It seems worse than ah first thought.  It’s no just some madness, some remnant come back tae get us.. it’s an organised bloody invasion!  Ah’m doin’ mah but but it just seems that sometimes ye cut one doon only tae huv three come back at ye…

The Good

Change

For a ’static world’, wow manages to be pretty dynamic and this event is a great example of this.  People are really feeling the ‘pain’ of the event - it’s not just a simple event which happens ‘outside’ of the normal stream of things, but is actively getting in the way of doing the usual day-to-day things people do in WoW.  The fact it’s changing day-to-day quite rapidly, too, is pretty nice.  You’re not waiting an interminable time for the ‘next step’.

Memories

This is a personal one but this event brings a lot back for me.  I first started WoW around the time Naxxramas was released and when I hit around level 15-20 I was outside the towns killing scourge invadors!  I thought this must be normal for wow, at the time, and was a really nice introduction to the lore and feel of the game.

Level Range

As I mentioned above, I took part in a previous incarnation at a very low level and this event allows for everyone to participate - low level invasions near cities, new bosses in instances from Scarlet Monastery to Stratholme and scourge events for the level-capped.

Paladin Madness

“For the Light!“  “You will die, undead scum!” and “By the Light be cleansed!“. The paladin madness has taken over many on my server - it’s limited solely to Paladins and involves running around with a big sword, waving it about, making shiny lights around people and shouting various things like the examples above.  Still, I file it under ‘good’ as it’s not doing anybody harm except zombies and, well, they want to eat my brains…

Tabard

I was always a little sad that I managed to miss The Burning Crusade starting event - especially the cool tabard.  I had always just liked how the AD tabard looked and wanted to snag one, though I had given up hope of it but now I’ve taken the opportunity to get one on most of my characters!

Reputation

I had, oddly enough, just started to grind Argent Dawn rep when the event began.  Now I’m halfway through revered without trying too hard.  I’ve grabbed some shiny new faction recipes and once exalted I’ll be halfway through [The Argent Champion].  Remember to equip your [Argent Dawn Commission] whilst fighting the scourge invasions as most will drop [Invaders Scourge Stones].  The Shadow’s of Doom even drop [Corruptor's Scourgestones].

Trinket

The [Argent War Horn] just deserves a spot all to itself for how awesome it is.  For those not yet in the know, this trinket summons an Argent Dawn paladin to help you.  When the trinket effect runs out the paladin does not fade but… bubblehearths! The laughter on teamspeak when we found this out was somewhat earshattering.

The Bad

Recycling is Bad?

Recycled content - the scourge invasion event is a repeat from both the Naxx opening event.  I’m not sure if this is a terribly bad thing, especially as the ‘details’ and rewards have been updated as well as the surrounding flavour quests but some people have been complaining, on my server, that it’s ‘all just that stuff again’.  Can’t please everyone, I guess.

Dead NPC’s

Doing ‘the usual’ isn’t always possible.  Flight masters, auctioneers, bankers - all can fall prey to the scourge and hat’s certainly pissing people off at the moment.  Having to wait for a respawn to be able to access the bank can be irritating, especially since just about everyone who gets zombified runs in to try and give it to the bankers and those standing nearby - knowing they’ll likely not notice whilst sorting things in the bank.

Dead Players

People are being ganked by zombies.  With the plague lasting only 50 seconds near the end before transformation it was very hard to get to  a healer before you succumbed.  Most found the whole “camp the portal spawns in Stormwind” funny for a few hours but those same people are complaining now when it happens to them.  Personally I’ve managed to avoid being munched on more than a few times but others are not so lucky.

Durability

One of the main reason people are being irked at the above is that it causes durability damage to die as a ghoul. They really should remove it - it’s pvp in a basic sense and should not cause gear damage - especially when you can even be ganked in Shattrath, which is supposed to be a sanctuary.  Personally, if I portal, I switch out my gear for my [Brewfest Regalia] if  I have the bag space - meaning that the only inconvenience I have is a walk back from the graveyard if I get zombified.

The Ugly

Scourge Invasion Spawn Points

Limited mobs + limited time event + spawned rares = ? Yeah, chaos and ninja-tagging etc.  I’m quite sickened by the number of players who’ve been standing in the centre of the spawn points, AoEing and trying to take the Shadow’s of Doom - without using their own scourge stones.   I’ve even had people kite a mob away which I had ‘paid for’ and pulled it so far that it reset… and then they tagged it.  That really irked me as I could do nothing against it (resto shaman cannot out aggro a t6 hunter…) and wasted some of my shards so that someone else could reap the reward.

I’ve been running with some guildies, though, (on my druid) and we managed to grab two to three per spawn point most times (using our own stones) and blasted them down despite whole groups of paladins, warlocks and mages trying to AoE tag them.

Complaints

The never-ending stream of wailing which is happening slightly irritates me, to be honest. Particularly the ones who claim that Blizzard is ripping off all of its customers? (I for one do not wish said people speaking in my name, tyvm)  I can understand being a bit upset at being ganked whilst levelling or being irked at the fact you can’t get to the raid on time because the flight master is looking a bit thin and gristley but going on and on for hours that you hate Blizz and how dare they make a world event?

Sorry, not listening, out having fun at said event!

It was only for a few days and, in my opinion it’s too much fun to worry about overly much.  A world event which will only happen once? Count me in!

Nagaluiz in this thread on the mmo-champion forums put it nicely:

It’s a wonderful transition to the events of the opening of the next expansion, and should be enjoyed. It seems that the only people who are whining are those who are still taking the next two weeks seriously and don’t realize the futility of most of what they do at the present time. Have fun with it, and think of the bigger picture. Would you rather a huge, once in your WoW career experience leading up to the invasion of the major cities by Arthas’ minions, or just one day randomly being able to enter Northrend?

I think most would agree that this, like the previous world event for TBC (which wasn’t nearly as thought out/good), adds quite some flavor to the wait for Wrath. The zombies are supposed to be annoying. They’re supposed to decimate the cities. They are supposed to serve as a juxtaposition to what you would actually be feeling if you were a resident of Azeroth, the frustration of the endless battle against the undead Scourge who just keep coming back up after you kill them, not unlike that of Arthas during the time of his descent… As Lionne said, it’s probably the best event they’ve ever done, because they’re forcing people to get involved, to want to kill the undead.

I know there are a lot of you who do not agree with this post who aren’t just whinging, for instance, BigBearButt has written an interesting tirade against the zombie event that I couldn’t help but link (though I still, respectfully, disagree) as has Lume but I do rather wish that more people would be open to the fact that one could like this event and not be a ganking asshat.

I personally spent my time as a zombie for one evening killing any player who came nearby and since then have neither looked for infection nor avoided it.  Oddly, though, I was only infected once and corpse exploded myself so as not to take durability damage (I was on my way to a raid or I mght have gone to eat some tasty Shattered Sun elfses.  I spent most of my gametime these last few days out purging the scourge and didn’t really have any issues with people griefing me.  If I was worried I might get killed at an Auction House or Bank I’d just go to a quieter city (Exodar or Darnassus).

5 days of madness, with, as Cynra points out, an insane amount of emotional involvement.  Love of loathe it, anyone who was around will not forget this event.

This was meant to be a short roundup of my thoughts. Bugger!

Just when ah’ wis gettin’ rid o’ the hangover fae Brewfest Hallow’s End arrives.  Ah dinnae ken why we celebrate the Forsaken’s holiday but, well, ah’m no gonna gie up a chance fer a wee celebration!

Hallow’s End is here again and I’m enjoying it immensely! This is the holiday of silly amounts of sweeties, copious costumes and er… bountiful bats?

Last year, Hallow’s End was the first of the revamped holidays.  It had a new boss, new shiny loot and quests in the starting towns.  It was the beginning of the truly interactive world events - ones which lured even those who had never thought to do a world event before.

It did this by giving away shinies - rings equivalents to the badge loot ones, as well as brooms, a non-combat pet and a plate helm with some funny on-use effects.  I had wondered how they would deal with this holiday, the first of the revamped, when it came to this year - many people are well geared and we’re close to the new expansion. Would it be more or less challenging? Would they keep the same format?

Well, it seems that for the most part the event for this year is very much the same but with the addition of some new loot - [The Horseman's Blade] and [The Horseman's Reins]!

Phat Lewts

For a lot of people, the event is simply a nice way to get the loot mentioned above, a chance to deck out a new alt in some purples or to get a hold of some items which are a just a little bit different or funky.  [The Horseman's Helm] amused me when I first saw it and the one-use effect of his blade is rather neat.  The [Sinister Squashling] and [Hallowed Helm] alongside the [Magic Broom] and perhaps even the Horseman’s Reins make up what has become the ‘usual fare’ for events - mounts, flavour items and pets.

Unusual or Unfair Holiday Drops ?

The story of the Headless Horseman - a vengeful spirit gone mad - is a nice addition to the Halloween theme (ghost stories!) and I can see why they give items pertaining to the actual ‘boss’ but it does seem a tad unfair that two of the high quality items he drops are only for a limited subset of classes - neither my druid nor shaman can use either item.  It would have been nice if they had added some fun on-use to the hallowed helm or something.  He drops the rings, of course, but it’s more the fun effect which I feel many classes miss out on - the laughing helm is wonderfully iconic.  I’d say the [Frostscythe of the Lord Ahune] somewhat made up for that but it excludes rogues and paladins.  It’s not a major issue but perhaps a nice mace or dagger for the next big holiday boss drop?  The scythe, helm and sword are very noticeable and different and are the sort of thing you keep even when they are no longer ‘useful’.  I’m not advocating giving everyone free and easy items of this sort (as making them more common would, I guess, take a little of their ’specialness’ away) but it would be nice to see a greater variation.

Trick or Treat?

Trick or Treating is a little less tedious than the Ancestors quests from the Lunar Festival or the Midsummer Fires - there are a lot fewer of them (as they’re restricted to places with inns) and each is very close to a flight point.  The quests also give a decent amount of experience (around 890 for my level 22 paladin) and a little gold (3g 75s at 70).

Holiday Achievements

The other addition to the holiday is, of course, achievements associated with it.  I have a post centred around those in the works so I won’t go into too much detail on them here but I do think the achievements system has really boosted the attendance of the event - those who do not care about the ‘epix loot’ are still struggling to get themselves a pet or a pumpkin helm for the event.

Of course, given it’s a limited time event the trouble has already started concerning achievements - people want them to be realistically available within the timeframe but others complain that it’s not really an ‘achievement if it’s easy.  I won’t step into the argument now but it does seem that the complaints about this have made some items easier to get -  the squashling and helm drop in trick or treat bags since the last maintenance  and some of the sub-achievements will even be excluded from the ‘title’ achievement - the one to get 20 of the masks.

In total there are around 160 achievement points available for Hallow’s End.

Random Decoration

Hallow’s End has my favourite decorations - the pumpkins and candles etc. are so very ‘wow’ in theme and give the whole place a creepy feeling.

Other fun things which come alongside the Hallow’s End festival, which makes it somewhat unque, are the critters running around - Black Cats roam the streets and bats fly overhead.  Killing a black cat will even give you bad luck!

Holiday Overload

I’m in two minds over Hallow’s End time-wise.  Obviously they can’t move ‘Halloween’ but having another of the ‘big’ yearly events happen so close to the last has actually made me want a little break from the festivities.  I think, though, this may be a consequence of not just the events being close together but also the addition of the new patch and the pre-Wrath event.

Of course, having zombies running around and plagues spreading whilst everyone is running around in skeleton or ghost costumes is a stroke of genius and very nicely timed on Blizz’s part.

Enjoy the rest of the festivities, though  I fear they may be a little overshadowed by all of the real undead walking around…

All hell’s broken loose in Azeroth! The scourge, they’re everywhere again. Run, hide or fight, but don’t fall to them, whatever you do!

I have to admit, the first thing I did when I heard there was infected plague running around from Nibuca was…. run to Booty Bay and go get myself infected. Then spread the love to the Ironforge Auction House. There were of course a few people complaining about it, which was a shame, because all I wanted to do was spread the event…

Oh well, we had some fun before people had to go to bed.  I can imagine this would be a blast on RP severs.

Quick Tips:

• If you want to get infected and noone is about to eat your brains then head down to Booty Bay - there are boxes scattered all over with a green glow.  Click one and you’ll start craving fresh brains.
• If you have the debuff and don’t want to have it, talk to an Argent Healer - usually near Inns or in banks or talk to any classes who can cleanse disease - shammies, paladins or priests.
• The Argent Healers will cleanse you if you get too close, so if you wish to keep your debuff steer clear of them.
• If you are a mage, Ice Block seems to instantly make you a zombie if you’re infected.
• Guards will attack you when you turn, be careful to either be close to your target when you’re going to zombie up or to be away in a quiet corner if you want to get some unsuspecting passers-by.
• Most guards and NPCs (and even flight masters) can be infected but faction leaders, quest givers and the like seem to be ‘protected’.  Good thing as otherwise that might get annoying… Apparently I was wrong - a lot of them can be infected…
  
• Whilst a zombie, you can use the other faction’s portals in Shattrath.

Have fun with the event!

I’m sorry, I know I’m not nearly in the majority about this subject but, as such, I feel I have to shout louder than the lot of ye’ about it. *ahem*

I’m talking about the post 3.0.2 “omg the instances got hit by a nerf bat and we all hate it, wah!” stuff that’s been going around.  Something like here, and here. My take on it is more like what BBB(BBBBBBB) says here.

I’m a little saddened to see attitudes like this:

Considering how easy it went I’d be surprised if we didn’t kill Illidan pretty soon. Which of course is fun and nice in one way, but still I can’t help feeling slightly disappointed. Will we get any more epic raiding experience at all before the expansion? Maybe in Sunwell. That’s my hope. Because if Sunwell isn’t better, this patch was the end to raiding in TBC the way that we knew it. Now it’s not the real stuff. It’s badge and gear farming. That’s the sad truth.

I miss the wipe nights already.

and

It was rather ridiculous, really. The difficulty is gone, and with it some of the enjoyment. We still have some new content to poke at, Sunwell, which I expect we’ll see soon, and I expect some challenge there, but to have Illidan in his previous form stolen from us is somewhat disappointing.

from Larísa and Namthe - two bloggers whom I respect greatly.  It’s not only them but one or two guildmates who have mentioned a similar “Oh, it’s terrible, I hate doing this” sort of attitude.

This whole scenario reminds me a lot of the whole 2.4 situation.

Yes, it is easier, much easier.  Ridiculously easy for people who are geared for it and who were on the verge of completing the content.  I know, in my heart, that Lightwalkers would have gotten down a pre-nerf Council this week and might have had a few shots at Illidan.

However - those few guilds still raiding will understand when I say that it’s been hard to keep people coming back to those raids.  We were struggling to fill that 25 man group every week and might not have even been able to go to Black Temple two out of three nights for lack of a tank or healer.

Personally, I got to do something I wanted to do since I started raiding - stand at Illidan’s feet.  I have now seen all of Black Temple, I’m happy even if it is ‘post-nerf’.  We’re going to visit Illidan tomorrow night (we had no FR tanks so we didn’t try him more than for giggles on Sunday night) and we might take his nerfed rear down.  We’ll get to see Black Temple to completion.

Raiding is for fun.  There’s no fun in no challenge all the time but this is not meant to be challenging content any more.  This is also not how new content will be.  This is the time to go, kill some bosses, get some nice levelling gear and complete those achievements.  This is a time to run through a raid instance without the trials, tribulations and stress usually associated with them. Instead of crying about lost chances please think of looking to these next few weeks as a time for fun, rest and relaxation before the new ‘raiding season’ starts again in a month or so.  It’s also a very nice way for dps and tanks to try out their new specs and make tweaks without sacrificing their raid viability to do so.

As stated by BBB:

Suddenly, it was as though we had finally been given that feeling that Tier 6 raiders have long known… the joys of fighting something you know very, very well… with the power to hand it a serious beating… but without making it a 3 man snoozefest.

I can’t agree with him enough - whilst I won’t be patting myself on the back if kill Illidan tommorrow night I will still enjoy it!

It’s jumpin’, there’s a buzz in the air, people are feelin’ stirrin’s deep doon and its like some sort o’ adrenaline rush goin’ aroon.  Old friends are poppin’ up, people are goin’ back to their roots… Everyone’s heard that there’s somethin’ brewin’ up north and they’re sortin’ their afairs.  It’s excitin’ but ah’m no half feelin’ that ah could be doin’ wi’ a quiet corner and a wee pint an’ a hauf.

Pets, mounts, achievements, inscriptions, new pets, new talent trees, new spells, new addons, new layouts, new everything!

On top of that, every five minutes someone asks “what’s a lexicon of power” followed shortly by “and where do  I find that?”.  Inscriptions are making stupid amounts of gold on my server (especially the few minors available) and people are asking a million questions about the who, where what and why of them. Oh and people complaining about the spam caused by people getting achievements.  Especially when you take 10 people to do the Leeeerroooyyy! one and everyone’s achievement hits the guild at once…

Things have been utterly crazy.  I know it’s all a little ‘old news’ now but, personally, I’m only just coming off of the new-content high!

And then they decided to hit us with Hallows End, too.  Evil buggers! More on that in another post.  On that note - expect a little pick-up in posting from now on.  Despite a rash of unfortunate circumstances and busyness combined with a little bit of writers ‘doubt’ I am slowly working myself back into the writing saddle (and dear god how many metaphors did I murder there?).

Coherency, right.  Well, this post is a quick roundup of the smaller things which won’t get a post of their own in the coming few days or so.

Patch went pretty nicely for us Europeans - most of our realms were only an hour late coming up and, although we’ve had a few outages, and a little experience of the mount and pet bug (where they ‘disappeared’) things have been otherwise relatively less failurefull than the usual major patch.

Oh, except the ding every two minutes as everyone completes an achievement.

Haircut Stuff

Matt challenged people to post their changed ‘do’s’ so here are the three I changed (I can’t bear to change Aurik - there’s no hairstyle which I think looks better on him).

Avarix

Went for a very similar look here but I wanted a floofier ponytail as I was sick of the current one I had ’sticking’ to my back.

Jhai

Jhai’s let her hair out and grown it out a bit.  Was getting a bit tired of her ’schoolgirl’ look - something I hadn’t anticipated when I made her (the look, not the geting tired of, ahem)

Dryn

At first I was going to leave Dryn as-is but I decided, screw it, he needed a change and, to be honest, I’m glad I did. Of course, 7gold+ seems a bit steep for getting someone to tie your hair back!

Achievements Stuff

Whilst I will write an extended post on my thoughts on later, I was quite pleased to have achieved one particular goal not long after the patch:

• Ambassador of the Alliance

Of course, I’m equally saddened that I didn’t quite get:

• Shop Smart, Shop Pet Smart

48 pets… and probably hours of grinding red whelps in the vain hope one would drop for me.  Of course, I was delighted to have grabbed a Firefly (something I’ve wanted for ages).  I’m hoping to grab myself a [Sinister Squashling] and a [Magical Crawdad Box] (another pet I utterly adore) to make up the last two.  Of course the latter requires several other achievements to come first, such as Master Fishing!

Hunter Stuff

Talking of pets, Dryn spent a whole lot of time hanging around the Barrens after the patch. I had been checking over my usual pet-lover-haunt to pick which of the nice, shiny new pets I wanted.  I picked out a nice Netherskate and went off to tame it.  When I was browsing, though, a familiar face cropped up.  Takk.

Now, Takk and my hunters (yes, multiple, I keep starting them and abandoning them around level 20-30…) have a long history.  My first ever WoW char, even before Aurik, was a Moo Hunter called Ouranosin.  He made it to his 21st level before I rerolled to play with my other half on the alliance side.  I had seen the raptors the game had and thought ‘hey those are funky, I wants one!’ and saw that Takk, a lovely, black skinned raptor, would make a perfect companion to my pure white bull Tauren.   It took me a looong time - Takk was a rare, hit hard and fast and I was, to put it bluntly, a noob.  The kind of noob hunter who is up there alongside their pet hitting with their weapons! /sigh

The next few hunters also aimed for Takk but all ended up getting something else (Ghost Cat, Tallstrider, Wolf) as they bypassed the level to get Takk.  Dryn has had a Tallstrider (Aoi) and then a Carrion Bird (Horizon) as his main pets as well as, briefly, his ZG tiger (Monsoon).  Sadly I had to let Monsoon go but I just wasn’t feeling close to him as a pet - cats aren’t really my thing.   I took him to STV and let him go before continuing on to Ratchet.

Cue spawn point camping, ala BRK. 3 days later and Dryn got himself a new companion and I’m glad I did.

The auto-level was the factor that spurred me to go after him now - I couldn’t have levelled him enough before with how little I play my hunter- but level 65 is a fine level of pet for a marks hunter who pretty much only grinds and I now have a companion who I’m truly happy with - and in a small homage to the kitty I’d had to let go I’ve named my new raptor Typhoon.

I also have to say that since the patch I’ve been enjoying my hunter immensely… He’d always been my ‘gather bot’ character whom I didn’t bother to gear beyond lucky drops (*coughspear*cough)  and I hadn’t really ‘enjoyed’ the hunter class so much but now I’m really feeling the love - I have a tonne of new toys and, I must say, misdirect, readiness, misdirect, is just insanely nice when you have a slightly lesser equipped tank and some t6 dps!

Look ma, I’ma big hunter now! *ahem* ( big thanks to those in BA chat who helped me spec him on patch day!).

Epic Stuff

No, not the wearing kind, the skill kind!  I’d been dithering for a while about getting Avarix an epic mount.  My shammy is my main now but he’s still fluttering about on a slow flyer.  He has no gathering skills, though, and rarely ‘goes anywhere’ as he’s done questing etc.  However, the last few days have shown how annoying it is to be stuck back on a slow flyer for questing and so, when I went to pick up the trick-or-treat candy in Shadowmoon Valley I couldn’t resist and spent the windfall I’d made from inscription to pick Avarix up a shiny new mount.

All I can say is wheee~~

I’m sure I’ve forgotten something I meant to add here but I’m too eager to begin a few other posts I have in mind to work on this one too long *ahem*.

European servers have gone down now and we now begin our long, arduous wait until the realms are back up.  Given the worries some of the guys over the sea are having I think I’ve resigned myself to not seeing our realms up until late evening tomorrow but when they do… well…

Apprehension

I’m a little scared, to be honest.  Change is always a little worrying - so much to learn, so much to do!  This patch brings with it new specs and talents, a new profession (along with a new set of considerations in the form of glyphs).  I will have to respec 4 level 70’s and hope I get it right, and I will have to glyph them all up appropriately.

I will have to re-do all my addons and find replacements for the ones which aren’t working.  I will have to deal with rethinking how I heal and how I conserve my mana.  I’m going to have to relearn to tank, too, on the druid  and to dps effectively on my rogue.  I will need to learn how to work my hunter too, but I’ve never been much good at that anyway *ahem*.

Then there’s learning inscription and stocking the gbank with enough for everyone!

Elation

On the other hand, I’m excited.  So many new changes, so many things to explore and wonder of all wonders replayability concerning old content with the brand spanking new achievements systems.  There’s nothing more fun than running around doing ‘old school’ stuff with yer friends in game.  Like spamming /chicken together for 20 minutes…

Spending time with friends doing these old achievements is something I’m majorly looking forward to - putting achievements into the game four weeks before Wrath was a genius move - it gives people something to do, other than twiddle their thumbs, until the expansion itself hits the shelves.

My characters can have their first haircut since they were conceived and my bags will no longer be stuffed with pets and mounts.

Raids will be made more interesting from tomorrow, too, with new synergies coming in to play and the ‘nerf’ to HP most of the raid bosses will be getting!

Mixed Feelin’s

I really can’t wait to see the effect some things will have in play.  Although I have been on beta there’s a whole different side to this sort of thing when you’re actually playing it, on live, with all of your guildies in a raid - even if just a fun one.  I’m not looking forward to the million questions in general and trade (though most of my chars have trade channel turned off) but I am looking forward to being able to sort out some shiny new glyphs for my guildmates! Mixed feelin’s.  Perhaps tommorrow will bring more solid ones (like hate as I wrestle with my addons)…

Achivement Completed: “Create a spam post due to boredom whilst the servers are down!”

*ahem*

Well, ah huv tae admit.. ah’m fond o’ havin’ a wee critter or two aroon’ the hoose.  Especially mah wee dragon - it’s like a part o’ the family, ken?  Still, seems some types are goin’  a wee bit overboard - the headquarters here is overflowin’ wi’ a’ sorts o’ critters!

Things have been a bit quiet around here, I apologise.  Between a bad cold and some in-game activities (like running all over the world in search of pets) I’ve not had time to post.  Hopefully things should return to normal some time next week when my cold will hopefully subsided and I’ll have oh-so-much I want to talk about!

So - pets! I’m a bit mad about them - maybe not so much as some but I likes to hoard and napture any I can get my paws on.  Each of my characters has a signature pet or one which means something particular to them, or is special to them even if only by virtue of being ‘first’.  Mharai had her [Magical Crawdad Box],  Avarix has his [Scorched Stone], Jhai has her [Captured Flame] and Aurik has his [Sprite Darter Egg].

Overachieving

Any others who are pet mad will know of the new achievement in Wrath which requires you to collect 50 pets.  But what about those who like pets and maybe have a few stashed here or there and maybe want to quickly make up the difference, or those over-achieving completionists who must have every achievement available but have never really been into pets before?

I just thought I’d post some quick resources and tips for those who don’t already have vast collections, much as I did not before last week.

Two of the best places to get pet information are, undoubtedly, warcraftpets and the wowwiki page on small pets.  Both have comprehensive lists of the available pets and their relative rarity.

You best ’starter set’ will come from getting all faction starter pets - they require no rep, only the time to go and grab them from whichever hermit, crazy lady, random vendor or emo undead guy happens to ‘breed’ them.  A trip to your own or the neutral auction house means you may also be able to grab some cross-faction pets and if you have no luck with this then you might consider a post on your realm forum asking some people from the other faction to list them.

Most of the rest of the pets available, though, require rep, grinding, or quests.  Some simple ones would be the chicken quest in Westfall (available to horde with some alliance help), and going to The Deadmines for a green wing macaw.  Harder quests include the Lower Blackrock Spire Worg pup / Spiderling quests (soloable as a stealth class or those classes with some form of survivability - I did it as a resto shaman, aggroing only three groups and each time using an elemental to save my rear) and rep grinds such as Sha’tari Skyguard (which has very few dailies and only small increments from mob kills.  Getting a firefly, hyacinth macaw or any of the dragons will take some considerable grinding unless you’re lucky.

Reputation / Skills

Now is a good time to do some dual purpose grinding - Exalted with Sporeggar and Sha’tari Skyguard both give access to pets (plus tabards) and hunting whelps has such a wide level range that you can almost always be skilling up skinning.  Want that white kitten from Lil’ Timmy?  Get your fishing pole out and get some skill points whilst you wait for him to spawn!

Gaining fishing skill means you can have a shot, eventually, at catching Mr. Pinchy and you might as well do the Crocolisks in the City fishing daily if it pops up as that gives you yet another chance at a pet which you cannot get from any other source.

I’ve gained almost 200 skill points in skinning, 50-60 in fishing and gotten a faction exalted just whilst going for this achievement and I expect to get another faction soon - I’ve also seen bits of the world I’ve not seen for ages.

Cross Faction Sales

This is the time for many enterprising individuals to make a pretty penny by grabbing some pets and travelling to their local cross-faction Auction House.  Even better if you are able to get a hold of them and sell them at an even higher price on your faction auction houses to avid collecters!

Critter Collections

I know a lot of people recently have been posting their various hoards of ore or herbs and the like so here I offer my hoard: pets! I have two sets - pets for my druid and pets for my shaman - and this screenshot is now a few days old so I’ve added some engineering pets to it as well as a white kitten carrier.  This of course does not include the around 12 or so pets each character has in their bags / banks so both characters are well on their way to the achievement come patch day.  You don’t even want to see our guild bank after three of us decided to put some ’spares’ in for other guild members, hehehe.

Only a few days left until the patch, though, so you better be fast if you haven’t started your collection!  Wrath should make it a lot easier to meet the 50 pets needed, though, so if you don’t want to run all over the world doing silly quests and sillier grinds then you might want to hold off.  Happy hunting!

The tank dies, he’s the only one dead and there are two other tanks alive and so the call is made “Keep Nuking!” each other tank tries in vain to keep the attention of the mob but eventually, in their weaker dps gear, they fall.  The Reliquary moves through the raid, third phase dot ticking over and slowly wipes people out one by one.

5%, 4%, 3%, 2%, 1% almost the whole raid is dead, the boss heading towards me, - lightning bolt, lightning bolt… shitshitshit he’sgonnahitme EARTH SHOCK.  The boss drops at my feet, dead.  The only ones still standing?  Myself and the other resto shaman, Plix, who was also nuking with all he had.  Plix, I salute thee!

Normally we’d have wiped it faster but… the first two phases were textbook and we’d had such a stunning night with the other bosses (first time we’ve done 6/9 in one night).  Both of us resto shamans had decided to use our ankhs around the middle of phase 3 because of how well the try was going - we had the dot reset on us and is probably the only reason we survived until the end.  Still…

We are imba.

Mwuhaha.

No screenie this week, only a quick doodle - my hunter gather-bot Dryn is feeling a little overworked at the moment…

Seems like an’ old friend has come tae visit… but there’s a wee bit o’ trouble when we’re tryin’ tae mesh oor goals an’ aspirations…

Recently I had the happy task of transferring my other half’s druid over to Bloodhoof - where I play.  He had been playing with some friends there but they’ve decided to go play Warhammer and so I decided we should play together *ahem*

One character transfer later and I now have someone to ’spoil’ in game.  Khi (pictured to the left with my young paladin) and I used to play together and I liked being able to gift mats and boosts back and forth or for us to simply go an explore a dungeon together.  Playing in the same room means you can react quickly and we’ve had a long-standing habit of doing instances as a pair which we should have been doing with a whole group.

Back then, though, it was a rogue and hunter we played - now we’re both druids it’s become even more fun!  Khi made it through the Dark Portal and we ran Ramparts as a pair.  Now, I know Ramparts is pretty much soloable as a feral druid but, still, it was nice to just hang out together and beat up some orcs!

So, what’s the catch?

That’s pretty cool, you might think, and some nice random chatter but where does the title to this post come in?  Well, we’ve hit a bit of a snag.  You see, I’m a raider and, casual-ish though I may be, I am an enjoyer of end-game content.  Khi has never really experienced end-game content and admitted the other night that I was maybe being a little too pushy when it came to ‘advice’ or my thoughts on pre-70 stuff.

Now, I love to help people, I love to sort them out with shinies and give what little advice I can.  I have gotten somewhat into the habit, though, of disregarding pre-end game things as ‘not as worthy’ and I’m not exactly sure when that happened…  When I levelled my own druid not so long ago I was still getting upgrades which were stupidly expensive (mats or time wise) given they’d last me only two levels so why am I advising Khi not to bother enchanting this or that - “it’s not worth it” - and essentially putting someone off the game by ignoring those pre-end game goals in favour of getting to that end-game as a starting point.

Caring too much?

Is there a point where, if you invite a friend, relative or loved one to play with you, and you actually put them off playing by forgetting what it was like to be new to the game?  In this case, too, it’s not being new to the game but simply having a different playstyle.  By trying to get them to where you are, rushing them and telling them that the endgame is the real game are we lessening their chance at enjoying the game?

I wonder, then, where one could mesh - where is the middle point which you can both go and enjoy?  I don’t want to feel like I’m dragging Khi to do things just because I want to but I also don’t want Khi to miss out on things because I wasn’t available for us to do them together.

One of my favourite wow memories is running Scarlet Monastery with Khi’s hunter.  The mutual friend who had told us about WoW and gotten us started had said we couldn’t duo Scarlet: Cathedral at level 35 and yet we decided that was exactly what we would do (I think we wanted cloth drops). That sort of teamwork is something that I crave but, at the moment, I feel like maybe I’m just doing stuff for instead of with Khi due to the level gap and as much as I don’t mind helping out it’s not the same as doing things together.

Basically, I wonder if, by playing for so long, I’ve become too ‘jaded’ to enjoy the simple pleasures of levelling and the journey, rather than the goal.  I think it may be that, for me, Burning Crusade content has become a little stale - I’ve done the same progression already on five chars and find it hard to not mentally assign things as less important because I know where the next reward will be and so on.

Wrath

Expansions are big levellers - whether people reroll, change an alt to a main or simply play ‘catch up’.  I am hopng that I’ll actually get to level somewhat with Khi and wecan actually explore some of the new content as a team again.  We will be experiencing new things together again.  Khi is a lot faster than me at picking up things, though, so no doubt my druid will be left in the dust skills-wise as Khi zooooooms off into whichever role he chooses!

Druid Addon Help

On that note - we’re looking for reccomendations for druid addons for tree type druids.  Khi likes numbers more than I do and is looking for a numerical addon for grid, or something compact outside of grid, which will tell him when his hots will run out on all targets.  As much as I enjoy the healy side of druiding I don’t do it enough to clutter up my addons with this sort of stuff (yet, anyway) so any recommendations would be great!