I hate to say this aloud because every time we get to this point, all hell breaks loose and we wind up back struggling just to get one 10 man group going.
My guild is so close to having a 25 man group running I can taste it. We’ve had a lot of good recruits from the weekly PuGs we run and more people seem interested in raiding since Ulduar came out. Where some of these guys were when we were struggling through Naxx, OS, and Maly, I don’t know but…well…maybe they’ll stick around this time.
We managed to get Hodir down in Ulduar 10 last night as well. We got a good look at the Thorim encounter but never managed to aggro him (Arena group had issues). I think we’ll be going back there Monday or Tuesday to give it another try and hopefully we’ll get Thorim down. That would put us 9/14 in Ulduar. We also have a decent chance of getting a second 10 man group going this coming reset. That would be awesome.
Some people in our PuG have been asking about doing Ulduar 25. The answer is “not until the Legendary has become as common as dirt or is removed from the game entirely.” Seriously, we have enough loot drama over purples from Naxx (and we added one more name to the blacklist today from it). Can you imagine the whining that would commence over that orange? Even if we were up front and said “all legendaries go to Grognak and he passes on everything else” people would still bitch and moan. If there were a way to guarantee that it never dropped, I’d consider doing an Ulduar 25 pug. Until we get that option, though, I’m not taking random people in there. The most I’d consider would be teaming up with another guild with a clear agreement on the loot arrangement for those shards but that’s it. And, at any rate, we’re dangerously close to being able to do it ourselves so…
Well, I’m going to get back to working on Alayne’s Story and The Unexiled again. I just needed a short break. I’m making real progress on both. I’m kind of hoping to have The Unexiled finished by Christmas so I can try to get it published next year or something.
Ulduar Progress!
We finally got Ignis and Hodir down this week. We were trying Thorim just a bit ago but couldn’t manage to get through phase 1. Ah well, maybe Monday or Tuesday we’ll get him down.
Just added another five pages on Alayne’s Story. If I can just keep working this much on it, I may go back to two updates a week soon.
Latest Update Posted
I just posted the latest update to Alayne’s Story over on the WoW-Europe RP forums. I’m still just doing one update per week but next week I may be able to get two done. It’s going to depend on how much writing I can clear out this weekend what with all the raids I have running on Saturday and Sunday.
Seriously, [WTB] 36 hour day.
*Whew* Fifteen. Pages.
Well, I managed to do it. 15 pages written on Alayne’s Story this week. If I can keep this up for a few more weeks, I’ll have a decent padding back. I’ll post the update for this week tomorrow and then see if I can swing two next week or if it would be wiser to just do one.
This means, of course, that I’ve had no time to work on The Unexiled. 🙁
I’m also going to have to find someone to raid lead next weekend’s PuG raids. I really think I need to spend every other weekend writing if I’m going to keep up the pace here. Not to mention, I’m just getting a little tired of Naxx 25 all the time.
And it’s back to normal now
I woke up this morning half-expecting a text message from Grog and Crit asking if I was dressed and awake so they could come over. Funny how you can get used to a totally different routine in just a short time, huh?
Last night, once we were all back, we discovered something. Two people decided to transfer away from our realm after we finished gearing them up for Ulduar. Well, those two little pricks are going to be in for it. Bad enough they did that without at least saying “guys, we’re going to transfer to a new realm” but when one of our officers created an alt to ask them why they had gone without even saying goodbye, they put him on /ignore.
So, if any Horde guild members on the realm Magtheridon are readers: Callmecamel and Amoai screwed us over. We gear them up and they transfer off Quel’Thalas. I wouldn’t take them into any serious raiding guild if I were you. If they’ll do it to us and they’ve been in our guild since TBC and we’ve put up with their crap, their overall unreliability, their random vanishings for months on end, etc: they’ll screw you just as hard. And, Camel and Amoai: if you’re reading this, don’t bother to come back. You’re on our little black list and I don’t care if you go out and win the Nobel Peace Prize tomorrow; you’re not coming back to our guild and we’ll warn any guild that does take you in about this little stunt you just pulled. Your buddy Artimize may be in for it if he were part of this (he’s about to have some serious explaining to do).
Yay for guild drama. 🙁
At any rate, I’m still hurting from that last rollercoaster on Thursday. I think I’ll probably take it easy today, try to get some writing done, and just not do anything that requires use of my back. No heavy lifting for me today. I need to try to get relaxed so I won’t be going to work in agony tomorrow.
Stormcrows vs Paris (Day 7)
Yesterday, we just hung out at my place. We were a bunch of tired little crows. We had fun just talking about all the places we’d been, laughing, and relaxing. We went out to a nice little restaurant for supper. We spent the evening watching funny Japanese television shows and laughing our asses off.
They’ll be leaving this afternoon. I’ll be taking them up to the train station in a bit. I’m going to miss them when they’re gone. We’ve had so much fun this week. I really hope they can come back next year or my husband and I can get up there so we can do this again. 🙂
Latest Update Posted Yesterday
Forgot to post about it here but yesterday I posted the latest update to Alayne’s Story over on the WoW-Europe RP forums. I’m down to one update per week, posted on Fridays, until I can get some more writing done. I’ve fallen a bit behind on my schedule because of work, raiding, and guests visiting. 🙂 Hopefully I’ll be back to two updates per week within the month of June.
Stormcrows vs Paris (Day 6)
Yesterday we went up to EuroDisney where we had a blast. 🙂 We grabbed lunch at one of the cafés and then immediately got on Space Mountain. That was fun. 🙂 Well, it was just me, Nishi, and Crit who rode it (Grog and Jemu were playing “chicken shit”). In all, we rode Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain (Jemu sat out), the Temple of Doom (just me and Nishi), rode through the Haunted House (all of us), saw the Armageddon Special Effects set (it sucked), rode the tram around the backlot area (all of us), and went on the Aerosmith ride (just me and Nishi; it was nuts).
Nishi kept eyeing the Tower of Terror but I told him he would need to supply copious amounts of booze to get me to go on that thing. I know my limits. Put me on a roller coaster, toss me upside down, take me on corkscrew and hairpin turns: fine. Put me in an elevator and drop me? I’m gonna lose it.
We got several pictures, some nice souvenirs, and some very tired feet and legs. Today, we’re probably just going to hang around my place. I’ve got to see if the owner meant “Friday” when she said she would come by on Thursday. Not to mention: I am a tired little belf.
Pictures here: http://picasaweb.google.com/reggydejongh/StormcrowsVsParis#
Stormcrows vs Paris (Day 5)
Yesterday, we planned to hit Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower, and the Montparnasse Tower. However, we only managed to get to the top of Notre Dame. The top of the Eiffel Tower was closed due to wind and we didn’t really want to go up the Montparnasse Tower. So, instead, we visited the Tomb of Napoleon and went to the Ancient Arms and Armors museum next to it (we’re all a bunch of medievalists at heart).
We saw Ger’alin. On Lucky. Yes, we have screenshot.
Napoleon’s Tomb is one of the more interesting but less-visited places in Paris. It wasn’t crowded there at all. Napoleon styled himself after the Caesars and you can see the Roman influence in his tomb.
Anyhow, today is Disney Day! Groggy and Crit should be over soon and we’ll be heading over to see da Mouse!
Pictures here: http://picasaweb.google.com/reggydejongh/StormcrowsVsParis#
Stormcrows vs Paris (Day 4)
Yesterday we went over to Versailles to see the palace there.
Man, it was good to be da King.
That place is huge. And beautiful. We walked all through it. The Hall of Mirrors is really nice. I’m a writer and I’m at a loss for words to describe it. We took loads of pictures (soon to be uploaded). We also swung by and saw Nishi and Jemuya and got a photo of all five of us together.
Today, we’re back off to Notre Dame to go up the towers and back to the Eiffel Tower to go to the top of it. Should our energy permit, we’ll go up the Montparnasse Tower as well. And tomorrow is Disney Day!
Pictures here: http://picasaweb.google.com/reggydejongh/StormcrowsVsParis#