Thursday Tidbits: no LoS = SoL.

Have you started the new Firelands dailes yet? Me either, but the quest rewards look very appetizing. I did re-complete the rescue Thrall quest line again. This time, I was rewarded with the epic i365 back, nice upgrade from my valor point haunt of flies.

I did also start the quest chain for entry into Firelands. I finished the quests, picked up the first 2 dailies then said, "meh, it's late, another time..". I haven't been back, but I should. According to guild-mates, really quickly I can pickup about 5 gear upgrades. See, doing the entry quests, I picked up some 16 marks. Zen'vorka, resides in the area you reach after you turn in 20 marks. Next comes Damek Bloombeard, which requires a total of 425!? marks (fed from a growing number of dailies).

• Phase 1 takes 20 marks to unlock the Molten Front zone (this has recently been hotfixed to be accessible the very first day).
• Phase 2 takes 150 marks to unlock either the Druids of the Talon or the Shadow Wardens. ("you can choose which one to quest for every day - but you can only choose one")
• Phase 3 takes an additional 150 marks to unlock the faction you didn't choose in Phase 2.
• Phase 4 will consist of unlocking each of the vendors for 125 marks apiece. (source)

To get to Damek, you need to complete:
Calling for Reinforcements -> Druids of the Talon and Shadow Wardens  -> Additional Armaments

The other 2 vendors picked up from:

Calling the Ancients - Unlocks the Strike at the Heart daily, as well as the vendor Varlan Highbough who sells epic gear.
Filling the Moonwell - Unlocks Into the Depths, the vendor Ayla Shadowstorm (who sells patterns for 36-slot profession bags, as well as some gear), and an infinite supply of food in the Molten Front. (source)

Looks like if you complete all that, there's an achievement and pet reward!

I Still Hate Extremely Dislike Stonecore. Last night, I decided to play my healer alt again. She's only level 83, so this was a normal run. Still, the second boss, is NOT healer friendly. Her first dungeon total wipe in quiet some time was on this boss. See when Slabhide takes to the air and knocks down the stalactites(?), those immediately cause LoS issues. I tried moving to line up with my tank (who was barely staying alive, as is), but he'd move again and then I'd be SoL. Long cast and moving tank make for tank RIP and soon run from graveyard. Second run, I still had issues, now because I had to run to stay out of the pools of lava and the tank not moving.. Hence second dead tank, but at least this time, the DPS was able to take him down.

I talked with a fellow healer, and he gave what should be a wonderful solution. I will macro to party chat to the effect of:

/p If you don't want to {skull}, be a {star} and wait for me to regain some mana.

OR?

/p No LOS to %t. Incoming {skull}

She is coming up on 85, so I have under geared guildies that might start running dungeons with me. They'll be on Vent and I can let them know that they need to slow down. Also coming up on the possibility of actually raiding on this healer..

Just Announced: Real-ID Party Goes Test: This sounds like a cool idea. You're online, working through some content. One of your Real-ID friend's come online; possibly working on a completely different realm, possibly not even part of your standard battlegroup. You invite them to a party, plus those guildies local for a dungeon run. Jump on the Random Dungeon Finder to fill empty slots and have fun.

I see this being most useful when you have people coming back to the game after some time off. They start up in a new location (like my co-worker who came back to the game after a hiatus). She has toons on her old realm, but doesn't want to move them over, quite yet. With this, as long as her druid on that other realm is Horde, we can party up. Very sweet. Next step, Real-ID raiding!! :)

Unfortunately, Blizzard may consider this a premium service. So enjoy the test while it lasts...

Q: Will aspects of the Real ID Party system be premium-based?
A: We'll have information on the premium-based aspects of the Real ID Party system toward the end of the testing period.