from northrend with love

So far, my opinion on Wrath of the Lich King: EPIC. Yes, Blizz did a remarkably awesome job with the new expansion. Currently my priest is sitting at 72 but I'm in no hurry to level. I'm taking my time soaking up the scenery, reading the quest logs, and just enjoying the game in general. Everything just feels so different from Burning Crusade, and although that expansion was great this one just blows it out of the water entirely.

Anyway, picspam!

November 23, 2008 was WoW's 4th Anniversary. I hope everyone logged on to get their cute-as-a-button polar bear cub!

Anyone else catch this reference to American Gothic? (Found in the Vengeance Landing Inn.)

Of course, I couldn't resist hopping on the death knight bandwagon. Originally my death knight was going to be a draenei on the same server as my druid, but I couldn't wait until I leveled Mayari to 55 so I went and deleted my level 13 blood elf paladin, Thalestris, and remade her into a knight of chaos and destruction. The val'kyr are amazingly badass - I love their character design.

A couple weeks ago, some alliance raid killed our beloved Thrall. /cry So a large group of young death knights was stuck waiting forever for him to respawn so that he could tell the guards to stop spitting and throwing rotten fruit at us, dammit.

This is the sole reason I want to level tailoring on my mage. This right here. Also, is it weird that every time I look at screenshots of magic carpets, I get "A Whole New World" stuck in my head? Please tell me I am not alone here. (Taken during the quest "Magic Carpet Ride" in Borean Tundra.)

The battle tanks are also an freaking epic addition to the game. I mean, seriously...who doesn't want to single-handedly obliterate a large number of Scourge minions with a Horde Tank of Death?

I don't think I need a caption to explain how great this is.

This was my first jaunt into Azjol-Nerub. Have I mentioned that I hate spiders? Because I really do. And seeing this badboy up on my screen did not improve my opinion of them. At first sight, I actually scooted my chair away from my desk and "eep"-ed out loud. Good job giving me the creepy-crawlies, Blizz.

Speaking of instances, I'm still trying to figure out the mechanics of healing and mana conservation, post-downranking era. I've been having to drink a lot more often now, even after trash pulls. You can imagine that this gets annoying fast. The instances themselves are not difficult to heal, however, though I have had a few times (in Utgarde Keep, for one) when I almost had a heart attack healing my death knight tank friend, who took quite large damage spikes far too often - leaving me OOM and slightly shaken.

So far, my favorite boss fight has to be Grand Magus Telestra from the Nexus. Circle of Healing is love in this encounter, particularly when she casts Gravity Well. Take that, you silly mage!

One more, because the scenery in this game is absolutely gorgeous: Howling Fjord.

new ui: done!

...For now.

on sexy addons

Last night I spent the better part of an hour and a half fixing up my UI. I'd say the results are well worth the time:

Here's the breakdown (and links to their pages on Curse):

1. Elkano's BuffBars
2. Prat 3.0
3. Omen Threat Meter
4. Bartender 4
5. Recount Damage Meter
6. Pitbull
7. Quartz
8. Outfitter
   
9. SexyMap (truly lives up to its name!)
10. Decursive
11. Scrolling Combat Text

Not shown:

• Cartographer
• Cowtip
• Cryolysis (only on my mage's UI)
• Deadly Boss Mods
• Fubar
• Grid
• HotCandy
• Natur EnemyCastbar
  
• OmniCC
• OneBag3
• XLoot

belated obligatory hallow's end screenshot post, and my druid

As I have not yet acquired my own copy of Wrath, and will not be acquiring one until tomorrow morning, I've decided to plaster this blog with MOAR screenshots, this time from the Hallow's End world event. I put together an in-game costume for Illythia; this year she went as my favorite Alliance character, Lady Jaina Proudmoore. Of course, she had to go visit Thrall after she got all dolled up:


Her costume consisted of:

• [Illusionary Rod]
• [Destroyers' Mantle]
• [Soothsayer's Kilt]
• [Formal White Shirt]
• [Light-Woven Slippers]
• [Belt of the Long Road]
• [Sketh'lon Survivor's Tunic]
• A visit to the barbershop to get a new hairdo
  

Sadly, I was only able to get the Hallowed Be Thy Name achievement on one of my characters, and just barely (damn you, [Tooth Pick]), but I think that her new title suits her well, don't you?


Also, since at the moment I can't visit Northrend, I've been occupying myself with leveling a new character: my druid, Mayari.

Now, let me just state right now: I'm a Horde girl, through and through, but...I couldn't help it, I just made her as an alt to mess around with one day, and then--


Yeah. She's level 44 now. This is the highest I have ever been able to get an Alliance character, and well, I have to admit...I heart her. Druids are a blast to play! They're way different from what I've been used to (namely, clothies and casters). I love cat form, I love bear tanking, I love being able to swim faster than everyone else (and breathe underwater, hah!), and I can't wait until I get instant-cast epic flying. Hell. Yes.

That's right, I'm taking her to 80.

Anyway, I'm off to level in relative peace since pretty much everyone and their grandmother are either lagging up Northrend or the Ebon Hold. (This doesn't mean that I don't wish I was there lagging it up with them. Launch night FTW!) Hopefully my next post will find its way to you from the wintry landscapes of the north.

Oh, and - here's Adenine, [Orb of Deception] equipped, flaunting the spoils she got from Blizzcon:


Happy leveling, everyone!

the calm before the storm breaks...

I'm long overdue for an update, but whatever. Here we go!

So, as we all know, Wrath of the Lich King hits tomorrow. What have I been doing up until now? Well, mostly school, but we try not to speak of those things here. I was fortunate enough to participate in the beta for the expansion. Unfortunately, due to that thing that we try not to speak of here, I was unable to do any instancing or leveling during my stint as a beta tester, and everyone already knows about all about the 51-point talents since patch 3.0, so basically I was a useless beta tester. /cry

Oh, but I had fun though! And I come bearing beautiful screenshots (thanks to the premade druid I copied over):





















So very excited.

In other, less exciting news, I went with a 14/47/0 spec for my priest. Desperate Prayer has saved my ass plenty of times, while Holy Nova, which I never bothered speccing into before, is loads of fun to spam (just like Arcane Explosion!).

Oh, and the spell I named this blog for? Nonexistent. So here is a short tribute: Touch of Weakness, you may have been pretty ineffective, but I always made sure to put you up whenever I could in hopes that Consume Magic (another well-missed spell) would eat you up as opposed to other, more useful buffs...I will miss you, old friend.

Next time: I'm updating from Northrend!