controlled!
Who needs Dwarven rat catchers when you have a fire breathing Gnome?
Speaking of the dwarves, I cleared up a bit of their territory and while I was at it, I loved me some squirrels…
Then once the Ice Lance hit, I shared the love…
OK, I can be a sick Gnome at times…
WTB closet
I mentioned before that there were two things I would like Blizzard to fix. One was LFG, the other is my clothing dilemma.
With all the tabards, tuxedoes, party hats, floral frocks etc I am picking up, there is no space left for my Epic offset pieces..
This is becoming a big problem… seriously Blizzard, give us an extra bank slot that only accepts tabards and gray or white cloths that expands like the key ring does. One quick easy fix… please!
The reason I rolled a Mage
There are moments when I am playing my Mage that reinforce my love of the class. More often that’s when I manage to squeeze off the sheep, or save the healers or do the rare but enjoyable silly DPS numbers that I used to expect.
In my Achievement hunting rush over the weekend, I ran a couple of old instances, and they brought such a rush… AoE here, AoE there, AoE everywhere…
Not in the “Northrend we will clear the trash without skill kind of way”, rather the hordes of evil dungeon dwelling denizens rushing at the solo Mage while he raises is staff above his head and strikes them all down.
Shadowfang Keep was the 1st of these experiences. As I weaved my way down the convoluted hallways, I remember how long this used to take, how precise we had to be in our LoS pulls, how careful we had to be…
As a level 80, it wasn’t hard, but it sure was fun, fun, FUN!
I finally found that mine that had been eluding me every time I ran through Silverpine forest…
… and dropped in on the Forsaken spawning point… I really should have gone in there and cleared them from the face of the earth… but let’s face it, 90% of those players will wake up to themselves an reroll Gnomes, so it wasn’t worth the effort.
Next stop was Scarlet Monastery.
Once again I got to experience the joys of being a Mage… I rarely stopped for loot, the main goal was Bosses and Books.
Books read, Bosses down, Achievement earned!
Time to trot over to Scholmance… damn, I knew there was a key I didn’t have… It never really mattered, Mr. Z! was always at our side and it was always too expensive… not any more!
Ohh yes, I am!
Ohh what an unexpected bonus (OK, I expected it, but hey…).
Time to put that key to good use…
Mmmm I forgot that 50% of Scholomance laughed in the face of Magic…
…looks like this little coven forgot too!
Unfortunately positioning of the rat, don’t you think?
Ohh well, I probably should have researched Scholo before I ran on in. It’s not an instance I will be slaughtering this weekend, although I am sure it’s possible for a Mage to solo, I really had no idea where I was going… I think I have only been there half a dozen times in the past. Maybe next time I will take Mr.Tree… he can change between physical DPS and healing as required… Maybe I will just take Mr. Z!, I dare say that between his daggers and my knives of ice and fire there wont be any need for heals.
Taking down Rattlegore was fun solo…
I seem to remember it was a pig of a fight. I do remember a Mage (I think it was Faxmonkey) soloing Rattlegore over about 15 minutes back when level 60 was cap. At level 80…. pffft… walkover…
How much of a walk over…
I popped my 3 little friends, just to distract him… He couldn’t even take down one of my mirror images! Not one!!
Anyway, I gave up on the full clear, settling for a drop in to do my self a little reading…
Someone in the guild suggested it was a lot of books to read…
I pointed out that I wasn’t any more edumakated now that I had read the index pages…
Gnomer and Out!
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http://gnomeaggedon.net/2009/07/01/i-think-youll-be-satisfied-with-the-results/
200 e-peen points?!
At once!?!
Someone’s (obviously) been busy…
ha, yeah… I was busy…
But to be fair, I have been screwing about for months working out what is where…
I finally got to put my plan into action…
how DO you pack so much into one weekend? (or is this one DAY?)
i never accomplish this much in months!
As I mentioned above, I have spent a bit of time collecting all the x,y coordinates, zones etc for the things I needed.
Then with the use of TomTom to lead me directly to my goals, as well as copious amounts of teleports and flight paths, I just sat down and ran the route.
Now this was (mostly) outside of normal play time.
One of my guildies actually commented that I seem to doing a lot.. but it was one of the rare occasions that I wasn’t logging on to raid, then logging straight off again.
Damn, busy little gnome.
You might be able to find the Ahune quest in the LFG menu if you were level 70… just a guess.
You should have looted in the Scarlet Monastery!
There is a tabard that drops in there, Tabard of the Scarlet Crusade or some such. I got it on my pally a while back.
Complete agree that we need a better solution for the tabards. I know that I can sell/destroy them and then repurchase most of them, but what’s the fun in that? A drop-down box like for titles would be wonderful.
I dare say I would find SP in the LFG at level 70… I note that a lot of the normal WoLK are missing at level 80 as well, just the heroics…
I think there should be a flag that allows you to see the others…
A tabard? Mmmm maybe I will completely clear my bags one day and return… right after I completely clear my bank… right after they give us tabard storage…
I want the solution for all clothes/gear… I a whole lot of novelty stuff, like the Hallows End sword… I want it, but really cant justify the bank space.
Still… tabard storage would be a great start… I’m glad I only have 11 or 12 of them
I am totally jealous and totally living vicariously through your cheese. ^_^
And you should have taken out a few Forsaken. They’re smelling up the Horde over here… more than the orcs. ~_^
lol my post had it’s desired (by denied) effect then!
If I was frost, I would have hosed them down with a bit of ice… without the rotting flesh they would probably smell much better…
Forsaken – smell like Drakkar Noir, it’s the cologne preferred by Undead, or people stuck in the 80’s either one.
in THE 80’s or THEIR 80’s?
Sounds like Old Spice…
I’ve got like half a notepad filled with locations and crap for tons of achievements, but the “OMFG NORTHREND IS SOO FRIGGIN COOL!!!!” Hasn’t worn off yet, so I’m still busy questing/gearing up etc.
The same thing happened with me, which is why it has taken “so long” and also why I apparently did it so effortlessly.
In reality, I have been picking off the odd achievement component when I am in the right zone/location and remember and have time.
So I think as much time went into trimming the list back as went into the original research and then the actual grinding down of the acheivements.
Sometimes it’s just eaiser to start with a complete list and work from 1-100…
[...] mind you, the Forsaken probably don’t care too much. If they are covering themselves in Drakkar Noir are they really going to care if I taste like motor oil… they probably think it adds [...]
Gnomey, switch to decaf before it’s too late. Seriously!
Need… more… coffeeeeee…
It was over three days… wasn’t like I pulled an allnighter…
Though it looks like another LAN party is on the way mid-August… maybe I will complete the few thousand quests I need for those achievements…
PS: I thought you were being net starved somewhere in the Pacific…
That Pacific better not be my Pacific… mmm actually my Pacific is the Bass Strait… but yeah, you know what I mean…
Start collecting holy water from Stratholme for the magic unfriendly sections in Scholomance. Or you can Mana Shield + Ice Barrier up and smack away at the mobs for a few minutes.
Ahh Ha!
Thanks for the tip Tuna.. I knew there had to be a way.
I am sans Ise Barrier.. but I tried a bit of Mana shield and staff action… I know I took down one of the 20 before I became their next meal
Depends on what day of the week you ask. Two days ago it was Chile, tomorrow it’s Peru. Later this month it’s Columbia and Panama, then a quick stop in Bermuda before back to the UK. Working for Grey Funnel Shipping Lines is never boring. And much to my surprise, the wonders of the information age have finally caught up with us, just very, very slowly.
Ha.. you really are lost in the Pacific… though it’s great that you at least get to read and write blogs…
Now you just need to convince them you need to quality WoW bandwidth…
[...] I had a bit of a whinge about this when I was trying to get a group during the recent Midsummer festival. The LFG interface melted my Icestone. [...]
[...] water. Maybe it was worth wandering the streets of Stratholme aimlessly. Luckily he remembered the wise words of his sagely Mage friend Tuna, and didn’t throw the religious rubbish [...]