Playing with the patch

So patch 5.1 finally came out, and so far all I've been doing is goofing around, farming the new raid-drop pets and trying to find the new wild ones. Oh yea, and Kel has a new buddy.

His name is Zues. It was supposed to be Zeus, but I was really tired when I typed it and goofed it up. Honestly, it doesn't really bother me, and I can just get a rename scroll if it becomes a problem, so no big deal.

Me and sis have been duo'ing old raids for the new pets, with varying amounts of luck. We've gotten 2 (the imp for me, and I can't remember which one sis got) out of Molten Core, and sis got the mini draconid from Black Wing Lair. Temple of AQ has given us each one more (I got the idol, sis got the ooze). Most of the drops were from our first run throughs, and our luck seems to be going down, as we've run all three raids at least once more on alts and haven't gotten any more, although I think sis told me she got the imp on a solo MC run. We're going to start farming Naxx soon, which will be interesting since Pitch is sis's only level 90, and my other 90s aren't as well-geared as Kel, so trying to do it on alts might be a little crazy.

Oh yea, on one of our AQ runs, we did find this room with a giant eyeball in it....

leaving in the chatbox for the sake of lols

And one last thing for now- I'm apparently starting a new addiction. Death Knights.

kind of screwed up the screenshot, but oh well

Jorren was so fun to level, plus the fact that while I love him, he is- 1. horde, 2. on another server, which means I tend to get lonely after being on him for a while. So I'm leveling Riatha so I can have a DK to play with while still being around my friends. She also has an unholy spec, so I get some variation while I play her.

Getting back to battle pets, my collection keeps growing, although I'm still several short of the next achievement. I'm also working on getting a few more to 25, for some variety when I'm hunting for higher-level rares. I haven't had any luck finding battle stones, but that's pretty much normal for me, and I'm most likely just going to start checking the AH for any decently priced stones, after the 'new shiny' craze has had time to die down. I really only need a few of them, for certain pets like my wolpertinger, and Willy, and Haunt, my feline familiar. Which is another reason for my pet-leveling binge, so I have more options when I fight the trainer NPCs to get some goody bags. The few high level trainers I've run into, I've managed to win, but it was really hectic, with very close fights, and usually at least one of mine would be dead, mostly because I just didn't have any good match-ups with the very few level 25 pets that I have. So hopefully soon, Lurk the shadeling and Ripp the flayer youngling will be joining my maxed crew, along with a couple others I haven't decided on yet.

And I think that's all for now. I get a whole week of at-home vacation time starting today, so I'm looking forward to getting a lot of pets leveled, another DK also leveled, and start actually running heroics and getting Kal and Windstar geared up. And work on Jahira, since it seems like everyone is always having trouble finding healers to run things.  /Waves

Two grinds down, plenty more to go

Finally getting a couple of Kel's rep grinds out of the way. She's slowly plugging along with Golden Lotus, and hit honored with them a few days ago. It's kind of funny, I hear so many people complaining about their dailies, but I don't really have any problems with them, other than wishing they gave more rep. 110 rep per quest, with guild perks, does seem kind of ridiculous, but eh, I guess it could be worse. At least there are plenty of them, and different hubs gives me enough variety that it doesn't get too boring.

A night of onyx egg hunting got Kel within 500 rep of the Cloud Serpents before other people farming them finally chased me away, and the next day a couple dailies finally finished it off.

The ceremony was one of the coolest things I've seen in the game so far.

Sunset is gorgeous, and he and Kel have bonded pretty well over the weeks of raising and training him. And it was fun enough that I'm probably going to go ahead and just do the grind on alts for the other serpent mounts, rather than spend the gold to buy them. Especially since they'll need the training to ride them, anyways.

I finished Kel's Tiller's rep in the same morning, although I was slacking on her quest to get Hoahn's (sp?) vote to join them, so I need to finish that before her farm will be upgraded. Then I'll most likely continue doing some of the dailies for rep with individual NPCs and the cooking token, but I think I'll stop wasting a slot on Yoon's planting daily. Yes, I know I can just dig up the plant and put in whatever I want afterwards, but it seems like more waste to me, and I never bothered.

Besides dailies and alt-leveling, I'm still happily addicted to pet battles. My 'main' team of Rawr the guardian cub, Starlight the celestial dragonling, and Coal the black panther cub, are all levels 21-22, and I've been working on getting a few others leveled up for subs. My little Chuck (the only croc I was able to get from that darned fishing daily) is tearing things up on his way to join them, and I've got a couple others of different types that I'm trying to work on as well. It's been a bit more difficult with the couple green-quality pets I'm trying to level, like Ale the wolpertinger. After fighting with so many rare pets, the uncommon ones seem squishier, if not less powerful. I'm hoping that will be fixed after the upcoming patch, when I can hopefully upgrade my favorites to rares. I've also been catching any green-or-better quality pets that I don't have to fill out my pet journal (although I have settled for lower quality for pets I don't plan on using, like the spiders *shudder*), which was up to around 260-ish unique pets the last time I looked. \o/

Quick recap of my alts- Windstar is still sitting at 88, which is getting frustrating. I want to level her, I really do, but every time I plan on logging on her and going questing, something distracts me. At least I'm still getting on her to make her Scroll of Wisdom every day. In fact, all she needs now to make her level 90 epic staff is the spirits of harmony, which she should pick up while she's leveling. Whenever that might actually happen. :P

Rynia just hit 87 last night, and is about to start on Kun Lai, which is still my favorite zone, even if a few of the quest chains are starting to get a bit tedious.

Jahira got to join in an instance spree with Feathermoon friends, and has healed her way to 86 while doing hardly any questing. Oops? Druid healing has been fun, even during the 'holycrap everyone is dying at the same time what do I do' moments. (I'm looking at you, Stormstout Brewery.) She did get to boomkin in the last instance of the night, which really just helped me decide that I totally fail at boomkin'ing, and will probably just focus on gearing her up for resto, just keeping her balance spec for questing and dailies. I just hope my self-confidence gets better before I get any chances at raid healing. :P

My Hordies are still being neglected, but hopefully that will change soon. I think I give up on poor Jorren, for now at least, and will be working on getting Rajji up to 90. Mostly, I just want at least one Horde character leveled before the patch, so I will be able to see all the new stuff from 'both sides of the fence'. And I've been wanting to play with a hunter again, so this will hopefully all work out. Sis will be leveling Booggah as well, which means Go Go dual hunters! I just hope we don't have too many issues with gear drops in instances, but I'm not really worried about it.

That's pretty much everything worth mentioning for now. Time to get some pet battling in while I wait for sis to get home from work. /Waves (Sunset waves too)

Second! And some catching up

Big news first-

Finally conquered my altoholicism \o/

Yes, Kal is finally 90! With maxed blacksmithing, and working on getting her cooking up, for RP purposes mostly. It was a kind of frustrating grind, since I'm not used to playing a class with limited survivability (although maybe I was just 'doin it wrong'). It didn't help that most of the instances I queued for, she would get thrown into one already in progress. Which means very little chance of gear drops, and no chance of getting the dungeon quests done (and thus no quest rewards either). Waiting 30+ minutes to get in for one boss is annoying, and a option for only fresh instances for the dungeon finder would be a nice addition in a future patch. (Hint hint, Blizz >.>)

I haven't started on dailies with her yet, and I'm not sure I will until Kel is done with at least some of her rep grinds. I really don't want to burn myself out too quickly, and besides, I never really planned on making Kal a 'main' raiding character anyways. She will be doing Tiller's dailies whenever I can stand them though, because growing her own motes of harmony is too useful to pass up. And she'll be going back to Dread Wastes to finish the Klaxxi quests for her blacksmithing patterns.

Kel has been having a bit of a break while I leveled Kal, but I've been trying to do at least her Tiller's and Cloud Serpent's dailies. She's currently revered with both, and her serpent is finally big enough to ride! And also surprised me by getting first place in the very first race I tried. Honestly, I was expecting to get last place for a few attempts, until I got the hang of it, but apparently it's easier than I thought. He's so pretty, too.

Oh, and I found that picture of her new buddy, Nightshade. I am totally in love with the Pandaria tigers. Especially their idle 'chuff' noises. Have I ever mentioned that tigers are my second favorite big cats IRL? (Next to snow leopards.)

Rajji has gotten a couple new friends, too. Continuing his little theme with having green pets, meet Jazri the crane and Mala the gem-kitty.

Jazri was a planned tame, although I did try for a white crane first. That one didn't quite click, so Raj trotted all the way to Dawn's Blossom for Jazri, and it was an almost instant bond. Mala was more of an impulse tame, and I'm not completely sure he's going to keep her, considering all his other cats which he has stronger attachments to. He still has a couple stable spaces left though, so we'll have to see.

For the rest of the gang, my altoholicism has been going a little crazy, but so far Windstar has gotten up to 87 and is starting on Kun Lai, which is becoming a favorite zone. Rynia is 86 and currently starting on Valley of Four Winds, although I may take her back to Jade Forrest and finish a few quest chains that I skipped. She also has managed to max out both her alchemy and archeology. Rajji and Bearkat are both still 85, although I have done of few of the beginning quests on both of them, and Tarren is just short of 86. Jorren is 86 as well, and in the Valley, about to start on his farm, if I can stop getting distracted and actually do the intro quests. >.<

I've also started my Panda monk, Sunre (pronounced Sun-ray), and I'm having fun with him. A few dungeon runs last night got him up to level 20, so he got to buy all his level 20 turtle mounts. While he rides around on my brewfest kodo. >.>  Hey, at least I'll be ready if they ever add another mount-collecting achievement?

Speaking of collecting, the pet battles have been a ton of fun too. I finally found a guardian cub in the AH sort-of-almost reasonably priced, and now him and my celestial dragonling are both my highest level pets, at 17. I have a few others around level 10, but for now I'm just trying to get those two leveled up enough to start catching Pandaria pets, because so many of them are so stinking cute and I would really love to have them. (Civet kittens, anyone?) I've also been catching any new uncommon-or-better quality pets I've come across, and I'm up to around 230 unique pets. Not much longer til the 250-pet achievement!

I think that's all the important news for now. Now I get to decide which toon will be the next to 90. I'm sort of torn between Windstar and Jorren. I would like to have a max-level Hordie, but I tend to miss my friends when I'm playing on Horde-side, and with Jorren on Wyrmrest Accord, not Feathermoon, it will be even worse. I do miss my little DK though, so I'll probably at least try to get a few quests done before it gets too boring/lonely.

/Wave

First!

I am tired as heck, so just a short post for now.

First of all, Kel is finally 90!

It kind of took me by surprise, so I almost missed the screenshot. Work and my altaholic-ing was interfering, too, so getting to 90 took a bit longer than I meant it to, but it was fun. Now Kal and Windstar get to fight over my attention for a while, until I figure out which one I want to level more. (At this point, probably Kal. I think.)

She has a couple new friends as well. I can't find my screenshot of her black tiger Nightshade, so I'll have to take another one and post it later. And then there's this guy -

First time Kel got in the Mogu Palace (or whatever it's called), he was standing right at the entrance, just waiting for her. Kel and I both are totally in love with him, in fact between him and the spirit beasts, I don't think Kel's marksmanship spec is gonna be used much at all any time soon. Rajji is probably going to be leveled soon now, just so I can go get another quillen. Most likely one of the grey stone ones, which means not until Raj is 90. *Sigh*

And one last thing to mention. Sis went and tamed Savage with Wildlark on, I think, the second day of the expansion. So, after seeing her have such an easy time, I decided one afternoon to take Maxwill out and see if I could find any tracks. Well, I did.

It was a long hunt. Between dodging/killing all the mobs in the area, I kept losing the tracks. Then I would find the end of the trail, but misjudge my flare and get stuck waiting for the cooldown. It was a ton of fun, though, and totally worth it once Max spotted and nabbed him. His name might not be all that original, but it totally fits him, after that search.

And that's enough for now, since I'm getting to the point where I can't stay awake anymore. Next post should be a bit sooner, I think. If I can stop playing long enough to write it, that is. ;)
/Waves

Prelude to Mists - Kelesaria

I've been trying to get a few story ideas straightened out in my head, mostly about what my characters have been up to recently, as well as possible reasons for them to make the journey to a Certain Place (no spoilers!) when the expansion comes out. Kel's is the first, hopefully with the rest of my 'RP mains' to follow soon. Enjoy!

********
Kel stared at the dark waters of the lake, oblivious to the adventurers flying past over her head, on their way to or from the island of portals in the center. She only reacted with a slight twitch of one ear when her sister joined her. Jahira settled next to her eldest sibling, and both elves sat in companionable silence for several long moments.

Finally, Kel shifted her seat slightly, turning just enough so that she could see Jahira out of the corner of her eye. “I’m worried,” she confessed.

Jahira raised one eyebrow questioningly. “Mind elaborating on that a little? I’m a druid, not a priest.” That prompted a brief chuckle from her all-too-serious sister, but it quickly faded. “I haven’t seen or heard from Drac in several months. His last letter said somethin’ about goin’ into The Dream.” Kel frowned. “I know it’s supposedly settlin’ down, with the main source of the corruption taken care of, but still...”

Jahira frowned as well, tilting her head slightly in thought. “Hmm... Most of the Elders seem to think it’s safe enough now, but they are making a point of telling the younger ones to be cautious. I’m not sure what I might be able to find out, but I’ll keep my ears open for you.”

Kel nodded and gave her a warm smile. “That’s all I was goin’ to ask. Thanks in advance, hon.” Jahira smiled back and leaned over to give Kel an affectionate hug. She then stood and took two steps away before shifting into a large stormcrow. With a loud ‘squawk’, she took off and headed in the direction of the small cottage she shared with Windstar.

Kel watched her flap away, then turned back to her silent contemplation. After a moment, a large shaggy head nudged it’s way under her arm. She absently stroked Sabre’s forehead, and he made the soft, whining rumble that he made only for her, when he knew she wasn’t happy. Kel sighed quietly, and leaned onto the strong, furry shoulder beside her. “I hope he’s alright, my friend. Aessina watch over him, and may she bring him back to me soon.”

Pebble!!!

There are many pebbles in Deepholm. But this one is mine. <3

Only about 2 years after Kel finished questing in here too. Pretty good example of both my ability to slack off, as well as how much the RNG sucks.

Getting stuff done (and random stuff)

I've been trying to get some goals done before MoP comes out, but it's been going slow. I blame Tera and Diablo 3, mostly, although general boredom with WoW has been part of the problem too. Talia is still stuck at 76 (only about 2 bubs from 77 though), Max is still 81 and has stalled out RP-wise as well, and most of my profession grinding has not happened. (Must get more peeps' fishing/cooking/first aid maxed, argh.) I did at least get Kal's blacksmithing to 525, thanks mostly to the free skillups at the Darkmoon Faire. Now I just need to get cracking with her Molten Front dailies, to get the weapon patterns from there. (Ugh.)

Gearing up my max-level characters has gone way down, as well. I am kind of terrified of the raid finder, after hearing all sorts of stories about jerks and idiots in other peoples' runs, and it's frustrating to deal with 2fps lag during most of the boss fights. It might be easier if Blizzard would put in a 10-man option, but I doubt that's going to happen any time soon. And honestly, it just seems like unnecessary effort when MoP will be replacing most of the gear within the first few questlines/dungeons. Maybe if Blizz would give a release estimate (if there is one, I haven't heard about it yet), it would help me decide whether it's worth it, but again, I don't think it's likely to happen soon.

One thing I have been getting done is tinkering with my hunters' stables. Kerrowyn has gotten most of her pets traded back to the white theme I had when I first rolled her, and Rajji has let a couple of his more neglected friends go. Kel has released one or two as well, but things will get ... interesting, when Mists comes out. She has bonded really well with several new pets on the beta, but to tame them, I had to release a few pets that I would rather keep once everything goes live. Releasing them on the beta wasn't an issue, because it's not 'real', But she currently has only one free stable slot on live, and she (and I) are quite attached to the pets she has now. The only option I have so far is to let a couple of her spirit beasts go, which I really don't want to do. However, since Max has Tundra (Arcturis) and Rajji has Wraith (Gondria), and Kel's Tahnka and Fogg don't get out of the stable much, it is still an option. :(

One good thing about Kel's pet situation is her latest tame. See, after she finally got her dragonhawk mount, and I realized how much I love the color (and dragonhawks in general), I finally went ahead and took her to Sunwell and got her a 'vanity' pet to match. Meet Drago-

Aren't they gorgeous? :D

Kel did a round of Tol Barad dailies with him, just to see if they bond. The answer is a definite yes.

One last thing to mention- one of my friends, who plays Kal's mate (or girlfriend/lover/whatever term suits you), has been having a ball with transmogging, and he's come up with some really amazing sets. The newest one that he showed off last night had Kal speechless. Literally.

Plus, they are just so darn cute together. >.>

I'm tinkering with a story idea for Kal, just something to keep her busy. Hopefully I can get it sorted out in my head and write something about it soon.

That's about everything for now. Hopefully I can beat my leveling slump, and have some 'Max and/or Talia is 85 now' news soon. :P
/Waves

'Short' Update...

... Because work has me all tired out again.

First, the big news. Max has finished another goal.



I'm beginning the camp for Skoll now, although at the moment it's just been logging in periodically to check his spawn points. I may attempt an all-night camp tonight, since I have tomorrow off from work.

Beta spoilers ahead!!

In other news, I got my beta invite right after sis did, and I've been poking around with it a little. My pandaren monk is 16 so far, and has been fairly fun. It seemed a little lackluster at first, but after his first dungeon run, with a few new gear peices, he's finally able to kill things relatively quickly. I'm just very happy that my 'real' monk is going to be spoiled rotten with heirlooms. >.>

As far as the other new stuff goes, I've copied most of my level-85 characters over. The hunter bugs has made it a bit frustrating to play Kel, but I've done some questiing on her and I love it so far. I keep forgetting that I don't have to be at range any more, I can pewpew things right in the face now. That is, whenever her pet lets the mob get that close. The growl change is pretty neat, and danged useful when I'm too lazy to redo my pet attack macro. :P Just having her pet on 'assist' makes sure he is after the target as soon as she starts shooting, and he usually grabs it before it comes near her.

I haven't done much on either Kal or Arien, so I can't say much about warrior/paladin changes. Rynia hasn't seen much attention, either, but I blame Blizzard for that. Destruction is ridiculous right now, mana-wise, to the point where I don't even want to try doing anything on her because she is out of mana after about 3-4 spells. She might kill one mob in 3 or 4 spells, but if she aggro's a group, I don't know what I would do. So now she's just sitting, until something gets adjusted.

Caderly, on the other hand...

I love what Blizz did with shadow priests. Cad is so much fun right now, I've been on him more often than even Kel. The shadow orb mechanic is way easier to manage, and having it under control, instead of having to wait on random procs, is so much better. The new version of his apparitions is tons of fun, too. And his survivability and mana management has gotten way better, as well. If nothing major is changed before MoP goes live, he will probably become my #2 main for the expansion.

(I'm pretty sure everyone knows that absolutely nothing will move Kel from #1. Right? :) )

I copied both Jahira and Windstar, so that I could play with both feral and balance, without having to worry about the issues with dual specs at the beginning of the beta. I have to say, I'm very happy with the new cosmetic glyphs. Moonkin form has never felt exactly right with Jahira, so it's nice to have the astral glyph so she can at least appear as herself. I know some (maybe most) people don't like it for various reasons, but it works for me.

As for Windstar, the very first thing I did was equip the stag glyph. And then run laps all over the grass next to 'their' house for several minutes. I can't even describe how excited I am, all about that one little glyph. Windstar, my druid of the Antler, is allowed to take the form of the demi-god she worships. This has so much in-character meaning for her, I have to admit I get a tiny bit choked up when I think about it. That probably sounds silly, but Windstar is a much-loved character for me, and thinking of how happy and awed this will make her... I can't even describe it.

And now I think I'm going to end on that note, before I start sounding like a total idiot. :P

Little Talia is hanging around level 66 now, and I think I'm going to try to get another one (or two) tonight. /Waves

p.s. I really did mean to keep this post short. Really.

Whew!!

So, I mentioned not long ago how Kel was stuck on 98/100 mounts for her achievement. Well, today my OCD kicked in, and I had a little grinding spree.

First attempt- heroic Utgarde Pinnacle. No blue proto drake. :(

Next, Karazan. Midnight did not want to come home with Kel. :(

Next, heroic Magister's Terrace, with Pitch along in case the pet dropped. No pet, but Kel finally got some loot-luck. :D


Clearly, I need to have Pitch tag along more often... >.>

After that, PvP seemed like the quickest way to get #100, since Kel only had one of the PvP mounts, and had just over 800 honor at the time. Hooray for Isle of Conquest weekend!












Now the only problem is, pretty mount should have pretty pet to sit beside it (when it's on the ground, anyways). However, Kel would have to let one of her current pets go. :(

Although, I'm not really very attached to her snake, even if he is gorgeous. So it might be a possibility in the near future. For now, I'm going to bask in my accomplishment.

Which reminds me... This is only adding to the odd (but nice) trend, when every time RL starts getting too much to handle, something in this game happens to make it a little easier to bear. First the incredibly easy time I had with Max camping for Loque, and now this. It may only be a temporary distraction, but hey, I'll take what I can get. I may go back to feeling like crap tomorrow, but for today, life doesn't seem all that bad.

It's About Time

After too many heroic Sethekk Halls runs to count, Kel finally has mount #98.



I have to admit, I was really inconsistent while farming this thing. But still, it took a lot of runs for it to drop. I'm so happy I don't have to go back in there. (Until I get the crazy urge to have the mount on another alt... :P)

Kel finally got exalted with Gilneas a little before the Sethekk run, so the mountain horses made mounts 96 and 97. Now she just needs either a bit more luck on drops, (been farming the blue proto drake, and plan on going after the white hawkstrider too,) or a lot of pvp for the honor mounts. She's getting closer to having enough tokens for one of the Tol Barad mounts, too. (Getting the drake first because it's pretty >.>)(I just wish Alliance would have control of TB more often :\) I'm actually starting to believe she'll have the dragonhawk soon(-ish).

I've been alt'ing some lately too. My warlock Rynia got some End Time heroics done today, and got over 10 ilvls in the process. And my shadow priest Cadèrly is working his way through level 84. Which means soon I'll have yet another max character to grind gear on. Although, this time I think it's a good thing, because I've missed my lil priest. He's one of my oldest characters, the only one that got in any vanilla raiding content, (even if it was only a bit of MC trash farming and a couple ZG runs,) and he's been rather neglected since his faction change several months ago. It's been fun working on him, almost like spending time with an old friend that you haven't seen for a while. /nostalgia

Well, that's all I can think of for now. /waves

Why didn't I try this sooner...

Sabre + Kibler's Bits = .....



Yes, he really is the same size as her mount. /boggle
(This is what happens when I get a cold and stay up way too late.)

The Last One (for now)

So, remember when I mentioned in my last post, that I wouldn't mind having a go at taming Deth'tilac? Well, my trusty pet-finder (a.k.a. sis) finally spotted him today. See for yourselves:




On one hand, my arachnophobia is going crazy. *shudder* On the other hand, I actually sorta like this guy. He's not going to spend much time out with Kel, though. Probably just for PVP (gogo mounts for achievement) and to show off. I'm not sure if he's keeping the name either. I just haven't been able to think of a good one yet, so he's named after Kel's silithid, who he's replacing. Kel has a rename scroll in her bank, if I ever think up something better.

It was a surprisingly easy tame, to be honest. Sis came to help with Pitch, and she just kept Deth rooted as I sent in my trash pet for the Deth Strikes. Tamed him while still rooted, and then bam, new pet. This seriously is her last new pet, too, since I had to put her cat Damien in her very last stable slot to make space to tame Deth. Unless I do some stable-cleaning, which isn't very likely, since I'm pretty attached to all the pets she has now. That's okay though, Rajji still has room in his stables. And I am eventually getting Maxwill and Shadepaw leveled up. >.>

I'm still spending most of my game time on LotRO. On the RP server, Laurelin, my champion (and sis's guardian) are over level 20 now, and my minstrel just hit 23. My burgular on Crickhollow is almost 15, and my hunter 'main' on Windfola, the server we both originally started on, is 32. I actually spent some time today working on some of his older deeds. I think I've figured out my problem with playing on that server, as well, just by looking at the OOC chat channel. On Laurelin, it's usually quiet, with only a few guild/event advertisements, or a couple people goofing around. On Windfola today, the channel was full of trolls, arguing and name-calling, and just generally being disrespectful. It kind of reminds me of why I switched my WoW characters from Gilneas to Feathermoon. RP servers are just have nicer atmospheres, or something. I'm thinking of looking into how to transfer some of my characters, if it's possible and not too pricey.

And now, how about some screenies to finish:

My champ Arrwyn (playing her lute), with sis's guard Raedbor.




My burgular Daeren with sis's character (which I can't remember, because she hasn't been on him in ages :P) on their holiday mounts. I really love the horses in this game. :)


Outside the south gate of Bree. I just thought it looked pretty. >.>

And now, it's late and I must go sleep. /Waves goodnight

I don't even.....

While tinkering around on LotRO, I was reminded that today was the last day for Brewfest. I hopped over to WoW to give all my available toons a Direbrew run, for fun and one last chance for easy shinies. Kalenedral wound up getting the kodo mount, which I was mostly 'eh' about, because she most likely won't ever use it. She also got one of the tanking trinkets 'stolen' by a mage. *grumble* Poor Jahira didn't get anything, and then it was Kel's turn. She got a tankard in her keg, my only character to get it this year (still no ram, though), and then on a whim I decided to go out to Hyjal and check for Magria. I really wasn't expecting anything, because it was around peak time for the server, so if one of the kitties had spawned, they would've been tamed/killed already. At least, that's what I was thinking as I flew Kel over to the spawn/patrolling route. Well, guess what?









And after the tame was finished, and my little blue kitty stepped to his place by Kel's side, I spent several minutes quietly hyperventilating over my keyboard.

Kel now has 8 spirit beasts. If I remember correctly, the only one she's missing is Ghostcrawler, who, as I've said before, I have no interest in. I can't ever describe the feeling when I saw the glowing shape on my screen and Silver Dragon blared out who it was. I was shaking so bad it seemed to take forever to actually get clear of the elementals, get Magria tagged, and wait for the cast bar to slowly tick down. Magria was a bit harder to convince than Ankha was, and for the last second or two of the tame I was wondering if Kel was going to live. But she made it, and now I officially want no more pets for her. Although, if I ever see Deth'tilac undisturbed, it will be very tempting. >.>

Kel and Sky had some bonding time while Kel did her Molten Front dailies, where I got to find a 'new friend'. A Belf hunter was doing the Shadow Wardens dailies, and she pulled her own version of Magria out to show off. There was a lot of emoting for a minute or two before we each got back to finishing our quests. And then to top it off, I saw another blue spirit kitty while killing spiders afterwards. It was really nice to see other people with that pet and not have to suppress any jealousy. :P

I'm not sure when my head is going to come down out of the clouds after this. Seems like lately, just when RL stuff starts getting me worn down and depressed, something happens that makes it all alright again. Not sure exactly how long my in-game luck is going to last, but man I'm enjoying it as long as I can. My only problem now is which spirit beasts Kel will have with her. Poor, poor Loq, he has so much competition now. Between him, Sky, and Icestorm, I don't know how much 'out' time anyone else will have. At least it might be easier to make myself keep grinding through dailies and heroics with her now. Although LotR is still taking most of my attention.

Aaaand I should probably go make myself try to sleep, it's getting late and I have work again in the morning. Dang I wish I could get my old schedule of afternoon/evening shifts back. I am so not a morning person. :P
...*stares and squees at Sky some more*
/Waves

I don't even have words...

So, you know how I mentioned looking for Skoll last night, when I had those two surprise tames? Apparently, he heard me. Or something. Because my sis found him waiting when she was out leveling her worgen druid. I am still completely boggled by this, so I'll just let the screenshots tell what just happened.





Just to give some idea of how I feel right now, I have been camping for Skoll off and on ever since patch 4.0 brought the new stable space. Since that was what, almost a year ago? I am just... wow. I think this actually beats my Loque'nahak camp, which was the longest and most frustrating camp that I have ever had. It still hasn't completely sunk in that he's finally Kel's.

The funny thing is, I don't even really like the Northrend worg models. They're way too skinny, they have a very awkward run, and the sounds kind of annoy me. I had started looking for Skoll just to get Kel all the current spirit beasts, just for the fun of it. I never really expected her to use him much whenever she did find him. But now that I finally have him, all that has changed. Just one look at that face totally makes up for any so-called 'problems' with that model. I seriously love this guy, and he's not going to be seeing the stables for a long, long time.

And one last thing- Thank you, sis, for finding Kel's three newest friends, and telling me so I could come tame them. And for being willing to share your computer yesterday, instead of making me wait for mine to start up. I <3 you. :)

Like Potato Chips...

...You can never stop at one. Or three.

So Kel has two new spirit beasts, and neither one is the one I thought I wanted. I had been checking the cats' spawn/patrol route whenever I did Kel's Firelands dailies, hoping for Magria. I hadn't seen a whisker of any of the new spirit beasts, though I had heard of one Ankha tame that happened about 5 minutes after I left. So last night, after I had gotten home from work/grocery shopping, I was getting ready for a quick shower when sis asks me if I had anyone that wanted to tame Ankha. At first I was thinking, no, not Ankha, I want the blue kitty. Then I stopped and really thought about it. Coming to see Ankha wandering around on sis's computer convinced me. Fortunately, Kel had been logged in Aviana's shrine, so it was a short flight down, and there she was.


Kel already had an equipment setup to strip for the tame, which went smoothly. Ankha didn't even hurt Kel much, which should've been my first hint.

About 10 minutes later, sis called me again. Ban'thalos was up, which she thought was odd since he's supposed to share a timer with the kitties. Another hunter was there, but when sis whispered him, he said he already had Ban, so sis let me have her computer again to log on Kel. She had to get Kel onto the tree, and remind me to place my trap, and once again it was a perfect tame. Banny didn't even get off any moonfire spam.

It took forever to come up with a name for this guy, but finally 'Arrow' just sort of popped into my head. Being that this is a spirit beast, and the only bird-form one at that, I wanted it a little more 'special' for him, hence the funky letter. :P

Winter has bonded with Kel already. I would still love to get Magria, but I'm happy with her. Ærrow is getting along well too, but I'm not sure how much active time he'll get. But I am planning on taming Banny on Max, so I'm not worried about it.

Not long after this, sis's troll Booggah got a couple new buddies, which she tells all about here.

So, now Kel's ambition to tame every spirit beast in the game (except Ghostcrawler, sorry but I'm just not into crabs. Even shiny spirit ones) has been rekindled. The only thing that kept me from running to Northrend to check Skoll last night, was how tired out I was. And the shock of the two unexpected tames in such a short time. Kel is going back to camping him again soon, though.

So besides all the huntery stuff, I have had my druid pair stuck in my head a lot lately, and I have a new sketch of them done, and working on finishing another. I'll be posting them soon, along with a small RP update. And my soon-to-be newly 85 alt that has been taking up all of my game time. >.>
/Waves

Tinkering in the Firelands

First of all, I love this patch. So much new stuff to do. Kel got to run through everything first, of course, and I have been trying to keep Bearkat up with her, even though the chances of him doing anything like raiding are next-to-zero. He loves Tol Barad, though. The Horde winning 9/10 battles isn't nearly as annoying now.

So, today I was doing Kel's dailies, after missing Ankha spawning (no big deal, I want Magria anyways). (And thank you, Novikova, for being awesome and telling me so that I have the spawn timer. :D) Running around exploring afterwards, I discovered three things. One, the lava spiders in Fire lands are skinnable (yay new farming spot?). Two, surprise achievement-



And three, Deth'tilac had spawned, and was being kited by a human hunter, with a couple friends-



After making sure the other hunter had things under control, I happily watched them whittle Deth's health down to the tamable point. And I may have cleared a couple spiders out of their kiting path. >.> I was too afraid of screwing something up to help with the kiting, and it was the only other thing I could think of to help.

I didn't get a screenshot of Deth and it's proud new owner, but it was pretty awesome to see that huge angry spider suddenly turn friendly. And shrink. A LOT. The other hunter was happy and grateful to me for staying out of the way and clearing the extra mobs. She even tried to give me some gold, but I refused. Getting to see the most epic rare spawn of the patch being tamed was more than good enough for me.

And speaking of achievements-




The Fire Festival is almost over, but I managed to beat down my procrastination and get the one single achievement that Kel needed for the meta. I haven't taken advantage of the free xp/gold from the bonfires nearly as much as I wanted to, but all the new patch stuff kept me too busy. That, and work. Darn my job anyways...

Between Tol Barad dailies, rewards from the beginning Firelands quests, and finding a couple decent deals in the AH, Bear's gear is ready for heroics. Windstar is about the same gear-wise, and the difference is pretty amazing. Star is killing her mobs in about half the time it used to take, and no longer has to heal herself after every single fight. She even managed to solo Tank the shark with her bear spec. Bearkat is beginning to collect some tanking gear, and I might even try to tank a normal instance sometime, just for practice. He's got a long way to go before I'll be comfortable tanking heroics, though.

And I think that's enough rambling for me. Must go get some sleep before the next Magria (or Ankha) spawns. /Waves

Another ding!

So, two new things. First up, Arien has mined/dungeoned/quested herself to 85, finally. And I might have stayed up until around 3 in the morning to get it done. *cough* >.>



When my leveling OCD kicks in, it is really hard to stop when there's less than three bubs of XP to go. :P

Second, Kel got into a group of fellow Feathermoonies for a troll heroic, which wound up being Zul Gurub. First time in there for me since Blizz updated it, so it involved lots of dying, as I relearned the fights. The last boss failed to give Kel a shiny bow, but she did leave the place with a new friend.



It was a major pain to get this guy. I finally wound up asking everyone to go outside the building where the last trash pack (with a cat in it) was. I forgot to hit my haste pot before starting the tame, but she still barely managed to finish before the extra troll killed her. It was pretty awesome. :D

On a final note, I may possibly be doing a more serious post sometime soon(ish). I've been running across some stuff from other bloggers over the last several weeks, not to mention a lot of RL stuff going on lately, and it's all starting to make me think. A lot. So, well, yea. No idea when I'll actually be writing it, since it's not really an easy topic for me. So, umm, you've been warned? :P

Anyways! That's it for now. /Waves

p.s.- I had a little bit of RP with Windstar and Jahira that I might post, as well. Just a short bit involving what little I know of what happens in 4.2. (Spoiler: Windstar meeting Malorne will be so fricking epic.)

Sometimes, I love people

It started Wednesday night. I was doing Children's Week quests on alts (yay new pets!) when my sister asked if I had found Karoma yet. When I said no, she told me to get on Kel because someone was holding him. I was practically shaking the whole time I waited for hearthstone/portal/flying, but he was still there when I finally reached the shaman that had been keeping him hexxed. I was so nervous I put down the wrong trap (frost instead of freezing), but he was still hexxed, so I tamed him that way. And then had his portrait glitch so his pic was still a frog. /scratch head


HUUUUUGE thank you to Cheysa for holding him so patiently!

Then yesterday sis was on her hunter Lark, poking around for Northrend rares while waiting for her raid to start. She asked me if I was still looking for Gondria, so she could keep an eye out. She got to Zul'Drak and went to the first spawn point, and next thing I knew she was telling me to get over there. That was more nerve wracking than the trip to Karoma's spot, because first the boat took forever, then I had to fly all the way from Borean (Kel had been in Stormwind). Thank goodness I had recently gotten Kel her 310% flight speed, or I would have been bouncing off the walls with impatience. When I finally reached Lark and Gondria, the tame went perfectly.



So now my 'mission' of all the spirit beasts for Kel is almost finished. Skoll still stubbornly refuses to show himself, however, so I'm not expecting to get him any time soon. Although, with people like my sister and my fellow Feathermoonies, I am a bit more hopeful than I was a few days ago. I'm still not sure whether I'm going to hunt for Arcuris, though. I do like him, but I'm just not as 'into' bears as I am cats and wolves. If I happen to stumble across him, and sis isn't around, I'll definitely grab him.

And on a final note, Kel has been doing the Winterspring Saber quests, and I'm having a ball with the cub. Tossing toys and hunting for rabbit holes is just too much fun.


He's so darn CUTE!

That's it for now. /Waves

Good news and Bad news

Getting the bad news out of the way first. I have a cold. I'm a bit peeved about it, since I've gone the entire miserably cold, snowy winter without catching anything, and now that it's starting to warm up, bam I get sick. Argh.

On to the good news! First of all, I have my third level 85 character-



About time, too. I seem to be developing a habit of getting a toon to 84, then suddenly not playing them for a while. Poor Star spent almost a week at <5 bars to level. /Fail.

But at least now she's done with leveling and can start kitty-fying the instances. Which was another point I failed at. She has spent less time in instances than any of my other characters. Her gear right now kinda stinks, being mostly green quest rewards and a couple crafted things. Hooray for Kel's leatherworking. :P

Next bit of good news, Max has a new buddy.



Huge thank you to my sister for this one. I had spent the previous night camping for him (and got 3 stacks of gromsblood and 2+ stacks of golden sansam and dreamfoil in the process), but had to log with no luck. Next day I had a pretty rough day at work, and went to lie down after I got home. Sis came and woke me up to ask if I had tamed this beauty, and when I groggily told her no, she told me he was up. She then let me use her computer to log on Max to go tame him, so that I didn't have to wait for mine to start up, possibly letting someone else find Olm before I could get there. /hug sis

Max is now 54, and just needs one level to get his big black kitty. I just need to pull myself away from all my baby alts that i've been working on lately and get him that one level. :\

Last thing I can think of for now, Kel's Charcoal is 85, and is the best tank she has ever had. I've been playing with her MM spec lately, since I've gotten way out of practice with it, and he has been holding aggro on the mobs like a champ, with her critting for 30-40k at times. Even if Kel does pull aggro, Kill Command will usually take it right back. And Shell Shield is awesome. It's a great visual reminder for when I forget to use Mend Pet, when he's tanking 2-3 mobs at once (I'm looking at you, Tol Barad villagers! >:|). By the time Shell Shield expires, Charcoal is almost back to full health. I really love this guy.

And that's it for now. Hopefully this danged cold will go away soon, it's seriously interfering with my ability/desire to do much anything other than sleep. :(
/Waves

Kel's stable is complete.

And the last pet I wanted to make it so? This awesome (and adorable) lil bugger:



That's right, Kel has her little fire turtle. /Cheer!

Short(ish) version, I was questing on my cowdruid Bearkat, when someone in general chat announced that Terropene was up. I did nothing at first, sure that someone would get to him long before I could switch to Kel on alliance side. After a while, when no one seemed to be responding, I figured I would at least go see him. I flew Bear over to Terro's lava pool, found him, and just watched him walking around for a couple minutes. Still no one showed up. I decided, what the heck, let's just see if I can get Kel over here before he gets tamed/killed. I logged off Bear and onto Kel, took the portal to Hyjal, and flew down to the lava. My sister was also there on her troll Booggah, who was still level 80 and couldn't tame him. I refound Terro, still untouched, and sat to watch him for another minute or so. When still no one showed up for him, I gave up arguing with fate. I had switched to Kel's MM spec, so I silencing shot him, popped a speed pot, and hit tame. His fire attack still hurt even at level 85 with 100k hp, but I got him on the first try. It took a second to sink in, but as I looked at the shrunk turtle standing at her side, poking his nose into her pack for a treat, it finally sunk in that he was finally mine. I can't even describe what it felt like.

- - -
(Delayed holiday shenanigans)
A couple weeks ago, me (duo-ing Kel and Jahira), sis (on druid-Alanon), and our best friend (on his new-ish worgen shadow priest) went to get all the Northrend instance elders. Well, the elder in Drak'Theron Keep is right inside King Dred's room. We killed the first couple of packs to reach him, talked to him to receive our coins, and started to leave. However, a crazy idea stopped me. I had to argue with myself for a bit (what does Kel need 3 devilsaurs for, anyways?), but in the end, Dred just looked too darn lonely to leave behind. So, well,....



His name is Fury, which was a random suggestion from our friend. It fits him. :) I now have every color devilsaur in the game, with Kel's 3 and Rajji's white Ibite.

So yea, I think I'm pretty much done getting Kel any new pets. She has almost all the rares I wanted on her, and she's running out of space, and I want to keep a couple spots open for anything Blizz decides to toss at us hunters in the future. I think Charcoal, Rage, Loq, Ash (Ashtail the blue fox), and Arohk will keep her more than happy enough now. And of course, there will always be Sabre.

This does NOT mean I'm not going after any more rare/unique pets. I just have to level up some of my alts first. ;) Max has to level a bit more to get Duskfang, and needs to go look for Olm. He's going to be the lucky alt to get Jadefang, too. And my Hordies have been tugging at me lately, so Rajji will probably be getting leveled up as well, albeit slowly. Also, I think my Draenei over on Silver Hand will wind up being a fox collector. Maybe cats too, after randomly finding Humar on her a little while ago.

And that's all for now. /Waves

..../hugs Charcoal