Both Soforah and I have been reading Lovecraft’s books since we were kids. We love everything related to the Cthulhu mythos: novels, comic books, video games,… The idea of ancient beings, hidden in the dark corners of the earth, manipulating the mind of the humans, has always been one of our favourite plots in fantasy. So, when Blizzard inspires itself directly from Lovecraft’s world (Yogg-Saron, C’thun,…), we are instant fans!
There are not a hundred ways to say this: We love Cthulhu!
Yesterday, Soforah was wandering around the Eye of Azshara when she stumbled upon Kosumoth the Hungering. I had already read that he was the boss that could drop the Fathom Dweller, an aquatic mount, but I didn’t know that it was already available.
After a quick research, I’ve found this guide on Wowhead: Kosumoth the Hungering. It’s pretty straight forward and feels very much like the hunt for the Riddler’s Mind Worm.
I really enjoy those secrets, it adds another level of depth to the game. I can’t help but wonder how they find all those hidden items? Do they explore each map, each cave, each ocean in the game? Some of the caves in this chain are very hard to find and I don’t think that I would have ever seen them without the guide…
One of the caves was even hidden behind a toothless shark.
When you finally have clicked all the items in the right order, you can go back to an NPC, Drak’Thul, and unlock a world quest where you are to slay Kosumoth. Apparently, the loot alternates weekly between the aquatic mount and a pet, the Hungering Claw.
We both obtained our very own tentacle, but we’ll surely come back next week for the mount.
With a possible next expansion themed around the old gods, we are both super hyped. Please, Blizzard, make it happen!
Another community challenge from Z & Cinder. This time the topic is about the reason behind our blogging:
“Everyone who has created a blog has done so for a reason. For all of you WoW bloggers out there, what was that reason? Why did you choose to put fingers to keys to write about a computer game? What type of posts do you like to write? Does your blog have a theme to it, or do you just wing it and write whatever you want? We’d love to know!”
So here is why we blog about WoW:
The main reason why we blog is because we want to keep remembrances of our adventures in World of Warcraft. We spend an incredible amount of time in Azeroth, fighting, exploring, fishing,… It would be sad not to have anything to remember those moments by. In fact, our WoW blogging started with separated blogs where we were keeping our screenshots, without text. Then, we started giving our opinions about quests and dungeons. And, finally, Navimie gave us the idea to blog together, that’s how The Brutes were born.
Creativity would be the second reason. Developping this blog gave me a reason to get better at CSS, I coded the entire theme of The Brutes and it was an amazing experience. That’s not all, it also gives us a place to write our stories and to work on little projects like creating funny comics or videos about challenges like the Ironman. The blog is a great motivation behind our creativity.
Finally, we really enjoy the blogging community. Even if the first reason behind our writing is nothing else but our own remembrances, we do enjoy our little corner of the internet. Big sites like MMO Champion and Wowhead are filled with guides and objective posts. We don’t want objectivity, give us the people’s experience, what they do in Azeroth, what they love about it, what they hate… We feel closer to the real people, those who have a job or a family or both, who have to create their own adventures based on the time they have in the game. It feels more real to us than reading about pro-gamers and how long it took them to down the last boss.
Voilà, what we wish to the WoW blogging community is to grow and to get closer to each other, each with thousands of posts to remember our goofy adventures by.
Before Legion came out, PvP had never been a big priority of mine. I usually give it a try at the end of an expansion when my to-do list becomes shorter and real PVP’ers are much more geared. Which means that I was standing no chance in any battleground or arena. It always leads to a certain frustration that makes me give up on this part of the game.
In Legion, however, the entire PvP system has changed. First, you’re less dependent on your ilevel. Second, there is this whole new system with Honor talents and Prestige which grants really nice rewards.
Prestige
Each time you earn 50 Honor ranks, you hit another level of Prestige. By working your way through the first 50 Honor Levels, you unlock your talents. These will remain permanently. After that, each Prestige level will reward you with pets, mounts, achievements,…
I first thought that it would be impossible to get anywhere with this system when you’re not a hardcore PvP’er. It levels pretty slow despite the decent amount of Honor you gain with the PvP World Quests. Like I’ve said before, I may have started very late in this expansion, so I’m only Prestige level 2.
Now, seen from a big PvP’ers perspective, it must be well paced. If this is all you do in the game, you want to take your time and enjoy each minute of leveling your Prestige. Things that are done in the blink of an eye are too short to truly enjoy, right?
Something I really love are the new Honor talents. My favourite is most definitely the “Dire Beast: Basilisk”. You summon this very slow Basilisk that does quite a fair amount of damage. He’s huge and pretty funny because he arrives with an attitude like: “ok, ok, I’m coming, hold your horses”. I tried to pick up another talent, but I just couldn’t get rid of him. I guess that I love to have an entire zoo around me. The more, the merrier!
World Quests
The first time I saw PvP World Quests, I had no clue on what they were about. I remember one day, arriving by accident at a Warden Tower Assault… I ran out of there like my pants were on fire, not knowing what it was about.
Once Sardoken and I decided to check out what these quests were about, we discovered how much fun they are. A few weeks later, we’ve become the two unstoppable brutes in both arenas and Warden Tower assaults. My favourite quests being the Black Rook Rumble and the Bareback Brawl.
While doing the Bareback Brawl, I stumbled upon this rare dragon… I started killing it, and at a certain point he submitted to me and I could fly around on his back, using these really cool abilities. It also came with an achievement, which are always more than welcome ^^
One of my first times in the Black Rook arena, I was being ganked by a Rogue… I died one second after each jump down, over and over again… the frustration *grumbles*. I’ve been chatting with Mr. Rogue afterwards and it turned out to be a nice guy who was just having some fun. Granted, too many people see these WQ’s as PvE events. What’s the fun in that… right? Now, it’s Sardoken and me who are doing the exact same thing. Not that I’m any good at PvP, but it’s quite funny seeing all those people flee/disappear upon our arrival with a “oh no, not these two again”. Not that I like to be anyone’s living nightmare *evil grin*.
On a funny note: upon your arrival at a Warden Tower Assault, Lady Sylvanas says: “Greymane’s forces hold this Warden tower. Break their ranks! Show no mercy!” I always understood: “Break their LEGS! Show no mercy!”. Until I repeated her out loud one day and Sardoken started laughing so hard… “What a Warchief we have, breaking all our enemies legs” xD So, “breaking legs” it became… we still laugh about this one.
PvP Brawls
I had read that there wouldn’t be any new battlegrounds in Legion, but that they would intoduce other versions of the existing ones instead. The first PvP Brawl I tried was the Warsong Scramble.
The only difference between the Scramble and the original Warsong Gulch is that there are three flags intead of one. I had so much fun doing this, it was the only thing I did that entire weekend. This is, by far, my most favourite Brawl. Unfortunately, I was so caught up in my role as flag carrier that I forgot to take any screenshots. I’ll never forget that beautiful weekend though.
Another one I really loved was the Arathi Blizzard. Not so much for the experience, but for the snowy landscapes. Snow always makes up for a lot of things…
Anyway, I’m a big fan of these PvP Brawls, and I sincerely hope that they will go on in this direction.
This is the first expansion that I enjoy PvP this much. There are goals to achieve, which counts a lot for me. When I play my character, I love to have the feeling that I’m working towards an aim. Thanks to the new PvP system, I’ve finally found that aim.
It had been a long day, completing quests and slaying demons all over the Broken Isles… I was near the Tomb of Sargeras when I finally decided to take a break. The night was about to fall and I would soon have to go back home.
The place, located near the wall of the unholy temple, wasn’t exactly cosy. The only spot to sit was a big flat rock. I first cleaned my face and my hands from the fel demon blood, then I tried to take place on my improvised chair. I wasn’t even leaning on it that it already moved. I got up to see if I could do something to keep it steady, when I saw some light coming from underneath. As I pushed the rock aside, I uncovered what appeared to be a secret hatch. I opened it and went down a ladder, I then walked through a long torch-lit tunnel. I was wondering if it would lead me to another treasure, just like those hidden all over the Isles…
As I finally reached the end of the tunnel, I started to climb another ladder, this one was much longer than the first and it felt like an eternity before I could finally see the end of it. After a last hatch, I emerged and finally noticed where I was: at the top of the Tomb of Sargeras.
The place was very silent, the only thing that I could hear was the heavy sobs of somebody crying. It didn’t take long before I could spot him. There he was, our great foe Kil’Jaeden, sitting on the floor, his face covered in tears.
I didn’t know what to do, so I cleared my voice and asked “Everything ok?”
He looked at me and didn’t even try to get up. He answered “What are you already doing here? Isn’t it tomorrow that your lot is planning to come and end me?!”
Caught off-guard, all I could answer was “I’m sorry but I’ve found your secret passage… I wasn’t sure where it was leading…”
I don’t know why I did what I did next… Maybe was it one of those moments when two dudes get closer, even if they’re not on the same side. I approached him and offered him a beer. He accepted it.
I sat beside him and listened to his story. The guy was filled with regrets. He knew that he had to pay for what he had done but something else was troubling him. He told me that the demons from his planet would continue coming to Azeroth, even after his death. He heard that Illidan had a stone that could open a rift to Argus… Unfortunately, it was a spoof, it wouldn’t do a thing.
He asked me if I would agree to help him and, eventhough I should have never trusted somebody like him, I told him that I would. Sharing a pint with a dude creates a bond… He handed me the remote control of a device that would activate a rift similar to the one they used to come to Azeroth. No one in his Legion wouldn’t accept to do such a thing and no enemy of his would trust him enough to do it.
We spent the rest of the evening sharing stories. He showed me pictures of his ex-girlfriend, Cecile. He explained me that hate often begins with a heartbreak.
He also told me about the less known side of the Legion, you wouldn’t believe the parties they were having…
At some point, the beer ran out (even I don’t carry more than a dozen bottles in my bags), we bid our farewells and I promised him that I would fulfill his last wish.
During my flight back home, I felt an inexplicable sadness. Today, I had made a friend out of an enemy, and, tomorrow, I would help killing him.
The next day, we marched upon the Tomb of Sargeras and, after an incredibly hard fight, the enemy died. As we were fighting Kil’Jaeden, many people were surprised to see empty beer bottles all over the place, I even saw Khadgar tripping over one. I guess that you don’t really care about keeping the place tidy when you know that you’re about to die…
As Kil’Jaeden predicted, Illidan used his stone and, while everyone was looking at him, I used the remote and activated the rift. It’s better if no one knows the truth, people need to believe in their heroes.
Since that moment, Argus can be seen in the sky from anywhere in Azeroth. To me, it’s a reminder that no matter how hard you fight, it’s around a fresh beer that things really get settled.
In this new community challenge, Zeirah & Cinder want to know more about our WoW music. It took us a while to write this post because we don’t really listen to anything else than the game music when we play WoW.
However, there are a few zones in the game that trigger songs in our heads.
There was a time, long ago, when I was someone else (I swear), I enjoyed trolling Night Elves. I was playing a Dwarf and, everytime I was flying above Feralas, I was yelling insults against the wood folks. Eventually, it degenerated into a macro that would yell the lyrics of Lady Gaga “Paparazzi” eveyrtime I flew over Feralas, adding some “color” to the Night Elf roleplaying that was taking place below… It was stupid, but it made us laugh. It remains one of my favourite remembrances.
Soforah
Scholomance has always been (and still is) my favourite dungeon in the game. Everytime I go there, I have No time to cry of Cradle of Filth in my head. I have no idea why, must be because the band looks like a bunch of undead. I could imagine them holding a concert in the depths of the dungeon.
I’ve never been a big fan of jungles, in-game ones included. It’s as if I can feel the hot, damp climate trough my screen. I remember going to Sholazar Basin for the first time, the song that popped up in my head was The lion sleeps tonight of the Tokens. I don’t particularly like the song, but it became my official OST for Sholazar.
When Cataclysm was released, I started leveling my new main and beloved Orc Hunter, Soforah. In that time, I picked up Mining and Engineering as main professions. Since I wanted to level these rather fast, I completely skipped on the creation of all the fun things from previous expansions like mounts, pets,… and… JEEVES!
Everytime I’m in a group, I come to the sudden realization that I’ve forgotten to craft Jeeves, once again. Granted, the mats required to construct this little robot ask for lots and lots of grinding, which takes a lot of time.
A few days ago, I decided to finally go for it and spend my time collecting all the necessary mats. I admit that it would be fairly easy to buy everything at the Auction House, but what would be the fun in that? One of the things that I like in the game is to take my time and do everything the way it’s supposed to be done. I find it much more fun and rewarding that way.
Some of the mats were already in my bank, but most of the ores still had to be mined. So, off I went, grinding tons and tons of ores in both Outland and Northrend.
From Outland, I needed Adamantite, Fel Iron and Khorium. It was fun to fly around the old zones again, there are so many things we tend to forget once we’ve moved on to new content. It was fun, but it also took a lot more time than I thought. Mining in the Burning Crusade went quite slow due to the few amounts of available nodes. The respawn time was rather slow, which kind of made it necessary to fly around the entire continent.
Adamantite and Fel Iron were still pretty easy to find, but Khorium was almost impossible. On a total of 323 Ores, there were only 3 Khorium ones. I caved in and ran to the AH anyway. I understand why the hell it’s so pricey now.
After that I needed Saronite and Titanium. Since Titanium doesn’t spawn that fast, I got to spend a fair amount of time in Wintergrasp. One thing you should know about me is that I love that place, and I was almost sad when I had to leave.
The last thing on my list was Cobalt (60 ores). From previous experience, I remember that there’s no place better to grind it than in Zul’Drak. As expected I gathered the Cobalt very fast, but I spent some extra time admiring the view. I almost forgot how beautiful Zul’Drak is, the snowy parts are jaw dropping. WoTLK was the most snowy expansion ever. I can only hope that we will see more of it in the future.
Once done, I hearthstoned to the Shrine, and… tinkerd my very own… JEEVES! I can’t believe I’ve actually done it, after all these years… I finally got this little dude, ready to help me in dire situations (not that that ever happens ;-p). No more deleting valuable things when running old raids, not to mention the repairs after numerous wipes (not that these ever happen either ;-p). Anyway, I already gave him a golden spot in my bags. Now, I only need to make sure that I won’t sell him by accident. Another thing that I believe should be a toy! *bats lashes at Blizzard*
I’ve never found a tutorial about creating a macro that could swap my combat gear with my fishing gear and back. That’s why I’ve decided to write my own. Even better, I’ve tried something completely new to me: I made a video.
After weeks of learning how to use OBS and Sony Vegas with my camera and my microphone, I thought that the time had finally come to make my first video. You’ve got to start somewhere, right?
Don’t hesitate to tell me what you think in the comments… My apologies if I sound a bit nervous or if I repeat myself a few times, but it’s pretty much the first time that I speak in front of a camera.
The macro I use:
/equipset [worn:Fishing Poles] PVE;Fishing
I hope that you will find it useful. If you have any question, don’t hesitate to ask, I’ll be glad to answer.
Questing in the Broken Isles without flying reminded me of those old times, when flying in the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor wasn’t even possible. I remember that both zones were so huge that having to travel without Flightmaster, Zeppelin or Ship required a lot of time. A few weeks ago, I took my hunter out for a little test: let’s cross the entire Eastern Kingdoms with a ground mount (no flying!), passing through each zone and capital city.
Something I’ve learned out of this experience is that I completely forgot that not every zone has a path that leads to the next one. Sometimes you have to return to the previous zone to be able to travel to another.
Anyways, my adventure started North, in Silvermoon City, traveling all the way down to Stranglethorn Vale… I barely go to Silvermoon City, there is no special reason for that. Maybe is it its misfortunate location or the fact that I always get lost overthere, but I don’t really feel attracted to the Blood Elven Capital.
Upon my arrival, I noticed the red carpet and couldn’t stop but think: oh guys, you shouldn’t have…
From Silvermoon City, I traveled instantly to the gloomy Ghostlands. A beautiful and eerie forest that I remember keenly from when I leveled my hunter. Next on my path was Eastern Plaguelands… I passed through the entire zone before reaching Light’s Hope Chapel. A bit too Alliance for my taste so, I quickly moved on to the Western Plaguelands.
Once I arrived in Andorhal, I visited the local Inn. I cannot recommend this place cause that crazy Undead Innkeeper likes to do weird rituals that, in his opinion, are completely harmless. Don’t believe him, he’s a madman! After my successful escape I ended up in Tirisfal Glades…
I quickly payed my respects to our new Warchief in Brill. I don’t know if she likes flowers though… maybe she would have prefered a human sacrifice but hey, we’re in Tirisfall Glades, all I could find were scruffy looking dead things… After that I headed for Silverpine Forest, passing through Undercity.
I love Silverpine Forest and it’s magnificent trees, not to mention the pumpkin patches! It makes me dream about my favourite season of the year: Autumn and Halloween… I’m already counting down to the most wonderful time of the year. While wandering around like a tourist, I spotted the beautiful Ruins of Gilneas in the distance…
Well, all I can say is this: not so friendly these Worgen. Wolves make excellent pets and when I tried to tame one of them, he started poking me with something that resembled a toothpick. What a waste… So, on I went, passing back for a bit through Gilneas and Silverpine to get to Hillsbrad Foothills, followed by the Hinterlands. Here is where I made my first mistake. I had completely forgotten about the fact that you can’t pass from each zone to another. This is exactly what happened here: I couldn’t find a path that lead from Hinterlands to Arathi Highlands so, I had to run the entire way back to Hillsbrad to be able to go to Ararthi.
While getting lost, I stumbled upon this cranky Dwarf with red glowing eyes. We shared a few jokes (mainly about exploding the wrong things) and ended up exchanging Engineering recipes for dynamite and fireworks. I asked him to join me on my trip, but he declined politely so, off I went to the Wetlands.
It was easy to go from the Wetlands to the Twighlight Highlands. Since I’ve never done any Archeology in Cataclysm, I thought it was about time to do something about that. So, I started digging up some fossils before my departure to Loch Modan. Once again I had to first go back to the Wetlands to be able to travel to Loch Modan. From there I passed through the South Gate Pass to go to Dun Morogh.
I had looked forward to the moment to sample some of those famous Dwarven Ales. Unfortunately, the Guards at the main gate of Ironforge seemed to be pretty on the defense when it came to sharing their brews. They sapped me and started poking me before I could unmount. Well, I guess I could see that one coming. After all, they’re Alliance… After I one-shotted them, I left this unwelcoming place.
Next on the map was Vashj’ir… it quickly proved impossible to get there with my Waterstrider as I died due to “fatigue” on every attempt.
So, I went back to Loch Modan to go to the Searing Gorge. From there I passed through Blackrock Spire to go to the Burning Steppes, followed by the Redridge Mountains, Elwynn Forest (Goldshire and Stormwind) and Westfall.
When I wanted to go and admire the pumpkin patches in Westfall, I noticed these huge walking scarecrows that haunt their grounds. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw that there were no pumpkins… these abominations probably trampled them all. I wonder what kind of idiot came up with the creation of these stuffed machines. I could probably teach him a lesson or two about Engineering.
From Westfall, I could easily travel through Duskwood and the Deadwind Pass, to arrive shortly after in the Swamp of Sorrows.
Upon my arrival in the Swamp of Sorrows, I met up with the local Wind Rider Master, Breyk. I tried to explain him that he shouldn’t wave around with his spear like that when he talks, after all, it’s not a toothpick. But, he wouldn’t listen so, I gave up and left for the Blasted Lands. From there, I couldn’t find a road leading to Stranglethorn Vale so, I had to head back to Duskwood to reach this Goblin infested place.
Like they say: where there are Goblins, there are treasures. I had stumbled upon a big one, but from the look of the skeletons, it seemed to be cursed. So, I’ve left it where I’ve found it. Knowing these Goblins, you never know where these trinkets and coins have been. And… that’s where my journey ends.
While writing this post and checking the map of the Eastern Kingdoms, I realized that I’ve completely forgotten the Badlands. I don’t know how I could have, but I did… too bad ;p The entire traject, with stops for screenshots and running back and forth for finding rideable paths included, took a bit over two hours in total. Two hours of pure nostalgia. I definitely should go back more often!
So, you have unlocked your fishing artifact… You have, right?! If you still need to know why you should do it, have a look at this video by Hazelnuttygames. Not only is it the most beautiful fishing pole in the game but, if you unlock its perks, you will be rewarded with a amazing abilities like water walking. How can you unlock its perks? By fishing, duh!
You have to continue fishing those same rare fish you caught to unlock the artifact (as described in Soforah’s post).
I guess that everybody has his own favorite fishing spot, so let me share mine.
Where to go
When it comes to catching a maximum of rare fish in a minimum of time, I always go close to Valdisdall, in a place called Ashild’s Bay. Not only is it filled with Stormray schools, but it also is pretty calm when it comes to hostile mobs.
Try to catch as many Oodelfjisk as you can. The pool won’t disappear until the end of the buff from the ring;
Don’t forget to keep an Arcane Lure up, even when you fish for Oodelfjisk, the Ancient Vrykul Ring can drop from these pools as well. It will allow you to continue fishing from the pool without having to go back to the Fevers of Stormrays to get a new ring.
If you plan on following this technique, you shouldn’t put any point in Stormray Angling. At least, until you’re done with collecting all the rare fish you need to unlock your artifact completely.
Stormray Angling will allow you to fish an entire school of Stormrays in one cast, preventing you from getting any Ancient Vrykul Ring. I had put 3 points in that perk and I couldn’t get a single ring anymore.
If you have already attributed points to that perk, you can have your artifact talents reset (and your ressource refund) by the same NPC who already does it for your other artifacts, at your class order hall. Unfortunately, it’ll cost you 750 artifact power.
You can put your points in any perk, just not Stormray Angling.
Arcane Lures
The most efficient way to stock up on Arcane Lure is to find a fishing raid through the premade tool.
More people will fish Mark of Aquaos, which will allow you to fish more Drowned Mana. Also, fishing raids are fun, you can finally group up with people in a relax environment.
Finally, you can then exchange your Drowned Mana to Margoss for pets, toys, mounts, reputation and Arcane Lure.
Voilà, I hope that it will help you unlock all the perks of this awesome fishing artifact.
In the same afternoon, I solo-raided Blackrock Foundry normal, Blackrock Foundry Heroic and Siege of Orgrimmar Heroic. The reason why I raid Blackrock Foundry is to collect the Rylakstalker’s Battlegear, but I went to Siege of Orgrimmar for the sole purpose of collecting the parts required to craft a tameable juggernaut.
While these two raids may have a similar flavor, they are very different:
Blackrock Foundry
Short raid that can be completed within 30 minutes;
It’s easy to navigate through the different rooms;
Except for the Blast Furnace, the bosses don’t require much tactic, which doesn’t break the pace of the run;
The Hunter set looks really nice on an Orc (which is nice since I’m one);
You can run the different difficulties within the same raid lockout and the 3 recolors of the set all look great.
I managed to get a few parts of the normal and heroic difficulty recolors, but Mythic will require a few more ilvls.
Siege of Orgrimmar
The raid is horribly long;
The place is too huge and requires too much running;
There is way too much trash to clear;
Some of the bosses were fun in group but are very boring to solo: Immerseus;
Some bosses were not funny in group and are still boring to solo: Spoils;
The Hunter set is ugly, which removes all incentive to run it again.
I’ve followed an amazing guide by Bendak to find all the parts I needed to craft the Iron Scorpion. I’ll have to go back there 3 more times if I want to craft the pet in all the diferent colors, but I highly doubt that it’ll happen in the near future. I really don’t enjoy running SoO and I’m not such a fan of the Juggernaut pet. I just had to have one, for my collection.
All in all, BF and SoO maybe two Orc-flavored raids, they are very different. The first is a fast-paced raid with a great incentive to return while the second is slow, long and globally boring to run. Blackrock Foundry is already on my farm list while Siege of Orgrimmar is on my “avoid unless absolutely necessary” list.
