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

Update time

So, I really don't ever intend to have long spells between posts. I really don't. It just sort of... happens. :\

To attempt to make up for this last one, let me mention that there is currently 2 RP things going on at the moment. One with Jahira, Windstar, and a couple other druids, and another with Max and Arnen. Yes, me and sis are finally getting the poor brothers reunited, hopefully sometime in the next couple days. In the meantime, I've been keeping myself busy in between work shifts.

Firstly, Rift-Kel is up to 47, almost 48. Leveling has been slowed lately, in favor of trying to work on professions, but I'm getting myself back in gear. Not much longer, and I will have my first non-WoW max-level toon. Which of course means I will get to start on the next one. >.> Most likely my lil chloro-mage Vanyell. Or maybe perhaps one of my Guardian characters. Hmm...

In Lord of the Rings Online, I have been tinkering on holiday festival stuff. Mostly doing the holiday quests and collecting festival costumes/housing items/ mounts. My burglar Daeren is my official mount collector, and he got both of the in-game mounts on the first two days of the festival. Then Turbine snuck a new one in halfway through the holiday, so I took him to grab it as soon as I learned about it. The festival is almost over now, and I think I'm a little burned out with it, so I probably will be getting back to normal questing/leveling now. Especially since the newest expansion has already been announced for this fall. Ugh, so much to do...

Finally on to WoW-related stuff. Kel has had her first attempt in the raid finder, and I think it went well. She didn't win any drops, but at least I didn't cause any wipes, and she wasn't last on the dps meter, either. My game did go down to 2fps, occasionally dropping to 1fps, during most of the boss fights (which I was expecting, my computer doesn't like 25-man raids). She is also finally almost done with her Molten Front stuff. Yes, I know, I'm a slacker. >.< She should only need another day, maybe 2, of dailies to recruit her last faction, the Ancients, and then she'll have a shiny new hippogryph.

Oh yea, she's in the Wildfire Riders now, too. It still hasn't sunk in completely, and I'm kind of half expecting them to realize their mistake and boot me out. >.>
(Just kidding. :P I <3 you guys)

Jahira has also been seeing a lot of play time. Not too long ago, I sort of realized how much I love her character, and how much I've missed playing her, so she's kind of taken over #2 priority, as far as gear and things. She is way behind Kel right now, but I've been slowly figuring out how to Boomkin with her. She just recently reached the ilvl required for the new Time heroics, although she really needs a new weapon before I'll feel comfortable taking her in there. Which means that Kal has also been getting some attention as well. I had (sort of) recently switched one of her professions to blacksmithing, and have been wearing out her gryphon's wings farming ore to skill it up. She's still working through Northrend levels, but it's so dead up there (harhar) that she has little competition for ore nodes, and it's going pretty quickly. The biggest problem for now is my attention span. I really don't mind farming, in fact I downright enjoy it, but a few laps around Howling Fjord and I swear my brain tries to shut itself off. :P

My brother has finally convinced me to give the PvP server Arthas another try. I only have 3 characters over there so far, a little forsaken warrior, a human paladin, as well as my blood elf hunter Kerrowyn. She has been so neglected on Feathermoon, with 4 other hunters for competition, I decided to transfer her to Arthas, for a couple reasons. 1- I wanted a hunter on that server, 2- I hoped a new server might get me to play her more, and 3- I figured that if I still neglected her, I wouldn't mind as much since it's not my main server. So far I've got her up 3 or 4 levels since the transfer, and while I've switched my 'lowbie focus' to my pally, I do intend to continue working on Kerro in the near future.

And finally, Max has been getting some infrequent play time as well, and is currently 71. It's amazing what a good motivator it is, just having certain pets planned for a character. It was not hard getting him to 69 for his Beast Mastery talent, so he could go tame his devilsaur Fury (formerly King Mosh). And now I keep thinking about the spirit beasts I want to find for him, which means the sporadic leveling will continue. Oh yea, and there will be Max stories posted soon, as well.

And I think that's enough for this Wall o' Text. Time to crank up my new Lacuna Coil album (which is amazing) and do some leveling. Soon as I figure out which game I feel like playing first. :D
/Waves

Silence...

Not much interesting going on lately. Mostly just goofing around on Rift, with occasional visits to LotRO or WoW. My rogue on Rift is 45 now, only 5 more levels til I can start seeing what the endgame content is like. And, ya know, start on my next alt. >.>

I've had some interesting things going on in my head, RP-wise. Such as Kal getting a new (and rather impressive) scar, and some back-story stuff for a few LotR characters. The only problem is getting everything sorted out enough to write out. There may be some Storytime posts in the future, but I don't want to make any definite promises. Because I have a bad habit of failing them. :(

One interesting (to me, at least) thing I've been doing is taking screenshots. Enjoy!

Some of these animals in Rift just can't get along...










Moonshade Highlands may be the prettiest zone in the game...


Iron Pine Peaks is second (although the constant snowfall makes me lag)...


Kelesaria the rogue got a new buddy, courtesy of the FaeYule holiday event (and lots and lots of dailies)...


The Defiant capitol, Meridian...



My champion Aravann got himself a fancy horse, and I spoiled him with a /mountrearup emote as well...


My hunter Kelvren in Evendim, another gorgeous zone...


Another shot of Evendim...


And I think that's enough for now. :P
Thanksgiving went pretty good for me. Having the whole weekend off, except for coming in to help another department Saturday night (fun and easy compared to what I usually do), helped a lot. Just have to make it through Christmas and New Year's now. It never stops surprising me how rude and impatient people can get during holidays. Angry people in the check-out lines, drivers in the parking lot acting like they're on the friggin' freeway, it's enough to make me want to hide at home until the season is over. I lost track of how many times some driver came within inches (literally!) of hitting me, whenever I'm bringing the shopping carts back inside. Come on, people, aren't holidays supposed to be happy? What's the huge rush for? Geez... /endrant

Anyways, hope all the (few) people that read this had a good Thanksgiving, and have a good (and safe!) rest of the holidays. /Waves