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.

Guild Contest, or "Beta Cataclysm with 9 Guildies"

June 7th - July 12th

If you think your guild would supply the perfect candidates for testing the limits of Cataclysm's content and systems, tell us why!

All you have to do is send an email to blizzardcontest@blizzard.com containing a short essay between 50 and 250 words explaining why we should bring you and nine of your guild mates on-board.

Official information page.

Only guild leaders may apply for your guild.

Some people in my guild are excited about the idea and there's a general call in IVV for helping with the entry for the guild leader to submit. I offered to help people with theirs, since I'm supposed to be a professional writer (I'm more of a serious writer in limbo, tbh).

But I don't actually want to participate if we get in.

A while back, WoW.com (aka WoW Insider) called for guest writers to talk about why they wanted or didn't want to be in the Cataclysm Beta. I wanted to submit an entry but it would have required installing something and I'm way too lazy for that.

Truth is, I don't want to be in the Beta. The reason is simple and practical: it seems futile, frustrating, and exhausting to level a character to 85 only to lose your progress and have to do it all over again.

When I experience Cataclysm, I want to be fresh and prepped to lead 3 characters rapidly to 85 before the holidays (and their cute mounts!) pounce upon us. Particularly Valentines. *drool @ pink*

I think if I experienced Beta, I'd be burned out before the expansion went live. I'm saving up steam for the push -- and I see no benefit in letting my steam out early.

Rar.

Silly Tank, or "There's a Reason You're Not the Dungeon Guide"

Yes, I have nothing better to post about at the moment. Yes, I know it's pathetic.

I've been running ToC every now and then (less since I got the new Sims 3 expansion), and I've run it enough to know every encounter, so I queue as a dungeon guide.

I'm dungeon guide for this morning's run, where we do fine to the Black Knight and wipe on the second stage (with desecrates and exploding ghouls).

We return, and I drop a Fish Feast thinking that'll make a difference.

We wipe on the same phase, but I vanish to avoid the wipe and watch. I then say in party chat:

"We should try to move him out of Desecrate more, I think that's what's getting us. And perhaps the tank could kite him in a wide circle so people don't get hit by ghouls as much."

Non-judgemental, right? Especially considering it's the tank who dies every time due to standing in a pool of desecrate while ghouls explode around him. I politely don't mention this.

One of the dps asks if we kill the ghouls first and I say "No, we kill the boss. The ghouls explode when they have a red thing over their head and start slowing you, and it takes over half your health."

The tank says: "ToT when the ghouls are up. 1700 for a rogue sucks."

I reply: "It's low because I stand outside Desecrate while the boss is always in it."

The tank says nothing, but in my head I'm like: "PWNED!"

We then one-shot him using my suggestions.

XD

Kickers, or "Nice People DO Win"

Zarhym announced yesterday (yeah, I'm late) that people who tend to vote kick others will still have the wait period on vote kicks. People who don't tend to kick will have no cooldown to initiate a vote kick.

Yay! Nice people win!

If you don't do LFG and are concerned about what this means for you if you choose to start, you'll probably begin with the cooldown but it will change (or not) based on your statistics for kicking. Also, people who have the cooldown now can lose it by kicking less.

I applaud this.