Specced For Drama

Non-WoW

2011-06-07T19:10:00.000-05:00

My non-WoW blog can be found at Theoretical Drama.

(D)Rifting Away

2011-05-31T09:00:00.002-05:00

I know, I said my blog would be a Rift free zone. I know, I've long been a proponent of WoW, defending it at all costs. But that was back when there was no way my computer could run Rift. Yes, I know, I'm a terrible hypocrite, traitor, whatever...

My silence has been due to playing the Rift trial. Having played it, I think I may have fallen in love. Granted I haven't gotten that far, but so far it has been wonderful. There is always a chance that I will come back to WoW, but right now I'm (d)Rifting away.

I fully intend to create a more personal blog where I can talk about things not WoW specific, because I've really missed blogging. However, without any WoW related content to post I shall be silent. I will follow up with a link to my personal blog in the coming days.

I want to thank all of my readers, especially those who comment. You've become like friends to me. If you are going to miss me, know that I am going to miss you even more.

Chilling...

2011-05-20T08:00:00.003-05:00

Pugnacious Priest wrote a post about where we like to chill found here, and I've found it rather inspiring.

Stormwind is the place to be, and specifically the Dwarven District is quite populous due to it's proximity to the portals to Cataclysm zones. I have to admit that Ice spends much of her time there, but I've not completely abandoned my other favorites.

Both Audrid and my new gnome have set Ironforge as their home, and I have to admit it's rather nice and quiet now. I can remember the hotbed that Ironforge once was during Vanilla. I was just a wee newbie back then, and I can remember looking at all the level 60 characters and their Epic gear, wondering if I'd ever make it that far. I guess I've come a long way since then, and so has the game itself. Ironforge feels almost as deserted as Darnassus now.

My bank alt, Levi, lives in Dalaran still. She likes to hang out with Frozo outside of Like Clockwork and groove to the hum of the nearby Chopper's rumbling motor. She occasionally takes a trip to One More Glass, for a visit with Christi Stockton and a glass of Dalaran Red. I've discovered that I'm not the only one still chilling in Dalaran either. It may be just a shadow of what it once was, but it seems more populous than Ironforge.

I still miss Shattrath. The Aldor Bank was Ama's home. So many hours spent there, laughing and chatting, dancing and playing dress-up, napping in the piles of gold. It will never be the same since I no longer have Ama anymore, but the memories live on.

Where do you find yourself hanging out?

Another 20 Days (Day 10)

2011-05-19T08:00:00.005-05:00

Saga at Spellbound has come up with her very own 20 Days of WoW Blogging challenge - this is Day 10.

Blog/Website favorites

My favorite blog used to be Righteous Orbs. Who didn't love the witty and unapologetic Tam and Chas? Then my favorite blog was The Gray Place, again for the intelligent yet unapologetic wit. Sadly both of these blogs have come to their end. Now, my favorite blog is Moar Alts, I think mainly because I feel as though Pilf and I sometimes follow the same paths. A close second goes to I Like Pancakes, beautiful artwork and a no-nonsense approach to the game as well as RP. ~points at the blogroll~ This is not to say that I love any of the about a hundred blogs that I read any less. It's hard to choose a favorite. The two I've chosen are the two bloggers I feel I can most identify with.

As far as websites go, like much of the population, I frequent Wowhead (phallic icon ftw). I'm also a big fan of Warcraft Realms, because inquiring minds wanna know just how many mages there are on that there realm. For profession guides I tend to go to The Noob School (even though there are ads to gold sellers on their pages). Although as a second choice I'd recommend Crafter's Tome, although sometimes a bit slow to load, there is tons of information to be found there.

Shared Topic: New Class

2011-05-11T09:50:00.002-05:00

This week's Blog Azeroth Shared Topic is New Class Theories, suggested by Shadowfox. See other responses to this topic here.

There have been many theories on what the next hero class will be, but at this time all signs point to Demon Hunter (which is consequentially what Shadowfox wrote about). Why else would the Writings of the Void quest chain exist?

However, if I had to choose what the next class would be I'd definitely pick a Monk type class. I discussed this briefly in my review of EQ2, found here. Typhoon Andrew also has written about it here.

When I first started gaming I played Baldur's Gate and eventually Neverwinter Nights. Just like in WoW I tried a little bit of everything, but in the end settled on the Monk class as my favorite. It was a disappointment when I started playing WoW to find no Monk class in the game. There is something just amazing about beating someone down with just your bare fists or a simple stave and the sheer power of your will, dancing out of harms way on fleet feet. Of course having the ability to heal yourself and others helps too. Everyone knows I'm a healer at heart. Monks are like the perfect combination of rogue/priest.

On the other side of the spectrum are those that long for a Battle Mage of some sort. A plate wearing caster, that can get into the thick of things without dying, but still cast powerful spells at range. Some have suggested a buff class, such as the Bard in EQ. There are so many ideas and options, none of them all that unique or new to the fantasy rpg genre.

In the end, as I said at the beginning, all signs are pointing to Demon Hunter. Time will tell...

Another 20 Days (Day 9)

2011-05-11T08:00:00.001-05:00

Saga at Spellbound has come up with her very own 20 Days of WoW Blogging challenge - this is Day 9.

Your first blog post:

My first Blog post ever was at Love and War in Azeroth, and can be found here.

Things have changed since then, not least of all the move to Blogger. When I first started blogging I was flailing lost in Azeroth, searching for a home where I could lay down roots. Nearly a year later and things have not changed much. I am still flailing around Azeroth in search of a home. My partner has tied me down to the Cairne realm, and I'm ok with that (most of the time). I occasionally still get that bit of wanderlust and roll an alt on a random new server just for giggles. These alts rarely make it much past level 10, as I always wander back to Cairne and back to him.

If I hadn't switched to Blogger and the new blog (my other first post is here) I would be celebrating my blog-iversary at the end of this month. I think I've learned a lot about myself and about writing over the year, but I'm not sure I've made any progress at all into finding a home in WoW.

The guild I was in through BC felt like a home. I was friends with so many people in the guild. The guild was active and raiding. I felt like a central part of the team. I had a home again for a brief while towards the end of Wrath, but it all fell apart in bitterness. People who I had thought were my friends stabbed me in the back. Now, when I think about searching for a guild, the memory of that heartache holds me back.

Technically I have a guild now, but it isn't really a home. I see one or two other guild members occasionally. Most of the guild is around on weekends when I am busy working, and so I am the oddball mid-week player.

When I think about what I'd like from a guild now, it would be what I had in the first guild I was in, Eclipse. It was a large guild of casual players. There was always someone around to chat with, even during the day in the middle of the week. Occasionally we'd get a guild group together to run regular dungeons or heroics or some battlegrounds. It was nicknamed "The Old Folks Guild" as the leadership and most members were older, more mature players.

I moved on from Eclipse to be a part of Lesson Learned, a fledgling raiding guild which eventually ended up raiding fairly hardcore. It has been an amazing journey and I wouldn't take anything back, but I do wish I could find a guild like Eclipse again now. Then maybe I would have a home again...

Then again, if I found a home and was perfectly content in my game, would I have anything left to write about?

The torture that is maintenance day...

2011-05-10T10:44:00.000-05:00

It's Tuesday - maintenance day. I know, we are all going through our WoW withdrawals, but Tuesdays are particularly horrible for me.

You see, I work loooong hours on the four days that I work each week, allowing me no time for WoW on work days. Tuesday is like my Friday. I am freshly off of work and ready and anxious to play, and more often than not I am presented with half of the day wasted because of maintenance.

Now, I'm not begrudging maintenance. It must be done, and I'm glad it is normally done on a regular schedule that is well posted. I'm not crying for Blizzard to give me my money back and all of that nonsense. I understand maintenance must happen. I just wish my schedule was different or that the maintenance schedule was different.

I guess I am crying a little bit because I always end up chomping at the bit on Tuesdays, anxious to get back into the game. I catch up on the blogs that I read. Try to think up new posts for my own blog, maybe write a little bit. And then I am left thinking about what I'm going to do when the servers come up.

This is what gets me into trouble. I'd love to work on my baby warrior. I kind of want to try out an RP server again now that the new guild finder is in place. I really should run a dungeon on Ice. What about Audrid? She's in Outlands now. I wonder if there are mats for the enchanting rod I need to make on the AH? I should work on my professions on... all of my toons. What about Archaeology? Its so much fun! I really still want to roll a Horde alt and stick with it.

When it comes down to it I will probably end up playing Ice or Audrid with my partner, but what about all of the rest?

With limited play time I find that all these side projects are suffering, and I just wish I had more time. That extra time that I spend every Tuesday waiting for the servers to come up.

And now for something completely different...

2011-05-05T08:00:00.000-05:00

I've always dreamed of being a writer. It was never about the money or the fame, or even or the love of literature. It was about touching others the way that I've been touched by the authors that I love. There is something magic in reading the words that others have written, whether it be an article in a magazine, an epic fiction series, or one of our blogs.

We touch each other with our words. That touch can invoke any number of reactions, from rage to lust, from sadness to joy, and everything in between. Perhaps it is a selfish goal, but I want to touch others in that way.

I still don't feel as though I've found my voice. The voice I write with here is my speaking voice. I find that I want more from myself, but I'm unsure of how to push it out. The key, I'm sure, is putting more time and effort into my writing, which is something I rarely do with my blog posts. The posts with the most effort put into them are my little guides and my bits of Fan Fic. It may end up being pretty near impossible for me to coax much more into my writing in the near future, as I am heading into the busy season at work and hours are growing even longer than they already are, but I'm going to try.

At times I feel as though I'd like to move beyond the game with my writing. In the near future there may be added spaces here for things outside of WoW, but the blog as a whole will remain a WoW blog. If you're interested, I'll encourage you to check out the things that I'll hopefully be adding. Any and all feedback is welcomed.

Another 20 Days (Day 8)

2011-05-04T08:00:00.001-05:00

Saga at Spellbound has come up with her very own 20 Days of WoW Blogging challenge - this is Day 8.

10 things we don’t know about you:

I have to admit, I've found this topic to be one of the more challenging to write. There is a fine balance to be found between finding things that my readers don't know about me, but also finding things that are appropriate to share. Anyway, here goes...

My favorite color is emerald green.
I am a lazy, pleasure seeker, with minimal motivation outside of desire, and I'm learning to be ok with that.
I am addicted to caffeine, with my poison of choice being Diet Cherry Dr Pepper (Diet Pepsi Wild Cherry is a close second).
I have an orange tabby named Sammy.
I have a habit of naming the important purchases in my life. For example, my car is named Buttercup.
I am terrified of heights, both IRL and in game. It takes me time to get across the bridges in Thunderbluff or down the chain to BRD because it scares me that much. I'm also afraid of the elevator bosses (both in game and IRL).
I'm horrible at making decisions. When I have to choose I always feel guilty, as though I'm being selfish, and will sometimes choose what I think my companions would most like.
While I've never been to a psychiatrist or psychologist for diagnosis, I think I have a touch of OCD, social anxiety and a bit of depression at times, as well as some massive self esteem issues.
I'm a conservative socialist. I dare you to figure that one out!
My favorite food is macaroni and cheese.

Since when did I grow an epeen and why does it hurt?

2011-05-03T12:47:00.000-05:00

There's a group of guys at my work that always talk about WoW in their free time. Even though I've told them that I play and have tried to interject myself into the group's conversations, they still snub me. It gets my epeen throbbing and I end up sitting and stewing about it.

They are all in a guild together and I've heard them talk about their raid progression. I know just how noobish they are. They never did down the LK during the last expansion. Half of their guild quit the game because they couldn't get past Magmaw for a good while. I know I'm a far better player (and raider when I was raiding) than any of them. Why won't they include me in their little group? I'd love to talk about WoW at work during my downtime.

The only logical conclusion I can come to is that they don't include me because I'm female. Girls don't play WoW, and if they do they are the casual, huntard, flower-pickers who never get past level 40.

I finally find a place where I can come out about my geeky hobby, and somehow I still end up being the outcast.

Something that rarely ever happens...

2011-04-29T08:00:00.002-05:00

There he was - just a-tankin BRD
Singing "Doo wa diddy diddy dum diddy doo!*"

*Which Torq/Warrayden tells me translates into "OMG! Ouch! Don't stab me in the eye!"

Long story short, this little gem popped out of my head mid-run in BRD. Now that Ice is 85, I can continue working on poor neglected Audrid. For the first time ever, I have completed BRD at appropriate level in one stretch. Sure we had to replace the tank once and a couple of the DPS, and we had an awesome Turtle/Hunter tank for a good long while (Warrayden), but Audrid and her hunter friend got all the way through it in one sitting. There really ought to be an achievement.

PS. Why is The Eviscerator the only boss in the Ring of Law now? I miss the random bosses!

A Death Knight's Tale: Diplomacy

2011-04-28T08:00:00.002-05:00

With Acherus won and a good night of rest behind me, I am aching to get back into action. The one who administered my stitches says I must allow my shoulder to rest before returning to battle, but dead flesh will never truly mend. I see no need for further rest, all I see is red, I want Him dead.

The medic gets his wish, for first Mograine requires a mission of diplomacy, a plea to the Alliance for tolerance and peace. I do not relish this kind of task, but perhaps it is a test, to see if I am beyond my bloodthirsty ways, to see if I can control myself in "polite" society. So I go, through this portal, to Stormwind, the heart of the Alliance.

As I walk through this jewel of a city I can feel the eyes glaring at me from all directions. It grows worse the closer I come to the Keep. The crowd grows bold, afterall, I am but one monster in the midst of hundreds. They throw curses as well as rotten food, rocks, whatever they can find, at me. One particularly daring human runs right in front of me, screaming, "Get out of our city, Scourge Fiend!" and spits in my face. This does not distress me, although it isn't particularly pleasant either. My escort, the city guard, pushes him away gently, as I nonchalantly wipe the spittle from my face with the back of my hand.

These people distrust me, and I don't blame them. Look at what I once was. The names they call me are fitting. I am a murderer. They are right to cower in fear at the sight of me. They are right to spit at and curse me.

Yet this letter I carry, signed by no less than Tirion Fordring, represents me as better than that which I once was. By this man's word alone I am permitted entry into Stormwind and presented to the King himself. Our newly formed order needs allies, and what better than to appeal to the King of Stormwind himself?

And yet, I wonder if I am truly able to be a part of this group of the living. My sole purpose now is to end the Scourge. I have nothing else in common with these people. I no longer even remember what my life was when I was alive. Physically, I am obviously of the Draenei. How I came to die in a place where the Lich King would find me and resurrect me as his warrior, I have no idea.

There have been a few since who claim to recognize me, to have known me from before, but there is no memory of that for me. I have no desire to learn of my history. The history that I remember is painful enough, I would not add more to the abominations I have already to account for. As such, I have no feelings for the Draenei as a people, as my people. The Order is now my family, my race, my heritage.

Knowing the atrocities I have committed in His name, I feel I have no right to a future. I will play the hand that is dealt me. I will go to this King of Stormwind and plea for our acceptance. But I can only do so as a logical next step. There is no feeling of loyalty to the Alliance for me. There is only the need to kill Him. To do so we need help. I will ask for help, and I will honor any contract we engage in with the Alliance. Beyond that, who knows?

DING!

2011-04-27T08:24:00.000-05:00

Too busy to blog post... must... hit... 85...!

And now back to your regularly scheduled blogging...

A gaming crisis of sorts averted

2011-04-22T08:00:00.003-05:00

Last night Torq and I were on Skype together trying to decide what to do in game. I was feeling a bit burned out on playing Ice and said as much.

~Cue Flood Gates~

You see, Torq (on his main and high level alts) is what I would call a hardcore raider (hardcore-ness subject to perspective). He is anxious to get Torq to 85, and his guild is anxious to have a Frost DK added to the ranks of Melee DPS they can pull from for raids.

When I mentioned to Torq that I wasn't really feeling like playing Ice, well, it drew parallels in his mind with a time that came before in which I deleted my level 84 Druid and my level 80 Priest among others. He was right to draw those parallels. Subconsciously I had reached that point where I was afraid to hit level cap. It is the same thing that happened to me with my Druid.

It is always difficult to deal with feelings that you haven't fully accepted or even noticed yet. I only just started to feel that little bit of burn out. But it was true, I was feeling that fear of hitting level cap. Irrational as I know it sounds, knowing that I don't really have any desire to raid left me wondering what else there is for me in the game. What happens after that?

Now, that is normally a very easy question for me to answer. ALTS!!! However, I have Torq to consider in all of this. Ultimately, he is one of the main reasons why I continue to play WoW. We have so much fun together. And so, irrational fear creeps in that once we hit 85 he will be off raiding and I will be alone. Of course it is irrational fear because I completely forget that we have 3 other pairs of alts that we are leveling purely with each other.

I have made a promise to myself, to Torq, and to all of my readers, that I will not be deleting Icelica any time soon. That would be the farthest thing from what I'd be likely to do at this point. I still have so much of her story to write. There is no way I can just delete her now. She still has a long way to go towards healing the wounds that being a member of Lich King's army has given her.

In which my new computer brought me to tears

2011-04-21T08:00:00.003-05:00

So, just when I said I was back, I was thrown a curve ball and ended up away for another week. I had all sorts of posts planned and many ideas and the freshness of my new main kicking around my head, and BOOM. Crash went my motherboard.

It was bound to happen. I'd been inadvertently trying to destroy that thing ever since I got the computer years ago, so I wasn't completely surprised, but disappointed to have a week without it. I hardly thought I could stand it. Screw the game, I missed my blog!

Happily, yesterday I purchased a replacement with the recommendations of my guardian computer angel. It isn't perfect, and a few upgrades are still in store, but even just out of the box it screams when compared to the old computer.

After re-downloading WoW and getting my addons just so again, I stopped to look. For years I've been playing WoW with the lowest video settings possible. I thought the game was pretty enough. I had no idea. The textures, the sparkles, the details, the water, the air, the spells, even something as simple as the cobblestones in SW... I stopped and played dress-up on Ice, and she looks even more amazing than ever.

And then I had a moment of regret. The very first moment of regret at having deleted Amaranth. Not wishing I could play her, because I am well and over that, but wishing I could see her with the graphics improved. All of the beautiful sets of dress up clothes she had, all of the nifty staves and off-hand frills. I cried a little, just a little, just a moment, for that lost opportunity.

Why, oh, why did I not upgrade my computer sooner?

Keeping Control

2011-04-20T10:19:00.000-05:00

Those of you who have been reading my blog for a while know that I am truly a healer at heart. It is my preferred role, always. Over the years reading and talking to other players I've gotten the feeling that most people who heal do it because it has faster queue times for randoms or their guild needed another healer for the raid, not because they love healing. As a consequence of this conclusion I have never stopped trying to figure out why I love to heal. Well, I think I have come to a conclusion.

I'm a control freak.

As a healer, I always feel as though I am in control. If I don't heal you, you will die. I don't typically abuse this power, but it is the truth.

Having now tried all roles in dungeon settings, I can firmly say that the reason I have had issues with playing as DPS is mostly due to lack of control (especially when playing pure DPS classes). As DPS, in most cases, you are at the whim of your tank and healer to control the flow of a dungeon. The appeal of the DPS role is numbers. Instant gratification via large shiny numbers. I love those big numbers too, but not at the sacrifice of control. It feels like taking a huge leap of faith to put your safety in the hands of a tank and healer in a random dungeon. I know, I know. It's just a game. The worst that can happen is a wipe, but nobody likes wiping.

Now that my main is a tank I can see things much more clearly. The thing that I am enjoying most about tanking, and the thing that keeps me on the edge of my seat, biting my lip in anxiety, is that the tank role is a constant battle to keep control (keep aggro). I feel like a child walking several misbehaving dogs on leashes and they all want to go different directions. Perhaps this feeling will even out in time as I grow more experienced, but I kind of doubt it. When I am healing I know I am in control. When I am tanking I am always on the verge of losing it. I know that at any time that hunter pet might growl, or the mage might randomly decide to frost nova mobs before they reach me, or (God forbid) the healer has gone afk without letting me know. All of which has happened.

In ways, playing in the role of a tank has presented the ultimate challenge to me. Maybe someday I will attain that perfect state of zen where I no longer care about keeping control.

Shared Topic: Weird Gaming Habits

2011-04-13T09:30:00.001-05:00

This week's Blog Azeroth Shared Topic is Weird Gaming Habits, suggested by Akabeko. See other responses to this topic here.

Well, I guess there are two sides to this coin, the weird habits we have in game, and the weird habits we have outside of game as we are playing.

In Game

I think I've mentioned before that any toon that gets a Rabbit's Foot keeps it (or a stack of them) in their inventory at all times for good luck. Many of my toons are collectors of random objects for sentimental reasons.

If I get a bug in my butt about leveling a profession I sometimes get borderline obsessive about it, feeling obligated to take care of that profession in every spare moment. This makes me very quick and efficient about leveling professions, but sometimes at a detriment to everything else in game.

I am one of those people who has a hard time going off of the beaten path. I have a tendency to get lost or turned around if I just go gallivanting across the country-side, which is odd because I have a very good sense of direction IRL.

I am absolutely obsessive about looting bodies. It irritates me to no end if I don't get to loot all the sparkly bodies, and will even pick up trash that other people leave behind from their loot. Every copper counts.

I am horrible at flying. There is something about 3 dimensions that just doesn't work in my head. I always end up either too close or too far away from things, flying too high or too low. For this reason, I almost always take flight paths to get places unless they are really close.

Outside of Game

I can't eat while I play. Not even finger food. It is too much of a distraction. I can handle drinking things, but I can't do more than idle while I'm eating.

Regardless of whether I am at work or at home playing, I have a habit of leg bouncing when I am sitting still and focusing. It is a habit that both me and my father have so I guess it might be genetic. It drives my co-workers crazy at work, but that's because we are on the upper floor and I sometimes bounce it so hard it shakes the floor a little.

I keep a notepad on my desk just in case blog inspiration strikes. I keep one at work as well, because sometimes I think about the game in spare moments. Many a blog post has begun in this way.

Ice Ice Baby (not so much of a baby anymore)

2011-04-12T15:41:00.000-05:00

Despite this past week of silence, I have not disappeared. Neither has Icelica, even though I haven't written about her in months. I've been leveling her alongside Torq mainly by tanking random dungeons in moderation. It has been a slow process, but very successful, and I am proud to announce that she isn't a baby anymore.

That's right, Ice has reached level 80 and is beginning her adventures in the Cataclysm zones, and in doing so may have cemented herself as my "main" for the expansion. She has a long road ahead of her though, not least of all is the continuing story that I am waaaay behind on writing.

You can expect for there to be some changes to the site now that I have a "main" again, not least of all will be a page dedicated to my little adventures in fan-fic writing. Don't worry. The changes won't be too dramatic. And in no way does this mean I am abandoning my babillion alts.

More to come.

Funerals are for the Living

2011-04-06T19:22:00.000-05:00

I've been oddly silent this week, primarily because I've had a close family friend pass away. Sometimes the creative juices just get sluiced away when reality strikes, and I apologize for my absence.

Attending the funeral made me realize that the old adage that funerals are for the living is quite true. I find that in these moments of loss I am quite selfish.

And as I sat in the funeral home weeping with my friends and family, my mind was racing, screaming at myself not to be so selfish, not to be so weak. There are others who were closer to the one we lost. Their loss is greater. Why should I cry? But the more I berate myself internally to quit crying, the more I cry, until whatever triggered the tears in the first place is long over and I'm the only one left with red eyes and sniffles.

While I am sad about this death, I know he lived a full and exciting life. I have many, many happy memories to make me smile. Still, I cry. The tears are not for the dead, because they are beyond this world now. We cannot touch them. No, the tears I cry are for myself, for my loss, and for the fear of future losses.

And somehow it grows more and more difficult with every loved one I bury. Every loss gets harder. Selfish as it sounds, I'm afraid to end up alone, all of my friends and family gone. It feels inevitable. We all will die. I am not afraid of my own death, but the death of others, now that is terrifying.

Another 20 Days (Day 7)

2011-04-02T08:00:00.000-05:00

Saga at Spellbound has come up with her very own 20 Days of WoW Blogging challenge - this is Day 7.

The reason behind your blog’s name

When I started blogging I was so anxious to begin that I didn't take the time that I should have to come up with a name for my blog. I began blogging at Love and War in Azeroth. It was a spur of the moment decision, and I grew to regret it. The love part was something I could get behind, but the contrasting war was difficult for me to put into use in my blog. I never really was Love and War in Azeroth, it was just a label for a blog. That is part of the reason I ended up moving my blog here to Specced for Drama.

Around the time of the dramatic guild blow-up over 10 man raiding and the Amani War Bear (among other things) I started joking around with guildies and friends about making a guild called Specced for Drama. Eventually I did just that and my bank alt was the Drama Queen. It was just a bank guild, but I liked it. I liked it so much that it has become the name of my blog.

As much as I don't really like guild drama when I'm directly and emotionally involved in it, I do enjoy it from the voyeur's perspective. Drama is conducive to inspiration and creativity when it comes to writing (at least it is for me). I love lore, the dramatic story that unfolds as we level up questing through this changed Azeroth. I love the artistic and dramatic aspects of role-playing. These are the things that I am searching for in the game now. Every day I become more and more drama spec, and I love it.

Community Hug

2011-03-31T09:34:00.000-05:00

I couldn't resist Vidalya's challenge to seek out newer or lesser known bloggers and send them some encouragement. Check these folks out.

Please Feed the Troll - Mystic writes a little about everything. The recent interview with a GM was very enlightening.

The WOW Debutante - Chatmay is sharing a wealth of knowledge about making social guild events and putting together that perfect RP outfit.

Nairu's Journal - Another blog about Roleplaying. There just aren't enough of them!

She Can't DPS - While Aestiah has been around for a long time, I'm not so sure everyone knows about her. Another RP/story blog, and perhaps the best written and with the best art. <3

Newb Daze - Part Two

2011-03-30T06:00:00.000-05:00

The continuing adventures of Newb Ama and her first toon, the warlock named Ashwynn.

I don't know exactly what happened after my adventures riding the tram, but I do remember that I ended up back in Stormwind to complete the quest required so that I could summon my newest minion, my Voidwalker.

I didn't quite understand what the big deal with the minions were. What I did know was that I found my imp, Biznip, annoying as hell, always complaining that I'm picking on the little guy and stuff isn't in his contract. I was so ready for something new.

The moment I met Kraknak I fell in love. He was big and beautiful and blue. His name was so much nicer than the imp's. His voice was dark and foreboding, unlike the shrill whine of Biznip's. I loved him, but I didn't really grasp what he was for.

I had grown weary of Biznip randomly pulling stray monsters to me with his fireballs, so I had put him on passive. And so, when I took Kraknak out, he was on passive as well. So, basically I had a giant blue decorative demon following me around.

My friend (who introduced me to the game) caught up to me as I was questing through Westfall. He had the best geared Alliance Fire Mage on the realm at the time, and I was in awe. He took one look at how I was playing and laughed his ass off.

"You should be sending your Voidwalker in to attack a monster and then you start casting at it, that way he can hold the attention of the monster while you kill it," he told me. I tried it, and lo and behold, he was right. That blue blob sure could keep the attention of those gnolls in Westfall!

It made perfect sense, and although it was a late lesson to learn, I've never forgotten my very first taste of the holy trinity, Tank/DPS/Healer. From that day forward Kraknak was my guardian, and while he may not have liked being in Azeroth, I sure liked having him around.

Shared Topic: Favorite Race

2011-03-29T15:25:00.003-05:00

This week's Blog Azeroth Shared Topic is Favorite Race, suggested by PVE Rogues. See other responses to this topic here.

These "What is your favorite ___?" questions are the hardest for me. Really? I have to choose just one? We all know I have a hard time doing that. Just look at my list of toons, and those are only the ones I write about. I have secret toons in my closet. Is that creepy?

So, this is my blog and I make the rules, so I get 2 favorite Alliance races and 1 favorite Horde race.

Alliance

Dwarves - Lately dwarves have been my flavor of choice. I don't know if it is because I identify with them personally. I think there was a topic a while back about what race/class combination you would be irl, and I would definitely be a Dwarf. I'm short at 5'2" and rather... ahem... curvy, just like our lovely Dwarven ladies. I'm friendly, but no-nonsense, and stubborn as a mule.

As far as racial traits go, many folks are enamored of the Stoneform ability, others choose Dwarves for the weapon proficiencies in Maces and Guns. Personally, my favorite racial trait is the newly created Explorer trait. Darn tootin' Dwarves are the original archaeologists, Harrison Jones be damned! And I ain't talkin' bout Herr Professor Ironpants or whatever he's callin' himself. I'm talkin' bout Brann Bronzebeard, folks, and dontcha forget it!

Night Elves - My previous main and the toon I dedicated myself to for nearly 3 years was a Night Elf. This was the toon that truly made me love WoW. Prior to this I had kind of been just going through the motions on my Warlock. The Night Elf lore was the first true WoW lore that I became engrossed in.

Night Elves will always have a special place in my heart, even though their best racial trait is now a thing of the past. You know what I'm talking about? I'm talking about Priest specific Starshards, people. The removal of Starshards was quickly followed by everyone getting faster movement speeds in their spirit form. At least we still turn into Wisps when we die. Someday I'd like to explore the new version of Night Elf immortality, life after death as a Wisp.

Horde

The Forsaken - Hands down, The Forsaken are the most bad-ass of the Horde races. No other race can survive underwater without breathing. No other race can feed off of the corpses of the people they've just slain. No other race, Horde or Alliance, has a more bad-ass leader than The Dark Lady. There is absolutely nothing more liberating than already being dead. What's the worst that can happen to you now?

I don't know if The Forsaken are going to end up being the bad guys or not, but I like to think that what Sylvanas says is true, that they are just striving to create a future for their race. Only time will tell. Personally, I'm hopeful for a Windrunner reunion at some point in the near future, the result of which will be either to push Sylvanas back towards sanity or finally push her all the way over the edge into complete madness. One thing is for certain, The Forsaken story is far from over.

Fun at the Office

2011-03-28T11:00:00.000-05:00

You know you work someplace awesome when a conversation like this ensues in the office-wide communicator chat:

WTB more people to stay past 7:00 pm tonight.

I can't, I have to kill internet dragons tonight.

I can't, I have to kill tax dragons tonight, or the IRS will get me.

The IRS has dragons now?

They do!

And their gearscore is about a million points higher than mine, so PVP is not an option.

Another 20 Days (Day 6)

2011-03-25T08:00:00.000-05:00

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.

She's Beginning to Look a Lot Like a Paladin

2011-03-24T09:35:00.000-05:00

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.

Newb Daze - Part One

2011-03-23T06:00:00.008-05:00

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.

Another 20 Days (Day 5)

2011-03-22T12:18:00.001-05:00

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.

Shared Topic: Favorite Profession

2011-03-19T06:00:00.002-05:00

This week's Blog Azeroth Shared Topic is Favorite Profession, suggested by yours truly. See other responses to this topic here.

This week's shared topic is an easy one for me to answer. My favorite profession above all others by leaps and bounds is Herbalism. There's just something so soothing about picking flowers. It wasn't always roses and sunshine though. Once upon a time you could fail to pick a flower.

I used to make jokes about it. I bend over and wrap my fingers around the stem and... ~slip~ Oops! I bend over and wrap my fingers around the stem and... ~smash~ Oops!

This was one of the most aggravating thing I've ever encountered in the game, and I'm sincerely thankful that Blizzard fixed it.

So what is it about Herbs that I like so much? Well, it certainly isn't the production professions that go along with this gathering skill. I've yet to have a maxed Alchemist or Scribe.

I'm a gatherer at heart. I think its the grind that I love so much. I'm the odd duck that greatly enjoys Fishing. I also love quests to kill 25 boars. Grinding in decent doses is something purely therapeutic to me. It may not be challenging in any way, but the monotony and ritual of it, the rhythm you get into, that is something so relaxing to me. My favorite quests in Outlands were the ones for Nesingwary in Nagrand, and I was truly saddened when I found out the number of kills required had been diminished. There's nothing like throwing on some good tunes to groove to and grinding away, whether it be grinding by picking flowers, or killing undead for cloth, or fishing up Mr. Pinchy.

Some of you may be wondering why Herbs when there's other grindy gathering skills to be had. Skinning is too easy and requires more killing. Don't get me wrong, I like skinning, but picking Herbs requires far less death. It's much more peaceful. Mining is the bane of my gathering existence. I have tried to no avail to like Mining. The nodes are harder to get to, and the competition seems to be more fierce. And the ting, ting of the mining pick is a grating noise.

Archaeology is fast becoming my new favorite Secondary profession. The grind is awesome, but it will never take the place in my heart for Herbs.

~scatters flower petals around as she prances off to pick some more herbs~

I'm Quitting

2011-03-18T06:00:00.006-05:00

Why does it feel so bad when we see these words? Why does it dig so deep when you listen to others explain why they are leaving. Their logic is sound. They have their reasons. It is acceptable to quit playing a game that you are no longer enjoying.

And yet, whenever I read a quitting post (or non-quitting, as in the case of Klep), I find myself bristling for a fight. I feel a need to defend Blizzard and the game that I still enjoy.

I think the worst part for me is the self-doubt. I get this itch at the back of my brain, of fear that maybe I am just one of these duped masses that people talk about. I'm just a sheep on the loot rollercoaster, chasing that next carrot on a stick. Maybe that's true, but I enjoy chasing that carrot. I'd rather chase that carrot than watch American Idol or whatever other garbage is on television.

I think I could greatly enjoy playing a different game, but it would still be an MMO and/or an RPG. These are my games of choice. So, you see, I'd still be chasing that carrot on a stick, albeit in a different environment. I like the carrots WoW has given me. I tried some other games. I found EQ2 nearly impossible to get into and there was never anyone to talk to. LOTRO was fun, but kind of Vanilla, since I already knew what was happening.

For me, half of the fun is the story. I can't wait to find out what happens next, even if it means killing the same baddies in the same raids over and over for loot while waiting for the next bits of storyline (or Raid) to come out.

I love Azeroth. Do I think Blizzard has room to make improvements? Hell yes, I do. I think Blizzard is always looking for ways to improve the game as well, even if I don't always agree with the changes. Do I find the game no longer worth playing? Nope. If I did then I wouldn't be here talking about it.

Did I scare you?

I'm in no way quitting WoW. I'm not burnt out or disillusioned or raging angry. I'm peacefully enjoying my game.

Sadly, those of you with WoW angst are ending up off of my reading list. I'm sorry, but that itch bugs me. Continuously hearing about why I shouldn't be enjoying WoW is hard on the self-esteem. I get enough of a stigma just for being a WoW player, now I have to feel bad about continuing to enjoy the game from fellow gamers?

While I'm not quite so militant against Rift posts, my blog will remain a bastion of freedom from Rift. If you're with me, go grab the nifty little button Reala made at Click the Lightwell.

Wine-y Post Day

2011-03-17T09:00:00.104-05:00

Levi here in Mage country, beautiful Dalaran, here to discuss the wonders of wine. I'm here at, arguably the best wine store in the world, One More Glass, to discuss the best wines in Azeroth with proprietor Christi Stockton.

Levi: Ms. Stockton... May I call you Christi?

Christi Stockton: Of course, dear.

Levi: Christi, I see that your selection here is limited to Dalaran Red. Would you consider it to be the finest of fine wines?

Christi Stockton: Well, our selection here in Dalaran is a bit limited due to the remoteness of our location. We serve both Dalaran White and three varieties of Red, as well as Caraway Burnwine, but I'm not sure I'd consider that a true wine. It's a foul liquor that the Dwarves seem to favor when they can't get their hands on any ale. While all of these are wonderful, the most extravagant wine I've ever tasted is the recently discovered Sunkissed Wine of Uldum. The folk of that region are loathe to part with it, however, and so it is quite difficult to find.

Levi: I see. Are there any other notable wines that we should be aware of?

Christi Stockton: Let's see. The Blood Elves of Eversong have a top secret recipe known as Eversong Wine, but understandably, they won't let us Humans get our hands on it. There's also a little known vineyard in the Outlands near Allerian Stronghold. They produce a light but potent wine they call Brightsong Wine. Rumor has it that it's as strong as some Dwarven ales and apt to cause visions, or stupors as I like to consider them.

Levi: Sounds... ahem... interesting. Are there other wines that are more affordable for the common folk?

Christi Stockton: I believe the Goblins of Stranglethorn have been producing something they call Junglevine Wine, which I hear is quite affordable. Quite popular with the ladies this season is the Fizzy Fruit Wine, another Goblin product that can be found in the Badlands. Of course, I'm not sure I'd trust my delicate palate to the Goblins, but these are quite reasonably priced when compared with my fare.

Levi: Haha! I'm not sure that I would either. Well, if we can't make it all the way to Dalaran to try your lovely libations, is there another location that offers fine wines, perhaps more centrally located?

Christi Stockton: Well, I've many friends among the Mages of Dalaran who would gladly teleport a fellow out here for the promise of a round of drinks. However, if the trip simply cannot be made, then I'd suggest the Gallina Winery in Stormwind. I believe they offer an exquisite Pinot Noir. While in Stormwind, don't forget to check out the wonderful cheeses at Trias' Cheese, tell them Lucian sent you.

Levi: Thank you so much for taking the time to share these wine secrets with us, Christi.

I'm Levi with DBS News. Happy Wine drinking. Goodnight.

Well, I think this might be my first year participating in Whiny Post Day. Am I doin' it rite, Klep?

Blizzard has gone Disney on us?

2011-03-16T06:00:00.001-05:00

I saw a post today that ruffled my feathers (not linking to it for obvious reasons). It basically inferred that there is concern that Blizzard only intends to revamp old content from here until eternity, just like Disney and their movie vault.

I've written a post about this before. The main theme of Cataclysm is changing the world, including the old world. It desperately needed to be done. They've taken that theme and run with it and I for one think this has turned out beautifully. I don't think this means our next expansion will be "Return to Outlands" or "Wrath of the Wrath of the Lich King," although I wouldn't be opposed to revisiting these zones, but with new new dungeons and content.

While some people may be disappointed with the revamping of old dungeons and upset that it isn't "new" content. They did make changes in these dungeons. They aren't exactly the same as they were before. They aren't just scaled for 85. Deadmines and SFK have been revised to progress the storyline of their given zones, not to mention that they include new boss fights with new mechanics. Many many veterans are enjoying the heck out of Deadmines and SFK as Heroics.

I for one am glad they are bringing ZG and ZA back. I am not a Wrath or Cataclysm baby. I have played these dungeons while they were real content and I was saddened to learn of their removal from the game. My understanding is that these new 5 man dungeons (like the others) are not going to be exactly as they were before. They are going to progress the troll storyline. They may have new bosses and new mechanics combined with our old favorites.

I might have cause for concern if I got wind that they were turning Karazhan into a 5 man Heroic. Then again, I might welcome that change as well. My feeling is that these changes are a good thing. I think it is always a good choice to make old content relevant again. Would you have rather they left ZG and ZA as they were, a dungeon people only went to in order to farm for mounts?

I think Pewter has put it best here. In terms of pure content released per patch, we're way ahead of WotLK.

Fun in PuGs - Dire Maul North

2011-03-15T07:00:00.000-05:00

Well, it was an adventure that began with the level 45 tank saying, "I'm not sure if I'm high enough level for this dungeon."

Of course, the dungeon finder wouldn't throw you in a dungeon you're not high enough level for, geared and knowledgeable enough for is a different story.

Dire Maul North, along with all of the other Dire Maul dungeons, is the place where you learn how to deal with pats, but especially in Dire Maul North. They're everywhere.

So there was me on Audrid (healing up the place), my partner in crime on his hunter, a mage, a kitty druid, and a paladin tank.

Come to find out that our tank friend may have thought he wasn't high enough level just because he's a total newb. I say this with the kindest of intentions, but no one but a newb has a prot pally with half Intellect gear on, I don't care how low level.

We're talking Shield, Breastplate, Necklace of the Elder, Pants, and Ring. I could have forgiven all this if he hadn't basically refused to replace his intellect ring with the new Ring he won. We gently suggested to him that intellect is not the best tanking stat. He didn't say a word and just quietly kept plugging away, even though aggro was everywhere and he was quite squishy.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. We made it through with a scarce 2 wipes. It was a successful PuG, but I wonder how much farther our paladin friend will go if he continues to sacrifice his tanking stats for a little more mana, let alone what kind of hell the more cruel type of puggers will put him through if they don't just kick him off the bat.

End of the day, I have no room to speak. I'm a pally healer who wears half cloth, but at least I'm not wearing Strength gear so I can have stronger heals. /flex

Another 20 Days (Day 4)

2011-03-09T12:00:00.000-06:00

Saga at Spellbound has come up with her very own 20 Days of WoW Blogging challenge - this is Day 4.

Your best WoW memory

There is absolutely no way I could possibly choose just one. The things I most love, the best memories, are the little moments that add up into my whole experience of WoW. So, instead of one, I give you my best WoW memories, all of them in chronological order.

Questing in Darkshore with MLJ, a fellow Priest.
Bumping into a vivacious little bear Druid, Jezz, in Tanaris and begging her to run ZF with me, to no avail. She hated ZF.
Bumping into Jezz again in Booty Bay - being complimented on my Whitemane's Chapeau. We were inseparable after this - and ran many, many dungeons together.
Running Sunken Temple with the Eclipse crew and joining the guild right after that run. I miss you, Ever, Dak, Ferg, Beo and many others.
Discovering the joys of Ventrilo with the "old folks" in Eclipse.
Jezz and I running into MLJ at Scholomance - so of course we had to have a Night Elf dance party.
Going through the Dark Portal for the first time and exploring Outlands (with Jezz).
Doing Children's Week events for the first time with Jezz.
Running Mana Tombs over and over with Halpy.
Wiping and struggling to get through Shadow Labs regular at level 68.
Ding! Level 70 while questing in Nagrand.
Forming Lesson Learned with Jezz, Pizzle, Cryion and Arctic.
Having the Hallowed Trousers ninja'd from me on every single Sethekk Halls run. I didn't get new pants until I paid a fellow tailor to craft me the Whitemend Pants (the recipe wouldn't drop for me in The Arc). This is the origination of PANTS! When I finally replaced my pants I yelled out PANTS! in vent, I was so excited to finally have an upgrade for my legs.
Baby steps to raiding - Heroics and Kara were HARD!
Attempting Kara with a tank that was under Def cap. We eventually turned him into a pretty darn good tank.
Doing Love is in the Air for the first time with Spell.
Hours spent in the Aldor Bank in Shattrath just hanging out.
Amani Warbear and 10 man raiding crits Lesson Learned for over 9000 - guild disbands - do not pass Go, do not collect $200.
I'm in Resolution - I'm not in Resolution - I'm in Resolution - I'm not in Resolution. MLJ, you're a good friend for putting up with my guild hopping ways.
Enjoying the sage advice of CrankyRaina and others during the peak of the now defunct Guild Relations Forums. I miss you, Raina. <3
Getting revenge on Vashj (albeit at level 80).
Running Battlegrounds with Waric, Nef and Sky.
Tanking dungeons on my Death Knight. Discovering that I like tanking if I have a friend along. Thank you, Torq.
Having Altitis and exploring Silvermoon on an RP server.
Questing through Stonetalon Mountains on a Hordie post Shattering - the storyline is incredible!
Deleting my high level toons in favor of my alts - this has been the most freeing of all experiences.

I guess it's noticeable that I'm a BC Baby. ~shrug~ I am what I am. I guess it may also be noticeable that while I did raid during Wrath, the kills and experiences therein were not such great memories for me. I should be including my Kingslayer kill on this list, but there's just too much negative that went with that kill that I just can't enjoy that memory.

~raises a glass~ Here's to making more wonderful memories! ~clink~ ~gulp~

Introducing Osimi

2011-03-08T12:00:00.001-06:00

Osimi is a taxidermist and a master of anatomy. She has killed and dissected just about every type of creature you can imagine (or at least she had back on her home planet). She is a hunter and a lover of beasts. In this new world she has made it her mission to discover and understand all of the natural creatures of Azeroth.

Her current companion of choice is a white crab with turquoise markings that she named Acrimonious. She chose him for the strength of his claws and the hardness of his shell, and of course, for his googly eyes.

Her prized possession is her skinning knife, which she keeps immaculately honed, sharpening it at least every night before bed.

Her Draenei companions tell her she should live her life more closely to the Light and not delve in these unsavory hobbies, but she could care less what they think. There is nothing she likes better than spending a day (or night) in the wilds, getting her hands dirty either befriending the wildlife or hunting them for her research.

The thing she despises more than all others is corruption. She has a fierce hatred for the Blood Elves for their part in aiding the demons of the Legion. She cannot stand to be anywhere near a warlock. She believes their kind is beyond reproach. She cannot fathom that a warlock could work with the dark arts and not eventually become corrupted by it, despite their best intentions.

She prefers to keep to the countryside where she is least likely to encounter a demon or warlock or other forms of corruption. If she must go to a city she prefers to return to her people at the Exodar, or Darnassus, because the Night Elves aren't very tolerant of corruption either.

In Which I Bemoan the State of Priests

2011-03-02T15:00:00.001-06:00

When I first rolled my Priest I never dreamed that I'd end up being the type of person that bailed on their class when the going got tough. I guess, in retrospect, that is just what I've done.

I don't think I've been the person who consistently jumps on the current flavor of the month class/spec. When Holy/Holy was the spec to be I was the hybrid Disc Priest who took Divine Spirit so our raid could have the spirit buff. I tried out Holy/Holy towards the end of BC, but I never really could get the hang of AoE healing. During Wrath I was a Disc Priest all the while Pallies were the crowning glory of single target healers.

With Cataclysm, and the changes and more changes and more changes to Discipline and the way bubbles work, I just couldn't do that to myself. I just don't have the time or patience or ironically the discipline to cope with the bubble rollercoaster. I tried Holy again, but I still just didn't feel the AoE.

I've tried playing Shadow, but it just feels so gimpy when compared with a Mage or a Hunter or even a Warlock. It feels like Shadow Priests can't even compete in DPS anymore. I don't expect to top meters, but its disheartening to be so much lower on the meters than others.

The Priest class used to inspire me. I had such pride in my class. My oldest WoW friend and I agreed and pronounced loudly that Priests were the best class in the game. We could do amazing things, the two of us, him Shadow and me Discipline.

Now we are both leveling Paladins (and loving it).

Shared Topic: Favorite Weapon

2011-03-01T13:42:00.000-06:00

This week's Blog Azeroth Shared Topic is Favorite Weapon, suggested by Kallixta. See other responses to this topic here.

I figured now would be the perfect time to introduce the latest of my Random Six. Here's Xoe* with her take on her favorite weapon(s).

My favorite weapon is one that cracks or smashes, whacks or bashes, stabs or slices, jabs or dices, pricks or gashes, sticks or thrashes. I am a weapon master, I love all weapons.

There's daggers and axes, maces and bows, swords and polearms, staves and fist weapons, and lets not forget guns.

But the best weapons are the ones that let me take my revenge on the fish folk, for there's no good murloc but a dead murloc. Even better is a pile of dead murlocs, even if I nearly lost myself in killing them. Praise the spirits for giving me a second chance, but I'd do it all again just to hear their Mrrggl as they died.

*Nods to Mr Fenris. I found a 3-letter name for a toon.

Of Patches and Growing Pains

2011-02-27T15:00:00.002-06:00

If you don't like WoW anymore GTFO and quit complaining about it. No one cares that you think Cataclysm has been the worst expansion ever. No one wants to hear you rant about how Blizzard ruined MMOs. Go play Rift* or whatever the flavor of the season is and good riddance!

If I cared that Blizzard was recycling old content I wouldn't have bought Cataclysm. The entire expansion has been based around this main theme of revamping the old world. Are you really shocked and awed that they're bringing back ZG and ZA? These were iconic dungeons. I couldn't imagine Blizzard just pressing the delete button. Afterall, every expansion has had some form of Troll dungeon. Someone at Blizzard really loves him/her some Trolls.

I, for one, am excited and happy about this news. Three new 5-mans? Woohoo! And we get to relive ZG and ZA! Plus we get the renewed chance at some awesomely epic mounts! ~Drool~ Now I just have to get one of my alts up to 85 so I can play with the big boys. I don't wanna miss out on ZG and ZA.

To all you spoil sports out there. ~Raspberry~

*No offense meant to anyone who is merely going about their business and playing Rift.

Another 20 Days (Day 3)

2011-02-26T15:00:00.002-06:00

Saga at Spellbound has come up with her very own 20 Days of WoW Blogging challenge - this is Day 3.

Your first day playing WoW

I remember the crunching sound the snow made under my toon's feet, and it even left little footprints in the snow. I remember climbing up the hill to reach Ironforge, the great statue of Anvilmar greeting you as you enter the gates. It was stunning. And then, when you actually enter The Great Forge and see the lava flowing, it was amazing. I fell in love with Ironforge on my first day playing WoW. I remember flying to Ironforge on my very first flight, which was also my very first screenshot.

(which I still have in my folder of screenshots)

And then I looked around and realized that all of the people flipping and prancing and sparkling around me were real people all around the world playing this game with me. It was love at first sight. I didn't wait for my trial to end before I started paying to play. I think it was two days later and I couldn't wait any longer to be able to chat and send mail and join a guild, all that fun stuff.

The other thing I remember from my first days, was realizing that Paladins in WoW don't play the same as Paladins in other games. Although it may be the same premise, Paladins were too different from what I had grown accustomed to in other games. So after leveling Orenda into her 20s, I deleted her in favor of a Warlock, mostly because the friend who introduced me to WoW said they were easy to level.

The Warlock ended up not being the best choice for me either, but that's a story for another day.

Who Wears Short Shorts?

2011-02-25T15:00:00.005-06:00

Apparently Audrid wears short shorts...

I never thought I'd say this, but...

I'm anxious to get to Outlands so my gear will look better.

You heard that right... Even the crazy green pants with the purple zigzag look better than this hot mess. They'd even totally match the green booties I'm wearing now. (>_<)

I really can't say any more. I'll let you judge for yourself.

I'm a Paladin?

Blog-drama

2011-02-24T06:00:00.002-06:00

Well, here we go again. Its been a long time since I've piped up on the drama-of-the-week, but I just couldn't resist getting in the ring on this one.

Kiss My Alas wrote a very well written post about her take on Big Bloggers effecting Small Bloggers. And, despite his recent departure from the world of blogging, Tamarind has taken it upon himself to respond at The Pink Pigtail Inn.

While it is not always comfortable to receive criticism, whether constructive or not, its something we all have to deal with. The internet is a public space, and as has been said before, even if you may be the most neutral of parties, eventually someone is going to disagree with you or dislike your blog.

Mama always told me that if you don't have anything nice to say then it is best to say nothing at all. However, nice is one of those arbitrary words that is entirely dependent upon perspective to have any meaning at all.

Discussion and argument are part of what makes blogging such an interesting passtime. The irony is that I have quite a neutral opinion myself. I think Tam makes very valid points. I think Alas makes very valid points as well. I don't think either of them is wholly "right." Disagreeing with someone is not necessarily being a dick. How you do it could be perceived as dickish behavior, but the simple act of disagreeing is not that. But as Tam has said, dickish behavior is highly subjective.

What troubles me about this whole argument is fear of linking and/or commenting. I like that sometimes Larisa and Tam and other big bloggers link to and comment at some more obscure but interesting blogs. It may be unfortunate that not every person that reads these bigger blogs is a "nice" person, but to blame any negative feedback that occurred after you were linked from a larger blog is to ignore the purpose of linking, which is to share readership and to promote discussion.

I think we all need to step up and take responsibility for our own spaces. Regardless of size, eventually a troll or someone who very vocally disagrees with you will happen upon your blog. If you don't like what is being said then you have a right as a blogger to moderate comments. No, you can't control what is said at other people's blogs about you/your blog, but you can choose to respond to it or ignore it.

I respect what Zel and Alas have said about different sensitivity levels. I agree that greater diversity makes for a better community. However a blog is not a private space (unless we make it so), and we all know that when we create our blogs. There are options to limit who can read what you write. It is a known risk we all take when we make our words open for the whole world to read. If you are not ready for that, then maybe it is time to reconsider your permission settings.

Basically, what I'm saying is that I don't want to live in fear of giving someone some link love, whether they have a large readership or not. And I for one don't want any of the larger blogs to not link to me if I happen to say something they want to talk about (regardless of whether they agree or disagree with me).

What kind of blogging community would it be if we couldn't have something as benign as Tuesdays with Tarinae at A Healadin's Tear? Oh wait, we can't have that anymore because she's gone too. /cry But I think you get my point.

That Warlock Itch

2011-02-23T09:45:00.000-06:00

I've been reading more and more Warlock blogs lately...

Oddly, I miss Ashwynn.

Since I have deleted my toons I haven't really missed them much, except Ashwynn. She was the last one I expected to miss, afterall, she sat for years as nothing more than my bank alt.

I don't make a good Warlock player. I know this, but I really love having demonic minions. Muahahaha!

Errm... yeah.

So my random six may be expanding to seven, before I've even gotten all of their stories up here. In fact, there are 2 that I haven't even gotten to level 10 yet. Do they make a d7? I don't think so. /sigh

Pardon me while I run off and create Warlock after Warlock deleting them until I find the perfect imp name.

Another 20 Days (Day 2)

2011-02-20T15:00:00.000-06:00

Saga at Spellbound has come up with her very own 20 Days of WoW Blogging challenge - this is Day 2.

Day 2: Why you decided to start a blog

I have always had a desire to write. As long as I can remember I have loved reading and writing. As a teenager, full of angst and emotion, I wrote what in retrospect is really bad poetry. I wrote every day, whether it be in my journal or working on poems. At some point I just stopped. Maybe I realized just how horrible my poetry was. Maybe I was no longer feeling so angsty or emotional. Maybe I had dulled my senses with marijuana. Whatever the case may be, I had stopped writing altogether.

Years later I discovered LiveJournal. Many of my good friends used it as a place to write and to share little bits of themselves with the world. So, I made a LiveJournal too. I rarely posted on it. I mostly used it as a way to keep track of my friends. When they all made the exodus to Facebook I removed my LiveJournal and followed them there.

Facebook, however, was nothing like a writing site, nothing at all like LiveJournal. It didn't take long before I was inundated by friend requests, bumping into people I didn't want to, and in general getting overwhelmed. I deleted my Facebook account. I don't regret that choice. I am shy and introverted to an extreme. Facebook was far too social for my liking.

Around this time, I started poking around different WoW sites, and I discovered the blog written by Aurdon and Rhii, I Sheep Things (Rhii has since moved on to her own blog Oh My, Kurenai). It was love at first click, and through their blogroll I discovered a whole world of WoW blogs. This was a whole community of people who were doing the same things I was doing and writing about it. I couldn't resist creating my own little space.

It was on March 23rd, 2010 that I began blogging at Love and War in Azeroth. I saw it as a way to practice my writing, a way to vent about WoW stuff, and a potential way to be part of a community.

While the blog has changed and my game playstyle has changed, the reason for the blog has not. I am happy with my little space on the web, ~~even if~~ especially because I have limited readership and am unlikely to be linked at WoW Insider. I'm not sure I'd be well equipped to handle the staggering amount of readers and comments that places like The Pink Pigtail Inn get, nor do I think my writing skill warrants such attention.

At the end of the day, the reason for the blog is just because I love reading and writing (about WoW).

Embrace of the Viper

2011-02-19T15:00:00.001-06:00

This low level gear set is aptly named, because it creates drama.

I know what you're thinking, this is level 21 gear, low level loot is serious business, right?

Apparently it is.

Herein lies the problem... the stats on the Embrace of the Viper are itemized for melee or hunters boasting agility and stamina, while the set bonuses increase intellect.

And so inevitably any time I run Wailing Caverns I end up in a group with a druid healer and hunter who end up crying "Ninja!" at each other until someone gives up or gets kicked.

As if I didn't hate Wailing Caverns enough as it....

Introducing Shysse

2011-02-18T15:00:00.000-06:00

Shysse is an energetic and very young Night Elf eager to learn the ways of the Sentinels, anxious to become one of the proud warrior women of her people. While her energy and dedication are promising attributes, she has a tendency towards wanderlust and an insatiable curiosity. This is what led her astray. This is how she met the Satyr Zenn Foulhoof.

He promised her happiness. He promised her she would have all that she desired and even things she had never dreamed she could have. He was strange and exotic, but oddly desirable, his hair an unusual red and so silky, his hooves a gleaming gold. She longed to simply touch him. She decided that she must gain his friendship, his love.

And so she snuck away from Dolanaar in the quiet of mid-day to bring him the things he desired from her. She indiscriminately slaughtered the wildlife of the area in search of flawless owl feathers, the perfect nightsaber fangs, that last bit of untangled spider silk.

She returned to him as night was falling, as the town was beginning to awaken. With blood and gore on her hands, she handed him these choice objects. And he laughed. He called her naive and gullible and kicked her away from him as he fled with her gifts.

She landed in the mud, covered in every horrible substance imaginable, the worst of which was her guilt and shame. And she cried. It was in this same spot hours later that her mentor, the Sentinel Kyra Starsong, found her.

It was in a daze that she went with the Sentinel and allowed herself to be cleaned up. She was brought before The Council of the Forest in Darnassus for judgement. She was told that this act of wrongdoing would prevent her from ever achieving her ultimate goal. She was banned from ever becoming a Sentinel.

Her heart broken, her entire world shattered, and no one to blame but herself, Shysse had a decision to make. To stay amongst her people as an outcast or to flee to another part of the world where no one would know her and her wicked deed. Her wanderlust won this battle, just as it always seemed to do, and so she boarded a ship for Stormwind and was on her way.

Stormwind would not be her final destination though. There were plenty of Night Elves that made their way to this Human city. She needed to be even further away, in a place where no one would recognize her.

Very few of her people ever made the trek to Ironforge, not least because the easiest way to get there was by using the Gnomish contraption, the Deeprun Tram, which tunnels deep into the earth to reach the mountain home of the Dwarves. Her natural distrust of Gnomish engineering and the dislike for being underground was just something she would have to overcome.

Once her journey was over and she had arrived in Ironforge safely, her distrust for engineering quickly became a fascination. She became fast friends with some members of the Gnomeregan Covert Ops, and is aiding them in routing the Trolls out of Dun Morogh. In return they are teaching her their stealthy ways as well as a bit about tinkering.

Another 20 Days (Day 1)

2011-02-16T15:00:00.005-06:00

Saga at Spellbound has come up with her very own 20 Days of WoW Blogging challenge. Just as I couldn't resist the first challenge, I definitely can't resist a second (even though it took me 3 months to complete the first one). Most likely it will take me a lot longer than 20 days to complete this one too, and I'm already behind the curve as it is. Here goes anyway.

Day 1: Introduce yourself

~waves~ Hi, I'm Ama. I play WoW and I write about it.

In Game
I like RP but I can't find people to RP with. So instead I give my characters a life of their own (even if I don't act it out much in game) and share it here. I've been playing WoW since just before BC was released. My main throughout BC and Wrath was a Holy/Disc Priest. While I wouldn't call myself a hardcore raider, I do have raid experience, and for the most part I'm not a fail-noob. I recently deleted most of my high level toons and am starting over fresh with a new batch of alts.

In Real Life
I'm in my 30s. I'm fairly recently divorced. I live with my parents in Madison, Wisconsin. I work for a cable company. I LOOOOOOOVE reading, especially the fantasy genre. I have an orange tabby cat named Sammy. He likes to hear himself talk... errmm meow.

~hides behind something/anything~ I'm ridiculously shy (at least until you get to know me). I prefer to share myself with the world through text rather than face to face or verbally. I've always wanted to be a creative writer. I think my shyness has caused me to be very concise with what I say, almost to a fault. WTB talent to play with words and shape them into works of art.

Look Ma, I'm writing!

Introducing Liliva

2011-02-15T15:20:00.000-06:00

Liliva was a young woman training in the arts of the harvest under Sister Celestine. Hours spent playing and helping her mother in her garden as a child, she was well-versed in herbs to begin with, and so the craft came easily to her.

Then the Worgen came.

Little did we know that the beasts were really our own, that this infection was spreading amongst us. How do you fight a disease such as this... a curse so easily spread?

Bitten by a friend who transformed into a Worgen before her very eyes, it was only through the quick shooting of Lorna Crowley that Liliva survived.

It is with mixed emotions that Liliva continues her life. Between the devastation of this curse, the invasion of the Forsaken, and The Shattering of her home, she has hit rock bottom.

When the curse first took her she slaughtered her fellows mercilessly, caught up in the savagery of the beast. She was caught and caged by her people. It was only through the medicine that Krennan Aranas was able to create that she was just barely able to retain her humanity.

Should she have survived all this?

Yet she has, and she continues to live, despite the death of Prince Liam, despite being driven from her home, despite the feeling that she is a monster even though she is now able to control it.

The Night Elves have taught her and her people much, and have welcomed us into their home. We accept graciously, and yet, we do not yet have a true place in this Alliance. We do not yet even truly know who we are.

Liliva has spent days since her peoples' escape to Darnassus just thinking about all that has happened, and about what her place is to be in the future of this world. Within the peace and tranquility of the Night Elf world she has come to the only possible conclusion for herself. She shall live in peace with everything around her. She shall avoid violence at all costs. When she is confronted with danger she will retreat. If retreat is not possible, then and only then will she harm another being physically.

She will continue to learn the ways of the Harvest, and as an extension, has taken to learning the Druidic ways of the Night Elves. As such, she must contribute to the community she is now a part of, and will do so by gathering valuable herbs and mining precious ore.

In case it wasn't clear, I am leveling my druid through gathering professions only. Wish me luck in this non-violent journey.

The 20 Days of World of Warcraft: Day Twenty

2011-02-14T15:00:00.001-06:00

Where would you be now if World of Warcraft never existed?

This has to be one of the most difficult questions to answer. Like Beru at Falling Leaves and Wings, WoW empowered me to leave a relationship that had been rancid for some time. The friends I made and the challenges I overcame while raiding made me feel strong enough to remember that I am a human being and I deserve to be happy. It took a long time and a lot of chit-chat with friends in game for me to really get to that point. Now, I am happily divorced, working in a career that I love, and I am writing again (even if just in this medium). These are all things that I am sure I never would have done if not for WoW. I don't want to think about where I might be right now if that hadn't happened. I'd like to think that I would have recovered my self-confidence in some other way, but I just don't know that to be true.

Love is...

2011-02-14T08:00:00.000-06:00

Love is...

Trading Heart Candies during the Love is in the Air holiday with the one person you couldn't dream of living without.
Tasteful RP (Is that an oxymoron?)
The Hordie who saw you struggling to find the quest givers for Wailing Caverns and /beckoned and showed you how to get up to where they were (Pre-Shattering) and didn't gank you.
Female Dwarves
Chasing after a friend, healing him, as he charges recklessly into groups of mobs, slaughtering them mercilessly.
That new toon smell.
Hearing the cheers in vent as you and your guild down that raid boss that you've been wiping on for weeks.
The successful PUGs - the ones that don't send you screaming to your blog to rant about the horribleness that is LFD (it isn't really that bad).
/dancing - anytime, anywhere, any reason - but especially if the reason is a Piccolo.
WoW blogs and all of us in this quirky community.

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

The 20 Days of World of Warcraft: Day Nineteen

2011-02-12T15:00:00.003-06:00

How many hours do you play a week, roughly?

The number of hours per week that I play has varied over my WoW career. Currently, I pretty much only play on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays (my days off of work). I'm not sure I could clearly estimate how much time I spend playing on those days. Afterall, this here blog takes up a good portion of my free time as well, and is often done interspersed into my WoW time. Can I include blog time in my /played since it is WoW related? Hehe.

Rough estimate, I'd say I spend about 20-25 hours per week actually playing the game. Bump it up to 30-35 hours if we include my blogging time. I don't think this is unreasonable. Some other people would say I'm obsessed and addicted and whatever other stupid labels there might be. To those people I say, "What if I took away your television?" Tell me you're not "addicted" to TV, then we'll talk.

Random Six

2011-02-11T15:00:00.007-06:00

I took inspiration from Pilfkin at Moar Alts! and started my very own "Project 10." Except there aren't 10, and I'm sure I didn't set it up the same way she did. I have 6, that way I don't have to try and dig out my D&D dice set. I haven't the foggiest where I put them, in fact, its entirely possible the ex took them and my rule books in the split. Wow... got a lil off topic. Ermm... yes.

So, six toons, the first of which is my paladin, Audrid, whom you all have met already. I'll be introducing them individually over the next days, and one of them even adds an interesting new twist to your normal way of leveling.

Admittedly, I am not doing one of each class, even though eventually maybe I would like to have one of each. And I'm definitely not doing much cross-faction, only one of them is Horde. It seemed like a good way to get me playing and making the toons I've always wanted to have.

Thanks a million for the inspiration, Pilf!

The 20 Days of World of Warcraft: Day Eighteen

2011-02-10T15:00:00.001-06:00

Post your favorite Screenshot.

Oh gosh! You're going to make me choose one favorite? Nuh uh. Isn't going to happen.

So here they are, in no particular order:

The Love Picture

Steam Punk Draenei (or Space Pirate, Ashelyth is too sexy for her goggles)

Background - Dryad in Ashenvale (Pre-Shattering)

Harder than Vanilla

2011-02-09T15:00:00.003-06:00

WARNING: Rambling and disjointed rant incoming.

I got into an argument the other day with one of my co-worker/friends who also plays WoW. He is quitting WoW and insists that players are making a mass exodus because of the difficulty of Cataclysm raids. He claims that he's been raiding since Vanilla, and these are the hardest dungeons he has ever seen. He insists that only the most hardcore of elite guilds are getting any bosses killed. He claims that its not fair if one person's mistake causes the raid to wipe.

I can't really argue with any of it because I am not personally raiding at this time, although I have friends that are, but the whole conversation really ticked me off. I'm sorry, but even if raids are "too hard" right now, we haven't even seen a real patch yet (well, up until yesterday).

Comparing Cataclysm to Vanilla is like comparing apples and oranges, yeah, they're both fruit, but...

I highly doubt that my friends' guilds can be considered "the most hardcore of elite," afterall, I am on the Cairne realm. We're notorious for being low on the PVE charts, yet many of these guilds are at 7 or 8 bosses down.

As far as one person causing wipes... uhh... hello? Lich King Defile anyone? Seriously? Can't remember that? It really wasn't that long ago. And this was certainly not the only situation where one person's mistake could cause wipes. Remember Flamewreath on Shade of Aran? Remember Solarian's Wrath of the Astromancer?

I find it hard to believe that raiding is so hard that people are quitting in droves. If that was the case we would have either seen a massive nerfbat taken to the instances or a massive boost to player talents/skills by now. Blizzard would not sit idly by if the game was so unplayable.

There is a fine line to walk between making the gameplay too easy at endgame and making it too difficult. Maybe its because I am a BC baby, but I think the raiding difficulty in BC was just about the right balance. If current raiding is anything like that was, then I'd say things are just about right.

Being a blogger, I see people come and go all the time for various reasons. The reasons I see more often are not because of the difficulty of raid content, although I'm sure some people do quit for that reason. If I were to quit the game, it certainly would not be because of the difficulty of raids.

Honestly, I find it very telling that when things get hard this particular individual gives up. It speaks volumes about his character. Then again, who am I to judge what he does during his free time. This feels like yet another instance of rage quit. No one does the quitting thing quite like a WoW player does.

I can't sit here and say that I think WoW is the best game ever made and that it will never jump the shark, but I don't think it has yet. At least it hasn't for me.

The 20 Days of World of Warcraft: Day Seventeen

2011-02-08T15:00:00.002-06:00

What do you do when the server is down?

A fitting topic for the day. Well, since maintenance day is typically Tuesday and I typically have Tuesdays off of work, I pick Tuesday for my chore day. I run errands, clean up the house a bit, whatever needs doing. If I really run out of things to do, I catch up on my blog reading/writing. And then, if I still have time to spare, I'll either watch some TV or pick up an F2P game to putz around with until servers come back up.

Totally boring, I know, but there you have it.

The Dungeons: 1-5

2011-02-04T15:00:00.003-06:00

The first dungeon I set foot in on Audrid was actually Deadmines. I ported in to find the group already ahead of me, the tank nearly dead and pulling more, the balance druid calling me out for not healing while I wasn't even in the dungeon yet. I was level 16. This was my first dungeon on this toon. I was not about to cope with the abuse that I could feel coming if I decided to stay with this group. So I said a quick word about not pulling before your healer is there and bailed.

Hello 30 minute deserter debuff. Goodbye happy fun healing time.

That one didn't count. I call for a do-over.

So the first dungeon I completed on Audrid was Ragefire Chasm. You have to try really hard to mess that dungeon up. Sometimes, when I look back on it, I feel jealous of all those years the Horde had keeping this instance to themselves. It has to be the best starter instance ever. Deadmines for a beginner is much, much harder, imho.

Dungeon number two was Deadmines. I was nervous so I started out warning the group that I might be a little shaky on the heals, and asked them to please bear with me. It turned out I had nothing to worry about. This was another smooth run with kind folks to boost my fragile healing ego.

Dungeon number three was Wailing Caverns. An hour and a half of Wailing Caverns, because I was the only one who had any kind of clue how to navigate, which means we got pretty lost. But everyone stuck with it and we had some playful banter as we went through, as well as a few bio breaks. Although this was not as painful as some WC runs I've had, I still absolutely hate this instance, almost as much as I hate BRD, but that's another story for a different time.

Dungeon number four was another Wailing Caverns. This one went much more smoothly since I had just done it I remembered where everything was and was able to guide us through.

Dungeon number 5 was Shadowfang Keep. Oh, how I love to hate SFK! It's my favorite and my least favorite dungeon all rolled up into one. We did just fine all the way up until Godfrey. When we wiped 3 people bailed including the tank. The next tank in new exactly how to handle the Godfrey fight and taught us. It was beautiful and I can't thank Notapally of Echo Isles enough for being such an awesome tank and being patient with this newb healer who didn't know how to do it.

At this point Audrid was level 21, and looking pretty awesome in her kilt. All in all, not too shabby for pure pugs.

Stay tuned for dungeons 6-10, coming soon.

Quick pug stats: Tanks - 2 Warriors, 2 Bears, 2 Paladins.
                         Ranged - 3 Hunters, 2 Mages, 1 Balance Druid, 1 Warlock.
   Melee - 2 Rogues, 2 Warriors, 2 Kitty Druids, 1 Paladin, 1 Shaman.
   Wipes - 1 to Godfrey in SFK.

I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face

2011-02-03T15:41:00.000-06:00

She almost makes the day begin.
I've grown accustomed to the tune that
She whistles night and noon.
Her smiles, her frowns,
Her ups, her downs
Are second nature to me now;
Like breathing out and breathing in.
I was serenely independent and content before we met;
Surely I could always be that way again-
And yet
I've grown accustomed to her look;
Accustomed to her voice;
Accustomed to her face.

Alan Jay Lerner from My Fair Lady

There's been a bubble of people who have left WoW and the WoW blogging community recently. The two that have had the most impact on this lonely little blogger are the loss of Jaedia of Jaedia's Menagerie and Ardol of WoW Philosophized.

I don't want to put a guilty burden on these folks for leaving. That is not the intention of this post. I truly wish them all the joy in the world in whatever they move onto next. But they are going to be missed.

I know what you're thinking. People come and go in WoW all the time. What does it matter that these two have left? No doubt, in time two more will pop up to take their place. Still it leaves me in a sort of melancholy state. Its a bittersweet happiness or a semi-sweet bitterness. I don't know exactly what it is, but I feel the same way everytime someone I've cared about has gone away, whether it be IRL or in a game. The strongest regrets that I have are the ones about losing those closest to me.

I'm not going to say that these two were close and dear friends, but you don't read someone's words day after day for over a year and not somehow feel close to them.

I've read each of their posts about why they are leaving. Each is well written and well thought out. I can understand the reasoning, and yet, there is a part of me that never will truly understand (at least not until I feel the same way).

It worries me that some day down the road I will be in their shoes, saying my goodbyes to WoW and the blogging community I've grown to love so much. I can't even think about quitting WoW right now, let alone the unique community that blogs about it.

I can't even imagine what my life would be like without WoW and without my blog. I think I'd be a little bit less happy. Today I'm feeling a little bit less happy to see some friends say goodbye.

Lady in Gold?

2011-02-01T22:21:00.000-06:00

At the entrance to the Pig and Whistle in Stormwind's Old Town, there is a picture of a beautiful human woman in gleaming golden armor. Who is she? Why is her picture there? Has it always been there?

I've searched Wowpedia and Wowhead and various other WoW sites for information on this, and have come up with nothing.

There are two scenarios that seem to fit to me.

1. She was the owner, daughter or wife of the owner, or some other kind of relative to the owner of this fine establishment. However, there is nothing in game to back this up. None of the NPCs in the bar mention her, and there is no one in the bar that looks like her.

2. This is an image of Lady Luck (otherwise known as Lady RNG), and I should be spending my spare time worshiping in this holy place (in other words gambling), in order to increase my reputation with this Goddess.

What do you fine folks think? Does anyone have any information that I haven't been able to find?

But You Have Full Mana!!!

2011-01-29T08:53:00.000-06:00

This has been the battlecry of the fail dpser/tank who died because (in their opinion) I must be a horribad healer.

I would say, on average, my experience using LFD so far has been 60/40 Good/Bad. I can only imagine that it is either going to get better or worse, considering the dungeons I've been doing are the early/easy ones.

As a Paladin, my spells are limited at this level. I don't even have Flash of Light yet. I'm limited to Holy Shock, Word of Glory and Holy Light as my bread and butter, which is a long cast spell. I have no AoE (unless you count passively healing myself whenever I heal anyone else). I can't work miracles.

I'm talking about you, Paladin "Tank" in Intellect gear spamming Exorcism. I'm talking about you, crazed Hunter who refuses to wait for the tank to pull and has his pet on aggressive+growl. I'm talking about you, Druid who tried to tank in Kitty form. I'm talking about you, Balance Druid who refused to let the tank pull because you have better armor than the tank. Fine, but then switch into freaking Bear form. Don't try to tank as a Night Elf. You are squishy and will die.

It's as if by the fact of just having mana I should be able to instantly transfer all of that mana into health magically saving everyone's stupid ass. I'm sorry, but it just doesn't work that way. There is no magic IWIN Healing button. If I spam heals on a tank and he still goes down, either a. the tank was not geared/specced correctly or b. the tank (or someone) pulled way too many or c. the tank (or someone) didn't move out of the bad or d. the tank did not pick up adds and I was too busy saving myself. I don't like to blame others. When people point the finger at me all I will say is I'm doing my best. If they keeping blaming and complaining at me I simply leave. Its just not worth the effort to argue.

I am a damn good healer. I've been healing for so long its like second nature. I know when a wipe is my fault and I will freely admit it. Just because I still have mana doesn't mean I've been sitting and twiddling my thumbs letting you die. Believe it or not, at this level I have yet to go OOM. Maybe its all the Spirit gear I've been getting. Maybe Blizz tried to make it a little easier on low level healers. I don't know.

Wipes happen. I don't know if anyone told you, but Godfrey is a hard boss, even on regular at level 20. I don't know if you realize, but 10 mobs is a bit excessive and is likely to wipe even the best group, especially if no one seems to know how to CC. How many healers are going to be left if the first thing we hear is that its our fault? Even if it is our fault, c'mon, cut us some slack.

From One Paladin to Another

2011-01-27T14:20:00.000-06:00

Old Server:::New Paladin

I think that I could just play Paladins for the rest of my WoW career. I think that could make me happy. They have such stories to tell. They speak to me like no other class ever has.

I tried to do something different. I really did. I made a Hunter and quickly grew bored. I made a Paladin and well... 20 levels later, I think she's a keeper.


Hello. My name is Audrid. I have a very large mace.

Yes, I know. Another Dwarven Paladin too.

That's right, Moira's my Queen. Ya wanna make somethin' of it?

But this one is different. This one is all caught up in the Ironforge/Dark Iron drama.

So what if I'm wearing a kilt?

And she's a Holy Paladin, just like Gwennis was. What can I say, I'm a healer at heart. I'm leveling her almost purely through dungeons, and loving every minute of it.

In case you hadn't noticed, I almost always choose the double braid hairstyle for my Dwarven women. If you've never seen this hairstyle in action, I strongly suggest you make a caster with this hair and cast something long. Hours of entertainment watching those tresses twirl. Even funner when a random pugger notices it. I can't tell you how many times I've seen someone say, "OMG! Look at her hair!"

I'm still here...

2011-01-25T19:23:00.000-06:00

I apologize for my lack of posting, and would like to thank those who commented on my last post. Your advice is greatly appreciated, even if it is no longer necessary.

You see, I keep changing my mind about what I want to do in the game. I guess I'm just a restless soul anymore. Maybe its one of those signs that I'm slowly burning out, but I really don't think that is what it is. I greatly enjoy the time I spend in game, I just have no desire to choose a main and get to level cap, so that leaves me very free to willy-nilly create and delete toons and play God for a little while.

How many characters have I started and wrote a bit of RP story about only to fade into nothingness? And so Gwennis will fade into the background as well. I'm sure there will be others to take her place. Maybe one will even stick.

I found it near to impossible to make friends on new realms, least of all friends that are also interested in RP, even on RP realms. It's as if you have to know names to get in with the cool kids or something.

I've decided that I can enjoy my RP well enough without the interaction of others. I can write my little stories and be happy. And so I return to my old realm, Cairne, where at least I have friends. I was far too lonely those weeks on Argent Dawn.

I deleted three of my five high level toons to make room for the alts I intend to make on Cairne. I deleted Ama, Viva and Ashwynn, as well as various lower level toons. I kept Icelica, and hope maybe someday I will level her up and become an uber DK tank. I kept Levity as my bank alt, mostly because I know I will never want to play her again so she makes a reliable banker (plus she has big bags and shiny flying mounts).

And so I am back among friends, with a shiny chunk of change. Who knew that between those 3 toons I had 20k gold? I know, for those of you auctioneers out there that's chump change, but for me its a lot.

I also found that I have two and a half bags full of BoA heirlooms, which I don't even want to use. I have no desire to rush leveling any more than it is already rushed. I've actually decided that none of my toons will have gathering professions to start with. I can always go back and level that up later, but I can't undo the XP gains provided by these skills.

I'm taking my time and feeling out different toons. I have one that I plan to level purely through dungeons, and several that I plan to level by questing alone. Maybe someday I'll even have a PVP only toon, if I can ever get up the nerve to enter a BG again.

I know, most of you are probably thinking I'm insane for deleting a level 84, 80 and 70. To me it just made sense, and honestly I feel a great weight lifted off of my shoulders. No regrets. Now I have room on my home realm for new toons, and I couldn't be happier.

Leveling Holy

2011-01-20T06:00:00.001-06:00

I know, I know. I'm totally doing it wrong. I'm leveling a Holy Paladin by questing. But, you know what? It isn't that bad. I may not kill things super quick, but I can take one heck of a beating and keep on swinging. The only thing that's driving me crazy right now is gear.

Where is the healing mail? I guess Blizzard realized they overkilled quest rewards in Wrath with Holy Pally gear, so when they revamped the old world for Cataclysm they put nearly none of it in. Either that or they never expected someone to be stupid enough to try and quest as Holy. I have bumped into all of two pieces of mail gear with Intellect on it. One of those was a BoE random enchantment drop, and the other was a quest reward from the one dungeon I've completed.

At level 33 I'm wearing a motley assortment of Cloth, Leather and Mail. I'm terrified to try to heal a dungeon. Several levels ago I managed to get through SFK, but afterwards I was told that my gear was abyssmal and that it was a testament to my healing skill that I managed to heal through the dungeon. Great compliment, but it doesn't exactly make me eager to try another dungeon.

I don't know what to do. I'm leveling faster than I ever dreamed possible. I swear I went from level 30-33 in an hour last night. That is without a guild, without BoAs, without rested XP. The pace is mind-boggling, and I don't like it. I don't want to go into a dungeon because that will put me that much further ahead of the quests I'm working on. I'm trying to linearly complete zones so I can see all of the story. I'm sacrificing dungeons to do it. I'm almost half tempted to switch this toon to all dungeons all the time, but then what? Sure, I'll probably level up really fast and have healing gear, but I won't get to have the story.

What do you think I should do?

In Stormwind

2011-01-19T06:00:00.003-06:00

The first thing I did when I got into Stormwind proper was go to the nearest tavern. The Tram drops you off in the Dwarven District, and it was a right good thing. I don't think I could have got my bearings with none of that weak stuff the Humans drink. Alcohol made of grapes! Bah! It may taste good, but that's about it. No, what I needed was to lose myself in a rowdy Dwarven bar with a good flagon of mead. I found just that at The Golden Keg. I almost felt like I'd never even left Ironforge.

With my drink drunk and my nerves as settled as they were going to be, I headed to the Cathedral Square to seek out The Shadowbreaker. It was with awe that I entered this area of Stormwind.

Right in front of the Cathedral of Light is a beautiful fountain, a monument to The Lightbringer. And then there is the Cathedral itself. It's beautiful, but it sure ain't Dwarven workmanship. Them spires and such are far too dainty for Dwarven sensibilities. It's a wonder the thing weren't damaged when Deathwing came. I'd imagine the power of The Light was what protected it from the dragon's wrath.

I couldn't resist letting a passing gnome snap some pictures of me at these monuments. I don't know much about how the gnomish picture-taker works, but it sure is nice to have some momentos from my trip.

When I entered the Cathedral it was bustling with Paladins and Priests and the faithful, all rushing around to whatever business they had. I nervously looked up to the altar, and there he was, The Shadowbreaker himself. I nearly stumbled over my own feet making my way across the blue and gold carpet to reach him.

I hadn't quite mastered the art of bowing properly without my wild tresses getting themselves in the way, so I opted to kneel before him, hoping I looked humble enough but still strong. He smiled kindly at me, and it made me feel a touch more at ease. He gestured for me to rise and said, "I have been watching your progress, Gwennis, and I can only conclude that The Light shines brightly upon you. You are becoming an exemplary Paladin."

I felt my cheeks warming as I stood up. I knew they were turning beet red with an embarrassed blush. I'm not so used to such praise and it was coming as a shock. And then it only grew worse.

He nodded and continued, "To honor your dedication, King Wrynn has commissioned the royal armorer to forge a special weapon."

And my jaw nearly dropped down to the floor. The King had commissioned a special weapon to honor me?! I don't even know how the Humans had heard of me. The only thing I could think was that Valgar had been telling tales. I knew that he thought I was doing well enough in my training, and I'd been helping the folks in Dun Morogh and Loch Modan to settle things down after all the earthquakes and such, but I didn't think I deserved all this.

Well, turns out there was a catch. The special weapon to be made for me requires special materials. Basically I got to go get them out of Shadowfang Keep, which has lately been infested with the undead. I don't know if they're Forsaken or Scourge, but either way this is a good chance for me to prove, at least to myself if not to my fellow Paladins, that I deserve this weapon.

The Shadowbreaker took me aside to his study to provide me with maps, the list of items I needed to retrieve, and an explanation of what I may be going up against. It was refreshing to be learning from a Human Paladin. I love my people, but it is always good to keep an open mind and to learn different ways of doing things. He taught me a few tricks I may not have learned otherwise.

I spent that night in Stormwind at The Golden Keg and shared a a few drinks with the Hammerbeaks before bedding down. Borna and Dalga are Wildhammer Dwarves, and I haven't had much opportunity to spend much time with our flying cousins. I was curious about their relationship with the gryphons and what it meant to be a Shaman. We chatted maybe a bit too late into the evening, because when I crawled into bed I could see through my window the distant light of the Sun starting to rise on the horizon. It was beyond time to get some rest. When I awoke I'd have to begin planning my trek to Shadowfang Keep.

Link Love for the Silly Bloggers Soul

2011-01-18T15:03:00.000-06:00

In case you don't read these blogs, here for your enjoyment, it's silly time!

Starting with Larisa at The Pink Pigtail Inn, who posted about The Unfiltered Joy of Smashing Thieving Little Pluckers. Sometimes you just gotta smash things.

Alas from Kiss My Alas had a little bit of captioning fun, even if it was a tad Immature.

Desukar of 5 Minutes on Hearth found a fabulous video of Kitteh, Slayer of Dragons. I wish my cat got that excited about WoW too.

Search terms are making a comeback this month, and they are still as hilarious as ever.

Search Terms by Traxy at I Like Pancakes.
Search Terms by Rhii at Oh My, Kurenai.

Note to self: Make more creative and interesting post titles in order to win at Search Term LOLs.

Everybody Hates Questing?

2011-01-17T06:00:00.001-06:00

< Rant>

As I've been popping around the blogosphere I've noticed a trend. It's a trend wherein people think questing sucks and everyone must feel that way. It's used as a given, as if there need be no explanation of the statement, just questing sucks and everyone else thinks so too.

Who are you people? Why do you even play WoW? I would argue that 80% of the game is questing. If you really hate it so much and everyone else hates it so much, wouldn't you move on to a different game with less questing?

I hate having words put in my mouth. I am one of the mass of WoW players therefore I must hate questing too.

Well guess what? I LOVE questing. Questing is why I play. And quite frankly, I don't think I'm the minority. 12 million people are only rushing to reach level cap and secretly hate questing? Puh-lease.

I can live with people saying that they personally hate questing. I'm ok with that. Whatever floats your boat. But do not tell me what I do or do not hate. Blanket statements make you sound like an idiot, especially if you don't even attempt to back it up.

</ Rant>

Disappointment

2011-01-16T06:00:00.001-06:00

I've been having the time of my life working on my new Dwarven Holy Paladin. I have hardly had any thoughts of making a new alt. Gwennis had become my focus, until now.

The other day I mentioned the quirks I have when playing (really I think it might be a touch of OCD). Well, my little quirk has made me run ramming force into a brick wall and now I can't go any further. Why you might ask?

The Battle for Thandol Span is broken. I refuse to move on to Arathi before completing this quest. This is one of those iconic moments in the Dwarven story. I am not skipping it. Apparently my best bet is to try to get it done directly after a server reset. The comments at Wowhead say not to hold your breath, that you're better off questing someplace else.

I'm extremely disappointed. I wouldn't be so upset if this hadn't been broken since The Shattering. Yeah, you remember, Patch 4.0.3a back on November 23rd, 2010? Yeah, it's been broken this whole time. I'm just glad I didn't bump into this back then. If I'd been waiting this long for it to get fixed so I could continue my Dwarf's story I'd be hopping mad by now. I wonder how much else in the world is broken like this.

I imagine I'm being a bit extremist and unreasonably stubborn. There isn't really anything preventing me from moving on. It just feels wrong to me to do so.

Anyway, I'm back to my altoholic ways, making random alts to pass the time. Maybe I'll finish my Dwarf someday. The ball is in Blizzard's court now. I hope someone out there cares for those of us who actually love questing.

Better Than WoW Bash

2011-01-15T06:00:00.000-06:00

Silly /General is silly!

I guess they have to procreate somehow...

The Naming of Toons

2011-01-14T06:00:00.011-06:00

The naming of toons is a difficult matter,
It isn't just one of your holiday games...

I love making new toons, as I'm sure you're all aware. The single hardest part of creating a new toon is naming it. I thought maybe you folks out there might be interested in some of the resources I use for finding the perfect roleplay name.

The first stop is your typical baby name website. The one I prefer is Baby Names World, because you can search by origin or by meaning and filter by gender. I like Gaelic names for my Dwarves. I often try to come up with a meaning that is nature or element related for my Shamans and Druids. I'm rather fond of the names that come from different cultures as they are often quite unique (therefore typically not taken).

I go someplace entirely different if I'm making an Elf. Whether it be a Night Elf or a Blood Elf, I always go to The Arèthane Name Generating Page. Now, don't ask me exactly what Arèthane is or how I found it. I bumped into it years ago when I was still playing Neverwinter Nights, and strangely the website persists while many other name generator pages have fallen.

If I'm still stuck for a first name (I tend to get stuck on Draenei and Gnome names) or if I'm searching for a surname, I go to Az's World of Warcraft Name Generator. Sadly it has not been updated to include Worgen and Goblin names, but for the most part Worgen names are like Humans and Goblin names are like Gnomes.

By no means does the buck stop here. I'm sure there are a billion other resources out there. Heck, the standard Blizzard name generator in the character creation screen isn't half bad itself. Have fun naming your toons. And don't be like me and fall in love with names so that you have to make new alts just to use them.

A Trip

2011-01-13T06:00:00.005-06:00

The city of Ironforge is immense and impressive in its own right. Having grown up in and around this massive city I had lost the awe I once felt for the town in the mountain. It was around this time that I'd grown enough in wielding the power of the Light that Valgar Highforge sent for me.

I approached the temple in the Mystic Ward with not a little trepidation. What could this master Paladin want with little ol' me? I couldn't help but feel my heart flutter a bit at the thought that maybe he is sweet on me, but I quickly shook that feeling off and approached him as a strong and courageous child of the Light should.

I bowed as gracefully as my stout body would allow, and my braids flopped over into my face and dusted the ground at his feet so that when I stood straight once more I looked quite the fool. My face reddened in embarrassment as I attempted to casually shake my head in order to return my plaits to their proper place, I stammered, "You- you- sent for me, sir?"

He chuckled deeply and warm-heartedly with a huge grin on his face and put his arm on my shoulder so that I quickly forgot my embarrassment and foolishness and warmed up to him. "Ye've done well, lass." He nodded at me. "So well, ye've attracted the attention of the Cathedral o' Light."

I gasped and stepped away from him, feeling better and worse all at the same time. "What does this mean?"

He laughed again, the deep laugh only one of my people could have, the kind of laugh you can feel vibrating through the earth beneath your feet. "Don't ye worry, lass. The Shadowbreaker done sent for ye. What he wants with ye, I don't know. I do know he wields the Light in the same manner as ye. Perhaps he can teach ye something I can't."

Still in shock, I looked at him with eyes wide, ignoring his gleaming armor and thick, beautiful beard, in search of some kind of comfort, and whispered, "The Shadowbreaker wants me?"

"Aye, lass. And he ain't the type of man ye want to keep waiting, so ye best be getting on the Tram and making yer way to Stormwind right away."

"But- I- I- "

"Shhh. Do as I say now."

"But I've never been on the Tram. I've never been to Stormwind."

"Shhh. Go now, lass. I don't want to hear another peep out of ye about it. Best to not think overly deep about it and just do it."

"Uh, yes, sir." I bowed again for practice. I had managed to fiddle my braids into my belt in the back in an effort to keep them in place, and this time I pulled off the bow, if not with grace, then at least without embarrassment.

I flew to my barracks and gathered up what little I might need for the trip, muttering to myself the entire time. "Take the Tram he says. It may be the quickest way to Stormwind, but I'll be damned if I trust some Gnomish contraption to take me under the ocean. If I get but a drop of water on me someone's head will roll."

And despite my fears, I boarded the Tram, and held onto the railing tight as we flew off to Stormwind.

When we reached the bit where the rail opened up to glass windows on the ocean floor, I had to squeeze my eyes shut tight, and it took all my training to remain calm in the face of so much water. We were past it quickly, but the nausea didn't disappear until I was on solid ground again.

Quirks

2011-01-12T06:00:00.002-06:00

I have some strange quirks when it comes to how I play WoW. Perhaps I'm a little bit obsessive, a little superstitious, a little quirky. The biggest quirk I've found is this:

Every toon I have ever made that has ever gotten a Rabbit's Foot keeps it (or more likely a stack of varying sizes). I don't ever put them in the bank. They must stay in the character's bags. If I run out of bag space I will delete anything but the Rabbit's Foot. I highly doubt this brings me any real luck, but it's just something I do, and something I will never stop doing.

I keep other odds and ends from time to time as well, depending on the whims of the particular toon I'm playing. All of my Death Knights have been particularly fond of hanging onto Mind-Soothing Baubles, perhaps it makes them feel better after all the slaughtering of innocents. My very first Archaeological find was a Necklace with Elune Pendant, and I think I'm going to hang onto it. I'm also quite fond of collecting miscellaneous books. An Exotic Cookbook is among my prized possessions. And of course you all know I'm quite fond of playing dress-up with my toons. The clothing collections on some of my toons is just staggering.

Beyond collecting I have quirks about how I level my toons.

I absolutely refuse to leave a zone before I've completed it. I didn't always do this, and found my understanding of the storyline to be decidedly lacking. Perhaps I'm over-compensating, but its what I do.

I also feel uncomfortable if I level a toon beyond what they are able to do with their professions. I end up having a nagging need to go fishing, mine some ore, or pick some flowers. Now that these activities provide Exp, I find it that much more uncomfortable to level with a friend. I'm learning to let go of my profession addictions though. Most likely the best way to cope with it is to not level professions on the toons I play with my bestfriend until I'm max level.

What's with Herbalism?

2011-01-11T19:06:00.000-06:00

I think there may still be a few kinks in the herb picking system. Not that I'm complaining. I just wish things were labeled correctly.

This screenshot clearly illustrates that Gwennis' skill in Herbalism is 92, and picking Bruiseweed requires an Herbalism skill of 100, yet she was very much able to pick this herb.

Anyone else notice any strange herb or mining skill issues like this?

The 20 Days of World of Warcraft: Day Sixteen

2011-01-10T06:00:00.000-06:00

Favorite quest/quest chain?

Well, heck! I had to wait to answer this one after the whole Shattering and Cataclysm thing.

Well, I'm not sure that I'm properly able to make that decision now. I haven't been through all of the new stuff that's been added. Maybe someday I'll have me a Loremaster, and then I can confidently answer this question, but right now I just don't feel like the choice I would make would be fair.

I can tell you what I would have chosen prior to the Shattering.

Indubitably Oh Noes, the Tadpoles! There is nothing cuter than a baby murloc. I was disappointed that Blizzard never made this quest into a daily, and I'm doubly disappointed that we still can't get a baby murloc non-combat pet. The only thing I can think is that the adorableness of the baby murloc is just too powerful to be released into the public in large quantities. The only ones that I'm aware of are Murky (2005 Blizzcon), Lurky (BC Collector's Edition EU only) and Gurky (Fansite contest EU only). Europe gets all the murloc love. ~pout~

Sometimes I just hang out in the Forlorn Cavern in Ironforge just to be near Murky. He's sooooo cute!

The 20 Days of World of Warcraft: Day Fifteen

2011-01-09T06:00:00.009-06:00

What with the Cataclysm (I mean the new expansion, not going back to work, although that is a part of it too), I kind of forgot to finish ye olde 20 days MEME. Here's the beginning of the rest.

Favourite Battleground and why?

Arathi Basin with Eye of the Storm a close second. It is the most simple Battleground to understand, in my opinion. I don't much care for the complexities and the massive groups that are required for Alterac Valley and Isle of Conquest. Warsong Gulch, while the premise is simple, I never cared for capture the flag in grade school, and my feelings have not yet changed.

I think my preference of battleground is primarily because I'm not much of a fighter. I'm really not much of a PVPer, unless I am coerced into it by a good friend. I've only ever done battlegrounds as a healer, so I'm sure that takes its toll on my opinion as well. I'm naturally a defender, and Arathi Basin is perfect for me because of that.

Better Than WoW Bash

2011-01-08T06:00:00.000-06:00

Guild Recruitment Fail 101:

What is this? I don't even...

Introducing: My New Main?

2011-01-07T06:00:00.005-06:00

It ain't easy swingin' this big 'ol mace and keepin' these braids perfectly plaited all at the same time.

Following the guide I made the other day, I started by choosing a class. I've always wanted a Holy Paladin. The first toon I ever made was a Dwarven Paladin, and although she never made it past level 20, that has kind of always been where my heart lies. Knowing that I wanted to be a Paladin, I couldn't bring myself to make a Blood Elf or a Tauren, so if I'm going to be Alliance, I might as well be a Dwarf. Archaeology bonus FTW! I can't wait til I get her to level 20 so I can pick up that profession. Speaking of professions, she's an Herbalist/Scribe. Lord knows I'm going to have my work cut out for me to role-play that.

P.S. Gwennis is on Argent Dawn (US), so if there is any bit of SAN still around, please let me know. Otherwise, I'm on the hunt for my special sort of guild which includes a little bit of everything but especially socializing.

Shit My Friend Says: Blink

2011-01-06T06:00:00.003-06:00

Friend: There's this bug where sometimes the boss dies under the stairs and you need a mage to blink under there to loot it. So I'm trying to blink through the stairs.

A few seconds pass.

Friend: Wait. Why am I the only one alive?

Me: Maybe because you were trying to blink through the stairs instead of fighting?

How to Choose

2011-01-05T10:24:00.000-06:00

Class
Which class should I play? Tanks try to attract the attention of the monsters and can take quite a beating. Healers can heal, duh. Pure DPS is a damage dealer. They may not be able to take a beating, but hopefully they can kill faster than being killed.

Tanks - Death Knight, Druid, Paladin, Warrior
Healers - Druid, Paladin, Priest, Shaman
Pure DPS - Hunter, Mage, Rogue, Warlock

All classes have the ability to be dps. Ranged stand at the back and shoot or cast at the monsters. Melee get up in the fray and stab, whack, bam.

Ranged - Druid, Hunter, Mage, Priest, Shaman, Warlock
Melee - Death Knight, Druid, Paladin, Rogue, Shaman, Warrior

Each class has a preferred armor class. Cloth wearers are the squishiest, with Plate wearers having the strongest armor (and consequently the higher repair bills).

Cloth - Mage, Priest, Warlock
Leather - Druid, Rogue
Mail - Hunter, Shaman
Plate - Death Knight, Paladin, Warrior

Race
How do you choose which race?

First you must ask, which Faction. Then you must see which races can be your chosen class. Then, you could play around with Min/Maxing and choose based on racial attributes (you're better off going to Elitist Jerks for this information). Or you could be like me and choose by looks or role-play-ability.

ALLIANCE

HORDE

Racial Bonuses to Professions may also make a difference to you.

Alliance

Draenei - Jewelcrafting
Dwarf - Archaeology
Gnome - Engineering
Worgen - Skinning

Horde

Blood Elf - Enchanting
Goblin - Alchemy
Tauren - Herbalism

Profession
Which professions should I have? Gathering professions are just that, professions that consist of simply gathering things. Production professions rely on gathering to craft different items.

Gathering - Herbalism, Mining, Skinning
Production - Alchemy, Blacksmithing, Enchanting, Engineering, Inscription, Jewelcrafting, Leatherworking, Tailoring

Well matched pairs:
Herbalism/Alchemy
Herbalism/ Inscription
Mining/Blacksmithing - ideal for plate wearer
Mining/Engineering
Mining/Jewelcrafting
Skinning/Leatherworking - ideal for leather or mail wearer
Enchanting/Tailoring - ideal for cloth wearer

In the end, play what you enjoy. I encourage all of those new to the game to try out every combination that appeals to you, but then you might wind up an altoholic like me. This "guide" was written purely as an aid to myself in making choices. I post it here in the event that it may help others.

Starting Over All Over Again

2011-01-01T00:00:00.012-06:00

I never seem to be satisfied with any of my toons anymore. Maybe that's why I'm an altoholic. Don't get me wrong, I love the game. The time I spend playing is a lot of fun to me. But when I look at my character selection screen I just can't decide. More often than not I press the "Create New Character" button. Is it wrong to just want to start all over fresh again and again?

Maybe it's a case of "your first love is your best love" and it'll never feel the same again. Maybe I'm searching for that feeling. I get it briefly when making a new toon and playing it for the first few levels, but the love quickly fades. Then what?

I think part of the disconnect is being guildless. If it weren't for a few people, I'd probably have switched realms again a long time ago. More and more, when I log on my toons on Cairne I feel as though I'm only going through the motions. More and more, I just want to de-clutter and delete all of my high level toons.

I'm not really going to do anything dramatic like that. I know I'd probably regret it. But the urge is there.

I've been through this before. I've server hopped before. I ended up coming back to Cairne. What makes this time different?

Maybe its the feeling that I just don't care about end-game at all anymore... Viva would have been 85 a long time ago, if I wanted her to be. I've been deliberately avoiding playing her because I'm afraid of hitting the dreaded level-cap. How backwards is that?

What is even more frightening to me is the feeling that I'm becoming more and more of a soloist. I love people. I like to socialize. But when I'm questing I'd rather go it alone, that way I won't feel guilty wandering off of the beaten path to mine or do some archaeology or just smell the roses. It feels as though everyone is always just rushing to hit the next level, and Blizzard has rewarded this behavior by making everything give Exp. Sometimes I just want to turn Exp gains off.

I want a guild to socialize in, but that's about all I want it for. I'm turning into Gevlon's M&S, I suppose. Is that wrong? Does that somehow make me bad? Gevlon would say it is and it does.

My partner in crime would ask me to join his guild, but how much in common will I have with a group of people that are focused on end-game? Not much, I don't think. Honestly, I think I probably have very little in common with the majority of people who play WoW altogether. Considering that I'm such an unusual person, I have no idea how to find a guild of like-minded people. All guilds seem to eventually end up focusing on end-game or disbanding.

Anyone else feeling like I'm feeling?

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T00:00:00.000-06:00

Ashwynn and I wish you a merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

Shared Topic: Pet Peeves

2010-12-21T06:00:00.009-06:00

This week's Blog Azeroth Shared Topic is Pet Peeves, suggested by myself, of course. See other responses to this topic here.

My personal pet peeve is trolling in trade chat, and its the main reason I keep /2 turned off most of the time when I play now.

What I can't stand is people who blatantly say something controversial or stupid solely to draw attention to themselves or to start an argument. These are the people who bring up Hitler, rape, or suggest that no girls play WoW. These are the people who make general assumptions about other players based on absolutely no true knowledge, calling others bad, fat, no lifers, etc. These are the people who flat out give incorrect information to people asking a question or for advice.

My Personal /2 History

You see, once upon a time I was one of the regulars in trade chat and on the forums for my server, of course this was a long time ago, before transfers were allowed on or off of the server. Trade chat was typically somewhat interesting, if often kind of stupid, but rarely degenerated to anal spam or worse. I'm one of those who actually finds the Murloc movie game rather fun and interesting (until people start repeating things that have already been said). I'm all for a little debate in trade, over, for example, which class makes the best healer and why. I look forward to a little friendly banter in the chat channels.

I have to admit that I miss the idyllic world that I had prior to the opening of transfers. Maybe I'm looking at it through rose-tinted glasses, but I think the overall feel of the community on our server, both in trade and on the forums, was much better prior to that fateful day. The flood of people, both leaving and arriving, was truly shocking. This caused a dramatic change in the feel on the chat channels and on the forums.

Then, because of the change in atmosphere on the realm, I decided to leave for a while too. I transferred my main to a different server for a few months and discovered that the grass was definitely not greener. It's really funny because I'd heard from many of my friends who had left that they found their experiences on other realms to be far superior. I have no idea what their criteria was though. To me, the gauge of quality to a server is its trade chat, and I was appalled at what I found elsewhere. I ended up transferring back to Cairne, and I don't regret it for a moment.

Although the trade chat can often degenerate into horribleness, every so often you run into a semi-intelligent conversation, and that's what makes it all worthwhile. Afterall, part of the draw of playing an MMO for me is that Multi-player bit. Perhaps I take the social aspect of the game too seriously, but I don't think I'd enjoy the game as much without it.

When I am in trade nowadays, I make it a habit to point out trolls to other players. I remind people not to feed the trolls, and sometimes will say things like, "Obvious troll is obvious." Every once in a while a troll will catch me in his trap, and once I realize it, I laugh it off and say, "I gotta learn not to feed the trolls." Hehe. I've even gotten into arguments with people over whether they are trolling or not.

I think maybe some people would say that I am a troll myself, but not by my definition. I know that trade is intended to be used for only trade, but I'm not a stickler for that rule. If I was then I'd be pissy about all of the people LFGing in trade.

What Trolling Says About Society

The amount of trolling I see in game and across the internet frightens me. It makes me doubt my faith in humanity (not that I had much to begin with). It really makes me wonder if our world is really worth fighting for. This is why trolls bother me so much.

I'm one of those people that firmly believes in The Golden Rule. When I see someone trolling it tells me a lot about that person. It tells me that they have no respect for other people at all.

I guess I just can't understand why it would be fun to deliberately hurt others. What would happen to the world if we all behaved like that all of the time? You see it sometimes in extreme cases of road rage. I wonder how far off before we start behaving like that to others in person? Once that happens, how far off is the fall of our society?

Morbid thoughts for a Tuesday morning, I know...

The 20 Days of World of Warcraft: Day Fourteen

2010-12-20T06:00:00.003-06:00

Healer, tank or dps?

Healer, healer, healer.

I feel seriously out of my element when I'm not able to heal myself. I've struggled to try to play as a tank and as dps, but I've always come back to healing.

My first toon to make it to high level was a Warlock. In retrospect, I now know what types of toons are more easy and more difficult for me to play. Warlocks were and still are very hard for me. I did try my hand at tanking via a Paladin that I promptly abandoned after reaching level 80, and a Death Knight that still isn't even level 80. I'm currently in the process of attempting to learn to be a dpser (see my many alts).

Since I'm no longer focusing on end game raiding but more on the journey, I think that my time as purely a healer may have come to an end. That said, as a dpser or a tank, my primary goal is always survival, whether it be in a raid or pvp setting or just out questing. There's a reason why I tend to follow roads rather than cross country. The lessons I learned leveling my squishy Priest as Holy stay with me still. Never pull more than one mob or a quick death may ensue.

Better Than WoW Bash

2010-12-19T06:00:00.007-06:00

I used to be one of those who frequented WoW Bash, reveling in the stupidity of others and generally enjoying the silly things players say, as well as the occasional GM joke. But over the years I feel the quality of the humor and the frequency of updates at that site has degraded, and not just because my submissions are always rejected, although that hasn't hurt my sentiments. So, without further ado, I present my newest column, "Better Than WoW Bash."

And for my first entry, I present:

Spelling Fail 101:

I welcome any and all submissions for this column. Feel free to e-mail DramaSpec at AIM dot com

Cataclysm: For the Horde?

2010-12-18T06:00:00.004-06:00

Following yesterday's post about factions, I decided to hop on my idle Troll Druid and completed the quests in Stonetalon Mountains. Potential SPOILERS ahead, proceed with caution. If you have not yet quested through Stonetalon Mountains as Horde, I would highly recommend it.

It started to get good when Amatzi was given the task to take a giant bomb to Cliffwalker Post via hot air balloon. An ingenious goblin idea sure to backfire if ever I'd heard one.

Strangely, the trip was uneventful. But as soon as she arrived she realized there was trouble. Chieftan Cliffwalker, a Tauren Druid, is engaged in an argument with General Grebo about his wish to destroy the local Night Elf Druid enclave, presumably because they have weapons of mass destruction. Remind you of anything?

Long story short, Cliffwalker had sent his son to prove that the Night Elves did not have WMDs, but he had not returned. Of course, Amatzi has to investigate. So she made her way to Thal'darah Grove, and pressed through the throng of frightened young Druids, to discover Orthus Cliffwalker dead clutching a Krom'gar General's Insignia.

She made her way back to Cliffwalker Post and gave the dire news to the chief and his wife, Masha. Unhappy would be an understatement of the feelings the Cliffwalkers then had. The only Krom'gar General in the area is none other than Grebo. Chief Cliffwalker confronts him, and the general readily admits his guilt with no remorse, laughing in the face of the mourning Cliffwalker and calling his child weak.

It takes a lot to provoke the ire of a Tauren. They are naturally a patient people, but Cliffwalker cannot stand for this, and so exacts his revenge on the wicked Grebo.

Of course, being of the next highest rank in the Krom'gar army, Amatzi is given the unenviable task of going to tell Overlord Krom'gar of what has happened at Cliffwalker Post. Being a fellow Druid, she felt that Cliffwalker was right in all of his choices, and it is with growing dread that she made her way back to Krom'gar. She is promoted to General to take Grebo's place at Cliffwalker, and is told to meet Krom'gar there to accept the position.

The dread in her heart was well founded, for Krom'gar's wrath was predictable. She returned to Cliffwalker Post after the Overlord has made his way there, to find Masha dead by his hands. Then Krom'gar forces Chief Cliffwalker to witness the destruction of the Druidic grove, and Amatzi is given the task to "Learn what it means to be Horde!"

At this point I was in tears and absolutely horrified. I couldn't believe that the Horde could be this corrupt. But then, the biggest shock of all occurred and all was redeemed.

Garrosh appeared and dealt with the corruption and dishonorable behavior of Krom'gar by promptly dropping him off of the cliff. It is only through the mercy of Chieftain Cliffwalker that Amatzi is still with us, for Garrosh's wrath was then turned to Krom'gar's nearest general.

All of the multitudes of quests leading up to this point in which Amatzi has mercilessly slaughtered Night Elves has been redeemed by this one honorable act on the part of Hellscream. I can now truly say that I am For The Horde!

I no longer have any doubts about Garrosh's ability as Warchief. I am, however, concerned that there are forces in the world, whether malicious or not, that wish to undermine the Warchief's will. The doubts in the hearts of the other Horde leaders and the newness and inexperience of young Hellscream are making it quite easy for his word to be less than law, and he must be ever vigilant until he has gained the respect that Thrall had as Warchief.

The 20 Days of World of Warcraft: Day Thirteen

2010-12-17T06:00:00.007-06:00

Which faction are you “for”?

This is actually the hardest question for me to answer, especially now. If you had asked me prior to The Shattering I would have easily said that I'm For The Horde, even though my mains are Alliance. Now, I'm not so sure. I need to play out the rest of the Horde story now to really come to a conclusion.

Things are in a lot of turmoil, and it really feels as though Garrosh and Sylvanas have really lost it. I've all but stopped questing on my Troll Druid, mostly because I really don't like killing Night Elves.

We find out in the Worgen starting area that Sylvanas is still producing and using The Plague. No more blaming it on Putress. I'm horrified, but morbidly curious, and I just don't know how to feel.

I keep trying to explain it away by saying to myself, "How would you feel if you'd been through all that Sylvanas has?" I still have a glimmer of hope that her humanity still exists in some small way, else what was all of that nonsense with the "Lament of the Highborne?" Maybe it's time she had a sit down with her sisters. Maybe that would do the trick. By the way, where the eff are Alleria and Turalyon anyway?

I'm working my Worgen through Darkshore now and am anxious to get to Ashenvale to see what the quests are like on that side, to see if the Night Elves really deserve the hate the Horde is giving them.

I started a Forsaken. I was brought back to life by a Valkyr. I have to go around and attempt to recruit the undead who were killed at Southshore to join the Forsaken. Big Brother (or should I say sister) says you have a choice to join the Forsaken or not, but really... do you? Is death really a choice? Why are there Valkyr aiding the Forsaken?

I'm not sure if all of this really makes me For The Alliance. There's a kind of romance to playing the villain. Are the Horde the villains of the game once more? I don't really know the answer to that question. Until I do I have no answer to this question.

Note to Blizzard: WTB Neutral Faction.

Cataclysm: My Worgen

2010-12-16T15:34:00.000-06:00

What do you mean this outfit makes me look like a magician? I am a Mage.

What about the hat and cape?

No! I am not going to pull a rabbit out of my hat!

Not so funny now, is it? I dare you to say it again.

Cataclysm: My First Dungeon Run

2010-12-15T15:25:00.001-06:00

Well, I decided to break my rule and run a dungeon on Viva, even though she's not 85 yet. I decided to do regular Blackrock Caverns before I couldn't queue for it on regular anymore, and consequently reached level 84 at the end of the dungeon.

I queued up using the LFD tool, and was grouped with a bunch who were also doing their very first Cataclysm dungeon, so none of us really knew what we were in store for. It was an interesting run, considering we were all rather new to things. We wiped once if I remember correctly, so all in all, not too bad.

The biggest change is mana. Where did they put all my mana? It just slips away so quickly now. I don't quite have to drink after every pull, but usually after every 2 or 3 pulls, depending on the amount of damage the mobs are doing. Its definitely interesting to heal now.

No more just spamming Rejuvenation and throwing the occasional Regrowth and Swiftmend. I'm not really exactly sure what I should be doing, but I don't know if keeping Rejuv up is really a good thing, as it seems to be consuming a lot of mana.

I'm actually thinking about going back to my Priest, just to see how the dungeon healing is on her. The main reason I want to try this, is just to get a real feel for it. I haven't been playing a Druid for very long. I don't know all the tricks and tools I should probably know. I know all that stuff on my Priest. I'm scared though, because I keep hearing that Priests are suffering worse than other healing classes from the mana crunch.

I just think I'd be better able to cope with the change on my priest. Back when mana mattered, back during BC, I prided myself on managing my mana well. Can I cope with the changes now?

I don't know all the answers to these questions, but I guess I'll find out. I think I'll just keep questing on my Druid for now, though.

On a somewhat related note, one of my friends who almost solely plays DPS classes/specs said this to me: "They made it so it's much harder to play a tank/healer, and much easier to play as DPS."

I don't know if I necessarily agree with him. What do you think?

Cataclys-meme

2010-12-14T06:00:00.000-06:00

Janyaa at Muradin Musings has posted a special Cataclysm Meme, and I could not resist.

1. Disk or Download?

Errm... It's complicated. Technically download. Basically I changed the settings in my WTF files in advance to allow Cata to download via the launcher, then it was just a matter of getting the CD key.

2. Did you experience any difficulties? IE: Login servers crashing, late delivery, etc?

No issues whatsoever, unless you count the multitudes of people milling about ruining my immersion, but we all knew that was going to happen.

3. What are you doing first? IE: Speed leveling to 85, rolling a new race, completely avoiding the new content, etc?

I am experiencing the new high level content, slowly and methodically going through every zone, avoiding dungeons, and occasionally taking a break by messing around on a Worgen and Goblin. In other words, rather than speed leveling, I am slowly leveling to 85.

4. Mt. Hyjal or Vash'jir?

Mount Hyjal, hands down. I did both of these zones consecutively, but I started in Mount Hyjal. Both zones are beautiful and the quests are well-constructed, but I'd say that Hyjal is a little bit easier to cope with just because it is not underwater.

5. Worgen or Goblin?

Both!

6. Questing, dungeons or both?

Questing and avoiding dungeons until 85. I know this may not be the optimal way to do things, but its the way I'm doing it.

7. What was the first piece of gear you replaced and with what?

The very first thing I replaced was my Mag'hari Chieftain's Staff with a Repurposed Twilight Stave. I know it is perhaps a side-grade rather than an upgrade, but I was beyond ready to change gear.

8. Did you take any time off from work or school?

I'm currently unemployed, so the short answer is no. I have continued working towards finding work even as I play, and I have a few promising leads. Cross your fingers for me.

9. Will you be keeping the same spec and main, or changing to a different toon?

I had decided already that my main would be my Druid in Cata, and so it is. I've been leveling Boomkin, and have yet to try out healing as I haven't been in any dungeons yet.

10. What's been your favorite aspect of Cataclysm so far?

The story has been the best thing. It's been so easy to get completely into the story and forget about everything else. All of the stress about hurrying up and leveling, the concern about keeping up on professions has gone right out the window in favor of just enjoying the game solo for what it is.

Shared Topic: Real Life Intruding on Game Life

2010-12-13T06:00:00.001-06:00

This week's Blog Azeroth Shared Topic is brought to us by DragonRay at Azerothian Life.

Do you think your real life job affects how you see people/situations in game and do you use the same methods in game you would use at work to diffuse situations? For example are you the type to just boot people/leave guilds because this is a game or would you try and sort it out considering you wouldn't just fire someone/quit your job if someone/or situation was being nasty?
The post on this, as well as other takes on the question can be found here.

To me, the title of the topic and the actual question could be two completely different things.

The Question

I think the actual question here really boils down to how a person views him/herself. We each put forth different personalities and different faces for every situation we are in. We may have a different mask for work, than the one we show to our family, than how we act when we are alone. All are facets of our one true self, but some are closer to the reality than others.

To me, this question almost seems foreign to me (or backwards). My work self is definitely not the true me. I feel much more at home and willing to be myself in game than I do at my workplace (or anywhere else out in public). The methods I use at work to diffuse situations are more likely to be adapted from things I have seen or done in game or that have worked in family or personal situations, than for my work behavior to migrate home. My true identity lies closer to the gamer than to the employee.

In the true sense of myself, I am a polite, friendly, honest, but passionate and stubborn person. This is projected into everything I do, whether it be work, the game, or this blog. I would not "just leave a guild" because one person pissed me off. The time I have spent guild hopping, I have agonized over each decision. Sometimes I don't communicate my concerns to guild leadership or others, and then perhaps it appears that I am "just quitting." The reality is far from the truth.

I do think that when it comes to guild management that some of the lessons of corporate society can be beneficial. The use of applications and interviews is one of these, but they are only useful up to a certain point. The bottom line, the game is just that, a game. You are not paying people a salary to show up on time and prepared for raids, they have to want to do that, either as a benefit to the group or for themselves. For that reason, the work analogy simply breaks down at a point, and it should. Afterall, who wants to come home from work just to go to work for their guild?

The Title

Real Life intruding on Game Life.

What does that phrase even mean?

Do these terms even mean something different?

Sometimes I think that I am living on some other planet apart from what "normal" people experience. Maybe it's because I am a shy introvert. Maybe it is something else, some misfire in my brain that makes things slightly skewed.

Personally, I don't find a lot of difference between Real Life and Game Life. There are jerks in both parts of my life that rub me the wrong way. There are friends in both parts of my life that make things wonderful. Is one better than the other? Is Game Life less real than Real Life? Obviously it is to the extent that it is virtual, but the connections we make with other people, the emotions we feel, the joys and the disappointments... Are these less real than Real Life experiences of the same things?

I could keep digging, because the feeling I get from other people I speak to about this, is that I am mentally disturbed to be so entrenched in a game to feel this way. I'm not talking about interactions with NPCs though, I'm talking about the other players in the game, the connections we make with them. This, to me, is the heartbeat of the MMO genre, and I think it is beautiful.

I've felt this way since I stepped into my very first BBS. The internet, since it's inception, has been breaking the barriers of physicality. Sometimes the connections we feel for people in this virtual world seem far more real, simply because we don't have to worry about all of the physical signals we might get by being truly with that person. We can dig deeper, see more clearly, learn more, by pushing past the judgements the world places upon appearance.

The danger of these connections is dishonesty, and it is out there. I'm one of those that is willing to brave this possible disaster than limit myself to my own corner of "Real Life" and miss out on so much more of the world.

In the end, my Real Life intrudes upon my Game Life, and my Game Life intrudes upon my Real Life. Both, to me, are really just my Life.

Are you with me, or am I just insane?

Cataclysm: More Silly NPCs in Vashj'ir

2010-12-12T09:56:00.000-06:00

I've finally moved on to Deepholm, but I bumped into an NPC towards the back end of leveling through Vashj'ir that just desperately needed sharing.

Humphrey Digsong can be found in the Abyssal Depths outside of Darkbreak Cove, clinging desperately to a large shell on the sea floor. The brothers Digsong and their buoyancy issue has to be the most hilarious thing I've seen in the new expansion yet. If you didn't bother to read the optional text, you should. I was literally laughing hysterically for several minutes. Although he only gives quests to Alliance, he will tell his story to either faction. I sure hope we bump into his brother Oskar again.

Cataclysm: Scariest Thing in Vashj'ir

2010-12-11T06:00:00.002-06:00

I was just swimming around, going to hunt some crabs or some other menial task, for we survivors have to eat something. All of a sudden I saw some movement out of the corner of my eye. As I approached I realized it was some sort of giant sea creature. Then its eyes turned upon me, and I was struck with momentary terror. I thought I'd accidentally bumped into an Old God. I actually swam away as quickly as I could. I was frightened out of my mind.

Later, the shamans of the Earthen Ring told me that inside this creature was where the naga had taken our captured friends. It turns out Nespirah is no C'thun, even if her eyes look like his. The eyes still creep me out, but I guess she's just Old, not a God, right?

Cataclysm: About Ambivalence

2010-12-10T11:16:00.000-06:00

Traxy over at I Like Pancakes wrote an interesting post about feeling ambivalent about the game right now. I have to say, I can understand where he's coming from.

With Cataclysm's initial release, my bestfriend and gaming partner plowed ahead of me, doing the whole playing right at midnight and staying up for 36 hours or something, rushing to get higher level. He's 85 now. He's told me that he felt rushed through some of the questing where he would have liked to see the lore. He's been running 5-mans with his guild and working to get geared up, and eventually he'll go back and see all of the story on one of his alts.

With him shooting out ahead of me, I was kind of left at a loss of where to begin with Cataclysm. Being guildless, I don't really have the urge to rush ahead and get raid ready right away. After a lot of thought, I decided I would level up my main first, but that I would do it slowly, my way, taking in all of the story and enjoying it.

Boy, am I enjoying it. I think it helped that I went to Mount Hyjal first. The lore there is just incredible.

Traxy made mention of a lot of quests being the kill X number of things, or gather X number of things, and that's true. There are still a lot of those kinds of quests out there, but the difference I'm finding is that if you read the quest text, there are good reasons for killing things or gathering things. Interspersed amongst these quests are the meat and potatoes of the storyline. I find the story to be far more seamless than it once was and its very easy to get immersed in it.

It's kind of funny to me, the choices I've made in playing since Cataclysm launch. In the past I've tried very hard to keep all of my professions at about the same level as the zone I'm in, taking them all up gradually at the same time. I haven't thought more than once about my cooking or fishing skill. I want to skill them up, but the pull of the story is too great. I keep thinking I should go back to Stormwind and work on it, but then I get some amazing mission to complete and I can't be bothered. I've been back to Stormwind twice since I first stepped into the newest zones. Once on the insistence of my partner, and once in between Mount Hyjal and Vashj'ir.

As amazing as the story has been, I have my concerns about re-playability. As Windsoar at Jaded Alt has said in her post about Vashj'ir, the story line is very linear. There's not much option to not do a quest that is distasteful to you and still continue with the chains that are needed to complete a zone. Once you've done a zone, you have most likely seen all of it. I guess we've said goodbye to those random hidden quests that are so awesome to just stumble across (I'm looking at you, quest to get the Sprite Darter Hatchling).

I haven't set foot in any dungeons yet. I'm kind of afraid to. I don't want the story to be broken up by a random dungeon. For the same reason, I haven't started Archaeology yet. It looks awesome, but I'm terrified that its going to engross me. All I'm going to want to do is go to dig sites and uncover ancient ruins and fossils. So I'm saving the dungeons and the Archaeology for after I'm 85 and have completed all the zones that I wanted to.

That's my biggest regret from Wrath, I never did quest much in Icecrown. On all of my toons I would hit 80 long before making it out there, and then would jump right into the gear-up to raiding. I could have taken the time out and done it, but by the time I realized that I even cared about it, well, it was going to be too difficult to get back into the swing of the lore. I'm not making that mistake in this expansion. Every zone will be completed by at least one toon.

I have made a Worgen and a couple Goblins that I haven't even gotten out of the starting zones with yet. I still have my alts in the back of my mind. They creep into my thoughts when I'm not playing, because when I am playing I can't be bothered to do anything else but see what happens next.

I almost feel as though the Shattering patch came out too late, but the expansion itself came out too early. I could have used a little more time on my alts. I was having a blast leveling slowly through the re-vamped zones. Now, although my focus is on 80-85, I still feel greatly conflicted. Will I remember where my alts left off once I'm done with the high level stuff? Will I end up starting all over with a new stable of alts? Time will tell.

Between the desire to keep up with my friend, the desire to see all of the story, and the desire to see an alt through the newly re-vamped world, I was feeling ambivalent too. I actually fluctuated for a while considering not even purchasing Cata right away (mostly due to money constraints).

On the urging of my bestfriend, I realized that I wouldn't be happy if I didn't keep up with the story. I've been pretty close to spoiler free this whole time. I have no idea what is in store for me in Deepholm or Uldum and beyond. Heck, I have no idea where I'm headed even in Vashj'ir, and that's the way I like it. If I'd waited to get Cata, I think I probably would have ended up seeing or learning about things that I really wanted to see first hand.

Thank you, Spellpower, for pushing me in this direction, and for getting me the expansion. I've had more fun so far than I can even put into words, and there's still so much more to do and see.

Ultimately, my major goal for the expansion for now, is to get Loremaster on both a new Alliance and a new Horde toon. So far, I haven't been making any progress towards that, but that's ok. If my judgment is correct, I have approximately 2 years to get it all done, and without worrying about raiding it shouldn't be an issue.

Cataclysm: What's Going On?

2010-12-09T21:01:00.000-06:00

Well, Viva is currently level 82 and making her way through Vashj'ir.

She doesn't actually ride the seahorse often, because, well, she's a druid. OMG! I get to use my water form! SQUEE! While I'm not sure I'll ever get completely comfortable with the 3D environment that is underwater, I am finding it absolutely beautiful. Every time I pop out of one of the underwater caves I'm stunned all over again at the beauty of the ocean.

Best NPC so far? Well I'm torn between Budd and The Great Sambino. While Budd might be completely insane and obsessed with shinies, I think Sam wins this one. Only a goblin shaman would do such strange things to his elemental companion.

Cataclysm: On Gear Replacement

2010-12-08T10:03:00.000-06:00

I have only just reached level 82 on my Boomkin/Resto druid, but I've already replaced the majority of my Wrath epics. Granted they weren't super-awesome Item Level 277s, but 251 isn't that far off. Maybe some of these choices were not the best, but gosh darn it, I was ready for a change. The biggest difference has been losing gems and enchants, but I've kind of decided to disregard that stuff for the time being. Afterall, gems and enchants can always be re-applied at level cap.

Let's take a look at an example, my pants. I'm currently wearing Treegrip Pants (quest reward from the quest I posted about yesterday), which replaced my T10 Lasherweave Legplates. Looking purely at stats, the Treegrip Pants are a definite upgrade, but when you factor in the loss of gems and spellthread, not to mention tier bonuses and socket bonuses, it really isn't an upgrade at all.

The thing for me is that now is about immersion, and I lose some of it if I don't get new gear from quest rewards. I know that's pretty illogical on my part, but one thing I've learned over the years of playing the game, you gotta play the way you want to. Viva is fighting on the front lines of the battle to save Azeroth, and she should look the part. The spiffy armor she is now sporting feels very martial for me. She finally looks like a soldier to me.

Her next stop is going to be Vashj'ir, so who knows how she's going to be feeling about the leather once she's in the water. More to come.

P.S. Still WTB an option to hide Shoulders!

P.P.S. PANTS! (For those of you in the know.)

Cataclysm 80-85: Quest of the Day - Mount Hyjal

2010-12-07T18:54:00.000-06:00

Well, the race to 85 is on, and I spent my day leveling Viva through Mount Hyjal.

I have to say, my favorite quest today was The Bears Up There.

I mean, even Keeper Taldros says the plan cannot fail, so it must be fool proof. Nevermind that I'm climbing a tree to grab a baby bear that is terrified because it's home is on fire. Nevermind that I'm supposed to toss them GENTLY on to the target to get them to safety. Nevermind that the Keeper had to momentarily "pacify" Momma and Papa bear.

Wha? Huh?

2010-12-06T11:55:00.001-06:00

Yeah, you may have noticed I took my Blog Azeroth post down. They switched the thingies on me. So that post will be re-posted next week.

The big news around the block is Cataclysm. Duh.

Or, if you're a precious little teeny-bopper that likes to read crap on webcam and then blow kisses, Ca-Tackle-ism (found via The Instance). If you guys missed that little bit of Youtube drama, well, I don't think there's any getting it back.

Basically it was a beautiful teenage girl reading a blurb from the Wowiki site about what Cataclysm is, in which she speaks as though she reads at a 2nd grade level or poorer, and mis-pronounces Cataclysm. She posted it, took it down, reposted it with a little blurb about how she mis-pronounced Cataclysm, then took it down again.

What an idiot. Seriously. If you are going to do little "news" blurbs on Youtube, you should at least be able to complete a sentence so that it sounds natural instead of pausing every other word. I could forgive the bit about mis-pronouncing Cataclysm, but the whole thing was trash. The only thing that could redeem her at this point is if she came out with something saying that she does these kinds of videos as a joke to mock bimbos.

I'll be posting a real post later (read tomorrow) about my real thoughts on Cataclysm.

The 20 Days of World of Warcraft: Day Twelve

2010-12-05T06:00:00.000-06:00

Suggest any idea for Blizzard that they could put in the game.

So many ideas...

Well, let me narrow it down to just one. One simple request that I don't think should be too difficult, one easy little thing that almost every other MMO has, one area where Blizzard has fallen atrociously behind.

OMG! WTB MOAR AND BETTER CHARACTER CUSTOMIZATION!!!111WTFBBQ!!!!1111

I don't normally resort to all caps/leetspeak, but this one kinda deserves it. I feel like many of us have been begging for this forever, and they just don't listen.

Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that the newer races (Draenei, Blood Elf, Goblin, and Worgen) get very nice updated models and a few more choices in faces and hairstyles, but I want more. The appearance of the older races is abysmally out of date and very limited in choices. When games like EQ2 and LOTRO can afford to include fairly detailed choices in faces, skin tones, eye color and hair styles, why the heck can't Blizzard do the same thing in WoW? I thought Blizzard was the king of MMOs?

It's not just about player character model appearance though, it's also about gear customization. The idea of the overcloak was a step in the right direction, but then they went back on that promise. Based on the Blue posts in the overcloak thread linked above, it appears that Blizzard just doesn't like the idea of customization. It's disheartening to know that no matter how many posts, Blizzard just doesn't listen to those of us who really care what our toons look like. I'd settle with even just the addition of being able to hide more pieces then just helm/cloak (see shoulders, gloves, belts).

Blizzard representatives will tell you that the reason they don't implement these things is because they'd rather focus on producing a good game. I'm ok with that. I'm beyond happy with the game. This is why I still play. What I don't understand is why we can't have both. Maybe those of us that actually care about what our toons look like are the minority, but when other games have moved so far beyond the simple choices Blizzard has implemented, why can't Blizzard get with the times?

The 20 Days of World of Warcraft: Day Eleven

2010-12-04T17:04:00.000-06:00

Ama watches on as Jezz practices her torch tossing

Favorite WoW Holiday

Warm thoughts for a cold and snowy weekend (at least where I am). My favorite WoW Holiday is the Midsummer Fire Festival. There are a couple of reasons for this. The biggest is that it reminds me of one of the people I met in game that has most influenced my life, Jezzabell. She was a my best friend and my light when I was going through a very dark time in my life, and I am ever thankful for her companionship. We spent a lot of the in-game holidays together, but the Fire Festival is the one that stands out most to me. We spent it together, just the two of us, running around Azeroth, honoring the Alliance flames and dousing the Horde. We attempted to kill Ahune every day we could, but somehow each time we failed (this was the first year he was introduced, and we were not prepared).

The best things about the Fire Festival?

Toasted Smorcs - I suppose these are rather caster specific, but who can resist smorcs?!

Torch Tossing - There's nothing more fun than juggling fire!

Brazier of the Dancing Flames - What can I say about this awesome prize? If you thought the Piccolo of the Flaming Fire was awesome, just wait til you see this! No one can resist dancing with a hot Draenei!

Searing Scorchling and Frigid Frostling - Non-combat pets ftw! I only wish the two would fight when both are out in the same area.

The Frostscythe of Lord Ahune - New this last season, the scythe is perfect for us Death fans. Who doesn't want to wield a scythe?

The Midsummer Reveler set - Hot! Hot! Hot! (Ama wears this set above in the blog banner).

Crown of the Fire Festival - Add this to your Midsummer Reveler set and you're even hotter!

This is by no means a guide, just my list of favorites about the holiday (which ended up being just about everything). If you're looking for a guide, Wowhead has you covered.

P.S. I can't wait til the Ice Stone has melted... again.

The 20 Days of World of Warcraft: Day Ten

2010-12-04T06:00:00.002-06:00

If a level 3 called “yurmom” asks you for gold, you say/do?

I love this question! I have actually answered gold beggars with tirades about how back when I started my first toon on Cairne, the server was brand new, only open to rerolls. Nobody had gold to give anyone else. We all quested and used the auction house and made our way through it. There wasn't anyone to beg from. I'm like the crazy old woman talking about trudging to school 10 miles in the snow uphill both ways. They say, "Plz! Just 1g." I keep ranting until they put me on /ignore.

The 20 Days of World of Warcraft: Day Nine

2010-12-03T06:00:00.001-06:00

Which race/class combination are you most like in RL?

As far as race goes, this is an easy one. I'm most like a dwarf. I'm short, "big boned," friendly, but no-nonsense, and stubborn as a mule.

The choice of class is much more of a challenge. In RL there's no way I would be killing anyone or anything regardless of how deserving, unless I was put in immediate danger. Even then I'm not sure I trust my fight/flight instinct. This fact kind of makes me think none of the class choices would really suit me.

I think maybe Shaman or Druid is the class I would most like to be, deeply spiritual and in touch with nature, able to heal, but also able to fight. I think the Mage is more what I truly resemble. I'm rather bookish and intelligent. I love reading and learning. I'm a bit overly cautious to ever try playing with fire or the arcane though. In ways, I think I'm a bit Rogue-ish in that I like to hide in the shadows and watch the world go by. I'm incredibly shy. I've never stolen a thing in my life, though.

In short, I'm a Dwarven Magshadrugue.

Stormshield: Tha Beginnin'

2010-12-02T06:00:00.009-06:00

I been piratin' off o' tha Borean Tundra pretty much fer a few years. I know, it ain't quite right stealin' from tha people goin' ta battle tha Lich King, but a gal's got ta make a livin'. Things got real quiet once Arthas be sent ta Davy Jones' locker. Once tha bulk o' tha army be back ta where they come from, both Horde an' Alliance, there weren't much ta do.

I be takin' a break from tha old heave ho, an' be spendin' mah days fishin'. I made up a kinship with tha walrus people, whadaya call 'em? Kalu'ak? They taught meh some o' their fishin' tricks an' I was obliged not ta hornswaggle 'em when I had goods ta trade. They even gave meh a li'l 'ol penguin they found on some iceberg somewheres as a friendship gift er somethin'. They had some right good herb they smoked in their pipes too. I wish that stuff grew everywhere... Anyways, what were I sayin'?

Oh yah, meh an' Bucko (that's what I call tha penguin) be relaxin' an' fishin' an' havin' a blast, but things be real quiet, almost too quiet. Tha Kvaldir wasn't even raidin' no more. An' then tha waves come. I been a freebooter fer as long as I can remember and I ain't never seen no waves like these. There be waves an' waterspouts an' then there be tha water spirits too.

Bein' a Storm Caller mehself, like meh mother before meh and her mother an' on down tha line, I done meh best ta calm tha spirits, but they wasn't happy and wasn't nothin' I could do. Tha waves was bigger'n Ironforge mountain itself, an' they be poundin' tha ship ta smithereens, an' I thought fer sure I be ready to feed tha fish. I be goin' down with meh ship, but Bucko didn't have ta go with meh. I kept tryin' ta shoo him away, but tha bilge-suckin' fool wouldna leave meh.

Last thing I remember be tha mast fallin' an' I be half runnin' an' half swimmin', Bucko at meh side, then somethin' hit meh in tha head an' tha lights went out. Next thing I know I be surrounded by these li'l runts with all these gadgets an' doodads an' I dunno whatall and meh head on fire with tha pain.

That be how I met Fangle. He be tellin' meh ta sit still fer ta heal meh up. How's a gal supposed ta sit still when she been through all that? I didn'a know where I was er who tha li'l buggers was, nor what had happened, and I guess I still don't.

These li'l guys be sayin' we just fell from tha sky, but that can't be true, can it? Some way Bucko made it here with meh, an' Light's Truth that be a miracle, sure an' true. Light knows how I got here, but I be thankful he be here too.

One thing I do know, that Fangle be a darn good healer. He done fixed Bucko an' meh up right good. Tha only trouble be he's takin' a likin' to meh, an' goes with me everywhere. It ain't all bad, but I ain't rightly sure he knows what he be gettin' himself into. I ain't exactly an angel from heaven. I be happy ta have tha company though, as Bucko don't say much. Har Har Har!

Who's That Alt: Introductions

2010-12-01T08:00:00.001-06:00

It's no shock that since The Shattering I have been playing new alts. Here's what I've been up to:

Wangle Quickeye: Private Eye: SI:7 operative in training

Wangle went directly to Westfall after reaching level 10 in Dun Morogh, and has assisted Horatio Laine with the investigation of the murders occurring there. She is currently stationed in Lakeshire, Red Ridge.

Kizzey Stormshield: Storm Caller: Pirate Wench

Kizzey apparently was swept off of her ship when the Cataclysm hit. She awoke in Dun Morogh surrounded by gnomes. She has since made friends with a gnome priest (of all things) named Fangle.

Amatzi Drumfury: Dances with Cats: Voodoo Lady

Amatzi is the highest level of any Horde toons that I've leveled. At level 24 she is currently in Ashenvale assisting with the battle against the elves. As a Druid she is not very happy about this situation, but the Orcs have been fighting this battle for a long time, they must be right. Right?