Kudos to all who took part in this week's attempt at Ulduar. Wednesday night's raid was a thing of beauty. We were able to breeze through Flame Lev, and Razorscale, XT-002 Deconstructor without a wipe. Barely a death. We only ran into multiple deaths and one wipe when we tried Ingis the Furnace Master. But after that one wipe we came back and downed his ass. It allowed most of us to get the achievement for Siege of Ulduar.

Back at it again Sunday. We had some personnel changes, with guest appearances by our two favorite almost Crew-mages Eshurnalle and Blundermage, also Dniulife joined the healing team for the Sunday run. Great work by tanks Lightsaver and Waddajoke and our newly promoted Raid Leader Mehofjack as we were able to down Kologarn (crazy arms) and Auriaya (crazy cat lady), after hitting the wall on The Assembly of Iron. But it is just a matter of time. (crazy cat lady is the phrase that pays.)

We are back in ULD to continue this raid on Wednesday night and Sunday night. Grats all. I love this guild.

Grats Bag
Grats to Jack on being named Raid Leader. Jack has been pugging a lot with other folks, to learn the fights for Uld and Trial of the Crusader. As such he has been dying a lot, but this allows him bring this knowledge and gathered intelligence back to help us with our raids. He's dying a lot so we don't have to.
Also grats to Iceflare, our newest lvl 80 mage. Expect to see Iceflare battling for a spot in the 10 man raids very soon.

Schedule
Tues: OS/VOA 9 p.m. server time.
Wed: ULD 10 man (continued) 9 p.m.
Thur: Heroics
Fri: Free
Sat: Free
Sun: ULD 10 man (continued) 9 p.m.
Mon: Free

I just wanted to thank all the good folks who participated in last nights ULD raid. We had a strong 10 (and Delininja came in from the bullpen in relief of Wolf, when he ran into connection issues.) We were able to breeze through Flame Lev, and Razorscale, XT-002 Deconstructor without a wipe. Barely a death. We only ran into multiple deaths and one wipe when we tried Ingis the Furnace Master. But after that one wipe we came back and downed his ass.
It allowed most of us to get the achievement for Siege of Ulduar, which gets us a Wow-Heroes 10-man guild rank of 83 and puts us in the top 50 Alliance guilds on the sever.
A bunch of folks got gear. (Including your humble guild master who got, Armbraces of the Vibrant Flame.
But on a much more personal note, it was one of the best nights we've had raiding in a while. We had fun. We breezed through the bosses. Thanks to Jack for his insightful explanations of the fights, especially the trash mobs leading up to and the Ingis fight. Thanks to all. Great work.

Good morning boys and girls... It has we have had some lackluster turnouts on raid nights recently. Last week on Wednesday, we barely had 10, and I was hoping to do 25 man Naxx. We start our raids at 12 ET...9 server time. If you aren't on by 15 mins after 9 p.m. server time, don't expect to get into a raid (if we actually have one going). I will be cancelling raids by 9:15 server time if we don't have a group, (unless we have information that someone is on the way but held up by something). If you sign up for a raid via the in-game calendar please show up.

The first 10 toons (with the correct class make up) will be the raid.

It is unfair to hold up 8 other folks from doing something else (5 mans, dailies, etc.) while we vainly hope for someone to show up. Everybody has a limited amount of playing time. I don't like starting raids at 10 server time. That is 1 a.m. for those on the east coast.

If the raid is scheduled for 9 p.m. server. Try to be online by 8:30 p.m. server time, so we know what kind of group we have and we can maybe start early. If you get on by 8:30 p.m. very often you can get 2 or 3 daily quests done, while the group forms.

I don't mean to be a angry guild master, but it is unfair to sign up and not show up, or be late and expect to be added to a group. Or to be late and hold up 8 or 9 other players preventing them from using their playing time to the best advantage. We are a guild that respects its members.

Schedule:
Tues: OS/VOA 9 p.m.
Raid Night Wed: ULD 9 p.m. We'll start at FL (no towers up) and kill bosses.
Thurs: Help-A-Guildie 9 p.m.
Sun: ULD 9 p.m.
Mon: Free

In other news, It has been an uninspiring couple of weeks. Not much happening on a guild-wide basis. Everyone that wasted hours on the brewfest boss raise their hand. What a stupid waste of time for crap drops X 5. Personally, I dislike those world events. I find them to be a distraction in a game that demands so much time. But I am a grouchy old man. (And that is the phrase that pays this week: grouchy old man. Whisper "grouchy old man" to me during the week, and you will win 5 gold. One payoff per account. Obliviously, if Golfman knows it, then Gofman has also read the Web site.)

On the bright side, some individuals have had some shining achievements.

Xtrahealth reached 80. For those that don't know, Xtra is Blundermage's alt. For those that don't know, Blundermage was formerly known as LTkickbutt, but was force to change his name to protect the innocent. While Blundermage is not officially a Crew member we try not to hold it against him.

Jack has been dying so we don't have to. He's been pugging Trial of the Crusader and learning those fights to bring it back and teach us. Three cheers for Jack. Hip hip Horay! Hip... you get it.

Our only guild member who actually filled out an online application has left us. Yes, the hunter Hiddenbullet has left us for greener pastures.

I'll Show You Mine...
Some of you might remember that I was crowing about how cool my UI looks after I downloaded a bunch of addons and spent 2 days playing with them. Not to mention, all the help I had from folks who grouped with me for no reason. I got to thinking.. maybe someone might want to see the fruits of my...er.. their labors. So I am posting a screenshot of my UI. If you think yours is cool... um cooler. then lets see it. Please post it.

Patch 3.3 is coming
Check out some of the changes and upgrades when the patch drops in a few weeks. Thanks to WOW Insider.

Hey folks.. its patch day. Which means longer down time and plenty of problems when we try to play tonight.

Here are some patch notes, with apologies, er um... thanks to wow.com.

The Brood Mother Returns
After years of lurking in her lair battling the many brave adventurers who travelled from afar to challenge her, Onyxia returns stronger than before to commemorate World of Warcraft's five-year anniversary.
Onyxia has been scaled to offer new challenges to level 80 players and is now available for testing in 10- and 25-player modes.
Adjusted for modern raiding, but with the fundamental experience of fighting the Brood Mother still in effect, including the horrors of her Deep Breaths!
Onyxia will now drop level 80 item versions of some classic loot items from the level 60 encounter.
Brood of Onyxia, a very rare 310%-speed mount modeled after Onyxia herself will be available for the luckiest of challengers

General
Armor Penetration Rating: The amount of armor penetration gained per point of this rating has been reduced by 12%.

Death Knight
Pets - Gnaw: This death knight ghoul ability now has a 1-minute cooldown.
Blood
Heart Strike: Secondary targets of Heart Strike now take half as much damage.
Subversion: Now also increases the critical strike chance of Scourge Strike by 3/6/9%.
Vampiric Blood: Cooldown reduced to 1 minute and duration reduced to 10 seconds.

Frost
Threat of Thassarian now also causes Rune Strike to use both weapons when dual-wielding.
Unbreakable Armor: Cooldown reduced to 1 minute and changed back to granting 25% additional armor while active instead of flat damage reduction based on armor. The amount of strength granted has been reduced to 10%.
Frost Presence: The damage reduction granted by this ability has been increased from 5% to 8%.
Unholy
Bone Shield: This ability now has 3 charges instead of 4. Cooldown reduced to 1 minute.
Dirge: This talent no longer grants additional runic power from using Obliterate.

Druid
Balance
Moonkin Form: This form now also reduces the damage the druid takes while stunned by 15%.
Typhoon: The daze duration has been increased from 3 seconds to 6 seconds.

Feral Combat
Infected Wounds: The debuff generated by this talent no longer stacks and instead causes the full effect with a single application.
Predatory Strikes: This talent now also causes the druid's finishing moves to provide a 7/13/20% chance per combo point to make the next Nature spell with a cast time below 10 seconds instant cast.

Hunter
Beast Mastery
The Beast Within: The duration of this talent has been reduced to 10 seconds. In addition, hunters with this talent will do 10% additional damage at all times.
Bestial Wrath: The duration of this talent has been reduced to 10 seconds.

Mage
Arcane
Arcane Blast: The buff from using this ability now stacks up to 4 times instead of 3, and each application increases mana cost by 175% instead of 200%. In addition, the duration of the buff has been reduced to 6 seconds.
Arcane Missiles: Casting this spell while both Missile Barrage and Clearcasting are active will cause only Missile Barrage to be consumed.
Missile Barrage: The effect from triggering this talent now removes the mana cost of Arcane Missiles. In addition, the chance for Arcane Blast to trigger this talent is now 8/16/24/32/40%. All other listed spells continue to have a 4/8/12/16/20% chance to trigger it. This talent no longer has a chance to be triggered when spells miss.
Fire
Combustion: This talent now also increases the critical strike damage bonus of Fire spells by 50% while it is active. In addition, Living Bomb periodic ticks will no longer interact with the count or the charges on the talent.

Paladin
Protection
Righteous Fury: The bonus threat from Holy spells caused by this talent has been reduced from 90% to 80%.
Ardent Defender: This talent now reduces damage taken below 35% health by 7/13/20% instead of 10/20/30%.
Blessing of Sanctuary: This blessing now grants 10% strength in addition to its current effects. Also, the strength and stamina bonuses from this blessing will no longer be lost when Blessing of Kings is removed.
Judgements of the Just: The reduction in cooldown to Hammer of Justice provided by this talent has been reduced to 5/10 seconds instead of 10/20 seconds.
Touched by the Light: This talent now provides 20/40/60% of the paladin's strength as spell power instead of 10/20/30% of the paladin's stamina.

Retribution
Seal of Command: This ability now chains to strike up to 2 additional targets when it is triggered by an attack that can only strike a single target.
Seal of Corruption and Seal of Vengeance: These seals will now only use the debuff stacks generated by the attacking paladin to determine the damage done by the seal and by the judgement.

Priest
Shadow
Improved Spirit Tap: Mind Flay periodic critical strikes now have a 50% chance to trigger this talent.
Twisted Faith now grants spell power equal to 4/8/12/16/20% of spirit, up from 2/4/6/8/10%.

Rogue
Envenom's scaling has been increased from 7% to 9% of attack power per combo point.
Fan of Knives: The damage done by this ability has been reduced by 30%.

Assassination
Master Poisoner: No longer increases the Deadly Poison application rate following a successful Envenom and instead now provides a 33/66/100% chance of preventing Envenom from consuming Deadly Poison.

Combat
Throwing Specialization: This talent no longer causes Fan of Knives to interrupt spellcasting.

Subtlety
Honor Among Thieves: A 1-second cooldown is now enforced on how often a rogue can gain combo points from his party via this talent.

Shaman

Cleansing Totem: No longer pulses instantly when dropped.
Flame Shock: The duration of all ranks has been increased by 6 seconds.
Lava Burst: This ability no longer ever consumes a Flame Shock debuff off of the target.

Elemental Combat
Shamanism: Your Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning spells gain an additional 3/6/9/12/15% and your Lava Burst gains an additional 4/8/12/16/20% of your bonus damage effects.

Enhancement
Earthen Power: No longer causes Earthbind to pulse a persistent snare immunity aura. It does still remove snares from allies as an instant pulse, but there is no lingering immunity. Earthen Power now also brings Earth Shock's melee attack speed reduction up to -15%/-20% (with 1 or 2 points in it, respectively).

Warrior
Arms
Sword Specialization: Now has a 2/4/6/8/10% chance to proc an extra attack, up from 1/2/3/4/5%.

Protection
Critical Block: This talent now grants a 20/40/60% chance to block double the normal amount instead of 10/20/30%.

Dungeons & Raids
Shadowfang Keep
Wailing Guardsman: Screams of the Past will no longer have multiple applications on a target. Recast time has been increased.

Ulduar
Increased the cooldown on Immortal Guardians' Drain Life ability in the Yogg-Saron encounter.

Achievements
The Achievement "Iron, Dwarf Medium Rare (25 player)" now requires 25 kills, down from 50.
The Frostwolf Howler and Stormpike Battle Charger Achievements will now be awarded when a player learns the respective mount spells.

Professions

The blacksmiths of Orgrimmar grew tired of running to the rear of the city to craft items and have installed a new anvil & forge at the General Store in the Valley of Strength.

Engineering
The Mind Amplification Dish no longer changes the appearance of your helmet.

Inscription
Added a recipe for Runescroll of Fortitude. This item grants a stamina buff equal to the highest rank of Power Word: Fortitude (untalented) to all players in the raid. The effect of this runescroll is exclusive with other stamina scrolls and Power Word: Fortitude.

Leatherworking
Added a recipe for Drums of Forgotten Kings. These drums increase all stats by 8% for all players in a raid. The effect of these drums is exclusive with Blessing of Kings.
Added a recipe for Drums of the Wild. These drums grant a buff equal to the highest rank of Mark of the Wild (untalented) to all players in a raid. The effect of these drums is exclusive with Mark of the Wild.

Items
The Black Heart: This item's animation has been changed and no longer resembles Hand of Protection.
Death Knight Tier-9 Tanking 4-Piece Set Bonus: Now decreases the cooldown on Vampiric Blood, Unbreakable Armor, and Bone Shield by 10 seconds instead of 20.
Druid Tier-8 Healer 4-Piece Set Bonus: The amount of healing this set bonus grants on the initial cast of Rejuvenation has been reduced by 50%. In addition, this set bonus no longer has strange interactions with Harold's Rejuvenating Broach.
Libram of Obstruction: The buff to block value from this relic is now exclusive with the buff to block value from Libram of the Sacred Shield; it is impossible to have both buffs at once.
Libram of the Sacred Shield: The block value buff from this relic has been increased to match its item level.
Relics: All buffs provided by relics (idols, librams, totems and sigils) now share an exclusive category such that gaining a buff from one of these items will remove all other buffs gained from items in this category.
Totem of Quaking Earth: Attack power value increased to 400.

Glyphs
Glyph of Bone Shield: This glyph now grants 1 additional charge instead of 2.
Glyph of Flame Shock: Redesigned. This glyph now makes Flame Shock periodic damage able to be critical strikes.
Glyph of Mind Flay: This glyph no longer reduces the magnitude of the movement reduction on the Mind Flay victim.
Glyph of Scourge Strike: Redesigned. This glyph now causes Scourge Strike to extend the duration of Frost Fever and Blood Plague by 3 seconds each time Scourge Strike is used on a target, up to a maximum of 9 seconds.
Glyph of Typhoon: This glyph now increases the range on Typhoon by 10 yards in addition to its current effects.
Glyph of Unbreakable Armor: Now increases the armor gained from Unbreakable Armor by 20%.
Glyph of Vampiric Blood: The glyph now increases the duration of Vampiric Blood by 5 seconds instead of 10.

User Interface
Battleground Queuing
Players may now only queue for no more than two Battlegrounds at a time.
The dialog box for entering a Battleground match has been changed to reflect the following options: "Enter Battle," "Leave Queue," and "Minimize."
The time a player has to enter a battle when selected has been reduced to 40 seconds when not already in a Battleground and 20 seconds when in a Battleground.
Players already in a Battleground can now choose "Enter Battle" for a new Battleground under any circumstance (i.e. while dead, in combat, falling, etc.).
A new Battleground will not launch until the maximum number of players on each side are in the queue (i.e. 40 players per side for Alterac Valley).
The size of the Focus Frame can now be adjusted via the Interface Options menu.

Mail System Auto-Complete Feature
The inline auto-complete feature for the mail system has been added back into the game. The mail system will now have both the pre- and post-3.2.0 auto-complete features available.
Added a label to notify players that the Tab key will allow players to navigate through the character names listed via the auto-complete feature.

For additional notes on Lua and XML changes please visit the UI & Macros Forum: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/board.html?sid=1&forumId=11114

Last week saw The Crew return to Naxx, 25 man style and kick some ass. We pugged some wicked dps and knocked out almost two whole quarters on Wednesday night. We stopped just short of Mr. +/-. Hopefully we will be get enough folks back on this Wednesday Night to clear the other two quarters. I know I had a blast. I have continued that raid so we can pick up where we left off.

Pots and Elixers and Mats are running low. The Alchemy tab of the guild bank was once a thriving hotbed of raid enhancing goodies. But lately, it has been looking as dry and barren as Jennifer Aniston's womb. Calling all flower pickers and mad mixologists please do you part to keep our raids as super buffed as possible. Lets keep the Alchemy tab full of goodies. Thanks

From the Gratz Bag: Gratz to new members Viz and Hiddenbullet for hitting level 80 this week. Also, please welcome Talou and Venassa, who are Viz's wife's toons.