The continuing adventures of Ragnaros and our band of merry adventurers:

• Our first real attempts on Rag last night went pretty well.  Our final and best attempt ended with him at 60% health (which for all intents and purposes, is 54%).  We can be proud of our progression on him, because we were consistently getting better by small degrees, which is exactly the right place to be.
• There’s some really good discussion going on in the forum about our strategy.  We’ll probably be making some adjustments to our phase 2 positioning, which might work better.  Check it out here.
• On the gear side of things, we’ll be running 6/7 again on Thursday to hopefully grab some more gear to smack Rag around with.  Meanwhile, if people notice that they’re close to picking up another Valor piece, they should definitely see if they can.  Also, perhaps folks with Living Embers can pool together to grab a nice pair of boots for someone who needs them.  I’ve got one I could contribute…anyone else?  Every little bit is going to help.

C’Thun!  QueenOld God of the Desert.

• Rychni wanted to put together a fun run of AQ40 sometime, so we went ahead and set something up on the calendar.  Look for it Saturday, 6PM server.
• In related news, Book Club member Sabriele, plans to do something at some point in time.  An exciting announcement from the Book Club, to be sure!  We’ll keep you updated.

The “On Notice” board generator is currently down.  So, instead of this text, imagine a hilarious image of Stephen Colbert holding the On Notice board, except Ragnaros is at the top.  Under that, uh…I dunno.  Galnadir and Dog Dicks or something.  Wouldn’t that have been funny?

Bosses!

• According to GuildOx standards, the guild has killed 6/7 bosses.  A few of us even spent a bit of time wiping on Ragnaros last night.  It’s starting to look like our summer slump may be at an end.
• By my, slightly stricter, standards, we’ve officially had guild kills of 4 bosses:  Shannox, Beth’tilac, Baleroc and Alysrazor.  I’ve got “screenshots” of the most recent ones in the works.
• I would very much like to start doing some runs of Tier 11 achievements/heroic modes — and according to our informal poll, at least some of you feel the same.  I will start setting up some additional raid times to that end.  These runs will get started if we have at least 5 guildies show up for them.  Does anyone who’s particularly interested in this have any suggested days/times?

Blizzcon!

• It occurs to me that Blizzcon has come and gone, but we never got to talk about the experience.  I’ll get something up tonight about it.

Blurbs!

• Back when Cataclysm was announced, I launched a column on this site to discuss the expansion and all its fun goodies — and called it (wait for it):  CHATACLYSM!  Sadly, with the new expansion announced and coming soon, we’re going to need a new name.  So, without further ado — or perhaps with just a tiny bit of ado *unzips a backpack, turns it over and shakes it while piles of ado tumble out onto the floor* — I announce the newest addition to the blog:  Amidst Pandaria!  It’s your new source for MoP information and speculation.  Damn you, Blizzard, for making it harder to get a pun this time around…

Brewmasters!

• Speaking of Mists of Pandaria…it also occurs to me that I should make a statement or two about that whole, uh, Brewmaster thing.  This will come soon.

Bangarang!

That’s right.  It’s 8:50 PM in the morning.  Shut up, Galnadir.

• We finished our fishing challenge and unlocked the Seafood Magnifique Feast.  I’ll announce the winners tomorrow along with a new Weekly Quest.
• Since we’ve been having issues with the Tuesday raid — with hardly anybody ever showing up — and have been noticing a lot of people logging on Thursday nights, we’re gonna give that a shot as our raid night instead.  We’ll see how it goes and adjust accordingly.
• As you may have noticed, I’m out of town this week, in Kansas until Thursday night.  In the meantime…don’t break the guild, damnit.
• That’s it.  Goodnight.
• I mean, morning.

I really had no reason to name this edition of MMM the way I did, other than the fact that Superior really didn’t like it when we referred to Rhyolith’s exploding volcanoes as such, and that makes me laugh.

• We finally killed Beth’tilac in an official guild group, so grats on that.  A “screenshot” will be up, soon.
• We also did a little Throne of the Four Winds fun run after leaving Firelands, and ended up picking up Four Play.  According to GuildOx (which only requires 5 guildies in the raid to track achievements), we’re the 22nd guild on the server to snag that one.
• I’ve been increasingly interested in working on some of the various achievements and heroic modes involved in Tier 11’s Glory of the Cataclysm Raider, so I’m going to start organizing some little one or two boss runs to start knocking some of them out for those who are interested.  I’m starting this experiment tonight with an 8:30pm server Heroic: Halfus Wyrmbreaker.  If at least 5 guildies show up, we’ll head in there to bash some dragon heads together.
• The fishing contest is looking like it will be over around a week from now.  We’ve only got 1,000 more fish to go to unlock the recipe for the Seafood Magnifique Feast.
• We’re also now less than 300 daily quests away from unlocking the best guild banner, so that should probably happen this week.
• Grats to the guild for completing Mighty Miners and Killing With Friends.

Elections:

• New Authors and Book Club members were officially inaugurated on the 1st.  Be sure to congratulate Authors Darthworgen, Galnadir and Rashmahal, as well as your new Book Clubbers, Miyoko and Superior.

The PTR:

• I’m looking for folks who might be interested in joining me on the PTR for fun and profit.  There are new dungeons to test, and soon enough, LFR and the Demon Soul raid.  If you are interested in joining me, I’ve got a premade character on Anastarian-PvE hordeside, named — cleverly enough — Cutaiahorde.
• I’ll be posting a review of the first new heroic 5-man, Endtime, later today.

Finally:

• Dog dicks.

About Firelands:

• Last night we had a really satisfying run through Firelands.  We killed Beth’tilac, Lord Rhyolith and Baleroc without much issue.  There were only 6 guildies in the run, so while GuildOx counts it, we still haven’t killed these bosses in an official “guild run.”
• Something to take home from the experience was that our DPS was decent last night, which helped immensely.  Most of our problems downing bosses recently have been mainly due to low DPS…not a lack of understanding of the boss mechanics.  So, we should all be figuring out how we can eke out those last few points of damage from our rotations.  With some higher DPS, we’ll be tearing through bosses like crazy.
• Since it looks like we’ll be killing some more bosses in guild groups soon, I’ll make sure to get our “screenshots” up to date this afternoon.
• Also, we should probably start looking into boss strats for said bosses.  I know that I haven’t really watched any videos, etc., since we’ve been struggling on Rhyolith and Beth’tilac, but it seems like we’ll actually need to know how to fight Alysrazor and Majordomo Staghelm very soon.

Guild Achievements:

• Our progress towards the Seafood Magnifique Feast recipe is going quite well.  We’re currently at 8,288/10,000 fish.  Remember…whoever sends me the most full stacks of fish from pools will win the Weekly Quest and a $15 iTunes card.
• Speaking of guild achievements…we’re also really close to finishing A Daily Routine, which awards the guild banner with the best bonuses.  I know it — quite inexplicably — doesn’t work in Firelands, but it’s still nice to have for alts, old school rep grinds or big PvP skirmishes in Tol Barad.  Currently 14,308/15,000 dailies completed, so if there’s been any Molten Front you’ve been putting off, feel free to stop being a lazy bastard — wink, wink, nudge, nudge.

Monday Morning Minutia:

• I’ve successfully posted this column on Monday for two weeks in a row now.
• Suck it, Galnadir.

On nerfs and Tier 12 progression:

• It’s the 19th, so according to Blizzard, Firelands is going to be hit with some fairly hefty nerf hotfixes today.  We don’t have any hotfix notes yet, so we don’t know exactly what’s being changed, but it sounds like Firelands may get about 20% easier, just like tier 11 did back in June.  I’ll be sure to get some relevant info on the blog when we have it.
• Since it’s a good time for our raid to finally start killing more bosses, I’m going to bring back the Linguist’s Guides to offer another resource for us to get some progression started.

On the post-Firelands front, things are getting really fucking interesting in regards to Patch 4.3:

• First off, look the fuck at this:

  

• Second off…seriously…look the fuck at that.
• Melee classes are going to receive a buff while in The Dragon Soul (the name of the Deathwing raid), which will be potentially useful to us since we often end up fairly melee heavy.
• As I did with patch 4.1 and 4.2, I’ll be heading onto the PTR to check things out and do a little boss testing here and there.  If enough folks are interested, perhaps we can get some guild groups doing the testing.  It’s honestly a pretty fun time heading into these things completely blind.  If you’re worried about burning out on Tier 13 before it even releases, don’t…they generally only have raid bosses up for a very short time (like an hour or so for each one).  Not enough to feel like you’ve “been there, done that” when it actually releases.

As for Guild elections:

• This is the last day for nominations.  If there’s someone to whom you’d like to give great power and responsibility…well, you’ll have to find a radioactive spider.  If you’d just like a token figurehead to occasionally /gkick Galnadir, though, you’d better make a nomination for guild office.
• Current nominees for Author, in alphabetical order, are:  Darthworgen, Galnadir and Rashmahal.
• Current nominees for Book Club are, in alphabetical order:  Darthworgen, Miyoko and Superior.

Hello guildies. Even though I have a job, a pregnant wife, and a house that needs cleaning, I’m still taking time out of my day to write up a Monday post. I’m just cool like that.

• Two things I’d like to link up from WoW Insider, in case you missed them: Anne Stickney gives an amazing draft of possible plot devices Blizzard can use in the new expansion. I doubted that the title that was copyrighted was actually real, until I read some of the possibilities that could bring our cuddly Pandaren officially into Azeroth. Also, proof that Beast Mastery hunters can raid. So please join me in telling the people that roll MM and Surv because BM is “teh suxxor” to kindly suck it.
• Yes, as mentioned in a previous post, I will be having a child early next year. However, I believe Katy may be against it playing WoW for at least 10 years…maybe more.
• We practically have Shannox on farm. We’re ranked right around 30 on the server, but I see no reason why we shouldn’t be able to snag another boss. Look, I’ll even link some YouTube strategies here and here, so you don’t have to look! Oh, you want a text guide, you say? No? You want an extremely simple rendition?

Well, that starts off the week. You’re welcome, Cutaia.

I know that Saturday comes after Friday, and that Sunday is after that, but Rebecca Black is damn near useless in teaching me where Monday can be found…

• Bastion went pretty smoothly this Monday.  Hopefully, we’ll down Halfus and the Twin Dragons quickly this Saturday so we can get in some attempts on the Twilight Ascendant Council.  I highly recommend checking out the fight if you’re coming so that we’ll be as prepared as possible.
• I will be raising the amount of gold for guild repair funds across the board.  If you have any input as to the level of repairs you would find most useful, please let me know.
• Auttylynn, Lunascar and I will be in Vegas from Saturday night to Thursday morning, so don’t be surprised if I’m not on much during that time.  I’ll try and pick up a souvenir for the guild while we’re out there.
• You already know this if you saw the Weekly Quest, but we’re planning a Guild Zul’Aman run this Sunday.  Let’s get this done before patch 4.1 hits so we can have a nifty Guild Feat of Strength.

I blame Daylight Savings Time.  I was supposed to set my clock forward one day, right?

• The Twin Dragons are down!  Once again, the “screenshot” is late, but coming soon.  Congratulations everyone.
• Sunday night the guild went in and easily one-shot both Yogg-Saron with one keeper and Algalon.  Congratulations to everyone who picked up Rusted Proto-Drakes and Starcaller titles.  We also went in to ICC and summarily dispatched heroic Lich King, so grats to everyone sporting Bane of the Fallen King, as well!
• I’ve officially picked up some crafted tanking epics and will be trying to get my mojo back this week so that I can be a viable tank when we’re low on meatshields.  I would appreciate if some patient folks could run some heroics with me in the meantime while I relearn the art of protection.

Have anything you think should be mentioned here?  Shoot me an e-mail at cutaia@thecunninglinguists.net.

Is it the late edition because it’s almost Tuesday, or because I didn’t post one at all last week?  You decide.

• Halfus Wyrmbreaker is officially down!  It’s too late for me to put it together right now, but I’ll be sure to get the standard “screenshot” up tomorrow.  This only moved us up 1 or two spots on the server rankings, though.  Killing Conclave of Wind and the twin dragons will give us a nice boost, so those are both good candidates for our next targets.
• Also in rankings news, we’re currently 22nd on the server for raid achievements.  Just a nice little thing for you guys to be proud of.
• We had a great Ulduar run over the weekend.  We’ll be heading back Sunday night (the 13th) to try and finish off One Light in the Darkness to get some folks their drakes.
• A late congratulations to Hairsuit on his new mini off-tank.  In celebration, Clint handed off a lovely BoE helm to him tonight, so double grats!
• In the shameless self-promotion department, your guild leader has written something for a website besides WoW Insider.  There’s now an article up on learntoraid.com, with more to come in the future.