Were-bear-coons... srsly?

So... I guess the little guys grew on me as I did the opening quests, as I’m now a proud member of the Frenzyheart faction in Sholozar Basin (big, big thanks to Tyra!). I still think they look pretty dumb, but I came to the inevitable realization that it would be in my best interest to start with the little puppy-men and then change over to the Oracles later on. On the bright side, there are far fewer people on the side of the furballs, so the village is not very crowded.

You see, I still don’t have my epic flying skill yet. I’m saving like crazy, using an outdated-but-still-working add on called NazScrooge to keep myself from spending too much gold on useless/fun things. It’s helped me get my cold-weather flying and now I hope it can start helping me get together the 5000 Gold I’m going to need. I’m not even worried about buying an epic flying mount, yet, just the training. 5000 Gold seems impossible to reach, although not using any of the ore I pick up (my poor engineering skills are being unused!) and just selling it helps heaps. We’ll see where the Saronite market goes, as it’s dropped in price since the beginning of Lich King (which makes sense, even if it means I have to work that much harder… dumb economy).

Because I don’t have my epic flying skill, I realized that the super-awesome, totally-cool green proto-drake that you can get from the Oracles probably wouldn’t even drop for me. And while vanity pets are cute and fun, I decided rather quickly that going Frenzyhearts first made more sense. I could work with them to get my reputation to exalted, make some easy gold from their dailies, and get the achievement. Then, only after I had finally saved up enough gold and gotten my fast flying, I will switch to the (rather creepy, now that I’ve seen them up close… though their idle animation is kinda cute) Oracles to hope that my egg contains the flying mount I’ve always wished for. Ha. We’ll see how that goes. I think I’m only lucky in this game when it comes to rolling for loot. Random drops? Heck no. L

Of course, if I ever get around to going back to Outland with extra time on my hands, I’ll gather up all the materials needed to create the engineering mounts which might save me a bit of gold (even if it means farming Consortium rep for the damn seaforium recipe). Maybe not. I don’t know anymore to be honest. As much as I love my blue windrider, the more I look at the model, the less attractive I find it. The neck and head look… strange. Also, I’m getting jealous of the other engineers I see in Northrend with their clanky, noisy roflcopters. Regardless, if I’m lucky, I’ll get a super-sweet looking proto-drake from my egg after I switch over to the Big-tongues. Cross your fingers for me.

Elders of the Horde and Alliance

Today I stayed home instead of going to work again thanks to mother nature (ice, ice, go away, I need to work instead of play), but I managed to ding 78 and complete several more achievements, mostly for the Lunar Festival. I decided shortly after getting to level 78 that I'd run back to the old world and attempt to find a few more Elders, especially since I already needed to run back for training. I started by going to Thunder Bluff through the Dalaran portal, since I never go there normally, then to Orgrimmar to finish up Elders of the Horde. I decided to take care of the Elders of the Alliance as well, since it would be faster than the other Elder achievements.

I started by teleporting to Moonglade to purchase the ever so pretty green dress you see in the photo for the Lunar Festival Finery achievement... and just because I like fun, RP clothing. I also used the other 5 coins I had to get a few engineering recipes for rockets. Unfortunately you can't use your invitation to get to the cities of the opposite faction (yeah, I tried), so I ran out through the Timbermaw hold all the way to Auberdine in Darkshore, picking up any Elders I saw on the way. Even wearing the dress and only items that had no durability on them to lose should I die, the Auberdine Sentinels were no issue. I ignored them and jumped on the boat to Stormwind...

Stormwind was a fast run from the dock to the Park for the Elder there. I managed to get through the whole ordeal without dieing until I ran for the Tram. I managed to run into some level 80 guard of some sort and he one-shot me since I had no life left from the other guards smacking me. After a long run from the Logging Camp back to the city, I made it on the tram unscathed. I even ran across some other Hordies on their way to Ironforge.

Ironforge was a fast run from the Tram, through the Hall of Explorers, to the Elder in the Mystic area, then back to the Tram. I managed all that without dieing (ha! Those little dwarves had no chance keeping up with me on my Raptor). Back to the Tram, through the human city to the dock, back to Auberdine... and then wait for the darn boat to Teldrassil... which I fell off of as we neared the dock. Fatigue set in, but I managed to swim out of it fast enough to climb up onto shore at the base of the huge tree. Mount up and run, straight to the cenarion circle's area of the city to the Elder stationed there... and DING I have the achievement. Naturally I get killed just then by two level 80 members of the Cenarion Circle and find my spirit at Dolanaar. I run back to the city only to get killed again, so I took the rez sickness to grab the Elder in the little town and mount up to explore the area for the achievement.

I'm still working on getting to level 80, but this was a fun way to spend an hour, running more or less unseen through enemy territory. I'm also starting to seriously put together a second set of armor for Fury, constantly checking my quest greens that I'm picking up against what I have in the bank for a full set. So far so good, I even have a few blues mixed in as well, all just from questing. We'll just have to see what the guild ends up needing.

Lunar Festival and a Gear Update

So it's been awhile... I've actually had less and less time to play, it seems, although I managed to get on for a bit yesterday evening to begin working on the lunar festival holiday and it's corresponding achievements. Wowhead has an excellent guide to the festival this year. I know for a fact that I'll be unable to get all of the achievements for the meta achievement this year, as I don't think I can get to level 80 by the end of the holiday, and at least one of the elders are only in a level 80 dungeon (Heroic something or other... I'm not sure. It's in the guide at wowhead if you're wondering). I'm currently about 4 bubbles away from level 77, and I know that those last three levels are going to take me what will feel like forever. Maybe I can get some play time in today, thanks to the weather.

Yep, there's ice here in Texas and most of the area's universities have closed, which I often use as a guideline to whether or not I go to work. I'm only a contract laborer right now, after all, and I just don't feel that the risk is equal to the reward at the moment. Plus, all the weathermen are saying tomorrow will be good again.

As for a gear update, I've managed to do a few group quests and ran Drak'Tharon keep for three upgrades. I did the Ursoc, the bear god quest in the Grizzly Hills for a new shield and tanking pants. And there is a quest that rewards a decent tanking ring in Drak'Tharon, although don't expect any other tanking gear to drop from that instance. I would have walked away empty-handed, except for the experience, although it is a pretty cool instance with interesting boss fights. Also, thanks to the level 80 rogue who was kind enough to explain the fights to me as I had never been in DTK before (don't stand in the black shit), and to the wonderful priest healer we had for the run. Tanks should always thank their healers, especially the good ones. :)

Provided the maintenance doesn't get extended again today, I'll do more lunar festival running around and probably quest in Sholozar basin. I really need to find the opening quest line for the oracles as I want my mini-pets. I'm crazy for vanity pets. And mounts. The frenzyheart are interesting, I suppose, but from what I've seen of them so far in Northrend, I'm not really looking to be friends. Were-bear-racoons aren't that cool to me. Maybe later on I'll switch over for the achievement. We'll see.

Percula fangirl

The Craft of War: BLIND from percula on Vimeo.

If you haven't seen Percula's video The Craft of War: Blind, then do so now. You're totally missing out.

Many critics of the video hate the music, and at first I agreed with them, but as I watched again and again (and again), I realized that the music really fit the video perfectly in just about every way. It even made me take a second look at my belf rogue again, although she's not currently one of my two preferred alts. Maybe next month. ;)

Pit Fighting for Fun and Profit!

So, yesterday, I joined a couple of my guildies and took on the Conquest Pit questline in Grizzly Hills, horde-side. That is, once our Holy Pally was able to escape the Heroic instance run of Old Kingdom with what I can only assume was a terribad PuG (Also, big apology to the orc Shammy and Belf DK that waited so very patiently. I'm sorry you weren't able to run the quest with us!).

At any rate, with a level 80 pally healing for us, and a frost mage blasting away, we were able to just tear through the quests super fast and I managed to snag the Handguards of the Sanguine Protector which finally replaced my last piece of my Blessed Battlegear set I had collected from the Scourge invasion event prior to Wrath's release. I'll keep the set, of course, for the memories and the fact that they were my first real epics. :D

I also managed to run over to Venture Bay in southwestern Grizzly Hills while it was in Horde control and purchase my new Thick Goblin Back Protector along with a shiny new Flexweave Underlay on it for those times when you just need to float as a warrior. It replaces my very old, very outdatedAmbusher's Cloak of Defense. All in all, not a shabby night for me. :)

Also, I'm trying out Wowhead's tooltip system with this, so I hope it works.

In the Spirit of the New Year

Since part of my New Year's resolution is to get more organized and more in control of my life, I've decided to bring that mindset to my digital life as well and start narrowing my focus when it comes to my alts. While it's fun to have lots of options, I'll never get anything done with any of them if I keep jumping around. So... which to choose? I have one of every class (including a Death Knight), and several in some classes, like Hunter and Druid.

My Warrior will be my main, so it's up to choosing my alts. I've decided to choose two in order to fully utilize the Armory's set up with one Main and two secondary toons on your drop-down menu. If I ever feel that one is getting stale, I'll switch to the other, or drop it from my list in favor of one I haven't played in awhile. The choice is a difficult one...

* I love my Hunters. Having pets with you  means you're never traveling alone, and they tank for you, especially my trusty Gorilla, Earthshaker (Hooray for thunderstomp + Volley!!). Ranged DPS is fun and a very different playstyle from my usual Prot. Warrior.

* I love my Druids. Shapeshifting is just cool, hands down. I enjoy that they can fill every role and flexibility is a nice trait to have, especially on an alt.

* I like my Rogues. Stealth. Best part about being a rogue. I love sneaking around, picking locks, and big numbers from crits. The main drawback for me is their squishyness when it comes to armor. I often forget that I'm not wearing plate and die more than I'd like.

* I like my Warlock. Many of the benefits from the hunter apply to my Warlock: Pets, ranged dps... but I haven't spent much time with her lately, and I've noticed that I burn out faster since it is usually: Voidwalker, DoTs, wand it down. I might throw in a shadow bolt or two, but not often. So I burn out on this frequently, thought as an alt, that isn't a big issue.

* I like my Death Knight. Really, what's NOT to like about the DKs. Except that they are everywhere. And they've gotten a bit of a bad reputation for being Death Tards. Which is unfortunate. It also means that I'm probably shelving him for now.

* I like my Shaman. I haven't explored all there is to know about the Shaman class, yet. I created one for BRK's Run for Ezra some time ago and leveled it to 18 or so. He's waiting for me to continue, and I'm tempted. Ghost Wolf form at level 20 sounds awesome, and they are also hybrids, though less flexible than Druids, I think.

* I like my Priest... sort of. My mistake, I think, was trying to level Discipline (pre 3.0, when there was wand specialization at the top of the talents). Everyone is pretty unanimous when it comes to leveling a Priest: go Shadow. I got pretty burned out and turned her into a bank alt. Now I actually NEED to level her, as she has Enchanting as a profession, which has level caps build in.

* I have a Mage and a Paladin... but I haven't really focused on them at all. Which could be good or bad: If I stick to one of them and actually get them past their starting areas to around level 30, it may be a totally new experience for me, or... I could get really bored. They are like wild cards, and I'm not sure I want to play them yet.

Normally, I would go with the easy way out and just choose the two highest leveled characters to push to 80 (my Death Knight and a Hunter). But Death Knights are so popular right now... and my Hunter is a special case. I learned how to play WoW from the Hunter's perspective... which means I was a huntard. :p It also means that my level 53 Hunter is in really bad shape, with terrible gear leftover from around level 35 and 40. Still, thanks to a free server transfer (thank you Blizzard!), I can start with a clean slate. I think my first choice will be my very first toon that I leveled: Poloma. Yep, her gear is awful, and yep, she is going to take tons of work, but she holds a special place in my heart and it's time to level her up. Get ready for Outland, baby!

The second toon will probably need to be my Priest, at least till I get her to level 20. While she may just be my banking alt, I really need her to have a higher level of Enchating to disenchant all the stuff I get on my main. Once she's set again, I'll switch her out for another toon... maybe my Druid. :D

How do you deal with alts? I'm probably really overcomplicating this whole thing...

And so it begins...

As I get ever nearer to level 80, I realize that I'd like to begin documenting some of my Warcraft experiences. My main, Yrovi, is a female Forsaken warrior, currently Protection spec., and makes her home on the Gul'dan (US) server. I have various alts that I play (far too many, to be honest) most of them also on Gul'dan, but a couple that I visit are on other servers. I'll eventually narrow my attention to just a small handful and cover them here.

I enjoy a varied approach to WoW, just because playing one toon for me gets very old after awhile. Whenever I start thinking that my main is getting stale or boring, I switch over to an alt and play something different. Keeps things interesting. It also keeps me from leveling as fast as I'd like, but I feel like the trade-off is worth it. Seriously, what good is powerleveling to the cap only to hate the character when you get there?

So, here's to a new beginning, a new year, and a new hobby.

... Provided it doesn't get stale. ;-)