Expansion Memories

The end of the month is nearing. This has been a wonderful celebration, and I loved sitting down and thinking back on all the great memories this game has brought to me over the past 10 years! Before we bring this celebration to a close, I have one more post dedicated to my favorite memories from each expansion. Though not all of the expansions were as good as I would have liked them to be, I always try to make the best of things. I still continue to play this way to this day.

Burning Crusade

It's hard for me to say this is my all time favorite expansion, but it is a definite favorite because it was when I started playing the game. I raided in a top guild on my server, and I have great and frustrating memories of raid progression. The one kill that meant the most to me was Leotheras the Blind in SSC because it felt like we were stuck on him forever! On the night we were finally able to down him, I got an amazing sword that I kept with my up until the wardrobe was released! I also have really fond memories of doing dailies on the Isle of Quel'Danas when Sunwell was released. Me and Pigletoos felt like badasses once we became exalted and were able to afford those expensive (for the time) titles!

Wrath of the Lich King

I hear so many great things about this expansion, but to be honest, I took a long break during this one. I don't have as many memories during this time, but the ones I do have are pretty fun. I think this expansion event was one of my all time favorites. I loved seeing the necropolis popping up outside each major city and having the plague spread. I'm pretty sure I was one of the first to be infected on my server. I was in Undercity at the time I turned into a zombie. I managed to escape through the sewers and made it to Brill where I was sadly killed. After that, I spent most of my time in Shattrath City so I wouldn't be infected in the faction cities. The only other memory I have is spending way too much time in the Dalaran Sewers trying to fish up that ugly Giant Sewer Rat!

Cataclysm

During this expansion, my play style changed as I began to focus more on solo content and collecting. The addition of LFR definitely helped me become super casual. I have no regrets about that at all. This is the expansion where I got lucky in getting quite a few rare mount drops (Alar, TLPD, Aeonaxx) and this kick started a new obsession with mount collecting. Other than that, the only other memorable thing was being out in the world and coming back to a burning corpse because Deathwing passed over the zone. *sigh* This is also the expansion where most of my guild started playing. They definitely picked a perfect time as I think Cataclysm definitely turned the game to something newer players could easily set foot into.

Mists of Pandaria

I know a lot of people hated this expansion because LOLPANDAS, but sitting back and looking over everything, this is my all time favorite expansion. Everything was unique, looked so different, and the lore for the zones was really awesome. It seemed everywhere I turned I was either stopping to take a screenshot or to appreciate all the little details that was put into areas. During this time, my guild also began running things with me and Pigletoos. I also have really fond memories of us on the Timeless Isle. The day that it was released, I spent 12 hours online! Many other nights there I spent with my friends chatting and waiting for rare spawns to pop up (Huolon up!). The entire expansion was just wonderful in my eyes, and I often go back to those zones to relax and listen to the music.

Warlords of Draenor

As I said in my opening, despite an expansion not being so fun, I still try to make the best of it. While Warlords was probably my least favorite, I give props to Blizzard for telling a very good story through the questing in each zone. Sadly the end game suffered. I took advantage of garrisons and turned them into "gold farms". This expansion also gave me a chance to branch out with alts and focus on starting to roleplay with my worgen warlock. If I was too busy at the time, I don't think things would have worked out as well as they did. Once Tanaan Jungle came out, I do have fun memories of me and my guild doing our dailies late at night and pulling so much stuff! I can hear Rey screaming "RUN RUN!" over voice chat and us falling into the fel only to die a few seconds later. I live for silly moments like that.

I'm not going to put Legion on here since we're still in this expansion and there are still more things to experience. Of course there will be a post for that later on! Again, I want to thank you all for sticking with me during this month. I hope whether you're an older follower or a new one, I made you stop and think back on some memories you may have. Once again another successful celebration has happened, and I look forward to doing something again next year!

The Blizzard Archive

A while back I had thought about a few things regarding the Blizzard Archive, but I never decided to write a post about it. Today something got me thinking back on this topic, and it seemed like the perfect topic to blog about this week.

Back in March of this year, Blizzard put out the announcement that the Mists of Pandaria Digital Deluxe edition was going to be heading into their vaults. That news wasn't really that special until the last line at the bottom:

"The Digital Deluxe edition might come back out of the archive in the future, but even the jinyu waterspeakers don’t know if or when."

If or when is definitely vague, and I shouldn't be digging. However, I'm the kind of person that feels if something like that is put out there, it's return will possibly be considered. Anyway, today I logged online and checked my favorite WoW sites to see that now the Guardian Cub will be making his way into the vault also. However, on this post we don't get a vague note that he could be returning in the future.

This entire thing got me thinking about the Disney Vault. As many of you know, Disney films will get taken out of the vault and re-released for a limited time before being packed away again. What if Blizzard was thinking about doing this in the future with previous expansions? This idea makes me excited just to think about.

What if Blizzard released Digital Deluxe versions of every past expansion that didn't have one? In reality, the only thing you would be paying for is having the CE attached to your account and the mini pets they come with, but I'm fine with that. Blizzard could also go back and add a mount and other goodies for Diablo and Starcraft, but then I guess people who purchased the original CE's will complain about how awesome they are to have bought the CE way back when, but seriously... who cares? No one is really a special little snowflake anymore.

The cool kids

I can't speak for everyone else, but if Blizzard decided to do this, I'd be happy to throw out some money. So I'm curious to your thoughts... 

Could you see this happening in the future? How would you feel if Blizzard decided to release Digital Deluxe editions of previous expansions? Let me know in the comments below!

A Bully In The Shadows

The following events of this blog post happened during 2007 and 2008. I was around 20 at the time, new to WoW, and I didn't have as strong of a mind as I do now. The character and real name of the person involved will not be used, and if they do happen to still follow me around the web and read this blog, just know... this isn't about you, because I don't care what you're doing these days; it's about me finally talking publicly about what happened.

Bullies suck!

It was 2007, and I started playing WoW with my boyfriend and his friends. I was also very active on Myspace at the time. My profile was private, and I only added people I knew personally or went to school with. One day I received a friend request from a guy - I shall refer to him as "S". I was good friends with his brother in school, and we had a ton of mutual friends, so I added him. Little did I know that would be a mistake that would cause me a lot of grief for almost an entire year.

Music to my Ears: WoW Soundtracks

I am one of those people who always plays WoW with my all the sound on. My boyfriend, on the other hand, usually never has his music on. The reason is that he usually likes to listen to his own music while he raids or does dailies. While I was up extremely late one night, I decided that I would listen to all of the soundtracks, pick out my favorite songs, and talk about them. It took me about a week to listen to everything, but it wasn't anything difficult. I ended up flying around and doing some Archaeology while giving my ears a treat! I tried to keep it to my two or three favorites off each album otherwise I'd just have you listen to it all (which you should do anyway!)

My soundtrack collection. I'm missing the original one.

I've included iTunes links to buy each album. Always support the artist, guys! Anyway, let's start out with the original and classic soundtrack.

WoW Original Soundtrack

Track 7: Season of War

I never played Alliance, but upon hearing this song, I immediately thought of a Human Paladin or Warrior fully decked out in tier 2 or tier 3. It could also be the fact that it's the song used in the cinematic... probably the first cinematic that most of us saw upon playing the game for the first time so it definitely holds nostalgia for most people. It's definitely one of the better songs on this soundtrack.

Track 29: Graveyard

After listening to the entire album, I actually had to go back and listen to a few more songs to actually pick out another one that I really liked. This one stood out to me. Again, another short song but hauntingly beautiful despite the fact that most of us hearing this are trying to run back to our body as quick as possible!

The Burning Crusades Soundtrack

Track 1: The Burning Legion

When I hear this song, my tummy gets a little tingle in it. This is the song I remember the most because it was on the BC loading screen. This song is the song that brings back a ton of memories for me. I think BC will always be my favorite time in WoW (as of this far), so this song definitely meant a lot to me!

Track 15: Illidan

Illidan... where do I begin. This song reminds me of something that should be in an opera. Very dark, very sinister. Illidan is one of my favorite characters in WoW lore. If you have never read up about him, I suggest you do so as soon as possible! I'd love to see him redeemed someday.

Track 21: Lament of The Highborne

I tried to pick two songs from each album, but I couldn't pass this one up. I don't want to talk about it to much because I want to do an exploration post dedicated to this song, quest, and lore in the game involving it. There is something hauntingly beautiful about the Banshee Queen singing this. I always get chills hearing this.

Wrath of the Lich King Soundtrack

Track 3: Arthas, My Son

I don't think there is anything I can say about this song except that it's amazing. Also, the trailer for WoTLK is my favorite of all time. I love how it has King Terenas Menethil voiced over telling a young Arthas how he would be King one day while we're watching the monster he was raising his undead forces. 

Unknown Track: Northrend Travel Music

While I enjoyed the rest of the album, I couldn't find another song on there that I could listen to over and over. I was sad to see that this song never made it onto the album, but it was added during WotLK. I don't know about for Alliance, but for Horde, this song plays when you board the Zeppelin to the Howling Fjord.

Cataclysm Soundtrack

Track 2: Xaxas

Xaxas: means "chaos", "fury" or "elemental fury" in Darnassian. I think this describes the horror that was Deathwing perfectly. I still wish we saw his human form more. That model was amazing looking. Despite what most people say, I enjoyed Cataclysm also. It's where I ended up going back to each zone and experiencing the new leveling content added. I think most people were just too dumb to realize that's where Blizzard put more of their hard work into.

Track 17: Nightsong

When I hear this song, I think of the Sisterhood of Elune gathered around and singing this song in honor of her. Although Night Elves are my most disliked race in the game, I think this song is beautiful.

Mists of Pandaria Soundtrack

Track 6: Way of the Monk

This song right here has to be my second favorite song out of Warcraft entirely. I have no idea why, but the first time I fell in love with it I was questing in the Paoquan Hollow of Valley of the Four Winds. It only plays a small amount of it so after I heard the entire song I was left speechless. I hope I can listen to this song years from now and remember the magic of Pandaria! ❤

Track 17: The Golden Lotus

The last song for this post is completely appropriate to what's going to be happening in 5.4 I hear this song and I think of a beautiful Vale filled with wildlife and flourishing plant life. Garrosh has already began to destroy it and once 5.4 hits it won't look the same at all. I can't wait to get Garrosh out of the true Horde and help rebuild all the destruction we did to Pandaria.

I hope I've inspired those who haven't listened to the soundtracks (or did a long time ago), to give them a listen. I also hope that I've made some people want to play a bit more with the music on. I love a game that is filled with so many sights and sounds to completely immerse you into the game play. WoW definitely never disappoints to feed my ears with beautiful sounds. I always look forward to new expansions and the new music that will be added with them!

#WoWScreenshotaday

While following a ton of wonderful Warcraft bloggers on Twitter, I noticed something from Tycertank called #WoWScreenshotaday. I totally had to participate. I was going to just post all the pictures to Twitter only, but I decided to have them all in one blog post would be cool too so I could look back on all of them in one place. Anyway, here are the daily topics.

I will be updating the pictures here daily. You can see them after the jump! :)

Exploration Tales: South Sea Islands

Way before the Cataclysm came and changed the world of Azeroth, there was a little island that was unknown by many. It sat just off the coast of Tanaris and was pretty difficult to get to. Back then you couldn't fly around Azeroth, so you had to use other clever means to get there.

Ignore the white path... this map was used for mining.

Here is an old map of Tanaris. It's crazy how much the world has changed. This was back before Uldum was a zone. I remember the first time I visited the area. It was just a broken down door with these huge (possibly elite?) Sandstone Golem's patrolling around the area. The islands weren't listed on the map, but if you stood on Land's End Beach, you could easily see them.

Anyway, the islands served no purpose other than if you were on the Scepter of the Sands quest. There was a lonely Naga woman named Meridith the Mermaiden who would give you a quest called Love Song for Narain. Upon completion she would buff you with Siren's Song which let you get to the isles the proper way to continue on your AQ quest chain (Draconic for Dummies).

I was such a young mage at the time, only level 70, and I really had no means of getting there. I was not on the quest, but I wanted to visit so bad since I first eyed up the islands. After doing some fishing dailies for Old Man Barlo, I realised that the Elixir of Water Walking I was getting from him would serve me well. I ended up barely getting to the island by using those elixirs and blink.

It was a nice little spot. It looked like it used to be home of a Goblin fishing village that was since then abandoned... maybe because of pirates? Maybe they moved to Gadgetzan?

Goblin buildings

Definitely signs of fishermen living there

Other that fishing or taking some screenshots, there was really nothing else for me to do there. It just felt really great as another thing to cross off my list of places to see. Sadly, the islands aren't in the game anymore... nor the Naga woman, or even the AQ quest. I would have loved to go back with the ease of flying in Azeroth and explore it again. Hopefully Blizzard adds more islands in later expansions; if you look at old maps of the South Seas, you never know what we shall find in those oceans!

Blog Azeroth: WoW Collections

I have finally signed up to Blog Azeroth. I love the fact that they have a weekly topic posted that you can blog about. It gives me new content to discuss without having to keep saying the same things over and over. I just have never been too great with posting on forums, so I doubt I will really contribute much on the site. Anyway, here was this weeks question:

"World of Warcraft has added many different items for players to collect, whether it be collecting pets, mounts, transmog gear or knickknacks about the lore. This week’s topic asks what you do collect in the game and what is your prized item from that collection?"

I know I touched on this subject on a post last year, but I went more into detail of older, non obtainable items that I have. As far as collecting goes... I collect it all! Seriously, Vel is one of those characters that keeps it because you never know when she might need it.

I started off in BC with a huge collection of mini pets. Before you could learn them, you would have to keep the physical item in your bags to summon it. It got so bad that my entire bank was filled with them. Thank goodness for the "pet tab" now. I have almost 500 of them, but my most prized pet would have to be my Emerald Whelp. I used to spend long hours farming for it in Swamp of Sorrows. I never got it to drop, but I finally bought one at the beginning of WotLK for 5k, eek.

In Wrath, I became more obsessed with mount and tabard collecting. I bought a lot of TCG packs to try to get loot, and at the end I had so many I was able to redeem myself a Tabard of the Void. It's still a very nice tabard that I use whenever I'm wearing a dark set. It's probably my second favorite tabard right behind Tabard of the Argent Dawn (for obvious reasons of course).

Now as far as mounts go, I will probably sound really cliché by saying this, but my Ashes of Al'ar is my most prized mount. I don't even care that a ton of people have it now... I love it because it reminds me of late night Tempest Keep runs with my friends to try and get transmog gear and telling stories of the past xpacs and raids. I never thought I would see this thing drop, much less legitimately win the roll. That mount means so much to me. <3

Titles! I almost forgot about titles! I didn't raid during Wrath, but I always wanted to kill Arthas. He has one of my favorites stories lore wise and ICC is still filled with some of the coolest bosses (imo). I ended up getting into am Arthas kill during Cata just so I could get my "the Kingslayer" title. Something about that title just gives me the chills. I have no idea why, but I love it so much. My second favorite title is "of the Shattered Sun". Both me and my boyfriend got that title back in BC from grinding out all those dailies to get exalted. It was also rare to see someone with it because it cost 1k... which was still quite a good bit of gold back then.

Finally I leave you with transmog. I cannot tell you how excited I was when Illidan dropped Cowl of the Illidari Highlord. I ended up spending a good bit of time making a really pretty set around it. It's definitely my all time favorite transmog set (I have a thing for BC of course).

There are some other items that I REALLY like, but sadly I don't have a sword yet and we could be here all day with me going through them all, hah.

I also wanted to say after all the headache that the "new" Photobucket has been causing me, I've decide to switch all of my photos over to Dropbox. They are all there, I just haven't had a chance to organize them a bit better. I'd like to have my Moonguard pictures separate from everything since that is a whole different story in itself. Please feel free to visit the new home of my screenshots: World of Picturecraft.