Post-Weekend Update: It was a Dark and Stormy Night

QOTW: "Do you think 44 G.N.E.R.Ds are enough to get 50 honorable kills?"

It rained non-stop this weekend, perfect for staying in and playing WoW. I spent Saturday RPing on Eadwacer (Modan Co's newest Geologist) and Sunday doing Hallow's End on Frijona. Here's my current dilemma: I really want the achievement and the title. Can you think of a more Warlocky title than "the Hallowed"? My mom and aunt are coming to town Thursday-Monday. There goes a few days of prime Headless Horseman grinding time. Luckily I managed to nab the Sinister Squashling pet already from putting out fires.

Frijona's Headless Horseman Wishlist

The Horseman's Reins
The Horseman's Seal
Wicked Witch's Band
Hallowed Helm
Sinister Squashling

Here's my plan of action: Kill the Headless Horseman every day I am able. I finished Tricks and Treats of Eastern Kingdoms today, so I'll try and get Kalmidor tomorrow and Outlands on Wednesday. I love how you also get gold from those things! After Kalmidor today if I have enough G.N.E.R.Ds I'll try for the PvP achievement. Meanwhile, I'll park myself in an inn so I can try to get as many wands as I can. At the moment I only have ghost. I'm hoping at the guild meeting tomorrow we'll all zap each other.

In other news, if you visit Azeroth United and click on the Blogger Unity link, you'll see this! It's currently second row, middle column:

It's me! If you ever feel like putting up a giant link to my blog, feel free to use it. Azeroth United is something I'm proud to put my name on. I encourage anyone reading to donate to their Hearts Hands and Voices campaign. Just $10 will get your name in some awesome drawings.

The World's Slowest Leveler Hits 80!

That's right! Frijona, played by the slowest leveler of all time (that would be me) finally hit 80 yesterday! I was in Culling of Stratholme at the time helping Arthas by spamming Seed of Corruption at nameless undead so I completely failed at getting a screenshot of the moment.

What's next? Probably gearing for Naxx, maybe some heroics, and leveling my Horde alt. I want to see the Horde content pre-Cataclysm. There's some great stuff out there, and I'll feel like I'm missing out if I don't give myself the chance to experience it. Maybe I'll even get some screenshots completed for the Wallpaper Project. (There are some really beautiful scenes there already!)

Post-Weekend Update: Let's Get Potterly

What did I do in game this weekend? Not much. Problem one, I had a long work meeting on Saturday. Then after the work meeting was over, I went to see Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, which I thoroughly enjoyed. It was dark, magical, and humorous at points. I even teared up a bit at the end. (Note that I'm the hugest sap ever. I cry at any movie that's the least bit remotely sad.) My main complaint about the film? The lack of the Harry Potter theme music. That music causes a thrilling feeling for me, and I missed that!

Any thoughts on what the WoW movie is going to be about? Will it have a sad ending? Will I cry?

On Sunday I spent time getting the blog re-design working. Isn't it lovely?

Oh, right, and I was mentioned in WoW Insider for my post on Tenen the Explorer. Welcome WoW Insider folks!

Coming Soon: How to obtain rep with Valiance Expedition quickly before 3.2 comes out (hopefully not tomorrow!), thoughts on the upcoming expansion.

From 1 to 17 in Three Continents and Two Planets

Here is a Dwarf cheering after having just obtaining the World Explorer achievement. Note that he's not tricked out in epic purples or even blues. And no, this Dwarf didn't change clothes just for a photo-op. In fact, Tenen the Dwarf Warrior actually did most of his exploring in only his default skivvies. See, Tenen is only level 17. Tenen hasn't been fighting gnolls or completing quests, he's been exploring--and that's it.

My guildmate familiarly known as Nutty decided to complete the World Explorer achievement after discussing with a friend how much XP could be obtained simply by exploring. Nutty has quite a few alts, and wanted to try leveling one in a different way. World Explorer was the perfect goal to try for. Tenen explored Azeroth and the Outlands from March 12 to July 10, 2009. It took Tenen 4 full days of playtime to reach level 17 and complete the achievement. Being a Warrior was a helpful decision. It allowed him to "charge" into hard-to-reach areas. Summons (provided by me!) were necessary for a few final stops difficult, or even impossible, to reach without a flying mount and portals were necessary in reaching otherwise level restricted areas of the Outlands and Northrend.

Nutty is an RPer in Modan Co and on the Moon Guard server, and Tenen's personality made him the perfect vessel for this exploratory mission. Dwarves have a racial interest in expliration, and Tenen was the type of Dwarf who would be inclined to venture into dangerous teretories just to see what might possibly be there. Now the title proves it; that Dwarf has seen everything.

Post-Weekend Update: Sylvynas be Damned!

This is a new section, basically detailing what I managed to accomplish in-game over the weekend, since I don't get much playing during the weekdays, it all happens here!

1. Whilst talking to my brother on the phone I managed to level my fishing up to 135, thus earning 2 achievments in the process. I'd love it if my brother (currently almost a Senior in high school) could play with me, but my parents only have dial-up. I'm hoping once he gets to college, if the game's still around, I can convince him. I don't think talk of the driftwood and sickly fish I was catching helped much.

Perhaps what I'll have to do is give him the game as a birthday gift, along with a trial account. After all the first month's free! Then Christmas is a bit less than a month later. Perfect time for a prepaid game card! By then he will be hooked for sure.

2. Ding! Fri hit 77. I also got her about 6 bars in towards 78. I'm really enjoying the quest chains in Zul'Drak.

3. Joined a large group to try and get "For the Alliance!" again. Now I have 3/4 down, because we managed to get Thrall, but failed on Sylvynas. I'm wondering if Sylvynas needs to be attempted first, since The Undercity is so hard to navigate, particularly with lots of guards chasing you and the amount of lag I have when doing this. Everyone seems to want to do SMC first because it's easy, and frankly I'm just about sick of that place.

4. I did, however, obtain the acheivement Know Thine Enemy. I have no idea how it happened because from where I was sitting I was putting dots on the boss the entire time.

Coming Soon: Tips on brand new Druids (since I've done the starting quests over 5 times now), or maybe something on the quests in Zul'Drak.

Friday Linkday: July 10, 2009

Now that I'm back to blogging, I've decided to add a new feature: Each Friday I will link to several wow-related blog posts that I find particularly interesting. Without further ado, here are this Friday's links:

1. On Heirlooms - Are heirloom items that increase leveling speed to alts fair to new players? The Pink Pigtail Inn argues that it is inherently unfair. Read the comments--some good arguments in there. As someone who hasn't hit 80 yet, it actually makes sense to me. I want to explore the content for the first time. When I get to leveling my alts more, it will make more sense to me to move through further.

2. Shared Topic: What if There Were WoW Lobbyists? - The Twisted Nether Blogcast asks what WoW players would try to get accomplished if we lobbied politically, a question which is particularly targeted to US players. As someone who works for congress, I can honestly say that we don't lobby--because we don't care. As long as our right to game isn't on the line, I think we'd just assume stay out of it. (If you want a more amusing answer, check out what Destructive Reach has to say.)

3. Groups are using the acheivement system to control who is allowed on certain raids, so of course people have come up with ways to fake it. (From Mystic Chicanery.)

4. I created my Druid, Claren, to try out the new forms, which according to this Wow Insider post, may not have been the best idea. Still, it's a fascinating read about the "history" of Druids. (I put history in quotes because it has nothing to do with their history lore-wise, but how they were played in the game.)

Who's On First?

There's a meme going around WoW-blogville where you tag the person who posted the first comment on your blog. My blog is fairly new as I only have, what, thirteen posts? But I was tagged by Absitively and Posolutely of Gnometastic.

The first person to comment on my little blog was K of More Dots! More Dots!

In other news...

I've given up on the Merrymaker achievement and so has my friend Mortice (although he's level 80 and has even run a 25-man so I'm sure he could easily accomplish it). I lost a roll on the hat after I finally found a PUG and that basically destroyed it for me. Winter's Veil will be over soon, anyway. I still want Frijona to have a title, so I think I'm going to go with Diplomat instead. I already have the Sporregar rep, and it just suits her better.

I'll be away from WoW and blogging for the next five days as I will be in the land of freezing temperatures, snow, and dial-up internet. Practically the entire Veritas guild is taking time off as well.

Happy Holidays!

Frijona the Merrymaker?

I have managed to level myself up to the illustrious level 74. While the quests are still enjoyable, I've always been slow to level. Most of Veritas already has a character at 80, and here I am just plugging along.

The Winter Veil celebrations have begun giving me another excuse to stop leveling and do something else. I would really like the achievement and have finished two of the minor achievements already. Yes, quite a few to go, but luckily the guild is rather achievement-happy. (Yes, I think it would be funny for my warlock to have "Merrymaker" as a title.)



Are you planning on trying for the achievement?

On Vanity Pet Achievements

Most people love them. Some people couldn't care less. There is probably a collective of cold-hearted individuals out there who hate them. Unfortunately for them, more and more players will be collecting vanity pets due to two changes: one, the removal of pet carriers as items that take up bag space and their replacement as summoning spells that characters can learn upon acquisition of a new pet, and two, the associated achievements:
Can I Keep Him? (Obtain 1 Vanity Pet)
Plenty of Pets (Collect 15 unique vanity pets)
Plethora of Pets (Collect 25 unique vanity pets)
Shop Smart. Shop Pet... Smart (Collect 50 unique vanity pets)
The final one has a reward attached: A Stinking Pet Carrier. I. Wants. One!

Since I'm obviously not alone, WoW Insider included this excellent post on a few fairly easy-to-obtain pets we may have missed. Worg puppies are adorable, so I'll have to finish that quest for sure! The chicken quest will probably be a little more difficult for an RP-er, but I may just play temporary insanity or have Frijona liquor up first.

A few extra tips:
1. The sprite darter that can be obtained in Feralas. Wowwiki has a guide to the quest chain. (Sorry Hordies, this one is Alliance only.)
2. Faction-specific pets can be found in the neutral auction houses.
3. If you completed a quest with a pet reward and deleted your pet, you can get it back by going to a stable-master. Sometimes, however, this doesn't work and you have to open a ticket with a GM.
4. Engineers can make the mechanical squirrel which is bind on equip, so it can be auctioned off. It's a fairly low-level schematic (Sprynklez knows it already).
5. Winter Veil is coming up, with companion pets as presents and rewards.

[Image: A tiny spore bat from Wowwiki. The tiny spore bat is my favorite vanity pet in the game. What's yours?]

Wrath Love

Behind the WoW world as usual, today is my third day playing the Wrath expansion, and here are three things that I love already:

1. The quests! I'm enjoying reading the quest content in a way I haven't since Frijona was running around killing Defias in Northshire Abbey. I've been searching for missing soldiers, killing moles, trapping trappers, and riding mammoths. The plot pieces are fascinating and there is so much more to do than collecting 15 pieces of something.

2. The new racial abilities are very exciting. Humans now have "Every Man for Himself" which "removes all movement impairing effects and all effects which cause loss of control of your character." WoW Insider has slightly outdated descriptions of the new racial abilities here.

3. Achievements were one of the first things I noticed when logging into the game again. They allow players to get recognized for doing both amazing feats and completing rather odd tasks. Blizzard gives a solid introduction to what it's about here, and WoW Insider lists a few of their favorites.