The Early Kat Years 16: My first HoH Win

I won my first Hall of Heroes by joining an unranked Blood Spike group. However, our chances of winning were very slim because of a disconnected party member (reconnects weren't around back then) and we were facing two very good teams.

We capped the altar early by putting him up before both teams did. Both teams took care of us and our ghost rather easily. After seeing my team slaughtered, I thought it was for certain that we were going to lose. However, both teams managed to interrupt each others' ghostly heroes for the entire duration of the match.

I've posted both screenshots I have of my first HoH victory below. See if you can recognize anyone in the pictures! (My name here is My Pvp Slot)

New computer all set up! Thank you everyone for waiting on me!

Well I'm pretty much finished setting up the new computer that I built. Thanks everyone for waiting on me!

If you're interested, here are the specs:

• Intel E5200 2.5GHz Dual Core Processor (Overclocked to 3.66GHz)
• EVGA Nvidia 9800GTX+ 512MB RAM Graphics Card
• 4GB Kingston HyperX 1066 RAM
• 74GB Western Digital 10,000RPM Hard Drive
• 500GB Western Digital 7,200 RPM Hard Drive
• Pioneer 20X DVD Burner
• Rosewill 74-in-1 USB Card Reader
  
• Rosewill PCI Wireless G Card
• Rosewill RCX-Z775-LX 92mm Ball CPU Cooler
  
• Rosewill RCX-TC060 Thermal Compound
• GIGABYTE GA-EP43-DS3LR LGA 775 Intel P43 ATX Intel Motherboard
• RAIDMAX Smilodon Mid-Tower ATX Case with 500W Power Supply included
• Acer 21.5" 5ms 16:9 Widescreen LCD Monitor with Built in Speakers
  

Krazy Kat unavailable at the moment

No updates for awhile... Krazy Kat is busy in the game of real life :-). Will be back shortly.

My April 2009 Xunlai Tournament Predictions

GvG

Dangerous Pumpkins (Q.P. 55)

Die Keller Kinder (Q.P. 21)

Straight Outta Kamadan (Q.P. 127)

Rebel Rising Extended Edition (Q.P. 29)

Edible Granite Pencil (Q.P. 132)

One Build Wonder (Q.P. 63)

I Disposable Heroes I (Q.P. 44)

Anonymous Amateurs (Q.P. 31)

1v1

I Will Kill U Hahaa (Q.P. 28)

I Am Your Antibuild (Q.P. 32)

Why So Se Ri Ou S (Q.P. 47)

Osarna Bin Laden (Q.P. 23)

The Lamest Win (Q.P. 35)

Sauron The Greatest (Q.P. 48)

Santa Claus N Hlprs (Q.P. 52)

Orng I Am So Gozu (Q.P. 73)

Krazy Kat's new computer is built!

So I built a computer for the first time today :). I'm a bit busy setting it up right now but I'll give you the details later on

The Early Kat Years 15: Icy Dragon Sword

I remember back in the day that ANet introduced a drop called the Icy Dragon Sword... just in time for the holidays. This ultra rare sword was only dropped in Mineral Springs, and people were forming up parties exclusively for this prized sword.

However, I remember making a build on Spartan Destroyer using a W/Me with Elemental Resistance, running skills, and sword attacks to farm the sword. On my first run I managed to get a sword. However, on my next 5+ attempts, the search for another sword failed. I swear that ANet has an "anti-greedy" farmer code in the game somewhere .

Assassin's Edge Series by etherosx

I just watched etherosx's newest video: Assassin's Edge Episode 4 Retribution. I highly recommend to everyone to watch the series.... it's very entertaining .

Assassin's Edge Series Playlist

The Early Kat Years 14: 5 second altar caps

This was an epic PvP moment that'll I never forget. Back in the day, there was only one objective in the Hall of Heroes. That objective was to be the team that "holds" the altar when the time expired. It took 5 seconds for the ghostly hero to claim the altar for the team. Because of this, teams would usually wait until the last 2 minutes to capture the altar, unless they were confident enough they could keep the ghostly alive the whole time. Back when prophecies was still around, there were three "ultimate" interrupt skills.

Leech Signet: The ultimate interrupt skill. There was nothing to prevent the ghostly against interruption from this skill. Being a signet, it can go through Spellbreaker and interrupt with ease. There was no Song of Concentration.

Meteor Shower: Combined with glyph of sacrifice for fast casting, this would ensure that a ghostly wouldn't be able to cap the altar for a full 9 seconds because of the constant knockdown. There were no anti-kd skills back then. However, a well timed Spellbreaker could prevent Meteor shower from being cast.

Shock: Usually put on warriors. Shocking a ghostly hero at the 6 second mark was fairly common and would ensure that a ghostly would not cap because it will be knocked down and would not get up with enough time to claim the altar. Smart teams would "Shock-chain" a ghost or take seperate ghosts to increase the chances of winning.

So... here was my Epic PvP moment: I was a ranger in a ranger spike team and the time was ticking down to the final seconds. All three ghostly heroes from each of the teams tried to claim the altar at the same time. I noticed a warrior going towards our team's ghostly while it was capping. I used a Savage Shot while the warrior was using Shock and interrupted him from knocking down our ghostly hero and losing all hope of winning the match. This action led to victory because our ghost was the only one that was not interrupted while claiming.

The Early Kat Years 13: Running Droks with Alexa The Amazing

Alexa The Amazing was my fourth character. I made her because I wanted to run Droknar's forge with her and for some self-confidence in myself :). I immediately made her second profession warrior because of the necessity to have balanced stance in order to prevent knockdowns.

I rushed through the game and ascended in no time (I actually beat the doppelganger with the skillbar I have in the picture btw). Eventually I beat the game and gave the drok's run a try.

It took me a couple of tries to get the run down but because I was so proficient with my warrior doing the run I was able to complete the run quickly. I used a modified E/W bar with Armor of Mist, Armor of Frost, Mist Form, Balanced Stance, Healing Signet and other defensive stances to do the run. Once I got to Drok's Forge I did a /dance.

*P.S.* - I added a picture to The Early Kat Years 10: 55 Necro Farming. It shows the bar and one of my first ever "best" drops that I taunted my guildies with xD.

PvE vs PvP: What's the difference?

In the world of Guild Wars, there always seems to be a ongoing "battle" between PvE and PvP. The longer you play Guild Wars, the more you understand the attitudes and emotions of the two different playing styles. Depending on the friends you make, it could lean you towards one way or another.

From my 3 years playing, I can tell you about my experiences with both the PvE and PvP world.

PvE - I find these players to be more mellow and relaxed. However, they are usually not very organized and seem to be more independent. They can be playful at times. Friends are formed more easily in PvE and you get to know the players more. PvE players are also more open to things that PvP players won't. However, they can be short tempered at times and rude if things don't go their way.

PvP - These players are insistent, aggressive and active. It's much harder to keep a PvP guild together than a PvE guild. In PvP, more teamwork is required and many teams force their team to play a specific skillbar or load certain equipment in order to gain an advantage over the other team. There's also a sort of "elitism" that goes on with PvP players as well. PvPers are very prideful and usually start arguments with each other easily if something goes wrong. I also find most Experienced PvPers unwilling to play with others that are of lower rank or "skill" than they are, because they are conditioned to play and act in a certain way. PvPers are more "close-minded" than PvEers and often times only stick to a particular build or refuse to run another build (A big example here is "Balanced" vs "Gimmick" builds). However, I find that you get to know more about the friends you do make while PvPing from their playing styles and quick decisions that you have to make on Ventrilo.

I love both communities, and they're both what Guild Wars is about. Maintaining a balance between the two is very difficult, but I'm one of the few exceptions that can handle it well. In fact, I've many times helped out my friends on both sides of the spectrum to look at the other side of the coin.

The Early Kat Years 12: Early Ranger Spike

Ranger spike was the first build I was ever introduced to in HA. My friend Cassandra Dark got me into HA with this build. At first, I was reluctant to try HA because I didn't have a spare character slot open. However, the bar that I was supposed to run was relatively simple to play and I loaded it up.



The point of this build was very simple. Using a team of 4 rangers, an orders necro, a WoH monk, an RC Prot, and an SB Infuser monk, the team would drop targets one by one until the entire team died. The rangers would use Read the Wind to increase their damage and accuracy. Dual Shot was then used followed by either Savage Shot or Punishing Shot all at the same time to drop a target in seconds. Order of Pain would increase the damage of the arrows significantly, and make it much harder for the monks to heal up. Enchantment removing skills such as Drain Enchantment, Inspired Enchantment, and Strip Enchantment ensured that the target couldn't block or evade (I miss this game mechanic so much. I wonder to this day why Anet removed it from the game). Aegis and Martyr would also help the team tremendously, by removing them of conditions and helping them block.

I remember doing many runs with them in the beginning; dropping many teams. However, we always had a problem with IWAY, FoC spike, and highly organized teams. Despite our teams' faults, I learned alot from them and the mechanics of Heroes' Ascent. My favorite moments with his team were the altar capping maps (they were plentiful back then). Since ranger spike had 4 interruptors on the team, it was effective against enemy heroes trying to cap the altar because of the spammability of Savage Shot and Punishing Shot. It was always fun to hear the team discouraged if an enemy hero capped the altar ;). If Cassandra Dark (Erik) hadn't introduced me, I probably would have never tried it in the first place.

Are you a paragon? We don't want you!

Without a doubt, there is profession discrimination within Guild Wars. Classes such as the Ritualist, Ranger, and Paragon are usually considered "inferior" compared to the other professions. While many people blame Anet for "nerfing" the skills of these professions (such as the Ritualist's Ritual Lord/Spirit nerf, and the Paragon's Defensive Anthem nerf), the reality of the fact is that the other classes are simply better at what they do. It's difficult to tag along teams using these professions in modern team builds without someone saying "Why are you a restoration ritualist? Bring your monk because we need protective spirit here" or "We need an SH Ele. Barrage doesn't do enough damage."

Regardless of profession discrimination, Guild Wars is still a great game to play. However, think about dusting off your ritualist next time and making him or her "see" the light (literally).

The Early Kat Years 11: The Henge of Denravi Sword

55 farming back in the day was very serious business. The Henge of Denravi sword was a very sought after sword with a unique Energy+5 mod that was upgradable with a 20% enchanting mod. After farming with my 55 necro, I needed better equipment. I bought my Denravi sword for 100K+30e back then... and that's when ecto was trading at around 8.5K each o_O! However, the community found out about the Fiery Flame Spitter with it's inherent halve skill recharge mod, making it a good alternative to the HoD sword. In December 2006, I decided to get FoW armor for my warrior and I desperately needed the cash to do so. It was then that I sold my HoD sword... for 100K+45e :O. It turned out that I made quite a trade... Guild Wars Factions came out not too long after that and introduced other Energy+5 weapons that were upgradeable. The HoD sword as a result dropped dramatically in price.

About 6 months ago I repurchased a HoD sword from somebody for 100K as a memento. It looks really neat to have one again :).

The Early Kat Years 10: 55 Necro Farming

I remember I was so disappointed that I didn't make a monk because at the time they were the only ones that could farm Underworld. However, someone invented the 55 necromancer and I decided to give it a try. I was inspired by a video someone put up of the run (don't think it was on YouTube but I'll put up a link to a video anyway just to show you guys what it was about).



The only difference from the build this user equipped and what I used is that I used Shadow Of Fear and Guardian. Shadow of Fear was useful to waste the smite crawlers's smite hexes and cover Spiteful Spirit before they could cast it again. Guardian was good for preventing the aatxe interrupts. I remember failing at least 10 times (and wasting 10K :P) trying to get the build right and getting the "ghosts" to block the aatxe so I could safely wand the dying nightmare that was rending my enchantments. However, I eventually got the build right and I was farming ectos like no tomorrow (although the occassional UW clear with no ecto drops was still annoying).

Mount Qinkai Speed Clearing

My alliance has recently been MQSCing (Mount Qinkai Speed Clearing). It's a super fast build involving 3 600/smite teams and a runner to vanquish the area in 15 minutes or less to get around 12K Luxon faction each run. It's really fun and I highly recommened that everyone take a look at it! :D

http://pvx.wikia.com/wiki/Build:Team_-_MQSC_Luxon_FFF

The Early Kat Years 9: The Deletion of Blackened Shadow #1 and 4 Character Slots

As many ancient Guild Wars players know, there once was a time when an account was limited to FOUR character slots and Anet had no plans to increase the amount. On December 8th, 2005 I deleted my mesmer Blackened Shadow to create my ranger Rydia Of Riglia. After that my four character slots were: Spartan Destroyer, Ken The Eviscerator, Alexa The Amazing, Rydia Of Riglia. After seeing that ranger run me from Piken Square and having no more character slots to create a ranger, I was caught in a bad place. I was heartbroken to have to delete my first character after getting 15K Enchanter's Armor on her dyed black (I still have the original Blackened Shadow #1's armor BTW in my storage). Mesmers were inferior to the other classes back then in PvE (and arguably may be today as well), and I needed a new character to spark my interest.

You will not be forgotten Blackened Shadow #1!!!

The return of dungeon running for Joyful and Joyous Jasmine

Today, I have officially resumed my dungeon running services by completing two CoF runs in Hard Mode. It's been around two months since I've ran an EoTN dungeon with my two monks. However, it was encouraging to see some customers that I've also ran in the past come on the runs. Although I really wanted to run a harder dungeon such as Frostmaw's Burrows or Catacombs of Kathandrax, I had to warm up after being away from it for so long. I have also not actively controlled two accounts simultaneously for awhile now. I did die due to the sluggishness of my computer but it could probably just be me overloading my laptop with multiple programs. (At any one moment I can be running KeyPass, Digsby, Avira, Sunbelt Personal Firewall, Workrave, Guild Wars (sometimes 2 clients o_o), Firefox, Foobar2000, and Ventrilo at once)

If there's anything I've learned from returning to dungeon running it's that I need to desperately DEFRAGMENT my computer.

The Early Kat Years 8: 100K Superior Absorption!

Yes... Superior Absorption was actually 100K way back when at the rune trader if you believe it or not. I always tried farming to get it for my warrior without spending a ridiculous amount of money for an extra -1 damage reduction over Major Absorption but with no success. Spartan Destroyer, Rydia Of Riglia and Alexa The Amazing felled many ettins in search of the legendary rune but they all failed. ANet set the rarity on these runes to scarce levels and that's why the price was driven up so much. Jason still taunts me until today that I never got one until after the price dramatically fell and they became more common. In the end, I gave in and just bought the darned thing... because my love for Drok's running outweighed smelling Ettin's blood all day long.

Kat's April Fool's Day 2009

Since 4/1 has passed, I can post here about my April Fool's Pranks that I tried on people yesterday. On 3/31, late at night around 11:30 P.M. EST I decided to pull my April Fool's prank. I wanted to do it before 4/1 because I knew Anet was going to update the game and ruin the surprise.

• First, I logged onto all of my characters on my main account for about 3 minutes each.
• I then made a new PvP character with the name "This Is Way Too Ez".
• I changed the guild status to "Tell your GL thx for the ectos ~ your neighborhood hacker" and logged off. (The reactions to this was hilarious. My favorite was "wtf is this?")
  
• About 3 minutes later, I logged on as Spartan Destroyer and pretended that my account was hacked.
  
• When someone asked in alliance chat if it was an April Fool's joke I had to reveal it :(.
• I then changed the guild status message back to normal but added a link to the "Greatest GW Music Video Of All Time" (was also on my blog post yesterday)

Overall, April Fool's Day was fun and there were many interesting pranks around including YouTube's upside down videos, Guild Wars's "Gwens" :P, and Gmail's autoreply.

Joyous Jasmine's Purty Pink FoW Armor!

Today, I got Fissure Armor for Joyous Jasmine!!!

Since I couldn't wait to get her armor, I went down to the Fissure Of Woe with 2 accounts (since Joyous Jasmine is on one of my alternate accounts). My discordway hero team wiped most of the enemies fairly quickly and I got the armor in no time!

This set will be my third FoW set. I must've spent about an hour finding the right dye combination but I finally decided on one (Red+Red+Red+Purple). It matches her other pink armor sets perfectly. I plan on restarting my dungeon running services in the near future, and getting this armor is the perfect start. :D

The Early Kat Years 7: Early IWAY

This early Kat Years post will focus on one of the most creative, if not most hated build in Guild Wars at the time. IWAY mainly focused on 3 Axe W/R's each carrying the skill "I Will Avenge You!" and pets. It also included a R/Me mantra of resolve spike trapper, a R/Me oath shot trapper, N/E Tainted Necro, N/Mo Orders, and a N/Mo Martyr. This build was deadly because it used spirits, overwhelming pressure, and didn't require a lot of teamwork to be effective. Sometimes, the match could be down to the last person on an IWAY team and they could still win due to their survivability.

The W/R's would send in their pets to die so that IWAY could be triggered, which increased attack speed and gave health regeneration. The rangers would apply conditions on the enemy team, as well as protecting the backline from damage. Smart necros would use the dust traps to avoid enemy attacks. Orders added on top of increased attack speed and high armored warriors only added to the pressure. Meanwhile, the rangers would deploy spirits that would hinder the other team such as Nature's Renewal, Frozen Soil, Edge of Extinction, and Fertile Season. The tainted necro would spread disease throughout the enemy team.

Although it couldn't hold the Hall of Heroes well, it definitely was able to win the first couple of maps, making it popular for Pugs to run.

The Greatest Guild Wars Music Video Of All Time!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uEx99WXdik