Journey to Tier 3

Sadly, I was not around to raid original Naxx. If you've read previous entries, you should know how I feel about the gear that dropped there... some of my favorites. While I am happy that most of the original weapons made an appearance back into the WotLK version of Naxx, I am still not happy about the lack of some of the beautiful robes from there. However, I do feel that the Frostfire Regalia is one of the most beautiful mage sets ever made!

from WoWwiki

I know it's not fair to those who legitimately raided to get their Tier 3, but I don't think being able to buy it off the BMAH devalues your set in any way. You still have your memories and hopefully screenshots to remember your wipes and kills by. I respect that 100%, and I admire you for being a pack-rat like me and keeping your tier!

I really didn't always play fair with the bidding either. I was outbid a good bit of the time, but then an Ally mage made a mistake by showing me how bad they wanted a few pieces, so I made them pay quite a bit more than what it usually goes for on my server. I ended up purposely bidding up pieces - it was great. If you want it that bad, you will pay the higher price.

Here is my journey to getting my Tier 3 and how much it has cost me, and how long it took to get there. *huge breath*

Frostfire Gloves - Bought on 3.30.13 for 10k
Frostfire Belt - Bought on 6.23.13 for 11k
Frostfire Sandals - Bought on 7.22.13 for 10k
Frostfire Shoulderpads - Bought on 8.24.13 for 30k
Frostfire Circlet - Bought on 8.31.13 for 30k
Frostfire Bindings - Bought 10.5.13 for 10k
Frostfire Leggings - Bought 10.14.13 for 10k
Frostfire Robe - Bought 12.25.13 for 50k

TOTAL: 161k

If you want a similar look without having to break your bank, you can always opt for collecting the Heroes' Frostfire Garb from the 10 man Naxx raid, or the Valorous Frostfire Garb from the 25 man Naxx raid. Both are very pretty, and I wore the brown set for quite a long time.

So after 9 months of collecting, I really have nothing else to say about it except that I am extremely happy with my purchase and the last piece couldn't have come at a better time! I will definitely be wearing this transmog for a LOOOONG time to come!

Anzu the Raven God

So tonight Blizzard showed us a preview of an upcoming mount. We have no idea where it will come from yet, but I do know that it looks amazing. On twitter I was a bit skeptical about it being the Warlords of Draenor Collectors Edition mount, and I was thinking it may be for Scroll of Resurrection or even another Annual Pass. However, after giving it some more thought and looking at the mount, it may indeed be for the CE. I decided I think back to Outlands, Arakkoa, and the Raven Lord Anzu.

"A mysterious avian deity worshiped by some of the more savage Arakkoa, Anzu is a being whose origins and powers are unlike any other member of Outland's fallen pantheon. The Naaru are silent regarding this malevolent creature, for Anzu's ways are hidden from even them."

Let's travel to Sethekk Halls where Anzu is located. The Arakkoa that have taken refuge there are known as the Sethekk cult and are led by the Talon King Ikiss. Their cult believes that they are the only true Arakkoa and servants to their "Master" - an old god. They took refuge in the Sethekk Halls after the destruction of Auchindoun, viewing it as their master's second coming. Here they remain and search for him in the ruins.

What about the raven... There is a lot of scattered lore on Anzu following the Epic Druid Flight Form quest line. The quest line was removed in Cataclysm and is no longer available. You can read the entire thing here.

During the quest line, you are tasked with waking Clintar Dreamwalker from the Emerald Dream to gather some relics. Upon his slight awakening and a few exchanges, he talks of being followed and it could lead to his death. He also talks of a shadowy and sinister presence that has invaded the Dream and wants to spill over into the world. His spirit helps you collect the three relics needed, but you are interrupted by the Aspect of the Raven. 

I made this screenshot based off the only one of the poor dead raven.

"Foolish druid! Dividing your essence has weakened you, opening the door for my master to dominate the Emerald Dream. Your spirit and body will die here!"

You are forced to defeat the aspect and continue on with your journey. After bringing the relics back to Morthis Whisperwing, he is disturbed at the Raven Aspect in the Barrow Dens. The next quest leads you back to Outlands in search of the Book of the Raven. You have to search for the spirit of Sai'kkal the Elder a priest who worshiped Anzu. He reveals that the book was stolen and the tablet was shattered by the Skettis cult and buried around their city. Despite being outcast by his fellow Arakkoa, he still remains faithful to the raven.

"From the dreams of his enemies shall the raven spring forth into the world."

The quest then takes you to find Raven Stones to piece back together the Book of the Raven. Arthorn Windsong is able to put the book back together. She briefly tells of the contents of the book:

"It's all here... how the raven's followers captured and subdued the spirits of rivals, trapping them forever within stone statues! The tablet even mentions the raven god's name -- Anzu. I'd thought it was lost to history! There's something else here, too. After a description of a bloody battle and the downfall of the raven, there's a prophecy. Anzu will haunt the dreams of his enemies, twisting them to affect a return to this world..."

You then travel to the shrines to capture the essence of the eagle, falcon, and hawk. The essences are combined with a Moonstone from Azshara, and you are tasked to defeat Anzu. After the defeat, the druid was given their epic flight form, and were able to keep the item to summon Anzu again. The quest states:

Your defeat of Anzu, the raven god, is truly a remarkable accomplishment. He may not abandon his quest to return to Outland, I fear. As long as he has followers here, he will attempt to rise again. Keep the essence-infused moonstone with you in case we have not heard the last of Anzu.

Reading through the entire quest line, throws me back onto the topic of Old Gods. I'm thinking, much like Sara is an avatar to Yogg-Saron, Anzu may be an avatar himself. I engaged him into battle and this is what he taunted me with:

I'm not sure a raven should be whispering to me, but I do know that Old Gods like to. Now this is all just speculation, and I always like to go off on an Old God theory when I can. For all I know this could be another mount just tossed into the Blizzard store as an updated Reins of the Raven Lord. It does seem like Anzu is extremely powerful and despite the quest line, we still don't know much more about him. I'm hoping since the Arakkoa will have a huge part in WoD, his story will be explained a little more. For now, it's always fun to speculate and see how close you can get to connecting the dots. Where do you think this mount will fit into?

Now I leave you with the Prophecy of the Raven God:

"From the darkest night shall rise again the raven, shall take flight in the shadows, shall reveal the nature of its kind. Prepare yourself for its coming, for the faithful shall be elevated to take flight with the raven, the rest be forgotten to walk upon the ground, clipped wings and shame.

Steel your minds and guard your thoughts. The dark wings will cloud and consume the minds of the weak, a flock of thralls whose feet may never leave the ground.

The old blood will flow once again with the coming of the raven, the return of the darkness in the skies. Scarlet night, and the rise of the old.

The raven was struck down once for flying too high, unready. The eons have prepared the Dark Watcher for its ascent, to draw the dark cloak across the horizon."

Blog Azeroth: Mountable Mounts

I guess it's a good time to participate in a Blog Azeroth topic again. They have a few good ones over on the forum. I want to do a few others, but this one stood out to me first after looking over the list.

"So, what are your top 5 mounts - or just the ones you go to all the time because you like the way they ride? What are the ones you really dislike and can never bring yourself to use - does it rub against your collecting nature (if you have one) to buy all the mounts even though you know you will never use them?"

I decided not to talk about the ones I really dislike because honestly, there isn't really any. I'm the kind of person that thinks certain mounts can be used for certain occasions. For example, you will rarely see me riding any wolf mount, but I will definitely be riding them for Warlords of Draenor. Instead i decided to focus on my all time favorites so far (ones that I own), and my wishlist (ones I wished to own). Enjoy!

Representing the Frostwolf Clan!

Instant Level 90s!

First let me start off by saying that I'm simply stating my opinions on the matter. No need to attack or get upset about it. That being said, unless you've been living under a rock, you have probably heard about the Blizzard survey that has gone around pertaining to buying level 90 characters. My boyfriend, Pigletoos, actually got the survey to complete and didn't take any screenshots, but he did come in the room to discuss it with me. Recently on Twitter I've been seeing the question come up about, "How do you feel about having an instant level 90 in WoD?" and more importantly, "How do you feel about being able to purchase a level 90 character?".

Let's travel back to Blizzcon 2013 when Warlords of Draenor was announced along with this feature - The ability to boost one character to level 90 and play immediately. I can see a ton of people who quit in previous expansions wanting to come back and easily be able to experience relevant content again without feeling ridiculously behind everyone else. I also think this is great because someone like me, who already has a ton of alts, can level up a character instantly to 90 without having to go through the entire questing experience again. Let's face it, while I don't mind questing, the 5th or 6th time doing it gets a little repetitive and quite boring. In fact, I already have a Shaman saved that I think I will be using as my one free instant level 90! I just can't figure out if I want her as a Dwarf or an Orc.

Survey Screenshot from Polygon.

Now on to the more controversial matter - buying an instant level 90. Should this even be implemented and how much should it cost? The answer for me is, sure, let people buy level 90s. Chances are the people who are going to be purchasing this option want to be max level and get geared to raid or PvP as fast as possible because that's what they enjoy doing in game. There is nothing wrong with that. There is also nothing wrong with wanting to level up your character the old fashion was either. I don't understand the complaining about putting a feature like this in the store... it doesn't affect the original way of leveling up, and it's not needed to play the game. Remember when Blizzard put those cosmetic helms in the store and people flipped out? I do, and I don't think anything really has changed due to that.

Now I know I can't compare cosmetic helms to instantly leveled characters, and the biggest complaint is always this - You learn to play your character through leveling up! If someone buys a max level character, they will be running around not knowing how to play because they didn't level up! This statement right here makes me cringe. Personally from running LFR, questing, and just watching people out in the world, I can tell you... people have already made it to max level and STILL have no idea what they are doing. I will always argue this because I feel that you don't truly learn how to play your character until max level anyway. Sure you can learn what certain moves do, and what moves you should use in special situations, but I don't think any of this truly becomes relevant until you are max level and on an equal level content zone. You can argue this with me, but I am not budging on that issue.

With the addition of Proving Grounds, Blizzard has already taken the step to get people to become more comfortable with playing a new spec or maybe dusting off that alt to make it their new main. When the Timeless Isle was introduced, I respecced Velgana to Frost. I've never played it before, but using Proving Grounds to try things out really helped me. I can't remember if I read it somewhere, or it was just a suggestion, but I think throwing in a repeatable scenario for the instant level 90s to complete would be a good thing. In fact, make it available for everyone, because we can all use a little practice! This could help players get familiar with new moves/new specs or whatever else they want to experiment with.

Time is money, friend!

Now, how much should this feature cost? I really have no idea. I would say maybe $20-$30. I'm guessing the best way to go about this would be to see what is the average amount of time it takes for someone to normally get to max level. I know with heirlooms, chain running dungeons while questing, and all the guild/holiday perks, the time is definitely significantly reduced. I guess when it comes down to it, Blizzard will charge whatever they feel like for this service. Hopefully for people who actually want to use this, it isn't bank breaking. Is it a feature I would use? Probably not, unless I wanted a duplicate class that I already have on the same server. I don't see that happening though. I would save my money and use it on mini pets, mounts, or cosmetic items from the store.

Regardless if you like this feature or dislike it, it's probably going to happen, and we're just going to have to get used to it. I don't see myself quitting the game over something this trivial and silly though. It won't effect my game play and experience and to me, that's all that matters.

Blog Azeroth: Oaths

Blog Azeroth seems to have come to life again with the beginning of the new year. I have other posts planned out, but some of these are so good that I may be posting twice a week! I wasn't going to participate in this one, but after thinking it over I decided it would make a good continuation to my RP Intro I did a while back. I hope you enjoy it!

"What vows would your character say, intend, or break, and to what allegiance? Would it be to class/race/specialization, deity, or ruler?"

Velgana followed a small group of undead into the huge city. She was never able to witness the mighty city during its time of glory, but even in its current state, Lordaeron was an amazing site. They walked past the courtyard and into the throne room, going deeper and deeper into the bowels of what was once a great city. She was shocked at the amount of people that were now inhabiting every dark corner of the catacombs. They were all the same... all like her... all stuck between life and death.

Before she knew it, they came to a huge room which was dimly lit with lights all around. In the middle was a raised section where this woman stood surrounded by guards and Banshees. She quickly motioned to the guards who hastily left the group alone with her. She walked down the steps and analyzed the small group. Velgana could feel her throat in a knot... this was The Dark Lady, The Queen of the Forsaken... Lady Sylvanas - The Banshee Queen. She began, and her voice echoed throughout the halls:

"Children of the Grave, heed my call! In life, we suffered unspeakable tragedies. We've watched, as our homes were razed to the ground! We cried out in agony, as our families were cut down before our eyes. Finally, in the face of such atrocities, we were denied even the release of death!"

Velgana could feel the fight she had left burning deep inside of her. She listened as the rest of the group did, never taking her eyes off the Queen. The Lady continued:

"We are not monsters! We are not the mindless wretches of a ghoul army! NO! We are a force even more terrifying! We are the chill in a coward's spine! We are the instruments of an unyielding ire! WE ARE THE FORSAKEN!"

Cheers followed as the guards walked by and handed each of them a tabard with the Forsaken crest on them. Everyone quickly put them on and kneeled before their Queen.

"Wear these with pride. Never forget where you came from, but remember, those who do not stand with the Forsaken stand against them, and those who stand against the Forsaken will not stand long."

Before the group knew it, The Dark Lady was gone from sight. It was from that point on that Velgana pledged her allegiance to the Banshee Queen. The Forsaken were her family now, and she would do anything to protect her family from harm.

Lady Sylvanas's speech is a modified version of the speech she gives during the lighting of the Wickerman during Hallow's End!

A New Year!

I am back! While I did enjoy my break away from blogging and the holidays, I am sure glad both are over. I have so many exciting things to talk about, a few Blog Azeroth topics I want to write about, and a few posts that have been in the making for a looooong time that I need to finish up.

First I wanted to talk about some new goodies I managed to gather up over the holidays. I added a Rascal Bot and Blackfuse Bombling to my collection. I also ended up winning the mini pet competition that Erinys over at Harpy's Nest was hosting. For my prize I was able to pick a mini pet so I told her either the Brew Pup or Lil' XT would do. She definitely surprised me with the Enchanted Fey Dragon and Brew Pup! I was thrilled because I never really buy the store mounts. This was definitely one of the best gifts I could have ever received!

My boyfriend also bought me Lil' XT before the sale was over since it was the last store mini pet (except for the Gryphon w/ plush) that I'm missing. My collection feels really wonderful... I just need to spend more time leveling them up now!

I also was able to finally finish my Tier 3 on Christmas night! How exciting! I would love to talk more about that, but I have a post dedicated to how much and how long it took me to get there. expect that coming up in the next week or so.

Finally, I figured that a new year meant that I should probably change up my blog a little bit. I decided to do new colors and a new banner image. Nothing crazy, but I think it definitely suits the silly little images I make. You can see a few more of them if you follow me on Twitter.

Anyway, Happy New Year to everyone! Hopefully 2014 will definitely give me some interesting things to blog about. Vel needs some more adventures!

Using the Cross Realm Raid Broswer

I will be the first to admit that I always struggle when it comes to new things being implemented in WoW. I finally used Blizzard's cross realm raid browser for the first time this week. I was pretty impressed by it. My server is going through quite a dead time right now, so it's hard to find a group for Celestials. Using this tool, I was not only able to find a group, but we were done with the kill in less that 3 minutes.

Someone asked me how to use the tool on Twitter. I like to be detailed with it, so I decided to type up a quick guide with some visuals. I hope it helps a few people out there who were confused to how it works.