Wizard 101 Giveaway!

Getting rid of my ugly helm.

Mrs. Greyrose liked my last post so much she gave me two codes good for one extra castle space and a Red Barn Farm house.  If you love gardening or just really like life on the farm, this house is for you!  What I mean to say is, I'm not keeping the codes for myself, but giving them away.  Tell your friends, tell your family, tell your schoolmates, tell your coworkers, tell your garbage man, tell your plumber, tell everyone about this giveaway!  I'll be giving the codes away, one to a commenter on this post, and one to a follower of my Twitter feed (@shawndrakai) who sends a tweet my way.  Tell me, why do you want the house?  Or, how will you decorate it?  Even better yet, what plants will you plant on your farm?  I will post the winners to both Twitter and my blog on Saturday, May 25th.

Writing the housing post made me stick my nose back into Wizard 101, and there were some new things there!  I didn't show even half of them in this video, so I may make another with my husband's character so we can see what the boys have available, and to see what new pets and mounts can be had.  I am excited to finally finish Celestia with Rowan and see the other worlds that have been released.  I have many new pets and wizards to level, houses to buy and decorate, and gardens to tend. So much to do!  See you in The Spiral!

Love Hate Relationship

Star Wars: The New Republic is a good game.  There are parts I just love.   I love that I can go play with my hubby in the PvP areas, despite the level difference.  I love that I get these seemingly random quests to go neck with my "companion" while we are wreaking havok on whatever planet we happen to be on.  I love that I can be crafting while I am chatting up the locals and bending their will to mine. I love the voice of my "companion" Andronikos Revel.

Hello there, hot stuff.  Can we talk, in my quarters?

Then there are the things I don't love.  Hate is a strong word, but in some cases, it is the only word that really does the job.  I hate the loading screens.  I hate the cool casinos that I can't play games in.  I hate the auction house.  I hate the space battles.  I hate Huttball.  I hate my character.

I have a pocket full of credits and an itch to play Sabacc.

What, you say?  You made her how she is.  How could you possibly hate her?  Well, I decided to walk the path of the Sith and go as black as evil can be.  At level 35, Eromee Joora is dark rank 4, racking up the dark side points toward level 5.  Her once healthy reddish skin is pale and she has really ugly black varicose veins on her face.  Andronikos is almost as twisted as she is, and that doesn't make it any better.  I'm starting to hate choosing the dark side choice, when there is one.  And now, I have a new companion that should have been a Jedi.  A new conscience, if you will.  And still, Eromee will be picking the evil choices.  I guess before I do any quest turn ins or step into any choice making situations, I'll have to put her on a diplomatic mission and take Andy or the newly schizophrenic Khem out to appreciate her evil choices.

Alderaan, where, as Eromee says, "Murder and mayhem await!".

I guess there really is only one alternative.  Start a new character and go with the Light.  But I can't drop Eromee just yet.  She still is 15 levels away from the level cap, which means her story is not complete.  Will she turn so hideously evil that I won't want to see it?

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!

Crawling Out From Under My Rock.

Those who are still following me have noticed I have been blogging less and less.  Summer is stressful, and even though it  usually makes me bury myself deeper into my escapes, it doesn't produce any useful or entertaining blog fodder.  For example, I logged into Wizard 101 the last several times and ran my pets through the maze game over and over, pausing to level my Fizzle Queen just for the extra pet energy. Nothing is more boring than farming for pet food, which has been Rowan's favorite pass time, or running mazes over and over and over again.

The armor is pretty, too!

I haven't progressed further than the 48 I attained earlier in the summer with my cleric Eromee on Perfect World.  I dusted her off and took her for a spin yesterday, between pet leveling runs, and got half a level under her belt.  I just cannot bring myself to level further when the guild I am in is in end game content and finding a group is daunting.  I haven't healed for a real group yet, so I am afraid to do it for a random group.  I guess this will be my game I turn to on random maintenance days.

Wizard 101 is at a standstill, still waiting for hubby to catch up, and for money so I can buy a one month subscription to enable over 18 chat.  I was only able to unlock Hametsu village with my crowns in Mooshu, so I am a ninja pig farming fool, when I am not busy leveling one of my many alts.  That, right there, is my whole reason for being a crowns player.  When I am not subscribed, I always have something to do. Ninja pig farming has bought me a couple of pet hatchings, and will probably fund my next house.  I love the storm house, and am happy I can work toward it with gold, but I am also leaning toward buying the mansion in Mooshu, because there are dragonflies buzzing around the place, and it is more suited to Rowan's nature.

We love you long time. 1k gold only 5 dolla!

World of Warcraft is about to take over my time again.  The summer is a bad time for me where any gaming that requires more than 50% of my brain is concerned (Perfect World would most certainly fit into that category, if I pursued instancing), but now that the kids are almost back to school, and I am back to work, WoW can command more of my attention.  In celebration of this, I took Delgada out to complete her Loremaster of Kalimdor questing.  I was so lost before I got the WoWhead client.  After uploading my data, and opening up Delgada's progress on their site, it was easy as pie to find the last 15 quests she needed.  I was so sure I was going to have to do the An'Qiraj quest chain to finish it, but it turned out I missed half of the quests in Zoram'gar and a few in Dustwallow, and that was all I needed. Now, any other quests I encounter will be done for the pleasure and the lore, and not the achievement. All that stands between Delgada and the Loremaster meta achievement are several group quests in Icecrown. She only needs 11 more quests, and a good questing buddy or three. Anyone in Smolderthorn want to knock out some old quests in their log? I'm your gal.

Guild progress on Icecrown Citadel has effectively stopped. Unless some players come back, I may pug around as a terribad holy priest. The last "guild" run was last week, in which three members were guild members, and the rest were trade chat hopefuls. Because of this, I was able to get the heroic version of the gunship, and got a pretty new dagger out of it.  Throughout the run, people were complaining to me about one of my guild mates gear scores.  I know, you know, everyone and their mother knows that 4500 gear score is a little low, but when we have Kingslayers in the group, we can afford one lowbie dps, just so he can experience a smidgen of the content before the whole of his guild loses interest.  I stuck it out until after gunship, having stated before the fight that I would be leaving after. Can't get me for ninja looting and quitting!

How was your summer? Did you vacation from WoW at all?  I'd love to hear about it in the comments! 

What I Am Up To : May Edition.

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!

iPod Gaming and Open Feint

If you haven't heard of Open Feint, it is a social network and ranking system that groups all sorts of casual games from all kinds of different developers together.  The best way to find them would be to either install the main Open Feint application or use the embedded system within one of the games you already own.  Here is a list of fun games I am using on a regular basis that use this system.

• Word Warp Xtreme - an updated version of Word Warp, this free game jumbles a word of 7 letters and gives you a set time to find as many words as you can within those letters.
• Bird Strike - This game may still be free on the App Store, as it was a free game of the day and a recommended Open Feint download recently.  This game uses the accelerometer to guide a bird you shoot from a slingshot through the air, missing obstacles and collecting rockets to zoom to incredible heights. Silly fun, my kids like it better than I do.  
• Ms. Chuck - is a ball that you guide through an obstacle course.  I keep this on my iPod mostly for my toddler, but it can get pretty challenging in higher levels.
• Radio Flare - I downloaded this game a long while ago, and it is still one of my favorites.  Using the accelerometer, guide your ship around obstacles while gathering flares. It has a great soundtrack, too.
• Piyo Blocks - This is my guilty pleasure.  It's a match three game where the blocks are chirpy little square birds. You can play against the timer or without one.
• Dunnit - Wait, this isn't a game, or is it?  I recently unlocked the achievement, "Better Late Than Never" for completing 5 tasks a day late. Silly me, this is a to-do list that is really easy to use (and it's free!).  With the added incentive of experience points and achievements, I am getting more household chores done lately.

This is a short list, I understand.  I plan on finding more games to add to my collection soon. For me, games have to be entertaining for more than 5 seconds and be free.  Tough standards, I know.  If someone wants to fund my gaming habit, they can send me an iTunes card!

Another nice thing about this system is that it integrates with Facebook and Twitter, finding friends that are using it and automatically adding them to your friends list. For instance, I have Leo Laporte and Darryl the Tip Giver on my list, thanks to my Twitter feed.  Yes, and my hubby, too.  But not many of you follow @theholyfallout (he's the strong, silent type).  The fun of this is, you can see what  they are playing, if they are online, you can chat with them (I haven't tried this yet) through an instant messenger embedded in the Open Feint dashboard.

So, point of this post?  LFM for my friends list!  If you own an iPod or iPhone and enjoy twiddling your time away between more important things like loads of laundry or random dungeons, follow me on Twitter and download an Open Feint application, and start browsing. I will happily let you step on me as you climb the ladder past my low user rating!  You can find me on Twitter as @Shawndra or on Facebook under the e-mail address Jeni at pamedia dot com.

iPod and Wizard 101 Fun!

My kids love Wizard 101. On my account, each of them has a character. The highest one is level 12. I heard through the web somewhere that there was a free application from Kings Isle, the makers of the game. This application is called WizardBlox. It is just like Sorcery Stones in the game, except by playing this, you can win codes for items and gold in game. Since my kids love this so much, I downloaded it and started playing with it. The game all by itself is fun to play. To get codes, you have to be able to connect to the internet. Then, just play until you can't play anymore. I think I got to level seven (I realize this is no great achievement!) before I got distracted and lost. Apparently, it was enough to win something! The game asked if I was a returning wizard or new wizard, and I clicked returning and logged in. I know you all want to see what I got. Well, not me, my daughter that plays the most. I took her out for a short walk on my computer so you could see one of the things you can win; a skeleton transformation!


Immediately after I hit the gift icon after logging in, I was inundated with friend requests, probably because, hey, how cool is this? I, of course, had to turn them all down (this is my daughter's character, not mine!). So, if a skeleton turned you down in game today, don't feel bad. Try friending her when she is online next. I wanted to save the costume for next time she played, as it only lasts for an hour, so I logged out to save what was left.

I probably will be trying this game out a little more, for a break here and there. Stay tuned for more prize reveals!

Just Dance!

I saw this Wii game at Gamestop today, and I thought, how silly is this? But, I had an extra 20 bucks, and they begged. I talked them out of a Karaoke title (we have Rock Band titles out the ears, why another sing along?), and after much shopping, we brought it home. The boy got Batman: Arkham Asylum with all his birthday money, so everyone left the game store happy.

We got home, and they wanted to play this over Batman. All but two got into it. Julia is a bit young, and Marissa thinks she is too old. Whatever. I'll be playing this one when they are sleeping one night. It looks like fun!

Looks like Julia isn't too young, and Marissa may yet change her mind :)

Free Apps Abound!

If you are looking for some hand held fun for your iPhone or iPod Touch this holiday season, pop into the app store! There are loads of free goodies to be had in there this season! I popped open my App Miner application, and found several fun games that are sure to make anyone from kids to fumbly old people like me happy. Here are some of the ones I have found, but don't just take my word for it. Look for yourself, and if you find something fun, tell me in the comments!

• Dark Harvest - Made by Red Rocket Games, this game is a match three game where you shoot colored blobs at a floating cloud of more blobs to make matches, without the cloud getting too heavy. Every level you clear, you grow a new evil vegetable for your army. This is a lot of fun, and slightly challenging. Other titles free from Red Rocket this season include Little Runner, MEVO and the Grooveriders, and Mr. Hand. I have tried MEVO and love it. Try the others as the whim takes you, they're sure to please someone!
• Cornhole All Stars - Though the title is off putting, the game is really cute. It's a bean bag toss game (corn being a corn bag, hole being the target) that uses the accelerometer, making it as if you were to toss your device. You get to choose your all star and play against the computer or others. I had fun with this, I hope you do too!
• Pig Rush - This is a cute and deceptively easy game. Tap high to make Pig jump high, tap low to make a low jump. Every level you pass, Pig runs faster, and therein lies the challenge. It is hard to keep up with Pig! Good for giggles, or to keep a kid in the backseat out of trouble for a bit.
• X Invasion - I haven't downloaded this one to try yet, but the images presented make me want to let my boys try it out. This game is a flight simulator and shoot em up, killing aliens over San Francisco.
• Panoramic Blackjack - Cards, anyone? This looks like a great game, and has all the options of a live game, and a Learn to Play mode. This could be good to use as practice before your next casino trip.

I didn't start this article in time to pimp the site appventcalendar.com, and I'm so sorry I missed out! Every day prior to today, there was a free game available, listed prominently on their site. There is still time, however, to enter the Plushed character contest. Drawing for the prize is on the 29th.

Alright, then, to your app stores and find the morsels I've missed! Have a pleasant Christmas Eve!

Exploring Free Kid Friendly Online Games.

It's Summer. We live in Southern California, and it is hot. The kids are in the house, and they are bored. What to do? We only have two WoW accounts running right now, as my eldest daughter is out with her grandfather on an RV trip and can't play. So that leaves 4 children, begging to use the computer, the Playstation 3, and the Wii. Since they are all connected to the same monitor, My husband rounded up the three laptops he had kicking around that needed some work and made two working units. One of them has WiFi, the other doesn't. So, two kids can be playing online games. Here are there games of choice, starting from the youngest.

Wizard 101 is a great game, very easy to jump into, and free for a portion of it. You can gain access to other areas of the game with a one time gate fee or by paying for a subscription. They have family subscriptions, too, so if you have a few kids like I do, this can be some really inexpensive fun! It is really nice that the sidewalks are a safe zone, so if a kid didn't finish a chore and had to get up, they don't come back to a corpse run. Mini games are a fun part of the play, allowing you to gain mana and health as well as gold. If you aren't a big fan of mini games, you can chase down floating blue and red clouds and run into them for a recharge. Battles are very easy, and easy to find groups for. You play cards to attack or heal, which take their mana cost away from your bar. Your opponent casts, then the next in your party plays their card, then back to the mob, in that order until the job is finished. There are neat mini pets to collect, and you can recolor any armor drops you get. I hear they even have player housing. What fun!

Adventure Quest Worlds is the follow up game to Adventure Quest, which in itself was a fun game that did things with flash that no one else had done before. In their new, browser based flash mmo, you can join friends in killing monsters and doing quests, or just chatting. Other titles by these extraordinary developers are Dragonfable and Mechquest. The games are all free to play, but I would hope that you would want to pay the fee they offer to unlock special weapons, just because the game is so cool! Marissa had bought her lifetime membership to Adventure Quest, and I read that they are going to enable you to "transfer" special characters from any of their older three titles to their new mmo soon. From the about page, "The best part is, in an upcoming release, you will be able to import data from your existing AQ/DF/MQ characters and accounts, making all of your old hard work and effort really mean something." I know Marissa will want to do that, and I foresee a membership request for her birthday present in November.

Battlefield Heroes has been another favorite in this house, and not just amongst the under 16 set. Many nights hubby will be playing against one of the kids in a battlefield. Yay for griefing the kids! This is a free to play game that gets its funding from the sale of Battlefunds, which you can use to buy outfits, emotes, and other things to enhance your gameplay. I would advise that, if this game becomes as addicting to your family as it has to mine, that you turn off the music. It's repetitive and annoying. It is a first person shooter with leveling involved.

Of course, there is Free Realms. They have all tried it and like different parts of it. The cooking mini games are right up Sammy's alley, where the brawler quests really keep Noah involved, and Alex likes the pet training. It is free, up to a point. If you want to be a tank or a healer, you'll have to pony up, because members only can play the medic and warrior classes. But, pure damage classes are a dime a dozen, really, and you can learn two types free, the ninja and the brawler. If you want to be a wizard or an archer, you have to be a member. You can gather ore and gems for free, but if you want to do things with them, you have to be a member. So, for a casual player, the free options are really all you need. One day you might feel like playing the cooking and gathering mini games, another day you might feel like driving in the demolition derby. You only need one character, they just switch roles and outfits according to your whim.

I have a lot of girls, and most of them are the girly type. They seem to enjoy i-Dressup.com. There are lots of mini games on the site that allow you to earn iCoins to buy clothes and accessories for your own character to wear or decorate their house with. You can even use iCoins to buy your membership.

Under the category of sites that are ok if you are watching, I give you these suggestions. They like Y3, a flash game site. If you let your kids visit this one, please check what they intend to play. I found my daughter playing a dirty hobo game. I won't go into details on it, but it was awful (and offensive). Another site they frequent is AddictingGames. Again, this one should only be played with parental supervision, as it has some questionable titles, but there are many paper doll type games on both sites, as well as cutesy flash games.

I have to go. Hubby is making me sign up for Battlefield Heroes. But I want to play a girl!!!!

Left Out? Check Your Attitude, Girl!

As a short side note, this is all about me and my bad attitude. Any references to any other human beings are simply for illustration of said horrible funk, and not meant to paint them in any other color than the wonderful people they really are.

It's probably nearing that time of the month where everything bothers me, even the good stuff.

It all started out so nice. Hubby and I grouped up and headed for Westfall, got into Deadmines, set the loot to free-for-all, and he killed while I looted. Jokes were made in guild chat over whether I was going to master loot Van Cleef, so that the obvious healer gear wasn't given to a caster by mistake. Hubby got the Siamese Cat out of Cookie's apron pocket. As my husband was being killed by a lower level paladin in Westfall afterward, he drops group. No group chat saying, "I'm gonna run this or that with him or her". No turn to me and say, "Oh, the guys want me to run such and such, so I'm leaving." Nothing. I tried talking to him, but with the headset, turned up conveniently loud, he didn't hear me the 5 times I said something. I got miffed, saw he was in a raid, and ran into Stormwind for the intended follow up to Deadmines, the Stockades, alone. I got killed, resurrected at the spirit healer, hearthed, and logged in my bank character. I set the scan for Auctioneer, and continued to cast mean looks at my husband. Boy was I in a foul mood. I eventually got on my hunter and ran Draktharon with a few of my friends, and got a mail headpiece, and then killed a few random worgen for the final points to 75, then ran the Ampitheater of Anguish, only to get even more ticked because my hunter had been so lazy about her leveling to 70 that she hadn't even done the original ring of blood to get the quest achievement. Growling even more, I logged in my bank alt again, checked my auctions, and saw my favorite paladin tank log in. In ventrilo, someone mentioned that Graham had logged in, and I snarled,"You can't have him, he's mine! I've been waiting all evening to run a heroic to get some gear." Snippity, bad, snarly, growly, ugly! I was mean! This doesn't happen often. But when it does, oh baby, shut down the "your momma" jokes. Don't trash talk with anyone in the guild. Don't mention the drop you just got. Don't even mention you're in a raid or heroic. I wasn't invited, it didn't happen. And it better still not be happening.

Delgada got her run in the Nexus. But she had to DPS. Because she had hit gear and the other priest who said she'd fill the unfillable spot in the group didn't and she was discipline and not confident of her damage dealing skills. Also in the group, a newly 80 warlock, and my husband the mage, who by then was aware of his crimes and had been apologized to. I was still growly, and I took it out on one of our ex tanks, who had stolen my husband away to a full clear of Naxx-10 (which I also haven't done). I think they even ran Obsidian Sanctum. He walked away with some nice pants, along with his achievement. Still mad. Still grousing at anyone who will listen.

I got a neckpiece off of the boss that summons all those portals. "Look, honey, loot!" Yeah, like a BLUE was gonna make me happy. I don't even think legendary was gonna make me happy last night. We got through all the encounters, save the first, without too much trouble, despite my lousy 1k DPS. I should have been happy with that number, as my gear was lacking in hit rating, and was low level at that. At one point, I had even got to 1.2k. It was fleeting, only lasting about 3 minutes, but it was a high point. Still not happy. Got to the end, killed poor Keristrasza, and she dropped plate. Bitch! Yeah, still not happy. Kinda had my sights set on a weapon. Yeah, you healers know which one I'm talking about. The one that looks like it was stolen from Lady Liberty.

Instance done, I hearthed. I did say thank you, nice run, and all the obligatory pleasantries that go along with a guild run of anything. But I didn't say anything when I turned off Ventrilo. It was probably best.

Sorry, everyone. Give her what she wants, and noone will get hurt. I hear this only lasts a few days. Please bear with her, and give her bon bons and tell her she's pretty. Things will go more smoothly, I promise.

HACKED!

Thankfully, not me, but a good friend of mine from way back in my start in MMO gaming. It's the holidays, and I don't remember seeing much of him, but then, noone has really been on a whole lot lately. Pie>WoW, after all. So, late, late last night, verging on early this morning, my hubby is hanging out in our Ventrilo server with a friend who only can play while his family is unconcious, and another who like to hang out late night, just because he can. Graham mentions that my friend is on, and that he is in the Shadow Labyrinth. He says he tried talking to him in guild chat, then in whispers, but all he got in response to "How are you?" was "hi". I was just getting ready to turn in from a long session at Rock Band, soloing my way to stardom (who needs a stinkin' band anyway?), when he said this, so I logged in to see what I could do.

It started out with the obligatory, "Hey man, how are you tonight?", which, after several minutes, I finally got a "hi"back from. My friend is no one word wonder. He is intelligent, and knows how to carry a conversation. So I shoot back,"What, don't you know how you are tonight?". This time the reply is much faster,"?". I know I am definitely not dealing with my friend, so the whispers stop. I go to the guild page, and remove him from the guild. Oh, that sparks more than a single character response! But it is garbled. Almost as if someone was typing in their native tongue into a Babelfish type translator. I reply to the idea of "Why did you kick me from the guild? Can I come back now?" with,"Until the owner of this account logs into the ventrilo server and asks to be reinstated, no.". Then I open a ticket. Now, I know in the past there really hasn't been much the GM department can do of suspected hacking, but
I figured, it was worth the time it took to type out. As I waited for an answer back, I grabbed my friends e-mail address from the site contact list and sent him an explanation. In retrospect, I should have marked it URGENT! I'm going to do that now....

Alright, task accomplished. Now, today when I logged in, my ticket had been escalated. Still no more than the "we have flagged the account" kind of action. But, better than nothing. Hey, if it gets caught fast enough, my friend could very well be a wealthy man!

On a slightly similar note, A level 74 of the Horde faction was yelling in Dalaran today, in rather garbled engrish,"Port to Shaatha, 5 gold, hurry!" or something along those lines. Sounds like another hacker. Believe it was a shaman. Not surprisingly this comes so shortly after Blizzard warned everyone in a game wide in game mail to do what you can to make your information secure.

Authenticators are inexpensive. Less expensive yet are the safeguards you can employ, for free, to keep your passwords safe. Run a not so ordinary browser, like Firefox, Chrome, Safari, etc. Block Java and scripts from sites unless you are 100% sure they are safe. Keep your information to your own computer ONLY...you don't know where those other computers have been! And, for heaven's sakes, don't buy gold or use leveling services! The price you pay up front is only a small amount of the cost.

I'm anxious. No new word from Blizzard or my friend. I have to log into game now. Please, heed this piece of advice. Lock your system up tight!

Some Resolutions For The New Year

It's time to resolve to do, and not do.

Before I get into what mine are, I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year, and remind you to find a designated driver and chain them to your hip tonight! Have fun out there, but not so much that you forget to act responsibly.

Now, my resolutions are few. I have my one eighty. I am happy with her.

Number 1- Take time off for a walk or to play Wii fit with the kids at least 4 times a week. For some reason they really like to do the jogging game with me. Weird kids...

Number 2- Pug more often. I need to develop a thicker skin. Most of my guild before this expansion hit had pugged places in many raids. My skills and gear when they started this were comparable. Priest For Hire. Yup, that's gonna be me!

Number 3- Blog more often. I have noticed on a good week I may post 3 times. There are many weeks I don't post at all. Perhaps I can tie this one in with number one, and dictate my post to my mp3 player as I jog. In between huffs and puffs.

Number 4- Lure the hubby back into game with whatever I can, and find a way to keep him playing with me. Anyone got any suggestions?

Number 5- Cook dinner more often. I think I'll aim for 4 times a week, with at least once on the weekend. Tuesday and Thursday nights are leftover nights, for obvious reasons (are they obvious? Tuesday is reset day, and Thursday is day 2 of raiding. for some reason our guild had a hard time getting Wednesdays going).

That's it. Too many and I feel bad that I didn't accomplish all of them. Keep it short and simple, and you're more likely to succeed!

Happy New Year everyone!

Something old, and something new...

I'll start with the new first. A few of my guild mates wanted to run heroics last night and couldn't find a healer, so I offered myself up. I had not run a heroic, so I figured they'd be nice and start with something easy. Well, they decided to do the daily regular and heroic dungeons, both of which were Halls of Lightning. Never having been inside, I figured, how bad could this be? I had the flight point, courtesy of a run through that other dungeon over there (something about stone with an event featuring one of the Alliance's favorite bumbling explorers). So I grabbed some candles and accepted a summon. The first bit was ok. I only killed them all once in the area with the forges as they ran through. For some reason, I lived, revived them all, and we trudged on. Well, we got to the end, and we met Loken. By then we had wiped completely maybe twice, and I'm willing to be it was the healer's fault (snicker) both times. I was given some pretty simple instructions. Fight close, and when I say run, run straight away on this line of lightning in the floor. Well, let's just end this saying the healer is great if she can stand still...They decided when things started respawning to call it and run Naxxramas instead. I, feeling like a shmuck, stayed out. If I can't handle a silly heroic, why should I go to Naxx?

As I was moping in the Crystalsong forest picking the carrots for my stew and hoping the stag and wolves out there would supply my last piece of chilled meat, someone asked if I would heal a heroic. I pleaded, " I just healed my first heroic and found I suck @.&. Please allow me more practice on my guildies, as I hate being a bad pug." They replied favorably, so I continued looking for one piece of chilled meat. None turning up, I decided my next bet would be to respec. I batted my eyelashes across the desktop at my hubby, and begged 100 gold for respec and a couple pieces of gear off him, and the set to fixing my problems. I hadn't specced into Circle of Healing, why I can't remember, so I did that, still keeping my Divine Spirit buff. As I was respeccing, someone whispered, "Heal Kara 100g" at the same time people were breaking off from a particularly bad run on Naxxramas. I had already promised to help my hubby with the Greench quest, so I excused myself from subbing in to help him. We finished up, and I traveled back to Undercity. As I landed I got another whisper, "Heal Kara, 150g". Alright, it couldn't take that long, so I said invite me.

Well, we had in our numbers a couple of relatively new 70's, some in their early and mid 70's and 3 80's. The trash went down quickly, and so did Attumen. Every encounter was a run in sloppily and kill them all sort of thing. Shackle? Forget about it..I'm a death knight and I'm gonna lay my aoe circle on top of your shackle. Heal through it, %*#@^! Then it was Maiden. I wasn't able to keep the tank up, and then after the tank went down they moved her off the platform, causing all sorts of line of sight problems for me. Most everyone died, but so did she, so revives all around and on to the opera. Wizard of Oz...no fear (what? 2 priests and a hunter are fear enough!)..it was a mess but it was probably the one we died the least on. up the steps and through the trash like a steamroller, we met up with the Curator. Again, tank down, messy as hell, did I mention that one of the group had been disconnected since before Moroes? Eh, I handed over the shards I had made, and maybe that was the reason the mage disconnected and never "really" came back. I had been toying with the notion most of the time. When someone thinks they have to tell me to heal them or buff them or resurrect them, it really irks me. I got on my soapbox, and said,"Please allow me to anticipate your needs. I know my job well." Well, that got completely ignored, as I was still getting "Healz plx" and "Buff me" and so I countered with a "I have an order to things. Dead healers get first priority, then healing, then buffing." Again, ignored, asI was still getting the same requests from the same one person. SO I responded with, "Bite Me", and stated that "If you ask for me to heal you again, I'm leaving". Which was promptly responded to by one of the other 80's by, "Chill out, let's keep this fun, we're halfway there, noone needs to leave." I reminded the raid that I, at 99/100 exalted with the Violet Eye, did not need this run. So, I stuck it out, finished Illhoof, finished Shade, killed Llane with my pawn, and proceeded on to Prince. Now, I asked if anyone needed to know the fight, and tried to explain it. They ignored it, discussing loot options instead. They wiped. I dusted off my robe, rezzed everyone, and the fight was explained again. They wiped again. So I resorted to something I have NEVER done. I feigned a disconnect. Any of you from my server reading this that was with me on that run, I apologize, but I cannot abide by groups that will not listen to boss fights and follow the rules. There are some fights that you cannot steamroll through.

So there you have it. I kept no shards, got no loot except enough cloth for one netherweave bag out of the deal, and my gold count went from zero to about 43 (after numerous repairs). I'll consider that payment in full.

Maybe someone will ask me to heal Serpentshrine next. I haven't been there yet...

Too Busy To Play How Others Want Me To.

I'm sorry. The holidays are kicking my butt. There is always one more person to visit with, one more gift to wrap, one more person to call, ten more messes to clean up...

I haven't had the time to devote to getting my priest geared or to study where I should be getting geared. My other 3 seventy-somethings sit in the wings untouched, for the most part, because logging in to Smolderthorn on any of them means immediate whispers to heal heroics, at least 3, most times more in the span of 5 minutes. I have been secretively logging in to an unguilded alliance character on the same server as Esoterique, moving her through the starter zones, getting her reputations levelled with her experience. A few minutes is all I generally have, and the quests are grey and green, so I can get 2 or three done.

I'll stop ditching my obligations around Tuesday of this week. Obligations? Ack, maybe I need some fun time in this game I was enjoying playing until I hit 80. Maybe by Tuesday they won't feel like obligations. I sure hope so.

Spend some of those shards on your twink!

I decided to go see what Blizzard had added in the 1-19 bracket, courtesy of WoWHead, in Wrath of the Lich King. When I saw the list, my hand immediately flew to my forehead and my eyes rolled. How could I have forgotten about the heirloom items that were so talked about a few months ago? Anyhow, with the help of another handy dandy WoWHead tool, the in game link, I was able to convert the stats to level 19 to see if they were worth the time and the shards or emblems for purchasing them.

Balanced Heartseeker 40 emblems of heroism
one hand speed 1.70
17-33 Damage
(15.o damage per second)
+2 agility
equip - +8 attack power
equip - +1 hit

This does not match up to the ultimate dagger, the Assassin's Blade. It does beat the runners up, though. Unless you are desperate, I'd pass this up. The others are easy enough to get with a run through Deadmines or Wailing Caverns.

Battleworn Thrash Blade 200 Spirit Keeper's Shards
one hand speed 2.4o
25-46 damage
(15.0 damage per second)
equip - +3 resilience
Chance on hit - may grant extra attack on next swing.

Depending on the proc rate, this may be a nice purchase. The dps is significantly lower than Rowena's Shadowfang, but on par with the next best choices. If Shadowfang eludes your grasp, this might be a worthy runner up. Unfortunately, only enchants this baby will take are those without level requirement.

Charmed Ancient Bone Bow 65 Emblems of Heroism
29-54 damage speed 2.40
(15.0 damage per second)
equip - +5 attack power
equip - +1 critical attack
equip - +1 hit

Rowena has her Throat Piercers. There isn't really all that much at this low level with worthy stats when it comes to a ranged weapon. This is superior for the extra 3 attack and the extra .73% crit chance. But the agility also provide me with .48% dodge. It's a toss-up. If you have the extra emblems, go for it. This would be on the bottom of my shopping list.

Exceptional Stormshroud Shoulders 200 Spirit Keeper's Shards
69 armor leather
3 agility
6 stamina
equip - +8 attack power
equip - +4 resilience
equip +10% experience per kill

1 more armor point, 6 less agility, and 6 more stamina. I'm looking at adding a bit of attack, and a bit of health, at the cost of crit rating and the loss of almost 1.5% dodge. What does .32% resilience do at this level? I'm not sure I'm willing to trade out what I have. This item, in my opinion, is too costly.

Inherited Insignia of the Horde 250 Spirit Keeper's Shards
trinket-unique
equip - +6 resilience
use - removes movement impairing effects and effects that cause the loss of control of your character (5 min cool down)

HUZZAH! A trinket!! This one would fly to the top of my list for that reason, and the fact that before Wrath, the Insignia of the Horde was not attainable by under level 20 characters, at least as far as I remember. Now that I have done the search for the equivalent, I may go get some honor and get the lower item.

Sharpened Scarlet Kris 200 Spirit Keeper's Shards
one hand speed 1.50
15-29 damage
(15.0 damage per second)
4 stamina
equip - +6 attack power
equip - +3 resilience

Another dagger. I'm not a dagger rogue, but for those that are, this one falls short. It's fast. It has attack power, and stamina. All these things you can get from the Scout's Blade. What you lose in .2 attack speed and 2 stamina you gain in .54% crit and .96% dodge. Not worth it, in my opinion.

Stained Shadowcraft Spaulders 40 Emblems of Heroism
69 armor leather
4 stamina
equip - +14 attack power
equip - +4 hit
equip - +10% experience per kill

Have I mentioned how I love agility? Sure, these babies have a lot to offer. But my Serpent's Shoulders have all that yummy agility...1.22% crit rating and 2.15% dodge, and the 9 attack power all in one small handy package. Another pass for me.

Swift Hand of Justice 50 Emblems of Heroism
Trinket
equip - +6 haste rating
equip - heals you for 2% of maximum health per kill that yields experience or honor.

Another TRINKET! This one is not unique, and I'm sure the second effect doesn't stack. Still worth it for the haste rating. Not many 19 twinks bother with haste rating, but there are some enchants and items available to help in that area, and more haste = more attacks. That, and this may be by far easier to get than two of the Arena Grand Master trinkets. I say put this on the shopping list as a must have!

Upgraded Dwarven Hand Cannon 325 Spirit Keeper's Shards
30-56 damage speed 2.90
(15 damage per second)
equip - +3 attack power
equip - + 2 crit rating
equip - + 1 resilience

Umm...on the fence with this one. I like the .48% dodge the Throat Piercers give, but the extra attack power and crit rating are enticing here as well. I'm gonna put this one on the "if I have too many shards" list.

Venerable Dal'Rends Sacred Charge 40 Emblems of Heroism
Main hand speed 2.90
30-56 damage
(15.0 damage per second)
3 stamina
equip - +3 attack power
equip - +3 crit rating

Slower than what I have, less top end damage than what I have. Eh. If you cannot get something better, get this for the crit. There are better swords out there for less effort. Save your emblems.

So, to wrap this up, this is some very cool stuff Blizzard has given us the opportunity of owning. New twink trinkets, and some pretty promising ranged weapons. The weapons and armor only seem to really be desirable if you are just unable to get anything else, and really, you CAN get better. 19 is not a hard level to reach, as I know from my accidental "let's see what the daily PvP quest can do for me?" re-roll after the dungeon gear upgrade.

Please, leave me a comment. I'd love to hear thoughts, or debates, on my opinion piece! :)

Improving on my 19 twink rogue

Rowena is my bank character. Since leaving Orgrimmar, Thunder Bluff, or Undercity means certain experience point gain, that is all she can do, aside from putting the hurt on the 10-19 bracket in Warsong Gulch. I rarely take her out, but when I do, I like to make sure she is holding her own out there. That means she needs some updates.

What has changed recently that a 19 might want to take advantage of? Let's start with the new profession, inscription. For a rogue, there seems no benefit for being one. However, there are the new Darkmoon card sets that can be made by a scribe, and glyphs, of which a level 19 will have 1 major and 1 minor to fill. Rogues Deck gives a quest for items (the quest giver is summoned right to you!) That have a level 10 requirement. They are green, but with the random enchantment, you really never know what you are going to get. Might be worth toying with. As for glyphs, there are many major to choose from, but few minor. Here are my picks...

Glyph of Evasion-5 seconds is enough to get away and bandage, to kill the other person, or to cap the flag.

Glyph of Eviscerate-Eviscerate is great at low levels, because you don't have many spells. For higher level rogues, this glyph is meh, but for 19, 5 combo points can mean the death of almost anyone out in that battleground, twink or not. That is, if you stick around long enough to lay those combo points that thick...

Glyph of Sprint-I'm on the fence on this one, and this is why. At 19, twinks drink Swiftness Potions like kids drink Kool-aid on a hot summer day. That extra speed increase might get you ahead of them faster, but to have it drop off sooner? I'm still thinking on that one. Not sure if it's worth a major slot.

Glyph of Sinister Strike- Another one I'm not too sure of. I think I would take the evasion over this, because sometimes I may hit one stinky gnome, then hare off and stab an icky draenei. If I'm gonna have both of them hitting me while I jump on the "catch the flag runner" train, I'll need the evasion.

Glyph of Backstab- I personally am out for damage and evasion at 19. Those that do use daggers, this is an excellent boost in damage for you, especially if you are handy with your sap and gouge attacks.

Glyph of Garrote- Another nice boost to damage for my stealthier counterparts.

There are more to be had at this level, some for spells you haven't even learned yet! Take a look at them here.

As for minor glyphs, there are only three, and they aren't really handy for low level rogues that are stuck in major cities. If you are a fishing twink, you might be able to use the Glyph of Blurred Speed to get away from aggressive mobs/players. Otherwise, pick pocket and pick lock seem kinda silly.

How about the new buffs given to gathering classes? Let's look into these and see what benefits we can reap from them.

Mining gives us Toughness. The buff is small at first, giving 30 extra health. At maximum, it gives 500 extra health. This is a huge boost! I heard that the restrictions for level on gathering professions had been tossed aside, but is it possible to smelt all the way to the top? Let's look. According to WoWHead, this chart seems to tell me you can smelt, though it may become expensive, all the way to 375. This should give you Toughness, a boost not to sneeze at.

Herbalism now gives Lifeblood, a nice heal over time effect. This is not a profession you can do alone to level higher than 150. If you have the experience to blow, or are starting from scratch, and have a buddy that is much stronger than you along, this could be overpowered. Lifeblood at this rank is all your health and then some over 5 seconds. Hot Dog! This can be cast in stealth after the next patch, if I remember right..

Skinning awards us Master of Anatomy, figuring we have skinned so many beasts that we now know just where to hit to gain extra damage. This, again, is not a skill you can level alone. If you have a buddy and enough experience points, wouldn't this be a wicked addition to what should already be a high percentage of crit?

As Rowena already has mining, I may, over time, slip her some ore to smelt to get her health bonus. She is also a semi-fishing twinklette, her boots waiting in the bank for an enchant, and hat still uncaught.

That is all for now! Did I miss anything? Tell me below!

Guilt sets in...

It's been a few days since I have seriously played any of my horde characters. I guess being so far behind disheartened me. But today, jogging around Dalaran with my newly cleaned, fed, and leashed pet, I started feeling that green icky guilty feeling. Delgada should have seen Dalaran first, not Esoterique. Sure, she worked hard for it, but Delgada out ranks her.

I crawled into my horde guild Ventrilo server and was greeted by one of our Warhammer players. I admitted to playing hooky, he patted me on the head and cheered me on. Then some of the other players started filing in, and I began to feel like I was shirking my duties. I am an officer, after all. Shouldn't I be out there to lend a hand to those who needed it? I just didn't want to be an officer. I want to be one of the rank and file some days, to come and go as I please, with no responsibility for the bank, tagging new and alternate characters, keeping the website running, etc.

Wheez, I am sorry, I filled the first bank tab with single Weighted Jack 'o' lanterns and some new cheap Northrend fish. I needed to blow off some steam. Forgive me? I have some enchanting materials coming back from the auction house soon, may I use tab two and make a quilt? :P

Someone take these abilities away...they're being abused!

It's that time of year again!

It's ...drum roll please....

NATIONAL LOOK AT YOUR SIGNIFICANT OTHER ASKANCE AS THEY PLAY WITH EVERYTHING BUT YOU MONTH!

That is all.

Look! I got a jar of Zerg Creep!

I didn't go to Blizzcon last time, so I went in expecting...a ticket, a code for a mount, and a blow up Frostmourne replica. I am surprised at the wealth of fun this goodie bag is stuffed with, and the bit of helpful items they included. Some of my favorite fun items in the bag are the starter deck of World of Warcraft Trading Cards, the bubble hearthing paladin ball, and the paper undead mask. As for practical, the hand sanitizer does nothing for me (I'm a firm believer in exposing myself to the icky germ ridden world...it strengthens my immune system!), but the tissue box with the so apt little phrase "QQ n00b" had me and my daughter giggling. Other neat stuff? A special edition authenticator, Diablo 'sin'amints (so your fellow con attendees have one less smell to complain of), a neat button for your bag strap or fave jacket from DC Unlimited, and a mousepad/picture frame from SwagDog.

There were other really cool items in there, but, unless pressured, I'll leave those to others to describe. All I have to say is...WOOT! Tomorrow we get to meet all sorts of people who enjoy what we do, and get to see all sorts of neat stuff, and maybe even get a stuffed Murloc! More later....