The "Holidaze"

I have to admit, I'm having trouble adjusting back to a somewhat normal routine. With traveling and events starting from Thanksgiving and lasting up until New Years, no wonder I can't get things together! With patch 7.1.5 on the horizon, I haven't really started anything new in Warcraft. I've been working on clearing out Vel's quest log along with other things I just never got around to finishing. Doing this has also netted me a bump in my achievement score. I am now up to 19,000 points. This was a nice little personal goal for me to achieve though I know a lot of other people have much more than that.

Winter Veil was also lovely this year. I personally think these are some of the best gifts that Blizzard has given. The disposable Winter Veil suits are awesome, and I really wish Blizzard would consider putting something like this in for the other holidays as well. It gives you a chance to dress up without having to hold onto non transmoggable event items (not like space is an issues anymore) or stressing over the fact that you can't transmog them in general! I was also lucky enough to get the Minion of Grumpus mount from a present as well. I'm glad because I was a bit upset I didn't get lucky with it last year. It's such a massive mount that I probably won't even use, but it's fun to have just in case.

So what's next? With the new year coming in really soon, I plan on continuing working on my backlog of things and updating my to-do list here as they are completed. Of course this isn't a full list of things I'm working on, but more just the collecting parts. I also want to say that the third annual Icecrown Challenge is now live! I plan on doing my run this weekend so I will be making some more noise on Twitter about it. If you want to learn more about the event, you can do so over at Ratsel's post. If you want to learn more about why I run, you can see the two previous years posts (2014 & 2015). If you just want to donate, I'll include the link to that as well - AFSP Icecrown Challenge Donation Link.

The Icecrown Challenge 2015

Last year Ratsel came up with the idea of the Icecrown Challenge. She tagged me to join in. Even though things were a bit wild with me and Pigletoos moving and still settling into our new apartment, I still participated. I was really hoping that she would put on the event again this year, so you can imagine my excitement when I saw her post!

I won't go into too much detail here since I did so in my post from last year, but this hits very close to my heart. I lost a brother to suicide, and not a day goes by that I don't think about him, especially around the holidays.

A picture of my brother sits on my desk.

To be honest, I haven't been back to ICC since Invincible's Reins dropped for me, so it was pretty fun to go back and run it without having to hold my breath for a drop. It's always good visiting Arthas around this time of year. I brought candy and hot chocolate even though I don't think he was in the mood to celebrate.

Throwing a snowball at Arthas.

Regardless if the Icecrown Challenge existed or not, I think donating is a good tradition for me to continue on each year. I'm hoping each year my budget can allow for a little more since this charity does amazing things. If you would like to participate in the Icecrown Challenge or just want to donate to the cause, please check out the links below for more information. Happy Holidays!

- The Icecrown Challenge
- The Donation Page
- American Foundation for Suicide Prevention

The Icecrown Challenge 2014

Last week the lovely Ratsel tagged me in a post to participate in her Icecrown Challenge. While this is a tough time of year for a lot of people, including me and Pig, I still decided to donate what I could because it's for a cause that hits close to home.

In 1998 I lost my brother Matt to suicide. This is something that still effects my family, and it's something that you never truly "get over". It always hits me really hard when I read about someone in the community (online and in real life) or a celebrity takes their own life. I immediately get transported back to the day it happened. It sucks that I had to grow up without him, and now that I'm older, we have so much in common. He loved metal music, video games, and craft beer. These are three things I absolutely adore. He was also a fantasy nerd and loved playing Dungeons and Dragons. I just know he would have loved World of Warcraft, and I just wish I would have been able to introduce him to Azeroth. As I type this with tears in my eyes, I have to remember that even though he's not here in person, he's been here in spirit and got to experience everything from afar. I can't wait for the day where I see him again, and give him a big hug. Love you my brother.

I was going to run ICC with my niece Selindri, but since she's been enjoying her holiday break, I really didn't want to bother her about it. My love Pigletoos decided he would do it with me. This is our picture after we defeated Arthas. I think we look pretty cute in our Winter Veil outfits!

I'd like to thank Ratsel for hosting this charity event for such a wonderful foundation. It not only means a lot to me, but I know it means a lot to a ton of other people out there also. I'm supposed to tag three people to do this, but I don't want to make anyone feel like they need to. So, if you're reading this and would like to participate, please do so. Even if you can't run ICC, you can still donate! Every little bit counts. To learn more, you can visit the links below.

- The Icecrown Challenge
- The Donation Page
- American Foundation for Suicide

Warlord Thoughts

I cannot believe it's coming up on almost a month since I've blogged. I've really been way too busy playing and enjoying the expansion. I've added so many new goodies to my collections lately that I can't remember them all. I know I've gotten a variety of mini pets, including Syd the Squid! That has been on my want list for a long time now. It was just a matter of getting it to drop from a bag. I've also added Drake of the South Wind to my mount collection this week. It's nice to cross one more old raid off my weekly list.

I also got some gear upgrades recently: Belt of Singing Hooves and Rotmonger Bracers. I like the pace at which I'm getting gear. I'm slowly getting upgrades, and I now have to look over each and focus more on the stats rather than item level. I'm currently 628, and with the buff to mages I'm definitely not struggling as bad as I was at the beginning of the expansion. I've also been running dungeons with my niece, nephew, a mutual friend, and Pigletoos. My goal is to have us all doing heroics which is a tremendous for all of us since some of them are extremely casual players.

Even though I'm having an overall positive experience with the expansion, there are still a few things that I'm not liking. I'm not liking fishing at all. I finally completed the Draenor Angler achievement, and I didn't think that one was too bad, but after looking at my bags, I was confused. Blizzard said that they added all these extra featured, reagent bank, toy box, ect. to get rid of clutter, but I feel like fishing has just caused more. I need to fish up bait to catch a certain amount of different versions of each fish to be able to "skin" the fish to use in other recipes... really? I wish it was back to fish up the fish you need, cook it, profit. I had to vendor so many stacks of fish meat just to clean up my bags. Now it takes up two rows in my reagent bank, but whatever.

Another thing that was just a minor annoyance was archaeology. I was working on an Arakkoa solve that needed 250 fragments. Well, I didn't know that it caps your fragments out to 200, and you have to use the Arakkoa Ciphers to complete it. This is fine for people who never use them, but for someone like me who constantly uses them to speed up discoveries, it was annoying.

The reputation grinds also seem to be pretty tedious. I understand Blizzard not wanting to add a ton of dailies, but I would love at least one or two to give 250 reputation with a faction. I will be grinding out mobs for the remainder of the expansion at this rate. I have set a goal. I'm starting with the Frostwolf Orc clan and at least trying to grind out 1000 reputation per day. This way I'm not killing myself, but I'm still making progress. I can't complain too much though, because I'm also getting drops of Iron Horde Scraps for transmog. It's all working out perfectly!

The Holidays are here and in full effect. I've been doing my Winter Veil things, and getting RL present shopping done. I've also been nominated for the Icecrown Challenge. Me and my niece will be participating in it next week, and talk more about that in a later post. For now, have a wonderful and safe holiday season, and don't forget to stop and enjoy the small things around this time of year.

Holiday Spirit

This is going to be my last blog post for this year! I cannot believe it, but we've all made it through yet another year. This year I took the steps throwing my blog out there and gaining more readers. Through the use of Twitter and sites like Blog Azeroth, Twisting Nether Wiki, and WarcraftPets, not only has my blog flourished, but I also made new friends!

In the midsts of all the chaos going on this week (my boyfriend's graduation and moving), I got a FB message from a WoW friend asking for some information, but I wasn't allowed to ask any questions as to why she needed it. I obliged, and went on my merry way of getting some housework done. When I logged on to Vel later that day, I was stunned and speechless. She gifted me two of the mini pets that I had been missing from my collection (Cinder Kitten and Blossoming Ancient)! Seriously, when I say it, I mean it... I have the BEST friends in WoW!

named Rain and Dark after my friends! 

That being said, I'm extremely excited for Winter Veil to start next week. While I don't think internet at our new place will be set up right away, I will still try to log on everyday to at least get a few things done. I figured it would just be easier to give myself and Velgana a break so we can both settle in and enjoy the holidays. I'll be planning out new content, and you can still catch me on Twitter and around Azeroth, but this blog is going /AFK until next year!

Thank you to all my readers and friends... Have a Happy Holidays! See you in 2014!

Blog Azeroth: Winter Solstice

Here is a new Blog Azeroth topic, and a really good one that can help me get some in game and real life emotions out.

"Instead of cursing the darkness, how do you light a candle in Azeroth and chase the occasional (winter) blues away?"

The holidays are always an exciting time for Velgana. WoW's 9th Anniversary mixed with Pilgrim's Bounty was great because I was able to get quite a few levels on some neglected alts. Winter Veil will be coming soon, and I love that holiday just as much as Hallow's End! One of my favorite things to do is log into WoW on Christmas morning and open Vel's presents in Orgrimmar. I love the feel of everyone opening gifts and laughing around me. It's just a nice feeling.

Checking my Winter Weil shopping list!

However, it's also the time of year that I seem to get discouraged from playing WoW. I guess it's the fact that my family has so many things going on around this time - shopping trips, dinners, general get togethers. I am always about spending time with my family than sitting down and playing any game. In fact, I'm quite unmotivated with the game right now. Not to mention, me and my boyfriend will be moving back closer to our hometown in a few weeks. He will be graduating on the 14th and has a job lined up after that. All of these things are a stressful thing for me!

I also have been feeling the "expansion blues" lately. My Timeless gear is pretty much all upgraded, and I haven't really had the motivation to even run LFR for my sword from General Nazgrim. You know what? I couldn't care less either. Instead, I've been going around and doing achievements I missed so I won't have to worry about them when WoD comes out. I've also been collecting mounts, transmog items, and leveling up all my mini pets to level 10. I still have archaeology to work on too for The Seat of Knowledge, but that will take me a good while.

5 pristine artifacts away... ugh, give me a break Blizz!

I started leveling up my mage on Madoran for the WarcraftPets guild. I've also gotten my Skywall death knight to level 85 and my warlock is making progress through Outlands. I've started Pandaria with my warrior, but I'm leveling her up with my boyfriend's mage. He's been really busy with his last college semester, so I haven't been bothering him to level.

So while I've been taking things pretty slow and casual in WoW and blogging, I know I will be back in full force next year and closer to the WoD release. In fact, I'm so excited about it, I wish I could hibernate through the rest of winter!

Bonus screenshot: Happy early Winter Veil to me! Glad I didn't get coal!