Oops! Was That A Heroic?

Delgada in her Tabard of the Achiever

 I played a long time yesterday.  I finished Deepholm, which also finished the Cataclysm Loremaster achievement.  I did my first round of Twilight Highlands dailies, and found the only two dailies in Uldum. I fiddled around getting the 25 tabard achievement.  I logged in my bank alt and sent 1300 gold to Delgada so she could get the ultimate riding achievement.  I even managed to kill C'thun (with some help!) and got my AQ40 achievement.   I figured, I can do all that, I might as well try one of these super hard instances everyone is talking about.

The End of C'thun

So I loaded up the looking for group tool, making sure I had selected only DPS, and pulled out my fishing pole.  I fished for about 30 minutes, and was whisked away into the Stonecore.  I'm guessing I was a replacement, because there were some dead mobs where I zoned in.  Not having run the instance before, I kinda guessed that we weren't at the entrance, because there were no npc types handing out quests.  So, I buffed up and followed the pack, carefully doing my job of dps and nothing else (well, I did dispel a couple things off the tank, but you won't tell?  Good.). 

Pre-Dungeon Attire.

The first boss I encountered was a dragon, I think.  This is a little fuzzy because it was at night yesterday, and I may get things out of order.    Anyhow, seems this guy does this aoe thing, you can see his cast bar ramping up to spin it off, of crystal shards.  Before he does that, he does this aoe where stalagmites drop from the ceiling.  This actually come in handy for the second aoe, as you can use them to hide behind.  Not too bad a fight, and we were off to the second boss.  Now, I'm pretty sure this was the second boss I saw, even though it may be further in, because I was a pinch hitter.  This rock guy does that shatter thing we all love from back in Burning Crusade days, but he has this other aoe I couldn't see.  So, after the shatter was about done, I sat there spamming my shield, or dissipate if it was up, to avoid as much damage from that attack as possible.  We got through that fight, then it was on to the next. Trash fights in between seemed rather straight forward, stay out of bad stuff, don't aggro, don't aoe, follow the tanks lead for kill order.  Well, I did aoe in the room before this next boss, to get rid of a bunch of non elites in the middle, then we turned the corner and saw our last boss.  This lady was fun.  She threw rocks at you, which you could totally avoid by getting out of the dust forming around your feet.  She also put up void circles, which were also easily avoided because of their obvious targeting ring before they appear.  The boss called non elites out, usually when she ran away to her stage, which were aoe'd down rather easily.  Oh, and if you grabbed enough aggro, she had this choke hold thing, I think it was even called Force Choke. So, we didn't get her down on the first try. Or the second.  Then, the tank, healer, and one dps just up and quit, leaving me and another hanging around.  We decided to wait for replacements.  She (might have been a guy, but was in female form, so you know, you are what you wear in this game to me) told me this was her first heroic, and that is when it hit me.  This is a heroic?  Here I just thought that the instances were that hard, and I was lucky to be able to perform at all in them..  Replacements arrived, and my partner in crime ate the dust, but we finished the boss, getting me a heroic and regular run of Stonecore all at once.

So, the heroics are hard?  The instances are hard, too?  Well, it's just more of the same we already learned...stay out of stuff, don't let stuff fall on you, and for gosh sakes pay attention! Now, to start planning my next several runs...

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.

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).

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...

The Shattering

Wow.  Yeah, that is pretty much all I have to say about the new patch.  While some were complaining about their talents being refunded, or the lack of portals in Dalaran, I was busy getting lost in Orgrimmar.

So totally lost.  I love the whole thing.  My favorite area is still undecided, though I am leaning toward the Goblin Slums.  A beach, beach side bartenders, beach chairs and umbrellas, blow up floaty animals in the water, and a big huge oil drill right smack dab in the middle of everything. I tried fishing, even though there were obviously dead fish floating in the water and flies everywhere.  I got the usual starter level fish for my effort.  I threw them away, sure they were contaminated.

Can I have another of these coconut drink things?

Just another care-free day at the beach.

 

 

Goblins are busy folk.

I'm still exploring.  I am saddened by the change to my beautiful Azshara, and I'm sure through questing out there I will find out the fate of the Timbermaw (there are Blackmaw furbolgs everywhere, with the exception of a gatekeeper that is of the Timbermaw, a rare.) And, darnit, I already see people on those trikes. I want one!

The Day Before The Last Day.

The world is going to explode.  I know it. It will writhe in the flames of Deathwing's hatred tomorrow.

But today, there is yet time to visit, to celebrate life, to reminisce in our old, familiar world.  Today, I chose to visit what has to be my favorite quest in the whole game.  It's simple, really.   One quest that I always come back to.  One quest that my poor Horde characters can never experience.  This quest is For Love Eternal. Cerellean Whiteclaw gives us these instructions and information:

In the aftermath of the battles at the Well of Eternity, I heard that Ameth'Aran had been destroyed, its people dead, including my love, Anaya.

I would never have thought, thousands of years later, that memories of Anaya would still haunt my dreams. Wandering the woods of Darkshore in a stupor, I found myself in the ruins of Ameth'Aran... where I saw the haunted spirit of my beloved.

She must be freed, but I lack the heart to do it. Her spirit must be destroyed.

So, we head for Ameth'Aran and find her, alone and peaceable amongst angry spirits of the area.

A haunting memory.

Sadly, we did as Cerellean asked. Hantu yowled sadly as she fell.

The ghost of memory crushed to free the spirit within.

When we returned to tell Cerellean the news of her ghost's passing, we are met by Anaya's spirit, having a heart to heart with Cerellean, for the last time.

Anaya...?  Do my eyes deceive me?  Is it really you?

Here is their short, sad reunion, hopefully not cheapened by being posted here.

Cerellean Whiteclaw says: Anaya...? Do my eyes deceive me? Is it really you?

Anaya says: The ages have been cruel to you and I, my love, but be assured, it is, and at long last we are reunited.

Cerellean Whiteclaw says: That the fates should be so cruel as to permit us only this after a thousand years apart...
Do you hate me, my love? That I was forced to destroy your living form, that your spirit be released from unhappy bondage.

Anaya says: Let it not trouble your heart, beloved. You have freed me from slavery, and for that I love you all the more.
Sadly, even this must be cut short...
The ties that bind me to this world weaken, and pull me away...

Cerellean Whiteclaw says: No! Anaya...Anaya! Don't leave me! Please...

Anaya says: Farewell, Cerellean, until we are joined once again...
Anaya's soft voice trails away into the mists Know that I love you always...

Cerellean Whiteclaw says: How, my love? How will I find the strength to face the ages of the world without you by my side...

Tomorrow, Deathwing will demolish the docks in Auberdine.  Tomorrow, perhaps Cerellean will finally join Anaya for eternity.

I will stay behind, one of millions who have witnessed his anguish.  I will keep this small memento in my bank forever, a memory of this lover's tale.  Too sad that the next group of World of Warcraft players will not ever see this quest.  Point them here.  Cerellean's story is worth being shared.

Bucket List

Before Cataclysm hits, I would like to, in no particular order, complete these items. I will choose whatever hits my fancy as my quest for that day, or several days, depending on the complexity of the item.This list may change, mostly to add things, not to subtract. Here is my preliminary list.  I will notate when I complete something by scoring through it and adding a date. If I add something new I will put an asterisk after it with the date added. For items with multiple parts. I will date each part as it is completed, or note what part was completed and date it if there was no description (ie Northrend Glory of the Hero or Bloody Rare).  I will post daily about what I worked on, what add-ons or guides I found useful in completing them, and anything I did that I think would be helpful.

1. Set aside enough cloth to level first aid on one goblin.(netherweave,runecloth,mageweave, silk, wool, linen)
   
2. Finish leveling jewelcrafting on Sinnerman.Account off. If time I will on Gwenna.
3. Set aside enough material to level blacksmithing on one goblin.
4. Finish Delgada's An'Qiraj set.  She is missing the Shroud of Infinite Wisdom. 9/13/10
5. Prophecy set and Oracle set for Delgada, but first....
6. Change a Devout set into a Virtuous set, bur first..
7.  Farm for Devout set.
8. Farm for at least one more whelpling.  I have the blue one. I want a green one!
9. Farm for the oozeling.  He eludes our grasp.9/6/10
10. Finish Northrend so Delgada can have the Loremaster title and colors. (only 11 quests to go!)
11. 100 mount achievement? Give it a huge try by...
12. Get a pvp mount (or several, but that means battlegrounds...)
13. Get an Argent Tournament mount (or several?)White Skeletal Horse 9/4/10
14. Finish my old school Naxxramas quest chain
15. Get the pieces to do the Balance of Light and Shadow quest and build Benediction
16. Clean out bank to make room for old school goodies 9/6/10 it's hopeless a post on this 9/7/10
17. Finish old world raids for achievement (need BWL and AQ40)
18. BC raids? not high on the list but I am missing most of them( I know I finished Gruul and Mag- I was cheated!)
19. Finish BC dungeons on heroic to knock out both achievements
20. Become a Savior of the Oracles, and start buying eggs again. (only missing one quest)9/20/10
21. Work on the Bloody Rare achievement for Outland (have 3 of the 21)
22. Work on the Frostbitten achievement for Northrend (have 1 of the 23)
23. Duel someone enough to get the Duel-icious achievement 9/7/10 (with the argent tourney duel achieve)
24. Kill Malygos to finish Champion of the Frozen Wastes
25. Finish Glory of the Hero (have 11 to go)
26. Find the 5 recipes Delgada is missing for Chef De Cuisine 9/2/10
    
27. Buy a chef's hat..which means doing dailies again!
28. Catch a rare fish
29. Catch Old Ironjaw
30. Fish up Gahz'ranka in ZG and The Lurker Below in SC9/2/10(ZG)
31. Fish up Tirion Fordring's gold coin and get Coin Master/There's Gold in That There Fountain
32. Win a fishing tourney (who am I kidding?)
33. Turn as many pieces of frostweave as possible into bandages (500, to be exact).
34. Jump off a precipice and bandage for Ultimate Triage./9/22/10 with Drunken Stupor
35. Make 3 more factions love me for 25 exalted (ad infinitum)(30, 35, 40)(Kalu'ak 9/2/10)9/18/10
36. Zandalar Tribe(9/23/10), Hydraxian Waterlords and Brood of Nozdormu must love me.
37. Thrallmar, Lower City, the Sha'tar and Keepers of Time must also love me.
38. Get exalted with Skyguard(9/18/10) and Netherwing (for mounts!)
39. Kalu'ak don't love me yet. I must have their fishing pole! (more dailies)9/2/10
40. Exalted Ashen Verdict? Shouldn't be too hard.
41. Buy ridiculously expensive mounts. Ice Mammoth Grand Ice Mammoth, Wooly Mammoth, Traveler's Tundra Mammoth, a Choppa...
42. Make the Oracles love me, then forsake them and flirt with some Frenzyhearts.
43. Get the Brewmaster title9/24/10
44. Get the Pilgrim title and turkey pet on Delgada 
45. Collect tabards. You can never have too many tabards.
46. Farm for impossible to get mounts.
47. Pick pocket as many lockboxes as possible on Maura.
48. Back to the goblin. Set aside enough frostweave bags, and a few non binding 16 slotters, (in case I kill of the first one) to equip and for bank.
49. Do the dailies in Storm Peaks for the Brunhildar Village, in hopes of the polar bear mount.
50. Since I am doing so many dailies, I should at least aim for the 500 dailies done achievement...9/6/10
51. As much as I think heirloom gear is a cheat, buy a whole set of clothy gear, just for kicks.
52. Work on the baby raptor, because Delgada really wants the mount (ugh, more dailies).
53. Find those snake gowns and get one of every color. I thought there were red and orange ones, too? 
54. Get the baby croc pets. More Dailies!Toothy 9/2/10 Snarly 9/4/10
55. Buy the last bank tab for my guild.
56. Try to get the epic fishing poles from the fishing dailies (at least I like fishing?)
57. Delgada wants a firefly pet.
58. Delgada wants all the baby raptor pets. She still needs Gundrak, Ravasaur, and Razzashi hatchlings.
59. Finish the Argent Tournament.Champion of the Undercity
60. Fish up a turtle mount.

All Dressed Up...

...but not going anywhere!  If you are reading this on the site, you will notice I'm cleaning, painting, adding on, and putting up pictures.  If you aren't, well, come on over and peek!  This is a work in progress, that may take well into next month to complete, but some things had to change here.  It's obvious that I have moved from talking about just WoW to commenting on several other games. So, my banner had to go.  The theme I had been using was blah.  Blogger has all these new tools to use to make your site look nice, so I tried them out, and I believe the site went from boring to beautiful.  Blogger also added the ability to make more pages, so I started a few.  They are subject to change, and will change as my characters change.  I had a little problem with my paint program.  My transparent pictures didn't turn out like I wanted, so there is something I am working on. I plan to add armory links to all my WoW characters, and similar information to the other pages.  Each page will eventually have a description of the game they are about, with links to where you can get them.

I will be posting a little more often.  I am writing down my "bucket list" to do before Cataclysm hits.  I hope to post one or two items from that every day.  For Wizard 101, I have plans to link to great guides I have found around the web for farming for the items I am interested in, which include furniture, pets, and eventually, best gear items on the x5 and x0 levels, per class.  That will probably be once weekly.  As for my forays into other virtual worlds, I may have one a month, whether it be a new MMO or a revisited one.  I still plan on sprinkling in new iPod games here and there.  My iPod and I are having arguments lately.  I don't think the new operating system version is playing nice with my first generation iPod.  Still, I won't let that stop me from exploring new games (and more than likely, free ones!).  We'll just have to borrow hubby's iPod for the stubborn ones.

Stop by, kick the tires, see how it runs.  Tell me what you'd like to see.  Suggest a free MMO to me!  I look forward to your comments!

New Main!

That's it. I have had it with healing the ungrateful, rude masses. I will no longer toss a renew to someone out of combat to help them regen faster. I will no longer worry if the greater heal that I trinketed and used all my specials on will hit the tank before he dies. I won't bother giving people fortitude and spirit buffs. Nope. I refuse to carry candles.

No, I'm not going to switch out to Carlotta. She needs too much. Damned arrows and food for the beast, not to mention bandages and potions she makes for everyone else but her.

Shawndra is out as well. Her gear costs too much to repair. And people expect her to tank. Bleah. I want none of that responsibility.

Not even Gwenna the mage. Nope. She has about 3 too many reagents to carry around, and they cost money. Not to mention that people expect her to make them food and water, and focus magic, and sometimes sheep/rabbit things. Forget that!

I am even going to forsake the Horde. Yep. Horde is too hardcore for me. I'm thinking I want the easy life of hanging out in places like Goldshire and Stormwind and Ironforge, where the only attacks I have to dodge are the X rated RP offers.

Here is my new main. Her name is Muppsey. Be afraid. Be VERY afraid. And healers? Yeah, I'm going to life tap myself down to the bone. You'll heal me and like it.

Oh, I thought I'd change it up a bit and join a real raiding guild, too. So, I'm rolling her on the US-Sentinels server, where Premagon (or is it Paranition?) is going to get ready for Cataclysm and the new raid content it contains. I'm sure once they see her shadow bolt spam they will fall in love with her and beg her to join. Even if she can't heal. Or cook. Did I mention there will be no small eggs cooked by her? Nope, no eggs at all. No cooking, no fishing, no first aid. Just tailoring and enchanting, which I will have my minions (read:children) level for me.

Muppsey is all about the selfish desire to do absolutely nothing that benefits anyone but my selfish need to only dps, and sponge off of everyone I can possibly manage to. Expect a lot of posts about how I wiped groups and pissed off healers and tanks in the next several weeks. It will be such a change from the bad groups and awful people posts I have grown accustomed to reading in my feed reader!

Oh, and Happy April First. :)

Could Cataclysm Be Blizzard's NGE?

I was on the Warcraft Outsiders Podcast last Tuesday with John and Michelle and their special guest Ziv. If you haven't listened in lately, I suggest you check them out.

Bear with me, please, as I try to get this out of my head and onto the blog. I have tried to write this post 5 times now, and it gets better every time. Problem is I am suffering from my normal early spring severe cold and hubby switched up the fabric softener on me again, so I sit here, feeling guilty for not being at work, trying to get this out because I have been working on it for too long now. At least it keeps me from scratching. :)

During the show, the blue post describing how stats would change in the Cataclysm expansion was brought up. I personally think this is a great thing, in a way simplifying things for the more casual player, but still leaving something for the min-max player to chew on. Ziv commented that he hoped this didn't ruin the game like the NGE ruined Star Wars Galaxies. Now, I played SWG, and I have an opinion on this. The WCO podcast is a timed thing, and I didn't think it fair to unload my opinion on that, which is lengthy, during their show. So, I shall link to the episode and leave my too long argument as to why Blizzard couldn't possibly do to WoW what SOE did to SWG right here where it belongs, on my blog.

First, let's explore the major differences WoW and SWG have. WoW is more of a theme park sort of MMO, taking you from ride to ride as you level, with hardly a bit of time left to entertain yourself. SWG, however,was (and to a point, still is) a sandbox, with seemingly endless possibilities for roleplay and discovery, but noone pointing you to where you have to be and what you need to do. In both games you can tackle it head on, just killing mobs for points to level up. WoW guides you, teaching you about the places you are at and the people you are with. SWG doesn't, assuming you know about the area and its people. You should, though, shouldn't you? I mean, who hasn't seen one of the Star Wars films at least once? In WoW, you choose what your character will be in the character creation screen. In SWG of then, you chose what your character would look like and named it, then logged into the game to find yourself surrounded by trainers. There is where you shaped your character, and you could change that whenever you wanted.

Then SOE threw in their New Game Enhancements (by threw in I mean no real warning. It's here and you'll like it!). Things that I took for granted were gone. Instead of a combat queue what you could load up with actions for your character to perform, you had global cool downs and a rather difficult way to select and use them (though I hear some of that part has changed for the better). No longer could you walk into the game without a clue about what you wanted to do and end up with some crazy combination like Master Ranger/Master Image Designer. You now have to choose your path in the character selection screen. Oh, and they kind of point you down the path with their tutorial, showing you the who, what, where and how of the game's lore. No more crazily combining skills to make your character unique. You now have to choose one of 9 different classes to play. They added in skill trees to help make your character more powerful and unique, but all you number crunchers know that if you want the top end damage and abilities, you go with what others have found works.

Some of the things I loved about SWG are still in there. I used to love dropping a building down, decorating the building, planning for new furnishings, and gathering from the remotest parts of the galaxy to furnish my places. I could spend hours riding one of my speeders across a planet, looking at the water and the plant life. Rancor hunting, alone or with a friend, was fun, especially when you could tame them(taming creatures was taken out of the game right around the same time as the NGE was ushered in). Building long and complicated macros to change outfits and dances during a show can still be done. Not everything is still there, and what was introduced as the games savior did the exact opposite. Just last year they closed the realm I played on forever. It is sad to think that so many of the towns I played in are now only represented by a few screenshots.

Now, on the flip side, we have the changes they are promising for Cataclysm(by promising, I mean they are telling us of these changes well in advance of them). What is happening on a very basic scale is that some stats won't be on armor, but may still show up in talent trees, or be based on a certain base stat, or may even still be present on weapons. Let's pick on Spell Power. It didn't show up on gear as just spell power until Burning Crusade. Before that, you could get "of Arcane Wrath" gear which would have a number modifier to your arcane damage. With Cataclysm, spell power will be derived from Intellect, and might be found on weapons. Another change that is presented for Cataclysm is that some things we are used to as a fact of life will go away completely. In the items they have described, I have no complaints. Mp5 as a stat wasn't something I actively looked for, and I would love not to ever have to worry about casting the wrong rank spell on a mob or player again. Getting rid of weapon skill means only one thing to me; time to get out the weapons so I can be the one that says,"Back in the day...".

Do I think this is game breaking? No. They aren't changing how my character interacts with the game world, only simplifying a few things to make it easier for the casual or even the new player to understand.These new changes to the game coming with the Cataclysm expansion do not come close to the horror that was SWG's NGE. I'm looking forward to all the new goodies I'll get toplay with in Cataclysm. How about you?

Goblins and Worgen, Oh My!

Since the leak of the new races for the Cataclysm expansion, I have been searching for a suitable name for each, as I will definitely want at least one of each. I'm an altaholic. It's what I do. So, my first search was for Goblin names. I came up with a couple notable sites. Mentioned in a post on the Warhammer Alliance forums (apparently a division of Curse), there was a link to this site. I know it was meant for Squeeg Herders, but some of the combinations sounded promising for male Goblins. Here is a list that contains some for both Goblins (called Gobblely), and Worgen (called Wolfen), with separate lists for each gender, and a section for surnames and titles. For Worgen, Greywolf's World of Warcraft site has a nice bit of lore and some names are listed with the article. If you need to bone up on your worgen lore, this is a prime spot.

For me, this wasn't enough. Going with the trend I have seen in female Goblin names in game, I think I have hit on a decent name, and it is saved, so Smolderthorn, too bad! Her name will be Bittsee. As for her surname, if anyone has to ask, they will be told it is Emptypockets. Why? Because, like all my other characters on Smolderthorn, she will be continually broke. For the Worgen, I had to dig a little deeper. Shadowsong, Chienne is taken. It's French for !@#$&, or, in kinder terms, a female dog. For her surname, I may have to wait and see what the expansion has in store. I doubt Chienne is of the Pyrewood Moonrage, and I don't see her fitting into the Terrowolf clan. She may be of the Nightbane. I want to see what tribe or tribes are introduced in the Cataclysm.

Now comes the class decision. On the Horde side, I don't have a druid or a death knight. I have a mage and a warlock that I don't play. I'm wondering if it is because they aren't the right race. Goblins aren't druidic in nature, but I can see them as a caster class. I'm not sure I would want a Goblin death knight. So that leaves the mage or the warlock. I would hate to reroll the warlock, as she got her mounts the old fashioned way, and I believe that is a feat of strength. The mage is a resurrection, and was leveled with recruit a friend granted levels. Gwenna would probably end up buried in the graveyard again to make room for Bittsee. On the Alliance side of the fence, I have more options. The only serious character I have is Halinka, with a close second being my hunter bank character who is at 29. I speculate that Worgen would be damage classes, like a rogue, hunter, mage, warlock, and perhaps even a death knight. I can't see them in a tanking class, but I suppose it is possible for Worgen to be a warrior as well. That idea in mind, I think I would like my Worgen to be a rogue. What class more suited to sneak attacks and damage output?

Other things come to mind with this announcement.

• Will Chienne show her armor pieces? My thought is that in form she won't, but she could shift to Human form to show it off. Which has me wondering, do I get to pick her Worgen and her Human looks, or just one? If I had to choose, I would pick the Worgen and hope for the best in Human form. Maybe it will be like the druid forms. Hair color will correspond to coat color.
  
• Will goblins give Bittsee a discount, or punish her for picking a side? A friend of mine suggested that if all Goblins turned to Horde, that the Consortium would make a good replacement for them. I agree, though I cannot believe that Booty Bay or Ratchet will ever be anything like the bustling neutral marketplace I love without Goblins at the helm. These would have to be a splinter faction of Goblins, quite like the Worgen will be the "nice" Worgen.
  
• Will Bittsee be able to grind Goblin faction at an increased rate? Will she start at friendly instead of neutral? Will Bittsee be able to become a Bloodsail Buccaneer?
  
• Has Blizzard been preparing us for these two new races? The Alliance nabbed a Goblin and his airship to do their bombing of the enemy fleet at sea in Northrend, and he is none to pleased with this. The Alliance also unknowingly started helping a village of Worgen, then almost give a horse a heart attack trying to flee their town when they hear what they are. Are the Worgen in this village really bad, or just misunderstood? The Horde does not get involved with the Worgen, except to kill them off. The Horde has always had Goblin zeppelin crew. Goblin towns are closer to Horde towns than Alliance(Mostly. I know there are no Horde towns in Winterspring). Maybe Blizzard has always had this in mind. So many ideas, only so much you can put into each expansion.
• Goblin racials. The primary thought to this will always be a modifier to money gained. I'm pretty sure Blizzard will not do this, but there is another way. Goblins are much like Humans, as they get along with damned near everyone. Perhaps a reputation gain modifier as a passive trait would be in order. Call it Finagle. "Goblins finagle their way into your good graces as quickly as they can in order to get to your coin pouch faster." Another goblin racial could be a "Small but Mighty" trait. "Goblins get an x% increase to the stat most critical to their chosen class." I think of this mostly because of the Booty Bay guards, who still kick the snot out of me at level 80. Lastly, when I think Goblin, I think engineering. I think a plus amount to engineering skill, or an increase to bomb damage would be a good trait. For an on use trait, I read on the Scrolls of Lore forums that someone thinks they should have a poison/disease resist. I'd like to take this further by making it a mini cleanse, with a cooldown similar to other racial abilities. "Goblin Fortitude. Removes one disease or poison effect."
• Worgen racials. My husband has come up with many bad traits. Vulnerability to silver. Can be skinned. Afraid of fire. What about traits that would make me want to play the class? The Scrolls of Lore forums again have an insightful discussion going on this subject, with many great ideas. A poisonous bite as a racial? I like that idea. A howl that decreases the opposing mobs hit rating? Fantastic. Maybe a haste buff, similar to the orc's Bloodfury could be in order. They would have to have shape shifting, as that is what makes this race believable (to me). A passive boost to skinning and leatherworking? I can see the skinning, maybe. I don't see Worgen taking their time after mauling a creature to carefully tuck away the skin for later. Cannibalism, on the other hand, makes sense, but on a broader scale that includes beasts. A passive boost to movement speed is discussed, and I like that idea. A bonus to unarmed skill comes to mind (while in form), being that all the Worgen I have fought have clawed me into ribbons.

That's allI have for today. Any thoughts? Post your comment, or link your blog post, below. I am all for some more thought provoking banter on this subject.