Blue Poster on Penalties, or "Understanding of Your Rights as a Player"

Blue poster Nevalistis wrote a very good post about player rights, Blizzard on player infractions, and basically pwning whiners.

Paraphrase:

Players: WHINE WHINE YOU DON'T DO ANYTHING ABOUT JERKS!!
Nev: If you don't report them, that's true.
Players: WHINE WHINE YOU DON'T CARE ABOUT US, YOU ONLY LIKE MONEY!
Nev: Then why do we spend so much to employ GMs?


Know your in-game rights.

Outfit of the Month, or "Dress Right, Cook Well"

Winter Veil 2010, or "Srs Post for Srs Holiday"

Ironforge/Orgrimmar
a short list of supplies

• /kiss a Winter Reveler every hour (found at Inns)
• Buy and learn all 3 holiday recipes from a Smokeywood Pastures vendor.
• Buy a snowball from a Smokeywood Pastures vendor.
• Do the Greench quest chain.
• Do the Metzen quest chain.
• Get attuned to Ogri'la.
• Set aside a Fruitcake and a Holly from doing Metzen.
• Get a hat from dungeon bosses.
• Get clothes from a tailor.
• Get boots from a leatherworker.
• Save all snowflakes.
• Find your local Wondervolt Machine.
• Keep your Winter Veil Disguise Kit.

Dec 25th: Get your presents at the Ironforge/Orgrimmar trees.

For details on how to use these items, see my 2008 post.

Winter Veil Hats, or "Still Available in Northrend"

Winter Veil Bosses
The denizens of the dungeons of Northrend are also getting into the holiday spirit, and some dungeon bosses even wear festive Winter Hats just like Greatfather Winter's. Defeat a Winter Veil boss, and the boss' hat is yours!

Winter Veil bosses of Northrend:
Grand Magus Telestra (The Nexus) - Red Winter Hat
Jedoga Shadowseeker (Ahn'Kahet: The Old Kingdom) - Red Winter Hat
Mage-Lord Urom (The Oculus) - Green Winter Hat

Cataclysm Winter Veil bosses
Deadmines (Heroic) - Admiral Ripsnarl
The Stone Core (Normal + Heroic) - High Priestess Azil
Blackrock Caverns (Normal + Heroic) - Corla, Herald of Twilight
Shadowfang Keep (Heroic) - Lord Godfrey
Grim Batol (Normal + Heroic) - Drahga Shadowburner

(source)

More Winter Veil details this weekend, maybe, I think. I need to do it on 2 characters, and that usually prompts posts.

Anywho, feel free to check out the previous years: 2008, 2007, and Ogri'la tutorial.

Looks like I didn't do 2009. Would make sense, since we'd just moved and there was a blizzard and we were holed up at my brother's house with our cats.

Rainbow Generator, or "I Can Be Really Creepy When I Want To Be"

I looked at MMO Champion on getting home from work today.  I read some comics, scrolled down a bit, saw some new pictures, and went to the kitchen with a maniacal grin on my face until my husband saw me and stopped what he was doing.

"That's creepy," he said, looking alarmed.

Husband's Best Friend turned to glance at me.  "That is creepy."

I clung to a stair railing nearby and leaned over it to grin down at them.  "Did you see MMO Champion today?"

"No," said husband, still alarmed.

But HBF nodded in sudden understanding.  "The rainbow generator."

"Yes," I agreed in a voice that would fit well into an Exorcist movie.

HBF pointed at me.  "You're overreacting.  Am I going to go get nine of them?  Yes.  But you're [with an emphatic jab of his finger in my direction] overreacting."

Squee Mylune, or "Fun Times With Cata"

Husband's Best Friend posted on our forums about a quest that looked like I'd created it.  It's from Mylune, and she definitely says "Squeeeeee!" when you turn it in.

/happy

In other news, there doesn't seem to be a lot of fighting on my server while folks quest.  Husband had some trouble with a rogue at one point, and there's been a few 85's coming back to gank (a guildmate set his 85 up in the area to even things out just before I got into the zone), but for the most part things are peaceful.  Alliance and Horde seem to be focused more on leveling, and starting a fight means retaliation when you want to get back to questing.

My brother admitted that he thinks he accidentally ganked some Alliance while on his warlock.  His questing technique is Tab+Curse, and he doesn't look too closely at what he attacks.  Especially since the underwater zone makes him a bit woozy.

For myself, I've been killed once, but I rezzed and kept questing and no one bothered me again.  And I was attacked once as retaliation for a guy in my quest group who started (he said "continued") a fight with a druid -- the same druid later emoted "truce" at me and I emoted "pet" at him (he was in kitty form).

So, all in all, it's been pretty friendly on Zuluhed.  I imagine that once people hit 85, more will come back to starting zones to grief levelers, but for now it's really quite pleasant.

Outfit of the Month, or "Cataclysm or Not, I Like the Lot"

Level 10 Worgen quest, Top Hat reward.

Embroidered Shirt, no idea how to get it.

No idea how to get Old Spectacles (shown above), but they're awesome-looking.

Jewelcrafting 510 for Rhinestone Sunglasses.  The sparkles on them are animated.

Tailoring cloth sets look like Final Fantasy white/red/black mage outfits.

Super Girly Shirt shown above.

Goblin __ Pants shown above.

Knitted Sandals shown above.

Yes, it's the first day of Cata and I'm posting clothes.  I was looking for a rose for my character's hair, because I saw it on a Gilneas NPC.  Closest is the Valentines rose in your character's teeth that shows in the hair of women and between the teeth of men.

Last Minute Cata, or "Knowing How to Start Saves Time"

To get Azeroth flying, you need to visit a flying trainer anywhere.  Cost is 250g.

You'll want to start your 80s in either Mt Hyjal or Vashj'ir.  I think you can get to either by flying, but you will have portals to either available in Org & Stormwind.  Though you may have to do pre-quests to use the portals.  If so, I don't currently know what they are.

For Orgrimmar, your flight trainer is by the flight master -- take an elevator up in any corner of the Valley of Strength and it'll dump you near the flight master.  Run to him and the trainer is beside him.  Once you have flying, go north across the bridges until you get to the portals in the Valley of Wisdom (the platform is shown on your map and looks like a small grey Fortress of Solitude).

For Stormwind, your flight trainer is also by the flight master.  The portals to Mt Hyjal and Vashj'ir are northwest of Stormwind Keep.

Remember to empty your bags, get your potions and buff food in hand, recheck your talents, repair your gear, make sure you've learned all your skills, and sit on a flying trainer so you can start a new zone with no (okay, less) poking around in confusion once Cata's out.

And remember: rested is better than any other leveling buff.  It quite literally doubles experience gained.  For those of us who have fulltime jobs (woo, money!), rested is a big deal.  If you do nothing else tonight, get yourself to an inn.

Good luck, and have fun everyone!  Europeans who already have Cata, it's cool, we hate you.  Enjoy Blizz loving you more than us today.

Ripping People Off, or "Finding Really Great Deals That You'd Feel Bad About If You Weren't Profiting"

I essentially just ripped a guy off on my Alliance AH today.  I got a Hyacinth Macaw for 3,000g.

On Horde side, it sells for ~20,000g.

In fact, a friend of mine begged a seller once to take a 25,000g Hyacinth Macaw down and let her save the cash to buy it off him.  She couldn't because he'd already agreed to do that for someone else who wasn't going to be in game until the weekend but had the cash on hand.

And I have a macaw for both Bird and Dust, and all my friends have at least one by now, so I don't feel bad about using this one for profit.

:D  Silly seller -- putting a bid-only price of 3k and thinking anyone on the poor half of the server would start a bidding war.

Lawn of the Dead Strat, or "Cute Singing Sunflower!"

I did the final wave of zombies two or three times before I found a great strat on Wowhead.

Early on, keep the plant Sunflowers on cooldown till you have about 3 made. By then you should be dealing with about 3 Zombies. Rocknuts are your friend, build a few to hold them off.

Next is planting Spitters to kill off those 3 Zombies once you have enough Sunpower.

Start planting more Sunflowers, the key to winning is making two full rows of Sunflowers. Balance making those with a full row of Spitters and one row of Freezya's. You can even toss in a row of Rocknuts to be safe. Then try and stockpile Sunpower for Pumpkin Bombs.

4-5 Pumpkin bombs should win the game

My board looked like this:

Sunflower : Sunflower : Spitter : Freeza : Rocknot : Rocknot  :  :
Sunflower : Sunflower : Spitter : Freeza : Rocknot : Rocknot  :  :
Sunflower : Sunflower : Spitter : Freeza : Rocknot : Rocknot  :  : Pumpkin Bombs | Badguy
Sunflower : Sunflower : Spitter : Freeza : Rocknot : Rocknot  :  :
Sunflower : Sunflower : Spitter : Freeza : Rocknot : Rocknot  :  :

And if anything died, I'd replace it.  I got a double row of Rocknots because the Pumpkin Bombs have a long cooldown so why not, right?

Because I used the Pumpkin Bombs near the badguy, he died pretty fast.  :)

Horde Travel, or "Can Finish Holiday?"

There's one itty bitty issue with the new world -- Horde can't get to Darnassus or The Exodar without massive effort.  This interferes with Pilgrim's Peril.

First, there are no boats from Darkshore (Auberdine was destroyed).  So I corpse-hopped through Stormwind for an hour to get on the boat to Darnassus, arrived, and their level 85 guards, always on watch, killed me and sent me to a graveyard in...

...Darkshore.

Since there's no boat in Darkshore, and since I found the hard way that fatigue does kill ghosts running on foot, you almost make it but not quite when you run as a ghost across the ocean.

But it's possible, according to an extremely dedicated person on Wowhead:

i ran up the Darkshore coastline till i was as close as possible to Rutheran Village. Popped my elixir, jumped on my 100% mount and ran across water. You will fatigue but the bar begins to replenish as you get close to Rutheran. Once you hit land you can either take the boat to Exo or run like heck for the portal into Darnassus. You will more than likely die entering the portal or coming out the other side. No worries you will be at the gy in Teldrassil, not back on darkshore. Rez and hit the table in Darn. I then swam via the water channels in Darn to the portal and then jumped on boat and headed to Exo. The tables here are very easy to get to as i did not aggro any guards at any point.

As God is my witness, I am going to earn this freakin' turkey pet.

Up for Grabs, or "Stuff You Can Do"

I've seen engineering flying machines running around in cities but not flying.  Bug or working as intended?

Saw a person in a hardcore guild on a Goblin mount.

Available Pets:

• Singing Sunflower: Quest in Hillsbrad Foothills just south of where Dalaran used to be.
• Mr. Grubbs: Drops from bags from grubs in Eastern Plaguelands just like the Oozeling dropped off oozes.  Pre-req quest chain.
• Withers: Alliance quest and Horde vendor (BOP).
• [edit] Flamefly (Thanks Sarayana!)

Cities:

• Visit Gnomeregan
• Visit Echo Isles

They're not full cities yet, but they're visitable.

Reputation:

Quartermasters for the new races are available in Darnassus and Orgrimmar.  Get their tabards to nom some rep pre-Cata.

Tuesdays Schmoozdays, or "Why's the Cataclysm Gotta Mess with My Cooking?"

Logged in to do more Pilgrim's Bounty before work (omg, leveling cooking is so easy and fun!) because like all holidays it's a thousand times more addictive than I thought it would be.  (Guide is up, btw.)

But I couldn't level my cooking on Windwhistler because dumb old Deathwing is busy bursting from the ground and destroying the world.

*eye roll*  It must be Tuesday.

Cracked World, or "Tomorrow We Get a Whole New World"

Mount Changes

Zul'Gurub will be removed, taking the tiger and raptor mounts.  Considering they quickly found a new home for the rare drop pet and already have a new home for Polymorph: Turtle, I still have hope for these mounts coming back.

The Green Proto-Drake that drops out of the Oracle's revered-required Cracked Egg is now easier to get.  The egg cracks after 3 days (down from 7) and the droprate for the mount has increased.  ^_^

Mounts you got by beating super-hard-mode bosses are now a rare drop on their 25-mans.

Cute and Functional

New race/class combos such as night elf mage, tauren paladin, etc.

Time to go to work.

Pilgrim's Bounty, or "Oh Hey, Another Holiday I Forgot"

Husband: "I've been messing with [Husband's Best Friend] all day.  I'm 1 bubble from 80 on my mage but I keep going around doing all the Pilgrim's Bounty cooking and stuff instead of dinging.  It's driving him crazy.  I think I'll stay 79 for as long as possible."

Me: "Oh hey, it's Pilgrim's Bounty!  O.O"

So, considering that I'm going to see the new Harry Potter in 2 hours and don't have time to investigate the holiday properly (I have never ever done PB before), just be aware that it's Pilgrim's Bounty this week and you can level cooking for cheap on your characters.

And there's a turkey pet if you get the holiday achievement.

I'll write something guide-ish up later.  Guide after break.

Elemental Invasion Phase 4, or "Get a Feat of Strength"

Every 2-3 hours, all over the city.  The elementals invade the cities only every 2-3 hours and when they arrive (after a 5 minute warning) they're everywhere.  No way to miss them.

• Orgrimmar & Ironforge: Earth and Fire rifts
• Thunder Bluff & Stormwind: Water and Wind rifts

By defending your faction's cities and getting the buffs for closing all the types of rifts, you earn Tripping the Rifts, a once-in-a-lifetime pre-expansion Feat of Strength.  While waiting, you can do the quest chains if you haven't yet, or do some of the new quests.

I may have time later this week to map those quests out, but not tonight, alas.

Things I wasn't sure about until I did it:

1. You do not need to be in a raid to get the buff.
2. You get the buff when the elementals stop spawning (i.e. when the rift closes).
3. The buff hits an area of people, so you need to be nearby when the rift closes.
4. You can (and probably will) get both buffs in one city defense event.

Therefore, you only need to do your (two) available cities once each.

And then after the event you can queue for the specially available bosses.  (LFD or the portals in the city.)

Razzashi Hatchling Saved, or "I Knew They'd Never Get Rid of Him for Good!"

Blue poster Lylirra said:

I can confirm that the Razzashi Hatchling, being a clever and resilient little reptile, has already found a new home, and will be migrating there shortly after the shattering.

[...] When we made the original announcement last month that certain pets and mounts would be removed, it was to inform players of changes that could potentially impact their gameplay. We know that there are many avid collectors out there and, whenever possible, we want to give players notice when a favorite item might be removed. In that same announcement, we also clarified that, while we didn't have any current plans to re-introduce the specified pets and mounts, if we happened to find a suitable location to add them back in, we would certainly consider it.

Totally reasonable, right?

Since then, we found an appropriate place for the Razzashi Hatchling, and it felt like a good opportunity to restore a pet beloved by so many. Naturally, we were excited to share this information with all of you, as we knew a lot of players were saddened to hear about the little guy's initial departure. There was no malicious intent, no crazy conspiracy behind this decision. We saw an opportunity to make the game more enjoyable that meshed with our design goals, and we went with it. Simple as that.

In the end, the worth of the Razzashi Hatchling isn't solely measured in gold, and it would be a fallacy to think that we create non-combat pets simply to provide players with something to sell on the Auction House for profit. To many, pets like the Razzashi Hatchling represent something fun and exciting, and that's just as valid a currency as any in World of Warcraft.

While I'm sorry you're at a financial disadvantage now, I'm hoping you're still be able to enjoy the pet for what it is (re: an adorable, head-bobbing reptilian sidekick) -- or, given that it will still be a rare pet, perhaps even find someone who will adopt it for a reasonable price. Good luck.

(source)

Moonkin Photos, or "They're All Flappy!"

• Alliance Moonkin Hatchling
• Horde Moonkin Hatchling
• Lil Ragnaros

Do those Moonkins and their goggly eyes remind anyone else of Daily Squee?  Teehee!

Enchanting Pets, or "Faction Lamps"

Here's the skinny on enchanting pets: horde gets the blue lantern, alliance gets the pink lamp.

Lantern requires enchanting 525, 8 Heavenly Shards, 1 Maelstrom Crystal, 8 Hypnotic Dust.

Lamp requires enchanting 525, 8 Heavenly Shards, 1 Maelstrom Crystal, 4 Greater Celestial Essence.

The lamps are NOT bind-on-pickup.  They're currently tradable, which means you can sell them on the Neutral AH.

I'm not sure whether selling enchanting mats or manufacturing endgame enchants (+ these pets) will make you more money at the start of Cata.  I suppose it depends on your access to materials.  If you can get massive amounts of enchanting mats quickly and regularly, including the materials for these pets, you'll probably make more gold by getting to the end of your enchanting and selling products.  But if you're limited on time and resources, it would probably be best to sell enchanting mats at exorbitant prices for power-levelers and then level your own skill when prices go down.

Twilight Infiltration, or "More Cataclysm Pre-Events"

I'm home from work sick.  *cough/sneeze*  So let's do this in as efficient a way as possible. (Alliance will be up when I get to it.)

Outfit of the Month, or "Fists of the Phoenix"

Advice, or "To Listen or to Ignore?"

You run across people in pugs who like to tell you how bad you are and that you're doing everything wrong and that your gear and talents and hairstyle all suck.

But what about a person who gives you good advice and doesn't disparage you in the process, but who isn't very good at giving advice?

I was on Windwhistler today, trying to get a bit of her rested ground off while finishing some instance quests.  My shaman healer felt the need to tell me I wasn't holding aggro well enough and that I should [Rend] before I [Thunderclap] on groups.

I've never claimed to be an expert on Warriors, but I know that [Rend] is a single-target ability, so this advice made me reply "It doesn't seem as if rend would help with group aggro."

To which the shaman replied that the new way of doing things was "weird."

Female Worgen Dance, or "Lady Gaga Poker Face"

Original by Lady Gaga.

Cataclysm Launch, or "Where Will You Be?"

The day of Cataclysm, I'll be at work.

Yep.  I'll be schlepping eye charts to ye olde Opthamologists.  There's no "I" in Opthamology, after all.  Just glasses.

I've considered taking that day off.  Not so much to play the game as to make lots and lots of gold.

But when you think about it, I'd be passing up real money in order to get fake money.  Somehow, that doesn't seem to even out.

Game gold, for example, will not get me my dream house by next September.  Nor will it help me to actually buy the Cataclysm expansion.

I can set my auctions the night before, and if I'm really dedicated I can subscribe to the auction-from-your-smartphone service for that month.  Or I can ask Husband's Best Friend to keep up with my auctions for me.

It's cool, he owes me.  Less than he owes husband since I made HBF climb a steep hill to get home instead of taking the bus and therefore "almost killing him," but I think I have enough left over for this.

Yeah?  Yeah.

Hallow's End Latecomer Guide, or "Husband Is Nice and Doing Holidays With Me"

This is to help anyone who wants a quick list of what they need to get done but doesn't want a huge explanation.

Preparation:

• Handfuls of Candy: Kalimdor, Eastern Kingdoms, Outland
• Southshore Quests: Alliance / Horde
• Headless Horseman Kill
• Hourly Trick or Treat
• Stop the Fires / Let the Fires Come

Keep these items:

• G.N.E.R.D.S.
• Tricky Treats
• Tooth Picks
• Jack-o-Lanterns
• Wands

Crappity, or "I Made Husband Level a Druid for Nothing, I Guess"

4.0.1 Change:

You can farm Anzu in heroic Sethekk Halls for his epic mount even if you're not a druid.  (Boubouille)

Normal Mounts = Fast Now, or "I Bet Everyone Else Already Knew This"

So you know how you get 60% ground mounts at a certain level and you ride around on them and they're fun and awesome?

And then you hit another level and can train for 100% epic ground mounts and they're slightly less awesome because they're covered with armor but are also slightly more awesome because they're fast?

Yeah, there's no difference anymore.  Once you train your 100% mount speed, you can use the old 60% mounts and they're 100% now.

I bet everyone else already knew this.

Husband just told me about it and it blew my mind.

Squee!

Hallow's End 2010, or "Fun With Headless People"

Even if you don't do holidays, note that A Long Strange Trip will continue to give you FREE super-max flying speed.  No need to drop another 5k gold if you prefer spending time over money.

Hallow's End 2009, 2008

Sorry this post is so lame this year.  I have work in a half hour.

Zul'Gurub Pets and Mounts

Removed in Cata
Zul'Gurub is being removed as a raid, so the mounts and pets are going.  You'll still have them if you have them.  Polymorph: Turtle will still be available "through other means" (no details on that).

May Return In Future
"Although we have no current plans to introduce new ways to obtain the Zul'Gurub mounts, pets, and the tribute mounts, they may return should we find a place where they fit in the future." (Lylirra)

Bird's Hypothesis
ZG mounts and pets will be available again someday, but you should absolutely farm the ZG pet to sell for massive amounts of gold after ZG is removed.  I'm not joking, people will pay a fortune in the "I can't collect this anymore" panic, and I'm betting the pet will return some way or another and then they'll feel stupid.

Hallow's End Reminder

Hallow's End starts this coming Monday the 18th!

AH Thieves, or "1c Deals Woooo!"

I'm in the pet trade.  I switch pets over the Neutral AH using a friend (usually my husband or brother) once every few months.  I mailed my brother a huge mountain of horde pets.  His bags filled with Prairie Dogs, he listed 5 at a time for me to pick up using good old-fashioned search spam.

By his second listing, I'd already told him "Stop."

"Stop?"

"We have an AH bot.  I bought the first Prairie Dog and the rest were just gone.  Poof.  Way too fast for a person."

"Report him."

"On it.  Then I'm switching to Birdfall and killing him.  A lot."

"Heh."

Pet Photos Up, or "No Time to Post Images, Follow Link"

They all look really awesome.  I'm particularly interested in Hardboiled Egg, which right now is a blue baby murloc.

Yes, a baby murloc.  Just like the Blizzcon one.

Usually, they change the skin on things like this, but even if they do... it's a baby murloc.

Good God, I want a pink one.

Dance News, or "Studio Delay Explained"

Dance Studio - Blizzard promised me a (dancing) pony!

New dances remain a work in progress and we do not have plans to implement them prior to Cataclysm.

[...] We absolutely wouldn't advertise something in a trailer if we have no intention of including that feature. The trailers are virtually always created more than a year prior to the release of what they're advertising. All of the features are planned -- or work on them has already begun -- but we never know until much closer to the release date what features might have to be shelved to ensure bigger features are polished.

We announced new dances for Wrath of the Lich King and a good deal of work went into them, but we weren't happy with the feature overall as we got closer to release. We decided we would hold off on trying to push it out anyway and focus on bigger projects.

This is the nature of good development, even if it leaves some disappointed. (Source)

(from MMO Champion)

Outfit of the Month, or "Don't Toss Your Direbrew Remote Just Yet"

The Circle of Flame is a cloth drop from Flamelash in Blackrock Depths (1% droprate). You'll want a Direbrew Remote (or a friend willing to share theirs). This headpiece is popular due to a dramatic Use effect described as a "fiery evocate" and the fact that anyone can wear it.

You can farm this boss 5 times an hour or, if traveling with only your own Remote, once an hour.  Don't forget to reset the instance before you enter.

Cute Photos, or "Mountses and Petses"

Guild: 55 unique exalted reps

Tol Barad Faction Exalted: Alliance

Tol Barad Faction Exalted: Horde

Questline: Peacebloom vs Ghouls

Also note that a Goblin cinematic is up!

(warning: spoilers)

Worgen/Human Models, or "I Make Do"

My brother did send me screenies of hair but I think he was a bit rushed.  He's out of town at the moment or I'd bug him for more details.  Since I can't, I'm making do with available third-party media.

Please note that we cannot build our Worgen and human forms separately.  You choose one option, you're stuck with the corresponding form.  However, you can see your human counterpart as you create your Worgen so that you don't get anything too icky.  :)

I'm looking into whether or not we'll be able to get Barbershop-only human hairstyles through the Barbershop.  Formerly bloodelf-only hairstyles are not available in the creation screen.

I only apologize that I didn't have time to put Model Viewer human forms by the Worgen models to make the comparisons easier.  :/  You'll need to click on images to see the human version clearly in the bottom left corner.

Credits go to this video.

Direbrew Lost, or "Instance Not Found"

Neither my Zuluhed nor my Moon Guard characters can get into Direbrew this morning.  My groupmates are equally unable.  Perhaps this will be fixed later today?

Alchemy Mount, or "They Found It!"

^ From MMO-Champion

Vial of the Sands - Transform into a dragon mount and carry an ally on your back.

"According to the spell and reagents it looks like it will be an alchemy recipe available through Discoveries" (Boubouille)

This harks back to the oddness with the Twilight Phoenix. Will we really be able to transform into a phoenix mount and carry a passenger?

Brewfest 2010, or "Yay! No Fighting Over Mounts!"

Not much new to tell this year.  Peruse 2009 for the quests, or 2008/2007 for previous versions of this holiday.

The Keg-Shaped Treasure Chest reportedly drops the following:

• Ram Mount
• Kodo Mount
• Direbrew's Remote
• Bloody Shanker
• Tankard O' Terror

The boss only drops trinkets now.

Also, the boss is pretty easy.  For example, the tank was afk the entire time on Birdfall's run.  The mage died and the hunter tanked.  Just stay away from his disarm (a sort of whirlwind) and you'll take minimal damage.

Beta Updates, or "Horde Guild Mount and Worgen News"

1. Worgens have no racial mount.  They drop to all fours and run.  I imagine Blizz will try to even the numbers of Alliance vs Horde mounts for the achievements in a way other than Worgen mounts, but for now we should just try not to stress about it.  They've gone to extreme lengths to even out mounts in the past and there's no reason for them not to do the same now.

2. Female Worgens are now live on the Beta.  I already petitioned my brother to send me screenies, so expect that later today.  Meantime, here's a video to whet your appetite.

3. Horde guild mount is a scorpion and has both an image and video.

4. Worgen male dance is Justin Timberlake.  I imagine this will renew the clamor for dance studios.

Pirate Day

In case you forgot, get your pirate achievement today only.

Give Me Kids, or "Another Pet Request for the Pile"

I want to see children as pets.

Boy and girl of each race.

We know it's possible with the Argent Squire, who can even mount his own little pony if you get him one.

I imagine children of X race mounting a little gryphon or windrider and following you around while airborn.

We could "adopt" them from the orphanages of each city or something.  Maybe as a quest chain or even an extended part of Children's Week.  (Because you have to wonder: what is Blizz going to add to Children's Week this year after returning to Azeroth?  If anything.)

Dusty would use hers for slave labor, but Windwhistler is really good with kids and would totally teach them how to play rock-paper-scissors.

Blizz could also let us have posses.  I miss my troll posse.  *pout*

Updated Mounts/Pets Lists, or "I've Stopped Actually Reading These"

Mounts

• Ultramarine Qiraji Battle Tank
• Sandstone Drake
• Mottled Drake
• Kron'Kar Annihilator

Companion Pets

• Deathy
• Guild Herald (5 min summon)
• Guild Page (5 min summon)
• Gold Mini Jouster
• Blue Mini Jouster
• Tiny Shale Spider
• Pebble
• Landro's Lil' XT
• Enchanted Lantern
• Magic Lamp
• Elementium Geode
• Mr. Grubbs 
• Brazie's Sunflower

[Edit] Added guild rewards below.

Notice: Holidays

Harvest Festival has begun, but it's not terribly important.

Pirate's Day Sunday the 19th.

Brewfest starts this coming Monday the 20th.

Fight the Machine, or "How Work Affects Play"

The changes I've seen in my play style are the following:

• I don't play during the week, only on the weekends.
• I don't do dailies anymore.  I make money through cross-faction pet sales listed in the few spare minutes I have before and after work.
• I'm less concerned with gear than I am with getting my characters to max level for Cata.
• I'm more interested in how my professions can net me a profit than I've ever been before.
• I'm much more intense about making and stockpiling gold, because having enough gold will make time management easier later.
• I'm much more focused on the major goals I still hold -- such as making sure certain characters are 85 by Valentines for a shot at the rocket, or sacrificing part of my days during Brewfest for Plum to try for her pretty little ram.

I told my brother-in-law-in-law that I want to try for the Pink Rocket on multiple characters.  He said "I was going to tell you how insane you are, but then I remembered 'Oh right, she has the phoenix.'"

New Pets/Mounts, or "This Title is Getting Really Old, Huh?"

But I don't have time to be creative with my water shut off at 5am.

Currently, it's a duplicate of the Qiraji Blue Mount.

Check the rest of the Archaeology stuff here while I go to my brother's house to get ready for work.

Troll and Gnome Takeover!, or "Ohmygoodness, It's About Time"

Horde:

• Go to Orgrimmar.  Travel south out of the city to the very southern tip of Durotar.  The quest giver is on the eastern side of Sen'jin Village.

Alliance:

• Go to Ironforge and head to Tinkertown.  Talk to Mekkatorque for the quest.

Past the break are the specific questline walkthroughs.  Don't continue if you don't want spoilers.

Squee, or "New Stuff"

Cat on lap, must... type... slowly....

New mounts and pets and titles.

Birdfall Has a Job, or "No Really, It's An Actual Job"

I file papers for eye doctors in a massive bunch of filing cabinets, and I pull files that they need and send them to the doctors using people called "runners."  If I were a runner, I'd pretend I was actually running for my life.  It would be awesome.

It keeps me busy and my first day went by pretty fast, though I had to stand for hours on end because there was only one chair and the lady teaching me did the computer stuff.

What this means for the blog is that you'll see posts not-in-the-middle-of-the-day unless I do some on the weekend and schedule them.  Still plan on keeping up with things, though.  I'm doing this so we can buy one of these next September:

Wish me luck.

Mounts and Pets, or "Build: Codename Ninja"

Guild achievements are up, though they are not live on the beta.  Some archaeology and class info, too.

New mount: Goblin Mini Hotrod
New pets: Rustberg Seagull, Armadillo

PuG Feature Idea, or "I Don't Want to Group with Death Knights Anymore"

I'm at that stage in Windwhistler's instancing where she runs into a lot of freshly made Death Knights.  This wouldn't be so bad if:

a) Their starting gear wasn't better than hers, thus making them pull aggro.
b) Every piece of gear I need out of instances wasn't a slight upgrade for them.

On the other hand, instancing as a tank nets me more chances at gear per hour, which is a definite upside.

Still, when talking to husband and HBF (husband's best friend), they agreed that they'd trade a longer wait for a group for the ability to select which other classes they're willing to group with.

It could potentially be hard for a certain class to find a group, but it would also be easier for individuals to farm specific much-sought-after items.  Don't you love being the only plate-wearer in an all-cloth group?  I know I do!

What do you think?  Would the world (of Warcraft) begin to shun certain other classes to the point of madness, or would people as a whole choose faster queues?

Pug Matching, or "What If Blizz Had Us Fill Out Pug Personality Forms?"

This is just for fun.  It's not an actual feature Blizz is implementing or considering, though it might be a good idea someday if they throw all realms into the same pug system (instead of doing it by battlegroup).

Annoying Pugs, or "Tales of a Little Tank"

I won't toy with your patience and list the entire conversation from the run.  Suffice to say, I had some people who seemed to be pretty young who got into my group and started chattering.  Nothing useful or interesting, just chatter.  One of them had ganked another of them on an alt, the mage Zord kept linking dps meters after every other pull, just really really pointless crap and confusion and malarkey.

I went into my Real ID whisper window, told a friend that "My group is full of morons.  Except the healer."   I could still more or less see party chat -- I have it set up to pop up a chat dialogue box like for Say chat.

Eventually, though, their pointless chatter that I was happy to ignore turned on me:

Pet Wish, or "When Pigs Fly"

After mounting my happy little flying gryphon on my 61 warrior and leaving Mr. Wiggles waaaay down below, I whispered a friend: "Wish my pig could fly.  /grumpyface"

I thought about it, and I do seriously wish Mr. Wiggles could sprout wings when I use my flying mount.  Not only because he'd be the WoW version of "When pigs fly," but because it's so sad when I lose him!

Deathy, or "Blizzcon's Weird-Looking Deathwing Murloc"

Go to Blizzcon or get their Virtual Feed and you get this guy.

Fishing Derby, or "5% Experience Heirloom Ring!"

I've been trying to hit the Northrend Derby every Saturday.  I decided to start hanging out at the lake in Borean Tundra.  It's a chancy spot -- it can support up to 2 players during the Derby without running out of pools.  If you're lucky, you'll get it all to yourself.  If you're not, four other people had the same idea and you have to fly for 5 minutes to get another spot.

Today, it was me and a random guy at the Tundra lake, and I tried to keep my heartbeat down and normal and tell myself it was all chance and I shouldn't expect to win.  I'd prepared by putting all my video settings to Low except for "Particle Density," which I turned as high as it would go (that's the one that affects the pools you're fishing from).

After about 6 or 7 minutes of nervous casting, I kept thinking "Someone's going to get it soon, someone's going to get it soon . . ."

And then someone did.

Twilight Phoenix, or "Different From Dark Phoenix?"

It has (NYI) attached to the name, which means Not Yet Implemented.  The item itself is labeled a "mount" but the name is [Essence of the Underworld] and the use effect is not your normal mount info:

Teaches you how to transform into the Twilight Phoenix, allowing you to fly and carry an ally with you. This is a very fast mount.

If I'm reading this correctly, this mount transforms the user into a Twilight Phoenix and allows someone else to ride on your back.  Considering that the Dark Phoenix is already implemented, could this be another phoenix model?  There's also the possibility that it's only an item that you use for a quest line and that it is not an actual mount.

Tired, or "Choosing Chores Over WoW?"

I've needed to clean our office for a while.  I started throwing random papers down beside my desk to "deal with later" about six months ago, and the pile has only grown.  From pay stubs to receipts to the half-finished revisions on my second book, the pile had become a living entity, fed and maintained by my overwhelming laziness.

I stayed up all night a few days ago in order to outbid some random schmuck for a Hyacinth Macaw.  I thought of it this way: one ruined night in return for countless days of Not Farming That Stupid Bird Anymore.  Plus, I got a great deal: 4,621g.

I did force husband to keep an eye on the auction after I succumbed to the lure of bed at 5am.  He had strict orders to wake me up when it hit Short.  He did, and I won it without any real competition.

I Was Right, or "Dark Phoenix Unlocked By Guild Achievement"

I like being right.

A blue posted about how the Dark Phoenix and other guild vendor items will be locked until your guild gets a certain achievement.

He said "Let's just say, that for example, you need to complete the new guild achievement 'We are Legendary' in order to unlock the Dark Phoenix. That achievement requires the guild to gain access to all 6 legendary weapons currently available in the game."

He went on to say you'd need a certain guild reputation to then buy the item.

Please note, and I'll put this in bold to emphasize: he gave this as an example.  We do not yet know what achievement will unlock the Dark Phoenix.  I like that it has to be unlocked, though I do hope it's not connected to Legendary.

Another item of note that I think everyone should pay attention to:

(note that all guild achievements start on Cataclysm launch, so anything you have now will not matter, it must be done with your guild after launch)

That means that guilds with all the legendary weapons have to grind them again.  This makes me wince, but if you were planning on grinding the legendaries, or have started already, you might want to put it on hold until Cataclysm. Never mind, they'll count.

New Red Drake, or "Glory of the Cataclysm Hero (and Raider, and Collector's Pet)"

Collector's Edition pet is the mini Deathwing.  No big surprise there.

Raider mount is a "Storm Drake" (photo).  Not all-inspiring, but decent enough.

I think I prefer the 5-man mount: "Volcanic Stone Drake."

Aw, who am I kidding?  They're both great and good luck to everyone who wants one!  I'm quite happy that the raids will be shorter in Cata.  I might actually complete them all on Dusty and have a shot at that raider thing.  Not that I'll use the mount.  But it's nice to have the chance to achieve something.

Outfit of the Month, or "Mix It Up With Alchemy"

Head

• Goggles - Any
• Vile Fumigator's Mask

Potion Offhands

• Flask of Forest Mojo (Horde Only)
• Nightglow Concoction (Horde Only)
• Tears of Heaven (25 Badge of Justice)
• Tear of Grief (Alliance Only)

Flavor Mainhand

• Spare Hand
• Bone
• Flowers - Any

Outdated, or "Should the Power to Disband Be in One Person's Hands?"

Currently, guilds do not have much intrinsic value beyond the guild bank.  Achievements and rewards go to individuals, and those individuals can get those achievements and rewards anywhere.  Once that changes, players must level guild rep and put time and effort into their guild.  Guilds become valued commodities that players must invest themselves in.

This begs the question -- should all the power be in one person's hands?  One person who might get ticked off at his or her guild and /disband to teach everyone a lesson?  One person who may take a leave of absence and put the guild in the hands of a trusted friend who turns into a dictator?

Does the power to remove a guild from existence truly belong in the hands of one person, or does that choice belong to the whole guild?

Guild Rewards, or "Unexpected Reactions, Benefits, and Drawbacks"

This is going to be a ramble.  Just a ramble.  Feel free to disagree, but it's just thoughts that are currently running around in my brain.

The Dark Phoenix is a guild reward mount.  Buyable.  The cost is 2s, which implies that they don't have a real price for it yet in the beta (since everything else is also 2s).

Husband's best friend thinks the Dark Phoenix will be a reward for your guild achieving something super-hard in a raid.  I'm of the opinion that it will be hard to get, perhaps even very expensive, but that it will indeed be a guild and not a raid reward.  Why do I think this?  Because it's already in the guild reward panel, and we haven't seen any raid achievements mentioning it.  Because I hope that raid rewards and guild rewards won't be the exact same thing.

Super Awesome Guild Rewards, or "Dark Phoenix is a Guild Mount!"

Perks must be unlocked by your guild, and your character must have an epic reputation with your guild to buy the best things.

Guild Buyable Mounts and Pets

• Dark Phoenix
• Baby Dark Phoenix
• Snail Pet
• Guild Mount (Alliance: Lion | Horde: Thunder Lizard)

Guild Buyable Heirlooms

• Helms
• Cloaks

Guild Buyable Extras

• Guild Bank Tab Claim Sheets
• 2 Cooking Recipes (compare to Fish Feast)
• Battle Standard - Common, Superior, Epic
• Guild Herald - Common, Superior, Epic

310% Flying

• 5,000g
• Free if you already have a 310 mount.

(source)

Blue Proto-Drake, or "You Can Totally 2-Man It"

Today I decided to random on Dusty to get her Perky Pug.  She doesn't have one yet because she geared out in heroics and raids before the random system went live and is more likely to get a guild group than a pug.

The Blue Proto-Drake dropped in Heroic Utgarde Pinnacle.  This is something I want on Birdfall, but I smiled with an indulgent fondness when I saw it and happily clicked the "pass" button because, seriously, a girl with a phoenix does not need a blue drake.

One of my groupmates said "Every day. Every %#@!in day."  And dropped group.

I winced but felt sympathetic.  I would have had heart palpitations if I'd seen it on Birdfall, and it would have hurt to lose the roll.  That's why I'm not farming it on her until I can go with husband and maybe my brother at 85.

So, in sympathy for all those frustrating Blue Proto-Drake grinds, I'm going to go ahead and post a 2-man strat.  I prefer to post strats after I myself have tested them, but husband has done this already and I want to send a little encouragement to that poor farmer.

Cata Mounts Update, or "Lazy Lazy Me Didn't Check WarcraftMounts"

WarcraftMounts has been requesting new mount info from the beta and has screenshots of several different items.

• Camel, Dark Phoenix, 2 New Dragons
• Seahorse (in several colors)
• Thunder Lizard (placeholder model, potential guild reward)

Also, visit the Cataclysm Mounts section for new paladin mounts.  To see the freshest Cataclysm mounts, keep up with the news section.

Engineering Pets, or "MechanoBunny, Woo!"

A bunny and a World Destroyer, both BOP engineering pets.

Also a skeletal raptor pet (Fossilized Hatchling), which I suspect will be an Archaeology drop.

(source)

Talking Down Tempers, or "When You're Faced With Frustration"

In TOC (which I run almost every day), a DK dps (in blues and greens and maybe 3 purples) rolled on a tanking ring against the Paladin tank, who stopped just short of throwing a fit.  When the DK wouldn't hand over the ring and I tried to whisper the Paladin into a better frame of mind, the Paladin left the group.

In the randoms I've run, I've supported the policy that if you can and will use something, you can roll on it.  Tanking classes can roll against the group's tank if they're building a tanking set.  My underlying philosophy is that people need to gear up to perform their rolls and everyone has the right to gear up.

Now, is it frustrating to lose a roll on something you've been farming forever?

OhmyGod, yes.

Can you whisper others to make an agreement on a specific item or to request that they let you have the item after they win it?

Sure.

Can you demand that others pass on an item for you or give it to you or get in a huff if they won't?

No.

You can ask nicely, but you can't insist.  You can give people the opportunity to be generous, you can lay your plight at their feet and request that they take pity on you, but you have no right to demand what they've won just because you've failed at it longer or you're the "right" spec for it.

It comes down to this: basic manners dictate that even though you may be gnashing your teeth with frustration over a lost roll, you don't get to take that frustration out on your group.  Lose gracefully or don't do randoms.

Crawling Hand Pet, or "Rock, Paper, Scissors"

(source)

Mini Deathwing, or "CE Pet?"

Potentially the collector's edition pet.  Not confirmed.



(source)

Withers, or "Squee! Little Old Man Tree!"

New confirmed pet in Cataclysm!  Right now, he's a prize for a long Alliance quest chain (it's likely that Horde will just have an equivalent quest and pet, though there's no news on that front).  Withers is an angry old man Treant who starts out large and shrinks over time.  When you get him near water, he emotes "Withers absorbs the water, growing back to full size!"

Photo after break.

Pug Trolling, or "Cyber Bullies Run in Packs"

Note that the instance in question is H-ToC, which I've done on three characters.  Dustfire is my raiding character and has several ICC 25 pieces.  Whether someone likes her gear or not, there's nothing that would make her worth trolling out of a 5-man.

To set this up, I've stopped raiding and have been leveling enchanting.  Since I don't have any reason to properly enchant my gear for now, I've been using unenchanted pieces of my own gear to level it (obviously, I'll replace the enchants later).  Also, note that [Abyssal Rune] from regular ToC is a reasonable alternative when a shadow priest is over hit-capped, which I am (by a lot).  I'm sure there could be some debate on that subject, but it doesn't really matter for this situation.

Outfit of the Month, or "Arr Red"

This outfit seen on Catiaa of Moon Guard.

The belt on the Night Elf isn't listed as it's a priest item, but it's very similar in style to the Raider's Belt.

• Swashbuckler's Eyepatch
• Swashbuckler's Shoulderpads
• Formal White Shirt (Cuffs will be poofy, not shown in model viewer)
• Raider's Belt or Swashbuckler's Belt
• Swashbuckler's Breastplate
• Crimson Silk Pantaloons
• Swashbuckler's Boots
• Raider's Cloak
• Scimitar of Atun

Guild Perks, or "What Does This Mean for Small Guilds?"

The guild levels give guild-wide perks, like reduced hearthstone cooldowns and being able to summon your guild bank. Buyable rewards are items like mounts, tabards, heirlooms, and pets and have less to do with your level (I think) than your achievements.

Brother in Beta, or "Female Goblin Hairs"

There are tons of reasons I love my brother. He's a genuinely nice, gentle guy with a heart of gold. He's always been honest with me even if I don't like what he has to say, and, my whole life, I've wanted him to be proud of me. I've never been happier than I am now that we live in the same town and are friends.

Another reason I love him is that he's super-thoughtful and sends me things like screenshots of Goblin female hairs from the Cataclysm Beta. Squee!

Photos after the break!

Hyacinth Farm, or "No More Ms Nice ... Lady?"

Captain's Log Number Something: Have lost count of days spent in search of the elusive Hyacinth Macaw. Can only chart my progress in First Mate Hats. To date, 3 hats, 2 people annoyed enough at my farming to speak to me, 1 sick husband, and 1 coming-out-of-the-womb-in-a-few-days nephew.

Yes, you heard me. My nephew will drop before this dumb bird ever will.

/sigh

Cataclysm Accessories, or "Cute Crafted Items for Cute Outfits!"

Most of these are level 1 cloth items. A few are BOE.

Tailoring

High Society Top Hat

Black Wedding Dress

Jewelcrafting

Rhinestone Sunglasses (will they look like this?)

Stardust

Elegant Bracers

Jeweler's Sapphire Monocle

Jeweler's Ruby Monocle

Jeweler's Emerald Monocle

Alchemy

Potion of Illusion - Makes you look like someone else.

Real ID Forums, or "Safe to Say 99% of Players Are Against It?"

If you haven't heard, Blizzard is planning to make future posts in the official Warcraft forums appear under your Real Name.

• Older posts will not be retroactively affected.
• You can choose to only go by your real name and not include your character name.
• Not posting on the forums is considered a viable option.
• Child controls will be available.

Most players hate this. There are over 1000 pages of posts per announcement thread ranting and raving about how awful this is for personal security, etc.

Solo Mojo, or "Let's Use the WarcraftPets Guide! Yay!"

WarcraftPets has a Solo-Farming Mojo guide. Note that you only need 1 person to bang the gong now. You just need to be in a raid group. (Find a friend, have them join you on an alt they aren't playing, make it a raid group, and they can log out and go on their merry way, leaving you in a raid group.)

The guide recommends having the ability to drop combat. If you can't, it'll just take longer. The strat seems similar to the strat for the Qiraji mounts except with the added complication of needing to use an item before zoning out.

I Know My Pets!, or "I Got 15/15 But Didn't Win Anything"

The WarcraftPets trivia contest ended and I didn't win anything. Sad. But I did get all the questions right! Yay! I owe one answer to my husband and his best friend, who told me where to check for the "how many pets did we launch with" question. The rest I knew or was able to look up easy enough, and I was pretty sure I remembered a Sprite Darter header right after I got my Hippogryph Hatchling.

:D I'm happy that I got to be one of the 168 that got them all right. I'll try not to dwell on the lack of a Blazing Hippogryph or free pet and just focus on the glow of mental superiority.

It should get me through these hard Spectral Cub-less times.

Drama Mamas, or "My Favorite Column"

I love the Drama Mamas. They handle interpersonal issues, and I like the process of thinking through a tough situation and finding a suitable course of action.

Two days ago, they had an article featuring a player who encountered in-game racists, and some of the language quoted made me feel sick. I've moved a lot in my life, lived in both the north and the south, but I'm undeniably a Southern girl. My parents are born and raised Southerners, and I spent my teenage years in the south.

This means I take great offense to the "southern style" comment. I'm a red-headed descendant of Scottish immigrants; both of my parents came from families who worked hard and honestly. My dad is from a Tennessee farming family with 5 children -- they were so poor, he'd never had ice cream until he was a teenager. My mom's mother was from a Georgia family of 11 kids and worked her hands to the bone from age 14 to age 75.

Yet with all this Southern heritage, I've only heard one racist comment that wasn't in a movie or online, and that wasn't even from someone I knew very well. And he made everyone else (all of us Southerners) feel very awkward.

Leveling Numbers, or "This is for Me, But You Can Has Too"

After running the numbers for leveling enhancements during Midsummer, I figured I'd run them again to include rested and see exactly how rested affects heirlooms and the holiday buff.

Remember, rested and the Midsummer buff only affect experience gained from killing things. Heirlooms boost both killing and quests.

Lvl 48 Rested vs Unrested

• 2 Heirlooms: 392/196
• 2 Heirlooms, Midsummer Buff: 424/212
• 1 Heirloom: 358/179
• 1 Heirloom, Midsummer Buff: 392/196
• Midsummer Buff: 358/179
• Nothing: 326/163

Tested on level 42 mobs for consistency.

Results: Rested doubles the effects of all stacked experience buffs when killing mobs.

Implications for Leveling: I strongly suggest only leveling when rested to get the maximum impact for your time. Rested bonus with no other boosts (326) is still better than the Midsummer bonus with heirlooms (212).

In Cataclysm, I plan to have all my alts resting and then try to use the rested every time it caps on one of them. This is how my husband's best friend leveled his 7 alts -- rotating through them to get the maximum out of their rested states.

Even without heirlooms on my characters, I'll be more efficient playing un-heirloomed and rested (326) than playing long hours with 2 heirlooms unrested (196).

Request, or "Anyone in the Beta Able to Help Me Out?"

I'll give a big fat link to anyone who can give me shots of Worgen faces, skins, and hair side-by-side with their human counterparts.

I'm assuming the transformation is static based on the Worgen model you choose. I want a specific human model, and it'd be nice to know what my Worgen will have to look like to get the desired result.

Ty! *love*

[edit for Blue post]

Worgens - Customizing the Human Form
You might not be able to customize your human separately from your worgen, but you will at least be able to see both at the same time so you won't be surprised when you zone in. We don't want anyone to have to keep creating and deleting worgen to get the look they want. (Source)

Supersquee!

3 Dances, or "No Worgen Female Yet"

According to TankSpot, the source of the following video, the worgen female dance has not been implemented yet.

Cataclysm Beta Live, or "NDA Lifted"

I zipped straight to NPC models: there's a Dark Phoenix Mount.

No, I don't want it with all-consuming passion, or even much passion at all (though I'd take it if they were being handed out like candy). Mine's totally prettier. But this is pretty sweet if you want a "boy version" of the normal phoenix or if you just don't have time to go back and farm content. I wish everyone luck. :)

For probable pets, we have mastiffs, monkeys, foxes, and a mechanical rabbit.

Other mounts include Skeletal Raptor with matching pet and a Faceless... jellyfish... thing.

In druid news: troll bears, troll cats, worgen bears, and worgen cats.

When we get more awesome, you'll get a new post. *love!*

Oh Crap, or "Cataclysm is Going to Make Me a Nervous Wreck"

A few months ago, when I read about the new underwater zones, I was fully distracted by the new races, pretty things, so on and so forth. I didn't actually think about underwater questing until today, when I took my little tank to Maraudon and hopped into the water to fight Rotgrip. It wasn't something new, I'd killed him a few times already.

But this time, I put two very important thoughts together.

1. Cataclysm will have new underwater zones.

2. Underwater monsters scare me.

Wrath Mounts in Cata, or "Laymen Can Collect Rare Stuff"

Proto-Drake and Rare Mounts in Cataclysm
This is all tentative and could change, but we don't really have a problem with protodrake farming. What we will probably do with really unusual mounts like Mimiron's Head and Invincible is make them a rare drop. The 100% drop rate won't make sense when you can overpower the content.

If you want to overpower the content for a drake though, go for it. Players who did it "legit" had the benefit of having the achievement and mount earlier than anyone else. The most prestigious mounts will change in Cataclysm. (Source)

I don't know of any other rare drakes they could be talking about except the one in Utgarde Pinnacle which is already a rare drop. Looking at the question this answers, the person was asking about the Red Proto-Drake from Glory of the Hero.

So it seems that the red one at least will still be available after the expansion.

This also implies that Blizz may be leaving the current raid achievement drakes. We'll have to see about that, though. It's less likely but still a possibility.

Alchemy Mount, or "I Wonder What It Will Be?!"

Alchemy mount! Yay! No details on what it will be, though. /sadface

I'm thinking from this that they're going to give most professions a mount, pet, or both. They've already promised enchanters a pet.

(source)

Outfit of the Month, or "Giving New Meaning to 'Bear Form'"

I was puttering around in my WoW Model Viewer, looking for an RP set for Windwhistler, and I noticed the animal paw fist weapons. I'd forgotten all about them. So in honor of the upcoming Worgens, whether you're going to be one or just enjoy killing them, let's dress up like fuzzy beasties! :D

Windwhistler 40, or "Happy Mount Time!"

So I had some super-fun LFG runs on Windwhistler with a pair of Duskwood players, Guyy and Jessiebear, and hit 40 on my tank!

Whistler is happy, but not nearly as excited as husband. Ohmygoodness, husband was practically hopping up and down when I trained Shield Slam. He even got up out of his seat (he works from home) and came over to ooh and aah at all my new abilities.

Husband is a warrior fan. At one point, he had an 80 warrior and two warrior alts because, and I quote, "I just like leveling warrior."

Back when we did Recruit-a-Friend together on Birdy and Mistwing, Whistler was supposed to get the extra bonus levels and hit 60. Alas, we procrastinated and she didn't get them.

But I have to say, today was fun enough that I don't much mind. I mean, I'd like to be 60+, but there are some good times to be had in the lower levels.

Now the tough part. Which mount should I pick?! Decisions, decisions.

Ninjas are Now Scammers, or "Yeah! Screw You, Ninjas!"

The scamming policy was updated not too long ago to give players protection from people who intentionally defraud (i.e. lie to) others in order to ninja an item. We have exquisite clarifications from Vaneras, who cheerfully does not mince words.

If your group has made a clear statement on how loot is to be handled and someone breaks the agreement, you may report them under the revised scamming policy. (Punishments include taking away the ninja'd item and potentially a suspension or ban.)

From now on, to protect yourself, request that the loot rules be clearly stated before the item you want drops. If it is not clearly stated in-game and the master looter steals something, you cannot effectively report the situation as a scam.

Scorchling Returning, or "Don't Know When or How, But Yeah, Totally"

the Scorchling will return elsewhere along with some friends representing the remaining elements (source)

Cool beans!

Midsummer 2010, or "More Pets, Less Waiting"

For refreshing your Midsummer memories, feel free to look at my 2009 and 2008 festival posts.

Confirmed:

You can get a bag of goodies off the boss once a day.

You can run the boss for cloaks as much as you want.

A Blue says that the Scorchling is no longer available, though some players claim to have gotten it in their bag this year and the phrase "does not appear to be available" is pretty wishy-washy. New info tells us the Scorchling is not out of the game, it's just not on Ahune anymore. It will be available from a different source in the future, along with other elemental pets. No further info on what that source is or when we'll see it.

The following definitely drop from the bag:

• Ice elemental pet.
• Frostscythe.

Tips on using this holiday to gain experience faster than normal:

Multiple DKs, or "Don't Forget! It's Father's Day"

The title is disjointed, but whatever. It's Father's Day and I wouldn't know it if it wasn't on my Google calendar.

So a friend has a Gladiator Frostwyrm on an alliance DK and he wants to bring it over to our realm on horde-side, but he has a level 80 DK he wants to keep with all the Inscription recipes because he worked really really hard for them.

He asked what he should do because he wants to keep his Inscription but he wants the pretty mount (something I can totally get behind), and I was all like "Give the Inscription character to your wife with an account transfer?"

And he was all like "Cool! She'd like that! But we don't have the same last name, so I dunno if that'll work. :*("

And I was all like "Nuuuuuuuuuuuu!"

And my brother-in-law-in-law (I really need to find a shorter way to say that) was all like, "I think I heard you could have more than 1 DK on a realm/faction if you transfer. You can try it if the account transfer doesn't work."

And I was like, "Hey, I remember hearing that too! Lemme look for proof!"

So I dug around on the interwebs and found proof on two sites I can't actually link because they're all about WoW exploits and hacks and botting and cheating and bad stuff. But they had screenshots of valid, legal multiple DK transfers. I'll put up their proof photos for you so you can see I'm not just saying it, but no links because exploiting is super dumb.

Inattentive, or "I'll Take What Compliments I Can Get"

"Beth has been tanking a lot lately," my husband told my brother at a Mexican restaurant.

"Really," said my sister-in-law, nomming chips like only an 8-months-pregnant woman can. "That's nice."

"She's actually a good tank."

I scowled at his incredulous tone.

"She keeps aggro, has good pacing, and pays attention. She doesn't even tab out during pulls!"

My brother blinked. "Really? But she always tabs out."

I made a face. "I don't tab out that much, do I?"

All three looked at me and nodded.

"Yes, you do."

"You really do."

"It's okay," said my sympathetic sister-in-law. "I let my tank die the other day while tabbed out looking at baby clothes."

I sighed and accepted the back-handed compliment. I'm an inattentive dps, but at least I can tank. /shrug

Randoms, or "The Horror of HoR"

I realize that random heroics are random, but something in the WoW-verse must be getting me back for all the mount luck I've had. Because for the past week, my first random dungeon of the day on Birdy has been HoR.

Which she can't do.

She's been kicked twice because of low dps.

This is not fun for me.

Today I got in it, facepalmed, and told them I was too low dps to be there, then dropped out and am now suffering through a 13 minute cooldown before I can wait another 10 minutes to get into something that might very well be another HoR.

This would be easier to manage if I had something useful to do while queuing or if I had gear or emblems left to grind, but the truth is... I'm just hoping to luck into a string of Oculus runs for a chance at ye old blue drake, which isn't much motivation at all when you think about it.

In more encouraging news, I'm much closer to being done with my Argent dailies forever, and I'm really looking forward to the Midsummer Fire Festival starting this Monday. My poor little warrior is going to get a lot of love.

Midsummer Fire Festival in 1 Week!

Next Monday (the 21st) is the start of the fire festival, and it's time to start thinking about all the things you need to get done that this holiday can help you with:

• Leveling Alts -- Use the ribbon pole for a 10% xp buff.
• Ahune's Scorchling -- If you have yet to see (or win) a Scorchling pet off of Ahune, this is the first holiday with individual goodie bags and LFG queues.
• Gear -- Like that cool scythe or an epic cloak!
• Achievements -- If you still don't have the violet proto drake, get that finished up!

Birdy's Plans

• Put a dent in my little warrior.
• Try for the pet on Birdy and Dusty. (Don't know yet if it drops from a special bag like the mounts will or if it's a random drop off of him. I'm guessing bag, but you never know.)
• Get gear for my freshly 80 mage.

Cataclysm Changes, or "Lots of Stuff to Read About"

Husband: "Lots of new changes for Cataclysm on MMO-Champion. Some you won't like."

Me: "What won't I like?"

Husband: "They took out Path of the Titans."

Me: "What's that?"

Husband: "Or maybe not."

Me: "Anything I'd actually call bad news?"

Husband: "Did you care about heroic Deadmines?"

Me: "No."

Husband: "Then no."

--------------------------

Guild Leveling

No more talent points. Instead, your guild "unlocks" features by leveling and you have to be "exalted" with your guild to get the best things. I really like this because guilds won't have to argue over what to pick and what to leave out.

Guild tabards available for mounts.

Rated BG Mounts

Mounts for rated battlegrounds for awesome people at the end of a season.

Archeology

Less important now but still useful. A secondary profession, you can still get neat, fun little optional things like you get with fishing.

Wargames, or "Bragging Rights for Epeens"

New planned feature announced -- wargames are battlegrounds you can play against specific opponents. Guildmates, server enemies, so on and so forth.

I expect it to be a feature I won't participate in except with/against my guild. If people on your faction/server challenge you and you win, they'll bug you for more games until they win. And if they win, they'll never let you hear the end of it.

I told this to husband and he said "The reasons you dread it are the reasons it will be popular. Lots of people want to be able to do that."

I figure he's right, and I hope people enjoy it, but I expect to answer non-guild challenges with "/forfeit, grats on the win."

I do plan on playing against guildies and getting tips from them to improve Plum's performance, though. Looking forward to it.

Count by Numbers, or "Know Your Spec?"

Several Cataclysm talent trees have been released. I tried to look at the priest one and my eyes crossed. I don't even know the intimate details of my talent tree now.

The truth is, you don't have to know the minutia of your spec, talents, or talent options. Purists will vehemently disagree with this, but that's why they're purists. They disagree with stuff. It's what they do.

All you need is a trustworthy source to give you your options. For many, this is Elitist Jerks. For me, it's my husband who uses Elitist Jerks. The other day, I waited forever to put 3 talent points in and then had my husband explain my new ability to me. He not only told me what it did but also how to maximize its effectiveness.

This form of learning how to play a class is acceptable to me. And, as far as my pugs are concerned, I do my job. As long as you learn the information, it doesn't matter how you get it.

This may make you ask "What do I do if someone wants to talk about my spec?" There are quite a few academic squabbles about specifics of spec, but if someone tries to argue with you about yours and you don't have an answer, there's a simple way to shut them down:

"I'll look into that."

How can they argue with that? They can't. Unless they're trying to pick a fight. Ideally, you will then talk to your source (whether written or verbal) about the matter in case the squabbler has a point.

Oh, and don't take your raiding habits from me. I'm writing this while waiting for the strat for Putricide to wrap up.