Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Get It?

Her name is Rio.

ROFL

The Latest Screenshots For your Viewing Pleasure

It's an emergency maintenance day!  Which means, I should probably write something, but I have Christmas cookies to make, a house to clean, and guest to entertain.  So, I'm posting some random screen shots for your viewing pleasure.

Blue Steel.

Dearbre was falling off the whole ride.  Glitch, or too small hippogryph?

The spirit of Shadumbra. Wasn't Shadumbra a black panther?

Darkshore Twister.
Queen Azshara
Boo!
I promise not to bite again.  Let me go?
Look at the roses and the clover.  How sweet, and sad.
Take two potions and call me in the morning.
This post brought to you by Dayquil, Diet Dr Pepper, and Kleenex.

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Stood In The Fire

Damn.

Must...Write...Post.

Will we see this paintings outside Gilneas?

Hey everyone!  I know it has been forever.  I really don't have much to say these days that everyone else out there isn't already saying.  Cataclysm, and before that the Shattering of Azeroth, have pretty near blown me away.  All the new content that I am slowly digesting (Delgada is at an anemic level 82) gets to be a little overwhelming sometimes.


I have plans.  I really want to roll one of every race up, except for the Draenei and Blood Elf, to experience the new starter zones.  So far the only ones I have done are the worgen and troll, and last night I started out the goblin area. Like many bloggers out there are saying, I, too, find the beginning questing so involving that the levels just fly by.  The stories are engaging, and immersive.  Yeah, I get that I am not really the chosen one, but does it hurt to believe it for just as long as it takes to get the hell outta Dodge?

The ruins of Quel'Dormir.

As for my eighties, I have hardly touched them.  Delgada is almost done with Vash'jir.  As soon as she could get back to the mainland, she did, because I stupidly threw her onto the boat without training her professions so she could level them. Thankfully, she is not a gatherer, so all the items she needed to level were already in her bag when she did eventually train, and her tailoring and enchanting are now being worked on.  While in the Undercity, Delgada picked up archaeology, and she hasn't gone back to questing.  She found her first rare last night, piecing together bits of Elven relics.  The Highborne Soul Mirror is a neat toy (and if you have been reading at all on this blog, you know how Del loves her toys) that puts out a ghostly duplicate of the user next to them.  The image turns and watches you as you move, but doesn't leave the place it was cast.  I was surprised to get such a neat thing so early in the leveling, as Delgada is only about 165 skill points in.

My horde guild, KNR, has progressed to level 4.  There are about 12 people at 85 already.  Last night one of our guild mates linked their latest piece of gear in chat,and I about died laughing.  The Emberstone Staff, complete with the same old graphics, dropped for him off a boss in Heroic Deadmines!  I know, this is all old news to anyone paying any attention to the kajillion WoW bloggers out there, but I still find it silly (which is really one of the reason I play, for the silly stuff!) that someone would want to go back to an old instance and get the gear they leveled out of by level 25.

If it's far, we give you a car...riage.

I mentioned earlier I had tried out the Worgen starting zones.  I have more than tried them out.  I now have 3 worgen out of there. I don't have any plans to level more, yet, as I think a druid, mage, and rogue are plenty.  The rogue replaced my night elf druid who was the replacement my now level 63 draenei hunter as a bank alt.  Not that I don't plan to level her, just that she is kinda low on the totem pole.  I really want to have a druid at max level, and the last of the three worgen is the one I am leveling.  Her name is Dearbre, and I am leveling her as a restoration druid.  Dearbre is Catalan for of the tree.  Talk about forcing myself to stay a healer!  She is closing in on level 30 pretty quickly. 

My husband, his best friend and I started out together as worgen.  We joined my alliance guild, Illuminati Order, which is also a level 4 guild, and grabbing achievements left and right.  Here is a picture of the three of us, fresh level one characters in our cool starter clothes.

A priest, a mage, and a warlock looking for adventure!

Then, several quests later, in our top hats and wedding dresses...

Yes, this was a candid shot.
Here's my mage, on a horse.  Why, because she looks so good on it!

Black Beauty.
Last night I started leveling a goblin. I got in trouble, because hubby wanted to level one with me, but I didn't want to wait anymore.  Here is Bittsee, who is sure to be the next Trade Princess, in her hot rod.


Rolling with my homies.




Bittsee's coming out party...

Smog, palm trees and swimming pools.  Kezan, or So Cal?

That is all I have for now.  I am itching to get Dearbre out of Ashenvale, and into mining something she can level her engineering with.  How is Cataclysm treating you?  I'd love to hear from you (pokes blog with a stick to see if it is still alive).

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Last Minute Preparations

As the sun sets off the coast of Azshara...

Midnight Tuesday morning is coming up awfully fast.  Instead of doing what I should be doing to get ready for Cataclysm launch, I'm leveling a troll druid.  What should I be doing to get ready?  Here's a list of things I should have started over a month ago to be ready for what is coming in less than 28 hours.

  1. Cleaning and bag space.  All my characters need to be gone through and cleaned up. There should be no extra pieces of gear hanging around for just in case, no leftover garbage like old arrows and vials, nothing that will not be used. There should be food, drink, a hearth stone, the necessary profession tools and supplies, and maybe some potions and flasks. Upgrade your bags to something bigger, if you can.
  2. Talents and Glyphs should be set, with glyphs learned and maybe a small stack of powder to wipe out the old in favor of what new glyphs come.  
  3. Get the hell out of Dalaran.  Seriously, what good will that town do for you?  Park yourself in a nice, quiet, centrally located main city to wait out the last hours. Oh, and don;t forget to set your hearthstone!
  4. Professions.  If they are not at max level, get them as close as possible.  Gathering professions will be crucial at the start out of Cataclysm. The materials for older recipes will become pricier as less people will be leveling (and gathering) through this past expansion.  Professions that aren't up to your level make you no money, so skill them up quick.
  5. Clean out your alt closet.  Take a good look at any character below 40, and even some above, and decide whether they will be sticking around.  Exceptions being current projects like that Tauren paladin you've fallen in like with, or that twink/bank alt that would cost too much to replace.  Chances are you have a few alts whose professions aren't up to snuff, whose quest logs are old and dusty, who weren't even worthy of adding with your main guild.  Clean 'em out, strip em down, send the profits to the leveling character of your choice, and delete them. If you are as avid an alt-aholic as I am, you will need the space.
  6. Clean out your quest log.  If you have no plans on finishing it, abandon it.  You can always come back to the area and pick it up later, especially if it was an Outlands or Northrend quest. Abandoning these quests should delete any quest items you might have, but go through and check just in case.  Keep the furbolg transformation stick, toss the garbage. 

That's all I have.  I'm not one to stockpile low level materials to level a new profession on a new character, since I think that they can probably gather all they need as they go.  I won't buy bags for them either, since I usually make them earn their own. They end up with enough money on their own as well, if they keep only their quest rewards and sell the rest. I'm so stingy I won't even buy them heirlooms.

As for my level 80 characters, I think they are ready.  Delgada, Carlotta, and Maura have all their professions leveled. Shawndra is a little behind on her enchanting, so she will probably be leveled after I start a goblin.  They may still have some odd garbage in their bags, and old quests in their logs, and be without of any helpful food or drink. I'm pretty sure I even checked their talents and glyphs.  Really, though, I just can't be bothered to finish out the preparations for Cataclysm.

Yeah, sorry, I gotta go.  There's a troll named Niranjani who seems to be tapping her foot in the graveyard near the Southsea Pirate Stronghold.  I let her think she had me wrapped around her little finger, and I had to leave her in spirit form to think on this post.

They're cute, and dangerous!

No, really, I have to go.  She won't like me being away for so long! You should see what she can do with a pride of baby wyvern. It's rather scary...