The Early Kat Years 6: Cyclone Axe! Bonnettis! Troll Farming with Spartan Destroyer

Shortly after I was able to do Drok's runs I found a farm I could do easily on my warrior.

Introducing Troll Farming!

Everybody knows about the infamous troll cave just outside of Droknar's Forge. I found this build to be loads of fun as every cyclone axe I did healed me for LOADS of HP. I later modded the build to include vigorous spirit and a vampiric axe, and the numbers displayed on screen increased exponentially. This farm was used a lot right after the AoE nerf, as monsters started running away. However, Spartan could farm endlessly and confront trolls with no fear! I so wish I could do this farm today... it really was my favorite =(.

The Early Kat Years 5: Spartan Destroyer's Suicidal Run

Although my warrior Spartan Destroyer wasn't the runner I expected her to be, I was told that the best profession for running to Droknar's Forge was the W/Mo. After (unsuccessfully) trying to run Lornar's Pass on my own and insta-dying to the Ice Imps in front O.O, I decided to seek out advice from other players.

They told me that the hardest part of the run wasn't the ice imps but the wurms that burrowed underground and popped out of nowhere. With some careful preparations, I managed to get past the ice imps but came upon these so called "wurms" that knocked me down every 5 steps I took. Being unprepared once again, I died like the noob I was. My repeated attempts at bringing Balanced Stance without having the elite skill "Charge" was only more humiliating.

After going through the game and capturing Charge, I learned the Drok's run the RIGHT way by loading a proper build and asking other W/Mo's their setup and skills. I learned that the proper equipment setup was a Lieutenant's Helm that reduced hex time by 50% (was such a great helmet but the effect was too powerful, so ANet modified its properties), a shield with -2 damage while in a stance and +30 HP always, Superior Vigor, Superior Absorption (was 100K at the time... lol [I bought Major Absorption until I could afford the Superior for 100K]), and Knight's Boots (they absorbed -2 damage globally at the time and stacked with the absorption rune and shield set). One warrior I met, Cassandra Dark, was extremely helpful and would be the one who got me into Heroes' Ascent. However, I'll save that for another blog post. Eventually, I got the run down and completed my first run to Camp Rankor! You can see the picture of my first successful run to this outpost below.

.

After some more practice, I began to charge for runs. 3K per run per person was the going rate at that time and I made a steady income out of it.

I've met many nice people running Drok's, including one of my best friends, Princess Of Glaxx, who just happened to be running Drok's for free. I was bored at the time so I decided to join his run and help him out. We had a lot of fun during that run and I found a new running partner. He would later introduce me to "Guild Cast" and his Guild Wars podcast, which was totally cool.

A Guild Wars Magazine? This is pretty cool!

Earlier on the Guild Wars Guru forums today in the Lyssa's Fiction section I stumbled across a Guild Wars magazine by my friend Tender Wolf. I'm only up to issue 3 so far, but they're really really interesting. The content is extremely creative and the articles are really fun to read :D. It's inspiring to see so much effort being put into it, and I'm encouraging Tender Wolf to continue supporting the magazine.

You can visit her magazine at the link below. You even get free cookies for clicking on the link :P

Tender Wolf's Magazine

The Early Kat Years 4: The Making of Spartan Destroyer

Spartan Destroyer was my second character and a female warrior. Her name was just made out of frustration because I all the names I tried to name her were all taken. However, I rather like her name now and she fits the personality well :). I made her because the R/W that ran me from Piken Square to Yak's Bend inspired me so much (Also mentioned in the Early Kat Years 1). I wish I had taken a screenshot of the R/W runner that ran me. If she still plays, I'd love to thank her for running me, because without your inspiration, I would've never made my warrior!

Notice!: Ranger in Elite Fur-Lined Armor with a cool looking staff and who dodges big boulders wanted!!! 100K Reward!

When I made her, I mistakenly made her a warrior because I thought it was a W/R that ran me and not R/W. At the time, I did not know that you had to be a primary ranger to use Escape and Dodge to their full potential. Whoopsies!

Although I found out later that Dodge only lasted for 5 seconds (lol), she still made a great runner. Being a warrior, Spartan Destroyer was able to "tank" a lot of the damage and survive more hits than a ranger could. Plus, I later found out when I got to Beacon's Perch that the best profession to run to Droknar's Forge with was warrior... so yay!

You can see the "pro" running bar I had at the time below ;).

Ahh... the randomness of Alliance chat

Looks like Kat's PvP monking skills are still there!

I tried monking again in HA last night for a Ritspike team after being away from HA for around 4 months. It turns out that I didn't do half as bad as I thought. Although it took a little bit to get used to again, I was back in action. I was catching spikes I didn't think I was able to infuse and prot. Some of the players in my team made some drastic mistakes, like extending into enemy territory when our caller told them to stay back. Some people just need to learn the hard way ;)

The Early Kat Years 3: Farming 101 with Blackened Shadow

I was introduced to Minotaur farming in Elona Reach by my friend Jason again. He insisted that I try it, which I did gladly. The instant I loaded the skillbar below and started farming minotaurs, I was hooked. It was a relatively easy bar to learn... put up fire attunement, cast armor of mist to aggro minotaurs together, cast channeling, arcane echo mist form, spam fire spells, and then cast mist form again. It was great to see people's reactions when I told them I could farm minotaurs with a mesmer. Monks and warriors were the kings (and/or queens) of farming back then because of griffon farming. Back in those days, enemies did not flee from AoE damage. They would just keep in their place and continue to attack you until they died. That is why I was able to use this build and W/Mo's and Mo/W's were able to spam Balthazar's Aura and Symbol Of Wrath to quickly drop enemies. I got more than enough gold from this farm to repay Jason back his money after lending it to me for Drok's armor and even make some extra as well. How I wish I could use this build again... too bad AoE damage makes enemies scatter now :(.

Blackened Shadow and Final Seraphim's Fissure Armors!

My guildie Everlasting Fantasy had been saving up materials for his fissure (obsidian) armor on his ranger and decided that today would be the perfect time to get it. I also decided to get my mesmer, Blackened Shadow, armor also seeing how I neglected her so long. So at around 3:40PM EST, we set out with a mostly full party of KrZy guildies determined to help us get it. Yesterday I posted a blog about the Descendants of SoA and oddly enough, the party had five of the Descendants of SoA in it. The Lirin Namer, Rain Aurion, Morning Storm, myself, and Jaskos Revenge were the ones that came for the run, although Jaskos is in [ZoS] and not [KrZy].

In honor of her past self, I decided to run an old school fast casting fire build. However, I quickly found out after we went in that Glyph Of Energy was nerfed to reduce energy costs of spells by only 10 energy rather than the 25 energy I thought it was. Nevertheless, we finished the run smoothly and we both got our armors! They both look great... don't you think? ^.^

FINAL March XTH Predictions

GvG

Seppo Hovi Action Team (Q.P. 74)

Die Keller Kinder (Q.P. 23)

Rebel Rising Extended Edition (Q.P. 23)

No Honor (Q.P. 228)

Steel Phoenix (Q.P. 24)

Dangerous Pumpkins (Q.P. 38)

One Build Wonder (Q.P. 89)

Straight Outta Kamadan (Q.P. 123)


1v1

Stef Qo (Q.P. 66)

Takeshi Kurodo (Q.P. 37)

Hb Is A Farm Now (Q.P. 20)

Vi Ru (Q.P. 23)

Alex On Auto Pilot (Q.P. 100)

Bruce L Invincible (Q.P. 58)

Java Is Back (Q.P. 72)

Orng I Am So Pro (Q.P. 88)

I recently discovered that On ne plaisant pas avec patrons [BOSS] tried to pull a fast one on us by playing on Die Keller Kinder [KK] at the last moment. Seems like they qualified so make sure you change it ASAP.

The Early Kat Years 2: The Descendants of [SoA]

My first guild was a little known guild called Omega Chaos Force [OCF]. However, I was only there for a day before it disbanded. The guild leader was away and the guild was inactive besides a handful of people. After that day, Jason convinced a few of them (including myself) to join him in The Destined Children [SoA] where he was the guild leader. At the guild hall, he introduced me to some people. These people will forever be The Descendents of SoA:

• Kurt Liveson - A monk with a huge ego and always boasting about himself. He could get emotional at times. He would get jealous of me sometimes as well for farming a place that he hasn't done before (ex. Underworld) or because he found out how much gold I had xD. Later, he ended up meeting my brother (who started playing the game a year after I did and then quit) at his high school. I still find it really strange that a person you met totally at random online lives in the same neighborhood as you do, let alone attend the same high school o_o.
  
• Sephiroth Ranchine - An awesome elementalist and willing to help out in anyway she could. She got into a couple of arguments with Jason when he was in his "emotional" stage but they always managed to forgive each other somehow. She still pops on occassionally but plays World Of Warcraft frequently. She enjoyed making fun of my brother for dying to Hell Bovine in Diablo 2 and probably still does until this day xD.
  
• Tallis Hawk - A totally cool warrior and the perfect role model. I later found out he was a dad in his 40's. Very great attitude and a person I always looked up to. Jason recruited him during some quest and became part of [OCF] shortly.
• X The Elder X - Dan was a great friend of Tallis but disappeared around when Nightfall came out. He joined when Jason made [SoA] and Tallis said he had a friend who wanted to join.
  
• Xx Wild Thang Xx - Dan's wife Lori and another great person. She always cared about everyone and we helped her out when she needed it.
  
• Terra Narshe - Nick was a totally cool person and I always enjoyed chatting with him about Final Fantasy stuff. Jason loved to talk to him about politics and his obsession with Bill Clinton for some reason :o He's been pretty busy with his life recently, and according to the guild status last logged on 2 months ago. Was invited by Jason after meeting him on GameFAQs.
• Morning Storm - Storm was always a caring person and still plays the game today. Always willing to help out with whatever you need and has an awesome looking mesmer by the name of Cladius Black as well :). I still remember helping him getting fissure armor. Also invited by Jason after meeting him on GameFAQs.
• Zero Limitz X - This guy used to be my warrior buddy back in the day. He was the only one insane enough to stay up 20+ hours to finish Guild Wars Nightfall on the day it came out (not kidding) and claim he was the first one to beat it. My favorite memory with him was running and racing the Luxon supply lines with him fast Luxon faction. He logs on every once in awhile to keep his inactive status updated in the guild but I never seem to meet him online or stops to chat. Also invited by Jason after meeting him on GameFAQs.
• Gorrak Smashor - Gorrak was an amazing person but I've got no idea where he went. I remember doing numerous Underworld runs with him.
• Rain Aurion - A great monk and always helpful no matter where and what would happen. He is very determined and a great person to know. He also still plays the game today. Also invited by Jason after meeting him on GameFAQs.
• Jaskos Revenge - Another great person and the ultimate warrior. I thought he disappeared for awhile, but I managed to bump into him about 4 months ago while I was dungeon running. I found out he took a good break from the game. He's now in a PvP guild but I still talk to him frequently :)
  
• The Lirin Namer - Jason was always there since the start, although a bit emotional. He would always find a reason to "quit" the game and voice his decision publicly in the guild forum or chat only to return later because he found a purpose such as getting new armor or a weapon he liked. I have to thank him for introducing me to the game and for leading those rather... poor guilds in the past xD. Still plays the game today.
  

The Early Kat Years 1: First reactions playing the game and the creation of Blackened Shadow

Welcome to the first of "The Early Kat Years" series of posts! In this series, I'm going to type about many of the wonderful adventures I've had in my early years of Guild Wars. I'll try to make this a daily post, but no guarantees!

I started playing Guild Wars in October 2005, after being introduced to it by my Jason, who still plays under the character name "The Lirin Namer." At the time, I was still playing FPS games (primarily Counterstrike and other Half-Life mods) so it was a drastic change for me as Guild Wars would've then been my first MMO. From the way Jason was describing the game, it sounded remarkable. From raising minions, to burning enemies to a crisp it sounded great!

So... I made Blackened Shadow, my first character, because I was courageous enough to try to "hardest" class in the game to learn which was mesmer at the time. You can imagine the usual initial reactions and nooby moments. There are endless reactions that I would like to share with you guys, but because of length I'll just list some of the highlights.

• Degening Pre-Searing enemies with Conjure Phantasm and dropping them within 4 seconds.
  
• My friend Jason running me through Great Northern Wall with his minion army (this was a total shocker o_o)
• Jason again killing three stone elementals at once by using Chain Lightning
• Running to Piken square all by myself by only using Illusion Of Haste.
• Getting ran by a R/W from Piken Square to Yak's Bend using Dodge, Escape and Troll Unguent. (This really inspired me to make my warrior which I'll talk about in another post).
• 

Being a noob again and running from Beacon's Perch to Gates Of Kryta with Illusion Of Haste and some fire magic spells (I did manage to do it BTW... but the reaction from all my friends afterwards was rather humorous). I racked up 60% DP easily and casted Firestorm and Fireball before the Mergoyle Wavebreakers instakilled me with Deep Freeze.

• Trying to run from Beacon's Perch to Drok's Forge on my own and failing miserably at the ice imps just outside... lo

Well that's enough for The Early Kat Years 1... so stay tuned for part 2!

Preliminary March Xunlai Tournament House Predictions

Alright... I've made a preliminary Xunlai Tournament House prediction bracket just for the people who want to get in early if they're busy :). If I update it, I'll definitely let everyone know!

GvG

Seppo Hovi Action Team (Q.P. 74)

On Ne Plaisant Pas Avec Patrons (Q.P. 45)

Straight Outta Kamadan (Q.P. 120)

Dangerous Pumpkins (Q.P. 30)

Rebel Rising Extended Edition (Q.P. 23)

History Repeats Itself (Q.P. 23)

No Honor (Q.P. 207)

Team Chaos Theory (Q.P. 20)


1v1

Stef Qo (Q.P. 66)

Takeshi Kurodo (Q.P. 37)

Hb Is A Farm Now (Q.P. 20)

Vi Ru (Q.P. 23)

Alex On Auto Pilot (Q.P. 100)

Bruce L Invincible (Q.P. 58)

Java Is Back (Q.P. 72)

Orng I Am So Pro (Q.P. 88)

What's everyone's Xunlai Tournament predictions?

Just a reminder... Xunlai Tournament House predictions are due this Saturday at 10AM EST for GvG and Sunday at 10AM EST for 1v1.

Rumor has it that Rebel Rising [rawr] won't be doing to good this month since their build got nerfed, but we'll see.

I will be posting my predictions Friday evening so stay tuned! In the meantime... what's everyone's predictions going to be?

Beguine Guild [BGN] joins the [GOD] Alliance!

On March 20, 2009 the Beguine Guild [BGN] joined the [GOD] alliance! Even though I haven't known them for a long time, they all seem like a friendly bunch of people.

Let's wish them the best!


You can visit their website to the right: Beguine Guild [BGN]

First post! Hurray!

Hurray! My first post on blogger! It's a welcome change from the MySpace blog as there are alot more options here and MySpace was alot harder to use. I won't be posting on my MySpace blog anymore but I'll be posting about my adventures here from now on :).

Stay tuned!