Posts Tagged ‘cloudshatter’

#gronngaline

Thursday, November 5th, 2015
#gronngaline

1-2-3-4-GRONNGA! (courtesy of Morri @mindfulaide)

So, tonight was supposed to be our big bad Normal Archimonde kill. I was even set to record the raid session and from it prepare a YouTube of the actual kill so that Sarahtonim (our goblin Resto shammy) can see, since she’s on extended leave (though her twin sister Suzi was able to come back).

And well, we did get some pulls in! But our boss-man (who is also one of our tanks) had car trouble and had to take an extended AFK so someone could drive him back to his workplace to get stuff out from said car. So, loyal Peons being loyal Peons, we wait. Others wander AFK themselves for bio breaks/beer reloads/letting dogs out…

…then silliness starts during the downtime. Those of us who raid know this well.

Robert is the type who would whip out mounts from his ginormous collection for showing off their /mountspecial. Eventually he gets to his Coalfist Gronnling that I gave him on his second day back, and then a Gronnga Line happens. (Oddly enough, we must credit the Gronnga Line to Suzi, way back when we were just poking at Hellfire Assault.) I mount up on my own Gronnling and jokingly /yell GRONNGA LINE! Because, uh, siblings in silliness. :P

Other guildies (specifically Luna/Niisaar and Morri) join in, following Robert around on their Gronnlings (and with the “RP walk” on, no less) and I’m behind them, awkwardly trying to get a screencap to toss on Twitter. (they are also tweeting this #gronngaline, hashtag and all, and our handles get exchanged) Then George/Ninigi (other tank) and Schado get in on it, too.

#gronnhug

aww, a group gronn-hug!

And this goes on for a good half-hour before Linux pipes up on vent, announcing that because Char is taking way too long to get back, we’re going to stop for the night. Still, we got a pretty good #gronngaline going, complete with hashtag (and I still question why the crap Robert doesn’t have Twitter, he even uses “hashtag punchlines” like I do). We also learn that my brother is a filthy Burning Legion loyalist and probably chugs Gul’dan-made Gatorade on a regular basis, since he was /saluting Archimonde and such. You could basically drop him in Kilrogg’s place during that particular cutscene in the legendary ring questline, and absolutely nothing would change. XD

For tomorrow’s alt run via Critically Insane, I’ve not only recruited Robert since he wants the fist weapons that drop from Fel Lord Zakuun, but Schado is tagging along as well. Not for loot, but because Schado was so amused by the OpenRaid notice that Frailin (Critically Insane boss-man) writes that he wants to meet these dudes that my cow priest hangs around with. Okay XD

For the curious, some choice pieces of the OpenRaid notice:

About us: We are a filthy casual group. We lust/tranq on trash routinely, but it’s usually because one of us is cracking up everyone else, or talking about the War of 1812, or Disney World. Occasionally, we kill bosses.

Composition: (…)  If you are new or inexperienced you are also welcome – we will take you under our filthy wings.

Voice communications: We use Mumble. Please download and install before raid start. You do not have to speak but you MUST listen for callouts and our inane banter. 

Misc items: We curse and tell dirty jokes and whatnot. We occasionally make tongue-in-cheek comments on potentially sensitive topics. I expect people in this group to be mature enough to know how to converse with other adults in a jovial but respectful fashion – our conversations often remind me of happy hour, complete with the alcohol.

Now, I’m not a drunk raider (even though that’s what Critically Insane is, drinking raid group) but anyone who goes out of his way to make silly raid advertisements like that has to be worth hanging around with. XD

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Gut Punch Redux

Friday, October 16th, 2015

I was supposed to raid with Robert on Tuesday. Was going to record the whole thing. It was supposed to be awesome!

Except early Tuesday morning (like sometime after reset)… I’d just made some more Shaman glyphs for him, grabbed my bonus rolls and logged out to lie down a bit, and then SUDDENLY HORRIFIC, SOUL-RENDING PAIN.

Yeah, another intestinal blockage (which could have also been a UTI), and it was obviously bad enough to get myself to the ER. I was so out of it from pain an stress I wasn’t able to poke Robert to let him know what’s what, so now I had the additional worry of “oh crap I’m going to flake out on raid AGAIN, and on bro’s first day raiding with the Peons.

short version of that hospital trip: no no no, under no circumstances are you sticking that NG tube in me again, find some other way to fix this no matter how long it takes or how many days I go without food. (NG tube to suck out the air. Unfortunately in those situations it calls for the bigger tubes which basically render one side of my nostrils/throat useless for breathing, meaning sleep does not happen, and I was exhausted from all the pain and stress. Fortunately waiting it out with IV medication ended up working, and more importantly it was decided that I am to undergo surgery for a hernia repair (it’s been the true cause of these SBOs). GOOD.

But my mother was extremely late in coming to get me on Wednesday, meaning I missed the Part 2 raid. Questions about my priorities aside (let’s be real, as a disabled housebound woman, can you really hold it against me for putting as much emphasis as I do on what goes on in muh vidya gaems? I’m not exactly curing cancer or searching for the mathematical formula for world peace here), this and the underlying “oh no I threw my brother in and totally flaked on his first week” worries were glaring at me the whole time. ARGH.

Yeah, I’m pretty bummed about that! More than, you know, “oh gee, I have a hernia that’s causing me a ton of pain, and have to have surgery” (since that can be fixed) but I can’t re-do Robert’s Lazy Peons raiding debut or the first contact with Char! Those things only happen once! While it was moderately successful without me (he got quite a bit of loot, including tier pants, and stomped on Tyrant Velhari), they were missing one of their healers and Robert was in Enhancement mode (as in, he’s more geared for that than Restoration) and… argh. If my mother hadn’t been super-late, I coulda been there and brought in my cow priest.

Next week, I suppose. :S

Apparently Cy decided to take Robert and some others through Mythic dungeons to get more gear, so that’s good. And Char promoted him to Loafer-rank (I must find out how THAT happened), also good! And so by the time the next LP raid happens, he’ll be better prepared.

Despite everything that happened, I’m really glad I brought in Robert. He seems happier than before, and getting more comfortable around everyone else. Perhaps we’ll be able to sell him on talking in Vent soon enough. :)

As for which of us gets to Lust (if I’m on my mage)? I guess we’ll have to /roll for it. :P

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Orc-fist Gronnling

Sunday, October 11th, 2015

Welp, things kinda took a different (and in many ways BETTER) turn regarding my brother.

Badass Siblings... for the Horde?!

Badass Siblings… for the Horde?!

Originally the intent was to, um, get Robert to bring Kiros (or any of his level 100 alts really) to the EoTT OpenRaid events.

Except lately our raid composition has been rather odd in Lazy Peons, Horde-side. Because we’ve had to compensate for not having Sarah and Suzi, and also my having to swap in Cow!Phil in case one of our other normal healers is absent, we miss out on some pretty critical raid buffs. And as the Peons progress further into HFC (and start poking around in Heroic mode), we’re going to need an additional healer that can also Lust. Something like… a shaman.

…which Robert has, if you recall. (Mr. Cloudshatter up there, that sexy orc)

Boss-man Char asked me, ever so subtly (not), to “work my Annoying Little Sister magic” and prod Robert into levelling said shaman so he can raid with us. And so I pitched the request, fulling expecting my brother to say no (because, really, that IS asking a lot).

But… he said yes?! GASP.

I think it’s part-“Robert gets to play his favorite class” (he’s never OUTRIGHT said it, but the dude loves shammy-ness) and part “okay, there isn’t much more to do aside from farming gold/oil/achievements.” And he did say quite awhile ago that he missed raiding and wanted a consistent group to run with. So, wish granted, in a manner of speaking!

And he’s been levelling like a fiend, getting from 52 to, as of this writing, 97. From what I understand, he’s going Resto/Enhancement (where Akaycia is Resto/Elemental). I would honestly be surprised if he was not level-capped and raid-viable as of Tuesday, just in time for the next guild raid. I have done my part in helping him along, as much as he would allow me to (mostly in the capacity of Shaman glyphs), as well as introducing him to others in the guild (who all get to see first-hand how terrible he is at asking for/accepting help). He seems to get along rather well with Cy, Broc and Schado, and while he hasn’t gotten to really talk with Char and Alex yet, the epic meeting’s going to happen eventually! One way or another, either sometime before or on the day of Robert’s first attendance, they will meet, and it will be both scary and awesome.

(Hell yeah, I’m recording that raid session. Bonus points if I can record Vent on a separate audio track. I need to preserve such a thing, it’s that much a big deal.)

It’s… a little funny, in a way. Officially, cow!Phil is Sarah’s substitute (as well as the sub-of-the-day for whoever of our 3 healers is absent) but it seems Robert may be more appropriate, since it’d be a Shaman replacing a Shaman. Well, it’s not like this arrangement eliminates me from healing, it just pushes me to Absolute Last Resort territory, like if we’re missing TWO healers. Which HAS happened, by the way. I mean, we have Paladin healers (Cy, Cowgath and I think Cathari?) but… Paladin healers don’t have AoE healing cooldowns, which are kind of a necessary thing, you know? And the few AoE heals they have are best used in melee range, so… yeah.

Shorter version: Robert is joining the Lazy Peons raiding team and we are all very happy and thankful for it (especially me, because oh my god I have wanted to raid current content with him FOR-FREAKING-EVER). Just one more thing, he says he’s going to be listen-only on Vent if only because he can’t be bothered to get a headset or pick a hotkey. We’ll have to sell him on actually talking, because if you know my brother, he’s pretty much prime voice actor material and the potential for badassery is too great. We can’t have him being a permanent non-talker! It’s bad enough I don’t get to hear Alex on Vent! :P

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Other stuff of less import: I’ve been in the hospital twice, again, because of UTIs and intestinal wonkiness and… yeah, that was a thing that happened. See my Facebook timeline if you want that story. Blah.

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