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.