Bar fights in Gadgetzan

Well I’m back from Malta – but it seems Draigg has not exactly had a brilliant time on his break.

Tanaris Airways lost his bag on the flight out to Gadgetzan and he had to wait a couple of days in town for it to catch up with him. Of course, perched out there on the edge of the desert, this town is something of a melting pot as Alliance, Horde and various other hoodlums spend time there.

I had the following postcard from himself:

Hi Man:
Well those muppets at the airline lost my bag and had to spend a couple of days in town. Sank several beers, had an interesting chat with a Hordie hunter on his hols as well and got into a bit of a scrap with some other folks.

Not really the relaxing holiday I planned. Anyways I finally got out to the Tanaris beaches, but gonna be a couple of days late back.

See ya around dude.

Draigg


And here I am, arrived back and strike me the new Ulduar patch has crept in, so I've got some work to do around here.

Meanwhile Misamane has tagged me in the Honest Scrap posts that have been doing the round. Thanks for that and will be responding shortly.

Life's a beach

Well Larisa (Pink Pigtail Inn) has taken herself off to the sun and snow for a break. Me? I prefer something a little warmer to recharge the batteries so it's a Med island for me.

I asked Draigg if he fancied tagging along.

'Not me man ... I fancy a something a little less busy.'

So he and Bukowski are planning a camping trip along the wild sands of Tanaris and I guess they've earned it. After some intense days they're on the brink of 79.

So we'll all be back, refreshed and ready to hit the magical mark.

The thing is it'd be nice to ding 80 doing something really special. Must think that one over.

Why does a hunter need dual-spec?

To dual-spec or not to dual-spec: that is the question. Well at least it’s the one I asked Draigg.

I finally managed to catch up with him at the Legerdemain bar in Dalaran (great name for a bar btw – the word means ‘sleight of hand’) when he and Bukowski flew in for a break.

They had spent many hours on the trail and Draigg looked tired, grubby but elated as he had dinged 78. After questing through Sholazar – magnificent territory for a hunter – he had taken off while still 77 for the dark and brooding land of Icecrown.

‘Wasn’t that a tad ambitious Draigg?’

‘I like to live on the edge man.’

Over several jugs of beer I helped him catch up on the local gossip, particularly the rumours about the next expansion being either at Malestrom or beyond the Greymane Wall in Silverpine Forest where the Gilneas had locked themselves away from the Alliance.

Then it was down to business. I needed to know what he wanted to do about dual-spec. To be honest we’ve only just sorted out his talent tree for the first time since he arrived in Northrend.

It had degenerated into something of a mess after Outland. So we stripped out all his points, coughed up the 15 gold and gave him a 8/56/5 build (there’s more points to come of course).

I told him that after glancing at the popular MM specs out there no-one bothered with silencing shot these days and he was amazed, but I knew it was a key one for him so factored it in.

‘Puts a lot of fun into life for me.’

'How come?'

'Artistry man, artistry.'

He then went on to explain how pulling a caster from a mob without aggroing the rest was a thing of beauty.

‘You drop a freezing trap, fire off a silencing shot and let the pet grab the aggro as your target slows to a stroll through the white stuff. The caster’s mates haven’t a clue what’s going on and you finish him off.’

‘Nice.’

‘Yeh. MM is full of fun and tricks. The BM and SV guys just stand there and boom away at everything. No fun. No skill.'

‘Hmm that might upset a few people Draigg.’

His yellow eyes glowed as he just looked at me

‘So what about this duel-spec then. You want a BM or an SV tree?'

‘You’re not listening dude. We don’t need em.’

And with that he whistled Bukowski and they sauntered out.

'What d'you mean I got to pay to fly again?'

What would be your reaction if the following happened:

You learned to drive and in your moment of great joy went along to the local garage to buy your first car. Up until now you’ve just bought shoes for walking, but now travelling is taking on a whole new experience.

You look at the cars, pick your favourite colour, pay out your hard-earned dosh and off you go. Now you can get around everywhere much quicker already thinking about the day you can upgrade to something that’s got a little more woosh under the bonnet.

Then comes the moment you have to leave town, move on. Someone’s told you about some exciting places you’ve never been to before. But then when you arrive: disaster.

The man at the barrier looks at you in your car and says:

‘Sorry buddy, you can’t drive that thing in here just yet.’

‘What? But I worked hard to buy this. What’s the deal?’

‘Rules buddy. You gotta wait seven years before you can drive again... and the real bad news is you also have to pay a grand to be allowed to drive it again.'

/facepull

So what’s the deal with this Cold Weather Mount stuff?

We has a flying mount, used it with great glee then arrive in Northrend and we’re grounded.

/pfft

Still Draigg’s a happy bunny. He’s dinged 77 at great speed and is now gadding around the place on his flying carpet with glee.

‘Style man, you gotta have style’

That was his parting shot as he floated away from Dalaran – heading for Sholazar basin.

He later sent me a snap. Seems like he's building his own army now.

BRK and the unloved hunter

Draigg has been getting a tad ticked off. He’s always been a laid-back sort of hunter. He and Bukowski lope along knocking off quests here and there, pop into the occasional battleground and spend some time ticking off the daily cooking quests in Dalaran.

But now he’s upset. He dropped me this ingame note:

“Listen dude, we need to talk and talk urgently. Me and the cat are feeling deeply unloved just now and seeing how BRK has now bust the door off its hinges on relationship issues we feel its time to make a point. Meet me at the Dolanar inn where our relationship really began to kick off way back when I was a level 6 – Draigg.”

The subsequent meeting was difficult and some of the home-truths one-shotted me.

Kk Draigg, what seems to be the problem here?

Check your box, top left of the screen, and tell me what level I am

Err ….76.

And how many bars am I off 77

Er …. Most of them

Right. What level is your drood Cadmus?

Um ….80

Good, good …. And what level is that short-arsed gnome mage Frazzle?

Um … he’s 80 as well

Excellent. You’re getting a hatful of right answers here buddy.

Bukowski at that point stretched and yowled as frostsabers do and I realised what BIG teeth they have.

I hear Frazz is packing some good gear now, been running Naxx heroic, been respecced arcane, doin’ a ton of damage. In general getting a lot of love and attention out there.

Err, sort of

And hasn’t Caddy been tanking heroic instances after some nice gear upgrades?

Yup, yup – awesome 37HP, 34 armour, man he’s a big bad bear …..

And I’m supposed to feel great about that? Tell me this. Who was your first char when you entered the wonderful world of Wow? Who started off as a level 1 in Teldrassil when you didn’t even know Dolanar existed never mind Darnassus? Who led you through a magical world of adventures, quests, battles and lands that blew your mind away? Who first took you to the snowy wastes of Dun Morgh and up into Ironforge, a city that at the time boggled your brain?

Um.. I guess that was you Draigg?

I had reached mumbling response at this point.

So how do ya think I feel playing third string to a gnome that’d be nothing more than a snack for Bukowski and char who can’t make up his mind if he’s an elf, a cat or a bear?

Not great?

Not great is a start, but doesn’t quite cover it. We need some serious love, attention and action here cos right now we got none of that and we’re asking ourselves why we keep hanging round.

Well the conversation went on long into the night. It moved from telling accusations to reminiscinces of some great fun over the years. At the end of it all I wondered how an earth I had been so easily seduced away from the hunter’s path.

So me, Draigg and Bukowski are hitting the trail again – big time. We’re going to bust level 80 and start showing those BMs and SVs just what sort of a punch we MMs can pack in the instances and raids.

He did agree, though, that I could still make time to blog ……

You've been neglecting your readers man