Kara this week was hot! After taking down Prince we headed to splat Netherspite and then proceeded to dance beside his corpse in full Midsummer Fire Festival style.  /dance

Well, so far the Midsummer Fire Festival has been a great hit this year and everyones bin havin’ fun!  Wi’ all that’s been goin’ on it’s nice tae see adventurers oot enjoyin’ themself.  If ye huvnae been oot tae try any o’ the events yet make sure ye have a go!

Like I mentioned in my last post - replayability is one of the things I particularly like to examine.  There has been much hoo-haa on the wow blogo-sphere recently about what makes you come back, what makes you stay, what makes you addicted even and I guess replayability somewhat ties into that - if nothing ever changes then why come back?

I was very glad to see Blizz had not dropped the ball on this event like I felt they somewhat had on the Lunar Festival.  Events like the fire festival seem well attended - a good proportion of my guild has done the bonfire runs - unlike collecting for Noblegarden and the Lunar Festival (which were mostly skipped, especially by those who had participated before).

The Midsummer Fire Festival is another ’step up’ in events, in my opinion.  It has greater levels of interactivity and reward than any other in-game events to date.  What makes me think this?

Lunar Festival

• Quests
• Outfits
• Consumables
• Rep

Love is in the Air

• Quests
• Outfits
• Consumables
• Special Boss Drop ([Bouqet of Red Roses])

Noblegarden

• Outfits
• Consumables

Children’s Week

• Quests
• Non-Combat Pet

Midsummer Fire Festival

• Quests
• High Level Items
• Daily Quests
• Dungeon Boss
• Non-Combat Pet
• Consumables
• Outfits
• Buffs
• ‘Fun’ Items*

Harvest Festival

• Quests
• Consumables

Brewfest

• Quests
• Daily Quests
• Non-Combat Pet
• Consumables
• Outfits
• ‘Fun’ Items*

Hallow’s End

• Quests
• High Level Items
• Non-Combat Pet
• Consumables
• Outfits
• ‘Fun’ Items*
• Repeatable (non-daily) Quests (Trick or Treating)

Winter Veil / New Years

• Quests
• Non-Combat Pet
• Consumables
• Outfits
• ‘Fun’ Items*
• Repeatable (non-daily) Quests (Revelers)
• Special Boss Drop ([Red Winter Hat], [Green Winter Hat])
• Holiday Recipes

*(Things such as the Brazier, Pony Keg or Eyesight ‘Enhancing’ Goggles)

We can see from this list that, currently, the Midsummer Fire Festival outstrips most others by quite a lot.  Winter’s Veil comes close, though, as does Hallow’s End and Brewfest which have all been added to or updated in the last year or so.

Some, such as the upcoming Brewfest, will have the new ideas from previous events added - it will be gaining a dungeon boss, for example - with some new fun items and loot.  It is obvious to see that some events have far more planning but this is not a definitive marker of success - Children’s Week, for example, offers only a couple of quests and two non-combat pets per person but seems quite popular.

Now, it’s obvious that Blizzard can’t give us something akin to the Midsummer Fire Festival every month - it’d be too much work for them and us! You need some downtime, in my opinion, to enjoy the ‘up’ time more.  Having the small holidays give those who need a little vacation from the serious side of WoW time to relax and kick about doing something silly is nice - there’s nothing much lost if you don’t do them, though, so people don’t feel the need to drop everything and do the associated events.

Replayability

In terms of replayability, though, the updated events are gaining strongly.  Children’s Week’s popularity is, in my mind, high because there is a TBC-level quest which incorporates and enhances the general TBC level things.  That and people love new non-combat pets. *ahem*

The Midsummer Fire Festival took the success that was Brewfest and added what they had also learned from the Hallow’s End event.  Combining all of their ideas from both events has made for one rather huge festival which is extensive and even a little daunting at times.  It gives new ‘phat lewt’ for those who care about it, has a fun new boss encounter, gets you jaunting around the world and maybe enjoying a little world pvp while you’re at it.  You can grab an item to enjoy with your friends and an outfit which will look spiffy in those first-kill screenshots or when you’re idling at the bank / AH.

They’re not, however, just adding replayability to the festival itself, though, and this is where I start to get gleeful.  Like the Headless Horseman event they’re pushing people back into instances that are otherwise quiet - Slave Pens is an Outlands instance but I know I hadn’t been in it for a few months at least on my rogue as I need nothing from it and no guildies have asked about running it either.  The event is deemed quite hard at the moment but I wonder if they’ll keep it next year as it’ll, then, be a fun way to boost a few alts through an event and get them some nice gear before they hit Northrend.

With the Brewfest event they’ll be adding a boss in BRD, if I remember rightly.  Now, I go visit BRD every once in a while just for some fun - stealthing about and getting enchanting patterns and the like - but I bet a lot of people haven’t been there for quite some time or even at all!

Group Items

I mentioned fun items above and I want to look a little more closely at these and why I like the idea of them.  A few of these items I deem as ‘group’ items.  That is, they are more fun if used in a social situation - namely the pony keg and the brazier of dancing flames.  Adding items which encourage interaction is a way of getting people excited over holidays - some people who were never bothered about getting themselves something will go out of their way to get an item which allows for fun in a social situation - for example, people buying braziers because it’d make a fun item for raid downtime.

Adding new group quests which do not take as long to do as, say, a whole instance or daily dungeon / heroic is also a nice touch.  Some groups are finding it hard to complete them, though, which Siha at Banana Shoulders touches on here.  This is something I really think they should look at - I feel the event is supposed to be challenging (requires tactics knowledge) but shouldn’t be overwhelming (i.e. need really good gear / particular class specs).

So, What Now?

Now, I’m not going to sit here and cry about wanting all events to have the same masses of items / quests / etc. that the newly re-done ones have - I appreciate the effort which has gone into those which have been updated and the continual renewal of older events to make them more fun to re-do year by year, alt by alt.  However, there are some small suggestions I’d make for the events which have not been re-done - with an eye to the fact that these will likely be staying as small events (though it would be nice to get a boost around April/May when there’s little else happening and the weather can be quite miserable!)

• New Items - This one is simple.  Add eggs in Outlands for Noblegarden, for example, with different things in them - a new elegant type of dress and a new pant-suit for Love is in the Air which doesn’t look like pyjamas for example.  Perhaps patterns for them? Matching hat / shoes / belt?  I’m not much into making outfits for my characters but I know some people who are.  The Lunar Festival dresses / suits are some of my favourite for bank alts - perhaps new colours or cloaks to match?  Adding more random drops to current bosses (like the hats and roses) would also be fun.
• New Quests - I really do love the ‘honouring’ quests from the Harvest and Lunar festivals but it would be nice if they refreshed these - perhaps incorporating themes from the expansion - Honoring the  Shattered Sun memorial, for instance.
• Adding Outlands (and eventually Northrend) - A lot of the events happen only in the ‘Old World’  - it would be nice to see it spread through Outlands.  Where people go, so do their customs!  This has been done, a little, but it would be nice to see it continue so that, when Northrend is out and we’re bored of all the cool colours, we can come back and get some warmth in Outlands.

Ok, so I’m not terribly imaginitive but even simple small additions like this would, in my eyes, add to replayability.  I want more ways to play, more fun things to collect, more ways to interact with friends old and new.  I’ve actually met quite a few people this week due to running around doing the Fire Festival quests through either explaining to them how to do certain aspects or, in one instance, being helped through a capital city to get my flame (A big thanks to the warlock who ran ahead of me to aggro the guards in Thunder Bluff to and from the flame! Hehehe). This is the sort of stuff that I love looking at and one of the reasons I enjoy playing WoW - they’re not just throwing up superficial festivity items around the place but they go quite some way to integrate it into the world and make it appeal across all levels.

Busy, busy, busy! Ah’v been doin’ everythin’ this week an’ ah’d like tae tell ye all aboot it.  Helps me relax, ken?  After a long week o’ smitin’ all sorts ah jist feel like sittin’ back and chewin’ the fat wi’ u lot.

I feel sorry for my poor wee blog - it’s been half abandoned these last few weeks due to everything seeming to hit at once busyness wise.  So, this post may be a bit rambley and all over the place but I was to stick it down for posterity.

Rogue

I has a new hat.  It is an improvement on my old hat.  I r happy rog.  Of course, it clips my hair so I’ve turned helm off again and I’ll continue to look… exactly the same.  /sigh  I also need to drag myself into AV or something this coming week, too, as Blizz felt it was a great idea to make pve off-hand swords none-too-easy to come by in TBC.

Shaman

I have spent so much gold on my shaman this week and I need to spend more.  Having s4 coincide with your new pve gear is not nice.  Many, many primal lifes have been farmed and I’m still not maxed on what I’ll need.

I managed to grab [Light's Justice] last week - it’s nice to have something other than the s1 mace to look at - even though I did love its glowyness.

Avarix has also rounded out his gear with [Runed Scales of Antiquity] thanks to a few guildies helping me farm 2 badges after tonight’s Kara run! Now I need more primal lives and gems… Ah well, happy is me that my shammy is wearing a dress again! *Ahem*

Druid

Mushrooooom.  That is what my druids level has done since I last mentioned her (apparently much to Softi’s despair).  She’s now done what my other druid did about a year ago:

It’s such a difference to when I brought my hunter through the Portal - I had to make myself log in and dragged my way through the quests.  Now, on my druid, I’m eager to go and even enjoyed grinding Hellboars so I could quickly boost my leatherworking skill.

Learning from the past I had collected any unidentified plant parts I’d come across on my hunter and saved them.  When I dinged 60 on my druid I promptly rode to the Cenarion Expedition Outpost and handed in 360 to achieve honored status.  /cheer That grabbed me quite a number of leatherworking patterns (the all important [Strength of the Clefthoof] ones) and a nice chunk of reputation towards the coveted Exalted.

A guidlie kindly ran me through Ramparts (though I’d been asking for a same-level group to practice tanking with, hehe) and I got just about every leather / melee dps piece which can drop except the staff.  Go me.  Ever had a char which seemed incredibly lucky drops-wise? Like my other druid, Jhai seems to have a gift for getting what she wants.  I’ve probably jinxed it now, oh well.

Unfortunately, this morning my PC’s HDD gave out on me (it’s been throwing errors for weeks and I’ve got a new one to replace it… I’m just short a cable!) so I won’t be tanking until that’s sorted - I can play my shaman on my laptop but both the rogue and druid need the PC as I use mouse-button keybinds which don’t work on the laptop without disabling the trackpad…  This wouldn’t be a problem for me as I never use the damn thing but the other half uses the laptop more and prefers the trackpad.

I started using mouse button keybinds when I got a new mouse after Christmas - I staved my finger and it hurt to flex it sideways too much so I bound one of my oft-used abilites (Slice and Dice) to the mouse, leaving Sinister Strike for my other hand.  This means less flexing and so less strain on my already slightly weird fingers.  For my druid shifting to bear is on the mouse - this works for levelling as it’s a very fast way to shift into bear but I may change it as it’s not something I should be using that extensively in instances - I think I might put mangle on that mouse button, or lacerate when I get it.  I’ll need to figure that out once my new HDD is installed.

Fire Festival

My favourite writing bone to gnaw on when it comes to WoW is replayability - this means you’ll be straddled with a post about my Fire Festival shenanigans soon concerning that and other fun aspects.  *ahem*  Suffice to say, at the moment, that I’m enjoying myself.

Ye has yer ups and yer doons and it’s guid tae share them wi’ yer pals so ah’m gonnae tell you a few o’ the moments that ah remember well fae the past few years.

It’s been a while but it seems it’s time for another Blog Azeroth shared topic!  Not going to number them as I can’t really choose an ‘order’.

Lightwalkers Al’ar FK

My first first kill.  I’d never had that sort of momentous moment before.  Feeling like part of the group and that “I helped achieve that!” was amazing - even more so as it was my first time in Tempest Keep and I was terribly under-geared and under-confidant.  I think this was the moment I really started to enjoy raiding began to strive towards the next first kill! Oh and I totally had to steal the front-center spot for the picture. *ahem*

Bloodrazor
When I was levelling Aurik for the first time (pre-tbc) I’d been ogling a certain beautiful big sword in the Auction House.  I’d heard it was pretty nice for a sword rogue but I knew I’d never get it - the price for it was extortionate.  So, when I woke up one morning to find it in my mail box? Very, very happy rogue.  My other half had been grinding in Western Plaguelands and it had dropped from some undead thing or other and promptly popped it into the post for me.  I still have it - I can’t bear the thought of selling it.

Flight Form

Fly up.  Click flight form off.  Drop.  Hit flight form before hitting ground.  Repeat for one hour, gleefully giggling.  Need I say more? (Remember when horde druids were black crows too? hehehe)

Stuck Warlocks
When on one of my first forays into Karazhan two orc warlocks got stuck in the staircase and we had to rescue them.  There was so much silliness over teamspeak and comments about seeing up each others dresses and so on.  Every guild has their fun moments even on serious raids and this showed me that raiding was not all ’srs bsnss’.

Seeing Shattrath for the First Time

The first time I walked into Terrokkar, stepped over the hill and beyond saw a city nestled into the hills, arched walkways extending into it’s core,  broken but not shattered,  It took my breath away.  I’d seen some concept art and possibly some vague screenshots but nothing had prepared me for seeing that beautiful landscape for the first time in-game.

Realisation
The day I realised… “I’m in Black Temple…” I never, ever thought I’d be there.  I always wanted to be - I loved the idea of pitting myself against Illidan, of breaking into his bastion in Outlands.  The Akama storyline is one I have enjoyed playing through a lot.  And I was here…

PvP in Ashenvale
My first ever pvp experience.  I was in Ashenvale, at whatever level people go to Ashenvale. Myself and my other half noticed local defense lighting up like a Christmas tree. “Maestra’s Post is under attack” etc.  We were intrigued - we were on a normal server and had never seen any world pvp before so we waited around until the Hordies hit Astranaaaaaaaaaaar.  Being only little rogues and hunters we went splat when we decided we’d help the sentinels out but, when a few levels 60’s began to show up, the battle got a bit more even.  It was fun and gave me a taste for occassional pvp.  I still prefer world pvp to battleground pvp.

First Time Through the Dark Portal

I stood there, grinning and walked (yes, I toggled walk on!) through the huge, looming gate.  I had re-rolled on TBC launch and resisted the temptation to try and get a port or summon to Outlands.  I entered a complex world, battered and was confronted with a large-scale battle immediately! (which, like every other nub, I tried to walk past and got squished).

First Mount
Everyone remembers their first mount, right?  Well, I do.  I spent about half an hour running around and jumping about on my freshly minted lamb ram! I doubly remember this as I spent all of my gold - so that I didn’t even have enough gold to fly anywhere afterwords…  Oops.

Dying to Dots
The number of times on my druid where I was the last party member surviving and tanked a boss into he ground and then died from some sort of debuff just after my glorious victory lap… Although this is not a specific single time I count it as a top ten memory as it has me in stitches every time it happens.  Recently, in Mount Hyjal, I got caught in a rain of fire just as Azgalor boss died, with no CloS up.  There were no healers left alive (first kill, unlucky dooms and other stuff) so as I leapt about and cheered over not dying (I’d died at the very start of the Kaz fight, whilst helping to distract him) I fell over dead due to the dot and was promptly mocked. /sadface

Wow has given me some awesome times and memories - most of them involving the people I play with and which would make little sense out of context.  For all those fun moments I thank those people who, without which, I wouldn’t be having so much fun.

The young druid, Jhai, takes a rest in the shade whilst traversing the dry, hot desert.  I really love the looooong shadows in Tanaris.  Oh and I had nothing to do with the dead Roc in the background *wipes feathers from mouth*. Nothing at all.

Ah, time fer the Fire Festival!  Lookin’ forward tae celebratin’ it this year as always.  But, ken, ah wis in oan the plans and ah wrote aboot them a while back.  Maybe go take a gander?

When the Midsummer Fire Festival was on the PTR I did a quick write up about the events.  I haven’t checked yet if they’re still identical but maybe my post will still have some relevance - you can find it here.  I should get a chance to check it out later this evening and will update with any changes I find.  Last tiny spam post for the moment, I promise.

Edit:  Ok, I was going to do an update but now I’ma be lazy and point you to the awesome writeup by one of my favourote bloggers.  Check out this guide over at A Dwarf Priest for all your festival needs!

“Increased the drop rate of Pristine Yeti Horns from Winterspring Ice Thistle Matriarchs and Patriarchs.”

…my druid is going to do this quest before the patch is out.  /cry

Ok, so ah pulled a bit o’ a fast one last night but, hell, I’m a rogue, whit dae ye expect?

I was sitting last night, playing my druid, and looking at her underwhelming leatherworking level.  You see, I’ve decided to make her a tribal leatherworker.  Yes, tribal.  She is still going to be feral but, to be honest, the elemental crafted items really aren’t worth crafting for a druid or at all - there are easy to get upgrades from quests and instances which are better.  So, I figured I’d get her tribal leatherworking so that if I ever decide to spec doomkin for fun in pvp I’d have a decent starter set.  I know you don’t need to pick a specialisation to continue levelling leatherworking but I like to do things in the right ‘order’.

Anyways, as anyone who’s levelled tribal leatheworking knows it is the most painful leatherworking profession quest.  Or, rather, it has a set of pre-quests which are just painful to do.  They start here and end up costing the following, ingredients wise:

• 8 Wildvine
• 112 Turtle Scale
• 192 Thick Leather

Not so bad, you think?  Well, let me beg to differ. See those scales? Y’can’t buy them for love nor money! Noone grinds them unless they’re doing this quest, it seems, and noone wants to grind more once they’ve done it! You’ve gotta go out and skin the buggers.  Now, the turtles in the Hinterlands drop around 90% - some drop none but some drop two.  However, being turtles it takes rather a long time to kill them if you’re of a level with them (which I was last night).  I spent about 45-55 minutes last night and got around 20-30 scales.  Bah.

Now, I think half the problem here is that I’ve done these quests twice before - on Aurik for fun as I wanted the recipes and leatherworking was new and on Mharai because I went tribal leatherworking on her for the same reason as I am on Jhai.  Now, doing it a third time, I was utterly bored. Not only that but it’s incredibly expensive to level it this way in terms of mats cost (something I wish they’d address…).

However, an idea struck me - when I had been doing alchemy on Avarix and having trouble getting BM runs for my specialisation I was tempted to spec transmute mastery (which I could solo-quest) and then change specialisations as it meant you didn’t have to do the other quest.   I was sure you could do the same for leatherworking but was not sure tribal would be available this way because the quests needed to get the tribal specialisation are pre-requisites, not just a direct quest.   I could find no info on it except one post on thotbott which did not confirm either way but suggested what I had been thinking.

The easiest, by far, to do is elemental (for me, anyway as I had the stuff in the bank).  I figured, hell, at level 49 it’s only going to cost me 25 gold to try the ‘respec’ so why not?

Quick hop to Searing Gorge, picked up Elemental Leatherworking and dropped it again for 25g (this reportedly increases to a max of 100g at level 70), flew to Tanaris and, with some trepidation clicked on “Soothsaying for Dummies”.  BINGO!  One Tribal respec done without the arduous task of completing the wild leather quests.  Hopefully they won’t patch this - it’s a pain to level leatherworking multiple times and go through that whole, irritating quest line over and over.

Of course, if you’re sensible you won’t level leatherworking in the first place.  *ahem*