Evolution of Pets, or "Tail Wagging and Other Fine Motions"

I'm trying to decide if Blizzard is giving us fewer but overall more complex vanity pets, or if the vanity pets we've received recently (Perky Pug, Core Hound Pup, Pandaren Monk) are just special treats.

If you look at one of the early pets, such as Mr. Wiggles the pig, his special motion was pretty unique: he ate grass while idling.

We were all "Oooh, look at that grass eating!!"

Lost, or "No, Not the TV Show"

There is no non-player-induced situation in the world (of Warcraft) as likely to make me cry as being lost in ghost form. Particularly during a pug.

I once ran back to a death knight and led him all the way through Utgarde Keep to the last boss just because I know how awful it is to be lost and not have anyone care or help.

One drawback I've found to the LFG system is that people who haven't done the instances before don't know where the entrance is when you have to run back after a wipe. On my mage, I always wait at the spirit healer until everyone seems to know where they're going, and once I know I don't have to lead anyone back I'll go in myself.

Kicking Woes, or "Nuuu, I Made Math Errors!"

An odd thing just happened.

I'm not sure if it's funny, annoying, or sad.

Probably all three.

I get in this Old Kingdom run, it's progressing just fine. On the first boss, a dps disconnects and after the boss one of the others votes to kick the disconnected person.

I didn't notice the disconnect but when I looked at their portrait, I was like "Oh, that person is grey with the little lightning" and figured that was a valid reason to remove someone from a group. It's not personal, it's practical. They're gone. We replace them. The queue was 11 minutes for me, not a big deal when my 71 mage has to wait 30.

Raid Dream, or "Raiding is Like High School?"

I had this weird dream where I was back in high school choir, but it was a choir RAID where we had to get the notes right to down the boss. We were practicing our "strat" by singing.

We then went to a choir competition and didn't know the songs they gave us.

I woke up debating theology with the guy who hosted it, but what I got out of the dream was that complicated raid fights are a lot like choir competitions.

People need to know the song. They need to know when to come in and when to let the soloist have their turn.

In choir, you don't ever put someone in the show who doesn't know the songs. If you do, that person doesn't just trip himself up, he trips everyone else up too.

Observation, or "I Dwell on Things"

People tend to use kid gloves on the immature members who will gquit in anger if you say the wrong thing.

People recognize the mature members who won't gquit when offended.

Sometimes, this means the mature get less consideration than the immature, simply because the guild wants to avoid a fuss. In one case, it meant the mature Myself got disrespected so that the Immature People would calm down, simply because I could be trusted not to kick up dirt about it.

This kind of thing sucks. I was so furious back then, I wanted to gquit, but that's why I'm considered one of the stable, mature, sensible ones. I didn't. Because gquitting in a huff is stupid.

Sometimes you don't win if you're the mature one.

Parting, or "Birdfall Goes to Northrend"

I wrote this story when Birdfall arrived in Northrend well before my husband's Mistwing. I needed a reason for why they weren't traveling together anymore, and I decided to combine an idea for a romantic interest for Birdy with the fact that my husband yearned to go elsewhere with Mistwing's character development.

The time of this story is after Birdfall and Mistwing have been traveling and exploring the world for several years but not long after Northrend opened up. So it's set not long after Birdy's official bio ends.

Armory Makeover, or "I Am So Late to This Party"

Did anyone else notice that the armory now shows your exact character design? In his or her exact gear?

I didn't know about it.

Then I looked up the healer from today's pug.

Whoa.

I have to log out in my RP gear from now on. >_>

Boor, or "More LFG Fun"

A "boor," as opposed to a bore (snore) or a boar (oink oink) is an unmannerly person.

It's different from an annoying person in that you usually find boors in polite grown-up situations and annoying people can be anywhere.

So I joined another LFG on Klaudia this morning, who just hit 70. She's in heirloom gear and scattered blues and greens, and she gets thrown into Utgarde Keep 100% of the time at this level.

She got in a group with all heirloom alts, except for the rogue.

LFG, or "Destroying Guilds?'

It used to be that guildies complained constantly about not getting groups for things. So much that you wanted to punt them. In the face. With a hammer.

Now, when I log on for my 10 minutes of horde a day, I'm lucky if I catch one person outside a pug and not afk.

I complained on our forums about feeling disconnected, so I logged on right after and asked if anyone wanted to run a bg. I thought making other people cry might improve my mood.

Since no one even bothered to speak to me (aside from an officer I was whispering), much less reply, I went in a bg alone, lost it, and logged out to get real world things done since logging in to "get to know people" requires waiting to catch them between their current pug and the next one they queue for.

Has anyone else found this to be an issue?

Makeover, or "Birdy Got All Fancy!"

I got the outfit I hyped recently and made her start riding the pink and purple mechanostrider from the Argent Tournament.

And I cut her hair.

I'm sure her hair will go back and forth between this and her braids. I love this hair, but it's not something I want permanently. It does make her look more grown up, though. And she is the kind of gal who'd chop her hair off for convenience's sake.

Membership, or "Oh So Much Better Than Officership"

As a member, I get to be honest and blunt. Officers don't. Officers have to weigh their words delicately to avoid upsetting folk and don't always get to say exactly what they think.

When you're an officer, all your words have repercussions.

As a member, I get to say things like "[some] things aren't possible [to accommodate], and you have to decide if you're going to seek alternate ways to fulfill your game goals or just sit and complain about not getting what you want until people get tired of hearing it and tell you to shut up (oh, wait, everyone in IVV is too passive-aggressive to do that)."

I don't know why I'd ever want to go back to censoring everything I say. I just like being able to say what I think needs to be said without the mess of authority and politics.

Healers, or "The Butt-Monkeys of Pugging"

The party wipes on the first boss.
[Arishicage-Andorhal]: healer u @#$%in suck
[Glendà-Dalaran]: kick me then
[Birdfall]: I think there was aoe or something. Lots of melee.
[Arishicage]: im tryin
[Arishicage]: true but melee wasnt in poison and she needs to heal the tank
The mage leaves the party.
[Arishicage]: im not trying to be a dick but u need to learn to heal and get some gear
[Donagh-Turalyon]: get dps
[Arishicage]: lol
[Donagh]: tru that
[Arishicage]: 1 sec
[Arishicage]: glenda the good witch. leave!
[Birdfall]: Look, I've had at least two of my healer friends cry because of people putting blame on them when it wasn't their fault. So cut it out.
[Glendà:] KICK
[Birdfall]: I don't know what went wrong, but if something did we should figure out what before blaming the heals.
[Arishicage]: naa
[Arishicage]: it was the healz
[Arishicage]: if healer doesnt heal tank
[Arishicage]: pretty sure he is fail
[Arishicage]: thats like number 1
[Arishicage]: plus i have a priest
[Arishicage]: i know wut his mana and hp should be at
[Arishicage]: and he is severely undergeared
[Birdfall]: If the entire party is dying, the healer can't do much at all.
[Arishicage]: ...
[Arishicage]: u obviously dont know wut ur talking about
[Arishicage]: priests have aoe healz
[Birdfall]: Holy do.
[Arishicage]: that heal entire parties AT THE SAME TIME
[Arishicage]: so how would he have trouble keeping up one group
[Birdfall]: I have a priest with holy offspec and my sister-in-law does holy raid healing.
[Arishicage]: idc
[Donagh]: lol
[Arishicage]: this isnt worth 2 badges. sry donagh
[Arishicage]: later
Everyone leaves.

Outfit of the Month, or "Leather is the New (Old) Hotness"

This outfit discovered on Drendari of Moon Guard. Please be respectful if you're on Moon Guard and want to reproduce it (choose different gloves or boots; add a cape or shoulders; etc).

I've always loved this particular chestpiece because of its detail -- the laces up the front, the artistic curlicues, the gold on the pleasing but respectable dark teal -- and Drendari uses the matching pieces, along with the classic mageweave gloves -- to perfection. I appreciate that Drendari didn't keep adding set pieces until they overwhelmed the character. This is a simple, sleek look that any player can admire.

Transfers, or "The Power of Friends"

I hate world PVP. If you've been reading for long, you know this. I don't enjoy animosity from or toward the opposite faction, so I don't attack others unprovoked, and I don't like that jerks without my moral code feel free to do things to my character that I would never in a million years do to theirs. (I.e. Teabagging.)

So why, oh why, did I move Birdfall from my nice little RP server to the crap-pot Zuluhed?

*sigh* Friends.

My sister-in-law moved her tauren druid to Zuluhed's alliance side and we discussed an alliance guild name ("IVV" in honor of In Vino Veritas). And she even agreed to RP with me (discretely). So I transferred, because I saw a future for Birdy on a server with people I know and love instead of somewhere safe but alone.

Does this mean I like PVP servers now? Oh my God, no.

How to Instance Rez, or "No I'm Not Mad..."

But I might need to start explaining this at the start of every low level LFG instance. Because there seems to be one in every group.

When you die in an instance...

DON'T use the spirit healer to get your body back.

Instead...

Run back to the instance in ghost form.

If you don't know how to find the entrance...

Ask.

When you enter the instance portal...

You get your body back.

If you don't do this...

You may get kicked like this guy.