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!

That Look is so Burning Crusade

Legion has been full of throwbacks to Burning Crusade. As someone who started during that era, I have been loving this. With patch 7.2 slowly creeping closer and closer to release, we've been getting more and more information on different things being released. This patch will bring the Tomb of Sargeras raid along with a new tier set to collect - Tier 20. I'm normally excited for new tier sets, but these leave more to be desired.

Continuing on the BC nostalgia train, Tier 20 is an upgrade of the Tier 6 sets. I know many people have been asking for high resolution versions of older gear, and Blizzard delivered. Among some of my favorites are the warrior, paladin, and priest. Even the new demon hunter set looks good. Sadly, I think a few of these missed the mark. When I look at some of the colors for the mage set, all I see is a mess. To me, the blue, green (definitely this one), and mythic yellow recolors look like they were altered using a color slider in a photo program and not fully balanced giving it a very strange look when put all together.

Hmm, I'm not sure.

Maybe it was just me being a little too nit picky, so I went on Twitter to poke around and see what other people think. A few weeks ago I asked everyone how they felt about the sets. Most people were underwhelmed and most seemed to prefer new sets inspired by older tier instead of a complete update of an older one. I have to agree. I love trying to collect the new sets because they are new. I like to see what the team comes up with using the expansion aesthetics to build a set. Honestly I feel like this fell short on all ends as the original death knight and monk sets that were created look very strange as well.

I know some of my followers don't speak for the entire community, so if you're reading this and have a differing opinion, I'd love to hear it. Do you like the HD remake or would have preferred an original set? Do you really like one of the sets that others have talked badly about? Let me know in a comment below.

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! :)

Loramus and Velgana

I stood on a rock in the middle of the Bay of Storms. I knew I wasn't crazy, it used to be here. There once was an island I used to frequent quite a bit. I'd fish, it had a cave that housed a turtle named Scalebeard, and an out of the way Demon Hunter who called himself Loramus Thalipedes. I always asked about why is was out in the middle of Azshara, but he never told me much. He'd watch me fish, I'd ask questions about his weapons and blindfold. He told me he had magical powers; he said he could see demons and could sense things about me that most couldn't. He carved his own eyes out. I was always intrigued by Demon Hunters - I made comments about maybe one day seeing the world as he saw it. He told me it was more of a curse than a gift.

After many years of adventuring, I found battles with many Demon Hunters, but I never forgot my "friend". Then the Cataclysm came and changed everything. The island was no longer there. Where had Loramus gone? I decided to find him and maybe see if I could learn anything from him now that am a more seasoned mage. I didn't know where to begin, so I poured through a few books spitting out last known locations of a few Demon Hunters in Ashara. My search took me to Duskwood first.

Rumor was the ghost of a Demon Hunter named Telarius Voidstrider resided deep under the Maw of the Void. I managed to find him, but when I asked of his fellow brother, he looked at me and said, "You are not of the dark path! You do not belong here, Undead. The shadows will consume you. You are not prepared to face the void." 

That's really all I needed to hear, and after re evaluating my situation, I promptly left. I didn't want to be fighting a Demon Hunter in a dark underwater cavern.

My next stop took me deep within Felwood. I met with a Demon Hunter named Feronas Sindweller. He told me that Loramus was killed in Blasted Lands while hunting a demon named Razelikh; his body torn apart and scattered across the land. However, he was lucky because an adventurer was able to gather the parts to make him whole again.

Finally my searching paid off, and I made my way to the Blasted Lands as fast as I could. It wasn't hard to find him. I just asked around the Sunveil Excursion until someone answered me.

I found him, to the back of a cave. He was in hiding and I didn't blame him. I didn't have to say a word, he knew why I had came all this way to find him again. I wanted to see the world through his eyes. I would never become a Demon Hunter... I was undead. While not the same that they hunted, I was still looked down upon. He handed me a potion and a blindfold. He told me to drink, "This potion, Velgana, will grant you temporary blindness and a glimpse of the terrors I see. After you take it, place the blindfold around your eyes." I took the potion without hesitation and did as he asked. Before I knew it, the world changed right before me.

It didn't last long, but I imagine it hurt just as bad as if my eyes were cut out. I could smell the demons; I could smell the rot on myself and around me. I felt sick and sorry all at the same time. I looked upon the Blasted Lands for a while. It was unlike anything I had ever seen. I could actually see the demons around and almost beyond the Dark Portal - I could sense them! Before I knew it, I was back in the cave and everything was back to normal. I looked at Loramus in a different light than before. He put his head down and placed his hand on my shoulder. After a brief pause, I removed my blindfold, looked at him, then simply left. No words were exchanged, but we both knew that would be the last time we would see one another.

I honestly think what brought us together in the beginning was a lot more than just me fishing. I think it was the fact of just having someone else around who viewed the world a bit differently than others.

On our island back during the Burning Crusades

Note: The potion used was Four Senses Brew (which has nothing to do with Demon Hunters). Also, this was written just for fun. Simply read and enjoy!

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.

The End Of The Burning Crusades

Today marks the official end of the Burning Crusades. You're forced to respec, play with the new UI, and view all the changes in the world around you which you have grown to know so well. It's a very somber and bittersweet day, yet exciting at the same time. So while you wait about 4 hours for your patch to download, you have a good bit to reflect on.

In closing, all I have to say is... Arthas, bring it on... I'm ready for all Northeren will be dishing out to me.

Sit Back and Have a Brew

Brewfest is here again, and the day before Blizzard put in the cute "Pirate Day". After speaking with the fleet captain in Booty Bay, you recieved a 12 hour pirate costume buff that allowed you to do everything in the heartiest of moods. I wasn't able to participate in Brewfest last year, but I am this year. I recieved an honorary Blue Brewfest Stein for 2008, and I'm still debating on what items to get with my coins. I'm going to at least wait until the last possible moment to spend them all. I was able to get my badge copycap trinket from Coren Direbrew - Dark Iron Smoking Pipe. It makes me puff out thick green smoke when it procts.

I was able to reserve a copy of WotLK collectors edition at my local Gamestop. Lucky for me because a few days later they quit offering it. I'm just majorly excited for the mini frost wyrm pet and of course... all the new raid content. Below is a video "spoiler" for the new xpac...

Just watching the the cinematic and little trailers like this just gets me more and more excited for what's to come.

Also lately I have been taking an interest in the old pre-bc raids. Molten Core, AQ 20/40, Blackwing Lair, Naxx, Onyxia, Lower/Upper Blackrock Spire, the Dragons of Nightmare... all of this seems so interesting to me. I was able to find a guild on another (a PvP) server that is a total old school raid guild, but the only bad thing is I need a "vanilla" WoW account. I guess maybe having a different computer without BC installed would be a good idea. Until then I guess I could slowly... slowly level up another toon. Oh what fun... :/ *sigh* So if anyone know of any other old school raiding guilds... Horde preferably, but Alliance would work, please let me know. :)

Twinkies and Holy Bologna

With hurricane Gustav hitting home really hard, I've been living off of generator power for over a week now and there really isn't much more to do around here. The place where I work was demolished, and they are waiting cleanup and rebuilding. In the meantime, I took it upon myself to play my other neglected toons while the days are long and hot.

I leveled my priest (holy warrior build at that) to Outands finally. I just want her to hit 70 before the xpac so I don't have to do so much. Next I decided to twink out my ret. pally at 39 in the Chain of the Scarlet Crusade. This should be fun since I LOVE spending money on high level enchants :| Lastly my poor little druid is my escape character. I wanted to get her at least to level 10 so I could pop bear form and travel to Moonglade to wait on those rare dresses to respawn:

- Formal Dangui
- Green Wedding Hanbok
- Red Wedding Hanbok

all three have about a 2-3 month respawn time and are a very rare thing to have. I'm determined so I shall get this.

And even better, WotLK lets us get a sneak peak at some of the new tabards. I already know I want the Kirin Tor one and the Argent Dawn one.

What's In A Name

Most people start off the game excited to create their character, but actually how much goes into deciding the name of the character you will spend hours, days, or even months getting to know by questing and raiding together? The first character I made was a troll priest on my boyfriend's account. I think I might have gotten her to level 5, if even that high. I cannot for the life of me remember her name, but all I knew was that I was hooked. Buying and installing WoW on my own laptop and the anticipation of getting my own account, I decided I didn't really wanna play a priest but become a powerful mage. Once she was all fixed the way I wanted her... what did I do for lack of creativity.... I hit the dreaded "randomize" button and got the name Velgana.
Yes it stuck, no I'm not sad I wasn't more creative, however, the whole point of this post is that with my death knight, they will have a good name.

I have my placeholder with EvilMadcap. :) I changed my mind. It's Helleborn. :D

Competition

As if the hype of the Olympics weren't enough, WoW had to get into the action to keep the player interested... The Spirit of Competition:
Competitor's Tabard
Gold Medallion

Complete a battleground and the tabard is yours. Complete and win a battleground and you get a chance of getting the little guy. On Pigletoos first try he not only got the pet and tabard, but finished his PvP daily. I have no such luck as I still haven't gotten my pet.

The only other thing that has peaked my interest lately: FLYING CARPET.

It's about time they give us tailors a profession specific mount. Now I just hope they will have a new set to make.

New Loot

Belt of Blasting : gemmed with Glowing Shadowsong Amethyst and Veiled Pyrestone

Gloves of the Tempest : gemmed with Great Lionseye

I decided not to mess around and epic gem them up while I have the gold. I don't ever spend it on much, and I haven't even been playing that much lately. The guild the other night was successful with Teron Gorefiend. I have been more busy doing life things, and waiting for Wrath of the Lich King.

Pigletoos' computer has been friend for a while now. The poor graphics card gave out. Hopefully you hurry back, you are missed in Azeroth!

Loot Card

Last night I opened my first pack of Hunt for Illidan TCG. After flipping through a few cards, behold:

D.I.S.C.O. is mine. I decided not to sell it since it's low price on ebay. Eh, it will be cool to pull out at any given time.

Not The Good Kind Of Pet - Pet Peeves

I need to vent...

- People who just randomly open a trade box with you instead of politely asking first if they could have some conjured food/water, or demanding it rudely. "I want ______". No, just because I did chose to play the vending machine class doesn't make me your personal chef.

- People who ask for ports and don't tip. It's not so much as I'm greedy, but it's common curtesy. I tip for whatever I need done (especially hefty tips for enchants). The least you could do is shell out 1g or so.

- People who don't play your class (and never have) that think they know more than you: what's best for you/what gear you should be getting. I played over 71 days on Velgana and I have my guides and stuff I read. I'm a big girl and can dress myself.

- Night elf hunters... no need to elaborate.

- On my priest alt, people who invite me to a group before asking just thinking I want to heal for them. Anyone cared to ask if I'm holy spec first?

and finally...

- People who have been raiding with us for a month/DKP whores getting their tier6 gloves before you... then leaving the guild a week after. Third time I get screwed on t6 gloves; Long live DKP :(

I think I need a break. *sigh*

Sharply Dressed

I decided to give patch 2.4.3's item updates a look, and they do have some fun things in store; especially since I'm a tailorer. A new set to make will be able to be purchased from an NPC in Tanaris after completing a quest that will have you running about the Caverns Of Time: Old Hillsbrad Foothills.
- Haliscan Brimmed Hat
- Haliscan Jacket
- Haliscan Pantaloons
Completing the quest on heroic mode also give you an option to get this: Don Carlos' Famous Hat. I'm hoping this is all going to go together with this "spanish" theme.
Also, a bigger herb bag that doesn't require old world reputation will now be avaliable. I will also be able to get this to make: Pattern: Mycah's Botanical Bag.

Next we move on to all those dailies I did to get exalted with the Sha'tari Skyguard, now finally pays off: Nether Ray Fry. You can bet I will have one of those 5 minutes after logging in on patch day. :D

And finally, as if we didn't spend enough money trying to get goodies, new EPIC tabards via the UDE Cards.

Tabard of Brilliance
Tabard of Fury
Tabard of Nature
Tabard of the Arcane
Tabard of the Defender
Tabard of the Void

So I knew there was some reason these cards kept compelling me to buy them, and i now have 1,700 points to spend. Oh it's finally my lucky day. The items already show up on my game as of this morning (I updated my great Atlas Loot addon), and not it's just a matter of time.

Let There Be Drinks And Fireworks

Happy 4th to everyone (probably 5th by now). Nothing like drinking beer and watching the fireworks both in and out game. Toasting with an ingame friend gave you a nice little buff; Toast: a toast to your health. +20 stamina

I just have to say, Vel will probably be hung over tomorrow.

It's Time

It's been a slow time in the WoW universe for me. I've been playing around with the Midsummer Fire Festival since it started and have collected 552 Burning Blossoms so far. I'm going to wait and buy my goodies on the last day; July 5th.

- Vestment of Summer
- Mantle of the Fire Festival
- Brazier of Dancing Flames

As far as guild progression, we are stuck at Antheron in Hyjal and Teron Gorefiend in Black Temple. After playing that game Pigletoos posted in the forums (play it here), my eyes/hands were bleeding, but al my constructs were dead. It's much harder as the real deal. I was confused, scared, and excited all at the same time and ended up just shooting any ghost I saw around me.

New exploration for me happened, I found the hidden place of Quel'Thalas. Not much there except for a beautiful little section with a few things there. I've been exploring and taking screenshots lately, so I'll have more to post. You can see most of my exploration screenshots in HERE!