Friday, March 25, 2011

Another 20 Days (Day 6)

Saga at Spellbound has come up with her very own 20 Days of WoW Blogging challenge - this is Day 6.


Your workplace/desk (photo and/or description)

Ughh... you don't want to know. I don't have a camera of any kind anymore, so this will have to go without pictures.

Let's start with the computer. I purchased my computer in August of 2006 in preparation for the release of Neverwinter Nights 2. I bought a refurbished E-machine from TigerDirect, and it was a great machine when I bought it. Now, with 2.16 Ghz, 1GB RAM, and 150 GB hard drive, I've fallen behind, very behind. I couldn't even play Rift if I wanted to. It's kind of a wonder that I can play WoW. I play with the original keyboard that came with the machine, but I have a more modern wireless Logitech mouse but with no extra fancy buttons. I have an LG 19" flatscreen for my viewing pleasure.

All of this on a crummy second-hand store plywood desk that lost it's luster years ago, cluttered with pens and pads of paper with randoms scraps of blog notes on them, and my keychain authenticator in the spot of most importance in the center of the desk in front of the monitor.

I have a big, comfy rolling desk chair with black upholstery and an orange tiger print blanket draped on the back just in case I get cold (which happens often). It's my little corner of computing space, and I like it, although I am quite anxious to upgrade my computer (for obvious reasons). I'd love to have a dual-screen setup like I have at work. I'm saving my money, but it is slow going.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

She's Beginning to Look a Lot Like a Paladin


It's been a long while since I've talked much about Audrid. I had originally thought that I'd talk about every PUG she was in, since that's how I was leveling her. I had no idea just how many PUGs that would be. When I started out a single dungeon could give you a level, two levels if there are a few quests. As you get higher level the levels come more slowly, and the PUGs become less memorable. I'd still like to do the PUG story thing, but it would take a lot of planning and a lot of record keeping. I'm just not up for it quite yet. Makes me wonder how our original Pugging Pally did it.

Audrid is now level 50, and actually starting to look like a Paladin. Just five levels ago she still looked like a circus clown. Granted she's still using the same weapon and beer stein, but at least she's not wearing those awful neon green short-shorts.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Newb Daze - Part One

I was wandering around Stormwind on Audrid the other day and I had a brief flashback from my early days playing WoW on Ashwynn, my warlock and the one I consider my first toon (even if she wasn't my real first toon, she was the first I committed to leveling up). Inspired, thus begins the story of newb Ama and her misadventures in learning how to play WoW.

I don't remember how long it took me to quest through the beginning quests in Elwynn Forest and eventually make my way to Stormwind, but I have a feeling it took me some time that first time around. I remember walking to Stormwind and entering the gates, the statues in the Valley of Heroes and making my way into the bustling town. I took screenshots of everything, it was so beautiful! I remember running errands for the Trias' Cheese guys, the folks at Gallina's Wine, and Larson's Clothiers. At some point I ended up in the Dwarven District and there was a quest to deliver something to some Dwarf named Stormpike in Ironforge. I was supposed to take the Deeprun Tram.

Now, I may have been a total newb, but I had enough knowledge to know that the shimmering thing at the entrance to the tram was like what you went through to get to an instance, a dungeon. I was terrified to enter the tram depot. I thought for sure there were monsters in there. I went back and quested some more in Elwynn, and eventually grew frustrated (most likely due to multiple deaths to murlocs). I decided it was time for me to make the trek to Ironforge, monsters be damned!

You can imagine my surprise when nothing attacked me on my trip to Ironforge, and the scenery was beautiful. I thought for sure I had missed something, since I knew that was an instance portal. I walked the entire distance from Ironforge back to Stormwind along the tram tracks in search of the infamous monsters of the tram, and of course I didn't find them.

Stay tuned for more newb stories to come.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Another 20 Days (Day 5)

Saga at Spellbound has come up with her very own 20 Days of WoW Blogging challenge - this is Day 5.

Favorite item(s) in game

This is a rough one. Many of my favorite items in game have been deleted with the deletion of my main and other high level toons. So I'll do one item that I currently have on one of my toons, and my favorite item that has been lost in the deletion. 

Current Item: Dwarven Baby Socks - this is one of the early Dwarven Archaeology items you get, and I found it just too adorable to let go of. Audrid is my Archaeologist (of course she is, she's a Dwarf) and she is keeping every little relic she digs up (yes, her bank is getting very full), but her baby socks are like her security blanket, she'll never let them go. She even rubs them against her cheek for good luck at the beginning of particularly treacherous looking dungeons.

Lost Item: Darkmoon Card: Blue Dragon - I fought tooth and nail to get this trinket for my level 70 Priest. Yes, you heard me right. At level 70 this still procced often enough to make a difference in my mana regen. I've always been the mana whore, if I'm ooming I'm... uhh... what rhymes with ooming? ~sigh~ Well, I'm not a very happy person, let's put it that way.

I had all of the Beast cards for a long time. But the Ace of Beasts was my bane! This was before Inscription even existed, so the only way to get it was by killing The Beast in UBRS. I can't tell you how many people got their Jenkins title with me running them through the Blackrock dungeons on my many attempts to get that stupid Ace. In the end I bit the bullet and bought the deck from someone who was selling it moderately cheaply, because that card just would not drop.