Letters from Birdfall

Aw Crap, or "Am I Really Closing Down the Blog? Really?!"

2011-03-17T17:13:00.004-04:00

Well, ladies and gents, it looks like it's time for me to move on from WoW and, thus, close Letters from Birdfall.

I don't have babies or mortgages (yet) but most of my friends and family have those and they're playing a lot less, which means I'm playing a lot less.

I've played Sims 3 the last two weeks (pets expansion in October, woot!), and I'm working on creating my own neighborhood to stick my Real Life friends in. Been at it for a few months, but I've really been into it now while I'm between temp jobs.

I will be going into other MMOs eventually, but I doubt I'll spend much time in WoW except maybe a holiday or two for old time's sake. Lots of my friends are happy with Rift and there's the Star Wars MMO coming out later, and the "Titan" unnamed Blizzard MMO is coming out much later, so lots of options for when I want a new game.

If you want to keep up with me as a person:

personal & writing blog here
writing website here
web comics here
Sims 3 downloads here

It's been fun, and I'm happy to have met everyone who's stopped by. :)

Thanks for putting up with me!

/love

Mount & Pet Images, or "These Cubs are So Freaking Cute!"

2011-02-27T14:56:00.006-05:00

You've seen the Fire Hawk, now for its friends:

I'm still not sure what will drop from Zul'Aman (which had the fancy bear mount), but I don't see anything relevant here yet. The last two mounts are obviously the new Zul'Gurub ones, BUT these are not necessarily the final product. The raptor is supposed to be armored according to the notes, so I think they may have just stuck these models in to test with and will update them later.

OMG I LOVE THOSE CUBS!

And... green fire hawk? *grimace* Gogo undead and/or warlock mount?

Fire Hawk, or "Prolly a Super Raid Mount"

2011-02-25T07:51:00.001-05:00

This is very pretty and will probably be uber-hard-to-get. But enjoy the pretty picture! :D

Good News, Bad News, or "3 Old Mounts Are New"

2011-02-24T08:15:00.002-05:00

Good News

Zul'aman and Zul'gurub are coming back as high level 5-mans. They bring along their old mounts -- bear, tiger, and raptor -- as rare drops.

Bad News

The models or skins for the three classic mounts will be different. Hopefully, they'll be updated to become even awesomer, but probably they'll just have different colors now.

Photos when available.

Listing:

20	Pet	Landro's Lichling
20	Mount	Savage Raptor
40	Mount	Armored Razzashi Raptor
40	Mount	Swift Zulian Panther
60	Mount	Amani Dragonhawk
70	Mount	Flameward Hippogryph
70	Mount	Reins of the Crimson Fire Hawk
70	Mount	Reins of the Beryl Fire Hawk

Valentines 2011, or "Start Your Rockets, Ladies and Gents!"

2011-02-06T11:52:00.000-05:00

It's a farming extravaganza!

I managed to get all relevant characters to 85 to farm the holiday boss for the mount (or, in Dusty's case, the rose helm). This makes me happy.

An important change: you no longer queue from the LFD pane. You now have to go to Detective Snap Snagglebolt [H] or Inspector Snip Snagglebolt [A].

Previous years: 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007. 2010 has the achievement info you'll want.

Lunar Festival 2011, or "Where are the Elders!"

2011-01-23T11:52:00.001-05:00

A few elders have moved around, such as Stormwind's Elder being placed out front of the city (the game tells you to go to the destroyed park, but it's wrong).

Lunar Festival 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007.

Pick up the Lunar Festival quest. Head to your Alliance or Horde Harbinger. Pick up the quest to shoot off rockets. Get 8 rockets (any color), 10 [Red Rocket Clusters], and 10 [Firecrackers]. Keybind the [Red Rocket Cluster] and shoot off all 10 as fast as you can to get an achievement. Repeat with [Firecracker] for another achievement.

Grab your invitation, use it in the column of moonlight, go here and get the Omen quest. Head for this spot and look for a group killing Omen (if you do this in the first day, he is always being downed -- later in the week is much harder). Help if you can. You want to stand in him while he's dead, it doesn't matter if you helped kill him. Turning in the quest with the buff on you from his corpse (dying removes it) gets another achievement.

Elder Time

There's a list here, but it's not 100% accurate for Cataclysm yet. I'm sure it will be fixed by the end of the week, but here's a good rule of thumb: if you can't find an elder where it's supposed to be, go to wowhead and search for the elder's name (given in the wowwiki listing). Under the Comments tab, go to the most recent comments and glance over them for the elder's new position. You will always find the answer there.

If only coordinates are given and you don't use coordinates, go to Tools > Maps and select the area you're in. As you hover over the map, it will give you coordinates and you'll be able to see where on the map your elder is. :)

After Getting All Elders

Buy clothes with your tokens.

You're an elder now!

Mediocre, or "Do We Need a Player Reputation System?"

2011-01-15T12:51:00.004-05:00

I'm of two minds about reputation systems that let players rank other players. On the one hand, it would be nice to downrate jerks and uprate awesome people. On the other, it would add an aspect to the game that I'm not convinced would be beneficial to players.

Today on Birdfall, I had a mediocre group in Throne of the Tides that lost 3 healers. The first healer left after three wipes on the same boss. The second helped us through that boss but chewed us out for being terribad and left. The third stayed until the last boss when the tank had to leave and the group fell apart.

Personally, I would have liked to give props to my group even if we were pretty mediocre. The tank and other dps were new to the instance and perfectly willing to admit when they didn't know what they were doing. But they were also willing to keep trying. They kept a quiet, honest respectability around them that the second healer didn't possess in his littlest finger. He might have been "pro," but his social skills were terribad and got a /ignore from me.

There's something to be said for a group that rolls with its faults and doesn't implode. I might not have rated us very high in skill for that run, but I would have given my group mad rep bumps for tenacity and patience.

I think I'd like to leave a group or finish a dungeon and get a popup for "Did you enjoy this group? Yes/No" and yes gives a rep bump to everyone and you can also choose to rate each player individually:

Skill: Terribad -- Poor -- Mediocre -- Fair -- Good -- Outstanding -- Don't Know

Attitude: Terribad -- Poor -- Mediocre -- Fair -- Good -- Outstanding -- Don't Know

Busy Birdfall is Busy, or "News on Why I've Been MIA"

2011-01-13T19:51:00.000-05:00

Plum is 85
Dustfire is 83
Windwhistler is 82
Birdfall is 81

I work a day job, do rated bg's on Wednesday, do RL family stuff on Friday, and have been recuperating from Christmas, then my anniversary, then brother-in-law-in-law's 21st birthday, and this next weekend is the first I've had to really chillax in several weeks but I'm also pressing for 85 on my alliance so I can try for the Pink Love Rocket starting Feb 6th.

/exhausted

TL;DR - I'm super busy but should be back soon.

Fox Pet, or "Just In Case You Missed It"

2011-01-02T16:45:00.001-05:00

Fox Kit is a BOP drop from foxes in the normal daily questing zone of Tol Barad Peninsula. This is not the "join for battle" zone, but it is contested which means players on PVP servers will be flagged for PVP combat.

The droprate of this pet is currently unknown, so if you plan to farm it please download the Wowhead Client to help them get accurate droprate numbers. I'm going to guess it's a 1/1000 pet.

Oh, and it DANCES.

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

2010-12-26T16:31:00.001-05:00

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"

2010-12-20T09:10:00.002-05:00

Head

Chef's Hat

Hand-Held

Clothing Shown:

Antiseptic-Soaked Dressing
Bloodwoven Pants
Red Lumberjack Shirt
Willow Belt
Battleworn Pants
Bright Boots

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

2010-12-18T11:12:00.003-05:00

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"

2010-12-16T08:10:00.002-05:00

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"

2010-12-13T19:56:00.002-05:00

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"

2010-12-11T12:38:00.000-05:00

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"

2010-12-07T17:35:00.004-05:00

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"

2010-12-06T20:20:00.002-05:00

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"

2010-12-01T18:02:00.001-05:00

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!"

2010-11-25T21:26:00.001-05:00

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?"

2010-11-25T10:20:00.005-05:00

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"

2010-11-25T07:46:00.005-05:00

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?"

2010-11-23T07:54:00.000-05:00

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"

2010-11-22T08:23:00.000-05:00

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"

2010-11-21T14:19:00.003-05:00

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.

Start in any city. It doesn't matter. The feasts are all set up just outside the entrance of each city. If a city is under Invasion, you may have to wait until it's over to get your feast on (i.e. Thunder Bluff)

Bountiful Feasts (Achievement)

Sit at any table in the feasting area and eat five helpings at each chair (do this at all major cities for an achievement). The result is also a "Spirit of Sharing" which increases REP GAIN by 10%. Darn useful if you're working on rep.

Pass food by selecting another player sitting at your table and click the "Pass" button. Pass one of each food for an achievement.

For another achievement, pass food quickly to another person. If they don't eat fast enough, your pass will "Bounce" and you'll get the "FOOD FIGHT!" achievement.

Dailies (Achievement)

Get to your Pilgrim's Bounty Vendor (outside any city or town) and buy [Bountiful Cookbook]. Loot it to receive holiday recipes. You can max out your cooking with these recipes.

The dailies will request that you cook one or more of the recipes, but you need to get the ingredients to make things.

Do all of the dailies once to get the achievement.

Ingredient Locations

Cranberries: Orgrimmar / Ironforge
Pumpkin: Undercity / Stormwind
Sweet Potatoes: Thunder Bluff / Darnassus
Huntable Turkeys: Tirisfal Glades / Elwynn Forest

You need to cook one item of each recipe to get the corresponding achievement.

PVP Danger (Achievement)

Wear a holiday clothing item and sit at a feast table in every major city of the opposing faction.

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

2010-11-15T20:31:00.003-05:00

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:

You do not need to be in a raid to get the buff.
You get the buff when the elementals stop spawning (i.e. when the rift closes).
The buff hits an area of people, so you need to be nearby when the rift closes.
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!"

2010-11-11T07:50:00.002-05:00

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!"

2010-11-09T21:27:00.001-05:00

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

Enchanting Pets, or "Faction Lamps"

2010-11-08T07:58:00.000-05:00

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"

2010-11-05T11:26:00.003-04:00

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.)

HORDE

[Orgrimmar: Valley of Strength, south of bank]

The Situation So Far: Go to Valley of Wisdom, in the room with Thrall, talk to the guy. If you enjoy lore, stay a minute and listen to the arguments between the leaders. :) [end of quest chain]

Prophecies of Doom: Go to the Drag (map) and pick up scrolls by the doomsayers. While doing this, talk to a Doomsayer and ask for a speech.

Signs of the Times: Look for posts with blue arrows above them. Post sign x5.

Sign Post

Infiltrating the Cult: Go to any Doomsayer in the Drag and loot the crate by him/her. Put the robe on and head to Jaggedswine Farm juuuust southeast of Org.

The Missing: At Jaggedswine Farm, keep your recruit's robe on and speak to Kagarn, Agtar, Tokka, and Rokaga.

Spreading the Word: Wear your sign at the designated locations (put it on before you enter the locations or it won't qualify). Map.

Sandwich Board

The Master's Plan: Go to the altar just to your east (seen in screenshot here) and wait for the speech.

Elemental Device

The Doomsday Plan: Return to the original quest-giver in Org.

Thwarting Twilight's Hammer: Break rotating bobble devices (see screenshot) and kill resulting elementals.

Altar

Alert Our Leaders: Head back to Thrall's room and tell dumb-face Garrosh what's going on.

[end quest chains]

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

2010-11-01T06:16:00.032-04:00

What: Talon of the Phoenix (13% droprate) / Claw of the Phoenix (11% droprate)
Dropped From: Al'ar in Tempest Keep: The Eye

These are mainhand and offhand fist weapons and are super-duper-amazing-looking. The claws move and it's just a terrific effect. I hope to farm these with husband's best friend some day, even though I can't wear them.

Honestly, I don't see any point in not allowing all classes to train all types of weapons. If the stats are lousy for you, they're lousy for you, but you should be allowed to wear things to look pretty!

I've been feeling a similar frustration with armor. Roleplay cloth wearers are limited in their selections, and I'm hoping that the new "armor specialization" coming out in Cataclysm will eventually usher in the ability for cloth wearers to expand their wardrobes. It's a longshot -- much longer a shot than fist weapons on a priest -- but I still maintain the vague hope.

Advice, or "To Listen or to Ignore?"

2010-10-30T15:08:00.004-04:00

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."

I tried it here and there in the instance but didn't always do it because I a) wasn't used to having it in my rotation and b) didn't know why I was supposed to use it for groups of mobs.

When the shaman reminded me to use "rend + thunderclap" when I'd been trying like the dickens to control a group and keep it off the DK who kept putting down aoe and the warlock whose pet kept grabbing aggro, I asked husband: "Honey, does [Rend] help with warrior tanking for groups? Specifically [Rend] and then [Thunderclap]?"

He replied that there was a talent that, if you put [Rend] on one mob and then [Thunderclap], it puts rend onto all the mobs hit by your thunderclap. I then passed this info on to my group.

Shaman came back with a "Yeah, that's why I told you to do it." As if I were stupid for not listening to his brilliant explanation of "the new way of doing stuff is weird."

I pointed out that he hadn't explained it to me and now that I had a reason to do it, I'd be more likely to work it in.

The whole thing wasn't so much annoying as frustrating. Even people who are right about their advice don't do anyone a favor by saying "Just do this."

We need a reason. We need explanations. We need to know why. It's always a strong possibility that the person telling us "I know what I'm talking about" is just blowing smoke. Or even that their information is outdated. And without evidence to the contrary, why should we listen to them?

So I appeal to all you advice-givers -- be able to back up your advice with an explanation. And you advice-takers, be ready to prod your advice-givers for more than a "Do this." Ask them why, or what (for example) changed in the patch that makes this worthwhile, or what this combination of moves or stats does for you that your current moves or stats don't.

Everyone will be a lot happier (and much better players!) if we can just communicate this sort of thing better.

:)

Female Worgen Dance, or "Lady Gaga Poker Face"

2010-10-28T07:48:00.001-04:00

Original by Lady Gaga.

Cataclysm Launch, or "Where Will You Be?"

2010-10-26T20:57:00.000-04:00

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"

2010-10-23T11:44:00.001-04:00

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

Achievements Walkthrough:

Queue for and kill Headless Horseman.
Get under the Tricky Treats that fall from sky after HH's death to catch them (have bag slots). Eat them until you throw up.
Hallowed Helm and Sinister Squashling fall from the daily HH bag and/or the 1 hour innkeeper bags.
Pick up the yearly candy buckets in Kalimdor, Eastern Kingdoms, and Outlands.
Take your G.N.E.R.D.S. into a battleground and leech kills.
Trade other players for wand usages. Advertise in city Trade channel that you are looking to trade [Have Wands] for [Needed Wands].
Do the Alliance quests (pick up in Southshore) or the Horde quests (pick up in Tirisfal Glades; map).
If you get a Tooth Pick, use it.
Throw Jack-o-Lanterns on all the races.
Do daily to save a village. (1 / 2.) Just head to your local level 5 town outside any major city to pick it up.

Enjoy your new holiday meta achievement.

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

2010-10-20T07:53:00.001-04:00

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"

2010-10-19T20:10:00.002-04:00

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"

2010-10-18T07:42:00.000-04:00

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

2010-10-16T10:49:00.000-04:00

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

2010-10-16T10:20:00.002-04:00

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

AH Thieves, or "1c Deals Woooo!"

2010-10-11T22:01:00.000-04:00

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."

I finished my report, switched to my alliance mage for easy teleports instead of Birdy, and flew her down to Booty Bay.

I looked around for the wee scoundrel but didn't find him. I switched to my horde bank and checked the zone. No sign.

Disappointed, I figured he'd logged.

I switched back to my Neutral AH character to get his name and look for him one last time, but then I noticed that I had a reply to my ticket.

"Thanks for your ticket, we're looking into it" said the automated GM response.

I tilted my head to one side and then the other.

I put two and two together.

I felt much, much better about losing 11 Prairie Dogs.

Burn, you jerk! Burn under the mighty banhammer of justice! Flail and weep and gnash your teeth! The Neutral AH traders of Zuluhed rejoice on this fine free-commerce day!

BWAhahahaha!

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

2010-10-06T07:53:00.000-04:00

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"

2010-10-05T07:59:00.001-04:00

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"

2010-10-03T11:38:00.007-04:00

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.

Directions to Flamelash from The Grim Guzzler:

You start in Direbrew's room if you used the Remote. Exit through the only doorway into the room with the tables and patrons. You are facing southeast.
Go straight through the room and up the stairs at the end on your left. You should be facing the locked bar door. There are three options to get through. One is to attract and kill Phalanx (read his comments for strats). One is to complete the quest The Love Potion for a permanent non-combat option. One is to pickpocket the key off of Plugger Spazzring.
Once through the door, you should be in Shadowforge City. Lord Incindius is below you. Do not jump down. Instead, follow the outer circle north and take the first open doorway on your left (you'll pass only one group of mobs to reach it).
The corridor will empty you straight onto Flamelash. He's immune to fire. Good luck! :)

Special Note: Even I haven't been able to figure my way around this strange labyrinth of BRD, which is why I don't have directions to Flamelash from the instance entry. I'm sticking to my Remote strat, but please feel free to give directions in the comments if you're able. I'll take the time to verify them and add them to this post with appropriate credit. :)

Alternative

The Crown of Destruction is a mail drop from Ragnaros in Molten Core. It does not have a Use effect, but its 19% drop rate makes it a more attractive farm for mail wearers who want a visually striking headpiece.

I do not currently have directions or a strat for Ragnaros.

These are larger and more dramatic than the Fire Festival coronet, shown on Dustfire in the image above.

Cute Photos, or "Mountses and Petses"

2010-10-02T08:02:00.002-04:00

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"

2010-09-26T16:01:00.000-04:00

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.

Skins

Faces

Hairstyles

Direbrew Lost, or "Instance Not Found"

2010-09-24T08:16:00.000-04:00

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!"

2010-09-21T08:13:00.002-04:00

^ 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!"

2010-09-20T07:35:00.001-04:00

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:

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"

2010-09-19T12:58:00.000-04:00

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

2010-09-19T12:42:00.000-04:00

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

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

2010-09-19T09:14:00.006-04:00

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"

2010-09-18T10:14:00.005-04:00

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.

Guild Achievements Rewards

Guild Level 5 - Reach guild level 5. Reward: Guild Vault Voucher (7th Tab)
Guild Level 10 - Reach guild level 10. Reward: Heirloom Cloaks
Guild Level 15 - Reach guild level 15. Reward: Wrap of Unity
Guild Level 20 - Reach guild level 20. Reward: Heirloom Helms
Guild Level 25 - Reach guild level 25. Reward: Reins of the [Guild Mount]
Saving For A Rainy Day - Loot 100,000 gold from creatures. Reward: Guild Herald
A Class Act - Reach level 85 on each of the classes listed below. Reward: Shroud of Cooperation
Stay Classy - Complete the classy achievements listed below. Reward: Guild Vault Voucher (8th Tab)
Horde Slayer / Alliance Slayer - Complete the slayer achievements listed below. Reward: Guild Page
Critter Kill Squad - Kill 50,000 critters Reward: Armadillo Pup
Guild Cataclysm Dungeon Hero - Complete the heroic Cataclysm dungeon achievements listed below while in a guild group. Reward: Standard of Unity
Working as a Team - Obtain 525 skill points in all professions and secondary professions. Reward: Banner of Cooperation
Better Leveling Through Chemistry - Create 25,000 Cataclysm flasks. Reward: Big Cauldron of Battle (Recipe)
Master Crafter - Craft 1,500 Epic items with an item level of at least 359. Reward: Cloak of Coordination
That's A Lot of Bait - Catch 10,000 fish from fishing pools. Reward: Seafood Magnifique Feast (Recipe)
United Nations - Raise 55 reputations to Exalted. Reward: Dark Phoenix Hatchling

Notice: Holidays

2010-09-18T08:03:00.001-04:00

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"

2010-09-17T08:20:00.002-04:00

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?"

2010-09-14T06:42:00.002-04:00

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"

2010-09-12T09:40:00.014-04:00

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.

Horde:

Da Perfect Spies: Loot 5 frogs. They're everywhere outside the village. Go back to the quest giver and right-click each frog to attune it.
Frogs Away!: Head to the circle of dancers just to the west of you. There's a bat on their far side. Talk to Handler Marnlek beside it and hit white flares with frogs (target area like an aoe) as you fly over Echo Isles. Plenty of chances, so don't fret if you miss a few.
Trollin' for Volunteers: Head back to the bat handler and go to Razor Hill. You click them, use the drums, and get (I am not even joking) a posse. I want to keep my posse. *frownyface* You run them back to the guy, they mount when you mount.
Lady of Da Tigers: You're a kitty! (A male kitty. *pout*) Run south to Echo Isles. Stack 3 of your second ability, use your 3rd when it's up, use your 1st the rest of the time.
Dance of De Spirits: Talk to the Witch Doctor. If someone else is doing the quest, you can't speak to him until his bit is over for them. The reward is an item that turns you into a troll (of your own gender) in full battle gear. 4 hour cooldown. :D
Preparin' for Battle: Talk to the bat handler. Talk to Vol'jin on the little island.
Zalazane's Fall: You have to wait for the battle just like when you were in the Battle for Undercity, so others will likely be there with you. The reward is a nice RP Darkspear Cape. Tip: You don't need to be in a raid group to get the quest complete, but it's a good idea to put a raid marker on Zol'jin's head, as he can be hard to spot in a crowd.

Alliance:

A Few Good Gnomes: Use the motivator on gnome citizens standing around. Run your awesome posse out to Steelgrill's Depot (go south out of Ironforge and take the eastern fork in the road). Deliver them to the guy among the crab-lookin' machines.
Basic Orders: Head to the large group of gnomes you passed on entering the Depot. Wait for the instructor to tell you to emote salute/roar/cheer/dance. Have him targeted and emote when he tells you to.
In and Out: Enter the machine, hit ejection.
One Step Forward: Enter the machine, hit the movement buttons 3 times each.
Press Fire: Behind the quest giver is another machine with targets. Hop in, get in range of the targets, and fire 3 times.
Vent Horizon: Go on the flight, target 3 of the huge marked vents with your Radiawhatsit.
Prepping the Speech: First target is one of the mount vendors right there in the Depot. Next, run toward Kharanos (south at the crossroads) and while on the road just north of Kharanos you'll see a little building with a turning gear on top. Inside is your second guy. In Kharanos, south of the inn, you'll see a small camp with wagons and behind it another small camp with a cauldron. The cauldron camp has your last guy.
Words for Delivery: Deliver to the crab-lookin' machines guy.
Words for Delivery: Ride the machine, deliver the speech. If Mekkatorque is not right beside you when you land, see if Operation Gnomeregan is in progress. Once it ends, he'll respawn instantly.
Operation Gnomeregan [75]: Follow Mekkatorque, stay with him, don't run ahead. It will bug if you get ahead of him too far.

Awesome Posses

Squee, or "New Stuff"

2010-09-10T19:29:00.002-04:00

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

New mounts and pets and titles.

Mounts:

Alliance Guild Mount SCREENSHOT
Golden King
Tan Riding Camel
Grey Riding Camel
Brown Riding Camel
Drake of the South Wind
Drake of the North Wind
Drake of the West Wind
Vitreous Stone Drake
Phosphorescent Stone Drake
Spectral Steed - Exalted Baradin's Wardens
Spectral Wolf - Exalted Hellscream's Reach
Scepter of Az'Aqir - Archaeology

Pets:

Rumbling Rockling
Swirling Stormling
Whirling Waveling
Fox Kit
Clockwork Gnome
Crawling Claw

Titles:

Assistant Professor
Associate Professor
Professor
Ishmael
, Veteran of the Alliance
, Veteran of the Horde
, Hero of the Alliance
, Hero of the Horde

Professor Plum, anyone?

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

2010-09-07T20:25:00.000-04:00

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"

2010-08-31T09:58:00.002-04:00

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"

2010-08-30T13:20:00.002-04:00

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?"

2010-08-29T13:08:00.100-04:00

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).
What Is Your P-U-G Personality?

1. My own gear is important to me.
(Untrue) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (Very True)

2. I enjoy socializing with my groups.

(Untrue) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (Very True)

3. The gear of my groupmates is important to me.
(Untrue) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (Very True)

4. I adapt well to different types of groups.

(Untrue) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (Very True)

5. I get frustrated if my pugs aren't speed runs.
(Untrue) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (Very True)

6. I feel uncomfortable when my group won't communicate.
(Untrue) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (Very True)

7. I consider myself to be a nice person.
(Untrue) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (Very True)

8. I consider myself to be a skilled person.
(Untrue) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (Very True)

9. I consider myself to be more nice than skilled.
(Untrue) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (Very True)

10. I do not put up with irritating behavior.
(Untrue) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (Very True)

11. I do my best to keep the peace.
(Untrue) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (Very True)

12. Gear doesn't matter to me as long as my group can complete the content.
(Untrue) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (Very True)

Annoying Pugs, or "Tales of a Little Tank"

2010-08-28T10:38:00.003-04:00

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:

[Nikkaps-Haomarush]: lol tank your still using [Aegis of the Scarlet Commander]
[Nikkaps]: XD
[Windwhistler]: And [Dread Pirate Ring].
[Nikkaps]: my 41 pally has a better shield tho
[Windwhistler]: Probably. I don't care, though.
[Zord-Steamwheedle Cartel]: Lol
[Zord]: HOLY CRAP
[Zord]: [Aegis of the Scarlet Commander]?!?!?!?!
[Nikkaps]: don't back sas me or i'll make mr. wiggles into bacon [Did I mention his (or someone's) first statement in the group was "DIE MR WIGGLES!!" Yeah. Started me off with a great impression.]
[Zord]: Holy !@#$.
[Zord]: my level 39 warrior has that
[Windwhistler]: Switching chat channels.
[At this point, I did switch channels to my Real ID window but could still see the popups. I really really wish I couldn't. I just wanted to get the run over with.]
[Nikkaps]: lol
[Zord]: Lol
[Zord]: lol
[Nikkaps]: love you too
[Zord]: SHes fail
[Nikkaps]: my 41 pally had a shield with 2200 armor
[Zord]: What other bad gear does she have
[Zord]: [Highlander's Plate Greaves] [The end boss in the instance we were in has a great boot upgrade for me.]
[Nikkaps]: check her ring
[Zord]: Nice
[Zord]: Level 40
[Zord]: HOLY %^&* A PURPLE GEAR
[Zord]: [Berserker Bracers]
[Zord]: level 40
[Zord]: LOL
[Nikkaps]: XD
[Zord]: Double gratz
[Zord]: I leveled and hunter?
[Nikkaps]: how has she not died yet
[Zord]: Ikr
[Nikkaps]: yay
[Zord]: She can't hold aggro for !@#$ tho [He almost died every single pull because he kept pulling aggro. Just him. No one else. Can anyone quote the rule for dps pulling aggro off tanks?]
[Nikkaps]: gratz
[Zord]: U tew
[Nikkaps]: ya
[Nikkaps]: :D
[Anyi-Scilla]: i can keep her up
[Zord]: Only cuz of heirlooms [I mentioned this to husband's best friend. He made a face and said "So the only reason she could keep you up was because of gear."]
[Anyi]: skill duh
[Zord]: THEY WANTED TO KIC U
[Zord]: I said no
[Zord]: :D
[Nikkaps]: me
[Zord]: Yup
[Zord]: I said no no
[Nikkaps]: :( y
[Vaeyethror-Executus]: i said no
[Zord]: THe tank prolly initiated it
[Windwhistler]: I did. Have fun waiting for a new tank. My queue is instant anyway. Great heals, Anyi, you've been the only mature person here. :)
[I shouldn't have said only, the third dps (who came in when another chattery dps d/c'd) kept his mouth wisely shut. Until he voted no and lost his tank, of course.]

TL;DR - They made fun of my gear even though nobody who wasn't a moron died during the run. My tanking philosophy is: as long as I survive, keep aggro off the healer, and know when to use cooldowns, my gear is fine. End TL;DR

I'll upgrade when I get the opportunity to or when someone finally lists tank plate on my AH. If I really can't tank with my gear, I don't tank.

Anyway, I'm thinking it's a really bad idea to piss off your tank if your run is going smoothly. Hopefully, the healer left too and they had to wait another half hour to get a group again. Crossing fingers.

During my annoyed complaining to husband's best friend, I got a solid tip. HBF said that shields make up about half a tank's armor and I should probably get one that has dumb stats on it (caster stats) just for the armor boost. He said I'd probably still get made fun of by morons, but. Gonna do it.

Afterward, I concluded wryly that the entire thing was husband's fault. He quit WoW for a while and he's the one who buys gear for Whistler (without being asked; he just loves to gear out my warrior). Silly husband!

Pet Wish, or "When Pigs Fly"

2010-08-27T12:29:00.003-04:00

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!

I mean, don't you feel just awful when you abandon your little ground-only pet and it "dies" because you left it? My friend replied: "I'll talk to my computer and say: 'I didn't desert you, I swear! It's the game!'"

They're such pitiful little things, chasing after their owners on those chubby little legs (or tentacles or claws) and having to run past all those mean monsters and down and around all those big obstacles.

I'd like to see a non-flying-pet option for flying mounts. Like letting them ride on the butt of your mount, just behind your character, or having them disappear while you're flying but reappear when you land. Or even get picked up in your flying mount's claws/talons/feet!

It's just that it really is heart-wrenching to lose a pet like that. You feel like it's your fault for flying too fast or too far from the ground. You're leaving your pet behind. I have to fly close to the ground so my pet can keep up, and I'll even pause to wait for it if I fly over a large hill.

It's nice that some pets can fly with you, like the phoenix hatchling, but we still leave the rest in the dust. And with flying coming to Azeroth, I see this problem getting worse, not better.

Save the ground pets! Make pigs fly!

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

2010-08-25T22:33:00.000-04:00

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

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

2010-08-21T17:33:00.000-04:00

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.

I glanced at my loot window as a [Blacktip Shark] dropped into my bags. I hit my Hearth. I watched the loading screen with shaking hands.

"Please God, please God, please God . . ."

I hurried out of the Horde inn, mouse over the mount button for the exact moment I entered the city.

"Please God, please God, please God . . ."

Race! Runrunrunrunrun! "Please don't let an Alliance get there before I do! They're so much closer! OhGodohGodohGod . . . NOBODY IS TALKING TO HIM YET! TURN IT IN!"

"THE RING! SELECT THE RING!"

Dustfire has won the Kalu'ak Fishing Derby!

Out loud: "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!"

I sprint out of office and yell up the stairs to Husband's Best Friend, "I WON! I WON THE DERBY!"

I hear a vague "Grats!" as I dash into my bedroom. "I WON!" I jump on the bed and pounce husband, who rolls over and looks at me groggily. "I WON THE DERBY!!!"

He continues to look sleepy and confused.

"SORRY I WOKE YOU UP FROM YOUR NAP, I WON THE DERBY!!!"

"Okay . . ." He gets up, still tired and confused, and goes to find food. HBF has come downstairs for lunch, and I bounce up and down at both of them.

"I WON THE DERBY!"

"We heard," says HBF wryly.

Husband gives me a hug.

"Are you giving me a hug because you like me or because you want to crush my bones for jumping on you during your nap?"

He grunts, still half asleep.

I smile and hug him back. "I won the Derby!"

Squee! Happy!

Twilight Phoenix, or "Different From Dark Phoenix?"

2010-08-21T12:47:00.003-04:00

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.

Other confirmed and unconfirmed mounts that MMO-Champion data-mined:

Goblin Trike Key (Horde)
Goblin Turbo-Trike Key (Horde)
Volcanic Stone Drake
Phosphorescent Stone Drake
Drake of the East Wind
Drake of the West Wind
Drake of the North Wind
Drake of the South Wind
Vitreous Stone Drake
Brown Riding Camel (Ramkahen - Exalted)
Tan Riding Camel (Ramkahen - Exalted)
Grey Riding Camel (Ramkahen - Exalted)
Skeletal Mount
Blood Guard's Mount
Crazy Raptor 75 (Bloodlord Mandokir's Raptor)
Crazy Raptor 150 (Bloodlord Mandokir's Raptor)
Black Dragonhawk
Secret Goblin Raptor
Fossilized Raptor
Dark Phoenix (Guild Flying)
Lion (Guild - Alliance)
Thunder Lizard (Guild - Horde)

Other confirmed and unconfirmed pets data-mined:

Pet Fish
Pet Stone
Turtle Egg (Albino)
Turtle Egg (Hawksbill)
Turtle Egg (Leatherback)
Turtle Egg (Olive)
Enchanted Jade
Enchanted Purple Jade
Celestial Dragon
Crawling Hand
Pebble
Fossilized Hatchling
Snail Pet (Guild)
Baby Dark Phoenix (Guild)
Hardboiled Egg

(source)

Tired, or "Choosing Chores Over WoW?"

2010-08-19T22:46:00.000-04:00

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.

Today, I got onto Dustfire after a bunch of errands. I logged on more to chat with my sister-in-law than to do anything. There aren't many goals left for me except some collecting, auctioning, and getting a Pony Bridle for my mage. But today I was tired and bored and didn't feel like I needed to do anything in game. I had no impetus.

My sister-in-law said "I organized today. You could try that?"

So I turned down an invite to Blackwing's Lair, logged out, and went on a rampage of tidiness. I decimated the pile of papers by my desk, cut down the boxes I wanted to stow in the attic (for future moving), and shoved 90 padded coat-hangers precariously onto a closet shelf with the warning to husband that "If you get scared by something falling in the closet at night, it's my mother's fault for sending us a freaking mountain of hangers."

I then washed the cat toys we'd pulled from under the oven.

And baked a delicious apple crisp.

And proclaimed myself Superwife and husband and his best friend my man-wenches. (HBF protested until husband whispered that they were getting apple crisp out of the deal.)

All of this happened because . . . I'm kind of bored. Bored of WoW. Bored of Sims 3. Bored of the snazzy Korean drama I've been watching.

The only thing I'm not bored of is hanging out at my brother's house and watching Buffy (or the new BBC Sherlock Holmes, squee), but we couldn't do that tonight because my silly brother-in-law-in-law had to lead a stinky ol' raid.

I'm still interested in WoW. I find myself clicking on MMO-Champion ten times a day, hoping for something new to alleviate the boredom. But for now . . . I'm just out of steam! :/

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

2010-08-18T13:32:00.001-04:00

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)"

2010-08-17T13:43:00.001-04:00

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"

2010-08-17T08:57:00.015-04:00

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?"

2010-08-14T22:20:00.031-04:00

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?

I feel that having one guild leader as the supreme authority in a guild is an outdated model. Some work well with it, and I'm not suggesting it be removed. I merely think that a guild should have more structural models to choose from, such as a council or a democracy or even a republic.

My most immediate concern is that I think the disband function should be changed to a vote that more than the guild leader must participate in.

I also think that a guild's members should have the ability to overthrow an unstable guild leader. A way, perhaps, to demote that person and put someone else in their place, to the purpose of keeping the guild intact as a structure while removing the power of someone who doesn't have the guild's interests at heart.

I feel strongly that one person should not have the ability to hold a well-progressed guild ransom to get his or her own way, and that an acceptable amount of power (acceptable being a debatable quantity) should be put into the hands of guild members for emergency situations to preserve their guild.

Even if it's just a new rule that a guild can ticket to have a guild leader replaced if they can prove that he or she has been acting to the guild's severe detriment.

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

2010-08-14T15:54:00.006-04:00

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.

I can't guess how it will be attainable. There's a beta tester whining about it being the next "Sparkle Pony" and how only real raiders deserve things as cool as a phoenix. Asami's moving response about the original phoenix was, in my opinion, enough to have shut anyone up, but alas it didn't.

As I've been reading through the Guild Advancement beta forums, it seems that getting experience (and rep!) for your guild requires some elbow grease. I don't know if they'll buff the numbers later, but one player said she got 8 rep for her guild after doing all of Ashenvale. 8 rep. For an entire zone.

Some people are talking about gold that goes into the guild bank, and whether or not guild leaders will siphon it off for themselves. These discussions made a little thought spark in my brain:

Guild perks, rewards, rep, and (yes) even phoenix mounts are incentives for guilds not to fall apart. And what makes guilds fall apart faster than anything? Cheating each other!

So these are material reasons for people to stay together and work things out instead of disbanding in a huff or ninjaing the guild bank.

I like the focus on guilds as lasting entities, it's brilliant, but what I like best about this is that it (at least partially) screws over ninjas. I've said it before and I'll say it again: anything that messes with jerks is a good thing. (from Cataclysm Yay)

I fully expect items like the Dark Phoenix to be completely removed from your character if you gquit or your guild disbands. They do that with the Core Hound Pup if you remove your authenticator, which means they can, and they've said you won't get to take things with you. Which, I hope, means they will (instead of leaving it on your character as an unusable mount, like with dropped professions).

Perhaps the dark phoenix will be a reward for a super-hard guild achievement. Like Legendary (having a legendary weapon in your guild) or even a raid achievement. Perhaps it will be given to guilds that have been around for X number of years. Either way, I doubt it'll be the next Sparkle Pony.

One thing that resonated with me in the Dark Phoenix discussion was the idea that veterans deserve nice rewards:

I don't think it's a bad thing to reward groups of players who stay together a long time because they enjoy being together instead of just the raider guilds who are only with each other because schedules aligned, they were the correct class and they topped meters. (Shamanah)

The whole point behind guild achievements is to reward people who stick together. And it makes sense that the Dark Phoenix, as a guild reward, would be related to that philosophy above all.

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

2010-08-14T13:47:00.004-04:00

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"

2010-08-13T15:04:00.000-04:00

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.

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

Group
You must have a tank and healer with good gear. My husband has done this on a well-geared 80 shaman with his best friend on a super-geared 80 paladin.

Where?
Skadi the Ruthless, 3rd boss in Heroic Utgarde Pinnacle.

Getting to the Boss
You can skip the first two bosses. Both have to be engaged, and I myself have skipped them in groups.

Fighting the Boss
The tank takes the adds and picks up harpoons. He shoots down the boss with the harpoons while the healer stays away from where the boss lands so as not to pull aggro.

Skadi hits hard, especially during whirlwind, which is why your tank needs to have gear. Your healer needs a large mana pool simply because the fight takes a while -- husband said that the only difference 2-manning Skadi at 80 is that it takes longer than 5-manning him. If you find a friend willing to help you or one or two people who want to farm him alongside you, then you're all set.

Sometimes the hardest part of mount farming is finding a farming partner. Good luck, everyone. :)

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

2010-08-12T15:41:00.001-04:00

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!"

2010-08-10T17:56:00.000-04:00

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"

2010-08-09T13:22:00.004-04:00

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"

2010-08-06T23:44:00.000-04:00

(source)

Mini Deathwing, or "CE Pet?"

2010-08-06T23:41:00.000-04:00

Potentially the collector's edition pet. Not confirmed.

(source)

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

2010-08-02T13:10:00.000-04:00

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.

Ohwait, that's my nephew -- though he does look like a little old man when he's cranky.

I won't be available much this week because my computer has been randomly crashing and my parents are in town to see the kid. He's their first grandchild, so it's kind of a big deal.

Now, what you really wanted to see:

(source)

Pug Trolling, or "Cyber Bullies Run in Packs"

2010-07-28T14:23:00.010-04:00

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.

Logging started on 07/28/2010 at 12:35:21.
12:55:40 [Protus-Dentarg]: hey priest
12:55:53 [Protus-Dentarg]: whats up with the sad trinket?
12:56:08 [Shawtyisaman-Dentarg]: nice.. [The Lady's Brittle Bracers]
12:56:08 [Riu-Dentarg]: sadddd trink
12:56:10 [Shawtyisaman-Dentarg]: O.o
12:56:14 [Shawtyisaman-Dentarg]: [Gunship Captain's Mittens]
12:56:19 [Dustfire]: Hit.
12:56:38 [Protus-Dentarg]: why do you have attack power enchants/
12:56:44 [Riu-Dentarg]: i hear attack power and strength are pro for priests
12:56:46 [Protus-Dentarg]: planning to melee them to death?
12:56:46 [Dustfire]: Leveling enchanting.
12:56:58 [Dustfire]: Not that I have to defend myself to you.
12:57:08 [Shawtyisaman-Dentarg]: yes you do,my main is a spriest
12:57:14 [Protus-Dentarg]: i think you do : /
12:57:15 [Dustfire]: Fine, bye.
12:57:20 [Shawtyisaman-Dentarg]: k
12:57:21 [Protus-Dentarg]: bye

I put them on ignore and then reported them for cyber-bullying me out of a pug. It was annoying, but more than anything I don't like the thought of people getting away with that kind of behavior. They harassed me for no defensible reason, they should be reported for it.

Outfit of the Month, or "Arr Red"

2010-07-24T22:37:00.000-04:00

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?"

2010-07-18T12:03:00.003-04:00

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.

Guild Levels

For small or casual guilds, I'd try to hit at least guild level 22. As we know from the Goblins, time is money and that means Bountiful Bags is amazing. More herbs, enchanting mats, ore, and skins per gather means more crafting items and thus more gold from the AH.

Level 11 is when you get the final experience buff for leveling alts.

I expect that leveling your guild will require less effort than collecting rewards.

Rewards

Guild rewards, like mounts and pets and tabards and such will be buyable with gold when the guild manages to acquire them. We do not, as far as I know, have any clue what all the rewards will be or what specific tasks are required to collect them.

When we do have a listing, be sure that I'll let you know.

Rewards, though, will likely be more difficult to collect than guild levels. Rewards are for cooperative effort (probably from guild achievements), and if your guild is small or casual, I expect rewards to be difficult.

As a mount and pet collector, though, I'll be keeping you apprised of how to get rewards for, say, a guild that has only 1-5 people in it.

Conclusion

All of this really makes me wish Horde had a race I'd feel comfortable changing Birdfall to. I joked back before race changes had even been hinted at about making Bird a Goblin, but I honestly don't think I could move my Alliance alts over until Horde has a bevy of races I'd really enjoy. If ever.

But the temptation is there. The thought of benefiting from my guild, being able to help on Birdy, being able to do stuff at all. . . . Tempting. Quite tempting.

Brother in Beta, or "Female Goblin Hairs"

2010-07-15T16:28:00.010-04:00

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?"

2010-07-12T18:35:00.005-04:00

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!"

2010-07-09T13:28:00.002-04:00

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?"

2010-07-07T14:53:00.009-04:00

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.

One of my quirks is to try and see things from every angle. I totally get the con angle.

So what about the pro? What benefits would this give the forums, the WoW community, and Blizzard itself that might outweigh all this player negativity?

to help improve the quality of conversations and make the forums an even more enjoyable place for players to visit (source)

Um . . . yeah, that actually needs doing.

Is it just me or have I not said on multiple occasions that the official forums are a cess pool of the lowest common denominator of humanity, a place where actual human beings are driven out with relentless cruelty?

the forums have also earned a reputation as a place where flame wars, trolling, and other unpleasantness run wild. (source)

^ Yeah, what he said.

It seems to me that requiring everyone to post with their real names will force accountability onto the soulless beasts roaming the official forums, waiting to spring on hapless wanderers.

Removing the veil of anonymity typical to online dialogue will contribute to a more positive forum environment, promote constructive conversations, and connect the Blizzard community in ways they haven’t been connected before. (source)

^ Oh hey. That's what they were thinking, too.

In the immortal Penny Arcade comic, anonymity is the key to internet trolling. (Level 1 alts, anyone?)

It seems reasonable that the only truly effective way to clean up their forums is to remove anonymity. They're not trying to screw over their player base. They want to clean up the horror that is the official forums, which in itself is a noble goal. If we disagree with their method, then we should suggest alternate methods. Preferably effective ones. Because whether or not we like this (and I venture to say we, as a populace, don't), we should be honest enough to admit it'll probably have the intended effect.

What will it mean for you, the average player?

If they go through with it in spite of the negative feedback (and I expect they will), there are a few things you can do to protect yourself when posting on the official forums.

1. Never post with your character attached.

This is an option and I suggest turning it off. If no one knows which character you play, they can't run to your server and harass you (or bug you to be BFFs).

Alternately, if you have enemies who know your character name, they can't put 2 and 2 together unless you do it for them.

2. Never intentionally piss anyone off.

This should be obvious, but if you don't get into raging and violent arguments on the forums, there will be no need for anyone to try and mess with you (irl or otherwise). Don't give people an excuse to hate you. Just don't.

3. Never drop information (casually or otherwise) about your real life.

You shouldn't be doing this anyway. It's dumb. But I'm going to say it out loud (figuratively speaking) for good measure: if you don't give people clues as to where you live or who your friends are or what you look like, they'll have a lot more trouble finding you if you slip up on tip #2.

4. If you're being harassed, report it.

I'm not just talking about reporting to Blizzard. If someone's using the forums or game to mess with you, totally report it. But if it goes outside of the game as well, contact the authorities. Blizzard has proven that they're willing to work with law enforcement, and if the worst happens and you end up being stalked, I'm 99.99% sure Blizzard will give the cops what proof they possess. They have a super-low tolerance for crime.

5. If you're not comfortable, don't post on the official forums.

There are other ways to get yourself heard. Blogging, submitting articles to WoW.com, even posting on your guild forums and letting someone else take up your mantle.

Husband sent me to a comment for an article on this subject. Most of what Nattie says backs up my tips, but she also covers several concerns that a little practical thinking should help you manage (I found the thoughts on parents and children sharing an account particularly interesting).

My final thought is this: Real ID on the forums is not a perfect solution. Unfortunately, there are no perfect solutions in this world, not when you have people bent on getting around the rules as their sole form of entertainment.

You may decide to never post on the forums again. But I promise that the majority of people who continue to post there will be more circumspect in their behavior if this goes through.

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

2010-07-04T21:28:00.002-04:00

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.

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

Read the entire strat before ringing the gong or you'll die. Ohmygoodness, that first swarm is brutal.

I found it a lot easier than expected on Dusty once I figured out where everything was. Yes, I had to run out every time, but the level 70 elites miss you a lot and my shield was good enough to keep me safe while using a hex stick on a frog -- even with a mob on me.

Wait, where is all this stuff? O.O

Nearest frogs are here. You use the hex sticks on them before leaving the instance or the sticks disappear.

The two suggested patrols are here. They're close enough to the entrance to run out and close enough to the frogs to use the sticks quickly.

How long will this take?

Amani Hex Sticks have an average drop rate of about 37.74%, and the chance of getting a Mojo is about 2%. By combining the Mojo drop rate with the stick drop rate, on average you will need to farm about 133 mobs.

I got about 20 sticks an hour using this method, and spent a total of about 3 hours farming them before I finally got Mojo.

^ Quote from the guide.

I got mine in about 3-4 hours, if you cut out all the distractions I had and count only time spent farming.

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

2010-07-04T20:48:00.004-04:00

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"

2010-07-04T12:58:00.007-04:00

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.

Is there still tension in the South? Sure. One or two towns you hear of still have rampant racism (i.e. public and newsworthy), and in any particular town I'm sure you'll find a smattering of people who'd fall under the racist umbrella.

In my high school, the white kids and the black kids tended to stick to friends within their own race. I perceived it to be a comfort thing rather than overt tension. I asked my friend Dee if she'd ever encountered racism and she said no, but I think a mutual friend of ours had. She had a tense anger about her sometimes that worried me.

In New Jersey, one of the things I liked best was the racial integration. There was none of the wariness you get sometimes in the South. It wasn't just black and white, either, you had all types of races and backgrounds. It was just lovely. Aesthetic, even.

Now I'm in Minnesota, filled with Viking descendants and Native Americans. My sister-in-law's father was either 6 or 10 before he ever saw anyone who wasn't white. In fact, the racism up here reportedly extends between two sects of white people. ~~Nordics~~ Norwegians and Swedes.

(The human color scheme here is a bit boring compared to New Jersey, but the weather is nice and there's hardly any traffic, so. :/ )

All this to say: different colors are pretty. Racism is dumb. Read that article so you can help report dumb racist people in WoW because I cannot emphasize enough how badly they need to be reported.

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

2010-07-03T14:43:00.008-04:00

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?"

2010-07-01T11:57:00.007-04:00

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"

2010-07-01T08:56:00.008-04:00

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

Worgen voices are British, Goblins are... Italian? Jewish?

The flirts and jokes have videos now, but they can be a bit NSFW (wow.com says that the Blood Elf flirts didn't all make it from Beta to live, and they don't think all of these will either) so I'll just link the wow.com worgen and goblin posts with the videos.

Cataclysm Beta Live, or "NDA Lifted"

2010-06-30T23:14:00.012-04:00

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"

2010-06-30T12:43:00.005-04:00

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.

Yes. You heard that right. I'm scared of pixelated water monsters. I jump a little when Northrend sharks attack me. My heart starts racing and I fight hard just to get out of there.

Heck, when I took Dustfire through Maraudon (level 80, nothing could hurt her!), I still got seriously freaked out by Rotgrip. My little warrior has killed him at least 5 times now, but I always wince when I spot his huge bulk slithering across the pool and know I have to go toward him instead of away.

As a teenager, I had nightmares where I waded through hip-deep water while monsters writhed just under the surface. The movie "Anaconda" didn't help. "Jaws" didn't help. "Finding Nemo" didn't even help.

The idea of being slow and helpless and half-blinded while something stalks you just creeps me out.

So swimming in Cataclysm while mobs wander into my aggro radius? *shudder* Maybe I can hit 85 without doing those zones. Dungeon leveling, anyone?

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

2010-06-26T12:15:00.006-04:00

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?!"

2010-06-25T13:44:00.002-04:00

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'"

2010-06-24T20:15:00.002-04:00

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

Wolf Head

Embrace of the Lycan (Ivory)
Coif of Elements (Russet)
Coif of the Five Thunders (Black/Red) - SHAMAN ONLY
Big Bad Wolf's Head (Russet)
Headdress of Inner Rage (Black)
Helm of Lupine Cunning (Ivory)
Helm of Lupine Ferocity (Ivory)
Helm of Lupine Grace (Ivory)
Mask of the Howling Storm (Black)
Spiritcaller's Mask (Brown)
Wolf Hunter's Guise (Ivory)
Wolfshead Helm (Ivory) - DRUID ONLY

Large Wolf (or Bear) Head

Far Seer's Helm (Brown/Orange) - ALLIANCE ONLY
Mok'Nathal Beast-Mask (Black/Yellow)
Beaststalker's Cap (Ivory/Yellow)

Main Hand

Off-Hand

Clothing Shown on Tauren

Banshee Armor
Durable Pants
+ Ivory Helm & Ivory Fists

Clothing Shown on Human

Embersilk Tunic
Archmage Pants
Embersilk Boots
+Far Seer's Helm & Russet Fists

Windwhistler 40, or "Happy Mount Time!"

2010-06-24T17:12:00.006-04:00

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!"

2010-06-22T17:29:00.012-04:00

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.

To explain how things were before this, May 2009 I wrote some disjointed posts about a 25-man raid my guildmates joined. A member of the guild Pure Insanity was loot master. The loot rules were clearly stated at the outset. At the end of the run, a member of my guild won a best-in-slot weapon.

The master looter claimed he couldn't loot it to the appropriate winner and promised to ticket it. Five of my guildmates stayed in the raid to make sure he didn't return to loot it for himself.

He did return, they accused him of trying to steal the item, and he used their accusations as justification to steal the item. He and his guildmates taunted my guildmates. My GL talked to their GL, who was polite but did nothing. My guildmates then put in tickets, but the GMs didn't do anything but offer platititudes. We had a report from a more sympathetic Pure Insanity member that when a GM spoke to the ninja, the GM asked if he'd been the master looter and then said it was the master looter's choice to do what he wanted with the items that dropped.

My guild was dissatisfied but unable to pursue any other form of justice. The people who'd been on that run cut off all ties with Pure Insanity, and the rest of us avoid them as common sense.

Thus, my guild is quite happy about this change. The same tickets that the GMs couldn't help with would be valid now.

This change can also be useful for members of guilds with untrustworthy raid leaders. Simply whisper your leader and ask them to repeat the guild's loot rules before you start a raid (easy enough with a macro).

Good raiding, everyone!