Frost is the New Black has MOVED!

The blog that you all know and love, Frost is the New Black, has moved to wordpress! Click on this link to direct yourself to the new new black.

Also, the RSS feed has changed. Subscribe yourself to this link if you want an up-to-date feed of my blog. But it's not like a lot of you read it regularly anyways, right? (Oh great, now I'm depressed about my self-consciousness as a blogger. /wrist)

See you on the other side of the internether!

Transitions

There comes a time in a person's life when major phases begin to shift into something new. Whether the change is radically different, or just an improvement on a good thing, it is something that people cannot change, and we just have to deal with it.

For me, there are three main things in my life right now. First is real life, second is WoW, and third is the blog. Hilariously enough, all three are going through transitional periods at the same time at this very moment. And for some reason, I am quite happy to accept and cope.

In real life, I'm starting school again, albeit only one course for the entire second semster. It's another year of grinding out the study hours and simply finishing what I set to complete in the first place. As much as I wanted to finish this certain course last year and simply graduate, limitations have prevented me from doing so, and as such, I have to plan my study time around WoW and the blog.

In WoW, I'm starting to phase back and forth between the three characters. Bashertin is my main, and always will be. Leyola is the lovely druid healer, and ever since she hit eighty, she's been in more demand from my guild than the mage. Wimzig is steadily trotting along through Northrend, taking names and axing out his rage against Arthas. All three are now equally important to me, despite loving the frost mage more than the others. They all have their own professions, and contribute to the overall cash flow.

The guild is also changing, and perhaps it may be for the worse. The recent hemorrhage of members has demoralized its members, and it has not only limited the raiding time of its contributors, but also limited progression as well. There's not much that I can do to help except continue what I'm doing to help provide services to the guild in the form of enchants, bags, gems, glyphs, and a character of each role to run instances and/or heroics with.

The blog is surprisingly changing as well, perhaps in the most drastic way imaginable. I've recently decided to switch to wordpress, but haven't made the full transition yet. I'm still setting up pages, blogrolls, RSS feeds, and other administrative things to get the main thing going, but it won't be until later that activity and content on this blog will be completely transfered to WP. I like the personal and intimate feel of blogger, as it fits well with plenty of sites like the Pink Pigtail Inn and the Greedy Goblin.

However, I want a bit more customizability with the blog, and am grossly intrigued by all the WoW-related widgets that have been develloped since I started blogging. I certainly don't want to be as Metropolitan as World of Matticus, but I would like to a more straightforward presentation with accessible features, like criticalQQ or Gnomeageddon. I suppose this is partly due to DK101, as well as other regular features on FitNB. Since I'm too lazy to organize them here on blogger, I might as well just start anew on wordpress.

Funny how all of this has come within the new year. I suppose it is only customary to make a somewhat late resolution to be able to handle these transitions with the utmost care, and to not only enjoy the ride, but to marvel as the scenery as it goes by.

Again, wordpress will come later, and all the announcements will be made by then. But for now, I hope you continue to enjoy your time here at blogspot.

Death Knight 101: Introduction

Wimzig is mad at me.

He is not satisfied by the amount of Frost Death Knight content. All the attention I've been placing on Bashertin (Frosty Foes, etc.) with regards to Frost Mage information is fine to an extent, but I have clearly neglected dear old Wimzig. Where's the light theorycraft? Frost Tanking tips? So on, and so forth.

Because sometimes, (questionable) roleplay just isn't enough.

Well, I've been caught in a phenomenon again. Shortly after the release of Lich King, I plowed Bashertin all the way to 80 in short time, giving me a good amount of time to bring Wimzig up to 70. Of course, Outlands was overpopulated with Death Knights, and 4 DK/1 Healer dungeons were the norm.

Scracth that. 1-2 idiot DK/2-3 normal DK/Healer dungeons were the norm. All the way up from Ramparts to Shadow Labs. Fast leveller that I am, I decided to go ahead of this wave and level him quickly so I can get somewhat normal groups going, and actually learn how to Frost Tank without having my mobs Death Gripped away from me.

Once the gnome hit 70 ahead of the general populace, I placed a good amount of attention on levelling Leyola, while at the same time, levelling up Wimzig's professions.

Now the druid is 80, Wimzig is back in the driver's seat, and is taking names in the Nexus and Utgarde Keep. Unfortunately, those "deathtards" and "doucheknights" caught up in Wimzig's absence in Northrend.

Now can you see why he's so mad at me?

To make it up to him, I am going to devote a bit of time on this blog to attempt to teach the basics of death knightery, covering topics ranging from combat, spellbook, talents, specs, and frost-specific strategies. While doing so, I hope to present the material in a straightforward, simplified way. Hopefully, if any Deathnoob happens to read this and learn something from it, I will atone for ignoring Wimzig.

See you on the other side of Acherus!

Friday Five: Just Dinged 80 Edition

It has been a wierd few weeks over at Too Many Annas. New Laptops, New Year, New...Friday Five Guest Post? I'm quite sure that Matticus from World of Matticus can carry the torch quite well. And I'm quite happy to respond to this week's edition. In honor of achieving 80 seasons of sacrifice and dungeon-crawling with complete strangers, Let's put spotlight on Leyola Swiftwillow.


Congratulations, Leyola!

1. Last week, you state your New Year’s resolution for 2009. How do you plan on achieving your resolution?

Leyola: I suppose I ought to explain my resolution for this year, correct? Unfortunately, my resolution was to achieve 80 seasons of experience, but lo and behold, I completed my goal rather quickly. Okay then, I suppose now is an appropriate time to set another goal for this year. Hrm...Maybe I would like to lend my assistance to larger parties who aim to venture into more dangerous dungeons, such as the Obsidian Sanctum.



Oh wait, I've already done that? Well, forget this then! Elune knows what this year has in store for me and my friends, so I'll let her decide my fate. I'll try to be prepared for anything.

2. There is always a character defining moment that happens every year. For example, Mallet defied all odds and managed to take down Kil’Jaden but losing a precious Enhancement Shaman friend to the Twisting Nether as the cost. What event (tragedy or otherwise) do you foresee your character going through?

Leyola: Last year's defining moment did not necessarily involve myself, but my good friend Wimzig Wintersprug, whose life was taken away, only to be restored as a cold, calculating Death Knight. For the most part, he remains as whimsical as ever, but there was a part of him that was lost. I deeply care about him as a friend, and I forsee the possibility of helping restore what he lost.

Or perhaps, it will be I who will have to deal with his loss.

3. Like it or not, we’re all materialistic at heart. What is the one thing you plan on getting in the months ahead?

Leyola: I admit that there is no single item that I long to obtain...although, I would like to get my first piece of Dreamwalker garb. Wait, I did already? Why must elune mock me so!

More often than not, I find myself picking up things that do not appear to be of use at first, but become criticaly important later on.

For example, the Overcharged Capacitor that I had bought all the way back in November from a friend in the guild sat in my bag, rotting away until yesterday, when I finally turned it in at the Fizzcrank Airstrip for a quest. It just so happened that this particular quest put me over the top in experience, allowing me to reach my 80th season. How wonderful!

I would like to see myself getting something similar in the near future. I'm not sure what it's going to be exactly, but I hope to find out soon enough!

4. In times of hardship, it’s necessary for characters to diversify themselves in their skills. What sort of occupations would your characters involve themselves in (they don’t have to be actual professions)?

Leyola: Not long ago, I left the Argent Dawn on personal matters, particularly relating to Wimzig's death, as well as the events at Light's Hope Channel. I certainly wouldn't like to relive those moments, but apparently, there's no escaping fate, is there?

The Argent Dawn is now the Argent Crusade, and they're taking names up in Northrend. Perhaps it's only a matter of time before I enlist my services to them again. Besides, their tabard is quite elegant.

5. But hard work shouldn’t have to be backbreaking all the time. Your character needs to have fun once in a while. What hobbies would your character pick up?

Leyola: After having explored all of Northrend, traversing its many dungeons, meeting many people, I would like to go back to my roots, and finish exploring the rest of Azeroth. I would also like to observe the different species of flora that live on all corners of the world.

Wimzig's Whimsy: The Defias are a Crafty Bunch

Tonight, something very strange happened. A feeling of intense fear has been evoked in me, the likes of which has never happened in-game before.

Someone in my guild was talking about dogs. In my hasty reaction, the depths of my instinct instructed me to respond with "Lapdogs, all of you!"

Instincts driven further, I thus concluded that I must kill Edwin VanCleef. I didn't even know who this man was, but I knew the name, and somehow, perhaps due to some experience before death, I had failed to kill him.

Considering my newfound power as a Knight of Death and Destruction, I figured that now was the time that I would be able to handle him man-to-man. I was sure that the cobalt-plated armor that Leyola gifted me upon arrival to Northrend would suffice. (A short aside, I can never stop thanking her for everything she's done for me so far in life and beyond.)

Anyways, while on a gryphon ride towards westfall from the Eastern Plaguelands, I received a faint whisper from someone far, far away.

"Death Knight, we are in need of your service! The Dragon Keristrasza is held captive in the Nexus, the stronghold of the Blue Dragonflight! Would you care to join us?"

A fantastic venture into a dungeon of the cold depths of Northrend? I couldn't resist accepting their offer, whoever this person was. I ended up forming a group with an assortment of friendly faces. There were two druids in particular, one of them may have been the one who had whispered me. Somehow I had failed to mention that I was hellbent on getting my revenge on the Defias Mastermind, but I had the self-control and courtesy to accept any summoning spell they would cast.

I ventured deep into the dark, unforgiving deadmines. Slashing left and right with honed bloodlust, I garnered the attention of entire corridors of me, before they perished to Death and Decay.

"Hey! Are you still coming with us?" The whisperer said to me again.

"Yes," I responded, calmly. "I must get my revenge on this VanCleef first! His blood shall be mine!"

"..."

I had reached the undergound docks leading to the giant vessel and hideout of VanCleef. I smote Smite with my own cleaver, yet moments before his death, he urged to me a warning.

"Van Cleef is a Crafty one! Don't think that Strength alone will stop him!"

Ignoring his warning, I quickly decapitated the bull's horned head.

At that very moment, I began to feel the connection break with my whisperer.

"I'm sorry, Death Knight! Your position has been...replaced. I, well...goodbye."

My hearthstone rumbled. The severed link to the others spurned its activation somehow.

NO! I thought. I can't leave! VanCleef must bleed!

I stormed through the tiers as fast as I could. A grotesque murloc wielding a large stirring rod stood in my way, obstructing my path.

"Get out of the way, vermin!" I yelled, with an intimidating voice. The only response I could evoke out of him was some derivative of "ggghhrrrgglllllgggrrrhhh!!"

He died quickly, but his task of slowing me down was successful. I couldn't stand it anymore. I had no chance to rest my lungs, so I plowed through the final Defias Barrier and headed straight to VanCleef.

"Lapdog!" He said. "The Defias shall triumph!"

Shoving the large mob aside, I aimed my axe specifically at him. With the greatest surge of savagery, I arced my swing perfectly to drive through him, shoulder to hip.

But it would never be. The next moment, I was in Dalaran, with not a single drop of blood staining my blade.

Curse that VanCleef! I shall have his head next time!

Exercises in Creative Design - Epic Gnome Mage Quest Chain

Yes. I'm not talking about any mage. It has to be a gnomish mage. For this idea, somewhat sparked by BigBearButt's challenge, I wanted to think of an "Epic Quest Chain" that would fit my character, or a quest chain that I would like to see myself doing.

Firstly, the quest is started by a token drop from sort of boss, I would like to think maybe Sartharion or perhaps Archavon. Not Malygos, though. We can save that for later.

Actually, yes. Sartharion. He'll drop a mage token called Scale of the Ancient Aspects.

Start the quest, give it to Rhonin in Dalaran, and he'll be marvelled by such a piece. Unfortunately, he doesn't know much about the ancients as much as his good friend Krassus. So off you go to the Wyrmrest temple in Dragonblight to talk to the big bad motherhubber.

"By the Old Gods!" Krassus says. Apparently, it's the original scale of the aspects, the piece of mortal flesh from which all the ancients were crafted. Think Genesis and Adam's Left Rib, that type of business. Krassus, in his awe, gives you a quest item called "Scale of the Kirin Tor." In certain parts of the quest, you will be able to use it to summon him to assist you.

First, since the original scale came from the black flight, it only makes sense to go back to Sartharion's Lair, the Obsidian Sanctum to investigate the matter. There will be a tiny shrine standing near one of the Drakes. When you kill it, you can summon a miniboss. A level 80 Elite Black Dragon that you will have to kill. By yourself. Apparently, since you went in with a raid, the Black Dragon (let's arbitrarily call him Necrofarion) will bind the other raid members except you. Oh shiz, what will you do now, little one?

Summon Krassus, the dragon mage, of course. He swoops down from wherever and starts tanking the crap out of him. Infinite threat, so you don't have to worry about getting aggro. His health is not infinite, however, so you will have to DPS Necrofarion by yourself. Thankfully, he's a squirt compared to most dragons, so you'll only have to sustain 2500 DPS for 5 minutes to take him down. Not too demanding, in my opinion.

Once Necrofarion is defeated, you will have a chance to interrogate him. He drops the big bombshell that the Black and Blue dragonflight have made a temporary truce! The exchange of the scale was supposed to take place between Sartharion and Malygos himself.

Now that you have the scale, obviously Malygos is going to send all his worst henchmen at you, so it's up to the Bronze Dragonflight to hide you where he can't touch you. In the past.

"Ah, Bashertin! How could you get into such trouble?" Asks Chromie, the amber dragon-gnome. "Oh well, since I'm charged with hiding you from Malygos, you might as well go home to your people."

And boom. You're in Old Gnomeregan. During Third War. During the Troggs.

Wandering around, you run into a quest hub in a little house of the gnomish arcane. The wizardmaster will charge you with random dumb quests like "collect 8 of these for the troops" and whatnot. But at the end, Chromie will whisper you.

"Mage, our plan didn't work out as well as we thought! It would seem that the Infinite Dragonflight have gotten hold of some information regarding the Scale. You must watch out!"

And then BAM. Troggs and Black Dragonflight everywhere.

And there's nobody to help you now. Except for a billion gnomes.

In an instanced quest, you have to stave off 7 waves of 7 Dragonflight mobs. None of them are casters or ranged, nor are the elite. So you know what to do here. AoE them all. Successfully. By yourself. Troggs appear here and there, but they're joke waves, and are way below your level.

At the end of that quest, you return to the present. Appearing before Alextrasza, you speak to her and Krassus, and suggest that the only way to deal with the situation is to destroy the Scale of the Ancient Aspects. Manually. The only way to do so is to use it AGAINST Malygos.

The Scale of the Ancient Aspects becomes an equippable trinket, and you have to use it in a fight against malygos with a group of 10 or 25 people.

So now we go to the Eye of Eternity. When Malygos sees you with the scale, you get automatic aggro. And you get much more threat from your spells. Thus you will have to mage-tank him. When Malygos sees you with the scale, he will enrage and gain a damage reducing buff. Spellsteal it, and you can take buttloads of damage, and you can use your trinket to put up shields from time to time.

During the flying phase, you don't ride on the disks that drop. Use the scale that krasus gives you, and he will appear and turn into Korialstrasz. And you ride him and dragon-tank the boss during the flight phase. Wonderful!

When it is all said and done, you finish this awesome mage quest chain, and the reward is none other than a blue dragon epic flyer. Wicked.

Oh crap, gotta get to school now. Second Semester, yay!

Frosty Foes: Loken

(video courtesy of WTBBlue.com, an excellent up and coming website for WotLK guides and videos to 5-man, 10-man, and 25-man encounters. Go check it out for yourself!)

"Loken is the mastermind behind the war efforts of the iron dwarves of Northrend. Having previously served the Pantheon, he has recently heard the calls of the old god Yogg-Saron. Since that moment, he has lost all faith in the Titan's vision and considers the Old God his new master." - WoWWiki

General Strategy

The fight boils down to two main things you ought to look out for. The first is a raidwide aura that does periodic damage to all members that deals damage ever two seconds. The damage scales with the indivdual's distance to the boss himself. Thus, you will want to stand really close to him, if not, on top of him.

The second, and perhaps the trickiest part of the fight is avoiding Loken's Lightning Nova. On both modes, a raid emote will appear saying that Loken is preparing to cast Lightning Nova. During this window, you have FIVE seconds to move out of the nova's twenty-yard range. Once the nova is cast, you must get back to Loken as quickly as possible, minimizing damage from the aura.

Mastering the Nova Dance

There are two general approaches to movement during the Lightning Nova. One involves the tank moving out of Nova range, and the other involves him or her staying behind and taking the full damage when the spell is cast. Tanks that move out of range should stay in place after the nova and simply let the boss move to him or her. The other members should move in the same direction as the tank to minimize their run distance post-Nova and receive less periodic damage.

The latter method is doable if the tank is well geared for the instance. The other members will not have to worry about movement direction, since Loken will stay in the same place the entire time.

Thus, blink is a godsend, since you travel the same distance as the nova itself. However, do not assume that you are automatically out of range after casting it, since the spell is not exactly perfect at the moment.

Offensive Spells

Pop all your cooldowns as soon as the fight starts, and when they're up again, save them for after a Nova. This way, you will receive the benefits of the spell's effects for longer periods of time, without being interrupted by having to run out of his Nova.

For some reason, my water elemental is immune to all periodic damage as well as Lightning Nova, so you don't have to worry about him. Mirror Images die instantly, so don't even bother using it.

Defensive Spells

Ice Barrier should be kept up whenever possible to both minimize damage as well as reduce the strain on your healer. Ice Block can save your butt in an instant if you are unable to get out of range. You should cast Cold Snap as soon as you come out of Ice Block, but be aware that due to Hypothermia, you will be unable to use Ice Block during the next Lightning Nova, so be prepared to Blink out.

You may opt to use Mage armor for the resistance against the periodic damage you'll be taking. It is also quite useful if by any chance one or both of the other DPS classes die during the fight. If you have to shoulder the damage load by yourself, be prepared for a somewhat longer fight.

Phat Lewtz

Ornate Wooden Stola - An excellent pre-T7 chest piece. Somewhat comparable to the Robes of Crackling Flame, but you sacrifice haste and MP5 for more crit. If you're not yet at the hit cap at this point, you should go for the Ebonweave robe, but this is a good drop to take on the way there.

Flowing Sash of Order - The badge sash offers better stats overall, but this piece is a decent holdover until you accumulate enough emblems to grab one. The Spirit is a bit of a waste, though.

Woven Bracae Leggings - This is a truly excellent pair of pants for any cloth caster, even disc priests. There's no reason why you shouldn't pick this up, unless you need hit, or want T7 set bonuses.

Frostradamus!

I was going to do a boss post for Loken today, seeing that the group that I run heroics with have recently gotten down a solid strategy, and are comfortable with positioning and timing of movement. However, this is the new year after all, and in the same vein that others on the internether have done, I would like to have some fun and express my own thoughts and predictions regarding this year, specifically frost mage-oriented.

Now 2008 has been considered to be a very up and down for mages in general, but the Frost school has seen nothing but good things. The introduction of our proc-based talents have helped our dps, while at the same time, make our rotations a lot more interesting than frostbolt spam. Improvements to our Water Elemental, including both the talent and glyphs, have increased both dps as well as group utility, thanks to its mana regenertion skill. Oh and Blizzard started critting. How awesome.

On the downside, I can only put my finger on Deep Freeze as a center of discussion. The removal of its damage component has irked both PvP and PvE mages alike, but in the end, it seemed that the controversy has subsided to say the least. If anything, Frost kept about its business critting people's pants off, and enjoying the heck out of it.

But where do we go in 2009? What does the new year have in store? Here is my list for predictions. Some are wishes of fortune, while others are ill omens.

1. Frost will be more of an asset in raids than before.

This will be done by either (or both) of two things:
- increase in overall Frost DPS
- more useful raid utility compared to other mage specs

The first buff is a rather straightforward approach to buffing frost raiding by simply raising the damage done by frostbolt. Conveniently, frostbolt is not the primary nuke in the PvP spec due to its cast time, and as such, will be the easiest way to increase frost dps.

The second buff suggestion doesn't focus on the mage's damage output, but rather the other assets he brings to the table compared to other specs. The most significant unique contribution that a frost mage brings is the water elemental's mana regeneration. With one mage alone, it doesn't feel like too much, but with two, you can really see the difference on your mana bar when you're blasting away at a boss like Patchwerk.

Simply put, I predict that if they are going to buff water elementals, the easiest way to do so is to provide the straight up replenishment bonus that Shadow Priests, Ret Pallies, and Survival Hunters provide. This is a more reasonable choice for the frost buff compared to a straightforward dps increase, since frost is more known as the best DPM spec (damage per mana) compared to the DPS power of Frostfire and Fire.

2. AoE will become less viable, but Frost won't be affected as much as other classes.

My thoughts on this stem from a recent pug that I ran. It was Culling of Stratholme heroic, and the party consisted of a prot pally, a hunter, and a boomkin. While the healer's class isn't important in this case, you can see where I'm getting at here. The entire instance was just AoE. It was fast, it was furious, it was boring. Frankly, other than for solo use and farming, I've become sick and tired of Blizzard.

I'm sure such sentiments are shared by many DPS classes, but it also comes from the fact that I simply don't look at my DPS meter anymore, all because it boils down to how soon I start AoE'ing, and how much faster I can regenerate mana compared to my counterparts.

Blizzard will probably fix this for sure in the next content patch. The newer raid and 5-man dungeons will consist of dreadful pulls akin to Magister's Terrace and Shattered Halls, but will be in less quantity, to keep in line with the Lich King dungeon design philosophy.

On top of that, AoE damage from other classes will be reduced, following the Hunter volley nerf. This may include Seed of Corruption, Hurricane, and very likely Divine Storm, but Blizzard will still be able to crit, and will continue to make AoE grinding manageable, albeit more challenging than it was when Wrath was released.

3. Water Elemental immunity in select boss fights will be replaced by AoE damage reduction on all boss fights.

I just noticed that Squirtle doesn't take any raid damage from Loken's debuff. Is it just me, or does he not die to Lightning Nova either? And I don't mean survival, I mean full immunity from heavy AoE on some boss fights. I ran Arachnid quarter with my guild yesterday, and he didn't take any damage at all from rain of fire on the second boss. Is this a glitch?

I would like to think so, and that Blizzard has probably noticed by now. Expect such situational perks to be fixed soon, but in exchange, they will give elementals the AoE protection that they deserve, bringing them in line with other pets.

4. Frost will once again be rulers of PvP.

Thanks to the upcoming buffs to the arcane tree in the next patch, the WoW devs will keep a close eye on the damage of Arcane Barrage. Due to the crying of those who aren't swift enough to get the new resilience gear, they will be one-twoshotted left and right. Arcane Barrage will be brought back in line in terms of damage output.

Similar to the awkward PvE gear scaling towards the end of BC, more and more people will catch up with resilience, and while Arcane PvP won't be neutered to epic proportions, it will no longer be the powerhouse that it once was. Frost will emerge from the shadows once again as the safer school to burst with.

5. None of the above will come true.

Some of it is just wishful thinking, but seeing that Frost at the moment is not getting as much attention as Frostfire and Arcane in PvE and PvP respectively, it is quite difficult to think that Squirtle-wielders will not get any form of attention at all while the other trees are uner review. Only time will tell.

Happy New Year!

I've got lots of explaining to do. Now normally, this time of year (December 25th to January 1st) spells disaster for my hobby life, since everything is put on hold for numerous family functions and impromptu get-togethers. You see, I have a few relatives that come up from the States from time to time, and it's always a blast. Spending time with the cousins is always fun, too. And with family around, that usually spells hangovers for me.

That said, December 24, 25, 31, January 1 are a wash. There's no getting around to that. December 26 is also a no-show because of Boxing Day, and due to staying up all night and getting into line at 3 o'clock in the morning to buy electronics for really cheap (got an Xbox-360 amongst others), then sleeping for the rest of the day.

For family impromptu stuff, we had last minute get-togethers on the 27th, and on the 29th for the cousins to take the littler cousins to watch Twilight (very nice tween fluff and good chemistry between attractive co-stars).

So where does that leave 30th? Sick. Terrible cold. Couldn't even drink as much to ring in the new year, because hangover symptoms for me are amplified by illness.

And now, I'm back, but till a bit sick, though! This learns me to have pre-arranged posts for instances of sick days and unavailability. But iunno. 9 consecutive days worth of filler posts wouldn't float well with anyone. Heck, I don't even think Matticus would have the blog-fu in him to do so without some modicum of assistance.

Me? I get none. I play the game solo, and this is what I get for not being around. Le Sigh! Oh well. Time to catch y'all up on stuff.

Individual Progress
- Bashertin finally got new shoulders to replace his Loot Reaver mantle, and is a head slot away from Superior. It won't happen anytime soon, because his current piece has a lot of Hit on it.
- Leyola is 77 and has epic flight! She also has Cold Winter Flying! Now the herb/mineral farming can truly begin in between pug groups.
- Wimzig has become the REAL moneymaker in the group, doing Jewelcrafting dailies almost exclusively, and selling the Dragon Eyes for ridiculous prices. He's still 70, though.

Guild Progress
For some reason, the awkward post-Wrath conundrum that surrounds the guild is still there. We're still hemorrhaging all of the new members we get. Recently, it's been in part to other up and coming guilds stealing healers and tanks away from us. We have fallen into the trap of recruiting dishonest alts who are only there to scout things up and combing through the ranks and spiriting away our new recruits.

Well, I've got a few choice expletives for them, but I'd rather not say it here. All I am going to say is that Ironwill Mercenaries does not condone dishonesty, forgery, or underhandedness. And don't think we don't know which guilds are responsible, as well. We got your numbers, and don't expect us to help you out any time soon, or even acknowledge you with any common decency. And that is that.

Conclusion
I hate to end the post on such a nasty note, but I have an equally nasty cold still lying around, and I don't have much left in me. I think I'll do a boss strat soon, though. Anyways, happy new year again, and I'll see ya around.