Comic 1, or "Plum Teaches Endór the Ways of the Tauren"

Because Endór was just so excited about cannibalizing her enemies. Art by me, submitted to the official comic contest.

Ah, Memories, or "The Best Part of the Plague"

The plague is ending today, and, though extra bosses and invasions will linger for a little while longer, it does mean that we won't be able to turn into zombies anymore.


Last night, I got to turn into a zombie and kill NPCs in Shattrath, which means -- DIE, WAFFLEFRY, AND TASTE MY ZOMBIE WRATH!!!

*cough*

I hate Whirligig Wafflefry.

Every time I go afk above him, I come back to a chat log filled with advertisements for his stupid waffle iron.

So... I've always wanted to maim his stupid little gnome body.

And my husband took me to him and we held hands and killed him, then tottered around for a bit until he respawned, and then we killed him again. It was all very sweet, and reminded me of a poem I wrote in college about how even if we turn into zombies and rip the flesh from our neighbor's bones, I'll be happy as long as we're doing it together.

Limited Time Pet, or "Fun with Castlevania"

Castlevania is a game where you have to go in a scary castle and fight Dracula. My husband owns it, and, apparently, this boss seriously harkens back to that game.

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

Prince Tenris Mirkblood is available in Karazhan (a level 70 10-man) after you kill Attumen the Huntsman. Just keep going past Attumen's body, clear the mobs around the repair guy, then take a left up the stairs and clear the circle so you can kite him (kite = keep him running, following you). There's a door you open to unleash the boss. When he's up, watch his portrait and stop attacking when he changes form, because it will kill the person in your group that he changed into.

When he's dead, everyone gets a little bat pet. It's not particularly cute, but it is only available for another week, and then you'll never see it again. So it'll probably be a Feat of Strength.

Make sure to get the quest for him in Eastern Plaguelands, Light's Hope Chapel. It's completely sharable.

Crafted Pets, or "Math Skills For the Win"

These are the pets you can get an engineer to craft for you, broken up into their most basic parts.

Remember to tip!

Tranquil Mechanical Yeti

• 1 Cured Rugged Hide (Rugged Hide+Deeprock Salt+Leatherworker)
• 12 Thorium Bars
• 4 Runecloth
• 2 Globe of Water
• 4 Truesilver Bar
• 4 Elemental Earth
• 2 Elemental Air
• 1 Gold Bar

Mechanical Squirrel

• 5 Copper Bar
• 2 Linen Cloth
• 2 Malachite

Lifelike Toad

• 1 Living Essence
• 1 Rugged Leather
• 1 Gold Bar
• 12 Thorium Bar
• 4 Runecloth

This has been a supplement to Pet Collection.

Announcement: Sinister Squashling Possible from Innkeepers

Remember, you can get a treat bag every hour from any Innkeeper. (I thought I'd have to wait a whole other year to get a shot at this pet! ^-^)

*thrilled*


This is a supplement to the 2008 Hallows End post.

Pup and Spider Pets, or "Crap, I'm Still Lost"

I was trying to lead a group to the pups and spiders in Lower Blackrock Spire and couldn't find directions (someone gave a link that was basically a 5-page text document with photos). A friend (who is insane and insists on doing every achievement and old world instance known to man) pointed out where to go.

(No, I'm not giving directions to Blackrock Mountain or Kibler, since they're the easy part of this. I figure if you're too lazy to look them up on Wowhead, you don't deserve the pets.)

Quests:

• Kibler's Exotic Pets
• En-Ay-Es-Tee-Why

Group of 1-5. Any class, well played, should be able to ninja through without trouble. Many suggest using invisibility potions if you don't have stealth or feign death. I'd personally just wait until 80 to solo it with the least amount of fuss. I had a group of 4 70's and we killed things like they were jokes. 80 should be laughably easy.

Getting into Lower Blackrock Spire:

• Go up the path and into the mountain until you hit the main lava room.
• Go right until you see the Meeting Stone.
• Take a right into the entrance just behind the Meeting Stone.
• Kill or ninja around the 54 normal mobs, keep going forward.
  
• At the end, you'll come to a ramp on your right, go up and up. Keep going up.
• Eventually you'll hit a room with two exits, one left and one right. There might be a rare mob Scarshield Quartermaster in front of the left one. Take the right and go up a ramp.
• Go right again, avoiding mobs in the hall, and look to your right when you enter the room at the end. That's the instance you want.
  

Getting to the quest mobs:

• Go up the ramp. There's a set of staircases on either side of the room that lead to the same bridge. Go up one of them and go through the righthand doorway. You'll hit a dead end. Jump down to the left.
  
• Ahead of you are 6 mobs on a lower level. Keep to the left and go around the corner. The twisting hall here is free of mobs.
  
• Ahead are 5 more mobs and some flags, seen through a small doorway. Head out and keep to your left.
  
• Bear down the slope on their left -- there should be a huge overhang above you on the left and 4 mobs around a brazier on your right.
• Keep left, avoiding the mobs on your right. You should see a bridge ahead, covered with mobs. DO NOT CROSS IT.
  
• At the bottom of the ramp, head straight right. Looking down, you should see two round red tents immediately below you, one larger (on the right) and one smaller (on the left). You should not need to fight anything to get to this spot if you're careful.
• Jump down between the tents. There are mobs beneath them, so try to land as far out as possible.
• Head west (right, if you're facing the wall you jumped toward). You should see lava on your right and a long corridor of red tents around the corner.
  
• Make a winding path south through the tents and Firebrand mobs. There's a patrol to watch out for, but at 70 we were able to ninja through.
• At the end, you look up a long blue-lighted ramp and see spiders at the end.
  
• The spider room is simple. Fight through the mobs, picking up eggs as you go. Eggs respawn and give you 2-3 per loot, so there are enough for everyone.
• Go out of the spider room and forward. You will see ogres ahead. Hug the left and sneak around the corner. Follow the ramp up (it doubles back above the lower path) and go straight toward the square lit doorway at the end, staying to your left to avoid the rooms full of Spire Scorpids.
• In the corridor you've entered, which bends like a long lowercase "n" at the bottom of your minimap, go west until you see the big wolf Halycon. 4 worg pups are at her feet. Aggro the pups and capture them in the provided cage.
  

You win. Now you can hearth because I really can't explain how to get out!

This has been a supplement to Pet Collection.

Key Binding Woes, or "Where Did My Attacks Go?!?"

So I logged on this morning and found all of my key bindings reset to default, including my attack bar wiped completely clean. Eek!

I'm very glad that I did a post not long ago on what key bindings are for. Today, I'm going to add this supplement gallery of what I, personally, rebound my keys to. I'm hoping it might give folks some ideas for their own keyboard setup.

(I moved Shift-M from Toggle Minimap, the small corner map,
to Toggle Zone Map, the map I use in battlegrounds. I always
mix those up, but Zone Map is the one I want.)

(I put Toggle User Interface back to Alt-Z,
b/c it's how I take my screenshots.)

(My results.)

There are some new options that I haven't looked at yet, because I don't think they're useful until Wrath. I'll probably re- or un-bind them eventually.

Hallows End 2008, or "Searching for Squashlings"

Starts October 18
Ends Oct 31 at Midnight

The Grind
Trick or Treating

• Go to all of your faction's inns -- everywhere -- and complete the Trick or Treat quest with the candy bucket. If you're not 70, this gives you a TON of free experience, so it is worth running around an entire continent. Put on inspirational running music and get those buckets. (The achievement panel has a list of places you need to hit.)
  
• Every 60 minutes, talk to an innkeeper and choose the option "Trick or Treat." If you have several characters, keep this on rotation (do all of them at once, in a row, then run around trick or treating on one until the cooldown is up, log, repeat). This is how you get the masks and wands.

The Daily
Orphan Matron

The Masked Orphan Matron wants you to put out fires on the orphanage (horde/alliance). Nab a bucket of water from the tub beside her, hotkey it, run to the house, and throw it on a patch of flames (you do not have to stop moving to throw it, and druids can stay in run form). Repeat until the headless horseman yells that he's been defeated (sometimes you can't find any fire, but there's still a patch somewhere -- just wait, and the house will start burning visibly again). You get pumpkins to put on your or another person's head (consumable, but no time duration; I have some banked from last year) and one of her turn-ins gives you a present (just like the hourly trick or treat bag from innkeepers).

She also gives you the one-time quest to kill--

The Boss
Headless Horseman

The coveted items of the year seem to be Sinister Squashlings and the Horseman's Horse. Let's pray for a better drop rate on the squashlings than last year -- I know several people who farmed all week in 2007 and only saw one (and lost the roll).

You do not need to have the Matron quest to summon him. Her quest gives you an extra summon, just once.

He's basic tank and spank. You'll need AOE to take down some adds later, but if your team has good gear and their new glyphs and talents in order, like mine did, he'll die too fast to require the AOE.

The Rewards

Aside from cute masks, fun wands, and creepy boss drops, the Achievement for this holiday is the title "the Hallowed."

Plenty of people are after the things you yearn for just for that title, so be prepared for some rude loot behavior if you're pugging the boss. Remember: It's not the end of the world if you don't get your coveted item (or title) this year. It just gives you something to work for next year.

Title Requirements
I cut out anything that you'll get just by doing the harder ones. No need to be redundant.

• Hourly Innkeeper Treat Bag -- You want 1 mask and 1 toothpick. You cannot use the wands on yourself, but you can buy a wand cast in Trade or get a friend to trade wand usages with you.
• Orphan Matron -- Put out the fire in Brill, Razor Hill, Falconwing Square, Goldshire, Kharanos, or Azure Watch.
• Get the Treat Bucket (Quest) in every single inn. You can track this through your achievement panel, and the buckets drop GNERDS.
• GNERDS -- Buff yourself with these and get 50 honor kills. (You don't have to get the killing blow.)
• Jack-o-Lanterns -- Once you have 10 from the Orphan Matron and Headless Horseman, head to a battleground or Shattrath. Toss these on all 10 of the races, but only if they don't already have the buff (or it doesn't count).
  
• Rotten Hallow -- Stinkbomb quests from this alliance guy and this horde guy.
• Head & Pet -- Get the Sinister Squashling and the Hallowed Helm off of the Headless Horseman or from your hourly Treat Bag at any innkeeper.
• Tricky Treats -- After killing the HH, you'll catch a whole bunch of these. Eat until you throw up.

Paid Face Changes, or "I Never Claimed to Have the News First"

... but at least I'm consistent in the types of things I repeat.

WoW Insider noted the following information from Production Director J. Allen Brack:

... one day even the skin and face of your characters [will] be customizable through some sort of paid change, akin to changing your character's name, perhaps. They haven't worked out any details yet, but it certainly does look promising.

This is great news for my sister-in-law, who hates her level 70 mage's face (or did a few months ago, when she stopped playing her). It also opens up the possibility that they'll add new faces.

So, technically, if someone wants to make their character into a completely new version (except for gender, race, and class), they will one day be able to do so. New hair, skin, face, features, and name = quite a makeover.

Blizzcon 2008 Dance Winner, or "OMG, I've Watched This Seven Times Already"

YouTube hates me, so click this link (or on the image).

But seriously. Omg. That girl is amazing.

I feel really really really bad for the people in line behind her. (Not included in this video is at the end when she stops dancing and pretends to cannibalize a corpse.)

For those of you who don't keep up:

This is the 2007 Winner.

Also popular in 2007 was the cute girl dancing as a female blood elf. That one always stuck with me.

Dance Studios, or "Better Late Than Dumb"

Non-Gamer's Guide to This Post

As Warcraft is a 3D game with a virtual world and free-moving characters, there are occasional things you can type to make your character say something amusing or move a certain way. One of the most popular of these is...

/dance

Your character begins to perform a dance limited by race and gender (all of the same race-gender makeup have the exact same dance). The action breaks upon movement.

In the upcoming expansion, we have been promised Dance Studios -- places in the virtual cities to learn NEW dances! This is incredibly exciting, especially for players who like to customize their characters (such as people on Role Playing realms).

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

SOMETHING TO DANCE ABOUT!

My husband found a blue post on mmo-champion about the dance studios -- they will be implemented in a patch after Wrath's release, but there's some new info about how they work.

New dances will be added in a content patch, one of the objective (sic) with the dance studio isn't to just add new dances but also let players combine moves to create their own dance. (source Blizzcon fansite summit, bolding mine)

This is better than I thought it would be. I'm completely excited, and the only thing to make this better would be if they fixed the ugly new hair styles the same way they fixed Sylvanas Windrunner (see image). I hold out hope for reasonably awesome hair.

I guess the big question is -- what kind of dance do you plan to put together? Birdfall is not really a dancer, so I'd like to give her something a little awkward and lame. And Dustfire is a bit of a "bad girl" so she'd have a dance that'd inevitably embarrass me in front of my guild. But my druid is big and sweet and enthusiastic, so she'd have an innocent but FUN dance.

Metamorphosis, or "So You Want to Switch Bodies"

This post is a cataloging of all the trinkets, consumables, and suits that make you look like a completely different creature.

None of these items will trick enemies into thinking you're one of them, as these are cosmetic only.

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

Orb of Deception. [FARMABLE / AUCTION HOUSE] Previously mentioned in its own post, this trinket turns you into another race for 5 minutes with a 30 minute cooldown. You always turn into the very same model, it never changes, and anyone of your race and gender will also turn into your exact same model. The model is not random, nor is it based on your personal character design, nor does it keep your original gear. It is a set look. Races: Gnome/Tauren. Human/Orc. Night Elf/Undead. Dwarf/Troll. Draenei/Blood Elf.

Orb of the Blackwhelp. [VENDOR / CONSUMABLE] 2.5g and 3 charges for each. Turns you into a black whelpling for 15 minutes or until you perform an action / take damage. You must farm a specific gear set in Blades Edge Mountains to buy these from an enemy vendor.

Orb of the Sin'dorei. [FARMABLE] Chance to drop off any boss in Heroic Magister's Terrace. Lasts 5 minutes with a 30 minute cooldown. Will change anyone (except blood elves) into a Blood Elf. Your gear stays the same and your character changes based on its own personal design. So you and your best friend, both human females, can use it and will come out looking like different blood elf women in your old gear.

Time-Lost Figurine. [FARMABLE] 3% drop off of Terokk, a 72 (elite) in the middle of Skettis. Turns you into an arakkoa (bird person) for 5 minutes with a 30 minute cooldown.

Dartol's Rod of Transformation. [ALLIANCE ONLY QUEST] Turns you into a Furbolg for 3 minutes with a 1 minute cooldown, breaks on damage but not on casting, and cannot mount while in use. Start the quest chain Raene's Cleansing until you get and activate the rod. You can drop the quest without losing the item, but if you finish the quest chain (which involves turning in the rod) you'll lose the rod forever.

Noggenfogger Elixir. [QUEST / VENDOR / CONSUMABLE] You have to complete a quest chain for good ol' Marin, but afterward you can buy this off him anytime you want. It gives you a random effect: Slowfall (fall slowly), Shrink (you become smaller), Skeleton (you become a skeleton).

Savory Deviate Delight. [COOKING / AUCTION HOUSE / CONSUMABLE] This turns you into either a pirate or a ninja. There are only 4 character designs available: the male and female versions of each. Everyone looks the same when they use it, but you can cast and take damage with it on (thus it's a favorite raid buff for tauren males). The recipe itself is a fairly rare drop in the Barrens (horde teens area), so it's a lot more common on the horde AH than the alliance AH. Also, to cook these, you have to fish in specific pools in the Barrens. It's a lot of hassle, and I suggest just being a consumer unless you want to make a business out of selling it.

Murloc Costume. [EBAY] Put on a giant murloc suit with a little Blizzcon flag. This was a gift item at the 2007 Blizzcon and can be found on Ebay. If interested in the pricing trends, take a look at WoWTCGLoot. Today it's going for a $195 buyout.

Carved Ogre Idol. [EBAY] Use this trinket to become a big red ogre for 10 minutes with a 10 minute cooldown. It stays on even when you take damage, but the funnest part is the Chris Farley SNL dance. This is a special gift earned by people who play the Trading Card Game (TCG), but some of them are selling theirs. On WoWTCGLoot right now the cheapest is a $69.95 buyout.

Gordok Ogre Suit. [QUEST / CONSUMABLE / CRAFTED] Use this to become a big black ogre. Get the pattern for tailoring or leatherworking from doing this quest. The suit only lasts for 10 minutes (whether you're wearing it or not) but it seems to be tradeable. I'll do some testing.

Hook of the Master Angler. [CONTEST PRIZE] Ever wanted to have druidic swim form? Well, you can! Just win the weekly fishing tournament and one of the two prizes is this trinket to become a fish -- complete with underwater breathing and increased swim speed. Breaks on attack or being attacked. No real cooldown (5 sec).

Winter Veil Disguise Kit. [QUEST / HOLIDAY] Turns you into a cute snowman. Requires snowball to use (bought at seasonal vendor or produced by an engineering item).

Hallowed Wand. [HOLIDAY] Turns you into a special costume for Halloween. Current wands include: Bat, Ghost, Leper Gnome, Ninja, Pirate, Skeleton, Wisp, and Random. Wands are BoP but do not disappear.



Thanks to everyone helping with the ones I missed! Keep them coming. :)

Dress Me Up, or "Yes, I Spent Years on This"

This one's for Escada.

My current collection is by no means complete. One of my greatest joys is collecting the pretty dresses, pets, and mounts that Warcraft has to offer, but I'm limited by the time the events run.

Collections. Dustfire's was made over the course of 2 years. Birdfall's has only had a chance to grow for half a year, since I remade her so recently. Please note that I don't include some very nice tailoring items due to their unlimited availability and bag space being at a premium.


There is one dress in the game that is (debatably) more rare than the Easter dress. This is the Formal Dangui which shows up on a vendor in Moonglade for 50g once every 2 months or so. I haven't been farming this dress, but my friend has because it can accept item level 60 enchants and has no level requirement to wear (thus, a fantastic twink item when Northrend enchants come out).