It’s always lots of fun when some of our favorite games get combined. Some past examples include helping Ouro pokevolve in AQ40, playing scrabble with Loatheb in Naxx, and rescuing Princess Peach in AQ40 (see previous posts for memory refreshing). By now, we’ve come to expect great game combinations from Blizzard. We absolutely jumped out of our cushioned gaming chairs when we approached Kalecgos and he yelled, “ARE YOU YUGIMOTO?! CUZ IT’S TIME TO D D D D DUEL!”

We were quite happy that our vast number of hours watching the cartoon and playing the yugioh card game were going to pay off in facing a formidable opponent, one whose yugioh prowess could even surpass Maximillian Pegasus or Seto Kaiba. (Ofc Kalecgos is not better than Yugi, silly reader. We play the role of Yugi, and thus we’re the best. If Kalecgos was better than us then we wouldn’t be the best and thus couldn’t be Yugi, could we? Don’t answer that.) The initial stages of the card duel were uneventful, with us playing Danny the Fierce Knight and Shieldanvil the Celtic Guardian in defense mode. Kalecgos countered with a bunch of face down magic cards and trap cards later revealed to be Arcane Buffet, Wild Magic, and Spectral Blast. We countered with Pikapan the Buster Blader in attack mode. When it came to Kalecgos’s next draw phase, he drew a card, looked at it, and began to laugh maniacally. Could it be that he had drawn his ultimate trump card? We waited in horror.

Kalecgos then laid down his newly drawn card and exclaimed, “I summon Sathrovarr the Corruptor in attack mode! What, you don’t see him? That’s because he only exists in the shadow realm! And, if you didn’t know, Yugimoto, Sathrovarr has the special ability to transport your monsters into the shadow realm a few at a time and finish them off there for eternity!!!” From then on, every turn Kalecgos would invoke Sarthrovarr’s special ability and transport 3 of our creatures into the shadow realm where they had to battle Sathrovarr, and we finally understood the true power of Kalecgos’s deck.

To make matters even worse, we hadn’t brought our three Egyptian God cards that we had won in Battle City. . .surely they would’ve turned the tide back into our favor. And what could Swords of Revealing Light possibly do to help us in the shadow realm battles? Exactly. . .nothing. Things were indeed looking grim. Then we saw our friends standing behind us, and when we looked into their eyes, they said simply, “Trust in the heart of the cards and the support of your friends.” At that moment, we knew we’d win. We played our magic card Pot of Greed which allowed us to draw 2 more cards. We drew our cards confidently. The cards we drew we had just put into our decks for reasons unknownst even to us. They were two magic cards named Spectral Realm and Spectral Exhaustion. With them we could control which of our creatures entered and left the shadow realm! In no time, Sathrovarr the Corruptor was defeated in the shadow realm, and Kalecgos acknowledged our dominion over all games (including yugioh and world of warcraft ofc).

MOM! THERE’S YUGIOH IN MY WORLD OF WARCRAFT! (Read: waiter, there’s a fly in my soup. bro, there’s pizza in my coke.) If you listen carefully to the music in Sunwell Plateau, you can hear the yugioh theme. . .at least I can. . .hush you. And we still await the pictionary encounter in WoW.

The Perfect Stormrage

today we examine the perfect storm (in the context of WoW). according to wikipedia, the phrase “perfect storm” refers to the simultaneous occurrence of events which, taken individually, would be far less powerful than the result of their chance combination. such occurrences are rare by their very nature, so that even a slight change in any one event contributing to the perfect storm would lessen its overall impact. at first quick glance, in such a man-made designed world (of warcraft) filled with multitudes of non-sequiturs, one might not expect to see such a thing as a perfect storm; but, of course (as in the case of many renaissance website updates), the term applies quite extensively upon closer examination.

“but wait just a minute kharmander,” you say — “since there’s a plethora of events, characters, and everything else in WoW, one can just randomly pick coincidences and clump them together and present them as a perfect storm.” yes, yes, much like a room of monkeys on typewriters hammering randomly on keys will produce the bible given an eternity of time. “a valid point taken,” replies kharmander. in an action response which i hope assuages your worries and in which i hope you can take solace, i will only examine the facts surrounding renaissance’s kill of illidan stormrage in presenting evidence that such a perfect storm exists in WoW.

my hypothesis and conclusion is and shall be that renaissance guild’s defeat of illidan stormrage on sunday is a perfect storm. don’t worry — this won’t be a scientific experiment filled with the scientific method and controls and experimental variables and stuff; this will just be a kharmander ramble. yes, it has already been three paragraphs and little has been said. everything i write is based on what i’ve read about illidan and what little i’ve heard and my own (possibly inaccurate but i don’t care) assumptions and guesses.

the perfect enemy - illidan stormrage
illidan stormrage is the perfectly worthy raid boss. he’s insanely difficult, very very hard, and very very annoying with all his verbal taunts during the fight. he conjures thousands of adds, does some shooting eye beam thing that’s really hard to avoid a million times, has a billion abilities, and has a trillion (minus 999 billion 999 million 999 thousand 995) phases. even after reading descriptions and strategies, i have no idea what the encounter is like or should be defeated. plus on top of it all, you have to clear the rest of black temple first to even attempt him.

the perfect party - raid composition
well, 25 warriors wouldn’t have killed him (i assume). 25 priests wouldn’t have killed him (unless they’re all spriests, i guess). 25 of any one class wouldn’t have dented him much. it takes a perfect mixture of tanks, dps, and healers to have even a chance. ok this section was a massive stretch and massively stupid, i’ll admit.

the perfect plan - execution of strategy
this section i write completely on faith. i wasn’t there, and i know little about past raid attempts. renaissance defeated illidan, so we’ll give credit for perfect strategy execution by default.

the perfect taunt - oh so close
on thursday’s raid attempts, renaissance came oh so close to downing illidan in getting to phase 3/4 with zero deaths. then came the honor points update and subsequent 8 people disconnects. but of course, previous failures and disappointments only make those successes that much better, right? i hope you believe that, cuz if you don’t you shouldn’t play WoW.

the perfect prize - loot drop
a legendary drop on the first kill? awesome! grats to pika pumpkin-head pan on the warglaive offhand.

the perfect sweetness - server first kill
being the first on the server to defeat this boss, the current end boss in the game, is the sweetest thing. diabetics can enjoyed the alternative server first kill flavored with splenda. CONGRATS REN!!!

the perfect storm
the combination of the perfect enemy, the perfect party, the perfect plan, the perfect taunt, the perfect prize, and the perfect sweetness combine to form “the perfect stormrage” (the kharmander-coined phrase that inspired this entire update) and thus this discussion is concluded.

the perfect website update entry
you’ve just finished reading it. just kidding.

Oct

15

Can’t say I enjoyed this unholy hybrid of Maulgar and Twin Emps. WTB extra super mana pots that restore 4k, pst.

Anyway! Congrats to Danny on Onslaught Legguards Glaceerschok on Skyshatter Legguards and Hubs on Helm of the Illidari Shatterer!

Oct

12

Mother Shahraz Down!

(Oct 12, 2007)

Awesome job!

Congrats to Danny and Beatstick on Onslaught Shoulderguards and to Pikapan on Blade of Savagery!

Oct

08

Essence of Souls Down!

(Oct 08, 2007)

Nicely done!

Congrats to Verana on Naaru-Blessed Life Rod and Hubs on Dreadboots of the Legion!

Sep

25

Bloodboil Down!

(Sep 25, 2007)

Really well done guys! Great rotations and an awesome job on heals!

Congrats to Danny on Shadowmoon Insignia and to Igby on Wand of Prismatic Focus!