I have a bad case of the WoW blahs after some rather nasty guild drama. Still, my guild managed to continue its push through ICC, downing Festergut and getting pretty close on Rotface. This is due in part to our excellent group of raiding members, and in part to the buff that has been pushed to 20%. Another reason is, since we lost two raiders in this messy dramatic break, we have been having some friends of the guild help out in a couple of places, some of which have already seen all of ICC, if not having already completed it on other characters. They have been a big help explaining fights that some of us never took the time to study (hides behind her keyboard and whistles innocently). Oh, and did I mention Delgada got shelved? Turns out I know what I'm doing on Carlotta, and we don't need another healer. Look up there, you'll see our raid group, about 50% Tauren, and made all that much sexier with Carlotta's ethnic color.
Since I have been fairly uninterested in doing anything in WoW, I have been playing a couple other games to pass the time. The game that has taken the most of my time, up until our last ICC raid, was Perfect World, a free to play game with cash shop. I am trying to play it without using the shop, but I think it's going to get difficult when I exhaust the quest means to expand my bank. There are no quests to expand bag space, only a "quest" to turn in a bag expansion stone, which you have to purchase. Your bank,. however, can be added to by completing two gathering quests. The first I was able to complete by level 20. The turn in for this quest, however, is at the very top of the game map, far and away from a level 20 anything is questing. By this time, my cleric had maxed out her flying skill, so this was not too difficult to turn in. But what a gigantic time dump! I think all I did that day that I turned in that quest was turn it in and log off. I am not looking forward to the second collection quest. Let me not forget to mention that I joined a great faction there. HVND has been around just as long as KNR, and been in many of the same games. I remember frequenting their town on the Corbantis SWG server, paying my credits for their great doctor and dancer buffing house. The faction in Perfect World is just as friendly, and I'm looking forward to my next few stolen hours of playtime with them.
Another game that has taken some of my gaming time is Wizard 101. Rowan Trollstalker is level 30, and I decided I would spend some time farming bosses for pets, since part of the new expansion for the game has been pushed live, with the introduction of pet leveling, breeding, and min games. Tonight, I spend a good part of my evening killing General Akilles in Cyclops Lane over and over again. No pet yet ( I hear he drops a blue ghost), but I managed to snag a cyclops statue, a tonne of armor, a shelf, and a one day flying broom! After, Mister Winston and I fiddled around in the Pet Pavilion, playing in the maze game, the cannon game, and the dance game (we don't like the falling food game, no we don't!) Below is a picture of a practice derby Winston tried out yesterday. As I play with crowns, I didn't run a rated match, but if this is any indication of how well he'll do, I may shell out a few crowns for some rated matches when he gets to ancient status. Right now, he and my dragon Madame Hannah are adults, and I could mate them to hatch another pet, but the price is outrageous! Since we were lucky farming for pets (accidentally, mind you, what I really wanted was a flame cat statue!) the day before, I think we will stick with that for now. If you want to try this out, level a character to 7 and talk to the Headmaster. He'll send you on a delivery mission that will end in you getting a piggle of your very own to grow and love!
I would be a bad, bad game blogger if I didn't mention my other game addiction, We Rule. It's free to download and play, though if you wanted I suppose you could support them by buying mojo to speed up your farming and building, but you don't need to. Oh, and it would help if you had an iPod Touch, iPhone, or iPad to download it to, as I think that is the only platform they support. Recent expansions have moved the level cap from 20 to 25, then to 30, and added such neat things to add to your kingdoms as stocks, jails, orange and ruby groves, and golden roads.You can farm, visit your friends villages and purchase their wares, and rearrange your town to your hearts content. Below, in no particular order, are hubby's homes and gardens, Michelle's(of VGO and WCO) kingdom, a picture of what the neighbors menu looks like, and a view of the loading screen and my kingdom. These are all a little dated, because I had planned to post them earlier.
Other than those titles, the only thing that has been keeping me busy are the end of school rush for extra credit (or just regular credit), getting ready to close my work kitchen, and teenage drama. I hope you are all in a better state than I am.
That is all I have for now. Stay tuned as summer hits, and my gaming adventures become less mundane. I promise a summer vacation of free to play mmo's and free iPod apps that will leave you feeling like you took a grand vacation!
