priesting. maging. sometimes druiding.

realID: gtfo!

2010-07-12T15:32:00.000-07:00

So the RealID forum changes were called off!

I'd like to take some time to speak with all of you regarding our desire to make the Blizzard forums a better place for players to discuss our games. We've been constantly monitoring the feedback you've given us, as well as internally discussing your concerns about the use of real names on our forums. As a result of those discussions, we've decided at this time that real names will not be required for posting on official Blizzard forums.

You know what this means?

I CAN RESUBSCRIBE! WOO, PARTY!

My previous blog post seems rather silly now, after that announcement, but I'm leaving it up as a reminder of what this game meant to me and how close I was to losing that (MELODRAMA!).

Thanks to all those players who spoke up against the RealID changes and voted with their wallets! There were so many people who said they had already unsubscribed when this madness was announced. It's nice to know that we were able to make our voices heard.

However, the RealID thing is not exactly over yet:

Over time, we will continue to evolve Real ID on Battle.net to add new and exciting functionality within our games for players who decide to use the feature.

Hm...I wish they wouldn't leave us in the dark about what their ideas are for this feature. Only time will tell what Activision's true long-term plans are.

realID: so does this mean goodbye?

2010-07-09T03:04:00.000-07:00

By now, everyone on the internet has heard of the RealID forum changes and the subsequent massive outrage that rose up from the community. Just from skimming the original announcement post on the forums, you could see that the vast majority of players think this is the worst idea in the history of Worst Ideas, ever. Blizzard has done quite a few things in-game that I didn't agree with, but I've kept subscribing because in the end, whatever little annoyance I had was far outweighed by my enjoyment of the game itself. I got over it. However, these new RealID changes are a dealbreaker for me. I realized that, however much I enjoy this game, just can't support the direction it's going.

My stay time in Azeroth began in October of 2005. At this point in my life, I had just started college and was making friends with other students in my co-ed dorm (after four years in an all-girl school, this was quite a change, to say the least). A few of my new friends kept talking about this game that they really seemed to enjoy. From they way they described it, it seemed really fun; the second that I showed a shred of interest they told me about the 14-day trial. I installed the game, made my little undead mage, Adenine, and carefully began to explore. I thought that I would just stop playing after the trial expired, but of course things didn't turn out that way. I loved this game. I loved the places, I loved playing and bonding with my new friends, I loved learning new things about my class and discovering hidden places in the world. I loved PvP. I loved meeting new people, and I loved my new guild, who were so helpful and kind to this nooblet mage who had yet to understand how talents worked. I loved the things that I was able to achieve in-game, by myself (leveling to 60!) or with others (downing Onyxia and Ragnaros). So I stayed on.

I stayed with the game when Burning Crusade hit. I lined up at the video game store for the midnight release just so I could hurry home and install the game. By the time I had finished installing at 3 o'clock in the morning, I was too tired to join the rest of my guild in Outlands just yet, but I made a little blood elf priest, Illythia, and went to bed, excited at the idea at playing her the next day.

And it was exciting! She was the first real alt that I rolled, one who eventually became my main - though that was not until after I had leveled Adenine to 70, grinded my way to a netherdrake, and gone through the heartache of splitting from my first guild. Perhaps it shouldn't have hurt that much, leaving my guild, but somehow it did. Months and months of logging in every day, chatting with them in gchat, and shooting the breeze in vent can do that. But still, I stayed on, and focused on leveling Illythia, and when things got a little too awkward on my home server I went on to another server and did something I never thought I'd do before - rolled a night elf (/gasp). I stayed on and finally got to see some raiding on my priest in another wonderful guild. I stayed even after that guild transferred.

I stayed on when Wrath of the Lich King was released. In the months before this, I had participated in the beta test, kept a sharp eye out for any news related to the expansion, and even attended Blizzcon. My devotion to this game was going strong. I started playing more, did more research about my classes (three of them now), read the forums when it got slow at work, wrote out lists of gear that I hoped to acquire someday. WoW was my escape when I was stressed out. It was how I stayed in touch with many people that I couldn't see as often as I liked, including my boyfriend.

Perhaps my interest in the game may have been a little over-the-top, but I didn't care. I was having fun! I was there when they announced the plans for Cataclysm at Blizzcon. I spent much more money than I should have on t-shirts and souvenirs. I leveled three characters to 80 and tried to deck them out in purples. When RealID went live in-game, I relished in the fact that I could finally play my druid on Dragonmaw and still talk to my friends on Destromath. And now that I've graduated, I was excited at the fact that I now had more time to spare for playing.

I still haven't accomplished everything that I wanted to on all my characters. Achievements, gear, raiding, freaking Cataclysm - there's still so much content that I wanted to see and explore and experience.

But as of yesterday, I have canceled my subscription after almost five years of playing. I loved this game - I still love this game. No other has held my attention and loyalty for this long. I still have many fond memories that are attached to it; I've even gone so far as to add some people that I have met through WoW on Facebook, but that was on my own terms and because I was at a level where I felt comfortable enough to do so. I chose to show them my real name.

With the Real ID forum changes, it's no longer in my hands - it's now forced on everyone who needs to make a post. As a woman with a fairly unique name (I googled myself and although I've locked down my Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter, I still show up in other results, as well as on pipl and spokeo, two sites I did not provide information to), I fear it won't be too hard for people with malicious intent to track me down. I don't think I'm being paranoid here. This is a valid concern, and when one in twelve women in the U.S. experience stalking in their lives, it's perfectly reasonable to not want to have my real name attached to my gaming life, in a public forum where women are not necessarily made to feel welcome.

One solution to keep one's real name private that supporters of RealID suggest is to simply not post on the forums at all. This is a ridiculous "solution", since the forums are still more efficient at solving problems than contacting customer support through phone or email. Besides, use of the forums is included with the subscription fee - it's unfair to ask paying customers to choose between posting with their real name for all to see, or not posting at all. When it's put this way, it doesn't seem like much of an option.

Judging from Activision's past offenses, I fear that the RealID-on-Forums ship has already sailed. I'm not sure what else we can do to stop this from happening, but I do know that, even if it's just a drop in the bucket, my money speaks louder than any forum post I could have ever written. Canceling my subscription was, seriously, pretty damn hard for me to do, but I feel that I cannot afford to even implicitly show my support for this ill-informed decision. This game means so much to me, but if I have to choose between my personal security and WoW, then I'm afraid I have to leave.

My account expires in September. That gives me plenty of time to sort out my characters' personal affairs and get a few good last achievements in before I'm gone for good. If Activision moves away from this nonsense, then I can safely bet that I'll willingly run back and resubscribe. But if not, well...

It's been real.

end of year WoW meme!

2009-12-31T23:02:00.000-08:00

This post in wow_ladies popped up today, and since my answer is probably too long for a comment I'm going to post it here instead.

What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been!
an end of the year WotLK meme for WoW_Ladies~
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Our Intrepid Heroes

[1:] Who/what are your mains?
-Illythia, 80 Blood Elf priest is my MAIN main.

[2:] Which alts were your favorite this year?
-I will always love my Undead mage, Adenine, who was my first character, ever...even though I don't play her as much. My druid actually got more attention this year since I was so determined to get her to 80.

[3:] How many characters did you get to 60? 70? 80?
-Two! My mage hit 80 in July and my druid hit 80 a couple of days ago.

DING!

[4:] What character are you most proud of and why?
-My priest, because she is the character that I try to get all my achievements on, and who has the best gear. (Not THE best gear, but...the best gear out of all my characters.)

Around Azeroth

[5:] What was your biggest/most memorable achievement(s) this year? What was the most painful?
-I suppose it was getting a 1300 rating on my 2s team (and getting Brutally Dedicated.) I'm not very good at arena-ing, and it was difficult, so getting 1300 certainly felt like a great accomplishment to me. It was also the most painful accomplishment.

[6:] What has been the most fun raid/pve fight so far in WotLK?
-I like that Onyxia's back, mostly for the nostalgia.

[7:] What was your favorite quest/questchain?
-Battle for Undercity, hands down.

[8:] A lot of powerful lore has been introduced in this expansion. Any favorite bits?
-Everything that happened in Battle for Undercity; the fact that we got to meet Alexstrasza.

[9:] The rise of the Lich King has changed Azeroth and its people so much. Who's your favorite NPC(s) in this expansion?
-Definitely Sylvanas. I'm sad that they had to change her voice, but she is still a total badass. And it's great that she has more of a prominent role in the expansion.

[10:] Which in-game holiday was the most fun this year?
-I liked the Midsummer Fire Festival, mainly because I got to do most of the achievements with my boyfriend.

Friends and Enemies

[11:] Did you change guilds this year? If so why?
-Yes. Because my guild fell apart and I didn't do anything with them anyway (I joined in the first place because I knew the guild leader from our previous guild, who I raided Karazhan with in BC, but he left). Now I'm in Kessel Run, which is full of RL friends and our alts.

[12:] What was your guild's biggest/proudest accomplishment this year?
-Um, we...don't really do anything except farm badges and arena.

[13:] Did you make a lot of new friends? Any mortal enemies?
-I like chatting with the people in Mayari's guild! They seem to be pretty chill. As for mortal enemies, I'm pretty sure that I hate the entirety of the Horde population on Dragonmaw (with the exception of a certain Undead mage who helped me with an elite).

[14:] Any fun or memorable PVP encounters?
-Every time I healbot one of my friends in a battleground is fun! We like to tear shit up, yo. OH, and there was also this one time when I was playing my druid and some mage tried (key word: tried) to kill me. Let's just say that shadowmeld saved my ass, and I got my revenge.

Looking Ahead

[15:] What changes are you most excited for in Cataclysm?
-Flying mounts in Azeroth! YES. Oh, and the fact that we only have five more levels, not ten. That's a plus.

[16:] Which new race/class combos are you going to roll? Got any names yet?
-I guess I'm going to have a spiffy new goblin bank alt! Seems fitting, yes?

[17:] Where do you see your character in the next few months?
-Wherever she is, I hope she's kicking serious ass.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I hope everyone had a great WoW year! Happy new year to all, and I hope all of you get a lot of achievements in 2010!

/cheer

happy (belated) pilgrim's bounty!

2009-11-30T00:14:00.001-08:00

happy (belated) hallow's end!

2009-11-06T00:30:00.001-08:00

I opted for a High Inquisitor Whitemane costume this year! The good folks at Wowhead compiled a list of two versions of old Sally's armor that are attainable in-game, so go check out the comments for the list!

~~Yes, I am too lazy to list them here myself.~~

the home stretch is ahead!

2009-09-16T00:42:00.000-07:00

...For my druid, I mean! Yes, I have finally hit 70 (and Northrend).

I had been sitting at 68 for a little bit while I was leveling in Nagrand, and it wasn't until today that I remembered - "OH YEAH, I CAN GO TO NORTHREND NOW. OOPS." So I took Mayari down to Stormwind Harbor to make the journey to the land of iciness and undead things.

...To be honest, I wasn't sure if I would end up in Howling Fjord or Borean Tundra (LOL ALLIANCE NOOB) , but at this point I didn't care. I just wanted to level, dammit!

Eventually, I learned that the Stormwind boat goes to Borean Tundra.

It's a statue of King Varian ~~Chin~~ Wrynn!

Then I quested my kitty butt off, until FINALLY:

Whew.

...Only ten more levels to go.

blizzcon 2009: part deux!

2009-08-31T14:57:00.000-07:00

PICTURE SPAM INC:

Sarah Kerrigan makes for a pretty badass Facebook profile picture.

Lyn, the winner of the WC3 tournament.

Yay, cosplayers!

OZZY. Too bad we were way far back. But the show was awesome. I kinda wish I was closer to the front; he was spraying the audience with a hose.

And that's my boyfriend and me. ♥

so there was this little event called blizzcon...

2009-08-25T14:08:00.000-07:00

...and it was epic. Legendary, even.

First: this year's swag made up for its lack of quantity with quality: we got a collectible Jim Raynor Noobz (n00bz?) action figure which apparently will not be available anywhere except for Blizzcon...and, of course, eBay.

Second: Everyone and their grandmother is talking about Cataclysm so I might as well join in.

I'll be honest: When I first heard the rumors about the new expansion I thought that a lot of it sounded really stupid. Azeroth changed forever? That wasn't so bad, but the new class and race combinations sounded a little off to me. Troll druids? Night elf mages? Holy cows? (I'm sure that joke is very original and has never been used at all before this moment. You saw it here first!) And the addition of goblins and worgen made me /eyeroll. BUT THEN. Then they announced it at BlizzCon and let me just say this, Blizzard is REALLY good at selling stuff. Seriously. Halfway through the gameplay trailer they completely had me.

We got to try out the starting areas for the two new races.

SPOILERS, OKAY?: When you load in as a worgen, your character is stuck in a pillory. You're in this gloomy, foggy village that feels vaguely like the setting of a horror movie, and are currently under siege by the Forsaken. Worgen get a sprint on a three-minute cooldown and can turn into a human form (for cosmetic purposes only, since you pop right back into worgen form when you get into combat).

When you load into the goblin starting zone, you're floating unconscious on a raft while a doctor tries to jumper-cable your ass back into the world of the living. The zone is the polar opposite of the worgen zone: it's colorful, lush, and tropical and it feels like you should be knocking back a couple of mai tais here instead of rescuing your comrades from the wreckage of your ship.

I want my Alliance puppy dog, but man goblin racials are sick. Anything that allows you to shoot rockets at people or rocket jump is nothing short of amazing. (So this means that all the current races are going to get improved racials, right? Please? I would like to stop being scoffed at for rolling a blood elf instead of an undead priest!)

The costume contest was amazing, as always. There were some really awesome ones this year. I do believe that Ms. First Place, the Diablo Mistress of Pain, was well deserved. I drool over that costume so. Much.

I like to think about what I would cosplay as when I go to BlizzCon, but because I procrastinate/am always broke I never actually come up with anything. But next year, I would REALLY love to go as this beauty:

I am still trying to collect my thoughts, which are jumping all over the place...so! More on BlizzCon later!

ding x2!

2009-07-02T12:32:00.000-07:00

FINALLY! My mage hit 80 yesterday!

Amazingly I had enough gold just from questing, so I sprang for a dual spec: 0/51/20 fire for PvE (with Frostfire Bolt as my main nuke) and the cookie-cutter 20/0/51 frost for PvP. At the moment my gear is pretty craptacular (lol quest greens), so it's off to grind heroics for me. Once my gear is better, I may even try out arcane. That talent tree has always fascinated me.

Also, Mirror Image might be the strangest spell ever. Not saying it's not cool, it's just really...weird...seeing copies of me running around. And whenever they die I jump a little, just because the female undead death rattle is very jarring, and hearing it times three...well, maybe I just need to turn the volume down a little.

ALSO! Midsummer Fire Festival! It took a couple of days of running around with my boyfriend's warlock, but we both got the Flame Keeper achievement. Easy, and no dependence on random drops or having to log in every hour. Nice!

Then I went on a title grabbing spree.

Working on "of Undercity" next.

Took me freaking long enough!

Next: Arena! Specifically, 2v2s! Specifically, 2v2s with a rogue! Hint: It's pretty fun. ♥ Penance.

blizzcon 2009

2009-05-30T10:56:00.000-07:00

I am going once again due to my boyfriend's epic browser-refreshing skillz!

See you guys there!

on mage leveling

2009-05-10T22:54:00.000-07:00

Before I get to the topic at hand, allow me to squee just a little bit - a couple of weeks ago, I took my priest to Naxx10 again (run by my friends) and, well, let's just say I got geared up the heezy:

[Agonal Sash]
[Heroes' Leggings of Faith]
And finally, the item I had been drooling over for a while: [Heroes' Shoulderpads of Faith]

Oh man, gentle reader (yes, the one of you that is out there!) you have no idea how long I have wanted my glowy angel wings. And now I have them! (Although I did not realize that the particle effect would look kind of funny from behind, but oh well.)

/end squee

And now: after months of procrastinating (actually, I prefer to think of it as a "vacation" of sorts), I have finally decided to level my first character, Adenine. But not as frost.

...Wait, what?

YES, that's right, she is fire now. She has never been a fire mage. I knew nothing about fire mages. Turns out, it's not as scary as I anticipated.

But before I could set foot in Northrend, I had to do something of the utmost importance:

New haircut FTW! Now moving on...

I read Ekye's mage guide on the Ensidia website (link is over there to the right somewhere). Excellent guide. I decided to go with his 0/51/20 build, for the fact that I will eventually be wanting to use the ever-so-sexy [Frostfire Bolt] as my main nuke (also includes the glyphs he recommended for MAXIMUM DEEPS).

Now, a few observations: one, I forgot how much effin fun it was nuking the shit out of things. (I guess leveling as a holy priest does that to you.)

Two: FIRE - HOLY CRAP WHY DID I NEVER TRY THIS BEFORE?! Seriously. Wow. I love frost, always have, always will...but damn have I been missing out.

Three: I did not anticipate how squishy I would be. Or how quickly I would run out of mana. Hurm. Must remember to investigate further.

Four: Jame's Horde Leveling Guide - okay, not really an observation, but I'm pretty sure that if I tried to level without it I would take much too long (most of the time spent leveling Illythia went something like: *runs around for twenty minutes* "Hurrrrr where's the next quest hub guise?"). As of tonight, Adenine is 72 (I started leveling her about two days ago). My goal right now is to get to 80 as quickly as possible, and this efficient little guide is working quite well for that.

Next post: Old school raiding, and Children's Week!

naxxramas = death

2009-04-20T01:02:00.000-07:00

I went to Naxx10 for the first time last week.

First time as in, ever. I hadn't even been to Naxx back when it was still a 40-man. So I was pretty nervous, but it was nice that I actually knew people in it. The run was organized by a RL friend and main-tanked by my boyfriend on his warrior; another of our RL friends came along on his tree druid for leet heals.

When I first came in, we were going to kill Heigan the Unclean, which apparently requires you to know the safety dance. I did not know the safety dance, so even though I did my best to follow my friend the tree druid around the room, this happened:

Ouch. Well, on to the next boss, then!

Next was Patchwerk. From him, I scored the [Drape of Surgery].

Grobbulus was kinda fun. He dropped [Handgrips of Turmoil].

Gluth was uneventful.

But then there was Thaddius...

Fight seems simple enough, right? Depending on the charge of the debuff you get, you run to the left or right side of the platform. Except, well...lag strikes again:

Illythia receives loot: [Ouch]x2.

Wait, there was something else:

Illythia receives loot: [Cowl of Sheet Lightning].

Yay! On to Sapphiron!

The way he spawns is just too cool.

The way he pwned my face, however, was not:

Apparently I did not stand behind that iceblock correctly.

Kel'Thuzad took some time, but we eventually got him to die. Let me just say this - the first phase of that fight is probably the most annoying thing ever. I mean, what is he thinking? "Hey, maybe if I make some random skeletons and abominations attack these adventurers ONE AT A TIME they will grow weary and leave me alone!" You have a whole room of those guys, KT. Not that I don't appreciate you making it easier for us, but if you really wanted us dead, why don't you just, you know...send them all in at the same time?

So, a few things I need to work on from My First Time in Naxx10:

Mana conservation
Not dying
Avoiding tunnel-vision

But I still had fun and I hope I get another chance to go. It's definitely much more fun when you're running it with at least a few of your friends.

After the run was over, I wasted no time in getting my shiny new gear gemmed and enchanted with these pretties:

[Sparkling Sky Sapphire] in the gloves
[Luminous Monarch Topaz] in the helm
[Insightful Earthsiege Diamond] for the meta socket
[Arcanum of Blissful Mending]

I'm being a bit lazy about finding someone to do the +28 spell power to gloves, but I'll get to it.

Oh, and on a completely unrelated note, mining is no longer a pain to level when you have an epic mount. Hence, I have actually caught up on this profession, and can actually mine nodes that are at my level. GASP!

/flex

2009-03-23T22:09:00.000-07:00

Last week, I logged into WoW for the first time in a while and found this sitting in my mailbox:

OMG, awesome, right? But wait, there's more:

WHAT OMG YAY!!!!11!!eleventy!!1

So one of my RL friends had just quit WoW and as a parting gift he sent my boyfriend and me 5000 gold each so we could get our epic flying mounts. I don't think I've ever sent so many OMG THANK YOUs over AIM in my life.

So, here's a big shout out to you, buddy! Thanks a bunch!

At that point, I had already been saving up some gold by questing, so I had enough left over after buying the training skill to get this bad boy:

Yes, that's an [Armored Blue Wind Rider]! And man, is it sexy.

Now that I was powered by a 280% speed increase, I felt like getting stuff done.

First! I went off to Explore Northrend (and all I got was this awesome [Tabard of the Explorer]).

Then, I thought, hell. Why not go all the way?!

And so my self-imposed quest to explore the whole world (of Warcraft, lulz, didn't see that one coming, did you?) began. It was, as expected, really slow. But it was also surprisingly quiet and uneventful. Alliance left me alone the entire time (and for that, I thank them).

Hours later, my long, arduous journey came to an end in the Blasted Lands.

Success!

Next: powerleveling professions. D:

old school screenshot of the week: february 23

2009-02-23T23:36:00.001-08:00

[Onyxia's Lair, Dustwallow Marsh]

so illythia probably hates me now...

2009-02-06T23:11:00.000-08:00

When I saw this thread in wow_ladies, and saw all the hilariously awesome bling that everyone came up with, I knew instantly the second I got home that I had to make one of my own. And, well...here it is:

[Made on blingee.com]

...They are totally BFF now.

speccing shadow, or how i tried to learn face-melting

2009-02-03T23:00:00.000-08:00

For a couple of months, I specced shadow on my priest. Now, the last time I was shadow was back in Burning Crusade-era, around level 61. I played around with holy and discipline specs since then, but I never put anything into shadow, nor did I even think about it ("Me, spec shadow? That's crazy talk!") That is, until my boyfriend hit 80 on his druid, Grimcow, and wanted to give resto a try.

He is lucky he is cute.

First, I went with a 14/0/57 build. Since I hadn't been shadow for, oh, about 19 levels (I'm not even going to try and convert that into real-world time), I suppose you could say I was pretty rusty at it. And by "pretty rusty" I mean I "completely forgot how to play shadow". This was reflected in my DPS. which was, in a word, embarrassing...

But after doing "extensive research" (read: perusing Elitist Jerks forums while at work) I was able to find out how to improve my shoddy DPS: keep your debuffs up, use spells once their cooldown is up. Simple enough, right? Well, let's just say I still need to work on it.

This was the rotation that I tried to follow:

Opening: Vampiric Touch --> Devouring Plague --> Mind Blast --> Shadow Word: Death --> Shadow Word: Pain --> Vampiric Embrace --> Mind Flay.
From here, refresh your debuffs in this order:

Vampiric Touch
Devouring Plague
Mind Blast
Vampiric Embrace
Mind Flay

And cast Shadow Word: Death ONLY when you have to move or when you're waiting for Mind Blast to come off its cooldown and still don't need to refresh debuffs.

LET ME TELL YOU, INTERNETS, juggling DOTs is harder than staring at health bars for an hour straight. And although I haven't yet fully grasped the intricacies of melting faces, I can at least say I had fun and I would try shadow out again. It's definitely something I'd like to get better at, at least.

Before Illythia went back to the priest trainer to spec discipline, she and Grimcow decided to pay a visit to an old friend...Onyxia.

I finally got to see what it was like tanking a big angry dragon.

And twenty minutes later, we kicked her to the curb and made off with some Tier 2 helms. But why doesn't the priest stuff ever drop?

When she was done sulking, Illythia picked up Onyxia's ginormous head, somehow stuffed it into her backpack (don't ask her how), and returned to Orgrimmar.

And then, for the first time ever on any of my characters:

Rallying Cry of the Dragonslayer, baby!

Next post: PVP DISCIPLINE. HELL. YES.

old school screenshot of the week: february 2

2009-02-02T22:01:00.001-08:00

[World's End Tavern, Shattrath]

*I swear, next post will have actual content!

old school screenshot of the week: january 26

2009-01-26T17:28:00.001-08:00

[Stranglethorn Vale, Eastern Kingdoms]

old school screenshot of the week: january 19

2009-01-19T17:11:00.000-08:00

[Deeprun Tram, Eastern Kingdoms]

old school screenshot of the week: january 12

2009-01-12T23:32:00.000-08:00

[Ghostlands, Eastern Kingdoms]

veteran of the wrathgate

2009-01-11T21:35:00.000-08:00

When I first heard about this chain back in the beta days of Wrath, I was uber-excited. Since then, I've been looking forward to completing this questline for myself, and last December I finally did. What did I think?

Most. Epic. Questline. EVER.

If you haven't already done this questline and you hate spoilers, please skip this post because it's going to be HELLA spoiler-heavy. Yes, I just said "hella." AND WHAT?

Right before the joint Alliance-Horde assault on the Wrathgate, Illythia had to report to Saurfang the Younger, who would lead the charge. This was the last she saw of him:

And then: EPIC IN-GAME CINEMATIC OF EPIC-NESS!

(I apologize for the tiny video. If I left it at full size it would have eaten up my layout. Here is the link to the video on YouTube.)

Saurfang the Younger and Highlord Bolvar Fordragon gave their lives heroically along with the good men and women of the Horde and the Alliance, leaving my poor priest distraught at this tragic turn of events.

But there was still hope...Dragonqueen Alexstrasza and her consort, Korialstrasz, were there to survey the damage.

Alexstrasza then sent Illy to High Overlord Saurfang to deliver the news of his son. R.I.P., Saurfang the Younger.

And then Illythia learned that Orgrimmar was in a state of lockdown. When she got there, there were large groups of Forsaken refugees hanging around the entrance to the city.

From them, Illythia got an inkling of what was unfolding:

Sylvanas was in trouble? She mounted up and rushed for Grommash Hold, but paused when someone in the crowd caught her eye...

Oh, Gamon, you hapless Tauren, you.

When Illythia got to Thrall's chambers, Lady Sylvanas Windrunner was already there, asking for his aid.

And then someone else showed up:

Illy hoped that no one told Lady Jaina Proudmoore about her escapades at last Hallow's End. Otherwise, this would shape up to be a pretty awkward meeting.

In any case, this was no time for awkwardness! The Undercity was under siege by the traitorous forces of Grand Apothecary Putress and Varimathras. Illythia was asked to help Thrall and Sylvanas exact a quick and terrible vengeance.

And so the Battle for Undercity began.

It was really the first time that she had seen Thrall and Sylvanas fight. It was quite spectacular. Sometime during the battle it occurred to her that she was very, very glad that she was on their side.

And of course, there was much fangirling over Lady Sylvanas herself. How could she not? Sylvanas is one badass lady.

Those who betrayed her would soon regret their decision.

No obstacle was too much for Thrall, who destroyed everything that the Legion threw at them.

Boulders? HA! They are but pebbles in the eyes of the Warchief!

Now it was time to face the traitorous dreadlord himself.

Oh, Varimathras. You thought you could get away with this? The Dark Lady does not know forgiveness. By the end of it, he was begging for his measly life.

We thought that the battle was over, but then - Alliance! ~~Thousands of them!~~

Wait, did Varian just - NO. HE DID NOT JUST CALL SYLVANAS A "WITCH." HE DID NOT JUST CALL THRALL A "GREEN-SKINNED ABERRATION."

It's time to lay the smackdown --

And it was about then that Jaina swooped in, froze everyone, and sent Varian back to his room with no dessert. ILY, Jaina.

The Undercity was now safe, Sylvanas was back in her seat of power, and Thrall and Saurfang were left to ponder what was left of their fragile pact with the Alliance.

Thrall : It ends like it began...All that we have fought for in this world is lost. The hopes and dreams carried by my father and mother... by Doomhammer... Gone...If only you were here right now, old friend. You would know what to do.

Overlord Saurfang: I know what he would do. He would say to you what I am about to say to you: Thrall. Lead your people. Let's go home, old friend.

Thrall nods.

Thus ends the account of the Battle of the Undercity. It's easily the best questline in the game, and I think anyone who sets foot in Northrend should be required to complete this. Seriously.

Next post: how speccing shadow is working out for me!

old school screenshot of the week: january 6

2009-01-06T18:03:00.000-08:00

(Supposed to be for yesterday, but I forgot. Drat.)

[Sylvanas before her makeover. Undercity, Eastern Kingdoms]

freakin' FINALLY

2008-12-29T03:00:00.000-08:00

Guess who's 80?

That's right! Why yes, I did respec shadow. More on that later.

Now I can sleep!

happy winter's veil!

2008-12-27T20:19:00.000-08:00

old school screenshot of the week: december 22

2008-12-22T18:36:00.001-08:00

[Moonshrine Sanctum, Blackfathom Deeps]

old school screenshot of the week: december 15

2008-12-15T17:17:00.000-08:00

[Auchindoun, Terokkar Forest, Outland]

...or i'm psychic?

2008-12-14T20:57:00.000-08:00

The Blizzard gods have answered my prayers!

In yesterday's post, I off-handedly mentioned how I would love to have my very own pack mule to carry around my bank items. Well...according to a recent mmo-champion post, this is actually something that will be implemented in an upcoming patch:

Pack Mule ?

Pack Mule -- Summons a pack mule, giving you access to any bank items for 3 min. The mule may only be summoned once.
Summon Faithful Mule -- Summons your faithful pack mule, giving you access to any bank items for 3 min.

This is awesome news! I wonder how people will be able to acquire these, though. Rep rewards? Or something really uber-expensive? There isn't anything much else in that post to explain it, so I guess we'll just have to find out.

There was something else in the upcoming patch notes that caught my eye, though. First, the good:

Priest

Levitate can now be cast on other players. [Same with Slow Fall!]

Yay, minor woot? Sadly, the Blizzard gods are as fickle as they are generous. They will just as soon smite you as shower you with blessings, I soon found out:

Glyph of Dispel Magic -- Your Dispel Magic spell also heals your target for 3% of maximum health. (Down from 6%)

Oh, LAME. Well, I guess that's not so bad.

Circle of Healing now has a 6 second cooldown.

...Wait, what?

6 second cooldown

6 second cooldown?!

Major freaking QQ!

So I guess Blizz doesn't want us to rely too much on this spell. I won't know for sure how much of an impact this'll make until I hit 80 and start venturing into Naxxramas. However, it may not seem like a long time, but when everyone in your group is taking big hits six seconds can seem like an eternity.

I can't say I don't appreciate a challenge, but still: damn you, Blizz, for making me work harder! (I kid! But only a little, because I'm still QQ-ing.)

More on the recently released patch notes later.

a good night for leveling

2008-12-13T18:20:00.000-08:00

I am a fantastically slow leveler. I don't think that my decision to level holy is the main reason why, I think I just really am that slow. But I'm getting there! I went on a questing spree in Borean Tundra last night and finally hit 74!

Shut up, yes I know I should be 80 right now. WHATEVER DUDES. Just direct your attention to the following picspam!

First I went to explore Wyrmrest Temple and met the Dragonqueen Alexstrasza. I love what you've done with your horns, Alex.

When I first heard about the fabled turtle boats of the Kalu'ak, I knew that I had to see them for myself. And they were everything I ever dreamed of and more. Come on. Giant turtles are immediately For The Win. Also, lol @ the giant [Carrot on a Stick].

I love the Tuskarr. They seem like they'd be the most awesome faction to hang out with.

I kinda wish that I could have my own pack mule following me around all the time. Then I'd never have to say, "Oh crap, guys, I left the quest item in the bank!"

Say what you will about adult murlocs, but baby murlocs are friggin' adorable. (Taken during the quest Oh Noes, the Tadpoles!)

No words, really. (Taken during the quest Surrender...Not!)

Chillin' with the penguins. (/groan)

The D.E.H.T.A quests made me a little sad. I was tempted to not turn in this quest, just so I would be able to continue saving the mammoth calves. Poor little guys!

As I found out, though, it's all good. This little guy will take care of them.

After doing this quest, I kind of want my own mammoth mount now.

Can I keep him?

After I finally hit 74 on Illythia last night, I decided to take a break and level my druid since she was halfway to 46 anyway.

First things first: Off to get a Shave and a Haircut! Sadly, her new hairstyle didn't last long. It was cute, but her original hairdo is where it's at...yo.

Okay! Nooby story time! So I was off in the Badlands doing the questing thang when I decided to finish up the Tremors of the Earth questline. I had just hit 46.

Now, I did not read the Wowhead comments on this quest very thoroughly, just enough so that I knew where to find the items that I needed to complete it. Unfortunately I completely skipped over the part that said that once I turned it in, two HUGE, HONKIN' DRAGONS would IMMEDIATELY spawn with the urge to DESTROY. But more on that later.

So I walked up to the Seal of the Earth, ready to turn in all the jewels needed to...to do what? I'm not sure what I was thinking would happen at the time. I turned in the jewels, sorta stepped back for a moment, thinking I was done, and then...wait, where'd those dragons come from...AHHHH WHAT THE HELL?!

A quick glance told me that the two drakes were, thankfully, non-elites. But both of them were level 50. Both of them had just decimated the poor undead mage who had been sitting nearby at half-health. (Sorry, dude!) And now both of them were after me. GASP.

I thought I was done for, but I decided that I wouldn't go down without a fight.

And it was a long, long fight, spent mostly in bear form. And I had to blow all my cooldowns. And I went out of mana from having to heal myself up so much, but a quick Innervate fixed that.

AND THEN: VICTORY!

That's right!

I was pretty damn proud of myself. And I even scored this: [Blazewind Breastplate].

(Now that I think of it, if I had read all of the comments, I probably would have been like "Oh, wow, two level 50s? I can wait a couple levels until I attempt this so I don't get owned," and then I wouldn't have gotten my shiny new armor.)

Bonus: LOL CHAT.

in-game flirting vs. guild princess-ing it up

2008-12-09T21:09:00.000-08:00

ROUND ONE: FIGHT!

This may get a little rant-y, FYI.

We've all had our own run-ins with in-game flirting, I'm sure. Sometimes you meet someone in-game, and they either assume that you're a girl IRL for various reasons, and they start acting pretty friendly towards you - offer to help you out with things in-game, send you gold or loot, run your alts through instances, etc. For the most part, in-game flirting can be quite innocuous, as long as both people leave it at that and don't expect anything more from it. Although it's not something I do in-game, I can understand why people would find it fun, and I don't think that it's wrong for them to enjoy a bit of attention or to hit on their in-game friends. But there's a thin line to walk here, and it can end badly pretty quickly. (Personally, I'd hate it if someone thought I needed extra help in-game because I have girl-bits, but that's just me.)

First, in-game flirting can progress into skeevy territory fast. My own experience with this kind of thing is tame, I suppose; the worst thing that happened to me was when this guy I had been questing with when I was still leveling my mage in the 20-29 range, out of nowhere, asked me if I was 18 yet. Of course, I stopped talking to him after that. For the record, I was 18, but good God, what a creepy question to ask someone. Also for the record, I hadn't been flirting with him at all, which made that question particularly perplexing - was he being nice to me because he expected that I would give "something" back to him, so he decided to play it safe and make sure I was legal first? Who knows. All I know is that me being a girl IRL does not make it cool for guys in-game to assume that I will want to flirt with them (or anything else, seriously).

(ETA: There was another incident that I totally forgot about until now, and it was after this that I really stopped correcting people who referred to me as "he": this hunter figured out that I was a girl and actually said, within an hour of meeting me, that he wished he could fly out to where I lived to see me. Ummmmmmmmmm. I was not flirting with him, either.)

After this incident I didn't correct people who referred to me as "he" or "bro" (lol) anymore (unless I'm interacting with a guildie, because I will probably interact with them more often anyway), mostly because I've found it's easier when people assume you're a guy. Yeah, I know. It sucks that I have to pretend I'm a guy in order to get people to leave me alone, and I shouldn't have to do this to get respect. But it definitely is easier to deal that way.

As for people from my guild knowing that I'm a girl: my guildies have always been very respectful and kind. They didn't send me loot or gold (which I'm thankful for), and while they were much less crude when they talked to me than when they talked with each other (didn't want to offend my delicate sensibilities, I guess), they treated me very much like I was just a normal member of the guild - which is what I wanted. And the vast majority of girls that I know in-game are like this (off topic: I totally just typed "mast vajority" first. What the hell.) .

And then there are guild princesses - people who take in-game flirting and go way over the line with it. We all know who they are, they don't need much description. I've been in my fair share of guilds and fortunately, I've run into very few guild princesses, but still the brief contact was enough to drive me into a fury. There was one girl who was in an old guild of mine who posted a bunch of pictures of herself in the "Post your picture!" thread on our forums - of course there's nothing wrong with this, but she also included a picture of her ass in very skimpy panties. There was also another girl (same guild) who posted a picture of herself, topless, but with her arm covering her boobs.

Now. As I've said, there is absolutely nothing wrong with posting pictures of yourself. I don't have anything against girls who do this. Yes, it is fun to see what your guildies look like in real life. It's also nice to be able to attach a face to the character. But honestly, what is the point of posting your ass or your boobs? All I can think of is that it gets you loads of male attention (which it did), guaranteed raid spots (which they did), and loot (also did). I have been in a couple raids with one of these girls, and let me say right now that it was not her skill as a player that got her that raid spot in AQ20.

I know that some people justify this behavior by saying, "Who cares, it's just a game, I'll do what I want so I can get my shiny purples," but this (non)reasoning sucks, to say the least. It's important to not forget that there are real people behind the characters, and when you screw them over or mess with their heads (and this can go both ways, I'm not pinning all the blame on girls or all on boys) the consequences can be pretty devastating. I have been in a guild that pretty much fell apart not only because of a very influential princess, but because everyone else could not deal with her properly.

So why do some guilds tolerate this kind of behavior? Needless to say, it's totally unfair for other players who actually are skilled at the game to be skipped over for someone with little to no skill who happened to post a sexy picture. People play this game for fun, and it's obviously the opposite of fun when someone sashays in and gets the loot or raid spot that you worked your ass off for.

So: to the one of you who is reading this right now, what are your experiences with in-game flirting and guild princesses? How do your guilds deal with these kinds of things? How do you deal with them?

a shameless plug

2008-12-09T01:31:00.000-08:00

I would like to take this opportunity to give a shout out to my boyfriend, who just (as in the last hour) started his own WoW-themed blog here:

Rain of Fire!

As you can probably guess, it's about paladins.

...Kidding! It's about druids.

But seriously, it's about warlocks. (And maybe druids sometimes).

He is an experienced raider and knows the game well, so it will be interesting to see what he has to say about our beloved time-sink.

In conclusion, check it out.

old school screenshot of the week: december 8

2008-12-08T17:58:00.000-08:00

[The Hinterlands, Eastern Kingdoms]

but does he speak with a french accent?

2008-12-07T14:12:00.000-08:00

The other night I decided to take a break from priesting and logged on my mage to get her the Shop Smart, Shop Pet...Smart achievement. I was at 43/50 pets needed, so I flew to the Stormspire to pick up a few of the pets that I hadn't acquired yet. That bumped me up to 49/50. Just one more! I thought, But where do I get the last one? Then I remembered: I never bought the [Prairie Dog Whistle]. I ported to Thunder Bluff quick as I could, got my prairie dog, and then:

Success! Isn't he cute? The only thing that would make this better is a green cloud of stink emanating from his tail that gives surrounding players a "STANKY" debuff.

I also really enjoyed the letter that accompanied the [Reeking Pet Carrier] in the mail:

Stinker's New Home

I've heard how well you take care of our furry friends. I hope you don't mind but I must get Stinker a new home. He just refuses to play nice with others.

Please make sure to feed him twice a day. And um... he has a thing for black cats.

--Breanni

If only there was a way to summon Stinker and my Bombay at once...

Also, can I say how much I love the Dalaran pet store?

Because I do.

A lot.

(Here is Adenine's Warcraft Pets profile. Some of the pets listed are actually Illythia's or Mayari's, but I'm just too lazy too make separate profiles for them.)

old school screenshot of the week: december 1

2008-12-01T20:51:00.000-08:00

[The Opera Hall, Karazhan]

from northrend with love

2008-11-30T14:44:00.000-08:00

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!

2008-11-15T21:59:00.001-08:00

...For now.

on sexy addons

2008-11-15T13:25:00.000-08:00

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):

Not shown:

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

2008-11-13T00:44:00.000-08:00

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...

2008-11-12T01:27:00.000-08:00

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!

the wrath of the lich king beta

2008-09-11T10:37:00.001-07:00

I'M IN!

Blizzcon 2008

2008-08-12T20:10:00.000-07:00

I'M IN.

HELL YES.

MY BOYFRIEND ROCKS SO HARD RIGHT NOW. HE SOLOED BOTH THE SCV OF DOOM AND THE OOPS MURLOC.

<3 <3 <3

(Next post will be my actual update, I promise!)

macro polo!

2008-07-29T15:03:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd just make a post of all the priest macros that I found useful.

First up: buffing macros! Left click is for the single buff, right click for party buffs:

Power Word: Fortitude/Prayer of Fortitude

#showtooltip /cast [button:1] Power Word: Fortitude(Rank 7); [button:2] Prayer of Fortitude(Rank 3)

Divine Spirit/Prayer of Spirit:

#showtooltip /cast [button:1] Divine Spirit(Rank 4); [button:2] Prayer of Spirit(Rank 1)

Shadow Protection/Prayer of Shadow Protection

#showtooltip /cast [button:1] Shadow Protection(Rank 4); [button:2] Prayer of Shadow Protection(Rank 1)

Next: Downranking! I have Greater Heal (Rank 7) on a button by itself, and ranks 1 and 2 bound to another button.

Greater Heal (Ranks 1 & 2)

#showtooltip /cast [nomodifier] Greater Heal(Rank 1); [modifier:alt] Greater Heal(Rank 2)

This focus macro for Shackle Undead is a must-have. Seriously, every priest needs this.

Shackle Undead

#showtooltip Shackle Undead /clearfocus [modifier:alt][target=focus,dead][target=focus,help][target=focus,noexists] /focus [target=focus,noexists] /cast [target=focus]Shackle Undead

This one will summon your flying mount if you're in Outland, or your land mount if you're in Azeroth.

Mounts!

/use [flyable] Tawny Windrider; Swift Purple Hawkstrider

So that's all for now! Next update: sexy addons. Mmmhmm.

on my first time healing karazhan

2008-07-27T23:51:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, I was waxing emo to my boyfriend about how I would never find a guild who actually still ran Karazhan, and how my priest would never be geared unless I PvPed for it, and how I didn't want to PvP on her yet until I saw some raiding...I was going on and on in this vein, until I got a random whisper from a rogue. He asked me if I was interested in running Karazhan, and also would I be interested in joining his guild?

After silently blessing him for his perfect timing, I gave him an emphatic yes and became a member of Unholy Fury. My first impression of the guild was overwhelmingly positive; when I joined it was all of two hours old, and had around thirteen members (all of whom were friendly and enthusiastic). The GM had planned for a guild Karazhan run the following Wednesday, which I almost immediately signed up for.

The day of Karazhan, I stocked up on the following consumables which are a must for any healer (with druid and paladin buffs, they bumped my healing up from+1200-ish to around +1300-ish):

As for the run itself, I was pleasantly surprised by how smoothly it went. We cleared all the way up to the trash right before Shade of Aran before people had to leave with no boss wipes. The encounters were not difficult to heal through (especially not with a decently geared tree druid and holy paladin). I cannot stress how much Prayer of Mending rocks - I just threw it on the tank whenever the cooldown was up and watched it bounce around between melee. I also got to practice the fine art of Greater Heal cast-canceling, which makes for amazing mana regen (I think I only had to use a mana pot once the whole raid).

The only part I had trouble with was dying in the beginning of the Opera Event (after Psychic Scream wore off on Roar, he ran straight for me and promptly pwned my face), and dispelling Holy Fire during the Maiden fight (it seemed like I was the only one dispelling, and so I had to run around to try and get in range of everyone. Lost a couple of DPS that way. /sadface). The rest of the raid was also pretty understanding about my occasional disconnects (speaking of which, I have an insolent router to kick into submission).

By the end of the run, I walked away with two new shiny purples:

Conclusion: Illythia's first foray into Karazhan was a success, and the new guild seems to be getting off to a great start!

Next update: Macros that help me be a more efficient priest!

combining spell stats in wotlk?

2008-07-22T12:42:00.000-07:00

Okay, so. Apparently, in the upcoming expansion, spell damage and healing are going to be combined into one uber-stat: spellpower. Yes, yes, old news, I know. But when I first heard about this change, I flipped out ("WHAT! You mean I'm going to have to share gear with CASTERS? WTF IS THIS?!"). Then after I calmed down a little and realized that this is something that is going to change no matter how much I QQ, I decided to look at the good points. First of all, there won't be a need to have two separate sets of gear, right? I'll be able to do dailies or solo in the same set of armor that I wear when I heal. And apparently it'll make for less items being wasted, because more classes will be able to use the gear if it drops.

But then again, the thought of competing with two other classes for cloth gear makes me a little apprehensive about the spellpower change. And the fact that now everyone will pretty much be seen in the same gear, so all clothies will basically look the same until we all get tier gear? LAME.

Also, another thing that made me iffy - warlocks actually having a use for spirit? Did this mean I'd have to compete with warlocks for gear with massive amounts spirit as well? I discussed this at length with my warlock-playing boyfriend, and he said that yes, although warlocks would find spirit more useful in the expansion, weapons and armor that are itemized for spirit would clearly be meant for healers, since they'd have a little too much spirit for it to be for non-healers. Of course, I'm assuming that most people I group with will know the difference between items meant for healers and items meant for DPS and will roll accordingly. Well, I sure hope so.

Final thoughts on spellpower: Still undecided. We'll just have to see how it goes when the expansion is released.

my first character

2008-07-22T01:51:00.000-07:00

Adenine at 60, rockin' the [Robe of the Archmage]

Before she was relegated to the position of chief farmbot/lowbie instance-runner, my mage was my main character. She was the first character I created back when all I had was the 14-day trial account. She was the only character I focused on until she hit 60, hell, until she hit 70. She's (for the most part) decked out in tailoring/PvP welfare/Karazhan epics. So why was she demoted from "main character" to "main alt"?

Adenine at 70

Probably a number of reasons, actually. I (for reasons unknown even to myself) refuse to spec her fire, thus gimping her ability to be an effective raid DPS-er. Also, when playing her in PvP situations, I'm, well, not very good (which is to say, I kind of suck). But! I don't mean to say that I hate playing her. She's quite fun to have around, and does enough damage to make farming on her kind of fun. If farming can be considered fun. However, the main reason for abandoning her for my priest was that I was just burned out, and healing was something fresh and exciting and I actually felt that I was good at it. Also, when I first started playing (and for a long time afterwards), I was a clicker. Yeah, that might have had something to do with my ineffectiveness as a mage, haha.

But anyway, on to reminiscing!

The first-ever time I went into an instance, I didn't actually know it was an instance. I was leveling in Silverpine Forest when I came upon the entrance to Shadowfang Keep. "Hmm," I thought as I stared at the swirly instance portal, "I wonder what that is. It's shiny!" So of course, I ran through the portal, was momentarily confused by the loading screen, and then I was utterly destroyed by a pack of elite wolves. I must say it was a rather appropriate way to introduce me to the world of instances: "Welcome to instancing, young, noobish, oh-so-squishy mage. First lesson: this is what happens when you get hit by elites - you die. Horribly."
I honest-to-God did not know there was another continent, which led to much confusion on my part. Orgrimmar? What's that?
Speaking of getting lost in major cities, I didn't fully grasp the concept of Undercity in my first venture to the Forsaken capital, and spent about half an hour trying to swim through the sewers in the Ruins of Lordaeron to try to get to this (what I was beginning to think was imaginary) place, before I decided to follow another character and realized that there are elevators.
Ah, level 40 mounts! Remember those? Of course you do. I farmed the Deadmines constantly for [Wool Cloth], which was going for 2 gold per stack on the auction house at the time, and bought my [Blue Skeletal Horse] two levels before I could actually use it. Oh, and I was thrilled that I had the Sergeant's discount.
Also, having to spec into Improved Arcane Explosion in order to make it instant, and Evocation. The SECOND I had instant Arcane Explosion, I ran around town spamming it furiously.
LOL, oh, talent points. When I first realized that I had them, and YAY places to put them (which was around level 18 or so - what! I was new), I put my points in everything. Yes, I did put one in each little box, across all three trees. You can all stop laughing now.
I randomly chose my professions (enchanting and tailoring), but that was one thing that didn't end up biting me in the butt later. I'm rather glad I chose them way back when I was a level 5 lowbie and knew absolutely nothing about either.
My first encounter with Alliance: A random dwarf hunter challenged me to a duel; of course I lost, and a minute later she killed me. I have no idea how. Oh, and I also tried talking to her, but was rather offended when she didn't answer back. I mean, seriously, how rude, right? It wasn't until later that I found out there was a language barrier. Oops!
Adenine's love of non-combat pets was started by a [Cockroach]. And I was so afraid of it dying, or losing it, that I would put it away whenever I had to take a flight path or whenever I thought it was going to get killed by some mob. I still have a fondness for my first non-combat pet, but hell if you're ever going to get me near any cockroaches in real life.
PvP! Once I hit 60 it was pretty much nonstop battlegrounds for Adenine. I grinded her all the way up to Blood Guard before they took away the ranking system. Okay, so it wasn't the leetest rank, but I was pretty proud of myself for getting that far.
Last but not least, old-school raiding! The first time I raided on my mage was in Molten Core. I scored not one, but two epics that day: [Mana-Igniting Cord], and the [Azuresong Mageblade], which I had first seen as a level 20 on another undead mage who was standing around Orgrimmar. The moment I laid eyes on that weapon, I knew that it was what I wanted when I finally made it to 60. And when it dropped that night off Golemagg, and the raid leader master looted it to me after I made my bid...it was nerd ecstacy.

Oh, Adenine...all I have of you are fond memories. Whatever happens, you will always have been my first main character. <3

obligatory introductory post

2008-07-17T21:13:00.000-07:00

Hello! So I guess I should tell you about myself or something. I started playing WoW in October 2005. My first character was an undead mage (Adenine, who is and always has been and always will be frost-specced). When Burning Crusade came out, I made a blood elf priest (Illythia) and left her alone for a time while I leveled Adenine to 70. Once that was accomplished, I turned back to my priest...then decided to switch mains. I've found I prefer healing to DPS (not sure why, but it might have something to do with the power that I wield over the lives of people in my group).

I started this blog to chart the progress of my priest as she slowly gears up and learns more about the world of healing. Here she is now, my 23/38/0 holy priest:

Her current gear isn't amazing, but I'm working on it. Yesterday, I went on a 5-man frenzy and acquired a number of new items - cloak, wand, trinket, boots - then had my smexy new belt crafted. Here's a list of her current gear:

Head: [Junior Technician 3rd Grade Goggles]
Necklace: [Natasha's Guardian Cord]
Shoulders: [Hallowed Pauldrons]
Cloak: [Cloak of Whispering Shells]
Chest: [Hallowed Garments]
Wrists: [Goldenvine Wraps] (with [Enchant Bracer - Superior Healing])
Gloves: [Bloody Surgeon's Mitts] (with [Teardrop Blood Garnets] in both sockets)
Belt: [Belt of the Long Road] (YES, my first epic on this character! I need to upgrade the gems, but for now they're socketed with a [Purified Shadow Pearl] and a [Luminous Noble Topaz])
Pants: [Hallowed Trousers] (with [Silver Spellthread])
Boots: [Light-Woven Slippers]
Rings: [Celestial Jewel Ring] and [Keeper's Ring of Piety]
Trinkets: [Oshu'gun Relic] and [Lower City Prayerbook]
Main Hand: [Staff of Divine Infusion]
Wand: [Soul-Wand of the Aldor]

For now, I'm focusing on stacking healing, but I really need to do something about my woefully low health - at 5511, I'm squishier than squishy.

That's all for now, I suppose! I hope I can get into some Karazhan runs soon, but what with an unmotivated guild, my lack of purples, and PUG runs that require +1600 healing, it's been decidedly difficult.

Next update: I'll introduce my very first character, Adenine. She needs love, seeing as how of late she's been demoted to primal farmbot for Illythia.

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2008-07-17T21:07:00.000-07:00

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